Today, like many many other times, I see people use those spaces with no placard or plate. No one enforces it. Argh!
–30–
RANT: HANDICAP spaces
Saturday, July 11, 2026
Leave a Comment » | 
ADHOC | 
Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
RANT: “Hanoi Jane” deserves her own special ‘ring” in Hell
Friday, July 3, 2026https://x.com/Ikennect/status/2059026118036881822?s=20
<<FROM TWITTER>>
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2026-05-26>>
I am Ken
@Ikennect
*** begin quote ***
Barbara Walters writes:
Unfortunately, many have forgotten and still countless others have never known how Ms. Fonda betrayed not only the idea of our country, but specific men who served and sacrificed during the Vietnam War.
The first part of this is from an F-4E pilot. The pilot’s name is Jerry Driscoll, a River Rat. In 1968, the former Commandant of the USAF Survival School was a POW in Ho LoPrison, the “Hanoi Hilton.”
Dragged from a stinking cesspit of a cell, cleaned, fed, and dressed in clean PJ’s, he was ordered to describe for a visiting American “peace activist” the “lenient and humane treatment” he’d received.
He spat at Ms. Fonda, was clubbed, and was dragged away. During the subsequent beating, he fell forward onto the camp commandant ‘s feet, which sent that officer berserk.
In 1978, the Air Force Colonel still suffered from double vision (which permanently ended his flying career) from the Commandant’s frenzied application of a wooden baton.
From 1963-65, Col. Larry Carrigan was in the 47FW/DO (F-4E’s). He spent 6 years in the “Hanoi Hilton”. . . The first three of which his family only knew he was “missing in action.” His wife lived on faith that he was still alive. His group, too, got the cleaned-up, fed and clothed routine in preparation for a “peace delegation” visit.
They, however, had time and devised a plan to get word to the world that they were alive and still survived.
Each man secreted a tiny piece of paper, with his Social Security Number on it, in the palm of his hand.
When paraded before Ms. Fonda and a cameraman, she walked the line, shaking each man’s hand and asking little encouraging snippets like: “Aren’t you sorry you bombed babies?” and “Are you grateful for the humane treatment from your benevolent captors?” Believing this HAD to be an act, they each palmed her their sliver of paper.
She took them all without missing a beat. . . At the end of the line and once the camera stopped rolling, to the shocked disbelief of the POWs, she turned to the officer in charge and handed him all the little pieces of paper…
Three men died from the subsequent beatings. Colonel Carrigan was almost number four but he survived, which is the only reason we know of her actions that day.
I was a civilian economic development adviser in Vietnam, and was captured by the North Vietnamese communists in South Vietnam in 1968, and held prisoner for over 5 years.
I spent 27 months in solitary confinement; one year in a cage in Cambodia; and one year in a ‘black box’ in Hanoi. My North Vietnamese captors deliberately poisoned and murdered a female missionary, a nurse in a leprosarium in Banme Thuot, South Vietnam, whom I buried in the jungle near the Cambodian border. At one time, I weighed only about 90 lbs. (My normal weight is 170 lbs.)
We were Jane Fonda’s “war criminals.”
When Jane Fonda was in Hanoi, I was asked by the camp communist political officer if I would be willing to meet with her. I said yes, for I wanted to tell her about the real treatment we POWs received. . . and how different it was from the treatment purported by the North Vietnamese, and parroted by her as “humane and lenient.”
Because of this, I spent three days on a rocky floor on my knees, with my arms outstretched with a large steel weight placed on my hands, and beaten with a bamboo cane.
I had the opportunity to meet with Jane Fonda soon after I was released. I asked her if she would be willing to debate me on TV. She never did answer me.
These first-hand experiences do not exemplify someone who should be honored as part of “100 Years of Great Women.” Lest we forget. . . “100 Years of Great Women” should never include a traitor whose hands are covered with the blood of so many patriots.
There are few things I have strong visceral reactions to, but Hanoi Jane’s participation in blatant treason, is one of them.
Please take the time to forward to as many people as you possibly can. It will eventually end up on her computer, and she needs to know that we will never forget
*** end quote ***
I’ve ranted about her before. This just reminds me of her treachery.
Why she was never prosecuted?
Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: @Ikennect, Barbara Walters, Cambodia, Col. Larry Carrigan, Hanoi Hilton, Jane Fonda, North Vietnamese communists, South Vietnam | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
EVLYNN: The Universe either supplied what she wanted or she, in fact, “manifested” it.
Wednesday, July 1, 2026A WEBSITE ASKED:
What is your favorite road trip memory?
Send us your answer! Reply to this newsletter with a brief explanation of your response, and we’ll reveal the top answers in a future newsletter.
# – # – # – # – #
[Once upon a time, a long time ago, we drove to Biloxi.]
For the ride, we’d been to Barnes and Noble and got books on tape. (Like discs, but more fragile.) I had for my picks bought Denis E. Waitley’s “Empires Of The Mind” and Stephen Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. Both suggest, but Covey really pushes “manifesting” what you want and the Universe would supply it.
She groused about it as “absurd”. Now mind you we were on a section of road in Alabama that we had driven before where there was literally nothing. So I said to her, “OK, we’ll have an experiment. What do you really want right now?”
She snaps: “a Dairy Queen ice cream cone”. “OK, in the next ten miles, we’ll manifest a Dairy Queen.”
