The Weekly Wrap: May 28, 2023

It's a holiday weekend and the links below are many. Let's keep things short and sweet.

I hope you have a wonderful holiday filled with all the summery things and people that make you happy. We'll be getting outside (weather permitting), getting together with friends, and cooking up some brats. 

Enjoy!

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• A clever cat adoption marketing tactic. [NPR]
• What do workers want? [WaPo - gift link]
• Who knew aspect ratios and streaming were so interesting? [@tvaziri]
• It is my goal, when my kid eventually Googles her name, that she finds nothing. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]
• Some reasons why you can't sleep. [Real Simple]
• The bias behind Nextdoor. [The Atlantic - may be paywalled]
• How to create a heart in our public spaces. [Project for Public Spaces]
• Those with no work at work. [Vox]
• How Jupiter changes its appearance. [PetaPixel]

• Self-doubt - why it happens and how to get through it. [Hidden Brain]
• How Vegas conserves water. [Parched]
• The story you haven't heard about being Japanese American in WWII. [Code Switch]
• The power of power lines. [Planet Money]
• Robocall fundraisers are a scam. [The Daily]
• Is dentistry a crock? [Science Vs]

• Awake is a short movie. It's just under an hour and a half long. That tight run time means the action is condensed. The film is all the better for it. In the movie, no one can sleep - except for one girl. The plot follows the quest to keep her safe and try to solve the sleeping issue before everyone devolves beyond saving. This film will make you want to jump into bed early. [Netflix]
• While scrolling through free movies, we got distracted by the trailer for Scarlett . It's about a college student whose "special skills" dad is kidnapped and she needs to rescue him. Think a reverse Taken but not as good. First of all, the lead actress in no way can pass for an undergraduate college student. Second, you can practically see the fight choreography. Finally, this is low budget and it shows. Like, you can tell they rented an Air B&B to film in for the weekend. All things considered, however, it was not the worst movie I've seen. In the hands of a bigger studio, this probably could have led to a blockbuster with several sequels. [Amazon Prime]
• Still Standing is a Canadian TV series led by comedian Jonny Harris. We put on a few episodes because we like him in Murdoch Mysteries. This show is heartwarming. Harris visits tiny Canadian towns to get to know the people and places. Then, he delivers a stand-up performance about what he learned. That comedy must be really hard to write. He has to craft jokes that speak to the tiny crowd without offending them while still speaking to a broader television audience. It's impressively done. [Amazon Prime]

• For Sunday dinner last week, I tossed together slow cooker coq au vin. It's a little more involved (gotta pre-cook some stuff) but pretty tasty. Our store only had boneless, skinless chicken thighs so I omitted the browning step and just dropped them on top of the veggies. We  also almost skipped serving the dish over a bed of egg noodles and that would have been a poor decision. We will make this one again, but I'm going to drain off most of the bacon fat. It was just a bit greasy in the end. [Real Simple]
• I made a variation of cold peanut noodle salad for my lunch meal prep. I followed the directions for the dressing, but everything else I kind of did my own way. I used lo mein noodles instead of spaghetti. I used a bag of broccoli slaw instead of chopping veggies. I did include the green onions. Since I'm lazy and tossed everything together at the same time, the dish did clump up in my containers, but the taste was on point. [Budget Bytes]
• Something about summer makes me want seafood in a buttery, toasted roll. We also had two ears of corn chilling in our fridge. So I made shrimp rolls for the first time. The recipe makes it seem like the shrimp should be served warm, but both the husband and I thought it would be better cold. He sous vided the shrimp the night before and then I tossed the mix together the next day while the corn cooked. This was a great way to use up some of the celery we had languishing in our produce drawer. [Cup of Jo]