I want to put aside more obvious targets for a minute and focus on one of the most inexplicable members of the administration... "Little" Marco Rubio.

This one-time presidential hopeful once said "Donald Trump is a serious threat to the future of our party, and our country"... only to turn around and become one of the biggest boot-lickers in our political history. I swear it's almost as if Trump put him in this position just so he has somebody he can routinely humiliate in some kind of elaborate revenge scenario for all the awful things that Rubio has said about him.

This was made abundantly clear when Trump bought Little Marco shoes that were too big, but he had to wear them anyway...

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images via CNN

   
That's expert-level trolling right there, but it's just the beginning...

President Donald Trump has undercut his top diplomat’s explanation for the war in Iran as he provided yet another contradictory rationale for his military intervention. On Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio made a jaw-dropping admission: the U.S. struck Iran because Israel was planning to strike first—and Washington feared Tehran would retaliate against American forces. But asked about this on Tuesday, Trump rejected this explanation outright as Rubio sat two seats away in the Oval Office.

I can only assume that Marco will be fired sometime soon when the president needs another distraction for a new scandal. I mean, that's what he's pre-broadcasting for Karoline "You're Doing a Terrible Job" Leavitt right now, so it's only a matter of time... right?

But in the meanwhile, Rubio doesn't need any help from Trump. He's been teeing himself up to be a total joke that's intent on completely killing what little remains of his political career for over a year now.

My favorite has him siding with Trump's mandate that "Birthright Citizenship" be terminated. A total flip-flop from 9 years ago when Rubio was a hard-liner for it. As well he should be, because he would be one of the first to be deported given that he was born to Cuban immigrants who were not citizens at the time of his birth. And I don't know how this affects Don Jr., Eric, and Ivana given that their mother wasn't a US citizen either. Maybe they'll end up being too tall to deport or develop bone spurs so they can't be deported on humanitarian grounds?

And then we come to the reason for my writing this post. On March 30th Little Marco sat down for an interview with George Stephanopoulos. It was all a bunch of bullshit, but mixed in with that was this nugget right here...

"Imagine an Iran that, instead of spending their wealth, billions of dollars, supporting terrorists or weapons, had spent that money helping the people of Iran. You’d have a much different country." — Marco Antonio Rubio, Secretary of State

WELL I CAN'T FUCKING IMAGINE IT, DIPSHIT, BECAUSE I LIVE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA WHERE WE SPEND BILLIONS ON WEAPONS WHILE ALIENATING OURSELVES FROM THE REST OF THE WORLD BY TURNING ALLIES INTO ENEMIES SO WE'RE STANDING WITH OUR PANTS AROUND OUR ANKLES ON THE WORLD STAGE THEN STARTING A WAR THAT COSTS EVEN MORE BILLIONS! — BUT I DO IMAGINE A DIFFERENT COUNTRY FOR US... DAILY. A COUNTRY WHERE PEOPLE CAN AFFORD TO BUY GROCERIES, HAVE SHELTER, AND NOT GO INTO BANKRUPTCY IF THEY GET CANCER. A COUNTRY WHERE BILLIONAIRES AND MILLIONAIRES PAY THEIR FUCKING SHARE INSTEAD OF GETTING ALL THE BREAKS THAT REGULAR CITIZENS DON'T. A COUNTRY WHICH LIVES UP TO THE FREEDOMS AND IDEALS THAT WE CLAIM TO OFFER, BUT HAVE BEEN CHIPPED AWAY FOR DECADES AT AN ESCALATING PACE TOWARDS FASCISM. A COUNTRY THAT DOESN'T HAVE GOVERNMENT CORRUPTION BUILT-IN. A COUNTRY WHERE PEDOPHILES AND RAPISTS FACE CONSEQUENCES FOR THEIR ABHORRENT ACTIONS NO MATTER HOW MUCH MONEY AND POWER THEY HAVE. A COUNTRY WHICH ISN'T RUN BY HEINOUS LEVELS OF STUPIDITY. GIVE ME THAT, AND MAYBE... JUST MAYBE... I'LL BE ABLE TO IMAGINE IT FOR IRAN.

I am nearing pathological levels of rage over where we're at right now. And idiots like Little Marco pouring gas on the fire doesn't help one bit.

In college I was in an astronomy class where the instructor invited people to take a stab at what the most valuable thing in the universe might be. Guesses started out with gold and platinum, which were wrong. Then the class moved on to diamonds and rubies, which were wrong. Then people started guessing oxygen or water, which were wrong. All of our guesses were wrong because metals, gemstones, and elements are incredibly abundant throughout the universe. Turns out what's not abundant are things like fruits, vegetables, plants, and woods. Because all of those require a system capable of supporting life. This is far, far more rare in the universe.

I was reminded of that when YouTube suggested this reel to me...

Depending on the nature of the universe, it could very well be that even if there are worlds with vegetation on them, they still may not have trees. Which is to say that the trees we enjoy in abundance may not exist in their exact form, or any form, anywhere else.

You'd think that this thought would inspire humans to take better care of our forests, jungles, and tree-supporting biomes.

But, alas...

We seem intent on making it so they can't survive here either.

As I type this, Artemis II is about half-way to the moon. Except they're not landing on the moon this time, they're going to orbit it and head back home. Which is still a phenomenal achievement, because few people have an idea just how astoundingly far away the moon is.

When I was a kid I read that if earth was the size of a tennis ball, the moon would be a sphere one-fourth the size of the tennis ball... and it would be over 20 feet away.

I looked for a YouTube video to explain this, and found this one...

Then I found this...

But in order for these to suitably shock you, you really need to have a grasp of how huge the earth is. Try walking around it some time to get an idea.

And speaking of walking AROUND the earth...

Because the Artemis II mission is popping up in social media everywhere all the time, OF COURSE you've got dipshit flerfers (flat earthers) "debunking" the photos of a globe earth taken by the astronauts. In case you haven't seen some, here you go...

And of course you get the same stupid shit that you get from all the satellite photos and the moon-landing photos all over again. The most popular being "WHERE ARE THE STARS? NO STARS IN THESE PHOTOS?!? FAKE!!! FAKE FAKE FAKE!!! NASA LIES!

As if NASA made a boo-boo and "forgot" to paint the stars in thousands of times and somehow "forgot" to paint them in yet again.

Jesus. Google is free. There's literally dozens... maybe hundreds... of videos explaining why.

But nope! A massive conspiracy involving tens of thousands of people around the globe has been yet again foiled because NASA forgot to add stars!

