W.O.O.D. – 21 January 2020

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/2020/01/13/w-o-o-d-12-january-2020/
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/

For just general FYI notices, use to “tips” pages. All the old ones remain for historical reference:
“Tips Pages”

What’s Going On?

Brexit – T Minus 10 and Counting

In Theory, in 10 days, Brexit is a “Done Deal” but The Deal is not a done deal.

Then follows a year during which The Deal is dealt. The EU are pushing the notion that there’s another year or two to be tacked on if “needed” so they want to need it. The UK is saying “Not Going To Happen.”

I personally find it a bit daft to be “out” yet “still in” for Yet ANOTHER Year. But at least it is a real step toward being out.

Initial EU demands for The Deal are to basically have the UK still IN for all practical purposes (especially those loverly fishing rights even down around the Falklands as the French love their fish…)

So we’ll be counting down the days in this W.O.O.D. and planning for a bit of a party on January 31 / Feb. 1 (does anyone know the exact TIME it happens? Is it midnight? If so, that would be about 7 PM Eastern or 4 PM Pacific, so nice time to start a bit of celebration.)

Dr. Steve Turley seems to think Merkel is starting to catch clue but isn’t there yet:

Jeff Taylor has a load of Brexit videos on several of the finer points:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=Jeff+Taylor+BREXIT

In this one he christens the exit party as the Big Brexit Celebration, or BBC, just to be cheeky… Supposedly the countdown clock will be projected on the front of Number 10 Downing Street and who knows what all else will happen.

So mark your calendars for The Big Global BBC Party, January 31st. Perhaps starting in Australia? Or ought it finish there? (Too bad the International Date Line wasn’t placed on the same meridian as the UTC time standard…)

Australian Fires

Got Rain?

The OTHER BBC seems to think rain makes fires:

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51003504

Australia fires: Rain brings relief but huge blazes expected

Rain has fallen in fire-ravaged parts of Australia and temperatures have dropped – but officials have warned that blazes will “take off” again.

Sooty rain fell down the east coast, from Sydney to Melbourne, with “torrential” rain reported in some parts of New South Wales (NSW).

Can’t let a good soaking get in the way of The Narrative, now can we?

The BOM has rain totals showing around the edges:

Australia Rainfall 24 Hours 21 Jan 2020

So here’s hoping it keeps up like that.

Harry & Meghan

Managed to stomp all over Ms. Pelosi’s Impeachment Party. Look out Harry & Meghan, you’ve made the Mean Girl mad at you! Next thing you know, you might be forced out of your offices… Oh, Wait! ;-)

So at this time it looks like they keep the HRH in the locker for an easy return if needed, but don’t get to use it in public. Then off for a bit of retreat to Canada (and promises to pay back their Royal Cottage bill and whatnot, but with what? One presumes they have some private money?)

Probably my last comment on H&M unless something big pops.

Non-Impeachment

This is now off to the Senate, and I’ve got a thread open to discuss it for the duration:

https://chiefio.wordpress.com/2020/01/21/senate-impeachment-trial-begins-yawn/

Going For Woke

I’ve watched a bunch of reviews of Picard. They universally pan it for Going For Woke, via the same idiots who screwed up Discovery.

Spouse intends to watch a couple and let me know if it is worth it. I’m likely to watch the first one, but could just as easily sit it out.

Sir Patrick Stewart has said he didn’t want to just reprise his prior role but wanted to make it more of a relevant commentary on how horrible things are today what with Brexit and Trump and all… And another one bites the dust. Oh Well.

The basic theme seems to be that the Federation Of Planets has gone all nasty and has issues with wanting to exclude foreigners. Right… a federation of all those worlds of a wacky range of species has exclusion issues… Uh Huh… So right out the gate they fail the Suspension Of Disbelief test. Then, it’s set in the wrong time line. Romulus has been destroyed and one is left to presume that it’s all those peace loving Romulan “Refugees” who need a new planet to live on that are being “excluded”. Maybe.

There’s some kind of Androids involved (mostly wearing red, so guess what that might mean…) Oh, and ignore that Historical Issue of Data being the only android in the Federation… Canon? What canon?

Then Picard gets rebuffed when he asks The Federation to do a rescue mission of some sort, so assembles a bunch of Misfit Radicals (from the land of misfit toys?) to do it on the sly and against the government. Sigh.

It is set in the Dark Theme of Discovery. None of the positive uplifting theme of Roddenberry need apply, it seems. Doom, Despair, and Agony On Me… A bit over 2 minutes.

Here’s the 2018 trailer. It’s had reshoots and production delays, so only now making it to the screen (Ignore the April in the trailer…):

Later trailers have less of the old good stuff in them and more dark and depressing, including something to do with the Borg, but it’s all made deliberately opaque.

Here’s the newer trailer:

So long live the resistance and all that… I guess…

There’s now a Mysterious Girl who beats up security officers and needs Picard to help her. Then there’s some kind of Romulan’s Borg Research facility (perhaps in the damaged / captured Borg cube?) and more dark stuff.