And, I made her chant “I see a Dairy Queen.” For the next ten miles. Every time, she wanted to quit, I insisted. Just as the odometer is going to click ten, we see a hand painted sign on a 4×8 plywood that said: “Dairy Queen”.
It was brand new but no signs. And, it was open.
We went in and the manager thanked us for coming. It was their FIRST DAY open and their signs were late. We had lunch and ice cream. I laughed and she accused me of cheating. She was convinced I saw a sign.
Overlooking all the facts.
The Universe either supplied what she wanted or she, in fact, “manifested” it.
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | EVLYNN | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
TECHNOLOGY: Shutting Down Traditional Phone Lines
Tuesday, June 30, 2026https://cordcuttersnews.com/california-wants-to-stop-att-from-shutting-down-traditional-phone-lines/
California Wants to Stop AT&T From Shutting Down Traditional Phone Lines
By
Luke Bouma
on
June 19, 2026
in
All News, News
*** begin quote ***
California regulators have formally accused AT&T of providing false information to the Federal Communications Commission in an effort to discontinue service on its aging copper-based wireline telephone network, according to Arstechnica. The filing, submitted by the California Public Utilities Commission on June 15, 2026, challenges AT&T’s petitions to preempt state rules and end landline obligations affecting roughly 199,000 customers. This comes as AT&T and others have been shutting down DSL and traditional phone lines that run on copper in many states.
*** end quote ***
Sad to say but as a fat old white guy retired injineer, copper-based wireline telephone network, sometimes called POTS (plain old telephone service) is and was very reliable and cheap. Power outages, tornados, and human stupidity aside, you picked up the phone and got “dial tone”.
Don’t forget the AT&T tradition of the operator dying at the switchboard to alert everyone of danger.
And, the old AT&T Motto, “no service is so urgent, that we can’t take the time to do our job safely”. Never mind the wags that amended it to “take time for coffee”.
It was a “widows and orphans” stock, until in their infinite wisdom Judge Green and the FCC (a captive of the mobile telephone industry) decided that AT&T and the Baby Bells should be “aborted”. One casualty was the greatest national resource “Bell Labs”. Another was the millions of retirees who had — whether they knew it or not — dedicated their lives to providing the BEST national telephone service.
Shame on the US Gooferment for allowing this to fail.
Argh!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | Technology | Tagged: AT&T, Bell Labs, POTS | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
INSPIRATIONAL: My wife had to endure the old process … …
Monday, June 29, 2026https://openbionics.com/3d-printed-prosthetic-limbs-progress-in-prosthetics-challenges-in-access/
*** begin quote ***
At our Austin prosthetic clinic, upper limb specialist Travis Heins has seen firsthand how 3D printing can elevate the experience of receiving a prosthetic arm from a drawn-out series of appointments into a streamlined, more predictable process. Instead of multiple rounds of casting, adjustments and travel to and from the clinic, Travis uses digital models and printed test sockets to refine his patient’s fit in a fraction of the time. For families who often drive hours to reach a preferred clinic or rearrange work schedules for each appointment, these efficiencies matter.
“I print two test sockets from the same digital model, one based on conservative measurements and another designed for a more experimental fit,” he said. “Sometimes we end up going with the more aggressive modified one.”
*** end quote ***
My wife had to endure the old process … …
… … (I’d say God’s replacement wife because the Universe knows how much I need help. And, it sounds disrespectful to say “second wife” and hurtful to refer to my sainted “first” wife as anything but the best thing that ever happened to me in my college days. But enough distraction.) … …
… … and the insurance company paid 60k$ and we had innumerable appointments for fittings. And the end result sucked. It was hard to get on and almost impossible for the two of us to get it off.
AND most disturbing to her was that is looked like a man’s arm.
FMPOV the lack of an “elbow” was a terrible disaster.
Maybe the new stuff will be better.
BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), not in our lifetime.
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL | Tagged: prosthetic | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
AI: What ClaudaAI (Claudia) can’t do — access Google Maps or saved places
Friday, June 26, 2026*** begin quote ***
Dialogue – June 28, 2026
USER: Delete all New Jersey saved places in Google Maps
CLAUDE: I don’t have access to Google Maps or your saved places — there’s no Google Maps connector available to me.
To delete saved places in Google Maps yourself:
1. Open Google Maps and tap your profile icon
2. Go to Saved → Your lists
3. Open each list, find NJ places, tap the three dots on each, and select “Remove from list”
Or on desktop at maps.google.com, go to Saved in the left menu and manage from there. Unfortunately there’s no bulk-delete option in Google Maps — it has to be done one by one.
*** end quote ***
Argh!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | AI | Tagged: ClaudeAI | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
INSPIRATIONAL: One can judge from experiment or one can blindly accept authority
Thursday, June 25, 2026<<FROM FACEBOOK>>
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2026-06-09>>
Via @S Kent Troy
*** begin quote ***
“There are but two ways of forming an opinion in science. One is the scientific method; the other, the scholastic. One can judge from experiment or one can blindly accept authority. To the scientific mind, experimental proof is all important and theory is merely a convenience in description, to be junked when it no longer fits. To the academic mind, authority is everything and facts are junked when they do not fit theory laid down by authority.” — Robert A. Heinlein – Life-Line
*** end quote ***
It seems that we have had a belly full of “science by authority”. The politicians and bureaucrats have no one else to blame but themselves for “vaccine skepticism”. New item after news item keep “leaking out”, mostly via the inet, that destroy any credibility or “moral authority” they had.
