October.
Hey what’s up. Good n’ you? Seems like only a month ago that I emailed last. Tempus Fugit, am I right??
Click here to book a cut before you read the rest and decide you’d rather not: https://sethsbarbershop.salonmonster.com
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving if you celebrated it, and if you’re just not thankful for anything, I get it. Me, I’m thankful for returning clients and those who read my newsletters.
I’m also thankful for October sports. Sportstober, if you will. I don’t care enough to join a fantasy league or anything, but I do like the return of hockey, and baseball playoffs. Please allow me to jump right into my rant for the month:
I like baseball. As a kid I was obsessed with old-timey baseball. I had a Brooklyn Dodgers hat and books of B&W pics of Ty Cobb and Babe Ruth, and I thought Cornelius McGillicuddy was the funniest name ever invented, as much as I respected the man. I love baseball because it hasn’t really changed much in 150 years. Aside from people learning how to defy nature and push the physical limits of their bodies and throw 106 mph, and instant replay to rightfully shame umpires, it’s essentially the same game!
But I fell out of love with it for a while, partly due to finding it hard to cheer for or feel sympathy for someone who earns more in 1 game than I’ll see in 8 years (“But they don’t get a day off for the whole season!” You know who else doesn’t get a day off? The working class. That’s right, I said it.), and partly due to baseball nerds.
I want highlights. Not home runs, they’re boring. Home runs are like breakaway slam dunks or empty net goals. Who cares. Point, great. I want a baserunner beating out a single, a sliding double, or a hustling triple. Double plays and diving catches. Make my eyes happy.
Maybe I’m not up on my Moneyball, but online people post stats like WAR, fWAR, bWAR, OPS+, OBPS, wRC+, etc. Absolute nerd behaviour. fWAR? More like, fYOU. (low hanging fruit is often the sweetest) All that matters is W/L. And having fun, I guess.
You can make up all kinds of stats and they won’t matter. You get nerds telling you, “Actually, the Mariners are loaded up on Virgos in the outfield and everyone knows you need a balance of Capricorns on the infield. *pushes up glasses, picks nose* Teams with even-numbered middle names in the bottom third of the batting order, along with those born in the afternoon pitching in the middle have a win/loss ratio of 1.45/3.76”. *burps*
Some nerd on Instagram had a reel about all the numbers and his playoff predictions. His stupid stats said the Cubs would win it all, and they lost out in the divisional round. Not even close. Embarrassing.
In conclusion, numbers take the fun out of everything, numbers are for nerds, just show me highlights. Speaking of not-nerds:
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One last baseball-related rant:
I was at a family dinner thing for Game 1 of the Jays/Mariners game so I couldn’t watch it, but I sneakily checked the MLB app every so often. I saw that the Mariners won. When I got home, I checked Twitter (whatever, it still has decent video highlights) and I saw this:
Now you’ll see at the bottom that this very wrong score was created by Elon’s AI called Grok. This AI with the stupidest name wasn’t just wrong, it made something up. The game didn’t go to extra innings, Seattle won 3-1 in the regular 9 innings.
We put AI on a pedestal and take it as truth, because we’re told it’s amazing and we believe what our screens tell us. In the olden days of the internet, if we had a question, we would Google it. Because it used to be right, but now it just directs to ad buyers.
If you use AI to manage your spreadsheets, that’s awesome. If you use it to email problem clients you’d rather not waste your time on, more power to ya. Find cheap hotel rooms and recipes. But people are taking to AI to ask questions about facts and believing whatever answers it gives them. This is dangerous in ways we’re bound to find out.
Anyway, that’s all. Sorry.
Just book a haircut:
https://sethsbarbershop.salonmonster.com
Seth’s Soapbox
Vote! Election day is October 20th. Red Deer has been not great in many categories lately, but just like baseball nerds and stats, they don’t matter. It’s still a great place. If a team misses playoffs for 5 or more years in a row, you fire the coaching staff and replace them all, you don’t jump ship. So let’s get a clean slate of councilors. I’m not telling you who to vote for, I’m just saying…
Here’s a list of candidates:
https://elections.reddeer.ca/for-voters/
Sure, their bios all say the same thing: Better Budgeting! No Red Tape! Make Red Deer Better! But at least you can get a feel for what they’re going for. They all have red and green flags, that’s just up to you to decipher. Me? I vote based on vibes. This is different from Zodiac Sports, in that someone with too bland of a personality (there are a couple running this year) cares about numbers and won’t take people into account in their decisions. And someone with too much personality (you know the type, be it genuine or fake) you just can’t trust for every reasonable reason. Baby Bear Politics for the win! When I finally run for council, I’ll vote to not hold decision-making meetings on full moons, and account for Solar flare activity when finalising the budget. Vote Common Sense, Vote Seth. Crystals for everyone! (I’m not making fun of anyone, I do have a salt lamp in my glass house)
Seth’s Health Tips
Hair loss has been linked to Vitamin D deficiency! Google it! Then do more research because Google will try to sell you snake oil!
Seth’s Styling Tips
Omitting this one this month because wooooowwwwwww is this a long one.
One Last Thing
I guess that’s all I have for you this month. Thanks for joining me on this timewaster of a journey. At least you weren’t on Facebook.
See you soon. Stay handsome, and don’t let The Algorithm get you down.
Your Second Favourite Barber,
Seth
https://sethsbarbershop.salonmonster.com Keep it in your open tabs for rapid booking.