• Me or your lying eyes?

    For the last four years, the only time I heard about Kamala was when she had messed up, again. It is a feature of her actions, she messes up.

    She was assigned to close the border. Joe used Obama’s term, “Tsar”. As in “Border Tsar.”

    Today, I’m being told, “Kamala was never the border tsar. That’s just a Trump lie.”

    The slogan is an important example of the Party’s technique of using false history to break down the psychological independence of its subjects. Control of the past ensures control of the future, because the past can be treated essentially as a set of conditions that justify or encourage future goals: if the past was idyllic, then people will act to re-create it; if the past was nightmarish, then people will act to prevent such circumstances from recurring. The Party creates a past that was a time of misery and slavery from which it claims to have liberated the human race, thus compelling people to work toward the Party’s goals.
    —1984: Important Quotes Explained, SparkNotes, (last visited Jul. 28, 2024)

    This is where we are today.

    As one X pundit put it, “How have you explained the ‘fine people hoax?’” The consensus was that it wasn’t worth the time or effort. That even if you did manage to get them to acknowledge it is a hoax, within a couple of weeks, they will have forgotten.

    This is getting crazy.

            
  • Something I Noticed
            

  • I know that “taking heat” means something different to 2A people, but I’m talking about temperature heat today. I’ve heard a lot of people whining (and yes, I’m using that term on purpose) about the heat, of late, and I want to address it from a prepping perspective.

    So, over the past several weekends, I’ve been at a variety of reenacting events. None of those events were “modern” or had A/C. Very few of those events had even an electric fan, never mind anything more cooling than that. During the events, temperatures have ranged from 86*F to 104*F, with humidity in the 75% or higher range. One particular day, on July 12th, it was 104*F and 95% humidity where I was. I had no modern means for dealing with that heat.

    When talking about the heat, several people (not on here) have told me…

    • I’m just better at dealing with the heat than most people (which is laughable considering I am sodium deficient at the BEST of times, which is a dangerous thing in high heat situations)
    • the heat has killed people and I’m not taking it seriously enough
    • some people require air conditioning just to live
    • people in the past didn’t have heat like this

    I do agree, the heat has killed some people. I am not the sympathetic ear most people expected when I was told that. I feel bad for the elderly or very young when intense heat happens, because they’re not cognitively able to do the things necessary to not suffer from it. Then again, we more able bodied folks can certainly do things to make their lives easier, and so I don’t consider it a big argument. It’s also a very small number of people. In a major disaster, those people are frankly going to die. I don’t like saying it, but it’s true. If you’re celiac, prone to medical issues, elderly or very young, the likelihood is that you’re going to die. While I work very hard to mitigate that fact in my own prepping, it’s still a fact, and I have dealt with it to the best of my ability. If I die, I die, and I’m not going to whine about it.

    (more…)

            

  • Another week has gone by. The world is still here.

    In an astonishing turn of events, the attempted assassination of Trump is no longer in the news. Instead, all the talk is about the Democrat’s selected, presidential nominee. Amazing.

    X is all a tweet over how Joe’s appearance keeps changing. The one that made me go, “Hmmmm” was the one where the camera angles appear to show that Joe grew 3 to 5 inches while recovering from Covid.

    I’ve been busy with a few different tasks, limiting the amount of time I have for research. I do have a couple of “personal” articles in progress, as well as two case articles.

    Ally has stepped up to the plate and is putting out articles on the regular.

    The store is coming, not this month, but soon enough.

    It will offer items I manufacture or make, virtual products (to support the site), and Ally’s signed books.

    We will be providing links to the unsigned books on Amazon, there are some contractual things in play.

    For me, the biggest question of this week was, “Is Joe still alive?”

    The comments are open, do you have a question for us? Do you have an idea for an article? Where do you stand on the “WTF is going on in the Dem party?”

    Have a great weekend!

