Robinwho

Fizz AM

Never Bored

Bird Bird Bird. Himalayan salt isn't quite Himalayan. Why housing reforms keep failing. Booby refuses to recognize Augustus. Tortellini wears a backpack.

Issue #011
Someone Cooked Hoooold up – really? On the Beach Booby's Journal Be Nice Certified Good Boy

Someone Cooked

Red-necked Phalarope Phalaropus lobatus © Dimitrios Loukas

Birds of the World

Robinwho: Booby requesting a subscription. Bird Solidarity.
Bird Bird Bird. Birds of the World, from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, is an enormous living reference to the world’s birds. It brings together detailed species life histories, behavior, distribution, conservation information, research, and billions of observations from eBird, alongside photos, video and sound from the Macaulay Library. There are currently accounts for more than 11,000 bird species — so if you meet a bird and want to know what its deal is, this is a very good place to start. Also, try their Surprise Me.
Explore
Melody Campaign: Birds of the World, a collaborative ornithological platform

Hoooold up – really?

Himalayan pink salt is a scam? Well, sort of.

Robinwho: See how important branding is? Pakistan Salt sounds like a new variant DEA just issued a notice on.
So... “Himalayan pink salt” usually comes from the Khewra Salt Mine in Pakistan’s Punjab region, in the Salt Range rather than the Himalayan mountains themselves. The Himalayan name is largely a geographic stretch turned into marketing: the Salt Range lies south of the Himalayas and is part of the broader region associated with them, while “Himalayan” gives the salt a more "spiritual"—and marketable—sense of remote mountain origins. I mean salt is salt. And till this day, mining Himalayan salt is still a dangerous job.
Learn more

On the Beach

cover art

Why housing reforms keep failing

From the Works in Progress newsletter. Not all NIMBYs are alike. Dividing the most unreasonable ones from the rest might be the key to getting homes built. David Foster and Joseph Warren explain how housing reformers can turn entrenched opponents into powerful allies .
Approx. 30 min read

Booby's Journal

An idealized Roman sculpted portrait of Octavius as a teenager, possibly produced posthumously or when he was much older, now located in the Vatican Museums

Booby’s Journal

Booby hangs out with Octavian

· Rome

Octavian invited me to an event. I gladly attended, in my purple tuxedo. Many people. Very loud. Food was okay. Not enough colors. But everyone called him Augustus? I don't understand. He's Octavian. Once a bird, always a bird.

Learn more about Augustus, the title

Be Nice

Fresh Step Laundry

Robinwho: Beautiful people. Thank you. Stay safe.
Fresh Step Laundry is a nonprofit in Frederick, Maryland, providing free laundry service to people experiencing homelessness. Founder Wade Milyard built a mobile laundry vehicle equipped with washers and dryers, allowing Fresh Step to bring clean clothes directly to people who may not otherwise have reliable access to laundry facilities.
Support them
Melody Campaign: Fresh Step Laundry

Certified Good Boy

#011

Recipient

Tortellini

Robinwho: Tortellini has an amazing wardrobe.

Citation: A good boy loves his backpack

Committee decision: Absolutely yes