Wavelengths
For me mental interest works like waves: When amplitude and frequency line up, the subject at hand captures and holds my attention, whether person or idea, maybe both at once. I have yet to find a better description for what things and people interest me the most in media other than the expression that someone or something is on my wavelength.
There are lots of things in this world that don’t capture and hold my interest for long, things that are not on my wavelength. Many of them are subjects that interest me, but after I’ve reached a certain basic understanding, my interest is exhausted. This would include school subjects like chemistry. After learning the basics, I was not interested enough to want to know more. If it had been a subject on my wavelength, I’d have wanted to read or hear about it at every opportunity, I suppose. But the harmonization just isn’t there. I’m not going to go back to review the contents of Physical Chemistry 101 over and over again every day.
I mention this as a way to explain what motivates my selection of topics here. I’m fairly certain that some of the stuff I write about here has long ago exhausted just about everyone else’s curiosity and interest. Some of them have moved on to other parts of the internet—maybe even off the internet and into the actual rather than virtual world.
The types of things on my wavelength are LLM technology, geography and climate, diet and health, social psychology research, libertarianism, and the limits of scientific understanding. Those are the things I come back to again and again, and for some readers it’s about like taking P.Chem 101 over and over every day. They get the point and don’t care to hear any more about it. I can relate. I feel the same way about the presidential contenders and other Kardashians.
My personal theory is that we’re all on our own wavelengths: there’s no reason to expect the same things to interest all of us the same way at the same time. To find the greatest numbers of people on the same wavelength, you’d have to stick to the hottest news of the day. You’d have to appeal to people’s emotions and keep that type of excited engagement going. You’d have to work at being viral. That’s not something I can do: I don’t have enough interest. You might get a large audience, but it won’t be as large as you might think.
I just pulled up a video of a song we'll be practicing later, and before the video, there was an anti-Mark Robinson (Republican candidate for NC governor) advertisement in Spanish.
And it's a wrap! The new oven has been installed! More importantly, it works! 😀 It took the installer nearly three hours, as he had to cut trim off the cabinet to make room for the oven to slide in. The old oven was a 26" oven (1960s), which are no longer made. The cabinetry was custom built around it! 🤦♂️ So we researched models and got the skinniest 27" in stock. The installer left a 1/4" for him to work with.
When it was time, I and two of the young 'uns helped him lift it into place (135 pounds), which saved him tremendous time. We got it slid into the cabinet in under ten seconds, he said it normally takes 5 minutes if he doesn't have a helper. He was grateful.
Katie made cinnamon rolls this morning to test drive it. Mmmmmmm, I had a 2nd one to ensure they were done evenly from both sides of the pan (they were). That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
The bottom trim piece didn't fit on (I need to have it machined to fit, we may just leave it off for now), but Katie didn't notice.
I'll be gone all day tomorrow, will file a report on Monday.