Emchap's Shit from the Internet 05/5/21 š
The weather has turned in LA to the part of the year which I like the least. Things are fine right up until the hot part of Spring hits, and then as soon as it starts hitting 80 during the day, I spend six hours of the work day sweating and slightly miserable in my living room. (I am aware that it would be 10 degrees worse in the valley and I am weak; this is undisputed.)
Iām better at preparing for it than I was when I moved here (Iāve gotten much more willing to just turn on the window A/C, for one, and I keep a frozen gatorade bottle full of water to prop behind me) but it still is very much not my favorite time of year.
Tonight Iām flying up to Portland for a whirlwind trip, and was excited to have a day of cooler weather. I checked the weather report last night andāpossibly to herald my arrivalāPortland actually appears to be a little hotter than LA today. It made me laugh. Thankfully, though, it will be a little cooler tomorrow, the day that Iāll actually be spending in town.
Funniest of all to me about the whole flight is that for the first time in my life Iāll be flying first class (or whatever passes for first class on this flight route, which is not long)āI have low-tier status on Alaska, and I suppose that thereās not a ton of people competing for first class upgrades on short flights during a plague. It is a very silly upgrade, but a little exciting nonetheless.
I packed last night, since Iām leaving midafternoon today, and was joking with a friend that I really did have to stop and think about how the hell airports work. I havenāt flown since February of 2020, I think (same airline, same route), and I donāt entirely have the muscle anymore. I had to look up if I still had Global Entry and what that meant, practically. Itās a champagne problem, but it is fundamentally disorienting to realize how much my brain has changed in the last year-and-a-bit.
Shit to read
Talking about the technical implementation details of the handshake emoji, allowing it to contain multiple flesh tones.
Alison Bechdelās big into exercise.
More of an update on Basecampās whole deal.
Thereās many reasons I donāt want to have children but the absolutely unhinged parent culture of American public schools is part of it! Anyway please just pay the teachers more money.
God I hate that Iām now in the bracket where this was an actual useful explainer about what the fuck the teens are up to.
The answer is always some variation of Stoicism. I look forward to being texted about how this is not Stoicism.
Loved loved loved this piece on the failures of current mental frameworks around privacy when it comes to the data landscape we occupy.
Hell yeah time to Long.
Shit to eat
Wake up late on a weekend, realize itās the anniversary of your motherās death, and decide to make cinnamon rolls.
Toss a half a cup of lukewarm milk (by which I mean 3/8 cup cold coconut milk and 1/8 cup hot water), a room temp egg (cold egg with hot water run over it), 2 1/2 tablespoons slightly softened butter but honestly it doesnāt matter, 270 grams of flour, 6 grams of salt, 50 grams of sugar, and 1 1/4 teaspoons yeast into a stand mixer bowl.
Mix it up until itās dough.
Gather it into a ball, spray it and the bowl with oil, and toss it in a previously-warmed oven (now off) for an hour with a cover on it.
Leave 2 1/2 tablespoons of butter out to soften.
Punch down, roll out to 8 x 21ā; use the counter because the cutting board isnāt big enough.
Cover the dough with the softened butter.
Mix a half cup of brown sugar with 1 1/2 tablespoons cinnamon; this will seem like too much but will not be.
Spread that out on the butter.
Roll the whole thing up carefully.
Use dental floss to cut six rolls. This will not go as well as King Arthur suggests.
Into a a greased 8x8.
Leave 2 tablespoons of butter to soften out on the counter. Debate buying a butter dish.
Leave it to rise 15, then finish the last 15 minutes while the oven heats up to 400.
In the oven for 20 minutes, and then cover with icing, which youāll make by beating together 45 grams of lebneh, 2 tablespoons softened butter, 85 grams of powdered sugar, and a quarter teaspoon of bourbon.
Enjoy, by which I mean eat three until you feel slightly ill.
(Adapted from Cinna-Buns by King Arthur.)
Shit to watch
Hell yeah Orville Peck covering āI Will Always Love You.ā
Shit to buy
I love these earrings.