Ten Things That Occurred to Me #8

1. Newsletter of the Week: Billy Oppenheimer’s SIX at 6 comes out every Sunday morning and it is unfailingly interesting, delightful, and well-written.  Highly recommended.

2. Pro Tip on Zoom:  Stay muted and press and hold the space bar to talk.  Much easier and faster than hunting up the mouse to click unmute

3. Watched the NFL Pro Bowl this weekend.  Hilarious but pretty much unwatchable.  Tackling was apparently strongly discouraged, and ball carriers readily gave themselves up when grabbed.  Running plays ended in…nothing.  It was kind of fun to watch purely for the comedy and the pleasure the players took in it.  Other than that it was a complete waste of time. Watch this interview with a very “in the spirit” punter to get a feel for the whole thing.

4. One side note on the Pro Bowl — they played it with some experimental rules.  Since they have completely neutered the onside kick, they gave the team the option of, instead of kicking off, trying one play to gain 15 yards from their own 25-yard line. At least I think that is how it worked. I don’t think they’ll ever have the guts to actually institute the rule.  Personally, I like the onside kick — it could happen anytime — but I guess the NFL finds kickoffs too dangerous. Oh well.

5. Best Advice I Can Give You: You can’t control what happens to you, but you 100% control how you react to what happens to you.

6. No-knock raids must end immediately. Like, right now.

7. Spotify is absolutely amazing.  You have literally any song you want to listen to at your fingertips. One should revel in the glory that is Spotify.

8. This may be the best article that I’ve ever read.

9. Sometimes I wonder what the greatest invention in the history of civilization is, and then I realize that it is the Public Library.

10. I don’t think I can rave enough about the amazing, outrageous goodness that is mynoise.net.  I am a subscriber, and I LOVE it.  Combined with noise-canceling headphones, it can turn anywhere you are into a peaceful, wonderful soundscape.  I’m writing this at a Mcdonald’s listening to Waterfall and it is glorious.  Like I’m somewhere else.