September 28, 2014

Yesteryear
One year ago today: September 28, 2013, a mystery photo.
Five years ago today: September 28, 2009, a coincidental band?
"Whiskey River". Hmmmm.
Ten years ago today: September 28, 2004, grapefruit salad?

MORNING
           This isn't a crop circle. It’s a protest symbol against genetically modified food. I did some luxury shopping this morning. Why not? I’ve learned to read the labels critically. What is sugar-free? It probably means the product contains corn syrup, which is the most common modified of foods. I’ve now taken tomato soup off my diet, the way I ate the most common vegetable. And I still have trouble considering cottonseed oil and rapeseed oil (Canola oil, which is poisonous) as “vegetables”.

           Today will be a research and study day, much of it at the Panera, with its free refills. I’ve no power yet, but remember, I was raised without electricity and it is just not that much of a problem as for others. Mind you, most of the tools, instruments, and scientific gear in my place is electrical, so it’s not like I don’t appreciate electrons.
           For those who persist otherwise, there are no such things as alient crop circles. They are totally a hoax. Same with Loch Ness, the Sasquatch, the Yeti, and and the honest politician.

NOON
           Now don’t be calling this the Panera Report just because I was up there. For starters, I only go there on weekends there are football games on TV. That’s the only time the joint isn’t full of old buggers with their whiskey voices and big plans. You know, like opening pizza parlors when you are, what, 66 years old or something. What I was doing there was celestial navigation. I could not find a movie that was certain to be more entertaining than a page of calculations, so that explains that.

           Here is my first successful plot, but not entirely successful. I came within 27nm (nautical miles) of my DR (dead reckoning) position, so I’m still afloat in the water, to coin a phrase. Shown here is my work and I’ll go over the major mistakes. I forgot to turn the chart upside down for southern hemisphere work. I did not have an 18” ruler. My compasses are the wrong kind.
           Still, my first chart from calculated data was this single LOP (line of position, the dark nearly vertical line) that was 0.3nm T (toward) the sun at N92°W or Azimuth 268°04’. My major conclusion is that I’ll need much finer plotting instruments. This will include silicon erasers that don’t smudge. A top quality pencil sharpener. And metal or at least better rulers and protractors.
           Are these tools needed? Not really, as you see I got decent results here. But it is a pity to study precision calculations for nearly three months then to have errors introduced at the final stage. Such as refraction through the thick plastic of my blue plastic protractor. Or compasses so short it is diabolical to set them for tenths of degrees. Not only will the tools be expensive, so will be carrying, storing, and maintaining the things. I'm afraid to ask how expensive.

EVENING
           Working with my new camera, here is some modern art, no apologies to Andy W. This is a little composition I call, “Mailbox, Barometer, and Wheaties”. How’s that for original? See, I knew you’d like it. Now, if I was “with it” Internet-wise, I’d put about that this was a rare picture. I would put in the title “full version” and tell people it would blow their mind. But actually, it is just a photo of what it says. I’ll call it my “realist” movement. Such interplay of colors, such balance and perspective. And that vinyl siding, you talk about Americana.

           The next thing I did was sit down with a jar of ice cold Bavarian sauerkraut and ponder why my new digital camera even took this picture while I was carrying groceries inside. But then, when I think of how the Internet makes everyone famous for 15 milliseconds or when they get arrested whichever happens first, I thought, why not? Maybe there is some mysterious significance behind it.
           That’s for the next generation to decide as they grow old paying off their student loans. Then again, I’m one to talk. It took me until I was 36 and I had the fanciest job available, the highest paying job you could get with a single degree (at the time I was hired). And Bavarian sauerkraut has a little white wine added to the mix. It is supposed to be used to simmer sausage but I like it right out of the jar. Not in a can, that imparts a taste. A glass jar. If you can’t taste the wine after you finish, then it is out of a can.

ADDENDUM
           Phones, privacy, and how things really work for now.
           I’ve also decided my view on how the authorities unconstitutionally invade privacy should have a name. Particularly, telephone communications, which people falsely feel is more secure. All calls are monitored for keywords. For anyone who doesn’t recall my theory, it is that rather than gather targeted direct evidence which requires a warrant, the authorities sift through data and then use the information to lie in wait. Hence my chosen name: “Bushwhacking”.
           The role of admissible evidence is meant to prevent mass surveillance by insisting on a warrant which must describe what is being sought via individual searches. By watching societies instead of individuals, the authorities are not seeking evidence. After all, evidence can be argued with.
           Despite their mandate to prevent crime, it is more to the police’s liking to allow the crime to commence and then swoop in. To lie in wait for others is bushwhacking whether or not they eventually turn out to be criminals or bishops.

           [Author's note 2023: Google has quit supporting some of the older picture formats. Without notice. Instead, here is a picture from around the same time of a college babe, back when such things were common.]

           My dislike is that such a system wastes countless dollars chasing small fry while the real criminals get away. Real criminals don't use ordinary phones and e-mail. They know better. They know full well modern police are pretty clueless unless they can break into your privacy somehow. There’s a reason billionaires live behind huge walls.
           Also be aware that the police regularly set up false warrants and searches to look for or locate information that would not qualify under the "reasonable probability" clause. This is one reason police love roadside stops. They've got you off guard. They know you don't know your rights, but feel vulnerable and will consent to most anything if they convince you they'll let you go.
           You should read the warrant, because it describes what the police can look for. But if you don’t know what they are authorized to look for, you can bet your ass they will conduct a far more invasive search.
           Here is a sample text of the Property section of a warrant:

Description of Property Sought to be Searched for and Seized:
Drugs and drug paraphernalia, to wit: cocaine, crack cocaine, marihuana, heroin, amphetamines, any derivatives thereof, packaging materials, scales, and other devices used for the preparation, sale, and administration of said drugs and any United States currency, recording and monitoring devices used in the facilitation of drug transactions, any weapons used or maintained for the protection of said unlawful enterprise together with any books, records, receipts, bank statements, utility bills, tax records evidencing the acquisition, concealment, transfer and sale of drugs and narcotics and the person of Larry Crum, the single family residence described above, any persons who may be found at said residence, as well as any contraband described herein that may be found in the aforementioned motor vehicles, garage, white metal tool shed, or any place within the curtilage of said residence.

           It does not say they can seize your computer, or that you must provide the computer passwords to them. It does state they can search any persons found on the premises, but not what they can look for on those persons. Anyway, I’m just saying you should read the warrant even if they barge in. Get a copy. And the police can search an impounded vehicle not matter what it was impounded for. Thus, Lex Luthor never plans any crimes which use a car or keep anything in his house.
           Next, who ever heard of KODU? It is a Samsung product and in this month’s biggest waste of money, it turns out they charge money for incoming cell phone calls that arrive before 5:00PM local time (at the other end). And continue to charge the full rate after that time. Thus, a single call to Marion set us back $68. That was a blatant rip-off designed by the products of our faltering education system. That’s the legacy of stupidity. Their only chance in life is to steal your money before somebody else does. Jackasses.
           There must be a way around this, and I’ll find it. A phone you can pick up and use that charges a reasonable ten cents a minute for long distance should not be such a tall order. I don’t know the carrier on the KODU phone but they can kiss my rosy red. I think I should purchase the phone here and control matters locally, where all roads lead to nothing.