Posts from November 2024
- If I ever got name-checked on The Simpsons, I think I would spontaneously combust. – via @sepinwall
- How Gen Z Came to See Books as a Waste of Time – via @theatlantic
- For about a year and a half I was really into intermittent fasting. I used a great app called Simple that helped me track my daily water consumption and weight, and also handled reminding me when my fasting windows were, let me log what I was eating and when, etc. The app was so good, I even gladly paid for an annual subscription to unlock bonus features. And then — for reasons I cannot imagine — the developers rolled out a “new” version loaded to the gills with whiz-bang AI features that made the app completely useless and incomprehensibly frustrating. I tried for a few months to get used to the new system, but eventually abandoned it, canceled my subscription, and still haven’t found a decent replacement. I abhor the continued enshittification of everything.
- Male bigfin reef squid may be the best fathers of all cephalopods. [Ed. note: But can they make Sunday morning chocolate chip pancakes?]
- It’s really a shame that Russell Brand has gone crazy, because Forgetting Sarah Marshall is easily one of the all-time best comedies.
- Strong Lloyd Dobler vibes in this essay, and I am here for it: “[P]eople do want to work, just not for the paltry wages they were making before the pandemic.”
- “If you spell your name backwards and place an umlaut over one of the vowels, that’s your IKEA name.” [Ed. note: Mine is Engäg and I’m a kitchen drawer divider.] – via @drewtalbert
- Regular exercisers drink more, a new study confirms, but are less likely to be problem drinkers. – via @outsidemagazine
- Black Friday / Holiday Sales:
The world’s comfiest t-shirts and coziest sweatpants are crazy expensive, but this weekend almost everything is on sale at Aviator Nation.- Everything at ’47 Brand is 30% off this weekend. Get all the best sports gear gifts here.
- Need some everyday walking shoes? Everything is 50% off at Allbirds this weekend.
- I have an AirPods Pro case and a wallet from Saddleback Leather Co. and they’re both exquisite. Not everything is on sale, but they do have some pretty good deals this weekend on a few things. (Their motto is, “They’ll fight over it when you’re dead.”)
- Use promo code BLACKFRIDAY to get 30% off (and free shipping) on everything at J. Peterman this weekend.
- Fun Fact: Jon Gries, the actor who portrayed Lazlo Hollyfeld in Real Genius (TriStar Pictures, 1985), went on to play Uncle Rico in Napoleon Dynamite (Searchlight Pictures, 2004) and the love interest of Jennifer Coolidge in The White Lotus (HBO, 2021).
- Congratulations to Dr. Patric Gagne, author of Sociopath: A Memoir, which was recently included in the NPR Books We Loved list for 2024. – via @patricgagne
- This is probably a day late and a dollar short, but I found great success following the suggestions in this How to Cook a Turkey: Turkey Temperature & Doneness guide from ThermoWorks. Maybe bookmark it for next year?
- If, like me, you save every cool knot-tying video you find, give a follow to @knot_short on Threads or Instagram.
- Pretty much everything is 25% off at Field Notes this weekend. An annual subscription makes a great gift for the lovers of little notebooks in your life. [Ed. note: This is not an ad! I just really like the brand.]
- There are far too many football games to watch this weekend. If you get tired of leftovers, bake a batch of my favorite chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. I promise you’ll love them.
- If you are worried about your writing, just remember that somehow, Palpatine returned. – via @zacharyseda
- It’s in the Game: MADDEN NFL on Amazon Prime is a new 4-part documentary series all about the Madden NFL video game (which I’ve been playing for 34 years). There’s a great article at The Athletic with all kinds of details.
- Just started watching the latest Keri Russel show The Diplomat on Netflix. Only through S1E3 but so far it’s at least as good as The Americans, which I loved.
- Selling Christmas wrapping paper that is impervious to standard scotch tape should be considered a war crime.
- Anyway here’s a cheerful piece about how the Sun will eventually destroy all life on Earth (but not by exploding, so, you know, there’s that) – via @astrokatie.com
- “Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) said California will offer electric vehicle subsidies even if Donald Trump kills the $7,500 federal tax credit.” – via @crookedmedia
- Recent research found that men who improve their fitness are 35% less likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer. – via Arnold’s Pump Club
- I recently purchased an Anker MagSafe Case with (what I thought) one of those cool little kickstand grips. I sort of liked the kickstand, but I found I couldn’t align the charging area easily (or at all) on anything but a MagSafe base. I also tested for a week, alternating days with my Spigen case, and discovered the Anker one was definitely both (a) getting unreasonably hot and (b) significantly draining my battery. The heat issue was bad enough, but the battery drain is not something I’d ever accept. My 13-mo old iPhone 15 Pro still regularly sticks over 80% charge after a day’s use. With the Anker case it would be down to 50% before 6pm. Obviously, your mileage may vary and IANAAT, but I’m going back to my Spigen case.
