Welcome to this week’s edition of our Quality Linkage column. Please enjoy this week’s collection of interesting and entertaining links. Brew a fresh cup of coffee, find a comfortable place, and relax.
🛒🌎: My wife and I have long wished for a grocery store where you can bring your own bags/containers to buy foods in bulk and eliminate all that wasteful, unrecyclable packaging regular stores are filled with. We recently discovered that another couple in Canada has already done it, and it’s everything we want:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aA0O9PBZ2H8
Next time you’re in the area of Victoria, BC, you can visit the Zero Waste Emporium for yourself. I hope more stores like this start popping up, for the planet’s sake.
⛵️: From the same YouTube channel that featured the store above comes this video about a small family living aboard a sailboat, with the kind of setup and amenities that allow them to live off-grid at sea for months at a time before they need to reach shore again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk83N2u1ZmY
Even as someone who’s been living and traveling in an RV full-time for the past 5.5 years, the full-time sailing thing is something I’m not sure I’m crazy enough to ever try.
🏆: I’m a couple weeks late to point this one out, but Apple recently unveiled this year’s Apple Design Awards, and this time around there are lots of things I’d never heard of until now. I’ll definitely be playing Little Orpheus as soon as I can.
😎: Ever wished you were more witty in conversation? Or only thought of a clever quip or comeback hours after the fact? As writer and lawyer Ephrat Livni reports after reading James Geary’s 2018 book, Wit’s End, being witty is actually a learnable skill:
The wittiest among us are simply people who make unusual connections between words and ideas. There’s a refreshing element of surprise to these observations that prompts a smile or a wince from the listener who didn’t see the link until it was presented.
[…]
Wit is the antidote for a culture being dulled by communication overload—it’s a kind of wisdom. In Aristotle’s words, it is a form of “educated insolence.” If we were cracking wise, rather than reacting angrily, and being wittier on Twitter, we might all have a much better time.
🗣✍️: If you’re into improving other parts of how you speak and/or write, here’s a 20-minute lesson on removing the word “very” from your vocabulary:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCoyTwltu5g
🎙: And if you’re feeling even more like getting some post-school education, Mashable has assembled a list of 25 educational podcasts for grownups that should get your brain going.
⌚️: I could’ve sworn I’d already linked this article on the typography of watches (or at least something like it) in a previous linkage column, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere so I’m adding it here today. Apologies if I’ve repeated myself somehow. Either way, it’s still an excellent read!
😈: With the new Loki show that’s now out on Disney+ (well, the first episode anyway), it seems fitting to see Tom Hiddleston looking back on his 10 fantastic years and counting of playing this complex and mischievous troubled character for all our enjoyment.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=26Xx5AIHReY
🥢♻️: Here are some lovely, artistic ways to make use of disposable chopsticks rather than throwing them away.
Neat Stuff We’ve Published Recently
- This chungus of a contraption is for when you do want to caffeinate an army.
- Get your garage out of the Dark ages with this insanely bright garage light.
- Camp Chef’s Stryker 100 backpacking stove is perfectly suited for feeding you and a couple friends as you explore the backcountry together.
- This “vomiting” zombie head wine aerator/pourer is a fun gag item (get it?) that makes a perfect gift for anyone with a dark sense of humor. 🧟🍷
- Thanks to the push-button adjustment mechanism on Knipex’s Cobra Pliers, once it’s set, it stays.
- Maison Margiela’s “REPLICA Jazz Club” fragrance: The cozy atmosphere of a private club. Chic and heady cocktail. Honey and woody notes of cigar boxes.
- We remain pleasantly surprised at how incredibly fresh these espresso beans shipped via Amazon always are.
Got any suggestions for articles, videos, stories, photographs, and any other links you think we should be posting in our weekly Quality Linkage? Please do let us know on Twitter.