Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 63

Herd immunity is almost here, but what does that mean? An oral history of pickup basketball legend Adam Sandler, free tacos for life, CBD queso, 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.

Please, subscribe and share with a friend.

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A word from Micah

Hello there. I am getting married this Friday. I am not capable of writing words to describe the euphoric emotion I feel today. Caitlin, I love you. I can’t wait for Friday. I can’t wait for the rest of our lives together.

Next week, we’re flying to Hawaii for our honeymoon. Needless to say, I won’t be publishing a newsletter for a little while. That being said, MROTW will continue the next few weeks with guest editors. I think you’ll enjoy it. Thank you for your continued support.

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Herd immunity is almost here. But what does that mean?

Here’s a question we’ve all been wondering about for a year and a half. What happens when we actually reach herd immunity?

John M. Barry is an distinguished scholar at Tulane University’s School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.

In the near future, likely before Christmas, 90 percent or more of the U.S. population will have considerable — but not perfect — immunity to the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2.

Close to 70 percent of Americans have had at least one vaccine dose, while a very substantial if not precisely known percentage of the unvaccinated have recovered from infection. The so-called herd immunity target will be achieved. But what will this actually mean?

For a virus such as measles, our immunity is so good that it almost never infects a protected individual. Herd immunity means that so many individuals have achieved protection that their collective immunity prevents the virus from circulating in that population. For SARS-CoV-2, herd immunity is, unfortunately, more illusory. Even in the best of circumstances, covid-19 will continue to cause sickness and occasionally death.

Where does that leave us?

In the best short-term scenario, variants will continue to emerge but won’t have significant impacts. Delta now causes 99 percent of U.S. cases; the once-feared alpha variant is nowhere to be seen, and neither are variants that once seemed threatening after they emerged in New York, California, South Africa and elsewhere. Delta, in this scenario, will continue to outcompete any variant that emerges, and severe disease will be limited to the steadily decreasing few who still lack any immune protection. Breakthrough infections will still occur, but the immune systems of those vaccinated or previously infected will protect them against severe disease and death.

In this scenario, based on current death rates in breakthrough infections, covid-19 might very well become less threatening than seasonal influenza. This could happen sooner rather than later.

That’s good! But what happens if things don’t go according to plan?

A less favorable short-term scenario would see the emergence of as-yet-unknown variants better at evading our immune systems than those we have encountered so far. In vulnerable populations lacking any immune protection, delta has elbowed such variants aside. But once the vast majority of people have acquired significant immunity, the competitive advantage could shift to variants better geared to evade immune protection — at least for a while.

It’s likely our immune systems would still protect us against severe illness and death, but, as we do with influenza, we would need to update vaccines to keep pace with mutations. Eventually, life would return to pre-pandemic normal.

Is there a best-case scenario in the long term?

Yes: Like the 1918 virus, the coronavirus infects cells in both the upper respiratory tract, which makes it easily transmissible, and deep in the lungs, which makes it potentially lethal. Replicating in the upper respiratory tract allows viruses to transmit between people; replicating in the lung does not.

There is evidence that the 1889 “Russian flu” pandemic, which killed about 1 million people globally, was actually caused by a coronavirus known as OC43.

Today, OC43 kills no one. It causes a cold. We can only hope.

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AN ORAL HISTORY OF ADAM SANDLER, PICKUP BASKETBALL LEGEND

‘He was just out there drilling long threes in his shades and hitting cutters. It was really incredible.’

This is a remarkably well-reported oral history.

No matter where you live, so long as there is a basketball game happening somewhere in the vicinity, there’s a nonzero chance that Adam Sandler will show up. Sandler, by all accounts, respects the hallowed, universal rules of pickup basketball. He just shows up, hoops and dips. 

Whitehorn: It was an average Sunday playing ball on Long Island. One of the guys I was playing with pointed over to the other end of the court and was like, “Yo, I think that’s Adam Sandler.” I was like, There’s no way that’s him, why would he be here? Why would Adam Sandler come play basketball out in the open with no security, nobody with him? 

