Ponderings and Musings

I went hiking up in the Santa Catalina Mountains near Mount Lemmon yesterday. It was a cool day; there’s still snow on the ground in a few spots above 7000 feet.

I felt the need to be near trees. I wanted to hike around trees. So sturdy, so steady, so resilient.

I’ve had some people reach out with concern about my mental well being. I will be fine. And soon enough I will move beyond being fine and once again be awesome.

I’ve had my rants. I’ve ridden out the emotions. I’ve cried. I’ve been angry.

I’m done expending any more emotion on the subject. The people wanted a Trump world. Hysterics will not contribute to navigating it. Rational thought is what we need.

My focus is now on being rational.

Human beings, and Americans in particular, when given an opportunity to advance will almost always choose to trample.

Someone mentioned on a Zoom call today, “J.P., you’ve been wearing a lot of black”.

Um, yeah. Have you seen the news? The recommendation to wear black as a coping mechanism for the Trump Regime came from my 76-year old mother. She is one of two people in assisted living care amongst a sea of MAGAts that are sticking up for Kamala.

Back when I was a kid I asked, “why did he put a pie in Anita Bryant’s face?”

Mom: “Because she’s not a nice person”.

My mother has always rocked.

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!

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.

When America should have chosen to advance, it instead chose to trample.

Do your best to not get trampled.

And to reiterate: no, we can not still be friends.

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.