Personally, when the undertakers reported big stringy clots and health young athletic men started dropping like flies, I was “convinced” that the truth was being hidden like Hunter Biden’s laptop. And, Fauci’s 6 foot rule and face masks for viruses just “confirmed” it for me. It was all <synonym for excrement from a male cow> to cover a giant cash grab for cronies and a payday for Big Pharma, Hospitals, and insider trading politicians and bureaucrats! Argh!
“My first rule: I don’t believe anything the government tells me.” — George Carlin
“It’s a big club, and you ain’t in it! You, and I, are not in the big club.” — George Carlin
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5dBZDSSky0
“The word ‘bipartisan’ usually means some larger-than-usual deception is being carried out.” — George Carlin
A plague on all their houses. They have set back human civilization and progress a thousand years or maybe 3 generations for it to be forgotten.
Argh!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL | Tagged: @S Kent Troy, scholastic, scientific method | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
DISCOURAGING: US needs a leader that would just say “no”!
Wednesday, June 24, 2026When AI-Driven Deflation Collides With America’s Debt-Saturated Economy
by Nick Giambruno
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2026-06-08>>
*** begin quote ***
In other words, the US would need a leader who—at a minimum—returns the federal government to a limited Constitutional Republic, closes the 800 military bases abroad, ends entitlements, kills the welfare state, and repays a large portion of the national debt.
*** end quote ***
The current 1.2T$ budget deficit, added 121T+ national debt, and the guesstimated 200T+ in unfunded liabilities that our posterity will have to deal with is staggering. And, all the politicians and bureaucrats just keep spending along.
“Blessed are the young for they shall inherit the national debt.” –Herbert Hoover
“When in a hole, stop digging!” — old Wall Street maxim
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | DISCOURAGING | Tagged: internationalman.com, Nick Giambruno | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
INTERESTING: Do human brains synchronize during empathic connection?
Tuesday, June 23, 2026<<FROM TWITTER>>
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2026-05-09>>
https://x.com/TeeplesCY/status/2052951182025588797?s=20
Clint Teeples @TeeplesCY
*** begin quote ***
Someone praying for you in another building can change your brain in real time. There is a study that proves it.
Researchers at North Hawaii Community Hospital placed 11 people inside fMRI scanners, fully isolated. In a separate building, spiritual leaders who knew them personally sent focused intentions toward them at random two-minute intervals. The receivers had no way to know when. Their brains lit up at the exact moments the senders focused on them. Specific regions associated with attention and awareness activated on cue. The odds of this happening by chance were less than one in seven thousand.
Most people have never heard of this. Here are three more.
Hand-holding and pain. Researchers placed 22 couples under EEG caps. When the woman was in pain and her partner held her hand, their brain waves synchronized. The more empathy he felt for her, the more their brains coupled. The more their brains coupled, the more her pain decreased. Touch combined with focused care produced a measurable analgesic effect. The lead researcher got the idea while holding his wife’s hand during the birth of their daughter.
Two brains in shielded rooms. A Mexican neuroscientist named Jacobo Grinberg ran a series of experiments at the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Two participants meditated together for 20 minutes. Then they were placed in separate electromagnetically shielded rooms more than 14 meters apart. One participant was shown 100 random flashes of light. The other, hooked to an EEG with no sensory contact of any kind, registered matching brain-wave responses one out of every four flashes. Pairs who had not bonded showed nothing.
Group prayer. Andrew Newberg at Thomas Jefferson University has spent more than two decades scanning the brains of praying nuns, meditating monks, and chanting Sikhs. His imaging work shows a consistent pattern. The frontal lobes activate. The parietal lobes quiet. The effect amplifies in groups. Brains in shared prayer entrain to one another the way two pendulums swinging in the same room eventually fall into the same rhythm.
These studies measure what physically happens to the human nervous system when people focus caring attention on each other, in the same room or at a distance. The findings are consistent across labs, methods, and decades.
The basic finding, that human brains synchronize during empathic connection, is now mainstream neuroscience. Newberg alone has published more than 250 peer-reviewed papers.
People have been doing this for thousands of years and calling it prayer. Christians alone offer a window into the variety. Latter-day Saints kneel as families. Catholics pray the rosary. Protestants join hands in prayer circles.
What is actually happening when you pray? On the imaging, something measurable. On the EEG, something synchronized. On the pain scale, something diminished.
Prayer works.
*** end quote ***
Never heard of this before.
Like most of the “factoids” that cross the inet on XTwitter, Book of Faces, or other social media, I have no first hand knowledge of it’s “truth”.
YMMV
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | INTERESTING | Tagged: @TeeplesCY, Catholics, Clint Teeples, Latter-day Saints, Protestants | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
INSPIRATIONAL: Match quality matters more than head start.
Monday, June 22, 2026<<FROM TWITTER>>
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2026-05-09>>
https://x.com/ihtesham2005/status/2053103815482859767?s=20
Ihtesham Ali
@ihtesham2005
*** begin quote ***
A Hungarian psychologist raised three daughters to prove that any child could become a chess grandmaster through early specialization. He succeeded. Two of them became grandmasters. One became the greatest female chess player who ever lived.
Then a sports scientist looked at the data and found something nobody wanted to hear.
His name is David Epstein. The book is called “Range.”
