Thoughts On A Sunday

It was a trip to New Hampshire’s Seacoast for me and the WP Mom yesterday.

We attended the 80^th birthday celebrations of my Dear Brother’s In-Laws since their birthdays were only a couple of days apart.

Traffic down and back really wasn’t bad considering the hot day and the open beaches. Then again, not too many people were partaking of swimming since the water temps are still in the 40’s.

All in all, it was a good day and it was nice to see some family members we hadn’t seen for a while.

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Katy informed me that she had pulled her convertible out of storage Thursday morning in order to take advantage of the great weather. I have to admit that I am a little envious of her seasonal set of wheels. On the other hand I have the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout...and she doesn’t.

It all balances out in the end.

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Dr. Helen has been promoting a dual camera dash cam via Amazon on and off for the past month or so and I can say I ordered one.

Why did I order a dashcam?

I guess I have to blame watching the plethora of dashcam videos on YouTube as a motivation. Seeing the accidents, dumb moves by clueless drivers, dangerous conditions created by dangerous drivers, and road rage incidents convinced me it was time to break open the Official Weekend Pundit Wallet and obtain one. It is now ensconced in the trusty RAM 1500.

Laissez le bon temps rouler!

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I stopped at my local “reference” gas station/convenience store to pick up a few items (including a couple of lottery tickets) this morning on my way back from my “before church” run to Walmart. Imagine my surprise to see Regular was now $4.699 (up 40¢ since last week), Mid Grade was $4.899, Premium was $5.099, and Diesel $6.399. It is prices like this that make me glad I can work from home two or three days a week – reducing my commuting mileage by 40 to 60 percent. Not that I have all that long a commute – just under 10 miles one way – but the trusty RAM 1500 isn’t exactly fuel efficient. Then again, it is a work truck and is used to haul all kinds of stuff.

Seeing the prices at my reference gas station I had to check the price of gas at the gas docks around Lake Winnipesaukee and what I saw confirmed what I expected: even higher gas prices. (It must be understood that marinas tend to sell only one grade of gas, either 89 octane mid-grade or 93 octane premium.) Two of the marinas I sometime use for fueling up the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout listed 89 octane for $5.099 on the south side of the lake and $5.799 on the north side of the lake. It isn’t often that I buy gas at a gas dock as I tend to fuel my boat using a couple of gas caddies I filled up at a local gas station (but not my “reference station”), using 87 octane since that’s all my boat requires and saving anywhere from 40¢ to $1.50 a gallon. That’s anywhere from $10 to $45 I won’t have to shell out to fill the tank. That may not seem like a lot to some folks, but to this cheap...er...frugal Yankee, that’s a lot of my money I don’t need to give to someone else.

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The following story certainly falls under the Treacher adage: “When Republicans screw up, that’s the story. When Democrats screw up, the Republican’s reaction is the story.”

AP Is Aghast That the GOP Would Use Biden's Failures as a Political Weapon. Aghast!

We already know if the parties were reversed we would not see such a story from the AP. Instead, the AP would be slamming the GOP for the failures of an under-performing GOP president directly, and not the Democrats’ reactions.

Double standard much?

The Associated Press is well known — and rightfully so — for writing long, detailed articles on “what it all means.” They’re called “thumbsuckers” in the news business, and the AP has perfected them.

A thumbsucker article presupposes that the reader is an ignorant rube and needs to be guided from Point A to Point B of a topic in order to have it explained to them. The problem for the reader is that the AP reporter writing the story — or most other mainstream reporters writing the story — almost always allows his or her own bias to permeate the story, making a “what it all means” story into a “what it should mean to you, you ignorant wretch.”

But the AP’s latest thumbsucker — “GOP’s new midterm attack: Blaming Biden for formula shortage” — makes a silly attempt to guide the reader to the conclusion that the Republican attack lines are politically motivated.

OMG! Really?

As long as one keeps in mind that much of the media are nothing more than part of the propaganda wing of the DNC, the AP’s reports make sense.

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Speaking of the media, Powerline delves into just how much the American public distrusts the “credentialed media”.

...Rasmussen finds that “[e]ighty percent (80%) of voters believe ‘fake news’ is a serious problem in the media, including 56% who say the ‘fake news’ problem is Very Serious.” Not surprisingly, 89% of Republicans think fake news in the media is a serious problem, but 75% of Democrats also say that fake news in the media is at least a “somewhat serious” problem.

