It’s Free for ALL Friday! Each week I keep track of some of the off-the-path things I've found, and work extra-hard to make sure you never hit a paywall, using my own subscriptions, gift links, and other (legal) hocus-pocus.
Inflammation Keeps Us Alive. It’s Also Making Us Sick.
Traditionally, we have sorted diseases into categories, separating contagious from noncontagious illnesses; acute events like strokes from chronic conditions like asthma. But we have lately realized how interconnected the body’s systems really are.
More and more, researchers are starting to see things the way that Peter Libby, a professor at Harvard Medical School and a cardiologist at Mass General Brigham, does:
“We all study the same disease,” he said. Inflammation is involved with everything.
Mainstream media headlines tell us how to “fight” inflammation by eating these six fruits and following those nine healthy habits.
On platforms like TikTok and Reddit, users eagerly seek and dispense advice on how to eliminate their chronic inflammation by any means necessary: by fasting or humming or taking ice baths or injecting themselves with copper peptides.
The problem is that inflammation isn’t a single entity — a virus or cell we can target with a particular drug or therapy.
Instead, it’s the product of an incredibly complex regulatory network that we’re just beginning to understand.
“It’s not simple good or bad, it’s good that comes at a cost,” says Jonathan Kipnis, a neuroscientist and immunologist at Washington University, St. Louis, adding: “I think we are all looking for simple answers. There will be answers. They will not be simple.”
The widespread use of GLP-1s like Ozempic and Zepbound has upended ideas about what those answers might be and how soon we might have them.
Daniel Drucker, an endocrinologist at the University of Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, gave me some examples of what patients are experiencing:
“They’re emailing me and calling me and saying: ‘My arthritis is better. My Crohn’s disease is better. My post-Covid lung fatigue syndrome’s better. My concussion symptoms are better. My endometriosis is gone away. My chronic pain and headaches are gone away.’”
As tempting as it may be to experiment with off-label drugs or supplements, the wisest course of action according to most researchers is still a holistic one: Eat a balanced diet, exercise, sleep.
The person whose advice you should follow remains your doctor.
Link: New York Times Magazine
‘Naked Dressing’ Is Spreading and It’s Making Things Awkward
Barely-there outfits are moving from the runway to weddings and business conferences; ‘I have no idea where to look right now.’
“Naked dressing” started as a look for publicity-seeking celebrities and fashion designers. Now it is migrating from the runways and red carpets to everyday shoppers—and it’s not exactly going smoothly.
People are showing up in barely-there outfits to business conferences and weddings, prompting shock and discomfort among other attendees.
When Christian Espinosa walked into a dinner during a cybersecurity conference in Scottsdale, Ariz., he did a double take. Seated near him was a woman in a bralette and sheer black skirt.
“I’m not someone who rattles easily,” said the 47-year-old founder of a cybersecurity company. “But I remember thinking, ‘I have no idea where to look right now.’”
The woman turned out to be the keynote speaker. She killed the speech. But Espinosa said attendees spent more time whispering about her outfit than talking about her presentation.
Some women say showing skin makes them feel liberated. Others see it as another form of female objectification.
“It’s a hard no,” said Regina Levy, a 41-year-old attorney in Westchester, N.Y. “I have two prepubescent boys. They would go insane if they saw their mom dressed that way.”
At a recent Hawaiian-themed wedding in Sausalito, Calif., most guests arrived in Hawaiian shirts and hula skirts. But one wore a nude colored thong bikini bottom and bandeau top, said Nikita Khandheria, whose events company hosted the affair.
Khandheria told the woman there was a dress code and if she didn’t put on more clothes, she would be asked to leave. She walked her across the street where she bought a cover-up.
“At a wedding, the bride should be the center of attention,” Khandheria said. “Not some friend who is basically naked.”
Link: Wall Street Journal (Suzanne Kapner)
Morgan Freeman Is Pushing 90, With No Plans to Stop
The 89-year-old actor returns for the third season of “Lioness,” and he still can’t understand the fuss over his voice.
Morgan Freeman insists he still does not understand the fuss over his voice. The 89-year-old Oscar-winning actor has voiced God and presidents, and he is the go-to narrator for your favorite documentarian. He still brushes aside the impact of his immediately recognizable, resonant baritone.
