Small Drones Are Killing Civilians Around the World - And We Don't Know How to Stop It

My latest from Foreign Policy is out, and it's about a disturbing global uptick in attacks on civilians with small, cheap drones. Please read and share.

I've got some more time on my hands nowadays, and I'm planning to start updating this newsletter more frequently. I'm also working on a long-form guide to the Gaspe peninsula in Quebec, which we visited in August. It's a magical place. We saw a moose.

In the spirit of quick hits for days when I don't have a longer-form piece ready to go.....

Stuff I'm Thinking About

Bluesky has video now. My partner made something extremely normal to celebrate the occasion for me. I'm hoping that this move encourages even more people to bail out of Twitter, considering Elon Musk's ever more overtly-feral behavior.

The Franklin expedition. No, this isn't because they released The Terror on Netflix - I was into harrowing accounts of polar expeditions that end in a bunch of guys eating each other before it was cool. Like clockwork, I start reading about the Arctic whenever I go to Canada in the summer. Up there, my thoughts inevitably wander to the beauty of the Far North, the fascinating cultures of the First Nations people who have survived up there for millennia, and stories about colonizers making incredibly dumb decisions.

I can suggest Ken McGoogan's 2023 "Searching for Franklin," which is a compelling (and entertaining) look at how Franklin's typically British dismissal of Inuit, Dene, and Metis knowledge and expertise eventually doomed him and his men - a pattern of behavior that was already clear during Franklin's first, legendarily disastrous, Arctic Overland expedition of 1818 t0 1822. This book also taught me that it's a bad idea to eat polar bear meat, because that's how you get parasitic worms. Not that I was really planning on it.

I can also suggest Ice Ghosts, a straight-forward but interesting look at over 200 years of searching for Franklin's lost ships, culminating in the rediscovery of the Erebus and the Terror in 2014 and 2016, respectively. (The ships were where the Inuit had always said they would be. Surprise!).

I've also enjoyed reading the collected Arctic Journals of legendary Scottish doctor and explorer John Rae, which have been organized by the aforementioned Ken McGoogan into this volume. In notable contrast to Franklin, John Rae was remarkably eager to learn from and listen to Indigenous people, making him a highly effective Arctic explorer and surveyor. He was so effective, in fact, that he figured out what happened to the Franklin expedition in 1854 - including the grim (and now scientifically confirmed) fact that they had resorted to cannibalism - by the novel means of "talking to the Inuit and actually listening to what they have to say." Both Rae and the Inuit were rewarded for this by being ruthlessly attacked in mass media by Charles Dickens. Ken McGoogan also has a book about that incident, "Fatal Passage," which I'm reading right now. In 2008, "Fatal Passage" was turned into an interestingly experimental documentary called, well, "Passage" by Canadian director John Walker. It's worth seeing.

Regarding "The Terror" (Netflix edition): the show, which is pretty good and which I need to finish, is based on Dan Simmon's fictionalized 2007 account of what happened to the men of the Franklin Expedition. What is the novel like? Imagine a Patrick O'Brian novel (complete with many loving and historically accurate details about ship rigging) that, somewhere around the middle, starts turning into Lovecraftian cosmic horror. There's also a sex scene in a Tasmanian platypus pond. I recognize that this appeals to a very niche audience, but it turns out that I am absolutely that niche audience.

"Never Whistle at Night." If you enjoy creepy stories, don't miss this excellent indigenous dark fiction anthology, edited by Shane Hawk and Theodore C. Van Alst Jr. I've been introduced to a bunch of excellent writers via this volume. And even better, there's another one in the works. The editors are taking story submissions right now from emerging Indigenous writers who'd like to be included in Part II: if that's you, check it out!

Bumblebees. You ever seen a bumblebee nest? I hadn't, not until I looked this up two days ago. It looks like a honeybee nest produced by insects with poor executive function, which is pretty relatable.

Speaking of hubris, did you know that scientists have taught bumblebees to play football? Feels like this is going to be cited as a cautionary tale a hundred years from now, when the bees have inherited the earth and built their great hives in our capitals.

Go order some spices from Penzeys. Penzeys, whose leadership has long been bravely willing to call out the dangerous derangement of the US right wing, is once again being targeted by MAGA freaks because Kamala Harris dared to pay the shop a visit. My family has been using Penzeys Spices for as long as I can remember, and the quality is superb. Check them out next time you need to restock. (Yes, I regret to inform you that you do need to replace your spices regularly, and that oregano you've had in your cabinet since 1998 really does just taste like green sawdust now).

Fancy beans. Bean Weather impends in the northern USA, and I have made the ritual Rancho Gordo Winter Bean order. It's been fun to watch Rancho Gordo become more and more of a cult-bean-classic since the pandemic. I remember reading founder Steve Sando's blog when I was an obnoxious child foodie back in the 2000s, and I believe they deserve all of their success. Also, the beans are delicious. I picked up Domingo Rojo's for red beans and rice and chili, some Rio Zapes, some Santa Maria Pinquitos, and cassoulet beans (my partner makes a damn good one). In my opinion, they really are a major improvement over the dry beans you can get at the grocery store.

Cheese slaw. It's a cheese appetizer that looks like coleslaw, and includes mayo, chopped banana peppers, scallions, jalapenos, and grated Swiss or Pepper Jack cheese. It was invented by dinner-party-hosting Southern ladies in Roanoke. It's incredibly easy to make, can be made as spicy as you'd like it, and is good as hell. Cheese slaw: for when you want pimento cheese, but you also want it to look like a vegetable. Serve with Club crackers. Impress your friends.

Black rescue cats from the North Shore who look like they might have owned a speed boat before their contracting business fell on hard times. I can't have cats in my current apartment, which is terrible, but someone needs to go adopt Jim from Marblehead.

I am pleased to report that Al Davis from Lowell got adopted last week.