For years I’ve wondered who “they” were. You know, “They’re coming for your guns”, “They hate Jesus”, “They are the deep state”, “They want to destroy the country”. Now we know. “They” are the MAGAts who slavishly …

Putin wants Trump to destroy the federal government and leave everything to the states. Why? Because it’s easier to conquer one state at a time than it would be to conquer a United States. He’ll take the red states first. When you’re starving you’ll take food from anyone.

Tariffs will destroy us. : Russia may want to conquer us politically, but China has already conquered us in the marketplace. Look at all the things you use. I bet a majority of them are made in China. If China cut off exports to the US the few things left on the shelves would be sold for hundreds of dollars. It goes to show …

We haven't paid attention: Several authors have warned us in their fiction of what is happening now. It Can’t Happen Here by Sinclair Lewis, Steven Jonas' The 15% Solution, and Looking Backward:2000 to 1887, written in 1888 by Edward Bellamy, are prime examples. But we haven’t learned from history or literature. …

We are no longer the United States of America. Political and ideological differences divide us. Nor are we America. Three countries share that name. We aren’t even North America, as that includes Canada, who must regret that association. So who are we? What are we? What are we becoming?

The Criminal in Chief has invoked emergency war powers. Supposedly this is geared toward Mexican gang members but don’t be surprised when it’s applied to dissidents and anyone else who displeases the emperor.

What ChatGPT has to say about fascism versus democracy : I asked ChatGPT to present an argument supporting fascism over democracy. It sounds reasonable, even logical. This is the sort of state sponsored propaganda we can expect to encounter in the next few years. “A Call for Strength and Order in a Time of Chaos Citizens, For too long, we have been …

There is no "why": In the debate over our place in the universe and what life and consciousness are, there is one possibility that rarely gets addressed and yet is just as probable as any other hypothesis. The question “why” is in valid and has no meaning in the conversation of reality. It is because it …

Reflections: Despite dealing with lifelong depression, various addictions (cocaine was the worst), and a life that had no direction and thus no accomplishments, I’ve never been suicidal. I’m too curious about tomorrow. But when I see where this world is headed, I almost, almost, wish I could be. I’m an old white …

What does Deep Seek see as the worst case scenario for Trump’s reign? Predicting the “worst-case scenario” for any political figure’s tenure involves a high degree of speculation and depends on various factors, including domestic policies, international relations, economic …

Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde's comments at the inauguration that pissed of DJT: “In the name of our God, I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. We’re scared now. The people who pick our crops and clean our office buildings, who labor in poultry farms and meatpacking plants, who wash the dishes after we eat in restaurants and work the night shifts in …

Last thoughts at the end of American democracy: If Muskrat was willing to spend so much money buying the shit show that will be the Grump presidency, it doesn’t speak well for his business acumen. We can’t even claim to have the best government money can buy. From here on I pledge to be less devoted to the concept of a united states …

Evening Thoughts 1-13-25: I sincerely respect the integrity of those journalists resigning from their companies in protest over their owner’s obsequence with Trump’s comments. But I have to wonder what took them so long. Were they hoping the papers would change course? Were they unaware of the destruction Trump …

72% of the world lives under a dictatorship.: Capitalism has given us a world in which we cannot compete with billionaire oligarchs. Our one opportunity to keep them at bay, if only slightly, is activism. Resistance and revolution. We can’t fight them on their terms, we have to bring them down with the weapons we posses.

Christmas 2024: Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I have a couple of videos in which Charlie Chaplin and Rod Serling remind us of what we face after the gifts have been opened and the meal eaten. Treason tis' the reason for the season. youtu.be/J7GY1Xg6X… youtu.be/gbp1du33l…

24 hour time: I blame this on my cold, not being old. I took a shot of night-time cold medicine around noon. I woke up at 5, but 5 what? It was dark outside. I’m not senile…yet. It was now I realized that none of my “Digital Assistants” showed AM or PM. I quit using 24 hour time a while …

Thanksgiving 2024: I can’t imagine anything to be thankful for this year. Trump was elected, the democratic republic appears doomed, humanity still can’t live in harmony with nature, and to top it off I’ve just learned that I have to move in 6 months from the living arrangements I’ve enjoyed for a decade. I’m not …

Was Mike Flynn as MAGA as he is now when he was leading the DIA? If he was, how much damage did he do? What did he offer other nations? How much espionage did he do?

