Fortune

A fortune I received today: “Today is the first day of the rest of your reading time”.  I don’t even know what that means.

Ikea

I braved the crowds to go to Ikea this morning.  Even just after opening time, it was packed.  It's the kind of place I could easily spend a lot of time wandering around and spending a lot of money at.  Despite the blandness, I quite like Ikea's fixtures and furnishings - they're cheap, functional and last a long time.  And there's a lot of stuff I could really do with upgrading.  But I just couldn't tolerate all the people there (I dread to think what its like on weekend afternoons), so I dived in and out of the store with just the things I wanted (a hallway bench and a rug) - I didn't even get any Swedish meatballs....!

Blade Runner 2049

Blade Runner is one of my favorite films - definitely in my top 10, maybe even in my top 5.  So naturally I wanted to watch the long overdue sequel - and this finally happened today.  And I have to say, I really liked it.  It's obviously not going to be as groundbreaking and as much of a classic as the original (there are only 2 sequels that have ever matched the original - Godfather Part 2 and Aliens).  But it was a great tribute to the original, and a good film in itself.  Great sound design, looks great (as any film does which has Roger Deakins as the cinematographer), a worthy continuation to the original and I would highly recommend watching it on the big screen.  I watched it at the Cinerama in downtown Seattle - and one of the few films that I've been to where there was a spontaneous round of applause when it finished.  And make sure you use the restroom before you watch it - it flew by, but it's a good 2.5 hours long!

PS We still don't get an unambiguous answer as to whether Deckard is a Replicant or not.  It seemed pretty obvious from the original that he was, and there is nothing to suggest otherwise in the sequel.  But still, one of the great sci-fi questions of our time. 

Flu Shot

I got a flu shot this week.  I get one every year, but this appears to be the first time that I've had a reaction to the shot - it's red, sore and swollen around the injection site.  This seems to be quite a common side effect, so hopefully nothing to worry about - but I've started to get a bit paranoid about my health at the moment, so this is just one more thing to add to the list.  I generally haven't been very good at going to a doctor regularly, but now I'm in in my 40's I think I might need to change my attitude - especially making use of my work healthcare plan whilst Trump decimates Obamacare...

Pop

Gregg Popovich - coach of the San Antonio Spurs - is one of the greatest ever basketball coaches.  He is well respected, has won loads of championship rings with the Spurs and is hilariously terse during in-game interviews.  And, unusually for someone as white privileged as he is, has some strong opinions on our current presidency that not many other coaches share or voice (contrary to the players):

"I’ve been amazed and disappointed by so much of what this president had said, and his approach to running this country, which seems to be one of just a never ending divisiveness...This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others.... We have a pathological liar in the White House, unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office, and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day. The people who work with this president should be ashamed, because they know better than anyone just how unfit he is, and yet they choose to do nothing about it. This is their shame most of all."

Hear, hear.

Storm

Today, a rainstorm hit the Pacific NW for the first time in what feels like ages.  Lots of rain.  Lots of wind.  Lots of downed power lines.  Lots of power outages (including me).  This is where living somewhere now with lots of big trees surrounding me makes me a bit a nervous - some branch, or god forbid a whole tree, could come down and cause some major damage.  I heard and saw something big go down just in the gully next to where I live.  Yikes.   

CRT

The Cognitive Reflection Test is known as the world’s shortest IQ test, and consists of just 3 questions to tell if you’re a genius

1. A bat and a ball cost $1.10 in total. The bat costs $1 more than the ball. How much does the ball cost?

2. If it takes 5 machines 5 minutes to make 5 widgets, how long would it take 100 machines to make 100 widgets?

3. In a lake, there is a patch of lily pads. Every day, the patch doubles in size. If it takes 48 days for the patch to cover the entire lake, how long would it take for the patch to cover half of the lake?

I confess that I got the last question wrong when I came across this quiz this morning, and I shouldn’t have done – a classic case of jumping to a quick conclusion without giving any proper thought to the question and answer.  Shame on me.