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/2018/12/19/w-o-o-d-19-december-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?
We made it through Christmas without anything too horrible happening, now most of the news stations seem to be hung over and running canned stories. Good news is no news? ;-)
Brexit is on pause until sometime in January. The Yellow Vests are on pause until some time in January. The US Government is on pause until sometime next year. So pause it is.
Trump has said he’s pulling troops out of Syria (all of about 2000 of them) and The Left sees this as the end of the world as we know it. Yeah, right. Turkey has said it wants to slaughter the Kurds (whom we are sort of protecting) and The Left wants to blame us for this. The Kurds rang up Assad and asked to be part of Syria again, so Syria is putting Syrian troops into the Kurdish area. Will Turkey take on Syria IN Syria? Russia is cutting some kind of deal with Turkey to avoid mutual conflict (a Good Thing as Turkey is a NATO member so in theory someone hits Turkish troops we’re back in big time.) Somewhere in all this there will be a Saudi influence / presence.. but likely nothing until January.
I think I’m seeing a trend ;-)
The “UN Migration Pact” has been ratified by all the countries that want to dump their poor and dependent population into the USA & Europe; and ratified by those countries dominated by Globalist Evil Bastards. It has not been ratified by those countries targeted for Demographic Swamping and destruction where those countries have Nationalist leaders with a working brain. I guess pouring gasoline on a fire makes sense to the UN / EU as France to Sweden burn… But nothing going to happen until… oh, you know ;-)
The Stock Market is being volatile. That often happens near bottoms (long term or short reversals) so I need to do a full on chart reading and see what I think about it. Maybe before January ;-) For now it’s just a matter of “Don’t fight The Fed”. When The Fed is raising rates, stocks drop. Usually after a couple of early rises it pauses, then it takes a drop. No surprise there. There is a bit of a surprise in that the Computer Trading Algorithms are a bit prone to frantic side flipping in thin markets (they amount to about 70% of all trades now, though RT just reported it at 85%, so when they “swap sides” it’s a huge shift, instantly, from bull to bear and the market goes frantic both ways…). Holiday markets are thin. But that will change when all the human traders come back to work… In January.
We’ve got Little (up)Chucky Schumer on TV claiming it is due to “Trump plunging us into chaos” – get ready for a 2 year steady diet of that crap when the Dimocrat Leadership is back in power in The House… in January.
Musings from the Chiefio 
RT is running a story that some Democrats & sympathizers set up fake Russian Bots during the election so as to ‘support’ the Russia hacking story. Supposedly someone in Alabama has found it out and it was reported in a major US Paper. I’ve not gone looking further, but if true, that’s just huge. This looks like the same or related story:
https://www.foxnews.com/us/cyber-group-touted-by-dems-for-bombshell-russia-report-was-behind-disinformation-efforts-in-alabama-senate-race
https://mashable.com/article/linkedin-reid-hoffman-new-knowledge-fake-news-alabama.amp
This report also looks interesting:
Click to access Report-Skolkvovo-08012016.pdf
description here:
https://truepundit.com/from-russia-with-money-how-the-clinton-cartel-silicon-valley-got-filthy-rich-upgrading-the-russian-military/
Newly identified attack vector for hackers uses twitter meme images and their metadata to send commands to a process. May not be fully implemented yet and undergoing development but worth knowing about.
Sounds like browsers and antivirus systems need to implement an image metadata analysis engine as part of their security methods, to examine the contents before down loading the image.
https://thehackernews.com/2018/12/malware-twitter-meme.html
The housing crises was precipitated by the democrat takeover of congress in 06. The stock market bearishness started after the democrats took the house on election day. Politicians lie. But those making their living on the stock market always seek the truth, not the hype.
If Trump stands firm against Pelosi, the market will return.
This was interesting. Not sure where to put it though?
Soooooooo, plop
https://www.visualcapitalist.com/200-years-u-s-immigration/
Check back to some of my comments about that really sleazy special election here at the time. That was the sleaziest in my memory. Likely one of the sleaziest ever in Alabama history and some have been major league doozies. That whole thing was rotten from the beginning. Gov. Bentley let a lot of people down (about 5 million). And to think that he was a pretty decent ENT back in the 80s, if I am remembering correctly. I spotted that article some days ago; though I forget where I first saw it. I didn’t think it worth reposting (update, I think I saw it on Powerline Blog). Oh well, live and learn. Oh yeah, it is true. There are, or were, a number of lawsuits filed. I have not looked at the 4 Judge Moore filed since my last check back in September or so. And they’re going after The Donald over so-called campaign ‘finance’ violations over a seemingly standard NDA. Hmm, speaking of that, let’s see what AL.com has to say. They were, willful or not, a part of that operation, mostly indirectly. Check out the Highway 31 PAC. Never heard of them before that election. I hear they’re defunct now. Again, I may be wrong.
On Meet The (De)Press(ed) today, there is a large segment on “climate change.” They talked to Bloomberg first, now Kate Marvel of NASA is on a panel. I don’t need to mention which way the discussion is going. (More hurricanes, wildfires, and extreme weather)
@jim2 – Since the solution to any political problem is to raise taxes, I don’t see our current crop of Uniparty representatives passing on the opportunity to address the Climate Change Crisis… “the biggest threat facing humanity.”
We could all call and write our congresscritters and point out that the “do nothing” option is an excellent response to “climate change,” but it would be to no avail. None of this is about a changing climate and it has everything to do with money for the ‘ruling class.’
(Yeah, I’m preaching to the choir here, but it doesn’t hurt to say it again.)
Oh, I saw a news blurb somewhere that said, “[…] according to a spokesperson for Ocasio-Cortez.”
I thought, “Aarrrgh! She has staff! God help us all. She has ‘people’ now!”
Worse yet, she’s from a district that thinks she makes sense.
I couldn’t pass this one up. It’s a youtube titled, “Total Idiots at Work”… #2. no less.
8 minutes long and hang in there until about the 7 minute+/- mark for a guy with a forklift and a boat. WAFI!
Yes just watched several of those videos, obvious why some folks have real difficulty with technology and progress.
IPCC shenanigans. Now you see it, now you don’t, now you see it again but it isn’t quite the same. Start here
http://joannenova.com.au/2018/12/weekend-unthreaded-241/#comment-2088384
The money quote is in the next comment to that
“I just noticed something strange about the re-posted AR3 report; it appears that the IPCC did a stealth edit to the original quote changing “The climate system is a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore the long-term prediction of future climate states is not possible.” to “The climate system is a coupled non-linear chaotic system, and therefore the long-term prediction of future EXACT climate states is not possible.” Its a good thing I don’t have a suspicious mind or I might attribute this change to nefarious intentions.”
Oh this is just peachy! I am sure Occasional Cortex (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) will love this idea.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/andrew-yang-wants-to-run-for-president-promising-free-cash-handouts.html
Where did these clueless idiots go to school and study math?
Study math? Why on earth would any polysci or sociology major ever study math? It just gets in the way of your cool ideas!
/sarc; … I hope…
@E.M.Smith:
I have a good friend who got his degree in sociology. Knowing him to be a solid, thoughtful person, I asked why. He said, ” It was the easiest, quickest degree I could get. The Army said I had to have one so I could fly helicopters. ” He was a Cobra pilot for quite a while.
After the Army he ran a cardboard box mill until it closed ( decision above him ). Somewhere along the way he had picked up enough math to get by. ;-)
@Larry re videos of ‘real genius’… NOT!
I didn’t see any beer… and they reproduce! Scary….
@corsair red: What?!? A degree in underwater basket weaving was too hard? 😜
Great story on the pathway to being a helicopter pilot. Thanks.
E.M. FYI a 3-part series on education in Australia
“Another Brick in the Wall
A three part series examining Australia’s failing educational system”
http://pickeringpost.com/story/another-brick-in-the-wall/8709
“ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL PT 2
How Good is Australian Education?”
http://pickeringpost.com/story/another-brick-in-the-wall-pt-2/8714
“ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL PART 3
Marxist ideology has infiltrated all levels of the Australian education system.”
http://pickeringpost.com/story/another-brick-in-the-wall-part-3/8731
So much for fingerprint security access to personal computing devices.
Seems the implementation leaves a lot to desire in regard to the security it provides.
Never mind the privacy issues biometrics will just change the attack surface for security while giving an impression it is highly secure when the actual implementation throws away much of the unique data contained in the finger print to reduce memory demands.
https://www.cnbc.com/2018/12/28/research-claims-fake-fingerprints-could-hack-a-third-of-smartphones.html
Also re Australian education
http://pickeringpost.com/cartoon/8735
Gonski is the planner of the super saving of Australian education. Costa-plenty, not so much knowledge produced
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/612683/the-10-most-intriguing-inventions-of-2018/
Cool little item here due to the mission being finally declassified.
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2018/12/30/finally-declassified-swedish-pilots-awarded-us-air-medals-for-saving-sr-71-spy-plane/
Happy New Year to all!
I pledge to not post comments in the wrong spots this coming year! Oh wait, nevermind!
Word Up, don’t go to Walleyworld for dog food when they place clearance items at 75% off on New Years eve day!
Oh the pain!
Going 100% wind and solar power on fixed price long term contracts appears to be a bad idea, during the era of fracking and low cost natural gas. Gee who would have imagined this ?
