september 5 etc
No matter how old I get, the beginning of September makes me think about school.
In a conversation with my podcast partner Jon Hays yesterday, I mentioned that McGill always started on the first Tuesday in September (i.e. the first day after the holiday weekend), and, moreover, that we used to whine and bitch about that fact because other schools started a week later.
Also: last week I was in the Eaton Centre in Toronto and noticed a whole bunch of University of Toronto frosh walking around covered in paint (I think it was an Engineering thing).
TL;DR time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana.
I started at McGill on or around September 2, 1997, or approximately 884,000,000 seconds ago. That first year was marked by many things, including but not limited to Princess Diana and Mother Teresa dying within a few days of each other, the ice storm, and South Park's premiere.
Another thing that happened while I was a university freshman: on February 28, 1998, a fraudulent research paper published in The Lancet made the claim that vaccines cause autism.
You can draw a straight line between that last thing and our current moment in which a great many people simply do not trust science, experts, expertise, or education. You can draw a straight line between that and the end of objective reality (such as it was). Throw a rock in a pond and it makes a splash, but the ripples of that splash echo forever.
As Jonathan Swift once wrote, "Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it."
On y va!
π€π€ Montreal writer Arjun Basu and I are discussing cringe via LinkedIn comments right now in re: this post about how cringe converts. (The Hustle)
π€·π€· Nike isn't abandoning "Just Do It" but they are responding to the present moment with "Why Do It," a new campaign which seeks to "speak to a young generation that is 'hesitant to get out there because of this fear of perfectionism,'" said Nicole Graham, Nikeβs EVP and CMO. (ADWEEK)
π𦬠I still watch Kyle Mooney's old stuff on YouTube and as much as I like seeing Beck Bennett show up, when he does all I can think of is Buffalo Wild Wings. Take that, people who say advertising doesn't work! (YouTube/@kyle)
π΅π΅ Big Thief's new record is out today! (Bandcamp)
π΅π΅ This is my third-favourite Big Thief song and maybe you will like it too. (Spotify)
π§ββοΈπ§ββοΈ Warner Bros. Discovery is suing Midjourney for copyright infringement and, like, yeah... I've been wondering when this kind of thing was going to start happening. (The Hollywood Reporter)
π«π« In 2019, Seal Team 6 was sent to North Korea "to plant an electronic device that would let the United States intercept the communications of North Koreaβs reclusive leader, Kim Jong-un" but, fearing detection, they ended up killing unarmed people and aborting the mission. Kenneth Vogel dropped this on the TL as a gift link, so don't stress about the Times' paywall. (NYT)
π² gonna
πΌ go
π± touch
π³ grass
π· now
Be good to yourself and stay safe. I'm out until Monday.
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