Yeah, way complicated for not much benefit, full of dark and depression. Not real Trek.

Snow Season & Cold

We had snow a few days back in the hills above Silicon Valley. There’s been heavy snow all over Eastern Canada (had to send in the army to rescue some folks) and then Washington State has a bunch of folks cut off by snow. Again a minor rescue party sent in.

https://weather.com/storms/winter/news/2020-01-18-newfoundland-blizzard-record-daily-snow-st-johns

Crippling Newfoundland, Canada, Blizzard From Bomb Cyclone Smashes All-Time Daily Snow Record
By Jonathan Erdman 4 days ago

At a Glance
An intense storm delivered a crippling blizzard to Newfoundland, Canada, Friday and Saturday.
A state of emergency was declared in St. John’s and other cities, banning vehicles on city streets.
St. John’s smashed its all-time daily snowfall record which had stood for over 20 years.
Photos showed massive snow drifts blocking doors of homes.
This storm was a bomb cyclone, which intensified rapidly once it moved off the coast of New England.

And with characteristic absurdity, the picture they show is folks in bikes with the Golden Gate behind them on a sunny warm day. Can’t let the actual snow disasters get in the way of the Visual Narrative, now can we?

https://amp.miamiherald.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article239313158.html

People in Miami don’t mind pictures of the snow they ran away from ;-)

Northwest hit with more snow, wind, power outages, 2 rescued
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JANUARY 15, 2020 09:45 PM

SKYKOMISH, Wash.

More snow fell in the Northwest through Wednesday, causing Washington state officials to send food, water and fuel to an area hit hard northeast of Seattle and resulting in a hourslong rescue of a stranded couple southwest of Mt. Bachelor in Oregon.

The Seattle metro area didn’t see much new snow but many schools, including those in Seattle, remain delayed or closed because of lingering snow and ice.

Reports from Port Angeles ranged up to 20 inches of snow. North of Seattle, Mount Vernon tallied 8 inches of snow while Anacortes recorded 12.

https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/washington/articles/2020-01-16/mountain-areas-in-washington-still-without-power-after-storm

Storms Cut Power in Washington State Mountain Towns for Days
Rural mountain communities outside Seattle where unusually intense winter storms knocked out power for days have seen some relief.
By Associated Press, Wire Service Content Jan. 17, 2020, at 4:41 a.m.

SKYKOMISH, WASH. (AP) — Rural mountain communities outside Seattle that have been without power for days and cut off from the outside world by a series of winter storms saw some relief as convoys brought in food and other supplies.

The storms have dumped several feet of unusual snow on parts of western Washington state. As they moved south Thursday, heavy rain and strong winds battered parts of Northern California, while the Lake Tahoe area braced for heavy snow.

Crews in Washington state cleared snow, power lines and trees that had fallen across a highway leading to small towns including Skykomish and Baring, allowing some residents who had been without power for nearly a week to leave and for supplies to be brought in Wednesday. On Thursday afternoon, U.S. Highway 2 fully reopened to all travelers.

But hey, it’s only weather, right? Right?

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Senate Impeachment Trial Begins – yawn….

In theory, in about 12 to 18 hours, depending on when Senators show up and finish their Daily Graft, Bribery, and Extortion: the impeachment trial begins.

I expect it to be boring as hell and about as exciting as watching, with great fear and anticipation, just how the 3rd rerun of Lassie ends…

But, just in case something interesting pops up, here’s a thread to discuss it.

So far, the proposed / approved “rules” do not include a move for summary dismissal. BUT, does this prevent a motion to the Judge Roberts that the Articles are defective on their face as no crime at all is alleged? Therefore the impeachment ought to be nullified and made to never have existed?

Ought (or will) the Republicans benefit from drawing this out? I think a large part of the timing is just to clear the Senators running for POTUS out of Iowa at the critical time of caucuses. The usual DNC Corruption of the primary process, but with a twist. So better to drag it out, help Biden get the nomination, then drag him and Hunter in to testify (and entrap…); or, end it in just a day or two to thwart the goal of sidelining the Senators Warren, Burnie, and whatziznames?

Oh, if you haven’t seen it, Pelosi is on some talk show (Bill Maher) just busting with joy and venom saying Trump is “impeached forever”. Yeah, Nancy, you have crapped in the punch bowl and it is your crap for “forever”. The Senate will dump it out back of the House for historians to document. Great display of the “Junior High School Mean Girl” ethics, maturity, and morality. Yup, marked for life… “And you shall know them by their deeds”. Oh, and you get the first glass of punch… Bottoms Up!

I’m not sure which I want more. Trump unimpeached by SCOTUS. Biden(s) twisting in the wind for weeks on the witness stand. Pelosi slapped down with a near immediate acquittal with prejudice.

But what I want doesn’t matter anyway. We’ll get what we get. Best guess right now is based on Senators saying “almost Clinton rules”. I’d like to see some kind of surprise instead of justifying the crap process of the House. But whatever…

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Virginia 2A Day – Open Thread

Just a place for posting links, video, news, whatever about the events that unfold today in the capitol of Virginia as a Tyrant attempts to remove Constitutional Rights from the population, who do not approve.

