PicoBlog

The NSDA has announced the potential LD and PF topics for the 2023-2024 season. Voting for the September/October topics opens on August 1st, and the topics will be announced on August 8th. Subscriptions to Victory Briefs for the 2023-2024 are now available. Use the code “earlybird23” before August 8th for a 10% discount. Subscribe to Victory Briefs Resolved: The United States ought to guarantee the right to housing. Resolved: The United States ought to substantially increase the use of nuclear power to generate electricity.

Late last year, Emoji 14.0 was released and among them was a curious new emoji: “Pouring Liquid” (🫗) aka Libation. While it may be new to our seemingly infinitely growing emoji keyboards it’s a gesture older than emoji itself. It’s true. How old is the act of libation? I’m glad you asked. It dates back to Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999). lololol jk. We’ve been “pouring liquid” as a way to honor the dead for millennia.

When I first laid eyes on Dining with the Dead by Mariana Nuño Ruiz and Ian McEnroe around this time last year, I knew I just had to have it. As I’m sure you know, publishers send me lots of cookbooks, but this one I bought. And that wasn’t easy, as it was sold out everywhere. I finally found it at Book Larder in Seattle. The thrill of the hunt made me want it even more.

A note to Fight Freaks Unite readers: I created Fight Freaks Unite in January 2021 and eight months later it also became available for paid subscriptions for additional content — and as a way to help keep this newsletter going and for readers to support independent journalism. If you haven’t upgraded to a paid subscription please consider it. If you have already, I truly appreciate it! Also, consider a gift subscription for the Fight Freak in your life.

Thanks for subscribing to WELLREAD. For the last 6+ years we’ve been providing folks with the need to know (NTK) news, calls to actions and resources for how to stay engaged and resourced along the way. But now, we’ve added an option to “upgrade to paid” to help sustain our work. While we will never put our content behind a pay wall, we depend on the support of our community to keep us going.

My Substack email notifications were unusually high towards the end of last week. I soon discovered David Goodwin, president of the Association of Classical Christian Schools, wrote a kind recommendation for Musically Speaking. At about the same time, I received a similar recommendation from Anthony Esolen’s Word & SongSubstack publication. As a result, I have seen a significant increase in subscribers. My thanks to these men for their kind words. To those of you who subscribed to this publication at their recommendation, thank you.

Last night, a storm came through and knocked out the power. Everything was calm until suddenly we noticed heavy winds and the trees in the backyard being bent over dramatically. We pulled out the Prayer Against Storms and prayed. The storm subsided. We later learned that a neighbor lost a large tree in the winds. We first learned of the power of this prayer 23 years ago in Minnesota. These were pre-internet and smartphone days.

Rabbit rabbit. Let's basketball. The Reader; Mary Cassatt; 1877 The NBA All-Star reserves, as selected by the league's head coaches, will be announced on Thursday. (Side note: does Doc Rivers get the Bucks' vote after voting for the starters as a member of the media? Is this is a double-vote situation?) Any number of brilliant analysts will tell you who should be named an All-Star reserve. Instead of doing that this year, I'm going to predict who the coaches will select in each conference.

Problematic faves, dissident feminism, and poodle interruptions: this is Feminine Chaos, featuring cultural commentary from Phoebe Maltz Bovy and Kat Rosenfield. Problematic faves, dissident feminism, and poodle interruptions: this is Feminine Chaos, featuring cultural commentary from Phoebe Maltz Bovy and Kat Rosenfield.ncG1vNJzZmielaKwqa3OrKeonF6owqO%2F05qapGaTpLpwvI6pqZ6lmaq6brHYnmScmZ6Zxg%3D%3D