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/2023/03/16/w-o-o-d-16-march-2023-ukraine-dead-man-walking-banks-bleeding-wild-weather/
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
On The Road Again
I’m “On The Road Again” (see prior posting for update…). Hoping to get a couple of more loads of My Stuff out of California while it is still possible to get there… and escape…
I’d like to get this all wrapped up and done in the next couple of months. Normally I can get a “run” done in about 8 days. I’m figuring on 2, maybe 3 runs, and spread over a couple of months. We’ll See as there’s been a constant chain of Surprise Issues for the last year. Maybe I don’t really need my old College Text Books, the spousal canonical Star Trek book collection, and those 2 bicycles I’ve not ridden in a decade…
The Spouse is taking care of the house, and watching the Backyard Bunnies. It is unclear at the moment if I’m continuing with this “run”, or catching a plane back home for a while…
Ukraine Drags On
There is a constant confusion in The Media about Russian Goals. There ought not be. Putin has said what they are (in Russian to his people) and then proceeded to do just that.
The No. 1 confusion is about “capturing territory”. Russia captured pretty much all the territory it cared about in the very first weeks. After that, it was NOT about capturing territory At All. It is about “grinding down” the Ukrainian Army. (And, I suspect now, draining NATO arms and ability).
Folks repeat the canard that the “Russian Attack on Kiev Failed!” back at the start. But it was not an attack on Kiev. It was a “Fixing Operation”. It caused Ukraine to keep a lot of military around Kiev and that let Russia take most of the Donbas with little opposition in that early invasion. Then they withdrew the troops near Kiev with very little damage to them. Conservation Of Forces operation.
So now Russia has constructed all sorts of “fortifications” and has just waited while Ukraine has sent waves of “reinforcements” against them. To the point where Ukraine is running out of men (grabbing them off the street…) and NATO is scouring the world for artillery shells (among other things). Why would any army want to “capture territory” when they are achieving their stated goals at the lowest possible cost? Ukraine nicely cooperating by sending their army into the Russian Artillery Meat Grinder…
There was a lot of talk for a while about a Ukrainian Offensive. That seems to have evaporated in the face of no munitions with which to prosecute it. Russia has taken a major chunk out of the Ukrainian Defensive Line (the Mr. Z line…) at Bahkmut. IF anything, I’d expect to see a Russian Breakout into Central Ukraine there. Once they smell enough blood in the water, Russia will just start to open that salient. As the perimeter expands, the much diminished Ukrainian Army will be stretched ever thinner. At some point, the 400,000 or so Russian Reserves just sitting on the border can then be sent in to “mop up” whatever is left.
This is just math and geometry. How many men per mile can Ukraine support? As the front balloons out into open territory, the line will thin and be over-run. The only big question is: Will Russia want to do this at all? As long as Ukraine continues to supply their army to the Russian Defensive Line to be “ground down”, there is no Russian incentive to run a Breakout. Once that stops, then the Russians will be motivated to over-run the remainder and basically do what they said “Negotiate at the Polish Border”.
NATO has decided to “Fight to the last Ukrainian”. That time may be drawing near. In the end, there will be NO Ukraine to “defend” given this NATO “strategy”.
$US On The Rocks
Congratulations, NeoCons & Globalists! You have made the biggest Own Goal ever!
“Sanctions” having been applied to just about everyone not in the USA & EU, have finally succeeded! Unfortunately, they did not succeed in harming Russia. They succeeded in destroying The Western Monetary System.
The Greens and Global Warmistas, having shouted to the whole world that Oil MUST END! and in under 12 years too; have managed to break the partnership of Saudi Arabia with Europe & the USA.
Nothing like telling a few countries who’s entire economy depends on oil that you are going to put them out of business… and then expect them to stay on your side.
So what have we got now?
Pretty simple, really. The Rest Of World (ROW) is setting up a Parallel Economy. See, when YOU become an un-trustworthy lout who lawlessly steals other folks money and stuff; they choose to avoid you. It really is that simple.
So The USA & EU decided to go on a Theft Spree. “Confiscating” various assets of Russia (and others prior too). The result the first time was the formation of BRICS. Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (back when South Africa was “sanctioned” for not being woke enough). This time, with BRICS already in place, the result of locking folks out of SWIFT (international money transfers), shutting off VISA & M.Card, and stealing money from banks is all entirely predictable.
China needs oil. Russia and Saudi Arabia have oil. China has money. Russia has gold. Russia wants Chinese Manufactures (since our “sanctions” say they can’t buy ours). So these folks just all got together and issued a big FAT MIDDLE FINGER to the USA & EU.
BRICS is now BRICS+ with the plus being about another dozen to 18 countries who have applied to join. It has most of the population of the planet in it, along with most of the oil and manufacturing. Oh, and a whole lot of money. The West has debt…
So Saudi Arabia has told the USA & Biden to go bugger off and is now trading oil in “National Currencies”. You can now kiss off the “Petro Dollar”. Why do they need the $US if the USA will not be buying their oil? Why do they need the $US to buy Chinese made goods?
So Russia and the BRICS have set up their own “Settlement system” and no longer need SWIFT. They have started trading oil in national currencies. And they are creating their own alternative to the World Bank and SDRs (Special Drawing Rights). Their own international settlements currency – backed by gold. Did I mention that Russia, China and Saudi Arabia have a lot of gold?…
Oh, and Russia has the Mir Card, while China has a Union-something card. Indonesia has announced their intent to come out with a card, too. After all, nobody can depend on Visa or Master Card to work anymore, since they are now Political Agencies of The West.
What to do? Well, I tossed a load of my $US into GOLD, Silver, a Foreign Currencies basket ETF and some similar. So far up over $10,000 on that one move. I still have about 1/2 in the $US, so some more work to do.
By “weaponizing” the monetary system, The GEBs (Globalist Evil Bastards) and their Fellow Travelers the NeoCons, have assured that NOBODY can trust it. Unfortunately, any banking or finance system depends 100% on TRUST to work. So since it can not be trusted, it will be abandoned. That is NOT just for Russia… but for China, the House Of Saud, and ANYONE else in the world who thinks they might be put on the Naughty List.
The problem, of course, is that they also see you can end up on that list for nothing more than using traditional pronouns or saying that children ought not to be deciding what body parts to have chopped off.
So just about everyone with a normal traditional view of the world and a functioning brain now KNOWS they need to suck all their money out of the $US, the USA, the € and The EU. This is going to go well how?
It will take time. Hell, I’ve known this for about 6 months now and I’ve only got it 1/2 done. Folks in things like Real Estate especially will take a year or three. OTOH, a lot of folks from other countries (like Russia) first figured this out a few years ago when the EU screwed over the Cypress Banks (and the Russians with money in them…). So they have a head start.
I hope to be almost 100% out of $US cash inside 2 more months. My accounts will still be in $US terms, but they will be in “stuff” not in $US paper.
The Global Monetary System is now over. We have a new Multi-Polar world. BRICS+ is growing like crazy and will fairly quickly overtake the GEBs system. Whenever I get a chance, I’ll be setting up a ‘Toy Account’ in some foreign bank using one of their Cards (Mir, whatever) just to play with it. (Likely a couple of years from now as it will likely require travel to some country far far away… and definitely NOT in the USA / EU).
The Middle East has had China ask them “Why you let USA have you fight each other? Why not we make money together?”. Peace has broken out all over. Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and who knows how many others all asking “Why sell oil to people who don’t want to buy any in a decade? Why not sell to China?”. Join belts & roads?
Ditto South America and Africa and their commodities.
Now think about it for just a moment. ALL the major Oil Exporters are joining up with China, Russia & India in BRICS+. They are busy adding the major commodity producers of Latin America & Africa. They have all the major manufacturing base.
What is left for The West?
Debt. “Services”. Medical decay costs. “Arms” production.
But we have driven the ROW away from our “Financial Services”. Our major medical companies now have their products made in China & India, so are one “nationalization” or “State Competitor” away from being undercut. Making “Arms” to sell to ourselves is not a net gain of profit. With peace breaking out in the BRICS+ zone, not a lot of arms sales to them. Basically, selling to ourselves to replace the Ukraine drain is the only game at the moment. Selling your own stuff to yourself is not a big win.
And that, boys and girls, IMHO, is why the Globalists, GEBs & Neocons are getting so worked up over Ukraine. Simply put: Their entire edifice of force and control is collapsing and they are losing. They have no idea what to do to stop it other than double the bet. This will not end well for them, so it’s time for the rest of us to “Duck & Cover”.
Dimocrat Ruined Cities
Just a brief mention that the Soros sponsored District Attorneys in the Democrat Ruined Cities have started a major crime spree. I’ve not been able to really keep up on it since all I’ve had is the car radio, and now that’s gone too… But…
I did hear that Chicago at least had a rather large riot with several stores trashed. Then, the “under $1000 is FREE” strategy of non-prosecution will eventually have all the stores in those cities closed. As there are ever fewer left open, the crime will be ever more concentrated. Eventually they will all close, or all become armed camps. Your choice: Nothing or Prison Store.
I’m still not sure just why Soros wants to destroy US Cities. He is a master short seller, so maybe that’s it. Short $US and Short US Retail; then have them destroyed.
But “watch this space”. It may be another Butt Lite in the making as folks have reached the End Of The Line on this kind of crap. Toleration is no longer in the tool kit…
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 
@anyone
I’d be interested to hear any contemplations on the nature of information, what is it?
@em
I would highly recommend getting an XM Radio for your cross country trips
@Josh:
That’s an interesting question…
Data is just the facts (M’am ;-)
So things like my height, weight, etc.
Information seems, in general use, to encompass that, but also to extend to some less factual things. Like “he likes Pizza, but not ham & pineapple, but will eat it if nothing else is around”.
That has a fact “likes Pizza”, but then some detail about preferences. But how to you turn “will eat it if that’s all there is” into “data”? A whole lot of coding and preference things go into various database structures to enable capturing such things as a kind of “data”. So you have “Likes this candidate” with 1 to 5 bubbles to fill in. That isn’t really “just the facts” as i might like them 3.5 … but it gets closer.
Some information is only really useful inside some context. Like “How to thin this paint”. It is clearly informative; but unless you know WHICH paint, you don’t have anything really useful… So a case can be made that much information is only really useful and actual information with ALL the needed context.
Should I call up the Police and report “there will be a murder at Joe’s Bar”; that is kind of useless without a bit more. Like is that today? Tomorrow? Any time in the next 10 years? “Today” is information if, in fact, one is going to happen. Any time in the next 10 years can be just “projection” because the area is a rough one and Joe’s Bar has a killing every few years in the past. Or it can be lacking in information if there is no such context (“Joe” just built the bar last year and nobody has ever been hurt there…).
So “context” matters to making “assertions” into “information”. Tests of veracity.
Then there is compound “information”. A scientist may collect a lot of data. Make a Nice Theory. Test that the data conform to the theory. Then present a stylized report asserting New Information! But is that New Information! in fact valid? IS the globe warming due to car farts? Or did the scientist just guess and guess wrong; then created a nice fantasy to support that conjecture? The whole Scientific Method is all about uncovering those kinds of Errors Of Ego & Arrogance (and a LOT are found…). So sometimes what is called “information” is, in fact, “fancy error”. Basically, both the truth and reality determine what is Valid Information and what is Error Belief.
So enough data compounded with the Right Theory, and it easily ends up with you having More Valid Compound Information. Things like “put this U isotope in a big enough lump, rapidly assembled in a cannon like device, and Hiroshima will be gone, and the war ended.” Now that’s information with a really big kicker in it!
So somewhere between DATA and Conjecture, you end up with Really Useful Formulas, Processes, Trade Secrets and more. There’s a gradation of “information” along that line right up to where things are no longer true. Then it stops being information and starts to be “garbage”. Lies. Propaganda. Errors. Basically, the truth and reality matter.
Unfortunately, there’s a whole lot of gray area where what is VALID and TRUE is contested; and where “information” is murky as to the quality metric on it. Where one person’s information is another person’s lies and propaganda.
Then, on a philosophical bent: Lots and Lots of “information” comes via language. some languages are better than others at being the carrier of it. Math has a very specialized language for certain types of information about the nature of the world. The same ideas can be carried by verbal languages, like English, but not as well nor as precisely. There are some languages that don’t really carry some ideas at all. (Try to state a critique of Shakespeare in the FORTRAN language… without it just being all print statements…). So you end up with the philosophical question of “IS the language the information? Or just a medium for storage & movement?” How much of what we “know” comes from the bias built into our languages? Our “cultural context”?
Languages grow constantly. As new ideas, with new information, gets long explanations shortened to single words or phrases. This encodes some ideas and some information better over time. Umami recently entered English. Before that we had “savory”, but it isn’t quite the same. Similarly, the notion of “What is blue?” varies by language. Does that include turquoise? And the greener forms? Or not? Varies by language. So how information is ENCODED in various languages also matters. An Eskimo talking about snow has a lot more precision. Yet in English among folks going skiing, they talk of ‘powder snow’ and ‘acorn snow’ and more. What Eskimos do with one word, we do with adjectives (though not as many).
So to talk about information also requires some thought about the medium that carries that information. Is it suited to the nuances involved? That is how Jargon develops over time. Folks create new terms for their field to better package the ideas they want to capture. More precision. Faster use. More detail. (Jacquard Weave in Periwinkle says a lot more exactly the idea than “blueish cloth”… yet “blueish cloth” has some information in it too…)
So, in the end, the same issue for MATH arrives at all “information”:
Is MATH invented, or discovered? Is it a property of the symbol system, of nature writ large, or just a human invention? Same thing for ideas in languages. Invented by people? Discovered in words? Or just a property of the symbol system and a fast enough ChatBot can find the same ideas…
One notion is that intelligence arises out of complexity; and that with enough artificial neurons, an AI ChatBot WILL become sentient. An extension of that is just that enough complexity in the symbol system of languages will create thoughts, and thus “information”…
But it is the testing of that “information” against the perceived “reality” and data about reality, that sorts “information” into Truth, Error, and Lies…
@em ;-))))
I take it you like the question based on the response I got. I had actually been thinking more along the lines of what is information does it have mass is it matter is it you know certain amount of Watts or BTUs is it energy can it even be measured at all I mean we can count the number of characters it takes to express information, but you could have the same number of characters in totally random order and they wouldn’t express any information. And then already touch on this in your response can it be created or destroyed I mean certainly it can be discovered and can be lost but created or destroy it I don’t know. Information seems very ephemeral yet I think we could all agree it exists…
Ontology versus epistemology. Information, to me, exists in minds. It has no external ontological existence. The beings who hold it, do.
@Josh:
It is something I’ve thought about a lot over the years. Part of “Keeping A Tidy Mind”. You must keep the crap out, but what is valid information?…
To your followup questions:
Information does not have mass, but it does have order. In an entirely entropy state, there is no information. So information requires some kind of order, else it is just randomness.
