October 2018 Archives

Aaaaand it's YouTube

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Nothing much on the web. Want to get an early start tomorrow - bringing the totes over to the storage locker, check my post office box (got a couple things heading my way) and then to the farm for another fun day of packing. Got the equipment barn shifted so I can drive the van completely inside and hung a very large and bright arc lamp from the rafters so the entire space is nicely illuminated.

Halloween - some numbers

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The economic impact of Halloween is staggering. From The Silicon Graybeard:

Some Astounding Halloween Facts
From the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE).

    1. An estimated $575.26 million total will be spent on Halloween pumpkins alone in 2018, according to Finder, at an average price of $3.89 per pumpkin. That will exhaust about 80 percent of the US pumpkin supply.
    2. An estimated 95 percent of Americans plan on buying candy during the Halloween season, spending a total of $2.6 billion. 
    3. Americans are projected to spend some $9 billion total on Halloween in 2018, according to the National Retail Federation. That’s a couple billion dollars more than was spent on federal elections in 2016.

Four more at the site as well as some other curious facts.

Heh... From The Times of Israel:

TV report: Israel silent as Iran hit by computer virus more violent than Stuxnet
Iranian infrastructure and strategic networks have come under attack in the last few days by a computer virus similar to Stuxnet but “more violent, more advanced and more sophisticated,” and Israeli officials are refusing to discuss what role, if any, they may have had in the operation, an Israeli TV report said Wednesday.

The report came hours after Israel said its Mossad intelligence agency had thwarted an Iranian murder plot in Denmark, and two days after Iran acknowledged that President Hassan Rouhani’s mobile phone had been bugged. It also follows a string of Israeli intelligence coups against Iran, including the extraction from Tehran in January by the Mossad of the contents of a vast archive documenting Iran’s nuclear weapons program, and the detailing by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the UN in September of other alleged Iranian nuclear and missile assets inside Iran, in Syria and in Lebanon.

Saw some reviews of Stuxnet when it came out in 2010 - pretty sophisticated. The Israelis have had eight years to develop it further. Should be interesting to see what it does now. News like this makes my little hacker heart go pitty-pat.

If it was not for Iran's sponsorship, the whole "palestinian" thing would dry up and blow away. They are a state sponsor of terrorism.

Island again

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Had a couple of totes of the blacksmith tools I am keeping so spent a couple hours staging the garage at the condo (a lot of stuff and I am only about 30% done) and then went down to Camano. Had a burrito at a local Mexican place and heading to the storage locker tomorrow, then back to Maple Falls for more packing.

Putting some serious miles on the van - it had 23K when I got it six weeks ago and it is up to 27K now.

Time to unpack, take a nice hot shower and surf for a bit. YouTube after that.

On the road

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Done with lunch (and the cookies were delicious). Heading in to the condo - looks like just one trip today but I will have a bunch more totes packed up for tomorrow.

The Caravan

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Chartered buses:

Heh - CNN in the ratings

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CNN is a perfect example of Fake News and viewers know this. From The Daily Caller:

CNN FALLS TO HALLMARK CHANNEL’S MADE-FOR-TV MOVIES IN OCTOBER
Fox News marked its 5th consecutive month as the most-watched cable network in primetime during the month of October, beating its competitors’ combined primetime viewership.

Fox also notched its 28th consecutive month as the number one network in total day ratings, according to Nielsen Media Research.

TOTAL DAY RATINGS:

Fox: 1,685,000

MSNBC: 909,000

CNN: 689,000

MSNBC and CNN combined: 1,598,000

PRIMETIME RATINGS:

Fox: 2,829,000

MSNBC: 1,575,000

CNN: 931,00

MSNBC and CNN combined: 2,506,000

The numbers do not lie. A bit more:

CNN was by far the least competitive cable news network in October, finishing 9th in primetime behind Fox Sports 1, The Hallmark Channel, and Home and Garden Television. CNN finished 7th in total day behind Nickelodeon and Hallmark.

CNN caters to a small audience of "true believers" - they are a joke to us normals.

A great essayist - Neal's Soapbox

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Just ran into this website - adding it to my frequent reads: Neal's Soapbox

The author is an excellent essayist - here is just one. Hard to excerpt so I will just post the first couple of paragraphs and you can read the rest for yourself here

A Return To The Dark Ages
I don’t know how many of you are familiar with World History, but if you aren’t the Dark Ages refer to the period of history beginning with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ending with the Renaissance. The Dark Ages refers to a period of history in Western Europe which saw a decline, or a deterioration if you will, of culture, economics and intellect amongst the people.

While it may be true that the Romans held all that territory by conquest, it is also true that they brought a lot to those they conquered; trade, literacy, architecture, and possibly even more important, written law. It is held by some that when Rome fell the light went out on the world; hence the term Dark Ages.

Historians will tell you that the Renaissance brought an end to the Dark Ages; plunging the world back into the light after five centuries of darkness. But in reality the Renaissance was nothing more than a return to humanism; something both the Greeks and the Romans had practiced in their lives as cultural and philosophical centers of the world.

Humanism is basically the philosophical and ethical stance that emphasizes the value and agency of humans, both individually and collectively, and generally prefers critical thinking to dogma and superstition. Hence, it was during the Renaissance that we saw some of the world’s most renowned thinkers emerge; polymaths like Da Vinci and Michelangelo.

A polymath, in case you weren’t aware, is a person with a wide range of knowledge and skills. For instance, Leonardo Da Vinci was, not only a painter and a sculptor, he also knew a great deal about mathematics, engineering, geology, astronomy, anatomy and botany. Thomas Jefferson was also a polymath; having a great deal of knowledge regarding architecture, politics, philosophy, science, botany, as well as being fluent in many languages.

It is said that when President Kennedy hosted the 49 winners of the Nobel Prize in 1969 he uttered the following comments; a fitting compliment to Jefferson as a polymath, “I think this is the most extraordinary collection of talent and of human knowledge that has ever been gathered together at the White House – with the possible exception of when Thomas Jefferson dined alone.” But, I get ahead of myself.

Wonderful stuff - very thoughtful. Also, in an earler post, Neal noticed something that had escaped my attention (and a lot of other people):

(excerpted)

Speaking of postage, CNN ran a photo of the supposed package that was mailed to them and to show you what it looked like I took a screen capture of what CNN is reporting was delivered to them…

201031-neal01.jpg

Notice anything missing? Sure, there are postage stamps on this package, but where is the postmark the post office places upon all mail once it has been processed at one of their facilities? You know, these things…

201031-neal02.jpg

How did that package get mailed to CNN when apparently it never went through a post office to begin with? But I’m sure the insignificant fact that these packages probably weren’t processed and delivered by the U.S. Postal System will not deter them from using this as ammunition against anyone whose political beliefs run contrary to theirs.

A lot of unanswered questions with this case. It has false flag written all over it.

Taking a break for lunch

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Got a good load in the van so may be able to get two trips into the condo today. Made a hummus sandwich and wasking it down with a diet coke. We had a bunch of small boxes of Oreo cookies expire at the store so having one of those for dessert.

So true - the New Yorker magazine cover

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President Trump really scares liberals. He upsets their little bubble. Breaks their narrative. Witness the cover from the current issue of The New Yorker:

20181031-trump.jpg

Heh - living inside their head rent free since 2016...

Up and at 'em

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Heading out for coffee and then pack the van up.

Had a fun evening yesterday - went out for a couple pints and ran into some good friends. Stayed up way past my bedtime but it was a lot of fun.

A moment of silence

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The ever classy liberals:

Six little words

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That the open borders/illegal immigrant people seem to gloss over. They point to the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States to state that it is constitutional for a child born in the USA to be a citizen even though their parents are in the country illegally.

A simple read of that amendment tells  completely different story:

Amendment XIV
Section 1.
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside. No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

The six words that I have highlighted state that the parents must be subject to the jurisdiction thereof (ie: the laws of the United States). In other words, the parents need to be lawful citizens of the USA for this section to hold true.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the convoy - we will have about 6,000 troops at the crossings. It is not like this has not happened before - from The Smithsonian:

The U.S. Government Turned Away Thousands of Jewish Refugees, Fearing That They Were Nazi Spies

(excerpted)

World War II prompted the largest displacement of human beings the world has ever seen—although today's refugee crisis is starting to approach its unprecedented scale. But even with millions of European Jews displaced from their homes, the United States had a poor track record offering asylum. Most notoriously, in June 1939, the German ocean liner St. Louis and its 937 passengers, almost all Jewish, were turned away from the port of Miami, forcing the ship to return to Europe; more than a quarter died in the Holocaust.

If that was what was waiting for these people in their homeland then sure, let them in. But, I think not. The convoy is pure politics by the Democrats. Crash the system so they can step in and install their own government. How do you move 10,000 people. Provide footwear, food, sanitation, medicine. This is not grass roots - major forces are doing this under cover. 10,000 people spontaneously get up and march? If you believe that, I have a nice bridge in New York City that you might be interested in buying. A little old but it is a classic.

DOH! - I could have told you that

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From National Public Radio:

When Adolescents Give Up Pot, Their Cognition Quickly Improves
Marijuana, it seems, is not a performance-enhancing drug. That is, at least, not among young people, and not when the activity is learning.

A study published Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry finds that when adolescents stop using marijuana – even for just one week – their verbal learning and memory improves. The study contributes to growing evidence that marijuana use in adolescents is associated with reduced neurocognitive functioning.

More than 14 percent of middle and high school students reported using marijuana within the last month, finds a National Institutes of Health survey conducted in 2017. And marijuana use has increased among high schoolers over the past 10 years, according to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.

At the same time, the percentage of teens who believe that regular marijuana use poses a great risk to their health has dropped sharply since the mid-2000s. And, legalization of marijuana may play a part in shaping how young people think about the drug. One study noted that after 2012, when marijuana was legalized in Washington state, the number of eighth graders there that believed marijuana posed risks to their health dropped by 14 percent.

The use by youth is worrisome. People that young have no long-range planning skills - they do not think about what might happen 20-30 years later if they begin damaging habits.

At the farm

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Making a quick (pressure cooker) Feijoada for dinner - picked up some chard in Bellingham. Heading out to pack.

Always research their history - from Breitbart:

Andrew Gillum Fought U.S. ‘Genocide,’ ‘Colonialism’ Through 2017 as Youth Director of Extremist Org
Florida gubernatorial candidate and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum served as the director of a radical youth training organization whose mission was to challenge U.S. “predatory capitalism,” abolish the prison system, fight a “spiritual resistance” battle against “Christian hegemony,” redefine the meaning of “borders” while aiding “undocumented” aliens, and enact the “collective liberation” of “communities of color” amid what it described as the scourge of “white supremacy.”

Gillum’s group accused the U.S. of being a “colonialist” power perpetrating “structural violence” and “continued genocide.” It claimed conservatives in the U.S. judicial system were “justifying white supremacist policing practices.”

All of that extremist rhetoric and more was posted on the official “issues” sections of the organization’s website while Gillum not only served as its active director, but while his picture, position and bio were brandished on the same site on the “staff” page.

Heh - don't forget that the internet is forever. The above link is to the internet archive. Anything posted on the web gets backed up there so you can delete your website but it will still live on forever. Seems like he was trying to sanitize his radical roots and forgot the most basic law of the internet - it is forever. A report on this from the mainstream media. Don't hold your breath.

At the store for a while

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Uneventful drive up - the last of the dry weather before this weekends deluge. Taking care of a few things here then to the farm for more packing.

I got an amazing deal on some totes about a year ago when a Bellingham company was overhauling their storage system. These are the same kind as what you use for milk only these would hold six gallon containers instead of the dairy standard four. Perfect for holding tools and since they have the interlocks on the top and bottom, I can stack them in the van and not have them slide over when I round a corner or come to a stop. Peace of mind when I am travelling with Grace and Bear.

Back to work...

Say hello to the National Screening Room - from their about page:

About this Collection
The National Screening Room showcases the riches of the Library’s vast moving image collection, designed to make otherwise unavailable movies, both copyrighted and in the public domain, freely accessible to the viewers worldwide.

The majority of movies in the National Screening Room are freely available as both 5 mb MP4 and ProRes 422 MOV downloads.

The National Screening Room is a project of the Library of Congress National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. The goal of this digital collection is to present to the widest audience possible movies from the Library's extensive holdings, offering a broad range of historical and cultural documents as a contribution to education and lifelong learning.

These selections are presented as part of the record of the past. They are historical documents which reflect the attitudes, perspectives, and beliefs of different times. The Library of Congress does not endorse the views expressed in these movies, which may contain content offensive to users.

Looks like they have 299 videos available - a great start. Great idea and resource for everyone.

On the road again

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This time for reals...

Time for YouTube

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Up to the farm tomorrow for a couple of days - this time for sure.

Heavy rain in the forecast so working in the equipment barn - I can pull the van inside and stay dry.

Illegal immigration - a few voices

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Tip of the hat to Ol' Remus for the quotes:

Barack Obama, 2005
“We are a generous and welcoming people here in the United States. But those who enter the country illegally and those who employ them disrespect the rule of law and they are showing disregard for those who are following the law.”

“We simply cannot allow people to pour into the United States undetected, undocumented, unchecked, and circumventing the line of people who are waiting patiently, diligently and lawfully to become immigrants into this country.”

Charles Schumer, 2009
“The American people are fundamentally pro-legal immigration and anti-illegal immigration. We will only pass comprehensive reform when we recognize this fundamental concept.”

“First, illegal immigration is wrong, and a primary goal of comprehensive immigration reform must be to dramatically curtail future illegal immigration.”

Nancy Pelosi, 2008
“Do we have a commitment to secure the border? Yes. What are the options that we have available to us, let's make sure they work. Because we do need to address the issue of immigration and the challenge we have of undocumented people in our country. We certainly do not want any more coming in.”

Dianne Feinstein, 1993
“It's a competition for space. Whether the space is a job, the space is a home, a place in a classroom, it becomes a competition for space. This is a country that's based on immigration. And we all know that.”

