1. Austin Kleon reminds us to stop doomscrolling.
2. On the other hand:
(source)
3. I think we are all this cat at this point:
“I hope this email finds you well.”
Me: pic.twitter.com/qW4a25x25k
— Mugwump Jones (@MugwumpJones) January 19, 2022
4. And, in a similar mood, I could let this loop forever:
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It’s actually Friday Videos Found On Social Media today, but they’re funny:
1. Guess I’m moving to Finland:
What Americans think working in Finland is like pic.twitter.com/yeHmBxcrb7
— Dan Toomey (@dhtoomey) January 6, 2022
2. I love how tigers are just big cats/house cats are just little tigers:
@zambiwildliferetreat It’s safe to say Mischa does not like the fern 😅 #tiger #bigcat #exotic #catsoftiktok #cat #fyp #foryou #cute #funny #follow #like #love #animals ♬ original sound – Zambi
3. Sound on for this, it just cracks me up:
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I got started making 6 dozen sugar cookies this morning and then realized I forgot to do a final post for the year. Like a lot of people, I’ll be back in January (and I’m gonna do some serious damage to those sugar cookies).
1. A perfect short exercise in nostalgia, about the LifeSavers Storybook candy: Deep Feelings for Small Longings
2. Anne Helen Petersen on the themes of the year (with bonus links!)
3. The most accurate year in review I’ve ever seen (via):
4. So much yes (via):
Double links for the week! I don’t know about you, but that’s about all the attention my brain has left at the end of the year.
1. Swole Woman got laid off from her job as a journalist, started a newsletter, got certified as a personal trainer, and now has a starting strength program: Couch to Barbell. She’s the reason I started lifting; if you’re wondering if you could do it and don’t want to hire a personal trainer, check it out. (Spoiler: you can do it!)
2. Give me all the archaic and specific words:
A BIRKENSHAW is a grove of birch trees.
An OSIARD is a grove of willow trees.
A POMARY is a grove of apple trees.
A MYRTETUM is a grove of myrtle bushes.
A COULDRAY is a grove of hazel trees.
A SAPBUSH is a grove of maple trees.
A DARROCH is a grove of oak trees. pic.twitter.com/SoHbYyqNRa— Haggard Hawks 🦅 (@HaggardHawks) December 13, 2021
3. Someone made a movie about my life right now:
Let’s mix things up!
1. Start your week with some DISCO WORLD CHAMPIONS from 1979:
2. Did you love the movie Dune? Of course you did. If you haven’t memorized the books, this “Dune annotated” post gives a lot of good context (and it’s funny):
You couldn’t pay me to live in a vast desert dotted with non-native palm trees, wracked by feudal-level inequality, and beset by valuable powdered drugs. But enough about Los Angeles, folks!
3. This is Toby and I’m the interviewer:
1. Typeatone puts a note to each letter on the keyboard, letting you…type a tone. Fun to mess around with.
2. A source of many new facts (including the fact that zipper company YKK made a zipper themed anime cartoon): 52 things I learned in 2021
3. It’s time to put up the Christmas tree and break out the holiday tunes:
Charles Schulz: hey can you record something jazzy for my cartoon nothing fancy
Vince Guaraldi on A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack: pic.twitter.com/QR42uQWlNb
— jerrell jackson (@datbassjawn) November 19, 2021
1. Strike news: John Deere employees approved the third contract offered to them, ending a five-week strike. What did they get?
What John Deere workers got for going on strike:
*Immediate pay raise doubled to 10%
*Two future 5% raises
*Cost-of-living adjustments
*$8,500 bonus
*Pensions restored for new hires
*In retirement: up to $250/month extra + $2,000 bonus per year of servicehttps://t.co/5wSUjGtFjt— Dan Price (@DanPriceSeattle) November 18, 2021
Sing it with me: There is power in a union
2. Radiooooo is billed as a “musical time machine” and it’s pretty cool: pick a decade, pick a country, and hear a song from that time and place. (via Laura Olin)
3. I’m taking next week off so I won’t be posting. I need to make myself do adult things like research new tires and schedule a meeting with a financial planner, but I’m also going to SEW. Because this is me right now:
1. I just learned about the Japanese concept of “fuubutsushi” (via Austin Kleon’s newsletter, excerpt here from an album review):
Seasons change in the mind and the body before they change in the world…The Japanese word “fuubutsushi” refers to this gap, capturing the feeling of longing for a new season at the first signs of its emergence. After months of life looking like one thing, fuubutsushi marks the moment when you believe it may begin to look like something else.
2. This was funny and angry and cathartic and really makes you consider the lede (“It’s hard to live in the modern world without feeling like you should start committing some felonies”): The Joe Manchin Trolley Problem
3. I’m sorry, this nearly made me die laughing the first time I saw it.
@j23burnhamUK wildlife is top tier ##fyp ##foryou ##uk ##fox ##wildlife ##garden ♬ Goodnight Sweet Possums – From “Ice Age The Meltdown” – John Powell
1. This was such an excellent interview with a financial planner, by Anne Helen Petersen. I have savings and a 401k but definitely don’t feel like I know what I’m doing, and reading that the system is designed to be like that was really revelatory (emphasis mine):
So many of us have tried to do some seemingly simple financial thing — open an IRA, set up our 401k, call a credit card company, get life insurance — only to get stuck part way through and just stop. We think it’s our fault — how hard could it be to fill out a form?? We blame ourselves, feel embarrassed, tell ourselves we failed, and don’t talk to anyone about it. […] The deck is stacked against us, and it’s so high, we think living in a silo is just how it’s supposed to be. In fact, the system as it is thrives on our belief that we need to do this alone.
(So yes, I am going to use those questions about hiring a financial planner that come up later in the interview.)
2. Want to learn about the history of the diamond “tennis” bracelet? Here you go.
3. I could watch this forever:
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4. All of this (source):
1. It’s darker at night now and my tennis elbow is currently allowing me to knit a little, so that means we’re watching things again. We never finished The Mandalorian, but reading about “The Western and Samurai Influences of ‘The Mandalorian’” got me exited to dive back in.
2. In strike news, this thread from a salaried worker at John Deere is excellent reading:
