🎥 The only problem with this otherwise delightful NYT cooking & Kenji Lopez-Alt video on cooking hamburgers is that my kids talked me into making hamburgers for dinner while we watched it. Admittedly, this isn’t actually a problem.
🗞️ Hulk Hogan, shirt-shredding Superstar of Pro Wrestling, Dies at 71, New York Times Obit.
Hogan was the face of pro wrestling for decades, with his blond hair and horseshoe mustache, colorful bandannas and massive biceps, which he referred to as “24-inch pythons.”
RIP.
A year ago today, Paco started jiujitsu. Surprisingly, I never posted his original “First day of class” photo. I did post his first stripe on his white belt. Here’s his first day of class pick.
My God it surprises me how much I can miss that little guy. 💔
I’m so glad I took that snapshot.
🗞️ Colbert and the End of Late-Night TV, Ben Sass, Wall Street Journal
That, ultimately, is why the end of the Late Show matters historically. Mr. Colbert wasn’t attempting something as important as what Carson did—or his heirs David Letterman, Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. As much as they made a meaningful mark on American culture, they weren’t essential to the life of the republic. But this fading of an era is occasion to acknowledge that having some shared things does matter to a stable political culture.
Broke out the french press after a long hiatus. Too long, indeed. ☕️
Wheels up in PHX. Heading to a funeral later today—father of a good friend who lived to see 91—in California.
So… the big kid had to get an appendectomy today—he’s out, resting, and my wife—who is at the hospital with him—and I are both praying and hoping he wakes up to walk “four times” so they can send him home tonight.
I finally bought a sous vide circulator (during the Prime Day sale), and tonight I just ate the best steak I’ve ever cooked. It was perfect.
People ask me all the time “how hot is it, really, where you live in the summer?”
Welp. I woke up just after 12:30am to get some water and thought to myself, “self, how hot is it outisde right now?” And behold, MySelf found the answer to my internal mental query.
Posting this on by personal blog, lets I forget one day:
On a Mac:
Select any number of files in the Finder
Hold the option key and select File -> Slideshow Items
TIL.
It’s things like this that make the Mac such a wonderful machine
For the repose of the soul of Victor C. Charnetsky (father of a very close friend of mine), I pray and ask that you remember him.
🗞️ The 2025 War on the Rocks Summer Fiction Reading List
“Forget the algorithm — this list was created by the humans who bring you War on the Rocks. Here, they share some of their favorite works of fiction.”
🎵 From Capelton Hill - Stars - ★★★★☆
I missed this album in the post-pandemic malaise in which I stopped listening to music regularly. Lovely to (re)discover.
As they say, credit where due. Trump made the right call taking out those nuclear emrichment sites. I didn’t think he’d do it. Risky, yes. All public policy, foreign policy most of all, is a choice over trade-offs because there are no solutions. The world is safer for this decision.
🗞️ The Real Reasons Your Appliances Die Young | Reviews by Wirecutter
- Survivorship Bias
- Government Regulations
- Consumerism
Eleven years. Loving each other through good times and bad, sickness and health…
Best night of training in months. Three consecutive submissions (2 blue belts, 1 upper white), and survived (ie., I did not tap put) to a purple belt. 10 months in, jiujitsu is starting to really click.
Today I learned that Dodd-Frank includes a prohibition against insider trading on private, government information, and that in financial circles it’s called “the Eddie Murphy Rule” after the film Trading Places.
The kids made it a good day. Took me to lunch after Mass, and later we went to a city pool. I’m grateful they knew it would be hard for me today: so they made the day that Paco would have (Paco was always the one to plan how to make your day great).
It’s Father’s Day, but someone is missing. I miss this guy so very much. He was “the strongest avenger” in our house. And he never let a day like today pass without celebration. So, I’ll rally for Paco—my buddy bear, my “el torrito”, but he’s not here. And my day will always be incomplete.
