Week of Mar 10th: Waiting and waiting

That couple in the picture waited so long they evolved into crabs. Image by MarciaAnn from Pixabay

HBon mot of the week:

Imagine the whimper of a Cybertruck "rolling coal."

When I write this newsletter, after collecting the links I’ve saved, I read through the past week’s journal entries (I use Obsidian for this) and pick out the thoughts that are worth sharing.

😐️ 

I haven’t had such shallow and non-reflective journal entries for a while. This week has been filled with mostly chores and the delicate balance of getting everything just right before my step-father’s surgery at the end of the month. We’ve been walking an obstacle-laden path for over a year and, unfortunately, we have a lot of hope riding on the outcome. I can’t say what life will look like ten days into the future, but every day I give myself permission to not make any plans or assumptions.

Needless to say, for now, the writing is not going, at all. I can’t focus unless I leave the house, and I can’t leave the house most days. I am trying to train myself to concentrate while the rest of my brain waits for the interruption, but it rattles what little emotional regulation I’ve managed over the years. Frustrating.

Links of the past week:

• There were two deeply-researched stories that came out at the end of the week and while I started reading both, I quickly lost the stomach for them. They’re important and perhaps, when edibles become legal in Pennsylvania, I’ll come back and read them. Until then, I just can’t.

  • Inside Elon Musk’s ‘Digital Coup’ by Mikena Kelley and a host of others at Wired Magazine (those Sam Lyon illustrations are on point!)

  • The Rise and Fall of Terrorgram: Inside a Global Online Hate Network by A.C. Thompson and James Bandler at ProPublica

• I have multiple playlists of the type of background, mood music mentioned in the article, Spotify’s biggest sin? Its algorithms have pushed artists to make joyless, toothless music, by John Harris at The Guardian. I use them liberally for focus and anxiety-reduction, but I don’t listen to it in the same way I listen to my favorite music. I think that since entertainment platforms need to amass a large quantity of users and, therefore, engagement, all types of entertainment that is streamed and pushed via algorithm will eventually fall down this path. By the same token, retail entertainment - say Amazon or Crunchy Roll - may not have the same watering-down issue as people are more focused on what they’re consuming, either due to intentional purchasing of the entertainment or selecting something to watch. The autoplay (see also: the infinite scroll) is the great flattener of culture.

• Two more arrested in fraternity hazing death of Louisiana student by Ramon Antonio Vargas at The Guardian: Greek life is a cancer. You can be charitable in other ways. You can network and be mentors in other ways. You can even be exclusive in other ways. Greek life is a cancer.

• There’s a new version of the Nintendo 64 console coming out? What? WHAT? Every damn swap shop is immediately sold out of all their used N64 cartridges…even Superman.

• The Billionaire Boycott Conundrum by John Scalzi on Whatever is a pretty good primer on boycotting and how it can be performative and publicly "policed." Not since the days of the green avatar, have so many done so little.

• On a positive (or anti-negative) note, this post by Famed_Art on Reddit could be a good antidote to y(our) artistic insecurities: I needed to hear this today. Maybe you do too.