The Tyrannosaurus rex from Jurassic Park because first of all, I’m actually pretty sure I’d be fine so long as I can get in my car and drive away at a reasonable pace. Secondly, just think of the absolutely incredible collateral damage. Even if I get killed, it would be one of the most talked-about and confusing incidents in American history for the rest of time.

Someday I’d like to replicate Eratosthenes’ experiment with a long north-south road trip, but I never remember to make the measurements.

We do this at a used book store. It’s books that we don’t think we can sell inside for whatever reason, and we put them on shelves outside. There’s a big awning so they don’t really get rained on unless it’s raining sideways. We sell them for a dime or a quarter, and there’s a slot for overnight drops in case people want to get books at night. Every morning there’s at least a couple of bucks from the previous day/night.

We donate the proceeds to public radio, and over the years we’ve donated over $100,000.

James 5:1-6, NRSV

Come now, you rich people, weep and wail for the miseries that are coming to you. Your riches have rotted, and your clothes are moth-eaten. Your gold and silver have rusted, and their rust will be evidence against you, and it will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up treasure during the last days. Listen! The wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts. You have lived on the earth in luxury and in pleasure; you have nourished your hearts in a day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the righteous one, who does not resist you.

What’s going on down in Columbus County, North Carolina?

“I like my women either really fat or really skinny! Like, unhealthily skinny!”

Except for “Fuck the Pain Away.” That’s about clipping grocery store coupons.

deleted by creator

And Elizabeth Warren.

There are people who, disturbed by “big government” today and its tendency to curb the advantages they might gain if their competitiveness were allowed free flow, demand “less govern- ment.” Alas, there is no such thing as less government, merely changes in government. If the libertarians had their way, the distant bureaucracy would vanish and the local bully would be in charge. Personally, I prefer the distant bureaucracy, which may not find me, over the local bully, who certainly will. And all historical precedent shows a change to localism to be for the worse.

—Isaac Asimov, Nice Guys Finish First, collected in The Sun Shines Bright, 1981

Conan the Barbarian (1982) has no right to be as good as it is. On paper, it’s a dumb sword and sorcery flick with a body builder who could barely speak English in the lead. But everyone involved does an incredible job, from the acting to the directing, to the score. It’s a crime that Destroyer trashed up the formula, and we never got Conan the King.

I’m reminded of the movie Long Way North where a heavily-accented sailor tells a girl about a dog that lives on the ship: “He is punished. He chews the rigging and steals.”

I usually read sci-fi / fantasy, but I’ve come to recognize that certain authors are dense, and Tolkien is one of them. Trying to read too much of Tolkien at once is like trying to eat too much rich food; you’ve got to take a break from time to time. All the annotations in the above book make the text even more dense, but it’s still interesting stuff, like the mythological origins of Gandalf, or the tiny changes Tolkien made from early editions of the book. So I want to read this, it’s not like I’m forcing myself to read some godawful textbook, but I think when I’m reading it at night, my brain gets to a point where it just goes “Ah fuck it,” and I start to nod off.

Also pretty good for this: Isaac Asimov, or Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August.

If it’s a wormhole or Niven-style teleporter, it’s unarguably you coming through the process. Star Trek… I’ll grant that the conversation gets a little more complicated.

This right here

was my drug-free go to sleep solution for a few months. Just barely interesting enough to want to read it, but also tedious enough that I’d get maybe a page or two in before I’d be nodding off.

The spacing on the lights up top is super weird. AI seems to have a real problem recreating consistent repeated patterns.

Here’s the video.

It’s been a while since I watched it, so judge for yourself.

“I’m not superstitious, but I am a little stitious.”