PicoBlog

Yeah, I’m still on the road in Europe for work and I’m writing about Rilke AGAIN. God, why am I like this? Or maybe the better question is, why is Western culture like this? Rilke is a wonderful poet to read for anyone who is living a peripatetic existence, even for a short time, as I am now. Paris, Prague, Bremen. It feels almost as if I’m following in his footsteps, although much, much less brilliantly so.

Hello, dear reader! Do you like what you read here at Omnivorous? Do you like reading fun but insightful takes on all things pop culture? Do you like supporting indie writers? If so, then please consider becoming a subscriber and get the newsletter delivered straight to your inbox. There are a number of paid options, but you can also sign up for free! Every little bit helps. Thanks for reading and now, on with the show!

Recent postings on the “Dark Side” theme reminded me of a idea I’d like to bounce off of you, as a loyal SCA reader: What might you think of my camp-cruising motorboat vision—a small boat with modest outboard that draws raves at the launch ramp, and allows some of us to gracefully transition from sail to power…without shame or embarrassment (?) Here’s the idea—probably harebrained, maybe brilliant—for your consideration: Back in the 1950s and early 1960s, there was a surge of interest in small, trailerable outboard boats—mostly “express cruiser” designs in the 15’ to 21’ range.

• Spanish football is a dumpster fire of racism; whether the football association, agents, referees, club presidents, players, or fans. No club is immune. Latest exhibit: fans of Atletico Madrid, Cadiz, Real Valladolid, Real Mallorca, and FC Barcelona have been fingered for racially abusing opponents; the offenders focus their anger on one player, Real Madrid forward, Vinicius Jr. He’s been targeted at least ten times since the beginning of the current season.

There seems to be a lax approach in engineering domains about the “real-time” concept. Engineers—and others—tend to loosely use the term “real-time” when referring to other matters like high-performance computing (this means basically executing things fast) or when talking about determinism. Real-timeness has nothing to do with high-performance computing or determinism. The former is about piling up microprocessors in complex arrangements in order to execute more instructions per unit of time, whereas the latter is about particular inputs always producing the same outputs.

For this letter, I purchased 4 pairs of designer jeans that each cost $1000 or more. Let me start by saying that I will not be keeping all of these jeans (are you crazy). The purpose of this exercise is to help us understand not what makes a jean valuable (my most beloved jeans of all time would probably be valued at about $75), but to identify what about each pair might actually make them cost more than your average $200-$400 5-pocket.

2-9-2023 (issue No. 74) Eric Zorn is a former opinion columnist for the Chicago Tribune. Find a longer bio and contact information here. This issue exceeds in size the maximum length for a standard email. To read the entire issue in your browser, click on the headline link above. This week Subscribe or upgrade your subscription Tsk. I’m sure it’s a gas to be in the Capitol watching the president of the United States deliver the annual State of the Union speech, so who could blame Chicago Democratic U.

A recent article at Ed Week wonders why more students have IEPs than ever before. I get what they're saying. It does seem like there are issues on both ends - with the education system itself as well as changes in society. The way schools are set up these days doesn't work well for every kid. But there's also more awareness about learning differences now, which is mostly a good thing.

the braid By Rebecca Woolf a newsletter that explores the braided experience of mother, lover and self. personal essays & conversations on sex, death, love, loss, parenthood, paradigms, identity, culture and coming of age. written by rebecca woolf with special guests. ncG1vNJzZmirpZfAta3CpGWcp51kjbOxwZ6anJmnpLytsg%3D%3D