Sup, nerds? I’m at work and hurriedly writing this on my lunch break, so I hope you’ll forgive the brevity. I’ve really been falling down on the job, eh? I promise a return to normal in the new year - I’ll be taking next Thursday off for the holiday, unless of course I have something to say.
Short and Sweet
You know what a minor hypochondirac like me needs? Encyclopedic knowledge of extremely rare diseases! Our advice column this week is Diagnosis, from the New York Times. Remember, when you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras. Unless you’ve travelled to Africa recently. I swear like half of the medical mysteries in this column could be solved by seeing a tropical diseases expert FIRST.
The Crane Wife: “It turns out, if you want to save a species, you don’t spend your time staring at the bird you want to save. You look at the things it relies on to live instead. You ask if there is enough to eat and drink. You ask if there is a safe place to sleep. Is there enough here to survive? […] If there were a kind of rehab for people ashamed to have needs, maybe this was it. You will go to the gulf. You will count every wolfberry. You will measure the depth of each puddle.”
Your weekly "We're Doomed!" “Timothy Shank has been studying the deep sea for almost 30 years. In 2014, he led an international mission to complete the first systematic study of the hadal ecosystem—but even Shank has no idea how mining could affect the hadal zone, because he still has no idea what it contains. If you want a sense of how little we know about the deep ocean, how difficult it is to study, and what’s at stake when industry leaps before science, Shank’s research is a good place to start. “
Listen Up!
I finally got around to listening to Lana Del Rey’s new album, Norman Fucking Rockwell. I haven’t even dumped anyone recently, but it’s making me want to make a salty break-up playlist, there are so many good snarky tracks.
I’ve also been binge-listening to Patient Zero, a deep dive radio series on Lyme Disease from New Hampshire Public Radio. It’s uh…. not reassuring. Enjoy scaring the shit out of yourself!
Get Thee to the Library!
I actually haven’t managed to read an entire book this week! I know. WHAT? That’s how you know I’ve really been ill. However, I did start reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and …. I’m pretty sure it works better as a play. I can’t remember who any of these people are! If someone has a link to a theatre performance I could buy or stream online, I’d love to read along with the show.
I also have a massive omnibus collection of John Updike that I picked up out of a free box in Montreal. I’m really looking forward to hate-reading it. Patricia Lockwood, one of my all-time favourite poets, recently eviscerated him in this sensationally funny review for the London Review of Books. Don’t click that link at work, FYI.
That’s all I got for ya! I’ve got Constantine’s Christmas present sitting on the passenger seat of my van and I’m DYING to open it, but I’ll be patient. I won’t pretend like I didn’t peek throught the clear tape, but all I can see is something navy. So curious!
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Sunday Snacks // Dec 22
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Sup, nerds? I’m at work and hurriedly writing this on my lunch break, so I hope you’ll forgive the brevity. I’ve really been falling down on the job, eh? I promise a return to normal in the new year - I’ll be taking next Thursday off for the holiday, unless of course I have something to say.
Short and Sweet
You know what a minor hypochondirac like me needs? Encyclopedic knowledge of extremely rare diseases! Our advice column this week is Diagnosis, from the New York Times. Remember, when you hear hoofbeats think horses, not zebras. Unless you’ve travelled to Africa recently. I swear like half of the medical mysteries in this column could be solved by seeing a tropical diseases expert FIRST.
The Crane Wife: “It turns out, if you want to save a species, you don’t spend your time staring at the bird you want to save. You look at the things it relies on to live instead. You ask if there is enough to eat and drink. You ask if there is a safe place to sleep. Is there enough here to survive? […] If there were a kind of rehab for people ashamed to have needs, maybe this was it. You will go to the gulf. You will count every wolfberry. You will measure the depth of each puddle.”
Your weekly "We're Doomed!" “Timothy Shank has been studying the deep sea for almost 30 years. In 2014, he led an international mission to complete the first systematic study of the hadal ecosystem—but even Shank has no idea how mining could affect the hadal zone, because he still has no idea what it contains. If you want a sense of how little we know about the deep ocean, how difficult it is to study, and what’s at stake when industry leaps before science, Shank’s research is a good place to start. “
Listen Up!
I finally got around to listening to Lana Del Rey’s new album, Norman Fucking Rockwell. I haven’t even dumped anyone recently, but it’s making me want to make a salty break-up playlist, there are so many good snarky tracks.
I’ve also been binge-listening to Patient Zero, a deep dive radio series on Lyme Disease from New Hampshire Public Radio. It’s uh…. not reassuring. Enjoy scaring the shit out of yourself!
Get Thee to the Library!
I actually haven’t managed to read an entire book this week! I know. WHAT? That’s how you know I’ve really been ill. However, I did start reading The Crucible by Arthur Miller, and …. I’m pretty sure it works better as a play. I can’t remember who any of these people are! If someone has a link to a theatre performance I could buy or stream online, I’d love to read along with the show.
I also have a massive omnibus collection of John Updike that I picked up out of a free box in Montreal. I’m really looking forward to hate-reading it. Patricia Lockwood, one of my all-time favourite poets, recently eviscerated him in this sensationally funny review for the London Review of Books. Don’t click that link at work, FYI.
That’s all I got for ya! I’ve got Constantine’s Christmas present sitting on the passenger seat of my van and I’m DYING to open it, but I’ll be patient. I won’t pretend like I didn’t peek throught the clear tape, but all I can see is something navy. So curious!
Talk to you in 2020! Take care!
-Magpie