Writing
Nothing in Washington is Trump's fault because he hasn't taken office yet.
I made the whole thing up, and Musk did no such thing.
I am an idiot who believes what is reported by the media.
It serves NC right because they voted for him
I hope NC likes what they caused. I have no sympathy for any of them.
- Best TV Shows 2024: 'Lioness,' 'Shrinking' and More
- The 25 best TV shows of 2024
- Best TV Shows This Year - Metacritic
- The 50 Best Movies of 2024, According to IndieWire Critics Poll
- Best Movies to Stream at Home (2024) | Rotten Tomatoes
- The 40 Best Movies of 2024
- The Very Best Podcasts of 2024
- The Best Podcasts of 2024 | The New Yorker
- Top Best Individual Episode: Podcasts | The Webby Awards
- The Best Books of 2024 | Best Books of the Year | Barnes & Noble®
- The Best Books of 2024 | The New Yorker
- Best of 2024 | Kirkus Reviews
- Catch up reading my favorite newsletters, like Morning Brew,The Installer,10 Blue Links
- Play with the latest Raycast extensions to see if there is anything I can use.
- Check out the latest Obsidian extensions to see what looks useful
- Evaluate what's been added to Setapp to see what I can test and review.
- Clean out my Raindrop.io bookmarks
- Clean up and evaluate my RSS feeds at Inoreader
- Watch a bunch of YouTube videos that I've saved in Play.
- Read through my journal entries for 2024 in Day One
- Go through the photos I took in 2024, probably with Musebox
- Gather up all the "Best of 2024" articles on TV, podcasts, books, movies and TV shows and add them to Goodreads, Overcast, and Sequel.
Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇 - Ads and Trackers - currently blocking 119,372 addresses
- Block domains known to distribute malware, launch phishing attacks and host command-and-control servers using a blend of the most reputable threat intelligence feeds -- all updated in real-time.
- Block malware and phishing domains using Google Safe Browsing -- a technology that examines billions of URLs per day looking for unsafe websites. Unlike the version embedded in some browsers, this does not associate your public IP address to threats and does not allow bypassing the block.
- Prevent the unauthorized use of your devices to mine cryptocurrency.
- Block domains that impersonate other domains by abusing the large character set made available with the arrival of Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) -- e.g. replacing the Latin letter "e" with the Cyrillic letter "е".
- Block domains registered by malicious actors that target users who incorrectly type a website address into their browser -- e.g. gooogle.com instead of google.com.
- Block Parked Domains
- Block any Top Level Domain
- Block Newly Registered Websites
- Block CSAM
- Optional Parental controls for YouTube, Safe Search, Time-based rules, specific apps, websites and games
- Coca-Cola History
- The History of Pepsi
- The Unknown History of Mountain Dew
- History of Dr. Pepper
- The History of 7UP and Charles Leiper Grigg
- A Brief History of Sprite - It's German! Who knew?
- The haunting history of Fanta - Too weird not to include
Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇 - Ergonomic Mouse Pad - $9.99 - This has a wrist rest and can be used with a mouse of an Apple magic Track Pad.
- Logitech MX Master 3S $99.99 - Even though I am a big old Apple fanboy, this is a better mouse than the ergonomically unfriendly Magic Mouse
- Logitech MX Keys S for Mac $89.99 - The Apple Magic keyboard with fingerprint ID is expensive and arguably not as good as this option.
- Anker USB C Charger $39.99 - This charger is what I travel with and it takes care of my MacBook, my iPhone and my Apple Watch. It's the best charger I have ever used.
- SanDisk 1TB Extreme Portable SSD $97.95 - This rugged, small, portable drive is good for the computer bag or for use as a Time Machine backup on your Mac. It's fast and dependable.
- Smartish iPhone Wallet Case - $24.99 - This family of cases is why I have not carried a wallet in years. It holds enough cards to get me by, plus it provides outstanding protection to my phone, which I drop on the regular.
- Screen Cleaner Wipes $14.99 - This is another good item for the computer bag. I don't know how may computer gets a dirty as it does, but it needs regular cleaning. These wipes re my go to for that.
Enjoyed it? Please upvote 👇 - Research and development costs are huge
- They sell printers at a loss. HP claims that a printer it sells for 120 to manufacture, so it needs to recoup costs and make a profit from the ink.
- Consumers are accused of wasting ink by doing unnecessary maintenance (like cleaning print heads)
- Causing printer maintenance cycles to use half of every cartridge
- Disabling your ability to use the scanning features of your all-in-one device if you let your ink get low
- Premature low ink warnings
- Blocking access to third-party cartridges
- Preventing the refilling of cartridges
My Internet Culture War of 2024
My online persona (which is the same persona I am IRL) is a man who loves three things: technology, his wife and social justice. I mention all three of those things with some frequency, although tech is the only thing I do much consistent long form writing about. Aside from an occasional blog post, my political discourse is usually in the form of memes or micro-posts of 300 words or fewer. I'm often speaking to an audience of fellow travelers, rather than trying to convert Hitler's children. I don't expect many conservative people to even read what I write unless we established a relationship around something else that is strong enough to survive my low opinion of the MAGA crowd.
