In splitting an English muffin the other morning, I noticed the owner of "Thomas" in small font on the package: "Bimbo Bakeries USA." Bimbo Bakeries USA? Wikipedia informed me that Grupo Bimbo is a Mexican multinational food processing conglomerate that owns not just Thomas, but also Arnold, Oroweat, Sara Lee, and Entenmann's. Grupo Bimbo is … Continue reading On the unseen ownership of processed food brands
Author: T Coe
On 7 things from last week (6/5/23)
Stay True by Hua Hsu. A tragic but warm memoir about friendship and self identity. Visiting friends. Some wonderful college friends visited us for the first time in several years, and I was reminded how much I love incorporating friends into our household rhythms. Volleyball. What a fun game! Even though I’m mediocre at it, … Continue reading On 7 things from last week (6/5/23)
On the odd joy of used book sales
I’m not sure if there’s an event I love more than a used book sale. Getting more books on the cheap is the main draw, obviously—but there’s also the oddball browsing experience. With no time to assert the order and coherence of a library or bookstore, the books at a used book sale are jumbled … Continue reading On the odd joy of used book sales
On two types of people claims
There are two types of people—those who think humanity can be evenly split in half over some preference or behavior, and those who do not. I grimaced a little writing that. The “two types of people…” trope often pains me when I see it. But I get it! It’s a great conceit. Categories—even if they’re … Continue reading On two types of people claims
On the rules of scientific naming
After looking up so many trees and plants last week, I was struck with a question: What’s up with scientific names? Binomial nomenclature, or Latin naming, as it’s widely known, is the naming convention that provides each species with two names. (Bi as in “two,” nomial as in “name.”) In the example Homo sapiens, Homo … Continue reading On the rules of scientific naming
On ploce
There’s an incantatory magic to repetition. I’m tempted to deploys ploce here and prove my point—but that would be a little on the nose. Ploce is repetition of a word throughout a passage. Unlike epizeuxis, where a word repeats in sequence, ploce is the appearance of a word in multiple places without specific spacing constraints. … Continue reading On ploce
On maximizing vs. satisficing
Recently, I’ve been pondering this distinction, having read a great opinion piece (that I now cannot locate) about one of modern society’s ailments: our obsession with “the best.” Aside from the corporate interests involved—being “best budget coffee maker” in a Wirecutter piece means guaranteed sales—there’s a troubling philosophy here. “Good” is never good enough. Only … Continue reading On maximizing vs. satisficing
On 7 things from last week (5/29/23)
Family hike. We managed 0.8 miles—and our toddler walked almost 3/4 of the full distance! We wrote it down as a success and went to get rooftop margaritas to celebrate. Walks in the park. I’m enjoying long, unhurried walks in the park the past week with my four-month-old. Lots of tree and plant identification going … Continue reading On 7 things from last week (5/29/23)
On quests (and Mrs. Davis)
Only two episodes in, and I’m loving Mrs. Davis, the mind-bending comedy/drama on Peacock about a world effectively ruled by an AI. What comes up in the second episode—on the heels of the almost eye-rolling revelation that the AI wants Simone, the main character, to locate the Holy Grail—is the notion of quests. (Another character … Continue reading On quests (and Mrs. Davis)
On how the value of trivial knowledge has an expiration date
When I started my first A/E/C marketing job several years ago, the colleague who onboarded me presented a challenge on my first day. “Twenty photos of 20 of our most important projects—I’ll quiz you on these at the end of the week.” When I got 19/20 correct come Friday, he was surprised—but I wasn’t. I … Continue reading On how the value of trivial knowledge has an expiration date
