The Pryor Week #4: Beer protein powder and feelings

Hey! I hope your week is going fandamtastically.

Here’s what I did:

• Almost nothing.

• It’s Lunar New Year here in Taiwan and it kind of feels more like Christmas than Christmas to me as a wryly ol’ foreigner. There are also lots of lots of easily peeled orange/tangerine thingies being gifted. I accept them most post-hastily as they are delicious.

The Pic Descrip:

The picture above is scary to me. I love beer and I eat a lot of protein powder. I have yet to combine them as this company has…but should I?

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This Week’s Pryor Learnings

#1. Feeling Laconic

I’ve been e-chatting with a fellow blauthor (I’m making that a new word FYI) about the idea of brevity in newsletters and articles. It’s an interesting debate on what the *ideal* length is. Honestly, I don’t know if there’s a real answer to it.

I read some newsletters that are 30-minute reads, and others that only span the time it takes my brain to understand a simple cartoon (so also probably 30 minutes). Either way, the word ‘laconic’ came up and I never knew its meaning. I like that word.

I am most definitely not that word.

Laconic - “(of a person, speech, or style of writing) using very few words.”

#2. Feeling Manipulated

I invested in bitcoin a few years ago, and it’s paid off decently for me, despite a few mistakes on my part. I believe in the underlying technology, but I staunchly believe most of the ‘surface’ layer of this new technology is pure Ponzi scheme in a brand new shiny package of billion-dollar scamming. This article sets out a case for proving that last point, at least in terms of what-should-be-illegal price manipulation on a massive scale.

#3. Feeling Explorative

As much as bad news has flooded our screens in recent years, here’s a damn cool nice thing. The James Webb Telescope is beginning to unfurl after reaching its destination 1,000,000 miles from Earth! As a metric lover, I assume that’s at least 3 meters or something. Anyway, setting up a telescope that far away from our planet’s surface is truly a feat that should be flooding our newsfeeds instead of all the hate.

Unless you hate telescopes, then this point is moot.

#4. Feeling Determined

“Nominative determinism” is the idea that people are more likely to work in fields that relate to their name. It’s a funny thought and usually pops up in weird coincidences…unless it’s true.

From Wiki:

“The term was first used in the magazine New Scientist in 1994, after the magazine's humorous "Feedback" column noted several studies carried out by researchers with remarkably fitting surnames. These included a book on polar explorations by Daniel Snowman and an article on urology by researchers named Splatt and Weedon.”

I wonder what field I was meant to go into.

History? Setting priorities? Spending two years writing to an audience that may or may not actually be reading any of this? Oh wait, I did that last one. Well, as I say, hindsight is the year 2020.

#5. Feeling Droned

I’ve written before about how drones are now creating a hell of a lot more serial killers. But today I’m sharing how drones might be creating life rather than destroying it. A company (/possibly-our-future-overlords) is running experiments modifying their giant drones to help reforest the Amazon in Brazil.

While it might be a scary concept to workers in that industry, perhaps it will lead to a great rebirth since this can be scaled up quite drastically. At least in theory and if there’s enough money behind it. I’m sure there will be some bad aspect to it that hasn’t been figured out yet. Law of unintended consequences etc etc. I would think the choice of just what to plant would be the problem at scale.

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That’s it for these last two weeks. Took a bit of a break from writing my normal stuff but that’s got my fingers bouncing ideas all throughout my phone.

Oh, and some neat news, I’ve had a long-term goal ever since starting this little shindig of a newsletter to reach 500 subscribers. It’s been a weird growth path but it slowed to a halt for several months back in the fall. Now it’s slooooowly working it’s way up again.

I don’t use ‘giveaways’ as part of my CTA so I’m always amazed/excited/grateful when anyone signs up for whatever *this* is. But yea, as of today, I’m only 5 away from my goal!

If anyone could help share/etc to get me over the grand 500 number I will buy that beer protein powder and share a review here with pics (not of the resulting puke).

I’m not sure if that’s an incentive or a disincentive, but hey, we live in a world with beer protein powder now so why not try something weird.

Thanks, everyone.

J.J. Pryor

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