I am shocked – shocked I tell you that fossil fuel prices have dropped.
https://www.dailysignal.com/2018/12/19/texas-city-featured-in-al-gores-inconvenient-sequel-lost-millions-in-its-green-energy-gamble/
“This morning, we’re going to do something that we don’t often get to do: dive in on one topic,” Todd said after showing video clips of dramatic weather incidents in the last year. He continued that climate change is “a literally earth-changing subject that doesn’t get talked about this thoroughly, at least on television news.”
“Just as important as what we are going to do is what we’re not going to do,” Todd said. “We’re not going to debate climate change, the existence of it. The earth is getting hotter and human activity is a major cause, period.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/sunday-talk-shows/423264-chuck-todd-says-his-show-is-not-going-to-give-time-to-climate
Happy New Year All!
Looks like the anti-gunners are going to go full nut case this coming year or two.
As far as I can determine, there was only one scientist on Chucky’s show along with a couple of Obummer-era officials, and some politicians. Not exactly a panel of scientists.
unseen1 Retweeted
Michael Moates
@freedom_moates
5 hours ago
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My new neighbor is a liberal feminist. I just renamed my WiFi to Trump is your President.
@Larry:
Ooooh! I LIKE it…
I have 2 WiFi devices both with guest networks (and one with both 3g and 5g variations) for a total of 6 names spaces available….
I could sure make an interesting statement ;-)
Per Florida gun law:
Well, we’ll see if the folk in Florida are bright or not (and if I’m living in Florida or in Tennessee… )
In Florida has a fairly easy CCW law and you can open carry when fishing, so I’d expect this to be voted down, but who knows. As California did the 10 Rd thing, most of mine are 10 rd or so. Not going to less than that. Since ANY bolt hunging rifle is designed for the same basic ambush hunting process as “sniping”, any attempt to ban “sniper rifles” is de facto banning hunting rifles.
It is apparently snowing in north Scottsdale Az
Happy New Year to all, and best wishes for a large dose of personal prosperity in the coming years.
I was planning a run to Florida and saw weather reports for snow down the mountains all the way to Mexico .. so put it off a day or two. Phoenix was not to be snow, but cold rain I think…
IIRC, El Paso was supposed to get snow too …
20 Minutes to east coast New Years… Time to open the wine bottle ;-)
Happy East Coast New Years!!!
(We usually celebrate it at this time as the spouse fades rapidly after 9pm… she tends to wake up at 4 am every day ;-)
Dedicated to this blog (EM) and all those participate.
Thank You!
Interesting article from Sharyl Attkisson’s Full Measure.
The current Editor in Chief of the British journal Lancet, Dr. Richard Horton, wrote a scathing editorial saying: “Much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue; science has taken a turn towards darkness.”
This is the modern payola scandal and everyone is simply ignoring it. Not a big surprise everyone with a brain has seen this for years in climate science dog and pony shows.
http://fullmeasure.news/news/cover-story/fake-science-08-06-2017
Interesting statistics here on potential gun buyers who failed background checks and were refused.
These numbers were as of Nov 30 2018 so will be higher at end of year, with total number of illegal aliens denied gun purchase will likely hit about 8.5 million by the end of the year 2018.
https://www.diamondandsilk.com/blog/2018/12/31/fbi-just-revealed-an-incredible-statistic-about-illegal-aliens-and-guns-everyone-should-read/
“The current Editor in Chief of the British journal Lancet, Dr. Richard Horton, wrote a scathing editorial saying: “Much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue; science has taken a turn towards darkness.””
I’ve been at a seminar where Horton was one of the speakers. He is NOT one of the good guys. The half he is referring to is not necessarily the half you might think, and he is one of the prime gatekeepers of whether bad science gets published. His editorial policy is troubling, politically, because Lancet is not meant to push ideology or policy, but it does. Don’t just believe me, check out his history.
A look at where our social contract may be headed and the forces that changed it following WWII
Very interesting read:
https://americanaffairsjournal.org/2018/05/classless-utopia-versus-class-compromise/
Background:
1866
https://www.britannica.com/event/Granger-movement
1914
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludlow_Massacre
1921
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Blair_Mountain
1927
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbine_Mine_massacre
The deplorables and the Trump Train? 2016 –
@Larry Ledwick,
“The current Editor in Chief of the British journal Lancet, Dr. Richard Horton, wrote a scathing editorial saying: “Much of the scientific literature, perhaps half, may simply be untrue; science has taken a turn towards darkness.”
Sad but true. Junk science depends on tribalism. When Nobel prize winners in the hard sciences criticize squishy sciences their comments are declared illegitimate because they are not “Behavioral Scientists”, “Climate Scientists” etc.
I am with Dr. Horton but he is being far too kind when he suggests that “perhaps half” of the scientific literature is untrue. In “Reading Research” less than 1% of the peer reviewed papers meets even “Squishy Science” standards. Behavioral sciences are almost as bad as John Staddon explains here:
https://quillette.com/2018/10/07/the-devolution-of-social-science/
GC
Somewhere earlier today I saw an item on this which suggests we are looking at the wrong side of Dr Horton’s comments and his history.
I’ll see if I can find it
Rhoda K above it was
@Larry Ledwick:
Thank you for the social contract links. That was interesting reading.
Okay for today’s entertainment we have “how a liberal robs a bank”
(caution video has some strong language so not work safe for speaker audio)
https://twitter.com/IsraelUSAforevr/status/1080281115640905728
She is either nuts or undergoing drug with drawl and needing cash to buy her next fix, no normal person would do what she is doing.
LOL, I vote both Larry!
This was an ominous sign for Georgia yesterday.
https://mobile.twitter.com/SportsCenter/status/1080269997396631553
Hmmmm this is interesting if true;
What rabbit is he getting ready to pull out of his hat? Military build the wall to snub the Dems?
Bree :)
@BreeTide
11 minutes ago
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Brilliant: Trump’s 3pm border security meeting with GOP leaders will be held in the super secure Situation Room because he’s classified the border issue as a national-security crisis.
Interesting bit here on copyright laws changing with the new year, that I had forgotten about.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2019/jan/02/the-drought-is-over-mass-us-copyright-expiry-brings-flood-of-works-into-public-domain
E.M. reference your planned travel just had this pop up on my weather service forecast page this morning.
http://origin.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/discussions/hpcdiscussions.php?disc=pmdspd
Short Range Forecast Discussion
NWS Weather Prediction Center College Park MD
313 AM EST Wed Jan 02 2019
Valid 12Z Wed Jan 02 2019 – 12Z Fri Jan 04 2019
…Heavy rain and potential flash flooding possible for Southeast Texas
and into portions of the Southeast…
…Snow and ice to impact areas from New Mexico eastward into Oklahoma…
A mid-level low will move across the Southwest and into the southern
Plains late Wednesday night and into early Thursday morning. This will
bring additional snowfall totals across higher elevations across New
Mexico today–particularly where there are winter weather advisories and
winter storm warnings in effect. As this low moves farther east, a
quasi-stationary boundary will continue to meander along the central and
western Gulf Coast through Thursday. This will bring showers and
thunderstorms across Southeast and South-Central Texas in addition to
portions of the lower Mississippi Valley today. By Thursday, a surface low
will lift northward into the Southeast, bringing additional rainfall to
parts of the western Gulf Coast, lower Mississippi Valley northward into
the Tennessee Valley. By Friday morning, expect precipitation to shift
eastward across most of the Southeast as the system progresses to the
north and east. There is a slight chance of flash flooding from Southeast
Texas into central Mississippi for today, shifting to most of Louisiana
eastward into central Georgia on Thursday.
In addition to the flash flooding concerns, this system will also bring
hazardous weather due to wintry precipitation. As precipitation increases
across Texas, the north end of this precipitation shield will produce snow
and freezing rain. Ice will be a particular hazard for Central Texas
northward into Oklahoma on Wednesday night and into Thursday. Furthermore,
snow will also be impacting these regions–with as much as 6 inches
possible along portions of the Red River Valley. These conditions will
make traveling very difficult. Please see http://www.weather.gov for more
specific information on watches, warnings, and advisories for the
different regions that will be impacted by this system.
As a system in the Pacific slides closer to the Pacific Northwest, rain
and higher elevation snow will begin to increase by Wednesday night and
into Thursday. Snow accumulations will impact the Washington Cascades,
with some accumulations in the Oregon Cascades and northern portions of
the Northern Rockies. In terms of temperatures, the southern Plains and
Four Corners will be below normal for today and Thursday–with high
temperatures being nearly 25 degrees below normal. The northern Plains and
Upper Midwest will be warm on both Thursday and Friday–with temperatures
reaching 20 degrees above normal.
Reinhart
Surely this cannot be real? If so, it should be a headline news item ;-)
https://mobile.twitter.com/ChrisStigall/status/1080460667373711361
@Larry – I don’t think you got your forecast posted before E.M. grabbed his hat and coat and ran out the door.
I don’t think a bit of snow on the interstates will be bothersome. The interstates are kept pretty clear and unless you are traveling when there is a heavy snowfall and the road crews can’t keep up, the interstates are pretty safe if you slow down to what the fall rate dictates.
Those ice storms though? Well, they are always good for a reminder that a body in motion will stay in motion until a force acts on it.
Old story: My wife and I were working in a 1-traffic light town and on our way home to our 3-traffic light down even further out from the main metro area just after a freezing rain fell. Temperatures were at about 30(F).
