Do What's Right.

Day: 26 April 2023

Motorola’s first co-branded Lenovo mobile phone » The Lenovo ThinkPhone

The Verge »

The ThinkPhone has a lot of the same stuff as a mainstream flagship phone, even though it’s priced just below the likes of the $799 Samsung Galaxy S23. It comes with a big 6.6-inch 1080p OLED with up to 144Hz refresh rate. Build quality is quite sturdy with an aluminum frame, Gorilla Glass on the front panel, and Lenovo’s signature textured aramid fiber back panel for a softer touch.

The whole device is IP68 rated for strong dust and water resistance, and it’s also MIL-STD-810H compliant to protect against falls and more extreme conditions. I can personally confirm it will survive a fall from your hand to the kitchen floor, which isn’t part of the MIL-STD-810H standard but is a chief use case for a clumsy person holding too many things.

American farmers are saving money by importing Japanese Kei trucks

CarBuzz »

A growing number of rural Americans, such as farmers and small business owners, are purchasing Japanese domestic market (JDM) small pickup trucks, also known as “Kei” trucks, because they suit their basic needs at a fraction of the price over larger trucks. For those who don’t know, Kei cars and trucks are ultra-compact vehicles that have been popular in Japan for years. Kei vehicles are typically right-hand-drive and are at least 25 years old due to US import laws (also known as the “Chicken Tax”) but it boils down to a simple factor: necessity.

“Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter.”

1,902 years ago, on April 26, 121 AD, Marcus Aurelius was born.

The wise Emperor of Rome (161-180) was known as much for his philosophical writing as for his reign.

Marcus Aurelius didn’t believe a society should be divided by class or engage in slavery. He believed all men were equal and that the government’s purpose was to serve the people. He wrote, “Men exist for the sake of one another.”

“Just that you do the right thing. The rest doesn’t matter. Cold or warm. Tired or well-rested. Despised or honored. Dying…or busy with other assignments. Because dying, too, is one of our assignments in life. There as well: “To do what needs doing.” Look inward. Don’t let the true nature of anything elude you. Before long, all existing things will be transformed, to rise like smoke (assuming all things become one), or be dispersed in fragments…to move from one unselfish act to another with God in mind. Only there, delight and stillness…when jarred, unavoidably, by circumstances, revert at once to yourself, and don’t lose the rhythm more than you can help. You’ll have a better grasp of the harmony if you keep going back to it.”

― Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Are your burger and fries brought to you by child labor?

Mother Jones »

If you’ve eaten a burger and fries recently, there’s a chance that the potatoes were picked by middle schoolers, working through the school day in a field in Idaho [or New Brunswick]. The steer that became the beef patty may well have been killed at a slaughterhouse where teenagers work, and the bone saws used to process the meat could easily have been cleaned by a 13-year-old, wearing a bulky hard hat and oversized gloves. It’s also quite possible that the burger was grilled, flipped and assembled by a child working at McDonald’s on a school night, far later than federal law allows.

Last Updated on June 7, 2023

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