Category: Friday Unrelated Information

1. Oof it’s been hot this week. This Atlantic article from yesterday takes us to Death Valley and explains why that place in particular gets so hot and what 129 actually feels like.

I was no stranger to the scorching feel of a desert in high summer. My dad lived amid the red rock of Southern Utah for more than a decade, and I visited him in all seasons. I was just there a few weeks ago when temperatures reached 113. But 129 hits different.… It sets upon you from above. It is as though a clingy gargoyle made of flame has landed atop your head and neck.

[…] I wanted to stargaze deep into the night, but could manage only half an hour: At 10:30 p.m., it was still 119 degrees on the valley floor.

 

2. Speaking of heat:

3. This is amazing (sound on):

IDK what debates you guys saw but seemed fine to me pic.twitter.com/RHtadvU8nM

— Jeff 🇵🇸 (@BenzosVI) July 10, 2024

1. It’s my Friday for the week so let’s wrap things up! I don’t feel like attending America’s party this year but this line is living in my head:

 

2. Exactly this:

 

3. And another nice thing: I learned about Hockley Clarke, who befriended a blackbird in 1962 and wrote a book about it.

1. Hey America, how’s it going?

This honestly seems like a good test:

 

2. Uh, moving on, I did not think I’d end up reading a long-form piece about competitive Excel. The writing, though! “A good spreadsheet shows you the universe and gives you the ability to create new ones. And the people in this room, in their dad jeans and short-sleeved button-downs, are the gods on Olympus, bending everything to their will.”

 

3. Doc has another sabbatical coming up this summer and this is going to be the vibe for him:

POV: we’re working from home together pic.twitter.com/cuF214dpCg

— Alexis Gay (@yayalexisgay) June 21, 2024

1. I am with this (female) writer in declaring it BRO SUMMER:  “Going bro mode was supposed to be a temporary, gym-affliated experience and quickly became enjoyable. It was both shocking and thrilling. So I have decided that it is time for BRO SUMMER.” What can BRO SUMMER include, you ask? She supplies a list!

• jumping up and down when you’re happy
• eating whatever you want all the time
• cheeseballs in that giant plastic tub
• light beer
• always wearing comfortable shoes (with no socks)

There’s more, plus a delightful gym interaction showing the kindness of bros.

 

2. This dog knows about Bro Summer and also this guy is correct.

every j crew catalog in the 90s looked like this pic.twitter.com/8tWWCAffBl

— derek guy (@dieworkwear) June 10, 2024

 

3. That guy above is actually one of the only reasons I still have Twitter. I made it over to his blog and he gives a lot of the history of classic items, including the Cuban link chain. (I guess citation needed, but I couldn’t find any other info to contradict this.)

Cuban jewelry came to the US with the arrival of Cuban exiles. In 1959, shortly after Castro overthrew the Batista’s regime and established a new government, millions of Cubans from diverse social positions fled to the US, first by boat and later by plane. Many of these émigrés worked as jewelers in their home country. And so, naturally, they made a life in the United States—many of them while based in Florida and especially Miami—crafting and selling gold jewelry. 

Anyway, he linked to a video on how the Cuban link is made and oh no, now I want to buy more jewelry.

1. Yesterday was a good day on the internet:

 

2. The only thing you need to read about the “quiet luxury” trend. Even knowing about fabrics and construction, I just don’t get couture prices for things that look so bland.

Buying into “stealth wealth” feels like buying a band T-shirt, except the band are the worst people in the world, and the T-shirt costs the same as a month’s rent, and the music is them laughing as they shout “Eat shit” from a car.

 

3. Extremely specific definitions? OK! An excerpt from Eli Burnstein’s Dictionary of Fine Distinctions, found by our friend Mike.

 

1. Four minutes of great advice from a Swedish writer. “My brain and I, we are classmates doing a group project called life, and it’s not going well.”

 

2. Speaking of writing:

 

3. Me with any “nice” fabric:

1. “Rice pudding ought to be immaculate and profound, like a very deep, very cold swimming-pond in the middle of an unworked field.” Well, now I need to make rice pudding.

 

2. An interview with a 97-year-old artist:

I’m gobsmacked by how he knows where everything is in this gloriously cluttered artistic house, how he can quickly turn to the right page in an academic textbook to illustrate his point. Is the daily painting what’s kept him so sharp?

“Partly,” he says. “I think anyone who is creative is more likely to live longer.”

 

3. The pacing on this 2.5 minute story is god-level:

@clarkejaxtonmotorbike My dad got banned from Olive Garden #familystorytime #fyp #synthtok #olivegarden ♬ original sound – Clarke Jaxton Motorbike

1. A headline from The Guardian, of all places: ‘This machine bonks fascists’: US student protester’s water jug becomes symbol of resistance. Click through for some excellent memes and an embedded song, plus serious eyewitness interviews:

Ryan Hutson, an independent journalist who covers the northern California region where Cal Poly Humboldt is located … was inside the protest when the bonk took place.

 

2. I’m always going to read other writers’ tips on writing. Here are John Steinbeck’s.

 

3. If you’re still thinking about prep (I am), here’s a Tumblr of vintage Ralph Lauren ads. Why do I want to make a pair of khakis now? I hate everything this look represents but I am so compelled by the look itself.