Memory
00:18 Tuesday, 25 July 2023
Current Wx: Temp: 88.7°F Pressure: 1016hPa Humidity: 64% Wind: 6.91mph
Words: 299
Nothing philosophical, just an update on my 2019 27" iMac, now with 128GB of RAM. Right now I'm sitting at about 78GB in use. It was over 80GB when I was doing some work in Topaz SharpenAI. So I think the investment will prove worthwhile over the long run.
I have a very modest 16 tabs open in Safari.
We're going to take another stab at Mission: Impossible this afternoon. If we fail, this theater will be disavowed.
Finished watching the Arnold bio-series on Netflix. Thumbs up. I think Arnold is a better man than I gave him credit for before. Did he need to do his own biographical mini-series? (I guess he just offered his full cooperation.) Well, yeah. He probably did. But still, it's pretty good, and everyone is "complicated." I don't know when Arnold became "self-aware," but he is and he's all the better for it.
Enjoying Hijack on Apple TV+.
Also enjoying Three Pines on Prime. I wondered about how much involvement there was of Indigenous people in the series. This kind of alleviated my concerns. I welcomed and enjoyed it, as well as the similar, though smaller role in Deadloch. It's refreshing, especially in Florida where our state government is laser-focused on erasing history and people.
Enjoyed learning a great deal about Bookends on Saturday during the Tinderbox meet-up. The application is far more versatile than merely as a reference manager. You could use it as a stand-alone "tool for thought" today, and upcoming linking and pdf features only expand that. There's a video here. Bookends and Tinderbox are two of the remarkable indie apps on the Summerfest artisanal software sale. (I own nearly every app on sale there.)
Tinderbox ✍️ Reply by emailMorning
Current Wx: Temp: 79.72°F Pressure: 1022hPa Humidity: 91% Wind: 5.75mphWords: 547
God bless Joe Biden.
Hit the pavement at 0520 this morning. Yesterday and today, I've kind of imagined I was walking with trekking poles, like "Nordic walking," just to see what that felt like.
My morning walks have evolved a bit as I've tried to get more caloric and cardiovascular benefits. I started out with the camera, which was great for getting early morning shots of birds and sunrises, but kind of limited the amount of speed or exertion I could achieve.
So I ditched the camera, which allowed me to pick up the pace. I let my arms swing at my side, but kept them kind of naturally straight. When it was cool out, I could get a good pace going and more caloric "burn," and a little heart rate elevation. But as it got warmer and more humid, that pace declined a bit. It was most evident on the walk by the location I found myself at when my watch announced "Exercise ring closed."
At my best pace, I would find myself past the clubhouse entrance, while a more typical pace would find me behind the clubhouse somewhere, and a slow pace might find me completing the exercise ring just after making the turn onto the path behind the clubhouse.
Well, "imaginary" Nordic walking had me raising my hands and bending my elbows, where my arm swing resembles more of a "pumping" action than a "swinging" one. While I haven't replicated my best pace on cool days, yesterday and today had me coming around the corner of the clubhouse, approaching the entrance when the exercise ring closed.
My pace suffered a bit this morning, because I paused to take this shot with my phone, but it was still faster than yesterday's. It was 77°F this morning, and 94% humidity. My shirt was drenched when I finished, and it felt like I'd probably have been better off wearing running shorts. I normally wear a ball cap, but I took it off and stuck it in my belt behind my back because it was pretty damn warm and I wanted my head to cool.
Tomorrow I'll try it with the poles. I go early so I encounter fewer people (and flies). If this feels good, I'll try and add a backpack with a little bit of weight. (If nothing else, it'll empty my pockets, which I occasionally strike with my hands.)
While I was fairly pleased with how we did hiking the gorges in New York this summer, I think I can do better and I want to be able to do it for as long as I can. I recall walking up the stairs at my condo not much more than a decade ago, when I was still running half-marathons, and I was carrying a 40 pound bag of dog food. I had lost about that much weight running, and it made me realize how much extra effort it takes to carry that much weight around. Granted, it's distributed differently, but it's a lot. Knowing we're going to be going back to the hills around the Finger Lakes more regularly and for longer periods of time is something to look forward to, and an added incentive to get fit.
We'll see how it goes.
✍️ Reply by emailLeadership
12:27 Thursday, 25 July 2024
Current Wx: Temp: 86.77°F Pressure: 1021hPa Humidity: 79% Wind: 11.5mph
Words: 884
Germany under Hitler has been much on my mind for the past several years. It was never exactly clear to me just why the German people would go along with such a man. Willingly follow him into the abyss. I've read probably more than a dozen books about Hitler and the German people, and I'm no closer to truly understanding it.
