We need nutcase control more than gun control

 The two recent atrocious mass murders have brought Democrats out in full cry for gun control, by which they mean taking everyone's guns away.  If not all a once, chip way at gun ownership bit my bit.  While we allow homicidal maniacs to run around loose.  In most of these horrible cases, the killer was well known as a nut case to friends and family, teachers, police, and others long before he flipped out and killed a lot of innocent people.  

   And yet we let these dangerous men run around loose.  What we should do in these cases is bring the nutcase before a psychological panel which would determine if the subject was truly dangerous.  Insane potential homicidal maniacs would be involuntarily confined in a state mental hospital.  We used to do this, back before the civil rights movement of the 1960's put an end to involuntary confinement. 

Picking your college major.

 OK, you have decided to go to college and you think you have the stick-to-it-tivness to graduate.  Second big important choice is choosing your major.  Most companies only hire people who majored in something they need.  After graduation you have to go out and make a living for yourself.  You will spend a lot of your time for the rest of your life making a living.  Life will be better if you like what you do to make a living. 

   At this stage in your life you may not have a clue as to what you want to do after graduation.  I didn’t.  But you need to work on it.  Talk to family, talk to anyone you know who is holding down a job.  Read some biographies of people you admire to see what they did for a living.  Read the Wall St Journal to see what industries are growing and what industries are shrinking (dying?).  

   You have to pick your major in freshman year.  Not that the college demands it (they should but don’t) but your major influences your choice of classes to take.  For example if you decide to major in a STEM subject, you need to take calculus as soon as possible, first semester freshman year is best.

   College offers three general categories of majors, totally useless, liberal arts, and STEM.  Totally useless are any kind of studies, gender studies, black studies, ethnic studies and more.  Anything with studies in the name should be avoided.  Nobody will hire someone who majored in “studies”.  Also art history, sociology, political science, underwater basket weaving, archeology, nobody hires anyone who majored in any of this stuff. 

   The seven liberal arts are/were English, history, foreign languages, music, art, philosophy, and theology.  English and history will teach you how to write and writers are instantly employable.  English is limited to the works of a few hundred English authors.  History is broader, covering everywhere in the world going back to the invention of writing several thousand years ago. Any company doing business overseas is always glad to hire an American who can speak the language “over there”.  They trust Americans more than they do foreign nationals.  Music is good if you have any musical talent and you plan to perform.  If you don’t have any talent, music won’t do anything good for you.  Likewise art, you have to have some artistic talent for it to do you any good.  Philosophy is fun but the only job it leads to a teaching it.  Theology is pretty much obsolete now a days.

   And STEM.  Physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, programming, mathematics, business, and more.  There are a lotta jobs for STEM majors.  The best STEM subject is engineering.  It is fun to do, and engineers are always in demand.  The STEM field demands calculus, the text books do things in calculus and lacking calculus the homework will be meaningless to you.  You want to sign up for calculus freshman year.  Calculus requires that you already have algebra and trigonometry from high school.  Note to high school students, you want to take algebra and trig unless you want to lock your self out of a STEM major in college. 

Getting my Corona virus vaccination

 Today I got my second shot of Moderna vaccine.  It was a strange deal.  Right after NH announced we could register for a vaccine shot, I logged into the "VAMS" website, answered all the silly questions and received an email promising an appointment email in a few days.  Well the appointment email never arrived.  I logged into "VAMS" again. answered all the question ans again "VAMS" promised my an appointment email within a few days.  It never arrived.  So I tried "VAMS" for a third time.  This time I was able to obtain an appointment in May.  Some time later the phone rang, it was a new vaccination site starting up in North Haverill, only a couple of  towns over from Franconia.  " Would you like an appointment with us?" they asked.  "If you can get me anything before May I will be right there" I replied.  They came thru, I had my first shot two weeks ago and my booster shot today.  Give me a couple of weeks for the shots to settle down and I will be as Corona proof as possible. 

Let's keep the Senate filibuster

 The "filibuster" has changed it's meaning over the years.  Now "filibuster" simply means requiring a three fifth's vote (60 senators) to pass anything that one party or the other party doesn't like.  Years ago it meant taking advantage of the unlimited debate rule and talking and talking until either the windy senator keeled over or they decided to drop the issue and move on to other things.  There is a long evolution of the filibuster from unlimited debate into today's 60 vote requirement to pass anything.

Now the Democrats, who have the thinnest possible margin in the Senate, want to get rid of the filibuster all together and pass everything on a 50% plus one vote.  That will allow the Democrats to pass a whole bunch of stuff that they cannot get 60 senators to support.  

Me, I think anything that cannot gain three fifths of the senators support is probably a bad law and we do well not to pass it.  Let's keep the filibuster to guard against passing bad laws. 

