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It’s the little things: that rare moment where the song playing on the car stereo ends just as you arrive at your destination. :chefkiss:

After seeing some of the first few reviews of iOS 18.2 and not owning a compatible device for Apple Intelligence, I’m wondering if I should finally go out and get myself an upgraded iPhone (currently own a 12 pro).

It’s mind blowing how a well thought out post with slight turns of phrase about reaching a birthday milestone obtains meh-levels of engagement, but paraphrasing (not even quoting!) a throw away line from a Chevy Chase movie garners nearly influencer levels of engagement. Never change, Threads.

With Google’s quantum computing breakthrough, how much longer before ALL of my passwords are rendered worthless? Trying to plan ahead.

🎂 🎂 🎂 Here we are: the big 5-oh. I asked ChatGPT to create a light but heartfelt post for me, but all I got out of that exercise was generic and saccharine outputs about how “50 is the new 30” (news to me), and how I’m looking forward to new adventures… blah blah blah. Plus, way too many birthday cake emojis.

Despite the milestone, it’s true that I’m feeling upbeat. I’m grateful for my beautiful family and life’s blessings. But the general tone of the ChatGPT responses - shockingly - reeked of AI. So I’m going to have to do this the hard way: write this post myself without the help of an AI assistant. Like an animal.

Let’s start with some perspective. Here’s some fun and interesting things that happened by the close of 1974:

• Nixon resigned as US president.

• Rubik’s Cube was invented.

• The S&P 500 closed at 68.56.

• The Dow closed at 616.24.

• I was born.

There’s a funny line in “A Christmas Story” where Ralphie describes the feeling of time running out as “the Christmas noose beginning to tighten”. Turning 50 is kind of like that. My “time-left-to-do-stuff" noose is beginning to tighten. Wait, that sounded darker than I intended. What I’m trying to say is that it’s a weird feeling knowing that I’m now older than my father was when I, as a kid, first realized he was OLD.

This being the age of electronic communication, I had a whole conversation with my extended family - over text - about how 50 is middle age (again, news to me). This is ridiculous given that the average lifespan in the US is around 80. The actuaries would say I’m well past middle-age. But I think the sentiment with my family was more complex than merely taking my expected lifespan and dividing it by two. Most of us, regardless of what the calendar says, feel like we’re perpetually in middle age. We’re constantly “adulting”: managing family, job, our homes, hobbies, our health, and unexpected life events.

Some of these unexpected life events can permanently change your perspective on your life. My wife’s cancer journey really drove that point home for me: Life is short. Yeah, no kidding. My advice: don’t just sit on your ass too long. Thing’s aren’t as good or as bad as you think.

Bill Burr said it best: “You’re gonna be fine. And even if you’re not, isn’t it better to exist thinking it’s going to be fine until it’s not? And then, you can handle it then. There’s no sense in ruining right now.”

Indeed. Enjoy right now. So, here’s to the next actuarially-adjusted 50 years.

Cheers and salud.

Damn.

Anthropic countering OpenAI with unlimited access to all of their models for a mere $2000/month.

Bridgy. Has anyone used it? Let me know.

I think I’ve mentioned this before but it bears repeating: just about everyone dances the Electric Slide incorrectly.

Ever notice how Instagram will not allow your phone to go to sleep? Try it. Go the the main feed and then set your phone down. It won’t go to sleep. It will just keep playing whatever reel is on your screen on repeat forever until your phone battery is drained.

Ever hit ctrl+R or cmd+R on the wrong application and instead of your browser refreshing it’s some random app in the background? Focus is a struggle.

(2/2) However, having stopped using Spotify, I can’t partake in Spotify wrapped this year. Now, is my life any worse off because of this? Of course not. Am I disappointed? Ehhhhhhh, yeah a little. 😆

(1/2) So I stopped using Spotify as my main source of streaming music about half-way through the year and switched over to Apple Music. The experience has been relatively smooth and painless. I’m not so sure I hear the improvement in audio quality, but I think so? The placebo effect can be strong.

Ok I’m going to say something super controversial, but I’d like to hear your thoughts. I actually think the new iOS Photos app is an improvement. I find that it’s much more intuitive and I’ve had no trouble navigating it or finding recent photos.

I welcome your torches and pitchforks.

Spectrum internet service is down AGAIN in central Florida. 🙄

Does anyone use Tumblr (besides @crumbler@threads.net) ? How about Medium?

My friends, when pasting a link to an Apple News article, please take a moment and get the link to the original publication’s article. Clicking a link and seeing the Apple News interface pop up is… not great.

Test post. Please ignore.

100% human-generated content right here.

Rewatched Gladiator last night. I’ve seen it a million times before but it’s been awhile. Joaquin Phoenix’s performance is underrated.