I have perhaps a cloudy notion of why. People are social creatures, we don't exist as atomistic entities. There are exceptions, but fewer than most suppose, I think. Most folks who claim to be "independent," are either ignorant or delusional, maybe both. About a quarter of registered voters in my county in Florida are "independents." The majority of them vote Republican. Consistently. Every election. I've been told that what statistics seem to show is that "independents" generally vote the way their neighbors do.
We're social animals that exist in a hierarchy. I don't think human beings could ever exist in a truly egalitarian social order. Whether we could or not, the fact is that we do exist in a hierarchy; and people are very aware of how others rank within the hierarchy, be it economic, political, military or academic.
We create hierarchies of authority, presumably to establish and maintain order. We understand authority, we know it when we see it, and we choose to either recognize it or not. Comply with it, or not. We use symbols and titles to display authority. Badges, uniforms, robes, coats, collars, furniture, housing, signage, vehicles. People with no authority sometimes try to impersonate someone with authority by appropriating these symbols.
Some people conflate power and authority. They believe authority gives people power. In doing so, they surrender their own agency. In Annie Jacobsen's Operation Paperclip, I read again and again, German scientists and doctors, most of them Nazi Party members, claiming that they were "just following orders," when they could no longer deny the horrible things they did. The generals at Nuremberg, likewise, claiming that if they didn't follow orders then there was no military, no discipline. It might as well just be a mob.
But people became Nazis willingly. Carried out mass murder on an unprecedented scale. (The same can be said about the United States Army Air Force in WW II, and the RAF, with the bombing raids on Japanese and German civilian population centers.)
It seems that nearly all people have some capacity for cruelty and violence, to one degree or another. Some people have an enormous capacity. Maybe they were damaged at some point in their lives. "Hurt people hurt people."
As social creatures, we have mechanisms in place to check that capacity, inhibit it, in most circumstances. Certainly in public settings. Not so much, perhaps, in more intimate ones.
Within the in-group, the larger society within which we identify, these mechanisms and measures are somewhat effective. The worst failures are considered newsworthy because we recognize them as failures.
But that capacity for cruelty and violence can be summoned by someone in a position of authority. A leader. Someone looked up to, held in some esteem. Like a "successful, billionaire businessman and former president." As horrible a human being as I believe Donald J. Trump is, there are many Americans who look up to him as a leader.
But in order to mobilize that capacity for cruelty and violence, the leader must identify a target, a threat, an "other" to which the ordinary norms of civil behavior do not apply. Because it's not "cruelty," if you're "protecting" something or someone you value. And violence is appropriate because of the high value of what is threatened.
Israel. Gaza.
We're social creatures. Irrational ones. Our cognitive abilities are limited. To the extent that we use them at all, it is often to justify or explain our interior emotional state to ourselves. To "rationalize" our behavior, our opinions.
I heard someone in a "focus group," broadcast on cable news, say that she thought Kamala Harris was an idiot. When asked what made her think that, she said something to the effect, "Because she hasn't done anything."
Irrational. Emotional.
Voter.
I thought, foolishly it seems, that Donald Trump would fade from the public arena. I expected a "Trump v2.0" would emerge. Someone who would exploit the same grievances, the same fear, the same prejudices, but in a more "civil" manner. Maybe Ron DeSantis, or, more likely, Rick Scott. DeSantis was trying to be "Trump v1.1," younger, with better hair.
What Trump has shown is that this kind of leadership works.
Not only is democracy on the ballot, so is who we are. Who we choose to look up to as leaders. What we are prepared to do in response to their "call to action."
I don't know how to reach the people who think Donald Trump's rhetoric is inspiring. I don't know how to convince them that they're being manipulated, conned into becoming the worst versions of themselves. I don't know how I should feel about them. I struggle with that, because most of my feelings are negative.
To no small degree, how this election turns will depend on what abilities Kamala Harris can summon as a leader. The contrast is clear, but it must be articulated clearly, to reach those minds that can be reached.
✍️ Reply by emailNo kings, but a monarch's just fine...
Current Wx: Temp: 78.55°F Pressure: 1015hPa Humidity: 81% Wind: 9.4mphWords: 616
Rained around noon and I went out later on with the E-M1X to see what I could see. I'd been seeing a monarch every now and then in the weeks before, but it never stuck around long enough to get a shot. This time it did.
All of our stuff that was in storage in Florida should be delivered tomorrow. It'll be in storage here, too; but at least it's close enough to put my hands on it if I want to. That'll be nice.
Mitzi got her New York driver's license and the RAV4 registered in New York as well. Since the credit union holds the title to the Maverick, that's been a little more challenging. Had a difficult time with Navy Federal Credit Union yesterday, trying to figure out how we're going to make this happen.
