From the picture trove this week...a sampling of facial hair.
Was looking at this photo when I got home and noticed something I didn't see originally. In front of me is not only the LA Times sports page, but 1/3 of a meatball sandwich. Upon closer inspection, it is not just any ordinary meatball sandwich, but the best meatball sandwich I ever had. It was from a little dumpy Italian restaurant called Papa's in Sierra Madre, right near the Albertson's (that used to be the Shopping Bag). Those were so good and to this moment, can still taste them. Would go there all the time on my moped and they cost $3.59 Just seeing it in it's glory in this photo is causing so many of my senses to explode.
I don't reply to all of the notes comments I get on this space, but after last weeks deep dive into Chinese astrology, a Mr. Richard Fader from Fort Lee, NJ wrote, "Too much Wood Snake for my taste." I have something to say to you Mr. Fader and you can probably guess what it is. I got a wood snake for ya that I'd be glad to have you taste.
How awesome is Chloe Kim? Can't get enough of her. Not only adorable and effervescent, but, multi cultural and open about talking about how great it is to be so, and the confusion/challenges that one faces being one. I do feel bad for her in that she is being called the first star of Generation Z. That cohort needs a cooler moniker cause my generation already has the best letter of the the alphabet designation...Gen X baby. I think we are all becoming less impressed by the Boomers cause they really haven't contributed much good to the planet despite their size. Even though they like to think they were all hippie love and enlightenment, they are the ones that created Fox News and are its biggest consumers. They love to give themselves big fat tax breaks in an giant eff you to the future. Us 'Xers' have been trying to clean up their shit for a couple decades now, but there are just too many of them any live forever. Plus they have "Baby" right in the name. Jury is still out on the Millennials,,,a lot to be hopeful for with them but they are equally terrifying. Really hope that your confidence in yourselves is justified. Guess Chloe and the rest of the 'Z' youth will have to wait for something to define them in a pithy way...and that just might have occurred.
So the above paragraph is ridiculous...boxing in 15-20 years of people into a name is insane. As you can see from this space, am a big fan of stereotypes. Not just that they are based in some reality, but that they can start a conversation. Have been livid after the latest slaughter (and if you read this in the future, you'll have to date stamp to figure out which one), but the dialogue was shifted this time almost within minutes to this being a "parenting" problem. First saw it in someones comment to a friend's post and just thought they were nutty, but then learned it was the Fox News spin for the latest mass murder. I do admire their creativity...mental health, parenting, 'price of freedom', arm the teachers, etc. Am too tired to argue these things constantly and have had to eliminate best I can the constant babble from that team. Why are people so rigid in having their team win to ignore their own conscious or interest? Scratch the surface of these imbeciles and they really don't believe what they say, but have this need to regurgitate the lines they are fed without any, let alone an second thought. It is quite stunning and am saddened by it to the core. What has been amazing in ways that are obvious to most, alarming to some, is the way these Generation Z kids are advancing the dialogue. I am with you David Hogg and Emma Gonzales body and soul. I just got finished reading David Hogg's 14 year old sister Lauren's message to Melania where she admonished the First Lady for her "war on cyber bullying", but not going after her stepson Trump Jr and his liking of the conspiracy theories that her brother was a 'crisis actor'. Lauren has received 1000's of hate messages from lunatics that are fueled by this craziness. I'd call them Nazi's but don't want to insult the Third Reich. That 14 year old Lauren could so succinctly wrap up the hypocrisy in a calm and mature way is inspiring in a way you see few adults capable. By copy to Lauren and all of the Generation Z's...we got your back. Just let us know where and when you need us...and if you could do so by email or an ad in the newspaper, that would be helpful.
Something new that has become this weeks obsession for me has been grayscale. Was listening to an interview with a guy named Tristan Harris who among other things was Google's Design Ethicist. I suggest that you seek him out to get his bona fides and hear what he has to say, but for our purposes here, he has been in the rooms where companies work to find ways to get people to use their phone more. All the companies, all of them, don't make money unless they are finding ways to entice us to use their products obsessively and a way they do that is by enticing us in a Pavlovian way to want more. Some are obvious, but others are so devious that even the most cynical or wary of us are drawn in like moths to a flame. He has tips to help you realize how they subconsciously manipulate us and a strategy he recommends to help you combat it is to turn your phone to grayscale. Having never heard that before, investigated and it is basically turning your screen to black and white. The idea is that this turns your device into a tool that you use instead of you being the tool of the advertisers.
I did it immediately and am now on day 4. Hard to quantify if I am using it less as I was never a huge phone junkie, but it feels like I don't go to it as much out of boredom. Quite disorienting at first but have grown accustomed to it. Games are harder to navigate and some are unplayable. Videos in black and white aren't as enjoyable. Will let this play out for another week or so and switch back to see if I can tell if there is any difference, but the process of going grayscale has been enlightening in that it raises awareness of ones own susceptibility. I have been talking about this to everyone I see this week, especially at the school in the hopes that the powers that be over there consider it in their teaching curriculum. Am not naive enough to not realize that advertising manipulation has been around forever and that I have been a willing stooge my entire life, but taking a step back and knowing when one is being led by the nose is powerful.
