Month: June 2024

Something my brother said I should listen to. What following is a redacted bit that I’d sent my work colleagues:

---

instead of doing what I planned for this weekend, I got the audio book version of that.  (Instead of doing what my original intention was….and finally fulfilling my nerd requirements of the various Star Wars movies…)

Interesting. I have a college friend who worked at 18F, now USGS, after a stint at Google. I absolutely agree with her takeaways on the tech, but I do disagree with some of her conclusions.  (My friend is now at Apple, having tired of the DC climate, and the annoyances of working in government…)

**snip**

I do recommend the book, even if I don’t entirely agree with some of her priors.

I started writing something about the “debate” on Thursday, but kept getting sidetracked. I took yesterday off, but really couldn’t focus on much.

So, what did I end up doing after listening to the endless reactions?

Trying, again, to work through the various Star Wars things on Hulu before I look to toss that to the side as under=used.

Of course, a lot of this was flavored by South Park.

I think I got about 90 minutes into The Phantom Menace before my wife came home, and I went on to other things.

The Bear is back, so I guess I’ll watch that, too.

Keep getting interrupted, too, by my wheezing equipment.

Do I need to be able to switch among so many systems?

Yep.

Own PC, work PC one, work PC two, various personal laptops…..

Take your own damn advice, dude, and just spend the money to get something that works well.

Hmmmm.

---

So, the debate…

I took Friday off not because of the debate Thursday night, but it was a nice happenstance.

I really don’t have words.

The President was nearly as incomprehensible at times as my mother can be, and, well, Trump was Trump.

That there’s not a Libertarian on the ballot, kind of takes that option off the plate.

I actually sent Liz a personal email after reading this to say “thank you.”

Absolute disaster.

While I don’t think they’re going to reach the Mises Caucus’s goal of garnering fewer votes than Andre Marrou got in 1992, just with the growth in the US population, watching the immolation is simultaneously dismaying adn satisfying.

Bummer of the weekend was Martin Mull‘s death. I was tempted to tweetpost that he’s in a batter place, maybe he’ll see Jim Brown, but then I remembered that he was one of the steadfast atheists in hollywood.

I absolutely respect that. I don’t share the same respect for agnostics. You can make a determination on the evidence you’ve collected. If later you change your conclusion, that’s fine. But YOU have the ability ot make a pronouncement.

Unwillingness to make a pronouncement shows me one thing. I will keep that to myself, but understand that I do judge you based on that.

I could write for hours, but I need to go take this month’s shot.

I will guiltily admit that my initial reaction to Hunter Biden’s conviction on gun charges related to his drug use.

Cue the Nelson Ha-Ha!

Cynically, I could say that this is a travesty of justice, robbing children of their father, and depriving the world of his work as an artist.

What did he do? He liked about being addicted to drugs.

What did that law intend to prevent? Crack-whacked maniac from opening up with a gun on innocent people.

The sort of thing that his dad made a political career fighting agains.

Guns are bad, but everything’s worse when the person with the gun is taking illegal drugs.

But turn it around.

How many people has this background check saved preventing people from executing their constitutional right to have a firearm?

You, Mister Politician, claimed that this would prevent something. Provide a few examples of specific instances where it worked as intended.

Similarly, what is the age of the law upon which he was convicted. That Hunter didn’t have something making the penalty stronger?

The Brady Bill expired for a reason. Every single law should expire. Unless a law is explicitly to protect life, liberty, or property, it should expire.

The same goes for the regulations tracing to those laws.

But I’m not going to be worried about Hunter having a pistol. I’m also not going to worry about him smoking crack.

But, it’s important to know, that his dad is proud of him.

Incredibly busy week. Early in the week. In addition to new fires to fight at work, I went to a physical therapy appointment.

It was with a doc from the same med group that includes Georgetown. Try and stay in-network as much as possible, and this was branded as from that group. great.

Paratransit out wasn’t a real big deal, but I got there very early because of the way that they schedule the rides. The appointment went well enough, I suppose. The therapist was very nice, and I was looking forward to the prospect of working with her.

When I set up the appointment, it looked like it was gonna be ten bucks per session. So, ten for the time there, and whatever it’s going to cost me to get to and from.

Towards the end of the appointment, the administrator came in and said that, no, it wouldn’t be ten bucks, but forty.

Still doable. Rides would add another ten, but whatever. They do have late-in0the-day appointments.

No, she wants to do twice-per-week. Fine. Whatever. I’ll do it. I want to live a bit more like a normal person. Agree to a preliminary schedule, and set out for home, which took nearly two hours.

Um.

Yeah, this probably isn’t going to work.

*STFW*

Okay, there’s this other place that’s close. Like if the weather is okay for me, or just about any day for a normal person, it’s walkable. I should be able to swing an hour session without too much trouble, and not miss too much work.

the therapist for this one is a Tidewater girl. York Co. K-12. ODU for undergrad. It’s close enough that my wife can get me there most days.

Still expensive, but I guess I’m ready to go.

She recommended the type of cane I should get next, and recommended a walker. Um.

I’d pushed back on the walker so long as I’m working. Want me with a walker, or in a chair? Okay. then I’m finished working.

I could hang it up pretty much anytime I choose, but I think I still have a few things I can do.

---

Still thinking of what’s transpired with the politics stuff. The Mises-fied LP candidate could be someone I hold my nose and vote for if it looks like the Duopoly have the Commonwealth locked-up. (“Locked-up” is a phrase both the President and Vice President really, really, really like….)

---

A couple of Honestly episodes really got me, too.

The first being the interview with Javier Milei.

The second was with A.H. Ali.

Both of those really hammer home how incredibly wrong the NeoHippies are about a number of issues.

Maybe one of Rechtenwald’s gummies would make me feel better.

The last entry was prompted in the fallout from the LP’s debacle last weekend in DC.

The Mises Caucus broke the party, and ended up with a candidate I’m not sure I’d support. Their chosen candidate, on the other hand, is someone in whom I have even less confidence.

But he ate an edible before an important interview.

But the Mises Caucus was going to prevent another What Is Aleppo moment?

Jersey Dave Smith pulled his best Eric Cartman after this guy didn’t win.

All I can think of is Eric Cartman.

I don’t do that. I just leave.

I readded something I’d cut off Tuesday. Bits worthwhile on Wednesday, but there’s been little content since. Licking wounds, perhaps, but I’m wondering if I made a mistake heading back.

At the same time, I’ve spent more money on a not-so-good dinner.

---

When I cut stuff off, I fell deeper into The Fifth Column.

Michael Moynihan had a good column on the fall of Vice News.

I did subscribe to TheFP. Gonna guess that they don’t have the sort of HR infrastructure that destroyed Vice.

I absolutely promise that the next time I take my mandatory HR trainings. I think they now take something like twelve hours, now, to complete.

I am a bit of an outlier on the DEI spectrum, and I’m also, you know, disabled.

---

It took me a few minutes to remember the other thing I wanted to write about. The background noise of a radio show/podcast brought it back to mind.

The Trump conviction. His speech at the LP Convention really pushed him into the never-going-to-support category.

Remember when the phone call was treason?

Since they can’t execute him, use everything under sun to prevent him being elected again.

Is it enough to make me vote for him? Still, almost certainly not, but this is a really bad move.