It's cold outside, windchill is driving the feels like temperature to 3 degrees, due to 16 mph sustained wins and gusts up to 38 mph. Snow squalls were all around us overnight but I think we got an inch of snow, at most. #
Isn't a chatbot nothing more than a command line interface? In some ways AI is taking us back to the future.#
AdventureLog is a self hosted travel log, and there is a Proxmox helper script to run it in an LXC container.#
Followed these steps and the Utilities extension is enabled in Gemini on my Pixel 7a. With this extension it looks like Gemini has taken over much of the functions from Google Assistant. #
The posts that I write and publish to micro.blog are cross-posted to Bluesky and Mastodon. Up until now that has been one way, but now I can see replies from either in my micro.blog mentions. #
I've created a new wiki page for the Macbook Pro M4. I need to make updates in the wiki and move it to a new server. #
Back to work after a nice four day weekend that happened to include Thanksgiving, plenty of food, Packers and Lions wins, a movie, and the completion of another book. I also packed up and shipped out the Pixel Watch and Macbook Air.#
The Pixel Watch 3 has the same 41 mm size as the original Pixel Watch but it has smaller bezels and that makes the display area larger. You don't notice the difference right away, but after some time I can now say that I appreciate the additional amount that I scan see on the screen.#
- Every now and then I have an experience that reminds me of just how much technology, in this case smartphones and their cameras, have changed our lives.#
- I have a La-Z-Boy recliner that is the center of my "man cave." The man cave is the basement of our condo, which also happens to be my home office during work days. Sunday night I sat down on the recliner and started falling backward, if I hadn't reacted I probably would have flipped myself and the chair over. Obviously, something broke, and my diagnosis found a part that looks like a clamp that attaches to a rod that runs across both sides of the chair had "ripped" and thus disconnecting what I assume looks like an arm that holds up the right back of the recliner when it's not reclined. When reclined the chair is perfectly stable.#
- Yesterday I called the service department of the La-Z-Boy store from which we bought the chair seven years ago. Yes, they service chairs, and it would cost $160 for the first hour they are at my home. Another option, she said, was that I could schedule a virtual visit with a technician for free, which I went ahead and scheduled. #
- At the appointed time today I got a text message with a URL link to a web page with an embedded video camera. I did have to figure out how to switch the settings from the default for microphone and audio to speaker phone, but then was good to go. A switch of the camera to the rear facing one, a flip of the chair and pointing of the camera to the part I saw broken confirmed my diagnosis. All was left was to snap a picture of the label on the bottom of the chair and the replacement part will be ordered. #
- I now wait for another text to schedule the technician to come to the house to make the repair, once they have the replacement part, but right now I do not know how long we will have to wait. The virtual visit saved me the expense to have a technician come and diagnose the problem but not be able to fix it due to not having the correct part. I will still end up paying $160 to get the chair fixed, but I now am insured it will be fixed.#
My biggest issue with the Macbook Air has been that I found the 13-inch screen too small, so I am really happy that the 14-inch screen of this Macbook Pro is noticeably better. At one point I considered buying the 15-inch screen version of the Macbook Air, but now I am thinking that screen might actually be too large. I definitely was not going to get another 13-inch screen, which is why the price points between the two options I was considering were not too great. I think in the long run I am going to be really happy with my decision.#
I continue to be amazed by the experience I've had in moving all of my apps and data from the Macbook Air to the Macbook Pro, it very effective and effortless. The transfer did take a couple of hours via the direct WiFi connection between the two computers, which makes me wonder how that transfer would have worked if I had decided to pick up the Macbook Pro from the local Best Buy and trade in the Macbook Air at the store. Perhaps a direct cable transfer is faster? Otherwise I imagine I would have had to leave the computers with the Best Buy folks while I went home for a few hours.#
- I took advantage of two Black Friday sales: Best Buy's $200 off the Macbook Pro and Google's $70 off the Pixel Watch 3. The Macbook arrived yesterday and the Pixel Watch arrived this morning. I stayed with the 41mm version but in Obsidian (black) with the black active band. Google has finally improved the Out Of Box experience for people who are replacing an old Pixel watch by providing the ability to restore from the backup of that watch. All the apps and settings of my Pixel Watch were properly restored to the Watch 3, whereas in the past I had to re-install of the apps.#
