Frank McPherson

Twenty years ago today, a Sikh father was murdered in front of his gas station in Mesa, Arizona by a man who called himself a patriot. Balbir Singh Sodhi was the first person killed in thousands of acts of hate in the aftermath of 9/11. Since his murder, countless lives have been lost or shattered by the way our nation responded to 9/11 — in decades of war, torture, surveillance, deportations, detentions, and hate violence that continues today.

Balbir Singh Sodhi was a kind-hearted and generous man, whom many called “Uncle.” He would give candy to children who came to his gas station as if they were his own children. He let people who didn’t have money for gas fill up and go. His brothers would shake their heads in disbelief. Was he a saint or a fool? But Balbir Uncle would just smile, saying God wants us to serve all. He and his brothers had come to America to escape religious persecution against Sikhs in India. He was planting flowers in front of his gas station when he was shot in the back, targeted for his turban.

Balbir Uncle wore his turban as part of his faith — his commitment to love all of humanity. What if we made the vision that he died for our North Star? What would the world look like if we valued human dignity above all? What if we chose, like Balbir Uncle, to treat all as family, to see no stranger? How would we be remembered 20 years from now? #BalbirSodhi #20YearsSince

Original artwork by Sunroop Kaur, @loquacious_lines

I’ve listened to Andrew Sullivan’s interview with Michael Wolff, who has written three books about the Trump presidency. Wolff’s assessment of Trump is straightforward, he believes Trump is crazy and thus not competent to be a real threat to Democracy. I think Wolff is being too myopic in his assessment, a Trump presidency is not the same as Trump the man. Trump the man is a mark for those in power and that makes a Trump presidency dangerous. Another Trump presidency is dangerous for how it will be used by those who Trump thinks is an ally.

You can rage against the man, or you can enable people to access your applications and sites. Or write a web browser for them to access your site.

What if COVID-19 leads to better treatments for, dare I dream a cure for, cancer?

I think When Society Becomes an Addict by Anne Wilson Schaef provides much insight in to why the United States is stuck. 📚

I think the hyper-individualistic mode that pervades the United States is as much a product of the neoliberal reaction the New Deal. Ever since they were enacted we have been stuck in a war over the New Deal laws and philosophy that put constraints the capitalist/wealthy class of the United States. Underlying all of that is the class warfare that drove the finding of the New World and is implicit in the founding of the United States. We won’t achieve anything that we want until we become honest about our beginnings.

“Climate policy is ultimately an economic question.” – John Cochrane

This is ultimately our societal problem, viewing everything only in terms of market value and economists thinking they have solutions to every problem. Economists are today’s clerics.

Just in case you didn’t know, 906 is the only area code for the entire Upper Peninsula of Michigan. In addition, 906 is the largest area code in Michigan. Everything You Need to Know About Area Code 906

About 906 Day

Finished reading: No Rising Tide: Theology, Economics, and the Future by Joerg Rieger 📚

From the author: “One of the core concerns of this book is the sense that people approach economics in much the same way as they approach religion. People who have been conditioned by their religious leaders to believe what they are told without the opportunity to question tend not to question what they are told by their economic leaders either.”

“Yet it is the peculiar genius of our society that its rulers have figured out a way, as in the case of the fish-fryers, to ensure that rage is directed precisely against those who actually do get to do meaningful work. For instance: in our society, there seems a general rule that, the more obviously one’s work benefits other people, the less one is likely to be paid for it.”

On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs: A Work Rant

One lesson we should learn from the pandemic is that we did once recognize there is a class of worked deemed essential, and these people who do that work deserve our respect and the ability to earn a living.

“Ambition seems, after all, a uniquely human trait — one that lies at the core of innovation, creativity, and discovery. But what if it wasn’t ambition that is the defining trait of our species? What if all along, the trait that made humans so different was the far less destructive quality of adaptation?” Rosie Spinks

Looking at the COVID-19 data for my county shows discouraging information. The upward trend right tnow is like last year, BUT the rate of increase in cases is double from 100 cases per day to 200.

Philips Hue and Spotify have an integration that I just tried out and found to be pretty good, even if it isn’t yet fully complete. Basically the music drives the color and intensity of the Hue lights. I am going to be using this more often. What would be really cool is if Hue and Netflix, or any other streaming video service, did the same thing. You can do this now with a Sync box, but this new solution just works via a smartphone.

Google has a digital handwriting Progressive Web App it calls Cursive that can now be installed on any Chromebook. However, since you cannot type in it, it’s only useful with a stylus. The news gave me an excuse to drag out to the Lenovo USI Stylus that I have to test the app on the Lenovo Duet. Bottom line is that this combo is only really useful for quick and dirty notes or sketches, the latency between the pen and the Chromebook is so bad that writing for any length of time will drive one crazy.

Fossil’s Gen 6 line of Wear OS watches is now available to order, they ship at the end of the month and cost around $300. I think this announcement rounds out the watches that will use Qualcomm’s 4100 processor.

Just took my morning walk and it’s so nice to have cooler air again.

Google has added a new Daylong Routine to Assistant.

Surprised it stayed still long enough for me to snap a few pictures. It was looking for lunch that it found.

Finished reading: In the Shelter: Finding a Home in the World by Pádraig Ó Tuama 📚

I really enjoyed this book because it contains so much wisdom scavenged during life lived. Chapter 8, Hello To Change, is particularly good with the following standing out:

“For many, the possibility of being wrong is a threat to the foundations of thought, morality, or empire. And without a doubt, those who advocate scientific thought are as prone as other schools of thought to being superior. But written into the heart of science is the embrace of the gift of being wrong.” page 197 (I would add, due to my current political mindset, that in a similar way written into the heart of democracy is the embrace of the possibility of losing an election. I see a common denominator between the emergent anti-science and anti-democracy ideaologies.)

“The Greek word translated into English as “repentance” is metanoia. The prefix meta means “beyond,” hence metaphysics being the study of—or speculation about—what is beyond the natural. The word noia means “thought” or “mind.” Together, however, metanoia means to change your thoughts, to change your mind, to turn in a new direction, to reverse a direction and go a different way” page 198

“Technically, then, this should mean that the Christian faith is a faith that is adapted to change, a faith that is not undone by realizing that its precepts or propositions are incorrect.” page 198, empahsis mine.

Ford Reveals 2022 Bronco Eruption Green Metallic heritage paint color - SlashGear

I like this, part of me wants to get a Bronco because of the memories of an uncle who had one in the 70s. I wasn’t particularly close to this uncle, who lived down the street from our house, but I thought the Bronco was cool.

So this just happened. Embarrassed to admit the I just figured out what is causing that rattling sound that is constant and loud outside, that be cicadas, annual ones I presume. I am reading about these noisy creatures of summer while sitting on the patio with a cup of coffee. I reach for the cup and look inside to see mosquitos doing back strokes, so I toss the coffee out of the cup towards a nearby tree and startle a big bug that flies away, a cicadas I presume.

It’s not surprising that a citizenry obsessed with appearance chooses to ignore reality. Not surprising that we took the Village People’s lyrics literally and apparently adopted it as our anthem.