Friday Inspiration 458

If you click on this video, make sure you have 14 minutes to watch it uninterrupted. It’s slow, but I think it needs to be slow to help you feel what it’s really like to live in Forrest, Australia, population 2. I absolutely love the shot of the bicycles on the runway. (via Kottke.org)(video)

NOTE: I have a bunch of new stuff I’ve made for the holidays this year, and I’ll be sharing it at the bottom of the next few Friday newsletters so this doesn’t turn into *yet another* “BUY STUFF” email in your inbox. But hey, if you’re buying stuff for your friends and family, and any of the stuff I have made is a good fit, please feel free to buy it. Today, I am going to share up top the two below photos of this thing I finally got online last week—it’s a book to hold when you’re listening to an audiobook and want to be left alone. (It’s also grid-lined so you can use it as a notebook). Comes in PG-Rated and R-Rated versions. (PS: There are matching coffee mugs at the bottom of this email if that’s more your style, or the style of your loved one who would like to be left alone while enjoying their audiobook)

[PG-rated version] I’m Reading An Audiobook

[R-rated version] F— Off, I’m Reading An Audiobook

Maybe this is too nerdy for you, but I enjoyed the hell out of this statistical analysis of the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon—because is he really the most connected actor in Hollywood? I won’t spoil it by telling you. If you just want the short version, here’s the TLDR; link on BoingBoing.

I am passing along this video/song and I’ll say the same thing my friend Fitz texted me when he sent it to me on Wednesday: Try to just listen to it first, and then if you want to watch the video, do that. But there’s some incredible curation of samples and editing in here.

Look, I would never go so far as to say that no one’s watching the vertical videos you and I post on social media, but I think Seth Werkheiser’s larger point here is that more scrolling isn’t going to help. A quote: “We need more people working on bringing joy into the world instead of uploading vertical videos for no one to see.”

So I first read about this on The Onion’s social media, in a press release-style post, so I thought it was a joke, and then The New York Times published a story saying The Onion said it had bought InfoWars. I thought the writer had a challenging job here (NYTimes gift link), explaining the idea behind the purchase to readers who may or may not know that The Onion is a legendary satire news site. But this line from The Onion‘s story about it is *chef’s kiss*: “With a shrewd mix of delusional paranoia and dubious anti-aging nutrition hacks, they strive to make life both scarier and longer for everyone, a commendable goal. They are a true unicorn, capable of simultaneously inspiring public support for billionaires and stoking outrage at an inept federal state that can assassinate JFK but can’t even put a man on the Moon.”

I have mentioned Tom Chitty’s Substack here before, but again, I love it, because it always makes me laugh, and it’s cartoons, so it makes me laugh very quickly, as did this week’s collection, about exercise.

I was not driving to work in the dark when a meteor flashed across the sky in Montana this week, but this person was, and they had a dashcam running, so we all get to see it (!!!!!!).

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MORE GIFT IDEAS:

Anxiety Pie Chart Mug
(this one is back! If that makes you happy, you can thank Maureen, who requested it)
$18.99

Grand Canyon Subway Map Poster
(this is a less-expensive, glossy poster version of the signed, limited edition fine art print we did of this poster last fall)
$20.00