Well, I finally found a spot in the house with an acceptable background for my passport photo. Earl was kind enough to take the photo for me.
I was happy to see the “your photo is approved!” message from the official website when I uploaded it and attached it to my application. I wanted the ambiance to be as passport-chic as possible. I think I hit the mark with this fairly unflattering photo.
I’m a little surprised one can renew their passport online, but I suppose the U.S. Government knows enough about me to know that it’s actually me. Plus, I have TSA Pre, so I’ve already been through that whole process.
TSA Pre makes me smile because I don’t have to go through as much of the security theater. The smile is not reflected in my passport photo.
Six Colors and other Apple aficionados are releasing their 2022 “Report Cards” for where they see Apple as of 2022. These report cards are very interesting and I look forward to reading them everywhere. I don’t use the commentary to sway my opinion, nor reaffirm my opinion, but I do often agree with the assessments presented.
I am typing this blog entry on my M1 iPad Pro. I would like this device to be my main computing device. I want a Star Trek experience where I can take this device anywhere, work with it as a tablet or connected to the Magic Keyboard, or plug it into a keyboard and monitor setup, and be productive on this device. I don’t need it to run MacOS, because that would be continuing the same old paradigm. But I have to admit, I’m really confused as to what you want this device to do.
The M1 (and new M2) processor is the same exact processor in your Mac lineups. My M1 Mac Mini is absolutely amazing. It has been a workhorse since I purchased it in 2020 and easily handled my work at home needs without even getting warm, let alone breaking a sweat. The M1 (and now M2) processors are amazing and you should be commended on this advancement.
So why do you stifle your iPad Pro lineup so much by restricting this beautiful device to iPadOS?
Let’s face it, Stage Manager in iPadOS 16 is a mess. It’s not intuitive, it’s buggy, and it’s too restricted for power users and too complicated for normal users. When I fire up my iPad Pro I don’t want to see a bigger version of my iPhone, I want to Think Different.
The iPad Pro, in the focus of your company with billions and billions and billions of dollars in the bank, should have a completely different experience than both your iPhone and Mac line ups. The iPad Pro deserves to stand on its own and deserves to bring a new paradigm of desktop computing front and center.
For a few years now I’ve mentioned MercuryOS from time to time. A brilliant concept by people smarter than me, MercuryOS is designed for tablets exactly like the iPad Pro. The concept shows a new, intuitive interface for computing, powered by the likes of AI we see today with Siri. MercuryOS is gentle, elegant, and designed to bring users into a state of “flow”. Flow is good. Flow on an iPadPro would be a godsend.
Please, hire the people that built the concept of MercuryOS. I know you have the technology today to make these things happen. We all know that if any company in the world has the capital to pull this off, it’s Apple.
We have spent well over a decade waiting for the next step in computing. We have waited for well over a decade for the next giant leap in the user experience. We have the devices, we have the technology, and the cash to make it happen is there.
Please give us the next big thing.
(I am in no way associated or involved with the folks at MercuryOS. I am just a really big fan).
I am trying to renew my passport online. I can submit my own photo. It must be snapped in front of a plain, white background. I thought I had the perfect background except there’s texture. Too much texture. Ever wall in the house has some sort of texture. It’s the desert.
This couple appeared in the “Bewitched” season four episode, “Once In A Vial”. A fun little farce where Endora gets smacked with a love potion she insisted to be used on Samantha, Endora ends up almost marrying one of Darrin’s clients.
When Endora and Mr. Callahan appear in front of the Justice of the Peace, hilarity ensues as Samantha tries to stop the marriage. The couple in the photo above are the justice of the peace and wife. They’re an old couple, quite friendly, and confused at all the witchy shenanigans going on.
Except, they’re not old. In this episode, the Justice of the Peace is played by Frederic Downs and his wife (Edna) is played by Mary Lansing.
Mr. Downs was 52, Ms. Lansing was 57. That’s not old. THAT’S MY AGE!
Back when I was young I thought 50 was old. Heck, everyone in that situation feels 50 is old. At 54 I don’t feel old at all. I hope Mr. Downs and Ms. Lansing felt as young then as I do today.
We are hosting our first party in the house later this month. Of course, this means finishing what we started here nearly two years ago, and that’s unpacking everything and finishing off the repairs of the monsoon damage from mid 2021.
These two photos used to hang in “the parlor” at our last home back in Central New York and have been in storage since then. I decided to hang them in the upstairs office called “The Observatory”.
After writing this morning’s blog entry, I got to wondering if during their annual holiday tradition of watching wholesome movies like “White Christmas” (a true classic), if the Christians suddenly grab their children in fear, anguish, and disbelief when this scene comes on in Act One.
Since Bing Crosby and Danny Kaye are dressed up like Rosemary Clooney and Vera-Ellen, their antics would absolutely be illegal under some of these ridiculous bills being offered up by members of the GOP.
Do the far right Christians drop to their knees and start praying at the television? Are grown men weeping? Are children so stunted and impeded in their perfect, Christian ways that they suddenly feel compelled to throw on a pair of stocking and start singing, “Extra value is what you get when you buy Coronet?”
No, of course not. None of these things happen. Because people are not inherently stupid. They have to be taught to be stupid.
With all the homelessness, poverty, climate change, brewing wars, and other travesties too numerous to list here, the Republicans in various states and districts are focusing on what’s really important.
Where drag queens are performing.
In Arkansas, there’s a bill to label drag queen performances as “adult entertainment”. If passed, and with their new governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders, it probably will, performing in clothing and makeup contrary to your gender assigned at birth will become a crime.
The bill is so arbitrarily written that it will essentially make it illegal for kids to see Bugs Bunny trying to fool Elmer Fudd in a Saturday morning cartoon.
I did a little digging on Arkansas and how they’re faring these days.
28th in education
17th in quality of roads
28th in unemployment
They’re pretty middle of the road, but could do better.
On the other hand, Arizona is 50th in education. That’s right, last place. So of course, goth queen Justine Wadsack, after finally being elected to the state senate here in Arizona after years of trying and resorting to infesting the entire desert landscape with her visage, has introduced a similar bill here in Arizona. Because the roads and the homeless and the poverty and the lack of education and all that are not important. Men that appear prettier than her must be stopped. At all costs.
Justine Wadsack.
Personally I’ll stick with Bugs Bunny instead of this nut job. I am really, really tired of stupid people being so stupid.
It’s been a while since I’ve had to run through an airport at top speed to make my connecting flight. Last night, the relaxed folks at KDEN took their time parking our flight from KRDU (Raleigh-Durham), leaving me 10 minutes to get from gate B25 to A25 to catch my connecting flight home.
I made it.
However, my sprint through airport left me no time for a snack and no time for a bathroom break.
Not wanting another can of Pringles to substitute my supper and not having enough elbow room to go through the rigamarole of trying to assemble my “Take Off Snack Pack”, I opted for some beef jerky to tide me over until we landed in Tucson.
I don’t know if I’ve ever felt so patriotic while consuming a snack but the peppered jerky turned out to be quite good and kept me from going over the edge before getting home.
For those that eat meat, I highly recommend the experience. This Peppered Jerky has a bit of a kick but I didn’t find it overpowering.
I did not find these packs on Amazon, but their website has a storefront. It looks a little pricey. Perhaps these can be used as a stocking stuffer at the end of this year.
Just a guy with a husband. We’ve been together 28 years and he still makes me see fireworks on a daily basis. Hiker. Storm Chaser. Private Pilot. Tech Guy. Hackerish.
