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/2023/01/11/w-o-o-d-11-january-2023-ukraine-shrinks-politics-drags-on-garden-begins/
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/
“Me” News
2nd Harvest & Garden Growing
Some time ago I’d planted out some commercial Collards. They are now big enough to harvest. Essentially pest free (so far…) they have grown well without any real tending. I picked a dozen or so leaves, boiled them a bit, then buttered and ate them.
Well, it’s a fine “survival food”, but not what I’d prefer. Collard leaves are a bit tougher than other cabbages, and have a slight bitter note to the flavor. Still, it’s a start for me. I’ve resolved to grow more traditional Southern Foods and learn to like them… maybe ;-)
Yes, I know, the traditional way to make collards is as a kind of stir fry with bacon. I’ve done it (especially with my own cabbage / collard / kale hybrid / cross that’s sweeter and less tough). But I find “just buttered” lets me assess the plant characteristics better. I also like the way it tastes ;-)
Potatoes are growing “OK”. I put them in what is likely not the best place. A shaded area under an eave with the house on one side and an oak tree shading the other. But as the days warm and the sun gets hotter, I think that will be a good thing.
The Bananas had been frost burned and I thought might have died (being young new plants). All of them have started growing again (even the ones not under a cloche and fully denuded of leaves has put up a fresh leaf). So I’m hoping these will get full growth going “soon” and maybe even reach mature size by the end of summer.
The Avacado “trees” (about 3 feet tall ;-) have started to make what looks like little flower buds. I know they are grafted, but the idea they might make an avocado this soon is a big surprise. Despite sun and fertilizer, they have not added green or height; then again it’s mostly been fall and winter since I planted them and they are getting over transplant shock. BUT they are clearly surviving, so in coming years I expect a good (and growing!) avocado supply.
Papaya are adding growth, and I hope they pick up speed as it warms up (one lost a lot of leaves in the frost and is re-sprouting from the stem. The other was under a cloche and did fine.) Papaya can be eaten as ripe fruit, or can be cooked as a green vegetable. I’m hoping to try that vegetable approach in the next year.
Overall, the “Food Forest” approach is working very well, if slowly. Planting traditional southern vegetables is working best and easiest. Trying to plant Northern Varieties in winter has worked less well as I’ve needed to learn more about proper timing.
The spouse and I visited a Public Garden. To my surprise it had a few sections that were vegetable garden plants. OK, what I learned there: They had clearly amended the Florida Sand A LOT. So I will be doing the same. this will likely improve survival and growth…
https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/care/planting/florida-soil.html
Good, nutritious soil is the basis for any plant’s success. To the frustration of many gardeners, Florida’s “soil” is mostly sand.
This gray, fine soil is called Myakka, (pronounced My-yakah), an Indian word for “big waters.” Only found in Florida, Myakka covers the majority of the state—more than 1½ million acres—and is actually our official state soil.
So I need to get a few yards of compost…
Of course, the sand will do great in sand culture hydroponics, so there’s that…
The garden we visited had mature (and very good looking) Swiss Chard, Kale, Lettuce, Asian Red Mustard, and similar. They also had what looked like some young cabbages (or possibly a dusty gray looking collard?). Plus a variety of herbs with big Rosemary bushes and what looked like oregano, mint for sure, thyme, sage and more.
That told me I ought to have already had them planted a while ago, so still working on my garden calendar. And their plants were a lot bigger than mine, so “amending we will go, amending we will go”.
I’ve also found an interesting nursery at my latitude that specializes in varieties well adapted to Central Florida. Only open 1 day a week for visits, so “someday” I need to do that.
Overall, I’m reasonably happy with my progress on learning to garden in Florida, and on the potential. But still have some learning to do.
A Passport Away From Bahamas
The Passport has arrived, but I’m being sucked into a California Run instead of flying to The Bahamas. Seems some needed Tax Papers are in storage and must be fetched “soon”.
Florida Friend and our boat are both presently IN the Bahamas. He’s enjoying the trip and has enough crew for a couple of more weeks, but I need to figure out how to get the tax filing process and papers sorted in time for me to fly in for a week or two…
Have I mentioned lately that I hate “government” and how it screws up people’s lives? Due to the house sale (and cap gains tax level to be paid) our Tax Man said we can’t file an extension without huge penalties, so all this must be “done and dusted” by end of March. I.e. 6 weeks MAX to FILED. So that’s driving my life now and keeping me away from The Bahamas…
FORD In My Future
After way too many months,and a couple of $Thousand in “repairs” and buying things like a $300 BlueTooth brake controller, The ML 320 CDI has once again failed. The brake lights are on 100% of the time, so effectively no working brake lights on the trailer.
Oh, and I’ve bought a cargo trailer, so that’s ready to go. But the ML isn’t. And I’m out of time.
So I’m giving up on the Mercedes for now. With 2 “Hind Brain” replacements: one before and one after we found the Root Cause of a missing gasket under the right rear tail light plastic… yes, your car’s brain can rust and die and your car become unusable if your tail light plastic is broken, cracked, loose, or just was replaced by someone who left out a strip of rubber… Talk about incredibly stupid design. It now does not run the trailer lights correctly. Well, all but brake lights are right…
This ALONE has been enough that I’ll never buy any Mercedes newer than 2001 ever again. They have gone expensive stupid in their design and use of “Car Area Networks” to drive everything electrical.
Being “out of time” and I MUST make a run to California to at least collect all our boxed papers: I can either make a run JUST for boxes of paper (at about $1000 of gas round trip) OR I can get a different vehicle and tow my trailer and get “a load”. My intent is, today, to look at buying a FORD Expedition. An old used one. Likely about $6000+. I’ve looked at several in the last few days / weeks, and it looks like they are durable enough, work reasonably well, can actually BE fixed if something is wrong, and do not use “Multiplex Wiring”…
I’ve got 2 I’ve looked at with brake controllers already installed and the proper “plug” (really the socket for the trailer plug) for the trailer. Gas mileage will be worse than the Diesel ML, but Diesel is presently running about $1 / gallon more; or about the same as OR MORE THAN the added efficiency of the Diesel. Meaning cost will be about the same OR LESS than the Diesel anyway. (Yet Another Government Induced Stupidity…)
So I’m likely to become the proud owner of a 2006 or so FORD Expedition with a 5.4 L V8 sucking regular gasoline. Then driving it 5000 miles round trip hauling a trailer and hoping to not pay too much to get it repaired along the way when Who Knows What starts sounding funny in Texas… /snark;
Sigh.
I’d really really rather be in the Bahamas on a sail boat than driving an old FORD across West Texas in the snow… But “My Government” thinks otherwise… and Mercedes has assured me it doesn’t like to actually do work…
Ukraine Is Shrinking more
Russia has been capturing High Ground around the Ukrainian defensive line. This puts them in position to just shell the Ukrainians and not bother with any direct man to man fighting. This, BTW, has been their general mode of operation and why they have such high kill ratios. Use superior artillery and avoid getting your soldiers killed.
Russian forces have started capturing cities along the Ukrainian defensive line. There are reports that, for the first time, some Ukrainian forces are dropping their weapons and running at first contact. Well, what do you expect from 16 year old kids who have no training or experience?
My best guess is that Russia has directed the Wagner Group to clean up the Bahkmut area and break the Ukrainian lines in time for an Annual Anniversary major offensive on Feb 24 or so. It will be interesting to see if that plays out. IF after the next week, Russia does something with those 300,000 troops standing on the border in Russia and Belarus.
But at least NATO has started to Smell The Coffee with pulling back promises to send more equipment for destruction, or pushing the scheduled delivery out to after the expected end of the war. Also recognizing that they are out of ammo for such equipment anyway and “logistics matter”…
When In Doubt, Shoot It Down! Even toy balloons
As noted in the prior W.O.O.D., it looks like some of the “Alien Craft” shot down by the US Air Force were things like HAM Radio Relay balloons and other “amateur” toy craft. h/t Ossqss here which references this story:
A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10.
The club—the Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade (NIBBB)—is not pointing fingers yet.
But the circumstantial evidence is at least intriguing. The club’s silver-coated, party-style, “pico balloon” reported its last position on Feb. 10 at 38,910 ft. off the west coast of Alaska, and a popular forecasting tool—the HYSPLIT model provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)—projected the cylindrically shaped object would be floating high over the central part of the Yukon Territory on Feb. 11. That is the same day a Lockheed Martin F-22 shot down an unidentified object of a similar description and altitude in the same general area.
And here I was always taught you ought to know what your target is BEFORE you shoot it…
Politics Drags On
Lastly, it looks like some of the Loony Lefty WEFy “political leaders” are getting booted out, or calling it quits. The list is growing, up to at least 3 now (leader of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon announcing a quit in the works today…) and rumors of Turdough on the chopping block soon-ish. Though I’m not going to hold my breath waiting. He doesn’t impress me as someone to let go of power for the good of the people, or anyone really… /snark;
Maybe, just maybe, there’s a bit of political hope.
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Oh, and The Jab rots your brain and stops your heart…
There’s a good Dr. John Campbell video out there on this. Referenced in prior W.O.O.D. h/t YMMV here. While I saw it prior, he got the link up first ;-)
References this paper:
https://www.mdpi.com/2076-393X/10/10/1651
A Case Report: Multifocal Necrotizing Encephalitis and Myocarditis after BNT162b2 mRNA Vaccination against COVID-19
by Michael Mörz
Institute of Pathology ’Georg Schmorl’, The Municipal Hospital Dresden-Friedrichstadt, Friedrichstrasse 41, 01067 Dresden, Germany
Gee, doesn’t “Necrotizing Encephalitis” sound like just the thing you want from your Jab? /sarc; Nothing like a little brain death in the morning… But at least now we know why the Jab True Believers are so hard to reach… they may well have compromised cognition.
Abstract
The current report presents the case of a 76-year-old man with Parkinson’s disease (PD) who died three weeks after receiving his third COVID-19 vaccination. The patient was first vaccinated in May 2021 with the ChAdOx1 nCov-19 vector vaccine, followed by two doses of the BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine in July and December 2021. The family of the deceased requested an autopsy due to ambiguous clinical signs before death. PD was confirmed by post-mortem examinations. Furthermore, signs of aspiration pneumonia and systemic arteriosclerosis were evident. However, histopathological analyses of the brain uncovered previously unsuspected findings, including acute vasculitis (predominantly lymphocytic) as well as multifocal necrotizing encephalitis of unknown etiology with pronounced inflammation including glial and lymphocytic reaction. In the heart, signs of chronic cardiomyopathy as well as mild acute lympho-histiocytic myocarditis and vasculitis were present. Although there was no history of COVID-19 for this patient, immunohistochemistry for SARS-CoV-2 antigens (spike and nucleocapsid proteins) was performed. Surprisingly, only spike protein but no nucleocapsid protein could be detected within the foci of inflammation in both the brain and the heart, particularly in the endothelial cells of small blood vessels. Since no nucleocapsid protein could be detected, the presence of spike protein must be ascribed to vaccination rather than to viral infection. The findings corroborate previous reports of encephalitis and myocarditis caused by gene-based COVID-19 vaccines.
So, yeah, not an anti-vaxer, but I’m definitely an “anti necrotizing encephalitis” kind of guy…
WatchMaga
This will continue to be DIY for a while still.
https://rumble.com/user/WatchMaga
For more recent events, see:
Bongino Report:
Or Whatfinger:
https://generaldispatch.whatfinger.com/
I’ve also gotten addicted to the Top Ten Memes of the week from WatchMAGA here:
They have interesting “bite” to them, along with a tendency to highlight the news of the week in memes, so good as a social attitude pointer too. Plus they are “way fun” ;-)
Musings from the Chiefio 
E.M.: “Papaya can be eaten as ripe fruit, or can be cooked as a green vegetable.”
I did not know that part about cooking papayas when they are green. I’ll have to look that up.
OTOH, I grew up in a 4-seasons region with Winters always having at least some sub-zero (F) temperatures and some Winters quite a few of those cold days. And growing up, papayas just were not a ‘thing’ in the grocery stores. Heck! I’m not sure how old I was before I learned there was such a thing as a papaya.
Back when, the big kahunas of shipped in tropical fruits were oranges, grapefruits, and pineapples. Of course, now you can get just about any fruit from anywhere in the World and in any season, limited only by your wallet.
An update on Hector Serrano’s version of reactionless space drive.
https://www.gravitecinc.com/post/demo-1-update
https://www.gravitecinc.com/post/extreme-low-earth-orbit-eleo-and-balloons
He’s claiming 20mN/W, and using a 5W drive giving a thrust of 100mN. For a 1kg satellite+drive, that will accelerate it at about 1/100 of a gravity. Maybe doesn’t sound that much, but even that small acceleration would reduce the time taken for a Mars trip by around half, and trips to planets further away by more.
Like other “reactionless” drives, the currently-available thrust is pretty small in real terms, and of course it violates a few basic axioms even though (like the other designs around) Hector claims it doesn’t violate those Laws. I expect the total thrust available, and the power needed to run the drive, to improve over time – once it’s shown to be possible, it’s engineering after that as people figure out better ways to do things and try other methods to achieve a similar result. It’s no longer “impossible” and that frees people to experiment and also frees the funds because it’s no longer a crackpot idea.
That 5.4 is a good motor but just be ready to replace coils every once in a while. My f150 used to throw one or 2 every couple years after 150k miles. Easy enough to do yourself but on a couple of them the fuel rail gets in the way. You got it though. The expeditions are goid in the snow too. Even without the 4×4. Good luck!
Re the Ford – I have owned a 1994 Ford Ranger 4-banger, a 2003 F-150 6-banger that was actually rated to tow more than some of the Ford V8 models, and a 2006 F-250 V-10 that I used to tow our first trailer.
Hmmm… one could reasonably conclude that H.R. just might be partial to Fords. I finally broke with tradition and went with the RAM because I wanted the Cummins diesel.
Anyhow, they all had a mechanical peccadillo, not necessarily engine related. I believe much the same holds true for Chevy (and GMC ). I’m assuming you have already looked into the lowdown on what the achy-breaky thing is on that Ford V-8, and ‘the thing’ may not necessarily be an engine problem.
What I suggest is that if your search reveals a recurring issue with that vehicle, it’s old enough that aftermarket parts makers may have already come up with a better-than-factory solution in a replacement part. I’m learning about that here in the RV park when the conversation turns to how satisfied they guys are with their choice of tow vehicles. “So I bought one of these FOO replacements and have never had a problem since.”
So, you might just want to have a mechanic check out the weak point, if you find there is one, before your trip. If there are no issues, you are probably bulletproof for your trip.
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One other tip, which you probably absorbed from your ‘yoot’ growing up in the boonies, find a Ford dealer in an agricultural area. They do a LOT more trucks than the townies and know exactly what to look for on each year and model. The tipoff is when their front line of new vehicles is 70% trucks and oh, they also sell cars ;o)
Even better, IMO; I had a little indie shop out in the corn fields of our county that looked after my F-250 V-10.
When I dropped it off for my pre-Florida trip inspection and fix-anything-that-might-make-the-trip-unsafe session, their fix-it queue was almost all (muddy!) trucks of all makes and models from the surrounding farms. My first visit there, I thought, “It looks like the farmers have voted this shop as the place that knows what they are doing when it comes to trucks.”
You seem to be close enough to ‘the sticks’ that there might be a place like that not too far from you.
Florida telling people the mRNA shots aren’t as safe as older vaccines:
https://www.floridahealth.gov/newsroom/2023/02/20230215-updated-health-alert.pr.html
Here’s a curiously-serendipitous overlap of two unrelated streams.
1) Graham Hancock’s “Ancient Apocalypse” series on Netflix, pushing the start of civilisation back thousands of years. Orthodox archeologists poo-poo everything he says.
His reply?
“Of course they do, they only look down at the ground, they should be looking up at the sky”
2) Our MSM insists Russia isn’t winning because they are not advancing rapidly.
Simplicius The Thinker says:
“Of course they do, they only look at the troops on the ground, they should be looking up at the sky”
More here:
All Seeing Eye: Can Russia Break Through The West’s ISR Overmatch?
We explore how Russia can deal with NATO/Five Eyes’ vast space-recon capabilities during the coming offensives.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/all-seeing-eye-can-russia-break-through
Pulling the end of civilisation back towards the present day.
“Have I mentioned lately that I hate “government” and how it screws up people’s lives?”
On that theme, I was recently trying to explain “capitalism” to someone who needed a simplistic answer. Unfortunately, that word means different things to different people.
capitalism: when A lends money to B, expecting to be reimbursed later.
socialism: when B takes money from A, with no intention of giving it back.
You may ask, how is socialism different from theft?
So we have to get into fair trade (barter, money, whatever):
A and B agree to exchange goods or services, at an agreed price.
capitalism: A might gift something to C, unforced
socialism: B takes money from A and gives it to C, where A has no choice
Laws are force. Legal systems have evolved.
Kings, etc.: legality is ad hoc and can be changed without notice, even retroactively.
Rule of law: you know what is legal and what will be legal in the future.