- Not much differences exist between the Pixel Watch and the Pixel Watch 3. The bezel is slightly smaller, and that is slightly noticable but I honestly don't read much of the watch screen so I didn't find the old watch display too small. My only complaint so far is that the adaptive brightness is too dim in dark settings, but I am hoping that improves in time.#
- Fortunately, the watch was delivered to the correct address. My past experiences with the Google Store have been bad in that what I ordered was delivered to the wrong address in the condominium complex I live in. I know that is more the fault of Google's shipper, FedEx, but after having both the Pixelbook and Pixel Phone 4a delivered wrong, I have been avoiding purchases Google. I bought the Pixel Watch from Best Buy.#
- I had some reservation in buying this watch from the Google store, but Best Buy was not willing to provide the $50 trade-in value that Google is providing for the Pixel Watch, so I went ahead with the purchase. I felt a bit more comfortable during the order process when I was provided the option to specify whether I wanted signature required for delivery, and I selected that option. The problem is, while my request of signature required appeared in the confirmation of the order, that request did not transfer to FedEx as the watch was delivered without my signature! Fortunately, I received notification on my iPad that the watch was delivered so that I could immediately get it from the front door. In short, the ordering/delivery process from the Google store is still not correct, and so I continue to discourage its use. #
So far all of the apps that I transferred to the new MacBook Pro are working exactly as expected.#
I've received my new Macbook Pro M4 and I used the Migration Assistant to move all my applications and data from the Macbook Air. Right now I am checking out the apps that I use to see what transferred. So far I've had to re-enter passwords for Mail, but my Drummer account transferred right over with the browser.#
Signed up for Pixelfed yesterday and configured micro.blog to cross post but the test post I wrote was not posted to Pixelfed. For that matter, that post didn't get posted to Bluesky or Mastodon either, so perhaps a glitch. It might be that only posts with pictures go to Pixelfed, which would make sense, so I created a new post with a picture. It was time to add a picture any way.#
Yesterday I noted that I've been seeing my Pixel Watch randomly reboot, and I speculated that there may be a relationship to my switching watch faces. Ever since I reverted back to the face that I had been using I've not seen any reboots. Ingteresting.#
I created an account on Pixelfed, which I think is intended to be an alternative to Instagram. I've configured cross posting from my micro.blog and I've installed the beta Android app. #
Woke up to a light accumulation of snow on the grass and shrubs this morning. Technically I guess that is our first snow fall of the year, but hardly seems justified. It will be gone by the evening.#
I've been seeing frequent occurrences of my Pixel Watch randomly rebooting during the day. It seems to coincide with the installation of the November, 2024 Wear OS Security update, but I also switched watch faces, from Adventure to Digital Informer and I am wondering whether the Digital Informer is the problem, so I have reverted back to Adventure. So far, no reboots today.#
I do a lot of my writing in Drummer and some of that is published on the Drummer associated blog and other parts is published to my regular blog hosted by micro.blog. (Some times I publish posts to both blogs by copy/paste between outlines.) What I write and publish to my blog get's cross posted to Bluesky and Mastodon, and in that way I am using the editor of my choice.#
If Trump were really smart he would make Social Security solvent forever. Doing so would eliminate a political weapon in the manner of how Democrats and Republicans used abortion as a political weapon. I doubt Trump will do this because Republicans like using the threat to Social Security to the same extent as Democrats. Protecting Social Security would be extremely popular and would tremendously improve Trump's legacy.#
I am considering replacing my Macbook Air with an Apple computer that has an M4 processor. While the M1 processor in my current Macbook Air is fast enough for most tasks, I know that it's processor and memory are limiting for LLM processing. The election of Donald Trump increases the probability that the price for all computers will increase starting next year, so that accelerates my thinking. #
Besides the M1 processor, other things that I dislike about my Macbook is that its 13-inch screen is too small and all of it's ports are on one side of the computer. Consequently, if I stick with the Air line then I am only interested in the 15-inch model and any computer that I will buy will not have less than a 512 GB SSD, so that translates to the $1,499 M3 Macbook Air with 15-inch screen and 512 GB SSD. Most likely the M4 variant of that model Air will the same price. The 14-inch Macbook Pro with an M4 processor and 512 GB SSD is $1,599 and probably Black Friday deals will decrease that price to at or near the $1,499 mark. Even without a discount I think the better display and extra ports of the Pro is worth the extra $100.#
