Wolmania - Friday, September 3, 2021
Between climate change/extreme weather, disheartening SCOTUS decisions (and despicable Texas legislative decisions), an anxiety-inducing California gubernatorial recall effort, and the infuriating need to make the bed every single day, it's been a pretty terrible few weeks. Oh yeah and this pandemic is still going on. So suffice it to say that things are feeling kind of rough over here at Wolmania HQ. I don't have anything wise or original to say about any of that, except that it's also annoying that dishes must be washed, clothes must be laundered, children must be fed, etc., endlessly. Entropy simply must be stopped.
But anyway, all of those bad things are happening and our individual ability to address them is limited, but there are other good things that exist and in this issue I'm going to highlight a few of them. I hope you find at least one of these items interesting or amusing or life-affirming (no pressure).
Item 1: a link
How to Paint 50,000 Miles of Lines
Sometimes a link doesn't need to be complicated or reveal anything about the human condition. It can be as simple as the New York Times depicting what it's like to paint all those lines on the road through a fun interactive feature. Click on this and see that!
Item 2: a list
Formal table setting items, ranked
- Sherry glass
- Oyster fork (not pictured)
- Butter knife
- Salt cellar (not pictured)
- Dinner fork
- Water glass
- Red wine glass
- Soup spoon
- Champagne glass
- Fish fork
- Salad fork
- Salt shaker (not pictured)
- White wine glass
- Butter plate
- Fish knife
- Service plate
- Finger bowl (not pictured)
- Pepper shaker (not pictured and ideally not in the building)
Item 3: a media recommendation
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a great podcast from Jonathan Goldstein, who you may remember from some very special This American Life segments (perhaps most notably this one, about "what some have called the greatest phone message in the world"). He's very Canadian and awkward, as is the show. In each episode, someone comes to Goldstein with a problem or a conflict or a mystery that they want him to look into and, ideally, resolve.
In this episode, Rob (Corddry! even though the show doesn't regularly feature famous people (but there is also a good episode about Moby)) "remembers breaking his arm as a kid. But the rest of his family says it never happened. Did he break his arm? The answer will determine Rob’s sanity."
Heavyweight is one of my favorite podcasts for long road trips, and I live in terror of the day it becomes a Spotify exclusive. But in the meantime, a new season starts pretty soon and I'm excited about that.
Item 4: a photograph
Thanks for reading. I hope you have enjoyed our time together. I'll try to lead off with less of a downer for a preamble next week, but no promises.
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