“And yet, at times you become so overtaxed you have to concentrate on saying, 'The people who should be here are those who come legally at this time.’ And we've got to, for the time being, enforce our borders.”

Bill Clinton, 1995
“All Americans, not only in the States most heavily affected but in every place in this country, are rightly disturbed by the large numbers of illegal aliens entering our country.”

“The jobs they hold might otherwise be held by citizens or legal immigrants. The public service they use impose burdens on our taxpayers.”

Remus posts weekly (Monday or Tuesday) and is always worth reading.

Venezuela in one chart

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It will be very interesting to compare the next couple years of Brazil with Venezuela - Mark Perry sums it up in one excellent chart at the American Enterprise Institute:

The collapse of Venezuela’s socialism in one chart

20181029-venezuelaoil.jpg

The chart above shows the collapse of oil production in socialist Venezuela, the country with the world’s largest oil reserves, that is accompanying the overall economic collapse there. A decade ago, the Bakken oil fields in western North Dakota were producing an insignificant amount of crude oil — only 132,000 barrels per day, while at the same time Venezuela was producing 2.5 million barrels per day, or about half of America’s 5 million barrels per day.

Fast forward ten years to today through the US Shale Revolution fueled by revolutionary Made-in-the-USA capitalist technologies, and the economic collapse in socialist Venezuela and we now find that the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota have produced more crude oil than Venezuela for the last two months of production data (August and September). A pretty amazing turnaround in a decade that just one of America’s oil fields in one state is now out-producing the country sitting on the largest oil reserves in the world — Venezuela has about 300 billion barrels, or more than 8 times America’s reserves of about 36.5 billion barrels. And with America’s daily oil production reaching record levels of 11 million barrels recently, Venezuela’s daily production of only 1.2 million barrels is now less than 11% of US crude output.

And what is most tragic about the socialist meltdown in Venezuela is not the collapse of oil production, but the collapse of the human spirit there and the tragic toll it’s taking on the Venezuelan people, many of whom are becoming so hopeless that suicide seems like the best solution. See the Bloomberg article “Suicides Surge in a Hopeless Venezuela: The desperate act is becoming ordinary in a population plagued by hyperinflation, hunger and mass emigration.”

Once a wonderful vibrant nation with great fishing, agriculture and the worlds largest known petroleum reserves (still is). Brought to her knees by a failed political ideology - socialism has never worked when it has been tried. There will always be a wealthy elite who control the government handouts to keep the proles in their place. Panem et Circenses

Nicolas Maduro is personally worth about $2 billion. Hugo Chavez' daughter Maria has about $4 billion in the bank.

Brazil's new President

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Making some waves - we need to remember that he was elected by a majority of the Brazilian population who were sick and tired of their elites messing stuff up. Three headlines - clickable links to the articles:

Got to love that first one - it is not just President Trump who is tired of the fake news.

From FOX News:

Pittsburgh synagogue shooter tended to by Jewish doctors and nurses, officials say
Jewish doctors and nurses at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh put their personal feelings aside to help save the life of the man who allegedly claimed he wanted to “kill all the Jews” as he opened fire at a synagogue and murdered 11 worshipers.

Robert Bowers, 46, was shot multiple times himself and taken to AGH. In addition to killing eight men and three women, he wounded six other people, including four police officers, before surrendering Saturday.

“He was taken to my hospital and he’s shouting, ‘I want to kill all the Jews’,” Dr. Jeffrey Cohen, president of Allegheny General Hospital and a member of the Tree of Life Synagogue, told ABC. “The first three people who took care of him were Jewish.”

Another nurse, whose father is a rabbi, “came in from a mass casualty drill and took care of this gentleman.”

Delicious irony.

The island is very sticky...

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Was planning to be at the farm this afternoon (and yesterday afternoon) but after I ran my errands and met with an engineer it was too late to drive up. Had dinner and am now at the island for another wonderful evening.

Surf for a bit and then to the farm tomorrow - really, this time for sure...

Getting a lot done so not annoyed - just kind of funny how much this place calls to me.

Another day, another road trip

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Heading out for coffee and then to the farm. Spending the day there packing up stuff and then to the condo tomorrow.

Stop at a vendor in Burlington on the way.

Spending some time here first - time to pay some bills...

Poor Barry

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From this at Breitbart:

Barack Obama Complains About Media Coverage of Donald Trump
Former President Barack Obama griped about the media and Fox News on Friday, returning to old complaints he expressed as president.

He appeared frustrated that President Donald Trump continued to raise fears about the migrant caravan forcing their way to the southern border and that the media followed suit by reporting it.

At a campaign rally in Detroit, Obama accused Fox News of having a business interest in amplifying fears throughout the country.

Campaign rally - Don Surber takes a look at recent campaign rallies (excerpt):

"Meanwhile, former Vice President Joe Biden campaigned for Democratic Senate candidate Jackie Rosen in Las Vegas -- before an audience of about 500. Former President Obama was also recently in the state, but only 2,000 people attended his event in the University of Nevada-Las Vegas’s 18,000-seat arena. On Monday, Trump held a rally in Houston where 100,000 people requested tickets even though the Toyota Center there can accommodate just 18,000."

Obama drew 2,000 to an 18,000-seat arena while Trump drew 100,000.

This reflects the communications skills of each man.

Despite being 15 years younger than President Trump, Obama is an old-fashioned politician who reads from a teleprompter lines approved by a focus group. He comes off evasive and less than candid.

It must really chap his knickers to be so out of touch with the normals in this Nation. Obama's "legacy" is shrinking away to nothing day by day.

The pendulum swings - Brazil

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Interesting results from their Presidential election - from Reuters:

Far-right Bolsonaro wins Brazil presidential race
Far-right lawmaker Jair Bolsonaro won Brazil's presidential election on Sunday, riding a wave of frustration over corruption and crime that brought a dramatic swing to the right in the world's fourth-largest democracy.

With 94 percent of ballots counted, Bolsonaro had 56 percent of the votes in the run-off election against left-wing hopeful Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT), who had 44 percent, according to the electoral authority TSE.

"We cannot continue flirting with communism ... We are going to change the destiny of Brazil," Bolsonaro said in an acceptance address in which he vowed to carry out his campaign promises to stamp out corruption after years of leftist rule.

The former army captain's rise has been propelled by rejection of the leftist PT that ran Brazil for 13 of the last 15 years and was ousted two years ago in the midst of a deep recession and political graft scandal.

Thousands of Bolsonaro supporters cheered and set off fireworks outside his home in Rio de Janeiro's Barra de Tijuca beachfront neighborhood as his victory was announced. In Brazil's commercial capital of Sao Paulo, Bolsonaro's win was greeted with fireworks and the honking of car horns

I would question the far-right moniker. Bolsonaro sounds like a typical libertarian to me. But then again, the losing party was the far-left Workers Party so anything right of middle will be hair-on-fire - Hitler personified - Far Right to them.

He will have a couple years in office and we will be able to measure the results of his policies. Much like we are doing now with President Trump with record low unemployment, tens of thousands of people quitting welfare, a booming economy. Low taxes. That kind of thing.

Rhetoric is one thing but it is what the liberals do - they pass a law that sounds good. They don't care about if it DOES good. For me? Give me numbers. Give me traceable facts.

On the island again

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Only got one trip into the condo today but the van was pretty full. Also brought down three totes of tools from the DaveCave - mostly electronics stuff with some music and photo that I am keeping. Stashing these at the storage locker.

Planning to stop at a vendor in Burlington tomorrow morning before I head back up to the farm.

And in other news - Artist Point

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Closed today due to snowfall. From the WA State Department of Transportation:

October snow closes the road to Artist Point
As the season of scarves, pumpkins and colored leaves flutters in, the sun has set on the summer adventure season at Artist Point.

Washington State Department of Transportation maintenance crews have closed the State Route 542/Mount Baker Highway seasonal gate to Artist Point to vehicle traffic due to snow and unsafe conditions. This year the highway was open for 130 days, the second longest season on record. In 2014 it was open for 115 days and in 2015 for 171 days. 

The good news is that this brings us that much closer to the opening of the Ski Season on Mt. Baker.

Done with lunch

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Back to work...

The price of wind generated electricity

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Interesting article in the London Times:

Too much wind shocks electric bill payers
A record £4.8m was paid to wind farm operators in the space of one day, for switching off turbines when it became too windy.

More than 60 farms — most in Scotland — were compensated after electricity supply outstripped demand on October 8. The bonanza far exceeded the previous reported record of £3.1m, sparking fresh criticism of the Scottish government’s headlong rush towards green energy.

In exceptionally windy conditions, the National Grid cannot cope with the extra energy turbines produce, so firms receive “constraint payments” to shut down. Although most wind power comes from Scotland, households across Britain are funding the payments through their electricity bills.

“The high costs of wind farm constraints result from the Scottish government’s unbalanced enthusiasm for wind power,” said John…

Wind is not profitable without large government subsidies - thanks tax and rate payers... Why people do not go all out for nuclear is beyond me. The designs that have caused problems (Three Mile Island, Chernobyl, Fukushima) are all old designs. The initial development of these designs was done seventy years ago. There are a lot of new designs that are intrinsically safe - pull the plug and they shut down by themselves. No pressure vessel needed so very cheap to build.

Out the door

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Slept in a little longer than I wanted to but feeling great so must have needed it.

Nothing on the internet - heading out for coffee and the post office and then up to the farm. Planning to do two loads to the condo Monday.

That is it for me for tonight

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Nothing much on the interwebs - see what the YouTube faeiries have to offer. Early start tomorrow.

Blexit in the news

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Wonderful news. Lyndon Johnson was quoted as saying that: “I'll have those niggers voting Democrat for the next 200 years.” This was said as he was implementing The Great Society - ie: government handouts and the War on Poverty which actually caused more poverty than it fixed: Poverty in the U.S. Was Plummeting—Until Lyndon Johnson Declared War On It

Good news on the horizon - Blacks are leaving the Democrat Plantation in droves. Three stories - clickable headlines:

And the Blexit website.

This is not unusual - Dr. Martin Luther King was a staunch Republican, so was Malcom X

Aaaaand it's back to the island

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Got the stuff in Burlington and then headed back to the island to do some work. Planned on getting to the farm today but it got to be dinner time and tacos sounded good. Heading up tomorrow morning.

Another moving experience

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Heading out for coffee and post office and the dump. Driving North to Burlington to pick up some parts for the new belt grinder and then, further North to the farm.

Happy blog birthday

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Fifteen years ago today I posted this: Hello World

20181027-blog.jpg

Sitting now at 28,458 entries and 1,754 comments - it has been a wonderful fun ride and shows zero sign of slowing down. Before this, I ran a large dial-up computer bulletin board (The Signpost in Seattle - started 1988) for fifteen years so this is definitely in my blood.

Still unraveling - Cesar Sayoc

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Made two predictions on the 24th - one that the goblin sending the fake bombs would be arrested and second that they would be a member of the democratic party. Things just got interesting...

From the Miami CBS affiliate:

Fingerprint Led FBI To Package Bomb Suspect Cesar Sayoc
Federal authorities have arrested a man in Plantation in connection to a series of package bombs that were sent to top Democrats and President Trump critics.

A bit more:

The FBI “uncovered a latent fingerprint from one of the envelopes containing an IED that had been sent to Maxine Waters. We have confirmed this fingerprint is that of Cesar Sayoc,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray at a news conference Friday afternoon.

They were able to identify him because he had served time for multiple felonies so his prints were on record.

The media is identifying him as a registered republican which is odd because after committing a felony, his name would be stripped from the voter registration rolls. Convicted felons lose their rights to vote, to own a gun, etc... The media is also showing his van which is plastered with pro-Trump stickers. A couple of things stick out:

From his Facebook page:

20181026-cesar01.jpg

And the van in question:

20181026-cesar02.jpg

Two things come to mind here:

#1) - President Trump has been in office for two years now. Those stickers look really new and fresh. and

#2) - the stickers completely cover the passenger's side window. Cesar would have been pulled over immediately for this infraction. Very illegal.

Very glad that they got him - great police work. Jury is still out over him being a Republican.

And Winter has arrived - snow

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From the National Weather Service:

Special Weather Statement
National Weather Service Seattle WA
215 PM PDT Fri Oct 26 2018

WAZ567-271245-
Cascades of Whatcom and Skagit Counties-
215 PM PDT Fri Oct 26 2018

...SNOW IS LIKELY FOR THE HIGHER ELEVATIONS OF WASHINGTON PASS IN
THE NORTH CASCADES LATE SATURDAY NIGHT INTO SUNDAY MORNING...

Six to ten inches of snow are likely for elevations above 5500
feet in the Cascades of Whatcom and Skagit Counties late Saturday
night into Sunday morning. This amount of snow, if it occurs, will
result in accumulations at higher elevations of Washington Pass.

Looks like that is it for Artist Point for the 2018 season (the Fall foliage is gorgeous) - this is the last of the "tourist drivers" for this time of year until Mt. Baker Ski Area opens up for the season. Been a great year but the store is now going to be very slow for a couple of months. Nice to see a lot of familiar faces as people start moving into the area for their winter jobs.

Long day - at the island

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Long but productive day. Down here for Saturday and back to the farm Saturday evening - running a few errands tomorrow AM.

Back from coffee - UPDATE

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Starting to work in the equipment barn. Raining and cold but bundling up and will be moving a lot so staying comfortable.

Out the door for Trip Two - will get dinner in Bellingham and spend the night on the island. When sorting tools, I am using two totes - one for stuff to sell and one for stuff to keep (much reduced - I am clearing out a lot of redundency and stuff of no interest). Got three totes of tools to take down to Camano.

More posting much later. Gotta run!

And that is it for the night

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Hot shower, warm jammies and some YouTube and a glass or three of red wine.

