Tag: General

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Flood, Mud, and dead batteries!

My little town has had quite enough!

We had rain, then mudslide through town, then the power went out on Christmas Eve. Power didn’t come back on until Saturday. That’s actually better than we thought it was going to be, the initial estimate was that we weren’t going to see power until Dec 30th.

Friday night, I slept in my sleeping bag on the couch. That allowed me to close off all the house and conserve limited heat from the fireplace. Even so, when I woke up it was cold enough that I could see my breath.

This experience has taught me more about dealing with disasters. One primary thing I learned was, while I may romanticize about simpler times and life. I’m not willing to give up electricity!

I was using solar power to keep my phone, and only my phone charged to about 20%. It was at this point that news broke on the national stage that my town was in the midst of everything except a plague of locusts. That meant my family members started calling.

I’m sure that I offended some of them with my curt responses. But sometimes members of my family simply don’t listen. When I say, “I can’t talk for long I’m running on almost no power to my phone,” I really mean it!

Not that my needs, desires, or wants being ignored is a surprise. Many of the family still treat me like I’m 16. I’m sure their view is something like, “He’s a child, what could he know…” Except that I’m well over 60 years old and have lived more of my life without them, than I did with them.

Then after the initial problems were resolved. I got in my car to go to the grocery store after having everything thaw out, and begin to spoil. I was greeted with a message on my car that said: Battery depleted Start Engine.

Odd, sure enough it started. I took the long way around to the grocery store. I had to so that I could avoid the washed out roads. When I got to the store, I got another message: Some Electrical accessories have been disabled.

This was  the car’s way of telling me that the battery was shot. Oh great!

Another expense that I really don’t need. These days the battery my beast requires is expensive. Plus it needs to be replaced by a qualified mechanic. They apparently have to reset all kinds of sensors and other portions of the computer just to replace a battery.

What happened to going to Auto Zone and plunking a new battery in your vehicle in the parking lot??? Okay, I do miss some of the simpler ways of doing things.

So here I sit at the deanship awaiting my car and the inevitable bill. On the plus side, I put the car on a trickle charger last night so this morning it started and brought me reliably to the dealer.

While typing this, I got a message saying that everything mechanically looked good and that the battery had been replaced. The mechanic is taking it out for a test drive.

So it doesn’t look like too much of my day is likely to be chewed up.

My bank account on the other hand may be a different story.

 

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I’m at that point in the year when I want to yell at the top of my lungs…

Shut The Hell UP, and act like human beings!

Just for a week or so, please. Let us all have some peace & quiet.

That goes for everyone in politics, the news, social media, and everything else.

Can’t we just stop?

I don’t give a crap about the Epstein files at this point. There’s no way in hell anyone from the political arena will ever be called to account. Bill Clinton could literally be spit roasting Joe Biden with Hunter Biden and nothing, would be said. Likewise Nancy Pelosi could be naked in a photo on Epstein Island holding a 12 year old down while Paul Pelosi had his way. No one would say a damn thing, hell the DNC / RNC spin machines are standing by ready to claim whatever comes out, about whoever, is faked AI shit.

Rob & Michelle Reiner’s murder, apparently by their own Son, horrific as it was, is being framed as some drug reaction their son had due to an alteration of his schizophrenic medications. It should be noted that the son was in & out of rehab something like 17 times. They were at a party the night before the murders where some kind of family altercation was ongoing and other guests wanted to call the police. I question why he was at a party where in all likelihood there were guests that had some kind of illicit drugs? That seems like a really bad idea.

Trump was super low class in his comments about the Reiner’s murder. There’d been a long standing feud between Reiner and Trump. However that does not excuse Trump’s comment nor does that knowledge assuage my disappointment in Trump.

That being said, I don’t need the media clutching their pearls and wringing their hands over Trump’s mean words. Especially when many of those same media folks were practically giddy when Trump was shot at, or who essentially said Charlie Kirk, was asking for it, or deserved it.

I don’t much care that Trump is seizing oil tankers, I don’t care that ICE is deporting illegals, and I especially don’t care that Trump is blowing up drug boats with one, or a second shot.