            

  • I had an interesting interaction today (I wrote this on Tuesday, July 23). An acquaintance posted this:

    image of text about JD Vance

    Now, I don’t know that much about Vance. I knew he was a vet, and that he wrote a really popular book, and that he was very against Trump until relatively recently. Being me, I went and looked this up. Is Vance selling out American farmland to foreign investors?

    The short answer is, sort of. The long answer is, not really. In my reading, I found out that there are a few properties in Ohio that have gone to foreign investors, but that those properties come with a price. It’s a real price – very high taxes which go to support US owned farmland in Ohio. Now, my understanding of what I was reading is that Vance wants to keep all American property American, and he’s suggested bills in that vein. But being unable to enact those bills NOW, he’s doing the next best thing and making foreign ownership of Ohio farmland very expensive, and lucrative for Ohio farmers.

    I shared a couple of articles (one from DNT.com, and another from ocj.com) that explain Vance’s opinion on farmland, and what the Ohio people think of him (since he’s from there, and those are the people most likely to know him well). I got some fascinating responses. The original poster said that Vance was using AcreTrader to make millions of dollars off of foreign investors (untrue… AcreTrader doesn’t sell to foreign investors at all). Essentially, what I got from her responses was that if someone is making money off of something, then it doesn’t matter if it’s good for the environment, frees the slaves, or ends world hunger… it just doesn’t count.

    Other people chimed in. The OP asked if I supported Vance, and I responded that I didn’t really know yet, as I hadn’t done due diligence in investigating him. I didn’t bother explaining that it doesn’t really matter if I support him or not, because I don’t get to dictate VP choices to the Republican party. I didn’t think it would matter. Check this out:

    screenshot of conversation with names blanked out Money, power, hubris, and self interest. I found that one interesting. I don’t see the problem with money or power, and I have a health self interest myself, so I can’t really complain about it in others. I don’t know Vance well enough to say if he’s engaging in hubris, but that’s one of those things that usually takes care of itself over time. Then the random insert: Kyle Rittenhouse.

    Now, I DO know about Kyle. I like the kid, and I feel like he had to go through an awful lot in a very short amount of time. He was underage, and he probably shouldn’t have been there. As a parent, I would not have allowed my kids to go to what I knew was going to be a riot. But that’s me, and his parents are doing their thing, and considering how polite and well spoken Kyle is, I guess they’re doing pretty well. The kid apparently was putting out dumpster fires and rendering first aid to people before he was attacked and forced to defend himself with deadly force. His attackers played stupid games, and won stupid prizes. *shrug* Regardless of everything else, Kyle was acquitted on all counts. He was found not guilty. The same court system found Trump guilty, and the Left is okay with that finding. But they’re not okay with Kyle’s finding. Me, I want to see more Kyle’s in the world. The kid had more calm and focus that night than most adults in that situation.

    I was not about to explain why Kyle wasn’t a bad person to this group. I reported one comment and blocked the person who made it (it isn’t reflected in the above screenshot because I reported the comment for encouraging violence and I guess FB took it down). I realized this was not a place where I was going to convince anyone of anything, so I just walked out the door.

    That’s when I discovered the secret to making Leftists go absolutely ape shit. I swear, guys, I didn’t do this on purpose, but here it is.

    I left. I said “hey, we’re talking at cross purposes, I’m out of here.” No drama, no messing on other people’s walls. I think that’s crass and there’s no reason for it. If it had been grievous enough, I’d have moved over to my own wall to talk, because that’s *my* virtual living room, and I can say what I want. I don’t mess in other people’s virtual living rooms though. That last commenter in the screenshot above? He paged me because I didn’t answer him.

    He asked in PM to explain what there was to like about Kyle. I encouraged him to do his own research and form his own opinions, and reiterated that I wasn’t there to attempt to change his mind. I had only gone there to present facts, not opinions. He started to get irritated because I wouldn’t engage. Apparently, my not pushing my opinion down his throat was me “being secretive” and “unsure of the basis of my own stance.” I returned to my original statement, that he was welcome to his opinion and that he should form it himself based on his own research, and stated I was not interested in political debate with anyone. It had nothing to do with secrecy and everything to do with not engaging in fruitless arguments that only leave people feeling grumpy.

