The Breads Roundup No. 114

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May 16, 2025

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Hello Hobby Lobbyists,

How is everyone? Did you have a good Mother’s Day? Are you enjoying the onset of spring and/or summer? Or I suppose early winter if you’re in the southern hemisphere. I have my first international trip of the year coming up. I’m heading to London for a week so if you have any can’t miss recs or want to meet up for a cheeky pint give me a shout.

One of my best friends moved to London after Covid and I’ve now been there a half dozen times since. My first time there the Brits just thought it was an absolute riot that, despite my surname (as they say), I had never actually been to London. By jove I got there though! Nominative determinism at its finest.

London is obviously a huge city. It is one of the most influential metropolitan areas on the planet. And because of that it can feel a bit overwhelming to visit, much like any other large city. So much to do and so little time. That first trip helped me change how I traveled though, because I knew I would be back. I wasn’t stressed with seeing all the sights that London had to offer. We know that is a futile effort whenever we travel but it still doesn’t stop us from doing our best, often at a detriment, to maximize our travel experience.

After that trip though I decided to build in more rest time to my travel. To treat every upcoming trip as if I would be back to that place again in the future. It helped to ease the stress of seeing everything, made me more present in the things I actually was doing and allowed me to recharge when I needed to.

I’m generally a person who doesn’t like to sit on their ass, though, so for me that still looks like being out and about most of the day. But it also means that sometimes I’ll take an afternoon off, or I’ll just pop down to a cafe or pub and sit for a while. Sometimes you meet some locals, sometimes you don’t. But you develop a greater appreciation for just soaking it in while you’re there. And now I do that every trip and it feels much better than it did before.

So yeah hit me with London ideas!

Anyways time for the linkies.

Interesting Things You May Or May Not Care About

North Korea Stole Your Job
Ok this is real crazy. I’ll let the article explain:"Wijckmans didn’t know it yet, but he’d stumbled onto the edges of an audacious, global cybercrime operation. He’d unwittingly made contact with an army of seemingly unassuming IT workers, deployed to work remotely for American and European companies under false identities, all to bankroll the government of North Korea." Hiring managers beware, this is a real thing at a very large scale. These IT workers even have handlers who are their boots on the ground in the US and Europe – the people who get sent work-issued laptops and launder paychecks.
The Great Pig War Of Matagorda County
Some people want to humanely raise pigs and some people don't want a pig farm next to their property. Both people seem to have some valid points! Both people handle it like children as is the American way. This is for all my Texas folk.
AI Helped Heal My Chronic Pain
Sometimes we need a super computer to put together all the issues we're having in a cohesive way. This kind of makes sense, this woman saw a ton of specialists who only focused on their own areas of expertise and didn't think about the problem of the body as a holistic being where it turns out that your foot bone is connected to your leg bone and then your leg bone is connected to your knee bone and so on. I think they made a song about it one time.
A Growing Share Of New Yorkers Are To Receive — Not Buy — Their Homes
Over a quarter of all Manhattan homes purchased last year involved a trust. Meaning that if you want to buy a house in New York (and presumably many other large cities) you're probably going to need help from mom and dad.
The Cult Of The American Lawn
Lawns have grown to represent so much more than just grass. They represent assimilation and conformity in some good, but mostly bad ways. Much of the thinking behind having a pristine, HOA-approved lawn is not unsimilar to the idea that America treats everyone completely fairly and always has. The concept that if you don't conform to the exact standard of how we think our neighborhood should look than you must be crazy. From the article "Celebrated in modern American suburbia, tended lawns have become a prized avatar of the American dream of home ownership, a key backdrop to neighborhood rituals and a symbol of order and calm and safety — of a good life."

Last Chance To Preorder My Book!!!

My debut book, I Love It Here I Hate It Here, available for Preorder until Sunday 5/18! Preordering is the only way to guarantee you’ll get one. I’m only doing a limited run.

This book uses film photos shot from 2021-2024 and original essays detailing various encounters with locals to illustrate the idea of what it is like to live in a place that is as inspiring as it is deflating, as beautiful as it is horrid, as kind as it is uncaring. Don’t miss out. All Preorders are hand-signed and numbered!

Preorder Here

How Is The New What

How Tina Fey Made Mean Girls
A very robust look at the background of what is probably the most iconic teen movie of the 2000s (you could also argue Superbad). This gets into all the nitty gritty of how mad genius Tina Fey made the film and delves into the cultural landscape that provided the groundwork for success. Paywall free.
How The Chicken Sandwich Conquered America
This isn't Popeye's chicken sandwich mania of a few years ago. This is full-fledged cultural takeover. Everyone has a chicken sandwich now and Americans are eating them at increasingly high rates. The burger is on its way out. Also please stop calling them "sandos." I’m begging you. It’s not edgy.
How Do U.S. Universities Make Their Money?
This is pretty wild but only about 21% of their money comes from tuition and fees. I'm sure that number can look drastically different from institution to institution but still that feels much lower than I would have thought. I guess a lot of these school give out a lot of financial aid, so not everyone is paying to attend.
How, Exactly, Could Deep-Sea Mining Benefit All Of Humanity?
Did you know that any industrial activity on the international seafloor must “be carried out for the benefit of mankind as a whole.” That was the guiding principal set up by an international committee decades ago. Now as we begin to exploit the depths more than ever before, in search of precious metals for all our technology needs, we must reckon with this question.
How Big Is Too Big When It Comes To Jorts?
Call me old fashioned but I think the answer is yes. There is almost always a limit for how big or small anything can be before it just feels like it is satirizing itself.

Other Random Internet Stuff

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The Breads by Eli London

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