- Merging black holes may create bubbles that could swallow the universe. [Ed. note: The word ‘may’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting here.]
- Most Black Friday deals are pretty worthless, but here’s a good one. All Predictions Wrong — home of TMQ — is offering a 20% discount on all paid subscriptions.
Anyone who is a fan of the doomed voyage of Ernest Shackleton and his crew aboard the Endurance [Ed. note: Dad!] has got to be thrilled right now. In addition to the epic book that was released a few years ago, and the Kenneth Branagh mini-series from a few years before that, there’s a new National Geographic special on Disney+ and now even a LEGO set!- Nice to see the Florida Gators climbed all the way up to No. 33 after beating Ole Miss, one week after the win against LSU. The Gators are the highest-ranked 6-5 team, with all five losses coming to top-25 teams. – via @theathletichq
- The ugly math behind Florida’s low SAT scores: “Among all states, Florida students ranked fourth from last on the standardized exam used to gauge readiness for college. Among states where at least 50,000 students took the test, Florida ranked last.” – via @aspar1605
- Just want to confirm your household is safe for my kid: Is your family up to date on vaccines? Will there be raw milk served? Is there a gun in the house? – brilliant advice via @designmom
- Fun fact: The Portuguese garbage scow captain from Overboard (1987, Goldie Hawn) went on to become the Beverly Hills hotel manager in Pretty Woman (1990, Julia Roberts).
- A child might ask, “Why is the sky dark at night?” Astronomers asked that for centuries, but it took a poet to answer it. And you’ll never guess which one… – via @thebadastronomer
- “What’s a first down?”: Meet Tobi Haastrup, the accidental superstar and coveted recruit – via @austinflack
- There have been a few articles lately about the terrifying amount of deadly recycled plastic in black kitchen utensils, so we got rid of ours and replaced them with this gorgeous beige silicone set. Highly recommend.
- For ages the only copy I had of the 1989 Kon Kan hit “I Beg Your Pardon” was a cassette recording I captured from local FM radio, so any time I hear it I am reminded of Casey Kasem explaining how cool it was that they sampled the theme song from “The Magnificent Seven”.
There’s a Threads account that is posting album covers recreated with LEGO and it’s wonderful.- My superpower is not being able to stop thinking about an apostrophe error in one of the fake newspaper headlines in the 1994 Nicolas Cage/Bridget Fonda rom-com “It Could Happen to You”. – via me, Dec 27, 2021
- Serious question: Why aren’t Moonlighting and Remington Steele on just as frequently as Law & Order?
- Literally any task can be made dramatically more complicated with the simple addition of a six year old narrating your every move on a karaoke microphone set at maximum volume. – via me, Dec 28, 2021
- “To say that we’re losing the war on plastic is to flatter ourselves with a lie. The fact is that we’re not even fighting it.”: How Plastic Liberated and Entombed Us
- These printable gratitude zines are a wonderful idea. There are kid versions, too! – via @austinkleon
- All children’s clothes should have a blank tag where you can write your kid’s name. How is this not a thing? – via me
- “[W]hat’s most needed is not new recycling technologies but stronger regulations on plastic producers.” – The False Promise of Plastic Recycling
- Annual tooth and gum cleaning may be the single most cost-effective therapy in all of medicine, and millions skip this, causing avoidable problems down the road. – via All Predictions Wrong
- Do yourself a favor. Get an Amazon Subscribe & Save subscription to a six-pack of comfy socks. It’s fairly inexpensive, and it’s a great way to stop hoarding old socks. (Set it to deliver them every six months. You’ll thank me in May.)
- The number of Italian same-sex civil unions rose to a six-year high, defying the country’s conservative government’s attempts to make it more difficult for same-sex couples to start families. – via @crookedmedia
- I had no idea the standard movie disclaimer — “Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.” — is because of Rasputin! – via @kottke
- It’s unfair that Someone Like You (from Bang Tango’s 1989 album Psycho Café) isn’t more popular.
- Defeated Man Too Tired To Fight New $14.99 Fee On Phone Bill – via @theonion
- “In one hour alone, the sun pummels the earth with more power than the world uses in the span of an entire year.”
- “Look, nothing I can write in this letter could possibly prepare you for everything that is about to happen. I don’t even know where to start, to be honest with you. There’s just so much.” – via @playerstribune
- Big sports moments are when I miss my mom the most. Even little ones. I could text her at 2AM to ask if she was watching two unknown, unranked Hungarian tennis players locked in a tight match on ESPN3 and the answer would always be, “Of course.”
