justing.net

Week Notes No. 33

By Justin G. on 24DEC09MON

Heavy news week.

Almanac

Consistent temperatures this week, and low to no chance of precipitation. Mid-60s for a high, and mid 40s for a low. Sunrise is incredibly late, just after 7, and sunset is just before 5; daylight hours are as short as it gets. The moon was just new, so it’s waxing and up mostly during the day.

DEC02MON

I am interviewing a candidate, and they misspeak: Brutal force instead of brute force. I think it might be my new favorite language tweak.

DEC04WED

In the office. A random encounter, maybe even for the first time in person, was beneficial. There are good reasons to be there sometimes.

DEC05THU

So, we get a tsunami warning alert mid-morning, the harsh blaring un-shutoff-able cell phone alert. There was a large earthquake off the NorCal coast (see below), and after a bit of searching and info sharing, it became clear that if there is a real tsunami then it would arrive at downtown SF after about an hour. Our house isn’t close enough to water to credibly be threatened by anything but an absolutely monstrous wave that would also clobber the entire southbay- I’m not even sure that such a thing is even theoretically possible. After almost an hour, the tsunami warning is cancelled.

DEC06FRI

Lunch with D. I appreciate her saner perspective on the aftermath of… things.

DEC07SAT

Pancakes for lunch. And a nap.

DEC08SUN

Delayed and extended conversation with B. We cover a lot of ground and it is good.

Media

News

I don’t normally do this, but there has been quite the surplus of news this week and I wanted to do a quick rundown of the highlights and articulate what I am thinking right now. I assume that most of this is actually wrong, so don’t listen to me. By writing it down, I a) want to snapshot what I am aware of and b) capture what I think concretely so that I can c) correct it.

1. 03TUE morning west coast time, TUE night locally: Martial law declared in Korea. I remember seeing that this happened just before starting work, and it didn’t quite register as significant. Probably I found it un-credible, or lacking confirmation. The whole rest of the series of events played out while I was moderately busy during the work day, and it was resolved before I took my dog out for a walk in the evening. And by “resolved” I only mean the martial law part, not the underlying problems.
2. 04WED: Health Insurance CEO is killed in Manhattan. This is total conspiracy theory fuel. Great, more of what we need. More evidence of social contract fraying? Unknown if the assailant is going to have left or right tendencies. Possibly that doesn’t even matter. Ugh. Not good. Only time will tell.
3. 04WED: No confidence vote in France. This is relatively normal parliament procedure stuff, but it does add to the mix.
4. 05THU, Local news: tsunami warning in Northern California. Personal note here: kind of a tense hour while I waited and doubted the possibility of the tsunami being real. Luckily it turned out to not be, and as a bonus I finally learned how to read the beachball moment tensor diagrams.
5. 06FRI: Romania annuls presidential election results. I don’t normally follow Romanian politics, but it is the southern border of Ukraine. In my perception of the news this week, this event drifted by in the background and only really became something worth noting when I learned a little more about the problems with the election and while compiling this list.
6. 07SAT: al-Assad abandons Damascus. This is a big deal and much too early to know what it’s really going to mean. More details from Lawfare.

Conspicuously missing to me from this list are two topics that have been ever-present for the last 1-2 years. Israel/Palestine which recently agreed to a ceasefire, however tenuous and punctured. And the war in Ukraine. Have I gone news blind to these? I doubt it.

Television

Dark Winds S1. Really enjoyed it. One niche aspect that I particularly liked was how they filmed it modern even though it was set in the 1970s. There wasn’t any annoying and constant cinematographic reminders of “this is the 70s” in every single shot.

Black Mirror Joan is awful S6E1 is amazing. And I haven’t found another episode amongst the early seasons that I liked nearly as much. Most of the episodes seem too direct to be all that interesting. Sure, they’re commenting on things, but it’s obvious things that don’t need an entire hour to workout.

YouTube

On Standby by Loud Numbers. I desperately want to find a version without any talking, just the electronic ambiences.

Marsh at Malta, at Sussex.

State Azure Nova Sonus- I’m just here for the visuals!

Jody Wisternoff Welcome to my world (album).

Martin Stürtzner Ambient Home Concert 67.

Universal Ambients Samarkand, 1869. ‘Twas a’ight.

Podcasts

Ezra Klein + Rahm Emanuel This seems exactly right to me. Stop being dumb, Democrats.

Panic World on Mr Beast The opposite of Mr Beast is slow and realtime YT. While “Train vs Pit” sounds cool, no dude, I am having an allergic reaction to the idea of the treatment (I haven’t seen it). The engagement hacking style, breathless and giving the viewer no time to accept and interpret the information that is offered, to be completely triggering of only emotional response in an unacceptable way. I assume that eventually everyone will become numb to this style at some point and the effectiveness will wear off. Or not. Whatever, it doesn’t work on me at all. It reminds me of advertising, which the other surest way to get me to bail out on that kind of video content.

WTFpod with Luca Guadagnino I haven’t finished; only the first 10-15 minutes of the interview, and it’s already landed several points to think more about and investigate.

Reading

More progress on The Odyssey and When Things Fall Apart. Nearly done with TFA, and over the halfway point with Odyssey.

Words

Hecatomb: a really big animal sacrifice. Via The Odyssey.

Revanchist alt: to reclaim territory lost in war. Via The Bulwark/bsky.

What a weird and synchronicitist juxtaposition.

Email me your news takes, or don't.