Shrove Tuesday

And so begins Lent. Whatever faith one has (or does not) there is always time for reflection. For me this is that time.

Reflecting on what one has seems to be a preoccupation. Reflecting on what you can sacrifice for whatever the intention, that is the difficult part. Just to get past the word “sacrifice” is in itself an obstacle.

What we consider a willing sacrifice rarely comes with discomfort. Why choose anything discomforting? Our worlds move around the theme of comfort. And it will be appreciated for a short period of time. We get used to comfort. We will pay for comfort but we sometimes don’t realize the true cost of comfort. That cost is usually born by others, the others we never see.

Now to choose to go without is certainly not the norm. It is considered unusual. But it is necessary. Without making such a choice I limit my understanding of the world around me. The discomfortable spot is a room with a very different view.

Lenten rose

A Renaissance in Social Media With Blogging, Etc.

Interesting article.

The writer states “I think the resurgence we are seeing has been caused by many variables. Two primary drivers over the last few months has been the upheaval caused by unhinged billionaires and privacy invasive business models. But I think there are other factors at play too.”

When Twitter’s ownership became a toy to be played with by a variant owner you could see its bleak future. Decades ago we talked about the monetization of the internet but never realized what was about to take place. Now there is a growing element of people moving away from those insidious platforms.

It seems Mastodon has reached a level of participation that allows one to curate a following of extremely interesting people and organizations. Along with the number of applications and features available it really is a renaissance for social media. And blogging is only getting better.

https://cdevroe.com/2023/01/11/blogging-is-alive

Change in iPhones

Last Friday I picked up a new iPhone 15 Pro Max. Titanium. This is replacing a 6 year old iPhone 8+. The old phone battery was only lasting a few hours, the camera lens cover was cracked and it was not going to be able to upgrade to the newest IOS. It was getting a little slow. It was time.

Looking at the reviews it seems to point to a pretty decent iPhone. Interesting that a lot of the reviews keep comparing it to the IPhone 14 and the value of upgrading. What is it with the appetite to constantly change? Wait long enough until the old one is on its last legs and you don’t need a comparison.

What are the big differences?

• Battery last longer and charges faster
• screen is much brighter. You can read it in the sunlight.
• the speakers sound better
• Easier to hold
• camera has a lot of features to take excellent pictures
• Everything operates faster
  It seems these are all the right reasons to upgrade.

We can go down the rabbit hole feature wise explaining and comparing everything. If you wait long enough it doesn’t’t matter much because you know it is better overall.

For the years I had the old one it cost about $22 per month. If the new one lasts as long it will cost $36 per month. That is over a 60% increase. I will assume that is the increase in cost of technology that never stands still with features or pricing.

Technique

What used to be considered a materialist theory is today a result of intellect’s very method. This is more serious, because a doctrine can be refuted, but technical method cannot be called into question. The intelligence of modern human beings ceases to be nourished by the springs of contemplation and awareness. It aligns itself more and more with the data of its created instrument—the tool that has as its primary object the modification of the material world.
‘Jacques Ellul

Switched internet supplier

Two days ago took a call from an internet supplier with an offer. They were offering fibre optic service. We had Telus install the fibre hardware a few years ago and had completely forgotten about it. The offer was better that our current supplier and the enticement was too good to pass.

After a few days it is working well, the speed is consistent but I am not getting the published speed. Now it will be a matter of making sure the hardware is not too old and is hampering the service. What is the benefit of at least 1GB speed? For the most part webpages appear instantly, downloads take seconds, video feeds are on demand with no latency and your desktop suddenly becomes a very valuable tool.

Very different from the 300 baud dialup experience.

 

The letter M

The cost of software

Got a notice today from Rogue Amoeba about a software release for one of their products. In the release was a note about Audio Hijack being updated to version 4. It is a good product, used it at times so downloaded the newest version. Of course there is a $29.95 upgrade fee. Quick decision do I upgrade or not? Here is the problem — with the newer Mac OS I will have to get the upgrade because the older version will not work now.

I understand the work involved to align software with operating systems but when you have been a customer for years, bought a ton of their products, it begins to get to you the constant upgrade and subscription fees. Do they think we the customers are a bank with unlimited funding? The ultimate irony is the price is in US dollars. The Canadian equivalent is $40.36. And there maybe tax. 

