Starting Five
Illinois basketball is set to get started in less than a month. I’ve seen some practice footage and watched Coach Underwood in his media availability, but that’s about it. For fun, I thought I’d predict the starting lineup and then see how it looks for real when the team has its exhibition against Illinois State.
Here’s my guess 1-5:
- Mihailo Petrović
- Kylan Boswell
- Andrej Stojaković
- Ben Humrichous
- Tomislav Ivišić
Shutdown
The government shutdown because Republicans won’t negotiate with Democrats to keep it open. As Alex Shepherd in the New Republic points out:
The Democratic demands to keep the government open were straightforward and reasonable. They wanted to extend Affordable Care Act premium subsidies that will expire at the end of the year thanks to Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which would prevent health care costs from skyrocketing for millions; to claw back Medicare funding that was cut in the OBBBA; and binding assurances that money that has been appropriated by Congress will be spent by an executive branch that has (possibly illegally) refused to do so in many cases.
This would likely result in an exchange for an extension of the ACA subsidies. Of course, Trump is an idiot and could not negotiate out of a paper bag.
This shutdown is really the best play Democrats have against this corrupt administration. They’ve made this move to shine a light on how Trump is basically stealing from the poorest people, usually Red State idiots, to the richest.
If they can make the case to the American public, and it appears to be working, then the shutdown is likely to continue for quite a while.
On the flip side, for Trump and his cronies, they think the shutdown is really just an opportunity to gut the federal government. Of course, he’s been doing that already and failing pretty spectacularly, so it’s not much of a threat.
Elsewhere for Reason
It’s the first of October but the weather is all wrong. Here in the Middle West, it’s been endless sunshine with temperatures twenty degrees above normal. Meanwhile, our government shut down last night because we’re ruled by bullies and cowards who’ve been brainwormed by the internet. Each day brings inventive forms of idiocy and degradation. Feels like something’s got to give but nothing does.
So I’m looking elsewhere for reason. I find myself hunting for patterns and signs that the universe still contains reason and decency. Perhaps I’m getting mystical in my middle age and becoming a man who believes in gut sense and patterns, the information encoded in the hairs on my neck.
Complicated
John Mozeliak’s legacy is complicated, but it is a legacy nonetheless. Watching the Cardinals decline in recent seasons has made it easy for some fans—or even casual observers—to forget just how special the early years were.
That sustained success is the foundation of Mozeliak’s legacy, even if the end of his tenure has been less celebrated.
I’m glad he’s moving on. Curious to see where the Cardinals go this offseason.
Less Than a Blink
Patrick Rhone –
Reminder: Humans measure single years. Planets measure millions,. Stars measure billions. Your time here is less than a blink. Your universal impact indistinguishable from dust. Focus on that you can influence here, now. It is all you really have. It is all that really matters to you.
Spite
There was a thing I heard from some Republicans in my life during the first Trump administration, and it would always go something like, “you don’t have to like the President’s policies, but they deserve a base level of respect while in the office.” After this, Biden took office and the mainstream slogan for Republicans during his administration was “Fuck Joe Biden”. Literally, this cheeky, “I’m just saying Let’s Go Brandon, I swear” slogan flew outside suburban homes and was completely normal during those 4 years.
Cut to this week when Trump revealed a Walk of Fame at the White House with pictures of every President, except the photo for Biden is an autopen. The reason? Well, I think it’s pretty obvious, Trump is a whiny, spiteful, little…I’ll let you finish the line with whatever you think suits him.
Act Now
Start where you are.
Start with what you’ve got.
Start now.
Now is the perfect moment. It only feels ‘fast’ if we’re rushing.
Don’t rush. But act.
With deliberate progress.
Wonderful day.
Spent most of the day with Dad and had a great time. Everything was just about perfect. Had a pretty great breakfast at Stadium Club and then watched a great game with Illinois coming out victorious. When you fumble two times at the goal line, you usually don’t win.
Wonderful day.
First Line
If Rick Moranis' first line in Spaceballs 2 isn’t, “Somehow, I have returned,” I will feel cheated.
Movement in the House
I’m a big proponent of personal space. The ability to go into a room, close the door behind you, and just be yourself, with yourself, by yourself, is worth a lot. And yet, even as an introvert, I’d always choose living with people I care about over living alone.
It’s hard to pinpoint exactly where the magic comes from. Is it knowing there’s always a good conversation waiting? The potential of someone being kind to us, for example by including us in their breakfast plans, without us asking for it? Or simply the comfort of not being the only person in the building?