Democracy: good because it takes away excess power from the king, not just because people get to vote.
Simplistic, as I said. You decide whether or not we are still in the age of kings and feudalism.
Another Step Up The Escalator to Escalation (ASUTETE)
Britain to train Ukrainian fighter pilots
As part of recent talks, the Prime Minister has boosted the UK’s training offer for Ukrainian troops, including expanding it to fighter jet pilots to ensure Ukraine can defend its skies. The training will “ensure pilots are able to fly sophisticated NATO-standard fighter jets in the future”.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/britain-to-train-ukrainian-fighter-pilots/
Nord Stream bubbles
” Right after I said yesterday that the Russians were being a bit too quiet about Nord-Gate, Reuters ran a sobering story headlined, “Russia to Call U.N. Security Council Meeting Over Nord Stream Blasts.” ”
“Some analysts think that Russia wants the security council meeting to create a public record of its justification for some planned retaliatory act. Whatever it is, it’s probably going to be something we won’t like. ”
From today’s Covid and Coffee
Plus other waves – some of Florida’s making
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/revived-friday-february-17-2023-c?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Subscribe at no cost is worth the reading so far (IMO)
About those tanks we promised you …
A source explained: “The British armour is the best in the world.
Huzzah!
Makes you proud to be British!
Step forward General Sir Anthony Cecil Hogmanay Melchett.
Err, but …
But the worst case scenario is that a tank is destroyed when the lines are collapsing and friendly forces are in retreat. “Step one is the training and working with mission planners to try and ensure the Challengers are not used in scenarios where they think that collapse a realistic possibility.
Wait, what does that mean? Don’t let the tanks get anywhere near a front line?
“Step two is making sure, at the tactical level, the Ukrainians are trained to recover a tank under fire. They certainly don’t lack the courage.”
What? You expect Ukrainians who are being attached by cannon shells or missiles to rush forward to recover a British tank?
Other extreme options under consideration include having private military contractors on standby to recover stricken tanks.
Hang on – what’s this “private military contractors”? NATO forces inside Ukraine?
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/21191872/army-emergency-secret-british-armour-tanks-war-ukraine/
“HUGE: FOX News Filing Shows DOMINION Voting Systems Executives Including Eric Coomer Knew Its Voting Systems Had Major Security Issues, Was Hacked, and Was “Riddled with Bugs” ”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/breaking-sht-just-riddled-bugs-fox-news-filing-shows-dominion-knew-voting-systems-major-security-issues/
FWIW – long
“The Medical Mafia MUST Be Destroyed”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248116
@H.R.:
In theory, tomorrow I give some guy some money and get a 2006 FORD Expedition. It has some “flat spotted tires” (i.e. out of round with some areas about 2/10 ths to 3/10ths lower tread than the rest). I figure worst case is I buy new tires, or hopefully I find someone who knows how to “true” or “shave” tires. Has a sound / feeling like running over the “rumble strip” for about a 1 MPH range about 43 MPH about one in 4 times you cross that speed, otherwise it’s fine.
I’m pretty sure it’s the harmonic point where energy is building up in the spring / tire system and the tire starts to bounce.
Felt the tires and felt the flat spot. Eyeball of the tread showed different height. Once I’ve got it, I’ll use my tread gauge to confirm and then visit a good tire shop.
Otherwise the truck is Just Fine (modulo a bit of chipped paint on the “tail gate” upper edge and 2 dime sized bubbled paint areas near it (likely from moisture intrusion at the chipped 1 x 3 inch area). So I figure some “sand and paint” on the “tail gate”.
Has brake controller already installed, and is overall in good condition, professional mechanic maintained, and rides / runs nice.
More once it’s mine (and paying less than I’ve paid in REPAIRS on the ML since I bought it…).
Yeah, farm country. It’s a thing. I’m at the very edge of the town where we bought our house. Go a mile further and it is dirt, trees, cows, etc.
I’ve known FORDs all my life. First car was a Ford. Had a FORD F350 Crew Cab 4×4 1986 at one point (“Big Blue”). They are OK with some TLC needed from time to time. Dodge is reputed to be better (and the Cummins is, but the 7.3 L Ford Diesel is close… the 6.0 and EcoDiesel not so much…). GM / Chevy is generally not so OK (per the folks who report repairs…)
Best non-Mercedes Diesel I had was an International Harvester Scout (’80 IIRC) with a Nissan Turbo Diesel inline 6 w/ Bosch injection system. Still sorry to this day that I sold it.
But it did take 12 quarts of oil to the oil change, and ever 3000 miles IIRC… that gets pricy after a while…
FWIW, I’ve also owned a FORD Courier PU. (Mazada in FORD dress, er, Kilt, er…) and driven many others.
FWIW also, the “weak point” in the 5.4 L engine is that after the first spark plug change they have a tendency for a few of them to “spit a spark plug”. IMHO, this is because the mechanics then were used to Iron Head engines and this engine has aluminum heads. They likely either over torqued it (slightly deforming and starting to strip threads) or they under torqued it out of fear (and gasses leaking by eroded the threads) until the spark plug got spit out of the hole. $285 and a helicoil later it would be fixed…
Other than that, the transmissions tend to go before the engines are all dead. So, OK, I’m willing to roll the dice on “upshift to high gear and sit in it for 400 miles” for 7 or 8 times across the country x 2 or 3 trips… Call it 25 total “upshift / down shift” sequences to done. (Or the equivalent of 25 stop lights… or about a long weekend of running around town…)
We’ll now see if I’m right, or not.
In any case, I get a “beater truck” suited to local fishing a lot ;-)
I need that 25 shift cycles, and about 24,000 of freeway top gear miles, and then the “move” is done. After that, I don’t care much. OTOH, compared to a Mercedes, ANY repairs it needs will be Very Cheap ;-)
So I’m pretty sure it will be in the “fleet” for years (decades I hope ;-)
Oh, it’s 4×4 too ;-)
E.M. – “[…] until the spark plug got spit out of the hole. $285 and a helicoil later it would be fixed…”
Same only fly in the ointment on the V-10 except the plug body and threads were undersized for extreme screamin’. POP!
Same fix, too, and after the fix you were guaranteed to never have that problem on that cylinder again. They drilled, tapped, and put in the helicoil insert for a larger body/thread plug and you were done. Not cheap but not too expensive, either. When I first read about it, a few people reported that they just went ahead and did all 10. Quantity discount, I suppose, and malice aforethought that they’d really push that engine ;o)
Anyhow, my F-250 was chosen to have plenty of margin between actual trailer weight and max load, so I never did see that problem.
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Here’s wishing that you only need fresh shocks to fix the bouncy wheels. Salute!
I have to say your saga concerning the ML is depressing. Add it to the pile!
Hello Chiefio. Kind of a bad time to get in touch. Look at you, you are out of CA — and something about a boat .
If you have a few extra seconds, I would like to ask a small favor of you regarding a past thread.
Thanks so much, Zeke
Very good rant:
The gist of it is: Public health lied. Sue the bastards.
100%
I saw a list of reliability of 10 upper end cars the other day that had Mercedes down towards the bottom.
John Cardogan would likely mutter something about “Good Ol’ Three Prong” about here
Re that Security Council meeting item above –
Reuters also had Russia flagging that this would happen back in September
Aren’t coincidences amazing?
“Just Moments After Trump Announces Trip to East Palestine, FEMA Reverses Decision on Ohio Disaster Aid”
https://beckernews.com/moments-after-trump-49369/
Via a comment at Tree House
Keith Macdonald, your link here…https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/all-seeing-eye-can-russia-break-through
was very very informative.
YMMV, this is my take on capitalism, admittedly not as simple, but two paragraphs are not over the top.
The United States recognition of the right to seek self gain, (capitalism) combined with the fact that fundamentally we are, or were a “republic” guaranteeing freedom from tyranny of other groups, or from the tyranny of the majority, be that majority religious, political, corporate, or a combination thereof, is highly moral. My perspective is that it is a mistaken view that capitalism causes an evil selfishness in the pursuit of material prosperity. It has been stated that there is an inescapable form of selfish desire in the actions of all men; the removal of pain, want and suffering and the attainment of lasting happiness.
Capitalism is in many respects fundamentally honest, and a partial reflection of the above. It is an admittance that personal gain is never absent, even in the most altruistic, and so capitalism makes no pretense of removing personal gain. It also makes no moral judgment of personal gain being bad. It is a neutral admittance that desire for personal gain exists, and cannot be legislated away. Social systems that vainly seek to legislate selflessness, only condense the dark side of personal gain aspect into the most powerful people within the government, and in removing liberty and power from the common man, engender helplessness in the masses.
@David A
Sobering reading for those who are imagining that Russia runs it artillery with abacuses and slide rules – and other things too
@jim2:
It is even more depressing when you have sunk $10K into it… and then a few more in “repairs”… all to get a very expensive way to pick up groceries and not tow anything.
So we’re going Cheap American FORD (hopefully “for the win”…)
The only reason I ever started on Mercedes was the astounding reliability of the German Staff Car – the 240 D 4 cylinder Diesel. (IIRC it started out a 190 D and grew ;-) I still own one, and it will be the LAST car I ever let go.
But every generation since has been less reliable and vastly higher maintenance and maintenance costs. About the 2005 model point it looks like they crossed a limit for me. Certainly the 2008 is way over that line.
It has been to 3 very good very professional shops and has 3 or 4 completely unnecessary investigate / repair processes (to fix turbo air leak, maybe) before one shop chased it down to the Hind Brain (SAM) lying as it was corroding to death. At least, I hope the “hiccup” is fixed… theory being that the Hind Brain also controls the fuel “lift pump” and that the hiccup is caused by sporadic fuel starvation when the pump isn’t activated… so replacing the Hind Brain has hopefully also eliminated the “Turbo Unhappy” code from the Front Brain (SAM as well) when the hypothetical fuel event causes a sensor disconnect between air flow and fuel flow expected… or something like that…)
But “we’ll see”. So Far it seems fixed ( I sometimes think maybe I felt a bit of power dip / return; but that may be me “projecting” due to paranoia about it now, or just the transmission asking the Engine Management Computer – yet another “brain” with too much control… to back of the power for a moment as the transmission wants to do something…)
And, frankly, that’s the worst of it. That despite it most likely being fixed, it is so stochastic that I can not at all trust it to be fixed, or stay fixed long enough to drive to California.
Then you add in that the Trailer Brakes are on 100% of the time (even when the car brakes are not on….) and THAT is controlled by the Hind Brain; AND the guy who fixed the car can’t get the Hind Brain to do the right thing with the trailer brakes… So recommended that I take it to the deal (“stealer”…)… the same folks who wanted $9,000.00 to replace the Turbo and all related gear (because they didn’t realize it was the Hind Brain dying and lying…)
At the point where you can’t get it fixed, can’t trust the fix to fix anything, and nobody knows how to tell you what is really broken (even the dealer…) while charging $Thousands per “repair” that doesn’t repair… At that point, you must just “move on” to a different solution. So I am.
And, if THIS Ford is “too new” to be reliable; well, there are still nice ’70s and ’80s simple clean FORDs for sale in California. I’m sure I can trade this one in on an “old beater” that has NO computers in it… But I’m pretty sure folks in Rural Florida can fix anything wrong on a FORD Expedition from 2006.
@Zeke:
You want me to mail you, you to mail me, or just post your question here?
@Keith & David A.:
Yes, interesting article, but…
“That may sound like a techno-babble-word-salad”… was in the article and it is true.
Acronym rich, I had to look up a half dozen of them. Using slang from Persian and Russian military as well…
Yes, I know, it is far far faster both for the writer and the reader to use Domain Specific Slang & Acronyms; but IF and ONLY IF your readers know them… If you expect others to read it, at least include a dictionary…
@H.R.:
Since I’m intending to be almost entirely on “The Flat” across the nation (only real hill climb being out of California, likely I’ll even avoid most of that via L.A. as I’m going to avoid snow zones…) and since I’m planning on slow acceleration on on-ramps and then modest cruising to save money: I don’t expect to be doing any “screaming!” acceleration… so don’t expect to stress things much.
I’m hoping for about 8 “fill ups” coast to coast. They will mostly be at flat places with long on-ramps and truck friendly. Other than that, sitting on cruise control at about 60 MPH until the tank needs another fill. All pulling a 6 x 12 trailer, so not a lot of drag either.
Max Weight 7000 lbs for the trailer, plus what fits inside the truck (and not exceeding GVWR for it, either). Really it ought to be a light load compared to the limits of the truck.
Not doing the I-80 Monster Climb nor Rockies. Too much snow.
Not doing the I-40 unless the snow in Flagstaff magically leaves (so no Tehachapies either…)
Most likely I-10, so a very slow climb to 5000 feet at about El Paso (but going south via 101 to avoid The Grapevine climb on I-5).
Ought to be essentially easy rolling the whole way.
@Balloons and “Military Intelligence”
Some of us might have wondered if we were shooting down our own balloons. Like the bigger ones from the US National Weather Service and NOAA, launched in places like Alaska.
Then there’s all smaller hobby and amateur ones. Here (ironically) is the US Naval Academy Amateur Radio Group.
A summer intern, Anika Williams, studied the potential of using ultra lightweight APRS telemetry systems on a party-balloon sized mission to achieve constant pressure altitude and float potentially around the world. She used a WB8ELK SkyTracker and had a successful mission. Unfortunately we launched on a day with a totally unexpected and unusal weather pattern bringing in winds that took it North instead of the usual East.
Confirming what an sensible person would already knows, passive balloons are going where the wind blows, and aren’t being steered by some cunning foe. Also, that article gives us a clue how a heat-seeking missile could be effective against a passive balloon with no engines (and no big thermal signature).
3 May 2014 Re-Flight: The near image (bottle) at right was the 2014 solar thermal payload that was re-flown to get the intended solar thermal data. The image shows it in comparision to the more conventional approach some take to packaging in foam. The mission proved our thesis (since 1991), that balloon payloads do not need insulation and heavy foam, but simply need clear containers to take advantage of solar heating. The payload shown here used the conventional foam packaging (top) but also a solar thermal package as well. The Thermal payload consisted of three concentric layers of clear plastic. The inner layer was a single layer of bubblewrap around the electronics. The second layer was a plastic water bottle and the outer layer was a larger soda bottle.
i.e. the three layers of passive insulation were enough to keep the electronics at +60C while the outside temperature was much lower. Just enough to show a tiny temperature difference on infra-red detectors.
http://www.aprs.org/balloons.html
For the technically curious, better info on the details of how to built something for a few dollars using an Arduino Pro Mini.
https://www.rtl-sdr.com/the-us-airforce-may-have-shot-down-an-amateur-radio-pico-balloon-over-canada/
Now, I’m no great military strategist, but what’s the betting that there’s a few non-US TLAs chuckling at the idea of swarming North American airspace with a few hundred $10 balloons?
Oh! Too late…
Currently, 2000 single-use stratospheric balloons are launched daily. Our balloons are also single-use but require significantly less material, less energy, and have simpler logistics.
The probe is a crucial part of our observational system. It performs measurements of meteorological variables such as temperature, humidity, pressure, or wind currents, which it then transmits through a global radio network. It operates entirely on solar power, making it run indefinitely. All of this is possible in its coin-sized package.
https://www.picoballoon.org/
And then …
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi on Saturday blasted the United States’s reaction to what Washington has called a Chinese spy balloon as “hysterical and absurd”, in uncharacteristically strong remarks against the top Western power. Addressing a gathering of world leaders at the Munich Security Conference, Wang said US President Joe Biden’s administration has a “misguided” perception of Beijing.
…
“There are many balloons from many countries in the sky. Do you want to down each and every one of them?” Wang charged. “We urge the United States not to do such preposterous things simply to divert attention from its own domestic problems.”
Would it be comical (if it wasn’t so frightening) how this is turning into a remake of Dr Strangelove?
@EM, did you check the switch on the brake pedal?
Had that stick once on an old vehicle.
Chiefio says, “You want me to mail you, you to mail me, or just post your question here?”
Yes. [:
First it is with great grief I must tell you all of the passing of Wallace Thornhill, scientific pioneer of the Electric Universe model. A celebration of the life of Wal Thornhill was held on Feb 16th, and before anything else can be said, the service, generously shared by his family, gave a deep, reflective pause to a rushing, distracted, worried world by sharing the labors, loves and works of a man whose life was exceptionally well-lived.
As an alternative to the Big Bang Cosmology, the ideas expressed in the Electric model receives its share of ridicule, but that is to be expected. The idea is simple and rests on the well-developed Plasma Universe model. That is, 99.99% of the material in the universe is in a plasma state, and plasma organizes itself into sheets, cellular structures, and twisted pairs of filaments. These plasma structures shine in all frequencies of the em spectrum, and especially reveal a threaded, filamentary universe in radio wave telescope and infra-red observations.
Some of the most exciting and exhilarating points covered in the Electric Universe are that stars form rapidly along long twisted filaments by pulling in dusty plasmas and compressing them into various types of stars, visually similar to the familiar bright spots that briefly appear along the discharge of a lightning bolt; active galaxies replicate themselves by ejecting quasars along their axes, which age to become companion galaxies; and planetary nebulae are not dying stars, but are bright, visible electromagnetic pinches in a plasma filament, which is what gives them their lovely, bipolar, hour-glass figures.
