72F and drippy this am. Haven’t seen a storm track, but if you’re in the path, get ready. (If you are reading this, you should already BE ready!)
Intimidation. It’s working. Right here in the comments yesterday there was a brief discussion of the incident where someone torched a Trump supporter’s vehicle, and whether it was safe to have political yard signs.
Very sensibly the feeling was to go “grey man.” Don’t make yourself a target with signs, bumper stickers, etc. And this IS the sensible answer. The more I think about it though, the more I can’t recommend it for everyone.
It is a response to intimidation and bullying. It is the GOAL of the enemy. It’s what they want. They want to silence any voice that isn’t theirs. We can’t let them.
It is critical that OUR voices be heard; that people know they are not alone. Look at your personal situation. If you can, in a small way, or large, PUSH BACK.
Don’t let them intimidate us into silence.
n
NB- “Us” and “them” being generic signifiers, for those who would use violence against people and property to reduce free speech, and those who would speak. In today’s climate, violence is almost entirely the province of the left. This may not always be the case, but right now, it is a clear Left/right division.
Wow, guess I should have looked at the storm track!
. ”
Possible Cat4 at landfall, holy cr@p!
n
Intimidation. It’s working. Right here in the comments yesterday there was a brief discussion of the incident where someone torched a Trump supporter’s vehicle, and whether it was safe to have political yard signs.
As I noted, the truck torching took place in the increasing dystopia that is the I-5 corridor between Portland at the Columbia River and Downtown Seattle. Trump was merely an excuse.
Dystopias are a bigger threat to civilization IMHO. You don’t want one in your backyard. The WA State mess is the end result of two generations of liberal policies in a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican President since … Reagan (?).
vis chicago, detroit, MSP….
because we know why doesn’t change that it is, and what to do about it is much more difficult question.
n
Trump is making a visit nearby. I’m tempted to go just because, but I probably won’t. Too much work to do, and I’m really not interested in getting into a large crowd where the protesters may outnumber the supporters. That just strikes me as dumb. “Don’t be there when it happens” is a good mantra.
Being silenced is a danger. I find myself curbing my speech – afraid to stir the pudding. Will I be able to change anything? I don’t know. Will I try? Maybe. I have another 3 weeks of work where half my customers are “the opposition”. I can’t afford to shut that down. But then I’ll have two weeks to discuss and try to stir like-minded folks. We’ll see.
But change does seem possible, and it almost happened in Erie. Folks questioned why it wasn’t getting better after 40+ years of Democrat dominance. Turns out the Dems still had enough pull. But it was closer than expected.
It can happen, if people pay attention to what’s happening, and think for themselves.
Good summary article, speaking of free speech–
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2018/10/shocking-internal-google-docs-prove-their-orwellian-goals-and-desire-to-squash-free-speech/
—
–snip–
But change does seem possible, and it almost happened in Erie. Folks questioned why it wasn’t getting better after 40+ years of Democrat dominance. Turns out the Dems still had enough pull. But it was closer than expected.
The Democrats in the industrial states have been coasting for a long time. The WWII generation didn’t question Roosevelt, and my parent’s generation is the same way about the Kennedy family.
I believe part of the problem for Ted Cruz in Texas is the “Mexican Bobby Kennedy” meme promoted by supporters of Robert Francis. Now, anyone with half of a brain cell knows it is a crock, but the resemblance is there along with the wealthy family background and grand liberal spiel. I have no doubt Robert Francis stirs the “what coulda been” thoughts for a lot of Boomers, which may be enough to put him in the Senate on the same ballot as an extremely conservative Governor polling at +20%.
I remember my Orange County Republican, Reagan-voting (Governor and President) mother being horrified one night when I commented on the Kennedy daughter Mama Rose had lobotomized. “You don’t say that. She’s retarded. Everyone knows that.”
Even Chappaquiddick was an off limits topic at our house. The only time I remember my parents saying anything about it was the night in 1980 at the DNC convention that the Dems almost nominated Uncle Ted. “Maybe they should ask the Kopechne family if he’s qualified”, my father commented.
I think we should start calling Robert Francis “Beto the burrito- white outside, full of squishy brown stuff inside!”
n
Procedure is done. One polyp found, not much concern. Next colonoscopy in five years or 10 years depending on biopsy of the polyp they removed. Internal hemorrhoids, no big deal. Sedation this time was much easier recovery. Felt like a really good sleep. Had me out of the building in 10 minutes after waking up. No amnesia. Much better than last time.
Ray,was the doctor smoking a cigarette when you woke? Or were you awake for whole thing.
I was out for the entire procedure. There is no smoking anywhere in the building. Doctor was Indian so had a heavy accent. However there was a silly grin on his face.
Watching “The Weather Channel” (sound off) on one of my monitors. Waiting for the first “reporter” to blow over, be hit by a giant rogue wave, or a tree branch.
