I always hated the taste of truffles, or so I thought. It turns out nearly everything sold out there as containing truffles or truffle oil is just some cheap petroleum-derived product. And that includes in many higher-end restaurants.
Real truffles are incredibly rare and expensive:
Winter white truffle, or noble white truffle, is the most expensive and prized truffle. It can be found only in late autumn and winter, no earlier than September 15, no later than the end of January. The world's most famous winter white truffles are found in Alba, Italy, and Croatian Istria is also known for them.
Depending on how well the season was, this truffle can go for thousands of euros. In the case of large, first-class white truffles, the price per kilo comes close to 10,000 euros.
Maybe one day I'll taste the real thing and maybe I'll like it. Until then I'll keep avoiding anything with truffle in its name.
An interesting history of palm oil and its presence in an obnoxious amount of processed products, not just food.
Campaigners tend to be more hostile towards palm oil than towards other tropical products such as cocoa and soy which also pose threats to ecosystems. He suggests that this hostility comes down to the fact that ‘palm oil is perceived as being in things, rather than a thing in its own right.’
A quite technical but fascinating look into how the BioNTech/Pfizer mRNA vaccine is built and works.
In other words, in a process that even Dr. Barrett admits “defies common sense,” you’re almost always acting on the predictions that your brain is making about what’s going to happen next, not reacting to experience as it unfolds.
It turns out our brains predict more often than they react. I just ordered the book referenced in the article to dig deeper.
Great visual explanation of Covid-19 aerosol transmission pathways and the importance of protection and ventilation.
I've been surprised at how little the possibility of Covid-19 aerosol transmission features in official rules or discussion despite more and more published proof. I can't tell if they know something I don't, they're deliberately ignoring the data because it would mean painfully strict rules or they simply aren't aware.
Whatever the case, Kottke points to what seems to be a clear case of aerosol transmission in a spinning studio where all official hygiene and distancing rules were followed.
