The hardest part for me in attempting to actually speak more French (rather than just read or write it) is that French stresses most often the last syllable on words, and English is the exact opposite. Pronunciation itself for me is easy. The syllable stress difference is not for some reason.

I have definitely become a Mac snob as now when I am using Windows at work or on a secondary computer at home, I’m constantly thinking, “OMG what the hell is wrong with this computer?”

I have this reaction less often with XFCE, but even that has terrible support for many things I require.

Funny how often this works.

Todd Yellin is pretty sure his wife would have never watched Jessica Jones if he hadn’t tricked her. She’s not a fan of shows based on comic books, and even though he’s a Netflix exec, nepotism wouldn’t have been enough to make her tune in. Yet he knew she’d love it. So Yellin did what Netflix often does to woo users: He played to her interests by mentioning the strong female lead and rave reviews.

It worked. They were three episodes in before she noticed the Marvel logo that opens the show, but by that point she was hooked.

ABC did this with Lost, except to the entire nation. They somehow tricked millions of Americans who’d say they hate watching sf/fantasy into watching a very wacky (but great) sf/fantasy phantasmagoria for five whole years.

I try to trick myself this way. One of the reasons I will often watch or read something I “know” I won’t like is that I know that I don’t know my own preferences that well.

And I realize liberals (mostly) will hate this idea, but most people in general don’t know their own preferences all that well.

It’s why I listen to (some) Justin Bieber and Miley Cyrus now. It’s something I “knew” I wouldn’t like.

I was wrong.

Most people have very delusional ideas about nearly everything, including themselves.

This is better than the Bieber version, which I like ok. This is the non-radio-friendly version which improves it.

She’s got that smoky tough voice that also makes it work so much better. I think though that this is one song that really didn’t need to change keys at the end. It should just be shorter.

Unfortunately, Lorde’s new album is terrible. It sounds like it was written by two mid-30s white men because it was written by two mid-30s white men. The music industry just consumes people. All originality, all boldness, all brilliance, sacrificed for the fickleness of the market and the illusion of what will sell or appeal.

I want Lorde’s voice, her thoughts, her essence, not what some dude thinks she should sound like.

But this cover is really good. Audio is ok, video is kind of potato.

I combined the images of Hurricane Andrew (1992) & Hurricane Irma (today) at scale in a gif. Irma is a damn leviathan. pic.twitter.com/4HEw1NNxxd

— Joel 🌮 (@JoelNihlean) September 7, 2017

Yeah, Irma is big, but there have been much larger hurricanes in the Caribbean and the Gulf in my lifetime. Still, it will be devastating.

Incidentally, the current forecast track of Irma shows it’ll pass through as a Category 2 where I grew up — literally through the city limits of Lake City, FL.

The first 10 on today’s playlist:

A rising tide…wait a minute.

GDP has risen since 2000, but share of GDP going to wages and salaries has plummeted @chsm1th pic.twitter.com/w4jUjl14pS

— 13D Research (@WhatILearnedTW) September 6, 2017

In school, rarely do we learn how data become facts, how facts become knowledge, and how knowledge becomes wisdom.

— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) September 5, 2017

Yeah, Neil, that’s called the humanities. That’s where you learn those things. You know that area of human inquiry that you constantly demean? Philosophy, epistemology, history and all associated fields?

Even our public “intellectuals” are terrible these days.

I think Ex Machina and The Witch are the best movies I’ve seen in the last decade.

The Witch is just…something else.

I have no idea how it felt to live as a 17th Century Puritan, but the film feels so foreign, so strange, that it even if it didn’t achieve verisimilitude I’d not know and what it did achieve is amazing in how non-modern it felt.

Wish more mainstream “historical” films could do as much, or work as hard to capture an era.

No matter what — Harvey drowning Houston, Irma being the most powerful Atlantic hurricane in recorded history — there are and will be loads of people who deny and disavow climate change. No evidence will matter.

I know this because people literally die for stupid, wrong beliefs every day. The threat of death and imminent mortality has almost never caused anyone to change their ideology. Think climate change is different? I don’t.

Even after climate change submerges cities, destroys nations and lights off wars, a huge percentage of the population will deny it has occurred, will occur, or that it matters at all.

Humans aren’t capable of dealing with the society we’ve manged to build. Just aren’t. Maybe never will be.

Another crash soon because I hear more and more investment “advice” being bandied about at work and in public.

Any time that happens, crash is near. It’s hard to hold your horses when everyone is running full-tilt down the straightaway, but it is so worth it.

I think it’s pretty great that neoliberals and centrists are getting pissed off that the words “centrist” and “neoliberal” are becoming insults, especially in the Millennial and Gen Z cohorts.

My car is fast and all that. But my favorite feature of the car is what GM calls “Magneride,” which means that the shocks absorber system does not use the tech found in nearly all cars but rather a magnetorheological damper system that is so superior to anything on a regular car that I don’t know how I will ever drive a car again without this feature.

Here’s what another publication said about Magneride.

An available 6-speed manual transmission and GM’s excellent Magnetic Ride Control, which is the automotive suspension equivalent of magic.

When I’m riding in other cars now or driving them, it feels like I’m bumping along in a horsecart from 1856. That is how superior the suspension in the SS is. Developed by Delphi Automotive (and used first in GM’s Cadillac ATS), the same tech is also used in Ferraris.

It is adaptive to road conditions and is just wonderful to experience.

It also means that I can twist a knob and adjust how soft or hard the suspension is instantly. Works within milliseconds. Want to feel like I’m driving grampa’s Caddy? Turn it to “touring.” Want to pretend I’m screaming down the stretch at the Daytona 500? Flip it over the “Track” mode and the ride becomes so firm that you can feel every pebble.

It is amazing and like I said I have no idea how I will ever live without a car that doesn’t have this capability.

Why do people interpret saying that Hillary Clinton ran a terrible campaign (which she did) to be supportive of Donald Trump?

I’d rather have a fucking goldfish be our leader than Trump, but that doesn’t change the fact that Hillary Clinton’s campaign was unconscionably dreadful.

Yes, we’d be better off in most ways with Hillary as prez. But so what? She ran an unforgivably bad campaign and lost.