”Just like a rising tide raises all ships, a low average drags everybody down.”

My wife, who is always at the high mark of the tide and well above the standard deviation from the average.

Today I learned that Mumbai’s Dharavi slum has an estimated GDP of close to $1 billion.

I’ve enjoyed watching the microbrewery taproom finally emerge as the American counterpart to the English Pub/German Bierhall/Italian Bar.

📍 Now I’m in…Underhill, VT

@crossingthethreshold thank you!

After dinner, I step outside. The heat of the day feels long gone but the streetlights are just starting to flicker on. The bugs are changing shift. There are rabbits and the silhouettes of treetops with birds flitting between them. l idle my way around the block; the world deepens blue and the houses glow... weblog.restlesslens.me

Forgot how much I loved The History of the Siege of Lisbon by José Saramago. A meditation on how history, both personal and national, is made and written. 📚

OH: “You talking about Jamie and Hera?” “Yeah, yeah, Jamie with the machete.”

Sometimes I’ll see a cool bird but I won’t tell anyone I’m with, just keep it my secret.

Finished The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro. A heroic book that dives deep into the mechanics of power, showing how the cost of building infrastructure can’t be measured in dollars alone, but must also account for lost opportunities, political capture, and public dise... weblog.restlesslens.me

Apparently the Metaverse weblog.restlesslens.me

📍 Now I’m in…Boston, MA

Visited all five great lakes this summer!

Lake Superior

Lake Huron

Lake Michigan

Lake Erie

Lake Ontario

I found Chevengur by Andrey Platonov to be an interesting read. It was also absolutely hilarious. A sort of Soviet Don Quixote. 📚

ugh it’s “would’ve” not “would of”

He used to say to his son that life’s decisive truths exist secretly in abandoned books.

Andrey Platonov, Chevengur

Whenever I’m tempted to give up on the petty frustrations and inadequacies of contract editor life, I call it a day, go get a beer somewhere, and read all afternoon among tourists, students, or retirees.

📍 Now I’m in…Rochester, NY.

We have to begin to laugh at everything, to the point of chaos if necessary, and create an environment in which the sanctimonious become worried, for a large part of their ills and ours come from their limitations.

Sergio Pitol, paraphrasing a conversation with his friend Carlos Monsiváis, in “The Art of Flight”

Finished Tremor by Teju Cole, and man, I just love everything that Teju Cole writes. His work has a wonderful contemplative aura about it. 📚

📍 Now I’m in…Wheeling, WV

Quiet Friday

invidious (adj) - (of an action or situation) likely to arouse or incur resentment or anger in others; (of a comparison or distinction) unfairly discriminating, unjust.

@patrickrhone hah no i just point and laugh.

Today I learned about the Green Coalition of Gay Loggers for Jesus, still going strong. God bless America.

@jabel you’ve given me words for why I don’t use Amazon: not because they’re an exploitative, terrible company (which they are of course) that I want to bring down but because I don’t want to participate in the rampant consumerism they facilitate. It’s for me. I want my purchases to come with friction. Sort of like why I pay out of pocket for my phones: so it hurts.

I’ve enjoyed perusing this list of methods of divination, though I find it impossible to choose a favorite.

@maique well if it’s any consolation, I’ve found that a few (or more) beers go a long way to alleviating the annoyance. Saúde!

@maique I’m often mortified to be identified as an American when I go abroad because of stuff like this. At least you just have to suffer them through the tourist season. I have to put up with these people all year round over here! 😒

@tinyroofnail I can’t imagine the frustration of always having to explain that to someone

@odd they’re called “sleeves.” Lol. Sorry, couldn’t resist the dad joke. 😉

@z428 another great one. I look forward these. Thanks for posting them!

@cliffordbeshers wow interesting. A sort of outward-facing noise cancelling headphones for your car I guess. I've read that in cities where they've closed streets, one of the things people comment on the most is how quiet it is. Looking forward to that future.

@tinyroofnail Happy to hear it. Looking forward to reading!

@Annie 🙌

@odd hah. perhaps you need to be calling the cows home?

@tinyroofnail I love Andrić! He writes with so many voices and his books are like crash courses in complicated history…I’ve read “Bosnian Chronicle” and “Omer Pasha Latas,” but not “Bridge on the Drina”…guess I know what’s up next!

@tinyroofnail haha, same!

@zbarocas I believe it’s from “No Name in the Street” but I came across it in an article on the moral hazards of extractive space exploration that I can’t find now.

@snptrs I am so glad you asked this question, because I came across it randomly online, but you made me suspicious, so I did some digging. According to this, which carries the weight of actual citations, not only is this quote frequently misattributed, but it has an interesting history, and yes, Yeats is involved. I've updated the post accordingly. Thanks!

@Dunk true! (Had to delete the original post cause I put it on the wrong blog…)

@cliffordbeshers 😁

@odd haha I didn’t know there was a place with this name either! Home to 5,000 people and apparently the largest town square in America.

@jabel YES. I've thought about this a lot, but beyond just the timeline to the character of the whole media landscape around me: my priorities, the way I approach problems, the little fantasies that spark in my head, all bent by influences that found me with agendas of their own instead of by influences I sought out in my own pursuits. As a result, I'm growing much more mindful of my information environment, and I try to engage with it on my terms (I'm still working out what those are). This inevitably leads to the whole "how much of me is actually me" question, which is a real trip!

@V_ wow great question. hmmmmm…I like rummaging through the produce for the right items for the dishes we’ve planned for the week, bantering with the folks at the counters, wandering around watching people shop, snooping on the items in their carts. We dedicate our Sundays to acquiring the food we need for the week, so we don’t need to be efficient. I’m envious of people who live places with markets instead of supermarkets; I love the idea of buying veg from the green grocery, meat from the butcher, etc. I don’t live a life conducive to gardening (which I love), so engaging with people when I make my groceries is the next best thing.

@dejus didn’t know commercial campgrounds had that option. Cool! I love how life on the road makes you think creatively

@V_ I don't buy much other than groceries these days (and I love going to the grocery store), but I find there are a few things you cant really find anywhere but amazon. Like esoteric power cords.

@JohnBrady No judgment on anyones purchasing habits intended! Its just unreal to me that such a huge company can apparently invest so little in its UX. I guess thats what market capture does for you?

@dejus So how do you do amazon living on the road, if you don't mind my asking? When we need something we just HAVE to get from amazon, we try to time it with pick up kiosks located along our route, but it feels fraught.