I recently added a thunderbolt dock to my iMac so I could use an external SSD, monitor, and audio interface at the same time. Today, I found out that since this iMac is a 2017, it won’t run Sonoma. I though I’d get more time out of this dock than one year.
Does VisionOS require the Mind Stone or is that built in?
My problem with libertarians is they act like government is bad, business is good, but the reality is that any “construct of man” whether it be government, business, religion, charity, etc., can be poorly run, flawed, or even corrupt. They all need oversight. Like the checks and balances of our government itself, we can use these organizations to watch over each other.
People get mad at others for not voting, and then they get mad when they don’t vote for who they want them to vote for.
Liquidambar styraciflua
Between our house and our neighbors, there’s a huge sweetgum tree. It’s completely on our side except for the roots. I wish it was anywhere but there, but I am loathe to cut down a healthy tree.
Shortly after we bought the place two years ago, the neighbor came by and asked us about taking it out in a way that she later apologized for. I thought the matter was over, but I should have known better. When we had our tree guy here back around that time, we mentioned it to him and he thought it was fine and there was no reason to cut it down.
Last week I installed a camera on that side because that area between the houses is a weird space that we and the neighbors rarely visit and I just wanted to be able to see what was going on over there, even if 99% of the time it was absolutely nothing (I’ve been making a joke to Lori that it was Must See TV). Today, the camera recorded our neighbor talking to some contractor-looking fellow about an estimate for taking the tree out, even though she admitted to him it was ours and she’d be willing to split the costs of taking it out. She wants to talk to “him” (me) about cutting the tree down.
Sigh. I don’t want to be a bad neighbor, the roots from the tree are crazy everywhere between the houses, but I really don’t want to cut down the tree, either.
And bonus, we just had some landscaping put around on that side, which would probably get messed up by tree guys.
I can only hope the contractor never gets back to her or she never gets around to asking us.
With today being the start of hurricane season, I’ll rant once again that I think that giving storms names is stupid. A number or even a letter would suffice. 2023-A1 (A for Atlantic, P for Pacific) makes sense, and they could be called A5, P4, etc. for short. Then they don’t have to come up with names nor retire them. There would be only one 2017-A8, for instance.
Going Solar or Not
We looked at going solar but decided it wasn’t ready for us, because unless you get a battery, it doesn’t provide power when the grid is down (and even then, you’re running off of battery, not solar). It wasn’t even clear that the batteries would get recharged during an extended outage so you’d need several to cover you during that time.
It’s also a bit frustrating that my primary reason for going solar is environmental, yet the pitch and the set up is focused on “lowering your electric bill.” While I’m not so crazy that having lower electric bills and even reselling excess to the provider isn’t part of a good reason to go solar, it just changes the focus of how the system works from what I primarily care about. In fact, when the guy from the company asked me why I wanted to go solar and I said, “because I’m a tree hugger,” he was surprised and said no one had ever said that to him before.
So we’re sticking with our provider’s “green” plan for now. Unfortunately, this can mean lots more than wind and solar. It could include geothermal, hydroelectricity, and biomass and biofuels. That’s not exactly what I consider “green.” The “Fact sheet” each provider supplies will only say that they are whatever percentage renewable without listing any of the sources. They could be 100% biodiesel for all I know.
I am an open wheel racing fan but I’ve long hated the Indianapolis 500. Judging by the headlines, it sounds like this was another terrible one and justifies my feelings about it.
I saw a gorgeous sunset sky with very interesting combinations of clouds tonight, but I didn’t bother photographing it because of the freeway below it and the light poles and billboards breaking it up.
There were two annoying phrases overused during the pandemic. The first was, “just what we need right now” in regards to art & creative stuff. Good art is always good art, no matter what’s going on in the world.
The second was, “these uncertain times.” Times are always uncertain. Just before the pandemic, things seemed normal, but were about to change. That’s the one constant, change. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. The present moment is all that we can be sure of.