Intro
This is another of the W.O.O.D. series of semi-regular
Weekly Occasional Open Discussions.
(i.e. if I forget and skip one, no big)
Immediate prior one here:
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/w-o-o-d-7-june-2018/
and remains open for threads running there
(at least until the ‘several month’ auto-close of comments on stale threads).
Canonical list of old ones here:
https://chiefio.wordpress.com/category/w-o-o-d/
So use “Tips” for “Oooh, look at the interesting ponder thing!”
and “W.O.O.D” for “Did you see what just happened?! What did you think about it?”
What’s Going On?
Hawaii has transitioned to a persistent magma drain out fissure #8, forming many acres of new land. As the magma chamber drains, the Kilauea crater is subsiding. Down from a few hundred to near 1000 feet deep and continuing. I wonder if the rock is just floating on the magma, or if fresh hotter magma is starting to melt the overburden and conduct it out fissure #8? I suppose someone could test the lava and find out, or maybe it’s not that simple.
The percentage of Eu Members still embracing the flood of immigration is dwindling fast. Now we’ve got Hungary, Poland, Greece, Italy, Britain / UK, and who all else? Even France has news reporting increasing resentment. Will Merkel survive without change?
Then, on the Brexit front, May got a vote in her favor out of Parliament. One down, how many to go? Then there was an announcement of the EU residents “solution”. Special handling again. Folks in the UK for 5 years at the time of Brexit get to stay. Just have to show your ID (prove who you are), show proof of 5 years in country, and no criminal activity. It seems the plan is to have “an app for that” and no face to face with anyone needed. The EU has yet to say what happens to the British citizens living scattered on the continent. So this is going to reduce the overcrowding of Britain by folks from poor EU countries exactly how?
In the USA the Democrats are continuing their Panic Du Jour. It is now almost funny how the Yellow Stream Media turns on a dime with the Daily Panic. Now it is over the Obama practiced policy of separation of children from their criminally charged parents. Despite video of The Big O saying they did it, the YSM is full on screaming it is a “Trump Policy”. Trump signed an E.O. to negate that law, but noted that it WAS a law and the E.O. would gather legal challenges. The response by the media? “Trump Caved!” and “Yet there is NO PROCESS to reunite families!!!” (as though processes and policies can be made inside hours after an E.O. has been signed.) Just so ludicrous.
The traditional “News” media have all become just political propaganda machines. There is a daily rotation to the Talking Points of the DNC for that day. Remember when it was BLM and Black race baiting? Came when useful, now disappeared. We’ve move on to Hispanic “race” baiting (Despite Hispanic NOT being a race, but a cultural / linguistic group of any race). The Women Rage of #MeTo continues but has left the front stage as it was taking down a LOT of Democrats (gee, who is more prone to promiscuity? Conservatives or Hippies-in-suits?)
I now just “flip past” any story on Reuters or the ABC / CBS / NBC news apps once the Trump Slamming starts or as soon as it goes from facts to “interpretation”. That’s the nice thing about news on the TV via the Roku and similar streaming apps. I don’t have to listen to their spin and crap and can just scroll down to the topic that’s news (there’s usually one or two, like the volcano) and / or skip to the next story once the warm yellow starts to flow down the back of the neck…
Despite a life long habit of News Watching (started with Walter Cronkite when still in diapers) I’m tenuously close to abandoning the practice. There are online sources that are much more news and far less “Domestic Spin Cycle”. The risk, though, is too narrow a selection. Entering an echo chamber of one POV. Unfortunately for the YSM / MSM they have already painted themselves into that corner on the far left. I now start with foreign news. France24, Sky, RT, Al Jazeera. Then if there is any time left, I’ll consider sampling bits of Reuters, ABC/NBC/CBS, whatever. You just get tired of folks shouting the same shit at you that on investigation turns out to be false or so highly spun as to be crap.
So on one “call in radio” show a guy asked about the injustice done to Citizens where one “swatting” call gets your kids hauled off by Child “Protective” Services. If a Citizen gets picked up for a crime, the kids get taken. But illegal invaders who have broken our laws get special treatment now. Equal justice? Hardly.
Musings from the Chiefio 
The major media are in the final stage of collapse, they have become irrelevant for knowledgeable viewers, and are only retaining their core constituencies of “true believers”. In a year or two folks will see them like we used to view super market rags like the National Enquirer (fair acknowledgement that on occassion those alternate sensationalist rags did occasionally break big stories because they were not bound by the self imposed limitations of the Main Stream Propaganda Media)
They will hang on by their fingernails for a few years and then like independent news papers start closing or merging to try to stem the losses. It won’t work and over time they will all bleed out and cease to be even good propaganda outlets as their get totally swamped by online news feeds.
It is sad really but if we are lucky some where some enterprising journalists will put together a real hard news channel that like the early CNN becomes the “Go To” news source for responsible news coverage. (we can hope [sigh] )
Re: #MeToo catching more democrats.
I am not sure that more democrats actually do it. But before #MeToo, none were ever punished (Hello Edwards and Clinton!). Republicans were nailed as soon as it came out, and without a #MeToo. So the pool of targets was overwhelmingly Democrat when the movement started.
Thirty years of data have been collected since Mr. Hansen outlined his scenarios—enough to determine which was closest to reality. And the winner is Scenario C. Global surface temperature has not increased significantly since 2000, discounting the larger-than-usual El Niño of 2015-16. Assessed by Mr. Hansen’s model, surface temperatures are behaving as if we had capped 18 years ago the carbon-dioxide emissions responsible for the enhanced greenhouse effect. But we didn’t. And it isn’t just Mr. Hansen who got it wrong. Models devised by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have, on average, predicted about twice as much warming as has been observed since global satellite temperature monitoring began 40 years ago.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/thirty-years-on-how-well-do-global-warming-predictions-stand-up-1529623442
GPS blocker phone case:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=gps+blocker+phone+case
@Jim2:
Interesting idea, but how is it any better than the off button?
IF it is actually blocking RF, then you ought not to get cell service either, so just shut the phone off. But if the phone is off, it ought not to be reporting GPS information.
And I missing something? (Other than TLAs and Black Hats doing remote power on…)
Consider:
Rhode Island Passes Bill That Would Keep Trump Off Ballot in 2020 Unless He Releases Tax Returns
Any state that tries to interfere with elections for national office in such a way should have the results of such elections dismissed. They can just sit that one out.
The proper method for getting what they want is to introduce a bill in Washington D.C. that would require all people running for office to release tax returns. Worth discussing, I suppose, but I really don’t care.
I’m not so sure off means off. I don’t have a smart phone, but I know my TV isn’t really off just because I use the remote to turn it off. (I use a power strip to turn off the entire entertainment center including the WIFI.) In the case of your phone, off may indeed be off, I don’t know.
@Jim2:
As it is battery powered, they do pretty much all they can to conserve power. I’d expect off to be off. Ought to be easy to test, though. Leave if “off” for the weekend. On Monday if the battery is dead or ‘way low”…
Mine drains the battery more or less in 24 hours of standby. When off, it does not seem to decrease much. (Battery self discharge ought to be a % or three / day, so maybe 10% over a weekend).
@John F:
Last time I looked a State could not make Federal law. I’m pretty sure that would be sent to the Supremes in about a New York Minute and they would be soundly slapped down.
OTOH, I do like the idea of just ruling such States “observers” as long as the law exists ;-)
Frankly, the Democrats grandstanding and using lawfare is getting very very offensive. I wonder if they have any clue how many people are busy marking ‘Never Again’ in their voter memory…
For me, I’m a hard core independent. I just want someone who will run the government well at minimal cost. Standard business kind of thing. Yet at this point, I’m not seeing any way I can ever vote for a Democrat again. ( I voted for Obama in the California primary as I was an ABC voter, Anyone But Clinton. Later to find out what he really was and would do. Sigh. California let independents vote in the Democratic primary then. Now they have some other crazy system where in the last primary anyone could vote for anyone and we could have ended up with the choice of one Dem or another Dem or one RINO or another RINO – no real Republican can ever make it in California Statewide elections…)
When you KNOW they are practicing every single dirty trick in the book, lying for effect at every opportunity, and see deception as their strongest card: I’m sorry, but I can NEVER vote for that.
Given that, from a California native son, who has been up to his eyeballs in Left Wing Stuff for the last 40 years; I really have to wonder how “Joe The Plumber” and some guy in Texas is seeing things…
Even those RF masking carriers are probably not good enough to really stealth the phone against advanced snoopers. The only way to be sure is to pull the battery, and even that might not be enough if the evil bastards really want to find you.
https://www.phonearena.com/news/Did-you-know–removing-your-phones-battery-is-the-only-sure-way-to-prevent-it-from-being-tracked_id81864
http://www.libelium.com/products/meshlium/smartphone-detection/
Limits of future technology may make battery removal irrelevant, several current phones have sealed cases so the battery is not easily removable.
But remote activation or monitoring using environmental RF for power like an RFID chip is probably technically possible. Military operators in hostile locations are told to not carry a cell phone if possible, but if they must go dark, to pull the battery AND wrap the phone in multiple layers of foil.
https://www.wired.com/story/this-cell-phone-can-make-calls-even-without-a-battery/
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-31587621
This was done intentionally by the owner of the phone, but could also be done surreptitiously to someone if the evil bastards could get access to the phone, then you could get tracked as you passed RFID readers, but this would be masked by those screening pouches.
A commercial equivalent is coming from Samsung
https://www.pcworld.com/article/139972/article.html
This is a constantly moving target so there is no such thing as a definite yes or no to these sorts of questions.
https://www.tomsguide.com/us/nsa-remotely-turn-on-phones,news-18854.html
I guess it is coming to that time to build my own…
http://www.davidhunt.ie/piphone-a-raspberry-pi-based-smartphone/
My present flip phone has removable battery and is fairly dumb, but it is getting harder to find such. I’m also really fond of the idea of a hard switch in the GPS hardware…
From 2013
http://www.slate.com/blogs/future_tense/2013/07/22/nsa_can_reportedly_track_cellphones_even_when_they_re_turned_off.html
This appears to be a bit of a stretch for common understanding of the word “track”. The journalist (who no doubt doesn’t understand it, so use many grains of salt here) suggests the target phone is infected with a trojan, then records tracking info “even when off”, then burst uploads the data when it’s turned back on. So the spies aren’t following the suspect’s trail, but they can see where it used to be.
Anyhow, I rather enjoy Amazon’s services but I very much would like to change the activation or “wake word” on my TV’s “Fire Stick” to something like “J. Edgar Hoover, May I …” Same on Siri or Google assistant. I still haven’t figured out how to take advantage of my “smart” home appliances without dumb assent to give my personal data to the cloud. But at lease with a name change I would be constantly reminded:
“Jayedgarhoovermayeye” play Russia Today live.
“Jayedgarhoovermayeye” raise my thermostat to 78
“Jayedgarhoovermayeye” download the “Climategate” records
Sadly I discover the choice of wake words is restricted. https://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201971890
(Oddly it seems that Google didn’t want to report the Amazon Help pages among the top results for search on the topic. Cnet, Entertainment Weekly, other stuff. One I scrolled and selected the latest official site, a repeat of the experiment put Amazon back on the top of the Google results as expected. But otherwise I’d infer that Google is doing what it can to hinder a competitor. )
Reading the article, the key bit is that the trojan keeps the phone from fully turning off. Then the other item it mentioned was found via the battery drain…
Hard to get away from the need for power… if your battery drops when off, be afraid…
If interested, Fox is doing a tribute to Krauthammer right now, his words. Live on youtube also, or available via start over on cable. Dunno about on demand at this point. Quite interesting.
If it works, here it is.
I wrote the Democrats off before I started voting. I noticed the differences between what my grandparents believed and lived versus what the Democrats espoused. I started doing my own research and found the break between the image and the reality dates to the ’20s. That is, the 1820s. I will only vote for a local Democrat that I know and can verify personally. I say NO to national Democrats. Of course, I found out that the Republicans were not that much different, though having served in local Republican missions as a card-carrying member, I found out that the Rs were more bottom-up than top-down. Still, I dropped membership. I moved over to the Libertarians, then watched as they got infiltrated by leftists. I dropped them, too. Note well that you do not register for voting by party here. All registrants are ‘Independent’. If you decide to participate in a party primary, you are, by law, supposed to support that party’s nominees. You are now required to support the party whose ballot that you have requested and can be punished for ‘crossing’ over during primaries and their runoffs. You cannot be punished for changing your mind when the general election is held.
Now, about cellular radio-telephony relay services … from the dawn of radio, it has been held that the broadcast radio signal was open to all with the proper receiver. Note well that ‘GPS’ tracking isn’t needed for cellular telephones. The tower locations are known and fixed. The phones must send to and receive signals from the towers. The providers always know which towers receive signals from the identified phones because they record your phone number as a part of the signal packet. They have to in order for your call to complete the circuit with the phone you’re calling. Thus, since I am acting in public when I turn that phone on and leave it on, I am just as open to observers as a post card is to observers. I expect to be left alone behind closed doors. I have no such expectation when outside, though common courtesy should apply and I be left alone there, as well. I am going to leave you alone, for the most part. If you want an envelope for that signal, encrypt it.
@cdquarles, who wrote (emphasis, mine):
“Note well that ‘GPS’ tracking isn’t needed for cellular telephones. The tower locations are known and fixed. The phones must send to and receive signals from the towers. The providers always know which towers receive signals from the identified phones because they record your phone number as a part of the signal packet. They have to in order for your call to complete the circuit with the phone you’re calling. Thus, since I am acting in public when I turn that phone on and leave it on, I am just as open to observers as a post card is to observers.”
Yup. I believe GPS was added as a feature, which allowed the user to find businesses and get directions. (Great! Amazing!) Never mind that Big Brother also found it to be a useful feature for more exact tracking. (Fools! Idiots!)
Double yup. How else would cell phones work if they couldn’t locate both phones to connect them? So if you don’t want to be tracked, you get the Faraday wallet and remove the battery before inserting your phone in the wallet.
Now for someone going stealth mode with their phone, I’d expect their data to look like whack-a-mole (love that arcade game!). You’re at home. Two weeks later, you’re at home. Hey! What’s with Detroit?!? How’d he get there? (Didn’t use the phone in Chicago or Orlando) Now he’s in Atlanta. Where did he stop along the way?
I don’t have any reason to be stealthy, but I might just turn my flip phone off and bag it since I don’t use it more than a dozen or so times per year. Who knows? That type of activity might just generate a red flag. Since I’m paying, might as well get some entertainment out of government resources.
.
.
@E.M. – Almost forgot you were looking for a flip phone.
I got a Cricket LG flip phone at Walmart about a month ago, if you’re having trouble finding them. IIRC, it was $15.97 (??). I had my sim card from my battered, failing-battery LG flip phone and when I moved it over, found that the phone was locked. Needed to go with a Cricket plan to use the phone.
As it turns out, it is such a common problem that there are phone unlocking services out there that will unlock your phone for a fee. I went to one that advertised ‘Free Unlocking’ until you find out that they were lying and it would be $10.00. Smelling scam, I went to another unlocking site that straight up said their service was $11.95. They delivered as promised. Happy camper.
This is my 3rd bottom-of-the-line LG flip phone. I like them and in this iteration, they upgraded the camera, so I was quite pleased.
