I spent this past Tuesday working at our town’s polling place for the New Hampshire State Primary. I spent about 13 hours on my feet helping people insert their ballots into the counting machine, directing them to voter registration, and answering questions voters may have had.
All in all, things went smoothly. Two things that were surprising was the voter turnout which was considerably higher than the NH Secretary Of State’s office had predicted. They were expecting between 10% and 15% turnout. In my town it was closer to 34%. That was seen across the state. Generally, a state primary which is for state level offices – governor, state House, state Senate, Executive Council – as well as Federal offices – US House and US Senate.
One thing that occurred that no one had expected was that a lot of towns, including mine, ran out of Democrat ballots. In my town’s case we took the unused absentee ballots after they were signed by the Town Clerk after striking out ‘ABSENTEE BALLOT’ at the top. We also had to run some off on a copier since we had a limited number of those as well. All of the ‘copied’ ballots had to be hand counted since the machine rejected them because the copying paper used was too thin as compared to the usual card stock the ballots are printed on. (In case you are wondering, all of this was done at the direction of the state’s Secretary of State office.)
A lot of ‘Independent’ voters participated since they can ask for either a Republican or Democrat ballot. That request is marked at the Voter Registration desks. After they vote they can “undeclare” at checkout desks if they wish to return ti “Independent” status.
Ironically, after the polls closed and all the votes were tallied up, the number of voters who voted Republican or Democrat were only a couple of voters off from being equal. Of course that begs the question whether or not a smaller number of Democrat ballots the Republican ballots were shipped to our town for the primary? If so, why?
Winning candidates didn’t waste any time starting up their campaigns for the November elections, particularly those for the US House and US Senate seats. It seems the most of the campaign ads are negative ads thrashing an opponent for things they did or failed to do in the past. They haven’t reached the point of condemning them for their choice of a wardrobe pallette or footwear, but I have a feeling it will get as ridiculous as that the closer we get to the November election. As it is I am seeing my Election Bingo Card filling rapidly with each ad or campaign speech. Even though the election is only two months away I have a feeling that it’s going to seem like forever by the time it takes place.
9/12/2026
9/11/2026
Was It 25 Years Ago? Or Was It Yesterday?
It’s hard to believe it was 25 years ago today that we experienced That Awful Day. I was thinking of writing something completely new but realized I had written something for September 11th every year after That Awful Day. After reading everything I’d written I realized I wouldn’t be doing it any justice as I would be regurgitating all of the things I’d written before, so I decided to look through the previous years postings and find one or two that say it better than think I could do today. Other than adding a few thoughts, I haven’t changed anything. Somehow I think this one says it all.
I have to start with saying that until September 11th, I never understood the folks who had experienced the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 saying that they remember exactly where they were when they heard the news, remembered their feelings on that day. The one thing that so many of them said that to them, it hadn’t happened ‘x’ years ago, but ‘yesterday’.
On September 12th, 2001, I came to understand what they meant. In the years since That Awful Day I know exactly what they meant when they said it didn’t happen all those years ago. To me That Awful Day happened yesterday.
All these years later when I see the Twin Towers on an old TV show or movie I catch my breath. I flash back to That Awful Day, remembering exactly where I was when I first heard of a plane hitting the North Tower and the subsequent report of another plane hitting the South Tower. I remember watching TV as the towers fell. I remember seeing the report of a plane hitting the Pentagon and another crashing in the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I remember my pager going off again and again and again as I was called in to our state’s Office of Emergency Management. (I was a staff member back then.) I remember the faces of the people in my workplace and the Emergency Management office.
It was yesterday.
After 25 years It. Still. Hurts.
I remember what it looked like before That Awful Day, having visited the North Tower about 5 years prior to that day to visit with a friend of mine and to pick up some equipment he’d obtained for one of the organizations I belonged to at the time. I remember what it looked like after it had been struck by the two airliners. And I remember what Ground Zero Looked like two days after, having been there as part of an emergency response team.
I have visited the 9/11 Ground Zero memorial in New York. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got there, what I was going to feel being there again after all those years. I saw the footprints of the North and South Towers, the metal panels surrounding those footprints bearing the names of all of those who died there on That Awful Day. I read every name on those panels. Every name.
I couldn’t make myself go down into the museum. I could barely move. I could barely breathe. Then someone spoke to me.
“Sir, are you alright?”
I turned my head and saw a young women standing to one side, looking concerned.
I could barely choke out my reply.
“No. No I’m not...”and that’s when I broke down. I don’t know how long I stood there, tears running down my face. That young woman came over to me and hugged me, just holding on while my grief overwhelmed me.
Once I regained some semblance of control of myself, she let me go and told me that she witnessed something like this almost every day, people coming to Ground Zero and grieving, each in their own way. She asked if I would be alright and I told her I would. I thanked her and left.
Over the years we have heard the stories of the heroes, both individuals and groups, who did amazing things to help the people they didn’t know under daunting circumstances. But it is those stories that have been a silver lining on an otherwise horrific and horrifying day. It is something that when the memories and feelings start weighing me down, I watch this story, one that exemplifies the selflessness of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It allows me to see the good things that happened on That Awful Day.
