RANT: The heroin “epidemic” requires a change in our paradigms and memes

Thursday, April 27, 2017

https://patch.com/new-jersey/southbrunswick/s/g3oq0/statewide-n-j-alert-for-deadly-drug-thats-caused-12-ods-3-deaths

Shared from the Hopatcong-Sparta, NJ Patch | Police & Fire
Alert For Deadly Heroin That’s Caused At Least 12 ODs, 3 Deaths In New Jersey
An alert has been issued for a deadly batch of heroin that’s caused at least 12 overdoses and three deaths, according to authorities.
By Tom Davis (Patch Staff) – April 24, 2017 12:53 pm ET 

*** begin quote ***

Other authorities in the state said they continue to see an upward trend in the number of ODs and deaths connected to heroin, and they largely blame fentanyl for that.

Fentanyl, the drug responsible for the death of music star Prince, is often laced with heroin to give users an even bigger high – at a potentially deadlier price.

*** end quote ***

For a long time, us little L libertarians have been begging for a change in our society’s paradigms and memes about drug addiction. I am not at all insensitive to the cost and grief this <synonym for excrement> is causing to good people. I am POSITIVE that the current Gooferment-led approach will do NOTHING to solve the problem.

Unfortunately our Gooferment is immoral, ineffective, and inefficient. As well as untrustworthy. AND, it (the Gooferment) likes the situation just as it is.

Here’s one factoid that demonstrates that “prohibition” doesn’t work. “They” can’t keep drugs out of their prisons; what makes you think that it can be kept out of a free society. It didn’t work for alcohol “prohibition”; it won’t work for drug “prohibition” either.

Like they say in the textbooks, “it’s left as an exercise to the readers to” figure out why alcohol “prohibition” required a change to the Constitution BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), drug “prohibition” did not?

Now that we’ve disposed of that lie, fabrication, falsehood, or spin — pick your favorite weasel word — let’s move on to solutions.

“Drug addiction” is a MEDICAL PROBLEM; not a LEGAL one.

So let’s divert all the wealth being wasted on “prohibition” programs to medical program. That means a lot of politicians and bureaucrats will be out of jobs but so what. We want to solve this probem, don’t we?

Us little L libertarians want the Free Market to solve this problem of impure drugs. When was the last time you heard of an adulteration of a mainstream drug. Yup, Tylenol! And what happened? Within hours, the maker and all the retailers had it ALL off the shelves. Quickly it was replaced with safer packaging and better controls. ALL without the Gooferment. So, bottom line, I trust WalMArt, Walgreens, CVS, Rite Aide, and every Mom & Pop pharmacy to sell “safe” drugs to our children and adult addicts. 

[For the humbly challenged, if Walmart won’t sell racy magazines to children, what makes you think they will dispense harmful drugs to those same children? And, I bet with every adult drug dispensed, they’ll include the 1-800 number to get help. Just a guess on my part, but I’d bet a paycheck on that.]

Permit me to digress for a moment on the accuracy of the media. See the part about “fentanyl responsible for Prince’s death”? Seems that Ms. Maria Puente of USA TODAY might quibble with this broad brush assertion.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/music/2017/04/20/death-prince-one-year-later-what-do-we-know/100180398/

A year after Prince’s death, these questions remain unanswered
Maria Puente , USA TODAY
Published 10:49 a.m. ET April 20, 2017 | Updated 12:46 p.m. ET April 21, 2017

*** begin quote ***

But there are many questions left unanswered:

What killed him?

He died April 21, 2016, in an elevator in Paisley Park in Carver County, Minn. The one-page autopsy report released later said he died of an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl.

Famously clean-living Prince died of a painkiller OD at age 57? Unthinkable. Numerous friends, associates, relatives and former wives and girlfriends insisted they never saw him take drugs.

Was there some medical condition that contributed to his death? We may never know because, under Minnesota law, the full autopsy report can be kept secret for up to 30 years unless the next of kin agree to release it. So far, that has not happened.

Why was he taking fentanyl and for how long? Where did he get it? Was it prescribed by a doctor or acquired by illicit means? Did he know some of the pills containing fentanyl were falsely labeled something else? What was the relationship between his death and the episode of six days earlier when he suffered a medical emergency on a plane? (It landed, he was rushed to a hospital and received overdose-style treatment.)

“There is some indication that his addiction went fairly far back, to the mid-1980s and into the late 1990s, but the evidence is ambiguous,” Hahn says. “It’s an incredibly murky picture. He was a very controlled and focused figure, he kept his cards close to the vest so that’s why we don’t know.”

*** end quote *** 

FWIW, let’s change our thinking and save lives.

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RANT: I know the feeling

Wednesday, April 26, 2017

FROM THE READERS DIGEST

*** begin quote ***

SMOKE SIGNALS
by Dan Rolince, Golden, Colorado

On a cool night lit only by the orange glow of fire, we rushed to my grandfather’s home as his decades-old barn burned to the ground. The firemen let us stand nearby as they pumped water from the creek a quarter mile away. We watched the barn go up in flames, which stirred memories of jumping off foot-wide wooden beams into the hay below. The real sadness came as my elderly grandfather, who did not get out of bed, quietly asked if his cows were safe. He hadn’t had dairy cows in a dozen years.

*** end quote ***

I just did the RD vocabulary test and only got 8/15.

Argh!

NewImage

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ECONOMICS: Corporations do NOT pay taxes; only real people do

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

FROM THE WSJ

*** begin quote ***

TALKING POINTS
Tax talk. President Trump has ordered aides to draft a tax plan that slashes the corporate tax rate to 15%, even if that means a loss of revenue and exacerbating the plan’s procedural and partisan hurdles. Mr. Trump told his team to “get it done,” in time to release a plan by Wednesday.

*** end quote ***

For the life of me, I never understood that “We, The Sheeple” don’t understand what appears to me as “simple economics”.

When taxed, “corporations” have really ONLY two choices — pass them along or go out of business. 

Yes, I know that they could potentially reduce their profits, but let’s examine that concept. As Larry Kudlow says “Profits are the mother’s milk of stocks and the lifeblood of the economy.” When you reduce profits, you send signals to the economy that things are bad here. Then, the flow of capital dries up. Eventually, profits are zero and there is no incentive but to shut down.

So, taxes get passed along to the consumer. Lucky, real people get to pay MORE taxes.

What’s really bad is those taxes are HIDDEN in the priced of stuff we buy. Pick up any can of beans and tell me how much of that cost is taxes. It can’t be done. Argh! And, the politicians and bureaucrats just love it that way.

Then, want to know why corporations move overseas? The US tax rate on corporations is 30%. I think that’s the highest in the world. There’s the incentive to move. And, if you can’t move, that’s a reason to not go into business. 

Argh! Cubed!!!

Wake up people. The correct corporate tax rate is ZERO! Make the people aware of how much Gooferment really is costing us.

Argh!

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FINANCIAL: Talk to one of the folks at RICE DELMAN for free no-obligation to do anything but listen

Tuesday, April 25, 2017

 

 

Screenshot 2017 04 24 09 51 11

http://www.edelmanfinancial.com/promotions/talk-with-a-financial-planner?pid=20515&refid=GDN-Search-National-Google-Unbranded&adpos=none&creative=191687172442&device=c&matchtype=&network=d&gclid=CMis6pafvdMCFQ6SaQodhHMCUg

No secret, I am a Client. And a raving fan.

I’ve gotten all sorts of my friends and relatives to just talk to them. And, I have received nothing but positive feedback.

Of course, they’d like you to become a Client. And their minimum account is 5k$. BUT, that’s not the purpose of starting the conversation. As Ric says — sometimes too often — he wants everyone to become “rich”. (That’s a concept I find hard to wrap my head around. EVERYONE?)

I have had people without two nickels “chat with an advisor” and come out with a plan how they were going to become “rich”. Or, at least, “richer”.

I have no vested interest in this recommendation. I get nothing from them, except the service I pay for. 

TANSTAAFL (“There Ain’t No Such Thing As A Free Lunch” From Robert Heinlein’s classic) 

But you can get some free advice. Which IMHO is worth a lot more than you pay for it. 

Remember I’m the cynic who worked on Wall Street.

Laugh!

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POLITICAL: South Burlington School District revolt

Monday, April 24, 2017

FROM WSJ

*** begin quote ***

A Mascot Mess 

When it comes to rebellious and cantankerous behavior, Vermonters go back a ways. They didn’t join the original 13 colonies in the Union until 1791, four years after the Constitution was signed. So in 1961, when education leaders in South Burlington decided that a newly built high school should be nicknamed the Rebels, nobody batted an eyelash. However, when the Board of School Directors decided the Rebels moniker had offensive connotations and needed to go, those Vermonters who didn’t agree reacted like, well, Vermonters. To protest the decision, opponents have twice helped vote down the nearly $50 million school district budget. The controversy heated up in 2015 when the Burlington Free Press newspaper dug up photos of cheerleaders and sports teams posing alongside Confederate flags. The school board has convened a new 40-member “South Burlington School District Mascot Selection Oversight Committee” to study the matter.

