21 Comments
Dec 17, 2023Liked by PJ Vogt

"What’s the most compassionate and effective way to regulate dangerous drugs? If we’ve mostly agreed that criminalizing addiction isn’t a good strategy, then what?"

The San Francisco Chronicle has done a huge amount of deep-dive reporting on drug addiction, recovery, the effectiveness of various strategies, etc. One of the paths they've investigated is that of Portugal, which decriminalized most drugs a couple of decades ago. Here's one sample (it's available as a podcast): https://www.sfchronicle.com/podcasts/article/Listen-How-Portugal-dealt-with-its-heroin-17564952.php

Expand full comment

So great to hear an episode that's kind of in my field (cell and molecular biology). It was fun to hear PJ learn about something that seems so ordinary and every day for me. And I learned so much!

Expand full comment

Same! My molecular ecology prof had a story about a peer taking PCR equipment to Japan (?) to test for fish fraud, setting up a mini lab in his hotel room because while he couldn’t bring fish through customs, PCR products made it just fine. I thought PJ did a great job laying out the basics of DNA barcoding.

Expand full comment

while I thoroughly enjoyed the ending taking a U-turn toward Occam’s razor (I was certain you’d uncover an elaborate fish fraud ring), my favorite part of this episode wasn’t actually about the main story at all- it was the nostalgic reminder of my favorite website/ browser extension, stumble upon! which I had completely forgotten about! thanks for taking us along for the ride with another great story.

Expand full comment

Oh, and might I add another book suggestion to your nightstand that covers the topic of addiction: In The Realm Of Hungry Ghosts by Dr. Gabor Maté

Expand full comment

One of the best podcasters ever, doing another amazing podcast. Thank you for all your great work!

Expand full comment

This podcast SAVED me from ordering a sushi roll with “ESCOLAR & AVOCADO”!!! I would have had no idea what it was. And it does definitely 100% exist.

Thank you for you service

Expand full comment

PJ,

When your dog passes, grieve them as long as you need. Eff everyone else.

Expand full comment

Can you do a deep dive into those insane 5 minute craft videos? There has to be something going on behind them…

Expand full comment

Three questions:

1. Is there a bong rip sound at the beginning your opening soundtrack?

2. Did your opening soundtrack riff off of the opening soundtrack for Succession or did they steal your musical genius?

3. Why does Spotify buffer while I’m driving even if I’ve downloaded the episode?

Expand full comment

I had something similar for years. I would suddenly get all the symptoms you had - turns out after some investigation of elimination that it was a bell pepper intolerance. They are hard to digest for some people and that causes all kinds of gastric distress. Seems like the kind of thing they might be putting in a homemade sriracha?

Expand full comment

For a few seconds I really loved the idea that PJ got a job there and earned the trust of the staff to figure out the recipe 😁 I’ve thought about this when wanting to know how a particular restaurant makes such a crispy and juicy fried chicken or best étouffée I’ve ever had. But who has time or financial stability to take these random jobs and turn them into information? 🤔 I am trying to figure out my retirement career though. 💡

Expand full comment

Quick, almost irrelevant, fact check at the 20:00 mark. 4 Crunchwrap supremes would have 4,800 MILLIgrams of sodium. The total weight of 4 Crunchwrap supremes is just over 1,000 grams. 4,800 grams is about 10.5 pounds.

Expand full comment
author
Dec 19, 2023·edited Dec 19, 2023Author

Thanks for the note, not an irrelevant fact check! An early eagle-eared listener flagged it and we put up corrected audio in the feed, there's a correction in the newsletter we published Sunday. I would like to try to eat 10 pounds of salt though.

Expand full comment

I just finished both episodes in this series. PJ, did you consider that the shop is making the spicy tuna with a different fish than their regular tuna rolls? Fish in the sauce would be easier to conceal and the fish flavor/texture less important. So why use the expensive stuff on the spicy "tuna" rolls? Use the 'generic fish product' in the spicy. Because Mr. Surfer Scientist person was surprised that the alcohol was dyed red makes me think you didn't send him a spicy tuna sample (cuz the spicy sauce would have clearly made it red, not surprising). I think you need to find a way to test the fish in the actual spicy "tuna" roll.

Expand full comment

So much to say. I haven't finished part one of the fish story but I'm upset. Fish is so expensive already! I love it though. Just imagine, lobster was once used to make dog food! But they can't be faked though, can they? Anyway, I'll be heading back to the good market for my produce again, not the (possibly) dodgy local. My bills will skyrocket.

Also, in terms of drawering, we authors do this with our manuscripts. Write a story, then put it away. Maybe take some notes here and there but don't look at it for a long time - months, sometimes years.

I expect you will find a way to turn those non-Search Engine books you're reading into mighty fine episodes.

Loved this season, PJ et al. I look forward to 2024.

Expand full comment

Someone on reddit had a good suggestion to look up a few common spicy tuna sauce recipes and see if any of those ingredients are the culprit. Sriracha and Kewpie mayo, for example.

Expand full comment
Dec 17, 2023·edited Dec 17, 2023

Masago (fish roe) gets dyed and contains an allergen called vitellogenin - could be a culprit.

Expand full comment

Ok, is it just me or didn’t the caption refer to “a young Billie Joel”?? I was here about twenty minutes ago, checked out, and then just came back in and I saw what I would swear had *not* been there the first time -- “a young Billie Joe Armstrong”

Expand full comment

If you want yet another book on drug addiction,.Michael Clune's White Out is terrific.

Expand full comment