Hmmm… now that I think of it, I should probably buy 2 or 3 more of those phones, wrap the batteries in foil, and put the batteries in the freezer. That should see me through until I’m pushing up daisies.
@H.R:
Some batteries are damaged by freezing. Alkaline, for example, leak more and fsster if frozen. Unless you know the freeze performance, batteries ought not be frozen.
As there is a growing movement for Retro Phones, I expect them to stay available for a few years, at least.
I kind of want to build my own anyway… just to get the hard switches if nothing else…
I don’t get why this guy(gal?) thinks Trump’s approval ratings are low. Compared to Obama and even in some cases other Presidents, his poll numbers are better than theirs. At any rate, from the article:
In interviews across the country over the last few days, dozens of Trump voters, as well as pollsters and strategists, described something like a bonding experience with the president that happens each time Republicans have to answer a now-familiar question: “How can you possibly still support this man?” Their resilience suggests a level of unity among Republicans that could help mitigate Mr. Trump’s low overall approval ratings and aid his party’s chances of keeping control of the House of Representatives in November.
TRACFONE sim cards can be used with non-TRACFONE phones in their bring-your-own-phone program. This can be a good deal if you don’t use a lot of minutes, or maybe even if you do, YMMV. I get 800 minutes for about $100 and I don’t buy minutes all that often. They expire in one year and usually you can get them to roll them over if necessary. I have a dumb phone with a TRACFONE sim and it is usually off (or so I think :) ) I have it for emergencies (MY emergencies!) and to make the odd call when I’m out of the house.
@E.M. – Turns out that freezing doesn’t do anything for Lithium Ion battery life. That freezing idea to store batteries came out of some vaguely recalled article I read about 45 or 50 years ago, probably in Popular Mechanics.
Here’ an interesting discussion on freezing Li batteries (short thread, info is to the point).
https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/effect-of-freezing-on-lithium-ion-batteries.345524/
If you are the suspicious type, particularly when it comes to our Government of the People, By the People, For the People, this comment started about a 50-60 reply thread in response to the news that Katie Arrington, who defeated Mark Sanford in an SC Congressional primary race, was in a serious ‘accident’ last night.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/06/23/june-23rd-2018-presidential-politics-trump-administration-day-520/comment-page-3/#comment-5554748
I’m not inclined to buy that it was an ‘accident’ just yet.
Geo-location methods on phones were driven by a law or regulation that there be a method to approximately geo-locate a phone that is dialing 911. About 10-12 years ago I had a car break down in the middle of no where and the guy that picked me up was a computer programmer who worked at a cell phone company and he was on that project developing the software to try to identify the physical location of cell phones, before GPS was a feature on most phones. He told me that they were using a combination of Cell phone tower locations, your direction vector from the tower, signal strength and time of arrival of phone pings to work it out. Cell phones use GPS derived time reference from the satellites to keep all cell phones time synchronized. but they also need to monitor relative signal strength from the towers the phone can hit to decide when to hand off to the next cell tower without dropping a call as you move.
If your phone can hit 2 towers it can derive a location solution that has 2 unique possible locations, with 3 or more towers it can resolve you location down to just a few tens of feet.
There are also some new methods being developed like monitoring all the wifi signals you can pickup on the phone even if wifi connections are not activated.
https://www.pcworld.com/article/253354/ten_ways_your_smartphone_knows_where_you_are.html
RE: Katie Arrington.
When I read about the accident, murder was the first thing to cross my mind unfortunately. The perp definitely should be investigated. Rationally, I doubt it was murder, but such are the times.
Not a surprise here to folks who understand the pressures of demographics but a useful reference.
Expert says Islamization is inevitable once Muslims account for > 16% of the population of a country.
https://voiceofeurope.com/2018/06/expert-warns-the-islamisation-of-a-country-can-no-longer-be-stopped-if-muslim-population-reaches-16/#.Wy7FXSAPmkk.twitter
https://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2009/oct/08/muslim-population-islam-religion
Hackers fight back by changing the online menu of the Red Hen restaurant that refused service to the Press secretary and her party.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/06/hah-hacker-changes-menu-of-little-liberal-red-hen-restaurant-that-tossed-out-sarah-sanders-and-her-children/
Re: Red Hen. It is doomed. Lexington is the home of VMI, and decidedly a conservative city and area. The idiot may puff out his chest, but he just wrote his going out of business sign.
Interesting historical tid bit about how Spain cast off the rule of Islam over a period of 774 years of nearly continuous conflict and warfare.
https://www.nationalreview.com/2018/06/battle-of-covadonga-king-pelagius-spanish-christians/?
“Those who forget their history as doomed to repeat it.”
Were I anywhere near Red Hen, I’d make sure to stop in at opening, order a coffee, and nurse it. Say I was waiting for the rest of my party. Have a couple of folks show up about every 45 minutes. Then leave at about 7:30. (Hours 5:30 to 8 IIRC) IF they seat someone at 7:30, they get to stay open late to finish service ;-) Rinse and repeat with different folks over time…
I suspect their web services provider is going to be on a steep learning curve for security…
Seems they have some challenges elsewhere also.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/the-red-hen-lexington-3
Larry
A bit more Spain
Oath of allegience to kings of Castille (Spain)
We who are as good as you, swear to you, who are no better than we, to accept you as our king and sovereign lord, provided you observe all our liberties and laws, but if not, not.
J.H Elliot, “Imperial Spain”.
Might be time to reintroduce something like that
From our neck of the woods
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2015-09-15/how-cattle-farmers-survive-world-s-worst-drought
“22 Jun: WSJ: A California Billionaire Sets Michigan’s Energy Policy
Tom Steyer cuts a deal with utilities to promote alternative fuels, obviating the need for voter input”
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/06/weekend-unthreaded-217/#comment-2015217
“American says:
June 23, 2018 at 11:19 pm
Check this out, GP is reporting some hacker changed the leftardestaurant’s menu last night:
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/06/hah-hacker-changes-menu-of-little-liberal-red-hen-restaurant-that-tossed-out-sarah-sanders-and-her-children/ ”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/06/23/restaurant-owner-who-kicked-out-wh-press-secretary-sarah-sanders-i-would-do-the-same-thing-again/comment-page-4/#comment-5558188
Interesting item from twitter on President Trump’s background. He is not some newbie who would blindly blunder into a Russian effort to compromise him.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1010672380753141762.html
Dr. WTF slinked into the Leftardis.
The Founders set up the three branches of Government in the US as part of the system of checks and balances. Why is it that the Supreme Court acts only as a check on the other two, but not the other way round? I can see why this shouldn’t be the case for laws made by Congress and the President, but on matters of what the Constitution means or intended, why not?
For example, this idiotic interpretation of the Constitution that anyone born on the land of the US is automatically a citizen. Why can’t Congress and the President pass a law stating the SC was wrong?
The US represents about 4% of the world population, yet our laws commit us to take care of people who don’t want to live in shit hole countries, which comprise a large number of countries.
Our immigration problems are due to a bunch of idiots in the SC and our politicians. How do we fight that?
@Jim2:
I believe that they CAN serve as a correction force. The Executive appoints the judges. Over time, this can lead to the undoing of clearly gad decisions. Rarely, but it has happened. Similarly, most judicial rulings have some tie to the exact language and form of a law, not the gross intent; so Congress can, and does, reword a new law to get past “issues” with the old one. It isn’t as fast as I’d like, nor as complete, but it does happen.
How do you fight that? Elect folks who agree with you to the Senate (who must approve appointments) and to the President (who makes them); then wait for Judges to die and be replaced.
Do the same thing at the State level with Governors.
BTW: Getting into the land of gratuitous insults with that prior comment. Please keep things polite.
BTW: Getting into the land of gratuitous insults with that prior comment. Please keep things polite.
Specifically do you mean the Leftardis one, the SH country one, or the idiots one? Just to be clear.
“Mike
June 25, 2018 at 7:00 am · Reply
Fun, fun, fun. One of my favorite sites for free online courses is edX. They just sent me an announcement of several new courses, including this gem (https://www.edx.org/course/making-sense-of-climate-science-denial-0):
Making Sense of Climate Science Denial
Climate change is real, so why the controversy and debate? Learn to make sense of the science and to respond to climate change denial.”
More at
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/06/weekend-unthreaded-217/#comment-2015342
Look who is your inspiration!
Background on the immigration flood during the Obama administration.
From twitter:
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1010988993683623936.html
Just a note that the Leftardis comment is a takeoff on Doctor Who and the TARDIS and aimed generally at the left, no one “here.”
“LEAKED: A look inside the ClimateWorks Foundation $66 million campaign to foist climate laws on local governments”
@Jim2:
“Dr. WTF slinked into the Leftardis.”
I’m familiar with Dr. Who and the Tardis. And it isn’t about any particular word, though “WTF” is implied forbidden word (so I usually use WT? personally).
The key bit is “gratuitous”. Insult without apparent cause or justification. It’s too easy to end up in the land of just trading insults instead of addressing topics. Maybe it was clear to you to what you were referring, but all I’m seeing on my end is a naked insult to “the left”.
So someone says “Make everyone live on 50 gallons of water by law”, to call that stupid left lunacy is an accurate description of what Gov. Moonbeam did, and calling him an idiot dictator wanna-be is an accurate statement, tied to a particular action, that justifies the description.
Saying ‘Trump is an evil bastard’ naked or “Brown is a turd” while emotionally satisfying to the speaker is devoid of anything other than “insult to the person”. A gratuitous insult. Empty.
I’d rather not have 200 naked insults a day to wade past to find some content. It’s really that simple. Look at un-moderated sites and that’s what they rapidly become. Name calling.
Understood, EMS. This isn’t the first time my quirky sense of humor has gotten me in trouble ;)
Well, it would be interesting to be a fly on the wall during this meeting.
https://www.axios.com/newsletters/axios-login-57cde90d-c33a-40d6-9759-2b781a45d6d2.html
This new EU policy we all have to deal with is a PITA. It is everywhere almost. I need to finish reading the huge cookie policy. Non-EU users should be exempt from EU policy IMHO. There are still a few WP sites that don’t have the policy laying over the log in area, so you can still skirt their effort for now. Next the EU will be hitting us with a VAT tax of some sort!
“I’d rather not have 200 naked insults a day to wade past to find some content.”
How about naked ladies? :-)
There are laws against this type of behavior. There are also laws in Florida (Castle Laws) to protect people from this type of behavior. When a politician incites violence, they need to be corrected with all means possible. Assault has specific legal meaning, and doesn’t require battery for one to act in self defense. Will the loony left get another pass like Fonda apparently got last week for his disgusting behavior?
http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/25/nancy-pelosi-maxine-waters-mob-comments/
@philjordan ;-)
Hey wait, I thing they stole this song from M4GW! It sure sounds familiar……
“Yes, that’s right folks, climate change drives global warming!
The stupid, it burns.”
@PhilJourdan:
WHY would I go past that?
@ossqss:
That Axios link just gives a login panel… not very interesting…
@EM, scroll down and the write up is there. I just checked to make sure it didn’t change, but it probably will now.
” If a Citizen gets picked up for a crime, the kids get taken. But illegal invaders who have broken our laws get special treatment now. Equal justice? Hardly.”
heh.
You are not alone.
A friend of mine espoused his view – that govt assistance should be based ONLY on need and citizenship – at a political meeting (he was running), and was told “If you don’t take account of a persons skin color, you are being racist”. Wait…what?
Yes – they were / are serious!
Sheesh…
Odd… going to the link, all I get is a subscribe button now. BUT, the “preview” generated by hovering over the link n the comments management section shows a thumbnail about Silicon Valley execs meeting to discuss privacy.
One presumes how best to monetize it… or how better to not get caught selling “you”…
@kneel63:
And, in California, whites are a minority, and white men a fraction of that, yet everyone else gets special “minority” treatment…
Interesting. Here is a different path to the same EM. Let me know if it works for anyone. I am not a subscriber, but I could see the other even after a cookie clean. Redirects count for cash I suppose. Oh well. I tried ;-)
https://www.axios.com/silicon-valley-execs-meet-to-discuss-privacy-policy–228b6feb-0b06-4ed8-9065-70340d2f0105.html
Axios link above works for me.
Privacy and government affairs officers from a number of the largest tech companies plan to convene in San Francisco on Wednesday to discuss how to tackle growing questions and concerns about consumer privacy online.
Why it matters: It’s been a tough year for the industry on the privacy front, driven largely by Europe’s new privacy regime and the media frenzy around Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
What’s happening: The Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington trade group that represents major tech companies, organized an all-day meeting to jump-start the conversations.
Members include Facebook, Google, Apple, Salesforce, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Dropbox, and others. ITI expects the meeting to be attended by companies across the industry’s sectors, including hardware, software and device makers — but declined to say which companies would be there.
Dean Garfield, ITI CEO and president, told Axios that tech companies are aware there’s a new sense of urgency around consumer privacy.
“My experience is that they’ve always viewed privacy as a foundational principle, but the question of how do you give meaning to it and talk about it in a way that resonates is now something that’s more pressing,” he said.
Driving the news: Europe’s strict and sweeping privacy rules, GDPR, went into effect last month and are already considered de-facto standards because they affect so many U.S. companies. On top of that, California lawmakers are scrambling to pass a privacy bill before a major privacy initiative ends up on the November ballot.
As Axios reported last week, the Trump administration is exploring possible approaches to create a framework for how companies can use and share consumers’ online data.
ITI says its focus on privacy began before Gail Slater, the Trump advisor leading discussions on privacy, arrived at the White House, and that this process is not a direct result of those conversations.
U.S. vs EU: The U.S. has generally approached privacy rules on a sector-by-sector basis, meaning the health care industry has different privacy standards than the financial industry. Tech companies handle data according to their privacy policies and other agreements, such as the Privacy Shield between the EU and U.S. And the FTC makes sure companies stay true to their promises to consumers.
“Just because Europe has taken a comprehensive approach doesn’t mean our different approach is deficient,” Garfield said. “And just because Europe is early doesn’t mean it’s best or final. But we should always be thinking about how we evolve to make sure consumers have trust in our products.”
Our take: It will be very difficult to get such a diverse group of companies to reach consensus about privacy, which has become incredibly complicated in the internet era, as companies with different business models want different standards. This process will extend far beyond this week’s meeting.
[ Hey wait, I thing they stole this song from M4GW! It sure sounds familiar…… ]
Actually the other way around the Minnesotans for Global Warming used that million dollars melody for their humorous cover.
Heads up EM, Chrome browser will brick older macs still running OSX 10.9, it will try to auto upgrade to 10.10 which is bad JUJU for the older macs.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/26/chrome_mac_mavericks/
And in the “Is Anybody Even Remotely Surprised” department, Erdogan won reelection in Turkey.
It’s not who votes that counts. It’s who counts the votes.
I just ran across an interesting hash tag; #Blaxit.
It seems that a lot of blacks are waking up and leaving the Democrat Plantation, particularly over the Dems pushing illegal aliens. Here’s a short article where that hash tag occurs.
https://www.westernjournal.com/ct/calif-trump-fan-cheered-as-she-warns-what-illegals-are-doing-to-black-community/
Got to it this time. in case anyone else is having issues, or will have in a future pass, a “cut/paste” of the text:
Kim HartJun 25
Scoop: Silicon Valley execs will meet to discuss privacy
Illustration: Lazaro Gamio / Axios
Privacy and government affairs officers from a number of the largest tech companies plan to convene in San Francisco on Wednesday to discuss how to tackle growing questions and concerns about consumer privacy online.
