9/02/2018

Thoughts On A Sunday

The last ‘official’ weekend of summer is upon us and people have been taking advantage of the great weather, getting as much recreating in as possible before Monday comes to a close.

This weekend has also meant a number of people traipsing in and out of The Manse now that it is on the market. That we’ve had as many as we have means either the market is really hot, our realtor is really good, or a combination of both. In either case, all we can do is hope that an offer from someone is forthcoming.

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How many of us have heard the lament “Things were a lot better back when I was a kid/teenager/college student/etc.”? More than a few of us, I’d wager. There were some things here and there that were better, or so our rather foggy memories tell us. But there were also a lot of things that were not. There are also a lot of things that exist today that make things better than they were “back in the old days”.

Here are Seven Ways Life Is Better Than They Were 40 Years Ago.

While I agree with the items on the list, some are far more important that the others, three of them being #3 – Advances in Medical Science, #6 – the Soviet Union is Gone, and #7 – Instant Communications, there is also a downside to some of them. We certainly see the downside of instant communications, between ‘phubbing’ (phone snubbing), cyber-bullying, and the addictive nature of the ability to be in constant communication.

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If we need yet another example of the failures of socialism, try this one on for size:

It appears that Venezuela is looking more like North Korea, at least when it comes to keeping the lights on.

Early on the morning of August 31st, Maracaibo was lit up, possibly for the last time in a few years, by a chain reaction of substation and transformer fires, even melted power wires in the streets, as the final phase of communist mismanagement of the energy supply morphed into complete disaster. Bonus – the Cubans have been “helping” Venezuela manage its electrical grid since 2010.

Brownouts and blackouts have become increasingly common over the past few years, and now, the locals desperately suck whatever power they can get, whenever they can get it, until the substations, transformers, and wires fail under the peak loads. When a three-phase distribution system goes out of balance due to one phase failing, the voltages and currents on the other two phases increase dramatically…

Rather than admitting they are incompetent, the Powers That Be in Venezuela blame foreign sabotage. However, unwavering belief in socialism does not trump the laws of physics or the law of supply and demand, hence Venezuela’s decaying infrastructure. And once the lights finally go out, Venezuela will look just like North Korea from space – dark from border to border.

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I watched a good portion of John McCain’s memorial service off and on, and found it interesting that political opponents who excoriated him for all kinds of reasons were all of a sudden singing his praises. Where was all of this when he was alive?

The media played up the “He’s a good Republican – he’s dead” angle for all it was worth. Other media did their best to find as much dirt on the man as they could in an effort to tear him down. It’s obvious they never heard the old aphorism about not speaking ill of the dead.

I remember a blog post from some years ago where a commenter called John McCain “a cowardly old man”. The replies to that comment blasted the moron, reminding him of the ordeal McCain was put through while held captive at the Hanoi Hilton. That’s assuming of course the moron even knew about it.

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The Other McCain covers the “Fake New, Real Hate” meme. It paints fake news as new ‘policies’ that the Democrats then use to slam Trump. And when the stories are found to be false, the media cooks up new fake news and the process repeats itself.

Is it any wonder that trust in the media has tanked and is still heading downwards?

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Because it’s the Labor Day holiday weekend, I am cutting this week’s TOAS a bit short. Still have things to attend to for tomorrow’s showings. Hopefully we’ll get a bite on The Manse.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summerfolk are partaking of last gasp summer activities, the summer businesses are raking in as cash as they can, and where the traffic heading southbound tomorrow afternoon is going to be epic.