Dungeons, Dragons & Drinking 🥃

PLUS: Magic mushrooms to the rescue.

Author

Teri Christoph
September 02, 2023

Happy Saturday! 👊🏻

The Gen X libation you didn’t know you needed is here: A Dungeons & Dragons-inspired line of bourbon. It’s the brainchild of actor Matthew Lillard, and it’s a whiskey blend that is characterized by notes of vanilla and fruit “with an undercurrent of spice to reflect her fighting spirit.”

The first release in the line will be called Quest's End: Paladin and will hit the market this November.

It’s a scream, baby.

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In today’s issue:

  • 💻 Gen X is over this whole tech thing

  • 🍄 Magic mushrooms to the rescue

  • ☕ How much coffee is too much coffee?

ONE GEN X THING

We Didn’t Start the Fire

Or maybe we did. And now we want to put it out.

Gen X was extremely influential in building out today’s tech culture, but a shift in priorities within the tech industry has led many of us to shift our priorities in our personal lives.

After a tumultuous year marked by job cuts, office returns, and market fluctuations, Gen Xers seem to have lost their once-strong enthusiasm for the tech sector.

Apparently, 68% of us feel that work is less important to our life goals post-pandemic, with 15% of us even stating that it's become far less significant. This marks a departure from our past role in creating the work-hard, play-hard ethos of the tech world.

That sound you hear is Gen X screaming: Bring on retirement! 🌴

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PRE-TIREMENT

In partnership with The Average Joe

Money

  • If you’re in the market for a new car, our condolences. Prices have gone up so much that there’s now only one new car model on the market that’s going for less than $20,000. Ouch.

  • There’s a magic number for when your expertise and cognitive powers align to help you make your best financial decisions. A lot of Gen Xers are hitting that age right now.

  • From our sponsor …. If you want to become a better investor, The Average Joe has got you covered with their free 4x-weekly newsletters. Join 100,000+ investors discovering new market trends and ideas.

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Travel

  • Google Flights has a cool new feature that offers guidance on the cheapest time to book a flight, which is a nice complement to its price tracking alerts. If you’re already thinking about a winter getaway, you should check it out.

  • If you’re headed to France anytime soon, be sure to drink all the wine you can. The government there is paying wine producers to dump their wine due to a drop in demand. Quelle horreur!

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Health

  • Some good news for anyone who struggles with depression: A new study shows that a single dose of psilocybin, which is found in magic mushrooms, can lead to a “rapid, robust, and sustained reduction” in depression symptoms when combined with psychotherapy. Good news, indeed.

  • How much coffee is too much coffee? You might be pleasantly surprised at the answer.

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YOU MAKE THE CALL

If You Could Take This Poll, That Would Be Great

The inspiration for this week’s poll hit us while we were searching our options for a Labor Day movie marathon. It’s not a well-defined movie niche, to be sure, but we think we found a few good contenders.

What we want to know this week is:

Last week’s results.

Should parents pay for their adult children to go on vacation?

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Sure, why not? (6)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Aw, hell no. (10)

🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️ Depends ... (9)

25 Votes

Latchkey readers chimed in:

  • “Its a teachable moment to work hard and save money to go on vacation on their own dime... budget and have realistic expectations.”

  • “If I’m inviting my adult kids, I’m paying.”

  • “Depending on the locale and where we’re staying, we’d more than likely cover travel and accommodations. The rest would be up for debate.”

  • “As a parent, I don't want my grown children to EXPECT me to pay for family vacations. But, if I decide to give it as a gift I want that opportunity also.”

… AND THE REST

Boston College beats Miami (November 23, 1984)

  • The return of college football this weekend has us remembering Doug Flutie’s famous Hail Mary pass from all the way back in 1984. Here’s a good place to follow all the week 1 action.

  • If your bologna has a first name and it’s O-S-C-A-R, then this story is for you. Inspired by a viral meme, Oscar Mayer is launching its own limited edition "hot dog straw."

  • Some sad news from the 1980s soap opera world: The actress who played Calliope on “Days of Our Lives” has died.

  • Time to hang up your tie-dyed t-shirts and park your converted school buses: Dead & Co. are done touring. Spin takes a look back at their final tour.

  • Dairy Queen’s Blizzard Treat turns 38 this month, and they are marking the occasion with one heckuva deal. Run, don’t walk.

Milestones. 

September 4, 1998: Google is founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin. It started as a research project when Page and Brin were doctoral students at Stanford University.

September 7, 1996: Tupac Shakur is shot multiple times in a drive by shooting in Las Vegas. He died six days later; the crime remains unsolved.

September 8, 1986: The Oprah Winfrey Show debuts. The show ran for 25 years and won more than 45 Daytime Emmy Awards.

TASTY MEMES & MEMORIES

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WEEKLY EAR WORM

“You Should Be Dancing” by the Bee Gees

In honor of Barry Gibb’s 77th birthday yesterday, we give you one of his more notable falsetto performances: You Should Be Dancing. The song was released in June of 1976 and was the group’s third #1 hit on Billboard’s Hot 100.

Gen X ladies will appreciate the appearance of the other Gibb brother, Andy, in the above video.

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