"What I'm Into" Wednesdays - 8.16.23

The Wednesday experiment continues! Also thanks to everyone who opened email on Sunday or Monday morning. Friday posts have traditionally been less popular, as few people get hyped to put 1000 words in their face on a Friday afternoon, so experiments with Sunday Evening Post have begun! Also, here’s what I’m thinking about this week (Editor’s Note: Not sure if the “What I’m Into” is too broad or too odd. Comment if you have a strong reaction either way!) 

An ancient mosaic found in Tel Megiddo, might be moved to the Museum of the Bible, the Hobby Lobby DC flagship store x Museum. The spot is more widely known for displaying thousands of antiquities looted from Iraq, including a Mesopotamian tablet, and has had to admit its Dead Sea Scroll fragments were fake. This seems relevant given the belief that Megiddo will be the site of Revelations and the “End of the World” spoken about during the action-adventure part of the New Testament. So, you can guess why some are uneasy about moving artifacts around in the place foretold to be where Apocalypse Begins.

Political leader in Ecuador is killed less than a week after presidential candidate’s assassination (AP) Uhm, is anyone else seeing what’s going on in Ecuador? A mayor killed in late July, a presidential candidate murdered in the middle of the day last week, and now, a local party leader joins the group. Ecuador’s political system might be destabilizing before our eyes.

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel (ProPublica) The dismantling of Thomas’ ethics front continues, with ProPublica diligently doing the Work. I don’t know that I’ve taken 38 vacations in my life, much less, while at the same job.

Unprecedented levels of damage from storms this year is upending US towns and the insurance industry (AP) So…what happens to insurance when once-a-century storms become annual nightmares? Florida only just mandated flood insurance for home owners, but how does the system work when the math stops favoring the biz at scale?

Prisoner uses sheets to escape from 5th floor of NYC hospital and hail taxi; he’s still at large (AP) I mean, respect? Escaping a Manhattan hospital and remaining at large for more than a few hours is villain-level stuff. Also, for anyone who watched The Wire, this is what probably came to mind first:

The Gamification of Reading Is Changing How We Approach Books (Shondaland) & I Would Rather See My Books Get Pirated Than This (Or: Why Goodreads and Amazon Are Becoming Dumpster Fires) (Jane Friedman) I had no idea some users treat Goodreads the way hardcore gamers treat Diablo 4. Reading to expressly virtue signal on a social network is the wildest flex, but I suppose any gamified system will have a leaderboard. The Shondaland read is as eye-opening & bewildering as Jane’s piece is frustrating. Authors are seeing garbage AI books up on Amazon & Goodreads attributed to them, with little to no power to take them down. Strong work ChatGPT, strong work.

Leaving you with the unreleased collaboration between Daft Punk & Jay-Z. Because everyone will be Computerized.

Keep your head up,T

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