Agricultural Digest
Bird flu is still going around! A flock in Wisconsin is being put down after the H5N1 virus was detected, according to a December 12th press release from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. And according to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship, there have been four discoveries of the indefatigable bug in Iowan flocks in the past week alone.
So what? Well, the Department of Agriculture is not missing this opportunity to embed themselves more deeply in the lives of our farmers and ranchers, make no mistake about it. On December 16th, the USDA began testing samples from freshly drawn milk to attempt to identify the potential spread of infection in dairy cows. Of this procedure, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said, “Among many outcomes, this will give farmers and farmworkers better confidence in the safety of their animals and ability to …
The Fight of the Century
Dallas defines the modern American city, i.e., an Instagram backdrop that repeats itself across physical space without losing its distinctiveness.
Jake Paul is an Instagram story that repeats itself across time without losing its distinctive Jake Paul-ness.
So what about Mike Tyson?
With its bridge-length trusses and translucent façade, the three-million-square-foot dome of AT&T Stadium sits at the geographical heart of Dallas, a landscape of skyscrapers, shopping centers, convention halls, hotel districts, amusement centers, and ballparks that repeat across the city’s various hubs. The stadium hosts everything from Super Bowls to Taylor Swift concerts, from rodeos to World Cup matches. Recently it served as the backdrop for a highly anticipated event in the dying sport of boxing: Twenty-seven-year-old Jake Paul, a YouTuber turned professional fighter, taking on fifty-eight-year-old Mike Tyson, the former heavyweight champion of the world.
Perhaps the simplest way to talk about Jake Paul, at least in the context of our current moment, is through his relationship to boxing. In 2018, he and his brother Logan, already millionaires many times over thanks to the popularity of …
Bouquets and Brickbats
To the Kansas City Chiefs for continuing their latest march to Super Bowl with no wide receivers and Taylor Swift playing both offense and defense in-between gigs on her Eras Tour. The NFL has never seen anything like this before, and truth be told it’s not pretty to look at. No one wants to see Taylor Swift play football — or to look at or hear about Taylor Swift at all. On the other hand, the Chiefs keep on winning on one arm and one leg, and with Taylor Swift jumping up and down and generally making a fool of herself on gameday while jewelry thieves are robbing her future-husband Travis Kelce and his quarterback Pat Mahomes blind. Please, don’t let her play quarterback in the Super Bowl, though. If that happens, we promise that you will lose, and be forever cursed …
