Day: November 25, 2020

I Shed a Few Tears

Fandango13 Comments

I’m normally not one who easily or readily shows his emotions. But I have to admit that yesterday, when Joe Biden introduced the some of the nominees for leadership positions in his new cabinet, my eyes welled up with tears. Tears of relief and tears of a restored pride in my country.

After the impertinence of Donald Trump to name relatives (e.g., his daughter and son-in-law), conservative media personalities from Fox News and other right wing “news” outlets, and Trump donors, loyalists, and ass-kissers who had no relevant experience or applicable knowledge for their roles in top cabinet-level positions, it was cathartic to see the dark clouds of the past four years being lifted and the light beginning to shine again.

Biden’s selection of a highly diverse group of men and women, all of whom have a preponderance of relevant experience and are extremely well qualified for the roles they are being asked to play in the Biden/Harris administration, gave me a sense of tranquility. I felt as if I was witnessing a rebirth of normalcy that we haven’t seen in four long years.

There is no doubt that Joe Biden and his team will have a long road to travel as they work to restore faith in the American democracy and the country’s stature both at home and around the globe. But it’s a road that more than 80 million American voters are excited to be on.

Written for these daily prompts: Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (impertinent), The Daily Spur (dark), Ragtag Daily Prompt (preponderance), Your Daily Word Prompt (tranquil), Word of the Day Challenge (birth), and MMA Storytime (travel).

iPhone Upgrade

Fandango35 Comments

My new iPhone 12 Pro Max arrived yesterday and within an hour I had it all set up. I basically placed my old iPhone 8 Plus next to my new iPhone 12 Pro Max and it automagically transferred the entire contents of my old iPhone to my new iPhone.

So, how do I feel about my new iPhone? Well, first, as you can see from this photo above, physically, the iPhone 12 Pro Max is only a fraction of an inch taller than the iPhone 8 Plus (6.33 inches versus 6.24 inches, respectively).

iPhone 12 Pro Max display taken with iPhone 8 Plus camera

Second, from the standpoint of the actual screen display size, the iPhone 12 Pro Max (above) is around 22% larger than that of the iPhone 8 Plus (below).

iPhone 8 Plus display taken with iPhone 12 Pro Max camera

That’s mostly because the top and bottom of the iPhone 12 Pro Max are not taken up by the bezels on the bottom with the Home button and on the top with the front-facing camera and the receiver. Instead, those spaces have been incorporated into the display.

Third, the cameras on the 12 Pro Max are far superior to those on the 8 Plus. Just compare the picture of the home screen on my iPhone 12 Pro Max with the one of the iPhone 8 Plus. Look how much sharper the picture of the iPhone 8 Plus home screen taken with the iPhone 12 Pro Max is than is the one of the iPhone 12 Pro Max home screen, taken with the iPhone 8 Plus.

Fourth, the Pro Max is noticeably faster than the 8 Plus and the battery lasts a whole lot longer. That’s what a new, faster chip and a new battery will do for speed and battery life.

But that’s where the good news ends. While the display on the 12 Pro Max is larger, neither the home screen nor any of the apps that run on the 12 Pro Max have been optimized to take advantage of the larger display size. For example, on the home screen, the only difference is that there is more space between the last row of apps on that page and the row of fixed apps at the bottom. And that is the case with most apps, including the WordPress app for iOS. So where I thought that it might be easier to use the block editor on the larger display of the 12 Pro Max, it’s not. Hence, I will be continuing to use the classic-lite editor that is on the WordPress app for iOS.

Maybe, over time, the app developers, including those at WordPress, will catch up with the fact that the 12 Pro Max has a much larger screen and they, the app developers, will develop apps that can take full advantage of that additional screen real estate.

One-Liner Wednesday — Dogma

Fandango6 Comments

“You can’t teach an old dogma new tricks.”

Dorothy Parker, American poet, writer, critic, and satirist

Dogma is a principle, or a set of principles, laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true. Dogma is also a doctrine, or a body of doctrines, concerning faith or morals formally stated and authoritatively proclaimed by a church.

Dorothy Parker wisely pointed out that the dogma of most organized religions and even politics, rarely, if ever, changes, despite changing times and societal changes.

Written for Linda G. Hill’s One-Liner Wednesday prompt.

Fandango’s Provocative Question #97

Fandango26 Comments

FPQWelcome once again to Fandango’s Provocative Question. Each week I will pose what I think is a provocative question for your consideration.

By provocative, I don’t mean a question that will cause annoyance or anger. Nor do I mean a question intended to arouse sexual desire or interest.

What I do mean is a question that is likely to get you to think, to be creative, and to provoke a response. Hopefully a positive response.

I have a confession to make. It’s getting more and more challenging for me to come up with unique and truly provocative questions each week. I’m not sure how much longer, after almost two years of posting weekly provocative questions, I’ll be able to keep this prompt going. But I’m going to continue as long as I can to come up with something that will stimulate you to respond.

That said, if any of you have suggestions for provocative questions that you’d like me to pose here, please reach out to me using my contact page or email me directly at fivedotoh@outlook.com.

With that said, here’s this week’s provocative question:

Is it more important to you to be able to help yourself, help your family, help your friends, help your society, or help the world?

If you choose to participate, write a post with your response to the question. Once you are done, tag your post with #FPQ and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Or you can simply include a link to your post in the comments. But remember to check to confirm that your pingback or your link shows up in the comments.

FOWC with Fandango — Impertinent

Fandango24 Comments

FOWCWelcome to November 25, 2020 and to Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (aka, FOWC). It’s designed to fill the void after WordPress bailed on its daily one-word prompt.

I will be posting each day’s word just after midnight Pacific Time (US).

Today’s word is “impertinent.”

Write a post using that word. It can be prose, poetry, fiction, non-fiction. It can be any length. It can be just a picture or a drawing if you want. No holds barred, so to speak.

Once you are done, tag your post with #FOWC and create a pingback to this post if you are on WordPress. Please check to confirm that your pingback is there. If not, please manually add your link in the comments.

And be sure to read the posts of other bloggers who respond to this prompt. You will marvel at their creativity.