February 2020 Archives

And goodnight

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The futon is calling my name.

Do not want to be in Kirkland, WA. First, the first CV fatality in the USA and now this from Bloomberg:

Washington State Is Investigating Potential Outbreak at Facility
Washington State officials are investigating a potential outbreak of coronavirus at a health facility that cares for elderly, vulnerable patients, after two people at the facility were infected.

Two people at a LifeCare nursing facility in Kirkland, Washington, were diagnosed with the virus, health officials there said Saturday. One is a health-care worker in her 40s, and is in satisfactory condition at a local hospital. The other is an female resident of the facility in her 70s, and is in serious condition at the same hospital, local health authorities said.

In addition, more than 50 residents and staff at the facility have shown symptoms of a respiratory illness, according to Jeff Duchin, health officer for public health in Seattle and King County. Tests of the residents are ongoing.

The really nasty element is that you can catch it and can be contagious for 14-21 days before you even start to show any symptoms. Even if you are conscientious and self-quarantine at the first sign of symptoms, you have still infected a swath of people for the two previous weeks.

A nasty bug and it is here in WA State in a very crowded city with a lot of population turnover - Microsoft has several tens of thousand employees in Kirkland. It is the home to other corporations like Costco (Kirkland Brand), etc... All these employees coming in and going home and going grocery shopping, to Church, to the gym...

Long day - yeah, riiiiigggghhhhtttt....

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Was feeling downright nappish around 2PM to took a three-hour rest. Headed up North to purchase some things for the house remodel and got dinner.

Back home - surf for a bit and then to bed. Woo Hoo. I am a party animal these days.

Oh joy... Coronavirus - first US Death

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And it is someone 50 miles South of here. From Seattle station KING-5:

Health officials give update on first U.S. death from coronavirus in Washington state
Health officials confirmed Saturday one person has died from the 2019 novel coronavirus, otherwise known as COVID-19, in the state.

This is the first known death of COVID-19 in the United States.

The person who died was a man in his 50s with underlying health conditions, according to Dr. Jeff Duchin with Public Health Seattle & King County. The man had no history of travel or known contact with anyone suffering from COVID-19.

The man was tested at EvergreenHealth in Kirkland where he was admitted with “serious respiratory issues,” according to EvergreenHealth officials. There is a second patient that also tested positive who is now in isolation and receiving treatment, according to officials.

The usual drill - avoid crowds, be obsessive about sanitation, maintain a couple weeks of food in case you want to self-quarantine. I love that there was no history of travel or known contact. This was the result of contact with someone who was already infected but not symptomatic. No way to check for that at all. 14-21 day incubation time during which this is the case.

Quid pro Joe seems to be having more memory problems - from Biz Pac Review:

Selective memory Joe strikes again: Biden says he ‘became a professor’ after departing the White House
Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden seemed to be struggling with his selective memory again at a campaign event in South Carolina.

The former vice president told his Georgetown audience this week that he “became a professor” after leaving the White House in 2017, despite the fact that he never taught a single class.

Though Biden was named the “Benjamin Franklin Presidential Practice Professor” for the University of Pennsylvania in 2017, the school apparently never expected him to actually teach any classes.

Biden's professorship was an honorary award and not an actual real-workd accomplishment. He fails to make the difference. Liberals fail to make the difference. 

Nassim Nicholas Taleb and Vox Day have this issue covered - two quotes:

"For real people, if something works in theory, but not in practice, it doesn't work. For academics, if something works in practice, but not in theory, it doesn't exist."
--Nassim Nicholas Taleb

A corollary to what Vox Day said:

In academia there is no difference between academia and the real world; in the real world there is.

And a tip 'o the chapeau to Maggie's Farm for the first quote.

Speaking Truth to Power. Biden has had his moment in the sunshine. He needs to step down.

Happy leap-year day

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The next February 29th will happen four years from now.

Back to our usual chaos...

An interesting finding - whale strandings

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From Current Biology:

Gray whales strand more often on days with increased levels of atmospheric radio-frequency noise
Relatively little is known about the cues whales use while migrating. Visual cues in the ocean are often limited, which may drive oceanic migrators to use other sensory modalities, such as the ubiquitous geomagnetic field [1]. While it is impractical to perform behavioral assays on whales, strandings have been recorded for decades, and may provide insight into whale migration. Many strandings document that the individual was neither ill nor injured and resumed normal activity following rescue [2, 3, 4]. It is therefore possible that a portion of these animals stranded due to navigational errors. Although many factors impact strandings (e.g. naval mid-frequency sonar, disease, etc.) [5], here we focus on whether strandings can be used to study the potential for magnetoreception in migratory whales. Previous studies have used spatial patterns in strandings to suggest the potential for magnetoreception in cetaceans [4,6]. We use 31 years of gray whale (Eschrichtius robustus) stranding data (n = 186) to build on earlier work that found a positive relationship between strandings and sunspot counts [2,3]. Sunspots are strongly correlated with solar storms — sudden releases of high-energy particles from the sun that modify the geomagnetic field and thus have the potential to disrupt magnetic orientation behavior [7]. We examined relationships between strandings and two aspects of Earth’s magnetosphere altered by solar storms — radio frequency noise and displacements in the Earth’s magnetic field. Our results suggest that the increase in strandings under high solar activity is best explained by an effect on the sensor, not on the magnetic field itself.

A long paper but a well written one (this is just a brief excerpt). They used 31 years of data encompassing 186 strandings so this is not a small sample. It's our sun. It is nothing that we are doing, just a natural cause - our sun. Just like our climate is driven by our sun. Natural variation there too. Simple really.

Now that was fun - amateur radio drill

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Spent the last couple of hours participating in an emergency radio drill.  We were hours before a large flood and had to prepare for it. Sent over 30 messages back and forth between several emergency operations centers throughout the Western part of WA State.

Good rehearsal for when it really happens. Good to be trained.

And out for a bit

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Coffee, mail box and a few errands.

From Amazon:

From Reuters:

Turkey will no longer stop Syrian migrant flow to Europe: Turkish official
Turkey has decided to no longer stop Syrian refugees from reaching Europe by land and sea, a senior Turkish official told Reuters on Thursday, in anticipation of the imminent arrival of refugees from Syria’s Idlib where nearly a million have been displaced.

Turkish police, coast guard and border security officials have been ordered to stand down, the Turkish official added. Earlier on Thursday, a local Turkish governor said an attack on Turkish military in Idlib killed nine soldiers.

I wonder just how much longer the poor citizens of Europe will stand for this nonsense from Brussells. There go several once-great nations if this is not stopped.

Something to remember and act on

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Wise words - need to keep remembering this:

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The joys of centralized planning - China

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China is a communist nation and its current "President for life" Xi Jin Ping has consolidated his power and is now the top dog of a very corrupt government (all centralized ones are - this is why socialism always fails). From PJ Media:

The virus that challenged the world
The coronavirus crisis is testing political systems all over the world. In China it is challenging Xi Jin Ping because he 'owns' the system, Melinda Liu writes in Foreign Policy. "The party has something to do with everything in China, especially under Xi Jinping—and suddenly, for Xi, that has become a double-edged sword. As president, party head, and top military commander, Xi has consolidated his authority, centralized decision-making, abolished presidential term limits, and promoted his loyalists. People expect Xi, China’s 'chairman of everything,' to fix everything when it goes wrong."

And there's a lot wrong. The virus is devouring the entire Chinese medical system. NPR reports that patients requiring urgent surgery, even cancer treatment are simply turned away because the epidemic has used up all available Chinese resources. If you arrive in the hospital with a heart problem, too bad.

Wretchard also looks at Iran, Europe and California - he closes with this:

The alternative to the contraction as readers of the Belmont Club already know is componentization. Like applications on your smart phone, each has to be separated from the others by standard interfaces so that corruption in one does not destroy them all. That is the future political parties must envision instead of rehashing Marxist manifestos from the early 20th century. Chief among componentization's needs must be a world wide text only satellite based system, unfettered by prior censorship open to every fully attributed person on the planet.

Bad as it is, it's not the coronavirus we should worry about so as much as what might come after it. The reason Xi did not see the fatal black swan approaching despite ubiquitous surveillance and AI is because information is surprise, not the carrier wave but something unknown as yet or else it would be in cache. But one has to be open to one's own ignorance to listen and that is something authoritarians can't do, even when their survival depends on it.

Some interesting observations and ideas - good writer.

Up and at 'em - slow day today

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Having dinner with L later this evening and have a meeting at 3:30 this afternoon but that is it for me for today.

Working in the garage and taking care of some paperwork. Coffee first.

There is recycling and then...

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There is epic recycling - from Seattle station KING-5:

Old trees at Deception Pass State Park get new life as picnic tables
Deception Pass State Park is helping old-growth trees find new life after they fall or have to be removed.

The park is in the process of replacing 375 deteriorating picnic tables, many of which have spent season after season weathering the elements. The park is replacing the outdoor ones with a design that honors an original Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) plan from when the park was founded. These are assembled by volunteers and park staff.

A bit more (quoting the Park Manager):

“This tree is actually older than the state of Washington. So, this tree was here before 1889,” he said. “Just to think about that whole process and who was wandering the woods, the critters and creatures here, this tree has touched probably many of those people.”

Very cool. Deception Pass leads from the mainland to the North end of Whidbey Island - a gorgeous park and spectacular bridge between the two landmasses. Here are two photos from a June 2015 trip.

Coronavirus - some cautionary thoughts...

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From a 20-year veteran of the California Health Care system. From Raconteur Report:

My End Of The Stick
1) Orange County declared a health emergency yesterday. I have no wild idea what that means, and I've worked health care here for 20 years, including about 2/3rds of the E.R.s in the county. Best guess, it simply means TPTB in the county have officially freaked the f**k out about the slow roll out of Kung Flu we've been covering here for over a month, and which we warned our own hospital management about, in detail, over two weeks ago was going to put a serious cramp in our ability to treat patients, indefinitely, even if we never had to treat a single case of Kung Flu in person.

Much more at the site. If this plays out to one tenth of what Aesop is saying, California will be a fustercluck of epic proportions. Especially the cities. Especially, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Glad to be living on an island and have a month or two of boring but nutritious food on hand.

Coronavirus - a couple of headlines

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And dinner time

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Running a few local errands - some things came in today so picking them up at the mailbox.

Working on drainage issues tomorrow and Saturday - L and I start back on flooring Sunday.

News you can use - aspirin

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Too much aspirin can be bad for you. Turns out it might have been responsible for the high fatality of the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. From Oxford Academic:

Salicylates and Pandemic Influenza Mortality, 1918–1919 Pharmacology, Pathology, and Historic Evidence
The high case-fatality rate—especially among young adults—during the 1918–1919 influenza pandemic is incompletely understood. Although late deaths showed bacterial pneumonia, early deaths exhibited extremely “wet,” sometimes hemorrhagic lungs. The hypothesis presented herein is that aspirin contributed to the incidence and severity of viral pathology, bacterial infection, and death, because physicians of the day were unaware that the regimens (8.0–31.2 g per day) produce levels associated with hyperventilation and pulmonary edema in 33% and 3% of recipients, respectively. Recently, pulmonary edema was found at autopsy in 46% of 26 salicylate-intoxicated adults. Experimentally, salicylates increase lung fluid and protein levels and impair mucociliary clearance. In 1918, the US Surgeon General, the US Navy, and the Journal of the American Medical Association recommended use of aspirin just before the October death spike. If these recommendations were followed, and if pulmonary edema occurred in 3% of persons, a significant proportion of the deaths may be attributable to aspirin.

Interesting...  The more we discover, the more we find out that we do not know as much as we thought.

News you can use - prepping

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National Public Radio has a nice report on how to prepare for a pandemic. Today's pandemic de jure is the Coronavirus (Kung Flu) but this is good solid information and is simple and cheap to implement. From NPR:

A Guide: How To Prepare Your Home For Coronavirus
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is telling Americans that they should be prepared for the possibility of a COVID-19 outbreak in their community.

But what does preparedness look like in practice? The short answer: Don't panic — but do prepare.

That "means not only contingency planning but also good old-fashioned preparedness planning for your family," says Rebecca Katz, director of the Center for Global Health Science and Security at Georgetown University. In other words, what you'd do in case of a possible hurricane or another natural disaster.

We spoke with Katz and other health experts about common-sense things you can do to be ready should the virus hit where you live.

Common sense stuff - avoid crowds, wash your hand obsessivly, maintain two weeks of food and medicine.

I would add: have a stash of books or games to occupy your time. Get a ham radio license and buy a cheap handheld - cell phones have no guarantee of continued operation.

Floored

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We only got one room done today - took our time getting started. This is the music room. It still needs work - a couple of touch-ups on the paint and install the molding and trim but it is coming together really nice:

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The red wall is the creative wall - fire and passion. My keyboards and modular synth will be here. Other side of the room has a dark blue wall - that will be the computers and editing desk - cerebral and cool. The flooring is really nice - hand scraped and feels good under the feet.

The whole world is watching - again

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Democratic National Convention - from the New York Times:

Democratic Leaders Willing to Risk Party Damage to Stop Bernie Sanders
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Chuck Schumer, the minority leader, hear constant warnings from allies about congressional losses in November if the party nominates Bernie Sanders for president. Democratic House members share their Sanders fears on text-messaging chains. Bill Clinton, in calls with old friends, vents about the party getting wiped out in the general election.

And officials in the national and state parties are increasingly anxious about splintered primaries on Super Tuesday and beyond, where the liberal Mr. Sanders edges out moderate candidates who collectively win more votes.

Dozens of interviews with Democratic establishment leaders this week show that they are not just worried about Mr. Sanders’s candidacy, but are also willing to risk intraparty damage to stop his nomination at the national convention in July if they get the chance. Since Mr. Sanders’s victory in Nevada’s caucuses on Saturday, The Times has interviewed 93 party officials — all of them superdelegates, who could have a say on the nominee at the convention — and found overwhelming opposition to handing the Vermont senator the nomination if he arrived with the most delegates but fell short of a majority.

The whole world is watching? The rallying cry of the riots at the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. The rioting was at night and the cops beating up the protestors did not realize that the news reporters had next-generation video cameras that could see in very low light levels. Their brutality was broadcast world-wide.

Busy day today

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L is coming over and we will be installing the flooring in the bedroom and music room. FInal stage of remodeling those two rooms - got the rest of the house to go. Bathroom next.

Have some fun this afternoon - a welding project. She has been interested in learning to weld and blacksmith.

Found on the web - Bloomberg's debate

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Says it all:

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No more sucking up to the govenment teat. From FOX News:

Court hands Trump win in sanctuary city fight, says administration can deny grant money
A federal appeals court on Wednesday handed a major win to the Trump administration in its fight against “sanctuary” jurisdictions, ruling that it can deny grant money to states that refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York overturned a lower court ruling that stopped the administration’s 2017 move to withhold grant money from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program, which dispenses over $250 million a year to state and local criminal justice efforts.

“Today’s decision rightfully recognizes the lawful authority of the Attorney General to ensure that Department of Justice grant recipients are not at the same time thwarting federal law enforcement priorities,” a DOJ spokesman said in a statement. “The grant conditions here require states and cities that receive DOJ grants to share information about criminals in custody. The federal government uses this information to enforce national immigration laws--policies supported by successive Democrat and Republican administrations.”

“All Americans will benefit from increased public safety as this Administration is able to implement its lawful immigration and public safety policies,” the statement said.

Good - hit them where it hurts. The subsidies. I have zero problem with immigration but it needs to be legal and the immigrants need to assimilate into our society - not the other way around. Time for everyone to stop virtue signalling and grow up.

Well crap - RIP Clive Cussler

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Got an email that he passed away this Monday. One of my favorite writers - nothing profound but you knew that when you started one of his novels, you were in for a good couple hours of solid entertainment. Good character development and enough widgets to make Q drool.

The thing that I really liked is that he had a fictional agency: NUMA - National Underwater and Marine Agency and with the profits of his books, he funded it and did really good marine archeology. The Civil War submarine Hunley that was discovered off the coast of Virginia in 1995? It was Clive Cussler's team that discovered it, raised it in 2000 and provided funds for its preservation and curation and built the museum that houses it today. All out of the public eye. No publicity.

NUMA has been doing other exceptional work - here is their website: National Underwater and Marine Agency

The New York Times has an obituary:

Clive Cussler, Best-Selling Author and Adventurer, Is Dead at 88
Clive Cussler, the author and maritime adventurer who captivated millions with his best-selling tales of suspense and who, between books, led scores of expeditions to find historic shipwrecks and lost treasures in the ocean depths, died on Monday at his home in Scottsdale, Ariz. He was 88.

His death was confirmed by a spokeswoman for his publisher, Penguin Random House. No specific cause was given.

Mayan jungles, undersea kingdoms, ghost ships, evil forces out to destroy the world, beautiful women, heroes modeled on himself — Mr. Cussler’s vivid literary fantasies and his larger-than-life exploits swirled together for four decades, spinning off more than 85 books and locating almost as many shipwrecks.

A college dropout who once pumped gas and wrote advertising copy, Mr. Cussler resorted to a hoax to get his first book published. But his work — mostly action thrillers of the James Bond-Indiana Jones kind, plus nonfiction accounts of his marine quests and a few children’s books — made him a global celebrity.

Eighty-five books? Thank you Mr. Cussler - you kept me entertained for many wonderful years. Rest in peace.

If I had any single-malt in the house, I would raise a toast.

Dinner - that is it

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Sitting down to dinner in a few minutes - half a baked potato, some barley/corn soup and a small salad.

More work to do tonight - L is coming over tomorrow and we start flooring. Date night Friday. We have both been busy so setting some time aside for ourselves.

Nothing catches my eye on the internet so that will be it for the evening.

Tucking up to the government trough

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The mayor of San Francisco is looking to get a handout from the FedGov to deal with the CoronaVirus problem.
Only problem, they have no cases of CoronaVirus. From The Hill:

San Francisco declares state of emergency over coronavirus
San Francisco Mayor London Breed (D) declared a state of emergency for the city on Tuesday amid concerns over the international coronavirus outbreak.

While no coronavirus cases have been confirmed in San Francisco, “the global picture is changing rapidly, and we need to step-up preparedness,” Breed said in a statement.

“We see the virus spreading in new parts of the world every day, and we are taking the necessary steps to protect San Franciscans from harm,” she added.

Hey Mayor? How many of your citizens are dying from disease caused by the unsanitary conditions? How many people are dying from the flu? How many people are being murdered by illegals? These are far greater problems that you need to address but you are simply kicking the can down the road. Disgusting.

What is truly sad is that when they do get a case, it will rip through that city like a bat out of Hell. There will be no stopping it. Although most of the deaths so far have been older people (60-80), I bet that there are a lot of compromised immune systems in SF, walking around being very proud that they can live out their lifestyle fantasies in such a liberal city. They will not know what hit them.

Now this could be interesting - medicine

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An interesting observation regarding common OTC heartburn medications. From United Press International:

Heartburn meds linked to drug-resistant bacteria
Common heartburn meds may foster the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut, a new research review suggests.

In an analysis of 12 past studies, researchers found that, overall, the evidence supports a link: People who use acid-suppressing medications -- particularly proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) -- are more likely than nonusers to harbor antibiotic-resistant bacteria in the gut.

The findings do not prove that PPIs -- which include popular brands such as Prilosec (omeprazole), Prevacid (lansoprazole) and Nexium (esomeprazole) -- are the cause, experts said.

