Life On A B-I7

Add Four Half Width Photos to a MicroBlog Post

To do this trick, you will need to use the GIMP image editor. This is not a simple application but, 1) it’s free, and 2) it’s the simplest way I have found to do this.

1. Export 4 photos each with width 300 to desired working directory.
2. Create a 590 x 790 blank canvas in GIMP.
3. Open all four photos using “File Open as Layers…”
4. Select the Move tool (M) and drag each photo to its desired position.
5. “Export As…” naming the file and choosing PNG file format.
6. Open the PNG file in Preview.
7. Export as JPG (best quality). Use extension JPEG.
8. Delete temporary files. Move new file to desired directory.

Here’s what you get. In case you hadn’t guessed it, this is my cat…

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 61

Most people set as their goal the acquisition of money, success, adulation, or love for love’s sake, or some combination of these. If you see someone fixated on one of these, you have found an example of a life that you should shun. There is only one true goal to strive for, that is virtue. Virtue is found in the pursuit of honesty, the exercise of discipline, and a life of courage. Virtue and true love are the only goals worth striving for.

Add Two Half Width Photos to a MicroBlog Post

To do this trick, you will need to use the GIMP image editor. This is not a simple application but, 1) it’s free, and 2) it’s the simplest way I have found to do this.

1. Export 2 photos each width 300 to desired working directory.
2. Create a 590 x 390 blank canvas in GIMP.
3. Open both photos using “File Open as Layers…”
4. Select the Move tool (M) and drag each photo to its desired position.
5. “Export As…” naming the file and choosing PNG file format.
6. Open the PNG file in Preview.
7. Export as JPG (best quality). Use extension JPEG.
8. Delete temporary files. Move new file to desired directory.

Here’s what you get. In case you hadn’t guessed it, this is my cat…

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 60

The old saying, “all evil needs to prevail is for good men to do nothing,” is true. We must not only not do evil, we must actively work for good. Whatever form that takes, take the time to become involved.

Add One Full Width Photo to a MicroBlog Post

Why not? This assumes you are on a Mac, but that’s probably not a big deal.

1. Open Photos.
2. Select desired photo.
3. Select “File” + “Export” + “Export 1 Photo”.
4. Choose JPEG width 600.
5. Click “Export”. Select desired directory.
6. Navigate to chosen directory.
7. Rename exported image.
8. Go to post in Ulysses (my writing app).
9. Select “Markup” + “Image”.
10. Select “Files”.
11. Select image from the chosen directory.

Here’s what you get. In case you hadn’t guessed it, this is my cat…

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 59

Accomplishments can be good and even noble endeavors. One must be careful of the price paid for accomplishment. Avoid letting it come at the cost of neglect of family, or selfish behavior, or love of fame. The ability to work hard is good, but remember Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s words:

Work is what horses die of. Everybody should remember that.

The FIrst Amendment

“When they own the information, they can bend it all they want.” —Keb’ Mo’

That pretty much sums up what the FCC wants to do to the broadcast media. The lawsuits filed by the Administration against the New York Times and other print outlets and universities are clearly in violation of the First Amendment. As concerned citizens we need to speak out against these overt attempts to take away our rights.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 58

On receiving bad news, it does no good for anyone, yourself or your listener, to complain about the news with no real purpose to your show of emotion. Your purpose should be to do something to help yourself and those that are the bearers of the bad news. If you complain, that only hurts yourself and those around you. Your first obligation in all situations is to self, then to family, then to country.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 57

How should you receive an honor? How should you receive an insult? The answer to both is they should be received the same way… When you hit a home run, don’t dance all the way from third to home. When you strike out, don’t throw your bat.

Do Not Hate

There are people out there that want us to hate each other. Don’t let them convince you that is an answer. That is not an answer. Hate as a path to solving problems is a dead end. Some people will use hate as a path to power. That is not an answer either. Anyone that espouses hate should be shunned.

What’s Wrong with DJT

Why am I the only person in the United States that has Donald Trump figured out? What can possibly explain cutting spending for cancer research?(1) The answer to that question is simple, mental illness.

He has spent his entire life obsessed with one thing, making money. Making money for himself. He can’t look at money spent that is not for the purpose of making more money as anything other than wasteful. Not only that, his obsessive focus on himself makes it impossible for him to appreciate the welfare of others as a stabilizing force in a strong democracy.

I challenge the psychologists out there to spend time on the couch with Donald to prove me wrong.(2)

(1) Cutting funding for cancer research is not the only social welfare objective being undermined.

(2) The phrase “prove me wrong” is a phrase of dominance and not an invitation to a read discussion. It showed very poor taste for me to use that phrase in a context complaining about Donald Trump.)

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 56

To quote Seneca, “every noble deed is voluntary.” You always have the option to do the wrong thing, the selfish thing. (We see this often in the political arena.) To quote another famous person, it’s easier to “break bad” than it is to do the noble deed. Doing the right thing comes out of wanting to do the right thing, and thinking of it as an opportunity for self-improvement.

