The Trump Presidency – the 1st 30 days

March 13, 2025

I have never posted a political post but recent events have driven me to do so now. Also, I read that one should document their beliefs on important, to them, subjects.

Donald Trump’s first month in office has shown his True Colors.

Trump is a bad man. Trump does bad things. Why is Trump a bad man? Here’s the reasons from an unknown author that I could not express better myself:

Because he is the embodiment of evil, cruelty, nastiness, rudeness, dishonesty, corruption, selfishness, vanity. Because he is a liar, a thug, a con artist, a misogynist, a narcissist and a sociopath. Because he is completely devoid of humanity, empathy, sincerity, and respect for anything or anyone but money and power. Because he has no boundaries, tact, class, or a moral compass. Because he is profoundly ignorant of history and culture and utterly indifferent to anything that does not directly affect his own ass.

Tariffs: I’m a firm believer the World is Hot, Flat, and Crowded as documented by Thomas Friedman in the book of the same name. From automobiles to semiconductors the development lifecycle is tightly integrated and multinational. The design is performed in one country, the multimillion dollar machines to fab the semiconductor are built in another country, the company ordering the semiconductor is in another country, the raw materials to build the actual semiconductor are in several other countries,the company fabricating the semiconductor are in yet another country, the construction of the product using the semiconductor is in another country, and the products are sold in many other countries. Creating tariffs on every country to country transit on semiconductors could well double and eventually triple the price.

Government’s Size: while I agree with the concept his methods are dehumanizing. Firing or laying off people by email or locking the doors to the office and announcing on X (Twitter) is no way to run a company let alone a government. Many of these people have devoted their careers to public service. Let’s treat them with some dignity.

Environment: The Republican Party denies the climate is changing in spite of overwhelming evidence. It’s not a theory any more; it’s a fact. Trump has not just ignored the environment. He has doubled down on ruining the planet by cancelling the previous administration’s pitiful attempts to save the environment by executive order.

World Politics: Trump and his cronies have alienated the rest of the World except our arch enemy Russia via tariffs and insults. Now those that make any sense?

Immigration: The Trump administration has been really quiet on immigration after a few highly publicized raids. They need to stop ruining the World’s economy with tariffs, f***ing the environment, and eliminating portions of the US government. Instead,fix immigration! I agree with cracking down on the border. The influx of illegals is out of control. The asylum criteria is laughable. The asylum criteria should be a much, much higher bar than it is. His claim that he has reduced immigration by 95% is misleading if not an outright lie. He compared Biden’s 7 years immigration numbers with his first 7 days in office. Thus he compared apples to oranges. Even then the reduction was 60% not 95%.

I could go on and on and on and on but I’ve limited the post to 3,000 word and I’ve already exceeded my self imposed limit. Let’s pray God sends down a little wisdom to him, his co-president Musk, and his other cronies.


PopClip

February 6, 2025

PopClip is a handy little Mac utility that I use multiple times every day. It appears as a toolbar whenever I select text on my Mac with the actions I’ve chosen.

I use it regularly to format text, search google, copy, paste, render as Markdown, create a new Draft document, new reminder, etc.

PopClip Toolbar.

The extension toolbar is customizable. There are over 200 extensions in the PopClip extension library. See PopClip Extenstions

Try PopClip using their FreeTrial. It’s also part of the SetApp subscription.

Previous posts in this series were:


Alfred

January 25, 2025

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Alfred is the Swiss Army knife of applications. The base application is free but there is Pro version which adds a multitude of functionality.

I would be lost on my computer without Alfred. Not only do I use it as a Spotlight replacement but I’ve created a dozen workflows that help automate my common tasks. A couple of those workflows invoke shell scripts as part of the workflow. I use the text replacement utility constantly. I’m not sure how I would log out, put the computer to sleep, or shut it down without Alfred’s system commands. In summary, I could go on and on but Alfred is a most excellent and essential app.

