Just a couple of unrelated things, not of any real import, that have floated through my brain lately.
Sometimes people will say, "He has his mother's eyes." Turns out that was true. Just like my mother, and her father, my eyes apparently have a genetic predisposition for early onset cataracts. Apparently everyone eventually gets cataracts if you manage to stay within this mortal coil long enough. For a few lucky folks, long enough is pretty short, 45 to 50 years. I'm one of those lucky few.
Having completed the overhaul of my right eyeball, it's apparent that I had managed to cruise a lot further into Mr. Magoo-land than I thought. My vision in my right eye is now crystal clear from about arms length out to near infinity. Left eye not so much...but it will be fixed on the 28th. Binocular vision will be a good thing.
In trying to obtain an Arkansas teaching license through reciprocity, I found I needed to order transcripts from three different schools. Two of the schools are public institutions and one is a private, for profit institution. Vastly different experiences.
For the one public institution, I had to down load and print out a form from the internet. After filling it out, the quickest way I could get it moving toward me was to fax the form and pay 150% more than the normal fee so it would be rush processed and take less than a month to get to me (actual estimate from the website).
For the second public institution, I had to download and fax a similar form, but the transcript was free and has about a one week arrival estimate. No options for speeding up that process.
For the private, for profit institution, I called a toll free number, provided some verifying information to the pleasant woman on the phone, and had the transcript sitting in my email inbox before I hung up the phone about 3 minutes later. No cost but 3 minutes of my time. Just some food for thought as we transition from private entity health care payment systems to government controlled/mandated health care payment systems.
Take care..t
Friday, April 16, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Violence
I've been watching the news stream the last few days and it cranked the two functioning brain cells into action.
Several Democratic Party Politicians (hereafter DPPs) have reported receiving threats of violence after the passing of a bill that rearranges the health care payment system and expands control by the federal government to liberty killing dimensions. I have a difficult time calling it health care reform...it was anything but.
It's quite possible that they are actually receiving these threats..I don't know but have full faith in the various federal law enforcement agencies will figure that out. There are a couple of things I do know though....
The threat makers are just as likely to be on the same side of various issues as the DPPs that are receiving the threats. Past history bears this out.
The DPPs are claiming that the TEA Party crowds, Republicans, libertarians, and various right wing/conservative groups/folks (hereafter called Patriots) are very dangerous and responsible for the threats. I know that the DPPs don't really believe the Patriots are near as dangerous as the DPPs claim to believe they are. I know this by simple observation.
If the Patriots were really as dangerous or unhinged as the DPPs claim them to be...the DPPs would not talk to/about the Patriots the way they do. Ever been to a large city and seen the homeless person standing by the street sign, holding a very loud, excited conversation with the street sign? (Hereafter referred to as SSD - Steet Sign Debater.) Ever watch the ordinary citizens pass by the SSD? They don't talk to the SSD at all. They avoid eye contact with the SSD. They certainly don't never, ever go up to the SSD and call the SSD vulgar names or antagonize the SSD. Why? Because the SSD really is potentially dangerous and unhinged...probably not but people don't take chances when the possibility is there.
If the Patriots are so unhinged and dangerous, why in the would did Pelosi and various DPPs parade right through the middle of them on Sunday? As the House was gathering to decimate the U.S. economy and liberty, a sizable crowd of Patriots had gathered. Pelosi chose to parade right through the middle of these ever so dangerous Patriots... yep real scary folks gathered out there.
Which is why I know the DPPs and their citizen supporters don't really think there is any possibility of the Patriots being unhinged...if there was, no one would be antagonizing them.
Being a supporter of the original TEA Party movement (though not actually thrilled about any efforts to form an actual TEA Party political party) I don't really mind it when a DPP supporter calls me a "teabagger" (a very vulgar, derogatory term much in favor by DPP's up to and including our dear ole BHO).
Use of that term tells me a couple of things. One is that I've already won the debate before it ever starts. Only someone completely devoid of any factual argument would resort to vulgar name calling. The other thing it tells me is that my side of the debate is correct. The vulgar name calling is due to the other person being frustrated at not having any factual information to present. The only downside is that is difficult to keep from laughing when grown adult have to resort to that type of thing.
