Last year, when Dick Van Dyke turned 100, it felt less like a birthday and more like a national thank-you note. Everywhere you looked—TV tributes, interviews, clips circulating online—there was this shared sense that we weren’t just celebrating a man’s longevity, but the way he’s been woven into American culture for generations. I found myself …
Every New Year brings something fun: a fresh start, a few ambitious resolutions, and—my personal favorite—an entire new batch of creative works entering the public domain. On January 1, 2026, a wave of books, films, songs, and characters became fair game for sharing, adapting, remixing, and reinventing (at least in the United States). That means …
Be a collector of good ideas. Keep a journal. If you hear a good idea, capture it, write it down. Don’t trust your memory.—Jim Rohn
Lately I’ve been thinking about friction-maxxing—a concept that’s been buzzing around as we head into 2026. I first encountered it in an article by Kathryn Jezer-Morton, and it really made me pause. At its core, friction-maxxing is about choosing discomfort and challenge over ease and automation—not out of masochism, but because friction helps us actually …
Those close to me know I love to sing. In the shower. In the car. Working in the kitchen. I’ve even done karaoke once in my life. I don’t plan to go on tour anytime roon. Nor will I ever be a vocalist in a band. And I’m good with that. But I will keep …
The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.—Alice Walker
Scofflaw. Boondoggle. Snafu. What do these words have in common? They are all slang terms that came into existence in the last century. The origin of these—and many other—words are examined in the article 45 Terrific Slang Terms From the Last Century. Several of these words are familiar to me. Infact, I’ve used those at …
Music is known for misunderstandings. A well-known example that comes to mind is the mumbled lyrics of “Louie, Louie”. Another misunderstanding hit home for a nine-year-old boy in the UK around his Christmas pageant. The Daily Mail tells the story of Schoolboy, nine, mistakenly dresses as Elvis instead of an elf at Christmas concert after …
Change does not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for.—Barack Obama
I was taught at an early age to never leave a shopping cart in the middle of a parking lot. Now, as a vehicle owner, I get annoyed when I come out and find some lazy person’s card resting against the side of my vehicle. After reading Hannah B. Waldfogel’s “somewhat scientific” investigation into cart …
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