Sweet and Juicy/Bourdain’s Map/The Mind Thing - October 23, 2022 at 04:59AM

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Zen Buddhist jokes
I giggled for an hour watching standup comedian Sheng Wang’s Netflix special, Sweet and Juicy. I love his uplifting and positive style, which is rare in comedy. He cracks jokes about enlightenment, except he is serious. And instead of long buildups to punchlines, he delivers an unending patter of quiet epiphanies. It’s laugh therapy! — KK

Anthony Bourdain’s World Map
Here’s a cool visualizer of all the places that Anthony Bourdain has visited in his travels on Parts Unknown and No Reservations. I’m traveling to Cairo next month and someone suggested I go where ever Bourdain ate, so I googled and bookmarked places to check out from here. — CD

The Mind Thing
The Mind Thing is a 1961 science fiction horror novel by Fredric Brown. The first time I read it was over 30 years ago when I bought this used copy for 75 cents. Recently, I reread it and recommend it to anyone who enjoys Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Twilight Zone. In the story, an alien hijacks animal brains (including people) and uses their bodies as puppets. It must kill the body it is inhabiting at the time in order to jump from one to another. At 150 pages, I found The Mind Thing to be an exciting, fast, and satisfying read. — MF

Favorite newsletter
There are few newsletters I read as soon as they arrive in my inbox. Coco’s Variety is one of them. It chronicles the obsessions of a Los Angeles used bicycle shop owner. He writes about collecting antiques, restoring old cars, cooking, garage sales, flea markets, good books, good music, and good living. His perspective is inspiring. — MF

Classic mixer
As baking season begins again, I am reminded of how fantastic our Classic KitchenAid Stand Mixer is after 25 years of use. I believe it could easily go another 25 years. There are mini and maxi versions and scores of competitors and imitators, but KitchenAid is still making this same “K” design – which is built like a tank – since the 1930s. They are so rugged there is a healthy aftermarket for used ones on Craigslist. — KK

List of common misconceptions
I’m learning a lot from scrolling through this list of common misconceptions. These are concise summaries that are linked to longer articles on Wikipedia. I like that they are worded as a correction, with the misconceptions implied. I’m relieved to dispel the misconception that the pyramids of Egypt were built by slave labor. I’ve also learned that dogs sweat mainly through their footpads and the Pacific Tree Frog is the only frog species that actually makes the “ribbit” sound. — CD

— Kevin Kelly, Mark Frauenfelder, Claudia Dawson