Author: A.T.

Check this out, from DNC Treasurer Virginia McGregor.

There’s a lot to cheer about.

The other side hopes the election will turn on the issue of transgender athletes.  (Our side is probably closest to right on that issue, too, as I hope to argue later this week.)  And on whether kids should  learn our history, warts and all.  (We say yes, they say no.)

Our side hopes it will turn on health care, jobs, climate, infrastructure, gun safety, voting rights, women’s reproductive freedom, tax fairness, civility — and, most importantly, democracy itself.

In the meantime, the President and his team have been doing a really good job.  Check it out.

If you can afford to help save democracy, click here.

The HR guy didn’t need that final “again” — shoulda ended with “and now reapplying for the job?” — but, copyediting aside, isn’t this really the whole deal in a nutshell?

Share this clip if it resonates with you.

Have a great weekend.

Here’s a crazy idea: make it easy to vote.

Today’s Republicans — though they claim the mantle of patriotism — only pretend to be for that.

A.I. Poses ‘Risk of Extinction,’ Industry Leaders Warn.

So what to do?

It’s not at all clear — just urgent.

Having sensible, competent leadership may not be enough to navigate these waters.  But I’d sure rather that than the [Your Pillow Guy / I Alone Can Fix It] team at the helm.

I was on a call recently where they said A.I. is doubling in power not every 18 months, as with computing capacity (Moore’s Law), but every four months.

If true, A.I. will be 16 times as powerful by November 2024 as it is today . . . and which side do you think is more likely to play dirty with it?

Click here.

And enjoy every miraculous day while we’re still the smartest ones in the room.

Barely.

Bloomberg’s Matthew Winker last month — four minutes.

Fareed Zakaria yesterday — five minutes.

We ARE great again,

Summarized by a friend:

Those we honor today — like my mother’s brother, shot down over the Pacific — died fighting white supremacy in the Civil War and fascism in the Second World War; for freedom in Korea and, however ill-advised, in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

We did not see “very fine people on both sides” of those wars, nor did we “fall in love” with dictators or consider it “genius” when one country invaded another.

Democrats and many Republicans still don’t.

Click here.

Whether it concerns an error message, a health issue, or food (“Alexa: can you freeze cheese?”), many of us don’t ask for help as often as we should.

Now comes AI and it’s even crazier not to ask for help.

For years I’ve known there must be some way to save frequently-used blocks of text.  We had that capability way back in DOS.  I even had it in a limited way with my QYX intelligent typewriter. (I’ll bet you never knew Exxon once sold typewriters.)

So yesterday I turned to ChatGPT.

<< The problem with the “clipboard” is that its content disappears when you power off your computer. Macros used to be a great way to save frequently used blocks of text. Is there a way to do that on my iPhone? And/or in Windows? >>

Three seconds later:

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Yes, there are several ways to save frequently used blocks of text for easy reuse on both iPhone and Windows.

**On iPhone:**

The built-in “Text Replacement” feature is quite handy. It is a part of the keyboard settings and allows you to create custom shortcuts for frequently used phrases or blocks of text. Here is how you set it up:

1. Go to “Settings”
2. Tap “General”
3. Tap “Keyboard”
4. Tap “Text Replacement”
5. Tap “+” to add a new shortcut.
6. Enter the phrase you want to use, and the shortcut that will bring it up. For example, you might put “btw” in the Shortcut field, and “By the way,” in the Phrase field.

After this, whenever you type “btw” and then a space, it will be automatically replaced by “By the way,”.

**On Windows:**

There are a number of software tools available that let you manage clipboard history and create text macros. A popular one is PhraseExpress.

Here is how you set up PhraseExpress:

1. Download and install PhraseExpress from their website.
2. Once installed, open the application.
3. To create a new phrase or block of text, go to “File” > “New Phrase”.
4. You can define a shortcut for this phrase when creating it.

With this tool, you can create as many phrases as you like and assign each a unique shortcut. When you type the shortcut, PhraseExpress will replace it with the corresponding phrase.

Apart from this, Windows also has a clipboard history feature. It won’t save your clipboard history between restarts, but it does let you easily access items you’ve recently copied without needing to re-copy them.

To enable clipboard history:

1. Go to “Settings”
2. Click on “System”
3. Click on “Clipboard”
4. Toggle on “Clipboard history”

Now, when you press Win + V, you’ll see a list of items you’ve recently copied.

These are just a few of the available methods. There are many more out there depending on your specific needs and workflow.

