This is your Content Warning: this is going to be a Political Rant
Flexing the power of Article I, this bold graphic underscores the enduring strength and influence of legislative authority across diverse global arenas.
Where is Congress while Trump talks like a king? I am going to let everyone in on a little secret. Congress, the Article I institution, is supposed to be the most powerful branch because it is closest to the people. Article I comes first in the Constitution and is the longest. The Founders had just fought a war against a king and were deeply wary of executive power. Alexander Hamilton called the judiciary the “least dangerous branch” in Federalist 78.
Think about it: the Judicial Branch is unelected and can be constrained by Congress. Both Article II (the President) and Article III (federal judges) can be impeached and removed by Congress. The only way to get rid of a member of Congress is expulsion by their own chamber or being voted out by the people. And “high crimes and misdemeanors”? That’s whatever Congress decides it is. Gerald Ford said it best: an impeachable offense is whatever the House considers it to be. Congress holds the power to remove, and that is not an accident.
Great news today at my follow-up with my hypertrophic cardiomyopathy specialist. Camzyos is really starting to work. My most recent echo earlier this week was excellent, and so was the heart cath I had in late December.
In fact, the heart cath showed that Camzyos is working well enough that I do not need to rush into an alcohol ablation or a septal myectomy. If I ever do need an intervention in the future, my doctor said I would be a good candidate for septal alcohol ablation.
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: MILD SPOILERS
When the heist goes right: Meet the trio behind the biggest score of their lives in ‘The Pickup’.
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ (3/5 stars)
“The Pickup” serves as a pleasant diversion with its fairly engaging plot and commendable performances. The film is entirely a work of fiction. A notable concern, however, is the excessive crude language, particularly from Pete Davidson, which seemed unnecessary for its comedic aspirations.
I just had to snap a photo when I saw this scene. A full moon peeking out from behind those clouds. It was such a dramatic, moody sight with the silhouettes of trees just barely visible at the bottom. Isn’t it amazing how nature puts on a show like this? This is a werewolf’s nightmare 😉.
I just wanted to put up a quick blog post and wish everyone a Happy New Year. Let’s pray and hope that God blesses us all. I’m looking forward to this year on many fronts. I want to continue getting my heart under control with my Obstructive Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy, do more self-hosting with AI, and learn more coding. This is also my 25th year of proper blogging (more posts coming on that later).
Amidst a cascade of light and time, a visionary crafts his dreams for 2025, blending art and aspiration in his timeless sanctuary.
I thought I would give a roundup from my point of view for 2025 and share some thoughts on 2026.
2025 brought so many new things for me. I left InMotion Hosting and WordPress after 9 years with them. I probably would still be with them if it weren’t for three factors. First, they had given me a discount for three years, and when it expired, they would not renew it and offered me nothing. Second, they had switched to a new spam email system called MailChannels that was more concerned with outgoing spam instead of incoming spam. I think they started to concentrate on outgoing spam because of complaints coming in. The last issue was WordPress. I started to get the same feeling of craziness from the owner/co-owner that I got from Elon Musk.
I moved to Write.as and thought I would like it. I had been trying it out before I left InMotion Hosting. I purchased a 6-year stint up front after trying it for about 3 months on the free version. But I soon learned it was not all that I had hoped for. I went to Micro.blog, and even though it had a shorter trial, I really liked it and saw how outdated Write.as was. I really liked, and still like, what Manton Reece is doing. So I changed from InMotion Hosting to Micro.blog and MXRoute for email hosting (as Micro.blog doesn’t offer that and InMotion Hosting had the whole bundle). Both services have been fantastic, and Micro.blog is operated by an individual, not a big corporation and Manton Reece cares about his service. MXGuarddog is a small company from what I can tell and has been flawless. I will be making a detailed post about these services coming up in the new year for a one-year usage review.
Today was a peculiar yet fulfilling day. It started with a dense fog but cleared up nicely. I managed to capture the sun through my telescope for the first time, and I also spotted the moon in broad daylight, though the telescope had some trouble pinpointing it. I hope you find the images as delightful as I did. They were taken with my Zwo Seestar S30, except for the fog picture, which I captured with the Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra.
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: MILD SPOILERS
Embark on a thrilling journey with the Fantastic Four as they harness their newfound powers to save the world in their first epic adventure!
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½ (3.5/5 stars)
Overall, the movie was decent. The storyline and the cast were quite good. What I found less convincing was the attempt to merge the 1930s-1960s era with advanced technology and space travel. This combination didn’t come across as believable.
This weekend was quite productive for me! I managed to put together the Pironman5 Max and install a 16GB Raspberry Pi 5, and I also moved my 1TB NVMe drive from my old 8GB Pironman5, which served my homelab and home server for a year. I’ve owned the Pironman5 Max since June, but my ongoing health issues had left me too drained to assemble it until now. Thankfully, my new medication, Camzyos, has really helped me regain some energy.
