Hurricane Helene and the Usual

Well, Hurricane Helene was terrible.  The devastation is beyond belief.  How does recovery even start?  Roads are out, power is out, transformers are in short supply to fix the power grid.  In the Asheville, NC area the roads and bridges are wiped out, there's one way in that is long and circuitous.  One of the worst things to have happened is water treatment plants have been submerged in water, debris and mud.  Augusta, GA will not have water for weeks.  Greenville, TN will not have water for awhile, their plant is also underwater due to the Nolichucky River.  There is a global impact, 70 to 90% of the pure grade quartz used in the manufacture of chips is in Spruce Pine, NC which has pretty much been wiped out.  There is no word yet on the state of the mine or the processing facility.  NPR has an article here.  However, none of these things out weigh the loss of life.  

Valdosta, GA took it in the head from Helene.  The orange ectoplasm was there today for a campaign event.  His podium was built from bricks salvaged from a collapsed building behind where he stood.  Since there is no power, there was no microphone available.  He read from a prepared statement about how President Biden had refused to take GA Governor Kemp's phone calls.  This is just an out and out lie. President Biden called and spoke with Governor Kemp  twice in the days after Helene hit Georgia and prior to Trump's photo op in Georgia today. Biden has declared states of emergency for all of the affected states.  

This event makes anything I have to say seem frivolous.  I first wrote that in March, 2022 when Russia was invading Ukraine.  That event, like the hurricane, seemed to over shadow every part of my unexceptional life.  

There has been riding to the lake.  We're going later in the day because it's colder at night.

This photo was supposed to show the amazing amount of pine needles that were down from the wind storm we had.  However, my phone camera does not do well with shadows and bright light, so it's tough to see.  There were many needles everywhere.

This is the local turkey family.  Mom and Dad turkey have been busy.

Other than this, I truly have nothing to report.

The Weather and the Park Model

The forecast was for blowing dust and high winds.  We didn't believe it, but they were right.  About 4:45 big gusts of wind came through, followed by lightning and thunder and a down pour.  And then it was gone.

This is from the Spokesman Review.  That's dust out in the distance.

In personal news, we appear to have sold the park model.  Happy we are about that.  Ground rent was due October 1 for the next year, and now we don't have to pay.   We've chalked that up as a failed experiment.

Apropos of nothing, exactly how many guns are required to order fast food?

That's it, that's all I've got.

Turkeys and Covid Vaccine

Last year we hardly had any turkeys.  We would hear them, but not see them.  This year they've been all over the neighborhood.  There have been many baby turkeys.  Here they are in the side yard.  The pink flags in the background outline yet another unsuccessful attempt to grow grass in that area, so the guys that mow the yard don't cut there.

Today I had to freeze my credit with the three reporting agencies because I was part of the Change Healthcare data breach.  I think this was the breach that made it so that doctors could not get paid, and crippled much of healthcare in the US.  I hate these people.  Anyway, I'm frozen now so even if they get my information off the dark web, they can't open new accounts in my name.

I have also noticed that even though I cancelled the New York Times digital subscription, and lost access to their website, they are still billing me.  So tomorrow that will be another 30 minutes or so of my life that I will never get back.

The main purpose of this post is to document our latest booster for Covid.  This time we got Novovax.  It's not a m-RNA vaccine, it's protein based..  There have been journal articles indicating it covers the variants better and reduces viral loads more than the m-RNA.  Costco finally got it in, we got it this afternoon.  We both have headaches.  My arm does not hurt at all.  So, we'll see.  Since they did away with vaccine cards I have to write it down here.  My vaccine history is an open book.

That's it!

Autumn and Blue Zones

Greetings and Salutations.  How are we all doing in this time of discord?  It's Fall east of the mountains.  The sun is noticeably lower when we're riding through the trees.  It's also chillier, no need to get up early and run out the door.