I don’t want to hear anymore shit out of Jasmine Crockett, Joy Reid, or Whoopie Goldberg’s foul mouth. I’m sick of everything being about racism.

I have no desire to hear about another Islamic asshole telling anyone that Christmas trees aren’t permitted, or interrupting a street musician for playing an instrument to make people smile because it’s forbidden in Islam, or that dogs are haram. I don’t want to concern myself with the religion of Islam. I don’t care. I have enough trouble with my own religion and beliefs.

Don’t get me started on the Transgender bullshit. For me, it’s really simple. If you won’t let a child drink, get a tattoo, or have sex, because they’re too young to know what they want… Then obviously, they’re too young to know that they want to engage in a sex change either.

So for all these reasons (and more), I’m going to turn down the noise and simply not be online or watch the news for the next couple of weeks. During my shutdown, If you’re my friend you know how to reach me.

If after the first of the year I’m uninformed, I beg your pardon.

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas, or Happy Hanukkah whichever is appropriate.

Have a peaceful joyous holiday.

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Well Damn!

Was cleaning the house today.

I moved the coffee table and a chair to vacuum. Under both were areas of the rug that looked “Odd” I didn’t think much of it until I’d run the vacuum over them. Then I was looking at the backing of the rug.

It took me a moment… then I saw a moth. I got down on my hands & knees and saw immediately what happened. Some kind of small species of moth had come in, and made themselves right at home.

The rug was made of wool.

Well shit!

The rug was 13 years old. It was the last one of a set. The first one had been destroyed when the fire sprinkler pipe in the ceiling broke. This one had survived, but it was showing signs of wear around the edges.

I wasn’t quite ready to let it go but found myself having no choice. I rolled it up and carried it outside. Now I have to figure out how to get rid of it. It’s small enough that I may be able to stuff it in a black trash bag with some plant trimmings ( as camouflage).

The rugs, were two that Jerry & I picked out when we were buying furniture after the house rebuild. Both were neat matching geometric patterns.

I had to get rid of it, but it’s still another thing in the house that we selected together. Now it’s gone.

Jesse isn’t pleased. I think he believes he was bad although I’ve been trying to reassure him. I ended up wiping the underside of all the furniture trying to make sure I got any remaining eggs or other creatures.I scrubbed the floor and put felt on the bottoms of the furniture pieces to protect the floor. In case anything slid around.

I sort of like the room without the rug. I’ll have to see how this works. If it doesn’t I’ll pick something up.

This was not what I had planned for the day, but it’s probably for the best. I went around the house checking on the cedar blocks in drawers containing wool. I should probably find some replacements, they’re not as pungent as they once were. I’ve got wool sweaters and scarves for winter. I’d prefer not to have them eaten.

I usually moved the furniture around every couple of weeks to vacuum and I remember seeing something a few weeks ago but thinking it was just that the rug was getting old. I’m amazed how much damage was done in such a short period of time.

If there’s any benefit to synthetic carpeting, I suppose it’s that moths aren’t an issue.

Between the grape vine and now the rug, it feels like things are just slipping away.

Sigh…

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As predicted the UK is implementing Digital ID, but it’s worse and faster than anticipated.

A while back I wrote a couple of pieces about digital IDs. The most recent is linked Here . An older one is linked Here. 

Logo ec en.Yesterday I ran across articles about the UK rolling out compulsory digital ID, and another article about the EU beginning a digital ID program for visitors to EU countries. There’s another article about a Swiss version, I stumbled across this morning.

I also noted that North Dakota added their digital drivers license to the Apple Wallet, (but they’re charging their residents a fee for the privilege).

The EU digital ID program is starting mid October. This system requires visitors to supply fingerprints, and submit to a facial scan for entry to EU countries. The claim is that they’ll be able to do away with passport stamps and better be able to identify people who overstay their visas. They also claim that fingerprints and facial scans will only be maintained for 3 years.

