Early fall has become mid fall, rapidly moving into late fall at Three Point Four Media and, presumably, elsewhere. Or maybe it’s already winter. Hard to know. The timing on paying corporate taxes is confusing. I know it’s Q4, and that’s probably enough. Budgets are ending and also starting to build for next year, the inevitable rinse and repeat of the yearly cycle getting set to restart. Feels like just yesterday we were planning for 2023.
Ah well. Go Diamondbacks?
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An Article
Molly Seidel Might Always Be a Work in Progress. She’s Totally OK With That.
This is quite a profile of the surprise bronze medal marathon winner at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. She’s had many ups and many downs. Any piece that includes smoking a joint on the roof of a Tracksmith shop is okay by me: “You should run the Olympic Trials,” her sister, Izzy, said, as smoke swirled in the chilly air atop The Trackhouse, a retail shop and community hub on Newbury Street operated by the running brand Tracksmith. “That would be hilarious if you did that as your first marathon.”
This one about wildfires in Canada was also great.
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A Book
Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon
While the reviews about Michael Lewis being in thrall of Sam Bankman-Fried are accurate, I don’t think that fact is as damning as the reviewers want to make it. First of all, Lewis had incredible access to SBF before, during, and after his downfall. (The final beat of the book is almost too good to be believed, and maybe it is, given Lewis’ apparent proclivity for making stories prettier.) Going Infinite presents the most complete set of facts, a way to triangulate a lot of narratives about what happened during a confusing time. Taken as a single document, Going Infinite doesn’t stand up to scrutiny but it’s an impressive reportorial portrait with plenty of new information, and I find it hard to believe that anyone who was interested enough to read 288 pages about SBF wouldn’t read some other things that presented a different perspective. But maybe I’m wrong. Zeke Faux’s book is on hold from the library so we can do some comparison shopping.
The knives are out for Lewis, because he’s annoying, and has been that way for a long time, and the criticism of Michael Oher is ugly and unnecessary, but I’m not sure the problems of Going Infinite should be Exhibit A in all that’s wrong with his writing.
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A Coffee Shop
There are approximately one billion coffee shops per block (CSpB) in London. It’s astonishing. I thought Brooklyn had an aggressive CSpB ratio but the land of tea makes New York City’s most passionately committed work-from-home borough look like somewhere that does not have nearly enough coffee shops. Really good caffeine energy. Trade was a favorite in Shoreditch, a mix of people having nice lunches and dummies with computers pretending to work. Sometimes both. (It me.) Two bros next to me were talking loudly and passionately about their startup, which seemed to involve using bots to purchase tickets for important football matches. The most London startup of all time. Good stuff, lads.
Four out of five high teas with Prince Archie of Sussex.
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A Project
Nothing new launched in the last two weeks but we (read: Bill) signed two clients for projects that should be coming on line in the next couple months. Rolling rolling rolling keep those wagons rolling.
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A Run
A long time ago, back when I played real sports and wasn’t trying to be the best at exercising, I participated in a squash tournament at NYU. My opponent and I both had similar styles, which you could charitably call “chaotic good,” and played a spirited match full of athletic if not aesthetically competent squash. Between games, we chatted and he told me he was getting his PhD in something brain-related.
Late in the fifth and deciding game, the score 8-8 (the winner needing to get to 11 and win by two), we had a long rally. He ended up diving for the ball, returning it weakly, and smashing his head into the wall as he slid. I won the point (priorities!), then went to check on him. He seemed okay but a bit woozy, and said he needed a couple minutes, which I was happy to give him, being a gentleman and also quite tired from the match. So he’s lying on the ground, then sitting up and trying to figure out what to do. I suggested getting someone to check him out. In retrospect, I do not have any idea who would have played this head doctor role at a low level squash tournament but the thought was there. After three or four minutes went by, he looked up at me, got a grin on his face, and in heroic fashion said something to the effect of “screw it, I’m a neuroscientist and I clear myself.” One of my favorite sporting moments.
I won the next two points and the match, and then got obliterated in the next round.
Anyway, this is a long way of saying I am still not running due to a weird injury. If I was younger and dumber, I would have cleared myself as my ankle feels much improved, but the multiple medical professionals I’ve spoken with think I should give it another week. So I will. I am trying to learn patience. I also do not have gout, which is a relief. But I did ride outdoors on the bike for the first time in awhile and it was lovely, although cold. Gonna need some more bike gear.
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Two weeks until Bill’s back unless he’s busy filming FSU hand signals for Harbaugh.