*************************
I have to start with saying that until September 11th, I never understood the folks who had experienced the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941 saying that they remember exactly where they were when they heard the news, remembered their feelings on that day. The one thing that so many of them said that to them, it hadn’t happened ‘x’ years ago, but ‘yesterday’.
On September 12th, 2001, I came to understand what they meant. In the years since That Awful Day I know exactly what they meant when they said it didn’t happen all those years ago. To me That Awful Day happened yesterday.
All these years later when I see the Twin Towers on an old TV show or movie I catch my breath. I flash back to That Awful Day, remembering exactly where I was when I first heard of a plane hitting the North Tower and the subsequent report of another plane hitting the South Tower. I remember watching TV as the towers fell. I remember seeing the report of a plane hitting the Pentagon and another crashing in the town of Shanksville, Pennsylvania. I remember my pager going off again and again and again as I was called in to our state’s Office of Emergency Management. (I was a staff member back then.) I remember the faces of the people in my workplace and the Emergency Management office.
It was yesterday.
After 25 years It. Still. Hurts.
I remember what it looked like before That Awful Day, having visited the North Tower about 5 years prior to that day to visit with a friend of mine and to pick up some equipment he’d obtained for one of the organizations I belonged to at the time. I remember what it looked like after it had been struck by the two airliners. And I remember what Ground Zero Looked like two days after, having been there as part of an emergency response team.
*************************
I have visited the 9/11 Ground Zero memorial in New York. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do when I got there, what I was going to feel being there again after all those years. I saw the footprints of the North and South Towers, the metal panels surrounding those footprints bearing the names of all of those who died there on That Awful Day. I read every name on those panels. Every name.
I couldn’t make myself go down into the museum. I could barely move. I could barely breathe. Then someone spoke to me.
“Sir, are you alright?”
I turned my head and saw a young women standing to one side, looking concerned.
I could barely choke out my reply.
“No. No I’m not...”and that’s when I broke down. I don’t know how long I stood there, tears running down my face. That young woman came over to me and hugged me, just holding on while my grief overwhelmed me.
Once I regained some semblance of control of myself, she let me go and told me that she witnessed something like this almost every day, people coming to Ground Zero and grieving, each in their own way. She asked if I would be alright and I told her I would. I thanked her and left.
*************************
Over the years we have heard the stories of the heroes, both individuals and groups, who did amazing things to help the people they didn’t know under daunting circumstances. But it is those stories that have been a silver lining on an otherwise horrific and horrifying day. It is something that when the memories and feelings start weighing me down, I watch this story, one that exemplifies the selflessness of ordinary people doing extraordinary things. It allows me to see the good things that happened on That Awful Day.
9/06/2026
Thoughts On A Sunday
It was a mixed day here at the lake, at least when it came to the weather. It started pouring around 3am and continued until just before 7am. By 10am the overcast had changed partly cloudy and by 5pm it was just a few stray clouds here in there in a blue sky. At least the temperatures were decent with it reaching a high of 72 degrees here at The Gulch.
It was a good day to be out and about, something the WP Mom and I were doing from about 9:30 this morning until 2 this afternoon. This included attending church, stopping at a bank ATM and a gas station, and then heading south to the “big city” of Manchester to have lunch with the youngest WP Sister, her husband, and their youngest daughter who was home from overseas for a short visit before she flies off to yet another country for her employers later this week.
All in all it’s been a good day even though this weekend marks the semi-official End Of Summer.
Yes, I know it actually ends later this month as far as the astronomical calendar defines it, but most of the summer activities are coming to an end and summer attractions are either closing after this weekend or will remain open only on weekends for the next few weeks.)
Just a quick note that today’s TOAS will be a bit abbreviated as my day is not quite over and I still have things to take care of.
Normally I wouldn’t care about this one way or the other, “this” being a major company that has so offended its customer base that it has seen its stock value decline 80% from its 2021 peak. However, seeing as all of this damage was self-inflicted much like Gillette’s self-immolation when they did something similar to their customer base, I do have to ask “Just what the heck was Nike management thinking?”
How bad is it?
This bad.
Another thing, something I’ve known for a long time, that ‘thing’ being LBJ’s so-called War On Poverty was a lost cause. Why?
Because after 62 years, poverty won.
Is Canada doomed? If you need an example that something is seriously wrong, here it is:
Dad stabbed to death in front of his toddler at Starbucks for asking stranger to stop smoking weed… now Canadian judge has let killer off lightly.
The price of allowing illegal aliens to remain in the US keeps going up.
Illegal Alien Charged in $1.3B Medicare Fraud Scheme
This crap has got to stop.
And that is the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather has been pretty good, we’ve been taking advantage of some of the last of the summer fare, and where this week Monday is a holiday!
It was a good day to be out and about, something the WP Mom and I were doing from about 9:30 this morning until 2 this afternoon. This included attending church, stopping at a bank ATM and a gas station, and then heading south to the “big city” of Manchester to have lunch with the youngest WP Sister, her husband, and their youngest daughter who was home from overseas for a short visit before she flies off to yet another country for her employers later this week.
