PicoBlog

There’s been no shortage of buzz about the GLP-1 family of drugs, but that was amplified in many ways this week. In conjunction with this edition of Ground Truths there’s a podcast with Daniel Drucker, the physician-scientist credited as one of the co-discovers of glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) nearly 3 decades ago.(Sorry that you’re getting 2 emails from me today!) He helps explain some of the new findings that I’ll be going through here.

I have a confession to make. I’ve never seen Miracle on 34th Street. I know. How can I call myself a reviewer of Christmas movies if I’ve never seen Miracle on 34th Street? It’s like, the quintessential Christmas movie. It is the fertile loin from which all other Christmas movies have sprung. It’s a motherfuckin’ classic. And yeah, I dunno, I just never watched it. Here’s everything I know about Miracle on 34th Street: it’s black and white.

Happy Friday, and happy holidays.  For the season, there are few better drinks than the Brandy Alexander.  It’s an exceptionally simple cocktail, just three ingredients — brandy, creme de cacao, and heavy cream — shaken and strained into a glass, with a bit of nutmeg dusted on top. (You might add a fourth ingredient, depending on whose side you take in a minor household dispute. But we’ll get to that in a moment.

AI music is having a moment. It’s been bubbling under the surface of generative AI discourse for years, with Spotify constantly battling AI-generated uploaders and listeners. But battle lines are now drawn between two big players in the scene: In the red corner, Suno, the grand old dame of the AI-music scene having launched in checks notes December 2023. And the blue corner, Udio, landed publicly on April 10, 2024. 

I have seen the video of “Kate” and “William” on a “grocery shopping trip” at an outdoor market. It sort of looks like them and it vaguely seems authentic. I do believe she had abdominal surgery and was in the hospital for it, but I’ve done a fair amount of research and watched some very convincing videos so here are the most likely answers to “What is going on with Kate Middleton?

When I consider the moments in gaming that have brought me the most raw excitement and joy, cooperative games race to the forefront. It’s the excitement of a last-round win in Pandemic as my wife and I teach her aunt and uncle the game for their very first time. It’s the late nights with Spirit Island, where we’re certain the game has escaped our grasp, but we manage a win all the same.

Early in It’s A Wonderful Life, a young George Bailey goes to Mary’s house and they sit on the couch. George is grumpy. He can’t wait to get out of Bedford Falls. Mary gazes at him, a puppy in love. Mary’s mother — who doesn’t much care for George Bailey — calls down to her from upstairs. “Mary, who’s down there with you?” “It’s George Bailey, mother.” ”George Bailey? What’s he want?

A friend, “Moses,” reached out to me in search of a “pithy” explanation of how the Eastern Church fathers understand predestination. I provided an answer that was relatively brief but not quite pithy. I, then, decided to follow that reply with a more thorough treatment of the topic. In a word, I offered a brief history of the doctrine of predestination, in the Christian East and West. Below is part 1 of that history, covering the Latin views prior to Augustine and the Augustinian shift.

On Fridays in New York, I frequented the 97th Street farmers market, a quick walk around the corner from my apartment, to secure weekend provisions and my favorite loaf of bread (the miche from She Wolf Bakery). Years later, in Austin, I perused the aisles of Central Market, a sprawling grocery store with more varieties of chilies than I’d ever seen before. Then, last year in Birmingham, there was the Market at Pepper Place, a bustling collection of produce stands, southern baked goods, and handmade crafts.