Since I consider myself lumped in with the Patriots mentioned above, I guess I'll issue my obligatory threat to the DPP's... Come November, I'm gonna whack you with that ole ballot box so hard your mama will be voting you out of office.
..take care.. t
Several Democratic Party Politicians (hereafter DPPs) have reported receiving threats of violence after the passing of a bill that rearranges the health care payment system and expands control by the federal government to liberty killing dimensions. I have a difficult time calling it health care reform...it was anything but.
It's quite possible that they are actually receiving these threats..I don't know but have full faith in the various federal law enforcement agencies will figure that out. There are a couple of things I do know though....
The threat makers are just as likely to be on the same side of various issues as the DPPs that are receiving the threats. Past history bears this out.
The DPPs are claiming that the TEA Party crowds, Republicans, libertarians, and various right wing/conservative groups/folks (hereafter called Patriots) are very dangerous and responsible for the threats. I know that the DPPs don't really believe the Patriots are near as dangerous as the DPPs claim to believe they are. I know this by simple observation.
If the Patriots were really as dangerous or unhinged as the DPPs claim them to be...the DPPs would not talk to/about the Patriots the way they do. Ever been to a large city and seen the homeless person standing by the street sign, holding a very loud, excited conversation with the street sign? (Hereafter referred to as SSD - Steet Sign Debater.) Ever watch the ordinary citizens pass by the SSD? They don't talk to the SSD at all. They avoid eye contact with the SSD. They certainly don't never, ever go up to the SSD and call the SSD vulgar names or antagonize the SSD. Why? Because the SSD really is potentially dangerous and unhinged...probably not but people don't take chances when the possibility is there.
If the Patriots are so unhinged and dangerous, why in the would did Pelosi and various DPPs parade right through the middle of them on Sunday? As the House was gathering to decimate the U.S. economy and liberty, a sizable crowd of Patriots had gathered. Pelosi chose to parade right through the middle of these ever so dangerous Patriots... yep real scary folks gathered out there.
Which is why I know the DPPs and their citizen supporters don't really think there is any possibility of the Patriots being unhinged...if there was, no one would be antagonizing them.
Being a supporter of the original TEA Party movement (though not actually thrilled about any efforts to form an actual TEA Party political party) I don't really mind it when a DPP supporter calls me a "teabagger" (a very vulgar, derogatory term much in favor by DPP's up to and including our dear ole BHO).
Use of that term tells me a couple of things. One is that I've already won the debate before it ever starts. Only someone completely devoid of any factual argument would resort to vulgar name calling. The other thing it tells me is that my side of the debate is correct. The vulgar name calling is due to the other person being frustrated at not having any factual information to present. The only downside is that is difficult to keep from laughing when grown adult have to resort to that type of thing.
Since I consider myself lumped in with the Patriots mentioned above, I guess I'll issue my obligatory threat to the DPP's... Come November, I'm gonna whack you with that ole ballot box so hard your mama will be voting you out of office.
..take care.. t
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Book 'em Dano
A poll for those stumbling across my mumblings... do you prefer paper based books, electronic books, or a combination of the two?
I land pretty firmly in the electronic book area, though I can see some negative aspects of an all electronic information transfer system.
My older, cloudy eyeballs really like the whole changeable font thing you find with electronic books. When I look at most paper based books it seems like there is some type of publishers conspiracy to hide stuff from me. The Kindle or viewing on my computer solves that problem.
The ability to readily look up words and beam over to end notes and foot notes is also great for those like me with limited vocabularies.
My sleep when I was on various submarines might have been better if Kindles had been around then. I usually took lots of books with me. With limited personal storage space, I had to stow those books under my mattress (a mattress that was none too thick). This created a fairly lumpy sleeping environment. Lumpiness that would migrate as others borrowed and returned books.
The other positive aspect is the search-ability. With a brain that has been bounced, prodded and regularly marinated, my ability to firmly remember details is sometimes a pretty iffy proposition. Electronic formats allow me to readily search for previously read items to refresh the details while I'm reading something connected to it.
The biggest negative I can think of (I'm sure you all will provide more) is that electronic formats make the revising history subplot of '1984' much more feasible. Rounding up and destroying all the paper copies of any widely distributed bit of information can be quite a chore. Altering or disappearing electronic records is becoming more possible with each advance in interconnectedness.
