As I do every year, I started my day listening to Martin Luther King Jr.'s I Have a Dream speech in its entirety. So many people quote snippets of it to support their personal narrative while completely ignoring the bigger picture, and that's why I listen to the whole thing every year.
I had the day off but ended up working most of it anyway. I have a dentist appointment tomorrow, so it seemed the smart thing to do.
Though now that I'm home and exhausted, perhaps it would have been smarter to stay home and zone out in front of the television? The world may never know.
UPDATE: And my blog is dead again. I don't know if it keeps getting hacked or what.
I've made it my mission today to start deep-cleaning my home because it's just gone too long without. But I won't leave my daily blog entry hanging... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• Furnishings! When I bought my home, I had less than no money. But I had to furnish it completely from scratch for two people because the stuff my mom had was all hand-me-downs that were damaged and falling apart. I ended up buying everything at IKEA because it was cheap (though I did buy the real wood "Hemnes" IKEA instead of the MDF fake wood stuff, because I needed it to last a while). With the exception of my IKEA Hemnes bed, which is a squeaky pile of shit, I'm happy with all the furniture. But it's not ideal. My dream is to learn how to make quality furniture to replace all my IKEA, but wood has just been too expensive. Maybe one day! — Anyway, this is a fascinating video which explains where we're at when it comes to furniture in America...
Yeah, I gotta learn to make my own furniture! Starting with a bed!
• -A45! She's not wrong. Just like America's idiotic failure to adopt the metric system, failing to adopt the A4 system is equally stupid...
I am increasingly convinced that the USA clings to stupid as a point of pride, because we do it all the time.
• Prophecies Unfulfilled! When Dune: Prophecy began, it had narrative and structure problems but I liked the idea of it all. For the first three episodes they felt like they were building towards something interesting, and I was intrigued enough that I was willing to overlook the flaws. Plus it was beautiful. Then the fourth episode came along and it was awful. It was so bad that it instantly negated the excitement I was trying to hold onto, and it only went downhill from there. It was so badly scripted and so boring, and by the end of it all I didn't give a shit about any of it. Everything amazing about the Denis Villeneuve Dune masterpieces was gone. I was badly disappointed. But not as disappointed as this guy...
Oh yeah, he totally nailed it. And watching this video shows me just how desperate I was to love the show that I was overlooking all the bad things about it. Until I couldn't any more with Episode 04. I hope to God that they manage to write their way out of the dud the show became in its first season, because I really want to have great Dune stories to watch.
• Shocking! BWAH HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA: The Vegas Tesla Loop Is A Glorified Crosswalk.
• Switch it Up! I bought the original Nintendo Switch the minute I could get my hands on one. I wanted a very good handheld system, and Nintendo pumps out games that are exceptional and fun. I wish I had time to use it more, but I don't, so I am not sure I'll be investing in the Switch 2. Unless there's a game for it that's super-compelling...
What we really need to see are specs. Just once I'd love for Nintendo to release something that's not woefully underpowered when compared to Xbox and PlayStation. Sure, Nintendo is smart in realizing that the game play is more important than anything else... but it's just sad that games which run beautifully on my Xbox drop to a subpar experience on my Switch. It would be different if it was only a handheld system, but it's a television console as well and really needs to be able to keep up.
• Climate Changed! NEWSFLASH: 2024 first year to pass 1.5C global warming limit. Online, people are laugh-reacting to this story. Guess they find the challenges and horrors that their kids and grandkids will face to be funny? — As for me? I'm done giving a shit about selfish, uneducated, ignorant, asshole humans. What I care about are the other living creatures on this planet that are facing extinction because of something they had nothing to do with.
• The Future is Now! Just over seven years ago, I wrote a post about guns. In this post, which got me some pushback, I said that passing gun control legislation was a stop-gap measure that was doomed to fail because technology would eventually allow people to 3D print any gun they want. Well... surprise: Americans Are Posting 3D-Printed Gun Videos to China’s RedNote With Surprising Success. This right here is what I've been talking about all this time. Banning guns in a day and age where anybody can 3-D print whatever they want in their basement is not going to solve the problem. And what happens when 3-D metal printing technology is mainstream? We need to be creative in how we address gun violence, and yet everybody continues to think old world solutions are going to work in the new world which we live. Just think about the horrors of what will be possible in another seven years. We're late on creating solutions. Soon we'll be too late, and hand-wringing has gotten us nowhere.