All in all it’s been a good day even though this weekend marks the semi-official End Of Summer.
Yes, I know it actually ends later this month as far as the astronomical calendar defines it, but most of the summer activities are coming to an end and summer attractions are either closing after this weekend or will remain open only on weekends for the next few weeks.)
==++++++==
Just a quick note that today’s TOAS will be a bit abbreviated as my day is not quite over and I still have things to take care of.
==++++++==
Normally I wouldn’t care about this one way or the other, “this” being a major company that has so offended its customer base that it has seen its stock value decline 80% from its 2021 peak. However, seeing as all of this damage was self-inflicted much like Gillette’s self-immolation when they did something similar to their customer base, I do have to ask “Just what the heck was Nike management thinking?”
How bad is it?
This bad.
Nike is set to leave the S&P 100 before U.S. trading opens on September 21, 2026, according to S&P Dow Jones Indices. The change was announced on September 4 as part of the index provider’s quarterly rebalance.If you want to see what has brought Nike to this sad state, what their management team did to cause Nike’s fall from grace, just Read The Whole Thing.
==++++++==
Another thing, something I’ve known for a long time, that ‘thing’ being LBJ’s so-called War On Poverty was a lost cause. Why?
Because after 62 years, poverty won.
==++++++==
Is Canada doomed? If you need an example that something is seriously wrong, here it is:
Dad stabbed to death in front of his toddler at Starbucks for asking stranger to stop smoking weed… now Canadian judge has let killer off lightly.
A Canadian man who fatally stabbed a father in front of his three-year-old daughter has been convicted of manslaughter rather than second-degree murder.It has been reported that there is security camera footage showing Schmidt was the initial aggressor, but it seems that stabbing him six times is a bit much. When does it stop being self-defense and starts being murder? I haven’t seen the footage so I cannot comment whether Schmidt had gone so far that Gosal felt he had to kill him or whether Gosal overreacted. I don’t know if Gosal was under the influence of marijuana (though he’d been smoking some which led to the confrontation), but that certainly could have been a factor in his response.
British Columbia Supreme Court Justice Kathleen Ker made the shocking decision on Wednesday in the trial of Inderdeep Singh Gosal, 34, who has admitted to stabbing Paul Schmidt, 37, six times in the torso and neck on March 26, 2023, CTV News reports.
==++++++==
The price of allowing illegal aliens to remain in the US keeps going up.
Illegal Alien Charged in $1.3B Medicare Fraud Scheme
An illegal alien from the country of Georgia allegedly spent five months running a Pennsylvania medical equipment company that filed $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims against Medicare and private insurers, then funneled the proceeds to a Russia-based criminal network. Federal prosecutors say this is the largest health care fraud case the Justice Department (DOJ) has ever prosecuted.$1.3 billion (with a ‘b’) in fraud? How much was the fraud discovered in Minnesota between the ‘Learing centers’ and health care companies and such that existed only on paper? Some estimates say up to $9 billion. Again, something that has been run by ‘refugees’ and illegal aliens.
Erekle Gugava, 33, was indicted in Massachusetts on one count of conspiracy to launder money. The case arises from Operation Gold Rush. The criminal organization behind it was based in Russia and elsewhere.
Gugava purportedly owned ND Medical Solutions LLC from February through July 2025. In those five months, the Pennsylvania durable medical equipment company allegedly submitted at least $1.3 billion in fraudulent claims to Medicare, Medicare supplemental insurers, employer-sponsored health plans, and other insurers.
This crap has got to stop.
==++++++==
And that is the (abbreviated) news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather has been pretty good, we’ve been taking advantage of some of the last of the summer fare, and where this week Monday is a holiday!
9/05/2026
The Computer OS Battle Continues
I have written about computer issues on and off for years. My most recent scribblings dealt with restoring two Linux desktops and one laptop that suffered catastrophic failures that finally got restored. None of the failures were the fault of the OS as I was using two different distributions of Linux – Linux Mint and Ubuntu. While Linux Mint uses Ubuntu as a base, both desktop failures turned out to be hardware issues with one desktop suffering a power supply failure and the other an improperly secured NVM card – basically a solid state drive (SSD) – that finally loosened to the point that the desktop wouldn’t boot. The laptop failure was also a hardware issue, in this case the hard drive failed.
Now that all but one of the Linux computers are up and running (I have a newer laptop that has not yet had Linux installed), I wanted to dive a little deeper into why I no longer use Windows at home. (My work laptop uses Windows 11 and I truly have come to intensely dislike it.)
One of the complaints about Windows 11 that I hear again and again is that everyone fears updates because it seems every update breaks something. For instance, one of of the most recent complaints I heard that the VLC media player now takes a long time to load and run a media file. This occurred after a recent Windows update that appears to block access to some Windows resources that were readily available in the past.
