Mr. Brown’s Nemesis

They don’t hate their customers. They just don’t care. In 2025, corporations don’t see customers as people to be served, they’re a resource to be mined.

Everything, but also nothing. No matter what he gains, attains, or wins, the insatiable vortex of greed, resentment, fear, and self-obsession will just demand more. There is no fulfillment - only more grievance and dissatisfaction.

“When the Sea Came Alive” is an historical account of D-Day comprised entirely of quotes from participants on both sides - really compelling.

Anne Garrels’ Naked in Baghdad is a great reporter’s account of the first gulf war.

The silver lining is that if we can wind our way from there to here, it’s possible to wind our way out of here to somewhere better. Maybe we’re all so miserable and afraid because we’re nearing that next inflection point.

In shattering our delusion that we were secure and omnipotent, the last quarter century has been a series of decisions where we’ve slowly aided in our own unraveling: wasting trillions, growing fearful of losing what’s “ours”, and then turning on one another in rage and despair.

I still cannot read that without breaking. I knew people who died that day.

With time, I can see the fingerprints of that awful day on our current mess: choosing security over liberty, self-protection over common defense. The seeds of today were planted in the rubble of that day.

We’re responsible for our 2nd thought and our 1st action. I’ve had thoughts about today’s events that I’m not proud of and don’t align to who I want to be. I’ve avoided giving those thoughts oxygen and worked to conduct myself in defiance of them. Some things can’t be conditional or transactional.

See, I didn’t like it when it came out, but over the years it’s become nostalgic for me and I like it more now than then.

OK. And replace it with what? I mean, philosophically I can get there, but by what mechanism do you ensure the power vacuum isn’t replaced with something even worse?

Some artistic and thoughtful soul fills in sidewalk cracks in downtown Chicago with mosaic tiles. It’s among my favorite little quirks of this city and it never fails to brighten my day.

A writer and journalist friend of mine says all the time: “Step 1: Write Something Bad.”

It’s served me well when I’m trapped by “the tyranny of figuring it all out.”

Hey!

I have just discovered that the Arizona Diamondbacks have a AA affiliate called the Amarillo Sod Poodles and I feel like my life is at least 3.5% better as a result.

We’re aware of WEC and it’s on our kiddos bucket list. The owner of her riding stable competes there. We’re in the Midwest and did Flintfield in Michigan this year and that was really neat.

One day, if our circumstances change, I’d just love to do that for her. The owner of her riding school is Grand-Prix caliber a-rated show jumper, so if she if she keeps applying herself there’s a (slim) chance she could ride someone else’s horse.

My daughter is horse mad but she’s stuck with the lesson mares. We simply can’t afford the boarding and vet bills. And she’s a hunter-jumper so realistically we can’t afford the animal either lol. But it’s great for her - confidence, responsibility, etc.

So as an attorney, you might train it to scan public records for the most commonly referenced case law on a given issue, or ask it questions about patterns in argument that might be hard to see through manual research.

They key is learning what it’s best at for your job. For example, I’ve found it’s peerless at first level research (synthesize XYZ trend and give me top 5 contributors with links to sources). I still have to do the thinking but it shaves hours of work.

Same pattern between Midwest and east coast. Much of Illinois is in drought, while my parents in CT are saturated.

Chicago would depend on who you ask: the older crowd would likely say Muddy Waters or Buddy Guy; more recently Wilco or Smashing Pumpkins. We don’t have a single icon the way other cities do, I think.

Just watched the first two. I just love it. It’s made me so much more interested in European football.

Because it might reveal new ways to generate and harness energy for other purposes. I think the “bomb” is good for getting attention in an article,
but is probably not the ultimate goal the researchers are after.

The first to are at the top of my personal favorites list. Just finished listening to Project Hail Mary on tape (not for the first time) a few days ago. Enjoy!

It gets easier with time. Life never stops being life - bad stuff happens - but a few years on, the good days outweigh the bad 10:1 for me now. Keep doing the work, keep refining your relationships, keep away from the drink ODAAT and good things can happen. 👍👊🙏

I both love this and am perplexed by it. Honest question: is there a reason judges sometimes wax philosophic like this? Boredom from a streak of dull cases? A game with other jurists? Or just putting thoughts to the national record? I’ve always wondered…

Flounder served with a creole cream sauce and homemade pasta at a restaurant in Savannah, GA. Was almost a decade ago and it managed to approach core memory status.

7+ years in there are still things (and groups) that rub me the wrong way, but the core ideas of AA were life-changing for me. It’s a diverse group - try different meetings and you can find one that clicks for you. Rooting for you!

Being able to vividly remember late 20th century America has not been an easy way to experience 21st century America, let me tell you

Asian trading opened tonight and US stock futures in pre-market trading.

I’d think so. $2500 deductible and 20% copay up to out of pocket max. So assuming I haven’t spent anything else this year - probably $3-4k.

This country doesn’t have citizens, only resources it extracts value from. It’s sickening.