Hey!
We're halfway through the 2nd week of the 2nd month of the 2nd year of the 2nd decade of this century. Time flies! 🕑 ✈
Way back when I first moved to Amsterdam, my manager busted me for using emojis in my emails. Much to his chagrin, high-profile customers gleefully replied with emojis in their emails as well! 😆
Here I am eight years later writing a newsletter adorned with emojis and 235 issues strong. 💪
So, imagine my stoke when I came across this scientific report on the "Classification of 74 facial emoji’s emotional states on the valence-arousal axes"! What the hell is valence you ask? 🤔
According to a study published on Frontiers in Psychology .org; "Valence refers to the pleasantness or unpleasantness of an emotional stimulus. Nearly all events and experiences, such as faces, sounds, music, art, pictures, written or spoken language, and many others can be classified along this dimension as more or less positive or negative."
In other words, "Valence is a basic building block of emotional life" 🧱
The emoji emotion valence study I found kicks off with a claim that:
"Emoji, a powerful non-verbal communication tool, is frequently used by individuals globally to express their emotional states as part of daily communication"
Can't really argue with that and, spoiler alert, they determined that "facial emojis were found to comprehensively express the human emotional states." 🫂
All of that is to say emoji emotion is real and don't let any boomers tell you otherwise! 💕
Some resources for finding the right s/emotion/emoji when you're feeling verklempt: emojidb.org & emojicombos.com.
thank you, as always, for reading & sharing this newsletter,
Jon
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📷 banner image: by yours truly today in Vondel Park earlier today for the Brompton Benelux account. Please give it a follow! : )
Cycling
What Would Mary Do?
Back in the summer of 1936, 17-year-old Mary Harvie set out from Glasgow with her two sisters Ella and Jean to ride their bikes more than 500 miles between youth hostels in the Scottish Highlands. 85 years after Mary’s trip, Philippa, Alice & Lee follow in their tracks..
Great story & beautiful images! 🥰
Why Doesn't Bike Snob Wear a Bicycle Helmet?
Personally, I wear a lid when I skate and race but not when I'm riding from place to place. 🪖
Frame Bag Guide from Campfire Cycling
I'm more of a front rack kind of guy but I know I'll be sharing this link with every bikepacking n00b I cross paths with. 🤓
Ideas
An incomplete history of Forbes.com as a platform for scams, grift, and bad journalism
That "rapper" accused of billions in crypto fraud was also a Forbes contributor. Is it finally time to move past the contributor network?
Pretty sure I agree that Forbes has become the best way to disguise PR as news. (I know I've linked there over the years. Oops!) 🤭
Stop Using These Phrases in Meetings
OMG PLZ. 🤦
A fireside chat about the tech side of bikepacking via IG Live
@jamesmarkhayden and Joergen of @Parallelhandbuilt are going live! On Instagram! Tomorrow! Click here for the reminder!
Thursday 17 Feb, 19h CET
p.s. I know this could have gone into the 'friends' section but it had 3 links already & I renamed this one Ideas. ; ) 💡
Friends
The Car That Wanted to Be a Bike
lol. Everyone keeps tagging me in this & sending it to me.
I'm flattered 🙃
New bike brand from Berlin: Basic Bikes
Great to see friends getting props for passion projects! ❤️🔥
My friend Camille McMillan also got a very impressive Der Spiegel nod about his bikepacking experience (Camille, I know it's not a 'race') Further in the Pyrenees.
Jost, will you race a Basic Bikes build in Camille's event?
3 Loops Legends: Feb 26 & 27
A whole host of friends of Twotone like Wahoo, Chimp Bars, Dynamic Bike Care, Bicycling.nl, komoot and Ride Out are supporting the BBB Season Starter: The 3 Loops Legends event 🔃 🔃 🔃
And another intentionally less extreme but equally as great season-opening series of rides; that's perfect for women just getting into group rides are theRide Out Women's riding clinics.
Radness
A Cyclist on the English Landscape
We recently kicked off with Chater-Lea (more about that soon!) and Roff's images set the bar for the aesthetic we're shooting for. Enjoy!