Category: technology

Thursday’s Theme Music — Illusions

Ashland, southern Oregon — Thursday, June 4, 2026.

Out one window, it’s a gorgeous day: sunny, clear blue sky. Out toward the west, dark clouds are moving in. They look like they have different intentions. It’s 55 now but we expect 80.

Mom’s house is up for sale and it’s had a lot of early interest. I’m not surprised, once it went live. Comparing it to other homes in the $150k range in that area reveals that most are as old or older, and the same size. Mom’s house was built in 1940; others in that range/area were built anywhere from 1930 to 1960. But they’re usually two bedrooms, one bath whereas Mom’s place offers four bedrooms and three baths. I easily visualize it as ideal for a small multigenerational setup. I hope this early interest isn’t an illusion.

While I’ve been focused mostly on Trump’s war on Iran (96 days and counting), he’s been busy with other wars. He’s been actively warring against cultural and political norms. All presidents have done so but none on the scale that Trump has done. We have the visual evidence of the Epstein ballroom and the war for funding for it (after Trump claimed it would cost taxpayers nothing); the atrocious rose garden; and the horrible disfiguration of the Lincoln Memorial.

Trump is turning the White House lawn into a stadium for fights and appending his name on famous places like the Kennedy Center. He’s doing all these things outside of the law but the law is fighting back via judges and courts and their rulings.

Under Trump, his advocates are trying to break the law and have currency with his likeness on it.

Through MAHA and Kennedy, Trump has been warring against good health. Through the EPA, Trump has warred against clean air and water. Through Hegseth, he’s warred against having a good defense and diversity. Through the Departments of Education and Justice, Trump has warred against good education, research, and law and order.

Through his pardons, he’s warred against justice.

Through ICE and his immigration policies, Trump has warred against our very nature as a melting pot, a place that welcome the poor and tired.

Through cuts in the social safety net and programs such as SNAP and Headstart, Trump has warred against people in poverty.

Via cuts to NASA, NOAA, and NIHM, Trump has warred against research, science, and technology.

Through it all, Trump has warred against intelligence, decency, unity, and compassion via his texts.

MAGA stays loyal to him. He buys their loyalty because he’s cultured a distrust of the media, calling it ‘the enemy’. Then he screams:

  • Look at how they treat me!
  • They stole the 2020 election!
  • Look how great I am and what wonderful things I’ve done!
  • I’m doing it all for you and our great nation!

Yet, the evidence shows otherwise.

Trump is selling a grand illusion. But the details reveal the truth.

Not surprisingly, Les Neurons are playing “The Grand Illusion” in my morning mental music stream.

Lyrics:

But don’t be fooled by the radio
The TV or the magazines
They show you photographs of how your life should be
But they’re just someone else’s fantasy

So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because you never win the game
Just remember that it’s a Grand illusion
‘Cause deep inside we’re all the same
We’re all the same…

So if you think your life is complete confusion
Because your neighbors got it made
Just remember that it’s a Grand illusion
And deep inside we’re all the same

The Styx song came out in 1977. Dennis DeYoung wrote the song and said it’s all about how ‘they’ set you up to think and see one thing to hide the truth:

“It’s that feeling that success is set up in such a way that if you succeed you’re a failure, and if you don’t succeed you’re a failure.”

That’s the Trump methodology all the way.

I hope your day is not a grand illusion, but has real progress toward happiness and satisfaction.

Cheers

3

Crash…No More?

TL/DR: I think I fixed my laptop crashing issue. The power brick was the culprit.

A little more:

My Dell laptop computer is less than a year old. Windows 11 is the OS.

Tabs, browsers, and even the OS frequently crash on me, disrupting thinking, writing, typing. I’d end up clenching my jaw and swearing on so many days. I had to remind myself to save, save, save work lest I lose it from a crash.

Gmail was the worse but only marginally so over SFGate, BlueSky, Canvas, Facebook, Amazon, the NY Times, Daily Kos, financial sites, ESPN, and WordPress. The crashing also took down Word. It happened with every search engine I tried, and every app I used.

The net crashes happened in every browser. I tried incognito, private, and stealth modes. Same results. I turned off ad-blockers, encryption, VPNs, firewall, anti-virus.

Things still crashed.

I ran diagnostics. Chip test and ram tests. Keyboard, processors, etc.

No problems found.

Researching, I disabled all extensions. Cleared and cleaned caches. Disabled graphic accelerators. Close, opened, shut down, rebooted…uninstalled drivers, reinstalled drivers, perused forums, reached out to Dell, Microsoft, Firefox, Google…more. I closed tabs and kept fewer tabs open. The crashing continued.

