I got to drive a car with radar cruise control and it was great! Having the system take care of slowing down for other cars completely removes the cognitive load of constantly adjusting the speed manually for slower traffic.

I’m a little worried that celebrating Father’s Day might be seen as an expression of support for the Patriarchy.

Wanderers by Chuck Wendig 📚

Spoiler alert, this is perhaps not a book one should read during the present emergency, as major elements of the plot are perhaps a little too relevant to our current situation. But I had seen several recommendations, and I was able to borrow the ebook from my local (currently closed) library via the Libby app, so I checked it out and started reading before I really knew any details of the plot. And by the time the story revealed itself it was too late, I was hooked.

As with other books I’ve read recently the central theme is the family, starting with a scattering of literal families disrupted by the central event of the wandering, but quickly consolidating into two opposed found families, that of the wanderers and the opposing forces of, well, we can only call it evil. In fact, the opposition seems almost too evil, with no redeeming features, identifying the forces of death and destruction with right-wing gun-worshipping racist bigots.

By contrast the wanderers and their companion shepherds are a set of interesting and engaging characters, thrown together by events beyond anybody’s ability to explain or comprehend, with various strengths and weaknesses. This is the main strength of the book, following the point of views of several of these people, seeing how they change and evolve as the world is convulsed around them. That convulsion is much more extreme than what is happening out here in the “real world” (we hope) and keeps adding new layers all the way to the apocolyptic end.

Next up, The Stand.

Wanderers

We’ve been watching the free NT Live archive performances on YouTube each week, but the next two are productions we already saw in movie theaters.

I’ve been thinking I was wasting my money on the Apple Arcade subscription, but last week I discovered that my favorite game (Patterned) has been adding new content. At the moment it’s worth it for that one thing alone.

Broke down today and started the 14-day trial subscription to the Criterion Channel. By the time this is over I’m going to have so many subscriptions.

I think I miss going to the movie theater.