You sure about that? 👀

I find a lot more “soul” in older electronics. So many devices today are a minimalist thing with a touchscreen (or worse, thing controlled by your phone), probably designed to force you into a subscription. At least consumerism from a few decades ago operated by innovating to make you want to buy a new product, rather than designing it to be a trap.

Going back to the “soul” bit: I recently bought a Bang and Olufsen Beosystem 2500 (look it up) for my office. It’s a stereo from the very early 90s that cost thousands of dollars in its day. It sounds amazing, and has little touches that just make it cool. Like motorized glass doors that are motion activated, with warm accent lighting when the unit is on. The tape player didn’t work when I bought it, but I was able to replace the belt and now my childhood Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego soundtrack tape is playable again! And with an Aux input, I can also use it for modern stuff too to take advantage of what we’ve gained in media playback since ~1991.

Another thing to check, do you pre-warm the bottle? If not, it will absorb the heat of (ie, cool down) the coffee as soon as you pour it in. But if you get scalding hot water from your faucet or a kettle, pour it in, wait a minute, and dump it you will have a warm bottle that won’t feel the need to take as much heat from the coffee.

For what it’s worth, off duty cops who aren’t white were getting harassed by ICE in the Minneapolis area. Little different than class, but still something.

Don’t forget about Tobler’s first law of geography.

Everything is related to everything else, but near things are more related than distant things

Cultural patterns will generally follow migration of people, which will largely be localized, but of course there are exceptions in which case you can get some interesting blends.

At least in the Americas, you don’t buy avocado for sweetness. It’s basically a replacement for fat (with fats of its own). Think turkey bacon avocado, for example: turkey is a leaner meat, avocado supplements that, and bacon adds flavor and saltiness.

If you must get something sweet out of it, I’ve had good luck mixing it with a sprinkle of sugar, a splash of lime juice, and a little hot sauce if you want to be frisky.

Do me a favor: go to what was once (or still is) your favorite park and take a cool photo. Using your phone is fine, but I want you to take a few minutes to find a cool subject/perspective/composition combination. Maybe consider coming back if the sun isn’t at the best angle when you go there the first time.

Show me what you come up with!