Back to house cleaning, I suppose. Ugh.
I had a huge list of chores I needed to get done today, but have been so exhausted from lack of sleep that I didn't really have the energy to do any of it.
So what did I do instead of working around the house? I sat on the couch and veged out in front of the television. I was hoping that would lead to me falling asleep and getting a nap, but that wasn't to be.
The good news is that I had company. I looked up and saw Jenny staring at me from the table...
And next thing I know, I have a television buddy snuggled up next to me...
Which, let's face it, is a lot better than sleep anyway.
And so our bought-and-paid-for "Supreme" Court has unanimously said that Americans don't have the fucking freedom to decide for themselves what they can and cannot access on the internet, making a decision for all of us that TikTok can be actually be banned. Turns out that only American companies are allowed to promote misinformation, exploit our personal information, and send our data to China! Anybody else does it and it's a "matter of National Security." Despite some valid concerns, this is some stupid shit right here. Guess TikTok didn't buy off the right politicians...
The entire TikTok fiasco is both straightforward and complex. President Trump is the one who set out to ban it. Then Democrats got into power and President Biden co-signed it, but passed the buck back to Trump as he returns to power. So now Trump is in a position to either save TikTok or sink it thanks to the "Supreme" Court (making Democrats look fucking stupid as usual, regadless of which way he goes). That's the simple version. The complexity comes from all the political shit surrounding the simple version. Take for example Senator Tom Cotton, Republican from Arkansas. He's the guy who torpedoed an extension to TikTok shutting down. He's very aggressive about it. But why? Well, the corrupt asshole has a book coming out called Seven Things You Can't Say About China. Him being able to claim that he's the guy who took a tough stand against China by banning TikTok is great promotion for his book (which I'm assuming is about taking a tough stand against China). This is a total conflict of interest, but that's hardly surprising coming from a politician. And that's just the tip of the iceberg. All those politicians taking money from Facebook have to repay that favor somehow, and what better way than to shut down a huge competitor? It goes on and on. And until we start executing politicians who fuck over American citizens to serve their own lust for money and power, it's going to continue.
And speaking of seriously stupid shit... I have written about the flerfer (flat earther) movement many, many times on Blogography. I just don't get it. We had this shit figured out before the time of Jesus Christ. It's an easily verifiable fact that the earth is a globe. Shoot a rifle or mortar over a long distance. You'll have to adjust for the curvature of the earth and its Coriolis force to hit your target. Or, even easier, just watch a ship disappear over the horizon because it's going behind the curvature of the earth. Or you can do something like this simple two minute experiment where flerfers debunked themselves...
Fast forward to The Final Experiment. A guy flew some flerfers to Antarctica to observe the 24-hour sun, something that's impossible on a flat earth. And something I know is real, BECAUSE I'VE BEEN THERE AND HAVE FUCKING SEEN IT FIRST-HAND! And of course the flerfers are calling the whole "Final Experiment" a lie, which is beyond stupid.
And then today, finally, the video I've been waiting for has finally arrived. Professor Dave weighed in. It's certified gold. ..
Blergh. I was going to write about a few other stupid things... including, but not limited to, Apple "Intelligence," a teacher who left their cocaine in an elementary school bathroom in Vegas, and go off on social media influencers yet again... but stupidity is exhausting enough.
Awww, man. In many ways, David Lynch is a genius who cannot be touched. Between Twin Peaks, Blue Velvet, Mulholland Drive, Eraserhead, and even Dune... WHICH I ARGUE WAS A FANTASTIC ADAPTATION FOR THE DAY... I admire his work so much, and was sad to hear that he had died.
YouTube is not letting me embed an awesome video where David Lynch is talking about the time he met George Lucas because Lucas wanted him to direct Return of the Jedi. But it's awesome so I am giving you the link right here. Everything I love about David Lynch is encapsulated in this story. You MUST watch it. Even if you're not a fan and don't understand his work. Especially then, because it will explain why so many people are fans of his, and how it translates to what he does.
Rest in Peace, sir.
I've heard that as we get older we have a harder and harder time getting the sleep we need. It's hard to fall asleep. Waking up is what's easy. Then it's even harder to fall back asleep.
Apparently I've reached that point, because I feel lucky if I can manage to get five or six hours sleep. Most times it's less. Sometimes a lot less. As an example, here's my sleep from last night...
Three hours and nine minutes. I should have taken a nap when I got home from work, but I wasn't tired.
No idea how that was even possible.
