You Will Be Assimilated. Resistance is Futile.

I stopped wearing watches a decade ago. The reason was twofold: the clasp on the watchband was scratching my brand new MacBook when I was typing, and with the arrival of cell phones, there really wasn’t a need for something on my wrist when I simply had to pull my phone out to see what time it was. It wasn’t exactly a subtle or elegant solution when you’re wondering when that interminable could’ve-been-an-email meeting you were stuck in was going to end, but soon even pulling out a cell phone in those situations became socially acceptable, totally negating the need for an additional appliance.

To be honest, being somewhat of a fanboy, when the Apple Watch first came out, I was intrigued. Ultimately, however, I found the device too thick, it still had a wristband with a clasp, and I just couldn’t justify the price-to-usefulness ratio, especially since my phone now did pretty much everything I needed it to do when away from my laptop.

My attention returned to the Watch when I developed the need to start seeing a cardiologist for my blood pressure a couple years ago. Even though the watch didn’t monitor blood pressure (I’m holding out hope it will at some point), I nonetheless saw the always-on heart monitor as a very useful tool. For that reason alone, Ben has been urging me to pick one up (he’s worn an Apple Watch since 2015), but I still couldn’t justify the cost.

That changed about six weeks ago when Series 6 was released and the device now included a pulse oximeter and had an available wristband that didn’t have a clasp! And that blue color? OMG. I was sold.

But still I hesitated.

After letting all this percolate in my head for a few days, one evening I went online and saw that the particular configuration I liked was available for immediate pickup at one of the local Apple Stores. I almost pulled the trigger, but—ignoring the little voice in my head—didn’t.

After sleeping on it, the next day I woke, deciding to throw caution to the wind and go for it. I figured I could always return it for a full refund within Apple’s 14-day window if I didn’t like it. I went online to order for pickup at that store and…it no longer available. In fact, it was no longer available at any store in the entire state of Arizona. Well, damn! That’s what I get for ignoring my intuition.

I went ahead and placed an order for delivery, and after a month’s wait (it was shipped directly from China) the Watch arrived yesterday.

Last night Ben asked me if I was happy with my purchase.

I shrugged my shoulders and said, “Meh. It’s a watch. I like that it monitors my heart…and it is gorgeous.”

Will I keep it? Yes. While I’m not to the point yet that I’ve taken any unexpected falls (unlike his mom), I have fall detection turned on, and along with the other health-monitoring aspects, it gives us both peace of mind.

And it is pretty. Damn pretty…especially with that watch face.

 

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Repost

Songs from Another Life

Because gawd…do I need this today.

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We can’t forget this critical fact: Mask-wearing didn’t have to be politicized.

It wasn’t inevitable. Trump made it that way, not only with his personal refusal to wear one, but even more importantly by deriding people who wear masks as weak and encouraging protests against efforts by Democratic governors to impose public health measures to contain the virus. He turned refusing to wear a mask into a badge of tribal identification, a way of saying “MAGA 2020! To hell with you, liberals!”

And despite his insane insistence that 224,000 dead Americans — with who knows how many more to come — is the best we could possibly have done, all we have to do is look around the world to see how things could have been different.

We could have been like Canada (just under 10,000 deaths), or Japan (1,700 deaths), or Germany (just over 10,000 deaths), or South Korea (fewer than 500 deaths). Why did those countries succeed where we failed so spectacularly?

Two closely related reasons: They had competent leadership, and their populations didn’t go to war with themselves about whether to take simple public health measures — in part because those leaders weren’t so spectacularly stupid as to encourage people to flout them.

But Trump did. And even though he’s likely to lose the election primarily because of his failure on the pandemic, his narcissistic recklessness will keep killing people even after he’s gone.

Trump’s last gasp: The pandemic isn’t real and everything’s fine (behind paywall)

Source: Washington Post

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Being an Old Fart…

…I have no idea who this Froy is, but he looks like someone I might’ve chased after when I was that age.

Richard Madden, however, I’m well aware of. Rawr.

And if Froy is getting “his guts rearranged” by him, well, all I can say is more power [bottom] to the boy!

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