Did Donald Trump ever say that the news media are the enemy of the people? What I remember him saying is that the “fake news media” are the enemy of the people.

One thing Rasmussen found that surprised some people is that 58% of the poll respondents agree the media are the enemy of the people. “It is hard to imagine how any industry could so disgrace itself in the eyes of the American people.”

What does the media expect when they stop reporting the news and start ‘creating’ the news or generating spin that changes the meaning of events until they no longer resemble what actually took place or why?

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This isn’t exactly new, but the story is still telling and points to problems the have created for that Utopian bastion of environmental wokeness, California. One of the biggest problems?

Lack of sufficient generation capacity to meet demand, particularly if there are any “heatwaves, wildfires, or other extreme events” this summer.

The update from leaders from three state agencies and the office of Governor Gavin Newsom comes in response to a string of challenges with the ambitious transition away from fossil fuels, including rolling blackouts during a summer heat wave in 2020.

California has among the most aggressive climate change policies in the world, including a goal of producing all of its electricity from carbon-free sources by 2045.

In an online briefing with reporters, the officials forecast a potential shortfall of 1,700 megawatts this year, a number that could go as high as 5,000 MW if the grid is taxed by multiple challenges that reduce available power while sending demand soaring, state officials said during an online briefing with reporters.

The plans to go green looked great on paper, but as often happens reality doesn’t care what anyone’s plans may say. The plans make assumptions that should not be made, many of those assumptions requiring suspension of disbelief in order to make them come to fruition. Some of those assumptions included wholly unrealistic projections about how much energy would be available if energy production switched to green sources. California is a living example of how not to make the transition. It is also an example of how wrong the definition of green energy is as it is applied by the Green Energy True Believers as they ignore sources like modern nuclear which emit no carbon dioxide, are reliable and unaffected by weather or time of day, and can even be used to dispose of nuclear waste from older reactors, ‘burning’ that so-called waste for fuel.

And so it goes.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer has arrived, my boat still isn’t in the water, and Monday has arrived all too soon...again.

Russia's Missteps

Depending upon which media reports you believe, Ukraine is kicking Russian butt or Russia is about to bury Ukraine with a massive offensive.

Of the two, I am more inclined to give credence to the former rather than the latter. Unless Russia goes nuclear, I am becoming to believe it has “bitten off more than it can chew” and may need to look for a way out.

It is seeing increasing losses, seems incapable of taking more territory, has been bogged down in Mariupol trying to take a steel mill still held by Ukrainian forces, and can’t even seem to be able to cross a river without losing men and equipment.

As if that isn’t enough their leadership feels the need to motivate two otherwise non-NATO countries (Finland and Sweden) to seriously consider joining NATO as a defensive move, threatening them with military action and other hostile acts when they started debate within their respective governments to do so. Is the threat of military action by Russia real? Most think it isn’t likely, particularly in light of Russia’s military failings in Ukraine.

All we can do is hope it doesn’t all turn to s**t.

Using Less Energy Creates More CO2?

From the “Just When I Thought They Couldn’t Get Any Stupider” Department comes this gem.

One of the things I thought the move to working from home during Covid lockdowns brought about was less CO2 emissions because people weren’t commuting to and from work and burning all those nasty fossil fuels, offices were closed which meant lights weren’t needed, heat would remain set to overnight temps if not lower, A/C didn’t need to run in empty offices, and computers weren’t being used on site. But according to the usual suspects, 2 emissions were higher because of home offices, something that doesn’t make sense.

Tech and financial companies leading efforts to cut climate changing emissions are finding a new challenge from remote work: the CO2 spewing out of home offices.

A few companies have begun counting what happens when employees boot up computers at home, turn up gas furnaces and ignore the world’s most energy-efficient corporate campuses. It turns out that home setups popularized by the pandemic are eroding some of the climate benefit of abandoned commutes.

“Emissions didn’t go away,” said Amanda von Almen, head of emissions reduction at Salesforce.com Inc. “They just shifted to another area.”

That emissions shifted isn’t in question. But to ignore the emissions from commuting is disingenuous. Assuming workplaces are far more energy efficient than homes is something one cannot automatically take as truth. They also assume everyone’s home office (or at least their home) is unoccupied during the day. They also make certain assumptions about the workplace energy usage.

