This interstitial period leading into the fall seemed like as good a time as any to update my /now page.
Tangled Up In Chaos
A few days ago, I received a plea in my usual email from the media outlet Tangle.
The last six months have been a difficult time for media outlets. Overwhelmed by the news, many readers and listeners are tuning out. Those who are staying up to date are increasingly relying on artificial intelligence round-ups to get their news, which has caused website traffic to fall.
I feel bad about the situation that Isaac Saul, who founded Tangle, and his crew find themselves in. They have a publication that does a wonderful job balancing perspectives on the news of the day. They are trustworthy and thorough. Yet, I find myself deciding again and again not to upgrade to a paid subscription when I consider the option.
You know a CD is old when the insert explains compact disc technolgy. The Cure Staring At The Sea sounds wonderful on disc, though.
Billie Bean King
Zachary Brown writes for the Verge about a new game/utililty from Hank Green. The premise of the Focus Friend app is sort of like an updated Tamagotchi for phone addicts. You are the virtual caretaker of a character like Billy Bean King, a bean who can only work to upgrade its environment and wardrobe (it knits) if you put down your phone. As it turns out, helping furnish a virtual bean’s lo-fi room is exactly what I needed.
Falling On My Sword
In honor of Tops’ new album Bury The Key being released yesterday, I’m featuring one of the tracks, “Falling On My Sword,” as the Saturday Night Video this week.
“Falling On My Sword” is my favorite among the early singles from this LP and probably the one that most closely matches the 70’s prog rock-inspired cover art. It’s a bit of a left turn for Tops. Based on their previous work, you would think anything born of a seventies influence would be more in line with late-decade disco (and the remainder of the album features some of that).
Of Human Bondage
The third edition of John Brady’s This & That. zine reached my mailbox this week. As I read through it, I thought about the slower pace of communication from the past. In the book Of Human Bondage by W. Somerset Maugham, the residents of a small British town at the turn of the 20th century share a newspaper, each taking shifts throughout the day.
Soon after breakfast Mary Ann brought in the Times. Mr. Carey shared it with two neighbours. He had it from ten till one, when the gardener took it over to Mr. Ellis at the Limes, with whom it remained till seven; then it was taken to Miss Brooks at the Manor House, who, since she got it late, had the advantage of keeping it.
There’s something quaint and romantic about having such little and proscribed access to information. It’s almost the exact opposite of what we have today, with the glut of news and entertainment that we can barely hold off.
I was going through Clive Thompson’s latest Linkfest and showing my wife some of the more interesting shares when I clicked on a link and was shocked to find myself face to face with one of my own blog posts.
Cool!
Guess The Atlantic moved E.B. to a new beat.
My brother loves his wife and wants to do things that she likes but I sense that he’s not super thrilled about going to tonight’s Rod Stewart concert to hear an octogenarian sing about how sexy he is.
My wife decries political rot whereas I tend to be more concerned about cultural degradation. We have fun together.
Occasionally I participate in the deluge, but I think about this tweet from years ago quite a bit.
The Bear Notes implementation of callouts looks really nice.
It doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to challenges some of the premises of conventional contemporary western health protocols, but MAHA seems to be throwing out the baby with the (fluoride-infused) bath water.
It’s hard to stay away from using Ghost. The upgraded newsletter design features and the forthcoming fediverse integration are very alluring.
“Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
I’m looking forward to listening to this episode of The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God podcast about Orthodox Christianity. I’m especially interested in what one of the primary guests, Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick has to say, since he will be attached to my parish as a priest next year.
The new Sabrina Carpenter album cover is the contemporary pop version of the original cover of Spinal Tap’s Smell The Glove.
I had to try out Lazy and I’m currently figuring out how it will fit into my workflow.
The sold out Ginger Root show was a well orchestrated mix of sights and sounds. Thanks to my lady friend for braving the BO and heat to join me.
My lady friend discovered this morning that if you clean the HomePod Mini in a certain way, Siri starts playing punk rock.