Have a bunch of things to share but the last week has been super busy for yours truly and didn't have a ton of time to devote to this space. Taxes and summer planning have taken the bulk of the time this week (hope to lock summer down in the next couple of days and will start looking to friends in the States to cause some trouble June and July). Baseball season at the school started this week and the coaches are letting me come out with the varsity this year. So fun...pitching BP and hitting fungos...the school folks always thank me for coming out (albeit grudgingly as they would probably prefer to have someone a little less provocative out there), but I always give them the Walter White reply. Am not doing this for you...am doing it for me.
Before signing off, have to share one interaction I had yesterday morning. Something on my summer things to do list was to investigate these DNA mapping companies and have ours done. I had my annual conference call with my 401 investment guy and after we were done with the account review, we moved to our usual exchange of pleasantries...what's new and how's the family thing. My guy, will call him Duke, is 39 years old, says he has some news to share.
He tells me that he was adopted as an infant and did not know who his parents were. He did the '23 and Me' thing a couple months ago and learned from that company that there was a person that was almost certainly his Aunt. He contacted her and asked if she had a sibling that gave a child up for adoption, and she did. From this interaction he was able to get in touch with his biological parents. His parents were 16 years old when he was conceived and they were too young to deal with him and gave him up for adoption. His biological parents split a few years thereafter and had not seen or been in contact with each other for 30 years. Duke tells me that next Wednesday, the three of them are going to get together.
You could hear the emotion in his voice and he had all the feelings, good and terrifying, that you would imagine. As Babydoll is adopted and her parents completely unknown, the prospect of finding her biological parents welled all of those emotions in me too,but could not fathom what it would feel like to her or her biological mom and dad if they did find each other, but that trying was worth it. After I hung up with Duke, immediately went on the 23 & Me site to get the process started and while they offer services in most of the world, Taiwan/China were not places that they will send their testing kit, so we will have to wait till the summer to swab it up. Probably also means that the odds that her Chinese parents are in the system are small, but who knows?
Talk soon
That one is from X-mas 1983, right after I returned home from Australia and immediately before starting university. Quite the mop for an 18 year old but can serve as a lesson to all of the mangy hipsters of today. That message...it's been done. Unironically.
A bonus picture for you this week. I pulled this one out of the box cause the facial hair combined with the expression on my face is disturbing in a 'where is my rape whistle' kinda way. I also think there is a little resemblance to Alfonso Ribiero/Carlton from Fresh Prince in here too.
I don't reply to all of the notes comments I get on this space, but after last weeks deep dive into Chinese astrology, a Mr. Richard Fader from Fort Lee, NJ wrote, "Too much Wood Snake for my taste." I have something to say to you Mr. Fader and you can probably guess what it is. I got a wood snake for ya that I'd be glad to have you taste.
How awesome is Chloe Kim? Can't get enough of her. Not only adorable and effervescent, but, multi cultural and open about talking about how great it is to be so, and the confusion/challenges that one faces being one. I do feel bad for her in that she is being called the first star of Generation Z. That cohort needs a cooler moniker cause my generation already has the best letter of the the alphabet designation...Gen X baby. I think we are all becoming less impressed by the Boomers cause they really haven't contributed much good to the planet despite their size. Even though they like to think they were all hippie love and enlightenment, they are the ones that created Fox News and are its biggest consumers. They love to give themselves big fat tax breaks in an giant eff you to the future. Us 'Xers' have been trying to clean up their shit for a couple decades now, but there are just too many of them any live forever. Plus they have "Baby" right in the name. Jury is still out on the Millennials,,,a lot to be hopeful for with them but they are equally terrifying. Really hope that your confidence in yourselves is justified. Guess Chloe and the rest of the 'Z' youth will have to wait for something to define them in a pithy way...and that just might have occurred.
