@tinyroofnail thanks, and thanks. Funny, a friend and I were just talking about Baldwin after enjoying American Fiction, and I'd resolved to read him.
@tinyroofnail source? I'd like to read more.
@ablerism @austinkleon.com Re Perfect Days, I loved "a film I wouldn't mind rewatching every day for the rest of my life." I ordered a DVD of it, something I never do, I suppose so that I could rewatch it, maybe not every day, but many of them.
@ReaderJohn I remember it very well! Later in life I had a friend who was convinced that the peculiar Kennedy way of speaking (which he copied from the album) was a "Boston accent." Not true at all.
@jabel Some were metal lined (tin sheet metal), weren't they, to keep the critters out? That would make building a reproduction especially interesting.
@tinyroofnail Odd to call our exile from the garden the first human experience. In those terms, isn't the garden our first human experience? Important I think.
@ReaderJohn You inspired me. I just used the LeechBlock browser extension to block all the news sites I usually look at, except the Dispatch. I may selectively block much of that too. If I got down to reading just their daily roundup, I'd feel good. (I'll need to find a comparable app for my phone, I guess.) My son and his wife really do avoid almost all the news, and online media in general. It's good to have a nearby reminder that it can be done.
Finished reading Paul Auster, 4 3 2 1. Very engaging, but in the end it felt gimmicky and pointlessly clever. Now reading Trollope, Barchester Towers, #2 of the Barsetshire novels.
@crossingthethreshold I'm not sure that most spiders would be willing to take on a slug.
@annahavron Is this evolving into a book? I hope so.
@dwalbert Let's worry about getting rid of digital technology first, then we can move on to electricity.
@pratik In a world where someone will name a data analytics company "Palantir", "Crowdstrike" fits right in.
@ReaderJohn Good catch of Rev 13:3!
Because of the big Machine Stops event, local Dept of Social Services announced that they can’t process “online paperwork” at this time, or for who knows how long. My first thought: If it were paperwork, this wouldn’t be happening. Naive, I know.
@lukemperez Big dem donors are (I read) moving their focus from the presidency to congressional runs, which seems like a very good idea to me. The presidency is lost for dems, barring some very strange event.
I just did a search for the book Outrage Machine on my library’s online catalog. The only result it returned was Adrienne Rich’s Collected Poems. Are they editorializing? :-)
@miljko Such a good observation. I read today an argument that, where political divisions traditionally reflect social tensions and divisions, in our recent history the political divisions (promoted by those who benefit from them) are driving the social divisions. Very true, I think.
@ReaderJohn Does it make sense to think of JDV as he presented himself then as meaningfully the same person as JDV as he presents himself now? But I suppose I could ask the same about RD: Some piece I read in the last couple of days described him as a "localist" and I laughed out loud.
@jaheppler Hmm, my browser is an open-source Chromium that came with Ubuntu Linux. I wonder if it's the same thing?
@tinyroofnail I've wanted to read this but have been intimidated by its size. Maybe you'll push me over the edge! I've wondered about framing capitalism as the culprit when China stands out as such an example of an emerging surveillance society. But I'm showing that I haven't read the book, right?
Bonnie Kristian is excellent, partly on the “security dilemma,” usually applied to international politics, plaguing our nation. But even more so: “Political violence is off the table for Christians, full stop.” This will distinguish (say I) the Christians from the Christianists.
@ReaderJohn And I'm especially appreciating the resonances between this and the Hopko post. (Incidentally we met Fr Tom a few times. He seemed like someone who tried to live not just teach his maxims.)
@ReaderJohn I had questions about PK's conversion, but he really seems to get it. Praise God.
@ReaderJohn Always good to read these again! Thanks. This time I made a copy to post on the fridge.
@JohnBrady I said my pan was "non-stick"; I meant to say that it's not non-stick. Non-non-stick? I stopped using non-stick when I realized that when, inevitably, it stopped working, it was because all that non-stick finish, whatever it is, had gone into my food.
@JohnBrady Not clear if this was the bullet. Possibly. Eerie.
@ReaderJohn Wild.
@yorrike Lodge cast iron is the way to go. You can buy a good Lodge pan (or dutch oven, or griddle) at Walmart for $50 or less. They're great. If you pay $1000 for a cast iron pan I'm not sure what "quality" they think you're paying for.
I use a good stainless steel pan, also non-stick, also works well, and doesn't weigh a ton, which to my mind is cast iron's drawback.
@tinyroofnail :-)
Grandpa & grandkids.
A post that passes along L M Sacasas’ 41 Questions about Technology.
I subscribed to the print (!!) version of The Lamp. The content is very RC, and in a sort of leather-armchair, pipe-smoking way that I find especially unappealing. But they’ve really put some thought into making a beautiful magazine, and for that I’m grateful and plan to keep backing them.
Song lyrics getting simpler, more repetitive, angry and self-obsessed – study.
Didn’t read the article, the headline was enough for me.
Finished reading Nicholson Baker, The Mezzanine. Really delightful. The plot: the narrator buys shoelaces at CVS on his lunch break, in 135 pages. I laughed out loud in several places, and feel as if my awareness of everyday reality has been strangely sharpened.
Ross Douthat said a while ago: “If you don’t like the religious right, wait till you meet the post-religious right.” No need to wait, they’re here and in control. The picture is just confused by so many of them calling themselves “evangelicals”. (and sometimes “trad caths” or whatnot.)
It’s the Equinox! For reasons I don’t understand, day and night lengths actually converged a few days ago in our area. But this is the official day. Happiest thought: day length is increasing faster than at any other time (2.5 minutes more daylight every day!).
Would like to read: Food in a Just World. Learned about it on Marion Nestle’s always-good site.
Three new family members. Amazing to see them walking around so alertly and realize they’re less than 24 hours old.
Triplets are a bit unusual for sheep: 1 or 2 is the usual lambing.
I’m trying (again) to move my to-dos, appointments, etc. to pure pen & paper. Will probably start out slavishly following the Bullet Journal method, then adapt it as needed. Any advice welcome from those on the same path.
We had a small outbreak of mosquitos in our house. Mysterious, since it’s the dead of winter here. We finally found that they were breeding in a watering can that my wife uses to water houseplants. But there had to be a mosquito alive in midwinter to lay the eggs, right? Mystery still unsolved.
We watched Sound of Metal a couple of nights ago and I’m still thinking about it. Sometimes it got uncomfortably close to being a Movie With a Message, but then went beyond that in striking ways. Deep.
I think my sourdough starter is dead. SAD! The loaf has been sitting for 4 hours without doing much of anything. This evening I’ll bake it no matter what, perhaps use the result for a doorstop.
It is worth thinking which kinds of “small steps toward a much better world” do not produce such countervailing effects.
This made me think a bit about the possibility of actions for good that avoid a neutralizing counter-action. I wonder if there really are any?