"stand and perform the thousands of little gestures which constitute life on Earth"

"What did that word mean to me? Earth? I thought of the great bustling cities where I would wander and lose myself, and I thought of them as I had thought of the ocean on the second or third night, when I had wanted to throw myself upon the dark waves. I shall immerse myself among men. I shall be silent and attentive, an appreciative companion. There will be many acquaintances, friends, women -- and perhaps even a wife. For a while, I shall have to make a conscious effort to smile, nod, stand and perform the thousands of little gestures which constitute life on Earth, and then those gestures will become reflexes again. I shall find new interests and occupations; and I shall not give myself completely to them, as I shall never again give myself completely to anything or anybody. Perhaps at night I shall stare up at the dark nebula that cuts off the light of the twin suns, and remember everything, even what I am thinking now. With a condescending, slightly rueful smile I shall remember my follies and my hopes. And this future Kelvin will be no less worthy a man than the Kelvin of the past, who was prepared for anything in the name of an ambitious enterprise called Contact. Nor will any man have the right to judge me."

-- Stanislaw Lem, Solaris

"The rose petals / Presenting a truth of a different order"

Stereolab, "Flashes From Everywhere"

What does a band owe us after making incredible music for over 30 years?  The new Stereolab album is really pleasant, and tighter than the last few albums in terms of songcraft.  Are any big chances taken?  Not really!  But it's pretty lovely in its own right.

So It Begins

Two Democratic state legislators were shot in Minnesota, one fatally and one critically.

Cue the New York Times telling us both sides are responsible.

Double Loss

We lost Sly Stone and Brian Wilson in the same week, two musical geniuses who brought a lot to American pop music.

Me And My EV

I'm loving my new Kona EV.  Predictably, since my work commute is less than ten miles, it's perfect for my needs.  Eventually I need to upgrade to a Level Two charger but I'm making my way just fine with a Level One.  I find that on the weekend I can get extra charge into it to carry me through the week with no problems.

Again, maybe not for everybody depending on distance needs, but I love the thing.  Beautiful smooth, quiet ride as well.

Slava Ukraini

Ukraine destroyed a significant number of Russian bombers with drones and the equivalent of rented U-hauls.

There are a lot of things to be upset about right now as an American, but the fact we aren't giving full support to Ukraine as they fight Russian occupation is up towards the top for me.

Lazy Sunday

 

As they approach three years old each, Chingu and Mandu don't sleep together like they used too.  They'll groom each other once in a while, but it's more rare to see pictures of them together.

Their personalities are bright, of course -- Mandu in front is just chilling.  Chingu in back is plotting his next act of civil disobedience.

I'm Hooked!

Wonderbooks of course, #Frederick #Maryland.

Warfare -- Wut I Thunk of It

I'm worried about Alex Garland.  After creating some of my favorite movies of all time (28 Days Later, Ex Machina, Annihilation, hell, I'll say it -- Men) he seems to have gone into some weird military fascination phase.  Civil War was a very terrible film that attempted to drain politics from an inherently political topic.  Now, with Warfare, we go micro instead of macro and see a highly forensic examination of a single battle during the U.S. occupation of Ramadi in Iraq.  Are my words too biased?  Because a squad of U.S. troops literally goes into an Iraqi home to take it over for a few hours to gather intelligence.  (The civilians are kept in a bedroom, including children.)

It almost works as an attempt at a "neutral" examination of combat -- the stress, the suffering, the unknown.

Garland blows this all up (ahem) in the credits, where the actual soldiers involved are brought in for cheery, jock-y, fist-bump-y photos.  This actually happened, man!

A lone Iraqi woman, the mother of the children who had been taken hostage, gets to say "Why?  Why?" but doesn't really get to speak, because she's the enemy of course, just one who got really lucky.  An expendable NPC in the true world of American military exceptionalism.

Hard to believe, but this is worse than Civil War.  Is this some kind of mid-life crisis for Garland?

"the relationship between letterforms and the other things that humans make and do"

"But letterforms are not only objects of science.  They also belong to the realm of art, and they participate in its history.  They have changed over time just as music, painting and architecture have changed, and the same historical terms -- Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassical, Romantic, and so on -- are useful in each of these fields.

This approach to the classification of letterforms has another important advantage.  Typography never occurs in isolation.  Good typography demands not only a knowledge of type itself, but an understanding of the relationship between letterforms and the other things that humans make and do.  Typographical history is just that: the study of the relationships between type designs and the rest of human activity -- politics, philosophy, the arts, and the history of ideas.  It is a lifelong pursuit, but one that is informative and rewarding from the beginning."

-- Robert Bringhurst, The Elements of Typographic Style

Nothing Is Easy When It Comes to Eldercare

This highly depressing article about a father dying in an expensive nursing home is necessary, and difficult, to read in full:

"This indifferent care belied the promises of the establishment’s website, which portrayed a warm and engaging environment where caregivers chatted with residents and offered companionship and comfort: 'Your care team is always on hand to help – as little or as much as you need.'”

Instead, Cindy had to visit for hours every day to help Dad, trying to prod administrators and overworked staff to give him more of the promised care for which we were paying dearly, but without making so much fuss that they’d evict him. She was stressed, and we were all heartbroken that aside from family visits, Dad was spending his last days lonely, helpless and bored, at the mercy of a company that seemed to be doing more warehousing than care."

There's nothing easy about taking care of an elderly loved one.  Throw dementia into the mix, and you're eternally dealing with options ranging from bad to not-quite-as-bad.

We eventually moved my dad out of a nursing home and into a house with me.  We had private nurses coming in during the day, but then the issue was helping him in the middle of the night.  His internal clock regarding day and night was just gone.

I thought I'd have more to say about the whole experience but just documenting different stories like this one seems like the best path forward.

To reiterate, our family had resources in no small part due to my dad having worked (very hard!) for the Federal Government for over 30 years.  It was still a bruising experience for all of us before he passed at 93.