The other negative (with most electronic books anyway) is the inability to loan out the book. If I buy a paper book I can read it, loan it to my friends to infect their brains and then we can gather around a table laden with nosh type foods, add liberal amounts of libations and argue about the ideas in that book until the wee hours of the morning. You can't really do that with the electronic versions.
Amazon, if you're listening out there... create a process/ability for an electronic book purchaser to loan a copy with it being erased from the loanee's computer/Kindle after a certain period of time designated by the loaner. Libraries might want to get wrapped around this idea also. This idea is feasible. Amazon already had the ability to remove items from your Kindle. Ironically, they did this with an unauthorized version of '1984', destroying some people's added notes in the process. Since they can also limit the number of devices a bought book appears on it would seem to be just a minor shift in process... instead of 5 authorized permanent devices, have 4 plus a loaner copy.
So, did you print this out on paper to read it or just absorb it directly from your computer screen?
..take care..t
I land pretty firmly in the electronic book area, though I can see some negative aspects of an all electronic information transfer system.
My older, cloudy eyeballs really like the whole changeable font thing you find with electronic books. When I look at most paper based books it seems like there is some type of publishers conspiracy to hide stuff from me. The Kindle or viewing on my computer solves that problem.
The ability to readily look up words and beam over to end notes and foot notes is also great for those like me with limited vocabularies.
My sleep when I was on various submarines might have been better if Kindles had been around then. I usually took lots of books with me. With limited personal storage space, I had to stow those books under my mattress (a mattress that was none too thick). This created a fairly lumpy sleeping environment. Lumpiness that would migrate as others borrowed and returned books.
The other positive aspect is the search-ability. With a brain that has been bounced, prodded and regularly marinated, my ability to firmly remember details is sometimes a pretty iffy proposition. Electronic formats allow me to readily search for previously read items to refresh the details while I'm reading something connected to it.
The biggest negative I can think of (I'm sure you all will provide more) is that electronic formats make the revising history subplot of '1984' much more feasible. Rounding up and destroying all the paper copies of any widely distributed bit of information can be quite a chore. Altering or disappearing electronic records is becoming more possible with each advance in interconnectedness.
The other negative (with most electronic books anyway) is the inability to loan out the book. If I buy a paper book I can read it, loan it to my friends to infect their brains and then we can gather around a table laden with nosh type foods, add liberal amounts of libations and argue about the ideas in that book until the wee hours of the morning. You can't really do that with the electronic versions.
Amazon, if you're listening out there... create a process/ability for an electronic book purchaser to loan a copy with it being erased from the loanee's computer/Kindle after a certain period of time designated by the loaner. Libraries might want to get wrapped around this idea also. This idea is feasible. Amazon already had the ability to remove items from your Kindle. Ironically, they did this with an unauthorized version of '1984', destroying some people's added notes in the process. Since they can also limit the number of devices a bought book appears on it would seem to be just a minor shift in process... instead of 5 authorized permanent devices, have 4 plus a loaner copy.
So, did you print this out on paper to read it or just absorb it directly from your computer screen?
..take care..t
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Weathering...
While standing in the field watching the plumber backhoe down to the broken water pipe, I discovered I had a problem. As I breathed out, it was cold enough that the moisture of my breath was accumulating on my beard and mustache as small chunks of ice. This was a problem, but not the most disconcerting problem. The real problem was that some of those chunks of ice spanned from the hair of my mustache to the hair of my beard. My mouth was kinda frozen shut. I took off a glove and managed to melt those chunks of ice enough that I could open my mouth. Didn't really have anything that needed to be said at that point but I have grown rather fond of being able to open my mouth any time I want.
Standing out in a field with temperatures that low started me to thinking. I really had no choice. I was concerned if I didn't keep my two remaining brain cells moving they would freeze together and crash to the bottom of my skull. The most obvious subject to think about when you are this cold is, of course, global warming.
I was much tempted to think that the current temperatures, possibly record breaking temperatures, are stone cold proof that global warming is a bunch of frozen dinosaur doo. I would have been wrong. Just about as wrong as I was when I was watching record breaking high temperatures melt rocks and I was tempted to think, "I guess this pretty much makes the global warming thing settled science." I'm wrong about the weather a lot...just like everyone else.
The things that concern me most about the current proposal that humans are creating a trend of global warming are.. the monkeying, the disappearing, and the solutioning.
