Side effects

The cure is NOT worse than the disease, plus Links of the Week: TOP GUN, yacht rock, and chasing the wheel of cheese

My apologies for this getting to you a little late today. I’ve been bone tired all day long. At some point I realized there might be a reason—I went in to get my second booster shot yesterday. I’m not sure if the two things are connected. Even if they are, it’s fine. I’ll take a day of fatigue over COVID every day of the week.

Every time there’s a drug commercial on TV, the scariest part is the list of side effects. It’s not comforting to know that a medication designed to reduce acid reflux always has fine print that says stuff like COULD CAUSE HEAD TO DETATCH FROM BODY. The chances of side effects are real, but they’re small, and in most cases, they’re not nearly as bad as the problem that made you want the medication in the first place.

The brilliant comedian Gary Gulman, in his special THE GREAT DEPRESH, has a bit about this:

It’s human nature, I think, to dwell on the worst thing that COULD happen instead of focusing on the thing most LIKELY to happen. We are generally risk-averse creatures (Florida residents exempted). Sometimes we pass up on huge benefits because we’re worried about a minor chance of pain.

It would take a lot worse side effects than fatigue to keep me from getting a COVID shot. I’m so beat right now I might not see the sunset tonight. But I’ll be around for the one tomorrow, and that’s the idea.

10 things I wanted to share this week:

1. This week’s SouthBound was a conversation with Stephen Leatherman, a/k/a Dr. Beach, who’s known for his annual list of the 10 best beaches in America. But he’s also a climate scientist with a lot of ideas, big and small, for how we can protect our beaches. I learned a lot!

2. My weekly for WFAE was about North Carolina’s rogue lieutenant governor, and my secret plan for how we can keep him from causing trouble.

3. FYI, there’s still time to donate to WFAE for our spring fundraising drive. Public radio works on the honor system—we count on listeners to decide for themselves how much what we do is worth to them. This newsletter works the same way. Which reminds me:
   

4. I believe the North Carolina Rabbit Hole newsletter was willed into existence just so Jeremy Markovich could write about the recent NC State grad who won the epic cheese-rolling contest in England. He chased that story down like … well, you know.

5. DOG NEWS: While I work on my book about the Westminster Dog Show and the bond between dogs and their people, I’m devoting this slot to dog stories. This week: How well do dogs think about the past?

6. Here’s Wright Thompson on the Ukraine national soccer team, fighting for more than usual in a World Cup qualifier.

7. Rebecca Traister profiles Dianne Feinstein for New York magazine, and explores the idea of how politicians who believe in the system can’t comprehend those who want to burn it down.

8. We saw TOP GUN: MAVERICK and thoroughly enjoyed it. Although I am still wondering how the world’s greatest fighter pilots have time to also be world-class pool sharks.

9. Our Brit murder mystery of the week was LOCH NESS, a six-part miniseries set around the famous lake—but with a different kind of monster. This one is especially well-plotted—it had me guessing right up to the end. Starring Laura Fraser, who was Lydia in BREAKING BAD.

10. A bittersweet note to end on this week … what “Sailing” meant to Christopher Cross.

See y’all next week, everyone.