Prescient

I have a foreboding of an America in my children’s or grandchildren’s time – when the United States is a service and information economy; when nearly all the manufacturing industries have slipped away to other countries; when awesome technological powers are in the hands of a very few, and no one representing the public interest can even grasp the issues; when the people have lost the ability to set their own agendas or knowledgeably question those in authority; when, clutching our crystals and nervously consulting our horoscopes, our critical faculties in decline, unable to distinguish between what feels good and what’s true, we slide, almost without noticing, back into superstition and darkness…

The dumbing down of American is most evident in the slow decay of substantive content in the enormously influential media, the 30 second sound bites (now down to 10 seconds or less), lowest common denominator programming, credulous presentations on pseudoscience and superstition, but especially a kind of celebration of ignorance.

The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark by Carl Sagan

Day Three

What do you do if you government looks you in the eyes and lie to you? KELLYANNE CONWAY, COUNSELOR TO THE PRESIDENT On NBC “Meet the Press” “You’re saying it’s a falsehood and Sean Spicer, our press secretary, gave alternative facts to that,” she told NBC’s Chuck Todd. “If we’re going to keep referring to the press secretary in those types of terms I think we’re going to have to rethink our relationship here,” she said. more »

Day Two

Today ends with hope and resolve for the future. First, witness the Women’s March around the world In Trump land, he went to the CIA HQ and gave a speech in front of the CIA equivalent of the Arlington Cemetery. Bragged about the record number of his Time’s magazine cover appearances (false - not a record). Claimed that the media manufactured his feud with intelligence community (false - he attacked IC in his own tweets). more »

Day One

First day of the next 4 years. Trump talked about “This American carnage”. I felt nothing of the sort in the last 8 years. In fact, the sense of carnage is an impending one. Big lies and small lies. Small lie of the day - Trump claims massive crowd. In fact, Trumpit actions HUD suspends FHA mortgage insurance rate cut an hour after Trump takes office link Trump Issues Executive Order Scaling Back Parts of Obamacare link - a vaguely worded order just to say he did it. more »

Tomorrow

Jan 19, 2017

Remember today.

Tomorrow, the world changes and not for the better.

Review: Riyria Revelations

Riyria Revelations Collection by Michael J. Sullivan Theft of Swords Good start to a series. The sense of bigger things are happening in the world is palpable. Some of the characters are a bit too cliched. The story telling makes up for it. Easy read for kids. Looking forward to the next books. Rise of Empire Should be called “rise of conspiracies”. Quite a few surprises in this installment. While the world building is well done, the pacing of the middle half of the book feels a bit off. more »

About Me

Not much to say here. I have interests in technology, politics, and amateur photography. So those are the things I will write about.