/reader

Question came up on TPM as to whether the blogosphere might reboot in Substack. The author concluded it can't, and I agree. Here's why. "One thing the blogosphere had that Substack can’t have is all parts were replaceable. You could use any blogging tool, and any feed reader and still be part of the world. Substack is a single company that has raised VC money. Vastly different incentives." And this has been tested. You have to use their editor to publish in their enviroment. They're unable to let you see their product as part of a toolset, it has to be the whole thing.#

You know how the AI companies are all doing browsers. Why don't they have a local url that I could put into an <a> element that pops up the result of a question asked of the chatbot. Something like this. When you click on the link you find out what the Mets did. #

I'm okay with Trump destroying the White House step by step. We're going to need a lot of new things once he's done. There's going to be a lot of broken stuff that needs fixing. Feces covered monuments. Probably a new cemetary somewhere for his victims. But you know how when the Mets were defeated by the determined Yankees in Shea Stadium in 2000, we tore down the old stadium and built a new one. Same thing. The old White House will have served its purpose. We shouldn't even build a new White House on that location, just like we shouldn't have built a skyscraper in place of the World Trade Center. I wanted to see a mosque and a synagogue, a new football stadium, perhaps. A nice park. A place for a camp fire. Anything but an indestructable office building. We have so many of them. But where are the spaces for kids to play and learn and be friends. No, in place of the White House, I want to see a gorgeous public library. A place of learning. And a softball field and a nice swimming pool. We can tell the kids that once a bad old man lived here, and we decided it'd be more fun to have a big playground instead. #

Really, the only thing I wanted to say about it is that as someone who lives in a city the federal government desperately wants to depict as war-torn and -ravaged but which responded to such by instead assembling a motley crew of inflatable animal costumes—and calling up the wonder and joy that is #BananaBloc—that all began with an expressly antifascist frog who got shot in the vent with pepper spray, I greatly appreciated the fact that the people of Staten Island when faced with the first-ever Purge experiment mostly just seemed to throw block parties.

(If you’re been reading me for awhile, the idea of inflatable antifascist animal costumes and brass bands dressed as bananas should seem familiar to you.)

As in The First Purge, if the authorities here in the real world want to depict a city as riven by violence they will find a way to do so. In the late afternoon and early evening after Portland’s wildly successfully No Kings protest this past Saturday, federal officers and agents at the ICE building in South Portland did their damnedest on two separate occasions to generate footage of the street billowing with smoke, almost as if Dog-Killer Barbie had ordered war footage with which to deny that the events of No Kings had been peaceful.

Anyway, The First Purge went over well here, so I might or might not start making my way through the rest of them, although so far no one has answered me when I’ve asked them if the others in the series (and I guess there was a season of television, too) also are worth watching.

Reply by email • Tip $1/month • Thank you for using RSS • Oct. 25: Birthday

 

I had my first lussebulle of the year today.

This delicious pastry is a soft saffron bun baked especially for Lucia Day in December. They arrived early this year, and I couldn’t resist having one. So good!

I got curious to find out if the lussebulle (lusse is like a nickname for Lucia, bulle means bun in Swedish) was something typical for Sweden. Turns out it pretty much is. I’d never thought about it before, it’s just something I take for granted.

While sipping my coffee, I kept thinking about taking things for granted. It’s so easy to do. We’re so used to it, so why even bother thinking about it, right?

But some of the things we expect, or even demand, would be a dream come true for others: a home, a job, family and friends, good health, food, clean water, freedom, peace, equality...

Being able to check off just a few of those each day is a rare luxury for many people. What’s a given for us has been taken away from them.

Let’s not forget.

Do you floss your teeth?

Sometimes. I’d say maybe a few times a week? I’m terrible at being consistent, and that includes flossing regularly.

Tea, coffee, or water?

Coffee in the morning, tea (sometimes) later in the day, not enough water the rest of the time. Did I mention I’m terrible at being consistent? That includes drinking enough water.

Footwear preference?

Right now, I’d say flip flops, even though they are a terrible choice when you have to walk around the woods.

Favourite dessert?

Probably Crema catalana. It’s the one dessert I’m resisting the temptation to buy what’s needed to make it myself at home because I know I’d end up eating it every day, three times a day.

The first thing you do when you wake up?

I say hi to the dog that’s for sure sleeping somewhere near.

Age you’d like to stick at?

From a purely physical perspective, I’d say 22. If I have to consider all factors, I’d say 36. And I’m 36.

How many hats do you own?

Do beanies and toques count as hats? Because if they do, then I own 7 hats. If they don’t, then I’m down to 3.

Describe the last photo you took?

It’s from a walk with the dog the other day: clear sky and some tree branches and leaves illuminated by a lovely light. Most of my gallery looks like that.

Worst TV show?

I don’t watch TV, and the last time I watched a TV series, I think it was in the dark days of the COVID shutdown, which happened what, 32 years ago? I don’t even know what’s on TV these days.

As a child, what was your aspiration for adulthood?

The oldest memory I have of a job I wanted to do was car designer. I remember loving seeing yellow FIAT Coupé around. Funny because now I couldn’t care less about cars.

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