Category: musings (general)

Farewell to the Ranch

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy5 Comments

Circle A A1 in the 1990sAbout a month ago, I wrote about my upcoming retirement and why I was retiring. This last week was filled with both trepidation and anticipation. Last Wednesday, I was treated to a wonderful “farewell” party where I heard such kind words and reminisced about my career at Circle A. I also received a lovely signed photoboard that included a picture of the only building that deserved the title of A1 (unlike A9, which is really A1′). Friday, my penultimate day, cemented the fact that although the people would love me to stay, the universe thinks it is time to go. I got to work only to find that someone had moved into the space I had reserved for hoteling; in fact, that space which I had reserved for Friday and Monday as no longer available for hoteling. So I decamped to my old office (A1/3034) and was able to work there, and reserved the only hoteling space on the 2nd floor for my last day. The traffic in both directions made the commute even worse. The universe was saying, “it’s time. You gotta get out of this place.”

There’s a whiteboard outside the 3rd floor elevators in A1′ (nee A9) where people add their “song of the day”. Most of the songs I didn’t recognize, although someone early on added Frank Mill’s Music Box Dancer. Friday I added two songs to the list: (1) The Animal’s We Gotta Get Out Of This Place, and (2) So Long, Farewell from The Sound of Music. The juxtaposition of “We gotta get out of this place / If it’s the last thing we ever do” with “So long, farewell / Auf Wiederseh’n, goodnight / I hate to go / And miss this pretty sight” truly expresses my feelings. I wonder if any of the “kids” will get it, or will have even heard from these two songs that were popular in 1965.

Which brings us to today, Monday, June 30, 2025. Today I retire from Circle A Ranch. Thoughts and memories have been running through my head over the last week, and I wanted to get them down on virtual paper. This is (essentially) the close of a 40+ year career in cybersecurity, although I’ll still be involved through ACSAC for a few more years, and might be back as a retiree casual in 2026 (as long as they don’t require a substantial on-campus presence, and primarily to support my long-term unclass project).

Read More …

Share

News Chum: Just the Facts, Maybe

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy1 Comment

I haven’t done a “news chum” post in ages, but this seems strangely appropriate to do here, on my blog, as opposed to Facebook. In recent years, I’ve moved much of my comments on news and stuff over to Facebook. Today’s chum is about Facebook, and it seemed just to, well, meta, to comment about it directly on Facebook. The universe might implode, or something like that.

The news today is that Meta is getting rid of fact checking. According to the CNN article, they are “replacing them with user-generated “community notes,” similar to Elon Musk’s X”. They are doing this to supposedly address the perception of censorship (never mind that as a private organization, that term really doesn’t apply), and the feeling from the right that fact checking is used more to suppress posts from the right than from the left. [Of course, the flaw in that argument is that non-factually posts are equally distributed across the political spectrum, and that tends not to be the case: in other words, the far right has posts fact-checked more because they are posting more posts that are loose with the facts.]

I’m sure that, in response to this, folks are going to be kermit-hand-waving (think of that GIF) and stating they are going to flee FB. But are the other services better in this? I searched to see what Bluesky is doing, and they are doing the community notes as well. In general, Bluesky’s moderation seems to be community based and report based, and you choose the moderation that you want as opposed to a blanket enforcement of a policy. Is that better? Hard to say. It just looks like the appeal of services like Bluesky and Mastodon is that they aren’t owned by folks that are sucking up to Trump, as opposed to something specific in the service. But the same “better ownership” model would also apply to the post-Livejournal services such as Dreamwidth — and Dreamwidth has the advantage of being able to limit audiences and writing longer-form pieces.

I’ve never quite gotten the hang of X, Threads, or Mastodon. I’m not into the short-form posts that Twitter encouraged, and it also seems like everything is publicly shouted into the wind, hoping to find an audience (which hash-tags help with, but those aren’t working as well these days thanks to idiotic overuse). More folks I know moved over to Bluesky, but what I see there is mostly political articles and other article sharing. There’s much less sharing of what is happing with the person. The things that you might talk about between friends — what we used to have on the blogging services — is still primarily on Facebook. That’s also where the mass of people still are.

So this is a long form way of saying: Despite its flaws, the personal stuff is likely staying on Facebook, unless there is a mass exodus of my friends moving that stuff elsewhere. I’m not seeing it on Bluesky. I might return to more news chum posts, and then sharing blog posts across multiple services, as a way of finding out where those communities have moved to.

