Newsletter.023-May2022

Now

This is the Halfman newsletter which is just what you need right now. My name is Jim and I’ll be your host. You can subscribe here or unsubscribe there. The former is awesome and latter may cause you in a number of years extreme consternation as you await the end.

What follows might involve shedloads of vulnerability and perhaps an assload of showing up for yourself. You may find yourself at the end of all of this happier, more productive and finally able to manage your place in the universe despite the probabilities of our collective and infinite insignificance.

Three things

…concerning the diminishing returns of getting the large instead of the small popcorn chicken 7 May 2022, approximately 21:23:

• Fast food is meant to be good first, fleeting second and then quality in volume last which one always forgets
• The amount of beer consumed is inversely proportionate to the quality of eating judgement
• While the surface area to fried material output is optimal with a fried snack of that size, you still seriously only need about five of them

Top 10

I know you already have trouble sleeping wondering, “Oh what are the top 10 things this month?” and I truly do apologise for missing April. Sleep sound and safe in the knowledge that the May Top 10 will knock your socks off.

Newsletter Reviews

“It’s like we’re at the pub! But in an email.”

“A triumph.”

“A tour de force.”

Guess which one is real?

The Jim Kosem Short Story Explosion

I thought I had a logo for The Jim Kosem Short Story Explosion somewhere, but I don’t. But in any case, they’re getting shorter for you to squeeze in between meetings you don’t want to be in.

Cake

It might not have launched any ships, but that cake was responsible for at least three revolutions, fifty three pregnancies, one lost cat named Miles and an upset stomach.

Ponder this

Couldn’t really agree more with this thread by Anil Dash.

“One obvious thing about conspiracy theorists is that they’ve never had to plan or coordinate anything difficult in real life. Like, what project management tool do they think the Lizard People are using to keep everyone coordinated & on schedule? Hidden subliminal messages?”

If you’ve ever had the dubious pleasure of seeing a government work from the inside, one of the things that strikes you, like a frying pan to the face, is the absolute lack of clarity and cohesiveness. So all the complaining about things not getting done in government are because, you know what, government is believe it or not full of humans who are pains the asses and don’t work together well like they don’t in our damned, little lives.

To think that there is some group or groups of people who somehow managed to get every government and corporation to agree to do one thing has never seen any degree of management, public or otherwise at scale. If all the people complaining knew how much worse things could be, they would just go straight to the bar to drink themselves to death.

Look, art.

Super Serious Forwards

So why would you want to watch, or at least skim through a “Geometry Nodes and Chill,” a five hour livestream of procedural modelling in Blender you ask? Because it’s the most damn relaxing thing I’ve seen in a while. It’s almost as if you are doing this patch-based modelling wizardry and making a 3d cathedral, but it’s really this Erin guy who I promise will never harsh your mellow.

In case while you were sitting there looking at that squirrel romp across the top of that fence if there were, you’re right, there are a lot of games Buddha would not play.

VR Air Guitar Game Unplugged Adding Air Triangle. I don’t know what else I could add that the title doesn’t make you wonder in disbelief and mad admiration. But the awesome of the VR world (finally!) doesn’t end there, as drinking in VR is now a thing.

Alex Baia brings it again with an equanimous and composed approach to life with Every Day We Must Ask, “What The Fuck Is This Shit?” With Compassion And Mindfulness

Halfman endorses

Shorts

There is something about this time of year I love. It’s almost summer, it’s basically summer, something like that. The point though is like any aspirational time of year, I haven’t worn trousers in weeks. Weeks! You might be saying to yourself, well, you know it’s in the high 20’s and all that, but I just need to adhere to societal norms about what’s showable in terms of legs.

I say fuck all that and let the breeze ride it’s way up north where it doesn’t for the rest of the year. I say, be free to show the not well thought out calf tattoos. I say let the white out as soon as you can and let it brown nicely and slowly like a yellow sponge cake in the oven. I say just wear the damn shorts because life is too short and this is the time of year, when the sun bakes us in Europe and in some parts of the world the fires begin, that sweating publicly is the great leveller.

Ends

Thanks for sticking around. I would like to do more for you, but this past two months has been a bit of a doozy.

If it was a doozy for you, I hope this, if it didn’t make you laugh or smirk, made you at least not think of the end of the world for five minutes.

Ride.
Shoot straight.
Speak the truth.

– Jim