The end game of capitalism has brought about the end game of democracy.

Americans; Has this last election, perhaps literally, made you question the wisdom of a democratic republic? How can we continue to believe Americans will do the right thing when they’ve just proven that even a minority of them can ruin everything for everyone else?

Thanks to the anti-abortionists/pro-misogynists folks, Target and Walmart should move all their wire coat hangers to the Pharmacy isle.

Prepare to pay: Capitalism allows for the privatization of every aspect of society. Every agency of a state or federal government will produce profits for the owners of capital. This includes social programs. Food programs, Social Security, everything that once was paid for by our taxes or deductions from our pay …

Possession of power: Trump’s second term will be the most opaque in history. The only information released to the public will be misinformation. Inquiries will be treated as attacks on the establishment and anyone seeking the truth will be silenced. Why? Because wealth is not the only guarantor of power. …

Lobbyists. For decades they’ve promoted the fossil fuel industry, the auto industry, the cigarette industry, the drug industry, the gun industry, any industry that hires them, with no moral compass or ability to foresee the future they were bringing to past. Nevermind the wall between the …

One of my favorite shots of my MacBook and glasses.

“This is supposed to be a Koi pond” I toad him.

Well, I’m back after a not-so-brief hiatus. Trying to renew my account was a massive PITA. Yet somehow, through perseverance and a lot of swearing, I managed to do it. I feel like I need to take a nap now.

The Village Idiot: When I joined Lockergnome 20 years ago, I adopted the persona of “the Lockergnome Village Idiot”. I still feel like the village idiot. So many things that it seems everyone else believes, like religion, paternalism, equality, justice, capitalism; I don’t. I haven’t for nearly 50 years. It’s …

Suspension of disbelief: While watching a British police procedural on PBS I was reminded of one small action that English actors seem to never perform convincingly. Holding and drinking from a paper coffee cup, ala Starbucks. They way they handle the cup makes it obvious it’s empty, and they barely touch it to their lips …

Your call is important to us: Coming soon to your town. “Thank you for calling 911. Your call is important to us. Please stay on the line for English. For Spanish, press 1 now. Please press 0 for a menu of other available languages. Your 911 center is supported by your tax dollars, and we thank you. We will connect you to the …

Earth isn’t fine tuned: People who claim that Earth was designed by a deity just for the benefit of humans are looking at that concept the wrong way around. Roughly 70% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water. The Earth is surrounded by the vacuum of space. Humans can only live naturally on 30% of the planet. Without …

We humans think we’re so damned smart. How many human words can a dog understand? Up to between 100 and 200 words. How many dog words can a human understand? Zero.

If there’s one truism in tech, it’s “use what works for you”. Don’t listen to people who try to ridicule you for your choices. If it works for you, be it tech or app or OS, use what you enjoy and what works for you. CounterSocial

Billionaires are a single point of failure in capitalism.

Woke? Damn right I’m woke, And proud of it. Racists, Christofascists, and bigots can all kiss my woke ass.

Capitalism Compromised the Internet: When the World Wide Web, and later the Internet, came into existence, most of the nerds I knew thought this new means of communication would usher in a future of worldwide democracy, where everyone could talk with anyone, and freedom could be spread via modem. There were chat rooms and bulletin …

Clive was truly annoyed at having lost the chicken: One minute he’s on the way to market, chicken safely tucked under one arm and whistling a random tune. The next moment Mr. Darby’s brainless spaniel runs up behind him and spooks the chicken something fierce, causing the bird to react violently. Unfortunately the violence was directed …

The fight on the right is going to be ugly, and I’m looking forward to it. At the rate they’re going, soon you won’t be considered a good Republican unless you’re under indictment for something.