Spending tomorrow packing up more crates of stuff (coffee first of course). Going to try for two loads in to the condo.

The 'caravan'

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From the Phoenix, Arizona ABC affiliate:

Migrant caravan: Mattis expected to sign order to send 800 troops to the border
Defense Secretary James Mattis is expected to sign deployment orders as soon as Thursday that could send 800 or more troops to the border with Mexico to help border patrol authorities stop a caravan of migrants from Central America moving through Mexico to enter the US, according to three administration officials.

The officials tell CNN final details are being worked out including where the troops will come from and their specific tasks.

The troops will not engage in lethal operations to stop the migrants. Instead they are expected to provide fencing, wall materials and other technical support at several key points along the border where it is believed the migrants may try to cross.

The troops will also provide tents and medical care for border authorities in those areas. The troops retain the right of self-defense, but border patrol officers will still be the ones physically stopping illegal migration, the officials said.

The border is 1,954 miles in length - this would amount to one soldier for every 2.44 miles.

This caravan is not spontaneous - someone is playing with these people's lives. I want to know who is funding this. It is a political stunt and nothing more - these are pawns.

Heh - unaware of the history

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From A.F. Branco at Legal Insurrection:

20181025-branco.jpg

Cold and wet tonight

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Back from dinner - house has still not warmed up so said 'screw it' and kicked on the suplemental propane heat. I use a heat pump for most of my HVAC needs but it takes a couple hours to reach equilibrium at the desired temperature.

Rain forecast for the next couple of days - I have warm rain gear (this is the Pacific NorthWet after all) and can park the van inside the Equipment Barn as I load it but still... Brrrrr....

Life before AutoCAD

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CAD stands for Computer Aided Drawing and is the replacement for having a lot of people hunched over drafting tables doing this manually. Bored Panda has a great collection of photos - here is just one:

20181025-drafting.jpg

AutoCAD is sort of the gold standard (in features and in price) when it comes to drafting programs but there are a lot of other options available. These are free: LibreCAD, FreeCAD, BRL-CAD, OpenSCAD. For doing electronic circuit boards, KiCad is excellent.

Could not happen to a nicer guy - from The Washington Times:

Senate tells FBI to investigate Michael Avenatti over Kavanaugh accusations
Judiciary Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley asked the Justice Department Thursday to investigate anti-Trump lawyer Michael Avenatti and his client Julie Swetnick, saying they likely fed senators “materially false” information by accusing Justice Brett M. Kavanaugh of involvement in gang rapes.

Mr. Grassley suggested Mr. Avenatti invented clients to try to embarrass Justice Kavanaugh, and the senator said Ms. Swetnick — the only client who did come forward — gave multiple versions of her story.

Avenatti is the porn star Stormy Daniels' lawyer as well - a real class act.

At the farm

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Here for a few days - heading out shortly for dinner at a new local restaurant. Packing up the DaveCave and Equipment Barn. Getting the van was a really good idea. Got the cash register programmed so it will be really easy to keep track of the money when having the garage sales.

Done here

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Heading to Bellingham and then the farm for a couple of days.

Another day in paradise

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Heading out for coffee and the post office soon. Back to the island house for a couple hours of work and then up to the farm to load up more stuff for the garage sale.

Nothing much happening out in the R.W. - the mail "bombs" are just devices, not actual bombs and a New York police person says that they should know who sent them pretty soon.

And that is it for the evening

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Take a nice hot shower and watch some videos for a while.

Back to the farm tomorrow.

Forged and Filed from Jesse Beecher on Vimeo.

Just when I think I'm doing some nice work, people like this come along. An inspiration...

Two predictions - the bombs

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Some goblin has been sending pipe bombs to Democrats and progressives (but I repeat myself). From Associated Press:

The Latest: 2 suspicious packages addressed to Rep. Waters
The FBI is confirming that two additional suspicious packages, addressed to Rep. Maxine Waters, have been intercepted that are similar in appearance to five others that were received.

The FBI updated its tally in a tweet Wednesday night.

It came as federal authorities said a package addressed to Waters with similar markings and characteristics to the other devices was intercepted at a Los Angeles mail facility.

Earlier in the day, Waters said her Washington office was the target of a suspicious package, though it wasn’t immediately clear if that was related to the others.

Authorities say pipe bombs addressed to Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former CIA director John Brennan and former Attorney General Eric Holder have also been intercepted in recent days.

Prediction #1) - the FBI will find who sent these. The people investigating this are not the deep-state FBI leadership, the people investigating this are the real, normal FBI who are not politicized and who do not want to let a goblin like this walk free.

Prediction #2) - the goblin in question will be a member of the Democratic party.

This sounds a lot like a False Flag operation. It is not as though the left have not done this many times before.

On the island for one more night

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The belt grinder just came in - solid piece of machinery. The particular unit had been recomended by several blacksmiths and it was time to bite the bullet. I am selling several older wheel grinders and one small belt grinder so should recoup the cost of purchase easily. Nice to have all the functions in one machine too - no need for three different kinds of grinders.

It is dinnertime so heading out for a bite to eat and then spending the night down here - Thursday at the farm. Get a good start on the day...

And I am out - coffee first

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Showered and had some oatmeal for breakfast. Heading out for coffee and then to a couple of places in Burlington and then back to the mailbox to receive my new belt grinder.

At the farm later today

And the pendulum swings back

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Two interesting headlines - clickable links:

We the people have had enough of this s*it and the elites are starting to notice and triangulate their new positions...

And that is it for the night

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Wait for FedEx tomorrow and then back to the condo and farm. Planning on programming the cash register while I am waiting so got stuff to do. Also doing some electrical wiring in the garage.

Off to YouTube

President Obama was 100% correct here:

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And President Trump agrees:

The internet never forgets anything...

An excerpt from a book review

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Talking about Social Justice Warriors:

Two major things have changed since 2015. The first, and most obvious, is the election of Donald Trump as President of the United States in November, 2016. It is impossible to overstate the significance of this. Up until the evening of Election Day, the social justice warriors were absolutely confident they had won on every front and that all that remained was to patrol the battlefield and bayonet the wounded. They were ascendant across the culture, in virtually total control of academia and the media, and with the coronation of Hillary Clinton, positioned to tilt the Supreme Court to discover the remainder of their agenda emanating from penumbras in the living Constitution. And then—disaster! The deplorables who inhabit the heartland of the country, those knuckle-walking, Bible-thumping, gun-waving bitter clingers who produce just about every tangible thing still made in the United States up and elected somebody who said he'd put them—not the coastal élites, ivory tower professors and think tankers, “refugees” and the racket that imports them, “undocumented migrants” and the businesses that exploit their cheap labour, and all the rest of the parasitic ball and chain a once-great and productive nation has been dragging behind it for decades—first.

The shock of this event seems to have jolted a large fraction of the social justice warriors loose from their (already tenuous) moorings to reality. “What could have happened?”, they shrieked, “It must have been the Russians!” Overnight, there was the “resistance”, the rampage of masked violent street mobs, while at the same time SJW leaders in the public eye increasingly dropped the masks behind which they'd concealed their actual agenda. Now we have candidates for national office from the Democrat party, such as bug-eyed SJW Alexandria Occasional-Cortex openly calling themselves socialists, while others chant “no borders” and advocate abolishing the federal immigration and customs enforcement agency. What's the response to deranged leftists trying to gun down Republican legislators at a baseball practice and assaulting a U.S. Senator while mowing the lawn of his home? The Democrat candidate who lost to Trump in 2016 says, “You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for, what you care about.”, and the attorney general, the chief law enforcement officer of the administration which preceded Trump in office said, “When they go low, we kick them. That's what this new Democratic party is about.”

In parallel with this, the SJW convergence of the major technology and communication companies which increasingly dominate the flow of news and information and the public discourse: Google (and its YouTube), Facebook, Twitter, Amazon, and the rest, previously covert, has now become explicit. They no longer feign neutrality to content, or position themselves as common carriers. Now, they overtly put their thumb on the scale of public discourse, pushing down conservative and nationalist voices in search rankings, de-monetising or banning videos that oppose the slaver agenda, “shadow banning” dissenting voices or terminating their accounts entirely. Payment platforms and crowd-funding sites enforce an ideological agenda and cut off access to those they consider insufficiently on board with the collectivist, globalist party line. The high tech industry, purporting to cherish “diversity”, has become openly hostile to anybody who dares dissent: firing them and blacklisting them from employment at other similarly converged firms.

The books are SJWs Always Lie and SJWs Always Double Down - both well worth reading in today's charged political climate. Identity Politics has damaged our society. The whole review is here: John Walker's Fourmilab. Spot on!

On the island for the night

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Dropped the second load at the condo in Bellingham and headed South. I am expecting FedEx to drop off a fairly large package (belt grinder) at the grocery store that hosts my mailbox tomorrow so want to get it out of there A.S.A.P. Their package storage area is fairly small so don't want to be in the way.

Had a burrito for dinner so feeling quite stuffed and sleepy. Surf for a little bit and then to bed.

The air this afternoon was pregnent with moisture and sure enough, it is raining now. Nice couple weeks of Indian Summer but Fall is officially here. Got a lot done but still a lot more to do.

Trip #2

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Done with lunch - time to start loading again...

From Robert Gearty writing at FOX News:

Google, Facebook and Twitter staffs splurge on Democrats ahead of midterms
President Trump has repeatedly called out Google, Facebook and Twitter for liberal bias. Two weeks until the midterms, it would appear he may have had a point.

Employees of the tech giants have given a total of $2.4 million to House and Senate candidates, according to Federal Election Commission filings. Of that, only $176,000 - less than 8 percent - went to Republicans.

By comparison, in the last midterms in 2014, Google, Facebook and Twitter workers gave a total of $838,000 to congressional candidates, according to the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. Of that, $679,000 went to Democrats and $259,000 went to Republicans.

And people still think that these companies are unbiased. Quite the opposite.

Interesting - Venezuela

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Interesting news from Breitbart - sounds plausible:

Mike Pence: Honduran President Told Me Venezuela Funding Migrant Caravan
Vice President Mike Pence on Tuesday said Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández told him that the migrant caravan marching toward the U.S.-Mexico border is “financed by Venezuela.”

Pence made the allegation while defending President Donald Trump’s assertion that Middle Easterners make up a part of the 7,000-strong caravan in an interview with Washington Post national political reporter Robert Costa.

“It’s inconceivable that there are not people of Middle Eastern descent in a crowd of more than 7,000 people advancing toward our border,” Pence said. “In the last fiscal year, we apprehended more than 10 terrorists or suspected terrorists per day at our southern border from countries that are referred to in the lexicon as ‘other than Mexico’ — that means from the Middle East region.”

The Vice President then revealed that Hernández told him that “leftist groups” from the Central American country organized the caravan, “financed by Venezuela” to “challenge our sovereignty, challenge our border.”

Pence also said he has held discussions with Guatemalan president Jimmy Morales and Mexican officials about the caravan and vowed to do “everything in our power” from preventing the migrants from “violating” the southern border.

Emphasis mine - classic Cloward-Piven. Overload the system and when it collapses, institute totalitarianism.

Two years ago today in the New York Times

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Talk about out of touch:

20181023-nyt.jpg

Coffee first (some things are immutable) and then to the condo for the first of two trips.

And that is it for me

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45-60 minutes of YouTube, another glass of red wine and off to bed. Feeling downright drowzy.

President Trump on Climate Change

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Great little excerpt of Trump on 60 Minutes:

Speaking truth to power...

Down to the wire - the Mexican invasion

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President Trump is taking a needed hard stand against the 7,000 people marching North. From Yahoo/Agence France Presse:

Trump to cut Central America aid as migrant caravan rolls on
President Donald Trump said Monday the United States will start cutting aid to three Central American countries as a caravan of thousands of mostly Honduran migrants rolled on regardless toward the US border.

The United Nations said more than 7,000 people were now heading toward the United States, as more migrants joined the original group, including some Central Americans who were already in Mexico.

Countries in question?

"We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid" that the United States gives Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, said the president.

Good - those countries are corrupt proto-dictatorships. The elite at the top are getting very wealthy off American aid - none of it is being used for any actual good for the citizens. Nobody in the media (that I have seen) has commented about Hurricane Willa - the two masses will likely cross paths with disastrous results. I would like to know who is promoting this human cattle drive and who is funding it.

At the farm now

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Stopped off at Costco for a hot dog for dinner and headed up to Mt. Baker.

Gorgeous fall evening - the fog lying low in the fields and a blood-red almost full moon rising. Planning a very full day tomorrow - trying to get two trips in to the condo. Been waking up earlier for the CERT training so planning an early bedtime tonight - maximize tomorrow's daylight.

Back to work

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Done with lunch - sort paperwork for an hour or so and then head up to the farm.

Oops - sorry about your nice sensors. From the South China Morning Post:

Canada installs Chinese underwater monitoring devices next to US nuclear submarine base
While the eyes of the world have been on the strategic tussle between Beijing and Washington in the South China Sea, Chinese scientists, with the help of the Canadian authorities, have succeeded in positioning four monitoring devices in waters just 300km (186 miles) off the United States’ Pacific coast.

Right offshore from Kitsap Naval Base - the West Coast home for our submarine fleet. In international waters but still - that is chutzpah. Betting that one of our small submarines will be paying them a visit sometime soon...

Interesting news from Korea

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Looks like the peace process that President Trump started is going very very well. From The Telegraph dated September 8th, 2018:

North and South Korean leaders to meet for third summit despite stalemate with US
Moon Jae-in, the South Korean president, will travel to Pyongyang on September 18 for a three-day summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, his top aides confirmed on Thursday.

The announcement followed the hand delivery of a letter from Mr Moon to Kim by Chung Eui-yong, South Korea’s national security advisor, and spy chief Suh Hoon, who visited the North Korean capital on Wednesday.

The summit, the third between the two leaders since April, and the first time a leader from the South has visited the North in more than a decade, comes despite a stalemate between Washington and Pyongyang over the progress of disarmament talks.

