Absolute BS and absolutely incredibly entertaining. My 3rd best show of 2022 (andor, slow horses). -B
I've added this to my Netflix list, which is where I keep all the content I'll never get around to consuming. Can't wait! - C
How To Properly Execute the Irish Goodbye
Extremely relevant skill you need to have during this time of holiday social gatherings. You know you are a pro at this when you do it at your own house when you're the host. -B
I was there, and suddenly you weren’t.
What is the opposite of this called? The kind of goodbye where you realize that you have either overstayed your welcome or drank the host under the table? The latter feels vaguely Irish but I’m unsure about the former. Either way, I do both and often and have at times been asked to change my ways. - C
Maybe You Missed It, but the Internet ‘Died’ Five Years Ago
This is almost as good as the conspiracy theory we shared a while back that birds aren't real. -B
Dead-internet theory suggests that the internet has been almost entirely taken over by artificial intelligence.
Theory rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ -C
The Knocker-Upper - the Extinct Profession of Waking People up by Knocking
I love this so much. If you gave me a time machine I'm immediately visiting post-industrial revolution pre-electrification England. -B
Haunting Photos Reveal a Massive Abandoned Town of Disneyesque Castles
This is incredibly strange, so much so that the images don't seem real to me. For some reason I'm reminded of Alys Beach developments in Florida, except people are actually living in those. -C
This reminds me of driving through the southern Chinese rural countryside sometime after the Great Financial Crisis. Die-cast, Pre-cast, Injection-Molded, Chinese-Flavored McMansions were scattered around the rice paddies and sprawling factories. Empty apartment buildings that would never be occupied rose stark from amidst green, watery pools sporadically peppered with bored, cud-chudding water buffalo strapped into various and asundry agricultural implementations. -B
The Secret of the Unicorn Tapestries
What a delightful story. The life of the security guard sounds fantastic: he works in a tower looking at art, then travels the world looking at more art, has a couple work BFFs and takes long walks with them to cogitate about religion and first century Alexandria. - C
Katie and I have made two museum visiting trips to NYC and somehow never visited the Met Cloisters. Sounds like a third trip is needed.... -B
The definitive ranking of the top cheesesteaks in Philadelphia
Wow so that was like heavy man. We all deserve a cheesesteak.
Katie and I took a lovely trip to Philadelphia a few years ago. We visited the Barnes, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and the Rodin museum which are all side-by-side downtown. If you like museums it's a killer 2-3 days. And of course we made the trek to a number of the famous cheesesteak places. I recommend always going "wit wiz" and my favorite was the steak at the original Tony Luke's. Katie preferred the roast pork with rabe. We both loved the sugared sweet potato waffle fries because how could you not? -Brian
Malls are trying to make a comeback in 2020 — but with a twist
I found this in a dusty corner of our collected links. It's kind of a bummer to read now; people had a very different outlook for retail back in January.
Was Jeanne Calment the Oldest Person Who Ever Lived—or a Fraud?
Last issue we had this story but we linked it through outline.com which apparently is not a reliable way to do these things. This is a fantastic read and if you weren't able to get the link to work correctly last time I include it here along with my deepest apologies. -Brian
Did Bobby Fischer play a series of online chess games in 2001 after living for years as a recluse?
Apparently Bobby Fischer is still out there spawn-camping n00bs in online chess matches. Do you think he says rude things about your mother over voice chat as well? -Brian