Tacos, Liquid Bread & Menopause 🍺

Happy Saturday! 👊🏻

We’re just beginning to see the fruits of our labors, Gen X. While some losers say we’ve had no cultural impact at all, it’s recently been discovered that we’ve actually killed off a regional accent.

Researchers from the University of Georgia and Georgia Tech have found that the classic Southern accent in the state of Georgia is rapidly fading, with Generation X being the driving force behind the linguistic shift. The study observed that the accent has changed significantly among baby boomers and Generation X, with the latter generation showing the most notable decline in the Southern drawl.

It’s all likely due to changing demographics, but we prefer to think it’s the ornery nature of Gen Xers that has led to the decline.

Take that, boomers.

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In today’s issue:

• 💘 AC/DC + Walmart = match made in heaven?

• 🌮 How to find the best tacos in the country

• 🎸 Who has Paul’s guitar?

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^{ONE GEN X THING}

We — Finally! — Run the World

Or, at least, the advertising budgets for companies like Walmart. Behold … the unholy AC/DC - Walmart alliance of Gen X dreams.

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Monday is the 22nd anniversary of 9/11, which was certainly a seminal event for Generation X. We all remember where we were when we heard the news, and we’ve lived through the aftermath of that horrible day.

We came across this video of how workers keep the 9/11 Memorial reflecting pools clean and thought it was too good not to share. The care and respect these men put into their job strikes the exact right note as we remember all the lives lost that day. And, of course, a big shout out to the first responders who ran toward the danger and stayed on site until the bitter end.

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BONUS STORY: 156 Beers: Inside André the Giant’s Unofficial World Record

^PRE-TIREMENT

Money

• It’s a crazy economy out there, and many people are looking to prematurely dip into their retirement savings to make ends meet. Here are some things to keep in mind when taking out a 401(k) loan.

• For the third time in three months, Goldman Sachs has lowered the chances of the U.S. economy entering into a recession. Their chief economist now says there’s a 15% chance of a recession in the next 12 months, down from an earlier forecast of 20%.

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Travel

• If you’ve got a bad case of wanderlust as we head into autumn, this is the story for you. There are some pretty sweet airfare sales going on if you want to get in some pre-holiday jaunts.

• It’s always a good day for a taco. If you’re someone who doesn’t think twice about heading out on a road trip in search of gastronomic delights, here are the best taco cities in the United States.

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Health

• This one’s for you, ladies: A new study has revealed that only 15% of women get the appropriate treatment for their menopause symptoms. According the international study, millions of women suffer in silence or are prescribed ineffective therapies such as acupuncture. One researcher concluded: “Despite decades of research pertaining to menopause, more work is needed.”

• And then there’s the conclusion of this study: beer is good for your gut. Liquid bread is, apparently, even better at regulating your microbiome than even probiotics.

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BONUS STORY: The Best Free Tourist Attractions in Every Country and State.

^{YOU MAKE THE CALL}

Drink Your Gin and Tonic-ah

In honor of Adam Sandler’s birthday today (see below), we’re making him the topic of this week’s poll. His body of work is pretty impressive, so it was hard to narrow down the choices. If we didn’t your favorite, please drop us a comment and let us know.

What we want to know this week is:

Last week’s results.

Which "Labor Day movie" is your favorite?

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 9 to 5 (1980) (11)

🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ Trading Places (1983) (5)

⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Working Girl (1988) (1)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Office Space (1999) (11)

28 Votes

Our first tie! 9 to 5 and Office Space are the big Labor Day movie winners. Latchkey readers chimed in:

• “I want my red stapler…”

• “WHO wouldn’t love to take a piece of misbehaving office equipment out to a field and beat the crap out of it ???? The rest of the movie was pretty annoying but that scene and the swing line stapler clinched it for me. 9 to 5 was a much better movie.”

• “Office space and Dilbert typified the post Jack Welsh universe we had to work in. Layoffs abounded weekly, ridiculous protocols and methodologies were commonplace and somehow we all stayed due to the stubbornness of our parents who yelled at us because “why would you leave a good job!””

• “I love all 4 of them!!”

^{TASTY MEMES & MEMORIES}

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^{WEEKLY EAR WORM}

“Since You Been Gone” by Rainbow

There’s no particular reason for this week’s earworm other than the fact that we’ve been singing it nonstop for the past two days. We had a moment of triumph a few days ago when our resident Gen Z expert (AKA, our 16 year old daughter) sang backup as we serenaded our Chik-fil-A cashier.

Anyway, the song. Rainbow’s 1979 version of “Since You Been Gone” was actually a cover of a Russ Ballard’s tune from his 1976 album, Winning. The Rainbow version reached #6 in England and #57 in the States. VH1 named it the 82nd-best hard rock song of all time, and the song was included on the soundtrack of Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.

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