Your Mid-Week Experiment
Last weekend’s essay, “Your ‘body glitters to the rhythm of the circadian clock,” was a hit with subscribers. If you read it, share it! That’s the best way to invite people to the party. If you haven’t read it and need a fact-based shot of optimism — or if, like a few of my close friends who’ve recently lost loved ones, you need reminding that while you may feel sad, you embody joy — check it out. Like a friend of mine likes to say, we’re all just walking each other home.
Lots of great stuff to read, listen to, and watch. Let’s get to it.
This is one celebrity profile (this one about Mötley Crüe) that Taffy Brodesser-Akner, the author and show runner of Fleishman is in Trouble, regrets, and I’m not sure that either the profile or the regrets are unwarranted. (Grantland)
Some interesting thoughts and observations about adulthood, journalism, and sexism by Brodesser-Akner in this Q&A about Fleishman is in Trouble. (NPR)
Relatedly, this is lovely:
When you write with an especially sharp pen, it takes a while for the cut to bleed. Dan Zak had his way with Matt Yglesias, and he is glorious in his precision and restraint. (Dan Zak)
That is a perfect Matt Yglesias quote: grandiose but granular. Draped in idealism and wisdom but anchored in data and incrementalism. Clear on its face but dotted with leaps like “incredible” and “very,” then hedges like “sort of” and “slightly.”
The affect is one of solution, of authority, of “aha!”
The effect is vaporous, curious, “huh?”
Want to read the nastiest quote about a women’s dress code in the Missouri legislature? (NPR)
"[She's] telling me I can't wear a crispy good St. John sweater if it has too many buttons," Proudie added. "I spent $1,200 on a suit and I can't wear it in the people's house because someone who doesn't have the range tells me that it's inappropriate. That's not why any of us were elected."
“I mean it in the kindest possible way when I say I hope Prince Harry does not feel the need to tell us this story again. The jar is empty. Anything else that comes out doesn’t feel like narrative, it just feels like pain.” (Monica Hesse)
Scientists can be so dumb. To combat the effects of sitting at a desk, they recommend taking a 5-minute walk every half hour. That would mean in 8-hour workday, 80 minutes would be spent walking. “Sorry boss, hold that thought. Gotta go walk.” (The Conversation)
The new Avatar was a worthy, if belated, follow-up to the original.
Thanks to Noom, I lost 40 pounds over 2020-21 and have kept it off since then. Click on the blue box to get 20% off. Seriously, this works. No, this isn’t an ad. Yes, I really lost all that weight with Noom.
We set up a merch table in the back where you can get T-shirts, coffee mugs, and even tote bags now. Show the world that you’re part of The Experiment.
We’ve also got a tip jar, and I promise to waste every cent you give me on having fun, because writing this newsletter for you is some
Buy the book Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick banned from the Bullock Texas History Museum: Forget the Alamo: The Rise and Fall of the American Myth by Bryan Burrough, Chris Tomlinson, and myself is out from Penguin Random House. Out in paperback now!