Not exactly what you’re looking for, but for a laugh, check out the We’re Here to Help podcast :)

The first book came out when I was in my late teens. I wasn’t interested in the YA genre at all, so I never read them or watched the films.

Fast forward a gazillion years, when my daughter was 8, I got the first book— one of the lovely editions with illustrations by Jim Kay. We’re on The Order of the Phoenix now, with me reading about a chapter every other night to her. She’s a voracious reader on her own, but I wanted to find a new-to-both-of-us series that could extend that magical “story time” period of childhood a little longer. Harry Potter did not disappoint.

J.K. Rowling, on the other hand, continues to be a sore spot on an otherwise happy experience. My daughter is old enough that we discuss art vs. artist, and some of the problematic things Rowling has said publicly. Hard, but necessary, conversations.

•Bear Brook

•We’re Here to Help

•Reveal

•Radiolab

•Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me

On iOS it’s GUU (Goods Unite Us).

Check out Tom Bihn!! They make durable bags that are of excellent quality, and definitely BIFL. They also have a pretty dedicated following of customers that post to a community forum (you can find the link from the Tom Bihn website). People there were really helpful when I posted about waffling between two styles and sizes for an EDC backpack. I definitely recommend checking TB bags out, and going to their forum for helpful advice.

This is awesome! So I get replace the hose, but then do you prop up the new one so there’s no low point for water to collect? Or will it just be an ongoing issue and need periodic replacement?

Just checked, and in Uk theaters February 21 through March 2!

Not too scary, but the intro to Tune-Yards’ Gangster makes me reflexively look in the rear-view mirror to see if I need to pull over.

https://txtify.it/https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-02-01/2024-california-election-dodgers-senate-candidate-steve-garvey-kids-family

You could a niche interest that you can lean into and find established spaces that cater to said community. Like gardening? Attend workshops and presentations by your local native plant society. Know how to knit, or want to learn? Weekly Stitch & Bitch events are everywhere. Interested in history and know a bit of mechanics? Volunteer at a historic railroad nonprofit.

Sourdough starter!

Seconding the mythology recommendation! My nine year old loves d’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths and was stoked to find a new podcast called Greeking Out by National Geographic Kids. She’s been listening to it practically everyday, and we just picked up the companion book from the library this weekend.

• Unicorn Rescue Society series by Adam Gidwitz
• Ben Yokoyama Cookie Chronicles series by Swanson and Behr
• Wings of Fire series by Tui T. Sutherland
• Wow in the World books by Mindy Thomas and Guy Roz (they have a companion podcast that’s absolutely bonkerballs as well!)

All of these have a nice mix of comedy and mischief/adventure that he might enjoy.

Unfortunately this arms race eventually escalated to snot rockets.

For anyone else curious about the subject matter, I found this from the National Museums Liverpool, Walker Art Gallery:

Margaret Wilson of Wigtownshire (1667-85) was a Covenanter. She was sentenced to death by drowning because she refused to acknowledge the church hierarchy. Bound to a stake on the shore of the Solway Firth she was engulfed by the oncoming tide. The Covenanters were a group of Scottish Presbyterians who were determined to resist the influence of the Crown and the established Church of England.

Millais’s wife Effie was brought up in Perthshire and may have encouraged his interest in Scottish history. The subject of the Solway Martyr was a popular one, and first appeared as an illustration for the periodical Once a Week, published in 1862.

The cozy murder genre is my jam. Here’s some more they might want to check out:

• The Doctor Blake Mysteries
• Endgame
• Shakespeare & Hathaway: Private Investigators
• The Glades
• Castle
• The Sniffer (in Russian, with subtitles)
• Burn Notice
• Inspector Morse
• Perry Mason (The reboot on HBO starring Matthew Rhys)
• Justified

(Bonus recommendation, with a caveat: the new limited series Bodies on Netflix— I’m 5 episodes in, and it’s pretty good!)

*Mare of Easttown

Second It’s Always Sunny! Absolutely Fabulous and Trailer Park Boys definitely have that lighthearted dark comedy too.

Open a random page in any P. G. Wodehouse novel and you’re good to go! Gussie Fink-Nottle, Bingo Little, Kipper Herring, Stiffy Byng. Or, my personal fave, add in an extra letter like he did for his character Psmith, where, he explains, the “p” is silent, "as in pshrimp.”

That’s not a fake sticker.