Mitch's Blog

Messy Nessy Chic:

Not a single ship visited Tristan da Cunha from 1909 until 1919, until the HMS Yarmouth finally stopped by to inform the islanders of the outcome of World War I. Accessible on by sea, Tristan da Cunha is in fact an archipelago, the remotest inhabited one in the world, although only the main island was settled by man, with a permanent population of 265 residents as of September 2016.

There is no airstrip; the island is accessible only by a difficult six-day boat voyage from South Africa.

They don’t have home internet, but they do have an internet cafe. Or did in 2016.

While trying to harass trans people, Idaho accidentally bans truck nuts. (jwz)

I’ve been sick with a bad cold or flu. I slept nearly all of Thursday, most of Friday and today is the first day I woke up feeling relatively normal.

While I was sick, I had terrible dreams that we’d re-elected 🤡 as President and —

[checks news]

Fuck.

(I really was sick. And 🤡 really is President. Alas, I never forgot it, though.)

A United Airlines flight from LA to China diverted to San Francisco after the pilot forgot his passport. (Minyvonne Burke and Bella LoBue / NBC News)

Jonah Weiner / NYTimes

Kaufman “set up camp on ever-advancing frontiers of unpleasantness, all the better to mystify crowds about where the joke, if there was one, ended.” You were never quite sure what was a bit and what was real.

There’s a direct line from Kaufman’s recurring routines as an obnoxious lounge singer and misogynistic wrestler to Musk and Bannon throwing Nazi salutes and never clarifying whether they are really Nazis.

Two Kingston, NY, restaurants featured in “Severance” host watch parties for the show, with customers showing up in costume. The New York Times has a photo essay. “Please try to enjoy each photo equally, and not show preference for any over the others."

European nations were at war for a thousand years, culminating in two of the bloodiest wars ever fought. But those nations have been at peace for 80 years. This is a magnificent achievement. The Trump administration thinks it’s “pathetic."

Inspired by Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr, I’m trying to Make Person-to-Person Email a Thing again. If your message does not require immediate attention, don’t send a text message, WhatsApp, iMessage, Facebook Messenger, or other direct-message. Just send an email. That way, the recipient reads and responds to it it at their leisure.

Things you should send in email:

• “Happy birthday!”
• “Here is a funny meme.”
• “Let’s get together in a couple of weeks.”

Things that are OK to send in text message:

• “I’m running 15 minutes late - sorry!”
• “You’re on fire. Literally. You might want to look into that.”
• “There is pie.”

Cory wrote about this on his blog recently, but I can’t find the link.

I’m having a lot of difficulty focusing on work today. Fortunately, my work requires me to operate a computer that is connected to the whole Internet oh shit I’m fucked.

Here’s something I saw while walking the dog: The Canada geese are back hanging around at the park. The goslings are not far behind!