I guess it’s good that Spotify can collect its money outside the app store? Then it can give even more money to Joe Rogan so he can spread more nonsense about vaccines and masculinity. Yay, Spotify!
Feelin’ Good Friday, #13: The hammer falls on Apple’s malicious-compliance scheme. I love Apple’s products, but I do not love Apple’s business practices, so I’m feeling good that they are getting their comeuppance1. I also like it when Apple is pushed back to its heels, as that’s when they do their best work (it seems to me). You know, make a better App Store in order to compete and make a better use of AI2.
Rumble Strip
I remember a time in high school (the 1980s) when I picked up The New Yorker in the school’s library and leafed through it. I didn’t read the articles, but I attempted to understand the cartoons. I didn’t understand any of them. I was honestly perplexed why they were even included.
The very next time I picked up The New Yorker, I understood each cartoon1. What a weird transformation. I am not claiming to have grown to some big-brain levels, but I did grow up more in the time between. I guess the third time I picked up The New Yorker I started reading the articles and, like many, subscribed. I only unsubscribed when the stack of unread issues caused overwhelming shame.
If anyone who didn’t know what a magazine was, I’d hand them a small stack of issues of The New Yorker. To me, it best represents what a magazine is.
Which brings me to my long-winded point: Rumble Strip is the best representation of a podcast. I guess I came to it from 99% Invisible, but I can’t really remember now. Don’t get me wrong, 99PI is a great podcast. So why am I not using it as the quintessential example of a podcast? Maybe I have qualms about its founder accepting a big pile of money for his hard work? I guess that says more about me than Roman Mars. We all have our foibles; that’s mine.
This week, Rumble Strip’s founder and host, Erica Heilman, has been treating us to examples of what she thinks is a radio show by replaying what inspired her. I never heard of who she considered her mentor, Larry Massett2. But it’s a job to hear his stories. The two I’ve heard so far are great.
I listen to a lot of tech enthusiast podcasts, and it’s time for me to cut those back. So many episodes (and so many tech articles) seem to only exist to place ads next to them. I’m not a dummy3, I get that folks need to put food on the table, but I don’t need to listen to more orifices say words just to get to the next sponsor read. And now so many are also doing video podcasts on YouTube. And while you usually don’t need to watch the video portions, I worry that’s the direction more and more will go.
That’s why I think Rumble Strip stands out. It’s storytelling done right. I hope you’ll listen to Erica’s work. It’s wonderful.
Feelin’ Good Friday, #12: Every Friday I read Mike Monteiro’s Good News. I’ve written about this newsletter before, but it’s so incredibly good, I can’t stop talking about it. He’s angry like me, but he’s far, far better at trying to do something with his anger than I am. I am really trying to pay attention to what Mike says and use my energy for good.
The newsletter comes out about once a week, and I really do try to save it until Fridays because it sets a good tone for the weekend. Although now that I write that, I wonder if I should save it for Sunday so I’m ready to go for the coming week. I’ll think about that. I hope you’ll read one or two issues from his archive and then subscribe. I feel better having read each issue and I bet you will, too.
The only thing that is going to save journalism is local journalism, and this article about X and its turbines is a great example.
Now, I don’t know anything about Contemporary Media, Inc., so maybe they are part of some big evil conglomerate, but I stand by the idea that smaller, local journalism can help us all get back on track to a sane country.
Feelin’ Good Friday, #11: Albany sees traffic crashes drop with new speed limit. Seems like common sense, but it’s nice validation each time it happens.
Growing up in the 70s in my little NJ town, you went to school where you lived. Sure, there was some choice if you were Catholic or wanted private, but I didn’t know anyone who chose the private route. We didn’t even have a middle school. It was K-8, then shipped off to the high school.
