Thursday Things: 150th Edition
23 June 2022. Vol 4 No 25 By Dan McGirt. #150
Welcome to the 150th regular edition of Thursday Things!
The big One Five Oh. Photo by Menna Ahmed on Unsplash
150 issues! Today is the 150th regular edition of Thursday Things. (I’m not counting a book review special edition I sent out.) A very special thank you to all our scores of Happy Subscribers, especially those who have been with us from the first issue.
The first edition of Thursday Things was published on August 15, 2019:
In the first issue, we discussed the cognitive biases that draw us to bad news over good news, a book about innovation and human progress that I enjoyed, rat-human hybrids, the decline of first class flying (if only we knew...), how virtual fitness classes were becoming a thing (again, it was 2019 -- if only we knew!), a clever Brazilian bank robbery, and, of course -- dog mayors!
I launched Thursday Things in part because I was at the time feeling in a bit of a productivity slump as a writer. Not that I wasn’t writing! But I wasn’t finishing anything. I wasn’t getting anything out the door. I thought committing to a weekly newsletter of interesting items would:
Force me to get finished words out into the world and perhaps spur me to greater progress on my other writing projects under the theory that you get more done when you don’t have time to do it all.
Excuse my incessant news reading, web browsing, feed scrolling, and random reading as “research for the newsletter”
The second mission was definitely accomplished. The first — well, I still haven’t finished writing a new book. But I have published a new Thursday Things every week for 150 weeks. So … yeah, I’ll take that.
Photo by Dan-Cristian Pădureț on Unsplash
Let’s check the math. Those who pay attention to the header will see I start a new “volume” each year. Here’s the count so far:
2019: Volume 1, 20 issues
2020: Volume 2, 53 issues
2021: Volume 3, 52 issues
That adds up to 125 issues. This is the 25th edition of 2022 Volume 4, bringing us to 150. Yep, it checks out!
Clip show episodes. Many of you may remember how your favorite TV shows back in the day used to do “flashback episodes”, also called “clip show episodes”1 in which the characters would sit around and remember some of their past adventures or wacky escapades (depending whether the show was a drama or a sitcom) and most of the episode would consist of clips from past episodes.
These sometimes felt like a cheat — and were often produced because the show was behind on its production schedule or running low on budget. But back in the days before DVRs or even VCRs it was sometimes fun to see clips of old episodes you might otherwise never see again (so far as you knew. Binge watching old shows on Netflix or via DVD was in the distant future back in the heyday of clip shows.).
Another excuse for clip shows was big anniversaries or milestones in the show. Like getting to the 100th episode.
Or maybe the 150th.
Guess what we’re going to do now?
Remember that time… Thursday Things goes out to Happy Subscribers as an email, and I imagine many of you read it in that format. However, every edition is also posted and archived on the Thursday Things website on Substack. There you can read them all!
Substack lets you arrange the archive in chronological order and also by “Top” issues. Which, as near as I can tell, means ranking the issues by which got the most “likes”.
You know, when you click the little heart by the header. As some Happy Subscribers do quite regularly — thanks! And I assume the rest of you haven’t noticed the little heart❤️ yet. Scroll up and take a look! Now click it and see what happens. :)
Anyway, from the home office here are the all time Top 5 Thursday Things editions!
1 Gone to the Dogs Edition, 12 November 2020. Vol 2 No 46
Dog mayor, Stalin digital archive, 3-D printed body parts, new cancer drugs, the precariousness of digital media, don’t cook chicken in the hot springs at Yellowstone.
2 Good Health Edition, 3 March 2022. Vol 4 No 9
How to fall asleep, benefits of lifting weights, drink your milk.
3 Use Your Brain Edition, 22 October 2020. Vol 2 No 43
Boy finds missing lemur, consciousness is an energy field, babies can’t process emotions like adults, bulletproof super wood, haunted highways.
4 Trust Me I’m a Scientist Edition, 17 February 2022. Vol 4 No 7
Frogs regrow missing limbs, the Einstein Effect, robot nannies and artificial wombs,
5 Hearts for No Reason Edition, 18 March 2021. Vol 3 No 11
Dredging up cannons, Dark Watchers of Big Sur, sea microbes our immune system can’t detect, 13 minute workouts, and No, That is Not the “Distracted Boyfriend” Meme Models 10 Years Later (Don’t believe everything you see on the Internet)
What was your favorite edition of Thursday Things? Your favorite Thursday Things item? What kind of topics or items would you like to see more of? Let me know in the comments or by email (you can simply reply to the latest ThTh issue in your inbox, or write to ThursdayThings@substack.com)
Thank you again to all my Happy Subscribers for reading Thursday Things! I hope each weekly edition brings you a mix of amusement, interesting information, news you can use, and a (usually) positive outlook on the world! Will Thursday Things last another 150 issues? Who knows? But I do know this — I’ll see you here next Thursday!
Please do click the hearts, leave a comment, and use the share feature to send this issue to a friend who might enjoy it.
Not to be confused with Very Special Episodes.