Hi!

I’m thinking of doing a Reddit AMA, which is basically a community-driven interview. (AMA stands for “Ask Me Anything.”) It’d be two weeks from now, on Friday, September 18, at about 10 AM.

But before I commit to that, let me know if you’re interested? Please take the poll below.

(Uh, the poll doesn’t work on the archives. Sorry.)

If you’re not familiar with reddit AMAs you can see examples here. (I know there’s a larger AMA section on reddit; this one seems more appropriate for me, though.) I’m leaning toward reddit for this because it’ll give the newsletter some extra visibility, and that’s always good — and it will also give each of you an easy way to participate.

So, let me know! Thanks in advance,

Dan

The Now I Know Week In Review

Monday: The Pool Party That Wasn’t a Gas: This was a terrible idea.

Tuesday: Use Your Head, Not Your Forehead: This poor guy…

Wednesday: The Problem With Faking a Smile: It doesn’t make you happy, but it does eat up your willpower.

Thursday: Why Fred and George Have No Necks: This is about Fred Flintstone and George Jetson, not the Weasleys.

Long Reads and Other Things

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

1) “The Pigeon Heist” (Washington Post/gift link, 25 minutes, September 2025). The subhead: “How million-dollar pigeons became the target of organized crime.” This is one of my favorite longreads in months. Give it a click.

2) “Hanna-Barbera: The Architects of Saturday Morning” (Illustration History/The Norman Rockwell Museum, 71 minutes, January 2017). The Jetsons/Flintstones necklessness (to coin a term) inspired me to share this very long history of Hanna-Barbera and their impact on the culture of cartoons (and everything else).

3) “You Know More Finnish Than You Think” (Danny Bate, 8 minutes, August 2025). Bate is a linguist I’ve followed for a while, and this is a fun/random one.

Have a great weekend!

Dan