Meanwhile, I took my laptop to the coffee shop. I often wasn’t plugging in there and realized, I never crashed there while I wasn’t plugged in.

Yesterday, I went back home and recharged my laptop. Booting up with the laptop plugged in, I opened a browser. Went to NYTimes since it’s a known crasher.

Crash.

I unplugged.

Completely stable. I opened all known offenders.

None crashed. I opened ten tabs, eleven, twelve.

Nothing crashed.

Plugged in the power supply.

Crash, crash, crash.

Unplugged again and operated the rest of the day without any crashes.

I thought, maybe it’s the house wiring or my network. Then I remembered: I was on vacation last week. Stayed in two different hotels and crashed there. So — not my home setup or environment.

I’ve ordered a new brick. It’ll be here next week.

We’ll see how it goes. I’ll let you know.

5

Logging In

I had to go ‘incognito mode’ and log into Gmail. Don’t ask.

I give it my identification. My password.

Okay, my computer tells me. “Go to you phone and click on the link texted to you so we know it’s you.”

I did so.

The computer showed me three numbers in circles. “Now,” it said, “click on the number that corresponds with the number shown on your phone.”

I did so.

“Now,” the computer said. “Hop up and down on your left foot three times and bow to your right.”

I did so.

“Now,” the computer said, “Say Rumpelstiltskin is my name.”

I did so.

I was finally able to log in.

Seriously, I did it all until the hopping part. But I don’t think that’s too far off in the future.

1

Some Good News

I first learned about this from Representative Pam Marsh, Ashland’s citizen elected to serve in Oregon’s state legislature.

Here is the KOBI 5 article and a link to it. I think it’s something worth celebrating in this age of Trump, the Golden Age of Corruption, and also the Golden Age of Science Denial.

Oregon’s first floating solar project unveiled in Jackson Co.

CENTRAL POINT, Ore. – On Friday, several organizations as well as U.S. Senator Jeff Merkley, gathered as the state’s first floating solar project went online. The project aims to deliver affordable, renewable energy while also conserving water.

1,700 solar panels have been mounted on water-safe floating platforms on Medford Irrigation District’s reservoir in Central Point. These panels will be able to supply energy to families and businesses in Jackson County, lowering energy costs and creating revenue for the irrigation district.

Not only that, but the panels also shade the reservoir which can preserve water in the warmer months. It can also improve water quality by slowing algae and weed growth. Being the first of its kind here, it will be studied for other communities facing similar issues of high energy bills and drought. Julie O’Shea, executive director for Farmers Conservation Alliance said,

“This project benefits Medford Irrigation District and their strategies and plans to be able to modernize their irrigation infrastructure which is so critical when we’re facing the drought we’re facing this year. And we’re hoping [to] save water from preventing evaporation and so many other benefits. There’s many other irrigation communities in the state and across the west working on floating solar projects right now.”

Many organizations are behind the project, including the Medford Irrigation District, Energy Trust of Oregon, Farmers Conservation Alliance, Imagine Energy and more. More general and subscription information can be found online.

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Pam also noted, “It’s a project with multiple benefits that will also generate a funding stream of $75,000 a year to the district.”

4

Sunday’s Theme Music – Days like this

Ashland, southern Oregon — Sunday, May 10, 2026.

Happy Mother’s Day to the mothers in the United States. Oh, what the heck, make it to the mothers of the world, no matter your religion, nationality, or species.

It’s 65 F in Ashland with light clouds mildly blocking the sunshine. Our high will hit the upper 70s, giving us pleasant holiday weather.

I’d written a post earlier. Edge crashed, taking the post with it. WordPress hadn’t ‘autosaved’ it, so there was nothing to show that I’d been typing and thinking. Foolishly, I hadn’t saved it myself.

After that, I decided, I’m taking a hiatus from thinking about the news today and commenting on it. Do a MDB: Mother’s Day Blackout.

That’s when the 1995 Van Morrison song entered the morning mental music stream. I retired from the US Air Force in ’95. I heard this song on the radio in one of the first few days of life after wearing a military uniform for twenty years.

I wasn’t employed for the first time since 1974. Wasn’t really looking yet, either; I had my retirement pension. My wife was getting antsy, though. Still, I’d decided to take time off for myself. There would be other days for work.

That happened in early November. By December, I was employed and was fortunate to remain employed for another twenty years.

