Thoughts On A Sunday

Yesterday was the start of the 102^nd Laconia Motorcycle Rally week, with thousand of bikers arriving here in central New Hampshire to enjoy a week of celebration and activities. While a majority of the bikers won’t start arriving until this coming Thursday, there are already a large number here as we can hear the roar of their engines almost everywhere we go. There can be anywhere between 300,000 and 500,000 bikers attending Motorcycle Week. While most of the activities will be taking place in Laconia and surrounding communities, there are some taking place all over New Hampshire.

It’s going to be an interesting week.

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One other thing taking place is our first “pool party” in our neighborhood, celebrating the start of the summer season. It’s nothing big, just a bunch of us bringing snacks and drinks down to the pool, talking with our neighbors - year-round and seasonal – lying about how great our lives are going, as well as other topics of interest. (I get quite few people asking me about town stuff since I am so involved with our town functions and activities.)

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Is the ‘Progressive’ social media site Bluesky failing because the Left are “humorless scolds”? Sci Fi author John Scalzi certainly thinks so.

He posted, “It’s been a year since I left the former Twitter, in terms of posting there, but I kept the account active so that tweets that were linked to from elsewhere would still be active, and to keep anyone from using my handle there, since it’s been identified with me for 16 years and I wanted to keep an impostor or troll from picking it up and pretending to be me.”

“But you know what? In both cases, I don’t really care any more,” he continued.

He didn’t care so much that he had to post about it. Much like he apparently doesn’t care at this point about BlueSky losing a lot of its following as most people realized the engagement levels on the site are zero because of the echo chamber.

An article from Fortune was released this week saying, “Bluesky is backfiring. Mark Cuban says the ‘lack of diversity of thought’ is actually pushing users back to X.”

The article details how the echo chamber failed to generate any meaningful engagement, and Mark Cuban has noted a change where the extreme left userbase has started to turn on themselves saying the site has gotten “ruder and more hateful.”

Those normal folk on the other side of the aisle who have been targets of the left’s ire for years can only help but smile knowingly at how rude and hateful the BlueSky crowd can be.

Cuban continued saying, “Engagement went from great convos on many topics, to agree with me or you are a nazi fascist. We are forcing posts to X.”

While originally meant as a counter to Twitter – aka ‘X’ – after Elon Musk purchased that platform, it appears it has devolved because, as Scalzi mentioned above, it has become an echo chamber. If you have the audacity to disagree with ‘opinions’ on Bluesky you become a non-person because you are obviously “not one of them”.

I have to wonder if it will still exist a year from now. I’m guessing that it won’t.

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I almost shot coffee out of my nose when I read this:

The New York Times complains Florida taxes are too low.

Why is the NYT getting involved with this? Because it has to do with NHL teams and how much players for those teams pay in taxes depending on where they are located.

Canada’s Benjamin Franklin—Lord Stanley of Preston— once said. “In this world nothing is certain except death, taxes and the NHL.

OK, maybe I made that up but it is befitting the manufacture of a controversy of the New York Times and others that live in states with high state income taxes. Their NHL teams suck while the Florida Panthers, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vegas Golden Knights, Nashville Predators, Dallas Stars, and Seattle Kraken all flourish in states that do not tax income.

Canada has not won a Stanley Cup in 32 seasons although the Edmonton Oilers may break that that spell this year now that Canadians rid themselves of Justin Castreau after President Trump humiliated him.

But Canada’s taxes remain the same.

While Canada’s top marginal tax rate is 33% and America’s is 37%, the top marginal rates for its provinces range from 11.5% to 21.8%.

The combined provincial and national tax rates top 50% in 8 provinces. Who is going to argue for $2 million more a year just to receive less than a million more? Take the lower pay and sign with Tampa Bay for the better weather.

