#431 - Backcountry Ski Lodge, Pregnant Man Emojis, and Fake Genres
I spent the weekend at the Lost Trail Lodge, a backcountry ski cabin near Truckee. Cross country skiing is quite a slog but I can see how it's fun - kinda like skating on ice through beautiful places.
And this lodge is super zany - can sleep like 20 all in one kitschy log cabin vibes. Definitely check it out if that's your kind of thing.
We played Esther Perel's new card game, which is basically like therapy in the form of party game cards - careful who you play with!
Tech
RV Camping at Wineries, Breweries, Farms & More — harvesthosts.com
$99 a year lets you stay overnight anywhere you don't plug in, for only one night, with the assumption you'll buy something from the place. Crucial vanlife tip!
U.S. Oil & Gas Companies Trying To Profit From War In Ukraine | Climate Town — www.youtube.com
Climate Town back with another zinger of a funny expose about gas companies' shenanigans. How has this guy not blown up yet?!
Lifehacks
Why Is There a Pregnant Man Emoji? — blog.emojipedia.org
Surprisingly fascinating blog post that delves into standardization, gender, and society. TLDR: cuz theres a pregnant woman emoji, and Unicode wants one of everything (I didn't even know there were gender neutral emojis! Super cool)
And also, they claim, because 'men can be pregnant', citing a British documentary about a trans dad giving birth. But I can't say I understand that statement. Trans men can be pregnant. Men can't be pregnant, at least until uterus transplants are a thing.
Isn't it worth making that distinction rather than pretending otherwise? 🤔
Gender neutrality in English — en.wikipedia.org
That led me to this carefully worded Wikipedia article that taught me many new things, such as that Old English used 'man' for both man and women because each had their own gendered noun along the lines of 'wer', which were lost upon evolution to English.
Fun
Bishu - Fake Genres 1 — www.youtube.com
This streamer creates fake genres using impressive production skills and the results speak for themselves, like '80s Dubstep' or 'Rave Country'.
Amen break - Wikipedia — en.wikipedia.org
The drums from the 1969 track "Amen, Brother" by the soul group the Winstons has been sampled more than 1500 times and you've probably heard it in many hip hop and drums n bass songs.
What a fact! Plus, the original artists got no royalties from it so some Brits did a Go Fund Me and raised $25000 from artists who had used or enjoyed the sample.