Why would anyone want to “retire” to Florida, my Wife exclaimed. Dementia was my response.
@Ray, glad everything came out okay.
Always vigilant,
Eric
@Ray, glad everything came out okay.
That’s the preparation phase…
Weather channel in mixup: ambient pressure in metric and wind speed in mph. 923 mb whatever that is.
Local weather by weather channel does inHg, almost as good as psia.
Wait until they switch to the recommended SI unit, hPa.
mb = mbar = hPa. 923mb = 923hPA.
The UK is schizophrenic on this. Tyre pressures are PSI and atmospheric pressure is mb.
Hecto? What the heck is a Hecto? Shouldn’t it be in kilopascals?
1 bar = 100,000 Pa, so mbar = hPa.
Or you could have 923mb=92.3kPa.
[snip] Haven’t seen a storm track, but if you’re in the path, get ready. [snip]
The storm named for my late nephew is drawing a bead on my home county. My version of being prepared was bugging out – I’m currently ~ 250 km west of the probable strike zone. The interactive radar loop currently showing at Intellicast makes it look like the eye is going to hit the east side of the county. If so it won’t shove as much water into the bay, which could flood a huge number of houses. I don’t know if my lady friend & the teens are in their apartment or went to the (fairly limited in capacity) shelters available. My hotel is booked solid, no surprise. I’ll probably wait until Friday to worry about going back home. On a semi-related note, does anyone out there know how the hotelier gets compensated when I redeem frequent sleeper points?
Politics: I remember Senator Bentsen’s famous quote, and then realizing that I was one of the few cheering because Quayle was no Jack Kennedy. And a couple of family members have gotten mad at me for saying that Teddy K was a fat drunken murderer. Also junior high school teachers getting irate when I said that JFK was a bad man and a bad President.
Finally, remember: The Saudis are not our allies. Yes, we have formal diplomatic relations, and yes they sell us (the West, in general) one amazingly useful natural resource. But they do not share our values. The are an absolutist monarchy who happily pay the religious nutbags of their society to look the other way from their own transgressions. They don’t believe in free markets, free press, free elections, freedom of religion, and rule of law.
https://www.apnews.com/7c8d85ea776a4a62a026a6739d234e3e/Images-surface-of-Saudis-allegedly-sent-to-target-writer
Are these people members of the IPCC?
I think we should start calling Robert Francis “Beto the burrito- white outside, full of squishy brown stuff inside!”
We shouldn’t even use the ‘B’ word. It isn’t far from the brain cells that process “Bobby”, which I believe is a big part of Robert Francis’ popularity with older voters. They wanna believe.
The ‘B’ word itself, depending on pronuniciation, perpetuates the myth that Robert Francis is Hispanic in some way.
Lynn wrote on Saturday…
“The oil patch look like everything is ok from the outside. It is not.”
How come? Petrol prices here in Adelaide are higher than they’ve been for years. Isn’t there supposed to be an oil shortage?
DadCooks wrote…
“Why would anyone want to “retire” to Florida, my Wife exclaimed. Dementia was my response.”
A friend from Adelaide lives there. Mutual friends were worried about him but he says he’s in the south of the state so there just getting some rain and a strong breeze.
I don’t know where in the US I’d like to live.
I don’t know where in the US I’d like to live.
Dude, anywhere in Texas.
My switch died. Stone cold dead. It worked this morning, the ISP went down for a while but my network still, er, worked.
Changing the power cord was the worst part. Because when the printers were in this room and my PC in the other room, why on earth would I make the holes in the wall for power and printer cables line up? That would make too much sense.
Now everything is in this room expect for the switch, Ethernet wall jacks, and ( ta-da! ) the printer. It’s a matter of having a guest room with enough room to walk around or have a guest room with about a foot and a half space on each side.
After a year and a half, bye bye D-Link and hello Netgear. I know it’s a year and a half because when I last replaced the switch, I bought a couple of Netgears at Office Depot. Gotta have spares…
Yuuup, all their oil facilities were stolen from American (USA) companies. Well, they also lied about the act calling it “nationalization”.
Generally, yes.
Dude, take your pick. Like the sun? Arizona. Like mountains? Idaho. Like snow? Snowbelt. Like cockroaches? Florida. Like Steers? Texas. Like Corn? Nebraska. Like progressives? Nevermind. Stay where you are. Like surfing? California (if you can take the taxes). Like ice fishing? Minnesota. There’s something for (almost) anyone.
Lynn wrote on Saturday…
“The oil patch look like everything is ok from the outside. It is not.”
How come? Petrol prices here in Adelaide are higher than they’ve been for years. Isn’t there supposed to be an oil shortage?
Because the oil patch needs $100 crude oil to move into expansion mode. Or $5 natural gas.
All my low pressure work is done in mTorr.
