Bob Schulties

For a long time one of the activities we’ve done during supper (as a family and now as just a couple, since the kiddos are off at college) is to watch the “news” with Late Night with Seth Meyers or Stephen Colbert’s opening monologue.

Since the election, however, we’ve bascally stopped. It’s simply too depressing.

My suggesion to Mr. Meyers is to have a weekly bit where Bernie Sanders won the election and do a fake news segment about that. Each week I’d like to hear some funny quips about what upset President Sanders and how the right (and, frankly, most of the Dems) are fighting his administration’s good ideas. Soup!

With the acquisition of Pixelmator, I wonder if Apple is going to make a Pro bundle software subscription to live under what it called Services. You’d have Logic Pro, Final Cut Pro, and then this pro level photo editing package (maybe called Layers or Pixels?).

I have never been so wrong about anything than the way I told my family and all my friends to not be so anxious about the election, Harris was going to win. Both of my children were eligible to vote in this election and I was (and am) proud they both did vote, but wow was I wrong.

I was wrong about:

• Presidential outcome
• Outcome of Congress
• Popular vote

I’m going to be doing a lot of reflecting on what I didn’t see.

I have yet to see a single Apple Intelligence ad that isn’t 100% cringe. The ads are either super misleading or showing the worst people using them to be lazy. Basically, the ads are a really lousy depiction of the work done by folks at Apple.

The LA Times and The Washington Post have both chosen to decline to endorse a candidate for president. At this time of the election cycle? In this political climate? At this time of need? Localized entirely around billionaires? Our media will be our downfall, indeed.

Thanks to early voting in NYC, we just voted. Please, please don’t let this be the last election.

Did Elon Musk just invent the bus? I really wonder if he thinks that. Wait until the tech bros realize they can string a bunch of ‘em together!

EVs aren’t catching as much not because charging is hard and not because the range isn’t there, they are simply too expensive. When a new model comes out, I no longer first check range, instead I check price. Oh, look, the new Polestar 3 is very close to coming out. It’s $73,000. To start?!

I know I’m beginning to get up in years, but holy cow is that expensive. And at the risk of sounding old and cranky (maybe that older and crankier?), I sure would love to see something like the 2020 Honda HR-V (2024 and on are now too big) become completely electric. Don’t change anything else that doesn’t need to be changed. For god’s sake, don’t whizbangify the door handles! Good door handles are a solved problem. Glove box latches are a solved problem.

I wish this idea had become a reality.

I don’t think of John Amos as the father from Good Times or Kunta Kinte from Roots, but as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from The West Wing. RIP.

Why in the world are these new postal trucks constantly labeled as goofy while current F-150s, Silverados, and RAMs aren’t? You need a step to get into these machismo trucks, can’t reach the truck bed from the side, and, most importantly, you can’t see kids or passenger cars from the driver’s seat! The pickups also get crap fuel economy.

Anyway, I happen to think the new postal trucks are cool as heck. And the folks driving them love them.

Adams indicted today. Giuliani disbarred in D.C. today. When is the last time NYC has had a good mayor?

Granted it’s only been a few days, but I agree with this article iPhone 16 Pro not being new, but everything is better.

I likely should have gotten the non-pro iPhone 16, but I did want the other lens since I have no other camera. My only criticism of the iPhone 16 Pro is size and weight, but I’m coming from the best iPhone ever, the 13 mini.

I’ve decided to combine more of my streaming services into bundles to save a little money. So I had to cancel Disney+, Hulu, and HBO Now HBO Max Max. Only Max was subscribed via Apple’s services and cancelling was, as promised, a simple two-click operation. The other services? I swear it was 5 clicks each along with pleas to stay and small buttons to click.

Of course, I have to wait for the billing cycles to complete in order to really set this all up properly, but here’s hoping!

I am glad to read the iPhone 16 now has the highest repairability rating of any iPhone ever. I wrote in 2019 that I hoped it would be easier to replace batteries, and I’m glad to see Apple has done it. Finally.

Let’s hope this is a better design trend not a one-off design.

I so wish Apple would abandon the Image Playground feature it’s working on for iOS 18. This kind of creation is what people are best at so let it alone. Have the machines do some analysis or whateverthehell, but leave image creation to people. It’s more likely to go poorly than not, anyway.

I would like to propose an amendment that allows Tim Walz, once he’s elected to be vice president, to also be my governor and mayor because Hochul and Adams are both terrible at it.

I got the new COVID shot (2024-2025 MODERNA, SPIKEVAX), and wow is it still kicking my butt. I’m about 50 hours since the shot and I am still feeling pretty low-energy, Heck, last night I woke up covered in sweat from the low fever I was feeling before I went to bed.

Even if you never experienced side effects from COVID vaccines before (that was me, mostly), be prepared to feel something. So, on the way back from when you get the shot, stop at the store and get those treats that make you feel better no matter your mood. You deserve it.

If Apple is going to make the Mac minier, now’s a good time to use that hydraulic press.

Each week I read Mike Monteiro’s Good News newsletter. And each week I’m better off for it. I bet you’d like it, too.

Now that Harris is going to be the Dem nominee, I think she should pick Gretchen Whitmer. She is the best choice and so that ticket would be a hell of a contrast to the GOP.

Well, the rich got what they wanted, right? The NYTimes made this happen and the Washington Post was a super-close second.

My rebellion against Prime Day is to use public transportation to visit a friend I haven’t seen in years. We might buy sandwiches, but not from a chain store.

I am willing to bet a lot of this “Joe Biden must drop out” nonsense if because of this: IRS reports collecting $1 billion from rich households’ back taxes.

The IRS reported Wednesday that it has collected $1 billion in taxes and penalties owed by hundreds of wealthy households who accumulated past-due tax debts for years while IRS enforcement dwindled.

“The tax bill wasn’t even in dispute — the taxes were clearly owed by these people,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a call with reporters. “But we didn’t have the people or the resources. … It takes time and staffing to work through these cases.” Get a curated selection of 10 of our best stories in your inbox every weekend.

The tax agency, boosted by $60 billion in additional funding from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, has hired hundreds of skilled accountants over the past year and a half after years of shrinking staffing.

Is Biden old? Yes. Really old? Yes. But Biden has been far better than I expected and he’s doing the job (gaffes and all). Should we have a younger person in there? Assuming as qualified, 100%. But it’s Joe. Dems need to push the DNC to embrace the younger folks rather than fight them.

The problem, I assume, is the youngs want it all to be better and that costs money which means higher taxes (for the rich). The rich do not want that. At all.

I’d love to see a Harris/AOC ticket. Or Whitmer/AOC ticket. I hope one day to be able to vote for AOC for president. By the way, it’s a damn shame the Dems aren’t not 100% backing her impeachment movement against Thomas and Alito.

I just watched Perfect Days. It was simply excellent. I can’t recommend it enough.🍿

Supreme Court essentially killing regulation is bad, NY Times saying Biden should resign because of one bad debate while saying nothing about Trump and his convictions is insane, and Martin Mull was great on VEEP.