Sideswipe: Still Waiting
Richard Prebble's stale take on school lunches, did everyone in the 80s have this jug? 63 life lessons for those who need them (I do) and Tiger Woods new squeeze has a wild dating history.
He’s been thinking (but not deeply)
No lived experience of poverty? No worries. Thrice married, 77 year-old former ACT leader Richard Prebble reckons our kids don’t need free food because more of them are fat than hungry.
“…one in 10 children” is obese,” he offers, adding…”Only the loony left could think free food is the answer to obesity.”
This is quickly followed up with the some-of-my-best-friends-are-poor qualifier.
"I live in one of the poorest neighbourhoods in New Zealand. My neighbours, despite financial struggles, feed their children.”
The old but-they-can-afford-fags trope.
“We have increasing child poverty because of cigarette taxes paid almost exclusively by the poor. The middle class has quit smoking. When I visit a household with children and no food, every time all the adults are smokers.”
Deftly followed up with the wealthy-and-sorted-out-of-touch-on-the-cost-of-things piffle.
“A packet of 20 cigarettes costs $37.57. Enough to buy breakfast and school lunch for a week.”
Maybe if you had one 7-year-old girl child. At a push.
And then his mic-drop:
“The number of pupils who are hungry is tiny compared with the number who are overweight.
Design perfection
The GE12 Electric Kettle was designed by Barry Hudson for General Electric and in 1978 won the Australian Design and the Prince Philip Prize awards for Australian Design. The kettle was innovative in many ways; it was an early example of an all-plastic electric kettle with a single-handed opening-spout...We had a brown one (correct me if I’m wrong Mum). Did you?
So much to learn, so little time
I have some difficult decisions to make; circumstances have forced my hand and changes will have to be made. You can look at a problem from all the angles, forge a few unsatisfying solutions and talk until you’re blue in the face to the people around you, but sometimes guidance comes in the form of smart people like Nabeel Qureshi on the internet.
In Principles he lists 63 life lessons that he keeps front of mind. These resonated for me.
You are probably too risk-averse. Write out the worst things that can happen, realize they’re not that bad, then take the leap.
Do a review of your year, every year, write it out, figure out what was good and what.
Do things fast. Things don’t actually take much time (as measured by a stopwatch); resistance/procrastination does. “Slow is fake”. If no urgency exists, impose some.
Moving fast forces you to strip things down to the bare bones.
Send more cold emails. People respond! Assume everyone’s your friend.
Don’t “slow down” as you get older, speed up. Lean into changes, be curious about new things. Most people seem to go the other way.
Scrolling and reading too much drowns out your inner voice.
One fine feed
The ten most difficult words to say aloud…
10. Specificity
9. Ignominious
8. Statistics
7. Defibrillator
6. Magnanimity
5. Pulchritude
4. Worcestershire
3. Anaesthetist
2. Asterisk
1. Sorry*
* seems to be the hardest word Via AdamCSharp
Tiger Woods announced his relationship with Vanessa Trump, Donald Trump Jr's ex-wife and I gotta say, she has had a wild dating history.
The butter may be soft but the prices are hard out here in New Zilland.
If you haven’t checked out Utrecht’s fish doorbell, it’s up and running again. If you see a fish on their livestream, press the doorbell. This alerts the lock operator to open the lock and help spawning fish find their way through the city’s canals.
Pithy quote corner: “I wonder if the fall of Rome was this stupid,” - Matthew Stoller.
“If Kanye West was a woman he’d be in a conservatorship,” - Anthony Dominic.
“The airfryer is the greatest technological invention since Penecillian” - Gabriel Samways (14)
Be like Laine. She’s fab.
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Maybe recipes for over seasoned chicken breasts will be next.
Will Gabe quotes be a series?