But they are the latest to raise safety questions about the top-selling prescription and over-the-counter medicines.

We need to remember that this is a research review and not a full-fledged paper so this data is preliminary. Also, Correlation does not imply causation: "Correlation does not imply causation" is a phrase used in statistics to emphasize that a correlation between two variables does not imply that one causes the other."

But still...

Now this will be fun - a lawsuit

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From President Trump's Election Campaign:

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Jury Trial demanded so that means the Discovery Process and that will be a bitch for the New York Times. Full disclosure of what they knew and when they knew it is not in their interest - does not fit the narrative.

Full complaint can be found here: NYT Complaint

President Trump is sitting on a huge pile of things like this and will be metering them out over the next nine months until the election - this is going to be a very fun time...

It's the economy stupid was the rallying cry of Bill Clinton in his sucessful campaign against Bush, G.H.W. It was coined by James Carville.  I really wish Carville was a conservative, the guy is a brilliant strategist. The Prime Minister of Canada could learn some lessons from him. From this Editorial by Lorne Gunter at Canada's Toronto Sun:

Now that climate crusaders have ruined the economy, what's their solution?
Who’s going to invest in Canada now that the blockades continue and the Teck Frontier mine has been killed?

Are the environmental activists and unelected, unaccountable Indigenous blockaders going to make up the hundreds of billions in lost economic activity they have cost our economy?

Are the rich, lefty, American foundations that fund this activism going to cough up the missing cash?

What are the “green” politicians who warn of “climate emergencies” and insist Canada live up to its Paris accord emission commitments going to do to put to work the tens of thousands of Canadians who have lost or will lose their high-paying jobs in the energy sector?

And the nuts and bolts:

When investors here and in the rest of the world see how feebly Ottawa has handled the blockading of our economy by a few hundred rent-a-mob, fringe players, they are going to decide Canada is not the place to risk their new auto assembly line, grain mill, distribution centre or yogurt plant.

The loss of Teck Resource’s Frontier oilsands project means a loss of 7,000 construction jobs (1,000 outside Alberta) and 2,500 operational jobs (about 600 in other provinces) for the mine’s 40-year lifespan.

Teck Frontier would have meant an additional $12 billion a year of GDP for Canada and upwards of $70 billion in revenues to three levels of government over the next four decades.

“Green” protestors who also demand more money for public education and health care need to ask themselves where are governments going to come up with the $70 billion in government revenues their eco-activism has cost from this one lost project alone?

Much more at the site - time to wake up from your dream people...

And up for the day

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Shower, breakfast and ready to roll. Heading out for coffee and a couple of errands and then back home to work on the garage and the house.

L is coming over to help with the flooring tomorrow - we will also be working on a welding project so that will be a lot of fun.

And that is it for me

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Still feeling the dregs of whatever this crud was - tired. Heading to bed in about an hour.

Nothing caught my eye on the interwebs. Tonights Democrat debate sounds like it was a bunch of 6-year-olds in a school playground. Thank God that we have an adult in the room with President Trump. You may not like him personally but he is doing wonderful things to get this nation back on its feet again. I shudder when I think of what another Clinton presidency would have done for us.

The Coronavirus scare story

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An interesting connection - from The Last Refuge:

Odd Coincidence – Rogue CDC Official Pushing Coronavirus Panic Button is Rod Rosenstein’s Sister…
Earlier today Dr. Nancy Messonnier, an official in the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), held a conference call with media and pushed a panic narrative around the Coronvirus that ran counter to the Trump administration.

What makes the statements by Dr. Messonnier even more interesting is the fact she is the only sister of former DOJ Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein.

Dr. Messonnier, director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (link) told reporters on the call:

“We are asking the American public to work with us to prepare for the expectation that this could be bad.” … “I understand this whole situation may seem overwhelming and that disruption to everyday life may be severe. But these are things that people need to start thinking about now.” (link)

The alarming message from Dr. Messonnier was quickly picked up by most major news organizations and pushed into all reporting on the issue.  The tone of the alarm is also counter to the message of the Trump administration and HHS Secretary Alex Azar, as outlined in a press conference with leadership from U.S. Health and Human Services.

This is very interesting. I ran into a source that was reporting this and went to the CDC website to follow up but did not see anything there. You would think that such a hyperbolic press release would have a followup on their site but nothing.

Now, I find this.
For some background on Rosenstein, here is an excerpt from his entry at InfoGalactic (talking about May of 2017):

Later that month, Rosenstein appointed special counsel Robert Mueller to investigate ties between the Trump campaign and Russia during the 2016 election.

Is this just sour grapes that Rosenstein hired the moke who spent a couple years and over $30 million US taxpayer dollars for a big fat nothingburger? He failed to bring down President Trump so now his sister is going to make the USA look bad. Unreal the bubble some people live in...

Needless to say, much more at the site.

A clever hack if you are not mobbed and beaten to a pulp first:

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From RACONTEUR REPORT

Free images from America's Attic

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The Smithsonian Institution has been called America's Attic as it has an incredible collection of everything.

They just put a bunch of images online - how many? About 2,800,000.

Check out Smithsonian Open Access

Welcome to Smithsonian Open Access, where you can download, share, and reuse millions of the Smithsonian’s images—right now, without asking. With new platforms and tools, you have easier access to nearly 3 million 2D and 3D digital items from our collections—with many more to come. This includes images and data from across the Smithsonian’s 19 museums, nine research centers, libraries, archives, and the National Zoo.

Quite the collection - could spend some serious time going through...

We have wood

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6' by just under 4' by 4'

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Opened two boxes at random and it looks good - the house will look really nice when it is installed.
Fits the "beach house" style perfectly.

Bernie's campaign contributions

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Shocking I tell you. From America's Newspaper of Record - The Babylon Bee:

Bernie Sanders Disappointed To Learn Millions In Campaign Donations Were All In Venezuelan Currency
On Wednesday the Bernie Sanders campaign was disappointed to learn that the nearly $6 million in campaign contributions was donated in Bolivars---Venezuelan currency. When converted to US dollars, the Sanders campaign actually raised only $22.

The press marveled at how, in just 24 hours after Bernie announced his 2020 bid for president, his contributions reached such high totals. “The Bernie Bros are definitely the most passionate bunch in the progressive party,” said political analyst Doug Parson, “but typically they take other people's money, not voluntarily donating their own."

“It was quite the letdown,” said Sanders’ campaign manager Faiz Shakir. “That country hasn’t been doing us a lot of favors lately, but this takes the cake. Technically, we just spent our entire war chest on this morning’s parking,” he fumed.

Saw that one coming from a mile away...

Some pesky numbers - Cuban literacy

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In the news because of Breadline Bernie's love for this failed state. Here is a blast from the past when Obama was praising Cuban literacy in 2016 - from CNS News:

Obama Parrots Discredited Myths About Cuban Education and Health Care
In Cuba last week, President Obama offered glowing praise to institutions in that communist country that did not deserve it. Obama called Cuba’s “system of education” an “extraordinary resource” that “values every boy and every girl.”

But there’s nothing “extraordinary” about the Cuban educational system. Children are taught by poorly-paid teachers in dilapidated schools. Cuba has made less educational progress than most Latin American countries over the last 60 years.  According to UNESCO, Cuba had about the same literacy rate as Costa Rica and Chile in 1950 (close to 80%). And it has almost the same literacy rate as they do today (close to 100%).  Meanwhile, Latin American countries that were largely illiterate in 1950 — like Peru, Brazil, El Salvador, and the Dominican Republic — are largely literate today, closing much of the gap with Cuba. El Salvador had a less than 40% literacy rate in 1950, but has an 88% literacy rate today. Brazil and Peru had a less than 50% literacy rate in 1950, but today, Peru has a 94.5% literacy rate, and Brazil a 92.6% literacy rate.  The Dominican Republic’s rate rose from a little over 40% to 91.8%. While Cuba made substantial progress in reducing illiteracy in Castro’s first years in power, its educational system has stagnated since, even as much of Latin America improved. Educational attainment is particularly lackluster among Afro-Cubans, judging from a recent New York Times story.

Obama also promoted the myth that Cuban health care is excellent, saying that the “United States recognizes progress that Cuba has made as a nation, its enormous achievements in education and in health care.”

In reality, Cuba has made less progress in healthcare and life expectancy than most of Latin America in recent years, due to its decrepit health care system. “Hospitals in the island’s capital are literally falling apart.” Sometimes, patients “have to bring everything with them, because the hospital provides nothing. Pillows, sheets, medicine: everything.”

Cuba lost the big edge in life expectancy it once enjoyed over other Latin American countries, as a result of communism. It led virtually all countries in Latin America in life expectancy in 1959, before a communist regime took power in Cuba. But by 2012, Chileans and Costa Ricans lived slightly longer than Cubans. Back in 1960, Chileans had a life span seven years shorter than Cubans, and Costa Ricans lived more than 2 years less than Cubans on average. In 1960, Mexicans lived seven years shorter than Cubans; by 2012, the gap had shrunk to just two years.

Hey you! Pipe down! Those numbers are interfering with our narrative.

Another example of socialism/communism as a failed form of government. Has never worked. Will never work. Just like Bernie and all the other socialists. Not a successful businessman or entrepreneur in the whole lot of them.

Heh - bumper stickers

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Seen on the web:

20200225-handicap.jpg

Nothing happening out there

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Shower and up for the day - quick surf and nothing catches my eye.

Time to set up the sump pump. Ran it for a little bit last night as a proof of concept but need to do a proper drainage for it. Joys of home ownership...

And up and at 'em

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Become quite the morning person in the last 5-6 months.

Meeting up with L later this morning to pick up 1.5 tons of hickory flooring for the house. Now the fun begins... Doing the bedroom, music room, hallway and living room for now. Still need to drywall and paint the rest of the house plus some engineering and drainage issues to fix first but the flooring will be sitting here acclimating. Later this summer.

Gorgeous morning - lots of stars out earlier.

Enough slacking. Still have some muscle aches but the congestion is gone so calling myself well again.

L is coming over tomorrow morning for breakfast and then we head up north to pick up two pallets of flooring (3,000 pounds). Getting it for all of the house so the colors will match and it will have time to acclimate to the local temperature and humidity before we install it. Should look really good - a pre-finished natural hickory.

Ran a few errands this evening - picked up another sump pump as I found standing water under the house. Not uncommon with all the rainfall we have been having. I have been in the crawl space several times and only once was there damp ground, all other times have been dry. The recent rains were above average so will need to pump that out. Dealing with general drainage issues this summer so that will fix it.

Skynet told me to post this:

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Great infographic from The Blog:

20200224-venezuela.jpg

And this is what Breadline Bernie is trying to implement in the USA. Just no.

Do not hold your breath - from Megan Fox at PJ Media:

Trump Inspires Former Prisoners: 'You Are Made by God for a Great and Noble Purpose'
President Trump spoke at an unusual graduation ceremony on Thursday and inspired the class of graduates, all former prisoners. HOPE for Prisoners assists formerly incarcerated people with reentry into society by providing long-term support and services. Founder Jon Ponder experienced significant challenges on his release from prison and noted the lack of resources for others in his situation. He started HOPE for Prisoners to help others.

Trump has often expressed his support for criminal justice reform, signing into law several acts that reduced sentencing, shortened jail terms, and stopped the chaining of women in prison as they give birth. His appearance at the HOPE for Prisoners graduation affirms his commitment to second chances and investing in people who have been incarcerated as worthwhile members of our community.

Sometimes people are just in bad situations or they make stupid mistakes. They pay the penalty and turn their lives around. Glad to see that our President is recognizing this and supporting the ones who take this path.

A very uplifting message about our President so of course, the mainstream media is ignoring it. Doesn't fit the narrative.

You choose - I'm going with Naomi

More at The Washington Post:

The anti-Greta: A conservative think tank takes on the global phenomenon
For climate skeptics, it’s hard to compete with the youthful appeal of global phenomenon Greta Thunberg. But one U.S. think tank hopes it’s found an answer: the anti-Greta.

Naomi Seibt is a 19-year-old German who, like Greta, is blond, eloquent and European. But Naomi denounces “climate alarmism,” calls climate consciousness “a despicably anti-human ideology,” and has even deployed Greta’s now famous “How dare you?” line to take on the mainstream German media.

Classical Newtonian mechanics at work in public discourse - for every action, there will be an equal and opposite reaction.

A breath of fresh air. Greta has well-documented mental issues. She does not speak for me. She is a tool for the one-world globalists and when she realizes this, it will crush her. I really feel bad that she is being used like this.

And to work

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Feeling a bit better - working in the garage today. Setting up the welder - got a couple projects.

L is very interested in learning how to weld so win/win.

Bite to eat first...

And meanwhile, another Trump rally

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In India this time - the venue seats 110,000 people and it was full. From FOX News:

Trump, Melania visit famed Taj Mahal after joining Modi for massive India rally
President Trump and first lady Melania visited the Taj Mahal Monday, hours after the U.S. leader gave a rousing speech to more than 110,000 at a cricket stadium in Ahmedabad, India.

One of our best allies in the world and soon to have the largest middle-class population in the world. Capitalism is lifting them out of grinding poverty - not a large government.

Seems like murder is now an official state tool of the Democrat party and not just the Clintons.
Some headlines about the latest example - whistleblower Philip Haney:

And, now the gloves come off - from Axios:

Exclusive: Trump's "Deep State" hit list
The Trump White House and its allies, over the past 18 months, assembled detailed lists of disloyal government officials to oust — and trusted pro-Trump people to replace them — according to more than a dozen sources familiar with the effort who spoke to Axios.

Much more at the site - very good news.

Heh - eCigs not so bad after all

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From the wonderful website Retraction Watch:

Journal retracts hotly contested paper on vaping and heart attacks
The Journal of the American Heart Association (JAHA) today retracted a paper it published last year claiming that vaping was linked to heart attacks.

The paper, by Dharma Bhatta and Stanton Glantz of the University of California, San Francisco, has faced a barrage of criticism since its publication last June — and Glantz’s claims, in a blog post, that the study was “More evidence that e-cigs cause heart attacks.”

It is still a foul habit but not the health-threat that some nannies were making it out to be. Lots more at the site - looks like some pretty poor science. They went in with an agenda and cherry picked their data to fit it. Bad Science!

These are nothing new - the idiots today think they invented it. From the London Daily Mail:

Fossils discovered in the Sahara reveal catfish and tilapia swam in rivers 12,000 years ago but died off from over fishing and climate changes

    • Experts found 17,551 identifiable fossilized remains in the Sahara near Lybia
    • Approximately 80 percent of the fossils belonged to catfish and tilapia fish
    • The remains had cut and burn marks on them, suggesting they fed early humans
    • The catfish survived longer than tilapia due to their accessory breathing organs

The Saharan environment in southwest Libya is a sandy, dry world, but fossil records show it was flowing with water and life some 12,000 years ago.

Paleontologists uncovered 17,551 identifiable remains on the Tadrart Acacus Mountains, with 80 percent belonging to fish that fed early humans during the Holocene period.

The remains show there was once an abundance of catfish and tilapia in the area, which died off from over fishing – the bones had cut marks and traces of burning.

Much more at the site. Our star is variable and we are only just beginning to understand the effects it has on our climate. The Modern Warm Period is winding to a close and everything points to a very quiet sun and colder weather here on Earth.

Crime does not pay

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Should have gotten a safety deposit box or something - from C|Net News:

Drug dealer loses $58M in bitcoin after landlord accidentally throws codes out
Between 2011 and 2012, Clifton Collins bought 6,000 bitcoin using money he earned from growing and selling marijuana, reports The Irish Times. At the time, the cryptocurrency's price varied between $4 and $6. Today it stands at over $9,700. But Collins, who is 49, isn't enjoying any euphoria for the windfall -- because his landlord threw out his bitcoin codes.

The Irish Times reports that Collins was arrested in 2017 for growing and selling marijuana and was subsequently hit with a five-year prison sentence. Following this, his landlord sent many of Collins' possessions to a local dump during the process of clearing out Collins' room. One such item was a fishing rod case, which housed a piece of paper with €53.6 million ($58 million) in bitcoin codes printed onto it.

Whoopsie - the article goes on to mention several other large cryptocurrency losses because of stupid circumstances.

Only backup the stuff that you want to keep. Simple as that...

Feeling better but

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Still laying low today - working at home. Bills, emails and a couple of phone calls.

And that is it for tonight

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Still feel a bit off the bubble - not seriously ill but muscle aches, scratchy throat and congestion. Put a lot of chipotle pepper in my dinner tonight (corn and barley stew) so got the ole' sinus cavities reamed out but still feeling the body aches and general malaise.

Time to run the dishwasher, clean up the kitchen, brew a pot of tea and then watch a couple YouTube videos.

L was on another island all day today with her client running some errands and visiting a friend. See how I feel tomorrow - do not want to pass it on to her client (tender medical condition).

President Obama's Legacy

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Is trickling away into dust. From Biz Pac Review:

Blago drops some dirt about Obama on Watters’ World, teases more to come
During convicted former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s first post-release Fox News interview this Saturday on “Watters World,” he dished out a couple of notable bombshells about former President Barack Hussein Obama.

First, the just-released former Englewood Federal Correctional Institution inmate excoriated Obama for lacking the “testicular virility necessary to do the right thing” and commute his sentence as President Donald Trump has done.

Second, he indicated that Obama — the same man who let him rot in prison for a “horse-trading deal” gone bad — had played a role in the very deal that had cost him eight years of his life.

Specifically:

“President Obama began the whole conversation because he sent someone to me as a middleman, a mediator — not unusual in politics — on the night he was elected president to say that he’d like to talk about his choice for the Senate and to see what I might be willing to ask for,” Blagojevich replied.

“[It was] political horse-trading, not what those corrupt prosecutors said it was.”

He added that the mediator was Tom Balanoff, “a big union leader” who the records show spoke at the 2008 Democrat National Convention on behalf of Obama.

Just Chicago business as usual with Obama right in the middle of all the corruption and law-breaking. Not surprised given his history and who launched his career in politics.

President Trump was very smart to release him now - Blago knows where the bodies are buried and he is more amenable to dealing with President Trump than with any of his old Chicago cronies. At least Trump keeps his promises and does not screw people over.

Closer to home - Kung Flu

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From the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company):

B.C.'s 6th presumptive COVID-19 case flew from Montreal to Vancouver on Feb. 14
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control says the province's 6th presumptive case of COVID-19, a woman in her 30s, flew on an Air Canada flight from Montreal to Vancouver on Valentine's Day, eight days before she tested positive.

Officials say they have contacted those sitting close to her on the plane and flight staff as a precautionary measure.

We did have a case on January 22nd just 30 miles due South of here but this person flew in from China and was isolated quickly. This one was a passanger flying between two Canadian cities - no telling how many other people might have been infected. Vancouver BC is not that far North of us...

A great forecast of the next month or two - from Breitbart:

Dick Morris: Hillary Clinton Will Get the Nomination in a Brokered Convention
Former Bill Clinton adviser Dick Morris predicted on 970 AM New York City’s “The Cats Roundtable” that failed 2016 candidate Hillary Clinton can take the Democratic nomination at a brokered convention.

Morris said, “I think that what is going to happen here is when they get into Super Tuesday next week, you’re going to see Sanders getting about 40% of the vote.”

