Conversations with My Night Brain

Welcome to Five Quick Things
for September 11th, 2025.

Today will actually be three quick things.

Number one, threads is a
lot like the old Twitter.

Of all the modern social networks,
blue Sky Mastodon, Twitter,

now known as X Threads has the
most pre Elon Twitter vibes.

Including random bots and
trolls that reply to a post

with no context whatsoever.

I still don't love handling
any information over to Meta,

but I also need some sort of
digital water cooler for my work.

I genuinely missed the days when it
was one social network Twitter that

I checked in on and knew what all my
peers were up to or talking about.

There's a lot of Discord communities
that I'm a part of that kind of

fill that gap, but it still feels
like I'm jumping from thing to thing

to thing instead of just one spot

and blue sky and MAs on
have their place as well.

But it is just a lot of hopping around.

Am I Chris V two over on Threads
for reasons that date back to when I

tried to quit Instagram 10 years ago.

Number two, new iPhones
announced on September 9th.

Once upon a time, I was a dude
who talked about tech stuff

with other guys on a podcast.

Since then, there's been a real
shortage of dudes talking about

tech stuff, especially on podcasts.

Anyway, I'm not starting another Dude's
Talking Tech podcast, but I watched the

iPhone 17 announcement video and as it's
been for the last few years, the numbers

go up where it's cool for them to go up.

And the numbers go down where
it's cool for them to go down.

I have an iPhone 13 pro that I'm recording
this video on, and when I compare it to

an iPhone 17, I know it'll be brighter,
quicker, feel snappier, but I still

don't really feel compelled to upgrade.

I might consider helping the other
members of my family who have older

iPhones upgrades to newer used iPhones
simply because there are new features

that their iPhones aren't able to use.

But four years on, I'm still
okay with my iPhone 13 Pro.

Maybe next year.

Number three, violence in
the USA bleeds everywhere.

In the big picture of parenting, this
is relatively minor, but having to

talk to my kids about avoiding videos
of real violence that could appear in

their feeds or be shared by friends was
a sucky conversation to have last night.

I sometimes wish we could
mute America up here.

To be clear, I do not wish violence
on anyone regardless of their beliefs.

I do wish consequences for their
words and actions, but I still

don't think that should be violence.

I saw the quote circulating that I said
he didn't get what he deserved, but

he got what he thought other people
deserved, and that kind of feels like

it sums up how I'm feeling about it.

I mean, you can't be a part of a political
party apparatus that talks with glee about

the good old days when you could have
a firing squad or take people out back

and deal with them in the old fashioned
way, and then be surprised that people

in your country take you seriously.

The other quote circulating that
resonated with me is from Andre

Braugher as Captain Holt in Brooklyn
nine nine saying, we don't cry when

a monster dies in a monster movie.

In my position as a white Canadian
man, there's almost nothing from

right-wing conservative talking points
that actually affects me directly

or even indirectly for that matter.

But I know from reading stories from
those with less privilege than I, that

the hate spewed from the mouths of extreme
right-wing commentators makes those

commentators seem like monsters in the
world of an immigrant, a person of color,

or someone in the LGBTQ plus community.

You and I who aren't affected by the
commentary and rhetoric can debate

whether he was truly a monster or not.

But for those who were directly
affected by his words and the

actions and policies he incited,
he most definitely was a monster.

And while 10 more commentators will
likely take his place, I think those

people are allowed to be relieved that
a monster is no longer threatening them.

You can even take a verse from the
Bible, the same one that so many of

those commentators use to justify their
treatment of minorities and it's possibly

way outta context to support that thought.

Proverbs 1110 reads, when the
righteous prosper, the city rejoices.

When the wicked perish, there are
shouts of joy and the USA went from

a politically motivated assassination
to a school shooting to commemorating

September 11th, all in the span
of 24 hours, and now they'll swipe

on to the next thing that happens.

It all feels so broken.

Normally.

This is five quick things.

Today it's three because I don't
wanna try and follow that last

thought with anything else.

Five quick things is a mini episode
of Conversations with My Night Brain

I'm doing so that I can just put stuff
out into the world without having to

have it all figured out quite yet.

if you'd like to be on episode of
Conversation with My Night Brain,

please get in touch with me.

I'd love to chat with you.

And that was three quick things
for September 11th, 2025.

Thanks for listening.