August 15. Ran the seven and a half miles in the afternoon. It was tough, and I was surprised to realize that I last did that in April.

August 14. I was recommended a piano book and was annoyed that it was only available on paper. So I searched on libgen, and sure enough, there was a PDF, which I downloaded right away. But feeling really bad about it. So I searched again and found out that the author offers it, against payment, also as PDF. So I paid and downloaded it again.

August 13. Watched The Life of Brian, there’s a pretty straight line from it to the Fermi Paradox.

August 12. Will replace the outside mirror on the passenger door of J’s Venza. I got the replacement mirror from a junkyard in Florida, the instructions on how to replace it is on Youtube with Russian commentary.

August 11. Tried to find a dark place with a clear view to see the Perseids, but here in the countryside that seems even more difficult than in the city. If you build a road in these woods, you will also make sure that there is light. Places for astronomical observations: Why isn’t there a Google service for that yet?

August 10. Personally, I just don’t care if anyone scrapes my writing. I assume that somebody does, everywhere. It’s maybe the true way to get published, in the future. My thoughts will get woven into the great collective web of semantics. These days, I feel that Google is probably my most faithful reader.

August 9. Oppenheimer – as shown in the movie – wants to build the atomic bomb because it’s his baby. He also wants to become famous for it – and he is vain. It remains undecided whether science or vanity prevails. It is convenient that he can refuse any responsibility for the way it gets used – so he can focus entirely on making the baby. When the bomb gets used and it reveals what it was all along – a cruel weapon, he can still tell himself that using it was strategically necessary, or appropriate as a kind of vengeance. (The Brueghel faces at the victory speech.) But these reasons do not convince him anymore. Now that his baby has been delivered, he can afford to doubt. He can afford to be against the hydrogen bomb because it is not his baby.

August 8, watched Oppenheimer. Convincing ambivalence.

August 7. Jeff Jarvis, The Gutenberg Parenthesis. I devoured this until the last page, expecting that now, soon, finally, at the end, there would be something awesome. There wasn’t. Disappointed.

August 6. All the effort the fish made to come ashore culminates in us wanting to live by the sea.