Good morning. Hello. How are you? #905
Dulingo battles, Trump indictments, stray GMHHAY topic roundup.
Good morning! Hello, fair reader. How are you? I am good. It is sunny outside, the temperature is 54, the AQI is down to 95, after peaking in the 130’s from the Canadian fires, gulp. It is Friday. I had a Business Epiphany™ last night as I was falling asleep, kept me up an extra half hour but it was worth it. I am listening to a band called Soft Kill. They are great. “Rocks & Blows” is a helluva a pop song. I’m preoccupied with the meaning of “Just to see my holly home” by Bonnie Brince Billy. I always assumed “Holly” was an adjective in that song but this morning, while brushing my teeth, it occurred to me that maybe Holly was a person. I should Google the lyrics. Is “Holly” capitalized? Are there official lyrics? Hrm I guess the end of the refrain is “Safe in our holly home” so I suppose it’s not a person. Never mind. We are gonna let that thought go. Farewell, idle thought.
Currently in the lead in my Duolingo diamond league with evil Marco’s only about 500 points behind and Kayla comin up short by only about 1,500. But that’s okay, because what these people don’t know is a) I have stacked up a ton of shit to do with my 2x power ups, and b) I am basically going to spend all day Sunday staying ahead if I have to. I assume Marco and Kayla are normal people with lives and they can’t spend all day Sunday doing Duolingo. This may be a dangerous assumption. My friend Matt wrote to me and said the trick is to not start your Duolingo week until Monday afternoon because the leagues are basically adhoc and that’ll put you in a league with casual people instead of the eager ones. Too late for that, I say! I am only attempting this once. This is no way to live!
Trump. Indictment number 2. Exciting. A lot of my friends seem ho-hum about it but I do think it’ll matter. This dude has two criminal court cases now to deal with during the election, that is not nothing. And there will probably be a third from Fawnie Willis in Georgia soon. And I mean, sure, his die hard fans aint gonna be swayed, but no one else is gonna vote for trump on top of his votes last time round, and a few people will get peeled away. Is it a death knell for Trump? No, not yet. But it ain’t good.
I keep wondering when to open this champagne I was planning on opening back when Hillary didn’t win. I thought I’d open it when he finally lost, but he contested the election results. Then I thought I’d open it when Biden’s election was certified, but January 6th happened, which also ruined Biden’s inauguration for champagne popping. Now I’m saving it for him landing in jail, and/or losing again, except it has to be both, because right now the scenario of the dude going to jail then subsequently winning the election from jail and pardoning himself is not out of the question, and there is zero chance, even then, that Republicans would impeach him. So now I gotta save it for the hat trick of him goign to jail, Biden winning, and taking office without a riot. Good thing chapmagne ages well, this thing has been sitting around a long time now.
Oh man I have nothing today. Just hit a wall. Literally nothing to say. You know what? I’m gonna roll with it. I’m just gonna clear out some lingering notes that have been my “GMHHAY Topics” note and ease on down the road to Walmart (Bonnie Prince Billy callback, or I guess maybe a The Wiz reference holy shit do I need to watch The Wiz again is it in 4k?):
Julian Sands is still missing I feel like we have all forgotten about Julian Sands what a bonkers, Hollywood way for a movie star to go. Is it too soon to say RIP Julian Sands? I think I will choose to maintain hope a few more months. Inexplicably. I always thought that a Room With the View sequel that took place, say, in the Blitz would have been something interesting. I guess we will not get that now.
The other day I got to choose a Chinese name for Nimbus our Chinese trademark application and it was very exciting and fun. I went with 光环广告解决方案公司 and I feel pretty good about it. If you speak Chinese and this is terrible maybe just don’t tell me.
What with Netflix getting out of the rented disk business this fall I have to say that their sevice in the meantime is so comically bad that if they weren’t going out of business, I would probably cancel it. Discs take weeks to arrive. More and more of them are scratched to the level of unplayability. It really is something. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a company just let a service wither and die in quite the same way. I wonder if it is even profitable or if they have just been taking a loss on it ever since the Qwickster debacle. At this point I can’t even say I’ll miss it.
There is a Taylor Swift video, I believe it’s for “When you’re 22” where there is a man in a bear costume playing a dulcimer and I mean come on that’s a thing you just don’t see very often. Nice job, Taylor from yesteryear. Right around the time I got you your Tumblr name, taylorswift.tumblr.com back for you. You’re welcome.
It only just occurred to me that Harvard Business Review magazine does not publish Harvard Business Review case studies. I mean, I guess if I ever stopped and thought about it, I would have known this, considering I have both types of publications in my posession, but I did not stop and think about it until now (or, rather, like two months ago when I added this as a topic) and it seems kinda weird. You can see why I never got around to writing about this utterly pedestrian observation.
We got a new mopping robot, it was absurdly expensive but it fucking rules. We needed one more because of the new house, and I figured that our main house should get the goods, and all of the Youtubers have been raving about the Roborock for quite a while now. And they were right. Kinda crazy you can trust Youtube reviewers, even when they’re paid. Makes me wonder if the Jackery is all right. I really want a Jackery. It is occuring to me a Jackery with solar is a much cheaper option (maybe) for greenhouse power than permits, trenching, etc. Anyway the robot mops. It maps way better than Roomba. Emma and I had a very long discussion about ex Roomba employees being tempted away to Roborock with better options grants and a shot at another liquidity event and what this says about capitalism and enshittificaiton, but putting all that aside, the Roborock S2 Ultra is bad-ass. It is so choice. If you have the means I highly recommend it.
My friend doug alerted me to Hikkomori, or “pulling inward,” also known as “Severe social withdrawl” — a Japanese phenomenon where people drop out of society completely. Says Wikipedia: “total withdrawal from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement. Hikikomori refers to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves. Hikikomori have been described as loners or ‘modern-day hermits’. Estimates suggest that half a million Japanese youths have become social recluses, as well as more than half a million middle-aged individuals.” If you are a Hikkomori expert I just have one clarifying question. Hypothetically, can you be a Hikkomori if you have a substack and a bad exting problem? Hypothetically?
Very excited about this weekend. I mean, what little I’ll have of free time. I got some sweet Total Boat finish that I am gonna use instead of tung oil on the worknbench, so I think I can get that finished this week. Plane the last edge, sand the top some more, and you can put this finish on one coat an hour so I think I can plow through it. That’ll be great. Also have a cheap-ass drone coming so I can map the property and plot out the greenhouse area to comply with setbacks and impermeable barrier limits. VERY EXCITING. All while doing constant Duolingo. And some legit Daddy Jane Dance Parties.
See you Monday!
Moody and quiet for you today. All new. Well, sort of new. I am in that phase where I’m going through the 63 hours of stuff in the “To Investigate” playlist that I have already listened to and giving it a second chance. I have 30 hours left. It’ll take another week. But it needs to be done. Every band, every song, deserves a second chance. Well, you know. The ones that got this far anyway. I do delete albums immediately from the playlist if I just can’t stand them.
Have a lovely weekend!