The Weekly Wrap: January 7, 2024

Happy "Circling Back" season to those who celebrate.

Before the holidays, I punted so many things into the new year. Now that we're back, my to do list is all over the place. Classes for our University start tomorrow, I've got an article due Wednesday, there's another (longer) article I need to line edit, I'm still digging out of my email avalanche, there are about 10 meetings in my week, and there's a dentist appointment in there somewhere.

I only have myself to blame. I deliberately chose to push a lot of these things off and now I have to get to them. Past me was not kind to present me.

But, at least I'm not alone. We all seem to do this. The amount of emails I'm getting that start with an apology is almost hilarious. No one wants to be adding to someone else's plate. At least we're trying to be kind through the chaos.

How's your new year going so far?

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• You don't own digital and insert rant from your friendly local librarian about DRM. [Lifehacker]
• The James Webb Telescope took some great pictures last year. [PetaPixel]
• Watch out for soup burns. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• An example of why we should probably be less concerned about what other people think of us. [Hedger Humor]
• This article is a great example of why plagiarism and AI-detectors in education are so problematic. [The Atlantic]

• Our kiddo doesn't watch Paw Patrol but I was invested in this discussion about kid's shows. [Culture Study]
• Are people actually meaner or are we just more disconnected? [How to Keep Time]
• Why American roads are so dangerous for pedestrians. [The Daily]
• Our brains can't really handle big numbers. [Short Wave]

• Over the holidays, my brother requested that we watch the latest Mission Impossible. It was overly prolonged in some scenes but rather enjoyable. As I was watching, I realized that I hadn't seen any of the newer Mission Impossible flicks, so we binged them all. It is insane how far tech as come between 1996 and today. Despite the plots being unnecessarily convoluted, I I like a twisty action movie. Also, Tom Cruise continues to show he's got real stunt chops. [Paramount+]
• We started season three of Jack Ryan. This season is telling a story that weirdly works off of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Surprisingly, Jack seems to be less of a player this season. He's there, but his parts seem quiet when compared to the new characters. There are also some deep references that I needed to Google to get. [Amazon Prime]

• We had a bunch of ingredients leftover from the holidays that needed to be used up. Sesasame chicken green bean stir fry helped get through several items of produce. Since most the items were already chopped up, the hardest part of this dish was making the sauce. At least I remembered to make the cornstarch a slurry this time. No one likes clumps. [Ambitious Kitchen]
• My appetite was randomly off at the ended the week. I even opted out of dinner one night. Luckily, I had some plain bagels on hand. Half of one was enough to satisfy while not upsetting my stomach. The texture was a lot more enjoyable than plain bread or toast would have been. [Thomas]