My second thought was a Staples commercial I saw over a number of years that had a different take on Back-To-School shopping and the different views of the parents and the kids. It still brings a smile to my face even after all these years.
8/06/2021
Back To School Shopping?
Kenny over at Knuckledraggin’ delves into the Dreaded School Supply Lists, the hell that parents of school-age kids have to go through to get their kids ready to go back to school. This caused two thoughts to pop into my mind, with the first being “What? When the heck does school start? Ohmigosh, it starts three weeks! Where did the summer go? Heck, when did summer start?!”
My second thought was a Staples commercial I saw over a number of years that had a different take on Back-To-School shopping and the different views of the parents and the kids. It still brings a smile to my face even after all these years.
My second thought was a Staples commercial I saw over a number of years that had a different take on Back-To-School shopping and the different views of the parents and the kids. It still brings a smile to my face even after all these years.
8/05/2021
Yet More Pandemic Porn
With the Delta variant of Covid-19 in the forefront of the news, my first thought was “Here we go again!”
It seems the news media has been trying to crank up the pandemic fear factor to “11”, pushing the idea that the Delta variant is far deadlier than the previous variants, is exploding through both the unvaccinated and vaccinated population, and the infected are dropping dead in the streets. They are pushing the fear for everything they can. What is the response of most of the American people?
Ho hum. We’ve been hearing that crap for over a year and a half and we’re tired of it.
Dr. Fauci has been pushing the idea that masks are the only way to stop the spread...again. Data collected over the past 18+ months says just the opposite. Masks of the type used by most of the US population – the disposable procedure masks and ‘stretchy’ cloth masks - have little if any affect. They don’t block the coronavirus because the virus is much smaller than the gaps in the filter material used. Only properly fitted N95 masks can trap the virus and they have been targeted towards health care professionals.
Another idea that is dying aborning is reimposing lockdowns seeing as the data shows the only thing lockdowns accomplished was widespread economic damage, profound psychological effects, and negative physical effects. The lockdowns had little effect on stemming the spread of Covid-19.
Yet we’re hearing some of the ‘people in charge’ talking about taking measures we already know don’t work. That tells me they really don’t care whether or not the ineffective precautions work. It’s more about power, about forcing the people to do things they don’t want to do, things they know don’t work. If they can force the American people to do these things, then what other things can the force down the people’s throats?
Power is a addicting drug. Once ‘they’ have it they won’t willingly give it up. Covid-19 is a perfect excuse to exercise that power to which they are now addicted. What makes it better for them is that the media is helping them push the narrative because it gives them power, too.
That’s what’s truly sick.
It seems the news media has been trying to crank up the pandemic fear factor to “11”, pushing the idea that the Delta variant is far deadlier than the previous variants, is exploding through both the unvaccinated and vaccinated population, and the infected are dropping dead in the streets. They are pushing the fear for everything they can. What is the response of most of the American people?
Ho hum. We’ve been hearing that crap for over a year and a half and we’re tired of it.
Dr. Fauci has been pushing the idea that masks are the only way to stop the spread...again. Data collected over the past 18+ months says just the opposite. Masks of the type used by most of the US population – the disposable procedure masks and ‘stretchy’ cloth masks - have little if any affect. They don’t block the coronavirus because the virus is much smaller than the gaps in the filter material used. Only properly fitted N95 masks can trap the virus and they have been targeted towards health care professionals.
Another idea that is dying aborning is reimposing lockdowns seeing as the data shows the only thing lockdowns accomplished was widespread economic damage, profound psychological effects, and negative physical effects. The lockdowns had little effect on stemming the spread of Covid-19.
Yet we’re hearing some of the ‘people in charge’ talking about taking measures we already know don’t work. That tells me they really don’t care whether or not the ineffective precautions work. It’s more about power, about forcing the people to do things they don’t want to do, things they know don’t work. If they can force the American people to do these things, then what other things can the force down the people’s throats?
Power is a addicting drug. Once ‘they’ have it they won’t willingly give it up. Covid-19 is a perfect excuse to exercise that power to which they are now addicted. What makes it better for them is that the media is helping them push the narrative because it gives them power, too.
That’s what’s truly sick.
8/01/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s been a long weekend for yours truly, with it starting a day earlier than I had planned. Some of that was caused by the heavy rains that came through late Thursday, with a number of washouts all over town including entrances to some restaurants and shopping centers as well as along and across a number of town roads. Some caused by an unexpected but welcome visitor – Katy – who realized she had a couple of days free she hadn’t counted on and wanted to come see me. Some was caused by a family issue that also needed to be addressed. It also included a visit to my work lab today to make up for some of the work I missed on Friday. (To say this has screwed up my perception of time all weekend would be an understatement.)
While our town didn’t suffer nearly as many washouts as was seen in the western part of our state, they were inconvenient for a number of folk though the state DOT and our local DPW did a pretty good job of blocking off and re-routing traffic around the washouts.
One thing I managed to get to this weekend was seeing Bob Marley – the Maine comedian, not the dead reggae musician – at a newly refurbished 1914-era theater in the downtown area of our nearby ‘big’ city (big defined as about 17,000 residents).
As usual, he got right to the point, talking about subjects of interest to most folks, and specifically we New Englanders. I will admit to being a bit sore at the end of his show as I was laughing through his whole set.
Skip Murphy has some suggestions regarding legislation to make it easier to ensure the validity of election results, at least here in New Hampshire. Many of these suggestions would also be good steps to take in other states as well.
One commenter suggested mailing absentee ballots in large enough envelopes (and return envelopes) that eliminate the need to fold ballots, something that caused problems here in NH during the 2020 elections. While costing more up front, how much does a recount/audit cost compared to the larger envelopes?
While satire, one has to wonder if this isn’t more prescient than satire. Certainly from what I’ve been hearing from Dr. Fauci, the CDC, and of course, the DNC-MSM, the only way to handle the “even deadlier and more easily spread” Delta variant is to do the same things that didn’t work the first time around.
Really? This is just stupid.
As much as the DNC-MSM has been trying hard to ignore President *’s mental decline, the media in other countries aren’t ignoring his ever more evident slide into dementia. Certainly Australia is talking about it openly.
What the DNC thought they were doing when she was declared Biden’s running mate is a mystery. Maybe they thought if they found someone detestable like Harris that it might keep Biden in office longer because nobody would want a President Harris? Pelosi appears to have no use for her. Neither do most of the Congressional Democrats. It seems the Democrats may have seriously miscalculated when they chose Harris.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the rains have returned, more flash flooding is predicted, and where Monday has come along to screw up the weekend...again.
While our town didn’t suffer nearly as many washouts as was seen in the western part of our state, they were inconvenient for a number of folk though the state DOT and our local DPW did a pretty good job of blocking off and re-routing traffic around the washouts.
==+==
One thing I managed to get to this weekend was seeing Bob Marley – the Maine comedian, not the dead reggae musician – at a newly refurbished 1914-era theater in the downtown area of our nearby ‘big’ city (big defined as about 17,000 residents).
As usual, he got right to the point, talking about subjects of interest to most folks, and specifically we New Englanders. I will admit to being a bit sore at the end of his show as I was laughing through his whole set.
==+==
Skip Murphy has some suggestions regarding legislation to make it easier to ensure the validity of election results, at least here in New Hampshire. Many of these suggestions would also be good steps to take in other states as well.
One commenter suggested mailing absentee ballots in large enough envelopes (and return envelopes) that eliminate the need to fold ballots, something that caused problems here in NH during the 2020 elections. While costing more up front, how much does a recount/audit cost compared to the larger envelopes?
==+==
While satire, one has to wonder if this isn’t more prescient than satire. Certainly from what I’ve been hearing from Dr. Fauci, the CDC, and of course, the DNC-MSM, the only way to handle the “even deadlier and more easily spread” Delta variant is to do the same things that didn’t work the first time around.
To defeat the massive, scary, definitely world-ending wave of COVID being driven by the delta variant of the deadly, frightening disease you should remain afraid of for the rest of your life, experts are recommending we try all the things that didn't work the first time.It reminds me of the Woke variant of Einstein’s definition of insanity:
From wearing masks and social distancing to locking everyone down and destroying the economy, experts are all suggesting that we just try the same things we did last time that didn't work at all.
"We are going to lock down, wear masks, and social distance, all of which didn't work, but hey. It's worth trying again," said Dr. Anthony Fauci in a television interview this morning. "If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. That's what they taught us in science school. Look at my lab coat. It's white. Do you like it? It has pockets."
The television anchor then assured Dr. Fauci that his pockets were very nice.
"Thanks. I also have the heartbeat thingy. I like to breathe on it to warm it up. Makes me look official and doctory and whatnot."
At publishing time, experts had clarified that while we're going to be doing the same things that didn't work over and over again, we're going to be doing them harder this time.
Doing the same thing over and over again, only harder, but demanding different results this time. (See also Definition of Psychosis.)I figure any day now…
==+==
Really? This is just stupid.
==+==
As much as the DNC-MSM has been trying hard to ignore President *’s mental decline, the media in other countries aren’t ignoring his ever more evident slide into dementia. Certainly Australia is talking about it openly.
Biden’s dementia is so conspicuous, it can be seen from the other side of the world. Australia’s Andrew Bolt recently brought on psychiatrist Tanveer Ahmed to discuss some of the more obvious symptoms, including confabulation, which is all the more pronounced in an inveterate liar like Biden.I (and others) have no doubt the DNC and WRBA is scared that they will no longer be able to hide SloJo’s decline and that the increasingly unpopular, if not outright detested Kamala Harris might become President.
This is not benign senescence. As Dr Ahmed notes, Biden has gotten steadily worse over past 12–18 months and gives the impression of “just holding on” — both features of serious dementia.
What the DNC thought they were doing when she was declared Biden’s running mate is a mystery. Maybe they thought if they found someone detestable like Harris that it might keep Biden in office longer because nobody would want a President Harris? Pelosi appears to have no use for her. Neither do most of the Congressional Democrats. It seems the Democrats may have seriously miscalculated when they chose Harris.
==+==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the rains have returned, more flash flooding is predicted, and where Monday has come along to screw up the weekend...again.
7/25/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
At first I thought it was just “one of those things” – heavy traffic on a Saturday morning, heavier than usual. Heavy traffic on Saturdays at that time of day – around 10AM - is not unusual. We see it most Saturdays which is why I do my shopping and so on Sunday mornings before church. There’s not much traffic and not too many people shopping then.
I headed out from The Gulch at 9:30 yesterday morning to run errands – take care of some banking, get a haircut, meet the ex for brunch, stop off at Ocean State Job Lots – and return home. From the moment I left The Gulch I knew things weren’t going to go well. I could go into a lengthy diatribe about all of the traffic craziness I experienced, but I’ll save you the boredom and just list them, sort of:
James Lileks rightfully fisks yet another willfully ignorant and clueless socialist about the realities of the world, including how socialism doesn’t work, has never worked, and will never work.
One would think that after 400-some years of trying to make it work and failing miserably Every. Single. Time. that the Socialists would get the message, right? But like any addict, those addicted to an idea that has poisoned the minds of hundreds of millions and broken the spirit and bodies of billions over the ages is not something easy to give up. Despite generations of data and evidence showing just how awful socialism is, the addicts can’t give it up. What’s worse is that they addict others to this amoral and unethical political system.
It needs to be thrown upon the ash heap of history, permanently, not brought back again and again like another episode of The Walking Dead.
You know it’s getting bad for the DNC when even lifelong Democrats are abandoning the party because it has shifted so far to the left. The change they were promised is not the change they are seeing, and it disturbs them deeply.
What is it with all these conservative Republicans refusing to get vaccinated? Don’t they realize they are putting others at risk by not being vaccinated?
Wait...what? They aren’t the ones refusing vaccination? If it isn’t them, then who is it?
So, now MLB is going politically correct, changing the name of the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians, are they?
How stupid.
One has to wonder if any of the morons pushing the change have any understanding of where the name “Indians” came from? Probably not. If they did, I doubt they would be so quick to push changing the name.
All one needs to do is look up the name Louis Francis Sockalexis. Of course this late 19th/early 20th Century member of the Penobscot tribe in Maine must be erased from history because he is inconvenient to the 21st Century ‘sensibilities’ of today’s woke a**holes.
They are erasing our history one person at a time and doing it on purpose, feeling smug about it every time they succeed.
I know it’s likely you have already read this somewhere, but you know Facebook has gone full “stupid” when it censors the name of a garden tool – a hoe – because they think it is a derogatory term for a prostitute, which is spelled “H”-“O”, short for “wh*re”. Apparently their filtering algorithm is incapable of spelling.
Anyone paying attention knows that Biden’s so-called “Infrastructure Plan” has little to do with actually building any infrastructure.
This is just another version of Obama’s $878 billion ‘stimulus’, of which only $55 billion actually went to infrastructure. The rest of the money was used as payoffs to political patrons and cronies. This one won’t be any different, with even a smaller percentage (0.8% versus Obama’s 6.3%) going to actual infrastructure.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather has been pretty good (except for some rain this morning), The Boat has a full tank of gas, and where I’m heading out onto the lake to enjoy a couple of hours.
I headed out from The Gulch at 9:30 yesterday morning to run errands – take care of some banking, get a haircut, meet the ex for brunch, stop off at Ocean State Job Lots – and return home. From the moment I left The Gulch I knew things weren’t going to go well. I could go into a lengthy diatribe about all of the traffic craziness I experienced, but I’ll save you the boredom and just list them, sort of:
-Someone couldn’t decide which lane they wanted to be in so straddled the line between two lanes until they were forced to make a decision.There were a few more incidents before I traveled the last 5 miles home. This had to be one of the worst (and stupidest) day for traffic that I have ever seen. It was one stupid or mindless thing after another. Thank goodness I didn’t have to run any errands today except for my usual pre-church Walmart run, and I did that at 7:30 this morning.
