From my journal two years ago: My Apple Watch alarm went off while I was watching the dishes, and without thinking about it I tapped the watch face with my nose to switch the alarm off. I believe I have hit on a breakthrough in nasal user interface design.
I was feeling down and blue so I spent a lot of time on social media and now I feel ever so much better and more cheerful, said nobody never.
📚I finished reading “Rubicon: The Last Years of the Roman Republic," by Tom “insert Spider-Man Joke Here” Holland. It’s a history of the rise to power of Julius Caesar and then a quick overview of the reign of Augustus. It’s one of the most readable histories I’ve read, very novelistic, which is not surprising, because Holland got his start as a novelist.
The Romans had a republic that lasted 500 years and was quickly replaced by a monarchy. That’s something that’s been on my mind based on the news of the past few years.
Next, I think I’ll read Holland’s follow-up: “Dynasty,” which covers the reigns of Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius and Nero.
But first I’ll finish reading “The Annihilation Score,” a novel by Charles Stross, in his Laundry series.
Man, It’s Boss! Monogram’s Red Baron model kit, the Groovy Custom Show Rod Now at Your Favorite Store! (1968) via
Hula hoop ad, 1963 via
I am continuing to fiddle with handwriting recognition (aka Scribble) on the iPad. I’m getting better at it but I don’t know if it will ever replace the onscreen keyboard.
I read multiple reviews that say Scribble is amazing even with the reviewers' awful handwriting. My awful handwriting is Scribble’s Waterloo.
Orwell struggled with anti-Semitism — others' and his own.
Pluralistic: Daily links from Cory Doctorow: “Trump’s decisions to politicize voting and wearing masks means that his base have been convinced not to vote and to commit mass suicide.” Also, Trump is paying grifters millions for masks.
Americans saw the story they wanted to see. Some saw respected professionals fearing for their safety, reasonably exercising their Second Amendment rights to defend their home from violent trespassers. Others saw an overwrought, older affluent couple, recklessly pointing their weapons and asserting their white privilege.
The Republicans Who Want to Destroy Trump
The Lincoln Project is headed by people who are just now realizing that the Republican Party has been toxic since before Trump.
The father, who kept a loaded gun unsecured in a house with children, seems like the criminal here, not a boy too young to understand what he was doing.
not all heroes wear capes. pic.twitter.com/KEG2P2Qbz2
— Love Yo Self ✨ (@MichellCClark) July 11, 2020
How old is your dog? New equation shows how to calculate its age in human years
Dogs age quickly their first years, more slowly later.
Minnie is 62.
David Frumat the Atlantic, about Roger Stone: The Most Conspicuous Scandal in American History.
Trump and his cronies commit their treasonous crimes in plain sight, and that helps them get away with it.
David Gerrold’s 1983 novel “A Matter for Men” features the Earth facing a biological menace which many people believe is a hoax, and the US in decline but still powerful and threatening.
Oh, that old-time science fiction! So unrealistic!
This may sound like Trump’s wackiest conspiracy theory. But it’s actually true. Republicans have been peddling insane conspiracy theories for decades, and now it is coming back to destroy them, as rank-and-file Republicans are refusing to vote using mail in ballots or to take precautions to protect themselves against coronavirus.