The last couple times I have tried to use the goto feature, the first alignment star was a good ten degrees off. Because my polar axis was aimed at magnetic north, not true north; the 11 degree difference meant that sewing to Vega was about 10 degrees off. Unfortunately, Polaris is simply not visible at any hour for which I have to energy for which to stay up. Tomorrow i will make a North marker out front with a compass and a protractor.
Wednesday, June 17, 2026
Google Maps Compass is Magnetic
I assumed that since it had access to GPS that the little magnet symbol pointed true north. No. I should have realized this when trying to use it next to my Losmandy mount whose electric motors confused it horribly.
Why is DOJ Investigating Gov. Newsom?
A second probe reportedly relates to an investigation into Newsom’s former chief of staff, Dana Williamson, that had been opened during the Biden Administration. Williamson was indicted last year on federal charges that she was involved in a scheme to steal $225,000 from a dormant campaign account belonging to former U.S. Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, who is now the Democratic nominee to succeed Newsom as California governor. Williamson pleaded guilty in May to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud, filing a false tax return, and making false statements to federal investigators.[emphasis added]
So dirty that even Biden started looking.
Prepare for Cheap Gasoline Next Year
The oil supply shock caused by the Iran war has eroded global demand for crude — but a lasting resolution to the conflict could drive a surge in supply volumes and trigger a major oil overhang next year, the International Energy Agency said on Wednesday.
Free markets are amazing things: capable of adjusting demand to changes in supply in a way that government bureaucrats can only wish to do
New York Times Sinks Trump as Epstein Client Claim
6/16/26 New York Times Magazine examines evidence concerning Epstein's suicide including this interesting piece of evidence:
We obtained about a dozen pages of other notes handwritten by Epstein in jail that were also previously unseen — including some in which he tried and failed to come up with significant information he might have on Donald Trump to offer to prosecutors....
His attorneys discussed with federal prosecutors the prospect of a proffer: giving them information that might be useful in other cases in exchange for the possibility of some leniency in his own. Epstein was particularly preoccupied with what he might have on Donald Trump, who was then serving his first term in office. Jotting on a legal pad, he returned to the president again and again, trying to dredge up anything to offer prosecutors. But his scribblings — “Trump is a total con artist — smoke & mirrors” and “Never had money”— suggest that he could come up with little that wasn’t already known.
Epstein had nothing to give to prosecutors to implicate Trump, something that would have led to a devastating and probably unsurvivable indictment.
Tuesday, June 16, 2026
More Envy
At the close of trading in New York, the 500 richest people on the globe had added $336 billion to their fortunes, the biggest haul ever recorded in a single day, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. That brought their collective net worth to a record $13.3 trillion.
Elon Musk, the world's first trillionaire, extended his lead over the group with his net worth rising more than 10% to $1.27 trillion. And the dozen people at the bottom of the list — the least wealthy of the world's superrich — each stood at $7.9 billion, the highest-ever bar to enter the index.
Yes. I was a good bit richer at the close of trading yesterday. So were most people with IRAs, 401(k)s, 403b funds: about 60% of Americans. As I explain in my instructions on how to get rich, the traditional model of investing in stock funds when young, transitioning to safer but slower growing bond funds as you get closer to retirement is low risk but low return. I have gone all stock funds and enjoyed enormous growth through several crises (dot-com bubble, housing collapse in 2008, Covid) much richer than I started.
Some People Are Too Stupid to Stay Out of Jail
Officers with the Wilder Police Department conducted the stop on May 5, 2026, in Greenleaf, Idaho. During the investigation, officers conducted a lawful search of the vehicle and arrested the driver, identified as Mr. Pettibone of Boise, on felony and misdemeanor drug-related charges.
Police said that during the search, officers also discovered materials describing the sexual abuse of children. After a subsequent investigation, Mr. Pettibone was charged with two felony counts of visual representation of the sexual abuse of children in violation of Idaho Code 18-1507C.
Monday, June 15, 2026
Hidden Features
I was watching a YouTube video about cat features that most owners do not know about because they are not in the manual (or at least at least the quick start guides that many manufacturers use instead of the full War & Peace manual which I bought for my CT5.
Some are in the "Is that not obvious, why sre allowed out doors without adult supervision?" category. The little arrow next to the had two filler icon means, gas nozzle goes here. They claimed only 10% of drivers know this.
The first surprise was a feature my 2014 Jaguar had that I was disappointed not to have on the CT5. On the Jaguar, hold the unlock button for the seconds and all the windows roll down and the sunroof opens. Hold lock down three seconds and they all close.
It is in the CT5 War & Peace manual. Double click unlock and hold unlock for three seconds and all the windows roll down. Double click lock and hold it for three seconds and all the windows roll up. There is an annoying chirp when it does this, but I am not planning to use this feature while engaged in covert operations.
The other feature I vaguely knew about from the window sticker: Intellibeam. While driving in the dark, this will detect oncoming headlights and reduce from high to low beam and back again to high beam. I looked through the manual carefully and found no mention. You turn it on when you start the car by pressing a button at the end of left stalk. I guess having on by default might be a problem in city streets. There is an icon on the stalk but it is not all clear what it means. There are times when a picture is worth a thousand words and times when ten words are worth multiple icons. I am still trying to imagine the icon string to explain Intellibeam.
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