Diary

I've been distracted by some minor inconveniences for a few days. The remains of Hurricane Debby came through here on August 9, with wind and rain. My neighborhood was hardly affected, but the power and my internet went out. The power outage lasted only a few hours, and, since I have a generator, that wasn't a problem. But then, after Comcast informed me that the internet was back up, it actually wasn't. I contacted them, and they set an appointment on August 16 for a technician to come. I put myself on a wait list for August 11 and then August 12, and a technician arrived yesterday. He thought that the problem was my modem, though it's only a year old. I spent yesterday driving down to Rutland and back, buying and installing a new modem, identical to the old one, only to find that it also didn't work. From that point onward, I was unable to communicate with a human at Comcast. Consequently, in an effort to examine every possibility, I tried using the new modem's electric adapter, and subsequently found that it works on both the old and new modems. So, now I have two good modems. I've ordered a extra adapter for both modems and should have no modem problems for several years. I might add that cellular signals are very weak in my neighborhood; when the internet is down, I often have to drive to a location with a better cellular signal. For wireless internet I park outside the Brandon library. Without internet at home, I'm significantly cut off from the world. For me, this is yet another example of the decline in customer service in the current economic environment. Customer service is so bad now that I am hesitant to participate in many previously accessible activities, such as air travel. I haven't flown on a plane since 2016.

The cooling trend here has begun, and the hummingbirds are flying south. Yesterday, one of them scared the Comcast technician on the front porch. The atmosphere is already fall-like, and there have been some clear nights. There is a glitch with my new stargazing equipment, but I should be able to fix it eventually. The tomatoes have recovered, and there will be a lot of them soon. After the late germinations and deer attack, they're not all the same size, but they all have tomatoes growing on them: more than I can eat. The germination problem, I determined, was that I had stored the seeds in the basement, which gets humid in the summer. In the Middlebury basement there was a dehumidifier.

I'm dutifully trying to pay attention to the presidential election, but it's a bit like watching a bad soap opera rerun. I find it difficult to watch a dishonest, fat and stupid old rich guy pretend that he actually has something to offer. J.D. Vance complements him as an unscrupulous opportunist. He represents the next generation of political grifters. When I see the news media and the public taking them seriously, I start to experience violent paroxysms of cognitive dissonance. For example, we have to watch the Republicans question Tim Walz's military record and ignore the fact that Trump himself engaged in a carefully-orchestrated draft-dodging scheme during the Vietnam War. If I were an authoritarian dictator, I would deport Trump and Vance to Venezuela to spend the rest of their days with their friend, Nicolás Maduro. On the other hand, Kamala Harris is a nice change of pace, and I like Tim Walz. At the moment, they are gaining momentum and seem likely to win. Trump has very little self-discipline, and he seems to be digging his own grave. Still, the underlying problem is the idiotic voters who elected him in 2016.

I will be starting a book of essays on human evolution soon and may have something more interesting to say.