Observations, questions, and musings from a Michigander and former Washingtonian and Iowan. The name of this blog is a quote from an Iowa farmer (see my first post, titled Uh-huh).
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[ TOC: all blog posts ] Tesla has been hyping its autonomous taxi for years. It's really great and still "almost ready." The only problem is what to call it. Cybercab is taken. Robotaxi has been ruled a generic term, which Tesla must not appropriate. Elon Musk might try something close to his heart: Autocrat . Oops, I mean Autocart.
[ TOC: all blog posts ] This week, Iranians were in the streets demonstrating again. These crowds weren’t protesting the current regime but celebrating the 47th year of the Iranian revolution, when the Shah was deposed and a religious Supreme Leader ascended to political dominance. The loyalists chanted the old phrase “Death to America!” This chant may not be a wish for the physical death of us…
[ TOC: all blog posts ] Garrison Keillor is one of many accused of Trump Derangement Syndrome. He does not deny it. He even leans into it a bit and suggests a remedy . (He also flips the script and refers to Mr Deranger in a later post .) I too have been trying to deal with my TDS. It is easy to get bent out of shape by the ravings of an old man in a position of inflicting cruelty on millions, and…
[ TOC: all my posts ] This is a continuation of last year's list , which continued an even earlier list of books . Woman of Light , by Kali Fajardo-Anstine. Beautifully written account of several generations of citizens of New Mexico and Colorado. The Winged Watchman , by Hilda van Stockum. An adventure story of kids growing up in occupied Netherlands during the last year or so of WW2. Straw Dogs…
[ TOC: all blog posts ] Crabbe and Goyle, in the Harry Potter book series, seem to like a bully. They are always willing to aid and abet, if not implement, the schemes of Draco Malfoy. They are not alone; consider American foreign policy. Imagine a schoolyard bully beating up a scrappy little kid for his lunch money. The bully is huge and has a reputation for brutality, so most kids stand back,…
[ TOC: all blog posts ] Two Russian dissidents, armed only with words and the force of public opinion, faced authoritarian regimes. Both were imprisoned for speaking out. One was exiled, the other killed. I recently read their memoirs: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn: The Oak and the Calf Alexei Navalny: Patriot: A Memoir Navalny makes the point that the Soviet regime, which persecuted Solzhenitsyn, was…
[ TOC: all blog posts ] When I buy an appliance or tool or electronic gizmo, the cashier often asks if I want insurance. I say no. If I've done my homework, I assume that my purchase is reasonably reliable. I may end up with a lemon, and then I'll need to repurchase, provided I still want the thing. But I assume the company offering insurance has done their homework, and so, odds are, I won't need…
[ TOC: all blog posts ] "If I were King for a day." You may have said, as I have, what you might do if you were king or queen for a day. We have an idea of what would make the world a better place. If only we could enact the idea... Typically we would use the opportunity to ban some petty pet peeve. Such an act might, possibly, make the world a better place. Frankly, if I were king for a day, I…
[ TOC: all blog posts ] When asked whether it was OK to let low-income Americans die, Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) responded that "we are all going to die." Ernst was right. We are all going to die. To be human is to be mortal. Mortals die. Justifying letting people die is a bit of a jump though. That's taking efficiency a bit far, don't you think? The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) may…
[ TOC: all blog posts ] I've decided to branch out. I'll be posting new entries on Substack as well as here. Blogger has served me reasonably well, but about the time I got a few subscribers, Google informed me that they no longer supported subscriptions. On occasion someone would ask me why I wasn't writing anymore or whether I was. So I would send a link with my latest, but that didn't help for…