Love will overcome: It’s hard to deny that some form of Christofascism is attempting to be entrenched in America. The most effective way to resist this assault on democracy is to use what it lacks against it. Christofascism is a movement that treats people as slaves to the powerful leaders. There is no empathy, …

Micro.Blog, Where Art Thou?: Platform specific: I was reading an article by Manton Reece on his RSS feed and wanted to make a comment. I noticed that the article was also on Micro.Blog, so I clicked over to that. I still couldn’t comment as the site told me I needed to log in. OK, standard stuff. I gave my email address …

Nothing to see here...: Trump’s indictment, and those to come, are welcome distractions. They are allowing us to ignore for even a few moments that there are rich and powerful forces determined to undermine our democratic republic, as imperfect as it may be, and substitute for it a theocratic fascist state. They’re …

Chaos reigns: Even big companies are conspiring to reign chaos down on America. Google is selling .zip and .ooo domains. Spammers are jumping on .zip domains. And Apple wants to drop “Hey” from waking Siri. Insane. I learned how bad that can be when I changed the wake word for Alexa to Computer. I …

Complacency could kill us: I guess climate change, growing fascism, and social inequality can be depressing, but it’s reality. If we let it overwhelm us to the point of denial we’ll never find a solution if there is one. No one (outside religion) ever promised us that life would always be easy and humanity’s …

When you know you’ve got to go to you kennel for a few hours but you don’t wanna.

All the Googles in Googleville...: So here’s how I see my future; I’ve accomplished the first step. I’ve sold my soul to Google. In exchange, I received a gmail account, a spot on Orkut, a Blog on Blogger and unlimited access to Google/Froogle/Google images, groups and news. I have heard that others have received …

Is anyone else sick of privilege? White privilege Male privilege Police privilege Government privilege This country shouldn’t entertain privilege for anyone who has enjoyed undeserved privilege since its founding. It’s other people’s turn now.

Cities create slums, not the people living in them. The rich create poverty, not the poor. Bigots create bigotry. Police create fear of police. We blames the victims instead of those who victimize them.

Imposter Syndrome: All my adult life I played in a stage production called “My Working Life”. At work I wore a uniform (costume) and acted according to a script (the expectations of the job/my employers). I wasn’t me at work, I was a character in a play which earned me money that was used to enjoy my …

I believe this is the first social space where I’m encountering people my own age (physically, not mentally) and it’s a pleasure. If I notice you’re over 60 and a fellow geek I’ll be following you and hopefully be able to discuss the tech world from our perspective.

We need a revolution: Saving America going to take a revolution. Not necessarily a violent revolution, but a complete rethinking of capitalism and democracy. We’re seeing the limits of both systems in providing us with an equitable society and a sustainable planet. It isn’t feasible to think we can continue …

The 1% decides how the 99% will live: I can’t believe we progressives will ever attain our goals for a just and equitable society as long as the people making policy decisions are wealthy people who have never had to deal with the problems facing the non-wealthy. What interest do they have in Social Security when they’ll never need it? …

Too Much Data: When you think about it, which is what I’ve been doing today, there’s a single attribute the Internet shares with the NSA. They both harvest a gazillion bits and bytes every hour. Electronic storage capacities are constantly increasing. Think about filling every inch of your house with sealed …

A reminder: Artificial Intelligence is not Machine Learning Machine Learning is not Artificial Intelligence Much of what is called AI these days is ML

Reminder: AI is not ML ML is not AI Most things being touted as AI are actually ML

If Google installed their favorite operating system in robotic humans, they would be… Android’s android androids.

I saw this little guy sitting on the rocks around our Koi pond. The ponds, there are 3, look so nice at night. It’s my favorite Zen place. I still don’t understand how to populate the photos page on micro.blog. So to hell with it. I’ll just post my favorite pictures here this way.

When I get bored I rearrange things. This week it was my desk area.