Why it matters: It’s been a tough year for the industry on the privacy front, driven largely by Europe’s new privacy regime and the media frenzy around Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica data scandal.
What’s happening: The Information Technology Industry Council, a Washington trade group that represents major tech companies, organized an all-day meeting to jump-start the conversations.
Members include Facebook, Google, Apple, Salesforce, IBM, Microsoft, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, Dropbox, and others. ITI expects the meeting to be attended by companies across the industry’s sectors, including hardware, software and device makers — but declined to say which companies would be there.
Dean Garfield, ITI CEO and president, told Axios that tech companies are aware there’s a new sense of urgency around consumer privacy.
“My experience is that they’ve always viewed privacy as a foundational principle, but the question of how do you give meaning to it and talk about it in a way that resonates is now something that’s more pressing,” he said.
Driving the news: Europe’s strict and sweeping privacy rules, GDPR, went into effect last month and are already considered de-facto standards because they affect so many U.S. companies. On top of that, California lawmakers are scrambling to pass a privacy bill before a major privacy initiative ends up on the November ballot.
As Axios reported last week, the Trump administration is exploring possible approaches to create a framework for how companies can use and share consumers’ online data.
ITI says its focus on privacy began before Gail Slater, the Trump advisor leading discussions on privacy, arrived at the White House, and that this process is not a direct result of those conversations.
U.S. vs EU: The U.S. has generally approached privacy rules on a sector-by-sector basis, meaning the health care industry has different privacy standards than the financial industry. Tech companies handle data according to their privacy policies and other agreements, such as the Privacy Shield between the EU and U.S. And the FTC makes sure companies stay true to their promises to consumers.
“Just because Europe has taken a comprehensive approach doesn’t mean our different approach is deficient,” Garfield said. “And just because Europe is early doesn’t mean it’s best or final. But we should always be thinking about how we evolve to make sure consumers have trust in our products.”
Our take: It will be very difficult to get such a diverse group of companies to reach consensus about privacy, which has become incredibly complicated in the internet era, as companies with different business models want different standards. This process will extend far beyond this week’s meeting.
@H.R. That is a great video. I suspect it is going to get a lot of air time in races this fall.
@Larry:
Nice to know. FWIW, I don’t have Chrome on my Mac. I’ve also gotten fond of the “OS on external dongle” for several reasons, one of which is the ease of making a bit-by-bit backup. Something bricks it, I use the Pi and shove the last bits back on the chip ;-) (Would still be a minor PITA so well worth avoiding).
This particular fairly ancient Mac is limited to 10.7.5 and there is no update past that point, so likely any attempt to update to something else will hit the same “Nope!” I hit when doing a software update. Part of why I’ve been looking into doing a Linux chip for it. To have an up to date kernel and a secure OS on it. OTOH, the MacOS, even an old one, is pretty darned secure as are my usage habits…
IIRC, there’s no Chrome for it. (I tried to install all available browsers. Got an old FireFox about a dozen levels back, Opera Beta, and an old Safari that has issues with security certs on modern sites… so I’m probably about 6 months to a year away from the FireFox no longer working right after some protocol upgrade ;-)
I see you also posted the text of the privacy link…
@H.R.:
I think there’s a lot of Blacks who have figure out they are just being used by the Democrats. Where there were a fair number of blacks working Fast Food on prior cross country trips, I now run into pretty much 100% Hispanic staffing (lots of Spanish behind the counter). Similar things in the local car repair row. Lots of guys who speak Spanish.
What with Trump getting unemployment rates way down, and clearing the deck of the “Low wage no complaints illegals you can jerk around” there’s more work available to the Black Community than they’ve seen in a long time.
Couple items for DIY folks.
I have been using these Schlage locks of a few doors for several years. They tend to fail after the mushroom spring in the bolt weakens (2-3 years with heavy use). I called them the other day after another failed and was told they come with a lifetime warranty. They replaced the whole thing for free after admitting it is a design defect. Also, unknown to me, Lowes has the replacement bolt part for $10 bucks, soI fixed and used the old one as they don’t want them back.
Item #2
I have had a salt pool with solar heat on it for about 4-5 years. A few days ago the bronze vacuum relief valve on the solar started dripping. Replacement cost for those ranged from $30-$100 depending upon type and quality. I thought I might try to repair it instead. Well, they are pretty much bullet proof and not able to be taken apart. Plan B, just as I do sometimes with my chlorine generator, I cleaned it with a 1-4 mix of muriatic acid/water and worked the spring and seal with a plastic rod and boom it now works as new. It also looks new as all the patina is gone.
FWIW, I received the replacement driver set for Ridgid for my 14 year old cordless screw gun. Drill/driver, 2 Lion batteries, charger, case, and a lifetime warranty on the replacement set. Not bad for zero cost! :-)
Albeit, I have been checking out the Ryobi One product set. Not quite as good a quality, but the long list of stuff that works with their batteries is incredible (100+). I did find an adapter (made in Australia) for their tools so I can use my Ridgid batteries on their tools. I may make that jump soon.
https://www.ryobitools.com/products/list/family/one-plus
@ossqss, re Ryobi One: I have been buying those for well over 10 years now. They have always been the Black Friday Doorbuster at Home Depot. For the first 3 years, they had a drill and TWO batteries for $29.xx. Then they went to a drill, an accessory, and one battery for 3 years, still at $29.xx. I got a hand vac and two work lights out of that. Then for the next several years, they went with just the drill and a battery and still at $29.xx, although about 3 years ago they screwed up and advertised it with two batteries, so you got an extra battery handed to you along with the special.
I was just buying the doorbuster deal for the spare batteries. The spare price was $34.xx. So I have quite a few new-in-the-box drills in the basement.
What I find is that I do projects that require a lot of drilling and screwdriving and I need 2-3 batteries to complete the job, sometimes more, but then I can have batteries charging while I keep going.
Then the batteries sit for months on end before being used again, and it might be only for a small repair or something. That is hell on batteries, thus the Black Friday run every year.
Last Thanksgiving, we were in Hilton Head, SC for Thanksgiving (first extended tryout of the trailer) and I found I’d need a leaf blower to get the acorns off the roof of the trailer and clean the slide-out before retracting it. I also had some minor repairs and additions I wanted to make on the trailer and realized that an electric drill wasn’t part of my trailer tool kit.
I hit the Home Depot on Black Friday and got a drill with the new 18v Li battery with a bonus of a very nice set of Ryobi Drill bits; 1/32 up to 1/2″. I also picked up their cordless leaf blower that came with two batteries. I found out after I got home that the new batteries are backwards compatible with their old tools. Nice! Both of the packages were discounted for Black Friday. The doorbuster was a 6 (?) tool package.
You might want to check out the Home Depot Black Friday sale this year where they have some ridiculous number of tools and a couple of batteries in one package. It will probably be heavily discounted. That would be the time to fill in with other tools and with that adapter, you’d probably have enough batteries charged/charging to do a room addition ;o)
@HR, I have my eye on the sprayer and BT floating speaker with light show they have now along with the underwater vacuum from Ryobi.
I see the SCOTUS upheld the Trump travel ban today. I hear heads exploding.
A looooong, but interesting read.
https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/googlegov
WOW!
@ossqss – Thanks for the tip on those locks! My wife is terrible with her house keys. I was thinking of getting one. Now I will
and @HR – I love it! I will have to watch the Black Friday deals to get the batteries! Mine die after 5 years (or maybe less) and you are correct! $30 for a couple of spares is cheaper than buying the spares!
I just saved a ton of money and I still do not have Geico! :-)
Facebook takes another step toward 1984 24 hour a day monitoring.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-26/facebook-wants-spy-you-hidden-inaudible-tv-ad-messages
Seems there are a couple possible solutions for this.
Simple, use ear phones and mute the audio unless you are explicitly trying to listen to some audio.
more simple, keep your phone in another room where you can hear it ring but it can’t hear ambient audio
disable apps on the phone that listen for audible commands, like SIRI
Someone make an app that will block subaudible and superaudible frequences on the computer sound card with hard cut off filters at about 800 hz low cut off and about 1700 hz upper cut off limit..
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-26/facebook-wants-spy-you-hidden-inaudible-tv-ad-messages
Another solution – do have fakebook on your phone.
{Reply: Was there supposed to be a “not” in there? -E.M.Smith ]
I leave my phone on the charger much of the time. Different room from me. It takes voice mail so I don’t need to hear it ring during dinner or when watching TV or working… I don’t “do” apps on it. Stupid flip phone with a 1 x 1.5 inch screen.
My tablet has apps, but I went out of my way to buy one without the phone-radio in it. WiFi only and I can turn off the WiFi / or must log into the WiFi. I usually leave the bluetooth and WiFi disabled unless I have some need for them. Saves battery too.
Periodically things get reset, scrubbed, or I move on to a new device. No device holds all my functions. Rarely do they have any personal information about me at all.
I actively avoid Faceplant, Gorgoil, Lockedin, Twitster, etc. etc. I’m not on “social media” as it is ALL a giant privacy and security suckage and has been from day one. (My bad was thinking they wouldn’t go anywhere as it was obviously destructive of privacy and security, so didn’t buy the stocks or the hype.)
Just.
Say.
No.
As predicted right after it happened, the boom is being lowered.
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/06/26/red-hen-restaurant-owner-resigns-as-director-of-main-street-lexington-business-group/
Aint America great? Wilkinson is free to deny service to people merely over differences in politics. And patrons are free to refuse to patronize her establishment due to her bigotry. Freedom of expression works!
It would be interesting to have folks in MAGA hats and shirts go to the restaurant, IF if ever reopens after their unplanned closure to July 5th, and just politely order some snack while talking positively among themselves about Trumps accomplishments and policies. Then, when ejected, sue on the basis that this is a “Public Accommodation” and is not allowed to discriminate against a class of people. That IS the law…
On another topic entirely Lauren Southern does a fantastic job investigating the South African Farm Murders and providing a good background and historical context to the silent war going on there that major governments and media are simply ignoring or actively suppressing.
This is what late stage communist revolution looks like when it gets started.
Farm Lands video by Lauren Southern
Run time 1:13:31
Re: “Facebook takes another step toward 1984 24 hour a day monitoring.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-06-26/facebook-wants-spy-you-hidden-inaudible-tv-ad-messages”
If your TVs are all old-fashioned CRTs instead of flatscreens, can they still play the ultra-high-frequency sounds?
Can we be sure it’s only in commercials? What’s to prevent them from putting it into regular shows?
“Climate Craziness of the Week: ‘If you don’t understand science, you can’t vote”
A curious juxtaposition of articles about the current British Conservative Party.
In the blue corner, ladeez ‘n’ gennlemen, we have UKIP proclaiming “The First Marxist Conservative Government In History”. And in the red corner we have TruePublica who declare that “The Tories Move From Right To Hard Right”. So who’s right?
Well, whether you call it Marxism or hard rightery, on the ground the rights and freedoms we fought and died for through the centuries are falling like wheat before the scythe, and so-called “left” and “right” are every bit as guilty as each other in that. Peter Brimelow, in his review of the film “Dunkirk”, says it a little more robustly.
Golly!
Usually when I check there’s a half dozen SPAM to delete. Lately there have been bursts to 20-ish. All of just a few types. It goes in fads. Lately one that’s just “What?” by the dozen (one for each thread open). Another pushing fake travel documents with dozens of countries listed. A third selling drug knockoffs online (dozens of links, one per drug – I hate this one as I must scroll pages of links to delete each of the batch).
But today, just now? Nothing!
One hopes they gave up ;-) or that the WordPress SPAM filter is now auto disposing them. It’s a nice surprise, even if just once.
@Another Ian:
That Enterprise Record article is a hoot. As soon as I saw “The dwindling polar bear population” I knew it was a fraud. Polar bears are at a high and rising. Perhaps those who can not spot propaganda and appeals to emotion ought not vote…
@Steve C.:
I find it very useful to dump “right” and “left” as terms and just ask “Central Authority” or “Independent Choice”? Are choices made as close to the individual as possible, or by some remote power? All else is irrelevant packaging…
@Power Grab:
Most systems have rolloff not a hard line. Newer stuff more digital cutoff, older more analog roll off. None of it ought tobe very good at ultrasonics. I suspect itis really just high normal sound.. Not 22 kHz, but 16 kHz. I that case, any TV will be hard pressed but could make some of it. Most sound gear is good for about 20 Hz to about 16 kHz. It takes really high end gear to get past that to any degree. Very few people can hear it anyway. 50 Hz to 10 kHz is all you really need for normal information flow though music sounds a little flatter. 200 Hz to about 2 kHz is enough to understand what is being said, though you start getting 1920’s “Oh Bodie Od Doh!” tinny music ;-)
I’d not worry about it much, but if you do, just turn your treble control down to low… and put your cell hone inside a plastic pouch. Low frequencies like your ring tone ought to get out, ultra-high ought to be absorbed in the pouch. If really worried, use lead foil ;-)
@Larry:
Yeah, S.A. is a slow catastrophe…
This is why Dimowits and Socialists want unmitigated immigration. It is bearing fruit for them in New York. What with the “diverse” immigrant community there, a big political upset has occurred. Many of the immigrants have no concept of Western values and further are kept agitated and scared by the leftists.
From the article:
In a profile published this week in Vogue magazine, Ocasio-Cortez was described as “A third-generation New Yorker whose family has roots in Puerto Rico [and who] looks a lot more like the constituents in the very diverse 14th District than Crowley, a 56-year-old white man.”
https://www.npr.org/2018/06/27/623752094/who-is-alexandria-ocasio-cortez
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/26/politics/alexandria-ocasio-cortez-joe-crowley-new-york-14-primary/index.html
Is anyone else getting notifications from this blog?
@jim2 – Yes.
@EMSmith; I’m not surprised that you are hammered by spam. I get a few a week but last week there were 3 waves of over a dozen each, all on posts that I know no one has looked at in years. The spammers must be connected to some kind of spamming engine. In my case all the posts that are comment on are very old and I know no one has looked at…pg
Seconding PG’s post. SPAM went way down after that big bust about a year ago, but in the past few weeks, I have seen a marked increase. Not very good spam I should add as almost all of it hits the spam filters of my email providers. Whereas before that big bust, only about 1/3-1/2 was caught.
Ocasio-Cortez is a card carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America (aka American Communist Party) the same organization that Barrack Obama started his political career with. She is even further to the left then Crowley. This might make room for a RINO acting GOPer to sneak in. Third world people that constitute her district know about the wreckage caused by communists. Crowley got dumped because he became a DC Swamp creature…pg
Re the ultrasonics. My first unserious reaction was to recommend asking a teenager whether it’s going on – remember the story a few years ago about schoolkids using extreme HF “ring” tones so the adults wouldn’t know what they were up to.
On more serious reflection, though, there’s another factor to take into consideration: modern noise reduction algorithms are remarkably effective. I’ve seen signals coming in at 30dB and more below the noise level, using freely available amateur radio software, and being reliably and repeatedly decoded at that level (around 3% of the input noise voltage, 1/1000 of the power). The signals used are reasonably comparable with the sort of data size the trackers would probably be interested in – a tightly formatted packet of bits fluffed up with heavy error correction – and are transmitted, sync’ed to the clock, in a narrow bandwidth.
