The problem is... I have cats.
In addition to year 'round kitty litter getting kicked around, this time of year Jake and Jenny are shedding like crazy. This means fur is everywhere and hacking up hairballs are more frequent. Yuck. Every Spring I toy with the idea of buying new robots to help keep things clean (all my floors are hardwood, so it's very noticeable).
So every Spring I toy with the idea of getting new-and-improved robots. Then I don't because I don't want to spend the money only to be disappointed again.
Fast forward to a couple weeks ago and I said something to a friend about cat hair being everywhere and I was presented an option for a too-good-to-be true new robot that was being released on April 20th... the Narwal Flow 2.
So of course I researched all the pre-reviews of the product and did a deep dive into the competition.
The robot I was looking at a couple months ago was the Matic, former Google Nest engineers. The reviews were amazing and its reimagining of floor cleaning seemed a smart take. But it was way too tall. It wouldn't fit under any of my furniture, which means all the cat hair blowing under it would never be touched. So I passed.
I have mixed experiences with Dyson (I find them mostly sub-par) but was told they have been investing loads of their cash into robots, so I looked at some reviews. But their latest and greatest Spot+Scrub was getting terrible reviews.
The previous Narwal models were always in competition with Mova, Roborock, and Dreame, so I investigated their offerings. I had experience with i-Robot and Ecovacs, so I looked into those as well. After exhaustive research, I decided that the models competing with the Narwal Flow 2 weren't much better or worse, so I pushed the button on it because the offer I had was too good, then I hoped for the best.
After living with the robot for a week, I have opinions.
Which I will share tomorrow.
SPOILER ALERT: This is a darn good robot mop/vacuum, and my home has never felt this clean with any other robot before.
Don't worry about the impending doom of planet earth and all life on this hunk of rock... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts...now...
• Amaze! Cubed! If you haven't seen Project Hail Mary you should most definitely do that. And once you have, you should watch this interview with the book's author...
Now that's science fiction!
• Four Decades Meatless! April 22nd was Earth Day! Or, for me, Vegetarian Day! I became a vegetarian on Earth Day 1986... 40 years ago. My girlfriend at the time said when she kissed me that she could "smell meat," which was apparently a bad thing because she was a vegan. And so... I went to Burger King, ordered six regular burgers, ate them all, then never ate meat again.
Sure we broke up a couple months later and I could have gone back to eating meat, but I realized that the numerous allergy problems I dealt with since I was very young were... diminishing? So I decided to stick with it. And, sure enough, my allergies slowly faded away. No idea if it was the meat... or steroids or antibiotics in the meat... but my quality of life improved dramatically. It was not easy being a vegetarian back then because food options weren't as prevalent as they are now (especially at restaurants), but I stuck with it and never turned back.
• Series Two! One of the biggest surprises of 2024 was the BritBox series Ludwig. It's a murder mystery show staring David Mitchell in the role he was born to play...
The second season will debut this year. But when this year hasn't been disclosed.
• Peace! And so... disabled veterans peacefully protesting the Iran War is against the law now...
Fucking disgraceful. There is no bottom with this fucking administration.
• All for the B! I've been a fan of Cardi B for a while... then I became a super-fan when I found out she's a serious history nerd (and her appearance on Hot Ones sealed the deal). But the thing I love most about her (and her team) is that she loves her fans. So many stories of her being truly grateful to the people who recognize her amazing talent and got her to where she is. The latest from a fan who got seriously shit on at a show was fully redeemed when Cardi's team reached out to make it right...
@calvngaming CARDI B UPDATE 🪦🐦 ⬛ #cardib #littlemissdramatour #fyp #storytime #foryoupage @Cardi B @Xfinity Mobile Arena ♬ original sound - Calvin Losacano
I love how the comments in the original video had people saying "Yeah, Cardi is going to be pissed!" because everybody knows she cares about her fans.
• NEWSFLASH: Tim Cook stepping down this year, John Ternus confirmed as next Apple CEO. I hope that John Ternus has even a fraction of the gravitas and drive that Steve Jobs brought to Apple. Tim Cook always seemed like a capable CEO (he took the company to a three trillion dollar valuation, after all), but ultimately he didn't seem like he wanted to push Apple towards greatness. He seemed more like a "don't rock the boat and keep the money flowing to our shareholder" kind of CEO. Which is a serious problem for a tech company like Apple. I look at the products which debuted under his tenure... Apple Silicon, AirPods, AppleTV, ApplePay, Apple Music, Apple Watch, AppleVision Pro, to name a few... and I can't help but wonder if he was the one pushing these projects forward. Maybe. But I doubt it. And if he was, then he didn't do much to show it. With Steve Jobs, you knew he was driving the boat, and that's what Apple needs moving forward. It's okay to not want to overshadow your team, but you have to at least project that the team is under your management.
