Michael Garner

Oklahoma creative in Europe. Best friends with @jenniferrhea. Trying to create elegant solutions to complex problems.

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

@saradietschy I’ve always said that anyone can do video when the lighting is good and everything is working correctly. Pros start to separate themselves when things start going sideways, and you can’t properly learn that without going through it.

[George Mack @george__mack]

Spent the last 30 days in America

Some thoughts on the USA vs the UK:

1. Flags - In America, if you fly the national flag -- it's normal. In Britain, if you fly the national flag -- you're labeled a neo-nazi.

2. Accents - In America, if you drive for 2 hours -- people's accents don't change much. In Britain, if you drive for 2 hours -- people's accents change a lot.

3. Work - In American culture, people sell themselves well when meeting strangers. In British culture, you're taught to downplay everything you do.

4. Fashion - In America, the biggest companies are tech. In Europe, the biggest companies are fashion.

If you're European -- you immediately become the top 10% of fashion sense in America.

This rule even applies to Brits -- who are notoriously the worst dressed in Europe.

5. Nice cars - In America, if you have a nice car -- most people will ask: "Wow. What do you do for work?"

In Britain, if you have a nice car -- some people will wait for you to leave it, and scratch their key down the side of it.

6. The British accent - Most Brits don't realize this but Americans love the British accent.

You immediately appear smarter and more attractive than you are. The British accent is a commodity in the rest of the world -- except Britain.

If you have a British accent, the worst ROI you get for it is ironically in Britain.

Unfortunately, the reverse isn't true for American accents.

7. History - In the 1700s, Americans were the ones that decided to get on a random boat for 50 days and travel across the whole world in search of a better life.

The Brits were the ones that said: "What a silly idea. Why would I do that?!"

This historical A/B test can explain 99% of their differences generations later.

8. Decentralisation - In America, if you want to get into politics - Washington.

If you want to get into tech - San Francisco.

If you want to get into finance - New York.

If you want to get into entertainment - LA.

In Britain, if you want to get into elite politics, tech, finance, or entertainment: You move to London.

(Remote work and Manchester's boom is changing this slightly)

9. Anti-Fragile - American kids are told they can do anything. This is great -- but can result in fragile self-esteem when reality meets their imagination.

British kids take the piss out of one another. This looks bad on the surface -- but it results in anti-fragile self-esteem. You learn to publicly laugh at your own insecurities.

10. Comedy - Chris Rock once broke down the difference between him (American) and Ricky Gervais (British).

American comedy is often so loud. They shout to get their joke across to everyone in the room.

British comedy is usually subtle. The best joke is the one that only the smart people in the room understood.

11. Road rage - There appears to be less road rage in America relative to Britain.

In Britain, there are 10x more car horns and fights.

I suspect this might be because of bigger roads -- or that you're unsure if the person you're starting a fight with has a gun.

12. Naming conventions - America often calls things what they are.

E.g. Joshua Tree in LA -- because it has a lot of Joshua Trees.

In British culture, it's more obscure.

E.g. Big Ben's own Wikipedia page has a debate about why a clock is called Big Ben. All we know is it involved some bloke called Ben.

13. War scar tissue - During WW1 and WW2, Britain saw millions of people die near their own soil. Major British cities got bombed into rubble.

Americans have barely seen any losses near their land. And the wars where they did take damage (E.g. Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam) - they were all so far away from America.

As a result, the British culture is more stoic. Brits mentally prepare for the worst outcome. It's the spirit that got us through watching our country get blown up twice.

Bonus thought:

14. Meta point - I poked more fun at Britain than America.

Why? Because I'm British. And mocking yourself rather than someone else is a very British thing to do.

And I love that part of British culture.

------

Nuance: This is largely satire from my own personal observations. The sample size is 1 and none of the above is a scientific fact.

[Amanda Goetz @AmandaMGoetz]

If you hire someone because they are good at their job

then tell them exactly what to do, when to do it and how to do it

And then wonder why your company isn’t innovating or growing

It’s because of you.
You are the limiting factor.

Hire great people
Tell them what success looks like
Give them the resources
And let them go!

Micromanaging is the death of creativity and motivation.

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

@NEWS9 @tornadopayne Beautiful cloud to cloud lightning earlier in S.OKC (slo-mo video) #okwx

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

@chasingscratch0 Was playing the other day as a solo, got paired with a duo and one of them was named Rick, so I got to say a legit “come on Rick!” during the round. #lglg

[Rich Villodas @richvillodas]

Cynicism is not a fruit of the Spirit.

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

@loswhit Two things tie for me - we have an @anthonyburrill print that says “work hard and be nice to people” and my dad, who says “dumber people than us have figured this stuff out”.

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

@kevinely This might be my favorite tweet of the year so far :)

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

@lecrae Don’t get a new degree, get a coach. Mine is https://t.co/5iJ1fg4hAP

[Jon Sherman @practicalgolf]

A 15 hcp can hit a tour-level shot at any moment.

But an average baseball player can't throw a 95 mph heater or hit a 400-foot HR.

I think this is part of why golf drives us insane sometimes. We get glimpses of grandeur.

[Marques Brownlee @MKBHD]

Happy Family Tech Support weekend, fellow nerds 🤓

[Houston Molinar @Chop_Huey]

Make it make sense —

OU had 40% of its roster decimated and we go 6-6 and the narrative is Brent can’t coach.

LR tampered to get some of the best players in the nation and gets blown out in the Pac12 title game and the narrative is he doesn’t have all of his pieces yet?

[Chris Do @theChrisDo]

Futur Euro Tour 2023—
2 Full day workshops:
Business Clinic/Personal Branding
$750 USD (team pricing available)

Contact: @annelihansson74
Sales page coming later this week.
*Dates subject to change

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

@CoinCrewGames @iam8bit @skyboundgames We were ready! Downloaded and started playing with my daughters!

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

@theChrisDo @annelihansson74 Prague would be a good city for the list as well. Unfortunately I’ll be back in the US during that time, otherwise I’d be happy to attend.

[THE ROCKET MAN @THEROCKETMgviq]

If OU & OSU continue this way, Bedlam will be an 8am kick on the Ocho

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

“Whoever says he is in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness. Whoever loves his brother abides in the light, and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness…” https://t.co/x4gL1JiF3S

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

Sometimes TEAMS transcriptions are not so good. To be clear, this is NOT what I said in the meeting :)

[Kalib Hicks @HicksKalib]

Ten toes down.. #LOVE

[Michael Garner @mgnovelty]

So many people need to see this.
https://t.co/BO1laYImRJ