Having seen it with my own eyes (while reliably hearing nothing at all) makes me around 30dB more sceptical about any “muffling” technique having much chance of success. And if they use masking they can up the level during loud bits. And … who knows what else? That phone needs either real, heavy-duty sensory deprivation or a simple little tactile switch in series with the microphone.
Eek. I’ve been chucked in the spam bucket.
Ah. And on mentioning it, I see I haven’t …
Dictaphone jammer BugHunter BDA-2 M ( New Model 2017 )
The device should be placed so that the transducers be directed towards possible location of eavesdropping devices (tape recorders, microphone, “bugs” etc.), for example, toward the new visitors or clients. The optimal distance from the transducers to microphone of the eavesdropping device is up to 2 meters. Then switch ON the device and adjust the volume of the acoustic speech-like signal so that you can still hear the person you are talking to. You should hold conversation in a low voice but so that you hear well each other without repeating every word. Use TURBO mode for more effective jamming of the microphones.
Interesting graph plotting costs of various alternate energy sources over recent years.
Something we already know but nice to see a verification.
Most big data studies are wrong, use bad methods.
https://www.studyfinds.org/study-finds-big-data-studies-big-mistakes/
OMG! Just envision a world with no beer or bacon! Oh the horror!
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-44628993
http://dailycaller.com/2018/06/27/justice-kennedy-retires/
@Ossqss:
Well Kennedy retiring is just Huge ;-)
Expect the political theatre of a lifetime over Trump’s appointee.
Per beer: Since the fermentation process makes a lot of CO2 (vastly more than needed for pressure carbonation at the end) there is no reason they can’t just put in a filter and pump and be self contained. Many breweries do just that from what I’ve seen. FWIW, I ‘bottle carbonate’ with just the residual sugar after the bulk fermentation is done…
@Larry:
I’ll believe they are dropping in price to parity when my electricity bill starts dropping. Until then it is just statistical spin… Most likely dividing cost by nameplate, not cost / produced kW-hr.
@Steve C:
I just leave the phone on the charger in the other room, turned off. Lets me have peace over dinner and TV (and computer and…)
There is simply NO reason to need a phone at your side and turned on all day.
@Per SPAM:
That’s why I bothered to set a 6? month expiration on comments to postings. The bulk of the SPAM I was getting was on old stale postings. I’d like to do it by posting as some are not prone to staling, but WordPress does not give that choice.
Yes, in the last year? the SPAM has been much more stupid…
@Per Notifications:
I get tons of them. From “likes” to “followers” and more. I’ve not found how to turn them off yet. Some of it matters to site administration. What regular readers get ought to depend on what you have chosen. Like choosing to “follow” IIRC means signing up for notices of new articles.
@Per Socialists in NYC:
Quelle Suprise… Or even Hispanic Bolvarian Socialists. Just the expected thing, really.
We’ll see if the Anglo Saxon Protestant culture survives enough to keep America a productive place, or if we descend into Socialist Hell as have so many others. Likely at least a generation away for that decision… I hope.
I’ll believe they are dropping in price to parity when my electricity bill starts dropping. Until then it is just statistical spin… Most likely dividing cost by nameplate, not cost / produced kW-hr.
Yes – I suspect those numbers are based on name plate capacity and 100% or nominal utilization (like the wind always blows or the sky is always clear numbers). They probably also are raw numbers with no maint expenses deducted.
There are notification settings in your WP account page.
Capacity factor is usually <17% for solar and around 30% ish of nameplate for wind IIRC.
All your base are belong to us!
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/27/google_home_outage/
@Larry – that reminds me of an anecdote the CIO told us about Hurricane Irma. The HQ for the company I work for now is headquartered in Jacksonville, and it is a very nice and modern structure! It even has auto flush toilets! And it is also a 24×7 operation that cannot go down.
But Irma took out power for a week. Ok, the generators worked and the data center stayed in operation with many folks on site to make sure things ran smoothly. But (as many of you have already figured out) the toilets did not work!
Needless to say, auto flush toilets have been replaced by manual flush toilets! Sometimes, technology is not so hot! LOL
Larry L
Check the comments on that Register item! Sample
”
“So far, though, the most likely cause is a software update that Google published around”
Nice, if unexpected, to see a software update that increases users’ security globally.
“
Justice Kennedy retires! For the first time since FDR and the Democrats packed the 7 member Supreme Court with 2 more creative Liberal justices to pass on their Liberal Progressive agenda, we may well go back to enforcing the terms of the Constitutional Contract! as written and adopted by the people. Wonder how long Ginsburg can hold out? Democratic heads are exploding Their “creative” judiciary is rapidly being turned back. Meanwhile their party is taking a giant step LEFT, off of the electoral cliff, away from the American people in the middle.
“Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”
the Democrats are mad.. Lol….pg.
@phil: Here’s one of the useless observations I filed away regarding toilets. I was in a Walmart, hit the loo for a leak. The autoflush wasn’t working. I looked to see if something was blocking the eye. Nothing blocking but lo and behold, there was manual push-button for backup.
Thank goodness there are still some belt-and-suspenders engineers out there. Too bad your company didn’t buy their design.
It also sometimes goes the other way, back in the 1990’s we had a severe snow storm in the Denver Metro area that took down a lot of tree limbs and with them dropped power on lots of major facilities, including NCAR. They took a hard crash on all their disk drives as they lost power and when they went on generator all the auto flush toilets were on continuous flush mode for many hours until they got the problem fixed (power glitch probably killed something in the circuitry).
One of the NCAR staff did a blog post on the event and said something like “You have not lived until you hear an entire room full of disk drives scream as they die”
I wish I could find the link now but she mentioned several lessons learned the hard way.
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2018/06/27/your-moral-and-intellectual-superiors-22/#comments
”
“The data shows that trust in the media is heavily influenced by partisan politics, with Republicans more skeptical of mainstream media than their Democratic and Independent counterparts. Other studies from Gallup and Pew Research Center have drawn similar conclusions”.
They’re not skeptics. They’re lie detectors.”
““Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad”
the Democrats are mad.. Lol….pg.”
pg
An alternative of that expression is “Whom the gods wish to destroy, they first make confident”.
Seems to fit too
@Another Ian; would that be Confident or would it be Arrogant? …pg
The paper is actually interesting. From the paper:
…
the Drake equation is well summed up by Jill Tarter, who said ”The Drake
Equation is a wonderful way to organize our ignorance” [3].
…
While all practitioners acknowledge the great uncertainty around the parameters
of the Drake equation, very few incorporate this into their quantitative
models. The Drake equation (and related models) are almost always used with
point estimates for each parameter, rather than ranges or probability distributions.
If the result is used to estimate the chance of ETI in our galaxy (as is
common when introducing the Fermi paradox), this can be extremely misleading.
It is not enough to claim that the output of the equation is just an order
of magnitude estimate: scientific uncertainty about the parameters does not
constrain the output to one or even a handful of orders of magnitude. In our
view the practice of using point estimates in Drake equation-like frameworks is
largely responsible for the continued puzzlement about the Fermi paradox.
…
Click to access 1806.02404.pdf
Ain’t that internet sumthin?
HANOVER, MARYLAND
The United States pioneered the use of cyberweapons when it shattered Iran’s nuclear centrifuges in 2010 but such devastating cyber tools have spread and are now boomeranging to make industrial digital sabotage a growing concern to the United States.
The weapons can wreak destruction and kill people. Experts say cyber weapons can turn off power grids, derail trains, cause offshore oil rigs to list, turn petrochemical plants into bombs and shut down factories.
https://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/national-security/article213914319.html
In the nine months leading up to this weekend’s presidential election, 132 candidates have been killed. That’s according to a report by Etellekt, a risk analysis and crisis management firm.
The group’s report, released Tuesday, found that 22 of Mexico’s 32 states have seen a political assassination since campaigning began in September.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/06/27/americas/mexico-political-deaths-election-season-trnd/index.html
Hmmm interesting the Arctic Ocean is still almost completely covered by Ice.
https://www.iceagenow.info/arctic-ocean-almost-totally-ice-covered-map/
pg
“@Another Ian; would that be Confident or would it be Arrogant? …pg”
I suppose likely both where it was applied
The law of unintended consequences strikes again
The cost of wind turbine insurance kiteing
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/06/old-neglected-wind-turbines-ticking-100-ton-bombs/#comment-2016099
“WHAT COULD GO WRONG?”
http://pickeringpost.com/story/what-could-go-wrong-/8342
@jim2 – re: Cyber Weapons
The careful distinction is the GOVERNMENT pioneered their use, but BUSINESS is suffering the repercussions. Which is always the case. Government destroys what the private sector tries to build.
Government is a business. Their business model is to subjugate their population and suppress their neighbors. To do this they utilize technology to enhance their abilities, just like every other business. There are always unintended consequences. A good sword has 2 edges. A wise man creates the needed defenses as he creates the weapons…pg
If any of you are monitoring the shooting in Maryland, the shooter had no id on him when captured and is not cooperating, with investigators, he also obliterated his finger prints to make it hard to identify him.
Bad news dude they identified you with face recognition software and are now executing a search warrant.
@E.M.: Any updates on kayak sea trials? Traverse any puddles? Portage any culverts? Shoot the rapids of liberal tears from the news that Kennedy is retiring?
http://thefederalist.com/2018/06/27/the-four-dissenting-votes-in-the-travel-ban-ruling-are-a-dangerous-sign/
I’m not making light of the dead, but I’m glad it was a shotgun.
Ain’t that internet just sumthin?
“Exactis, a Florida-based marketing and data-aggregation firm, leaked detailed information on individual adults and businesses, a security researcher says. While the exact number of individuals affected isn’t known, the leak involved about 340 million records on a publicly available server.”
@All:
As I’m presently ensconced in a StarBucks in New Mexico, expect my replies to be terse and infrequent. I’m delivering the Banana Boat replacement to Florida… in the hope that “next time” I can just fly…
FWIW, the Spouse is now off duty for the summer and I am also freed of dog-sitting duties (Doggy Doorman, Doggy Butler, Doggy Best Lap Bed, Doggy Masseuse… )
@Jim2:
Well, now you know why I do so absolutely little that can be captured and used against me and why I go out of my way to pollute the data stream… It WILL be leaked.
@H.R.:
It is parked by the garage, awaiting my return (now that I am free of Doggy Sitter duties… )
@Per Mexico:
As soon as the Cartels had the cash, running against them was a “career limiting move”…
Mexico (and Guatemala and Honduras and… ) will either institute the rule of law and crush the cartels, or become rogue States. Trying to suck just a little of the drug money on offer and look the other way doesn’t have a future…
@Cyber Weapons:
Well…. Fact is that some folks were prone to playing with how to break things from the start… There’s a contest to find ways software can break hardware. Just for fun… Waaaayyy back in about ’73 I wrote a little script to taunt the Systems Operator then hang the system. Only deployed when the one on duty was a pompous turd about something… (quick karma…) and I’ve never been DOD… I also was nowhere near first.
@All:
Hoping to find a hotel w / WiFi sometime tonight or more likely tomorrow. I’ve just done a bit over 1k miles and the day isn’t quite over yet, so I’m a bit fried. (15? hours in saddle…) I have my hot spot with me if all else fails.
For now, I’m trying to reach the Texas border in “one go”. We’ll see if a Vente Mocha is enough, or if I bail for a hotel in the next couple of hours. Only reason I’m on right now is I-40 is a dead halt in Albu qwirky… (white oak…) has they decided to shut down 3 of 4 or so lanes just after dinner time…
So plotting a bypass seemed prudent. Saw the SBucks sign and took the exit!
EM fair weather and following winds on your trip.
By the way for anyone using Brave browser, looks like one of the recent updates has a problem, I did an update this morning before I left for work and tonight when I got home Brave would hang on restart.
Solution was to revert back to a previous version.
(right click on icon and select restore previous version) then reboot, delete the desk top short cuts and go to all programs and send a new short cut to the desktop.
Might be a good time to backup your book marks.
In the consumer info leak, there are lots of companies which maintain databases of just about every person in the country, harvested from various sources.
These sources include their own customer contact lists plus data harvested from outside sources and data partners etc. It was just a matter of time before some goof ball thought putting such a data base in a cloud environment they did not have full control over and screwing up permissions made it publicly accessible.
The smart ones keep their data in house where they have full control over access and lock it down so only specific users/processes from specific hosts can actually query the data, rather than open access from the web. Poor security and lazy is the probable root cause.
Hope you have a pleasent trip there EM without too much adventure.
For those using the Brave Browser be aware the latest update is horked. I did an update this morning just before I left the house and this evening when I tried to re-open the browser it would hang.
The solution was to revert to the previous good version
Right click on the desk top icon and choose restore previous versions, delete your desk top icons, and reboot, then starting at the all programs window create new short cuts.
Good time to backup your book marks too.
While dealing with this I discovered that Brave now support tor internally.
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/29/brave_browser_tor/
“freed of dog-sitting duties (Doggy Doorman, Doggy Butler, Doggy Best Lap Bed, Doggy Masseuse… )”
Maybe we can all chip in and get you some cats. :-)
You want a really fast SSD for your RPi etc. ?
May not be far away, a new SSD standard may allow speeds up to 987 Meg/ second from a new class of SSD’s
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/29/ssd_7_express_ultra_capacity_standards/
EM – I think Mexico is already a failed state. If not, it’s well on its way due to the criminal element either controlling political events or integrated into the government.
LL – Governments big and small, including the Fed, are rushing head-long into the cloud, even our military. I must be really dumb because I don’t get it.
@E.M. – Be safe. Too tired and you risk making poor decisions. We want to hear from you in Florida.
Usually, you give a heads up just before you will be OTR, and then sporadic posting and replies are expected. It was a surprise to me that you didn’t let on until you were in New Mexico.
If you have time, you might want to pick up some gator-to-go at the Linger Lodge in Bradenton.
.
.
@phil re “Cats: the gift that keeps on giving, particularly when they aren’t spayed.”
Maybe p.g. has a few spare barn cats he could donate to the cause. 😜
.
.
Until I bought a galvanized steel feed storage pail (holds 50#) for my wife’s bird seed, we were getting field mice in the house every few days to a week or so. The mice would come in through the basement.
Our two cats killed the first two mice they caught. I found the bodies of the victims when I went to the basement to clean the kitty litter. Then the cats realized there was no play value in a dead mouse, so they would catch a mouse and bring it upstairs so they could watch our Scottish and Cairn terriers chase down and kill the mouse. The average life expectancy of a mouse that was brought upstairs to do Combat in the Arena was about 90 seconds.
Ain’t that internet just sumthin?
“The cache of data contained identifiable information on local and state police officers, and federal agents, who sought out or underwent active shooter response training in the past few years. The backend database powers the website of Advanced Law Enforcement Rapid Response Training — known as ALERRT — at Texas State University.
The database dates back to April 2017 and was uploaded a year later to a web server, believed to be owned by the organization, with no password protection.””
https://www.zdnet.com/article/a-massive-cache-of-law-enforcement-personnel-data-has-leaked/
“If you have time, you might want to pick up some gator-to-go at the Linger Lodge in Bradenton.”
If ya do, count me in!