There’s also the increasing number of ads that show up on Win 11, as well as the notification that insists that users must have a Microsoft account to even use Windows 11. There’s also been the push for users to put all their files on Microsoft’s One Drive, a cloud service that allows Microsoft to scan all of your files whether you want them to or not. My work laptop has ‘forced’ this which can mean that if I don’t have an Internet connection I can’t see my own files. I certainly didn’t like this and set up to make sure I have copies of my files on my laptop’s hard drive and our local file servers. My employer’s IT department has pushed to maintain our own file servers and so far the corporate guys have agreed to this. I also keep copies of my files on an external hard drive, a ‘belt and suspenders’ precaution that I am glad I have used because it has saved me all kinds of grief on more than one occasion.
I have been using Linux for years now and I have no complaints. I have found it to be easy to use. This is particularly so for more recent versions and distributions. Some distributions are almost indistinguishable from Windows when it comes to how some of them look and their ease of use.
There are two I recommend if someone is interested in trying them out. (One of the beauties of Linux is that you can try it out without having to install them as they’ll boot from a USB key.) One of them, Linux Mint, is one that I have been using for a couple of years now. The other is Zorin OS. They both have a look and feel that is similar to Windows 10, but better. (I must mention here that Hewlett Packard has been shipping an increasing number their computers with Zorin OS installed as they have found it to be an excellent alternative to Windows 11. It has also reduced the number of customer support calls they have had to deal with due to Win 11 being so awful.)
I find it telling that Linux has a rapidly growing portion of the OS market with over 10% of computer users in the US using Linux. If Microsoft keeps doing everything it can to make using Windows ever more miserable than it already is, I expect that percentage will hit 25% within 2 years...if it takes that long.
Now that all but one of the Linux computers are up and running (I have a newer laptop that has not yet had Linux installed), I wanted to dive a little deeper into why I no longer use Windows at home. (My work laptop uses Windows 11 and I truly have come to intensely dislike it.)
One of the complaints about Windows 11 that I hear again and again is that everyone fears updates because it seems every update breaks something. For instance, one of of the most recent complaints I heard that the VLC media player now takes a long time to load and run a media file. This occurred after a recent Windows update that appears to block access to some Windows resources that were readily available in the past.
There’s also the increasing number of ads that show up on Win 11, as well as the notification that insists that users must have a Microsoft account to even use Windows 11. There’s also been the push for users to put all their files on Microsoft’s One Drive, a cloud service that allows Microsoft to scan all of your files whether you want them to or not. My work laptop has ‘forced’ this which can mean that if I don’t have an Internet connection I can’t see my own files. I certainly didn’t like this and set up to make sure I have copies of my files on my laptop’s hard drive and our local file servers. My employer’s IT department has pushed to maintain our own file servers and so far the corporate guys have agreed to this. I also keep copies of my files on an external hard drive, a ‘belt and suspenders’ precaution that I am glad I have used because it has saved me all kinds of grief on more than one occasion.
I have been using Linux for years now and I have no complaints. I have found it to be easy to use. This is particularly so for more recent versions and distributions. Some distributions are almost indistinguishable from Windows when it comes to how some of them look and their ease of use.
There are two I recommend if someone is interested in trying them out. (One of the beauties of Linux is that you can try it out without having to install them as they’ll boot from a USB key.) One of them, Linux Mint, is one that I have been using for a couple of years now. The other is Zorin OS. They both have a look and feel that is similar to Windows 10, but better. (I must mention here that Hewlett Packard has been shipping an increasing number their computers with Zorin OS installed as they have found it to be an excellent alternative to Windows 11. It has also reduced the number of customer support calls they have had to deal with due to Win 11 being so awful.)
I find it telling that Linux has a rapidly growing portion of the OS market with over 10% of computer users in the US using Linux. If Microsoft keeps doing everything it can to make using Windows ever more miserable than it already is, I expect that percentage will hit 25% within 2 years...if it takes that long.
9/04/2026
8/30/2026
Thoughts On A Sunday
It looks to another nice day here at the lake, though with more clouds and slightly lower temperatures. That suits me fine as I am still recovering from a very long day yesterday as our town celebrated Old Home Day, a topic I covered in yesterday’s post. It was one of those days where I was on my feet most of the day, sitting down only when I was eating something or talking to friends who were sitting down and eating. Mostly it was walking from one part of our town’s ‘downtown’ to another and back again.
What makes this a little less fun was that sometime during yesterday morning I tweaked my knee and woke up this morning with it aching and not wanting to cooperate when I needed to walk from one room to another here at The Gulch. I still don’t have any idea how this happened.
So today is going to be a low key day for me, foregoing some of my usual Sunday activities. I did not perform my usual “pre-church” shopping at Walmart early this morning. I also did not attend church though I did watch it on Facebook.
And so August is winding to a close. Where did the summer go? Wasn’t July 4th just a couple of weekends ago?
I could have commented on this last week, but I was distracted by something far less important.
Does it seem suspicious to anyone else that Hillary is already planning Bill Clinton’s funeral?
Is he going to be ‘arkancided’ when she feels the time is right?
Just when I think California can’t possibly get any worse, I’m proven wrong.
In this case, it’s lawmakers are pushing a law that will give businesses yet another reason to leave the Pyrite State.