Dam Busters 1955

 An oldie but a goody. A World War II RAF miracle operation, probably the best mission the RAF flew.  The mission was to destroy German dams in the Ruhr, creating devastating floods and depriving German war industries of needed water and electricity.  The film, by a British movie company, opens with British engineer Barnes Wallace devising the totally novel bombs needed to take out a dam.  Dams are very big, very strong, and ordinary bombs won't break them.  We see Wallace getting his bombs to work and the RAF setting up a special squadron of the new four engined Lancaster bombers to deliver the bombs.  The film was made back in 1955 when the Brits still had some real WWII Lancasters flying.  We see the real aircraft down at 60 feet above the water, roaring in on English test dams, and later on the German dams,  at 250 knots.  The flying scenes are very good and make the movie.   It is in black and white which was standard for war movies back then.  There were some amusing but realistic touches.  The car doors on the British sedans slam with a tinny rattle.  Not like the bank vault clunk you get slamming the door on a Detroit car.  The Barnes Wallace home has a plate rack running around the room high up.  My grandmother's house in Montreal had just such a plate rack.  Grandmother filled it with decorative liquor bottles instead of plates.  Enjoyable watch and the movie tells the story straight. 

Do you want to go to College?? This year??

High School graduation is coming up .  If you are a senior, it's time the think about college.  College is rediculously expensive.  A four year degree at a reputable college will set you back $100K to $200K.  That's new house money.  And you cannot get out of paying it back.  Bankruptcy doesn't work on school loans.  If you start, you have to finish and graduate, otherwise all the money you have paid in is wasted.  You still have to pay it back, but you don't get anything for it.  So, your first question, to yourself, ought to be "Do I have to stick-to-itness to make it thru?"  

    College is not much, if any, more difficult than high school.  If you have no trouble doing high school, you will have no trouble doing college.  On the other hand, if getting thru high school was a major strain, college will be at least as stressful, maybe worse.   

    If you are unsure of yourself, you can take an off year.  Enlist in the armed forces, hike the Appalachian trail, take a job, go to Europe, Spend a summer as a camp counselor, spend a winter as a ski bum, sail around the world, anything.  The Corona virus makes next year a good one to take off.  They will probably still be into face masks, and "distance learning", and no parties, and no real face-to-face classes.  After a year or two of off year, you will understand yourself better, and you will get a lot more out of college.

    And, there are a lot of well paying jobs that don't require college at all.  Machinist, NCR tech, truck driver, heavy equipment operator, lineman, cop, auto mechanic, fireman, railroad engineer, fish and game warden, plumber, electrician, professional sports, and a lot more.  Think about it.  If college looks like four more years of boring book work, and you like working with your hands, you might be happier as a skilled worker.  

Foster Grants reading glasses

 I just had operations for my cataracts.  The new plastic lens give my excellent distance vision, No so good close up for reading vision.  I bought a couple of pairs of Dollar Tree reading glasses.  They work, but not great, everything more then two feet away is blurry..  Going thru Shaws food market I struck a bunch of reading glasses, Foster Grant by name, $35 each which is a big step up from the Dollar Tree.  I bought a pair.  They do work better than Dollar Tree.  They even have a slight yellow tint in the lenses which is supposed to block out blue light from screen displays, which is said to be harmful. 

So how do I pick a defensive handgun??

 First you want to pick a cartridge that has enough punch to do the job and is widely available.  Of which we have 380 Auto, 9mm, 45 ACP for automatic pistols and 38 Special, 357 Magnum, and 44 Special and 44 Magnum for revolvers.  Then we want to find a handgun that fits well in our hand.   In my experience the old 38 Special Air Force issue revolvers were miserable to shoot.  Grips were too small and they had been marinated in gun oil for 25 years and were slippery.  The Army 45 auto was much better.  Your experience will differ.  But you want to shoot at least one box of ammo before buying the gun.  Once you have bought the handgun you need to shoot it, at least once a month until you can keep all the shots withing a 6 inch circle at 25 yards.  Shooting two handed.  If you cannot hit squat with it, it won't do you much good. 

So what is available in SUV land?

 

Since Detroit is no longer making sedans, I thought I would take a look at SUV’s.  Start with Chevy.  They offer 7 different SUV’s from a 5 passenger Trax and Trailblazer and working up to the 9 passenger Suburban. Other than size, they all look pretty much the same.  The small ones have really dinky engines, 1.4 liters (call it 87 cubic inches) and even the big ones don’t have much engine, 2.5 and 3.0 liters.   Gas mileage on even the dinky little engines is unimpressive, 27 city 31 highway.  I owned a full size 1999 Cadillac De Ville once with the Northstar V8 engine that did as well.  No manual transmissions just slush boxes. 

