TomNewsLetter, Dec. 2022
You Oughta Know
For the youngsters out there, try @WhatAYoungMan, a regularly-updated Twitter feed based on a series of books published when the world was black and white and stunningly paternalistic. Some of the other books in the series include What A Young Wife Ought to Know and What A Man of 45 Ought to Know. Really.
Music: Stranger Bedfellows
Last summer, fans of Stranger Things were introduced to Kate Bush through a creative use of her song Running Up That Hill (if you are unfamiliar with the song, listen to the original first, then watch the clip). Bush has been a writer, singer and producer extraordinaire since 1978, and I have the vinyl to prove it. Here’s a link to a remaster of the song – and super-duper bonus – links to a couple of stellar covers (there are dozens of them).
Cuban Missile Crisis Sixty Years On
Sixty years ago, Canadian adults looked with alarm to the Cuba Missile Crisis of October 1962. For their kids, the experience was more visceral. A nine year-old girl in Ottawa, and an eleven year-old boy in Winnipeg wondered what an atom bomb would look like if it dropped. Unwanted bonus: uncomfortable echoes of what’s happening in Ukraine right now.
Longbottom Library
Check out the latest additions to the Longbottom Library. Not for proper company (if you keep it), and definitely not what you want your kids to be reading.
Technology and the perspective of age
How do different generations accept and use new technology? For instance, young kids don't have to 'adapt' to technology, they simply grow into it, because it's part of their environment. (Damn them and their fertile little minds). Perhaps not surprisingly, COVID-19 has significantly increased the use of many technologies among older Canadians. Totally unrelated (except in a ‘generational’ way), but certifiably fun: The Letter by The Box Tops.
Linx
We don’t know what we don’t know. Here are a few interesting links, but a warning: you can lose yourself here for hours. Some fab links: alternatives to your fave apps, programs and software- mostly free; gift-giving ideas; practice your touch typing ; reverse image search (handy for ferreting out mis- and disinformation)
Short Story: Falling (Yes, I Am Falling)
What happens if the memories you value aren’t really your memories? If… something else intrudes into the life you live? Being close to death does that to a person. (13 min.read)
Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self
Julie Nolke is a Canadian comedian, actress and writer. Since 2020, she has been posting funny (and incisive) takes on life during the plague years, in a series called Explaining the Pandemic to my Past Self. Watch them all; this latest one runs about three minutes. A genuine talent here.
