Bob Schulties
Feelin’ Good Friday, #3: I love Iris Dement. I love her sound, her songwriting, everything. I still (still!) can’t get over how an early 20-something Iris wrote “Our Town.”
This version of Our Town is also great. I mean, Emmylou Harris. She makes me swoon so hard I almost pulled out my back.
Anyway, this isn’t about Iris. You see, Iris is married to Greg Brown (I’m not familiar with his music). Greg has a daughter named Pieta Brown. How in all that is sacred have I not listened to Pieta before? I hadn’t even heard of her, and I feel a mix of guilt (not the right word) and excitement (since there is so much music to really get to know).
After just 3 seconds of listening, I knew Pieta’s sound was one that would continue to click with me. Her sound is a mix of blues, country, and maybe jazz. I’m not an expert in any kind of music, but that’s what she sounds like to me. And she is clearly a fantastic singer-songwriter.
Her catalog on Apple Music only starts in 2007 with the Remember the Sun album, but it was the first song on that album (the three seconds I mentioned above) that made me know I found something special (to me).
So, Pieta, I’m sorry it took me your whole recording life to finally find you. I’m so glad I did.
I see Apple has had some success with a new movie. I watched The Gorge when it debuted.
I am having a hard time understanding how anyone liked it and how it is even getting a 5.9 on Rotten Tomatoes. The acting is good, but overall, it was super meh to me. I imagine the only reason it’s getting the rating it is is because Anya Taylor-Joy is impossibly cute.
I was going to link to the positive effects of NYC’s Congestion Pricing.
But then King Cheeto got involved. I don’t even know why since he doesn’t even live here. Perhaps it’s purely because he hates NYC for hating him and that translates to making it worse for folks living here. So much for States’ Rights, I guess.
And, man, I don’t understand my governor Kathy Hochul. She delayed this and even lowered the fee (forget the part where she totally made up the part where diner owners in NYC were worried folks from NJ weren’t going to go from NJ to NYC to go to a diner). But now that John Barron is getting all pushy Hochul is now in favor of it? Yeah, I know it’s working as intended and that’s why she is in favor of it, but not for lack of trying to make it not work.
I am seriously wondering how long before Trump dissolves the Congress, seeing as he and the US AG now decide what laws mean.
The media will be our downfall, normalization edition: Stop Analyzing Trump’s Unhinged Ideas Like They’re Normal Policy Proposals.
Think of how many folks you know who use The New York Times as a reference point to form their opinions. That’s why we will never, ever move forward (by that I mean, to the left) as a country.
Feelin’ Good Friday, #2: A two-gear, two-chain bike. It’s small inventions like this which have a huge impact on the lives of folks who have to make do with what they have.
If you are unfamiliar with Buffalo (I was), this overview explains the logic behind the original design (the first link above shows the most recent redesign, but the principle ideas remain). Really, watch the whole video. I wish more products were made this way.
Feelin’ Good Friday, #1: We’re making headway on some kinds of cancer!
Why don’t I have more faith in humanity? We still don’t know how to wear masks properly. Mouth and nose should be covered. How do you still think your honker hanging out is effective? How do people not understand this?
And the reason I’m writing this at all now is I just saw a woman on the subway lower her mask to cough. To cough!
Our media will be our downfall, Term 2.
In an effort to celebrate the wins, big or small, I am happy to say I made an outstanding cup of coffee today. It’s one of those cups that you wish would never run out.
Today, of all days, I recommend listening to “Kid Logic” episode 605 of This American Life. Act one has moved me to tears nearly every time I have listened to it. If you haven’t heard it, I think you’ll enjoy it. Also, kids are awesome.
My library has a small exhibit about James Baldwin. One quote from Baldwin stood out to me:
The greatest danger is “when the loveless come to power.”
That is the perfect description of what is happening now in the United States of America.
Since everyone is up in arms about it, I would like to go on the record that I did not donate to Trump’s inauguration. And I find it ever more distasteful to learn of those that did.
For a long time one of the activities we’ve done during supper (as a family and now as just a couple, since the kiddos are off at college) is to watch the “news” with Late Night with Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue.
Since the election, however, we’ve bascally stopped. It’s simply too depressing.
My suggesion to Mr. Meyers is to have a weekly bit where Bernie Sanders won the election and do a fake news segment about that. Each week I’d like to hear some funny quips about what upset President Sanders and how the right (and, frankly, most of the Dems) are fighting his administration’s good ideas. Soup!
With the acquisition of Pixelmator, I wonder if Apple is going to make a Pro bundle software subscription to live under what it called Services. You’d have Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, and then this pro level photo editing package (maybe called Layers or Pixels?).
I have never been so wrong about anything than the way I told my family and all my friends to not be so anxious about the election, Harris was going to win. Both of my children were eligible to vote in this election and I was (and am) proud they both did vote, but wow was I wrong.
I was wrong about:
- Presidential outcome
- Outcome of Congress
- Popular vote
I’m going to be doing a lot of reflecting on what I didn’t see.
I have yet to see a single Apple Intelligence ad that isn’t 100% cringe. The ads are either super misleading or showing the worst people using them to be lazy. Basically, the ads are a really lousy depiction of the work done by folks at Apple.
The LA Times and The Washington Post have both chosen to decline to endorse a candidate for president. At this time of the election cycle? In this political climate? At this time of need? Localized entirely around billionaires? Our media will be our downfall, indeed.
Did Elon Musk just invent the bus? I really wonder if he thinks that. Wait until the tech bros realize they can string a bunch of ‘em together!
EVs aren’t catching as much not because charging is hard and not because the range isn’t there, they are simply too expensive. When a new model comes out, I no longer first check range, instead I check price. Oh, look, the new Polestar 3 is very close to coming out. It’s $73,000. To start?!
I know I’m beginning to get up in years, but holy cow is that expensive. And at the risk of sounding old and cranky (maybe that older and crankier?), I sure would love to see something like the 2020 Honda HR-V (2024 and on are now too big) become completely electric. Don’t change anything else that doesn’t need to be changed. For god’s sake, don’t whizbangify the door handles! Good door handles are a solved problem. Glove box latches are a solved problem.
I wish this idea had become a reality.
I don’t think of John Amos as the father from Good Times or Kunta Kinte from Roots, but as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from The West Wing. RIP.
Why in the world are these new postal trucks constantly labeled as goofy while current F-150s, Silverados, and RAMs aren’t? You need a step to get into these machismo trucks, can’t reach the truck bed from the side, and, most importantly, you can’t see kids or passenger cars from the driver’s seat! The pickups also get crap fuel economy.
Anyway, I happen to think the new postal trucks are cool as heck. And the folks driving them love them.