I think the 2024 holiday shopping season could be one of the biggest ever, because smart U.S. consumers will expect prices to rise next year due to Trump's tariffs. Many will get richer in the next six months, but soon after reality will kick in with a recession that likely becomes a depression. The Republicans in office now and those to come in are no smarter than the ones in 1929.#
I wonder whether instead of emphasizing the craziness of Trump's cabinet picks they ought to be ignored. It feels like all the criticism is like oxygen to the fire. All these people crave attention more than anything. #
Created a new Chrome tab group for my morning routine, called it Morning Has Broken.#
- Reading Sam Harris' critique of the Democat performance in the 2024 Presidential election. There is a difference between being a politician and being politically smart. In this election Harris was the politician who in most cases was unwilling to take a stand for fear of being divisive. Trump was politically smart, willing to be make a clear stand about anything not really caring about whether he was divisive. Many people like him because he takes a stand, even if they don't agree with his position, and to them he comes across as very un-politician. #
- Ironically, I think a younger Biden was more like Trump than Harris, which is probably why he was not successful in earning the Democrat nomination when he was younger. For the sake of becoming President and for hope of remaining President Biden agreed to the will of the party. It's unfortunate that time caught up to Biden. I think in a rare moment of honesty, Trump would agree with my assessment of Biden, which might be why he seemed to fear him more than other Democrats. #
- In general, I think Democrats need to improve on the kitchen table issues that concern most Americans and how they handle cultural issues. With so many cultural issues if you intend to satisfy every one you are going to satisfy nobody. As Harris alluded to in the close of his critique, the challenge in dealing with extremism is that it is natural to provide an equally extreme response. Part of why the left is so much "louder" now is because they are reacting to the "volume" of the extreme response. It's Newton's third law of motion in politics. The problem is that the numbers of people with extreme views are fewer than those who tend to be in the middle and thus to win a Presidential election you have to gain the votes of the people in the middle. Numbers don't lie, Trump and the extreme right won this tug of war. #
- Democrats need to define a clear, small, set of core values and stick to them. For example, equality for all does not mean equality for some at the loss of equality for others. Many people who vote Republican are doing so because they see their rights being infringed and so are seeking the same level of correction as Democrats want for others. This is the core of the "she's for they/them and he's for you" message. #
The Democratic Party did not learn the lesson of 2016, which is that the past norms for how political parties should operate no longer apply. Hilary Clinton was anointed to be the Democrat Presidential candidate simply because it was her time. The party didn't really want to listen to Democrat voters who did not want the candidate thrust upon them by the party. In this election cycle the party did not have a primary and stuck with Biden because he was the current President and they feared a repeat of Ted Kennedy/Jimmy Carter from 1980. In short, the Democrats are still basically selecting their Presidential candidate in a smoke filled room. #
The Democratic Party learned nothing from 2020. Trump barely lost, which meant the Republicans did not have a huge amount of work to do to gain votes. In fact, with a margin that slim they could really afford to sit back and let Democrats work their way out of office. Trump didn't have to do anything different from the last campaign, Democrats had done all the work for him. The slim margin of Biden's victory and Biden's age ought to been seen by the party as reasons to work towards something different for 2024, but they did not do that and consequently they lost and we now have to endure the consequences.#
Republicans are far better politicians than Democrats, they know their base, they have embraced the change that was thrusted upon them in 2016, and they know how to stir the emotions. In the long term the transformation of the Republican party around the personalty of one person might be a problem when that person can no longer be a candidate, but the fact is they changed and the Democratic Party has not changed.#
If this election were like most others in the past, the result would not be a surprise. Historically when the economy has been bad the President in office normally loses. #
