Kathy Bates is our next Betty White. Kathy Bates is America’s new grandma, and I am here for it. She is brilliant in the reimaging of “Matlock” and it’s the one show I look forward to each week. All hail Kathy!
November 2024
The Bottom Line.
The era of Steve Jobs’ Apple is long gone. Now it’s all about the bottom line.
You don’t need any shiny new Apple products. Your current setup is just fine.
One More Thought.
When America should have chosen to advance, it instead chose to trample.
Do your best to not get trampled.
Get Secure.
With the Trump Regime looming on the horizon, it’s time to get your digital habits locked down as much as practical. We all know how quickly corporations will bow to government requests. Don’t rely on the big corporations to do the right thing when it comes to your digital rights.
Step away from using WhatsApp or Facebook Messenger as your primary means of communication. Zuck and friends will be deep into the pockets of the Trump Regime, and nothing you do on any Meta owned property is private. NOTHING. I encourage folks to get familiar with Signal Messenger.
Microsoft Windows is probably the least secure of your desktop/laptop OS options. MacOS is more secure, and Apple’s marketing machine really focuses on the security of Apple’s products, but there are gaps, and again, you’re handing over control to a large corporation. For those not technically minded, I recommend getting off Windows and onto a Mac if you can. Luckily, you no longer have to sell a complete kidney to get a Mac, the MacBook Air is quite affordable and capable for 92% of what most folks need. Of course, if you want to go full blown geek there’s Linux. When it comes to Chromebooks and the like, that’s up to you, but you’re relying on Google for everything and Google is scanning your data for ad revenue opportunities. So, it’s not really that private.
And lastly (for now), make sure you’re giving location permissions only to applications that actually need it. Solitaire on your phone does not need your location. Mail does not need your location. Your book reader does not need your location. While you might not worry about sharing your location with these apps, if you’re attending a protest or something and it makes the Trump Regime cranky, which it probably will, you don’t need your coupon clipper application tattling on you. And if you’re using the dating apps, be extremely careful; bad actors have and will continue to use those apps for bad purposes, especially since the American people consider cheap gas more important than those that aren’t 100% heterosexual (wink, wink) and trying to perpetuate the “American dream” from the 1950s.
Picket fence optional.
The Day After.
I hear Kamala’s concession speech was remarkable. I couldn’t watch it. I probably will someday.
I have distanced myself from MAGA family and friends and will continue to do so. I will not be part of their warped view. They will realize they have made a mistake in about six months. I give it six months, tops. In the meanwhile, I avoid them, if I work with them I just remain professional, and if I’m in public I give them a glare that was described by a USAir ticket agent as “a menacing gaze”. I will not be intimidated.
I honestly don’t know what the future brings other than it will be bleak. The 21st century has been awful since SCOTUS called the 2000 election for “W” and it’s all gone down hill from there.
Use your smarts, avoid the riff raff, and don’t give up hope. The pendulum always swings the other way.
We Have Work To Do.
The American people have spoken. Instead of going to Costco for gas, they’ve elected a fascist with absolutely no respect for The Constitution as the next president of the United States.
You have two months to get your stuff together.
My blog entries for the next few days are going to politically oriented as I work through this in my head. I really thought the American people were better than this, but hey, at least they can keep being racists out loud.
My first recommendation: To my LGBT+ brothers and sisters, make sure your union is legally documented OUTSIDE of a standard marriage certificate. Get all the legal power you can with power of attorney, right of survivorship, inheritances, wills, everything.
The American people are going to screw us hard to save 30 cents on a gallon of gas. We need to have our legal ducks in a row.
Too Close.
I drove up and enjoyed Mount Lemmon for a while this evening. After seeing the number of family and friends gleefully saying things like “I voted Red!” and the like on social media, I decided that I needed to get as far away from people as possible. I sure as heck don’t want to be following election coverage. It’s too depressing.
I’m not going to try to be sweet and hopeful if Trump wins this election, saying “it’s only four years”, “we can turn it around”, “yada yada yada”. I learned my lesson 2016 to 2020. 2020 gave me false hope in America moving forward. It never will. America is a racist, selfish country and hopefully I’ll die before we make the planet uninhabitable. I just feel bad for the non-humans on this planet. They just want to live their life in peace, but the American cancer sucking up this world is very powerful. Humans are horrible.
If I didn’t have to work tomorrow I’d probably go up a mountain and stay up there a few days.