He continued, “Then Bloomberg, who has no chance to win now – because he got clobbered in the debate and completely blew it – is staying in the race, is going to continue to spend money. His goal now, I think, is to get roughly 15% of the vote, so Bernie is under 50.”

He added, “They will go to the convention, the other candidates won’t get out. Nobody will be nominated on the first ballot, and they will go to a second ballot.”

On the results of a brokered convention, Morris said, “I think that when you put it together they will go to a second ballot and then I think Hillary could enter the race. The superdelegates will all leave whoever they are for and vote for Hillary.”

If Sanders does not win an “outright majority,” Morris said, “I think Hillary will be the nominee because she can win with the superdelegates and ultimately put together the majority.”

And she will still lose. They have nothing to offer and we have seen what four years of having an adult in charge can do.
Peace, prosperity and leadership. If the Democrats were smart, they would just lie low for the remainder of Trump's term and then regroup and come back with someone who is more aligned with the wishes of the American people and not some failed hack who thinks the world owes her the presidency just because it is her turn.

Entitlement is a very ugly thing to see in a human being. One of the most toxic of character flaws.

Willis Eschenbach nails it with this essay:

The Unsocial Reality Of Socialism
A lovely but unfortunately uber-liberal friend of mine shared this graphic on Facebook. It revealed such a profound and frightening misunderstanding of socialism that I felt I had to unravel it a bit.

20200223-socialism.jpg

First, what is “socialism”? Well, it’s not any of the things listed in the graphic. Not one. In fact, it has nothing to do with any of those things. Socialism is an economic system where the government owns the means of production of wealth. Here’s the Merriam-Webster dictionary definition:

Definition of socialism. 1 : any of various economic and political theories advocating collective or governmental ownership and administration of the means of production and distribution of goods.

And here’s a definition from Paul Samuelson, the winner of the first Nobel Prize for economics:

Socialism refers to the government ownership of the means of production, planning by the government and income distribution”.

Simply put, socialism is where the government owns the farms, the fishing boats, and the factories, and decides who gets the wealth thus produced.

Now, do you see anything in there about healthcare? Nope. Social security? Nope. Affordable college? Nope.

Why not?

Because those are all services, not the means of production of wealth. Let me make a small digression here.

A bit long (most thorough explanations are) but well written and really covers what socialism is and why it fails whenever it is tried. Willis is a national treasure.

Brilliant

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From Charlie Berens - he did one for IKEA too. Good stuff...

Sometimes, things are just a coincidence

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And sometimes, they are not.

Wuhan, China is where the coronavirus originated starting in December of 2019. From InfoGalactic:

Timeline of the 2019–20 Wuhan coronavirus outbreak
This article documents the chronology and epidemiology of the Novel coronavirus responsible for the 2019–20 outbreak in Wuhan, China, and may not include all contemporary major responses and measures. Furthermore some developments may become known or fully understood only in retrospect.

On 8 December 2019, the first patient was recorded by Chinese authorities to start showing symptoms. A later Chinese report finds an earlier case on 1 December, pointing to an even earlier origin. Apart from this early case, between December 8 and December 18 seven cases are documented, two of them are linked with the Huanan Seafood Wholesale Market of Wuhan, five are not.

Also from InfoGalactic:

Military World Games
The Military World Games is a multi-sport event for military sportspeople, organized by the International Military Sports Council (CISM). The Games have been held since 1995, although championships for separate sports had been held for some years.

And from the website for this organization (CISM):

The 7th CISM World Games 2019 are launched
The 7th CISM World Games – the 7th PEACE GAMES – will be held in Wuhan City from 15 to 30 October 2019 with 23 CISM Disciplines and one Demonstration sport, Tennis! CISM is also very pleased to confirm jointly with the Organizing Committee that at least Track and Field and Archery will be organized for para athletes. For the first time in the CISM World Games history, Boxing competitions will be opened to female military boxers!

And the attendance:

All participants were blessed to be the guests of honor of a ceremony marking the commencement of the construction of the athletes’ village in Wuhan. That village will be ready to accommodate 12.000 athletes and officials as well as organizing staff in 2019. It is designed in a spirit of eco-sustainability and conviviality for all participants.

Emphasis mine - talk about dodging the bullet. We could have had key military people from all over the world exposed to this debilitating virus and then they would return to their homes. Of course, there would be celebrations and banquets for the returning participants - chance to spread the airborne virus even further especially since it can be contagious for 14 days before the symptoms manifest (and there are reports of 21 days).

If China were looking at wiping out the worlds military strength, I could not think of a better way to do it.

Trailer - due to be released in September:

Used to vacation with my parents in Colorado in the 1960's and there was always weird stuff flying in the air then - things with lights making impossible accelerations, 90° turns, the like. Silent. My Dad always said they were Air Force experimental craft but was never sure of his explanation.

The movie's website is here: The Phenomenon - must see.

No radio fun today

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Got my coffee but nothing came in the mail. Oh well - the house needs cleaning and there is an internet out there that needs surfing. Turning into a nice day too.

From Gerard:

20200223-chinese.jpg

Aaaand it's coffee time

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I feel under the weather but some things simply do not change. Heading out for coffee. Expecting a package at the mailbox - some radio equipment.

Been getting into Digital Mobile Radio - it is an outgrowth of commercial two-way radio and is being adopted by the amateur radio community. You need a lot less power to broadcast, it takes up a lot less space in the band and is overall, a very good thing. It plays nice with the internet too so you can communicate via a hand-held rig to an internet connected repeater and come out the rabbit hole to someone on the other side of the world. All with a $130 radio. PFM*

*Pure Fscking Magic

Our President tweets - Bernie

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Two classic trolls from someone who is a twitter God:

And this:

Wince!

Sigh - coming down with something

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Feel like crap this morning - was feeling stiff yesterday but attributed it to stacking the firewood. Woke up with a sore throat and congestion so it was not that.

Take some elderberry tincture and go back to sleep for an hour or so. L and her client are visiting some people on another island today so I will be laying low here. House needs cleaning anyway.

This really makes it clear

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The difference between the two parties. I got my Primary Ballot in the mail - here is a photo (minus the personal bits):

20200222-primary.jpgI know that some of the names on the left are no longer in the running but still...

The left column screams confusion, unfocused thinking and zero message. The right column speaks Job Well Done.
The left has no coherence. They do not speak to us Normals. They pander. They lie. They are only interested in increasing their power in the deep state while failing to realize that the deep state is going away. I almost pity the Democrat representatives in the House - they are going to get trounced this year.
Almost pity them...

Still here - circus

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The circus was a lot of fun - acrobats, jugglers, Oh My! Small troupe - five performers - but very talented. Show was only one hour - another 30 minutes would have been nice but we had fun.

Also had some cake as today would have been my Mom's 99th birthday. Honored her memory. She was a force of nature and the good Lord knows that I was not an easy child to raise. Surprised I am still alive.

L and her client are traveling to another island tomorrow to visit some people. I will be working on the garage. The fun never stops.

And no, we did not run away with the circus - they were just driving back up to Bellingham and we have already been there. No fun...

The Clinton family is notorious for the suspicious deaths of people (J. Epstein) who might damage their hold on power. There is a website that details the various suicides (multiple gunshots to the back of the head ruled a suicide by the friendly coroner) Check out Arkancide.

Looks like they were busy last Friday - two headlines - click for the stories:

The guy was getting married later this year so not a candidate for suicide. From the second article:

The author of See Something, Say Nothing was preparing to go back on the road in advance of the upcoming election.

And: he was well informed:

In 2016, Haney published a book, “See Something, Say Nothing,” that outlined the Obama administration’s attempts to block him from investigating Islamic radicalism because his investigations were inherently racist toward the Muslim community.

Speaking with then-Fox News host Megyn Kelly in late 2015, Haney explained that about a year into an investigation that had led his team to one of the mosques that San Bernardino shooter Syed Farook had attended, officials from the State Department and the Homeland Security Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties showed up at his office to pull the plug.

The remarks were made only days after Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, committed a terror attack in San Bernardino that left 14 innocent victims dead.

According to Haney, the attack may have been prevented had he been allowed to continue his investigation.

He was inconvenient and probably had something on Bernie or was looking at contributing to the ongoing investigation of the deep state. We need to drain the swamp.

Productive day - garage

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Got a bunch of good work done. Had a nice chat with L's son this morning - he is working with a group of people to open a restaurant and we talked about basic food-service and business stuff.

Winding down here - got a circus to go to later this afternoon - going early to stake out some seats. L's client will probably be coming along which will be fun - good people. Quick surf and then done with work for the day...

Not good for Boeing - more 737MAX woes

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From local newspaper The Everett Herald:

Boeing finds debris in wing fuel tanks of several 737 Maxs
In the latest of a string of quality control issues, Boeing discovered debris that mechanics left inside the wing fuel tanks of several undelivered 737 Maxs during the aircraft assembly process.

Boeing has ordered inspections of all the undelivered Maxs, about 400 of which are stored at various locations.

Regarding the additional 385 Maxs that were delivered to customers but have been grounded for almost a year and are parked at airfields around the world, company spokesman Bernard Choi said Boeing is recommending inspections for those airplanes that have been in storage for more than a year. “It’s still undecided if we will inspect the rest” of the delivered Max fleet, he added. “Obviously, we’ll do what’s right for safety.”

Not good. This stems from a defective corporate culture. The workers need to take pride in their work. A good corporate culture has to come from the top and percolate down through the corporation. It is not something that can be mandated by middle-management. Boeing needs to get their mojo back again.

Slow morning

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Stiff from stacking the firewood yesterday - glad it is done but I am paying the price this morning.

Heading out for coffee and working on the garage today. Meeting up with L in two hours.

Don Surber takes a look at corruption in Democrat-run cities. A two-fer:

ITEM 1: Break the Matrix reported, "Baltimore mayoral candidate Richard Vaughn’s criminal history includes felony theft, carjacking, and harassment charges.Baltimore, MD – Over half of the 32 candidates vying to become Baltimore’s next mayor in April have criminal charges on their records.

"The candidates’ startling backgrounds came to light just days before former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh is due to be sentenced in federal court for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and tax evasion, WBFF reported.

ITEM 2: Chicago says, not so fast, you Baltimorons.

Hannah Alani and Heather Cherone reported, "Chicago remains America’s most corrupt city, and Illinois the third-most corrupt state, according to a new report from the University of Illinois at Chicago. The report, co-authored by UIC professor and former Alderman Dick Simpson, is based on an analysis of the public corruption statistics published by the U.S. Department of Justice."

They get what they paid for - unfortunately, these cities are third-world shitholes for the poor citizens trapped inside. The politicians are feeding at the trough and not doing their job and taking care of their constituents.

And home for the night

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Headed North to pick up a few items from Harbor Fraught - had Thai food for dinner.

Sleeping in tomorrow - the earliest event on my schedule is meeting L for coffee at noon - we are then going to a circus performance at one of the state parks at 4:30.

Surf for a bit, have a pot of tea and then sleep.

Running some errands

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Heading out to the storage unit and to check the mailbox. L fixed some polenta with mushrooms and fresh rosemary for lunch today and having that for dinner as well with a salad. Sleep in tomorrow.

An interesting development - the Taliban

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A lot of times, someone starts out as a common street thug, gains some public notice and notoriety and they then become financially secure. When this happens, they become civilized and integrate into society. Look at most of your popular rappers - 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg or Jay Z to name just a few. They started out on the streets but are now multi-millionaires and as for integrating into society, they put out Christmas albums and Children's albums. Quite the shift from their roots.

Same thing seems to be happening in the Middle East with the Taliban. From the United States Department of State:

Next Steps Toward a U.S. Agreement with the Taliban
The United States and the Taliban have been engaged in extensive talks to facilitate a political settlement to end the war in Afghanistan, reduce United States and Allied Forces presence, and ensure that no terrorist group ever uses Afghan soil to threaten the United States or our allies.

In recent weeks, in consultation with the Government of National Unity, U.S. negotiators in Doha have come to an understanding with the Taliban on a significant and nationwide reduction in violence across Afghanistan. Upon a successful implementation of this understanding, signing of the U.S.-Taliban agreement is expected to move forward. We are preparing for the signing to take place on February 29. Intra-Afghan negotiations will start soon thereafter, and will build on this fundamental step to deliver a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire and the future political roadmap for Afghanistan. The only way to achieve a sustainable peace in Afghanistan is for Afghans to come together and agree on the way forward.

Challenges remain, but the progress made in Doha provides hope and represents a real opportunity. The United States calls on all Afghans to seize this moment.

The United States thanks the State of Qatar and all other allies and partners for their support of peace in Afghanistan.

This is a major seismic shift. The Taliban have arisen as the top dog in Afghanistan and we have gone to them and said essentially, rule Afghanistan peacefully and we will have your back. Allow for terrorism and we will wipe you off the face of this planet. Looks like the Taliban has matured and is amenable to this wisdom. Great news.

I was a bit too young to travel over there during the golden years of the 1960's - it was a hippie paradise back then. Maybe they will be open to tourism in a few years - gorgeous country from what I have seen.

And done - stacking firewood

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Went really fast with two people working and once again, the company out-did themselves and sold me more than a full cord of wood. Very happy customer. If you are in the area, Forest Land Services in Stanwood, WA is an excellent company to do business with. Photos:

20200221-fire01.jpg

A cord of firewood is a volumetric measurement of 4' by 4' by 8' or 128 cubic feet.
A rick is 1/3rd of a cord or 16" * 4' * 8' - each of these stands holds one rick.
Here are the first two that we stacked today:

20200221-fire02.jpg

Here is the third - the stand on the right is older firewood. Use that to start a fire and then the new stuff will catch. It is about 90% birch wood and is perfect for long-lasting heat. A bit more expensive but not that much - under $400 delivered for the full cord. I got their "mixed hardwood" last year and it was OK but this is much better and only about $100 more. You are getting three times the heat out of it so the value is obvious.

20200221-fire03.jpg

This was L's first time stacking firewood - she is a natural. The sign of a good rick of wood is if a squirrell has to go around the woodpile instead of through. This one is nice and tight.

20200221-fire04.jpg

Here is what was left over after the full cord - Grace was inspecting this. Bear was feeling a bit camera shy when I took the photo.

All in all, a great and productive day. Last year, it took me three days to get the stuff stacked - amazing what a second pair of hands (and a sweet voice of encouragement) can accomplish.

Out for a bit - coffee

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Check the mailbox and stopping at the library. Getting the firewood delivered this morning and we will be stacking it over the next few days. Warms you twice as they say in New England.

More spew later this afternoon...

From FOX News:

Republican revenge: Record GOP field forms, on 2020 mission to take down ‘socialists’
A record number of candidates have filed to run for office in the House and Senate, breaking last cycle’s history-making numbers from the same point in time. But unlike the 2018 midterms when the surge was driven by Democrats, the congressional boom this time is on the Republican side, according to the latest federal candidate and financial activity report obtained exclusively by Fox News.

In 2019 alone, 781 Republicans filed federal paperwork to run for the House, the most ever recorded in an odd year at the Federal Election Commission. That’s up from 593 GOP candidates in 2017, when Democrats had an astounding 937 candidates at the same point.

Republican candidates across the country interviewed by Fox News said they feel momentum is on their side this time. Energized by President Trump and his impeachment acquittal, congressional hopefuls are making the case that Trump needs a fighter like them in the House or else the country will succumb to “socialist” Democratic plans.

That would be a wonderful comeuppance for the Dems. Look - we tried it your way for four years. Time to get back to work. Move over and let the adults do their jobs now.

Looks like these two nations see the hype behind the climate change scare and see it for what it is. Political and not scientific. From Watts Up With That comes this essay with some inconvenient numbers:

China and India rejecting renewables for coal-fired futures
China and India are NOT buying into the global alarm movement. Never in human history have we seen two countries (China and India), each with over a billion people, in need of such gargantuan amounts of energy to keep their economies accelerating and their citizens alive.

China and India are the two most populous countries in the world. As of 2018, China had almost 1.4 billion people, a figure that is projected to grow to 1.5 billion by 2045. India accounted for approximately 1.3 billion people in 2018 and is expected to grow to almost 1.7 billion by 2045.

Though China has spent more on clean energy than any other country and is pushing to burn natural gas (a different fossil fuel) instead of coal to counter smog, it’s still pumping money at home and abroad into coal-fired generation.

Bloomber reports that China has enough coal-fired power plants in the pipeline to match the entire capacity of the European Union, driving the expansion in global coal power and confounding the movement against the polluting fossil fuel.

Over half (5,884) of the world’s coal power plants (10,210) are in China and India whose populations of mostly poor peoples is roughly 2.7 billion. Together they are in the process of building 634 new ones. They are putting their money and backs into their most abundant source of energy – coal.

More at the site.

Makes a lot of sense - coal is cheap, abundant and we have about 500 years of known reserves at the current rate of consumption. We would be foolish not to use it - especially developing nations who do not have the financial resources to blow taxpayer money on pie-in-the-sky scams schemes for elusive magic unicorn energy. Coal in its native state is not a clean fuel but the scrubbing technology is mature and cheap to implement - even cheaper when integrating it into a new plant. You would be stupid not to use it.

And that is it for now

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Tired. YouTube. Bed.

Stack firewood tomorrow.

Pardon me...

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President Trump's son has some actual numbers to counter the Democrats protesting that President Trump is seriously abusing his pardon power - from his twitter account:

Kind of hard to argue with those numbers isn't it...

This is big - this is leadership

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President Trump hits it out of the ballpark - from FOX News:

Trump signs memorandum diverting more water to California farmers
President Trump on Wednesday signed a memorandum directing more of California’s scarce water supply to farmers and other agriculture interests in the state's Central Valley, a Republican stronghold.

Speaking alongside House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy in the lawmaker’s hometown of Bakersfield, Trump boasted of how his administration reworked environmental rules to assure more water gets to farmers, while also taking shots at his political rivals – from California Gov. Gavin Newsom to Democratic presidential primary hopeful and former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg.

“For too long water authorities have flushed millions of gallons into the Pacific,” Trump said. “I ordered the administration to update outdated opinions which determined water allocation in this state.”

Trump added that he is going “to put a lot of pressure” on Newsom to enact the changes and if the California governor doesn’t follow through then “you’ll get a new governor.”

Good - the heritage of the protected "delta smelt" is uncertain at best. No sense crippling California's agriculture just to appease the enviros.

Very good decision to make and good that he is putting serious pressure on the state to come to their senses.

Gorgeous evening tonight

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Clear skies and it got up into the 50's this afternoon. A tantalizing glimpse of summer.

Finishing dinner, surf for a bit and then up early tomorrow - got a cord of firewood being delivered tomorrow at 10AM. The circus is coming to town Saturday - we have talked about running away. See if they go someplace warm for a few months.

Traffic was actually not bad

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Heading South, we saw all the poor sods trying to get into Seattle on Northbound I-5 - that city is a lot more crowded than when I moved there 30 years ago. Big change and glad I am outta there. No longer the same city - or is it that I am no longer a city person. Both probably.

As the day begins

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Driving to Seattle this morning to visit IKEA and a couple other places. Heading out early with the vain hopes of avoiding the bulk of the rush-hour traffic on our way back. Hah!

Getting a cord of firewood (birch and maple mixed) delivered tomorrow morning so the next few days will be an aching blur but it will be really nice for next year.

And I got nothing

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Nothing catches my eye on the internet.

Early and long day tomorrow so brewing a pot of tea and going to sleep in an hour or so.