Meaning, if you only visit one of these countries and never go back to any other EU country, 3 years after your visit they’ll purge the record. I personally think they’ll never purge those records. 3 years is a long time and I’m positive that additional laws will be enacted that make those records permanent. 

After all, the UK & EU have both been pushing for backdoors into private phone data for everyone on the planet. There’s every reason to believe they’re trying to, and will succeed in building some kind of database of not only their own citizens, but also any visiting tourists.

One article suggested that if a tourist for example refused to provide this biometric data, they’d be denied entry to the country requesting the information.

Hey, a country is entitled to maintain control over their national borders. (Unless the country’s name is the United States, ahem.)

As a tourist, I don’t necessarily want to provide biometric data, so I guess any ideas I had about visiting Europe are toast once this system is fully implemented.

My passport chip contains biometrics as well and honestly, I’m not thrilled about that either. The difference is that I have control over my passport and who sees it. Once that chip is scanned though, my data is subject to being uploaded to whatever database a requester sees fit.

Fundamentally, and in a perfect world where governments could be trusted I’m good with providing this kind of information. The problem is, we don’t live in a perfect world, and no government can be trusted.

I go into it in some detail in the posts I referenced at the top of this post.

In fact I’d already decided if I ever went to Europe that I’d leave all technology stateside. My reasoning, before the UK & EU mandates was that I didn’t want to risk being detained anywhere for an offensive meme, or a comment that was deemed “Hate speech” that might be on my phone.

I figured if I didn’t carry any tech, other than my Nikon, and refused to provide any email addresses there’s be no way I could post something someone didn’t like. Without access to my online accounts, the authorities in whatever country would have no way to review my online activity to determine if I passed their purity tests.

Yes, I used the term “Purity Test” with intention. That term hearkens back to Nazi Germany, Communism, and even the old “One Drop Rules” of the white supremacists in the Old South.

The primary difference today isn’t about skin color, or religion. It’s about compliance and purity of thought. Does a particular individual represent a threat to group think? Is that person’s presence likely to cause a disruption in thought amongst our subjects? Will this person raise or ask difficult questions?

Honestly, that’s what I think these mandates are about. It’s not just being identified, or verifying that someone is overstaying their visa or has government authorization to work.

It’s about linking an individual to their social media, which is a way to get inside their head, then limiting their privileges within the society based on how compliant a person is. Just as China is doing today.

This is authoritarianism. The UK and EU are running headlong into the abyss.

I naively thought that traveling without technology would provide some level of privacy. I no longer think that is sufficient.

The UK has famously blocked speakers from other countries one of whom is a gentleman who after much study is very critical of Islam. The first time they blocked him from entering the UK they waited until he’d made the flight to the UK. They knew they were going to ban him, but chose to cost him money by making the flight, then charging him for accommodation under guard until he could pay the extra fees to take an early flight back to the US.

It’s reasonable to ask when will the UK start scouring average people’s social media accounts as a condition of entry.

The UK is, I think a petrie dish of sorts for the EU. Yes, they’ve supposedly broken away from the EU, but they’re still headed away from freedom and into authoritarianism.

When you think about it, the UK is a perfect testing ground. They’re small, easily contained via blockade, disarmed, have a liberal population, and are steeped in white guilt.

Those factors mean that experimentation about how much a population will take before they revolt is relatively safe. If crushing authoritarian control results in civil war it’s no big deal. The EU can call in the UN for “Humanitarian reasons” and put down any rebellion.

Think that’s utter bullshit? Then why are some units of the London police force wearing UN blue uniforms? Why are common rights within the UK being abridged? Why are teenagers and adults being fined or arrested for social media posts? Why is it apparently illegal to fly traditional UK flags?

I think the powers that be behind the EU are still pulling the UK government’s strings and that it’s likely what’s happening in the UK is an experiment that’s reaching its end.

Which means the EU is going to implement all the things that people in the UK allowed with a minimum amount of grumbling in all their member nations.

It also means that I’m not going to see Europe in my lifetime. I’m probably never going on a dive trip outside the United States territorial waters again. Curaçao and Bon Aire for example are part of The Netherlands, they fall under EU law. Although, their restaurants, bars, and hotels prefer any currency other than Euros.

