A little advice

Advice to your younger selves, plus what I'd say to the plumber. Also, an open comment thread, and 7 other things worth knowing today.

We’ve had some technical issues recently, just getting the platform we’re on to send Understandably to all of you correctly. It’s been a frustration.

Now, I don’t like writing about these kinds of things in the newsletter. If my plumber came to fix the sink but instead started complaining about his wrenches, I think my reaction would be: Sorry to hear that, but it’s kind of your problem to solve, right?

Without rehashing everything, I just wanted to acknowledge the challenges and ask for your patience as I figure out what to do over the next little while.

Let’s just bring things up to speed. Then we can ask a great question (for a second time) to spark a comment thread, and then all go have a great weekend:

• First, yesterday's newsletter was a big one, in case you didn’t get it. It’s about the Reader Happiness Survey, with some cool charts, graphs, and data, plus poignant stories. At least for now, in fact, every newsletter gets posted online at Understandably.com; I keep them free for everyone for a few days, at least. Here’s the link to yesterday’s.

• Second, we have something new: I’ve started doing a brief, daily audio/phone preview of the newsletter. You can hear it by calling (424) 245-5687.

OK, that's the recap. Now for the Friday comment thread.

I've been putting together the first Understandably-branded book: It’s a publishing experiment, sort of a "greatest hits" from the first 2 years of the newsletter—great things people have missed or forgotten (including things I’d forgotten), but with some added context from the POV of looking back at it now.

If you're a premium/paid member, you'll get the ebook version for free. I think you’ll like it. Also, I want to do as much as I can to provide value and appreciation for premium subscribers—because we depend on you big-time even to keep the free version of the newsletter going.

(Frankly, we might really have to turn up the subscription drive shortly, especially if the tech issues I described above persist. But, we'll get into all of that soon enough.)

Anyway, in the course of working on this I came across an edition of the newsletter from two years ago, long before most people who read Understandably today had discovered it.

In short, a reader in his 20s asked everyone what their best advice now would be to their younger selves. So, if it's not too pretentious, let's do this again.

For a Friday comment thread, What's your best advice to your younger self?

Let me put you up against some “titans of industry” who’ve been asked these kinds of questions in the past. I liked one of these; I think the other two kind of show you the low bar you’d have to clear:

• Sara Blakely: “He shows up.” (I like this one.)

• Elon Musk: “Here's a list of all the dumb things you're about to do, please do not do them.”

• Mark Cuban: “Don't change a thing.”

The biggest takeaway I had from reading the Reader Happiness Survey is the sheer amount of accumulated wisdom our readers possess. So, I think we can do better. Let us know in the comments.

Happy Easter to all of who you celebrate. [And … Here goes nothing on the send button!]

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7 other things worth knowing today

• Moskva, the flagship of Russia's Black Sea Fleet, has been sunk. Russia claims it was being towed in rough seas; Ukraine claims it was hit by a missile. On the Russian version of cable news, some pundits were calling the sinking a casus belli for war with the United States. (BBC)

Julia Davis @JuliaDavisNews

Kyiv sank 'Moscow' and the Russians are furious. In response to the sinking of the warship 'Moskva,' state TV pundits and hosts propose bombing Kyiv, destroying Ukraine's railways and making it impossible for any world leaders to visit in the future.

• Twitter is considering a "poison pill" to stop Elon Musk's takeover attempt, amid questions over whether he could actually raise the money. Separately, at TED2022 in Vancouver, Musk said he's “not sure” he’ll be able to take over the company, but that he has a "Plan B" if it doesn't work out. (WSJ, CNBC)

• Colleagues say they worry that Calif. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 88, is now mentally unfit to serve: "Four U.S. senators, including three Democrats, as well as three former Feinstein staffers and [a] California Democratic member of Congress [said] … that her memory is rapidly deteriorating [and] she can no longer fulfill her job duties." (SF Chronicle)

• A receipt for "invisible art" from the 1960s just sold for $1.2 million. Some collectors say it's basically the same thing as an NFT, only 50+ years earlier. (The Guardian)

• How Arizona Ice Tea keeps selling for 99 cents after 30 years, despite inflation. (LA Times)

• Inside the 'Tow Truck Mafia:' How organized crime took over Canada’s towing industry. (The Drive)

• OMG! Someone did an analysis to try to find the first time the abbreviation 'OMG' was used; they came up with a 1915 letter to Winston Churchill. (Daily Mail)

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Thanks for reading. Photo credit: Pixabay. Want to see all my mistakes? Click here.