Gulf coast and Atlantic coast have hurricanes, plains states have tornadoes, California has, well, Californians. North has snow.
We don’t have that… 🙂
I put some software, simulation apps, together to verify performance of commercial, passenger aircraft cabin pressurization systems. Had to verify from sea level to cruising altitudes of 35,000+ feet. Did not want to confuse by switching, used psia only.
Since we’re not using the “B” work for the fake Hispanic, how about Stanko.
Interesting discussion about the Trump visit this evening. Seems the local union (UE506) supported Clinton. But the rank & file are all very much pro-Trump. Some of the discussion has been rather, uh, heated.
Has anyone noticed the economy picking up, jobless rate dropping, and lack of crap coming from other countries right now? The consensus seems to be that Trump is getting things done.
It’s going to be VERY interesting this evening, as well as in November.
His name is “Francis”.
The mTorr is used on many laboratory vacuum equipment. 1mTorr = 0.001 mmHg. All the older equipment had a tilting mercury gauge to read very low pressures.
Science content!
WRT the economy, my sales have stopped, essentially. So have a bunch of online sellers. Talking to my work neighbor, who has been building bouncy houses non-stop for years, working 6 and even 7 days a week, hasn’t made a sale in weeks. He’s really worried. Says no one he talks to is selling anything.
Auctions are weird. Prices are either stupid high (because new money is coming in) or very low. Bids are slow too. My one auction seller says she’s seeing a bunch of new buyers paying too much. That tells me that people are getting started buying surplus, and might need the extra money. My other auction seller has a new client that is providing most of her business right now, and he sells store returns. All of her traditional surplus sellers are holding on to their stuff.
It’s weird and concerning.
n
Because the oil patch needs $100 crude oil to move into expansion mode. Or $5 natural gas.
Interest rates are drifting up too. Lower is better.
Interesting discussion about the Trump visit this evening. Seems the local union (UE506) supported Clinton. But the rank & file are all very much pro-Trump. Some of the discussion has been rather, uh, heated.
I gather that this happened quite a bit through the 2016 election in the rust belt. One hopes that it will continue in the 2018 election. And one wonders why the rank and file don’t throw out the corrupt union leaders ?
WRT the economy, my sales have stopped, essentially. So have a bunch of online sellers. Talking to my work neighbor, who has been building bouncy houses non-stop for years, working 6 and even 7 days a week, hasn’t made a sale in weeks. He’s really worried. Says no one he talks to is selling anything.
The economy shuts down every presidential election as people wait to see who is going to be running things. Looks like this effect has moved on to the midterms this time.
Because the oil patch needs $100 crude oil to move into expansion mode. Or $5 natural gas.
Interest rates are drifting up too. Lower is better.
I am in the middle of refinancing my commercial property which balloons in December. I got 5.46% locked in for 15 years, no balloon. Six months ago it would have been 5.2%. Stupid Fed !
I am in the middle of refinancing my commercial property which balloons in December. I got 5.46% locked in for 15 years, no balloon. Six months ago it would have been 5.2%. Stupid Fed !
T-bill rates set the numbers for mortgages and commerical loans for mere mortals.
My other auction seller has a new client that is providing most of her business right now, and he sells store returns.
I’ve seen a lot more of that on EBay lately. The sellers try to pass it off as “new with package/tags”.
My wife had a run in with a seller handling bulk sales of leftover “Brides By Dimitrious” fitting room foundations. Since the inventory control tags were still attached, the seller attempted to sell with condition described as “new”.
I’m sure we’ll see more of it as the specialty chains continue to go bankrupt.
I always wonder what happens to returns. There’s an online clothing store here that is, reputedly, hugely abused by young women. Order five outfits, wear a new one every day for a week, return them, order five outfits… WTF happens to all those used articles? And how does the online shop not go bankrupt?
We signed a contract on a new piece of land yesterday, and also went down to look at it with a guy from the building company. Well, we didn’t sign the contract, we just paid the down payment. The contract, this time, first gets worked over by our attorney, so that it is cancelled in case of zoning changes. We don’t need to own yet another piece of over-priced grazing land. That whole region of Switzerland is lovely, but an absolute zoning mess…
Anyhow, the town has a population of 400. It has the essential local businesses, like a local brewery :-). No debts, either, which is a shocker – most towns have millions of debt, and just keep kicking the can down the road. Next step: get a building permit approved – once that’s done, we’re golden. With luck, we’ll get it through by the end of the year, January at the latest.
Meanwhile, we need to convey a sense of urgency to the two sons. When we get the building permit, our current house goes on the market. When it’s sold, we give the go-ahead on building on the land. A couple of months later, we move. Total time shouldn’t be more than 12-18 months, and the younglings are not invited to move with us – the nest will be emptied. Older son is pretty much ready to stand on his own feet. Younger son? I mentioned some unexpected, intensive parenting…I’ve got some worries just now…