Monitor Meaning

I was at my computer when my mind wandered and I began thinking about my monitor – a 23” flat screen with LED backlight. I thought about my previous monitor – a 19” flat screen with florescent tubes for backlight. I thought about the fact those tubes were called CCFLs (for cold-cathode florescent lamps). I thought about the fact that my 19” monitor had developed a problem and I had to set it aside. That’s when I bought my 23” monitor. (Later, I repaired the 19” unit, but that’s another story.) I thought about how my LED monitor was much thinner and ran cooler than my CCFL monitor. I reflected upon its reliability – my newer monitor has worked flawlessly every day while being powered up pretty much continuously for seven years. The images it displays are as precise and colorful now as they were the day I first turned it on.

Those were my thoughts when I heard a sound come from the monitor. It was a short and faint fffftt. At the same moment as the sound, the monitor’s screen brightened considerably. I thought perhaps my web browser had glitched, causing the screen to brighten. I closed and re-opened the browser, but the screen was still too bright. Black text was slightly washed out, appearing grayish.

Next, I thought perhaps the problem was with the operating system. So I restarted my computer. After restart, I opened my browser and checked: it was still too bright. Hmm: my computer is not the problem. I opened my monitor’s menu and checked the settings. The brightness was set to 100%. I cranked the brightness down to 70%. Still too bright. I set it to 60%. Still too bright. Finally, with the brightness at 50% the monitor looked “normal” again.

I knew with certainty I had never set the brightness to 100%. My monitor set itself to 100%. And it did so after seven years of working perfectly, at the very moment I was reflecting upon how reliable it had been. Random coincidence? Synchronicity? Is the Universe making a point? If so, is it that our thoughts influence reality? Maybe. Maybe not. All I know for sure is that it gave me enough material for a blog post.

Internet Logic

If you ask Google “How many calories are in a pastrami sandwich?”, this is Google’s answer:

“Calories In Pastrami Sandwich.
476 calories, 21g fat, 49g carbs, 24g protein, 6g fiber.

Calories In Pastrami Sandwich with Swiss Cheese on Rye.
243 calories, 3g fat, 13g carbs, 19g protein, 1g fiber.”

It appears that adding Swiss cheese to the sandwich will cut its calories in half and reduce fat from 21 to 3 grams and reduce carbs from 49 to 13 grams. Does this mean adding twice as much cheese to the sandwich will send its calorie count to zero? It sounds impossible, but as we all know, if it’s on the internet it has to be true.

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I use a popular email client that is not made by Microsoft. It’s open-source and totally free. The people who maintain the browser’s code constantly say they want its users to send money to them to help them keep it free. They say this with no suggestion of irony.

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In astronomy news:

“PGC 83677 is a lenticular, or lens-shaped, galaxy … located 300 light-years from Earth.”

It’s 300 light-years from Earth? That’s a neat trick, considering our galaxy, the Milky Way, is 100,000 light-years across. If another galaxy was 300 light-years away, it would be inside our own galaxy. In fact, it would be in our own stellar neighborhood. In reality, PGC 83677 is 300 million light-years away. It’s the difference between saying the Sun is 93 million miles from Earth and saying the Sun is 93 miles from Earth.

I know: “Details, details.”

Trump’s Deplorables

Hillary Clinton said half of Donald Trump’s supporters belong in a “basket of deplorables.” She said they were "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic."

And just like that, she lost the racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic voting bloc. Can she really afford to write off these deplorables? In a close presidential race, it can’t hurt to have a few deplorables on your side.

Someone said Clinton’s description of Trump supporters as "racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamaphobic" was actually a description of Donald Trump. But is that accurate?

Is Trump racist? At one of his rallies, Trump pointed to a black man and said, "Oh, look at my African-American over here. Look at him." Does that sound racist? He said “my African-American.” How can he be racist if he has his own African-American?

Is Trump sexist? Admittedly he has said some ugly things about women, such as Carly Fiorina couldn’t get votes because of her face, or when he called women “bimbos” and said breastfeeding was “disgusting”. There are too many insults for me to list here. However, if you’re interested, you can find a list of Trump’s insults to women on this page. It’s a long page.