So much beauty around.

Paid podcasts?

Never.

What Apple Event?

Dinner time at the Chick.

Walmart replacing cashiers with self-checkout was their worst idea ever.

Biden Rebuffed Commanders’ Advice in Decision to Leave Afghanistan - WSJ

Mr. Biden carefully weighed the military’s input, officials say, but was determined to bring involvement in America’s longest-running war to an end by Sept. 11, the 20th anniversary of the 2001 terrorist attacks that led to U.S. military intervention in Afghanistan.

VE Day was 76 years ago, yet we still maintain massive garrisons in Germany and England. Same goes for Japan and Korea. I like to think those nations are pretty stable.

The Pentagon wanted 2,500 troops to remain in Afghanistan, a rounding error when compared to troops stationed in Europe/Asia.

Cool morning breeze.

You Want to Invest Responsibly. Wall Street Smells Opportunity. - WSJ

Investors, it seems, are more likely to put up with low returns and high fees if you enable them to feel righteous.

Apple Music Reveals How Much It Pays When You Stream a Song - WSJ

Apple Music told artists it pays a penny per stream

Huh. So an artist needs about 1,500 streams to replace a single CD sale’s gross proceeds.

Felicity’s RV LEGO build.

Intelligence Was Limited That Russia Offered Bounties on U.S. Troops, White House Says - WSJ

On Thursday, the administration said U.S. intelligence had only “low to moderate confidence” in the reports of the alleged bounty program.

Election’s over, our guy won, we can tell the truth now.

CDC Identifies Small Group of Covid-19 Infections Among Fully Vaccinated Patients - WSJ

They are a reminder that even vaccinated people are at risk and should continue to take precautions such as masking and social distancing in many circumstances.

Absolutely the wrong conclusion.

That quote seems to be the reporter’s opinion. Many paragraphs later,

The experience so far is that the vaccine remains highly effective and those who did have breakthrough infections have had very mild and manageable illnesses

Delta Reports Another Quarterly Loss, but Says Travel Demand Is Rising - WSJ

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a study released Wednesday that keeping middle seats open could sharply reduce the risk of exposure to the virus. The CDC’s study, conducted with researchers at Kansas State University, didn’t draw conclusions about the risk of becoming infected with Covid-19 during a flight and didn’t investigate how the use of masks might affect risk levels. (emphasis added)

Time, and money, well spent!

A lot of talk about running any iOS app on Mac with the M1 chip. Most devs have disallowed that option.

Not great.

Deleting SMS messages on Apple Watch is such a pain.

7 years, and still a garbage solution.

Down With Big Business, Again - WSJ Opinion

The point is that corporations look out first and foremost for their own interests, and that often means collaborating with government for narrow purposes that aren’t always in the public interest.