What sort of nonsense are they pushing on businesses this time? Get a load of this:
Even though I and others have used this phrase facetiously here and there, now and then, I am nor thinking we should now seriously consider consider taking it to heart. The only way to stop this twisted nonsense is to “Nuke it from space. It’s the only way to be sure…”
The level of asininity from the Pyrite State is growing at an exponential rate and it needs to be stopped, now.
Somehow, this seems entirely appropriate.
Hamptons Yacht Club Cancels Restaurant Service After Staff Deported
Oh my!! Whatever will they do?
Read The Whole Thing.
As bad as Detroit came to be, Gary, Indiana is far worse.
Former Gary Resident Explains Why the Lights Have Been Off
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summer tourist season is coming to an end, schools are opening, and where even Monday can’t change that.
What makes this a little less fun was that sometime during yesterday morning I tweaked my knee and woke up this morning with it aching and not wanting to cooperate when I needed to walk from one room to another here at The Gulch. I still don’t have any idea how this happened.
So today is going to be a low key day for me, foregoing some of my usual Sunday activities. I did not perform my usual “pre-church” shopping at Walmart early this morning. I also did not attend church though I did watch it on Facebook.
And so August is winding to a close. Where did the summer go? Wasn’t July 4th just a couple of weekends ago?
==++++++==
I could have commented on this last week, but I was distracted by something far less important.
Does it seem suspicious to anyone else that Hillary is already planning Bill Clinton’s funeral?
Is he going to be ‘arkancided’ when she feels the time is right?
==++++++==
Just when I think California can’t possibly get any worse, I’m proven wrong.
In this case, it’s lawmakers are pushing a law that will give businesses yet another reason to leave the Pyrite State.
What sort of nonsense are they pushing on businesses this time? Get a load of this:
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-Calif.) may soon receive a bill requiring major companies to swear, under penalty of perjury, that they searched generations of corporate records for ties to slavery.WTF? Just how woke are these numb-nuts legislators going to go? Too far, apparently.
This bill, upon appropriation by the Legislature, would require any business or enterprise that is doing business in the state that was in existence or whose predecessor company was in existence on or before December 31, 1964 and has annual worldwide gross receipts that exceed $100,000,000 to complete an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, verifying that it has searched through any and all records in its and its related entities, as defined, possession, control, and knowledge for records that the in-state covered entity or its related entities bought or sold persons subjected to slavery, used persons subjected to slavery as collateral, provided loans to purchase persons subjected to slavery, insured such transactions or the persons subjected to slavery, or provided related or other services to aid or otherwise facilitate those transactions. The bill would set forth the contents of the affidavit, the timeline and manner of submission, and reporting requirements.And how much will this cost those businesses or enterprises to meet the requirements of such a law? Will it affect those businesses one way or the other...unless this is going to be used as a means of extracting “reparations” payments from those businesses to be forwarded to those they deem to be victims of that long past transgression or transgressions? I wouldn’t put it past them.
Even though I and others have used this phrase facetiously here and there, now and then, I am nor thinking we should now seriously consider consider taking it to heart. The only way to stop this twisted nonsense is to “Nuke it from space. It’s the only way to be sure…”
The level of asininity from the Pyrite State is growing at an exponential rate and it needs to be stopped, now.
==++++++==
Somehow, this seems entirely appropriate.
Hamptons Yacht Club Cancels Restaurant Service After Staff Deported
Oh my!! Whatever will they do?
The swanky oceanfront Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett — which reportedly charges around $100,000 in initiation fees — canceled its Wednesday night dinner service after its foreign cooks had to leave the US because of problems renewing their H-2B temporary work visas, according to a letter sent to members the same day.The author of the post recognizes that removing a lot of the foreign workers, be they legal or not, will have an impact on economics in a number of ways, some good and some not so good.
Food service was also canceled Thursday and was not expected to be back up and running until Friday’s lunch service, the club informed its deep-pocketed members — a group that once included Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s parents.
[…] “It seems that an oversight either by the agent or attorney responsible for submitting our petition or perhaps by the US Immigration Office itself has resulted in a situation where our H2B kitchen staff must leave the country immediately and return to their home countries for at least 60 days before their visas can be renewed.” (read more)
As a ‘let’s get on with it’ proponent of deporting all illegal aliens, cancelling H1B and J-1 visas as well as removing all Temporary Protected Status populations from the USA, we must also accept the very predictable consequences.Maybe it’s time to stop that kind of economic nonsense and get back to “organic business models” that will work for domestic labor.
There are a lot of businesses that may fold because they are so heavily dependent upon foreign workers, but those businesses are “operating on an inorganic business model, that could never have been sustained without massive import of cheap foreign labor.”
Read The Whole Thing.
==++++++==
As bad as Detroit came to be, Gary, Indiana is far worse.
Former Gary Resident Explains Why the Lights Have Been Off
We are told that when the lights don’t come on in nearly all-black Gary, Indiana, this is due to “environmental racism.” Black former Gary resident Kira Davis reveals the real reasons residents are miserable:This is quite telling, particularly since it doesn’t support The Narrative in any way shape or form.