Share

Thoughts on a Lost Election

Posted onAuthorcahwyguyLeave a comment

userpic=trumpI’ve been down all day with the results from last night, with only the Austin Lounge Lizards to cheer me up.:

You say the last election didn’t turn out like you planned.
You’re feeling blue and clueless, you just don’t understand.
You’re sad, sulky, sullen, moping and morose.
You’re woefully weak and weary, semi-comatose.
You stare at your computer screen devoid of any joy and hope.
You’re so depressed, you can’t get dressed, you’re noosing up a rope.
Just remind yourself, when you can’t stand it any more:

That we’ve been through some crappy times before
We’ve been though some crappy times before.
Slavery, unbridled knavery and the civil war.
Don’t stop caring, stop despairing, get up off the floor.
Because we’ve been through some crappy times before.

So, I thought I would share some thoughts on a lost election:

  • Voters rejected both candidates, but they rejected Harris more. From what I’ve read, 20 million fewer folks voted: 3 million fewer for Trump, and 17 million fewer for Harris. In short, that’s why Trump won.
  • I truly believe that number would have been worse had Biden stayed in. Biden, in many ways, was to blame for this loss: Had he kept his promise to keep things to a single transition term, and then let the normal primary process happen, the candidates would have been stronger and better known. It might not have been Harris (although I think she was strong). But with Biden dropping when he did, Harris was really the only option due to campaign financing and wanting a unified convention.
  • One thing that did Harris in was far too many Democrats put their desire for their perfect candidate, on the issue close to their heart, above beating Trump. Whether that issue was war in general, the war in Gaza, the economy, the distance from Joe Biden’s policies — because Harris’ position wasn’t perfect on it, they just sat on their hands on Election Day.  The quest for the perfect solution is often the enemy of making progress. Progress, not perfection.
  • Another problem what Harris’ VP choice. Although Walz was good, what was more important was that he was safe and she felt comfortable with him. Could another choice have been stronger? Josh Shapiro? Mark Kelly? We’ll never know, but folks upset that their choice wasn’t picked probably led them to sit on their hands.
  • A third problem was… sigh… that I’m not sure this country was ready for Harris. We like to think of all the progress this country has made in terms of equality, and that’s likely true in the big urban areas. But in the rural areas and the more traditional areas, the country is still stuck with 1950s mores. That’s why Trump’s transgender ad was so effective. That’s also why a lot of men — esp. Latino men — voted for the man over the woman. We may not get a woman leader until we can get the ERA passed, demonstrating that the country is ready.
  • A big question is: Did Trump win? Yes, he got the most electoral votes. But I mean this in the sense of: Did he convince voters that his positions were better? There I think the answer is “no”. The larger number of people that voted for Biden but didn’t vote for Harris meant that Harris lost. Trump mostly held on to his support from 2020, but that also eroded.
  • It is also disappointing that the Proposition to remove involuntary servitude from the California constitution failed. People still believe that punitive punishment is the answer.

So, what do we do going forward:

  • Pray that the judiciary — at all levels — puts the Constitution first and not party, and renders wise and just decisions. They are the only firewall left, and Biden appointed a lot of judges.
  • Pray that the military stays true to their oath: To protect and defend the Constitution, not any particular individual or party.
  • Pray that the Democrats eke out a majority in the House
  • Work together and resist in the next four years, to the extent you can safely.
  • Rebuild the Democratic party. We need a new younger base to achieve a generational change. We need new candidates who can be that candidate of change.
  • Take care of yourself, and remember that we’ve been through crappy times before, and we’ve made it through.

 

Share

✒ An Exploration Regarding Putting Wheels Back on a Car (i.e., to re-____)

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy2 Comments

Recently, a word has been creeping into my vocabulary: retirement. I have reached that point: I turn 65 in January, and I’ve been at my employer over 35 years. So I’ve been meeting with my financial folk, and that side seems to indicate that it is plausible. Right now, the unofficial target date in my head is mid-2025, but nothing has been put in writing yet.

Part of the reason is that I’m still exploring and trying to understand Medicare. You think they would make the process easier for seniors to understand, but it really is a complicated alphabet soup, with parts A, B, C, D, and G*.  I did find a good explainer at the Arm and a Leg Show podcast, but it wasn’t specific to what I’m exploring. Anthem does have an explainer. I also plan to use the help service provided: SHIP help (which is government sponsored, not done by an insurance agent). But I would also like opinions from people who have experienced this stuff. Hence this post, which is a better place to collect responses.

Question: Is anyone else on this specific plan, ideally in California? If so, I’d like to know your opinions of it. I have no interest in plans from other insurers; my employer doesn’t contribute to those.

  • Medigap: The alternative to doing the Medicare Advantage plan would be to do traditional Medicare with a Part D and a Medigap plan, also called Medicare Supplement. The A&L Show seems to indicate this is the better approach. I did find a page listing the Anthem Medigap plans in California.

Question: If you are on a Medigap plan, which plan and how do you like it? My understanding is that all the Part G plans at a particular tier are pretty much the same, but I’d like opinions.

Before I commit to any options, I want to understand them. And, before you respond: Yes, I know Medicare Advantage can be a trap, and that you often can’t change out until specific periods… and that going back in creates even more problems. That’s why I want to get this right now. Yes, I know to not go anywhere near United Health Care.

Right now, I’m pre-Medicare age. My wife is over 65, but has signed up for Part A ONLY, being covered under my employer plan (which is Anthem PPO, so we know them).

————
* Understanding retirement funds is equally confusing: When can you withdraw from IRA vs 401(k) vs 403(b)? What counts as what types of income? What are tax implications? How do defined pensions (which I luckily have) and Social Security fit into all this. But luckily for the financial side, I have my trusty accountant and financial support from Fidelity, where the retirement funds generally are.

Share

🇮🇱 So, About Israel

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

With all the discussion about what is happening in the Middle East, and all the discussions about Israel and Palestine, I thought I should make some things clear:

  • I unequivocally  support Israeli’s right to exist as a nation, and as a space where Judaism can be practiced safely. The land where Israel is located is the traditional homeland, going back to biblical days. We can quibble on the exact borders, but the current borders — which exclude Gaza and portions of the West Bank, are as reasonable as any.
  • Many — but not all — of the Arab and Palestinian groups that are involved in these battles have as a fundamental tenet that Israel does not have the right to exist. At all.  A Hamas member stated today, “Israel is a country that has no place in our land. We must remove that country because it constitutes a security, military and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation and must be finished.” You can not negotiate with organizations and nations from a position where they deny your right to exist. Simple as that. Were they to recognize Israel’s right to exist in some form, a solution can be achieved. While they refuse to do so, a solution is not possible. Note that Israel has recognized the right for some form of Palestinian nation to exist, by ceding the land of Gaza and portions of the West Bank. Note that other Arab nations have not provided land for the Palestinians, even though the land was part of the same British mandate.
  • Hamas is behaving much like ISIS did on 9/11: They specifically attacked civilians to create terror, and have specifically located their facilities in civilian areas because of the PR benefit they gain when their military facilities are attacked and civilians are harmed. Hamas has specifically made the decision to put their population in danger. Israel’s war is with Hamas, not the civilian population. Hamas has made it nearly impossible, however, to root out the terrorists without collateral damage.
  • That said: Support for Israel does not mean I always agree with the actions of the Israeli government. Judaism is not the same as Zionism; support for the nation of Israel is not the same as supporting their government. I love and support America; I despise Donald Trump (especially when he was President). I do not agree with all the actions taken by Netanyahu, although I do agree that Israel has the right to go against Hamas, just as America went against ISIS.
  • Israel has not always treated its Arab population well. It didn’t treat the established population of Gaza and the West Bank well when it governed those lands. That fact cannot be changed, just as America has no excuse for its abuses in the areas of slavery, or in the abuses of the internment camps, or in any other form of racism that has occurred. That can only be corrected moving forward (and is unlikely to be corrected under Netanyahu, alas); and will only be corrected once said population is not trying to wipe Israel off the map. That really is the fundamental problem.
  • There is no excuse for antisemitism.  Period. End of story. In particular, Jews throughout the world are not the individuals who have governed the Palestinian areas. That treatment is not what Judaism believes in. Dislike or even hate the current and past Israeli governments if you feel that way, but do not take it out on Jews throughout the world. The same is true, by the way, for anti-Muslim hate. Hate Hamas and these terrorist organizations. Do not hate the Palestinians or Muslims, who outside of those organizations are peaceful and kind people.