This morning was forecasting cloudy with 10% of precip for tomorrow. Now, it is sunny with 0% - I will take that.

Should be a nice drive South.

Excerpted from a post on a different topic from Don Surber:

The 3-year obsession with removing President Donald John Trump from office consumed and defeated Democrats. They should have worked with him. Obama should have been man enough to admit defeat, and given him a peaceful transition of power. This would have allowed the party to heal itself and prepare properly for 2020.

Instead, they resisted. All this did was get them all worked up and show how incompetent they are. They should have accepted defeat after the Mueller report, but no, they continued to try to bring down this president, which resulted in an impotent impeachment that wound up knocking out their best chance for winning in 2020, Joe Biden.

They could have come from behind with a strong candidate, with a strong message and with a four year track record of work in Congress but no - they squandered it all with their Trump Derangement Syndrome and proved that they need to sit at the kid's table for four more years.

Don's original post is good too - go and read: Impeachment was good for the USA

A relatively easy day update

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Turned out to be busier than planned. All the little errands that I had been deferring started clamoring for my attention - having firewood delivered in two days, got some more groceries, picked up and returned some books at the library, received a couple packages at my mail box, etc... Fixing a spud for dinner (salad too) and doing an early bedtime.

We are driving to IKEA tomorrow - South of Seattle - returning some things, picking up some others. Stop in at a few other places of interest too - L has never been to a few of my surplus haunts and is intrigued by the arts possibilities.

Fix dinner and then surf for a while...

A relatively easy day today

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Meeting with someone at 10AM to look at her camera setup and then a phone meeting at 4PM for a grant opportunity for our local arts group. Running a check to a local flooring supply company for 1,500 sq. ft. of pre-finished hickory. House is going to look gorgeous.

Working in the garage for the rest of the time - setting up the welding equipment for a couple of fun projects.

Something to consider - bubble-wrap

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Found on the intarwebs:

20200219-china.jpg

Why did people vote for President Trump

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An excellent essay at American Thinker:

The Epic Donald
We voting Americans need to sort out our thinking and do so before next fall. I am so tired of hearing reasonable, intelligent people express anti-Trump attitudes based on truly flimsy grounds. A relative said to me that she’d never vote for Trump because “he’s an a**hole.” I have had other people voice similar concerns in more genteel terms -– they don’t like his tweeting, his braggadocio, his unpredictability. Okay, okay. At first, I didn’t either.

Now, it’s true that Trump can be a jerk. But so was Julius Caesar. So was Winston Churchill. So was George Patton. For that matter, so was King David, who was appointed by God to be king of Israel, and who was that country’s best king despite his dalliance with Bathsheba and his setting up her husband for certain death on the battlefield. David’s multiple wives and their offspring caused much upheaval in the country, but David, whom history still regards as a great king, brought peace and prosperity to his country throughout most of his lengthy reign.

Perhaps it would clarify things if we were to define our terms and priorities. Is greatness usually measured by hairstyle? By smooth talk? By delicate sensibilities? What are the attributes of a truly great man? What does tradition tell us?

I’m an English teacher, so I think in literary terms. Let’s look to the “epic hero” to find a standard for the epitome of human greatness. It seems to me that a person who would willingly take on the leadership of the greatest, wealthiest nation on earth would qualify as either a madman or a hero. Agreed? Reach back to your college lit class –- what are the official attributes of an epic hero?

    1. An epic hero has to be involved in a battle of epic proportions and he has to be winning that battle.
    2. An epic hero has to be strong physically and mentally.
    3. He has to be wise, fearless, and tenacious.
    4. He needs to be kind to women, children, and the poor.
    5. He has to be of the aristocracy –- the butler never rises to the rank of epic hero.
    6. He has to be selfless, risking his life for others.
    7. An epic hero is honest, saying directly what is on his mind.

Is that such a different list from what any country would want for a president?

The author then goes through each point (with specific examples) and concludes with the following:

I know -- Trump is odd. I have no idea why his skin is that color. His Elvis hair is a total wonder, though I have to admit I’m growing fond of it. His speech cadences are noticeably non-Ivy-League. He repeats himself. He says, “I can tell you that much,” much too often. He tweets -- aggressively. But nowhere in literature is the hero expected to be cocktail-party sophisticated. Nowhere does it say he can’t be eccentric. After all, most truly great people are.

Nails it. Yes, he is not your usual politician - groomed and cossetted. We do not want one of those now - they have failed us and we need a breath of fresh air. President Trump is that breath of fresh air.

As BREXIT starts to work its magic

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The liberals are running around with their hair on fire. From The Guardian:

UK to close door to non-English speakers and unskilled workers
Britain is to close its borders to unskilled workers and those who can’t speak English as part of a fundamental overhaul of immigration laws that will end the era of cheap EU labour in factories, warehouses, hotels and restaurants.

Unveiling its Australian-style points system on Wednesday, the government will say it is grasping a unique opportunity to take “full control” of British borders “for the first time in decades” and eliminate the “distortion” caused by EU freedom of movement.

But industry leaders immediately accused the government of an assault on the economy warning of “disastrous” consequences with job losses and closures in factories and the high street.

Excellent move - want to immigrate to England? FIne. What skills do you bring? Do you speak English?

I find nothing wrong with that - too many people moved with their only skills being life on the dole and having babies (who spend their lives on the dole). This ends now or there will be nothing left for anyone in 50 years.

They should have asked first - the Royals

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Looks like Meghan and Harry are going to have to have their stationary reprinted. Re-branding is expensive.
From the London Daily Mail:

Queen BANS Prince Harry and Meghan Markle from using lucrative 'Sussex Royal' brand that they hoped to use to build new lives because 'they simply cannot sell themselves as Royals’

    • The Duke and Duchess of Sussex spent tens of thousands of pounds on a new Sussex Royal website and their hugely popular Instagram feed
    • Couple sought to register Sussex Royal as global trademark for a range of items and activities, including clothing, stationery, books and social-care services
    • Also looked to set up a new charitable organisation – Sussex Royal, The Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex
    • But the Queen and senior officials are believed to have agreed it is no longer tenable for Harry and Meghan to keep the word 'royal' in their 'branding'

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex must drop their 'Sussex Royal' label after deciding to step down as working royals.

Following lengthy and complex talks, the Queen and senior officials are believed to have agreed it is no longer tenable for the couple to keep the word 'royal' in their 'branding'.

Harry and Meghan have spent tens of thousands of pounds on a new Sussex Royal website to complement their hugely popular Instagram feed.

They have also sought to register Sussex Royal as a global trademark for a range of items and activities, including clothing, stationery, books and teaching materials.

In addition, they have taken steps to set up a new charitable organisation: Sussex Royal, The Foundation of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex.

It has now been made clear that they will need to 're-brand'.

Didn't they have anyone advising them? I bet they did and I bet they ignored that poor sod because it wasn't the "no problem" they were looking for. Their fifteen minutes are rapidly ticking away. Meghan who?

The end game of socialism in Venezuela. Strip the last bits of cash from the carcass. From Breitbart:

Venezuela’s Maduro Announces Permanent War Games Against Trump
Socialist Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro announced late Monday that he would order “surprise” war games to plan for attacks against the United States on a “permanent” basis following the conclusion of the latest exercises.

Maduro, who ceased being the legitimate head of state of Venezuela in January 2019, regularly claims that Washington is planning a military invasion against him, or that it has orchestrated various alleged assassination attempts to remove him from power. Maduro had ordered the organizing of “Bolivarian Shield 2020” exercises last week to prepare for alleged upcoming “terrorism” on the part of the United States.

“I hereby announce that the ‘Bolivarian Shield 2020’ military exercises will remain active and we will surprise,” Maduro said on Monday, in public remarks meant to commemorate the end of the war games. Maduro spoke alongside senior military leaders while wearing combat fatigues. “From today on, we will not announce the date of the military exercises nor the region.”

The guy is insane. He has lost it. He is totally out of touch with reality. I feel sorry for his citizens. Living in abject poverty as he tries to prop up a failed state.

Title? 1984

Coronavirus - some great advice

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A lonig but excellent post on how to minimize your chance of catching Coronavirus or any other disease (Common Cold, flu, etc...) From Bayou Renaissance Man:

Coronavirus, breathing masks, and respirators: the facts
There's an awful lot of hype circulating about breathing masks, respirators, and protection against the current coronavirus epidemic.  Most of the articles are not scientific or factual - they're more like hyperbole and hysteria.

In particular, current stocks of surgical masks and disposable respirators available to the general public have been largely exhausted, and a number of vendors are reporting that they don't know when (or even whether) they'll be able to get stock again.  That's complicated by the fact that most such masks are made in China, which last week was said to have declared them a "strategic national resource".  (I can't find a first-hand report about that, only third-party references to it;  but it sounds likely, under present circumstances.)  Translation:  they'll be keeping all they can make, and won't be exporting any for the foreseeable future.  If true, that means serious trouble for institutions like hospitals, doctors' and dentists' surgeries, etc., who rely on them for basic medical hygiene as well as protection against infectious diseases.

The pity is, there's no real need for such a shortage to exist.  Surgical masks and respirators are not the first line of defense for the general public against coronavirus or any similar epidemic.  There are many basic precautions we should observe to protect ourselves, such as this list from Dr. John Campbell (see the video from which it's taken here - it contains useful information).

Excellent facts and a good checklist. Something to add to your situational awareness.

The Japanese economy

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It goes through the usual boom and bust cycles - people never learn. It was doing great and then some politicians decided to tap some of that business energy for their own pet projects. They raised taxes. From CNN:

Japan's economy is shrinking and a recession looks 'all but inevitable'
Japan's economy is flirting with recession, and the novel coronavirus could push it over the edge.

The world's third-largest economy shrank 1.6% in the fourth quarter of 2019, according to a government estimate released Monday. The decline from the third quarter is the biggest contraction since 2014.

The drop was even more severe — a 6.3% plunge — when measured as an annualized rate.

The fact that growth slowed in the three months to December wasn't a surprise. Analysts had been expecting as much as the country absorbed a sales tax hike and grappled with the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis, a powerful storm that hit the country last fall.

Want my 2¢ - get rid of the sales tax, cut corporate taxes by 10% and stand back. Watch what happens. Taxes are not a source of free money - there are always economic consequences to imposing them.

Bernie the innumerate was in Seattle yesterday. From The Bellingham Herald:

Thousands turn out to see Bernie Sanders at the Tacoma Dome
On a crisp blue-sky Presidents Day afternoon, fans of Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders arrived early to line up for his free rally Monday at the Tacoma Dome.

The Dome eventually would fill to capacity with an audience eager to cheer on the Democratic candidate for president later that evening.

Danny Mulligan from Philadelphia played bluegrass tunes with a few friends outside. They changed a handful of lyrics to fit some of Sanders’ trademark policies.

And, of course, Danny was pure Astro-turf - not a local, flown in from out of state:

He works for a health insurance company in Philadelphia...

I would love to know the actual attendance. The Tacoma Dome seats 23,000 people. Thousands turned out? How many thousands? Three thousand? Five? Ten? President Trump routinely has standing-room only crowds for his rallies. Even his overflow crowd is SRO.

I think that if the stadium was full, there would be photographs accompanying the article showing this.

The joys of single-sourcing

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You never want to have only one source for critical components. Witness this with Apple:

Investor update on quarterly guidance
As the public health response to COVID-19 continues, our thoughts remain with the communities and individuals most deeply affected by the disease, and with those working around the clock to contain its spread and to treat the ill. Apple is more than doubling our previously announced donation to support this historic public health effort. 

yadda yadda yadda and then:

As a result, we do not expect to meet the revenue guidance we provided for the March quarter due to two main factors.

The first is that worldwide iPhone supply will be temporarily constrained. While our iPhone manufacturing partner sites are located outside the Hubei province — and while all of these facilities have reopened — they are ramping up more slowly than we had anticipated.

And to make matters more interesting:

The second is that demand for our products within China has been affected. All of our stores in China and many of our partner stores have been closed. Additionally, stores that are open have been operating at reduced hours and with very low customer traffic.

Events like the Kung Flu have repercussions that ripple through everything. If Apple also manufactured in the Phillipenes or Viet Nam, there would not be this problem. Always keep options for sourcing your materials.

If at first you don't succeed - sparklers

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From Associated Press:

Technicality extinguishes sparkler record attempt in Wyoming
An attempt in Wyoming to break a world record for the most sparklers lit simultaneously failed on a technicality.

Guinness World Records officials ruled each participant was required to light his or her own sparkler during the attempt in Gillette, The Gillette News Record reports.

The attempt in August was part of the Pyrotechnics Guild International’s 50th annual convention.

The event had an apparatus for lighting multiple sparklers, which was built by students and instructors at Gillette College. Volunteers with torches lit sparklers and distributed them to participants.

Sad that they did not get the certification. I love the fact that there is a Pyrotechnics Guild International - now that would be a fun conference to attend. Ka-boom! Their next convention is in Fargo, ND... Hmmm... 

Cold morning

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Clear skies so radiation cooling - got down to 27°F last night. Got space heaters running in the two rooms we are painting so they are nice and toasty. Heading down to build a fire and get the rest of the house warmed up. Starting work at 9AM and it is going to be a busy day.

Circumstantial evidence but if it walks like a duck...  From the London Daily Mail:

Did coronavirus originate in Chinese government laboratory? Scientists believe killer disease may have begun in research facility 300 yards from Wuhan wet fish market

    • Beijing-sponsored South China University of Technology concludes that 'the killer coronavirus probably originated from a laboratory in Wuhan'
    • It points to research on bats and respiratory diseases carried by the animals at the Wuhan Center for Disease Control and the Wuhan Institute of Virology
    • WCDC is just 300 yards from the seafood market and is adjacent to the hospital

Chinese scientists believe the deadly coronavirus may have started life in a research facility just 300 yards from the Wuhan fish market.

A new bombshell paper from the Beijing-sponsored South China University of Technology says that the Wuhan Center for Disease Control (WHCDC) could have spawned the contagion in Hubei province.

'The possible origins of 2019-nCoV coronavirus,' penned by scholars Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao claims the WHCDC kept disease-ridden animals in laboratories, including 605 bats.

Needless to say, more as it happens. This is really testing the resilience of the communist form of government. It will be interesting to see how China fairs as a nation. They have no real financial reserves - they spend everything as fast as they make it. Shutting down the factories like this is going to cripple their economy.

The paper by Drs. Botao Xiao and Lei Xiao has been deleted from their Chinese sources but copies can be found here and here

Took a bit longer than planned

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Two of the committee chairs tend to run long so it was difficult to get them to shut the fsck up in a graceful manor. Still, we covered a lot of material and got done in less than 90 minutes. Some of these meetings have run to three hours so I think I came out ahead... Surf a bit, read for a while and then to bed.

A few errands

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Checking the mail, getting a bite to eat and then a meeting. The Pres is out and as V.P., I will be running it. I like short meetings so this should take less than an hour.

A fun list

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Was looking for something else and found this. From InfoGalactic:

List of unusual units of measurement
An unusual unit of measurement is a unit of measurement that does not form part of a coherent system of measurement; especially in that its exact quantity may not be well known or that it may be an inconvenient multiple or fraction of base units in such systems. This definition is deliberately not exact since it might seem to encompass units such as the week or the light-year which are quite "usual" in the sense they are often used; if they are used out of context, they may be "unusual", as demonstrated by the Furlong/Firkin/Fortnight (FFF) system of units.

Fun stuff there.

One more day - painting

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L headed back to her client. I have a meeting tonight so going our seperate ways today.

One more full day for painting plus another bit of touch-up and molding, etc... The paint was billed as Single Coat but it really benefits from two - surface finish, leveling. I like painting so this is not a problem and was expected. Do the final major coat tomorrow. Meeting with someone later and have an online event at 2PM so another full day. Fun times.

Surf for a bit and then out to run some errands.

Just wonderful - Kung Flu

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From Hawaiian station KHON:

Couple from Japan later diagnosed with coronavirus took Delta Airlines flight
A couple from Japan who later tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19) flew on a Delta Airlines flight when they left Oahu, according to the airlines.

Delta said that Flight 611 was from Honolulu to Nagoya on February 6, 2020.

The airline said that they’re working with public health officials, like the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and local Japanese authorities.

You can be contageous without showing symptoms for about two weeks (some people have said 25 days). Not good.

Wonderful news from Virginia

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From the Washington Examiner:

Bloomberg’s gun ban rejected in Virginia with Democratic help
Despite spending millions to turn Virginia’s legislature blue and a last-minute visit to Richmond, Democrats in the Senate turned back presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg’s top goal in the state of banning “assault weapons.”

In a lopsided 10-5 vote, the state Senate Judiciary Committee killed any advancement this year, pushing the legislation off for a year.

A politicians job is to represent their constituents. If they do not, they get voted out and a new pol is hired for the job.

Their work is not done yet - there is a need to stay vigilant:

While the state legislature has approved several Bloomberg-pushed gun control measures, the bill, HB961, killed today in Richmond was the top goal. It would have banned the sale of AR-style semi-automatic rifles, the most popular rifle in the United States. It would also have banned suppressors and large ammo magazines.

Gun ban bill defeated! This morning the VA Senate Judiciary Committee voted to table HB 961 for 1 year. Three sheriffs were present: myself, Sheriff Vaughn, and Sheriff Helton. Our 2A patriots sent a message, loud and clear, on these bills. We cannot rest, however. Other bills remain. pic.twitter.com/P9koC8aCPD target="_blank"

Nice to see the pendulum swinging back to conservatism.

Another day in paradise - painting

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Finishing painting the two rooms today - looking really good. Flooring next and then touchup and molding. Making the molding myself from some maple - got a router table.

Coffee first. L is coming over at 10AM

And that is it for me for the evening

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No more spew tonight - tired...

UPDATE BELOW: Race delayed one day - rain

He and Melania were at the Daytona 500 race today - flew in, buzzed the field in Air Force One, delivered the Grand Marshal's Speech and proceeded to pace the field in The Beast - his Presidential Limousine.

Such a difference between him and Obama. People like Bernie or Fauxcahontis simply do not "get it"

Tip of the hat to Vanderleun

UPDATE: From FOX News:

Daytona 500 postponed to Monday afternoon following rain delays
NASCAR officials postponed the Daytona 500 to Monday afternoon, following a series of rain delays shortly after President Trump appeared at the race, told drivers to start their engines and rode a ceremonial parade lap in his presidential limousine, "The Beast," on Sunday.

The race will resume Monday at 4 p.m. ET, officials said.

The postponement came after two lengthy delays totaling over three hours. The first delay came moments after Trump's motorcade completed a ceremonial parade lap around the 2 1/2-mile track.

Good call - racing on wet pavement is an invitation for disaster.

Got paint on the walls and ceiling

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And almost none on the floors - how 'bout that!

Looks like we are going to have to do a second coat to get the quality of finish I am looking for - I am using some intense colors in the music room. Here is a sneak peek:

20200216-muse01.jpg

20200216-muse02.jpg

The room is 14' long and about 10' wide. The red wall will have my keyboards and synthesizer equipment. The blue wall will have the signal processing racks as well as the computer and editing desk. Red for passion and fire, blue for creativity and cerebral. Looks really good and felt right when putting it on.

Bedroom is much simpler - a cool white for the ceiling (the ceilings are low so I wanted to de-emphasize that) and a warm natural color for the walls.