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iPhone setup was a snap. I now have hard-to-type URL’s like this one stored, as well as the guts of oft-repeated emails and texts I’ll customize (“Great seeing you last night!  Was that pizza amazing, or what?!”) before sending.

I’m halfway through mastering this capability on my laptop as well.

BONUS

Look at this!  Pressing the Windows key and V at the same opens the clipboard and an extensive menu of emojis 😂🤣🐬bvg🦞🦉👣👩‍✈️, symbols ¥£↪⇖▩⇱⅚∑∰⊗⊮⨶⪒ᾚ (though not, unless I missed it, the Windows-key symbol I needed here), and gifs.

You’re welcome.

Those we honor Monday — like my mother’s brother, shot down over the Pacific — died fighting white supremacy in the Civil War and fascism in the Second World War . . . for freedom in Korea and, however ill-advised, Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.  We did not see “very fine people on both sides” of those wars, nor did we “fall in love” with dictators or consider it “genius” when one country invaded another.  Most of us still don’t.

Have a great week-end.

Not ALL guns — just new sales of military-grade weapons.

Also: sales of any guns without a background check.

And can we give states, cities, and towns the right impose their own local regulations as they did in the Wild West?

Are you really going to tell me the Wild West was somehow unAmerican?

Today, such local regulations might include — if a city or town so chose — reporting all sales of cop-killing bullets, silencers, bullet-proof vests, and large amounts of ammunition . . . with the right of law enforcement to make polite inquiries and sensible judgements.

Law enforcement: “I see you just bought a bullet proof vest and 1,000 rounds of ammo.  May I ask why?”

Sullen teenager: “I like to hunt rabbits.”

Law enforcement: “I’m sorry.  Local Ordinance 234 gives me authority to confiscate those items, and any other weaponry you have, until you can persuade a judge that your owning them does not pose an undue risk to your fellow citizens.  But you can still apply to join the National Guard, which is our state’s well-regulated militia.”

Most NRA members agree we should have more sensible gun-safety regulations.

To change other minds, it may take seeing their own daughter slaughtered. Or someone else’s daughter.

‘Gun-loving’ ex-US army officer calls for gun control after witnessing Texas mall shooting.

As for book banning, it’s accelerating.

We need a huge blue wave at all levels of government, from school board to Congress and the presidency.

Click here if you agree.

Help in any amount becomes part of that wave.

(Other than repealing it altogether, of course, as one of your fellow readers, Paul deLespinasse in both Newsmax and the LA Progressive.)

Robert Reich: “Biden should IGNORE the debt ceiling: Don’t declare an X-date. Keep paying the bills. Don’t default.  If McCarthy and House Republicans don’t like it, let them take him to court.”

Makes sense to me.

Building on Thursday’s Building Back Better BONUS . . . one of you sent me these bullet points from last fall:

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A 2021 UC Merced study found that covering all 4,000 miles of California’s [irrigation] canals [with solar panels] could save 63 billion gallons of water annually, or enough for around 2 million people’s residential use.

And generate about a sixth of California’s current power needs.

Evaporation helps cool the solar panels above the canals (making them more efficient), while maintenance costs are reduced (by slowing the growth of aquatic weeds that need to be cleared).

The UC Merced study was based on hypotheticals. The point of Project Nexus is to test the idea’s real-world efficacy.

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I followed that link, listened to the interview, and then called Josh for an update.  Because of supply chain difficulties, work on Project Nexus won’t begin until November.  (It could start sooner, except that the canals are filled with water in the growing season.)  With luck, construction will be done in the spring, and the evaluation can begin.

There is no assurance the benefits will outweigh the costs, justifying building this out to scale — but reason to hope.

Add to that: reproductive health care, clean air and water, a livable climate, universal background checks, and a ban on assault weapons.

Trump famously called Putin a ‘genius’ and ‘savvy’ for his Ukraine invasion . . . famously sided with Putin over the FBI . . . famously changed just one thing in the Republican platform, its support for Ukraine . . . famously held back Congressionally mandated aid to get Zelensky to manufacture dirt on Biden (“I just need you to find 11,780” — oh, wait, wrong perfect phone call) . . . and famously thrice refused in last week’s interview to take Ukraine’s side over Russia.

Yet:

(1) [Sarcasm ON] any suggestion Trump and Putin are linked is a hoax; and

(2) [Sarcasm OFF] Ukraine is cleaning Putin’s clock (“I’ve Never Seen The Kremlin So Rattled”).  An encouraging read for anyone who values democracy and/or deplores war crimes and the slaughter of innocent people.

Have a great weekend.