Paul

Having an interdisciplinary mindset has kept me sane and grounded throughout the choppy waves of a career in finance (which is currently on the upswing) and fed my mind for outside creative pursuits.

Whenever I have energy available after working, I spend some time working through the 1984 edition of the Simandl bass method book, getting better at playing and creating on the bass. Doesn’t matter if I may never play another gig. Creation and joy, unmonetized, for its own sake.

This is a great read! I love what @hearingthingsco.bsky.social is doing!!!

Remember, you don’t have to read any of the linked posts about maladjusted sociopaths to be able to deal with them successfully in any context. You can just move on and do literally anything else.

Nobody ever watches to the end, right? Least of all when someone says “watch to the end”, right? Watch to the end. These three minutes will inspire you to think differently. The comedian (historian?) speaking is David Nihill, who is not active here, but you can find him on IG.

Along with everything else, it’s nice that student loans are coming out of forbearance just before election season, to remind you of how worthless the Federal government is for matters of regular people before we vote. “Not rich? Go pound sand” is a defining ethic of our time.

Last week’s post about diesel topping out at $9.99 will soon seem quaint. At this rate we’ll all be working from home by mid-October due to lack of supply, and just in time for people to express their feelings in the voting booth.

Anyways, today is a very good day to follow, subscribe, and donate to news outlets that take a strong stance against Generative AI slop: go.bsky.app/8cn1XfT

Duolingo coming in hot for Labor Day

Conan was not ready for the bluntness of the Dutch. I think this is my favorite episode yet.

So yeah, it’s raining in LA and OC as a direct after-effect of people panic buying toilet paper at Costco, which itself ensured that it would rain heavily this morning. This thought process is not brought to you by AI, but instead by a small dash of creative thinking for its own sake

This is a good explainer on a topic that sounds like oatmeal to most people, but really does affect everyone, whether they know it or not.

They already charge $35 a glass for brand-name tequila at the stadium. The owners are doing more than fine.

Just learned the “you’re laundry’s done” ditty that our LG ThinQ stackable washer plays when a load is done, one octave down. A weird after-effect of regular sight-reading practice for bass, but I’ll take it

The worst heat/humidity combo I can recall here in over a decade. Was exactly like this in Barcelona a few weeks ago.

Monday: Dolly passes Tuesday: Tim passes Wednesday: Yayoi passes Thursday: Lake America? What? Friday: ???? Saturday: Jane, stop this crazy thing

The median American voter, voted for it be 2019 again and for Trump to make them rich, under the very mistaken belief that Worse Things Aren't Possible, and quite literally everyone is paying for it

RIP Frank Beard. 2/3 of the coolest guys in the world (to me, anyway, when I was 11) have now gone to the great gig in the sky. As someone already said here, please put Billy Gibbons in bubble wrap.

A lot explained in a few paragraphs. The national debt may actually matter under a Republican administration? Also, a clue as to why companies are reluctant to hire, as they wait for the other shoe to drop.

the students from abroad typically pay more in tuition and so subsidize working class US students. This policy is an attack on upward mobility

The best thing about Instagram might be where people out themselves as terrible people in the comments section, then 100% of the time you check and they’ve made their profile private because they can dish it out, but they can’t take it

What brings me joy? A lot, thankfully. Like this. Every part of this is great. Another drummer for me to follow and learn from as a bass player.

The comments note that this is just energy costs and does not include military expenditures. Number go up for me and you, as we make the world’s worst people richer.

Flying back to the States after two weeks in Europe where food quality and flavor is head and shoulders above what we as Americans are stuck with. People just don’t even know.

It’s a spendy option but if you’re looking to build immunity to social media and inoculate yourself against its most harmful effects (doom cloak over the mind, anger, time wasted), I highly recommend a two-week trip to Europe where you’re 9 time zones ahead of America’s outrage of the day

Couldn’t help but think about this when I saw a BYD Seal roll down the street here in Madrid yesterday.

Being on vacation in Europe with the algorithm-free Bluesky feed has been nice but also revelatory in terms of having a better blend of people and ideas - not just having American anxieties put in front of my face on the regular.

Just had to mute a 4chan term from 2009 that I thought I’d never see again. The day can and will only go up from here

Can you eat healthy without buying their bagged salad and without supporting this administration? Yes, to both.

Not only did Spain beat Argentina 1-0, they also beat them 2-0 on disallowed goals

As it should be. Spain the Men’s World Cup champions, Argentina the Men’s Diving champions. Can’t wait to see if they’re still partying when I’m in Barcelona in about two weeks. 🇪🇸

So that’s two goals for Spain now called back, the second one somehow more preposterous than the first.

Damn right. They can’t take that one away. 🇪🇸

That is not a foul, that is a flop, and that should be a goal.

Fernandez with the arrogance to protest an obvious red card after making zero play on the ball. What a garbage squad.

Things that Spain’s goalie could have been doing with all the action on the other half of the pitch, but now he has to pay attention a little: - whipping up some flan - writing the Great Spanish Novel - drafting a LinkedIn post - enjoying a mojito

Have to give props to Argentina’s goalie, even with that fumbled ball earlier. He’s getting totally shelled right now and hanging in there. Trying to tell my brain “he’s not an underdog, you don’t have to reflexively pull for him”

Oh man, Spain. They have got to convert these chances.

Spain clearly the more motivated team, dictating the pace with some excellent chances in the last several minutes.

Cucurella with a brilliant backfooted advance and his reward is to be taken down by an Argentinian defender kicking the ball out of bounds with no foul. Play on, of course.

Which is more likely, a guy falling asleep in a luxury box, or the refs totally in the bag for Argentina, even if both things can be true?