Jake likes to make kitty-biscuits and slow-blink back to me. Jenny rarely does either of these things. She prefers to kick me when I pet her wrong and look at me like I'm insane. Not that this bothers me... Jenny is so endearing because she defies expectations like this.

But Friday morning when I decided to stay in bed on my holiday day off and work the afternoon. Jenny was apparently thrilled, because she hopped up on the bed... and started making kitty biscuits on me! How nice is that?

Jake decided he didn't want me going outside to clean up my messy yard, and pinned me down...

For a second there, I thought Jenny was going to join him...

This morning Jake crashed out next to me, which means he might as we'll have jumped on my legs, because I didn't want to move and wake him up...

Now that it's Saturday, I get to do all the things that I put off yesterday. Yay.

Of course, there's always Sunday...

The Easter Bunny may be coming to town, but I'm goofing around on the internet ... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Work Chums! I've seen this several times, but I don't think I've shared it before...

If you've dealt with insurance before, you get it.

   
• Smartest Phone! Kit-Kat drama aside, this was my favorite April Fool's joke I saw...

Makes me want to actually buy a Bluey Phone!

   
• Geography! Washington is weird, y'all...

If you're not from here, you don't know how weird though.

   
• NEWSFLASH: MS. NOEM IS DEVASTATED. THE FAMILY WAS BLINDSIDED BY THIS, AND THEY ASK FOR PRIVACY AND PRAYERS AT THE TIME. And I'm asking you to fuck off with your bullshit. You used your position to utterly destroy lives without any regard to their privacy... and you certainly didn't pray on their behalf. Yet you have the absolute gall to ask for "privacy and prayers?" I do wonder if she was fired for this because the White House had advanced notice. They're already neck-deep in scandal, so it makes sense they would want to get this as far away from them as possible. I'd try to feel sorry for Bryon Noem getting attacked over something that was his own private business... but he knew what he married into and what she was. It's no surprise this is blowing up because of his own doing.

   
• Turn It Off and Back On Again! What's delicious about living in the digital age is that assholes can get internet detectives crawling up their ass with a microscope after they do something shitty. Take for instance this judge, who was a heinous douche to an IT worker helping him out. Many judges think they are gods, and when you show them that they're not, they react badly...

And now the internet has been digging up everything from his bankruptcies to other asshole behaviors and publishing them for the whole word to see. Good. That's what the internet should be used for.

   
• How is The Dow? In honor of the puss-filled piece of shit who used her position to protect sexual predators getting fired, I am re-posting the only good thing that came out of her tenure...

Now you can fuck off and just go away until somebody drags your ass in front of The Hague. And, God-willing, your former boss will be there with you. Speaking of which, here's the only good thing to come out of his tenure...

Any guesses as to who's next on the administration firings distraction BINGO card?

   
And on that note, Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

It's now Wednesday. This entry was written on Monday, when it was due to post.

But the post was entirely just me unloading in the worst way possible, which is something I've been trying to avoid. It's not going to change any minds. It's not going to change our situation. It's not going to do anything except drive my blood pressure even higher than it already is. And so... I've edited out all of that and left the bit that's still an official unloading, but not to the extent it was.

So here we go...

Today I woke up and the first thing I saw was more bullshit science denial on the Artemis II mission. Something that immediately sends me into a rage. How the fuck did we get to a place where ignorance and idiocy is this prevalent? Everybody and their dog is spouting their favorite conspiracy theory which is easily disproved if they took two minutes to educate themselves, but no. Blatant dumbassery is where we're at.

But what's worse? AI slop bullshit is everywhere. Fake photos of fake situations reinforcing the idea that the mission itself is fake. And it's not just being shared by random people... I've seen it on astronomy social media!

Just look at this shit. None of this from NASA's site. Just AI slop photos with different prompts for the same fucking scene...

Some of them are noticeably worse than others. This one doesn't even look like a photo...

Though this is my favorite because it's so hilariously fake...

God I despise AI slop generative images. It's not doing anything to improve society and, indeed, is rushing things along to make things worse.

Can I just go ONE FUCKING DAY without ███ ██████████████ █████████ unleashing more fucking ████ and ███████████ all over ███████████? Is that really too much to ask? One. Just one day. I am so fucking sick and tired of ████ fucking ████ I feel like I could start vomiting and never stop. Every God damn fucking day I ████ ███ ██████ ███████ to fucking ███ ███ ███!

Please DEAR GOD won't you fucking ████ ████ ██████?

It feels like I'm being punked on a daily basis. And today was such a random series of unbelievable events that there was really no other way to feel about it.

Then I get home and look at the news articles in my feed and I'm certain I'm being punked.

Because, holy shit, if this isn't some elaborate hoax being perpetrated upon me, then what the fuck is going on?

In better news, I retreated to TikTok to find something to distract me and ran across some cool stuff. First is this pint-sized music producer who is more talented than you'd believe...

The play-break got me.

This is an interesting illusion that I've seen before. When I first saw it, I immediately saw squares... but then when I went to scroll, the circles appeared and I couldn't see anything else. Now I can see either when I pick something to focus on...

Whenever I see videos like this one from Mario I want a new cat for Jake and Jenny to play with. I worry about how this might disrupt their lives, but I think come June I will start looking into it...

For anybody wondering what Ilya was saying in that phone call to Shane in Heated Rivalry, here you go. My Russian is limited, but I was able to get the gist of everything. This did clear some things up for me...

And, lastly, hope you have a tissue ready...

Now back to the horrors of the day...

My chair broke at work first thing. Snapped into three pieces.

I fell and knocked my head on the wall, jammed my thumb, and hurt my wrist. Something also happened with my jaw, because my back teeth ache.

I couldn't wait to get home from work so I could lay down on the couch on a heating pad and doomscroll Instagram. And most of what I see? Dipshits. Stupid assholes who are happy spouting the most ignorant crap imaginable.

But there is an up-side.

A lot of times, there's people making fun of these idiots. Often to hilarious effect...

But there were also some videos not steeped in idiocy. Just animals eating stuff...

I could watch animals eating stuff all day long.

Idiots I can't tolerate for more than two minutes. Probably less.

Even though my injury was yesterday, it hurt far worse today. I contemplated staying home from the office and trying to work the best I can, but there was no way I could get things done that needed doing at home... so I took multiple doses of Advil throughout the day, and worked my way through it.

Then came home an hour early when the pain exceeded my ability to deal with. At which time I threw a heating pad down on the couch and prepared myself for the re-entry live feed of Artemis II by watching Hidden Figures.

Then it was two hours of NASA...

When I got bored, I watched Artemis-themed videos in-between. Like this LEGO set that's really cool...

