2021.01.DisappearingMoment
Yo!
Welcome to January 2021’s Disappearing Moment, an inventory of opinions and experiences. I hope you enjoy it.
Podcasts
Chronicled: Who Is Kamala Harris? (Worth My Time): Uneven production and storytelling about a fascinating subject. What separates successful politicians from the rest of us is their monumental confidence.
Command Line Heroes (I Liked It): An inclusive, entertaining show about coding and hardware. In Season 6, Saron Yitbahrak shares compelling, well researched stories about BIPOC inventors.
Fiasco: Bush v. Gore (I Liked It): In a corrupt system led by broken people, political catastrophe is inevitable. Leon Neyfakh of Slow Burn (I Loved It) documents these breakdowns in interviews and restrained exposition.
Floodlines (A Personal Favorite): I was wrong about Katrina; it wasn’t about the storm. Vann R. Newkirk II’s humanities-centric journalism returns an indelible story to its owners.
In the Dark (A Personal Favorite): Madeleine Baran combines forceful narratives with fearless, exhaustive research about corruption and incompetence. The concluding episodes of Season 2 are heartbreaking and gratifying.
Lolita Podcast (I Loved It): Jamie Loftus is everywhere, including My Year in Mensa (I Loved It). She reveals her genius for nuance in this series about Lolita’s genesis and afterlife.
The Shakeout (I Liked It): A Canadian running-themed show hosted by Olympic-hopeful Kate Van Buskirk. Topics include social justice, doping, and community building. I skip the race results episodes.
Somebody (I Loved It): Shapearl Wells searches for justice for her slain son, Courtney. A beautiful, painful, unpredictable story about racism, agony, and determination. He should still be alive.
Two Minutes Past Nine (I Loved It): Leah Sottile first covered fascist bigots in Bundyville (I Loved It). In this series, she tells the story of Timothy McVeigh and the seeds of Trumpism.
Who We Are (I Loved It): Carvell Wallace's Closer Than They Appear (A Personal Favorite) is a masterpiece of self-exploration. Who We Are is about context: the omnipresence of structural racism.
Nerdy Software
Most passwords that you can remember are too simple to protect you. Use Bitwarden to create and store secure passwords. It's free and open source.
Bougie Products
We use the Soyabella Automatic Nut and Seed Milk Maker 3–4 times per week. Better, cheaper oat, rice, or nut milk is life-changing.
Personal Finance and Investing
For Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) investing, BlackRock has the best screens and the lowest prices. Also, they're a Problem of Twelve superpower. Decisions, decisions.
Reading
Peter J. Fitschen and Cliff Wilson, Bodybuilding: The Complete Contest Preparation Handbook (2019) (Worth My Time): Yes, there's a xenophobic, arbitrary distinction between body modification and Hollywood aesthetics. Reading about physique competitions (cf. models and actors) makes everyone's vulnerability more tangible.
Matt Levine's "Money Stuff" newsletter (I Liked It): Wonky financial news spun into pleonastic fables for adults. While none of the individual elements work, somehow the whole redeems the parts. Perfect bedtime reading.
Laura Olin's newsletter (I Loved It): "I dislike curated newsletters," writes your hypocritical correspondent. Laura Olin is the exception; my aim here is to brighten your day like she brightens mine.
Bryan Stevenson, Just Mercy (2014) (I Loved It): “In their broken state, they were judged and condemned by people whose commitment to fairness had been broken by cynicism, hopelessness, and prejudice.”
A Demi-Abecedarian Enumeration
“…and more”
But
Comprise
Disrupt
Exacerbate
“from [X] to [Y]”
Guys
Huge
Intimate (as a verb)
Jam (indicating preference)
Killer (indicating superiority)
Literally
“May or may not”
Thanks for spending a few moments with me. I look forward to corresponding again next month.
Brett
No large language models were used in the production of the Disappearing Moment newsletter or website (inspired by RFC 9518 Appendix A ¶ 4 and Tantek Çelik).