   They all come with an “entertainment package” featuring a 7 inch touch screen.  It is not clear if you get an AM-FM radio or a CD player with the “entertainment package”. A lot of new cars come with just a satellite radio that requires you pay the satellite company for service. 

  Pricing can be slippery.  On of them claimed a list price of $30K but they wanted $51K for the SUV pictured.  The options and this and that can be expensive, like $200 for floor mats.  They want $40 for a front license plate bracket.  It was not clear if this bracket was needed to mount a front license plate or was just a trim piece to dress up the license plate. 

Detroit is going, going, gone

 A piece from one of the car mags, "Best sedans of 2021".  They were all imports, from Korea and Japan and Germany.  No Detroit iron. 

Let's all get on Cuomo's case

 Newsies have been trying to get President Biden to call for Cuomo's resignation.  Biden did not comment.  What Biden should have said (and did not) was "Cuomo is a matter for the voters and elected officials of New York to handle.  I am from Delaware and a federal official."

Lets regulate the Internet

 So said a TV ad on Fox News.  It said something like "We have been improving the technology of the Internet for 25 years.  It is now time to improve the regulation of the internet."  Then in smaller type it said "This ad paid for by Facebook".   Facebook has gotten so big and bought up or run out of business all its competitors.  They own the social media business lock stock and barrel.  What kind of regulation could Facebook want?  

   I suppose they might like some regulations supporting or requiring everyone to censor Republican posts.  Facebook is doing it, and taking some heat about their censorship.  Perhaps they think the regulator could take the heat off of them. 

How Green is my airliner?

Ordinary jet fuel is a hydrocarbon, a compound of carbon and hydrogen.  When jet fuel is burned, in the engines, the hydrogen mates up with oxygen from the air yielding H2O or water.  The carbon mates up with oxygen yielding CO2 or carbon dioxide.  

Aviation Week features a seven page spread on "Sustainable Aviation Fuel"  SAF for short.  This miracle compound burns without producing CO2.  The Aviation week spread claimed that all the industry needs to do is convert over to SAF and that will get the greenies off the industry's back.  

   In this entire spread Aviation Week does not tell us what a "Sustainable Aviation Fuel is made from nor does it say how the stuff is made.  Nor what it costs.  They have made enough SAF for a handful of flights in real aircraft and existing engines work just fine on the stuff.  

   This is the first I every heard of SAF.  I have my doubts as to how much could be produced, especially produced at the cost of ordinary jet fuel, which is essentially kerosene.

Instapundit thinks Susan Rice and Dr. Jill are running the country

 Most of us don't think Biden is running the county.  We think Biden just signs or reads aloud anything his handlers put in front of him.  A figurehead.  The interesting question is who is pulling Biden's strings.

Instapundit thinks it is Susan Rice and Dr. Jill.  He does not give any evidence to support this belief. 

Wall Street is OK with the $1.9 Trillion "Covid-19 Relief Bill"

 The Dow Jones Average reached a new high after Biden signed the bill yesterday.  Of the $1.9 Trillion bill only 10% of the money does anything for Covid-19 work.  The rest of it goes to favorite Democrat programs, like the National Endowment for the Arts.  

   The US GNP is only a bit more than $17 Trillion, so this Covid-19 Relief Bill equals better than 10% of the entire GNP.  The money will simply be printed, debasing the currency, and creating inflationary pressures.  Everything will be a little more expensive due to Covid-19 Relief.  

Not to worry says Wall Street. 

Disney is dropping a lotta goldie oldies

 Peter Pan, my favorite Disney cartoon.  Fortunately I have it on a factory VHS tape.  Dumbo, the Aristocats, and Swiss Family Robinson are on the Disney hit list too.  So I rented them all from Netflix so I can enjoy them before Disney makes them all disappear. 

Must be Spring

 It is up to 52F, warmest it has been all year.  I bought a box of fresh strawberries for only $2.50.  They were $8 only a few weeks ago. 

Looks like the Royal Family made a mistake

 This Meghan Markle is truly making the British royal family look really bad.  You would think that the Queen and Prince Charles would have checked out Meghan Markle before the marriage and found her unsatisfactory and made it clear to Harry that marrying her would be a disaster for him and for the rest of the family and the realm.  Obviously that did not happen.  Too bad.

I wonder which senator missed the vote

 The US Senate voted thru the Democrat's $1.9 Trillion Covid19 "relief" bill last night.  The vote was 50-49.  I wonder which senator missed that vote.  Probably a Democrat.  Of the $1.9 Trillion only $0.38 Trillion goes to Covid problems, the other $1.52 Trillion went to favorite Democrat spending projects like National Endowment for the Arts. 