It seems pretty obvious now that there has been some monkeying around with the data being used to prove that there is human caused global warming. Possibly it was appropriate monkeying around, possibly it was inappropriate monkeying around. We can't really be sure because of my second concern..the disappearing.
It appears that a lot of the original data that was monkeyed around has disappeared. In the whole scientific process this creates a problem. Generally accepted scientific practice deems that when you monkey around with data you need to be able to let other monkeyers duplicate your monkeying to verify it was appropriate monkeying.
My biggest concern of all is the solutioning. There are a bunch of folks proposing solutions before we can really determine if there in fact is a problem that requires a solution. If the current temperature trend is in a warming direction then it's possible that the causes are the same as when this happened back in the medieval time period. This would mean that we would need to reverse and hold our living conditions to mirror those prior to the start in temperature increase at that time. I'm not thinking I'm gonna wanna to do that. Just a reminder...this was before the invention of indoor plumbing... I'm thinking that if the folks then started noticing the warming trend there was much rejoicing during those 2 a.m. kidney calls in mid-January.
My biggest concern with the solutioning is that those that seem to be the loudest and most strident about having the solutions to fix global warming don't seem to be altering their lifestyles to follow the solutions they want to impose on others. Flying all over the world to preach that people flying all over the world will doom us all to crispy critterdom seems a bit odd to me. Kind of like those politicians that want to "spread that wealth around a little" but don't seem to be spreading their own personal wealth around all that much. The change you seek in others must be first made within oneself... seems someone wise once said something along those lines.
Nope, I don't have any solutions...my life's path doesn't lie in the studying of temperature trends. However, I'm not really willing to alter a whole lot about my life as it relates to temperature trends until those who have devoted their lives to studying them clear up their monkeying, disappearing, and solutioning mess.
Standing out in a field with temperatures that low started me to thinking. I really had no choice. I was concerned if I didn't keep my two remaining brain cells moving they would freeze together and crash to the bottom of my skull. The most obvious subject to think about when you are this cold is, of course, global warming.
I was much tempted to think that the current temperatures, possibly record breaking temperatures, are stone cold proof that global warming is a bunch of frozen dinosaur doo. I would have been wrong. Just about as wrong as I was when I was watching record breaking high temperatures melt rocks and I was tempted to think, "I guess this pretty much makes the global warming thing settled science." I'm wrong about the weather a lot...just like everyone else.
The things that concern me most about the current proposal that humans are creating a trend of global warming are.. the monkeying, the disappearing, and the solutioning.
It seems pretty obvious now that there has been some monkeying around with the data being used to prove that there is human caused global warming. Possibly it was appropriate monkeying around, possibly it was inappropriate monkeying around. We can't really be sure because of my second concern..the disappearing.
It appears that a lot of the original data that was monkeyed around has disappeared. In the whole scientific process this creates a problem. Generally accepted scientific practice deems that when you monkey around with data you need to be able to let other monkeyers duplicate your monkeying to verify it was appropriate monkeying.
My biggest concern of all is the solutioning. There are a bunch of folks proposing solutions before we can really determine if there in fact is a problem that requires a solution. If the current temperature trend is in a warming direction then it's possible that the causes are the same as when this happened back in the medieval time period. This would mean that we would need to reverse and hold our living conditions to mirror those prior to the start in temperature increase at that time. I'm not thinking I'm gonna wanna to do that. Just a reminder...this was before the invention of indoor plumbing... I'm thinking that if the folks then started noticing the warming trend there was much rejoicing during those 2 a.m. kidney calls in mid-January.
My biggest concern with the solutioning is that those that seem to be the loudest and most strident about having the solutions to fix global warming don't seem to be altering their lifestyles to follow the solutions they want to impose on others. Flying all over the world to preach that people flying all over the world will doom us all to crispy critterdom seems a bit odd to me. Kind of like those politicians that want to "spread that wealth around a little" but don't seem to be spreading their own personal wealth around all that much. The change you seek in others must be first made within oneself... seems someone wise once said something along those lines.
