PicoBlog

The ancient Greek philosopher Diogenes was the original punk rocker, long before punk rock was a thing. I dedicated an episode of History on Fire to his life. But for people who don’t have two hours to listen to a podcast, I created something much shorter that still gives you a taste for Diogenes’ personality. The tale of his encounter with Alexander the Great meets the textbook definition of badassery. Alexander, apparently, had a thing for homeless philosophers yelling at him, since he deeply admired Diogenes, and had a similar reaction to some Indian sadhus reading him the riot act.

👋 Hi. How’s everyone doing? In my experience, January is consistently horrible and this year is no different. Last week’s insurrection was both terrifying and the logical conclusion of four years of violent, inflammatory rhetoric. I’ve been tethered to Twitter for days — doomscrolling and finding moments of awe, like learning about Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman’s split-second decisions that very likely saved lives while putting his own at risk. It’s felt like we’re on the precipice of something for a while now.

Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, perhaps the most accomplished as well as the most popular American track-and-field athlete over the past several years, has withdrawn from the upcoming 2023 World Athletics Championships with a knee injury issue. Bobby Kersee coaches both McLaughlin-Levrone and Athing Mu, the 21-year-old American record-holder in the 800 meters. In January, Kersee said that he expected to see these two racing frequently in 2023. In a world in which prominent observers of track and field were remotely sane or informed, Alison Wade would not have become an instant fan of “Formula Kersee,” because one of the topics Wade is extraordinarily shrewish about is the abuse of female athletes by male coaches, and she would have found Kersee’s “formula” deeply sour.

Issue 69. Subscribers 9854. Promotion Our paid subscribers will have exclusive access to a curated selection of websites offering telescope rentals for star photography, along with a comprehensive guide to observatories that are open for visits, perfect for family excursions to spark your children's interest in astronomy. Additionally, we provide an array of beneficial resources, including a detailed list of space conferences scheduled for 2024 and insights into the latest industry trends.

Hi! Welcome to This Side of Japan, a newsletter about Japanese music, new and old! You can check out previous issues here. There is no newsletter for this Wednesday. I want to reserve some time to prep for my year-end list, but I also want to just give myself a little break from This Side of Japan. I still wanted to provide some content for you to read, though, so I put together a fun discussion with my friend Hannah about Denonbu, a project that we’ve been both excited about.

Molly X. Chang is having a difficult year and it’s only March. A debut author with her fantasy novel, To Gaze Upon Wicked Gods, set to come out in April of this year, Chang has found herself in the midst of several book twitter kerfuffles—one of which will sound familiar to those of you who follow my particular Substack. It has been several months worth of scandals involving authors whose books haven’t even been released yet, making this one of the most controversy-laden set of debut authors of which most of us have ever heard.

(Listen to the radio version here.) In our many visits to the Kissimmee/Orlando area to visit our son, Russ and I have visited the Disney Wilderness Preserve several times. It’s out of the way and doesn’t open as early as I usually want to start birding, but it’s one of my favorite places in Florida. I love it because unlike everything else associated with the name Disney or anywhere near Orlando, this 11,500-acre preserve is managed by The Nature Conservancy.

Slight spoilers below for Disney+’s Renegade Nell When my family left the movie theater at the mall in 1991, after spending 90 minutes soaking in the magic of The Little Mermaid, my parents said I was uncharacteristically quiet. My sister, who has a voice like an angel, was already singing the parts of the songs she could remember from the movie, and usually I'd be trying to harmonize with her, or telling her more words that I remembered, or talking over her with some jokes.

Good morning from the Writing Cave, where I am marveling that we are here, already, at the end of 2023. It has been a wild year, with The Puzzle Master published, a lot of travel and (best of all) meeting new people along the way.  One new friend is Conundrum, aka Connie, a two year old dachshund we adopted. If you’ve read my novel The Puzzle Master, you’ll recognize Conundrum: she is the hero, Mike Brink’s pet and side-kick.