Ford: He was on the other end of the court wearing big shorts, high socks, black Nikes and then a big XXL pink Polo — not the ideal basketball attire. He looked like a typical old person at the YMCA. 

Joshua: When he showed up to the LA Fitness in Atlanta, his fit was like… I couldn’t pay any attention to it. I was like, “Bro, for you to be so rich, you just humble me,” because he don’t give a shit about clothing. Literally, it looked like he had them clothes since the 1990s, like literally the 1990s. 

Sandler, the floor general.

For those who’ve played with Sandler, the only thing that sticks out more than his iconic style is his commanding presence on the court. This isn’t just about getting some exercise — the Sandman plays to win. 

Collins: Dude, he was so good. And he never took the shades off either. He never took them off; he was just out there drilling long threes in the shades and hitting cutters. It was really incredible. 

Henderson: Pickup basketball tends to be the sort of thing where a lot of people just don’t want to look stupid. But Sandler, who was probably in his 30s at the time, was running his ass off, mixing it up in the paint for rebounds and stuff. I mean, I’m in my mid-30s now and just the thought of being hit by somebody crashing the boards makes my back hurt. 

Mine too.

Joshua: What’s crazy is people were coming at him, trying to make an example of him. But he was locked in, he wasn’t just trying to stay out of the way and be the outlier on the team — that guy where you’re like, “Damn, bro!” He was hustling, grabbing rebounds, making the extra pass. 

Henderson: You can tell with some of the passes and stuff — in order to do a lot of the things he’s doing, you have to play basketball all the time. Because if you’re not playing, you lose some of that court vision, some of that strategy-thinking. So watching him, it’s clear that he plays all the time.

≠ @SenseiSigh

Adam Sandler threw me a dime today

Best of all, Sandler sets picks!

Collins: He’s settin’ picks. People are settin’ picks for him. He’s cutting. He’s making things happen.

Henderson: He’s 54, now. 54! And the guy’s still rolling up to pickup games and throwing one-handed no-look passes. It’s incredible. 

Adam Sandler, master of the hoops Irish goodbye:

Collins: He wants to get in two games, maybe three, and then get out. Like the last game, I’m not kidding, he hit a game-winner from deep and then just dipped hard. 

I remember because it was his ball. And he hit that shot and was like [Sandler voice again], “Alright dudes, I gotta bounce.” He took his ball, dapped a couple dudes up, got in a really regular looking car — that he street-parked — and just bounced. It was nuts. 

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In 1998, these SF men got a tattoo to snag free tacos for life. Here's what happened after.

Shouts to the reader who sent this to me on Twitter. Here’s a delightful story about a mom-and-pop Mexican restaurant.

Rewind back to 1998: Greg Tietz, then 35, had only been in San Francisco for a couple of years and was looking to plant his roots in his neighborhood when a Mexican restaurant's promotion piqued his interest. 

Get a tattoo, get free Mexican food for life.

Tietz had wanted to get his first tattoo but was wracked with indecision.

Something about the Casa Sanchez tattoo just stuck for Tietz. The logo, a young boy riding a cob of corn-slash-rocket ship lovingly named “Jimmy the Cornman,” was great. The food was, too.

What happened next: They went viral the old-fashioned way. It made the rounds on the San Francisco alt-weeklies, then KPIX and the San Francisco Chronicle. 

And then when the local news cycle died out, the national one came months later

The Associated Press ran a wire on the promo. CNN featured them on their news shows for weeks. "All Things Considered" had them on the air. Tietz went on "Leeza," Leeza Gibbons' talk show, sitting on a panel next to Jennifer Flavin, Sylvester Stallone's wife, and actor D.B. Sweeney. 

"I was just like the guy that they kept teasing," Tietz said of his experience on the talk show, "like, 'This guy gets free food for life and wait till you hear what he had to do.'"

Then, it went global. A German travel show profiled him, Tietz said. He ended up, inexplicably, on a Chinese TV show, he said.

The free food was good, but the thing that stuck with them the most, back in '99 and now, was this idea that the “tacos-for-tattoos” promo did end up in a family of sorts.

