Four Random Things

A Friday Hodgepodge

Screen capture by the author.

1. If you like Wordle, one "pompomsheep" at Hacker News is developing a timed word-solving game called 18 Words. As of this morning, the game gives you 30 seconds to solve words of increasing length and presents your score, in shareable form, for the 18.

2. A recent post at GeekPress notes that $180,000 isn't a "living wage" in San Francisco, reminding me of my move, soon after the 2008 financial crisis, to Boston.

Still reeling from the sticker shock of moving from a three bedroom house ten minutes away from work in Houston for $1000 a month -- to an apartment the size of a matchbox in Boston for $3500 a month -- I would regularly meet people at biotech networking events who had just moved from San Francisco to save money!

On the positive side, since my wife needed to be within a short commute to the hospital for her residency, we were able to ditch our cars altogether since that part of town was very walkable and well-served by subways.

3. On long road trips, my wife and I enjoy listening to audiobooks. Unfortunately, our road trips are usually far shorter than they used to be, now that we're New Orleanians. A possible remedy for us might be The Escape Pod, a science fiction podcast for short stories. (Based on a cursory look, they seem to be in the 30-60 minute range.)

I learned about the Escape Pod by reading and enjoying "Why I Left Harry's All-Night Hamburgers," which I recommend.

And yes, each story is available for reading at the site.

4. If, as I do, you occasionally take a "liver holiday," you might want to peruse this article and discussion on what makes a good mocktail.

-- CAV