In fact, I may just go there tonight now that you mentioned it! I think they have a Blue Grass band on Friday.
I better gas up the tractor ;-)
Sorry guys.We no longer do barn cats. In fact I had to import a stray from town last fall.
20 years ago a poacher shot my Tom cat and left m’ladies queen alone, so the lady brought home a tom kitten.”for me”. Poor little guy was lonely and crying and I told her. So the lady brought home his sister to keep him company. Everyone was happy. Next fall he brought home a little stray grey queen football with legs that had been living in the woods, Poor little thing was in sorry shape from living on lizards and bugs. She really appreciated a warm box of my dirty cloths to nest in and an ever full food bowl.
Early that winter both she and the Tom’s sister presented us with 5 kittens each. 1….3…………..13 cats! We got ALL of them fixed!
One of the little grey’s kittens had a “blue point” paint job and became my buddy for 18 years. The Tom and his sister disappeared the next summer. Her kittens were long hairs and lived outside. The little grey’s kittens were short hairs and lived in the cabin. We gave a couple of the kittens away and a couple ran off or the fox got them. Got us down to 7 and over the years the rest died off from one cause or another. Last fall we were down to 1 old cat from the grey’s kittens. There was this lovely black and white long hair queen bumming at the apartment complex in town where M’lady and her son stay. One of the previous apartment dwellers had abandoned her when they moved. So I said, “bring her home”, I will be needing a new familer to follow me around, which she does.. We are back up to two cats………………for now…pg
@p.g. – Your story sounds familiar, although we get ours fixed right away so no kittens. But while I was out in Arizona a year ago, my wife went to pick up a rescue at the local animal shelter (6 toed male kitten). While there, a woman brought a small female kitten in and was going to dump her! So my wife came home with 2 cats! That gives us 9 now. No mice to find, but plenty of voles when we allow them in the yard (under supervision, they do not wander the neighborhood).
Another time, she went to visit a friend in Dallas. Her friend’s dad brought a 4 week old kitten from Oklahoma while she was there, so that is how we got another. And then there were the 3 pound rescues (the facilitator was going to put them down the next day), and of course the 2 females that my sister gave us (because she knows my wife loves all white cats), and the final one was a Torty rescue from a friend (a stray had kittens and she was trying to find homes).
I do not travel any longer. ;-)
Herr Trudeau successfully gets twitter to shut down parody account – Climate Barbie – http://www.breitbart.com/big-government/2018/06/29/canadas-climate-barbie-convinces-twitter-to-shut-down-parody-account/
Apparently liberals cannot read either as the account clearly stated it was a parody. And of course Twitter complied since it was a liberal asking.
“Climate Communicator: Reimagining Disney Princesses as Climate Scientists”
Comcast suffers massive outage – https://www.foxbusiness.com/features/comcast-outage-brings-down-internet-tv-service-across-us
Given my experience with them, both as a residential customer and business customer, I am highly suspicious of their claim “they” identified the cut. I suspect a 3rd party had to tell them about it. Still clueless after all these years.
@ jim2 re: “LL – Governments big and small, including the Fed, are rushing head-long into the cloud, even our military. I must be really dumb because I don’t get it.”
I don’t get it either.
A few months ago I received a call from our CIO. One of the questions I was asked was, “Where do you keep that data? A laptop? The cloud?”
I didn’t get on my usual rant about how much I hate the cloud. I just said sternly, “I have a desktop It’s on my C: drive.”
That was apparently the correct answer, because that stopped that line of questioning.
Even though it felt like a 3rd degree, I was pleased to know they cared.
I hear ya Power Grab. The internet of things doesn’t work well with out the internet for accessing things. Best bet, local raid array, then a portable drive and cloud after that as a 2nd back up IMHO. I am not even comfy with this Windows 10 OS online iteration. PITA with forced updates to boot!
Looks like Mike Flynn has called Meulers bluff, and is refusing to inform on President Trump’s campaign as Meuler expected. Might have something to do with Mike Flynn and Trump not doing anything wrong and Flynn’s guilty plea was simply a strategic decision to buy time for the investigation process to crash and burn.
https://truepundit.com/defiant-flynn-tells-mueller-to-hit-the-highway-special-counsel-steamed-that-hostile-witness-wont-rat-on-trump/
Take a memo, Using a baton against other folks in a protest, creates grounds for them to use what ever force is necessary to remove you from the fight. (it is also if you have a clue about how to use a baton – big round house swings are not the best utilization of that device)
Second item doing exactly the same thing 2x in a row is a good way to have someone turn our lights out.
https://twitter.com/nationalepic/status/1013232135946174465
Antifa vs free speech protesters.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1013257233474424832
Meuler and his team have demonstrated years of use of extortion against family and friends of their target’s to get plea deals. This gang of prosecutorial thugs will use any means to get convictions to justify their agenda to enhance their own position. Rosenstein demonstrated his membership on this team when he threatened the members of the Oversight Committee and their staff, last winter, with the full weight of Justice Department investigation of the personal lives of each of them.
This is another out growth of bad Supreme Court decisions. It was found that police and prosecutors could use ANY Means to get convictions and that they could not be held personally liable. Manipulative lying and threats of their use of the full weight of government power is just another tool to them. By legal definition they are terrorists under color. Small wonder Rosenstien’s smug demeanor in front of Congress this week. He thinks he is immune…pg
FWIW, I got to Florida last night. A couple of beers by the pool and suddenly it’s tomorrow ;-)
I’ll be catching up and doing some postings after I wake up ;-)
As for why the not posting on the way:
I was moving a car on a “move permit” basis and needed to get it done in 3 days. Not a lot of down time for a coast to coast run. I could have gotten a 60 day move permit if I’d spent $50 and taken more days for the State to process it; or 3 in hand and out the door…
So, that’s why I was so focused on the motion….
Antifa are the shock troops of the Communists. You should read about them in eastern Europe in the 1920s and 30s, roving gangs/armies of Fascists and Anti fascists fighting for control over their areas. Our present day Antifa are just the modern manifestation. Soros and the Clintons are providing some of the financing of the training and operations of these armies here. This is the opening phase of their attempt to overthrow the government by creating chaos in the streets for the justification of them to seize power and enforce their dictatorship. They have made one error in their read of history. The citizens of America are armed and dangerous and have training in the arts of war. Unlike the citizens of Europe, Americans can not be stampeded into submission for peace from the chaos that they create.
I have had to deal with some of those antifa trained people here, over the last year, that were trying to take control of our 20 acre property. Threats, intimidation, attempts to create violent resistance that they can record for legal actions against us. So far they lose, but it has meant an expensive 16 months of living under siege. They are gone at the moment, thank god. The local sheriff department had been telling us they couldn’t do anything about it and that we should just leave if we felt that threatened. These “visitors” would call the cops on us about our antisocial behavior toward them in attempt to get official action against us. Their last attempt to record an altercation failed due to their poor positioning. The deputy told them that it looked to him like I was the one attacked and did this big 25 year old want to press charges against a disabled 70 year old that he knocked down. After we finally got their names from the police report we got protection orders against them and they left. At least for now. And the person that invited them seems to be gone as well. Damn expensive defending yourself against people trained to use the system against you…pg
@EMSmith; glad to hear a safe conclusion to your run. Time to kick back and rest. ;-)…pg
E.M. Good to hear you had no complications on your trip!
A couple decades ago a friend and I did a 24 hour run from Colorado to Phoenix and back to Colorado to ferry a car down to his son in school down there, so I understand the push to get there.
@p.g.sharrow
Sorry to hear that you have had to deal with those goons. The problem is that Antifa and their ilk are most dangerous when they have weaponized the legal system in a jurisdiction where the legal system tolerates their abuse of the rules, and have not gone quite far enough for people to start responding in kind. Too many folks think they are just dealing with a couple of trouble makers, and not realizing it is an organized systemic approach that tries to wear you down.
The free speech protesters and such now have started to turn the tables on them.
For those that might not have been able to see that video, the Antifa protesters were tossing bottles and finally a very large fireworks mortar bomb (think black powder grenade) into the midst of the free speech protesters, like they did in the Berkeley protest, and the “Proud boys” decided that attack by explosives crossed the line and they charged into the Antifa goons. They then went toe to toe with them. The Antifa types thought they were being cute, by using those collapsing batons but they had absolutely no clue how to use a baton, taking huge swinging round house slashes with them and one of the Proud Boys timed his move and cleaned the guys clock with a single punch “lights out”.
Seems the only thing that they (Antifa) understand is getting their butts kicked in a street melee between the those who are willing to act as self defense units for the protesters such as the Proud Boys who are willing to provide a “meat wall” to protect the protesters, and the Black Bloc direct action groups on the Antifa side.
@Larry, these Antifa are well trained in their tactics but have no Idea what it is like to deal with combat warriors willing to do hand to hand. One of them threw a feint punch at me and I offered to give him hand to hand training like I did in Nam. He decided that it was all a joke and left, took his backup with him. Smith is right, the willingness to do hand to hand at close quarters puts an end to bullies that depend on intimidation to prevail. You may get your nose bloodied but they don’t win…pg
EM – Glad you made OK what appears to be a grueling trip. Why did you have to have a permit to move your own property?
@E.M.: I had asked above why you didn’t give the usual “I’ll be OTR” heads up.
It seems you made your decision to hit the road while standing at the counter 😜
@p.g.: What the heck were those guys doing out in the boonies; provoke a lawsuit to get your property? Any clue as to what their end game was?
You might want to post your property. I’d suggest a little intimidation of your own.
No Trespassing
Survivors Will Be Prosecuted
@p.g.: Ah… I reread your comment and see that they were trying to get your property. I’m still not sure why they wanted rural property, though. I haven’t heard of any similar attempts.
@HR, lets see, 20 acre of woods on the end of a couple of miles of private road. farmstead of buildings in the middle and no neighbors in sight of it. Gardens ready for anything you might want to grow.. expenses paid as the property is paid for, plenty of resources to plunder on the property as well as on neighboring properties.What is not to like for a gang hang out. I have encountered these kind of people before. They call themselves a Tribe of Gatherers. In the old days they were called gypsies. Same kind of people just different names. They work as Antifa right now and are well paid while on mission…pg
Thanks for the additional detail, p.g.
Oh yes, as to never heard of this. The official line is that this is a civil matter, but all sheriff departments know of this happening in every jurisdiction, this has been fact for many years. Sooner or later they wear out their welcome, easy pickings get slim, and move on to a new area. They are Gypsies, moving on to greener pastures are what they do. The generous nature of country people is their in to take advantage. The very nature of country law makes it easy for them to move in on the locals for awhile. Sometimes vigilantes are the way they they are encouraged to leave…pg
PGS – what state do you live in, or are you outside of the US?
Well they finally put up a longer youtube video of the Portland action between free speech protesters and the antifa goons. The punch out of the Antifa bozo with a baton happens about time index 15:40 – 15:50.
Video is 27:10 in duration.
This video is long enough (and continuous) so you get a better idea of the over all context.
Free Speech protest vs Antifa – Battle of Portland June 30 2018
@jim2: northern California, above Chico. Not that it is important.
I have encountered these people in several states…pg
Brewing?
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2018/07/unsealed-fbi-search-warrants-and-more-evidence-against-hillary-clinton.html
PGS – just another example of backwards laws – kind of like the civil forfeiture laws. Nothing civil about it and the one in your case, you – and we – should have control over our own “castle.” Sucks.
@Jim2:
It is a long story, but the short form is that while I own the car, California will not give a new legal title in my name without it passing a tighter smog check than when new (my mechanic showed me a passing test from prior years with higher smog output). So it is “unregistered” and title is “in progress” but can never complete. (They want older cars off the road and are forcing them to fail).
So only legal move option is a temp permit. Now, in Florida, with the original signed title (from seller) I ought to be able to register it and (finally) get title in my name. Then it replaces the Banana Boat as my “flying in to Florida” car….
@H.R.:
When the necessaries are in place for a decision, it immediately self completes. Things are driven by state variables, not timers nor positions.
Start was as soon as spouse was ready. 1 day to prep, pack, and go. At the Starbucks, I pulled up a map of nearby, saw Central ran to the other end of I-40, and knew I was a couple of blocks and a left turn from my bypass, decision done, put away laptop, guzzle last coffee, and hit the road….
Not a lot of contemplation needed…
As soon as reg is done, then I pick the best flight back and book it. Job done.
“California will not give a new legal title in my name without it passing a tighter smog check than when new'”
@P.G:
Just a thought. Bear spray…
You live in bear country, so “need” to have it handy for bears. It has a 20 to 30 foot or so range and lots of volume. It doesn’t tickle legal trigger-happy fanatics in law enforcement. “I was just fearing for my life and used the only thing I had…” sells well. As does “I saw something big out of the corner of my eye, sneaking up on me, and thought BEAR!. Just reacted. Never expected a trespasser on MY property”…
FWIW in Chicago you must have a legal permit to carry pepper spray and undergo city sponsored “training” (without which possession of pepper spray is a criminal act…) but it’s OK to have bear spray… and much more effective…
Should they return, I’d be quite happy to camp out up there for a while… (once I’m back in California). I have a holster and sidearms and it IS legal to open carry on your own property. Usually just the sight of someone “packing” causes folks with ill intent to decide it’s better to be somewhere else…
About the size of a small fire extinguisher… so enough for a small crowd… 8 to 12 oz sizes are common, so think soda bottle size.
If I lived in “bear country” I’d have one of these handy. For all sorts of “bears”…
I picked up some of this when I went up to the Grand Tetons and Yellow Stone. No bears bothered me so I did not need to use it, so it sits on the counter near the front door.
“Another Ian says: 2 July 2018 at 1:29 am Brewing?
http://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2018/07/unsealed-fbi-search-warrants-and-more-evidence-against-hillary-clinton.html”
Ian another interesting link in the Comments of your link, the Washington Times is calling Obama a “Manchurian Candidate” in the White House.
Antifa and Soros. The left wing organization Rise-Up Org. that claimed responsibility
for the May Day violence that erupted across the US on May 1st, 2017, is a left-
wing organization financed by Alliance for Global Justice, one of Soros’ top 150,
seven figure grantees. It is also funded, indirectly by Tides Foundation, number 3
on OSF grantee list. Tidegave AfGJ $50, 000, according to the AfGJ 990 tax form.
http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/03/look-who-funds-the-group-behind-the-call-to-arms-at-milos-berkeley-event/
Many inter-connections, Rise-up is connected to Antifa, and Antifa is an alias of Refuse
Fascism, which is sponsored by AFGJ which is funded by Tides Foundation which is
also funded by Soros’ Open Society Foundation… Here are two links that reveal the
Rise Up Org. trail.:
View at Medium.com
https://sisypheannews.com/2017/05/16/another-look-into-antifas-shady-connections/
pg – It may be an idea to start digging a new well. Later on, you may decide it’s in the wrong place and fill it in again.
Meantime, the bear spray sounds like a good idea. Living in an out-of-the-way place is pleasant, but problems when lawless people are about.
Looks like Mexico has elected a socialist. Maybe they can now serve as yet another example of what doesn’t work….
NAFTA / USA interactions just got more interesting…
I can envision AMLO nationalizing the auto plants, giving them to the drug cartels to run, who will then insist on a drug-free workplace.
