๐ Stuff You Should #9: February 2018
Beautiful pics of pencils, anti-Facebook sentiments, and more.
Hi! You're reading a monthly newsletter in which I, perpetual opinion-haver Laura Reineke, share with you some Stuff that I endorse. Got stuff you think *I* Should? Reply to this email or holler at me on Twitter @ohonestly. Thx for reading. Love u.๐ย Know About Me
Feels like we're all Going Through It in one way or another lately - news, rollercoaster weather, work stuff, family stuff, etc. - and I don't have much to offer to remedy that, so here are some fun facts:
I have always been jealous of left-handed people.
I baby-talked to a pile of cords on my floor for five minutes this morning because I didn't have my glasses on and I thought it was my cat.
A waiter gave my dad a baked potato by accident and then, MANY minutes later, made Dad give it back.
For more distractions, scroll on.
Joy. JOY I SAID
๐ย Read Online
How Facebook Is Killing Comedyย -ย Bitching about Facebook is a pastime of mine, for sure, but writer Matt Klinman really got to the heart of my issues with the platform in this interview with Splitsider after comedy site Funny or Die was forced, in part by Facebook's algorithms and re-shaping of user behavior, to lay off its editorial staff. (Sarah Aswell/Vulture)
Inside One of Americaโs Last Pencil Factoriesย -ย Christopher Payne's photos of the pencil-making process are gorgeous. Did you know that the pastel extrusions used for the cores of colored pencils are so fragile they have to be placed in their wooden slats by hand? (Sam Anderson/NYT)
The Female Price of Male Pleasureย -ย The inequity in the studying, treatment, and basic understanding of women's sexual pain - from conditions like endometriosis and vaginismus to generalized discomfort during sex - as compared to men's is BAFFLING and INFURIATING. (Lili Loofbourow/The Week)
What's the Matter with Oklahoma?ย -ย For starters, drastic tax cuts have left its school system so underfunded that four-day weeks, outdated textbooks, and teachers picking up shifts at Walmart to make rent are now the norm. #murica (The Economist)
What Bullets Do to Bodiesย -ย A trauma surgeon, a cycle of violence, and dozens of small sustained efforts to affect real change.ย In a perverse way, the more efficiently [she] does her job inside the hospital, the more invisible gun violence becomes everywhere else. (Jason Fagone/Highline)
Nigel Van Wieck, "Touch"
โThere was a study recently that if you just give your cat a bowl of food every day, they get fat and depressed, because they donโt use their hunting instincts. So now some pet owners hide food around their house, and their pets are happier because theyโre doing something. Itโs the same thing with content. Itโs better for us to try and find it, and get it from different sources and enter different worlds โ to go on the tiniest journey to find something instead of having the trough open up and have the feed come pouring down into your face.โ - Matt Klinman
๐ฐย Buy
Everdigi Lightning-USB charging cordsย -ย When Toast was still a kitten she liked to nom on my iPhone chargers and in the process ruined, um, every one I owned, so I replaced them with a pack of these guys. They're sheathed in braided nylon and they're helpfully much longer than the ones that Apple ships standard. Toast has not chewed them.ย
Alaska Bear silk sleep mask- It's v soft and it has a lil flap of fabric called a NOSE BAFFLE that helps keep light out, as well as two straps across the back to ensure it doesn't slip off during midnight tossing n turning. Just a good basic item that works as advertised. Sometimes...products...work???
I ate mint chocolate chip ice cream in Florida. As is my wont.
๐งย Listen To
Superchunk,ย "What A Time to Be Alive"ย -ย If you're in the mood for some energetic indie rock to pump you up and/or block out the noise of the world, please look no further than Superchunk's latest album. (I'm also still obsessed with their 2013 release,ย "I Hate Music.")
More Perfectย (Season 2) -ย The second season of NPR's Supreme Court podcast kept my brain - and my heart, too, surprisingly - occupied for all 9 hours it took to drive back to New York after the holidays. The stories behind landmark SCOTUS decisions offer a whole lot to chew on even when they seem straightforward. Episode rec:ย Mr. Graham and the Reasonable Man, about "objectivity" in policing.
โYou canโt understand the place and time youโre in by immersion; the oppositeโs true. You have to step out and away and back and forward, through books and art and music, and you have to do it regularly. Then you come back to the Here and Now, and say: Ah. Thatโs how it is.โ - Alan Jacobs
LOOK AT HER!!!
โ๏ธ My Forecast
I'm juggling all sorts of projects right now so I guess just trying to get those done without devolving into the kind of harried mess who eats cereal for every meal.
Until next time,
xo Laura