*** end quote ***

Hey, I don’t particularly care WHY they voted down the Gooferment Skrules budget. I think that’s it is ALWAYS GOOD when we starve the Gooferment Eddykation Complex.

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APPLICATION: “LOOK AT ME” I want it for calling the waiter / waitress

Sunday, April 23, 2017

 

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Never mind the “friends at concerts”; I want to signal the wait staff at the restaurants where they are supposedly “working”. 

Laugh!

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https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/look-at-me-with-color-beacon-strobe-light-in-rave-party/id966303117?mt=8

Look at me with Color beacon strobe light in rave party
By NIVIN REGI

Description

*********** FIND FRIENDS IN CROWD — THEATRE — CONCERTS **************

Ever wanted to find your friends are seated at a concert or in a movie theatre? Or wish your friend could meet up with your gang at crowded place ?

This app lets you helps you a lot !

You can pick the colour of the light u want, then send ur missing friend a message, saying ‘look for a blue blinking light on my iPhone’.

U then simply wave ur phone, the screen of which has been turned into a flashing coloured light, until u attract a friend’s attention.

Sounds utterly stupid but insanely useful right ? !!!

Come on give it a try. A must have app on ur iPhone. A situation may arise when you might suddenly feel the need to use it .

Uses:
• Finding friends in crowded concerts and music festivals. (Tried and tested)
• In a dark movie theater while watching Fast and Furious 7.
• Signalling my girlfriend to stop the car
• Getting a taxi

P.S: If you like the app, please give a positive review in the appstore. Good Ratings helps others to find the app.

P.P.S : Do buy the add free version in case you feel generous to tip me.

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APPLICATION: IOS app COLOR NAME

Saturday, April 22, 2017

I liked this app. And, my “older” friend’s wife LOVED it for the colorblind. I never thought of that 

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https://appadvice.com/apps-gone-free/2017-04-18

IDENTIFY COLORS WITH COLOR NAME

DESIGNERS, DECORATORS, AND ANYONE ELSE IN NEED OF IDENTIFYING SPECIFIC COLORS

Color Name is your color assistant. You can either take a new photo of an object from within the app or import your own. Then pinpoint the exact color you want identified by dragging your finger over the photo, and Color Name will provide you with the name and its RGB values in real time. Tap on the name of the color to get even more details including values for CMYK, HSB, and HEX. Color Name will also provide you with similar Pantone colors.

You have trouble with color. Color Name’s massive database even allows you to simply browse through various colors. You simply don’t have use for identifying color names.

https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id904152346?mt=8

Color Name – identifier, picker and matcher tool
By Vlad Polyanskiy

Do you have difficulties with saying what color it is? Take a photo and touch the color you need on the photo, and we will show you its correct name.

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LINKEDIN: Changes to LinkedIn ToS due to MSFT?

Friday, April 21, 2017

Wonder what’s going to change?

# – # – # – # – # 

Hi FJohn,

On June 7, 2017, we are updating LinkedIn’s Terms of Service – our Privacy Policy and User Agreement. These updates to our terms will let us introduce new features, while continuing to give you control over how your information is used.

While I encourage you to read the full terms and my blog post about the changes, below is a quick glance at what’s new. Our goal is to increase the value you get out of LinkedIn, but you can also opt-out of these new features, if you’d like.

  • Increased visibility of your LinkedIn Profile – Service partners will show your profile to their users, similar to the way your profile shows up in search engines, so you can be more easily found for opportunities.

  • Easier to share your achievements with your network – We’ll suggest positive and public professional accomplishments, like new patents or publications, to add to your profile so others can see.

In addition, here’s two more new features you can choose to opt-in to:

  • Productivity bots to improve communication with your network – New automated systems will use information in your messages to suggest responses, meetings, ice breakers, or insights to help you have important conversations more easily.

  • Easily meet up with other members – You’ll have the ability to see members nearby who have also opted-in, so it’s easier to meet up when you’re at a conference or out for lunch.

If you’ve not already heard, we are now a part of Microsoft, but our services are still provided under a separate Terms of Service. We hope you find value in the updates we’ve made. If for any reason you don’t agree to the new terms and would rather close your account than opt out of specific new features, you can do so.

