Mike Moyle

The volume of RINO hit pieces on Mike Moyle claiming he is carrying out Obama's agenda is startling.  The left is spending a lot of money trying to defeat Moyle.  I am hoping all this is in hopes that California refugees with no knowledge of Moyle will go ahead and vote against him.  So if you know any recent arrivals, warn them that Moyle is a serious conservative and these nasty mailers are attempts by the left to put a RINO in place of Moyle.

Nuking Mortgage

It is the only way to be sure.

Rep. Mike Moyle (R)

He is Speaker of the House in the Idaho Legislature.  I have been receiving ferocious attacks on him for being a RINO, more supportive of liberal policies than not.

Looking at a summary of his votes on VoteSmart suggests this is a smear campaign by a Moby group.  His votes are pretty consistently on the right. While you might fault him for voting for an abortion ban law so defective that even some pro-life legislators believe it needs revision, the hard facts are that the exemptions are one of the big loopholes that pro-abortion forces use.  Getting this law right is important; getting it wrong the first time was almost certain to be wrong 

Closed Old House Today

We did the final paperwork to sell the old house today. Two more days and we get our money out.

Military-Industrial Complex

Eisenhower warned us about it.  How defense contractors can exercise unhealthy influence over military spending.

I was watching some video podcast and the guest was saying that even if it existed in 1960, it is not really the case now 

Raytheon gross profit 2023: $12 billion.

Lockheed-Martin gross profit 2023: $8.4 billion.

These are not trivial amounts of money but compared to:

Apple: $174 billion 

Alphabet (Google and cousins): $174 billion

Amazon: $270 billion

Now the jobs and especially when they are concentrated in a small number of Congressional districts or states might matter a lot, but Tech is more likely from resources available to corrupt our criminal class.

Post-Apocalyptic Films

There are more than I expected on Tubi (a free with ads) channel available through Google TV.  Mostly indie productions some very well done.  Cheap high-res cameras and video editing software produced a storm of films in the early 2010s.

Amazing! Not Every Drug Law Was Bad

After Oregon repealed its all drugs are legal law, another progressive/libertarian fantasy bites the dust.  5/7/24 New York Times:

"The government of Canada on Tuesday walked back part of a program allowing people in British Columbia to possess small amounts of drugs, including heroin and cocaine, without fear of criminal charges. At the request of the province and after a public backlash, people in British Columbia are no longer permitted to use drugs in public places.

Under the changes, which went into effect immediately, adults will still be allowed to possess small amounts of drugs. But they will now have to use them in legal residences, at safe injection sites and at other harm-reduction centers established by the health authorities.

The re-criminalization of public drug use in British Columbia underscores the difficulties that governments face as they grapple with the opioid crisis."

Harsh reality.  Drug laws exist for three reasons:

1. Drug addicts destroy themselves and it is not pretty 

2. They severely injured others. Some are family and acquaintances who must deal with various forms of abuse and violence by people while intoxicated causes theft, burglary, and other economic crimes and loss of inhibitions while intoxicated leads to murder, rape, and child abuse.

3. The violence and economic exploitation of drug dealers (including pharmaceutical companies who supplied B.C.'s "harm reduction program") was destructive.

I know all the wonderful theories of legalization and have made them myself in the past.  They make perfect sense for people with the sense to not destroy themselves and others.  Addicts are not strong on good sense.

Why Are Blacks Detaching From the Democratic Party?

5/7/24 Fox News:

"Gov. Hochul says she 'misspoke' when she said some 'Black kids' don't know the word 'computer'

"Hochul received criticism from Bronx officials after claiming 'young Black kids' in the borough don't know what the word 'computer' means"

Between the Initial Flash and the Shock Wave

If you live far enough from Ground Zero like I do, there is one important step to take after a light brighter then the Sun gets your attention.  If you are 20 miles back, the shock wave will take at least two minutes to get here.  Even a one megaton blast will produce only light structural damage this far out.  But that includes broken window glass. This is both a personal hazard from flying glass shards but also a dangerous mess to clean up.  

If you have glass doors, open them so the shock wave will go past not through the glass.  Open all windows.  The outer facing panes may well break but likely be held from farther entry by the inner window.  Remember that most windows now are double pane.  I suspect that most combinations of four panes will prevent shards inside.

Of course, the outfacing windows may well be broken but close the windows and tape plastic over the broken windows to keep fallout from entering.

I am not sure what I am missing.  Hints?

Another Reminder We Need Commonsense Knife Control

3/27/24 WSAW:

"ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR/Gray News) - A man was taken into custody Wednesday afternoon after police in Rockford, Illinois, said he attacked and stabbed multiple people.

"Police and the Winnebago County Sheriff’s Office said there were a total of 11 victims in the attacks, including four who died from their injuries. Police said not all of the victims were stabbed."

No real cook needs an "assault knife" with a 7" blade, and a serrated edge (like a military "weapon of war"). 

And yes, a real sociopath might sharpen a screwdriver by grinding it across concrete but think of the children.

Of course:

"Approximately 20 minutes after the first call came in, authorities took a 22-year-old man into custody. Rockford Police Chief Carla Redd said investigators do not believe any other suspects are at large. She says there is no clear motive for the attacks."

I have seen no other coverage.  Mental illness, perhaps?

Who -- And Why -- People from COW (Cal., Ore. and Wash.) Are Moving to Idaho

 Idaho's population is growing, thanks to a surge of California, Washington and Oregon residents moving in. Here's what new Idaho residents say drove them out of their previous homes. | Fox News

https://www.foxnews.com/media/red-state-expat-community-families-fleeing-western-liberal-bastions

Sort of a "Duh" Story, But On MSN?

 5/6/24 MSN:

New Jersey Denies Gun Carry Permits of Black Applicants More Than Double White People

Astonishing Honesty

5/6/24 Colorado Public Radio discusses how the assault weapon ban bill was pulled back by the author because it was unpassable.  An interesting admission from a Democrat who sounds sympathetic to a ban:

"Democratic Rep. Meg Froelich of Denver is sponsoring several gun bills this session with Sullivan this session. She acknowledged the ban is a thorny policy.

“I think it has always had a difficult path because the arguments against a ban are policy arguments, but the arguments for it are from the heart,” said Froelich. “The reality of the upper chamber where there’s a significant number of folks who don’t agree with the policy.” emphasis added

An open admission that they cannot come up with sound arguments for a ban but it makes them feel good.