At the southern edge of the 1-light town there was an S-curve because of some old property line, a rock that couldn’t be moved, and old swamp hole… who knows? It was banked at about 5 degrees mostly to drain water as the speed limit was still 25 mph for another 400-500 yards until you cleared the city limit.
I took that turn at about 2-3 mph and was sliding down the bank of the turn. The coefficient of friction was approaching zero on that turn and I was headed sideways mostly and barely forward.
A guy was coming the other direction at 5-6 mph. What I thought would be a wreck was so slow motion that even at the time it was funny to step back within yourself and watch Newton’s laws at work.
He made it through the turn just before we slid down into his lane where the curve flattened out and there was no bank in the turn. I got a little traction on the gravel berm to get us pointed back in the right direction where we could get back on our track.
The air temperature just a few hundred yards further out of town was maybe 33-34(F) and the road was wet. Travel was just fine from there to home.
I have never in my life been in such a slow motion display of gravity and friction-less straight-line motion. It was the oddest feeling of having a complete understanding of the physics of the situation, not a darn thing you could do about it, and the fact that everything was so slow you could have oil painted the situation with time for the oil paint to dry!
I was only scared because when that guy was coming through, we were on the uphill side of the banked turned so it would have been our fault if we slid down into him. At the time it was nerve-wracking, but in hindsight, I’m not even sure if there would have been any damage and if there was, if it would have been over a hundred bucks, tops.
That’s a fun old story and we got off lucky, but freezing rain and black ice are serious stuff. Most people aren’t so lucky.
You mean kinda like this?
Yeah, Larry. Like that… but s-l-o-o-o-w-e-r. That looks like fast forward compared to my slide. I’m thinking I overestimated that 2-3 mph bit.
Oh. Atlanta Ga is usually good for some freezing rain videos. They seem to be on that sweet spot where the precipitation is right at the freezing mark and the area is hilly. After everything is bollixed up with a sheet of ice, it melts in an hour plus/minus and it’s all back to wet roads.
I’m surprised there isn’t a youtube channel devoted to cars sliding downhill on ice in Atlanta Ga.
I have had that happen once too, coming home from work in Colorado Springs (had to commute down there when I was in the military for a while). They had an ice storm and everyone was creeping down the road at walking speed and I noticed that everyone was pointing slightly to the left of the direction of travel. If you stopped moving the car would very slowly slide to the right due to the crown in the road. So everyone was crabbing slightly to the left like a boat trying to compensate for a current or a plane for a cross wind. It only lasted about 20 minutes until the sun got high enough to burn through the ice film but was interesting to say the least.
Colorado springs is also on that sweet spot just warm enough that ice storms are more common down there then here in the Denver Metro area, where it tends to get cold enough to actually freeze and have decent traction rather than that really slick temperature window just a degree or so on either side of the freezing point.
On another topic just took delivery of a 32″ HP monitor – holy crap does that extra landscape on the desk top make a difference, will be tweaking my monitor settings for a while I can tell.
“The Sahara may flip from desert to grass every 20,000 years. Blame The Sun.”
http://joannenova.com.au/2019/01/the-sahara-may-flip-from-desert-to-grass-every-20000-years-blame-the-sun/
E.M. – You said you’d be running to Florida to check in on your friend and make dietary/shopping adjustments and I suppose some other help if needed.
If this isn’t a totally dine-and-dash trip,and you have some free time, name a place in the Orlando area and a time and perhaps some of us readers in Florida can convene for the Chiefio Blog Winter Gala and Dodgy Proceedings.
I will 2nd that HR!
@Larry, most HDTV’s can manage as a PC monitor. I frequently use my projector as one for presentations. Typically 720P or 1080P is adequate resolution for most applications.
Random observations:
1 Under the “Grover Cleveland” 22/24 rule regarding non-consecutive terms of service, Nancy Pelosi should be considered both the first AND second female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
2. Democrats want the 2020 Census to count heads (including immigrants and criminals ineligible to vote) in reapportioning seats in the House of Representative. Republicans want to count only citizens. Perhaps a 3/5th compromise is, once again, appropriate?
3 Can any case be made that Cannabis Oil is an intoxicating liquor? Liquor: “A solution containing medicinal substances”? Does the 21st Amendment allow and REQUIRE each state to do it’s own thing on regulating the stuff?
4 Stipulate that Mike Pence, for reasons which we needn’t guess or discuss, is NOT going to be selected to repeat as Veep. Who would be a good “favorite son” candidate to attempt to deliver a Democrat-leaning state with many electoral college votes into the Republican tally? That is, a famous and successful large-state Republican who has previously won (better still, upset) over Democrats? (Excluding New York, Trump’s own state.) For example, Tom Corbett, the Pennsylvania Space Cadet? Any hope? Better still, could Bruce Rauner of Illinois flip that state?
So, I found ice under the crisper drawer in our Samsung fridge for the 2nd time in a week. Water leaking anywhere gives me nightmares. Fortunately this is not uncommon, so many shared their experiences on the interwebs and the fix was quite simple, but not when you have a full fridge of stuff. It turns out this is a symptom of a frozen/clogged defroster drain line. All that needs done is to defrost that drain opening after you tear the back side gut covers out of the inside of your fridge. Then you put a new, and improved, $5 one of these little dudes over the defroster wire and hang it into the drain hole.
The one that is there is tiny in comparison. I wonder why it took 7 years for it to happen. Perhaps kids standing with the fridge doors open for extended periods of time over the holidays?
Anyway, saved at least 150 bucks, so gonna buy some beer instead ;-)
@ossqss – We’ve had the same problem with our Kenmore Supercalifragilisticepealidotious (Whatever… top o’ the line and I can’t access it right now to get the right model name) unit.
Mrs. H.R. fixed it the first time using a hair dryer to thaw everything out. The second time, the ice jammed up a fan and that crapped out a circuit when the fan motor kept pulling while it was jammed in place. Warranty fix so, YAY! no big deal.
Anyhow, since we’re snowbirding for three months, we turned off the icemaker and emptied the freezer of all but a few things that are in sealed bags. We left nothing that could melt in the freezer.
You are dead nuts on about that ice-clogged defroster line. It seems to be a problem that all the different manufacturers have to address.
I’ll have to see if something similar is available for our ‘fridge. We didn’t run across that solution.
.
.
.
P.S. If E.M. sees fit to convene a meeting of the (ig)Noble Knights of The Chiefio Blog Fractal Table, and we all have to drive to get there, does that mean the Winter Gala is a Black Tire affair?
P.P.S. The seating advantages of a fractal table over a round table are obvious, but the Knights in Shining Armor requirement in a salt air environment is problematic. Maybe we should consider 2-oz spray-cans of WD40 as party favors.
Interesting read (not really news to many here – but clearly stated).
https://www.spencerfernando.com/2019/01/03/i-survived-communism-are-you-ready-for-your-turn/
LL – that Spencer Fernando article is a great one! It deserves to be spread far and wide.
@ Pouncer
Referring to your observation #4 and living in Illinois, there’s not a chance Bruce Rauner could flip anything. At this point, Mitt Romney is more popular with MAGA republicans than Rauner is. Illinois is irredeemable and needs to be broken up and absorbed into surrounding states.
jim2 re: Spencer Fernando
Yep – I have a cousin who was born in the Czech Republic and lived there as I recall until she was in her early pre-teens before they moved to Canada, who has commented that the Democrats remind her of the Czech Communist government. Same catch phrases, same double speak etc.
Judicial Watch scores another win, with lawsuit under the National Voter Registration Act
Will result in cleanup and removal of inactive voters in California and Los Angeles.
https://www.judicialwatch.org/press-room/press-releases/california-and-los-angeles-county-to-remove-1-5-million-inactive-voters-from-voter-rolls-settle-judicial-watch-federal-lawsuit/
Interesting read here on the effort to investigate and discredit President Trump
http://thefederalist.com/2019/01/02/new-documents-suggest-steele-dossier-deliberate-setup-trump/
Would that I’d seen the weather comment before I was already in it….
Didn’t have much choice. Lowest route was I-10 and further north too cold…
Tooksome photos of yhesnow covered desert from jusy outside Tucson to El Paso. Then trudges through rain of significant size from San Antonio to Orlando. Saw over a dozen accidents and messes. Along yhe way caught a head cold and 90% through a roll of TP as nose tissues.
Arrived Orlando a couple of hours ago and hoping for full night sleep in a real bed. Last two days was catch what you can in the car while waiting for roads to open. Global Warming my ass…
Hope to catch up in the next day. Don’t know if a meet and greet with typhoid me is a good idea…but we’ll see how fast I recover. Maybe Monday?…
@E.M. – Of course, f course… take care of yourself first.
From this brief note it sounds like you’ll be in Orlando longer than a dine-n-dash but less than a leisurely visit. I don’t know your commitments or schedule, but Monday, Tuesday or any day next week is fine by me.
The Mrs. and I haven’t scheduled our touristy thingies yet, and more importantly I haven’t put down any deposits on any fishing charters yet 😆😆
Perhaps you’ve seen ossqss’ post where he said he’s up for a meeting. I don’t know what other lurkers there might be who are in Florida and who might want to nip up to Orlando to make it party.
See what you feel up to and let us all know.
Now go catch some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzs, eh?
