So I was sure those 'ask me anything' posts were just for celebrities, but my friend did one for his small business and got 12 new clients in a week.

I always thought zippers were a modern thing, but I was way off

I was watching a documentary on YouTube about the history of workwear, and they mentioned the first metal zipper for clothes was patented in 1917. That blew my mind, I figured they came along maybe in the 50s with all the other plastic stuff. It got me thinking about how we could bring back some of those early designs, maybe with a modern twist on the teeth or pull. Has anyone ever designed a piece around a vintage closure like that?

A detail at the old train station gave me a whole story idea

I was at the old Union Station in Denver last weekend, just walking around. I stopped to look at the big board with all the train times, the kind with the flipping letters. One of the destination slots was stuck halfway between two names, showing just a jumble of letters. It made me think, what if someone bought a ticket to that messed up place? What if the train actually went there? I stood there for maybe ten minutes just building the idea in my head. It would be a story about a person running from something, buying the cheapest ticket they could find, and ending up somewhere completely unknown. The stuck sign felt like a perfect prompt starter. Has a small, broken detail in a public place ever sparked a full story for you?

Had a dream where I spent $80 on a 'dream phone' that only dialed my own number, and it made perfect sense.

Just realized I gave up on being a cartoonist about three years ago

I was cleaning out my closet last weekend and found a box of old sketchbooks from 2021. I used to draw a daily comic strip about my cat and my terrible apartment in Cincinnati. I had this whole plan to post them online and maybe get a book deal. I did it for about six months, then just stopped when my work hours got longer. Looking at them now, they're not great, but they're funny. I feel kind of sad I didn't keep going, even just for myself. It wasn't about being famous, it was just a thing I liked doing that I let slip away. Has anyone else found an old project that made you wonder why you quit?

A guy at a diner in Toledo changed my mind about the moon landing

He just asked me, 'If they faked it, why would the Soviets, who were listening to everything, have congratulated them?' That one question broke the whole thing for me. Anyone else have a simple point that just unraveled a theory for them?

My tent pole snapped in half during a storm in the Redwoods

It happened two nights ago, right as the wind really picked up around midnight. The pole was from my old 3-person tent I've had for about five years. I used a short piece of duct tape and a tent stake to make a splint, which held until morning. Honestly, it was a pretty rough fix and I barely slept. Has anyone else had a pole break and found a better way to patch it up in the field?

Rant: I think we're wrong about saving every single photo. I deleted my entire 2019 album last month.

Just learned how early our first memories can actually form

I was listening to a podcast about memory and they said most people's first clear memory is from around age 3.5. But I found a study from the University of Newfoundland that showed some people can recall specific events from as young as two years old! That really made me think about my own earliest memory of my third birthday cake. Does anyone else have a super early memory that they're sure is real?

My neighbor said air fryer chicken wings are always dry

I heard him talking over the fence yesterday and he was totally convinced you can't get a good wing from an air fryer. I've been making them for my crew's lunch every Friday for about 6 months now, so I told him my method: 180 degrees for 12 minutes, then crank it to 400 for 8 more, tossing halfway. They come out perfect. Has anyone else found a better temp/time combo for wings?