Sticking it to Rudi.

Rudi Giuliani is a distinguished American citizen.  Federal prosecutor for New York, Mayor of New York during 9-11, lawyer to the President of the United States.  I was offended to hear that the FBI had raided Giuliani’s home at 6 AM the other day.  Discourteous to say the least.  If the Feds needed information from Rudi, they should have made an appointment and asked him.  Rudi is a straight up guy; he would assist the Feds in anything legal they were trying to do.   The Feds told the papers that they had a warrant.  I wonder where they got it.  That secret FISA court that approves every request to snoop presented to it?  A real court, the kind that meets five days a week and tries cases? 

Kitchen Timer Design

Upgrading from an el cheapo $3 all plastic kitchen timer, I received, as a Christmas gift a ThermoWorks (Extra Big & Loud) kitchen timer.  Big feature of the ThermoWorks is good strong magnets that hold it to the refrigerator door.  And a good big LCD display.   Downside, it programs in seconds.  To set a ten minute time, you have to punch in One, Zero, Zero, and Zero.  It would be a lot easier to work if it programmed in minutes, so a ten minute time would punch in as One, Zero.  I never wanter to set a time in seconds in my kitchen. The other down check comes from “Loud”.  It is only loud on a good fresh battery.  With a battery strong enough to work the timer, the ring when time is up can be so faint as I cannot hear it.  I just gave it a fresh new 9 volt battery to bring the ring sound up loud enough to hear. 

Red Dawn 1984

 It's powerful.  Released while the Cold War was still on, it has Russians and Cubans invading the United States.  It was powerful enough to cause our Protestant minister preach an entire Sunday sermon against it. He felt it was too violent and too much of a war mongering flick.  Youngest son liked it.  Back in 1984 I watched it, not bad.  I rewatched it this afternoon and it brought tears to my eyes.   Powerful that flick is.  The last scene where scummy Russian colonel with a machine pistol takes  on Jedd with a ivory handled Colt six gun is cool.  Especially the last part where Jedd is carrying wounded brother Matty to safety and the Cuban officer gets the drop on them but waves them on.  I could understand every line of dialog and the camera man turned on the lights for every scene, no black on black like they do on Game of Thrones.  They don't make movies like that any more.  

Making corporations pay their fair share.

 Translation:  Tax companies more.  Biden was calling for this just tonight. We can do it, but it is gonna cost us.  The companies will have to raise their prices to pay the extra tax.  That hits all their customers.  So calling for tax hikes on companies just means that some of us, maybe all of us, have to pay the extra tax.  

Tonight I heard Biden claim that 55 companies were skating on their taxes, paying zip.  He didn't bother the name even one of these 55 companies, which makes me think those 55 companies are indeed paying taxes, despite what Biden says.  Be that as it may, if we had a company name we could check their tax returns.  If the company is really paying zip, it must be using a tax loophole.  So we close that tax loophole.  Simple enough to do, and the only good tax loophole is a dead tax loophole.  It should not take all that long to go over 55 company tax returns.  It will take longer to get the Congresscritters to vote to close the loopholes, but it could be done.  Apply enough heat and even Congresscritters will feel it.

Cooking Fish

 I bought a nice piece of North Atlantic Salmon, maybe 1 1/4 inch thick, a touch over half a pound.  I marinated it in lemon juice, perhaps 5 minutes a side.  Then a bit of olive oil on each side.  Heat the oven to 350, put the fish in a baking dish, and give it 8 minutes in the oven.  Then turn on the broiler and give it another 2 minutes a side.  Tasty.  

Problems at the Light Bulb Factory

 Out of a box of four new bulbs, three of them have failed after just a few days, say 7 to 14 days.  The third bulb died just this evening.  I am waiting for daylight so I can see what I am doing before I change it.  The four pack is marked "GE soft white" "100 w  2X Longer Life" "Uses 28% Less Energy" "uses only 72 w  1.8 year life" ""GE's Best soft white incandescent line"  and finally "Made in Hungary".

   Gotta find another light bulb supplier. 

Robocallers

 PITA.  They call me four or five times a day.  I stop what I am doing and answer the phone.  Sometimes no one is there.  Sometimes they pretend to be calling from Microsoft and try to talk me into loading a virus onto my computer.  Sometimes they claim outrageous charges are laid against my Amazon Plus card.  And lots of others scams. 

   We ought to clamp down on this PITA.

   We could start by requiring the phone companies to make caller ID spoof proof.  The telephone exchange has numbers, yours and the robocaller's.  It needs them to connect the call.  They can have the system present the correct caller’s number to caller ID, making it easier to refuse calls from strangers.

   We could press on by finding a clever lawyer to define the crime of robocalling in a way that does not collide with free speech.  And then writing a law declaring robocalling a crime and defining penalties for robocalling.  Personally I would be in favor of some cruel and unusual punishments, boiling in oil for instance.  Or burning at the stake. 

   If someone would make a clever electronic box that connected to your phone and when activated would constantly dial the robocaller's number and deliver a hard core diatribe when the number answered, I would buy one.