Thanks for being a member,

Sara Harrington,

Vice President of Legal at LinkedIn

 

# – # – # – # – # 

 

 

 

Hi FJohn,

On June 7, 2017, we are updating LinkedIn’s Terms of Service – our Privacy Policy and User Agreement. These updates to our terms will let us introduce new features, while continuing to give you control over how your information is used.

While I encourage you to read the full terms and my blog post about the changes, below is a quick glance at what’s new. Our goal is to increase the value you get out of LinkedIn, but you can also opt-out of these new features, if you’d like.

  • Increased visibility of your LinkedIn Profile – Service partners will show your profile to their users, similar to the way your profile shows up in search engines, so you can be more easily found for opportunities.

  • Easier to share your achievements with your network – We’ll suggest positive and public professional accomplishments, like new patents or publications, to add to your profile so others can see.

In addition, here’s two more new features you can choose to opt-in to:

  • Productivity bots to improve communication with your network – New automated systems will use information in your messages to suggest responses, meetings, ice breakers, or insights to help you have important conversations more easily.

  • Easily meet up with other members – You’ll have the ability to see members nearby who have also opted-in, so it’s easier to meet up when you’re at a conference or out for lunch.

If you’ve not already heard, we are now a part of Microsoft, but our services are still provided under a separate Terms of Service. We hope you find value in the updates we’ve made. If for any reason you don’t agree to the new terms and would rather close your account than opt out of specific new features, you can do so.

Thanks for being a member,

Sara Harrington,

Vice President of Legal at LinkedIn

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Anyone visit the “new” Medicare site?

Thursday, April 20, 2017

https://www.mymedicare.gov/signout.aspx

They have updated their security requirements.

NewImage

Now are you telling me that you think that the “average” poor old senior citizen on a fixed income has to create a NEW unique password that’s hard to remember, not anything useful or memorable, and not one of the last nine?

Let me guess the most popular password set?

(password$1, password$2, password$3, password$4, password$5, password$6, password$7, password$8, password$9, password10)

Of course, that’s MUCH better than what LastPass would generate for me (i.e., triangumebabelinolowlysi, amplaintemproaramoniveri, tiongerystiorwarancemans, … … …). Well you get the idea!

NewImage

Look at those password requirements.

A 16 character limit? I always use LastPass’ 24 option.

Add a number and one of a few special characters? In technical terms, it increase the entropy from (26**16) to (44**16) where as my LastPass choice would be (26**24). Who’s password is better?

Argh!

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SOFTWARE: Microsoft Word — wonder how I can do … …

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Microsoft Word — wonder how I can do … …

… …

… … I want a block of text in two places in a document and “live”.

Meaning if I update either, then the change is reflected in both places.

Any one have an idea how to do it?

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APPLICATION: SNAPCHAT on iPhone7+

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

IMG 0981 copy

Interesting.

A younster was surprised that a fat old white guy retired injineer, who’s just a poor old senior citizen on a fixed income, would have SNAPCHAT on his phone.

I told her: “I don’t like it. I don’t use it that much. I don’t understand the UI.” 

Or something like that, because of course, the messages disappear. Argh!

I like to see what I said. And mull it over. See what the other person is responding to.

Also, it doesn’t save pictures. Even on my local “cameral roll”. YELP does that for me. 

AND, it doesn’t allow you to use an existing bitmoji easily. But it can be done if you understand that “create” doesn’t mean what I thought it did— from scratch.

NewImage

P.S. Feel free to give me your insight.

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RECOMMENDED: Google’s PhotoScan app

Monday, April 17, 2017

https://www.google.com/photos/scan/

7. Search Scanned Photos

Google recently released a new free app called PhotoScan with the aim of letting you digitize all your old photos. If you’ve installed the app, you can access it by clicking the three lines at the top left of Google Photos, then clicking “Scan photos”. Going forward, simply search for scans whenever you want to see all the photos you digitized.

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POLITICAL: “Voter Fraud” is a fact of political life

Sunday, April 16, 2017

http://granitegrok.com/blog/2017/03/lets-get-real-new-hampshire-voter-fraud

BILL GARDNER NEW HAMPSHIRE VOTE FRAUD
Let’s Get Real About New Hampshire Voter Fraud
by ED NAILE

*** begin quote ***

NH1 News seems to be the only statewide media, other than bloggers, interested in the possible loss of a US Senate seat to voter fraud.

