May 27

 Good morning on what looks like a rainy day--though not raining at the moment. It has been cooler lately which is nice. We turned on the air conditioning, intermittently, when the outside temperatures reached the mid 80s. Because of the lower temps it hasn't run for about a week. We try to only turn on the air in the evening to cool things for sleeping.

Stray thought--a few days ago a commentator on one of the news/talk shows threw out a line that no one else picked up: Hamas is more of an idea than an organization. The point was that Israel's war is futile because you can't kill an idea and which will inspire new generations to fight. But what no one notices is how often in human history we have fought ideas by killing as many of those who hold them as possible. Most of the last century was spent fighting Communism in the name of Liberty and Democracy. A recurring conflict has involved the adherents of one religion against another, or between those who hold on to one form of a religion against those who hold another form of the same religion. Those ideas survived the deaths of millions of believers and have revived in new forms. And the wars continue.

BBC had an interesting segment today on their regular CHIRP program today. The reporters noted a move toward dumb phones and away from the smart phones. Some people wanted to put limits on what had become an addictive activity: checking e-mail, news feeds, and other sites compulsively. Others waned simplicity: phones that had what they needed and not much else. That whole thing resonates with us. We changed our phone service and our phones with it. Then we decided to go with the service that supplies our internet and cable; but they only service their own locked smart phones. We chose what looked like the simplest but after a week of working with them have decided they simply don't work with us. There is so much on them that remembering what does what is a chore for both of us. So we are going to visit Best Buy which sells unlocked flip phones and get some information on possibilities. Sometimes getting everything in one package is not a good idea.

Bill Astore has a good piece on his Bracing Views substack. He starts off quoting Madison on the pernicious effects war has on democracy. He talks about the lost opportunities because of our spending on the military and wars. We have been involved in military actions of various intensity and duration since the Korean War. The only things about our society that have been augmented have been our military. Even the industrial complex that supports the military has been hollowed out by profiteering and off-shoring.