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Rob Harvilla, writing for The Ringer, remembers the endless summer of Jimmy Buffett.

His job was just beach. His art, his science, his philosophy, his religion, his ethos, his billion-dollar brand: beach. Just beach. “No man is an island entire of itself,” wrote John Donne; “If we couldn’t laugh / We would all go insane,” sang Jimmy Buffett, who died Friday, of skin cancer, at 76, “surrounded by his family, friends, music and dogs,” per a post on his Twitter account, which added, “He lived his life like a song till the very last breath and will be missed beyond measure by so many.” That collective grief, that camaraderie, that interconnectedness: Of course that’s what “No man is an island” means, but also, no man was more of an island than Jimmy Buffett, a cheerfully boozy and poignantly serene walking vacation of a man where all were welcome and nobody ever had to leave.

You want to do the Sad, Wistful Song first or the Goofy, Ribald Song? Mmm. Yes. You’re absolutely right.

So you hear that Jimmy Buffett died, and maybe you reach instinctively for 1985’s Songs You Know by Heart, his first greatest-hits collection, though the original album cover styles it “Greatest Hit(s),” the parenthetical a typically wry and self-effacing nod to the fact that at the time, at least, his biggest/greatest hit by an order of magnitude was “Margaritaville,” his wistful and absurdly anthemic 1977 sing-along that forever defined his art/religion/brand. But I put this record on this morning, and really every song was a colossal hit, especially “Why Don’t We Get Drunk,” which I used to bellow with my goofy and ribald teenage friends (the chorus begins, “Why don’t we get drunk and screw,” you see) as we drove around the landlocked Midwest in the mid-’90s. But let me politely suggest that you, also, know all of Songs You Know by Heart by heart, even if you’ve never listened to this record (or any other Jimmy Buffett record) by choice, even if you never caught him live, even if you’re no Parrothead, even if tequila’s not your thing.

Jillian Willson, writing for Huffington Post, says Read This If You Never Take Your Shoes Off When You Go Into Your House.

It’s worth noting that there is risk associated with bringing another human being into your home, too. This is because every human releases about 30 million bacterial cells each hour just by standing in a room.

Ugh. I hardly ever take my shoes off.

There aren’t many bass/drummer duos in the world, but Royal Blood is one of them. They have such a unique sound.

They are out with a new album, and it sounds good so far. Check out Royal Blood’s Back to the Water Below.

Arleen Sorkin, noted stage and television actress who was the inspiration and first voice actress for Batman: The Animated Series and DC villain Harley Quinn, has passed away at 67 following a long term illness. I had no idea she was sick.

In my college days, we would watch Days of Our Lives and I remember distinctly the episodes where Sorkin was in a clown costume and her voice cutting through everything. I’m aware this was the inspiration for Harley Quinn.

Sad.

David Roth, writing at Defector, has a simple essay about the joys of writing things down in a notebook.

My little diary of all the art I looked at and movies and TV shows I watched and shows I went to and books I read will not be made public, and not only because I find my own handwriting very difficult to read and my own thoughts generally unpleasant to behold. It is nice to have something that is just for you, and it is also nice to make the time to note all the stuff that daily life tends to flush out and away. A painful part of getting older is bumping up against not just the finitude of what you can remember and do, but how much of it you will invariably wind up forgetting.

I keep thinking I need my own dumb little book.

Margaret Atwood, writing in The Atlantic about the news an AI is being trained on her work without permission, thinks it’s mostly crap. At least for now.

Once fully trained, the bot may be given a command—“Write a Margaret Atwood novel”—and the thing will glurp forth 50,000 words, like soft ice cream spiraling out of its dispenser, that will be indistinguishable from something I might grind out. (But minus the typos.) I myself can then be dispensed with—murdered by my replica, as it were—because, to quote a vulgar saying of my youth, who needs the cow when the milk’s free?

The AI/LLM revolution is coming. It’s not quite there yet, but soon. Best be prepared.

Bob Barker, legendary The Price Is Right host, has died at the age of 99, confirmed by his publicist Roger Neal. Bob, thanks for encouraging the world to have our pets spayed or neutered. What a life.

This is Bob Barker’s greatest moment.

Kevin Drum –

This is going to sound weird, but hear me out. There are upwards of 4,300 religions in the world, and even faithful churchgoers don’t believe in 4,299 of them. My only difference with them is that I don’t believe in 4,300.

Is that really such a big deal?

Perfect.

Jay Peters, writing for The Verge, has the story about the long-awaited web version of Threads.

The new desktop web interface looks a lot like the one in the mobile app, though with some small differences; the navigation icons are on the top of the page, and to switch between the For You and Following feeds, you’ll click a button in the bottom-left corner.

However, the web experience doesn’t let you do everything that you can in the mobile app. According to Pai, that means you can’t do things like edit your profile or send a post to Instagram DMs from the web. After using the web version for a couple days, I don’t like that there’s no notification dot on the heart icon and that you can’t quote post (aka quote tweet).

It’s a start, but really the whole app is still in beta. I want a Tweetdeck-like interface, but I’d settle for Lists.

Susan B. Glasser, writing for The New Yorker, talks about the surrender, the mug shot, and what this all means.

