97 Minute Mailbag

I made an impulse purchase from an Instagram ad last month. This is no different from me making impulse purchases from late night infomercials back in the early 90's. When I was a senior in high school – a senior in high school who would often wax his 1984 Chrysler Laser – I fell victim to an Amazing Discoveries informercial. Which one?

I mean, they waxed a car with it AND THEN THEY LIT THE HOOD ON FIRE and Auri protected the paint. How could I not call the 1-800 number and order it? For only the following 10 minutes, they were giving you TWO bottles of Auri for the price of one. I had to call.

(It was... just car wax. But when the dude in the sweater pointed at the sky and said "next on AMAZING DISCOVERIES" you paid attention. Yes you did.)

This time, on some Instagram ad, I fell for (and actually use) a little task timer. The ad was all "do you get distracted and have trouble staying on task?" and I was all "UH-HUH" and then it told me I should get this little timer that could keep me on task. I had heard a podcast episode this summer with Ben Thompson (Stratechery) where he said he sets timers when he writes and so I was all in. Clicked on it, Apple Pay'd, and it arrived about 13 days later in some box that traveled across the ocean.

I actually do use it. In fact, I'm going to use it right now. Setting it to 97 minutes...

Oh man, that's a clear photo of it. I can't even see that dust with the naked eye. And yes, that reflection at the top is my Diet Mountain Dew wrapped in a paper towel because I ate some food and drank half of the DMD and my hands were greasy which means the bottle is greasy and if I don't wrap it in a paper towel I'll get that grease all over my keyboard as I type these words.

I asked for some questions on Slack, and I will now attempt to answer as many of those questions as possible in the next 97 minutes. Starting the clock... now.