The free version contains:

  • Spotlight replacement
  • Web search
  • Calculate
  • Spell checker
  • System commands
  • File Quick Look without opening it

The Pro (paid) version contains:

  • Clipboard history
  • Snippet expansion
  • Workflows
  • Hot keys
  • Navigation & actions – Navigate file directory and perform actions on results
  • Control music app
  • Locate recently used docs for an app
  • Themes
  • Sync settings across Macs
  • Shell Integration

If you decide to try out Alfred I recommend starting with the free version and replace spotlight. Then gradually try out other features. Finally pay for the pro version. You will not regret it.

One last thing. The Alfred users have contributed to a “gallery” of workflows maintained by the Alfred team consisting of hundreds of workflows. If you prefer to roll you own the Alfred Workflow builder is simple and intuitive. Below is one of my workflows. In the morning I execute the Workflow by either entering “Good Morning” in the Alfred command bar or via the hotkeys I’ve defined. The workflow starts all my favorite apps if they are not already up and running:

CleanShot 2025-02-06 at 15.58.

Previous posts in this series


Einstein in Kafkalland

January 20, 2025

Rating: 4 out of 5

Einstein in Kafkaland is a Graphic Comic by Ken Krimstein. It’s one of the 12 non-fiction books I’ve committed to read this year in pursuit of the motto:

Live like today is the last day of your life; Learn like you will live forever.

This is not the first graphic novel I’ve read, but it is the first non-fiction one. The other two I’ve read are The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. It’s like a 10 volume collection and is excellent. The other is The Watchmen by Alan Moore which is most excellent as Bill and Ted would say.

The Story

The main plot of the story: Albert is trying to figure out how to merge Gravity into his Theory of Relativity.

Albert and family traveled to Prague for his new position at German University in Prague on April 1, 2011. They departed back to Zurich July 25, 2012.

While in Prague he meets Franz Kafka.

The book’s author believes Albert formulated his General Theory of Relativity in Prague. His 1911 paper was correct in theory but the equations were not correct. It took him until 1915 to perfect the Theory which was published in 1916.

In Albert’s own words:

In the quiet rooms of the Theoretical Physical Institute of the Prague German University in the Vinicna ulice I discovered in 1911 that the equivalence principle demands a refraction of the rays of light at the sun of a sum that can be observed without knowing that more than a hundred years before a similar conclusion out of the Newton mechanic in connection with Newton’s emission theory of the light was drawn. Also the still not really confirmed consequence of the red shift of the spectral lines I discovered in Prague.

From the preface he wrote in the Czech edition of his book The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity

The book contained a few interesting characters. I’ll end this review with the list:

Characters

Albert

Our hero along with Franz.

He thinks up stuff about how the Cosmos works

Franz Kafka

An insurance agent that will soon become a great writer.

He is working on his breakout book during this period he wrote The Judgment which is considered his breakout work. He also worked on The Metamorphosis which may be his most well know work during this period

Max Abraham

Out to prove Albert’s theory of relativity is hogwash. Of course he could not.

Mileva

Albert’s wife

Bertha Fanta

Throws a “Salon” where Albert and Franz meet.

They had “Salons” back then where people got together and talked and sometimes played music and maybe sang and did other stuff.

Issac Newton

Comes from the grave to discuss his discovery of gravity with Issac and Franz.

Skeleton

Our story’s narrator – He has graced the astronomical clock in Prague since 1410.

Paul Ehrenfest

Another Austrian physicist visits Albert and gives him some ideas concerning gravity and space-time.

Euclid

Another visitor from the grave, Euclid visits Albert to warn him of shattering the current laws of Physics.


It Snowed!

January 11, 2025

We had, for us, a major winter storm starting yesterday (January 9) and ending today around Noon (January 10). In total we received 4 inches of snow. I took a few photos looking on my front and back doors. I would have loved to take a hike and shoot some photos in nature but am a homebound caregiver for my wife Gwen.

Unfortunately the snow will all have disappeared by tomorrow.

Here in DFW the average snowfall is 1.7“. So, here in Trophy Club we received over 2 average years of snow.. The record year was 17.6” in 1976–1977. Comparing to where I grew up near is 34“ with the 1976–1977 winter having the record at 69.7”. Of course they are used to snow and have the equipment to take handle that much snow unlike here in DFW. But I grew up on a farm in the middle of nowhere, Illinois. No snowplows cleared the road past our farm. We either waited for it to melt or cleared the road ourselves.

