Sounds about right:
Today's News
Pond V6 (Update 1)
Pond activities seem to have normalized/stabilized this year. We still have a small (3gph) leak somewhere. No biggie, but another round of liner work to include the sump will be called for during the off-season. Fighting early season algae blooms, etc, nothing unusual.
We finally caught the goldfish thief, at least one of them. Turned out to be a Great Blue Heron. These birds are BIG, and pass through here every year on their annual migration. I had previously assigned the racoons as perpetrators, always among the usual suspects when these things happen. Jax has shown a couple the door rather abruptly in recent years, so don’t doubt they are involved. But we already lost three of the biggest goldfish to predators this year, so I re-stocked with some small and very small replacements, bringing the total population up to 15.
Here’s a few short vids:
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Facebook Friends
Spring 2019
Just a few shots to show the views around here as we approach the end of another Rocky Mountain Front Range spring. The weather has been a bit cooler and wetter than recent years, but really more normal than anything else.
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Wonder How Much this Cost?
The Congressional Research Service just released a study showing Cannabis has no effect on driver impairment. Myself and surely millions of others could have told you that a long time ago.
“There is as yet no scientifically demonstrated correlation between levels of THC and degrees of impairment of driver performance, and epidemiological studies disagree as to whether marijuana use by a driver results in increased crash risk.”
This is what happens when we ASSume: States all over the country are arresting and prosecuting people for an imaginary crime. We ASSume that, because there is limited knowledge on the topic due to decades of illegitimate suppression, we’ll just keep it right alongside our favorite vice alcohol, for traffic enforcement purposes. Brilliant. I bet some southern states even still have a racial clause about it hiding somewhere in their punitive traffic codes.
Post-Op Followup
Going in for my 4th post-op interview with VA Orthopedics Tuesday. It’s not good. The new hip is fine – very happy with that. But unfortunately my lumbar sustained collateral damage in the procedure back in January, and I have not recovered from the surgery. They were in denial after the symptoms settled out and began solidifying a few weeks ago, so now I have to return and demand attention. I never had any complaints about the VA before now. But lately it takes forever to get anything done and seems they treat me like a hypochondriac these days. I am beginning to doubt whether or not another primary care appointment with VA gets on my schedule ever again, considering how long it took to push this most recent surgery through the system.
Why 2 Trucks?
I get asked this question every so often, the answer is pretty simple and goes far beyond the obvious difference shown below. I suppose I’m lucky enough to have evolved into a “best of breed” sort of guy when it comes to my vehicles. I could use a few more categories, but still working on that elusive independently wealthy goal. The pickup truck category is a big one for me, though, so I’ll proceed to compare and contrast the 2 trucks shown below:
Work Truck – Play Truck
Family Truck – Personal Truck
Big Truck – Little Truck
The 07′ is obviously just a much larger vehicle. The back wheels on both trucks are the same distance away in this picture. It is larger, with greater capacity, comfort and all-around capability, no doubt – work truck with the best overall performance in every category, except one. The 07′ is an automatic transmission, which qualifies it for the family truck role, as well. Nobody drives the 1st Gen without ascending a steep learning curve of manual everything covered by a myriad of switches, buttons, levers etc. It is not for the faint of heart, to include an early RWAL (rear wheel anti-lock) system, suspension and brakes that, coupled with 700ft.lbs. of torque, can easily get an inexperienced driver in trouble pretty quickly.
So why even keep the old rattletrap? Simple – the fun factor! Despite making a little less power, it is a half ton lighter and just a blast to drive with the 5-speed stick. It has lower gearing (4.10), so the thing is a real torque monster, outrunning most anything else on the road from a 3rd gear roll-on. It’s no drag racer with the balky Getrag stick, but pulls like a train when it’s up on the turbo – pure forced-injection vehicular fun!
The Equivalency Baseline
Right-to-Life (RTL) = Tyranny. More and more of these terms, phrases and ideas generally speaking, are becoming synonymous with Conservatism and the GOP in this country. Extremists in the RTL camp believe Society and Civilization may only be preserved by quashing Science. Of course this is entirely true from their perspective in the medieval mindset. Anti-Vaxxers? Seriously? Social control and tyranny are the hallmarks of religion, and Christianity is the foundational bedrock of the Republican party. These idiots must be extracted from the political process, or we are doomed as a nation and society.
Organized Crime
When are people going to wake up to the fact that large swaths of the pharmaceutical industry in this country are operating as government-sponsored organized crime syndicates? Insys has capitulated, but the victims are dead and the money is certainly squirreled away in Swiss bank accounts. This is probably just the tip of the iceberg.
Small Devices?
This is why I liked Hangouts, and Messages for Web needs voice integration:
Don’t much care for the small devices.
This Country Is Fucked
Christianity. Government. Separation of Church and State. Freedom. Abortion. Trump.
What do these terms have in common? Taken together with their interwoven fabric of fundamentally moronic asshats, they suggest the biggest hypocritical fraud to ever smear the human condition on this planet. I will not vote in another U.S. election until after these cocksuckers back off and take their rightful place in the dustbin of history. They may have won the Crusades, but the next one will be different.
Religious charlatan overseers amass billions in wealth from the financial support of armies of mindless cretins, enjoying tax-free status with devout leaders seeded throughout all levels and branches of government. Anyone believing this state of affairs reflects freedom and religion’s separation from state matters is truly daft. These assholes get away with making laws controlling women’s bodies with no accountability to the taxpayers funding their salaries because gawd told them so. That’s been the plan all along. Let the people vote with the illusion of free will, but regulate any and every thing possible to the benefit of the church(es) and businesses paying with votes and campaign contributions.
Fuck Christianity and to hell with the fuckwit legislators who support it and their medieval mindset. These people are scary. Political engineering needs to come out of the shadows of corporate America, including the churches. Stop talking out one side of your mouth, while denying everything you are SUPPOSED to stand for out the other. And stay the fuck away from our daughter’s bodies.
Fuck Facebook (again)
This is what these cocksuckers do. Paraphrased for the oblivious… Facebook: “Yeah it’s bad, but not hurting anything, especially our sensation-driven bottom line.”
I maintained a basically inactive account over the years, just in case for what, I don’t know. Until today.
New Study
Doesn't Work:
I know, because I kept exercising until all my joints were worn out 3 years before I retired early at age 56.
Persistence Pays Off!
Back in April I posted a little story about trying to remote control publishing issues with Air Force Magazine. Initial results seemed promising after I finally got somebody’s attention, but more than a month went by before I started getting annoyed about it again. I decided to finally take the gloves off, knowing I had at least 1 good email address with a potentially responsible actual human reading it:
Within a few days the high res images were back. Looks like threatening someone’s job is the only way to get things done in Washington DC these days. Apparently that tactic doesn’t work on the POTUS.
Entertainment Value
I’ve really been enjoying the current U.S. political situation for the sheer entertainment value it creates, and look forward to even more fun if/when impeachment proceedings begin. But it might be a nice respite if, after this chapter is finished, some jackholes reevaluate their general disposition:
