3/19/21 Recommended Issues: Mistranslation, Battlefield Medicine, Juice Boxes

Good day!

Each week we handpick newsletter issues by independent writers you may have missed that provide new or unique perspectives. 

If you read last week's and would like to subscribe or leave a review of any of the highlighted newsletters, you can do that here: Alex Danco's newsletter, The Diff and The Audacity. The narrowSCALE community really appreciates it!

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Here's what's worth reading this week...enjoy!

HOW WE GOT JUICE BOXES

Tangential Juice Innovation in Tedium by Ernie Smith on Mar 17

If you’ve ever been curious about how the juice box came to be, now’s your chance! Ernie takes you through quite a fascinating, winding history of grocery stores, milk containers, and packaging and sanitization evolutions, eventually leading to how juice boxes landed in the American market and quickly skyrocketed. You’ll be historically smarter for having read it...as well as in a good position to win a random trivia night sometime (2789 words; 10 minutes) Read it...

WHOOPS... A FUN MISTRANSLATION STORY

A Wales of a Mistake in Now I know by Dan Lewis on Mar 15 

This issue is just short and fun...guaranteed to make you laugh and to give you a comic tale to share with a friend. It’s a mistranslation story of a city sign that, among other things, its writer found out about while on vacation because it went viral, and his management had enough of a sense of humor and forgiveness not to fire him. The issue is worth reading because it will bring some lightheartedness to your day and remind you messing up isn’t always the end of the world. (675 words; 2.5 minutes) Read it...

COMBAT MEDICINE CHANGES 

The Battlefield Medicine Edition in Why is this Interesting, by Colin Nagy on Mar 12

This (also short) issue helps you understand why the conditions in Afghanistan and Iraq (such as close proximity to surgical hospitals and very little risk of attack on medical aircraft) allowed for so many injured combat troops to be saved (91% vs. ~75% in Vietnam). It also goes on to explain how these conditions could change in future wars/battles, which would require a very different approach to combat medicine with a lot more life-saving needing to take place on the battlefield itself (as opposed to in a nice, sterile surgical hospital). This would have huge implications on medic skill levels/responsibilities, training, the technologies/equipment used, and more. It’s both fascinating and scary to ponder these implications…(744 words; 2.75 minutes) Read it...

Some interesting facts from newsletters this week:

• There's a term "involution", which means "The opposite of evolution; a process of involution spirals in on itself, trapping its participants."   Sentiers Mar 14

• Apparently some 100million-year-old bacteria that were covered up by sediment on the seafloor were able to wake up and multiply... Wow; they were alive when dinosaurs were!!!  Sentiers Mar 14

• Ikea is now offering "disassembly" instructions, which they believe should help people to keep their products longer (ie, extend a product's life). I'd love to know how many people will be able to find their disassembly instructions X years after the original assembly :)... Sentiers Mar 7

• Skyrocketing sugar levels...Juice Boxes were introduced to the US market in 1982 -- and by the late 1980s they accounted for one-fifth (!!!) of the juice market. Tedium Mar 17

• A new TINY species! Scientists think they’ve discovered the world’s smallest reptile: the Brookesia nana chameleon. It's 1.5 millimeters long -- and they've only found two so far! Understandably Mar 17

• The Ford family has controlled the majority of Ford stock voting shares since it went public in 1956.... that's sort of crazy. And they're putting the first FEMALE family member on the board in the company's 118 yr history (about time!!?!!)... Understandably Mar 15

• Rise & shine and go to the doctor...Research suggests that your best time for going to the doctor (in terms of getting the proper referrals, correct prescriptions, etc) is 1st thing in the morning. A lot more errors were made at 5pm than at 8am. Understandably Mar 10

• About a quarter of members of Congress have not gotten vaccinated... will be interesting to see how that impacts the ability for Congress to 'get back to normal' (whatever that really is)... Understandably Mar 15

If you've learned something by reading this newsletter, feel free to forward to a friend who may like it too!

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Best,
~Jessica