Heading out for a while

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L is busy this morning - coming over at 2PM to work with me on the painting. I am heading out in a few minutes to check the mail, get coffee and some stuff for dinner.

Clever thought

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From Kevin Kelly at Cool Tools:

Easier to find
If you are looking for something in your house, and you finally find it, when you’re done with it, don’t put it back where you found it. Put it back where you first looked for it. — KK

So true

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From Chris Lynch:

20200216-sense.jpg

Just no - please. Make them all go away

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From FOX News:

Bloomberg campaign downplays report he is considering Hillary Clinton as running mate
Billionaire Mike Bloomberg’s presidential campaign on Saturday downplayed a report that he is considering 2016 Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton as his pick for vice president.

The Drudge Report, citing a source close to Bloomberg’s campaign, reported that Clinton was under consideration after internal polling found that a Bloomberg-Clinton ticket would be a “formidable force.”

If Mini-Me does manage to win the 2020 election, it will be with deep regret that I hear of his upcoming suicide by multiple gunshot wounds to the back of the head. Fortunately, President-For-Life and Big Sister Hillary will be sure to get to the bottom of this. Or not.

Interesting - the Chinese Kung Flu

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China is taking an interesting step to minimize the circulation of the Coronavirus - its bank notes.
From Channel New Asia:

China cleans, locks away banknotes to stop virus spread
China is disinfecting and isolating used banknotes as part of efforts to stop the spread of the new coronavirus that has killed more than 1,500 people, officials said Saturday (Feb 15).

Banks use ultraviolet light or high temperatures to disinfect yuan bills, then seal and store the cash for seven to 14 days - depending on the severity of the outbreak in a particular region - before recirculating them, China's central bank said at a press conference.

A very clever idea - whomever thought that up needs to get a promotion.

Done for the day - paint

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Finished getting the second coat of primer on and then headed up to the Home Depot to get the final paint for the rooms.

Going to look nice - using some strong primaries on two of the walls in the music room. Photos to follow in a month.

Stopped at the flooring store - finalizing the order for the whole house. Had Thai food for lunch - both so hungry that we just sat in my van down by the river (actually, overlooking this park: Skagit Riverwalk) and devoured it.

Putter around in the garage for a couple of hours... We will be painting tomorrow.

And that is it for a while

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Busy morning - putting on second coat of primer and heading out to get finish paints. Got some nice colors picked out. Music room is going to be very vibrant.

Nothing online catches my eye. Same stuff, different day.

From the United States Department of Education:

U.S. Department of Education Launches Investigation into Foreign Gifts Reporting at Ivy League Universities
The U.S. Department of Education announced today it is launching investigations into both Harvard and Yale Universities after it appears both Ivy League higher education institutions potentially failed to report hundreds of millions of dollars in foreign gifts and contracts.

In recent weeks, the Department discovered Yale University may have failed to report at least $375 million in foreign gifts and contracts, choosing not to report any gifts and contracts over the last four years.

The Department is also concerned Harvard University may lack appropriate institutional controls over foreign money and has failed to report fully all foreign gifts and contracts as required by law. This comes after Dr. Charles Lieber, chair of Harvard University’s Chemistry and Chemical Biology Department, was indicted for lying about his involvement with the Chinese government’s Thousand Talents Plan and admitting that Harvard lacks adequate institutional controls for effective oversight and tracking of very large donations.

“This is about transparency,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. “If colleges and universities are accepting foreign money and gifts, their students, donors, and taxpayers deserve to know how much and from whom. Moreover, it’s what the law requires. Unfortunately, the more we dig, the more we find that too many are underreporting or not reporting at all. We will continue to hold colleges and universities accountable and work with them to ensure their reporting is full, accurate, and transparent, as required by the law.”

Section 117 of the Higher Education Act requires American Title IV-eligible colleges and universities to report gifts from, and contracts with, any foreign source that exceed $250,000 in value and to disclose any foreign ownership or control, twice each year.

There is a reason the liberals cried when she was appointed. She is going to take away their slush funds and kick over their rice bowls. They might actually have to start relying on their tuition income to make ends meet. And, obeying the law.

The title of the post? Mos Eisley of course.

New rulings for drone and drone pilots

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In short - some really well thought out and others? Really stupid and they suck. From Digital Photography Review:

Opinion: New rules proposed by the FAA are a threat to drone pilots – including photographers
The FAA is proposing new rules related to flying drones in the US, and if you fly drones – including for photography – these rules WILL affect you. In this article, I'll look at the implications of the proposed rule changes and how you can comment on them before the FAA makes them final.

The day after Christmas, the drone industry was finally gifted the long-awaited Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) for the Remote Identification of Unmanned Aircraft Systems (drones), and what the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) presented was a shock to many commercial and recreational remote pilots, alike. The government agency completely ignored recommendations from all 74 industry stakeholders that make up the Aviation Rulemaking Commitee (ARC), which is concerning.

The drone industry needs Remote ID, the concept that every drone should have a digital license plate, to move forward. Having a uniform system in place to identify unmanned aerial vehicles in national airspace is imperative for the safe operation of every aircraft sharing the skies. It will also enable more complex operations including flights at night, over people, and beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS). Remote ID is a step in the right direction but, unfortunately, the FAA has proposed costly, privacy-violating rules that will at first stifle, and then eventually crush, the potential of a burgeoning industry.

I'm not going to summarize every section of the 87-page (the original was 319) document in one article as it goes far beyond the scope of what most DPReview readers want to digest. Instead, I'll cover some of the main points of concern and, finally, offer suggestions and resources for leaving an effective comment for the FAA if you're one of the nearly 1.2 million registered drone users in the U.S. If you're prepared to make your voice heard, comment HERE.

Much more at the site.

I am a registered drone operator - love it. Plan to make my comment heard. Parts of these rulings are needed and are well thought out. Other parts come from the foetid swamp of a bureaucrats mind - specifically, a bureaucrat whose last contact with the real world was in grade school. Not so good and needs to be stomped to the ground so they never try that crap again.

The baddest man in the world

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Looks like we have a real special kind of stupid over on the next island.
From Jessie Stensland writing in the Whidbey News-Times:

Man arrested after low-speed, nighttime bicycle pursuit
A man who led a deputy sheriff on a very slow-speed pursuit on his bicycle at night is facing criminal charges, according to court documents.

Prosecutors charged Spencer T. Tlougan, a 22-year-old Minnesota resident, in Island County Superior Court Feb. 5 with two counts of assault in the third degree.

A deputy with the Island County Sheriff’s Office was driving on State Highway 20 near Libbey Road just before 9 p.m. on Feb. 1 when he saw a bicyclist dressed in black riding on the narrow shoulder of the road. The deputy saw another vehicle narrowly avoid striking the bicyclist.

The deputy activated the emergency lights on his patrol car and told the rider over his PA to stop, but the bicyclist pedaled faster. The deputy followed the bicyclist as he continued traveling north, occasionally looking back at the deputy, according to the deputy’s report on the case.

The bicyclist, later identified as Tlougan, finally stopped in the San de Fuca area, dismounted and threw the bike at the patrol car, the deputy wrote.

Tlougan took “a fighting stance” as the deputy exited his car.

“He told me his name was Paul Walker and he was the baddest man in the world and he was going to beat me up,” the deputy wrote.

The deputy saw that Tlougan was holding metal knuckles, which he appeared to be about to throw at him. The deputy deployed a Taser, which struck Tlougan and caused him to fall to the ground.

Tlougan continued to be aggressive as other deputies and paramedics arrived. He kicked a deputy during a struggle and was placed in a leg hobble but was able to get out of it on the way to jail. He violently kicked the partition in the patrol car and threatened to burn down the deputy’s house and kill him, the report states.

Tlougan appeared in court Feb. 2 and his bail was set at $20,000.

Maybe something in the water over there?

Submitted for your consideration:

20200214-climate.jpg

Quid pro Joe's latest strategy

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Scaping the bottom of the barrel - from The Babylon Bee:

Struggling Biden Campaign Now Offering One Month Of Free AOL For Rally Attendance
Joe Biden's campaign is struggling to motivate younger voters, but he has a plan: offering free AOL trials to anyone who shows up to his rallies.

"Come on by, say hi to uncle Joe, and grab one of our free AOL CDs," Biden says in an ad for his campaign tour. "You know, the great thing about AOL is that you get so many hours of internets. Only squares use Compuserve, Prodigy, or MSN. We're keen on America Online!"

The campaign has warned that it's first come, first served, so you'd better hurry if you want to experience the lightning-fast speeds of AOL's 56K dial-up service.

"I love America Online," Biden continued as he booted up his Windows 98 PC. "Every time I hear that grinding, beeping sound while trying to get on the internet, I just know that I'm about to experience the world wide web at a rate of one web page per hour."

I can't wait for President Biden to lead us into the 1980's

Now this will be fun - President Trump

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From the New York Times:

Border Patrol Will Deploy Elite Tactical Agents to Sanctuary Cities
The Trump administration is deploying law enforcement tactical units from the southern border as part of a supercharged arrest operation in sanctuary cities across the country, an escalation in the president’s battle against localities that refuse to participate in immigration enforcement.

The specially trained officers are being sent to cities including Chicago and New York to boost the enforcement power of local Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, according to two officials who are familiar with the secret operation. Additional agents are expected to be sent to San Francisco, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, Boston, New Orleans, Detroit and Newark, N.J.

The move reflects President Trump’s persistence in cracking down on so-called sanctuary cities, localities that have refused to cooperate in handing over immigrants targeted for deportation to federal authorities. It comes soon after the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security announced a series of measures that will affect both American citizens and immigrants living in those places.

As liberal hair catches fire in 3... 2... 1...

Looks like our President is simply enforcing the laws that are on the books.

And done for the day

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L is back at her client's house for the evening - we put in a solid day of work and are planning several more. Got some fun projects lined up - she expressed interest in metalwork and I have a couple of welding projects... 

Surf a bit and back to work for me.

In the real world, not on their little screens. From Breitbart:

U.N. Seeks Climate Policy Advice from Mobile Video Game Players
The United Nations (U.N.) launched a push Thursday to engage mobile video game players around the world and ask their input and advice to guide its ongoing “climate change” policies.

Mission 1.5 is the title of the campaign that aims to, “bridge the gap between people and governments on ambitious climate action.” It is being developed by the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP).

Unreal - how about unplugging the screen and going outside with a thermometer. Take some measurements and see what is actually happening. HINT: It is quite a bit different than what you are seeing in your "computer model".

Stunning observation at Breitbart:

Coronavirus Outbreak Exposes China’s Monopoly on U.S. Drug, Medical Supplies
The coronavirus outbreak has exposed the United States’ dangerous dependence on China for pharmaceutical and medical supplies, including an estimated 97 percent of all antibiotics and 80 percent of the active pharmaceutical ingredients needed to produce drugs in the United States.

The economic repercussions of the coronavirus reveal the dangers of allowing one country to have a near monopoly on global manufacturing, David Dayen explains in an article at the American Prospect:

China is a source of not only finished goods, but also of input parts and raw materials. A substantial number of the materials needed for defense and electronic systems come from China, and that nation is “the single or sole supplier for a number of specialty chemicals,” according to a recent Defense Department report. Rare earth minerals, which are critical to electronics, are largely mined in China. As a result, Chinese disruptions don’t just hit Chinese manufacturing, they hit everyone’s. Automakers have already had to slow or shut down factories globally due to supply shortages.

This is not a good situation to be in - no options for second sourcing parts and goods. Good that we had a minor wake-up call -- the Kung Flu may be a killer but the plain old Flu is even worse in the USA.

Fantastic timing that Trump is in charge and will be for the next four years - he will get this fixed.

Full day today

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Painting - primer today and then ceiling tomorrow. Still deciding on what to do for the walls.

L will be over in two hours to work with me. Not doing anything for Valentine's Day.

A bit of a quake to the North

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Off the coast of Bella Bella to the North of Vancouver Island - 4.6Mag at 2:17 last morning. No Tsunami forecast at this moment.

Was looking at media software and ran into this: Open Broadcaster Software  Looks a bit bare-bones but has everything you need for streaming. Interesting - will be exploring further when I get some time.

Of which Carbon Dioxide (ie: plant food) is the rallying cry for a bunch of delusional . innumerate . useful idiots.
From United Press International:

Scientists say solar system affects Earth's carbon cycle
Scientists have discovered evidence that Earth's carbon cycle and global climate is influenced by periodic changes in the shape of Earth's path around the sun.

According to a new study, published this week in the journal PNAS, scientists found the evidence hiding in ancient layers of mudstone.

Chemical analysis of the ancient mudstone revealed links between past orbital changes and two major extinction events, the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction event, around 201 million years ago, and the Toarcian extinction event, or Toarcian turnover, around 183 million years ago.

"Our work shows that for the 18 million years or so in between the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction and the Toarcian oceanic anoxic event, Earth's global carbon cycle was in a constant state of change," Micha Ruhl, assistant professor in sedimentology at Trinity College Dublin in Ireland, said in a news release. "Periodic changes in the shape of Earth's orbit around the sun impacted on the amount of energy received by Earth from the sun, which in turn impacted climatic and environmental processes, as well as the carbon cycle, on local, regional and global scales."

The researchers here were looking at very long timelines. Our Modern Warm Period (1950's through 2006 or so) saw the ice caps on Mars retreat (here, here and here for starters) just as the ice on Earth has retreated. Now, Glacier National Park has begun quietly removing and altering signs and government literature which told visitors that the Park’s glaciers were all expected to disappear by either 2020 or 2030.

Anthropogenic Global Warming is a political movement and not a scientific one. The writings of a few scientists are being used to advance a one-world-government. A socialist tyranny.

From Twitchy:

‘At least I’m not a communist’: James Carville has some colorful thoughts on Bernie Sanders calling him ‘a political hack’
Last week, James Carville went off on Democrats for their misplaced priorities and on the media for their sneering elitism. That did not absolve Carville of some of the more terrible things he himself has said ($100 bill through a trailer park, anyone?), but it was nonetheless refreshing to see a Dem strategist call out crappy Democratic strategy.

Well, apparently Carville was just getting started. Vanity Fair contributor Peter Hamby spoke recently with Carville on the phone, and Carville had some choice words about current Democratic presidential frontrunner Bernie Sanders:

When you lose the true kingmakers like Carville (Clinton, William Jefferson), you have lost the party.

Got one - good border security

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From the U.S. Customs and Border Protection:

CBP Officers at Ysleta Port Stop Huge Liquid Meth Load
U.S. Customs and Border Protection Office of Field Operations officers working at the Ysleta port of entry seized 1,543 pounds of liquid methamphetamine Wednesday.

“This is a huge seizure and more than triples the 425 pounds of methamphetamine seized by CBP officers working El Paso area ports for all of fiscal year 2019,”said Hector Mancha, CBP El Paso Director of Field Operations.

The seizure was made shortly after 7 p.m. when a tractor-trailer entered the Ysleta port of entry commercial cargo facility from Mexico. CBP officers selected the shipment for an inspection.

CBP officers off loaded the shipment of multi-use cleaner and determined that 32 bottles in the shipment contained liquid methamphetamine. The contraband was seized and the investigation continues.

Cheap and easy to make once you have the precursors and it ruins lives. Nice stuff. The Chinese are selling this to the cartels who are bringing them through our borders. How much are the cartels paying the Dems to look the other way when proper security is being talked about?

Dinner and early bedtime

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Nothing much happening out there. Lots of stories in the news but precious little catches my eye or is 100% verifiable at this time. Bite to eat, a bit more surfing and then Zzzzzzs for the next 8-10 hours. Got a massage today so will sleep well.

Bernie PWND by some Russians

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Heh - PWND by some Russian pranksters - from Breitbart:

Russian Pranksters: We Tricked Bernie Sanders into KGB ‘Sleeper Agent’ Activation Ritual with ‘Greta Thunberg’
A pair of Russian YouTubers claim that they have nabbed Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) in another prank call from a pair posing as Greta Thunberg and her father, according to their latest video.

The video opens with an individual who sounds like and identifies himself as Sanders, one of the frontrunners in the Democrats’ presidential primary, asking to speak with Greta Thunberg, the teen climate activist who was named TIME Person of the Year. “I just wanted to congratulate you on the extraordinary role you are playing in rallying young people and people throughout the world on this terrible, terrible crisis of climate change,” he says.

“We would like to help you, in your campaign in some way, what is the best thing to do?” the woman pretending to be “Greta” says after a few minutes of general discussion of climate change.

The person identifying himself as Sanders responds: “Well if you would like to help in our campaign that would be wonderful, and we would be very appreciative, because you have generated so much excitement among young people and all people throughout the world. You are admired very, very much.”

And it got weird towards the end of the call:

The callers then bring up Sanders’ 1988 honeymoon in Moscow and unsuccessfully bait him with a question on whether America can be led into “communism.” They suggest that he make former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg his running mate in the 2020 election.

He responds with a chuckle, “OK, well, I will take that under advisement.”

Towards the end, the pranksters suggest that Sanders was “recruited and programmed to work for Russia” during his 1988 trip to the Soviet Union. “Your memory was erased so the CIA wouldn’t track you down,” she continues.

“Is this what you believe?” the man purported to be Sanders responds. “You become [sic] a sleeper agent of the KGB, yes,” the Greta actress says. “Now it’s time to wake up and fulfill your mission: become President of the United States, build communism in the United States, and work for Russia. I will tell you the code phrase and you will remember.”

The pair then begin speaking gibberish, telling the man, “Russian hackers will begin an operation to bring you to power in the United States.”

Heh - wonder what he thought of the call...

And back to work

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Ran a couple of errands and now back to work. L is coming over to paint tomorrow.

Miserable gray day today - raining again...

Well - when what you sell is fake...

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Serves them right for straying from the path of actual honest journalism - from NBC News:

McClatchy, publisher of dozens of U.S. newspapers, files for bankruptcy protection
The publisher of the Miami Herald, The Kansas City Star and dozens of newspapers across the country is filing for bankruptcy protection.

The publisher's 30 local newsrooms will continue to operate as usual as McClatchy Co. reorganizes under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The company's origins date to 1857 when it first began publishing a four-page paper in Sacramento, California, following the California Gold Rush. That paper became The Sacramento Bee.

McClatchy has received $50 million debtor-in-possession financing from Encina Business Credit. That, combined with normal operating cash flows, will provide enough cash for the company, still based in Sacramento, to continue to function.

Fake news may have sold well for a while but they need to keep an eye on We The People out there. We are getting tired of the constant barrage of propaganda. The pendulum is swinging back to conservatism and moral values.
Adapt or die.

This looks like a lot of fun

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From SyFy:

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER AND JACKIE CHAN FIGHT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 'THE IRON MASK'
The strange and roundabout release of the Russo-Chinese sequel to 2014's Viy (also known as Forbidden Empire) is almost as confusing as its bevy of titles: The Iron Mask AKA Viy 2: Journey to China AKA The Mystery of Dragon Seal. But fans should put all that aside. It doesn't matter what this weird and fantastical movie is called because it's the first time that Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jackie Chan are in the same film since Around the World in 80 Days — and the first time they've ever shared a fight scene.

That's what the film's new trailer is all about: seeing the Terminator (in a big bushy mustache and British military uniform) smack down a martial arts legend. The pair wage war on each other in the Tower of London in this wild movie, with Chan playing the role of Master and Schwarzenegger playing James Hook. And don't worry, he doesn't even attempt a British accent. Instead, he's just throwing punches and yanking chains while Chan kicks him all over.

