TECHNOLOGY: Could everyone get access to the better data?

Tuesday, December 10, 2024

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/robot-balloons-capture-nyc-sized-areas

12-pound US robot balloons capture NYC-sized areas in jaw-dropping details

  • These autonomous balloons operate at altitudes ranging from 60,000 to 85,000 feet.

Updated: Nov 28, 2024 07:36 AM EST
Mrigakshi Dixit

*** begin quote ***

As per Space.com, a single balloon can capture the same amount of data as 800,000 drones in a single flight.

Moreover, the balloons can map large disaster zones in detail within hours, rather than weeks.

“Many insurance companies are still relying on aerial data collection methods from the 1950s to assess 2024’s climate risks,” said Rema Matevosyan, CEO of Near Space Labs. 

“When you consider that only six percent of the $250 billion in losses from Hurricane Helene may be covered by insurance, it becomes clear that outdated risk assessment methods are creating a domino effect: poor data leads to inadequate policy pricing, which leads to carrier losses, which ultimately forces insurers to abandon entire markets—leaving homeowners stranded and unable to secure mortgages,” Matevosyan added. 

*** end quote ***

While I don’t pity the “poor” insurance companies, it makes sense that better data can help EVERYONE properly assess risk.

My personal experience with “federal flood insurance” is dismal.  

In the case of shore house, I carried the required policy even after the mortgage was paid off.  When there was a flood, I wasn’t covered because it wasn’t my primary residence.  So why did I pay those premiums for all those years?  “You made a mistake” was their response.  Luckily, all I lost was an outside hot water heater; my neighbor’s house, which was 4 inches lower than mine, had a ¼ of a million dollars in repairs.  It literally killed him when he was ripped off by contractors.

In the case of my primary residence, I paid flood insurance for decades.  When the flood hit, my neignborhood was three feet ABOVE the high water mark.  Asking about that was another exercise in stupidity.  “You’re in the flood plain.”  Revise the map.  “No, it’s set by the Federal Government.”  Argh!

So maybe if  had access to better topology, some politicians and bureaucrats could accurately assess my risk,

Argh!  Sure as soon as pigs fly.

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GUNS: “Juveniles” attempt a carjacking; demonstrates several eternal principles

Monday, December 9, 2024

https://www.wcax.com/2024/11/27/14-year-old-accidentally-shoots-16-year-old-accomplice-two-tried-carjack-man-police-say/?tbref=hp&ICID=ref_fark

14-year-old accidentally shoots 16-year-old accomplice as the two tried to carjack a man, police say
By First Alert 4 Staff and Amanda Alvarado
Published: Nov. 27, 2024 at 9:10 AM EST

*** begin quote ***

ST. LOUIS (KMOV/Gray News) – A 14-year-old suspect accidentally shot his 16-year-old accomplice as they tried to carjack a man on Monday.

According to police, the teenagers approached a 73-year-old man who was sitting in a parked car. The teens allegedly pointed a gun at him and demanded his keys. The man threw his keys in a nearby open field.

*** end quote ***

First, gun safety needs to be taught early in life.  Eddie Eagle says: “Don’t touch a gun”,  Clearly, this youth missed class the day they taught that.

“I told you that ‘juvenile delinquent’ is a contradiction in terms. ‘Delinquent’ means ‘failing in duty.’ But duty is an adult virtue—indeed a juvenile becomes an adult when, and only when, he acquires a knowledge of duty and embraces it as dearer than the self-love he was born with. There never was, there cannot be a ‘juvenile delinquent.’ But for every juvenile criminal there are always one or more adult delinquents—people of mature years who either do not know their duty, or who, knowing it, fail.”  ― Robert A. Heinlein, Starship Troopers    

All I can suggest is that these young men be charged as adults.

Horific, as that sounds, how else can we send a message that we as a society will not tolerate lawlessness by anyone.

“An armed society is a polite society. Manners are good when one may have to back up his acts with his life.” — Robert A. Heinlein

Obviously, the 73 year old man needs the means to level the playing field.  Time to up the stakes by making “crime” a risky course of action.

“I particularly like unlimited concealed carry. If the criminal regards the general public as sheep to be shorn, then let’s sprinkle in a few “sheepdogs” with big teeth in the flock.

  • Guess which gay to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Pink Pistol and you’re dead!
  • Guess which woman to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Paxton Quigly and you’re dead!
  • Guess which brown person to bash? Buzz, wrong, you picked a Massad Ayoob and you’re dead!”

https://reinkefaceslife.com/2006/11/02/guns-lets-sprinkle-in-a-few-sheepdogs-with-big-teeth-in-the-flock/
GUNS: Let’s sprinkle in a few “sheepdogs” with big teeth in the flock
Thursday, November 2nd, 2006 at 20:26
Ferdinand John Reinke

I still feel this way.

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ConspiracyTheories: Could the NYPD have the UHC assassination all wrong?

