Micah's Read of the Week, Vol. 79
Headline of the Week, an urgent warning for homebuyers, the metaverse doesn't exist, a special Recipe Corner featuring a February dinner party menu, and more.
Hello, and welcome to Micah’s Read of the Week.
This is a newsletter filled with things Micah Wiener finds interesting.
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Headline of the Week
Stranded dog saved from rising tide after rescuers attach sausage to drone
Team in Hampshire ties sausage to drone as ‘last resort’ to rescue Millie the Jack Russell from mudflats
As the tide rose, it began to look perilous for Millie the jack russell-whippet cross, who had defied the efforts of police, firefighters and coastguards to pluck her from treacherous mudflats.
So the rescuers had to think imaginatively, and came up with the idea of attaching a sausage to a drone and hoping the scent of the treat would tempt Millie to safety. It worked gloriously and Millie has been reunited with her grateful owner after following the dangling sausage to higher, safer ground.
That’s a good boy!
An urgent warning for homebuyers
Not to be hyperbolic, but we are facing an unprecedented situation in the American real estate market. Inventory has NEVER been lower. From Homebuyers: Buckle up for another brutal spring housing market:
To understand how far the deck was stacked against buyers, just look at the data. The number of homes for sale last spring hit the lowest level in more than 40 years. Bidding wars hit an all-time high—with 72% of homes getting multiple offers in April 2021. And that frenzy saw home appreciation climb to the highest level in tabulated history.
Forecasters say things aren’t likely to change anytime soon. So what does this mean for you?
It’s time to get in the game.
How do you win in this environment? Cash. And lucky for you, I have a simple cash-offer program that allows buyers to win with cash and then finance their home with a traditional mortgage putting as little as 3% down.
Are you a buyer or real estate agent who wants to learn more? Schedule a risk-free consultation with me right now HERE. Or get started in just a few clicks at micahwiener.com.
It’s time you skip the bidding war and go straight to winning. Let’s start today.
Back to the read…
In 2021, tech talked up ‘the metaverse.’ One problem: It doesn’t exist.
For weeks, we’ve been doubtful of the metaverse. In fact, 13 weeks ago, I declared “Meta is for losers.” Well, there’s a lot more evidence that the hype surrounding the metaverse is simply that— hype.
People are getting married in the metaverse now, we’re told. Speculators are buying real estate in the metaverse, according to the headlines. Managers must learn to hold meetings in the metaverse, it would seem. This month, an executive at Facebook — er, Meta — gave an interview in the metaverse.
One slight hitch: The metaverse doesn’t exist yet, and it probably won’t anytime soon.
What does exist is an idea, an explosion of hype, and a bevy of rival apps and platforms looking to capitalize on both — without a clear path between the idea and reality. In techland, 2021 wasn’t the year of the metaverse. It was the year of rebranding existing technologies as building blocks for the metaverse, while leaving intact the corporate walls that make a true metaverse impossible.
So what is the metaverse?
While definitions of the metaverse vary, most proponents agree it involves more than just putting on virtual reality goggles or augmented reality glasses and interacting with avatars. It implies a bridging of countless smaller digital worlds and experiences through technical standards that allow users to move between them, carrying their virtual identity, social connections and possessions as they go. The word itself — coined by author Neal Stephenson in the 1992 science-fiction novel “Snow Crash” — implies that it’s not just one app, device or experience, but an overarching system of apps, devices and experiences. (“Meta” means “beyond” or “after” in Greek, while the English prefix “meta-” connotes transcendence.)
Here’s the problem: it doesn’t exist, and can’t exist in the current environment.
Interoperability — the working-together of many virtual worlds — is key to the concept. It’s also what’s missing from almost everything that’s suddenly being called “the metaverse.”
That isn’t a metaverse. It’s just another walled garden, the venerable tech term that denotes a self-contained online environment that’s closed off from the wider digital world. Horizon Worlds is to the metaverse as AOL was to the Web — except that there really was a Web beyond AOL, whereas at this point, there’s no metaverse beyond Horizon Worlds.
If the metaverse is actually going to become a thing, it’ll require cooperation between the major tech companies, something I wouldn't bet on.
