log/260926: fall reboot

I have rededicated myself to keeping a loose chronicle of our lives, such as this website is. Quite a bit has happened already this year, much of it leaving me to do nothing but stand to one side and watch in amazement. Life isn’t a spectator sport, but sometimes it feels that way.

At any rate, let us begin by a introduction to the season from a few years ago:

“I, Stephen, am not a fan of Summer. The heat waves, sweat-drenched clothes, mosquitos, skin cancer and hoards of misguided, shallow tourists swarming over every cultural attraction like a plague of locusts. But Fall, how I love Fall. The kids have been dragged back into school, pumpkin spice-flavored drinks and foods as far as the eye can see, cozy fires in the fireplace, and endless possibility. What’s not to love.

Stewart is of an opposing mindset and would rather spend the preponderance of the year residing on the surface of the Sun, but whatever.”

The photo above is from a recent work trip to the Colorado Rockies in September, one of the highlights of my professional goings on this year. Helicopters do fly at higher altitudes such as exist there, but the rotor blades and engines aren’t really designed for the thin air. And you can feel the sense of unease descending over the airframe as you continue climbing. Throw in the unpredictable mountain weather and winds, and….hey, look at the incredible scenery!

a brief note about the current state of the united states

"We have the money, the power, the medical understanding, the scientific know-how, the love and the community to produce a kind of human paradise. But we are led by the least among us—the least intelligent, the least noble, the least visionary.” - Terrence McKenna

“I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convulations of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.” - Stephen Jay Gould

I don’t think I have ever been deeply patriotic towards the U.S., even while I was serving in its military. I am no doubt grateful to have been born in a first world country, and within a stable, loving family that afforded me the upbringing and opportunities that have shaped my life. Very few humans have enjoyed the privileges that have accrued to me due to that (completely random) event. And no doubt there are many deeply good people still here in the U.S., who are courageously dedicating part of all of their lives to stopping the dismantling of our democracy and everything I thought America stood for. But more than any other time in our history it feels we have crossed the proverbial Rubicon. To think this is the kind of society the majority of Americans want: a kakistrocracy of zenophobic, racist hypocrites, thinly cloaked in evangelical fanaticism and hell-bent on fighting some kind of imagined culture war, at the expense of our culture, our freedom, and our economic well-being.

Do we have the ability to claw our way back to human decency, and to reestablishing the sanctity of our governmental institutions upon which our society depends? Yes, I believe we do, but the window of opportunity is closing and I am deeply skeptical. And should it not come to pass, if this is what America wants itself to be, then I will walk away and not turn back.

Books i’m currently reading

1. A Fable, by Faulkner. Nobel prize-winning novel, but don’t attempt to read at night or after a large meal, it requires your full intellectual focus.

2. 
   

APPS I’M CURRENTLY USING

1. Libby. I was never really a public library user, for no other reason than perhaps inconvenience. But the San Diego public library has a lot of books, and checking them out electronically on my iPad is super easy.

2. Tricycle. A Buddhist app, full of useful guidance and offering an approach to life that actually makes sense, without the baggage of creating a deity to rule over it all.

3. Chat GPT. I was a skeptic intially. But man, is AI good.

4. Flighty. For the frequent traveler, a godsend of situational awareness. Because face it, all airlines are terrible at what they do, driven by money to cram as many flights into the day as they can get away with, supported by the flimsiest of IT infrastructures that’s shakier than the Tetris game on your Grandmother’s flip phone.

5. All Trails. Fantastic app for front and back-country hiking and biking.

6. Windy. There is simply no better weather app than this one. A trove of meteorological information.

7. Open ADSB. Rich people can ask for their private aircraft’s location and tracking info not be made publicly available, so that the nosy proletariat can’t track their wherabouts on social media and embarrass them. And most apps/companies comply with the request. Except for OpenADSB, who doesn’t give, literally, a flying f*ck.

8. Seek. Plant identifier, it’s fantastic if you’ve ever wondered what species of tree dropped several gallons of sap onto your car when you accidentally parked underneath it.

organizations we’re currently supporting

1. World Central Kitchen. Provides meals for those in the worst possible circumstances. Currently serving the civilian Ukrainian population caught on the front lines of the war, and the Palestines caught up in Israel’s genocidal attack on their country.

2. American Civil Liberties Union (aclu.org). Incalculably effective in the fight for people of color, the LGBT community, and for women. I honestly do not know how the people of the ACLU get up in the morning and fight what is turning out to be, in America, an endless struggle for justice and equality. But thank god they do.

3. Southern Poverty Law Center (splcenter.org). A smaller and more narrowly-focused version of the ACLU. Strong advocate against hate groups.

4. The National Resources Defense Council (nrdc.org). Sort of like the ACLU for flora and fauna, it ensures the Environment has a say in DC and the courts.

5. Center For Inquiry (centerforinquiry.net). Recently merged with Richard Dawkins' organization, it is one of the many groups guiding America towards a society and government based upon secular values.

6. Human Rights Campaign (hrc.org). The leading LGBT political advocacy group in the U.S.

7. Planned Parenthood. Only in America, gay men having to support one of the few organizations dedicated to empowering women.