Some might take comfort in the thought that when Trump was first President the United States did not lose democracy. It is true that democratic institutions held and the U.S. Constitution remains the law of the land, but I think the fact that Trump became the Republican candidate for President again is a signal for how much has eroded. In recent past the party would have moved on to another candidate. Perhaps the biggest fears of those who oppose Trump will not come to pass, but I am certain his re-election will further continuance of the current errosion of rights. #
Reading Dave Winer regularly means knowing his crusade about journalism. What Dave doesn't seem to acknowledge is the root cause of the problems with journalism, and for that matter nearly everything else in the United States, which is the corruptive nature of wealth. No change is going to occur in the United States from institutions that are beholden to the prime directive of wealth. There was a reason why at one time there was a "wall" between advertising and editorial in media, but for somehow after the turn of the century that reason disappeared? A society that is all about money is a society that will collapse #
We are back to the average fall temperatures this morning.The header graphic on this page is Lake Michigan/Green Bay from Hennes Park in Menominee, Michigan. The small picture to the above right is the Mackinac Bridge. The right side picture is probably too wide, but I think making it smaller makes it hard to see the full width of the bridge.#
We actually had kids show up at our front door last night for Halloween. Given that we live in a condo, this has not happened for most of the 25 years that we have lived here.#
Why is it such a pain to change auto insurance provider? #
Android 15 is getting a battery charging limit feature in QPR1 that should be released by the end of the year.#
I am thinking about replacing my Macbook Air M1 next year. The current Macbook Air has a M3 processor and this week Apple has announced the M4 linueps of Mac Minis, iMacs, and Macbook Pros. Reporting is that the M4 Macbook Air will be announced early next year, probably to protect end of year sales of the new Macbook Prox. I am happy that Apple has decided on a 16 GB minimum of RAM, and I will not get anything with less than a 512 GB disk, but one of my dislikes about my current Macbook Air is that the 13-inch screen is too small. #
Unless Apple changes the Air lineup, I will have to choose between a 15-inch Macbook Air or 14-inch Macbook Pro. The 15-inch Macbook Air with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB disk is $1499, the 14-inch Macbook Pro with 16 GB RAM and 512 GB disk is $1599. That Pro has a 10 core CPU and 10 core GPU, and has charging ports on the left and right sides, while the Air has an 8 core CPU, 10 core GPU, and charging ports only on the left side. I am thinking the additional 2 CPU cores and additional port is worth the extra $100, and I think I might prefer a 14-inch screen rather than the larger 15-inch screen.#
Of course, there is the option of the M4 Mac Mini, which clearly will meet my computing needs but obviously is not as portable as a notebook. #
Here is a nice overview of the Raspberry Pi product series. I am a long time user or Raspberry Pi and have three different ones serving roles in my homelab. #
Google is now selling "certified" refurbished Pixel phones, no doubt the result of trade-ins. Currently Pixel 6a to Pixel 7 Pro are available with prices ranging from $249 to $629. #
I've been thinking about the iPad Mini 7 and whether to upgrade to it from the Mini 6. As far as I can tell, the only real reason to upgrade is to get Apple Intelligence and maybe get the maximum amount for trade-in on the Mini 6. Given that Apple Intelligence is the only real reason, I am paying attention to the reviews and so far they don't report anything compelling. I'll probably get to try some of the Apple Intelligence stuff when it becomes available for MacOS.#
Today is a better Friday than most because I will be on vacation all next week. Heading back to to the homeland so see family and friends.#subscriptionListCleanup is a Nodejs script that tests RSS entries in an OPML and produces another of only the active entries. Handy utility, but I think it would be even better if it were integrated with FeedLand as a menu option.#
I wonder whether religion's emphasis on belief rather than faith is contributing to the current state of the United States in which believing an outlandish statement, or at least tolerating it, is about showing loyalty. Immigrants eating dogs and cats? I'll nod my head politely (just like in church when something I am supposed believe but don't is said), maybe even say, "it's possible, what do I know?" because it is how I show I am loyal. Stating one's beliefs or agreeing to a statement of beliefs in the context of religion is a statement of one's loyalty to that religion.#
Hate to admit it, but I think the Internet is the tool enabling the destruction of democracy. The Internet may require a higher level of consciousness that most humans do not achieve to use safely. #
Trump could not come up with Project 2025 on his own. What Project 2025 really represents is how the people in his orbit who self identify as Republicans or neoliberal use Trump as their bullhorn to get what they want. The Republican party fealty to power above country is what is really at stake in this election, which means that it's not just about the Presidential race but also Congress and State races. #