So the NYT is claiming it’s unfair that some states have lower taxes which makes it more difficult to get professional hockey players to sign on to teams in places that will tax the heck out of their income? I would like to think this was more a tongue-in-cheek opinion, but knowing the NYT they are likely quite serious. If they really want to level the playing field (no pun intended), then perhaps they need to address the states and provinces that are taxing the bejeezus out of people’s income to drop their tax rates. I have a feeling that would be a lot more popular.

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I find it interesting that as the Israelis struck Iranian targets with airstrikes and missile barrages the Iranian people were not chanting “Death to Israel”.

Instead they were chanting “Death to Khamenei.”

I expect we will see a lot more of this as the regime falls. People in Iran have done this before, taken to the streets in the cause of freedom, and were brutalized and killed by the tens of thousands.

“The Israelis just gave the Iranian people a reason to believe”. Not my words, theirs.

Read The Whole Thing.

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Senator Alex Padilla denies staging his outburst at DHS Director Christ Noem. The problem is that no one, including Democrats, believe him.

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), whom most people couldn’t pick out of a line-up before last week, wants America to believe his little performance during a Homeland Security press conference was totally spontaneous. Just an organic moment of righteous frustration, he claims. But we know better—his whole stunt reeked of a desperate cry for attention, and the more he tries to explain it away, the more obvious that becomes.

Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Padilla tried spinning his headline-grabbing antics as an innocent attempt to get information. “You can’t script this in Hollywood,” he said with dramatic flair, insisting he just happened to be near the press conference while waiting for a briefing and spontaneously decided to pop in, wearing plain clothes and lacking his Senate Security pin. He was apparently stunned—stunned!—that the press conference didn’t meet his expectations: “Surprise, surprise, no substance came from that press conference, just political attacks.”

It was theater, pure and simple. It was bad theater and no one wants to back up his claims.

Maybe he should get some tips from Bernie Sanders.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the motorcycles are roaring, the summerfolk are returning now that schools are out, and where once again Monday is returning.

She Got It Wrong

I had thought to post something lengthy and profound today, but listening to one of the news reports about the “No Kings” protests figuratively stopped me in my tracks.

If memory serves, I heard one of the protesters state that she believed in the Constitution and that what the President and ICE were doing regarding illegal immigrants was illegal and unconstitutional, and that a majority of Americans agreed with her .

What?!

This told me that the protester had absolutely no idea what either the law or the Constitution said about immigration, the powers of the Executive Branch, or the limitations of the Judicial Branch. She only knew what someone else, some one who was either as clueless than she was or who outright lied to her. I doubt she even realized that what she was supporting was ignoring the rule of law and instead promoting law by fiat and, even worse, anarchy. I also have no idea what polls she’s been looking at, but a “majority of Americans” don’t agree with her. It’s just the opposite.

Some, including one or two of my family members, may question why I hate immigration. I don’t. I have no problem with immigrants who came here legally, filled out the paperwork, waited their turn, and then entered when the government said “Come on over!”

I do have problems with immigrants who broke the law to get here, crossing the border illegally or coming here for a visit and then overstayed when their visas expired. That over 9 million illegals crossed out borders, with a large portion of them being criminals before they even crossed the border, bothers me. That a sitting President, even if he was just a figurehead, opened the border and let them come flooding across with absolutely no vetting of any kind is one hell of a criminal act in and of itself. That his successor has to clean up the mess and that a small percentage of the population has decided to riot, burn, and loot as a means of trying to stop the clean up of Biden’s mess tells me all I need to know.

It’s not a protest. It’s a rebellion fueled by our Progressive ‘betters’...who are anything but.

Friday Funny - Repeat After Me

Thoughts On A Sunday

The drenching rain that plagued us at the beginning of the weekend has departed, leaving us with sunshine and temps in the 70’s today. Other parts of New Hampshire were affected more by the rains with flooding and washouts, but fortunately it wasn’t widespread. I am looking forward to exploiting today’s weather to get some cleanup done around The Gulch and some follow-on cleanup on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout. Heck, I might even venture out onto the lake for a brief jaunt before the end of the day.

