The Weekly Wrap: May 11, 2025

It's finals week at my university. Each day is a complete unknown. It could be incredibly busy or I could watch tumbleweeds roll past the desk. There is no rhyme or reason as to what each day could look like. 

But, one morning, I did get to go really into the weeds with a student who was trying to citation chain articles. She was working on a lit review and needed a lot of metanalyses and the like. She came to the desk with one article and was trying to figure out where to go from there. I told her all she needed to do was point out which citations she was interested in. I could then work citation by citation to help her track down each piece. 

She thought she had to figure that all out by herself. Since she's interested in grad school, I told her to sit by the desk and watch me work. That way, she could learn all the ways librarians try to track down known items.

Spoiler alert - it's a lot of browser tabs.

Would it have been faster and less messy to do this on my own? Yes. But was the student grateful she had some new things to try on her own? Also, yes. 

That was a 45-minute reference transaction, but it's exactly what we're there for. 

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• The trend towards squeeze. [TASTE]
• I was SSSSed once. It wasn't too bad. [WaPo - gift link]
• This speaks truth about school spirit days. [The Atlantic - gift link]
• This health misinformation is killing people. [Your Local Epidemiologist]

• For the love of fan fiction. [Culture Study]
• It's a privilege to pee. [Planet Money]
• Emojis and the law. [99% Invisible]
• AI is very, very thirsty. [Short Wave]
• Why people love Warren Buffett. [The Daily]
• No. There is not a plastic spoon in your brain. [Science Vs]
• The philosophical essence of tariffs. [Planet Money]

• I caught myself going deep on these fun music arrangement videos. [@jimlapbap]
• We wanted to watch season two of The Hot Zone but decided to restart with season one. That season came out in May 2019. It's about an Ebola-like virus that hits a monkey facility in suburban DC. Let's just say the final episode calling for the government to prepare for an outbreak speaks even louder now. We've learned nothing. [Amazon Prime]

• We've been trying to cycle more salads into our meal planning. This week, that meant tossing together strawberry bacon salad. Since I cooked the bacon the night before, this came together in about 10 minutes. I know bleu cheese is a strong flavor, but it provides essential oomph to this recipe. [Sally's Baking]
• When I made the sauce for the sweet and spicy gochujang chicken bowls I thought, "This is WAY too watery." Ye of little faith. When it hits the hot pan, it cooks down and thickens quite nicely. The husband said the leftovers made a delicious burrito the next day. [Ambitious Kitchen]
• The best thing I ate this week was my meal prep. I made cold tahini noodles with vegetables and I wish I whipped up a double batch. It was so tasty and refreshing. I opted to omit the peanut butter from the sauce, but I wish I had topped my servings with the called for handful of peanuts. I will be making this again - sooner rather than later. [WaPo]