Learn To Code
June is at an end, which means it’s time for the latest Zaleski Minute. (Yes, I know I skipped May.) Remember, if it takes you longer than 60 seconds to get through this, complain to management.
What I Was Writing:
For Postindustrial: I previewed this story in April’s Zaleski Minute: It’s the tale of Mined Minds, a nonprofit that promised jobs in tech to out-of-work coal miners and underemployed folks in Appalachia. All they had to do was get through a free, 32-week boot camp to learn to code. But after a trail of layoffs and a lawsuit, former students say the camp was a far cry from what they were promised.
For OneZero: Toxic nitrogen runoff is poisoning our drinking water and killing off marine life. Most of it comes from America’s Corn Belt, a geographic area of 97 million acres in the middle of the U.S., where more than 6 million tons of nitrogen fertilizer is used each year. But what if farmers didn’t need to use fertilizer? What if corn could grow itself?
For Popular Science: Gene DeSantis has spent the predominant part of a textured life planting trees — 15,223 of them, to be exact. Meet the Johnny Appleseed of Baltimore.
Happy Independence Day, everyone. See you at the end of July.