Climate experts say those solutions scratch the surface: After pouring billions of dollars into traditional offices decked with rooftop solar, bathed in natural lighting and equipped with water recycling, employers transitioning to hybrid work need clear plans to make every location just as green.

I am not sure exactly where you find all of the offices/campuses mentioned above, but it sure as heck isn’t anywhere near here. I have no doubt it is more prevalent in places like California where energy prices are high, much of those high costs attributable directly to actions taken by the state government and not market forces.

Since I can only relate what I have experienced directly at my place of work, there is no rooftop solar, no large amounts of natural lighting, or water recycling...unless you’re talking about the septic system that treats and returns water to the aquifer that feeds our well. The “large amounts of natural lighting” can make our location even less energy efficient, particularly taking in mind the weather conditions and temperatures we experience from late fall to early spring. Windows do not insulate nearly as well 6 or 8 inch walls filled with insulation. (It can quite often reach temperatures well below zero Fahrenheit, even during the day, during the depths of winter.)

Then there’s this:

One roadblock to counting home office emissions is that there is no standard on how or what to count. Microsoft Corp, trying to solve the problem itself, concluded that remote staff work eight hours a day using a laptop, two monitors and three lightbulbs.

--snip--

But if heating a home office requires heating an entire house, how are emissions counted?

And if they are using a laptop, two monitors, and a bunch area lighting (or maybe task lighting), how much does that change emissions? I know that when I work from home here at The Gulch, I generally don’t need more than a single LED lamp in my office first thing in the morning or late in the afternoon, and then mostly during late fall through early spring. As long as the sun is above the horizon I don’t need a light in my home office. I also don’t need to heat the entire house to heat my home office as we have zoned heating. (Even then, the heat from my computer helps maintains the temperature in the office as long as I keep the door closed.) It also turns out the heat is turned up on the first floor around 7am because my mother lives here and she doesn’t like to be cold.

Yes, I understand the conditions in my home aren’t all that common, at least not in whole country, but it’s pretty common around most of the northern tier of the US.

I think the folks mentioned in the linked article need to rethink their assumptions about energy consumption by corporate offices versus home offices. Using Salesforce, Microsoft, and Meta as their models isn’t realistic or representative of most businesses. It’s too small a sample.

This is just as bad, if not worse than the claims that science, specifically astronomy, contributes to climate change. Considering a lot of science uses energy, that claim could be made about science in general...even climate science.

Thoughts On A Sunday

There’s plenty of activity around Lake Winnipesaukee as we see the boat yards and marinas shifting into full summertime mode as they continue to prep boats for launching, and summerfolk opening their cottages and vacation homes and getting them squared away for the upcoming summer. I saw quite a few folks ‘from away’ at our dump...er...solid waste center dropping off the detritus of post-winter cleanup. (Property owners in our town, even if from away, have access to our dump since they are taxpayers.)

With the warmer weather forecast for the upcoming week, I expect we’ll see even more such activities leading up to Memorial Day weekend. We have certainly seen some of the seasonal businesses open on weekends, one of them being one of our local ice cream/take-out food joints, a sure sign of the upcoming summer.

The only question is how much the stumbling economy is going to affect the summer considering inflation, gas prices, and some supply chain issues. Some folks are predicting summer gas prices might exceed $5 for regular and prices much higher than that on the lake at the gas docks, both of which will put a damper on an otherwise busy season.

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I have to wonder about the reports of a hepatitis outbreak infecting children. After looking at a number news sources about the outbreak, I didn’t really find any that didn’t try for some kind of sensationalism. So I stopped by WebMD to see what they had to say about it.

The worldwide outbreak of acute hepatitis in children totals nearly 200 cases in 16 countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has identified more than 20 severe cases in the United States, specifically in Alabama, Delaware, Illinois, New York, and North Carolina. In Wisconsin, one infant died of the disease. Of the worldwide cases, 17 have required a liver transplant.

While severe hepatitis with acute liver failure is rare in healthy children and the odds are greatly in your child’s favor should they get hepatitis, your best defense right now against the current, rare cases is information.

The cause is presently unknown other than it is not the usual strains of Hep A, B, C, or E. That there are less than 200 cases worldwide – at least as of May 3rd – so it doesn’t count as a major outbreak. Some have made the claim that it is a side effect of the Covid vaccines, but many of the children affected weren’t vaccinated against Covid.

