Ben Mann Monthly Jan 2024

Healthspan, trains, filming, butter chicken, eczema, circus

Purpose

• An index for my memory

• A menu of topics for my next conversation with you

• A faster way to share what I’m excited about without the barrier of writing a complete blog entry on it

• A skimmable way to spread content I found valuable

Photos

Experiments and experiences

• Tilden Park steam train

  • The train is an absolute magnet for 1-4 year olds. I had fun too! On the way home we stopped at Chik-fil-a. I'd forgotten how good it is.

• Healthspan

  • I was interested in acarbose for its ability to dampen postprandial glycaemic excursions (blood sugar spike after eating), but since I'm not pre-diabetic I had trouble getting a prescription. Healthspan was easy to sign up for. I still have some research to do on rapamycin before I feel comfortable taking it, but I started acarbose yesterday. The flatulence hasn't been bad so far. I'm trying to approach all this stuff with a lot of skepticism. Studies in this area tend to be very small scale and biased. This podcast episode with Rich Miller and David Attia seemed fairly clear-eyed about the nuances of the research. I learned a lot about mouse studies and why they're hard to do effectively! To be continued...

• Kooza

  • Diana and I went to the circus since it was right in our backyard. I'd never been to a Cirque du Soleil show before and quite enjoyed it. While the acrobatics were impressive, I enjoyed the clowns the most. They were having so much fun! It gave me some ideas for playing with Euda too.

• Euda eczema escalation

  • Euda's eczema got bad enough that she drew blood scratching. Apparently this is very common! The dermatologist suggested vaseline 10 times a day and hydrocortisone 2/x day. It seems to be working! She's still scratching a little but clearly suffering a less.

• Health kick

  • I haven't improved my diet much, but I am exercising more, especially using 7 minute workout as a stop-gap if I haven't done anything else. Starting to feel better!

• Copilot for writing

  • For the last few months I've used Copilot to write code, but it also triggers when I write these newsletters in markdown in Foam. It's not built for this purpose, but it's great for unsticking writer's block. Amusingly, because it goes "to the end of the line" by default, it'll often get stuck in a repetitive loop saying the same or a similar thing over and over again. I'd be excited to try the same thing with a better model.

Life updates

• 🤝 Beginning role handoff at work on Feb 6, new role on Mar 6!

• 🏝️ Booked Kauai for March 3-7

• ✍️ Caching some blog posts

Content

5 point Likert ratings for “I would recommend this content to a friend”, sorted

• Butter chicken 5/5

  • Better than restaurant! Skipped the blending step, still great.

• Zucchini bread 5/5

  • I've made this with both the full amount and half the sugar. Both are great! Highly recommend adding a cup of toasted chopped walnuts.

• The Banshees of Inisherin 4/5

  • One of two best friends on a small Irish island abruptly decides that he doesn't like the other one anymore. Escalation ensues.

  • Extremely dark comedy, very strange. Allegory for one of the Irish civil wars.

  • Excellent performances.

• American Fiction 4/5

  • A black author is tired of the world asking him to write more black, so as a satire he goes all the way. To his chagrin, the book succeeds spectacularly.

  • Loved the characters, especially the gay brother who's always speaking the truth to those around him, often rudely.

  • Brilliant twist ending.

• It. Goes. So. Fast. 4/5

  • Author has one more year before her oldest son goes to college. She takes a hiatus from her high-powered radio show to spend more time with her family, not always successfully.

  • On Audible, the author reads her book. She's a radio host, so she really nails the tone. If you read this, be ready to cry, though some may find it over the top at times.

  • Made me think hard about balancing work and family, and drove home that it's never a solved balance. They will always be in tension, and that's ok.

  • Diana felt the comparisons between talking to world leaders and her kids to be forced. I liked it.

• Lightyear 2/5

  • Buzz Lightyear (Toy Story) origin movie.

  • Only watched the first 20 minutes. Surprised Pixar would make a movie seemingly so off-brand.

• Secret Life of Pets 2/5

  • Started watching to entertain Euda. Standard story, okay characters.