Weeknotes #27

I continue to refine my working from home setup. This week that involved two things. First, a USB-C-to-HDMI cable that allows me to keep my MacBook Pro and my work laptop connected to the monitor and switch them using the monitor’s input control. Second, a USB ‘switch’ that I plug my keyboard’s wireless receiver into and that then plugs into both the MacBook and the laptop. The switch has a button that lets me switch the device to which it sends the output. (I have barely left the house in 4 months. Help me.)

In a recent episode of the Philosopher’s Zone, one of the guests referred to something called ‘telic possibility’ and listening to the brief way it was explained I got excited that it was a name for something I learnt about in a university philosophy class and have always found fascinating.

Let’s go on a brief digression: A criticism of theories of government based on the concept of a ‘social contract’ is the slight inconvenience that, for a theory rooted in consent, you never do actually consent, do you? Where is the contract that you signed, after all? And if there is no actual contract, how can you be said to have consented to anything? One response to this is to say that if you would have consented to it in a (hypothetically) perfectly just world, then we can treat the result as perfectly just even if the mechanism by which we reached it was different.

I’m not sure if that word salad made any sense but that’s precisely why I got excited. I’ve always wanted a name for this rhetorical strategy and thought that perhaps ‘telic’ was it. Alas, after doing a bit of further research, I don’t think that’s the case. The search continues.

I took Emma and John to the park on Sunday for the first time in… I honestly don’t remember when we last went. In part that’s been because the rainy season has been in full effect. Fortunately (unfortunately?), most of the rain appears to have come to an end. I should be taking the kids each day so they’re getting some sort of exercise and yet leaving the house has become such a chore that it’s very tempting to just stay inside.

Speaking of chores, I’m finding I no longer have the same interest in movies that I once did. I’ve long thought of myself as a cinephile but I’m not sure that’s the case any more. After both sat half-watched for months, I finally finished Westworld (the movie) and Castle of Cagliostro over the weekend. I thought maybe I was in a groove and immediately started Drive but gave up after 10 minutes.

I have no such difficulty powering through Law & Order. I watched the last ten or so episodes of season 8 throughout the week. I was sad to see Carey Lowell leave the show but I do have fond memories of Angie Harmon’s Abbie Carmichael so it was nice to see her again.

I saw in Apple Music that Brandon had been listening to Yo-Yo Ma’s Six Evolutions - Bach: Cello Suites (Apple Music). Two thumbs up from me.