Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been quiet here at the lake. The weather has been decent with little or no precipitation. It’s been sunny but just below freezing which means we have been getting some melting on the roads and roofs. It’s also meant cars and trucks are covered with salt which has in turn meant the local car washes have been busy. I will admit that I have not as yet run the trusty RAM 1500 through the car wash nor has the WP Mom’s Nissan been washed. I may get both of them washed a little later this week in order to make room for more road salt to be deposited. It is one of the things that we up here in the snowy north must put up with during the winter.

It’s a small sacrifice.

The only thing we must be cognizant of is the temperatures of the upcoming night (and days) to prevent a newly washed car or truck from having its doors and windows frozen shut should the temps drop well below freezing.

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As I mentioned in an earlier post, it seems our local concert venue is hosting a lot of acts and artists dating back to the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s, or as I called it the “Before We Get Too Old Or Die” Tour. I thought we’d seen enough of that over the past two years, but it appears that tour will be continuing during this upcoming concert season as I’ve been seeing announcements about who’s going to be appearing this summer. Some of the artists on the list so far:

James Taylor

Paul Simon

Motley Crue

Chicago

Styx

Out of the 21 acts already booked, 6 are part of the “Before We Get Too Old Or Die” Tour. I cold have added one more - Weird Al Yankovic – but he’s still current and I think he’s a lot younger than those in the other six acts, so I didn’t count him as a member of that tour.

Generally our local venue books between 35 and 50 acts per season, so I have no doubt we’ll see at least a few more added to the “Before We Get Too Old Or Die” Tour.

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In my TOAS post back on January 18th I mentioned I was seeing a lot more AI ‘hosts’ reporting news, specifically news about the goings on in California.

This is what I wrote back then:

The one thing (other than California) that they all have in common?

They are all hosted by AI “talking heads”. The image you see, and voice you hear are all AI generated.

I didn’t notice at first. I was more interested in what was being talked about. It wasn’t until after I started paying closer attention to the videos that I realized the images were AI generated as were the voices.

I did say I would dig deeper and provide some examples. I bookmarked almost two dozen examples I was going to use to show what I meant, stitching small segments together to show the weirdness. Imagine my surprise when I found that all but one video is now “unavailable”. The only one I found still available is this one which covers the self-inflicted gas station crisis, and I have no idea how long it will still be available. You’ll see the ‘reporter’, Ava Sterling. Is AI generated. Her facial expressions and head movements aren’t natural.

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Can Gavin Newsom get any more clueless than he already is? After seeing this, I have to say he can most definitely get even more clueless than he is now.

He “goes to Germany and compares American law enforcement to Nazi stormtroopers.” Hmm, it seems to me he’s pointing his finger to the wrong group as antiFa seems more like the Nazi SA than US law enforcement. (Yes, I know the SA weren’t the stormtroopers, but they sure as heck act and sound like them.)

Does Governor Hair Gel really think he is appealing to anyone outside of the West Coast Blue enclaves?

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I figure they’re going to find a way to blame Trump for this and paint it as Bad News.



After all, if it wasn’t the Democrats who pulled this off, it must be bad by definition because it doesn’t fit The Narrative.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’re going to be seeing some warmer daytime temps (above freezing), there’s no snow in the forecast…for now, and Monday is returning.

New Hampshire Going Nuclear? I Hope So.

Despite claims by people who support so-called “green energy” like wind and solar, we’re finding out that neither technology can meet the growing demand. It doesn’t help that both are heavily dependent upon taxpayer money in order to be built and that they never meet the energy demands or provide the return on investment promised by proponents. On top of that, even though these are claimed as “clean and green energy” technologies, we’re finding that they are neither clean or green.

Proponents keep pushing the “energy is free” meme and even though that is true, it is the cost of harnessing that energy that is expensive, something they choose to ignore. If they are cognizant of the actual cost, they downplay it because they can’t have facts contradicting the green energy narrative.

New Hampshire Governor Kelly Ayotte is well versed in the green energy promises and is smart enough to know they don’t work anywhere near as well as proponents claim. She understands that a reliable energy supply is needed for economies to keep operating efficiently. But it seems that over the past couple of decades there has been a war on more traditional energy supplies like natural gas, hydro, and even coal. (New Hampshire has the last operating coal powerplant in New England.) When the governor of a neighboring state, Massachusetts, worked hard to kill not one, but two new pipelines that would bring much needed natural gas into New England, and then complained when there was a natural gas shortage last winter, you know the leadership needed to ensure adequate electricity supplies is lacking, or worse, they are bought and paid for by the green energy true believers. (It’s gotten so bad that not one, not two, but three powerline projects that would have brought clean, renewable, and inexpensive hydropower into New England were killed off by the same people who then complain about their ever rising electricity bills.)

