A helpful, picture-based guide to what trash can be recycled →
https://www.arlingtonmagazine.com/recycling-guide-arlington-fairfax-mclean-falls-church-virginia/
This is for Arlington, Virginia, but much of it applies to anywhere in the US. That said, I don’t think I realized that glass isn’t really recycled along with other stuff anymore, in some places. I sure hope my (continuing) ignorance doesn’t mean I’ve been “polluting” my garbage.
It’s Earth Day, so figured this was worth posting. But, I also know that many articles have been written about recycling being a scam and/or a waste. The truth-seeker in me loves that those articles exist, but the hopeful-fella in me knows that trying to reduce waste, and increase material use efficiency, is worth it, no matter how much less effective it is than we were led to believe.
The history of the spelling bee in the US →
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/history-spelling-bee-180971916
That these exist might be the long term effect of the Puritans & bible is pretty amazing. Also amazing, and of course it’s true, but there wasn’t set spelling for words prior to the first dictionary coming out in the 17th century. Turns out that the history of the spelling bee is much more interesting than watching it 🤣
I’ve been doing a lot more writing recently to promote DYDit, and it’s surfaced to me either how bad my spelling has gotten, or, how much I’m now dependent on auto-correct/suggest*. I’ve been playing Scrabble for years & years, but all that really teaches me is all the two-letter words, and how to shamelessly continue using “Qi”, “Za”, and “Xu” as if they’re words we all use every day. So, I’m looking forward to completely offloading my spelling brain to AI in the near future.
*Used 7 times in writing this post
An article on the science of “fear”, including identifying the only two innate human fears →
https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/29/health/science-of-fear/index.html
I mean, it’s crazy to think we might only have been born with two fears. That means that pretty much everything we’re afraid is learned, and just in our heads.
This sorta aligns with my belief that fear holds everybody back from accomplishing most of what they want out of life, but that blog post is for another day.
Quick video on how to properly roll up a burrito →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IAbpVXEUt_c
Two key moves in here: (1) Fold the top & bottom over first; (2) That tuck
I know this is dumb, but I just watched it for the first time today, and thus learned the proper technique for the first time. This means a confluence of things:
• I’m sometimes sleepwalking through life — I mean, how many Chipotle burrito Artists have I watched & still didn’t remember the super simple steps?
• I’m almost willfully ignorant — Every time before today when I went to make a burrito, I’d try to remember how Chipotle did it, yet never once thought to look it up
• YouTube is one of humanity’s great products — Dumb little videos like this are the bread-and-butter of YouTube (you know you’ve looked up & watched something like this there before) thus showing that YouTube IS human society
A step-by-step article on how Taylor Tomlinson wrote a joke, including performance video snippets as she workshopped it over time →
Such a well done NYT piece showing how much work & iteration goes into writing & performing a joke, and how specific & detailed it can get, eg. one syllable names are “funnier”. We see comedians on stage & they kinda give the vibe that they’re winging it, but they’re actually doing the opposite — EVERYTHING has been practiced & perfected. She’s put in the work, and has thus been rewarded.
One of the things I wanted to do in 2023 (but, didn’t), was craft a story for The Moth. Partially what I wanted to get out of that was learning how to write a joke. Turns out, it’s hard, and takes tons of focus & work, two things I couldn’t really devote to it last year. It’s still something I want to do, though, and I’m still fascinated with the craft of stand-up.
Snack Pantry→ 