The Decency of America Survives

My wife and I were running errands today.  On Midland Avenue, there was a duck leading her ducklings through a fairly complex traffic lighted intersection.  Maybe eight cute little fluffballs. People were waiting patiently for her to get her brood across a four lane road, no one in a hurry enough to run them over, no one so anxious to get to whatever appointment absolutely needed to be kept that they honked to get someone to go, even if they could not see the cause.  Finally, Momma and her little ones reached the curb and (barely for the smallest ones) climbed out of the street.

It gave me a good feeling about Idaho.

Signs of Coming Victory

5/4/24 New York Times:

"It has become the topic of the season at Washington dinner parties and receptions. Where would you go if it really happens?

"Portugal, says a former member of Congress. Australia, says a former agency director. Canada, says a Biden administration official. France, says a liberal columnist. Poland, says a former investigator.

"They’re joking. Sort of. At least in most cases. It’s a gallows humor with a dark edge. Much of official Washington is bracing for the possibility that former President Donald J. Trump really could return — this time with “retribution” as his avowed mission, the discussion is where people might go into a sort of self-imposed exile."

I think they are terrified that Trump might do to them what they did to Trump and his allies.  I think they are overstating the fear, although many officials in the intelligence services might have reason to worry about prosecution for what was clearly criminal intent and improper behavior.  

My reaction is the same as hearing Hollyweirds threatening to leave if whatever Republican horror of the day gets elected or re-elected: can I help you pack?  You can be replaced with lawful immigrants who love America.

There is Only One Fix to This

5/4/24 NBC News reports on how illegal immigration is no longer just from Latin America but from nations throughout the world.  An interesting and important quote from a "humanitarian volunteer" who helps illegals cross the border:

“Any person on American soil — and it doesn’t matter how they got here — is allowed to start due process on an asylum case,” Schultz said. “Anyone. So as long as that is true, people are going to attempt to cross the border and get on American soil. Why would it ever be any other way?”

This is why nothing short of an actual physical border can stop this.  Tall, with razor wire on top.  And a constant advertising campaign reminding Americans that increasing the number of workers, especially low skill workers, will impoverish poor Americans. 

There is another fix: every American working for ten cents an hour.

I Went Out to Buy Cheerios...

And test drive a Cadillac CT4.  This was the AWD, turbocharged 2.7L 4-cylinder.  Definitely more acceleration than my Jaguar or last Corvette.  It had pretty impressive cornering although on a test drive I did not push it too hard to avoid terrifying the.salesman.

The seats were adequately firm.  These were not the 14-way adjustable seats.  (How many adjustments does a human body need to get comfortable?). Cadillac has been taking lessons from Mercedes whose seats seemed too firm when you first sat down but were absolutely perfect after a couple of hours.

It has an adequate back seat for my M1A and 5" refractor but not for adults.  I do not think my granddaughter (who is part giraffe) could sit back there.

They had no CT5s in stock.

Dan "Kenneth, What's the Frequency Kenneth" Rather is Back

 For those of you to remember, ChicagoBoyz reminds us that what finally demonstrated that the memo supposedly destroying George Bush's reputation in the Air National Guard was created in 1974 with Microsoft Word using Times New Roman.  And the left is still defending the accuracy of this time travel project.

Logitech Z313 Speakers With Subwoofer

 I bought these for the old TV with awful speakers.  I no longer need them.  Get a bargain on eBay.

Sold!  I think eBay suggested too low a price.

The New TV Has Bluetooth So I am Selling These Wireless Sennheiser TR 165 Headphones on eBay

Get a bargain on eBay.  They look terrible, but work great.

Metal-Free Belts?

The last time I passed through a federal courthouse security check, it made me realize how weak TSA security theater really is.

Nonetheless, it would be nice to reduce the metal that requires removing.  There are a variety of belts that do not use metal buckles (often Velcro to hold the belt tilt). Some are leather, some are nylon which has a little stretch which is useful because sitting down puts demands on the belt that are not there when standing 

Can any of you recommend a metal-free belt that fits in dress pant loops?

When Your Water Turns Yellow

A week or two after we moved in to the new house the water was coming out of the tap clear and after a few hours turning light yellow.  Second semester freshman chemistry involved memorizing the color of all the oxidation states of transition metals (and that is as hard as it sounds).  I remembered that yellow was one of the iron colors.   +2? +3?  That was 40+ years ago.   But one of them was yellow.  Googling established that ferrous iron +2 comes out clear then yellows on exposure to oxygen.  There is a monstrous reverse osmosis/ozone generator that is supposed to remove iron.  

There are also two 10" long filters in the sequence: one carbon; one pleated paper for 30 micron grit.  Both were lovely shades of yellow and reddish brown.  It appears that the big canister did as much as it could and ferrous iron was slipping past.

A call to the local Kinetico dealer got us replacement filters and the water now stays clear.

I Am Not Sure How the Rest of the Movie Goes...

The opening couple minutes of Night Into Day without a word of dialogue captures a young L.A. couple falling in love getting married, moving into their first apartment, and then the relationship goes bad and just as they are signing divorce papers, they get Emergency Alerts on their phones Ballistic Missile Alert for Los Angeles.  Expertly done indie film for first 10 minutes.

I stopped part way through.  It was too depressing partly because the couple is getting sicker and sicker and without the right symptoms for radiation sickness and partly because I fear too many Gen-Zers will simply be this unaware.

A Clear Message

5/1/24 Yahoo News:

"After police arrived, officers lowered a Palestinian flag atop the City College flagpole, balled it up and tossed it to the ground before raising an American flag."

Yay!

We have an appointment with the title company next week to close on sale of old house.

The next step will be paying off the mortgage on new house before first payment is due.

I had a mischievous thought as I was waking this morning.  Put the proceeds in a growth equity mutual fund.  Several that I own have been growing more than 20% per year for ten years.  Investing the proceeds and taking out 1% per month would pay the mortgage and leave several thousand a month on the table 

Risk: stock market has a 25% correction and wipes out the capital required to pay off mortgage.  

