Sunday Digest | #001

What I am watching 👀, reading 📖, and listening 🎧 to on a Sunday.

Welcome to the first Sunday Digest!

What is the Sunday Digest? If you have been here for a minute, you’ve been reading the News Bites newsletter and occasional articles. Both of these include some heavy stuff.

I firmly believe that it is important that we stay informed on what is happening and be aware of any narratives that are being pushed, but sometimes you just need to chill.

That is what the Sunday Digest is for. This is where I share what I have or am currently watching, listening to, or reading to unwind or go deeper. Sometimes is a podcast about history; sometimes, it’s reality TV. Don’t judge me.

This is also where more of my personality comes out.

So, every Sunday, you will get 5 - 7 things that I find intellectual, interesting, entertaining, mindless, informative, inspiring, and useful.

Starting next week, the Sunday Digest will be exclusive to paid subscribers. But everyone will have access to the top item.

Every digest will also have an accompanying chat that you can access through the Substack app, where we can chat about what we listened to or watched from the digest. There is a chat up right now!

What else do you get as a paid subscriber?

• Sunday Digest and digest archive.

• Two deep-dive articles with audio every month.

• Full access to all the community features, such as commenting and live chats.

If you want all this and more, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. I have more future plans for Zoom editorial meetings and live Q&A with podcast guests. Your support will help make that happen! ❤️

Subscribe using the button below and get 20% off an annual membership forever! That is just $40 (that’s less than .80 a week) for the whole year and every annual renewal forever!

Later!

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I have an Audible account, but I don’t check it often. I kinda forget I have it.

Yesterday I was on the hunt for something to listen to. My intent was to find something to listen to that didn’t have to do with politics or social issues. Newsflash I failed.

However, I did find a fascinating podcast about Thomas Sowell done in an interesting and unique way.

If you don’t know who Thomas Sowell is, I can only say he is THE MAN. He is quite literally one of the greatest intellectuals of our time. Unfortunately, because he brilliantly destroys liberal and leftist narratives, he doesn’t get the recognition he deserves.

He's written countless books and articles on topics ranging from race and culture to economics and politics.

He grew up in poverty and is a former Marxist. But he realized the perils of Marxism and is a very pro-free market capitalist. He doesn’t only write about economics, but he also writes a lot about the causes of racial disparities.

So the podcast! It’s called The Genius of Thomas Sowell, hosted by Alan Wolan. The episodes analyze topics such as freedom, the cold war, abortion, and many others through the lens of Sowell’s writing and lectures. Some episodes are just the host, and some are with a guest.

I recently listened to Episode 28: Changing Minds with Dr. Joel Brown. Dr. Brown tells his story about how he radically changed his mind on anti-racism. I found this episode to be very hopeful and reassuring that it is possible to change minds through civil discussions and sharing the truth.

If you want to tickle your brain cells, I highly recommend you give it a listen.

Imagine you arrive on your first day of college, and a random person you have never met comes running across the quad, yelling a name at you that you have never heard, welcoming you back to school. Naturally, you would think it’s simply a mistaken identity, but then you discover you have a twin you have never met. To then find out you are one of the triplets.

This is exactly what happened in Three Identical Strangers. It all happened in New York in 1980. Three 19-year-old complete strangers accidentally discovered that they were identical triplets, separated at birth. They have a joyous reunion that catapults them to international fame. Still, it also unlocks an extraordinary and disturbing secret that goes beyond their lives- potentially transforming our understanding of human nature forever.

You can watch Three Identical Strangers on Hulu.

I watched BEEF on Netflix last week, not expecting much or having much hope for the show, but to my surprise, it was funny. It was dark, hostile, and weird, but it was funny. It stars comedian and writer Ali Wong and Steven Yeun, who you may know as Glen from The Walking Dead.

Sidenote: I stopped watching TWD when Glen was horribly killed off. I never recovered from that trauma.

Anywho, Beef is worth a watch, especially if you occasionally enjoy a dark comedy. It all starts with a road rage incident between two individuals who are unhappy with how life is going but for different reasons. The road rage escalates into a very hostile game of tit-for-tat revenge game, and it still manages to have a surprising and heartwarming ending.

Please tell me I am not the only person that is eagerly waiting for news and clips on the Vanderpump Rules reunion. Before you judge me, I haven't watched this RIDICULOUS trash show in FOREVER. I detoxed from Bravo before the pandemic, but now with everyone talking about Scandoval, I am dying for the reunion so I can see clips.

I still haven’t watched any of the latest seasons, but I have been following the drama on social media, especially TikTok. If you have no idea what I am talking about, congratulations, you are a better person than I am.

But because I am a generous individual, I have provided you with an excellente explanation of the drama.

The fellas of Triggernometry interview gender clinic whistleblower Jamie Reed. She worked as a case manager at The Washington University Transgender Center at St. Louis Children's Hospital, which prescribed hormone treatments to around a thousand distressed young people with gender dysphoria. She left the clinic because she believed that the medical system's treatment of these patients was permanently harming them.

It’s a shocking but necessary interview to watch to be informed about what transition is doing to young people.

Some of you know we acquired a small piece of land for us to get away to, be it for fun or for when we need to hide from the feds. Right now, the land is raw, and all we have on it is a canvas four-season tent. No internet, no plumbing, no water, and no power. We have a cell phone signal if you stand on the highest point on the NW side, with your cell phone in the air and your finger on your nose while standing on one leg. But it is our little peace of heaven.

In time we will build something on it, and one thing I know I want is windows, like HUGE windows. We stayed in a mid-century AirBnB with perfect windows a few months back. So, of course, I have a few inspirational images saved for when we build our little cabin with all the windows.

Have you ever heard of egg glassing? Many people who keep chickens know what egg glassing is, but a lot have never heard of it, and it is a great tool for preserving your ladies’ huevos.

Egg glassing or “Water Glassing” is a process of preserving eggs by coating them with a thin layer of sodium silicate solution, also known as pickling lime. This coating creates a barrier that helps prevent air and bacteria from penetrating the eggshell, which can help prolong the eggs' shelf life.

We are glassing eggs for the first time, I will let you know how it goes.

But the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen you and protect you from the evil one.

-2 Thessalonians 3:3