2024.03.DisappearingMoment
Merle (2012-03-21 – 2024-03-21)
Welcome to March 2024’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of my experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
Podcasts
- Alphabet Boys (I Liked It): “Entrapment” is such a dirty word. We prefer to call it “standard operating procedure”.
- Love, Janessa (I Liked It): We are all hostages of our media bubbles. We all miss what is obvious to others. Everyone is being scammed all the time.
- Meet the Composer (A Personal Favorite): Peers talking shop is how I like to learn. It’s immersive and inclusive. Brava, Nadia Sirota, violist, host.
- The Michigan Plot (Chameleon, Season 7) (I Liked It): The Meshuggaas Putz: Empathy for the Rebels. See also, “Why did we lose trust during the pandemic?”
- The Set (I Liked It): Crack-era NYC police corruption. Come for the righteous indignation, stay for the accents and heroism.
Nerdy Software
Once you learn some tools exist, you find uses for them. For example, Diff (finding differences in files) and Merge. For this, I like Mergely.
Bougie Products
Every month, I fight the urge to recommend underwear and socks. It feels cliché. Uniqlo Airism and Heattech are worth the embarrassment. Forgive me.
Personal Finance and Investing
Planning to survive into or through your 60s? Qualify for Social Security? Use Open Social Security to think through your options.
Reading
- Molly Brodak, How To Be A Good Listener (I Liked It): 1. Let people feel their feels. 2. Check your emotions. 3. N/A. 4. Don’t give advice. 5. Don’t relate. 6. Ask questions.
- Katalin Karikó, Breaking Through (2023) (I Loved It): Part Batuman’s The Idiot, part The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. There is lyricism in accuracy, grace in persistence.
- Eva Parish, What I Think About When I Edit (I Liked It): Useful insights (or reminders) well presented. Per contra, Make Better Documents (I’d need toxic amounts of caffeine and Ritalin).
Business Ideas
- Make anonymous offers on any home at any address. Only the owner can see the offers. If the owner accepts an offer, collect a commission.
- Lampshades. Sustainable. Ethical. Affordable. Make it easy to pick the size, dimensions, etc.
- Haunted car wash. Blood-colored water sprayed by Clowns. Zombies drop from the ceiling. Mummies dry your car. Spooky, clean fun.
- Placebo Brand for health and wellness goods and products. Pills, tinctures, creams, powders, herbs, etc.
- An evidence-based vitamin and supplement company. It only sells products that have scientific consensus about their efficacy. Clear instructions. Third-party testing. Vegan. Documented manufacturing processes.
- A Consumer Lab-style company that uses citizen science. Consumers buy kits, test their medications, vitamins, and supplements, and upload their results. Testers see aggregated results.
- An app for finding healthcare providers that take your insurance.. Check availability and make appointments in less than a minute.
- A Wirecutter that doesn’t suck.
- A Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes that doesn’t suck.
- An app to track what you wore on specific days or to specific meetings or events. We like wearing something people have not yet seen.
- A dating app combined with discounted meals at local restaurants. You can go to each restaurant once. Each person on the date pays in advance.
- Vegan pierogis, creative fillings, 6 for $5
- Pine filters for drinking water.
- Bottled Wudder from Philadelphia.
- A cat-activated attachment for drinking from a sink or shower. Short, cool, gentle bursts that are voice activated — The Meower Shower
- Sustainable litter boxes that cats like — user tested! Easy to clean, do not leak, and prevent misfiring — owner approved!
- Cat food made of crickets.
Thanks for spending a few moments with me. I look forward to corresponding again next month.
Brett
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