Week 06-24 - Curiosities

Greetings from the Mesa

Happy Lunar New Year! We made dumplings - red bean paste, and chicken green chile. We don't have a yéye, or nǎinai to watch over our dumpling making so we did our best. And they were delicious. Still bogged down in bureaucratic crap, hopefully that will be winding down over the next couple weeks.

Curiosities of the Week

Everyone's a sellout now (Vox). Counter the turn yourself into a brand, vs. passively hanging out a shingle and seeing who floats your way. We are at end-stage capitalism here for sure. What's next?

Inside the Crime Rings Trafficking Sand (Scientific American) There are sand mafias. And they are destroying the planet. A profoundly sad article.

Inside the Censorship Scandal That Rocked Sci-Fi and Fantasy's Biggest Awards (Esquire) Was it China's influence, or something else? No one seems to know. As a reader of many Hugo award winning books I had no idea that you can cast a vote if you are a member. That's pretty rad. Will there be anything left in this world that is transparent and democratic?

Common food preservative has unexpected effects on the gut microbiome (Phys Org) "It seems that lantibiotics (like Nisin) and lantibiotic-producing bacteria are not always good for health, so we are looking for ways to counter the potential bad influence while taking advantage of their more beneficial antimicrobial properties."

Prisoners in the US are part of a hidden workforce linked to hundreds of popular food brands (AP News) It's slavery.

Consuming

TV/Movies: Still making our way through True Detective: Night Country. And loving it. Apparently there's been a "scandal" over the ratings for the show which are being review bombed by "bros".

Thinking about: Ageism, traitors/treason, and the rise of polyamory in the news.