My question is “Where did this start and how did it appear in so many places at roughly the same time?” I have no idea how much contact tracing has occurred to this point, but it is something that should be addressed if this at present small outbreak explodes.

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Seen in the comments at Instapundit:

Leftist/Elitist/Journalist/Influencer: “Abortion is a right. It is in the Constitution.”

Normie Person: “The Right to Keep and Bear Arms is in the Constitution.”

Leftist/Elitist/Journalist/Influencer: “That’s different. A gun may kill an innocent person!”

Normie Person: “An abortion WILL kill an innocent person.”

Leftist/Elitist/Journalist/Influencer: FASCIST! RACIST!

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Yeah, I can agree with this:

Ex-spies and diplomats say the Biden administration needs to 'shut-up' after NYT report about US intelligence helping Ukraine kill Russian generals.

"Shut up about it," John Sipher, a former CIA officer who served in Russia, said in a tweet on the Times report.

Michael McFaul, a former US ambassador to Russia, in a tweet responding to Sipher said, "Exactly. No one should be talking to press about such things."

Striking a similar tone, former US diplomat Aaron David Miller tweeted that the "whole shift in tone" following Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's visit to Ukraine is "worrisome."

"Weakening Russia; winning; and now stories @NYT about killing Russian generals. Why can't we just shut up?" Miller said.

Some may ask why the NYT even published such a report. All one has to remember that the NYT is not a friend of America. It seems to work to dismantle America, kowtowing to America’s enemies and working to destroy its friends. Then again, it is not much more than one part of the propaganda operation for the Progressive DNC-MSM.

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It seems this must be repeated again and again until it sinks in: Organic farming cannot meet the food needs of the world.

By now everyone should know that the Biden Administration is a ship of fools. When you choose officials in order to fulfill diversity quotas, it’s what happens.

Among the idiots running the administration is one Samantha Power. She is the Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development.

Now, what does this serious nitwit have to say about the pending worldwide famine, caused by the absence of nitrogen based fertilizer? Why she has declared that this absence will facilitate the transition to more organic fertilizers.

Anyone who knows anything knows that this is a formula for mass starvation.

As I have written elsewhere, it has been shown again and again that organic farming doesn’t scale well. It works fine for your backyard vegetable garden or small truck farm. It doesn’t work so well for large scale farm operations.

The farm where my son has worked since he was 13 tried going organic on just under a quarter of their fields. After 3 years they abandoned organic farming because they couldn’t make it pay. It took more labor, more organic fertilizer (compost) and more water, but provided lower yields, a losing proposition.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer-like weather is on its way, my boat will be ready to launch this week, and where the upcoming Monday is already harshing my mellow.

The System

It’s been a while since I’ve touted any of Tom MacDonald’s music videos, but his latest one – The System – is worthy of viewing. This one, like many of his other more popular videos, tells us some harsh truths which people on both sides of the political divide can agree.

Without further ado, here’s Tom’s latest.

This Explains It

Seen in a comment to an Instapundit post:

Biden is a dictator.

Half dick.

Half tater.

'Nuff said.

Thoughts On A Sunday

We’re finally back into a warm weather cycle after dealing with days of temps just above freezing, including a few days with high winds which made it feel even colder. A portion of the day today was spent on the first round of spring cleaning here at The Gulch, dusting off the window screens and washing the windows – inside and out on the first floor and inside on the second floor – dusting the blades on the ceiling fans, and cleaning the filters on the A/C units. (Not that we need the A/C very often up here in N’Hampsha, but when we do it’s great having it.)

We’ll also be spending a little bit of time storing our winter apparel away – parkas, heavy gloves, winter boots and the like - and pulling out our summer stuff, including the boating gear.

Speaking of boating gear, the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout is scheduled to to be pulled out of storage this week and prepped for the boating season. If things go according to plan and the weather cooperates we’ll be able to launch the boat next weekend.

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Work was very busy last week, though not so much with actual work. We were moving.

A couple of years ago our division went through a reorganization which saw our production and shipping operations moved to another underutilized facility. Our engineering department remained which meant a building designed to house a business with up to 140 personnel now had 12 full-time employees and another dozen ‘floaters’, employees who primarily work from home but come to the facility now and then for one function or another. Our building went up for sale about the same time with the idea of leasing back some of the space from the buyer unless they were going to occupy the entire space.

