Intro / Preface / Extra Words
The stats say y'all like travel-related content, and it's peak travel season (maybe) so this one is a little travel-heavy. I particular enjoyed the "Frugal Five" article, so I'm glad Brian found it. I'll be following that column for sure.
One other thing- if you want to share this newsletter with someone in your life that's fine with us. You not doing that is also fine with us (really). You can excercise one of those options at this link.
Enjoy.
Heavy Rotation
RIP John 'Totalbiscuit' Bain, a gaming legend
Way back in the day (c. 2005) when I was basically ruining my life with a World of Warcraft addiction (sorry Katie) I fell in love with a WOW podcast featuring a hilarious, sarcastic, and ineffably optimistic brit who went by the handle "Totalbiscuit" (which apparently means something in the Queen's English that is beyond my puerile colonial brain). In the intervening years Totalbiscuit became a famous caster in the eSports scene and a very successful YouTuber. Ever now and then I'd drop in on his Twitch stream and remember how much I enjoyed his happy but demanding approach to games.
Unfortunately after several years battling cancer Totalbiscuit recently passed away. In honor of his passing check out his amazing review of some random game I've never played but would happily watch Totalbiscuit play anyway. -Brian
Current Things
Memphis migration: As census shows people leaving, here are ways to stop it
While Nashville, Charlotte, Austin, Raleigh and who knows how many other southern cities are seeing amazing growth our hometown is actually shrinking. I have no idea what the fix for that is but it makes me sad. Having recruited folks to come work in Memphis it is very hard. Memphis has a reputation that has spread pretty far. Meanwhile those of us who live here know it for its soul, its affordable easy living full of great food, music and a sneaky little sports scene. How do we get that reputation out there? -Brian
Random Things
Seamlessly by Private Jet - Touring Treasures
omg Brian where did you find this. Touring Australia by private jet seems like it would be amazing and also seems like it would be the most pretentious thing I've ever considered doing. I'm also going to assume it's insanely expensive, considering there are no prices on the website for the jet tours. Probably one of those 'if you care about the price, you can't afford it' situations. - Calvin
The Frugal Five - The New York Times
Five people in all of history have held the frugal travel editor position at the NYT. Their job was / is to get dropped off in a country slightly off the beaten path and explore the best ways to enjoy that culture and location without spending a lot of money. In this fantastic article the five legacies get together to swap war stories and frugal travel tips. -Brian
Business Time
The rise and demise of the AAirpass, American Airlines’ $250k lifetime ticket
This is on my short list for the coolest thing I had no idea existed I've ever submitted to this ol' 'sletter. Back in the day AA was in a sales slump and sold off a couple dozen "all inclusive" first class passes. Since the day after that AA immediately started trying to get them back, cancelled, limited, or somehow out of the market. Two of the owners were finally cornered a few years ago and physically robbed of their passes by airline agents. The other 26 (including the one owned by Mark Cuban) are still out there... -Brian
Work / Productivity
Waking Up Is Hard to Do
This is an old article from a series about experimenting with daily routines in order to find the best possible way to do the things you do on a daily basis. This first piece is all about sleep, and I thought it was a really fun experiment. I've started playing around with different wake times, and right now I'm trying to get into a rhythm of waking up at 5:30am. The main problem I'm having is going to bed early enough to make 5:30am wake-ups not suck. - Calvin
Follytics
Stop Blaming Russian Bots For Everything
It is raaaaaare that a buzzfeed article makes it to this here space but this particular oddity is interesting, balanced, informative, and oddly (for buzzfeed) not hysterical. Did you know when you see a headline about russian bots pushing some topic or another that almost certainly comes from just 600 twitter accounts (out of the kabillions)? It isn't even as many bots as followed me on any random given Tuesday (before I deleted my twitter account because twitter is horrible for you, for me, for politics, and for our society). -Brian
I love technology (and science)
Dinosaur Images & Facts
The title and URL say it all. Do you love looking at dinosaur drawings and imagine meeting one? Go here. Do you want to win friends and influence people by randomly blurting out interesting dinosaur facts? Go here. You're welcome. - Calvin
Ancient Earth globe
Related: this is a really fun way to look at a way that Earth may have changed geologically over time. I'm not promoting any particular view of Earth's history, this is just neat and I spent an inordinate amount of time looking at it one night. - Calvin
Further Reading
Elle’s #Poonique Story – Elle Beau, the Anti-Blogger
you're gonna have to explain this one to me in person dawg -calvin
dude I thought this was your weirdo link... I have no idea what it is -brian
oh well... just include it anyway, maybe someone out there has some idea -calvin & brian