I have been using the Official Weekend Pundit Woodstove to heat The Manse. It’s good thing we had almost a cord of dry firewood still stacked in the garage. It’s meant I haven’t had to use the furnace (and burn expensive propane) to keep the rather sparsely furnished Manse warm. (I am still in the process of packing up our various belongings and moving them into storage, so most of the rooms are empty.) Over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend I expect to get most of the rest of our belongings put away.
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As the trend of our younger generation becoming more enamored of socialism despite knowing nothing of its history, I have spoken to many of them about what they find so appealing. Almost every one of them responded with some or all of the following:
“It’s so appealing in its equality.”
“No one will be more equal than anyone else.”
“Poverty will go away.”
“Racism and sexism won’t exist anymore.”
Of course they know nothing of the history of socialism and its unbroken chain of failures, the bloody trail it has left behind, and how it has left economies and financial systems in ruins that leads to the populace living in abject poverty.
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I think it’s long past due time for the UK to make a break with the EU. Delaying Brexit is causing more harm than good and with some of the British politicians working hard to kill of Brexit, the UK is being torn apart.
Frankly, I have long been of the opinion that the UK would be better off joining an Anglosphere organization, maintaining their independence, and ending their increasing dominance by unelected officials and bureaucrats in Brussels. It’s time to tell the EU to piss off.
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You know the Democrat gun-grabbers have gone over the edge when one of them threatens supporters of the Second Amendment with nuclear weapons if they won’t willingly give up their guns.
Class act, that one. It also gives us a damn good reason to keep our weapons because politicians like that are a danger to everyone.
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Uh-oh.
It looks like the scientific Powers That Be are about ready to dethrone the physical representation of the kilogram, redefining it.
When the 26th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) convenes next week in Versailles, France, representatives of the 60 member nations are expected to vote to redefine the International System of Units (SI) so that four of its base units—the kilogram, ampere, kelvin, and mole—are defined indirectly, in terms of physical constants that will be fixed by fiat. They’ll join the other three base units—the second, meter, and candela (a measure of a light’s perceived brightness)—that are already defined that way. The rewrite eliminates the last physical artifact used to define a unit, Le Grand K.In the past the meter was redefined in terms of the speed of light, making the old meter ‘stick’ nothing more than a relic. And so it will be with the platinum-iridium sphere that is presently is the physical representation of the kilogram.
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Earlier I wrote about the incredible ignorance of our younger generations when it comes to the actual outcomes from the socialist systems. If they need a real world example of just how bad it gets, all we need to do is point them to Venezuela, and particularly their oil output which is in freefall. That Venezuela has some of the largest oil reserves in the world makes this news even more ironic. It was the wealthiest nation in South America, then Hugo Chavez was elected and imposed his vision of a Socialist Venezuela, carried on by his successor Nicolas Maduro. Now Venezuela is the poorest nation in South America and it’s poverty is purely self-inflicted. Famine is wide-spread. Healthcare is non-existent as are badly needed medications. Electricity is in short supply. Foreign capital investment is only a dream. The only wealthy in Venezuela are the leaders who have enriched themselves by impoverishing the people they lead.
Such is the promise of socialism.
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Here’s something that doesn’t surprise me in the least.
A study from tech developer Asurion has found that cellphone etiquette has shifted to the point where cellphone use is ubiquitous and intrusive.
Americans will often use their mobile phones in places such as public bathrooms and are not shy about the personal topics they discuss.I can attest to that, having witnessed more than a few restroom cellphone conversations that should have taken place more private.
In fact, one of the advantages of the phone booth was the relative privacy. That’s not the case in a public bathroom, but that has still become the new phone booth, according to the survey – nearly half (45%) of people have talked, texted or checked their phones while in a public restroom. One in 10 people surveyed said they use their phones in public restrooms at least once a week; additionally, one in 7 said the person they were talking with knew they were in a public restroom and didn’t care.
Then there’s the other end of this experience where people will pay attention to their smart phones rather than the people with them. We all see it all the time, with people bowed over their smart phones, typing, swiping, or tapping the phone displays as they surf the web, text, watch cat videos, and so on. No one exists outside their area of focus.
How many of you have walked into the break room at work or a coffee shop filled with people and no one is looking up, talking to the people beside them? I’ll bet that most of you would answer “I have!” It’s an all too common occurrence these days. It is also rude, something that present day cellphone etiquette fails to address.
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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where winter has arrived early, my boat is safely stored away for the winter (whew!), and even colder weather is forecast for Thanksgiving Day.