Last time I blogged about snow was a long time ago in a county not that far away – Click Here

Here’s a few photos from our home in Trophy Club:

Out The Back.

Out TheFront.

Tree With Ice.


The Mercy of the Gods Review

January 9, 2025

I loved the Expanse Science Fiction books so I assumed I would also love The Mercy of the Gods by Jame S. A. Corey; Actually there is no James S. A. Cory; the book was written by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck under the pseudonym James S. A. Corey.

Rating – 4 out of 5 (Don’t give half point scores; if it did this would be a 3.5 out of 5)

Summary: In he The Mercy of Gods humanity is conquered by an alien race called the Carryx, forcing humans to prove their worth through scientific research to avoid extinction; the story follows Dafyd Alkhor, a human research assistant, as he navigates the complexities of survival and resistance under alien rule, grappling with the difficult choices he must make to maintain his humanity and potentially save his species.

Biologists should love this book. The main characters are scientists working on biochemical projects. I did not understand almost anything they discussed concerning the project except they were trying to modify totally incompatible biological entities (not sure if they were plant or animal) for one to be a food source for the other.

While the Expanse was a hard core Space Opera The Mercy of the Gods is a slow moving narrative building the World, and developing the characters while trying to survive under the thumb of the Carryx.

The Mercy of the Gods is the first book in a three book series. It sets the stage for what is to come.


2024 Book Review

December 26, 2024

Over the years

I’ve always been a book reader since I was a young lad. I started reading probably more out of boredom than. For any other reason. I was maybe 4 or 5 when I burnt my leg in a trash fire on the farm. For months I was confined to laying on the sofa. Today I would have been watching TV the entire convalescent period but this was before TV; therefore I read books and listened to the radio.

I’m an eclectic reader. I’ve read everything from History to Gardening to Science Fiction to Productivity to Computer Science.

Now to what I read in 2024

2024

Looking back at this year I read a mixed bag including fantasy, productivity, and history – 28 books in all. I read a mix of physical and digital books this year although most were digital on a Kindle. Near the end of the year I started listening to books. For those of you who like lists I’ve included the list of the 2024 books at the end of this post.

My favorite book this year was a mixture of science and history: American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin. The book served as inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s 2023 biographical film Oppenheimer, starring Cillian Murphy as the theoretical physicist. (Wikipedia). I did not see the movie but hearing about it sparked my interest in the book.

I had wanted to read 12 non-fiction books this year which I did as a form of self-improvement and in the spirit of the mantra “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.” – Mahatma Gandhi.

I also read the last part of the Wheel of Time book series – 9 of the 14 book series. I started the series in mid-2023. I’m the caregiver for my wife who has PSP and therefore am mostly homebound. Therefore there are great portions of the day where I can either read, watch TV, play games, or spend time on the computer. It’s a Fantasy series where the journey is the best part, not the goal. I was underwhelmed by the ending. Would I read the 11,898 page series again – Yes!

Lastly, I tried audio books this year. My take away to date is don’t listen to books you need to pay attention to. At least for me my mind wanders sometimes. That’s not a problem if I’m reading a physical book. But not with an audio book. I find my self hitting the 30 second rewind button a few times. Will I continue to listen to audio books? I believe so but not books like Nexus, one of the couple books I listened to instead of reading. AS an aside the reason I chose that book was the title. In my chosen profession the word was often overused and used incorrectly. I will leave it as an exercise for the reader to google the meaning of Nexus. This book’s author used the word in a more correct manner than it’s often used.

