Tyler Fugazzie

Before the race

American Swimmer: Hey bud, good luck out there.
Brazilian Swimmer: You too man, that’s really nice of you to say, really sweet thing to say. You know, it’s not true what they say about Americans.
American Swimmer: What do they say?
Racestarter: Get set…
Brazilian Swimmer: Let’s do this thing! Twenty years of training, four years of waiting! Again it’s totally not true…what they say.
American Swimmer: What? What is it?
Racestarter: Go!

After the race

TV Media Sports Interviewer: Wow American Swimmer, that was an incredible race. How did you outswim these amazing competitors?
American Swimmer: Well you know what they say about Americans!
Audience: 😂😂😂

FDR: We’re going to bring back fireside chats.
Advisor: But sir, how can we do fireside chats if you’re dead?
FDR: They said I couldn’t walk when I had polio, and I did that, didn’t I?
Advisor: But sir, this is a very different circumstance.
FDR: We need a New Dead Deal.
Advisor: Sir.
FDR: Fear itself.
Advisor: Sir. I believe most people today chat online.
FDR: I didn’t become the first four term president with fear.
Advisor: Sir.
FDR: Fear-DR they called me.
Advisor: I don’t believe so, sir.
FDR: You know that weird thing that happens when you hear something the same time you read something?
Advisor: It’s happening to me right now.
FDR: It’s a load of bullshit. Fireside Delano Roosevelt they called me.
Advisor: You said “when you” just as I saw “when you” written on your cocktail napkin.
FDR: It’s all fucked. Everything is fucked, essentially.
Advisor: Sir. That’s not very presidential.
FDR: Well I didn’t die by being presidential, did I?
Advisor: Did you sir?
FDR: No, I don’t believe so. I don’t believe so at all.

Read POV today

Originally made for educational use, now repurposed for relaxation, there’s something about this clip that combines a ripe mix of 90’s nostalgia, ASMR trigger, and a sense of misdirection from expecting a Tim-and-Eric-inspired-comedic-twist but getting an earnest take on cranial nerve exams.

It has over 2 million views and most of these are people seeking the same ASMR head pleasure that made me rewatch this clip about eight times before drifting off to sleep last night.

But when I look a little closer, I find I have an unsettling question…

Are these people, or are they hyperrealistic robots? Maybe a pair of motorized mannequins pretending to be mates?

This whole shot is pleasantly uncanny for me.

The only audio is the familiar ambient hum of a doctor’s office. Because of the closeness, the touching, and the carefulness of the movements, the moment is oddly intimate, the kind patently associated with a doctor’s visit.

And what does the color palette of the shot remind you of?

Skin tones. It’s very human. Yet they could easily be shades of lipstick or foundation makeup or the fake skin of a highly sophisticated robot. The fact that this whole exam, a normally private appointment, is being recorded and publicized gives it a bit of a manufactured feel.

The robotic, square-jawed gaze of the patient, former hockey player Pat LaFontaine, makes it seem like the doctor could just as easily be performing that eye exam on a blinking medical-test-dummy. Another manufactured element, literally, is the doctor’s light instrument (ophthalmoscope?), giving him an unfair augmentation to examine his patient’s left eye ball.

All of these elements combine to make it hard to separate the human and inhuman parts of the video. The dead giveaway, in my humble opinion, is the sandwich line. I do believe humanoid imposters would be capable of imitating the digestive habits of people, but I don’t believe they’d be capable of apologizing for it.

My debit card info was stolen. Third or fourth time this has happened. This the era of identity theft. Although on the scale of possible identity thefts, nicked debit card info is like a cavity.

My morning started off with both my debit and credit cards being rejected when trying to get breakfast. Spent an hour and a half having to deal with that issue: getting a new card, submitting the paperwork to reclaim stolen money, and checking with the credit services team about my card activity.

Money is just numbers going in and out of servers, up and down in online accounts. I want to invest in gold and pay for things with gold shavings.

Gold shavings? What happened to my savings? I’m trialing You Need a Budget (YNAB) right now which is a personal finance app like Mint, with a more hands-on methodology that’s about “finding the right job for each dollar” which I somewhat get but need to run and read more about to better understand.

What ever happened to Robin Hood? Stealing from the rich and giving back to the poor is a damn compelling story. Maybe “the rich” is relative and reductive. Income inequality is still very real in the United States and there are loads of different ways to be “rich.”