Mastodon is where I spend most of my social media time, having made nearly 6,500 posts since I joined in January. I cross post most of what I write to Facebook, Bluesky and Threads since I want to promote my writing to as big an audience as I can. I've been on Facebook for 16 years. I stay there mostly to keep in touch with family, although I have numerous friends because of a viral post I had in 2017. It's a horrible place run by a horrible man. I acknowledge that. I hope that Bluesky continues to grow. It's a good place to interact with people outside the advanced tech and blogging crowd that I've met on Mastodon. I joined Threads on the first day, like 18 million other people. I spend very little time there because I don't like the algorithm. The posts I see are not interesting to me, and I don't have the time and energy to do much more than cross post there.
Today, I made an observation about Elon Musk's growing influence over the Republican Party. He threatened a group of Republican House members if they supported a bi-partisan bill that the Speaker had agreed to that would have ended the budget stand-off. The bill contained disaster relief funds that are much needed in my home state, NC, which received $16 Billion is damage from a hurricane in October. What I wrote touched a nerve on both Meta platforms, and I had hundreds of people react and comment on it.
Here's what I said — Elon Musk took actions yesterday that cancelled Hurricane Helene relief for Western North Carolina.
I got lots of support because as I said, most MAGAts long ago should have ignored me because of the vitriol I throw in their direction. Surprisingly, though, there were still plenty of offended people who Meta thought needed to read Lou Plummer's take on the Washington cesspool today.
Their posts were just about all the same:
What was much worse were the nasty comments from Democrats who live in safe blue states. These people seem to think that 100% of the citizens of red states have Trump flags in their yards. They said things like:
What the hell? NC voted for Obama in 2008. We have a had a Democratic governor for the last eight years and just elected another one. The same goes for the attorney general's office and other statewide races. A lot of what has happened here is due to gerrymandering and voter suppression. Our GOP controlled legislature has passed numerous laws that have been overturned in the courts and backtracked on others, like the nation's first bathroom bill that cost the state billions of dollars in lost revenue because of boycotts.
There are people who somehow think they have progressive values, yet have no sympathy or feelings of solidarity with those of us fighting the good fight in southern and rural states. I was mocked and ridiculed by them today, and it stung a bit. I don't give a shit what any Republican thinks of me, but I expected more from the stereotypical coastal elites than I got today. Not to belittle a point, but there is truly a difference between a progressive and a liberal. Today was not a good day for one of those groups.
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Meta Collection of The Best of 2024 Lists
One of the best parts of December is the variety of "Best of" lists. Here are collections for TV shows, movies, podcasts, books and albums. Enjoy!
Television
Movies
Podcasts
Books
Albums
Soothing Activities
I can understand why so many people enjoy needle work on things like counted cross stitch or knitting. It takes up time. It requires some concentration, but not enough to give you a headache. When you're done, you have something tangible to look at. I get my groove on not by stitching but by certain kinds of organizing. I'm sure Wonder Woman wishes my organizing preference were linen closets and so forth. It's not. This is not a post on making productivity your hobby.
When I was growing up, I collected comic books and baseball cards. When it came to comics, I enjoyed three categories: Archie, Richie Rich and anything made by DC: Superman, Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern etc. My younger brother and I decided to have a joint collection. We'd spread comics on the floor and sort them by title and then by the individual number the publisher assigned to them. Some stacks were tall. Action Comics was where Superman got his start. It had been continuously in print since the 30s. Detective Comics, Batman's home, was the same way. Other stacks were much shorter, as superheroes would come and go. By the time we were in junior high school, we'd accumulated over 700 comic books, both from newsstands and many, many trips to used book stores. There weren't any comic shops in the places we lived. For me, though, all of that work came to a crashing halt in 1979 when my desire to escape my mother's wrath for misbehavior gave my brother leverage over me. He demanded my half of the comic collection in exchange for not narcing me out for smoking cigarettes. I gave in. He still has those comic books, 45 years later.
I bought baseball cards until adulthood was well established. I had a giant tray that would hold hundreds of cards at the time, and I loved to put on an Atlanta Braves game and buy a box of cards to open and sort while watching. Rather than numerical order, I liked to sort my baseball cards into teams, alphabetized by players' last names. There was mass over production of cards in the late eighties and early nineties, with several companies competing with Topps, the OG card manufacturer. I bought cards by Upper Deck, Fleer, Donruss and more along with a monthly magazine that gave values to each card. Most of them were worthless, then, and now. I gave up on baseball when it turned out that the success of players I admired, like Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens, was due as much to their ingestion of performance enhancing drugs as it was to their talent. I sold a collection of some 20K cards for $100 and never looked back.
When Napster came along and allowed computer nerds with broadband connections to download music as fast as we could type in bands to search for, I went nuts. I assembled the Rolling Stone Magazine collection of the top 500 rock albums of all time. Very few of the songs were tagged correctly, so I used various software titles and the website, Allmusic.com to verify track names and track numbers and the genre and all the miscellaneous information like release dates on all the music I downloaded. I spent many hours sitting at a desktop Mac editing MP3 tags while listening to music. I loved it, and today I am grateful to my past self for having done such an outstanding job.
