Foliage Predictions, Astronomy Photography, Beating the Heat in the Big City, Etc.
In which I share a lot and in turn, you tell me how to be more productive, happier and healthier.
🍁 Good morning. Fall is here, and so is this foliage prediction map. Noticed the first few leaves in my yard yesterday morning, almost like clockwork.
🕐 Speaking of (I guess?), loved this video on how London’s Big Ben works.
👩🎓 Some valuable things to learn about: becoming financially literate, taking better pictures with your phone, basic nutrition, reading beyond the news cycle, etc.
❓Question for everybody: what are life hacks that you use, or changes you made, however incremental (especially incremental!) that have made you more productive, happier and/or healthier? Please let me know by responding to this email, answering in the comments, sending me a text or DM on social media. I’ll start: I use Sleepytime (that’s a link to the web app but you can find it on your phone as well), an application that lets you know when you should wake up (or go to bed) to avoid interrupting sleep cycles. Now, please share your secrets so I can share.
🥵 As the heat gets rapidly worse, “Singapore is spending enormous resources to try to cool itself down — and learning lessons that could help other cities.” Cities must take note: use trees as infrastructure; coat roofs with light-colored reflective paints; and, “not only improve the design of each building, but to consider its relationship with the surrounding city.”
🔭 Astronomy Photographer of the Year winners get an instant link from me.
🍣 So do stop-motion animation this good: preparing a Lego salmon.
🥟 I think this video decided my lunch looks like today: the diverse and delicious history of the dumpling.
🎼 Dustin Ballard uses MIDI-controlled VST instruments, samples and artificial intelligence to hilarious effect, IE a song that sounds like Louis Armstrong singing “Low (Apple Bottom Jeans),” Hank Williams singing “Straight Outta Compton,” and my personal favorite, The Beach Boys doing The Nine Inch Nails/Johnny Cash classic, “Hurt.”
🚇 I’ll never not enjoy Jimmy Fallon and Miley Cyrus busking in the NYC subway.
📉 Are NFTs worthless? “Of the 73,257 NFT collections we identified, an eye-watering 69,795 of them have a market cap of 0 Ether (ETH). This statistic effectively means that 95% of people holding NFT collections are currently holding onto worthless investments.” I still see NFTs as the secondary authentication of tangible goods as the future. But, I am out of my element on this one so if you have knowledge on the subject please reach out. It seemed like jokey, meme art had zero value to me, but I can’t pretend to know what’s cool anymore. Admittedly, I’ve made a fair amount of money in NBA Top Shot (far, far more than my initial investment) but I have no idea of the value of my remaining “moments.”
👕 And how much are t-shirts worth? “An original ‘Heart-Shaped Box’ shirt, depending on condition and variant, can go for between $1,500 and $3,500. Rarer, more valuable Nirvana merch exists—like some Sub Pop–era tees—but there’s no single piece coveted more by the typical T-Shirt head.”
📧 Guess I always assumed it was an acronym but today I learned the term SPAM actually comes from the Monty Python sketch about a restaurant that has the infamous canned meat in almost every dish.
💬 How comic books became literature. “When prose writers rose to literary prominence, in the eighteenth century, lovers of verse deemed the medium vulgar. It can take years for such attitudes to change, and comics are a particular departure: they are not only a textual medium but a visual one.” I am loving the Penguin Classics Marvel Collection, the covers of the paperbacks are perfection. Just finished Spider-Man and can’t wait to get my hands on The Avengers, Fantastic Four and X-Men books.
✍️ I feel seen: things that count as writing: “Jotting down some ideas? That counts as writing, since brainstorming is an essential part of the writing process.Taking a shower or bath? That’s letting your unconscious brain do some work, so it definitely counts as writing. A long walk? Yes, same as above, totally counts as writing.”
👴🏽 Feeling like an old person? There are a lot of peaks over 40. Chess early to mid 40s, ultramarathons in your late 40s, conflict resolution, vocabulary, sexual satisfaction and being nice? 60s. Happiness? 82. “Contrary to popular myth, we never stop learning or growing new brain connections.”
“Older adults may slow down and not be able to retrieve memories or respond as quickly as younger adults, but they can be superior in a range of problem-solving skills, particularly those that involve experience and accumulated knowledge.”
❤️ So, just cuz you feel old doesn’t mean you don’t have a lot of life left. Keep the Hoping Machine running.
Love,
Luke