The laptop situation may be resolved.  We had it at Friendly Computers for two five day stretches.  During this time we were told that he could not replicate the dropping of the internet, the freezing of the cursor, and the over heating.  The second five day stint, allegedly he upgraded the firmware and refreshed the thermal paste.  When we got it home the second time, it died within five minutes.  So, we looked at Yelp and found Pruitt PC.   After we described the problem, his first words were "sounds like the network card is bad."  Yep, it was.  He also upgraded all of the firmware (suggesting it was not done by Friendly), and checked the event recorder which showed there had been issues with the touch pad.  Did you know your laptop has an event recorder?  I did not.  So, we will see if it stays fixed and on the internet.  Now we have a spare HP for the next laptop badness.  Jim is very happy to have his backlit key board back.

We've been doing not much of anything.  The Liverwort continues on its path to world domination.  I love this stuff.

There was a sunset behind a cloud.

Pumpkins up the street.

See the furry thing living on the rock?  There's an arrow pointing at it.  Who knows what this is?  Google Lens has no idea.  Observe the lushness of the moss on the ground.  This area gets a lot of sun, so the moss surprises me.

There are three personal watercraft in this photo.  The one on the right you just sit on, no problem.  The other two drag you through the water until you're able to boost yourself up to stand on the back.  Guy in the middle was good at it, got right up.  Guy on the left had trouble doing it, not helped by the fact that his buddy kept roaring up to him and swamping him.  Eventually they were all able to leave and make noise elsewhere.

The lake, the millfoil is starting to lose its bright yellow color.  It was a truly gorgeous day.

Who is aware of the Blue Zones where people live a long time?  There has been a fair amount written about these special people who live a long time.  The underlying theme behind the reporting is basically why don't all people follow their diets.  It turns out that the Blue Zones are bad record keeping and pension fraud.  There is an article on the recent Ig Nobel (pun on ignoble) award in which Dr. Saul Newman debunks the Blue Zones.  Article is here, and there is no paywall.  Here is an excerpt below.  It's a short read and is entertaining.

Dr Newman received the award for research that revealed fundamental flaws in extreme old-age demographic research, by demonstrating that data patterns are likely to be dominated by errors and finding that supercentenarian and remarkable age records exhibit patterns indicative of clerical errors and pension fraud (paper pre-print, not yet peer-reviewed).

For example, despite vegetables and sweet potatoes being promoted as key components of the Okinawan ‘Blue Zone’ diets, according to the Japanese government, Okinawans eat the least vegetables and sweet potatoes in Japan and have the highest body mass index.

Other than this, I have nothing much to say.  I was going to discuss the Evangelical Minister and Lt. Gov of North Carolina's sex scandal, but it's just too disgusting to discuss.  It's getting limited reporting because it's too disgusting to put in print.  I will say that he reported in detail his threesomes with his sister-in-law and one of her friends on a porn site.  Can you imagine how his wife must feel?  That poor woman can never go to the grocery store again.  That's it!  That's all I have to say about that.

Riding and Another Alleged Assassination Attempt

We rode to the lake this morning.  It was our first chilly ride, even though it was in the low 60s.  The clouds were thick, so no thermal warming.  We wore undershirts, jerseys, the black arm warmers, and a paper towel in the helmets.  It was ok, everything stayed on until we got back to the car.  

Today we once again wondered what goes through the heads of our fellow citizens.  We ran into a group of eight dogs towing carts.  They had exited a school play ground without looking onto the trail.  Did they move single file?  No.  Did they single up after the bell, and after us hollering two bikes behind you?  No.  We sat up, gave them some space, and we were able to go up the middle.  This is a multi use trail, there are people, bikes and horses in use. Tow your carts single file!   

Last night there was a mediocre sunset.

Now we will discuss the 45th president using tweets.  Today has been interesting.  This tweet is heinous because he's putting a target on her.  He knows his followers are bat shit crazy, and may try to hurt her to please him.

Followed by this.

JD Vance did three Sunday morning shows today.  I think with each appearance he dug the hole a little deeper.  If you want to play the video below, CLICK HERE.

