strawinthebag

[strawinthebag]

I resolved this year to try new dishes while I’m driving.

This is the Birria Ramen from Del Taco.

It had tough taco meat in what seemed like cheap store ramen.

I’m not sure what good birria is so I can’t really give a comparison.

All I know is I’m not craving to eat it any time soon.

Got the runs later that day although that could have been the coffee

[strawinthebag]

1/5/24 Maintenance

Today I hired a crew to clean my yard. They've done good work in the past for me, but it's expensive and so I tried to do it myself the past two years and have failed.

The plan is to maintain it once they get the bulk of the work done.

I've also changed my two front tires.

I need to prepare my taxes and get that organized as well.

The pool needs a new filter, so I need to order that soon and try to sort out that.

But the year is off to a good start.

Just need to keep it up.

[strawinthebag]

#1 The beginning

I've thought about organizing information in chronological order for many years and as I get older, I have resigned myself to the fact that I will never finish this project.

But for the New Year I'd like to at least try to create some sort of outline that I can go back and edit.

When I think about the beginning of the universe, I feel like you can never know for sure, because even if some new telescope or AI program brings us closer to the start, then there always is something beyond whatever new information comes our way.

It's late at night and I need to work tomorrow, so this thought will be incomplete, but I want to say that believers in any religion think that atheists or agnostics want to be contrarian or intellectually superior assholes, but I've always wished I could believe.

I think the communities that people create can be wonderful and I remember when I was young people would try to convert me and I'd often play along, not to be a jerk but because I wanted to belong and share the experience with them.

When my religious family members pray, I always pray along with them because I think it's nice that religion brings them comfort and they aren't overbearing and judgmental of others who aren't religious so to me it's a good thing.

But of course, with the war in Gaza, I'm also reminded about the incredible harm religion can cause, especially when it reaches a fanatical form that abandons all logic.

I feel like we are on an irreversible path where no matter what well meaning people try to do, the few wealthy will use their might to manipulate us and cause us to fight amongst each other.

I wish there was a messiah, because that might be the only thing that can save us from ourselves.

The major universities have reached a point where they value political agendas over objective truth. AI is slowly replacing human thought.

All we can do, is try in our limited time to recover and retain what little humanity we have left.

Fight the hive mind and look for analog delights that still escape digital mimicry.

But humans will be replaced by AI. Maybe this is the only way we can survive, as the world is getting more and more uninhabitable for biological beings.

And our robotic successors might have the mercy to give us another chance and use their technological brilliance to spawn us on a Goldilocks planet and give us another chance not to fuck things up.

[strawinthebag]

Random thoughts

I keep starting blogs and abandoning them. I suppose it doesn't really matter much because I don't do it long enough to get any following so whatever I say is pretty much the proverbial binary code falling in the forest.

I always want to start chronologically and work myself through the history of literature and I write a few things and then quit.

Firstly I'd like to say I'm thankful for my house. Sometimes I feel slightly depressed and lacking direction but I'm always grateful I can sleep in relative peace.

It saddens me that the Ukrainians can't watch a show like The Voice.

I mean, The Voice is shit most of the time, but no matter how terrible my life might be at the moment I can still just watch some dumb show like that.

I also realize that the Big One could come... and now we have to worry about hurricanes too apparently... but for now I'll just try to be humble and grateful.

The next time you post, remember to post your basic feeling about religion.

[strawinthebag]

Dasher wages

This is the problem with AI taking over the world.

There will be no more human inefficiencies to exploit.

Do you know one of the main reasons inflation is so high?

Because AI has told CEOs what prices people will tolerate.

In the past, they'd just leave a price the same because if it isn't broke, why tamper with it.

Now, they use models to predict what will happen if they raise prices and will do so until it no longer is profitable.

Same with wages. They will lower them until the model implodes.

But remember there is a waiting list for this type of work. There are very little referral bonuses in most areas.

This means they can keep going lower because shitty though the pay can be, the freedom and ease of the job continues to be appealing.

You cannot do shit against it... AI knows what we will do before we know ourselves.

We all are truly fucked and you should try to accept it instead howling at the meteor that is headed for our civilization.

Honestly a low grade nuclear war might actually better for humans at this point because if we go back into a pretechnology state then AI might not be able to take us over.

I'm older so I will be dead before this happens, but AI will rule the world and humans will be its subjects if they let us survive.

[strawinthebag]

I need to slow things down

My mind is racing all the time. I'm still working on my learning project so even after a long day at work, I'm studying for hours afterwards.

I enjoy this but I need to take the time to step back and just experience life more.

Just let things settle and not jump from idea to idea.

