Win10 Spy Disabler V 1.4, Making it work

Win 10 is very snoopy, and in factory trim reports everything about you and your browsing habits it can back to Microsoft.  Youngest son recommended Win 10 Spy Disabler freeware to tighten things up.  Nice little program, gives you all kinds of options on what you can kill.  Only problem, it never seemed to DO anything, no matter what options I selected. 
   I finally got the thing to work this morning.  The program window is too big for my screen (I'm a laptop) and the "APPLY" button was off the bottom of the screen and out of reach.  You cannot click on buttons that are off the screen. 
   Fix:  move the task bar out of the way.  My task bar is on the bottom of the screen where it belongs.  But in "Settings" there is an option to move it to the right hand or left hand side.  Which gives just enough more screen to show the "APPLY" button. 
   Win10 Spy Disabler ran to completion and offered to reboot.  Which I did.  And the laptop survived the experience.  Whether the program actually did anything is hard to tell. 

American Rifleman magazine rates candidates.

American Rifleman is the NRA magazine, widely read and trusted by NRA members, a numerous group of voters.  The October issue arrived, and it lists every candidate for public office in NH.  And it rates them, A thru F on their position on fire arms issues (gun control mostly).
   As a rule Republican candidates receive a A rating and Democrats Ds and Fs.  If you are wondering who all is on the ballot in your district, check out American Rifleman.   Candidates who neglected to return the NRA questionnaire receive a question mark rating. 

Office                  Candidate          Party        Rating
US Senate           Kelly Ayotte       R             A
                           Maggie Hassan   D             F
Governor             Chris Sununu      R             B
                           Colin Van Ostern D            ?
US Rep               Frank Guinta       R            A
                           Carol Shea-PorterD           F
                           Jim Lawrence       R           A
                           Anne Kuster         D           F

Third Presidential Debate

So I jotted down some of the things they said while they were saying them to help me memory along.  Hillary was coming out strong against the "Gunshow Loophole".  Which sounds good, but there is no gun show loophole.  I bought a gun at a gun show some time ago, (Nice Marlin 30-30 lever action) and they did instant background checks on all of us purchasers. 
   The Donald said that his supreme court picks might well repeal Roe vs Wade.  I wouldn't have said that.  It offends about half the voters.  Roe vs Wade has been the law for nigh on 50 years now, and overturning it would cause as much commotion and bad feeling as imposing it did.  Then he got off on a riff condemning partial birth abortions. 
   They got onto building border walls.  Hillary suggested that we wait for improved technology.  Improved technology for walls?  They had wall technology down pretty good in Troy, and it hasn't changed much in the 3000 years since Achilles slew Hector.  If she is talking about electronic widgets, forget it.  We tried that in Viet Nam.  Didn't work.  Put your trust in a plain old chain link fence. 
   Hillary was selling the idea that Putin is trying to help Trump with his leaks to Wikileaks.  Why would Putin do that?  Hillary is a known quantity, she isn't very effective, she isn't very smart, she isn't very polite, her mandate from the voters will be weak.  As the dictator of a Russia competing with the USA, Putin would be much better off with Hillary.  As ex head of KGB Putin knows this.  It's been suggested that the reason they only leak Democratic dirty laundry is that the Replublicans have tighter security and the hackers were not able to break in.  If true, that's a good reason to vote Republican. 
   Hillary claimed that Obama cut the national debt.  That's a flat out lie, the national debt doubled under Obama. 
   Hillary derided all tax cuts as "tax cuts for the rich".  Well, since half the population pays NO federal income tax, tax cuts only benefit the taxpaying half of the population.  If paying income tax makes you rich, then I suppose so.  But cutting taxes is good.  It's good for the economy, it worked for both Kennedy and Reagan, its good for taxpayers.  And a mere 5% of the taxpayers pay most of the taxes. 
   The Donald failed to nail Hillary on what she has accomplished on all her years on the public teat.  The real answer is she accomplished nothing.  No bills, no laws, no treaties, no peace talks, nada. 
   And finally Hillary wants to forbid anyone on the no-fly list from buying guns.  The no-fly list is maintained by bureaucrats somewhere and is completely arbitrary.  Citizens get stuck on it and there is no way off.  I don't want to give faceless federal bureaucrats the power to take away citizen's second amendment rights on a whim.
  The Donald came on pretty strong.  He'd be better if he could stick to the subject, and not go rambling off about pet peeves that the voters either don't care about or don't like.  He did get in a fair number of solid slams on Hillary.  Hillary wasn't quite as good.  I'd give this one to The Donald, but just barely, a squeaker.

Leaf Peeping.

It was a lovely day, sun, warm, clear sky.  Leaves still bright.  I decided I had to get out and look.  So I drove over the Kancamagus to Conway, and back thru Crawford Notch.  Foliage was magnificent all the way.  Whole hillsides showing gold and red. Individual trees all bright red. I brought the camera, but I already have, and have posted, a bunch of pix of brightly color leaves, so I didn't take any more.  Plus a lot of really beautiful scenes don't photograph well, you have to be there and see them.
Good Trip.  At the right time of year. 

Selecting a "man-on-the-street" for inteview. NHPR style

NHPR newsie in Orlando Florida is interviewing a "representative" voter.  Didn't give his name.  It became clear listening to this guy that he is gay, and pretty much all his waking thoughts are about his gayness and how it effects his life, his relationship with his mother and family, and the world in general.  It's hard for me to take this guy as representative of the typical Orlando (or anywhere else) voter.  Real people have other concerns than their sexual identity in their lives,  stuff like jobs, sports, hobbies, cars, politics, computers, music and more.  All this guy could talk about was his sexual identity.
   Granted that being gay can bring unusual stresses.  But 95% of the population is straight, and has interests other than sex and sexual identity.
   I don't think this guy is representative of anybody except himself.  And the NHPR newsies were too dumb or too PC to figure that out.  Or they just wanted to put a gay guy on the air. 

Moderators, Presidential Debate type.

The last two presidential debates had dreadful moderators.  They asked dumb ass questions, they were profoundly ignorant of many simple matters, and they both tried hard to help Hillary and hinder Trump.   Chris Wallace ought to be better.  He is smart, knowledgeable and fair.
   Far as I am concerned,  Republican presidential candidates ought to be pickier about debate moderators.  They should veto any rabid democratic moderators like Candy Crowley along with other more ignorant newsies.  And since newsies are a fairly low grade lifeform, they ought to look for prominent Americans from other walks of life. 

Free College. We used to have it.

I got one back in the 1970's.  My Air Force hitch was up, after a tour in South East Asia, and I enrolled at the University of Delaware for a Bachelor of Science Electrical Engineering degree.  I  had been stationed in Delaware long enough to qualify as a Delaware resident, entitled to resident's rates at the state university.  For residents tuition was super low, only a few hundred dollars a semester.  For a couple of semesters my text books cost more than my tuition.  My GI benefits covered tuition, books, and rent on my apartment.  Between that, and money I saved during my Air Force hitch, I graduated with no student loans to pay off and enough money left over to get married and take a honeymoon in England. 
   University of Delaware might not qualify as completely free in those days, but it was so cheap that anyone could afford it.   With Dupont and Hercules in the state, the engineering program at Delaware was good.  
   So when you hear Hillary campaigning for free college education, some one ought to ask her what happened to the ones we used to have. 

Words of the Weasel Part 48

"Bottle of flammable liquid"   That's what the cops called it on TV.   In real life, we call them Molotov cocktails.  

Words of the Weasel Part 47

Heard on TV this morning.  "I was self medicating myself with alcohol."   Sounds a helova lot better than "I drank like a fish."

Franconia Notch Fall Foliage

I took these pictures yesterday up in the Notch.

McDonalds is loosing it

I've been eating Big Macs and fries at McD's since forever.  Not so much lately.  Something has gone away, the Big Mac's are dry, cooked grey straight thru, the roll is soggy, and the fixings are tasteless.  The fries aren't as crisp as they used to be, and taste bland and mealy. 
   McD's used to be better.    Burger King is in the same hole.  Dunno what I am gonna do for lunch on the road.  Brown bag it I guess.

No-Fly zone in Syria?

Been some loose talk about taking the heat off Aleppo by declaring a no-fly zone over the city.  Keep Assad and the Russians from bombing the place.
   Not a bad idea, but you gotta ask one big question.  Are we willing to enforce such a no-fly zone?  Which means shooting down Russian aircraft.  The Turks did that a while ago and the Russians got awfully testy about it.  Do we have as much guts as the Turks? 
   If we aren't ready to enforce a no-fly zone, it's better not to declare one.  Something you learn from parenting.  Never make a threat that you are not prepared to carry out.   

The Donald has a lotta enemies to overcome

Enemy Number 1 is Democrats (natch).  Led by Hillary, they hope they can win in November.  Many of them detest Republicans on general principles, kinda like how cats feel about dogs.  It's not ideology or philosophy, it's just plain hatred.
Enemy Number 2 is the MSM.  Everybody in the MSM, reporters, editors, anchorpersons, janitors are  Democrats.  Only being in the MSM they have a really really loud megaphone to broadcast their propaganda.
Enemy Number 3 is the business establishment.  They have a cozy thing going with Hillary, they have contributed to the Clinton Foundation (paid their bribes).  They need favorable regulatory rulings, tax breaks, tariffs, and other crony capitalism things.  They are pretty sure that Hillary will do this stuff for them, as long as they keep paying her.  They have no idea what The Donald will do if elected.  That's scary.
Enemy Number 4 is the RINOs.  Once elected, the RINOs find they like the Democratic tax and spend policies, especially when it results in spending in their districts.  They don't care about tax hikes, they figure they can blame them on the Democrats.  The MSM won't call them on it, and the voters won't fact check them either.
Enemy Number 5 is all the women in the country.  The Donald is a boor, they know it, and that tape last Friday confirmed it.  Plus any woman has gotta like the idea of a female president.
Enemy Number 6 is academia.  Every college prof, every grade school teacher, and every administrator is a democrat.  They consider it their plain duty to brainwash their students, your children, with leftist drivel.  You wonder why the "millennials" are so pro Hillary and anti Trump?  They are coming off of 16 straight years of leftist indoctrination. 
  Good luck Donald.  You need all possible luck. 

Polls, more polls, and maybe some statistics

The TV is reporting that Clinton is up 9 % in the polls nationwide.  This comes after Debate #1, the Trump tape from 11 years ago, and Debate #2.  Bad news, if the polls are accurate. 
   My brother just got back from the great antique car show and auction in Hershey PA.  The show has been the second biggest thing in Hershey, after the chocolate company, for forty years or more.  He tells me the Trump signs were all over the place, not a Hillary sign to be seen.  Apparently car buffs are Trump fans.  Let's hope there are more of them.
   The pollsters got it wrong on Brexit.  They might get it wrong on the election.

How was 11 year old tape located in time?

I can see how TV networks would want to keep video of all the shows that they put on the air.  But the tape that did so much damage to The Donald was an out take, not broadcast video.  How come it was saved, and how did anyone find it 11 years later, just in time to do The Donald a lot of harm?  How much rummaging thru dusty boxes of video tape was required? And how much viewing of aged video was done, and by who? 
   There is a story here. Wanna bet the MSM won't touch it with a ten foot pole?  "All the news that fits, we print".

And I watched the 2nd Donald-Hillary debate

The Donald came on strong.  He answered some opening questions about THAT TAPE, pretty well.  He was able to move the discussion forward to some real issues, tax reform, Syria, repealing Obamacare, shutting down Obama's war on coal.  He also kept up a steady stream of zingers at Hillary. 
  Hillary was looking strong too, did not stumble or faint or show any kind medical problem.  She had a lotta zingers for The Donald. 
   Most of the questions sucked.  The moderators were a pair of newsies from ABC and CNN who tried to help Hillary and hinder The Donald as much as they could. 
   I think The Donald managed to erase some of the damage done by THAT TAPE. 

So I listened to the Trump audio tape.

Well, I've heard worse, actually a lot worse.  I was in the service once upon a time.  I played varsity sports in high school and heard a lot of crude remarks in the locker room.  But it's still kinda gross.  And the MSM are giving it all the air play in the world, hoping to sabotage Trump's campaign. 

The Odyssey of Humanity on Nova

Two hour show this Sunday.  Lots of  good video.  Lots of inane commentary.  Lots of astounding conclusions presented without any of the evidence to support them.  For instance, the voice over says that Neanderthal man lacked projectile weapons (bow and arrow, throwing spears) that Homo Sapiens possessed.  The voice over fails to mention any evidence for this bold claim.  Were there counts of flint arrowheads from Neanderthal sites and homo sapiens sites?  How does one tell the difference between a flint spearhead from a thrusting spearhead from a throwing spear?  It's an important issue.  Hunting with a bow and arrow is one helova lot more effective than hunting with just a flint knife or a thrusting spear, merely because the hunter doesn't have to stalk as closely and risk spooking the game.  With a bow and arrow the hunter only has to get within 50 yards of his prey.  Which is a lot easier than stalking to within touching distance ( zero feet). 
   Then the voice over goes into the old Bering Land Bridge theory, the idea that man crossed over from Asia to America when the oceans were low and the Bering Straits became dry land.  This is a land lubber's idea.  In real life Alaskan Eskimos used to cross the modern day Bering Straits in skin boats (Umiaks) until the Soviets made life impossible for them after WWII.  The umiaks were covered with walrus hide, a quarter of an inch thick, tough as fiberglass.  Eskimo umiaks are strong enough to take the thrust of a 40 horsepower outboard motor. 
   They did show a umiak on video, but the voice over clearly doesn't under stand the difference between rowing and paddling.   If your boat is strong enough to take the thrust of the oarlocks,  rowing will take you much further and faster than paddling.  Indian birch bark canoes were paddled because the birch bark isn't strong enough for oarlocks. 
   Then we see a truly impressive Pacific ocean catamaran.  Two masts, cabins, big crew, very impressive vessel.  It's a modern replica.  No discussion of ancient catamarans.  Do they have pictures? rock carvings? a salvaged wreck?  or what?  I'd love to believe that Polynesians reached Hawaii in such a craft, but I'd like a little evidence.  Plus no details of the impressive modern replica, like length, displacement, speed, how high she could point up into the wind, what each of the twin hulls was made of.  Or what the sails might have been made of.  The replica's sails looked like modern Dacron to me.
   Nova  had a lot of dramatic flashy video, made a nice TV show, but the voice over displayed so much ignorance as to discredit the whole thing. 