Reward: Having essentially no debt makes it very easy to borrow absurd amounts of money.  If interest rates fall, as will eventually happen, stock market rises and we can refinance mortgage at lower rate increasing surplus from faster growing mutual fund 

Any thoughts?

Of course if Biden beats Trump by 30 points and Democrats regain control of both houses of Congress, interest rates will rise and the stock market collapse.  Of course, at that point some sort of revolution will happen.

Worth Reading in Full

4/19/24 Boston Globe.  The article is by a professor who grew up a black kid in a neighborhood so white:

"i could have been used as a landmark when giving directions.

Sadly, as one of the few Black kids in the neighborhood and one of the even fewer who spent any time with white peers, I was a daily target of racist bullying.". But the article is not a "I am a victim of white racism" rant.  It is how he has managed to get himself in trouble with a new class of racial bullies because he argued that speaking and writing standard English was empowering.

"Once, I committed the sin of saying that knowledge of standard written English may be valuable to all students, regardless of skin color. For this, I endured vitriol. Because standard English came from England and was used by imperialists and slaveholders, I was told, it was inherently racist to teach it to nonwhites. On a now-defunct academic listserv, I was accused of white supremacy, of being unconcerned with how such thoughts, coming from my Black body, were doing harm to other Black people."

Remember that there are black academics who are on the side of civilization and equal opportunity.  I suspect there are a lot of them.  Pretty obviously, you are not going to hear about them except in derision.  Thomas Sowell and Walter Williams are likely the only black scholars you can likely name in this category but they are not alone.  I have worked on gun rights history with a couple of others whose names I will not repeat on the small chance that they have  colleagues, or at least academic peers, who do not realize that they are "black faces of white supremacy.". A colleague where I teach now has given me reason to suspect him of academic rigor and commitment to equality of opportunity.

Pay Attention to Your Mutual Fund Returns

I confess that I have been enjoying a 35% annual gain on my IRA so much that I have not paid enough attention to individual mutual fund performance.  CPOAX has grown 227% over ten years while most of my other good choices in 2014 have grown 450% or better.

It is about time to shoot the dog and transfer the proceeds into one of the other better performing funds.

Boise Growing Up

I went to get my enhanced concealed weapon permit renewed.  It is also where you go for vehicle registration.  So what is parked out front?

Lime green Maserati 

Jewish Nazi Funding Anti-Israel Protests

4/26/24 New York Post:

"George Soros and his hard-left acolytes are paying agitators who are fueling the explosion of radical anti-Israel protests at colleges across the country.

"The protests, which began when students took over Columbia University’s Morningside Heights campus lawn last week, have mushroomed nationwide."

You may recall that Soros got his business start helping the Germans rob his fellow Hungarian Jews.

I always wonder what drives Soros' hatred of Western Civilization.  Is it self-loathing because of what he did as a teenager and that he was able to become rich through the system that it created?  Or is it rage that Western Civilization failed in one of the great moral crises of history, letting Hitler get away with an unprecedented genocide?

Is J. Norman Heath Here?

 He is a remarkably diverse person: circus rigger for Cirque de Soileil and historian.  If you have an email address for him, let me know.

Do You Have This Book in Your Collection?

James H. Willibanks, Machine Guns, An Illustrated History of Their Impact.  I need pages 22-23.  If you have a SCRIBD subscription, I think you can find it at https://www.scribd.com/doc/73220163/Weapons-and-Warfares-Machine-Guns-an-Illustrated-History-of-Their-Impact.

Jonathan B. A. Bailey, Field Artillery and Firepower 187 n. 192. (Naval Institute Press, 2003).  I need p. 182 n. 192.

Washington State is making an absurd discovery demand.  They want links to every cited source.  These two items I must have read on paper.

Successful Education

4/25/24 New York Post:

"Two Columbia University students who rushed to join NYU’s violent anti-Israel rally are going viral after admitting they had no idea what the protest was about — and wished they were “more educated.”

"The unidentified students rattled off their clueless rationale on the steps of the NYU campus in downtown Manhattan as a slew of NYPD cops clad in riot gear stood in the background, as seen in footage viewed more than 3 million times since being shared by former Mayor Rudy Giuliani late Wednesday.

“I think the main goal is just showing our support for Palestine and demanding that NYU stop … I honestly don’t know all of what NYU is doing,” one admitted when asked about the protest’s purpose."

And what is Columbia teaching about critical thinking (or even uncritical thinking) 

Not Just the Marmots Taunting the Dogs

Just 30 feet from the do enclosure.  They soon walked to the north lawn where their movement caused great barking.

Work Cited in a Knife Self-Defense Case

CARLOS LORENZO GONZALEZ, Appellant,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

Case No. 6D23-509.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Sixth District.

The defendant argued successfully that the trial court erred in failing to give his claim of self-defense proper consideration.  The case cites DC v. Heller (2008) for the right to armed self-defense of one's home and a law review article by Dave Kopel, Joe Olson and myself about how arms are protected by the Second Amendment.

Reading the appellate court decision, I find it entirely plausible that the defendant was engaged in lawful defense of his home against a guy with a BAC of .335%.

Boise State University Must Be Moving Up in the World

A while back, BSU's president wanted BSU to be known as a metropolitan university of distinction or some similar rotgut.  I think I am seeing evidence they are moving up in the world.

I was picking up prescriptions at the pharmacy today and there was a car plastered with Israel genocide rhetoric. I was going to photograph it on my way out, but a pink-haired girl (and no, not a bad red dye) was getting in the passenger side and I did not think it wise.  The driver of course had green hair.

In the 1960s, my father was an opponent of the Vietnam War when most Americans were still saying, "Where?". We were watching an antiwar protest on TV and my father's reaction was that these people would get a lot further with their efforts if they were not dressed weirdly with long hair.  

That is the only good news of the Palestinian Rapist/Torturer Defense crowd.  They are effectively identifying themselves as lunatic fringe by their cultural baggage.

An Interesting Exchange Program

You are doubtless aware of student exchange programs that give foreigners a chance to live in America for a while.  I have watched several exchange students react to America and it has been interesting.  So this 4/31/24 Fox News article intrigued me:

"Shattering stereotypes with every swap, a groundbreaking exchange program is offering kids from red and blue states a free ticket to explore the diverse landscapes of America, and challenge any misconceptions they might have about places far from home.