MAGA loses another round: It’s the 4th grade class from hell over there, “there” being Fox and Twitter. The right can’t seem to keep control once they have it. Increased debt, Twitter and Fox both on a downward spiral, their popularity with us average people is on the wane, a lot of Trump rats jumping ship. The …

Guns, Pt. 2: More people with more guns quickly lead to fewer people. Guns can’t die like a child. A rifle from the civil war could still easily kill. Find a car that lasts that long. We cherish the presumed right to kill each other. It’s a bizarre point of pride.

Guns, Pt. 1: Once upon a time there were more people than guns. But then more people bought more guns to protect themselves from all the other people with guns. It’s between an addiction and a fetish. I don’t support unrestricted gun ownership. License, registration, and proof of insurance. Cops ask for that on …

I Prefer Reality: This might just be the year I go from being non-religious to anti-religion. And to be clear, I’m not talking about becoming anti-the-religious. I’m talking about being anti-religion, the practices, the superstitions, the evil the institution has done to humanity. We should never give …

Comrade Carlson: If our boy Tucker is considering that job offer from his friends at RT, he needs to do it now. Now is when Russians are in the most need of someone who will lie to them every night and reassure them that everything’s going to be fine. Plus he’s hot right now. He needs to get the ring …

The End Of The World: I believe another “End of the World"™️ has come and gone, and they’re still here. What if the Rapture has already happened, but only about 3 people were raptured. All the rest of those who hoped to go are just as screwed as they’ve always said we were.

The Talk Show with Quinn Nelson: I just had the pleasure of listening to The Talk Show with @gruber featuring @snazzyq. Even though I’m subscribed and enjoy each Snazzy Labs video, I didn’t realize just how intelligent and informed Quinn is. I love listening to experts discussing their field of interest. Everything …

What do you carry everyday?: To nerds, everyday carry means tech. To Amazon, everyday carry means guns.

Bye, Bye, Birdie: Why are so many people upset about the demise of Twitter? There was a time before Twitter. I know, I was there. We had many means of communication. I joined Twitter in 2007 but didn’t use it much because at first there weren’t many people on it and at that time I was involved with several forums. …

Subscriptions: In the very near future will we own anything? youtu.be/QYOeyeWc_…

Whose idea was it?: I’d like to see a tech-oriented psychiatrist tackle the association between AI and cryptomnesia.

The Cluttered Life: I’ll become YouTube famous once I start uploading my tutorials on how to accomplish simple tasks at home, work, and online in the absolutely most complicated, least effective way possible. My hacks will endanger the lives of anyone insane enough to actually try them. I will have survivors as guests …

Above the dirt: So, it seems being 69 isn’t so bad after all. It’s only been less than a day but nothing horrible yet. At least I’m still alive, and that beats being dead. I know I’ll be dead someday, but I intend to enjoy being alive as long as it lasts.

Thoughts at turning 69: Being alive really does beat being dead. We were all dead before we were born. Do you remember any of it? I don’t. If it had been fun you’d think we’d have some memory of it. So being dead must be boring as hell. Being alive is so much better, even when life sucks. I recommend life …

This explains a lot: From the NAACP: The origins of modern-day policing can be traced back to the “Slave Patrol.” The earliest formal slave patrol was created in the Carolinas in the early 1700s with one mission: to establish a system of terror and squash slave uprisings with the capacity to pursue, …

Qualified Immunity: Police should not enjoy qualified immunity. No public official should. In this country, public servants should be responsible for everything they do. Immunity should not be allowed in a democratic republic.

Polo or Foxhunting, Roderick?: Politics has become a rich person’s game. No more denials. This is a game for those who take no responsibility and have no limits. It’s a video game.

Thursday has to be the least interesting day of the week.

In running the updates on my 12 year old ASUS laptop with Windows 10 Home, I get the following notice I’ve never encountered before. “Your version of Windows has reached the end of service”. This whole machine has reached its end of service. No surprises there.

