The Passenger is mild… but only half the story. You want to read the companion novel Stella Maris too

Some of his books are fucked up. The Road and Blood Meridian are stomach turning, gut-wrenching explorations of the awful side of humans.

All the Pretty Horses is: young man likes horses. Moves to Mexico to work on a ranch. Young man falls in love with woman. Hijinks. horses. Done

• All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing are beautiful western novels by Cormac McCarthy. Both are very much “a boy and his horse” kind of stories about learning to be yourself. They’re loosely related and there’s a third book that brings the boys together and concludes their stories

• The Jungle and Oil! by Upton Sinclair are novelizations of Sinclair’s investigative journalism work in the meat packing industry and the nascent workers rights movement respectively. Oil! was very loosely adapted into the film There Will Be Blood (the film covers maybe the first 3-4 chapters by greatly expanding upon the material

• Hatchet by Gary Paulsen was a very impactful book for me as a child. It’s a YA novel, but still worth a read. The main character Brian survives a plane crash in the Canadian wilderness and is forced to find a way to survive on his own

A few more recent novels that I enjoyed:

• Prophet Song by Paul Lynch. Won the 2024 Booker Prize (best English language novel) about an authoritarian government taking power in Ireland and how that unfolds from the perspective of a mother with young children. It’s a hard read, but very well written

• Our Share of Night by Mariana Enriquez. Translated into English. A friend described it as “sexy witches in South America deal with authoritarian rule.” And that’s pretty close…

• Same Bed Different Dreams by Ed Park. A semi-fictionalized history of the Korean Peninsula and the desire to have a unified identity. Many people come to the peninsula (same bed) with very different goals for its use (different dreams). Really fascinating book and engaging

• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Follows a trio of friends as they explore the world of video game design. Starts in the early 80s and runs through the 2000s. Reminder me very much of the show Halt and Catch Fire.

• My Friends by Hisham Matar. Follows a Libyan immigrant living in England in the 80s through 2010s as he wrestles with his identity, his homeland, his friends and family. Khaled’s closest friends serve as foils to his own feelings, reacting to the same circumstances very differently from himself

Futurama is a hot mess of a show because of how Fox butchered the original broadcast order.

This [latest] season has alternatively been titled the ninth season (production) and the twelfth season (broadcast). This list follows the previous season box sets, which feature the episodes in the original, intended production season order, ignoring the order of broadcast.

I would recommend picking a convention (production or broadcast) and sticking with it. It looks like tvdb prefers the former (hence only 9 seasons)

My top ten-ish tv shows

1. The Wire
2. Bojack Horseman
3. Patriot
4. The Americans
5. Better Off Ted
6. Arrested Development
7. Pushing Daisies
8. Gravity Falls
9. The Bear

Honorable Mentions

1. Over the garden wall
2. Luther
3. Friday Night Lights
4. The Queen’s Gambit
5. GLOW
6. Mindhunter
7. Sports Night
8. The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
9. Atlanta

On my fifth rewatch right now. Just started S2

Obsidian might work for you

In the 2000s and early 2010s, less of your life was lived on a cell phone or smartphone.

For kids now, it’s 100% of their lives. Post-COVID, the majority of social interaction between peers is through a social media app.

That means that close to 100% of kids are on their phones during the school day. If you aren’t, you run the risk of social isolation and FOMO.

Administrators can’t send a kid to detention for using their phone because ALL kids would be in detention every day.

Here’s one article that examines the problem

Archived version

I particularly like the Bonavita 1L Gooseneck. It has a variable temperature thermostat, helpful for teas or coffees that don’t want to be at 100° C.

Gosh. I hadn’t thought about Indian in the cupboard in years

Daddy would you like some sausages?

1. Overnight oats
2. Yogurt with frozen fruit and granola (parfait)
3. Granola/protein bar of choice
4. Hard boiled eggs
5. Peanut butter toast

Easy. Add a section to your robots.txt file.

Hilarious. Thanks

Examples?

1. I went to grad school during the ‘08 housing crisis because there were not many jobs available for early career folks. The program was a combination of technical networking (Cisco) and business acumen.

2. Classes were longer seminars, much harder than undergrad with an intense focus on the subject matter rather than superficial discussions. Projects were also longer/harder including a thesis (~100 pages, 6 months of work)

3. I learned A LOT. I networked with industry folks and continue to engage with the alumni community. I’ve helped 5-6 grads land their first job.

4. After a few years working, I did an MBA part time (nights and weekends). That was similarly challenging and I also learned a lot.

5. I would recommend working professionally before a grad degree unless you’re in a specific industry like bio/chem research, math, psychology etc. basically industries where you require a Ph.D to do anything.

6. Do your best to get a graduate assistantship to offset the expense of the program OR work with an employer for continuing education.

What about NetData?

The amount and types of data a mobile app can access is infinitely higher than a web app.

Much more thorough article from WaPo (gift link)

I think the important takeaway here is that he’s not the person to fight the MAGA-wing, but he wants to fight it.

Good to hear he’s discouraging Manchin’s “No Labels” run, but we’ll see if anyone can change Manchin’s mind