"It's kind of hard to say no to a free trip, but I had this obsession with just seeing everywhere I can, especially parts of the country. It's amazing to see, especially the Midwest," Z.J. Schwartz, a program alum from California, told "Fox & Friends Weekend." 

"The American Exchange Program gives high school seniors from places like New York City and Los Angeles a taste of rural America and vice versa, dispelling misconceptions about the different ways of life and opening minds to new opportunities – all to bridge gaps within the divided nation."

This seems like a big win all the way around.  As I was growing up, I was startled at how many Angelenos had never been eàst of Yosemite.  Yes, the results were very much like the View of the world from Ninth Avenue cartoon.

Shortly after I moved to Boise to work for HP, a friend in California lost his job.  I called to tell him there were jobs open at HP.  "Boise?" I had to reassure him that we had flush toilets, no one I knew married their sister, and it had been a long time since we burned any Jews or heretics at the stake.

Identifying Separation Anxiety

Rosie and Lillie seemed not to be adjusting to the new house.  Rosie was not eating and was beginning to urinate on the carpet while we were away.  Both of them had accepted that they slept in the garage in the old house but here we needed to carry them out there.  Even bribes did not work. After a bit of googling, it appeared to be separation anxiety.  We no longer leave them alone for long and they sleep with us.  Problem solved 

 I rather like having two very loyal mini-wolves (or do you call them wolfettes?) near us at night.

When I Was Young, We Knew This Was a Darwin Award Winner

4/18/24 New York Post:

"An unsettling video shows a group of people carelessly ripping bear cubs out of a tree to snap some selfies in North Carolina.

"The group of about six people was caught on video Tuesday pulling three scared black bear cubs out of a tree over a fence at a Buncombe County apartment complex, ABC 13 News reported."

Black bears are seldom dangerous to humans except when you get between them and food or their cubs.  Human mothers are supposed to be similarly dangerous if you threaten their children.

Let Us Now Praise Great Small Kitchen Appliances

I may have praised the design of this juicer in the past.  It was made by Braun in Spain.  I have had it at least 18 years.  You put an orange hemisphere (or plutonium hemisphere if you are really weird) on the top and press down.  The pressure activates the switch that turns the very unsharp blades that crush the juice and pulp out of the orange.  The juice drains into a small receptacle below which has a pour spout.  (If you need pulp for cooking, you have that in the screen part). The entire top assembly pops off the motor for cleaning.  It turned five oranges into two glasses of fresh squeezed orange juice in about five minutes.

Weird Size

1/4"-20 thumbscrew 3.125 to 3.5" long.  Ideally lobed or T head.  Knurled is okay.  I am finding them 3" long but no longer.

Arctic Cat makes one 3.5" long.

I was afraid I needed to make one 

Do We Need to Change the Name?

4/18/24 NATO:

"Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoană met Argentine Defence Minister Luis Petri at NATO Headquarters on Thursday (18 April 2024) for talks on working toward a partnership between the Alliance and Argentina."

They had a new right-wing president elected recently to the upset of leftists everywhere.  I understand their relationship with China is getting bad quickly.

Home Invasion Goes Bad

4/16/24 Fox News:

Bad guys break into home in Newport Beach, California.  One goes to hospital; the other was found in the bushes with a self-inflicted fatal head wound.

No, Two Items Lost in the Move

My Jaguar is old enough (10 years!  How time flies) that the HomeLink buttons on the rear view mirror would not work with the old house's garage door motor.  There is a unit that is effectively a translator from the antique codes to the new one.  You plug it into any outlet line of sight to the motors and do a silly little dance with an intermediate box to synchronize the antique with the modern secure opener.  At some point, I tried to reprogram the code on the garage door threshold and the Jaguar no longer could speak Klingon to the little translator.  

Eventually, I learned that LED bulbs produce a signal that prevents reprogramming.  (In the meantime, I had installed these amazing five panel but Edison bulb compatible fixtures.  I should have turned them off and reprogrammed the Jaguar, but I kept forgetting to do so.)

When I moved, I had one of the moving hunks unplug the translator unit from the ceiling outlet.  But where did I put it?  

Fortunately, they are only about $40, so I ordered another one.

I Only Lost One Item in the Move

The power cord for my Canon PRO-300 never appeared.  I have no idea where it could have gone.  Fortunately, a replacement cost about $6 on Amazon.  Every maker has their own power plug preference.  Most are three conductor, in a triangle layout.  This is a two conductor plug on the printer in sort of a 8-shaped plug.

198.9

Nine pounds to go before I hit my current target weight.

How Stupid Do You Have to Be to Admit a Felony on the Stand?

4/14/24 National Pulse:

"New York police took custody of an unlicensed firearm belonging to anti-Trump activist E. Jean Carroll following a report from The National Pulse.

"In January 2024, we reported that Carroll disclosed holding a firearm at her home during her defamation trial against former President Donald Trump. This revelation, according to a police report, led Warwick, New York police to visit Carroll’s residence on February 15 to address the weapon."

I am unclear how this came up in a defamation trial, but talk about dumb.  The TDS heroes are none too bright.

The Future of Demeaning Low-Skill Jobs

NBC News reports on the response to California's new $20/hour minimum wage.

I have been looking forward to this.  There are lots of physically demanding often unskilled jobs that need automation. When I was recovering from my stroke, they would need to transfer me from my bed to a gurney for transport to X-ray, MRI, and a few machines I do not remember.  Two nurses would come in and pick me up to move me.  I had wasted away to 200 pounds (and I am now below that!) but it was still a unpleasant task.  

Often this was being done by an RN and an LVN.  Both are pretty well paid jobs and worth every penny they get for an often disgusting job.  A robot with padded arms and hands to pick up the patient with knowledge of generally sensitive areas on people and particularly sensitive areas on each patient would make this a good job for a robot.  Combine it with knowledge of where to take the gurney (MRI? X-ray?  Cath Lab?  Morgue?) and a heavy job that takes two people can be done as needed and perhaps faster.  There is some capital investment required, but medical care workers are in short supply, just like fast food workers.

We have been automating American society since the 1790s, making Americans better off and happier in the process.

Do Any of You Have a Cadillac CT4, CT5, or CT6?

As much as I want a C8 Corvette, the lack of trunk space for the M1A and telescopes makes me wonder if the mild reduction in performance for one of these might make sense.  They are substantially cheaper used than modern Corvettes.  I am really more a sports sedan guy anyway.