-Another motorist pulled into the entrance of our local shopping center...then stopped dead in the middle of the entrance, preventing any other vehicles from entering or exiting, until the driver decided where they wanted to go. By that time traffic was backed up both in the parking lot and the main road.
-Driving to the barber shop I had to deal with a driver who decided traffic lights, lane markings, speed limits, and turn signals were inconveniences to be ignored. I guess he was in a big hurry as worked his way through traffic, forcing his way into lines of traffic, running a couple of red lights, crossing over into oncoming traffic...right until one of the cars he went head to head with turned out to be a local police cruiser.
-After my haircut I headed to the nearby entrance to the local Interstate and headed north on my way to pick up my ex for brunch. A few miles up traffic dropped from 70mph to a complete stop, then continued at a slow crawl for the next 4 miles. What caused the traffic jam? A State Trooper writing a ticket, probably for speeding. I guess many of the motorists had never seen a Statie write a speeding ticket before, so they slowed to a crawl to take a look.
-At a stoplight near the ex’s place the fellow at the front of the line waiting for left turn light to turn green did not move once the left arrow changed to green. Or the second time it turned green. (No, his truck was running and wasn’t broken down.) The third time was the charm and when the light yet again changed to green he finally made the left turn. As he did so I could see the smartphone in his left hand and could see just enough of the display to realize he’d been texting.
-On the way home after brunch I was getting ready to go through one of the local roundabouts. Traffic was backed up coming from the opposite direction. There was a classic car show going on nearby and everyone seemed to be going there. One fellow waiting at the roundabout lost his patience and decided he was going to force his way through...and blocked all traffic trying to get through. Nothing moved for almost 10 minutes until a couple of local police showed up and helped get things untangled. One of the officers was having words with the miscreant who created the traffic block and I guess he said something stupid as I saw the officer’s hand go to the grip of his service pistol. Just then traffic going the direction I was headed started moving, so I didn’t see the outcome of that particular incident. One thing I did notice is that plate on the miscreant’s car was from out-of-state.
==+==
James Lileks rightfully fisks yet another willfully ignorant and clueless socialist about the realities of the world, including how socialism doesn’t work, has never worked, and will never work.
One would think that after 400-some years of trying to make it work and failing miserably Every. Single. Time. that the Socialists would get the message, right? But like any addict, those addicted to an idea that has poisoned the minds of hundreds of millions and broken the spirit and bodies of billions over the ages is not something easy to give up. Despite generations of data and evidence showing just how awful socialism is, the addicts can’t give it up. What’s worse is that they addict others to this amoral and unethical political system.
It needs to be thrown upon the ash heap of history, permanently, not brought back again and again like another episode of The Walking Dead.
==+==
You know it’s getting bad for the DNC when even lifelong Democrats are abandoning the party because it has shifted so far to the left. The change they were promised is not the change they are seeing, and it disturbs them deeply.
==+==
What is it with all these conservative Republicans refusing to get vaccinated? Don’t they realize they are putting others at risk by not being vaccinated?
Wait...what? They aren’t the ones refusing vaccination? If it isn’t them, then who is it?
The Biden administration, stung by missing its vaccine targets and the rising COVID-19 cases, has decided to blame Republicans. That’s not surprising. But it’s traditionally Democratic groups – minorities and the young – who aren’t getting vaccinated, and it’s leftists who are the most influential anti-vaxxers on the planet.So it isn’t along political lines this divide lies, but ethnic lines. Yes, there are certainly political aspects to this, but not the ones being sold to everyone. For the White House and the DNC-MSM to lay the blame entirely at the feet of Republicans is disingenuous at best, and purposely deceptive at worst. Then again, we have come to expect that from WRBA, Pelosi, Schumer, and the Communist faction of the DNC.
As Politico reported recently, “the Biden administration is casting conservative opponents of its COVID-19 vaccine campaign as dangerous and extreme.”
The administration points to state immunization rates as proof that anti-vaxxers on the right are to blame for the problem. “State vaccine rates fall along red, blue divide,” is how The Hill reported it.
But wait a minute. The states with low vaccination rates also tend to have larger minority populations. And blacks are the least likely racial or ethnic group to have been vaccinated, with Hispanics the second least likely, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
==+==
So, now MLB is going politically correct, changing the name of the Cleveland Indians to the Cleveland Guardians, are they?
How stupid.
One has to wonder if any of the morons pushing the change have any understanding of where the name “Indians” came from? Probably not. If they did, I doubt they would be so quick to push changing the name.
All one needs to do is look up the name Louis Francis Sockalexis. Of course this late 19th/early 20th Century member of the Penobscot tribe in Maine must be erased from history because he is inconvenient to the 21st Century ‘sensibilities’ of today’s woke a**holes.
They are erasing our history one person at a time and doing it on purpose, feeling smug about it every time they succeed.
==+==
I know it’s likely you have already read this somewhere, but you know Facebook has gone full “stupid” when it censors the name of a garden tool – a hoe – because they think it is a derogatory term for a prostitute, which is spelled “H”-“O”, short for “wh*re”. Apparently their filtering algorithm is incapable of spelling.
==+==
Anyone paying attention knows that Biden’s so-called “Infrastructure Plan” has little to do with actually building any infrastructure.
This is just another version of Obama’s $878 billion ‘stimulus’, of which only $55 billion actually went to infrastructure. The rest of the money was used as payoffs to political patrons and cronies. This one won’t be any different, with even a smaller percentage (0.8% versus Obama’s 6.3%) going to actual infrastructure.
==+==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather has been pretty good (except for some rain this morning), The Boat has a full tank of gas, and where I’m heading out onto the lake to enjoy a couple of hours.
7/24/2021
A Clash Of Cultures
I have been involved in a discussion in a Disqus thread regarding the lack of available housing and the rapid rise in home prices. This has also brought up the problem of folks ‘from away’ moving into their new towns and screwing things up. This brought to mind a series I posted a couple of times in the past – Weekend Pundit’s Guide To Country Living - with the latest postings (in 2019) updated to reflect the changes since the original postings in 2003.
I dug those out of the Weekend Pundit Archives to review them and realized they were still germane, but needed major updates to reflect the new conditions. So I will be going through them and making those changes, to point out to the newcomers that they are now living in a different culture and we will not change our culture to meet their demands, that they are acting like the stereotypical “Ugly American”. Call it a clash of cultures.
Hmm, maybe we could even offer classes such as suggested for the Loeb/Reynolds Orientation Institute, aka Glenn Reynolds’ Welcome Wagon idea?
Hopefully I can get them revised and posted over the coming week.
I dug those out of the Weekend Pundit Archives to review them and realized they were still germane, but needed major updates to reflect the new conditions. So I will be going through them and making those changes, to point out to the newcomers that they are now living in a different culture and we will not change our culture to meet their demands, that they are acting like the stereotypical “Ugly American”. Call it a clash of cultures.
Hmm, maybe we could even offer classes such as suggested for the Loeb/Reynolds Orientation Institute, aka Glenn Reynolds’ Welcome Wagon idea?
Hopefully I can get them revised and posted over the coming week.
7/22/2021
If Only...
Me: “I’ll have a Big Mac and a large chocolate shake.”
McDonald’s employee: “Do you want cartridges with that?”
Me: “Umm, yeah. Can you supersize them?”
McDonald’s employee: “Sure. Do you want want .223 or .308Win?”
Me: “.308Win, please.”
McDonald’s employee: “OK, please drive up to the first window...”
7/21/2021
I Know It's A Parody...Or Is It?
I hate to say it, but this is probably been one of the most intelligent things I've seen from the intellectually challenged Congresscritter from New York.
7/18/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
We were hoping for nice weather this weekend, but Mother Nature decided to jerk us along and it’s been cloudy, cool, with rain here and there. There was heavy rain until late this morning, but even though it tapered off it didn’t end. It has certainly put a bit of a damper on NASCAR weekend down at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, affecting the Foxwoods 301 race.
I feel sorry for the folks who are here for their week or two of vacation. Rain this weekend with forecasts for showers and thunderstorms on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
This brings to mind the heatwave/drought beating the heck out of the Northwest and West and the heavy rains and flooding in Germany and Belgium. It makes one wonder if there has been a ‘weather swap’ between the US and Europe. One of my employer’s mechanical designers lives in London and he’s been telling us he’s needed a jacket just to go to church...in July.
It must be glowball warmening.
I keep bringing this up and will continue to do so until the Green Energy faithful are willing to admit this is viable alternative to the gawd-awful renewables (solar and wind). What am I speaking about?
Nuclear power.
Renewables are energy diffuse, taking up a lot of space for a given amount of energy. They cause far more ecological damage than it is supposed to prevent as a result. They require a lot more maintenance and need it more frequently than proponents claim. They do not have the longevity, efficiency, capacity, or up-time of nuclear facilities.
Depending upon the type of reactor, nuclear plants are capable of running at 100% capacity for years. Generation I and II plants need to be shut down roughly every two or three years for a couple of months for refueling. Generation III and IV plants can run for many years between refueling, with some never requiring a shutdown to refuel. (Molten salt reactors can be refueled continuously without shutting down.)
New nuclear technology is safer, easier and less expensive to build, and can be made in different sizes/ capacities depending upon where and how they are being deployed. Much of that technology has already been in use, courtesy of the US Navy. One must remember that the conditions under which Navy reactors operate are much more severe than those of commercial reactors and are a good test bed for technologies that have not yet been deployed commercially. While the Navy reactors are different from commercial power reactors, the operating principles and much of the technologies are the same.
Some of the Small Modular Reactors being developed are very similar to the reactor designs used by the Navy in the Ford-class aircraft carriers and the Seawolf and Virginia-class submarines. SMRs are one part of the future for carbon-free energy and the sooner the Green Energy faithful realize this the sooner we can see to its deployment.
Who says there’s no such thing as karma?
It appears some of the Texas Democrats who fled the Lone Star State for Washington DC as a means of avoiding a vote on changes to Texas election laws have found that karma is a bitch – Three of them have tested positive for Covid. What’s ironic is that the fleeing Texas Democrat legislators posed maskless on the two jets they chartered to make their escape. (If we were flying commercial airlines we wouldn’t get a pass on wearing masks since they are mandated.)
One has to wonder if they could be charged with endangering Washington DC by bringing new Covid cases into the Swamp?
Speaking of elections, it appears the Arizona audits have turned up a number of irregularities that cannot be explained away as errors, just one of those irregularities being 74,000 more mail-in ballots being counted than were mailed out.
Maybe it’s just me, but all of this points to deliberate and blatant voter fraud, planned and coordinated. This is just one county in Arizona. What will a statewide audit show?
It will be interesting to see what the audit in Georgia will show as well as the possible audit in Pennsylvania.
One thing is clear, the November 3rd election was not clean and not fair. There were too many shenanigans, too many questionable results to believe it was a clean election.
What I find interesting, but not surprising, is that the folks who benefited from the irregularities are the same folks who want to enshrine legislation (HR1 and S1) which will make voter fraud even easier to commit and harder to prevent or prosecute.
Could the Democrats’ efforts to ‘prevent’ voter suppression be concealing their efforts to eliminate the principle of ‘One Man. One Vote.”?
Why, yes. Yes it is.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’ll be seeing rain for the next few days, our drought problems are likely solved for the time being, and where I am not bothered by Monday returning since it’s going to be raining anyways.
I feel sorry for the folks who are here for their week or two of vacation. Rain this weekend with forecasts for showers and thunderstorms on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
This brings to mind the heatwave/drought beating the heck out of the Northwest and West and the heavy rains and flooding in Germany and Belgium. It makes one wonder if there has been a ‘weather swap’ between the US and Europe. One of my employer’s mechanical designers lives in London and he’s been telling us he’s needed a jacket just to go to church...in July.
It must be glowball warmening.
==+==
I keep bringing this up and will continue to do so until the Green Energy faithful are willing to admit this is viable alternative to the gawd-awful renewables (solar and wind). What am I speaking about?
Nuclear power.
Renewables are energy diffuse, taking up a lot of space for a given amount of energy. They cause far more ecological damage than it is supposed to prevent as a result. They require a lot more maintenance and need it more frequently than proponents claim. They do not have the longevity, efficiency, capacity, or up-time of nuclear facilities.
Depending upon the type of reactor, nuclear plants are capable of running at 100% capacity for years. Generation I and II plants need to be shut down roughly every two or three years for a couple of months for refueling. Generation III and IV plants can run for many years between refueling, with some never requiring a shutdown to refuel. (Molten salt reactors can be refueled continuously without shutting down.)
New nuclear technology is safer, easier and less expensive to build, and can be made in different sizes/ capacities depending upon where and how they are being deployed. Much of that technology has already been in use, courtesy of the US Navy. One must remember that the conditions under which Navy reactors operate are much more severe than those of commercial reactors and are a good test bed for technologies that have not yet been deployed commercially. While the Navy reactors are different from commercial power reactors, the operating principles and much of the technologies are the same.
Some of the Small Modular Reactors being developed are very similar to the reactor designs used by the Navy in the Ford-class aircraft carriers and the Seawolf and Virginia-class submarines. SMRs are one part of the future for carbon-free energy and the sooner the Green Energy faithful realize this the sooner we can see to its deployment.
==+==
Who says there’s no such thing as karma?
It appears some of the Texas Democrats who fled the Lone Star State for Washington DC as a means of avoiding a vote on changes to Texas election laws have found that karma is a bitch – Three of them have tested positive for Covid. What’s ironic is that the fleeing Texas Democrat legislators posed maskless on the two jets they chartered to make their escape. (If we were flying commercial airlines we wouldn’t get a pass on wearing masks since they are mandated.)
One has to wonder if they could be charged with endangering Washington DC by bringing new Covid cases into the Swamp?
==+==
Speaking of elections, it appears the Arizona audits have turned up a number of irregularities that cannot be explained away as errors, just one of those irregularities being 74,000 more mail-in ballots being counted than were mailed out.