Minimal posting this morning

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Working at home today - cleaning up drywall dust and getting the two rooms prepped for painting. L is coming over to work with me on that tomorrow - looking forward to it. We work really well together.

Shower, breakfast and coffee first - a man has his priorities.

From The Washington Post:

So true - deep state and the complicit fake news accomplices. Time for the pendulum to swing the other way for a while. Looks like we are at level two/three of the Tytler Cycle - great news for us and the next couple of generations to follow. The Overton Window is another expression of the same cyclic shift in society.

Eat your veggies

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A wonderful video on the joys of hunting:

From Science Alert:

A Long-Lost Legendary Roman Fruit Tree Has Been Grown From 2,000-Year-Old Seeds
Scientists have cultivated plants from date palm seeds that languished in ancient ruins and caves for 2,000 years.

This remarkable feat confirms the long-term viability of the kernels once ensconced in succulent Judean dates, a fruit cultivar lost for centuries. The results make it an excellent candidate for studying the longevity of plant seeds.

From those date palm saplings, the researchers have begun to unlock the secrets of the highly sophisticated cultivation practices that produced the dates praised by Herodotus, Galen, and Pliny the Elder.

It would be interesting to know if our taste buds have evolved as well. Interesting story and quite the bit of history coming to life. Tip of the hat to Bayou Renaissance Man for the link.

Coronavirus in the workers paradise

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Life in a totalitarian regime is not a life of freedom - from Breitbart:

Chinese Cities Seize Personal Property to Control Spread of Coronavirus
Shenzhen and Guangzhou, two of China’s largest cities, have been granted the authority to “requisition” personal property in order to halt the spread of the Wuhan coronavirus.

The move is especially noteworthy because those two cities are key elements of China’s high-tech economic engine.

Shenzhen and Guangzhou are located in Guangdong province, which has been hit by the most coronavirus cases outside Hubei, where the epidemic began. As of Wednesday, Shenzhen reported 375 confirmed infections and Guangzhou reported 317, while the province has a total of 1,177.

In both of the big Guangdong cities, legislators approved emergency measures that would enable officials to temporarily seize homes, commercial property, public venues, and vehicles thought to be contaminated, as well as commanding private businesses to produce any materials deemed necessary in fighting the coronavirus. Shortages of medical equipment and protective gear have been a persistent problem in areas where the virus is spreading, and shortages of food and supplies for quarantined populations are becoming a serious issue.

Citizen's rights? Don't make me laugh - a bit more:

Government officials seizing personal property might not seem like a big story in a Communist country, but laws that semi-approved the ownership of property passed over a decade ago played a major role in China’s rapid economic expansion. The emergency measures passed in Guangdong mark the first time local governments have seized property since the passage of the 2007 Property Law.

Sure - you now have property rights. Until we find this inconvenient. The Chinese citizens do not have a constitution as we have, they do not have a bill of rights. I find it amazing that people here in the United States still consider this to be a superior form of government. Boggles the mind.

Anyone but Bernie - the Democratic Party

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Atomic Fungus offers a good insight as to why Bernie will never be the presidential cantidate despite winning the popular vote:

THIS is what I've been SAYING
Do you want to know why the Democrat party is so anti-Bernie? It's as I've been saying, over and over again:

Put yourself in the shoes of one of the leading movers and shakers within the Democratic Party for a minute. Pretend you're getting a nice paycheck, pretend you're getting great healthcare benefits, pretend you get plenty of prestige and exclusive access and invitations to classy parties. And pretend you're the type of person who's willing to manipulate and deceive and kiss up and kick down and do whatever it takes to get to the top of such a structure.

Now ask yourself, if you were such a person in such a situation, would you care if voters pick Donald Trump or Pete Buttigieg in November? Would it affect your cushy lifestyle in any way whatsoever? Would you lose your job, your prestige or your influence? No party elites lost those things in 2016. Why would you expect this time to be any different?

But you might be at risk of losing your cushy lifestyle if a forcefully anti-elitist progressive movement gets off the ground and takes control of your party. So you'd stand everything to gain by doing everything you can to prevent that from happening, and, because you don't care if Trump gets re-elected, you'd stand absolutely nothing to lose.
This is why the Democrats do not want Bernie Sanders to be elected President.

So true - upsets the elite apple-cart.

Busy couple of days

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Long day yesterday and same today - got an online presentation to watch in 15 minutes and then out for coffee &c. Working here today. Some supplies are in at the local Home Depot so heading up later this afternoon to pick those up. Place is starting to come together.

Jussie Smollett in the news one more time

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And this time, he is going down for his douche-baggery. From the Chicago FOX News affiliate:

Jussie Smollett accused of lying to CPD, indicted on 6 counts of disorderly conduct
In a story FOX 32 News broke first, former “Empire” actor Jussie Smollett was indicted Tuesday in Chicago by special prosecutor Dan Webb, stemming from the alleged racist and anti-gay attack on him that occurred in January of 2019.

Smollett is due in court February 24 at the Criminal Court Building at 26th and California. Webb said in a statement that Smollett faces six felony counts of disorderly conduct, charges that stem from four separate false reports that he gave to police in which he contended he was a victim of a hate crime “knowing that he was not the victim of a crime.”

The statement immediately raised questions about county prosecutors' decision to drop the charges last year and made it clear that those prosecutors had not adequately explained to special prosecutors why they did so. But Webb stressed that he had reached no conclusions about whether anyone involved in the case had engaged in any wrongdoing.

Good - bring him to justice and also bring to justice those who shielded him from the consequences of his fake hate crime. You should not be able to get away with shit because you are a minority. Equal justice under Law works both ways.

Rolling up the deep state - Bill Barr

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Our Attorney General is doing a fantastic job - from the Washington Daily News:

Bill Barr Indicts 8 For Illegally Funneling Foreign Money To Adam Schiff And Multiple Dem Senators
Bill Barr just dropped the hammer on the hypocritical Democrats and this wound will take years to heal.

Bill Barr just broke up a massive scheme to illegally funnel foreign money into darn near every Democratic political candidate and organization.

The list of the Dem organizations taking this illegal money is astounding – almost every Dem state organization and many super PAC’s including the big one Priorities USA.

You can find the full details and names and amounts at the website for The United States Department of Justice

Good - this will be fun to watch. So much winning. 2020 is turning out to be a very good year indeed!

Now this looks good - The French Dispatch

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Another Wes Anderson film:

As was said in one of the comments to this trailer:

Grand Budapest Hotel is the most Wes Anderson movie Wes Anderson has ever made.
The French dispatch: Hold my beer.

Looks wonderful.

Bernie wins the New Hampshire primary

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I would love to see him be the Democrat candidate. Not that he would be able to win but just to see him have to debate President Trump. One on one. Live. No do-overs. No scripts.

A little bit more work and that is it

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Need to finish off some stuff in the living room and that will be it for the day. Stopped to fix some Ahi tuna and rice for dinner. Steamed kale for a side.

So true - dangerous creatures

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Found on the intrawebs:

20200209-bear.jpg

Great quote from Albert Einstein

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The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it and can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed. It was the experience of mystery -- even if mixed with fear -- that engendered religion. A knowledge of the existence of something we cannot penetrate, our perceptions of the profoundest reason and the most radiant beauty, which only in their most primitive forms are accessible to our minds: it is this knowledge and this emotion that constitute true religiosity. In this sense, and only this sense, I am a deeply religious man... I am satisfied with the mystery of life's eternity and with a knowledge, a sense, of the marvelous structure of existence -- as well as the humble attempt to understand even a tiny portion of the Reason that manifests itself in nature.

This is from a longer essay printed here: The World As I See It

Quid pro Joe is having some trouble. From the New York Post:

Joe Biden bolts New Hampshire early for South Carolina
Staring at a fourth- or even fifth-place finish in Tuesday’s first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary, Joe Biden is bolting from the Granite State to spend primary night in South Carolina, his campaign confirmed Tuesday.

The 77-year-old is ditching his own primary night party and will instead address New Hampshire supporters via video link from Columbia, SC, where he will host a launch party with his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, as the polls close Tuesday night.

Biden is rapidly shedding support, with a new Quinnipiac poll released Monday putting Bernie Sanders in a commanding national lead and showing half of Biden’s black supporters have abandoned him.

The former vice president suffered a humiliating fourth-place finish in Iowa that he described as a “gut punch,” and has also tried to reduce expectations in New Hampshire, starting the debate Friday night by saying he expects to lose.

The former vice president, whose campaign has been plagued by gaffes and missteps, will be hoping to shore up support in South Carolina ahead of the state’s Feb. 29 primary.

Wanna bet that there are some resurrectionists in the party who are prepping Hillary for another run at the brass ring? After all, it is her turn dammit.

Surprised in some sense that they are even trying - if I were the DNC Chair, I would have just called it quits for 2020  months ago, saved the campaign contributions and planned to spend the next four years coming up with a solid platform that is relevant to the general public - us "normals". We. The. People.

As it stands now, the Dems have nothing to offer.

And to work

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Got a lot on my plate today. Heading over to L's house in a bit. The person she is caretaking for is celebrating a birthday today so hanging out there for a little bit.

Minimal spew today...

Been there, done that, got the tee-shirt

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Found on the web:

20200211-dumb.jpg

Headlines a few days ago about Bill Gates buying a hydrogen-powered yacht. The designer, Sinot, says no today.
Here is a screen-cap from their website:

20200211-sinot.jpg

I was wondering as we do not have the hydrogen infrastructure and even in the best of situations, it will cost many more times to run than bunker or diesel. Hydrogen is not a fuel. It has never been a fuel and it never will be a fuel. It is an energy-transport mechanism. It is created with energy and it yields energy when combusted.

Sometimes these things happen - a stopped clock is right twice/day. From FOX News:

California bill would ban stays at Trump hotels for state employees
State lawmakers in California are considering a bill that would prohibit state agencies from spending taxpayer money at any of the hotels owned by President Trump or his family.

The proposal, which was introduced by Democratic state Assemblyman Evan Low, would bar employees of any state agency from spending money at a Trump hotel while traveling for work.

“Public officials, at any level, should not profit off the constituents that they were elected to serve and represent,” Low said in a statement. “No branch of government is above the Constitution, and this legislation will ensure that California taxpayers are not further exploited by Donald Trump’s violations of the emoluments clause.”

First of all, it has been found that President Trump did not violate the emoluments clause which states that an elected official can not profit by use of their office. Something Hillary and the Biden and Kerry families need to be brought to task for. Trump is doing this entirely on his own dime. He is even returning his Presidential salary to the government.

Second - a really like this idea. Government officials should not be staying at luxury hotels at the taxpayer's expense. Make them stay at a Motel Six - they will leave the light on for them.

Tip of the hat to Don Surber for the link.

Some headlines caught my eye

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Long but productive day today

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Worked outside this afternoon clearing out some of the drainage around the house. Lots of debris. Ran a couple errands tonight.

Been reading for a bit - time for YouTube and an early bedtime.

Good move by our Attorney General

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From FOX News:

Barr announces sweeping new sanctions, 'significant escalation' against left-wing sanctuary cities
Charging that so-called "sanctuary" cities that protect illegal immigrants are jeopardizing domestic security, Attorney General Bill Barr announced a slew of additional sanctions that he called a "significant escalation" against left-wing local and state governments that obstruct the "lawful functioning of our nation's immigration system."

Speaking at the National Sheriff’s Association 2020 Winter Legislative and Technology Conference in Washington, D.C., Barr said the Justice Department would immediately file multiple lawsuits against sanctuary jurisdictions for unconstitutionally interfering with federal immigration enforcement, and implement unprecedented national reviews of left-wing sanctuary governments and prosecutors.

"The department is filing a complaint against the State of New Jersey seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against its laws that forbid state and local law enforcement from sharing vital information about criminal aliens with DHS," Barr said.

Got zero problem with legal immigrants - L is a legal immigrant. It is the illegals that we need to deal with. These are not the best and brightest (like L), there is a high percentage of criminal behavior. The whole sanctuary city idea is just virtue signalling anyway. An idea that sounds good instead of an idea that does good.

Two headlines

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And back to work - outside for a while

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Got some serious drainage issues to work on. Lots of mud in the driveway. Clear day and the sun is out so today is the day to do it...

Now he is just having fun at their expense

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Not that the Democrats did not bring this upon themselves with the Mueller Report and the whole impeachment fiasco. From CNS News:

Trump Heads to N.H. to 'Shake Up the Dems a Little Bit'
President Donald Trump will hold a rally in Manchester, New Hampshire later Monday, on a day when Democrats hoping to defeat him are holding "get out the vote" rallies ahead of Tuesday's Democrat primary.

In his Monday morning tweets, Trump mentioned tonight's rally: "Want to shake up the Dems a little bit -- they have a really boring deal going on," he wrote.

Trump also thanked House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for bringing him the "highest polling numbers ever with the Impeachment Hoax."

The Dems have nothing to offer. They have no candidate. Tulsi Gabbard is a really good classical liberal but she has been shunted to the sidelines because she is not one of the cultural elite and it is not "her turn" yet.

A red pill of unusual size*

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Was turned on to this site: MAGA pill

From the website:

Importance of Archiving President Trump's accomplishments:
The Mainstream Media news outlets have completely ignored President Trump's accomplishments and all of the positive things he has achieved while in office. They've instead decided to focus all of their time and effort waging a war against President Trump, his supporters and the MAGA agenda.

Donald J. Trump has achieved more for America in 3 years than any other President in history. It really makes you wonder if past presidents have even been trying at all!

MAGAPILL was created to preserve President Trump’s Legacy by archiving and listing his accomplishments.
Mainstream Media has gone out of their way to avoid casting Trump in a positive light. They don't want America to see all of the great things President Trump has accomplished that contridict all of their negative coverage.

If we don’t capture and archive what’s really going on, we’re leaving it up to the Maintream Media to define Trump’s Legacy and we can't let that happen!

Very nicely laid out and formatted. Quite the list of major accomplishments.
President Donald Trump puts the Energizer Bunny to shame.

* the title of the post? Two cultural references:

Working at home today

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Cleaning up all the drywall dust. Took a nice break yesterday but now it is time to get back to work.

Expecting some flooring samples to be ready for pick-up tomorrow. Looking at a pre-finished engineered hickory. Light color in keeping with the beach house look. Engineered flooring is multiple layers of void-free plywood veneers with a thick layer of hickory on top. Zero problem with expansion or shrinkage due to temperature and humidity variations. Was initially thinking of solid wood but the engineered product has come a long way and they offer a life-time warranty for residential use.

A really bad pun

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From the Beeb and PBS: Niall Ferguson’s Networld:

From the website:

In this groundbreaking new series hosted by Niall Ferguson and inspired by his bestselling book The Square and the Tower, Ferguson visits network theorists, social scientists and data analysts to explore the history of social networks. From the Reformation and 17th century witch-hunting, through the American Revolution and to the nightmare visions of Orwell’s 1984, Ferguson explores the intersection of social media, technology and the spread of cultural movements. Reviewing classic experiments and cutting-edge research, Ferguson demonstrates how human behavior, disruptive technology and profit can energize ideas and communication, ultimately changing the world.

I remember reading Tom Standadge's wonderful 1998 book: The Victorian Internet 
We do crave new information. Always have, always will. Silly monkey...

Wonderful report from CNN of all places:

Major cuts to National Security Council staff expected as soon as next week, sources say
National security adviser Robert O'Brien is expected to make major cuts to the National Security Council staff as early as next week, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.

Some people with knowledge of the impending change previously said once President Donald Trump's impeachment trial had concluded, O'Brien was expected to oust about a dozen or so officials as part of an effort to streamline the NSC, which critics charge has become too large.

O'Brien has largely been downsizing the NSC by attrition and getting staffers detailed to the council from other departments to return earlier than planned to their home agencies, but one of the sources told CNN it looks like the final phase will involve more direct firings and cuts.

"So it's bloated. We're going to bring it back to a size that's manageable and efficient. And look, the folks who are there, they really need to want to serve the President," O'Brien told Fox News' Laura Ingraham Tuesday night.

Good news - it is the job of the President of the United States to set foreign policy - not anyone else.

How bad was the bloat?

O'Brien said the council had "ballooned up" to 236 policy professionals in the Obama administration from about 100 during the Bush administration.

"Another week or two, I think we'll have met our goal," he said.

Good - no need for it to be in the White House either - some office park in Kansas would be just as good what with teleconferencing and the internet...

Yesterday was fun

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L was able to arrange a tour through Wolf Haven for us. I had mentioned a while ago that I had visited the place a long time ago and really liked it but had not been back since. She picked up on this and booked a tour for us. Met some amazing creatures.

A delightful day.

And out the door in an hour

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L has an adventure scheduled for today - someplace South of Seattle is all that I know.

Should be fun.

Enough already - impeachment

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They can not tolerate the butt-hurt so they run crying to the media - from Gateway Pundit:

‘Trump Not Exonerated’ – House Impeachment Managers Assert Trump Has Not Been Acquitted Because, “It Was Not a Fair Trial”
All seven House impeachment managers sat down with CNN’s Anderson Cooper Friday evening to complain about Trump’s acquittal.

The impeachment managers argued Trump has not been acquitted because the Senate trial was not fair after their case went up in flames this week.

Ahhh - my favorite whine: liberal tears when they can not have their own way. So sad. Too bad.

L has something planned for tomorrow so this will be fun.

Got the media computer desk almost organised the way I want it. Still need to do the electrical power distribution - need to build some outlet boxes for that. Then it will be done. The loft is becoming habitable which is saying a lot since I have been camping out here for more than a year.

Surf for a bit and then YouTube

Back to work

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Had a nice walk with L this afternoon - did not get the dose of sunshine that we have both been craving but it was nice to get out of the house and stretch my legs a bit. 

Back to work - fixing up the desk for the media computer. Keyboard drawer, cable management and re-doing how the electricity is distributed. Get everything done right this time instead of gradually adding things ad hoc as I add equipment/features.

I could have told them that. What you get when an ont-of-state developer puts up a luxury building.
From The Seattle Times:

A tower of luxury condos with almost no parking? This experiment seems to be failing
Seattleites want to live more like Manhattanites.

Or at least, that was the gamble made by developers of The Emerald, a 40-story luxury condominium near Pike Place Market, when they decided to include fewer parking stalls than any comparable new residential tower in the city.

But it looks like even Teslas on demand and the thrill of sharing an address with the priciest listing on the waterfront aren’t enough to prompt potential buyers of Seattle’s luxury condominiums to give up their cars.

The relative dearth of parking at The Emerald has been jeopardizing sales there, local condo brokers say.

A mere 62 parking stalls will serve the 40-story building’s 262 residences, the lowest stalls-per-unit ratio of any new residential tower downtown. Coincidentally or not, The Emerald has attracted fewer preopening buyers than Seattle’s average under-construction condo.

One of the draws of Seattle is that there is so much to do within an hour or two drive from the city. Most of these sites are not served by public transportation. Manhattan does not have the glorious outdoors on its doorstep so people moving there are more into the immersive urban-only experience. Not so with Seattle as this local boy says:

“Any developer in the last two years who bought into the idea that parking wasn’t important missed the mark,” said Windermere broker Jeff Reynolds, who focuses on the Seattle condo market. 

