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Something I saw while walking the dog: This bird, walking around on the ground, as big as a medium-sized dog.

Siri says it’s either a turkey buzzard or a wild turkey.

Minnie was still for a while but then she lunged to the end of her leash and the bird said “fuck off” and flew away.

America is still a great nation

Chris Arnade, writing on New Year’s Day:

The US, compared to the rest of the world, is optimistic because it is still the land of possibilities. You can remake yourself here, because we are generally forgiving, and provide everyone many chances to reclaim who they are. We don’t only give second chances, we give third, fourth and fifth ones.

Some of that is because of our size — there are many different Americas in the same nation, and if you fail in one, you pick yourself off the mat, move to another America, and try again. Some of that is from the Judaeo-Christian notion, baked into our nation’s culture from birth, that while humans are fundamentally flawed they are also gifted with free will and capable of transformation. Nobody is perfect, and while perfection can never be achieved, not at least here in the city of man, you can, and should, work towards it. The US, with its wealth of possibilities, provides many different routes you can take.

That pervasive sense of what is possible is missing from a lot of the world, where the focus is more on what can’t be done, or what shouldn’t be done, which is why our current biggest political issue is debating what to do with all the people who want to move here. We have an embarrassment of possibilities and riches, and despite all of our problems, that shouldn’t be forgotten.

We are an ideal for a large portion of the world, and while that ideal isn’t always a reality that we live up to, very few people come here, then turn around and go back, because with enough dedication, you can create your own form of fulfillment here. The US is a vast federation of micro communities and micro cultures, all bound together by the belief, however tentative and nebulous, in the American Dream.

Arnade is frequently critical of the US, so his tribute here is more sincere.

And he’s got a great eye for street photography, making the ordinary beautiful. He includes a few excellent photos of that type in this essay.

My New Year’s technology resolution is to quit brainlessly switching apps — task managers, notes apps, browsers, RSS readers, etc. — for no good reason.

I’ll continue to try out new apps if they do new things, because I enjoy that kind of thing and get value from it.

I am wrapping up one final round of switches to get everything just right before my resolution goes into effect. I am extremely conscious this may be self-sabotaging my goal.