This is where Governor Ayotte differs from the governors in the other New England states, something that become evident during her recent State Of The State address back on February 5th:

Which brings me to an area of our lives here in New Hampshire that is not where we want it to be – and that is our electric rates. Let’s understand why we are here: Our neighbors, that govern a lot differently than we do, are busy pushing up regional rates with their net zero religion, and lack of pragmatism and consideration for the consumer.

While at the same time they are battling to block new energy projects that would lower costs for all of us by delivering much-needed energy into our region, such as the Constitution pipeline.

Here at home, our Public Utilities Commission has been too willing to go along with the wishes of the big utilities boosting their bottom line instead of being focused on keeping rates as low as possible for the residents of our state. The Commission must provide transparency to residents when it comes to their electric bills and put the needs of ratepayers first.

Looking toward the future of energy in New Hampshire, we can build on the successes of our homegrown power. There are numerous groups, lawmakers and stakeholders looking into the next steps of Nuclear. Today, I am directing our Department of Energy to build pathways to foster the next generation of nuclear power generation here in New Hampshire. I have asked the Department to bring together stakeholders, lawmakers and organizations focused on nuclear generation to ensure our state is at the forefront of this pivotal technology.

She understands that our future when it comes to electricity is going to be nuclear. Whether people want to admit it or not, nuclear power can be a lot cleaner and greener than what we have been told over the past 50 years or so. Too many of those against a nuclear renaissance are stuck back in the 70’s and 80’s when it comes to nuclear technology. Modern Generation III and Generation IV reactors are safer, more efficient, easier and less expensive to construct via Small Modular Reactor (SMR) designs, and some of the new reactor designs can use ‘depleted’ nuclear fuel from Generation II reactors for fuel, eliminating the need to store long half-life depleted fuel for 25,000 years or more. What’s not to like?

I have heard some people who are against nuclear power make the claim that we have no experience with modern technology, particularly SMRs, that it’s all still just theoretical. I beg to differ as there is plenty of experience with the newer nuclear reactor technology. Who has experience with that technology, you may ask? One of the largest users of nuclear power in the world: The United States Navy.

Between nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and nuclear-powered submarines, there is plenty of experience with the technology. The Virginia-class nuclear submarines employ an advanced Generation IV reactor, and I have no doubt the new Columbia-class submarines will do so as well.

Nuclear powerplants run 24/7/365, and the newer Generation III and IV powerplants will be able to run for even longer as some of the designs do not need to be taken offline for refueling like the old Generation II plants.

I have a feeling I’ll need to dig into this technology a bit deeper as I don’t want a topic like this to be dismissed because “It’s just his opinion. What does he know about the technology?”

Friday Funny - Who's Stronger

Thoughts On A Sunday

It was -2°F here at The Gulch this morning. It helps make sure the ice on Lake Winnipesaukee is good for this weekend’s Ice Fishing Derby. There are lots of bob-houses out on the lake, something that is needed as the wind chills are brutal if you don’t have any shelter from the wind.

We’re expecting overnight temps to be around 0°F or a little higher over the next couple of days, though the daytime temps might get close to freezing. Maybe.

I still have to clean off the couple of inches of snow from the trusty RAM 1500, seeing no reason to do so until it gets a little warmer outside as I have no plans to go anywhere today. About the only plans I have is to take care of a couple loads of laundry and to watch the SuperBowl early this evening.

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It is SuperBowl Sunday and the New England Patriots are trying to win their 7^th Lombardi Trophy. All the TV news has been covering over the past 2 weeks has been the SuperBowl. Almost every report includes some reference to the game. Over the past couple of days about 50% of the news coverage has been about the SuperBowl. Frankly, I’ll be glad once it’s all over. Mind you, I’ll be particularly pleased if the Patriots beat the Seahawks.

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After the recent layoffs at the Washington Post, I have to wonder how much longer Jeff Bezos will hold on to that money-losing fish wrapper? As more than one comment at the linked post has said, they brought it on themselves.

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I’ll admit that Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) has had me confused over the years. Between some rather bizarre behavior and a stroke, I’ve had a tough time figuring him out.

However, it seems that Fetterman has been shifting his political views away from the Left and more towards the center. As the Babylon Bee stated “Weird. Man Becomes More Conservative As He Regains Brain Function.”

