D&F 3/26/23
The sun it bright and I left my house before noon on Saturday! It’s a spring miracle. Pay no heed to the doomsayers that suggest the weather is about to turn again. I’m still reeling from the fourth installment of John Wick, which was a three hour stunt choreography showcase with a great soundtrack. I came home after the movie, head spinning, and tried to calm down with the grim world of Homeland. Sure, both shows have assassins, but only one has kevlar suits and a complicated world of refuge hotels, telephone operators slash trading floor staff, and beloved dogs.
The only misstep in the entire Wick series is letting Bill do a French accent. What was that?
Imagine as you read this week’s links that I’m doing donuts around you and the Arc Du Triumph (sp?) and yelling out URLS in the style of the coolest character Keanu Reeves will ever play.
Links
- Looking back at the weird success of Hillbilly Elegy amongst the sort of conservatives that like to pretend they’re left of something is pretty telling. This podcast episode dissects the extremely shitty ways Vance talked about poverty while building the support via dogwhistle of the right wing. At the time I was very skeptical of a book purporting to be about the rural experience from a ponce-y guy who went to Yale, and history proved me right. For anyone who sees themself as anti-racist or in favor of progressive social policy who tries hard to find common cause with the right wing, I would point them to Karl Popper.
- The only good conservative icon is this aspiring father:
- ‌As tough and dangerous as it can be to bicycle in the United States, there are many struggles all over the world, whether it’s against anti-cycling infrastructure, hostile drivers, or the ignorance of international cycling brands. Kuwait cyclist Abe Alkhamees is trying to highlight and encourage his local cycling community, and it’s awesome to see. Sure, it’s awesome to live somewhere with lots of easy to access cycling, but I love when people devote themselves to making cycling better wherever they are.
- Parking, am I right? But what if we were parking bikes instead of cars:
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- Ok, I’ll admit it: I was extremely anti-webapp and Electron app before joining my current company, and remained skeptical about their use until I watched this video:
- And finally, with a hat tip to Drew, I found this photo blog about working in Antarctica to be complete delight. From the amazing ice collection on everyday items, to the weird doors around the station, it made me want to rewatch The Thing for the umpteenth time. I’m fine with never going to Antartical, or even the Canadian plains, but it’s fun to see how people survive and work there without completely losing their minds.
Closing
The sun is beckoning me back outside, and the smell of a balsamic reduction and freshly pan-fried chicken is telling me: go work up an appetite, lady. Next week is April, and the 20 day countdown to 4/20, a day my therapist amusingly is taking off. April, as the saying goes is all about showers, but I speak for the East Bay when I say, “please, please just let us have some sun!” I’ll take the May flowers though! Also I saw this year’s first hummingbird baby being fed by their mom, and a very pudgy ground squirrel on the greenway last week, so things are looking up. Say hi to every animal you see, even if it turns out to be a statue, space cowgirl~