This beautiful spring day was also the home opener for the Detroit Tigers.
Very cool dashboard for the Artemis II mission around the moon. There is so much more technology now than when we last traveled to the moon 50 years ago, including our ability to check in on the voyage via the Internet. I wasn’t home to watch the launch on TV but I got a notification on my phone about it and was able to watch the launch on my phone sitting in a strip mall parking lot.
Welcome the first daffodils of the season.
When you know what one has done in the past you cannot be surprised when he does it again. Politics as usual will prevent us from conducting the self assessment of how Trump was reelected in the first place because that says more about ourselves than were might be willing to face. Meanwhile we have to survive the next three years and that is not assured.
Contrasting Between What Is And What Intended
Tomorrow is the start of the Christian Holy Week. For those wondering whether Christianity is relevant to our current time, the stories about this week ought to provide the answer, but one may only see that with the help of leaders who connect the dots.
For me one of the best descriptions that sets the scene was written by Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan in their 2006 book The Last Week. It begins:
“Two processions entered Jerusalem on a spring day in the year 30. . . One a peasant procession, the other an imperial procession. From the east, Jesus rode a donkey down the Mount of Olives, cheered by his followers. On the opposite side of the city, from the west, Pontius Pilate, entered Jerusalem at the head of a column of imperial cavalry and soldiers. Jesus’ procession proclaimed the kingdom of God; Pilate’s proclaimed the power of empire.”
While this is not a report on what literally happened, it’s plausible contrasts the differences between what we all consider the norm of civilization, peace through violence, and the alternative rule of God of peace through love.
Palm Sunday is about hope, yes, but that is only appreciated in contrast to what is going all around us. If you get caught up in the hoopla then you are missing the point.
Amit has released a new version of his stats plugin that I use for my blog. I really like the new look. One that surprises me is that the number of my posts are pretty even through the days of the week. I expect to easily exceed my average number of posts over the last several years now that I am retired with more time to read and write.
Just got the Ugreen HDMI wireless extender transmitter and receiver and I am using it to connect the Pixel 10 desktop mode to the Innoview portable monitor. I’ve watched some video on YouTube and although this is only 1080P the video looks good enough. I am thinking this is an easier way to connect my iPads to a television while traveling but I was curious about how well this works with the Pixel 10. There and been some brief disconnects and it looks like the connection is more solid while I have the transmitter plugged in to power, otherwise it pulls power from the phone.
I think the MacBook Neo presents a dilemma, what is the worth of really good physical construction of a laptop if the computing capabilities inside may not be as valuable over the long haul? I think people considering buying the Neo need to consider how they will feel if after just a few years they will want to replace it with a more performant computer. At the root of this is the question of whether or not one thinks $599 is a lot of money.
Most likely what the Neo is really about for Apple is increasing cash flow from Macs. Previous Macs tend to be useful well beyond five years after release, which makes it hard for Apple to convince people to buy their new models. I think Apple hopes that today’s Neo owner will replace their Neo next year or the year later at the latest.
The step count on my Pixel Watch was consistent with expectations yesterday, so it is looking like that disconnecting and re-connecting the watch to the Fitbit app on my phone helped with the problem. I did notice an odd situation of the step counts decreasing by a few hundred after ending a workout and I am not sure what is going on with that, but at least the counts are in the ballpark of being correct. I don’t expect high accuracy here, close enough but consistent is what I need to track how I am doing over time.
Today we went on a retiree date, an afternoon matinee of The Lion King at the Detroit Opera House.
