Chrissy Stoop writes that the strongest promoters of Christian Nationalism are the church going true believers. I think that Evangelicals have unwittingly embraced the true founding of Christianity, which was to consolidate power in the Roman Empire under Caesar. Constantine, not Jesus, founded the Christian religion of what nearly every person who claims the identity, Jesus on the other hand started something very different. Oh, and by the way, the first amendment is more about preventing government from using religion to enforce tyranny than it is about allowing people to discriminate on religious grounds. The founders were not what one today would call Bible believers but they had seen how the powerful used religion in Europe to rule over others.
Finished reading: Treasure and Treason by Lisa Shearin 📚
Religious freedom is an oxymoron.
Threads is having rapid success because it’s not really a new social network, it’s the Instagram social network in a different form. You “sign up” to Threads using an Instagram account and when you do, nearly all of who you follow in Instagram is on Threads and that gives the perception of overcoming the social network barrier. (The barrier of joining a new network hand having to build a new list of people to follow.) When you realize that Instagram is all about influencers and that nearly every commercial entity, actors, musicians, publications, etc. are influencers that brings a built in group of users who must sign up for Threads. I am on Threads but I probably won’t use it any more than I use Twitter, which honestly is not much.
People in power who have a chip on their shoulder are dangerous because they cannot be influenced by the will of a majority. Such people live their lives convinced they were wronged and dedicate their lives to right that wrong. In my opinion the majority of Supreme Court justices have such chips, and as they are in the most authoritarian seat of U.S. government, we will all suffer the consequences.
I am a life long Chicago Cubs fan, and so that gives me the perspective of comparing the current Cubs teams to those of the past. The 2023 edition of the Chicago Cubs is frustrating because there is so much talent on the team that is not living up to its potential, and the result is very inconsistent play. Simply put, the Cubs lose too many games in a row. Really good teams don’t lose more than two games in a row, whereas the Cubs often fall in to a streak of losing 3 or more games in a row, the result is an attempt to move up in standings is like being in quick sand.
Unlike other weather items, it appears there is no common source for air quality stats. Right now Google says AQI here is 167 while AccuWeather says it is 204. That’s a big difference. Which is right?
Smokey Eye Not Good
I watched the Air Quality Index for my home showing on the Nest Hub creeping up all yesterday afternoon to as high as 193, due to the wildfires in Canada. Right now it is 187 and I am planning on not going on my normal walks. It’s troubling to me for it not to be raining or incredibly hot yet avoid being outdoors. Last night I watched the Cubs play in Chicago, somewhat surprised they were even playing the game with the AQI over 200. I would have expected the teams and Major League Baseball to be concerned about the health of players and the fans. As far as I know, there is no change coming soon.
We have an Airthings Wave Mini in the basement to track humidity and temperature, but it also tracks what they call Volatile Organic Compounds, which are airborne chemicals emitted by every day items. The biggest influence I see on VOC in our house is the furnace and air conditioning and the good thing is that the AC was not running as much as it could so the VOC number has stayed in the good range. VOC is not the same as Particulate Matter pollution caused by the wildfires and currently affecting the outdoor air quality, I would need a different sensor for that reading.
The Air Quality Index has cross the unhealthy range here in West Bloomfield, Michigan.
I have an account on Bluesky: @frankm.bsky.social. It looks and feels like Twitter. In summary, I question whether the world really needs more social networks. My daily check-ins are to micro.blog, Facebook, and Instagram. I will classify Instagram as my guilty pleasure, I check Facebook because that is where my friends are, and micro.blog is the only real social network I go to for networking with others. I read a lot of what is made visible to me via RSS, and I write my thoughts in this blog and my Daynotes, and here in summation is my use of the Internet.