At what point did you realize that your voice was such a unique instrument?
I still haven’t. I’m just being told that.
At what age were you first told that?
I don’t know — 80, 75.
That’s hard to believe.
Don’t find it hard to believe. My career didn’t even get started when I was 50.
What goes through your head when people say that you have a profound voice and cadence?
“Gee whiz,” is what goes through my head. “Really? Thank you very much.” That’s it. What else are you going to do with it?
Is there a role left that you haven’t played that you still want to?
No. I’m pushing 90 now. So, the roles that I wished I had been able to play, Denzel Washington will play.
What is it that keeps driving you to make art?
I’m like Clint Eastwood on that: Don’t let the old man in. So, keep working. If you can get out of bed and don’t fall down when you do it, then you just count your blessings and keep moving. So, I’ll work as long as I can — as long as somebody says, Do you want to do this part?
Link: New York Times (Jonathan Abrams)
As France’s Elders Swelter in the Heat, Postal Workers Come to the Rescue
To help prevent heat-related deaths, the French government has asked postal workers to check in on older people.
When Harmony Simon, a postal worker in Aix-les-Bains, a lakeside town in southeastern France, rang the bell of a retiree’s apartment on a scorching recent morning, she wasn’t there to deliver the mail.
She was there to check that the retired woman, Martine Combe, 68, who suffers from diabetes and asthma, hadn’t succumbed to heat stroke.
The exchange was not a one-off. Ms. Simon was there as part of a countrywide emergency policy introduced in June by Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, when a brutal heat wave hit France, breaking several heat records. All postal workers are now encouraged to not only deliver the mail, but also to check on older people.
Much like the rest of Europe — the fastest-warming continent, and the one with the oldest average population — France has endured a series of heat waves since the start of the summer. According to a provisional estimate by Santé Publique France, the national public health agency, nearly 6,000 people died as a result of the most severe one in June, of whom two-thirds were aged 75 and older.
“Some of them, well, unfortunately, they see just us,” Ms. Simon said as she sorted through the mail at the post office before the start of her round.
The first woman she visited that day was Elvire Bertagnolio, 95, who lives alone on the fifth floor of a modern building near the train station.
She had not left her apartment in months, she said, and rarely gets visitors except for her son, Charles, who lives hundreds of miles away. “I suffer from loneliness,” she said.
Link: New York Times (Ségolène Le Stradic)
A Vote on Leaving Canada Is the Gamble of a Lifetime for Alberta’s Leader
Premier Danielle Smith says she opposes her province breaking away, though she paved the way for a high-stakes referendum
Danielle Smith, the premier of this rugged oil-rich province, is regarded as a maverick with a reputation for taking political risks. Now she is embarking on perhaps the biggest gamble of them all.
Smith has paved the way for a referendum on Oct. 19 that will ask if the province should stay in Canada or start the process toward a second, binding referendum on whether to leave it for good.
Smith insists she wants Alberta to remain part of Canada, albeit with substantial autonomy. But she made it easier for separatists to have a vote, and critics say she fanned their grievances.
“She is very much aware that the people who helped bring her to power as premier are some of the most passionate separatists,” said Shachi Kurl, president of the Angus Reid Institute, a pollster. “It’s a tough bind.”
Smith has smoothed the separatists’ path to a referendum. She cut the number of signatures needed for a citizen petition to trigger such a vote. When a judge dealt another blow to separatists in May, Smith appealed the ruling and called the referendum.
“She has not appeared to do anything to get in the way of this referendum,” said Lisa Young, a political scientist at the University of Calgary. “A lot of people are left puzzled by the gap between her actions and the words that she says about being a federalist.”
Link: Wall Street Journal (Amanda Coletta)
‘It’s Really Not for the Faint of Heart’: This 29-Year-Old CEO Became a Business Owner, Doubled Revenue in 3 Years, and Learned What Car Not to Drive
One of the first bolt-on acquisitions Lucas Philips tried to close was a tiny shop in rural Oregon — a guy who had spent decades fabricating custom interiors for Porsches.
Philips flew to Portland, grabbed a brand-new convertible Mustang on a free upgrade from his shiny new Hertz President’s Circle card, and spent three-and-a-half hours driving south through “the most beautiful” Oregon landscape toward the seller’s property.
