The Saturday List — January 31, 2026

What I'm Watching, Reading, Listening to, and Rediscovering

Jan 31, 2026

New here? Welcome! We do this on Substack each Saturday…here’s the obligatory button, and then…Let’s Go!

Watching: My Interview with Marc Moschetto of The Rational Workforce

Before I spoke with Marc this past Thursday, we had sent text messages back and forth about how far we wanted to go into the “Third Rail” issues. By the time we taped our discussion, we had pretty much figured that we’d hit all the issues. Neurodivergence in the workplace? Check. Is HR really messed up? Check. Did companies not say enough about what’s happening in Minneapolis, or did they say too much? Check.

Marc has a YouTube channel of his own and you should check it out.

As for our interview, it’s almost 67 minutes. Ha. 6-7. Anyway…

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Reading: When Money Dies, by Adam Fergusson

This is one of those books that embodies whole thing about history not repeating but certainly rhyming; that idea was front-and-center as I was putting together this newsletter.

Adam Fergusson’s When Money Dies has this subtitle: “The Nightmare of Deficit Spending, Devaluation, and Hyperinflation in Weimar Germany.”

So while I was watching the precious metals markets go through crazy drops on Friday, I was reminded of the rush to tangible assets that’s detailed in this book. Citizens buying whatever they could hold onto because the German mark inflated, then hyperinflated. From the Amazon preview of the book:

In 1923, with its currency effectively worthless (the exchange rate in December of that year was one dollar to 4,200,000,000,000 marks), the German republic was all but reduced to a barter economy. Expensive cigars, artworks, and jewels were routinely exchanged for staples such as bread; a cinema ticket could be bought for a lump of coal; and a bottle of paraffin for a silk shirt. People watched helplessly as their life savings disappeared and their loved ones starved. Germany's finances descended into chaos, with severe social unrest in its wake.

It’s sobering as heck.

Listening to: “I’m Only Joking,” by Kongos

This is one of those songs that stopped me in its tracks the first time I heard it, and it has stayed on my YouTube playlist ever since.

Released in 2014, “I’m Only Joking” by Kongos is possibly a song that only a band like Kongos could have produced. It sounds a little like their native South Africa — the four brothers are from Pretoria, but they graduated high school in Scottsdale, Arizona — and it is also bombastic enough that you may not be surprised the band is made up four brothers.

I have always been struck by the drum work in this song; I could also never put my finger on just what was happening. (Focus on the bump-pa-bump-pa-bump…etc. in the middle of the song switching to bump-bump-bump-bump, which Billie Eilish ALSO noticed way back when.) In the third video below, I get my answer. Finally.

Before that, though, here’s the music video and a live performance of the song. Please enjoy. With my compliments.

(The Official Music Video.)