DJT Lite: George Santos has shown he has a spine. In the face of ever mounting evidence that he lied his way into his job, he refuses to leave (now he’ll always be a celebrity like ol’ Kyle) and refuses to explain. At least he’s not like his fellow Republicans, who are invertebrates. He’s Donald Trump Lite. I …

I never noticed that Windows warning before. 💾 “Your computer needs so many updates you might just as well come later, a lot later. Please insert the first floppy disk.”

100 Windows Updates: I just started up my old ASUS K501J Windows 10 laptop, built and bought in 2010. The last time I used it was 2 years ago. Dead battery, of course. Intel Pentium dual-core T4200 running at 200MHz, upgraded to 3 GB RAM and a 1 TB SSD. The trackpad works but is sticky, so useless. Other than the fact …

This sounds fascinating. Not one to read when you’re mentally exhausted. youtu.be/6qU1sDBU9…

In just over a week I’ll turn 69 years old. I’m really not sure how I feel about that.

I don’t know who at Apple decides on pricing but they need to come back to reality, especially when it comes to peripherals. From monitor stands to case wheels to watch bands, their pricing is astronomically outrageous.

If we could shed some of the baggage from our earliest days; greed, envy, hate, lust for power, fear of the unknown, if we could overcome those ancient limitations humanity might have a chance. Maybe in generations to come. I just don’t see it happening anytime soon.

What should be humanity’s greatest regret; We evolved a brain capable of dreaming of utopias and perfect societies while at the same time not enabling us to bring those dreams to fruition.

Design question. Which design for your micro-blog do you like? Do you even bother with changing the defaults? Are you the kind who spends 3 hours after getting a new laptop getting the UI, the fonts, the default apps, wallpapers, and the rest just as you prefer it, or are you the “Yes to all, …

It's all according to plan: The only regret that Republicans feel about the shit show we’ve all been forced to watch since Carter left office is that we found out. We noticed, it became so blatant. We read, thanks to involved citizens. We saw it. And it continues. We as citizens can vote, but even many on the left have …

Great start to the day. Forgot I had a VA appointment today. Raced across town to get there on time, only to find it was supposed to be a tele-conference. If dumb was a commodity I’d be rich.

Smile.Amazon, R.I.P.: Amazon is killing off its Smile donation program. Their reason isn’t convincing. “…the program has not grown to create the impact that we had originally hoped.” Whether it met their expectations or not, at least they were donating needed funds to worthwhile charities.

Every so often when I grab my MacBook or iPad I have an emotional flashback to the first time I got one. Back when technology was still magical, when the Net was still friendly and sparsely populated. Sometimes familiarity breeds complacency.

Yesterday I went through my apps and unsubscribed then deleted those I seldom or never use. Recently I’ve been testing different password managers and 2FA apps. I cleared out all the test apps and beta apps. If I could only reduce my email inboxes.

Take all my money: I want to think my current lineup of Apple products will last me for several years. But I know myself.

Retirement : I retired in 2020, the same month we began quarantining for Covid. Almost 3 years later and I’m still trying to adjust. I still feel guilty when I do nothing much all day. I still get mad at me for not reading and writing more.

Technocracy: Chris Pirillo is going to kick off a new channel dealing with Technocracy soon, and he’s going to allow me, Mike (my good buddy from Lockergnome), Georganna and David (fellow members of WebSanDiego) to be the initial contributors. So what the heck is a Technocracy channel? It’s going to …

Reflections on Philidelphia: Tonight I watched the movie “Philadelphia” on Amazon Prime movies. I know, it was released in 1993, and practically everyone I know has seen it at least once since then. But not me. There are certain topics addressed by popular movies that affect me too deeply for me to enjoy watching …

Veterans can get free care: Starting Tuesday, all U.S. military veterans in suicidal crisis will be eligible for free care at any VA or private facility Veterans do not have to be enrolled in the VA system to be eligible for free emergency mental health care. www.nbcnews.com/health/me…

New NFL uniforms: The NFL has announced that all teams will be required to equip all their players with these new uniforms, designed to reduce injuries. www.ebay.com/itm/38518…