Random Thoughts // January 7 2016

Periodically I’ll probably start posting random, or loosely connected, random thoughts as a challenge to blog more. My plan is to post 4-6 at a time.

• I’m glad we chose to leave our home for most of our sabbatical time. Our first week back has been crazy hectic, steeped in work (even though we are technically still supposed to be sabbaticalling) and full of doctor’s visits. The family is on the mend and I’m working towards creating some balance for the next few weeks so hopefully sabbatical time will finish strong.
• Political discussions typically aren’t worth having on Facebook and other social media sites. People never actually take the time to read or consider what is actually said and typically speak, and speak rather strongly, to what is not said. The web in general does not lend itself to intelligent discourse. Unfortunately.
• To be honest, I think that the internet, and social media perhaps more specifically, has changed the fundamental nature of discourse to allow outlandish candidates that say inappropriate things to much acclaim.
• Pro-gun is way too strong of a word pair to describe me but I do have fond memories of my uncle taking me to the shooting range. If I lived in a place where I was able to, I’d likely enjoy hunting and filling a freezer with meat for a season. But I admit surprise that people feel like they need to have heavy duty firepower. Or that much tighter regulation is somehow anathema.
• From a technical standpoint, Safari on OS X has been frustratingly crashing since the El Capitan update. Anyone use an alternative browser (other than the memory hog that is Chrome)?