Information storage may have mass, or BTUs, or Watts or any other system that encodes patterns. But the information is the pattern, not the mass or the Watts or the photons.
Can it be measured? Only to the extent you can measure the encoding system. Yet your DNA has something like an entire Library Of Congress stored in it; so just the measure of the mass is not enough. It is the measure of the quantity of states and their ordering.
Information can be created. We wrote down the history of the world several times. And it can be destroyed (see the multiple burnings of the Library of Alexandria and the great loss of that history. We know it had been there by the stories about it.)
If I write a diary of my life, that is not “discovered”, it is recording a record of what has happened. When I take photos of my family, activities and pets and garden, that is certainly creating information (the bit patterns in the photos). Should I burn those photos, that information is clearly destroyed as the bit patterns turn into soot.
Should I invent a new formula for detergent, that is creating new information. Should I die before telling anyone, that information is then destroyed. It does not exist away from the discovery of the method, and to be again, a new person would need to once again figure it out.
Now you can make a case that the FACT of how the chemical reaction happens exists even if we do not know it. (Heated alkali in fat makes soap, even if we do not know that). So, for example, Alkali Salt of a Fatty Acid (aka soap) is a fundamental fact of chemistry. That’s just a fact to be discovered. But the “how people can make it” and the “how to use it” are not fundamental facts of chemistry, but processes we create or discover, then encode in language for preservation.
So a reasonable division would be that the Natural Facts can not be created nor destroyed, they just are. But our processes and history are not Natural Facts. They are created, recorded, and can be destroyed. Yet soap continues to exist as a Natural Fact and someone can discover that again, and then create a process for anyone to use. Encode that process in any of several languages, and propagate it to others.
That is, the kind of information determines if it is discovered, created, or destroyed. Uranium Fission is a discovered bit of information. How To make The Bomb is created information, and can be lost and records of it destroyed.
I’d assert that information is useful patterns of bits. Chaos is bits with no usable pattern. And extracting the information from the bits may require a lot of context & process. (Properly encrypted bags of bits are indistinguishable from random trash, yet the information remains. But it can only be extracted with the right context of Magic Sauce and method… lose the key, lose the information. It is still there, just lost to you. Melt the disk drive, you have destroyed the information. It is not recoverable by anyone.)
@CDQuarles:
What about when “the person who holds it” is a computer?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontology_(computer_science)
I lean toward “information is ontology” and “knowledge is epistemology”… but I’m not certain…
@EM
So The USA & EU decided to go on a Theft Spree. “Confiscating” various assets of Russia
Seizure of assets popped up as a topic in this comedy interview mentioned by Simplicius.
Janet Yellen Stammers Through De-Dollarization Defense in New CNN Interview
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/janet-yellen-stammers-through-de
The first part of the interview is full of the usual “Sanctions Is Working. We Are Winning” BS.
Russian, Iran and China are mentioned, but not BRIICSS++ or any of the other countries. Are they scared to mention it by name?
At about 5:30, Yellen is asked about the frozen Russian assets. She suddenly gets all evasive when it’s mentioned – “there are legal constraints”. Has anyone else noticed the elephant in the corner not mentioned in the MSM? That Russian reacted by confiscating loads of US/UK/EU assets. Tit for tat. Whoops – nobody anticipated that! (rofl).
Then (by Simplicius) :
Yellen’s predecessor at the Treasury Secretary post, Larry Summers, has recently sounded the alarm on these developments when he warned that “America is losing global influence as other powers form trading blocs.”
In a new interview, he went on to say some more interesting, and revealing, things:
“There’s a growing acceptance of fragmentation, and – maybe even more troubling – I think there’s a growing sense that ours may not be the best fragment to be associated with.”
I never cease to be amazed at how these people in positions of power repeatedly fail to anticipate the consequences of their blundering actions. Comes of believing their own propoganda I guess? It must take a special kind of megalomania.
@em
You could write a diary of your entire life and have pictures and everything and burn it. But information about your life would exist and everyone that’s read your blog or ever known you, your Florida friend would have information about your life, your spouse and kids…
You could microwave a hard drive and destroy the information that’s on it, but that information could be stored on a thousand other hard drives and servers or whatever, the information could still exists.
Maybe fiction novels are new information?
About the multiple burning of Library of Alexandria, yeah we might have lost a lot of information but it’s hard to say how many copies were actually out there in other places too…
IDK, seemed like an interesting topic for conversation, makes my head hurt…
Another good commentary from Gonzalo Lira, with thoughts about the consequences of the US seizing Russian assets, and how that has put notice to all countries that if the US gets upset (or just hungry) it may take their assets as well. But take heart! The US may have so blatantly overplayed its hand that it is driving multiple nations, especially Russia, into alliance with China. Why might that be good? Because a very powerful China/Russia/Others alliance may stop the US from starting a hot war with China.
@Josh:
“…and burn it”… your point is really that SOME information about my life would exist. Yes, that is true. But NOT all the information in the burned copy. So my point that “information CAN be destroyed” still stands.
Ditto for the copies of the library of Alexandria. We have a FEW of the books that were in it (many as translations back from Arabic copies – the folks who burned the library kept a few translations).. BUT, those meager few books are NOT the whole of the library. Many volumes were burned and ARE lost forever. That information is just gone. We have references to a few by title, and a few by small quotes in other works; but the proof that there WAS a book, is not the book.
Similarly, some of those quotes are in Etruscan. We know the language existed. We have a few quotes, some inscriptions in stone, and a few place names. But the knowledge and information of the whole language is gone. Destroyed. Nobody can speak it today.
“… could be stored on a thousand…” Yes COULD be. But it isn’t. I have a set of photos I have taken, stored on a hard drive. Also on 2 others as backups. IF the house burned down, ALL of them would be destroyed and that information gone. Many were never shared with others, so the only copies are on my disks.
Information is fragile, and ephemeral. It does not persist well in most media. Vastly more is lost or destroyed than is preserved. Who first came to The Americas? Nobody knows. The people who came here knew, but they have been dead for many thousand years. We keep finding more bones that show what we thought we knew was wrong. The actual first persons, their names, tribes, languages, etc. etc. are all destroyed by time. It existed with them, but not long after them that information was gone.
So yes, some old books (or old bones with old DNA) could still exist for some small fragment of what was lost. But it largely does not exist; and for that where it does not exist, the information no longer exists either. There is no matter nor energy holding the needed patterns, nor any context sufficient to understand it even if the pattern did exist. (A book in Etruscan giving their history has no one who could read it, even if it were found. Like encryption with a lost key…)
Between what is lost forever, and what context needed to understand it that is also lost, lots of information is lost and destroyed.
What did my Father experience in W.W.II? Gone with his death. He didn’t tell me, nor anyone else. Any of his generation are also gone. Didn’t want to talk about it. What was his first car? First kiss? Again that information is gone and lost. Those who may have known it are also gone… (not a lot of folks over 104… )
Basically “could” is not “is”. And for large classes of information, even “could” does not exist anymore. (A big issue in computer data storage. Mag Tape is expected to be useless after a decade. I have a few 9 track “round tapes” from the 1980s. Whatever I stored on them is long gone..). Nobody else stored those programs I wrote “just for me” either. So I “could” have copied them to 8 mm, VHS, IBM Cartridges, made a PDF of them… but I didn’t. So it is gone.
There’s actually a set of regulations and laws around Government Archives and when they are to be destroyed. It’s really “a thing”. So a huge formal process for the destruction of whole buildings full of information. It happens.
@TTN:
Not just countries. LOTS of companies and individuals too. I’m not even really “at risk” but I’m working on how much of my “worth” to put out of reach of “process”.
Thinking about maybe buying a bit of land in another country somewhere. A little “vacation spot” outside of US law. Have a car & boat there.
THE big problem is finding somewhere that isn’t even more prone to theft…
Interesting talk. He should give up smoking.
He talks of the neocons. Is that really what we have here today?
I think he also mixes up military power with economic power.
China has already passed the US in both, so the argument that there will not be a hot war with China because China has Russia on its side is weak.
Maybe that might influence some hawks in the Pentagon. The dumb ones.
Because the smart ones already know that a hot war with China is M.A.D.
He is right that talk of the US defending Taiwan is just talk.
Information is the indication of one state among a number of possible states. Consider Morse code. You have three possible states. Dash, dot, silence. Meanwhile you have hundreds or thousands of regular cycles passing by unused. The density of your Morse data is very low. You can up the amount of information per second in your message by going digital (what used to be called pulse code modulated) and using asci or some better coding. And then up it some more by compression algorithms — but you are still indicating certain states among many. The ultimate information density would be reached when each individual state change was maximally unpredictable from previous states. Your signal would sound like static, but it would not BE static. To someone with the decompression procedure it would be a densely packed message, but to an outsider it would sound like random noise. Consider — when astronomers point their radio dishes at the stars and hear that universal background hissssssss, is it really just static? Or is it the maximally compressed signals of a civilization with technology beyond our ability to decode?
@EM: “What did my Father experience in W.W.II? Gone with his death. He didn’t tell me, nor anyone else. Any of his generation are also gone. Didn’t want to talk about it. What was his first car? First kiss? Again that information is gone and lost. Those who may have known it are also gone… (not a lot of folks over 104… )”
Remember Blade Runner:
Computers don’t have minds. They do hold information that’s encoded; but beings with minds did the encoding.
EM, as usual a very good summary of very bad global trends. I do see a strong chance of the GEBs failed plans creating immense global depression, including all the BRICS as well. (At least they will have united the globe in depression, if not war as well. /s)
Regarding…”Information is fragile, and ephemeral.” I would consider the possibility of modifying this to “Accessing Information is fragile, and ephemeral.”
There is a somewhat convincing line of thought that all “information” at the moment of the Big Bang, was already present, and we are just learning, and forgetting, and relearning disparate aspects of that “fine tuning” information, and are indeed a part of it.
This is not hard to see for science, yet as to the more subtle things, like a persons thoughts and actions and feeling and emotions, long forgotten by all, or never known by others at all, it is long philosophized that that information is held as well, and this is popularized in such phrases as “What goes around comes around” or Karma, or “An eye for an eye”, etc…
My two cents
Good luck on the long move process…
CD says, “Computers don’t have minds. They do hold information that’s encoded; but beings with minds did the encoding”
Aye! Which pertains to my comment just above… (Oh, and “coding” was done in an incredibly complex way in DNA, yes?) So human minds appear to be accessing information, more than creating it.
Landauer Information Theory says that information has mass. Some of the predictions based on that idea look valid, and Mike McCulloch used this as one way of deriving QI theory. There are however some problems with information theory, since if you store a binary bit of information you need two states separated by an energy gap, and random thermal energy can flip that bit. Thermal energy (at any and all temperatures except absolute zero) is not a fixed quantity depending on temperature, but instead a probability curve stretching from zero to infinity in theory, so at any temperature there is a calculable probability that a bit will get flipped and lose the information. Thus all stored data suffers from bit-rot, and has a definable probability of being accurate after a delay after writing it.
Another problem with information having a certain minimum energy/mass is that if someone gives you a hard disk with what looks like random bits on it, and then tells you the decryption key, the mass should measurably change once you know that key.
Thus the basic idea is flawed, and everything built on that foundation is suspect, but it’s interesting that the predictions generally look valid. Maybe some deeper truth hiding in there. Still, there can be no “minimum mass/energy to store a bit”, since it depends on how long you expect that information to remain valid. The bigger the energy required to change the bit, the longer it is likely to remain valid, though there remains a calculable probability that that bit will change as soon as it’s been written.
Over the last couple of decades I’ve become a lot less sure that any of the theories and axioms I learned as a student are actually correct. I think that causality is absolute, so the event cannot happen before the cause (though it may be coincident in time), and if we do exactly the same thing we’ll get the same result (but given the random nature of matter interactions it cannot be exactly the same thing, but near-enough), but everything else is up for grabs. If it experimentally works, then theory needs to change to state that such a thing is possible.
I’m expecting a few “impossible” things to be demonstrated this year or next. With a bit of luck, they’ll happen before the GEBs break the system too far to make recovery difficult.
The information that’s encoded in nucleic acid polymers, as well as amino acid ones; were encoded by another Being that Is Being, when said being said: “Let there be light”. Given this, that we exist, is proof of the logical necessity of He That Is.
@CD
I kind of tend to agree that information really only exists in our minds, Maybe…
@ your God comment
I think James 1:1 says in the beginning there was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God
The original Greek word was logos I think, which often gets translated as knowledge, knowledge is ultimately information right?
IDK not particularly religious myself more of an agnostic, but interesting to think about
@em
your mention ofJacquard weave Periwinkle blue,
Made me think of the Loom and how many people consider it the first computer which made me think of Charles Babbage which led to Ada Lovelace. Which made me wonder if you celebrate her birthday on December 10th seeing as you are a computer guy
Sorry to do Rapid posting, I know there’s a point where that becomes very bothersome, but I found this clip kind of interesting
@Josh:
I taught that computer history many times ;-) And yes, I started with the loom… the original punched cards. (that did, directly, lead to computer punched cards).
No, I don’t celebrate any of their birthdays. I did have great fun promoting Ada as The First Programmer in my intro classes. That was the moment that the downcast women in the class would suddenly perk up and take notice! (“So the guys built the hardware, but it was a woman, Ada, who wrote the first programs and made them go”) or something like that. This was in the era when computers were more a “man’s thing” along with the rest of engineering. Being an “intro” class, many of the folks in it had no exposure at all to computers other than keying in data…
Then I’d follow up with Rear Admiral Grace Hopper and the creation of COBOL as one of the first languages. About then, the ladies in the class would be smiling and sitting up smart and proud. After all, an Admiral no less ;-)
Suddenly learning a bit of BASIC didn’t look like Space Aliens Junk and OMG No Way! but was “I’ve got this.”…
OH! And the other thing I’d do is point out that the first “programming language” I ever learned was Knitting Patterns from Mum. I’d point out they have procedures ( knit one pearl 2 four times then…) and even subroutines (make 2 sleeves like this). That they had their own programming language and the basic control commands (that “go sub 2 sleeves and return”…)
At that point, the men in class would be looking all confused and lost; while most of the women would be having the “penny drop moment” look. Most of them at least having seen a knitting pattern book. Realizing they were already ahead of the game.
Yes, I learned to knit at about 6 years old, and to read the knitting patterns at about the same time ;-)
@Josh:
When I’m “on the road”, it’s you folks who keep things going with “rapid postings”, so I consider it a feature ;-)
Nice one, our most gracious host. As children, my sister and I were taught needlework. I was better at knitting. My sister was better at crochet; like her grandmother that taught us. We were both taught sewing, too; by hand and by using her machine. (This taboo against children working is bad. Children need to learn how to serve themselves by serving others and getting to learn the power of earning their own way through life. Sure, some fields do need oversight. Farming is one of the most dangerous ones, and always has been; but life is risky and you should learn how to detect and manage them, too.)