There has been no word about the reason for the 'stalemate' - betting that President Trump wants complete denuclearizeation and Kim wants to keep some capacity in reserve. But, the news is very good - from today's Reuters:

Two Koreas, U.N. forces agree to remove weapons at border
North and South Korea and the U.N. Command agreed on Monday to withdraw firearms and guard posts in the demilitarized zone village of Panmunjom this week, Seoul’s defense ministry said, the latest move in a fast-improving relationship.

The three sides held their second round of talks at Panmunjom to discuss ways to demilitarize the border in line with a recent inter-Korean pact reached at last month’s summit in Pyongyang.

The U.S.-led UNC, which has overseen affairs in the DMZ since the end of hostilities in the 1950-53 Korean War, was not immediately available for comment, but it said on Friday it supports the two Koreas’ efforts to implement their military deal.

Very cool!  Shows what you can accomplish when you have real leadership.

Looks like Mother Nature is dealing with the caravan - first, about the caravan (the headlines are clickable links):

Looks like it could get really bad - from Associated Press:

The Latest: Willa becomes Category 5 storm off Mexico
The U.S. National Hurricane Center says Hurricane Willa has grown into a potentially catastrophic Category 5 storm on a track toward the Mexican coast south of Mazatlan.

Willa has maximum sustained winds of 160 mph (260 kph), though it’s projected to weaken somewhat before hitting land late Tuesday. It is still likely to be an extremely dangerous hurricane when it hits.

Here is the cone from the National Hurricane Center:

20181022-willa.jpg

I really do hope that the agencies that are doing this have the good grace to call it quits before people die. This is nothing but an attempt to crash the system and institute progressive immigration policies. Cloward and Piven would be proud.

To play fast and loose with the lives of 7,000 people before the mid-term elections is downright sadistic. Who is funding this drive?

He passed away at age 99 - from the New York Times:

Joachim Ronneberg, Leader of Raid That Thwarted a Nazi Atomic Bomb, Dies at 99
The Norwegian saboteurs skied across the Telemark pine forest in winter whites, phantom apparitions gliding over moonlit snow. They halted at a steep river gorge and gazed down at a humming hydroelectric power plant where Nazi scientists had developed a mysterious, top-secret project.

Lt. Joachim Ronneberg, the 23-year-old resistance fighter in command, and his eight comrades — all carrying cyanide capsules to swallow if captured — had been told by British intelligence only that the plant was distilling something called heavy water, and that it was vital to Hitler’s war effort.

Hours later, in one of the most celebrated commando raids of World War II, Lieutenant Ronneberg and his demolition team sneaked past guards and a barracks full of German troops, stole into the plant, set explosive charges and blew up Hitler’s hopes for a critical ingredient to create the first atomic bomb.

Mr. Ronneberg, the last surviving member of the 1943 raid and one of the most decorated war heroes of a nation renowned for valorous resistance to the 1940-45 German Occupation, died on Sunday in Alesund, Norway, his daughter, Birte Ronneberg, said. He was 99.

Talk about hero - we might be speaking German today if he and his team had not suceeded. There is a nice article about the plant and the raid over at Damn Interesting

It was a lot of fun helping to teach the CERT class (and we have 21 new CERT trainees) but it was a grueling couple of days. Great class though - everyone should take it.

Heading out for the usual coffee, post office, storage locker, back home for a couple hours (sorting papers and cleaning) and then up to the farm. 

Another day in paradise

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Up early - get some coffee and a bite to eat. Heading back to the farm tomorrow. CERT today too.

And that is it for the night

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Got some stuff to do at the house (sorting papers, organizing the storage locker and cleaning) before the CERT class. YouTube and a glass or three of red wine and that will do me for the evening.

The court watchdog group Judicial Watch just filed an interesting Bar Complaint:

Judicial Watch Files Bar Complaint Against Christine Blasey Ford’s Lawyers
Judicial Watch announced today that it filed a complaint to the Board of Professional Responsibility of the District of Columbia Court of Appeals of Debra S. Katz, Lisa J. Banks, and Michael R. Bromwich for violating the rules of professional responsibility in their representation of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford before the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee during the hearings on the nomination of the Honorable Brett Kavanaugh.

According to the Judicial Watch complaint, by not informing their client Dr. Ford that Sen. Chuck Grassley, Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee offered in a letter to “fly female staff investigators to meet Dr. Ford… in California, or anywhere else, to obtain (her) testimony,” Katz, Banks, and Bromwich violated the following District of Columbia Rules of Professional Conduct:

Rule l.4(a) – A lawyer shall keep a client reasonably informed about the status of a matter and promptly comply with reasonable requests for information.

Rule 1.4(b) – A lawyer shall explain a matter to the extent reasonably necessary to permit the client to make informed decisions regarding the representation.

The Judicial Watch complaint is reprinted below:

Caught up in the heat of the moment and they got stupid. Never get stupid.

President Trump

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Could not have said it any better myself:

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs - President Trump

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President Trump's job creation is ten times what Obama's was. And that data has been sampled to minimize the effects of the 2008 recession. From Don Surber:

Trump grows manufacturing 10 times as fast as Obama did
Obama's infamous Magic Wand Putdown of billionaire CEO Donald John Trump should cement Obama's place in history. He was a socialist who had no understanding of or interest in capitalism.

He sneered at the idea that manufacturing had a future in the United States of America.

Now that President Trump has got the economy going again, Obama and his lackeys want credit.

But President Trump was the fellow who the day after election eschewed a post-campaign vacation. Instead, he did what he likes to do best: work. He called business leaders and foreign investors. Upon taking office, he cut regulations and taxes.

The result is manufacturing -- the engine that built America's economy into the greatest in the world -- is back.

Don is referring to a study by Chuck DeVore, vice president of the Texas Public Policy Foundation who published his results in this article at Forbes. Don again:

DeVore wrote, "In the first 21 months of the Trump presidency, nonfarm employment grew by a seasonally adjusted 2.6%. In the same period, manufacturing employment grew by 3.1%, reversing the trend under Obama when overall employment grew faster than employment in the manufacturing sector."

Compare that to the 0.3% growth in the final days of Obama.

And the sampling to minimize the recession:

DeVore is fair. He lopped off the first 14 months when Obama was president because the economy was in a cyclical tailspin.

He looked at just the last 21 months of Obama's 96 month presidency so no crying foul about how Barry inherited the mess from GW Bush. If Obama was going to do something tangible, it should have manifested by then.

On the island

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Finally got to Camano - had a large load to the condo today and am starting to set things up. It was a great help to have the Estate Sale people do the first sale as I am copying some of their techniques - people flow, where to have the cash register, etc... Got the cash register programmed and Square set up on my phone so I can take credit cards. Looking at middle of November - should be a lot of fun.

Also stopped at the hospital to visit a good friend. Gary was exiting his driveway and some bozo was passing on a blind curve. Gary's options were to T-Bone the bad driver or to veer off into a ditch. The ditch would have been fine except for a dead tree sticking out of the ditch. It totalled his truck and he broke his sternum on the steering wheel - came to within a few millimeters of killing him. Bursting his heart.

The next sale is Technology, Music, Photography, Tesla, Electronics, etc...

Feels really really good to be shedding this load - so many half-finished projects. Participating in a CERT training class this weekend and back to the farm Monday.

Up and at 'em

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Early start to this day - coffee, post office and store and then back to the farm to finish packing up the van.

Got a hard frost on the windshield - waiting for the van to warm up a bit...

Of course...

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From the excellent Foundation for Economic Education:

Poverty in the U.S. Was Plummeting—Until Lyndon Johnson Declared War On It
One of the more elementary observations about economics is that a nation’s prosperity is determined in part by the quantity and quality of labor and capital. These “factors of production” are combined to generate national income.

I frequently grouse that punitive tax policies discourage capital. There’s less incentive to invest, after all, if the government imposes extra layers of tax on income that is saved and invested.

Bad tax laws also discourage labor. High marginal tax rates penalize people for being productive, and this can be especially counterproductive for entrepreneurship and innovation.

The author (Daniel J. Mitchell) then goes on to quote this from an article in the Wall Street Journal by John Early and Phil Gramm:

During the 20 years before the War on Poverty was funded, the portion of the nation living in poverty had dropped to 14.7% from 32.1%. Since 1966, the first year with a significant increase in antipoverty spending, the poverty rate reported by the Census Bureau has been virtually unchanged…Transfers targeted to low-income families increased in real dollars from an average of $3,070 per person in 1965 to $34,093 in 2016…Transfers now constitute 84.2% of the disposable income of the poorest quintile of American households and 57.8% of the disposable income of lower-middle-income households. These payments also make up 27.5% of America’s total disposable income.

Much more at the site - another perfect example of the good effect of free-market forces as well as the propensity for Democrats to do somethign that SOUNDS good instead of something that DOES good.

Back home again

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Went out for dinner and ran into three friends and had a wonderful conversation. One of them was just back from Iceland. I spent two wonderful months backpacking through there in Autumn of 1974 and it was great to see Amy's photos of their trip. I would love to go back there for a couple of weeks sometime. I read the English language The Reykjavik Grapevine weekly.

Tired - packing the van some more tomorrow and then to the condo and down to the island. Participating in a CERT training class Saturday afternoon and Sunday. Time for some red wine and YouTube videos. Spent a fun hour meeting this morning with some of the instructors at the local college welding program. I want to get my WABO Certification and they offer a really nice program.

The caravan keeps coming

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From Yahoo/Reuters:

More Honduran migrants seek to join U.S.-bound group in Guatemala
More Honduran migrants tried to join a caravan of several thousand trekking through Guatemala on Wednesday, defying calls by authorities not to make the journey after U.S. President Donald Trump threatened to cut off regional aid in reprisal.

The caravan has been growing steadily since it left the violent Honduran city of San Pedro Sula on Saturday. The migrants hope to reach Mexico and then cross its northern border with the United States, to seek refuge from endemic violence and poverty in Central America.

Several thousand people are now part of the caravan, according to a Reuters witness traveling with the group in Guatemala, where men women and children on foot and riding in trucks filled a road on their long journey to Mexico.

What is not being talked about is who is organizing this caravan. There has to be serious money behind moving and feeding and housing thousands of people. What organization is doing this and who is bankrolling it. This is straight out of the Cloward-Piven playbook:

The Cloward–Piven strategy is a political strategy outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven that called for overloading the U.S. public welfare system in order to precipitate a crisis that would lead to a replacement of the welfare system with a national system of "a guaranteed annual income and thus an end to poverty"

Shades of Rahm Emanuel

You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.

The progressives see that they are losing - President Trump has undone all the advances that they made through President Obama. They are now trying to collapse the system prior to the mid-term elections.

Good news - FBI and leaked documents

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From Minneapolis, Mn station KSTP:

Former Minnesota FBI Agent Sentenced to 4 Years in Prison for Leaking Documents
Terry James Albury, a former FBI agent in Minnesota, was sentenced to four years in prison with an additional three years of supervised release on Thursday in U.S. District Court in Saint Paul.

Albury admitted that he leaked documents to a reporter from The Intercept, an online news publication.

He worked as an FBI Special Agent at the field office in Minneapolis at the time of the disclosure in 2016-2017. He was also working as a liaison with the Department of Customs and Border Protection at MSP International Airport during that same time period.

"I sincerely wanted to make a difference a difference and never wanted to put anyone in danger," Albury told Judge Wilhelmina Wright before she handed down the sentence.

He had to have known that he was breaking the law. He needs to serve his sentence as a reminder to others - too much leaking going on.

Things are heating up in Washington

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From Bloomberg:

Kelly, Bolton Get in Profane Shouting Match Outside the Oval Office
President Donald Trump’s chief of staff and his national security adviser engaged in a profanity-laced argument outside the Oval Office on Thursday, according to three people familiar with the episode.

The chief of staff, John Kelly, and the national security adviser, John Bolton, fought over immigration and border crossings, including the performance of the Homeland Security Department under Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, one person familiar with the matter said. She was at the White House for meetings on Thursday but not present for the argument, the person said.

Bolton criticized DHS, and Kelly defended Nielsen, a former deputy whom he supported to replace him at the department. Trump sided with Bolton, the person said, which may once again stir speculation that Kelly will soon depart the White House.

Trump has lately expressed fury about a large group of migrants who are traveling from Honduras toward the U.S. border. He vowed Thursday to deploy the military and shut down the Mexican border unless the migrants are turned back.

The clash is an indication that tension is flaring in the White House 19 days before midterm elections in which Republican control of Congress is at stake. The shouting match was so intense that other White House aides worried one of the two men might immediately resign. Neither of the men is resigning, the people said.

Yikes - these are two people who we do not want to lose.

At the farm for a day

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Making use of this gorgeous weather - hauling another load of totes into the condo tomorrow. Working on the garage tonight.

On the road again

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Loaded up the van with more stuff for the sale - heading out for coffee, post office, storage unit (more stuff for the sale there too) and then the Bellingham condo and spending tonight at the farm. Back down to the island for the CERT training this weekend.

Of course - Seattle

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From My Northwest:

New low: Seattle Councilmember Kshama Sawant blasts Paul Allen
Not even 24 hours since the news of his death and Seattle City Councilmember Kshama Sawant blasted Paul Allen for being rich.

You can read what she wrote at the link above. Talk about being an ungracious harridan. Paul Allan had more humanity in one atom of his body than 1,000 Kshama Sawant's could ever aspire to.

Fun stuff - robotic music

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All the sounds come from mechanical robots - not something I would want to listen to while driving up to the farm but four minutes of it are a lot of fun.

From Moritz Simon Geist

Making Techno with Music Robots
New sounds from the future! Robotic Electronic Music is played with only music robots, mechanics and physical sound devices. Its not a single instrument, its a full concept. I developed a lot of DIY futuristic music robots in the last years (like my big MR-808 Drum robot). beeing both a classically traines musician and a robotics engineer, I am creating a futuristic way of playing electronic music, to give a tangible body back to electronic music.

