Monday, June 16, 2025

A Protester

We did this on Saturday:











That's not my sign, but it should have been.

There were an astonishing number of people:











Over 5,000, easily, in a part of the state that leans fairly conservative. 

This is the kind of thing I'd normally never do, because--as Groucho Marx so famously said--I'd never join a club that would have me as a member. But these are not normal times.

Thursday, June 12, 2025

Friday Links!

Leading off this week, an amazing collection: 11,000 public domain photographs of America's forgotten roadside attractions.

A long read about a serial romance scammer (the subject of a Prime Video documentary coming out next week): The Many Faces of Jason Porter.

Absolutely fabulous: A nasogenital tale A bizarre theory (and a gory surgery) in fin-de-siècle Vienna help us get a grip on how science and medicine actually work

Detailed and terrific: How Pakistan fell in love with sushi.

This is a tremendous, painful read: My mother was a famous feminist writer known for her candour and wit. But she was also a fantasist who couldn’t be bothered to spend time raising me

Amazing: 650-foot mega-tsunami sends seismic waves around the world, and satellites captured the action.

We shaped the past to suit our colonial needs: Archaeologists uncover massive 1,000-year-old Native American fields in Northern Michigan that defy limits of farming

What a fantastic project: Cambridge mapping project solves a medieval murder

Incredible: Scientists built a badminton-playing robot with AI-powered skills.

From Wally, and it's an excellent read: Why the Goodyear Blimp Hasn’t Been Replaced by Drones. I'd be willing to watch some of these: 10 Cancelled Sci-Fi Shows That Deserve a Reboot. This entire popcorn bucket craze is very strange: AMC Unveils Galactus-Themed Popcorn Bucket For The Fantastic Four: First Steps — and It's Huge. Lots of speculation here, but provocative: Could time travel tourism be the next space tourism? (op-ed)

Tim H. sent in a video about a man making an entire cabin by himself in the late 1960s. In Alaska!: Alone in the Wilderness, the story of Dick Proenneke.

From Chris M., a thoughtful and interesting essay: Why am I filled with nostalgia for a pre-internet age I never knew?

When to Be In a Hospital

I'm not in a hospital.

C gave me fascinating instruction in when to be there, though. 

First, teaching hospitals generally provide better care, because there is a team of doctors for each patient instead of an individual. This isn't a hard and fast rule, but a general guideline.

In a teaching hospital, there's a hierarchy: 
Attending physicians (fully licensed physicians)
Senior Residents
Residents (first year out of medical school)
Medical students (if any)

In a hospital, the residents do pre-rounds very early, followed by revisiting those patients later with a senior resident (who can point out any possible omissions by the resident). The attending physician might also attend rounds or choose to have "conference room" rounds (where the patient isn't present but all the data is reviewed).

The annual transition for these tiers usually occurs on July 1 (not everywhere, but generally). This means that if you go for an elective procedure in May, for example, everyone has been in their role for almost a year (sometimes longer). The team has also been working together for almost a year.

If you go in July, the resident is new. The senior resident was often a resident last month. The attending physician could be in his first month (though not necessarily). It's a new team that has only worked together for a few weeks. 

At a non-teaching hospital--generally--the tiers are as follows:
Attending physician
Physician assistant
Nurse

C said nurses would be highly offended by those tiers because they see it as a team-based approach.

You can see the level of expertise in a non-teaching hospital is generally lower. It's not always true, but it's a good rule of thumb. 

So if you need surgery and it's not time-sensitive, go in May or early June to a teaching hospital for the best care. 




Wednesday, June 11, 2025

The Doldrums

The "doldrums" is a popular nautical term that refers to the belt around the Earth near the equator where sailing ships sometimes get stuck on windless waters.
--National Ocean Service

Sailors often get stuck in the doldrums on long voyages. If you pass near the equator, I'm not sure they're even possible to avoid.

A book is, in every way, a long voyage that passes near the equator.

I'm in a place right now where I wake up every morning and work, without fail, but feel no enthusiasm for doing so. Absolutely none. It's not that I'm producing crap; I'm working effectively, and I like what I'm working with. It's just the energy is entirely missing.

This happens for almost everyone writing a book, I think. I don't see how it could be avoided. It's a long, long voyage (about five years, this time), and looking at the ocean every day is incredibly repetitive. 

This is how it works, though, at least for me. I keep looking for wind, and one day--out of nowhere--there will be a fresh breeze and the sails will fill for the first time in weeks.

It will be a relief.


Tuesday, June 10, 2025

Lofoten Ultra-Trail (pictures)

These were all taken from the course:














Eli 23.10 finished the 24k race in five hours (I can't remember the exact time). There were two climbs of over 3,000 feet, snow up to his knees in places, treacherous terrain in general, and he loved it all.

