PicoBlog

Follow the Transoceanic highway from the coast of Honduras, through the border into Guatemala, like dozens of tons of smuggled cocaine does every year, and you could easily miss the tiny town of La Reforma, just off that highway, where the Lorenzana drug-trafficking family was perfectly positioned before they were taken down in the early 2010s. Unless you were specifically looking for it. Like I was. Last year. During a trip reporting on women I am covering for the book.

Hi hello! Wil Williams back at it again at Krispy Kreme (Podcast the Newsletter, because we are that sweet). It’s Valentine’s Day week, and as someone who LOVES LOVE, I am personally excited & thrilled & enthused & putting pink heart glitter on my face & buying people flowers. And as always always always, sharing my love for podcasting and the audio medium overall. Hopefully you’ll find some new loves from this edition too!

Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance tells the story of a man and his son, Robert Pirsig and Chris, who, along with his friends John and Sylvia, go on a road trip to San Francisco by motorcycle from their home in Minnesota. The book is more about Pirsig dealing with his existential angst than it is about the road trip itself. The backdrop is a foil for Pirsig to unpack his philosophy.

Pizza Friends: Where to begin? I have three things. First, the wonderful shared two salad recipes from Pizza Night in her newsletter last weekend, and in addition to the post making my week, it also sent many of you my way… thank you for coming! I have been a huge fan of the Department of Salad from the very beginning and to not only have salads featured there but also share some of Emily’s readers, well, it’s just a dream.

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.

The recipe for success in business is simple but difficult: develop an irresistible promise and deliver on it every single time. Then you become known for it and people will flock. That second part – delivering on the promise – is how you develop trust. In this fast-paced world of a zillion thing-a-ma-do’s that don’t and hucksters pawing your wallet, trust is among the rarest, most precious substances. If you have trust, you’re golden.

Zombie Disney Princesses 1/ Ariel ate her sushi. She's still hungry. Swim! 2/ The mice were tasty but she's looking for more. Don't lose your shoe running from Cinderella. 3/ Snow White is grumpy, so she ate Grumpy... but that was just an appetizer. 4/ The Beast met her match in Zombie Belle.You'll be her guest 5/ I'll make you brush and brush and brush my hair 6/ uh-oh, you woke up Aurora!

A p-zombie, or philosophical zombie, is a hypothetical entity defined as follows, per wikipedia: “a hypothetical being that is physically identical to and indistinguishable from a normal person but does not have conscious experience, qualia, or sentience. …For example, if a philosophical zombie were poked with a sharp object it would not inwardly feel any pain, yet it would outwardly behave exactly as if it did feel pain, including verbally expressing pain.

Never mind Imagine You Are An Aluminium Atom . Imagine coming across what appears to be an image of your book online and, upon looking closer, finding something somewhat different. If you have already clicked on the link you will know that I am talking about a French translation of my book. Or is it? The French publishers have changed the title of my book though I am still listed as the author.