VOCABULARY: nomophobia (?)

Monday, August 12, 2019

What happens when you drop your cell phone and the screen cracks? Do you repair or replace the phone? Many of us just continue to limp along with a broken screen until it becomes unusable. Eventually, we get a new phone. Unfortunately, phones are getting more and more expensive.

Source: Repair or Replace Phone? Here’s Why You Need to Fix That Broken Phone

*** begin quote ***

There’s even a rise in a psychological issue known as ‘nomophobia’, which is the fear of being offline or not having your phone on you to be able to look something up or post on social media, for example.

*** end quote ***

Is this a real word?

— 30 —


Iraqi woman answered ‘uh’ over 200 times in Swiss citizenship test | Daily Mail Online

Monday, August 12, 2019

Iraqi woman fails Swiss citizenship test after answering ‘uh’ over 200 times despite living there for 20 years and claiming to speak German

Source: Iraqi woman answered ‘uh’ over 200 times in Swiss citizenship test | Daily Mail Online

# – # – # – # – #

Maybe English fluency should be required for admission to the US or citizenship?

If Switzerland can do it, why not the USA?

And, we should borrow their foreign policy too!

— 30 —


Tulsi Gabbard for President – Official Website – TULSI 2020

Monday, August 12, 2019

TULSI 2020

Source: Tulsi Gabbard for President – Official Website – TULSI 2020

# – # – # – # – #

https://www.tulsi2020.com/

​As a little L libertarian, who is anti-war and pro-peace, I urge you to donate a dollar to keep her in the Democratic debates. Yes, I know, that on many policies, she is as terrible as the rest of the socialist aka communist candidates.

BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt),

https://www.vox.com/2019/6/12/18660068/democratic-debates-2019-candidates-rules-lineup​

*** begin quote ***

And though July’s second debate uses similar rules, the DNC announced late last month that starting with September’s third debate, it will be a good deal tougher to make the cut.

First, the polling threshold for inclusion will be raised to 2 percent, in at least four polls between June 28 and August 28.

Second, and even more worryingly for much of the field, candidates would also need 130,000 unique donors to qualify (with at least 400 donors each in 20 states). Meaning they can no longer get in through polling alone, as seven candidates seem likely to do for the first debate. And even those who already reached the 65,000-donor level would have to rake in a lot more support.

Candidates who rely on traditional big-dollar fundraising, self-funders, candidates focusing intensely on early states at this point, or those who are simply less nationally known may have a very tough time meeting that standard.

*** end quote ***

So, even if you just donate a dollar, that will make you a “unique donor”!

So, if you want to keep the “anti-war” candidate on the debate stage, then you have to act.

I think of it as a way to send a message to all “We, The Sheeple” that “anti-war” questions should be asked of all the candidates.

Call it hacking the Democratic Debates.

Think of it as part of a “peace commercial” for a dollar!

Please.

 


GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Why can’t I give my blood pressure medicine to someone in need?

Monday, August 12, 2019

Recently, the doc changed my from OLMESARTAN MEDOXOMIL to amLODIOine.

There’s nothing wrong both are for High Blood Pressure.

So, I have about ⅔ of a ninety day supply that I can not use.  

What can I do with it?

So, being fat old white guy injineer, I said there must be some poor person out there who needs the drug and can’t afford it.  I’ll just give it to them. 

Doc says he can’t do that.  My pharmacist friend says that’s illegal.

But I can put it in the local medical disposal dropbox for safe destruction.

Argh!

Anyone see a problem here?

And everyone wonders why drugs are so expensive?

It’s not like anyone can get high on it?  

Quite the opposite, someone can lower their BP and pee a lot.

But Big Gooferment and Big Pharma won’t get a cut of that donation so it must be destroyed!

Argh!

# – # – # – # – #


The Citardauq Formula

Sunday, August 11, 2019

This is interesting — if ax 2 + bx + c = 0, then It’s called the citardauq formula — citardauq is quadratic spelled backward. It’s explained above by the inimitable James Tanton; here’s a Facebook discussion ; and see the second answer here regarding questions of numerical instability.

Source: The Citardauq Formula

# – # – # – # – #

Never knew it had a “name”; did you?

— 30 —


GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Why do I need a Gooferment permission slip to … …

Sunday, August 11, 2019

2019-Aug-11

… … buy any drug?

I have a friend that has no medical insurance and prostate problems.