Break up Amazon. Bring back Dr. Seuss

 First we have the Dr. Seuss publisher announce that six good Dr. Seuss books are "offensive" and they will stop publishing them.  Then today we have Amazon announce that it will no longer sell them.  We can fix this.  Amazon is a monopoly, has most of the book selling market.  Sherman anti trust act allows the government to break up monopolies.  The US justice department has a whole anti trust division staffed with well paid lawyers.  They could break up Amazon into two or three pieces.  Divvy up the office buildings, the advertisers, the customers, the shareholders equally.  Let the pieces compete with each other.  One piece will decide they can make money selling Dr. Seuss, after all he dominates the Wall St Journal weekend reviews of books.  Dr. Seuss usually comes in first in sales, beating out all the other books on sale all over the country.  

   They did this to the Standard Oil  company about 100 years ago. 

Dr Seuss ain't dead yet

 Walking thru WallyMart today.  They had a big stand full of Dr Seuss books right in the middle of an aisle.  Celebrating National Book Month.   Good Show.  Dr. Seuss is a best selling author, shows up as such in plenty of Wall St Journal pieces. 

She should have slapped him in the face. Hard.

 Her name escapes me, it was the chick who had a picture in the NY Post of Cuomo placing both hands on her shoulders.  My mother would have done so. What do they tell young chicks about getting along in the world now a days?

New Hampshire needs real power plants

 Real power plants will produce electric power when ever it is needed.  Fake power plants (aka "alternate energy") only produce power when they feel like it, when the sun is up or the wind is blowing.  We get plenty of cold dark calm nights up here and we need enough real power plants to carry the full load of the entire state.  We cannot depend upon fake power plants.

It would be best if the real power plants were owned by New Hampshire electric companies and located in New Hampshire.  The present deal where companies like PSNH are expected to buy electricity on the open market from out of state generation operations is dangerous.  When power becomes short the out of state operators may not sell to us up here.  If we owned the generators, and they were located in New Hampshire we could be assured of receiving the plant's full output in times of shortage.  

And  while we are at it, we ought to built a decent gas pipeline out to the Bakken.  Out there they have so much natural gas that the frackers are paying people to get rid of it all.  Private industry would be happy to build such a pipeline if we could keep the greenies off their backs. 

I like art and the arts

 On the other hand, good art sells for enough to support the artist.  Art that requires a government subsidy is bad art.  If the art was any good people would spend good money to buy it.  So, I gotta wonder about money for the endowment for the arts tucked into the Corona virus relief bill.  I think that is pork.

Paperpushers wreck Arecibo radio telescope

 On 10 August one of the cables holding up the 950 ton suspended instrument platform broke.  They spent the next three months doing paperwork (a plan for temporary repairs).  On 6 November a second support cable failed.  More paperwork was accomplished.  Then finally on 1 December the last cable failed and the 950 ton suspended instrument platform fell, busting a huge hole in the parabolic reflector and destroying all the instruments in the platform.  

What they should have done, back in August when the first cable failed, is simple. Get about six big rolls of good stout steel cable.  Run six cables out to the suspended instrument platform to hold it up even if all the original cables broke.  The should have been able to get that done in less than three months, even out in Puerto Rico, where everything has to be shipped out from the mainland.  Instead they accomplished paperwork while the Arecibo radio telescope fell into ruin.  They are going to abandon it now. 

Trump speaks at CPAC

 He was about an hour late.  He spoke for and hour and a half.  Never at a loss for words.  Got a lot of enthusiastic applause.  The room was fairly full although I could see  blocs of empty seats here and there. The room was not all that large.  It was not much larger than the theater at my old high school, a decent size room but not all that large.  Trump said he will not do a third party. Trump suggested that he MIGHT run for president in 2024 but it was just a MIGHT, no solid commitment. Which is fair, 2024 is a long way off, lots of things might happen. Trump is getting old, in four years he might not have the energy he has now.  He spoke about all the good things he has done in his one term, and it was a fair summary.  

  In summary, Trump inspires a lot of enthusiasm.  His past policies are popular, at least with the people who go to CPAC.  Of the 75 million people who voted for Trump back in November, a lot of them, maybe half, say 37 million, voted for Trump the personality not for the Republican party.  Without Trump they are gone.  That makes Trump the guy who brings a lot more votes to the table than anyone else.

Democrats pass $1.9 Trillion Covid-19 relief bill

 They passed it in the house at o'dark thirty, when every one had gone to bed.  Of the $1.9 trillion only about $o.38 trillion goes for Covid 19 relief. The bulk of it , $1.5 trillion, is pure pork.  Democrats don't care, they think any kind of spending stimulates the economy.  Republicans fear printing another $1.9 trillion greenbacks will destabilize the dollar and raise inflation. 