These days, I am fanatical about keeping two types of data organized: my thousands of Obsidian notes and my photographs. Both of these lend themselves to being sorted in various ways digitally. I use both tags and folders because why not? During the upcoming holiday break, i will spend many hours happily looking at photos and reading notes and clipped articles and deciding where to file them. It sparks joy. It soothes me. Not only that, but it's what I like to do more than just about anything else.
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Some Fun Tech Chores to Catch Up on During the Holidays
This is what I'm planning to do. Hopefully, it gives you a few ideas.
I Hate Being Bi-Polar, It's Awesome!
I'm in much need of a mental health day or two away from the world. Living with a bipolar disorder diagnosis for nearly 40 years has given me the insight into my own thought patterns, feelings and behavior to recognize what's going on with myself and to take action. It starts with vague, uneasy, paranoid feelings. "Why is everyone mad at me?" (They actually aren't. It just feels that way) Then I feel a deep sadness and isolation for no apparent reason. Everything, and I mean absolutely everything, becomes difficult. I dread having to speak to anyone. For many years, up to the end of 2008, I medicated these feelings with the help of distilleries and breweries and the occasional pot dealer, but I put that behind me finally and for the past 16 years, I've dealt with the black dog on my own.
I'm from the pre-Prozac generation, who had to endure old-fashioned tricyclic anti-depressants with all their many side effects back in the 80s. Modern psychotropic meds have come a long way. I've taken a whole catalog of them over the years and these days I have what my doc calls a poly-pharmacy that has few side effects, isn't addictive and is readily available from just about any druggist. Despite meds though, I still have weird mood swings and feelings that are a product of haywire brain chemistry rather than the events going on around me. The reality is that I have a low stress life, no financial pressure to speak of, no real enemies or resentments, an easy job and a good home life. That's why it is so maddening to feel so low. There is nothing to fix.
Experience tells me that this too shall pass, as long as it isn't the start of a downward spiral, and this doesn't feel like that. I still have an interest in plenty of meaningful things. I'm still functional enough. My current mood is conveniently happening right before a long scheduled break from work. It's a time when I will have almost no responsibilities. I'll be able to get plenty of rest. The only person I'll have to deal with will be the one I love the most. All of that is good.
I'm sorry that I don't have anything that interesting to share today. I'm struggling, but I will be OK.
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The Cost of Not Going to College
There is a recent trend among certain prominent individuals to discourage young people from attending college. Politicians with Ivy League Educations who have children attending Ivy League schools via legacy admissions shamelessly stand in front of the cameras and tell the rest of us to send our kids to trade school or have them go join the military. And, if we absolutely have to send them to school, whatever we do, we should not let them study the humanities. It's STEM only for today's boys and girls.
First the facts - attending college is good for you in very measurable ways.
College graduates live an average of eight years longer than people who only graduated high school
Life expectancy gap in America widens depending on college education
Lifetime earnings are dramatically higher for college graduates. The gap starts in your 20s and increases exponentially over your lifetime.
Is college worth it? Yes, according to this Fed data
Why do politicians discourage people from going to college?
Why do so many Republicans hate college? - The Washington Post
Why Politicians Don’t Want Students to Think
Is it working? Are fewer people attending
OK, we've established why it's good for people, but why has the cost of education increased at a greater rate than inflation in general?
Inflation affects the price of everything—including a college education
I'm a high school student who wants to ignore all that stuff and skip college. Help me convince my parents.
51 Successful People Who Didn't Go to or Finish College
Full disclosure - I did not attend college, but even I know what that's cost me since 1983.
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The Art of Not Living in Fear
The power structure in America has a lot invested in the people being continually afraid and craving protection. The people of this country put up with half our tax dollars going to military related spending or to service debt on previous military spending. It's framed as “defense” spending as if we are continually under so much of a threat that we must spend as much on our military as the rest of the world put together. When we do go to war, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, we incur debts our grandchildren will still be paying off for little noticeable safety or increase in quality of life.
We also put up with squadrons of militarized police who enjoy near immunity for taking civilian lives, particularly minority lives. All they have to do is claim to have feared for their life over the toy your child was holding, and they can and do escape justice. We build prisons with money that could be used for schools. Politicians from both parties but these days primarily Republicans tell blatant lies about the crime rates to get elected and then rob social services to hire more cops and put more people in prison.
Americans buy environmentally unfriendly SUVs because they think them to be safer than cars that get better gas mileage. The home alarm industry is thriving as people pour money into unreliable and easily defeated systems to keep out the bad guys. We throw out perfectly edible food because of arbitrary and misunderstood dates stamped on the can. Large sections of the population are now resisting vaccines because they are afraid of some unspecified and unproven boogeyman.
The more afraid the ruling class can convince us to be, the more they can make themselves look goof by promising to protect us. The more money they can steer towards their cronies in the defense industries, the more they can consolidate power through quid pro quo donations and kickbacks. Where does it end?