- Star Wars: Skeleton Crew premieres December 3rd on Disney+ Wow. The trailer looks amazing.
- If you know anyone with an iPhone — and, duh, of course you do — one of these MagSafe power bricks is a great gift idea.
- Superman Is Still America’s Greatest Superhero: We need Christopher Reeve now more than ever.
- How Selling $160 Sweatpants Turned a SoCal Surfer into One of America’s Richest Women – via @forbes
- Forget Matt Gaetz. Merrick Garland Is America’s Worst Attorney General. – via @usnews
- I would rather watch three straight hours of Progressive commercials than another Avatar movie.
- Pamela Hayden, the voice behind Milhouse Van Houten, will retire from The Simpsons after 35 years. – via @dailycosmicmarvel
- It’s always been somewhat puzzling that Donald Duck chooses to use an airplane to fly and a boat when he’s in the water. I don’t have a problem with his insistence on eschewing pants. But I find it deeply, deeply disturbing that he carves a Thanksgiving turkey for his family. – via me
- Here’s everything you need to know about the new 12-team college football playoff format.
- “Homicides continued to decline in major U.S. cities — by more than 40% in some communities — during the first nine months of the year.” – via @crookedmedia
- How Marcus Smart’s support for cancer patients transformed children’s hospitals – via @theathletichq
- Please spare ninety seconds of your busy day today to watch Miss Piggy roasting Martha Stewart. – via @kottke
- What’s the roundest human-made object ever made? – via @thebadastronomer
- “Building beats talking. It beats being a full-time employee. It beats being well dressed or well spoken or well known. It beats being popular.” – via @ociubotaru
- “If you’re a parent, you know you don’t need a scientific study or some neuroscientist to confirm what you know from experience. There’s a part of you that didn’t exist until you had kids.” – via @dailydad, a fantastic newsletter
- I’m vehemently opposed to styling browser scrollbars, but I like the other nine items in this list of 10 CSS Tricks for UI developers – via @nnnirajn
- It’s effectively impossible to manage uploaded photos on Amazon Alexa devices using the iOS app because if you’ve uploaded more than about two dozen photos, the screen refreshes back to the top any time you scroll down more than a few pages. I posted about this on Twitter a few years ago, and I can’t believe they still haven’t fixed it.
- The complete lack of urgency from players and coaches, in the NFL and college, when down by two or more scores in Q4, makes me question whether any of these guys have ever played Madden. – via me
- The November 17th Bills–Chiefs matchup wasn’t just the game of the week, it was the most-watched NFL regular-season game of 2024 and the most-watched non-holiday game since 2007. – via @theathletichq
- I love The Octonauts, although I do sometimes worry it’s giving my son an unrealistic perception of the coffee consumption rate of the average undersea exploration headquarters polar bear captain. – via @gatordavid
- How The Netherlands Built a Biking Utopia – via distilled
- Here’s some cool stuff you can do with Bluesky (aside from following me, of course).
- There’s No Longer Any Doubt That Hollywood Writing Is Powering AI – via @rking_618
- This is your annual reminder that the album Sugar & Booze by SNL alum Ana Gasteyer is chock full of fantastic holiday music and you can stream it on Alexa.
- In part he cried because he knew what lay ahead. The families of the dead, the people who were shot, had now been in war, like he had. They would struggle like he and so many of his combat buddies had.
- I joined Mastadon seven years ago — a full decade after I started using Twitter, by the way — and still have absolutely no idea how it works. (Note that I’ve spent the last thirty years building web and mobile applications.)
- This kid’s reaction to Lamar Jackson‘s scramble last weekend is the best (via Ravens). – via @randderuiter
- Everything designed for children should be dishwasher safe. Everything. Lunch boxes. Water bottles. T-shirts. Nintendo controllers. Nikes. Backpacks. All of it. – via @gatordavid
- “Only a twisted type of fantasy can see [pornography] in a biblical figure, in a statue that is also an icon of the Renaissance and the most famous statue in the world. It’s not only absurd, it’s a worrying sign of sheer ignorance, in its most literal sense: a lack of knowledge of history – religious history, of Christianity and Judaism, and art history.” – via @italo.americano
- Transitioning to clean energy would reduce the volume and harm of mining dramatically, because a fossil fuel economy requires 535× more mining than a clean energy economy. – via distilled
- The research linking alcohol to breast cancer is deadly solid: Alcohol, regardless of whether it’s in Everclear or a vintage Bordeaux, is carcinogenic.
- The curious case of two Scott Stallings and one Masters invitation – via TheAthletic
- Private schools across the South that were established for white children during desegregation are now benefiting from tens of millions in taxpayer dollars flowing from rapidly expanding voucher-style programs.
- Beyoncé to perform halftime show at Ravens-Texans on Christmas on Netflix