A note from Adam West
https://theoldschoolpatriot.com/lefts-migratory-locust-effect/
@Larry: It’s Allen West, not Adam.
You had me going there. I was wondering how TV Batman wandered into the conversation.
@H.R.
My usual pattern ought to have me in shape for a lunch but not drinks by Monday. (Others can indulge, but I’ve learned that alcohol knocks back my recovery about 1 day per drink…) That wouldb be day 6 or 7 of it and usually they are beaten by then. It is just nose stuff…( rhinovirus )
and I’m already seeing some improvement.
So where are you? N or S of Orlando? I’m OK with about a 50 mile radius of Orlando or further N if needed. After 2800 miles in 3 days, 50 miles is like getting morning coffee ;-)
@H.R.:
Yeah, schedule pretty much dictated by other events, then route forced by ice north.
Your ice story is why I avoid it… I’ve had the slow slide experience. No good story, just slow drift to edge of road guardrail, then wait for rain to move again next morning…
Return time dictated by spousal schedule too. Whole schedule and weather sucky, so doing what I can to enjoy what I can.
There is a particular hill in Portland Oregon that freezes every year, then it is a regular slide to the bottom with zero hope. Seen film of it since back when it was film…
I’m glad to hear you have time for lunch. Good!
I’m driving, so any talk of imbibing to excess is just me having some fun with the shared interest in beer,ale, wine, and distilled joy juice. I didn’t think there’d be time for a bacchanalia so I’ll probably down a brew and then switch to iced tea. (The official minutes will reflect otherwise 😜)
I’m southwest of Orlando in Seminole Florida, but your time is limited so consider a place that’s convenient for you. I already did a trip estimate and it’s 2.5 hours from our campground to downtown Orlando. I just planned on making a day of it, and it won’t be all that long of a day.
If you know of an interesting place off I-4 West-bound out of Orlando, then that would be a help on the travel time.
ossqss would also most likely come up on I-75 and then in on I-4. But I don’t know if there are other denizens here and planning on dropping by that have a druthers.
Anyhow, I thought you’d be 😴😴😴. If your target is Monday (7th), then tomorrow or Sunday is time enough for you to pick a spot.
Oh! ossqss might know of a good place. He gets around the state a bit, having lived in Florida for quite a few years. Maybe he’ll chime in.
You pick. I’ll be there, Lord willin’ ‘n the creek don’t rise.
@Larry:
32 in.? OMG that is huge… doing lanscape design now? :-)
@Pouncer:
A good and interesting set of points that I’m too fuzzybto adress atm. Maybe tomorrow :-)
But I like Pence…
@Larry :
Now if they can just get the 20% or so illegal alien voters off the roles….
I liked the Sonny’s BBQ in Haynes City. Hwy 27, south West of Orlando. There was also some interedting stuff where I-4 crosses 27. Maybe I’ll check it out tomorrow… it has been a few years since I was there…
Looks like they have one in Lakeland, too. Assuming it is as good…
https://www.sonnysbbq.com/locations/lakeland-north
Likely easy for all to reach.
@E.M. – My sister lives in Lakeland! That would be a twofer for me. I’d also drop by her place while I was in the neighborhood.
.
.
Re those slides on glare ice: Isn’t it amazing how slow motion it all is? It’s almost like there’s plenty of time to jump out, walk around, study the situation, and get back in, but there’s nothing you can do. You’re just along for the ride.
So much for climate models.
Unexpected results of CO2 uptake and release by warmer rain forest.
https://phys.org/news/2019-01-climate-unexpected-results.html
And now under the AI can do everything banner we have AI learning to cheat at a task it is not smart enough to perform with sufficient skill to fool the humans evaluating the test problem.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-02/ai-program-taught-itself-how-cheat-its-human-creators
As has been noted in the past, one of the problems with AI is it is very difficult to tell what the AI process is actually learning to accomplish (or appear to accomplish) a task.
You could give it a problem of identify all the blond haired people in this image, and what it actually does is pick out all the women wearing high heels because women wearing high heels are easy to detect and a women who dress in high heels are far more likely to be blond than any other hair color because so many women conscious about how they dress dye their hair blond.
Adam West – Alan West – Ooops
Yes 32″ monitor – so I have more screen landscape to use for photo editing. One of the things I like to do is huge panorama images, and it makes it much easier to work with them if the monitor is big enough that you can view a reasonable size piece of the image at high resolution to do editing.
Max allowable size for a jpg image is 36,000 pixels wide, which I have exceeded on several occasions. At 300 dpi display resolution that is an image 10 ft wide. If you fill the screen vertically with a scenic panorama of that size you only can see a small slice of it, if you fill the screen horizontally it is a thin ribbon image so small vertically you can hardly make out what is in the image.
Plus photoshop elements puts some of the tools you use on the side of the screen so once you get that info displayed it only gets worse.
Weather forecast for coming period
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Odds are increased for below-normal temperatures across most areas east of the Rockies during the second half of January, tied to tropical teleconnection responses and a building 500-hPa ridge forecast over northwestern North America.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/WK34/
Current GDP growth comparison to prior administrations
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GDP Growth Ranks 5th!
LBJ (‘64-68) 5.3%
JFK (‘61-63) 4.3%
Clinton (‘93-00) 3.9%
Reagan (‘81-88) 3.5%
Carter (‘77-80) 3.3%
IKE (‘53-60) 3.0%
Nixon (‘69-74) 2.8%
Ford (‘75-76) 2.6%
Bush1 (‘89-92) 2.3%
Bush2 (‘01-08) 2.1%
Truman (‘46-52) 1.7%
Obama (‘09-16) 1.5%
@POTUS ‘17-18 3.3%!
@HR & EM, I have viewed that Sonny’s in Lakeland from the Hooter’s down the road ;-)
Let me know if you all decide to make a move. I have my installation/project management meetings on Monday’s at 11:30, but might be able to orchestrate that whilst in my car enroute. HR has my #. I will not be able to confirm until that morning when I get my report/documentation/drawings. My meeting can run 90 minutes for the record, so worst case would be a 1pm escape velocity.
~ L8R
For that occasion where someone starts chattering about the Nordic countries being socialist countries as they try to defend democratic socialism.
Perhaps the Prime Minister of Denmark has some credibility to discuss the issue.
https://www.thelocal.dk/20151101/danish-pm-in-us-denmark-is-not-socialist
Blizzards in Greece?
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-greece-weather-idUSKCN1OZ0KY
Well this is a sneaky way to hide an phishing attack
https://www.computerweekly.com/news/252455288/Phishing-attacks-hidden-by-custom-fonts
Denmark is heaven compared to Venezuela, but I notice he didn’t mention that a lot of money from Denmark’s oil ends up in government coffers. I have to wonder if they could support all those social programs without it – I think probably not. From the article:
State revenue from the North Sea activities derives from hydrocarbon tax (a rate of 52 per cent) and corporate income tax (a rate of 25 per cent).
In addition to taxes and fees, the Danish state receives revenue from the North Sea through Nordsøfonden, which has managed the state’s 20 per cent share of all new licences since 2005. Since 9 July 2012, Nordsøfonden has also managed the state’s 20 per cent share of Dansk Undergrunds Consortium (DUC), whose other partners are A.P. Møller – Mærsk, Shell and Chevron.
The state generates indirect revenue from oil and gas production through its shareholding in DONG Energy, as this company’s subsidiary, DONG E&P A/S, participates in oil and gas exploration and production in the North Sea.
State revenue from hydrocarbon production in the North Sea aggregated about DKK 404 billion in 2014 prices in the period 1973-2014. Total state revenue for 2014 has been calculated at DKK 18.8 billion.
https://ens.dk/en/our-responsibilities/oil-gas/economy-oil-and-gas
I enjoyed LL’s Pin The Tail On the Donkey game, with Occasional Cortex (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez). I would like to throw a couple of entries into the hat:
1. Alexandria Chaotic-Cortex
2. Alexandria Occluded-Cortex
So yesterday I checked out the Sonny’s and found it good. My intent is to be there at 1 PM tomorrow, Monday, for a long slow lunch until 3 pm or so. If needed, then longer…
Take I-4 to hwy 98 exit North and Hooters is almost immediately on your left, stop looking at it and look to your right in the next block, there’s Sonny’s. I’ll be wearing an Indianna Jones hat and yellow lens driving glasses…
I thought I’d never link to the Grauniad, but here’s an article that surprised me. (Link at end of my comment, but you may want to check it out and come back.) It’s about the rise of mental problems in children and what someone can do about reducing them with their own child.
I automatically assumed it would be full of New Age SJW psychobabble and totally miss the true cause. I was surprised to find that the author suggested things that were done as a matter of course with children in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, and into the ’70s. Seemingly unaware that the suggestions are old school, the author presents them as if they are something that doesn’t occur to today’s parents.
The suggestions are really quite good for fighting the mental stresses and damage being done to the current generation of children. What the article does not address is what is causing the damage.
It is no wonder that kids are a mess when they are bombarded with messages, often contradictory that are designed to make them a quivering, pliable mental mess. For example:
“You are all special, wonderful, above average, and everyone deserves a trophy.”
Ummm… no. Some people are ordinary, not particularly good at sports, are ‘C’ students, shouldn’t even consider college, and should be mentally preparing themselves for a job that is within their capabilities so they can get fulfillment from their life outside of work. They will be stuck in a job, but they should get some satisfaction from doing the job well. It won’t be an exciting, mentally satisfying, challenging and financially rewarding career.