Why does he need a

“Gooferment permission slip” aka a prescription on a

Gooferment approved form from a

Gooferment approved bureaucrat aka a doctor to go to a

Gooferment approved store to be waited on by a

Gooferment approved bureaucrat aka a pharmacist to buy a

Gooferment approved product aka a “drug”?

And then everyone is surprised when medical care and drugs are so expensive.

Is someone afraid that he might buy his drug without Gooferment approval?

Argh!

What have we become but a Nanny state?

Argh! Argh!

# – # – # – # – #


Did you hear the one about the negative-coupon mortgage-backed bond?

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Copenhagen | In the world’s biggest covered-bond market, a Danish bank says it’s now ready to sell 10-year mortgage-backed notes at a negative coupon for the first time.

Source: Did you hear the one about the negative-coupon mortgage-backed bond?

# – # – # – # – #

Does this make ANY economic sense at all?  I’m baffled.  As soon as they off me  a “negative” interest rate, I think I’ll take it.  They are going to pay you to take a mortgage?  Maybe I’m old fashioned, but I do NOT understand the logic of this.

Maybe it’s a version of Three Card Monte I’ve never seen, but I’ve been around a long time?

If you understand it, please explain it to me, but use small words, I’m real old.

Remember the sources of my education! I’m just a fat old white guy retired injineer who’d now a poor old senior citizen on a fixed income with:
* Law “degree” from watching Judge Judy;
* Medical “degree” from watching Doctor Phil;
* Building “degree” from watching “Holmes on Homes”;
* Investing “degree” from reading about Bernie Made-off;
* Finance “degree”from listening to Ric Edelman;
* sensitively managing Human Resources from watching Chef Ramsey; and
* creating loving / caring human relationships from studying the movie roles of Gunny Ronald Lee Ermey

— 30 —


TINFOILHAT: Jeffrey Epstein dead in apparent suicide

Saturday, August 10, 2019

Convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein died overnight in an apparent suicide, law enforcement sources told the Post Saturday.

Source: Jeffrey Epstein dead in apparent suicide

# – # – # – # – #

Yeah, I’m a Conspiracy Theorist!

This is just too convenient.

Facebook memes have been floating since he was arrested again.

And, his pilot just died.

Too many “important” figures have taken his “Lolita Express” to let this be investigated.  Clinton being #1 on the list, imho.

Watch this be consigned to the dustbin of “history” real quick.

Argh!

Yeah, I’m a Conspiracy Theorist!  I’m the one who is crazy.

— 30 —


‘No One Saw a Thing’: When a Small Midwest Town Banded Together to Kill the ‘Town Bully’

Friday, August 9, 2019

Premiering on Thursday, Aug. 1, on SundanceTV, No One Saw a Thing (executive produced by Jason Blum) is a six-part documentary about the tiny rural enclave of Skidmore, Missouri, home to an incident that became so notorious they even made a TV movie about it (1991’s In Broad Daylight, starring Brian Dennehy, Cloris Leachman, Marcia Gay Harden and Chris Cooper): the July 10, 1981 slaying of Ken Rex McElroy, a “town bully” with 37 felonies to his name, and a hulking mutton-chopped 47-year-old who terrorized locals to no end, including shooting multiple people for no good reason. He was, by all accounts, the sort of monstrous bad guy one might find in an old Western.

Source: ‘No One Saw a Thing’: When a Small Midwest Town Banded Together to Kill the ‘Town Bully’

# – # – # – # – #

Street justice?

— 30 —


El Paso Survivor Says He Wished His Mother Had Brought Her Gun

Thursday, August 8, 2019

AP Photo/Andres Leighton Speaking with a retired police officer–a man raised by a preacher–about carrying in church, the retired officer commented that he just couldn’t do it. He just didn’t feel right with a firearm on in church.

Source: El Paso Survivor Says He Wished His Mother Had Brought Her Gun

*** begin quote ***

Folks, at the end of the day, carry your guns. Even if it’s to Walmart. There is no safe place in this world. Safe spaces are an illusion, a lie we tell ourselves to believe that we can shut the evil in the world out and create a Utopia, even if only on the tiny patch of ground beneath our feet.

*** end quote ***

If you can, you should.

— 30 —


Napolitano: The 2nd Amendment Isn’t A Gift From The Government

Thursday, August 8, 2019

AP Photo/Richard Drew Judge Andrew Napolitano is bringing the heat in a stinging column for the Washington Times , rebutting and refuting the arguments by gun control activists that they can simply ignore the text of the 2nd Amendment and Supreme Court decisions and enact whatever anti-gun laws they want.

