Thanks For Your Support. We’re 64% of the Way There!
Hi!
Last week, I asked for your support for Now I Know, and the response was incredible! I added up the support you sent last week — one-time donations and recurring ones — and it comes to the equivalent of 32 net new supporters. Thanks so much to all who contributed!
Today, I want to share my more specific goal: I’m aiming to get to 50 monthly supporters by the end of 2025. This isn’t about keeping the newsletter alive — Now I Know isn’t going anywhere. But hitting that number would make the whole project a lot more sustainable and give me more time to focus on writing the kinds of stories you love. Thanks to those who chipped in last week, I’m 64% of the way to my goal. Can you help me reach 100%?
Here’s why some readers have already joined in:
“I’ve been a faithful follower for over 10 years. It’s the rare post that doesn’t capture great interest. Either it’s something to learn, or just fun and intriguing. I started donating $1 a month. I’m up to about $5 a month now. They are $5 very well spent.” — Fred Jonas, Florida
““I’ve been a subscriber to Now I Know since April 2014 and began supporting it financially in 2016. Every morning, Dan still manages to surprise me with a new story to learn! That’s why I’m proud to support content I love by being a friend of Now I Know. I hope to keep discovering fun facts and neat stories I can share with friends and family for another decade (if I’m lucky)!” — Raye Clemente, Wisconsin
“I look forward to reading the NIK newsletter each day because I always learn something. The stories are interesting, engaging and most of the time completely unexpected. Like Paul Harvey for the digital age. Thanks Dan!” — Albert J. Cortez, California
Thanks to them and the dozens of others who have supported the newsletter! If you’d like to join them, and help me reach my year-end goal of getting to the equivalent 50 new supporters by year end, here’s how:
👉 Become a monthly supporter
I send about 20 editions a month. A $5 monthly contribution works out to just 25 cents per email. For a quarter a day, you’re helping make sure thousands of curious people keep learning something new each morning.
Click Here to Support Now I Know
- $5/month gets you an ad-free version of the newsletter (like today’s!)
- $10/month gets you the same ad-free version, with a little extra generosity — and I count your contribution as covering two people on my way to 50!
👉 Make a one-time contribution
Not comfortable with recurring support? Or want to make a REALLY BIG one-time gift? That’s great! Every dollar counts — $5, $50, or more.
A big thank you to the new supporters who’ve already signed on. If you’ve been meaning to support the newsletter but haven’t yet, now’s the perfect time to help me hit that 50 supporter milestone.
— Dan
P.S. If you’re interested in sponsoring the newsletter to reach thousands of curious, engaged readers, feel free to reach out to me directly.
The Now I Know Week In Review
Monday: Why Did This Ink Disappear?: I made the dumb decision to send this on a U.S. holiday, so a lot of you may have missed this one. Too bad, because it’s one of my recent favorites.
Tuesday: The “Baseball versus Beer” Loophole: What is in a name? Everything, if beer is involved, apparently.
Wednesday: 39 Floors, 41 Hours: I hope he gave up smoking afterward. I mean, he went 41 hours without a smoke, so he was already on the path, right?
Thursday: The Internet’s Hidden Teapot: It should have been code 212, not 418, because that’s where water boils (metric notwithstanding).
Get More Long Reads in Your Inbox
I love a great story, whether it’s illuminating, moving, or just plain entertaining. That’s why on Fridays, I share some long reads I’ve loved — see below for this week’s! — and why I’m so grateful for The Sunday Long Read.
Each week, The SLR curation team — led by Pulitzer Prize recipient Don Van Natta Jr. with help from more than 100 contributing editors — selects the best stories from dozens of sources, delivering them in a beautiful, free(!) email newsletter. Receiving it on a Sunday morning brings back the feeling of getting your hands on your favorite weekly magazine, stuffed with interesting pieces.
In today’s world of infinite clickbait, The Sunday Long Read’s mission is to celebrate the great journalism actually worth reading, and ensuring you never miss another great story.
You can join us and more than 30,000 other readers and writers here.
Long Reads and Other Things
Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:
1) “Inside the Glitter Lab” (Popular Mechanics, 25 minutes, September 2025). I’ve written about how glitter can be used to solve crimes before, and this is a deep dive into one such case. The subhead: “How the tiniest trace of red shimmer helped solve one of California’s most brutal crimes.”
2) “All That Glitters” (Atavist, 40 minutes, April 2025). I guess I’m sticking with a theme here? Anyway, this isn’t about actual glitter like you put on greeting cards — that’s just a coincidence. The subhead on this one: “His alleged victims say he bribed New York Police Department officials, stole millions in diamonds, and persuaded Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Kim Kardashian to shill for a scam cryptocurrency. So why is Jona Rechnitz still free?”
3) “The Fish That Climbed a Mountain” (Longreads, 16 minutes, May 2025). No glitter here, but there’s something fishy — literally and figuratively. The subhead: “The wild tale of a small fishing club, a national park, and an epic battle over alien trout.”
Have a great weekend!
Dan