Fri-Yay #24

Well, that Storm Elsa was odd wasn't it? One day it's coming up the coast-the next it's going to the gulf-it's going to hit all the islands-it's missing the islands. That felt like an odd storm. I can only hope hurricane season won't mess with my head too much. 

The video is Larry, the No. 10 Cat. I love him. 

Reading:

I've managed to read some new authors and I've tried some new cozy books (that I didn't like). I'm at 139 books read so far, so only 101 books away from my goal of 240. I'm shooting for more than 240 now. I usually read a lot during hurricane season. I mean, when you have no power...what else is there to do? I'm currently continuing Victoria Thompson's Gaslight Mystery series. It's enjoyable and I even learn things (historically). What else have I read recently...

• The House on Vesper Sands by Paraic O'Donnell - pretty good! I don't know if he plans on continuing this as a series, but I think it would be neat. Historical, paranormal, Sherlock Holmesian-type detective
• The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown - my therapist suggested Brown's work. I like parts of it quite well. Other parts don't speak to me. As far as "self help" books go, hers are better than most. 
• A Thin Dark Line by Tami Hoag - Love Hoag's works. This one is set in my favorite state but is a very rough read. 
• Fortune and Glory by Janet Evanovich - Enjoyed it! There were no random giraffes. I didn't want to slap the shit out of Stephanie (too much). 

I've gone through so many random links. I've talked about how I just saved everything. Why? WHY?! Some were really great. I'm putting three down here. One will probably be quite familiar due to the dateline-type episode and podcast. The Irish one could be a whole HBO documentary or drama. I'm still working it through my head. 
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1. "The Haunting of Girls Town" by Daniel Hernandez. This tells the account of a rash of mysterious illnesses at a girls' boarding school at Chalco, Mexico. The state sent doctors to treat the girls, including Loa Zavala , a Psychoanalysist. It also covers the history of the school, the "legends" that grew up around it. The article has lots of illustrations as you scroll. Great design work. Enjoyed reading it and thought the story was interesting from a medical perspective. I hope all the girls are doing well. 
2. "Dr. Death" (Longform) by Matt Goodman. Dr. Death is the Plano surgeon Christopher Duntsch. He has been accused of carelessly murdering and maiming patients (including his friend!) through his surgery. The podcast is based on this guy. The podcast is great but very sad. 
   
3. "The Trouble in Quinn County." This is a longform from Bloomberg. It tells a story set in Northern Ireland's borderland area. It's one of these longform articles that has some extra pizzazz. A man named Sean Quinn started a company called Quinn Industrial Holdings. He was a local boy that made (very) good until he made a very bad investment and his company was seized by hedge funds. Sabotage started immediately after the takeover.  The new executives were targeted, with their cars being set on fire or death threats being called in. The article mentions that this level of activity wasn't seen since the IRA/Unionist days. Eventually, worn down, the three hedge funds that owned Quinn Holdings agreed to sell minor stakes to Quinn's former executives but only on the condition that Sean Quinn not be given any power (the American hedge funds viewed him as a crook). He wasn't allowed to buy any shares. Quinn was allowed to be hired on as a consultant but he acted like was still CEO and was infuriated when actions were taken without his agreement. Quinn eventually turned on his old business friends. In a meeting with the American hedge fund executives, he demanded they all be fired--instead, the Americans fired him. I won't spoil anything else in the story. I had never heard of this whole thing, but it's a crazy tale. I had ancestors from this area (well, on the other side but near-ish), so I thought this was just so insane. The QIH has rebranded as Mannok. The videos below do spoil the story in some fashion, but I thought they were too interesting to not share. Channel 4 is a British broadcaster, Bloomberg is an American broadcaster. 

Listening:
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As I've been catching up on work, it's been classical central. This is such a nice one because it's a mix of classical and new instrumental. 

Podcast wise, I just finished Paper Ghosts. I saw it recommended on Reddit and gave it a shot. It's from iHeartRadio, an audio conglomerate in America. It's a true crime story on the disappearances of four young girls. While it is a true crime podcast, since the crimes are unsolved and occurred 50ish years ago, the podcast also talked about society then (and now), police and forensics, and culture (then and now). It's really interesting in that way. I will note that there are heavy themes of domestic violence. 

Watching:
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The Olympics trials! I love the Olympics. I'm a little worried about Covid and the Olympics so hopefully nothing bad happens and no one gets sick. Watching Simone Biles (and all the other gymnasts) make all these complicated moves look easy is amazing. 
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