Source: Napolitano: The 2nd Amendment Isn’t A Gift From The Government

*** begin quote ***

We have civil commitment laws on the books in states across the nation. If we believe that someone is truly a danger to themselves or others, isn’t that a more appropriate place to seek help rather than a court hearing where a judge only hears one side of the case before making a determination about whether or not someone poses a threat to themselves or others?

*** end quote ***

Why not use the tools that already exist?  Because it doesn’t fit the narrative and disarm the people so the Gooferment can do whatever it wants to “We, The Sheeple”!

— 30 —


Do We Need Laws to Help Curb our Social Media Addiction?

Thursday, August 8, 2019

If his Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act (SMART Act) becomes law, your social media experience will be littered with authoritarian pop-ups imploring you to maintain 30-minute time limits and instead of easy-to-use scrolls, your feeds will turn into click-controlled social media rations. In short, your social media experience will become so annoying and static that you may, in fact, start using it less. So, Hawley will win, but you, and, especially, social media, will lose.

Source: Do We Need Laws to Help Curb our Social Media Addiction?

# – # – # – # – #

Where in the Constitution does it make Gooferment the arbiter of how social media should work? Are “We, The Sheeple” just little children to be “protected” from their own choices. What’s next an “Eat Your Vegetables” Act? Argh!

https://buff.ly/33pbV0q #unconstitutional #Nannystatism #NOTSMART

— 30 —


GUNS: The Meaning Behind Molon Labe, a Favored Gun Rights Slogan 

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Molon Labe (or ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ) is a classical Greek phrase meaning “come and take [them],” attributed to King Leonidas of Sparta as a defiant response to the demand that his soldiers lay down their weapons. Gun-rights advocates have adopted the phrase as a challenge to perceived attempts by the government to confiscate firearms.

Source: The Meaning Behind Molon Labe, a Favored Gun Rights Slogan of Oregon Sheriff John Hanlin

# – # – # – # – #

Μολὼν λαβέ

“You cannot invade the mainland United States. There would be a rifle behind every blade of grass.” — apocryphal unsourced quote attributed to Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto

So too, when the Gooferment sends men to disarm the militia.

“And how we burned in the camps later, thinking: What would things have been like if every Security operative, when he went out at night to make an arrest, had been uncertain whether he would return alive and had to say good-bye to his family? Or if, during periods of mass arrests, as for example in Leningrad, when they arrested a quarter of the entire city, people had not simply sat there in their lairs, paling with terror at every bang of the downstairs door and at every step on the staircase, but had understood they had nothing left to lose and had boldly set up in the downstairs hall an ambush of half a dozen people with axes, hammers, pokers, or whatever else was at hand? . . .” — Alexander Solzhenitsyn

The politicians and bureaucrats, who think it can be done with the stoke of a pen, will find it can’t be done.

Look at New Zealand, gun owners just ignored the law.

The essence of any resistance is just non-cooperation.

If gun owners just refuse to cooperate with their own destruction, it will end quietly.

Can’t load the trains to the concentration camps if “We, The Sheeple” don’t comply.

Μολὼν λαβέ

— 30 —


Scientists suggest staring down seagulls to protect your snacks – CNET

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Researchers at the University of Exeter in the UK wanted to know if staring at seagulls might dissuade them from abducting your dinner, so they headed to coastal towns in Cornwall.

The team put a bag of chips (that’s fries for us US folks) on the ground and monitored how long it took the gulls to approach the food. “On average, gulls took 21 seconds longer to approach the food with a human staring at them,” the university said in a release on Tuesday.

Source: Scientists suggest staring down seagulls to protect your snacks – CNET

# – # – # – # – #

Hope they didn’t spend a lot on that study!

Laugh!

— 30 —


Bought coin wrappers from Staples

Wednesday, August 7, 2019

Hello please review your purchase
Your review will help us inform other shoppers just like you

Pap-R Products Coin Wrappers, Orange 1000/Box (30025)

★ Coin wrappers are fine.

✖ Box they came in was flimsy, comes apart, and dumps the contents.

✖ Not sold in the Staples stores which isn’t mentioned anywhere.

✖ Shipping cost more than the product.

