Good morning Reader and happy Tuesday. Here's what I've been jamming to:

11.1.002022 Ned

Frythm - Portals.022222

How do you build a clock that will tick for 10,000 years? In case you never pondered that question check out the farsighted folks at the Long Now Foundation. They are building a giant clock in western Texas they intend to last 10,000 years. The non-profit was established in 01996 (the long-termers denote dates with an extra significant figure to expand your temporal view) and has made significant, yet unfinished, progress under a Texan mountain.
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From the Long Now website:
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Ten thousand years is about the age of modern civilization, so The Clock will measure out a future of civilization equal to its past. This assumes our civilization is in the middle of whatever journey we are on — an implicit statement of optimism.

A midpoint? I, for one, hope we make it well past another 10,000 years. I want humans to make it to 022222 and create the portals envisioned by Frythm in their scratch-ridden, fuzz-muddled, star-twinkling single, released this year (002002).

But if we're going to make it to the portal years, we need to make some changes.

Palace - Fade

Another great release from 02002, Shoals, brought to us by British indie rock master-workers Palace. The album works well as a whole but a few tracks have emerged as favorites for me, in particular "Fade," which sports a music video fit for A Clockwork Orange-esque "enhanced interrogation" session. The Brits race about town as the double time drums beat and siren-like guitars duck in and out of awareness. Scenes of doom, gloom, and the Big Boom punctuate the boys' wobbling strolls around their English (rather walkable) towns.

Seems like Palace doesn't share my hopes for making it to 022222.

Vanillaroma- Check Your Optimism

022222? Orange County, California's Vanillaroma just want to make it to the next gig. The light-hearted indie punkers have a penchant for punchy, stylish lyrics and slick licks, plus quick-hitting choruses to keep it all in line. "Check Your Optimism" explores the duality of the modern LA-thing: become big and make a living off your art while retaining your integrity, creative uniqueness, and not be a slave to the powers that be. A tall order. Maybe a taller one now that the powers that be in the music industry aren't as human as algorithmic...

Never heard the voice of a generation so monotonous

I'm trying to be famous and I'm trying to be the opposite

I'm trying to stay nameless so that I can remain honest but

Flowers gonna grow, maybe I should be a botanist

Bars!

Hot Chip - Alley Cats

Were you missing some faint-jazz piano leading into a soft beat that builds into a muted indie dance banger? No? Are you sure? Sometimes you don't know what you don't know. Sometimes the body wants before the mind knows. Sometimes the body demands you go to Trader Joes at 830pm to get a bag of Scandinavian Swimmers, some dried mangos, and a box of toffee (*googles if guys can get pregnant*). Sometimes the body eats these things before the mind can stop it. And now the body has the audacity to send stomach-aching signals to the mind? At least the soothing yet driven "Alley Cats" brings the body a little relief.

Coldplay - Don't Panic

I blame my aforementioned sweet tooth on the Halloween spirit. And while I spent the better part of today searching for a scapegoat for my recent addiction to Coldplay's "Don't Panic" I'm now just going to lean into it, let the song play itself into and out of my regular rotation, and move on with my life. We'll enjoy our time together, and hopefully look back with fond memories.

<===>...And the rest of 'em.... a groovy psychedelic dance piece from the mixologist Avalanches... a far-out call-to-war from Ghost Woman... and when you're in the mood for Goth Babe, they don't miss.

<===>...As I near ever closer to the big 3-0, I did what any sensible, over-educated man in the Great Recession would do, and started a podcast. Maybe unsurprisingly to long-time Old Filters readers, it focuses on urban issues (yes, bike lanes, but also housing, emergency services, freight rail, micromobility, and trucks, big ol' trucks).

Check out my latest episode with Dhruv Gupta, co-founder of Axle, a trucking logistics data platform startup, where we cover everything from escooters to autonomous 18-wheelers, plus the video game that inspired Dhruv's passion for cities: https://open.spotify.com/episode/0l4ZHw8vVHs82kwkdOsEM2?si=b9eda4fad2c74f4e​

<===>...Have you ever had a nice conversation with a total stranger and walked away feeling elated or energized? There's some research to explain: Talking to strangers makes us smarter.

Now more than ever, we're isolated and don't get nearly as much social interaction as necessary to maintain our happiness, mental health, and reach the full potential of our humanity. Chatting with your local barista isn't to going to change all this overnight, but it benefits both parties at a time when everyone is basically starved for social interaction. So get out there and tell someone they have a cool hat. That's what I'd want a stranger to say to me.

<===>...And to close things out... or leave them open?

Gavin Shoebridge @KiwiEV Whatever you think is going to happen will be wrong. pic.twitter.com/8u5IIr9363 October 29th 2022 12,994 Retweets 72,949 Likes

Thanks for listening and see you in a week!
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Ned

​https://oldfiltersnewlight.com/​