Alternative cosmologies like the Plasma & Electric Universe models are either rarely reported on or are derided out of hand, but the Big Bang has many deficiencies and this leaves a sizable proportion of people unsatisfied with the direction of astronomy.
PS . Thanks cheifio. How about if you meet me over on my old blog, where I have hopefully very small and simple favor to ask you, even though I hate to do so since you are way too busy….
EM, yes, there was a comment to the article regarding the acronyms. The author was appreciative and responsive to all comments, many quite good.
@Zeke:
Ok… and your “old blog” is where? i.e. post a link so other folks can find it too ;-)
Sorry to hear of the passing of Wallace Thornhill. I liked the Electric Universe Model for how it cleaned up a lot of loose ends…
That the present size of the Universe is indeterminate, and beyond our theoretical ability to “see”: IMHO pretty much says the Standard Big Bang is wrong.
FWIW, my pet theory is, well, mine ;-) It is that there is a “Steady State Big Bang”.
It depends on the fact that “time” goes to zero in The Singularity inside a Black Hole. As does space. Then posits that “zero time and space” is the same “place” in a “white hole / Big Bang ” (i.e. the “start of time and space”) as it is in the cold death “end of time and space” when everything in the universe has been sucked into black holes “everywhere”
It is the pulling of “space” into the back holes that makes it look like the Universe is expanding as the fabric in which “stuff” is embedded gets stretched. “Gravity” is left behind in the Black Hole as it is a property of “space” (that goes to zero at the singularity), so when the “stuff” comes flying out of the White Hole it has no gravity to overcome. As “space” is created (and time) gravity starts to form eventually slowing the debris flying out of the White Hole, and allowing “stuff” to condense into matter, stars, galaxies, etc. and eventually into Black Holes that then start sucking down all the matter… and the cycle repeats…
BUT, since it is “zero time” in the singularity, the end and the beginning of time are the same, and it is all just the one big “cycle”… And the laws of nature, how the universe looks, and what is “going on” just depend on where “you” are in that cycle from “no time nor space and a white hole forms” to “black holes everywhere in a gigantic universe, dying in the cold and dark… and all points in between.
Note that this idea does not need Standard Cosmology, nor Electric Universe. It is about the start and end of time being an identity (through a mirror darkly…) and not about what happens in between… (on this side, or outside the Singularity… at least…)
@Ossqss:
Welcome to the land of Mercedes Multiplex Wiring & the Mystery Of The SAM.
(Signal Acquisition Module, AKA “hind brain”, “fore brain”, “mid brain” etc. It has several… and several fuse boxes scattered about)
So, the Vehicle lights up the Brake Lights JUST FINE. Not a single thing wrong, at all, with the car lights.
The “fore brain” gets a switch on the brake pedal tell it “we would like brakes, please”. It recognizes this and assembles a data packet that gets put on the Car Area Network headed to the Hind Brain. The Hind Brain gets the packet, decodes it, and says “Oh, My! Someone is applying the brakes. I ought to turn on brake lights!” at which time it closes an “electronic switch” on its board to connect power from its main power buss to the brake lights (with both a MONDO fuse in its fuse panel for the Main Power Buss and a minor fuse in the same fuse panel for the brake lights). This, then, lights up the brake lights. Note that there is NO connection between the brake pedal switch and either the Hind Brain (“rear SAM”) or the actual brake lights.
That, sorry to say, is the bare basics…
Now, there’s 2 or 3 other complications.
1) There is a light out sensing circuit. “something” in the Hind Brain monitors the power draw of the brake circuit. IFF it is “too low” it assembles and sends a packet over the Car Area Network to tell the Fore Brain that there’s a light bulb out, and which one. The Fore Brain then tells the display to inform you of this.
2) The Trailer Lights Circuit is also informed if there’s a light bulb out situation. IF there’s no Trailer Lights At All, it is also informed “there’s no trailer so do not light up ANY trailer light circuits NOR supply power to the Trailer Main feed. This required a LED Bypass Adapter (basically resistors that look like light bulbs in a round 7 connector that you put between an LED Lights trailer and the car to tell the computer “there’s trailer incandescent bulbs here, honest!” so it will turn on power and use the trailer light lines. This worked on my trip out with a car on a car hauler trailer, using a Round 7 flat pin RV to 4 flat round pin LED / Multiplex adapter. Then the Hind Brain crapped out about a month or two of Florida water later… )
3) At Present, I have a Round 7 flat pin RV type LED bypass adapter AND a Round 7 flat pin RV type Brake Controller (bluetooth…). BUT, having had the Hind Brain replaced (twice… as we found the missing gasket after the 2nd failure / 1st replacement… for about $1k each…) something in the programming (or, gasp, I hope not, the Hind Brain Hardware had a failure…) isn’t quite right. So… While the vehicle lights all work PERFECTLY, and all of the Trailer Lights work PERFECTLY Except the Brake Lights – which brake lights are on full power all the time; nobody knows what is wrong, in what part, or how to fix it.
We know it isn’t the LED Bypass adapter as that has worked for all the other lines and there is NO “light out” report on the display on the dash about trailer lightbulb FOO being out.
We know it isn’t the trailer as it works on other vehicles just fine.
We know it isn’t the brake pedal, Fore Brain, Car Area Network, wires between them, etc. etc. as everything else works fine.
So, IMHO, the choices come down to:
Software in the Hind Brain is broken in some subtle way.
Software in the Hind Brain is configured wrong in some subtle way.
Hardware in the SAM is broken for Trailer Brakes (shorted through) OR something touching the SAM (Hind Brain) is shorting power to the trailer brake lines.
Something in the Fuse Panel is shorted and sending power to the trailer brake lines all the time.
I can’t see anything beyond that as likely.
Notes:
The guy who replaced the Hind Brain (twice…) tried updating software. It didn’t help, and I was pointed to the Dealer (stealer…) for perhaps a broader upload ability or “something only they can do, maybe”. As that’s likely to be ANOTHER $1k, and take a month+, I need to “move on” for now as I don’t have that time before my next run is complete and our tax stuff is in hand.
While I was assured it was not in the fuse panel, I think some time with a volt meter would be instructive. I have to get my VOMs, but they are in California…
I think it is going to be up to me to work on finding exactly where the fault happens. In the SAM, in the fuse panel, between SAM and mounting, etc. Since the Automotive Techs who have had Computer SAM Brain Training seem to trust 100% the fault codes and advisories the SAM sends them, and are not as experienced with “bugs” as a guy with 50 years of programming experience…
So there you have it….
chiefio says, “Ok… and your “old blog” is where? i.e. post a link so other folks can find it too ;-)”
Thanks EM, I went in and linked it to my screen name now.
Also, very interesting description of your Steady State Universe, but with all the flavorful singularities ! (:
Excuse me, the first post has a comment thread available to talk. Simples.
@EM
Re the Mercedes muppetry – you have my sympathy. It might be reassuring in a grim kind of way, but you are not alone. The husband of one of my wife’s friends was a Fleet Manager for a large UK business, looking after about a 100 vehicles. For many years they had BMW and Audi and everyone was happy. But then someone somehow convinced them it was a “Good Idea” to switch to Mercs. He hated the result. The workshop hourly labour rate was higher, the price of spare parts was higher, and to top it all, the famed reliability proved to be a myth. Because of all the “clever electronics”. He was glad to retire.
Well, what’s the problem? It seems to be the maturity (or not) of the electronic systems and (especially) the computer systems. OK in desktop systems, or warm dry factories, but not in robust enough in the real world exposed to dirt and water. Plus people who are called “software engineers” that don’t actually understand real-world systems engineering principals and methods.
Another friend, a software professional, got so sick of how fragile everything has become he went back to a Series 2 Land Rover with a diesel engine. Suddenly life was fun again. He reckons the only tools you need are a screwdriver, an adjustable wrench and a hammer. And an occasional can of Lucas Replacement Wire Harness Smoke to keep the analogue electrics happy. ;-)
E.M.
Not the universe but interesting
“Electromagnetic radiation induced by mining rock failure – ScienceDirect”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/02/saturday-open-thread-18/#comment-2632358
The once mighty CSIRO of Oz
In case you were basing your conversion to wind power on CSIRO’s “Gencost model”
Tony in Oz
“I was puzzled as to why so many (almost every single site I checked) sites were using 35% as the Capacity Factor (CF) for wind generation, and even (most of them in fact) saying categorically that by 2025 (and that’s only two years from now) were saying (did I mention categorically) that wind CF would be at 40% by 2025.
They also mentioned (again, almost all of them) that most of the older wind plants would be refitted with newer turbines, adding to the fact that the CF would raise to 40% because of that. Needless to say, they cannot (despite what they say) just add a new (newer technology) nacelle on top of the old concrete tower, as the blades will be too long, necessitating complete new towers to be constructed, in other words, a complete new construction from scratch, something that will not happen, because they will not just fit older technology to an existing tower.
The current long term CF (now calculated over four and a half years on a daily basis) is 30%, and for the most recent 52 weeks has actually FALLEN below 30%. (giving lie to the false fact that as new plants are added, then the CF rises as newer technology improves that CF)
I had no idea when I started that this information would be of any use, and now, with those four and a half years of daily data, I have the proof that all they try to tell you is wrong.
Huh! No one gives a *uc* anyway, as actual proof means absolutely nothing when modelling is used as ….. fact.”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/02/saturday-open-thread-18/#comment-2632349
Graeme #4
“I’m wrong WRT GenCost, which uses the ridiculous figures of 44% for onshore wind and 52% for offshore wind (Page 75)
Aurecon 2021 claims onshore wind CF will increase from 40.3% to 46% in 2050, with offshore wind CF increasing from 45.6% to 57%. Crazy figures!!
The IER report from 2019 also had hopelessly wrong CF figures in their LCOE report.
You can see where the wrong wind CFs came from – look at EIA LCOE Annual Outlook 2019, released February 2019. This clearly shows the same silly wind CF values on Page 7, of 44% for onshore wind and 45% for offshore. As others have pointed out, these figures are also wrong for the U.S. However, on page 11, the Wind CFs for new technologies has been more clearly defined as a range – 33.3% to 43.7% for onshore wind. And naturally, when they calculate LCOE on Page 17, they use the maximum figure of 43%”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/02/saturday-open-thread-18/#comment-2632377
@Keith:
My 1980 era (W123 body) was as reliable as they come. Incredibly robust. I STILL have one that runs great. So how many cars, after 43 years, still start first time every time and “just go”?
My 2008 ML works mostly OK, but, er, um… Then “towing” is so far just broken.
In between the ’89 and even the 2001 wagons work fairly reliably and can be repaired (the 2001 a bit more picky but still works. OTOH, no towing…)
IMHO there are 2 giant PROBLEMS with electronic systems in cars. Beyond just the fragility vs the vehicles normal environment.
1) Electrolytic capacitors are widely used. These are electro-CHEMICAL devices where “goo” reacts with a metal foil to make the electrode non-conductive. Over time, electrolytic capacitors chemically degrade and often fail in about 10 to 15 years. I do not expect ANY cars made with such electronics to be running after 15 to 20 years as even “spares on the shelf” have this aging out going on.
2) Speaking of spares… Any yahoo with metal working skills can make a new metal part with enough money and skill applied. Ditto glass, fabric, even most plastics and rubbers. But who, in 20 years, will be able to make a proprietary electronics board AND THE SOFTWARE to run it? We see this in computers and cell phones; disposable after a few years all of them. My Spousal-Uncle ran a cruise missile factory in Los Angeles. Even in the 1980’s this was a problem. It was $1Million to qualify test the missile; after that ALL parts had to be exactly as specified. Problem was, a decade later, NOBODY in Silicon Valley was making 16 kb RAM, they had moved on to 64 kb. BUT he had to have 16’s. Don’t know how they resolved it, but you can’t just set up a semiconductor fab for $20,000 and start cranking them out…
So the manufacturers specify they will carry spares for 5 years (Mercedes, IIRC, for 10). But what happens then when your electronic gizmos start to fail? Think that 10 year old one on the shelf will not have the same aging issues? And who can make replacements?
I have no less than 3 Mercedes from various years where the electronic “amplifier” in the cruise control has died. 1980, 1989, 1993. I’m waiting for the 2001 to die…
So as of now I’m busy making sure I have some vehicles in the fleet that are trivial to fix and I’m not going to be buying anything with big screens and oodles of electronics everywhere. After this move is done, I’m likely to let the ML go, along with one other; and then go looking for a very old school Jeep XJ. “It’s a Jeep Thing” seems to mean “you CAN fix anything critical in the back woods with a simple tool box and a battery driven stick welder kit”. My kind of car.
I’m also looking for a ’70s era RV with a simple Diesel, but that’s on a very low priority track…
FWIW
“The Pfizer Defense:
Pfizer: “We did not defraud the government, we delivered the fraud that the government ordered.”
https://www.bitchute.com/video/LXteOAHoQoNe/ ”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/02/saturday-open-thread-18/#comment-2632405
In case you are in doubt –
“He Did It Again – General Secretary Admits NATO Has Been at War Against Russia in Ukraine Since 2014
February 18, 2023 | Sundance | 4 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/18/he-did-it-again-general-secretary-admits-nato-has-been-at-war-against-russia-in-ukraine-since-2014/
Thank you Chief, for removing the underserved and unkind post I made.
SNIP
FLAMES
I hope it didn’t take very much time. Thanks again, it was very gentlemanly of you to help me make that right.
All the best
I misunderstood, and I mistook what was just an association as an alliance.
It was the old “Guilt by association” fallacy, which was very impulsive and rude — in fact, accepting people wherever they are, with the questions they have, was an admirable virtue.
And I guess I’m not going to personally save the Republic, or Science, or my own party, or the schools, or anything else from the three letter agencies, the UN/who, and the WEF baddies, as I had planned, years ago.
I know, sounds like a personal problem.
It is. Sniff.
Thanks again Chief.
Fair exchange
https://patriotpost.us/memes/95078-how-to-pay-for-fake-meat-2023-02-18
Zeke, I found your comments on your blog about Asteroids charges and planetery reactions to their passing very interesting.
All part of the Electric Universe I suppose?
Have you looked at the work done by the Safire project on Plasma?
The videos are worth a watch, especially the one on the talk on the Electric Universe.
https://www.safireproject.com/index.html#
Yet more from the Department of “We Don’t What We’re Doing”…
First the bleeding obvious:
Ukraine war ‘over’ unless EU boosts military support, says top diplomat. Foreign affairs chief tells Munich security conference provision of ammunition has to be solved quickly. “We are in urgent war mode,” he said. “This shortage of ammunition has to be solved quickly; it is a matter of weeks.” He said if it was not the war would be over.
Then the “D’oh!” moment:
Kallas, speaking at the same event, said Russia was in a wartime mode, producing ammunition across three shifts, adding there needed to be a similar war footing in Europe. She claimed defence industry executives had told her they had no orders from the EU. Borrell said the absence of ammunition was because “we forgot about classical wars – we were only engaged with expeditionary forces and technological Blitzkrieg.”
Add some crocodile tears:
Borrell also said the EU needed to do more to convince the global south that Russia was an imperialist power. Many countries in Latin America are anti-imperialist, he said, believing the west supported dictatorships in the past, and there is similar deep resentment in Africa. “People have memories, and people have feelings,” he added.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/19/ukraine-war-over-unless-eu-boosts-military-support-says-top-diplomat
Plus more insight from Simplicius The Thinker
SITREP: Update 2/18 – Major War Confirmed Imminent – Calm before the storm.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-update-218-major-war-confirmed
@EM,
FWIW, LED lights can play havoc with older electrical systems looking for incandescent power draws. Had that challenge recently with turn signal relays on a golf card light conversion project.
There is always bypassing the brain and direct wire to the taillights option?
AC Osborn says: “I found your comments on your blog about Asteroids charges and planetery reactions to their passing very interesting.
All part of the Electric Universe I suppose?”
Thanks for having a look around, I had forgotten about that site. Yes, the idea is that planets, comets, moons and asteroids are charged bodies moving in a plasma. If there is a great enough charge difference between the bodies when they move past each other, there is an electrical discharge between them. The discharge may even be a visible electrical arc.
When the sun quieted down, it was great. I could watch the neos whizzing by, and look for intense auroras and other signs of electrical interaction between the near earth object and the earth.
So much fun. You could never “prove” the arcs and discharges were happening, but I saw a pattern. And the space agencies always have their explanations for huge auroral storms with absolutely no flares or CMEs that could have caused them. But that did not mean the official explanations were right.
I kind of dropped it because I figured we were ramping up into SC 25 and I would not have enough quiet to see smaller signal. What the heck, sunspot numbers are still kind of low ??
@Ossqss:
Probably belongs on towing / FORD page (now that it is up), but no worries, I DID mention FORD in this posting ;-)
Remember that there isn’t really a traditional “Wiring harness”. Just a Car Area Network and a power distribution cable to each of several “SAM” modules/brains/controllers.