It permeates into everyday life. Most American workers, especially in non-unionized workplaces live fearing arbitrary layoffs or discipline without due process. Productivity and forward progress is often stymied by workers who fear making a decision for fear of “getting in trouble.” There are entire workplace cultures built around "cover your ass” practices that add nothing to the mission or the bottom line.
Conservatives tell those who are the most privileged in society, white, Christian affluent citizens that their way of life is threatened by, you guessed it, non-white, non-Christian, non-affluent people. They demonize the immigrants who pick our food, build our homes and work in our factories with lies about their criminality and cost to society.
I'm so sick of it. I've felt real fear, the kind you feel when you think someone is going to do great violence to you. It's a horrible, shameful, emasculating feeling that can, in just a few moments, alter your entire life. I never want to feel that again and ever since I had that experience, I've tried not to let fear of any kind be a feeling associated with my self-identity. I'm not afraid of immigrants or terrorists or gangs of crazed criminals or of getting fired because I didn't get the boss's permission to do X. I reject all of that. I choose to live in a world where I believe we can solve the problems we face with something besides cruise missiles, more cops and restricting the rights of whole classes of people.
The ruling class better be careful. The scare tactics are working today, but in all of human history, no society has remained as subjugated as ours is becoming without the pitchforks coming out in the end. We are developing a societal case of PTSD based on the lies we have been fed and the results will not be pretty.
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My Online Security Setup
In the modern age, it takes a real strategy to protect yourself from invasive mega-corporations who want to track you, bad actors on the malware front and in your face non-stop advertising. Whatever tools you choose have to balance with usability because we all have work we have to get done.
Next DNS
The classic uBlock Origin ad blocker was deprecated by Google Chrome in favor of a less powerful Light version. With the ever-increasing need for security ,Mac users have the option of downloading the NextDNS configuration app from the Mac App Store and setting up a free account with the enhanced DNS server. If you aren't into acronyms, DNS stands for dynamic name service and it is what translates IP addresses into the URLs we use to name websites. You can use a special DNS service to block malware, ads, trackers and other unwanted traffic from ever reaching your computer by using one.
NextDNS is free for up to 300,000 queries a month, and you can use the same account on multiple computers, mobile devices and your router. It works on Macs and PCs, iPhones and Android devices - on anything that allows you to enter your network settings. If you have a large household and require a paid account, it is just $1.99 a month.
Technically speaking, you don't even have to use the app. NextDNS can automatically generate a profile for you to use on your Mac and mobile devices and if you have the right kind of router, you can set it up without having to make ANY modifications to your computer.
NextDNS Features
Nord VPN
My next level of protection starts with my VPN choice, Nord. I run Nord on all my devices, Macs, iPhones, iPads and Apple TV. I don't have a compatible router, but it can be installed on ones that are. Nord has many security features including a malicious URL blocker, web tracker blocker, ad blocker, URL trimmer and a DNS filter to block ads and malicious domains before they reach my device.
Little Snitch Firewall
Little Snitch from Objective Development is truly the most configurable consumer oriented firewall for the Mac platform. The Little Snitch Network Monitor shows you where your Mac connects to on the Internet. You decide what you want to allow or deny. If an app has no need to access the Internet, you can cut off its access. It's easy to use and configure and as a bonus, you can download and install preconfigured block lists from several sources to make your computer safe.
Other firewall options are Lulu from Objective-See and Lockdown Privacy Desktop, which is what I install on my Mom's Mac because it is set it and for get it.
Block-Block for Realtime Protection
BlockBlock monitors common persistence locations and alerts whenever a persistent component is added. It alerts you whenever something is installed and you can decide whether to allow that or block it. It's a free product. You can get more features in the paid version of MalwareBytes or use their free scanner that must be run manually.
uBlock Origin Lite for Browser-Based Protection
There are many factors that go into making a selection of what browser to use. I use Vivaldi's built-in ad and tracker blocking along with uBlock Origin Lite multi-spectrum content blocker plugin to block ads, trackers, malicious URLs and more. Among the most security conscious Mac users who don't need to use a Chromium browser, it is generally accepted that Firefox with uBlock Origin provides the best experience.
These products all work together to provide as safe an environment as I feel I can craft on my Mac. If you have ideas for improvement, please contact me.
Testing
You can use these three sites to check the effectiveness of your security setup.
AdBlock Tester: test your AdBlock extensions
eXtreme Test - Can You Block It ?
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Division of Labor
When Wonder Woman and I were a new couple, we lived in a house with a pool in the yard. In case you didn't know, pools are a giant PIA. One day, the pump just quit working. It wasn't all that old, but it seems that few things last very long anymore. In situations like that, my inclination is to make phone calls, to a plumber, a pool guy or a general handyman, until I can find someone to come resolve my problem. My wife's mind does not work like mine. She inspected the pump, got the specs, ordered a replacement overnight from Amazon, and the next day, she installed it be herself. She is a CPA by trade, and I don't think they teach that in accounting school.
