constants and variables

Read this post from the NY Times. When I did it wasn't paywalled. It's epic. Though I can't comment much on it now, as it's now paywalled for me, though I suspect that is due to my already having read it. Hopefully you will fare better.

Oh Kottke. How I missed you when you were on hiatius a while back. In November Jason posted this link. The link goes to a fantastic article at Talking Points Memo.

Go on, read it. It's insightful. Private Equity Firms are buying up all sorts of businesses and enshittifying them. It's not just new outlets. Funeral parlours, local malls, small businesses. Even fucking dentists are not safe. It's crazy to think that your dentist could be shut down because it missed it's numbers or as this article described, it's more profitable to shutter it. Where does that leave everyone who needs braces, dentures, or a tooth extracted? My brain immediately went to Johnny Silverhand and his disdain for "Corpos". Science Fiction could have been a warning, not a roadmap.

Regardless, it is what it is. I don't have a solution, I'm screaming into the void. Maybe more local support is needed. Let's get off Social Media and into Real Life™. I know it's going to be painful. I know it is going to suck. I've lived with the breakup from Social Media. I still access it, it's only a little bit more inconvenient now to find out what's going on, and a lot more convenient to get off when you don't have an account.

It's been a while since I wrote here. I have struggled with desire and motivation for nearly a year now. I have the desire, I lack the motivation. It's not permanent. It's a phase… probably. Hopefully.

2025 was a year. The deaths stand out in my mind. The lack of outside activities is another. We didn't go camping as much, didn't paddle as much, didn't ride as much. It was a tough year.

Enough dwelling. 2026 is three days old and it's time to look forward, not backward. We need to be mindful of our past, not live in it.

For 2026 I set myself 3 goals:

1. Read 12 books.
2. Beat (not necessarily complete to 100%) 12 video games.
3. Close all three rings, every single day this year.

Of the goals, the first two are easily doable, providing I substitute motivation for drive and/or habit. The third is doable, but does not account for uncontrollable circumstances. If I have a flu that kicks my ass, I will not likely burn the 600kcal or 30 minutes of exercise or 12 hours of uprigth mobility that gets the heart rate above resting. Still, I have come close before. I usually get past flu season and well into July when things fall apart. This summer year I need to detach motivation. Motivation doesn't always work because life gets in the way. Plus, I already finished my first book. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline.

I didn't recall the events of the book as I was reading it, the movie version stood out more. They made a lot of changes for the film and I'm not entirely sure why, nor do I have any desire to find out. I did find myself being frustrated with all the exposition and filler in the book. I believe it was written for a younger audience, whom may not know what a vinyl record is. Though I'm not sure thatv was it either. Perhaps the book might have been a short story if they assuemed the reader could do independent research. Perhaps Ernest had a word quota to fill. Perhaps all the references would have been lost on others who are not as familiar. I would recommned the book to everyone who is the least bit nostalgic for the 80's. Despite my grievances, it was entertaining. The book was also way better than the awesome movie.

X added a new feature that seems to be a good thing. The feature shows physically where the account is based out of. This means that foreign actors who seek to influence in regions or countries are being exposed as not actually being from that region. This however is not perfect, as VPNs exist and IP addresses are more tied to ISP locations than account holder locations. My IP address lists me in a region that is several hours away from my actual location.

Blogs might be (a variant) of the original social media. Perhaps it's better classified as a journal. Back in the early days personal sites were the norm. Sites like GeoCities and AngelFire were aggregating personal blogs and then places like Live Journal and My Space came along before Facebook gobbled everything up. Personal blogs fell by the wayside because facebook made it easy enough to share content with your family and friends. Then facebook enshittified (if it wasn't enshittified from the start). Anyway, blogs are coming back and disassociated wonders could niche blogs come back next?

Is this a niche blog? I'm not sure. This is more of a link-dump that I want to comment on. I'm not a writer, I have thoughts and I want to share them. Also I was inspired to do something with my domain. This is the result. I did wonder while reading this article though, I seem to be keenly aware of what's going on and able to be current.

Thinking about starting a blog? I can help.