TBT: The hard-luck Texas town that bet on bitcoin—and lost

PLUS: The best WIRED stories from this month a year ago. View this email in your browser  |  Manage newsletter subscriptions 07.09.20 In 1952, the hamlet of Rockdale, Texas, was dubbed "The Town Where It Rains Money" by The Saturday Evening Post. So when China's Bitmain said it would build the world's largest bitcoin mine there, the town was eager. Then bitcoin's price plunged. Read all about the hard-luck town that bet big on bitcoin and lost, plus the best WIRED stories from this month a year ago below.   The Hard-Luck Texas Town That Bet on Bitcoin—and Lost China's Bitmain said it would build the world's largest bitcoin mine in Rockdale, Texas. Then the price of bitcoin plunged, taking with it the town's hopes for a revival. The Best Stories From This Month, Last Year How To Clear Out Your Zombie Apps and Online Accounts All those services you signed up for but forgot about? They're a security risk. Here's how to get rid of them. How to Save Money and Skip Lines at the Airport If you're traveling these days, it's good to avoid lines. Here's what you need to know about Global Entry, TSA PreCheck, and other ways to have a less stressful flight. The Simple Way Apple and Google Let Domestic Abusers Stalk Victims To prove a point about common location-sharing apps, I asked my wife to use them to spy on me. Forget the Moon—We Should Go to Jupiter's Idyllic Europa NASA's Europa mission is struggling, but scientists are keeping the dream alive with exotic approaches to sampling that moon and its mysterious ocean. NASA Needs to Out-Crazy Elon Musk My family's ties to NASA run deep: My mother was chief scientist of the agency's Space Telescope Science Institute; my father helped start the Hubble Space Telescope program. So it is painful to witness the agency in rapid decline, squeezed from all sides by the trifecta of Musk, Bezos, and Branson. How Scientists Built a 'Living Drug' to Beat Cancer Researchers didn't know if it would work, but they had little to lose when they tried a new drug—a living cell reprogrammed to recognize and kill leukemia—on a dying 6-year-old.     This e-mail was sent to you by WIRED. To ensure delivery to your inbox (not bulk or junk folders), please add our e-mail address, wired@newsletters.wired.com, to your address book.   View our Privacy Policy Unsubscribe or manage your newsletter subscriptions