Hi, all! It’s been a minute since my last round-up—and I was in the office. Thanks to what I’ve learned on the job covering health and safety, I knew I needed to take some time away from work to focus on a deeply personal matter. It was not a relaxing respite, but I was able to be present and show up for those who matter most to me.

To sustain me during those difficult days, I started to spend a few quiet moments to take some deep breaths and look for something beautiful in the world. For example, admiring my neighbor’s late falling tree with crimson red leaves and watching two squirrels chase each other up and down a tree. As always, I take comfort in reminding myself that we’re all muddling through this thing called life, together.

If you are going through, about to enter, or just coming out of a particularly difficult season of life, know that you’re not alone. Also, please take care of yourself and get the help you need and deserve. Until next time, please be safe, be kind and be well!

A Manufacturing Mystery

I’m not much of a Sherlock Holmes reader, but when I saw David Uberti’s piece in The Wall Street Journal, I was intrigued. Armstrong International, a Michigan-based heating and cooling company, suddenly started receiving massive orders for a 50-year-old factory part. They couldn’t figure out why—or who was buying them, thanks to nondisclosure agreements.

Then finally, they got a tip: the water-bottle-sized air vents were being used in data center build-outs. As Uberti colorfully writes, “It turned out that millions of dollars’ worth of chips being stuffed into data centers like sardines were running so hot that only liquid cooling systems could prevent them from being fried. And those systems need to expel excess air through vents like the ones Armstrong makes, which cost a few hundred bucks apiece.”

The company had to add a second shift at its Michigan facility to keep up with demand for the air vent. Who knows where these vents—and the data center boom as a whole—will go next. But it sure made for a fun read.

Read the full article here.

A Good Night’s Rest

Nowadays, waking up in the middle of the night is considered a bad thing or something to try and avoid. But that wasn’t always the case.

In the Middle Ages, it was common for people to go to sleep, wake for a few hours and then go back to sleep. So when or why did we switch from polyphasic or biphasic sleep to monophasic sleep cycles?

Blame the Industrial Revolution. Once humans fine-tuned the ability to use artificial light, they could take the light into the homes and workspaces at all hours, thus permanently shifting our wake and rest times.

While there’s a plethora of research telling us that the blue light emitted from all our screens is disruptive to our circadian rhythm, there isn’t as clear a consensus on whether it's better to sleep in one long cycle or shorter cycles.

However, one thing is for certain: Sleep is imperative for our health, and we must get enough of it. Adults need at least seven hours of sleep a night.

Read Eve Upton-Clark’s fascinating history of sleep here.

A Promising Antidote

Sometimes, if I’m too tired to read at the end of the night, I’ll scroll on social media for some mindless screen time. Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot more people performing analog or mindful hobbies.

Brain stacking is the latest viral trend, and it’s all about spending more time away from screens and the so-called brain rotting. The focus is on doing something creative and mentally stimulating.

And yes, I am aware of the situational irony of watching people doing non-screen based activities on my screen. And that editing a video of oneself doing 15-, 30- or 60-minutes of brain stacking activities will most likely require double or triple the amount of time spent on said activities.

Makaelah Walters’ article about the trend doesn’t explicitly make the reference, but I’m convinced that brain stacking is an offshoot of habit stacking, the exercise James Clear popularized in his 2018 book Atomic Habits. It’s been a few years since I read the book, but my takeaway was that Clear was advocating to reduce friction to adopt habits that made it easier to sustain gradual improvements over time. But back to the trend de jour. 

I appreciate that brain stacking is easy and accessible. It doesn’t require spending gobs of money, flying to exotic destinations or trying to keep up with the Jones’. You can just as easily journal your thoughts in a fancy notebook from a stationary store as an old composition notebook.

The most important things about creating new habits, say the experts Walters spoke with, are doing them consistently and focusing on the conditions surrounding them (e.g., having a variety of activities to choose from and using other senses like scent to connect the environment with the habit).

As with all viral trends, brain stacking is sure to be replaced with something else in the not-too-distant future. But hopefully, some of the hobbies aren’t just for show—and actually stick.

Read Walters’ full article here.