Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 40
NFTs, Rick Rubin, a 45 update, Idiot Lawmaker of the Week, Beef of the Week, recipes, and more.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting.
Check out the introduction post here and the entire archive of previous newsletters here.
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What are NFTs?
I’ve heard a lot about NFTs lately. You’ve probably heard a lot about them too. Based on my very limited knowledge, the are very stupid.
I found this piece about NFTs pretty interesting. But really, the tweet below makes more sense than any other explanation I’ve seen.
Am I the idiot? Comment below.
Here’s a great Rick Rubin story
This comes from an excerpt from The Big Payback by Dan Charnas:
"If you heard a rap record on the radio in 1984, Russell Simmons had something to do with it. Run-DMC, Kurtis Blow, Fat Boys, Whodini -- Simmons got paid off of them all as either a producer, manager, or promoter.
"Then Simmons caught a record that wasn't his. The song had no music. No Sugar Hill house band, no cheesy melody, no keyboards, no bass line. The record took Simmons's stripped-down, beat-box sound and amplified it. The drums were bigger, the scratches louder, the rhymes harder.
"It was as if the MC were speaking directly to him. Here was the rap music Simmons envisioned when he made 'Sucker MCs.' It was street; it was uncompromising. And it wasn't his record.
"Simmons didn't know anything about the label that released Jay's record, Def Jam, nor the person listed as the song's producer, Rick Rubin.
"Whoever this n****r is, Simmons thought, he just made the Blackest record ever.
"A White, Jewish college junior hailing from suburban Long Island, Frederick Jay Rubin operated 'Def Jam Recordings' out of his dorm room at New York University. As for the song that electrified Russell Simmons and the streets of New York during the summer of 1984, Rubin recorded it with a drum machine and $300 from his parents, who had been funding his dreams for years.
"'Ricky,' his mother exclaimed, 'can do anything!'
The only people at school who listened to new music, in fact, were the Black kids. And all the Black kids were listening to rap.
"Where many White kids hated rap, Rick was curious. By the time he graduated in the spring of 1981, rap had become Rubin's second all-consuming musical passion. The school's yearbook printed a parting proverb from Ricky: 'I wanna play loud. I wanna be heard. I want all to know. I'm not one of the herd.'
Hat tip to Dr. Counts for sharing this with me. If you see something that you think may be of interest, please share! There are far too many ways to reach me and all are found at the bottom of the newsletter.
Podcast Promotion of the Week
A few weeks ago, we featured the story of Mariano Martinez, the Dallas restauranteur recognized by the Smithsonian as the inventor of the frozen margarita machine.
This week, Brad Kee joined me on Mind of Micah to talk about Martinez, his important invention, and how to make the best frozens at home. The recipe below is from Texas Monthly and is a pretty good guide:
Frozen Margarita
4 ounces silver tequila
3 ounces fresh-squeezed lime juice
2 ounces triple sec, like Cointreau
1 ounce simple syrup
2 cups cocktail ice
Throw everything in the blender (or the reservoirs of your marg machine). Blend. Pour into two chilled, salted glasses and enjoy (responsibly).
Also, while I have your attention, you should check out the sports podcast that Brad and I host, Back Door Cover. We recorded an NFL Draft reaction podcast Friday. It was pretty good.
Ya’ll want to check in on our 45th president?
Me neither. But here’s your update.
Sad!
Good news for 45, since he’s no longer POTUS, he’s not eligible for the next award.
Idiot Lawmaker of the Week
This story, unsurprisingly, comes to us from Kansas.
One video allegedly shows Kansas state Rep. Mark Samsel asking students about their sex lives.
Another reportedly shows the Republican lawmaker pushing someone against a wall while working as a substitute teacher and warning, “I could put the wrath of God on you right now.”
Yet another, reviewed by the Kansas City Star, allegedly captures the moments right after the legislator kneed a student in the crotch Wednesday. Samsel stands over the boy, the Star reported, and asks, “Did it hurt?” — then asks him why he’s about to cry and queries a classmate: “Doyou want to check his nuts for him, please?”
“Class, you have permission to kick him in the balls,” Samsel says at one point on video, according to the newspaper.
Samsel, 36, was arrested Thursday on charges of misdemeanor battery after school officials in Wellsville, Kan., reported an unspecified “incident” between him and a student, the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office said. As videos — some of which The Washington Post obtained — circulated and made the news, parents and community members expressed alarm and outrage that Samsel was working with young people and representing them in the state House.
I have nothing to add.
Hat tip: Marcy.
Beef of the Week
Steak is delicious. Everyone knows this. Peter Luger serves excellent steak. People were shot at the restaurant last week.
The clash between two patrons at a table of 11 broke out at about 9:45 p.m. before they had even eaten their food at the Williamsburg restaurant, according to sources and the group’s server.
The fight spilled outside, where the shooter, a 24-year-old man, pulled a gun and started firing toward his rival, sources said.
But instead, the gunman shot two men eating outside.