The Polgar experiment is one of the most famous case studies in the history of deliberate practice. Laszlo Polgar wrote a book before his daughters were even born arguing that geniuses are made, not born. He homeschooled all three girls in chess from age four. By their teens, Susan, Sofia, and Judit were dominating tournaments against grown men. Judit became the youngest grandmaster in history at the time, breaking Bobby Fischer’s record. The story became the gospel of early specialization. Pick a domain young, drill it hard, and you can manufacture excellence.
*** and ***
There are two kinds of environments in which humans develop expertise. Psychologists call them kind and wicked. A kind environment has clear rules, immediate feedback, and patterns that repeat reliably.
*** and ***
A wicked environment is the opposite. Feedback is delayed or misleading. Rules shift. The patterns that worked yesterday may be exactly the wrong patterns to apply tomorrow. Most of the real world looks like this. Medicine is wicked. Investing is wicked. Building a company is wicked. Scientific research is wicked. Almost every job that involves a complex changing system with humans in it is wicked.
*** and ***
The skill that mattered in wicked environments was not depth in one pattern. It was the ability to recognize when a pattern from one domain applied unexpectedly in another.
*** and ***
Generalists do better in wicked domains for a reason that sounds almost mystical until you understand the mechanism. They have less invested in any single mental model, so they abandon broken models faster.
*** and ***
The single most useful sentence in the entire book is the one Epstein puts almost as a throwaway.
Match quality matters more than head start.
*** end quote ***
Fascinating insight.
So encourage children to try anything and everything. When they find “their bliss”, then the magic will happen.
Have we been doing so many things wrong for so long?
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL | Tagged: @ihtesham2005, David Epstein, Ihtesham Ali, Polgar experiment, Range | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
HEALTH: Be aware of government policy failures that adversely affect your life and loved ones
Sunday, June 21, 2026The Absurdity of Public Health
Serving power, not the public
Dr. Robert W. Malone
May 13, 2026
*** begin quote ***
The fixation on backyard chickens, raw milk, masking rituals, playground closures, or endlessly sanitized consumer guidance is not primarily about reducing the largest drivers of disease and death. If it were, public health agencies would spend far more time confronting the catastrophic consequences of ultra-processed food, metabolic dysfunction, pharmaceutical overprescribing, hospital-acquired infections, sedentary lifestyles, environmental toxicity, and the economic incentives that quietly fuel chronic disease.
But those are structurally difficult problems. They implicate large institutions, politically connected industries, government policy failures, and decades of bureaucratic complicity.
*** end quote ***
It would seem that until “We, The Sheeple” recognize that “court intellectuals” are just Gooferment propaganda dressed up in a white coat of a doctor or scientist.
How can they DEMAND health improvements in the things that cause real harm?
It seems to me that honest measurements taken by real people are the answer.
Where did we find the honest answers about the clot shot? The morticians reporting long fiberous coagulated blood clots in the dead. The few honest doctors who were silenced for calling <synonym for excrement from a male cow> on masks and social 6’ distancing that were lessons from the Spanish Flu Epidemic. Bloggers, podcasters, and individuals who reported and tracked data.
Argh!
And, what did we get from the Gooferment? Misinformation, disinformation, and wealth transfer from the poor and middle class to Big Pharma, politicians, and bureaucrats.
Argh!
We have to focus on the results that we can see: almost everyone’s obese, real food if available is hideously expensive, illegal immigration is draining resources, welfare is creating a fourth generation of “welfare farmers”, crime is out of control with many relating offenders, and — by the way — children can’t read or do simple math.
So we have to start holding politicians and bureaucrats accountable for results; not promises.
Argh!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | HEALTH | Tagged: Dr. Robert W. Malone, economic incentives, environmental toxicity, hospital-acquired infections, malone.new, metabolic dysfunction, pharmaceutical overprescribing, sedentary lifestyles, ultra-processed food | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
INSPIRATIONAL: Dale Schroeder puts Big Charity to shame
Saturday, June 20, 2026<<FROM TWITTER>>
<< EDITOR ADDED DATE 2026-06-06>>
https://x.com/CrazyVibes_1/status/2063349933110104394?s=20
*** begin quote ***
“Blue collar Iowa carpenter used his secret fortune to send 33 strangers to college”. Upworthy
*** end quote ***
Appears to be real. And if it is, he puts all the Big Charity to shame.
Gant, Michelle (July 25, 2019). “Blue collar Iowa carpenter used his secret fortune to send 33 strangers to college”. Upworthy. Retrieved March 28, 2026.
Dona Nobis Pacem
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL | Tagged: Dale Schroeder, Upworthy, x` | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Put an end to the that happened to Massie
Friday, June 19, 2026https://lwvc.org/position/position-campaign-financing/
*** begin quote ***
In the summer of 2012, the League ran radio ads in Tennessee and Maine asking Senators Corker, Alexander, Snowe and Collins to support campaign finance reform. The ads were made possible through a grant from the Unitarian Universalist Church at Shelter Rock in Long Island, NY. The ads were timed in anticipation of Congressional action on the DISCLOSE Act. The ads garnered press coverage from outlets in both states.
Today the League continues to push for legislation to protect and reinvigorate the public financing system for president. In addition, the League continues to work to reinvigorate the dysfunctional Federal Election Commission (FEC) which has refused to enforce the law.
*** end quote ***
I have some suggestion for Federal Gooferment campaign restrictions:
- Only campaign contributions from eligible registered voters in the district. (Limited to $1,000)
- NO corporation contributions. (Could be implemented by making it a tax event.)
