Oklahoma’s Onion Burgers. Many regions of the country lay claim to a signature burger. For Oklahoma, it’s the onion burger, which is made by pressing thinly sliced onions directly into the patty while it cooks. It’s delicious. In back-to-back weeks, the McKays sampled burgers that are considered two of Oklahoma’s best. We got one at Sid’s, which has been around since 1989 and is located in El Reno, the Route 66 town where the onion burger was born in the 1920s (also the location of the climatic scene in Twisters). And we tried Tucker’s, which has several locations in Oklahoma City. Both were tasty, but I’ve got to give my nod to Tucker’s.
Philosophy for Creators and Entrepreneurs. Luke Burgis put out a list of philosophy books for creators and entrepreneurs that spans 2,000 years. It includes books not just from philosophy, but also theology and literature. The goal of the list is to help entrepreneurs and creators reconnect with the big questions in life and how their work can help others reconnect with those big questions, too. From Homer to Kierkegaard, this list isn’t light reading, but Burgis thinks it’ll help you “see the form of something new.” I’ve added several books to my to-read list, particularly ones from the Desert Fathers.
The Twilight Zone’s “The Lonely.” With ChatGPT rolling out a new voice feature that allows you to engage in a back-and-forth conversation with a surprisingly lifelike bot, people have been saying it reminds them of the movie Her, in which a man falls for his artificially intelligent virtual assistant. But it’s reminded me of an even further back reference — a 1959 episode of The Twilight Zone. In “The Lonely,” a convicted murderer is sentenced to solitary confinement on an asteroid. When he’s given a robotic woman for company, he falls in love with her. The episode is a reminder that, for quite a long time now, we’ve been worried about what will happen when we’re given artificial companions that are shaped in our own frictionless image. And the closing dialogue between the characters offers an excellent coda on the danger of losing our grasp on what is and isn’t real.
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer. I read this gritty war epic back in a college class called “The Novel as American History,” and I still think about it today. Norman Mailer wrote this book when he was just 25 and based it partially on his own experience serving in the Philippines during WWII. He takes an unflinching look at soldiers’ psyches and the brutal realities of combat. It’s considered one of the greatest novels ever written.
Quote of the Week
Getting an idea should be like sitting down on a pin; it should make you jump up and do something.
—E.L. Simpson
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