From the London Daily Mail:

Hungary's far-right Prime Minister bans gender studies at university because it is 'an ideology not a science'
A prestigious Hungarian university on Tuesday blasted a government decree that prohibits gender studies courses as a 'major infringement' on academic freedom.

The decree, signed by Prime Minister Viktor Orban and in force since Saturday, dropped the subject from a list of masters degree programs entitled to official accreditation and financial support.

Institutions are also now barred from launching new courses in the discipline, although students who have already begun courses may complete their studies, according to the decree.

Of course the University is going to "Blast the government decree" - this takes money away from them.

Identity Politics is all the rage these days - hopefully, people will wake up to the fact that this is divisive and fosters racism and separatism and does not unify people. It is a failed philosophical construct. The sooner its practitioners are defunded, the better we will all be.

Great Senator Warren meme

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Swiped from Bayou Renaissance Man

Still on the island

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Got everything done (paying bills, cleaning, sorting through old paperwork) and it was time for dinner - spending the night here, meeting with someone in Mt. Vernon tomorrow morning so back to the farm Wednesday afternoon sometime. Back down for the weekend - participating in a CERT training excercise with the group down here - was involved with them in Whatcom County and did a lot of training up there. Good people - a lot of them are preppers and ham radio operators. There is a lot of overlap.

Surf for a bit and then to bed. Gorgeous weather today.

Another day in paradise

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Heading out shortly for another busy day - coffee, post office, storage locker, back home to do some cleaning and then to the farm for more packing.

Yikes - falsifying medial data

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This guy should face some serious time behind bars - from The New York Times:

Harvard Calls for Retraction of Dozens of Studies by Noted Cardiologist
A prominent cardiologist formerly at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston fabricated or falsified data in 31 published studies that should be retracted, officials at the institutions have concluded.

The cardiologist, Dr. Piero Anversa, produced research suggesting that damaged heart muscle could be regenerated with stem cells, a type of cell that can transform itself into a variety of other cells.

Although other laboratories could not reproduce his findings, the work led to the formation of start-up companies to develop new treatments for heart attacks and stroke, and inspired a clinical trial funded by the National Institutes of Health.

“A couple of papers may be alarming, but 31 additional papers in question is almost unheard-of,” said Benoit Bruneau, associate director of cardiovascular research at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco. “It is a lab’s almost entire body of work, and therefore almost an entire field of research, put into question.”

These are people's lives he was messing with. Not like he was just fudging some tree-ring data or something. Odd that his grad students didn't pipe up.

Robot moonwalk

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The people at Boston Dynamics are making some amazing robots. Here is Spot dancing to Uptown Funk:

On the island for the day

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Brought some stuff down to the storage locker and also taking some things back for the garage sale. A bunch of older digital still and video cameras, some more tools, etc... 

Cleaning up and getting my copy machine up and connected to the network so I can print flyers for the sales. 11X17 in color is nice and visible and I still have my laminating machine from my business so rain will not faze them.

Out for dinner in about 90 minutes.

Another wonderful undercover video from James O'Keefe and Project Veritas shows the Senator's hidden agenda:

And I am on the road

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Early day today. Van in for oil change and then down to the island for the day. Back to the farm on Wednesday.

Cool news on the nuclear front

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A two-fer - this first one will have wonderful trickle-down effect for small towns and towns in very remote areas. From the Nuclear Energy Institute:

Micro-Reactors Could Power Remote Military Bases Within a Decade
With more than 70 advanced nuclear reactor projects in various stages of development in the United States alone, there is exciting growth in this field. “Micro-reactors” are one class of these innovative technologies, whose particular attributes hold out special promise to the nation’s largest energy user—the United States military.

Working closely with the reactor vendors and with relevant offices at the U.S. departments of Defense (DOD) and Energy (DOE), the Nuclear Energy Institute this week published a road map laying out the actions needed to ensure the successful deployment of a first-of-a-kind micro-reactor at a domestic defense installation by the end of 2027.

A bit more:

In contrast with the large nuclear reactors in operation all over the world that have a generating capacity of about 1,000 megawatts-electric (MWe), micro-reactors are typically less than 10 MWe in size. These smaller reactor designs are well-suited for transportation to and installation at remote military bases, where they can provide both electricity and heat for years at a time without refueling. They are capable of operating independently of external electricity grids that could be vulnerable to threats, natural and otherwise, in areas where DOD bases operate.

Micro-reactors are thus capable of providing the resilient energy the military needs, providing primary power under normal and emergency conditions and enhancing DOD’s range of operations, endurance, agility and mission assurance.

The key thing here is that the fully fueled core inside of its containment vessel and radioactive shielding is small enough that it can be trucked to the site or flown in on a cargo plane. The cores are not refueled in the field, they are returned to the manufacturer for processing so the on-site maintenance is basically nil.

Second - two excellent postings. From Neutron Bytes:

INL’s Rita Baranwal Nominated to be DOE A/Sec of Nuclear Energy
The Idaho Falls Post Register reported this week that Rita Barta the head of the Gateway for Accelerated Innovation in Nuclear (GAIN) at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) has been nominated to serve as the U.S. Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for nuclear energy.

The White House announced the nomination of Rita Baranwal, who heads GAIN, which DOE created in 2015 to support nuclear startups and help universities, industries and other private groups get nuclear technology to the market more quickly. GAIN is managed by Idaho National Laboratory.

Previously, Baranwal was director of technology development and application at Westinghouse. She was a manager in materials technology at Bechtel Bettis. She led research and development in nuclear fuels materials for U.S. naval reactors.

Two very solid and competent postings. We need people like this to advance the next generation of nuclear power. The designs we are using now were first scribbled onto a cocktail napkin over 60 years ago. Time for some more modern designs.

Senator Warren's $1 Million challenge

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President Trump once spoke about how he would give Senator Warren's favorite charity $1,000,000 if she took a DNA test and it came back positive. The conditions for this test were very specific. Now that a genetic scientist has found traces of North American genetic stock in Senator Warren, she is asking for President trump to pony up the cash.

Only problem is that our President outlined some very specific conditions for the test and these have not been met. Despite what the media is saying, you can watch what he said for yourself:

Dinnertime

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Doing stir-fried bok choy for dinner instead of tacos. Want to do them while they are still fresh. Steam and then saute with ginger (already ground up) and garlic (same) and toasted sesame oil. Delicious over rice. Friday's farmers market was the last one for this season - I will miss it.

Do some more work in the garage after dinner.

Back to work - equipment barn

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Heading out to the equipment barn for another couple of hours. Starting to make a dent...

Heh - from Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr.

Cherokee Nation responds to Senator Warren’s DNA test
Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. issued the following statement Monday in response to Senator Elizabeth Warren’s DNA test claiming Native Heritage:

"A DNA test is useless to determine tribal citizenship. Current DNA tests do not even distinguish whether a person’s ancestors were indigenous to North or South America," Cherokee Nation Secretary of State Chuck Hoskin Jr. said. "Sovereign tribal nations set their own legal requirements for citizenship, and while DNA tests can be used to determine lineage, such as paternity to an individual, it is not evidence for tribal affiliation. Using a DNA test to lay claim to any connection to the Cherokee Nation or any tribal nation, even vaguely, is inappropriate and wrong. It makes a mockery out of DNA tests and its legitimate uses while also dishonoring legitimate tribal governments and their citizens, whose ancestors are well documented and whose heritage is proven. Senator Warren is undermining tribal interests with her continued claims of tribal heritage."

That will leave a mark... Couldn't have happened to a more deserving hypocrite.

Very cool - President Trump

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He signed a great piece of legislation - from CNBC:

Trump signs ‘right-to-try’ allowing gravely ill patients to bypass FDA for experimental medicines
President Donald Trump signed the controversial “right-to-try” bill into law on Wednesday, which bypasses drug regulators to give gravely ill patients access to experimental medicines.

The legislation allows patients with life-threatening conditions to ask drugmakers for medicines that have cleared some testing but still haven’t been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Previously, patients would need to ask the FDA for access to experimental treatments.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence had been major supporters of passing the measure, which proponents say gives patients hope they would not otherwise have. Last week the House of Representatives approved the bill, the same version the Senate passed in August.

Wonderful - if someone is at the end of their rope, they deserve to be able to try experimental medication. I certainly would want this option.

Deferred maintenance in California

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California has serious cash-flow problems. Many of the wealthy taxpayers are leaving the state all the while that CA is providing more and more "social services" to its indigent population. I-5 is a joke.

Looks like the electric utility is showing signs of deferred maintenance too - from Utility Dive:

In a first, PG&E cuts power to 60,000 to prevent wildfires during wind storm

    • Pacific Gas & Electric cut off electricity service to nearly 60,000 people on Sunday in a new attempt to prevent wildfires across Northern California service area during high winds and dry conditions.
    • The National Weather Service on Saturday issued a Red Flag Warning for the region, cautioning of extreme risk of wildfires due to low humidity and winds reaching above 50 miles per hour. High winds can cause power lines to come into contact with vegetation, igniting fires.
    • PG&E lines were found responsible for 16 fires last year and California lawmakers passed wildfire liability protections for utilities this summer after PG&E warned that fire costs could force it into bankruptcy or reorganization.

Geee Mr. Wizard - if PG&E had bothered to maintain these lines - clearing vegetation - they would not have had to do that. Sounds like classic California planning to me. A big problem is that the management has no accountability. If they are caught in flagrante delicto, they are just moved to another position - frequently with a promotion.

Talk about fast - from Phys-Org:

World's fastest camera freezes time at 10 trillion frames per second
What happens when a new technology is so precise that it operates on a scale beyond our characterization capabilities? For example, the lasers used at INRS produce ultrashort pulses in the femtosecond range (10-15 s), which is far too short to visualize. Although some measurements are possible, nothing beats a clear image, says INRS professor and ultrafast imaging specialist Jinyang Liang. He and his colleagues, led by Caltech's Lihong Wang, have developed what they call T-CUP: the world's fastest camera, capable of capturing 10 trillion (1013) frames per second. This new camera literally makes it possible to freeze time to see phenomena—and even light—in extremely slow motion.

Doc Edgerton? From Infogalactic:

Harold Eugene Edgerton
Harold Eugene Edgerton also known as Papa Flash (April 6, 1903 – January 4, 1990) was a professor of electrical engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is largely credited with transforming the stroboscope from an obscure laboratory instrument into a common device. He also was deeply involved with the development of sonar and deep-sea photography, and his equipment was used by Jacques Cousteau in searches for shipwrecks and even the Loch Ness monster.

His memorial website at MIT is worth checking out if you are at all interested in high-speed photography. Some amazing images.

Back to the farm - loading up some more

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Break for a quick snack - another gorgeous day so spending the time loading totes.

Tested my Square account for the first time - worked with my phone and a reciept printer I had. Needed a special cable but that was $7 from Amazon.

Tacos for dinner and an early day tomorrow - getting the van in for an oil change at 10AM

Another day, another 30 totes

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I have more than I realized. The piles are neverending. Heading out for coffee and checking in at the store and then in to the condo for another load.

Got a bunch of stuff from the garage tossed last night - feels good!

Time to hit the garage

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Working out there until I feel tired. Got a lot done but so much more to do. Neverending at times.

'Tis the season - Thriller

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Great '30's Jazz cover of Michael Jackson's Thriller by Postmodern Jukebox featuring Wayne Brady:

Illegal immigrants in the news again

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Looks like they are being registered to vote in California - from The Sacramento Bee:

Non-citizens may have been added to voter rolls, DMV says
An internal audit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles released Monday shows about 1,500 customers may have been improperly registered to vote.

“Approximately 1,500 customers may have been registered to vote in error,” the DMV wrote in a letter Monday to the Secretary of State’s Office. “This error has been corrected and is separate from the processing error we notified you about in writing on September 5.” Non-citizens are among the affected customers, according to Jessica Gonzalez, a DMV spokeswoman.

In early September, the DMV revealed it sent 23,000 erroneous voter registrations. These additional 1,500 errors occurred when DMV technicians processed customer requests at field offices to change voter eligibility responses on driver license applications.

The people who work at the DMV are not elected and have zero accountability to the citizens of California. I am betting that the numbers are much much higher.

Living inside Hillary's brain

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David Catron writing at Spectator:

Neither she nor her party can be trusted with power anymore
Many Americans have been wondering when the Democrats are finally going to calm down and accept the will of the voters as expressed in the 2016 election. Hillary Clinton provided the answer Tuesday afternoon — never. She clearly believes that Republican control of Congress or the Presidency is, by definition, illegitimate and must be resisted by any means necessary. During an interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour she said, “[Y]ou cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.” She went on to say that “civility can start again” when the Democrats regain control of the government.

She declared, in other words, that the peaceful transfer of power which has long been the hallmark of our system of government now applies only when her side wins and that she won’t stop stoking unrest until the “deplorables” learn their place: “But until then,” she said, “the only thing that the Republicans seem to recognize and respect is strength.” By “strength” she means “violence,” as experienced by Republicans Steve Scalise and Rand Paul. The last time leading Democrats utilized such irresponsible language was in 1860, when their refusal to accept the result of an election caused a war that got 600,000 Americans killed.

If this analogy seems over the top, consider that she has been employing this kind of rhetoric for nearly two years and has worked her minions into such a demented state that the Senate had to be converted into an armed camp last week to guarantee the safety of Republicans carrying out what should have been a dignified and sedate process — the confirmation of a Supreme Court justice.

David goes on to cite examples of this Democratic civility towards their other members. Example after example after example. All of them need to go sit in the corner for a ten year time-out while the adults in the room get our Nation and economy back into order.

The 9th Circuit Court is in San Francisco and has consistently been the most liberal of all courts in the nation. Sometimes to the detriment of our Constitution. Now it is 10% less crazy - from The Sacramento Bee:

Trump defies California senators with 9th Circuit judge nominations
After months of negotiations and delays, the White House is moving to fill California’s three vacancies on the influential 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals — over the strenuous objections of the state’s two Democratic senators.