Edward Teller talks about John von Neumann:
FWIW
“Peak ESG is behind us: They’ve stopped bragging about environmental wokeness.”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/04/peak-esg-is-behind-us-theyve-stopped-bragging-about-environmental-wokeness/
FWIW – what might or might not be happening in Ukraine
“Western Experts’ New Fear: Russia is Evolving and Adapting”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/western-experts-new-fear-russia-is
More Ukraine – FWIW
“Russia Claims Bakhmut Road Cut, Ukraine Troop Cauldron; G7 Russia Blockade as Russia Economy Surges”
https://rumble.com/v2jop69-russia-claims-bakhmut-road-cut-ukraine-troop-cauldron-g7-russia-blockade-as.html
“Lies, damn Lies, Statistics” and then –
“THE DAILY CHART: THE MOST DECEPTIVE CHART EVER”
On government funding of CBC
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/04/the-daily-chart-the-most-deceptive-chart-ever.php
Ukraine peripherals
“State of the War: Video Roundup 4/21/23”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/state-of-the-war-video-roundup-42123
@Another Ian:
That going away from ESG link has a comment that pointed to:
https://climaterealism.com/2023/04/wrong-mayor-adams-monitoring-and-limiting-food-choice-curtails-freedom-but-it-wont-stop-climate-change/
Where NY is planning to monitor folks food choices and try to get them to stop eating meat and dairy. It has this gem in it:
Um… perhaps someone ought to tell De Mayor that “beans” produce methane in the gut, and that there is one powerful “greenhouse gas emission”…
I’ll take “steak & a shake” any day… or chicken Parmesan …
Haha! Upstate NY produces lots of meat and dairy and it’s a short trip to the Big Apple. Oh, and NY State does do apples.
The fruits and veggies come from California, Mexico, Florida and from South of the Equator when off season. That’s a lot of transportation as well as the farm equipment and fertilizers needed to produce all of those fruits and veggies. Last I heard, not a lot of tractors and harvesters are involved in raising cattle.
I’m not motivated enough to do a farm-to-fork analysis of meats vs fruits and veggies, and I don’t care enough to search for any the studies which I’m sure have been done. But it would be interesting to see what the CO2 output from farm-to-fork is for various food items.
I wonder what the total-emitted CO2 ‘champion’ food item would be?
My guess is it’s some exotic fruit or veggie that only grows in a remote area of the world and is passed through a half-dozen middlemen before being processed, and then goes through a few more distribution channels before reaching the table.
Hmmm… the civet-poop coffee beans, maybe?
[minor pondering] Nahhh… They are just scarce due to the small number of coffee bean eating civets.
@EM
Um… perhaps someone ought to tell De Mayor that “beans” produce methane in the gut, and that there is one powerful “greenhouse gas emission”…
There was an education video, some of us still remember it, on the dangers of eating too many beans.
Beans, beans, the wonderful “fruit”. The more you eat, the more you toot. *Yeah, I know, beans are not fruit; but that saying had to rhyme and I’m not the originator of it.
Beans, beans, they’re good for your heart.
The more you eat, the more you fart.
Another BRIIC in the wall (or) the Great Game continues.
Who remembers this? Literally within days of the last NATO troops out of Kabul, Chinese officials were in Afghanistan, signing deals with the Taliban to start mining huge reserves of copper. The Taliban successfully stopped US firms taking the copper by conquest, but were happy to let China take it by trade deals. Now they’re back again, this time signing deals for huge reserves of lithium.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/real-reason-behind-chinas-10-billion-offer-taliban-lithium
“The science is settled but we just found 19,000 new volcanoes”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/04/the-science-is-settled-but-we-just-found-19000-new-volcanoes/
Oh, and there’s oil (of course)
Afghanistan’s Taliban government is to sign a contract with a Chinese firm to drill for oil in the country’s north.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-64183083
FWIW
“Neil Oliver – ‘Nice Life You’ve Got There, It’d be a Shame if Something Happened to It”….
April 22, 2023 | Sundance | 5 Comments
Neil Oliver returns from a few weeks of holiday to hit this monologue out of the park. It’s almost as if Neil and I had sat down and shared a cup of tea.”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/04/22/neil-oliver-nice-life-youve-got-there-itd-be-a-shame-if-something-happened-to-it/
Time to remember
“For Earth Day, the 1983 WGBH Episode of NOVA: The Climate Crisis, The Greenhouse Effect”
WUWT –
“In Honor of Earth Day, Two New Exclusive WUWT Features are Now Online”
“#1 Earth’s Real-Time Temperature”
“#2 Failed Predictions Timeline”
U.S. Cuts Itself Off From Future Chinese Profits
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/04/us-cuts-itself-off-from-future-chinese-profits.html#more
Russian hypersonic missile takes out Ukrainian bunker 400 feet underground. Approximately 300 high level military and advisors, including dozens of NATO officers killed.
Another backdown?
“USA again decided to connect Russia to SWIFT 02:35 ”
https://socialbites.ca/business/246861.html
Via https://joannenova.com.au/2023/04/sunday-2/#comment-2663111
FWIW
“Demographics, food, and the Arab world”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/04/demographics-food-and-arab-world.html
“”Maestro” – The Story of How a Russian T-90A Got Stranded in a Louisiana Rest-Stop”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/maestro-the-story-of-how-a-russian
FWIW
“Sunday morning music”
Leads to chemistry to music
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/04/sunday-morning-music_23.html
Sad news about the demise of The Pointman.
@EM
Re. US$ being trashed
Sorry, I don’t know how link to an image, so here’s the whole article.
It’s A “Defund-The-Global-Police” Moment, Jen Says De-Dollarization Is Happening At A “Stunning” Pace
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/its-defund-global-police-moment-jen-says-de-dollarization-happening-stunning-pace
Tucker Carlson has been fired.
WSJ headline says Susan Rice is stepping down…
Looks like Don Lemmon is gone too. Something in the water today?
@jim2
“BREAKING: Tucker Carlson, Highest rated US show in history, suddenly silenced on Fox”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/04/breaking-tucker-carlson-highest-rated-us-show-in-history-suddenly-silenced-on-fox/
FWIW
“Thoughts on Tucker Carlson’s Firing
April 24, 2023 | Sundance | 165 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/04/24/thoughts-on-tucker-carlsons-firing/#more-245966
https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2023-04-24/tucker-carlson-is-out-at-fox-news
says here, fired by orders from the top. Murdoch himself, although I could wonder if there were orders from the top in DC. I would recommend that he watch his back. It probably has a target on it.
Related (or not), what is the real story behind the Dominion Voting Systems settlement?
Robert Kennedy Jr. is saying Tucker was canned because he endorsed the idea that the greedy pharma companies were pushing a damaging and ineffective jab on folks just to rake in the money (a position that Bobby seems to hold) and that Tucker had Robert Kennedy Jr. on his program a couple of times to give his POV.
Supposedly it was some bimbett threatening to sue over Tucker treating her badly (and of course an ethnic slur…. about jews IIRC – from a different video). I find that less likely than that he pissed off THE largest revenue stream for advertising, the Big Pharma folks..
So one is a threatened lawsuit that could cost what, a $Million? When Tucker is raking in the biggest audience on cable? The other is a lot larger advertising budget. Not sure how big it is, but I’ve heard that Pharma is one of THE biggest advertisers, period. And given the number of drug ads I see, I believe it.
Then add in that he was questioning why we are in Ukraine…
So he’s also pissing off the Military Industrial Complex and likely some TLAs as well, along with the Deep State… Just sayin’…
“a position that Bobby seems to hold”
Yup, no doubt about it. Regardless of what you think of his other politics, his book is a must read. (It’s pretty long, so it is a must read at least some of each chapter)
“The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health” by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
For those bored of Covid, read the HIV/AIDS chapters. Fauci is a mass murderer.
Re Tucker – was he pushed by the shareholders?
Mentioned by Dr Robert Malone:
Blackrock Owns 15.1% of the Fox Corporation.
it was announced that BlackRock has increased its ownership position in Fox Corporation (FOXA). This increase in stock ownership now means that Blackrock owns 15.1% of the Fox Corporation. They are the second largest owner, just after the Murdock family.
…
Together, BlackRock and Vanguard own 18% of Fox (now almost 21%), 16% of CBS, 13% of Comcast — which owns NBC, MSNBC, CNBC, and the Sky media group, 12% of CNN, and 12% of Disney.
https://rwmalonemd.substack.com/p/blackrock-owns-151-of-the-fox-corporation
Also, more from Simplicius on the US concern about BRIICS++
“They’re going to trade in their own currencies, get right around the dollar,” cries bat-eared boy Rubio. “They’re creating a secondary economy in the world, totally independent of the United States,” he stammers. And the kicker: “We won’t have to talk about sanctions in five years, because there’ll be so many countries transacting in currencies other than the dollar, that we won’t have the ability to sanction them!”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/video-roundup-42423
@Keith:
The notion that “Kick enough countries they bypass you and you lose” sure sounds like it is from the “Well Duh!” department…
It takes a special kind of stupid blended with arrogance to believe you are so all powerful and important that you can kick all your peers and think they won’t figure out a way to avoid you…
FWIW
More at
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248626
@Another Ian;
I put a blockquote around your quote.
FWIW, the black slaves of the 1400 to 1800 era were enslaved by other Black tribes. Sold to Muslim Arab slave traders. Then moved to a coastal port and only then sold to Europeans (among others).
Male slaves that were sent to Arab countries were made into Eunuchs. Thus the low population of blacks in Arabia.
Slaves sold into Brazil and other Latin countries were worked to death. Far more were shipped there than to North America, but most of then just died and were replaced with new. Thus Brazil having smaller black population percentage than North America despite higher imports.
Before that, the Romans enslaved anyone they conquered. LOTS of “white European” slaves. Oh, and a load of Jews.
The Slav in Slavic comes from Slave. Due to the huge number or ethnic Slavs that were forced into slavery. Again, lots of White Slaves. Similarly, the Celts of Ireland and Britain captured by Arab Slave Raiders and sold into White Slavery.
Then we get to about 1830 to 1860. ONE group stood up and decided to end slavery. White Christians of British culture origin. Both in Britain (who put out a fleet of antislavery ships) and in the USA where we had our most bloody war ever to end it.
So apologize? For what? My ancestors never had slaves, but did end it. Poor Celts who came here under the only slightly less slave like conditions accorded to The Irish. My British Mum daughter of sailors (among the most poor of the economy then). An Amish Grandmother (from the hyper-religious types who also had no slaves). Grampa a working Blacksmith and farmer. All middle class working stiffs.
So no. I accept NONE of the “white guilt” con and grift. It’s just a load of crap. Slavery was not about race, it was an equal opportunity exploiter for a few thousand years. (Even the Indians of North America had some limited slavery of other Indians)
Slavery was just a question of who had the most force to apply to others. Like the English over the Irish… Germans over white Jews in W.W.II labor camps. Etc.
This might be news!
“FDA: Vaccines Don’t Have To Prevent Infection Or Transmission”
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/fda-vaccines-dont-have-prevent-infection-or-transmission
EM, you mentioned JFK Jr regarding Tucker.
JFK Jr appears very honest, and wants to go after the pharmaceutical vaccine industry. (All truly well and good) Yet I have concerns regarding JFK Jr as a Presidential candidate, despite fully supporting his criticism of the COVID and the pharmaceutical industry.
He is a life long democrat, and very possibly blind to the lures of power lust as it manifests in government. He thinks, and his words indicate this, that “Government” was corrupted by big money, (yes, plenty of broad truth in that, and he sees “Corporations” as the enemy. His very wrong views on CO2 as a pollutant demonstrate his blindness to the lessons outlined in the linked post “Does Absolute Power Corrupt?”
This indicates a chance, even a likelihood that he is completely blind to the truth that the SAME tyrants running WEF and pushing COVID, also push the climate gate scam. https://anderdaa7.substack.com/p/global-warming
So this blindness by JFK Jr is perhaps fatal to his viability for many as a Presidential candidate. As he is a life long Democrat, while I would appreciate his rails against the fascism of today, (Big Government wed to international corporations) this blindness (failure to see Big Government as the legally vested power source of evil) could VERY WELL lead to JFK embracing ALL the Government powers used in the COVID crime, to stop the “evil” of fossil fuels. “Such is the nature of the Tyrant, when he first appears he is a protector” (Plato) If that happens we would all be straight out of the frying pan, and into the pot of tyranny that has ALWAYS manifested, due to failure to understand why the phrase “Absolute power corrupts absolutely” is not correct.
Thoughts?
By the way “chiefio” friends, the links are to a always, not a news feed, never clutter your inbox substack I started. Feel free to stop by, although you have heard and expressed it all here many times. The “Global Warming “ post was written to be shared with family and friends that, in their busy lifes, simply accept the legacy media propaganda, yet have perhaps adequate respect to lend an ear to a different perspective. ( It starts slow, assuming most know little about the subject, yet warms up nicely )
@David A:
Um, it’s Robert Kennedy Jr, not John (JFK).
Other than that, yes, pretty much the problem / risk. On the economic front, John was what would now be thought of as a Conservative. Did tax cuts to stimulate, etc.
The “problem” is the desire to use government to “fix things” that are not broken and to lever power when tempted (like, oh, Bay Of Pigs, ramping up a war in Asia, almost starting nuclear W.W.III, etc.)
I think R.Kennedy Jr. would make an OK president; but not after Biden. After Biden we need a complete D.C. Decontamination and toxic waste removal…
A kind of amazing speech by Tucker Carlson at the Heritage Foundation (just before he got canned).
Not only does he lay out something I’ve come to believe: That this isn’t a question of debating to the best solution, it is about a fundamentally evil force bent on destruction of our society, values and country. So don’t bother with the facts & debate approach as it doesn’t work. (Which realization was when I stopped putting dozens of hours a week into technical R&D on “Climate Change”. Reality, facts, reason do not matter. Nor does “the Science”.) It is a political foil to achieve a power agenda, nothing more. But at the end (at about 28 minutes) the guy I think is the head of the organization comes out to interview Tucker and says “If things ever go south for you at Fox, we have a place for you here.” Just OMG.
I know from the way it was said it was just a throw away line, but still…
I know its RFK JR, the part of me that knows that stopped functioning for a bit.
This video claims that the EU is going Full War On Cash with a € 1000 limit on cash transactions or you are found to be operating in the gray market and can go to prison. OK… Looks like it’s time to convert your cash into gold and silver… They also include “crypto transactions” in the limit. Says the limits hit in March.
Likely “coming soon to the USA” IMHO as our GEBs seem eager to Ape anything authoritarian done in Europe…
FWIW
“The Courage of Tucker Carlson”
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/the-courage-of-tucker-carlson/
Here in France there’s already a cash limit of 300 euros, above which you are supposed to use a cheque or other bank-transfer. However, I’ve not had the cash refused when offered. There’s also a 300 euro limit on getting cash from an ATM.