First, people literally shot at the power company. NIPSCO (Northwest Indiana’s energy provider) has reported that multiple bullets struck their vehicle as employees tried to navigate the streets of the city and make repairs….This lazy and corrupt leadership barks that whites are to blame for the failure of a city run entirely by blacks. Turns out Critical Race Theory does not keep the lights on.
==++++++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summer tourist season is coming to an end, schools are opening, and where even Monday can’t change that.
8/29/2026
Another Little Piece Of Life In Small Town America
It was a gorgeous day here at Lake Winnipesaukee today with comfortable temperatures, low humidity, and clear skies. It was a perfect day for my home town’s Old Home Day, a celebration of our town by residents past and present. This year’s theme was “There’s No Place Like Home”.
It started with a pancake breakfast at our community center next to our church, followed by a 5K footrace and then a parade. The parade participants included some of our town officials, both the police department and fire department color guards, numerous community organizations and businesses, a couple of bands, a number of classic cars, some equipment from our Public Works department, some beauty queens, dance troupes, veterans organizations, and a number of candidates running for public offices in our upcoming state primary in a little over a week.
Once the parade was concluded the food vendors and crafters were open for business in our village field. There were also games, contests, music acts, and some sports activities. (I will admit to having a ‘basket’ of french fries and chicken tenders for lunch...consumed for quality control purposes, of course.) There was also a used book sale along with pie and ice cream at our library and a white elephant sale and raffles at our church. (The WP Mom has been working at the jewelry tables for a number of years now.)
Earlier this evening there was a band concert at the bandstand at our village field followed by fireworks.
It was a chance to meet friends and neighbors past, present, and future. Two of my long time friends came up from their home in southern New Hampshire to attend Old Home Day as they have been planning to make the move up here sometime, hopefully in the near future. This is the fifth or sixth time they have come up for our Old Home Day and I’m hoping that soon they won’t have travel so far to attend.
This was just a small slice of life in a small American town, one that was an absolutely wonderful time for those who attended and/or participated. I couldn’t think of anything better to do during a beautiful late summer Saturday.
It started with a pancake breakfast at our community center next to our church, followed by a 5K footrace and then a parade. The parade participants included some of our town officials, both the police department and fire department color guards, numerous community organizations and businesses, a couple of bands, a number of classic cars, some equipment from our Public Works department, some beauty queens, dance troupes, veterans organizations, and a number of candidates running for public offices in our upcoming state primary in a little over a week.
Once the parade was concluded the food vendors and crafters were open for business in our village field. There were also games, contests, music acts, and some sports activities. (I will admit to having a ‘basket’ of french fries and chicken tenders for lunch...consumed for quality control purposes, of course.) There was also a used book sale along with pie and ice cream at our library and a white elephant sale and raffles at our church. (The WP Mom has been working at the jewelry tables for a number of years now.)
Earlier this evening there was a band concert at the bandstand at our village field followed by fireworks.
It was a chance to meet friends and neighbors past, present, and future. Two of my long time friends came up from their home in southern New Hampshire to attend Old Home Day as they have been planning to make the move up here sometime, hopefully in the near future. This is the fifth or sixth time they have come up for our Old Home Day and I’m hoping that soon they won’t have travel so far to attend.
This was just a small slice of life in a small American town, one that was an absolutely wonderful time for those who attended and/or participated. I couldn’t think of anything better to do during a beautiful late summer Saturday.
8/28/2026
8/23/2026
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s a gloomy-looking day here at the lake. Cloudy, some light showers here and there, and heavy or severe thundershowers forecast for late in the day. All in all, not a bad day to stay close to The Gulch. Not that any of that would preclude the WP Mom and I from attending church or helping to get things prepared for our small town’s Old Home Day next weekend.
The only thing that might get interrupted by the weather is today’s running of the NASCAR Dollar Tree 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway south of here this afternoon. If I heard correctly NASCAR will be starting the race 1 hour earlier then scheduled in order fit it in before the thunderstorms move in.
I was saddened to learn of the passing of a friend of mine, Charlie St. Clair, who is the driving force behind the annual Laconia Motorcycle Week which takes place every June. He’d been involved in a motorcycle accident in Ohio on August 4th after a tire failed, passing away from heart failure while being treated in the hospital.
I mostly knew him through the motorcycle rally, though he also served as a representative in the New Hampshire House, representing Laconia. He was one heck of a guy and he will be missed.
We’ve been hearing an increasing number of ‘stories’ and observations about how more men are “ditching the workplace”, particularly younger men. What we haven’t been hearing?
The reason or reasons why.
Here’s one take by Auron MacIntyre:
Men have responded to this in some workplaces by not interacting with women at the workplace with other than work-related discussions, withdrawing socially. In some workplaces men are wearing body cameras as one means of protection, so if any allegations are made there is a record of any interactions that took place.
Such work environments men that men are wending their way through a minefield. Who wants to deal with that day after day? In some cases men decide not to put up with it anymore and leave, distancing themselves from such an environment.
Are these scenarios actually occurring in the workplace? Yes.
Do they happen to level that some men are saying? I haven’t any idea.
However I keep hearing the stories, in some cases first person stories, about how someone’s job was lost and their reputation demolished due allegations made. What’s worse is that even if after an investigation it is shown no such transgression took place, the subject of any such investigation will still be seen as guilty.
