Pet concrete, not propaganda

Nepo Babies > Nepo Widows. Also: All about Rob Reiner and Diddy vs. the President.

Matt Ruby

Dec 17, 2025

∙ Paid

Quickies

🎯 “Touch grass” is rather urbanist. I live in NYC. Good luck finding grass. Can I just pet concrete?

🎯 If your news sources never make you feel uncomfortable with your views, you’re actually just consuming propaganda.

🎯 I refuse to call them Dead & Co. They’re still The Grateful Dead to me. That’s right, I just deadnamed The Dead name.

🎯 A lot of people say I have “it factor.” Wait, no. They say I have “ick factor.”

🎯 The power of punctuation:

I’m a good hang, man.

vs.

I’m a good hangman.

🎯 Can’t recall the last time I heard someone say, “It’s none of my business.” It’s like a relic from the ‘90s, a la “selling out.”

🎯 Dismissing experience is the fatal flaw of youth.

🎯 Austin is just the L.A. of Texas. Want us to believe you truly hate liberals? Move to Wyoming or Alabama.

🎯 nepo babies > nepo widows

🎯 It’s weird how much Seattle people love drag queens. Drag queen fashion: glam, makeup, heels. Seattle fashion: Everyone dresses like an emergency hike might break out at any moment (fleece, flannel, North Face, etc.). Seattle, it’s time to pick: DEI or REI?

🎯 I dig how ovens creak and moan softly just to let you know “I’m still on” the same way old people creek and moan just to let you know “I’m still on.”

🎯 Two dumb things broke people think about rich people: 1) being rich will make you happy and 2) rich people got rich because they’re smart.

🎯 My income status is Never Not Boarding Group F.

🎯 The way we pretend motorcycles are actually bicycles now sums up so much of our culture: We barely even pedal yet still want access to the bike lane.

🎯 Try not to take your bitterness out on people who had nothing to do with the lemons.

🎯 Botox hides all the lessons you’ve learned.

Every time a Gen Z person smiles, an angel gets its ring light. 💡

Elsewhere

Working Methods: Brian Eno: Find your way through making it.

“I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can’t see from the center. Big, undreamed‑of things—the people on the edge see them first.”
-Kurt Vonnegut

Funny How: How to get better at noticing…