Afternoon Tea 12.9.21 - Cocaine Tsunami

We’re losing people to flooded storm drains, a planet orbits three stars, a different planet has earned the moniker “super-Jupiter,” Ukraine trolled the shit out of Russia on Twitter, and Antwerp grapples with a “cocaine tsunami.” It’s Thursday, December 9th 2021, and this is your Tea. Today’s Holiday vibe comes from mixmaster Wuki again, spreading Christmas cheer.

Storm Drains Keep Swallowing People During Floods (ProPublica) This is “Timmy fell down the well” level embarrassing for our society. If we’re not going to fight climate change, can we at least get some grates on these things?

Belgian Port City Grapples With a Flood of Cocaine (New York Times) A tsunami of cocaine must have the wildest aftereffects. Instead of finding drowned bodies everywhere, everyone is in the bathroom, there are no more cigarettes or Jagermeister in the port city, and no one can figure out how to turn off the Tekno blaring through the ruination.

Once-Stuck Ship Gets Another Chance for Passage Through the Suez Canal (Bloomberg) We’re really doing this again, huh? In case you thought your job came with pressure, just imagine what the replacement Captain is going through.

War with Russia in air, Ukraine is shitposting memes on Twitter (India Today) This is where we’re at. Ukraine tweeting side-eye shitposts at Russia. Because the internet loves a good joke, even Taiwan got in on the fun.

Will democracy summit examine US role in perpetuating authoritarianism? (Responsible Statecraft) Given how many autocrats we mail weapons to, it is kind of apex hubris to whine about the world dragging its feet on democratizing.

Alien 'super-Jupiter' breaks the mold on where planets can exist (Reuters) Every day, we learn more about our universe. While some people haven’t dreamed looking at the stars in decades.

Return-to-Office Chaos Is the Best Thing to Happen to Consultants Since Y2K (Businessweek) “If you can’t provide the solution, there’s plenty of money to be made extending the problem.” ~Demotivational Posters, circa 2003

Did a Pulitzer-Winning Journalist Deceive Hundreds of Musicians? (Pitchfork) Such an important story, kind of hard to wrap one’s head around. Essentially a NYTimes reporter tricked hundreds of musicians into signing away the rights to music they made, and is now pulling in thousands monthly from streaming royalties.

Scientists may have found the first known planet to orbit three stars (Science) “Circumtriple” sounds like an act that gets you banned from basic cable.

A New Tesla Safety Concern: Drivers Can Play Video Games in Moving Cars (New York Times) We’re really not about the nanny state around here, but this feels like a bad idea for drivers. I don’t care how much you like video games or self-driving cars, the only passengers allowed to play Smash Brothers are in the backseat.

Poem of the Tea: Camille Inkwell can be a bit intense at times. Sometimes, intense is needed.

Ain’t not shame in holding on to grief…as long as you make room for other things too. ~Bubbles, The Wire

Yours,