Finally, Secretary of State William Gardner is beginning to open the door to the possibility of voter fraud affecting statewide elections in NH. It is a breakthrough even though the numbers he uses are not what they seem.

*** and ***

Is anyone investigating the people who showed up to vote same-day with zero identification? That would be the ones who we take a picture and affidavit from? That wasn’t clear from Gardner’s interview.

I think if we used real numbers, instead of conveniently dodging the total amount of out-of-state voters, the number of people we need to investigate might be a bit higher than 458.

When this investigation is over it would be nice to see the names of the 480 ghost voters who might have swayed a US Senate race in NH.

Oh, but that public information is not public, nor is our taxpayer-payed-for statewide voter database, as they are in many other states – so how would anyone find out?

*** end quote ***

Argh!

When I think of “voter fraud”, I think of Chicago, Philly, NYC, or LA. Not NH.

Maybe that’s a global issue.

What’s wrong with requiring voter registration in advance and a photo id requirement?

You can’t get on a plane nowadays without it.

Argh!

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VOCABULARY: Is calendarize a word?

Saturday, April 15, 2017

Is calendarize a word?

I accidentally used it in a text message. And it wasn’t flagged?

So I googled it and it had it. 

Thought that was odd; like me. So I went to my bookmarked dictionary site.

https://www.merriam-webster.com/

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/calendarize

NG

So then I tried another site. 

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/calendarize

calendarize

 

 

[kal–uh n-duh-rahyz] 
Spell Syllables
verb (used with object), calendarized, calendarizing.

1.

to calendar; add (an appointment, event, deadline, etc.) to acalendar, schedule, or timetable.
Origin of calendarizeExpand
calendar + -ize
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2017.

calendarize. Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. http://www.dictionary.com/browse/calendarize (accessed: April 8, 2017).

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So now I have TWO dictionaries bookmarked and I didn’t invent anything.

Sigh! So sad.

 

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VOCABULARY: U say potato; I say potatoe

Friday, April 14, 2017

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wdqbi66oNuI

Remember Dam Quayle and “potato” versus “potatoe”?

Funny thing is that’s how I learned to spell it — with the “oe”.

I’ll have to find and check an old dictionary!

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https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/potato

(1) “Potato.” Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2017.

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VOCABULARY: “Grocerant”

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/04/05/millennials-driving-the-grocerant-trend-especially-in-chicago/

Millennials Driving The ‘Grocerant’ Trend, Especially In Chicago
April 5, 2017 7:26 PM By  Kris Kridel

*** begin quote ***

(CBS) — Fine dining may be just as close as your neighborhood grocery store.

One of the latest trends, especially among Millennials, is to have dinner at Whole Foods or other grocery stores with ready-to-eat dishes. In fact, there is a name for that type of place: a “grocerant.”

*** end quote ***

How romantic?

Enuf said on that word!

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http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2017/04/05/millennials-driving-the-grocerant-trend-especially-in-chicago/

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TINFOILHAT: Vincent W. Foster death needs a careful reexamonation

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/04/david-martin/vince-fosters-death/

Where’s the Press on Vince Foster’s Death?
By David MartinDCDave.com
April 3, 2017

*** begin quote ***

For now, America’s mainstream Fourth Estate is ignoring the latest story about the violent death of President Bill Clinton’s deputy White House counsel, Vincent W. Foster, Jr.  That is the one about Congressman Trey Gowdy (R, SC) getting a federal judge to have Foster’s body exhumed and examined.  In this case, there’s good reason why they should ignore it because it’s made up out of whole cloth. It was obviously created to lend credibility to the idea, ginned up by our rotten press in the first place, that the Internet information alternative to the propaganda that they put out is nothing but a steaming cauldron of unsupported rumor and nonsense.

What we are witnessing here is quite simply the latest variation of #4 in the Seventeen Techniques for Truth Suppression, “Knock down straw men.”  Here’s one way it’s done, as we said back in 1998: “Make up wild rumors (or plant false stories) and give them lead play when you appear to debunk all the charges, real and fanciful alike.” 

*** and ***

Turley might have mentioned that when he wrote that piece he had been deceived not just by the scoundrel Christopher Ruddy but also former FBI agent and Watergate figure, G. Gordon Liddy, who brought forward on his radio show the anonymous “workman who discovered Foster’s body.” We have since learned that the man was the late Kermit Dale Kyle, and his story of how he stumbled upon the body while in search of a secluded place to take a leak is frankly preposterous.