Today has a similar vibe to my memory of that 1995 day. Look at how over thirty years have passed, and here I sit, feeling like I’m at another threshold. Then again, every day is another threshold.

Remembered Lyrics

When you don’t need to worry there’ll be days like this
When no one’s in a hurry there’ll be days like this
When you don’t get betrayed by that old Judas kiss
Oh my mama told me there’ll be days like this

When you don’t need an answer there’ll be days like this
When you don’t meet a chancer there’ll be days like this

When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit
Then I must remember there’ll be days like this

Hope your Mother’s Day is a good day for you and yours, no matter your sex, gender, whatever. Just celebrate the day, rejoice in what is, and make something to build in.

Coffee is here. Cheers

0

This Old Thing

My wife carries a small Casio calculator in her purse.

Solar-powered, made of black and gold plastic and black vinyl, the calculator folds. When it’s folded, it’s about the size of a credit card and is as thick as two stacked cards. We bought it for a few hundred yen when we lived in Japan on Okinawa between 1981 and 1985.

Actual size.

We used it last night to balance the checkbook. As we finished, we talked to each other about how amazing it was that the little inexpensive still worked. Back then, the yen to dollar ratio was about 234 to 1.

Over forty years later, it’s a little worn but works perfectly. As I reflected on that, I wondered how many other things I’d ever owned that I could say the same about.

0

Thursday’s Theme Music – History

Ashland, Oregon — Thursday, April 22, 2026.

Strong sunshine spreads across the valley from the east this morning. There are few clouds. The temperature is 41, the forecast calls for sunny weather, and the high end will see 67 F.

The latest move in Operation Epic LOOK — SQUIRREL! came out today.

Donald Trump reclassified state-medicinal marijuana as “less dangerous”. News reporting calls it “historic”, making it a perfect component of OELS!

With this, people will stop talking about:

  • High gas, fertilizer, and food prices
  • How badly Trump’s war in Iran is going, which he declared over as soon as it began (among other things)
  • The 1973 War Powers Act and the 60-day limit
  • Upcoming 2026 midterm elections and a potential blue wave
  • The Strait of Hormuz and whether it’s blockaded, who is doing it, and whether ships are paying tolls, and who’s collecting it
  • Trump’s feud with Pope Leo XIV
  • Rising disapproval numbers and bad polls
  • The backlash to depicting himself as Jesus via AI
  • Labor market weakness
  • Exploding national debt
  • Low consumer confidence
  • Trump’s health, stumbling, and slurring
  • The Epstein files, and Trump’s role in Epstein’s life and crimes.

If it’s not one thing, it’s the same damn thing, over and over.

Trump did his Bible verse reading. The right-wingers predictably gushed over Trump’s bold leadership. Many of the rest of us said, “Wow, that was terrible.”

Jokes arose about whether Trump would read from the Quentin Tarentino version. While others’ Bible reading was live-streamed, Trump’s was recorded and heavily edited.

Your Trump quote for the day:

Ah, Trump math. “Nobody’s ever seen anything like it.”

Sure, we have. Many con artists make outlandish claims like this, such as George C. Parker, famous for selling people ownership in the Brooklyn Bridge.

Today’s music comes from my dream side. During the dream, I kept hearing the song, “Shame on the Moon” by Bob Seger.

But the dream was about this big birthday celebration for somebody. At its end, Shirley Bassey was introduced to sing.

As I remembered the dream, The Neurons introduced a different Shirley Bassey song, “History Repeating”. The one with her and the Propellerheads from 1997 took over the morning mental music stream.

Lyrics

The word is about, there’s something evolving
Whatever may come, the world keeps revolving
They say the next big thing is here
That the revolution’s near
But to me it seems quite clear
That it’s all just a little bit of history repeating

The newspapers shout – a new style is growing
But it don’t know if it’s coming or going
There is fashion – there is fad
Some is good – some is bad
And the joke is rather sad
That it’s all just a little bit of history repeating

h/t to Genius.com

We heard from Mom. The social worker contacted her. Mom sent a chaotic text summarizing it. Basically, the social worker said that they would not be helping Mom move from the assisted living facility. Mom ended the text by asking my sister if she’ll help her move out at the end of the month.

Hope you have a great Thursday, wherever you are.

Cheers

7

Old Humor – Amazon Echo Silver

My sister and I were talking about how Mom sometimes talks to Alexa as if it’s a person. That reminded me of this old SNL skit. Hope you laugh as much as I did.

Cheers

8

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