Maybe not so weird.

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This is a really abbreviated TOAS as I am going back downstairs to watch the SuperBowl!

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And that’s the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s back in the single digits, the winds have been brutal, and where Monday is returning…again.

Before We Get Too Old Or Die Tour

I was perusing Instapundit this morning when I came across this post about a number of music artists and groups canceling tours due to health issues, advancing age along with health issues, or possible political disagreements.

Among the artists/bands canceling upcoming tours have been Neil Young, Twisted Sister, and the Rolling Stones. What gets me is just how many artists and bands from the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s are still out there touring. That their music is still popular, particularly among much younger people – Millennials and Gen Z – affirms to me that good music is good musing no matter how old it is.

To quote myself using one of my nom du wordprocessors about this:

At our local concert venue, we've been seeing a lot of the older acts and artists over the past couple of seasons. I've been calling it the "Before We Get Too Old Or Die Tour." This past summer I saw Rod Stewart's farewell tour concert. The opening act was Cheap Trick. I saw Chicago two summers ago and they were back this past summer. It may have been just me, but it seems half the acts performing at our local venue over the past couple of years have been part of the "Before We Get Too Old Or Die Tour".

Not that I'm complaining as it seems a lot of people want to see the old acts, including a lot of younger people. As I've heard my Millennial son say, "You guys had all the great music!"

One of the other things I’ve noticed is how many younger people have been making reaction videos on YouTube, reacting to music from ‘back then’. As I also mentioned in one of my comments, “Probably the two groups that have had the most enthusiastic reactions have been Pink Floyd and Boston. Two PF songs that bring out a lot of positive reactions have been Great Gig In The Sky from the Dark Side Of The Moon album and Comfortably Numb from the 1994 Pulse concert with one of the best guitar solos ever, Dave Gilmour's 4 minutes of guitar solo heaven.”

Dark Side Of The Moon came out in 1973 and Boston’s first album came out in 1975 and they are both still very popular.

I saw Boston play in our local concert venue some years ago with Tommy DeCarlo as lead singer. (This was a few years after their original lead singer Brad Delp died.) I saw Pink Floyd in 1990 in Berlin, Germany – The Wall 1990 concert – courtesy of my then employer because they sent me there for business.

Our local concert venue has already been advertising the acts that will be playing in the upcoming concert season and it looks like it will be a continuation of the "Before We Get Too Old Or Die Tour".

I can’t wait!

Friday Funny - Pick The Right Wife

Thoughts On A Sunday

It’s been a long stretch of cold weather up here at the lake, with many mornings having temperatures in in the single digits below zero. This morning it was -6°F here at The Gulch and -8°F down at the lake itself. (The Gulch is approximately 140 feet higher in altitude than the lake, so it tends to be warmer.) Monday morning will be the first day when it will be above zero in the morning. Over the past two weeks we’ve only had two days where it was above zero in the morning, and on those two days it was snowing. (We got about 20 inches of snow out of that storm.)

One thing that colder than normal weather has brought is increased heating bills. I know we’ve used more than the usual amount of heating oil at The Gulch as well as my neighbor’s home. (I keep an eye on the place as it is only their seasonal home, and they mostly come up from the Boston area during the summer months.) I’ve had to leave the thermostat turned up to keep the inside temperature from dropping to 60° overnight and taking hours to get back up to 68°. That’s not something we usually have to worry about. But with the lengthy bout of below normal temperatures and overnight temperatures being below zero, it has become the reality.

One thing that did give us a piece of mind was that just before the snowstorm arrived last weekend our local heating company topped off our oil tank. Our neighbor’s tank was also topped off right around the same time by a different heating company, meaning we were good to go for heating fuel despite higher use due to the frigid weather.

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New York City’s new mayor has barely been in office and he’s already having to backtrack on many of the promises he made during his campaign. Frankly, none of that surprised me as his understanding of economics was crippled by the usual socialist indoctrination in Marxist economics.



There won’t be all those free buses he’s promised. Rent control is likely to remain as it exists now. Those ‘free’ daycare centers won’t come into being. All the folks the mayor was going to tax the heck out of to pay for all those things are leaving New York and taking their businesses and money with them. (Gee, where have we been seeing happening recently?)

Anyone paying attention to history, particularly when it comes to socialism/communism economics, know that they have never worked. Ever. Yet somehow it was going to work this time?