The SAM valves the mains power into its private fuse panel (several in the vehicle… 5 IIRC). So this computer board is plugged into a fuse panel into which all the things it controls are plugged. Then it turns on the switch to activate.
The “Towing Harness” (i.e. the wiring needed to accommodate a trailer) is $3000+. You do NOT “tap into that”. The wires for it go to the same fuse block that is controlled by the rear SAM (“hind brain”, or when I’m mad at it, “Ass Brain”…) I think it also includes “programming” for the SAM.
So essentially you would be bypassing the semiconductor switch in the Hind Brain and directly linking together its “car brake light right” and its “trailer brake light right”. Similarly for the left.
Now this is where it would go off the rails.
1) The trailer brake lights are ON all the time at present. It’s the lack of a dim or off phase that’s the problem. Just linking it to the car brake would have the car brakes on all the time, too.
2) The SAM Diagnostics would likely detect this power when none ought to be there and administratively do something very bad.
3) At a minimum it will issue a trailer light fault to the “Fore Brain” telling it to nag you about your choices…
4) IF putting volts where they are not supposed to be on the SAM output line for car brakes causes something to pop in said SAM, you are out $Kilo Buck.
Per LEDs:
That’s why I have the LED Bypass Adapter. It removes LED issues and the car thinks you are an incandescent lighted trailer. Worked well towing the station wagon out here on a u-haul trailer.
AC Osborn says: “I found your comments on your blog about Asteroids charges and planetery reactions to their passing very interesting.
All part of the Electric Universe I suppose?”
Yes, that is absolutely the entire inspiration. There were enormous electrical discharge events during Tempel 1 and the S/L comet that hit Jupiter, which has made me very keen to find more of these arcs happening around us. ref:
Wal Thornhill wrote in “The Deep Impact of Comet Theory”, prior to the impact,
“Given the erroneous standard model of comets it is an interesting exercise to imagine what surprises are in store for astronomers if the plan is successful. The electrical model suggests the likelihood of an electrical discharge between the comet nucleus and the copper projectile, particularly if the comet is actively flaring at the time. The projectile will approach too quickly for a slow electrical discharge to occur. So the energetic effects of the encounter should exceed that of a simple physical impact, in the same way that was seen with comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 at Jupiter.
…The signature of an electrical discharge would be a high-energy burst of electrical noise across a wide spectrum, a “flash” from infra-red to ultraviolet and the enhanced emission of x-rays from the vicinity of the projectile. The energy of a mechanical impact is not sufficient to generate x-rays.”
That is what happened. The Tempel 1 mission was unable to record the crater they had created because the cameras were swamped by the energy of the
electric discharge. “The radiance of the blast “saturated the camera’s detector.” The same kind of camera detector overload has occurred before at Jupiter with SL-9 and at Io when the Galileo Orbiter tried to take a close up image of a “volcano”on Io. It is purely an assumption to attribute all of the radiance of the Tempel 1 ejecta to scattered sunlight.”
“Sanctions Fail: Just 8.5 Per Cent of Western Companies Have Actually Left Russia”
https://www.breitbart.com/europe/2023/02/19/sanctions-fail-just-8-5-per-cent-of-western-companies-have-actually-left-russia/
@Zeke:
I started thinking the Electric Universe folks were on to something when the Standard Model folks assured us all that there was this giant “current sheet” from the solar wind, but didn’t particularly care where it went. There ought to be and equally sized giant current into the poles of the sun to match it (otherwise you end up with an infinite loss of one charged particle…). Then Birkeland Currents at the poles explained the “ozone holes” patterns…
At that point we had pretty much proven huge electrical currents between the sun and planets and out to the edge of the solar system. So, wait a mo, I think. Isn’t that the Electric Universe folks expectation?…
@Another Ian:
Yeah. And those that “left” often did so with deals that ‘sell’ to a local with things like “right to buy back”.
Didn’t I post a Baklykov video about Macdonalds? One where he points out (while eating in essentially Macdonalds…) that the “deal” was to sell it and all the supplier contracts to a Russian (who just happened to be their existing General Manager for Russia…) with a right to repurchase it for 10 years. Menu dropped the “Mac” in front of names, but otherwise was the same.
If that doesn’t sound familiar to folks, I can post it.
FWIW
“Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari Admits Goal is to Shrink Economy to Meet Decreased Energy Supplies
February 19, 2023 | Sundance | 48 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/19/minneapolis-fed-president-neel-kashkari-admits-goal-is-to-shrink-economy-to-meet-decreased-energy-supplies/
FWIW
“Col. Douglas MacGregor Interview on war in Ukraine. Update15 February 2023”
Various Ukraine war links here
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/02/complex-comprehensive-analysis-of-war-in-ukraine-from-simplicius76/
Zeke says: 19 February 2023 at 6:56 pm
Tim Cullen of Malaga Bay had a series of posts back in 2017 entitled the Atomic Comet that you may find of interest.
https://malagabay.wordpress.com/?s=the+atomic+comet
FWIW
“CBDCS – HOW TO BEAT THE SOCIAL CREDIT MATRIX”
https://richardsonpost.com/harryrichardson/30595/cbdcs-how-to-beat-the-social-credit-matrix/
Bitcoin?
@Per CBDCs:
The Austrian School guys notion of money is important here. Money is just the most trade-able commodity that holds some value.
Moving to Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) makes it a less “tradeable” commodity and with a much larger risk that the “value” in it can just evaporate as the Government can just shut off any given bills for folks it doesn’t like.
So, IMHO, a whole lot of folks, for a whole lot of transactions, will just move to a different “tradeable commodity”.
I once bought a Mercedes Wagon for a one ounce gold coin plus 2 x $100 bills. Why? Because I had the gold coin but didn’t have the money in the bank. Offered it, and it was accepted. Commodity for Commodity. Coin for car.
Through history folks have traded all sorts of “visibly valuable” things. They just will again. Right now, for example, eggs are going at 50 ¢ each. I’d trade eggs as 50 ¢ pieces provided the counter party was known to me or the age of the egg was reliably recent. In prisons, cigarettes often become currency, even among non-smokers.
So some stuff that’s of obvious quality and utility will just become common trade goods. That can be metal coins, cigarettes, cookies, nails, nail polish, bars of soap, etc. etc. And it doesn’t need to all be the same. Guys in rural areas can settle on .223 Ammo while gang bangers in Detroit might use 9mm or bags of MJ. Ladies might choose cards of bobby pins, bottles of perfume, gold chain, and bars of soap.
Just so long as the value is enduring and relatively obvious, and the product is in some way divisible for making different sized trades.
So IFF the Government with their CBDC only lets me buy groceries, not booze, I buy some eggs and trade them to the guy who is hungry but has used up his cholesterol Credit Limit and has booze credits left over as he doesn’t drink… Inefficient at first, but folks fairly rapidly find each other…
There’s lots of things that fall into visible value and divisible. From copper wire, to lead wheel weights, to cans of soup. (one can now about $1 for the cheap ones…)
So I’m pretty sure that as soon as The Gov’t decides to limit some uses of CBDC, it will discover that it has left the pool of “most easily traded commodity”…
@EM
Then Birkeland Currents at the poles explained the “ozone holes” patterns…
Thanks for the education, I had to look that up:
Observations acquired from a variety of rocket and satellite experiments have absolutely confirmed the presence of Birkeland currents and have demonstrated the important role that these intense currents (ranging between 10^6 and 10^7 amperes) play in the coupling of energy between interplanetary space and the lower atmosphere and ionosphere.
https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-1-4613-3652-5_18
10 million amps of current – no wonder there’s an ozone hole!
It’s always astonished me that most orthodox astrophysicists still persist in thinking in terms of Newtonian physics. Maybe it’s a good example of the Half-Life of Knowledge?
Then there’s the implications for Geophysics and plate tectonics.
e.g.
Andrew Hall: Subsurface Birkeland Currents
@Keith:
Yeah, I did a series of postings on Ozone Holes, probably about a decade ago now. I noticed 3 very important things:
1) There were always 2 “holes” with an oval pattern OR at most it looked like the two closest edges were touching in one semi-merged “hole”.
2) These things moved all over the pole in HOURS. Not days or weeks which would be required for wind (and longer for diffusion).
3) Size of the “holes” varied dramatically from day to day, week to week, season to season.
That caused me to ask:
Now just how does a 50 year+ lifespan “well distributed and thoroughly mixed gas” make changes like that happen that fast, and know to collect in just those 2 spots ALL THE TIME?
It doesn’t. It isn’t a gas driven phenomenon. The whole “”Freon did it!” thing is a SCAM by the Dupont like companies to force compliance with “mandates” for their latest patented gas when the last one runs out of patent. First it was R12 to R134a. Now it’s R134a (using “global warming” as the scam du jour) to 1234YF (at $70 per 12 ounce can: https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c/refrigerant/oil–chemicals—fluids/air-conditioning—refrigerants/1234yf-refrigerant/e590df7442c1/chemours-opteon-yf-1234yf-refrigerant-12-ounce/fre1/1234yf12v?pos=0
BTW, I think the USA just voted to join the ban on new production of R134a, so anyone who has an AC that uses it, think of stocking up…
“James O’Keefe Resigns from Project Veritas
February 20, 2023 | Sundance | 290 Comments
There is likely to be much more to come out about the situation as it genuinely unfolded; however, in the interim the main thrust of the news says James O’Keefe “resigned” from Project Veritas.”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/20/james-okeefe-resigns-from-project-veritas/
And here we go again?
“Is NOAA trying to warm the current 8+ year pause?”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/20/is-noaa-trying-to-warm-the-current-8-year-pause/
“Hypothesis: Diversity Hiring Kills”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248148
That Ohio rail and the hot box detector warnings might be an electronic age equivalent of this. A friend was on a job in a third world area and they had just overhauled the engine in a dozer and it went back to work. A stick wiped an oil pipe off and so zero oil pressure. The driver knew he had to have oil pressure, so broke the gauge glass with a stone, bent the needle to show pressure and kept going, but not for long
@EM Yet more balloons!
or perhaps “These are not the balloons you are looking for”
“Sierra Nevada Corporation, World View, Partner to Deliver Next-Gen Stratospheric Balloon Platforms”
https://www.sncorp.com/news-archive/sierra-nevada-corporation-world-view-partner-to-deliver-next-gen-stratospheric-balloon-platforms/
There’s a few paragraphs of PR buzzword bingo, but then:
The World View Stratollite® balloon is a remotely operated stratospheric vehicle that delivers commercial, scientific and government payloads to the near-space environment with revolutionary new control capabilities including precision landing and payload recovery. Its patented Altitude Control System allows for dynamic, point-to-point navigation over large distances and persistent flight over specific areas of interest. It is capable of operating at altitudes up to 75,000 ft (~23 km).
The two companies recently demonstrated the rapidly maneuverable, ultra-persistent wide area communications and ISR platform as part of the U.K. Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) Project Aether Programme. SNC’s Flight 1 demonstration launched from Page, Ariz., performing key station-keeping missions before transitioning northeast across several states to more urban environments. SNC successfully performed all stratospheric beyond-line-of-sight operations and recovered the payload, maintaining the altitudes for the duration set by the Aether programme office.
Anyone got any idea on how you do “station-keeping” with a balloon? Do you go further up and get out of the jet stream?
More on Project Aether Programme:
Project AETHER will acquire ‘Stratospheric Uncrewed Air Systems’ that can stay airborne for months and be rapidly manoeuvred anywhere in the world to provide ‘Ultra-Persistent Wide Area Communications with Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance’ capabilities.
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/britain-looking-for-stratospheric-drones-for-comms-and-surveillance/
Looks like the kind of matériel referrred to by Simplicius?
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/all-seeing-eye-can-russia-break-through
@Keith Macdonald: “10 million amps of current – no wonder there’s an ozone hole!”
Global Warming models in the past have failed to take into account the warming effects of these massive currents, and assumed that observed warming MUST be from CO2. That means that model parameters set CO2 sensitivity way too high.
Much more detail available at Suspicious Observer YT channel home.
Speaking of “Climate Change”, here is a VERY interesting video from James Corbett. He discusses the issue of UN and IPCC definitions of Climate Change. By definition, “Climate Change” means changes in climate caused by humans altering the composition of atmospheric gases. Also discusses how the IPCC reports write the political interpretation FIRST, and then modifies the science report to conform to the political stance. Old timers may already know this info, but to newbies it can be startling. (Video starts off a bit dull, then picks up.)
https://www.bitchute.com/video/J0jfL5BMYHas/
Could be useful!
At first I was impressed that someone could make a violin that small. But then I was just blown away when I realized it was actually a cello!!
@TTN – Why does it have a tiny chin rest if it is a cello?
Was that a “Ha! Made ya look!” comment?
“Tucker: This could lead to the destruction of the West”
From an Italian paper: “Wind Predictions in the Lower Stratosphere: State of the Art and Application of the COSMO Limited Area Model” by Edoardo Bucchignani
Courteous of ZH, hence the link.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/pfizer-knowingly-allowed-dangerous-components-in-its-vaccines-part-1_5060324.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge&src_src=partner&src_cmp=ZeroHedge
More on the truncated mRNA …
Leaked documents show that some early commercial batches of Pfizer-BioNTech’s covid-19 vaccine had lower than expected levels of intact mRNA, prompting wider questions about how to assess this novel vaccine platform, writes Serena Tinari
As it conducted its analysis of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid-19 vaccine in December, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) was the victim of a cyberattack.1 More than 40 megabytes of classified information from the agency’s review were published on the dark web, and several journalists—including from The BMJ—and academics worldwide were sent copies of the leaks. They came from anonymous email accounts and most efforts to interact with the senders were unsuccessful. None of the senders revealed their identity, and the EMA says it is pursuing a criminal investigation.
https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n627
@HR: “@TTN – Why does it have a tiny chin rest if it is a cello?”
Uh… Maybe a simple manufacturing mistake?
Ha! I have been caught out by your use of superior musical knowledge!
jim2: https://www.bmj.com/content/372/bmj.n627
That’s a good one! Short and sweet. And surprising it got published.
Regulators and manufacturers contacted by The BMJ for this article did not wish to address any of the questions raised by Ulm’s rapid response.
Like Climategate, ignore it in the MSM and it will go away.
Forcing people to take dangerous, unproven, poorly manufactured drugs is criminal.
In (hopefully) unrelated news, look up ecDNA. It turns out that the normal DNA in our bodies is not the only possibility. There is also a circular form of DNA which helps itself to cell function and which is found in some cancers.
Whether this discovery is good news or scary, it’s too soon to say.
But I say, watch out for the unknown unknowns, they are killers.
To mess with complicated systems that we do not understand (or even know they exist) is asking for trouble.
A bit hard to find much around the net on this ATM
“Details of Putin speech. Massive rearmament of Russia’s Hypersonic missiles with Nuclear Warheads. Conventional warheads being removed and Nuclear warheads installed. Kinzal, Zircon, Poseidon Torpedo’s and the 9m730 bureveStnik missiles.
Immediate mass production of nuclear hypersonic missiles.
Will return to classic nuclear testing no more simulations.
He will now arm Iran with Nuclear weapons and technology.
This is a huge rapid vertical escalation to begin immediately.
These new hypersonic nuclear missiles, America has no defense against them so far.
They travel at Mach 9.
The Burevestnik is a nuclear powered missile of unlimited range
Plus very likely a new mutual defense pact with China.
https://warnews247.gr/apantisi-v-poutin-sto-nato-me-diatagma-etoimotitas-chrisis-stratigikon-oplon-fortonoun-pyrinikes-kefales-stous-mi-anaschesimous-burevestnik-kinzhal-zircon/
Via
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/21/february-21-2023-reader-tips/#comment-1749620
Perinatal deaths up by a factor of 20X. Perinatal deaths are defined as fetal deaths (deaths after 20 weeks) and infant deaths (deaths after giving birth).
https://stevekirsch.substack.com/p/20x-increase-in-perinatal-death-rate
“In The Spirit Of Russian ‘Total War’ ”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/in-the-spirit-of-russian-total-war
@another ian
Thanks.
Worthy of note, as mentioned by Simplicius:
Dr. Philip Karber presentation to the U.S. Army West Point cadets, particularly from about the 26 minute point onward
@another ian – That simplicus article was very good.
I’ve been aware for quite a while of the US political position that wars would be limited and targeted. All the US tech concentrated in a small area of engagement would generally be guaranteed to overwhelm a particular opposing force.
Also, the US assumes its superior air power would give the US control of the skies. True, but now every kid and his brother has shoulder-fired heat-seeking SAMs which can make close ground support problematic.
Then there’s that other article above (I forget which one exactly) that discussed the problem Russia was having with satellites targeting their equipment – that’s a two-way street for Ukraine, BTW – and so we are stuck with and not well prepared for a WWI type of ground/artillery war.
It seems to me that the insane warmongers in DC might actually be aware of all the above and are pushing for and counting on the US ‘winning’ a nuclear war. Newsflash! There are no winners in a nuclear war. I hope I am wrong about the nuclear thing.
