Category: Daily Journal

Late one tonight, as I’ve been out of the house most of the day. Went out to spend some time with my Mom¹Hi mom! and keep her spirits up, which involved some quality time and consulting/completing a number of projects. One thing I learned: a lot of otherwise rather nice furniture really cuts costs on drawer slides.

Anyhow, some quick notes to keep the streak alive, and we’ll see if we’re more verbose tomorrow.

Inputs

1: Apparently Star Citizen is still milking people for money. Per Aftermath, they’ve recently announced a bundle for over $48,000. For a game that is still in Alpha, after ten years.

I’m continually extremely happy I chose Elite: Dangerous in the space sim wars. A game which has not only released an actual game, plus expansions, including a deathmatch feature, but has done very well by its subscribers without asking of them $1,000 at a pop. Insert Jesse Pinkman gif here.

2: Started a casual rewatch (aka, chose to play as background noise while I poke around on the internet) of Psych.

I’m a huge fan of the show, from the incredible ensemble cast (James Roday Rodriguez and Dulé Hill are a pairing as good as any in television history, and play off each other so naturally and confidently, from the start of the series through all three movies [so far!]), to an intelligent yet funny premise that keeps an adaptable level of tension as a through-line to the show, to an amazing array of guest stars. For anyone of my generation, there’s an “oh man, it’s that guy/girl” at least once every three episodes, including longer arcs from favorites like Cary Elwes, Rachael Leigh Cook, and Ally Sheedy.

If you’ve never seen the show, I’d highly recommend it. And if you do go and watch it, keep an eye out for the pineapples!

3: This article from American Prospect about the success of S Group in Finland with a different approach to capitalism, as a co-op, who have been able to compete aggressively on pricing due to not having to hew to the same level of profit maximization that publicly owned corporations are addicted to²And not actually legally obligated to. While there’s a misbelief that corporations are forced to maximize profits, they’re instead obligated to work in the best interests of shareholders and the company. That could mean maximizing quarterly earnings, but it doesn’t have to. The one is not necessarily the other, and allowing a mistaken belief proselytized by misguided right-wing economists in the 70s and 80s to drive the actions of every publicly owned company in the US is not only short-sighted but leads to perverse incentives that are easily and readily gamed. Just another of Reagan’s long-term gifts to America. Christ, what an asshole..

I’m always tangentially interested in other ways of doing business, from co-ops, to federations of co-ops like the Mondragon Corporation in Spain, to worker collectives like the Amana Colonies and the Amana Society³Yes, that Amana. and the work of the Amish and Mennonite peoples.

Projects In Progress

Not much today, at least in personal stuff. Got a bunch done for and alongside others though, which was nice.

Notes:

• 1
  Hi mom!
• 2
  And not actually legally obligated to. While there’s a misbelief that corporations are forced to maximize profits, they’re instead obligated to work in the best interests of shareholders and the company. That could mean maximizing quarterly earnings, but it doesn’t have to. The one is not necessarily the other, and allowing a mistaken belief proselytized by misguided right-wing economists in the 70s and 80s to drive the actions of every publicly owned company in the US is not only short-sighted but leads to perverse incentives that are easily and readily gamed. Just another of Reagan’s long-term gifts to America. Christ, what an asshole.
• 3
  Yes, that Amana.

Woke up at the crack of dawn, went downtown, answered some health questions, handed over a bunch of forms, and now for more waiting. Governmental bureaucracy is a certain sort of task-focused pleasure, which dispenses little drabs of dopamine for following byzantine rules and regulations. I don’t mind it so much as comment on it, observe it, see where the cracks are, and where another organization would lean into repairs to processes. At least, if their goals were increasing their customer base or lowering their friction. This is all friction. Potentially purposeful, but friction nonetheless.

Anyhow, steps 1-4 of (maybe) 7 are in the can.

Inputs

1: Caught The Creator on Hulu this afternoon. Beautifully constructed and with its own unique visual palate and styling, it was a lovely movie to watch, though a bit on the nose in its beats. John David Washington has really come into his own as an actor, but he has line readings in here that, with your eyes closed, you would swear were his father. Worth a watch, even if it isn’t striding over wholly new turf.

2: Also watched They Cloned Tyrone, which was much more original in voice, vision, and effect. Great efforts out of John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, and Teyonah Parris, who really stole the movie with a complex performance of a character that easily could have been one or two notes deep. From the blaxploitation touches and the satirical visual critique that refused to cross into caricature, to a dialogue that insisted on originality in choice and diction, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

3: Gabe of Penny Arcade in commentary on today’s comic, on the lie at the heart of AI art: https://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2024/01/03/terminarter. He, much better than I could, for his wisdom and his position as a member of one of the most prominent artistic duos on the internet, elucidates his thoughts on the empty argument of AI evangelists, who are willing to ignore propriety, the true meaning of a commons, the agency of artists, and common damned sense, all because they’ve decided they want their thing to be Good when it is, at its very best, Complicated.

Projects In Progress

Things ascend and flow ever forward. Slow movement is movement. Forward is progress. May it ever be so.

Another of those days where I couldn’t sleep the night before. Couldn’t get to sleep, woke up insanely early, couldn’t get back to sleep, and after a while, just got up and stumbled into a day. Which feels like an unkindness upon myself, given that it’s tomorrow that I really have to get up early to go throw some forms into the bureaucratic machine.

Inputs

1: Watched a PBS special, Breakthrough: The Ideas That Changed The World, on the invention of the airplane. Some of it was familiar to anyone who caught the American version of the invention of powered flight, with the achievements of Orville and Wilbur Wright highlighted. However, I was totally unaware that a form of powered flight was developed decades earlier, by Alphonse Pénaud, who went on to sketch out a rather advanced version of a powered airplane with folding landing gear. After not finding backing for his plans, he ended up taking his own life at the age of 30. Yet another reminder of the thin edge that genius and mental difficulty ride along, and the thought beholden to “What if?”

2: Watched the conclusion of the semifinal games in college football last night. After prior years of blowouts and what felt like inevitable coronations, it was thrilling to watch two games come down to a final play, where either side could have triumphed. College football has its problems inherent with the exploitation of the labors of young men, and yet it still allows them the stage and the capacity to perform incredible acts to the largest audiences. It’s a thoroughly American tradition and one I continue to love, and will miss after next week’s championship concludes.

3: The Dan LeBatard Show returned from Winter break, and so I caught the first segments of the week. It made for a solid accompaniment as I thumped my head against my desk trying to learn new things. A continual source of joy and amusement is an important thing, especially as Winter has finally arrived here in the North.

Projects In Progress

Webapp: Still investigating things, mostly to try and figure out how to correctly host the whole kit and kaboodle. The thing I thought worked one way doesn’t seem to, so now it’s learning more about the implications and setups of various cloud providers. A simpler man would outsource these bits, or buy into something more turnkey. I am not that man. Progress continues, if not apace, then by paces.