Hi!

I’ve been writing Now I Know for more than fifteen years and I’ve gotten a lot of questions about it over that decade and a half. My favorite one is something along the lines of “how many stories do you have ready to go?” because the answer typically elicits a surprise: none. Typically, I write each day’s story the night before, or the morning of, publication.

The reason is that writing Now I Know requires a spark — that joy of discovery one gets when curiosity leads you to something neat. I may find an idea for a story but not have the time to write; by the time I sit down to do so, the spark is gone and the energy to share it goes away. When I have time to write, I typically look through dozens of things I’ve discovered before and see where that spark pops up again. It’s not a great process, to be clear — there have been many, many times where I’ve had to write without that energy. But thankfully, “many, many times” is still a rare occurrence spread out over fifteen years.

Yesterday’s newsletter was different, though — it was a byproduct of that process, but in a good way. I sat down to write the day’s story at about 7 AM, with nothing jumping off the page at me. I saw a comment on social media (politics-driven) that made a passing reference to how high-heeled shoes were originally designed for men. I’m a “trust-but-verify” type of person, so I did a little digging and found that, not only was that true, but there was a good amount more to why high heels became women’s footwear. And with that, the spark grew — I knew I had something to share.

I don’t think yesterday’s story is one of my best, to be clear — as stories go, it’s good, but nothing I’ll likely break out at parties or anything like that. But finding it, writing it, sharing it — that’s its own reward. (I hope you liked it, too.)

The Now I Know Week In Review

Monday: Took the day off for Memorial Day. Thanks to those who gave all in service.

Tuesday: The Censored Tequila: I can’t tell you what this is about.

Wednesday: The Broken Heart Drug: Featuring a Charlie Brown cameo.

Thursday: The Weird Cultural Shift Over High Heeled Shoes: As above, I was surprised about this!

Long Reads and Other Things

Here are a few things you may want to check out over the weekend:

1) “What I Learned About Loss While Skateboarding at Costco” (New York Times/gift link, 16 minutes, May 2026). This is a sweet — bittersweet, I guess — story about how a group of people found a community by skating in a Costco parking lot.

2) “The Richest Cat in the World” (The Atlantic, 10 minutes, June 2026). The subhead: “Did Karl Lagerfeld really leave millions to his blue-cream Birman, Choupette?” I know this is behind a paywall, which normally is a reason to not share, but this is so weird.

3) “YouTuber Starts A Cult And Is Raided By Police In Attempt To Recover Old Man’s Star Wars LEGO Collection” (Kotaku, 3 minutes, May 2026). I almost never share three-minute reads here. That’s because this isn’t really me sharing this specific story — I’m just introducing you to the rabbit hole. In fact, start here instead — it’s bonkers.

Have a great weekend!

Dan