Wow, that IS some mighty fine Kool-Aid!

Do you remember what I wrote SO LONG about Mac n' Stuff? It seemed like it was yesterday...well, I've taken a portal to Bizarro World, so just flip it. Consequently, I spent my day in very familiar territory, albeit time-consuming. Same words...just parenthetical updates:

1. Restore (Apple exclusivity); Migrate content back to (Apple) drive and turn off (Google) Drive.
2. (Leave) Bitwarden; Consider using (Apple) logins for everything; Delete passwords from (Bitwarden)
3. (Elevate Safari and consider Brave)
4. ((Hey, there’s no status of change with Tutanota!!))
5. Optimize and (increase) complexity: (Return) to the text editor and terminal life. Establish (Jekyll static).
6. (Migrate remaining Google content and delete Google account).

Well, why the flip? I made some valid points—what gives? It began when my Google Drive refused to sync correctly to my MacBook. The client said it synchronized to the cloud, but I KNEW it was missing files–and so it was! I had some zipped-up site backups that weren't downloaded to my computer. I wouldn't have even noticed if I wasn't specifically looking for those archives to add content to my site.

And once I realized I couldn't trust the syncing process, it trembled with the memory of 2014. Well, one thing led to another and I tossed it out.

Wordpress got caught in the crossfire! OK, not exactly: I already grew weary of updating two places for anything I post, the blog, of course, and the document file. And lemme tell ya, having one Google Doc/LibreOffice file of everything is unwieldy! Bit by bit (quite literally), I'm taking the complexity from my life.

And, I don't know, I got nostalgic. I read a few of my posts when I was getting Jekyll to run back in 2020 and just missed it.

OK, so what about the showstoppers? Didn't they stop the train for a reason?

Abhorrent ad blockers for Safari - Yes, this remains AWFUL. But, I'll sure I'll find a solution that allows me to use Safari instead of Brave.

Interoperability issues - Without Google, my phone's ability is reduced anyway, so my not having a proper iCloud client is par for the course.

The mail server - Day and night! Perhaps the mail server just didn't trust my account being taken out of mothballs, 'cause now I've run it through its paces, the performance hits my expectations.

Ultimately, the big winner is flipping on end-to-end encryption on iCloud. In the past, I've researched other cloud providers for that ability because the mainstream didn't offer it. Frankly, it seems like an obvious, Day 1 feature.

When I woke up yesterday morning, I immediately typed this up into my Mac's Stickies app for To-Do list:

1. Restore Google Account; Migrate content back to Google drive and turn off iCloud Drive.
2. Return to Bitwarden; Consider using Gmail logins for everything; Delete passwords from Apple keychain
3. Reinstall Chrome; Shelve Safari
4. Delete Tutanota—remove complexity
5. Optimize and reduce complexity: Leave the text editor and terminal life. Establish WordPress.

What a doozy of a list! See, with my new MacBook, I thought I'd dive fully into the ecosphere, make it my one-stop shop for everything. And as I had an old @me.com address that was created in May 2012 from an iPad 3 purchase for the Czech Republic. While they stopped handing those things out back then, I've long since forgotten the greater/scarcer vanity, my @mac.com address. Meh. So, I was set to dive in...I figured Apple had things figured out! Boy howdy was I wrong!

Let's start with the thing I liked most with using Apple: the thumbprint login for sites. However, where does my mind immediately go? Laptops friggin' break ALL the time! What am I gonna do when that tipsy gnome (Norm) breaks out his better Matt Foley impression and crashes squarely on that thumb input? I know Apple is going full-on multi-factor authentication and I guess I like that? But what happens if—WHEN that second device is no longer available? Or worse, when that SIM card is duplicated. That's old stuff, what do you think is going on in that scene in Italy from Bourne Supremacy?

And while I'm happy that I found out how to turn off smart quotes system-wide and flip off the autocorrect spelling that would jack up my posts, or if I hit space twice, which made my Markdown break lines a booger bear, shouldn't have that been an opt-in thing on first startup?

As far as nuisances go, I noticed after I signed up for 200 GB of cloud space that the iCloud location was an oddity to me. I am coming from the perspective of my approach to syncing a Google Drive directory right under Home, so it was easy for me to shell over there. I did not fool enough with it to get a good fix on that game of hide n' seek. Sharing folders is a headache in iCloud; Google is far more organic. If I alone designed that, I'd think, "Welp, I better rework that." And then there was that annoying thing where apps kept popping their own empty folders onto iCloud (BBEdit and Pages were a couple I remember). And I don't like that they hide the keychain way down into settings. I care more about my passwords than wallpaper and screensavers—am I alone on that? They TOTALLY need to change their "U.S. Holidays" to world holidays. Just because we're a melting pot or stew pot—whatever which way makes people proudly prance about—doesn't mean we celebrate Middle Eastern holidays. C'mon man! Stop virtue signaling. Be American. I'm not asking for NASCAR day (third Friday of May), but just when I can expect the bank to slack off from taking my money.

None of those elements would identify as something I can't live with...they're just..."idiosyncrasies."

