May 9

 It may be raining but it has been a good morning. We finally resolved our computer problems. The Xfinity help representative did a wonderful job of walking me through getting everything properly set up. The main problem we had was two elder women who really didn't understand the system. Things are good for now. I have absolute faith in technology f---ing up--sooner or later.

Heather Cox Richardson has a good account of Biden's appearance in Racine, Wisconsin touting his administration's partnership with Microsoft to build a new data center. It is being built on the site of the defunct Foxconn project. I thought when I read about the project that it was going to be a boondoggle like some here in Indiana where the local and state government built up the massive infrastructure and providing direct payments and tax rebates only to have the company exit stiffing the states and local governments out of the promised jobs and revenues. The new proposal seems to be more realistic.

10**********************************************************************

Everything still working well. I checked our shed and didn't really have to do much. Tried to fill the bird feeder but a plastic shield that prevents the grain from falling out of the feeder was broken. There isn't any way to fix it. Plastic gets brittle after a while and we have had that feeder for several years. We have a new one feeder on our shopping list next week. We used to put up hummingbird feeders. I think I mentioned a bit ago that I was thinking of doing that again but the temperatures get too high and we don't have much shade on the patio so we decided against it.

I have read several articles over the last few years about the efforts of various countries and central banks to eliminate cash. One African country, I forget which, tried and got such resistance from its people that they had to pull back. This article I found on Naked Capitalism describes what is going on in Sweden which has moved furthest along that path and appear too be rethinking going cashless. The article cites concerns over potential threats from Putin's Russia and other political actors and criminal gangs. We have recently seen cyber attacks on cities, on utilities, on banks. Having back-ups and perhaps back-ups for back-ups is a prudent response.