Nope, I don't have any solutions...my life's path doesn't lie in the studying of temperature trends. However, I'm not really willing to alter a whole lot about my life as it relates to temperature trends until those who have devoted their lives to studying them clear up their monkeying, disappearing, and solutioning mess.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Timberrrrr.....ing
Since a goodly part of our winter house heating is done with wood in the fireplace and the wood stove a supply of firewood is a handy thing to have around. When we moved in last year it was too late to cut wood so I bought some. Then when the ice storm hit we got the ice fallen limbs from Martha and Larry for this winter. Next winters wood will be the first I've harvested off our land here.
With no substitute job today and a promised sunny, though chilly day, I thought it would be a great time to get a start on next winters wood pile. Sunny didn't quite happen until about the time I was tired enough that I figured I should call it a day before something bad happened. The chilly lived up to the forecast quite nicely though..about 18 degrees when I started out this morning and about 23 when I returned around noon:30.
I was well layered up as I ventured off for my first major attempt at imitating Bobby Sherman. I had concerns about staying safe and with Cyrilee off in DC put out a fail safe message on my FB page to launch search parties if I didn't update before dark. I also had my SPoT (www.findmespot.com) device and sent a test "I'm ok" message ( http://bit.ly/6kbeHV ). I could have used it to summon 911 if necessary.
Things went pretty well but I did have a couple of problems. To help stay hydrated I took a small thermos of coffee and a bottle of green tea. The coffee stayed pretty warm but the green tea kept freezing up, I kept squishing the bottle to break up the ice but it was difficult to stay ahead of it. Also, my beard kind of froze to the draw string slide adjuster of the hood I was wearing, along with some wood chips... ( http://twitpic.com/stiig ).
I also ran into a small difficulty with one of my least favorite farm construction materials. As I was clearing away small trees and branches around the top of the fallen tree, I managed to free a 12 foot piece of old barbed wire from its entanglement within the branches. I did this while I had a running chainsaw in my hands.
Said barbed wire immediately attacked my legs. When it hit the outside of my right leg I instinctively moved that leg away from the barbed wire and closer to my left leg. At this point the wire managed to snag both the left and right pants legs pretty much locking my feet very close together. As I have a compromised vestibular system, having my feet really close together is not a real stable position, plus the whole barbs into the legs wasn't very pleasant and the running chainsaw in my hands was of some concern.
Having been recently immersed in the adventures of the British explorer, David Livingstone, I pulled out my best imitation British voice and said, "Well, this is a bit of a pickle we've managed to get ourselves into." Then my one brain cell that was only semi-frozen suggested that I might, at my earliest convenience, shut off and put down the chainsaw. I saw there was some wisdom in this suggestion and complied in a less than leisurely manner.
After a bit of blood and struggle, I managed to extricate myself from the wires fiendish grip. The rest of the outing was mostly without incident. While the resulting pile of firewood isn't overly impressive, it is a good start to next winter's heating fodder... http://twitpic.com/stjs1
.. take care.. t
With no substitute job today and a promised sunny, though chilly day, I thought it would be a great time to get a start on next winters wood pile. Sunny didn't quite happen until about the time I was tired enough that I figured I should call it a day before something bad happened. The chilly lived up to the forecast quite nicely though..about 18 degrees when I started out this morning and about 23 when I returned around noon:30.
I was well layered up as I ventured off for my first major attempt at imitating Bobby Sherman. I had concerns about staying safe and with Cyrilee off in DC put out a fail safe message on my FB page to launch search parties if I didn't update before dark. I also had my SPoT (www.findmespot.com) device and sent a test "I'm ok" message ( http://bit.ly/6kbeHV ). I could have used it to summon 911 if necessary.
Things went pretty well but I did have a couple of problems. To help stay hydrated I took a small thermos of coffee and a bottle of green tea. The coffee stayed pretty warm but the green tea kept freezing up, I kept squishing the bottle to break up the ice but it was difficult to stay ahead of it. Also, my beard kind of froze to the draw string slide adjuster of the hood I was wearing, along with some wood chips... ( http://twitpic.com/stiig ).
I also ran into a small difficulty with one of my least favorite farm construction materials. As I was clearing away small trees and branches around the top of the fallen tree, I managed to free a 12 foot piece of old barbed wire from its entanglement within the branches. I did this while I had a running chainsaw in my hands.