Two years later and the building finally sold.

The new owner had no problem leasing space to us, but since we didn’t need the entire facility, we chose to lease part of the second floor. That meant moving surplus equipment, furniture, and other gear we didn’t need someplace else. This usually meant selling it and letting the buyers move it out rather than disposing of it or storing it. The things we did need were moved up stairs over a period of a month. Old files that were no longer needed were shredded and disposed of, old prototypes and samples were recycled, offices and labs were moved, test equipment and lab benches were relocated and set up. There’s still some electrical work that needs to be done as part of the move, but for the most part we finished the move before the end-of-the-month deadline.

At least we didn’t have to fill moving trucks.

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I have to agree with Elon Musk on this one.

And then there’s this from Elon: The far left ‘hates everyone, themselves included.’

It seems the Left is doing everything it can to try to paint Musk’s purchase of Twitter as a move to ‘silence free speech’ on the platform. That’s ironic considering Twitter as it presently operates doesn’t believe in free speech. It only believes in Leftist disinformation and propaganda. Based on their actions on Twitter, actual free speech is tyranny, particularly if such speech disagrees with them or their narrative.

Hypocrites.

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Today is Victims of Communism Day.

I think it should be amended to be called Victims of Socialism Day. Socialism has killed untold millions, directly and indirectly. Communism is just another form of Socialism.

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Yup. I’ll call it what it is – The Student Loan Scam.

Currently there is somewhere around $1.6 trillion outstanding in unpaid student loans. That is approximately twice the amount of all credit card debt. And many thousands of college graduates and dropouts find themselves unable or unwilling to repay their student loans.

How did we get into this mess? It goes back to the Higher Education Act of 1965, but, as with so many government programs, the senators and representatives who voted for it never imagined how it would transform higher education, in part by driving costs relentlessly higher. Now the Biden administration is trying to buy votes in the midterm elections by promising to cancel the entire $1.6 trillion outstanding debt.

While student loans to pay college tuition may have sounded like a good idea, in practice they have devolved into something that indebts students to pay for college degrees with values far less than the value of the loans taken. The loans created a ocean of cash from which colleges and universities hungered to drink. Tuitions increased well above the rate of inflation. New courses of study were created, with far too many of them ending in the word “Studies”. To me, such courses of study are useless since the only thing they seem to provide is resentment and intolerance towards a specific group or groups who are seen as the reason(s) for the troubles, real or imagined, being experienced by the subjects of the “Studies” courses. (Yes, this is a bit of hyperbole...but only a little bit.)

In short, Biden threatens (or promises) to take patently illegal action in order to buy votes, in the expectation that his wrongdoing won’t be checked until after November–and perhaps not at all. We live under a scofflaw government.

Canceling student debt would be a bad idea. It sets a bad precedent. It will also give future students the idea that they can get a ‘free’ education by taking out student loans and then not having to pay them back.

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Geez, now you can’t even go on vacation without worrying squatters will break into your home, steal all of your belongings, and attack you when you get home.

A Maryland woman returning from vacation got a nasty surprise when she walked in her door. Her residence had been emptied of everything but her bed. And on the bed, she found two squatters.

The unidentified woman apparently tried to leave but was tackled by the male squatter. There followed a bizarre sequence of events where the male squatter gave the woman advice on how to keep people from breaking into her home.

“Not only were they in my home, but everything in my home was gone except for my bed because he details how he loved my bed so much. And I’m like who are you? And he says my name. He’s like you didn’t pay your rent. I’m like what are you talking about? I paid my rent.”

The victim left for vacation on March 28 and returned on April 5. The woman says she doesn’t know where her belongings are and doubts she will ever recover them. As for the criminal squatters, they’re still at large after they promised they were going to do the same thing to another homeowner.

In some states (like California) it can be a lengthy and expensive process to evict squatters. In others all it takes is a call to police. In yet others simply showing your sidearm is enough to get them to leave. Of course, the folks in the story weren’t just squatters, but thieves. They took $50K of her belongings, leaving her apartment bare.

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I’d say this is a fair statement.

The Democrats have become the party of miserable, whiny grumps.

The hatred, anger and resentment of liberals is not exclusive to the extreme Democrat. It’s now the entire party.