While the ‘summer’ season is not yet in full swing – that won’t happen until the schools are out – it’s been pretty busy, even with the rain we’ve seen for the past 12 weekends. The summer eateries are open as are the ‘amusements’. The local restaurants are busier than they were a few weeks ago, the local beaches are seeing visitors, there are a lot more cars and trucks “from away” around, and the campgrounds are getting busy. The upcoming Motorcycle Week which starts next weekend will be signaling the switch to full ‘Summer’ mode. It is a time I both love and dread simultaneously. I know I’m not the only one in the Lakes Region that feels that way.

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There are a couple of links over at Instapundit dealing with the anti-ICE riots taking place in Los Angeles. One of the not so surprising things about them is that there is heavy evidence that they are being paid for via government funds.

People need to go to prison for this and that government funding needs to be investigated. That’s a perfect job for DOGE.

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Something the Left and the MSM have missed, or are more likely ignoring, is the reason Musk left DOGE: He was a temporary government employee and as such he would have had to “jump through the bureaucratic hoops” to stay longer as ‘regular’ government employee. Temporary government employees are limited to 130 days in service. Musk left on day 130.

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While I may have mentioned this in passing once or twice over the past few years, I am a town official in our small town, something that is both great and terrible at the same time. As such, I get to do lots of things for our town, one of those being assisting in the updating and revision of out town’s Master Plan. More specifically the Telecommunications portion of that Master Plan. It helps that I work in the telecommunications industry as that gives me insight as to what it can and cannot do, both technologically and regulatory.

Dealing with this duty has brought up a lot of questions I have as to how telecommunications – phone, Internet, cell service, cable TV, and so on – are handled at both a local, state and federal level. A lot has changed over the past 25 years and I have to say that there are a lot of regulations that haven’t kept up with the realities.

One of the biggest changes has been with differences between the traditional telephone companies – Telcos - and cable TV multi-system operators – aka MSO’s – have shrunk to the point that they provide the same services but operate under different regulations and laws. Those services include video, Internet, phone – both landline and cell service. The two may handle video differently with cable offering traditional “Linear TV” and Telcos offering streaming services, though even cable also offeres streaming services as well.

Why do they operate under different rules if they are, to all intents and purposes, providing identical services? Maybe it’s time to change that.

One of the biggest differences in the how they are treated. Telcos are treated like a utility, no different than electricity, water, sewer, or natural gas. Cable operators are treated as a service provider, something that is ‘optional’ as compared to traditional utilities. Unlike utilities, cable operators have to have a franchise agreement, a contract, with the towns and cities they serve. They have a limited term meaning they they expire after a number of years. (It’s ten years up this way. It may be different in other states.) Power utilities and telephone companies don’t. Depending upon the terms of the franchise agreements, cable operators aren’t necessarily required to provide services to everyone in a community while telephone companies are. As the differences between services offered by Telcos and cable MSO’s disappear, shouldn’t the different laws and regulations that cover them do likewise?

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This has got to gall a lot of people who really don’t understand why Trump won the election last year:

Trumps Approval Rating Jumps 8 Points In May.

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Yeah, this is going to play well and win voters in California big time:

California Assembly Approves 50-65 Cent Gas Tax Increase Under Low Carbon Fuel Standard – Gas Prices Could Hit $8.44/Gallon in 2026 in the state.

If Gavin Newsom is serious about running for president in 2028, this is one bill he should veto. Making it increasingly expensive to live in California is no way to win the hearts of the electorate, particularly outside the Pyrite State. Too many people will think “If he’s willing to impoverish the residents of his state based on a scam, what will he do to the rest of the country if he were to become president? No way I’m going to vote for this jerk!”

Doesn’t anyone in government in California understand they are sowing the seeds of the state’s destruction? Or is it that they really don’t care...as long as they are in charge?

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is somewhat better, summer traffic is getting heavier, and where Monday has found its way back to us...again.

Has It Really Been 23 Years?