The Arizona Senate, led by Senate President Karen Fann, held a hearing on Thursday to discuss the preliminary results of the first phase of the audit in Maricopa County. The state senate heard testimony from three witnesses involved in the audit, Cyber Ninjas CEO Doug Logan, AZ audit Liaison Ken Bennett, and Ben Cotton, CEO and founder of Cytech Services. During the hearing, the auditors revealed that Maricopa County still has not provided many materials needed to complete the audit, including routers, chain of custody documentation, and images of mail in ballots.This was but one of many discrepancies noted during the audit, others of which included hundreds of thousands of ballots without serial numbers, mismatches between the numbers of original and duplicate ballots (duplicates are made if the originals cannot be read by the ballot machines), and participants and who voted who were then removed from the voter rolls and others who were not on the voter rolls on November 7th but mysteriously appeared on voter rolls on December 4th and were marked as having voted in the November 3rd election.
Logan said the information on the ballots provided by Maricopa County should have matched up, but were way off the mark.
“Just to be clear, here in the state of Arizona, there are EV 32s and EV 33s,” Logan explained during the hearing. “EV 32s are supposed to keep a record of when a mail-in ballot is sent, and EV 33s are supposed to be a record of when the mail-in ballot is received.
“There should be more EV 32s,” Logan continued, “more that were sent out, than EV 33s that were received. We can tie these specifically to an individual who it was mailed to. So we have 74,000 that came back from individuals where we don’t have a clear indication that the ballot was ever sent out to them.”
Maybe it’s just me, but all of this points to deliberate and blatant voter fraud, planned and coordinated. This is just one county in Arizona. What will a statewide audit show?
It will be interesting to see what the audit in Georgia will show as well as the possible audit in Pennsylvania.
One thing is clear, the November 3rd election was not clean and not fair. There were too many shenanigans, too many questionable results to believe it was a clean election.
What I find interesting, but not surprising, is that the folks who benefited from the irregularities are the same folks who want to enshrine legislation (HR1 and S1) which will make voter fraud even easier to commit and harder to prevent or prosecute.
==+==
Could the Democrats’ efforts to ‘prevent’ voter suppression be concealing their efforts to eliminate the principle of ‘One Man. One Vote.”?
Why, yes. Yes it is.
==+==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where we’ll be seeing rain for the next few days, our drought problems are likely solved for the time being, and where I am not bothered by Monday returning since it’s going to be raining anyways.
7/17/2021
California's Woke Math Has Nothing To Do With Actual Math
Gee, who’da thunk it?
It seems that someone in California has come to the realization that ‘woke’ math is going to “de-mathematize math.”
That’s not a surprise to anyone who uses mathematics as part of their job. You know, engineers, physicists, chemists, accountants, financiers, mathematicians, rocket scientists, and so on. Now it appears that aforementioned ‘someone’ in California realizes politicizing math, i.e. ‘woke’ math that actually has little to do with actual math, is not such a good idea.
Those pushing for equity haven’t thought it through, don’t realize exactly what equity means and how it will make everything worse.
The best case outcome would be the dystopian world of Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron. The worse case would be a return to feudal society were everyone (except the elite, i.e. the ‘nobles’) would live a hand-to-mouth existence under the rule of the elite. Under either case, or anything in between, those pushing for equity and understanding what it means automatically think they will be the ones in charge. But most of them are more likely to end up as one of the unwashed masses as the elite doesn’t like competition.
Will this same push for ‘equity’ in math also apply to Science, to History, to Civics, to English, to all subjects? Lord, I hope not because then children will learn nothing of any value, but they’ll be well indoctrinated and will be qualified to be a menial laborer, but not much more.
Yeah, that’s something to strive for.
It seems that someone in California has come to the realization that ‘woke’ math is going to “de-mathematize math.”
That’s not a surprise to anyone who uses mathematics as part of their job. You know, engineers, physicists, chemists, accountants, financiers, mathematicians, rocket scientists, and so on. Now it appears that aforementioned ‘someone’ in California realizes politicizing math, i.e. ‘woke’ math that actually has little to do with actual math, is not such a good idea.
The California Board of Education will not implement its newly proposed mathematics curriculum after critics argued its racial equality components would “de-mathematize math.”This push for ‘equity’ in math is misguided as in the end it will push ‘expertise’ in math to the lowest common denominator, just the opposite of what is needed. Why anyone thinks equity when it comes to anything in life is a good idea escapes me.
California is on the verge of politicizing K-12 math in a potentially disastrous way. This postponement means the State Board of Education has heard the message loud and clear. STEM leaders don’t want California students left behind by introducing politics into the math curriculum,” said Dr. Williamson M. Evers, a senior fellow at the Independent Institute, in a statement following an open letter he pinned (sic) to California’s education and political leaders.
--snip--
The letter goes on to argue that attention to non-math-related ideals — such as "environmental and social justice," "sociopolitical consciousness," and "problems that result in social inequalities" — would shift instruction away from the actual subject of the course.
“This proposed framework will discourage districts from having advanced classes for gifted students. It’s going to block the rise of talented kids to important roles in society, serving us as engineers, getting rockets in the air, and getting bridges built properly,” Evers argued in the letter.
He added: "For all the rhetoric in this framework about equity, social justice, environmental care, and culturally appropriate pedagogy, there is no realistic hope for a more fair, just, equal and well-stewarded society if our schools uproot long-proven, reliable, and highly effective math methods and instead try to build a mathless Brave New World on a foundation of unsound ideology.”
Those pushing for equity haven’t thought it through, don’t realize exactly what equity means and how it will make everything worse.
The best case outcome would be the dystopian world of Vonnegut’s Harrison Bergeron. The worse case would be a return to feudal society were everyone (except the elite, i.e. the ‘nobles’) would live a hand-to-mouth existence under the rule of the elite. Under either case, or anything in between, those pushing for equity and understanding what it means automatically think they will be the ones in charge. But most of them are more likely to end up as one of the unwashed masses as the elite doesn’t like competition.
Will this same push for ‘equity’ in math also apply to Science, to History, to Civics, to English, to all subjects? Lord, I hope not because then children will learn nothing of any value, but they’ll be well indoctrinated and will be qualified to be a menial laborer, but not much more.
Yeah, that’s something to strive for.
7/16/2021
The NFL Committing Suicide
Is the NFL signing its own death warrant?
By way of Instapundit comes this: NFL 2021 Season to Dial The Woke to 11.
As if the NFL needs to become even more woke. It has already lost millions of fans, has seen empty seats in the stands (pre-Covid as this started during the 2019 season). TV viewership has been falling off since all this woke BS started. And now they’re going even harder Left? Yeah that will work out for them...NOT.
Will they never learn that pandering to these ‘woke’ morons never works out for them?
To quote a commenter at the Instapundit post:
By way of Instapundit comes this: NFL 2021 Season to Dial The Woke to 11.
As if the NFL needs to become even more woke. It has already lost millions of fans, has seen empty seats in the stands (pre-Covid as this started during the 2019 season). TV viewership has been falling off since all this woke BS started. And now they’re going even harder Left? Yeah that will work out for them...NOT.
Cue the cringe – The NFL genuflected to the Race-Obsessed Left last season and looks to be promoting race-obsessed, woke propaganda to their fan base even more this season.I stopped watching and attending NFL games after the whole kneeling during the national anthem nonsense started and the NFL did nothing in 2019. Then when they knuckled under to the ‘woke’ race hustlers during the 2020 season I washed my hands of the NFL. I didn’t watch a single game, including the SuperBowl. Now it looks like they’re doubling down on stupid for this season.
--snip--
Oh dear lord, what insulting, pandering, woke nonsense. The BLM organization certainly doesn’t give a flying fig about the so-called black national anthem. They are anti-American right down to anything or anyone that celebrates this nation. And, in reality, Lift Every Voice and Sing is a song created to honor Abraham Lincoln — someone that BLM has demanded be removed from the public square.
Will they never learn that pandering to these ‘woke’ morons never works out for them?
To quote a commenter at the Instapundit post:
To paraphrase a wisecrack a coach made to a referee that was caught in an NFL film:Indeed.
“You know what NFL means? Not For Long if you keep going left and woke!”
7/11/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
Yesterday was decidedly different from Thursday and Friday, being sunny and warm compared the rain and cool temperatures. We got a little over and inch of rain over the two days, something we needed. As I mentioned here, I was waiting to hear from Katy about what she experienced down in Connecticut and she told me yesterday morning that she got heavy rain (about 2 inches) but not much wind.
There were a lot of people around this weekend, though not quite as many as we saw last weekend. I saw a lot of boats out on the lake, far more than last weekend, but then that was to be expected considering the weather was so much better yesterday and today.
One subject Katy and I have discussed briefly is dating, specifically dating regarding young men and women today. We both agreed that we would not want to be young adults (defining ‘young’ as under 35) dating today. The expectations of men and women, while different, seem to be unrealistic. I have mentioned my observations of young women discussing their relationships and plans, mentioning to her that many of the young women I observed had a ‘list’ of qualifications for their future spouses. Those expectations are unrealistic as nobody could possibly meet them. The men they want don’t exist. Katy didn’t disagree as I believe she may have witnessed exactly the same thing.
There are a number of YouTube channels that delve into this issue, and while many of them deal with this issue from the male point of view, there are a number of similar YouTube channels that look at this from a woman’s point of view...and they have come to the same conclusion: Too many women have unrealistic expectations.
There have been numerous YouTube videos and magazine articles where women in the 30’s (and 40’s) are asking “Where have all the good men gone?” What they don’t seem to understand is that they’re out there, but either they’re already married to someone totally different from the women asking this question, or these are the men they rejected earlier because they couldn’t meet their unrealistic expectations, and yet other men have given up on relationships, removing themselves from the dating pool entirely because they got burned one too many times and are focusing on everything except relationships, putting all their time and energy into their careers/businesses, their finances, their homes, and their recreational activities. What’s worse (for women) is that men in their 20’s are joining the ranks of the disaffected, doing much the same as their older brethren.
One has to wonder when reality will re-establish itself and sanity will return to our younger men and women.
Speaking of reality, Bill Whittle and Zo Rachel delve into reality and the realities Progressives in this country will soon be confronting whether they want to or not.
As many of the Progressives in the Blue cities will find out, reality doesn’t care what they think or believe. To paraphrase Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “They are entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.” They also aren’t entitled to their own ‘truths’ when those truths do not reflect reality.
As one commenter to this video wrote, “Victor Davis Hanson often points out that those who are the most self reliant are the ones who are most grounded. They have to take care of themselves, have higher self esteem, and know best how to handle personal failure with personal accountability.” Too many of the Progressives I deal with on a regular basis have few of those qualities. But they do have a lot of ignorant, close-minded, and intolerant opinions about everything and everyone “not them”. One has to wonder how they will react when reality finally gives them a Gibbs-slap to the back of the head, something I believe may happen sooner rather than later.
From the “Just When I Thought She Couldn’t Get Any Stupider” Department comes this:
Kamala Harris Slammed for 'Kinkos' Comment in Discussing Rural Americans and Voter ID
Apparently Vice President Kamala ‘DaHo’ Harris has a very low opinion of intelligence of those of us not living in big Blue enclaves, thinking we’re incapable of obtaining photocopies of their ID because there are no Kinkos nearby. Another Democrat, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC), has an ignorant view of proper Voter ID out here in the sticks:
Legal Insurrection asks a necessary question: Why does anyone think traditional policing being handled by un-uniformed ‘contractors’ in unmarked vehicles is a good idea?
It’s starting to sound an awful lot like a modern version of the old Geheim Staatzpolizei or the Komitet Gosuderstvennoy Bezopasnosti, isn’t it? Do we really want this kind policing taking place in the US?
No. No we do not.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where sunny weather has returned (until tomorrow), it really now feels like summer, and where once again Monday has returned all too soon.
There were a lot of people around this weekend, though not quite as many as we saw last weekend. I saw a lot of boats out on the lake, far more than last weekend, but then that was to be expected considering the weather was so much better yesterday and today.
==+==
One subject Katy and I have discussed briefly is dating, specifically dating regarding young men and women today. We both agreed that we would not want to be young adults (defining ‘young’ as under 35) dating today. The expectations of men and women, while different, seem to be unrealistic. I have mentioned my observations of young women discussing their relationships and plans, mentioning to her that many of the young women I observed had a ‘list’ of qualifications for their future spouses. Those expectations are unrealistic as nobody could possibly meet them. The men they want don’t exist. Katy didn’t disagree as I believe she may have witnessed exactly the same thing.
There are a number of YouTube channels that delve into this issue, and while many of them deal with this issue from the male point of view, there are a number of similar YouTube channels that look at this from a woman’s point of view...and they have come to the same conclusion: Too many women have unrealistic expectations.
There have been numerous YouTube videos and magazine articles where women in the 30’s (and 40’s) are asking “Where have all the good men gone?” What they don’t seem to understand is that they’re out there, but either they’re already married to someone totally different from the women asking this question, or these are the men they rejected earlier because they couldn’t meet their unrealistic expectations, and yet other men have given up on relationships, removing themselves from the dating pool entirely because they got burned one too many times and are focusing on everything except relationships, putting all their time and energy into their careers/businesses, their finances, their homes, and their recreational activities. What’s worse (for women) is that men in their 20’s are joining the ranks of the disaffected, doing much the same as their older brethren.
One has to wonder when reality will re-establish itself and sanity will return to our younger men and women.
==+==
Speaking of reality, Bill Whittle and Zo Rachel delve into reality and the realities Progressives in this country will soon be confronting whether they want to or not.
As many of the Progressives in the Blue cities will find out, reality doesn’t care what they think or believe. To paraphrase Daniel Patrick Moynihan, “They are entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.” They also aren’t entitled to their own ‘truths’ when those truths do not reflect reality.
