620 How do we get our thoughts back?

Forgive me, it's been a while. Not that there's nothing to say, just that I've been saying it other places. 

The long nights of winter are perfect for setting one's mind to a novel. Sadly, the slow churning up there, or rather, the distracted tumbling, has watched winter turn to spring and said novel is maybe a third of the way. Maybe. 

This is the battle in the attention economy. How do we get our thoughts back? 

There have been several changes over here at Wake Blake galactic headquarters. 

First, our entire information technology infrastructure was rebuilt (we got a new phone), leading to the usual (un)expected total loss of everything. So we have new graphics on the blog. Yes, they were created with an AI boost. Why? Because as bad as the AIpocalypse might be, it's fun to watch them hallucinate up new-ish stuff.

Second, the publisher/editor/writer has taken up with the saints/scoundrels in our local government, ascending to the dais of City Council, and leading to perhaps heightened scrutiny of this thinking-out-loud forum. (Hello new readers! Please sign the largely empty guest book.)

In the broader world, perhaps the biggest attention grabber is that contrary to our hopeful prediction, dear leader has taken up the usual blood lust of unchecked power, for all the usual dumb reasons ($) and (.)(.) and :o. Because he's got =---> this is one of those moments where, um, yeah, we're out of predictions. Doom and gloom abides, but as my mom says, "Look for the gift."

Luckily, outside of the attention economy, like, off screen, the sky is still blue and people are still full of love, and desire long and happy lives for themselves and the rest of the universe. And unluckily, there are an upsetting number of people denied the freedom to see that sky. And an even sadder number who choose not to look up. 

We recently saw a statistic that people are spending 90% of their time indoors.

So with that out of the way, let's move on to reacting to screenshits. (The whole point of this blog is to clean off our phone, hello.)

At this point in the stage show put on by Texas every few years, hopefully we have all gotten this message.

Hello to our fellow members of small town government! How are y'sprawl doing? 

Doh. And yet, the stock market keeps going up. (Or at least a few big AI stocks do.) At this point in the deluge, we have given up on economics as a science or the idea of getting an honest news story, and yet still, something keeps pointing that maybe we're also having run away inflation, like, every time we have to pay for anything.

We can do it! Boy oh boy, it's so much fun walking and biking around places. Why on earth people go to walkable places for vacation, then return to their daily lives and accept car infrastructure? We can do it! 

In the meantime, here's another innovative bandaid, as we like to call ebikes. (Complicated, over-expensive bicycles that help us compensate for living in car infrastructure.)

The story of this map: Lots of people behind the iron curtain were given their homes when communism fell in the 1990s. Slowly, capitalism is creeping east and turning them into renters.

We are not immune to a fun looking gadget. These 6wd mini trucks are all over Asia. Not for you, says USA.

Living in this area is an amazing experience of uncorrupted natural abundance, largely due to the freshness of the genocidal amnesia.

Thanks for visiting, see you next time.