BTW, I saw a video a month or so ago – don’t recall where – that showed that Russia has always had their civilian population prepared for a nuclear war; shelters, drills, food, water, and potassium iodide on hand. The US? Not so much. I haven’t hidden under a desk in 60 years ;o) And almost all our fallout shelters are gone or in total disrepair, and likely unmarked and unknown anyhow.
No worries. Our ‘elites’ have their stocked bunkers, though I’m hard put to think of what they will rule over when they poke their heads out in a couple of years after the all-clear is given.
The Doomsday Clock site says “The Clock now stands at 90 seconds to midnight”.
It was a poor idea to start with, but now… time to move out of DC.
I wonder what else is being targeted? Silicon Valley? Hollywood?
Though the word wasn’t current back then – when you think about it WW2 was “existential” for the UK but not for US.
Which has lead to some quiet questioning as to how well the US would cope in similar circumstances
“Putin on the West’s decadence”
In his speech yesterday
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/02/putin-on-the-wests-decadence.html
If E.M. is travelling I hope he’s got the radio on –
That CAGW is really in the swing of it
“75 million Americans are under winter storm, ice or blizzard warnings or winter weather advisories. They span coast to coast.
Including the first recorded blizzard warning for Los Angeles.”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/22/y2kyoto-the-planet-has-a-fever-10/
Just an FYI…
I’m presently in a tire shop in El Paso Texas having a tire replaced on the Mercedes ML. Seems it had a tread start to separate … half way from San Antonio to El Paso, or 250 miles from nowhere in all directions (and some a lot more).
Limping along at 60 mph is not exactly fun, but the bubble stayed together long enough to get to a decent tire shop.
Not going to be here long, then back “on the road” for a couple of more days.
@Another Ian:
I went south to avoid all the cold and snow “North” (i.e. anywhere about I-10) so I’m in the 50 knot winds… It is incredibly windy right now, here. Likely to be worse blowing dust in New Mexico (where the road is lined with signs warning about it…)
FWIW The Grapevine (I-5 out of Los Angeles) gets snow regularly. It’s an elevation thing… I’m planning to take 101 up the coast where it’s lower and warmer ;-)
An expansion of “It takes all types”!
“Ummm…
Pus*y-flavored kettle chips
https://boingboing.net/2023/02/20/pusy-flavored-kettle-chips.html
After listing the ingredients, the author (rightfully) observes:
“That’s what they think it tastes like?” ”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/22/february-22-2023-reader-tips/#comment-1749749
Good!
Doctors Sue FDA For Prohibiting Ivermectin To Treat Covid-19
https://thefederalist.com/2023/02/21/doctors-sue-fda-for-prohibiting-ivermectin-to-treat-covid-19/
Via SDA
Another Clinton “suicide”
https://www.rt.com/news/571940-clinton-adviser-middleton-arkancide-suicide/
@H.R.
“No worries. Our ‘elites’ have their stocked bunkers, though I’m hard put to think of what they will rule over when they poke their heads out in a couple of years after the all-clear is given.”
As you say, no worries.
They already have a cunning plan.
The cunning plan may be closer to this…
@EM
Wait, what… ML?
China lays out reasons for war?
I had heard about Putin’s recent speech, but not the Chinese statement the day before.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/52ZQFkCgBykZ
“Clarkson’s Farm- Season Two, Trailer”
“Zerohedge- Clarkson’s Farm: Another Front In The War On Food”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/clarksons-farm-another-front-war-food
Links at
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/23/ive-done-a-thing/#comments
IMO the Zero Hedge is interesting reading, and comments at SDA
@Ossqss:
The Mercedes ML 320 CDI that I had bought to be my Tow Vehicle, but that has had a long series of Aw Shits that have prevented it filling that role. The one with the “Hind Brain” corrosion issues. The one with “always on now” trailer brake lights (while the car brake lights work fine…) The one now being replaced by a FORD Expedition (as soon as insurance and reg are done).
FWIW, woke up in my sleeping bag in the back of the car at about 3 AM to snow. I was about 2000 feet (at a guess) above Tucson. Heading down slope the snow turned rapidly to rain. OK, I figured, that’s all behind me now…
But it wasn’t.
Crossing the rest of the desert was generally clear sky; but on reaching the L.A. Basin, it was clear that The Storm was here.
On the I-10, it crosses the desert and enters the city through a long gap between mountains. They had a snow line a few thousand feet up the mountains. Not Bad.
Dropping into the L.A. Basin from Desert Center / Indio; I ran into snow. Real honest snow. Big fat flakes floating down, SPLAT turned to slush on the windshield…
Eventually things dried enough to leave the shoes outside (again).
Then, taking the 210 past Pasadena, snow again. This time not floating fat flakes, but clearly snow. These melted on touching glass or ground.
I eventually escaped to the coastal run of 101. I’m now past the areas expecting snow tomorrow, and below the altitude where it will stick. Still, it’s likely to be a BIG mess tomorrow
@EM
I have lost the timeline, and vehicle, for “Goin Back to Cali”
@Ossqss:
You’ve lost the time line because there isn’t one. It is all reactive.
The original timeline was about last May / June. That didn’t happen as the house buy took excessively long as the spouse had me driving all over central Florida…
Then it was going to be about August / September. A combination of 2 (not one but two!) hurricanes AND the expected tow vehicle losing it’s mind ended that.
Then again I was giving it a try for End January / before 12 February. That’s when I found out a 2nd Hind Brain was needed for the ML and then that that one didn’t fix the trailer lights issue… but I did get a trailer bought.
And now, instead of being on my boat in the Bahamas, the Tax Guy and Spouse informed me certain boxes were needed to get the taxes done, by April 1, or there would be big Tax Penalties. OK, I got the FORD bought, but ran out of time to register it due to President’s Day and a weekend… so it is sitting in my yard not yet registered to me. Trailer the same.
Which put me “on the road” for a rapid “grab a few boxes and go” coast to coast run to get ahead of the Monster Storm cutting off access to California. Things being described as “Epic Snow” in the mountains and even down to Los Angeles… which had me dash across the continent in 3 days…
Which brings us up to now. I’m in a hotel on the Pacific Coast of California, past all the snow zones, driving the Mercedes ML that is basically a big 4×4 station wagon at this point (i.e. not towing anything), but good in the rain and any light snow I might get.
Today I drive in modest rain to the storage unit, find the box, and can then decide:
Take ML to my mechanic for some attempted fixing? Or.., just head home.
I’m unlikely to head home as, for the weekend at least, “You can’t get there from here” what with I-5 north closed, I-5 at The Grapevine closed. More or less everything through the Sierra Nevada going to close or closed (hwy 50, I-80, etc.) and the L.A. Basin freaking out… But I’m pretty sure I could do 101 south to San Diego and then I-8 out… maybe…
So most likely it will be about a Tuesday departure for home with selected boxes in hand.
THEN:
The next “move run” is hoped to happen about March 7 in the FORD pulling a trailer and actually moving a load… unless, of course, weather or something else pops up.
Does that help clarify?
My plans are but a bit of flotsam on an ocean of chaos…
The Covid death rate was about 1/5 of the official estimate.
Strange things in Transnistria?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transnistria
Seems like there’s a huge Russian arms dump there, with a small Russian garrison guarding it. Some say it’s the largest ammunition dump in Europe. But Ukrainian troops are massing on the border, perhaps to try a “grab and run” operation.
Some folks must think something’s about to kick-off, because suddenly there’s a load of charter flights out of Chisinau to places like Lisbon, Dublin, London and Vienna. More than the usual air traffic.
Transnistria gets a mention by Simplicius as well.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-223-putin-prigozhin-pmcs-and
Unintended humor. C4 does not grow as seaweed.
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/worlds-most-ridiculous-fact-checker?
“The best laid plans etc”
“In California, despite massive federal aid payments, and despite having the country’s highest income tax rate, its January monthly tax revenue was about -$14 billion lower than last year’s tax receipts. That’s a pretty big shift in the wrong direction. Meanwhile, the 2022-2023 fiscal year, which started last July, is running -$23 billion less than 2021-2022 at the same point.”
From this morning’s Covid and Coffee.
Supplemental on tax revenue and other items.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/heres-where-surge-january-spending-and-inflation-came-biggest-tax-drop-history
Seems someone has answered that question that the CAGW-ites keep ducking –
“When I Covered Climate Change for Reuters I Thought CO2 Was Certainly to Blame for Rising Temperatures. I Was Wrong”
https://dailysceptic.org/2023/02/23/when-i-covered-climate-change-for-reuters-i-thought-co2-was-to-blame-for-rising-temperatures-i-was-wrong/
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/24/y2kyoto-i-was-wrong/#comments
and comments there – including the explanation for “Glowball Warming”
More on the Ohio train crash
“Exhibit ‘A’ On Stupidity”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248176
Diversity the main thing eh Alf?
“World’s most ridiculous fact-checker mistakes a verb for a noun, pens four nonsense paragraphs explaining why Hersh’s Nord Stream reporting must be wrong because explosive seaweed is impossible”
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/worlds-most-ridiculous-fact-checker
Just a thought
https://en.wikipedia.org//wiki/Tarpeian_Rock
FWIW
“No such thing as Russia…”
https://newcatallaxy.blog/2023/02/25/no-such-thing-as-russia/#comments
FWIW
“RUSSIA/UKRAINE ONE YEAR ON”
https://richardsonpost.com/earlcatagnus/30637/russia-ukraine-one-year-on/
The Biden clan rushing to help the energy crisis with natural gas…
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/americas-largest-power-grid-faces-worsening-reliability-risks?commentId=a4a0597c-6c73-446b-922b-8fa3e5bc8f05
FWIW on the chances of a covid “vaccine” working
“We’re going to sort viruses into two classes: Those groups for which vaccination works (produces stable and durable immunity) and those for which it does not, either failing entirely or producing only temporary and extremely ineffective protection.
In the first group are viruses such as measles, mumps, rubella, chicken pox, polio and a few others.
In the second are coronaviruses (four of which commonly circulation plus, now, Sars-Cov2), influenza (several subtypes), RSV and a few others.”
More at
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248184
The “thick plottens” if this is genuine!
“BOMBSHELL: Expert Witness Reveals Installed AZ Governor Katie Hobbs Laundered Cartel Money Through Fake Deeds and Mortgages to Rig Elections . . . Including Her Own”
https://thelibertydaily.com/bombshell-expert-witness-reveals-installed-az-governor-katie-hobbs-laundered-cartel-money-through-fake-deeds-and-mortgages-to-rig-elections-including-her-own/
An incidental – if you are watching Colonel MacGregor the tartan in the background looks like MacGregor Rob Roy Modern
Compare Biden-speak on Ukraine and what the likes of Colonel MacGregor and others are saying on the realities of the supply chain problems .
So is that also propelled by a further dose of pixie dust and unicorn farts left over from the solar and wind electricity cheers squad?
Elite Russian Nationalist Igor Girkin saying Russia is running out of armaments’, and will be screwed without China: https://twitter.com/i/status/1629433899326603264
Sorry for the two links detour to “With the help of wind energy The Biden clan delivers natural gas for the energy crisis.
Spycraft, on Netflix is pretty good so far. Thought to share. >
Truth is the new Hate Speech.
What did Scott Adams say? Dilbert creator controversy explained as racist rant sparks cancellation
https://www.sportskeeda.com/pop-culture/what-scott-adams-say-dilbert-creator-controversy-explained-racist-rant-sparks-cancellation
Elon Musk calls media racist over what they are saying about Scott Adams.
(Bloomberg) — Elon Musk called the media racist after a cartoonist he regularly engages with on Twitter faced blowback for encouraging White Americans to avoid Black people.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/musk-deflects-criticism-of-dilbert-cartoonist-s-racist-comments/ar-AA17WKat
When Scott Adams suggests white people should avoid blacks, you have to take into account his perspective. His rational was based on life in s-hole cities, where we frequently see white people being beaten by blacks. Of course, there are other color on color combinations, but Adams is also taking into account the Rasmussen poll where only 53% of blacks think it’s OK to be white. He has a point.
More rehearsing of excuses?
U.S. tells Ukraine it won’t send long-range missiles because it has few to spare.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/13/u-s-wont-send-long-range-missiles-ukraine-00082652
No experience with MB, but once owned a different German vehicle and diagnostic software. It too listed multiple processors on their bus. Seemed to me then (and now) that the Germans had thrown all caution to the wind and were failing to adequately test their vehicles under real world conditions. KISS rules.
@Taz. I read somewhere that even though the distributed control systems are used on military aircraft, the hardware specs for autos are much looser. While it’s a somewhat good idea, if the implementation sux, the quality of the idea is irrelevant.
The “k” weapons section of 4chan seems to regularly host local people “in the know” regarding Ukraine events. The mods there fight these diversions, but often leave them up for extended periods. The /pol section is much more political and “theoretical” in their treatment of events. Bluntly, that talk is less valuable.
Very contrary to the prevailing mood, but I think it’s a mistake to count the Ukies out. It’s possible that things could change over there quite suddenly.
This, despite Zelensky (who now gets on everyone’s nerves)…and a thoroughly war weary public. just because you might be sick of it, doesn’t mean you’d be willing to let something really bad stand. Your cope would be bitching about it constantly. And that’s pretty much what the west is doing.
I worry about the post war more.
@jim2
It’s always necessary to test your assumptions and look for evidence of your ignorance. Otherwise you set yourself up for Epic fails.
I think the evidence would have steered them into a simpler system – if they had only listened.
Even lab people have troubles get bus based systems to work from time to time. Just too many permutations of failure. No “have it isolated to this box”.
Toyota makes changes at a glacially slow pace. They fear what they might do.
Distributed intelligence can be a good thing in a lot of stuff, but a pain sometimes too.
I just replaced 2 modules in my 10-year-old MKT.
One was pretty straightforward, fuel control module. One, not so much.
The radio/CD player module contained intelligence for the climate control system. It puzzled me for a week to figure that one out. What were they thinking?
Either way, it cost me far less (couple hundred bucks) to replace the 2 modules rather than if the entire vehicle intelligence was in one large unit like some vehicles.
A good OBD scanner has helped me tremendously in some instances, not all, however. A mechanic friend told me some manufacturers require up to 4 special scanners to diagnose subsystems. Kinda like a doctor putting you on the specialist hamster wheel :-)
RE the Scott Adams/Rasmussen poll thing. I just wanted to add I have had black friends who have been to my house and even a black relative. Generally speaking, I don’t make unwarranted assumptions about people. But if I were in a big city walking down the street, I would be aware that there is a 50-50 chance a black person I don’t know does not like me due to my skin color.
Jo Nova recognised
“The first award, the Dauntless Purveyor of Climate Truth was presented to the magnificent Jo Nova, who has been pushing climate truths from Australia since 2008, after publishing The Skeptics Handbook I and the Skeptics Handbook II (both .pdfs). Jo Nova attended by video meeting.”
(She is not “vaccinated” so couldn’t attend)
“Heartland’s ICCC 2023 — Live from Orlando”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/23/heartlands-iccc-2023-live-from-orlando/
At last! Artificial Intelligence finally provides us some hard numbers on whether electric vehicles make sense from an energy investment calculus. How many barrels of oil equivalent to make and charge a Tesla battery? Somewhere between 8.8 barrels and 3,088,000 barrels.
https://clifhigh.substack.com/p/3-million-barrels-of-oil-per-batt
@David A: I watched the Porta Johns on the move and suddenly I started hearing the Doctor Who theme in my head.
RE Scott Adams, I have lived more than once in majority Black neighborhoods. I attended a majority Black High School. I sincerely wish it were not so, but my observations are this. As a group, Blacks are the most racist of any major demographic group in America. I am not sure which group would be number two.
We all know that there are some subjects which are outside of “polite discussion”. Unfortunately, until there can be HONEST discussion on race, on prejudice, on violence, and on the need for common standards we will NEVER solve the issues of low Black performance in school, in work, and in compliance with the law. Ignoring the problem has not made it go away.
FWIW – Ukraine +
“SITREP 2/26 – Urgent Update”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-226-urgent-update
And
https://rumble.com/v2b1gb8-bakhmut-final-stage.-eu-frozen-russian-assets-disappear.html
What Scott Adams said was interesting, but what the media said he said was even more interesting. So calling someone racist is racist now.
“As a group, Blacks are the most racist of any major demographic group in America. I am not sure which group would be number two.”
Trans. Not a doubt. Just in case anybody wants to do a better survey, I donate my opinion for free and run for the hills:
Racism is an opinion. Discrimination is a fact. Blacks have been targeted by racism, and so have many other groups. Let’s skip the semantics and admit that racism is no longer limited to race, and discrimination never was. This point is over the head of those who identify as Whoopi.
So we need to survey all the groups on their attitudes to all the other groups.
Would we find a somewhat agreed pecking order? I can guess which group comes out on the bottom. Or we could look at it historically.