Next year (2025)

I intend to read a mixture of pleasure (Science Fiction and Mysteries) and self improvement books – Learn Forever. I don’t have a set number of books in the self improvement category but here’s my draft list which will change as time goes on:

I already have 5 physical books on the list:

  1. GEB – Reread every year. I am going to read it every year at least until I understand it.
  2. Lord of the Rings – Reread -Fantasy but the book in that genre by which all others are measured
  3. The Light Eaters by Zoe Schlanger – Plant Kingdome
  4. Einstein in Kafkaland by Ken Krimstein – Graphic novel – branching out to graphic novels this year – A year in Prague when Einstein became Einstein and Kafka became Kafka
  5. Big Jim and the White Boy by Marcus Kwame Anderson, David F. Walker – Graphic novel – The retelling of The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

    Other Candidate books

  • The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley – Science Fiction — Sounds like a winner — something different
  • The Comfort Crisis by Michael Easter — Cal Newport interview. Sounds very interesting
  • The Burning Earth by Sunil Amrith — A New Yorker best book –how we destroyed nature (my words)
  • Every Valley by Charles King– Handel’s messiah and the troubled times that caused it
  • The Cottage Garden by Claus Dalby – lots of photos of cottage gardens
  • Calypso by Oliver K Languid – Space opera I think
  • Slow Productivity by Cal Newport – as the name implies
  • A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking – like GEB I continue to read this book until I understand it. However, I think I’m closer to an understanding than with GEB
  • The Sabbath (FSG Classics) by Abraham Joshua Heschel – an old book a the name implies

Books read in 2024:

  • Lord of Chaos by Robert Jordon – One of the Wheel of Time series
  • Six Easy Pieces by Richard Feynman – Six easy science concepts written for the layman by Nobel Prize winner and one of the Atomic Bomb creators along with Robert Oppenheimer
  • Discipline is Destiny by Ryan Holiday – Book on one of the from Stoic Principles – Discipline
  • *A Crown of Sword * by Robert Jordan
  • Winter Storm by Robert Jordan
  • The Path of Daggers by Robert Jordan
  • Budapest by Victor Sebestyen – History of Budapest by a native
  • The History of Almost Everything by Bill Bryson – Not as good as I thought – would not recommend
  • Where Good Ideas Come From by Steve Johnson – took a 10 page explanation and turned it into a boring book
  • Tao te Ching by Stephen Mitchell – central to Taoism
  • American Prometheus by Kai Bird – Book of the year for me
  • The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan
  • Killing Moon by Jo Nesbo – Norwegian Thriller – the latest in the series of Detective Harry Hole
  • Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan
  • Lords of Uncreation by Adiran Tchaikovsky – Space Opera – very good – last book in the three book series
  • Knife of Dreams Robert Jordan
  • A World Lit Only By Fire by William Manchester – coming out of the dark ages – section on Martin Luther is the best I’ve read on him
  • Eight Bears by Gloria Dickie – Eight bear species in the World
  • The Bhagavad Gita by Eknath Easwaran – One of the tenets of Hinduism
  • Overboard by Sara Paretsky – Latest book in female Chicago detective series – loved the series in part because it’s based in Chicago where I lived for three years
  • Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – the high lord of stoicism
  • Memory of Light by Robert Jordan
  • New Spring by Robert Jordan
  • The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday – Productivity book about overcoming obstacles
  • In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson – traveling around Australia – good book
  • To Overthrow the World: The Rise and Fall and Rise of Communism by Sean McMeekin – mostly summary of all his previous books. Read them instead
  • Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer – Came in 2nd as my book of the year – combination Indian lore, environmentalism, nature book
  • On Basilisk Station by David Weber – Space Opera – the kind of Science Fiction I enjoy
  • Nexus by Yuval Noah Harari – Could have been subtitled the History of Information – Audio book

My Earliest Christmas Memory

December 4, 2024

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I was young, maybe 7 or 8. It was Christmas morning. Both Jerry and Sally were old enough to creep down the stairs with me which we did. Now, we had a steep stairway with a door at the bottom which should clue you into how old the house was. Also, we did not have an inside bathroom yet.It wasn’t until I was in 6th grade which was 1958 when the blessed inside bathroom with a commode and a bathtub arrived.

