May 20

Aural

The Yanny/Laurel thing was exactly what I said it was. Goddamn I am good.

So the “Yanny” sound is contained in the high frequencies, and the “Laurel,” in the low ones.

I spent thousands of hours decoding song lyrics from bands such as Miranda Sex Garden and Bikini Kill during the early to mid-90s, so I think that’s why the trick didn’t work on me. I tend to hear everything happening in a recording. The first time I listened to that, I knew nothing about it, and I wondered why the hell anyone was talking about hearing one or the other when both were obviously there at different frequencies.

However, as good as I am at these sorts of things, I am terrible at visual hallucinations like the ones where you squint your eyes and a 3-D image appears. I have never seen one of those — and I once spent an entire hour attempting to do so.

May 19

Depot

One of the reasons I attempt to be courteous to retail and wait staff even if they are rude to me is this. They have vastly harder lives than I do and am ever likely to experience again. Attempting to support a family on $9.50 an hour? Hell, I spend about that much on fucking food alone in a month. It is just unconscionable how horribly we treat our own citizens in this country.

And people wonder why Trump won. Not that Trump will make it better — no, he will make it worse. But how much better did Obama make it? Or any other recent president? Neoliberals all.

May 18

Mobility

Mobile and people’s obsession with using terrible devices has really screwed up the internet. It’s not the only thing that has exacerbated the decline, but it’s certainly a major factor.

It’s been shocking to me that people will choose “convenience” over nearly any other factor: ease of use, security, informational capacity, readability — none of those seem to matter.

I hate mobile and wish it would die.

May 18

Frauds

Obama has re-taught me the importance of being a smooth, suave fraud as opposed to being a louche fraud like Trump.

Obama got away with so much (and is still revered by dumbass pseudo-liberals) because he was just so cool. Sad to see how many “smart” people are image-obsessed while caring nothing for substance — in fact, substance is inimical to their concerns. No, Obama wasn’t the worst president ever, but he did blow one of the biggest opportunities in history and for that (and all his other mistakes) he deserves huge blame.

But, wow, was he ever cool. While drone-bombing people, doing nada about climate change, and making the executive into essentially an elected king.

May 17

The Team

Perhaps its just lingering hyper-masculinity, but when I see a heavy box that says “Team Lift” on it, I’m like, Good thing the team is all here: me and my own bad self!

Part of it is that I think after hearing my father tell me how weak and wimpy and terrible I was as a child, I still revel in the fact that I am strong and capable. And part of it is just plain fun.

Also, I’ve decided after many years of absence to get back into lifting weights again. It’s one of the few scientifically demonstrated methods that improves both lifespan and quality of life, so in that respect it’s a good decision, and I actually enjoy challenging myself that way.

May 16

Rang

Yes, so true.

When I got out on my own, at first I still shopped like I was poor — like my family did when I was a kid. We literally used free bowls and plates that came out of dog food bags (some kind of promotion) when I was young — and they were better than what we had been using. We were that kind of poor, especially when I was 11 and younger.

Then I joined the army, made a good bit of money in the stock market, and one day in the grocery store realized: I don’t have to look at the prices any more. If I want the damn thing, I’m buying it.

That was indeed a huge moment. That was more life-changing than many other supposedly (from a societal perspective) larger changes in my life, that being able to slough off thinking like the poor person I was no longer.

May 16

Tics

Ha, yes. I once heard someone at work say, “I wish people didn’t bring their politics into tech. That’s not why I got into this field.” People in tech are often just shockingly clueless.

May 16

Yanaurel

This has been going around.

I hear both at the same time. Not sure how anyone can hear anything else, but they obviously do. I suspect my perception is partially because I used to spend long, long hours (before the internet) decoding nearly incomprehensible song lyrics of obscure 90s bands.

The sounds of “Yanny” and “Laurel” are overlaid at different pitches, like many songs’ vocal tracks. I also have wide attention, so these sorts of things rarely have the intended effect.