But getting rival companies to meld their products into a single metaverse would require a level of cooperation and openness for which today’s tech gatekeepers have shown little appetite or aptitude. Historically, the development of interoperable technologies such as email and the Web has been driven by the government, academia and nonprofits — not corporate giants such as Meta.
But at least Meta is succeeding in this space, right?
Facebook Hosted Three Huge Concerts in the Metaverse and They Seriously Flopped
Maybe not.
Meta — aka the artist formerly known as Facebook — announced a slate of big name virtual reality concerts set to take place entirely in in its Horizon Venues metaverse last month. The star-studded lineup included rapper Young Thug on December 26, DJ David Guetta on December 31, and finally EDM duo The Chainsmokers for a New Years’ Eve concert to ring in 2022.
The only problem? Not many people noticed — and those who did didn’t seem to really care.
Despite being completely free, the concerts seemed to get incredibly little traction or notice from anyone outside of Meta offices. There was barely any mention of any of the performances on social media platforms like Twitter or even Facebook, let alone on news and music publications.
So how many people did tune in?
Young Thug’s performance racked up just north of 100,000 views, while Guetta’s performances accumulated almost a million. The Chainsmokers’ performance, for its part, seems to have been removed. And keep in mind, too, that Facebook has been known to put a very optimistic spin on view counts previously in order to build hype for its fledgling video streaming platform.
If you think about it for just a second, it makes sense. Watching a concert alone while wearing a VR headset at home isn’t how a lot of people want to spend their New Year’s Eve — even if they are massive fans of The Chainsmokers for some reason.
Burn.
Recipe Corner
Dry January ends tomorrow. (Today is the last day to save 20% off on all EarlybirdCBD products at earlybirdcbd.com/newyear. New and returning customers save 20% with promocode: newyear.)
So, host that dinner party you’ve been avoiding all month. Below is a simple menu sure to feed a group of any size.
Note: we’ll be back with a special Super Bowl Recipe Extravaganza next week.
Let’s start with a cocktail…
Frozen Martini
2 cups (16 ounces) London dry gin or Plymouth gin
1 cup water
½ cup (4 ounces) blanc vermouth (such as Carpano Bianco)
½ cup (4 ounces) dry vermouth (such as Dolin Dry)
½ tablespoon (1/4 ounce) orange bitters
8 lemon peel twists or green olives
Pour gin, 1 cup water, blanc vermouth, dry vermouth, and bitters into a freezer-safe liter-size bottle, such as an empty liquor bottle, and seal. Turn bottle upside down a couple of times to incorporate ingredients. Place in freezer for at least 6 hours or overnight to chill.
To serve, pour 1/2 cup (4 ounces) martini mixture into each of 8 chilled martini glasses. Top each with a lemon peel twist or a green olive. Serve immediately.
Prepared martini mixture will keep frozen up to 1 year.
Slow-Roasted Salmon with Walnut-Olive Vinaigrette
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon grated lemon zest plus 3 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 (2 1/2-pound) side of salmon
2 ¾ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
¾ teaspoon black pepper, divided
½ cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
¼ cup walnuts, toasted and finely chopped
¼ cup Champagne vinegar or white wine vinegar
¼ cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
¼ cup pitted Castelvetrano olives, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
Preheat oven to 325°F with rack in middle position. Whisk together 1/2 cup oil and paprika in a small bowl. Set aside 1 tablespoon oil mixture; stir lemon zest and juice into remaining oil mixture in small bowl. Place salmon in a large baking dish; sprinkle both sides with 21/2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper. Tuck tapered end of salmon under if needed to fit in dish. Pour lemon-paprika mixture over salmon. Bake in preheated oven until thickest part of salmon flakes easily with a fork, 30 to 35 minutes, spooning lemon-paprika mixture in baking dish over salmon every 10 minutes. Remove from oven; let rest 5 minutes.
