Thoughts On A Sunday

I can’t believe it’s Columbus Day Weekend already. The leaf peepers are out and about, particularly around here as we are supposedly approaching peak color. I’ve been seeing a lot of out-of-state license plates, a wider array than we see during the summer. I’ve also been seeing a lot more of those same vehicles wandering around, apparently lost. But I’m not seeing as many leaf peepers as usual for this season. The lack of rain which started in early June certainly hasn’t helped as the colors have been kind of muted this year.

I still see a lot of green here with only a few trees having turned and a few more just transitioning now, so the forecast that we’ll see peak color sometime this week seems to be wishful thinking. We’ll see.

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I’ve been hearing contradictory information about China, particularly its economy. The ‘official’ line from China’s government says everything is just fine, just some minor economic fluctuations that aren’t anything to worry about. Then you see something like the following from the China Observer YouTube channel that paints an entirely different picture:


Is this something that happened in one area of China or is it more widespread? If it’s widespread, just how bad is China’s economy? Is it just deep into a recession or is the economy on the edge of collapse? If it does collapse, what does that mean for both China and the rest of the world? It will certainly mean both economic and political problems for China, both internally and externally. Will China be unable to ‘help’ Russia in it’s three-year long “Special Military Operation” in Ukraine even if it gets Russian crude oils as payment?

My employer uses parts from China, more specifically optical and opto-electronic components used in fiber optic systems. We have been looking for alternate sources for some, finding them in Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, and pleasingly surprising, in the US. I have no doubt that our competitors are doing likewise as a “Just in case” move, just like we are.

China is also a large supplier of lithium-ion batteries, needed for phones, tablets, laptops, power tools, medical equipment and many other types of portable equipment as well as e-bikes and EV’s. However, there are a number other countries where lithium-ion batteries are manufactured.

All of this contradictory news and information brings to mind an old Chinese curse: “May you live in interesting times.”

I have a feeling China is experiencing those “interesting times” writ large.

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New York Attorney General Letitia James isn’t getting anywhere near the abuse she deserves. Look up the word “hypocrite” in the dictionary and you’ll see her picture there.

She ran for office promising that she would “Get Trump” if she were elected. She did just that, using creative interpretation of banking laws to ‘prove’ that standard financial practices for obtaining loans was somehow fraudulent, found Trump liable, and got a $300+ million fine levied upon him. An appeals court found the fine was unconstitutional under the Eighth Amendment by an appeals court for being so over-the-top.

But when she commits bank fraud while obtaining mortgages in Virginia by claiming her legal residence is in Virginia, that’s okay? Oh, and then there’s the issue of claiming her legal residence is in Virginia. That would automatically make her ineligible to be New York’s Attorney General because that office requires the Attorney General to be a legal resident of New York. Seems she’s found herself in the middle of a legal pickle, particularly now that she’s been indicted for decades of mortgage fraud.

After four years of relentless lawfare against President Trump, with Democrats shouting that “no one is above the law,” they’ve made one thing perfectly clear: in their world, Democrats are above the law. The evidence that New York Attorney General Letitia James engaged in mortgage fraud is extensive and damning, yet Democrats react with outrage, accusing Trump of “targeting his enemies,” with zero self-awareness or irony.

Make no mistake—unlike James’s baseless case against Trump, the proof that James herself broke the law is overwhelming. Conservative filmmaker and journalist Joel Gilbert laid out a detailed and troubling case, showing that her alleged pattern of mortgage fraud spans decades, and is far more serious than her defenders admit.

Speaking on Real America’s Voice, Gilbert made a detailed James’s extensive history of mortgage fraud.

“Letitia James probably should not have been charging Donald Trump with trumped-up charges of mortgage fraud in New York, given the fact that New York is a public record state and that all of her mortgages for 43 years were online for myself or anybody else to pull up,” Gilbert said. He then outlined a pattern of alleged mortgage fraud dating back to 1983, when James was just 24 years old. “She purchased her first home with her father, claiming that her father was her husband,” he said. “They purchased it as husband and wife in order to help Letitia qualify for a mortgage that she was not entitled to.”

The double standard of too many Democrats in power showed itself far too often during the Biden Administration. Now that the law applies to them again, they’re finding out their arrogance is coming back to bite them. James is going down and so is Senator Adam Schiff as it looks like he may have pulled similar mortgage fraud as well.

Time will tell how this all works out.

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This isn’t really all that surprising any more: Vice President JD Vance annihilates George Stephanopoulos in fiery live interview.

As the linked post states, it was so bad that ABC cut Vance’s feed.

Vance doesn’t suffer fools gladly and he told Stephanopoulos truths he didn’t want to here.

Trump’s Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, is much the same way as she doesn’t let the press get away with their usual shenanigans and calls them out on it all the time.

Refreshing, isn’t it?

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I’ve always liked reading about the Darwin Awards. The way people accidentally do themselves in never ceases to amaze me. One of my favorite types usually has something to do with stupid people trying to steal electrical cabling from inside buildings, telephone poles, electrical substations, and so on. More often then not they fry themselves when they try to cut a cable carrying thousands of volts using bolt cutters. It became so common that the Darwin Awards website no longer accepts such stories of self-elimination.