- NO Political Action Committee contributions or advertising for a candidate.
- NO contributions from foreign governments.
- Violations are sentenced to a minimum of one year in prison and barred from future campaigns.
That should put an end to the <synonym for excrement> that happened to Massie.
Argh!
Ask me how I really feel!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: campaign finance reform, League of Women Voters of California | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: After pricing many low-skilled workers out of job, maybe she can repeal the Law of Gravity?
Thursday, June 18, 2026https://reason.com/2026/06/08/the-living-wage-attack-on-jobs-and-prosperity/
The ‘Living Wage’ Attack on Jobs and Prosperity
Rep. Ro Khanna’s minimum wage proposal promises prosperity but would likely price many low-skilled workers out of the labor market.
J.D. Tuccille | 6.8.2026 7:00 AM
*** begin quote ***
“Extractive capitalism” is a slippery concept that tends to mean whatever the speaker wants. Rep. Ro Khanna (D–Calif.) invokes the term as a bogeyman to be slain by the economic snake oil he peddles in the form of a $25 “living wage” bill he and other Democrats introduced. Fortunately, the legislation is not only unlikely to pass the current Congress; it’s almost as slippery as Khanna’s bogeymen. It’s still a bad idea.
*** end quote ***
Politicians think that they can over rule “natural laws”. Like the “Law of Gravity”, it’s firmly established by whatever power you recognize. Call it “God”, “Dog” (God spelled backwards; man’s Guardian Angel), “the Universe”, “Mother Nature”, or the Flying Spaghetti Monster worshiped by wearing a pasta strainer on your head for your “drivers’ license” photo! There are Universal Constants that can be observed or reasoned to. That doesn’t mean that the “Law of Supply and Demand” is any less real than the “Law of Gravity”.
There is so much that we can’t see that’s not real — Santa, the Great Pumpkin, the Easter Bunny, Zombies — and so much that we can’t see that’s real — electricity, the wind, atom, love, and hate. So why is it so hard for politicians to see their hubris in their opinions and the diktats that they label “LAWS”.
Real laws, like “Law of Gravity”, are unbreakable. I dare them to try it. While overriding the “Law of Supply and Demand” will not have the immediate impact of defying the “Law of Gravity”, it will be just as catastrophic when they “hit” it.
Argh!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Extractive capitalism, J.D. Tuccille, Living Wage, or the Universe, REASON.COM, Ro Khanna, Santa, the Flying Spaghetti Monster, the Great Pumpkin | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
IOS: iMessage on a wifi only iPad will not work text to an android
Wednesday, June 17, 2026IOS: iMessage on a wifi only iPad will not work text to an android
I’ve struggled with this for months and numerous chats and voice calls. Today someone finally told me that.
Of course, no one ever told me that before I bought one!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | IOS | Tagged: iMessage | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Armstrong paid homeless individuals on Los Angeles’ Skid Row to register to vote … …
Wednesday, June 17, 2026California US attorney says multiple election fraud investigations underway
By Sharyl Attkisson | June 6, 2026
*** begin quote ***
Essayli pointed to the case of Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, who pleaded guilty to a felony count of paying another person to register to vote in a federal election.
According to prosecutors, Armstrong paid homeless individuals on Los Angeles’ Skid Row to register to vote and, in some cases, used her address so mail-in ballots would be sent to her home. Authorities say the scheme operated for roughly 20 years.
*** end quote ***
Sure, Stalin was wrong.
“It’s not the people who vote that count, it’s the people who count the votes.” — attributed to Joseph Stalin
“As long as I count the Votes, what are you going to do about it. say?” — attributed to William M. “Boss” Tweed in Thomas Nast cartoon, 7 October 1871).
“As long as I count the Votes, what are you going to do about it. say?” — attributed to William M. “Boss” Tweed in Thomas Nast cartoon, 7 October 1871). — Not Stalin
Maybe not?
These fraudsters eliminate the need to “stuff the ballot box” or “rig the count”. They just “invent voters”. Are there more votes than register voters? All the mainstream media “swears” election are totally fair and honest.
So why don’t I believe them?
“The Italians having a Proverb, ‘He that deceives me once, its his fault; but if twice, its my fault.’” — The Court and Character of King James by Anthony Weldon, 1651
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, California, election fraud, Sharyl Attkisson | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
IDEA: Reuse versus Recycle?
Tuesday, June 16, 2026Instead of destroying boxes by flattening them for “recycling”, why not bring them to Costco for Customers to reuse?
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | IDEA | Tagged: cardboard boxes, COSTCO | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
INSPIRATIONAL: Never destroy what you can not create
Tuesday, June 16, 2026The Cold War’s Accidental Whale Observatory
- Built to track enemy submarines, the Navy’s underwater listening network inadvertently revealed that whales may be singing across entire oceans
By David Rothenberg
9:39 AM CDT on June 4, 2026
*** begin quote ***
Yet the thousand-mile song takes hold of our imagination right away: “I could show you the evidence today. I can listen in Puerto Rico to a whale way up on the Grand Banks. Can the whales do that? You might well ask, ‘What would they have to say?’ Then you’re suddenly putting on this silly human restriction. A whale might turn around and say to me, ‘What would you possibly have to say to one another sitting just two meters apart?’”
