Mercurial January

Hello! In what seems to be a trend, my mood this weekend has been mercurial. Partly, I think a stressful upcoming month at work, but also, as my therapist helpfully pointed out, I seem to fall into this every January. Way out is through, etc etc.

BUT, it’s been great for morale to see the Canal open for skating. I sorely missed the sweet sound of skates cutting ice in recent years; here’s hoping it’s a good season. (Maybe I’ll even get my birthday “walk the full length of the Canal” tradition in? We’ll see!)

• The LA fires have been all over, so no doubt you’ve encountered them one way or another. A few pieces that struck me one way or another:
  • The heartbreaking feeling of thinking your property is safe, until it isn’t.
  • The fires as an example of the “megaevents” that plague us, human-initiated or not. (via Mike Monteiro)
  • Brian Merchant’s thinking over the course of his narrative of escaping the fire, the decisions to make and so on. Also, the description and photo of the idle Waymo is so apt.
  • Despite bully pulpit crowing to the contrary, water shortages were a function of the impossibility of fighting a wildfire with an urban water supply.
• Okay, two more cheery / innocent links:
  • Simone Giertz’s various clever adaptations and custom builds for her small house (via Jack Cheng’s latest newsletter).
  • Neat to see how much is going on with HTML.

All the best for the week ahead!

Lucas