I was looking back through the WP archives and I realized that today is the 23rd anniversary of Weekend Pundit.

My dear brother and I had been blogging on Geocities, the blog back then called World Domination, Inc. where our motto was "Subjugating Humanity One Individual At A Time." That effort was mostly my brother's and I contributed now and then. But then we discovered Blogger and the rest is history.

Weekend Pundit has resided on three different platforms over the years. One - Blogmosis - was provided by a couple of our readers (Thanks, Matt and Vicky!!) and then on space provided by Skip over at Granite Grok. We ended up returning to Blogger years ago and have been here ever since.

In that time we have made over 6,000 posts, seen over 1.7 million views (with 1.24 million of them here on Blogger alone). My brother and I used to post just about every day. Then he departed as there was something else he wanted to devote time to - writing a novel with Dean Esmay - and I kept posting. However, family and work commitments took up more of my time and I dialed back my postings to weekends only which was the intent of this blog to begin with, hence "Weekend Pundit".

It's been fun. It's been frustrating. It's been wonderful. It's been daunting. And I plan to keep doing it as long as I can as I do enjoy it.

Social Media Driving Depression In Children?

Knowing how the lives of teens and pre-teens can be quite stressful, particularly when it comes to their social lives, is it really any surprise when it turns out that social media can make it worse and lead to more depression amongst kids? The revelation isn’t much of a surprise to me.

I don’t know how many times I have stated either here on the pages of WP or in comments to other posts that social media is an addiction, one that paints false pictures about real life. What we see on social media is rarely as good or rosy as some people try to claim. For kids it can be even worse.

As rates of depression and suicide among young people continue to rise, a question has captured experts’ attention: Does social media make kids more depressed, or are kids who are already struggling simply spending more time online?

A new study from UC San Francisco is shedding light on the issue. Researchers found that when preteens increased their social media use, their depressive symptoms also rose. Interestingly, the opposite was not true. Higher levels of depression did not lead to more time spent on social platforms.

The numbers are eye-opening. Over the three years of the study, kids’ daily social media use jumped from just seven minutes to 73 minutes. During that same period, their depressive symptoms climbed by 35%. The study, supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), was published in JAMA Network Open.

I find it interesting the study found that depression “did not lead to more time spent on social platforms.” One would think depression would lead to more time on social media. But that might be a saving grace. However, with more social media use adding to depression, I stand by my statement above that social media too often paints a picture that is an illusion. Comparing one’s life to that of someone on social media can certainly lead kids to the conclusion that their own lives are awful in comparison.

One other negative aspect to social media when it comes to kids is cyberbullying which can be worse than the more traditional forms of bullying.

The study found kids aged 11 to 12 years who were cyberbullied were 2.62 times more likely to report suicidal ideation or a suicide attempt one year later. Additionally, those kids were also 2.31 times more likely to experiment with a substance (4.65 times more likely with marijuana, 3.37 with nicotine, and 1.92 with alcohol) in the following year.

Increasingly, the youngest generations find themselves facing a catch-22, with growing evidence that social media is associated with depressive symptoms and risky behavior, yet it is also a primary area for them to connect and communicate with friends.

It is a balancing act to deal with both the pros and cons of social media with kids. I know the ex and I had to deal with that with our son. While smart phones weren’t all that prevalent back when he was in high school, we worried about issues with cyberbullying via text and our son did not get a cell phone until his senior year. He’d seen what some of his friends were going through with that and he didn’t want any part of it.

What’s the answer to the problem? I’m not sure. But on thing I think we can do is emphasize again and again that much of what kids see on the screens of their phones is not real life. It isn’t even close. We also need to make sure they know it is perfectly okay to block others and, if things get worse, to tell their parents, their brothers or sisters, or their school counselors. Too often they keep these things to themselves which can make things feel even worse.

Friday Funny - Women Can Do Anything Men Can Do?

D-Day: All Gave Some. Some Gave All.