*** end quote ***

I have always believe that this was a typical Clinton murder. All of the events after his death make a cover up all the more likely. 

Some one of these days the truth will leak out. It usually always does. Sometimes it’s fast (like the Trump wiretapping) and other times it takes decades (like FDR’s role in Pearl Harbor or the Lusitania carry contraband munitions).

We just have keep a watchful eye out and not let these stories be killed and buried.

It really does matter if we are to keep a Republic.

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FINANCIAL: Get kids working?

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

FROM THE WSJ

*** begin quote ***

TODAY’S QUESTION
 
Going back to our story above, if you are a parent, do you or did you assign chores to your children? Send your comments, which we may edit before publication, to 10point@wsj.com. Please include your name and location.
 
*** end quote ***
 
 
I don’t have children. But, my sainted Mom sent me to hustle up carrying bags for folks outside the local supermarket. I worked for tips and some times it was up six flights. Then at the end of the day, I’d give her what I earned and depending upon how broke we were, she give me some back. After that I couldn’t wait to get a real job, it was easier. I had a regular part tim job when I was 14 — due to Gooferment regulations. And was working full-time when I was 17 and in college full-time. Now 70, wish I could do it again.
 
Laugh!
 
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VOCABULARY: Clover — from a little L libertarian pov

Monday, April 10, 2017

http://ericpetersautos.com/2016/06/24/whats-a-clover/

from Eric Peters Auto 

*** begin quote ***

I get asked – what’s a Clover? Definition herewith:

* Clover (noun):

The root cause of every affront to liberty. The spoonful of poo that ruins a gallon of ice cream. Clovers are instinctive authoritarian control freaks. They can be found on the political left and the political right and in between. They do not believe in live and let live. They believe in telling others how to live – using violence and threats of violence to coerce obedience.

Clovers can’t abide the organic society, voluntary interaction or free exchange. The are driven to control and regulate and micromanage and absolutely will not leave you alone.

Ever.

*** and ***

Clovers think people are too irresponsible and foolish to be trusted to govern themselves – but put limitless trust in people (that is, uber Clovers) once adorned with special titles and costumes such as “officer” and “senator” and “president.”     

Clovers consider other people their property – as evidence by their limitless desire to control other people, even to the extent of dictating to them what they may do with their own bodies.

*** and ***

Most rank-and-file Clovers are, at bottom, bullies and busybodies – but also cowards who hide behind euphemisms (see above regarding “taxes”) and proxies like the ballot box. They are not bold enough to actually take other people’s things themselves and shy away from telling other people what to do – such as personally telling their neighbor to “buckle up for safety” – but are eager to vote to have others perform this work on their behalf.

Clovers are generally only dangerous in herds.

*** end quote ***

I admire a person who speaks the truth, from my pov, and is willing to pay the price for it. (Google banned him from serving ads and making money thru them. That’s their right, but I don’t like it.)

May I suggest you support him? I do.

And he puts out GREAT car articles too.

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Clovers think people are too irresponsible and foolish to be trusted to govern themselves – but put limitless trust in people (that is, uber Clovers) once adorned with special titles and costumes such as “officer” and “senator” and “president.”     

Clovers consider other people their property – as evidence by their limitless desire to control other people, even to the extent of dictating to them what they may do with their own bodies.

 

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RANT: How much is too much to write off?

Sunday, April 9, 2017

I have to laugh when I get checks or bills for less than a threshold amount.

Today I paid a bill for $2.84. I once received a check for $0.03!

Now considering that it probably cost them guesstimate 25¢ in supplies, 50¢ in postage, 50¢ in return labor, and who knows how much in setting the whole thing up.

I figure they lost money and so did I.

Because the Gooferment and Big Insurance is involved, there’s probably no way to automate the whole thing.

Argh!

So at what trivial amount do you write things off?

Argh!

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: What the Gooferment did once, it can do again

Saturday, April 8, 2017

http://www.offthegridnews.com/extreme-survival/that-time-the-u-s-govt-rationed-food-and-threatened-jail-for-those-who-didnt/

That Time The U.S. Gov’t Rationed Food – And Threatened Jail For Those Who Didn’t
Written by: Tricia Drevets  Extreme Survival

*** begin quote *** 

If you were asked to picture people lined up at a grocery store with ration books in their hands, you would probably imagine people in war-torn Europe. However, during World War II, government-issued ration books were a very real part of American life.To distribute food and other items that could be in short supply due to the war effort and also to create a sense of unity, the federal Office of Price Administration (OPA) established a rationing system for the nation’s citizens.That Time The U.S. Gov’t Rationed Food – And Threatened Jail For Those Who Didn’t The government then launched a promotional campaign for the ration books that included widespread radio ads, posters and pamphlets. The campaign appealed to Americans’ patriotic sense of duty, and it warned that non-compliance could be met with stiff fines and even jail time.

