• ⛩️ We went to a local shrine for Leo's shichi-go-san...and like that, the big event is over. We went to the photo studio, where we rented Leo's hakama, so he could change and so we could pickup the prints from last time. As a thank you we could pick one of a few different gifts, including a free photoshoot.
  
  We were a bit pressed for time, as we were all dressed up and the likelihood of us getting a decent photo at the shrine were slim, we decided to take some photos. Naturally just the photoshoot was free, we still had to pay for prints (which makes sense...but also makes it feel less like a "gift" and more like an upsell). Be that as it may, I'm glad we did take photos because as it turns out every photo was shot at the shrine was pretty much a dud for one reason or the other.
  

  

• 🧦 I have too many pairs of socks. And yet, I ordered a new pair of nice wool socks from L.L. Bean. These are to replace some cotton socks that I have that appear warm but are in-fact, not so. They're so comfortable and warm. If you haven't ordered yourself a pair of wool socks recently, you should.
• 🎸 This week marked the 43rd anniversary of John Lennon's death. Coinciding with that, Apple released a new docuseries, John Lennon: Murder without a Trial, which I binge watched. I always get a bit sad this time of year when I think about what could have been and what was taken from the world. I know it's silly, he died before I was born....but the series is well worth the couple of hours of your time.
• 💈 Leo and I got haircuts at the local barber shop. He has hit hair cut by the person who usually does it and I was across the room getting my haircut eavesdropping. I won't divulge their full conversation, but I'm glad in their conversation about vegetables and primary school, she also told him that tomatoes and other such things he "doesn't like" will appear in school lunches. I can already see see start of a wonder barber relationship between them and I'm excited for them.

The point here – the point I made 20 years ago to Chris Anderson – is that this is the foreseeable, inevitable result of designing devices for remote, irreversible, nonconsensual downgrades.

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Starting in 2014, I logged every slice of pizza I ate in New York City on the Instagram account NYC Slice. The results shown below are collected from 464 slices.

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President Joe Biden’s landmark Inflation Reduction Act continues the push for re-industrialisation by using tax credits, loans and grants in a bid to create a domestic clean energy supply chain. The FT looks at three companies using IRA incentives to invest in the US and examines whether the legislation signals the end of globalisation

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This blog post is going to be a cursory overview of the internals iMessage, as I’ve discovered during my work on pypush, an open source project that reimplements iMessage.
I gloss over specific technical details in the pursuit of brevity and clarity.

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• 🏊‍♂️ After missing 3 weeks of swimming beause of being sick or not 100% better, Leo's started to make up for it. He had swimming twice this week. I took him on the weekend and got to watch his progress...and he's progressing quite well! He's currently using the paddle board, kicking down about 60% of the school. This is helping him get more leg strength while also letting him practice taking breaths while swimming.
• 🦵 My right leg is healing up nicely. There isn't any pain except for the plastic covers they put to cover the entry points while I heal sometimes feel like they're pulling my skin when I walk. I've already noticed when walking Sophie up / down the hills what a huge difference this has made...before my leg would feel quite heavy. But not any longer! I'm curious how no longer having a backward flow of blood in my leg with affect my running...when I can do that again.
• 🍫 Leo and I watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. I really do like the older version much more than the newer one. Perhaps beause Roald Dahl wrote the screenplay (something I didn't realize until this viewing). Also, the music is much better and Gene Wilder is class. I hope this primes him for seeing the new Wonka prequel coming out next week here in Japan.
• 💴 The yen looks like it finally might start strengthening up a bit. With the usual exchange rate of ¥100 - ¥108 / USD, this past year with it about ¥150 / USD has been a pain. Most all of my expenses are in yen, so it doesn't affect me directly on a daily basis, but prices have been rising because imports are now more expensive. It's been at ¥147 and strengthening the past few days...I hope this trend continues.
• 🪟 The sliding glass door in my bed room cracked again. This first happened about a year after we bought our house and the house maker came out and replaced it for free because of a defect in manufacturing ...I reckon this is the same defect, but feel like they're gonna stick me with the bill. As it occurred at a similar time of year last time as well, best I can tell is the sudden temperate change is causing too much stress on the glass?