Over the course of my career the company I work for has provided me a number of different computers to do my job, most of them have been pretty cheap devices. However, for a period of time I was provided with IBM Thinkpads including the 701c that had a unique, expanding, “butterfly” keyboard. It has been a long time since I have thought about that computer, but today I read a description of how one was restored. Nobody tries changes to physical designs of computers like they did back in the day.
It’s the first day of winter and what snow we got earlier is almost gone. Forecast through Christmas is for temperatures in the mid 40s.
“We all tend to aim for the goal instead of the journey itself, but spiritually speaking, how we get there is where we arrive. The journey determines the final destination. If we manipulate our way, we end up with a manipulated, self-made god. If we allow ourselves to be drawn and chosen by love, we might just end up with the real God.”
— Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent by Richard Rohr a.co/7fQnnXk
It’s another MLB offseason, deep in to December, during which the Chicago Cubs have yet to sign any free agent. By this time last year the Cubs had signed Dansby Swanson after seeing the other top tier free agents go to other teams. Back in November when people were reacting to the Cubs hiring Gregg Counsell as manager I was skeptical that that hire was a sign that the Cubs were going to be aggressive in the free agent market. I believe that Hoyer most likes Counsell’s success without having top tier players, so I expect more of the same. Really. of such free agents only Cody Bellinger remains and I suspect the length of contract he wants is not what Hoyer is willing to give. I don’t see the Cubs returning to the World Series as long as Hoyer is in charge.
We got a dusting of snow yesterday, enough to cover the grass. I don’t expect the snow to last for Christmas.
What I like most about Readwise Reader is its support for keyboard shortcuts, just about anything one might want to be done can be done via the keyboard. Unfortunately, support for keyboard shortcuts is highly dependent on Javascript and that seems prone to breakage. It seems about every four months or so the keyboard shortcuts in Reader stop working, and we are in one of those phases. Right now I am seeing shortcuts disappearing just about every time I move from one article to the next, to restore them I have to reload the page. I’ve found the problem exists in Chrome and Firefox. I’ve sent feedback to Readwise so hope they fix this as they have fixed other occurrences.
Got an early Christmas present from Google last week when the December 2023 Security Update was pushed to the Pixel 7a. After the update the battery life has dramatically improved. Seeing more deep sleep and with it sub 2% per hour drain with the screen off per AccuBattery, which is more in line with my prior Pixels.
It is said that what Jesus most often spoke was, do not be afraid, and some claim the United States is a Christian nation, yet those people are driven by fear. Christian nationalism is not about following Christ, it is much the opposite.
“Tyrants thrive in communities of fear. They deceive the fearful into believing they will resolve their agony. They’ll promise safety, power, belonging to those who require their hope be attached to a person, usually a person of status. But as tyrants gain confidence, they have less need to obscure their evil. They learn they can threaten, insult, and abuse their followers directly and openly, past the point of rebuke. They have become salvation to some sect of the community. And in their terror, who would dare rebuke the rescuer?”
— This Here Flesh: Spirituality, Liberation, and the Stories That Make Us by Cole Arthur Riley a.co/11dBkOx
“In each case Jesus describes his work as moving outside of polite and proper limits and boundaries to reunite things that have been marginalized or excluded by society: the poor, the imprisoned, the blind, the downtrodden.”
— Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent by Richard Rohr a.co/aZiW5Tg
First thing I noticed when I started my walk this morning is the number of squirrels out and about. Temps are going above normal today, and they seem gleeful.
I have started the final segment, which is Maine, of the Appalachian Trail in the Walk The Distance app. I started walking the distance of the Appalachian Trail on July 24, 2022 and since then I have walked 1,770 miles. I have 254.2 miles left.
Finished reading: Strange Rites by Tara Isabella Burton 📚
I think the biggest consequence to what Om predicts is a potential shift in how we direct young people toward professions that provide for a good life. (aka “the American dream”). When I grew up, and I think it is still the case, it was implied that the best professions, in most cases defined as the ones for which there is a greatest income potential, are white collar, which are the type of jobs at risk. The attack on unions starting in the 1980’s to just recently implied such “blue collar/union” jobs are “less than” non-union, white collar jobs. The huge wealth gap in the United States is a consequence of this direction, which has also transformed the U.S. economy from manufacturing to services. It appears that AI has the potential to force a re-calibration of what we consider good jobs, ironically through the same automation that eliminated so many blue collar jobs during the last thirty years.
Om Malik’s blog post about AI has an interesting chart from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook that predicts the fastest growing jobs over the next eight years. It is sorted by percentage difference, but you need to look at the actual number of jobs created, which are in thousands. Wind turbine service technicians is second on the list but that amounts to only about 5,000 jobs. The list also includes athletes (7th) and umpires/referees (10th).
After the American Revolution was over and time came to decide how we were to govern ourselves, some might have wished to make George Washington a king. If you know U.S. History or have seen Hamilton you should appreciate the irony of the possibility of replacing one King George with another. And yet, many people, particularly conservatives, in the U.S. today view the President as their benevolent dictator. Tom Nichols, writing for The Atlantic, rightly points out how we view the Presidency, particularly I think since the Reagan years, has lead us to our current state in which the founding principle of liberty for all is not really a factor. Current Republican conservatives no longer appear to put traditional American values above everything. I fear we will get the government that we ask for/deserve.
In 2005 in McCreary County v. ACLU, Sandra Day O’Connor tendered the decisive vote to hold unconstitutional a Kentucky courthouse’s Ten Commandments display, she asks: “Those who would renegotiate the boundaries between church and state must therefore answer a difficult question: Why would we trade a system that has served us so well for one that has served others so poorly?��� She introduced the “endorsement test,” which reinforced the establishment clause principle that the government may not support a particular religious viewpoint and, instead, must endeavor to be neutral toward religion. Source: scotusblog.com
Finished reading: Romans for Normal People by J. R. Daniel Kirk 📚
“Whatever you trust to validate you and secure you is your real god, and the Gospel is saying, “Will the real God please stand up?””
— Preparing for Christmas: Daily Meditations for Advent by Richard Rohr a.co/cTaY4f0
It’s 60 degrees outside!
Every day that the sun is shining during winter is a good weather day.