How can I function on three hours sleep?
My home is not very big at all, but still bigger than I need. I could get by with half the size for myself and my cats just fine. When I bought it the location was the most important factor, because I'd be taking care of a mom with dementia. Living in my old neighborhood where people know her and, more importantly, she knows them, is what mattered.
Because I'm single, I have been toying with the idea of finding something smaller. Cheaper to maintain and heat/cool (and clean!) as I get older. But something became immediately apparent as I was looking around... I wouldn't come out ahead on a downsizing deal, and it's proving really difficult to wrap my head around. Shouldn't the difference between the sale price of the bigger place and the purchase price of the smaller place be putting money in my pocket?
No. — At least not right now.
Smaller doesn't automatically equal cheaper.
Unless I gave up on home ownership completely and moved to an apartment. But given the money I've sunk into this place over the years, that's a short-term windfall that would likely cost me even more money long-term.
And so I guess I'm staying put for a while longer.
Which saves me from having to explain to my cats that they'd have to adjust their excessive lifestyle to live in less space. Something they probably wouldn't be happy about at all.
The big news today is that Sonos's CEO has finally stepped down after his company forced a shitty app release in order to meet a ship date on a calendar for headphones... not giving a crap that it fucked over longtime loyal customers in the process.
But this is a rather gross simplification of events of record.
Don't look now but the world isn't ending after all... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• AMNK! Oh look. This is my life right here...
And here's Part One...
Yeah. Just like that.
• This Moment! Well this was unanticipated. I had no idea that Able Heart had beautiful feel good tracks like this until it popped up in my feed...
Another artist I need to keep an eye on, it would seem.
• Viral! NEWSFLASH: Crucial Firefighting Plane Grounded In LA Because Of Idiot Drone Operator. Who gives a crap that homes are burning... I want footage to go viral on TikTok!
• SPACE! ELEVATOR! I loathe the AppleTV adaptation of Foundation, but keep coming back to this awesome scene every time I see anything about building a space elevator. It's incredibly well-done...
The trail of destruction as the cable for the space elevator falls acrss the earth is epic.
• Baked! Have I mentioned that I still loathe my new Whirlpool oven? After finally fixing it so it will actually work (the element was not fully seated or something), I run into new things to loathe always. In addition to the control panel layout being shit, my latest consistent source of hate is that YOU CAN'T KEEP THE DOOR OPEN WHEN BROILING! WHO THE FUCK DESIGNS AN OVEN LIKE THIS? You can't look through the window to keep watch, it isn't tall enough. You have to constantly open and close the door to look. This is fucking madness. In all my years of using an oven, including my previous Whirlpool, you could leave the door open to broil. I will never buy another shitty fucking Whirlpool appliance again. What a waste of money for something so frustrating. — Seriously thinking of welding the fucking door sensor permanently shut. But then I'd void my warranty? Lord.
• Spring Break! NEWSFLASH: 2 bodies found in the wheel well of a JetBlue plane in Fort Lauderdale, airline says. WTF? So... let's think this through. You stow away in a wheel well where the landing gear goes after takeoff. Assuming you can avoid getting crushed by it, you'll then reach a cruising altitude of 40,000 feet where it's freezing cold and you can't get oxygen?!? I just... what could the motivation be for something like this? "Screw New York weather, I'm going to Ft. Lauderdale!" or something? I dunno. Maybe if they didn't have someplace warm to ride out the winter this would seem like a good idea... but if this "keeps happening" it seems as though there should be some kind of sensor to tell the cockpit if there is a presence in the wheel well.
Until next Sunday, assuming the earth is still here.
My cats have been even more lazy than usual today and I'm following their lead. Instead of cleaning the house, doing laundry, and taking care of all the boring and mundane human crap that I should be doing... I'm laying in bed and scrolling through the internet.
Which, as you probably realize, is mostly cat videos and cat content.
I saw this post from last August and it couldn't be more authentic cat...
This one killed me. Be sure to watch with the sound on because the hilarity is worth the effort...
I'd gladly go to Starbucks for a pup cup for my cats if it would make them like riding in the car. Just listen to this cat...
And now, this...
I'll stop there because I could drop dozens and dozens of other things that have been inundating my personal time lately.
And you, if you'll excuse me, I'm scrubbing the cat feeding station, cleaning the water fountains, filling the Litter-Robots, washing the kitty warming pad covers, and doing all the other cat-maintenance chores that Jake and Jenny demand of me.
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