Rug Job

 My place is wall-to-wall carpet.  Laid down about 30 years ago.  At the door to my bedroom a worn trail was developing in the wall-to-wall.  Ugly.  On a pass thru Wallymart I spotted an area rug, just the right size, only $18.  Nice color match.  So I bought it.  Now to lay it.  The bookcase full of DVD's and VHS tapes had to be moved.  Loaded it was too heavy for me to lift and move.  I had to unload half of it.  Now the rug lay down nicely, it fit just right.  But, the door would not move.  I had to remove the door, jack ass it downstairs to the shop, and saw 3/16's off the bottom with my skill saw.  To get the door to lay flat enough to saw I had to remove the door handles.  Arrgh.  So, jack ass the trimmed door back up stairs.  And now the hinges did not want to go back together.  Much hammering, prying and cussing later I got a pry bar under the door and heaved up.  That did it, the hinges slide together and the hinge pins went back in with only slight persuasion from a ball peen hammer.  At this point it was 5 PM, I was exhausted.  Time for a drink.   Next morning I put all the DVDs back on the bookcase.

The door, loose, right for the shop.

    The door going down the basement stairs.

The area rug installed.

Why Texas lights went out

 I am reading that as the Texas system load went up and system generation dropped off line, the control center tried to keep hospitals powered up by blacking out all sorts of other consumers.  Pipeline companies had their power go away.  Which meant their pumps on the natural gas pipelines went away.  Which meant the gas fired power plants went off line for lack of gas.  Which reduced the power available on the grid to keep every ones lights on.  

   We ought to require the pipeliners to power all their stuff off the natural gas in their pipelines, no electricity required.  They will scream cause doing it yourself is more expensive than just using electricity, but doing it yourself is more reliable.  

Corona virus vaccine

 

I got my Corvid 19 vaccination today.  It was over in Haverill at the Horse Meadows senior center.  I am old enough to be in Phase 1B, eligible right now.  I had logged into the federal government’s “VAMS” system, three times before I got an appointment, for May, way up in Whitefield.  Littleton had suffered some kind of catastrophe where they cancelled all their appointments, “VAMS” refused to give me an appointment at Littleton, Best they could do was Whitefield. 

   Meantime Haverill called me an about a month ago and asked if I would be interested in an appointment if they got their clinic set up.  I said if they could do anything better than May I would be right there.  Haverill got back to me last week with an appointment today at 12:30.  They asked me to show up 10 minutes early.  So I set off for Haverill this morning at 11:45 and got there 9 minutes early.  They had a bunch of volunteers out directing traffic and checking names and dates and times.  I got a choice of right arm or left arm, we did right arm since that was the one on the car window sill.  Everyone was polite and cheerful and professional.  I got the Moderna vaccine.  They gave me in mice little wallet card that I can show to anyone who cares if I am vaccinated.  I got my shot right at 12:30 and was on the road by 12:45.  Good work by all hands

The Real Story: It's all climate change

 Thus sayeth Chuckie the Schumer.  The reason the Texas power grid failed, they did not consider climate change in the design.  Yeah right, climate change is at fault for everything.  

   The reason for the Texas blackout is a lot of power plants failed. I am still seeing conflicting stories on just which plants went down when.  Some say the windmills failed.  Others say the natural gas suppliers failed causing the natural gas plant to shut down.  The Wall St Journal blames it on the windmills.  Another writer gives an hour by hour megawatt by megawatt account which shows the windmills shut down first, but they were not providing much juice and the natural gas plants dropped off line later.  

There are some questions that no one is talking about.  Such as.  Why did the windmills shut down?  Some people have mentioned icing in the cold weather.  How does a windmill get stopped by ice?  The rotor has enough torque to turn the alternator under load, surely that is enough torque to break any amount of ice that might be obstructing the rotation.  

What caused the natural gas supplies to stop?  Again people have mentioned freezing weather.  Natural gas won't freeze at any temperature a winter cold snap can reach. What did freeze?  Or do the natural gas pipelines rely upon electric power to pump the gas thru the pipe?  

We need to get to the real causes of the Texas blackout and then make sure that New Hampshire does not have the same problems. 

The Jungle Book 1942

 I found this in the cheap DVD bin at Wallymart some time ago.  Just got around to watching it this afternoon.  It's pretty good.  It is in Technicolor, which was state of the art in 1942.  Sabu stars as Mowgli.  No other names in the cast mean anything to me.  It was shot in India.   The animals are real animals, with training that is to be admired.  Shere Khan is particularly wild and dangerous looking.  The plot does not follow any Kipling story that I remember.  Sabu is a good looking beefy teenager, which is older than most of the later Jungle Book movies which show Mowgli as a kid about 12 years old.  Mowgli has a thing going with a cute girl from the village.  Anyhow if you are looking for a new flick to show the children, this will do the trick. 

