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I only need 8 at the most
I think it is safe to assume that this real estate listing suffers from a typo, but I like to think this 1800 square foot house really does feature 12 bathrooms. Because everybody poops.
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Well, he seems nice
I mean, there is a… there’s been a systematic change where employees feel the employer is extremely lucky to have them, as opposed to the other way around. So it’s a dynamic that has to change. We’ve got to kill that attitude, and that has to come through hurting the economy. Which is what the whole global… you know, the world is trying to do. The governments around the world are trying to increase unemployment to get that to some sort of normality.
Totally cool CEO says governments need to punish workers with unemployment to make them less arrogant | Boing Boing -
Swiss cheese?
It is unknown what his son, Kim Jong-un, does for nourishment and entertainment while on board, but the younger Mr. Kim’s appetite is known to rival his father’s. He reportedly prefers Swiss cheese, Cristal Champagne and Hennessy cognac.
What We Know About Kim Jong-un’s Bulletproof Train – The New York Times
I’m guessing he isn’t chowing down on deli sliced Swiss cheese, but that’s what’s happening on that train in my mind.
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When was the last time I left the building?
That’s the question I asked myself today, and I struggled to remember.
Turns out, I went out to get pizza on Saturday and since returning haven’t left the building (I’ve left our apartment a number of times: to go to the pool, the gym, and pick up the mail).
Today, I’m happy to share, I left the building and went across the street to buy mouthwash. I’m not a hermit!
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Money, man
Something I’ve been thinking about as hurricanes hit unusual places, forests are burning everywhere, COVID continues and we just seem to ignore it, and no one’s salaries keep up with inflation other than the rich folks… money is just made up.
It isn’t real, and doesn’t have any intrinsic value. Crazy, huh?
We just all agree about what things cost, which makes me think: why have we made it so hard for so many people to have a pleasant life? I’m not saying we all need mansions, but it sure would be nice not to have people sleeping on the streets or children going to sleep hungry.
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Witch King by Martha Wells *****
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
I’m a big fan of Martha Wells’ Murderbot series (a bunch of novellas with a novel or two thrown into the mix). They tell relatively straightforward narratives with a very unconventional (and lots of fun) narrator – the titular Murderbot.
🔈Wanna listen to this review? Check out Recently Read 67.
Witch King’s main character is, in fact, the Witch King. He’s a demon using someone else’s body stranded in the mortal world. We meet Kai as he is released from a prison by a foolish wizard (they aren’t called wizards in this world but they’re wizards) who almost immediately regrets his hubris. Kai has no memory of why he’s been imprisoned or who is responsible. But he aims to find out.
Wells interweaves Kai’s current search for the truth (and his friends) with events some 60-70 years past that fill in the story of the world. During his search Kai must revisit critical sites from his past, which we learn about as the story dips into the past.
The climax of the story joins the two halves of the story in a very satisfying, and bittersweet way. Plus it leaves room for sequels.
Wells has a gift for taking tropes and giving them new life. We’ve all read stories about powerful demons making pacts with folks, but Kai feels like a real person. There are moments in the book when something happens and he’s startled, or he needs to use the bathroom. This things aren’t necessary to the story but help to make the character stand out.
I love the Murderbot series, but the Witch King is a much richer and satisfying read. You’d be well advised to pick up a copy and start reading right now!
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Bedtime toy
Bedtime rituals are important. Doubly so when children are involved.
We try to get the boys to bed at the same time each night. A critical component of bedtime is the picking of the all-important bedtime toy.
This, as you might imagine, is a toy you get to take with you to bedtime. There are a few rules:
- You have to have able to carry your bedtime toys yourself (to limit the number).
- No Legos are allowed on the couch in the boys’ room (to avoid spelunking for Lego).
- When it is time to go to bed all bedtime toys must go to overnight parking (a shelf across from the boys’ beds so they can’t play with their toys instead of sleeping).
Last night Sammy picked out a bedtime toy for me. He handed me the monster truck pictured above with great excitement. Then he took it back and ran into my room. I followed and he said, “Your overnight parking is here on this table (my bedside table). If you want to play with it in the night it’ll be right here. Declan and me can’t do that because our overnight parking isn’t next to our bed.”
He then laughed like a maniac and ran off.
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Portland Book Haul
I like to buy books. I can’t help it! Whenever someone visits they see all the books on my shelves and ask if I enjoyed one of the books. Little do they know that all the books on my shelves are the books I haven’t read yet.
And while I was in Portland I added to the ever growing collection! The top stack was ordered via Bookshop.org on Prime Day while the bottom stack are the result of my two Powell’s visits.
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Children can be frustrating
Who knew?
And sometimes they can make you very crazy. So much so you might say something like:
I’m very old. Every moment you do this you are stealing from me.
Probably not Scott McNulty who is too nice to have said that -
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“Don’t have time” = “I don’t care about your time”
Elon Musk, the billionaire owner of X (Formerly Twitter, so every notification from them tells me), likes to do dumb things and say even dumber things.
The latest dumb thing is a fight between Musk and Mark Zuckerberg (the billionaire founder of Facebook). That’s dumb, but it is leading to many dumb tweets (x’s?) from Musk.
Take, for example, the one above. Musk is, no doubt, very busy. He’s also, no doubt, usually the most important person in any meeting/interaction he finds himself in on a day-to-day basis. This means that his “no time to work out” turns into “Hey, person who works for me, you need to wait whilst I ‘feel the burn’ when we’re supposed to be meeting because I need to squeeze this in and I can waste your time because I pay you.”
I’m pretty sure Musk could find the time if he wanted to. The fight is for charity, after all!
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Dangerous Pillows
We have a pink couch and a dark loveseat in our living room. Both feature many pillows, as is traditional.
Yesterday I finished work, and opened the door between the Annex (that’s what we call the space we added to our apartment by purchasing the studio next door) and the living room to find all of the pillows ripped off of both the couch and loveseat.
Additionally, I found two giggling boys in the process of putting every monster truck in the apartment (and we have many) amongst the pillows.
Sammy looked up at me and said, “We’re playing Dangerous Pillows!”
As far as I can tell you play Dangerous Pillows thusly:
- Pull all the pillows off of all the furniture
- Make mounds around the wooden coffee table which has four very sharp edges
- Add as many additional tripping hazards
- Run around the piles of pillows and try to avoid “falling into one of the holes”
- Laugh like a maniac
I am hopeful Sammy and Declan will go pro and we can live off that sweet, sweet Dangerous Pillow money.
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My biggest weakness is that I may be too awesome
I’m not one to think that there a lot to be said for “personality types,” but I must admit I found several of the things listed in this article to be true about myself.
Namely:
- Extrapolating – I won’t say I’m good at it, but I certainly do it often. Sometimes that’s a good thing… and other times it very much is not.
- Stoic – I’m not a big “talk about my feelings” guy.
- Self-Reliance – Again, another thing that is both good and bad (like fire!).
