One of the oldest blogs that still updates everyday. Jason Kottke reflects:

On March 14, 1998, I was 24 years old and dumb as a brick. Oh sure, I’d had lots of book learning and was quick with ideas, but I knew shockingly little about actual real life. I was a cynical and cocky know-it-all. Some of my older posts are genuinely cringeworthy to read now: poorly written, cluelessly privileged, and even mean spirited. I’m ashamed to have written some of them.

But had I not written all those posts, good and bad, I wouldn’t be who I am today, which, hopefully, is a somewhat wiser person vectoring towards a better version of himself.

I visit Kottke.org once in a while, but I am glad that he still updates regularly. Congratulations, Jason! See you in 2028.

Có những niềm riêng không nên nói hết. Có những lúc trong đầu nghĩ gì là viết xuống. Nhiều lúc bịa chuyện chế nhạo (satire) cho vui bởi bị nhiễm của những danh hài (stand-up comedian) của Mỹ. Nhưng tại viết dở quá (có một chế mười) nên bị coi là thật. Bị cảnh cáo rồi. Còn viết bậy viết bạ nữa là mất cả chì lẫn chài. Thôi thì từ nay tôi thề sẽ tự kiểm điểm lại lời viết và cảm nghĩ của mình.

Hôm thứ Hai lúc đưa hai thằng con lớn đi tập bơi về, tôi hỏi thằng Đạo nếu sau này cha mẹ không còn ở chung nữa con sẽ ở với ai. Nó trả lời rằng nó không chọn lựa được vì nó yêu cả hai. Mẹ thì nấu đồ ăn ngon cho nó ăn còn bà thì la rầy nó. Nếu ba rầy la con tại sao con vẫn muốn ở với ba? Vì mỗi lần con làm sai ba la rầy con để con sửa lại. Tôi ngạc nhiên và hơi xúc động. Tôi cứ tưởng nó rất ghét tôi mỗi lần tôi rầy la nó. Thế mà nó hiểu được như thế. Tôi cũng cố gắng lắm để bớt la rầy tụi nó nhưng không hét không thằng nào nghe theo. Đánh thì không nỡ ra tay. Không hét nữa thì chỉ còn thờ tụi nó luôn cho rồi.

Tôi khen thằng Đạo thông minh thì thằng Đán nói còn nó thì ngu. Tôi hỏi nó thế còn con chọn ở với ai? Nó nói là không hiểu. Thằng Đạo giải thích rằng nếu như ba mẹ không còn yêu nhau nữa thì nó sẽ chọn ở với ai. Nó trả lời rằng nó sẽ không ở với ai hết. Nó sẽ ra đường ở. Tôi cười và nói con chẳng những thông minh mà còn hài hước nữa. Sau này con nên làm comedian. Nó hỏi vậy làm comedian có nhiều tiền không? Rất nhiều. Con có thể làm 20 triệu đô một tiếng đồng hồ trong khi đó ba làm chỉ 20 đô một tiếng. Con thấy có khác không? Thằng Đạo không thể nào tin nỗi.

Chris Rock làm một show (một tiếng đồng hồ) cho Netflix với giá 20 triệu đô. Dave Chappelle làm hai show cho Netflix với giá 40 triệu đô. Mẹ nó mong muốn tụi nó làm bác sĩ hoặc nha sĩ. Tôi thì muốn thằng Đán làm comedian. Làm vài tiếng đồng hồ sống cả đời. Đó mới đúng là giấc mơ của Mỹ.

French-comedian Gad Elmaleh provides his hilarious perspective as an outsider on American’s culture, slang, and grammar. His materials are not too heavy but not too cheesy either. The jokes are just right. He’s good.

I had a brief conference with Xuân’s teachers this morning. They described him as energetic, curious, and strong-willed. On the positive side, his strong-willed allows him to focus on a project for long time. On the negative side, he has to have something when he wants it badly. Xuân loves to be physical. He enjoys instruments and often use toys to make noise. He also loves to sing.