And Hank Green with some really cool commentary on the mission photos...

And, of course, I had to watch Professor Dave dismantle dipshit Bart Sibrel...

Watching Bart get clocked by Buzz Aldrin remains one of the more joyous events in human history. I could watch it over and over and over and over.

Though it turns out NASA DOES LIE AFTER ALL! AND NOW THE SECRET HAS BEEN REVEALED!!

And now it's time for beddy-bye. I really hope I can manage to get some sleep, because it seems a bad idea to take any more Advil.

My cats have completely reversed their position on food. Jenny will eat whatever I put in front of her whereas Jake will refuse to eat things he used to eat and rarely enjoys trying something new. And he's really funny about how he displays his displeasure. He will come up to the bowl, sniff it a bit, watch his sister eat it, then turn and sit in front of the bowl to stare at me in the kitchen like I'm supposed to come do something about the travesty put before him.

It's at this time I say the words he's been dying to hear.

"Want me to thrown some stank on that?"

Then I go get some dried fish flakes and sprinkle them on his dinner so he'll eat it.

This is a trick that I came up with for Jenny which has now been passed on to her brother.

And speaking of her brother...

I've made a vet appointment for him and his sister because something seems off about him. He's been incredibly clingy like something is wrong. From the minute I get up in the morning to the minute I leave for work... then from the minute I get home until I fall asleep... he's all over me.

And, as you probably saw over the last several Caturdays, this is my life now...

When my legs aren't down for him to lay on, he's near... finding a substitute...

And, oh... there seems to be a second Fake Jake in the neighborhood!

Any time I see a cat that looks like Jake outside, my heart skips two beats. I have a flashback to when he escaped, and go into an immediate panic. Except when I got this visit, Jake was asleep on my lap.

I still had a moment of panic because I forgot he was there.

I'm learning to live my life around him being clingy.

I'm not going to let the fact that my neck is hurting worse now than it has been stop me from updating Blogography. At least not this time.. because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• Cookies! Isn't it nice how Girl Scouts cookies come in convenient single-serving packs? That way you know exactly how many to eat. I'd consume an entire box of Trefoils if not for the fact that they smartly wrap them into two servings...

Samoas come in a tray, not a package, because there's only one serving per box. Every year I order cookies from Girl Scout Troop 6000, which serves girls in New York City's shelter system. Though I'd buy cookies from any troop, given how Girl Scouts is one of the most accepting, inclusive organization on the planet. A phenomenal model for future generations.

   
• Drone Entertainment! One of the last times I was at Walt Disney World, there was a drone show at Disney Springs. Called Disney Dreams That Soar, it was an experimental free event that ran for about four months. While music played, 800 drones made cool shapes in the air, and most people believed that this was a step towards reducing or eliminating fireworks at the park. Fireworks are not reusable like drones, so they're expensive. And they also cause noise and pollution that upsets people living near the parks. It would make sense that they would want to cut back. And now there's this show in China featuring 22,580 drones...

In all honesty, drone shows are getting so good that I'd argue they're a superior form of entertainment... and could probably simulate fireworks in a way that's as good, if not better, than the real thing. And if anybody could make this work, it would be Disney.

   
• Word! This is one of those simple posts which illustrates a concept so brilliantly that you don't even have to understand what it's talking about to understand what's being said...

Fortunately, I've never had to deal much with Microsoft Word... I've always used desktop publishing or an illustration app for that. But because of that, my frustration with trying to make a photo land where I want is even more frustrating.

   
• And Right Before Wildfire Season! NEWSFLASH: Trump Administration Orders Dismantling of the US Forest Service. Fuck them all. I am sick and fucking tired of losing vital national services to give money to the president's millionaire and billionaire owners, and to finance this illegal, stupid-ass war. The US Forest Service deserves better than this fucking bullshit. They are dedicated, essential workers studying and protecting our forests and grasslands...

Photo credit: Preston Keres / USDA

The American People deserve more than this fucking bullshit. This is probably a set-up so Trump can sell off our vital resources to be plundered by his owners. The office of the President of the United States of America has turned into one massive grift. I mean, it's just been revealed that the steel for his fucked-up ballroom is NOT being sourced from American companies after he championed US Steel during his campaign... he's bought the steel from Europe. Probably from somebody who has incriminating photos of him on Epstein Island.

   
• Greatness! And, while I'm on the subject... exactly where is all the money going from the "big beautiful tariffs" the American people are paying? We keep getting our services and benefits cut... so the money ain't going there. The National Debit is higher than ever... so the money's not going there. Jobs are being slashed left and right... so the money's not going there. Trump has collected TENS OF BILLIONS of OUR dollars. So WHERE IS THE FUCKING MONEY?

It blows my fucking mind that this country isn't in outright revolt right now.

   
• AI Slop... IN SPAAAACE! A photo was circulating today of the Artemis II Orion capsule re-entry... as captured by the International Space Station...

Except when you go to the official ISS Instagram, this is what they had to say: "Our crew on the @iss caught a glimpse of the @nasaartemis II crew as they re-entered the atmosphere from their journey to the Moon! We first saw a bright light and a trail as the service module burned up. We didn’t see the Orion capsule itself as it re-entered, but we saw the wispy trail it left behind in the upper atmosphere. Overjoyed that our friends are safely back on Earth after their awe-inspiring mission!."

THIS is what they saw...

Photo Credit: ISS

And of course when you go to debunk the fake image, you find that the person who posted it has turned off comments. NOT deleted the misinformation... turned off the comments!

There's no bigger metaphor for what's going on right now in the world than this.

   
• Mean-Spirited? Sweet Pee holds a press conference to deny allegations of her ties to Epstein, despite the fact that emails and photos exist showing she absolutely had ties to Epstein. If BULLSHIT had a face, here it is...

Photo Credit: Evan Vucci/Reuters

Photo Credit: CSPAN/GETTY

And you DIDN'T fucking "meet your husband at a party in 1998"... at the time you met MARLA MAPLES' HUSBAND at a party in 1998. Furthermore, if you to expect people to stop making "mean-spirited comments" about you, then you can fuck right off. You stand idly by while your husband makes some of the most vile, disgusting, horrific "mean-spirited comments" towards other people and don't give a shit, so nobody gives a fuck about what's being directed your way. "Be best" for you and yours before demanding it from others.

   
And now back to my neck recovery, already in progress.

Odds are, this entry isn't for you. It's being written for a friend who asked where I shop for groceries. But you're welcome to read if you want.

