[WITI No. 42] Brain fireworks, the song you think you know, trading intangibles,
Writing about a lifelong habit of reading from a father's perspective
Greetings and salutations. Welcome to issue No. 42 of What is the Information? My weekly newsletter where I share with you what I’m reading, writing and thinking about. Mostly I riff on my reading and the perspective it gives on parenting. Special hello to our new subscriber this week. I would love to hear what you think!
I wanted to read something different this weekend, so I visited my bookshelf and picked up Born in Blood and Fire by James Chasteen. I’m a sucker for history of the South American continent and could count on two hands how many surprising details I uncovered from just chapters 1 & 2.
Interested to learn how Francisco Pizarro and just 168 soldiers bested Atahualpa and the army of 10,000 men who were supposed to protect him? The image haunts me even now. Cannons were hidden in the square where Atahualpa and Pizarro would meet. The surprise cannon attack on the entourage was followed by a calvary swinging sharp steel at heads and limbs. The Iberian soldiers were no strangers to cannon fire or the required cruelty immediately following it. The horsemen delivered death blows to the emperor’s retinue, many who had never seen horses before. An attack from a man-horse combination could only be mind blowing.
How about the story of Hernan Cortes who was advised by a slave girl who could speak the local languages and was translated the various meetings between Cortes & Monteczuma. She is known today in Mexico as “Malinche” but her historical legacy remains complicated. Did she betray the Aztecs, therefore letting the Spanish take over empire? Were her children of mixed decent (both indigenous and European) a signal of the future? It’s difficult to imagine what a young woman in such a position might have done differently.
How about Zumbi, the leader of Palmares, a large settlement for escaped Brazilian slaves, known as a “quilombo” in Portuguese, who died fighting against Portuguese rule, knowing that anything other than independence was tantamount to slavery again.
Chasteen tells the stories of Mexico, Peru and Brazil and uses the history from the three regions to instruct the reader about 700 years of history south of the Rio Grande. I’ve only finished two chapters, yet I want to know more. My mom is from South America and want to know more about where she grew up and the effect it had on her, and consequently on me. This.
I naively believe that every parent knows their children intimately. You live with them 18 years and sometimes longer. You model, you instruct - they follow, learn, challenge. you. This is how life works. The complicated part as a parent is that your child will keep growing, changing, developing into an adult and as the metamorphosis transpires, the new adult (your offspring, who can no longer be called a child) will look back at you will be different in very real ways.
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We (me, my wife and son who’s learning to play piano) have been singing along to my son’s rendition of Benny & the Jets on piano. If you are not familiar it’s a song by Elton John. The song is poking fun at musicians who attract youth with their outlandish image instead of music. The irony is not lost in Elton’s famous live performance of the song where he’s dressed in a quirky soldier uniform in a piano print.
Find of the week
This is an amazing video because Lil’ Dicky was able to trade some of his fame for something tangible which he then transformed into cash by monetizing a video that received 168 million plays. My son and I often play the game: what do you think he made on that video. $5,000 per 1M views on the low end, which means Lil’ Dickie might have earned $840,000 for this video - That.is.bananas!
A reader pointed out to me today that NASA plans to get back to the moon but must delay because of space suit problems. My immediate response is why can’t they use the design from 1969 - that seemed to work. Or was the moon landing fake news? Here’s an interesting perspective about the Great Chicago Fire. Mrs. O’Leary’s cow might be exonerated…
What books that caused you brain fireworks? Ever wonder how your parents come to believe what they believe? Have you traded bytes for bits? (This is the dream, isn’t it?) Second guessing what you thought you knew? Comment above. Feel like sharing What is the Information? Click below.
That’s all I got.
Till next week,
-George