Friday Flames | 1.26.24
A weekly synopsis of what we figured out about beefy beets, fake femurs, and why Kramer was 30 years ahead of the curve.
When Doug realized he was born 700 months ago today, he first thought about all the solemn importance he invested in his 50th birthday—which was 100 months ago. It may be silly to linger on decile milestones, but it’s fun to wonder about the robotic hellscape we’ll inhabit when he reaches 1,000 months exactly 25 years from now.
Doug is celebrating by seeing “America: For The Last Time” with Jordan Klepper and Roy Wood Jr., either of whom would have been an excellent new host of The Daily Show. (His profound ambivalence over Jon Stewart’s return is worth its own blog post.)
Magda has realized that another side effect of being 50 is failing to send all her New Year cards out when we’re almost a month into the new year. She was distracted from all the addressing and stamping and sending and has a few dozen to go. There should be some kind of #Latepass Amnesty Week for holiday cards, when all the December holiday and January Gregorian greetings just turn into Best Wishes For the Lunar New Year, and it's all OK.
Embers in the News
Here are some of the links that peeked through the noisy news cycle this week:
Retrain your brain Scientists’ new understanding of how aging disrupts the brain’s nerve cells will inform therapies against cognitive decline.
FAFSA fakakta This year’s FAFSA cycle is months behind schedule and includes a mistake that would have cost students $1.8 billion in federal student aid.
Put on the red light Here’s a local-news report about the science of red light therapy for skin health. (As usual, Kramer was ahead of the curve.)
New in midlife media
, aimed at millennial women approaching middle age, launched its website this week.
Alumnews
During Episode 14, Stewart “
“ Reynolds talked about his dad’s struggle with Parkinson’s and dementia and made us even more envious of the Canadian healthcare system. We’re sad to report that Reynolds Senior passed away this week.
This week on the podcast
Bill Braine spent his 55th birthday recovering from hip replacement surgery, adjusting to his new CPAP machine, and negotiating intently with his parents to downsize and de-clutter. He offers reassuring details and advice for all three.
Episode 31: "I look forward to yelling at my grandchildren to hand me my hip."
When you think about a quintessential Fifties Moment, Bill Braine’s 55th birthday checks a lot of boxes. At the midpoint of his 50s, he was recovering from hip replacement surgery, adjusting to his new CPAP machine, and negotiating intently with his parents to downsize and de-clutter.
Currently reading
Magda thought she would rocket through Novelist as a Vocation because she tends to inhale Haruki Murakami's work, but she's going more slowly this time in order to savor his words and thoughts. She’s not sure if this relates to Murakami's pacing, or that she’s just getting older.
There aren’t many circumstances under which Doug would read Reading While Black, because author Esau McCaulley is a Black religious scholar and Doug is all but three of those things. But it’s an interesting read about how Black Christians study the Bible and look for justice within its pages with more hope than inspiration.
Currently watching
Doug wanted to like In The Know, co-created by Mike Judge and Zach Woods (an amazing improviser at UCB). It’s a great idea to poke fun at how entrenched we are in our belief systems (including uber-progressives), but why choose that style of stop-motion animation? So much painstaking work, so hard to watch.
Magda and Mike also tried In The Know and bailed after ten minutes. They returned to Project Runway, and they've reached the point in Season 3 where real-life Ken doll Jonathan Kayne was eliminated. Jeffrey Sebelia's signal-to-noise ratio is way too low, even by 2006 standards.
Currently cooking
Magda is very pleased with the rye strawberry bakewell bars she dreamed up for the Friends of the Library bake sale. She posted the recipe in the Facebook group. Also: Inspired by the enthusiastic reception for Steeped: The Chemistry of Tea by Bryn Mawr chemistry professor Michelle Francl, Magda tried a hot cup of Twinings Lady Grey (two teabags in 16 ounces of almost-boiling water, steeped for 5 minutes) with a pinch of salt. It was the most intensely flavored and least-bitter Earl Grey she’s had.
It turns out our younger son has inherited Doug’s love of borscht, cultivated by years at Veselka’s lunch counter. Most recipes he’s tried have a chicken stock base, but this very beefcentric Ukranian version beats them all.
Next on the podcast
If your family has any experience with FAFSA, you’ll want to listen to our exhaustive discussion on what we’ve learned, how it works, and how it doesn’t work.
Thanks for reading, and GO LIONS!
Magda and Doug