Sunday, December 8, 2024

https://petermcculloughmd.substack.com/p/is-the-nypd-looking-for-the-wrong?publication_id=1119676&post_id=152760792&isFreemail=true&r=3snn7d&triedRedirect=true

Is the NYPD Looking for the Wrong Guy?
Musings about red herrings and a possible doppelgänger in murder of Brian Thompson
John Leake
Dec 07, 2024

*** begin quote ***

When I saw this, it immediately reminded me of the tail of a White-tailed deer. When I was a boy, my dad told me that if you are watching or hunting White-tail bucks, it’s important NOT to focus too much on their white tails when they run away. Your eye gets padlocked on the tail, but then the fleeing deer will tuck it, and you will lose sight of him. Better to focus on the entire animal as he runs away.

I would like to preface the following by stating that I am merely musing. As a true crime writer, I often begin with a hunch and muse about it for a few days. Acquiring more data will either enable me to develop the hunch into a plausible theory or to dismiss it as mere fantasy.

*** and ***

Reviewing the timeline, I wonder how the NYPD went about connecting the young man who checked into the hostel on Nov. 24 with the murder of Brian Thompson on Dec. 4. Can detectives be sure the guy who checked into the hostel is the same guy who shot Thompson?

Did they track the movements of his cell phone—a cell phone he purportedly ditched in an alley a couple of blocks from the murder scene? NOTE: the fact that the killer ditched his cell phone makes me wonder if it is a red herring—that is, I wonder if he wanted the cell phone to be found.

Reviewing the above timeline, I wonder about the critical period between 5:30, when the suspect left the hostel, and 6:44, when the suspect shot Brian Thompson. Again, can the NYPD be sure that the guy who stayed in the hostel on the Upper West Side is the same guy who shot Thompson? If so, how? By Chief Kenny’s own admission, there is a gap in their video surveillance of the suspect between him leaving the hostel at 5:30 and purportedly arriving at the Hilton at 5:41.

*** end quote ***

I think this fellow is onto something.

And, remember that what the “authorities” say publicly may or may not be “true”, what they are really thinking, or all the “facts” they have.  

I give his musing about the phone as a key fact that can’t be overlooked.  Killers maybe crazy but they are rarely stupid.  He made sure that the authorities saw him making calls and dropped it maybe to be found?

All these red herrings and possibly a doppelgänger have all the makings of a good Conspiracy Theory!  Too soon to tell but definitely a possibility,

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POLITICAL: Scott Presler, an American success story, flips PA for DJT47

Sunday, December 8, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/12/01/us-news/how-scott-presler-helped-trump-win-pennsylvania/?lctg=6080ba40747925275a09dcd3

How a long-haired gay giant helped Trump flip Pennsylvania red
By Ethan Dodd 
Published Dec. 1, 2024, 6:56 p.m. ET

  • Standing at 6’5″ and 200 pounds with 22 inches of long brown hair running down his back, the gay conservative political activist told The Post, “I’m a big boy.”

*** begin quote ***

Presler also proved himself to be something of a political titan this year.

After losing Pennsylvania by some 80,000 votes in 2020, former President Donald Trump flipped the Keystone State red this November by 120,000 ballots. 

Scott Presler helped register 50,000 Republicans in Pennsylvania, which went for Trump by 120,000 votes. Getty Images

That’s due in no small part to Presler, whose nonprofit Early Vote Action put the Trump campaign’s “Swamp the vote” strategy into action in Pennsylvania, registering Republican voters and getting them to vote early, by mail, or “by whatever means necessary,” the group’s website reads.

*** end quote ***

Quite a fellow.  It’s an American success story.  Maybe you, the reader <breaking the fourth wall>, could get involved and accomplish something.  Anything!

Regardless of how you feel about “politics”, the USA needs patriots to save the nation from the forces of evil.  Debt, deficits, “counterfeiting”, dispair, and Crony Capitalism.  Time for the “sunshine patriots” to step aside and let “We, The Sheeple” clean our Agean Stables.

If this fellow can do it, so can any of us.

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TECHNOLOGY: Comedy of errors failing over to my backup mac

Saturday, December 7, 2024

Well, Hello from Mac Book Air aka BLUE aka MCBA5.

It’s my fifth iteration of Mac Book Airs.  Officially known as FVHFD4SHQ6L4.  When I spilled coffee on it, I bought MCBA6 aka ROSE while iBLUE was in for repair.  When it came back, it was demoted to “spare”.  From time to time, I’d fire it up and use it a little.

So the cockatoo got to ROSE and feasted on the keyboard.  So I backed it up to portable hard drive in prep for the Apple Store.

B38082CD EB5B 49D6 A63A 7756FFADA197 1 105 c

Luckily it’s still has an active Apple Care. The repair is supposedly covered under accidental damage and will get a new keyboard.  Yay.  It’ll be back in a week or so.

No problem,! I’ll just fail over to BLUE.

Wow was that an over estimation of the process.