As one commenter to this video wrote, “Victor Davis Hanson often points out that those who are the most self reliant are the ones who are most grounded. They have to take care of themselves, have higher self esteem, and know best how to handle personal failure with personal accountability.” Too many of the Progressives I deal with on a regular basis have few of those qualities. But they do have a lot of ignorant, close-minded, and intolerant opinions about everything and everyone “not them”. One has to wonder how they will react when reality finally gives them a Gibbs-slap to the back of the head, something I believe may happen sooner rather than later.
==+==
From the “Just When I Thought She Couldn’t Get Any Stupider” Department comes this:
Kamala Harris Slammed for 'Kinkos' Comment in Discussing Rural Americans and Voter ID
Apparently Vice President Kamala ‘DaHo’ Harris has a very low opinion of intelligence of those of us not living in big Blue enclaves, thinking we’re incapable of obtaining photocopies of their ID because there are no Kinkos nearby. Another Democrat, House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC), has an ignorant view of proper Voter ID out here in the sticks:
Clyburn claimed "we are always for voter ID" and that "I don't know of a single person who is against ID'ing themselves when they go to vote. But we don't want you to tell me my ID is no good because I don't own a gun and I don't go hunting."Really? What does owning a gun or having a hinting license have to do with voting? Does he think that a CCW permit or hunting license are the only acceptable IDs out here in Flyover Country? (Not that it would necessarily be a bad idea, but it isn’t workable...at least in many of the Blue states.)
==+==
Legal Insurrection asks a necessary question: Why does anyone think traditional policing being handled by un-uniformed ‘contractors’ in unmarked vehicles is a good idea?
It’s starting to sound an awful lot like a modern version of the old Geheim Staatzpolizei or the Komitet Gosuderstvennoy Bezopasnosti, isn’t it? Do we really want this kind policing taking place in the US?
No. No we do not.
==+==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where sunny weather has returned (until tomorrow), it really now feels like summer, and where once again Monday has returned all too soon.
7/10/2021
Hatin' On The Cable Company
I have to admit I had to take a half hour or so to calm down before sitting down and writing this screed as I spent more than an hour trying to work my way through phone tree hell as I tried to get some technical support from one our local cable companies. (We have two cable companies to hate in our little town – Atlantic Broadband and Comcast.)
In this case I was dealing with Atlantic Broadband, trying to get some technical support for an issue I’ve been having with my cable modem, specifically shutting down the built-in WiFi because 1.) I don’t use it and 2.) I have other WiFi routers I use and have full control over and 3.) I can’t access the built-in WiFi as the security access passwords don’t work and never have. As such, the cable modem WiFi is eating up spectrum better used by other WiFi routers. (In my neighborhood I can see 40+ wireless access points on the 2.4GHz band at present, and 4 access points on 5.8GHz, of which three are located in my home – the two wireless routers I mentioned earlier and the aforementioned cable modem.)
Normally I could handle this myself, but I do not have the administrator password that would allow me to take care of this myself. (The FAQ tells me the password is on the bottom of the cable modem, but ‘Assembled in Taiwan’ didn’t work.) I was trying to get Tech Support to either access the modem remotely (which they can do) in order to shut off the WiFi transceivers, or to set a password so I can take care of it. Instead, I got the phone tree from hell which sent me in circles.
Do you think I could talk to an actual human being? Nope. Neither yesterday (Friday) or today. The phone tree would keep pointing me to the Support web page which included not one bit of information I could use. There was no opportunity to speak to an actual human being as a means of resolving my problem.
This was not an issue prior to Atlantic Broadband acquiring the local cable company. Back then an actual human being answered the Tech Support line. If they were swamped they would take my number and call me back. But now that ABB is running the show, that level of service doesn’t seem to exist.
It’s not like I’m asking for the moon, for crying out loud. I’m asking for help to shut off the WiFi transceivers in the cable modem and that’s it.
There is a second issue I do need to address as I’ve been having a problem with my e-mail, that problem being that about a third of the e-mails sent to my e-mail address bounce. (I haven’t been able to successfully send an e-mail from my work e-mail to my home e-mail for a couple of months now. Some friends have also told me they’ve had e-mails they’ve sent to me bounce, with messages that the e-mail domain wasn’t valid.)
I have to wonder just how long it will take to resolve that problem.
In this case I was dealing with Atlantic Broadband, trying to get some technical support for an issue I’ve been having with my cable modem, specifically shutting down the built-in WiFi because 1.) I don’t use it and 2.) I have other WiFi routers I use and have full control over and 3.) I can’t access the built-in WiFi as the security access passwords don’t work and never have. As such, the cable modem WiFi is eating up spectrum better used by other WiFi routers. (In my neighborhood I can see 40+ wireless access points on the 2.4GHz band at present, and 4 access points on 5.8GHz, of which three are located in my home – the two wireless routers I mentioned earlier and the aforementioned cable modem.)
Normally I could handle this myself, but I do not have the administrator password that would allow me to take care of this myself. (The FAQ tells me the password is on the bottom of the cable modem, but ‘Assembled in Taiwan’ didn’t work.) I was trying to get Tech Support to either access the modem remotely (which they can do) in order to shut off the WiFi transceivers, or to set a password so I can take care of it. Instead, I got the phone tree from hell which sent me in circles.
Do you think I could talk to an actual human being? Nope. Neither yesterday (Friday) or today. The phone tree would keep pointing me to the Support web page which included not one bit of information I could use. There was no opportunity to speak to an actual human being as a means of resolving my problem.
This was not an issue prior to Atlantic Broadband acquiring the local cable company. Back then an actual human being answered the Tech Support line. If they were swamped they would take my number and call me back. But now that ABB is running the show, that level of service doesn’t seem to exist.
It’s not like I’m asking for the moon, for crying out loud. I’m asking for help to shut off the WiFi transceivers in the cable modem and that’s it.
There is a second issue I do need to address as I’ve been having a problem with my e-mail, that problem being that about a third of the e-mails sent to my e-mail address bounce. (I haven’t been able to successfully send an e-mail from my work e-mail to my home e-mail for a couple of months now. Some friends have also told me they’ve had e-mails they’ve sent to me bounce, with messages that the e-mail domain wasn’t valid.)
I have to wonder just how long it will take to resolve that problem.
7/09/2021
The Aftermath Of Elsa
The remains of Tropical Storm (formerly Hurricane Elsa) has departed from New Hampshire.
Up here in central New Hampshire we just got rain – around an inch-plus between a weather front that came through yesterday and from Elsa today – little wind and no flooding or “ponding on area roads”. The southeastern part of the state got as much as 3+ inches, some flooding, and some wind. Massachusetts saw more widespread heavy rain and flooding, but nothing to the level seen along the rest of the Eastern Seaboard.
I haven’t yet heard from Katy how much rain she received in southwestern Connecticut (she resides not all that far from New Haven), but speaking to her last evening she said they weren’t expecting more than two inches of rain where she lives.
Some have been making claims this was one of the worst tropical storms we’ve experienced in decades, all driven by climate change. I guess they have really short memories because Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy in 2012 was far more damaging, widespread, and deadlier. It hasn’t even been a decade since that storm.
One upside to all this rain up here has been easing the drought we’ve been experiencing. Not that it will do away with it, but it has helped put a pretty good dent in it.
Up here in central New Hampshire we just got rain – around an inch-plus between a weather front that came through yesterday and from Elsa today – little wind and no flooding or “ponding on area roads”. The southeastern part of the state got as much as 3+ inches, some flooding, and some wind. Massachusetts saw more widespread heavy rain and flooding, but nothing to the level seen along the rest of the Eastern Seaboard.
I haven’t yet heard from Katy how much rain she received in southwestern Connecticut (she resides not all that far from New Haven), but speaking to her last evening she said they weren’t expecting more than two inches of rain where she lives.
Some have been making claims this was one of the worst tropical storms we’ve experienced in decades, all driven by climate change. I guess they have really short memories because Hurricane/Tropical Storm Sandy in 2012 was far more damaging, widespread, and deadlier. It hasn’t even been a decade since that storm.
One upside to all this rain up here has been easing the drought we’ve been experiencing. Not that it will do away with it, but it has helped put a pretty good dent in it.
7/06/2021
This Is A Major Disconnect
This needs to be repeated again and again...and again...and again until the Democrats running all of these crime-ridden cities realize that they are the problem because they refuse to admit the problem lies with people and not guns.
I have a feeling this will need to be repeated ad nauseum and perpetually or this cognitive dissonance will never end. We must make them pay for their corrupted narrative.
I have a feeling this will need to be repeated ad nauseum and perpetually or this cognitive dissonance will never end. We must make them pay for their corrupted narrative.
7/05/2021
Sunday Night At The Fireworks
Last night we managed to catch the fireworks display out on Meredith Bay on Lake Winnipesaukee despite the rain that fell on and off all day yesterday and into the early evening. The sun had popped out a few times during the day, giving us false hope the evening would have similar weather – broken clouds and no rain.
We were wrong.
Rain started falling again late afternoon/early evening, dashing any hopes there were be no further rain. Despite the rain, and then drizzle, Katy, BeezleBub, and I headed down to the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, meeting up with two of BeezleBub’s friends – Alex and Lauren – loading the boat, and heading out onto the lake and to Meredith Bay.
As we exited the cove where I dock the boat, it was drizzling quite a bit. I could see there was a ‘hard’ line in the lower cloud layer to the north, exposing the peaks of the mountains in that direction. There were also breaks in the upper cloud deck even further to the north. This filled us with hope that the weather would cooperate and the fireworks show would go on.
There were very few other boats out on the lake though those we saw were heading in the same direction as we were, telling us that we weren’t the only ones crazy enough to head out in rainy weather for fireworks. The closer we got to the bay, the less drizzle there was, another promising sign.
As we entered Meredith Harbor we could see the flashing blue lights of a couple of Marine Patrol boats and the flashing red lights of a fire boat. There were already a few boats anchored around the harbor and we joined them, dropping anchor within 150 yards or so of the fireworks barge. At the time we dropped anchor there were about 45 minutes before the show was supposed to start, so we were able relax a bit, despite the very light drizzle still falling.
More boats arrived over that 45 minute wait, with maybe another 50 dropping anchor. Normally one could expect 200+ boats to be anchored in the harbor, but the iffy weather obviously cut back the number, but the weather didn’t seem to attenuate the number of people along the shoreline.
I won’t go into the details of the fireworks show, but I can say it was spectacular! It was worth braving the damp weather.
After the show’s finale we waited a while before raising anchor and heading back down the bay, allowing time for most of the other boats to leave and for their wakes to fade away. We took our time heading home.
Looking up at the sky on the way home we found we could see the stars, meaning the upper cloud deck had cleared away while we were watching the fireworks.
We pulled in to at our dock just before 11PM, and Katy and I departed as BeezleBub said he’d button everything up on the boat, and got back to The Gulch 10 minutes later. About a half-hour later Katy, the WP Mom, the WP feline contingent, and I were in our beds and asleep. It had been a long day.
Katy departed for home late this morning, a 4-hour drive back to Connecticut ahead of her. She took some baked goods from our local farm stand with her as well as some items she picked up at a craft fair this weekend. She had experienced her first fireworks show from a boat, got to sample some of the best marinated steak tips ever, and found someone to make her some custom side tables at the craft fair.
All in all, she said she had a great weekend, the rainy weather notwithstanding.
We were wrong.
Rain started falling again late afternoon/early evening, dashing any hopes there were be no further rain. Despite the rain, and then drizzle, Katy, BeezleBub, and I headed down to the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, meeting up with two of BeezleBub’s friends – Alex and Lauren – loading the boat, and heading out onto the lake and to Meredith Bay.
As we exited the cove where I dock the boat, it was drizzling quite a bit. I could see there was a ‘hard’ line in the lower cloud layer to the north, exposing the peaks of the mountains in that direction. There were also breaks in the upper cloud deck even further to the north. This filled us with hope that the weather would cooperate and the fireworks show would go on.
There were very few other boats out on the lake though those we saw were heading in the same direction as we were, telling us that we weren’t the only ones crazy enough to head out in rainy weather for fireworks. The closer we got to the bay, the less drizzle there was, another promising sign.
As we entered Meredith Harbor we could see the flashing blue lights of a couple of Marine Patrol boats and the flashing red lights of a fire boat. There were already a few boats anchored around the harbor and we joined them, dropping anchor within 150 yards or so of the fireworks barge. At the time we dropped anchor there were about 45 minutes before the show was supposed to start, so we were able relax a bit, despite the very light drizzle still falling.
More boats arrived over that 45 minute wait, with maybe another 50 dropping anchor. Normally one could expect 200+ boats to be anchored in the harbor, but the iffy weather obviously cut back the number, but the weather didn’t seem to attenuate the number of people along the shoreline.
I won’t go into the details of the fireworks show, but I can say it was spectacular! It was worth braving the damp weather.
After the show’s finale we waited a while before raising anchor and heading back down the bay, allowing time for most of the other boats to leave and for their wakes to fade away. We took our time heading home.
Looking up at the sky on the way home we found we could see the stars, meaning the upper cloud deck had cleared away while we were watching the fireworks.
We pulled in to at our dock just before 11PM, and Katy and I departed as BeezleBub said he’d button everything up on the boat, and got back to The Gulch 10 minutes later. About a half-hour later Katy, the WP Mom, the WP feline contingent, and I were in our beds and asleep. It had been a long day.
Katy departed for home late this morning, a 4-hour drive back to Connecticut ahead of her. She took some baked goods from our local farm stand with her as well as some items she picked up at a craft fair this weekend. She had experienced her first fireworks show from a boat, got to sample some of the best marinated steak tips ever, and found someone to make her some custom side tables at the craft fair.
All in all, she said she had a great weekend, the rainy weather notwithstanding.
7/04/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
It’s been a cool and cloudy Fourth of July weekend so far. It rained all day Friday, almost all day Saturday (which saw a high temp of 56ºF, a record low high temp), and some this morning. Tomorrow is actually supposed to be nice, sunny and warm. Hopefully we’ll be able to get some time out on the lake or at the beach.