Then, and then.......yet another alleged assassination attempt at the Palm Beach golf club.  Note that the only shots fired came from the Secret Service.  The gun was found with two backpacks, one of which was full of ceramic tiles under some foliage.  To say that details are murky would be an understatement, however the former president has had the fortitude and grit to start fund raising on this.

So, here it is, all the news that's fit to tweet.

Springfield, Ohio

I think it was the morning of September 10 that JD Vance starting telling a lie about illegal Haitian refugees killing and eating cats and ducks in Springfield, Ohio.  Then geese were added to the list of animals being killed and eaten.  Never mind the fact that the city manager said it's not true.  There are a lot Haitians in Springfield. The city had successfully brought a Honda engine plant, a vegetable packing plant and a distribution plant to the city.  The problem was that there were not enough people to take the jobs due to the epidemic of addiction.  The city placed ads in newspapers asking people to relocate for jobs and a low cost of living.  The Haitians answered the call.  Factory managers report they're excellent employees, no drama, no drugs, they show up and do the work.  Local churches are happy, Haitians go to church.  Yes, rents went up due to competition.  Yes, more social services were needed.  There were more kids in school.  However, the Haitians rescued Springfield from going the way of so many small towns in the rust belt.

During the debate  September 10, the orange one repeated the lie.  Since then parents are keeping their kids home from school, the city administration has had to close due to bomb threats, and schools have had to evacuate due to threats.  Haitian property and lives are being threatened.  

None of this is true. Yet, JD continues the lie and does the former president, who is now vowing to deport all of the Haitians to Venezuela (!) on day one.  Never mind that they have Temporary Protected Status.  They are here legally.

What kind of people do such a thing?  As Mayor Pete said, it's a strategy.  He's got us talking about this (like I am) and not paying attention to Project 2025, his complete and total lack of any good policies, and his total fecklessness.  Twitter is full of memes making fun of him saying it, and they're funny, but the fact remains real people are in danger of real harm if JD and the orange slime keep telling the lie.

Haiti is a mess.  Hurricanes, earth quakes, bad governance have all contributed to its becoming a failed state.  You know who else helped the process along?  The great US of A, and France.  Haiti freed themselves from the slavers.  This made Thomas Jefferson, a huge slave holder, fear the same thing would happen here.  He set about to ruin Haiti.  Then France told Haiti they would have to pay reparations to their previous owners, at ruinous interest rates.   Over the years other countries, including us, have interfered with their government.  We have a lot to answer for.  There is a good NPR article here.  One of my favorite writers,  Elie Mystal, has an article up in The Nation.

Did you ever think we'd be here?  

 That's it. 

The Debate

 Did you watch it? We saw all of it. She was better than he was.  ABC referred to him as an old man yelling at a cloud. That's a Simpsons reference.

Immediately after the debate, this happened.

Think he'll debate again?

A Laptop Saga

Here is some personal history which I must record somewhere so I can find it in the future.  Repeatedly I have proved to myself that my "filing system" is lacking, and things go missing.  

My Lenovo, which I bought in December 2021 became unusable while we were in Tucson the winter of 2023/2024.  It was a hinge failure.  See the screen frame on the right which is detached from rest of it.  Now it is also ailing, losing internet, that sort of thing.  I bought a new Lenovo in Tucson February 1, 2024.  As of this writing, it's still working.

Jim's Lenovo laptop has died.  This is the one he bought in August 2021.  It loses connection with the internet, it gets really hot (110F) on the keyboard, and then the cursor becomes inoperable.  We took it to be fixed, but they say it works just fine.  It does not.  I have records.  

At this point, given the fact that two Lenovos purchased in 2021 are dead, we've lost faith in the brand.  Plus, they are really expensive.  Our idea was that if you pay more, you get more reliability.  I think this is not true.

