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​Friday Inspiration 541​

This video was my first experience watching Rainbolt (who has 1.1 million followers so I guess I live under a rock) and it was oddly compelling to following him as he tracked down the location of this photo that someone sent him of their recently passed mother several decades ago. Was it Yemen or Greece? (video)

Someone re-posted this old clip on social media somewhere, and I got sucked in and watched Norm MacDonald (RIP) tell this joke to Conan O’Brien back in 2009 and was crying laughing. However, I convinced Hilary to watch it again with me and she laughed only maybe 35% as much as I did, so it might not be for everyone.

We interviewed exercise scientist and ultrarunner Dr. Nick Tiller on The Trailhead a couple weeks ago, and he dropped a number of gems, but by far my favorite part of our conversation was when I asked him if ultrarunning was maybe not that good for you, and he said, laughing, "There's no question. Ultrarunning is not good for you at all. Are you serious?" Of course he then went on to say there are other benefits—but yeah, exercise, like everything, has diminishing returns after a certain point.

I am always a bit disappointed when articles about how to handle jet lag or to stay healthy when traveling don’t just say “Drink more coffee and you’ll be fine,” but this piece about how travel can affect your performanceby newsletter sponsor Precision Fuel & Hydration is genuinely informative. It’s geared toward athletes, but I think most of the information is relevant to anyone who travels for anything. [This link will give you 15% off your first 2026 order of PFH products]

I have lost the perfectly triangular river rock I found when digging a posthole for a fence in our yard a couple years ago (OK, Jay has it somewhere), but if I could find it, I would add it to this thread of people sharing photos of cool rocks they’ve found (including the one that seems like the greatest spinning rock of all time?).

I’m not saying I’d watch an entire baseball game on this website that shows you baseball games in 8-bit view in real time (i.e. pretty much how the baseball video games of the early 90s looked), but I am saying that a) I am so impressed that someone made it and b) that it feels incredibly soothing for some reason (?).

I saw this Inigo Montoya yard sale sign and thought “is it possible this is the first time anyone’s ever thought of doing this?” And I really hope it is, but I was also appalled when I googled The Princess Bride and discovered (remembered?) that it came out in 1987, which was, I’m sorry to report, almost 40 years ago. But still, the sign made me laugh.

This one is a bit pessimistic compared to the usual stuff I put in this newsletter, but I have to say I found myself nodding at many of the items in this list of “The 40 Most Rage-Inducing Problems in Tech,” and it’s kind of inspiring how Brian Phillips managed to capture the daily undercurrent of frustration we all face as Daily Users Of Technology In 2026.

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