the kiddie pool is gone and it looks like they turned that area into a splash park

For four summers, I was a lifeguard at the community pool.  Back in the day, there were: 

• a primary pool; 50 meters long, and 5 feet at its deepest.  At one end were 6 25-yard lap lanes; at the other was a "shallow end" for small children   
• a diving tank (not pictured) that was 16 feet at its deepest
• a "kiddie pool" that was wading depth for toddlers.   

I recently noticed that the kiddie pool is gone and it looks like they turned that area into a splash park.  Maybe for insurance reasons, since many parents did not exactly watch their kids, maybe for maintenance reasons, since it's probably much easier to clean up a splash park than that tiny pool with all the stuff that babies do in it. 

I also noticed across the street that the high school has this big new addition/wing where the "temporary" trailers used to be.  (I guess they really did end up being temporary!)

(Note: this post was uploaded to this blog on Dec 23, 2025, backdated to Aug 13, 2021, which was the date of the conversation this was transferred from) 

Jupiter's Legacy

I haven't read the comics; just seen the Netflix show.  Reading the synopsis of the comics, it doesn't seem like a particularly faithful adaptation.  That can be fine, but there are problems with the structure of the storytelling.

The basic premise of the show is the conflict between two generations of superheroes, where the codes of conduct the old superheroes lived by maybe don't work anymore.  This is a great idea, with a lot of potential.

The series begins when the next generation are small children, then jumps forward to when they're young adults who are joining their parents as superheroes, and then flips back and forth between the present and the time before their parents gained their super powers.  Flipping back to the past can be a great technique when the events of the past directly affect, or provide a mirror for, the events of the present; unfortunately, the scenes of the past have little to zero bearing on the scenes in the present.  We are simply being shown two different stories in parallel. 

There are at least a couple of approaches that could have worked:

1. If they want the past to be about the period before the old generation got their super powers, then the "present" time period should be when the next generation are small children, before their powers manifest, so that we can examine the similarities and differences between what generation went through when their powers were nascent.
2. If they want the present to be when the next generation are young adults at the beginning of their careers as superheroes, then the past time period should be just after the old generation got their super powers, so that we can examine the similarities and differences between what life was like as a super in the "good old days" versus the now.
   

The promised premise suggests #2, but the show's choice is to take the past from #1 and the present from #2, and it just doesn't work at all.  

 

Me 'n Spotify: the passage of time

Sometimes you're just sitting there, minding your own business, and Spotify plays a hit from your childhood like Naked Eyes' "Always Something There to Remind Me", and you glance up and notice that it's the 2018 remaster and think that it makes sense that they remastered it for the 25th anniversary of the song, and then...  and then.... and thennnnn....

Sometimes you're just sitting there, ...

note: posted here on 3/29/26 and backdated to 3/29/21, when it was originally shared with friends on FB

The perverse incentives of bag-based trash dropoff pricing

The Burlington drop-off center hasn't accepted trash since the pandemic began, and it was the only spot in Chittenden County where you paid by weight.  We produce very little trash outside of plastic packaging, so being forced to pay by bag at the South Burlington drop-off center has roughly doubled the cost of disposal.  

Worse, the pricing by bag creates a perverse incentive: our household trash bags cost $6 per bag to dispose of, but I can buy contractor bags, stuff 4 household trash bags into the contractor bag, and pay $8 to dispose of the contractor bag, instead of $24 for the household trash bags individually.  

Hauling our own is still cheaper than having it picked up, because we produce about 2-3 bags of household trash per month, and last we checked, a private contractor costs $35/month.

Spotify recommendations

Me:

Spotify: You've liked "Buddy Holly", "Road to Nowhere", "Harborcoat", "Don't Get me Wrong", "Wave of Mutilation (UK Surf)", "Gloria", and "What's Love Got to Do With It"

Me: Yes, and..?

Spotify: [Begins playing "Xanadu"]

My primary experience with Xanadu is that it was one of the songs the Wanamassa school music teacher had us sing, along with "Movin Right Along" and "It's Still Rock n Roll to Me"

I liked "Xanadu". To celebrate, Spotify played "What a Feeling" 

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(note: published 1/12/2026, backdated to 2021 when I first shared with friends.  Spotify's recommendation engine and AI-generated playlists continue to amuse me.)