Category: Life

CHEAP SHIRTS

Like most people, I’ve got a lot of shirts. Many fit better than others. Different cuts. Different weights.

I’ve since been checking out the tags of the shirts I like and ordering blanks from Blank Shirts.

I just ordered three shirts that cost me less than $15 (before shipping). I bought five last year (including a long sleeve) and with shipping it wasn’t even $50.

I still love my logo “graphic tees,” and the companies and bands that I support with my purchase. But sometimes I want to go outside without making any statement, or repping any brand.

ENJOY THE BARRYVILLE CAMEL

Noah Kalina investigated the Barryville Camel for Radio Catskill.

“The current Congress just slashed $170K from (the Radio Catskill) budget, so your support will help fill in the gap. These small-town stations are vital to the local community and culture.”

Read so much more (and watch Noah’s excellent video) here.

CBS ENDS THE LATE SHOW

Update 7/23/2025: Oh, damn. I didn’t realize the shitty backstory to all of this.

CBS is ending The Late Show, hosted by Stephen Colbert. Not replacing Colbert, but ending the show.

In this clip, Colbert mentions how 200 people work on the show. TWO HUNDRED.

I had to look it up, but The Late Show started in 1993 with David Letterman.

I can only imagine that it costs a lot of money to run a show like that in Manhattan, week in and week out.

THERE’S ANOTHER WAY

“But what if there’s another way? We’re clearly starving for something different online. A 19-minute ambient song with a static image of a whale has 3.1M views on YouTube – people choosing to spend nearly 20 minutes with literally nothing happening while the rest of the platform optimises for peak stimulation. This is evidence of a deep hunger for ‘digital quiet’. Online spaces that offer contemplation instead of consumption.”

This from “The Restaurant with No Music” by Simon James French.

He also linked to this Google Doc called ‘Ambient-ish music to do work to,’ with all sorts of links to playlists and albums and.. Plants.fm??

That’s right – there’s a device you can buy called Plant Wave.

“PlantWave measures biological changes within plants, graphs them as a wave and translates the wave into pitch.

With PlantWave, every single note you hear is a real-time expression of a shift in a plant. The more active a plant is at any particular moment, the more notes you’ll hear. When a plant is less active, it will often drone or even stop producing notes.”

I literally just want to hook one of these up to a plant next to a creek, set up my camera, and take a nap for an hour.

THE HEAT BROKE

We had a thunderstorm and then the temp dropped 20 degrees. We could finally turn off the AC units and open the windows. Breath the slightly less hot air. We got a nice sunset, too. Some nice clouds out there, being soft and calm.

BEEPING

It’s been going on for a few nights. Then into the days. An alarm nearby, but I could never find out where it was coming from. When I’d go outside, it would stop. When I’d come back home, I’d hear it again.

I started to wonder if the beeping was coming from inside my place. There’s a blocked off hallway in part of our apartment. But nope, it was definitely coming from outside.

Today I saw a firetruck out in front of a building across the street. Firemen at the door, in and out. Seems about right that they’d be the ones to check it out.

Now the beeping is done and I’m going to sleep better tonight.

ANSWER QUESTIONS

As always, Ash Ambirge bringing the gems:

If you’ve ever been like, ugh, HOW AM I EVEN SUPPOSED TO MARKET MYSELF, why not ask yourself a new question: how can I show up & just answer my customer’s questions?????

In the early days of my Social Media Escape Club I’d just answer people’s questions on Substack’s Office Hours threads. I’d even link them to Substack help docs. I did this so well someone from Substack noticed and reached out and asked if I had any interest in joining their help team (no, thank you).

Even for the bigger picture questions, like “how will I live without social media?” I don’t have the full answer for anyone, but I have bits and pieces that I’ve learned from my experience, and how other people have done it.

Sometimes you don’t need the full answer, you just need to the experience of reading and talking to a bunch of people on the same journey.