White House officials had been negotiating with Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, earlier in the year about filling these and other federal court vacancies in the state. But that dialogue collapsed this past summer, Senate aides said.

On Wednesday night, the Trump administration announced it was nominating three attorneys to the 9th Circuit, the largest and busiest federal appeals court in the country. Among the thorny issues the court has tackled or could decide on are the legality of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program for undocumented young people brought to the country as children, the president’s travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries, and a lawsuit challenging the White House’s attempts to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities.

The White House also announced nominees for three district court vacancies in California on Wednesday.

Heh - feel the butt-hurt. Not only liberal, the 9th is by far the most reversed court when the decision is presented to the Supreme Court:

20181014-9th.jpg

Data from Bloomberg Law

Standards are good

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That is why we have so many of them. Batteries? There are AAA, AA, C, D and 9volt radio batteries right? Nope - here is a list of over 70 different battery sizes and designations.

Who would have thought...

Done for the day

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Heating up some pulled pork and got a couple of the Costco premium dinner rolls toasting in the oven.

Just finished a big salad - hit the farmer's market last Friday and picked up some 'maters and nice lettuce - yummy!

Working in the garage tonight - sorting through stuff - have the tractor parked right outside the garage door for stuff to go to the dumpster.

At the farm for a couple of days

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Loading more stuff to go to the condo for the big tool garage sale.

Gorgeous day today so working in the barn and outside while I have daylight. Thawing out some pulled pork (picked up some BBQ sauce today on the way up) for dinner.

That is it for tonight

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YouTube for a little while. Heading back to the farm tomorrow for another load. Have the van in for an oil-change Tuesday so spending a few days up there.

Great to see people standing up for what they believe - from FOX News:

Dave Chappelle defends Kanye West's Donald Trump meeting: 'I support him'
Comedian Dave Chappelle has shown support for his "brother" Kanye West after the rapper's controversial meeting with President Trump on Thursday.

In a new interview with CNN host Van Jones, Chappelle was asked his opinion about his friend's now famous visit to the White House.

“First of all, you know, Kanye’s an artist, man. He’s a genius.” Chappelle said. “I think the angle he’s seeing things from is about the division that he sees. And he’s not inconsistent with what he’s saying."

To be filed under: "People who get it..." Cartoonist A.F. Branco nails it:

20181013-runaway.jpg

Life in the people's republic

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Things are going to get worse and worse before they get better - from the Los Angeles Times:

L.A. typhus outbreak adds fuel to the debates over homelessness and housing
A man hospitalized for dehydration a few months ago at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center started suffering a severe fever, and doctors weren’t sure why.

The patient was homeless, a clue to doctors that he might have typhus. Every year people contract flea-borne typhus in Southern California, mostly in Los Angeles County. Doctors did a blood test.

“We sent it off, and lo and behold — typhus,” County-USC Chief Medical Officer Dr. Brad Spellberg said.

Since July, there have been nine cases of typhus in downtown Los Angeles, six of which infected homeless people, prompting health officials last week to declare an outbreak there. There have also been 20 cases in Pasadena this year, far more than the five typically seen there annually.

Typhus outbreaks are often associated with poor hygiene and overcrowding. Los Angeles officials say they’re corralling stray animals that could carry fleas, cleaning streets and encouraging people to treat their pets for fleas and put away trash that may attract infected animals.

California has set themselves up as a mecca for homeless people - problem is that they lack the backbone to call it a mental health issue (or sometimes a motivation issue) and treat it as such. They are offering a lot of palliative care at great expense but not addressing the root issue.

Typically, the problem will grow and grow until you have a serious public health issue. The good citizens are being ruled by a cultural elite that maintains themselves out of touch with the reality on the street.

Triangle trade again

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Moved some heavy equipment to the condo and another bunch of totes to the storage locker on the island. Keeping very little of the horde. Feels good to get rid of all this stuff - make some nice money off it too...

Farm tomorrow for another day of schlepping and driving.

Another morning at the farm

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Going through the equipment barn and sorting tools. Coffee and store first.

A bad week for space telescopes

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First Hubble and now Chandra - from the Chandra homepage:

Chandra Enters Safe Mode; Investigation Underway
At approximately 1355 GMT on October 10, 2018, NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory entered Safe Mode, where the telescope’s instruments are put into a safe configuration, critical hardware is swapped to back-up units, the spacecraft points so that the solar panels get maximum sunlight, and the mirrors point away from the Sun. Analysis of available data indicates the transition to safe mode was nominal, i.e., consistent with normal behavior for such an event. All systems functioned as expected and the scientific instruments are safe. The cause of the Safe Mode transition is currently under investigation, and we will post more information when it becomes available.

Chandra is 19 years old, which is well beyond the original design lifetime of 5 years. In 2001, NASA extended its lifetime to 10 years. It is now well into its extended mission and it is expected to continue carrying out forefront science for many years to come.

Ninteen years is not a bad run as things go but still, it is a shame to lose such an excellent machine.

At the farm for a few days

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Stopped at the last Camano Farmer's Market of the 2018 season and got some produce. Had dinner on the road and just got back to the farm. Concentrating on large equipment these next couple of loads - two forges, a large floor-standing vice (post vice), two welders plus plasma torch, etc... A lot of these are older items and I am taking the proceeds of their sale and purchasing new units.

There have been some nice technology developments with welders especially using microprocessors to control the welding current - makes for a much more precise weld as well as flexibility. You can now have one box that does MIG, TIG and Stick for steel, stainless steel and aluminum as well as TIG Brazing.

Surf for a little bit but feeling tired - slept too long yesterday.

Best laid plans...

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Was planning to go up to the farm today but had a couple things that needed doing and it was 4:30 by the time I finished. Had dinner (a vegetarian burrito) and then went to our Preparedness Group monthly meeting - about 40 people there tonight.

Got a lot done today, just not what I had expected. Farm tomorrow. Early night - YouTube and bed.

Cleaning up down here and then heading out for coffee, post office, storage locker, the transfer station and then back to the farm. Do it all over again.

Gorgeous day today too - a bit of fog but that should burn off soon. Making hay while the sun shines...

That is it for me for tonight.

Triangle trade

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Back on the island - productive day. Loaded about 30 totes of tools and took them to the condo and then another 10 totes to go to the storage locker here. It is a lot easier to have two totes when sorting and just toss the tool into one of them. I will eventually (when all the remodeling is done) be building one of these workbenches in the garage so all the tools will have their own home and be out of sight when not in use. I will be building more of the vertical drawers than he has in his design.

Details of the cool tool storage are at 4:30 or so - here is a link to there This way, each drawer has one kind of tool and you do not accumulate clutter as you would with a flat drawer.

Back to the farm tomorrow (not stopping at the condo) - the weather is going to be really nice for the next week or so so I want to get this busted out. Once I get all the tools moved over, I will be also doing the technology and music (the second sale) as well as the brewing and culinary (third sale) and loading these items into the house living space. I will be holding the sales in the garage - easier to keep track of who is doing what. Slowly but surely, the house is emptying out. Feels great and there is a lot of local interest in the sale.

Triangle Trade? Here is the story

Busy day

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Spent last night on the island as I had three totes with tools that are surplus to my needs. Got them at the condo for the big tool sale. At the farm now - gorgeous day so clearing out the equipment barn.

Radio meeting was informative. Lots of people writing to the FCC regarding this ruling.

More later - going to try for a second run into the condo today...

Quick flip

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At the farm loading up some more totes for the condo. Spending some time in town tonight as the Mt. Baker Amateur Radio Club is hosting an interesting speaker. I had posted earlier about how this administration is trying to limit the import of the brand of Chinese radio that a lot of hams (including myself) are using. Here is a link to that post: Buy it now - BaoFeng

Tonight's speaker is going to talk about this and fill us in on what we can do. Late night in store but a good one. Munching on a pita and hummus snack - late lunch or early dinner. Out the door...

Off for the day

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Got a full van - driving it into Bellingham to unload at the condo. Hoping to get two trips in today.

Got some nice dinner rolls from Costco today - have two for dinner (they are on the large size) and freeze the rest. Another hour or so of loading the van and then dinnertime.

UPDATE
Dinner was awesome. Didn't have any BBQ sauce at all so made some with ketchup, brown sugar, white vinegar and chinese hot-oil. Came out quite nice. Feeling a bit sleepy so watching some YouTube and heading to an early bedtime. Got the van loaded up and planning to do two trips to the condo tomorrow - getting some of the big stuff - welders (two), plasma torch, etc...

Well crap - Hubble

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Bad news - from the Beeb:

Hubble telescope hit by mechanical failure
The Hubble Space Telescope is operating with only essential functions after it lost one of the gyroscopes needed to point the spacecraft.

The observatory, described as one of the most important scientific instruments ever created, was placed in "safe mode" over the weekend, while scientists try to fix the problem.

Hubble had been operating with four of its six gyroscopes when one of them failed on Friday.

The telescope was launched in 1990.

After the gyro failure at the weekend, controllers tried to switch on a different one, but that was found to be malfunctioning. That leaves Hubble with only two fully functional gyros.

At any given time, Hubble needs three of its gyroscopes to work for optimal efficiency.

I know the Webb is scheduled to be launched in three years but this is a shame. The Hubble has done some amazing work. Wonder if the people at SpaceX have anything up their sleeves...

Yikes - big oil fire in Canada

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From Yahoo/Agence France Presse:

Explosion and fire at Canada's largest oil refinery
An explosion and fire ripped through Canada's largest refinery Monday, injuring several workers in what its owner called a "major incident."

The blast was believed to be the result of a malfunction in the diesel refining section of the Irving Oil refinery in St John's, New Brunswick, said company executive Kevin Scott.

Officials said all the plant's workers were accounted for after the fire, and four people received hospital treatment for minor injuries.

Images posted on social media networks showed intermittent flames and a column of black smoke rising from the refinery, the country's largest with a production capacity of 300,00 barrels of refined products a day.

Thank God that everyone is accounted for - that could have turned out horrible.

Coal is King

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Despite all the demonization, coal has its uses and with current technology, it is clean to use. From Forbes:

The U.S. Coal Export Boom To Asia
There are many, many falsehoods out there about coal. The biggest, of course, is that "coal is dead," an organized effort to scare away potential investors of the world's most vital source of electricity. Indeed, the reality is quite different than what some insist that you believe. In fact, coal is still the main source of power in a leading 18 U.S. states, and still supplies almost 30% of American power. " Does that sound like an energy source that is...."dead?"

Globally, coal is even more alive. "Think the Big Banks Have Abandoned Coal? Think Again." Even a solar magazine admits: "China to add 259 GW of coal capacity, satellite imagery shows." For reference, 259 GW is more than twice the amount of power capacity that mighty Texas has FROM ALL SOURCES.

Now Asia - which accounts for close to 80% of total global coal usage - is increasingly turning to the U.S. to supply coal. We are still the world's third largest coal producer. The U.S. supplies both types, met coal to produce steel and steam coal to produce electricity. "U.S. coal exports increased by 61% in 2017 as exports to Asia more than doubled."

Nuke - specifically LFTR - is the way of the future but we have about 400 years of coal in the ground that we now know about. Here is a great edited video explaining LFTR in five minutes.

Back to work

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At the farm for a few days loading tools to the condo. Took a break for a late lunch - back to work. Cold and wet outside.

President Trump unloads

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Speaking truth to power:

From Associated Press:

Pompeo: ‘Significant progress’ made on NKorea denuke trip
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday that he and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un made “significant progress” toward an agreement for the North to give up its nuclear weapons. While significant work remains to be done, he said he expected further results after an as-yet unscheduled second summit between Kim and President Donald Trump.

“It’s a long process,” Pompeo told a small group of reporters in the South Korean capital of Seoul where he traveled after meeting with Kim in Pyongyang on Sunday. “We made significant progress. We’ll continue to make significant progress and we are further along in making that progress than any administration in an awfully long time.”

He would not be specific but said he and Kim had agreed to shortly begin working-level talks on the nuts and bolts of denuclearization, on the placement of international inspectors at one of North Korea’s main nuclear facilities, and had come close to finalizing a date and venue for the next Kim-Trump summit.

Trump, tweeting from Washington shortly after Pompeo left North Korea, cited progress Pompeo had made on agreements he and Kim came to at their June meeting in Singapore and said, “I look forward to seeing Chairman Kim again, in the near future.′

The world gets a significant reduction of threat, Kim gets his McDonalds in Pyongyang and President Trump cleans up yet another problem that the last 10 Presidents could not touch.

Uncovering the deep state

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Great - more, faster, please:

More - information and background - at The Last Refuge

Happy Columbus Day

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Terrierman has this - worth remembering:

20181008-columbus.JPG

How far we have fallen

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For one of our iconic modern astronauts to have to kowtow to the Social Justice Warriors for praising Winston Churchill. From Washington Examiner:

Astronaut Scott Kelly apologizes after quoting, praising Winston Churchill
Scott Kelly, a retired American astronaut with multiple space flights under his belt, apologized Sunday after quoting Winston Churchill and calling the 20th century British prime minister "one of the greatest leaders of modern times."

"Did not mean to offend by quoting Churchill. My apologies. I will go and educate myself further on his atrocities, racist views which I do not support. My point was we need to come together as one nation. We are all Americans. That should transcend partisan politics.

Dr. Kelly needs to double-down on these morons who want to drag everything down to their level. Punch back twice as hard.

Make something a little more difficult to read and your brain will remember it better. Such is the idea behind this new typeface. From the Australian Broadcasting Company:

Sans Forgetica font makes readers remember text by being harder to read
In an age of information overload, it's good to have some memory hacks up your sleeve.

And text in its multitude of applications has become a style destination in its own right.

Now a team of experts have developed a font specifically designed to help you remember things, aptly named Sans Forgetica.

