Events

Today's theme song is U2's "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For," but I know it's somewhere in the new house... Unpacking proceeds apace. Last night we were both exhausted and we both had trouble falling asleep. We also both wanted pizza, though Cassie didn't know she wanted it until I brought it into the house. Back to unpacking. I actually have to work tomorrow, so I need to get at least half my life out of chaos tonight.

I'm minutes from dismantling my WiFi so there won't be a time-lapse like last time. The movers get here in about an hour. Last time it took about 7 hours, but he weather couldn't be better, and I'm moving less than 2 km. See you from Inner Drive Technology World HQ v6.0... I am very much looking forward to being done with this.

I'm not quite done with my kitchen, master bedroom, or master bathroom, but I have absolutely no energy left: The big spikes around 3pm were the concert I performed in this afternoon. So, I'm going to do a couple of low-stress tasks (swapping out the thermostat, disconnecting the A/V equipment) and then I'm going to sit on the couch with Cassie and try not to doze off before 10.

I believe I'm about halfway through the kitchen (the worst room to pack), and struggling not to go immediately to Empirical for my last pint there. It's sunny, breezy, and at this moment 24°C outside—perfect beer-on-a-patio weather. Alas, though, I have to pack...the dishes. And glassware. Maybe I can do this in two hours?

I have only two rooms left to pack before my move on Monday: the master bedroom (which will take me about 30 minutes and the movers about the same), and the kitchen (which will take me most of today). I also had to reserve some time later this afternoon to grab a pint with a friend at Empirical Brewery, because (a) the weather could not look better and (b) they close permanently tomorrow night. Let's move on from the demise of the second brewery three blocks from my new house in the period between me...

This: That, my friends, is how you do a takedown. This also made me LOL:

Conservative MP Sir Charles Walker (Broxbourne) has "had enough of talentless people putting their tick in the right box, not because it's in the national interest, but because it's in their own personal interest:" I had to watch that twice. Just imagine any American politician speaking so frankly with a journalist. Wow.

Liz Truss has announced she will be the shortest-serving UK prime minister in history: Liz Truss has resigned as prime minister and will step down after a week-long emergency contest to find her successor, she has announced outside Downing Street. It follows a turbulent 45 days in office during which Truss’s mini-budget crashed the markets, she lost two key ministers and shed the confidence of almost all her own MPs. Truss said she had entered office with “a vision for a low-tax, high-growth economy...

Last night while packing I caught this interview with Rebecca Jennings, whose recent trip to Positano, Italy, taught her something important about travel in the Instagram era: Positano is blessed with a mild Mediterranean climate and a proximity to luxury and wealth; it is home to one of the most famous and majestic hotels in the world and provided the backdrop for Diane Lane’s whirlwind romance in Under the Tuscan Sun. Twenty years later, the town has become synonymous with the grandest of influencer...

Stanford University historian Francis Fukuyama outlines why liberal democracies have better governance than dictatorships, and why authoritarianism comes back like an old stray cat ever couple of generations: Russia and China both have argued that liberal democracy is in long-term decline, and that their brand of muscular authoritarian government is able to act decisively and get things done while their democratic rivals debate, dither, and fail to deliver on their promises. Over the past year, though...