One victim, 30, was struck in the shoulder. The other, 57, was hit in the stomach.
Both men were taken to Bellevue Hospital, where they were expected to survive.
That’s unfortunate. Thankfully, the diners featured in the photo below didn’t let the shooting stop them from enjoying their meals.
Well done!
Stupid Beef of the Week
Ok, so I’ve buried this at the bottom of the newsletter because it goes with the other stories about beef. Unlike the others, this story is actually important. An insane, and stupid story recently made its way around the right-wing media universe. From Fresh off election falsehoods, Republicans serve up a whopper about Biden:
It began with a Daily Mail article Thursday, titled, “How Biden’s climate plan could limit you to eat just one burger a MONTH.” The article speculated on some ways Biden could achieve his goals. It cited a University of Michigan study that found that Americans reducing their meat consumption would help lower the country’s greenhouse gas emissions.
The academic study does not mention Biden and was published before he was inaugurated, but that didn’t stop the Daily Mail from baselessly asserting that Biden’s climate plan “would require Americans to only consume about four pounds of red meat per year, or 0.18 ounces per day.”
This story is emblematic of so much in the disinformation economy. Of course, it’s a media story. And no one should be surprised that Fox News would act in bad-faith to amplify something untrue.
Several Fox News hosts also picked up the false claim. The network even ran an “Up In Your Grill” graphic, featuring a burger on one side and several false claims about Biden’s climate plan on the other, including, “Cut 90% of red meat from diet,” and “One burger per month.”
This stupid story so perfectly illustrates a common pattern we’ve seen and will see over an over again during this administration and beyond: something dumb is published out of context, right-wing media amplify the story, and the regular suspects show up with the most predictably asinine takes. Like almost everything else in our world, social media is a corrupting force here.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) dubbed Biden “The Hamburglar,” while Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) tweeted that Biden should “stay out of my kitchen.” Donald Trump Jr. retweeted the Fox News graphic, writing, “I’m pretty sure I ate 4 pounds of red meat yesterday. That’s going to be a hard NO from me.” And on Sunday, Rep. Madison Cawthorn (R-N.C.) tweeted that “Not only does Emperor Biden not want us to celebrate the 4th of July, now he doesn’t want us to have a burger on that day either.”
Of course, Texas politicians jump at any chance to shamelessly throw red meat to their base.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott shared the Fox News graphic on Twitter, with Abbott proclaiming, “Not gonna happen in Texas!”
Never mind that it’s not gonna happen anywhere. It’s untrue. How can we say that with confidence? Because Biden hasn’t made any concrete climate proposals at all. But the truth doesn't matter, because amplifying falsehoods is a good strategy for the GOP.
So how do democratic leaders fight back politically? Carefully, I guess.
Dan Pfeiffer, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, said the challenge for Democrats is that even seemingly inconsequential falsehoods can consume valuable time and detract from an administration’s strategic message.
“This is where Democrats misunderstand the right-wing media machine,” Pfeiffer said. “It’s not that swing voters are going to believe that Biden wants to ban hamburgers; it’s that it makes it harder to get your positive message out on other things because you’re busy responding to this.”
The episode underscores how the shadow of Donald Trump’s presidency — rife with misinformation and mistruths and lies — still lingers, providing Republicans with a mendacious road map for demonizing a political rival.
“One of the things misinformation can do is signal to people that there’s a deeper truth to what’s being claimed, even if people know it’s not literally true,” Effron said. “So you see a bunch of people sharing this thing about the burger and you may not think, ‘Biden is going to literally take away the burgers,’ but you may start to believe the broader point this misinformation is making — the broader point in this case being Biden is super liberal, he’s going to infringe on our liberties, he can’t be trusted.”
Enough. Time to move on to some positive beef.
Summer of Skirt Steak
Skirt. Hanger. Flank. These thin, fast-cooking steaks are flavorful, easy to cook, and extremely versatile. Over the next few weeks, I’ll share recipes here for these cuts. Although they are different steaks, they can all be marinated and prepared the same way, so I’ll use them interchangeably.
First, a recipe I used this weekend, with a sauce to match.
Gochujang-Honey Skirt Steak
1 pound skirt steak
1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
3 tablespoons gochujang
3 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon canola oil
In a shallow bowl, stir the gochujang and honey together until combined. Add the skirt steak and coat with the mixture.
Grill on a hot fire. Let rest. Slice across the grain. Enjoy.
Matt’s El Rancho’s secret sauce
Matt’s El Rancho is a legendary Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin. I’ve probably eaten there more than any other restaurant. It’s wonderful. They use a very distinctive sauce on almost everything these make. I found this recipe several years ago on a Big Green Egg forum. It’s from 2010, and I think it’s pretty close to what they use at Matt’s. I used it last night. I dipped my skirt steak in the sauce about halfway through grilling and used a little more on top as it rested. This makes a ton of “Black Magic” sauce, so please scale down the recipe as needed.
1 bottle (10 ounces) Kikkoman light soy sauce
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup dry red wine
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