h. Play

More people than ever are living long, healthy lives. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the average life expectancy is 78.6 years for men and 81.1 for women. More relevant, however, is that as people grow older, their total life expectancy increases. So for those who are now 65, the average life expectancy is 83 for men and over 85 for women. And because I’m 83, I’m expected to live past 90 (but I’m aiming a lot higher than that). And these are averages, which means that perhaps half of us will live even longer.

Fast Company.

As people grow older, their total life expectancy increases. That’s something we don’t spend time thinking about enough. It has giant implications!

He says he’s 83, he was born in 1936. He’s not only still alive today in 2019, but still writing articles and being an active person in this world. It used to be that at that age, you were mostly doing nothing in a chair.

My grandmother is in a chair, mostly doing nothing. She’s 94. That’s a decade more than before.

Which means that my parents, born in the 50s and today in excellent shape, will live for even longer. And I will even more. I believe I’ll be able to still ollie a skateboard past sixty. I had a 73-year-old grandpa banking shots and running around with me two weeks ago.

LIFE IS LONG AND IT’S NOT EVEN CLOSE.

Which triggers questions:

– if life’s that long, why do we focus so much on the 20s and 30s? They used to be important because we’d die early. They were important because we used to get house/kids/ at that time but it’s shifted to the next decade now. Those twenty years are about learning and figuring shit out. A lot to process in this global world.

– if life’s that long, why do we want to change things so much? Computer interfaces for instance. It’s unnecessary, we need consistency more than novelty. We need to make enjoyable moves, not re-learn all the time. At first you think it’s fun to re-learn or that it’s no big deal. After twenty iterations of that shit, you’ll be annoyed too. Trust me.

– if life’s that long and that resources on earth are finite, why don’t we slow down? There are so many things to learn or try through decades of life that don’t require full destruction and reconstruction of a part of the economy, like the tech-economy is doing. No need for growth. We need to sustain, now.

It’s one if the biggest shift we’ve ever had to adapt to.

The Bucks basically bitch-slapped the Celtics. The Milwaukee Limbs are scary. They’re long, they’re efficient. Giannis is amazing and barely playing. Sucks to be the other team.

The Sixers could be in a much better position if Ben Simmons could fucking shoot the ball. Jesus Christ. He’s so fast and fluid with the ball but that’s about it. It’s tragic. Of course playing against my Kawhi is something else but the Sixers should have been able to dispute those losses better. Props to Jimmy Butler for never giving up anything.

Chris Paul and Kyrie have been having trouble size-wise. It’s the playoffs and being small(er) is being abused by everyone. Which gives Isaiah Thomas’ 53-pt playoff game a few years ago even more status. This man was on a mission and his dedication will forever stay in the conversation.

I’m impressed by the lack of shooting fundamentals with young NBA players. It’s legit insane.

That’s it. That’s the post.

I’m in the middle of many powerful things happening around me.

It’s been five straight years on the west coast. It’s been nuts. From working for Toni Braxton to making dope ass friends to working for the public library and meeting more awesome folks, it’s been wild. I’ve learned a lot. A lot made sense and fit what I suspected and expected. I know, that’s kind of blurry but hey, I’m here for the long haul. You should too.

A new chapter is on the horizon. Feelin’ it.

I love you, man. I can’t believe this is happening, again. Black heroes who are not supposed to say goodbye that early and here we are, again.

I’ve seen most of your movies, of course. I also moved to your city and neighborhood though it wasn’t totally related to Hollywood or blackness but here I am. Re-watching Boyz hits differently now.

I don’t think I’ll ever get over the fact that you wrote and directed this movie as a barely out of film school 23 year old. Absolutely brilliant social commentary. Although gang violence decreased by a ton, nothing much has changed. Gentrification is fucking everything up. Just yesterday on a Sunday morning police handcuffing homeless folks next to a new, generic ass probably AI-generated street art piece that says “angeles elevate”. I can’t make this shit up. It makes me want to throw up.

Your work has been so important. Representation. Our angles. Yes sometimes it didn’t age well or it became a bit corny. But all in all, those movies were fine and needed. They always got me in my feelings like no other.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Since the 2016 election, it has grown increasingly clear that allowing young, mostly male technologists to build largely unregulated, proprietary,international networks might have been a large-scale, high-stakes error in judgment.

That Dorsey is now expected to find a solution to unprecedented and unforeseen problems, on a platform designed thirteen years ago for narrow and relatively innocent use cases, seems darkly comical at best—an instance of refusing to learn from our mistakes. “He’s dealing with a scale of a problem that doesn’t have a lot of precedent in human history,” a programmer friend of mine texted.

New Yorker.

1. You force-design Twitter to be all about growth.

2. Tons of people abuse those tools to get engagement and visibility.

3. You refuse to acknowledge the fact that you have a community to moderate and that it is your responsibility.

And now you play the “I didn’t see anything coming, bear with me!”. You suck, Jack.

It was an awful game. Losing by four in the last game of a series against the second seed is not too bad.

But it wasn’t on. See y’all next year.

LaMarcus Aldridge. This man doesn’t get the respect he deserves.

Before the Spurs he was an automatic turret from midrange. He was slow and had no presence in the paint.

He’s still an automatic turret from midrange but now he’s not slow at all. He dunks, he lays it up with his left hand, he blocks, he runs so much back and forth. The effort he’s giving the Spurs is fantastic. And, he rarely misses his free throws, an outstanding feature for someone his size.

DeMar is also not getting enough love. 9 of 10 last night in the second half. Hey, sometimes those shots don’t fall but when they do godddaaaaamn it’s beautiful. Nothing but net fade away jumper is the best shit in basketball.

This game 7 is going to be good because the Spurs have been pretty bad on the road this year. They can get this one. The Nuggets are good but fragile. They rely a lot on three-point shooting and at home with all that pressure? They’re hard to make. If the Spurs overcome, I think they have a great chance to go to the WCF because they mismatch Portland in many ways. And LaMarcus always goes ham over his ex team.

ISSON

I adore Maze and Frankie Beverly.

I was in France, listening to as much black music as possible. Just going through CDs at the library. There was this Maze best-of and every single song was a hit to me. It was the late nineties and no one cared about Maze and Frankie Beverly, in France or in the US.

Those sweet bass lines. That straight simplicity. Those dope ass breaks. That silky voice. MAN

I listened to Maze a lot. I felt that their music was so good, it was probably inter-generational. That is, everyone from any age probably enjoyed that band. That feeling was real because yes, it was the case.

I learned fifteen years later how important it was in black family reunions. I slow danced over Joy & Pain with kids to aunties and grandmas a few times. It filled me with joy and pain to live what I had imagined.

And then it became a bit of a meme (cookout and before I let go; the iconic duo). And now Beyoncé covered it.

Maze never hit mainstream. It’s just too pretty, too soft and too soulful I guess.

How a 50 year old band has never and will never go (away). Timelessness. I love that.