But how can a humble typeface improve your mental processes?

Stephen Banham, a lecturer in typography at RMIT who helped create it, told RN Drive San Forgetica was actually a good font to discuss on the radio because it was designed on a highly conceptual basis.

"Sans Forgetica is a typeface that's been specifically designed with features in it such as back-slanting and little gaps inside the letters," Mr Banham said.

The unexpected elements encourage the reader to take more notice, he said, triggering memory because of the effort required to process the text.

A sample:

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Avaliable as a free download here: Sans Forgetica

Big coronal hole on the Sun and we are getting pummeled with charged particles - Planetary K Index is solid five and this usually spawns aurora borealis displays in the Northern United States:

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From NASA's Spaceweather:

GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS: As predicted, a G1-class geomagnetic storm is in progress on Oct 7th as Earth enters a fast-moving stream of solar wind. The gaseous material is flowing from a large canyon-shaped hole in the sun's atmosphere. Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras after nightfall. There is also a chance the storm could intensify to category G2. If so, auroras could appear in the USA as far south as, e.g., Maine, Michigan and Washington. Free: Aurora alerts.

Was in Lynnwood yesterday picking up some radio stuff and drove past Ed's Surplus - they have been around since 1957.

Saw a sign that they are closing at the end of October - family run for 60 years and four generations. They were one of the true military surplus stores around - none of this cheap chinese knock-off crap. I wish them well...

Out for coffee and then sorting papers

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Heading out for coffee and then back home to sort more of Mom and Dad's papers - tossing out about 99% of them but interleaved with the trash are the occasional thing I want to keep or photo or stock certificate.

These boxes have been in storage and at the condo but now that the storage is gone and the condo has been cleaned out, I am spending a week or two getting these processed so I do not have to deal with all the boxes.

Spending tonight on the island and heading up to the farm on Monday.

And that is it for me tonight

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Long day - going to watch some YouTube and head to bed.

Heh - a little justice is in order

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A two-fer - first from Washington Examiner:

Staffer who 'doxed' GOP senators faces nearly 50 years in federal prison
The former Democratic congressional staffer who posted personal information about Republican senators online faces nearly 50 years in prison.

Jackson Cosko, a 27-year-old Washington, D.C., resident, was arrested Wednesday by U.S. Capitol Police when he was caught sneaking into the offices of Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., after 10 p.m. Tuesday and using an aide’s computer and log-in.

He was charged with five federal offenses: making public restricted personal information, making threats in interstate commerce, unauthorized access of a government computer, identity theft, and witness tampering.

The criminal complaint against him also charges him with second-degree burglary and unlawful entry, which are both criminal offenses in D.C.

They are just roughing him up a bit - shaking his tree and see what he can offer them for a plea-bargain. And this is of interest:

From August until his arrest, Cosko worked as an unpaid fellow with the office of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, which said it ended his fellowship and is cooperating in the investigation.

Which brings me to the second news story - from American Greatness:

Cosko Is Not An Unpaid Intern

A few excerpts:

While she claims Cosko was an “unpaid intern” in her office, the Washington Post reports that Cosko was actually a “fellow.” This was confirmed by Cosko’s lawyer, who said his client was a “fellow” in Jackson-Lee’s office and that he was being paid by an “outside institution.”

And his supposed computer savy?

And of course, the “fellow” title makes much more sense when you consider the rest of Cosko’s resume, where he calls himself a IT security expert and lists working for New Hampshire Democrat Senator Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.) prior to his time in Jackson-Lee’s office. (Hassan, incidentally, was also the senator who screamed “f**k you” at the president when he was visiting Congress last month).

More at the site - I am sure this will all come out in the news. Wheels within wheels...

On the computer

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Typing up the after action reports and other paperwork assiciated with this mornings drill. The ICS forms are nice as they standardize how things are reported and what is important and what is not.

Spending tomorrow on the island going through boxes of parent's old paperwork and then up to the farm for a few days of clearing out the tools for the first garage sale. I will post date and location for those in the Pacific Northwest - it is going to be epic.

That's Mr. Justice Kavanaugh to you...

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Was out running errands and came home to this wonderful news - from Associated Press:

Kavanaugh sworn to high court after rancorous confirmation
Brett Kavanaugh was sworn in Saturday night as the 114th justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, after a wrenching debate over sexual misconduct and judicial temperament that shattered the Senate, captivated the nation and ushered in an acrimonious new level of polarization — now encroaching on the court that the 53-year-old judge may well swing rightward for decades to come.

Even as Kavanaugh took his oath of office in a quiet private ceremony, not long after the narrowest Senate confirmation in nearly a century and a half, protesters chanted outside the court building across the street from the Capitol.

The climactic 50-48 roll call capped a fight that seized the national conversation after claims emerged that he had sexually assaulted women three decades ago — allegations he emphatically denied. Those accusations transformed the clash from a routine struggle over judicial ideology into an angry jumble of questions about victims’ rights, the presumption of innocence and personal attacks on nominees.

Good. Let's move on with life - plus, get to the bottom of what the Democrats were doing with this process. Calling in violence against people based on their political afiliation? Doxxing people? Feinstein's leaks to the press and that letter? What happened to civility.

Michael Ramirez nails it:

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Good radio drill this morning

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Met another ham radio operator - he was stationed with me at the particular firehall. We spent about 45 minutes passing simulated traffic - our station had a fire nearby as well as spotting some zombies wandering around outside. There were reports of downed power lines and trees, highway collapse, a need for 20 cots and drinking water... Basic emergency communications which with the exception of one fire station, we were all able to pass and communicate. The one station was buried in the noise so now we know and can see what is wrong with the equipment and fix it.

Moved the copier into the house so it is up and running - I'll be able to print 11X17 signs for the upcoming garage sale.

Heading out for a few things and to check the mailbox. Working on the island today and tomorrow, back to the farm Monday.

Up an at 'em

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Bright eyed and bushy tailed. Take a shower and load up the car for the radio drill. Coffee first.

Got the copy machine in the van and will unload it tomorrow after the drill. Up early for the drill - bringing my portable ham station in case there is a curve-ball pitched our way. Like I cannot get into the firehall or there is a sign on the radio saying that it is out of order. Realistic drills do sh*t like that from time to time.

Printing out a bunch of ICS forms to use tomorrow. After the drill, I unload the copy machine. Should be straightforward as there are five steps going up from the ground to the door I am coming through so the ramp will be almost level. Stopped at Home Despot on the way home and picked up a sheet of tempered hardboard (Masonite) so that will make the machine roll smoothly. What is it about copy machines that they all have these dinky cheap and tiny casters on them. They roll fine on a bowling alley but any real-world surface - carpet or tile - they hang up and are a bear to move. If I designed a machine like this, I would put 6" ball-bearing balloon tires on them.

The official vote is tomorrow but it looks like Judge Kavanaugh has enough to get appointed to the Supreme Court.

This is going to have heads exploding all over - wil be fun to watch as I am not in any urban center. Tend to avoid them aamof

Off to the farm

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Picking up a color copier and some tubs of tools - down to the island later today so I can prep for tomorrow's radio excercise.

Heh - good luck with that

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From The Times of India comes this wonderful tidbit of irrelevance:

US ordered to halt 'humanitarian' Iran sanctions in blow for Donald Trump
THE HAGUE: The UN's top court ordered the United States on Wednesday to suspend sanctions on "humanitarian" goods for Iran in a stunning setback for US President Donald Trump.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) handed down the bombshell judgement after Iran asked it to halt economic measures that Trump reimposed after pulling out of a landmark nuclear deal with Tehran.

Judges in The Hague unanimously ruled that the sanctions on some goods breached a 1955 "friendship treaty" between Iran and the US that predates Iran's Islamic Revolution.

"The court finds unanimously that... the United States of America... shall remove by means of its choosing any impediments arising from the measures announced on 8 May to the free exportation to Iran of medicines and medical devices, food and agricultural commodities" as well as airplane parts, chief judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said.

Chief Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf - an unelected bureaucrat and otherwise known as The Great and Powerful Oz

Time to kick them out of Turtle Bay and convert the building into a casino and resort. The UN is sitting on some very desirable property...

The mainstream media

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Great parody:

Reminds me of this old joke:

A biker is riding by the zoo, when he sees a little girl leaning into the lion's cage.

Suddenly, the lion grabs her by the cuff of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under the eyes of her screaming parents.

The biker jumps off his bike, runs to the cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.

Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly.

A New York Times reporter has watched the whole event.

The reporter addressing the biker says, "Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I saw a man do in my whole life."

The biker replies, "Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger, and acted as I felt right."

The reporter says, "Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist from the New York Times, you know, and tomorrow's paper will have this story on the front page... So, what do you do for a living and what political affiliation do you have?'"

The biker replies, "I'm a U.S. Marine."

The journalist leaves.

The following morning the biker buys The New York Times to see if it indeed brings news of his actions, and reads, on front page:

U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS LUNCH!

From FOX News:

GOP-doxxing suspect arrested; worked or interned for Feinstein, Jackson Lee, other Dems
A Democratic congressional intern was arrested Wednesday and accused of posting the personal information of at least one Republican senator during last week's hearing about sexual assault claims against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, authorities said.

U.S. Capitol Police said 27-year-old Jackson Cosko was charged with making public restricted personal information, witness tampering, threats in interstate communication, unauthorized access of a government computer, identity theft, second-degree burglary and unlawful entry. Police added that the investigation was continuing and more charges could be filed.

Senior congressional sources tell Fox News that Cosko most recently worked as an unpaid intern for Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. He previously worked with Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., and former Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer of California. He also worked or interned with the office of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, as well as with at least one other unnamed lawmaker. A LinkedIn page with Cosko's name on it describes him as a "Democratic Political Professional & Cybersecurity Graduate Student."

What happened:

Personal information of Sens. Lindsey Graham, Mike Lee and Orrin Hatch was posted on their respective Wikipedia pages Thursday as the Senate Judiciary Committee questioned Kavanaugh over allegations that he assaulted Christine Blasey Ford at a high school party in the early 1980s. All three have professed their belief that Kavanaugh is innocent of the claims brought against him by Ford, with Graham telling the federal judge "you've got nothing to apologize for" amid a fiery rant denouncing Democrats' handling of the allegations.

Personal information - ie: telephone numbers, street addresses of residence. Wikipedia keeps track of the IP addresses of people who edit the entries and that IP address came from an office computer of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas. I love his comment about Cybersecurity Graduate Student - what a maroon.

From the fine people at HACKADAY:

MALICIOUS COMPONENT FOUND ON SERVER MOTHERBOARDS SUPPLIED TO NUMEROUS COMPANIES
This morning Bloomberg is reporting a bombshell for hardware security. Companies like Amazon and Apple have found a malicious chip on their server motherboards. These are not counterfeit chips. They are not part of the motherboard design. These were added by the factory at the time of manufacture. The chip was placed among other signal conditioning components and is incredibly hard to spot as the nature of these motherboards includes hundreds of minuscule components.

Though Amazon and Apple have denied it, according to Bloomberg, a private security contractor in Canada found the hidden chip on server motherboards. Elemental Technologies, acquired by Amazon in 2015 for its video and graphics processing hardware, subcontracted Supermicro (Super Micro Computer, Inc.) to manufacture their server motherboards in China. It is unknown how many of the company’s products have this type of malicious hardware in them, equipment from Elemental Technologies has been supplied to the likes of government contractors as well as major banks and even reportedly used in the CIA’s drone operations.

SuperMicro is a very high end and very good manufacturer - used their products for years building high-end machines for people, while I was at MSFT and now whenever I build a system. Them and ASUS are rock solid top-of-the-mountain when it comes to reliable hardware. To have this happen is really going to hit the fan for them. Talk about consumer confidence...

Long day today

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Had a 9:00AM meeting with the local ham radio emergency communications director at the local fire hall. The fire chief was there too so we chatted for a while about how we might use ham radio when the fire district does it's major drills. They do these four times/year and there is a lot of stuff that we can do for them.

One of the really neat things about the CERT training is that we are trained with the same hierarchy that the emergency responders (police, fire and S&R) use so we can slot right in to their operations. If there is a large disaster, the CERT people can respond and when the fire or police do show up, our data will fit into their operational system so they can get up to speed quickly.

Had a visit with the skin doc this afternoon (staph infection is lingering on) and he tweaked some meds and we will see how that goes.

A burrito for dinner and time for a hot shower, some medicated shampoo and a glass or three of wine...

Three good headlines

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On the island

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Heating up some Feijoada for dinner and then a 6PM meeting.

More posting later tonight.

Heading out - long day

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Another load of tools to the condo and then points south for a meeting tonight and another one tomorrow.

From our friends at FEMA:

The IPAWS National Test
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), in coordination with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), will conduct a nationwide test of the Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) and Emergency Alert System (EAS) on the backup date of October 3, 2018 due to ongoing response efforts to Hurricane Florence. The WEA portion of the test commences at 2:18 p.m. EDT, and the EAS portion follows at 2:20 p.m. EDT. The test will assess the operational readiness of the infrastructure for distribution of a national message and determine whether improvements are needed.

The WEA test message will be sent to cell phones that are connected to wireless providers participating in WEA. This is the fourth EAS nationwide test and the first national WEA test. Previous EAS national tests were conducted in November 2011, September 2016, and September 2017 in collaboration with the FCC, broadcasters, and emergency management officials in recognition of FEMA’s National Preparedness Month.

Cell towers will broadcast the WEA test for approximately 30 minutes beginning at 2:18 p.m. EDT. During this time, WEA compatible cell phones that are switched on, within range of an active cell tower, and whose wireless provider participates in WEA should be capable of receiving the test message. Some cell phones will not receive the test message, and cell phones should only receive the message once. The WEA test message will have a header that reads "Presidential Alert" and text that says:

“THIS IS A TEST of the National Wireless Emergency Alert System. No action is needed.”

