3 Things: The Real Lord of the Flies, Willy Appelman, and Jia Yueting / by Chris Duffy

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Hello there!

It's Saturday again. This week flew by. I don't have much to report except for an update on the squirrel in my backyard. Some of you may remember him as the disrespectful rodent who would dig up every plant that I potted and just throw them aside. Not even eat them. Just unplant them to show that he could. With the help of some gravel on top of the soil, the squirrel and I came to a truce over the past couple weeks.

But then one night this week, we were sitting outside when we saw the squirrel just fully fall out of the tree and thunk onto the ground. I thought he was dead. But I went over and he immediately got up and scurried away back up the trunk in embarrassment. I honestly think he might have been drunk. He was definitely humiliated that we saw him fall. Anyway, just a reminder that nobody's at their best during quarantine.

Upcoming Events

LIVESTREAMS:
- TODAY Saturday, May 16th at 2 p.m. PT / 5 p.m. ET
COME ON DOWN, YOU'RE ALREADY HERE! It's Saturday so it's time for my Zoom game show where audience members from around the globe and celebrity guests compete to win the grand prize of an autographed sheet of toilet paper. Link

AROUND THE INTERNET:
- CELEBRITY SUBSTITUTE: More episodes of the YouTube original series I helped produce are out now. Stars team up with high school teachers to make remote lessons. If you have a high schooler in your life (or you're just bored and want to brush up on your AP Bio), you can check out Ken Jeong explaining Cellular Respiration.

- NOTES OF ENCOURAGEMENT: SELAH is a great organization here in LA working on homelessness. They've teamed up with resisterhoodLA and "together, we're building 5000 hygiene kits for our unhoused neighbors and we need your help. One of the most important elements of our kits is the 'note of encouragement.' This is the perfect opportunity for volunteers of all ages." You can send them from anywhere in the country and basically you just write a small note letting the person receiving the kit know that they are cared about and important. It's an easy way to make a big impact on a person going through a hard time. More details here.

This week’s list

GREAT:
"For centuries western culture has been permeated by the idea that humans are selfish creatures. That cynical image of humanity has been proclaimed in films and novels, history books and scientific research. But in the last 20 years, something extraordinary has happened. Scientists from all over the world have switched to a more hopeful view of mankind." Rutger Bregman's new book examines that hopeful view and one of its most fascinating portions is about a real life version of Lord of the Flies. Six boys were shipwrecked on a deserted island for 15 months. But the results were very, very different from the book. It's a wild story. The Real Lord of the Flies


FUNNY:
Willy Appelman is so funny. I first met him when he was performing in a comedic dance competition in NYC and his performance in a skintight lycra suit brought down the house. Since then, he's been on Comedy Central, NBC, and even Sesame Street. His latest project is making comedy shorts for Fast Company and the most recent one just killed me: How to Recreate Your Commute at Home 


INTERESTING:
Jia Yueting is one of the most exciting and dynamic entrepreneurs in the world. He's the Chinese Elon Musk. Jia Yueting is a fraud and a con artist. He's the Chinese Elizabeth Holmes. Which is true? The Wire China dives into the unbelievable true story. "He defied Beijing. He owes creditors billions. His U.S. car company is a mess. Can his latest pitch keep him from ruin?" The Nine Lives of Jia Yueting 


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Have a great weekend,
Chris