I have a "FreshPass" membership for free grocery delivery from Safeway. For a while there, they were the only delivery option for my small city because all the grocery chains are in nearby cities. Eventually Walmart and InstaCart started offering delivery, but I stuck with Safeway because a lot of what I liked could be purchased from there.

I mean, sure their shoppers are told to shop for your produce like they're you're worst enemy... and they must also be told to not worry about selecting products with an expiry date that hits in three days... but most of the time it's all acceptable enough that the convenience outweighs the bad points.

At least it did until the cost of groceries continued to explode thanks to tariffs... and now the price of fuel thanks to some dumbass starting a war in Iran. When a small bag of salad was $1.49 and I couldn't eat it all before it was sludgy, I could mentally get past it. But now that it's $2.29? And that's one of the cheap items! Having to try and finish a $6.50 loaf of bread when it's already on its way to being stale? No thanks.

So I started shopping for produce and items with low expiration dates locally. They cost more, initially, but the savings over not having to throw out stuff three days after I get it makes it cheaper in the long run.

A month ago I was in The Big City to pick up some things at Costco. Just down the street is Fred Meyer, so I thought I'd stop. I always find interesting vegan and vegetarian finds there. It was during that trip I discovered Beyond Stack Burgers, one of my most favorite foods I've ever had.

It was also where I picked up some frozen Tucson Tamales...

But I hadn't actually cooked one of them until earlier this week.

And they're incredible. Incredible!

Which is why on Saturday I made a pick-up order at Fred Meyer to get more burgers and tamales since the tamales were on sale for $3 each! Along with other things I needed, which made for a staggering grocery bill. $200 for something that feels like it would have cost around $120 just two years ago!

And so... now to shop for groceries, I have to go to five different stores...

• Safeway. PROS: While I have FreshPass membership, delivery is free. Special offers can be quite good on many items. Vegetarian offerings are reliable. CONS: Variety of vegetarian options is monotonous and rarely adventurous and new. Delivery produce is absolutely awful. Anything perishable will likely be close to expiration.
• Fred Meyer. PROS: A 25-minute drive to get there. Many times they have new and interesting vegan and vegetarian foods to explore... and the number of items in those categories is larger than Safeway. Their special offers are fantastic for single people. Instead of making you buy a large number of the same item to get a sale price, they give you a large pool of many wildly different items and let you save money on each of them. CONS: No delivery in my area. Their bagged salads are always in poor condition.
• Costco. PROS: Crazy-good prices on popular items. A wonderful company I'm happy to support. CONS: A 25-minute drive to get there. Having to buy in such large quantities is tough for single people, so I can only really buy non-perishables. Rarely enough checkouts open.
• Walmart. PROS: Sometimes I see stuff on sale here for such a low price that it's unmatched anywhere else. They have some unique products I love (Jack's Pizza Sticks are delicious). A more reasonable 15-minute drive from my home. CONS: Never enough checkouts open. The foods I buy most often are not available here... or if they are available, they're not always from a brand I care for.
• Local IGA. PROS: Six minutes from my house, so it's easy to pick up produce and perishables that aren't bottom-of-the-barrel. They sometimes have surprisingly unexpected vegetarian options... like these phenomenal Deep Indian Kitchen Kati Street Wraps that I haven't seen anywhere else. CONS: Expensive. Sometimes ungodly so.

Sometimes I shop at Albertsons, which has my favorite layout of any store in the valley. But they own Safeway where my delivery comes from, so I don't have reason to go there unless I'm nearby. Which is rare.

And there you have it. How I shop for groceries.

It is increasingly damaging to my mental state to look at the news or social media lately. It's all madness and stupidity and shittiness and hypocrisy from here on out, and there's nothing really to be done but accept that this is where we're at.

And it's the hypocrisy which cuts the deepest.

Every time Trump drops another load of shit on an undeserving world, the first thing that crosses my mind is "Can you fucking imagine if Obama were to do this?" I mean seriously... the big news of the day is Trump sharing a photo of his as Jesus. Something so ridiculous that even some of his base is calling him out on it. But then... then Trump says "Oh, I thought it was me as a doctor." Which is entirely new levels of bullshit, but there's his base... pulling out the knife and fork to eat that shit up.

AND CAN YOU JUST IMAGINE IF OBAMA SHARED AN IMAGE LIKE THAT?!?

There would literally be Trump supporters calling for him to be executed!

But not their Orange Jesus.

He gets a pass no matter how much repugnant, vile, awful, crap he does.

I mean... imagine for a minute that the Pentagon got caught spending $93 billion on frivolous shit like lobster, a grand piano, and ice cream machines under Obama's watch. Just fucking imagine what the MAGA reaction would have been. But Hegseth blows through NINETY-THREE BILLION FUCKING DOLLARS on stupid crap and it's barely a blip on the radar. MAGA couldn't care less...

Then to really have your brain liquify, just think about how $93 billion could have been spent benefiting the American people. In a day and age where benefit after benefit of being a taxpayer is getting stripped away, lobster dinner for The Pentagon.

Jesus Christ.

Pardoned Jan. 6 rioter to plead guilty in child sexual abuse case, adding to pattern.

Turns out when you pardon criminals, they apparently feel invincible and go on committing more crimes. Who knew?

Remember last Thursday when I stepped away from the non-stop news-cycle of horrors by watching animals eating? Remember that?

Well, Instagram remembers that.

Now whenever I pull up the site, I'm inundated with adorable animals eating stuff. And my favorite of the day is about as adorable as it gets. This is one angry-looking hedgehog who's demeanor changes entirely once he gets a smell of a piece of apple...

   
Yeah, whenever the shitty news starts to overwhelm you, I highly recommend curating an Instagram feed with something that makes you smile so you can escape reality for a little while.

I have this weird addiction to Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day Liquid Hand Soap.

It all started when I bought some of the stuff to stock my guest bathroom. I needed nice soap. It was on sale. The bottle looked interesting. Sold.

To be honest, I didn't even pay attention to the scent. All I did was confirm that it wasn't any kind of floral. It was Basil. And I ended up really, really liking it.

So I ended up buying a few more scents I thought I'd like... Rain Water, Oat Blossom, and Apple. All of them were fantastic. And ever since I've been buying different flavors as I run across them. Like Orange Clove, Honeysuckle, and Iowa Pine. No lie... I love them all. Not a stinker in the bunch.

And my last Mrs. Meyer's set is more of the same...

Blueberry is light and fruity and delicious. Fresh Cut Grass smells exactly like fresh cut grass. I was worried that Dandelion would smell too floral, but it's actually really nice.

And then there's Tomato Vine.

This scent is what got me to write this entry.