@HR; I hear that AMLO is a big Law and Order guy. We may see a Dictatorial War on Crime, and opposition. The guy is a Fascist which could mean some level of war footing against the US. That stance has been used by Mexican Governments several times in the past. Remember the actions of a German Savior 80 years ago and his attempts to “protect” Germans in eastern Europe. This New guy is making noises about protecting “Mexicans” that live in the US.
We will soon see. We may well be seeing a “Hitler” in the making on our south border…pg
Of interest on Kilauea eruption:
deep quakes 12 to 22 miles, in particular that swarm under the west end of the rift zone…pg
@p.g.: AMLO has proposed amnesty for the cartels, but his plan is still fuzzy.
Here’s a Mexico News Daily article (not very long, but thorough) on the topic.
https://mexiconewsdaily.com/opinion/amnesty-for-traffickers-amlos-pitch-to-voters/
I’m going to bookmark Mexico News Daily. No doubt they have their biases, but this article seemed to be a fairly good assessment of AMLO’s position during his campaign. I’ll have to read more to see if they seem to be a good source. Mexico/U.S. relations is going to be an important issue in the coming year.
Re: Mexican Leftist.
I agree it will provide a stark contrast with the boom in America. But the left will once again excuse it away as being done wrong. Not that the philosophy is wrong, just that AMLO is an idiot. So Mexico will be put on the path of Venezuela. But hopefully the tradition of democracy in Mexico is stronger, so that once things sour and the country starts falling apart, they can then elect someone to fix it.
Heh. Bear country. Not so long ago, where I am, there weren’t any bears. The occasional bobcat/wildcat/cougar … yes. (Oh, lest I forget, there are more rattlesnakes here than humans ;p .) That said, this is an open carry state (municipal rules can override this). I have not heard of anything like this locally, but then again, I don’t subscribe to ‘news media’ any longer. If I hear such from the local ‘gossip’, then I’ll take notice and thanks for the tip.
I need to do a lot more reading on this one – https://phys.org/news/2018-05-gene-survey-reveals-facets-evolution.html
While I am a Christian, I have never been a fundamentalist. So I do not believe the age of the planet is 6000 years old. But this new study indicates that perhaps the fundamentalists were only off by 100k-200k years. Or our understanding of Mitochondrial DNA needs a lot more work. (I tend to think the latter).
It does demonstrate, once again, that what man does not know, dwarfs what he does know.
Portland police are not pressing charges against the guy that cleaned the Antifa baton man’s clock
🇺🇸 🌟Dr.OLMO 🌟 🇺🇸
@realDrOlmo
17 hours ago
Rufio Panman was released from custody after Portland PD viewed the video of him knocking that hopefully soon to be ex-Antifa scum the fu*k out. He will not face any charges even if the commie shit eater dies. Su*k it commies. You got nothing.
Some provocative reading here.
America has been involved in a life or death struggle with multiple power centers and forces since the 1990’s (perhaps even earlier) and the average citizen has no clue.
The attack is so broad based and so large you can’t even get your head around it.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/989347838529187840.html
@EM: Today is July 2, and the new UAH atmospheric temp report is out.
While I have been focused on Sea Ice Volume for the last month or so, Lower Troposphere (LT) temps for June in Australia are -.55 Anomaly. The average anomaly for the full Aussie LT period is +.0521, so the June result is ~.6 below the average.
There are 475 monthly values for comparison. When sorted low-to-high, there are 73 colder anomalies, and 398 warmer ones.
I hope you enjoy that wonderful Floridian culture and weather!
Well, good news: I’ve completed the Florida reg and such of the replacement for the Banana Boat. Yay!…
@Larry:
That longer Antifa video was educational… The Antifa folks are clearly the aggressors, clearly trying to provoke and then shout they are the victim. One can only hope that the Police are clueful enough to get it right. I then clicked on to several other videos showing Antifa folks getting arrested and the other guy getting let go. In one case a guy on a bike socks a guy recording on his phone and a police car rolls up (with a cop jogging next to it) and busts him in about 15 seconds. They guy then tries to shout that HE was attacked and both the cop and the guy with video basically say “nope.”
One hopes they learn fast and stop it. I’ve learned that should I be in such an area, to put on my “Cowboy hard hat” (bought after the San Jose crap …) that’s an OSHA approved hard hat in the shape of a Stetson; make sure video is running, do NOT use provoking language, make sure they throw the first punch, then block and deck’em. ( I’ve got years of practice at blocking/ counter punch from class…) I’ll also be packing my motorcycle jacket (heavily padded…) so somebody whacks from behind I might notice ;-)
Another video had the Berkeley Chief Of Police asking the City Council for permission to use directed pepper spray on particular bad actors. A LOAD of Antifa folks were there to protest that the police needed nothing like that, and a couple of regular folks were there thanking the police for protecting them from the street thugs (Antifa) at the last rally. The motion passed, I think. So even in ultra liberal Berkeley the Police get it, and even the City Council was unwilling to let them “run riot” without law enforcement. Perhaps that B.P.D. is in a hiring crisis from something like 15% of their Officers quitting has driven the point home. Cops know their job, and like it, and absolutely hate it when told to “Stand Down” and let innocents be hurt. Even in Berzerkely…
@PhilJourdan:
I’d guess it’s a statistical artifact of how genes are selected over deep time. It is NOT as simple as most of the modelers thing…
@C.D.Quarles:
There are bear in most States of the union. Florida has them. Arizona has them. Even New York has them. Even dinky urban Rhode Island:
https://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2018/06/26/Bear-visits-high-school-in-Rhode-Island/1521530036164/
The Dakotas and prairies not so much, but “you need it for your camping trips” ;-)
https://geology.com/stories/13/bear-areas/
EM good to hear you got the emissions and registration sorted out. I just had to do the emissions on my Van today, but am concerned that Hickenlooper’s executive order to try to adopt California Emissions rules in Colorado will totally screw up the state. I really hope this is still born in the rules process, because it would force me to buy a new car,since both of my cars are 1990’s vintage cars and I have doubts that they will be grandfathered in such a move.
@E.M. Agreed. As I said, I am Christian, but while I like to hypothesize about ID, I do not think that this planet was fully populated a mere 200k years ago. I loved Jupiter Ascending (mostly because of Jupiter :-) ), but it is just escapist fantasy.
LL says: “Hickenlooper’s executive order ”
Watch it! EM will ban you for insulting people :)
Antifa is upposed to be anti-fascist right? IIRC, one of the tenents of fascism is to forcibly suppress the opposition. So, maybe they should just be call FA by virtue of they actions for accuracy? Hummm, FA-Q comes to mind for some reason ;-)
We have Castle laws in Florida for good reasons. I don’t think this type thing would surface here to any great extent.
https://www.gunlaws.com/FloridaCastleDoctrine.htm
@Phil:
There’s a curious parallel of many things in the Bible and reality. One, from a book who’s title I’ve quoted here but can’t pull up at the moment, basically just asked “what is a Biblical Day of creation?” Since there was no sun nor moon during the Big Bang, what was a Day? The guy was a physicist and knew about time dilation and relativity. So asked “Might it have been a time dilated day at the moment of the Big Bang?” Turns out that if you “do the math” then a “Day” at the Big Bang lasted for millions of years and then all the phases of Genesis land on their appointed “Day”.
A hell of a mathematical coincidence if just “accidental”.
So my thesis is that most of our religious insights are somewhat distorted understandings of ancient teachings of such things as the Big Bang and all. (Like the Vedas where they actually do the math for billions of years in Brahma Years or something like that, and get it pretty right.) We’ve just lost the plot a bit.
Further, I assert that Religion addresses the what and why was done, while Science addresses the how. I find the notion of a God that speaks into being the Universe in a Big Bang and puts in it physical laws that cause the creation of life via an evolutionary chain most attractive. It is truly Godlike to ponder that a half dozen equations and constants lead to “life as we know it”. If they were different, no us. So why are they “just so”? An interesting book “Is God a Mathematician” delves into that. The programmer in me is joyous over the elegance and brevity of the few equations and constants that leads inevitably to all this. One hell of a programmer would be needed to think that up and code it.
So once you partition Science into explaining HOW things were done, it is just fine to have Religion looking for insight into the why and what of things…
Which is more elegant:
To design an eyeball,
or to design laws of physics that evolve life with eyes?
Consider that the second one can be written on one sheet of letter paper…
BTW, on the genetic age thing:
There is a CRITICAL property that is often ignored when using Y Chromosome or Mitochondrial DNA.
I learned it in my upper division genetics classes but it looks like a lot of folks did not. It ONLY applies to genes that are sex linked and not to all the other genes.
You can understand it just by looking at last names and what happens with them over time.
Over time, those types that are rare are eliminated. I’d assert that if you run this math out to only one surviving type,you end up at about that 200,000 years they “found” for the start of all the species. Simply because they used sex linked mitochondrial DNA. It ONLY comes from the mother.
So let’s look at last names. Say your name is Goldendigavitch and there’s one of you in your village. There are also 20 Smiths. You plug along having little Goldendigavitches. Even have a couple of sons. But in the next generation, one of the sons only has daughters. Now the other son is back to one Goldendigavitch family in town. Eventually that other line will be all daughters too and the Goldendigavitch name ends. ALL the rest of the genetics lives on (minus the Y chromosome and the last name).
Compare the 20 Smiths. One can have all girls and in the next generation it is highly likely there will be lots of little Smiths running around from the other 19.
In fact, there is math (statistical) that covers this process and you can easily show that over time the sex linked trait that is the most common becomes more common and the ones that are rare are dropped from the gene pool. Simply because with 2 Goldendigavitchs having one have just daughters cuts your male sex linked trait population in half, while a Smith doing that is just a 1/20th loss. Roll those dice enough times you have zero Goldengigavitchs left but lots and lots of Smiths.
I have NEVER seen this pointed out in articles talking about mitochondrial DNA nor Y chromosome statistical studies and it is absolutely critical to allow for it.
Clearly for mitochondrial DNA if the mother has only sons, while they get her mitochondria, they can not pass it on to the next generation and it ends. If it is a rare type, that’s a large percentage loss and there’s less in the next generation. Eventually reaching zero as these random uniform gender families happen from time to time.
@Larry: If Hickenlooper (doe sound like an insult, eh?) won’t grandfather in ’90s vehicles, buy that 50s or 60s cruiser you’ve always wanted. I don’t think any state holds them to current standards if they are not outright belching smoke, though I could be wrong about that.
With your knowledge, you could keep that baby running forever. Back to the Future!
Facinating post by BTS the other day on some of the subjects being discussed above. Might be worth eyeballing ;-)
I guess I’m missing the joke on Hickenlooper. It sounds Stooopid to me, but not insulting. Maybe I need to visit a Sailor Bar and get updated on insults ;-)
@H.R.:
Thus my 1980 Diesel. It is smog check EXEMPT in California. So the stupid California process just drove a 1993 with great cat converter car out of State and is encouraging me to keep a ZERO emissions control straight Diesel in State.
So I’ve officially designated my Diesel as the California Car as it is less painful to deal with registration… and no smog test needed.
@Ossqss:
Just remember that Antifa was founded by the Soviet Union (International Socialists AKA Communists) to go pick street fights with National Socialists (AKA Fascists). They are essentially communist jack boot wanna-bees.
The problem now is that they believe the LIE and Propaganda, that American Nationalists (note: Non-Socialists) are “Fascists” since they have been willfully blinded to the truth of their history. American Nationalists are more Libertarian and Classical Liberal than anything else. Fascists are not “right wing”, they are a minuscule step to the right of communism, but far left of everything else.
So if you think of them as deluded propagandized Communists picking the wrong target from ignorance, you will be more more “spot on”.
As communist jack boots, they will be happy to beat people up, oppresses freedom of speech in others, claim victim status for attacking you, lie, lie, lie, and deceive. And forcibly oppress the opposition (as National Socialism is almost identical to International Socialism in all things other than the geography they intend to dominate.) Trying to find a real difference between them is an exercise in hair splitting and frustration…
By the way little lesson learned item from packing go bags in the car.
I am in the process of going through all my preparedness gear, including the go bags I keep in the cars and doing things like checking / replacing batteries, etc.
I found an interesting issue today (and also a repeat of a similar event a while back).
I keep emergency candles in the stuff I keep in the car. In one of the cars I had a small survival candle I had poured into a small salsa jar. It had gotten hot enough that the wax had behaved like silly putty and slowly flowed out the mouth of the jar.
No big deal and yesterday I re-cast it with a new wick in the same jar but this time I will include the cap to seal it off.
In one of the small back packs I pulled out of the van, I had a small nylon stuff sack with a zip lock bag inside it and inside that along with some other stuff was one of those common small votive candles (about an inch in diameter and an inch or so tall. I had wrapped the bottom of the candle with aluminum foil but had left the top open. Well apparently it got hot enough on multiple occasions to go completely liquid or nearly so, and when I opened the bag it looked like it had snow inside it along with a bare wick. The wax had flowed out forming a thin coating on the inside of the bag and then when it cooled normal jostling of travel broke that thin layer up into small chips.
It was useless as a candle in the condition I found it, but the wax flakes could have been manually stuffed into something (like the aluminum foil base) with the wick in the center and lighted, after a bit of time invested.
It would not have been immediately available as a candle, and if very cold it would have been a slow process.
So lesson learned when packing candles wrap them with foil or something similar to contain them in case they undergo partial melting, and put them in an over wrap like a plastic bag by themselves so you don’t have to pick wax flakes off of all the stuff they were packed with.
Normal paraffin melts at about 140 – 150 deg F, although some candle waxes melt at temps as low as 128 deg F. which are temps easily achieved in a car parked in the sun. If you make your own emergency candles adding stearic acid to paraffin will raise its melting point (and increase burn times slightly)
I have had candles soften and change shape slightly but this showed complete melting had taken place (perhaps that votive candle was a low melting temp wax.)
I missed the comma and a spelling error on my mobile keyboard in my original question.
“Antifa is upposed to be anti-fascist right?”
Should read-
Antifa is supposed to be anti-fascist, right?
Perhaps “correct” would have been a better word to use.
Live, learn and review before posting (particularly when using small mobile keypads and screens and driving a tractor to Linger Lodge)! Doh!
If you have not heard yet, they have found those boys trapped in a cave by flooding alive.
It may take months to get them out.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/jul/03/british-divers-at-heart-of-thai-cave-rescue-among-best-in-world
https://www.theguardian.com/world/gallery/2018/jul/03/missing-boys-found-alive-thai-cave-rescue-in-pictures
Interesting perspective on leftist hypocrisy from Calif governor decades ago when immigrants were bad, and now when they are good…
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/07/03/july-3rd-2018-presidential-politics-trump-administration-day-530/#comment-5600670
Re: bear spray – you do not need bear spray. Just a hot tub and a margarita! – http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/07/02/bear-recorded-relaxing-in-hot-tub-drinking-margarita.html
Great story about the bear in the hot tub, phil.
Problem: When the bear sleeps off the margarita and goes back and tells all his friends, that guy is going to have a backyard full of bears. Par-TAY!