Despite the less than stellar weather this weekend, we experienced record holiday traffic for folks coming into New Hampshire. I can attest to some of this as during my little adventure on Friday the traffic northbound into the Lakes Region and White Mountains was quite heavy, and that was at around 2:30 in the afternoon. From the news reports, it got even heavier after 5PM. I also saw a lot more traffic Saturday morning as I was running some errands in anticipation of the arrival of Katy. (I’ve mentioned her before – an old friend living in Connecticut with whom I have become reacquainted due to a serendipitous event.) Of course I do have to make mention that I normally would have taken care of all those errands on Friday, but the previously mentioned adventure made that impossible.
Is George Soros the most dangerous most dangerous man alive?
Yes. Yes he is because he doesn’t believe in American democracy and is putting his money where his mouth is by funding political campaigns to place anti-law and order DAs and county/state attorneys with “Let the woke SA wannabe’s burn everything to the ground and arrest and prosecute anyone stupid enough to defend themselves against them” prosecutors.
Katy and I attended a crafts fair held at one of our local resorts, picking up a number of items and making contacts with a number of local craftsman for possible future purchases or commissions. Katy has been looking for a new side table to go with her new couch and found one similar to what she’s been looking for and finding the creator can make one for her to fit her needs:
If for nothing else, our visit there paid off for her.
We’re heading out on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout later this evening and heading over to one of the local bays to enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks.
Despite the less than great weather yesterday and the rain that greeted us this morning, the weather got better as the day progressed and the sun started breaking through the clouds which meant we’d be able to attend the fireworks. Of course that would be well after we finished our glorious Fourth of July repast of grilled steak tips along with the fixin’s.
Since it is the Fourth of July, this edition of TOAS is going to be a bit abbreviated.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s rained since Friday, the weather has been clearing, and where tomorrow will be a beautiful day to spend at the beach or out on the lake.
Despite the less than stellar weather this weekend, we experienced record holiday traffic for folks coming into New Hampshire. I can attest to some of this as during my little adventure on Friday the traffic northbound into the Lakes Region and White Mountains was quite heavy, and that was at around 2:30 in the afternoon. From the news reports, it got even heavier after 5PM. I also saw a lot more traffic Saturday morning as I was running some errands in anticipation of the arrival of Katy. (I’ve mentioned her before – an old friend living in Connecticut with whom I have become reacquainted due to a serendipitous event.) Of course I do have to make mention that I normally would have taken care of all those errands on Friday, but the previously mentioned adventure made that impossible.
==+==
Is George Soros the most dangerous most dangerous man alive?
Yes. Yes he is because he doesn’t believe in American democracy and is putting his money where his mouth is by funding political campaigns to place anti-law and order DAs and county/state attorneys with “Let the woke SA wannabe’s burn everything to the ground and arrest and prosecute anyone stupid enough to defend themselves against them” prosecutors.
Of course you’ve heard the name “George Soros,” often invoked as a sort of folk demon on the American and international right, it’s likely that you have some vague notion of why you think he’s a bad guy, or maybe you think the whole thing is a bunch of hype.One must remember that he was a Nazi sympathizer back in the day and he’s never met a socialist he didn’t like, and in some cases, fund. We’ve seen the effects of his interference in places like Portland, Seattle, and Minneapolis where rioters are not charged and released, but police and citizens protesting themselves from those same rioters are brought up on charges.
However, if you’re a freedom lover, there’s nothing “hype” about the influence that George Soros has around the world attacking your freedom. Indeed, you probably vastly underestimate the influence that he has on politics.
From the perspective of someone who values life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, there is no more dangerous man today than George Soros. This is not hyperbole, it is the simple truth. While we don’t plan to paint a picture of a man standing behind the scenes, rubbing his hands together and cackling as he plays puppet master over each and every attack on freedom around the world, Soros acts as a strawman and a caricature of what is actually going on in the world.
==+==
Katy and I attended a crafts fair held at one of our local resorts, picking up a number of items and making contacts with a number of local craftsman for possible future purchases or commissions. Katy has been looking for a new side table to go with her new couch and found one similar to what she’s been looking for and finding the creator can make one for her to fit her needs:
If for nothing else, our visit there paid off for her.
==+==
We’re heading out on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout later this evening and heading over to one of the local bays to enjoy the Fourth of July fireworks.
Despite the less than great weather yesterday and the rain that greeted us this morning, the weather got better as the day progressed and the sun started breaking through the clouds which meant we’d be able to attend the fireworks. Of course that would be well after we finished our glorious Fourth of July repast of grilled steak tips along with the fixin’s.
==+==
Since it is the Fourth of July, this edition of TOAS is going to be a bit abbreviated.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where it’s rained since Friday, the weather has been clearing, and where tomorrow will be a beautiful day to spend at the beach or out on the lake.
7/03/2021
An Emergency Visit To The Vet
It was disturbing, seeing one of the feline contingent here at The Gulch in distress.
Cole, the oldest of our feline members of the WP clan, went from waking up from one of his many naps to running around the house, hyper-salivating (foaming at the mouth), and constantly meowing in a manner that suggested “Help me!”
It only took me a couple of minutes to wrangle him into the carrier after calling our vet, who in turn referred us the emergency veterinary clinic in our state capitol city. A quick call to them and they told me to bring him right down.
It was a tense 45 minute drive in heavy holiday weekend Friday traffic, a trip that would have normally taken 30 minutes.
The drive down had me wondering why he had gone from cool to in trouble like someone flipped a switch. I knew it wasn’t rabies since he’s been vaccinated and it doesn’t present that way. I wondered if he got into some of the rodent bait our exterminator had set out the other day. (We’ve been having a mouse problem, the first time since the WP Parents moved into this house 18 years ago.) Another related possibility was he ate something that either disagreed with him or something that bit him back.
The folks at the emergency clinic took him right in, ruled out rabies and poisoning. Six hours later I was on my way home with him. It turns out he made the mistake of trying to eat a wasp and it stung him under his tongue. The vet treated him for the sting which caused some ulceration at the site of the sting, gave me some more medicine for him to reduce pain, and told him in no uncertain terms “Bad Cole! Don’t eat any more wasps or bees, okay?”
Today he seems okay, though he is a little off as the discomfort in his mouth has him eating only wet food (no chewing required). The only other sign of his misadventure was a ring of fur on one of his front legs that was shaved down so they could insert an I.V. while they were treating him.
Cole is not a young cat, being almost 15 years old, so any health issue can become life-threatening in short order. This one scared the heck out of me, seeing how quickly it came on and and how much distress he was in.
Some may say “What’s the big deal? He’s only a cat.” Of course those ‘some’ probably never had a cat or dog, and don’t understand that these furry critters are part of the family for many people, including me.
I’m just glad it wasn’t a worse case scenario and that he’s home safe and sound, even if a little more subdued than usual.
Cole, the oldest of our feline members of the WP clan, went from waking up from one of his many naps to running around the house, hyper-salivating (foaming at the mouth), and constantly meowing in a manner that suggested “Help me!”
It only took me a couple of minutes to wrangle him into the carrier after calling our vet, who in turn referred us the emergency veterinary clinic in our state capitol city. A quick call to them and they told me to bring him right down.
It was a tense 45 minute drive in heavy holiday weekend Friday traffic, a trip that would have normally taken 30 minutes.
The drive down had me wondering why he had gone from cool to in trouble like someone flipped a switch. I knew it wasn’t rabies since he’s been vaccinated and it doesn’t present that way. I wondered if he got into some of the rodent bait our exterminator had set out the other day. (We’ve been having a mouse problem, the first time since the WP Parents moved into this house 18 years ago.) Another related possibility was he ate something that either disagreed with him or something that bit him back.
The folks at the emergency clinic took him right in, ruled out rabies and poisoning. Six hours later I was on my way home with him. It turns out he made the mistake of trying to eat a wasp and it stung him under his tongue. The vet treated him for the sting which caused some ulceration at the site of the sting, gave me some more medicine for him to reduce pain, and told him in no uncertain terms “Bad Cole! Don’t eat any more wasps or bees, okay?”
Today he seems okay, though he is a little off as the discomfort in his mouth has him eating only wet food (no chewing required). The only other sign of his misadventure was a ring of fur on one of his front legs that was shaved down so they could insert an I.V. while they were treating him.
Cole is not a young cat, being almost 15 years old, so any health issue can become life-threatening in short order. This one scared the heck out of me, seeing how quickly it came on and and how much distress he was in.
Some may say “What’s the big deal? He’s only a cat.” Of course those ‘some’ probably never had a cat or dog, and don’t understand that these furry critters are part of the family for many people, including me.
I’m just glad it wasn’t a worse case scenario and that he’s home safe and sound, even if a little more subdued than usual.
6/27/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
As if we needed more proof that summer is finally here, we’re at the beginning of another heat wave – 3 days of temps above 90ºF – something that doesn’t really bother me...unless there is oppressive humidity. Unfortunately the humidity is quite high, with dew points above 70ºF. I felt it the moment I walked out of the house here at The Gulch this morning. (I was on my way out for my usual pre-church Walmart run.)
It was already 75º at 7:30am and the air was heavy. I didn’t resort to using anything but the 4 x 50 A/C (4 x 50 A/C = 4 windows down @ 50mph) for my trip to and from Walmart. It was more than sufficient for the trip. But the A/C was on at the house to help dry out the air.
I admit it would have been just as easy to spend time out on the lake to help cool off, but with high heat and humidity, it would only be a temporary relief. I knew the town beach would be crowded (it was), and the number of boats out on the lake would huge with so many people trying to keep cool (which was the case).
The heavy weekend boat traffic is one of the reasons I tend to stay off the lake Saturdays and Sundays, at least between late morning and late afternoon/early evening. It is not fun (there’s lots of wake-driven chop which makes for rough boating) and the number of “Cap’n Boneheads” is disproportionately higher, meaning one’s head has to be on constant swivel because someone else out there will likely not be paying attention. This lack of attention will be due to inexperience, dealing with passengers onboard, chemical overload sloshing above their eyebrows, or some combination of the three.
If the conditions are right I’ll venture out during the day on a weekend. Fortunately for me the conditions were right yesterday – cloudy with some sprinkles now and then – which kept a lot of people off the lake despite the warm and humid conditions. So I went out with some family members and we actually had a pretty good day out on the lake.
I find it ironic that it’s perfectly okay to tear down statues of historical figures in New York City...unless it’s a statue of George Floyd. Then it’s racist.
It’s just further proof that Mayor De Blasio is a hypocrite.
As one tweet regarding this issue put it, “Didn’t last summer establish this is a reasonable mode of expression?”
As we must perpetually remind everyone, if the Progressives/Leftists/Communists/Democrats didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.
An issue in my little town is also being seen elsewhere in the country, that issue being local school boards/boards of education ignoring their constituents, or worse, attacking them and their characters, smearing them because they had the gall to question their actions and motives. (It isn’t that bad in out town...at least not yet.
In our town it appears our school board figures they are not required to answer the townsfolk’s questions, reply to Right to Know requests which under state law they must respond to by providing the requested information. (There are exceptions to this law, usually dealing with ongoing criminal investigations or litigation, and even then the exceptions are limited.) There have been other school boards that are trying to ram things like CRT down the throats of students, or pushing unpopular and discriminatory transgender policies which are not supported by parents, students, or in some cases, state law.
The push back by the public has been growing and I think we will see a number of members of these boards being voted out, and perhaps in some cases, being induced to step down in light of their outrageous behavior, statements, and contempt for the people they were supposed to serve.
Will we ever find out who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, the only fatality directly related to the January 6 protest at the Capitol Building? Why is the DOJ working so hard to to keep this information secret?
This needs to be repeated as often as possible until it sinks in.
As hard as the Left and the DNC-MSM keep pushing the “America is Racist!” meme, a sizable majority (61%) of the American people aren’t buying it and the percentage is increasing. This could be why those pushing the racist Critical Race Theory for all they’re worth have redoubled their efforts because they see people across all racial and ethnic lines opposing teaching of CRT, both in schools and businesses, because they see it for what it is: a means to further divide the American people and generate distrust and hatred between those same racial/ethnic groups opposing CRT.
I had to read this more than once to determine if this was satire or reality. Unfortunately, it appears to be reality, to whit, the Trudeau government is unable to define the term “woman”.
This begs the question to our Canadian brethren: What the hell is going on in Canada?
It is sad to see our neighbor to the north descending into madness, a fate that I had hoped they might escape. But it seems they have fallen deeper into insanity than we have, and that’s a shame.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is going to be hot and humid for the next few days, the beaches will be full now that school is out, and where I am glad I have A/C both at home and at work.
It was already 75º at 7:30am and the air was heavy. I didn’t resort to using anything but the 4 x 50 A/C (4 x 50 A/C = 4 windows down @ 50mph) for my trip to and from Walmart. It was more than sufficient for the trip. But the A/C was on at the house to help dry out the air.
I admit it would have been just as easy to spend time out on the lake to help cool off, but with high heat and humidity, it would only be a temporary relief. I knew the town beach would be crowded (it was), and the number of boats out on the lake would huge with so many people trying to keep cool (which was the case).
The heavy weekend boat traffic is one of the reasons I tend to stay off the lake Saturdays and Sundays, at least between late morning and late afternoon/early evening. It is not fun (there’s lots of wake-driven chop which makes for rough boating) and the number of “Cap’n Boneheads” is disproportionately higher, meaning one’s head has to be on constant swivel because someone else out there will likely not be paying attention. This lack of attention will be due to inexperience, dealing with passengers onboard, chemical overload sloshing above their eyebrows, or some combination of the three.
If the conditions are right I’ll venture out during the day on a weekend. Fortunately for me the conditions were right yesterday – cloudy with some sprinkles now and then – which kept a lot of people off the lake despite the warm and humid conditions. So I went out with some family members and we actually had a pretty good day out on the lake.
