- We're Here
- Posts
- Costumes and Internet Lies
Costumes and Internet Lies
Payton Mitchell & Hank Green
November 01, 2024
Hey,
Well, next newsletter will go out after the election so, at least all of us in the US will have stopped getting those text messages. There's a pretty good chance we will not yet know who was elected president, though, because these things do take time. So...well, that'll be a fun day to upload a YouTube video!
As mentioned a fair amount in my video today, I do not know the extent to which I matter in the /scheme of things/. But it has always been very important to me that I try to use my responsibility wisely. I once saw some internal polling that a campaign did and it showed /me/ in the top ten most "trusted" progressive voices on social media. I was after Barack Obama but BEFORE Michelle Obama and that seems...off. Now, it wasn't a particularly large percentage of people who listed me, but it turns out the progressive social media space isn't nearly as consolidated as the conservative social media space. Also, if the poll was re-run now, I'm sure the guy who analyzes menswear would rank higher.
But regardless of whether it meant anything, it sent me into a bit of a spiral. I want to matter, but I also want to not matter because, if I matter, then I have to use my responsibility wisely, and I have no idea how to do that. No one does.
I imagine I am a trusted progressive voice to the people who read this newsletter, though. So, to any of you, here's what I'll say.
#1. Vote. Obviously. But also, if there's a chance you might procrastinate and not get it done, make a plan so that you DEFINITELY do it.
#2. Be curious. Politics usually feels like a lot of shutting down curiosity by trying to tell only the simplest stories. This is an extraordinarily complicated time, so simple stories have a strong appeal. But while believing simple stories might be good for every individual political movement, it's not good for holding a society together. Curiosity is one of the only positive instincts that can do that.
Social media is a monster that destroys nuance and trust, and that has been very good for the kinds of politicians who want to be seen as the ONLY MAN WHO CAN SOLVE THESE PROBLEMS. I don't think the path forward is to try and beat them at that game, I think the path forward is to understand that lots of us working together is far better than any one of us alone.
Hank
You can always email us at [email protected]
This Week in Stuff
Timothée Chalamet crashed a Timothée Chalamet lookalike contest in NYC.
Amelia Dimoldenberg of Chicken Shop Date transformed into Roz from Monsters Inc.
Kurzgesagt explained how we fell for the oldest lie on the internet.
Window cleaners at a children’s hospital helped bring Halloween fun to kids who couldn’t trick-or-treat this year.
Josh Sundquist unveiled his annual one-legged Halloween costume.
Although Massachusetts has had Bike Bus press lately, this movement was actually started in Oregon! We want to give credit where it’s due and commend folks for starting Bike Buses in their communities.
Please send us stuff you think we should feature to [email protected]
Life expectancy is returning to pre-pandemic levels
Hannah Ritchie and Lucas Rodés-Guirao
Life expectancy at birth dropped significantly across the world in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, rates are now returning to pre-pandemic levels. The chart shows this rebound, based on the latest estimates from the UN’s World Population Prospects.
Global life expectancy in 2022 matched the 2019 figure at 72.6 years. And it increased again in 2023, to 73.2 years.
Our World in Data is a UK-based non-profit organization that publishes research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. You can find more of their data insights here.
This Week at Complexly
All journeys must come to an end eventually, and this is the end for Journey to the Microcosmos. Watch the last new upload of the channel all about the history, and the future of microscopy.
Election day is almost here! Before you go to the polls, make sure you're as informed as you can be. Come with us to learn 8 things you need to know about U.S. elections.
This year’s Complexly calendar celebrates a quarter century of progress, and it is a collaboration between all of your favorite Complexly YouTube channels! CrashCourse, SciShow, Bizarre Beasts and more have handpicked some of the most impactful milestones in education, science, and culture to be highlighted on each page of this 12-month calendar.
It features fantastic original art by artist Emily Alvarez, and each month has a paragraph at the bottom, teaching you more about that month’s topic. There are pages celebrating mRNA vaccines, social progress, and the Ingenuity Mars helicopter, along with 9 other important milestones of the past 25 years.
Some Games to Play!
