2018s
📚 I’ve been reading Arthur C Clarke’s book The Nine Billion Names of God. I read that particular short story in high school and it’s never left my mind. I guess because while it’s science fiction, it’s not the kind science fiction people immediately think of when they hear science fiction. You know, Pew! Pew! Pew!
I’m writing about it not because of the stories (which I’m enjoying), but because, it turns out, it reminds me of my childhood. Growing up my mom, despite being a big reader, didn’t buy books. All the books we read came from the library. In fact, I don’t think I bought any books until I bought textbooks in college. You know, now that I write that, it feels so odd to say.
In keeping with this tradition, I guess, this Clarke book I’m reading came from the Brooklyn Public Library. It had to come from the deep storage section which isn’t accessible to us mere mortals. It’s a really old book. And it smells differently than the new books I often buy now. Sorry, ma.
This book smells like my past, my childhood. It smells of stories.
💻 I find most of the complaints about Apple to be nonsense. It’s typically done for clicks: Put Apple in a headline and folks read the article.
Now @BradleyChambers wrote an article about Apple’s hypocritical stance on privacy that is excellent and something worth pushing Apple to fix. Well done, Bradley.
What is super frustrating is there was a solution at hand when Apple purchased PowerSchool. I understand why Apple had to sell PowerSchool, but having it in-house… And, boy, selling to Pearson was, in hindsight, blecch!
🚀 I’m with my son and we’re about to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey at Lincoln Center with the New York Philharmonic. I can barely contain my excitement.
Update: (11pm)
What a show! To hear the score and some additional sounds all performed by an orchestra and/or chorus was goosebumpy. I mean, to hear The Blue Danube live is nothing short of a treat. My wife took our daughter to see Amadeus done at the same place in the same way and now I regret not going to see that with them.
⌚️ The Apple Watch Series 4 feels like the beginning of something much bigger than a notifcation system slash fitness tracker. A device that has the ability to track falls and help monitor your heart is device you learn to trust and never be without. It becomes intertwined with your view of (and how you view) your health. In other words, it feels like version one of a device from a science fiction movie.
📱 I’ve been hoping for colors for all the products for a while now. I guess I’ll jump on the iPhone Xr wagon. Let’s try yellow.
❤️ The Apple Heart Study has ended. I submitted 1,560 heart rhythm data points. In the big picture I know it’s not much, but I feel good about it.
📚 I finished two books while on vacation. The first one was Unlocked by John Scalzi. I have no idea why I read this before his other book Lock In but I don’t think it was really necessary to read them in order. I’ll get around to Lock In before too long. The book’s style reminded me of World War Z by Max Brooks. I’m sure this style has a name, but I am not fancy enough to know it.
Anyway, I recommend Lock In (World War Z too).
The other book was Artemis by Andy Weir. I didn’t like it nearly as much as his first book, The Martian because it felt like everything had to be overly explained because the science is too far out of everyday knowledge. It just got in the way. I still recommend Artemis because Andy Weir’s love of space and science shines through and I like that.
🚙 The second row behind the passenger in a modern minivan is the secret to a wonderful vacation. I have two arm rests, my own AC vent, a shade for my enormous window, a cup holder… I even lost my shoes in this thing! Seriously, I feel like I’m on vacation from my vacation.
📷 Jason Snell’s Six Colors site offers tips from time to time and I always find them to be super helpful. This article about organizing photos from multiple people is no different.
But it’s not something you can do on an iPad. Apple: Let Photos on iOS become this powerful.
📚 I just finished reading Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult. I liked the story, but the writing didn’t feel authentic. Everyone came across as too clever. The ending was also a little too neatly wrapped up.
But the topic of racism isn’t talked about enough and that makes me give the book a rating of Recommend.
Apple should absolutely remove the Infowars app from App Store. It makes no sense delist the podcast and still keep the app.
Apple, remove the app.
📰 I am so glad to support Pro Publica each month. This reporting is the kind of work I only dreamed of doing in college.
🇺🇸 Even if they don’t all win, this is what the future looks like. And it sure as hell doesn’t look like the Republican party.
🖕 Apple removing Alex Jones from its database is the first step (and one that was long overdue) in what I hope is a march towards removing his far-reaching soapbox.
His hate can spew from his hole like it did in days past: On a street corner with his pants around his ankles.
📚 I just finished The Heart’s Invisible Furies, by John Boyne. It was a lot of story.
Despite so much sadness, I give it my just-made-up-now rating of Recommend.