It's phenomenal. Last year when I would finish picking tomatoes for a salad, the smell of the vines would end up on my hands, and this soap is that. Exactly that! And, unlike so many soapy scents that disappear, it lingers a bit. This would probably be a reason for lots of people to hate it... but this is just more reason for me to love it. I smell it on my hands for an hour after washing with it.

I have a drawer full of other Mrs. Meyer's flavors I've yet to try. Which means I probably need to wash my hands more.

This morning I had just sat down on the couch to eat some Cap’n Crunch when I heard a woodpecker pecking at a metal vent on the roof. Jake was on the couch next to me and Jenny was upstairs. Both of them went running to the front of the house to investigate. A few minutes later the woodpecker started pecking again and... bedlam. The cats went absolutely nuts. But then the woodpecker must have flown away, and the cats went back to their respective corners to go back to sleep. So that was an adventure.

Earlier this week I had to clear space on my personal backup drive to make room for transferring some work stuff. I was about to delete a folder when I thought to open it and found this video inside. Jenny was able to climb stairs and the cat tree before Jake, so she often ran circles around him until he caught up...

Adorable.

And then...

I happened upon a Facebook Group called My Orange Cat is a Little Shit, and immediately felt the need to join. I decided it introduce Jenny to the group with my favorite photo of her. It's from when I was remodeling the guest room and she was examining the new mirror I had installed...

I love my little orange shit.

After four weeks of being consumed by work, my house has become a complete and total disaster area. But I won't be cleaning up under the bullets are done... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...

   
• It Takes a Village! Looks like I need to start playing Crimson Desert straight away...

Of course my objective in the game is probably going to be quite different than most people.

   
• Fries! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH! EXTRA LARGE PORTIONS MEAN EXTRA LARGE FREEDOM! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH! GREAT FREEDOM FRIES FOR THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH!

Now I want fries.

   
• Luna Luna! In 1987 there was an installation in Hamburg that was rather unique... it combined art with a theme park. Back in 2023, I found out about it when it was unpacked, restored, and went on a global tour. I toyed with the idea of flying down to see it in L.A. in March of 2024 as a birthday present to myself, but never made it. Then I promptly forgot about it. Enter Mike From the Party, whose amazing YouTube channel I subscribe to, and he's done a brilliantly extensive video on Luna Luna. It's an hour-and-a-half long, but it's interesting enough to be worth your valuable time...

One one hand, I dearly wish that Mike would make more videos like this. On the other hand, I worry that the quality of his videos will suffer if he does.

   
• This isn't just me being a dickhead! Another brilliant YouTube channel I obsess over is Folding Ideas. And his latest is an interesting take on Mr. Beast which includes a surprising behind-the-scenes look I never would have expected...

I'd argue that these YouTube channels are every bit as important and interesting as anything you'll see on television or in the movies.

   
• Ungentlemanly Free! One of my favorite movies of all time, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, is streaming FREE (ad supported) on The Roku Channel. It's Guy Ritchie at his Guy Ritchiest, and has a stellar cast (including incredible turns by Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, and many more) and worth a watch if you missed it...

I can't even tell you have many times I've watched this film.

   
• Reversal of Fortune! Food for thought...

Yeah, ladies!

   
• Here We Go Again! Yes. Yes. I am still reeling from the Fake Moon Landing and Flat Earth idiocy clogging up social media since the Artemis II mission. I'm only able to stay sane because of the people debunking these dumbasses. However... there's also something to be said for just calling them out for being stupid and ignorant...

And this 11-year-old video from Vsauce is an old but a goody that absolutely anybody in the above video could have watched to understand why they're speaking nonsense...

But, of course, asking them to educate themselves is like asking for the moon.

   
And now I suppose I should get back to cleaning my home.

When I was considerably younger I wanted to make my Bible easier to study, so I added tabs and notes to it. I was worried about the tabs looking too "flashy" and distracting from the Word of God, so I made them out of masking tape. I even found Post-Its which were white instead of yellow.

Fast forward to today, and I was exposed to concept of a "Loaded Bible" which is a Bible that's been plastered with gaudy crap that's clearly meant to be some kind of competitive challenge with other Christians. The exact opposite of what my "loaded" Bible was.

And you don't even have to put the work in yourself... you can just buy one off Etsy for $250! Yikes. Performative Christianity has gotten expensive.

I mean, just look at this...

Bedazzled Bibles are the best Bibles.

And, on the inside? Bible scrapbooking at its finest!

Now, far be it for me to tell anybody how to study their Bible... I mean, it's refreshing to see that Christians are actually studying their Bibles at all. Maybe writing Scripture out with colored pens and stickers like it's some kind of craft project helps people remember what they're reading. Whatever brings you closer to your Faith, I guess. But turning Bible study into a crafting project? It doesn't seem much like study at all.

Which explains a lot about what we're seeing now-a-days.

Self-professed "Christians" who don't read the Bible. They don't study the Bible. The don't know the Bible. They can't even tell real Scripture from fake scripture out of Pulp Fiction. Heck, the president can't even name a favorite Bible verse... or answer even the most basic questions about the Bible. It's been proven again and again and again that these people are liars and scammers... and fake followers of Christ... yet people still say they are doing God's will? Which god would that be, exactly? Not any Christian God I know of. They're exploiting faith for power and betraying every Christian principle in the process. Yet their "Christian" followers don't seem to care. Not even a little bit.

Maybe because they spend more time decorating their Bibles than they do reading them.

Today on his social media, James Gunn announced the start of production for his Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow. And he did it by revealing the logo for the film.

Now, it's been no secret that the big bad for the flick is Brainiac. A villain that could be very cool indeed if Gunn has cracked a way to make it interesting. And, let's face it, there's no reason to believe that he hasn't.

But anyway...

When I saw the logo my mind screamed "GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

Then I took a second look and my mind screamed "GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" again.

First of all, here's Brainiac in several incarnations (including his ancestor, Brainiac 5)...

You'll notice a common element is his "logo," which is three connected circles.

But look at the logo for the movie... IT'S UP-SIDE DOWN!!!

And just as I was telling my mind to calm down... that they likely did it up-side-down because it fit around Superman's logo better... I realized that the lines weren't lining up, which was when the designer in me nearly came unglued...

A good designer would have made the logos work without making one of them up-side-down. But a half-good designer would have known to have lined up the lines! I mean, holy shit, how hard was it to do something like this...

So, as you can clearly see, I hate this logo for two reasons (though there's a third I didn't mention: you should be able to see the Brainiac connecting lines through Superman's logo).

I sincerely hope this travesty isn't the final logo. And, if it is, I hope that the movie ends up being better than this would indicate.

