The Vampire test
"There is a test to determine whether someone is toxic or nourishing in your relationship with them," writes Austin Kleon. "Here is the test: You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn't matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energised or less energised. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life. What's really funny is that the test came out in 2014, way before the What We Do In The Shadows film, which features one of my all-time favourite characters, Colin Robinson, a self-proclaimed "energy vampire". Children don't count. Their job is to suck you dry." (Via @austinkleon)
Remember that game of cricket?
Reddit user Roshaan Khan compiled an insightful infographic, based on Google Trends popular searches, to show this year at a glance. The constants of 2020 were death and TikTok.
Office email misfires
A meticulously crafted and devastatingly detailed passive-aggressive office email has received a short, cheerful response. Francesca Johnson spent 175 minutes drafting the message about the marketing team's failure to RSVP for the official Christmas Zoom party, and believed it to be a true masterpiece of the genre. She said: "It had everything. Ostensibly polite, but with a vicious, bubbling undercurrent of very palpable rage. I was certain that by the end of my polemic that Lucy would be left a trembling mess and that she'd take a few days to reflect on my request to be sensitive to others' deadlines. Instead, within 45 seconds, she replied 'my bad!' "(Via The Daily Mash)
Dancing with My Elf
A Christmas version of Billy Idol's 1985 hit track Dancing with Myself sprinkled with a cheerful dash of Jingle Bells.