It would be easy to say to myself, “Well, I’m only a tourist and this biometric data they’re asking for is nothing to worry about.” That is probably a true statement and as an average person 100% correct for now.

But how long before AI can scan everything I’ve ever posted, find a “crime” in any particular country I’m visiting & arrest me? I’ve been critical of Islam, I’ve been critical of the UK, the US, the transgender movement, some of my opinions could be considered radical, hurtful, or I could be deemed an “agitator”.

While those comments may be legal in my home country (at the moment), they may be considered illegal in other countries and all countries have different statutes of limitations on such things.

If authoritarian governments have biometric data, linked to my digital ID, and via my digital ID they link things I’ve said, even in anger, on social media… Then any of it can be used to legally detain me, fine me, or imprison me.

Much as I like the idea of digital ID’s I think I’m going to so my best not to use them and I’ll see what I can do about deleting my digital ID footprint.

It’s not about engaging in criminal activity, It’s about denying those who would control me the opportunity. 

As a plus, I don’t have to pay the US government for my passport every 10 years.

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Looks like Erika Kirk was right.

Damn!

X, which is often the scene of flame wars, has really doubled down.

The conservative right, and even just right leaning folks have taken the gloves off and said, “Hold my beer.” 

People are pissed off. They’re not holding back. One dude is tracking down everyone that danced a little dance over Charlie Kirk’s assassination. This guy is sending the videos to people’s employers. I don’t know what the “Fired” count is at the moment.

Some of the vile leftists are going on instagram and TikTok to bemoan that they’ve lost their jobs. Then they repost their little crying videos on X. Some are claiming it’s a violation of their freedom of speech. Then it gets funny as hell.

The right wing folks are more than happy to point out how these people got others fired for “Hate Speech” and are asking where the difference is.

Others point out that they’re entirely free to say whatever the hell they want to and that’s why law enforcement isn’t kicking their doors down. But then go on to say their company doesn’t have to put up with a hateful person working for them.

Then inevitably more leftists jump in trying to defend the poor “Victim” who just lost their job. Nobody is listening to that shit anymore. People on the right are saying in no uncertain terms what they think, then pointing out that’s them exercising their right to free speech.

Greg Gutfeld took on one of the panel members on The Five and tore her a new asshole over the duplicity of the “but what about” arguments. He said on-air we’re not listening to that shit anymore.

He spent 4 minutes saying exactly what he thought. It was obvious he was pretty close to being pissed off. (At least as close as I’ve ever seen him on air that way.)

Thus far I’ve not seen any physical threats from the right, but that could be because X is filtering that stuff out. 

Today, there are reports that other people knew about this guys plan. Reditt is probably going to catch some subpoenas for messages posted in one of the trans rights activist groups. There’s another report that Amazon had a book listed 1-2 days before Kirk’s assassination titled something like Killing Charlie Kirk. The book and amazon listing are gone now, but it begs a serious question.

The trigger man, appears to have been dating another dude who was transitioning to being a woman. The boyfriend (yes, I misgendered the fucker,) is said to have hated Christians, Conservatives, and Charlie Kirk. His family says in the last couple of years as he’s been transitioning he’s become more radical and pulled away from them.

Holy fuck! This might mean the end of the radical transgender movement. And it can’t happen fast enough.

The down side is that most people don’t have the capacity to differentiate between the LGB and the TQIA+ fuckwads who’ve been trying to tell LGB and straight folks, that we’re the screwed up ones because we don’t date mutilated things with frankenweinies or rot pockets.

It’s freaking wild.

There’s a move to remove Ilhan Omar from a bunch of committees and after the shit she’s said! I’m all for it. One that caught my attention was where she said “Somalia is better than the US.” Ohhhh really???

Lots of people suggested that she get her incestuous ass on a plane back to Somalia. Others suggested that she not only be removed from Congress, but that she also be flat out deported for false statements on her immigration paperwork. These people replied to her X account directly.