Of course they are going to want all payments to be traceable, so that it gets taxed.
However, the standard inflation is effectively a tax on all holdings of money, and the only way around that is to own physical things that retain their value. Even that depends on whether it’s something that someone else will need, want, and pay for, and that it won’t deteriorate during the time you own it. If bad times come, though, it’s hard to think of something that will retain its value and cannot be easily taken away from you “for the public good”. Nearest to that I’ve seen is EM’s “edible weeds” that don’t look like food.
@Simon:
Interesting point… perhaps a look at “stealth money alternatives” …
So a local store was selling 9mm in a 1000 rd box for $275. That makes them a bit over a quarter dollar each. There’s a nice little alternative for “pocket change”. Rifle rounds run up closer to $1 each.
Nails, screws, and nuts along with other hardware? Pennies to dimes each, depending on size and such? (I doubt many jack boots would see a box of nails and think “money” to confiscate…)
Starts being a bit harder at $5, $10 and $20 as the inherent value becomes more apparent. But with a 20 gallon gas tank now holding $60 to $100 of fuel, having 4 cars kept full is about $250 to $400… an old “junker” car doesn’t look like a wallet… Make it an old pickup truck with saddle tanks or a fuel bunker in the bed and you can get up to $500 in it pretty quick
Spices. These can run $10 (or more) for a little bottle. Have a fully stocked spice cupboard? I can easily see $500. Though some tend to age out over a year+, but some keep quite well.
Perfumes tend to be alcohol extracts of things so inherently preserved. Can run from about $20 a small bottle up to $1000s… but you need to know your perfumes and they are not valuable to everyone. Still, a small box in a storage shed labeled “Stinky Stuff” could well be overlooked…
Unfortunately, the traditional “high value low space very durable” item, gem stones, has taken a bit of a hit from synthetic stones. Ruby (and in fact all the Aluminum Oxide stones) are now quite cheap. Even diamonds are to the point where you need a lab to tell you if they are synthetic or not. Still, might be some value in a sapphire and ruby box…
Then there’s things like drill bits and sand paper. Consumed in use… so ongoing demand. I doubt a cabinet full of drill bits and sand paper would look interesting to most money oriented folks.
Then there’s my “light bulb mountain” ;-)
In prison, cigarettes are often “money”. The problem there being that tobacco does go stale with age. Perhaps someone who smokes can weigh in on storage characteristics of unopened packs or pouches of pipe tobacco… In my freezer seeds I have some tobacco seeds. While a bit tricky to get started (size of a dust speck and sprout on the surface of the dirt…) I did successfully grow them out in California. I figure in an EOTWAWKI I can start a small tobacco patch. Both as insecticide source and for folks desperate for their “fix”.
I’m sure various other medicines will be in big demand. From bottles of aspirin to other OTC antihistamines and even caffeine pills, a “well stocked” medicine cabinet could be helpful. Again, aging out inspection needed.
Then there’s my seed freezer. Seeds can age out in a year (onions) or 10+ years (lentils in a jar). Frozen I’ve sprouted onions after 10 years… So a freezer full of jars, each full of seed packets, looks like a gardening Nut. BUT, at about $2 to $3 a packet these days, and with 20 or so packets in a pint jar (more in quarts), we’re starting to talk $100 a jar. You can fit a few hundred jars in a big freezer… My little miniature freezer likely has over 100 jars in it. Accumulated over a couple of decades. Plus, in an EOTWAWKI, you can take samples, one at a time, and “multiply your wealth” with a grow out. Frozen jars of seed packets (especially with “out of date” year marks on them…) are uninteresting to just about everyone I’ve shown them to…
IF you have more wealth than that to hide, it is time to get into “collectibles” where only insiders know the value. Old books, antique furniture, valuable but not iconic name painters (i.e. a Rembrandt or Van Gogh will be known, but the more minor guys?) A small library of “How To” books could easily be $100 to $1000. An Asimov or Heinlein collection?
I think that with just a little care, a home could be filled with a few $10,000 worth of “stuff” that didn’t look like much to folks looking for cash and “valuables”. Heck, I have a box of DVDs that cost about $10+ each. Value to someone who isn’t in to Disney for kids?… How many folks would look at a “parts cabinet” with a selection of transistors and integrated circuits in it and think “Gold Mine!”… For that matter, with R-134a scheduled for banning, I’m stocking up on cans of it. About $10 to $15 / can headed to “whatever” as the scarcity hits. Does a shelf of AC filler look like $250 to most folks?
So it goes.
E M Smith
There are many Victorian paintings of Arab slave markets where white women are the slaves. Many millions were snatched from the shores of Europe by slave traders , including here in England’s West country. In the local church are various documents whereby locals donated money to try to buy the slaves-often their family- back.
There is a good book called “White Gold’ on this very subject. Slavery is unfortunately something that has been going on in most cultures from the first civilisations of Mesopotamia and white British Christian cultures were responsible for (largely) ending it, although it still goes on to this day in some countries.
I think those railing against past slavery would be better employed trying to stop modern slavery-some 50 million worldwide are said to be in that position- with Africa the Middle East and some Asian countries the chief (but not the only) culprits.
those railing against past slavery would be better employed trying to stop modern slavery
And I would add, stop modern serfdom. We are all serfs now.
FWIW
“Absolute Zero plan means no new normal cars, most airports gone, and half the beef by 2030!”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/04/absolute-zero-plan-means-no-new-normal-cars-most-airports-gone-and-half-the-beef-by-2030/
FWIW
“IgG4 Antibodies Induced by mRNA Vaccines Generate Immune Tolerance to SARS-CoV-2’spike Protein by Suppressing the Immune System”
https://www.preprints.org/manuscript/202303.0441/v1
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/04/26/safe-and-effective-125/
Tucker Carlson today …
Elon Musk quote, via Tucker:
“he said the most likely outcome is the most ironic outcome”
Classic. That’s right up there with Murphy’s Law.
“Is A News Anchor Lying To You? Know The Signs!”
https://babylonbee.com/video/is-a-news-anchor-lying-to-you-know-the-signs
FWIW
“Supreme EUCOM Commander Gives Eye-Opening Testimony on Russia in House HASC Hearing”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/supreme-eucom-commander-gives-eye
This proposed EPA rule for emmissions will make heavy-duty vehicles more expenive to buy and operate. It will increase the cost of anything shipped by these vehicles and will make inflation worse. Post your comment to the EPA here:
https://www.regulations.gov/search/comment?filter=%20EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0985
This proposed EPA rule for emmissions will make light-duty and medium-duty vehicles more expensive. You may non longer have a choice but to buy an electric vehicle with no other viable alternative. Post your comment to the EPA here:
https://www.regulations.gov/search/comment?filter=EPA-HQ-OAR-2022-0829
Something more entertaining from Ukraine
FWIW – Big Pharma does another dietary miracle?
“Here We Go With PolyPharmacy”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248664
“I want to, I think, break some news for you. Tucker Carlson hasn’t actually been fired,” she announced in what appears to be a distinction without a difference in this particular case.
“He’s still an employee of the Fox News Channel. What happened was Suzanne Scott called him, she’s the CEO, on Monday morning and said he was not going to be allowed to do any more shows and that he had been kicked out of his company email, and now they’re going to have to negotiate an exit. Some reporting to me suggests that she said it’s going to be an amicable parting. Right? Isn’t it?” Kelly incredulously asked.
https://www.bizpacreview.com/2023/04/28/tuckers-not-fired-megyn-kelly-dishes-what-she-knows-from-an-insider-1354209/
Boycott Fox, I say!
@Keith, that was quite good.
I just can’t stop my mouse on this item I received today. :-)
And a bonus mashup.
However, more recently, as I shopped for a new laptop and eventually purchased one from System76, I realized that I was looking at something rare: a commercial distribution that was integrated into the hardware, with utilities designed specifically for System76 computers and keyboards. The only other example of an integrated commercial distro of which I am aware is Purism, a company in the same niche. Intrigued, I asked CEO Carl Richell (Figure 2), Marketing Director Louisa Bisio, and Media Relations Manager Adam Balla for more information. What follows are their collective answers.
https://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Features/A-Rare-Find
Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson is more popular than the network that fired him, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports survey.
Of likely U.S. voters surveyed, 59% surveyed said they had a favorable view of Carlson compared with 52% for Fox. More believe Carlson’s departure will make Fox worse, not better (32%-19%).
https://www.newsmax.com/newsfront/fox-news-carlson-poll/2023/04/28/id/1117921/
FWIW
“The crime of talking to Tucker Carlson and the Red-pilling of Naomi Wolf”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/04/the-crime-of-talking-to-tucker-carlson-and-the-red-pilling-of-naomi-wolf/
FWIW
“On Secession and Civil War
Will there be breakup by 2030?”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/on-secession-and-civil-war
The Civil War wasn’t really a civil war, it was a war between two countries, The North and The South. He says that. You can quibble about it, since the division was not totally at the border.
Ireland was a civil war. Whatever. Both were bad enough.
“The Rwandan-style one has the least chance of happening because it presupposes some sort of de-centralized, stochastic ‘free-for-all’ where people just happen to take up arms against the fellow man.” The way I remember Rwanda was one tribe massacred another. There was nothing random about it; People who were there saw it coming, but they could not convince the governments back home.
Antifa and other forces could have this result. One side creates chaos and the destruction of the systems of civilization. “some sort of weird, lawless, dystopian post-apocalyptic Mad-Max-style future”. Yeah, like that. Helped by Soros funding.
The mild form of this is a return to the Wild West. The local sheriff is overwhelmed, so protect yourself. Vigilantes?
Voting for succession? With those voting machines? Not likely.
Even if it was a fair vote, the country would fall apart by itself before that happened.
Or WW3. With nukes.
“A look at the enormous amount of damage that happened to the launch pad at the latest launch of Starship.
Via https://joannenova.com.au/2023/04/sunday-3/#comment-2668135
Cartoon text
“Artificial intelligence can’t take your job if your job never required any intelligence to begin with”
“I didn’t get it”
“You’re safe”
@Per Civil War:
More accurately called “The War Between The States”, but from a Southern POV “The War Of Northern Aggression”.
As for now, IMO, THE biggest issue is the divide between the Urban Major Cities and the more Rural Lands and Towns. Look at the Democrat Enclaves. Major urban rat warrens. Republicans? Low population rural areas, towns, and smaller cities. There isn’t a nice clean geographic divide there like North vs South…
OTOH, it is very easy for the Rural areas to survive without large urban core cities. Much harder for cities to survives if the more rural folks are not farming, driving trucks, maintaining water systems (lakes, canals), mining, pumping oil or even just doing oil well maintenance…
So I don’t see any kind of armed insurrection. More of a Going Galt. We already have young men choosing not to go to college but learn trades again instead. More folks moving back to semi-rural and many of the brighter and more capable abandoning the urban decay centers.
If anything, I’d expect rural enclaves to just set up defensive perimeters if things went more Mad Max…
Also IMO, the “big good news” is that the EU / UK is far ahead of the USA on this process. France having many more demonstrations about it all, and The Netherlands having a Farmers Party get big wins.
Much of the world has now realized many important things about how the world is run. That they can not trust ANY “government” or “agency”. That the GEBs want them dead (or at least imprisoned in a “15 minute city”). That it is up to them to save themselves. That even the Medical System is corrupt and has been turned against them. So I expect the collapse to come in the EU first.
Then, in particular, this Ukraine Debacle. It has shown Russia to be vastly more sane and a far far better chess player; while The West lies incessantly and poorly. Ukraine is a Dead Man Walking. Down to forced conscription of teenagers and conservation of ammunition; all while Russia has about 400,000 unused troops waiting for a go signal, more ammunition made than they use, firing about 10:1 artillery over Ukraine and fighting a “conservation of forces” attrition war with a much smaller enemy (so is guaranteed a “win” even at a 1:1 loss ratio… yet is getting more like a 10 AFU to 1 Russian kill ratio due to the war being “Ukrainian infantry vs Russian Artillery & Bombs”).
In the end, Ukraine will be ended. Russia KNOWS that there is nobody with which to negotiate and with whom a deal, once made, can be trusted. So the only acceptable outcome is unconditional surrender of Ukraine and a purge of their “leadership”.
Then, Russia has swapped to an Asia focused market plan. This means Europe is fundamentally screwed. German manufactures can’t make money without cheap Russian energy. Germany is the monetary glue for the EU. So the EU is going to get very cold, very poor, and very dark, fairly fast. That leads to collapse and breakup.
China is busy making best buddies out of everyone it can in Africa and South America. BRICS+ is moving off of Western Money and Western Systems. The Gulf Oil States are joining them. This puts the bulk of all world manufactures, oil & energy, and people (labor), along with financial flows and visibility outside of Western Systems (and western view…). This puts a stake in the heart of The City Of London financial centers and USA Banks. The resource suck by China will paralyze EU industry and wound USA industry. Add in the monetary shrinkage and good luck with even simple things like making those high tech motors for Electric Cars, and solar cells and batteries and the whole Electric Dream Machines…
So the scenario I see is less one of Civil War as one of Economic and Production collapse. With a very militant bulk of the population interested in taking scalps from the “leadership”. The “leadership” will try for “managed decline” and that will only make things worse. So something more like The Fall Of Rome (and hopefully not like the collapse of the Byzantine Empire under external assault from Islam…)
SIDEBAR:
I’m going “on the road again” to see if This Time For Sure I can get another load of my stuff moved… Details when I get back…
Just a general “hmmmm…”
Looks like most of the world is reasonably stable as far as gold mining goes, EXCEPT for South Africa. Fifty years ago they were by far the biggest gold miners in the world. Now they are mining about one ninth their former amount. Kazakhstan outdoes them, and Peru is close behind. Has SA mined all they have, or are their mines just not running?
https://cms.zerohedge.com/s3/files/inline-images/2023-04-30_10-51-23.jpg?itok=-ZUJG2dl
@E.M.: “If anything, I’d expect rural enclaves to just set up defensive perimeters if things went more Mad Max…”
Yep. I have had discussions with friends and neighbors. My little town has a total of five roads leading in to it. All of them curvy two lanes. Nearest four lane road is 30 miles away. And these boys sit in trees waiting to shoot things just for food and fun.
It was interesting tonight to see the Falcon heavy launch from my usual 100+ miles away. May have been the atmospheric conditions with a front passing earlier, but it was the most vivid of any over 30+ years I have been watching. Includes the shuttle.
They had to ditch all the rockets. Needed the fuel to attain altitude.
New Sat dispensed along with 2 others. One gravity related.
Just sayin, anomaly in the house, in my eyes.
As for now, IMO, THE biggest issue is the divide between the Urban Major Cities and the more Rural Lands and Towns.
Absolutely. We know MAGA, but why was America great in the first place?
