Nine years later, and this piece by The Onion is still perhaps the best eulogy:
CUPERTINO, CA—Steve Jobs, the visionary co-founder of Apple Computers and the only American in the country who had any clue what the fuck he was doing, died Wednesday at the age of 56.
Our dog died today. His name was Sundance and he was a good boy. He joined our family before my kids could even drive, and now he’s gone.
Sundance was the light of our lives. He was always ready to go out in the back yard and play, play, play. His favorite toy was a doggie frisbee. We’d throw it across the yard, and he’d tear across the yard like a rocket with a turbo charger and jump and catch it midair.
He was fast — you simply couldn’t throw his doggie frisbee so far that he couldn’t get there before it hit the ground. He was so fast, in fact, that he once caught a bird. He leaped and caught the fucking bird midair too! It was unbelievable. I could not believe my eyes.
About a year and a half ago, he was playing catch with my wife. She threw the frisbee thing like we’ve done thousands of times, and Sundance ran and lept and caught it before it landed, only he came down squirrelly and injured his back. Our veterinarian took x-rays, and advised us to limit his activity for a couple weeks. And he got better, but he never recovered all the way.
He struggled, off and on, over the next year or so, most days were good days, but like the rest of us who have reached a certain age, he had the occasional bad day, where he struggled on the stairs, or had difficulty getting up on the couch or bed.
We bought him a doggie step to help him get up and down from the couch and bought a linen chest to put at the foot of the bed to help him get up and down from the bed.
But about 6 months ago, he noticably started getting worse. His occasional bad day had become a pretty regular thing. After several veterinarian visits over a few months, our vet advised that his condition was degenerative, and that he wouldn’t be getting better.
For months now, my wife and I have been helping Sundance up and down the stairs — first, in front of the house, and then as his ability to climb the stairs further degenerated, in back of the house (there’s only 3 steps in back and about double that in front).
We bought dozens of throw rugs to cover the hardwood floors to make it easier for him to walk, and so that he could walk freely without slipping and falling. The last few days, he’s needed help even standing and walking.
My wife has been cooking his meals, morning and night, for weeks.
I don’t know why I’m writing all of this, except that I don’t know what else to do. I guess I just miss my friend.
Gone, but not forgotten.
We all know that when a business owner refuses to bake a cake for a gay couple, citing his or her “beliefs”, that the so-called conservative crowd rallies to the business owner’s defense. “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.”
However, now that business owner’s are refusing service to anyone not wearing a mask, the hypocritical so-called conservative crowd isn’t rallying to their defense citing the business owners’ right to “refuse service to anyone” — no, the hypocritical so-called conservative crowd is saying just the opposite, that you can’t just deny service to anyone for a bullshit reason, and screaming “discrimination!”1
As I’ve written before, actual conservatives — you know, the kind of people who actually practice Conservatism, as opposed to these fucking fakers — know all too well that the bedrock of American Conservatism has always been good character — unquestionable, impeccable character2.
Actual conservatives also know that cornerstones of American Conservatism have always been, and continue to be: maximizing individual freedom, limiting government, financial responsibility, and free markets, all of which appear to be kryptonite to today’s so-called conservative crowd.
Fuck these fakers.
1 Providing evidence that today’s hypocritical so-called conservative crowd in fact have no fucking clue what discrimination is.
2 So, what is character? Character is the habitual pattern of thoughts, actions, words and feelings that a person displays over time. Someone with good character understands that they should make good choices and they always endeavor to do just that.
Making good choices means making choices that adhere to behavior that is commonly accepted as “good”, like being honest, responsible, fair, caring and respectful, as opposed to choices that adhere to behavior that is commonly accepted as “bad” or “wrong”, such as lying, cheating, stealing, being deceptive, hurtful, or disrespectful. A person with good character shows over time that they almost always do make good choices.
Of course, everyone makes mistakes, and making a mistake does not mean you lack good character. But a person with good character not only learns from their mistakes, but actively tries to minimize future mistakes. And most importantly, when a person with good character makes a mistake, they take responsibility for it.
A person with good character will make good choices even when it’s challenging or downright hard to do so, and even when no one but themselves will ever know.
I’ve always tought my children a helpful shorthand: good character is doing the right thing, even when no one will ever know if you do the wrong thing. And, if that sounds like a pretty fair, or even pretty close, definition of “values” or “morality”, well, you’re not mistaken.
I missed this — really missed this — from 4 months ago, when I was still in a fog from the forced work from home.
Dury’s, the landmark Nashville photography store, that opened in 1882 as one of the original eight Kodak dealers appointed by George Eastman himself, has closed:
From the Dury’s website (link may eventually break) and a Facefuck post dated 21 May 2020:
After very careful consideration, I have made the difficult decision to close our doors for good. This is something that when I started working for this company in 1991 I never in a million years thought I would ever be doing. In the last eight weeks I have seen our business and lives turned upside down. I have spent countless hours working with advisers and thinking through every angle I could. I have consulted with our board of directors and accountants. Unfortunately, closure was the decision that we reached.
[…]
I want to thank all our customers for your loyal support over the years and I am sure we will see you again. I also want to thank our staff for their long years of service. Many have worked for the company for ten years or more and I cannot thank them enough for the hard work that they have put in.
We will continue to post updates as we know more, and we hope that everyone stays safe and healthy.
From our family to yours
Charles Small
President/CEO
This is incredibly sad news, all around.
