Voting in the modern world

Posted on October 20, 2023 by No One

I just took part in early voting in my county.

I have to say, not everyone who votes should be voting. Every voter in at my location (except me) was old, frail, senile, and voting with assistance. Are they really participating in democracy or are they just resources being harvested by the machine? What value is society really achieving when such people are voting?

I am for establishing actual meaningful barriers to voting. I say this not because this will benefit one party more than another and it is not related to voter fraud. It is just as likely that Republicans are benefiting from this system as are democrats.

Here is what I recommend:

  1. Minimum of high school education. Tie that to effective civics classes in high school with a mandatory education in what the US government, state government and local governments are, how they work and what their limits are.
  2. Voter ID at the national AND local level so that each voter can only vote in the place they live and pay taxes.
  3. Must be self sufficient. The net payments into taxes must exceed the net benefits you get from taxes. THIS INCLUDES SOCIAL SECURITY. Social security is not “something we paid into”. It was a tax on your income and the benefits you get today are taken from taxes current workers pay.
  4. Must vote in person, presenting valid ID. If you are out of town that day, then you don’t vote. Military deployed out of state, the same. Elderly and incapacitated people should be visited by election officials (assuming they otherwise qualify).
  5. Bring back literacy tests. The supreme courts previously struck those down because they were being used to deny blacks the vote. But with universal public education, there is no excuse for illiteracy. If you cannot read and write in English, you should not be voting in America. Blacks who care about voting can learn to read. Those who don’t care, should not be voting. Those who are incapable of learning to read should not be voting.

Let’s face it. This is a really low bar to hop over. The only reason to oppose it is that some activists make a really good living off the way things are now. Again, how do we as a society benefit from that?

Posted in Current Events, Education, Government, Politics | Leave a comment

A few words about the situation in Palestine/Israel

Posted on October 10, 2023 by No One

It seems that Hamas was feeling froggy and jumped over the weekend. The death toll is very large and going to get higher. Why would Hamas do such a thing?

  1. The war in Ukraine was taking all the world attention. Hamas has been existing on handouts from the USA for a few decades now and they see the attention and funds going to relative new-comer, Ukraine.
  2. Hamas is a complex organization, but basically they are an organized crime group. They have a regular need to recruit the young disaffected men in their area and give them jobs. Those are a lot of mouths to feed. Those same men have no real skills, just their paramilitary B.S. and intimidating local businesses with their protection rackets. But right across the border are some fat targets, ripe for the squeeze. And if a few thousand of them get killed for their efforts, it is a win-win. Palestinian kids are easily replacable.
  3. Hamas doesn’t produce much in trade goods. They do produce their own rockets and they have probably stored a pretty sizable stockpile that is taking up a lot of space. So they launch a few thousand.

What should Israel do? Sadly, there are no good solutions to this problem. The normal path is to absorb the losses and make a few pointless punitive raids. A more effective path would involve something along the lines of genocide. Even massive deportation would only spread the disease globally. A compromise solution would be the assassination of Hamas leaders. This would change the power curve dramatically. Currently, old men send young men out to face death. If old men were getting targeted in large numbers and replaced by the younger men, things would change. Full isolation is also a must have solution. At a minimum, the USA should end all funding flowing to Hamas controlled areas. For that matter, we should also end all the foreign aid going to everywhere else too. Finally, we should deport all 30-40 million illegals currently inside the USA, including asylum seekers. They need to go home.

Posted in Current Events, Defense, Economics, Government, Immigration, Islam, War | 1 Comment

A few words about the Republican Debates

Posted on September 26, 2023 by No One

No one cares.

Trump is the nominee. Everyone else on stage is running for the position of resume enhancement.

Posted in Current Events, Government, Politics | 2 Comments

The Future ain’t what it used to be: Head transplants

Posted on September 5, 2023 by No One

Back in 2017, some “scientists” made an absurd claim that head transplants would be possible in a mere 3 years. At the time, I said, that was absurd. Turns out, I was right. 5 years later and still no head transplants.

In the old days, If a prophet was wrong, he was stoned to death. But today, he has a promising career in Journalism or political activism.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Arts and Crafts: HVAC system

Posted on August 16, 2023 by No One

(Edit: Pictures below)

When I moved into my house, it had a non-functioning heat pump in the attic. That old carrier R-22 system I managed to restore and use a drop-in conversion to R-407C. That system finally gave up the ghost. It stopped cooling and I could detect a large amount of HVAC oil in the outdoor unit. It seems one or more seems sprung loose and sprayed out the compressor oil. Likely, all I needed to do to fix it was do some trouble shooting, find the leak, braze it shut, and refill the system with more R-407C. But I instead decided to go for a full system replacement. I looked online and discovered a place called HVAC Direct and noted that they had a system at a good price on hand and ready to ship.

This is what I learned.