So what is the real story about Texas power failure??

 Lotsa people blame the power failure on the windmills going off line.  The greenies blame the natural gas suppliers failing to provide gas causing the gas plants to drop off line.  Me, I suspect the windmills did it, but I don't have any solid evidence.  All I know is what I see on the 'net and on TV.  And I have not seen anything convincing there.

Some questions for the intrepid newsies the answer.

What is this talk about the windmills freezing up?  Do they use water for something?  What might that be?  Do they mean ice buildup is blocking their rotation?  How can that be, the windmill blades produce enough torque to turn an alternator under load, surely that is enough torque to break any amount of ice, anywhere?  

What is this talk about natural gas wells and pipelines freezing?  Natural gas does not freeze at any temperature a hard winter freeze can reach.  Is it water freezing somewhere??  What is water needed for in a gas pipeline??  

What is this talk about failure to winterize power plants?  What does winterization do for a power plant?  

Boy, that governor Cuomo gets a lot of TV airtime, on Fox no less

 Cuomo is getting sued and worse over his grannie killing policy of putting Corona virus victims back into nursing homes where they infected the rest of the residents,  and lying about nursing home Corona virus deaths.  And they will think up more stuff to lay on him as time goes on.  

But Fox gives him a lot of airtime to give his side of it, uninterrupted by fact checkers. 

Free up 9 Gigs of disk space.

 I discovered that my desktop had a folder Windows AND a second folder Windows.old, both folders being 9 gigs.  I started out working on 5 megabyte DEC RK05 disks on PDP-11s.  I still think in terms of conserving disk space.  9 Gigs seems like a lot of disk space.  

Anyhow Windows.old pops up when the machine gets upgraded, in this case upgraded from Win 8 to Win 10.  The upgrade routine simply renames the old version of windows to windows.old and then puts the new version of windows into a new windows folder.  This allows you to go back to the previous version of windows should you want to.  In my case Win 10 has been working just fine, all my programs run properly, and I would never want to go back to Win 8, it was flaky.  So, I decided to recover 9 Gigs by zapping windows.old.  

  You cannot just delete windows.old from Explorer.  It is big enough to choke a hog, and it still carries protections against deletion that it enjoyed when it was the active Windows.  Not a problem.  Windows can fix it all.  In Explorer find the master folder C:.  Right click on the C: folder and select Properties.  In Properties select "Disk Cleanup".  In Disk Cleanup select "Clean up System Files".  This will display a number of different files you can clean.  Select the "previous versions" and let her rip.  It takes a while but I gained 9 Gig of free disk space. 

Farewell Rush Limbaugh

 Good man.  He will be missed.  Rush understood where a lot a Americans were coming from.  He spoke for them and to them.  Pax vobiscum.  My condolences to Rush's family.

Real electric plants vs fake electric plants.

 

We expect the electricity to stay on, 24-7.  We count on it in fact.  My heating plant, an oil burner, won’t heat when the juice goes off.  We depend upon electric hot water heaters, electric stoves, electric lights, electric well pumps.  If the power fails in winter my pipes will freeze in a matter of hours. 

   To keep the lights burning on a cold winter night takes conventional power plants, coal fired or natural gas fired, nuclear plants, hydro plants, the kind of generator that will put out power anytime it is needed.  We call these sorts of electric plants real electric plants.  Others call them baseload plants

  “Alternate energy”, beloved by greenies, cannot be depended upon when you need it.  Solar stops working at sundown, which happens every day.  Wind stops working when the wind stops blowing, something that happens fairly often even up here in the White Mountains.  In fact right now as I write this, it is a dead calm.  And we call undependable electric plants fake electric plants.  All the fake electric plants do is raise my electric bill as the power companies are required by law to purchase power from the fake electric plants at outrageous prices. 

    The electric companies, to keep the lights burning, need to own enough real power plants to handle full system load all the time.   The plants are expensive, several billion dollars, and the electric company has to take out a mortgage from a bank to pay for their construction.  And making the monthly mortgage payments is the electric company’s biggest expense.  Things like fuel and personnel costs are way smaller undependable wind and solar suppliers.  .  As long as they are paying the mortgage, the electric companies would just as soon operate the plants, sell the juice, and pay the mortgage with the proceeds.  They don’t need expensive and undependable "alternate energy".

We want to make sure the electric companies put in enough real power plants to keep the lights burning on a cold windless winter night.  We don't want them to fritter away money of fake electric plants.  Looks like Texas has put in a lot of fake electric plants that don't work when they need them and not enough real electric plants.  

 

Ventilation systems in schools???

The teachers and their unions are claiming the "ventilation systems" need upgrading.  The school I went to didn't have a "ventilation system".  It had big double hung sash windows all down the outside wall of the class rooms, that opened.  Open them up and we got a lotta fresh air. 

