Why relief is my favourite emotion 😮💨
➕ Deez Nuts, Facebook & Instagram's new paid verification scheme, & Biden's surprise visit to Ukraine 🌍
You’re getting one of my HOTTEST takes in the newsy today - lucky!! It’s all about why relief is the best emotion and I don’t want to hear any dif (actually I do - please comment your fave emotion!)
I’m also off this morning to be interviewed by the one and only Gemma Styles, so if you’re a paid subscriber you’re gonna get a FULL rundown of that on Friday…
PS, from now on I’m going to be focussing on more buzzy tech/ culture/ web stuff in the bulk of the newsy, but giving you MORE headlines from around the world at the bottom of each one - does anyone have a good idea for a name for this ‘news’ section?? Let me know!
My hottest take ever: Why relief is my favourite emotion
Facebook and Instagram are testing selling you blue checks for $12 a month
Have a taste of Deez Nuts
🗺Around the world 🗺
Biden makes a surprise visit to Kyiv, NZ cyclone update, melting sea ice, and more 🌍
My hottest take ever: Why relief is my favourite emotion
This is something I’ve been saying to my friends and family for about five years now - relief is the ultimate emotion. Happiness is fleeting, contentedness (wow - didn’t know that word had all those extra letters in there) isn’t something I usually feel (as someone with itchy feet), but relief? Inject that shit into my VEINS!
It’s that huge exhale after a hard conversation, at the other side of a traumatic event - after a trip to the bathroom when you’ve been BUSTING - when the thing that’s been causing your discomfort is literally (or in that last example physically) out of your body and you can breathe again.
The other reason it’s my fave emoshe is because relief can be felt no matter how the situation turned out (for the most part.) So the conversation you’ve been dreading went really well? Relief. It went badly? Still relieved that it’s done! As strange as it sounds, when my little brother passed away after weeks of waiting and watching over him, one of the first things I felt was relief. For him, for my family, that there would be no more waiting (don’t worry - deep deep sadness and emptiness followed soon after, but relief was definitely present.)
It might not seem like a hot take, but it’s MY take (and that's why you read these things isn’t it??) But I would love to know from you if you have a fave emotion or feeling - is it comfort? Coziness? Thrill? Happiness? Let me know!
Facebook and Instagram are testing selling you blue checks for $12 a month
What’s that saying about doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results? I think it either means you’re insane OR you’re in charge of a social media company!
Because paid-for verification went SO well for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram are doing the same thing. For $12USD a month ($15USD on mobile) (or in NZ - $23.99 NZD on web and $29.99 NZD on mobile) you too might be able to have a cheeky blue tick that means absolutely nothing except that you are… you.
Here’s what Zuck said about it:
“This week we’re starting to roll out Meta Verified — a subscription service that lets you verify your account with a government ID, get a blue badge, get extra impersonation protection against accounts claiming to be you, and get direct access to customer support,” Zuckerberg writes. “This new feature is about increasing authenticity and security across our services.”
Actually, I lied - you do get some extra perks for paying this monthly fee:
“Additionally, users who sign up for the service will get exclusive stickers for Stories and Reels, and will also receive 100 free stars per month, or the digital currency you can use to tip creators on Facebook.”
My prediction is that this isn’t going to be game changing in any way, shape, or form, but… go get some exclusive stickers I guess?
Have a taste of Deez Nuts
Had to write about this story because for a time it was my little bro’s favourite joke (and I’m jealous that someone got to make a brand out of it before me.) Mr Beast (hella famous Youtuber Jimmy Donaldson) is now selling a nut bar called Deez Nuts. I’ve written before about the influencer to food/ beverage brand pipeline (David Dobrik’s pizza store Doughbriks, Logan Paul’s energy drink, Emma Chamberlains’s Chamberlain Coffee etc) and every time a new one pops up it fascinates me - mostly because they don’t just seem to be flash in the pan (pun intended) marketing gimmicks as you’d assume!
Dunc and I actually had a chat yesterday about how everything that can become the creator economy, sorta is/will, and I didn’t even think about it in terms of the food & bev industry, but it’s kinda another example that EVERYTHING IS BRANDING/ MARKETING/ INFLUENCE these days.
I really liked this piece by Mashable about this idea!!
🗺Around the world 🗺
NZ:
In pictures: Aerial pictures of Esk Valley reveal apocalyptic scene (Stuff)
NZ is still reeling from the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle. 11 people are confirmed dead, 2200 people are unaccounted for and the state of national emergency has been extended for seven more days. Some ways to help below:
How to help in the aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle (The Spinoff)
Cyclone Gabrielle Community Support (Givealittle)
Ukraine:
Biden makes surprise visit to Kyiv (BBC)
President Biden popped over to Kyiv in a surprise visit to mark one year since Russia’s invasion (on the 24th of Feb.) The trip was for mostly symbolic reasons - designed to show the world - espesh Putin - that the U.S. is committed to supporting Ukraine.
Papua New Guinea:
An Australian professor and three colleagues have been taken hostage at gunpoint in Papua New Guinea (PNG). This comes only a few weeks after NZ pilot Phillip Mehrtens was taken hostage in the Papua province.
Antarctica:
‘Extreme situation’: Antarctic sea ice hits record low (The Guardian)
The area of sea ice around Antarctica has hit an all time low (sea ice - it’s just like us fr), and the ‘summer melting season’ hasn’t even ended. “The rapid decline in sea ice over the past six years is quite remarkable, since the ice cover hardly changed at all in the 35 years before.” It’s climate change, innit folks!
What is Arctic Sea Ice? (UC Davis)
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That feeling when you’ve been anticipating something for ages (e.g. a concert, movie, book release, any kind of event) and you’ve been feeling the excitement building, and there’s those few moments right before the thing happens where you feel like you’re about to explode, where you realise it’s actually happening, and that it’s real. I love that shit
Trust in the universe. You know this exercise for two people where one of them is supposed to fall on their back from a standing position, and the other one is standing behind them and is supposed to catch them before they hit the ground? The amount of trust it takes is huge. Now picture this, but with the universe. A feeling that no matter what happens, I can let go and fall, and the universe will catch me. It's doesn't feel like sinking, it feels like flying. For me the first few seconds are scary as hell, because these aren't the emotions I usually feel, or let myself feel - faith, vulnerability, letting go of control. But when I close my eyes, lean back and keep breathing, man.. Nothing compares. Knowing that I'm not alone, that there's this massive force behind me and no matter what happens, it will guide and protect me. And when I lack strength, I can always draw from it, because sooner or later I will give everything back.