Woman complaining about digital nomad living should have read my book

Francesca Specter, writing for The Guardian, laments what she sees as the downsides of digital nomad living after trying the lifestyle for a year. But her troubles were probably avoidable. 

For example, instead of enjoying the best of both worlds of work and play, she claims she could "access neither the tranquillity and sense of routine I need to do my best writing, nor the relaxed holiday mindset to enjoy the luxury of being abroad." And she complained about too much actual travel and that "departure lounges became my office space" and airline problems like lost luggage and flight delays.

In my book, Gastronomad, I specifically recommend much longer stays in each location — months, instead of weeks, which greatly reduces all these troubles.

Specter seems surprised by the inconveniences, hazards and discomforts of living nomadically, about which I devoted an entire chapter with remedies for all. 

She also didn't get my memo about living as a temporary local, rather than as a non-stop tourist.

Don't let this happen to you! If you're going to work while traveling, please read Gastronomad!! I learned everything the hard way living nomadically for 17 years! Read my book to learn the easy way!


Why the whole "woke Snow White" scandal is dumb and delusional. You want the original? You can’t handle the original.

Dishonest conservative news outlets looking to drum up controversy for the generation of outrage against liberal Hollywood have railed against a so-called "woke" version of "Snow White." Now the controversy has delayed the film by a year.  

Specifically, commentators seemed vexed by the fact that Snow White isn't white enough, and that the "Seven Dwarves" were dwarfy enough. Or something.

But the whole outrage is based on pure ignorance. Fox news, for example, seems to think that the Disney cartoon from 1937 was the original. In fact that telling of the story was radically whitewashed and sugar-coated beyond recognition, in keeping with the mores and sensibilities of that era. 

In the closest thing we have to the "original" story, published by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm in 1812, the evil queen sends a huntsman out to kill Snow White and bring back her lungs and liver, which she intended to eat. The original featured intimations of cannibalism. 

When Snow White was finally killed by the queen, she was still seven years old. And so it was a seven-year-old corpse that the prince fell in love with and tried to buy from the Dwarves. The original featured intimations of pedophelic necrophilia. 

Snow White was seven years old when she married the prince. The original featured an adult man marrying a child bride, something right out of the Taliban. 

To exact revenge, Show White and her adult husband then had the queen tortured and executed by forcing the queen to step into red-hot iron shoes and then dance until she "fell down dead." 

By contrast, the Disney version from 1937 was "woke." Any notion that adding a patina of diversity or any nod to the morals and sensitivities of 2023 are nothing compared to what Disney did in 1937.

How digital nomads contribute to the economic transformation of developing countries

Developing countries attract nomads with a lower cost of living. Though nomads contribute to local economies, their higher incomes also raise housing costs, displacing residents, according to a growing (but in my view, mostly false) consensus. (I'm quoted in the article.)

While digital nomads bring fresh money, emerging economies must balance this against protecting longtime natives from being priced out of their own neighborhoods, according to Isabela De los Rios Hernández, writing for Harvard International Review.

The American and Chinese economies both grew at the same rate in Q3: 4.9%

The Chinese economy beat Q3 expectations by coming in at 4.9% growth. The US economy also beat expectations and came in at 4.9% growth. Both growth rates are expected to slow in the coming quarters. 

It appears that China's economy will never even come close to matching the size of the US economy, despite China's much larger population. The US GDP is over $26 trillion, while the Chinese GDP is less than $18 trillion. 

On a per-capita GDP basis (a general measure of the average economic wealth of citizens), China's economy is about average, globally. The Chinese people are, on average, significantly poorer than Mexicans and even Russians. 


The Guardian joins the trend of using universal quantifiers to express a minority. Wait, what?

The Guardian Opinion headline, "Why are young people all growing mullets? I’ve been inspired by a much better hairstyle," joins a noxious trend of using a universal quantifier -- "all" or "every," for example -- to refer to a subset that is actually a minority. 

It's sloppy and unprofessional. And it's a lie. 

The percentage of "young people" "growing mullets" is in fact a minority. The trend may or may not be growing. But even "most" is a lie. "All" is a ridiculous and obvious lie. 

Pointing this out pegs me as a stuffy scold. After all, the piece is frivolous, the topic irrelevant. 

But I fear the motivation for such flabby language is that in today's media landscape, professional media competes with social media in the global contest for eyeballs. And so professional media feels the need to loosen standards, dumb down language and lie casually to compete with the everyday speech patterns of people who aren't expected to use dictionaries or adhere to AP style.

And what is gained? The headline, "Why are young people growing mullets?" serves the headline's purpose perfectly. The addition of "all" does nothing more than to colloquialize -- a deliberate and lazy lie designed to be relatable to a public that deliberately and casually lies in everyday speech.

I don't know when legitimate news publications started doing this. But now they all do it. 

See how wrong that is? 

A food pornographer at work

Here's me taking a picture of cooked agave (ready to be fermented and distilled into mezcal) in the Oaxaca Valley, and the resulting picture. (First picture by my friend, Leo. Second picture by me.) 

Pebble, the social network formerly known as T2, is shutting down

The post-Twitter social scene just got a little simpler with the announced closure of Pebble, the social network formerly known as T2.

The app maxed out at 3,000 daily active users and 20,000 registered users, but fell to 1,000 daily users after changing the name from T2, according to TechCrunch.

The service closes November 1, according to Mashable. 

I was one of those daily users, and felt like the interface improved a bit after the re-branding. But, in general, I think fewer is better when it comes to social networks. 


What to know about new generative AI tools for criminals

ChatGPT and other mainstream LLMs sparked a revolution in generative AI this year. But their safeguards against misuse left an opening for alternative LLMs designed specifically to boost cyberattacks. Tools like WormGPT and FraudGPT emerged on the dark web, offering AI-powered capabilities to automate phishing, gather intelligence on victims, and generate malware. These tools make it easier for unsophisticated hackers to launch attacks by generating persuasive phishing emails or custom malware code. Here's my article on SecurityIntelligence telling you all you need to know. 

On the limits of AirTagged luggage

Placing AirTags in luggage gives you a sense of control -- a false sense of control, it turns out. 

We flew Sunday and Monday from San Francisco to Dallas, Dallas to Madrid, then Madrid to Marrakech. We booked all flights through American Airlines, but the final two legs were served by the Spanish airline, Iberia. 

American transferred our four bags in Dallas, but Iberia loaded only three of them, leaving one in Dallas. I know this because I have an AirTag in each of our suitcases.

When we called Iberia, they gave us a 900 number to call, and implied that it was an Iberian number. When we called, we learned that it was in fact the general number number for American Airlines, which has no access to our luggage.

We we called again, Iberia told us that there's nothing they can do; we all have to wait for the airport, somehow. When we offered to tell them exactly where in DFW Terminal D the luggage is, they had no interest, as they have no intention of doing anything about our lost luggage.

And so our AirTags give up up-to-the-minute reports on exactly where our luggage is, the knowledge is useless. It's in the control of Iberian Airlines, which has no intention of delivering our luggage. 


High tide in Venice

The "normal" high tide in Venice is actually higher than some sidewalks.