Are we at a significant turning point right now?

 Mark Levin, Fox news commentator, thinks we are, that future historians will point out January 2021 as an important turning point.  Things get a little vague when he talked about what we were turning from and to.  

I am not sure we are are a real turning point, you don't know until the turn has happened.  But, if we are, then it is a matter for turning away from Jeffersonian democracy, American exceptionalism, free market capitalism, and Christianity.  Turning toward political correctness, Critical race theory, and Marxism, and atheism.  

It is certainly time for those of us that still believe in the traditional American ideas to speak up for them.  And elect representatives who believe in them. 

They acquitted Trump after only a week

 The article of impeachment basically said Trump was responsible for the January 6 invasion of the Capitol building.  All they really presented in support of this idea was a lot of Trump speeches where he called the election rigged, and where he called for a demonstration in DC on that day.  Even so, we had seven RINOs vote in favor of impeachment.  They need to be primaried next year. 

   We have not heard much out of Trump in recent days.  He might just be taking a well earned rest after four years of open combat with the MSM.  Of the 75 million people who voted for Trump, a lot of them did it because they liked, believed in, and appreciated Trump.  And they are Trump's to lead.  Without Trump they are gone.  That makes Trump the most important Republican in the land.  I hope the rest of the party understands this. 

Spring must be coming

 Just bought a box of fresh strawberries, ONLY $3.99 for a box.  Last week they were asking $7.99 a box for fresh strawberries from who knows where.  They were all the giant berries, big as lemons, but they tasted OK.  Sweet, an improvement in strawberry breeding from a few years ago when the giant berries tasted more of straw than a sweet berry did.

Impeachment hearings. Jan 6 was terrible terrible and all Trump's fault.

 Been a lotta Democrat  speakers saying how horrible the Jan 6 riot at the Capitol building was.  Worst thing that ever happened and it's all Trump's fault.  Trump egged on the rioters, and we ought to impeach him for it.  Un spoken agreement, if we can impeach him we can forbid him from ever running for dog catcher, let along President of the US, for the rest of his life.  

I hear all this.  But after a summer where BLM and Antifa burned down Milwaukee and Seattle, and some other places, a few broken doors and windows, a few screwballs sitting in Nancy Pelosi's office, and a lot of trash dumped all over the Capitol building doesn't seem all that bad to me.  They could have set the place on fire, but they didn't.

How to open the schools.

 To get the schools open again is very simple.  Unlock the schoolhouse door in the morning.  Inform students and parents that school is open.  They will be there, no question about it.  Inform the teachers that school is open.  If they don't show up for work, their paychecks will stop.  

I know that the teachers want all sorts of stuff, remodeling, protective equipment, vaccine, ventilation, new heating plants, all sorts of stuff.  Well, we might do some of it, when we come up with the money, but, school will open NOW, and if they don't show, they don't get paid. 

Florida town's water system gets hacked

Wanna bet that water system's computer was on the public internet?  And was running Windows, world's most vulnerable operating system?  The public internet allows hackers from all over the world to try their luck on your computers.  If you just have to have remote control of something, do it over a private fiber optic link.  To hack that, they have to climb a pole, and splice an optical splitter into the fiber link.  Few people know how to splice fiber.  Few hackers climb poles.  And your system will be far more secure if it runs Linux, or Apple, or anything but Windows.

Join the National Rifle Association.

 The Democrats, currently controlling the US federal government, want to forbid private ownership of firearms and in fact take all of our guns away.  If you are a gun owner, you really need to join the NRA if you want to remain a gun owner.   It is the most effective organization defending our right to keep and bear arms.  Right now there are around 5 million NRA members, enough to give NRA leaders some clout when they negotiate with lawmakers.  They are a lot more than 5 million gun owners in the country.  If all of us joined the NRA it would give the NRA enormous clout. 

    NRA runs a big website, at which you can join up.  It’s www.NRAila.org. Or just Google for NRA, that will get you there.  Dues are modest, and they will cut special deals for needy folk.

Whither the Republican Party?

 There are some internal strains, differences, factions, and infighting inside the Grand Old Party.  Of the 75 million people who voted for Trump, a lot of them did so because of Trump.  They liked his attitude, they liked his style, they trusted his word, they liked the economy he created, and they liked the taxes he cut.  They showed up at Trump’s rallies in vast numbers.  I am guessing that about half of them, say 37 million, are there for Donald Trump, and without Trump, they are gone.   In short, the Republican Party needs Trump because he brings in the votes better than anyone else in the party.

