Had this idea my job was just to notice and post shit for which the only “market” is people who want to think about things they might not otherwise have considered.

Sometimes I imagine I’m watching a movie and things unfold cinematically, frame by frame. Like a word-class cinematographer is doing every shot. The East River at dusk, the highway traffic signs, the slow-speed airport traffic, the skinny untrimmed highway-side trees. It all portends something profound but you don’t yet know what, so you notice things.

Sometimes you gotta finish what you’re doing before you can move on, but other times you just need to drop it. Advice fails because the whole game is about discernment, not heuristics.

It’s odd how I get caught up in habits for hours or days, like a zombie and then have moments of crystal clarity where I know exactly what’s up.

Of course I got a scratchy throat after three days of jet lag sleep and the change to windy fall weather. Gonna will myself to kill this off with only the most minor symptoms. Sleep a few hours on the plane, get ready for my Padel tournament tomorrow. Physics rules over biology and mind rules over physics.

you assholes need to capitulate, sell everything, then we can have Uptober.

The fuck happened to Uptober?

Still use a beaten up IPhone 8, zero desire to get a new phone, but it doesn’t take the latest updates, and apps are starting not to work.

Say what you want about NYC, but it destroys Europe for breakfast options. Bacon, eggs, steak, potatoes and a pot of black coffee cost $50 with tip but quality is very high.

Bought a used car from a former friend a couple years ago, turns out it had a flaw where one of the crucial belts gives out every 2Ok miles. Thought I was getting a Citroen, but really was a Citron.

I remember seeing (x+1) ^ 2 in math class and thinking it would just be x^2 + 1. But it’s actually x ^2 + 2x +1. Okay fine, you have to multiply out each term by each term. The x * x, the x * 1, the other x * the other 1 and 1 *1. I just took this for granted, like it was just how you’re supposed to do it via the formula. But if you look at it on a piece of graph paper, say draw a 2 x 2 square, and say, if x = 2, what is (x +1) ^ 2? Well you keep the x ^ 2 (the box with area 4), and you add 2x (2) to the top of the box and 2x to the side of the box, but then there’s one small square missing, so you add that, and now you have a 3 x 3 box. And you do it again to get a 4 x 4 square, just add another 3 on top, 3 on the side, and fill in the one that’s missing. And you can keep going, and the formula makes perfect sense. And you realize to go from x ^ 2 to (x + 1) ^ 2, you can always just add x + (x+1) to x ^2. Or 2x +1 to x ^2. That’s why a 4 x 4 square = 16. And a 5 x 5 square = 16 + (2 * 4) +1. And a 6 x 6 square = 25 plus (2 * 5) + 1. Etc. So if you want to calculate 101 squared in your head, you can just do 100^2 = 10K, plus 100, plus 101 - 10,201. And 101 ^ 2 = 10,201 plus 101 plus 102 - 10,404. Etc. Maybe this is obvious to some people, but it blew my mind how you can do this easily in your head.

I spent the entire seven hour flight battling a tough Sudoku. I even spilled water on it at one point and had to let it dry. I defeated it 40 minutes before we landed. I felt as though the fate of me and my fellow passengers depended on my completing it.

They would never allow this in a million years for obvious reasons. People would just stop paying for 95 percent of things. Might as well just end income tax entirely at that point. View quoted note →

Ate some yogurt at my brother’s house, upscale fancy brand. Tasted a little off, but figured that’s because it’s the fancy stuff. Then I noticed the expiration date was 8/14, had been open in the fridge for two months! No mold though. Deciding whether to worry about this or not.

Waiting at the gate some millennial libs were talking animatedly about politics. The theme was their magnanimity in not de-friending people who had abhorrent views, you know like being against “gender affirming care.” It was this nervous attempt to find uncomfortable consensus amongst themselves for how to deal with dissenting views. It actually took some restraint for me not to say something along the lines of: “You people don’t know ANYTHING about anything.” Just lost souls grasping at phantoms.

Really enjoyed the night time cab ride from JFK to the city. Sikh cabbie driving the minivan like a maniac, making great time, like Virgil leading me through the various underworlds on the outskirts of town. Decrepit motels with only one letter of the neon sign half blinking, places no doubt where overdoses and rapes are commonplace. Then the run down houses with full views of the highway, various stretches of housing projects, apartments blue-lit by TV screens. Through the midtown tunnel and I’m in a futuristic glass and steel world, superimposed on the old beautiful city with upscale bistros, bars and galleries. Time travel from old Europe. Driver drops me off at my destination, tip him well, thank him for the excellent, speedy driving. Could tell he took pride in risking our lives so skillfully and appreciated the sincere compliment.

Haha — no doubt View quoted note →

90 YO uncle having some cognitive issues,sister in law arranges to have a caretaker swing by his place to help him out. But when she knocks on the door, he refuses to let her in, tells my brother afterward he wants someone younger and more attractive.

People at airports are increasingly unhealthy looking, and many of them seem insane.

Feel like something’s cracking which is why there’s a sell-off. People need to raise dollars desperately.