Thinking about the iPad Mini 7. I think my decision to buy it or not hinges on whether Apple Intelligence proves to be something really useful. Frankly, for me, the AI stuff is more intriguing than useful. #
To speak with Gemini using either Pixel 7a with or without Pixel Buds say, "Hey Google, let's talk". #
The new Kindle Scribe is appealing. I look forward to seeing the reviews by the usual e-Ink reviewers. #
Is there a majority of anything in the United States right now? #
There is a not insignificant group of people, who I assume will say they are conservative, who have a natural knee jerk reaction to anything they think is extreme. I believe that this group of people are convinced that Trump as President cannot be as bad as people are saying and these are the same people who are also convinced that the consequences of climate change cannot be as bad as people are claiming. They also don't think the Democrats are as bad as Trump and people who think like them say, but they also think Democrats are more extreme than Republicans. The problem is that it is nearly impossible to change the mind of these people, they are the frogs in the pot of warm water. #
The outdoor thermometer at our house read 39 degrees this morning. Winter is coming. #
- I upgraded my Pixel 7a to Android 15 yesterday and so far the two new features that I have enabled are Theft Protection and Private Space. The key to discovering both of these features is to go in to Settings and enter these feature names in the search box. Theft Protection is basically something you just turn on and not really use, whereas Private Space is something one actually uses. #
- The first thing to know about Private Space is that you need a second Google account that is not the primary one that you use with your phone so that what you store in the Private Space is not co-mingled. It appears that Private space is not just a set of hidden and secured file directories that stays on the phone, so be aware that some information you put it in syncs to Google. I already have a "second" Google account associated to my own domain so that is the one that I used. #
- The second thing I discovered is that there is not way to move an application and it's data that is already on your phone in to the private space. To move an app you have to install it in the private space, which you do using the second private space Google account and the Play store, then somehow move the data. A problem might be that an app you move may only be associated with your primary account. In thinking about Private Space, I am not sure whether it even makes sense as a place to store banking apps that already have its own authentication, Private Space is just an extra hop in that case. It seems really intended to be a separate area for Google's own apps, for example, I installed Gmail and this effectively provides a way for me to access my two Gmail accounts on the phone. #
- One thing I don't understand about Private Space are notifications. Every Android app seems to request notifications to be allowed, so for example, will I see any notifications for new email that comes in the mailbox tied to the Private Space? The information in the Private Space settings say that it is not suitable for apps that get critical notifications or need to run in the background because they are closed when the Space locks, which happens when the phone locks. I might have expected the notifications to queue and appear when I open the Private Space but so far that doesn't seem to be the case.#
Apple announced that the iPad Mini 7 is now available for pre-order shipping October 23. Once again the new Mini is basically just a spec upgrade, a newer processor, support for the latest Apple Pencil Pro, and improved WiFi and Bluetooth support and no real change in price. The compelling reason for upgrading is that the A17 processor will support Apple Intelligence. Apple is currently offering $230 on trade-in of my Mini 6, and so the question is, how much will that offer drop over time? #
Android 15 was released today and I've installed it on the Pixel 7a. So far I don't really see any difference. #
Lost most of the work day today re-imaging my work PC. Hope the upside is better over all performance.#
I wonder, how valuable is it really to cross post? I cross post what I write in micro.blog to Mastodon and Bluesky but I don't really seek nor receive feedback. I suppose what I write is seen more widely but does that really matter? I do have one instance of cross posting that matters to me personally, which is that what I write on my main micro.blog is also posted to my WordPress site that I have posted to for more than a decade. The WordPress site is a larger archive of my writing and also a location of prior experiments of cross posting. At one time what I posted in Twitter and Facebook were cross posted to that WordPress site.#