One of my most favorite parody sites, The Onion, has finally won their bid to purchase InfoWars assets, which notorious piece of shit Alex Jones lost after the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting won a judgement of $1.4 billion. He called them "crisis actors," despite all evidence to the contrary.

In celebration of this victory over somebody who really deserves to lose, I present this banger remix of some of Jones's nonsense...

FROGS!!!

But last week my email stopped working on both Apple Mail and Microsoft Outlook. Any time I click on a message to view it, there's nothing there. The emails are blank. They're just fine on the server, but on the MacBook they don't display. My guess is that the internal database where programs store their data is somehow corrupted. And no amount of rebuilds or restarts would resolve it. And so I decided to wipe everything and start over.

It's been interesting.

All the clutter that's been accumulating... all the abandoned parts and pieces of discarded software... all the fragmentation... all the things that made my computer grow increasingly inefficient over the years... it's all gone now. My computer isn't noticeably faster in all things, but it is faster in some. And also more efficient to use.

I should probably write down the steps I took to reinstall everything and just intentionally do a scrub and reset every year.

I'm just not sure it's worth the effort if nothing has gone wrong.

But it does feel good.

When it was announced that they were adapting it to be a movie, I was dubious. There was so much in the book that didn't seem like it would translate well. But I had hope because A) They managed to make a good movie out of The Martian, and B) The project was being developed by Lord & Miller, who know their way around creating a good movie (mostly through animation).

Turns out I shouldn't have worried. This is the best film I've seen in a while, and sure to land on my "best of" for 2026...

Ryan Gosling is phenomenal in every role he takes on, but since he's essentially playing against a puppet for over half the movie, his talent is critical to making the entire thing work. And he doesn't falter. He sells it perfectly...

Highest possible recommendation.

I'll write all about it on Monday. But for now all I can say is that my cats didn't appreciate my old ones, and they don't appreciate the new one either. Jenny is outright terrorized by the thing, as she always has been. Runs away the minute it starts up.

And Jake?

Jake is just annoyed. I filmed his reaction when it started up, and this is what I got...

This model is quieter than my old one, but he's still irritated. Just glares at the robot as it goes about its business...

Eventually it won't be new anymore. Jake will ignore it. Jenny will walk away instead of run.

And life will go on.

Albeit with cleaner floors.

   
• Amaze! Cubed! If you haven't seen Project Hail Mary you should most definitely do that. And once you have, you should watch this interview with the book's author...

Now that's science fiction!

   
• Four Decades Meatless! April 22nd was Earth Day! Or, for me, Vegetarian Day! I became a vegetarian on Earth Day 1986... 40 years ago. My girlfriend at the time said when she kissed me that she could "smell meat," which was apparently a bad thing because she was a vegan. And so... I went to Burger King, ordered six regular burgers, ate them all, then never ate meat again.

Sure we broke up a couple months later and I could have gone back to eating meat, but I realized that the numerous allergy problems I dealt with since I was very young were... diminishing? So I decided to stick with it. And, sure enough, my allergies slowly faded away. No idea if it was the meat... or steroids or antibiotics in the meat... but my quality of life improved dramatically. It was not easy being a vegetarian back then because food options weren't as prevalent as they are now (especially at restaurants), but I stuck with it and never turned back.

   
• Series Two! One of the biggest surprises of 2024 was the BritBox series Ludwig. It's a murder mystery show staring David Mitchell in the role he was born to play...

The second season will debut this year. But when this year hasn't been disclosed.

   
• Peace! And so... disabled veterans peacefully protesting the Iran War is against the law now...

Fucking disgraceful. There is no bottom with this fucking administration.

   
• All for the B! I've been a fan of Cardi B for a while... then I became a super-fan when I found out she's a serious history nerd (and her appearance on Hot Ones sealed the deal). But the thing I love most about her (and her team) is that she loves her fans. So many stories of her being truly grateful to the people who recognize her amazing talent and got her to where she is. The latest from a fan who got seriously shit on at a show was fully redeemed when Cardi's team reached out to make it right...

I love how the comments in the original video had people saying "Yeah, Cardi is going to be pissed!" because everybody knows she cares about her fans.

   
• NEWSFLASH: Tim Cook stepping down this year, John Ternus confirmed as next Apple CEO. I hope that John Ternus has even a fraction of the gravitas and drive that Steve Jobs brought to Apple. Tim Cook always seemed like a capable CEO (he took the company to a three trillion dollar valuation, after all), but ultimately he didn't seem like he wanted to push Apple towards greatness. He seemed more like a "don't rock the boat and keep the money flowing to our shareholder" kind of CEO. Which is a serious problem for a tech company like Apple. I look at the products which debuted under his tenure... Apple Silicon, AirPods, AppleTV, ApplePay, Apple Music, Apple Watch, AppleVision Pro, to name a few... and I can't help but wonder if he was the one pushing these projects forward. Maybe. But I doubt it. And if he was, then he didn't do much to show it. With Steve Jobs, you knew he was driving the boat, and that's what Apple needs moving forward. It's okay to not want to overshadow your team, but you have to at least project that the team is under your management.

   
• Idiot! I swear, these dumbfucks are so low IQ that I finally understand why that's the insult they lob at other people. It's the "I know I am but what are you?" vibe...

So... I guess this whole insistence of America having a ready military force is all bullshit then, isn't it? Now you can have a bunch of soldiers coming down with the flu, mutating it, and spreading it to each other so they're having to call out sick from battle? God.

   
Now you can go back to inundating yourself with all the horrific things going on in the world. Sorry about that.

The problem is... I have cats.

In addition to year 'round kitty litter getting kicked around, this time of year Jake and Jenny are shedding like crazy. This means fur is everywhere and hacking up hairballs are more frequent. Yuck. Every Spring I toy with the idea of buying new robots to help keep things clean (all my floors are hardwood, so it's very noticeable).

So every Spring I toy with the idea of getting new-and-improved robots. Then I don't because I don't want to spend the money only to be disappointed again.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and I said something to a friend about cat hair being everywhere and I was presented an option for a too-good-to-be true new robot that was being released on April 20th... the Narwal Flow 2.

So of course I researched all the pre-reviews of the product and did a deep dive into the competition.

The robot I was looking at a couple months ago was the Matic, former Google Nest engineers. The reviews were amazing and its reimagining of floor cleaning seemed a smart take. But it was way too tall. It wouldn't fit under any of my furniture, which means all the cat hair blowing under it would never be touched. So I passed.