Thoughts On A Sunday

The weekend up this has been very wet, seeing almost 2 inches of rainfall with most of it falling yesterday. If the Weather Guys^TM are right we should see much, if any rain today. But it will only be in the 50’s today.

BeezleBub moved the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout from the boatyard to his place late yesterday. We will be spending a portion of the day today performing any last minute cleanup and getting the gear stowed on board in preparation for launching it and getting it tied up at its slip. This is considerably later than we usually do so, but the weather during the weekends of this just departed May has not really been conducive to doing so. Usually the boat is put into the water around mid-May. If things go well today we should be able to launch it sometime tomorrow. We would have done that today, but it is far too windy which would have made docking a lot more problematic.

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Here’s an interesting little tidbit that had an effect on me and the trusty RAM 1500 in an unexpected way way.

First, I have to mention that the New Hampshire Department Of Transportation repaired and repaved a stretch of state road that passes by The Gulch, something that required me to take a roundabout route to get to and from work for about three weeks. This circuitous route had me passing near the previous abode of yours truly – The Manse – twice a day. However, that isn’t the interesting tidbit by any means.

It was as I was taking this route to work one morning that the always dreaded “Check Engine” light came on with an ominous ‘ding’ announcing its presence. A quick check of the dashboard’s multi-function LCD didn’t show anything blatantly wrong, but I did notice that the oil pressure was considerably lower than I usually see it.

Once I got to work I called my mechanic, told him what I saw, and later that afternoon dropped off the trusty RAM 1500 at his shop for diagnostics. To make a long story a little shorter, it was found that the oil pressure was indeed low, though not so low as to cause any damage to the engine, but it was out of range to ensure the Variable Valve Timing – or VVT - would work properly on the 5.7L Hemi powering the trusty RAM 1500. A number of possibilities for this condition were brought forward, the worst being the oil pump was failing. If it was indeed the cause, my mechanic informed me I would have to take it to another shop because he didn’t have an engine hoist, something that would be needed in order to replace said oil pump. I contacted one of the shops he suggested that could handle the job and made arrangements to have the work done, if needed. Now here comes the interesting tidbit:

Did you know that oil filters can actually be too efficient? I certainly didn’t.

It turns out that a lot of the newer ‘better’ aftermarket oil filters can be too good, too efficient and can cause a restriction in oil flow in some engines. That was the case with the trusty RAM 1500. The shop in question, in this case a RAM dealership, had seen a number of pickups with the Hemi engines with exactly the same problem over the past six months or so. Chrysler had issued a Technical Service Bulletin outlining the failure and cause. The cure?

An oil filter change using one of the less efficient oil filters.

As soon as that was performed on the trusty RAM 1500, the oil pressure was back where it was supposed to be.

I did pass this on to my mechanic along with the technical service bulletin that covered it, so going forward I won’t have to worry about a “too good” oil filter being used during my next oil change.

Does this affect other makes and models of cars and trucks? I don’t know, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that was the case.

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To quote Glenn Reynolds, “I was told this was impossible.”

And then there’s this impossible thing, too.

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The media hammered the Trump administration after it canceled the controversial Energy Start program, something I have always thought sounded good but didn’t deliver on its promises. However, the criticism over the cancellation of the program ignores “several inconvenient facts.”

Several news outlets have recently reported that the administration’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is looking to eliminate the Energy Star program, while seeming to gloss over criticism of the program and the fact it received multiple unsatisfactory reports from federal government audits. While Energy Star has reportedly saved American households and businesses over $500 billion in energy costs since 1992, some experts have warned that the program can negatively impact consumers, such as by pushing them to purchase less effective appliances.

I have mentioned more than a few times my experiences with Energy Star compliant appliances that did not adequately perform their functions. I have discussed a past experience with looking for a new front-loading washing machine to replace one that had been lightning damaged. My then-wife had spent time going Consumer Reports and other evaluations of Energy Star washing machines and found there wasn’t a single one that either CR or the other reports could recommend because none of them properly cleaned clothes. We ended up spending money to repair our old machine even though it cost us more than buying a new one because at least the old washing machine cleaned clothes. When I replaced the dishwasher at the WP Mom’s I found it used more electricity than the machine it replaced, taking over three hours to wash a load that took the old machine a little over an hour. Yes, the new machine used less water, but the cost of the lower water use did not offset the higher energy usage.

