Suddenly Frodo noticed that a strange-looking weather-beaten man, sitting in the shadows near the wall, was also listening intently to the hobbit-talk. He had a tall tankard in front of him, and was smoking a long-stemmed pipe curiously carved. His legs were stretched out before him, showing high boots of supple leather that fitted him well, but had seen much wear and were now caked with mud. A travel-stained cloak of heavy dark-green cloth was drawn close about him, and in spite of the heat of the room he wore a hood that overshadowed his face; but the gleam of his eyes could be seen as he watched the hobbits.
Here’s Strider. He is the coolest man in the Prancing Pony — faded Levi’s, biker boots and leather jacket, smoking unfiltered Camels. He is wearing aviator sunglasses inside the dark bar; on anybody else they’d look affected and silly but on him they make him look even cooler. He is played by 1980s Sam Elliott.
Also: I can’t get over that there’s a guy in Middle Earth named “Bob.”
Here's something I saw while walking the dog: This Russian borzoi hound
Her name is “hippie,” and she was being walked by a lovely white-haired Russian woman with an accent straight out of a 1970s spy movie. Hippie came right up to me and stuck her nose on the treat pouch on my hip; the Russian woman explained that Hippie is NOT allowed to take treats from other people because Hippie is bred to run and she takes the dog to the off-leash dog beach and if the dog were allowed to accept treats from other people the dog would not run; the dog would just go from person to person begging dog treats.
Hippie stood about 3-1/2 feet high, with a skinny body, long legs and a long, thin snout.
The breed has an interesting history.
They were formerly known as Russian wolfhounds and the name describes their history — they were bred in 16th Century Russia to hunt wolves. For centuries, they could not be purchased but only given as gifts from the tsar, with whom the breed was popular.
The hobbits have arrived at the Prancing Pony, which I picture as like the Bada Bing in The Sopranos. “Paulie Walnuts” could be a hobbit name.
When I was a kid, I thought quicksand, evil twins and amnesia would be bigger deals than they turned out to be.
I had to re-learn to read books in 2023, after 20+ years of doing more and more of my reading on the Internet.
I don’t trust newfangled simultaneous collaborative editing tools. Two people editing the same doc at the same time? It’s witchcraft!
Or electricity. I don’t trust electricity.
Ezra Klein: How Tucker Carlson is helping modern Nazis — “Groypers” — go mainstream in the Republican Party.
To call them Nazis is not hyperbole. These guys see Jews as enemies within America, and are not shy about saying so. No dog-whistling here.
We paid El Salvador to torture, abuse, and rape completely innocent Venezuelans so that [Secretary of State] Marco Rubio, [White House deputy chief of staff] Stephen Miller, and Donald Trump could claim they were tough on immigrants.
The economy is faltering and Americans know it.
Bloomberg reports that 62% of Americans they polled say the cost of everyday items has climbed over the past month and that 55% of employed Americans say they’re worried about losing their job. It also notes, as CNBC economic commenter Carl Quintanilla pointed out, that international stocks are outperforming the U.S. S&P stock index by the widest margin in 16 years. Yesterday the University of Michigan consumer confidence survey hit its lowest reading in 65 years.
"Transforming a human necessity (housing) into an asset is a *terrible* idea"
Transforming a human necessity into an asset is a terrible idea. Governments work to increase the price of assets owned by actors in their economy. But increasing the price of housing only benefits the minority who own houses, while everyone else – everyone who needs a roof over their head – suffers. For a comparison, imagine if our governments instituted a policy of making some other necessity as expensive as possible, say, food or water. Transforming shelter into an asset class was always going to end badly.
— How to fix the UK housing crisis, by Cory Doctorow @pluralistic@mamot.fr
I have decided to make a drastic life change: I am throwing out all empty boxes, no matter how sturdy, clean and perfectly sized they are (with the exception of the original packaging for expensive electronics). I will trust in the universe to provide boxes when boxes are required.
Please pray for me during this difficult transition.
Reading “Lord of the Rings” continues. The scenes about the barrow-wights are pretty good. At least it’s not descriptions of eating or forests and Tom Bombadil doesn’t show up until the end.
The smallest hill I’m willing to die on: I dislike virtual backgrounds that are representations of rooms. Virtual rooms are all bland and dystopian. Just use the blur effect or an abstract virtual background. It is acceptable to use a virtual room or some other real-world image if it is very, very clever — but they never are.
I made a disparaging comment about Los Angeles to an angeleno on a team call, and the angeleno agreed. Angelenos are usually willing to agree heartily with any disparaging remark you make about Los Angeles. Makess needling them less fun.