@Ossqss:
Oddly, I read it as you intended; didn’t notice the missing “s” (saw it there…) and ‘heard’ an implied comma… Guess my brain has a lot of ECC going on ;-)
@PhilJourdan:
Bears ain’t dumb! There’s stories from W.W.II of bears being part of army units (one Polish one English leading to Winnie the Poo stories) and the Polish unit was logistics and on one occasion the bear joined in unloading a truck and carrying boxes (so the unit patch is now a bear ;-)
There’s a bear and hot tub / pool story every year or two. In one case (in California IIRC) a Mama Bear took her two cubs for a dip in a large So. Cal swimming pool one hot summer day. Think of the Hollywood Hills kind of place with large landscaped pool, Mama sitting in the corner watching the kids play…
@Larry:
Yeah, watching CNN at the moment who are actually reporting real news… There will be a rescue attempt tonight, but prep for months in case that doesn’t work. It’s about a km of distance to cover, several sections fully submerged, some only partly. It isn’t at all clear if the kids can be prepped enough to SCUBA out, or will need to be moved as packages in some container. Supposedly it’s a challenging dive. IMHO, as a kid who did SCUBA with zero instruction: It isn’t that hard especially in shallow water. Put a mask on them, put a tank on them, and have them practice 20 minutes in the first pool where they are trapped, then buddy dive with lead and follow pro diver and swim each kid out in stages resting in each dry segment. It ought to be fine. If some kid is problematic, deal with that issue then.
I’d expect Thai kids to be playing in water a lot and know how to swim / hold their breath. If you can not spit out the regulator and just breath, you can SCUBA in shallow water.
@Per Candles:
I ran into the same problem with REI Coop candle lanterns and loose candles. I was regularly in hot places (Phoenix, Sacramento you know, 110 F in the shade and there ain’t no shade…) My solution was the jar candle. You can also add beeswax to raise the melt tempertature. Ikea sell stearic acid candles and I now have 2 boxes of them.
I’ve since then used some to completion, but it takes a long time. Now my construction technique is to use a “chunk” of the Ikea stearic acid candle stuck in the middle, cooled in the fridge, then poor commercial was around it, apply lid. That tends to keep the wick centered even if the jar melts in Phoenix in August ;-0
They are now my ONLY emergency candle method for the car. ( I have some quart jars of the Ikea candles in the house with a book of matches inside each jar – entirely waterproof, self contained, and even with AC off they are fine in the summer.) This looks like them:
@David A:
Democrats being hypocrites, I’m shocked, shocked I say! /sarc;
@phil,
People need to read the Bible for themselves. The Bible does *not* say that the planet Earth is 6000 years old. It doesn’t say human society is 6000 years old. The Genesis “day” is a metaphor … go read the Hebrew. The metaphor is the evening (before) and the morning (after) is the day (creative event and its fruit).
I got into an argument with an apostate Jew. Nice guy but his premises were all wrong … based on known Jewish history.
The truth is we don’t know how old the planet is, nor the universe, and precise knowledge of that isn’t very useful. All of our scientific models are based on premises and observations. What happens to the conclusions when premises must be changed? Well, they change too. We do know that the universe and the planet preceded us. That, the Bible does say.
@ all,
Re evolution. Here equivocation takes over. Anything mutable, by definition, can be made to change over time. “Descent with modification” is the basis for biological evolution. [Be aware that biology started as a morphological classification system, and one mostly, if not wholly, ignorant of chemistry and physics.} Duh as Homer would say, but the phrase is a tautology. It is true, categorically. It doesn’t explain anything. The physical universe is definitely mutable. Tell me what mutable thing can bring itself into being? /rhetorical. Remember, the biologists had quite the argument over spontaneous generation.
God is Being, whole, immutable, and perfect. God is Life, too. Seek Him and ye shall find Him. When he knocks on your door, let Him in. As a child has a relationship with his parents, we, being children of Him, have a relationship with Him. He gave us ‘free will’, which means that we can act contrary to ‘nature’. We can deceive ourselves, just at that other species of Man, the non-material angel known as Lucifer did. God, though, cannot abide evil. Evil is destructive and cannot yield good fruit on its own.
Also, biology was my second collegiate minor. I could have earned the second Bachelor of Science degree if I had wanted it. I was one or two classes short of the biology major. Having the chemistry major, that ‘blindness’ in biology was obvious to me. I hold to this heretical thought. There is a conservation relation in biology too. No genetic information is ever lost. It may be ‘lost’ in individual cases or in ‘minor’ subspecies; but it is never lost to the whole system. Viruses see to that. That’s why I’m not at all upset by ‘genetic’ modification. What is biological evolution if it isn’t that, by the way. Current methods are more precise than gross trial-and-error methods. They both work and they both go awry.
@CD – I know what the Bible does not say, I was only referencing what the fundamentalists claim. Which I have never been a believer in. But the scientists in this case are trying to say that the current plethora of animal life sprang into existence a mere 200k (or less) years ago. While I may not buy into all the things taught about evolution, I do think that animals do evolve (Darwin), and to think that the Earth was populated with a bunch of new species that recently requires some kind of belief in ID, which I do think is a possibility, albeit not a strong one. So eliminating that premise, then the alternative is that the calculations of mitochondrial DNA is suspect. But what gets me is the scientists are so sure of themselves. Instead of questioning their calculations, they announce that the fauna of the planet is only 200k years old. And that I find harder to believe than ID.
@EM – We have bear sightings as well around here. But drinking a margarita? Now that is a high class bear!
@phil: The bears around my neck of the woods are working class bears. They drink Pabst Blue Ribbon and Miller. The lowlife bears drink Natty Daddy.
I’m guessing p.g. has problems keeping them out of his blackberry brandy. Mmmm, blackberries! What bear could pass that up? If p.g. survives a few tussles with the bears over his brandy, we might have to start calling him “Grizzly” Sharrow. 😜
Now if it was me, I’d share a little blackberry with a bear, but I’d draw the line if the bear started demanding cigars to go with the brandy.
😲
I wonder if bear spray works on gators?
https://www.wftv.com/news/local/lake-county-teen-gets-trapped-in-tree-after-being-chased-by-aggressive-alligator-deputies-say/781473858
I been around many gators in my time. This seems a little fishy to me. One wonders if EM fed it brandy soaked chicken? LOL
@HR , well I have been likened to a bear when irritated! ;-) “you won’t like me when I am mad.”
And have offered to go hand to hand with a blacky to protect my dog, bear chickened out and ran.
We have 20 acres, mostly woods and the woods are full of wild blackberries, so the bear have their own, and now with my Giant Thornless Blackberry patch I don’t have to steal theirs. 8-) I start my harvest tomorrow. Theirs won’t start for 2 more weeks. LoL Did I mention No Thorns!
On the other hand, the vineyard is their favorite target as it ripens in the fall when everything else is done. It is now fenced and guarded by a big loud dog.
Haven’t had a local Black bear ask for a brandy, they are far too timid. But a few years back a young Brown came through and demanded a beer from a neighbor, Got a load of buckshot at close range and a permanent residence nearby for his impertinence.
The Blackberry Brandy is under lock&key in the cellar/warehouse behind a 2′ thick oak door. But, I have been known to share with friends. This years harvest will be far in excess of our needs. I think I need more friends. Did I mention, Giant “Thornless!” Blackberries. A pleasure to pick. No thorns and shade! 8-) …pg
http://www.drroyspencer.com/2018/07/summer-causes-climate-change-hysteria/
“Article 13: UKIP Joins Pro-Free Speech #SaveTheInternet Fight, Forces EU Parliament Vote”
https://www.breitbart.com/london/2018/07/03/ukip-joins-free-speech-savetheinternet-fight-forces-eu-parliament-vote/
And on our local scene Tony Abbott is trying to save our electricity
“It’s on. Abbott dumps Paris, speaks science and ramps it up against Turnbull”
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/07/its-on-abbott-dumps-paris-speaks-science-and-ramps-it-up-against-turnbull/
It just struck me… you just transported the replacement for the ‘Banana Boat,’ which anyone who has read here for a while – lurker or commenter – knows from various tales.
Have you given the replacement a name yet? If not, I’d suggest ‘Son of Banana Boat.’ Your regular readers will get a whole story out of that reference, as will you.
Just a thought. You might prefer ‘Brown Bullet’ or something else that suits your fancy, but the replacement should have a name worthy of its predecessor.
My idle 2¢.
“FUBAR – FLAK: NSA Purge – CHAFF: DOJ Removal – COUNTERMEASURES: Senate Intel Committee Report…”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/07/03/fubar-flak-nsa-purge-chaff-doj-removal-countermeasures-senate-intel-committee-report/
This might go with that
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/07/03/washington-dc-chaff-and-countermeasures/
Interesting stuff on Anna Maria Island today while visiting the relateds staying there. Watched 2 Dolphins herd some mullet on the intercoastal side. I only recorded after the initial observation, but they worked well together. Initially, I watched them smack several with their tails and stun them. My nephew has that recorded, and I will get that too, but it was pretty cool to see in the wild.
Enjoy nature, is all I can say ;-)
I hope this works from my phone and Youtube uplink. It is not a public accessible video, for the record. Only by link.
@ossqss,
In 1948 I was attending a boarding school near Saundersfoot in south Wales. Rationing was still in full swing so we got very little meat, eggs or dairy products. At age 11, I had never seen an orange or a banana.
Every year there was a massive migration of mackerel and these fish were hunted by what we called “Porpoises”………similar to dolphins. The Porpoises have dorsal fins like sharks so it was easy to follow them as the herded the mackerel into shallow waters. The entire school turned out with nets, buckets and any kind of container including sacks. We scooped up thousands of mackerel, mostly in the rocky pools along the shoreline.
We caught enough fish to feed the entire school for a week. The mackerel were so tasty that nobody complained about the monotonous diet!
E.M.
Did you know about this?
”
He’s Innocent of Watergate (1974)
This featured Milligan and Sellers and John Bluthal, who also appeared in the Q series, and was a response to Nixon’s resignation and subsequent revelations about the Watergate scandal. It featured Milligan singing “I’m Innocent of Watergate”, a song which apparently absolved Nixon of all responsibility for criminal action.”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Goon_Show
And this is worth a listen too – the more things change the more they stay the same
”
How to Win an Election (1964)
In 1964, Milligan, Secombe and Sellers lent their voices to a comedy LP, How to Win an Election (or Not Lose by Much), which was written by Leslie Bricusse. It was not exactly a Goons reunion because Sellers was in Hollywood and had to record his lines separately. The album was reissued on CD in 1997.”
Happy Fourth, everyone!
I’m usually quite happy after a fifth, jim2, but I appreciate your good wishes to all.
😜
I’ll be celebrating the Nation’s Birthday with typical grill fare, but no fireworks.
{dons grumpy old man hat}
Every dog we’ve had goes nuts when hearing fireworks. They bark endlessly even tough we keep them indoors. I read a factoid a few years ago that more dogs run away and wind up in animal shelters on the 4th of July (+/- a few days) than at any other time of the year. I’m inclined to believe that statistic.
Our neighbors two doors down fire off some serious fireworks starting 2-3 days before the 4th and stop after running out of them a few days after the 4th. The last few years, I decided that I shouldn’t be the only one to enjoy our dogs’ constant barking, so I just leave them outside so that everyone can share the joy.
It’s the 4th, after all, and I don’t mind people celebrating with fireworks, but at 11:30 or 12:00 at night, I kinda draw the line. I did discuss this with the neighbors years ago, to no avail. My wife has called the sheriff a couple of times, but it turns out that she wasn’t the first to call each time. I guess I have some kindred curmudgeons for neighbors.
This year has been quiet, though I expect some fireworks tonight. No problemo, so long as they cut it out after 10:00 or 10:30. If they don’t, maybe my wife will get lucky and be the first caller to the sheriff this year.
{removes grumpy old man hat}
P.S. I love explosions, the bigger the better! They just don’t mix with dogs.
” “Why the hell are we standing down?” ”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2018/07/04/why-the-hell-are-we-standing-down/#comments
@H.R.:
The replacement was / is already named. Angus. He’s black… Like the Black Angus bull…
@Another Ian:
Nope. Not familiar with it.
E.M. I’d not heard of that Watergate one. If like the rest it likely “takes the piss” as the saying is in these parts. “How to win an election” certainly does.
Willis E. does some costing
“Unfortunately Every Investigative Trail Comes Back to the Dead End of FISA Abuse…”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/07/04/unfortunately-every-investigative-trail-comes-back-to-the-dead-end-of-fisa-abuse/
Best 4th of July picture of all time.
😆🤣😆🤣😁 That Pantifa logo needs to go viral. I’ll do my part where I can.
The Proud Boys should consider adding that as a patch on their shirts or hats.
I agree, they ought to get a flag made like that and fly it when Antifa shows up.
It is amazing that statists (Nazis, Marxists and plain old fashioned dictators for life) hate:
INDIVIDUALISM
FREE SPEECH
FREE MARKETS
ELECTIONS
Yet they love VIOLENCE, especially when it involves killing their own citizens:
Chicoms………81 million
USSR………….62 million
NAZIs………….21 million
Rummel plausibly estimates 262 million “Deaths By Government” in the last 100 years.
Hates trial and error, creative, out and about, open society life!
Loves thou shalt not!Turn off the lights…
Hmm, phil, I wonder about that “fundamentalist” thing. I’ve talked to a few … and none hold to that idea, because that 6000 year thing was the work of a man. True, he was a bishop; but still, a man. I am more likely to hear that canard from a Biblical disbeliever than I am a believer, for whatever that’s worth.
Hmm, phil, I wonder about that “fundamentalist” thing. I’ve talked to a few … and none hold to that idea, because that 6000 year thing was the work of a man. True, he was a bishop; but still, a man. I am more likely to hear that canard from a Biblical disbeliever than I am a believer, for whatever that’s worth.
Argh, another double post. I’ve cleaned my mouse and keyboard, to the extent I can. Maybe I need to replace the mouse first.
@CD ;-)
Pruitt out at EAP http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/07/05/scott-pruitt-resigns-as-epa-chief-trump-announces.html
I was not a fan of how he handled his expenses, but we need a man like that at the EPA. I doubt we will have a new director until next year sometime, possibly not until after the 2020 elections.
No surprise here – this is not a news flash folks could predict this 2-3 years ago.
Just a question of when it would get this bad.
http://dailycaller.com/2018/07/03/venezuelans-forced-barter/
Jon K
Seems an appropriate day for this to surface – via Jo Nova
“43 Obama Era EPA Scandals the Media Ignored
Created by Tom
https://lists.grabien.com/list-epa-scandals-under-obama-administration “
I used to view independent voters as something like libertarian, who didn’t fit the mold of either of the main parties. But lately it has dawned on me that some number of independents are outright socialists – like Bernie Sanders. In reality, this sort of independent is just a Dimowit on steroids.
In fact, this poll seems to imply a lot of independents are of the socialist type.
The other chart put them squarely in the Dimowit class.
https://news.gallup.com/poll/236420/record-low-extremely-proud-americans.aspx?g_source=link_NEWSV9&g_medium=TOPIC&g_campaign=item_&g_content=In%2520U.S.%2c%2520Record-Low%252047%2525%2520Extremely%2520Proud%2520to%2520Be%2520Americans
Looks like the vacuum cleaner has drawn more dirt!
“Apparently the FBI Withheld Strzok and Page Memos/Emails From Inspector General and Congress – Until Now…”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/2018/07/06/apparently-the-fbi-withheld-strzok-and-page-memos-emails-from-inspector-general-and-congress-until-now/
A comment on the North Korean negotiations.
