Welcome to The Finite Scroll - a monthly-ish newsletter for curious people. It should take less than 5 minutes to read and give you something that piques your curiosity. 

It's been a few months since I wrote one of these - unusually busy end to last year. But January feels like a fresh start, and I'm back.

With everything feeling like it's tearing at the seams right now, I've been leaning into a small and simple practice I found in this Merlin Mann post from last year: noticing when things are good and taking a beat to think (or say) "That was good."

"It's a really simple idea. You just roll around conducting your life as you normally would, except you want to find yourself noticing things that are good. Just regular life stuff. And the smaller or more inconsequential the good thing is, the better.

Your bagel toasted perfectly. You correctly plugged in a thumb drive on the first try. A baby farted and it was funny.

The important part is you're noticing. Got it?"

One small thing to try in 2026 as a way to not lose sight of what's working while we get through everything else. Read Mann's full post - he frames it better than I can.

Now onto some recommendations...

Things I've been into recently

🎓 Clay Shirky on AI in higher education - I ran for our school board last year partly because I wanted someone directly familiar with the relevant technologies (phones, social media, AI) informing the decisions about how our kids interact with them. I try and learn as much as I can on the topic and this Chaos Agents episode with Clay Shirky (Vice Provost for AI and Technology at NYU) is one of the most thoughtful conversations I've come across. He's consistently been one of the best at deeply understanding a new technology and its implications. Here he walks through the kinds of things his university has wrestled with AI over the past three years and its fascinating. If you're education-adjacent - educator or parent - it's worth a listen (the Shirky interview starts at the 15 minute mark.)

🎸 Nine Inch Nails Live - then and now - This 1990 video from their Dance Party USA performance is incredible. Check out those dancers vibing! I was lucky to see Trent and co. at the Barclays Center in September and they still put on a fantastic, though very different, kind of show. They've added tour dates for 2026 if you're a fan.

🧠 The Importance of Letting Yourself Be Bored - This 5-minute video with Dr. Arthur Brooks explains how valuable boredom is for emotional and intellectual development. Letting your mind wander for even a few minutes can seem daunting if you've trained yourself out of it. If you're over 35, you probably remember when boredom was just part of life. I imagine younger folks and kids might need some help getting there.

🧁 BTS at the GBBO - If you cherish The Great British Bake Off as comfort TV like I do, you might enjoy this look inside the tent from season 4 contestant Ruby Tandoh.

🎷 Ezra Collective - Here's a British jazz group I discovered over the holidays and I'm kind of obsessed. Super fun, upbeat vibe with some hip hoppy influences. I bet they put on an incredible live show. Try their 2022 Mercury Prize-winning album Where I'm Meant to Be, their newest Dance, No One's Watching or just start with this banging collab with Fred Again...

📚 Ezra Klein Show Book Recs All in One Place - If you're a fan of the Ezra Klein Show, you know guests recommend three books at the end of each episode. I've found incredible reads through these recs and so was delighted to see that Michael Sippey built 3books.net - a site that pulls all those recommendations into one searchable place. Read about how he vibe coded it here. Great resource if you're looking for your next read.

🍟 Heinz for the win - Every once in a while you see design that just makes sense. This new Heinz fry box with a built-in ketchup dipper is that. Seems so obvious once you see it.

That's all for now. Hope everyone had a great holiday. See you in February!

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