Scientists discover why your middle-age metabolism is being such a jerk – Boing Boing
Yay science!
An Increasingly Worse Response — Garrick van Buren
A toy giraffe that, when a person engages with it, can only — collapse.
As a metaphor for new technologies, this toy giraffe’s message is worth considering, “we break when any pressure is applied.”
Finally, a useful way of thinking about the current usefulness of AI.
People can change – annie’s blog
People can change. The only limit on what you can learn in a lifetime is how many years you get. There is not a hard stop on openness or curiosity. Change is difficult but people can change. It is right to ask them to do so because things change when people change.
My wife fulfilled a bucket list item with a book.
“We lead the world because, unique among nations, we draw our people—our strength—from every country and every corner of the world. And by doing so we continuously renew and enrich our nation. While other countries cling to the stale past, here in America we breathe life into dreams. We create the future, and the world follows us into tomorrow. Thanks to each wave of new arrivals to this land of opportunity, we’re a nation forever young, forever bursting with energy and new ideas, and always on the cutting edge, always leading the world to the next frontier. This quality is vital to our future as a nation. If we ever closed the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”
Jambon Beurre
On the subject of food, my most recent food obsession is the humble Jambon Beurre — the unofficial national sandwich of France (more than three million jambon-beurre sandwiches are sold in France each day).
So simple. Only three ingredients. But, in discussing this with my Dad today another side thought occurred to me… Because of its simplicity the quality of each ingredient matters that much more. And, I believe this to be a general rule of thumb. The simpler the dish, the more important the quality of the ingredients — the mediocre simply has no where to hide!
You can use canned peas in a casserole and folks will likely never notice. Use them for mushy peas and they’ll likely be terrible.
So, with the jambon beurre I’m careful to use good ham (usually a lightly smoked prosciutto actually), a generous slather of Président butter and a fresh baguette.
I’ve tried the cheap quality alternatives to all three and, well, let’s just say it is not why I keep making them.
“An investment in your health…”
This idea came up in conversation with my dad this morning (credit mostly to him):
If you use a microwave until it dies, no problem. You can buy a new one.
You can drive a car until the wheels are practically falling off. Then replace it with a new one.
You only have one body. It can’t be replaced.
Just like the car or the microwave, how well you maintain them and carefully you use them will have an effect on how long they last.
But your body, once it’s done, it’s done.
So, it’s even more important to use and maintain it as well as you can, for as long as you can. Because it’s irreplaceable.
So, put the best fuel (food) in it you can. Make sure that fuel is clean and high-quality (organic, sustainable, balanced, chemical free, ingredients you can trust, etc.). Keep your regularly scheduled maintenance visits (doctors, dentist, etc.). Run it regularly at both cruising and highway speeds (regular walking and exercise). Give it regular washings and keep it looking good (clean cars run better and last longer, so do bodies). These things may cost you more, but that’s because they are better and better for you.
I like this way of thinking about it and making choices for what I do and consume based on this line of thought.
Pairs well with a conversation I had with a friend many years ago, explaining why the added expense often kept me from shopping at the wonderful natural food co-op that’s just a block and a half away as often as I should. He turned to me and said, “Patrick, it’s an investment in your health”.
All these years later, these words ring in my head whenever I shop there.
Our family rules:
We don’t Door Dash. We don’t Uber Eat. We don’t Shipt. We don’t get it delivered. We don’t drive up. We don’t drive through.
We pick up. We get out of our car. We go in. We talk to the cashiers. Sometimes the cook. We say thank you to a person.
Where does blogging fit in your newsletter strategy?
Remember, anything can be a blog post. Not everything can be YouTube video, a podcast, or pithy quote for social media.
Love this.
Thoughts on Pope Francis
My faith journey has been, well, complicated. But a large and very influential part of that journey was as a Catholic. I converted from Methodist around age 12 and, though I’ve long journeyed away from the practice of faith, my true spiritual heart was forged there.
While I never felt any particular feelings towards any of the other Popes of my lifetime, Pope Francis was the outlier. Though I did not know him personally, I felt a particular respect and admiration for him.
Reports of all who have met and known him indicate he was a truly pious and humble man who stayed steadfast to his Jesuit practice of service to the poor. Mixed reports early in his tenure of him sneaking out of the Vatican at night to feed the poor had more a ring of truth than some actual verifiable actions of any previous Pope. One would hear such a story and not really question whether it was something he would do if he could.
I even have one direct loose connection to him — I did the graphic design for a report on The Overlooked Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad that was presented to him personally and he received many briefings on. The intended use was as a possible blueprint for modern peace between Abrahamic religions. An effort that is well expressed in his Fratelli tutti encyclical.
All of this is to say that the loss of this Pope weights heavily more than others, and I pray for those who must pick the one to fill his humble shoes.
Rest in peace, Francis.