— 30 —


America Is Not Going To Be A Free And Open Society Any Longer

Tuesday, August 6, 2019

Authored by Michael; Snyder via The Economic Collapse blog, Whenever a tragic act of violence makes national headlines, the calls to give up more of our freedoms and liberties in exchange for the promise of increased security become deafening.

Source: America Is Not Going To Be A Free And Open Society Any Longer

*** begin quote ***

As The Epoch Times’ Jack Phillips reportsat least seven people were shot and wounded on Aug. 4 as they gathered near a children’s playground on Chicago’s West Side. The people gathered at 1:20 a.m. as they stood in the park on the 2900 West Roosevelt Road when a person opened fire from a black Chevy Camaro, said Chicago Police.

So why didn’t this mass shooting get the same kind of coverage that the other mass shootings received?

Could it be that it is because it didn’t neatly fit the agenda that the mainstream media is trying to promote?

*** end quote ***

Of course, “The Press” is a weaponized propaganda arm of the liberal left wing of the “Democratic” Party.

It’s time to hold them to account, along with the “Tech Giants”, who are manipulating “We, The Sheeple” like Judas goats.

The American Experiment failed with the “War of Northern Aggression” AKAK “The Civil War”.  All that’s left is to bury it and move on.

The American Empire will collapse shortly as do all “empires” as a result of the loss of “civic virtue”, decadence, and debt.

So sad.  Look at Venezuela and see the pain and strife coming to the USA as “democratic socialism” transform into dictatorial communism.

“If you love wealth greater than liberty, the tranquility of servitude greater than the animating contest for freedom, go home from us in peace. We seek not your counsel, nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you; May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.” ― Samuel Adams

— 30 —


Judicial Watch: New Docs Show FBI Agents Went To Comey’s Home to Retrieve Memos | Judicial Watch

Monday, August 5, 2019

“These extraordinary FBI docs further confirm that James Comey should never have had FBI files on President Trump at his home and that the FBI failed to secure and protect these private and classified files,” stated Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton.  “Mr. Comey’s illegal leaking these FBI files as part of his vendetta against President Trump (directly resulting in the corrupt appointment of Robert Mueller) ought to be the subject of a criminal investigation.”

On June 8, 2017, Comey testified to the Senate Intelligence Committee that he leaked memos of his conversations with President Trump “because (he) thought that might prompt the appointment of a special counsel.” Columbia University Law professor Daniel Richman, a friend of Comey’s, reportedly “turned over copies of the former FBI director’s explosive memos … to the FBI, sidestepping a request by congressional committees to deliver the materials to Capitol Hill.”

Source: Judicial Watch: New Docs Show FBI Agents Went To Comey’s Home to Retrieve Memos | Judicial Watch

# – # – # – # – #

So why is he “above the law”?

— 30 —


Not Even Dollars Can Save Venezuelans From Inflation’s Wrath

Monday, August 5, 2019

The government’s policy has shown signs of working, albeit at the cost of further strangling an economy that’s been atrophying for years. The annual inflation rate tumbled to 34,900% from 224,900% at the end of last year, according to Bloomberg’s Cafe Con Leche Index. But still, it hasn’t slowed inflation as much as the rate of the bolivar’s declines.

Source: Not Even Dollars Can Save Venezuelans From Inflation’s Wrath

# – # – # – # – #

Here’s a lesson for all of us on what happens when the Gooferment prints money to pay its bills!

— 30 —


LGBT-friendly Twinbrook Baptist Church closing and donating $1 million – The Washington Post

Sunday, August 4, 2019

Across denominations, congregations are shrinking as Americans increasingly separate from organized religion. Fourteen percent of Americans identified as unaffiliated in 2000, while 25 percent labeled themselves that way in 2016, according to a report from the Public Religion Research Institute.

Source: LGBT-friendly Twinbrook Baptist Church closing and donating $1 million – The Washington Post

# – # – # – # – #

Of course, Gooferment Skrules teaching “worship” of Mother Earth and Father State is no factor int eh decline of “religion” in the USA.

Argh!

— 30 —


Reality Is Not Optional

Saturday, August 3, 2019

(Don Boudreaux) Tweet In my most-recent column for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review I imagine a wholly unrealistic – as in, politically wholly unrealistic – response to one of Elizabeth Warren’s foolish statements . A slice: “Consider health care.

Source: Reality Is Not Optional

*** begin quote ***

“Therefore, relieving us Americans of having to pay directly for our medical care will oblige government to ration care. That’s an inevitable result of causing the demand for many kinds of health care to exceed the supply. There’s no avoiding the need to prevent people from consuming all the medical care they seek to consume when they don’t pay for it directly.