Maybe the person who took my card did it out of necessity. Maybe I’m the rich person from their perspective and they feel completely justified in what they’re doing. Or maybe they’re way better off than me and this is how. The fraudulent purchases all came from Massachusetts. Maybe some vague MIT-associated junior-level hackers.

At least I have a shiny new debit card now. Though I wish I had a shiny new bank account balance.

Here’s what a week usually feels like:

There’s a clear point where one day ends and the next begins; division between the days and a sense of differentiation from one to the next.

Here’s what this week has felt like:

I can’t tell if it’s because I’ve done the same activities through the week, because my whole attention at work is currently focused on this project of getting our conference page ready for exhibitors and sponsors, because my insomnia is acting up, or there’s something else going on, but it has felt like the week, and today especially, is barely there and mostly gone.

I didn’t feel like today ever started and before I knew it, it was already nighttime.

One of my roommates moved in around May to replace a friend of mine who moved back to New Jersey and she’s looking to leave already. Barely there and mostly gone.

It’s the transience. It’s the continued come and go, where the coming is subtle and the going was already in motion. A disappearing act. Very unlike limited friction.

I had a small argument with my boss regarding the timeline for a project. Stemming from miscommunication, we both had different ideas about when something needed to be ready. Projected deadline was moved up a month. Friction.

The project itself involves setting something up on the web for a conference we’re hosting in April. I’ve decided to use a new premium WordPress theme, which is already looking great, but there’s some friction with using a new back-end and a whole new set of plugins.

It’s the Gather – Event theme available on ThemeForest.

I also spent time playing half-supporter, half-Devil’s Advocate with my coworker regarding Donald Trump. She’s understandably adamantly opposed to the possibility of him as President and can’t understand why anyone would support him. This election cycle has escalated the touchiness of politics into something akin to drawing swords at the very mention of a candidate’s name but we had an ultimately productive discussion extending into our larger social, economic, moral, political, and philosophical beliefs. Limited friction.

(For what it’s worth, I currently identify as a centrist and mostly align with Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson. My current decision is whether or not I will go with the Third Party vote or send a +1 for this cycle’s GOP ticket nominee)

Friction can be helpful because it allows us to gain footing and get somewhere. Ever tried sprinting across a sheet of ice? As opposing forces become greater, however, friction turns into scraping, and then into grinding, and then into a halt.

Tuesday, November 8th, 2016 is Election Day and this deadline is not changing. 435 voting-member seats in the House of Reps, 34 of the 100 Senate seats, twelve state governorships, two territorial governorships, and other state and local elections are happening in addition to this incredibly polarizing Presidential contest.

Limited Friction Day feels like a drag but tomorrow’s on its way.

I haven’t posted anything for a few months and I’m inspired to share again.

The first thing I noticed was that my previous theme had grown dull.

I decided to go with WordPress Twenty Sixteen theme, the default for 2016, for my new one. As I was deciding on a background color, I originally wanted to go with cream so it would resemble the pages of a Moleskine plain notebook for easy-on-the-eyes reading.

This in turn motivated me to look for an ice cream color palette.

This was okay but I wanted something more vibrant and without that brown stripe. I searched for ice cream on Adobe’s color app and landed on this “Sixties Ice Cream” theme.

This hit the spot for me. Much like actual ice cream on a hot summer day.

Now that the new aesthetic is settled, it’s time to share new content before it melts.

BE COMFORTABLE IN YOUR OWN SKIN OF ONE LINERS
WHEN THERE ARE INTERNALS TO BE AIRED

a haircut is arousal
personal care is the ultimate aphrodisiac
and there’s a damn near autonomous sensory meridian response
with the way this barber cares for my hair

Are you because you want it
Or because a lot of people want it   

Are you part of the show
Or running it 

Can you steal the script
When there’s no action in it 

Trapped inside the spotlight like the seal of orichalcos
Cruisin with newsless Huey Lewis like Gwyneth Paltrow
Marxism my words Groucho
Palo Alto is a fake lifechanging salvo
When all you really need is a mouthful of Tabasco
And tickets to see Rascal Flatts
Basic actors in the back fighting for their checks

The content of this poem is to harass all the assholes
Who want me to make sense and reach commercial success
When the only reason I do this is to find a template for the mess of existing and persisting

You know it’s all fun and games
When you’re controlling someone’s fame
Overstimulating basement jams and lame Instagrams

Can you hide behind the scenes
Nah mean