Interesting things by regular email.

Hello, I'm Mo. How often are you pleased to receive an email? Well, if your inbox has become a boring place, this might be just the thing.Every week, I gather together interesting topics and links, and share them in an email. I leave out the miserable stuff that makes the headlines, and pick out things that provide a little relief.It's called 💥BLAST! and it's an old-school thing, done for your fun and mine. There's no subscription fees and no salesperson will call. I've been at it for a couple of years, and people seem to like it. Why not join in?

💥BLAST! is not accepting new subscribers at the moment. Sorry x

🙋 “Always well-curated, eclectic links with smart and to-the-point commentary.”

🥳 “...this is such a wonderful newsletter. Thank you for taking the time to write it every week, it's a joyful thing to find in my inbox.”

👨 “I f**king loooooove this”

🙄 “I might show it to my teenager, but he's a teenager so he'll probably ignore it.”

🧘 “I was reading blast and wanted to say thanks its such a great thing, especially in these times when everything is quite disconnected and politicised. It’s a sweet relief!”

💁 “Really enjoying BLAST!”

🤔 “...your newsletter is a bit like when I buy a nice magazine and read some really interesting things and it makes me feel happy and content”

🥰 “Your newsletter makes my heart happy”

🤩 “This list is f**king gold. Thank you. Absolute gold.”

🙆 “...because of the structure it never feels like an overwhelming task. So in essence, thanks, this is great, keep doing it!”

🧐 “None of your topics are uninteresting”

🤓 “It’s the only email thing I read regularly... it’s v good and always has interesting stuff in it. tbh I wish it came out in a hard copy…. then I'd read it as a treat”

Back-issues

Here you’ll find a big list of links to every 💥BLAST! email that has been sent out to subscribers. Seems like quite a fair few when you look at them all listed out like this, doesn’t it?

2022

23/02 - #150: with a bang16/02 - #149: Calligraphy, hype and mood shame09/02 - #148: Trauma dumping and jets a'jumping02/02 - #147: The true excitement of a large squirrel predicting the weather26/01 - #146: Why time is speeding up and new music is rubbish19/01 - #145: Socks! Microaggressions! Exclamations!12/01 - #144: Abundance, burnout and horseshoe crabs05/01 - #143: Starting as you mean to go on, with Garry Shandling

2021

22/12 - #142: Bad gifts and eating too much15/12 - #141: Pop hits and and pop misses08/12 - #140: Crap gadgets, cool Britannia and the great Web3 lie01/12 - #139: Translators, cocaine gadgets and hot-dog buns24/11 - #138: Alright, bab?17/11 - #137: The Clapton Effect - Nobody knows you when you’re down and out10/11 - #136: No Mr Bond I expect you to die (and take us all down in the process)03/11 - #135: A climate of crisis, OK and neutrinos27/10 - #134: Gas and oil and plant-based meat20/10 - #133: Bergerac, blushing robots, bastard spiders13/10 - #132: Mind palaces, scanned archeology, gendered play06/10 - #131: Tiny walls, inner critics, literary cuckolds29/09 - #130: Carbon-neutral buildings, stealing books and stately ghosts22/09 - #129: Hope, nostalgia and musical insults15/09 - #128: Changing jobs, changing friendships, changing history - Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes afoot01/09 - #127: Printed houses and rotting cars - Waste defines both past and future25/08 - #126: Coffee is good, fashion is bad, burnout is ugly - Lies, damned lies and email-newsletter statistics18/08 - #125: Catastrophising, Interoception, Yoko and Tokyo11/08 - #124: Collective paranoia and architectural entropy04/08 - #123: Blake, insect protein, future factories, drumming28/07 - #122: Basic necessity - Does new media empower, or bring out the worst in us?21/07 - #121: Utopia vs. violence, conspiracy vs. counterculture14/07 - #120: Adland’s misogyny and automotive’s misfires07/07 - #119: Models and modernism, joy and joinery30/06 - #118: Qualities of questioners and quitters23/06 - #117: Creativity by experts, jazz for everyone16/06 - #116: Truth, cookery and bowling balls07/06 - #115: Amateurism, Brainstorming, Cluttercore02/06 - #114: Synthesizers, solo successes and the networked self26/05 - #113: Dogs and cats and thumbs and bums19/05 - #112: Motherhood, mental wellness, myths and movements12/05 - #111: Cursing, crying Dawson, combustion engines05/05 - #110: Cognitive toolkit, canal economy, Keith Mann28/04 - #109: Bumblebees, migrating moose, seeing satellites21/04 - #108: Nano-factories, the power of daydreaming, roll-your-own pasta14/04 - #107: Elvis wasn’t a songwriter, Prince really was, plus robot overlords07/04 - #106: French accents, fish neurobiology, freediving31/03 - #105: Mrs Mills comes to stay - A priceless piano you know and love can now be yours24/03 - #104: Man vs Volcano - When a volcano threatens a town, can it be stopped?17/03 - #103: Art vs science10/03 - #102: The rebirth of the uncool
A new online era may be fast approaching03/03 - #101: Mugshot on Mars, making luck, iceberg dead ahead!17/02 - #100: Head in the clouds - What’s sailing over your head?10/02 - #99: Korean, Kaguya Orbiter, The KLF03/02 - #98: Social networks vs social distancing27/01 - #97: A face amongst the trees, deliberate practice, quantum experimentation20/01 - #96: Bubbles, beards, buying nothing13/01 - #95: Amateurism, ambient noise, aerial photography06/01 - #94: Cop cars, cutting chains, covers, containers, contrarians