Sometimes it is the Runner Up stories that are entertaining, like this one:

He was told that his rental 4X4 wasn't good enough. He didn't believe them. Tourist in Kia Telluride Comes Dangerously Close to Tumbling Down Black Bear Pass, Forces Trail Closure.

People have died on Black Bear Pass, well, falling off the pass.

--snip--

It isn't exactly clear how he came to drive off the trail, since there seems to be plenty of room. (As these things go.) One of the commenters guessed that he was busy "looking at the scenery" instead of looking at the trail and paying attention to driving.

There are a couple of lessons.

• Not all 4X4s are created equal

• Not all roads are like they are where you live

• If a local gives you advice about local hazards, you should consider taking the advice.

There are probably more lessons, but that is enough to be going on with.

While I haven’t seen anything quite that severe here in New Hampshire, we have seen people who made the mistake of mindlessly following their GPS which can, during certain times of the year, lead people down roads that aren’t maintained during the winter and they end up getting stuck in the snow. Signs have been put up on some of those roads stating “Your GPS Is Lying To You. Turn Around Now.” or some such language. Other seasonal roads have had gates installed which are closed once winter weather rolls in. They also have signs stating the roads aren’t maintained or accessible during the winter. That still doesn’t stop some people from trying to take those roads.

Some folks just don’t get it.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is cooler, the leaves are turning (slowly), and where I don’t have to worry about Monday this week because I have the day off.

Oh So True

I saw this on Facebook this morning and I nodded as I read it, recognizing everything as something that was true, something I had experienced myself and knew to be true.

********************

My name’s Richard. I’m 74.
And I’ve come to realize something about my generation: we are the bridge.
We were born in one world… and grew up in another.
A world where summers meant open windows, the hum of a box fan, and the smell of fresh-cut grass.
Where neighbors waved from their porches, and if your bike chain broke, you didn’t Google it — you knocked on a door and someone came out with a wrench.
We lived in a world built on patience.
We waited for letters to arrive.
We waited for the library to open.
We waited for our favorite song to play again on the radio — and when it finally did, it felt like magic.
Then, almost overnight, everything changed.
Phones shrank. Music became invisible.
News arrived before the coffee finished brewing.
We learned to type, to swipe, to tap.
We learned to talk to machines — and to have them talk back.
We’ve seen milk delivered to the door in glass bottles…
and we’ve scanned groceries without speaking to a single cashier.
We’ve dropped coins into payphones…
and we’ve made video calls to loved ones across oceans.
We’ve known the deep quiet of a world without notifications — and the noise of one that never stops buzzing.
And sometimes, the younger ones look at us like we’re behind.

But what they don’t see is this:
We know both worlds.
We can plant tomatoes and write an email.
We can tell a story without Google — and then fact-check it with Google.
We know the weight of a handwritten letter and the reach of a message sent in seconds.
We’ve lived long enough to understand that you can change without losing yourself.
That you can honor where you came from while still learning where the world is headed.
We’ve buried friends and welcomed grandchildren.
We’ve seen diseases disappear and new ones arrive.
We’ve unfolded paper maps — and followed glowing blue lines on GPS.
We’ve sent postcards with stamps — and emojis with a single tap.

And maybe that’s our greatest gift:
the memory of a slower, gentler time,
and the courage to adapt to a world that never sits still.
We can teach the young that not everything needs to happen instantly.
And we can remind our peers that it’s never too late to try something new.
Because that’s what we are —
the bridge between what was and what will be.
And as long as we keep standing strong, the world will always have something solid to cross on its way forward.
Because every generation builds the road a little further —
and ours? Ours remembers both the dirt path and the highway.

Friday Funny...or Irony - Liberal Goes Back In Time To Kill Hitler

I'll Tell You The Story - Binky And The Nog And Dish Club

Thoughts On A Sunday - Abbreviated

After a few days of cooler weather up here at the lake, summer-like temperatures have returned. It was 80ºF here yesterday, will reach about 83ºF here today, and will be in the 80’s through Wednesday. You certainly won’t here me complaining about it. Any day I don’t have to turn on the heat is a good day as far as I am concerned. We’ll be into heating season soon enough as it is. At least one thing I can say about The Gulch is that it is pretty efficient when it comes to heating so it isn’t nearly as expensive as it otherwise might be. During the winter the oil tank will be filled every other month and even then it will take less than 180 gallons of #2 heating oil to do so.

Speaking of warm temperatures this weekend, the WP Mom and I indulged ourselves and went to Dairy Queen to get a couple of Blizzards. It was a good thing we did because this is the last weekend DQ will be open before it closes for the season. Our other go-to ice cream place – Sawyer’s – closed two weeks ago. Most of the seasonal food stands and attractions are closed until next spring. Not that it means that we aren’t still seeing tourists around here because we are now in the middle of Fall Foliage season. It hasn’t reached peak color here at the lake but it has north of the lake up in the White Mountains and along the Connecticut River Valley in the western part of New Hampshire. I expect we’ll see peak color here sometime over the week or so. We’ll be seeing a lot of folks ‘from away’ visiting, including quite a few from overseas.