  1. On hand and ready to ship, means, “we may have had it, but a week later still haven’t shipped it and can’t estimate when or if that might happen”.
  2. The Salesman called me a week after my order and tells me the one I ordered isn’t available, but he has a suitable replacement that is even better for the same price. And it is “On hand and ready to ship” (see item 1 above). I agreed to this. 2 weeks later, my new system arrived.
  3. The web site has “questions from customers” that ask about the origins of this model. it never says, “it’s made in China”. It is made in China. They go to a LOT of effort to hide that fact. Does it really matter? Likely not. This system is made by a large multi-national, in partnership with Carrier. Also, most of the bug American producers are all assembled in Mexico with parts from China. So, no telling if there will be any difference.
  4. I have great expectations for the efficiency of this system. Seer 18 efficiency. As a heat pump it can still generate heat efficiently at below zero outside temperatures and make cool air when it is over 100 outside. It has been working for a week now and it is living up to the hype for quiet operation and ability to pack my house with chilly goodness. By reading the marketing items, I decided to not even bother installing the electric auxiliary heater (toaster oven). I fully expect the Heat pump itself to provide tons of warm air this winter without resorting to Aux Heat. Even for near Ice age conditions (as much as can be expected in Virginia) the heat pump will be sufficient. If not, I still have the wood stove, capable of heating the whole house by itself.
  5. Included in this project is the re-ducting of my place. The new duct runs are larger, more efficient and with fewer turns.
  6. The installation process was pretty straight forward. There are currently three different installation guides with different configuration diagrams in them, so you have to do some tea leaf reading to decide which one is going to work.
  7. Tech support at HVAC Direct and the system manufacturer are non-existent. If you aren’t good translating English that was translated from Chinese, and don’t have a background in HVAC installation, you might have trouble with this.
  8. My own major problem was configuring the Heat pump to play nice with my Thermostat. The complete system come with it’s own thermostat, with a remote control, but I wanted to cintinue to use my own internet enabled thermostat.
  9. I did all the work myself, as is my custom. The outdoor unit and the indoor air handler are each very heavy. They took a lot of various ropes, guides, wedges, and prying to move into position. It was a strenuous exercise.
  10. Total cost: 1 week installation and labor. 2 Weeks delivery time. $3,000 for new outdoor and indoor systems. $500 for new ducts.
Scraps

Posted in Arts and crafts | 1 Comment

Rental Car Fun.

Posted on August 16, 2023 by No One

I was traveling a few weeks ago and had the opportunity to rent a car in Las Vegas. What I learned:

  1. When renting a car at the Las Vegas Airport, ensure you go with the major brands. Those are all at the off-site rental location together. But the lessor known brands are off-off-site. This added inconvenience will add an hour to your processing time coming and going. The off-brands also do so much Nickle and dime upselling on every possible thing, that the lower price they quoted is likely to not be delivered.
  2. Bait and switch. The car you reserved isn’t available. But if you agree to take a better car (upsell price) they have that ready right now. From looking around, Enterprise seems to have the only intact reputation for hassle-free renting of cars.
  3. Vegas is like a foreign country. Their custom is to be tipped for everything. Everyone thinks they are in the entertainment industry, even the airport shuttle bus drivers. Plan for this and just expect everything to cost more than you expect. The government wants to be tipped too. They let you know this by adding “resort fee” taxes to everything. Your on line quotes often don’t include this fee when you are comparing prices.
  4. My rental car was a Jeep Compass. What a crappy little car. No power. Oddly shaped doorframe. I am not a tall man but it was difficult for me to twist my body into the door frame to sit. I can’t imagine how normal sized full grown men and ladies get into that thing. No acceleration. Stomp on the gas… wait for it… Lawnmower engine reves up… Wait some more… transmission engages. Don’t do this in front of an oncoming truck if your affairs are not in order. You will not get your deposit back.
  5. EV’s are available and cheap for renting. Just don’t expect to drive it to California. The only thing stopping you is the range of the vehicle and opportunities to recharge along the way.
  6. Weed is everywhere. Just expect your car to have a few seeds in the carpet and DO NOT agree to let the state police to search it.
Posted in Economics, Education, Entertainment | Leave a comment

Stupid people and headlights

Posted on July 23, 2023 by No One

More often, I will see cars driving at night with no tail lights illuminated. It seems the cars are equipped with daytime running lights and full time dashboard illumination so the driver doesn’t realize he hasn’t turned on his headlights for night driving.

People need to be smart enough to read the owners manual or at least watch the YouTubed video on what all the knobs and switches do before they go out in public.

Posted in Crime, Current Events, Stupid | 2 Comments

Live blogging the gun show

Posted on July 22, 2023 by No One

Haven’t done this in years. Im at the nations gun show in Chantilly VA. First impressions: nowhere near as criwded as during Obama administration.

Something new: ATF has a table. Staffed by three agents drawing full pay (overtime) of your government tax money to sit here on their asses doing nothing.

Something new: indoor range for your home. Laser based.