An interesting data point he shared: his threshold heart rate is 190 (the rate beyond which lactic acid starts to form). One, it's ridiculous that his threshold is so high, but also, his heart rate was at 188 for an hour and fourteen minutes of the race. Hard, in other words.

Norway is on my bucket list, and I hope we go together someday.

Monday, June 09, 2025

Paths

When Eli 23.10 was playing 16U hockey at the AAA level, he had a teammate, a defenseman.

The kid was tall, solid, and a great skater. He had an "advisor." He was selected to play in the Nations Cup (roughly equivalent to the youth version of the Four Nations Face-Off). His parents expected him to be drafted.

Aa a 16-year-old, he signed with Michigan State. He was the first on the team to commit to a college, and it was a big deal. At least three kids on Eli's team committed to Michigan State.

After 16U, he went to the USHL (Eli tried out for USHL and NAHL teams, but didn't make it. Goalies were set before tryouts, and the other goalies were basically practice dummies). He played in the USHL for four years. FOUR YEARS. Michigan State kept telling him to stay in the USHL for one more season.

By the time he started college, at twenty, he'd already been away from home for most of his teenage years.

He didn't start college at Michigan State. No, they burned him, and burned a slew of other kids who'd committed to them as well. He did get another Division One offer, from Miami of Ohio. It wasn't ideal, but it was still Division One, so he went.

He played, but the team was bad. 18-78-10 over three years bad. He played in fewer games each season ,too. It didn't seem like much fun. Still, though, Division One hockey player. That was always the dream.

This coming season, he's a senior.

The coach cut almost everyone on the team. Including him.

He'll graduate from college when he's 24. He retired from hockey. His body hurts all the time, every day.

Eli wanted to play in Division One very, very much. A few programs had interest in him, but it was never sustained interest. 

He had to give up his dream. It was crushing. Then he turned it into the best thing that ever happened to him.

Went to the University of Michigan. Played in the highest level intramural league and had a blast. Went to Oxford. Had the year of his life. Came back and graduated, then returned to Oxford for grad school. This upcoming season will be his fourth (and last). It's not the same level of hockey as Division One--not even close--but he loves playing (and his teammates). He's been in epic games he'll never forget, having moments of a lifetime. 

He's still 23 and has his master's degree. He'll have a doctorate at 26. 

He reminds me of David Booth.

David Booth never played a game in the NBA, even though he attended multiple training camps over the years and was often the last player cut. He wound up playing in the CBA.

Oh, and France, Venezuela, Italy, the Philippines, Greece, and Japan. 

In the foreign leagues he was a star, the best player on every team. It wasn't the NBA, but it was an incredible life experience. 

Eli's played in England, Austria, and Switzerland during his time at Oxford. He's been MVP of his team all three years. He's had the best time of his life, even though it wasn't the life he expected. 

This is a long-winded (sorry) way of saying we should all remember that our dreams aren't static. They evolve, and with hard work, they can be better, happier dreams than the ones we started with.

I want to be the way Eli is with his dreams. I'm not, but I'm trying.

Thursday, June 05, 2025

Friday Links

Leading off this week, a wonderful and touching story of an 8-year-old boy who built his own arcade: Caine's Arcade

This is a long and fascinating read: The curse of Toumaï: an ancient skull, a disputed femur and a bitter feud over humanity’s origins.

A bizarre story: How the Nazis' top interrogator was hired to work on Disney theme parks

This explains so much of our current political climate: Greed is costly.

An excellent read: An 80,000-year history of the tomato.

It's important reading: Why incels take the “Blackpill”—and why we should care

A professional soccer (non-soccer) player. What a story: Carlos Kaiser (footballer)

I can't begin to describe how satisfying it is to watch this video: Watch this pro build a cabin in the woods from scratch.

Only one of hundreds of examples: Millions of People Depend on the Great Lakes’ Water Supply. Trump Decimated the Lab Protecting It.

This is the second of an impeccable four-part series on the Digital Antiquarian (it's easy to navigate to the other episodes if you wish): The End of Sierra as We Knew It, Part 2: The Scandal.

A follow-up in reference to a post I made last week: Scientists decode the universal language pattern in 40,000 stories.

From Wally, and it's delightful: What I learned from reading Harlan Ellison. This show has a surprising amount of support: Wheel of Time fans band together to save show after cancellation – petition gets over 50,000 signatures

From Jonathon W., the trailer to a Scottish Samurai movie (you read that right): Tornado - Official Trailer

We're number one (almost)

Grand Rapids has the worst air quality in the country today, and some of the worst air quality in the world. If it was a major city, it would be #2 in the entire world behind Dakar, Senegal (an eye-watering AQI of 190, due to dust from the Sahara desert).

Here? AQI of 161 and rising, apparently. We were going to go for a long walk and decided to move swimming up a day instead. Being underwater is the most pleasant place to be right now.

It doesn't seem there's a single place in the U.S. you can live anymore that's free of the threat of weather disaster. 