What is particularly interesting is to see both the right, and the left, along with those “in the middle” all wanting to support the 2nd Amendment. I hope that everyone realizes that on THIS topic they can band together and present a unified voice. Setting aside other issues for the day. Yet “Hope is not a strategy. -E.M.Smith” and we know that there will be deliberate attempts to stir up trouble. Agent Provocateurs.

I’ve been in enough such “political rally” events to know various TLAs (Three Letter Agencies) and even local police seed the crowd with “undercovers”, some of them as “leaders” of various rank, and use them to attempt to raise the pitch of excitement so as to “out” the “leaders and troublemakers”. May folks resist the egging on…

I would love to see this posting reach the end of day with video of a large number of people standing around listening to boring speeches…

But we will see.

https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/second_amendment

Amendment II

A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

Read it for yourself. Don’t let anyone else snow you with some obscure “interpretation” of it. Look up the meanings of the words “in that day” and decide for yourself. Here’s what I get out of it:

“A well regulated militia”. In the day, “regulated” meant well practised or well tuned. You still see this use in “regulating” two shotgun barrels of a double barrel to hit the same point. Militia is the army of the people. Then, the adult men of fighting age. Now we’d include women willing to take up arms as well. So this says “A well skilled and practices army of the regular people”.

“being necessary to the security of a free state”. In the day, Tyrants were the big worry. I’d assert we’re headed for that same experience, given how Central Authority Government continues to erode individual liberty. Notice this does NOT say “it being necessary to hunt down Bambi”. It is NOT about HUNTING. It is EXACTLY about “military style” weapons. To me, this says “if you want to remain a free state, it is necessary to have that army of the people”.

“the right of the people to keep and bear arms,” This is a RIGHT. It is a right of THE PEOPLE. Not the States. Not the State National Guards. Not the collective. THE PEOPLE who will make up that peoples army against the freedom robbing tyrants when the time comes. It is a right to KEEP – possess, own, have at home. And a right to “bear” – carry around, move, transport. Arms. Military style arms. To me this says there is an absolute right for individuals to possess and transport and carry military style arms.

“shall not be infringed.” Most abused part of that RIGHT. It is “infringed” on all sides. Until quite recently, folks owned private cannon and even tanks with working guns. Watch the old Black & White movies from the 50s; pocket guns were common but shootings rare. As there has been ever more infringing of what, when, where, and how of arms possession, crime and bad results have increased. To me this part says “shall not be reduced or restricted in any way”. Yet we have a lot of that already and the results have been universally bad. “An armed society is a polite society” is very true. The “Shootout at the OK Corral” that is the stuff of legends was all of 9 people that lasted 30 seconds. Only 2 people were killed. It was from a time when everyone was free to wear a gun. Now, in bad sides of town, a 30 second shootout would hardly make the news. Only in “Gun free zones” do we get a dozen plus shot.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gunfight_at_the_O.K._Corral

The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral was a 30-second shootout between lawmen and members of a loosely organized group of outlaws called the Cowboys that took place at about 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 26, 1881, in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. It is generally regarded as the most famous shootout in the history of the American Wild West. The gunfight was the result of a long-simmering feud, with Cowboys Billy Claiborne, Ike and Billy Clanton, and Tom and Frank McLaury on one side and town Marshal Virgil Earp, Special Policeman Morgan Earp, Special Policeman Wyatt Earp, and temporary policeman Doc Holliday on the other side. Billy Clanton and both McLaury brothers were killed. Ike Clanton, Billy Claiborne, and Wes Fuller ran from the fight. Virgil, Morgan, and Doc Holliday were wounded, but Wyatt Earp was unharmed.

So we’ll see what happens in Virginia. How much fraud is spoken, and how a Tyrant treats the Citizens when they assemble to protest.

The expectation is that the people protesting will be unarmed. The call to action has been accompanied with requests to show up disarmed. The only folks with guns will be the Central Authority. We’ll all get to see how it behaves. Will the Tyrant with all the firepower use it wisely? Or will folks learn something we’d all rather not have demonstrated? In any case “we will know them by their deeds”. Hopefully we will not have a “practical demonstration” of why the 2nd Amendment says we’ll need that militia to oppose the tyrant.

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Interesting Idea On Colorado Drones And Grazing Saving Water

Here a real farmer speculating that the recent mob of drones seen methodically mapping something near Colorado / Kansas might be looking at water use due to western water wars being the usual big deal. He also touches on soil health and ground water recharge issues.

In particular, he cites real world experience where grazing captures more water into ground water while till farming loses a lot more.

This has implication for the aquifer as well as surface temperatures. So the next time someone complains about meat eating and water use for cattle, point out it takes less than till farming and builds up soil instead of degrading it. Cows are good for the land AND the water table. 30 minutes.

I don’t know if his ideas on the drones are right, but it sounds a lot more likely to me than most other speculation.

I do know his statements about rotational grazing as restorative are correct as it has been physically demonstrated.

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