Author: RJ Walters

I am a guy who has a lot of interests. One of the biggest is blogging about my view of the world and the times we live in. I live a joyous life of a nuanced skeptic. I also happen to be deaf and have some rather distinctive Aspie traits. Because of my life experiences I have a pretty unique view of the world that you may find interesting, maybe even enlightening.

Sunday – April 7

RJ Walters

Senility??

I can remember in the late 1980s thinking that the then president just might be in the beginning stages of senility. He just seemed to forget so many things and was forever depending on Nancy to finish his thoughts. Is that happening again?

It seems that the current Oval Office occupant can’t even remember where is father was born. Is this the beginning of senility or is it just another of the VERY LONG list of lies he has told? I don’t know? But I do have a post coming out this week with several explanations of why he says so many untrue things. I didn’t make up this list but I think each possible reason has some validity. I think you will be suprised by it.

Speaking of Telling the Truth…

It seems that Attorney General Barr is telling a story much different than the authors remember writing it. Some members of the Meuller team say his four page summary is not what they wrote. I guess we will never hear the end of this stuff until we hear the end of Trump.

Don’t Go Away Mad…

I see everybody is picking on Joe Biden again. It turns out that there are many people who he has hugged and embraced in different ways over the years that didn’t appreciate it. I know that is just the way he is but on a deeper level I think its time for him to go away. He shouldn’t put himself through the agony with no hope of reward. His time has passed and it’s time to let a younger generation have their change to screw things up.

Don’t Go Away Mad, Joe… Just Go Away..

Everything is Great Again

Now that we finally have the perfect person leading our country, everything it GREAT Again… Or is it???

But all the MAGA folks see here is the American Flag descecrated.
Techie Saturday – Passwords Be Gone…

Techie Saturday – Passwords Be Gone…

RJ Walters

I have a password manager that has 168 passwords in it. It is the only way I can see to manage all those logins. I will admit, contrary to what that tool warns against, that many of the non-critical fluff type sites I visit have the same name and password. But I do have several more critical sites that have very complicated and unique passwords of which I could never put to memory.

Every time I have to open that app to log onto a particular site I curse a little. I’m not a curser by nature, I don’t even say “shit” very often. But this password stuff drives me crazy sometime. Almost as crazy as all the buggy software and antiquated equipment I am forced to tolerate from AT&T (DirecTV, SLOW rural Internet service). But that is another story.

When I came across an article from “The Week” magazine a while ago I almost leaped for joy. It is about the World Wide Web Consortium recently ratifying WebAuthN which allows web sites to authenticate users with biometric information. What that means is that instead of having to drag out a complicated string of letters, you will be able to log into a site with a fingerprint or more likely a quick facial recognition.

So getting into any of your sites will be done by briefly looking at your computer/pad/phone camera. I don’t know how long it will take before this new standard is implemented. I hope it is soon…

But I’m sure some of you are yelling, “Oh NO… Not another change” 🙂

1984 Revisited

1984 Revisited

RJ Walters

I have decided to take on another “special project” here at RJsCorner and that is to re-read George Orwell’s novel 1984 and write some posts about the similarity to what is happening today. So much of what is coming out of the executive branch of our government seems to originate from Orwell’s novel.

I was fascinated by the book the first time I read it as an early teenager in the early 1960s. The book was written in 1944 but was not published until 1948. Here are some slightly edited words from Wikipedia to jog your memory and entice you to read this special series:

In the year 1984, civilization has been damaged by war, civil conflict, and revolution. Airstrip One (formerly Britain) is a province of Oceania, one of the three totalitarian super-states that rule the world. It is ruled by the “Party” under the ideology of “Ingsoc” and the mysterious leader Big Brother, who has an intense cult of personality. The Party stamps out anyone who does not fully conform to their regime using the Thought Police and constant surveillance through devices such as Telescreens (two-way televisions).

It is amazing how forward-looking this novel was considering when it was written. I can certainly forgive Orwell for not realizing that it would take 75 years, instead 40, for it to become virtual reality.

I look forward in trying to relate Orwell’s world to what is going on today, and I hope you do too.

It’s About Trust

It’s About Trust

RJ Walters

It used to be that trust was a foundational thing in a person’s life. It used to be if a person lost the trust of others, he was proclaimed to be persona-non-grata until he proved he was trustworthy again. How did the reversal of that happen to so many in our American society? That is what this post is all about.

I’m sure you know who I am talking about, but if you don’t, the untrustworthy person is the current Oval Office occupant. This guy has been documented to tell dozens of lies every day during his time in office. . He seems to take great pride in that fact too! He proudly boasts of things he absolutely knows are not true. To me that is the epitome of someone I detest, and yes, for the first time in my life I do detest this president.

Due to his endless lying, I take the approach of automatically assuming anything he says is blatantly false. Most of the time that turns out to be an accurate assessment, sometimes not. I guess I should give him credit for some of the things he does, but given all the rest it is a hard thing for me to do. It would kind of like be saying that some white supremacists are good people. I have come across a few other people like him in my life before. Mostly I have managed to cast them out of my orbit, but since this one affects so much of our daily living that is almost impossible to do.

Now, getting to the heart of this matter, it totally astonishes me as to those who hang on every word he says. They say “that is just who he is”. I also say “that is who he is” but the difference is they love him because of that, whereas I loathe him because of that. How can you say someone is doing a great job if you can’t, in your heart, trust them?

But to me by far the most damaging result of their backing is that many then go and proclaim to be “Christians”. I wish some of them would open their Bible to show me where the evidence of that is with this guy? I can certainly open my Bible and show you where it is not.

If there is not contract of trust with our leaders then we might as well throw in the towel as a country now and get it over with. If that is what we have become, we deserve what we get.

Spring Has Sprung??

RJ Walters

I know the calendar says it is Spring, but that is not obvious to me. But, I am beginning to see the signs.

The bird feeder population is going down

Hulls from about 400 lbs of sunflower seeds need to be picked up

Sticks and mole hills are abundant in the yard as usual

The daffodils are coming up

The lilac bush is sprouting

I GUESS SPRING HAS SPRUNG!!

One Small Thought…

One Small Thought…

RJ Walters

Sometimes I get into dry spells here at RJsCorner where I just can’t think of something for my daily posts. When that occurs I usually pull up a quote that strikes me from my list at iHearts143Quotes.com. That is the case for today’s post.

I am certainly one to embrace change and loathe boredom, but having said that I do enjoy my morning routine. Part of that routine is to say a little prayer in the morning shower. I find that it just gets my day off to the right start. Here is the prayer:

Lord, thank you for yesterday and please give me another good day today.

I’m not a Catholic, but I once was, so I don’t always say those exact words but the meaning is always the same. It is a twofold prayer, if I must say. The first, most obvious part is to appreciate every day that comes and to try and make something special happen in that day. The second part is at this time in my life I really don’t know that I will see a tomorrow, so I petition the Lord with that request also.

[going off track here] Thinking about Catholics, I always wondered why they have to say the exact same prayers over and over again. I started this life as a Catholic for my first 20 years, then later spent about the same amount of time as a Lutheran Protestant, and am finishing up as “spiritual but not religious” category. I kind of like that non-Catholic have to wing it more when they pray. Not as many pre-subscribed words for them to parrot.

Getting back to my original thoughts to close here, I do the vast majority of my post writing in the first few hours of each day. When noon comes along it is most often time for more physical type activities. I do like to embrace change but I guess I also like my daily routines too.