The WEA system is used to warn the public about dangerous weather, missing children, and other critical situations through alerts on cell phones. The national test will use the same special tone and vibration as with all WEA messages (i.e. Tornado Warning, AMBER Alert). Users cannot opt out of receiving the WEA test.

About 11:18 AM for those of us on the left coast. A very good system - well designed and robust (except for one time in Hawaii - oops).

News from Gallup Polls - Hillary

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They tried hard to bury the actual numbers but Hillary's popularity just hit bottom - from Gallup:

Hillary Clinton's Favorable Rating Still Low
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton's favorability with U.S. adults is unchanged from last November -- remaining at a record low (36%).

These results, from a Sept. 4-12 Gallup poll, confirm that Clinton's image remains in a rut nearly two years after she lost the presidential contest in 2016. Her favorable rating is down seven percentage points from where it stood on the eve of the election.

Two key trends would suggest that Clinton should become more popular, not less, after the 2016 presidential election. The first is specific to Clinton. While opinions of Clinton have varied over her long time in the public limelight, she has tended to be quite popular when she is no longer seen as a purely political figure. When her husband, former President Bill Clinton, faced impeachment in 1998, for instance, Hillary Clinton's favorable rating rose to a record high of 67%. Clinton was also generally well-liked over the course of her 2009-2013 tenure as secretary of state.

They have the numbers from 1992 to present. Crooked Hillary just hit bottom and continues to dig.

Found on the internet - a question

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20181002-hulk.jpg

Long day today - UPDATE

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Got the van almost loaded up - breaking for coffee and checking in at the store. Planning two loads to the condo today.

UPDATE:
Only got one load in but have a bunch more stuff packed into totes and ready to go tomorrow. Spending tonight sorting through the banker's boxes from the garage.

Making Feijoada for dinner tonight - haven't made that in a while and it keeps really well. Have it tonight and then take some down to Camano tomorrow. Interesting in that it's origins are from the food for slaves in Brazil. It has taken on its own identity and is now a national dish of Brazil. Much they way that Barbecue has become a mainstay of American cuisine. I am using a pressure cooker so it only takes an hour to cook.

Finally - radiation

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Finally, some sensible policies about radiation. From the Associated Press:

EPA says a little radiation may be healthy
The Trump administration is quietly moving to weaken U.S. radiation regulations, turning to scientific outliers who argue that a bit of radiation damage is actually good for you — like a little bit of sunlight.

The government’s current, decades-old guidance says that any exposure to harmful radiation is a cancer risk. And critics say the proposed change could lead to higher levels of exposure for workers at nuclear installations and oil and gas drilling sites, medical workers doing X-rays and CT scans, people living next to Superfund sites and any members of the public who one day might find themselves exposed to a radiation release.

The word of the day is Radiation Hormesis

Radiation hormesis
Radiation hormesis (also called radiation homeostasis) is the hypothesis that low doses of ionizing radiation (within the region of and just above natural background levels) are beneficial, stimulating the activation of repair mechanisms that protect against disease, that are not activated in absence of ionizing radiation. The reserve repair mechanisms are hypothesized to be sufficiently effective when stimulated as to not only cancel the detrimental effects of ionizing radiation but also inhibit disease not related to radiation exposure (see hormesis). This counter-intuitive hypothesis has captured the attention of scientists and public alike in recent years.

And this:

Radiation hormesis proposes that radiation exposure comparable to and just above the natural background level of radiation is not harmful but beneficial, while accepting that much higher levels of radiation are hazardous. Proponents of radiation hormesis typically claim that radio-protective responses in cells and the immune system not only counter the harmful effects of radiation but additionally act to inhibit spontaneous cancer not related to radiation exposure. Radiation hormesis stands in stark contrast to the more generally accepted linear no-threshold model (LNT), which states that the radiation dose-risk relationship is linear across all doses, so that small doses are still damaging, albeit less so than higher ones. Opinion pieces on chemical and radiobiological hormesis appeared in the journals Nature and Science in 2003.

The linear no-threshold model is pure bunkum with no observable data to back it up. Time for it to be chucked into the dustbin of bad public policy.

Done with dinner - time to sort papers

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That is it for me for tonight - going to sort papers for a couple of hours, some YouTube and then bedtime.

Some fun in the country

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Redneck silo demolition

Very cool - Japan

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The current emporer of Japan happens to find Marine Biology fascinating and has studied extensivly. He also publishes - from the Journal Gene:

Speciation of two gobioid species, Pterogobius elapoides and Pterogobius zonoleucus revealed by multi-locus nuclear and mitochondrial DNA analyses
Authors:
Akihito, Fumihito Akishinonomiya, Yuji Ikeda, Masahiro Aizawa, So Nakagawa, Yumi Umehara,Takahiro Yonezawa, Shuhei Mano, Masami Hasegawa, Tetsuji, Nakabo, Takashi Gojobori

Well, I guess that being Emporer, he does get to have his name listed first... Nice to see him still very active doing what he loves.

I can use one of these - drywall

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From engadget:

Humanoid construction robot installs drywall by itself
If Japan's Advanced Industrial Science and Technology Institute has its way, construction workers might be a thing of the past. Researchers have built HRP-5P, a humanoid bot that can handle a variety of construction tasks when there's either a staffing shortage or serious hazards. The prototype uses a mix of environment detection, object recognition and careful movement planning to install drywall by itself -- it can hoist up boards and fasten them with a screwdriver.

The design doesn't have as much freedom of movement as a human being, but makes up for that with numerous joints that flex to degrees you wouldn't see in real people. It won't always look the most natural when doing its job, but it'll be effective. It can also correct for slips, and it's not deterred when it has a limited field of view.

Prototype for now but I can see it ten years from now...

A high-end restaurant in Washington D. C. suffered an attack by some children throwing a tantrum. Their response makes for interesting reading:

Dear Friend of Fiola,
As you may have heard, Fiola has been in the news lately and not in a particularly helpful way. On Monday night, a group of protesters found out that Senator Ted Cruz was at the restaurant for dinner. A large group entered the restaurant suddenly and were joined by others already inside the restaurant who may have been patrons or protesters in waiting. Together they surrounded the senator’s table and chanted slogans at him and his wife. They were politically motivated, loud, and disruptive. They were also potentially a danger not only to the senator but to our other customers and to our property and so, as is our policy, our managers called the police and eventually escorted the senator outside away from the protesters when it was safe to do so. We managed to hide him in the kitchen until the protesters left and he finished his dinner and left, thanking us for our hospitality.

We have no idea how the protesters knew to come to Fiola to protest, but some in the media have suggested that we intentionally leaked his presence to the protesters. How insane to imagine we choose to host an attack in our own restaurant! As crazy as that idea is, the negative effects of the repetition of this false statement is unprecedented in our careers. We had to take down our social media temporarily because we received thousands of hateful comments. Our reservation lines are inundated with calls from people who are taunting our staff and threatening to destroy our restaurant. Maria and I have personally received death threats. We would have never thought such a thing was possible in the restaurant business.

Fiola is being blamed simply for being the location for the attacks as if we ourselves were the attackers. While anyone may disagree with the politics of Senator Cruz or Senator Corey Booker or anyone else in the spotlight, we know you understand that we operate a restaurant in a city where politics is the main industry. We cannot stay open if we don’t welcome everyone regardless of party affiliation. We take our hospitality seriously and dole it out generously to all comers. Under difficult circumstances and without regard to who was being attacked, our staff did the best they could to handle a horrible situation that they, as hospitality professionals, were not prepared to handle and tried to offer the kind of care that any of you would like to be offered if you were in such a situation. As always, we are proud of our team.

And we want to make it crystal clear that would never participate in or would condone a protest of anyone of any political stripe inside one of our restaurants.

We are now living in the aftermath of this PR disaster. The restaurants will be getting security guards for the time being to avoid similar instances. We are re-training the staff at all our restaurants on what to do in the event this happens again. We are trying to run a restaurant that was besieged this week with the sort of vitriol that is the story of divided politics in America now. It will be challenging, but we are not afraid of working hard, and our entire team is committed to coming back even stronger. We will come back no matter what it takes.

If you are receiving this email, you are a friend who comes to see us when you want a good meal and warm hospitality. You are a friend of Fiola, and we take that friendship very seriously too. As a friend of Fiola, you may ask what you can do to help.

We are writing to explain what happened and with a request. Simply, please come to Fiola now and through the Fall and holiday season. Not to the neglect of our other restaurants but to come with friends to enjoy the original Fiola soon. As you know, our menus change daily and some amazing items are coming into season now. Please come celebrate the end of the rain (please!) with us, have a cocktail before heading to the Capital One Arena, or make jury duty less dreary by having a Presto lunch at the bar. We promise that Fiola is better than ever, and with your support we will emerge from this challenge quickly.

A perfect reply. Today's political climate is certainly good business for the private security business.

Fixing dinner at the farm

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Pulled pork tacos and two ears of fresh corn. Corn season in the Pacific Northwest so it is really wonderful and sweet - great flavor. Found out that my favorite produce stand in Bellingham also has a branch a couple of miles from my favorite Costco in Burlington.

Got a bunch of paperwork in the garage so starting to sort through that tonight. So glad to be shedding this load.

The Goolag - fun and games

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Big black eye for Google - from Breitbart:

LEAKED EMAILS: Senior Google Search Engineer Advocates for Censorship of ‘Terrorist’ Marsha Blackburn
A senior software engineer at Google with responsibility for a key feature of Google’s search engine labeled Tennessee Senate candidate Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) a “violent thug” and a “terrorist,” who Google shouldn’t “negotiate” with, according to internal emails obtained by Breitbart News. The employee also defended the censorship of her campaign ads on social media.

The comments took place in an internal email discussion that began on June 19 this year. The topic of discussion was Rep. Blackburn’s Fox News op-ed of the same month, which urged Silicon Valley companies to address bias against conservatives on their platforms. Blackburn, who has herself been the target of social media censorship, has been a vocal critic of tech giants like Google, Facebook, and Twitter during her time in Congress.

The op-ed was not well received within the corridors of Silicon Valley power. One Google employee, a site reliability engineer, called Blackburn’s piece “hilarious” and said Republicans are becoming “tribalists focused on stirring up outrage to maintain power.”

Too big and too monolithic with a lot of different business entities. Sounds like a great time for applying the anti-trust laws.

On the road - points North

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Heading up to the farm in a few minutes - do a couple van loads of tools into the condo.

More later this evening - long day ahead...

Quite the ride - skiing

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Can't wait for the GoPro footage... From NBC News:

Americans ski down world's 4th-highest mountain
Two American climbers have successfully skied down from the summit of the world's fourth-highest mountain, organizers said Monday.

James Morrison of Tahoe, California, and Hilaree Nelson of Telluride, Colorado, scaled Mount Lhotse's 27,940-foot summit on Sunday with two other climbers and three Nepalese Sherpa guides, said Pemba Sherpa of Xtreme Climbers Treks and Expeditions.

Morrison and Nelson then descended down the mountain on their skis.

Outside Magazine had a nice article on their plans two weeks ago:

Hilaree Nelson's Bold Attempt to Ski the Lhotse Couloir
In August, American ski mountaineers Hilaree Nelson and Jim Morrison flew to Nepal from their homes in Telluride, Colorado, and Tahoe City, California, respectively, to attempt the first ski descent of 27,940-foot Lhotse. Part of the Everest massif, Lhotse is the fourth-highest mountain in the world. From a skier’s perspective, though, Lhotse is first choice. The summit offers a sustained and direct 7,000-vertical-foot ski line that combines a 2,500-foot couloir and an open face. The average pitch is 45 to 50 degrees. For comparison, the steepest in-bounds black diamond runs in the U.S. top out at about 30 degrees.

“It is this iconic, splinter couloir and it just screams ski line to me,” Morrison told me earlier this summer. “It’s this plum line right off the summit, right down the middle onto this huge face that goes way down. And it’s never been done.”

Until this summer, of the five tallest mountains in the world, Mount Everest was the only one to have been skied successfully from the summit. Then, in July, a Polish alpinist named Andrezj Bargiel skied off the summit of K2, the second-highest mountain in the world.

Ho Li Crap - talk about nerves of steel. Again, the video footage will be amazing. Looking forward to seeing it. Congratulations to the whole team!

More work being done - the two Koreas

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Looks like real progress is being made - from Reuters:

North, South Korea begin removing landmines along fortified border
Troops from North and South Korea began removing some landmines along their heavily fortified border on Monday, the South’s defense ministry said, in a pact to reduce tension and build trust on the divided peninsula.

Project details were agreed during last month’s summit in Pyongyang, the capital of North Korea, between its leader, Kim Jong Un, and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.

In a statement, the ministry said the two sides agreed to remove all landmines in the so-called Joint Security Area (JSA) in Panmunjom within the next 20 days, with military engineers performing the hazardous task on the South Korean side.

Of course you hear nothing about this from the mainstream media - it's Kavanaugh 24/7. For the media to report on this development, they would have to admit that President Trump was sucessful in his meeting with the two leaders. This is something that they cannot wrap their brains around - too much cognitive dissonance.

I bet Barry is steaming today - NAFTA

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What Obama couldn't do and therefore said it was impossible was done today by President Trump. From Bloomberg:

U.S. and Canada Reach Trade Deal to Keep Nafta Trilateral
The U.S. and Canada have agreed on a trade deal that would save the North American Free Trade Agreement as a trilateral bloc, according to three people familiar with the matter.

President Donald Trump has approved the developments and the expectation is that an agreement will be announced on Sunday night, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Canadian officials are working on the final touches.

U.S. and Canadian negotiators have been negotiating around the clock this weekend to make a Sunday midnight deadline that would allow the countries to sign the deal as the final act before Mexico’s outgoing President Enrique Pena Nieto leaves office at the end of November.

Good deal for the United States. Details are still forthcoming - we will see.

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About this Archive

This page is an archive of entries from October 2018 listed from newest to oldest.

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