The owner had originally quoted $40,000 for the operation. Two days later, after watching Philips pull up in a gleaming convertible and spend time on site, he decided the price should be more like $320,000.
“I regret that so much to this day,” Philips said. “I should have just taken the Camry.”
Lucas Philips grew up watching his father do something increasingly rare among his generation: own a small business outright and still make it home in time for school drop-offs and hockey practice. At 26, he decided to do the same — acquiring a niche manufacturer of custom automotive interiors in Newark, N.J.
Now 29, Philips told Fortune that he’s glad he did it, but “it’s really not for the faint of heart.”
Since acquiring Newark Auto, Philips has pushed annual revenue from “a little over a million” at purchase to more than $3 million this year, in roughly five years of operating time.
“Once you buy the business, it is your business and no matter what skeletons are buried in the closet, you’re stuck with the thing,” he said, joking that it’s not like you can go to some “customer service counter” and return it if you don’t like what you find post-closing.
“I wake up between 4:30 and 5:30, and I’m in the office by 7, 7:30 every morning,” he said, adding that manufacturing “generally doesn’t work 9 to 5” and often runs 7:30 to 4 or multiple shifts.
Philips contrasted his environment with the perk-laden offices that many of his Northwestern peers inhabit. “The people who work for me do not have a background working at companies that provide foosball tables and free lunch every day.”
He’s talked to 22-year-olds who say they want to follow his path and said that makes him queasy. “I don’t know if I would recommend that they buy a business as their first thing,” he said.
Link: Fortune (Nick Lichtenberg)
Backup: https://archive.ph/0sqa1
Can You Buy Friendship? The Pros and Cons of Paid Social Clubs
Feeling lonely in a big city? You’re not alone.
Amid crowded streets and the constant noise of urban life, a surprising trend is quietly taking hold: the rise of paid social clubs.
Once a niche idea, these curated groups are becoming a go-to option for people seeking connection in a way that feels safe, structured and genuinely social. Some popular examples include Timeleft, which matches strangers for group dinners, Chirpy Plus, a membership-based community for people aged over 50, and EatWith, an app for social dining experiences.
Paid social clubs promise a low-risk way to meet people, especially for those feeling isolated or wanting to escape the virtual world. But monetising human connection does introduce some ethical tensions.
Higher fees – especially for popular clubs – can widen existing social gaps. Being excluded from selective groups can intensify feelings of isolation and reinforce invisible walls of discrimination. If membership becomes a privilege, those left out may pay a social price.
Genuine friendship relies on trust, reciprocity and shared vulnerability – qualities that take time, openness and affection to build. Social clubs can help people find others with similar interests, and offer an easy entry point for introverts, but they don’t guarantee lasting friendship.
There is also a paradox at play with these apps. Friendship grows through repeated, sometimes awkward, real-world interaction – and those moments help us build social confidence and relationship skills. It’s worth asking whether paid social clubs reduce opportunities to develop these skills naturally.
Link: The Independent
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend. See you in the comments!
Oh, and thanks for mentioning a Canadian story. Didn’t read the article as I have lived that story for a while. There are lots of Albertans and other western Canadians who are tired of being second class behind eastern Canada. One example? BC Ferries are subsidized $1.43 per passenger; ferries on the east coast are subsidized $240 per passenger despite larger populations on the West Coast. There are many, many others, like elections are decided through votes in Ontario and east long before the polls have closed in Western Canada. We won’t even mention Quebec. I don’t think the separation will happen but it might just wake up Ottawa that the West is serious about the imbalance in the governance model.
Looking back at my pictures from the 80’s, I wonder what these naked dressing women are going to think about their wardrobe 10 years from now. Sometimes fashion trend should just not be followed. I don’t want to see nearly naked women on the street any more than I want to look at some man’s big hairy belly on the street. The social concept of appropriate clothing may change but common sense doesn’t.
I wonder if those in the social clubs are actually more real than those online. It is still quite possible to be a phoney in real life, we’ve all met them. I have met people through sporting groups, continuing education and even ads in the paper, but I would be very hesitant to join a social club unless I already knew some of the members.
And props to the post people for checking on the elders. That reminds me, I need to check on my neighbour across the hall.