    I’ve been watching the little dot indicator that says he’s typing something. It’s been flickering on and off for a while now. I think maybe his (her?) brain is circling down the drain…

    So, if you want to cause a Leftist to break, simply don’t engage. I’m actually kind of enjoying watching the internal meltdown. Does that make me a bad person?

            

  • Aside, there are two cases pending articles. I’m working on them.

    I do not have many friends. It is difficult for me to reach out to my friends to keep in touch with them. Since I work from home, I’m not forced to interact with co-workers. So, few friends.

    Note, I use the word “friend” to mean “friend”, not somebody that I work with or classmates. A friend is a friend.

    When I left the horrid state of Maryland for the green, green hills of NH, I wasn’t leaving friends behind. My friend and mentor had died a few years earlier. With my kids graduated, there was nothing holding me there.

    For six months I lived near the Vermont border while commuting 80+ miles to just outside the inner beltway of Boston. I did that commute 4.5 days a week. On Friday, I left work in Boston and drove back to my family in PA. On Sunday, I drove back to NH.

    I was staying with a family as a boarder. I had met her in an online game. We had become online friends. When she got married, Allyson did it for her.

    During the months, I became friends with her. She, and her husband, were conservatives. They had the same sort of beliefs that I had. I had many enjoyable conversations with her.

    Note, the husband is currently in the “special prison” for those special prisoners who wouldn’t survive in gen pop. I was more than willing to help put him there.

    Regardless, we were friends. I helped her when I could. When they lost their house a few years later (husband’s fault), we opened our home to them. When he was kicked out, we continued to support her.

    There was many a rainy day that I worked on her car because we were all short on money.

    She ate at our table, shared in our lives. She was here for Christmas and for other holidays.

    A true friend.

    I do not talk to her anymore. Not at all.

    There is a part of the abortion argument that flat out escapes me. It is how so many women think that because the federal government is no longer blocking anti-abortion laws, that they are at a considerable risk.

    My friend is a few months older than I am. She isn’t going to get pregnant. It isn’t going to happen. Having access to an abortion is meaningless to her.

    What about her daughters? One daughter is happy making babies with her husband. The other daughter is happy being an Aunt. That one can’t think of a man sexually, see not above about her step-father being in the special prison.

    Nether of her daughters is at risk of an unintended pregnancy. So why is abortion so important to her?

    My youngest is also very upset that the federal government is blocked from blocking anti-abortion legislation. She considers it to be part of “woman’s health”.

    It is essential to understand, abortions are not banned in this state.

    Roe v. Wade found that women had a right to abortions under because they had a right to privacy. Because they had a right to privacy, what happened between the woman and her doctor was none of your business. Thus, abortions are a right under a woman’s right to medical privacy.

    Dobbs said, “No. There is no right to abortion hidden in the Constitution. The plain text of the Fourth Amendment does not implicate the conduct in question. There is nothing in this Nation’s historical tradition of regulations that is similar to ‘right to abortion’”.

    Having made the statement, the Court overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the question to the states.

    Some states had laws that instantly went into effect, banning abortions. Other states enshrined abortion “rights” into their laws. Still, other states didn’t do a damn thing.

    But the Dobbs case broke my friend.

    She blamed Trump, personally, for strangers in other states having restricted access to abortions. Having decided that Trump was “evil,” she then dove into the Kool-Aid and drank all that she could and more.

    She went from “there is no evidence that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted anyone” to “Kavanaugh was credibly accused of sexual assault and is not qualified to be on the Court.”

    It happened in the course of a few days.

    She went from “Thomas is a great justice.” to “Justice is a political hack, he is slimy, in the pocket of the wealthy.”