Like so many great scientists, Clark is not afraid to be a bit of a dreamer. More than once, he has sought out the advice of musicologists: “Marty Hatch, a specialist in Indonesian gamelan here at Cornell, had this to say to me, ‘You know Chris, you look at all this singing as data, but I think of it as a musical, emotional experience.’ Musicians hear song, and this is where I sometimes lean away from the scientific and tend to agree with them. Why can’t we just appreciate it as a phenomenon that is phenomenal?”
No human musician could stay in time counting as slowly as these whales do. These incredibly low thumps and moans are rhythms at such a lax pace that they are barely perceptible to human beings. Speed a blue whale song up 10 times, and 30 minutes becomes three. Move the pitch up to the realm of a cello, bowhead song, or a human moan, and exactly every three seconds comes the same soft moan. Only when we slow down time do we hear the thousand-mile song, a great sigh in the deep sound channel, echoing from one end of an ocean to another.
*** end quote ***
Hard not to be fascinated by the whale sounds story. Like birds, we know so little about their vision; so too, we seem to know so little about whales.
Maybe someday, humans may truly appreciate the beauty of the natural world around us.
It reminds me of the Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986).
The crew travels back in time to 1986 San Francisco to bring back two humpback whales — George and Gracie — because an alien probe is destroying Earth waiting for a response from humpback whales, which are extinct in the 23rd century. They need the whales to “answer” the probe.
Why is that so hard to imagine?
Maybe we do need “time travel”! Can you imagine if the cure for cancer or some other terrible disease was contained in the passenger pigeon?
Remember Colossal Cave Adventure by William Crowther, expanded by Don Woods. “You are standing at the end of a road before a small brick building.” When I was playing that, I had friends, who after killing the snake in an early cave, became disgusted with the game when they couldn’t get past the bird in (I think) Cave 7. Of course, I, like several others, never told them their mistake. It became a standing joke in the in the nerd circles about noobs and I D ten errors.
Laugh!
From that single lesson, I learned one should never destroy what you can not create. Seem like a good heuristic (rule of thumb) for life.
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL | Tagged: Center for Conservation Bioacoustics, Cornell University, David Rothenberg, Marty Hatch, nautil.us, Sound Surveillance System, Whale Observatory, Zoology | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: U.S. military involvement everywhere, but not in Sudan?
Monday, June 15, 2026https://tuckercarlson.com/morning-note?
Marshall Worth
June 4, 2026
*** begin quote ***
Please Drop the Act
According to the people who constantly demand U.S. military involvement in foreign nations, America must send its troops to die around the world in the name of humanitarianism. We are the international community’s good guys, Lindsey Graham and his friends say, which means we are obligated to fight the bad guys.
This argument has surfaced countless times. Whether their focus is on Iran, Russia, Cuba, Venezuela, Iraq, Syria, or nearly any other country that permanent Washington decides to demonize, neocons always tend to fall back on the same basic messaging: going to war is the right thing to do.
What’s interesting is that this so-called morality never seems to apply to Sudan. Corporate cable news networks rarely report on this, but the African nation is home to some of the most brutal atrocities taking place anywhere on Earth. This AP News report shines a light on the details. They are jarring.
“The United Nations calls sexual violence one of the ‘most defining features’ of Sudan’s war, now in its fourth year,” the piece reads. “Many women have been subject to sexual slavery and forced to pay ransoms for their release, sometimes up to $10,000,” it continues.
The article centers around interviews with three women, each of whom says they are victims of abduction and sex slavery at the hands of the Sudanese Rapid Support Forces (RSF). One of the women recalled RSF fighters ambushing her on the street as she fled her home, forcing her to strip before binding, beating, and transporting her to an abandoned desert village. Once there, she and her fellow captives, some of whom were teenagers, “lay bound in a shelter, urinating on themselves” and “were raped multiple times by different men.”
“The captors would enter [the chambers] and choose who they wanted, untie them, assault them, and bind them again,” the AP reported.
This cycle lasts until the victims die or find a way to buy their freedom. Ransoms routinely run high enough to force the women and their families to sell their cars, homes, and plunge into debt. All just for a chance of release.
Imagine if this precise thing were happening in Iran. Mark Levin and his allies would spend months lecturing the American public about how the Iranians needed freedom, and they would demand that the president drop everything to deliver it. Nothing would matter to them more than saving the women kidnapped by the evil Mullahs, even if doing so meant tanking the U.S. economy, getting our soldiers killed, gifting terrorists troves of new recruitment material, and blowing trillions of taxpayer dollars. This is bigger than politics, they would say in unison. It is about basic decency.
How come no one seems to feel that way about Sudan? The answer exposes the entire pro-war scam. Neocons have no concern for the people of Iran, Venezuela, or any of the countries they demand the United States “set free.” If they did, then they would also care about Sudan, Uyghur Muslims in China, and albinos in sub-Saharan Africa. Their true motives are entirely different; they only sing songs about “liberating the people” to brainwash well-meaning Fox News viewers into believing that globalist foreign policy is of deep moral purity.
Instead of insulting the public’s intelligence with lies about their deep worry for the well-being of Iran’s population, warhawks like Levin should drop the act and be honest about their true reason for wanting war. They pushed for Operation Epic Fury because they thought it would help Israel, not America or the Iranian people. Every honest person knows it.