“You are horrible, privileged, resource-hogging, planet destroying collection of cells whose life has no meaning unless you sacrifice yourself for the salvation of the planet and the greater good.”
Wait up! How does that reconcile with being special, wonderful, and above average? Talk about mental whiplash.
“Everyone deserves the best of everything, but ‘The Man’ is preventing you from achieving your dreams. You are a victim.”
What?!? You mean to tell me that poor outcomes aren’t the result of poor decisions and inadequate preparation topped off by no hard work or effort on your part? Who knew that sitting around and waiting for everything to fall in your lap is a losing strategy?
There are more examples of the indoctrination and purposeful development of pliable, muddled thinkers who are never-the-less quite suitable to be the worker bees for those elites who will be wisely running the planet. But the article I linked to is just a bandaid for the damage being caused by the people knowingly making a mental mess of our children.
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/05/six-ways-to-raise-a-resilient-child
@E.M. – I’m glad you have time in your schedule for a meet-n’-greet.
I’ll be wearing my Hilton Head Island ball cap. It’s not out of the realm of possibility that someone else will be wearing one, but mine will have an American Flag pin, a Conservative TreehHouse pin, and a Ford blue oval pin. If that turns out to be duplicated, then I’ll excuse myself for a few minutes to run out and buy a lottery ticket. 😜
See you in Lakeland at Sonny’s!
P.S. I just realized that’s a great time frame for me to miss the I-4/I-75/I-275 mess in Tampa, coming and going. And it’s about 4 miles from my sister’s house, so… Yay!
Are you ready?
“Nancy Pelosi: “We must … face the existential threat of our time: the climate crisis”… We?”
“Hyphen-US” also gets a mention. Based on Australia’s “Hyphen”. E.g.
https://www.whaleoil.co.nz/2018/06/david-leyonhjelm-is-sick-of-your-crap-sarah-we-all-are/
E.M.
Careful!!
“The five most popular vehicle models among Republicans, for example, are all trucks, with the ubiquitous Ford F-150 leading the way. Among Democrats, the Subaru Outback is the most popular choice. If you drive a truck, you’re probably a Republican. If you drive a Subaru, you’re probably a Democrat. Donald Trump won every single state in which the Ford F-150 is the most popular vehicle (even Pennsylvania). He won all but four of the states in which the Chevy Silverado is the most popular vehicle, including Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin. Hillary Clinton handily won the states where people prefer Subarus.”
http://thefederalist.com/2017/01/04/watch-bunch-journalists-freak-asked-know-anybody-drives-truck/
Via SDA
Upping the ante or a threat to the UN et al?
https://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-to-deploy-precision-strike-missiles-in-western-atlantic/
Quick summary of American Immigration history in a single image.
I wish I had seen this video (and all the girls I knew when I was younger) had seen this video 50 years ago.
The part of our culture that thinks all you have to do is use the right tooth paste, or cologne to meet the right person is broken. Women are not taught to be approachable, they talk about the guys don’t listen to them or that all the men they connect with are pushy ass holes, but they do not realize 99% of men out there are not mind readers and in all probability the guy she really wanted to meet, had no clue she was interested and even if he had a clue, she never provided an opening he was comfortable with to begin the process of social contact.
https://www.waynedupree.com/man-explains-men-afraid-of-women/
As a guy you think you are the only guy in the world that is perplexed by the whole process of social contact, and our culture no longer has the constructive social settings that allow that skill to be practiced. Both sides of the singles universe needs to re-think how they present themselves to possible partners, and both sides need to realize that odds are the other person is scared stiff of making a mistake and blowing an opportunity.
Now today you add the layer of weaponized crazy social justice feminism to the equation and you get a totally dysfunctional process that self selects for only the worst possible partners.
@Another Ian:
But what about Subaru Forester owners? The Outback is a wagon but the Forester is a small SUV Truck thing… so I count me in with the Truck group….
I don’t know Smith, I’d say you are suspect. ;-)
You all have a good time with your meet and greet. Wish I was there but somebody has to stay on duty here on the Left Coast or the Mexicans will steal it back. Been a nice day of COLD liquid sunshine. With high gusty winds to move it around. Good day to spend at the computer screen creating. Hoist one fore me…..Cheers, ,,,pg
Larry Ledwick says: 7 January 2019 at 2:38 am
That is a shocking graphic on immigration, I wonder how many americans know about it?
Well, loading up this morning, can’t find my Indiana Jones hat, so probably will use my Cowboy Hardhat instead…
@H.R.
This isn’t quite the same slow motion slide, as I didn’t hit anything, but I believe you will allow me to count it related.
Many years ago, I was headed south down a 4 lane highway in NW Texas, headed for FL with a load of beef in a 45 ft trailer. I had been in snow and ice up in Kansas, but I thought I was finally out of that. I went through a small town. When I cleared the city limits I got up to 55. The sun was shining. The blacktop road looked good to me, maybe just a little slick, but not bad. There was snow in the fields on each side of the highway.
About a mile out of town, I came upon a pickup going about 25. Both of us are in the far right lane. Still cautious, I gently ease the wheel to the left. The rig moves over, no problem. Halfway into the left lane, I center the steering wheel. Nothing; no response at all.
The truck keeps drifting left, the trailer in line with the tractor. Nothing else is happening. No apparent threat of it spinning, no drama, it simply isn’t straightening. I was thinking, ” At least there isn’t any other traffic. ”
At the left hand northbound lane, I started saying out loud, ” the last thing I want to do this morning is call Safety and explain why this truck is pointed south on the north shoulder of this highway.” Finally, finally, in the other right hand lane, it stopped.
At least the road is flat. Now I see traffic, but still a good distance away. I took a second for a deep breath, and started for the other side.
Same process. I was back over the center line before anybody got close. I got curious some looks. But once over the middle of the road, the truck kept drifting. Still going 55, now with the steering wheel centered again, drifting to right. I was not anxious, not frantic; concerned, yes, but mostly just calmly waiting to see what would happen next.
Once again, at the edge of the right hand lane, the steering worked again. I stayed there. I thought this had taken all morning. It had been about a mile and a half. That was long enough. Twelve miles farther south, the road was dry.
@A C Osborn Immigration graphic
Yep it is easy to see why the Dems are pushing for unlimited immigration as that demographic shows by 2050 they would have turned the US into a Hispanic country. One other interesting trend in that graphic if you take the time to notice – it is really odd demographically that the black population percentage is essentially flat. That is the impact of Planned Parenthood exterminating 50% of all black births for generations. The Black fraction of the population when I was in high school in the late 1960’s was about 12% – 50 years later still about the same zero growth of the black population in the US as a fraction of the population.
@corsair red and truck slide –
I have mentioned this in the past, was driving out on I70 east bound about 30 miles east of Denver, foggy and light mist and cold, cruising 70 mph, very light traffic.
As I was driving I noticed that rime ice was forming on the top of the windshield, I said to my self Hmmmmm, glanced over to the left at my car radio antenna and it had ice fur on it,
(major oh shit moment – I am driving 70 mph on black ice and don’t even know it).
I ease off the throttle to start slowing down and make no steering corrections, I glance up in the rear view mirror and there is a chevy blazer about a mile behind me. He notices I am slowing down and touches the brake and all of a sudden he is on a rodeo ride all over the road. He manages to keep it on the road but it was one hell of a wake up call for him as he had used up both traffic lanes and two wide shoulders getting slowed down. We proceeded east at about 25 mph.
The news coverage your media will not show.
https://voiceofeurope.com/2019/01/watch-shocking-footage-shows-how-police-officers-get-attacked-by-arabs-in-berlin/
Interesting alternative information source out of China
https://www.theepochtimes.com/
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For those asking why so much China coverage: The Epoch Times was started by Chinese Americans to were determined to call attention to the evil acts of the Chinese gov’t in suppressing & persecuting it’s own people.
These people are SWORN ENEMIES of the Chinese communists.
Looks like the President will be having a national coverage address soon on the border and government shut down.
Meanwhile in France we have this little video clip of French riot police clearing streets.
https://twitter.com/McguireScotty/status/1079809940825485312
Interesting graphic on global wealth concentration.
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Which #cities are the world’s economic powerhouses, and what portion of global #wealth is located in these key urban centers? @jeff_desjardins w/ @VisualCap explains in this chart:
Subscription article but here is the link
https://worldview.stratfor.com/article/mapping-worlds-wealthiest-cities
March of technology, and who makes our computer chips?
Going to cross post these thread links over here where I should have put the first and third one and also Steve’s response
AFTER MUSLIM VIOLENCE, EUROPEANS ARE GETTING GUNS
January 7, 2019 Daniel Greenfield
Steve’s post on Gun violence in Brazil
Professors warn: German welcome culture is over, people focus on resistance and national identity
By VOICE OF EUROPE 7 January 2019
I was not paying attention to what thread I was in and this will be easier to follow over here.
