James A. Reeves –

It’s the first of October but the weather is all wrong. Here in the Middle West, it’s been endless sunshine with temperatures twenty degrees above normal. Meanwhile, our government shut down last night because we’re ruled by bullies and cowards who’ve been brainwormed by the internet. Each day brings inventive forms of idiocy and degradation. Feels like something’s got to give but nothing does.

So I’m looking elsewhere for reason. I find myself hunting for patterns and signs that the universe still contains reason and decency. Perhaps I’m getting mystical in my middle age and becoming a man who believes in gut sense and patterns, the information encoded in the hairs on my neck.

Patrick Rhone –

Reminder: Humans measure single years. Planets measure millions,. Stars measure billions. Your time here is less than a blink. Your universal impact indistinguishable from dust. Focus on that you can influence here, now. It is all you really have. It is all that really matters to you.

Matt Birchler –

There was a thing I heard from some Republicans in my life during the first Trump administration, and it would always go something like, “you don’t have to like the President’s policies, but they deserve a base level of respect while in the office.” After this, Biden took office and the mainstream slogan for Republicans during his administration was “Fuck Joe Biden”. Literally, this cheeky, “I’m just saying Let’s Go Brandon, I swear” slogan flew outside suburban homes and was completely normal during those 4 years.

Cut to this week when Trump revealed a Walk of Fame at the White House with pictures of every President, except the photo for Biden is an autopen. The reason? Well, I think it’s pretty obvious, Trump is a whiny, spiteful, little…I’ll let you finish the line with whatever you think suits him.

Seth Godin –

Start where you are.

Start with what you’ve got.

Start now.

Now is the perfect moment. It only feels ‘fast’ if we’re rushing.

Don’t rush. But act.

With deliberate progress.

Niklas Göke –

I’m a big proponent of personal space. The ability to go into a room, close the door behind you, and just be yourself, with yourself, by yourself, is worth a lot. And yet, even as an introvert, I’d always choose living with people I care about over living alone.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the magic comes from. Is it knowing there’s always a good conversation waiting? The potential of someone being kind to us, for example by including us in their breakfast plans, without us asking for it? Or simply the comfort of not being the only person in the building?

Whatever the original source, the symptoms are clear. You wake up in the morning, turn from side to side, and you hear it: Pots and dishes are clattering into place as someone empties the dishwasher. The sound of doors opening and closing. A coffee machine making grinding noises, then water running with a splash.

Whether they make you jump out of bed or close your eyes again in peace, the many sounds of life are how you know: There’s movement in the house, and you’re not alone in this world—and that’s worth more than all the personal space you could ever want.

Manuel Moreale –

I think I’m starting to feel what I can only describe as digital fatigue. I believe this is the result of a combination of two main factors:

1. I spend most of my time in front of a screen for work, coding sites for clients and friends (and sometimes for myself).
2. My RSS feed has lately been inundated with content that’s either related to American politics or AI, or sometimes both.

The solution is going to be a fairly easy one: I think I’m going to stop consuming digital content for the rest of the year and focus more on reading books and creating content myself. I know I’m going to miss reading content from a bunch of people I really like, but right now, this seems to be the only reasonable solution to save myself and my mental sanity.

Back in January, Hank Green posted the content below on Twitter. It was in response to Musk throwing Nazi salutes. He reposted it in response to Stephen Miller’s speech at the Charlie Kirk “memorial.” It’s a good reminder.

“Nazi” isn’t a slur. It’s a word that describes real people who earnestly believe in their ideas. Their ideas are disgusting and hateful, but of course they often do not realize it.

I keep running into racists who think that it’s not white supremacist to think that white people are inherently superior to other races. No…that’s the whole definition!! The fact that they believe it earnestly and don’t think it’s an idiotic, hateful belief doesn’t mean it’s not an idiotic, hateful belief.

Nazi isn’t a word that means “bad evil boogeyman” it means “someone who believes in their own racial superiority, extreme protectionist nativism, the purifying of society by eliminating undesirables, expansionism, active suppression of dissent, and total state power held in the hands of a very small group.”

Make sure the people you’re cheering for don’t believe these things because otherwise…

Patrick Rhone –

The Autumnal Equinox. My favorite season. Bring on the sweaters and apple cider, the changing colors on the trees and the crunch of leaves underfoot, jackets (and pockets!) and flannel shirts, fires in the backyard pit while sipping a nip of homemade nocino. I’m here for all of it and more.

Jason/End On End –

What I think we need is more humanity. More sharing of our stories and life experiences. It’s how we come to appreciate people we don’t know and that may not look like or live like us. It’s easy to be baited into hatred of the faceless other, but a human being with a story we can relate to and empathize with? Much harder.

I need more for sure.

Patrick Rhone –

Words matter. Words mean things. The words you use reveal not only what you think, they reveal who you are.

Charlie Kirk –

I think it’s worth to have a cost of, unfortunately, some gun deaths every single year so that we can have the Second Amendment to protect our other God-given rights.

Jason Fried –

At its best, marketing is a transfer of enthusiasm.

When you’re truly pumped about what you’re doing, when you’re truly driven by the vision, when you absolutely must make something that you need and want, your enthusiasm leaves a mark. It’s a brand. Not the noun, but the verb.

At its worst, marketing is a transfer of everything else. Your worst fears, your biggest insecurities, the charades you play. False enthusiasm on display, empty promises, and sloganeering no one believes. It quickly makes you a liar.

Just like you can’t not communicate, you can’t not market. Everything is marketing.

The best, and the worst, is always on display, like it or not. You can’t hide from your own presence, however it shows up. Marketing casts, like a shadow casts. Attached to every move.

Think about what someone else is doing that you’re enthused about. Where did that come from? What transferred it?

Of course many things that are great simply work. Nothing more, nothing less. No stories, no excitement, just the snick of a perfect fit. But somewhere down the chain, someone cared enough to make that thing right. And that’s a transfer too.