Re FORD: Not a fan of the new ones, but in 2015 I bought a 2004 Expedition with with some issues and 170K mi on it, including immediate repairs it cost about 9 thou. Still got it today, 50K mi later, with only minor further repairs. I’ve seen several of these with over 300K on the odometer so, with luck, I might have it for some time to come!
The problem with feelings of discrimination is that you never know for sure.
Unless you are told that, which is almost too blatant to happen much.
For example, if you are a white male, how would you ever know that you were discriminated against because someone thought you were Jewish, or homosexual (contrary to fact).
For example, if you are a pretty young female, how would you ever know that people had other thoughts in their minds when they looked at you in your well earned position, about your “qualifications”. Especially if you were black.
Checks all the boxes except qualifications, is how it goes.
This is a minefield. There are no safe steps. You cannot win.
Unless your goal is to provoke civil war.
Note: “you” is not all inclusive.
FWIW
“Moderate Islam: A Western Myth”
https://catallaxy-files.com/moderate-islam-a-western-myth/
There’s severe geomagnetic storm underway in the last few hours
Via a comment at WUWT
Northern lights: Aurora seen across UK in spectacular display
In a very rare display, the northern lights were seen as far south as Kent and Cornwall on Sunday night.
More displays are expected in the coming nights.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-64782372
@EM – IIRC a few months ago you mentioned US container port issues?
Thanks to a friend in the marine shipping industry, I just learnt about the latest Alphaliner newsletter (he says Alphaliner is one of those information services which exist to sell info to industrial customers)
there are some eye opening figures on European container port TEU figures which indicate real problems with the regional economy. Drops of 20 – 50%. Hamburg has fallen to 20th place in the global port rankings, overtaken by Laem Chabang in Thailand. The Thai port added more than a million TEU in throughput since 2020, while Hamburg lost around 250,000.
This might be a great example of how our “news” (froth, hysteria and fearporn) in the MSM can distract us from the ways the world at large is changing. Hamburg (in particular) might be fallout from the impact of NordStream on German industry.
Top 50 in the world
https://www.worldshipping.org/top-50-ports
Great Britain – which once had the biggest merchant navy in the world – now has zero ports in that Top 50.
Dare I suggest that as BRIICS continues to expand, this trend will just get worse?
YMMV: “The problem with feelings of discrimination is that you never know for sure.
Unless you are told that, which is almost too blatant to happen much.”
Or unless it is systemic in our legal and educational systems. Which is why my grandkids are going to private school to help make up for the couple hundred extra points they need in order to get into a good college compared to POC. Or when a reputable polling company asks multiple people to respond. Or when inter-racial crime stats make it clear. And yes, sometimes we ARE told. I have been physically attacked by a group of POC who told me it was because I was White. I have been turned down for a job because I was “not Black and we are only hiring Black women right now.”
Still, personal events are only anecdotal, and MAY be coincidental, at least the first few incidences. The only reliable way to know is to look at aggregate numbers of MANY people, MANY incidences, MANY crimes.
Unprovoked White on Black crime is VERY rare, the opposite is common (as is Black on Asian crime). Don’t believe me? If you are White, go to a majority Black neighborhood some Friday night, visit a park in a majority Black area and hang around a bit. There is something deeply wrong with Black culture in the US and whatever it is, it is generating about half of all the violent crime in the country. It is generating multiple generations of school students who cannot read or write. Until it is fixed we will never see a truly integrated society. And until we can at least discuss what the issues are, it will never get fixed. Right now, any White person (and most Black people) who points out the problem is called a racist.
“systemic in our legal and educational systems”
Therefore the educational system was one of the first things they tried to fix.
And this is the story of one of those first attempts, based on a new constitution for New Jersey in 1947 which forbade segregation in public schools and in the state militia. So in 1948 two close neighborhood schools, one white, one black, got together and decided to integrate. Very low key. The parents were told, but not the students.
Some of the people involved were interviewed 50 years later (2013) and a documentary was made. Very well done, just the facts, no bias or agenda.
22 minutes, you can watch it here:
The strategy later became known as The Princeton Plan.
You can read a 1964 NYT article about it here:
“Princeton’s Lesson: School Integration Is Not Enough”
Some quotes from that follow.
An interesting graph on political catastrophes vs rain and temperature in China
https://c3headlines.typepad.com/.a/6a010536b58035970c01b8d0f76684970c-pi
in comments here
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/02/china-approves-two-new-coal-plants-every-week-to-ensure-stability-when-renewables-fail/
As well as the coal fired surge
We reached a Kp of 7 (G3 out of 5) level solar storm. It is a strong storm, but not severe.
https://www.swpc.noaa.gov/
https://www.spaceweather.com/
If it was a severe G5 (Kp 9+) storm, you would not be reading this :-)
“Pushback: The Folly Of Ukraine”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248197
Old-school comms intercepts.
How Britain pioneered cable-cutting in World War One
At the outbreak of World War One, Britain had the most advanced undersea telegraph cable system. It wrapped around the world, due to the reach of the British Empire. The dominant position offered an opportunity and strategists were determined to make the most of it. But first, German cables had to be dealt with.
A telegram arrived at the port of Dover just past midnight on 5 August 1914, the day after Britain declared war on Germany. It was in code, so its meaning would have been lost on anyone apart from its intended recipient, an officer named Superintendent Bourdeaux.
“We were taking a considerable risk,” Bourdeaux recounted in his report. At 01:52 he was on board a ship, the Alert, as it set sail. The bulk of the crew didn’t know what their mission involved as the Alert arrived at its first destination at 03:15, lowered its hook to the seabed and began to dredge. Bourdeaux and the Alert were undertaking one of the first strategic acts of information warfare in the modern world. A few hours later, the Alert had cut off almost all of Germany’s communications with the outside world. It had hit the kill switch.
The combination of cutting German cables and forcing communications on to British lines provided an intelligence windfall. Among the messages that Britain intercepted in World War One was the so-called Zimmermann Telegram which revealed a German plan to offer US territory to Mexico and which, in turn, was used to help draw the US on to Britain’s side in the war.
Cable-tapping continued through the Cold War. America’s Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency (NSA) had an operation codenamed Ivy Bells to tap into Soviet military cables but it was exposed by a traitor.
…
One of the things Edward Snowden, the former CIA employee and NSA contractor who leaked to the media details of extensive internet and phone surveillance by various intelligence services, revealed was the way in which Britain’s GCHQ and America’s NSA had been able to tap into these cables in order to scan and filter global telecoms traffic to gather intelligence on their targets.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-42367551
FWIW
“The Changing Face Of War – Future of the Russian SMO”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/the-changing-face-of-war-future-of
FWIW
“War Footing or Ukraine? – Biden Waives Section 303 of DPA Related to Weapons, Ammunition, Explosives and Components
February 27, 2023 | Sundance | 128 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/02/27/war-footing-or-ukraine-biden-waives-section-303-of-dpa-related-to-weapons-ammunition-explosives-and-components/
And now for something completely different. Saint Greta protesting against windfarms….
https://www.gbnews.uk/news/greta-thunberg-now-protests-against-wind-farms-after-years-of-demanding-more-green-energy/449630
St. Greta should be forced to do a 21 day challenge on Naked and Afraid. Maybe she would come to appreciate what the ancestors accomplished.
https://www.discovery.com/shows/naked-and-afraid
If the glove fits…
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/whitney-plan-wreck-america
“No Accountability For COVID Masking, Lockdowns, and More Spin, with Adam Carolla and Dr. Drew”
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/02/28/they-got-everything-wrong/
More covid news – not via YSM
“These folks performed a screen for myocarditis damage due to you-know-what, and found a fifty percent, roughly, positive rate.”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248202
“A must-watch interview”
Tucker Carlson on covid
“If you haven’t already watched Tucker Carlson’s interview with Ed Dowd about the massive casualties being inflicted by COVID-19 vaccines, you really need to make time to do so. I regard it as essential viewing. It exposes the massive scale of the cover-up that’s continuing to this day, and demonstrates why the “establishment” is completely untrustworthy when it comes to this issue.”
Rumble link and comments at
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-must-watch-interview.html
FWIW – Another compilation
“The Horrifying Endgame in Ukraine”
https://dailyreckoning.com/the-horrifying-endgame-in-ukraine/
Via a comment at Jo Nova
And
“Losing Bakhmut, losing Donbass”
https://rumble.com/v2ba0ow-losing-bakhmut-losing-donbass.html
FWIW – another site on things in Ukraine.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/
Not for those sold on “all those bad things that have happened to Russia” though.
This latest one on reorganised Russian tactics to meet their current situation seems to have “mere lieutenants” empowered to call for artillery support right now directly for instance.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/the-btg-is-dead-long-live-the-btg
@Snowleopard:
My first Ford was in about 1968 or 9. A 1963 Ford Fairlane. I drove it through High School (a hand-me-down from Mom & Dad) until the engine wore out the bearings. That was at about 80,000 miles IIRC; during a time when 100,000 miles was a Big Deal if your car reached it. In general, I really liked the car. A small V-8. My friend had the biggest ford with the giant V-8 (the Galaxy I think – a former State Car sold at auction). About a half decade earlier my Sister had a small Ford Falcon that was her daily driver to work.
Generally they were reliable and did their job well. Not the longest lived cars, but more than “good enough”. Eventually something would break, but you could fix it fairly easily and get back on the road with it.
It’s my impression they had continued that general design goal at least into the ’90s and perhaps even into the 2000’s. This FORD impresses me as being similar in overall build, but with much longer engine and drive train life thanks to the big quality push FORD made in about the ’80s (somewhere around there, maybe ’90s…).
Overall, I like Ford products. Generally not all cheaped out like GM does. But not as durable as the Dodge / Chrysler products of the pre-Daimler era. (No idea about the Fiat- Dodge products now they they are Italian owned…)
We also had a Dodge Dart of the same general era. A 1968? Something like that. We didn’t have the Slant Six (one of THE best engines ever made) but the small V-8. Man would it move! Went to something like 250,000 miles in an era when 100,000 was thought of as unusual. (I never got to inherit it as it… Mom kept driving it ;-) When my Ford Fairlane bit the dust, I got Dad’s old Chevy Impala. A car with 2 gear automatic and marshmallow suspension. Didn’t like it much at all… He got a Dodge Charger Fastback that I was allowed to drive exactly one time with him supervising … thing would spin wheels if you gave it gas just about any time…
Ah, the days ;-)
FWIW, for a long time I wanted a Chevy Suburban Diesel. Eventually an old used one was for sale cheap enough that I could buy it. It didn’t run but the story was a good one. I went to look at it. Up in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada ( I was in school in The Valley at the time).
Well, it had been disabled by the husband in a Screw You move during a divorce… the lady of the house just wanted it gone as she needed something that worked. I decided to see what was wrong and did I want to spend the money to fix it. What I found was some disconnected bits of wiring, including the main starter power at the starter. I set about reconnecting things…
Along the way, I noticed that NONE of the wires had any cover over the little spade lug connectors. Even my old Honda Motorcycle had plastic insulation covers that kept the dirt out and prevented corrosion. Can’t be more than 1/10 ¢ each. But it was not there…
At one point, my elbow lightly tapped a pipe to the radiator. It popped out of the “nut” and began leaking red oil. It was the transmission oil cooling line. The “nut” was just a slightly bent bit of sheet metal in the side of the cooler that the pipe fitting screwed into. Just OMG! level of stupid. Your entire transmission depends on this fitting that pops out with a nudge? They could not bother with welding a real NUT onto the sheet metal for about a DIME?!
With the starter reconnected, the car started and ran. I told the lady it now ran. BUT I also knew I did not want a car designed to the absolute minimum that would run for a couple of years and then start failing all over. From electrical dirt / rust / connection failures to a hard road bump causing your transmission to fail in the off road world… This thing was just built to fail. Oddly, she still wanted to sell it to me at the original very low price… I just hope she got a better price from the “next guy” since it now ran again.
But that left me uninterested in GM products ever since. BTW, while sitting in the Dorm Parking Lot, “my” Chevy Impala broke it’s rear axle. Yup. Just sitting there. I’d driven it in, and parked it, a few days before. Came out and the axle was broken. Dad came down and we replaced it together. An “unbreakable part” of solid steel, just broke while sitting… It wasn’t like the Impala was used for off road jumping or anything. It was a “to school and back” on the highway cruiser sort of car…
So with GM just a giant NO. With Dodge / Chrysler in constant flux / turmoil and no idea who was making what design point decisions (and with the Durango basically a Mercedes Clone for drive line and interior controls but with a Big V-8 in the years I was interested in buying), that just kind of leaves FORD.
FWIW, I did test drive a Durango and I likely would have bought it, but the guy had done a lot of things that he was proud of, but that were “not my style”. A person of Mexican ancestry (and perhaps origin), he had put on big rims & bigger tires “because he liked it higher” but that makes towing less good as you effectively changed the axle ratio in the wrong direction. He had “replaced the interior lights with LEDs”, making a very bright bluish interior light that hurts my eyes (me being 1/2 bat…). The stereo was replaced with a giant thing with all sorts of animated bright blue display crap AND boom box like speakers (not good for someone who likes quiet…). And it was about 50% more than the FORD on price…
Whatever… Had I found a similar Durango for maybe only 20% more than the Ford, I’d likely have taken it. Same transmission & shifter lever layout as the ML, so very familiar controls. Body / unibody-“frame” the same. Oh Well.
So FORD it is! We’ll find out in the next few days if I chose well, or if that brief sound like a bit of “rumble strip” as you pass through a 1 or 2 mph band is NOT an out of balance tire as I’m hoping and I’ve got $Thousands more to spend 8-0
Possible endgames in Ukraine … The US will wake up and say “just make it go away” … or “squirrel!” But what squirrel? Iran?, Taiwan? … or something “more important” such as war with China …
A US general (Michael Minihan) said there could be war with China by 2025. Not likely, but it would not be the war you were thinking of. And while we think China’s main goal is to conquer Taiwan, it is not. China’s main concern is to blockade-proof its trade and shipping.
So China is building “unsinkable aircraft carriers” (artificial islands) in the South China Sea so that it can prevent the US navy blockades.
“The Nine Dash Line”
https://www.skynews.com.au/insights-and-analysis/forget-taiwan-war-between-the-west-and-xi-jinping-will-begin-and-end-in-the-vast-south-china-sea/news-story/ead90ae82b9de8ef88b78ae3cbb6a78f
Good news folks! Grab the popcorn and enjoy this:
The UK’s Daily Telegraph has obtained more than 100,000 WhatsApp messages sent between Matt Hancock and other ministers and officials at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic
Examples:
Quote
Explosive WhatsApp messages sent to and by the former health secretary, Matt Hancock, have exposed some of the mistakes and misinformation that led to unnecessary deaths and despair during the Covid pandemic of 2020-2022.
The revelation that Hancock ignored the chief medical officer’s advice to test everyone being admitted to care homes – not just those arriving from hospital – raises a colossal question mark over the government’s entire handling of the crisis.
Quote
Matt Hancock rejected expert advice on care home testing
Quote
Care homes bore the brunt of the coronavirus pandemic with 46,000 residents dying with Covid across England and Wales in the first two years while staff felt continually “forgotten”.
More than a quarter of all Covid deaths in England and Wales during the pandemic occurred in care homes, a tragedy many families believe could have been avoided if ministers had made the right decisions at the start of the health crisis.
Much of the blame has been attributed to guidance issued in spring 2020 which ordered NHS hospitals to “urgently discharge” all patients “who are medically fit to leave”. It also told care homes that “negative tests are not required before transfers”.
Quote
English schoolchildren had to wear masks because ministers didn’t relish a political row with Nicola Sturgeon
Side note : Nicola Sturgeon was Scotland’s First Minister. But resigned just two weeks ago – entirely unconnected to a Scottish Police investigation into £600,00 of SNP party funds mysterious disappearing while her husband was in charge of finance.
Quote
Care homes refused to test staff they feared had Covid -WhatsApp messages between Matt Hancock and ministers reveal concern at under-pressure bosses who did not want employees signed off work
Quote
No good reason to impose ‘rule of six’ on children – but ministers did it anyway – Politicians knew there was no ‘robust rationale’ for effectively locking down big households, but found the policy was easier to communicate
Much more here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/lockdown-files/
Stirring in Florida
“Prepare yourself for a good laugh. Yesterday, Newsweek ran a story headlined, “Florida Lawmaker Introduces Bill to ‘Cancel’ State’s Democratic Party.” What on Earth, you are probably asking yourself. Well, get ready.
Yesterday, Florida Republican State Senator Blaise Ingoglia filed SB 1248, titled “Political Parties (The Ultimate Cancel Act).” If passed, the law would immediately de-certify any political party that previously advocated for slavery or involuntary servitude in their party platform. Any registered voters affected by this de-certification would automatically become “non-party affiliated” (NPA) voters.
Guess what? Coincidentally, the Democrat Party has adopted pro-slavery positions into its platform, not once, but FOUR TIMES: during the conventions of 1840, 1844, 1856, 1860, and 1864. Democrats kept on doing it right up until Republican President Abraham Lincoln made slavery illegal.”