Here is a whimsical idea. Because of free enterprise. Immigrants coming over were free to make opportunities for themselves, and many did. Being a new and wide open land, there were opportunities. For example, ma and pop farms were possible before agribusiness. You did what you could with what you had, and any initiative and cleverness and insight could be rewarded. You could make a better mousetrap, if that interested you. Or airplane. Or computer. Now everything seems to take a big company or government.
Mostly we have traded that risky life for a secure life working for someone else. Maybe all you had to do was to show up. And now not even that. A socialist government makes you dependent upon that government. Hand-outs and all.
Rural vs Urban is in some ways a case of self-sufficient vs dependent.
https://www.gbnews.com/presenters/neil-oliver/2023-04-29 has both Neil’s observations on the Sudan war and an interview with UK MP Andrew Bridgen, covering the problems he’s having though pointing out the vaccine problems. First 5 minutes is general news, then the rant, followed by the interview. At the end, there’s also an interview covering the Mary Rose wreck, which could also be interesting.
Hello all,
I have a new item. Yesterday while opening the garage door, something flexible and black dropped from the top of the far side of the door.
It turned out to be a snake.
I didn’t stop to play with it and see how long it was since I was in a hurry. But I did get a stiff rake and picked it up and removed it from my property.
I didn’t take a picture since I was in a hurry.
I’m guessing that, at its thickest girth, it was about 2 inches in diameter.
It was mostly black with maybe a tiny patch of yellow near the head.
I have never seen a snake that large on any other property that I’ve ever lived on.
When I told my offspring about it, they looked concerned but only said that snakes help keep the population of vermin down. I understand that, but I am not keen on having snakes fall from overhead in my home.
Oh, and the day before, I picked up a piece of newspaper that had blown up against the back fence. There was a tiny snake hiding under it. I didn’t do anything with it.
Does anyone have any tips for me?
FWIW
“SITREP 5/1/23: Massive Missile Strikes Rock Ukraine”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-5123-massive-missile-strikes
Dr. Campbell censored on YouTube and banned for a week.
(interview with Mr Andrew Bridgen, MP, UK)
(gives Rumble link)
https://www.andrewbridgen.com
Logarithmic decay
“Gradually and then suddenly
The title of this article is a quotation from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises”.
“How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.
“Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/gradually-and-then-suddenly.html
@Power Grab – I’m not sure what snake is black with a yellow head, but I’d suggest you use an umbrella when opening and closing your garage door. 😉
More on Dr. Campbell. Andrew Bridgen, MP was expelled from his party in the UK because of his views on Covid. Which were very similar to ours. That does not say much for the Conservative Party. And him not being allowed to express his views on YouTube does not say much for YT. May Day May Day, the US is going down in flames!
That led me to this excellent video.
We tend to think the worst is over. But the massive vaccinations may just be the setup for something even worse than we have already seen.
Dr Campbell’s Rumble back-up
https://rumble.com/DrJohnCampbell
And for E.M. – everything old is new again –
“McIntyre: Reverse engineering a ‘hockey stick’ shows ‘bogus methodology’ ”
““Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.” — Thomas Sowell ”
From “Econ 101, a Fable”
https://kunstler.com/clusterf*-nation/econ-101-a-fable/
@Power Grab,
knowing length helps. My comp would be a rat snake variant if it was pretty long.
Rule of thumb, if it has Cat eyes, it is poisonous.
There is one exception, the Coral snake. It does not have Cat eyes and is venomous but has to bite and grind on you since it does not have fangs like a traditional snake.
If a Rat snake is that close, it is hunting for something right there.
Coral snake saying for verification, here, since they are banded snakes.
Red next to Yellow, can kill a fellow. Red next to Black, venom lack.
They have similarities to Corn snakes which are non-venomous.
Somehow, this has relevance, or is at least a distraction. :-)
Either way, Word Up!
That Dr. Campbell interview with Andrew Bridgen on Rumble is absolutely worth watching. He’s one of the few Good Ones.
https://rumble.com/v2l3cfk-mr-andrew-bridgen-mp.html
I can see why YouTube would not like it, but I can’t figure out any specific things with which YouTube could justify censoring it. But then YouTube recently censored a broadcast from the British parliament, so clearly YT can do whatever it wants.
Woody Harrelson put it well, on Saturday Night Live:
“So the movie goes like this: The biggest drug cartels in the world get together and buy up all the media and all the politicians and force all the people in the world to stay locked in their homes. And people can only come out if they take the cartel’s drugs and keep taking them over and over. I threw the script away. I mean, who was going to believe that crazy idea? Being forced to do drugs? I do that voluntarily all day.”
Mark Steyn Show
https://www.steynonline.com/mark-steyn-show/13445/thar-she-blows
Jo Nova on this one
More history around Ukraine
“Prophetic 1992 Interview with Putin Mentor Anatoly Sobchak Predicts Existential Clash”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/prophetic-1992-interview-with-putin
I wish Rumble had closed captions.
A lesson in marketing –
“The Untold Story of the Bud Light Fiasco
The “Real Men of Genius” at Anheuser-Bush have screwed the pooch in more than just one way.”
FWIW – more around covid
“I’m Forced To Update My Estimate”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248694
Poking woke –
FWIW – for the covid record
“NIH Director Wanted Reversal of Trump’s Ban of Wuhan-Tied EcoHealth Funding”
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/catherinesalgado/2023/05/01/nih-director-wanted-reversal-of-trumps-ban-of-wuhan-tied-ecohealth-funding-n1691900
Has a list
FWIW
“Scientists Say Meat Is Crucial To The Human Diet – Warn Against Vegan ‘Zealotry’ ”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/scientists-say-meat-crucial-human-diet-warn-against-vegan-zealotry
So fire up and sizzle
Some apt wordsmithing!
“Yesterday, the UK Telegraph ran a “comment,” which I think is similar to an op-ed, spicily titled “Trans Ideology Will Let Mediocre Men Destroy Women’s Sport.” The sub-headline was even better: “In my book, [trans] athletes like Austin Killips are thieves – yet those whose prizes they take are being forced to maintain this mortifying charade.” ”
Via today’s Covid and Coffee Newsletter
And Vitamin I is now promoted beyond horsepaste in Oz
Cartoon of the morning
“The best way to screw up Black Lives Matter graffiti –
Black Olives Matter”
“With Sales Crushed, Anheuser Bush Tells Wholesalers to Give Bud Light Beer Away Free to Employees Before Expiration Date
May 3, 2023 | Sundance | 402 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/03/with-sales-crushed-anheuser-bush-tells-wholesalers-to-give-bud-light-beer-away-free-to-employees-before-expiration-date/
“”Academic medicine is to medicine as logic is to feminist logic” ”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/academic-medicine-is-to-medicine-as.html
@ HR and Ossqss:
Thanks for the replies.
My kid has been taking walks lately. They took a picture of a snake this week that they saw. It had only a tiny patch of yellow or white near the head. Any other coloration was subtle.
My kid believes it was a rat snake and that it was trying to stay warm by climbing the garage door, since the night was cold.
As a coincidence, the day after I removed the snake, a gentleman representing a pest control company stopped by. I told him about the snake. He asked if its snout was pointy or rounded. I showed him with my knuckle what the shape was, the best I could recall. He said he thought it was an escaped pet from a neighbor.
There is a small opening at one end of the garage door, where the bottom seal is missing for maybe 3 inches. So I’m thinking I want to find a way to close up that opening. I’m open to suggestions!
FWIW
“Ukraine’s Kremlin Gambit Marks Beginning of New, Darker Phase”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/ukraines-kremlin-gambit-marks-beginning
The Rise and Fall of the American Empire. It’s not just one thing.
One of those big things is “binary”, and not just binary people.
“There are two kinds of people… (insert joke)”
The better word would have been ‘dichotomous’.
Good example of non-binary: Truth. It is not just ‘true’ and ‘false’; there is a third way: ‘unknown’.
Bad example of binary: “If you are not with us, you are against us”
Have we forgotten the Goldilocks story?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_and_the_Three_Bears
The best way may not be the exact middle, but the extremist views are almost always wrong.
Whatever it is, it is not just black and white. It is not just ‘simple physics’.
Even the CIA knows this (?) because they started 50 “color revolutions”.
https://www.rt.com/news/575778-cia-color-revolutions-tech/
@TTN:
S.A. has not run out of Gold. They have run out the professional managers, engineers, geologists, and Money Men. Oh, and power supply is much less reliable now, so you get stories like this:
https://www.miningweekly.com/article/preece-shares-details-of-gold-fields-ongoing-renewables-plans-for-south-deep-2023-05-04/rep_id:3650
@YMMV:
We also have 200 years of slow corporate take over of the law and rule making process and change of the Rules to benefit them and suppress the individual.
BTW: THIS “vaccine” process was the first test run. Several members of TPTB have made references to “future pandemics” and “future vaccines”. Also I’ve seen statements of an mRNA version of the annual Flu Shot and various MANDATED children jabs to go to school. No power mad sociopath can resist that potential…
@Another Ian:
Several of my extended family are either vegetarians or vegans. As were some of my neighbors (of about 40 years…). I’ve prepared a fair number of vegetarian meals and dishes. I’ve researched how to do it right.
My Bottom Line is pretty simple: IF you want to be healthy without paying attention to detailed Biochemistry, eat meat, dairy, eggs, and fish. IF you want to be healthy while not eating those, and eating Vegan (zero animal products), study a fair amount of biochemistry and read up on how to get from plants all the things you only really get (easily) from animal products. Just eating vegetarian (especially ovo-lacto where you can have dairy & eggs, or pescatarian where you add fish) is a lot easier. Both my daughter and my neighbor had to leave vegan for Ovo-Lacto (daughter) or fish (neighbor) to be healthy (and at the urging of the doctor… due to health problems manifest).
@Powergrab:
Suggestions? Get a mongoose for a pet ;-)
IMHO snakes hang around where they can get food. Get rid of the food, they go somewhere else. For snakes, that is most likely going to be rodents, small birds. Make sure you have some kind of rodent bait out, and not small chicks run free…
@YMMV / Per Color CIA Revolutions:
New One happening now: Sudan.
Russia got permission from Sudan for a coastal base (Navy? Army / combined?) and just after “our” representative went there, they had a “Civil War” break out. Now the USA is ready to step in with “Aid” for “the right side”…
I’m now of the opinion that most of the Revolution Crap of the last 1/2 century is directly at the feet of the C.I.A.
Does the U.S. Constitution grant the government the power to overthrow other nations and install new hand picked governments? To run “black ops” to rake in $billions of “dark money” and spread it around? To have organizations who’s budget is not known and who’s actions are invisible?
Just saw that Camel-Ah has been “put in charge of A I” by the Admin… My question:
Are they trying to find some intelligence in A.I. for her, or to fix Biden?…
More around Gordon Lightfoot in comments at WUWT –
“Kip,
Great post to a great man. A weather site I follow wrote an interesting article several years ago about the storm that sunk the Edmund Fitzgerald.
https://arcfieldweather.com/blog/2017/11/8/1210-pm-weather-and-the-wreck-of-the-edmund-fitzgerald?rq=edmund%20fitzgerald
Tom Kennedy” ”
“Vice President Kamala Harris met with the heads of Google, Microsoft and two other companies developing artificial intelligence”
I hope they got fries with that.
Canada is looking at banning Fox News.
https://nationalpost.com/news/politics/crtc-ban-fox-news-canadian-cable
Then nothing from that Woke Dictatorship would surprise me.
@Powergrab
Promotional material on E.M.’s idea
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rikki-Tikki-Tavi
More publicity
“Top Officials Who Pushed Aggressive COVID-19 Policies Try To Rewrite History”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/top-officials-who-pushed-aggressive-covid-19-policies-try-rewrite-history
@Power Grab re door seal patch.
At Lowes or Home Depot, they carry vinyl/plastic tubing of various diameters and wall thicknesses. They are sold by the foot from large reels.
Find the tubing with the durometer (flexibility/softness), diameter, and wall thickness closest to your door seal and buy a foot, the minimum buy. Cut it to the patch length when you get home.
In the fastener aisle, buy some ROUND head sheet metal screws. Those will have the lowest profile head so the don’t hit the garage floor at all or at least very little. I’d guess that #10 x 5/8″ +/- should do the trick. They have small packets of screws for $1-something so you don’t have to buy a whole box.
Some rubbers and plastics won’t drill. The drill catches and tears up and ruins the tubing.
You probably need to punch a hole in one wall of the tubing so you can get your screwdriver onto the screw. If you have a single-hole punch like the train conductors used, punch a hole about an inch from each end on what will be the ‘bottom’. (They sell those punches at Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, $1.25.
If you have drillable tubing and a drill, just put a scrap piece of wood in middle of the tube so you only drill through one side of the tube.
Raise the garage door to a comfortable overhead working height. Use some adhesive tape to hold your patch tube in place and free up both hands, holes at the bottom, obviously. Drill a pilot hole through the access holes for the screw if you have a drill. Otherwise, use a nail to punch a starter hole.
Install the screws through your handy dandy access holes in the bottom… and that should do it.
I am making a LOT of assumptions about you garage door, the seal material, clearances, grooves, and crevasses, and your tools. You have mentioned that you are handy with tools, so I’m not concerned that you don’t know which end of a hammer to hold. But I don’t know what tools you have to use.
That should be close enough to get the job done, even if you have to take a few detours from what I described due to wrong assumptions on my part.
Good luck! Have fun!
Oh, they do have some sheet metal screws with kind of a washer molded in as part of the screw head. The more engagement the screwhead has with the rubber, the longer your patch will last.
@E.M.: Speaking of vegetarian… I started lacto-ovo in 1969 and then (as I was getting older and thought it might be beneficial) added moderate fish about 2016 or so. For some reason I have recently been thinking about a dish my grandmother used to make when I was perhaps 8 or 10 years old; it was a tomato dumpling dish, popular among poor Southrons who had no chicken for the pot. Anyway, I came up with a very simple, very easy recreation which tastes quite close to the original.
Pour two cans (11.5 oz each) of original V-8 juice into a pot. Add one package of Potato Gnocchi (500 gram, Pampa brand, found them at the Dollar Tree for $1.25), and about half a thin sliced white onion. Bring to a boil. Add a good dollop of olive oil, some salt and oregano (half a teaspoon?) to taste, and maybe a dash of vinegar if you like the added twang. Simmer for ten or 15 minutes while it thickens up.
Very tasty and dead simple.
@HR and Power Grab.
I have had metal and wood doors that I have had to screw the seal onto each type. That includes different swing types. Anyone ever messed with a cantilever (I think) door?
Many newer ones just have slide in seals.
The PITA is having to feed that long thing into x number of feet when its being replaced.
Note: Never loosen the lowest and cable tied spring loaded roller anchor.
You know, the one at the bottom next to the seal. Just sayin.
@Ossqss re the slide in seals:
Been there. Done that. Got the t-shirt. Better off letting the snakes in and wrasslin’ them than wrasslin’ that long seal. 😉 Maybe a 1-car single garage door wouldn’t have been so bad.