From Petapixel:
After suspending operations on March 21st in response to the spread of the coronavirus, Dury’s had planned to reopen on April 6th. That date was pushed back to April 27th, then May 11th, and finally May 25th before the decision to shut down was made.
Brick-and-mortar camera stores around the world had already been reeling from the rise of online shopping in recent years. The closure of Dury’s is almost certainly just one of many exits we’ll be seeing in the coming days, as the evonomic (sic) fallout from COVID-19 becomes the straw that breaks many a camel’s back.
Damn. Just damn. There’s nothing like being able to go to a physical store not only to actually hold and test the gear in your own hands, but to be able to speak with a truly knowledgeable salesperson. There simply is no substitute. Damn.
The Notorious R.B.G., only the second woman appointed to the United States Extreme Court, and without question one of the Court’s most important and consequential Justices, is dead at 87.
The paper of record:
Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court and a pioneering advocate for women’s rights, who in her ninth decade became a much younger generation’s unlikely cultural icon, died on Friday. She was 87.
The cause was complications of metastatic pancreas cancer, the Supreme Court said.
I shutter at the thought of Comrade Trump, aka President “faker”, making comments about this exraordinary woman’s life. Yuk.
Dr. Robert Redfield, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, testifying before Congress on Wednesday:
Facemasks — these facemasks — are the most important, powerful public health tool we have.
Goddamn right.
Now, some people are saying that Dr. Redfield “walked back” his remarks, after being publicly disputed by Comrade Trump, but that’s not the case.
Later on Wednesday on Twitter, Dr. Redfield tweeted:
I 100% believe in the importance of vaccines and the importance in particular of a #COVID19 vaccine. A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life.
and
The best defense we currently have against this virus are the important mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing and being careful about crowds. #COVID19
Neither of which is “walking back” anything.
Man the fuck up you goddamned daisies. I’m embarrased to call most of you so-called “conservatives” my countrymen, so very many of you are such goddamned pansies:
Look, I don’t like wearing a face mask any more than anyone else does, but unless you’re a spoiled 8 year-old little girl, you need to understand that these face masks are going to be an integral part of our lives for a hell of a lot longer than any of us would like. But ignoring the facts, or pretending that they aren’t the facts, well, that’s what children do.
Scientific American:
Scientific American has never endorsed a presidential candidate in its 175-year history. This year we are compelled to do so. We do not do this lightly.
The evidence and the science show that Donald Trump has badly damaged the U.S. and its people—because he rejects evidence and science. The most devastating example is his dishonest and inept response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which cost more than 190,000 Americans their lives by the middle of September. He has also attacked environmental protections, medical care, and the researchers and public science agencies that help this country prepare for its greatest challenges. That is why we urge you to vote for Joe Biden, who is offering fact-based plans to protect our health, our economy and the environment. These and other proposals he has put forth can set the country back on course for a safer, more prosperous and more equitable future.
I essentially re-post this every year:
Those in authority should take appropriate precautions to protect our citizens. But we will not allow this enemy to win the war by changing our way of life or restricting our freedoms. (emphasis added)
–George W. Bush, 43rd President of the United States, remarks made during press conference/photo opportunity with the National Security Team, Wednesday, September 12, 2001, 10:53–10:56 AM EDT.
Sadly, it didn’t take long for us to ‘change our way of life’ or for us to allow the govenment to ‘restrict our freedoms’, did it? And of course, today those freedoms have been restricted more than ever…
A STATEMENT BY FORMER REPUBLICAN NATIONAL SECURITY OFFICIALS
We are former national security officials who served during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush, and/or Donald Trump, or as Republican Members of Congress. We are profoundly concerned about the course of our nation under the leadership of Donald Trump. Through his actions and his rhetoric, Trump has demonstrated that he lacks the character and competence to lead this nation and has engaged in corrupt behavior that renders him unfit to serve as President.
For the following reasons, we have concluded that Donald Trump has failed our country and that Vice President Joe Biden should be elected the next President of the United States.
[…]
While we – like all Americans – had hoped that Donald Trump would govern wisely, he has disappointed millions of voters who put their faith in him and has demonstrated that he is dangerously unfit to serve another term.
In contrast, we believe Joe Biden has the character, experience, and temperament to lead this nation. We believe he will restore the dignity of the presidency, bring Americans together, reassert America’s role as a global leader, and inspire our nation to live up to its ideals.
While some of us hold policy positions that differ from those of Joe Biden and his party, the time to debate those policy differences will come later. For now, it is imperative that we stop Trump’s assault on our nation’s values and institutions and reinstate the moral foundations of our democracy. (emphasis added)
Case closed.
If We’re Truly Going to Eradicate Racism, Then We’ve Got to Take It Out of Ourselves First
I wish I’d seen this two and a half months ago when it came out…
Powerful, powerful statement from one of my favorite photographers, and more importantly, favorite photography instructors, Zack Arias:
This will certainly resonate with many, many white people, at least those who are willing to be honest with themselves.
Yeah, Zack nails it here: this is the essential truth of “white privilege”. The simple fact of the matter is that for white people, the color of their skin is simply not an issue in American life, whereas for Black people and other people of color, it is an issue every single day of their lives in America.
This is what Peggy McIntosh calls “the invisible package of unearned benefits.”
Powerful, powerful stuff. Our nation needs more of this from white people right now, and franky, has needed more of this for a long, long time. What we need is for more white people to be willing to listen, and learn, and try to understand. Because when you start to understand, just a little bit, you can’t help but want to change not only yourself, but the world around you.
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