John Siracusa built an empire talking about toasters, but what about the toast?
I like a slice of toast that is crispy on the outer but remains soft under that toasted exoskeleton. The bread should be a golden brown. I don’t want no black bits.
Onto that toast, slather some butter. It really should be butter. Margarine is a substitute that allows sufficient oiliness to support the subsequent spread of a condiment but in itself doesn’t taste good. A nice piece of toast is one that has butter - and only butter - lathered across it. This toast can be eaten as so and should bring some sweet joy to your morning.
You don’t want two pieces of buttered toast though. That buttered slice is the entree to the second more flavoursome slice. Here you can go two ways. If you want something sweet, run with peanut butter. I think it needs to be crunchy peanut butter and I want it spread on thick. Remember, it still needs butter first. Then get the peanut butter thick and gooey. If you’re going to have it go hard, or go home.
If you don’t fancy the sweet option, then the umami of Vegemite is what you need. The slightly salty, bitter taste of Vegemite is great. Vegemite has had its problems of late, but they do seemed to have reverted back to a better quality more recently. It’s not what it once was, but it is showing improvement.
You need to be careful not to spread Vegemite too thick. This is the mistake visiting Americans always make. Vegemite is the anti-peanut butter. Spread it thin.
Those two slices of toast, prepared that way, will get you off to a great start in the morning.
Now I’m hungry.
Microblogvember: A word I never use, but like the sound of, is woebegone.
I’m exploring Receipts that comes as part of my Setapp subscription. I think it could replace my current DEVONthink usage for receipt management. Its OCR smarts are great.
On iOS, what you see on the screen are essentially the contents of an Application folder. On Android, the screen’s real estate is like a Desktop where you put shortcuts (in the Windows sense)
I’ve never been an Android user but this description finally enabled me to grok the difference in Android’s approach to home screens compared with iOS.
I’ve always watching and playing sport. As a kid, I tried most sports that entered my world view. I can remember playing:
volleyball
cricket
basketball
tennis
football (Australian Rules)
soccer
baseball
swimming
athletics (I loved high jump, hated running)
The sports I really enjoyed were cricket and basketball. If I’d had a better experience with cricket, I probably would have stuck at it longer. I loved bowling and would be happy doing it for hours on end.
The sport I excelled at was basketball. I was an athletic white guy. I am 6'3" and was able to throw down some good dunks. Although my mates were always frustrated that I seemed happier firing from beyond the three-point line! I maintain I was ahead of my time - look at how the game is played now.
Unfortunately basketball has taken its toll on my body. I’ve got an ankle that won’t bend properly, hips that are creaking, and knees that have lost their cartilage so they crack and pop as I climb stairs, misaligned fingers and a thumb that strains with the slightest effort.
Despite all those injuries and the awareness that things are going to get worse, I wouldn’t change anything. I loved playing basketball so much. For me it went beyond a sport; it was a lifestyle. I made so many friends; I have amazing memories of playing with some incredible players and I’ve met some impressive people.
The two most famous basketball people I’ve met are probably Luc Longley and Phil Jackson. Ironically, neither of these encounters came because I was a basketball player. Rather, they came about because my father-in-law was Australia’s Ambassador to the United States of America and both me and those basketball celebrities were at a gala “G’Day USA” event.
Now I’m transitioning to the next phase of my sporting life. I am watching my eldest boy try a variety of sports. To date, it seems he is enjoying cricket the most. I wonder what my younger kid will get interested in?
Microblogvember: My wife likes to fall asleep to the hum of some white noise like a fan. I’ve had to get used to it.
adjective
(of a feeling, especially love) not returned: he’s been pining with unrequited love.
Who set these prompts anyway? That guy should be put to the sword for this one. I can’t think of anything to write about ‘unrequited’.
A couple of days ago I wrote some thoughts on love. So this post could be those thoughts, unreturned?
In searching for some inspiration about what to write about, I did discover that ‘Unrequited’ was the title of an episode of The X-Files. It was also the title of a low-budget movie that doesn’t look very good.
