Silly snails and carrot legends
I hope you appreciate bad puns.
Slowly but surely the chaos of home reno projects has subsided and a sense of normalcy has returned to our home. I had, optimistically, thought February was going to be the month I kicked back into gear when it came to my writing, but there’s just one week left and here we are. That said, a whiff of inspiration has finally drifted past, so I’m going to try and hold on to it.
As always, feel free to get in touch with any comments and suggestions. Here's the sign up link if you feel so inclined to share with others.
This week I learned…
A distillery in Scotland claims to have made the world’s first “climate positive” gin using peas. This means more emissions are avoided than released during production.
For 14 years, NASA and the Najavo nation have taught Navajo students about the creation of the universe, explaining cultural and scientific understandings side-by-side.
A French ski resort had to deliver snow by helicopter to avoid closure after a recent thaw.
Ever wonder why we say eating carrots improves your eyesight? It turns out that during WWII the Royal Air Force, in an effort to keep their radar technology a secret from the Germans, lied and said the reason why they could see so well at night was actually because the British troops were simply eating so many carrots.
By the numbers…
$0.03/minute: Amount some inmates in the U.S. are charged to read e-books.
2,400: Number of life jackets once worn by refugees that now hang above a museum’s entrance in Minneapolis.
I’m watching…
… pun-filled TikToks by the head of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History’s mollusc collection. He’s become somewhat of a “shell-ebrity.”
I’m reading…
Why is witchcraft on the rise? — Bianca Bosker for The Atlantic
The agriculture queens of Louisiana — Jeanie Riess for The New York Times
Taking the pulse of the planet — Meera Subramanian for UnDark
ICYMI
The computer scientist who invented cut, copy, and paste, passed away this week. Larry Tesler was known for his work to make software and user interfaces more accessible and easy to use.