• Idiot! I swear, these dumbfucks are so low IQ that I finally understand why that's the insult they lob at other people. It's the "I know I am but what are you?" vibe...
So... I guess this whole insistence of America having a ready military force is all bullshit then, isn't it? Now you can have a bunch of soldiers coming down with the flu, mutating it, and spreading it to each other so they're having to call out sick from battle? God.
Now you can go back to inundating yourself with all the horrific things going on in the world. Sorry about that.
And so I have a new cleaning robot.
I'll write all about it on Monday. But for now all I can say is that my cats didn't appreciate my old ones, and they don't appreciate the new one either. Jenny is outright terrorized by the thing, as she always has been. Runs away the minute it starts up.
And Jake?
Jake is just annoyed. I filmed his reaction when it started up, and this is what I got...
This model is quieter than my old one, but he's still irritated. Just glares at the robot as it goes about its business...
Eventually it won't be new anymore. Jake will ignore it. Jenny will walk away instead of run.
And life will go on.
Albeit with cleaner floors.
Project Hail Mary is one of my favorite books. As a fan of The Martian and Artemis, I blazed through the novel the minute it went on sale. And I loved it.
When it was announced that they were adapting it to be a movie, I was dubious. There was so much in the book that didn't seem like it would translate well. But I had hope because A) They managed to make a good movie out of The Martian, and B) The project was being developed by Lord & Miller, who know their way around creating a good movie (mostly through animation).
Turns out I shouldn't have worried. This is the best film I've seen in a while, and sure to land on my "best of" for 2026...
Ryan Gosling is phenomenal in every role he takes on, but since he's essentially playing against a puppet for over half the movie, his talent is critical to making the entire thing work. And he doesn't falter. He sells it perfectly...
Highest possible recommendation.
On my MacBook Pro I always install the most bleeding-edge beta versions of MacOS X and the various Apple apps that I can get my hands on. This rarely results in any problems. Occasional hiccups, but nothing long-term or destructive.
But last week my email stopped working on both Apple Mail and Microsoft Outlook. Any time I click on a message to view it, there's nothing there. The emails are blank. They're just fine on the server, but on the MacBook they don't display. My guess is that the internal database where programs store their data is somehow corrupted. And no amount of rebuilds or restarts would resolve it. And so I decided to wipe everything and start over.
It's been interesting.
All the clutter that's been accumulating... all the abandoned parts and pieces of discarded software... all the fragmentation... all the things that made my computer grow increasingly inefficient over the years... it's all gone now. My computer isn't noticeably faster in all things, but it is faster in some. And also more efficient to use.
I should probably write down the steps I took to reinstall everything and just intentionally do a scrub and reset every year.
I'm just not sure it's worth the effort if nothing has gone wrong.
But it does feel good.
One of my most favorite parody sites, The Onion, has finally won their bid to purchase InfoWars assets, which notorious piece of shit Alex Jones lost after the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting won a judgement of $1.4 billion. He called them "crisis actors," despite all evidence to the contrary.
In celebration of this victory over somebody who really deserves to lose, I present this banger remix of some of Jones's nonsense...
FROGS!!!
Today on his social media, James Gunn announced the start of production for his Superman sequel, Man of Tomorrow. And he did it by revealing the logo for the film.
Now, it's been no secret that the big bad for the flick is Brainiac. A villain that could be very cool indeed if Gunn has cracked a way to make it interesting. And, let's face it, there's no reason to believe that he hasn't.
But anyway...
When I saw the logo my mind screamed "GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!"
Then I took a second look and my mind screamed "GAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" again.
First of all, here's Brainiac in several incarnations (including his ancestor, Brainiac 5)...
You'll notice a common element is his "logo," which is three connected circles.
But look at the logo for the movie... IT'S UP-SIDE DOWN!!!
And just as I was telling my mind to calm down... that they likely did it up-side-down because it fit around Superman's logo better... I realized that the lines weren't lining up, which was when the designer in me nearly came unglued...
A good designer would have made the logos work without making one of them up-side-down. But a half-good designer would have known to have lined up the lines! I mean, holy shit, how hard was it to do something like this...
So, as you can clearly see, I hate this logo for two reasons (though there's a third I didn't mention: you should be able to see the Brainiac connecting lines through Superman's logo).
I sincerely hope this travesty isn't the final logo. And, if it is, I hope that the movie ends up being better than this would indicate.
When I was considerably younger I wanted to make my Bible easier to study, so I added tabs and notes to it. I was worried about the tabs looking too "flashy" and distracting from the Word of God, so I made them out of masking tape. I even found Post-Its which were white instead of yellow.
Fast forward to today, and I was exposed to concept of a "Loaded Bible" which is a Bible that's been plastered with gaudy crap that's clearly meant to be some kind of competitive challenge with other Christians. The exact opposite of what my "loaded" Bible was.
