Friday Inspiration 456

a defense of candy corn, Richard Scarry’s life and work, surviving Bhutan’s Snowman Race

This is an 11-year-old TED Talk, and I have to say, it’s still a hell of story, and I think kind of underrated (video)(thanks, Kaitlin)

 BIG NEWS FROM ME: Ultra-Something is now available as an audiobook! Narrated by the author (me!). After enough people said they would like to listen to the book while running, I finally caved and spent 30+ hours recording, editing, googling audio settings, and very nearly tearing my hair out (but not quite).

• Audible

• Amazon

• Apple Books

My friend Nate Bender competed in the five-day Snowman Race in Bhutan in 2022, and he recently put together this amazing map story about the adventure. I highly recommend viewing/reading it on a laptop or desktop computer instead of a phone to get the full experience of the photos, 3D map animations, and videos.

As I said in the comments of Michael Estrin’s latest Substack piece, “Inconsiderate Yogi,” it’s not the person being loud at the campground late into the evening keeping me from sleeping, it’s my fuming inner rage that someone is being inconsiderate at a campground (which is about me, not them).

I’m pretty neutral on candy corn in general, but I do enjoy a good defense of “a thing that’s cool to hate. You know, tell me about something you love instead of complaining about things you don’t like. Anyway, this is a fun read: Actually, Candy Corn Is Great

As the parent of a toddler, I am enjoying revisiting Richard Scarry’s wonderful illustrated books (Cars and Trucks and Things That Go, Busy, Busy World, etc.). So I’m the prime audience for this thoughtful look back on Scarry’s life, on the 50th anniversary of the publication of Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. But maybe you are too? (via Kottke.org)

I don’t know why Reddit fed me this, but there’s some crazy artwork in this post titled “Some actual photos of the house I grew up in,” starting with those dolphins.