Things should be fixable and we’re obligated to know how to fix them. Not everything, perhaps, but small gas engines and many small electrical devices, absolutely. Replacing washers in faucets, entire toilets or parts thereof, an electrical outlet. These are among the things we should know how to do before we own any of them. Sharpening knives, lawnmower blades and scissors. Changing a tire. Basic skills.
If you’ve read my columns over the last few years, you know I’ve been far less pessimistic about Elon Musk’s Twitter (err, “X”) than many, even when he’s made inexplicable decisions. Officially supporting pornographic publishing on X, though, is a line crossed and a good time to consider the best alternative.
With every new disclosure we learn of some new falsehood told us about the creation, effects, and supposed control of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the COVID-19 disease it causes, and the stuff that was marketed as a “vaccines.”
I could have written this column, regardless of the outcome. Half the country has put its hopes in an all too human “savior.” Half the country has put its hopes on the defeat of that man. Today marks either a celebration or a catastrophe if one’s hopes rest on the state of President Trump. That tells more of our false hopes than anything else.
Those of us who have watched what currently passes for news know in absurd detail all we could ever hope to know about the trial of a former president for the lone financial offense of which he is arguably not guilty. What we don’t know about, because it has received practically no coverage, is 7 million cases of apparent homicide. Could be murder, could be manslaughter. We don’t know, and our media are not interested in finding out.
Tim and Jason are back together live for an episode of Zippy that covers the newest star in the WNBA, the latest on the Cards situation, Apple Antitrust musings and a preview of the sermon series Tim and Jason are preaching together over May-July.
As part of my privacy-oriented DIY “smart” television project I had looked at applications that consolidate the many live streams from television stations around the world into some kind of useful form. I accidentally heard about and was drawn to something by the (kind of poor, I think) name of IPTVnator. And it works.
I can barely hear right now. The cicadas’ songs are in full swing. One cicada isn’t that loud and many are still a wonder of the world, but what of the less pleasant cacophony of man-made noise we call “warnings” and “alerts”?
In 1974 my friend and mentor Sylvia Porter, the financial columnist, was summoned to Washington by the president, Gerald Ford. She had been asked to head a government effort to reduce inflation, which as a result of the 1973 Arab oil crisis had risen to 12.3 percent. When she got there, she was dismayed. The program consisted of red campaign buttons bearing the message “WIN.” Ford said the letters stood for “Whip Inflation Now.”
Who would have thought a National Review alum who has been a long-time Evangelical voice on politics, known for arguing for civility, would be a controversial choice to appear on a panel about politics in a conservative, Evangelical denomination? A few years ago, that’d have seemed absurd. Oh, for a few years ago.