Iโve been asked a bunch of times โWhere and how do you find these mind blowing facts, and your โOne Thingโ links, Paul?ย
I have a bunch of go to sites which are kind of lists of internet sites, or indexes,- like the old blogrolls (may be before your time).ย
Some of these Blogroll and list sites:
I peruse sites like:
Other online resources like dictionaries, encyclopedias, bibliographies, almanacs, directories and atlases are also research aids.
I read from my library of physical reference books like the Atlas Obscura, Boundless by Ben Greenfield, My College Advertising Textbook by Maurice Mandell.ย
Other Substack writers and commenters send me ideas, and facts they have heard about, and Iโll link back to their newsletter after verifying. Send to @pau1 on Substack.
I subscribe to a literal figurative ton of newsletters.ย
I find interesting things watching TV shows, movies, You Tube Videos, listening to podcasts, siriusxm programs, reading newspapers and so on. The ultimate goal is that I hope that you find this stuff interesting also!
The Process
I have a running note on my laptop titled Curious Mind Blowing Facts - 7 (or whatever the current number is). I cut and paste the info I find online. I write down what Iโve seen in real life (TV, etc) into this note.ย
When I get 20 to 30 of these snippets, I spend some time and fact check them. I use Google, Snopes, Wikipedia, and other ways to verify accuracy.ย
Then I copy and paste the fact dump into a blank post page on Substack. Lately Iโve been Bolding every other snippet for readability.ย
I rewrite a lot of the copied clips for clarity and simplicity. After the text layout comes the illustrations which I make in Midjourney AI. I pay for the yearly option which allows me to use whatever pics I want for any purpose. (Until it doesnโt). You can use any of my pics for free. It would be nice to have a link back to Deplatformable, but not mandatory.ย
When the illustrations are done, the post is ready to unleash into the world.ย The plan is to publish on a Monday once or twice a month.