Welcome to Simple Joe. I’m glad you’re here.

On today’s episode of Simple Joe for Monday, January 5, 2026, I kick things off with a truly unsettling but fascinating look at Victorian-era post-mortem photography and how long exposure times made the stillness of the dead appear sharper than the living, which leads to a broader reflection on memory, time, and how differently we capture moments today. I share the weather for Brussels, Belgium and Cincinnati, Ohio, reflect briefly on winter, family time, and disappearing snow, and celebrate birthdays for Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, Bradley Cooper, Clancy Brown, Chuck Noll, January Jones, Bob Eubanks, Irene Cara, Walt Frazier, Pamela Sue Martin, and Marilyn Manson. We take a quick trip back in history to January 5 with James Watt’s improved steam engine patent and Henry Ford’s groundbreaking five-dollar-a-day wage announcement, then recognize National Bird Day, National Screenwriters Day, National Whipped Cream Day, and National Keto Day, including a personal note on why keto works so well for me. As it’s Monday, I also share today’s Interesting Headlines and ask you to let me know which one you’d like me to dig into on Thursday.

Today’s Interesting Headlines:

• A forgotten shipwreck reveals a perfectly preserved 19th-century time capsule
• Teen inventor creates a low-cost device that turns air into drinking water
• New brain scan can reveal thoughts without spoken words
• A man has visited every country in the world without ever boarding a plane
• Retired mailman finally opens a collection of letters people asked him to keep

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