9/09/2018

Thoughts On A Sunday

It has gone from summer to mid-fall weatherwise in just a couple of days, with temps falling from highs in the upper 80’s/lower 90’s to the mid 60’s. Nighttime temps have been in the upper 30’s and lower 40’s, making for chilly nights. However we’ll be back in the 80’s after we go through soaking rain that is the remnants of Tropical Storm Gordon.

It has been quiet around the lakes as the summer season has ended. Many seasonal businesses have already closed their doors, though a few will remain open until Columbus Day weekend to cater to the leaf peepers – tourists visiting to look at the fall foliage.

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Listening to the campaign ads for those running for a number of state and federal offices, they separate out into two distinct groups – those focusing on issues that most of the people in New Hampshire find important, and those who detest Donald Trump with a passion and ignore what is important to people here.

One gubernatorial candidate has lambasted the incumbent governor for vetoing two renewable energy bills that would have forced consumers in the state to pay much higher electric rates in a state that already has electric rates that are 50% higher than the rest of the nation. She decries giving breaks to the existing utilities but wants to subsidize other utilities that cannot make it without state mandates, citing the loss of jobs if it doesn’t happen. But she ignores the loss of jobs or stagnating job growth because companies and corporations will not expand into New Hampshire because of the obscenely high energy costs. It will be a short term gain that will lead to a long term loss.

Then there’s one of the Democrat congressional candidates who is basing her entire campaign on fighting Donald Trump, seriously weakening everyone’s Second Amendment rights and destroying the NRA. This in a state with very strong Second Amendment support, including constitutional carry, the lowest crime rate in the nation, and rated the safest state in the country. Yet she sees mass murder and showdowns at high noon around every corner if we don’t disarm law abiding citizens. It doesn’t help that she’s also a carpetbagger, having moved into New Hampshire just long enough to establish residency so she could run for office. She has been living in Washington DC for years, was part of the Obama Administration, and originally hails from Illinois. But she figures she can fool “the rubes” into voting her into office so she can keep pushing the Progressive agenda.

We only have a couple of more days to listen to this, and I’m hoping we won’t have to listen to it after this Tuesday.

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Could Alzheimer’s be caused by an infection?

While no one has looked closely as this as a possible cause up to this point, it looks like some research will now be pointed towards investigating the possibility. If it turns out it is caused by an infection or series of infections, then treatment or preventative vaccines may become a reality.

As Glenn Reynolds often says, “Faster, please.”

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I guess the Left has figured that if they can’t convince GOP senators to vote against the confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court through reason and logic (yeah, right), then they’ll use insults instead.

Yeah, that’s a winning strategy.

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As I have opined more than once, too many people are addicted to the use of their cell phones. I have called it “electronic fentanyl” more than once, seeing people’s reaction when they are deprived use of their phones even for brief periods. They start jonesing for a fix.

It’s now being recognized as an addiction, at least according to this article from Proceedings Magazine posted by the U.S. Naval Institute.

The first cell phone hit the market in 1973, and 40 years later, more than half the U.S. adult population was carrying a cell phone in their purses or pockets. Today, that number is closer to 95 percent, with 77 percent of Americans owning a smartphone. But does this technology work as it originally was intended—to enable us to communicate better? Or is the increase in personal technology a sign of mass addiction?

I believe it’s both, though at times I have to wonder that even though it helps us communicate more, it does not necessarily help us communicate better.

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What would it take for us to see a resurgence in nuclear power in the US? MIT has a few ideas.

Probably the biggest factor to overcome is the irrational fear of nuclear power that was instilled by anti-nuclear wackos decades ago.

With the newer technologies and the move away from One Big Plant to A Few Small Plants on the same site, safety, reliability, and a means to reduce or eliminate high-level nuclear wastes as well as zero-carbon energy, nuclear looks much better to me than all of the wind/solar renewables put together.

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Is it any wonder that an increasing number of 18-29 year olds in California are getting ready to leave? They show a high dissatisfaction with the conditions in the Pyrite State, between sky high housing prices that put home ownership out of reach, high taxes, ridiculous and mind-numbing regulations that stifle businesses that induce them to leave.

That California is losing that demographic spells major trouble in the not so distant future. If you lose the group that will be starting families to other states, you will soon have a population that is increasingly aging population even as your total population decreases.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the summerfolk have gone, seasonal businesses have closed their doors, and where fall will be here soon enough.