lsanderson | 2025.03.15

Minneapolis set a record Friday (75 degrees, fondly Fahrenheit or ~24 C for the rest of you). Of course, snow is forecast, but it ain't here yet.

‘Brain pacemakers’: implants to be tested to help alcohol and opioid addicts
Trial will determine whether electrical pulses can control and decrease yearnings
Robin McKie, Science editor
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/15/brain-implants-alcohol-opioid-addicts-trial

‘Spreadsheets of empire’: red tape goes back 4,000 years, say scientists after Iraq finds
Ancient Mesopotamian stone tablets show extraordinary detail and reach of government in cradle of world civilisations
Dalya Alberge
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2025/mar/15/stone-tablets-mesopotamia-iraq-red-tape-bureaucracy

‘They’re on. They’re off. We can’t plan’ – bourbon makers dazed by Trump tariffs
The president’s chaotic policy on import duties makes planning impossible, says the CEO of a Kentucky distillery – and state Republicans are unhappy, too
Callum Jones in Louisville, Kentucky
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/15/bourbon-makers-trump-tariffs

Baby wombat-snatching US influencer apologises and says she was ‘concerned’ for Australian animal
Sam Jones, who left Australia on Friday, posted a 900-word statement questioning outrage in country where ‘slaughter of wombats’ is permitted
Nino Bucci
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/15/baby-wombat-snatching-us-influencer-apologises-and-says-she-was-concerned-for-australian-animal-ntwnfb

How a New Zealander working from her mum’s kitchen started a news service read by Madonna
The success of Shit You Should Care About has been down to Lucy Blakiston’s focus on social media at a time where news avoidance is growing
Eva Corlett in Wellington
https://www.theguardian.com/global/2025/mar/15/shit-you-should-care-about-lucy-blakiston-media

Clothes brand gets 100 complaints a day that models are 'too fat'
Jennifer Meierhans
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2xjd41g33o

Trump is coming for your poppers: Major producer closes amid FDA crackdown
Several other companies seem to have followed suit.
By Mey Rude
https://www.out.com/news/poppers-fda-crackdown-double-scorpio

U of M Regents Pass Resolution Gagging Faculty
Plus the Wolves basketball boss, weird weed rulings, and don't drive like a dumbass in today's Flyover news roundup.
By Racket Staff
https://racketmn.com/university-of-minnesota-regents-pass-resolution-gagging-faculty-speech

Meera Sodha’s vegan recipe for Lebanese moussaka with five-garlic-clove sauce
The Lebanese take on moussaka is a simple vegetable stew of aubergines, chickpeas, spices and herbs, here spruced up with a lively garlic sauce
Meera Sodha
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2025/mar/15/lebanese-moussaka-five-garlic-clove-sauce-recipe-meera-sodha

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