Look what I found while cleaning the office today! Selling it on eBay: http://ebay.us/qiM5fd

Getting a shingles shot and a flu shot together could have consequences. I hurt all over even after a good night's sleep. Unsure if it was the flu or the shingles shot that causes this.
I recommend staging them unless you want to take the next day off.

Got the shingles and flu shots today.
Incredible how there is no pain during the injection.
Except now my arms are sore. Time to go to bed early.

Assume that I have to use Microsoft Windows.
Is Microsoft Defender an acceptable antivirus?
If not, what would you recommend?

Trying to get a company off-the-ground is incredibly hard.

I'm looking forward to accelerating it someday.

Now I'm just trying to get the wheel turning.

I'm cringing anticipating the news we're going to hear tomorrow about people found dead in their basement apartments in NJ and NYC. This flooding is unbelievable.

Interesting perspective on why military interventions do not work. https://nonzero.substack.com/p/afghanistan-3-unlearned-lessons

Waikiki relaxation.

The term "Christian Taliban" is trending on the bird site.
While I believe many in the US deserve that moniker, I also believe that the risk of the US taking the same trajectory as Afghanistan is highly unlikely.
This is not because the US-based Christian Taliban are weak.
It's because at least a plurality of US citizens are dedicated to the ideals of America.
Many will take up arms to support America.
Many will choose to die to uphold them.
That didn't happen in Afghanistan.

The fall of Afghanistan will be studied, in detail, by those that plan to overtake a country.
IMHO, the Afghan forces didn't have something worthwhile to fight for. Whatever principle was behind their Afghan identity was insufficient compared to their individual lives.

After trying for 20 years to adjust a country's culture and power structure, we have failed.
IMHO, the pending fall of Afghanistan to the Taliban is not a testament to the US's lack of effort but a consequence of a dominantly homogeneous culture. This is a multi-millennial-old culture, yet it has made such little progress WRT human rights, technology and governance. I believe this inertia is driven by "tradition", which becomes entrenched when the culture is homogeneous.

My monitor lift design is making progress! Ran it through its paces and found a few weaknesses. Going to revise the lead screw and 3D print some spacers to fine-tune the monitor mounts.
(CoSo is forcing the photo to be landscape. Is there a trick?)

This is Tahoe, California. This is Emerald Cove, the most beautiful spot on the lake. We abandoned our Tahoe weekend, but the whole state is covered in smoke.

Enrico Fermi's statement "Where is everybody!" is like saying "Where are all the floppy disks?"
They've moved on from broadcasting radio just like we have.

"Don't you want to see what happens if you don't give up?"
- Nightbird

I believe a large component of wisdom is the construction of more accurate groups to clarify the complexity of reality.
The risk to wisdom is having excessive confidence that the grouping is accurate for the topic being discussed.

Racism is in the domain of inaccurate grouping. Many attributes are irrelevant.

Sloppy grouping is also found when discussing liberals, conservatives, Americans, Southerners, Californians, Techies, Gen-Xers, Boomers, Gays and White Males.

Any other sloppy groups?

An insight after just causing a Twitter shitstorm: A simpleton cannot distinguish a person's position from a legitimate curiosity about the topic. Simpletons believe all topics are easy to understand and there is no need for additional exploration. And, the more confident they are the uglier they get.

It's now clear to me why Christian fundamentalist still support the death penalty. They don't believe in any form of redemption because it would take the teeth out of the fear of Eternal Damnation.