This is the Monday Medley, a newsletter that goes out, you guessed it, every Monday. I republish it here for sharing and referencing, but if you'd like to sign up you can do so right here:
Happy Monday!
I've finished recording all the main videos for SEO for Solopreneurs! I just released the rest of the monetization videos, as well as how to scale SEO beyond yourself. That means this is the last week for the reduced early access pricing. The price will go up on Sunday.
I also published one article last week for DeFriday about how Arbitrum will help scale Ethereum. Nathan Baschez and I will also be doing another crypto chat for Every members on Thursday, so if you're not a paid member and want to join, you can sign up here.
Alright, on to the Medley!
Last week I decided to permanently stop drinking.
It's something I've been thinking about for a while, and decided to just go ahead and pull the trigger instead of putting it off.
I've never had a serious problem with it, but it manages to keep slipping back into my life in the form of a drink or two a night plus occasionally going out on weekends, and I can feel the impact that has on my health. And I know how harmful even a moderate amount like that could be when compounded over decades.
So I decided to cut it out entirely. That might seem extreme, but I think abstinence is a lot easier than moderation. Now there's no question about if I should have some or when I should start again.
So far my two favorite alcohol replacements are Surely for wine (I'm also an investor), and Hop Wtr for beer (though it's much lighter than beer). Athletic Brewing is quite good too, though I don't drink it since it seems kinda silly to drink a bunch of calories and gluten if you're not at least going to get a buzz from it.
Here's an interesting paper trying to analyze the effectiveness of making public apologies after making some sort of social transgression. The research is pretty limited, but it seems to suggest not apologizing!
"When presented with two versions of the controversy surrounding Larry Summers and his comments about women scientists and engineers, however, liberals and females were much more likely to say that he definitely or probably should have faced negative consequences for his statement when presented with his apology. The effects on other groups were smaller or neutral. Overall, the evidence suggests that when a prominent figure apologizes for a controversial statement, the public is either unaffected or becomes more likely to desire that the individual be punished."
Anecdotally I tend to agree with that advice. People seem to fare better when they just ignore mobs attacking them, and wait till the mob moves on to a new target.
I love this perspective on the three kinds of fun:
"Type 1 fun is fun while you're doing it... Type 2 fun isn’t necessarily fun in the moment, but it’s always fun in retrospect... Type 3 fun just ain't fun."
Type 2 fun is definitely the most interesting one, and feels like a good kind of fun to optimize for:
"Think really challenging, pumpy climbs, super long hikes/bike rides, and unexpectedly cold and rainy trips where you don’t let the rain stop you. One great thing about the concept of Type 2 fun is that once you’ve been introduced to it, you recognize it when it’s happening and think of it in the moment as something that’ll be fun in the future…which makes it more fun in the here and now."
Spartan Races definitely come to mind as the top of my "Type 2 fun" list. Most specific parts and moments during them aren't particularly fun, but they're always very fun in retrospect and when I finish.
This is a rather interesting meta study on the potential benefits of mushrooms for cancer mitigation:
"Higher mushroom consumption was associated with lower risk of total cancer... When site-specific cancers were examined, a significant association with mushroom consumption was only observed with breast cancer..."
It's a smallish study and it does warn against reading too much into "miracle foods," but given how much more discussion there is recently around the health benefits of mushrooms (culinary, though the fun ones are beneficial too) this was a neat study to read.
As always, if you're enjoying the Medley, I'd love it if you shared it with a friend or two. You can send them here to sign up. I try to make it one of the best emails you get each week, and I hope you're enjoying it.
And should you come across anything interesting this week, send it my way! I love finding new things to read through members of this newsletter.
Have a great week,
Nat