Sorry, that’s all I’ve got.
Microblogvember: I have no qualms about accepting a hollow victory! A win is a win. Nobody ever talks about hollow losses.
My thanks to The Beastie Boys for their guest introduction.
I’m not a fighter; never have been. I recall Jason Bulpitt (may he Rest In Peace) squaring up to me in the school playground one day. I countered by being a smart-arse, running my mouth. Intelligent diatribe was my competitive advantage - not fist fights.
This approach to fighting has probably led to my engagement in politics over the years. A focus on the verbal stoush ahead of the physical kind. The kind of fight I might have a chance of winning. Plus, winning can benefit a lot of people.
Political fights can be hard and deflating. They can also be exhilarating and rewarding. That’s why we keep coming back for more. It’s good to fight for a better country.
Microblogvember: I’ve got a bit less than an hour, then I’m off to my second meeting of the day.
My kind of beer. 🍺
Which gaming system is better for kids and sometimes adults: Xbox or PlayStation? ❓
Love is a super-complicated topic. I know I love my wife, I love my kids. But truth be told, I don’t know how I know that I love them.
I know that I love, in a technical sense. Yet I only feel it rarely. To be fair, I do occasionally experience an overwhelming sense of affection that pulls at my insides. This is probably the truest expression of love. But I don’t get that often. Is that a standard, everyday feeling for others? Am I missing what other people experience?
I wonder if others have a clearer understanding of what love is, or how it feels. Perhaps I’m missing out on the feeling of emotional love. It’s like my rational side gets in the way of my emotional side.
Heavy stuff. A bit too daunting to think more deeply about at this point.
Dolly Parton’s America podcast is awesome. I’ve suffered the Tennessee Mountain Trance myself. castro.fm
Microblogvember: We have seen our intense hot weather in Perth abate but since it’s not even summer yet, I know it will be back. I look forward to summer through winter, and then it arrives… it doesn’t live up to the hype!
Microblogvember: It blows me away the things that humans have been able to build. For all our failings, we make some amazing things.
I’m not a gamer; this month I unsubscribed from Apple Arcade because I wasn’t playing any of the games on offer despite a number of them being good. It’s an opportunity cost issue. There are only so many hours in a day and I find enjoyment doing other things ahead of gaming… most of the time.
I say that because rarely I do become obsessed with a game. My most recent example is Zelda: Breath of the Wild. With that game, I would sneak away with my son’s Switch and play it for hours. At first I was making my way through the game naturally. Then as I progressed, I got more serious and downloaded an iOS app to help me track the locations I had been, and which areas I still needed to unlock.
I continued to upgrade my character, beyond that which was necessary to claim victory over the big boss. I didn’t know that at the time of course, but given how relatively easy the final boss battle was, I’d say that I had swung the scales significantly in my favour.
Zelda was an epic game. It captured my mind for months. It was an expensive game but on an entertainment per hour basis, was incredibly cheap. I don’t know when I will encounter another game that captivates me in that that way but I’m sure it will happen, I’ll become a gamer for a month or two, then go back to normal non-gamer life.
Microblogvember: Bryce Cotton is a superb basketball player for the Perth Wildcats.
Cool, I’ve set up a Keybase.io account. As is typical with this stuff, I know nobody else who uses it.
I’m not one for parties; my introversion means I’m diametrically opposed to them.
Having said that, I’m actually attending a party this afternoon/evening. It is a 60th birthday celebration though and should be a nice one. It is incorporating a showing of Blade Runner. I haven’t seen that movie in about 20 years, so I’m interested to see my interpretation of it now.
Another party issue arising is planning to host a 4th birthday party for our youngest son. Trying to decide what to do for that is a puzzler as well. Do we host it at home, or out somewhere? Who to invite? We don’t have friends who have kids of a similar age, but it won’t be much of a party if he doesn’t have some similar-aged kids around. We need to get moving on the planning so we can get the invites out, but we’re having trouble generating motivation. That’s not good parenting, is it!