Go, Rust, Swift, Perl

Looking at my computer programming bookshelf, I see I have books on Go, Rust, Swift and Perl. I’m asking myself why do I need all these any longer The answer is, I don’t. At this point in my programming journey (retired programming journey) Go will accomplish everything I need to worry about. Rust is overkill since I won’t be building any compilers. Swift won’t be of any use since I don’t plan on writing any native Apple apps. Who uses Perl anymore?

You might be wondering, what the hell do I need programming for?! After all, I’ve been retired for almost seven years and my daily routine consists largely of things that are antithetical to computing. (Among them this blog, Pickleball, Cycling, Skiing, and a bit of travel and camping thrown in now and then for good measure.) The only answer I can give you is I’m not ready to let “Go” (no pun intended) of 1995 yet.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 55

As humans, we have a higher obligation to serve one another. All true success and self-worth comes from that work. So rise from bed each morning, don’t linger there, rise confident in the knowledge that others are depending on you.

Teaching is Not Learning

History has much to teach us if we are only willing to listen. In the words of one observer of the events in the streets of Paris in February 1848, political unrest is always the same. It is “initiated by simpletons, helped along by fools, pushed through by rogues then taken over by the opportunists who do very nicely out of it.”

It doesn’t take a huge imagination to see this same formula played out in the events of January 6 and those events that have followed since.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 54

Justice is agreeing that certain things are natural and right and should be preserved and cherished. Injustice is allowing our darker nature to overwhelm our sense of what is just. We should always be mindful to support our natural sense of justice at all times.

Pinups

All of the important people in my life are pinned at the top of my messaging app. If you have never received a text message from me, you can safely assume you are not a pinup.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 53

People that do ill in the world do so because they are deprived of the truth. It doesn’t matter if they have chosen this path because of some fault in themselves that they can’t control or they are simply blind through lack of education or ignorance. These people can’t be brought to the truth through logic. Our only path is to be gentle and gracious toward them, allowing them to see the truth by example.

Proud To Be An American

Governor Cox of Utah made the following statement upon announcement of the arrest of Charlie Kirk’s killer:

“This is certainly about the tragic death, political assassination of Charlie Kirk. But it is also much bigger than an attack on an individual,” Cox said. “It is an attack on all of us. It is an attack on the American experiment. It is an attack on our ideals. This cuts to the very foundation of who we are, of who we have been, and who we could be in better times.”

Governor Cox’s reference to “better times” is important here. The Governor is showing infinitely more humanity than the leader of his party.

Note: Within 48 hours he had retracted most of this statement, no doubt caused by pressure applied by the White House…

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 52

No one controls us, nor should we allow anyone else to control us. I like the saying, “in a free country, your freedom to swing your fists ends where someone else’s nose begins.” That means you have to be strong enough to live your life while also being strong enough to let everyone else live theirs. Even when you disagree with the choices someone else is making, the choices are theirs, not yours.

Writing Skills

The size of your vocabulary is a direct reflection of your I.Q. Also those with excellent writing skills will naturally avoid profanity and lewd expressions. If you can diagram a sentence, you have a firm grasp of all the necessary skills to be an excellent writer. If you don’t believe me then…

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 51

Getting angry is a weakness. We should be guided by gentleness, especially for those who would otherwise make us angry. Never let the people around us determine our course.

Our Happy Family

I have started reading the biography of Gustave Flaubert by Geoffrey Wall. It is helping take my mind off current events. Wall is an excellent writer and his work is thoroughly researched and very entertaining. I am discovering why I am not a writer by reading about Flaubert’s life. I hesitate to explain in detail, but a couple of observations stand out. I’m not as obsessive intellectually as Flaubert. Probably not as sensitive a person either. By that I mean I don’t spend hours and days pondering a single thought or emotion. I certainly don’t sit down and write at a pace of five words per hour. (I did previously mention that bit of trivia, but I keep coming back to that and marveling at how someone could approach their work so intensely.) None of this changes the fact that I love to write and I’m going to keep writing. I probably should spend some time learning some grammar, but I’m just not patient enough to do that. It’s fair to point out why I do this. It’s not because I have a readership that I am committed to serving. I don’t. In fact, no one that I know reads this stuff. (If you do, I’d rather you not tell me.) Someday, who knows when that day might come, someone might take a small amount of pleasure in reading these pages. I don’t spend a lot of time reading them myself, so that prospect is probably rather remote.

Stoic Thought of the Day — Day 50

Are you committed to anything? What are you committed to? How are your values expressed by what you are doing? If all you are guided by is your ambition, you are simply wandering through life.

Here I Go Again

I’ve been writing a bit too much lately about political matters and not enough about subjects that are truly important. Yes, well, politics is important, but only when the people engaged as your political leaders are serious about their profession and not simply interested in furthering a minority agenda, an agenda that benefits the few instead of the many, or in the worst case, only benefits themselves.

I should be writing about me. After all, this is a blog. Perhaps to regain a healthier world view, I should take a break from political topics for a few days and just focus on my Stoic Project. That would allow me to take a step back and look at the world through a different lens. I don’t think there is anything wrong with engaging in political discussion, I just wish we lived in a country where that had not become such a polarizing activity.