They are working with him on using toys and food for their intended purposes. He might be bored with the toys and the food; therefore, he uses his creativity to do something else. Shouldn’t we encourage his imagination? At home, he turned everything into musical instruments.

They are also working on getting him to play gently. With two older brothers, Xuân can be a bit rough, especially when the older brothers don’t physically hit him back. I kept telling them to stop him. He should not be hitting. We have been through these before. Đạo used to get into trouble a lot for scratching other kids.

Now he is very gently. Sometimes he just unintentional plays a bit rough. Like last night, he bit Xuân while they played together. He was meant to bite lightly, but he left his teeth marks on Xuân’s finger. It drives me nuts that he does this repeatedly. The other day, he meant to touch Đan’s face gently, but he slapped him with red finger prints. He’ll learn one day after I yell at him enough.

The whole world knew. He fucked porn stars. He had prostitutes pissed on him. He grabbed women by the pussy. He harassed girls sexually. He cheated on his previous wives. Of course, he cheated on her too. God knew and she knew. Neither of them gives a fuck. A pig will always be a fucking pig, and yet a pig can be the president of the United States too. The bar can’t get any lower than this.

Lúc trước thấy một chị họ bên vợ tắm cho thằng con 13 tuổi tôi hơi ngạc nhiên. Giờ thằng lớn đã gần 9 tuổi mà còn phải có ba phụ tắm cho.

Sáng nay nó muốn ăn cereal và muốn tôi đi làm cho nó. Tôi bảo con tự làm được mà sao phải. Chỉ cần lấy tô, muỗng rồi đổ sữa và cereal vào. Thế mà nó cũng cằn nhằn đợi tôi la mới thôi.

Hôm nọ nó bảo rằng nó chưa có khuynh hướng đi đại học vì nó vẫn còn muốn ngủ chung với ba. Chú tôi từng nói nếu để nó ngủ chung nó sẽ ngủ đến 18 tuổi. Chắc là vậy rồi.

Sam Dolnick writes about “The Man Who Knew Too Little”:

Donald Trump’s victory shook him. Badly. And so Mr. Hagerman developed his own eccentric experiment, one that was part silent protest, part coping mechanism, part extreme self-care plan.

He swore that he would avoid learning about anything that happened to America after Nov. 8, 2016.

When I lived in Poughkeepsie, New York and worked at Vassar College, I had no internet and no cable in my apartment. I spent most of my nights reading and watching movies. I knew so little about politics. I wish I could go back to those days now.

Ellen Barry:

Limited risks are increasingly cast by experts as an experience essential to childhood development, useful in building resilience and grit.

Outside the Princess Diana Playground in Kensington Gardens in London, which attracts more than a million visitors a year, a placard informs parents that risks have been “intentionally provided, so that your child can develop an appreciation of risk in a controlled play environment rather than taking similar risks in an uncontrolled and unregulated wider world.”

I am guilty as charged for being over-protective. I still watch every move my toddler does when he’s at the playground. My first boy fell down from the top of the slide. Thank goodness the ground was mulch not concrete. My second boy never seemed to learn his lesson and I don’t want to spend hours in the ER room afterward, which we did several times already. Call me a sucker and a typical parent all you want, but I rather be cautious than sorry.

David Remnick:

The next significant chapter in this stress test for liberal values will be the midterm elections of November, 2018. If the Democratic Party fails to win a majority in either the House of Representatives or the Senate, Trump will be further emboldened. His capacity for recklessness will multiply and go unrestrained. The Republican leadership, which has already proved shocking in its cowardice, will be even less inclined to challenge him.

The Republican leaders are beyond coward. They are a bunch of fucking sycophants.

A practical guide on typography that covers everything from classifications to principles. It is well-written with tons of visual examples. The text face in the book is set in Retina, by Tobias Frere-Jones. It’s a good choice. Unfortunately Poulin who designed the book himself ruined it with vertical lines. They are so distracting. In addition, the type designer profiles, which are written in a couple paragraphs, are set in bold font with vertical lines. It is so disappointing to see a book on typography is not so readable.