Wednesday, June 04, 2025

The Great Retail Unwinding

One of the things I do to maximize my step count each day is to park as far away from retail locations as possible.

Today, I'd had a walk, but parked in a Meijer (essentially, Target but with more groceries) parking lot so I'd have to walk a half a mile to Jimmy John's for a sandwich.

On the way, I passed an Arby's (huge parking lot--almost empty) and a Fazoli's (fast Italian--huge parking lot, almost empty). 

There are thousands and thousands of fast food parking lots that size across the country. Burger King's parking lots, in particular, are so large it's comical. 

No one goes to fast food places to eat inside anymore.

A few do (particularly at McDonald's and Chic-fil-A), but mostly, everyone uses the drive-through. The current fast food hotness in terms of franchise design is economical indoor footprints (Jimmy John's, Tropical Smoothie, etc.). How do these older companies unwind the ownership of thousands of restaurant locations with huge square footage? It can't be cheap to own them, but who would want them?

In a Sim City sense, all this land has been zoned commercial, but now there's far too much commercial zoning. Yet, you can't use the dying commercial spaces for housing. Unless, I guess, you get someone to build high-density housing (multi-story apartments). 

It could take decades or longer to handle this. It's an urban mess.

Tuesday, June 03, 2025

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33

It's been a long, long time since a game took my breath away, but Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 does.

The best art direction I've ever seen. Wonderful animation. Phenomenal voice acting (listen to the French with English subtitles). An entirely engrossing, haunting story.

This game didn't even have a AAA budget by today's standards. How it accomplished all this on a lower budget blows me way. 

Even the combat is fun. In addition to the attacks being excellent, there's a parry system that is absolutely brilliant. The timing is tricky, as each type of enemy attacks at different speeds, but it's fun and powerful when you're able to use it.

Oh, and no map. Just think about that. In a day and age where we're handheld to death, you couldn't turn on a map if you wanted to. It's freeing, really. 

I'm about ten hours in and utterly fascinated.

Monday, June 02, 2025

The Lofoten Ultra-Trail

If you'd like to gain a sense of where Eli 23.10 was running the 24K last weekend, just watch this short video: LOFOTEN ULTRA-TRAIL: The ultimate adventure.

He was running with someone and said the race was harder than he thought. The other runner laughed and told him the course was considered the most technical trail race in the world.

He finished the race (50th out of 116) and I'll have plenty of pictures on Wednesday after I talk to him. Today is a travel day back from Norway. 

His friend finished the 100-miler--and incredible feat--in 36 hours. It's a staggeringly punishing course, and barely half the runners finished. As someone who did some foolish ultra stuff around age twenty, I'm in complete awe over what he did.

Thursday, May 29, 2025

Friday Links!

Sneaky and brilliant: A Young Cooper’s Hawk Learned to Use a Crosswalk Signal to Launch Surprise Attacks on Other Birds.

A terrific long read about a prolific bank robber: The Hold-Up Artist.

And here's one about a prolific grifter who still hasn't been punished: All That Glitters

From Max W., and of course Nietzsche was warped about this, too: Empathy can take a toll – but 2 philosophers explain why we should see it as a strength

This is a moving read: ‘You can let go now’: inside the hospital where staff treat fear of death as well as physical pain.

An excellent profile of Magnus Carlsen: The Freestylist.

Stories told in film (DQ Film Advisor Ben Ormand alert!):Our narrative prison: The three-act ‘hero’s journey’ has long been the most prominent kind of story. What other tales are there to tell?

This is thought-provoking: Maximalisma: A professor endeavors to separate treasure from trash—before her children have to do it for her

We clearly didn't pay attention: A deadly mission: how Dom Phillips and Bruno Pereira tried to warn the world about the Amazon’s destruction

We might be back to nine: Astronomers find evidence suggesting that our solar system has nine planets again.

From Wally, on the increasingly invasive world of book marketing: None of Your Business: Why Writers Shouldn’t Feel Obligated to Share Too Much. Not a surprise, but it's still embarrassing: Authors Are Accidentally Leaving AI Prompts In their Novels. If you ever wanted to be a moderator, here are some tips: A call for moderation (of panels). Boy, this is the truth: Why Silicon Valley’s Most Powerful People Are So Obsessed With Hobbits: Tech power players and the global far-right are learning all the wrong lessons from “The Lord of the Rings.”

From Africa to the Arctic Circle

Eli 23.9 was in Zambia less than two weeks ago. Today he's in Svolvær, Norway, for the upcoming trail race in the Lofoten Islands. He's running the 20k race, which will be challenging, given the elevation changes and trail, but his friend is attempting the 100-miler (ill-advised).

Fun fact about Lofoten: it's climate is extremely mild for its coordinates because of its proximity to the Gulf Stream. The average high in July is a balmy 60F. 

It's also extraordinarily beautiful, and I hope to have some pictures for you from Eli next week. 

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