Intro / Preface / Extra Words
Hope everyone is having a lovely Sunday evening. I'm enjoying a bourbon and finally getting around to sending out this week's newsletter.
I actually had all of my links together and was set to send this issue out on time. Then I forgot to send it. Maybe next week.
No bites on the free sponsorships yet. Remember, they're free. So sign up for one already.
Current Things
Silicon Valley Murder Mystery: How Drugs and Paranoia Doomed Silk Road
Imagine Scarface but instead of a coked-out Cuban gangster you've got a super smart programmer. Comparable megalomania though. This needs to be a movie.
Timeless Things
The Life of John Prine, the Mark Twain of American Songwriting
I love John Prine and you should too. You should read this while sitting on a porch somewhere, preferably with a cold, cheap beer in hand.
Random Things
The Hangover Drink
I bet you really wish I'd sent this link out a few weeks ago, because Cinco de Mayo. Go ahead and join the waitlist so you can be prepared for Memorial Day weekend.
Food
A Day in the Life of a Food Vendor
I'm 100% sure that doing anything in New York is more difficult than doing it in Memphis. That said, being a food vendor sounds like a ton of work regardless of where you live, and I thought this was an interesting glimpse into the day-to-day of running a business.
Business Time
Crazy Egg cracks open its product roadmap process
Har har title puns. This is written about running digital products (like Curated, the newsletter service I use to send you these links), but I think it could be tweaked slightly to help you with any internal projects you do at work. The takeaway is that your team should work on projects that make your product/service more valuable to your customers. That means don't build things because you have hunches that it will make your product/service more valuable. Data > hunches.
Work / Productivity
Being Busy Doesn’t Mean You’re Successful
I appreciate titles that aren't clickbait. This title is a nice little wisdom snippet, but the whole article is worth reading (especially if you're a solo operation or in charge of stuff at work). I enjoy Chris's writing style and have started reading his blog regularly, so this won't be the last link you see from this source.
Sports (Disc Golf)
Here Is a Poem About Gordon Hayward
This is really silly. Shoutout to Gerry A. II (aka "Sweet Potato") for the link.
I love technology (and science)
An artificial womb successfully grew baby sheep — and humans could be next
Another weird link from Kyle G. He doesn't even subscribe to this newsletter, he just posts links in Slack at work and I steal them. But I always give attribution just in case someone starts digging around the archives one day and is all like "hey dude you got that from me!"
Also, no humans could not be next but I bet you really wanna click that link now.
Further Reading
The Supper of the Lamb: A Culinary Reflection by Robert Farrar Capon
This book was recommended to me by Ross L. I'm two chapters in and I'm super excited to keep reading. The book is written by an Episcopalian priest who wants to teach you how to cook lamb (for eight persons four times, to be exact). But in reality, he wants to talk about a lot more than his recipes. His voice is truly delightful, and the book so far is full of so much joy that I am laughing aloud as I read it.