Good Morning John I recently realized that  I have an obsession I didn’t know about,  which is, not that unusual for me.

I was just scrolling through my photos,  like ya do, and noticed I had taken pictures  of a lot of signs in the last couple of weeks. So then I just searched my Google Photos for “signs”  and I found out that I have taken like hundreds of pictures of signs  over the last 15 years.

The earliest one was actually  from 2004, so we’re gettin up close to 20,  and a lot of them are just objectively very good. So I’m going to share with you now, my favorites. One thing that I love about a sign is if it tells me more than it   thinks it's telling me.

For example this “Swan Hunters Must Have  Visible Means of Retrieval” sign told me that there are swan hunters  in the world and that, sometimes, they shoot a swan that they  cannot retrieve, and that that…is a problem  that can only really be avoided in one way. This sign told me that pit toilets  are cleaned by human beings which is something that I probably  should have known, but didn’t it also just has  a tremendous kick ass aesthetic with all of the scratch graffiti. This sign told me that somebody kicked the pony.

I also like secret signs… like this one I found on the inside  door a mailbox. I also like signs that tell me there’s  a story without telling me what the story is. Like these three signs that all say “do not enter” but one of them  has been taped over.

Like, why? Why tape over one?  There is a story here. I cannot imagine what it is.

I like a beautiful sign,  but I also like a sign that becomes more beautiful. Like this railway maker, the way that the coating on the sign  fractaled differently given the different   shape of the W and the 5. Same with these two danger signs.

So great, and this rusted up beast  was at that same power station  which was behind the lab I worked at in 2004 These are the oldest photos I have of signs.  Possibly, this was the beginning  of my obsession. Oh, so long ago.  Aging signs seem to be something I’m into.  I looked at this one for a really long time,  but I could never figure out what the danger was. And then there is this sign marker  the end of a trail in the national bison range  and I have taken pictures of so many times,  that I have a catalog of it’s deterioration!

I love signs that try to be very clear and succeed,  like this danger sign I saw in Italy. But I also love signs that try TOO HARD to be very clear,  like this no e-bikes sign that has  One Two  Three Four  different indicators that it’s talking SPECIFICALLY about e-bikes. Very clearly every person in the meeting had a different idea  of how to represent e-bikes and they decided to use all of them.

But most of all, my favorite genre of sign,  it’s clear in looking through them is signs that are accidentally funny. But before we get to that, I need to remind you that  you are going to need to buy socks throughout your life,  but instead of that being a chore, I want to take care of it for you. The awesome socks club will send you a pair of socks  designed by a different independent artist every month.

We’ve worked hard to make them cozy and durable and delightful. Shipping is free, you can cancel any time,  and all of the profit goes to decrease maternal and   child mortality in Sierra Leone. You can sign up for ankle socks or mid-calf crews socks and you get  $5 off your first month with the link in the description.

You can pause the video right now, I will be here when you get back. So what do I mean by unintentionally funny signs,  well there’s a hall of fame example here in Missoula Montana. This sign,  which is meant to be two signs, but it is impossible to read it as one.

Certain misspelled signs can be very funny.  For example,this YALD SALE sign was a huge win for me. Once I really hit the jackpot when they were reorganizing my grocery store–  We’ve got snack time, eye-care and feminine care,  Breakfast juices and candy, as well as “baby care, bleach, dish soap” This one I can’t really tell if it was meant to be funny.  It seemed entirely sincere so I’m including it. Then there’s this giant bronze banana in Palm Springs,  one of the hottest places in America.

It’s hot.  It’s a hot banana. It’s a Hot banana. I’m on the edge of weather this is a sign,  but these labeled poster boxes from the DFTBA warehouse,  which can either be read top to bottom or bottom to top,  giving very different perspectives on the human story.

And then I'm gonna end with one of my faves. Is it my favorite? I don’t know,  Maybe, Maybe it is!  But please don’t flash the Octopus!  it’s.

It's at least in the top tier. John, you can only sign up for the Awesome Socks Club for the next week,  so you might as well do it now… I’ll see you on Tuesday Oh look and as a special present, this is wild,  I have fifteen extra seconds in this video even though the script  was very long. So, I don't know what I did--  I guess I talked really fast.

But here’s some others of my favorites.  Okay.  Five dollars off the awesome socks club with a link in the description.