There was no real news in this, of course, since he was indicted earlier this month. But that did not stop the breathless hours of coverage—the scenes of his plane slowly rolling down the tarmac, the extensive motorcade ride through Atlanta, his self-reported and highly suspect description of himself as six feet three and two hundred and fifteen pounds. The big reveal of the evening was his photo, in which he wore a navy suit and red tie. He glared straight into the camera for his big moment; the trademark Trump glower—eyebrows raised, vaguely menacing, closer to a scowl than a smile—is one he has cultivated for years. In the White House, his aides called it, simply, the Stare.

He thinks he looks like Churchill. I think he looks constipated. What a loser.

Pamela McClintock and Aaron Couch, writing for The Hollywood Reporter, has the story that Denis Villeneuve’s sequel to the Frank Herbert adaptation Dune will now release March 15, 2024, a four-month delay from its original planned November 2023 release.

This sucks. Pay the writers, set AI guidelines, and end the strike.

Jason Fried –

Scatter.

Scatter is the silent killer at work.

Scatter is tools siloed by teams.

Scatter is multiple apps to do one thing.

Scatter is doing the same thing at the same time in multiple places.

Scatter is asking around rather than doing it right now.

Scatter is pulling people off this to jump on that.

Scatter is wondering where something is rather than knowing where it lives.

Scatter is repeating yourself.

Scatter is dependencies.

Scatter is looking but not paying attention.

Scatter is intracompany fiefdoms defending themselves.

Scatter is attempted multitasking.

Scatter is waiting around for something else to happen first.

Scatter is multiple monitors.

Scatter is being busy without making progress.

Scatter is principles on the wall that no one believes.

Scatter is a backlog of ideas you’ll never get to.

Scatter are far off promises you made because it was easier than saying no.

Scatter is looking back at your day and wondering where it all went.

Scatter is conceptual engines burning in opposite directions.

Scatter is a huge, invisible liability you’ll never see on your balance sheet.

Scatter is what scatter does.

Scatter has its place as long as it’s not the steady state.

Mark Evanier –

I hope Donald Trump takes a good mug shot tomorrow…because we’re going to be seeing that photo everywhere and forever. He and people who love him will put it on banners, posters, t-shirts and anywhere else they can make money off it. People who dislike him will put it on banners, posters, t-shirts and anywhere else they can make money off it.

Within twelve hours of its release, there will be thousands of doctored versions online making him look like a god, a clown, an angel, a devil, a convict, a saint, a woman, a vampire, a zombie, a movie star, Alfred E. Neuman, Nick Nolte in his famous mug shot…anything you can think of. I’m already sick of that photo and they haven’t even taken it yet.

“I’m already sick of that photo…” is so on point.

Randy Rainbow is a genius. Here’s his latest, “Don’t Arraign on His Parade!”

One of his best.

Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters and Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers joined the late Taylor Hawkins‘ side band Chevy Metal to perform the classic AC/DC song “Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” during a show at Harley’s Valley Bowl in Simi Valley, California.

So much fun.

“I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use — silence, exile and cunning.” — James Joyce

Austin Considine, writing for The New York Times, has a story about how Metallica puts together setlists for their current tour. There’s a lot that goes into it. I love their idea of “Never again play the same set list twice.” But that doesn’t mean it’s easy to narrow things down. For that, they’ve come up with an elaborate algorithm:

Eventually, the band developed what Ulrich called a “slot” system based on the band’s different “food groups” of songs, a reference to their feel and tempo. Slot 1 (of 16) on the M72 tour, for example, will always be an upper-mid-tempo fan favorite — Day 1 at MetLife, it was “Creeping Death” — that has a quickly recognizable opening riff: not too fast or complicated. But the songs in that slot will rotate. Slot 10 should always be a ballad, like “Nothing Else Matters.” The closer is always “Master of Puppets” or “Enter Sandman.”

Ulrich also keeps careful data about what song the band has played where, and tries to tailor the set list accordingly.

“At times it turns into a science” he said. “We’re in Montreal now, and I’ll have all the info for the last 20 years that we’ve played Montreal in front of me. And I can put a set list together where the deeper cuts will not be repeated.”

I can’t even fathom a band like KISS doing something like this.

Tamar Hallerman and Bill Rankin, reporting for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, has the story on indictment number four.

Former President Donald Trump orchestrated a sweeping criminal enterprise, committing more than a dozen felonies, as he tried and failed to overturn his defeat in Georgia’s 2020 election, according to an indictment handed up Monday by a Fulton County grand jury.

The indictment also lodged charges against 18 of Trump’s allies, who helped him spread false conspiracy theories and twist the arms of top state officials as he scrambled to cling to power.

The blockbuster 41-count, 98-page indictment said Trump and his co-defendants refused to accept the fact that Trump lost in Georgia. But “they knowingly and willfully joined a conspiracy to unlawfully change the outcome of the election in favor of Trump. That conspiracy contained a common plan and purpose.”

Keep ’em coming.

Nicholas Bate –

Plan your week as a timetable: days and subjects.

Plan your day as a timeline: what and when.

Choose your attention by your compass, the six key areas which allow you to realise your hopes and plans and dreams: career/money/wellness/people/fun/contribution.