Peak of Leaf Season

This weekend is as good as it's gonna get up here in the Notch.   I was going to add a couple of photos but the software weenies at blogger seem to have broken the photo upload code, again.  Way to go software weenies.

Sorry about Gretchen Carlson, but Britt Hume is cool too.

Gretchen disappeared off Fox's 7 PM  news show.  I assume that she was caught up in the Fox News/Roger Ailes sexual harassment affair, although I don't know that for sure.  I watched Gretchen's show for a long time.  But, I gotta say that old pro Britt Hume does even better than Gretchen did.  Britt makes the same show (same time slot) even more interesting.   Way to go Britt.

International Tax Scams

Want to avoid US corporate income tax?  If you are a corporation, open a branch or a subsidiary in some really low tax country.  The Bahamas and some other Caribbean island-nations are notorious.  Apple chose Ireland, a reasonable EU country that let Apple pay 12% instead of the US 35%.  Apple got such a good deal that the EU got on Ireland's case and demanded Apple pay a whole bunch more.  If the EU finds it was a scandal, where was the American IRS?  Uncle Sam was loosing out bigtime on the Irish-Apple deal. More so than the EU was.
   Once an overseas subsidiary is established, it's easy for the company accountants to direct all sorts of earning to the subsidiary.  Just running the bills thru the subsidiary can be enough.  Even if the product is made in the US, shipped in the US, delivered in the US, but the bills go to the Bahamas, it's income in the Bahamas, not the US.  We could tighten this up with some rules in our tax code.  Call it inverse domestic content, if say 50% of the product's content is US content, then income from selling said product is US income.  And we could ban transfer of intellectual property, say the rights to Disney films like Peter Pan, out of the United States.  Between movies and music and computer programs, and books and suchlike, the US earns a lotta money, probably more than we do exporting automobiles and steel.
   We probably need a world wide tax agreement, setting corporate tax rates the same all over the world.  This would reduce the incentives for US companies, cursed with the highest tax rate in the world, to move abroad.  To make this work, we would have to bring our corporate tax rate down to match places like Germany, Japan, and England.  And once we have the first world on board, we pressure the tax havens like the Bahamas to shape up. We tell 'em if they want to do business in the first world, they gotta adopt first world corporate tax rates.  If they don't listen, we tighten the screws on 'em.
  Wanna bet nobody running for president ever talks about this?

Let's go with Pence for VP

I stayed up to watch the VP debate.   With both presidential candidates in, or near their seventies, and a world full of crazies, there is a distinct chance of the VP succeeding to the presidency.  So do either of these two guys, Republican Mike Pence, and Democrat Tim Kaine look like they could cut it as president?  Both of them are unknown to me.  Governors of states so far away from NH that I never heard a word about them before.  
   Of the two, Republican Mike Pence made a much better impression on me.  He seemed steadier, talked more of substance rather than just dishing up insults, which is all Democrat Tim Kaine did.  I feel the country would be in good hands with Mike Pence should something happen to Trump.  Not so much Tim Kaine,  Hillary won't be much good as president and Kaine will be worse. 
   Kaine spent the night repeating every distasteful thing Trump has ever said or whining about Trump's personal taxes.  Not very interesting, I have heard most of 'em, from Trump on live TV, or on instant replay with the morning TV pundits.   Pence talked about his successes as governor, they sounded pretty good, lowered taxes, lowered unemployment, created a $2 billion surplus in the state government.  Pence also talked about Republican plans to revive the national economy.\
   The moderator, a lady from somewhere in the MSM, I don't know her, used each question to pet the democrats and slam the republicans.  And the questions were light weight, just invitations for another flood of politician talk, feel good, commit to nothing speech or the kind that Obama is so good at.