*** and ***

To save on ration points, for instance, many families switched from butter to Oleomargarine. To save on meat consumption, shoppers bought the new Kraft Macaroni and Cheese packaged product. Sales of cottage cheese skyrocketed from 110 million pounds in 1930 to 500 million pounds during the rationing program, as people used cottage cheese as a meat substitute in meals.

Although World War II ended in 1945, the rationing program continued until 1946. Gradually, life – and grocery shopping – returned to normal and the average American’s consumption of meat, butter and sugar rose to pre-rationing levels.

*** end quote ***

I had three thoughts on reading this:

(1) Imagine the corruption that went on. I can’t believe that the rich and connected suffered the indignity of “rationing” like “We, The Sheeple”.

(2) I wager that the big objective was to appeal to “to Americans’ patriotic sense of duty”. Have to get the Sheeple to want to go to the slaughter house.

(3) We know that margarine, a trans fat, makes for heart disease. As does the now “standard american diet”. And as far as “mac and cheese”, that made Kraft rich, we know that they’d be better off eating the box. So, what were the health effects and mortality / morbidity impacts of the “rationed diet”. Wonder how many were killed or crippled at home versus casualties on the battlefield. That would be an interesting number to know.

Argh!

The Gooferment is ALWAYS immoral, ineffective, and inefficient. As well as untrustworthy.

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GOVEROTRAGEOUS: The “City” ignores its residents’ complaints; surprised?

Friday, April 7, 2017

http://www.riverdalepress.com/stories/riverdale-underpass-falls-under-radar,62141

Riverdale underpass falls under radar
Posted March 30, 2017
By Lisa Herndon 

*** begin quote ***

The underpass located at the Henry Hudson Parkway East and Manhattan College Parkway is a ‘no man’s land’ and receives limited city services. The area has debris and broken tree limbs. After the March 14 snowstorm, the sidewalk at the underpass was not shoveled.

The underpass located at the Henry Hudson Parkway East and Manhattan College Parkway is a ‘no man’s land’ and receives limited city services. The area has debris and broken tree limbs. After the March 14 snowstorm, the sidewalk at the underpass was not shoveled.

Flooding and streets caked with mud after a heaving rain or snowfall. Broken tree limbs laying around.

Litter scattered along the hilly portion of the wooded area.

Those are some of the concerns residents shared about the underpass and overpass at the Henry Hudson Parkway East and Manhattan College Parkway near West 242nd Street.

“Welcome to ‘no man’s land,’” said David Sondheim, who lives near the underpass and attends the nearby Young Israel of Riverdale synagogue one block away. “You come back here on days where we have rain, andthis whole sidewalk is covered in mud. The puddle goes at least to the middle of the road.

“From the sidewalk, 15 to 20 feet out … it gets pretty deep. It doesn’t drain anywhere. I think the mud and the leaves block the sewer.”

When the sidewalk gets muddy, icy or snowy, it’s not cleaned up, Sondheim said, making it difficult for people to walk there.

“This is an Orthodox synagogue. People are Sabbath observant,” he said. “They don’t drive, but people walk over here to get there. It just makes it difficult,” said Sondheim.

Sondheim contacted 311 — a number used to report non-emergency issues in order for the city to make repairs — but it did him no good. Without a specific street address, 311’s computer system could not register the complaint.

*** end quote ***

Maybe the “City” should adopt what3words?

https://map.what3words.com/decent.eagles.beams

The what3words label “decent.eagles.beams” identifies EXACTLY where the problem is!

Yeah, I know the folks in Mongolia can use Dominos to delver pizza to the nomadic tribesman, who have no fixed address, but it takes real skill to be so stupid as to not know where the problem is.

Maybe I should apply to be the “City’s” IT manager for 311?

Now I know readers of my blog are used to me just lambasting the Federal Gooferment, but it’s Gooferment at all levels that deserve our scorn.

