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Do ants eat feathers? I mean, protein, right? This crow feather was whole when I noted it by the entrance to an ants' nest on Monday. Today it seems half eaten, although it has barely moved since Monday. Could the ants have taken it apart and down into their nest?
Latest Eat This Newsletter battles through the heat to bring you cyclospora, doubts about the wisdom of medieval food systems, and the Ur-scapegoat in Iran's rainmaker.
https://buttondown.com/jeremycherfas/archive/etn-311-scrambled/
This is exciting. Just uncovered my old Kodak Zi8, bought January 2010 and not used since mid 2011. Charging it up now and hoping to make use of it. I wonder if there are any mods.
https://jeremycherfas.micro.blog/uploads/2026/9101c1b153cd4c3b995dc8097ca94bed.jpg
“If I had done what I originally intended, I could have been building a slum tenement occupied by ruthless assassins waiting only for their next victim.”
TIL follicetum, and although I already knew about prickles, thorns and spines, I had my memory of them refreshed, thanks to the Botanists in the Kitchen.
This is important. A false positive is by no means the same as a negative, although as Kaiser Fung explains, that does require a bit of (slow) thinking.
Another investigation reveals just how desperate the food industry is to avoid any kind of regulation or even advice that might affect sales. Cryptospora cases continue to explode despite being “under control”. Things are quite a lot better in Europe, which is also being told to do more for pulses and beans.
Waves of interest in nutrition and rising interest in the warm Middle ages round out this week’s Eat This Newsletter
https://buttondown.com/jeremycherfas/archive/etn-310-focussed/
I got phished, because I failed to see the warning signs and ignored the one I did notice. But I do have questions. Did the scummers actually know that I was expecting a delivery, or was I just extra-unlucky?
https://jeremycherfas.net/blog/phished-again
Opens Ivory. 192 unread. Blimey, something awful must have happened. Oh no, it is just someone getting a musical education. And it is a delight.
A great and unexpected treat. Staying at friends, not so old New Yorkers. And in one of them, volume six of personal histories by John McPhee, “95 at this writing”. Absolutely my favourite writer of non-fiction, and these brief glimpses are simply wonderful.
"Not ‘western civ. doesn’t exist’ nor ‘western civ. is bad’. Rather, “western civilization is real & good, captured in writing & song and we are killing it with our violence, cruelty and greed, we have become the barbarians at our own gates.”"
Bret Deveraux, via Brad DeLong, but not going to link to his X https://acoup.blog/author/aimedtact/
Latest Eat This Newsletter looks at the various ways consolidation in farming and food ends up having bad consequences, and they're not even unforeseen, they're the point.
Also, why we won't eat the bugs; it's not in our DNA.
And, MAHA turns on a friend.
https://buttondown.com/jeremycherfas/archive/etn-309-wonky-patterns/
Twenty years and a day ago, I wrote about the spurious need for balance in the media. Not much — perhaps nothing — has changed since then. I do wonder whether Andrew Revkin still thinks the effects of climate change “could take centuries to materialize”.
https://jeremycherfas.net/blog/balance-we-dont-need-no-stinkin-balance
Truly Portable Birdnet-Pi
Feeling very pleased with myself after a major accomplishment, even though all it really proves is that I can follow instructions.
Eat This Newsletter latest.
Wakelyns needs supporters to become a Charitable Community Benefit Society, a fitting remembrance for Martin Wolfe, one of the great pioneers of agricultural biodiversity.
That plus "wasted" calories, ultra-processed foods (it's mostly the calories), and cyclosporiasis so far in the latest issue.
Read it at https://buttondown.com/jeremycherfas/archive/etn-308-resilient/
RE: https://mas.to/@TodePond/116882797971120531
Count Binface would get my vote, if I had one. But alas, where is Screaming Lord Sutch now that we really need him?
Latest Eat this Newsletter offers insights into a cool museum, restrictive plant varieties, and better breeding that is not restrictive.
Get it at https://buttondown.com/jeremycherfas/archive/etn-307-free/ and consider subscribing while you're there.
Another interesting episode of Web Weaving from @capjamesg talking to @shellsharks
Just wondering, has anyone managed to use Birdnet-Pi with the Pi in USB gadget mode? This would make it possible to change the details for the wifi connection when travelling, which is currently extremely difficult, if not impossible, without being able to access all the config options. Wanted advice before I try it. Would it work?
I guess we are having some kind of brownout here in #Rome. Electronics, like an oscillating fan and the laptop charger, are fluctuating on an off, presumably with voltage drops.
Just finished tomorrow's Eat This Newsletter: ube, menus, brambles, slop, not slop and not good either, and beef.
Just in case my brain is scrambled and I forget to announce it here, make sure you get it by signing up at https://buttondown.email/jeremycherfas?tag=direct
Nothing I like better than to be woken from a deep nap by the very loud clatter of hailstones on the terrace. A blessed relief.
There is a strand of thought out there that believes any and all legislation to do with seeds is evil and unnecesary. It is wrong. Here’s why.
Rabbit Quest 20260623-W-AY68OD
On foot
41.8842, 12.4624
23 June 2026
428.16 ppm CO2
OpenStreetMap https://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=41.88415&mlon=12.46243#map=14/41.88415/12.46243&layers=H
It has been a while.
RE: https://mstdn.social/@samueljohnson/116799249805283300
Where do I cast my vote for you?
Another welcome surprise from a feed that had long lain dormant, rather like Rebsie's seeds
http://daughterofthesoil.blogspot.com/2026/06/red-podded-peas-roma-mangetout.html
No finer way to spend a sweltering 36C Sunday morning than in the cool of a cinema watching the gorgeous restoration of Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times. So that’s what we did.
That is a bright orange canna with a blue spruce behind. These are two and three.
#bloomscrolling