On a separate topic, I stumbled across this item today, good example of how final conclusions of management do not always mesh with the reality of the situation. Especially if no one in the technical side is willing or able to buck the political system and tell the boss what they are doing is either wrong or dangerous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Commission_Report
Related on gun violence in Portland
ESCAPE FROM PORTLAND
Unarmed cops, an 18% murder rise, and vigilante justice.
https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/272426/escape-portland-daniel-greenfield
Gee does this sound like a repeat of media announcements we have been hearing for 40 years.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/marshall-medoff-the-unlikely-eccentric-inventor-turning-inedible-plant-life-into-fuel-60-minutes/
Magic method to make bio-fuels – uses a device he calls a still to turn plant sugars into ethanol, wow what a concept, who would have thought that is possible! (/sarc)
Re the men-afraid-of-women thing: This morning on my radio station, the girl DJ was acting semi-outraged that the waiter who served her and her boyfriend at a recent meal took her order without comment, but replied, “Excellent choice, Sir” to her boyfriend. She and the boy DJ asked for people to call in their ideas why the waiter responded that way.
One lady who responded had some decent comments, including that the waiter probably assumed the boyfriend would pay the check and was angling for a nice tip.
I wanted to call in and mention the MGTOW phenomenon, but I developed laryngitis after sniffling and snorting and coughing up a lung from Thursday night to now.
[changing the subject]
A friend asked me to research some alternative theories to figure out the cause of a couple of symptoms she and her husband were dealing with. So I dug into my German New Medicine resources. While I was there, I found these two pages that deal with the cause of loss of voice, sore throat, cough with fever and fatigue:
Click to access DrAlvin%20Case%207-e.pdf
Click to access DrAlvin%20Case%2035-e.pdf
Those pages talk about the cause being a “scare fright conflict”. It didn’t take much time to come up with the scare fright.
Thursday was the day a major bout of freezing rain and suchlike were supposed to strike with a vengeance. They even closed down my place of business in mid-afternoon and told us not to come in again the next day until mid-morning because of the predictions.
I was supposed to go to an evening event that was at a location on a rather dangerous stretch of road. I was not relishing the idea of getting out there while it was not freezing yet, and then dealing with having to drive back home after the stuff froze on my car, on the road, on the hill you can’t see people coming on, etc.
:-(
Major :-(
Well, about 45 minutes before the event, the event was called off.
Whew!
But that night I got (maybe) 2 hours of sleep from midnight until about 8:30 the next morning. It was one of those miserable coughing/sniffling/shorting things that seem like they will never end. I could tell I had built up a pretty good sinus condition and headache by about 4 hours in. I even had to move to the living room to avoid ruining the rest of my family’s sleep! Of course, that meant I had next to no possibility of having good sleep any more.
But the freezing rain thing was still hovering over us. I was afraid to bundle up and get out on icy roads to go to the store for meds. (I haven’t had meds in the house–not even painkillers–for several years now. We haven’t needed them.) And I didn’t want to ask the other adults to go out for me because I didn’t know what to ask for. I haven’t kept up with what’s out there.
I guess I went through 3 big boxes of Puffs (about 75%-80% each) in the next couple days.
Well, I felt so stuffed-up and out of it that I had my kid drive me to my favorite mom-and-pop pharmacy and had the pharmacist advise me on what he thought would help. I got off with 4 products (mostly generics) for less than $25.
I only took them from Friday afternoon to about midnight Sunday morning and have been able to do without them since then. My ears are still in need of popping, but the sinus pain is gone and I can deal with the occasional coughing spell. Oh, and I have a charming case of laryngitis, as I mentioned before. It’s a good thing none of my musical commitments require me to sing currently!
[changing the subject]
So, who is going to post the minutes of today’s meet-and-greet? :-)
p.g. has a secret method to turn blackberries into alcohol. I think he should apply for a grant to further his research.
I also think he should skip the rodent studies and go straight to human trials. In the interest of science, I will sign a waiver and volunteer to be a human subject, but only if I don’t get the #@%! placebo.
So long as grant money is being thrown around, some of the money should go to practical research.
@Power Grab RE The Official
Whoppers Porkies Half-truths and Wild Stretches of the ImaginationMinutes of the Chiefio Blog Winter Gala and Dodgy Proceedings:E.M. is OTR headed back to CA, ossqss will be tied up with business, making a surprise appearance was Lt. Col. Denizen Rhoda Klapp, (Hmmm… Rhoda Klapp wasn’t surprised, but the rest of us were.) who will also be traveling soon and most likely not be able to write the minutes.
So, as the ranking Bone Idle Ne’er-Do-Well in attendance it falls upon me to create the official record.
I’m bushed, and I’ll be watching the College Football Playoff game, so you can expect to see the draft minutes submitted for approval sometime tomorrow.
ROLL TIDE! (Or at least get my whites whiter).
This morning on my radio station, the girl DJ was acting semi-outraged that the waiter who served her and her boyfriend at a recent meal took her order without comment, but replied, “Excellent choice, Sir” to her boyfriend. She and the boy DJ asked for people to call in their ideas why the waiter responded that way.
Several possibilities:
Her choice was expected and not unusual but his was a dish that they wanted to promote so encouragement was in order.
Her choice was not their best dish but the management frowned on the waiter saying “are you sure you want to order that crap?”
He didn’t want to be seen as hitting on the woman by her date so he kept the conversation business like and minimal.
She was hot and he was not thinking about her order.
He was hoping to up sell her to the same dish the man ordered, or he happened to really like the dish the man ordered and voicing his personal preference for that dish.
I’m finding a nasal flush with saline is really good for allergies. It tends to keep the sinuses clear. A sinus that is chock full for a long period can become a great incubator for bacteria. It’s not a panacea for colds or flu, but it sure helps otherwise.
Back in the 70s and 80s, ice storms were the norm (we rarely got snow). SO I learned to just keep the steering wheel straight! I was following about 1/2 mile behind a Maryland car on I-64 and we were coming out of ice and getting into snow. I figured they knew how to drive in the stuff, right? WRONG! I see them start to fish tail, and then doing donuts in the middle of the Interstate. I let off the gas and kept the wheels straight and prayed I would slow to a crawl in time. I did. Missed her by about 10 feet. They were ok, and I learned even northerners are clueless in frozen weather.
Interesting discussion of the lessons learned and the risks of seeking impeachment of a sitting President.
https://www.nationalreview.com/magazine/2018/12/31/how-impeachment-works/
Ha! Whilst I made it home, finally, from the meet and greet, I can attest it was quite a good thing. It was wonderful discussing things from fishing, Gators, to baked beans (which I will try), to OS and FLIR’s. It was also great to put faces to digital communications. EM, HR, Rhoda, great to meet you all! I just wish I had more time.
Word up!
You always miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. I am glad I went today and would encourage others to do the same elsewhere ;-)
PS, I do have one type of picture, but will let EM decide if he wants to put it up. HR has a copy via email, since he was in it. L8R》
Hmmm Congress Critter builds home electrical system using a wrecked Tesla car battery, programmed it himself in C on a Pi
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Everything in our house, including geothermal heat-pump and deep freezer (full of grass-fed beef 🥩 we raised), is running on this rekt ModelS tesla battery right now. It was charged by solar today. I built it & programmed it in C on a Pi.
TFW haters call me anti-science… 👌🤓
Twitter thread for Rep Massei’s Tesla Battery house power system
@ jim2 re saline flush:
More than 15 years ago, I tried to do a neti pot thing. Within 24 hours my left eardrum burst. It hurt like the dickens! :’-(
Also, I have had tinnitus on that side ever since.
Years later, I read that you should only do that when you can actually breathe through your nose. I can’t believe none of the previous articles ever mentioned that little tidbit!
I did not meet that condition. :-/
This recent sinus thing was so sudden and short-lived, I really don’t blame it on allergies. Plus, I have had my ways of stopping allergies in their tracks.
Politicians explained
“sophocles
January 8, 2019 at 6:34 am · Reply
Why are politicians so clueless?
O-kay: the hard ones first …
They weren’t born with any clues?
They have an advanced learning difficulty which prevents them from absorbing any clues while attending school
– this rubs off as an inability to acquire clues from other sources because of lower levels of literacy or outright illiteracy.
They attended clueless schools so of course no clues were acquired there because they couldn’t be acquired.
They acquired degrees which don’t need any clues, eg: Batchelor, Master, or Ph.D of Political Science, (a Contradiction in Terms) which is dangerous for obvious reasons
They don’t listen to their electorates, expecting their electorate clues to be absorbed through osmosis
or …
They listen too much to their electorates which have no clues either. This is a dangerous trap for clueless politicians: not having any clues themselves, how can they recognize a cluetrap electorate at all?
They watch too much CNN, specifically and especially shows from Chuck Todd (who is not a scientist and is completely clueless—he has declared the science is settled—himself. Okay, that makes him at least thirty years out of date …)
Last, they’re paid to be clueless. Follow the money/corruption, whatever you like to call it, and you just might find magnificent incentives to avoid all clues. You can’t expect a clueless individual to recognize the necessity of acquiring clues when their income depends on them remaining clueless, as explained by the incomparable Albert Gore.
Umm. I’ve about run out of reasons. What are your ideas?
30 thumbs up 0 thumbs down
#
sophocles
January 8, 2019 at 6:37 am · Reply
… ah, for income read re-election etc campaig”
Thumbs translation is mine – I thought it might copy as was
http://joannenova.com.au/2019/01/crossbench-senators-wasted-20-billion-propping-up-renewables-australia-institute-pr-agency-for-renewables/#comment-2091964
The First Annual Chiefio Blog Winter Gala and Dodgy Proceedings was held on January 7th, 2018 at Sonny’s BBQ in Lakeland Florida.
