Pro tip: mindlessly opening and clicking a link in a NextDoor email leading to hate scrolling the petty disputes of neighbors near you is a great way to throw off any mindful morning rituals you may have put in place. Ooooof, people are nasty on the internet. In other news, someone found a wee baggy of meth in their compost bin! 

INTERWEBS TIME

• We had our first Odd Salon fellows IRL meet-up last night and it was SO DAMNED GOOD to see everyone in person and get all of the consented-to hugs I’ve been craving for the last 15 months. But, as this Vox piece confirms, I’m a wee bit rusty at this whole “talking to people in the meatspace” thing: The pandemic has made small talk even more painful. I should point out that luckily our Fellows are a self-aware group, and most convos started with a) “omg, are you hugging? Can we hug?” Followed by b) “omg, this is awkward, I’ve forgotten how to human” followed by a laugh. So it was an absolutely lovely and fulfilling evening.

• Wanna see how the oil and gas lobbying sausage is made? Revealed: ExxonMobil’s lobbying war on climate change legislation (News 4) I feel icky just reading it.

• Speaking of icky, ‘Juul And The Business Of Addiction’ (The Verge)

• Speaking of also icky, ‘Insiders say Bill Gates was an office bully who pursued sexual affairs, and that his squeaky-clean image was merely good PR’ (Insider)

• Speaking of so awful and heinous that I want to walk into the sea: ‘Bill Cosby released from prison after court overturns his conviction’ (CNBC) He was released because Cosby was INITIALLY GIVEN A DEAL by the prosecutor, a prosecutor who went on to defend The Former Guy in his second impeachment trial: ’Bill Cosby was set free because of a deal he'd made with a district attorney who later represented Trump in his 2nd impeachment trial’ (Insider)

• And finally, maybe this headline will make you smile a bit: ‘Top Trump Executive Allen Weisselberg Surrenders to Face Charges’ (NYT)

You’ve got this. Drink water, take care of each other, and be kind to yourself.

xoxo Amy