SUGGESTED READING LIST ~ JAN 5, 2015

1. See that machine up there? For those of you who are worried about the health effects - not to mention the environmental impact - of the dietary choices that you make, and for whom the alternatives provided by the boys at Soylent just don't seem either practicable or palatable, well then, it's probably time you found out about The Food That Is Going To Change The Way You Eat.

More protein than beef. More omegas than salmon. Tons of calcium, antioxidants, and vitamin B. In their secret R&D lab, the scientists at Beyond Meat concocted a plant-protein-based performance burger that delivers the juicy flavor and texture of the real thing with none of the dietary and environmental downsides. 

Check out what one early test subject had to say about the experience of grilling up a Beast BurgerTM(pat.pend).

I tossed one on the grill. It hit with a satisfying sizzle. Gobbets of lovely fat began to bubble out. A beefy smell filled the air. I browned a bun. Popped a pilsner. Mustard, ketchup, pickle, onions. I threw it all together with some chips on the side and took a bite. I chewed. I thought. I chewed some more. And then I began to get excited about the future.

I don't know about you guys but - hideous, filthy machinery notwithstanding - I'm pretty excited to try one of these babies for myself!

2. In the Suggested Readings for Dec 14, 2014, I linked to an amazing Fact.co.uk atricle by Jamie McKittrick about the half-life of languages (typically a few hundred years at most) and the future of design, particularly as it relates to creating generation-spanning warnings for nuclear waste dumps that are going to be deadly radioactive for tens of thousands of years. Well, it seems like the folks at the radio show 99 Percent Invisible read the same articles we did, because they created a really quite excellent audio documentary about the subject, in which they interview a number of people involved in the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) project to create innovative warnings, organized a few years back. Cruise on over to the link for some amazing pictures, and of course so you can listen to the program in its entirety. 

3. And, finally, here's yet another awesome [adult swim] "Infomercial". This was the first follow-up to "Too Many Cooks", which was much-seen and much-loved, and which was featured on DDD a couple short months ago. It's kind of scary though. So you've been warned.