Currently reading: Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite đź“š
I’m shockingly ignorant of Arthururian lore and of the Grail, but this is going to be a delightful way to learn.
I’m taking the poet’s advice and reading aloud, pretending I have a wide-eyed child on my lap.
This Buried Apple Feature Turns an iPhone Into the Perfect Kids’ Dumb Phone. Who knew?
It makes the most sense as a reconfiguration of an old iPhone passed down to a child.
A chance encounter outside our sunroom: stray cat meets what-the-heck is this, observed serendipitously by me on the way to the bathroom.
I got a head start because my ancestors started practicing miscegenation before it was fashionable. (Ted Gioia), on his American identity. A polymath’s Substack that I never consider cancelling.
I feel affirmed. Some Thoughts on the Court’s Opinion(s) in the Birthright Citizenship Case is in alignment with my own.
I’ve decided to celebrate the Semisequicentennial a bit. I’ll decline Jonah Goldberg’s allusion to hate-watch Trump’s America 250. Instead, I’m watching the SBD World’s Strongest Man competition on CBS.
After June 29’s Unitary-Executive-tinged SCOTUS decisions, we need Congress to step behind the Rawlsian veil of ignorance to decide how much power a generic President should have and then refashion all the now-not-so “independent” agencies accordingly.
I fear Congress cannot rise to the occasion.
AI use case: remembering the half-remembered, the “I seem to recall” stuff of life.
My chat history shows a lot of that.
At long last, I’m reading A Pattern Language. đź“šI blame @ablerism for pushing me over the edge.
When it arrived, my wife looked at the cover, then at me, then at the cover, and said “why?” I had no answer beyond that good and smart people love it.
The introductory material helps a lot. Excited.
I was kinda shaking my head about World Cup tourists going mad over ranch salad dressing. Then I remembered my first taste of the original Dorito at a young adult church picnic in Prescott, AZ.
I think I get it now.
14. The city of Bergen, Norway, shook on the night of June 22–23, not because there was an earthquake or an unknown geological phenomenon. But because the Norwegian national team scored a goal during the 2026 World Cup. This curious phenomenon was reported by a team of researchers from the University of Bergen, who found that fan celebrations produce vibrations in the ground so intense they can be detected even by highly sensitive scientific instruments like seismometers. … (Source: wired.com)
John Ellis News Items for June 25.
Just signed up for a month trial of Qobuz. I don’t think I’m imagining that the sound quality is better even on my AirPods.
Anton Barba-Kay notes in the context of AI that technology reshapes communities, symbols, and metaphysics. It occurs to me that those factors are basically the sorts of things the Amish consider when deciding to ban or allow some new technology.
That is not a put-down, by the way.
Cite sources and tell me your confidence level on results. Along with that, offer to steel-man other alternative answers (I don’t always want them, so don’t do them automatically).
From my newly-revised standing orders to Claude AI. Bolded text freshly added as a débâcle backstop.
Very interesting take on what the Iran war/kerfuffle taught us: Iran war shows the 50-year oil crisis is over (gift link)
On the front porch at the end of this cul-de-sac, on a cool and cloudy afternoon, I’m feeling pretty comfortable in this environment, Michael.
(Looks around furtively) Convenience food recommendation: Amy’s Asian Dumplings, new to the freezer section of supermarkets in my neck of the words. Very, very tasty, but not spicy.
Downing Street resident Larry the cat, Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office since 2011, has now outlasted six prime ministers.
An obituary that surprised me and - dare I say it? - even delighted me a bit: Margaret Kerry, Body and Soul of Disney’s Tinker Bell, Dies at 97 (shared link)
I didn’t remember posting this picture of us four brothers.
The one in the chair, youngest by eleven years, was the first to die, at age 62.
I notice that the rest of us aren’t getting any younger.
Former Indiana Governor and Purdue President Mitch Daniels takes the interim reins at Purdue July 1. That puts him back in the news to a surprising degree.
I have just two beefs with him:
WNBA team names (Fever, Mystics, Aces, Lynx) are pretty lame for the most part. But the “Golden State Valkyries”? Now that is an epic name!
A retired lawyer with keen interest in constitutional law, I find nothing more disheartening about this administration than this: The Trump administration is the nation’s chief threat to the rule of law. (gift article) and has deservedly lost the “presumption of regularity.”