Issue: April 28, 2026

Fun fact: when ya see “uncured bacon” at the grocery store, it’s basically bogus! The meat’s still gettin cured – i.e., still bein salt-preserved, same as usual. The main difference is that instead of “curing salt” (normal salt plus one or two extra chemical compounds) they just use regular salt plus celery powder (and/or celery juice).

Now, that might SOUND better & more “natural”. But the celery stuff’s got those EXACT SAME chemical compounds in it! The same ones as the curing salt, I mean. So it ain’t really doin anything different or healthier. It just lets ’em put a label on the meat that says “Uncured” & “No Added”— ... well, no added whats?

(Your answer can be either of those two compounds in curing salt – they’re only one letter apart.)

I mentioned yesterday that ol’ Luddy Wittgenstein’s Philosophical Investigations was published posthumously, & that’s thanks to philosopher G.E.M. Anscombe, who prepped it for publication & translated it into English.

True to her name, Ms. Anscombe was a real “gem” of a philosopher. Not only did she write Intention, a super important & influential monograph on the philosophy of action, but she also helped kick off the modern revival of interest in Virtue Ethics with her article “Modern Moral Philosophy”.

Notably, that article coined what sixteen-letter term that refers to ethical frameworks (like utilitarianism) that judge an action’s morality based mainly on its outcomes & not so much any sorta set of abstract rules or principles.