Frankly...

In my reading this past weekend I came across a few essays written by Linus Lee that relate to the topic of organizing information that I reference in Writings On Organizing Information, which I am calling a living document.

“Two thousand years after Jesus launched a subversive spiritual movement of equality, emancipation, and peace, two thousand years after women were among his inner circle and the first messengers of resurrection, two thousand years after Jesus defended Mary of Bethany’s place in the all-male circle of disciples, the Christian religion still remains subservient to patriarchy and the authoritarian control it engenders.”

— Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned by Brian D. McLaren

A second morning of comfortable temperature, low humidity, and cloudy sky. What a nice break before returning to the normal August heat tomorrow.

Cloudy skies, a slight breeze and cool temperature calls for being outside.

Am I the only one who thinks the idea that a President can wave his arms and unclassify any document is crazy? What we should learn from President Trump is that there are more anti democracy aspects to the U.S. Presidency than we should like and have only not been exploited because of the patriotism of past presidents. Now we know that norms alone cannot protect us if all it takes is one person who thinks the President of the United States should rule like the President of Russia.

“Our religion can “hell-ify” us by inspiring in us an impenetrable sense of rightness or even superiority. That sense of rightness can inoculate us against humility, infusing in us an excessive confidence or addiction to certainty that keeps us from seeing our mistakes until after the harm has been done—to others (including our children) and to ourselves. Our religion is right, we believe, which makes us right. As a result, the more devoted we are, the more stubborn and unteachable we become. And everyone can see it but us, because we’re blinded by our sincerity and zeal.”

— Do I Stay Christian?: A Guide for the Doubters, the Disappointed, and the Disillusioned by Brian D. McLaren

A big problem in American society, perhaps the problem, is too much religion. The reason why is because most people do not know what religion is, that it is more than agreeing to a set of beliefs or attending a church. Re-ligio means to re-bind, but “re” anything infers we do it already. What we bind ourselves to is how we see ourselves, it becomes our very identity, our idolatry. Everything we bind ourselves to is a layer of our false self, put in place from the outside.

As an exercise, complete this question. I am….

Starting to read: Do I Stay Christian? by Brian D. McLaren 📚

I am reminded that I expected the Mobvoi TicWatch to get WearOS 3 by now, but that has not happened. Google WearOS continues to disappoint.

At the end of a good day

Surf is up

Over time I’ve tried different Beyond Meat products and tonight I’ve tried the Jerky and have to say it’s the best at being nearly indistinguishable of the ones I’ve tried.

“Perhaps the most important skill we learn in life is how we make decisions” Decision Making Matters

Finished reading: Christ & Empire by Joerg Rieger 📚

“One of the paradoxes of empire in our own time is that people often assume that we are now closer to freedom than ever before.”

— Christ & Empire: From Paul to Postcolonial Times by Joerg Rieger

The Kansas State Supreme Court, in their decision that the Kansas state constitution provided the right to abortion by borrowing from the language of the Declaration of Independence: “All men are possessed of equal and inalienable natural rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” They wrote:

Included in that limited category is the right of personal autonomy, which includes the ability to control one’s own body, to assert bodily integrity, and to exercise self-determination. This right allows a woman to make her own decisions regarding her body, health, family formation, and family life—decisions that can include whether to continue a pregnancy.

I am glad to see someone other than me define liberty as including the ability to have control over one’s own body. Unfortunately, SCOTUS does not agree with the Kansas State Supreme Court about that same language. The fact that the U.S. Supreme Court is attacking liberty for all for the sake of a perceived infringement on religious liberty is very dangerous, although sadly no unprecedented, SCOTUS has been attacking liberty practically since its beginning.

Greed drives most of the capitalism in the United States with little thought about the consequences. We are currently living through the consequences of a war a world away between Russia and Ukraine, imagine what happens if war breaks out in the Far East where everything we buy and use in the United States is manufactured. Have you tried to buy a car lately? Greed has put us in this bad place where China has a vice grip on our economy.

In the 1920s greed drove the United States and the world over a financial cliff toward a Depression. It took a World War and the New Deal laws to get the country back on its feet, but the wealthy minority, which has a lot of power because everything including votes and court decisions can be bought in the U.S., has been waging war against the majority, what we once knew as the middle class, ever since. Everything going on in the U.S. is a consequence if this war.

At the root of the issue is the claims on the definition of liberty. On one side, that includes the wealthy, is the claim liberty means one can do whatever one wants. On the other side is the claim that one’s claim to their personal liberty ends when it infringes on the liberties of others. The extreme libertarian side pushes toward anarchy, the extreme other side pushes toward over regulation, and in the middle is supposed to be the idea of the rule of law.

A simple truth….there are more books that I want to read than I have time, but I try!

Alan Jacobs, who I follow on micro.blog, recommends reading Albert Murray: Collected Essays & Memoirs (LOA #284). I click the link in the micro.blog app and I see the description of the book and think to myself, I would like to add this to my Want To Read list in my Bookshelves in micro.blog but there is no link to do that. Next, I shared the link to Drafts and open Epilogue to paste it, but first went to the Discover tab and saw the book listed.

