If Memory Serves

Super Agers, Weekend Whats, Feel Good Friday

Every now and then, my mother will respond to an edition of this newsletter with something like, "The article on the history of this region was quite good, you might want to go back and actually read the whole thing." Aside from the suggestion that I would ever shirk my official duties by skimming (Fake News! Witch Hunt!), my mom's deep knowledge on many matters and her notably sound memory put her into a category researchers call Super-Agers - folks who are 80 and up, but they have the memory ability of a person 20 to 30 years younger." (For what its worth, they also tend to make up my most enthusiastic readership demographic.) I'm more of an accelerated ager. By the time you receive this, I'll have forgotten I sent it. NYT (Gift Article): A Peek Inside the Brains of Super-Agers. "There were a lot of similarities between the super-agers and the regular agers ... For example, there were no differences between the groups in terms of their diets, the amount of sleep they got, their professional backgrounds or their alcohol and tobacco use. The behaviors of some of the Chicago super-agers were similarly a surprise. Some exercised regularly, but some never had; some stuck to a Mediterranean diet, others subsisted off TV dinners; and a few of them still smoked cigarettes." (I bet all of them read the full articles.)

2

Maverick Rolled

"With the midday sun blazing, an experimental orange and white F-16 fighter jet launched with a familiar roar that is a hallmark of U.S. airpower. But the aerial combat that followed was unlike any other: This F-16 was controlled by artificial intelligence, not a human pilot. And riding in the front seat was Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall." AP: An AI-controlled fighter jet took the Air Force leader for a historic ride. What that means for war.

3

A Sad State

"As soon as Collin Davis found out his ex-partner was planning to travel to Colorado to have an abortion in late February, the Texas man retained a high-powered antiabortion attorney — who court records show immediately issued a legal threat. If the woman proceeded with the abortion, even in a state where the procedure remains legal, Davis would seek a full investigation into the circumstances surrounding the abortion and 'pursue wrongful-death claims against anyone involved in the killing of his unborn child,' the lawyer wrote in a letter, according to records." WaPo (Gift Article): Texas man files legal action to probe ex-partner’s out-of-state abortion.

4

Weekend Whats

What to Doc: "The Contestant is the incredible true story of a man who lived for 15 months trapped inside a small room, naked, starving and alone... and completely unaware that his life was being broadcast on national TV in Japan, to over 15 million viewers a week." The Contestant on Hulu includes two earthquakes, a tsunami, and an avalanche, and yet the behavior of humans is the most dangerous and upsetting thing you'll see. Still, it's also somehow heart warming. In an era of terrible reality TV, this could have been the worst example of them all. (Bonus: you'll earn how the eggplant emoji came to prominence.)

+ What to Peel With: I'm willing to admit when I'm wrong. Not about politics, cultural issues, or current events. But peelers. I have touted the Oxo peeler in the past. I reader emailed in that I should try another model. And I'm here to tell you, the Victorinox Stainless Steel "Swiss Classic" Universal Peeler, Serrated/Wavy Edge is the greatest peeler I've used. And I peel a lot. Basically, if I'm not doing NextDraft, I'm peeling.

+ What to Wear: A reminder that we have some killer new t-shirts, hoodies, and other gear in the NextDraft store to go along with some of the all time bestsellers.

5

Extra, Extra

Off Campus: "People have been forced to consume 'grass and peanut shells,' the regional director for Eastern Africa of the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday. 'If assistance doesn’t reach them soon, we risk witnessing widespread starvation and death in Darfur and across other conflict-affected areas in Sudan.'" An update from one of the global conflicts we don't follow much.

+ Odd Audit: In addition to the stock itself being totally worthless garbage, the auditor that worked for the company is a criminal. "The Securities and Exchange Commission accused the auditor of Donald Trump’s social-media company of massive fraud affecting hundreds of companies and more than 1,500 regulatory filings." Every single thing Trump touches is criminal, fraud, or criminal fraud. Speaking of which, in between acts of contempt, the NYC trial goes on. Hope Hicks is today's witness.

+ Commitment Issues: Dana Milbank in WaPo: "Their frustration with the president’s support for Israel is understandable. But in making Biden the enemy, including with chants of 'Genocide Joe,' the plans to trash the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the proliferation of vows of the 'uncommitted' never to vote for Biden, they are in effect working to elect Trump. This isn’t principled protest; it’s nihilism." (I'm sorry, but if you're a liberal who's uncommitted, you need to be committed.)

+ Club Bibi: "To put it bluntly, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has put his country’s worst religious extremists in jail, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has put his country’s worst religious extremists in his cabinet. And therein lies a tale." Thomas Friedman in NYT: Israel and Saudi Arabia Are Trading Places. (Here's an irony: Saudi Arabia will normalize ties with Israel before American campuses do.) And there's this: Houthis offer education to students suspended in US protest crackdown. In diplomatic moves: Israeli Officials Weigh Sharing Power With Arab States in Postwar Gaza. For humanitarian, geopolitical, and internal American political reasons, postwar can't come soon enough.

+ Sand Trap: "In the dark world of conflict minerals, there’s a deadly black market that pulls in anywhere between $200B and $350B a year. It’s not blood diamonds. It’s not cobalt. It’s sand."

+ Barking Mad: Here's a headline from WaPo that belongs right at the top of the time capsule. Noem’s dog-killing isn’t popular, though Trump supporters are divided.

6

Feel Good Friday

"A nine-year-old boy is being hailed as a hero for saving his parents’ lives when an Oklahoma tornado tossed the family’s truck into surrounding trees, after reportedly telling them 'Mom, Dad, please don’t die, I will be back' before sprinting for help."

+ "An eighth-grade student recently averted a tragedy when he brought a careening school bus carrying him and his fellow students to a stop after its driver fell ill from a medical emergency."

+ "Twenty-four years ago, Gene Eyster, then with the South Bend, Ind., police department, received a call about a newborn baby found abandoned in a cardboard box. For more than two decades, Eyster wondered what became of that boy. A few weeks ago, he found out, perhaps when he needed to most."

+ Biden expands health insurance access for DACA recipients.

+ Checkmate: 9-year-old chess prodigy breaks records, barriers in male-dominated game.

+ More than 1,000 sea lions have gathered at San Francisco’s Pier 39 this spring, the largest herd in at least 15 years. (Apparently, word of the doom loop hasn't spread to the seas.)

+ Researchers make a plastic that includes bacteria that can digest it.

+ "For at least 700 years, monarchs have been given a 'Coronation roll.' Stretching for 69ft, the hand-stitched manuscript was written by calligrapher Stephanie von Werthern-Gill. And there are no nightmare spelling mistakes." Although one i was left without a dot. (And if my experience is any indicator, about 200 people emailed her about the typo.) I'd never heard of a Coronation Roll. But I'm pretty sure my dispensary sells a coronation preroll.