And you don't even have to put the work in yourself... you can just buy one off Etsy for $250! Yikes. Performative Christianity has gotten expensive.
I mean, just look at this...
Bedazzled Bibles are the best Bibles.
And, on the inside? Bible scrapbooking at its finest!
Now, far be it for me to tell anybody how to study their Bible... I mean, it's refreshing to see that Christians are actually studying their Bibles at all. Maybe writing Scripture out with colored pens and stickers like it's some kind of craft project helps people remember what they're reading. Whatever brings you closer to your Faith, I guess. But turning Bible study into a crafting project? It doesn't seem much like study at all.
Which explains a lot about what we're seeing now-a-days.
Self-professed "Christians" who don't read the Bible. They don't study the Bible. The don't know the Bible. They can't even tell real Scripture from fake scripture out of Pulp Fiction. Heck, the president can't even name a favorite Bible verse... or answer even the most basic questions about the Bible. It's been proven again and again and again that these people are liars and scammers... and fake followers of Christ... yet people still say they are doing God's will? Which god would that be, exactly? Not any Christian God I know of. They're exploiting faith for power and betraying every Christian principle in the process. Yet their "Christian" followers don't seem to care. Not even a little bit.
Maybe because they spend more time decorating their Bibles than they do reading them.
After four weeks of being consumed by work, my house has become a complete and total disaster area. But I won't be cleaning up under the bullets are done... because an all new Bullet Sunday starts... now...
• It Takes a Village! Looks like I need to start playing Crimson Desert straight away...
Of course my objective in the game is probably going to be quite different than most people.
• Fries! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH! EXTRA LARGE PORTIONS MEAN EXTRA LARGE FREEDOM! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH! GREAT FREEDOM FRIES FOR THE GREATEST COUNTRY ON EARTH! AMERICAAAAA, FUCK YEAH!
@phoebeisginger1 why are we putting that in fries?! #uk #fries #usa #mcdonalds #culture ♬ original sound - Phoebe🧡
Now I want fries.
• Luna Luna! In 1987 there was an installation in Hamburg that was rather unique... it combined art with a theme park. Back in 2023, I found out about it when it was unpacked, restored, and went on a global tour. I toyed with the idea of flying down to see it in L.A. in March of 2024 as a birthday present to myself, but never made it. Then I promptly forgot about it. Enter Mike From the Party, whose amazing YouTube channel I subscribe to, and he's done a brilliantly extensive video on Luna Luna. It's an hour-and-a-half long, but it's interesting enough to be worth your valuable time...
One one hand, I dearly wish that Mike would make more videos like this. On the other hand, I worry that the quality of his videos will suffer if he does.
• This isn't just me being a dickhead! Another brilliant YouTube channel I obsess over is Folding Ideas. And his latest is an interesting take on Mr. Beast which includes a surprising behind-the-scenes look I never would have expected...
I'd argue that these YouTube channels are every bit as important and interesting as anything you'll see on television or in the movies.
• Ungentlemanly Free! One of my favorite movies of all time, The Ministry of Ungentlemanly Warfare, is streaming FREE (ad supported) on The Roku Channel. It's Guy Ritchie at his Guy Ritchiest, and has a stellar cast (including incredible turns by Henry Cavill, Alan Ritchson, and many more) and worth a watch if you missed it...
I can't even tell you have many times I've watched this film.
• Reversal of Fortune! Food for thought...
Yeah, ladies!
• Here We Go Again! Yes. Yes. I am still reeling from the Fake Moon Landing and Flat Earth idiocy clogging up social media since the Artemis II mission. I'm only able to stay sane because of the people debunking these dumbasses. However... there's also something to be said for just calling them out for being stupid and ignorant...
And this 11-year-old video from Vsauce is an old but a goody that absolutely anybody in the above video could have watched to understand why they're speaking nonsense...
But, of course, asking them to educate themselves is like asking for the moon.
And now I suppose I should get back to cleaning my home.
This morning I had just sat down on the couch to eat some Cap’n Crunch when I heard a woodpecker pecking at a metal vent on the roof. Jake was on the couch next to me and Jenny was upstairs. Both of them went running to the front of the house to investigate. A few minutes later the woodpecker started pecking again and... bedlam. The cats went absolutely nuts. But then the woodpecker must have flown away, and the cats went back to their respective corners to go back to sleep. So that was an adventure.
Earlier this week I had to clear space on my personal backup drive to make room for transferring some work stuff. I was about to delete a folder when I thought to open it and found this video inside. Jenny was able to climb stairs and the cat tree before Jake, so she often ran circles around him until he caught up...
Adorable.
And then...
I happened upon a Facebook Group called My Orange Cat is a Little Shit, and immediately felt the need to join. I decided it introduce Jenny to the group with my favorite photo of her. It's from when I was remodeling the guest room and she was examining the new mirror I had installed...
I love my little orange shit.
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