Today’s Covid and Coffee newsletter
another ian:
In Australia we might say stirring the possum
“To excite interest or controversy; to liven things up. This phrase is first recorded in 1888”
Stirring the possum… aah the days in Oz when comedy was king!
Dame Edna and ‘Hello possums!’
I wonder if our lot has a duplicate slide set?
“The Decline And Fall Of The American Empire”
“Now we know how the Romans felt under Caligula.
The RealClear Defense article cites official U.S. Army training PowerPoint slides, which were originally uncovered by the Wall Street Journal, and notes that they cover various “vignettes,” such as what Commanders should do if “a ‘female to male’ soldier announc[es] a pregnancy.” RealClear Defense also explains that the PowerPoint slides cover a scenario where a “male to female” soldier, who successfully transitioned and is officially recognized as such despite not having gender reassignment surgery, “wants to use female-designated showers.” “Another scenario describes a female soldier who is experiencing tension with a ‘transgender female’ roommate.”
Though to be fair, even Caligula knew a horse from an ass.”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/03/02/the-decline-and-fall-of-the-american-empire-27/
This bloke gets mentioned as a better comparison in comments
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elagabalus
Plus other interesting reading in them.
Another “Note that the WHO and FDA have both listed this substance as “approved” for more than 20 years. ”
“erythritol, an artificial sweetener used as a “cutting agent” for other artificial sweeteners (because it has the texture and bulk of sugar, but is less sweet — thus its use with Stevia and others) may be linked to heart attacks and strokes, particularly occlusive strokes.”
“Until proved otherwise this substance should be immediately banned from human consumption products; a direct mechanism of harm has been discovered and said concentrations are routinely reached in human beings who use it in a non-abusive fashion. That’s enough to say “no effing way can you put that in something being sold for deliberate human ingestion.”
More at
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248223
Maybe sugar isn’t so bad after all?
@Beththeserf
“Stirring the possum… aah the days in Oz when comedy was king! Dame Edna and ‘Hello possums!’
I’m looking forward to Sir Les Patterson starring in the stageplay of the Life of Boris Johnson (our Chief Clown). In the leading role of course.
For our colleagues outside UK & Oz, he was the Australian Cultural Attache to the Court of St.James, and much loved in the UK. Try a web search for “Sir Les Patterson” to find some of his interviews ;-)
@Another Ian:
“Though to be fair, even Caligula knew a horse from an ass.”
But did he know a horse from a horses ass?… or a pResident for that matter…
Catching up on a couple of Dr. John Campbell videos.
The FBI and Energy Dept. (why them?) get on board with the Lab Leak Coof origin:
So is that a “nevermind and forget we were lied to for 3 years”?
Then masks, even N95, do nothing to stop Chinese Wuhan Covid:
Soo… if you see a mask mandate, tell them to screw off… and stop lying.
This morning’s Covid and Coffee Newsletter also notices –
Four covid “things” that have migrated from “Unthings” back to “Things” very recently in the MSM.
Plus other “things”. Suggesting an intense watch for squirrels be maintained.
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/declasse-thursday-march-2-2023-c?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
masks … All the photos of the Wuhan researchers in their space-suit hazmat costumes … and still the virus leaked.
Now that it’s safe to say masks don’t work in mixed company, there is an interesting detail which you might only share with select friends. The Foegen effect.
In which the masks may make you sicker.
deep re-inhalation of hypercondensed droplets or pure virions caught in facemasks as droplets can worsen prognosis and might be linked to long-term effects of COVID-19 infection. While the “Foegen effect” is proven in vivo in an animal model, further research is needed to fully understand it.
https://journals.lww.com/md-journal/fulltext/2022/02180/the_foegen_effect__a_mechanism_by_which_facemasks.60.aspx
EM, and anyone else, this gentlemen appears to have an interesting take on global supply chains, where the world is headed, who supplies what, in particular relative to Russia and Ukraine, the future, and demographics looked at in disparate nations. I think he mis-reads Russia’s intent, although he correctly identifies that they are looking to survive. I think that Russia would not be looking to expand to their old territory with the demographics reducing, and that is not necessary for the former geographical protection that was supplied by those boundaries. Also modern war, from a recent article posted here, will more and more be carried out in an automated fashion with a wide variety of guided systems. It is a very interesting take, and as it deals extensively with “stuff” I would dearly love to hear your take on it when you find time. I think you will find it very interesting, strong in most areas, with some flaws.
Keith, Barry Humphries would do a wicked performance of Boris Johnson.
I met him once at the Opera. Barry, that is, not Boris… Picked up his silk scarf in the foyer. He thanked me most charmingly, lol.
One step forward,m two steps backwards –
“Florida Republican Bill Would Require Bloggers to Register with the State in Order to Criticize State Government Officials, Including Ron DeSantis
March 2, 2023 | Sundance | 127 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/03/02/florida-republican-bill-would-require-bloggers-to-register-with-the-state-in-order-to-criticize-state-government-officials-including-ron-desantis/
“I’m from the government and I’m here to help” (/s)
“Just Another Day Battling A Government Agency”
https://kenelm.substack.com/p/just-another-day-battling-a-government
And to amplify your faith in some current government proposals –
https://kenelm.substack.com/p/great-moments-in-unintended-consequences
NordStream + Hersh. Is it in the MSM now?
The Washington Post today ended the Establishment media embargo on Hersh’s damning report, mentioning its findings and even including a link to his article.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/washington-post-lets-hershs-dangerous-cat-out-bag
I would really like to see a study on the effects of masks with respect to aggregating virus containing droplets on them (on both sides) and how the virus is distributed once the droplets dry out.
Logic brings me to think it would produce a negative efficacy once those droplets dried out and recirculated/released the virus only with nothing holding the virus in place any longer.
Think reversing flow on an air filter or shop vac.
The virus is approximately +/- 1/3rd the size of the openings in even N95 masks.
Think mosquito and chain-link fence.
Just having a little fun forwarding this to some friends who though the government was their friend as well.
How the wheel turns.
Just a few months ago, anyone who dared to publicly suggest that Covid leaked from a lab (and was not natural) was immediately smeared in the MSM as a Consipracy Theorist or a Denier or worse.
And now?
The Covid-19 pandemic is most likely to have originated from a laboratory leak, a US government department has concluded. The study carried out on behalf of the US energy department is considered authoritative as it oversees a network of 17 laboratories encompassing research in advanced biology.
The FBI has also blamed a leak from a Chinese laboratory for the pandemic.
Among others who have attributed the pandemic to an accidental leak from a Chinese laboratory is Sir Richard Dearlove, former head of Britain’s MI6 intelligence agency.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2023/02/26/covid-19-lab-leak-us-energy-department-concludes/
Some might say – “this is just the Governments playing politics, as they scale up rheotoric against China”.
The obvious reply is – “it was always just politics”.
Why?
Because our own governments didn’t want their own dirty laundry washed in public. Because Covid was designed in US and UK labs, and then productionised in China. This is “standard operating procedure” for a huge proportion of the pharma industry. Original research is done here, and the patents are held here (yes, Covid was patented years ago). Then production is scaled-up in places that are usually out of sight and out of mind. China, India, Malaysia, Singapore, etc. Most of the pharma products consumed by us in the US/EU/Uk are derivatives or based on products from those countries.
Coincidently, the supply chain for a lot of “household” pharma products is now getting stretched.
Get the popcorn for how this develops in the next few weeks. It will be interesting to see how the MSM walks a tightrope of blaming China but not revealing too much about where the original research came from (or who paid for it)
“Dr. Peter McCullough On “The Holy Grail Of COVID-19 Vaccine Detoxification” ”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/dr-peter-mccullough-on-the-holy-grail-of-covid-19-vaccine-detoxification/
Why should Ukraine get all the press?
South Africa is about to go dark.
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/why-south-africas-collapse-finally-came-down-to-eskom/
YMMV
From the dark continent to the dark continent
Oz based but worth reading (IMO)
Link that goes with that
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/03/brilliant-column-from-gemma-tognini.html
FWIW
“US/NATO ISR Addendum: Deep Dive Into The Delta Leaks”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/usnato-isr-addendum-deep-dive-into
@YMMV:
The same forces are at work throughout the “Free West” with “diversity quotas” replacing meritocracy and political points / gain replacing wealth generation. Also the rampant increase in graft, corruption, and theft of wealth by the political class (see the Bidens as exhibit A).
As South Africa goes, so will go the UK, Australia, Canada, and eventually the USA.
The simple fact is that wealth creators stop creating wealth when it is stolen for political advantage of others..
And it doesn’t have to be major wealthy “oligarchs” either. In the last decade or two I’ve had a dozen things I’ve thought of that could be nice little earners. Chose to do nothing with them. Why? All the “crap” involved in trying to run a company or deal with the government / political parasite load. Now? As a prime candidate for being a wealth creator (top fractional percent of IQ / aptitude tests, MENSA level+, have enough money to comfortably invest, have creative ideas ability proven): I have chosen to be a wealth consumer. I’m no longer a “maker”, I’ve become a “taker”. I live off of a Government Wealth Distribution Program ( Social Security).
There’s simply no reason for me to do anything else. I can comfortably “do nothing”, where attempting to “create wealth” is full of all sorts of pain and troubles. ( I know, as I did that for a couple of decades…)
Now if someone with all my “advantages” ends up here (yes, it took me too long… something of a “slow learner” on how much crap was involved in the “government managed economy”… I believed the hype of a “market economy” too long)… but If I End Up Here, just what do you think the guy who has trouble following the plot in Rambo is going to do in terms of wealth creation?
There is a great advantage to Major Corporations in the field of wealth creation (and more importantly, retention). I’ve called this “Fattest Wallet Wins”. A stellar example was the guaranteed money making of the “Natural Monopolies” of Utility Companies… (that got regulated to prevent that hard win over the consumer). But even this advantage has its limits. When “regulated to death” hits is one of them. In S.A. we see that even the most sheltered and pampered sector out there, electrical utilities, can be destroyed by Politics & Graft / Corruption. We saw this in California where PG&E went from a prime secure investment to bankrupt under Democrat Mandates. (And I now will never invest in a utility in a Democrat controlled government area… so: along with the Parasite Suck you get Wealth Withdrawal by the folks who can get out of the “plum” before it is sucked dry…)
There is no Wealth Creation Advantage so large that it can not be sucked to a dead dry husk by politics and corruption.
Seems they, at Ford, are preparing for something?
https://news.yahoo.com/miss-car-payment-ford-patent-181119638.html
In 1970 +/- a year, my older brother and I were discussing political and financial topics.
He raised two interesting questions.
1) In 1929, one day there was a ton of money and many people were rich. The next day, there was no money and most people were poor. Where did all the money go?
Well, we figured out it was all on paper and there was no additional money. We had discovered ‘Tulip Mania’ on our own.
2) At that time, I don’t recall exactly, but lawyers were making around $40,000 per year and political officeholders were getting around $20,000 or so per year. Why is it always the lawyers who go into politics? Why do they spend thousands of dollars to get elected to a job that pays much less than they’d make as a lawyer?
And we concluded they do it because that’s where all the real money is to be made, much more than lawyering would pay.
Things have become worse since my brother and I were kicking around a few idle thoughts back then.
On a successful learning curve I’d reckon –
“Young Man Does His Own Taxes for First Time, Rage and Mirth Ensue”
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2023/03/04/young-man-does-his-own-taxes-for-first-time-rage-and-mirth-ensue-n1675598
“Fauci Gets Fact-Checked: DC Diner Gives Dr. Tony Fauci Much-Needed Feedback”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/03/fauci-gets-fact-checked-dc-diner-gives-dr-tony-fauci-much-needed-feedback/
“She did what 7,000,000,000 want to do!”
“States Can Break Through Pharma’s Liability Shield”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/states-can-break-through-pharmas-liability-shield
Ossqss, From your Ford link; “Wes Sherwood, a spokesman for the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker, said Ford has “no plan to deploy this.”
So they said on 9/11 legislation, (See Jan 6 prisoners) and gun registration, (See many examples)and , and the new proposed Florida blogger law, etc…
The slope is ice.
David A
Things like you mention there brought back a story from the past –
I was in a snooker game one night and one of the players was Dr Tim O’Leary of Royal Flying Doctor Service legendary status (and Irish), It was Tim’s turn and he sank a couple and then missed. Provoking the comment –
“I’m playing like a bloody old cow – I give good milk and then I shit in it”.
Seems to apply in quite a few other places IMO
Some thoughts of the day –
The world is being subject to “Globotomy”
And an up-market diagnosis of E.M.’s Mercedes problem – “Hydrocephalus ” (water on the brain)
I’ll grab my hat
Would that be called “Lost the plot”?
“Compare and Contrast – Biden’s army with Indonesia’s.”
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/03/compare-and-contrast-bidens-army-with-indonesias.html#comments
“Is the CDC’s Rochelle Walensky just plain stupid or a liar?”
“The CDC’s changing vaccine story (Vinay Prasad analyzes Walensky statements)”
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/03/05/stupid-or-liar-5/
WUWT today
“Reliable vs. Intermittent Generation: A Primer (Part II)”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/04/reliable-vs-intermittent-generation-a-primer-part-ii/
“Feasibility for Achieving a Net Zero Economy for the U.S. by 2050”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/04/feasibility-for-achieving-a-net-zero-economy-for-the-u-s-by-2050/
“Round 2 gets started in the only lawsuit that can derail the Biden EPA’s PM2.5 railroad. Read the opening brief of appellants Stan Young and Tony Cox.”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/04/appellant-brief-filed-in-young-v-epa/
Another Neil Oliver rant at https://www.gbnews.com/opinion/if-youre-still-getting-your-latest-news-from-the-traditional-mainstream-media-then-its-not-news-says-neil-oliver
As usual with Neil Oliver’s opinion pieces I’m surprised at what he manages to say out loud, even though there’s a lot he’s not saying out loud too.
“Intellectual Froglegs, The Great Reject
March 5, 2023 | Sundance | 99 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/03/05/intellectual-froglegs-the-great-reject/
One approach
https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0JyJWV1heQkDQNurhLsqSnGrPcdKcWgBjs2i4gBxhVhbxzna7Jr55ion5FMTQNAZJl&id=100072383911253&mibextid=qC1gEa&_rdr
“We’ll Soon Find Out”
“The crown of America sits in a gutter begging someone to pick it up before the nation collapses— Auron MacIntyre, The Blaze”
https://kunstler.com/clusterf*-nation/well-soon-find-out/
FWIW
“SARS- CoV-WIV”
Dr Malone
“Over a year ago, Project Veritas broke an enormous story that never quite made it to the state-sponsored “main stream” media. The story and supporting documents can be found on their website: “Military Documents About Gain of Function Contradict Fauci Testimony Under Oath”
At the core of these documents is a report to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense written by U.S. Marine Corp Major, Joseph Murphy, a former DARPA Fellow.”
More at
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/sars-cov-wiv
Via https://noconsensus.wordpress.com/2023/03/05/too-good-to-be-true/#comments
Hershey’s chocolate taking flack – but incoming and they’re the target
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/03/magnificent.html
An interesting club
https://www.redpowermagazine.com/forums/topic/151608-target-husbands/
FWIW
Col MacGregor
And
Seems like Chicken Little has moved on from balloons to cranes.
WASHINGTON—U.S. officials are growing concerned that giant Chinese-made cranes operating at American ports across the country, including at several used by the military, could give Beijing a possible spying tool hiding in plain sight.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-sees-giant-cargo-cranes-as-possible-chinese-spying-tools-887c4ade
It certainly sounds like paranoia, and some more FearPorn, with the usual lack of US forethought of what the consequences might be. Wouldn’t surprise me if China turned round and said
“Hey, old friend, if you are that concerned, we better turn them off …”
And then see what happens when those US ports can’t move anything.
Get the popcorn?
Another good video from John Campbell on the Covid Clowns.
Matt Hancock’s plan to ‘frighten the pants off everyone’ about Covid.
How Matt Hancock sought to hog the Covid vaccine limelight.
Matt Hancock chose saving face over ending unnecessary ‘pingdemic’
Source material:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/lockdown-files/
1864:
2023 update:
Strike “men” and replace with LGBTQ* and all races, real or imagined.
Replace “equal” with “equity”.
Stand by for Civil War II.
Why does equal/equity matter?
Thomas Sowell explains it very well.
From this morning’s Covid and Coffee
“This weekend, the Epoch Times interviewed insurance analyst Josh Stirling on its long-form video program “American Thought Leaders.” In the clip below, you’ll hear analyst Stirling describing his analysis of mortality data by geographic area, in which he found a distinct statistical correlation between rates of vaccine uptake and excess deaths.
Stirling summarized his conclusion saying, “the more doses on average you have in a region within the United States, the bigger increase increase in mortality that region has had in 2022 when compared to 2021.” He said the data showed a +7% increase in risk of death for each shot taken, so that a person who took five shots would have a +35% risk of dying compared to an unvaccinated person.”.
IMO – as the saying has it – “Just say No More” seems a good idea
And more on was your DOD behind the “covid cf”?