==+==
I find it ironic that it’s perfectly okay to tear down statues of historical figures in New York City...unless it’s a statue of George Floyd. Then it’s racist.
It’s just further proof that Mayor De Blasio is a hypocrite.
As one tweet regarding this issue put it, “Didn’t last summer establish this is a reasonable mode of expression?”
As we must perpetually remind everyone, if the Progressives/Leftists/Communists/Democrats didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.
==+==
An issue in my little town is also being seen elsewhere in the country, that issue being local school boards/boards of education ignoring their constituents, or worse, attacking them and their characters, smearing them because they had the gall to question their actions and motives. (It isn’t that bad in out town...at least not yet.
In our town it appears our school board figures they are not required to answer the townsfolk’s questions, reply to Right to Know requests which under state law they must respond to by providing the requested information. (There are exceptions to this law, usually dealing with ongoing criminal investigations or litigation, and even then the exceptions are limited.) There have been other school boards that are trying to ram things like CRT down the throats of students, or pushing unpopular and discriminatory transgender policies which are not supported by parents, students, or in some cases, state law.
The push back by the public has been growing and I think we will see a number of members of these boards being voted out, and perhaps in some cases, being induced to step down in light of their outrageous behavior, statements, and contempt for the people they were supposed to serve.
==+==
Will we ever find out who shot and killed Ashli Babbitt, the only fatality directly related to the January 6 protest at the Capitol Building? Why is the DOJ working so hard to to keep this information secret?
One of the things that's really pissed me off about this: leftists who will take ANY LE shooting as a reason to riot think this was just fine because 'Trump supporter'. God, I despise these people.To reiterate, “If the Progressives/Leftists/Communists/Democrats didn’t have double standards, they’d have no standards at all.”
This needs to be repeated as often as possible until it sinks in.
==+==
As hard as the Left and the DNC-MSM keep pushing the “America is Racist!” meme, a sizable majority (61%) of the American people aren’t buying it and the percentage is increasing. This could be why those pushing the racist Critical Race Theory for all they’re worth have redoubled their efforts because they see people across all racial and ethnic lines opposing teaching of CRT, both in schools and businesses, because they see it for what it is: a means to further divide the American people and generate distrust and hatred between those same racial/ethnic groups opposing CRT.
==+==
I had to read this more than once to determine if this was satire or reality. Unfortunately, it appears to be reality, to whit, the Trudeau government is unable to define the term “woman”.
This begs the question to our Canadian brethren: What the hell is going on in Canada?
The Trudeau government does not know what a woman is. This is not rhetorical, it is what they have directly said. A ministry known as Women and Gender Equality states that it "does not use a specific definition of 'woman.'"I would have to say the last sentence in the quote above is a good example of irony.
An organization founded by Canadian women to protect sex-based rights in the nation, caWsbar, revealed this fact earlier this month, after one of their associates asked the department of Women and Gender Equality (WAGE) in Canada "I'd like to know what definition your Ministry uses to define the word 'woman.'"
In answer, the government responded "WAGE does not use a specific definition of 'woman.'" This seems odd, given that the word 'women' is part of the agency's name.
It is sad to see our neighbor to the north descending into madness, a fate that I had hoped they might escape. But it seems they have fallen deeper into insanity than we have, and that’s a shame.
==+==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather is going to be hot and humid for the next few days, the beaches will be full now that school is out, and where I am glad I have A/C both at home and at work.
6/22/2021
6/20/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
We have survived another Motorcycle Week. The rumbles of thousands of bikes are fading into the distance as visitors head home, leaving their cash behind which have filled the tills of many an establishment in this area.
For the most part I have avoided much of the bike traffic. Part of the weekend was spent out on the lake on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, avoiding the motorcycle traffic filling the local roads altogether.
Four things I did take care of over the weekend in the way of chores weren’t all that time consuming, with only two of them requiring venturing out onto the roads – having the oil changed in the trusty RAM 1500 (which was almost 1000 miles overdue) and hitting the local barber shop for a haircut (which I did right after the oil change was done).
The other two were rather mundane, the first being correcting a small error I made assembling the new Official Weekend Pundit Gas Grill (which took all of 5 minutes to correct). The second was troubleshooting a problem with the garage door opener which didn’t want to be found...until the chain sprocket on the drive motor came off, snapping off the sprocket shaft right where it comes out of the motor casing.
So ended my efforts at fixing it this weekend. In the mean time I’ll be spending time online to see if I can find a replacement part.
Normally I wouldn’t be worried about getting it taken care of so quickly because the door can be opened manually, but in this case the WP Mom uses the garage and I don’t want to make it any more difficult for her than absolutely necessary. So if I can’t find the parts I need in the next couple of days I won’t waste any more time and I’ll get a new garage door opener.
And so it goes with home ownership.
As the debate about racist Critical Race Theory being forced down the throats of kids at school or adults at their places of work expands, I find that many of the proponents of CRT have absolutely no idea what it entails or its history. They only know what they’ve been told be people who do not have their best interests at heart.
While CRT has its roots in Marxism, another socialist group used it to justify the murder of millions of people they didn’t like. The parallels between CRT and the Nazi ideology of hate are striking.
Could some of the support of CRT come from ignorance, willful or not, or people’s lack of understanding when it comes to history? (I find that the two are not mutually exclusive.)
In either case, people supporting something they do not understand, something hateful and racist, will come back to haunt them when they see their children acting with racist intent that CRT was supposed to ‘cure’. They won’t understand that they’ve allowed racism to re-establish itself in a country that has fought harder than most to do away with racism.
Just how effed up is that?
Skip over at GraniteGrok brings up a good point regarding Progressives - Progressives are, in general, angrier about more things than Conservatives.
Writes Skip:
This is something I've been thinking about for some time, seeing the depths Progressives will sink to to elevate some trivial matter to MAJOR CRISIS! status, just so they have something to be 'for' or 'against'. They need a "cause" or they feel their lives are without meaning. They can't do the Civil Rights thing since their grandparents were at the forefront of that fight. There's not all that much left unless they truly want to put their lives on the line (which they won't because they aren't that brave). So they take that aforementioned trivial crap and blow it all out of proportion so they have that something to be 'for' or 'against'.
However, there's a problem with that, that being the people now realize what they're doing and aren't willing to buy in to their latest MAJOR CRISIS! The people understand it is the fruit of people desperate to be relevant.
It seems there’s an ever growing list of things we’re supposed to be concerned about, to torture ourselves over, things over which we have absolutely no control. If we did as the Progressives demand, nothing would ever get done, the economy would collapse, people would starve to death or die of otherwise treatable diseases because there are no medicines available and...well, you get the idea.
It’s time to show the Progressive obsession with trivialities for what they are – absurdities worthy only of being ridiculed and then ignored. We all have more important things to deal with in our lives. Maybe our Progressive brothers and sisters need to do likewise.
The latest victim of Get Woke, Go Broke?
HBO-Max.
And speaking of Going Woke (and likely going to go broke), it looks like Victoria’s Secret has been infected with the ‘woke’ virus.
One has to wonder what the folks at Victoria’s Secret are thinking. Haven’t they seen the outcome of other businesses when they went ‘woke’? Is it something they truly believe they should do, or is it just yet another example of corporate virtue signaling? In either case, it isn’t going to help them, particularly in light of their already falling sales numbers. At worse, this will merely hasten their fall into bankruptcy.
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather has been great, the lake keeps beckoning, and where the rumble of motorcycles is fading away.
For the most part I have avoided much of the bike traffic. Part of the weekend was spent out on the lake on the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout, avoiding the motorcycle traffic filling the local roads altogether.
Four things I did take care of over the weekend in the way of chores weren’t all that time consuming, with only two of them requiring venturing out onto the roads – having the oil changed in the trusty RAM 1500 (which was almost 1000 miles overdue) and hitting the local barber shop for a haircut (which I did right after the oil change was done).
The other two were rather mundane, the first being correcting a small error I made assembling the new Official Weekend Pundit Gas Grill (which took all of 5 minutes to correct). The second was troubleshooting a problem with the garage door opener which didn’t want to be found...until the chain sprocket on the drive motor came off, snapping off the sprocket shaft right where it comes out of the motor casing.
So ended my efforts at fixing it this weekend. In the mean time I’ll be spending time online to see if I can find a replacement part.
Normally I wouldn’t be worried about getting it taken care of so quickly because the door can be opened manually, but in this case the WP Mom uses the garage and I don’t want to make it any more difficult for her than absolutely necessary. So if I can’t find the parts I need in the next couple of days I won’t waste any more time and I’ll get a new garage door opener.
And so it goes with home ownership.
==+==
As the debate about racist Critical Race Theory being forced down the throats of kids at school or adults at their places of work expands, I find that many of the proponents of CRT have absolutely no idea what it entails or its history. They only know what they’ve been told be people who do not have their best interests at heart.
While CRT has its roots in Marxism, another socialist group used it to justify the murder of millions of people they didn’t like. The parallels between CRT and the Nazi ideology of hate are striking.
Could some of the support of CRT come from ignorance, willful or not, or people’s lack of understanding when it comes to history? (I find that the two are not mutually exclusive.)
In either case, people supporting something they do not understand, something hateful and racist, will come back to haunt them when they see their children acting with racist intent that CRT was supposed to ‘cure’. They won’t understand that they’ve allowed racism to re-establish itself in a country that has fought harder than most to do away with racism.
Just how effed up is that?
==+==
Skip over at GraniteGrok brings up a good point regarding Progressives - Progressives are, in general, angrier about more things than Conservatives.
Writes Skip:
I don’t understand this other than having a Savior complex in which EVERY STUPID thing has to be taken as a crisis and everyone besides themselves and their SJW-wrapped-up ideological kin must be made into second or third class citizens (if not demoted to evil subhumans).From the comments comes this follow up:
This is something I've been thinking about for some time, seeing the depths Progressives will sink to to elevate some trivial matter to MAJOR CRISIS! status, just so they have something to be 'for' or 'against'. They need a "cause" or they feel their lives are without meaning. They can't do the Civil Rights thing since their grandparents were at the forefront of that fight. There's not all that much left unless they truly want to put their lives on the line (which they won't because they aren't that brave). So they take that aforementioned trivial crap and blow it all out of proportion so they have that something to be 'for' or 'against'.
However, there's a problem with that, that being the people now realize what they're doing and aren't willing to buy in to their latest MAJOR CRISIS! The people understand it is the fruit of people desperate to be relevant.
It seems there’s an ever growing list of things we’re supposed to be concerned about, to torture ourselves over, things over which we have absolutely no control. If we did as the Progressives demand, nothing would ever get done, the economy would collapse, people would starve to death or die of otherwise treatable diseases because there are no medicines available and...well, you get the idea.
It’s time to show the Progressive obsession with trivialities for what they are – absurdities worthy only of being ridiculed and then ignored. We all have more important things to deal with in our lives. Maybe our Progressive brothers and sisters need to do likewise.
==+==
The latest victim of Get Woke, Go Broke?
HBO-Max.
In the rush to elevate anyone shouting about the evils of white people, HBO Max is littered with basement garbage that looks like the work of college students laboring on public access TV.HBO-Max rolled to the Left and has seen its subscriber numbers falling off, just like so many other corporations and organizations that preceded it. Pandering to a small percentage of their customer base at the expense of the majority is always a losing proposition. It has been proven again and again over the past few years, yet the corporate C-level executives choose to ignore the lessons of those who went before them and then suffer the same fate.
==+==
And speaking of Going Woke (and likely going to go broke), it looks like Victoria’s Secret has been infected with the ‘woke’ virus.
One has to wonder what the folks at Victoria’s Secret are thinking. Haven’t they seen the outcome of other businesses when they went ‘woke’? Is it something they truly believe they should do, or is it just yet another example of corporate virtue signaling? In either case, it isn’t going to help them, particularly in light of their already falling sales numbers. At worse, this will merely hasten their fall into bankruptcy.
==+==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the weather has been great, the lake keeps beckoning, and where the rumble of motorcycles is fading away.
6/19/2021
A Few Bike Week 2021 Observations
It’s the second weekend of Motorcycle Week here in central New Hampshire. The ‘second wave’ of bikes started arriving this past Thursday, bringing with it the constant rumble of motorcycles.
While this isn’t the largest crowd we’ve seen for a Bike Week, it’s pretty darned close. Officials have already started planning for both the 99th and 100th Annual Motorcycle Week. It is expected the 100th Annual Motorcycle Week will be huge.
Some have asked whether I am sick of the sound of all the bikes and I have to honestly say that I am not. That rumble means dollar signs and the hospitality industry here in New Hampshire is raking in the bucks. It means so for the entire state as Bike Week, while centered here in the Lake Winnipesaukee area, reaps benefits for other areas of the state as well since the visiting bikers travel all over the state sightseeing and attending other Bike Week related activities and events in other towns and counties.
The weather has certainly been cooperative for the most part, with rain on this past Monday and some showers early this morning and more expected late this afternoon/early evening.
Of the few bikers I have talked to, they have all enjoyed this year’s Bike Week, glad that it has fully returned.
While this isn’t the largest crowd we’ve seen for a Bike Week, it’s pretty darned close. Officials have already started planning for both the 99th and 100th Annual Motorcycle Week. It is expected the 100th Annual Motorcycle Week will be huge.
Some have asked whether I am sick of the sound of all the bikes and I have to honestly say that I am not. That rumble means dollar signs and the hospitality industry here in New Hampshire is raking in the bucks. It means so for the entire state as Bike Week, while centered here in the Lake Winnipesaukee area, reaps benefits for other areas of the state as well since the visiting bikers travel all over the state sightseeing and attending other Bike Week related activities and events in other towns and counties.
The weather has certainly been cooperative for the most part, with rain on this past Monday and some showers early this morning and more expected late this afternoon/early evening.
