Per Russ Burlingame on ComicBook.com:

“Ted Lasso is a three-season show. After the third season, I will desperately try to get Mr. Sudeikis to do a…” Lawrence started, and then he stopped to rephrase. “The only way I think a fourth season of Ted Lasso exists would be if TL went and coached a soccer team that played about a block from Jason’s house in real life, you know what I mean? He’s got young kids.”

I’m OK with this. I loved Season 1 of “Ted Lasso” but I think the premise will completely wear out its welcome by episode 30. Limited series are good.

Last night I started playing Ori and the Will of the Wisps on the Switch. I only had about 15 minutes, so I barely got into gameplay, but I was floored by how beautiful the game is. The beginning is like watching an animated movie.

I like Reeder 5, but I have been dissatisfied with feed syncing over iCloud for the past few days. The feed lists and unread posts have not been keeping in sync between my iPhone and iPad. I can’t be the only one experiencing this. Hopefully the developer will sort it out.

From Adi Robertson in The Verge:

The Enola Holmes case hinged on Sherlock Holmes’ complicated copyright status. Most Holmes stories sit in the public domain, and stories like Enola Holmes — which reimagines Holmes (played by Henry Cavill) having a younger sister — can freely repurpose their elements. But 10 of Arthur Conan Doyle’s stories are still protected by copyright, and the Doyle estate argued that they depict a meaningfully different version of the character. (He’s more caring, less overtly contemptuous of women and friendship, and generally less of a jerk.)

I don’t believe Arthur Conan Doyle’s estate should have any rights over Sherlock Holmes at all. Conan Doyle died in 1930. It’s completely outrageous.

I am taking a Robotic Process Automation online course for work today. Maybe, after I complete it, I will create a bot to take the rest of the courses for me.

I took advantage of the Nintendo eShop sales this week to buy a bunch of games, at varying discounts, to play in the new year:

• Ori and the Will of the Wisps
• Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
• Horace
• Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom

This strategy has worked out pretty well for me the past couple years, though it does mean that some games remain unplayed for months.

I started getting emails that frontline medical workers in my area have already received the COVID-19 vaccine. That is reassuring. Based on how the year has been going, I expected controversy and uproar already.

From Julia Alexander in The Verge:

The show, The Book of Boba Fett, was not included as an announcement during Disney’s big investor day last week. Several other Star Wars projects, including two Mandalorian spinoffs — an Ahsoka Tano show and Rangers of the New Republic — a Lando Calrissian show, and a Star Wars anime, were announced last week.

I can’t help but think that Disney may be planning to give fans too much of a good thing. The whole kerfuffle about Solo flopping, due to exhausted audience interest, which led to the scuttling of the Star Wars side story movie series, is only about two years old. I love The Madalorian, but I don’t think I would want to watch it, or something very much like it, every single week. I’m pretty sure I would get sick of it.

I was right to be concerned about snow removal, because our snow plow guy just quit and passed us off to someone else who hasn’t called me yet. It will be dark out in about half an hour, too.

Eric Lander, who is a genius brimming with charisma, is probably the best Armchair Expert podcast guest ever. Listen if you have any interest in the Human Genome Project, which he helped lead.

🎮 I am happy to see that Hades is getting some “game of the year” nods, from Polygon and from Chiam Gartenberg of The Verge. It is easily my favorite game since Hollow Knight.

I woke up to a decent amount of snowfall, which totally surprised me. I am unsure how we are going to clear it off our driveway and sidewalks, though.

I finally got an Apple TV+ free trial. 😎

The snowstorm started and my kids are excited.

Chris Welch’s AirPods Max review asks the question “Apple still doesn’t offer a lossless tier, and I have to ask, if not now, when?” I don’t think Apple is ever going to offer lossless audio, mostly because 256-kbps AAC really is good enough for most listeners.

The local news is predicting 6-8 inches of snow today in my area. Dark Sky is predicting about an inch, plus some rain. 🤷‍♂️ We’ll see, I guess.

Got the new iPad 4 and bought Reeder 5 to use on it!

A robotic kitchen for rich people is kind of a cool idea, I guess, but the setup looks pretty scary. If robots can cook, where will that leave restaurant cooks in 20 years or so, when the technology gets cheaper?

I am eagerly awaiting for the shipment of a new iPad Air 4 today.

Live: Here Are the Electoral College Results, By State. Why on earth would I want to track this live?

I took a required course in ethics this morning, and wish I could have just watched a few episodes of “The Good Place” instead.

Taylor Swift to Release New Album, ‘Evermore,’ Tonight. 👀 I guess if there’s no new Bleachers album this year I can be happy about this, which sounds like it’s “Folklore” part 2.

First impressions of the Apple AirPods Max are starting to trickle in. I am looking forward to reviews that speak more to the sound quality and less about the impractical case.

Per Susan Davis on NPR:

When earmarks were a regular feature of congressional business, Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., said Democrats and Republicans were able to cut more deals and pass more bills with bipartisan support.

This sounds like a bad idea at first, but it probably is actually a good one. Congress can’t pass meaningful legislation anymore, in part because there is almost no bipartisan agreement on important bills. Maybe allowing earmarks will make it easier to gain votes “across the aisle”—you know, like it used to.

Wow. Apple’s “December surprise” actually happened:

By moving into the premium headphones space, Apple will directly compete with brands like Bose, Sony, Sennheiser, AKG, Bowers and Wilkins, and others that have years of experience and a long list of products between them. Apple is going higher than just about all of them on price, but the company is riding the momentum of the AirPods and AirPods Pro, which have dominated the true wireless earbuds market.

I shouldn’t be surprised that Apple’s headphones cost more than any in my collection—and I have some pretty impressive headphones.

The headband design looks a little odd at the top. I hope the engineers sacrificed looks for comfort there.

And it’s a shame they charge via Lightning