Links: Week Seventeen
This is the week of the Magic Keyboard which I’m using to write this email. If you’re curious, or considering picking one up, the linked review should help you decide. For something more exhaustive, perhaps check out this longer look:
In other news, my company has extended our work from home until at least September, which means I’m going to see so many more movies, and play so much Gran Turismo. I think Snorri will also be stoked to have a human pillow for longer.
I’ve been cooking a lot since getting back from Japan, and this week I made a lot of fresh tortillas, which it turns out are very, very easy to make. If you want them to even better, you’ll have to invest in lard.
Had enough tortillas? Here’s some dessert:
Links
- First, here’s a long video that explores how we ended-up in our precarious economic condition. I’m pretty curious to see what comes of our economic system post-pandemic, as it’s fairly obvious at this point that what we’re doing in the states at least is going poorly. If you haven’t read Octavia Butler’s haunting Parable of Sower, I recommend you do. I don’t fully think we’re in store for raids on wealthy folks’ compounds, but I guess it depends on how long this continues. Spoiler alert—our capitalism isn’t working:
- Perhaps that was a little depressing and long. Have you seen Terrace House? Have you played Animal Crossing? This video was made just for you:
- More of a sports person? Maybe you’re into shooting hoops, and the playground is where you spent most of your days. How about a hoop you can’t miss a shot on?
- Feeling upbeat? Enjoying the vibe? I am too, which is why I plan to enjoy it, take care of the planet, and die without children. I can’t say that I necessarily prescribe to this philosophy, but for various reasons I plan to enjoy my life with my friends and pets, and then leave the world better off than I found it, hopefully. I definitely don’t begrudge folks who have had children, but for quite some time I’ve thought how weird it would be to have to explain to the next generation what it was like to eat fish, or go outside without a mask. I suppose I’m a bit of a pessimist, but that said, if we all take the planet’s condition very, very seriously, we could one day look back at this time as a a turning-point.
- Paul Ford wrote a lovely piece about what we can leave behind as a society that might actually stand the test of time. Folks are a bit maudlin these days, but I’ll be damned if they’re not writing really incredible essays. I’m super curious about the future, and what happens to humanity and our planet. As a lifelong sci-fi fan, I dream about long-distance space-travel through folding or FTL, but if our time does end up being limited, perhaps we’re better off slowing our roll and focusing on conservation instead of “progress”. I’ve never been a big Star Trek fan, but the idea of a global society that operates without capital and lives for adventure seems rather interesting.
It’s almost May, can you believe it? This spring is flying by, despite being mostly confined to my apartment. On Saturday a bunch of dinguses at my apartment decided to have a party, with more than 10 people just laughing it up in the courtyard, and I just don’t get it. I know it sucks for a lot of folks to be alone right now, but for fuck’s sake, don’t have a party! Are you doing with this quarantine ok? Finding anything fun to do? Making great food? Angry about your careless neighbors? Drop me a line.