I was a lot handier early in life when I could not afford to hire people to fix things. I let those skills atrophy when I finally made enough money to pay someone else to relieve me of the burden of handyman duty. Computers are the only thing I enjoy working on. Wonder Woman uses some of her vices as tools to get things done. She is not known for her patience. One of the reasons she is so quick to repair plumbing and electrical issues is that when she takes care of those things, it eliminates having to wait on someone else's schedule. Although she is generally friendly and personable, she is a true introvert. Having a stranger in the house who might talk to her or ask her questions is one of her least favorite things on the planet. In the entire time we have been married, she has never answered the door when I was home. That is my job and I don't really mind.
There's just the two of us at home, and the division of labor falls more heavily on her than it does on me. I am responsible for cooking dinner. Cooking is one of my talents and enjoyable when I have the time. . Since I went back to work, however, we have been eating things that can be prepared quickly. We used a meal service, one of those that mails you food, for a while, but it eventually became repetitive. I've promised to go back to cooking from scratch when I retire for good. I am also responsible for the yard, which at one time meant that I mowed it once a week, but now means that I am the one to write the check to Juan, our yard guy. He needs to get Venmo!
I help fold clothes. Sometimes. I unload the dishwasher. Occasionally. We have a housekeeping service in a couple of times a month and I sort of help straighten up before they come. Mostly, I am spoiled. Wonder Woman moves fast and in the span of time it takes me to figure out how to do most things, she has already done them. It isn't weaponized incompetence on my part. She is just faster at doing everything than anyone else around her. It doesn't matter what the task is or who the other parties are. On group bike rides full of alpha males from all walks of life, when someone has a flat tire, she's the one who usually changes everyone's tube for them. She is just good like that.
She doesn't even like me to fix her IT problems unless it is something truly devilish. I've only been doing computer support for 30 years. She'd rather get mad and scare her laptop into acting right than she would hand it to me so I can figure out what's going on. She's classic Type A over achiever material. I can't tell you how many times I've been chastised for the sin of walking all the way across a parking lot without having the keys out and ready to use when I get to the car. She starts rolling her eyes the second she sees me stop at the car to dig around in my pockets. I don't know what she planned to do with those three extra seconds, but it was undoubtably critical.
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The Origin of Your Favorite Soda, Pop, Drink, Coke, Dope or Whatever You Call It
Where I'm from in NC, we generally call soft drinks - drinks, occasionally sodas, but never pop or any of the other names people use around the country. One of the most unusual references of beverage is the one my brother uses. He grew up in LA, Lower Alabama that is, and down there people ask you in total seriousness, "What kind of coke do you want"
It is perfectly OK to reply to that question by saying "I'll have a Pepsi." Weird, huh?
Another thing I like about soda culture is the prevalence of regional drinks. In North Carolina, we have two, Cheerwine and Sundrop. When I hiked up north, i was delighted to find out the folks in Maine have a popular drink called Moxie Soda
The Real Me and The Real You
One of the primary criticisms of social media is that people present an idealized representation of their lives. We get to see the beautiful photos of the beach they sat on while on vacation but we don't see the mildew in the resort bathroom or the credit card bill they incurred for the privilege. People are more than willing to share the pictures of the prefect steaks on their grills without also showing the seven Lean Cuisines they ate in the past three days. We don't see pictures of how our friends look after just waking up or read a lot about the opportunities they didn't get at work and are therefore not pleased to announce on LinkedIn.
I am as guilty as anyone in some ways. I would rather not be a Debbie Downer or mark myself as a whiner by complaining online. Who really wants to hear that? As a photographer, I'm going to take 1000 pictures to show you 10. That's the way it works. Most of us are not pretending to be someone we are not. We are just putting our best foot forward, sharing things we are proud of or that we are celebrating. I know my friends well enough to know they don't have perfect lives, regardless of what it looks like on Facebook, Bluesky or Mastodon. Hopefully, I don't have too may friends still using Twitter.
As a blogger whose style is autobiographical, I strive to be honest. I don't mind revealing a few warts. The people who know me, know I have them, and what do I really have to lose if the people who don't know me find out my various imperfections? I would hope they would get it on some level. By not pretending to be perfect, I think it makes the rest of what I write more relatable.
I'd like to be able to present myself as having been born with great political sensibilities, but that isn't the case. Teenage me had no understanding of politics. The vote I cast in my first presidential election isn't something I talk about much. There was no passion and not much thought behind it. I voted because the country gave me the privilege because I'd managed to live for 18 years. I even skipped a couple of elections. I felt vaguely guilty about it, but it just seemed like a hassle. In 1988, I could not have told you much of anything about George H. W. Bush or Michael Dukakis.
When it comes to tech, the field where I made my career, there are many, many areas where I have little aptitude and less interest. I was happy as a K-12 IT specialist for two decades. In tech, like other fields, if you want to advance, you have to leave the keyboard and mouse skills behind and take up the soft skills of managing people to advance. Call me a slacker, but I was not interested. I'm finishing out my working years in higher ed, doing end user support with no interest in becoming a network engineer or a system administrator. I'm not having a contest with anyone in real life or on the Internet to be the smartest computer guy in the room. I just want my paycheck and room to do the job I have.
In my personal life, what you see is mostly what you get. I do, in fact, adore my wife. She treats me great and while I won't tell you her every complaint, I can assure you that they are all warranted and none of them are selfish. I have some family relationships that are more difficult than others, but again, the truth is that I love being a Dad and a grandfather more than just about anything apart from being Wonder Woman's husband.