 

Hints of Spring

It seems that spring is just around the corner here. There should be no more snow and the ground is getting much warmer with the direct sunlight on it. Notice all the plants have something of a growing sign going for them. Was in Winnipeg a few weeks ago and they do not have spring around the corner.

Saw this picture on a Facebook page about Nakskov, Denmark. This is the rail line from there to the other side of the island heading east. It was flat and straight, absolutely flat and straight. A beauty all of its own.

Binge Watching

• Recently watched a few series completely. It goes beyond watching movies with the following sequels. Given the characters remain the same you can see them age over the years and as their storied character ages the actors physically do. It does seem a bit strange to view the 8 year aging process in a week of viewing. 

• Noticed the gardenias looked like they were beginning to form buds and a few days ago it sounded like a robin (thrush) outside. Now the rest of Canada can celebrate that spring is around the corner for us or be cynical towards us wimpy west coasters.

• Need to sell my bike rack (Thule Helum Aero 2-bike) which has hardly been used. Got me to thinking just how much ‘stuff’ can one accumulate before you start throwing it out or reselling? Does everyone have an optimal level?

Belief

“They believe that it is not the word of Jesus itself that they wish to evade, but that too much of what comes between them and Jesus is merely human, institutional, or doctrinaire.”

— The Bonhoeffer Reader by Clifford J. Green

What is believing?
What hinders believing?

What becomes a hindrance to believing is

• what we humanly create,
• what we build in some sort of structure to seemingly make it work better
• what can’t be challenged because we think it true.
  

Humanely what we try to explain may be limited and based on an experience that others haven’t had or shared.

The institution is so much more and totally complicated to be relevant to anything smaller and specific. It gets lost in the tangling and messy ball of twine. Rules and regulations, no exceptions, all rules.

Nothing can bend because what we believe is rigid.

Various

The evaporation of some of the closed gardens

Sometimes you need to upgrade hardware but always seem to be waiting for “the next best thing”. You eventually realize that the beachballing, the crashes, and the amount of time everything is taking needs to stop. It gets as frustrating as driving in rush hour. The new hardware comes and Voila! your speed returns and you enter a new domain.

Over the decades of new machines there is always these leapfrogging events. The software needs new hardware, then the hardware is so good the software has to catch up. I believe we are in the phase of excellent hardware and the dawn of some interesting new software. But now there is an added dimension of what the cloud will bring. 

Having a classy blog is so easy, editing graphics and videos is a snap, having a domain name and email server is available, all those things you wished for are there at a the end of your keyboard. As the huge tech processors (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) show their insatiable appetite for growth and greed we now have a choice. Call it reviewing your moral compass. You can have feeds without someone else’s algorithm dictating what you should see. You can easily post material through various avenues. There is a cost that you have to pay for entry but it seems very small to be able to keep your brain situated in the healthy spaces it needs.

The great thing about computers is you really can’t break them. If it doesn’t work for some reason it can be fixed. So experiment, that is what they do best and relay your ideas to the the people that offer the service or write the program. It is the seeding of those ideas, the wisdom of crowds, that makes things better. The good guys will always get back to you. The closed gardens have shown us they only work to specifics that we all won’t agree upon.

 

https://mstdn.ca/@tinfoiling

What will the blog post look like with a second micrblog entry?

Testing the new feature of micrblogging with MarsEdit 5.0

Retweeting – is it necessary?

Interesting that on Mastodon retweeting or rePublishing some else’s tweet/post is not allowed. That is probably one of the most refreshing parts of Mastodon, that there isn’t an endless number of retweets by people you follow.

Was just following a Twitter thread on this discussion and thought to look at those that disagree with this stance by Mastodon. It does seem those that want to retweet do it a lot, I mean quite a bit. And if you have thousands of followers what is this doing to the platform? Mastodon actually forces you to write and create some original content. Now isn’t that unique?

For those that want to retweet or republish (feels like translating a language here) create a blog, and paste your links and then tell us where we can find this wonderful list that isn’t creating a torrent of dismal information. 