We also did not have TV and the phone was one of those old 15 person party line models. It was one of those old huge crank phones that hung on the wall and had a big transformer. After the new type of phones were installed we rigged up the old phones with some leads hanging out from the transformer. We then used it on the Mississippi to stun catfish by dropping the leads in the wire and cranking the phone which caused the transformer to zap the fish with electricity. The catfish would float to the surface and you had, I don’t’ know, maybe 2 minutes to grab them until they came to and swam away. My how times have changed.

Wow,I really digressed. How did wander from Christmas morning as a youn child to stunning catfish on the Mississippi? Back to the story.


Jerry, Sally, and I crept down the stairs as quiet as a mouse and slowly opened the door. We were greeted by our older brother Jim with a hug smile on his face. He said and I quote: “Boy, we really go some nice presents from Santa.” Turns out he had woken early, and opened all the presents. To this day I’m not sure how he could have done that without waking Mom and Dad. Our old house configuration was a square with the kitchen at the Northwest corner, dining room at the Northeast corner, living room with the Christmas tree and presents in the Southeast corner, and Parents bedroom in the Southwest corner. There were no doors between the living room and the parent’s bedroom, just a rod with drapes hanging down.

I don’t remember if Jim got in trouble for opening the presents or not. All I remember about the rest of the day is I received a warehouse made of mental with some boxes, and maybe trucks. I laid on the carpet all day playing with the warehouse, the boxes, and the trucks.

In any case that’s my first Christmas memory — at least 70 years back.


Gwen’s Hospital Event

November 16, 2024

Last Saturday, November 9, around 5:30PM Gwen had suddenly had trouble breathing and her chest hurt. I could tell she was not in immediate danger because she could talk loudly. However she appeared pretty distressed. Therefore I asked her is she wanted to go to the ER. She replied YES without hesitation.

We went to the Baylor, Scott, and White (BSW) Grapevine ER.  They did numerous tests: x-ray, CT Scan, Blood Test, etc. They tried hard but did not find any anomalies with her heart which was the most likely problem because of symptoms. They finally decided to admit her to the Hospital where more tests could be run.

We checked into the hospital around Midnight.  We did not get much, if any, sleep that first night. Between checking Gwen in and more tests they kept us pretty busy all night. Both the preliminary blood and urine tests showed excess white cells. Based on that they sent both off for culture testing and decided to keep us until the cultures “blossomed”.

Sunday morning one of the doctors told us we would probably have to stay until Wednesday because the culture takes that long and with Gwen’s immune problems they were afraid she might develop sepsis.

The heart search continued into Monday with more tests including an ultrasound. Tuesday morning we had a conference with the cardiologist who asked if we wanted to treat the heart condition aggressively (angiograms, open heart surgery, etc.) or with medication. We opted with medication.

That left just waiting for the “culture”. Waiting in the hospital is pretty boring. They would not let me get Gwen out of the bed because of her PSP condition. The TV is forgettable, The food is mediocre. However the staff are for the most part very good.

Tuesday afternoon about 4:30PM we were surprised with the nurse asking us if we wanted to go home Tuesday evening. The “culture” had blossomed. The bacteria culprit had been identified. Therefore we could go home with yet another prescription after they gave her an injection of the medication.

We said Yes, send us home.

Postscript: Wednesday morning Gwen had a massive BM. I gave her a shower to clean her off. I’m not sure what happened but she slipped off the shower chair twice onto the floor. Lesson learned: I’m not giving her anymore showers by myself.

It’s now Saturday afternoon, November 16, and she is still recovering from the hospital stay catching up on her rest.


Election Day – God Help Us

November 5, 2024

Today is Election Day. I will be a very happy man if I am never unfortunate enough to watch another political ad. If I believed half of the ads I would not vote for any of the candidates.

Why are the ads all negative? Why don’t the candidates explain their plans for America if they win? The answer is US. We have met the enemy and he is us – Pogo

The answer is Negative Ads work. They suppress the vote and affect those that do vote. Negative ads work better for Republicans than for Democrats, and better for men than for women; unfortunately, negative ads also work better in general than positive ones, so attacking has become nearly universal. – See Going Negative: How Political Advertisements Shrink and Polarize the Electorate