April 2026

Misc > What Was Up

Listened to part of an episode of the podcast called "Sceptic's Guide to the Universe" (episode #1079). I've been following this podcast for a while but never listened to an episode. I like it. More of a conversation about different topics, with an intellectual/academic tone. e.g. this episode jumped from discussing a) hygiene during medieval times, b) a logical fallacy called "fundamental attribution error", c) agricultural science related to photosynthesis. (And that was just barely half of the episode.) Long episodes. I have a feeling I'll be listening to this podcast more often.
Another podcast I've been listening to (on walks) is "The Bowery Boys", which covers interesting tidbits of NYC history. Listened to 1) about the construction of an underwater railway across the Hudson River, 2) about the 'scandal' surrounding Robert Ray Hamilton (grandson of Alexander Hamilton), 3) about the Great Fire of 1835 which destroyed hundreds of buildings, 4) about the Ellis Island processing center and hospital. All very interesting listens.
Saw The Lost Boys (musical) on Broadway
Listened to the new Foo Fighters album ("Your Favorite Toy") and I liked it after listening through once. I just read some threads on reddit of people's reactions, and it seems people are underwhelmed at it. I think I can see why, but I still enjoyed the listen and would listen to the songs again. For what it's worth, my exposure to Foo Fighters is pretty much only the album "Wasting Light" and even looking at the track list from that, the only songs that are close to my heart are "These Days" (probably my most-listened-to song of theirs) and "Arlandria". I indeed should explore their stuff more. Anyway, the new album felt similar to what I knew their sound to be from Wasting Light, in a good way, so it makes sense that I liked it.
I obtained a free book called "The Marquis de Sade: the complete Justine / Philosophy in the bedroom / and other writings". I selected it because it seemed it could be an interesting philosophy book to have on my bookshelf of physical books that I barely (but sometimes!) look at (because I'm an e-book guy through and through). I just now read the Forward to the book, and this Sade guy seems to be pretty interesting. Apparently a masterful writer who was ostracized (maybe?) and jailed (for some reason) and wrote a lot, almost with the intention of seeing how far he could push the limits of ideas that go against all societal norms. I'm almost scared to see what that means, but I'm also intrigued. I get a kick out of people going against the grain (but I get the feeling this may go waaaay farther than what is probably my own wholesome version of "going against the grain", so I'm definitely not trying to make any claims about his work before I have any idea what it contains). Not sure if or when I will read more of this, but it will be on my shelf, with mysteries to be discovered.
Listened to "Cardboard Castles" (album) by Watsky (pop rap). I like it, will listen more. Spotify suggested a song from it after I was listening to Flobots (conscious hip hop). Added it to my current playlist of albums I like / want to listen to more (similar to what I was describing in 2025 Music Retrospective)
Working through Book Four of War and Peace - exciting times (seriously, I'm being slow at reading it, but the plot/character developments are exciting)