I was under the impression that Power Grab only wanted a patch.
I don’t recall being able to buy the seal by the foot. It was 1-car or 2-car length in a package. If you can get it by the foot, a chewed-up bit at the corner would be a piece of cake to replace.
@HR, patching is certainly a delta.
for $30 bucks, I elected to just do it all in most instances. The other stuff is probably not far behind the failure.
At least in most instances, the new seal is not subject to the Biodegradable requirements now day, yet,,,,>
How many of you experienced sticky degrading rubber/plastic in the last 10 years, on pretty much everything, that shouldn’t be?
@Ossqss “How many of you experienced sticky degrading rubber/plastic in the last 10 years, on pretty much everything, that shouldn’t be?”
Odd, isn’t it? The eco-activists tell us that plastic “lasts forever!” and is killing the planet, but when I want something that will last just a few decades no one seems to know how to make it!
FWIW – Read it all
“How Corrupt Is Our Current Situation? It’s Worse Than Most Can Fathom…
May 4, 2023 | Sundance | 72 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/04/how-corrupt-is-our-current-situation-its-worse-than-most-can-fathom/#more-246353
@TTN, my external hard drive enclosures and my Q-beam spotlights really pissed me off and light me up on the subject. Parden the pun…..
Even car interior parts got sticky.
@Another Ian:
That “How corrupt is it” link is a good one.
FWIW, that matches what I’ve speculated would be the case. Having worked with Law Enforcement at various times and been Friends With Cops. They are generally the best folks on the planet. But… When push comes to shoves they WILL “just follow orders” and do what corrupt politicians tell them to do.
Similarly, while they try to to follow all the rules; they are prone to following the Check Box Level and not the Spirit. I’ve seen 2 cops make a foot print in the dust and take a casting to use it to show a person broke into a particular place. When asked, they said “We can’t use it as evidence but we can leverage a confession with it” (paraphrase). IOW, happy to fabricate evidence that will not be used in court, but used to “motivate” a confession…
Now think about how hard D.A.s push for “pea bargains” in the context of that. Then about how the FBI used their 303 (is it?) to get a General to confess to something that was their lie…
The bottom line is that my trust in ALL “law enforcement” has gone from “complete” about 40 years ago, to “mostly” about 30 ago, to “suspicious” about 20 ago, to now. Now? IF it is the FBI & DOJ (and most D.A.s), I assume anything and everything they are saying can be a lie or a trap and give them zero trust. IF it is a local LEO, probably a good guy, but do not assume he’s being open or honest with you; his “job” is to bring in “bad guys” as defined by his bosses. I chose my county of residence based on the Sheriff being a validated Good Guy with the people at heart.
Social Media? I figured it would be entirely shot through with “law enforcement” as soon as I saw it. Thus my zero use of it. Having worked inside data centers, and with Law Enforcement in the context of data gathering: I knew full well that, for example, AT&T (and all telcos) are happy to provide 100% of information they have at the drop of a (self validated?) request. ANY expectation of privacy in ANY telecommunications is a false hope. So I say my stuff here, in public. If I can’t say it in public, I don’t say it.
At the national level, and most State levels, and even increasingly in large city level: Law Enforcement exists to serve the Political Machine; not we the people.
I suppose a shorter form of that is:
Snowden was right.
Assange was right.
Their present circumstances show how The Machine reacts when exposed.
We have a definitive WIN!
St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is resigning from office. This comes after a quo warranto case filed by the attorney general to have her ousted and legislation is moving forward in Jeff City to allow the governor to appoint a special prosecutor.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/breaking-soros-funded-st-louis-circuit-attorney-kim-gardner-resigns/
The TLA penetration into the WWW has been complete for many years. Years ago, I read how they can “shape” network traffic such that it runs through servers they control.
Re garage door seals – I just looked up the seals on the Home Depot site and one for a 2-car door was $20. Single door was $12.
–
–
@Ossqss – It’s been a few years, but I was remembering about $30 for a seal and just figured it would be higher now. Not so, it seems.
But, when I was messing with the garage door back when, I replaced some rollers, hinges, and a few other odd bits, so the cost was somewhere just under $100. I really can’t recall how much the seal cost.
So it looks to me like Power Grab would be better off buying the single door seal and cutting a patch length from it, that’s assuming she doesn’t want to mess with full replacement.
The patch I recommended would be cheaper by about 1/2, but given the time to fuss with all that, it would be worth paying a few dollars more for the slide in seal and just cutting a patch length. OR going ahead and replacing it all.
From snake experts:
A better version. The loop is further in the pipe, so the snake has a harder time backing out.
“You will own nothing and be happy”
You do not own your money in the bank. Someone else has control of it.
Or some thing(s).
More and more things are like that, so I figure they are right about “you will own nothing”. I have not figured out the “you will be happy part”.
You probably will not even own your self.
FWIW
“It’s War: 19 US States fight back against the Woke Banker Cartel”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/its-war-19-us-states-fight-back-against-the-woke-banker-cartel/#comment-2669481
From this morning’s Covid and Coffee Newsletter
“Some new narrative beast is afoot regarding the Jeffrey Epstein disaster. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal ran its second exposé piece in one week on the notorious deep-state pedophile and his compatriots, headlined “Jeffrey Epstein Documents, Part 2: Dinners With Lawrence Summers and Movie Screenings With Woody Allen.” ”
It includes more JPMorgan names
FWIW
“Watch The Other Hand – The Potential for One Million Illegal Alien Migrants Expected to Swarm the U.S. Southern Border, May 11th With Biden Ending Title 42
May 5, 2023 | Sundance | 6 Comments
On or around May 11th, will the U.S. launch the new spring offensive in Ukraine? Will Fulton County Georgia release unseal their indictment of Donald Trump? Will Jack Smith release his assault upon the former president? Will Main Justice finally release, through the USAO in Delaware, the indictment of Hunter Biden?”
More at
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/05/watch-the-other-hand-the-potential-for-one-million-illegal-alien-migrants-expected-to-swarm-the-u-s-southern-border-may-11th-with-biden-ending-title-42/
FWIW
“Follow Up – Answering Questions
May 5, 2023 | Sundance | 157 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/05/follow-up-answering-questions/
That to
“https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/04/how-corrupt-is-our-current-situation-its-worse-than-most-can-fathom/
FWIW
“Good news: Tusk is a conservative AI, a browser and a search engine”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/good-news-tusk-is-a-conservative-ai-a-browser-and-a-search-engine/
For post coronation reading
“1,200 Years of British Royalty in 5 Charts”
https://graboyes.substack.com/p/1200-years-of-british-royalty-in
Via SDA
“A Heavy Dose of Reality for Electric-Truck Mandates”
FWIW
“BANKRUPT BLACK CITY TO PAY REPARATIONS TO ITSELF”
https://richardsonpost.com/danielg/31495/detroit-to-pay-reparations/
FWIW
“Occam’s Razor – Fed Entrapment
May 7, 2023 | Sundance | 80 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/07/occams-razor-fed-entrapment/
Another fail
“Thousands of Americans Try To Take Advantage of Biden’s Solar Subsidies. They Can’t Connect to a Power Grid.
Outdated power systems create years-long lines to plug in green energy projects”
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/thousands-of-americans-try-to-take-advantage-of-bidens-solar-subsidies-they-cant-connect-to-a-power-grid/
“Texas AG Ken Paxton Tells the Truth About Election Fraud”
E.M. – I have a Sundance linked comment in moderation
“Thanks to Megyn Kelly and her fans, however, conservatives do not have to choose. They can make both failures one and the same with a new nickname.
The nickname? Foxweiser.
Kelly shared the devastating nickname with the world on Twitter after her fans previously mentioned it to her.”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/05/megyn-kelly-unveils-devastating-new-nickname-for-fox-news-amid-networks-downfall-due-to-ousting-tucker-carlson/
Sounds about right –
https://img.patriotpost.us/01GZPWVD2VCSS2K0VR1YTV83H6.jpeg?w=1024&dpr=1&q=75
https://www.rt.com/news/575946-cia-killed-jfk-rfk-candidate/
RFK Jr thinks it was the CIA.
“Kennedy cited the book “JFK and the Unspeakable” by James Douglas as the best compilation of evidence on the subject”
If the CIA isn’t a conspiracy, what is?
Your chance to “go again”
“Now there’s one more thing to avoid. Moderna’s next corporate chapter involves brewing up a “combo” shot, kind of like a happy meal, except less happy, that in one annual shot will cover a whole slew of viruses like covid, flu, RSV, plus any other ones they can think to jam in there at no extra charge. And don’t worry, all those crazy mixed-up vaccines will definitely be good for your immune system. Really terrific.
Also don’t worry about the week you spend in bed after the “unhappy meal” shot, that’s not a sign that the jab just terribly hurt your body, it just shows it’s working.”
Covid and Coffee Newsletter this morning
FWIW
“The danger of big cities: How can I put it any more strongly?”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-danger-of-big-cities-how-can-i-put.html
“The quickest way for an EV to cross Wyoming”
GOOD NEWS! Global Warming causing birds to have smaller bodies, longer wings. Chicken farmers expect Buffalo wings to increase! (Well, I made up the buffalo part…)
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/shrinking-bodies-growing-wings-climate-change-having-odd-effect-on-birds-study-finds/ar-AA1aUm9j?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=1f35aff1f1ad4ac9b80364b14bad7815&ei=15
@TTN – Shrinking bodies and longer wings? Sounds like pterodactyls may be making a comeback. 😜
–
–
[major, painful eyeroll] If the climate changes in an area, critters not already adapted to the change in the area leave for a suitable climate. Birds and fish do this all the time. Birds can fly. Fish can swim.
Hey H.R. “Birds can fly. Fish can swim.”
Ha! Yep. They both have those flappity, flippery things stickin’ out.
Go outside and try to tell whether the average temperature is even a couple degrees different this spring compared top last. The difference is too small to notice — and yet (so the CO2 cultists tell us) the same ecology which has remained stable over periods of thousands (and sometimes millions) of years is going to disintegrate over a one or two degree change. A 100 degree shift from summer to winter is commonplace and normal — but a one degree average change? Horrors!
A few FWIW’s here
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/reconstructing-tuesday-may-9-2023?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
FWIW – IPCC
“Y2Kyoto: A Tip From An IPCC Insider”
“A high level participant in the IPCC (purposely vague to protect their identity) has confirmed to me that the major error on tropical cyclones that I recently identified was (a) indeed a major snafu and (b) a result of claims being inserted into the IPCC outside its review process. Neither of these things should happen in an process that the IPCC promotes as the “gold standard” of scientific assessment.”
More at
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/05/09/y2kyoto-a-tip-from-an-ipcc-insider/
“Twitter Community Notes vs. Leftist Lies”
“If you’re not sure why the Left is rabid about controlling all legacy and social media, sit back and enjoy learning about what is happening these days on Twitter.
This is absolutely hilarious!”
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/05/09/twitter-community-notes-vs-leftist-lies/
On Twitter Tucker Carlson said the show he’s been doing for the last 6 years will now be done on Twitter, where he can speak freely.
“A History of Russian Innovation”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/a-history-of-russian-innovation
“The more things change the more they stay the same”
“Looks like the Duke of Wellington had the same problems with red tape as modern commanders…”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/looks-like-duke-of-wellington-had-same.html
FWIW, I’m home again. I’ll catch up tomorrow ;-)
IVM news: “Australia Drug Regulator (TGA) Cancels COVID-19 Era Ivermectin Ban”
TrialSite News video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jopwFGWz7SM
(but not so far as admitting they were wrong)
Norman Fenton video: “Hospital Trust data shows extent to which vaccinated patients were classified as unvaccinated”
Amazing manipulation of data. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZJi9TDf5FQ
Norman Fenton video: “The vaccine efficacy illusion revisited”
This one shows a simulation of how a vaccine could be shown to work (initially) even if it absolutely does not work, just by counting vaccinated within one or two weeks as unvaccinated. And then it declines and stops working.
—- Exactly like the “real” vaccines do. Amazing coincidence!
FWIW – talks juvenile crime from the viewpoint of a prison chaplain
“”Special Snowflakes” aren’t so special anymore. They’re common as dirt.”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/special-snowflakes-arent-so-special.html
@E.M. Glad you are home safe. Even for cautious drivers (and I am sure you are one) it’s a long way from Florida to California and back. Lot’s of crazies out there!
FWIW
“Burger lovers rejoice! Lab-grown meat is up to 25 times WORSE for the climate than beef, study claims
One Dutch scientist says lab-grown meat will knock plant burgers off the shelves
But a study says the industry could have a huge carbon footprint once it takes off”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-12067409/Lab-grown-meat-25-times-WORSE-climate-beef.html
FWIW
“Thomas Sowell on the Slavery Reparations Industry.”
https://www.michaelsmithnews.com/2023/05/thomas-sowell-on-the-slavery-reparations-industry.html
Re the Texas mall shooting –
“The principal evidence cited by the Sydney Morning Herald article that the Texas mall gunman was a white supremacist was a clothing patch:
When police killed Garcia, he was wearing a patch that read “RWDS”, an acronym that stands for “Right Wing Death Squad”.
There is a problem with that evidence. “RWDS” is a rap music producer specialising in techno and freestyle rap. The producers are a duo, Ron Wells and Dan Silk, are based in the UK, have been involved in promoting the genre for about 15 years and have channels on YouTube, Instagram, Discogs etx.
Most of the promotional cites show the RWDS logo along with the meme “Running Wid Da Streets”. Associated rap artists use variations of the meme to promote their own music under the RWDS banner.
I think Musk makes a good point. The Sydney Morning Herald runs a hit story on Musk using false evidence. What else about the story is false?”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/wednesday-5/#comment-2670930
Wait, what?
FWIW
“Drug cartel operations and US electoral fraud:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/drug-cartel-operations-and-us-electoral.html
OMG … RIP …
The Last Post
Posted by Pointman on April 23, 2023 · 24 Comments
Dear reader,
We are sad to tell you that Pointman, real name Tony, has passed away and this site is now managed by his family. He was very unwell for a long time, and his passing was sudden but not unexpected. We ask for your understanding at this difficult time. He’ll be sorely missed by his family, and leaves behind his wife, three sons and three grandchildren who he loved very much, always a family man.
We will be leaving the site up for a short period for any comments or sentiments readers wish to leave, before archiving and removing the blog in a month or two. We would love to hear any memories you have of him, we have a memory tree in his honour which stands on his desk.
Best regards
Tony’s family
“The fake “hybrid warfare” of the Censorship Industrial Complex”
“Matt Taibbi and a team of writers have created a 70 page report on the “information cartel” — the new conglomerate cabal of Big Money, Big Government and Big Tech that wants to censor and nudge you into servitude and obedience. Facebook promptly censored his report on censorship. Taibbi tweeted that out, and Facebook realized they were proving his point, and reversed it. It was “just a bug” said a Facebook executive, unconvincingly.”
