Saturday

Today's a colder morning in the States, we cozy up with some of our favorite stories from The Guardian and get ready to dust off our backgammon game. Another data stream from Pew on friendship and beautiful images might help calm us down. A quick indie update in sound checks reminds us of why we love Alt-Rock band names so much.

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🤘We are here every day, and every minute you spend with us sends ripples of gratitude through our souls! 🤘

Pew Research puts out a great weekly email on Saturdays called The Weekly Roundup, and it's filled with stories and research from the past week. Today, Pew writes about friendships, a hot topic as the world continues to move off the social distancing of the pandemic and toward the isolation that comes with our digital world. I have written on this topic several times over the last year, and the data Pew cites tracks with my personal experiences and the discussions I have with others.

Always searching for nuggets of information below the surface of the common talking points, I found the section on what friends talk about entertaining. Primary takeaway: men don't like to talk; we talk about the news and sports more than our work and families. Part of this may also stem from talking about work at work. Once we get off work, we want to discuss something other than work. Another observation when visiting with my parents and the older generations, I've determined there are only two topics of discussion in retirement: your physical health and the weather…

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Brought to us from Morning Brew, a Calm Sage website gives us some of The Best Calming Images Of All Time. Here are a few interesting takeaways from the images.

Calm Sage

We found these images beautiful but less calming than walking in nature. Or listening to music.

There is a simple joy in reading an article about something ordinary. The Guardian gives us a read like that today, all about games. Marcus du Sautoy digs into what makes a good board game and the attitudes and emotions that lead to the longevity of a game. Similar to the highlight above about the characteristics of a calming image, board games need to activate certain senses but keep the structure simple with rules. The best games allow for a sense of agency and expression by the players, a shared experience between a group of people, and a dash of excitement as the game progresses.

After a summary of various games from Snakes and Ladders to Chess, du Sautoy says Backgammon is the game he would land on as the best of all game worlds. Backgammon has the capacity for drama, strategy, and a high level of chance with the roll of the dice. We know what we are adding to our list of activities this weekend.

A great collaboration between a few rising stars in the Alt-Rock/Indie scene brings together The Beths, Pickle Darling, and Car Seat Headrest, who cover Death Cab For Cutie's song We Looked Like Giants. The names of these bands:

Is the perfect blend of Alt-Rock and Indie; the whole thing rolls off your tongue… like a vomit volcano of tragic irony 😉

Giants!

Click on the Apple Music image to listen to the song on Apple Music or on the Spotify Image to listen to Spotify.

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🤘We are here every day, and every minute you spend with us sends ripples of gratitude through our souls! 🤘

With A Shout newsletter is written by Johnny Christian with the support of a thousand idea bits and the help of many people.

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