Low Not Slow

Spanish chef Jordi Cruz, best known for leading the three-Michelin-starred restaurant ABaC in Barcelona, is drawing attention for a simple kitchen tip: wrapping the stem of a bunch of bananas in plastic film. According to Cruz, covering the peduncle slows the release of ethylene gas, the compound that ripens fruit, so bananas last considerably longer before going soft. The advice, picked up by lifestyle outlet Cuerpomente, has struck a chord with home cooks looking to cut food waste.

Tech tips circulating online point out that blurry iPhone photos are typically caused by environmental factors rather than software problems, with a dirty lens being the most common culprit. Users are advised to clean the lens with a microfiber cloth rather than paper towels or clothing to avoid scratches. In low light, the camera also naturally slows the shutter, which can produce blur from hand movement.

Gaming fans are joking about watching Markiplier play Five Nights at Freddy's in 144p quality, blaming slow internet speeds that leave a three-gigabyte file taking up to an hour to download. The self-deprecating humour about poor connections and unaffordable 4K streaming is resonating with others in similar situations.

Tropical Storm Rachel is continuing to affect Southern California, with rain lingering across the Los Angeles area on Monday and coastal flooding persisting along the shoreline. Forecasters are monitoring the storm's slow departure, and residents are being warned of slick roads, minor flooding in low-lying coastal areas and dangerous surf conditions through the start of the week.

Adam Mastroianni's 2022 essay 'Ideas aren't getting harder to find' is drawing renewed attention. The piece pushes back on the influential claim, popularised by economists including findings on declining research productivity, that science and innovation face diminishing returns because low-hanging fruit has been picked. Readers are debating whether idea discovery has genuinely slowed or whether measurement and incentives explain the apparent decline.

A gardening discussion is underway about the trade-offs between cost, labor, and time. The argument being made: gardens that are cheap or free demand more labor, while low-labor gardens demand patience, so a cheap, low-effort garden ultimately requires lots of time. The conversation touches on how people often want instant results, whether in gardening or health, rather than accepting slow, patient processes.

An essay on Experimental History argues that the popular 'ideas are getting harder to find' thesis is wrong, framing believers in the idea-decline narrative as cowards. The piece challenges claims that scientific and technological progress is slowing because low-hanging fruit has been exhausted, and it is drawing attention and debate on Hacker News.

A player reports an unusual performance quirk in Doom II's id-camo MAP03 under the UZDoom source port: at 320×200 resolution the software renderer delivers roughly 135fps while the Vulkan and OpenGL hardware renderers cap around 60fps. The advantage disappears at 3840×2160, where the software renderer slows down. The observation is fueling discussion among classic Doom fans about renderer quirks and low-resolution performance.

High mortgage rates around 7.4% are slowing the US housing market, and buyers are using that to their advantage. With homes sitting longer and demand cooling, buyers are negotiating price cuts, closing-cost credits and repairs that sellers would have resisted during the pandemic boom. The Wall Street Journal reports that the frozen market, where owners hesitate to give up low locked-in rates, is shifting bargaining power toward those still willing to purchase.

German-language tech discussions point out that a speed test showing full megabits does not guarantee a smooth connection. Slow-loading pages and dropped video calls can stem from request or packet losses rather than low throughput, so a nominally fast line can still feel sluggish in everyday use. Users are being advised to measure losses alongside raw bandwidth to diagnose the real cause of poor connections.

A walking workout known as "Japanese walking" is drawing attention globally as a fitness trend that originated in the United States despite its name. The method, based on interval walking developed by Japanese researchers, alternates fast and slow walking and is promoted as an accessible way to improve fitness and health.

A gardener is wrapping up a yard regrading project, adding the final fill to bring the soil to its new line and smoothing out details. The work is slow, as there is plenty of excess soil to move and only a garden cart to do it with. Low spots around the yard are being filled with the surplus, with good topsoil kept for the top layer.

Cooking guides are revisiting how to caramelize onions properly, a process that can take 45 minutes or more of low, slow heat. Home cooks often rush the step, ending with burned or merely softened onions instead of deeply sweet, browned ones. The topic keeps resurfacing as recipes and cooking advice remind people that patience, not high heat, delivers the flavor.

Adam Mastroianni, writing on his Experimental History blog, argues that the influential claim that scientific and technological ideas are getting harder to find is wrong, and he does so in characteristically combative style, saying anyone claiming otherwise is a coward. The piece challenges a widely cited view among economists and tech commentators who blame slowing innovation on exhausted 'low-hanging fruit'.

The Southern Alliance for Clean Energy is pressing the Tennessee Valley Authority over the pace of its solar power buildout, asking when the federal utility will add low-cost solar generation to its mix. The group's question highlights ongoing debate over how quickly TVA should move away from fossil fuels toward cheaper renewable energy across the Tennessee Valley region.

Researchers say they may have identified why sloths move so slowly, in new work on the biology behind the animal's famously sluggish metabolism and energy-saving lifestyle. The finding sheds light on how sloths survive on very low energy intake in treetop habitats. Coverage of the explanation is circulating among science and nature outlets this week.

Tom Cruise's new film "Digger" has crossed the $10 million mark at the box office after six days in theaters, according to Showbiz411. The trade blog reports the movie is drawing audiences described as "curiosity seekers," who it says are responding to unusual or "oddball" promotional posts, helping push the slow-starting release past the milestone.