I am confused by what Dave Winer is doing with WordPress and Mastodon. It looks like he is writing posts in WordPress that are cross-posted to Mastodon. When he links to the Mastodon "copies" of the post what I see is a redirect from Mastodon to WordPress. If I am viewing in Mastodon I do see the cross post within Mastodon, but the external linking, like from his blog, has that extra redirect hop that I find disconcerting. I wonder if he expects the reader when they click to end up viewing the post in Mastodon rather than being redirected? #
Turned the furnace on last night. Temps are in the low forties this morning.#
Today I started experiencing a lot of disconnects between the VNC Viewer on my work desktop and my Fedora desktop. I switched to the Debian 12 desktop using RDP and it also had disconnects. First, I restarted the Fedora desktop container but the problems persisted. The next step I took was to reboot my work desktop, and that seems to have resolved the problem. My suspicion is that the real problem is with the WiFi connection between my work desktop and my home network. I generally don't shutdown my work computer because of how long it takes to boot, it's a god awful cheap computer provided by the company years ago never to be replaced during my remaining time with the company.#
Is anarchy really the best way forward? #
I understand today is an American religious holiday, otherwise known as Amazon Prime Day. So powerful is our addiction to consumption, driven by the art (hunt) of the best deal. #
- I've been thinking about the contexts within which the United States was founded, specifically Holy Roman Empire and protestantism. The Holy Roman Empire produces the Doctrine of Discovery that authorizes the colonization of the Americas because white Christian men are superior to non-Christian indigenous men. Today the Tipsy Teetotaler shared a quote of Matthew Crawford that says the following about a consequence of protestantism. #
But this brings with it a certain anxiety: if I have to stand on my own two feet, epistemically, this provokes me to wonder, how can I be sure that my knowledge really is knowledge? An intransigent stance against the testimony of tradition, and a fundamentally Protestant stance toward religious authority, leads to the problem of skepticism. Tocqueville’s great observation is that the way Americans resolve the anxiety that comes from a lack of settled authority is to look around to see what their contemporaries think. The individualist turns out to be a conformist.
#- The subhead that the Tipsy Teetotaler wrote for the above quote is, "Individualism, ironically, creates lemmings." I think these contexts are important in understanding the current state of the United States of America.#
- The land upon which I as a citizen of the United States now live was stolen because of a belief in the supremacy of one group of people over another, which allows for slavery and the contempt of one human for another. The majority of the people who ultimately settled on that stolen land were raised in a theology that taught scripture alone and scripture apart from anyone other than oneself was authoritative. Consequently we have a pyramid of people who think they are naturally better than others and know more than others, and the "others" are beneath them. #
I think people who say they cannot vote for Harris due to the Biden administration's ongoing support of the military actions of Ukraine and Israel must think that Trump becoming president cannot be as such a risk as Harris and her supporters claim. Or at the very least the stand against U.S. military support and aggression is more important than the possibility of the loss of democracy in the United States.#
Most of these people say they do not support Trump either, so they either will not vote, vote third party or write in an candidate. Surely these people have to know that voting for neither of the two top candidates really is a vote for both. Basically, these people are making their decision based on their principles, which is their right, however I would like to point out that nearly all of the people who are supporting for Trump are also doing so based on their principles. #
Standing on principle alone feels good, but does it really lead to change? Consider what is the outcome that you want and what is the surest way that outcome can be achieved? Shouldn't the outcomes be what is more important than how you feel? Has Trump shown he will ever listen to anyone who tells him something that he does not want to hear? What about Harris? And, perhaps more important, what about the people that will be in the administration and the special interests that support them? Remember, a Democratic President got our military out of Afghanistan, a Republican President is the one who put the U.S. Military in their and in Iraq. #
Before us I see two options. One of those options I am certain will never listen to anyone who does not agree with him and who has been President and so I know how he and those around him will act should they return to that position. The other option may not agree entirely with me, but I also am certain there will be people in that administration and in that party who do agree with me. The probabilities for the outcomes I desire are higher with the second option than the first, even if right now that person does not appear willing to do everything that I wish they would do.#