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: MINOR SPOILERS
Power and resilience shine through in the dynamic duo leading ‘The Morning Show,’ ready to face the bustling challenges of media life.
My Rating: ⭐ (1/5 stars)
Episodes: 1-10 | Aired: September 17, 2025 through November 19, 2025
I thoroughly enjoyed Season 1, found Season 2 to be decent, and thought Season 3 was lackluster but bearable. However, Season 4 was a disappointment, and I struggled to finish it.
In recent months, I’ve been building a social media aggregation platform using the Windsurf AI IDE. The platform displays a multimedia timeline that pulls content from Mastodon, Bluesky, Sharkey, Nostr, and Micro.blog. The goal was to centralize my social media interactions in one location instead of checking multiple sites.
Developed in Python using AI coding assistants (Claude and ChatGPT 5.2 High Reasoning) to accelerate development, I designed the platform structure and verified the implementation through testing. The screenshot shows the current interface. Some posts appear duplicated because I follow the same people across multiple platforms.
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: FULL SPOILERS
Superman returns with unwavering resolve, his eyes set on a brighter tomorrow.
My Rating: ⭐½ (1.5/5 stars)
Let’s start with the positives. I appreciated the fresh faces portraying Superman, Lois Lane, Lex Luthor, and Jimmy Olsen, particularly in the later scenes and action sequences. The special effects were impressive, and the soundtrack was a highlight. However, that’s where the praise ends.
Unfortunately, this film might be the weakest Superman installment to date.
I was reading my RSS reader BazQux the other day and came across a post by rscottjones about retirement planning. With approximately 8 years until my own retirement, I’ve started planning too. I found his approach very interesting.
I like reading what other people are thinking and comparing ideas. Since he shared his and his wife’s general plans, I thought I’d share mine to help organize my own thinking.
A visionary stands at the crossroads of innovation, contemplating the expansive network that may redefine the future of technology.
I have been a loyal Microsoft Windows customer since I’ve owned a PC and MS-DOS was a thing. I went to the events they had for major OS releases with my Dad. We both went to see the exciting things that happened when they used to stream them at movie theaters. I was there for the launch of Windows 95.
But it is my opinion that Microsoft has totally lost its way with regards to the consumer and Windows.
Yes, this is a rant, and I believe it may be too late for Microsoft and Windows with consumers. I know I am not a very techie person, but I believe that Windows is getting too messy in a lot of areas like advertisements everywhere, sloppy code, updates that seem like beta versions, telemetry, privacy concerns, and just all around not caring.
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: MILD SPOILERS
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐½ (3.5/5 stars)
Episodes: 6 | Aired: September 2025 - October 2025
Season Overview I've just finished watching Season 5 of Slow Horses on Apple TV, with Gary Oldman delivering another stellar performance. The season was fairly average, not particularly memorable but not disappointing either. It would be intriguing to see a season focused on a younger Lamb and his fall to Slough House, providing a fresh narrative arc.
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: MILD SPOILERS
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4/5 stars)
Season: 3 | Aired: July 11, 2025 – September 12, 2025 Episodes: 1–10 Service/Network: Apple TV+
Season Overview This season took the top spot, closely followed by the first. The second season didn't quite hit the mark. The plot twists this season were captivating, and I'm looking forward to what comes next. The characters this season displayed more complexity and depth.
⚠️ SPOILER WARNING: NO SPOILERS
My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ (4.5/5 stars)
Episodes: 10
Quick Take After snagging a free month of Apple TV, I managed to binge-watch the second season of Silo. It was excellent. I’m really looking forward to Season 3 and hope they explore more of the backstory.
Best Episodes The season finale stood out as the best episode. The whole season was truly remarkable.
Episode 10: Into the Fire This product uses the TMDb API but is not endorsed or certified by TMDb.
A serious medical discussion about heart treatment options between a patient and his cardiologist.
This has taken me so long to post because I am still trying to process a lot of stuff and weighing a lot of pros and cons. I went to my HCM Cardiologist (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Specialist) recently. I had an ECHO first then saw him. It was not good news from the ECHO. Even though I feel no symptoms with the Camzyos, I will need to take drastic measures in the future, though the timeline wasn't really given. But my gradients are not improving. Last time my gradient at Valsalva was significantly elevated with 100% obstruction. This time it was still elevated and still 100% obstruction at Valsalva.
An engineer lost in thought, surrounded by a maze of circuits and the glow of futuristic interfaces. Lately, I’ve been swamped with projects and short on energy to tackle them, partly because of my worsening eyesight. I have glaucoma, but thankfully no loss of vision. My treatment includes twice-yearly eye pressure checks and nightly latanoprost. Even so, my glasses prescription seems to need constant updates, and I’ve always had a lot of floaters.
