UA 1417.

I am on United flight 1417 from Denver to Raleigh-Durham. I’m visiting our friends Jeff and Mark for a few days; working from their home and then hanging out this weekend. Flights were more affordable if I did it this way. My husband said, “go and have a good time”.

This flight is at about 60% capacity. i’m comfortable if just slightly cramped in seat 14A. It’s an economy seat but not a basic economy seat because I don’t do that.

The flight from Tucson to denver was interesting; the mother and young child in my row didn’t speak English and didn’t understand how the seat numbering system works, so I ended up sitting in the aisle, which made me a little cranky. These things happen and I shouldn’t let them bother me but they do. Luckily, the flight was only 90 minutes so it wasn’t awful. I just like being next to the window and things going the way they planned.

This flight to RDU is quiet. I’ll probably take a nap.

25 January 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

End?

The Doomsday Clock was recently updated based on current events. For those not familiar with the clock, it is a symbolic representation of how close we currently are to man-made global catastrophe.

We are now “90 seconds to midnight”. It is the closest we’ve ever been to the end. Curious, I documented the clock settings during my lifetime.

  • 1968: 7 minutes to midnight
  • 1969: 10 minutes
  • 1972: 12 minutes
  • 1974: 9 minutes
  • 1980: 7 minutes
  • 1984: 3 minutes
  • 1988: 6 minutes
  • 1990: 10 minutes
  • 1991: 17 minutes
  • 1995: 14 minutes
  • 1998: 9 minutes
  • 2002: 7 minutes
  • 2007: 5 minutes
  • 2010: 6 minutes
  • 2012: 5 minutes
  • 2015: 3 minutes
  • 2017: 2 1/2 minutes
  • 2018: 2 minutes
  • 2020: 100 seconds
  • 2023: 90 seconds to midnight

Global climate change and associated in action, the war in Ukraine with threats of nuclear-based attacks, and other strife in the world are bringing us closer than ever before to global catastrophe.

Not to sound too grim, but I would not be surprised to see a globally catastrophic event in my lifetime.

25 January 2023 by This Ain't No CNN. 0

Messages.

It started with daydreaming. I was working along this morning, minding my own business and trying to concentrate on the task of the moment when I started thinking about chasing storms. This quickly connected to me wondering how many homes in tornado alley actually have storm cellars like we see in “Twister” or “The Wizard Of Oz”. I did a quick search, intending to find a statistic. Instead, I landed on real estate listings in West Texas for homes with a storm cellar. I started looking at these listings. I then noticed a common decorating theme in all these homes.

They have “messages” everywhere. Inspirational messages. Religious messages. Stencils. Framed nuggets of wisdom. Food cabinets labeled “PANTRY”. I can only assume I have missed out on some sort of Live, Laugh, Love opportunity in our attempts at decorating over the years.

In case you don’t know how the bathroom works.
Ownership labels.

Wine cabinet goals.
Instructions and Inspiration.
Directives.
More Directives.
23 January 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

Pressure Cooker.

We’re watching this reality show called “Pressure Cooker”. It’s on Netflix. We haven’t watched a reality show in years but apparently the formula hasn’t changed much in the decades we’ve had to endure these things.

It’s basically “Big Brother” with a smattering of cooking. Cooking is not the focus at all. There’s mean contestants and a Red Room for confessions and a horrible person being a backstabbing contestant because that’s what’s celebrated in the world these days.

I’m not enjoying the show anymore but I’ll watch it for the rest of the family. I couldn’t care less what happens to these people. They’re probably back at Blimpies.

22 January 2023 by Everyone's A Critic. 0

Security.

Cross-posted from Facebook.

Hello family and friends. This is a free IT security consultation.

Please make sure you’re using a secure password and two-factor authentication (2FA) here on Facebook (actually everywhere). Today I’m receiving messages from folks saying they found photos of me on TikTok and the provided link goes to a scam website. For what it’s worth, I’m not on TikTok.

Your password should look something like this: B@c0n3ggs!zzXaYum!yuM with random characters mingled with something you can remember, or something completely random stored in a password manager like what’s built into both iPhone or Android or in an app like 1Password or Bitwarden. Two-factor authentication is when you either grab a code of an app on your phone or get a code sent to you. I’ve included a link describing 2FA. I use a free app called Authy.

It pains me to see the Internet continue to be such a potentially dangerous place with scams and leaks and lost data and impersonation and the like. The Internet was suppose to enrich our lives, not endanger it. Safe surfing!

What is 2FA/MFA?

21 January 2023 by Geek 0

Caturday.

I’m assuming there’s a bird perched near the window out of view in this photo. Truman has been in this position for five minutes, never moving, never wavering. There hasn’t even been a twitch of the tail. He is as still as a statue.

He seems to be in good spirits today, even making a rare appearance on our bed this morning for some scritches and pets. When he does decide to engage in this behavior he starts with a visit on the bed, receives some pets for about 10 seconds and the nips at my hand, steps away for a bit and then comes back for the real thing. I think he gets overwhelmed or overstimulated with the initial scritches and doesn’t know what to do with himself but then decides everything is just fine and comes back for a second round with no nips at my hand.

His purrs are loud.

He had his annual visit to the vet yesterday and for six years old is in great health. I occasional hear comments about him being such a “big kitty” but he actually lost 2.4 pounds since this last visit. He could stand to lose another 1.5 pounds but he’s doing the right things and his adult cat diet kibble seems to be doing his some good. Making his way around the dogs is probably keeping him on his toes as well. The vet had no disparaging things to see, so that was encouraging.

21 January 2023 by He's A Feline. 0

You Will Consume Ads.

Twitter finally announced they will no longer allow third party applications to access the service. So for the thousands of people that used applications like Twitterrific or Tweetbot to access their Twitter accounts you’re out of luck. If you want to continue using Twitter, and I don’t know why you would want to but that’s another rant, you must use the official Twitter app. Historically I have found later versions of the official app overwhelming with ads and weird timelines and of course the ridiculous algorithm that tells me what to see instead of just a reverse-chronologically ordered timeline. Today’s Twitter is designed to engage, enrage, engage some more, and enrage some more in what they hope will be an infinite loop of visits, thus securing revenue by forcing you to see their ads while you’re seething in between tweets from Marjorie Taylor Greene and her ilk when you’re just looking for pics of naked men and/or cats.

A few links explaining how awful (actually how much of a dick) Twitter was with the handling of this transition.

From IconFactory, the creators of Twitterrific.

From Engadget.

And finally, a good hint as to why Twitter is starting to sweat ad revenue a little more. Elon Musk is REALLY killing the already questionably solvent business with his antics.

As a quick aside, Tesla’s stock price has been dropping like a stone since Elon Musk’s focus on Twitter. Stock holders are not happy.

20 January 2023 by Geek This Ain't No CNN. 0

Breakout.

I’ve posted about this song before. It just makes me so very happy. I’m delighted to have found the original video I remembered, with bits of color here and there as the video progresses. The official channel has a weird monochrome version of the video which doesn’t look right at all. Enjoy “Breakout” by Swing Out Sister, in its original color incarnation. After all, the track screams for a colorful existence.

19 January 2023 by DJ 0

Taco.

My husband and I picked up a few mid week groceries at the Safeway this evening. While browsing the snack aisle I noticed a classic looking bag of Doritos on the bottom shelf. The taco flavor is my favorite. It took a lot of willpower not to eat the entire bag when we got back home.

18 January 2023 by Ponderings and Musings 0

About J.P.

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.

Weird? Eccentric!

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