I have mixed experiences with Dyson (I find them mostly sub-par) but was told they have been investing loads of their cash into robots, so I looked at some reviews. But their latest and greatest Spot+Scrub was getting terrible reviews.

The previous Narwal models were always in competition with Mova, Roborock, and Dreame, so I investigated their offerings. I had experience with i-Robot and Ecovacs, so I looked into those as well. After exhaustive research, I decided that the models competing with the Narwal Flow 2 weren't much better or worse, so I pushed the button on it because the offer I had was too good, then I hoped for the best.

After living with the robot for a week, I have opinions.

Which I will share tomorrow.

SPOILER ALERT: This is a darn good robot mop/vacuum, and my home has never felt this clean with any other robot before.

As I mentioned yesterday, I recently acquired a brand new Narwal Flow 2 robot mop/vacuum. Here are my notes after a week with "Carl the Fourth" (named after Carl the janitor in Sixteen Candles, as my previous three robot vacuums were).

As I noted yesterday, this is a darn good robot mop/vacuum, and my home has never felt this clean with any other robot before. So let's get into it...

When it comes to mapping out your home, Carl the Fourth is pretty darn smart. Like all devices now, it's got "AI onboard" which means it can "see" objects and obstructions far better than older vacuums. Instead of mucking about by bumping into everything over and over, the Narwal Flow 2 using twin sensors to get a 3-D view of your home...

The initial mapping of my home was shockingly fast because Carl just zoomed around sensing where everything is. From the map he makes, I can see how he is seeing my home...

The AI is smart enough to detect objects like phones, cables, fabric, and shoes. I have two pairs of shoes by my door and they were identified easily (albeit in singular instead of plural form)...

Furniture like beds, couches, tables, and even pet feeders(!) are recognized and marked on the map. The problem is that they are not marked on the map correctly. Here's the map that Carl made of my home...

Let's look closer at my couches...

You can see that the coffee table perfect lines up where Carl cleaned. But the couches? The large couch is shown 2/3 of its length for some reason. But look at the smaller couch. Not only is it drawn massive, it also doesn't reflect the angle of the actual furniture. This is truly bizarre. Why doesn't the map representation match what is actually on the map? Maybe this will get better with updates.

When it comes to creating cleaning zones within your house, it's very difficult. I turn the furniture icons off because they're not remotely accurate. I would use past mopping data, but it doesn't show up. All you get is the sensor map... WHICH FADES AWAY WHEN YOU START DRAWING ZONES?!?? They're barely visible...

Ugh.

Narwal recommends that you first do a full vacuum-only so that any dirt doesn't interfere with the mopping so I did that. Even though my Roomba had cleaned just two days before, the Narwal Flow 2 came back looking filthy. Which means Carl the Fourth is obviously doing a deeper clean and getting closer to areas which collect dust, cat hair, and cobwebs. This was quite impressive.

I left some cat vomit residue from the previous week because I had gotten a notification that Carl had shipped and was on his way. I wanted to see if he would be able to scrub it up...

The answer is no. Not only did Carl not get them cleaned up, he didn't even identify them as dirty spots so he would attempt to clean them up. In reviews and the sales promotion, I saw video after video of Carl scrubbing spots clean with the "Smart Stain Detection"... but not here. I don't know if it's because my floor is dark wood instead of light wood, but should that really matter when the spots are fully contrasted against the floor? How did all three of these get missed? I sincerely hope that Narwal sends improvements to the Flow 2 in order to upgrade its smarts for stuff like this. I ended up having to wet paper towels and manually wipe them up as usual. Bummer.

The next morning I woke up to find that Jake had tried to hack up a hairball, leaving fresh water vomit dribbled from the dining room to the guest bedroom. So I opened up the Narwal app... drew a box around the area affected... then unleashed Carl and waited to see if the fresh spots would be recognized. Turns out they didn't need to be. He blazed over them without a second glance, obliterating them easily...

And then... yesterday I woke up to find that one of the cats had done a scarf and barf. So here we go. This is why I got Carl in the first place. Will he think that this is poop and avoid it? Or will he recognize this as cat vomit and attempt to clean it up?

Oh heck yeah! Carl noted the stain, then turned his vacuum on highest speed and attacked it. Going over it again and again until it was gone, then he mopped over it until the floor was clean. Great job, buddy! Though this does worry me a bit. I haven't had a chance to look at Carl's undercarriage to find out if there's cat puke smeared on it. And does this mean if my cats end up pooping on the floor for some reason that he will try to clean it? That's a good question.

UPDATE: Carl ran through the vomit and got his wheels messy. Not good. Would probably have been easier to clean the vomit than clean these wheels.

The water in the base station is pre-heated in the tank to 140º, which is supposed to give you a better mopping. The problem is that even fresh off the base station, the water Carl leaves behind is not at all hot. Maybe slightly warmer than ambient room temperature. This is disappointing after reading it so prominently in the promo literature, but it doesn't seem to make much difference. Where it likely makes a lot of difference is in cleaning the mop head during/after he's been mopping. Multiple rinses with 140º water is sure to clean the head better than room temperature. For that, I am thrilled, because it addresses one of my biggest problems I had with the Bissell SpinWave robot, which doesn't clean its spinny pads at all. You have to manually toss them in the wash.

There's a bigger problem with the spinny pads and vibrating pads and roller pads on other mopping robots, though. They just smear the dirt around with water, and my floors never felt freshly-mopped. The Narwal Flow 2 doesn't use any of these technologies... Carl instead uses a flat mopping head which has a "rolling track mop" head that rolls around it while constantly being rinsed off and re-wetted. It actually cleans your floors...

Just look at how my SpinWave "cleaned" my floors in comparison...

But here's something else that's cool about the mopping... the head can extend outward from the side to get closer to edges than it would if it just stayed underneath the unit. The technology behind the Narwal Flow 2 alone makes it better than any cleaning robot I've ever had. After mopping, my floors look as clean as if I hauled out a mop and manually scrubbed them. It's so amazing to see. I walk on the floors in my bare feet and they feel great. So good that I could never go back to the spinny pads, vibrating pads, and other stuff I had in my other mopping robots.

Time will tell if the notorious hard water where I live is going to build up inside the robot or the base station and ruin them. I toyed with the idea of using distilled water, but that would get very expensive very fast.

As expected for a robot with the advertised suction power, the vacuum is great. But it seems to have a bit of a problem due to the way it sections off your home. Carl understands that the kitchen is a different surface than the dining/living/bedroom area, so it attacks them separately. This is a bit of a problem, because the kitty litter that gets trapped against the transition strip between them doesn't really get vacuumed for some reason...