Well then, what are the showstoppers?

Abhorrent ad blockers for Safari. Hey, 2004 called and Firefox wants to drop off an extension. I SO was ready to buy into the whole Safari experience and thrust it into a starter role! And yet...every free ad blocker I tried, opened the door to YouTube and said, "Y'all come on right in. There's all kinds of room. Got a party going on." And WHO PAYS a subscription for an ad blocker! Am I in bizarro world?! In my instant revulsion, I immediately downloaded Brave—everything was clean as a whistle. But, I need more than bookmark synchronization (Brave remains my go-to on Linux Mint). I mean, Steve Jobs dies and they are literally shoving customers Google's way. And Google's main identity is an ad company! Give the user a decent way to wreck your competition, Apple!

Interoperability issues. Apple does not play well with others. Oh, there was a time when they moved to Intel in 2006 when they seemed to be friendly, but now on my M1, lemme conjure the late Dennis Green: "They are who we thought they were!" Since I don't have an iPhone and I'm on Android like the other 70% of the market, I just throw up my hands and say, "SERIOUSLY, I gotta use a web browser to access iCloud on my phone? Shazbot, man...shazbot. Apple literally sells thousands of apps from developers across the world and they couldn't find just a couple dudes from India to whip up something for Android? That's just a face full of snoot on Apple there. And snot.

The mail server. Who knew that the Pony Express was still in operation in Cupertino? I gotta admit, it has been a LONG time since I've cussed at a mail server. I seriously SHOULD NOT have verification emails from Steam expire before I receive them! Egad! I slowly ping ponged emails back and forth between Gmail and Apple. Six minutes later..."Oh, look, I got my email. Fantastic." They must relay their traffic through the Mars rover.

Lastly, and this has ALWAYS bugged me about Apple: NEVER in my life have I EVER cared about what time or weather in Cupertino. I mean, with all that location sharing going on, I'd have to think it's unremarkably trivial to give the update over my specific house. Or even run me up against an actuarial life table and pop up a countdown widget—you know, for kicks.

Am I missing something? Did someone forget to leave out the Kool-Aid for me?

After a streak of 23 days in my VR fitness regimen, I snapped it yesterday. While my August knee injury stiffened up in the past few days, I thought I could fight through it. Alas, I now recognize that I was just aggravating things. There's a reason why the body stiffens up a joint. Darn all of these VR squats!

I don't think it'll be a setback, but just a streak for me to surpass in the future.

Speaking of which...

I've now finished my FIRST week of being a HIGH-FAT carnivore! It'll be awhile for me to hit my 5-month mark (5/8/23) like Kelly Hogan describes in this video from yesterday, High Fat Five-Month Update from a 13-Year Carnivore, where she takes us along for her entire weightloss journey. And who knew her cholesterol numbers would drop even further with a higher fat approach? It's great to hear her talk because she says everything I'd say, but has the chops to back it up. If I could have went back to 2004 and do what she did...I would have punted that vegan nonsense.

Care for a spin in my old rusty Rant Rambler?

Wow, did the yes-men doctors lie to us in the '90s! I remember following their advice and cutting down fat WAY DOWN LOW. I introduced white rice to my diet and ran the Foreman grill for my chicken. Did I get the gains I expected in context to a Body-For-Life fitness regimen? "Shaka, when the walls fell..."

Maybe "lie" is too harsh, perhaps those '90s doctors were just Idiots in Authority, like the puppets are today:

"Yeah, masks stop the spread of zombies. I mean, yes, cloth doesn't stop farts, but TRUST us, we stayed in school 'cause we don’t wanna grow up, we're Toys R’ Us kids, we want $millions$ that we can play with, from bikes to trains to political gains...'We're what you call experts.'"

What's up, Doc? So, you're gonna lob leaches onto my skin, then shock my brain into submission and finally inject poison into my veins? Naw, I'm good, I'll just let my body do its thing and get out 'ta way. "You'll never get nowhere smokin' the pipe."

Now, if it was our man Bashir, that genetically-enhanced doctor running his medical tricorder across the Promenade from Quark's, yeah, run that dermal regenerator! Or, just a guy that can do a decent Connect the Dots, La, La La—I'm not asking for Curie stuff here! They can put down the Hulk juice. But, today? It's all power and politics—not truth. When I visualize what happens at those medical conferences, all I see is bespeckled, pudgy men in Hawaiian shirts and pale skinny legs, waddling to Nelly's Ride Wit Me. OK, so not far off from any Weird Al concert.

That said, I'm speaking more to the medicine side of things and not so much surgical. I mean, sometimes when we're Bifur, we need more than a headbutt with an Orc. So, less John Dorian and much more of Turk (well, maybe not the Todd).

Honestly, what we need is NOT medicine...

What this world needs is a few more rednecks,
Some people ain't afraid to take a stand.
What this world needs is a little more respect
For the Lord and the law and the workin' man.
We could use a little peace and satisfaction,
Some good people up front to take the lead,
A little less talk and a little more action
And a few more rednecks is what we need.

Charlie Daniels