*** end quote ***
AS a little L libertarian, I don’t want “foreign adventurism” and “foreign entanglements”. Hence, the USA should:
- Declare Sudanese diplomats persona non grata
- Cut off all “aid” to Sudan and anyone who supports them
- Stop all travel visas to and from Sudan
- Stop anyone from coming to the US that is from Sudan
That’s should shine a laser focus on the problem that they represent.
If that doesn’t work, then there is always Letters of Marque and Reprisal!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Lindsey Graham, Mark Levin, Marshall Worth, Russia, Sudanese Rapid Support Forces, SYRIA, tuckercarlson.com, Uyghur Muslims, Venezuela | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
RANT: Online appointment schedules a slot that they don’t have.
Sunday, June 14, 2026Recently scheduled an oil change for my Chevy Truck.
Had some problem with the password entry.
(No, I don’t forget them. I use a password manger and Apple Passwords also saves them!)
Password reset TWICE?
Argh!
So I’m suitable annoyed but I get it entered. (Even had to put in the VIN. I bought it there. Their system should know it. Probably Claude AI (I call it Claudia), CHATGPT, Google, every data broker , and hacker all know it. Argh!
SO it’s booked.
TWO DAYS later, I get a call from a nice lady at the dealer saying the online system schedule me for a time that they don’t have available. And we rescheduled it a week later.
So, their online system schedules an appointment slot that they don’t have.
How dumb is that! Sigh! Yeah, AI and computers will rule the world. Not as long as Murphy’s Law is operable.
So how much of my TAE (ie., time, attention, effort, and dikw), my compute, as well as the dealer’s computing, and their receptionist’t TAE did this all cost?
I guess I should have done it the old fashioned way and just called in at the beginning.
So that’s what I’ll do from know on.
So the dealer’s computer “front door” is just a waste of their resources!
So much for AI wiping out humans’ jobs!
Sigh! Argh! Laugh!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: Chevy | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
INNOVATION: The $255 Beach Shade Dividing America’s Coastal Towns – WSJ
Saturday, June 13, 2026https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/shibumi-beach-sun-shade-04770fba?st=iSp81z
The $255 Beach Shade Dividing America’s Coastal Towns
- Some beachgoers love Shibumis for their simplicity and safety. Others consider them a nuisance, and some places have banned them.
By Fred A. Bernstein
Updated May 25, 2026 5:36 pm ET
*** begin quote ***
Invented by a trio of recent UNC-Chapel Hill graduates, Shibumis are practically an obsession in the Carolinas. Owners say they are easy to carry and set up and are safer than umbrellas, which can cause injuries or death when the wind uproots them. The company says it has sold about 500,000 Shibumis, many of them in the Carolinas.
*** end quote ***
Ahhh, American inventiveness and stogy Gooferment bureaucrats can’t deal with it.
I wonder how the family of that lady who was killed by flying umbrella feels.
I guess no one has thought about the wheel chair accessible ramp at Island Beach State Park in Pepuls Republik of Nu Jerzee that provide an easy to walk “avenue” down to the water.
Would seem possible to create a “checkerboard” of “Avenues” and “Cross Streets” with what3words “addresses” that would begin order out of haphazard deployment.
Life Guards could align their “lanes” for speedy rescues without being delayed by random squatters.
In a truly little L libertarian world, an entrepreneur would own a beach and “rent” out spots. And competition would ensure that all options were available.
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | INNOVATION | Tagged: Carolina, Island Beach State Park, Lifestyle, Shibumi, WSJ | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
AI: A conversation with CLAUDE IA that I call CLAUDIA
Friday, June 12, 2026My input:
How can I “write” a note on the back of a digital JPEG photo like I sometimes did on a real photo print?
CLAUDIA:
CONVERSATION TRANSCRIPT
Generated: 2026-06-12
================================================================================USER: new topic
CLAUDE: Ready when you are — what’s on your mind?
——————————————————————————–
USER: How can I “write” a note on the back of a digital JPEG photo like I sometimes did on a real photo print?
CLAUDE: Options discussed:
1. EXIF/Metadata “Description” field — invisible metadata baked into the file. Windows: right-click > Properties > Details > Comments. Mac: Preview > Tools > Show Inspector > Exif tab.
2. Add text directly onto the image — permanently burns note into the visible photo (Paint, Preview, Snapseed). Not reversible.
3. Rename the file — short notes like dates or names in the filename.
4. Sidecar file — plain .txt file with the same name alongside the photo.
5. Google Photos / Apple Photos “description” — caption lives in the app, not the file.
Best match for “writing on the back”: EXIF Description/Comment field.——————————————————————————–
USER: yes [build a drag-and-drop EXIF note tool]
CLAUDE: Built an interactive browser-based widget allowing drag-and-drop of a JPEG, entry of Note/Description, Author/Photographer, Date taken, and Copyright fields, then download of the photo with metadata embedded.
——————————————————————————–
USER: Error writing metadata: ‘pack’ error. Got invalid type argument
CLAUDE: Fixed the error — XPTitle and XPComment fields require UTF-16 byte arrays, not plain strings. Dropped XPTitle, rewrote XPComment encoding. ImageDescription and Artist fields carry the note reliably.
——————————————————————————–
USER: How do i see it on mac osx
CLAUDE: On Mac:
– Quickest: Right-click photo > Get Info (Cmd+I) > More Info section
– Photos app: Import photo, press Cmd+I for info panel
– Preview app (best): Open in Preview > Tools > Show Inspector (Cmd+I) > Exif tab — shows ImageDescription and Artist fields exactly as written
– Finder: Can show Comments column but that is Spotlight comment, not EXIF data——————————————————————————–
USER: jpeg
CLAUDE: The widget runs in the browser — Claude cannot rename the download directly. User can rename the downloaded file in Finder: select file, press Return, type new name. Offered to update the widget to produce a filename with !!! baked in.
