November 15, 2020

Yesteryear
One year ago today: November 15, 22019, stage-managed impeachment.
Five years ago today: November 15, 22015, my good ole GG.
Nine years ago today: November 15, 22011, 330 miles by scooter.
Random years ago today: November 15, 1982, from Byron Bay, Australia.

           Recycling, it’s a recreation form around here. I’d like to thank Tennessee for the complete lack of coffee-related service outlets in such areas. This morning the bins were so full, I had to crush everything flat, which takes extra time, leading to caffeine deficiency. Did you know caffeine is chemically similar to certain RNA and DNA bases? The product is a natural. That’s likely why you can’t get it around here. It don’t taste artificial enough for the gastrozombies.

           How about this for a doggie’s mug? This is Sparkie looking like what I kind of do before I get my morning cup of joe. I don’t know how coffee became known as joe, but thanks to the Internet, it excels at making it easy to look up really important stuff like that. If you want to. This pooch is not going to be around a lot longer, I’m gonna miss this guy. He’s a rescue puppy and talk about a rescue. He had been slashed and left for dead 36 hours earlier. Then he hit the jackpot. His general diet these days is ground turkey.

           Unlike the Reb, the boys and I tend to go cross-country a lot. Trails are for schmeebs and wusses. The trade-off is the smaller dog. Instead of fur he’s got what you might call matted hair. He’s the right height to the ground for all the sticky seed and burr things you find in children’s encylopedias. My gift this time around is a small battery trimmer, suitable for paws, snouts, and underbellies. With enough dogs this size, you could really cut down on your annual leaf raking time.
           As my schedule of this trip draws to a close the talk of which business ideas to pursue get deeper. I’m inclined toward the photography idea. This is not the same as those joints that sell you a book on how to sell photos or set up a shop. They do the submissions for you and take a commission based on volume. This business doesn’t make sense in some ways, I mean, I look at the prices and it is cheaper to hire a photographer. The big attraction is that they put forward that the most work is taking the pictures, which I already do. You are aware of my aversion to a business that you must plug at daily.

           I wish I had as much free time on my hands as the leftists who protest against Trump. I’ve had only one introductory course in my life that even touched on the political system. I learned something today. If no candidate achieves the required 270 vote majority, the issue is decided by the House of Representatives. Each state gets one vote. And it would likely be 31 Republican states vs 19 Democrat. So Trump actually still has a chance, however slim. There is still the issue of the voting machines.

Picture of the day.
Red Sands Beach, P.E.I.
Remember to use BACK ARROW to return to blog.
           I’d like to shed some light on the controversy with the US voting machines, built by a company called Dominion using code from a company called Smartmatic. This is a brief overview for non-computer people, but once you read this it would be easy to search for details on-line. Dominion is a company based in Colorado. When they were rebuked for using Chinese chips, they moved their manufacturing to Canada. There, they claim they use only Chinese resistors and capacitors, but no chips (integrated circuits). They were never required to retro-fit their older computers with non-Chinese parts.

           These machines are installed in 26 states including all the swing states. Most were donated by or funded by Nancy Pelosi. This map of their locations reveals a pattern all too familiar lately. The voting machines are the size of a large photocopier. While the case is sealed, there are apparently exposed USB ports on the back for “maintenance”. They are designed to be hacked. Dominion was recently “acquired” by a former Obama-appointed ambassador who sits on the board of CNN.

           The machines run on software from a company named Smartmatic in Boca Raton, Florida, a location otherwise unknown to the computer industry Smartmatic claims to be a small US start-up but code, partially written in Spanish, originated in Venezuela during the Chavez era. It has come under suspicion so many times that it is banned in some countries and in Texas. They quickly moved their headquarters to London and the servers to Frankfurt, Germany, where the tabulating takes place. You may have wondered about the US seizing the servers recently, there’s your link.
           The tabulated results are then sent to Barcelona, Spain. This is where the actual fraud takes place. The claim is the software switched 221,000 Pennsylvania votes from Trump to Biden out of a total 445,000 switched. And 941,000 Trump votes nationwide were allegedly deleted outright. There is also some evidence that Smartmatic owns a stake in Dominion via an intermediary called Indra. Somethign stinks to high heaven—but again, this type of fraud can only happen in a free country.

ADDENDUM
           I’m down to one audio book, the cheesecake murder thing. That means I have to take it with me since I don’t know any place to buy them in Tennessee. As we near the end of tape three it is still mushy set-up with Hannah, the cake-baker, the object of every single man’s attention from the police department, the local medical community, and now a few Winnebago’s full of actors, producers, and now a returning high-school hero. She “thinks” the producer made a pass at her.
           I know, how is it possible a 30-year-old gal doesn’t know for sure, but that’s what small towns in Minnesota are for.We’ve rigged up my bass amp so we can hear the tapes from anywhere downstairs. I confess to losing concentration in the longer recipes and the longer passages with Hannah talking about her cat, Moisha(?). I tend to drift after too many iterations of wuddly-cuddly. This is not idle time for either of us.

           My diagnosis is that if the gig went great, which it did, it meant full health. But she is fatiqued today. I know this feeling or after-effect, call it what you want, it is for real. It is different than other exertion, yep, I know it well. I’m not calling this one. Here’s a pic of the Reb and a gingerbread house. Spirits are high and the show must go on. We have a mini-rehearsal slated for later. The music we have in common remains a minimum 30 years old, in some cases 60 years. But you would recognize every tune.
           Reading tech news is less inspirational than before. A Korean vacuum tunnel train went almost Mach 1. According to the Register (no link) HP has reneged on its ink for life scam, now they want $25 to print 700 pages. One thing about HP, they’ve correctly pegged their customer base as one magnificent bunch of stupid bastards. And it is official, Canon royally screwed up on their TR4500 series. The default is duplex or two-sided printing which is exceedingly difficult to disable. I found the setting in the layout drop menu, but it won’t stay. Each time, you have to set it again.
           The trick, I think, is to save it as a preset. Even if that works, more time has been wasted than this Canon printer is worth. Up yours Canon, it is hard to believe you did not pull that stunt on purpose. To prove otherwise, announce the firing of everybody responsible. You do not need people who even think that way on your team.

Last Laugh