    Her mind broke. It broke because it was so obvious to her, that Dobbs was decided incorrectly, that the only possible reason was corruption or malfeasance.

    If the justices on the Supreme Court, whom she trusted, whom she respected, could betray her, then what else are they betraying.

    Currently, she is of the “vote not Trump.” There is not a single thing that Trump did as president that she respects. All of it was destroyed, for her, with that one opinion.

    I believe that I am willing to question just about anything. There are some things which are locked in stone. Not because “they” told me to believe that way, but because I did my research and in that research grounded my opinions.

    I like to believe that I am moral. I have a moral code which I follow. Part of that code is to be willing to question my moral code and my opinions, to be able to separate facts from opinions, truth from wishful thinking.

    My friend is lost. I do not expect her to ever recover. I will pray for her and hope she finds happyness in her new status as a subject of the state.

            

  • AWA talked about cognitive dissonance (“…when two opposing thoughts reside in the same mind, generating inner conflicts and psychological distress…” — PC), but I want to talk about cognitive distortions (“Error in the thinking process, automatic thought, erroneous thought pattern. Different from logical fallacies.” — ibid) in relation to the Left.

    So I was at a ren faire (Maine Ren Faire, in case anyone wants to visit me next weekend, as that’s where I’ll be then, too – look for me at the fire) when Biden decided to step down. I got the news from several sources, but mostly through word of mouth. Now Ren Faires are a bastion of the Left… everything is rainbows and glitter, men in dresses is a regular thing, and anyone can be anything they want. But Ren Faires also have a surprising number of conservative folk at them, albeit ones who are chill about gay and trans people. I have always been a wee bit more Right than the average faire person, and so I rarely talk politics. I was surprised to be hearing about Biden, as we actively avoid reading the news while at faire. Be that as it may, it was relayed to me as fact, not news, and people didn’t put a spin on it, for which I was grateful.

    After hearing about it, I went and looked stuff up. I read some stuff on AP, pawed through a Washington Times article, and then went to FaceBook to see what other people were saying. Yes, I know, never go to FB for information, but part of the reason I DO, is because I write about things here. The people that I interact with on FB are friends and/or acquaintances, and so they aren’t random caricatures on social media, and I think I get much better information because of that.

    Right now, the main things that are being bandied about are:

    • positive memes about Harris
    • a rounding chorus of “Vote blue no matter who!”
    • “reminders” that if you say “ignorant things” about women, your daughters and wives hear you
    • comments that it is “time for women to lead” (with disparaging remarks if someone suggests we pick the BEST candidate)
    • a call for Obama to run (with a lot of very patient explanations about why he can’t… good grief that one hurts)
    • a call for Obama to run as VP for Harris (which is a legally squishy area)
    • a lovely note that if Biden had died instead of stepping down, Harris would already be president, so just vote for her already

    That’s just a taste from a couple of friends’ timelines. There were more, but I deleted the people who called for violence or did fat shaming or name calling (that’s a thing for me every political season, and I do it for *everyone* who does it, not just one side). There’s this complete inability for the Left to see anything positive that Trump’s done, or to admit that Harris has done very little. Then there’s the whole part about how Harris will be good at the job because she’s been Joe’s VP for the last four years, and so she has “lots of experience.” At the same time, in the same paragraph, the person said Trump didn’t have enough experience to be President.

    There is definitely a lot of “two opposing thoughts” in the Left’s rhetoric. Unfortunately, there’s also a ton of cognitive distortions. I think there may be MORE of the distortions than the dissonance, because the dissonance requires you to be uncomfortable with your two opposing thoughts. They (the people I know, at least) don’t seem to be in any discomfort whatsoever. They embrace it. It is the very definition of an “…error in the thinking process…”

    It’s been very interesting watching some of my friends imploding because other friends suggested that the Dems as a whole were being dicks by not really allowing a choice to be made. Half of my Left friends are upset because Harris has now been forced on them, and they don’t get to actually pick a presidential candidate (though of course they don’t realize that they never had that choice anyhow because of how the Dems work their side of things, but that’s another article entirely). The other half of my Left friends are having melt downs because the other half are somehow causing the Left to lose because we all just have to vote for Harris or Trump will take away all women’s rights and force us to be sex slaves and incubators.