So the above paragraph is ridiculous...boxing in 15-20 years of people into a name is insane. As you can see from this space, am a big fan of stereotypes. Not just that they are based in some reality, but that they can start a conversation. Have been livid after the latest slaughter (and if you read this in the future, you'll have to date stamp to figure out which one), but the dialogue was shifted this time almost within minutes to this being a "parenting" problem. First saw it in someones comment to a friend's post and just thought they were nutty, but then learned it was the Fox News spin for the latest mass murder. I do admire their creativity...mental health, parenting, 'price of freedom', arm the teachers, etc. Am too tired to argue these things constantly and have had to eliminate best I can the constant babble from that team. Why are people so rigid in having their team win to ignore their own conscious or interest? Scratch the surface of these imbeciles and they really don't believe what they say, but have this need to regurgitate the lines they are fed without any, let alone an second thought. It is quite stunning and am saddened by it to the core. What has been amazing in ways that are obvious to most, alarming to some, is the way these Generation Z kids are advancing the dialogue. I am with you David Hogg and Emma Gonzales body and soul. I just got finished reading David Hogg's 14 year old sister Lauren's message to Melania where she admonished the First Lady for her "war on cyber bullying", but not going after her stepson Trump Jr and his liking of the conspiracy theories that her brother was a 'crisis actor'. Lauren has received 1000's of hate messages from lunatics that are fueled by this craziness. I'd call them Nazi's but don't want to insult the Third Reich. That 14 year old Lauren could so succinctly wrap up the hypocrisy in a calm and mature way is inspiring in a way you see few adults capable. By copy to Lauren and all of the Generation Z's...we got your back. Just let us know where and when you need us...and if you could do so by email or an ad in the newspaper, that would be helpful.
Something new that has become this weeks obsession for me has been grayscale. Was listening to an interview with a guy named Tristan Harris who among other things was Google's Design Ethicist. I suggest that you seek him out to get his bona fides and hear what he has to say, but for our purposes here, he has been in the rooms where companies work to find ways to get people to use their phone more. All the companies, all of them, don't make money unless they are finding ways to entice us to use their products obsessively and a way they do that is by enticing us in a Pavlovian way to want more. Some are obvious, but others are so devious that even the most cynical or wary of us are drawn in like moths to a flame. He has tips to help you realize how they subconsciously manipulate us and a strategy he recommends to help you combat it is to turn your phone to grayscale. Having never heard that before, investigated and it is basically turning your screen to black and white. The idea is that this turns your device into a tool that you use instead of you being the tool of the advertisers.
I did it immediately and am now on day 4. Hard to quantify if I am using it less as I was never a huge phone junkie, but it feels like I don't go to it as much out of boredom. Quite disorienting at first but have grown accustomed to it. Games are harder to navigate and some are unplayable. Videos in black and white aren't as enjoyable. Will let this play out for another week or so and switch back to see if I can tell if there is any difference, but the process of going grayscale has been enlightening in that it raises awareness of ones own susceptibility. I have been talking about this to everyone I see this week, especially at the school in the hopes that the powers that be over there consider it in their teaching curriculum. Am not naive enough to not realize that advertising manipulation has been around forever and that I have been a willing stooge my entire life, but taking a step back and knowing when one is being led by the nose is powerful.
Have a bunch of things to share but the last week has been super busy for yours truly and didn't have a ton of time to devote to this space. Taxes and summer planning have taken the bulk of the time this week (hope to lock summer down in the next couple of days and will start looking to friends in the States to cause some trouble June and July). Baseball season at the school started this week and the coaches are letting me come out with the varsity this year. So fun...pitching BP and hitting fungos...the school folks always thank me for coming out (albeit grudgingly as they would probably prefer to have someone a little less provocative out there), but I always give them the Walter White reply. Am not doing this for you...am doing it for me.
Before signing off, have to share one interaction I had yesterday morning. Something on my summer things to do list was to investigate these DNA mapping companies and have ours done. I had my annual conference call with my 401 investment guy and after we were done with the account review, we moved to our usual exchange of pleasantries...what's new and how's the family thing. My guy, will call him Duke, is 39 years old, says he has some news to share.
He tells me that he was adopted as an infant and did not know who his parents were. He did the '23 and Me' thing a couple months ago and learned from that company that there was a person that was almost certainly his Aunt. He contacted her and asked if she had a sibling that gave a child up for adoption, and she did. From this interaction he was able to get in touch with his biological parents. His parents were 16 years old when he was conceived and they were too young to deal with him and gave him up for adoption. His biological parents split a few years thereafter and had not seen or been in contact with each other for 30 years. Duke tells me that next Wednesday, the three of them are going to get together.
You could hear the emotion in his voice and he had all the feelings, good and terrifying, that you would imagine. As Babydoll is adopted and her parents completely unknown, the prospect of finding her biological parents welled all of those emotions in me too,but could not fathom what it would feel like to her or her biological mom and dad if they did find each other, but that trying was worth it. After I hung up with Duke, immediately went on the 23 & Me site to get the process started and while they offer services in most of the world, Taiwan/China were not places that they will send their testing kit, so we will have to wait till the summer to swab it up. Probably also means that the odds that her Chinese parents are in the system are small, but who knows?
Talk soon
I'm pretty sure there is a joke there in the Dick Fader thing but it was lost on me... always enjoy the posts. MS
ReplyDeleteoh.. btw.. the meatball sandwich photo is creepy beyond belief.. worth putting on your fridge as a warning to babydoll. MS
ReplyDeleteI fell for the creepy dude... my parents should have put that photo up
ReplyDelete