Just saw Elephant Man at the Music Box Theatre. Incredibly moving film if you haven't seen it. They're currently running a film series on David Lynch and that was the first of his films I had ever seen. Planning to see more this week if I can!
The EV Jeep Wrangler is also interesting. They advertise it much different than I'm used to seeing most electric vehicles advertised. Instead of focusing on being environmentally friendly, not using gas, or being a tech-forward car they instead advertise that you can maximize power output to all wheels while off-roading. But I suppose this is just the natural progression of the electric car... Start niche and then expand.
I actually think it's fun now that electric vehicles are picking up that we can now have ridiculous cars like the Hummer again. I remember when the Hummer was popular and people would buy them and then quickly realize it wasn't worth the gas it would suck down. My uncle had the same realization with the jeep wrangler around the same time. But now more of these cars are electric so you can get your big beefy weefy mobile and not have to worry so much about the gas anymore. As much as I wouldn't get one myself, I welcome the return of the Hummer.
As a graphic designer, I'm currently on the fence. I love the AI tools that make tedious tasks significantly easier such as cutting out curly or frizzy hair. I also enjoy using generative AI as a tool to do things like replace an object in someone's hand or seamlessly fill in the background where I removed something, but unfortunately those are the things that are potentially stealing from other artists and so is morally wrong to use. It is nice to just play around with it for the sake of generating ideas that you could build off of or to try to create a mock-up before execution. It's sad really, because I would absolutely love to use the generative tools more but I just don't see how I can at this point in time. Instead I currently use it for things that are private that I wouldn't profit off of. For example, I made a puzzle for my father in law using a photo of his family's farm and used generative AI to recreate the photo in the artistic style of his favorite puzzle artist. He was delighted to have it and it became a highly unique item he could enjoy. I never intend to sell it or even share it with anyone else. It's for him only and I doubt his favorite puzzle artist will lose anything from it.
Can attest as I am part of said labyrinth. My job is mostly stable, but I truly feel it's not necessary in the grand scheme of things and I'd gladly give up my job if I knew we could all have universal health care. For reference, I'm a graphic designer deep down in the medical system and so far removed from anything useful that they continually have to remind us of our "usefulness" and say things like "it can be easy to lose sight of our greater impact". Bro I make power points that help the sales team sell services to different states and/or buy up smaller med companies. How the hell is this helping the lady over there afford breast cancer treatment?
I genuinely don't know how chipotle has survived this long when excellent family run Mexican restaurants are a dime a dozen all over the country and are super cheap to boot. I've tried it a few times and just never understood what people liked about it that you can't get at your local Mexican joint.
The feeling is even better when they let you go because you no longer have a moral obligation to transition anything over to your coworkers. You can just fuck off and not feel bad. This typically highlights all the holes in management when they are ineffective at delegating your tasks and things get dropped. My husband witnessed this happen recently. They let an employee go nearly a year ago, then a client started sending emails wondering what was happening to their project and why there hadn't been communication.
A long time ago I was able to step outside the morning after an ice storm. It was sunny, and everything looked like glistening glass. Every tree, bench, light pole, etc. it was one of the most beautiful but eerie things I've ever seen. And yes, it's quite dangerous. The weight of the ice compromises the integrity of an awful lot of unexpected things and ice all over the sidewalks doesn't help either.
When I recently went off my medication, I would have random days where I was incredibly depressed as my body was trying to return to normal. The first day we moved into our house I started crying because I missed my dog who was staying with my parents temporarily. Without saying anything, my husband ran to the store and got me a pint of Jenny's darkest Chocolate ice cream. And we ate the whole pint together. No judgement, just love.
The article says this also applies to auto parts. Many of which are made outside the US. This means that even if you buy a car from a US auto maker, tariffs will apply. This also means if you already bought a foreign car, that your insurance will likely increase. This helps no one but Elon who I hate to admit, made the smart move of prioritizing US manufacturing for Tesla. Something I think more companies in the US should do, but here we are.
My husband works at an architecture firm. They exclusively use #2 in 3 different colors. My husband has gotten in the habit of putting a few in his pocket during the day while he works and emptying his pockets when he gets home. We have WAY TOO MANY PENS!!!! I've been bagging them up and giving them away!! They are nice pens tho... very good for drafting/drawing/etc. I just don't need 300 of them. Beware that the blue ones tend to explode the most.
Nothing will wake you up faster than the sound of your pet throwing up