Said barbed wire immediately attacked my legs. When it hit the outside of my right leg I instinctively moved that leg away from the barbed wire and closer to my left leg. At this point the wire managed to snag both the left and right pants legs pretty much locking my feet very close together. As I have a compromised vestibular system, having my feet really close together is not a real stable position, plus the whole barbs into the legs wasn't very pleasant and the running chainsaw in my hands was of some concern.
Having been recently immersed in the adventures of the British explorer, David Livingstone, I pulled out my best imitation British voice and said, "Well, this is a bit of a pickle we've managed to get ourselves into." Then my one brain cell that was only semi-frozen suggested that I might, at my earliest convenience, shut off and put down the chainsaw. I saw there was some wisdom in this suggestion and complied in a less than leisurely manner.
After a bit of blood and struggle, I managed to extricate myself from the wires fiendish grip. The rest of the outing was mostly without incident. While the resulting pile of firewood isn't overly impressive, it is a good start to next winter's heating fodder... http://twitpic.com/stjs1
.. take care.. t
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Random Mumblings
Just a few random mumblings during a rest period....
I've started substituting at the local school system. So far all the jobs have been at the West Fork Middle School. I've gotten a couple of calls from the high school and elementary but they came after I had already committed to jobs at the middle school.
While I was teaching at the high school level I always thought that teachers and other staff who chose to be at middle schools were somewhat loony. After having spent several days in middle school classrooms now, I've come to the conclusion that middle school isn't as loony from the inside as it appears from the outside. Maybe it's must that West Fork is different but I'm having a pretty good time so far.
Autumn has certainly descended upon us here on our hill in the upper west corner of Arkansas. The leaves have mostly fallen off the branches and chilly rain makes a regular appearance. There are still some days though when one can shuck off the coat while outside.
Having recently acquired a tractor with a front bucket on it, I've developed a great deal of appreciation for how much aches and pains hydraulics can save you. The part of the firewood pile that we are using right now is stacked by the garage door...on the lowest level of the house. We had been carting it up to the main level one double sized milk crate load at a time. It was doable but did require some effort. Now with the tractor, I fill up the bucket with wood, drive it around to the front of the house and lift the bucket up to porch level and stack it in a rack on the porch. Then when I need wood I don't have to schlep it up stairs..just a short walk from porch to fireplace or stove. Yeah hydraulics.
With winter approaching I'm starting to see reminders that every household should have 3 days (sometimes 5 days is recommended) of food and water for each individual in the home. This recommendation has come from all levels of government.... local, state, and federal. This is certainly a good idea and we have complied. We could actually eat for a couple of weeks with the food in the house...though those last few meals might have some odd combinations of dishes.
These governmental admonishments though did get me to thinking about what is actually being said. All levels of government are stating that they believe they won't be able to help for 3 to 5 days if the general condition runs over to the crisis column... I'm good with that, at least they are admitting their shortcomings. So, they believe they won't be able to even deliver help that takes zero specialized training and can be done by most of the adult population in an area.... pile water and food into a vehicle and drive it to someplace. If they won't be able to find this level of help to send your way for 3 to 5 days...I wonder how long it would take them to find and dispatch help that requires specialized training and equipment...say a police officer.
This of course leads to thinking about plans for self help if some dipstick decides to take advantage of the general crisis and visit evil upon you and your loved ones. I know some of you are now thinking..."Migoi, don't you live 10 miles from the nearest town and that is the reason for the time delay in help." While it is true we live out a bit, we heard the same admonishments and warning from the government when we lived in suburbia.
We have a self help, dipstick removal plan well in place... do you?
...take care... t
I've started substituting at the local school system. So far all the jobs have been at the West Fork Middle School. I've gotten a couple of calls from the high school and elementary but they came after I had already committed to jobs at the middle school.
While I was teaching at the high school level I always thought that teachers and other staff who chose to be at middle schools were somewhat loony. After having spent several days in middle school classrooms now, I've come to the conclusion that middle school isn't as loony from the inside as it appears from the outside. Maybe it's must that West Fork is different but I'm having a pretty good time so far.
Autumn has certainly descended upon us here on our hill in the upper west corner of Arkansas. The leaves have mostly fallen off the branches and chilly rain makes a regular appearance. There are still some days though when one can shuck off the coat while outside.
