Links
- Genmaicha, AKA popcorn tea.
- The Shadow Book of Ji Yun, an edited and translated collection of weird fiction from the 18th century Chinese political figure (both Special Advisor to the Emperor and Imperial Librarian), writer and supernatural investigator Ji Yun. It’s structured as a collection of very short stories of purported supernatural or strange occurences, along with reflections. The tone is very delicate and curious.
- This SNL sketch, on good and bad uses of AI:
- Glassdoor and Comparably give salary averages for gang leaders…? According to Glassdoor, they earn a median salary of $140K USD per year, with a range of $105K-$195K USD. Popular employers of gang leaders include Walker Crips and Yepas. According to Comparably, “The average Gang Leader in the US makes $58,772. Gang Leaders make the most in San Jose, CA at $116,039 averaging total compensation 97% greater than US average.”
- A Sport and a Pastime by James Salter. The writing is choppy. There are many short sentences. They meander pretentiously across the page like a long, winding river. There are no semi-colons, nonetheless, I enjoyed it.
A dispatch from under the local rock
Intentionally consuming the news is overrated. So in this new feature, I’ll be covering every bit of news I was told by people throughout the month—just keep in mind I haven’t fact-checked a single thing, and any bias reflects the opinions of everyone I know except me.
It’s felt like a fast news month, mostly due to goings-on across the Atlantic. There’s been a lot of turbulence in the US, where President Donald Trump has either implemented—or maybe just threatened to implement—a series of tariffs proportional to America’s trade deficit with other countries. This has made products like beer more expensive, thanks to aluminium tariffs. The goal is to stimulate US manufacturing, though some speculate it’ll tank the economy instead. Stock markets seem to agree.
America’s European allies aren’t thrilled. They’ve responded with retaliatory tariffs on US goods and are generally unhappy about what they perceive as a lack of respect. One example: Trump said that forcefully taking Greenland from Denmark isn’t off the table, even though Denmark is a US ally. Meanwhile, I heard a speculative claim that the US might retroactively extend treasury bond yields to 100 years, which sounds implausible—though at this point, who knows.
There was also a diplomatic kerfuffle caused by a leaked Signal chat among top US cabin crew, including Vice President JD Vance, discussing how to respond to Houthi threats to shipping routes. The messages included times and locations of planned military operations, and lots of embarrassing emojis. Vance vented about having to bail out Europe again, suggesting this isn’t just posturing for his base. The chat leaked because an Atlantic journalist was accidentally added. Trump being Trump, I wonder who got fired.
Domestically, the current US government seems more totalitarian than previous iterations. A French citizen was denied entry to the US for criticizing the government on social media. The White House press secretary supposedly said—or heavily implied—that Supreme Court judges who oppose Trump’s decrees could face arrest. The administration is also planning to slash NSF funding by two-thirds. While not authoritarian on its own, the cuts seem politically motivated, and academic leaders are hesitant to speak out for fear of retribution. Even European researchers who receive NSF grants—or collaborate with those who do—have gotten surveys about their work and any potential ties to Chinese researchers.
On the flip side, I also heard a claim that a large chunk of unaudited US taxpayer money was quietly funneled to a terrorist group masquerading as an anti-climate-change organization, and that the Trump administration is cracking down on it.
There’s also been attention paid to the administration’s reading list and underlying political philosophy. This means the normies—by which I mean my mom—have discovered the oeuvre of Curtis Yarvin. Meanwhile, I heard about a clip featuring AI-generated Trump and Netanyahu lounging on a beach in Gaza wearing bikinis, parodying Trump’s recent comments about developing Gaza. I actually looked this one up because it sounded too good to ignore, but was disappointed to find no politicians in bikinis.
Towards the end of the month, the entire Iberian Peninsula reportedly lost power at once. I wonder if they’ve fixed it.
Closer to home, Danish media has increasingly reckoned with the country’s colonial history and role in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. One controversial DR documentary about Greenland featured a reporter crying over the supposed profits of a Danish-run mine. The catch? They used revenue as a proxy for profit, implicitly assuming zero operational costs. Several people were fired for the error. In financial news, Novo Nordisk shares took a hit after Eli Lilly announced a competing weight loss drug.
And in culture: people have been running their selfies through an AI Studio Ghibli filter, making everything look extremely cute. Also, casting announcements for an upcoming Harry Potter TV reboot are out—and apparently controversial.