    I can’t make this stuff up. It’s distressing to me.

    It’s kind of terrifying, watching everyone Left of center picking up the same words, the same cadence, the same memes, the same phrasing. This is happening even among people that I consider *friends*, good friends who are otherwise thinking and rational human beings. It reminds me of what happened with kids a couple of years ago when you put on the song Ney Ney. It didn’t matter what they were doing, if the song came on they dropped it and just started doing the shuffle dance moves. Zombies, man… they’re training them early.

    This time last election, I was upset over a lot of things. Yes, I disliked Trump enough that I wasn’t seeing any of his positive things. Yes, I was hopeful that Biden would do better. In that particular “hold my nose” scenario, I prayed that Biden would be the better choice. I am not afraid to admit that I was wrong. I’m not afraid to notice that Trump has changed, too, in the past four years.

    All that aside, I am trying not to engage in cognitive distortions OR dissonance. I really think Nikki Haley was the better choice, not because she is female, but because she has a lot of the same thoughts as Trump but is a lot nicer to look at and has a much more professional stance… and she’s younger. Having presidential candidates who could conceivably die of old-age related diseases before the end of their tenure is HUGELY problematic to me. Yes, Trump is much healthier than Biden (mentally at least),  but he’s still 78 years old. He’s overweight, and that comes with a host of issues that I’m intimately familiar with, and it scares me that he could get into office and then have an aneurysm or heart attack and we’d be in another mess. I like Vance (so far, at least, but I need to do more investigation), but I don’t know that he’s truly ready to step up as President right now.

    For people who I judge are thinking folks, I am pushing the narrative that “even if” Trump wins, he can’t just make up laws. That’s not how it works. We The People have choices, and when election time comes around for conservative folks doing unpopular things, they WILL get voted out. It’s my hope that they’ll be replaced with conservative folks who are doing “the right thing” while also listening to the People that they are beholden to. I suspect, however, that they’d be replaced by Leftists. That’s a message I want to send out to the conservative people currently in office, by the by. Don’t be so stupid that you’re going against  your populace, because you WILL get yourself tossed out, and that definitely isn’t going to help your party.

    When we polarize, as we currently are, the checks and balances built into our government don’t work as well. I agree with the calls for unity, even if I disagree with a lot of the people who are doing the calls. I don’t want a divided states… I want the United States. We’re a grand experiment and I don’t want it to end on my watch.

            

  • There are two basic types of devices, an embedded system, and a general system.

    There are embedded systems everywhere. Your smart TV. The Chromecast you have attached to your “dumb” TV. Your coffee maker, your washing machine or drier.

    These are a few of the embedded systems you use every day. There are some that are “critical” systems. Your car, likely, has an embedded system. If that system were to be modified, it could cause “bad things” to happen.

    Medical devices are also considered to be critical systems. The computers that control your IV medical drip, even the automatic blood pressure machines or any of the machines that are used for monitoring are critical.

    While the blood O2 monitor, attached to your finger, might not seem critical, if the values it is reporting are in error, your health care professional (doctor) could miss diagnose something.

    Other examples of critical systems include: many military computer systems, voting systems, systems processing classified information, alarm systems, spacecraft control systems.

    Your computer and laptop are not normally considered to be embedded systems, yet they have a part that is embedded. That is the BIOS on your computer and laptops.

    Your phone and tablets are a sort of hybrid, where a large part is embedded, but there is an easy way to add other software.

    Update A System

    (more…)

            

  •         

  • https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZTNu7YoQ5/

    This made me laugh out loud and scare our bunny!