Every time a news organization wanted a story, Sanchez would corral all of the tattooed folks at the restaurant and gather them together, and every time would be like a family reunion — with everyone keeping up with each other’s kids and work and relationships.

"It was a little community, of those of us that got the tattoo and also, between us and the Sanchez family,” Tietz said.

But for all intents and purposes, the tattoo the two of them got meant way more than the food or even the notoriety. The tattoo, the story behind it and the friendships he cultivated — all thanks to Casa Sanchez — will all last in perpetuity. 

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Yes, I Got Buzzed on Earlybird CBD Queso

I ate a quarter-pound of the mood-altering queso developed by Trudy’s and Earlybird CBD. For journalism!

Ok, so I didn’t personally do this. But a writer at Texas Monthly did. And I would.

I love Earlybird CBD. I’ve been enjoying their full-spectrum hemp gummies for a while now, and I can’t recommend them highly enough. You can try them and save 20% now at earlybirdcbd.com/micah.

I also love queso. So does the author.

The general rule of thumb with edibles, or cannabis-infused food items: eat them one dose at a time, and never consume more than you can handle. The general rule of thumb when it comes to queso: eat as much as you possibly can, as quickly as you can, before the dip or the chips run out. 

How to square these competing philosophies when the queso in question is an edible? The question came to mind when I learned of a recipe that incorporates the classic queso from Tex-Mex institution Trudy’s with a mood-altering extract from Austin-based hemp company Earlybird CBD. 

Founded in 2018, when the federal Hemp Farming Act legalized hemp nationwide, Earlybird CBD sells hemp gummies and tinctures infused with cannabidiol, or CBD. The hemp-derived cannabis component doesn’t create a high, but some studies find it beneficial in treating anxiety, insomnia, and chronic pain. (A few of Earlybird’s products contain a small amount legal in Texas—less than 0.3 percent—of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, the cannabis component that gets you blitzed.) Earlybird aligns itself more with the microdoser’s milieu. It positions its products as part of a lifestyle approach to hemp consumption that also includes surfing, hiking, and the idea that you don’t have to be stoned out of your mind to enjoy the positive effects of cannabis. The tinctures and gummies that do contain THC offer five, ten, or more times as much CBD as THC, resulting in a pleasant, calming euphoria rather than a laid-flat haze—exactly how one feels after consuming just the right amount of queso. 

So how was it?

As it happens, I caught a buzz anyway, a tiny, baby buzz characterized by a big grin and an easy laugh. Jesse confided that he felt very relaxed. The high wasn’t too much or not enough. It was just right. 

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Trudy’s Classic Queso + Earlybird CBD:

• Serves 2
  8-ounce block of queso
  1 ⅖ cups of milk, or slightly less for a thicker queso
  ½  jalapeño, diced
  ½ tablespoon of garlic powder
  ½ tablespoon of onion powder
  2 milliliters Earlybird full-spectrum tincture

Shred or cube the block of queso.

Heat the milk in a large saucepot, bringing it to a light simmer. Add the shredded or cubed queso.

Whisk frequently to ensure no scorching at the bottom of the pan.

Once cheese is melted into the hot milk and the mixture has a single consistency, add in the diced jalapeño, garlic powder, and onion powder.

Cool and finish by adding the 2 milliliters of Earlybird CBD tincture.

Consume, preferably with tortilla chips, and ideally outdoors on a patio of some sort.

Save 20% now at earlybirdcbd.com/micah.

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Where else can I find Micah content?

• Wedding Registry: caitlinandmicah.com

• Podcasts: Mind of Micah, Back Door Cover, Too Much Dip

• Twitter:  @micahwiener & @producermicah (Why two twitters? It’s a long story)

• Mortgage Inquiries: savewithmicah.com

• Instagram: @micahwiener

• LinkedIn: @micahwiener

• Peloton: #badboysofpelly @micahwiener

• Dispo: @micahwiener

• Email: micahwiener@me.com

• NMLS #2090158

Until next time, buh-bye.