Dan Seifert writing for The Verge provides an interesting comparison between the Samsung Z Fold and the Pixel Fold. Samsung’s foldable is optimized for portrait orientation while the Pixel Fold is oriented around landscape. I note that the Surface Duo has a similar design perspective, and the consequence is better single screen, phone-like usage. Seifert’s opinion is that one buys a foldable for the inside screen thus Samsung’s approach may be better. I agree that portrait is right for small screen tablets, but I understand Google’s approach to making sure there is a good phone experience. What I wonder is, how does the Kindle app look in portrait on the Pixel Fold?
The Pixel Fold has started to ship and tech reviews are being published. The reviews that I have read so far are biased by the cost of the phone, the gist being that it’s not good enough for the price. Given the $1,800 price, I wonder whether it could ever be good enough at that price? In my opinion this is the consequence of a company releasing an expensive first generation device, the price does not allow any grace for the fact that it is first generation.
“If capital wishes to call labor entitled, capital must acknowledge that it is the most entitled creature in society, craving eternal growth at the cost of the true value of any given service or entity.” – Ed Zitron, The Rot Economy
I am now curious enough to want to create an account on Bluesky, does anyone have an invite code?
As the Chicago Cubs prepare to play the St. Louis Cardinals today, I reflect on my comments during the winter on how much the Cardinals improved during the off-season in comparison to the Cubs. I did not expect the Cardinals to go 13 below .500 and sit in the cellar looking up at the Cubs. Shows the importance of playing the game. The Cubs need to at least split in London, but really should sweep.
Generational Expectations On Time For Change
Lately I have been ruminating on generational differences in relationship to technology. Like all things, technology changes over time. I remember a time before cell phones, when the only way to make a phone call was to by using a handset in our home, but I don’t remember a time when there were no phones. Generations younger than mine do not know of a time when cell phones did not exist. Today Dave Winer writes of a similar technology change, between black and white and color television.
The differences between those who lived during “before and after” periods and “never knew anything else” periods of technology can have significant societal consequences. I think the Internet is one such case, with those who have never lived without the Internet expecting all matters related to time happening much faster than my generation and older who grew up without the Internet. The “Internet” generation will not tolerate society changes needing to take tens or hundreds of years of time (civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights, etc..) to complete, they expect such change to happen in months if not days!
Finished reading: See No Stranger by Valarie Kaur 📚
I led a group discussion of this book with friends from church. Christians know of Jesus commandment to love our neighbor and his teaching to love our enemies, but what does that really mean? Jesus is not taking about feelings or emotions but rather the work of revolution love that Valarie Kaur describes in this book.
Fitbit/Google has enabled the blood oxygen saturation reading of the Pixel Watch, but it only works at night! I don’t understand why Fitbit has not included an app to let users get a reading on-demand, like like we can do with ECG. I thought SpO2 is valuable info while working out, so I don’t understand why the reading is only at night. Consequently, I don’t benefit because I am not wearing my watch while I sleep.
I spend every work day in my home office that is located in the basement of our house, which can be 2 to 5 degrees cooler than the main floor, therefore I usually wear sweats rather than shorts. I also try to take four walks during the day, usually after each meal. When I walk I carry my phone and house key. I recently switched to the Pixel 7a that is heavier than the Pixel 4a I used previously, and I find it too heavy to carry comfortably in the pocket of my sweats. Consequently, I’ve started to carry the phone and keys in a sling pouch that I am wearing while on my walk but it is a tad larger than I prefer, so I have ordered a smaller phone sling from Alpaka that I hope will be better to wear on my walks.
After reading this article about RFK Jr. and his candidacy for President, it occurs to me that what should be most important is how a person works and interacts with those with whom they disagree. It seems most people believe that a President can and should be able to simply make changes and that would make that person a king against which we declared our independence. Consequently, any person in power is going to encounter oppositional power and how that person handles it is an important skill. So, RFK Jr. has some opinions about affects of vaccines on autism, which he is certainly allowed to have, but what will he do with them? How does he view those who disagree with his opinions, with contempt or as an opponent? Too many people treat others with contempt and that is counter productive.