I find myself contemplating what life is going to look like in the next couple decades, on a really practical level. Political stuff right now is dreadful. It’s going to have far-reaching impacts that hit the marginalized the hardest, I’m sure. How will it hit me? What should I be doing to prepare? What’s my day-to-day life going to look like if things go Worst Case Scenario?
I couldn’t have imagined life as it is now a decade ago; the pandemic shifted things profoundly in unexpected ways. I suspect this is another situation where there’s just no telling what’s going to happen. There will be big changes, and I don’t know what they are yet.
Living in uncertainty about the future sucks, but it’s also pretty normal. Some people are always dealing with this. A lot of people deal with this sometimes. Most of us are feeling it right now in particular. There isn’t really a way to prepare for unknowns, but we can focus on where we are – this month, this week, this day, this hour, this moment.
I keep thinking “I’m along for the ride” as a reminder that I’m already doing what I can and the rest is up to future history.
Certainly on a personal level, my life will be QUITE different in a decade, if only because I will have children who are 23 and 19 years old respectively.
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My summer has been very little productivity (namely writing and editing) because I’m absorbed in caring for my kiddo on summer break. I’ve also shifted my sleep schedule ahead so I can be awake later and do some Family Time for those who aren’t early risers. I’m just terribly discombobulated, is what I’m saying. Hence it is appropriate timing that Psyche posted an article about caregiving.
It’s not entirely a useful article for me, but sometimes it’s nice to be reminded that these things are challenging to people in general.
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Andy Samberg talks about how he burned out of SNL after a while on Variety. It’s illuminating about the schedule that performers endured in his era.
I sense that things have changed in the last few years because of this being a problem. For a while we had a bigger cast; older cast members hung around longer, but sketches were more spread out – I think to make sure everyone was getting some time off. It also feels like they’re taking longer, more frequent breaks. It’s a difficult format.
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On August 1st, ad-free Vampire Survivors will arrive on Apple Arcade. (Engadget)
The game is perfect for mobile play, but I haven’t been keen on the mobile app style. This will probably get me back into it.
Ars Technica notes that Apple Arcade is mostly rereleasing old games. I am fine with this, for the record. I want my good ol’ games without ads and microtransactions.
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Whether or not under-21s should be able to buy mocktails (NPR) is an interesting question I wouldn’t have thought to ask.
My initial response is, why not? There’s no alcohol in them.
They’re worried about normalizing drinking and encouraging drinking roleplay among younger people. I think I grew up drinking Shirley Temples because they seemed ~fancy~ and it was generally benign, relative to the overwhelming drinking culture in general. You know? There’s so much merchandise, media, events, etc built up around drinking. Making servers card for mocktails seems silly.
On the other hand, we don’t really do candy cigarettes anymore. There’s a precedent for limiting youth access to simulacra of illegal substances.
But again: no alcohol.
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Adding the modern concept of AI to everything means Google and Microsoft are bigger contributors to climate change (Quartz). Google’s emissions have increased by 48% since 2019; Microsoft’s have increased 31% since 2020. It seems reducing energy usage has been sidelined for profit. Who’s shocked?
In California alone, climate change has killed at least 460 people and cost $7.7 billion (also Quartz) in the last decade.
California wildfires have also burned 5x the amount of area as usual this year. (The Guardian)