We had to replace the washing machine here at The Gulch and found we had to have the water level sensor ‘adjusted’ on the new Energy Star washer to allow a higher water level in order to make sure a load of clothing was properly washed.

What good are energy efficient appliances if they don’t work, don’t actually save energy?

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This next one doesn’t surprise me in the least as this is not the first time I’ve heard this.

It appears that Electric cars lose half or more of their value after two years.

Two. Years.

Yes, there are issues like heavily discounted prices for new cars that one might think might be depressing the value of used cars, but that turns out not to be the case. The EVs are still competing against ICE cars and people seem willing to pay more money for used ICE vehicles than electric cars. Of course some of that might be explained by the high cost of replacing the battery pack of an EV when the time comes.

While the post linked above covers the used EV market in the UK, the same thing can be seen with the used EV market here in the US.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the marinas are full, the weather hasn’t been cooperating, and where it’s hard to believe that the Fourth of July is a little over 4 weeks away.

Returning To The Tried And True

It seems the auto industry is finally waking up to a problem that was. one of their own making, that problem being the replacement of things like knobs, switches, buttons, and sliders with touchscreens, something that may have been seen as a way to lower costs and provide more advanced functions in cars and trucks. However, it hasn’t worked out that way.

On more than one occasion I have commented on the use of touchscreens in vehicles, stating that I have always thought it was a bad idea for a number of reasons, two of them being that they require a driver to take their attention away from road in order to change settings on everything from the volume on the radio to running the heat or A/C to turning headlights on or off and the fact that something called muscle memory is useless when it comes to using touch screens. I have also heard numerous friends and acquaintances complaining about the same things as the much prefer the physical controls – knobs, switches, buttons, and sliders – over touchscreens.

It seems that automakers are listening to their customers, with some of them changing their interior designs to bring those knobs, switches, buttons and sliders back.

In today’s automotive market, big touchscreens and digital interfaces dominate the cabin experience, often at the expense of usability and safety. While these features offer a high-tech aesthetic and access to a virtual library of fancy features, they also increase the time to execute the most basic automotive operations, like adjusting climate and audio. Fortunately, a few automakers still understand the value of intuitive physical controls—dials, knobs, and buttons placed within easy reach of the driver. We laud certain manufacturers in 2025 for their commitment to driver-focused ergonomics, blending modern tech with excellent switchgear that makes life behind the wheel simpler and safer.

It’s bad design whenever a driver has to stop paying attention to the road in order to use a touchscreen to perform some of the aforementioned functions, something that drivers could do in the past without the need to look away from the road. This is where muscle memory comes into play.

It generally means a driver knows where the headlight switches, heating, A/C and ventilation controls, radio tuning and volume controls and so one are located without actually having to look at them to use them because they’ve preformed those actions time and time again. The knobs, switches, buttons, and sliders are always in the same location and always perform the same functions. Touchscreens don’t allow for that because the menus and ‘buttons’ on the screen change function and location depending upon what the driver is trying to do. The driver must look away from the road and at the touchscreen in order to use it. Muscle memory doesn’t work.

My trusty 2014 RAM 1500 has a small touchscreen which controls a number of functions with most of them being related to entertainment or communications functions – AM/FM radio, Sirius XM, media player (by Bluetooth or USB), and phone functions (calls and texts). Things like tuning the radio station, adjusting the volume, selecting radio station presets and the like are controlled by knobs and buttons, not the touchscreen.

It’s time to dial back the multifunction touchscreens and start using physical controls again to increase safety and reduce driver distractions.

Friday Funny - Best Husband Ever

I'll Tell You The Story: Binky And The Grass Widow