I am just another regular guy with one list of things I am proud of and another list I don't want to talk about. I'm pretty happy in general, although I'm worried about the world, both right now and in the future. I do my best to be genuine, even if my story telling instinct can be a bone of contention between me and my personal fact-checker (Wonder Woman).
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What's On Your Watch List?
One thing I plan to do during my holiday break from work is to spend some time catching up on shows that I've been wanting to watch but haven't had the time to see. Here is what Wonder Woman and I plan to watch as much of as we can.
Silo - AppleTV+
We both read the book this series is based on and we have seen season one. Not every episode of season two has been released yet, but we plan to catch up. "In a ruined and toxic future, thousands live in a giant silo deep underground. After its sheriff breaks a cardinal rule and residents die mysteriously, engineer Juliette (Rebecca Ferguson) starts to uncover shocking secrets and the truth about the silo."
Shetland - BritBox via Amazon Prime Video
We've watched all eight previous seasons and are primed for another one. Shetland is the story of the detectives on the Shetland Islands, a beautiful location of the north coast of Scotland. Although the wonderful Douglas Henshall is no longer playing Jimmy Perez, the lead detective, the cast is still solid and the show well-made. This season's description - When a woman goes missing with her nine-year-old son, Calder and Tosh set out on a case that blurs the line between the personal and professional."
Black Doves - Netflix
We've just heard about this Netflix show, but we are partial to British actors and this one has the lovely Keira Knightley along with Ben Whishaw and Sarah Lancashire. It's a six episode run that tells an interesting tale - "When a spy posing as a politician's wife learns her lover has been murdered, an old assassin friend joins her on a quest for truth — and vengeance."
Man on the Inside - Netflix
Wen enjoyed Ted Danson in the Good Place and look forward to seeing him in this crime comedy that has gotten good reviews. It's an eight-episode run described as "A retired professor gets a new lease on life when a private investigator hires him to go undercover inside a San Francisco retirement home."
Time - Brit Box On Amazon Prime Video
We watched season one of this British prison drama with Sean Bean and Stephan Graham. Season two features Jodie Whiitaker and Siobhan Finneran and centers on the story of incarcerated women. Season two is described as "Orla, a single mother serving her first sentence, Abi, who is incarcerated for life, and Kelsey, a pregnant heroin addict and repeat offender, begin their sentences at a women's prison."
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The Polar Express
This evening, Wonder Woman and I treated three of our daughters, two sons-in-law and eight of our grandchildren to a ride on the Polar Express train ride sponsored by our state’s transportation museum, located between Winston-Salem and Charlotte. Even though we are spread across the state, we gathered for the experience for which we’d purchased tickets months in advance.
Prior to boarding the train, we stood with other families in the chill air. Most people, including most of us were wearing pajamas. Local actors performed a few skits. We sang Christmas carols and judged three kiddos in a contest to see who could say “HoHoHo” the best.
Once on the train, we had our golden tickets punched. We were greeted by young actors playing characters from the book. Then we were served hot chocolate and cookies while we listened to an actor read the book to us. We stopped briefly at the North Pole where we disembarked to visit with the elves.
When we reboarded, each seat had a gift in it. Then Santa made his way down the length of the train and gave every passenger a silver bell. Before we knew it, we were back at the station.
The kids, ranging in age from a couple of kindergarteners up through a high school freshman, were all well behaved I was happy to make this memory with them. I’m up past my bedtime, but it was worth it.
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2024 Brought Big Changes to My Workflow
This year, my time online skyrocketed. I started blogging and I became active on social media, primarily Mastodon and Bluesky. At my day job, I moved from a creaky old Dell to a maxed out iMac. As a result, I had to reevaluate some of the tools I'd used for many years.
I dumped Evernote, which I'd used since 2009 in favor of Obsidian.
My 10 Favorite Things About #Obsidian
I switched from Pathfinder, an app I used for 18 years, to Qspace for file management.
After 17 years with Launchbar, I started using Raycast Pro and never looked back.
My 10 Favorite #Raycast Use Cases (and all the apps it replaced)
I deleted my Twitter account and started using Ivory for Mastodon on my iPhone and Mac.
After being all in on Microsoft Edge for my browsing needs, I switched to Vivaldi for the customization options.
There Are No Vigilante Armies Being Formed - Yet
Ugh. I am exhausted by the virtue-signaling pretend progressives preaching on the Internet about how "murder is murder" and acting all judgy at those of us who aren't mourning the death of a vulture capitalist who let sick people die to enhance shareholder value for United Healthcare. Just shut up. There are no vigilante armies being formed to come to your job and shoot your boss. Maybe there will be a copycat or too, but we are not in the midst of a revolution. Yet.
