Hong Kong queues up

In honor of this comic I got Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience off the shelf and read it.

And, as sure as I am that I never read it, I am equally sure that most of the people who say “that government is best that governs least” never got past that first paragraph

HK has less social stigma around public drinking than you find in other places. Also a grudging tolerance of eating/drinking on public transport. Which, on today’s bus, means a man in the priority seats making the absolute baller move of draining one can, crushing the empty, and cracking a fresh one

Soylent Green is little people?

Although the Fountainhead’s politics made little impression on me, I still think of Roark when I see neoclassical motifs on an otherwise unremarkable building.

MTR Dalek reports for duty

Subskeeting a bit but I searched to see what folks were saying about Diego Garcia and the Chagos
Deal, and some of the results make me feel like I’m back at the bird site.

In many places a car caught in the intersection when the light changes would continue though once safe to proceed. In Hongkong they have to just sit there while glowering pedestrians snake around the car.

Someone has a beef with Lenovo HK and is paying Instagram to signal-boost their anger. I don’t love it, but it’s a bold gambit. (I realize I’m signal-boosting this but I’m afraid it can’t be helped.)

TFW you order off the all-Chinese menu, in Cantonese w/proper tones, and you still get the fork. #softbigotryoflowexpextations

Of all the horse-related place names in HK, “beneath the horse’s tail” (馬尾下) may be the most evocative.

Growing up with imperial units, one is told a mile has 5,280 feet. A number to be filed away for future use.

And then one day one is asked to think about chains, and told there are 66 feet per chain, 10 chains per furlong, and 80 furlongs per mile.

And so 5,280 makes sense. But 66 doesn’t.

The headline writer for the Guardian hypes this as “excitement” for the latest Beatles synthetic collaboration. Reading the article the most excited thing it discloses is a scholar saying it’s “significant” and “a sweet moment”. www.theguardian.com/music/2023/n...

Just so my profile isn’t showing as a blank feed, let me say:
1) Treasury tags are underrated, vastly better than those two-piece bendy metal file clasps; and
2) The demise of the metal-tipped treasury tag (pictured left) is a loss to humanity.

Thank you for your attention.