Of the few bikers I have talked to, they have all enjoyed this year’s Bike Week, glad that it has fully returned.
6/17/2021
It's Up Versus Down, Not Left Versus Right
I came across a reference to this speech by Ronaldus Magnus in a comment over at Chris Muir’s DayByDay cartoon. Ronald Reagan brought up a number of good points that are relevant even today. What’s even more interesting is that Ronaldus Magnus gave this speech back in October of 1964. One of the more poignant and thought provoking quotes from that speech is something we need to keep in mind, particularly in light of the situation our nation is facing today.
Those who fear or can be convinced to fear all kinds of things that are common in life seem willing to surrender their freedom to those who helped foster those fears to begin with. It is not a new thing by any means as we have seen this numerous times during the 20th century alone.
The 21st century versions of those selling fear have a more effective set of platforms to instill fear in the populace, and it helps them that most of the media is all in on helping to do so, to help push everyone (but them) down to the lowest common denominator, to give them dominion unending over those who have willingly sold themselves into slavery.
They must not succeed.
“You and I are told increasingly we have to choose between a left or right. Well I'd like to suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There's only an up or down: [up] man's old -- old-aged dream, the ultimate in individual freedom consistent with law and order, or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism. And regardless of their sincerity, their humanitarian motives, those who would trade our freedom for security have embarked on this downward course.”It is a constant battle between freedom and security.
Those who fear or can be convinced to fear all kinds of things that are common in life seem willing to surrender their freedom to those who helped foster those fears to begin with. It is not a new thing by any means as we have seen this numerous times during the 20th century alone.
The 21st century versions of those selling fear have a more effective set of platforms to instill fear in the populace, and it helps them that most of the media is all in on helping to do so, to help push everyone (but them) down to the lowest common denominator, to give them dominion unending over those who have willingly sold themselves into slavery.
They must not succeed.
6/13/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
The roar of motorcycles filled a good portion of last evening, just as they did during the day today. The weather has been great all weekend and looks to be good all week (except for Monday, maybe). That will certainly help the visiting bikers plenty of time to enjoy the amenities (and spend a lot of money). It does mean the rest of us will likely be avoiding our usual haunts, giving them over to the visitors. (This is nothing new. While we love our local restaurants, we don’t always like dealing with the folks from away, so we tend not to visit them nearly as often between mid-June and Labor Day. The one exception is the seasonal restaurants that are only open during the summer.)
One of the important tasks I did take care of this weekend was assembling the new Official Weekend Pundit Gas Grill. I have been without a grill since we sold The Manse (the new owners wanted to keep the grill, so I left it behind), and the WP Mom convinced me it was time to bite the bullet and acquire a new one. A George Foreman grill can only go so far when it comes to grilling some nice marinated sirloin tips. A good flame does it better. All I need to do now is pick up a 20lb bottle of propane and it will be ready to go.
By way of Instapundit comes this confession by one of the people responsible for the kangaroo kourt konvictions of young male college students on vaguely defined sexual assault/sexual harassment charge, asking “How much damage have me and my colleagues done?”
More counties (and states) are declaring themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries, a growing trend as Americans see the federal government (including Congress and especially the President) willfully ignoring the Constitution by trying their best to eliminate one of our enumerated rights. If the feds succeed in this effort, the next one in their sights will be the First Amendment, and after that maybe the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. (Remember that President * has stated that a constitutional amendment isn’t ‘absolute’, meaning he believes the Constitution can be ignored by the government as needed. Then again we know the extreme Left Wing of the Democrat Party doesn’t believe in the Constitution and would love to be able to ignore it entirely.)
The legislature in my home state passed a bill that makes New Hampshire a Second Amendment Sanctuary state. We’re just waiting for our governor to sign it. (We expect he will as he has been a strong advocate for the Second Amendment, for the most part.) If he does sign it, I would push to see an amendment in the state constitution to strengthen the Second Amendment sanctuary status so a future Democrat majority legislature can’t remove it at whim.
If we don’t defend our Rights now, there may not be a later to do so, or it will require armed rebellion, bloodshed, and a lot of death, something none of us wants.
For anyone who’s been paying attention over the past year, this won’t be a surprise.
It turns out everything President Trump claimed prior to the election last November was true. Even the DNC-MSM is now admitting he was right, though reluctantly.
You know it’s bad when a member of a foreign government friendly to the US states Biden “is so senile that he probably won’t remember what we tell him.”
Those of us paying attention have known that for well over a year, ever since SloJo started running for the Democrat nomination. He’s displayed classic symptoms of dementia, has had limited exposure to the public, calling a ‘lid’ on his appearances early in the day. He has memory lapses that can’t be covered up, even by the leftist DNC-MSM. He appears confused, doesn’t seem to know where he is from one moment to the next, and has difficulties with his vocabulary, and you rarely, if ever, see him evenings. (Those suffering from dementia tend to be worse late in the day/evenings, something called ‘sundowning’ or ‘sunsetting’.)
How can anyone believe SloJo is running anything if he’s having problems dealing with everyday activities? When our allies comment on SloJo’s diminishing capacity, one has to think they are seeing the same things we are, but up close and personal.
I’m sure the business owners in San Francisco are pleased as punch about the ‘new normal’ when it comes to selling their goods, that being looting/shoplifting. California’s changing the definition of felony theft by setting a much higher felony threshold for the value of goods stolen ($950) has certainly helped fuel the problem. Then there’s also this:
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the rumble of motorcycles is constant, the weather is great, and where The Day That Shall Not Be Named has returned...again.
One of the important tasks I did take care of this weekend was assembling the new Official Weekend Pundit Gas Grill. I have been without a grill since we sold The Manse (the new owners wanted to keep the grill, so I left it behind), and the WP Mom convinced me it was time to bite the bullet and acquire a new one. A George Foreman grill can only go so far when it comes to grilling some nice marinated sirloin tips. A good flame does it better. All I need to do now is pick up a 20lb bottle of propane and it will be ready to go.
==+==
By way of Instapundit comes this confession by one of the people responsible for the kangaroo kourt konvictions of young male college students on vaguely defined sexual assault/sexual harassment charge, asking “How much damage have me and my colleagues done?”
The possibility that this young woman held in her hands the power to derail their son’s education, something these parents might have been imagining since he was in utero, was untenable. The possibility that the process designed to respond to exactly these sorts of accusations already appeared to presuppose his guilt — that was unimaginable.Thus was the “presumed guilty until proven innocent...and are still guilty even if proved innocent” attitude that came to exist on college campuses due to that damnable “Dear Colleague” letter. It also led to lawsuit after lawsuit against colleges and universities for ‘convictions’ based on nothing but an accusation, the so-called courts ignoring due process, meaning the accused was always assumed to be guilty, had little or no opportunity to question the accuser or present exculpatory evidence. The telling event about these kangaroo courts is that the plaintiffs won case after case after case against those institutions of higher learning, in some cases receiving millions of dollars in damages. Yet the kangaroo courts continued unabated and an untold number of young college men have seen their lives turned upside down based solely upon an accusation, no proof required, no actual investigation performed.
No amount of assurance on my part convinced them that their son would be treated fairly. If that were the case, why were they already being told he had to leave campus and his classes before there was so much as a preliminary hearing? . . .
“My son’s hearing was a joke,” she said. “He never stood a chance. Do you know that the hearing officer and the investigator are good friends? And that the ‘advocate’” — she practically spit out the word — “they assigned to him was also a friend of theirs? I found them all on Facebook, attending the wedding of the person who is supposed to hear appeals. All friends. I saw them leaving together after the hearing, and in the parking lot of a restaurant heading in together. We decided to eat somewhere else.”
==+==
More counties (and states) are declaring themselves Second Amendment Sanctuaries, a growing trend as Americans see the federal government (including Congress and especially the President) willfully ignoring the Constitution by trying their best to eliminate one of our enumerated rights. If the feds succeed in this effort, the next one in their sights will be the First Amendment, and after that maybe the Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments. (Remember that President * has stated that a constitutional amendment isn’t ‘absolute’, meaning he believes the Constitution can be ignored by the government as needed. Then again we know the extreme Left Wing of the Democrat Party doesn’t believe in the Constitution and would love to be able to ignore it entirely.)
The legislature in my home state passed a bill that makes New Hampshire a Second Amendment Sanctuary state. We’re just waiting for our governor to sign it. (We expect he will as he has been a strong advocate for the Second Amendment, for the most part.) If he does sign it, I would push to see an amendment in the state constitution to strengthen the Second Amendment sanctuary status so a future Democrat majority legislature can’t remove it at whim.
If we don’t defend our Rights now, there may not be a later to do so, or it will require armed rebellion, bloodshed, and a lot of death, something none of us wants.
==+==
For anyone who’s been paying attention over the past year, this won’t be a surprise.
It turns out everything President Trump claimed prior to the election last November was true. Even the DNC-MSM is now admitting he was right, though reluctantly.
==+==
You know it’s bad when a member of a foreign government friendly to the US states Biden “is so senile that he probably won’t remember what we tell him.”
Those of us paying attention have known that for well over a year, ever since SloJo started running for the Democrat nomination. He’s displayed classic symptoms of dementia, has had limited exposure to the public, calling a ‘lid’ on his appearances early in the day. He has memory lapses that can’t be covered up, even by the leftist DNC-MSM. He appears confused, doesn’t seem to know where he is from one moment to the next, and has difficulties with his vocabulary, and you rarely, if ever, see him evenings. (Those suffering from dementia tend to be worse late in the day/evenings, something called ‘sundowning’ or ‘sunsetting’.)
How can anyone believe SloJo is running anything if he’s having problems dealing with everyday activities? When our allies comment on SloJo’s diminishing capacity, one has to think they are seeing the same things we are, but up close and personal.
==+==
I’m sure the business owners in San Francisco are pleased as punch about the ‘new normal’ when it comes to selling their goods, that being looting/shoplifting. California’s changing the definition of felony theft by setting a much higher felony threshold for the value of goods stolen ($950) has certainly helped fuel the problem. Then there’s also this:
An organizer for Black Lives Matter has informed us that such activities are to be regarded not as theft but as “reparations” owed to those who are oppressed according to liberal doctrine.What has been the unintended consequences of the new normal?
Walgreens has been closing stores because it is effectively legal to shoplift in Democrat-dominated California. Thieves are expected to limit themselves to swiping less than $950 worth of merchandise at a time. However, if you allow any crime, you get a lot.Then when crime is rampant and society is coming apart, they will ‘crack down on crime’ using draconian measures, with crime being redefined to mean anything they want it to mean, including exercising the freedom of speech. Then again, that’s exactly what they want, as most incipient totalitarians do.
This was the insight behind the Broken Windows approach to police work that allowed Rudy Giuliani to clean up New York City, which has since slipped back into dysfunction thanks to liberal rule. The current War on Police and ever more lenient treatment of criminals puts Broken Windows into reverse by encouraging crime.
==+==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where the rumble of motorcycles is constant, the weather is great, and where The Day That Shall Not Be Named has returned...again.
6/12/2021
Motorcycle Week Has Returned!
It started yesterday just prior to noon.
At first it was just an occasional rumble passing by my place of employment. Over the next few hours the occasional rumble became a steady stream, passing from south to north. It was interspersed with occasional light showers lasting only a few minutes.
No, it wasn’t lines of thundershowers working their way through central New Hampshire.
It was thousands of motorcycles making their way to Laconia for the 98th Annual Laconia Motorcycle Week. Today marks the beginning of 9 days of celebrating the love of motorcycles.
Laconia Bike Week is one of the Big Three gatherings of motorcycle enthusiasts taking place in the US every year – Daytona, Laconia, and Sturgis.
Last year’s celebration was delayed due to Covid, taking place in a greatly attenuated form during the fall. Less then 25% of the usual number of attendees made the trip, something understandable under the circumstances.I have a feeling this year’s attendance will be close to a record as people are shaking off the last vestiges of Covid lockdown/lockout from their systems.
We’ve certainly seen record numbers for vacation bookings in this area this year, with every seasonal rental booked months ago from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and heavy bookings between Labor Day and Columbus Day. The restaurants, food shacks, and food trucks are all busier that we’ve ever seen. That leads me to believe this will apply to Motorcycle Week as well. I am certainly seeing more motorcycles on a first Saturday than I recall seeing during previous Bike Weeks. All parking lots at some of my favorite breakfast eateries were full of motorcycles. There were a lot of bikes in the Walmart parking lot late this morning. The same was true of the lots at our two supermarkets at the edge of town.
Things are getting back to normal. It’s about time.
At first it was just an occasional rumble passing by my place of employment. Over the next few hours the occasional rumble became a steady stream, passing from south to north. It was interspersed with occasional light showers lasting only a few minutes.
No, it wasn’t lines of thundershowers working their way through central New Hampshire.
It was thousands of motorcycles making their way to Laconia for the 98th Annual Laconia Motorcycle Week. Today marks the beginning of 9 days of celebrating the love of motorcycles.
Laconia Bike Week is one of the Big Three gatherings of motorcycle enthusiasts taking place in the US every year – Daytona, Laconia, and Sturgis.
Last year’s celebration was delayed due to Covid, taking place in a greatly attenuated form during the fall. Less then 25% of the usual number of attendees made the trip, something understandable under the circumstances.I have a feeling this year’s attendance will be close to a record as people are shaking off the last vestiges of Covid lockdown/lockout from their systems.
We’ve certainly seen record numbers for vacation bookings in this area this year, with every seasonal rental booked months ago from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and heavy bookings between Labor Day and Columbus Day. The restaurants, food shacks, and food trucks are all busier that we’ve ever seen. That leads me to believe this will apply to Motorcycle Week as well. I am certainly seeing more motorcycles on a first Saturday than I recall seeing during previous Bike Weeks. All parking lots at some of my favorite breakfast eateries were full of motorcycles. There were a lot of bikes in the Walmart parking lot late this morning. The same was true of the lots at our two supermarkets at the edge of town.