Welcome to the real world, Mayor Mamdani. Oh, and when New York City goes bankrupt, don’t waste you time calling the White House for a bailout because it ain’t gonna happen.

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I wonder when someone will draft a Constitutional Amendment that allows the use of ellipses to modify the Constitution and its Amendments as needed? Oh, and add a Press Immunity clause to the First Amendment so ‘media’ can be excused from committing crimes if they have their press credentials on them?

As one of the commenters stated:

The freedom of the press does not protect an individual leading a riot to shut down a religious service, or any other crime by the individual. Freedom of religion is also a Constitutional right Lemon was abridging.

Indeed.

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And speaking of Don Lemon, there’s this:

DOJ Charges Don Lemon With Federal Civil Rights Crimes

The Department of Justice (DOJ) charged former CNN host Don Lemon with federal civil rights crimes after he live streamed anti-ICE protesters storming a church in Minnesota. Lemon, who was arrested on Thursday, was charged with “conspiracy and interfering with the First Amendment rights of worshipers during a January 18 protest at the Cities Church in St. Paul…

--snip--

Everybody’s joking about the insane argument that being a journalist provides carte blanche to defy any law whatsoever.

This is going to be interesting, to say the least. It certainly opens up the limits of press immunity, particularly when it is used to deprive people of their First Amendment rights regarding religion and free exercise thereof.

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I have to wonder how long it will be before the whole anti-ICE conspiracy falls apart? Seeing some of the polls about the whole illegal immigration issue, and particularly about ICE enforcing federal law, show a majority of the American people are in favor of deporting the millions of illegal immigrants that flooded across the border when the Biden Administration opened the borders. This is particularly true of the criminal illegal immigrants who have been found guilty of criminal acts back in their home countries, in the US since they’ve been here, or both, I find it hard to believe anyone would support not deporting them…or even imprisoning them.

They are acting like these criminals are somehow above the law merely because they entered the US illegally.

Somehow all of this is going to backfire on them and those funding them, particularly should some of those convicted criminal illegals commit even more heinous acts going forward.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s still colder than normal, the ice is pretty much thick enough to drive on, and where ice fishing has been in full swing.

Will Physical Money Ever Go Away?

Over the past few years, I’ve been hearing that eventually we’ll no longer use physical money – bills and coins – because electronic ‘money’ is so much easier to use. Some may think nothing of this, believing it’s just progress. But I have two questions for those who think this would be a good idea.

First, do they realize that every single transaction they make will be traceable? It won’t matter if they’re ordering something from Amazon or buying a sandwich or lottery tickets at the local convenience store, there will be a record of everything they buy or service they pay for. Nothing will be anonymous. Nothing.

But that isn’t the thing that bothers me most. It’s the second thing.

Second, if there is no power and/or no Internet there will be no money. Keep in mind the latest Snowmageddon that took place almost a week ago knocked out power and comm services here and there across the nation. That means that stores would be unable to sell you anything because you don’t have any actual money on hand to pay for anything. You won’t be able to pay for food. You won’t be able to pay for clothing. You won’t be able to pay for gasoline. (Yes , this assumes the gas station has power. I know of a few around here that do have their own emergency generators.) It won’t matter if you have hundreds, thousands, or millions of dollars in the bank because you won’t be able to access any of it because it doesn’t really exist. It’s just 1’s and 0’s in a computer somewhere, a computer that you won’t be able to access.

Will physical cash ever go away?

Lord, I hope not.

Friday Funny - Things You Can Say About Your Dinner...

Thoughts On A Sunday

As I write this (8AM) it is about 1°F here at The Gulch. The sky is cloudy and all is calm. Snow isn’t expected to start here until sometime around 2PM. With a couple of exceptions, we’re all set, and those exceptions will be taken care of well before the snow starts. One of those exceptions is moving the Official Weekend Pundit Generator from the back corner of the garage to the front near the garage door, something I will take care of around noon before the snow starts falling. Not that I expect we’ll need it as we will only be seeing snow here, and a light ‘fluffy’ snow which will pile up quickly but won’t have much weight. There won’t be any sleet, freezing rain, or heavy wet snow falling during the duration. However, that doesn’t rule out traffic accidents that could knock out power.

I still have to move the trusty RAM 1500 to leave the shared portion of the driveway open so the contractor will be able to plow it without obstruction. It does mean I’ll have to shovel out the pickup when the time comes, but I do have the Official Weekend Pundit Toro Power Shovel to help with that task, though I probably won’t be doing so until late tomorrow morning at the earliest.