Battleships (by Luke Rissacher)
SpellCheck.xyc (by Answer in Progress)
This Gubbins postcard was made by Emily. Send yours to [email protected]
If you post your results on social media, we’d love it if you post a link for folks to subscribe to “We’re Here” (https://werehere.beehiiv.com/subscribe)
Jumpstart your shopping and get a free mini puzzle!
Need some holiday gifts? What about getting a gift with a gift? Order between now and November 7th to get a free mini puzzle featuring Good Store's intrepid mascot Dot included in your package for all US-based orders.
Community book recommendations
Last week, we asked for your favorite books. We got lots of wonderful responses! We’re sharing a few here for some reading inspiration. (We haven’t read all of these, so this is not a Hank and John endorsement.)
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief was my first foray into YA literature and opened my world of reading. Previously I read only non-fiction kids science books and the occasional kids novels, but Riordan's work was the gateway to reading bigger books with huge stories, amazing characters, and an understanding into what adolescence was.
This summer I went to my local library and read 26 books from the general fiction section, alphabetical by author's last name. For the letter "H", I read Rabbit Cake by Annie Hartnett and just absolutely fell in love with how the young narrator grappled with themes of mental health, death, and life in general.
My favorite book of all time is The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. It's such a fascinating, yet tragic story and Dumas does such a good job of unveiling the twists and turns slowly. I read it for the first time as a teenager and will never forget how emotional it made me: from hopeful for the young couples to sad when I realized Edmond would never find happiness without revenge.
I read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho as a senior in high school and again 2 years later when my sister had to read it for the same class. Both times I finished it in a day and spent the evening crying and reflecting on my life, my purpose, and my way forward. As someone who has struggled with anxiety and depression, I haven't always been sure if I even have a purpose and there were times when I had no goals and I didn't know if I'd make it to the end of the week, let alone years into the future. The Alchemist always reminds me that every person matters and my life is worth living even if my only purpose is to read good books.
My very favourite series of books is the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson. I love high fantasy, and there's no one who does worldbuilding quite like Sanderson. There's so much detail and whimsy to the cosmos and the magic systems, and the way it's put together invites incredibly deep reflections on spirituality, selfhood, our relationships to our bodies and to the world, and how change happens. I can't wait for book 5 this December!
My most recent favorite read was No One is Talking About This. At first, I was belly laughing and spontaneously guffawing at its ridiculous humor reflecting social media memes and interactions. By the end, I was choked up with tears and grateful for life’s small blessings. I love poetry, and Patricia Lockwood’s beautifully poetic storytelling hit the exact spot for me.
Becky Chambers' novels feel like they rewired my brain and introduced me to the concepts of solarpunk/hopepunk, literary subgenres where our futures aren't always so bleak. The Monk & Robot duology is a great entry point as it's two novellas that make up the series (A Psalm for the Wild-Built and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy). I got a quote from the first one tattooed on my arm for my 40th birthday: "it is enough to exist in the world and marvel at it."
I just finished The Signature of All Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. It’s a wonderful wonderful novel about botanics, science, wealth and poverty, but it’s also about love, sexuality, self-sacrifice, religion, and even evolution!
The book made me feel wonderful at some times, adventurous at others, anxious, stressed, slightly depressed, and eventually hopeful and loveable!
10/10, very very very Good book!
Educated by Tara Westover
Dr. Westover really made me think about potential and neuroplasticity- especially around memory.
Last year I read the books in the Broken Earth Trilogy by N.K. Jemisin and they absolutely blew me away. Not only was the prose both challenging and exquisitely written, it made me realize what the often homogenous white cishet male world of science fiction and fantasy often lacks; namely, everybody else! Jemisin was the key to unlocking a whole new world, and her writing made me seek out as many authors of color in genre fiction that I could find.
I wish everyone, especially white folks, would read fiction written by authors whose life experiences and identities are outside of their own. This is how we build a culture of understanding.
This week, we’d love for you to spell out “We’re Here.” You can doodle it, draw it in sand, write it in rocks, or create it any other way you’d like. Send us a picture!
Send your “We’re Here” to [email protected].
Reply