In the 60s, the folk singer, Phil Ochs recorded a scathing song called Love Me, I'm a Liberal. Its lyrics are dated now with references to people long forgotten, but its spirit lives on. It jabs at people who want change, as long as it isn't messy. I wonder what exactly the pearl clutching crowd thinks it's going to take to get the kind of change we need to our healthcare system. Do they think that all those billionaires Trump is appointing to government positions are going to suddenly give a shit about sick middle-class and poor people? I suspect most of them have never experienced anything more than a slight inconvenience when it comes to the for-profit healthcare system.
Here's my story. I am a big guy, I've weighed over 200 pounds (ca. 91 kg) almost all of my adult life, sometimes a lot more. In my 40s, I decided to become an endurance athlete. I took up ultra-distance cycling and then long distance hiking. Even in more relaxed times I chose walking as my primary form of exercise. I developed osteoarthritis in both knees. Eventually, all the cartilage that cushions the collision between my femurs and the bones of my lower legs was gone. I had extremely painful bone on bone contact that ached constantly, making it hard to sleep or to be mobile. Every attempt at getting treatment for years was met with delays, denials and deception. The shots that provided the most relief cost a $1000 a pop. I was supposed to get them every six-months but the insurance company always dragged their feet getting things approved, and I usually had to wait eight or nine months. It was up to me to make numerous phone calls to every part of the system - the doctor, the pharmacy, and the insurance company.
The constant scramble to get treatment disrupted my job. It eventually left me severely depressed. I went from a fit man who hiked the entire 2,189-mile Appalachian Trail in 2013, to someone who could not walk a mile by 2020. That year I had both of my knees surgically replaced. at age 55 and retired early. I will probably never regain the fitness I previously enjoyed - all because an insurance company made life purposefully difficult in the hope that I would just give up and stop seeking treatment. All of that sucks for me, but it pales in comparison to the countless people who have lost their life savings and their lives after being denied needed medical care.
I do not care how messy it gets to fix our broken system. I don't have sympathy for the dead CEO because all my sympathy is used up on the suffering people of this country whose problems he and his fellow travelers cause. I am reaching the "any means necessary" phase of my life. When a people are held down by a ruthless ruling class, they eventually snap. Did you see what just happened in Syria? After paying a horrible, horrible price, they got rid of an autocratic despot. If you think the same thing couldn't happen in this country where there are more guns than people - well LOL.,
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What to Get Geeks
I don't have any beef with personal bloggers who use affiliate links. Everyone has a right to have a hustle. Besides, I've found some helpful items on the web pages of people i follow. I don't particularly like commercial newsletters that continually post lists because I begin to doubt the work that went into them. I don't do affiliate links because I 1) can't be arsed 2) I am terrified of blogging ever seeming like a job. What I'm listing here are just some ideas you can use to get gifts for the geeks on your shopping list.
Why I Am a History Fan
As long as I can remember, i've enjoyed visiting the past in my imagination, something i can do just as easily with a Wikipedia article as I can while watching Lonesome Dove for the tenth time. Growing up, I loved my grandparent's' stories of living on rural farms before and during the Great Depression. Even my parents (who are only 17 years older than me) have fascinating tales of seeing Elvis and the Beatles on TV. Since I live on the East coast, my part of the US has recorded history that stretches back to pre-colonial times, and Native American history that goes back much further. General Sherman's troops marched down the road that lies at the end of my street on their way to burn a Confederate Arsenal whose ruins can still be seen. The US Constitution was ratified by my home state about three miles from where I live.
During the American bicentennial in 1976, I was in the fifth grade, and along with kids all over the country, spent a full year learning colonial history to a degree that has probably never been duplicated. Numerous battles between American revolutionary forces and British troops took place with driving distance at Guilford Courthouse, King's Mountain and Moore's Creek Bridge. I've been to them all.
Unlike many southerners, I am totally fine with the way the Civil War ended up. I'm no believer in the lost cause and I don't romanticize the reasons for the war in any way. It was fought to end slavery in the south, and it ended just as it should have. As a former infantry soldier, I can hardly imagine the discipline and courage of those who fought in that era. I've visited Gettysburg, and stood on the ridge where Union forces held their ground as thousands of Confederate infantry marched in formation across from where their lines formed in front of a religious seminary a mile away. It took my breath away and brought tears to my eyes.
I don't know if those who forget history are really condemned to repeat it. Having always been interested in the past, I am amazed when I encounter intelligent people who can't tell you the decade in which the majority of World War Two was fought. Some can't tell you who was president of the US when they were born. I can't even wrap my mind around being able to name who a pop star is married to while not knowing basic historical facts. I interpret almost everything that is currently happening in the world through a historical lens. I can't imagine functioning without being able to do that. That’s just me.
Obviously, I place a lot of value in curiosity and imagination. I'd much rather watch a historical drama than a superhero movie. It's not that I think the MCU is a bad thing for bad people, it just doesn't spark anything in me. I can't put myself in the character's shoes the way I can when a film has a historical reference, whatever it is.
