Three Things – September 20, 2022

[Note: I typically don’t include notes in these emails but, alas, it’s been a year and a half since the last one and I want to provide a reintroduction!

1. Concept: originally once weekly, now maybe once every 2-3 weeks, I share three things that have impressed, surprised, educated, inspired, or otherwise enriched me in some way. I try to keep them on the light side but steer away from the trivial–if it’s not worth remembering, it’s not worth reading! I also strive for brevity–the goal is to impact, and quantity of words often doesn’t equal quality.
2. History: I started sending these out in 2020. The most recent five issues can be found here on Revue, and the emails before those can be found on my personal blog (switched email services.)
3. My ask: I love feedback, and if you have any reflection, response, thought, idea, I’d love to hear from you. Back when I was sending these out I really enjoyed the conversations that came out of them! And if these aren’t your speed, please feel no pressure from me to suffer another unwanted email–I don’t take unsubscribes personally.

Thanks for being here, and I hope you have a meaningful week.]

First Thing: Sailing into the Wind

Since reading Mr. Midshipman Hornblower as a teenager I’ve been interested in sailing. But for my propensity toward motion-sickness I’d probably have some sailing stories to speak of. Still, the very concept of harnessing the wind and relying on astral bodies to traverse the ocean has always been mind-boggling to me, and I never quite understood how a boat could sail into the wind.

Enter: the Curiosity Show. This old-school, Bill Nye-esque Australian science show from the 90’s has hundreds of videos on Youtube, and one of them is titled “Sailing into the wind“. Really great explanation and demonstration of how tacking works. (Turns out it’s the same principle that lifts an airplane off the ground.)

Highly recommend the channel: Curiosity Show

Second Thing: The Prophet

Wow.

I didn’t know what I was getting into with this book. A casual reference in another book had me looking it up on Amazon and without much thought I ordered a copy. Just incredible.

The Prophet was written 100 years ago by a Lebanese author, Kahlil Gibran (of whom I’m still learning about.) It’s short–less than 100 pages–but it reads like scripture, each line worthy of memorization. Here are a few lines for you:

“That which sings and contemplates in you is still dwelling within the bounds of that first moment which scattered the stars into space.”

“You talk when you cease to be at peace with your thoughts.”

“To measure you by your smallest deed is to reckon the power of the ocean by the frailty of its foam.”

What’s more, Kahlil was a visual artist too, and paintings of his are artfully represented throughout the book (in fact I recently purchased this art print entitled “Love” for our wedding anniversary.)

This is definitely a book I will reread multiple times a year…very grateful I came across it.

Third Thing: Deep Blue

Earlier this summer I spotted my first Indigo Bunting, a species that for whatever reason has previously eluded me. I’ve been learning bird species (ahem…”Bird Watching”) for several years now (some years more than others) and I just can’t tell you how satisfying it is to be familiar with the flight patterns, songs, colors, and behaviors of whatever bird is in view. Equally as exciting is seeing a bird I don’t recognize and trying to figure out what it is. It brings an extra layer of presence and meaning to day-to-day life.

I challenge you to identify a new bird this week. Keep your eye open for a species you don’t recognize and go through the process of determining what it is, learning its song and what regions it spends time in. A few birding resources I use/recommend:

• AllAboutBirds.com by Cornell University – this is my go-to ‘comparison’ guide…really great site for identifying similar species
• iBird Pro app – I’ve been using this since 2012, and although it is recently switched to a subscription model (bummer), it’s highly recommended. The bird song functionality works well and can be used to ‘call in’ a bird for a closer look.
• Any old bird feeder and some sunflower seeds in the back yard
• A special moleskine or other notebook for copying down bird sightings.

Wishing you the best this early-autumn season!

Cheers, Aaron McNany

aaronmcnany.com