At first I thought, hmm, I live in DC, we’re not all that squee! And then I thought about all the times my entire floor has piled into one window office to watch a thunder storm or look at a rainbow. So now I’m thinking — do people in other towns NOT do that? Sad for them!

Every other song on that album is the best Christmas song ever performed though, so it evens out.

lol yeah, usually I’m kind of like, well, it’s sexist but the female part seems to be fake protesting so her brother and dad won’t think she’s a slut or something horribly patriarchal, I don’t love it but whatever. But this year I listened to the “Ella & Louis Christmas” version… it’s BAD.

To be clear, I don’t mean your take on all of Japan, but since my last trip in November I’ve been thinking I wish there was a war on cars episode about parking, biking, and being a pedestrian in Japan. (And maybe a separate episode about how overrated the Tokyo metro is! Transfers are a nightmare!)

Also as an aside, the cars in Japan also seem to be growing, like in the US. Last time we went, in 2023, I marveled that even work vans had short snouts and low grills, but there are a few new minivans we saw this November with grills that looked… aggressive.

I’d love to hear your take on Japan. There’s no street parking, cars are super skinny, there are a lot of people biking and walking, but cars are still prioritized and given way more space. A lot of areas don’t have sidewalks, and where there are sidewalks they are too small for the foot traffic.

I have not experienced this, likely only because I don’t see a lot of gen z in the normal course of my day, but there are three boomers I see frequently who are in church choirs and break into song all the time. THREE. They have nice voices, they are exalting god, they make me VERY uncomfortable.

Oh, no thank you!

It’s always so interesting to see how quickly action can be taken on traffic safety after e-bikes annoy some pedestrians, meanwhile when a car kills a pedestrian it’s just a sad accident, nothing we can do about it! (The pedestrian probably shouldn’t have been walking there, or like that, anyway.)

Also, I know it’s been like 20 years since Microsoft made Office a subscription instead of a program that you buy on a CD and download onto your computer, but I’m still not over it and I’ve still never bought another personal computer using Microsoft products.

(Also, why are they even offering a subscription to make the acceleration faster? “Pay me monthly to make your car less safe for you and everyone around you!”)

Where’s Wanda on Apple TV — only one episode in and it’s about a missing teen but it is weird and funny so far.

Such a cool and fun idea for ways to bring bird flu directly into your home!