When was the last time anyone encountered a happy Democrat? They don’t exist. They’re perpetually miserable, annoyed that normal people have moved on from COVID, offended that anyone objects to public schools teaching 7-year-olds about sexual identity, and frustrated that their fetish with “critical race theory” (also known as “how to properly hate whites!”) isn’t as widely shared as they thought.

Consider the response to a Florida judge recently striking down the Biden administration’s loathsome air-travel mask mandate. Social media was immediately flooded with videos of flight attendants and passengers overjoyed that they had unfettered access to oxygen again. Liberals could only sulk.

Similarly at The Washington Post, columnist Kate Cohen wrote Wednesday how awful it is to see Americans ditching their masks in celebration. “I still planned to wear a mask while COVID circulated in my community because I was afraid of spreading the virus to vulnerable people,” she said. “Surely we can personally be ‘done’ with this pandemic while respecting the fact that others are not.”

What she means is something more along the lines of: I don’t like that I can’t morally nag people about masks without the backing of the State anymore.

“I don’t like that I can’t morally nag people about masks without the backing of the State anymore.” Hmm, almost sounds like a description of a state-sanctioned Karen. As if we need even more Karens than the ones we already have to deal with.

I have found that even when some Democrats get their way they are still unhappy, are “sore winners”. I have found them to be particularly annoying.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee where the warmer weather has returned, more boats are showing up at slips, and summer cottages are being prepped for opening.

Ignorance Of The Educated

This is something I’ve seen before and it rings true. I have seen examples of this my entire adult life. I see it all the time on the ‘Net. In fact, I see it mostly on the ‘Net. I also see it in real life. It is always disheartening.

The question is whether it is the Dunning-Kruger Effect or willful ignorance?

How Much Is It Going To Cost To Be Out On The Lake This Summer?

There has been a lot of speculation around the Big Lake about marine gas prices and where they will be once the boating season is in full swing. At the moment most marinas that have been updating gas prices show a range between $4.59/gallon and $6.99/gallon for 89 and 91 octane gas. (Surprisingly the 91 octane gas is cheaper than some of the 89 octane gas available at the various gas docks around the lake.) I expect prices will go even higher once we get well into summer and gas demand goes up.

I take it that it’s safe to make the assumption that the situation is the same at any of the other gas docks and marinas around the country.

The one upside to the high marine gas prices is that there will be less boat traffic on the lake. That’s what happened the last time gas prices were like this. There were times when there were very few boats out on the lake on a sunny July weekend afternoon. The last time I experienced that I think I saw all of a dozen boats over the three hours my family and I were out on the lake that day.

While the gas prices will also affect me, it won’t be as much as it would some of the other boaters since I don’t buy gas for the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout at gas docks. Rather, I use a couple of gas caddies and fill them at the local gas station. It helps that my boat only requires 87 octane gas which saves costs up front and not having to pay the price premium for gas sold at gas docks which can be as much as $1.50/gallon above that sold at the gas station. It also helps that the boat doesn’t use a lot of gas as compared to some. We may not go out as often as we might otherwise or we’ll spend more time at anchor at some of our favorite spots rather than cruising around the lake in an effort to reduce gas consumption.

Despite the gas prices, I am looking forward the upcoming boating season.

Thoughts On A Sunday

Yesterday was another day of working around The Gulch making sure everything would be ready for painting next month. Fortunately much of the work was cleanup and hauling the demo – rotted boards, damaged flashing and shakes – to the town dump for disposal.

Not that I am finished with spring cleaning by any means as there’s plenty that needs to be done in the garage and the storage space above the garage. I also have to clean the gear for the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout before it is put back into the water next month.

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We keep hearing the hype about 5G phones and their revolutionary changes for smart phone users. However, the hype doesn’t match with the reality.

For the most part, customers don’t really see a difference between 4G/LTE and 5G service. The so-called game changer that was supposed to be 5G has turned out to be more of a marginal improvement for some. Customers outside of urban areas won’t have access to the newer high-speed data services.

While the MacWorld magazine article linked in the above Instapundit post delves into Apple’s late entry into the 5G world and some of the issues with 5G, the comments are telling with more than a few saying that their experiences with 5G hasn’t been eyeopening. A few have had worse service with 5G than 4G. Others have said they really don’t see any difference between 4G and 5G performance.

We aren’t seeing a big improvement of the kind we experienced when we switched from 3G to 4G. It’s an incremental improvement that for a large percentage of customers is barely noticeable.

