One year ago today: September 3, 2021, a busy day.
Five years ago today: September 3, 2017, ships & stone houses.
Nine years ago today: September 3, 2013, 5 channels, my eye.
Random years ago today: September 3, 2012, a Colorado sidecar tour.
It seems the electricity bill in England are for real. They’ve sunk all their money into wind farms instead of tapping the North Sea oil beds. Seems they are headed for a cold winter but the real tragedy is they will be closing the pubs early to save on heating bills. For me, it was French toast and coffee. Another listless day but you watch, I’ll get something done. Mrs. Downy, the woodpecker, has learned to vary her diet by making the rounds of all three big feeders. Here she is at the titmouse favorite, they keep their distance when she’s around. Tonight is a Trump rally and they’ve been lining up since Wednesday. I’m anxious over this one.
By noon things are heating up in Pennsylvania. The Trump rally looks phenomenally huge even if camera lenses can lie. Biden has provoked America where he sought to fire them up to his cause. It’s gone the other way, with thousands more siding with Trump that the people in charge are evil and incompetent. Myself, I think I’ll go to Karaoke, end the week in a little style. For some, Labor Day is a big deal, to me it meant school starts. I liked school even though it kept me back. I could read the whole text, know I could pass the exam, but you were required to attend the lectures and do nothing else. I would often test a new or substitute teacher by writing a letter while they talked. I was told to stop every time. Now, I’m very good at pretending to listen.
I’m another chapter into “The Yellow Admiral”, the part where the two men fight almost to the death. That’s what the English would call sport, wouldn’t they? At least the Spanish only kill bulls. I did not get much further last time and I’m paying more attention that before about the exhaustive way they talk about each other. It’s bad enough they have names for every mule and horse, but also every neighbor’s carriages and every bend in the road. The book also talks about localities and presumes you know the places.
There is an old annoyance on-line that is emerging again, this time almost everywhere. It was rare before, but you know the irritation. You click on a very distinct link and it takes you to some massive catalog instead of the product. Search for a road map of Vero Beach and your wind up on the Amazon log-in page. And these people don’t understand why their jobs pay so shitty. Colorado residents who signed up for the “green” thermostats found they could not cool their houses during a heat wave. Since these programs are aimed at ultimately forcing everyone to comply, I have no mercy for these people. Let them suffer until they smarten up.
And yes, I saw the photo of the Amish people at the Trump rally. Biden has really shot himself in the foot on that one. TMOR (to my overseas readers), Biden has shut down a large Amish agricultural farm by slapping them with $300,000 in fines for producing their own food using no chemicals and such. I never thought I’d live to see the day the Amish chose sides, even in theory. Technically, Trump is not a politician, so there would be nothing to stop the Amish from attending, but their very presence spells heap trouble for the DC agencies involved. Attacking the single most respected religious order in America’s history was probably not the smartest political move.
Harvard U. data bank.
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Once the afternoon shadows grew a bit, it was a pleasant 86ºF out there and I got most of the pallet boards cleaned. There’s other chores, such as cleaning the roof valleys, but all together I got in a good 2-1/2 hours. Light duty, but I did have to move all the lumber over to the saw table area. If I’m smart, I’ll finish that west siding tomorrow and get it over with. I’ve learned to grade the pallet wood, not by species, but by what each piece is suited for best in my experience. Siding, boxes, or other. My gaining experience makes the early silo siding look terrible enough that I’m tempted to redo it. Like I don’t have enough to do.
Cancel Karaoke. I made a light supper and found myself in a sneezing fit later. Coughing and sneezing, rare enough for me. What should I look at this unexpected evening at home? Glancing over my book collection, then checking on-line a bit, I decided to read more of the Admiral book. By slowing down and trying to figure out their funny way of talking, you can get a peek at the strangeness of their society. Everybody paying attention to what other people are doing and protracted concern whether to take a coach and four or a coach and six to a town the far off distance of forty miles away. Still no news of the Admiral though his supply boat, known as a tender, is in harbor “at single anchor”.
Then a look at the new Army “goggles” made by MicroSoft, which sells a commercial model at $3,500 a set. This is the much-taunted heads-up display that enhances the soldier’s view. Most impressive is the infra-red function, which negates hiding in fog or most bushes. They are nifty but most of the capabilities have been long predicted. What’s new is the networking. The leader can “see” where all his men are and look where they look. A few sensors on the outside of a personnel carrier and the whole crew has a 360º view. The helmet can give directions, use facial recognition, translate foreign language, and project 3D images onto terrain. It’s called IVAS and the price leaps to $200,000 each when you include all the extras, such a spare batteries, recharger, and that scope attachment that allows one to fire [rifles] around corners.
One man will be tasked to carried a central field with A.I. capability and so the soldiers can read road and street signs in other alphabets. A version of it has been available for months for corporations to hold “virtual meetings”, where they can visualize all sitting around the same table. In one of their most persistent marketing annoyances, MicroSoft is pushing a new vocabulary for every feature but they behave much like enhanced VR headsets—and the people who use them. The commercials are wildly optimistic and reflect the growing reliance on far Eastern cultures who do not share our human values. They talk of “transcending time and space” when in reality, the system has the look and feel of a cheap GPS unit with all its faults.
It is just not ready for mass deployment. Most of the heads-up display has been coded in by graphics artists who plainly know nothing of battlefield conditions. Tons of useless information that they consider important is constantly scrolling past. The menus appear designed by the same numbskulls who messed up everything since Vista. Every advantage seems offset by the difficulty of getting it to do what you want instead of what MicroSoft wants. And where have we all seen that before?
This look at IVAS was spurred by a protest. The MicroSoft coders objected to the use of their technology for military purposes, as if it belongs to them. They are soft in the head and want the code to be available for peaceful use, like the nuclear fuel their Democrat friends give to Iraq. I predict this product will follow the usual MicroSoft pattern whereby early users for a cult-like obsession and go down their own path. Illicit uses will quickly arise since these to-knot guys never get great-looking girlfriends. And older types like me will be rated out of touch because we never bother with the concept any deeper than another video game.
ADDENDUM
Whoa, that breeze in the shed isn’t the new fan. That’s Biden backpedaling on his comment that half of America are traitors or terrorists. His feets are just a blur. The guy is a write-off, trying to deny what millions heard him say. He does not appear to remember what he said the day before.