Edit 3: honey salesman brought his beehive with him. Very popular with the kids.

Prices are reasonable. Base price for basic AR-15 = $600. Ammo is plentiful. Handguns now come in every color of the rainbow and patterns.

Edit 4; something new. Double barreled ar-15. Two lowers. Two mag wells. Two independent triggers. Two barrels. One pistol grip. $2,500

Do weed smokers really not know that they still smell like it hours later?

GEEZE LADY! Dont wear your hooker suit to the gun show.

Old geezers at every gun show. Their tables are covered with nets and their chairs all face inwards. They don’t seem interested in selling anything. Gun show is just a chance to sit and gab with old friends.

Well. That’s it for this show. Nothing bought. I would have liked to get a nice high end pellet gun. Didn’t see any. I was going to make a pitty-buy from bee keeper when I noticed his bees feed on “hemp”. I don’t need that nonsense.

Posted in Guns | Leave a comment

Hunter and the White Powder

Posted on July 12, 2023 by No One

Ok. So the story goes that a strange white powder was discovered in the White House (the place where the President of the USA lives and has his official offices. The powder is believed to be cocaine, a substance that is still illegal everywhere in the USA. Here are my notes on the topic:

  1. Everyone wants to blame it on Hunter Biden. But let’s get real. The White house is infested with young Democrats every time a democratic president gets elected and 50% of the time when a Republican does. Illegal drugs are VERY popular with the young college educated crowd. This is especially true if they squandered their education time on learning to Party and socializing. So it really is anyone’s guess who owned the stuff.
  2. If it is Hunter’s, he is in violation of his diversion deal and subject to prosecution and ten years in prison. Fat chance of that ever happening. As James Comey once said, “no prosecutor would bring charges, no Judge would issue a warrant and no jury would convict” him. Of course, he was talking about Hillary, but the same logic is true of any connected Democrat in DC. This is obvious. It is also why Trump can never get a fair trial in any Democrat controlled city. A stacked judiciary, prosecutors office and Jury pool will ensure he is found guilty no matter what the accusation is. Just look at that farcical trial for “rape” in New York.
  3. But the real thing I am wondering about is, why do we even know this happened? Someone in the White house leaked it. You know damned well that all those political hacks in the White house are going to have Biden’s back. You know the press is going to have Biden’s back. So how did this ever become a story in the first place?
Posted in Current Events | 2 Comments

Cluster F* in Ukraine

Posted on July 11, 2023 by No One

The Biden Administration has decided to send cluster munitions to the Ukraine for their use in the war against Russia.

These are the same munitions that the Obama administration declared were too cruel and indiscriminate to ever use even in the defense of our own nation. But now all the talking heads on the videos are saying how awesome these weapons are and they are just the thing to turn the tide in Ukraine. Those same talking heads were totally against America ever using them in our own defense.

These weapons are a series of artillery shells (155mm) and rockets (for MLRS/HIMARS) that dispense smaller projectiles in a relatively wide zone (the more you shoot, the bigger the zone) and are highly effective against light armored things that are spread out like radars, ADA sites, truck convoys, and artillery sites and ammo depots.

But the USA, under Obama, decided that using them was inhumane and that no civilized nation should ever use them for any reason. They didn’t have the courage to actually sign the cluster munitions treaty, and risk a republican Senate rejecting it, so the SECDEF at the time simply waved his hand and said the US Military would behave as if it DID sign the treaty. The cost of that choice was over $10 Billion, just in Army R&D to develop a replacement munition. The cost of buying enough of the replacement munitions to restock our arsenal has not been calculated because we still can’t afford it. The replacements are not as good and cost twice as much as the old cluster munitions (Also called DPICM).

I find it highly amusing that when it comes to defending Ukraine, the Biden administration will turn over every stone. But to defend America, not so much. Like the Obama administration before him, the Biden administration is committed to the “Weaken America Party”, just like it has been since Clinton.

As an aside, the reason given for setting aside Cluster munitions was that the dud rate was too high. The duds would linger on the battlefield and be triggered long after the war to kill children (never to kill notorious criminals who seem to be lucky about such things). This is based on the experience of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Lost in the argument is that the Soviets intentionally used those munitions on civilian populations to weed them out and pacify them. Duds were a bonus. The CM treaty required a max dud rate (for the submunitions) of 1%. The dud rate of American submunitions was about 2%. So, to gain another 1% benefit, the USA mothballed their entire inventory of cluster munitions. Moronic. For context, normal High Explosive Artillery rounds have a dud rate of 7%.

Democrats will do anything to weaken America and almost anything to support their proxy war against Russia. Their ability to forget what their own position was only 10 years ago is astonishing. More astonishing is they believe none of us remember it either. This is probably true for all those young college educated people who typically work on political staffs. They actually don’t remember it because all they were thinking about back then was getting high and where to take Spring Break.

Posted in "Journalism", Current Events, Government, History, War | Leave a comment