I had a document from the DMV that said what was necessary, but it was like I was speaking another language to the customer service rep on the phone. I expected that they'd tell me, "We do this every day, CDR Rogers. Here's what we're going to do..." and just walk me through the whole thing. But after several minutes of back and forth and me repeating myself and getting increasingly frustrated, she put me on hold for five minutes and came back and said I could go to the DMV and just call them when I get to the counter.
Clearly they've never had to navigate NFCU's telephone customer service interface, including reciting the ridiculously long voice-recognition passphrase. Anyone standing behind me would probably want to shoot me, and I wouldn't blame them.
Then there's the matter of proving to the state of New York that I actually live here. I haven't received any correspondence here at this address because I'm nearly entirely "paperless," and I've only recently made the address changes with all my various accounts. But it'll get sorted out. It's almost absurd what they require.
We went to the Schuyler County Historical Society headquarters yesterday, the Brick Tavern Museum. It was built as a tavern in 1828 using bricks from New York City, which had been used for ballast in canal boats, because the brickyards in what was then called Havana hadn't been built yet. Pretty interesting little museum, and we enjoyed our visit.
From there, we went by the Montour Falls farmers' market. It's a pretty small affair, though everyone said to keep coming back because it tends to grow as the summer transitions to fall, with around 30 vendors before it shuts down in October. I bought a box of a half-dozen biscuits, 3 cheddar and jalapeño, 3 cheddar and chives. Delicious.
We watched Sunday Best, a documentary about Ed Sullivan on Netflix this afternoon. Fascinating story and I never knew what a remarkable man he was. My parents watched the Ed Sullivan Show every Sunday night, and as I got older I liked it less and less. But I was only fourteen years old, entering those adolescent years when anything your parents liked was not cool, when he went off the air.
The story is somewhat more poignant, juxtaposed as it is with the cancellation of Stephen Colbert's show, performed in the Ed Sullivan theater.
I worked out Wednesday morning, and probably did too much. I was sore yesterday, and sorer today. So I didn't go this morning, and I'm going to wait until Monday, after we've unloaded all of our stuff from the "pod." There are no stairs involved, and it'll be a short walk from the pod to the storage unit, parked basically outside of it.
Well, that's about all there is, thanks for stopping by.
✍️ Reply by emailUpdate
06:58 Saturday, 25 July 2026
Current Wx: Temp: 58.91°F Pressure: 1020hPa Humidity: 83% Wind: 5.79mph
Words: 521
It's been a minute.
So I saw the doc on Thursday. Great visit. She's younger than I thought, and an army veteran. Served two tours in Iraq as an enlisted medic. We talked about current events. We are of like minds.
Did a bunch of blood work, have another appointment in a couple of weeks to go over the results and discuss next steps.
We still have company, so it's a full house here.
In the new house, the plumbing is going in that will be below the slab. We hope to pour the slab on Thursday. It's beginning to give me a greater sense of reality in terms of it being a house and not just a hole in the ground.
I've installed Parallels and Windows 11 so I can use the 30 day free trial of LoopCAD to try and figure out the most efficient way to run the radiant heating piping in the slab. Oof! I'm not sure I can figure this thing out in time. It wants to run a full Manual J calculation, but apparently you can manually enter the heat loss, so I need to find that video. I'm afraid I may have spent almost $300 to no good effect.
We have a professional plumber, Gary, who is helping Brad with the plumbing layout and he has experience with radiant floor piping as well. If I can't figure something out, we'll go with his recommendation.
We'll be moving a lot of dirt on Monday. Ken, the excavator, is coming back to finish putting stone beneath the slab to bring it up to the footer level. Then he's got to move the mounds of earth around the basement so we can use a telehandler to set the floor trusses after the slab is poured. We're planning on using most of the dirt to form a berm at the north side of the property where the neighbor has expressed some disappointment with having to see our house. (They can't in the summer, because of the trees. In the winter, they may be able to see part of it.) So we'll make a berm and put some plantings on it so that eventually they will never have to set eyes on our place except when they're coming up their driveway.
People are weird.
While Ken's here, we'll probably also run the line from the well to the new house. It'll just be a water line, the pressure switch in this house will control the well pump for both houses. They're hydraulically connected at the well, so when we turn the water on in the new house the drop in pressure will be sensed in both houses. Turns on at 30psi and off at 50psi.
We dropped in at the local credit union and inquired about a HELOC, (home equity line of credit). I'll be taking that on for my portion of the cost beyond what I have from my portion of the sale of our Florida home. I may use it to put in ground-mounted solar as well. We shall see.
As usual, the beat goes on...
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