I don’t know who needs to hear this but if I just uploaded my fancy, clean and readable one-page resume, do not ask me to fill out forms the next page so that the HR robot can tell what’s going on.
You already know what’s going on. You’re hiring and I’m applying. There’s a .pdf upload for a reason.
It’s exhausting, inexplicable and honestly quite disrespectful. It’s 2021, robots dance and imitate our voices. But they can’t correctly parse a text file? C’mon now.
Reading a conversation about cars, with so many people demanding that cars don’t exist anymore because they’re bad, “boo” etc.
Chill.
Cars are necessary anywhere outside cities, aka, most of the world. And you still need them in sprawling suburbs. And when you move furniture. And when you need to water your friend’s plants up high on a hill after work. Or when you need to go to a random location for a vaccine or a skate spot.
Cars are rather essential, period. Stop arguing about this.
People forget one good thing: cars have made tremendous progress on efficiency and cleanliness!
The MPG we get today was complete science-fiction in 1983. 80? 100? I see hybrids at 133 miles per gallon! No one believed that it was even possible 30 years ago! That’s how much we got better. It deserves a smile.
That progress hasn’t curved pollution much because while our cars got far better at energy consumption, we’ve started to ship stuff around the world ten times more. Ten times more cargo ships, ten times more gross fuel being burned (a cargo ship burns the equivalent of thousands of cars’ gas tanks *every hour*), ten times more pollution. And a whole lot of planes in the air too.
Connect the dots, y’all.
In terms of vibes these days, it’s no contest. The WNBA league is so wholesome, I don’t know.
Maybe that’s why they’re playing well together as Team USA in the Olympics compared to the men’s effort or that basically all WNBA players got vaccinated a while ago —women are far too good at understanding that something’s not just about themselves—or that they were truly unified around social justice work, before the NBA last year (how both leagues were not together on this is beyond me though).
Right now in the NBA it’s me-too season, who’s going to get “fleeced” losing a multi-million contract for another, all of that for tall dudes to buy expensive toys and brag about it.
Sure.
I think we never mention that but,
Tony Alva, Stacy Peralta, Mark Gonzales. Three “half” Mexicans.
Probably the most influential skateboarders ever in the way that they elevated that pass-time activity in California to a full-on lifestyle all around the world. They did that.
Those three dudes were immediately followed by super awesome riders like Tommy Guerrero, Steve Caballero (who was a main influence to the goat Tony Hawk) to today’s Vanessa Torres, Paul Rodriguez, Vincent Alvarez, David Gonzales, Jesus Fernandez (this part is unbelievable, peep the editing with the music, Ty is the best), Tiago Lemos. And so, so many more. Hey Enrique Lorenzo! Forgot about you bro, my bad.
All so fearless and RIPING every street, every skatepark, every sidewalk out there. It’s a joy to see.
Thank you for all the love, creativity and slams, y’all. We owe you so much.
Shoutout to Momiji and Yuto for winning gold in street skateboarding at the Olympics last weekend!
I’m re-reading The Sellout —probably the best fiction I’ve ever read— and in chapter three Paul Beatty writes:
People eat the shit you shovel them.
In a way of saying, “regardless of the context, people will just have to, might even be content about it”.
Me, looking at society at large right now:
Same with 2021 life brother, same.
I don’t know why those Boston Dynamics robots invaded the innanet last week, but yeah. It’s amazing.
The most absurd progress to me is energy: ten years ago, those robots had giant power cables attached to them. The fact that we achieved autonomy on what looks like heavy machines, while making them do 180 jumps and dance, is insane. My brain was like the Leonardo meme, pointing at the screen and screaming “CGI!!” from time to time. It’s real though.
The absolute creepiest accuracy to me is AI voices. I guess you’ve heard of Bourdain’s documentary using his voice without him being alive. I believe it’s worse than anything. It’s the T2 nightmare that we couldn’t possibly think would be doable like that and yet, here we are. Voices are ingrained in our souls like no picture ever will. A familiar, loved voice is the truest trust. It’s the most unfalsifiable thing ever. It was.
The voice of someone you adore is one of the most sacred thing ever. Knowing that technology can be abused —and will be— to sell us some stuff by puppeteering our emotions on a whole other level, I’m not feeling it at all. Leave us alone.
“but what about the people who could use this to mourn, having lost someone early or in an accident?” Sure, but we’re entering some ethical seas that we will have to manage on top of others. Mourning would never stop, you would listen to your dead folks and have conversation with them? It’s probably really not healthy at all.
I love those fluffy ones.
The Stone ones. Can’t stop looking at them.
You’re a little obligated to root for the Western team when you live in the West. The Phoenix Suns have had a great playoff run, impressively winning games as you should, sharing the ball, shooting lights out. The problem they could have with the Bucks in the finals was their length, and Jrue Holiday.
The Suns just got a good taste of both and lost a crucial game 5.
Jrue is amazing, we’ve known that for years. When he turns it on and starts knowing you, it’s fucking over. He’s an outstanding defender and his steals were key last night. Versatile as hell, which means that sometimes he underperforms because it’s hard to do everything well but the added value of a Swiss army knife is never to be forgotten.
Giannis Antetokoumpo. My Euro bro. Mister I Play On Baby Hoop In The NBA. Rubber band ass MF, I’m sick seeing you destroy everyone, but I enjoy it too. Your poise is fantastic, your mental is strong and no one can physically do anything against you. After such an emotional rollercoaster —bad injury a few games ago— this looks like you’re on the verge of writing a beautiful chapter in your life.
Devin Booker! It’s not over. You believed, stayed in Phoenix and now you’re in the finals, albeit close to elimination. But you’re a beast, bro. Your team, when finding the open man, is like a bunch of water that you’re trying to catch with your fingers. Find your open man and let’s go to game 7!
Look, I know that I sound insane with my green roof obsession. Understand that I have fixed roofs not my whole life, but almost. They’re complicated, costly, not efficient and with climate change and its stormy weather, weak.
ENTERS THE GREEN ROOF
Check this one out:
Try to tell me that you wouldn’t love to climb a bunch of stairs and relax on your roof after watering the roof plants. It doesn’t matter where: city, countryside. it will be beautiful, useful, sustainable, I can’t wait at-all.
Now look at this one:
Climbing in the evening to have some tea and edibles looking at the sky I mean you must be nuts to say hell no to that, I’m sorry.
So it looks like it’s trending. I dislike the black walls in all architecture these days —33% more heat absorption with black paint, no thank you—but those two are solid representations of what I envision us having as “modern” or more accurately, “up to date with current events and trends, respectful” housing. Small, comfortable, sustainable. Yessir.