Stephen Rees's blog

I have just heard that all the email that has been arriving in increasing shrillness is actually now shown to be otiose since the deadline for a tax rebate on charitable donations has been moved forward to the end of February. That’s in Canada – and not for political parties. A depressing amount comes into my inbox comes from the US, where I do not qualify for any tax relief so I usually don’t contribute to their Good Causes. Besides there’s a lot more people there than here. But it would be nice if their email programs took note of my location and dropped me from lists that offer US tax rebates.

I have been more active on Mastodon than I have on here even though I am getting a bit fed up with having to chop stuff into small pieces for my instance (mas.to) – but then I am not usually writing as opposed to cutting and pasting material that ought to published on the Fediverse but isn’t. This took a bit of a turn for me when I got a new iPad and loaded Ice Cubes onto it – but properly this time. In its predecessor I had skipped an obvious step in installation but now it works brilliantly. I used to confine my Mastodon posting to the MacBook but now I can use whatever device I happen to be reading. I didn’t think that apps would actually be needed but it does turn out to be useful.

Reading Cory Doctorow alerted me to an alternative to Google for web searches. kagi.com is faster, more accurate and avoids the current obsession with AI. Google searches have become increasingly unreliable due to AI. When the sales person in the Apple store said that the iPad I chose due to its reasonable cost would not include AI, I actually cheered. I don’t need it and don’t want it. Sadly when I run out of the limited initial batch of searches I will have to pay for kagi but that is actually preferable than bombardment of advertising that is now Google. To get kagi to run on my MacBook I installed the Orion Browser which has kagi as the default search, so now that is the fourth browser I can use. It also reduces my reliance on Chrome. Which is also a Good Thing.

This morning my whole daily routine was overturned. I usually just scan the email subjects, read the Guardian headlines and then make the coffee. This morning since I was on my iPad I turned to Mastodon early due to Ice Cubes and found a gift link to the New York Times obit for Jimmy Carter. Now the NYT of today is but a dull imitation of what it used to be but then they have had most of the obit on file for years – he outlived one of the obit writers! It is a very Long Read but well worthwhile. Though of course all the other media are doing their versions. But the best quote I saw was that while some people see trees and others forests, Jimmy saw leaves.

I had felt a bit guilty of my initial appraisal of Jimmy. This was when I was a part time student at the LSE and a fellow student, a delightful young American lady who was very much a fan, and did not share my skepticism, mainly bred by the whole President’s Men experience. Overall I think now he was underrated – and indeed undermined and not just by the Republicans but also his own party – as a President. What is now general wisdom is that he was one of the best examples of a human being.

I had hoped that the CBC music programs would wind down the church choir music now that the first few days of Christmas are over – but once again I find myself turning it off again. And as I am writing this three more mass mailings that got scheduled before today’s announcement but arrived after its publication. No, there is no longer a 48 hour deadline.

I hope that I will be around to read the Trump obits. The sooner the better.