Have fun

quite liked this new take on why to “Make More Websites” – it is sometimes obvious and something along the lines of “do what you like…” (it’s not about money). To quote someone who in turn quotes John Gruber:

I was listening to the episode “Make Your Own Thing” from the Off Protocol podcast where Jim Ray interviews John Gruber.

They cover a variety of topics, including Gruber’s thoughts on the dilution of personal brand by publishing through “chain” platforms like Substack (I quite enjoyed the metaphor of a personal website where you publish your stuff to that of a chef/restaurant, but that’s a separate post).

Around ~1:13:00, Gruber quotes Walt Disney who said, “We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.” And he goes on to argue that when you’re forced to choose one of these priorities over the other — because you will undoubtedly face decisions where the two sets of values come into direct opposition — the company that prioritizes making movies over making money is fundamentally a different company than the one that chooses making money over making movies.

If you ultimately prioritize making money, then what’s going to be ultimately great about your company is you make a lot of money (for shareholders, for owners, for yourself, for whomever).

I never did any site to make money. It’s never about money. Money is made to be disposed of. It’s to be used for something one believes in, not to hoard.

Less for more

used to joke that sooner or later the 150ml tubes, which became 125ml tubes, will become 100ml as ‘standard’. In “COVID times” they shrank that to 75ml and finally, yesterday, I saw 50ml tubes. They make these seem bigger than they are.

So we all pay more for packaging materials, not products.

It’s not only Colgate; other companies do the same. It’s just that Colgate became “household name” (or brand).

In some markets they use sachets for toothpaste too.

10cc – Art For Art’s Sake

never truly pursued money (I still don’t). I didn’t see the point. Tennis, for instance, was more fun. Computer games were fun too.

In my entire lifetime, or in my adult life as a student, I didn’t think I’d pursue a “career path” (ludicrous term, conflating life path with “career”) that nets me the most money I can possibly amass. It would be foolish to do so and it would not bring happiness, it might even accompany evil eyes, stress, and too high an expectation.

Yesterday in Geminispace I saw “Work for the sake of work” and today a friend sent me the HTML/HTTP version of the same. It makes some good points. When people do art they typically do it out of passion. As for money? Think about it. As 10cc put it, “for God’s sake…”^*

Money can sometimes come if you do what you like. Sometimes it won’t come. And that’s OK. At least you do what you like and what might serve society best, with or without reward/compensation for it.

Sometimes the best paying jobs are jobs that actively harm society. True story!

The reason everyone is forced/pressured/shamed into work (as in salaried activity) is the assumption is that without this “social norm” people would be lazy and society would not improve. It would become “unproductive”.

Work that you go to (e.g. office, workplace) out of fear or pressure is a thing that leads to misery. But capitalism does not think in terms like Maslow’s.

_____

^* Lyrics:

Gimme your body
Gimme your mind
Open your heart
Pull down your blind
Gimme your love, gimme it all
Gimme in the kitchen, gimme in the hall
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake
Gimme the ready's
Gimme the cash
Gimme a bullet
Gimme a smash
Gimme a silver, gimme a gold
Make it a million for when I get old
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake
Money talks so listen to it
Money talks to me
Anyone can understand it
Money can't be beat, oh no
When you get down, down to the root
Don't give a damn don't give a hoot
Still gotta keep makin the loot
Chauffeur driven
Gotta make her quick as you can
Give her lovin' make you a man
Get her in the palm of your hand
Bread from Heaven
Gimme a country
Where I can be free
Don't need the unions
Burying me
Keep me in exile the rest of my days
Burn me in hell but as long as it pays
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake
Art for art's sake
Money for God's sake

Source

What a sh–show.

‘ve noticed something quaint about Whiskey Pete and the circus that mans the Pentagon and uses 9/11 (after 25 years) to double down on self harm and global disdain/hatred for the US.

When or if Iran does real damage to US army assets, the US first tries to hide (cover up) or deny anything happened. Failing that, it belittles the impact, e.g. saying no casualties. Israel does the same thing.

If media with credibility and data shows decent evidence, US media will try to say it’s made in North Korea or imported from elsewhere (or attack the media for “helping Iran”).

If disproven, it’ll blame “Russia” for giving help (like location/information from satellites). Now it blames “China”.

Never blame the man who stated this war? Never blame a dumb war that clogged up oil and gas traffic, resulting in direct financial hurt to everyone on this planet?

If a president needs to commit some more crimes (like bribing voters) to distract from military and financial shambles, maybe it’s time to impeach him already.

“The researchers were particularly interested in three psychological needs identified by self-determination theory: relatedness, or having meaningful relationships; competence, or feeling capable and effective; and autonomy, meaning that our actions feel voluntarily chosen rather than forced on us.” -“Not Money or Pleasure: Scientists Say They’ve Found The True Key to Happiness” (5 September 2026)

n capitalism, people are meant to conflate accumulation of capital (or material assets) with “success” and that sort of success is interchangeable with happiness. But this is a gross oversimplification as pursuit of capital is not in its own right joyful or pleasant. Many people derive pleasure from social things because they are, after all, “social animals”.

Those who seek improvement in their lives by working hard to gain more money may find that it’s easier for them to purchase more things or better things. But at what cost?

Also, more personal belongings can one day became liabilities or burdens. This is why many people, especially late in their lives, give things away and move into smaller, simpler places/spaces.

Hard to find

oday we had a lot of spare time, so we watched some movies, including White Apache (1987), which relates to others (Bianco Apache). It’s actually a gory (but censored, a lot of stuff blurred out of view) movie with a sad ending. Lola Forner (from Spain) and Sebastian Harrison (from Italy) star in it and it seems like their career went downhill years if not decades later.

They didn’t make it into famous lists and the movie is relatively obscure by now.

Be prepared

rowing up with many dogs, I loved dogs. Don’t get more wrong, I’m a “dog(s) person”. Years ago we thought about getting a dog ourselves. We ended up delaying and we only bought things for a dog, except the dog. Delays delays…

We have one neighbour with a Bully XL. I don’t like those dogs (the breed) because I don’t trust them. I’ll probably never trust any Bully XL, not just because of what I read in papers (they even murder their own elderly owners sometimes) but the actual ban on such dogs (and sometimes “culls” too). The UK identified them as unworthy of the risk.

I’ve had to mentally prepare for a scenario where this one Bully XL goes berserk and decides to attack me. I’ve decided that because this dog is short-legged and clearly overweight sprinting away from it would be effective enough; he cannot catch me and I can run for a lot longer before stamina becomes an issue. This Bully XL is around 60-70KG, it’s very short, and it’s just a “fat boy” basically. Second option is, hop on the roof of a nearby car. This “fat boy” cannot even jump over his home’s fence, surely a car would be “too tall” for him. Failing that, in case I need to wrestle such a dog, avoid neck bites or falling to the ground. Fatalities won’t be possible due to a bleeding leg or hand.

Of course they could just put a muzzle on this Bully XL. But guess what… of course they don’t and lecturing an old lady about it ain’t “my cuppa tea”.