For those tin foil hats who think there is a vast “jewish conspiracy”, please take note. If there was one, it surely would have addressed this complaint toot’s sweet. Argh!

I especially like the “helpful” 311 operator referring the caller to Sanitation, Parks, and who knows what other departments of the “City” to get them to do their jobs. Laugh! Somehow, non-governmental entities don’t seem to have this problem. Go to McD’s a gripe about the restroom and the manager will be on it in heartbeat. Someone will be in deep too do. 

Argh!

Remember this story when someone tells you how the Gooferment is “your friend” and only seeks to serve you.

Argh!

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ECONOMICS: $78 trillion pension shortfall

Thursday, April 6, 2017

https://www.lewrockwell.com/2017/03/no_author/worlds-first-pension-crisis/

The World’s First Pension Crisis
By Simon Black Sovereign Man
March 31, 2017

*** begin quote ***

In the late in the 5th century BC, the government of ancient Rome came up with a new idea that has lasted for thousands of years.

I’m not talking about their roads, republican form of government, or water sanitation.

Their bold idea was to start paying retirement benefits to Roman soldiers.

*** and ***

So just as the ancient Romans invented the first pensions, they also invented the first pension crisis. It wouldn’t be the last.

Most major governments find themselves in a similar position today.

According to a 2016 report from Citibank entitled “The Coming Pension Crisis,” the 35 developed nations which comprise the OECD (including the US, Canada, Japan, most of Europe, etc.) have pension shortfalls totaling $78 TRILLION.

To put this in context, $78 trillion is more than the size of the entire world economy.

*** end quote ***

Nothing like being a Gloomy Gus on a nice sunny day, but the nice thing about being a retired fat old white guy injineer who is a poor old senior citizen on a fixed income, I have the perspective to look back and forward. Past is prologue. 

I used to counsel my fat old white guys in job search. Part of that advice was to conduct the Sunday morning “board meeting”. Humorously, the jobseeker has to wear many hats. When I was one, I learned the trick at the DBM “turkey farm” of “wearing many hats”. So I, as the CEO, would turn to myself, as the CFO, and say: “How are revenue and expenses?”. Then the CFO would report. SO to with the CIO role, HR role, Sales Manager, Marketing Manager, etc. etc. At one time I think I had six or seven distinct “roles” in my job search.

One of my turkeys was so dense, I had to have him make paper hats with titles on them.

All that being said, there is a “retirement crisis” ahead. Probably not for me, but the younger you are the more positive I’m that you will hit it. “Pension shortfalls” equal to the world’s economy?

I can hear you say, but I don’t have a pension. But as taxpayers, you have to pay for public pensions, social security, and other “entitlements”. That’s even worse.

I hope that all you youngsters have a plan for when you’re my age.

Good luck.

p.s., sorry my generation has left you a mess to clean up.

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WEBSITE: MEOWGOROUND is broken

Wednesday, April 5, 2017

https://www.meowgoround.com

Tried to order a dumb cat toy.

Guess what?

The website didn’t work.

It kept asking for shipping country.

… … but there was no drop down box for it.

Argh!

Does anyone test? Does anyone do use cases? Does anyone care?

Of course, there was no way to contact the seller except by phone.

So there’s one lost sale.

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HEALTH: Nutritions role in reducing suffering and needless death

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/physicians-may-be-missing-their-most-important-tool

Physicians May Be Missing their Most Important Tool
Michael Greger M.D. FACLM June 1st, 2015 Volume 24

*** begin quote ***

Yes, there’s still much to learn about the optimal diet, but we don’t need a single study more to take nutrition education seriously—immediately. It is the low-hanging fruit of health care. We have had the knowledge we need for some time; what we need now is the will to put it into practice. By emphasizing the powerful role of nutrition, we could dramatically reduce suffering and needless death.

*** end quote ***

All by eating a plant-based diet?

Seems too simple but you can’t argue with the evidence.

Yeah, it requires retraining our tastes and our brain (i.e., memes), but look at what it avoids: heart attack, strokes, and type 2 diabetes. 

I’m “trying”. Oh, how I hate that word. “NO! … Try not! … Do or do not… there is no try.” (To do it justice, you must say the word try with all the revulsion and disgust you can put on it. Like you were talking about a rapist, a child murderer, or a politician!) — Yoda (Fictional character from George Lucas’s “Star Wars” movie)

“Try” to save your own life and extend your useful years.

But, like smoking, it’s hard to change the paradigms and memes of a lifetime.

But you and I have to “try”.

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