Update – Noon: It just started snowing here at Lake Winnipesaukee.

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Everyone knows there’s been another fatal shooting of an anti-ICE protester in Minneapolis. What gets me is that ‘everyone’ knows exactly what happened and why, meaning the Lame Stream Media and the anti-ICE folks. They all point to the few seconds of video being shown which ‘proves’ what happened. This is no different than when Ms. Good was fatally shot after she struck an ICE agent with her SUV – ‘everyone’ knew there was no reason for the officer to shoot her…until additional video proved that she had indeed driven her SUV towards the ICE agent and struck him with it.

Frankly, I am going to withhold my judgement about the latest shooting because, quite frankly, I don’t believe either side. I don’t know what happened. I haven’t seen all of the video. I (and everyone else) have seen just the last few seconds of what occurred. I cannot be sure it shows everything in context. And therein lies the problem.

The anti-ICE folks don’t want it shown in context, particularly if it goes against The Narrative.

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Here is yet more proof of the old adage “That which is old is new again.”

It looks like Minneapolis is following the bad idea from Seattle – the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone or CHAZ – creating an Autonomous Zone by dragging dumpsters “to barricade entire city blocks while the anti-ICE protests rage on.”

This will turn out no better than CHAZ did in Seattle. But that won’t stop them from doing it anyways.

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In line with the big winter storm that has stretched from New Mexico to Maine, there’s this to worry about:

Report: Huge Winter Storm Is Your Fault

Isn’t everything our fault when it comes to climate change…even if climate change has nothing to do with this?

I recall the Big Storm of 1993 that was quite similar to the present storm, except that it stretched only between Texas and Maine. No one thought it was unusual other than it hit some of the southern states, something that wasn’t all that unusual given the proper time scale.

So climate alarmists say climate change causes too much warming and too much cold when it isn’t. The goalposts are constantly moved ignoring all of the winter storms of the past that were entirely natural. The alarmists overstretched their hands with their hype so people moved on convinced that the climate will change no matter what they do and no longer see any point in worrying about it.

Yeah. That sounds just about right.

It could be why the “climate change scam has been collapsing.”

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I’d like to hear Minnesota Governor Tim Walz explain away this one:

INDUSTRIAL SCALE FRAUD: $400 Million Minnesota Medicaid Scheme Operating Out of Single Building

Is this yet another nail in the coffin of Walz’s career?

Another massive Medicaid fraud operation has been uncovered in Minnesota, centered on the Griggs Midway building – a former linen factory allegedly converted into a hub for fraudulent billing. Roughly 400 Medicaid “businesses” operated out of the building, generating about $380 million in taxpayer-funded claims—an average of nearly $1 million per entity—despite the site’s implausible industrial setting. The revelations, made during a visit to Minneapolis, come amid the Trump administration’s broader crackdown on welfare fraud and have triggered fresh congressional scrutiny over how state oversight failed to flag an operation of this scale.

Massive Democrat fraud is standard operating procedure.

This is on top of the $9 billion of taxpayer money that has gone to organizations, people, and businesses that was acquired through well-organized fraud. What’s worse is that it looks like Minnesota officials knew it was happening and looked the other way or were part of the efforts to steal that taxpayer money.

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It will be the New England Patriots going to SuperBowl LX! They beat the Denver Broncos in Denver 10-7 in the AFC Championship Game.

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This doesn’t really surprise me.

Red States Have Reliable Power Because They Embrace an All-of-the-Above Strategy

My state, New Hampshire, which has a Republican Governor, Legislature, and Executive Council, has been trying to keep some of the more traditional power generation systems operating as well as seeking a nuclear power renaissance. Thinks like solar don’t bode too well up this way and wind is restricted as a lot of the land in the state is restricted by conservation easements.>br>
We shave the last operating coal-fired power plant in New England. We have a number of bio-mass powerplants. We have some trash-to-energy power plants. We have natural gas combined cycle power plants. We have hydro dams. We have a large nuclear power plant. But some folks want to shut down everything except the solar, wind, bio-mass, and hydro dams. Many of the folks wanting this are also against powerline projects that would bring clean, cheap, and abundant hydropower into New England, something that is paradoxical to me.

However, we also have a governor who sees the advantages of nuclear power and wants to build new nuclear plants. She understands the advantages of the present Gen III and Gen IV technology and the advantages of small modular reactors. She ran on building more nuclear power as part of her campaign platform. Let’s hope she can pull it off.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s snowing heavily, the snow is piling up, and schools have already canceled classes for Monday.