More at
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/the-fake-hybrid-warfare-of-the-censorship-industrial-complex/
The new Canadian passport!
“It’s not about the emissions, it was never about emissions.”
“Electric Vehicle Illusions
No one can really say whether widespread adoption of EVs will cut carbon emissions.”
https://www.city-journal.org/article/electric-vehicles-and-carbon-emissions
Via http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/05/11/we-dont-need-no-flaming-sparky-cars-110/
A recurring theme –
“The power grid is looking increasingly vulnerable. Here are some ideas to cope with that.”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-power-grid-is-looking-increasingly.html
FWIW
“Is nuclear fusion going to arrive way sooner than expected?
Microsoft thinks it might be a 2020s thing.”
https://fasterplease.substack.com/p/is-nuclear-fusion-going-to-arrive?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=232077&post_id=120547483&isFreemail=false&utm_medium=email
UMMM!
FWIW
“Elon Musk Hires Ultra Woke Linda Yaccarino as CEO of Twitter – Former Head of NBCUniversal Advertising – WEF Board Member – Pioneer of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) Wokeism
May 11, 2023 | Sundance | 250 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/11/elon-musk-hires-ultra-woke-linda-yaccarino-as-ceo-of-twitter-former-head-of-nbcuniversal-advertising-wef-board-member-pioneer-of-dei-diversity-equity-inclusion-wokeism/
Sounds like “Osh it”
Hard science evidence that some ancient (more than 5,000 years ago) civilization had advanced computer controlled manufacturing.
This is a follow up video to two previous videos explaining how this ancient Egyptian vase was scanned and measured.
FWIW
“The wind and solar power myth has finally been exposed”
TTN
Remember that Khyber Pass craftsmen can produce workable copies of things like Lee Enfields with wagon wheel lathes
And
“You Cannot Criticize Twitter’s New CEO”
https://market-ticker.org/akcs-www?post=248778
Osh it indeed
One up for meat eating –
“Now that’s a reversal!
It seems Bear Grylls, well-known outdoorsman and adventurer, has had a change of heart – and diet.
Bear Grylls has said he is “embarrassed” by his past support of veganism, and regrets writing a green cookbook in which he criticised meat eaters.”
More at
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/now-thats-reversal.html
FWIW
“I thought I’d heard it all, but…
Courtesy of a heads-up from an anonymous reader, we learn that not all butt-plugs are what they seem to be. Twitter user Dread Pirate Bradius informs us:”
More at
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/i-thought-id-heard-it-all-but.html
And
“The financialization of “big crime” ”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/the-financialization-of-big-crime.html
@TTN re the Egyptian vase – I guess that guy never had a Spirograph® growing up.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirograph
As kids, we’d draw designs for hours using a compass and straightedge. Dad taught us a lot of neat designs that could be made with just those two items. And then mom bought us a Spirograph®…
Geometry was all the rage with the ancients. I’d imagine the principles of geometry have been lost and rediscovered many times over the millennia.
As best I know, lathes were in use at least 5,000 years ago and used to turn stone columns.
I think that vase could have easily been designed and made without the use of a computer. All that would be needed would be some calipers, dividers, and a scale. The master form can be laid out on a 2-D form which is then used to check the object as it rotates. Before CNC lathes, profile lathes and mills were commonly used to make precision parts in 3-D from 2-D drawings.
What I think is the bigger question is what the heck did they use for the cutting tool?!?
I believe steel has been around a LOT longer than people think. The problem with finding ancient steel artifacts is that they rust away and are more likely under the sea as a pile of rust, as early civilizations were inundated by sea level rise.
“Run for the hills!”
Hey, where’s the guy who makes our steel?
“He didn’t make it.”
FWIW
“Artificial meat could make 25 times more CO2 than real beef”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/fake-meat-could-make-25-times-more-co2-than-real-beef/
Ukraine – more reading
“SITREP 5/12/23: Panic! Ukraine Launches Counter-attack”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-51223-panic-ukraine-launches
IIRC been mentioned here a time or three –
“Robert F. Kennedy: It Looks Like Almost Every Mass Shooter Is On SSRI Drugs”
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2023/05/10/robert_f_kennedy_almost_every_mass_shooter_is_on_ssri_drugs.html
@Another Ian:
Yes, I brought up SSRI drugs and mass shooters / suicide before. There’s a very high number of mass shooters SHOWN to be on SSRIs, and the rest tend to be “unknown”‘ due to medical privacy issues (as opposed to “known not using them” that is near zero).
There are 2 basic problems layered on top of a side effect of suicidal ideation and tendency to violent ideation.
1) Over time, you become SSRI Drug tolerant and your dose needs to be raised to maintain the desired effect. The problem is that there is a max dose where side effects and toxicity effects (such as suicidal ideation) become much much stronger / more common. So you start a kid on an SSRI in, say, 5 th grade; then, by the time they are in high school, their dose has been increased to where it is starting to drive them nuts into suicidal ideation and a desire to do violence to the kids bothering them. (And, since these drugs are for the purpose of removing your tendency to “worry” you don’t worry much about the consequences of acting on that ideation…) A new “shooter” is born…
2) About 1 in 10,000 folks lacks the enzyme to properly metabolize the drug. It RAPIDLY builds up in their system to toxic levels and they follow the same path into suicidal ideation, violent outburst, etc. Just in days instead of years. One guy was prescribed these, and a few days later murdered his 2 children. Taken off the drug, he was emotionally destroyed at what he had done. Now the problem is that NOBODY bothers to test if you are one of those 1:10000 before they give you the drug; AND, given to 100,000,000 people you will have 10,000 of them with this reaction… and the psych industry hands these out like chocolates… to millions…
We don’t have a “gun problem” we have a “pharmaceutical problem”…
BTW: I’ve frequently said that “I was a JFK Democrat and a Reagan Republican. I didn’t change my beliefs, the parties changed.”
I find that I agree with a lot of RFK, Jr.’s positions. So now I’m an RFK, Jr. Democrat and a Trump Republican… Strange, that.
I just want LESS government, LESS crime (especially from Government…), LESS taxes and LESS “globalism”. Just a nice little USA centric government that does ONLY what is specified in the Constitution and leaves the rest to The States. It would seem that “Leave Me Alone” is unacceptable to TPTB, though…
Folks forget that JFK cut tax rates to stimulate economic growth AND get a good revenue stream to the Federal Government. He understood the Laffer Curve and that you will only get about 18% of tax REVENUE regardless of how high you put the tax RATES; and that past that point, cutting rates increases revenue… IIRC top rate then was in the 90% range somewhere, so folks just didn’t bother doing things that would be taxed. Cut the rate to something closer to 40%, and people did those things and paid the tax, therefore more revenue.
I liked JFK, and now I find myself liking Robert Kennedy Jr. too.
Unfortunately for him, given how corrupt the DNC has become (RICO anyone?), he has zero chance of being the Democrat Candidate, and if he were, and got elected, zero chance of surviving long enough to take office….
So on balance, I’ll take Trump – a proven warrior against Deep State Corruption and Crime in DC.
@BethTheSerf & Jim2 (per Pointman):
I”ve started a “first cut” of a wget download / archive of thepointman.wordpress site. It will likely need some tuning up of the wget options and parameters. When it is done and doing what I like, I’ll give an update. My intent is to have an archive of his site, and “someday” put it up on I2P (encrypted and privacy enhanced peer to peer internet services). Just so “he” can not be disappeared at some future time.
Unfortunately, most of my “shop” is still in boxes and piles. My office is a mess, and I’m living on a Chromebook laptop for now. I did dig out one of my SBCs (Odroid XU4) and have a generic Ubuntu running on it, and it is hooked up to a TV set / monitor. So that’s doing the download at the moment. It has about 45 GB free space on a uSD card, and if that fills up, well, hopefully by then I’ll have found the box of hard disks…
IF anyone else is interested, I can put up a posting with the wget command I’m presently running and folks can critique it / add suggested improvements.
FWIW, for Windows Users:
There’s an interesting way that Windows users can also “scrape a site”. It seems that HTTRAK software (free GPL) has a windows version:
https://www.httrack.com
Downloads:
https://www.httrack.com/page/2/en/index.html
So folks who don’t want to go down the *Nix rabbit hole can also scrape sites relatively directly.
I may give it a try on Ubuntu too, just to start edging back into doing Tech Stuff ;-)
Heard on Patriot Twins:
The left says they can’t define what a woman is due to “if a woman can’t get pregnant, is she still a woman?”… their answer “If a ‘woman’ has a dick is ‘she’ still a woman?” ;-)
Also they liked the term “Lady Boy” for women with the wrong equipment… also “Shemale”…
No link due to the rampant language used around that… but some of it is quite good ;-) They also do make a good point about False Advertizing… dressed up to look like a real woman, but not… they a Shemale…
Check out the section on Russell Brand and Robert Kennedy
Via
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/the-message-saturday-may-13-2023?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Maybe that should be “Operation Warped Speed”?
A question for a winter’s morning –
We get those tables of CO2 concentrations in various situations.
What are the levels you survive when sleeping with your head under the blankets?
@Another Ian:
https://www.hse.gov.uk/carboncapture/carbondioxide.htm
So somewhere over 10 x to 30 x ambient….
https://sciencing.com/functions-alveoli-lungs-7234440.html
Says about 4% in exhaled breath… so about 0.04% in the atmosphere, and that makes it about 100 x more in your exhaled breath…
My guess is that most blankets will let a 100 x concentration diffuse through and get it down to below a 20 x to 30 x concentration… Though clearly the composition and thickness of blankets used will matter.
In Florida, we’re talking a sheet, and I can attest to “no problem”.
In California Mountain Camping in the cold, in a polyester fill sleeping bag: It was fine on the breathing, but you get about a quart of moisture condensing in your bag and it gets clammy and doesn’t keep you warm well enough, so the experiment tends to self limit after about 1/2 the night 8-(
I’d not try it with several layers of Space Blanket solid Mylar film…
Dr John Campbell and the new WHO “treaty”
If there is no oxygen in the air you breathe, the body does not notice. What it does notice is CO2.
https://www.consciousbreathing.com/articles/carbon-dioxide-controls-breathing/
From that webpage:
this gas has many important functions in your body.
Antibacterial.
Increased oxygenation.
Widens smooth muscles.
FWIW
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/05/13/jeffrey-epstein-didnt-kill-himself-7/#comment-1777058
If you heard of the Russians recycling older model tanks?
Looks like they are – but “crazy, like a fox”
FWIW
“Another weapons-related item: we got confirmation that Russia is in fact transferring the recently shipped, older T-54/55 and T-62s to artillery divisions, which means, as suspected, they’ll be used only as indirect fire artillery pieces from the rear:”
Plenty of ammunition too
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/sitrep-51223-panic-ukraine-launches
@Another Ian:
I’ve often pointed out that “old tanks” are still quite lethal and very useful in a lot of roles. Just because it would lose in a “head to head tank on tank” battle with The Best Of The West” does not mean it is worthless.
Consider:
Guarding POWs.
Defending a town / intersection / depot / whatever from infantry away from the front lines (i.e. small infiltrating units).
Detecting and dispatching reconnaissance units.
Integrating with Infantry Units as a “plus up” over nothing at all especially in infantry on infantry engagements.
Post occupation Civil Defense / Police work (holding captured towns )
And “ersatz artillery” as you cited. Beats a mortar cold…
FWIW, I saw a video of a Russian Tank Unit attacking a Ukrainian hard point. They all had those Top Hat Roofs over them. I guess that just like shaped charge RPGs had metal works cages appear around the edges of the turret; the “top attack” Man Pads can be confused / defeated by an overhead platform. Make it detonate too soon.
Per “Old Weapons”:
IF 2 “bad dudes” were busy breaking in my front door, I’d be quite happy to greet them with a Walker Colt .45 … Or a lever action Spencer Rifle. 6 or 7 big fat rounds are more than enough against 2 bad dudes. (And 19 rounds of “spray and pray” are not enough if you don’t know what you are doing …)
A .45 hole in you still makes you dead today, just like it did in the 1800’s.
FWIW, I’d rather have a 12 Gauge Pump than an AR-15 in any Castle Defense situation… (Though I’d rather have the AR-15 if out in the woods and needed more ‘reach’ along with the ability to bag a deer 100 yards+ away…)
My “go to” rifle is a lever action with iron sights AND a scope in .357 Magnum… Unlimited “walking reloads” and I can hit a target circle of about 9 inches at 100 yards with the iron sites only… Designed in the 1800s for the basic rifle, then updated to the .357 cartridge later. Oh, and “it just works”… pretty much every time. Not a lot of buttons or knobs to remember either.
Old weapons work Just Fine for a whole lot of things.
FWIW
” “Terribly White”?! What an appalling thing to say!’ | Laurence Fox on rampant identity politics”
“Reflections on Motherhood
May 14, 2023 | Menagerie | 7 Comments”
“Motherhood. Contrary to ridiculous claims otherwise, it starts with being a woman. Which starts with XX chromosomes and can never be changed.”
More at
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/14/reflections-on-motherhood/
“Christine Anderson MEP FULL: 15-Min Cities, Climate Lockdowns & Digital Tyranny”
““The Digital Green Certificate, the COVID pass, that was a test balloon to get people to [have] to produce some kind of a QR code, just getting people used to that. Now, what they’re slamming us with is these 15-minute cities. Make no mistake. It’s not about your convenience,” argues Christine Anderson. She’s a member of the European Parliament, representing the Alternative for Germany Party.
Anderson was one of the European Parliament’s most vocal critics of COVID-19 policies in Europe, Canada, and beyond.”
More at
@YMMV,
Correct. That’s why hypoxia (low ambient oxygen amounts) is so troublesome. You will not notice it without assistance. Carbon dioxide is helpful because of the blood pH shifts associated with breathing. It is only when the ambient carbon dioxide levels are high enough to prevent that shift that carbon dioxide, by itself, becomes an issue. Add high (4% or more by mass depending on concentrations of other constituents) carbon dioxide levels to low oxygen levels and you get a very hazardous atmosphere.
There is one clue to hypoxia, although I don’t know if it is always present…
An excessive happiness feeling! (Don’t ask me to explain that).
It was seen in some people with Covid.
The other CO2 trick is breathing into a paper bag to control an anxiety attack.
That’s what our hyper-anxious society needs, that and less anxiety-inducing MSM.
Memories that I will never forget of the Lemmings in our recent past.
“World Atmospheric CO2, Its 14C Specific Activity, Non-fossil Component, Anthropogenic Fossil Component, and Emissions (1750–2018)
Devastating for the climate narrative:
Carbon-14 dating shows only 12% of atmospheric CO2 added since 1750 is manmade.
‘Much too low to be the cause of global warming.’
https://journals.lww.com/health-physics/Fulltext/2022/02000/World_Atmospheric_CO2,_Its_14C_Specific_Activity,.2.aspx
88% naturally occurring climate change eh…”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/sunday-5/#comment-2671820
E.M.