Let us all hope for the day, when each side recognizes the other’s right to exist in the Middle East, and we can work to negotiate a settlement based on that recognition, and the fact that beneath it all, we are all monotheistic siblings with a shared basis.

Share

Where is Barney?

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

My wife is in the hospital, after falling and breaking her knee, and this is leading me to a stark realization: I’m friendless. That’s not saying I don’t have friends — I do. But I don’t have a Barney, and its troubling. Let me explain.

My wife (who is my best friend) is going to be stuck in the hospital for at least the next week. We have tickets to the Pasadena Playhouse for Saturday night (Head over Heels, The Go-Gos Musical). She will not be able to make it. So I’m trying to figure out who to go with. My daughter is going the next day, so she’s out. That leaves… I don’t know. In discussing this with my daughter, she “arranged” a possible person: the father of her best friend. That just seemed off to me, I don’t know the guy and have no idea if we have anything in common. However, one thing he said got to me: “Saturdays are for the guys”.

If I were Fred Flintstone, I’d have a Barney. A best bud. A pal. A guy who has been a friend most of my life, who has a number of shared interests. If I were Fred Flintstone, I’d call Barney. But I don’t have a Barney. Racking my brain, I can’t think of a single close male friendship. I had some as a kid, but post-college … not really. I tended to form strong friendships with women; but even at that, the truly close female friends I’ve had are either dead or have moved away from the area. This is familiar, I think: I tried to think who filled this role for my dad, and I can’t think of anyone after my Uncle Ray passed: they were usually friends of my mom whom my dad grafted on to. I’d say that my dad’s best friend, beyond his spouses, was his brother.

As I lay in bed this morning, I was raking my brain thinking who I might ask. The basic parameters would be:

  • Shared experiences: Someone I’ve known a reasonable amount of time
  • Shared interests: Someone with some congruity with my interests (roadgeeking, theatre, boardgaming)

There are perhaps one or two, but most of the potential candidates no longer live in the area. I’ve drifted away — either in distance or social circles — from many of my childhood, high school, or college friends. It’s making me realize I have no “best buddy”. Friendship is a partial ordering, and I’m realizing I don’t have a least upper bound. My best friend is my wife, and beyond that … I’m not sure anyone achieves that closeness. That’s worrisome. My wife has some friends who do. Do women form relationships like that better? I don’t think so — at least not if I read the literature.  I think it is just introverts like me.

But this still leave me wondering: What do I do Saturday night? I can think of a few possibilities, but no one nearby. That’s troubling.

Share

🎰 Ain’t There No More, Vegas Style

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

We have a timeshare in Kaanapali Hawaii. I mention that because we rarely go there; normally we swap the time to stay someplace in driving distance of Los Angeles. I did that recently, spending a week at the Jockey Club in Las Vegas. The facility has an interesting history. Built in 1974 before the big building boom, it was built as a condominium (one of the first on the strip), and originally had a restaurant, high end shops, tennis courts, and plans for a casino. In 1977, they started selling timeshares. In 2004, they sold the undeveloped land and surface parking lot to a group that, after some ownership change, built the Cosmopolitan. But the Jockey Club remains, surrounded on three sides, because it will be impossible to get 14,000 owners (condos and timeshare) to ever agree on selling the buildings. It will ever be this outpost of 1980s Vegas surrounded by a town that has grown and changed around it.

I found the history of the Jockey Club interesting because one of my many hobbies is the history of Las Vegas. When we think of Las Vegas, what comes to mind is the Vegas of the late 1950s to perhaps 1980: the Vegas of neon signs on the strip. The Vegas of headliners and lounges. The Vegas with showgirls. The Vegas with name hotels like the Frontier, Sands, Flamingo, Sahara, Thunderbird, Dunes, Desert Inn. The Vegas of the Rat Pack. That Swingin’ town. The Vegas where the people had class, and dressed up. Oh, and the mob and Howard Hughes.

That Vegas is dead. That Vegas was built on hotels that had personality, that were built with an acceptable scale. They were different, each with their own character. They had unique signs, and unique people and stories behind them. But today that’s not the case. They are all massive boxes with no architectural character, and as you move from one to the next you often can’t tell you are in a different hotel. It doesn’t make that much of a difference, because they are owned by the same corporation. Rooms are the same. The pools and restaurants all feel the same. The signs are all large TV screens. “Residencies” are in massive arenas, and shows are pulsing rock music — often in rooms leased to the promoters and not programmed by the hotel. The Vegas is 2020 is nothing like the Vegas of 1960.