All, to say…note to self, remember that books shared in micro.blog appear in the Discover in Epilogue, so just go there if you want to add that book to your want to read list.

Epilogue is an app in development and available via TestFlight to manage Bookshelves in micro.blog.

Checking back in on the micro.blog app for iPadOS on the iPad Mini, and see that the left menu still doesn’t disappear. I would prefer it showed posts across the entire screen.

It is utterly tropical outside and according to my weather app, a 79 degree dew point. No clouds. Sat outside for maybe 15 minutes before deciding I wasn’t in a mood for a sauna.

I received the Google Pixelbuds yesterday as promised by USPS and so far I am very happy with how they work. They were discovered by my Pixel 4a and setup went smoothly. The Pixelbuds are associated to my Google account and so my work phone that runs Android and knew about the Pixelbuds and displayed a notification to associate it and install the Pixebuds app. More first impressions notes on my tech information page.

I received a text message that the Google Pixelbuds that I ordered are out for delivery. At least I know the Post Office can deliver to the right address. Yesterday I read on Facebook that others had similar shipping experiences and the same resolution where once they enabled text notification updates whatever the issue was became resolved.

Six years ago I felt positive things were happening for the Chicago Cubs. I wrote then about all the young talent that was getting a chance to play and looked forward to the future. Honestly, I feel a bit that way this year. The Cubs young guys who have been given a chance to play have demonstrated they are capable. I think next year they should be competitive in the NL Central.

Against my better judgement, I ordered the new Google Pixelbuds Pro from the Google Store and once again I have evidence that delivery of products from the Google Store is at best cursed if not flat out incompetent.

To my surprise I found that Google shipped the Pixelbuds via UPS, which I thought was good because UPS seems to know what they are doing, but then I saw the indicator that it is really via Mail Innovations. I think this is the service in which UPS and the USPS partner in delivery with UPS doing the cross country transport and USPS doing the last mile, and it means more moving parts to fail.

The Pixelbuds shipped out of Bensenville, IL on July 26 and arrived in a UPS sorting facility in Urbancrest, OH, which is a suburb of Columbus. According to the UPS tracker, the package then was delivered to USPS in West Bloomfield, MI, which is where I live, on July 29 but rather than being delivered to me on August 1 as originally expected the next update on that date was another “sorted” at UPS facility in Urbancrest, OH.

To date the package has yet to arrive. I know there is no guarantee date and that I did not pay extra for shipping, but I am wondering why it appears stuck in Ohio as if nobody knows what to do with it. I can’t remember whether I even had the option to pay for delivery.

Worse, despite the fact that when I click the “Track Package” link in the notification of shipment email that Google sends goes to a ups.com site, when I manually enter the tracking number via my UPS.com account it indicates as not a UPS shipment. I go to usps.com and it indicates it “departed shipping partner facility” on July 28 in Grove City, OH, which is probably the same location indicated by UPS, but there is no other update on the USPS site.

None of these shippers provide me, a user, to click a link on these tracking pages to send to the shipper and ask them what is up with my shipment, even when I have an account set up with their site. I use Informed Delivery with USPS and normally as soon as a USPS shipping label is printed I get a text notification, but not this time. I can only conclude that “Main Innovations” is a very cheap and thus low quality shipping serivce. The bottom line to me is that Google Store compromises on customer service for the sake of cutting costs. It all adds up to a once again poor experience with Google Store.

Prior three orders of phones and the Pixelbook, which are more expensive items, where delivered to the wrong address. I get packages from Amazon and other online stores via UPS and Fedex with no problem, but every dang one from Google Store is messed up.

Update: Just got a text from USPS that the package arrived in West Bloomfield and will be delivered tomorrow.

Shock in Wrigleyville as the Cubs did NOT trade Wilson Contreras or Ian Happ as nearly everyone expected. During the lead up to the trade deadline pundits were bemoaning the fact the Cubs just trade away all the players who were so important to winning the 2016 World Series. Now pundits are bemoaning the fact the trades were not made!

The reason why trades were made is simple, teams didn’t want to pay the price the Cubs were asking for. Contreras is the best catcher in baseball and you don’t just give that caliber of player away for some prospects, except maybe a team of prospects. Before Soto became available Contreras was one of the best, if not the best, hitters available. When the Nationals announced they were open to trades, Contreras was no longer the best hitter, he was just the best catcher available. Teams buying simply decided they had needs greater than catcher.

My hope is that the Cubs make a serious attempt to signing Contreras to a new contract during the offseason. Wilson is a player worthy of being the cornerstone to the next great Cubs team, particularly given the additon of the designated hitter. You need leadership to win in any sport, and Wilson provides it to a team of young players and particularly a team with young pitchers. I think Wilson is worth the money he asks for.