~the-official-medium | Bookmarks (93)

👋 We’re back!Issue #210: wildfires in unlikely places, insights from an ER triage nurse, and your brain on iconsTwo weeks ago, a wildfire broke out in the unlikeliest of places: New York City.A 2-acre fire erupted in Prospect Park, close to the geographic center of Brooklyn and probably my favorite park on earth. Fo...

☀️ Happy Monday y’all. Let’s do this.Issue #209: Milktalk, the NYC marathon-as-party, a simple explanation of tariffs and becoming the boss of your phoneLet’s talk about raw milk.Long a trend among health influencers and tradwives who make claims about its nutritional value, raw milk is a staple topic of “for you” p...

🍾 Take a bow. You made it.Issue #208: How ‘Thriller’ was made and Always Be FinishingThere’s a quote I think about a lot: “How you do anything is how you do everything.”It’s one of those quotes that gets thrown around a lot. It makes a great title. It’s an effective subject line. As far as I can tell, it was popular...

Image: The Travelling Companions by Augustus Leopold Egg (from Birmingham Museums Trust)I’ve been thinking a lot about just sitting with things. Not in an actual physical sense, but in the emotional / psychological / existential sense.It’s really easy to want to flood your brain with more more more, as fast as possi...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #207: the women who created werewolf stories and the four doors we use to determine right vs. wrongA big story last week was how historian Allan Lichtman’s “13 keys to the White House” — a prediction model that has accurately called 90% of the past 40 years of presidentia...

👋 We’re back with the Medium NewsletterIssue #206: befriending good communicators and a roadtrip through the 11 distinct subcultures that comprise the U.S.“Untranslatable words” are sort of a trope on the internet. Google that phrase and you’ll find a series of overlapping lists — often written by English speakers. ...

✌️ HalloIssue #205: a letter from prison + an email from Taylor Swift’s dadLest you’ve had enough post-election analysis, I just want to share a single story that felt new to me: Ian Williams’ “Notes from a classroom.” Williams is a graduate instructor at UNC Chapel Hill. He’s currently teaching a “cultural studies”...

👋 Hello! We’ve returned with the Medium NewsletterIssue #204: raking leaves and making things you actually love (even if no one else does)It makes cosmic sense for Veterans Day to fall one week after Election Day.* Not only do many of us get a three day weekend to recover, but: After voting on the principles that wi...

📆 The year is 85% over — let’s make this last 15% of 2024 count, shall we?Issue #203: Misery, prejudice, and…finding your joy!I’m not going to pretend to know what this week was like for you. If you’re in the U.S., emotions range from utter despair to satisfied jubilance; I can only imagine what it feels like to be ...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #202: climate denial as a coping mechanism, expanding accessibility in video games, and the history of bento boxesBy Carly Rose GillisYesterday, we highlighted a story about a potential reckoning in the media industry after an election cycle full of threats, misinformatio...

👋 Hello, we’re tired but we’re backIssue #201: a media reckoning, a straw poll, and taking care of yourselfGood morning to everyone struggling to stay awake today (or just struggling, period).Before I share a few of the stories deepening my understanding at this moment, I just wanted to take a sec to appreciate how ...

🎉 Welcome to the 200th issue of the Medium Newsletter, which (and we definitely didn’t plan this) coincides with U.S. Election Day. Some of the most-read issues so far? A philosopher on the meaning of LLMs, the underrated rewards of cold-calling, plus: Go small and go home. Thank you for reading!Issue #200: working ...

🗳️ T-1 day until what’s shaping up to be one of the closest elections in U.S. historyIssue #199: a hike with George H.W. Bush + doing hard thingsBy Harris SockelIf all you do is read headlines today, you may end up believing two things: (a) America is divided, and (b) there are two types of voters: red and blue.That...

🗳️ Four days! Stay informed but don’t get sucked in.Issue #198: the French Bread Law, ancient lawn signs, and reigning in a free-ranging convoBy Harris SockelApple Intelligence dropped on Monday.*ICYMI, “Apple Intelligence” is marketing-speak for a handful of individual products. You can blurt out something impolite...

🕯️ Hello, yes, it’s Halloween. I’m going as Paul Mescal holding the Sweetgreen bag.Issue #197: drinking the Kool-Aid and the paradox of controlBy Harris SockelQuick note: Because we love all these stories so much, everything linked below is a gift link. If you’re not a Medium member, please enjoy! And if you want to...

🫰 Hello from me and my new favorite emoji, the finger heart (it means love, but cuter)Issue #196: six days until you know whatBy Harris Sockel“Man, what do you think of Kamala Harris?” Luc Olinga asked his barber a few weeks ago.Olinga is a French-American investigative journalist born and raised in Cameroon. He’s i...

🍂 Hello, it’s Tuesday! And, for the first time in weeks, it truly feels like fall here in NYC.Issue #195: the arrival fallacy + asking better questionsBy Harris SockelThe Nobel Prize in physics tends to go to astrophysicists or molecular physicists — people who study very big things (space!) or very tiny things (ele...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #194: parenting boys v. girls + auditing your boundariesBy Stephanie GeorgopulosEver find yourself frantically throwing together a last-minute Hawk Tuah costume for a last-minute Halloween party and wonder: Why?Allow me to share the 2000ish-year-old roots of this surprisi...

✌️ It’s us, back with the… you guessed it… Medium NewsletterIssue #193: the nebulous definition of “community” and simplicity vs. fancinessBy Harris SockelEvery month-ish, I find a story lying around in the Medium archive that (a) relatively few people have found, and (b) gives me words for something I felt but coul...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #192: pet death doulas + what your therapist really thinks about youBy Stephanie GeorgopulosI recently celebrated an accidental anniversary: It’s been one year since I last posted on social media. Proud of me? (Don’t be; I still lurk.) Not-posting wasn’t a goal I set for ...

📱 Apple announced the first iPod 23 years ago today. It’s the longest-lived Apple product to eventually be discontinued (in 2022).Issue #191: listening to the “other side” and doing just a few things wellBy Harris SockelThe phrase “follow your passion” gets thrown around so much it’s a joke. It sounds nice, but some...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #190: how metaphors influence our perceptions, and RSS-ing your news sourcesBy Carly Rose GillisAfter a few weeks of using Duolingo to learn Irish, my partner wanted to find a way to level up his skills. We looked at various tutors (expensive!) or classes (far away!), but...

📆 Including today, there are only 11 Mondays left in 2024Issue #189: a quantum mechanics scientist largely forgotten by history, why few women get Nobel prizes, and making MVEs rather than MVPsBy Scott LambBurnout is a word with multiple identities. Since first appearing in the cultural lexicon in the ’80s with Herb...

👋 Welcome back to the Medium NewsletterIssue #188: hot sauce, getting older, and titrating your news intakeBy Harris SockelBe honest… what did you expect when you opened this email?Information? Entertainment? Controversial opinions? Obvious ones? All of the above? None??Whatever your expectations, they’re shaping yo...