The last CT6 I drove was startling.  As I turned a corner onto the Interstate, I distinctly heard it say, "Faster, harder." For a Cadillac to demand to be treated as a sports sedan was astonishing to someone who grew up surrounded by the barge ancestors.  The CT6 is also apparently AWD standard.  Useful in a sometimes snowy place.

I am not keen on all-electric cars because I do not necessarily stay on the well-established routes where charging stations can be found.

The Walls of Genital Mutilation Start Tumbling Down

4/11/24 BBC:

"Health Secretary Victoria Atkins says she has had "enough" of a "culture of secrecy and ideology" around gender care for children.

"Writing in the Daily Telegraph, she criticised NHS England practitioners, in response to a landmark review into gender care practices.

"The Cass review said children had been "let down" by a lack of research on the use of puberty blockers.

"It called for gender services to match the standards of other NHS care."

The Cass Review found that many of the traditional claims,such that gender mutilation reduces suicide for example were not supported by the science.  He also found that there was a lack of transparency from the transgender specialists of the NHS.

Who knows?  Perhaps sanity will fall on America.  But the number of children sterilized and adults mutilated is now huge.

Gun Control in Australia Works!

The chances of being a victim in a mass shooting are low.  4/13/24 BBC:

"Shoppers looked on helplessly as a mother tried to shield her infant from a knife-wielding man. Some ran for their lives, screaming and crying - others hid in change rooms. Blood-soaked bodies lay on the ground outside luxury stores."

Six dead plus the stabber.

Another Nice Aspect of the New House

I have long been frustrated by the thermostats in every house we have owned.  There is a switch for cool, heat, and neither.  If you want the temperature below a certain temperature or above a certain temperature, that is easy.  But this is the first thermostat that is smart enough to stay in a particular range changing from heat to air conditioning to stay in the desired range.  Of course, at the moment, I just open a couple windows and everything is perfect.

New TV

When we moved to the new house we replaced an older HD LED TV with a new zhiSense 4K OLED TV and wow!  What a difference.  Everything is sharper and more like being there.  The 4K and 8K videos on YouTube are just amazing. Even shows that I buy in SD are way better.  I am afraid that an 8K TV might suck me right into that alternate reality.

If This Was a TV Show Episode Script It Would Never Sell Because of Implausibilty

4/11/24 East Idaho News.  Short version: bad guy in ski mask with lockpick breaks into 85-year-old woman's home beats her, handcuffs her to a chair and starts burglarizing the house.  While bad guy is downstairs she gets chair to bed, retrieves revolver.  Gunfight between them ends up with bad dead guy.  Ten hours later, her son finds her.  No charges filed 

New Biden Administration Gun Laws

 4/11/24 Newsweek:

Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new gun sale rule in a bid to crack down on the so-called "gun show loophole."

In a press briefing, Harris said the rule stipulates all gun dealers must now conduct background checks on the people who purchase firearms.

The Context

The Biden administration has pushed for universal background checks throughout his time in office.

As it stands, gun stores are required by law to conduct a background check for every gun sale. But dealers who sell weapons elsewhere, like through social media or via gun shows, have been able to sell guns without checking the details of those who purchase them.

The Biden administration has been working on the rule to change that since last spring, and it was issued under a provision of the 2022 Bipartisan Safer Communities Act.

As you doubtless know, federal law already requires dealers to do background checks anywhere they make a sale.  Private party sales in most states do not.  Yet news organizations reported this as something new.

I now see.  They are going to use the new language defining gun dealers to include not only those making a living from resale (the old definition) to include those reselling at a profit.  A true private party sale is still legal.  Showing at a gun show and selling guns for more than you paid for them even 20 years ago would make you a gun dealer. One would likely present no problems, but a friend reports seeing tables at a gun show a few years back offering quite an assortment of guns with a "no background check" placard.  This was almost certainly unlawful under the old definition as well as the new.  This would be a bad way to become a test case challenging the law under Bruen, although I think it might have a winning result.

We Have Some Unmet Education Needs

4/9/24 New York Post:

"WASHINGTON — Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) stunned attendees at a high school solar eclipse event Monday by claiming the rock-solid moon is a “planet” that is “made up mostly of gases” — before adding she still wants to be “first in line” to learn how to live there.

The former top Democrat on the House Science Committee’s space subcommittee badly botched elementary lunar facts while speaking during the gathering at Booker T. Washington High School in Houston.

“You’ve heard the word ‘full moon.’ Sometimes you need to take the opportunity just to come out and see a full moon is that complete rounded circle, which is made up mostly of gases,” Jackson Lee, 74, told teenage pupils who gathered on a sports field ahead of the rare celestial event."

The ignorance goes to 11 later in her remarks.  I fear where a country goes when people this ignorant get elected and re-elected to Congress where she was the ranking Democrat on the space subcommittee.  I do not expect every member of Congress to understand "event horizons" or even the gravitational force equation but I do hanker for them to know as much as my 11-year-old grandson.

I Am Unsure If This Is a Good Sign or Bad

4/10/24 CNBC:

" The wealthy are building “passport portfolios” — collections of second, and even third or fourth, citizenships — in case they need to flee their home country.

• Recent high-profile examples of second citizenships include billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, who added a citizenship in New Zealand, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who applied for citizenship in Cyprus.
• The top destinations for supplemental passports among Americans are Portugal, Malta, Greece and Italy, according to Henley & Partners."

If you are worried about political instability in America, would you not be concerned about your wealth also?

Or are the billionaires afraid that President Trump is going to go hunting billionaires?

Completely Unpacked

The garage and tools are fully unpacked.  Both cars are in their bays.  I was able roll Big Bertha out. While several items are out of adjustment (finder scope bracket will not tighten into position) or in need of new batteries (I was sure that I turned off the Telrad the last time used it) the position is much superior with respect to southern and Western sky and the concrete seems to be much smoother than last house.  It rolls so easily.  This is going to be wonderful!

Hoist by Their Own Petard?

Not really.  Just an irony that having tried to keep Trump off the ballot-- and failed, Biden is at serious risk of not being on the Ohio general election ballot because of Democratic incompetence.  4/6/24 Columbus Dispatch:

"The Ohio Secretary of State is warning that President Joe Biden won't make it on the general election ballot in Ohio unless a state law is changed or the Democratic National Convention meets earlier.