   Then we have the RINOs.  These guys are Democrats at heart, they believe that hiking taxes let’s them spend money on pet programs, and they don’t worry about tax hikes messing up the economy.  They don’t like private enterprise very much.  For example, given a choice between contracting with SpaceX and doing it in-house in NASA, RINOs will go for giving the work to NASA civil servant people every time.  RINOs don’t like Trump.  We ought to vote out as many RINOs as we can. 

   And we have the old line upper crust of the Republican Party.  They don’t like Trump much because he is too rude and crude for them.  Trump tends to hang out with, and hire, working class and ex military folk that the old line upper crust cannot stand.  They think Trump’s habit of tweeting every day is silly. 

   And finally we have the professionals, guys who hold elective office, party officials, and community organizers, appointed officials.  These guys just want to win the next election.  I think they are smart enough to recognize that the Republican Party needs Donald Trump and the 37 million voters that he can bring into the party.                  

  I cannot tell how the various Republican factions will sort things out.  They could screw themselves up and hand the next election to the Democrats.                  

VAMS comes to life

 Being well over 65 years old, I make it into Corona virus vaccine phase 1b, eligible right now.  I visited the NH web site back on the first day it was open, 22 Jan.  I got a nice reply saying a link the the "VAMS" website would be coming in 3 to five days.  Nothing showed.  I revisited the NH website 2 more times.  Each time a link to "VAMS" was promised but never showed.  Couple of days ago governor Sununu said that "VAMS" was seriously broken and NH would junk it and create a replacement.  I saw somewhere on the web the "VAMS" had been created by the feds with a sole source contract for $16 mil, and later had a cost overrun of $28 mil.  Lesson for dumb as rocks government types, never do sole source contracts for anything.  Get three bids every time.  Anyhow,  the long promised link to "VAMS" came finally came thru yesterday.  I managed to get an appointment up in Whitefield for early May.  Littleton was not accepting appointments at all.  

   Haverill is working on starting up a vaccination site.  I told them if I could get vaccinated before early May, I would be right there. 

Yet Another Robin Hood movie

 This one is just titled "Robin Hood", filmed in 2018, with Robin played by Taron Edgerton, of whom I had never heard of before watching this DVD from Netflix.  It is a very different take, in fact a strange take, on the Robin Hood legend.  They didn't pay much attention to medieval looking costumes, they have repeating crossbows as dangerous as modern light machine guns, they use a lot of 21st century cliches.  We start off with Robin of Loxley (a young noblemen) meeting and marrying Marian.  After some blissful time together at the Loxley castle, Robin receives a draft notice to the Third Crusade from the Sheriff of Nottingham.  First I heard of medieval draft notices.  Anyway, Robin sets off on Crusade, and we see a good bit of derring do in the course of which, Robin frees an enemy prisoner of war, name TBSL, who becomes loyal side kick and hard core trainer.  When Robin gets back to England he finds the Sheriff has foreclosed on the Loxly castle and has declared him dead, Marian is now into some kind of relationship (marriage? courting? flirting?) with a Will somebody or other, which tightens Robin's jaws a lot.  The movie presses on with Robin and trusty sidekick getting into stealing from the rich (Sheriff and the Church) and finally organizing a massive peasant revolt.  

Just barely OK.  Most of the other Robin Hood movies are better. 

Shutting down the armed forces for attitude adjustment

 That's what Lloyd Austin, Biden's new secretary of defense, said he would do.  He called it a "stand down" during which time commanders would discuss "extremism" with the troops.  Who knows what "extremism" means.  Could mean membership in the KKK or it could mean just voting for Trump. No mention of what would be done about troops deemed extremist.  

Back when I was on active duty, during the Viet Nam war, we all understood that we were in the service to defend the country and follow lawful orders from the commander in chief.  In the Air Force most of us were volunteers.  We all understood that we were not supposed to get into politics, other than voting.  I hope the same attitude prevails today.  

This shutdown indicates the secretary Austin has his doubts about the loyalty of the troops.  He is a long service Army general, he ought to have a better feel for what is going on that I do.  At least I hope so. 

Lessons from the 737-MAX crashes.

 

Aviation Week has a long (4 page) piece about lessons learned from the Boeing 737-MAX crashes and subsequent grounding. I was expecting to read of some clear general principles that everyone (Boeing and the world wide aviation safety organizations) accepted and would follow in the future.  Dream on. They listed some petty quibbles.  They said company tech reps should have less input on regulators deliberations.  Europe and Canada and pilots unions were OK with 737-Max aircrew shutting down the stick shaker by pulling a circuit breaker.  Brazil and FAA didn’t say anything on this issue.   It was pointed out that pilot training was aimed at experienced US pilots.  They said they would aim it more toward in experienced third world pilots.  FAA made some changes in the way they do paperwork and the way they organize technical expert committees. 

   All in all, an underwhelming list of achievements.