Yeah - anyone who comes in from the outside (the developer in this case is based in Hong Kong - another Manhattan). One of the primary factors for success in business is the ability to "read" your customer base and understand THEIR needs and desires. Just because your ideas have worked in other large cities does not mean that they will work here.

Got to love Capitalism and Adam Smith's idea of the invisible hand. Works every time. Can not say the same for top-down decision making, centralized planning and the other accouterments of socialized government.

Minimal posting today

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Busy working on stuff here and the internets are very very quiet.

L has something planned for me tomorrow so will see what that is...

Re-thinking their priorities

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Heh - that will get them to re-evaluate the rhetoric they are spouting:

20200208-climate.jpg

The people fighting "climate change" always want someone else to make the changes. They are doing "the good work" so they get to use their nice private jet airplanes.

Let the proles suck it up. Tip of the hat to Maggie's Farm for the link. More here: Global Warming's 50 Years of Fraud

A bit of a problem - Apple's iPhone 11

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From IEEE Spectrum:

A Radio Frequency Exposure Test Finds an iPhone 11 Pro Exceeds the FCC's Limit
A test by Penumbra Brands to measure how much radiofrequency energy an iPhone 11 Pro gives off found that the phone emits more than twice the amount allowable by the U.S. Federal Communications Commission.

The FCC measures exposure to RF energy as the amount of wireless power a person absorbs for each kilogram of their body. The agency calls this the specific absorption rate, or SAR. For a cellphone, the FCC’s threshold of safe exposure is 1.6 watts per kilogram. Penumbra’s test found that an iPhone 11 Pro emitted 3.8 W/kg.

Ryan McCaughey, Penumbra’s chief technology officer, said the test was a follow up to an investigation conducted by the Chicago Tribune last year. The Tribune tested several generations of Apple, Samsung, and Motorola phones, and found that many exceeded the FCC’s limit.

This is something that Apple has to have known about. What is the deal?

Also, IEEE is an acronym for Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and is pronounced "Eye-triple-E"
It was founded in 1884

And that is it

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Heading out in about an hour.

A dark day for LP phonograph albums

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Sad news - from Palm Springs, CA's The Desert Sun:

Three-alarm building fire in Banning blocks Highway 243; businesses evacuated due to chemical concerns
Firefighters are trying to determine what sparked a three-alarm building fire that forced the evacuation of nearby businesses and prevented access to Highway 243 in Banning Thursday morning.

The fire was reported about 8 a.m. in a 15,000-square-foot building at Lincoln Street and San Gorgonio Avenue and it produced a black plume of smoke that was visible in the Coachella Valley.

“There were multiple reports of explosions when the fire started,” Cal Fire Capt. Fernando Herrera said at the scene. "There wasn't any one spot you could say wasn't on fire."

Eighty-two firefighters responded to the blaze and the fire was contained by 10:45 a.m.

The business is Apollo Masters Corp., a decades-old company that produces a lacquer formula for making master discs which are then used to make vinyl records. Employees were inside when the fire began, but Herrera said none of them were injured.

From the Apollo Masters website:

ANNOUNCEMENT
To all of wonderful customers. It is with great sadness we report the Apollo Masters manufacturing and storage facility had a devastating fire and suffered catastrophic damage. The best news is all of our employees are safe. We are uncertain of our future at this point and are evaluating options as we try to work through this difficult time. Thank you for all of the support over the years and the notes of encouragement and support we have received from you all.

From music news site Pitchfork 

“Devastating” Manufacturing Plant Fire Threatens Worldwide Vinyl Record Supply
Apollo Masters—a manufacturing plant that supplies the lacquer used for making master discs, which are used to make vinyl records—suffered a fire on Thursday, February 6, at its manufacturing and storage facility in Banning, California.

Some more:

“From my understanding, this fire will present a problem for the vinyl industry worldwide,” Ben Blackwell, co-founder of Third Man Records told Pitchfork in an email. “There are only TWO companies that make lacquers in the world, and the other, MDC in Japan, already had trouble keeping up with demand BEFORE this development.” (The emphasis is Blackwell’s.)

Blackwell also wrote that there have been “whispers” of another company “entertaining the idea” of entering the lacquer marketplace, but that Apollo was also the “primary or possibly only supplier of the styli” that are used in the vinyl pressing process. “I imagine this will affect EVERYONE, not just Third Man Pressing and Third Man Mastering, but to what extent remains to be seen.”

Hope that they are able to rebuild. California will be a bear with all the environmental rules these days. Their old plant was probably grandfathered in - any new construction will be incredibly intricate/expensive.

Not a vinyl person - sold my albums a long time ago but I do appreciate the technology and it does give a different sound to the music.

From CNBC:

Facebook and Twitter decline Pelosi request to delete Trump video
A fierce behind-the-scenes dispute between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office and Facebook erupted into public view Friday, as the speaker’s office demanded that Facebook remove a video posted online by President Donald Trump.

The video in question showed Pelosi’s viral State of the Union moment ripping up the text of Trump’s speech Tuesday night, but was edited to make it appear that she ripped the speech even as Trump saluted a Tuskegee airman in the audience. In fact, Pelosi’s speech-ripping gesture came at the end of the president’s speech, and her office said it was in response to the totality of the speech and what Pelosi saw as misinformation in it.

Within hours, the speaker’s office was demanding both social media companies remove the video, arguing it was unfair to Pelosi, who actually stood and applauded the airman during the speech.

Both Facebook and Twitter decided against removing the Trump video, although the companies cited different reasons for their decisions.

The dispute became public Friday when Pelosi’s deputy chief of staff, Drew Hammill, posted a link to a criticism of the video Friday afternoon, writing “The latest fake video of Speaker Pelosi is deliberately designed to mislead and lie to the American people, and every day that these platforms refuse to take it down is another reminder that they care more about their shareholders’ interests than the public’s interests.”

Andy Stone, a Facebook spokesman, replied to Hammill on Twitter: “Sorry, are you suggesting the President didn’t make those remarks and the Speaker didn’t rip the speech?”

This is downright fun. Hey Nancy - the truth hurts and this is not a totalitarian state so you can not edit the narrative to suit your whim.

Fun times in Virginia - gun control

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Bet that Ralph “Blackface” Northam will be a one-term governor. From Big League Politics:

Virginia Democrats Use State Police to Kick Public Out of Room After Passing ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban in House Committee
After passing an unconstitutional “assault rifle” ban through a House committee, the Virginia state delegation forced onlookers to leave the committee under threat of arrest, essentially stripping them of their 1st Amendment right to petition the government.

The shocking video of law enforcement stomping on the free speech of the people in attendance during the committee hearing can be seen here:

We The People are pissed at this overreach. Going to be interesting in November.

And back home

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An uneventful trip - returned some stuff, looked at some stuff and bought three items.

Fixing a large late lunch - L is still a bit under the weather and not very food-oriented right now so no dinner for us before the event. Got some beans in the InstantPot pressure cooking so lunch (linner?) in about 20 minutes.

Was planning to work on the laundry room and the garage but the loft is looking really good so spending my time the next day or so getting it finished off.

And I am off for a bit

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Heading to Home Depot to return some unneeded insulation and a couple of other items.

Back in a couple hours - L and I are headed to a fun event in Bellingham later tonight.

Great online infographic from Johns Hopkins University

Coronavirus 2019-nCoV Global Cases by Johns Hopkins CSSE

At this moment it shows 31,529 confirmed cases, 638 "official" deaths, and 1,764 patients recovered. 

As a matter of perspective, there is this from our own Centers for Disease Control:

2019-2020 U.S. Flu Season: Preliminary Burden Estimates
CDC estimates that, from October 1, 2019, through February 1, 2020, there have been:

    • 22,000,000 – 31,000,000 flu illnesses
    • 10,000,000 – 15,000,000 flu medical visits
    • 210,000 – 370,000 flu hospitalizations
    • 12,000 – 30,000 flu deaths

The takeaway is: #1) - yes, we need to be careful about the Coronavirus and monitor its spread. It is nasty and could come back and bite us sometime later now that it is resident in the population. And: #2) - the common flu is a lot deadlier. Excercise basic sanitary proceedures, avoid crowds, wash your hands regularly.

From FOX News:

Treasury complies with GOP Senate inquiry, hands over highly confidential info on Hunter Biden, report says
The Treasury Department complied with a Republican-controlled Senate inquiry into Hunter Biden's business dealings in Ukraine and handed over highly sensitive financial records and "evidence of questionable origin," a report on Thursday said.

Biden, the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, has been a favorite target for President Trump and other Republicans who use him as an example of an extreme case of crony capitalism. He once held a $50,000-a-month job with Ukrainian gas giant, Burisima Holdings while his father served under then-President Obama. His father was tasked with handling Ukraine policy at the time.

Looks like: #1) - pay for play is no longer the USA's guideline for foreign policy and #2) - those corrupt officials who did this are not going to just get a slap on the wrist. They will probably not see the inside of a Club Fed but they will get called out, fined and publicly shamed. As an encouragement to the others...

And now the fun begins - cleaning

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The contractor is done with his work - I'll be going through it this weekend prior to priming and painting to look for any boo-boos but it looks good. Very happy.

Now the fun begins - the entire house has a very fine coating of dust. Going through with wet towels and cleaning every surface. I had to do this multiple times when I first bought the place as the previous owner was a heavy smoker. Should be able to knock it out in a day though - not that much actually and it was not unexpected.

For electronics stuff, Swiffer brand dry pads are incredible. These are a secret in the electronic music world - great for picking up dust and dirt and they leave zero residue.

L has a heightened sense of smell so need to be very thorough. She is also an incredible cook so this trait works both ways...

At least one of them is being honest about it which is a stretch for them overall. From The Washington Free Beacon:

House Dem Admits They Block Legislation Because ‘We Don’t Want to Give the President a Win’
Rep. Mikie Sherrill (D., N.J.) expressed frustration with her Democratic colleagues at a recent town hall, admitting they block legislation because they "don't want to give the president a win."

Speaking at a Livingston, New Jersey, town hall on Thursday, Sherrill revealed the "shockingly different mindset" of congressional Democrats who prioritize resisting President Donald Trump over passing legislation that could help their constituents.

Which goes a long way to explain why the shit-hole cities in our country have been run by Democrats for the last 20-30 years at least. Shameful. We need to get some adults in the room.

From Gallup Polls:

New High of 90% of Americans Satisfied With Personal Life
Nine in 10 Americans are satisfied with the way things are going in their personal life, a new high in Gallup's four-decade trend. The latest figure bests the previous high of 88% recorded in 2003.

2003? That would be three years into Dubya Bush's administration.

Goes to show that conservatism does equal satisfaction.

Done for the day - got a lot done

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Good day's work - happy with what I got done. The contractor is sanding the drywall so the house is a bit dusty but I expected this. Got all of the doors and windows open and my air filters running.

Heading over to L's house for dinner later. First, surf time...

The Impeachment - all over

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It was another nothingburger. A side story from America's Newspaper of Record, the Babylon Bee:

Mitch McConnell Sends Pelosi Shirt Reading 'I Impeached The President And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt'

20200206-pelosi.jpg

Mitch McConnell felt bad for Nancy Pelosi after watching her get forced to impeach the president by the radical wing of her party, then impeach him and sit on the articles of impeachment for weeks. So, he decided to cheer her up a bit.

McConnell had his staffers deliver Pelosi a shirt reading "I Impeached The President And All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt." Pelosi did not seem to understand the nice gift, pointing her finger sternly and lecturing the McConnell staffer: "Don't mess with me." Though her dentures fell out before she could finish her rant, sadly.

"It's the least I could do," McConnell said, a grin slowly spreading across his face. "I feel bad for the poor girl -- so much work on impeachment for nothing. Everyone needs a little consolation prize, a little affirmation. A participation trophy, you might say."

Heh - spot on 😆

News out of China - Coronavirus

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Not good - one sad benchmark from Zero Hedge:

Original China Virus Whistleblower Doctor Dies
The Chinese doctor who tried to raise the alarm about the new coronavirus before it was even identified has died of the deadly virus.

Dr. Li, 34, was hospitalized on January 12 after contracted the virus from his patient, and he was confirmed to have the coronavirus on February 1, and The World Health organization has just confirmed his passing...

The actual reports coming out of China are quite a bit different than the official reports - the joys of dealing with a totalitarian Communist state.

Meanwhile, in Japan. From the Canadian Broadcast Corporation:

B.C. passengers living under 'cabin arrest' on quarantined cruise ship
Passengers on a cruise ship quarantined in Japan after a coronavirus outbreak are trying to get used to the idea of being trapped in their small cabins for the next two weeks, waiting for their meals to be delivered to the door, according to B.C. residents on board.

Paul Mirko of Richmond said he and his wife Kayoko are trying to make the best of things after learning that they and thousands of others won't be allowed to leave their rooms on the Diamond Princess for at least 14 days while Japanese officials try to contain the spread of the disease.

"I'm calling it 'cabin arrest' as opposed to house arrest. It's a three-metre by five-metre room and we can't leave," said Mirko, 63.

I would prefer norovirus - you feel like you are going to die but the actual fatality rate is quite low.

Had almost two inches of precip yesterday and already at 0.14" this morning since Midnight. The air is gravid with moisture - can barely see the shoreline of Whidbey Island across the strait and the forecast calls for 100% chance of precip today.

Not a good day for a walk but meeting up with L at her place for dinner and a movie later - she is feeling a lot better.

Out for coffee and then back home to work on the house.

And that is it - tired

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Time for a big pot of tea and some YouTube videos.

A fun collection of Democrat responses to President Trump's State of the Union address last night:

Hat tip - Gerard

And back for the night

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Meeting was not as well attended (40 instead of 69 people) but it has been raining a lot so this is to be expected. Water over the roads, flooding, etc... The rainfall has not been as sudden and spectacular as the deluge on the 1st. That was an atmospheric river or Pineapple Express. This has just been a steady downpour. Since last midnight, I have recieved 2.17" of the wet stuff. I will see what the total for today is when I wake up tomorrow. Quite a lot.

I drove up North this afternoon and many of the irrigation ditches were overflowing. The Stillaguamish River is not super high but the slope of the curve is matching the event on 02/01 and levels are building:

20200204-stilly.jpg

More of the same forecast for tomorrow - joy...

Out for coffee and then working at home

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Doing a presentation for our local arts group tonight so doing the final prep.

Heading out for coffee and a few errands and then back home. Rain has let up for now...

Now this is interesting - turbulence

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A complex behaviour turns out to have a very simple and elegent solution. From Quanta Magazine:

Mathematicians Prove Universal Law of Turbulence
Picture a calm river. Now picture a torrent of white water. What is the difference between the two? To mathematicians and physicists it’s this: The smooth river flows in one direction, while the torrent flows in many different directions at once.

Physical systems with this kind of haphazard motion are called turbulent. The fact that their motion unfolds in so many different ways at once makes them difficult to study mathematically. Generations of mathematicians will likely come and go before researchers are able to describe a roaring river in exact mathematical statements.

But a new proof finds that while certain turbulent systems appear unruly, they actually conform to a simple universal law. The work is one of the most rigorous descriptions of turbulence ever to emerge from mathematics. And it arises from a novel set of methods that are themselves changing how researchers study this heretofore untamable phenomenon.

A nice lay explanation at the site - the paper is a bit too much for my head. Pretty cool though...

Pelosi Tantrum was noticed

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A few clickable headlines:

And from The White House:

That is quite the legacy you have SanFranNan...

Have not watched the entire State of the Union speech that President Trump gave last night but the end of it really got to me. Nancy Pelosi was sitting behind our President so her actions were plainly visible. Whenever President Trump talked about his accomplishments, she started shuffling sheets of paper and sorting them on her desk. This was a very visible tantrum. Le pièce de résistance came at the end of President Trump's speech when he rose to walk out and Pelosi started tearing up the transcript of his speech. I was not the only person to think that this was the act of a six year old.
From Harmony Anderson's twitter feed:

Disgusting. Says a lot about her constituents in that they keep putting her in office.
Tip of the hat to Don Surber who had this to say:

Her moment of spite may have been emotionally satisfying for her but it raised the question of why Democrats would place such a person in a seat of authority. Acts of defiance are for people out of power. But she has power. Normal Americans see this and ask what is wrong with her? She couldn't wear the mask of comity for an hour on television.

True dat...

Lazy morning

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Woke up to the sound of rain on the roof - over 0.5" have fallen in the last 24 hour period so flooding is forecast for the lowlands. It is winter in the Pacific Northwet.

Contractor is coming over this morning for some sanding and the second coat of mud. I will need to let everything dry and then do the primer and paint so looking at getting the rooms "back" sometime Monday of next week. It will be nice. Ordered some flooring samples so pick those up when the come in (supposed to be Friday) and start that process. Half of the house is almost finished. Woo Hoo!!!

Still get a foul taste saying those two words - the guy thought he was an intellectual but in reality, he was just a narcissistic tool of radical socialists. Absolutely classical case of Dunning-Kruger Effect. From Watts Up With That.

The post is about yet another failure of a much-touted alternative energy scheme:

It is in the news, as expected Crescent Dunes, the world largest concentrated solar power plant featuring 10 hours of molten salt thermal energy storage, just went bust.

https://www.reviewjournal.com/opinion/letters/letter-much-touted-crescent-dunes-solar-plant-goes-bust-1935510/

https://www.cato.org/blog/crescent-dunes-another-green-flop

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/another-federally-backed-solar-energy-project-just-went-belly-116506

From the Infogalactic entry for Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project

20200204-crescent.jpgDividing One Billion Dollars (total cost so far) by the 418,849 MW-h brings us the cost to the customer of the electricity. I will scale it to the more familiar kiloWatt per hour. Here in the Pacific Northwest, we pay about 10¢ per 1kW-h. The cost of the electricity generated by this facility is $2.38 kW-h. All of the overruns and expenses are coming out of our wallets - this is all tax-payer subsidies. The projected cost to market of this electricity was 0.08kW-h. Fat Chance.

This is why alt.energy will never work. It is not reliable. It doesn't operate at night. It is not baseload. This last is the most important. The dirty little secret is that for every 100MW (100,000,000,000 watts) of alt.energy generation capacity, there is another 100MW of natural gas turbine running on standby for when the wind stops blowing or when the sky gets cloudy.

Modern nuclear is the way to go. Every single nuclear accident that has happened so far has been with a reactor whose basic design is more than 60 years old. Think of the progress of technology - computers, cell phones, televisions, medical equipment, etc... Imagine what a modern nuclear reactor would be like - smaller, cheaper and walk-away safe. We have them, we need to show the political will to build them.

Markets in everything - Amazon Dating

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A joke of course but still fun - check out Amazon Dating

Just wonderful - cruise ship

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From Bloomberg's twitter feed: (the media outlet, not that odious little man)

Good lord - I could not think of a worse place for something this contageous. They only have hospital space for a fraction of the shipboard population. I would rather have norovirus - with that you think you are dying. With Coronavirus you stand a good chance of doing exactly that.

Hypocrite - Sen. Warren

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UPDATE Below:

Fauxcahontis talk heap-um big talk but no walk-um the walk. Legal Insurrection:

Elizabeth Warren Transferred Oil-and-Gas Investments to Her Children To Protect Her ‘Green’ Political Profile
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) campaigns as an environmental activist, supporting the completelyinsane Green New Deal and stating that she will ban fracking on her first day in office.

As is often the case with Warren, what she says and what she does are very different things. The Wall Street Journal reports that Warren received income from oil and gas royalties in Oklahoma and that she transferred her holdings to her children before announcing her run for the Senate.

