Dungeons, Dragons & Drinking 🄃

PLUS: Magic mushrooms to the rescue.

Happy Saturday! šŸ‘ŠšŸ»

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 ā€œwith an undercurrent of spice to reflect her fighting spirit.ā€

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:

  • šŸ’» Gen X is over this whole tech thing

  • šŸ„ Magic mushrooms to the rescue

  • ā˜• 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 ā€œrapid, robust, and sustained reductionā€ 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?

šŸŸØšŸŸØšŸŸØā¬œļøā¬œļøā¬œļø Sure, why not? (6)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Aw, hell no. (10)

šŸŸØšŸŸØšŸŸØšŸŸØšŸŸØā¬œļø Depends ... (9)

25 Votes

Latchkey readers chimed in:

  • ā€œIts a teachable moment to work hard and save money to go on vacation on their own dime... budget and have realistic expectations.ā€

  • ā€œIf I’m inviting my adult kids, I’m paying.ā€

  • ā€œDepending on the locale and where we’re staying, we’d more than likely cover travel and accommodations. The rest would be up for debate.ā€

  • ā€œAs 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.ā€

… 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 ā€œDays of Our Livesā€ 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

ā€œYou Should Be Dancingā€ 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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