2020

30/12 - #93: Beauty, basement living, boredom23/12 - #92: Surrealism, songs, snow-days16/12 - #91: Shit-stirring, spyware, sculpting in Lego09/12 - #90: Can trees socialise? - In a forest, subterranean fungi means no tree stands alone02/12 - #89: Whither fun? - This new normal is joyless. What's next?25/11 - #88: Getting things done, now - Productivity for this era18/11 - #87: Where does resilience com from? - We hear it’s needed, but where is it found?11/11 - #86: Can we be divisive and united? - Political polarisation needn’t pull us apart.04/11 - #85: Above the fold - The catharsis of origami.28/10 - #84: Wave your hands in the air - Mastering an instrument played without touch.21/10 - #83: A shot in the dark - Blinking LEDs are a blight.14/10 - #82: Can tradition be untraditional? - Christmas is coming. Or is it?07/10 - #81: Ducks are great. That’s the email - Seriously, ducks though.30/09 - #80: Friends will be friends - What does social distancing mean for friendships?23/09 - #79: What are podcasts lacking? - Something’s missing. Does the answer lie in classic radio shows?16/09 - #78: What’s an idea worth? - Ideas are plentiful. So why do we value them?09/09 - #77: The golden age of deception - Free-flowing information is the perfect environment for hoaxes02/09 - #76: The high road - Motorways bypass landmarks, but create them too.26/08 - #75: Getting good at being bad - To bring the world to its knees, you've got to have a lair.19/08 - #74: The cult of personality testing - Myers Briggs is pseudoscience. Why do we love it?12/08 - #73: The bias of flexibility - We think we’re more mentally flexible, just like everyone else does.05/08 - #72: It’s not all work, work, work - The modern work environment isn’t here to stay.29/07 - #71: A culture of connectedness - MIDI was ahead of its time. Now it’s maturing.22/07 - #70: Stories made to be told - Commuting needs audiobooks. Not commuting needs them too.15/07 - #69: There goes the neighbourhood - When vigilance turns into surveillance.08/07 - #68: A customer atmosphere congenial to all - Often imitated, never equalled let alone surpassed.01/07 - #67: The other side of the screen - Access to too much bad news has bad consequences.17/06 - #66: Passport to success - Why is my new passport so fugly?24/06 - #65: Getting through to the final round - In the reinvention of TV, game shows got left behind.08/06 - #64: The other outbreak - Racism needs confronting. By White people.03/06 - #63: What goes up might come down - The internet made everything findable... and nothing mysterious.27/05 - #62: Losing grip on virtual reality - Getting excited about VR just as it runs out of road.20/05 - #61: Find your mind - Non-trivial and non-obvious pointers for regaining mental health13/05 - #60: Every inspiration starts with a little distraction - Finding focus through all the distractions of the new normal.06/05 - #59: Why can't they just share the hedges? - It's Hedgehog Awareness Week.29/04 - #58: Required reading required - Book recommendations worth noting.22/04 - #57: Life's many lessons - Forty learnings from forty years15/04 - #56: What do people do all day? - It's a busy, busy world.08/04 - #55: Date night at the museum
Now's the time to dive in to virtual art collections.01/04 - #54: Could ancient philosophy improve life and work? - Ikigai: A Japanese concept to improve work and life.25/03 - #53: Keeping older adults in mind - Report finds older people are widely demonised.18/03 - #52: Addenda, part 311/03 - #51: Addenda, part 204/03 - #50: Addenda, part 126/02 - #49: It's a small world after all - What's so appealing about a model village?19/02 - #48: Come on Barbie, let's be present in the moment - Can a fashion doll make you mindful?12/02 - #47: Is dating the new oil? - Online dating has become big business.05/02 - #46: How do you sleep at night? - You are feeeling sleeepy.29/01 - #45: Are you being watched? - What is the right balance between security and privacy?22/01 - #44: This is bananas - 🍌 🍌 🍌 🍌 🍌15/01 - #43: When fake footage goes deep - You won't believe your eyes.08/01 - #42: On Love Island, it is what it is - Where's your head at?01/01 - #41: Can optimism be an act of change? - After all, singers always find songs

