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.

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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.