But as a student of history on vacation, I asked: What is left of the old Vegas. I knew the structures that were left. The answer was “not much”. There are some two story garden wings left at the Tropicana. There’s the casino at Circus Circus (circus building). There are the bones of the towers at the Sahara or Westgate (International). In terms of structure, that’s it. Although the names of the Flamingo and Caesars and Sahara live on, none of the original buildings, in their original form, are there. As for the signs? The oldest signs left (excluding Fremont Street) are the Flamingo sign (dating to 1970) and the Circus Circus clown (late 1960s). That’s it. Not much of the old town. Want the neon. Go to the museum.  The only part of old Vegas that remains is the racism under the surface.

ETA: Here are two good resources that sent me down a fun rabbit hole: (1) Mountain West Digital Library: Historical Maps of Las Vegas;  (2) Historical Maps at NDOT. UNLV also has some great digital collections.

Being a highway guy, I decided to see if I could drive and find the old Vegas. I went out W Bonanza looking for evidence of the famed Moulin Rogue. There’s nothing. An empty lot across from the LVRJ space. I could only figure it out from the mural. I went S and W out old 95: Fremont St, Charleston, Boulder Highway. The Showboat is gone, to be replaced by apartments. The big casinos near Henderson are new. You could only tell the old highway by the remaining motor courts and used car lots, many of which are derelict. The few of those that remained on old 91, by the way, are being killed by the highway work being done on LV Blvd by the City of Las Vegas. There are remnants of the neon, but not much.

I tried to imagine what my parents or grandparents saw driving into the town. I have only vague memories of that time, coming out for a Shriners Convention at the Aladdin in the mid 1970s. Vast expanses of desert. Billboards for Foxy’s Deli. SIgns with the headliners. All gone. Even the Stuckey’s by the side of the road are gone.

Do I enjoy Vegas today? To some extent, but more to explore the history and the art. The casinos are just a room; the gambling of no interest other than the math and people watching. The shows tend to be “meh”: certainly not the nice dinner shows of old.

What is it to gain a resort, and lose its soul?

Share

🎰 Vegas and Race

Posted onAuthorcahwyguy

Recently, I was in Las Vegas. While there, I visited my favorite hangout, the Pinball Hall of Fame.  While there, I couldn’t help but notice the back glass on my favorite games from the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. All featured scantily clad teen-aged and college women, designed to titillate  the young men playing pinball in the arcades at the time (I’m looking at you, Music Odyssey in West LA). All of whom… were white. This wasn’t a surprise: despite the societal upheavals, there was still a lot of segregation and these games had to sell in the south.

Las Vegas was similarly segregated in the 1950s and 1960s. Black performers of the time couldn’t stay in the strip hotels. They either had to stay in separate trailers, or stay downtown, on the west side, in the industrial part of downtown, not even in glitter gulch. The one resort that welcomed them closed after 6 months, due to pressure from the big casinos.

Ah, but you would say times have changed. Look at the strip today. It is bustling with people of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Black, white, and brown are welcomed into casinos — all that matters is that their (virtual) money is green and their credit is good. But look deeper. What is seen cannot be unseen. Look at the people on the slot machines. White. Asian, but only from the Crazy Rich Asian franchise. Black? The closest you come is the genie from Aladdin. Look at the ads on all the big screen hotels marquees. It is all well-dressed white people enjoying themselves. The people dining in the fancy restaurants on those screens and in the ads. All white. The people shopping in all the fabulous stores? All white. The dancers in all the dance revues? All white? Based on the screens, Vegas is appealing to the rich white fantasy, not the people on the street. Even the cards for the strippers that they hand out? You see them littering the streets. All white.

It made me think that the Vegas of today isn’t all that different from the Vegas of yore. Hotels are advertising for the cliental they want. They may love the money they are making, but what does this say about the big corporations behind the operations. They aren’t seeing most minorities as the “whales” with the money they want to take.

This made me not want to patronize the big casinos (and I wasn’t staying in one — I was in a timeshare surrounded by one that was independent). I don’t gamble, and generally gave my dining dollar to local owed joints when I could. But I just kept seeing it, and it kept bothering me.

Share