I hope it doesn’t escalate, but I also hope that decent people keep shouting these leftists down. It’ll be good for them to have a taste of their own medicine for a change.

Kathy Hochul endorsed that socialist, (a.k.a. communist,) running for mayor of New York. She might have just torpedoed her career in the process, and that too would be a great freaking win.

It’s possible that instead of a bunch of “powder kegs” going off all over the country in which a lot of innocent and not so innocent people would get hurt, it’s just going to be a wild fire of people not holding back, not being polite or tolerant anymore. That may be enough…

Turning Point is seeing a massive number of inquires about starting chapters in High Schools and Colleges across the country.

A doctor that said he was happy Charlie Kirk got his head blown off. When a nurse called him out about it, the nurse was put on unpaid leave. The doctor was also put on leave and has since resigned. The Nurse, in an unusual display of justice was reinstated and is back at work.

In that case it’s not so much about the Doctor having his opinion, it’s about him saying that in front of all the nursing staff, patients, and visitors in a hospital ward. If I’d heard that as a patient, I’d be checking out against medical advice. That kind of heartless statement would make me question the doctor’s resolve to obey the Hippocratic oath.

I have enough concerns about doctors in general, the last thing I need is to be worried about not getting decent or proper medical care, because a doctor figures out that I’m a right leaning gay man. Some would say conservative, (My brother still thinks I’m too far left. 😁) In California, I’m considered positively rabid!

I’ve lost count of how many followers I’ve lost on X. Guess what? I don’t care. I’m letting my subscription lapse and may close the account entirely. It doesn’t serve me, and I’ll never get to their monetization goals. The one thing it provides is a broad scan of the news across pretty much all media feeds. It’s a convenient collection point for what’s happening, which can be processed in 10 minutes or less.

I recently did the same thing with LinkedIn. I’ve decided to purge everything that is not a direct quantifiable benefit.

That being said, I’m glad I’m still on X for the time being. I think the fireworks right now, are about the most entertainment I’ve seen in a while.

Something has changed in our country. I don’t know if it’s for the better or worse and I don’t think anyone will be able to make that call until the dust has settled.

In a way, I pity the Democrat party. There are a lot of very fine people who are life long Democrats. They’ve been unwillingly dragged along by a radical fringe who have come to wield tremendous power and hijacked the party. I suppose I feel pity because that’s exactly what happened to the LGB community.

It’s tough seeing a group of like minded people that you found kinship in, destroyed from within. Worse yet is suddenly finding yourself painted with the same dirty brush as the radical freaks that you have nothing in common with, simply because you’re a member of a particular party or group.

The conservative right has finally pulled a page from the radical left’s playbook. They’ve gotten angry enough that they’re no longer willing to take the high road, be quiet, and take whatever slurs or lies were spoken about them.

Trump simply got there a few years ahead of the rest of us. If you think about it he was simply calling out the bullshit while the rest of the right was behaving as if the left would come to their senses.

They didn’t. So now the right is beginning to fight fire with fire.

Let’s hope that it doesn’t devolve into a full on battle in the streets.

Although there have been some reports of loudmouth leftists getting their asses beat for disrupting vigils and memorial services for Charlie Kirk. Sorry, not sorry. Those people didn’t read the room very well.

You just don’t show your ass at a memorial. Mourners emotions are already raw, and it’s not going to take more than a second or two before they decide to relieve themselves of their pain, by inflicting it on someone spewing hate for the deceased.

Just saw a video where some dude was bear maced after trying to disrupt and destroy a memorial vigil. He was laying on the curb crying like a little bitch while one of his fellow protestors tried to comfort him. She was looking at the crowd surrounding them with genuine fear and confusion in her eyes.

I’d like to think she was realizing that people aren’t going to put up with the bullshit she and her friends have gotten away with for the past 6-7 years anymore. I’m hoping that her fear will make her rethink her life choices and rejoin civil society where discussion and debate are the norm. Though I’m not foolish enough to hold my breath.

I’ll admit to a certain thrill and satisfaction hearing that guy wailing in pain.