Is the situation out of hand everywhere in the US? No. I have a feeling it is a problem primarily in the cities, particularly blue cities. But the fear is still there.
And then there’s the tacit discrimination that has some businesses that they would not even consider hiring a straight white male. But that’s for another time.
I have asked this question, too.
Maybe there’s nowhere near as much money in it anymore?
This is something I noticed years ago and it’s only gotten worse.
Europe In Free Fall
As I have mentioned more than once the EU environmental regulations have been placing increasingly heavy burdens on businesses in the EU or those doing business in the EU. (See point 5 above.) I know because I have to deal with them every day at my job. There’s nothing wrong with such regulations...unless they have gone well past the point of diminishing returns. The EU has gone well past that point even if you ignore the whole “Net Zero” push for energy. I used to spend maybe 5% to 10% of my time dealing with various national and international environmental regulations that deal with electronic equipment. Most of my efforts dealt with making sure the electronic, optical, and electro-optical components that go into our equipment met the various environmental requirements that ensured hazardous or toxic materials were not used in our products. (There were exemptions for certain substances under very specific conditions, but there weren’t too many of those.) Today I spend closer to 40% of my time dealing with them as the EU has expanded the scope of those regulations. To give you and idea of just how crazy it’s gotten in the EU they are now implementing regulations on shipping materials...like corrugated cardboard, i.e. cardboard boxes, shipping labels, the ink used on shipping labels, and so on.
The above is but one example why it is becoming more difficult to do business in or with the EU. The other factors are piling even more reasons why Europe is coming apart.
I have to wonder if this might be a reason we’re seeing more Europeans looking to move to the US? I have certainly seen that sentiment in countless YouTube videos of European tourists who visited the US during the World Cup expecting to find a crime-ridden disaster area and found just the opposite. Many apologized about their previous feelings about the US, explaining that their media has been lying to them about the US for years now.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the NASCAR race managed to finish even with the rain still hanging around, and where the Day That Shall Not Be Named is returning.
The only thing that might get interrupted by the weather is today’s running of the NASCAR Dollar Tree 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway south of here this afternoon. If I heard correctly NASCAR will be starting the race 1 hour earlier then scheduled in order fit it in before the thunderstorms move in.
==++++++==
I was saddened to learn of the passing of a friend of mine, Charlie St. Clair, who is the driving force behind the annual Laconia Motorcycle Week which takes place every June. He’d been involved in a motorcycle accident in Ohio on August 4th after a tire failed, passing away from heart failure while being treated in the hospital.
I mostly knew him through the motorcycle rally, though he also served as a representative in the New Hampshire House, representing Laconia. He was one heck of a guy and he will be missed.
==++++++==
We’ve been hearing an increasing number of ‘stories’ and observations about how more men are “ditching the workplace”, particularly younger men. What we haven’t been hearing?
The reason or reasons why.
Here’s one take by Auron MacIntyre:
Men did not “ditch the workplace”The fallout from the #MeToo and “Believe All Women” movement has also helped create a hostile work environment, putting many men in a situation where even saying “Good morning” to a female co-worker can be reported as harassment or as making the victim feel ‘uncomfortable’. Little or no proof is required and men can see their careers damaged or reputations besmirched if HR does not perform their due diligence and investigate complaints filed.
They were literally discriminated against and exiled by woke hiring standards under the Civil Rights Act
Men have responded to this in some workplaces by not interacting with women at the workplace with other than work-related discussions, withdrawing socially. In some workplaces men are wearing body cameras as one means of protection, so if any allegations are made there is a record of any interactions that took place.
Such work environments men that men are wending their way through a minefield. Who wants to deal with that day after day? In some cases men decide not to put up with it anymore and leave, distancing themselves from such an environment.
Are these scenarios actually occurring in the workplace? Yes.
Do they happen to level that some men are saying? I haven’t any idea.
However I keep hearing the stories, in some cases first person stories, about how someone’s job was lost and their reputation demolished due allegations made. What’s worse is that even if after an investigation it is shown no such transgression took place, the subject of any such investigation will still be seen as guilty.
Is the situation out of hand everywhere in the US? No. I have a feeling it is a problem primarily in the cities, particularly blue cities. But the fear is still there.
And then there’s the tacit discrimination that has some businesses that they would not even consider hiring a straight white male. But that’s for another time.
==++++++==
I have asked this question, too.
Maybe there’s nowhere near as much money in it anymore?
==++++++==
This is something I noticed years ago and it’s only gotten worse.
Europe In Free Fall
1. [T]he terrifying fact [is] that Europe's erasure as a civilization is underway.There are six other factors on the list, all of with which I agree. (See the others in the linked post.)
2. Economically, Europe is in ghastly shape.
3, For nearly five decades, the European Union's economic growth and productivity rates have lagged behind those of the United States.
4. European Union countries have established welfare states that have steadily expanded since 1980 and stifle economic growth.