Yesterday morning we looked at Walmart on-line, I know, evil empire and all of that, and they had an HP on sale.  We ordered it, they said same day delivery.  They actually did deliver it the same day.  This is the unboxing.  Notice the packaging is like egg carton material, recyclable.  It's not as nice as the Lenovo, no backlight on the keys, their fonts are too light, but over all it's a keeper.

So, this is the record of our rotten luck with laptops.

Jim has new Oofos flip flops.  Zappos used to have a lot of them, now not so much.  If it's in your size, you get the color you get.  We got green.  This is what our feet will tolerate, they're extremely cushy. They do last a long while.

We rode to the lake this morning.  It was an early go due to the heat, and they were also predicting gusty winds.  All of these things conspired to give us a Red Flag Warning, which is a notice to wild land managers that fire danger is high.

Last night's sunset. 

Here is a link to the orange menace giving a "press conference" at Trump Tower.  He's getting free coverage.  This used to be an election law violation until Ronald Reagan did away with the Fairness Act.  Anyway, load it and play it and marvel at how little coverage his lack of mental acuity is receiving.

That's it, that's all I have to report.  Failing electronics and Dementia Don.

 

Current Events

The weather cooled off some and the recent rides to the lake have been pleasant for the most part.  Two weeks ago we were verbally abused and harassed by two people on E-trikes because we said "two bikes behind you", indicating that perhaps they would like to ride single file and stop blocking the entire trail in both directions by riding side by side.  They were very poorly behaved.  Since then, I have finally, after 50 years of riding (50!) put a bell on my bike.  I'm sick of having to ask people to please stay on the right side of the trail, and if you're in a group, single up.  So I used the bell today, started ringing it before each and every blind corner, and lo and behold, people do move over.  It was surprising. 

Flat water on the lake, and my favorite silo being reflected.

Geese and ducks.

There are two dogs in the water, wearing life jackets.  The one with the stick in his mouth is Max, and it was his first time in the lake.  He was ecstatic with joy, and barked a lot. 

We watched a family of four load a lot of stuff into a canoe.  Dad wanted to fish.  The two girls did not seem as enthused as Dad.  Here is the younger daughter sitting in a kayak.

Here is Dad's canoe stuffed to the gills with fishing poles and fishing stuff.  We didn't stay long enough to watch them launch.  I'm sorry I missed that.

In international news, it appears that the Russia shit has hit the fan.  This is excerpted from Reuters.

The U.S. on Wednesday filed money-laundering charges against two employees of Russian state media network RT for what officials said was a scheme to hire an American company to produce online content to influence the 2024 presidential election.

Justice Department officials said the two employees used shell companies and fake personas to pay $10 million to an unnamed Tennessee company to produce online videos aimed at amplifying political divisions in the United States.

The un-named Tennessee company has been identified as TENET media. 

From Joni Askola we learn:

TENET media and its content creators are facing scrutiny after being exposed as disinformation agents funded by Russia to promote pro-Russian rhetoric. Tim Pool, Dave Rubin, Benny Johnson, and Lauren Southern are the influencers associated with Tenet media. The organization received $10 million to disseminate Kremlin talking points in the United States.  The ironic part is that the shared factor among these individuals is that they are all paid by Russia to criticize Democrats and support Trump. This serves as further evidence that Russia is attempting to facilitate Trump's election.  Many more individuals, including some close to Trump, are likely on Russia's payroll while supporting him. Trump himself could potentially be a Russian asset or, at the very least, an opportunistic useful idiot. 

From Yashar Ali we also learn:

Blaze Media has fired Lauren Chen. Yesterday, a DOJ indictment alleged that Lauren and her husband Liam’s company Tenet Media took in over $10 million from the Russian government to participate in a Russian influence operation. The indictment also alleged that they participated in a conspiracy to cover up the original source of the funds.