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1015692548998815744.html
For real of just more FUD?
“Red-hot planet: All-time heat records have been set all over the world during the past week”,
“Montreal, Glasgow, Belfast and Yerevan, Armenia, are among the international cities to set all-time-high temperatures.””
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2018/07/03/hot-planet-all-time-heat-records-have-been-set-all-over-the-world-in-last-week
E.M.
Saved!
“REMEMBER HOW COFFEE WAS ALREADY BEING WIPED OUT BY WARMING?”
“Another busted warming scare – that global warming would wipe out many coffee growers. In fact, that it was destroying crops already. ”
More at
https://www.heraldsun.com.au/blogs/andrew-bolt/remember-how-coffee-was-already-being-wiped-out-by-warming/news-story/1dbacbd3e01618cae158ce3eddc88c5f
jim2 says:
8 July 2018 at 1:41 am
For real of just more FUD?”
Jim, some help for you to decide
“Friday Funny: Scottish “record high temperature” caused by Ice Cream Truck”
Seems the one in Algeria is likely sus also
So, I was discussing camping and happened to come across this item by virtue of a friend pointing me there. I found it good enough to post. Oh, it has bacon in it too! ;-)
Hmmm somehow I missed this earlier when it was first announced, perhaps the media did not bother to cover it?
Defense department getting its first in history full financial audit!
http://www.wnd.com/2018/07/unpleasant-surprises-expected-in-pentagon-audit/
This is how you clean up a mess, first you have to define the mess.
Start at this Tesla comment and follow down
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/07/weekend-unthreaded-219/#comment-2018934
First ever audit of the DoD, unpleasant surprises I’m sure.
The last time we thought about bidding on a Defense contract, the cost of the required paper work was 4 times the total job cost of a comparable civilian job. That was on our end. I’m sure that they spend many times that on their end of any procurement. The Pentagon is a paperwork factory, defense is a by-product. Lots of room for waste and graft to sneak into that kind of system and it becomes automatic once it sneaks in. Last I heard the Pentagon has 4 times the paper pushers then they had to run WWII and a much larger military. Most of that waste is now considered to be a necessary part of their operations so I doubt that an audit will discover that waste. A audit will only expose sloppy book keeping…pg
I bet with just a little effort they could save enough money to restart the F-22 production line.
pg
Re the Pentagon – Welcome to Parkinson’s Law
Welcome to Parkinson’s Law?
Don’t think I have heard of that one. Must be special. ;-) …pg
Gee what a surprise!
These apps should be banned for people in highly sensitive postings.
https://www.bellingcat.com/resources/articles/2018/07/08/strava-polar-revealing-homes-soldiers-spies/
LL Re Polar
Missile – check
Bomb – check
Targeting App – check
Parkinson’s law is the adage that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. It is sometimes applied to the growth of bureaucracy in an organization.
Okay show of hands how many folks here have seen a working model (or similar) of both of these TV’s
@Larry: My grandmother had zero interest in television. My grandfather loved baseball and had no vices except his love of baseball. (Around 1910-ish, the Pittsburgh pirates offered him a contract as a pitcher. His father threatened to dis-own him, as pro baseball players were considered lower and more disreputable than “show folks,” so he declined and just continued playing for the town team as an amateur.) It was wonderful; the stories he could tell and the old pro players he knew and pitched against! I’d kill for just one of any of those players’ baseball cards.
Anyhow, I believe that just before 1960, he bought a color television. He was the only one I knew who had one of out of everyone I knew at the time. It was his only indulgence in his entire life and he only watched baseball on it. For some reason, early on, major league baseball broadcast games in color, which is why he bought one.
Also, it was fun to watch baseball games with him. He was near deaf as a post and would mutter and exclaim to himself as he watched the calls and most of all, watched the game slowing down over the years as the catcher would come out to the mound about every other pitch. Disgusting to him. Just get on with the game, fer cryin’ out loud! What do you have to discuss; dinner after the game? Working out the menu?
He also didn’t hold much truck with pitchers who couldn’t pitch a complete game, let alone complete double headers. Softies! Wimps! Coddled, overpaid* whippersnappers! He was better than any ‘color man’ when watching a game.
*Back when, all but the top half-dozen players held jobs in the off season. Pro ball didn’t pay all that much. By the ’40’s, ballplayers were getting about two to three times what a factory worker would get, thus the ‘overpaid’ remarks.
Thanks for the images, Larry. Something similar must have brought that comparison of color TV cost to your mind.
Oh, P.S. Larry… I think the TV grand-dad had was a 19″. So, no, I’ve never seen on of those 15-inchers.
We had the B&W equivalent of that old TV, but a bit bigger screen. Dad paid $700 for it IIRC.
I have seen the 50 inch sets, but they are too big for my living room ;-)
I’ve seen the color old ones, but in other kid’s homes.
Similar thing can be said / shown with radios, computers, etc. etc.
Interesting item here from Twitter:
Katica
@GOPPollAnalyst
5 hours ago
FBI Vault, Part 23; pages 121-132 – Here are two pages of the letter, but read the whole thing though.
Former Secretary of State employee letter to James @comey regarding evidence against Hillary Clinton.
https://vault.fbi.gov/hillary-r.-clinton/Hillary%20R.%20Clinton%20Part%2023%20of%2023/view
When color TV came out there was not much demand for it – people were quite happy with a working B&W picture so I would bet the the TV manufactures worked a deal with baseball to broadcast in color and then show the games in the stores where the men would watch the game while the women shopped.
Subliminal sales pitch (all that beautiful green grass probably was eye candy too for folks used to B&W)
I recall my uncle got the first family owned clicker TV in the 60’s. The kids were the remote control before that! No batteries in those either. Ultrasonic IIRC, but the dogs heard it :-)
I have wondered why this strategy was not used a long long time ago.
Grow opium poppies for the bad guys, – get bombed.
http://thehill.com/policy/defense/361227-us-begins-bombing-taliban-opium-plants-in-afghanistan
ossqss: ” The kids were the remote control before that!”
😆🤣🤣😁😆😆🤣
Yep! Good shows. Great times. Your memory is right on the money.
One show that was a must see was the “Bugs Bunny Show” at 8:00pm on Thursdays. Mom would let us stay up past our 8:00pm bedtime to watch it. Classical music, double entendres, and references to classic literature made it A-OK for us to watch. One of the great influences on my life. See below why I’m surprised that she let us watch.
.
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@Larry – Sports have always been big media money and it’s really no surprise to me that they were early broadcasters of color TV.
.
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Being allowed to stay up and watch Bug Bunny was a big deal. Mom was what we’d call now a Bible thumper. As we (4 kids) became old enough to read, we took turns reading 2 chapters each night from the King James version of the Bible. It didn’t hurt anything and helped a lot with our academics. It certainly shaped my character, particularly with respect to honesty and truthfulness. I can only recall a few movies she allowed us to see growing up; “Flipper” and, “The Wizard of Oz,” and… well, there must have been a couple of others. Movies were not “edifying” to the soul.
Oh, she allowed questions and skepticism as one verse admonished to “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12). She raised us with her particular religious biases and wanted us to follow in her ways and beliefs, but she never complained to us as we each sought our own path to understanding God and the universe. She was well aware that no one had the absolute “Truth” and she continually sought after the “Truth,” well aware that she would not know it until after death.
Hmmmm… wandered off a little bit to the serious side after ossqss’ amusing comment. Sorry. Mom died July 27th, 2017 and it has been popping into mind here and there as the first anniversary of that date grows closer. Mild sadness and a lot of smiles and good memories for the 95 years she had on Earth. It’s not a downer by any means… amazing life well lived… took a nap and never woke up again in this world… no pain. We should all be so blessed.
Re: “Okay show of hands how many folks here have seen a working model (or similar) of both of these TV’s”
Re: “Parkinson’s law is the adage that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. It is sometimes applied to the growth of bureaucracy in an organization.”
I keep mumblng to myself a lot lately, “Of the bureaucrats, by the bureaucrats, and for the bureaucrats”.
Can’t for the life of me figure out why.
/sarc
Uh-oh… my “raises hand” comment disappeared.
Shows how much actual HTML I ever write…!
I thought our first TV (early 60s) was colour, but I was watching Robin Hood and it was a 9″ CRT (round type with a square bezel) with green phosphor, so greyish/no light and light green not black and white. At least the trees were somewhere near the right colour, though.
I don’t remember a 1954 TV, but I do remember a 1960 one. I remember when my grandparents bought a color TV, too, in 1964, a portable one on a cart. Yep, i was the remote control :p. That one got replaced a few years later by a $500 console model. (That was a lot of money in those days … you could get a nice car for that!) Grandfather died a few years later. The TV was on during ‘soap opera’ hours. Grandma loved those. It was turned off until the evening ‘news’ hour, then turned off for the night, unless there was a baseball game on. Granddad loved baseball. When the Milwaukee Braves moved to Atlanta, granddad loved it. During baseball season, there was a Braves game on every week then the October Classic, which never had the Braves in it, back then.
We bought our first black and white TV when I was very small, probably about 1954. We had it for months before the original Mickey Mouse club show episode aired on Oct 03, 1955 ( I remember this because I recall running home from the play ground to watch the first episode.).
Being B&W its screen was a bit bigger I suspect it was a 17″ or so but was of similar design. It was replaced with a B&W console AM-FM stereo and record player which my parents kept into the late 1960’s.
Being the youngest in the family I was also the remote control –
Larry change it to channel 4, or Larry move the rabbit ears and see if you can get a better picture.
“When color TV came out there was not much demand for it – people were quite happy with a working B&W picture “
Except the Cunninghams! Most folks do not know or forgot that the start of Happy days was NOT American Graffiti, but rather an episode of Love, American Style. Where the hot chick in school would not give Richie the time of day until his father got a color TV! Then she dated him.
The First color TV in my house came in the mid 70s, while I was in College. I personally did not own one until the mid 80s.
Filed under useless trivia – ever wonder which military unit a video shows when the only clue is the uniform style?
Here is a website that lets you look through a library of camouflage patterns listed by country and period of use.
http://camopedia.org/index.php?title=Main_Page
All your base belong to us!
Using only publicly available information and meta data researchers can identify an account with 96.7 percent accuracy, using just their tweets and publicly available metadata.
Even for accounts which use anonymizing techniques they get better than 95% accuracy and if they screen the 10 most likely candidates the succeed 99.22% of the time in identifying the user posting the tweet.
https://www.rt.com/news/432372-twitter-metadata-id-users/
“which never had the Braves in it, back then.”
Yea, the Miracle Mets killed their chance in 69. That was the series I did not watch, as I was in Jr. High, so I listened to it on my brand new transistor radio (about the size of 2 decks of cards stacked on top of each other) at School.
IIRC Father brought home our first TV about 1950. KCRA Sacramento went on the air and we got a shiny new Zenith entertainment center in a fine Mahogany cabinet, phonograph,Am-FM radio and 12inch VHF Television. I spent many hours listening to music and watching test pattern until the evening news came on. This was followed by Network offerings, then Cartoons right when I had to go to bed! DARN! what a gip. About a year later Kid Vid was born. Captain Sacto, and and others in the afternoon. The Idiot Box became the afternoon baby sitter. In “55” Father laid off the hired man and I became the farm hand, with chores from school to dark. After supper, home work, nuts!
The Network went to Color with Bonanza ( 57? ) and father had a brand new Motorola 19″ console and the Zenith was moved to the side of the room. The Motorola used a printed circuit board with discrete components and tubes on mounts. After 4+ years the board began to fail because the Hot tubes cooked out the board beneath them. That fall in 1961 our home burned to the ground, caused by gas floor furnace, not the TV. We got a new color 23 ” TV even before we started a new house!….pg
Re: p.g.’s floor furnace.
The house that had the floor furnace was the same house I remember watching our first B&W TV in. It was a nice floor model with weird rectangular, horizontal pushbuttons. I think one was the power button, while the other was the channel changer. It was sort of automatic. You pushed the button and could hear the mechanism spin to the next channel. If you had a picture that rolled vertically, you had to learn where to hit on the top of the TV set with your fist.
There was also a round control on the back that we could use to move between all the channels, not only the ones “programmed” to be controlled by the pushbutton on the front of the console.
We were about an hour away from one of the metropolitan centers where the TV stations resided. There was an alternate metropolitan center with another set of channels, but we had to manually position the back-of-set control to pick them up (sometimes we had to manually hold the control between stations to improve reception). Oh, and move the rabbit ears. They never were very clear, those channels from the alternate metro area.
I remember sitting on someone’s lap to watch the B&W showing of Peter Pan, with Mary Martin in the starring role. I never could see the wires they flew her on. I’m sure the grownups talked about it. Of course, being small enough to sit on someone’s lap for an entire movie, I probably was not as discerning as some. ;-) It took about as much faith to believe the grownups’ talk about wires as to believe Mary Martin actually flew!
That was the same TV we watched the JFK funeral on. No cartoons for us then!
I also remember watching The Music Man on that TV. How did they get those little toys to march all by themselves?
I didn’t have a color TV until 1986. That was after spending 10 years without any TV at all. I only got the one in 1986 because my housemates wanted me to invest in a color TV and cable. (They helped pay for the cable, of course.)
The summer of 1976 was difficult. My favorite old boyfriend got married. :-( Also, I had to move twice. I was pretty poor all summer. I even took in sewing, in addition to my day job. And I sold my little portable B&W TV to my mom to raise some cash. I enjoyed life-without-TV so much that I went without it for a decade. :-)
As a kid I used to pluck a few tubes from the B&W TV when it went on the fritz and took them up to the street to the corner store which had a tube tester. Fixed it more than once. I had been warned about the big red wire and knew how to discharge it if necessary.
The next few weeks will be very interesting as the Progressive left turns everything inside out to try and disqualify an excellent Supreme Court Justice nomination.
Judicial Watch statement on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/judicial-watch-statement-on-supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh/
Well Trump and Kavanaugh did a good job of speechifying this evening. Schumer and his crowd jumped right up and declared that they could not tolerate a judge that might read and follow terms the Constitutional contract, And the Senate leadership says they will not tolerate any Democratic delay tactics. If the new justice is seated for the new session before the election, the Democratic get out the vote effort will collapse, The next Congress will be under solid Republican control.
Since the FDR New Deal expanded the 7 member Supreme Court to 9 so that they could pack the court with Liberals that would mold application of law. We now will again have a Court that will direct the Federal Government to obey it’s founding Documents
As foretold, “The philosophy of More is being discredited and erased”…pg
@p.g. – FDR never actually expanded the court. He threatened to, but apparently the threat was enough to flip a couple of the judges to see things his way. The court has been at 9 judges in 1869.
thanks phil, my bad ;-( lol…pg
Hummm…….That would mean that the 7 to 9 packing was part of the American Bar’s effort to rewrite the Constitution during the Civil War of Aggression against the southern states. Lincoln said he “made a deal with the devil to save the Union” He needed cover to institute Income Tax (IRS) , conscription (the draft) suspend the protections against search and seizure, arbitrary arrest and military courts for civil actions and nullify the 10th amendment,
Erase the 13th amendment of 1819 that outlawed the membership of Americans in a bar association. The very reason that Lincoln was able to call himself and work as a Lawyer because he read 3 law books!…pg
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