"The Secretary of State's office sent a letter April 5 to Ohio Democratic Party Chairwoman Liz Walters that alerted her to the issue.

"The Democratic National Convention meets August 19 to nominate its candidate for president but Ohio law sets a deadline of August 7 to certify presidential candidates for the November ballot."

The GOP did not do this to Biden.  The Democrats did this to Biden.  I have read that no one has been elected to the Presidency without Ohio in a century. It is not the electoral votes but that Ohio is very close to the mainstream of American values.  Still in a close race, guaranteed loss of Ohio might be enough.

One of Those Cases Calling for a Second Amendment Challenge

TLDR: 4/3/24 ABC channel 7 reports that retired correctional officers and court balliffs are being refused the law enforcement concealed weapon license by the state of Illinois even though federal law requires retired law enforcement officers to be issued licenses. Even Gov.Pritzker, no friend of guns, agreed that federal law takes precedence.

I am no fan of giving police officers (active or retired) special status or privileges.  This screams for a challenge to impose constitutional carry.

Zero Click Ordering is Coming

There was Dilbert strip where Dogbert patents zero-click ordering as a parody of Amazon's one click ordering.  It feels like zero-click ordering is just around the corner.

I have a network backup drive.  It is big: 4TB.  Alas, it is Ethernet, not WiFi. At my old house the solution wás to cable it directly to one of the several Ethernet ports on the router.

In the new house, Sparklight uses wireless routers made by Eero.  They seem to be rather magical, at least by my 1990s-2000s knowledge.  One box on the ground floor accepts an RJ45 cable which is attached directly to an Ethernet cable that runs throughout the case and is attached to what Sparklight calls a modem, which converts their coax input to Ethernet.  The ground floor Eero provides pretty decent 5 GHz WiFi: 280 Mbps on my Android as I sit here on the couch in my bathrobe.

Upstairs is another Eero upstairs attached to another RJ45 connector on that same chink of blue Ethernet cable.  Date rates are similar.  

Sparklight refers to this as a "mesh" system; there are two separate WiFi routers but only one named WiFi router.  Their support guy claims the upstairs Eero is actually a WiFi repeater.  It carry acts like one, although they would be make its cable connector irrelevant.

Anyway, the concern: there is one unused RJ45 on both Eeros.  Can I directly attach my Ethernet network backup drive there?  Probably, but I am not sure and this semi-miraculous system seems to be rather finicky.  

My solution was to look and wow.  For $40 Amazon has a box that bridges WiFi to Ethernet.  I saw it, I clicked yesterday evening.  The promise was delivery between 7 and 11.  I woke up at 6:45 and it was here!  I am still finishing my morning coffee so I do not know yet if it works but I am expecting Amazon to master the "You thought about, deliver before he switches product display page soon.". Bezos and Amazon are operations that seem or sleazy but they are remarkably efficient.

This Makes Sense Now

The movie Civil War has what seems like an absurd idea: California and Texas allied against a president who has decided he can serve a third term and calls in air strikes on Americans.  

Some of the writers and actors from the movie are now explaining that this seemingly absurd coalition is really about how Americans of different political perspectives can share opposition to fascism.  4/3/24 Hollywood Reporter:

At a special screening in Los Angeles on Tuesday, writer-director Alex Garland explained the “intentional” decision to unite the two, saying it was “partly to get around a kind of reflexive, polarizing position that people might fall into, that’s one thing, but actually that’s not the main thing. The main thing is to do with how the president is presented and what can be inferred from that.” The president, played by Nick Offerman, has disbanded the FBI, has used air strikes on American citizens and has established himself as a three-term leader.

Nick Offerman is probably not as radical as his character in Parks & Rec but he is definitely a conservative, pro-gun guy.  His comment:

Offerman also weighed in, noting that after all the online chatter ahead of its release, “when you see the movie you’re like, ‘Oh shit, it’s actually just super-intelligent and a kickass movie that none of us can legitimately get mad about because it’s just a beautiful piece of art.'” He additionally noted that any comparisons to his character and Donald Trump while shooting “didn’t even come up. It’s so unrelated to any actual factions or politicians,” and commended Garland for not including real-life political points in the story.

My two cents: civil war needs to be avoided as much as we can.  The results would be catastrophic both nationally and internationally.  One of the actors quoted emphasized that he has been working to talk to friends of different political perspectives seeking common ground.  This is a darn good idea. 

Lots of people hate Donald Trump.  There is much to dislike about him.  Many of his policies are worth discussing.  (Some, such as China-directed trade barriers have been continued by Biden.). The insanity of TDS that led to Russiagate should cause people on the moderate left to ask why such politically motivated nonsense was so readily accepted.

Please, let's try to avoid madness.  We do not have to meet the crazies in the middle.  Lots of Democrats would agree that promoting racial hatred is destructive.  If only the ones in the White House and elite universities could be made to see this.

Beyond Trans Madness

4/2/24 National Post:

""Court to decide if Ontario must pay for surgery to make vagina if patient also wants to keep penis

"A non-binary Ontario resident is locked in a legal battle over public funding for surgery to create a vagina while leaving the penis intact"

Aren't you glad that the Canadian healthcare system has so much spare capacity and zero length waiting lists for specialist care that this is an issue for Canadian courts to consider?

Partial Solar Eclipse Visible April 8th

 A friend is going to threaten Democrats that if they do not reprent and vote for Trump, a dragon will eat the Sun.

I Just Saw This Gem

LG Washer & Dryer

Home Depot's contractor showed up to install our LG stacking washer and dryer.  Watching these two guys carry these two very heavy appliances rather than use a dolly through door frames not wide enough to hold the side was scary.  The washer at least had handles; the dryer did not.  Listening to them counting 1-2-3-LIFT reminded me of why hold this nation's elites in so much contempt.  These are people they work very hard and have to listen to themselves described as deplorables.

Then they stacked the dryer on the washer and at first attempted to carry it while making a 90 degree turn into the room where these were going to go.  The rotation perpendicular to their control positions persuaded them to walk across the tile floor instead.  The young Hispanic man pulled it back into position and briefly, I feared we were going to have to take over feeding for life but somehow he slid out of gap that seemed impossible.