First item of note is that attendance was double that of the Christmas Party. The fine turnout is a testament to the courage and skills of the Chiefio Blog Denizens who had to contend with extreme Florida weather to attend the Gala. (OK, it was sunny and 74F, but there were 3 or 4 clouds to contend with, so there’s that.) Among the notable blog denizens present for the Gala were The Chiefio E.M., Member-at-large ossqss, Lt. Col. Denizen Rhoda Klapp (soon to be promoted to Colonel Klapp), and Recording Secretary H.R.
Let the Official Record show that this was a typical festive drunken brawl with much dancing on the tables and chasing about of the waitstaff with members’ clothing in various states of disarray. (Unofficially, we all had iced tea and chatted amiably in a booth. Everyone had to drive, but we have a reputation to uphold.)
For the luncheon, Members were faced with difficult decisions of what to order from the myriad selections on offer. There was BBQ… BBQ… and… BBQ, it being Sonny’s BBQ after all, and several sides… but there were a lot of different BBQ choices and they were all very good. (Can’t go wrong eating at Sonny’s. First rate BBQ and great prices.)
As mentioned by Member-at-Large ossqss, the agenda covered “things from fishing, Gators, to baked beans […], to OS and FLIR’s.” A fair amount of the discussion centered upon giving E.M. unnecessary and unsolicited advice regarding his upcoming cross-country move, but that’s what we do, eh? Also noted, voted, and approved without debate was the continuing resolution that “Nanny State liberalism that suppresses individual freedom and choice still sucks.”
A curious Florida law which permits anyone to open carry a firearm if they are going fishing was dissected and after a detailed examination, the Chiefio Blog Subcommittee on Firearms ruled that it was a very sensible law in light of the number of alligators and water moccasins present in Florida waters. On a related topic, discussion was tabled until the next meeting to decide if such a law should be passed in Washington D.C., as there are far more dangerous critters in the form of politicians to protect oneself against. The sticking point of the discussion was what minimum caliber to carry should be specified.
Additionally, it was found that 3/4ths of the members in attendance had close family ties to England or great Britain. Given that we are two nations separated by a common language, a spirited debate ensued about which language was most appropriate for Chiefio’s Blog; English or English? A vote was taken and it was unanimously decided that… West Texas German would be the Official Language of the Chiefio Blog. Granted, that surprising result came out of left field, but there is no denying the appeal of greeting each other with “Guten tag, y’all!” (For those of us who don’t speak West Texas German, English or English or other languages are still acceptable for commenting.)
In closing, let the record show that some valuable door prizes were claimed; a pack of 10″ plastic grape worms, a Bomber Bait Badonk-a-Donk, and an eclectic 6-pack of ales and beers. The wife of the Recording Secretary commented on that impressive haul of loot by saying, “What?!? You guys are crazy!”
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 4:00 pm EST and the members proceeded to the parking lot to send The Chiefio on his way to the Left Coast.
~Minutes submitted for approval by The Chiefio
H.R. – Recording Secretary and Bone Idle Ne’er-Do-Well
Addendum to the Official Minutes
As part of the fishing discussion, it turns out that Rhoda doesn’t fish, ossqss fishes sometimes for sport and sometimes for food, E.M. pretty much fishes for food, and H.R. fishes to get good at catching fish for bait that will then be used for catching larger fish; time left over for cleaning determining if caught fish will be released or kept for dinner.
E.M. brought up that he didn’t like putting a fish through pain just for sport, so fish caught should be for dinner and fishing trips should have the objective of catching dinner. Ossqss made the point that catch and release fishing could be considered as practicing a survival skill. In a SHTF survival situation, the person who is good at locating an catching fish has better chances to get food than someone who rarely or never fishes.
E.M. also pointed out the social benefits of fishing. A person sitting out on the river bank drinking beer is viewed as a drunk of questionable character and to be avoided. The same person sitting out on the river bank drinking beer, but with a fishing pole propped up and a line in the water is readily approached by young and old, male or female and conversations are struck up about the fishing action, baits used, fishing weather, etc. The fisherman swilling a beer is entirely acceptable to polite society.
Anyhow, on the topic of fishing as a survival skill, it has occurred to me that it is not so much the person who has developed fishing skills who will get fish for dinner, but rather it’s the person who best has access to dynamite for fishing that will be guaranteed getting fish for dinner.
So perhaps we should reconsider practicing fishing as a survival skill and focus on making or acquiring explosives as a survival skill. On the other hand, those not skilled in making explosives may just wind up not surviving their attempts to make explosives, so there is that to factor in.
Das Park – Danke
My addition to the West Texas German language blog.
Judicial Watch succeeds in forcing California and LA county to resume reasonable efforts to clean up voter registration rolls and remove registrations for dead people and long time inactive voters, which they stopped doing at the urging of the Clinton administration some 20 years ago.
File this away for future reference regarding gun control advocating politicians.
https://truepundit.com/gun-grabbing-chicago-democrat-arrested-on-corruption-charges-feds-find-23-guns-in-his-offices/
Gun control supporting politicians owning numerous guns.
Hands up, please, those of you surprised. Yeah, I thought so.
@Rhoda Klapp – ossqss steered me to your blog today. It looks interesting and entertaining. I recognize on you one who has stories to tell so I’ll be visiting from to time to time. I attempted to leave a comment of the “Howdy, glad I found you” sort on your blog, but I ran into difficulties posting it.
So… Howdy, I’m very pleased to have met you, and I’ll be dropping by “your place” now and then. I’m not sure when/if the comment barrier will be resolved, but I hope so.
Best regards,
H.R.
“Cui Bono?”
Europe, the metric system and hydraulic fittings.
We have a Fiat dozer so metric you’d say? Well the first warning is that the track grouser bolts are 5/8″.
I wiped the hoses off the tilt cylinder about a week ago. Including one of the pair that connects to the dozer plumbing. The remaining one was a JIC flare. Except that a JIC flare won’t screw on and the nipple is made to seal in the centre and not with a flare.
Things have been “farmerised”. After a trip to the only hydraulic place open through Xmas and New year (just a little jaunt of 150 km each way) no luck.
Internet research comes up with 7/8″ BSP – and common in European hydraulics. Listed in Australian hydraulic catalogues but rarer than rocking horse output.
So some reverse “farmerisation” via a JIC adapter silver soldered to a 7/8″ UNF nut (JIC matching the rest if the tilt connections as they are now). Another 300 km. And it should have screwed on but didn’t.
Neighbour worked out that the nipple had been expanded so heat bent the paired pipe assembly so he could get a 7/8″ UNF die on to correct the thread and then bent back.
It works. Back to drought feeding mulga (an Acacia tree) today. Needs dozer or chainsaw and I’ve got enough scars from feeding with a chainsaw.
@Another Ian – You just discovered what my life was like for the twelve years I was in the hydraulic lines biz. We made the steel tubes. We didn’t mess with the soft lines.
Anyhow, I know all too well whereof you speak. Our tube bending equipment was a combination of BSP, SAE, Metric, and JIC. No kidding.
As an OEM for the heavy equipment end users, we sometimes had to have the tube fittings custom-made, as the manufacturers would send us proprietary drawings for fittings. One of the reasons we got a lot of business was that during the quote process for a part, we would show how a few design modifications – particularly to use off-the-shelf fittings, but also to simplify or take cost out of the bent tube – would lower the cost or improve their design.
In spite of that, sometimes the customer still insisted on a one-of-a-kind fitting and if the part fails, the end users are in for a world of frustration.
So, been there, done that, and got the t-shirt many times over. You have my sympathy.
But, butt, we are to trust these models 100 years out for energy policy direction? Doh!
https://www.cato.org/blog/sea-surface-temperature-picture-worth-few-hundred-words
An interesting read
“Lately I noticed on my Facebook, Huawei popping up several times. It states what a fine upstanding company they are.
Now how was that orchestrated? Facebook, care to explain?”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/01/09/he-admires-their-basic-dictatorship-5/#comment-1173016
Goes with “Follow Huawei updates at the Epoch Times. ” link via SDA
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/01/09/he-admires-their-basic-dictatorship-5/
corsair red says: 8 January 2019 at 11:12 pm
Do you have reading comprehension problems?
@A COsborn re corsair red’s gun control comment:
?????
I didn’t raise my hand and I didn’t see any other hands raised.
What am I missing about red’s comment?
Trump walks out of meeting when the Dems flatly refuse to consider a proposal for a wall.
https://freebeacon.com/politics/schumer-trump-walked-out-of-meeting-after-pelosi-refused-to-support-border-wall/
@Larry – That loud noise you just heard? That was 70 million people shouting “Yay Trump!”
Somebody is going to die on ‘Border Wall Hill’ and it ain’t going to be President Trump.
Would that be one definition of nirvana, H.R.?
Well my guess is that our fearless leader is nearing home about now.
Looking forward to the trip after action report and the telling of tales from this cross country journey.
Looking at the weather on windy.com, should have been mid 50’s to low 60’s with some cloudy weather near Phoenix area, so hopefully no weather related adventures.
Interesting.
https://news.grabien.com/story-things-democrats-have-funded-cost-more-border-wall
I’m having what might be a problem with Firefox on a Windows 10 machine.
