Good Things Friday (339) and Link Love
August 29, 2025
1. PSA: We tried olipop sodas this week and every flavor we tried was gross: root beer, grape, cream. I am VERY picky about my root beer, admittedly, but 4 different people agreed with me when I expressed my yuck.
I need to find someone who likes this brand so we can pass it along.
2. Victorious!! I figured out how to hack off the last few inches of hair in the back all by myself!
I hate feeling helpless and I hate needing help, so when my body quits on me and I have to suffer both extreme pain and the indignity of not doing my fair share because I’m a lumpy squishy potato, well. I need some small thing that I can be proud of. This week, it’s lopping off 3-5(?) inches of hair solo. I can’t really tell how much came off. All that matters is that I did it and a good chunk of length is now in the bin. Woo!
This is great! Scientists found the missing nutrients bees need — Colonies grew 15-fold
I’ve long theorized COVID is like measles where it’s erasing our immunity history: Why scientists are rethinking the immune effects of SARS-CoV-2
Mouse models are a far way off from humans but this is really neat. I hope it has a meaningful connection to how memory loss works in humans. Scientists reversed memory loss by powering the brain’s tiny engines
We support BoltsMag’s reporting: Facing Arizona’s Crackdown on Homelessness, Two Cities Offer Different Responses
Calling our Senators about this and so many other things: Trump Administration Waives Dozens of Laws to Bulldoze Border Wall Through Texas National Wildlife Refuge
Good: LA Ice protests spurred US military to identify ‘hotels to avoid’ due to ‘harassment’
Oh that’s such good news about the bees! I planted a bunch of native flowers in my front yard this year (replaced the grass) and have SO MANY bees all the time happily buzzing about. It’s been very gratifying. I’d love if there was some supplement I could give them to help boost their health.
I’ve been worried that we haven’t seen the usual hordes of bees buzzing around the neighbors’ lavender. I really hope this is something that becomes available to the general public so we too can feed the bees!
COVID immune response research is interesting. Are the differences from COVID itself or is it a shift in our overall microbiomes? Are COVID & measles unique in that “amnesiac effect” or have we simply not noticed other illnesses’ side effects? It reminds me of how women’s health has pivoted recently from Pap smears for cancer cells to focusing on HPV vaccines/swabs as the primary root cause. I wonder what other ailments will turn out to have viral or bacterial roots too.
It feels like it would be pretty unusual for only one or maybe two ailments to have that effect but then it took us how long to realize that the EBV was linked to MS? COVID is awfully complicated even outside of this possible effect, TBH.