Good morning. Hello. How are you? #726
Walmart, Carter, Eth Merge, Papa Buffet deigned to save us all, Ukraine, Lisa
Good morning! Hello! How are you? All well? I am good. My arm still hurts from my booster. Been four days. Is that weird? Probably not.
Just back from Walmart. Went on a Thursday because Emma is doing breakfast today cuz she is taking Jane to the dentist this morning. Jane is excited. We will see if that excitement sustains itself. We may have talked up the magical present closet a bit too much. Fingers crossed.
Walmart was lovely, they had both Lightyear and Elvis on 4k UHD. I did not buy either. I am being responsible. I’ve spent too much money lately, it is bad. Need to reign it in. That being said, I am currently ripping Cannonball Run and Cannonball Run II to Plex, but only in 1080p, because I purchased the double Blu Ray online because Cannonball Run was a formative film in my childhood. I am absolutely, completely positive it’s gonna hold up on rewatch. Zero doubt.
Had a lovely interaction with my state rep and governor on Twitter yesterday:
I did notice at Walmart that a lot of the Mt Special Flavors do come in a “Zero Sugar” variety, but not a Diet variety. I am old I want a Diet variety I don’t go in for that newfangled Zero Sugar nonsense.
Decided to do the Walmart errand this morning as opposed to Friday, like I usually do, in case, you know, capitalism died while I was asleep: an event which had, not unusually, a non-zero chance! Bacause last night godfather of American capitalism, papa bear Warren Buffet, whose Berkshire Hathaway owns BNSF railroad, decided to throw us a bone and, you know, not completely tank the American economy because some railroad workers wanted (checks notes) sick days. So I guess he gets to keep his magnanimous, good guy image. If I am being honest, I own a little Berkshire Hathaway, let’s look it up here. I own… $3,341 worth of it. I was really ready to sell that off this morning if the strike happened. He definitely would have noted my protest.
Last night Ethereum mainnet merged to the Proof of Stake net successfully. It finally happened. In that big crypto post that I wrote back earlier in the year when I was obviously at the height of boredom, I predicted it would actually happen this year, and people were discounting it. Look! It happened. Not gonna say I told you so, but, you know, told you so. Ethereum successfully reduced its power consumption by 99%, 0.2% of the world’s total, the same power consumption as Finland. It was Very Bad Indeed it was using that much power, but… now it’s not. Good for them. Really is an accomplishment, and deserves to be acknowledged as such.
Speaking of “told you so,” my appreciation of Carter is on a rollercoaster ride as we get to the energy crisis in Reaganland. I super loved how at the beginning he was just flat-out unsympathetic and honest to the American people. Basically he said: “Look. I have been going on for years about an impending energy crisis and you all mocked me, and congress wouldn’t pass any of the laws I asked for to help prevent it, and now you’re all whining like babies that it’s my fault. Well, I fuckin told you so, so suck it up you losers.” And I geniunely appreciated that. If anything I fault him for saying it in slightly too nice of language. Shoulda actually called everyone babies. But still. Good on ya.
But then he goes on this weird-ass vision quest and hides out at Camp David for, like, two weeks, ferrying all sorts of people there to “listen” to them. He listens to the christians (though doesn’t bother with the evangelicals because he hasn’t grasped their power yet), the governors, the philosophers, the economists, etc. He sneaks away to Pennsylvania, guided by his coke-addled lunatic of an advisor, and hangs out with some regular people at their houses getting insight into the energy crisis. He’s full on buddha and most of the time he just sits there on the floor cross-legged lie he’s at a freakin’ self-help workshop at Powder Mountain or something. I mean it’s kind of fun and kind of cool but also everyone is freaking out and their president just… disappeared. And then he gave his Malaise Speech, which was super good, I gotta admit. I’ve only ever heard of it from Republicans mocking it, but, yeah, solid Gen-X self-loathing manna, A+. And everyone eats it up. Then he blows it.
Lotta ups and downs with Carter.
I do wish more presidents would just call Americans babies, though. I really eat that shit up.
Did you guys read this article by the phenomenal Ed Yong on Long Covid and “Brain Fog” in Atlantic three days ago? My god, it is so crazy. Brain fog! So bad! So benignly named! So much worse than the name implies. That is some serious shit, and a ton of people have it and a ton of people who have had Covid who don’t yet know they have it can also have it. Millions of people are going to just be… I mean, pardon the negative connotations here, but… dumber. Is the American government and health system going to acknowledge it? Are these people going to be able to get long-term disability? Because they should! And what’s going to happen if something like twenty million more people go on long-term disability? Is anyone even thinking about this? Why do I get the sneaking feeling they will somehow carve out brain fog from long-term disability payments? Because, after all, lol, it’s just called “brain fog” not something, you know, more accurate, like Virus-Instigated Permanent Imparement of Cognition. VIPIC. You heard it hear first.
It is bad! It is very bad!
These people need a union. They need to start paying dues and hire some freakin lobyists. But as my wife points out, how can they, they all have major cognition issues! Sorry, morbid humor there. Inappropriate. But still. They need lobbyists! They need to organize! Okay some Googling tells me there is a Long Covid Alliance. A good start.
Man what a crazy world we live in. Weird diseases permantly changing the lives of 20 million people. Mythica magical currencies using then stopping to use noticable chunks of all of the electricity on the planet. Plutocrats holding the fate of the economy in their hands. Well, that part was ever-thus, I suppose.
And Ukraine! That’s crazy shit. Sorry, I am rambling today, but it’s really just struck me how crazy this year has been. That war is still going. Remember the first days of it? Remember the convoy? That feeling of dread that no one was going to stop Putin? And then the convoy getting bogged down, and then the Ukrainian army surprising everyone. And still being at it and winning? Shit they might get the Crimea back! I know that’s still wishful thinking but I’m still so burned up over the Crimea. At the very least I want the Ukrainians to blow up that stupid-ass, kleptocratic bridge over the Kerch Strait. It’s been burning me up since I first read about the major graft involved in, god, let’s look it up. 2017. I just want it to go.
Man, I’m just a random dude in rural North Carolina who likes gardening and journaling it is maybe not so healthy to obsess over a bridge 5,500 miles away.
Finally, my friend Lisa has been going through some shit. Stomach cancer, operation, pain, recovery, misery, sickness. It is a lot. She’s been writing her way through all of it and it is beautiful and harrowing and I’m thinking about her daily. I try to write intelligent things in the comments to make her feel better, but I am so, so bad at that, writing words that sound wise. Because how do you sound wise reading about a level of pain you’ve never experienced. But I know the important thing is to write words, any words, to remind her that she has friends who care and are thinking about her. And I am deeply thankful for her because it’s been helping me maintain perspective, remembering everything I have, all I’m thankful for. Which is very much about me, and I apologize. She’s a hero, she maybe doesn’t see it that way, maybe only sees how she could be doing better, but to me, she is phenomenally strong, honest, and true. I’m not a thoughts-and-prayers kind of person, but if you could spare a positive thought for her, it sure couldn’t hurt.
All right all right, god, I am so late today. And I probaby don’t even have a playlist done. This is probably not going out for another hour.
All right, well, in honor of giving Nick a Moev cassette for his new car, and because it was almost done, and because it has been a while, here’s an industrial dance compilation. Couple new tracks on here, actually. The Poppies, in greatly reduced form, are still aroundf. And the new Place to Bury Strangers has some pretty industrial remixes, and Justin Broderick is still doing his thing. Hor is Greg Ginn from Black Flag that guy has so many side projects.
Until tomorrow!