Whisk together parsley, walnuts, vinegar, olives, and remaining 1/4 cup oil in a small bowl. Season with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Using 2 large spatulas, carefully lift salmon from baking dish, and transfer to a large platter; discard remaining lemon-paprika mixture in baking dish. Spoon walnut-olive vinaigrette on salmon. Drizzle fish with reserved oil mixture. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Rainbow Vegetable Gratin
Here’s a fancy-looking side that allows you to clear out whatever veg you have in the fridge or pantry. Please don’t cut your fingers on the mandoline. Thx.
1 tablespoon olive oil, for greasing
1 cup panko
3 ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, grated (about 3/4 cup)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 ½ teaspoons kosher salt, divided
½ teaspoon plus 5 pinches black pepper, divided
1 large red onion
2 medium-sizes Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled, sliced crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices (about 2 cups)
1 medium-size purple or orange sweet potato, peeled and sliced crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices (about 2 cups)
1 large zucchini, sliced crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick rounds (about 2 1/2 cups)
1 large yellow squash, sliced crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick rounds (about 2 1/2 cups)
2 large heirloom tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds), sliced crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices (about 3 cups)
Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle position. Line an 18- x 13-inch rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil; grease with oil. Stir together panko, cheese, thyme, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon pepper in a small bowl; set aside.
Trim and remove stem end and outer layer of onion, and discard. Using a sharp knife or a mandoline, slice onion into wafer-thin slices (about 1/16 inch thick). Set aside.
Arrange Yukon gold potato slices in lengthwise rows to create a roughly 13- x 9-inch rectangle on prepared baking sheet, overlapping slices slightly. Sprinkle evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 pinch of pepper, and 1/4 cup loosely packed panko mixture. Repeat layering process with onion, sweet potato, zucchini, and yellow squash slices, overlapping slightly and sprinkling with 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1 pinch of pepper, and 1/4 cup loosely packed panko mixture between layers. Top with tomato slices, overlapping slightly. Gently press down to even out layers. Sprinkle evenly with remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt. Top with a piece of parchment paper; cover sheet pan tightly with foil. Bake in preheated oven until a paring knife inserted in gratin meets only slight resistance, about 1 hour.
Remove from oven; remove and discard foil. Sprinkle gratin evenly with remaining 1/2 cup panko mixture. Rotate pan from front to back, and return to oven on middle rack. Bake, uncovered, at 350°F until a knife inserted in gratin goes in and comes out easily, about 20 minutes. Increase heat to broil. (Do not remove gratin from oven.) Broil until panko is lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from oven; let cool 20 minutes.
Recipe: Texas Citrus Rustic Cake
Citrus szn rolls on.
1 medium orange, or two small tangerines or tangelos
1 large lemon
⅔ cup Texas olive oil
6 ounces raw almonds
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 large eggs, room temperature
½ teaspoon sea salt or Himalayan pink salt
1 ½ cups granulated white sugar
Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Place all citrus in a pot with enough water to cover the fruit. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 30 minutes to soften the fruit. Pour out the water and let fruit cool to room temperature. You can run cold water over the fruit to speed up the cooling process. Remove seeds and then place the fruit, with skin, in a food processor and puree until smooth. While processing, slowly trickle in olive oil to make a paste. Remove paste and set aside; wipe out food processor.
Place almonds on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 20 minutes or so. To test, break an almond in half and check for a toasted color. Once they’re toasted, remove almonds from the oven and let cool.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. When the almonds have cooled, add them to the food processor and pulse until they reach a fine texture similar to sand. Add the all-purpose flour and baking powder to the food processor, and pulse to combine.
In a bowl, whisk eggs with salt until foamy, then add sugar a little at a time while whisking. (Alternatively, use a stand mixer to whisk the eggs, then slowly add sugar.) Whisk until sugar is mostly dissolved.
Fold in orange paste. Then fold in flour mixture. Do not overmix. Pour into one 10-inch or two 5-inch springform pans and bake for 45 minutes to one hour, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack until the sides pull away. This cake tastes better after it has cooled.
Did Micah do Yoga this week?
Yes. Sunday morning at Fairground Austin. 3 out of 4 for the year. 6/7 on wordle.
As always, namaste.
More Micah
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
Email: micahwiener@me.com
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