There's an HD camera on board which allows you to look out the front as cleaning is happening. You see what the robot sees...

You'll note that there's a directional pad in the lower left where you can manually drive the robot. I haven't done this yet. It might be fun from a remote-control car standpoint, but if I have to do that in order to vacuum or mop, I'll just grab my vacuum or mop!

Disclaimer: My home is wall-to-wall hardwood, so I don't know how well it does on carpet.

So... yeah... love this thing. Hope it gets even better. Let's sum this up, shall we...

THE GOOD

• The low profile allows the Flow 2 to easily get underneath tables, beds, and toe-kicks.
• The vacuum is great. Suction power is excellent and the edge spinner brush moves dirt from the right side of the robot towards the vacuum brush. Cat kibble that spilled on the kitchen floor were sucked up without issue.
• The mop is excellent. The technology behind what Narwal is doing is far, far superior to any other mopping robots I've used. The flat surface, constant cleaning, and ability to extend outward to clean everywhere it remarkable.
• The camera system is pretty good for fresh stains. Carl noted the cat vomit and cleaned it up. Not sure what happens if he runs across a hairball or a pile of poop though.
• The battery life is great. My entire floor can be cleaned using only 25%, even though Carl has to run back to the base station half-way through cleaning to get the dirty water swapped out for clean.
• The base station clean/dirty water tanks can get through two full moppings of my home. I was anticipating them needing to be changed out after every mopping, so this was a pleasant surprise.
• Before docking at the end of a clean, Carl will raise himself up and turn on full suction to grab any dirt and debris that was trapped underneath him. Very nice.
• You don't have to manually add the cleaning solution to the water tank and mix it up. There's a separate reservoir for the cleaner that gets injected into the water as the robot is filled up.
• The base station is big, but not comically so. It can handle two full cleanings of my home, so I think it's just the right size (as it starts doing regular cleanings so things aren't as dirty, the sensor may notice it and even go up to 3 or 4 cleanings between tank changes). I wish I could afford buying the tankless model, but I can't afford to have it plumbed into the kitchen. There is a cool LED color light bar which turns colors based on what's going on, but I haven't bothered to learn which colors mean what.
• The mopping pad is not only washed with hot water, it's dried afterwards. The refuse bag is also dried so any bacteria vacuumed up is killed. I have the drying on "quiet mode" which takes quite a while. There's faster modes available but they're (assumably) noisier.
• The operation is shockingly quiet given how powerful the vacuum suction is rated. It's twice as strong as my Roomba, but twice as quiet at the same time? How? Silent? Not at all. But I can easily watch television while it's in operation.
• Supports the Matter Smart Home standard (among others). Robot vacuums are fairly new to Matter, so it's pretty basic. I don't know why you would use it instead of the app, but it's there for your automations and integrations.
• Comes with a 3-Year Warranty. — I've come to expect 9 months to 1 year, so that's nice.

THE BAD

• UPDATE: The dirty water tank will start to stink. I mean really stink. The second time I went to empty it, the smell was gag-inducing. Likely from the bacteria breeding in it. So I ended up washing it out real good, then letting it sit open in the garage. Narwal desperately needs to add a UV light or something to keep bacteria odor from accumulating like this.
• The map on the app has to be fixed, because it's awful. The furniture is recognized, but not oriented properly so I turn it off. The mapping data becomes so light when drawing zones to clean that it's almost impossible to draw areas accurately. And even if you could, the zone drawing tool is horrible. Instead of dragging corners you get one corner to resize, then have to drag and re-size over and over until your get it right. And it's tough to do that because the touches aren't registered very well. You also can't draw non-square areas, which is baffling. The app is such a critical feature to get right, but the Narwal blows it utterly.
• Carl seems to get confused when he tries to dock with his base station. He comes up to it, turns around, starts backing in, then stops, comes forward, turns around to look at where he's supposed to park, then turns back around and finally backs in. Not sure what that's all about. Kinda cute though.
• There should be spinny brushes on both sides for a cleaner in this price range.
• As noted, the "Smart Stain Detection" didn't notice my dried-on stains at all. Not even a little bit. Since he will attack new stains, I guess this isn't a big deal? Time will tell.
• The sensors on the robot must be pretty good, because there's minimal bumping into furniture. All my other robots bash into stuff repeatedly no matter how many times they've cleaned my home.
• The retail price of the Narwal Flow 2 is a jaw-dropping $1500. If you bought it during its pre-release/early release, the price was $1100. I don't know that it's worth this cost. If I were pricing the value of it vs. the capabilities it has, I'd say around $850. Even that is really too expensive. But given how helpful it is at performing a task I no longer have to do... and doing that task very, very well... it could be worth it.
• The replacement parts (rollers, bags, fluids, etc.) are pretty expensive. The official Narwal bags are two for $20 on their site. Sure, third-party manufacturers will release cheaper parts, they always do, but why doesn't Narwal have reasonable pricing? Isn't this costing them business? Notable that Flow 2 supplies are very difficult to find on their site right now, and some of the information is not correct yet. Since the product is new, I'm guessing this will be resolved soon.

Ultimately I'm very happy with Carl the Fourth. He's very expensive, but does his job very well. Much better than I do with my quick cleanings on Sundays. Yes, I will still do an occasional deep-clean, but probably not every month. Maybe every-other-month or when company is coming. In-between, Carl will be vacuuming and mopping Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

I just hope that he has a long service life, because when you have built-in obsolescence or planned failure at this level, because if he dies right after the 3-Year Warranty ends, that's too soon.

And I need you to watch it.

It's that important, and here it is...

Okay, that was a ruse. Here's the real deal...

I implore you to watch this. If you have kids then I implore you to watch this then talk with them about AI chatbots. I implore you to share this with people you know... especially if they have kids or are vulnerable in some way.

You could be saving a life...

This is fucking repugnant.

AI is stealing our precious resources like fresh water and electricity.

And now they're coming for the people. Exactly as we knew it would. Because there's money to be made.

I bought my car in December 2024. It has never been washed. I park it outside when it rains and don't worry about any dust that accumulates. I just don't care about having a meticulously-maintained car. It's far from a priority in my life. Way down the list.

But then... I parked under a tree where birds ended up shitting all over it. Seriously covered. No amount of rain was going to clean it off. That was embarrassing enough that I relented and went to the carwash.

So now my vehicle is all shiny clean and I've marked my calendar to see if I can go even longer than I did this time before washing. In a day and age when fresh water is a vanishing resource, it seems like a responsible attitude to have!

Or I'm just lazy.

Though at some point, I should probably think about running a vacuum on the inside of it.