YouTube: Hot Ones with Andrew Zimmern

I’d like to think Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel played some role in my interest in different cultures and trying new things. I distinctly remember one episode in which he ate mangrove worms straight out of the wood. Plus, I think it’s where I’d heard of balut for the first time (I’m pretty sure it’s just a coincidence both are delicacies from the Philippines). Anyway, Hot Ones always does great interviews and I’m happy Andrew Zimmern finally made it on the show. Great wisdom on food and travel.

Wikipedia: London Underground Mosquito

The London Underground mosquito, aside from being a cool band name, is a unique subspecies of mosquito found only in underground railway systems. Despite first impressions of the name, it’s found around the world – it’s only named after the London Underground because that’s where it was first discovered.

Music: Songs of Disappearance

I didn’t know how much I needed three and a half minutes of endangered Australian birdsong but this video is so refreshing. This is the title track of an album of 53 of Australia’s most endangered bird species.

The Gang-Gang Cockatoo, one of the birds featured in the album Songs of Disappearance
The Gang-Gang Cockatoo, one of the birds featured in the album Songs of Disappearance. Disappointingly, gang-gang comes from an onomatopoeia from an Aboriginal language and not the English slang.
Credit: Peter B Kraehenbuehl, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Podcast: Could Personalizing Laws Make Society More Just?

The words “Equal justice under law” are etched into the US Supreme Court Building in Washington, DC. They represent a fundamental principle in our legal system: everyone is treated equally under the law. In reality, we know that isn’t true and there are whole branches of study, like critical race theory, dedicated to investigating these differences. So, what if we did a complete 180 and made laws catered to each individual? In this podcast, Omri Ben-Shahar introduces the idea of personalized law. Personally, I don’t think I’m completely sold on the concept just yet (it seems too dystopian to me) but cool idea nonetheless. It definitely makes me want to read the book.