Having recently acquired a tractor with a front bucket on it, I've developed a great deal of appreciation for how much aches and pains hydraulics can save you. The part of the firewood pile that we are using right now is stacked by the garage door...on the lowest level of the house. We had been carting it up to the main level one double sized milk crate load at a time. It was doable but did require some effort. Now with the tractor, I fill up the bucket with wood, drive it around to the front of the house and lift the bucket up to porch level and stack it in a rack on the porch. Then when I need wood I don't have to schlep it up stairs..just a short walk from porch to fireplace or stove. Yeah hydraulics.
With winter approaching I'm starting to see reminders that every household should have 3 days (sometimes 5 days is recommended) of food and water for each individual in the home. This recommendation has come from all levels of government.... local, state, and federal. This is certainly a good idea and we have complied. We could actually eat for a couple of weeks with the food in the house...though those last few meals might have some odd combinations of dishes.
These governmental admonishments though did get me to thinking about what is actually being said. All levels of government are stating that they believe they won't be able to help for 3 to 5 days if the general condition runs over to the crisis column... I'm good with that, at least they are admitting their shortcomings. So, they believe they won't be able to even deliver help that takes zero specialized training and can be done by most of the adult population in an area.... pile water and food into a vehicle and drive it to someplace. If they won't be able to find this level of help to send your way for 3 to 5 days...I wonder how long it would take them to find and dispatch help that requires specialized training and equipment...say a police officer.
This of course leads to thinking about plans for self help if some dipstick decides to take advantage of the general crisis and visit evil upon you and your loved ones. I know some of you are now thinking..."Migoi, don't you live 10 miles from the nearest town and that is the reason for the time delay in help." While it is true we live out a bit, we heard the same admonishments and warning from the government when we lived in suburbia.
We have a self help, dipstick removal plan well in place... do you?
...take care... t
Friday, October 23, 2009
Hot and Cold Running Wars....
Took a trip down memory lane, read the book "Red Star Rogue: The Untold Story of a Soviet Submarine's Nuclear Strike Attempt on the U.S." by Kenneth Sewell. It was recommended to me by my optometrist. Having been a cold war submariner during a previous period of life, I found the book very interesting.
It certainly brought back lots of memories, both good and bad. The book is about the 1968 sinking of the Soviet submarine which had been designated K129 by the U.S. Mr. Sewell's theory is that the K129 sank while attempting to launch a nuclear armed missile at Pearl Harbor... bet that got your attention.
The official story (U.S.) of that sinking has always been that K129 sank because of an internal explosion from hydrogen buildup while charging batteries or (Soviet) it sank because a U.S. submarine whammed into it. Both are very real possibilities.
The charging of a submarine's batteries does indeed produce copious quantities of hydrogen, which if not properly vented, could cause an explosion or fire... fire on a submarine.... very, very bad. If your house catches on fire you can run outside. If your submarine catches on fire..not much of a place to run. Of course, flooding is very, very bad also. One continuing joke often told during the changing of the watch (new guy taking over the duties of old guy) was, "There was a small fire, but don't worry, the flooding put it out." Bubbleheads have a strange sense of humor.
The U.S. submarines of that era certainly spent a lot of time in trying to get really close to their Soviet counterparts, without actually touching mind you, but sometimes that happened too.
Mr. Sewell, doesn't really offer much verifiable proof for his new theory, but bases it on new interpretations of public info supported by quite a few quotes from unnamed/anonymous sources. That people who actually know the real story are not willing to be named is understandable. Anyone having anything to do with the submarine force during that time period (and I assume still today) at some point signed a non-disclosure document indicating you would be thrown two stories under the prison for the rest of your life if you said anything.
Having been thus restricted, the submarine community often substitutes information in place of what really happened. I once received a letter of commendation for something I didn't do, because what I really did was necessary to continuing our mission but not in accordance with the Navy's rules and regulations. I didn't go rogue, I did it with the full permission of my captain. What I did was a success and he wanted to give me a reward for doing it but he couldn't hardly say he had given me permission to break the regulations. Sometimes when you're out there operating independently, you have to improvise.
Overall, Mr. Sewell weaves a very convincing story. Looking back at that era I would say that his theory has a very good chance of being true. It's quite a chilling theory, but the really scary part is that it's difficult to believe that the essential nature of governments has changed. Today's government (collective mass) are just as likely to be just as devious...certainly makes me not want them to have any more power.