I watched the end of the movie Wise Blood tonight.

I thought it was really beautiful, the kind of film they don't make anymore for all sorts of reasons.

I fucking hate what film has become. At least mainstream cinema.

Not that I saw Wise Blood when it came out... I think The Jerk with Steve Martin came out that week.

They wouldn't make that film either though.

Just Avengers and Little Mermaid remakes.

[strawinthebag]

Catcher in the Rye

I started reading this again.

I always love this book. Everything is bullshit.

You want to always be kind and do your best to be a decent person but it's all fucking bullshit. All the pomp and circumstance, virtually everything that society values. I mean, I like watching sports and I never want to get so detached from everything that I can't even enjoy watching a game like Holden, but I know deep down he's right.

[strawinthebag]

Succession 4.10

I'll just repost my tweet

This was the ending that the Game of Thrones couldn't pull off. Riveting to the end, somehow managing to play with the audience's sympathies to briefly mask its inevitable conclusion. These are the scumbags who rule our world.

I'll also add that

I really hope the writers and producers actually feel this way and are actively advocating for change as opposed to just cynically laughing at how fucked the world is right now.

I'll miss the show, I'm fucking tired of reboots with "creative" casting that is somehow supposed to mask their complete lack of creativity and new ideas.

You are all making it easy to replace AI with humans because as much as we are taking monstrous leaps in technology, we are taking equal steps backwards in promoting original thought.

[strawinthebag]

This is a really amazing cover

[strawinthebag]

Gerri back in the eighties

[strawinthebag]

Watch 5/7/23

Succession 4.5 "Kill List"

The brothers decide to tank the deal with GoJo while Shiv carries on with her own negotiations with Mattson.

Roman tells Lukas to fuck off for bullying them to the table immediately after their father died. Lukas goes behind their back and offers them 192 a share if they include ATN which makes the boys look like hardcore negotiators when in fact they were just going with their heart.

The Kill List refers to everyone dead in the merge which includes everyone except Gerri, Karolina, and Tom.

[strawinthebag]

Watch #19

Succession 4.3 "Connor's Wedding"

I suppose Connor's Wedding will be thought of as Succession's version of the Red Wedding in terms of shock value rather than blood.

I knew something big had happened because of the buzz on social media of something crazy happening but somehow for a few weeks I managed to dodge what it actually was.

The way they shot it, I kept thinking through most of the episode that it was some sort of ruse, but then it kept going and going and then I realized that Logan actually had died.

The kids really did love their father in spite of his continual abuse and in what would probably be characterized as a normal mid-century parent child relationship. Roman turns to Gerri for comfort, even though he had just fired her on behalf of his father's wishes, Shiv turns to Tom, and Kendall is alone again, naturally.

It will be interesting to see who ends up in charge of the company.

Like Logan Roy, it's hard to believe that this show is actually ending this season.

[strawinthebag]

Watch #18

Succession 4.2 "Rehearsal"

While Connor "Mr. Cellophane" Roy desperately searches for his runaway bride to be, his siblings are trying to outmaneuver each other as per usual on the best way to run their new company.

Meanwhile, Logan is dealing with his own version of Susan Alexander Kane as Kerry wants to be a news anchor while all the insiders privy to her audition tape openly mock her incredible lack of aptitude for the job.

Alan Ruck actually manages to make the normally repulsive Connor somewhat sympathetic for a minute.

Rome returns to Logan in the end as he belongs to ATN much more than Pierce.

Also, when Logan tells his kids "I love you, but you are not serious people" it's a callback to the cruise line's "No Real Persons Involved"

[strawinthebag]

Watch #17

Succession 4.1 "The Munsters"

Although it's fun to see the kids do battle against their father, I can't believe they are so stupid to bid without regard to the true valuation of Nan Pierce's company.

[strawinthebag]

Watch #16

Succession 3.9 "All the Bells Say"

Brilliant work from Jeremy Strong, Kieran Culkin, and Sarah Snook.

With parents like those, none of the kids had a chance.

I mean Shiv deserved Tom's betrayal but still I felt sympathy for the children of those monsters.

[strawinthebag]

Watch #15

Succession 3.8 "Chiantishire

Logan is the worst, but Shiv is a close second

[strawinthebag]

Experience

I used my first electric toothbrush.

It's crazy that I've never used one before, I've used one for my dad when I was taking care of him, but I've never used one myself.

It's simple but it makes a lot of sense. Feels almost crazy that I've never tried one before.

I also bought a new tool to pull weeds out of the front yard.

That one doesn't work as well, I think I might need a stronger tool but we shall see.