New Video! How they actually calculate Calories

Five big news items from Howtown!

1. Here's your link to watch our new video on: The "crappy" math behind the Calorie labels (15:15). I tried to figure out who was measuring the Calories for all the Nutrition Facts we see, and discovered that they're not measuring them at all. Instead, I found a very dedicated chemist who spent a lot of time around the turn of the century sifting through poop and pee. If that's not of interest, maybe you'll enjoy the recipe for Banana Oat Blobs at 3:43.

2. Our bonus vidcast this week is about alcohol: Why do we see nutrition labels on bottled water but not on beer? And why is Italy pissed at Ireland? We make these videos, which are paired with our features, for our Howtown Heroes, Council Members, and Mayors.

3. We have a Discord server! If you are a Citizen or up, you have access to our server, where we discuss story ideas, take questions, and learn more about our beloved supporters. Here's a link on how to connect your Discord account with your Patreon credentials. If you're not already on Discord and don't want to bother with the learning curve of a new app, you can still chat on Patreon in the Community tab or in comments to posts.

4. Howtown's first "viral" videos were two 60-second shorts! They bumped our subscriber number from 55,000 to nearly 200,000 🥳 while underlining how much attention has shifted to a format where people do not choose what they watch 😰 There are slot machine dynamics to both viewing and creating videos for these types of algorithms (TikTok/Reels/Shorts). We hope that we can dip into that stream without getting carried away, and keep our focus on the high-effort-high-reward path of offering something valuable to people like you.

In case the algorithms did not feed them to you, our recent Shorts are:

• Two toxic pools: one art, one science

• How Noah Lyles won the 100m by point zero zero five seconds

• The superhighway in a dog's brain

• NASA's moustronaut mission patches

5. You'll notice that our latest video includes an ad from Storyblocks. This is our first test for adding sponsorship to our revenue pie, which hasn't yet pushed us above the minimum wage. We know that advertising is annoying so we're working to make the sponsorships relatively unobtrusive and carefully chosen. The faster this community grows, the less pressure we'll feel on the other slice of the pie- so thank you thank you for your continued support.

ok love you bye

-joss (& Adam)

p.s. 🚨Do not make purchases on Patreon using the iPhone/iPad app. 🚨 Apple, otherwise known as the 2nd most profitable company in the world, has decided to add a 30% toll for themselves, starting in November. This will not affect your current memberships. In the future, you can avoid the fee by using your browser for Patreon transactions. You can read more about it here.