Speaking of rogue. I've noticed that Sarah Palin has a book coming out on Nov 17. It's called Going Rogue: Sarah Palin An American Life. Some apparently liberal publishing house is publishing, on the same day, a book titled, Going Rouge: Sarah Palin An American Nightmare. While I don't currently have any opinion of either book since neither is on the shelf at the moment, it would seem to support the idea that liberals hate book store clerks. Can you imagine the anger of someone with a conservative bent who accidentally picks up Rouge when they thought they were getting Rogue? Or even more so, a liberal thinking they were getting a book trashing Ms. Palin only to open it and find it actually had positive things to say about her...apoplexy would ensue. Note to any in Ms. Palin's publishing camp that happen to run across this... Kindle-ize please. The Rouge folks... don't bother.
If cold war era thrillers are your thing... definitely read Red Star Rogue, it's more exciting that any novel. If you don't have much background in submarine operations from that time, read Blind Man's Bluff first. BMB is a pretty accurate description of U.S. cold war submarine operations and a look has how I spent part of my life.
..take care... t
It certainly brought back lots of memories, both good and bad. The book is about the 1968 sinking of the Soviet submarine which had been designated K129 by the U.S. Mr. Sewell's theory is that the K129 sank while attempting to launch a nuclear armed missile at Pearl Harbor... bet that got your attention.
The official story (U.S.) of that sinking has always been that K129 sank because of an internal explosion from hydrogen buildup while charging batteries or (Soviet) it sank because a U.S. submarine whammed into it. Both are very real possibilities.
The charging of a submarine's batteries does indeed produce copious quantities of hydrogen, which if not properly vented, could cause an explosion or fire... fire on a submarine.... very, very bad. If your house catches on fire you can run outside. If your submarine catches on fire..not much of a place to run. Of course, flooding is very, very bad also. One continuing joke often told during the changing of the watch (new guy taking over the duties of old guy) was, "There was a small fire, but don't worry, the flooding put it out." Bubbleheads have a strange sense of humor.
The U.S. submarines of that era certainly spent a lot of time in trying to get really close to their Soviet counterparts, without actually touching mind you, but sometimes that happened too.
Mr. Sewell, doesn't really offer much verifiable proof for his new theory, but bases it on new interpretations of public info supported by quite a few quotes from unnamed/anonymous sources. That people who actually know the real story are not willing to be named is understandable. Anyone having anything to do with the submarine force during that time period (and I assume still today) at some point signed a non-disclosure document indicating you would be thrown two stories under the prison for the rest of your life if you said anything.
Having been thus restricted, the submarine community often substitutes information in place of what really happened. I once received a letter of commendation for something I didn't do, because what I really did was necessary to continuing our mission but not in accordance with the Navy's rules and regulations. I didn't go rogue, I did it with the full permission of my captain. What I did was a success and he wanted to give me a reward for doing it but he couldn't hardly say he had given me permission to break the regulations. Sometimes when you're out there operating independently, you have to improvise.
Overall, Mr. Sewell weaves a very convincing story. Looking back at that era I would say that his theory has a very good chance of being true. It's quite a chilling theory, but the really scary part is that it's difficult to believe that the essential nature of governments has changed. Today's government (collective mass) are just as likely to be just as devious...certainly makes me not want them to have any more power.
Speaking of rogue. I've noticed that Sarah Palin has a book coming out on Nov 17. It's called Going Rogue: Sarah Palin An American Life. Some apparently liberal publishing house is publishing, on the same day, a book titled, Going Rouge: Sarah Palin An American Nightmare. While I don't currently have any opinion of either book since neither is on the shelf at the moment, it would seem to support the idea that liberals hate book store clerks. Can you imagine the anger of someone with a conservative bent who accidentally picks up Rouge when they thought they were getting Rogue? Or even more so, a liberal thinking they were getting a book trashing Ms. Palin only to open it and find it actually had positive things to say about her...apoplexy would ensue. Note to any in Ms. Palin's publishing camp that happen to run across this... Kindle-ize please. The Rouge folks... don't bother.
If cold war era thrillers are your thing... definitely read Red Star Rogue, it's more exciting that any novel. If you don't have much background in submarine operations from that time, read Blind Man's Bluff first. BMB is a pretty accurate description of U.S. cold war submarine operations and a look has how I spent part of my life.
..take care... t
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