Things are getting back to normal. It’s about time.
6/09/2021
Proposed New Gun Legislation - New Hampshire
This is a comment I made to an Instapundit post dealing with the aftermath of the shooting in Boulder, Colorado three months ago. Seeing as it is likely our governor is going to sign a bill that makes New Hampshire a Second Amendment Sanctuary State, I thought I would bear repeating as a proposal for new gun legislation here in the Live Free Or Die state, to whit:
"Every able-bodied adult not otherwise restricted by law (convicted felons and those under Domestic Violence Restraining Orders or Mental Health Orders) shall be required to carry a loaded firearm when out in public. Accommodation will be made for religious belief exemptions. Those who cannot afford firearms or ammo will report to their nearest police station where loaner weapons and ammo can be signed out for not more than 4 days. Loaner periods can be extended but the requests must be made in person and cannot exceed 28 days. Loaner weapons and ammo will be returned to the PD in the same condition as they were issued. The cost of any loaner ammunition expended shall be reimbursed to the PD within 90 days of use."Yes, it needs some work, but I figured I could lay out the basics here for your perusal. As comments [still] aren’t working, you can e-mail your suggestions to the e-mail address in the ‘Contributors’ link to the right.
6/06/2021
Thoughts On A Sunday
It was a typical summer weekend, being hot and humid (more so today rather than yesterday). Plenty of summerfolk were about over the weekend, though it wasn’t as crazy this weekend as it was over the Memorial Day weekend even with the better weather these past two days.
We are also likely to see our first official heat wave (three consecutive days of temperatures 90ºF or above) which started today and is supposed to last through Tuesday. The hot and humid weather is likely to generate thunderstorms each day, a not atypical effect of this type of weather. It will mean keeping an eye on the sky, particularly while being out on the lake. Being caught out on the lake in a thunderstorm is no fun. (I can speak from experience about this.)
I am still surprised to see how many boats are still in storage at some of the local boatyards/marinas and how many slips are still not occupied despite there being a shortage of available slips. The pier where I berth the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout – aka The Boat – would normally have all of the boats tied up at their usual berths. But as of today mine is the only boat there, one of the last things I expected to see at this point. Usually all the berths are occupied before Memorial Day.
It is a paradox – a very high demand for boat slips, a lot of boats still in storage, and a lot of boat slips are still empty. The boat yards and marinas are very busy trying to get the boats still in storage ready to launch. They had a bit of a head start since the winter weather was pretty much done by mid/late March. (That’s when I called the boat yard that stores and services The Boat and made arrangements to have it pulled out of storage and readied to launch by the second weekend of May. They weren’t able to get it ready until the third weekend!)
I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of paradoxes this summer.
The housing crunch continues, both here in northern New England and elsewhere in the rural and semi-rural areas, so-called ‘Flyover Country’.
People are fleeing the cities...blue cities… and blue states for red states and cities and Flyover Country to escape the effects of Covid, the overbearing taxes, the high cost of living, the rising crime, the spreading mental illness of the ‘woke’, increasing populations of homeless, and a whole list of other self-inflicted blue state/city ills. By doing so, the demand for housing in the non-blue areas has skyrocketed.
We’ve certainly seen that issue here in New Hampshire, with folks from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York buying homes here and driving up the prices since they seem to be willing to offer well above asking price to get a home they want. Of the three groups, it surprises me that a majority of those folks ‘from away’ are from Connecticut and that most of those are not from the cities. Please be aware this is anecdotal data, some from people whom I asked directly, other info from the real estate transaction data, and yet other data from a few realtors I know – though not from my realtor – so take my claim with a grain of salt. The balance come from Massachusetts and then New York and the few I know of personally from New York came from Upstate New York, not the Metro New York Area.
I have seen selling prices going through the roof, whether that’s because the folks ‘from away’ didn’t grasp that property prices here were a lot lower than where they came from or they want to make sure they get the house they’ve set their sights on. Perhaps it’s a mixture of both. All I know is that home prices have gone way up, locking a lot of locals out of the market. There’s also the the huge increase in the cost of building materials which is making things even worse.
I’ve postponed starting construction on The New Manse because lumber costs have gone up over 300%, and plywood prices are up over 400%, making it financially untenable for me to even consider building anytime soon. That’s true for a lot of other families wanting a new home. Developers aren’t necessarily going to dive in at this time either for the same reason. They know the demand and prices will fall, just like they always do, and they don’t want to be left with overpriced homes they can’t sell.
It’s not that new homes aren’t being built. They are. However, they tend not to be ‘spec’ houses but higher end homes that a lot of middle class families can’t possibly afford. Therein lies the problem.
The other problem is that corporations are also buying houses in ‘resort’ areas, turning them into short-term rentals listed via AirBnB and VRBO, just to name two online rental sites. That means homes that would normally house a family, be it year round or seasonally, is no longer being used as a normal residence. This has also driven up housing prices as these LLCs are willing to outbid other buyers as they see the home as a source of revenue. (We recently saw an ~1700 sqft chalet with a gravel driveway, no garage, and no view that would normally sell for ~$240k went for $700k to an out-of-state LLC who plans to use it solely for short-term rentals. In that general neighborhood there are just shy of 100 homes that are now short-term rental only. That’s 100 less houses available as residences for families.)
Over the years I’ve had more than a few people ask me if I believe in UFOs. I have asked them in turn if they meant ‘Unidentified Flying Objects’ or ‘Little Green Men’.
If they reply with the first, I say “Yup. I’ve seen more than a few in my time.” If they reply with the second, I say “I’ve seen something, but I can’t say if it’s Little Green Men or not.”
Are they secret government craft? Are they of alien origin? Is it the “Russkies”, the Chinese, or someone else? (I’m thinking it’s Elon Musk and his SpaceX guys pulling it off.)
All we do know is that US Government is saying “We don’t know.”
So, basically they’re saying the same thing they did back in 50’s and 60’s with Project Blue Book: “We don’t know...and we wouldn’t tell you even if we did.”
Maggie’s Farm asks “How far can social insanity go?”
I don’t think we’re anywhere near peak social insanity yet, but we’re getting there. When we do, it’s going to be ugly, and, unfortunately, likely to be deadly.
Twitter is getting slapped around, being hoisted upon their own petard after the government of Nigeria banned it in their country because of the platform’s partisan censorship.
Twitter’s ‘policy police’ fired back with an unwittingly ironic response, stating “We are deeply concerned by the blocking of Twitter in Nigeria. Access to the free and #OpenInternet is an essential human right in modern society.” The fact-deficient response to Nigeria’s action unleashed a well deserved flood of “Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black” responses.
Lauren Chen’s tweet slapped Twitter’s ‘thought police’ right upside their collective heads:
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer has actually arrived despite what the calendar says, where I’ll be spending time out on the lake, and Monday is once again interfering with spending even more time out on the lake.
We are also likely to see our first official heat wave (three consecutive days of temperatures 90ºF or above) which started today and is supposed to last through Tuesday. The hot and humid weather is likely to generate thunderstorms each day, a not atypical effect of this type of weather. It will mean keeping an eye on the sky, particularly while being out on the lake. Being caught out on the lake in a thunderstorm is no fun. (I can speak from experience about this.)
I am still surprised to see how many boats are still in storage at some of the local boatyards/marinas and how many slips are still not occupied despite there being a shortage of available slips. The pier where I berth the Official Weekend Pundit Lake Winnipesaukee Runabout – aka The Boat – would normally have all of the boats tied up at their usual berths. But as of today mine is the only boat there, one of the last things I expected to see at this point. Usually all the berths are occupied before Memorial Day.
It is a paradox – a very high demand for boat slips, a lot of boats still in storage, and a lot of boat slips are still empty. The boat yards and marinas are very busy trying to get the boats still in storage ready to launch. They had a bit of a head start since the winter weather was pretty much done by mid/late March. (That’s when I called the boat yard that stores and services The Boat and made arrangements to have it pulled out of storage and readied to launch by the second weekend of May. They weren’t able to get it ready until the third weekend!)
I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot of paradoxes this summer.
==+==
The housing crunch continues, both here in northern New England and elsewhere in the rural and semi-rural areas, so-called ‘Flyover Country’.
People are fleeing the cities...blue cities… and blue states for red states and cities and Flyover Country to escape the effects of Covid, the overbearing taxes, the high cost of living, the rising crime, the spreading mental illness of the ‘woke’, increasing populations of homeless, and a whole list of other self-inflicted blue state/city ills. By doing so, the demand for housing in the non-blue areas has skyrocketed.
We’ve certainly seen that issue here in New Hampshire, with folks from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New York buying homes here and driving up the prices since they seem to be willing to offer well above asking price to get a home they want. Of the three groups, it surprises me that a majority of those folks ‘from away’ are from Connecticut and that most of those are not from the cities. Please be aware this is anecdotal data, some from people whom I asked directly, other info from the real estate transaction data, and yet other data from a few realtors I know – though not from my realtor – so take my claim with a grain of salt. The balance come from Massachusetts and then New York and the few I know of personally from New York came from Upstate New York, not the Metro New York Area.
I have seen selling prices going through the roof, whether that’s because the folks ‘from away’ didn’t grasp that property prices here were a lot lower than where they came from or they want to make sure they get the house they’ve set their sights on. Perhaps it’s a mixture of both. All I know is that home prices have gone way up, locking a lot of locals out of the market. There’s also the the huge increase in the cost of building materials which is making things even worse.
I’ve postponed starting construction on The New Manse because lumber costs have gone up over 300%, and plywood prices are up over 400%, making it financially untenable for me to even consider building anytime soon. That’s true for a lot of other families wanting a new home. Developers aren’t necessarily going to dive in at this time either for the same reason. They know the demand and prices will fall, just like they always do, and they don’t want to be left with overpriced homes they can’t sell.
It’s not that new homes aren’t being built. They are. However, they tend not to be ‘spec’ houses but higher end homes that a lot of middle class families can’t possibly afford. Therein lies the problem.
The other problem is that corporations are also buying houses in ‘resort’ areas, turning them into short-term rentals listed via AirBnB and VRBO, just to name two online rental sites. That means homes that would normally house a family, be it year round or seasonally, is no longer being used as a normal residence. This has also driven up housing prices as these LLCs are willing to outbid other buyers as they see the home as a source of revenue. (We recently saw an ~1700 sqft chalet with a gravel driveway, no garage, and no view that would normally sell for ~$240k went for $700k to an out-of-state LLC who plans to use it solely for short-term rentals. In that general neighborhood there are just shy of 100 homes that are now short-term rental only. That’s 100 less houses available as residences for families.)
==+==
Over the years I’ve had more than a few people ask me if I believe in UFOs. I have asked them in turn if they meant ‘Unidentified Flying Objects’ or ‘Little Green Men’.
If they reply with the first, I say “Yup. I’ve seen more than a few in my time.” If they reply with the second, I say “I’ve seen something, but I can’t say if it’s Little Green Men or not.”
Are they secret government craft? Are they of alien origin? Is it the “Russkies”, the Chinese, or someone else? (I’m thinking it’s Elon Musk and his SpaceX guys pulling it off.)
All we do know is that US Government is saying “We don’t know.”
The report concluded that the vast majority of the incidents did not originate with the American military or other advanced U.S. government technology. That some of them might have is an intriguing possibility. Just what is it that the U.S. military is flying around up there?Are they telling the truth? “We don’t know.”
It should be noted that the intelligence agencies mostly examined incidents involving Navy pilots. Most of the incidents occurred at sea while a few of the occurrences were recorded by Navy vessels in the open ocean. A few other incidents studied came from foreign militaries.
So, basically they’re saying the same thing they did back in 50’s and 60’s with Project Blue Book: “We don’t know...and we wouldn’t tell you even if we did.”
==+==
Maggie’s Farm asks “How far can social insanity go?”
I don’t think we’re anywhere near peak social insanity yet, but we’re getting there. When we do, it’s going to be ugly, and, unfortunately, likely to be deadly.
==+==
Twitter is getting slapped around, being hoisted upon their own petard after the government of Nigeria banned it in their country because of the platform’s partisan censorship.
Twitter’s ‘policy police’ fired back with an unwittingly ironic response, stating “We are deeply concerned by the blocking of Twitter in Nigeria. Access to the free and #OpenInternet is an essential human right in modern society.” The fact-deficient response to Nigeria’s action unleashed a well deserved flood of “Isn’t that the pot calling the kettle black” responses.
Lauren Chen’s tweet slapped Twitter’s ‘thought police’ right upside their collective heads:
So why are you depriving President Trump, Laura Loomer, Mike Lindell, Milo Yiannopoulos, Alex Jones, and countless others of this "essential human right"?I expect Twitter will ignore Ms. Chen’s tweet...or delete it for violating their ‘Terms of Use’ policy.
==+==
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where summer has actually arrived despite what the calendar says, where I’ll be spending time out on the lake, and Monday is once again interfering with spending even more time out on the lake.
6/05/2021
Will New Hampshire Become The Newest Second Amendment Sanctuary State?
First, we were an Open Carry state.
Then we became a Constitutional Carry state.
Now, with the passage of SB154 in the New Hampshire House, we are going to become a Second Amendment Sanctuary state. (This assumes our governor will continue his track record of supporting the 2nd Amendment and sign the bill.)
More states are sending a signal that they will not tolerate or support the Progressives in federal government efforts to erase the Second Amendment, and with it the ability to protect the rest of our constitutionally enumerated rights.
(H/T GraniteGrok)
Then we became a Constitutional Carry state.
Now, with the passage of SB154 in the New Hampshire House, we are going to become a Second Amendment Sanctuary state. (This assumes our governor will continue his track record of supporting the 2nd Amendment and sign the bill.)
More states are sending a signal that they will not tolerate or support the Progressives in federal government efforts to erase the Second Amendment, and with it the ability to protect the rest of our constitutionally enumerated rights.
(H/T GraniteGrok)
6/04/2021
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