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/vindication-monday-march-6-2023-c?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
J6 and 5 big lies
“Tucker Blows The DOORS OFF January 6th LIES | 45K Hours Of Security Footage EXPOSED Cover-Up”
https://rumble.com/v2c0vzu–tucker-blows-the-doors-off-january-6th-lies-45k-hours-of-security-footage-.html
Various people’s socks and underwear in shreds by the look of it
With a bit of luck that might be the YSM’s “Guam Moment” where it tips over?
@ another ian says: 7 March 2023 at 7:55 am
When I tried the link I got video not found.
@another ian I don’t doubt that Ukraine is paying a heavy price, but long predicted steamroller Russian offensive has failed to materialize – what they have launched has been, in the main squashed thoroughly with heavy Russian losses and relatively small territorial gains (offense is always more costly).
Daily we are seeing more and more barrel-scraping heavy equipment fielded by Russian forces who are down to 60-70 year old armour (eg T62’s BTR50’s), precision missile strikes that are now few and far between – inventory nearly all used up, and trying hard to make up for lack of toys with poorly equipped infantry meat waves – the same way Iran fought Iraq in the 1980’s taking catastrophic losses (NATO estimates around Bakhmut Russians are taking maybe 5x Ukraine losses). Eg Ukraine’s (no doubt exaggerated) estimates of Russian losses today:
1,060 killed (will be several x that many total casualties)
aircraft +1
tanks +9
armoured combat vehicles +11
air defence systems +3
military vehicles and fuel trucks +16
special equipment +2
artillery systems +23
operational-tactical UAVs +9
These equipment loss rates are probably 10x what sanction-hit Russia can hope to build. They have draughted soldiers they can throw at the Ukrainians – though their attrition has been horrendous, so maybe not that many anymore, but are seriously running out of materiel – and that will spell the end to their offensive options.
And the Ukrainians are about to start receiving far more modern and capable heavy weapon systems. As well as developing long range strike UAVs to target Russian infrastructure.
I just don’t see how the Russians can hope to turn this around without using nukes. I think Russians are already quietly resigned to stalemate at best – probably along current front lines in east at least, While Ukraine will probably be fancying their chances to take back south with new equipment over spring and summer and then perhaps negotiating peace
Coincidently, in Forbes magazine, loosing is winning.
Whether or not they capture the virtually lifeless ruins of Bakhmut, the Russians have expended a lot of their combat power. Which appears to be exactly what the Ukrainians wanted. They apparently have used Bakhmut—and the Kremlin’s weird obsession with the town—to bleed Russian forces and, in so doing, set the conditions for a long-planned spring offensive.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2023/03/02/for-the-overextended-russian-army-winning-in-bakhmut-could-mean-losing-later/?sh=fc3252647dd6
Meanwhile, people in the west who actually have military experience are comparing the Ukrainian position to Monty Python’s Black Knight.
This is the world we live in. Russia has lopped off the arms and legs of the Ukrainians and President Zelensky and General Zalushny insist it is only a flesh wound. This absurdity would normally be great grist for a comedy sketch. But there is nothing humorous about this war, it is a profound tragedy. Tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are being sacrificed needlessly because NATO wants to use Ukraine as a proxy to fight Russia. And behind these horrendous casualties there are hundreds of thousands of Ukrainian mothers, fathers and siblings mourning the loss of a loved one.
https://sonar21.com/the-west-does-a-back-flip-on-bakhmuts-strategic-importance/
I heard that Ukraine was sending more troops to Bakhmut. I was thinking that Russia has a nice offensive position laid out and is just waiting for more meat for the grinder.
jim2
That link worked yesterday
Now for stranger – when I click on that link posted at
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/03/tuesday-open-thread-142/#comment-2638455
it works
Anyway more things here
“Capitol lies — footage of police helping protestors was hidden for two years”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/03/89869/
It is of the Benny Johnson show
Even odder – that Benny link also works from another blog where I posted it
A browser for those with ADHD …
A productivity browser for focused work
Sidekick makes the Internet distraction-free. It speeds up your workflow and protects against attention killers
https://www.meetsidekick.com/
Vivafrei
“The REAL Insurrection of Jan. 6! RFK Jr. for PRESIDENT? Trudeau Put Canada for Sale! Tasco Tuesday!”
https://rumble.com/v2c3jje-the-real-insurrection-of-jan.-6-rfk-jr.-for-president-trudeau-put-canada-fo.html
I wonder what other countries overlooked this loophole? Does any country have a law against a dog owning a gun?
https://patriotpost.us/memes/95467-the-dog-bag-loophole-2023-03-06
Oops! I think the WordPress No-No Word spotter sent a comment of mine in to the digital aether.
Too bad. It was funny.
Oh. There it is!
On the deflation of “credentials”
“My advice was consistently the same: Credentialism is a thing you tolerate but it is not the same as learning, nor is it the same as the capacity to perform deductive reasoning. A credential is only as good as the organization that issues it and the rigor with which it is issued; if anyone can obtain such a credential without actually demonstrating the alleged capacities it denotes all of them are worthless and thus nobody should pay anything for any of them.”
More at
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248278
LARGE commercial plane or two WILL go down shortly due to pilots having massive heart attacks in flight.
The FAA quietly changed the criteria for an abnormal screening MRI etc. allowing changes that predispose to a cardiac arrythmia
The airlines, FAA, and pilot unions do NOT want to get involved and will not investigate!
There is now a push by the airlines to have only ONE pilot per jet!! Either a cost saving measure and/or due to an acute pilot shortage (? Disability/resigning/ fired for not taking the vaxx)
https://palexander.substack.com/p/urgentlarge-commercial-plane-or-two?
“Throughout most of the pandemic, were not treatments like this considered to be the province of lunatic fringe, tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists? ”
https://o.canada.com/news/local-news/kiss-took-vancouver-firms-treatment-to-avoid-covid-and-cancelling-world-tour-manager
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/03/08/kiss-it-better/#comments
And the comments there might remind you of something
Some of the aftermath of Tucker –
“They Lied To The Public!” – Reaction To Tucker Carlson Leaking January 6 Footage”
From an SDA comment: “Has anyone notice the whole band [KISS] has very white faces? They should be ashamed.”
White-face! That’s racist!
Unusual endorsement, but Steriwave looks interesting.
https://ondinebio.com/solutions/steriwave-healthcare/
“Not available for sale in the U.S.”
(No Fauci fingers have touched this product!)
“Bureaucracies Utterly Incapable of Making Reasonable Tradeoffs”
“Often I focus on bureaucratic regulation of energy because the ability to restrict use of energy is the ultimate societal control. Once they have obtained the ability to restrict use of energy, bureaucrats could, if they choose, take away most of our freedom to enjoy life and return us to the income levels of the Stone Age. Will they stop before going that far, making reasonable tradeoffs to enable the people to flourish economically? Or will they instead pursue environmental purity without concern for the well-being of the populace?”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/08/bureaucracies-utterly-incapable-of-making-reasonable-tradeoffs/
And
“America’s Suppression of Fossil Fuels Is Courting a National Security Disaster”
“The capacity of a modern economy to produce food and products for its citizens, and weapons and fuels for its military to project power, are the undeniable twin pillars of global power. Both depend on reasonably priced and readily available products made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil. In other words, American literally runs and fights on products from fossil fuels.
The renewables of wind and solar only generate occasional electricity, but manufacture nothing for society.
Take for example the medical industry that did not exist just a few hundred years ago, that is now maintaining the health and well-being of the 8 billion now on this planet. Today, as an exercise in energy literacy, try to identify something, anything, in your doctor’s office, or the hospital, or the pharmacy, which was not made from the oil derivatives manufactured from crude oil.”
More at
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/08/americas-suppression-of-fossil-fuels-is-courting-a-national-security-disaster/
The ministry of truth says Calif is still in the worst drought in over 1,000 years. Knowing something of the past 1,000 year climate history of California, like two droughts of over a century long, one where most of the oak trees died, we know they are liars and deceivers.
Just for a quick reference I checked the first 15 years (1969 to 1984) of Mammoth mountain snow totals, versus the most recent 15 years ending this year.
First 15 years 4,968 inches of snow.
Last 15 years 5,825 inches of snow. (Worst drought in over one thousand years!) They would lie if the truth did them good!
Likewise,
some people ‘d sooner
get their money by ways
crooked ~ not straight.
“Having a ‘Minister of Climate Change’ ensures there will be a perpetual ‘climate emergency’, even if the weather is forever placid.”
Mencken’s “bloke whose salary depends” extended to minister, department and future ambitions for both
https://www.wmbriggs.com/post/45810/
Via
https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2023/03/08/will-the-tucker-tapes-make-a-difference-in-how-americans-now-view-jan-6-n1676598
BRIICS expanding?
(with two I’s)
Brazil allows two Iranian warships to dock in Rio ignoring US concerns. The Iranian flotilla is expected to cross the Panama Canal soon as it aims to circumnavigate the globe. The Brazilian government on 26 February allowed two Iranian warships to dock in Rio de Janeiro despite pressure from Washington to bar their arrival.
Rio’s port authority said in a statement that the IRIS Makran and IRIS Dena, which together form the Islamic Republic’s 86th flotilla, berthed in the Latin American nation on Sunday morning after being given permission by Vice Admiral Carlos Eduardo Horta Arentz, the Deputy Chief of Brazil’s Naval Staff. .. Lula moved forward with allowing the ships to dock in Rio despite calls by US Ambassador Elizabeth Bagley against the move.
This is the second pair of Iranian warships to dock in Brazil this year. In late January, two other Iranian ships docked in Rio on their way to the Panama Canal.
https://thecradle.co/article-view/22018
and
https://thecradle.co/article-view/20845
“Renewables Aren’t Renewable
Why key facts are dismissed by America’s elites is a story of corruption, collusion, megalomania, greed, cowardice, intellectual negligence, and delusional mass psychosis.
https://amgreatness.com/2023/03/07/renewables-arent-renewable/ ”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/03/thursday-open-thread-142/#comment-2639353
In replies
“The table image link is:
Tucker fires back
“Tucker Carlson Defends Himself Against DC Attacks – “We are learning who the liars are”…
March 9, 2023 | Sundance | 579 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/03/09/tucker-carlson-defends-himself-against-dc-attacks-we-are-learning-who-the-liars-are/
Rumble link in there
Top three items here today of interest IMO
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/
FWIW – the importance of aspiration
“Along the lines of what Dr. John Campbell has been saying regarding the importance of aspiration when administering vaccines, medical researcher Marc Girardot has developed a hypothesis about what might happen when the vaccine is injected into a vein instead of a muscle. His hypothesis goes a long way to explaining the variety of reactions to the vaccine ranging from none at all to sudden death.”
https://covidmythbuster.substack.com/p/when-and-how-can-vaccine-particles
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/03/09/just-a-little-poke/
“PM2.5: Mass Killer or Mass Fraud?”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/03/09/pm2-5-mass-killer-or-mass-fraud/
Re that item on aspiration –
“Just a little poke”
I guess that is the line that has put Harvey Weinstein in the pen?
And maybe will get the “Princes of the Peking Pox”?
Apology accepted Naomi Wolff.
https://naomiwolf.substack.com/p/dear-conservatives-i-am-sorry
Another BRIIC in the wall?
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/iran-saudi-arabia-agree-restore-diplomatic-relations-china-rcna74314
Hurricane Freddy map
https://zoom.earth/storms/freddy-2023/
FWIW – covid “vaccines” causing more things than Trump yet?
“COVID-19 vaccine eye injuries – ocular adverse events, vision problems, blurry vision, visual impairment, blindness and more…”
https://makismd.substack.com/p/covid-19-vaccine-eye-injuries-ocular
Via https://joannenova.com.au/2023/03/saturday-open-thread-21/#comment-2639996
@ another ian says:
9 March 2023 at 8:42 pm
Re “Why key facts are dismissed by America’s elites is a story of corruption, collusion, megalomania, greed, cowardice, intellectual negligence, and delusional mass psychosis.”
This is obfuscating talk, ie talking around the bush, to bury what all of these “items” mean in their deepest reality…. it is the story of psychopaths — https://www.rolf-hefti.com/covid-19-coronavirus.html
WHEN will folks start to wake up and be real?
The list of possible “vaccine” injuries just got a lot longer:
Just a quick note on the 2 bank failures this week:
1) Silvergate is winding down operations with full payout to customers. FTX was a big client of theirs and they are largely a “Crypto Bank”. i.e. into offbeat trendy crypto support and clients.
2) Silicon Valley Bank collapsed in 48 hours after their CEO gave a presentation where he said they wanted to raise an additional $2.5 Billion of capital to strengthen their position… Now this bank was a big Venture Capital focused operation. The VCs, fearing a run on the bank, then told their whole portfolio of companies to pull their cash out. $42 Billion run on the bank in 48 hours (a self fulfilling event…).
Now the VCs had most likely told their portfolio companies to put all their VC cash into that one bank in the first placed. Had they just spread it around to various banks, none of this would have happened.
BOTH of these were banks with a “special” focus and not your regular retail bank. Both were too focused into one volatile market sector.
In other news, Wells Fargo announced great results and a stock buyback, while Morgan Stanley also announced things are going very well.
Big diversified customer base retail & commercial banks are doing just fine.
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/10/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-how-it-happened.html
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/08/silvergate-shutting-down-operations-and-liquidating-bank.html
and at the bottom:
So I wouldn’t panic about the news right now, unless you are a Sillly Con Valley VC or into Crypto Banking….
Another “Eureka Moment” for science!
“The “experts” now say it’s Daylight Savings Time that’s causing the increased heart attacks ”
(/s)
Via this morning’s Covid and Coffee
A musical interlude
An example of what passes as a banking executive –
“Jay Ersapah (she/her), head of Risk Management & Model Risk at Silicon Valley Bank, was more interested in LGBTQ+ & Diversity issues than keeping the bank solvent.”
https://instapundit.com/573939/
https://www.diversityrolemodels.org/about-us/board-of-directors
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/03/12/go-woke-go-broke-11/#comments
“Xenomorph Android malware now steals data from 400 banks
The Xenomorph Android malware has released a new version that adds significant capabilities to conduct malicious attacks, including a new automated transfer system (ATS) framework and the ability to steal credentials for 400 banks.
Xenomorph was first spotted by ThreatFabric in February 2022, which discovered the first version of the banking trojan on the Google Play store, where it amassed over 50,000 downloads.
The latest version of Xenomorph targets 400 financial institutions, mainly from the United States, Spain, Turkey, Poland, Australia, Canada, Italy, Portugal, France, Germany, UAE, and India.
Australian banks like ANZ and Westpac are affected.
The full list is in the appendix in the Threatfabric report:
https://www.threatfabric.com/blogs/xenomorph-v3-new-variant-with-ats.html
The planned EU banking cyberattack resilience tests for 2024 had better move forward as 2024 is too late”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/03/sunday-open-thread-31/#comment-2640258
“The 10 Rules Of Propaganda”
“Lord Arthur Ponsonby was a British diplomat and politician, dates 1871–1946.
This keen and cagey fellow pinpointed 10 rules of propaganda.”
“They are these:
1. We don’t want war, we are only defending ourselves.
2. The other guy is solely responsible for this war.
3. Our adversary’s leader is evil and looks evil.
4. We are defending a noble purpose, not special interest.
5. The enemy is purposefully causing atrocities; we only commit mistakes.
6. The enemy is using unlawful weapons.
7. We have very little losses, the enemy is losing big.
8. Intellectuals and artists support our cause.
9. Our cause is sacred.
10. Those who doubt our propaganda are traitors.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/10-rules-propaganda
He’s probably not the Ponsonby of the Prendegast and Ponsonby joke series
FWIW
“Silicon Valley Bank was a Big Green Government Ponzi Scheme”
“SVB was a “Green” Banker. We know this, not because newspapers are saying that now, but because of the emergency flares released on behalf of the victims. The New York Times tells us that the collapse of SVB is going to hit green tech hard because SVB clients included 1,550 companies dedicated to “fighting climate change”. ”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/03/silicon-valley-bank-was-a-big-green-government-ponzi-scheme/
And for emergency rations
“In praise of pemmican”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/03/in-praise-of-pemmican.html
Some electric vehicle (EV) manufacturers are scrapping the AM radio from their cars, claiming safety concerns. Although conservative talk radio dominates AM radio ratings, it is also considered a critical safety tool, as it is one of the primary ways that federal, state, and local officials communicate with the public during natural disasters and other emergencies.
https://www.breitbart.com/tech/2023/03/13/electric-car-manufacturers-remove-am-radios-claiming-safety-concerns/
Rocket man! Well, not really a rocket, but multiple small jet engines. I want one. I need it to go to the grocery store.
https://www.bitchute.com/video/ai6okTwVSoFu/
Background info on WHY and WHEN the J6 “Insurrection” was triggered. Had it not happened when it did, delay of election certification and investigation of the election fraud would have had legal standing.
https://www.theburningplatform.com/2023/03/13/this-was-a-coup-it-was-a-very-organized-and-carefully-planned-coup/
There is a Conservative Treehouse post mentioning that, too.
The ultimate decider
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