Eight Ain't Enough
"Handbook for the recently diseased?"
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I’m always listening to something when I write these, from gathering the links to editing and publishing. This week I have been listening to a lot of songs that remind me of my grandpa, who was hospitalized and killed by COVID last week, and this track seems the most fitting to share with you:
Well it's forty below and I don't give a fuck
Got a heater in my truck And I'm off to the rodeo
Gramps loved goofy / rude shit like this and I’ll always love him for that and a hundred other reasons. Back when I first moved out west, we had long drive from Michigan to Seattle that I’m so thankful for. On an interpersonal level, at least, if you looked up “a good dude” in the dictionary you’d find Gramps. If the dictionary is worth a damn, anyway.
Too many people and things are going away forever, these days.
RetroStrange Movie Night #14 Review, Festivus Marathon and #15 Preview
Last weekend’s movie night went well, here’s my intro in case you missed it, and is back on track viewership wise after the Thanksgiving Dip. Average 3 viewers, Max 7, 37 uniques and 51 views on the episode. Standard RSMN metrics. You can catch these two movies any time you want on our Twitch page along with the whole back catalog.
We’re sneaking one more show in to December, our 24 hour Festivus marathon of The Doughnuts.
Movie Night #15 takes place December 26th and is going to be another special feature: A selection of health and safety videos from the Internet Archive, due to a mandate by RetroStrange corporate in their hastily-assembled bylaws. Join us as we watch buses plummet off of cliffs, worksite safety inspectors narrowly avert tragedy, and probably witness at least 3-4 head and arm crushings.
Reminder: Divergent League Is Coming Back!
Divergent League Baseball, the atemporal high-fidelity fantasy baseball league I run, is coming back very soon. The season roster will be set in the 90s and the specific year will be announced on my Patreon tomorrow. The league just accepted delivery of the 1977 Divergent League Bip Roberts Memorial Cup Even Though He’s Still Alive, which was won by the Cincinatti Reds:
All this could be yours! There are team ownership spots available for this season! Sign up to be notified when we go live.
Phil’s Good Links Are Bursting At The Seams This Week
If I were running a design or UX course, I would burn these images into my students brains forever
The Atari 2600: what couldn’t it do?
Did you know? There was a multi-component Moog Song Producer for Commodore 64
The SuperRT, a working raytracing expansion chip for the Super Nintendo, is maybe the coolest thing I’ve ever seen in my life up to now:
Google Chrome’s hardware-pushing ways have roused the ire of (pull-to-refresh creator) Loren Brichter and they’re collecting data to prove that it sucks
The CEO of SolarWinds recently sold $286 million dollars of stock before disclosing that over 18,000 of its customers were owned
I’ve been pretty sad lately, but the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a balm
SF Supervisors “voted 10-1 to pass a resolution condemning the naming of San Francisco General Hospital after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg”
Blasphemy is still a crime punished by death in much of the world
Nobody.live is a cool little app that finds Twitch streams for you to watch with 0 viewers. As a creator, seeing that 0 tick up to 1 is a pretty big deal and can really make someone’s day. Give it a try if you’re feeling down.
Proof and Descriptions of “Life”
This is what I look like right about now drinking a coffee with the little black Christmas tree my mom sent me in the background. I am in one of those headspaces where I keep having to remind myself that the game is rigged… which is true but really doesn’t help nearly as much as it used to. Sometimes the only way out is through.
My nephew, Hank, is really progressing in his guitar playing. I’m so proud the guy, he’s 12 and already has a stronger understanding of the instrument than his uncle Phil.
I bought less liquor this week. I cleaned the whole apartment one piece at a time. I redecorated my bedroom a little bit. My worryin’ chair now has more space for longer sessions of cosmic dread / listening to LPs...
Thank you for subscribing. I appreciate you. Until next time I remain available for design, development, video production, narration, mall openings, roasts, and bar mitzvahs.
— Phil