5. The European Union has also proliferated stifling regulations that place a heavy encumbrance on businesses. Restrictions on gas and electricity production, combined with a drive for a rapid and extremely costly transition to "renewable energy", have resulted in natural gas prices in Europe that are now three to five times higher than in the US, and electricity prices that are 2 to 4 times higher than in the US. To survive, many European companies have relocated production outside Europe.
6. International investment is turning away from Europe. Nine of the world's top ten tech companies are American; the tenth is Taiwanese.
(Note: The formatting for the above was modified to add the ‘point’ numbers for my convenience, not yours!)
As I have mentioned more than once the EU environmental regulations have been placing increasingly heavy burdens on businesses in the EU or those doing business in the EU. (See point 5 above.) I know because I have to deal with them every day at my job. There’s nothing wrong with such regulations...unless they have gone well past the point of diminishing returns. The EU has gone well past that point even if you ignore the whole “Net Zero” push for energy. I used to spend maybe 5% to 10% of my time dealing with various national and international environmental regulations that deal with electronic equipment. Most of my efforts dealt with making sure the electronic, optical, and electro-optical components that go into our equipment met the various environmental requirements that ensured hazardous or toxic materials were not used in our products. (There were exemptions for certain substances under very specific conditions, but there weren’t too many of those.) Today I spend closer to 40% of my time dealing with them as the EU has expanded the scope of those regulations. To give you and idea of just how crazy it’s gotten in the EU they are now implementing regulations on shipping materials...like corrugated cardboard, i.e. cardboard boxes, shipping labels, the ink used on shipping labels, and so on.
The above is but one example why it is becoming more difficult to do business in or with the EU. The other factors are piling even more reasons why Europe is coming apart.
I have to wonder if this might be a reason we’re seeing more Europeans looking to move to the US? I have certainly seen that sentiment in countless YouTube videos of European tourists who visited the US during the World Cup expecting to find a crime-ridden disaster area and found just the opposite. Many apologized about their previous feelings about the US, explaining that their media has been lying to them about the US for years now.
==++++++==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the NASCAR race managed to finish even with the rain still hanging around, and where the Day That Shall Not Be Named is returning.
8/22/2026
It's Yesterday Once More
Normally my Saturday scribblings deal with some social issue or train of thought that have me cogitating about “The Meaning Of It All” or “Just How Silly Is This” or...well, you get the idea. Sometimes it’s something like a new article or Letter To The Editor in my local newspaper or a discussion I’ve had with someone or something I see on TV or the Internet that gets me thinking.
However, this week’s Saturday scribblings deal with something I came across on YouTube that caught me off guard, and in a good way.
Unless you’ve never read anything I’ve posted you know I am an ‘old geezer’. I was born in the 1950’s, grew up in the 60’s and attended high school and college in the 70’s. I was exposed to a wide range of music over those years. Certainly my parents had quite a bit to do with that as I remember listening to Classical music and “Big Band” era music (Glenn Miller, Harry James, Kay Kaiser, Bennie Goodman, and so on) as well as pop music as I grew up. I’d like to think that it gave me an appreciation for a wide range of music.
One of the many music groups I listened to back then was The Carpenters. I have to admit to a bit of a crush on Karen Carpenter, but then I know I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
I have heard more than a few covers of some of the more well know Carpenter songs and they ran the range of awful to pretty decent. Recently I ran across a young woman who absolutely blew me away with her covers of a number of Carpenter songs as well as a number Olivia Newton John songs.
I have to admit that the first Carpenter song I heard her perform was We’ve Only Just Begun and I am willing to admit it literally brought tears to my eyes as it had me flashing back to the first time I heard it playing on the radio. I am including that video below. I think you will be amazed.
One thing I did was check out an ‘analysis’ video from Wings of Pegasus which dug into the cover and found that it didn’t use auto-pitch correction. It’s all Tori.
I have checked out some of her other covers and they are no less amazing. She also has some originals you might want to check out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
Unless you’ve never read anything I’ve posted you know I am an ‘old geezer’. I was born in the 1950’s, grew up in the 60’s and attended high school and college in the 70’s. I was exposed to a wide range of music over those years. Certainly my parents had quite a bit to do with that as I remember listening to Classical music and “Big Band” era music (Glenn Miller, Harry James, Kay Kaiser, Bennie Goodman, and so on) as well as pop music as I grew up. I’d like to think that it gave me an appreciation for a wide range of music.
One of the many music groups I listened to back then was The Carpenters. I have to admit to a bit of a crush on Karen Carpenter, but then I know I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.
I have heard more than a few covers of some of the more well know Carpenter songs and they ran the range of awful to pretty decent. Recently I ran across a young woman who absolutely blew me away with her covers of a number of Carpenter songs as well as a number Olivia Newton John songs.
I have to admit that the first Carpenter song I heard her perform was We’ve Only Just Begun and I am willing to admit it literally brought tears to my eyes as it had me flashing back to the first time I heard it playing on the radio. I am including that video below. I think you will be amazed.
One thing I did was check out an ‘analysis’ video from Wings of Pegasus which dug into the cover and found that it didn’t use auto-pitch correction. It’s all Tori.
I have checked out some of her other covers and they are no less amazing. She also has some originals you might want to check out. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
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