Mounds o’ Fun

👷 We started the week with a bank holiday (Labor Day) so we drove an hour south of Columbus to Chillicothe to visit the Hopewell Culture National Historical Park.

🏞️ In case you’re wondering—as I was—no, a National Historical Park is not the same thing as a National Park. ^[1]

🚴 We also took our bikes along and rode 18 miles along the Paint Creek Recreational Trail.

⛈️ A big storm moved through Friday afternoon bringing strong winds and hail with it. When it was over our yard was covered with ice pellets.

🍻 Friday also marked another installment of what has become an annual tradition: Columbus Oktoberfest. We enjoyed German beer, German food, and more than a little people watching.

🏈 I was invited to join a fantasy football league for the new NFL season. I missed the draft so I have a team that was chosen for me by a bot or something. I have no idea what I’m doing, but it’s fun to watch the points add up. Or not. I got smoked on Sunday. But on the plus side, there’s nowhere to go but up.

🌡️ Because I’m trying to be more conversant in metric measures, especially temperatures, I created an updated version of my Celsius/Fahrenheit Cheat Sheet. It’s available on my Projects page, along with a bunch of other junk I’ve made.

Listening

• I was excited to listen to David Gilmour’s new album, Luck and Strange. Frankly, though, I was disappointed. It was just meh.

Reading

• What‘s Next by Melisa Fitzgerald and Mary McCormack

• Killed by a Traffic Engineer by Wes Marshall*

• “Cars Have Fucked Up This Country Bad” by Hamilton Nolan (How Things Work)

• “What a 160-year-old theory about coal predicts about our self-driving future” by David Zipper (The Verge)

• “Challenging The Myths of Generative AI” by Eryk Salvaggio (Tech Policy Press)

• “George Clooney and Brad Pitt Are Hollywood’s BFFs” by Zach Baron (GQ)

Watching

• Watched the first episode of English Teacher but it didn’t grab us. Probably will not watch any more of this.

• The Fall Guy is neither good nor bad. Watchable. Once.

• Season 4 of Only Murders in the Building is off to a so-so start. I’m hopeful that the pace will pick up soon.

That’s all, folks. Have a great week!