——————————————————————————–
USER: download that edited picture with a filename “xyz.jpeg”
CLAUDE: The widget only runs in the browser — Claude cannot access or download files from it. Instructions to rename on Mac: find file in Downloads, click once to select, press Return to edit name, type xyz.jpeg and press Return.
——————————————————————————–
USER: capture the conversation in a text file
CLAUDE: Created this transcript file: conversation_transcript.txt
================================================================================
END OF TRANSCRIPT
# – # – # – # – #
Bottom line: It didn’t work. I’m now very confused.
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | AI | Tagged: CLAUDE, EXIF, Metadata "Description" | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
INSPIRATIONAL: Stunning demo of a dog’s memory!
Friday, June 12, 2026https://www.facebook.com/reel/1308273337503082
This dog spooked Neil deGrasse Tyson with her impressive memory:
# – # – # – # – #
How little we understand and if a dog can do this, why can’t I?
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | INSPIRATIONAL | Tagged: Neil deGrasse Tyson | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
SURVIVAL: Use what3words to pinpoint your location and get help
Thursday, June 11, 2026Lost hikers rescued in Hudson Highlands State Park
May 11, 2026 6:13 am
Mid-Hudson News Staff
*** begin quote ***
COLD SPRING – With the use of an Apple satellite emergency signal, four lost hikers along Breakneck Ridge in the Hudson Highlands State Park, one of whom was injured, were able to contact the Putnam 911 Dispatch Center in Carmel resulting in a massive rescue response by fire and EMS personnel.
*** end quote ***
*** begin quote ***
Adventure with confidence this summer ☀️⛰️
With summer adventures in full swing, emergency teams are highlighting how a simple app can change an outcome. After the Cold Spring Fire Department used what3words to pinpoint and rescue four lost hikers in New York within the hour, the City of Lenexa shared a similar reminder: whether you’re lost on a trail or just finding friends in a packed park, having your 3-word address ready ensures you’re always findable. Explore with peace of mind this season!
*** end quote ***
Seems like a good “tip” for adventurers of all skill levels. That, if lost, put that in your phone’s “missed your call message”. Imagine hearing a loved one. Or anyone saying: “Help I’m lost and my location is nuptials baroness hazelnut. Call 911 for me!”.
I can even see if you’ve fallen at home and phone battery dying.
Seems simple to me, but then I’m just fat old white guy retired injineer who’s a poor old senior citizen on a fixed income with an active imagination.
YMMV
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | SURVIVAL | Tagged: Hudson Highlands State Park, Mid-Hudson News Staff | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
GOVEROTRAGEOUS: The Gooferment its sure to collect “their” money but enforcing a court order is not their problem?
Wednesday, June 10, 2026https://www.boredpanda.com/wedding-ruined-coordinator-ashley-lopez/
BRIDE SUES HER WEDDING PLANNER AFTER SHE TURNED THE SPECIAL MOMENT INTO A “DAY FROM HELL”
@boredpanda.com
Ridhima Shukla, Mantas Kačerauskas, Jonas Žvilius
Published May 30, 2026
*** begin quote ***
Frustrated by a legal system that left her with a victory on paper but an empty pocket in reality, Lopez realized that the courtroom wasn’t giving her the accountability she needed. That is when she decided to take matters into her own hands and approach the media.
*** end quote ***
The only time I see plaintiffs assure they get their money in on Judge Judy.
I take notice that in small claims and child support, collecting is your problem. That court order is SO WORTHLESS. When the Gooferment doesn’t get “their” pound of flesh, they move heaven and earth to get it. Take everything you have. There maybe no more debtors prisons, but there might as well be if you cross the IRS. Only the DMV is worse.
I blogged about “child support” and how hard it was to collect from some deadbeats (male and female). I’d like to see the Gooferment give the indigent judgement holder their award and then go after the deadbeat with their customary ferocity.
Ditto for smal claims.
Argh!
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: boredpanda.com, Jonas Žvilius, Mantas Kačerauskas, Ridhima Shukla | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
HEALTH: So “cleaner is always healthier” maybe wrong?
Tuesday, June 9, 2026*** begin quote ***
STORY #3 – A remarkable experiment in Finland is challenging one of modern parenting’s biggest assumptions: that cleaner is always healthier.
Researchers transformed sterile daycare yards into miniature forests filled with soil, moss, plants, and natural ground cover. Within weeks, children’s immune systems were already showing measurable improvements.
A year later, they had healthier skin and gut microbiomes, fewer potentially harmful bacteria, and stronger immune defenses than children playing on asphalt, gravel, and rubber surfaces.
The lesson is surprisingly simple: the microbes children encounter in nature may be helping protect their health, not threatening it.
Turns out, our ancestors were right all along.
Watch Maria’s report and see why this simple experiment is making people rethink what a healthy childhood should look like.
*** end quote ***
Yup, I used play in the park that had like a forest attached. Not sure if helped, but I can’t imagine it my allergies were worse.
— 30 —
Leave a Comment » | HEALTH | Tagged: Finland, vigilantfox.com | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Reinke Faces Life 
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