So I need suggestions on an alternative browser – not Chrome or anything Microsoft.
@Another Ian:
I have used all the FireFox variations and they all are reasonably good. FireFox-ESR, Pale moon, Sea Monkey, Ice Weasel, etc. etc. They have the advantage of being based on an older more stable FireFox code base so without the new bogus build issues. I also like Brave. Chromium is a Chrome like browser, but “Open Source” and free of Google Gotchas.
JIC? Eh?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JIC_fitting
Joint Industry Council? Who knew…
I suppose the old USSR had their own standards too… hope there wasn’t a Whitworth equivalent…
Eventually it becomes easier to just machine a new matching part… Mic, measure, and make…
I use both Brave (high security fork of Chrome but not owned by google) and pale moon which is a fire fox clone that seems to be very problem free.
Brave has native ad blocking an you have to give it permission to play videos etc, but it reduces your online signature and bleed of system information that most browsers broadcast freely. It refuses to go to sites which do not have properly signed certificates so gives you a heads up when the web site is hinky (or run by lazy government bureaucrats who don’t bother keeping up with that sort of thing.)
I do most of my browsing on Brave and when it refuses to show something I want to see (and who I trust) I bring that link up in pale moon. Unfortunately the Brave permissions are all or nothing, you either allow every video from a given site or none. It would be nice if they also had a “play just this item” choice but right now that is not the case.
Hey Chief welcome back!
@E.M.: Glad you’re back safe and sound and snug as a bug in a rug.
I used to have a little concern for your safety when you announced one of your marathon coast-to-coast trips. Having now seen the “sleeping arrangements” in your car, I must say that so long as you’re not one of those that has to curl up on their side or sleep on their stomach, it’s as good as sacking out in one of those old Barcaloungers and possibly better. It looked to provide very good sack time.
I’d imagine the 6-pack survived the trip. Maybe not? I hope you have that Belgian style Tripel well chilled when you try it. It’s highly carbonated (Oh NOES!) and almost like drinking champagne, but better 😜 Actually, all of those are best really cold except I found that temperature doesn’t matter quite as much with the ‘Unholy.’ It’s kind of like English brews that are fine at (cool) room temperatures. No brew is really all that good above 70F, but some hold up without being real cold. ‘Unholy’ is currently my cookout brew because I can nurse it for an hour and it’s good sipping the whole time, from fridge until soup’s on.
A draft of the Official Minutes and an Addendum is above. I forgot to record that by an amazing coincidence, we all had an Uncle Bob. My bad.
Correct the record and add what you will as the spirit moves you. The three witnesses are sworn to secrecy, so you can lie all you want. Someone can translate the final version into West Texas German and then we can close that chapter of the Dodgy Proceedings 😜🤣🤣
P.S. Caught a couple of largemouth bass out of a nearby pond today using a worm similar to what ossqss gave you. Fishing conditions today were not good at all, yet the worms were good enough for a bass that was just shy of two pounds and another just over a pound. I lost a first one ’cause I thought it was a turtle and didn’t set the hook. It coulda been three.
Just throwing this out there for what it is – rumor
Jacob Wohl
Verified account
@JacobAWohl
2 hours ago
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Sources saying Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg will resign tomorrow
Michael 🇺🇸
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@freedom_moates
@freedom_moates
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Replying to @JacobAWohl
We must be on the same rumor mill. I’m hearing the same thing and also that the WH knows.
5:52 PM – 10 Jan 2019
“It’s highly carbonated (Oh NOES!)”
Memories of the care and attention required to open a large can of Fosters at Colorado altitude. Definitely just mildly shaken from the supply run.
Oops – completion –
was an experience!
Vindictive even. It would just sit and look at you in the time you were reaching for a glass and then fizz everywhere.
Thanks for the browser comments
Idle question: Why is it that our Congresscreatures in the swamp all look alike?
Any one else having problems accessing WUWT at the moment?
For the “Occasional – Cortex or Hyphen-US” file
Interviewer “What is your opinion on Roe vs Wade”
Hyphen-US “That’s the only two ways Mexicans can cross the river”
Via Red Power
Obama has 7 walls around his house lol
https://canadafreepress.com/article/does-obama-have-a-wall-around-his-house-the-daily-caller-investigates
What happens if Ginsburg dies, they stick her in a freezer, and tell no one?
Are we now in the middle of magnetic poll flip?
The North magnetic poll is now moving at a rate of about 30 miles a year or about 433 ft per day toward Russia. For something which is planetary scale that seems to be pretty fast to me.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-science-north-idUSKCN1P51UE
@Larry
Supplimental pole item from some old links.
http://wdc.kugi.kyoto-u.ac.jp/poles/polesexp.html#Fig2
I hate it when this happens
A great crew to work for
“We needed to make an example of Damore. Looking for some excuse to fire him, we spied on his phone and computer. We didn’t find anything, although our spying probably made his devices unusably slow, preventing him from organizing support within the company. When we did fire him, our reputation and integrity took a hit, but at least other employees were now afraid to speak up. ”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/index.php/2019/01/12/break-them-up-24/#comments
Small bits of info starting to come out over the shooting of Natalie Corona during a routine traffic accident investigation. Seems this was a targeted shooting for some reason.
It is odd that they still have not publicly identified the shooter although they obviously know who it was. Beginning to wonder if the shooter background/profile does not fit with the politically correct Media story line on police shootings and gun violence.
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-davis-police-shooting-how-it-happened-20190111-story.html
Another Ian RE Damore.
Did you see in that article the link to Jordan Peterson’s Youtube search engine?
http://search.jordanbpeterson.com/
@H.R.:
The 6 pack did survive the trip, cooling now… Tomorrow? ;-)
Due to there being a slight divot where the back of the seat meets the bottom, I put an old small squishy pillow there – and that makes side sleeping just fine too! The biggest issue for me has just been that it’s too comfortable. Where in the old Banana Boat I’d be in a “stress posture” of sorts and so I’d just catch a 30 minute nap and wake up to change position, now I go to sleep and it’s only much later I find out “for how long”…
So, for example, I was about 1 hour 20 minutes from home and getting drowsy. A quick 30 minute nap and I’d make it home in a record 59 hours. There’s a Rest Stop. I pull in. Now realize it’s about Midnight and some thin fog has started to show up – get through that ‘soon’ and it’s not a problem at all. Let it build….
So I slide over the the sleepy bag on the passenger side and… suddenly it’s 4 1/2 hours later…
So now it’s about 4:30 AM, the fog is thick enough to be a “challenge” but still drivable, and the Most Alpha Morning Commuters are trying to take 152 over the mountains into Gilroy / San Jose. So now I’m experiencing the joys of doing 75 in a 65 zone over winding mountains in the fog with crazy people passing me at 85 to 90 MPH…. Had I been able to do the 1/2 hour-and-go I wanted I’d have avoided the morning crazies, had thinner fog, and spent less sleep time in the seat and more in the deluxe mattress at home… All because I was too comfortable. Poor me! ;-) (sympathy not expected… 8-}
Per a “Pole Flip”: More likely it’s just your garden variety geomagnetic excursion. They happen far far more often.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_excursion
While others are just local, some are global:
“One of the first excursions to be studied was the Laschamp event, dated at around 40000 years ago. This event was a complete reversal of polarity, however, as it later turned out, though with the reversed field 5% of the normal strength. Since this event has also been seen in sites around the globe, it is suggested as one of the few examples of a truly global excursion.”
So ever hear much talk of all the “disruption” of everything 40,000 years ago? Yeah, me neither…
So that would be about ever 68,000 years, maybe… and we are well in the range of another one.
It is the idea that the magnetic field is stable and the poles constant that is the broken idea. The magnetic field is chaotic, prone to all sorts of excursions, fluctuations, and reversals. It is just our lives that are so short so that we think it is constant when it is doing a slow saber dance…
Pingback: W.O.O.D. 12 January 2019 | Musings from the Chiefio
Also broken is the perception that the earths magnetic field is a simple dipole, as the actual map of magnetic strength and polarity is much more complicated. I just find it interesting that when I was young (boy scouts) and early adult period, the magnetic declination here in Colorado was almost fixed for decades at 13 – 13.5 degrees east of north. Then come the late 1990’s and into the 2000’s and it took off at a sprint just about the time I was in mountain rescue when again I was paying attention to magnetic declination in maps.
Currently here in Colorado it is:
http://www.geomag.nrcan.gc.ca/calc/mdcal-en.php
Magnetic declination: 8° 9.60′ East with an annual Change (minutes/year): 6.4 ‘/y West
In 1955 Magnetic declination: 13° 46.50′ East
In 1965 Magnetic declination: 13° 26.22′ East
In 1975 Magnetic declination: 12° 39.78′ East
In 1985 Magnetic declination: 11° 35.22′ East
In 1995 Magnetic declination: 10° 58.14′ East
In 2005 Magnetic declination: 09° 48.60′ East
In 2015 Magnetic declination: 08° 34.92’ East
Yes the reclining seats in the Foresters make for fine in the car naps with a tiny bit of custom padding to suit your body build. I have taken several of those “I will just catch 15 minutes of shut eye” naps that were several hours long over the years.
Glad to hear no major drama or adventures just a pleasant cross country drive.
In other topics I find this chart interesting in the implications about personal philosophy and political view. It would be interesting to see the same comparison between religious affiliation and political party.