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Okay, I am going to put my rarely used Conspiracy Theorist hat on for a moment. Here goes.

What’s with all the food processing plants blowing up lately?

A weird trend has emerged over the past few months that seems statistically unlikely. A number of factories, logistical centers, and food processing plants have caught fire or exploded, including two that had planes crash on them. More and more people have noticed and wondered about the trend on social media. Of course, this has caused the conspiracy theorists to come out in force, so one must make a sober assessment without jumping to conclusions. But man, this is weird. With all the negative pressures on our economy and supply chains, and even Joe Biden talking about global food shortages over the next several months, one has to wonder what’s going on here.

And to add even more fuel to the conspiracy theory fire, it seems Union Pacific has decided to help make the food shortages even worse.

Add to this Union Pacific notified America's largest distributer of fertilizer (CF Industries) that they will be limiting shipments by nearly 20%. "The timing of this action by Union Pacific could not come at a worse time for farmers," said CF CEO Tony Will in a press release.

--snip--

CF Industries Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CF), a leading global manufacturer of hydrogen and nitrogen products, today informed customers it serves by Union Pacific rail lines that railroad-mandated shipping reductions would result in nitrogen fertilizer shipment delays during the spring application season and that it would be unable to accept new rail sales involving Union Pacific for the foreseeable future. The Company understands that it is one of only 30 companies to face these restrictions.

CF Industries ships to customers via Union Pacific rail lines primarily from its Donaldsonville Complex in Louisiana and its Port Neal Complex in Iowa. The rail lines serve key agricultural areas such as Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas and California. Products that will be affected include nitrogen fertilizers such as urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) as well as diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), an emissions control product required for diesel trucks. CF Industries is the largest producer of urea, UAN and DEF in North America, and its Donaldsonville Complex is the largest single production facility for the products in North America.

“The timing of this action by Union Pacific could not come at a worse time for farmers,” said Tony Will, president and chief executive officer, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. “Not only will fertilizer be delayed by these shipping restrictions, but additional fertilizer needed to complete spring applications may be unable to reach farmers at all. By placing this arbitrary restriction on just a handful of shippers, Union Pacific is jeopardizing farmers’ harvests and increasing the cost of food for consumers.”

On Friday, April 8, 2022, Union Pacific informed CF Industries without advance notice that it was mandating certain shippers to reduce the volume of private cars on its railroad effective immediately. The Company was told to reduce its shipments by nearly 20%. CF Industries believes it will still be able to fulfill delivery of product already contracted for rail shipment to Union Pacific destinations, albeit with likely delays. However, because Union Pacific has told the Company that noncompliance will result in the embargo of its facilities by the railroad, CF Industries may not have available shipping capacity to take new rail orders involving Union Pacific rail lines to meet late season demand for fertilizer.

Hmm. At a time when food shortages have already started and are going to get worse, Union Pacific takes actions that will make them much worse. As the latent conspiracy theorist inside of me is thinking, the timing of this move by the railroad is...umm...suspicious.

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If you need any more proof that colleges are bastions of Progressive fascism, here’s the latest example from Tulane University where Leftist college students decided to form a “human wall” as a means of silencing free speech by blocking access to the University’s conservative club event that was addressing free speech and the problems with censorship and socialism.

There was a time when students were rebellious. They were in favor of free speech, as opposed to believing that only officially approved speech should be permitted. That was before they had been sufficiently indoctrinated by the ideologically homogeneous education establishment. Now, many of them would be eager to help herd the politically disfavored into boxcars en route to reeducation camps. They will even form human walls to block out disapproved speech — such as opposition to censorship...

What do you expect from a bunch of drones programmed to spout socialist ‘ideals’, to equate ‘feelz’ with thought, and to not think about anything not approved by their Progressive elite masters? These are folks that soon won’t be able to find their butts with both their hands unless directed by those same masters. What’s ironic is that they’ve sold themselves into slavery and either haven’t realized it, or worse, don’t care.

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CNN+, we hardly knew ya.

I can’t say that I am sorry to see it go, particularly after only a month online.

CNN itself is barely surviving. What made them think a purely online subscription version – CNN+ - would do any better is baffling to me.

The collapse of CNN+ in such a short amount of time is such an embarrassment for them. Think of the time and money they invested in this.