When we were raising our children in Brooklyn in the aughts and teens, it was different. You did send them to the local elementary school for your area, but middle and high school was a ranked system, and then you were assigned to the school of your choice (assuming all the stars lined up). So, back a million years ago, I did my part and went to some school fairs where the middle schools all gathered together to try to convince you that their school was the best. Some schools sent administrators, and some sent PA representatives. But Park Slope Collegiate was represented by their principal, Jill Bloomberg.
Within about a minute of her speaking, it was clear she was the smartest one in the room. It wasn’t even close. We ended up sending our son to PSC for middle school and he had a really good experience.
What the DOE has done to her is a shame, of course, but it’s even worse for the students, parents, and fellow teachers who haven’t been able to learn from her leadership. I hope she gets the results she is looking for; she deserves it.
I really hope I’ve made an impression on my children about the importance of vaccines. They have both received all their childhood vaccines and kept up on flu and COVID as well. As they are now adults, all I can do is hope the examples we’ve set have been a good example. Meanwhile, from April 12, 2025: North Carolina flu-related deaths at all-time high.
Feelin’ Good Friday, #10: STICK IT IN ME! Shingles vaccine showing signs of reducing dementia risk.
Mrs. Bob and I got ours and I feel extra good about it now. I’ve been reminding my fellow 50+ year old friends to really consider getting this vaccine. I’ve gotten a surprising amount of pushback and I don’t know why.
We recently went to our new favorite local joint, but we got there a little too late and the kitchen was closed. The pizza oven was off and there wasn’t time to restart it even if there was a will to do it (there wasn’t). Sometimes you just can’t restart things after you’ve turned them off.
I sure hope, when the time comes, Trump is throwing some paper towels my way.
I like the Food section in Apple News, but I don’t like that the Mac’s News app is a second-class version compared to the iPhone. I hope that gets updated soon.
There’s a pretty smug fifth dentist walking around right now.
Feelin’ Good Friday, #9: Boy, is it hard to find something good to feel good about in the last few (time frame here). So I’m going to hold onto my main squeeze and make her some supper. I hope all of you can feel good about something today.
I am old enough to remember that the GOP wants to privatize Social Security, which would have put all our retirement money into the stock market.
Cruel, incompetent, and bad at business. But at least they owned the libs!
Apple Card business is good enough to attract Visa and maybe even American Express? And, maybe Mastercard is still fighting for the business?
I’m old enough to remember when the Apple Card was bad business.
I’m so old I remember a time when we were hoping to avoid a 1.5°C world. Now we’re just assuming it’ll be at least a 3°C.
Amber Ruffin makes me laugh. I’ve really only known her from her writing and her segment on Late Night with Seth Meyers, but she’s never failed to make me laugh.
I see she’s been booted from the White House Correspondents Association’s bullshit dinner show event. An event where journalists get together to celebrate one another and have a good time is perfectly fine, but to include anyone from the government is absolutely gross (and always has been).
The press and the people they cover are not friends. The press knows better than most (because the press doesn’t print everything they know) how awful some of these people are. Stop yucking it up with them. And talk about obeying in advance, sheesh.
Now, with that out of the way, if Amber has a set to perform of this material, I’d pay to go see that.
I haven’t been to any protests over Tesla. I fully support these protests and hope they have the desired effect.
Based on the news articles and images about the protest, protesters should consider signs with alternatives. There should be signs for the Chevy Bolt, Mustang Mach-E (which is ugly), VW ID.4, and maybe even the more expensive Honda Prologue (based off of the Chevy Blazer EV).
I did a little looking around, and the Tesla Model 3 is still a pretty good deal for folks looking for an EV with decent range for around $40K (it’s a little over that amount).
Folks shopping for a car might not really care that Musk is a fascist or whatever; they might just want an EV that’s not $75K, and offering them an alternative might put other models into their minds that they didn’t know about.
If I were buying a car now, I’d look at the newest Prius. It’s a hybrid (which I’m aware adds a whole lot of complexity) that gets really, really good fuel economy (57 city, 56 highway) at a price that’s pretty good (mid-$30K). For the record, I don’t have my own car or drive one with any regularity thanks to living in NYC.