More thinking on under-blanket CO2.
With the latest “masks cause” listing raised CO2 as a possible I guess one should forget sleeping under-blanket and go and buy an old fashioned night cap for extra safety?
FWIW
“Nuclear Fallout? Russian Strikes Create Richter Scale Explosion in Khmelnitsky + Updates”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/nuclear-fallout-russian-strikes-create
DU ammunition or a stock for another purpose?
Willis E has a look –
““Solar panels are retiring faster than previous research anticipated.” ”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/05/15/solar-panels-are-retiring-faster-than-previous-research-anticipated/#comments
OAS
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/colossal-failure-around-world
Another BRIICS in the wall?
In March, the FDIC seized nearly $14 billion in foreign deposits at Silicon Valley Bank, most of of the deposits were from Asia. Foreign depositors have been waiting access to their money. The FDIC now affirms, sorry, too bad.
The clear message by the FDIC is don’t bank in the US. If you do, it better be at a one of the giant too big to fail banks. If you are a foreign depositor at any small or midsized bank, the FDIC is affirming that you better get your money out now.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/dollar-weaponization-expands-fdic-message-foreign-depositors-dont-trust-us
@Keith:
For most of my lifetime, THE thing that was touted and recognized about western financial institutions was that they were SAFE and RELIABLE and that you could TRUST them.
The fundamental requirement of ANY financial business or institution, be it a bank, insurance company, stock broker, escrow company, you name it; was TRUST.
What the recent (as in last, oh, decade or so) actions of the The West writ large have said, loudly and clearly is this: IF you have anything of value: money, stocks, bonds, land, yachts, and it is in The West; as soon as we do not like you for whatever trumped up reason, we will steal it.
That is NOT a recipe for success in any financial business.
Frankly, I’m busy moving a fair amount of my “money” (i.e. paper promises of the government and the private Federal Reserve Bank) into things that do not depend on their promises, “Stuff” I own. Hard assets. Land & Real Estate. And I’m investigating overseas banking. (The problem there being that there’s a whole lot of the world that is even lest trustworthy than our broken financial systems and “money” … )
Oh Well. Stupid is as Stupid does…
As this realization spreads, the “take” of the theft of assets will shrink, the thieves will get more hungry, and the pace will pick up. In the end is collapse. My hope is that it takes over a decade or two to reach that point. My expectation is that it is more like 5 years… (exponentials are hard to predict from the first rise of the toe…)
“Safe and Effective®”
“Rebekah Barnett: Went from ‘95% effective’ to ‘only works if you get it at lunch time”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/05/15/safe-and-effective-127/
Published in Nature no less
One thing for sure, complete collapse dystopia will come before any real effects of Climate Change.
Although … I am impressed how long Argentina can keep falling without yet hitting any bottom.
“I liked JFK, and now I find myself liking Robert Kennedy Jr. too.”
After watching that RFK Jr video, I give JFK more credit than I did before.
The assassination was very bad news for the country.
RFK Jr is quite a speaker. Russel Brand could hardly get a word in edgewise.
Excellent video.
The longer version of it is on Rumble:
https://rumble.com/v2nermq-russell-and-rfk-jr-fauci-cia-secrets-and-running-for-president-128-stay-fre.html
FWIW
“Worthwhile reading”
“Under the circumstances, it’s up to us as individuals, as well as groups of like-minded people, to “do what we can, with what we have, where we are”, to paraphrase President Theodore Roosevelt. To emphasize that reality, here are some very pertinent thoughts from other bloggers over the past week or so. I very strongly recommend that you read each article carefully, and perhaps re-read it frequently.”
More at
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/worthwhile-reading.html
FWIW wrt EPA and carbon capture from power stations –
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/tuesday-6/#comment-2672199
No way to get a hat big enough to put that rabbit in
Our diet is getting better all the time, though bacon wasn’t mentioned by name –
“United Nations’ Group Confirms Meat, Eggs, and Dairy are “Vital Sources of ‘Much-Needed Nutrients’”
There are many possible reasons for the United Nations’ new respect for real sources of protein.”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/05/united-nations-group-confirms-meat-eggs-and-dairy-are-vital-sources-of-much-needed-nutrients/
While Fox News weathers multiple scandals of its own making, Elizabeth Ailes, widow of the network’s infamous creator and fallen CEO Roger Ailes, tells Confider: “Karma is a bitch.”
Roger would’ve been 77 today, and to mark the occasion, Elizabeth tweeted a pic in tribute to him, alongside a scathing caption: “It took you 20 years to build Fox News into the powerhouse that it was and only 6 years for the Murdochs to wreak havoc. Rupert thought he could do your job. What a joke. He has the checkbook but could never come close to your genius.”
https://www.thedailybeast.com/karma-is-a-bitch-roger-ailes-widow-goes-off-on-fox-news-woes
Against the tide –
“Newly launched Finnish nuclear plant sees electricity prices plunge by 75 percent”
https://rmx.news/article/newly-launched-finnish-nuclear-plant-sees-electricity-prices-plunge-by-75-percent/
Peer review –
“The largest scientific experiment in history was Peer Review and it failed”
https://joannenova.com.au/2023/05/the-largest-scientific-experiment-in-history-was-peer-review-and-it-failed/
The current wind power record? (/s)
“Alberta’s wind power drops to 2 megawatts out of 3618 on Friday, the lowest level we’ve seen yet”
https://pipelineonline.ca/albertas-wind-power-drops-to-2-megawatts-out-of-3618-on-friday-the-lowest-level-weve-seen-yet/#/?playlistId=0&videoId=0
“Under Wray’s watch, the FBI has intimidated, harassed, and entrapped American citizens that have been deemed enemies of the Biden regime. As such, Director Wray has turned the FBI into Joe Biden and Merrick Garland’s personal police force. The Soviet-style tactics used by the FBI against normal Americans are unprecedented in this country. FBI whistleblower Garret O’Boyle told congressional investigators that the FBI created a terrorist threat tag following the Dobbs Supreme Court decision in 2022. O’Boyle confirmed that the purpose of the tag was to target pro-life individuals. On September 23, 2022, armed FBI agents in tactical gear raided the family home of Mark Houck, a pro-life Catholic and father of 7 young children, because he obstructed access to an abortion clinic,” Greene’s office said in a statement.
https://dailycaller.com/2023/05/16/exclusive-marjorie-taylor-greene-introduces-articles-of-impeachment-against-fbi-director-christopher-wray/
@ 17 May 2023 at 1:30 am – EXCLUSIVE: MTG Introduces Articles Of Impeachment Against FBI Director Christopher Wray
A ray of hope.
The Swiss government wants to enshrine the availability of cash in the constitution and will let citizens decide in a national vote.
After campaigners collected enough signatures to trigger a plebiscite that would preemptively counter the spread of digital money, the government in Bern on Wednesday announced in a statement that it will draw up its own plan.
“The Federal Council recognizes the importance of cash for the economy and society,” it said. While the supply of physical money and the franc as the Swiss currency are already anchored in law, the government “is prepared to raise these concerns from the legal to the constitutional level in order to underline their importance.”
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-05-17/swiss-government-wants-to-enshrine-cash-in-the-constitution
@Jim2:
That’s good to hear. FWIW, the Austrian School of Econ, IIRC, holds that “Money” is just the most easily traded commodity. The thing with the most clear value when presented in a “barter” and with easy divisibility and durability.
To the extent that is true, and to the extent CBDC ends up loaded with a lot of “controls”: Folks will just pick other things to use as currency. Should that end up Swiss Francs, that would be fine. I could also easily see booze, as was often done in the early days of the USA (think Whiskey Rebellion et. al. and moon shine runners).
You can’t ban physical money. All you can do is change the form of it. Why? Because it is a creation of the two parties to the trade. Whatever they agree on becomes the “money”. A couple of decades ago I bought a car with a Gold Coin and $200 in cash. (California wanted to charge 10% sales tax on the coin and it was more ‘efficient’ to just trade it directly… ). It is the classic Beer & Pizza thing. One guy has beer, the other Pizza, and they can each swap some with the other guys once they agree on how much beer for a slice of pizza…
It is just the idiocy of The GEBs and The Left to think that the only “money” is the promises of a Central Bank written on paper… The reality is that Real Money is whatever we agree it is and choose to use.
Frankly, nothing at all would prevent The Several States from each issuing their own money made of Gold & Silver. That would put the crush on The Fed (a PRIVATE bank, BTW, owned by other banks…) who promote the lie that The Constitution saying States can only make money of Gold & Silver doesn’t mean the Federal Government, but just the individual States… Well, OK then: Let the States start minting Gold & Silver coins of standard weights. Then The Fed can try to claim the opposite of what they have been claiming and we can say “Pick One”: States CAN make coins of Gold and Silver OR The Federal Government MUST make coins of Gold & Silver.
BTW, saw a news headline that DeSantos has signed something banning Central Bank Digital Currency in Florida…. So I’m looking forward to my Florida Florins !
We should push for that cash guarantee here, I’m thinking.
Some “vaccine developments” in here –
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/bail-and-sail-wednesday-may-17-2023?r=1vxw0k&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
And some “patriotic stuff”
More on “patriotic stuff” – well, “stuffed”
“Anatomy of MIM-104 Patriot Destruction + Primer on Kinzhal Hypersonic Missile”
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-mim-104-patriot-destruction
Definitely FWIW
A couple of videos in here
https://sonar21.com/ukraines-suicidal-offensive-is-bleeding-out-while-the-cia-loses-its-mind/
Another one testing the water –
“Ford Goes Full Bud Light”
http://www.smalldeadanimals.com/2023/05/18/ford-goes-full-bud-light/
Meanwhile things are not improving at Bud –
“Bud Light Sales Worsening, -23.3% in Week Five of Widespread Boycott
May 18, 2023 | Sundance | 53 Comments”
https://theconservativetreehouse.com/blog/2023/05/18/bud-light-sales-worsening-23-3-in-week-five-of-widespread-boycott/
Global warming a fraud?!! No news to anyone here, but might be a good article for less informed friends.
https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/the-stunning-statistical-fraud-behind-the-global-warming-scare/
“Ford’s Very Gay Raptor Redefines ‘Tough’ for a New Generation”
I watched that video (ad) on YT and read a few of the comments there.
You might call it a coming-out video, since the trucks are 100% mud until the final moments.
I can see that maybe a drag queen would want a car dressed up as a gay pride flag.
But drag queens don’t normally dress macho, I suspect the F-150 market there is limited.
But that raises the question, what is the preferred car of the gay crowd?
I just had to do the search. The results were not what I expected. Too normal.
https://jezebel.com/these-are-the-top-10-gay-and-lesbian-cars-1569142181
Lesbians: Subaru. Gay men: VW.
The F-150 made the lesbian list at #4. Both lists had Jeep Wrangler.
If you are looking for a car maker that is not hot for gays, good luck.
If anyone is feeling mathematically inclined –
This is based on information from that Simplicius 76 link in my “patriotic stuff” post above.
“”Dagger” is visible to radar for only about 5 seconds.
I derive this result below using the technical information provided by
Simplicius, and then solving the resulting first-order differential
equation. This is substantially shorter than Simplicius’s own
qualitative estimate “20-30 seconds at most”.
https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/anatomy-of-mim-104-patriot-destruction?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email
Simplicius shows that hypersonic vehicles cannot survive for long near
sea level without special cladding, which may or may not have been
invented, but anyway is not used on Dagger. Rather, they slow from
hypersonic to supersonic speeds from atmospheric friction.
Dagger slows from v_init (~ Mach 10) to v_final (~ Mach 2-4) as it
descends from its peak (i.e., initial height, h_init ~ 50 km) to h=0.
For those not interested in differential equations, the simple
physical argument is that about 2/3 of the atmosphere is within one
scale height (H = 8 km). Hence, if the atmosphere is going to provide
sufficient drag to bring Dagger below hypersonic (h_hyper = Mach 5),
but not so much as to make it subsonic by the time it reaches the
ground, it must do so within about 1 scale height.
When the velocity falls below hypersonic (Mach 5), Dagger loses its
“plasma cocoon”, and so becomes visible to radar. Because this occurs
within about 8 km, and the average speed during this final descent is
conservatively at least Mach 3.5, the time of radar visibility is C
where I have assumed that exp(-h_init/H) is extremely small.
One easily then finds
K = ln(v_init/v_final)/H
C = ln(v_init)
and hence
ln(v/v_init) = (ln(v_final/v_init)*exp(-h/H)
Thus, solving for h_hyper (i.e., when v=v_hyper = Mach 5)
h_hyper = H*ln[ln(v_init/v_final)/ln(v_init/v_hyper)]
This formula gives characteristic times of a few seconds, during
which gravity would change the speed by (few second)*10 m/s^2, i.e.,
a few 10s of m/s, which is small compared to the speed of sound
and hence can be ignored at first order.
Posted by: Cindy Martin | May 18 2023 18:33 utc | 39″
https://www.moonofalabama.org/2023/05/ukraine-open-thread-2023-119/comments/page/1/#comments
There is some feedback on this further down that thread but you might consider wearing Wellingtons as there is a lot of wading
@Another Ian:
I think that “short visible time” along with the fact that the Kinzhal spits out a bunch of “decoys”, mini missiles with a radar signature bigger than their size, likely explains 2 things:
1) Why did the folks in Kiev fire off about $125 Million (32?) Patriot missiles as fast as they could?
2) Why is it that Ukraine claims to shoot down more Hypersonic Missiles that the Russians launch?
So you are running a Patriot (or other…) AD Battery. You get a sudden chirp from the radar that says INCOMMING!!! and launch 2 (what the Patriot does to assure one hits). BUT, as that one is getting fired up, suddenly (in that 5 seconds) you see another half dozen show up! Just like the real one, they just suddenly appear. So you keep firing. (Deploying the decoys before the plasma shield fades would mean the decoys get fired at first. It looks like they are spit out ports in the tail of the Kinzhal, so that’s doable).
Now you have fired about 14 missiles (in 2’s remember) and “kill” 6 of the incoming (as they are decoys). Since it looked like 2 Kinzhals hit the Patriot battery, that would be 28 to 32 Patriot missiles launched… and an apparent 12 “Kinzhals” “killed” in the decoys.
A very clever system, this Dagger…
Sounds an interesting book –
“Saturday Snippet: “Never get into any vehicle with a Kennedy” ”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/saturday-snippet-never-get-into-any.html
Just a note for those wondering about pg. He added to his blog on May 16th, so is still live and kicking.
Simon, that is good to hear.
“And the award for this year’s largest simultaneous adrenaline and urine dump goes to…”
https://original.newsbreak.com/@worldnewsnow-1642220/3025788161615-now-that-is-a-fear-scream-she-thought-the-zip-line-got-cut-off-highland-fling-bungee-scotland?
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