2019

25/12 - #40: The tradition of tradition - What traditions are starting, and which need to end?18/12 - #39: Sharing the wealth - Journalists began reporting on their own pay11/12 - #38: Perchance to stream - How is streaming changing content?04/12 - #37: Giving the gift of intrusion? - Does your gift spy on its recipient?27/11 - #36: The return of the QR code - And this time, they're useful20/11 - #35: The unreal world of the virtual influencer - Is a CGI celebrity any less real?13/11 - #34: Where do you feel safest of all? - It's the only way to live...06/11 - #33: What's your privacy worth? - Perhaps too much to give it away...30/10 - #32: How is hard graft affecting us? - Work it!23/10 - #31: Attention, please - Heads up!16/10 - #30: What can you drink when you're not drinking? - Bottoms up09/10 - #29: More crowded, more alone - Reversing increases in loneliness and social isolation02/10 - #28: When workplaces won't work -In our open-plan, hotdesking future, work is not in progress25/09 - #27: What's Your Beef? - Our future is not at steak18/09 - #26: Is fast fashion slow to catch on? - There's a brand new talk, but it's not very clear11/09 - #25: Does fixing beat making? - We like our stuff in good order, so why are so many things unrepairable?04/09 - #24: Looking to the future, from an optimistic past - Robot butlers! At last!28/08 - #23: When to rant; when to rave - Big fish 🐡 small fish 🐟 cardboard box 📦21/08 - #22: As tech culture matures, what do we leave behind? - Are recent cultural touchpoints already obsolete?14/08 - #21: Can we be better at disagreeing? - Turning squabbles into constructive debates: needed now more than ever07/08 - #20: Can a high-wire act pay off? - Hang in there31/07 - #19: Being a generalist in a specialist world - Fiiiiiiiiiiight!24/07 - #18: I made you a mixtape - Now turn the cassette over17/07 - #17: They came in peace for all mankind - Tranquility Base here, the Eagle has landed10/07 - #16: The pursuit of happiness - If it makes you happy, it can't be that bad03/07 - #15: We're all a bunch of amateurs - ❤️ Love vs Money 💰... FIIIIGHT!26/06 - #14: Is it good to feel bad? - Does this guilt-ridden age define us?19/06 - #13: Follow Leonardo around the room - All Da Vinci, no Dan Brown12/06 - #12: Is a picture worth a thousand lyrics? - Can a photograph be an act of protest?05/06 - #11: The future for Chernobyl - More is happening in the Exclusion Zone29/05 - #10: Things are looking up - Trees are good, trees are good22/05 - #9: Move fast and automate stuff - Amazon is getting hard to understand, or to keep up with15/05 - #8: Charting the unquiet mind - I just can't get you out of my head08/05 - #7: Bing Tiddle-Tiddle Bong - I'd make a pun here but there's nul points01/05 - #6: The Attenborough Effect - Time to get amongst the balls...24/04 - #5: You're fit but you know it - How is working out working out?17/04 - #4: Is it all doom and gloom? - It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine10/04 - #3: Are electric scooters inevitable? - I like to move it, move it03/04 - #2: The strength and vulnerability of Generation Z - If you tolerate this your children will be next27/03 - #1: The dirty secrets of air-cleaning plants - One good plant pun, but I should probably leaf it there.