There’s plenty more at the link, including Netflix’s mistake that is costing them subscribers and income, predictions of a disaster of biblical proportions for the Democrats in November, Elon Musk’s efforts to buy Twitter, and Disney’s mistake in getting involved in Florida politics which has cost it its status as a self-governing district and special tax breaks.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer is creeping ever closer, the dry ground is a fire hazard now that the snow has all melted, and where May is only a week away.

I Don't Care

“I don’t care.”

This has become my response to a lot of issues that are allegedly plaguing our society. Not all of them, but a lot of them.

I find that almost all of the ‘woke’ issues are ones I care less and less about. My reason is that so many of the ‘woke’ issues are pure unadulterated bulls**t. So many of them are trivial, but blown all out of proportion until they seem of major importance. But they aren’t. They are still trivial. Some are even non-existent.

It seems that so many privileged (and bored) white Progressives find they don’t have a cause to fight for, unlike their parents or grandparents. All the good causes have already been won, most of them in the 60’s and 70’s. Good causes are in short supply, so the ‘woke’ needed to find something. Little things are blown all out of proportion to create a cause and the cause is pushed. Even ridiculous causes are treated as if the fate of humanity depends upon it.

Another thing I don’t care about? LGBTQA+. Why?

Because none of that makes any difference to me. I don’t care if someone is homosexual. I don’t care if someone is bisexual. I don’t care if someone is trans. I don’t care if someone is ‘+’. None of that makes any difference to me and never has. To paraphrase Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., “I want people to be judged by the content of their character, not their sexual orientation or gender identity.” My problem is that an increasing number of the LGBTQA+ community have made their sexual orientation or gender identity their sole purpose in life. They go on and on ad nauseum all day, every day, and they don’t stop, ever. They aren’t helping their cause. Rather they are damaging it. Their entire identity is wrapped up in their cause to the exclusion of all else. They become a parody of the very thing they say they are fighting for and people start ignoring them, just the opposite of what they say they want. They become boring to talk to or interact with because all they ever talk about is their community, period.

I know so many other members of the community that don’t like this. They don’t like the In-Your-Face confrontation and theater that masquerades as support.

Another topic I don’t care about?

Sexism, and its ‘related’ issue, patriarchy.

I think my biggest problem is how every problem women experience is solely the fault of the patriarchy (which is based on sexism). My problem with such claims? It seems those complaining the loudest about patriarchy can’t even define it. (A definition can be found here.) All they seem to know is that it has something to do with men and is therefore, evil. How can anyone be against something they can’t even define?

Then there’s racism.

It is a problem...but I don’t care. Why?

It is claimed the US is a racist nation, one of the worst on the face of the planet. But most of the folks making that claim have never been anywhere else on this planet. They have absolutely no clue how little racism exists here. For such a racist nation we seem to have little racism, particularly when compared to the rest of the world. (I have traveled to 40+ countries and I have seen and been subjected to racism.) We do have it here. I do not claim we don’t. What makes me not care is that the ones screaming the loudest about racism tend to be the racists in the room. They somehow have the idea that our racially disadvantaged citizens (meaning non-white) can’t possibly get ahead without their helping hand, a hand that more often holds them back. We have seen many of these same racist anti-racists speak on behalf of racial groups they neither know or understand.

A couple of examples of this paradox include the ‘woke’ pushing to change the team names of the Washington Redskins (NFL) and Cleveland Indians (MLB). They saw the names as demeaning and racist. However, they never bothered to ask the Native American tribes how they felt about it. If they had, they would have found most had no issues with the team names. In fact, a poll taken of Native Americans about the name of the Washington Redskins found that a majority were proud of the name with the next largest number of those polled being ‘indifferent’ to the name. Yes, one tribe, the Oneida, expressed their dismay at the name. But the Blackfeet tribe was upset at the change considering Walter Wetzel, a member of the Blackfeet, created the logo that had been used since 1971.

The one thing that has me not caring about racism is the claim we hear from the woke that only white people can be racist. I cannot even begin to explain just how clueless and stupid that claim is. That told me I didn’t need to care about the racism.

I could continue on and on about issues ‘plaguing’ our country about which I don’t care, many of which are faux causes or trivial grievances. I have more important things to care about and deal with. So do we all. It’s time for more of us to say “I don’t care” when it comes to the aforementioned causes and grievances. We all have more important things to deal with.