Thomas Jefferson built this plantation and called it Monticello — “little mountain”. Note the difference in size, proportion and style between this, a real mansion, and a McMansion.

📚 Finished reading: On Great Writing (On the Sublime) by Longinus, fragments of a 2,000-year-old book which are as relevant as ever:

One should realize, my friend, that, as in everyday life, nothing is noble which is noble to despise.

And also, bringing to mind Nassim Taleb’s stance on nitpickers):

Preciseness in every detail incurs the risk of pettiness, whereas with the very great, as with the very rich, something must inevitably be neglected.

And many more!

You may not be able to tell, but there is a mound of (Waiola!) shaved ice under these red beans, and it is all delicious.

🍿 Casino Royale (2006) is one of the better Bond movies but has a little too much fun shooting on location and ultimately, at 144 minute run-time, overstays its welcome. Still, not having every scene be obviously green screened was refreshing. It’s strange to think that Daniel Craig may become our kids' idea of 007 but hey, it could be worse.

Behold, the Maryland state flag — one of the best in the Union — and state flower on top of the Maryland state desert, the Smith Island (birthday) cake. Best of all, this was a birthday we celebrated while on Smith Island.

The iguana on the right was in a bad mood: moments later it slapped the other one with its tail. So much for hanging out.

On a Caribbean island, even the view from an outhouse is approaching transcendence. Especially the view from an outhouse.

Analogy of the Week Award goes to Eric Levitz of Vox:

In our conversation, Przybylski said he doubted that using social media shortens people’s attention spans. To me, this is a bit like doubting that chewing broken glass causes oral discomfort. And I imagine most of my fellow heavy X users would agree.

Though not as big of an X user as I used to be, I, too, agree.