Whatever the original source, the symptoms are clear. You wake up in the morning, turn from side to side, and you hear it: Pots and dishes are clattering into place as someone empties the dishwasher. The sound of doors opening and closing. A coffee machine making grinding noises, then water running with a splash.
Whether they make you jump out of bed or close your eyes again in peace, the many sounds of life are how you know: There’s movement in the house, and you’re not alone in this world—and that’s worth more than all the personal space you could ever want.
Digital Fatigue
I think I’m starting to feel what I can only describe as digital fatigue. I believe this is the result of a combination of two main factors:
- I spend most of my time in front of a screen for work, coding sites for clients and friends (and sometimes for myself).
- My RSS feed has lately been inundated with content that’s either related to American politics or AI, or sometimes both.
The solution is going to be a fairly easy one: I think I’m going to stop consuming digital content for the rest of the year and focus more on reading books and creating content myself. I know I’m going to miss reading content from a bunch of people I really like, but right now, this seems to be the only reasonable solution to save myself and my mental sanity.
Kimmel
I stayed up too late to watch the first few minutes of the show.
I thought Kimmel hit it out of the park. The right tone, balance, and message. It was funny, but not earth-shattering, and that was pitch-perfect. Here’s the entire monologue.
Medical Advice
The medical advice you’ve been seeing has been brought to you by people you should never take medical advice from. It’s like asking your plumber to do heart surgery.
Or having a game show host be the President.
Nazi Isn’t a Slur
Back in January, Hank Green posted the content below on Twitter. It was in response to Musk throwing Nazi salutes. He reposted it in response to Stephen Miller’s speech at the Charlie Kirk “memorial.” It’s a good reminder.
“Nazi” isn’t a slur. It’s a word that describes real people who earnestly believe in their ideas. Their ideas are disgusting and hateful, but of course they often do not realize it.
I keep running into racists who think that it’s not white supremacist to think that white people are inherently superior to other races. No…that’s the whole definition!! The fact that they believe it earnestly and don’t think it’s an idiotic, hateful belief doesn’t mean it’s not an idiotic, hateful belief.
Nazi isn’t a word that means “bad evil boogeyman” it means “someone who believes in their own racial superiority, extreme protectionist nativism, the purifying of society by eliminating undesirables, expansionism, active suppression of dissent, and total state power held in the hands of a very small group.”
Make sure the people you’re cheering for don’t believe these things because otherwise…
Autumn Equinox
Patrick Rhone –
The Autumnal Equinox. My favorite season. Bring on the sweaters and apple cider, the changing colors on the trees and the crunch of leaves underfoot, jackets (and pockets!) and flannel shirts, fires in the backyard pit while sipping a nip of homemade nocino. I’m here for all of it and more.
Humanity over Naiveté
What I think we need is more humanity. More sharing of our stories and life experiences. It’s how we come to appreciate people we don’t know and that may not look like or live like us. It’s easy to be baited into hatred of the faceless other, but a human being with a story we can relate to and empathize with? Much harder.
I need more for sure.
Ghost Car
Maria and Brynne experienced a truly weird occurrence today. They were out shopping, stopped at Panera to eat, and as they were leaving, a running car with no one behind the wheel rolled into them, causing a little damage.
They took pictures of the car and the license plate and then went inside to try and find the owner. It was difficult to explain this “ghost car” to the manager. A non-native person ran out, tried to get in the car, and drive away. Luckily, he was stopped. Maria tried to get insurance info, but he did not have any. She tried to get his name and number, but he did not want to give it because he was obviously in the States illegally.
She said he was obviously frightened. Ultimately, he touched her arm, said, “Why don’t we call it even,” got in the car, and drove away to a stunned Maria and Brynne. Maria felt like she was in a moral predicament because she wanted to be sympathetic to the guy. I said, if he had given her $100 and said let’s call it even and drove away I would have been good. She said that if he had just said sorry, it would have been enough.
As it stood, she had to call the police and file a report.
Words
Patrick Rhone –
Words matter. Words mean things. The words you use reveal not only what you think, they reveal who you are.
Gains
Maria commented on my arms and shoulders yesterday. I don’t think there’s much in the way of gains there, but she disagrees. I would like biceps and triceps that bulge out the arms of my t-shirts, but I’m probably not working hard enough to achieve that look.