Warren latched on to the Green New Deal almost immediately.  She did not care that it was concocted originally as a means of restructuring “the entire economy,” with its socialist Justice Democrats creators only later slapping the green wash of “climate change” on it to make it more appealing to the left.

And a little bit more:

It appears that as her political profile rose, she sold and/or transferred her interest in various oil and gas interests to her children.

She couldn't divest - Nooooooo... Those investments are making way too much sweet sweet money. No, she shuttled them off to her kids hoping that people would not notice. Guess what...

As usual, there is much more at the site with links to cooroborating information. Facts, not narrative.

UPDATE - this just came in from NOQ Report:

Not-so-green Elizabeth Warren hides from camera after exiting private jet
Climate change alarmists love some of the Democratic candidates. Of particular interest are the two socialists and the two billionaires who have dedicated large portions of their campaigns towards promoting the Green New Deal and other climate change measures they say will prevent us from the impending extinction that’s allegedly a decade away.

Unfortunately for at least one of the green favorites, she’s bouncing across the nation in style like someone who simply doesn’t care about the incredible damage she’s doing to the environment. That candidate is Senator Elizabeth Warren who was caught on camera today exiting a high-end private jet.

Typical liberal hypocrite...

A deluge

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Not as much rain as a couple of days ago but repetitive small amounts add up quickly when the ground is already saturated. Got an email from the County warning of a flood watch for our area.

We were up in Bellingham earler today and there was a lot of standing water in roadways - that sort of stuff.

The fun never stops...

Who ordered this?

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Started snowing early this morning. Nothing really sticking but still... Supposed to turn to rain later today - I guess that this will be a bit warmer but still. Thinking that it might be time for a road-trip to the Southwest. Revisit some old haunts and check out some new ones. Get some sun in my bones...

Back for the day

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Working on the laundry room and the garage for a couple of hours. Fun stuff...

Heh - as it unravels

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The Democrat king-makers do not want Bernie to be their nominee. Their machinations were fairly subtle in 2016, now, there is no holding them back. From FOX News:

Iowa Caucus vote totals delayed amid 'inconsistencies'; campaigns lash out at 'crazy' state party
The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) still has not reported official vote totals in the critical Iowa Caucuses as of early Tuesday morning, in a largely unexplained and unprecedented delay that has raised questions about the legitimacy of the contest — and Democratic campaign officials are livid, Fox News has learned.

The Trump campaign, meanwhile, openly suggested that the delay meant that the caucuses were being "rigged," and that the embarrassing night proved that the Democratic Party can't be trusted to run Americans' health care and implement sweeping new government programs. Even if a winner were ultimately announced, the chaos and confusion has seemingly erased any hope for the major momentum boost that would normally result.

"We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results," the IDP said in a statement at 11:30 p.m. EST. "In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report. This is simply a reporting issue. The app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results."

Of course it is rigged. These are the Democrats we are talking about. They have nothing substantive to run on so they have to resort to cheating to get elected. No big surprise there.

Makes a lot of sense - farming

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Found over at Terriorman's Daily Dose:

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Up and at 'em - radio

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Heading out for an early coffee and then to the local fire station. Western Washington does an emergency communications drill every tuesday morning and I am part of a roster of six people who rotate through and operate that particular station on the island.

Back home after that to continue working. Home Depot was running a special on some very nice accacia wood countertops. I had been looking for a desk for my space upstairs (thinking Ikea or such) and L thought that one of those would work. She is right - gorgeous wood, fairly cheap and I will be welding up a rolling stand for it. Fun little project.

Time to get on with my day...

An early bedtime

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Been working hard the last two weeks and it is starting to manifest in my body saying: "Sleep now dammit"

Going to force myself to stay awake until 9:30 or so but bedtime soon after that. Been waking up at 5-6AM naturally.

Have the state-wide emergency radio drill tomorrow morning - should be simple, no extended drills or exercises. A good thing to practice. It is not IF, it is WHEN.

Australia moves a bit

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Tectonics and GPS - some correction needed. From The Sydney Morning Herald:

NSW and Victoria just jumped 1.8 metres north
On New Year’s Day, NSW and Victoria jumped north by 1.8 metres – while the rest of the country remained firmly fixed in place.

No, you did not miss an earthquake. And no, we’re not seceding from the rest of the continent.

And the reason:

Australia sits atop one of the fastest-moving tectonic plates in the world. We move about seven centimetres north-east every year.

“That’s about the speed your hair or fingernails grow,” says NSW Surveyor General Narelle Underwood, who led NSW’s ‘jump’.

In the days of paper maps our tectonic drift did not pose a real problem. The continent might move but the distance from Melbourne to Sydney stayed the same. That meant Australia could get away with the slight inaccuracy that has crept in since we last set our coordinates in 1994.

But paper maps have gone the way of the dinosaurs; we use GPS now. And GPS notices.

A simple correction. Wonderful that we have gone from miles to fractions of an inch in just 40 years or so.

And done for the day

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Finished my work, my contractor started taping and mudding. The rooms are looking really good. So much better than what they were. Fun too - I had a small space heater (1,200 watts) running overnight and the room was too hot for comfort. Nice to get a good level of insulation for once. I can not imagine what they were paying for heat earlier.

Meeting up with L tomorrow for a walk and dinner at her house. She is really sensitive to dust and odors so the house here has been very uncomfortable for her for any length of time. It will be good to get it buttoned up, deep cleaned and then have her over here again.

Not that smart - Democrats

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Seems that they do not understand the media and optics - from Dan Bongino's twitter account:

Timing is everything in politics - they should have realized that the Meuller Report was a giant nothingburger and gone with the impeachment first. Now, they are crowding themselves out of the news cycle.

Fun to see...

And back to work

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Done with the music room and the contractor is busy hanging rock and taping.

Loading up the van and taking it to the dump - finished an early lunch.

Welcome to Venezuela - California

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Unreal - from CNBC News:

California’s governor says he’s ready to take over embattled PG&E
One year after filing for bankruptcy, PG&E has worked out deals to borrow money and guarantee more than $25 billion in payouts to wildfire victims, insurers and local municipalities.

It’s even come to terms with bondholders. As a result, its shares have skyrocketed 37 percent so far in January. Mizuho upgraded the stock this week to a “buy.” That optimism may be premature.

The company has to exit Chapter 11 by a crucial June 30 deadline, and there is one huge remaining obstacle: California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has long talked about a state takeover of the company.

“PG&E, that company no longer exists,” Newsom said this week at an event by the Public Policy Institute of California. He is rejecting PG&E’s plan, saying it leaves the utility with too much debt to survive another disaster, let alone provide the necessary investments to harden infrastructure. The utility serves 16 million customers in Northern California.

“I have no interest in the existing management and existing board,” Newsom said. “It has to be a completely new company.”

And he kept repeating this threat: “There’s going to be a new company or the state of California takes it over.”

This is exactly what happened in Venezuela. It used to export food. It used to have the largest GDP of any nation in South America. It used to be a vibrant culture - a happy well-run nation. The socialists moved in promising free shit to the low-information voters and Venezuela followed the same path that all other experiments in socialism have always followed.

Once you start nationalizing the industries, it is all over. There is no incentive to innovate or to build. Newsom is crazy.

So true - poor sod...

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Never thought of it this way:

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Time to get to work

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Finished breakfast - time to work. Music room is looking good. Done, just need to move my tools out and sweep before the contractor comes to hang the sheetrock.

Mr. Zuckerberg is no longer kowtowing to the social justice warriors - from the London Daily Mail:

Mark Zuckerberg declares Facebook is going to 'stand up for free expression' and allow people to post what they want - but the CEO admits the new move will 'p**s off a lot of people'
Mark Zuckerberg has declared that Facebook is 'going to stand up for free expression' in spite of the fact it will 'piss off a lot of people'.

The controversial CEO, 35, made the claim during a fiery appearance at the Silicon Slopes Tech Summit in Utah on Friday.

Zuckerberg told the audience that Facebook had previously tried to resist moves that would be branded as 'too offensive' - but says he now believes he is being asked to partake in 'excessive censorship'.

'Increasingly we're getting called to censor a lot of different kinds of content that makes me really uncomfortable,' he claimed.

'We're going to take down the content that's really harmful, but the line needs to be held at some point'.

Wonderful news - SJWs are a suppurating pox on today's culture. As with so many things, they started off as well meaning but they turned into scolds and are now just a maquette of their original intent. Yield an inch and they want a foot. Give them a foot and they want both legs. We need to punch back and mock them. Shut them up and drive them into the ocean. Welcome back Mark - censorship is never a good idea.

Two quotes

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Refreshing our memory - from Kim DuToit:

“The Earth is degenerating today. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer obey their parents, every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching.”
— From a tablet found in Assyria, circa 2800 BC

And:

“The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyrannize their teachers.”
— Socrates, circa 380 BC

And that is it for the night

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Got a lot on my plate tomorrow so early bedtime. Pot of tea, some YouTube and that is it for me.

Done with a machete since guns are outlawed. Draconian gun laws do not stop the mental illness or violence, just makes it difficult for law abiding citizens to defend themselves. From the London Daily Mail:

Revealed: Terrorist shot dead after stabbing two people in south London attack is named as Sudesh Amman, 20, who was freed just days ago after serving jail term for distributing extremist material

    • Officers arrived at the scene outside a supermarket on High Road in Streatham, south London, at 2pm today
    • Scotland Yard said that three were injured in the attack - with one man initially in a life-threatening condition
    • The terrorist shot dead by police has been named as Sudesh Amman, 20, released a few days ago from jail
    • Amman had been jailed for three years and four months in December 2018 for committing 13 terror offences
    • However, after serving half of his sentence, the terrorist is believed to have been released just a few days ago

The terrorist shot dead by police after stabbing two people in Streatham on Sunday was automatically released from prison just a few days ago, after serving less than half of a three year-plus sentence for 13 terror offences.

'Knife-obsessed' Sudesh Amman, 20, went on a rampage in south London, stabbing a man in his 40s in the stomach and a female cyclist in her 50s in the back, though both survived.

It has now been revealed that Amman, from Harrow, was jailed for three years and four months in December 2018 after he pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing terrorist documents.

The then-18-year-old fantasised about carrying out a terror attack with a blade or with acid while riding a moped and also shared Al Qaeda propaganda on a WhatsApp group used by his family.

This is not religion or culture. This is profound mental illness and needs to be treated as such - ie: locked away in a padded cell.

The half-time show

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Wowsers - killer performances by Shakira and J. Lo.

Now just waiting for all of the commercials to be published in one site.

Today is Groundhog Day - an interesting rumor from Anthony writing at Watts Up With That:

BREAKING: Punxsutawney to retire Phil the groundhog, replace him with Greta Thunberg
People send me stuff. A friend of mine (an insider in the groundhog committee bunker) tells me that due to the pressure they are getting from PETA (for groundhog abuse) that they will soon announce that they are retiring ” Punxsutawney Phil”, the famous weather prognosticator, and replace him with globally respected child climate forecaster Greta Thunberg.

Apparently, the behind-the-scenes argument for this is that since all “weather is now climate” on a daily basis, they can safely switch from a rodent-based weather forecaster to a brat-based human climate forecaster.

While PETA has been calling for an “animatronic” groundhog robot to replace Phil, the groundhog committee felt that wouldn’t be believable, and since the same sort of people that believe in the reliability of rodent-based weather forecasting, would also likely believe Greta Thunberg’s climate prognostications, the committee decided she would be a better and more believable fit than a robot.

This makes as much sense to me as anything else I’ve heard about climate alarmism.

This is not from the Babylon Bee.

Three headlines

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Done with the framing - insulation and then done for the day

Three headlines:

One paragraph:

What the bow tie–wearing myopics of the swamp can't or refuse to see is that President Trump's support comes, at its source, from growing animal spirits in America convinced that the federal government is a major problem.  The country elected Mr. Trump, in part, because he promised to be a giant club willing to bash the D.C. hull repeatedly until it sinks into the Potomac River basin.  You can't fight a war if you don't even understand the positions of the players or the stakes involved, and the D.C. denizens prove every day that they have no idea what's going on in the minds of those living between the coasts.

Nails it flat.  Next:

One paragraph:

Sitting in the lobby restaurant of the Renaissance Savery hotel, Kerry was overheard by an NBC News analyst saying "maybe I'm f---ing deluding myself here" and explaining that in order to run, he'd have to step down from the board of Bank of America and give up his ability to make paid speeches. Kerry said donors like venture capitalist Doug Hickey would have to "raise a couple of million," adding that such donors "now have the reality of Bernie."

What - don't have access to your wife's money any more? Grifter.  And the last:

Two paragraphs:

The professor said it was possible the coronavirus might be transmitted via faeces. After entering the intestine and multiplying, it may then be excreted and come into contact with a person's hands, he said.

He also warned that the virus could be turned to vapour by the force of a toilet flushing, endangering people in the same room.

This is going to be a lot of fun in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles when it hits the homeless population.

And do not get me started on the new fad of air hand dryers - those are a serious health hazard if the person using them does not do the full 20-second health-department hand wash. A quick rinse (with or without soap) will just loosen the surface bacteria and the hand dryer will aerosolize them into a 6-10 foot cloud.
Don't believe me? Here, here, here and here. The Journal of Applied Microbiology has the definitive paper.

And back to work

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Got a bunch done this morning. Leisurely break for lunch and back to work for another couple of hours.

That moke turned into quite the RINO and it is coming home to roost - from Real Clear Politics:

Bolton's Security Clearance in Jeopardy in Wake of Book Leaks
In the late summer of 2018, just a few months into John Bolton’s national security adviser tenure, he strongly defended President Trump’s decision to revoke the security clearance of former CIA Director John Brennan, the pugnacious anti-Trump critic the president has called a “leaker,” “a liar” and ringleader of the debunked Russian collusion investigation.

At the time, Bolton accused Brennan of “politicizing intelligence,” both during the Obama administration and afterward, which he deemed a “very dangerous thing to do.”

That was then - this is now:

Nearly a year and a half later, the shoe is on the other foot.

Bolton left the White House in September 2019 in a public eruption of vitriol on both sides over the terms of his departure. He said he resigned; Trump says he fired the longtime national security hawk over foreign policy differences. More recently, Trump accused Bolton of trying to entangle the U.S. in multiple additional wars instead of ending them as the president had promised voters in 2016 he would do.

Bolton now faces the wrath of not just Trump but his legions of loyalists for volunteering to testify against the president in the impeachment trial, thus bolstering Democrats’ arguments that the president threatened Ukraine’s president with a quid pro quo over U.S. aid to extract a commitment to investigate Joe Biden and his son’s dealings in that country.

Seeing his security clearance revoked is an almost certainty for Bolton once the impeachment trial is over, according to two government officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, as well as legal experts – all of whom say Bolton could face additional fallout for his role in the impeachment drama this week.

One simply does not screw with the President - regardless of whom that might be and what you feel about the person and their politics. They will always have the last laugh... This is D.C. rule #1.

Quote of the Month

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From Assistant Village Idiot:

Two Sides
On any issue, the people who believe there are two sides keep getting shouted down
by those who believe there is only one.

And that is President Honey Badger to you

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The soundtrack from a great YouTube video overlaid onto a montage of President Trump:

A tip of the hat to Gerard.

Driving in the Pacific Northwet

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After yesterday's monsoon, Interstate 5 Northbound was closed because of a landslide.

Highway 9 was closed at the Whatcom County border because of flooding.

Now, one of the major border crossings into Canada is closed because of flooding. From the WA State DOT:

I will be glad when Winter is done with. I do love the seasons but...

Late start today

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Slept in - heading out for coffee and then finishing off the music room. Heading out for an event later this evening.

The storm has blown over - nice and calm outside, a bit warmer and sunny. Summer is on its way.

L reminded me that today's date is a palindrome 02022020

And that is it for tonight

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Planning to sleep in tomorrow - been working long days but the house is looking good. The guy I hired to do drywall is really meticulous and good. Very happy with his work.

We have a couple things planned for next week - all work and no play and all that good stuff...

Corruption? Ilhan Omar?

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Heh - a new law in Utah

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From the Deseret News:

Utah lawmaker files bill to allow recall of sitting U.S. senator
A Utah lawmaker has filed a bill to allow Utahns to recall an elected United States senator.

The lawmaker, Rep. Tim Quinn, R-Heber City, told the Deseret News in an interview Wednesday shortly after the bill was made public that it’s not meant to target any specific sitting Utah senator — but it comes amid heightened national attention on Sen. Mitt Romney, who has been among the few Republican senators publicly critical of President Donald Trump.

Romney in recent days has ignited simmering controversy over whether to bring additional witnesses and documents into the impeachment trial against Trump. Yet Quinn said his bill isn’t aimed at Romney or any specific senator — though he acknowledged his bill comes at a time that people will likely construe it that way.

Mitt is just another tretcherous RINO - the sooner he is off the public stage, the better.

Mr. Pierre Delecto, Mr. Delecto to the white courtesy telephone please. Mr. Pierre Delecto... What a putz.

Done with lunch - back to work

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Meeting with L later this afternoon for a walk. Until then, back to work for this kid...

And we hit flood stage

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Nothing major but still, above the 14 foot point:

20200201-stilly-flood.jpg

Stopped raining and looks like the rise of the river is tapering off - we will see though...

Glad I am not driving today

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Got this in my inbox - signed up for various alerts. From the WA State Dept of Transportation:

The rain has let up but it was a lot in a very short period of time. The slide happened about 30 minutes ago.

And to work

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Done with breakfast and morning routines - start finishing off the music room. Drywall next.

Encouraging idea - will Frexit be next?

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From France's Marine Le Pen's twitter account:

This #Brexit day should mark the beginning of the construction of the European Alliance of Nations which we wish for and which the majority of European people want.

This European Union will go down in history as a resounding failure! MLP

We welcome our brothers in France to the land of freedom and opportunity. The tyranny of EU rule is falling apart. Godspeed.

On her way out - Greta Thunberg

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Looks like the poor little tool of our elite - the sock puppet - is fading from the scene. I wonder who will be the next passionate innumerate tool. I am sure there is a line of them somewhere - being groomed for their 15 minutes.
From Zero Hedge:

Angry 17-Year-Old Girl To Trademark Her Name To "Protect" Against Misuse
Having failed to stir any of the world's leader in Davos into anything more than virtue-signaling words, and still refusing to verbally attack the real global polluters - India and China - so-called climate-evangelist Greta Thunberg has decided that the world will no longer be able to use her name in vain.

The 17-year-old Swede took to Instagram to explain - in great detail - why she has applied to trademark her name and her movement 'Fridays for Future' to prevent them from being misused for commercial reasons.

Yeah - when you start going off your message and start trying to manage your "brand", you are on the way out. Done. Fading. Extinct. Heading the way of the dodo. Hope that you enjoyed your world travel and your fame - remember, fame is fleeting.

G.T. is just another shrill teenager with auspergers and no sense of the realities of science.

Heavy weather

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Got wind last night. Woke up to 0.27" of rain since midnight - talk about deluge.

The mighty Stillaguamish River is showing the effects:

20200201-stilly-flow.jpg

This is the flow rate - 1760% higher.

20200201-stilly-height.jpg

It is right at flood stage (13 feet) - going to have to drive around a bit and take some photos.

Heading back for an hour's nap - working on the house today. L is taking care of her client.

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