260 what are the mops for?

Walking along to the Farmers Market and it's a bit chilly out. With a mask on, my glasses are getting fogged up. So I took them off. 

Now I'm walking along without glasses, and wondering what my world would be like if I never wore them. If I squint really hard I can make out some things that are 100 ft away or 200 ft away. And in general I can see stuff. I can see buildings and cars. I can even generally see traffic lights, although I can't see the numbers on the pedestrian countdown or the fact that it's a hand unless I squint. 

Walking along without my glasses on I find that I have very little to focus on. Just pay attention to my immediate surroundings, the dogs, the pavement right in front of me. I can soak in the general milieu and the light of the day and all of that, but not really the details of anything. It's kind of nice. 

What would life be like if we just had that ability to tune everything out? I can see about 8 inches away from my face perfectly sharp. I guess my eyes are good for close up work. Maybe I wouldn't be the best hunter in our tribe.

It's all fun and games until your dog steps on broken glass. I guess it could have happened if I had my spectacles on as well.

It has come to my attention that dear leader continues to lie. Yep.

Also, some people continue to believe him. 

Also, people continue to believe that the other side of the coin offers a real alternative.

(Here's O44 on Deepwater Horizon... Remember that little oil spill?)

Or is it that we really, really need to look in the mirror here, too, kids?

(Did you catch that part? He could have spoken his truth... But didn't.)

The more we see, the less we know. Above, an ORC. This is a newly discovered space blob. Scientists spotted the first one with a new telescope, and now they think there are about a thousand in the sky. They have no idea how big or how far away they are. They're only visible as radio waves, not in the visible spectrum. 

In other words, it's time to rethink space.

Meanwhile here on Earth, we've discovered the first multicellular organism that doesn't need oxygen. 

In other words, it's time to rethink life.

Most of my work yesterday was on the book of poems. 

Still getting accustomed to the tablet, spent some time in the desktop-esque "Dex mode" and found it to be generally useful.

More from the Vendee Globe.

The third place guy spent twelve hours in his liferaft, before being picked up by another competitor at night, 800 miles south of Cape of Good Hope. It's incredible what satellite communications and weather prediction can do. Spotting a liferaft in the middle of the ocean is not easy. After the rescuer first saw the rescuee, it took several hours to locate him again and get him on board.

Logging in to Amazon's kindle site for the first time in months, I was happy to see a few books have sold. Winter Sailor, A Stable of Unicorns, and #SingularityNow seem to be my best sellers. A Stable of Unicorns has always been priced at the most expensive you can make an ebook and still fall in Amazon's good graces $9.95, but #SingularityNow was only $.99. 

The poetry collections never sell, so I'll probably make this $1.99, but free on my website.

Hi Blake.

Question: What are the mops for?

Anyone following the story of the Zappos guy?

He died in a house fire, the only victim. He was very wealthy (before and after selling out to Amazon), and owned several properties, but for at least a while, he was living in a trailer park. On purpose.

He took a salary of $36k. He tried to create a flat management structure and had issues.

Anyway, curious that a 41 year old billionaire would go in such a way. But I guess accidents happen. And kill only one person. The boss. 

One of the more remarkable quotes I've read from him was about how after his first company grew, the culture changed so much he didn't like going to work anymore. At his own company.

Be safe, everyone.