Now, I am a belt ’n’ suspenders guy.  One is none; two is one; and three is bliss.

Sure.  Unfortunately all the passwords were screwed up since my last use.  

No problem it’s easy now to reset them using the Apple Account to reset them.

(Even my extra DUMMYADMIN account which has the same password across all my MCBXs was trashed?)

Of course, BLUE needs to update the OS and a whole load of apps.

No problem.  After the FireFox update, all my settings were trashed.

No problem. I use Mozilla’s sync so it recovered all my settings.  Almost.

All my extensions were not on the toolbar. Argh!  After about a calendar day, I found the fix.

I’m now back to “business”.  Until the next troll, gremlin, or bug pops up.

(Imagine if I didn’t use BLUE for one day on the First of Every Month. Argh!)

YMMV!

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SURVIVAL: Perhaps a review of the T-day frying turkey fails on YouTube might be required watching?

Saturday, December 7, 2024

https://www.ctinsider.com/news/article/weston-road-house-fire-no-injuries-19949303.php?ICID=ref_fark

Fire that destroyed CT home on Thanksgiving apparently caused by someone frying turkey, officials say
By Peter Yankowski, Brianna Gurciullo, Hana Ikramuddin, Staff Writers
Updated Nov 29, 2024 4:51 p.m.

  • Firefighters battled a large house fire in south Weston on Thanksgiving evening, officials said. 

  • A fire that erupted at a large home on Weston Road on Thanksgiving Day started in the garage after someone tried to fry a turkey, officials said Friday.

*** begin quote ***

WESTON — A fire that erupted at a large home on Weston Road on Thanksgiving Day started in the garage after someone tried to fry a turkey, officials said Friday.

*** end quote ***

I wonder if their insurance might deny their claim since they don’t insure against “stupidity”.  The pictures are spectacular.

I’ve seen many videos of these type fails on YouTube.  Some were even deliberate demonstrations by Fire Departments to educate “We, The Sheeple” about the dangers.  

Certainly doing it in a garage is only one tiny step smarter than doing it in the kitchen.

The explosive power of this type of “cooking” is really stunning.  What’s next firing it out of a cannon?  It just seems like a stupid way to singe your eyebrows off.

Well, I guess it is a way to earn a painful Darwin Award.

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VETERANS: National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

Saturday, December 7, 2024

National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day

December 7, 2024

Flag at Half-Staff

# – # – # – # – # 

As if anyone remembers … … 

Pearl Harbor Memorial Aerial.

*** begin quote ***

Ribbons to Honor the Fallen

If you are unable to fly your flag at half-staff, the accepted solution is to tie a long black ribbon to the top of the flagpole allowing it to drape over the American flag.

*** end quote ***

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VETERANS: Need a better way to “find” dementia sufferers

Friday, December 6, 2024

https://nypost.com/2024/12/04/us-news/missing-korean-war-vet-with-dementia-found-more-than-200-miles-from-home/?lctg=6080ba40747925275a09dcd3

Missing Korean War vet with dementia found more than 200 miles from home after wife spots 91-year-old on TV
By David Propper 
Published Dec. 4, 2024, 11:53 p.m. ET

*** begin quote ***

A missing 91-year-old Korean War vet with dementia was found more than 200 miles away from his Wyoming home — when his worried wife spotted him on an evening newscast two days after he wandered off.

Avril Black’s concern was mounting after her spouse Michael Black vanished after he left their Afton home on Nov. 25, leading her to report him missing the next morning, according to a local report.

While authorities reportedly gathered he had hitchhiked his way to Ovid, Idaho, and then traveled down to Garden City, Utah, he was in the wind from there.

*** end quote ***

I’m glad this hero was not found dead somewhere.  As a society, we need better systems to find individuals who “wander away”.  

Air Tags?  Angel Sense devices?  Medical Alert bracelets? Even Tattoos?  

I would believe that local police should be the first point of contact.  Amber alerts for the local area could be issued.  Shelters, churches, and vet organizations could be involved.

(When I get a NIXIE alert, I pay attention to it.  Never “found” anyone, but I look when out and about.)

Hopefully, we’ll get better at caring for members of the human race, who through no fault of their own, need help.

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MEME: No comment needed?

Friday, December 6, 2024

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VOCABULARY: “demonstrated preference” by Murray Rothbard

Friday, December 6, 2024

https://mailchi.mp/tomwoods/20243-9250479?e=39307912ab

*** begin quote ***

For instance, I know a guy who worked at a record store (remember those?) who used to feel oddly guilty about his job, because he couldn’t shake the idea that the store was somehow taking advantage of consumers.

Then he read Murray Rothbard’s discussion of “demonstrated preference” — which means that both parties to a voluntary transaction are made better off (ex ante), or the transaction would not have occurred.

*** end quote ***

This insight is one reason for a completely voluntary society.  If everyone is free, then no one can be “exploited”. 

Dona Nobis Pacem

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