Michael Wolff’s ‘Fire and Fury’: Inside Trump’s White House

Donald Trump as president:
One of the important takeaway points in this article is that they didn't expect to win. Some of us said more or less from the beginning that in some (many) ways, this presidential bid did not seem real--did not seem like it was intended as much more than theater, purpose unclear. In fact it has lately seemed to me that the explanation for Trump's harping on the idea that Democrats had somehow stolen a large proportion of their votes was driven by the desire for misdirection from their own having stolen votes somehow.

Those two (admittedly "conspiratorial") ideas don't match very well with one another. Oh--unless the _vote stealing_ was just to make their own effort (apparently inevitable failure) seem less embarrassing.

But sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. Perhaps it all is just what it seems to be: atypical in American politics, but yet completely predictable in light of the personalities involved and other aspects of current social and political (and educational) trends.

Interesting article:
<http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2018/01/michael-wolff-fire-and-fury-book-donald-trump.html>


Mark_

Dinner at our favorite fish and chips place, Spud, Alki.

Pix:

<https://photos.app.goo.gl/u9BkRvjVEjF2xxBZ2>

Fun!

Rocky Mountain N.P. in VR

NPR has published a _virtual reality_ presentation on the geology of Rocky Mountain National Park:
<https://apps.npr.org/rockymountain-vr/>.

I have just watched it on my computer, but in a few minutes I am going to see if my new twin-lens VR goggles can view it on my celephone screen.

Note that for either method, headphones improve the experience (as they do with nearly every possible sound presentation).

Also: Various places on the Internet host similar presentations on subjects like this one and others. More are linked at the end of this one. (Or perhaps not; for me, clicking does nothing.)

Anyway, it has made me want to go back to the Rockies and spend more time than I have.

Mark_

Fall color and some sunshine @ UW's Seattle Japanese Garden

Nice day among colorful trees in this beautiful garden.
<https://photos.app.goo.gl/4OcrF4nrxKrAc9gD2>

Mark_

At Home: Fall _and Snowfall!_

We have a couple of trees here that turn pleasant colors in autumn.
• 31 October <https://photos.app.goo.gl/kglUJgagLfVGSSv23>
• 30 October <https://photos.app.goo.gl/SIGrrxK9z6j8JwEw2>
• 28 October <https://photos.app.goo.gl/IfU3vokc4L6Xr8Ew2>
• 27 October <https://photos.app.goo.gl/9H3C6NoI9x13ZmA62>

Also, it _snowed_ today.  Not a lot, but the atmosphere was quite festive.
<https://photos.app.goo.gl/W7Dv3G1Wl2qp37iy2>


Mark_

Fall sunshine and color @ Kubota Garden

We recently visited the Kubota Japanese Garden, a bit south of Seattle.  The day opened with some cloudiness, but the bulk of that dissipated and we were left with much bright and warm sunshine falling upon gorgeous autumn color.

<https://photos.app.goo.gl/r69zj7C5jN8UpVYf1>

Mark_

Phishing on the iPhone

The bad people are at it again.

This time, it is "phishing" <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phishing> on the iPhone--attempts to get you to give them your Apple account credentials. For clarity: This is not malware residing on your device; it is a message that came in piggyback with something else.

Occasionally, iPhone (or any iOS device) will need your credentials (ID and password), and will make its request by putting up a "slip" containing the notification. You may be able to dismiss without complying, but the request would return the next time the OS needed access to Apple services. We become accustomed to just doing what is needed without thinking about context--and this is what the jerks are counting on. They display such a request (looking more or less identical to the legitimate one), and we pass them our credentials (username and password).

The article below suggests that such request be dismissed immediately, but then one should go to System Settings to see if the request is there--and if so only there to supply the password being requested.

This would be similar to our _not_ using the convenient link in e-mail from [someone posing as] a bank; instead we use the links previously stored in our Contacts address books.

<https://krausefx.com/blog/ios-privacy-stealpassword-easily-get-the-users-apple-id-password-just-by-asking>

I hope this helps.

Mark_ 

15 October 2017 21:46