D&F 1-3-21

Happy new year, and あけおめ to my Japanese pals! We made it to the end of 2020. What a wild and rough time for the world. I hope you had a lovely end-of-year time, with a good food and a good drink. This year promises to be one more than the last, but I refuse to predict anything else about it.

Let’s listen to a lovely tune from Phoebe Bridgers while we consider this year and last.

https://phoebebridgers.bandcamp.com/track/have-yourself-a-merry-little-christmas

I finished my year watching Taskmaster, a delightful show wherein comedians do a series of pointless and often ambiguously dictated tasks for a capricious man. Such was my enjoyment, I even forgot to do a countdown until 12:01. You love to see it.

Earlier in the day, I picked-up entirely too much sushi from Iyasare in Berkeley that included 40 pieces of nigiri, and 34 pieces of assorted roll. I managed, somehow, to finish all of it by midnight despite the stated serving on the tin saying 4-6. I enjoyed it all.

I’m trying something different today because Today in Tabs is back, and I think Rusty’s style of paragraphical links is perhaps interesting to emulate. If it’s a total nightmare and you want to skip to the links please let me know. I particularly like his idea for all of us to stay safely raw.

Recently, I’ve thought a lot about how to make my life and day-to-day simpler. This can also apply to design, with the most important question: “why can’t life be simpler?” It turns out that often the things that appear simplest are actually much more complex under the surface, with the inverse also being true. For my life, I’m mostly trying to do some sort of movement every day, sleep eight hours a night, and eat a lot of fiber. I don’t really do New Years’ resolutions, but if I did it would be “be kind to yourself and others”. If you need other wisdom this year, look no further.

If you’ve ever wondered just how interdependent the planet is, you might enjoy this bit on fungal competition. I’ve been curious about plants and their market for carbon and other energy since reading Semiosis, a rare sci-fi book about biological systems.

If you clicked that link, you might’ve noticed it took you to Bookshop. I’ve decided to keep a list this year of all the books I recommend so you can easily find them. I think if you buy one I get a dollar or something. I promise not to recommend shit books.

On that note, what can sci-fi teach us about economics? How are they similar? Well, for starters they both attempt to think about the future in novel ways. I’m considering alternative economies this year, with an emphasis on collective ownership models as I think about my own future and how we might eventually shift negative and damaging systems in our world.

This year, in addition to considering our impact on, and dependence upon other beings, what if we think about the tech that surrounds us. Something I started digging-into was companies that keep public records without our consent of our associates, and addresses. Luckily smart privacy-conscious folks created this list and tips on how to remove ourselves.

Closing

There is so much Taskmaster on the tube now, so please enjoy:

The year just began, and whether or not you’re feeling fresh and rested, or tired and worried, I hope you make time on your calendar to breathe and do a stretch. If you’re reading this now… why not join in.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Inhale.

Exhale.

Close your eyes and do this a few more times if you want, then open your eyes. Thanks for reading last year, and hanging out with me every week. I’ll talk to you again in ~120k breaths, space cowgirls~