Things I Think…
1. I get my second dose of the Covid19 vaccine tonight…and I’m a little nervous. There is a lot we don’t know about these vaccines, so I don’t think it’s unreasonable to have some measure of trepidation. Most of my angst comes from a desire for certainty…which has always created in me more stress than it has solved…
2. Becoming fully vaccinated has nothing to do with either my politics or my faith…I trust God and rejoice in His gifts of medicine that preserve life…
3. I’m so old I remember when I enjoyed social media…
4. If we observe every boycott that political groups call for, we’ll soon be hunters and gatherers again…
5. The most dangerous thing that’s happened to society in my lifetime is the reduction of people to a binary political position…it sets the stage for ideological genocide…
6. I fear that future historians will note that the end of this empire was marked by the capitulation of the church to #5…
7. Stating that “The Gospel” is the cure to any social ill is lazy and dishonest…it is the Gospel proclaimed and applied that transforms people and society…if we cannot agree on the application it is empty sloganeering to avoid dealing with the sin in question…
8. I was able to but new shoes for the first time in years this week…and I will not let you steal my joy in having done so…
9. Celebrating small things is an act of worship to the God who provides what we need and sometimes what we want…
10. It hit 80 degrees here yesterday…so we have entered a new season of weather to complain about…Smokey and I chose to sit in a sun pool and rejoice…
Good thinking again, Michael
AMEN to #7
Enjoy your new shoes – no joy stealing from here
Happy to hear of your second dose and your finding joy in simpler things. May your blessings increase.
fil,
Thanks…been praying for you and your wonderful wife…
I appreciate that. It has been a difficult period for sure.
fil,
Hoping it’s all disguised blessing…
Thanks, Em…these are fine shoes… 🙂
received my second dose a month ago (moderna), and as soon as i got home i took some ibuprofen as a precautionary measure.
happy to say it was easier than shot #1 – no sore arm or headaches this time.
At a vaccination site with my wife receiving her first Pfizer shot. Medicine is indeed a gift to us from the experts who thought this stuff up. Now to the real “experts” who think doing their “research” on the net by reading Facebook posts and a few rogue doctors has qualified them to properly evaluate scientific journal articles and become experts on immunology…I say (sorry I’d probably be banned for what I really want to tell you).
Just found out that my wife’s cousin and wife won’t be at my father in laws memorial because they won’t get vaccinated, but are “trusting in God” to protect them. I am pretty sure they have been vaccinated for other things in the past.
Hey, Ted Nugent got infected with COVID-19 and apparently believes the pandemic is real now.
My co-workers are smart. But, why do smart people surrender their thinking and minds to conspiracies?
I seriously hope that someday those believers who spend more time online researching Tom Hanks, Bill Gates, and harvesting adrenaline in children (see our man “Jesus” Jim Cavizel), will repent of their ways/sins.
I am a Christian and vaccinated. Yes, I am.
Amen to number 7 Michael.
Sorry for the mini rants.
Wife and I are planning on enjoying our dogs more and more each day that we have them.
Going to see Godzilla vs. King Kong on Wednesday. I am an unabashed “monsterverse” fan. It’s a blessing to enjoy stuff and not feel like I have to apologize.
I had some breathing issues after the first shot that may or may not have been related to the vaccine.
On balance, it’s still worth the risk.
Dan, I see all the super hero movies and they are the only movies I ever watch.
I take Trey with me purely for cover… 🙂
Michael, after my JJ shot, my arm got sore…was no big deal. That night I felt a bit run down, and for a few hours the next day felt kinda run down also, but like you, my second episode of feeling run down may have had more to do with a very stressful shift than the vaccine.
I find it fascinating to hear about what kind of movies other people enjoy. Besides monster movies, I also enjoy classics, and some stupid (not gross) humor movies as well.
Reality checks are helpful… When we went to Russia, we had to get vaccinations. When we went to El Salvador, we had to get vaccinations… Small pox, measles, polio, yearly flu vaccines, shingles vaccine…
BTW, despite it all, I still prefer Steve Jobs to Bill Gates 😁….
Jobs over Gates… 😏
Very astute… IMO
Up here in the PNW, I’ve heard some unflattering things about the latter
Got my first shot last Friday. Nothing but a sore arm for about 12 hours.
Dan, you’ll love the movie. We went two weekends ago, and it was nice to finally be able to be back inside an actual movie theater to watch the monsters beat up on each other.
Thanks Everstudy. I grew up watching rubber-suit Godzilla films. I liked the 2014 Godzilla over the King of the Monsters film, but seeing Rodan emerge from a volcano in King of the Monsters was absolutely boss.
Duane,
Jobs was a genius at combining separate ideas and technologies into one seamless integrated whole. He understood how to make technology easy to use by non-tech oriented people. That being said, despite what all the Apple snobs in say in their Apple Kool-Aid Drinking meetings, Apple did not invent the GUI, the Mouse, the Tablet, the Smartphone, or the MP3 Player.
And to rub salt in the wounds of the Apple fanboys, I tell them that Apple does not make the chips used in their stuff. I love to watch their heads explode when I tell them that iPhone to the iPhone 6S and 6S+ had their ARM CPUs fabbed by Samsung, (now it is TSMC). The OLED touchscreens on all the iPhones are still made by Samsung (in fact they get more from each touchscreen from the iPhones than they do from their phones).
More gossip again, Em? Nothing to brag about.
I am, I guess, an Apple “fan boy.”
I have bought exclusively Apple tech for over 25 years and was just blessed to be able to get new machines to replace the ones I ran for 12 years without an issue.
I hope I’m not a snob and I dislike Kool-Aid.
I’ve never heard that Apple invented any of the things you mention…indeed, Jobs tells us where he sourced them all and improved them.
Apple is making their own chips now…as if that matters in some way.
Posts like that diminish ones view of your thoughts…
To those who were holding your breath…yes, I had to edit the prior comment heavily… 🙂
When it is reported that Apple “makes” a micro chip, I understand that to mean Apple designs the chip (or certain types important features) but outsources the manufacturing to a fabricator, typically located in Asia.
Jean, no I’m not gossiping… I have said nothing concrete. However, what i have heard is first hand, not hearsay. It does not need repeating. Trust me or not… I don’t care.
I read Kathryn Hahn’s supposed to be back for Into the Spider-verse 2 which most likely means Doc Ock is returning and looking for payback. She was one of my favorite parts of that movie. Between Hahn and Alfred Molina’s turns as Doctor Octopus the character’s gotten some great presentations on the big screen.
Michael,
Let me clarify.
An Apple fanboy is more than just someone who uses Apple exclusively and prefers them. A fanboy is one who completely dismisses the Apple’s rival products and considers them to be crap. Aka Apple is the “bestest ever” and everybody else sucks and those who use other products are losers. It may also include the “snob appeal” of the Brand (just like those who like Louis Vuitton, Coach, Gucci, etc.) regardless. After all, if it is expensive, it must be awesome right?
In regards to making chips, Jean is correct, Apple does not manufacture (aka “fab”) its CPUs. It designs them and has them made a semiconductor foundry fab like TSMC (in Taiwan). Considering a modern wafer fab costs around $5 billion for the not too old 14nm design node, and is estimated to be around $20 billion for the latest 7nm node (and upcoming 5nm nodes), it is easier and makes better sense for Apple to pay others to make them.
That being said, the real power and genius behind the thrones of Apple and Android smartphones is a tiny UK design company called ARM (formerly Acorn RISC Machines). They designed the ARM cores and architectures, which Apple, Samsung, etc. then license to design their own specific CPUs based upon that architecture.
https://www.arm.com/company/arm-30-anniversary