2019s
🧒 We sure do love our children. I’ll say this until things change: Everyday I’m thankful the children don’t turn again us. However, I’m a little disappointed too.
🚗 Flying cars will not save us from climate change. Unless, I guess, they fall out of the sky in such great numbers they reduce the population of humans.
I worry a lot of people are banking on the idea that autonomous vehicles (think Tesla, etc) will save us. Not only is the tech not there (on ANY level), the capacity won’t be there. There is simply no way autonomous vehicles like cars and small planes will be able to move the amount of people. Improve the trains and busses for everyone and we’ll start getting somewhere. Literally.
☠️ This used to be a big deal. Now you (and I) can’t recall the one before the most recent one.
🛠 The right to repair is so obvious it’s hard to believe we have to even discuss it. Apple is absolutely on the wrong side of this fight.
Products will get used longer if they can be repaired. When a product gets used longer, it means less waste. And if Apple is going to push Lisa Jackson up on stage to have her claim Apple cares about the environment, then the right to repair should be part of this. Perhaps redesigning their products to be more easily repaired can help Apple’s reputation here, but I wouldn’t take a bet on that.
Until Apple’s policy on this changes, I say shame on Apple.
📰 I mentioned recently that I went to school for journalism but didn’t pursue it as a career. The reason wasn’t because newspaper people, on average, are paid poorly. Or receive intense scrutiny. Or work long hours. Or sometimes get killed doing their job. The reason was: I never felt I was remotely good enough to do that kind of work. It’s far more important than the skills I possessed or thought I could ever gain.
But, I guess I could have done it. “False Claim” Inaccurate refrain?! What horseshit that is. We have a word for this. It’s called a lie. Use that word. It’s unambiguous and everyone knows what the hell it means.
There’s a reason the right doesn’t subscribe to The New York Times: They don’t believe it. But there’s also a reason the left doesn’t subscribe: They’re incredibly disappointed.
📽 I watched movie Obit. While it’s maybe not your typical Saturday night movie, it was engaging and brought back a lot of memories.
I went to college for journalism, but never pursued it as a career. I don’t regret not going into that field, but I do miss the energy of a newsroom. While in college, my journalism teacher (there was only one, literally, and his name was Dr. Robert Cole) had us write obituaries. Now, I don’t remember the ones I wrote, but I do remember one that he read to us. It was the first time I understood how obits were more than something sad. That obit was written by Edna Buchanan. That lede!
I have to admit that, even before the movie was over, I started writing my obit in my head. Once you watch the movie, I bet you’ll write yours, too.
🚀 I worry about getting older. Not scary health things (though I’ve had at least one I remember and I guess they do worry me), but I’m more worried about the everyday. You know, walking, hearing, etc. I’ve been fortunate that I can still walk wherever I want in any condition I’ve ever been able to walk in, but one thing that is bothering me is hearing.
I swear I can hear things drips and weird mechanical issues and that gives me the impression my hearing isn’t gone gone. But, boy, watching new TV shows… I can’t hear. I crank the volume, I rewind and, still, nothing. Thank goodness for closed captions (aka, subtitles).
I’m watching the original Star Trek series and I can hear everything just fine. What’s changed?
Postscript. My son and I visited the National Air and Space Museum and got to see the Enterprise. THE model used on the TV show. It was great.
🏫 The GOP is not working towards a better America. The GOP is working towards a dumber, more ignorant, more at-risk America. An America where they can continue to take advantage of the less educated (and, really, all of us).
📻 The splintering of podcasting is here and it’s disheartening.
👳🏽♀️ The president’s attack against Ilhan Omar is awful, yet predictable. Still, it’s gross, reprehensible, and only aimed at riling up people to harm her. If I was from Minnesota I would be proud she’s my representative. Since I’m not, I’m proud she is an honest member of Congress who is fighting to fix the wrongs she sees. She’s smart and strong and we need that in our government more than ever.
🛠 Now that Lisa Jackson has gone on the record saying Apple wants its products to last longer (iOS 12 kicked serious ass on that front), it’s time to address the areas that often need repairing: screens, batteries, ports, and cameras. Don’t get me started on the whole notebook keyboard mess Apple’s gotten itself into.
Apple needs to get ahead of this so that replacing the battery in an iPhone or iPad doesn’t involve heating pads and suction cups.
It’s only a matter of time before the Right to Repair movement takes hold and lots of consumers find their products very difficult to repair. To the point where folks begin to consider what to buy with the idea of repair in mind.
🤭 I finally decided, after years, that Instagram doesn’t make me happy. At least when I follow people I know. So I unfollowed people and now follow accounts of non people (mostly).
What’s weird is I still like these people. I guess I don’t like the world they present? I feel bad about it, but it it’s how I feel.
My mom and I didn’t get much time together as adults. Well, as two adults. So I never got a lot of wisdom that I was able to take with me into my adulthood. I do remember two things she said to me in regards to politics (and it wasn’t a ‘sit-down’ kinda talk, just matter-of-factly as she went about her life… these were not said at the same time): The Kennedys were no good (since they didn’t follow the laws the rest of us followed) and Jimmy Carter was a good man and good president.
Fast forward to today. Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter live a simple life decades after being in the White House. This shouldn’t be astonishing.
But then I read this…
The Democratic former president decided not to join corporate boards or give speeches for big money because, he says, he didn’t want to “capitalize financially on being in the White House.”
… And I’m astonished. Jimmy Carter stands for everything this country, currently, is not. But it used to and still can again.
🗽 If voting is to be meaningful, here’s what America would do in regards to voting:
- Have same day registration
- Abolish electoral college
- Voting age lowered to 16
These things scare the hell out of politicians and I can’t imagine any of these happening in the next 20 years (let alone all of these things happening). I guess we can check back for 2040.
📰 I sure do like all the new doodads Apple has been releasing lately, but I think this is likely to have a bigger and better long-term impact.
🤮 I remain completely confident that Facebook will go down as a net negative on the world. Twitter too. It’s not that social media is bad, it’s that these companies are bad.
🖥 When there’s a big acquisition like Amazon buying Eero (sigh), there’s always talk about FAANG buying up small companies and ruining them.
But when I look through Apple’s acquisitions, I can’t find one that remotely caused outrage or concern like the Eero purchase. Did I miss it?
Why does Apple get lumped into this group when they don’t behave in the same way?
📱 I know Apple is a big corporation that I clearly have too much invested in (mentally and otherwise), but I do appreciate the fact that of all the big tech giants, Apple is the easiest to walk away from.
Critics of the big tech companies are often told, “If you don’t like the company, don’t use its products.” I did this experiment to find out if that is possible, and I found out that it’s not—with the exception of Apple.
With the exception of Apple.
I’ve said this for years and I’ve gotten nothing but scorn from friends and colleagues. I don’t imagine this linked article will help because it seems like minds can’t be changed nowadays. Anyway, to me, this all still keeps me in the decision-maker’s chair and shows that Apple still has to win my business each time something new comes along.
📺 I’m now following all the cast members of Travelers on Instagram in some weird way, I guess, to hang on to the show a little longer. But rather than being sad the show is over, I’m just going with the idea they’re all just following Protocol 5.
👩 Casey Smitherman did the right thing and if she gets any punishment for this, well… It’s horseshit. This is the kind of action I would want a person who is watching over my children to take.