Once the leaf peepers have departed we’ll have about two months of peace and quiet before the winter tourist season starts. Folks will be up for skiing, snow tubing, snowshoeing, snowmobiling starting just before Christmas. Thinks like ice fishing will have to wait until January in order to make sure the ice on the lakes is thick enough.

And so it goes…

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I saw on the news that Rite Aid is pulling the plug, closing the rest of its pharmacies across the nation.

Pharmacy chain Rite Aid closed all of its locations after filing for bankruptcy twice in less than two years.

The retailer posted a brief announcement on its website.

"All Rite Aid stores have now closed," the site states. "We thank our loyal customers for their many years of support."

The website offers former customers their pharmacy and immunization history, as well as assistance with finding pharmacies that their prescriptions were transferred to.

The Rite Aid near The Gulch closed about a year ago. So did a couple of other Rite Aid locations elsewhere in New Hampshire that I knew from the past.

It goes to show that even the biggest companies can make mistakes that will bring them down, sometimes to extinction.

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When I heard that there’s an AI actress looking to be signed by an agent, it wasn’t all that surprising to me. I figured it was only a matter of time. It doesn’t bother me in the least.

Hollywood, on the other hand, is having a conniption fit. If flesh and blood actors and actresses can be replaced by code and CGI and used to make movies and TV series, what are ‘real’ actors and actresses, their agents, their stunt doubles, film crews, extras, and so on going to do?

Frankly, I don’t care. I’ll bet a lot of other people feel the same way.

At least if it does happen we’re less likely to have to listen to the bullsh*t from the Hollywood ‘wokerati’ because there won’t be any.

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From VDH comes this new, quite appropriate phrase to define the leftists mayors and governors doing their best to make sure federal government operations are blocked in their cities and/or states:

Neo-confederate nullificationists.

Seems just about right to me.

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This is going to be a somewhat shorter TOAS than usual as I have been very busy all day and had little time to do nearly as much as I wanted. I got started a lot later than usual and would like to start getting ready to sleep.

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And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where there are still a lot of folks till boating and hitting the beach and swimming, and where Monday is coming around again all too soon.

Has The Internet Been A Disaster For Us?

I understand the sentiment about this statement, and I do agree with it...somewhat:

“The Internet and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.”

The Internet and its consequences have been a disaster for the human race.

This is an extreme statement, but I’m in an extreme mood.

If I had the energy, I suppose I could fill a hundred pages trying to prove it. I could write about what online reading has done to concentration spans, what smartphone use has done to social mores, how the brains of young children have been rewired by tablets and screens. I could write about social credit systems or facial scans or vaccine passports or online porn or cyber-bullying or cobalt mines or the decline of journalism or the death of the high street. So much content is on offer - and it’s all free!

Still, what would be the point? Whole books have been written already, and by now you either agree or you don’t. And nothing I can say here would be anything like as extreme as the impact that the digital revolution has had on our cultures, minds and souls in just a few short years. Everything has changed, and yet the real changes are only just beginning. By the time they are finished, unless we pay attention, we may barely be human at all.

My response in the linking Instapundit post:

“I have always thought of it as a paradox - both a blessing and a curse. The social media 'side' of the Internet has certainly been a disaster and I think it has divided us more than just about any other phenomenon.”

Of the plusses:

I can find information quickly that wasn’t as easy to find during pre-Internet days. I can also verify or debunk that information quickly as well. I can search for and purchase items more easily than back in the “Sears catalog” or ‘mail order’ days. I can pull information about my town, my county, and my state from their individual websites rather than having to travel to the individual offices to find that info. These are all a plus of the Internet. But as I mentioned in my comment quoted above, the social media side can be disaster.

Of the minuses:

I have found that social media is far too often not social at all. It is antisocial far too often. We have all seen it used to bully, particularly to cyberbully kids – pre-teens and teens. People use it to paint a picture of their lives that are outright fabrications, giving false impressions about how wonderful their lives are when in fact they aren’t any better than anyone else’s, and in some cases worse than anyone else’s. It can give people unrealistic expectations of what their lives should be like, and can generate disappointment, envy, and even hatred when their lives don’t even come close to those being portrayed on social media.

I am a peripheral social media user. This blog is but one of the two social media outlets I use. Facebook is the other, but I use it mostly to keep in touch with family and some close friends. The blog I use to post opinion about all kinds of things. In the years I’ve been on Facebook I have mostly reacted to or commented on other people’s posts. I think I have posted actual original content all of five times over the years. I don’t have X. I don’t have Instagram or SnapChat or any of the other social media apps and I don’t want them. Most of my social interaction is basically face-to-face, e-mail, or video calls (mostly for work). I have better things to do with my time than allowing my phone/laptop/desktop screen to become my major focus when it comes to social interaction.

The Internet is not my end-all and be-all. It is primarily a tool, one I use for work, be it at my job or performing my duties for my town. Oh, and I do use it for entertainment, mostly streaming movies or TV shows, and then on an occasional basis.

Friday Funny - If We Broke Up

I'll Tell You The Story - Binky And The Spatula