*** end quote ***

Seems obvious!  Call it “death panels”, “rationing”, or whatever euphemism you can come up with but it’s going to happen.

Look at Canada, UK, the VA, Indian Healthcare, it’s all about “rationing”.

And, even Medicare / Medicaid is “limited” by the limited number of doctors who  will accept it.

Politicians and bureaucrats can no deny the Laws of Economic than they can the Laws Of Physics.

Argh!

— 30 —


GOVEROTRAGEOUS: USA “birthright citizenship” is just dumb

Saturday, August 3, 2019

https://www.thedailysheeple.com/birthright-citizenship-has-got-to-go/

‘Birthright Citizenship Has Got To Go!’
By The Daily Sheeple | Sean Walton | Published on August 1, 2019 

*** begin quote ***

In a column for The Hill, Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator criticized certain aspects of U.S. immigration policy which have contributed to its current mess.

She first started out by criticizing the U.S.’s “birthright citizenship” policy. She explained what this process entails:

“Any child born when his mother was physically present within the geographical borders of the U.S. automatically gets a U.S. birth certificate and a Social Security card.”

Birthright citizenship is one of the most controversial facets of American immigration. Congressman Steve King introduced legislation in the past that would have repealed birthright citizenship, but it ultimately went nowhere.

“Birthright citizenship” includes babies born to mother’s who are in the US illegally. This has lead to the term “anchor baby” to describe a child born to illegal immigrants since the child’s birthplace allows the whole family to tag along. This has led to an “anchor baby” industry where hotels cater to pregnant women from other countries. Some even going so far as to provide medical staff to monitor them so that they can have their babies in the US and gain entry for the rest of the family. This has been particularly popular with Russian, Eastern European and Chinese women.

*** and ***

Coulter finished off her criticism of U.S immigration policy by stating that “instead of taking the top draft picks, we aggressively recruit the desperately poor, the culturally deprived, the sick and the needy. All because American elites seem to believe that it’s unfair — even snooty — to try to bring in the best immigrants we can.”

*** end quote ***

I’m not a Coulter fan, but I don’t think she’s as bad as “everyone” makes out.

On this particular issue, I think she’s correct. 

Stopped clock twice a day!

It’s the welfare state that draws the free loaders.  And, you only have two choices: change welfare, or stop immigration.

Seems simple to me.

# – # – # – # – #


Elon Musk’s Las Vegas Tunnel Kind Of Sucks?

Friday, August 2, 2019

Airport people movers, close relatives to whatever the hell The Boring Company is building in Las Vegas, have been driverless for decades. Just last month, for example, I had a lovely, quick journey on Denver International Airport’s driverless people mover, which opened in 1995.

Source: Elon Musk’s Las Vegas Tunnel Kind Of Sucks?

# – # – # – # – #

Seems like this is all a pipe dream.  Maybe the legalization of weed in Nevada has something to do with it?

— 30 —


Joe Biden at Democrat Debate: Eliminate Coal, Fracking, Fossil Fuels | Breitbart

Thursday, August 1, 2019

DETROIT, Michigan — Former vice president Joe Biden declared at the second Democrat debate in Detroit on Wednesday evening that he would fight climate change by eliminating coal, fossil fuels, and fracking.

Source: Joe Biden at Democrat Debate: Eliminate Coal, Fracking, Fossil Fuels | Breitbart

# – # – # – # – #

While that might be something all D’s agree on, they are ALL out of their minds.  It can’t be done.  Even rolling out a huge nuclear program, like France and Germany, there are not enough kilowatts to do it.  Ignoring that not all kilowatts are equal.  (That is a solar power kilowatt is intermittent and would need to be stored to be useful. Whereas a fossil fuel kilowatt is on demand.)

Argh!

— 30 —


What Dish swooping in to save T-Mobile-Sprint means for you – CNET

Thursday, August 1, 2019

Why do the state AGs not like this deal? There are several reasons why they don’t like the deal. Some of them relate specifically to Dish, but their biggest beef is that they don’t like the government propping up a competitor to replace Sprint as the fourth major wireless operator.

Source: What Dish swooping in to save T-Mobile-Sprint means for you – CNET

# – # – # – # – #

Now the politicians and bureaucrats are again picking winners and losers.  That’s the function of a free market and its invisible hand!

— 30 —