Tim Pool is a particularly wretched piece of pond scum.  He runs a podcast and a website actively advocating for what ever Russia tells him too.  Up until today he was anti aid to Ukraine.  Today, "upon reflection" he has decided that Ukraine is an important ally and we should fund their defense against Russia. Also interesting is the fact that neither Washington Post or New York Times have this visible on their digital issues today.   If you google "doj and russia rt" you will find other outlets reporting on it.

These people are in a world of hurt.  People suspected ties to Russia, now it's a sure thing.  Oddly enough, after all of this started making the news, Putin endorsed VP Harris.  Right.

Rebecca Cheptegei has died.  She was just at the Paris Olympics, and now she has died because a man doused her in gas and set her on fire.  She's not the first runner to be murdered.  Agnes Tirop, stabbed; Damaris Mutua, strangled.  When does this stop?

The US has yet another school shooting.  This time it was a 14 year old white boy.  Apparently, the shooter focused on a class room full of autistic kids.  Kaitlan Collins has just posted this: News -- the father of Colt Gray has just been arrested in connection with the shooting at Apalachee High School. Per GBI, Colin Gray has been charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children.  Good.  It's time to go after irresponsible parents who buy guns for their kids.

Today the orange menace addressed the Economic Club of New York.  They asked questions, and he attempted to answer them.  In response to a question about how would he lower the cost of child care he responded with the following.  Yes, it's long, but it's illustrative of how poorly his brain is working, something else main stream media is not reporting.  This is an unedited transcript of what he said.

Well, I would do that, and we're sitting down, and I was, somebody, we had Senator Marco Rubio, and my daughter Ivanka was so, uh, impactful on that issue. It's a very important issue. But I think when you talk about the kind of numbers that I'm talking about, that, because, look, child care is child care is. Couldn't, you know, there's something, you have to have it – in this country you have to have it. But when you talk about those numbers compared to the kind of numbers that I'm talking about by taxing foreign nations at levels that they're not used to — but they'll get used to it very quickly – and it's not gonna stop them from doing business with us, but they'll have a very substantial tax when they send product into our country. Uh, those numbers are so much bigger than any numbers that we're talking about, including child care, that it's going to take care. We're gonna have - I, I look forward to having no deficits within a fairly short period of time, coupled with, uh, the reductions that I told you about on waste and fraud and all of the other things that are going on in our country, because I have to stay with child care. I want to stay with child care, but those numbers are small relative to the kind of economic numbers that I'm talking about, including growth, but growth also headed up by what the plan is that I just, uh, that I just told you about. We're gonna be taking in trillions of dollars, and as much as child care, uh, is talked about as being expensive, it's, relatively speaking, not very expensive compared to the kind of numbers we'll be taking in. We're going to make this into an incredible country that can afford to take care of its people, and then we'll worry about the rest of the world. Let's help other people, but we're going to take care of our country first. This is about America first. It's about Make America Great Again, we have to do it because right now we're a failing nation, so we'll take care of it. Thank you. Very good question. Thank you.

Is this pitiful or what?  President Biden had a bad debate, and the press corps hounded him out of running again.  The orange menace says something like this on television and nobody says anything.  How does this happen?  Greg Sargent has much to say on the subject.  In a separate interview JD Vance reiterated that child care in dual income homes should fall to the grandparents, or aunts.  Any post-menopausal female will do.  

So, there's more, but I think this is probably too long as it is.  I did see that NPR has identified the two campaign staffers who assaulted the Arlington National Cemetery worker when she was trying to prevent them from taking campaign photos in Section 60, which is forbidden by law.  Update: The two Trump staffers involved in the Arlington National Cemetery altercation are deputy campaign manager Justin Caporale and Michel Picard, a member of Trump’s advance team.

Ok, done now.

Ennui

Ennui has settled in firmly.  I have things to say about the orange cheeto, but ennui.  So, instead there are squash pictures.  This lives next door.  It's invading our yard.  I've had to pull the tendrils out of the arborvitae to keep it from climbing.  Thus far, it's interesting to watch the rate of growth. 

 August 31.

September 4.

That's it, that's all I've got.