History is written by the victors, it is said. What we know from books, including textbooks, is what the people who wrote those books want us to know. That is why my life changed forever when I read A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn, and Lies My Teacher Told Me by James Loewen at the age of 36. Suddenly, I realized that entire, important and meaningful pieces of American history had been purposefully obscured to keep from realizing their own power as union members, freed slaves, suffragettes and more. The first time I read a book about the formation of Israel from the perspective apart from the Jewish one, I was in disbelief. How come no one ever told me any of this stuff? I had a similar feeling when I learned that 85% of the Nazis who died in battle were killed by the Soviet Army. America did not win the war and save the world from fascism.. It played a part, sure, but a secondary part. More world view and my outlook on history have never been the same, and I am dedicated to learning more than what the power structure wants us to know.
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Why Does Printer Ink Cost More than Cocaine?
Top reasons given by those that sell ink:
Actual Reason
Because they can - using various unethical tactics:
Why Is Printer Ink So Expensive? - Consumer Reports
Why Printer Ink Can Be More Expensive Than the Printer Itself - Business Insider
How printers keep us hooked on expensive ink
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Delight - Get You Some
It sounds a little frumpy to declare one's self to be delighted. It's the type of word your grandmother would use, or maybe someone else not quite as cool as they ought to be. Personally, I think that is hogwash. I think delight is an outstanding word. You know what is better than the word? The feeling of being delighted, that's what. Let's define it.
Delight - A feeling of great pleasure and satisfaction: the little girls squealed with delight
I don't know about you, but I'm ready to have something to squeal at. Bring it on!
Today, what delighted me was the release of an update to my computer that featured an app that can take pictures of my grandkids and turn them into cute-ass princesses and cowboys. I've been waiting to use this app ever since it was announced. I updated my Mac immediately and started making pictures and sending them to my kids, my wife, and my grandkids. I was delighted. I had great feelings of pleasure and satisfaction. A lot of grumpy, stick up their ass types do not like this new feature because it uses AI, but there have been similar apps around for ages. It's a neat parlor trick. It makes kids and old men happy and if you don't like it, I feel sorry for you.
I am also delighted to get off work every single day. I value my time in the evenings to be with Wonder Woman, to eat whatever I want for supper and to engage in my hobby - writing this blog. At work, I have to do stuff I don't always like doing, such as installing Windows or helping ungrateful people who think it is my fault they forgot their damn password again. I'm at the point where after many, many years of suiting up and showing up, doing eight hours for the man no longer sparks joy. Ever.
Climbing into bed at the end of the day is another wonderful event. I have a good bed with an expensive mattress. My pillows won a tournament for the privilege of serving me. I have a great iPad I bought just to read every night for 15–30 minutes before I go to sleep. Through the miracle of modern technology, I have a silent machine that helps me breath all night long without interruption, something I am unable to do by myself. It allows me to sleep so soundly that I do not have to get up and pee every 90 minutes like I used to. That is a delight, I don't care what anyone says. I am able to climb out of bed in the morning to make my way to the coffee pot feeling rested and ready to start the day.
I am on the lookout for opportunities to be delighted throughout the day. My phone is a delight machine if I have ever seen one. It is capable of producing music that not only makes me happy today, it's been making me happy since childhood. Every time I hear Paul McCartney sing “Hear Comes the Sun” or Bruce Springsteen and the boys play “Cadillac Ranch”, I am delighted. When I take a quick glance at a text message from my profane daughter complaining about something spectacularly fucked-up, I am delighted that she is so good at expressing herself and that she chooses to share it with me. I will not lie, I have notifications turned on and that sweet stream of dopamine that I get when one of my social media posts resonates with people — my friend, it brings me great pleasure and satisfaction.
Wherever you are right now, whatever you are doing, start thinking about finding something delightful before you go to bed. Call your Mom, buy a Snickers bar, read an article from The Onion, howl at the moon. Do something to find some pleasure in this world that seems designed to drag us down and keep us at the bottom. Don't let the bastards win.
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Race and Music
I'm not a music historian, nor have I taken any classes on theory or appreciation. I'm just a reasonably well-read layman who knows that for over a century, white people have had some wacky ideas about race and music. I's been going on since the Jazz age. If you play hip-hop around most white boomers, they freak out on a pretty regular basis. If it's not the language, it's some other criticism, usually centered around rap, and it's fellow travelers not being “regular” or “American” music. These are the same boomers who all listened to Motown when they were in school and came of age watching Elvis Presley get away with movements only a white boy could get away with.
Today there are regular controversies over institutionalized racism in country music, with the CMA ignoring the immense popularity of Beyonce's country album, Cowboy Carter. Then there was the ridiculous and unnecessary inclusion of Billy Ray Cyrus on Old Town Road by Lil Nas X, who being both black and gay was as big an affront to Nashville as there could be for someone who made a damn fine song.
Fortunately for me, I was born 52 day into 1965. Thus, I am firmly in Generation X and I feel no irony in my appreciation of Public Enemy and NWA from the heady days of the late nineties. In fact, I am just the right age to have enjoyed Rapper's Delight by the Sugar Hill Gang when it was being played on the radio.
If you are a hip hop loving boomer, don't be offended. I am happy there are outliers like you.
Debates Around Rap Music’s Validity Rooted in Racism – The Oberlin Review
The Sugarhill Gang - Rapper's Delight (Official Video) - YouTube
Black artistry is woven into the fabric of country music. It belongs to everyone | Music | The Guardian
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