There is a bit of a controversy about some people being expelled from a Mastodon server recently. So many went off on a tangent about it. Maybe they should have read the large modal button that came with the expelling notice. APPEAL. You are allowed to appeal the ruling. Think of it as getting a traffic ticket. The police ask you if you are speeding. If you say you didn’t then you can appeal when you get to court. You don’t use public opinion to exonerate your behaviour. Interesting that by the end of the day an apology came, with a reason, and the person was reinstated.I wonder if Mr. Musk has ever done that.

Twitter has made us lazy. Everything condensed into 254 (hope that is the number) characters. Add a colourful graphic and that is the limit of any dialogue or debate. Twitter has had its time and place and it still does for certain functions. We need to evolve our social media usage and maybe this is now going to happen.

 

 

 

Email problems

Have been using Media Temple for a number of years and had absolutely great service. These last few weeks they made a major overhaul of their services and my email at blishen.ca is now non-operational.

It seems for the sake of expediency one must use SMS to contact them now,  no website forms for support as in the past. Of course the response back is not in minutes but in hours. One wonders what do companies expect customers to do when companies make decisions that have such negative effects. It is painful to change but in the free market one still has that choice. Thankfully I still have my mac.com address.

Mastodon

https://mstdn.ca/@tinfoiling

A new machine

Picked up a new Apple Studio desktop computer today. Decided to move away from a MacBook as the iPad allows you to do most anything you want to do portably.

The MacBook is 8 years old and beachballing regularly. The new OS will also be stunted on this machine. It has been 43 years since getting that first machine, a Apple Ii+. Seems that life will begin at 40.

Justice is a Goal Valid in a Democratic Society

Moral outrage amplified by social media at times leans toward mob rule.

Aristotle’s definition of anger (moral outrage)
“a desire accompanied by pain for an imagined retribution on account of an imagined slighting inflicted by people who have no legitimate reason to slight oneself or one’s own.”

But what of this “slight”? Is this justice-oriented or something intimated to lower the social status of those that offend? This begins to lean into the realm of ‘mob justice” because the voices of disregard are blunt, massive and hold little civilized regard or meaning.

Here is what Abraham Lincoln said in 1832:
There is, even now, something of ill-omen amongst us. I mean the increasing disregard for law which pervades the country; the growing disposition to substitute the wild and furious passions in lieu of the sober judgment of Courts, and the worse than savage mobs for the executive ministers of justice…Thus, by the operation of this mobocratic spirit, which all must admit, is now abroad in the land, the strongest bulwark of any Government, particularly of those constituted like ours, may effectually be broken down and destroyed.

He warns that mob rule can endanger democracy and justice. The ugly outcomes of this type of rule are more apparent today than 184 years ago.

Socrates stated in The Republic that this path takes democracy back to tyranny.

Our attention economy is hard-wired into social media design, so the danger now is even more stark and apparent.

Justice is a process, not the outcome.

Words and Privilege

Words
Dictionaries are ever-changing. Definitions are expanding, which means a constant change like a moving target. Revisions to words are vital to creating permanent knowledge with the understanding we need.

Privilege
When we speak privilege in our society we view the place we inhabit. Those that have privilege also have power. We live in a hierarchy that is invisible to those of privilege in so many instances. Those with little privilege experience these colonial systems, racism, gender discrimination and other harmful factors. Those who contribute to these abnormalities believe they are standing and taking what is rightfully theirs; they think those without privilege are stealing through individual corruption.

 

This is Summer

Summer has arrived and with it events that will not be forgotten.

There really is a need for a lifestyle of constant education and learning. One needs the ability just to remain curious at all times. Sure you will never arrive at completing what you want to know but oh, the journey is so worth it.

When you are Zooming these days there are 2 phrases that could be brought into face to face meetings. “Could you please unmute yourself” and the other “Could you please mute yourself.” In simplest terms “Speakup” and “Shutup”.

Political engagement always involves compromises and this can weaken any strong moral or ethical stance. What is the cost of compromise?

Seems we are beginning to realize that the quality of results that any process is achieving is a function of the quality of awareness of that process. The more we see the more we can realize what is happening.

Why are so many sources of action based on a habitual pattern and/or an ego-systemic base?