Dez Reads. Burrito-Wrapped People.

If only I had gone to college in Tokyo, Japan, rather than Athens, Ohio.

This week I learned from Diane Chaaban that Japanese police are swaddling drunk people like burritos until they calm down. This is a criminal justice reform I can get behind, both for the humane approach to policing, and the lolz. It leads Dez Reads this week.

Elsewhere, elite engineers are studying poetry as they seek to apply their technical skills and their desire to create beautiful things, as Katie Runkle calls out this week. Bova provides some optimism for those of us still wearing corrective lenses due to fear of lasers, with a look at a fascinating new non-invasive technology that has the potential to fix human sight.

MaryGrace Lucas’s kid forecasts a potential Netflixland to rival the famous Disney parks, as Netflix continues its battle with Disney over the future of family entertainment. This makes a lot of sense to me. From the mouths of babes…

And one of our resident TikTok correspondents (read: Gen Z-ers with phones), Will Kim, defends America’s food supply against a horde of online Europeans trash talking our bread. Your country thanks you, Will.

Just over a week of August recess remains; spend your time wisely!

Thanks, as always, for reading along with us.

Here we go.

Burrito Wrap Policing?

Meta. Japanese Officers are “Burrito Wrapping” People for Safety, and the Internet is Loving it.

Who needs a hug? Literally everyone – and Japan has made it a public safety protocol. Dominating social media this week was the headline, “If you are too drunk or violent in Japan, police will wrap you up like a burrito and carry you away.” The only thing more amazing than the memes of grown adults, happily cocooned in futons, is that it’s true.

Japanese police officers have been implementing the “futon rolling” practice for about a decade. This “wrapping” containment strategy is born out of Japan’s peaceful, non-aggressive values and inspired by Otonamaki, the therapeutic practice of swaddling adults for 20 minutes to reduce stress. Hello, nervous system reset. Yes, please.

With news cycles full of war-torn families and military police, it’s no wonder this calm, womblike de-escalation approach went viral. The next time you want to rage against the machine, or simply rage, choose blanket-swathed couch rot instead – it’s the better part of valor.

– Diane Chaaban

Engineers by Day, Poets by Night

The Atlantic. Why So Many MIT Students Are Writing Poetry

The boom of AI has pitted tech against humanity, placed STEM opposite of beauty. But what if it’s all rooted in the same place? The very human drive to create using brevity and efficiency.

In La Jolla a few months ago, I asked an artist selling his paintings on the street how he made ends meet in such an expensive city. He replied that he got smart, produced a few true pieces of art, paintings that took weeks of careful brush strokes, and then electronically reproduced them in sellable units, i.e. coasters, keychains, etc. He told me he wasn’t concerned about AI coming for his career, his little foothold in the artistic industry, because “ChatGPT is incapable of understanding beauty”.

This is the same reason the MIT engineering students Joshua Bennett teaches have created an extracurricular poetry group. Individuals with a brain for computer science also have the drive to create beautiful things in a concise, efficient manner: Poetry verse. In his classes, Bennett requires students to combine the two disciplines, and they create magnificent things.

If you’re worried about the AI takeover, or simply curious about how technological songbirds enliven hospice, the full article is worth reading.

– Katie Runkle

No Lasers, No Problem

EurekAlert! An alternative to LASIK — without the lasers

Michael Hill, a professor of chemistry at Occidental College in Los Angeles might have found a way to correct vision deficiencies without lasers or invasive surgery. The effort is still in its early phases but the process by which his team performed testing on rabbit eyes was fascinating.

Essentially, a platinum contact lens was placed over the eye and applied an electric potential to the cornea, lowering the pH and making it more acidic. By altering the pH, the rigid attractions within the tissue are loosened and make the shape malleable. When the original pH is restored, the tissue is locked into the new shape. The procedure also showed promise to fix chemical-caused cloudiness to the cornea — a condition that is currently only treatable through a complete corneal transplant.

Like many scientific breakthroughs, this process was discovered by accident. We are a long time away before humans will be able to get this procedure, but as someone who got LASIK myself – and had a good experience – this might be a less expensive and invasive procedure in the future.

– Mike Bova

Netflix Just Made Its Disney Play

CNBC. Netflix wanted to beat Disney in family animation. ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ is its best chance

“If there’s a Disneyland, does that mean there’s a Netflixland?” My kid hit me with that gem mid-convo about Netflix’s animated smash K-Pop Demon Hunters, and I swear I turned into the “mind-blown” emoji.

The question says pretty much everything about Netflix’s rise as a colossal cultural force, especially with American kids. K-Pop Demon Hunters shattered records, flooded the Billboard charts, and basically took over my house this summer. Now it’s headed for sold-out sing-along screenings in theaters across the U.S. (I've got my kiddos' tickets, K-Pop t-shirts, and microphone props ready.)

It’s milestone moment for Netflix, whose founder Reed Hastings said back in 2020, “We want to beat Disney in family animation.”

Well, it’s been 12 years since Frozen. So, if I were Disney, I might be watching my back. An army of K-Pop Demon Hunters sequels is marching toward living room screens.

But back to the original question: What would a Netflixland even look like? I love K-Pop Demon Hunters. But I also watched all three seasons of Squid Game and I’m definitely not getting on that ride.

– MaryGrace Lucas

American Food Crimes

Stuff. ‘Memory foam bread’: Why everyone is ‘smushing’ bread on Tiktok all of a sudden

The next best thing since sliced bread might be sliced bread that bounces back after being smushed. Hilariously termed “memory foam bread” on TikTok nowadays, people around the world are shocked when they realize that American sliced bread comes back to its original shape when squashed into tiny balls.

As always, I am scratching my head, wondering who even thought of starting this bizarre TikTok trend; but regardless, it is giving another excuse for the rest of the world to make fun of food in America for being over-processed and underwhelming. Europeans have always been disgusted with our bread selections, calling them rubbery and favorless compared to their freshly baked baguettes at their boulangeries. Global audiences have also pointed fingers at American grocery favorites like canned whipped cream and family-sized potato chips, half disgusted and half amazed by things they would never see in their countries. Personally, I think they are a bit jealous, too.

At the end of the day, food is culture, and these social media debates point to cultural differences – choosing between convenience versus tradition. I’m just curious what will be the next food the world decides to bully us about. 

– William Kim

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