You may have seen the "Honor Labor" bumper stickers.  I think labor unions are the source.  I do not particularly honor labor unions but people that work this hard to make $250-300/day (I asked) deserve honor and respect, not contempt.

The washer and dryer start up with a lighting and sounds collection that makes me suspect a cousin relationship to machines in Las Vegas.  

The instruction manual suggests a college course to fully control them. 

Of course, there is an app to control them.  My wife considers such an app useless unless it includes gathering, loading, transfer to dryer, fold, and sort.  I agree.  Robotic laundry needs to happen soon!

And the cutest noises when done!

I Guess I Should Not Be Surprised

I have long been enamored of the Walther PPK design.  Yes, there are more modern pistols but the fixed barrel makes them very accurate and disassembly for cleaning is elegantly simple.

The Gun Control Act of 1968 attempted to ban "Saturday Night Specials" so that poor people (let's be honest, black people) could not afford to buy pistols.  Because of the convoluted system of points used to exclude SNSs, even high quality compact pistols such as the Walther PPK were banned from import.  Also imported the PPK/S, a PPK with a longer grip to get around the compact dimensions sustrm.  Walther made PP and PPK pistols in the U.S. in partnership with Interarms and S&W at various times.  American Arms made a licensed copy of the PPK called the PX22 briefly.  I bought one at some point because it was inexpensive and I like the PPK design.  My wife used it on a couple of occasions to discourage coyotes inviting our dog over for dinner.  The table was set only for the coyote and his family.

More recently, I bought a U.S. made PPK/S (which has a slightly longer grip to accommode more rounds and make it GCA68 compliant) in .22LR.  it is a very nice piece of firearms art.  It is also very accurate and great fun at the firing range: minimal recoil and cheap to feed.  It is also very reliable so far.  I found an American Arms PX22 magazine in the back caverns of the gun safe and wondered if it would fit the PPK/S. 

I should not have wondered.  The PPK magazine is short enough to not function or even seat in the PPK/S.  The PX22 also had a heel magazine catch (the original design, not intended for rapid reloading for competition or defensive shooting) unlike the PPK/S which has a more modern magazine release and a notch in the magazine for retention.

I love my PPK/S but if you get a chance to get a PX22 at a not to silly price (they were less than $100 dealer cost when I bought mine), you might enjoy it.  It is very compact, adequately accurate for self-defense at conversational distances and as week as .22LR is, it would, I think, make most rapists and robbers remember an urgent appointment at the ER if your first two shots connected.

Let Us Now Praise Great Practioners

This move has led us to two great providers of services.  Two Men and a Truck packed, loaded, and moved us Saturday.  Actually four young men (the only age to be doing this sort of work) and two trucks did this and we paid about $4100.  There was one casualty (the plastic sheeting on a poster cracked) and one temporary loss (an LG monitor arrived Tuesday after they found it in the pads). Compared to imposing on friends and family, this was a bargain.

Another person you will want to call if you are in the Boise area is John Aultman (208) 890-8388. (Also an NRA member.)  We needed a dog run for our two English Springer Spaniels in need of sedatives.  The first guy gave us a pretty high estimate for the area we marked out.  John suggested a configuration that we had not considered and at a much lower price.  He put in a vinyl fence and matched the color to the house.  He needed to make two wooden gates for the porch and they match so well that they look like part of the original design.

As I mentioned, the crazier of the two, Lillie Belle, managed to leap through a gap between rabbit wire and top beam of the fence. We got John out the next day, and he added rabbit wire at a higher elevation and raised one of the gates.  Lillie Belle ran around the yard looking for escape paths and finally accepted that she was going to need to build a ladder or do a Stalag 17 operation to get out.

Who Knew They Were Invisible?

Biden declaring Easter Sunday Transgender Visibility Day had me asking, "They were Invisible.  I sure seem to see them a lot in news reports and not just in mass shootings."

I see in 4/2/24 Newsmax that Trump has declared November 5th "Christian Visibility Day.". Yes, that is election day.

People Who Do Not Understand How Poor People Live

4/2/24 Newsweek article about the CEO of a company that put up the $175 million bond so that Trump could appeal the banana republic court decision.

They mention a number of accusations against Hankey's company with no evidence that the accusations are valid.  Worse, he is a "subprime auto lender."

For the top 10% of earners, they will never be in a position of needing to be a subprime auto borrower.  

A hypothetical: you work at a blue collar job.  You get paid not terribly well.  You have made a few financial mistakes along the way and you have a lousy credit score.  You may just be starting out in life and have no credit history.  (Been there, done that.)

You need a car to get to work.  Your 20-year-old beater has given up the ghost.  You can afford $150/month for a car loan. You really need a car to get to work, the grocery store, doctor for you and your family.  

You go to a bank or a car dealer selling nice cars.  They run your credit report and decide you are too risky a borrower.  

Shady Al's Fairly Reliable Rides has a $1500 best up but functional car for sale.  They go to a subprime lender who looks at your poor or non-existent credit history.  In exchange for the risk that you will fail to make payments, disappear with the car, leave it an unsaleable wreck, they charge a high interest rate.  If you manage to pay that loan each month, your credit history will improve or come into existence.  You are paying a high interest rate for the risk of default and because it will improve your score.

People born with a silver spoon in their mouth will never be in that situation.  They can hold in contempt the lender who is providing a needed service.

Flying Dog

Lillie, who has unlimited energy, and Rosie, who considers rodents to be in the candy section of the Springer diet plan, escaped the garage yesterday.  (The garage door did not completely close before I opened the door from garage to house.)

Lillie started running expecting us to play fetch with her to return.  But where is the Chuck-It and balls in the chaos of the move.  At times, she ran far enough away to disappear.

Rosie ran the opposite direction because she can smell the marmots.  She also disappeared over the hill to a slightly busy road. I caught up with her engaged in Rosie Heaven digging madly as she got dangerously close to a road that might well lead her to Doggie Heaven.

We briefly got Lillie back into the dog run, where all the pent-up energy led to a flying leap over a three foot gate and the chase resumed.  Both were eventually persuaded to return, but it was scary.  The gate needs another foot in height.  And we call Lillie "Stubby" because she has fairly short legs.

Not over the gate.  There was about a foot between the top of the rabbit wire and the bottom rail of the fence.  She threw herself through (homonym test) the gap bending the rabbit wire enough to escape.  This time I saw the escape.

Weird Request

The electric reclining couch is not adjacent to any outlets.  An extension cord is an obvious trip hazard to people and out of control dogs.  The ideal solution a 2' extension cord that is very, very flat.  I could tolerate one a color that is not camouflaged to the walnut flooring (which is absolutely beautiful), but the wife will not. Do you have a source for one that is really flat and could be held down by walnut colored tape.  Does anyone make walnut grain tape?

All Moved

We spent the night in the new house.  The dogs were briefly confused but now are exploring the new house.  Lillie has even climbed the steps to the second floor.

Sparklight Internet service failed, I think because I disconnected the second router to get the RJ45 connector through an outlet plate that had a hole in it.

Tech support got everything working again pretty quickly.

There is still a mountain of boxes in the garage and throughout the house that need unpacking.

Leave Now, Before the House Price is Zero

3/29/24 Newsweek:

"The number of homes for sale in the California market, which has seen listed prices being slashed by sellers, has grown in the past few weeks, according to the listings available on Zillow, as the spring homebuying season begins.

"As of Friday morning, 76,577 homes were listed for sale on Zillow by agents in California and 3,843 by owners and others. These included all types of homes—apartments, condos, single- and multi-family homes, townhomes, and lots. Of these, 10,873 were listed by agents, and 308 were listed by owners. Others had a price reduction."

Why anyone stays there mystifies me.  It does seem as though the time for people who do not fit the progressive paradigm to sell and buy somewhere cheaper.

Moving Day

Two Men and a Truck are busily packing our house.  I have already moved the three smallest scopes and mounts to the new house.

The big scopes will require a bit more work.  

The 17.5" reflector is a Dobsonian Serrurier Truss design so I can remove the upper cage from the truss tubes, then move the lower cage assembly with the mirror as a separate, not very heavy or large assembly.  The equatorial platform and the caster assembly are each light and small.  I can probably do this by myself, but my wife is going to help. 

The 8" f/7 reflector is a bit more work.  Removing the OTA from the mount will take some help.  (Old age is bad.). Disassembling the mount is easy and I can move every component.

I expect to be done moving in time for my grandson's birthday dinner tonight afterwards.  We moved our clothes and medicines separately so that we can find what we need for church tomorrow.  He is risen! And unpacked.

More Evidence California Has No Future

3/30/24 New York Post:

"A fed-up California couple has been ordered to stop repairing the local roads themselves that the local government wouldn’t fix which caused several problems with their vehicles.

"Alex and Daisy De La Rosa were issued a cease-and-desist letter from the City of Compton because they took it upon themselves to fill in the potholes that have wreaked havoc on the streets throughout the city."

 I had a similar urge to repair the potholes on Old Highway 55 when I lived on the mountain above Horseshoe Bend.  I counted the number of bags of Cold Patch needed and thought, "I could do ten cheaply enough and encourage my neighbors to do the rest.". At least our county government would likely have seen this as a charitable contribution.  We are not California.

I Took a Nap

Yes, that's Lillie 's muzzle.

It is a Good Thing Illinois and Hawai'i Have Strict Gun Laws

 3/28/24 CBS News:

ROCKFORD, Ill. (CBS) — A man has been charged in connection with an attack in Rockford that left four people dead, including the suspect's childhood friend and a teenager, the county prosecutor said Thursday. 

The Winnebago County Coroner's office identified the victims: 15-year-old Jenna Newcomb; 23-year-old Jacob Schupbach; 49-year-old Jay Larson, and 63-year-old Ramona Schupbach. 

Seven others were injured during that rampage that started around 1:15 p.m. Wednesday. Police said some of the victims were stabbed, and three girls were beaten with a baseball bat while they were watching a movie on spring break.

3/11/24 BBC News:

Authorities in Hawaii are investigating the apparent murder-suicide of a family of five, including three children in a Honolulu home.

The father, who has not been identified, is believed to have stabbed to death his wife and three children - aged 10, 12 and 17 - before taking his own life, police said.

Witnesses reported an argument at the home on early Sunday morning.

The deaths mark Hawaii's worst mass killing in over two decades.

Ir isn't the guns.  Is something erlse wrong? 

AirBNB for Cars

My daughter told me about this.  At some point I want to buy a current generation Corvette.  But is it a car that I really want to buy?  A test drive is usually not adequate.  Enterprise has exotic car rental centers but no Corvettes near Boise.

After we get the current house sold and the new mortgage paid off: Turo is rather like an AirBNB for cars.  I discovered that I can rent a 2020 Corvette for $179/day.  Even a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost (not so cheaply) and an Aston Martin.  You can also make your cars available for rent, just like AirBNB.

San Francisco Did a Good Job Hiding Its Homeless Drug Addicts

I went on a guided bus tour of S.F. Tuesday.  A friend who lives there says the city has been very successful at moving the homeless, not quite house-broken drug addicts out of the tourist areas.  

It truly is a beautiful city.  If only they fixed the problems instead of putting lipstick on a pig.

The view from the Marin Headlands is truly magnificent:

My daughter's Armenian exchange student had never been on an ocean beach before.  We went to Doran Beach just south of the Russian River.  To say she found it stupendous really understates her reaction.

We ate at a restaurant called Fishetarian Fish Market.  Those of you who know me well know that I do not eat anything identifiably fishy because of a traumatic experience with a fish when I was five.  But fish and chips are quite acceptable as are fish sticks.   They were very good.  They have a sense of humor:

We returned to get the keys to the new house and engage in negotiating a price for the old house.  Moving day is Saturday!

White People Promoting Domestic Terrorism

But I suspect they do not qualify as white supremacists. Harvard Law School screens "How to Blow Up a Pipeline."

I am trying to imagine the FBI response if some group of malcontents screened similar films involving faculty lounges or newsrooms.

Another Sign That Someone Is Not Taking Themselves Too Seriously

This was originally an meme intended to make fun of this:

It Has Happened

The down payment has been taken out of savings.  We have our new house.  Now there is the matter of selling the old house.... Not having a dirigible hangar is the major hindrance. Everyone wants a 20' tall garage for their motor home.

If You Must Be Woke, Laugh

In California