Twitter and NFTs

 Darren Addario put this up on Post.  I have to agree with his perspective.

What makes me angriest about what Musk's done to Twitter, in addition to the nazis and the way he's mistreating his employees, is that he took away an important community from some people, who because of distance or disability or age, are living a remote life in many ways. It was a key support system for these folks.

Random White Guy posted the following on Post.  I really hope he's wrong, but it doesn't feel that way. 

A fragmented opposition has always been the goal.

Sat down to read, fell asleep, woke up to a massive twitter purge of journalists. 

Musk’s thin skin is not really the cause, deplatforming opposing voices is. 

I’m convinced that Musk is the point person in an effort to destroy Twitter’s effectiveness as a vehicle for pro-democracy voices. The authoritarian right has been on the rise, so it’s only logical for the oligarchs to take the next step and undermine our public squares. Places where the left can freely interact in the open and on a world stage.

Free pro-democratic speech alarms authoritarians, but they are terrified by the idea of those pro-democracy voices having a place to meet, share ideas, and organize. 

The right has many such places, most are in the shadows. 4-chan should come to mind. 

Mostly, the left keeps its work out in the light. Destroy those places the left meets to organize and you set the cause of freedom and democracy back until such spaces can reform. Maybe by a few years, but maybe by a decade. 

Running Twitter into the ground is the plan, not the result of poor management. 

A fragmented opposition has always been the goal. 

Divide and conquer public spaces. 

Drive liberal voices into the shadows where they struggle to grow. 

Deny left leaning audiences access to voices that represent their ideas and only present them with the authoritarian’s views. 

$44 billion is a small price to pay for the world's oligarchs. Protecting their power, privilege, and property is priceless.

Yesterday, Elon suspended a bunch of left leaning journalists, accusing them all of publishing his locations in real time and making him a target for assassination.  None of it is true, he's just lying.  He really is pathetic.

How about those NFTs the orange dumpster fire is selling?  Supposedly, the 45,000 digital trading cards priced at $99, sold out in 12 hours. Bullshit!  If they did, that's $4.5M in money that just flowed to him from who knows where.  Foreign governments maybe?  Here's how collecting said NFTs is going for some of the base.

I don't understand NFTs at all.  What is the "it" that was sent to a random wallet?  I think wallet in this context indicates bitcoin (which is really good for money laundering), but that's an entire domain I do not know about and don't want to.

It's gotten colder.  The trees are covered in frost and it stays.  There has not been much sun, which is making it dismal and somewhat gruesome.  However, in Tucson it routinely hits 100F in late April/early May, and it stays hot until the end of October.  That's six months of really hot.  The two years we owned the house, there was no monsoon.  I think 2020 we had a day and a half of rain, the desert looked burned and it, too was dismal and gruesome.  Every where a person lives will have a bad season.  Thus far, I'm not hating winter as much as I thought I would.  Of course, after the upcoming Polar Vortex arrives, I may feel differently.  The thing about the heat, is you can't dress for it.  If it's cold, we put on another layer.  I have totally and completely embraced wool socks.

Today we got the car washed at the touchless place that washes the salt off the car undercarriage.  It's good, I wish they were a little closer.  This is the wax stage of the washing.  The paint looks really good with the repeated applications of wax.  It's quite attractive on the wind shield.

Other than this paltry offering, I am out of things to say.

The Super Man Announcement Has Been Made

This is the gist of the Superman announcement that the orange dumpster fire was teasing.  He's selling NFTs (non fungible tokens) for $99.  Essentially, they're digital trading cards.  If you buy all of them you get invited to a "gala dinner" with the man himself.  These are some of the worst photoshopped things I have ever seen.  So, there you go, another way to get money out of the magats.

The official announcement can be played HERE on youtube.  Yes, he really did film an announcement of his digital trading cards.

Apparently some in the right are not happy about this, they recognize it for what it is, just another way to get money for the dumpster fire.

More Snow and Current Events

Greetings Comrades.  How are you this fine day?  I am increasingly incredulous about the state of our nation as well as the general stupidity displayed on twitter.   We have both set up accounts on Post.News for when twitter stops working.  You can search for me as phyleaux, and Jim is phyleaux2.  Those are our handles, so to speak.  It's a calmer environment, I don't like it as much as pre-Musk twitter but one must remember it's still in beta, so it's too soon to pass judgement.  It's good to have a place to bail out to.

It snowed again last night, about two inches.  It's more of a nuisance than anything.  Jim used the snow blower on the drive way and I shook the trees.  Some of the snow has iced up to the point where I can't get it off the trees without hurting them.  It will be interesting to see how things are doing in the spring after this much cold and snow.

Then we went up the hill on snowshoes.  It was 32F with heavy cloud cover.  My mistake was wearing gloves with hand warmers in the palm, should have used the wretched mittens.  There are pictures.

Here is Jim, waiting for me to hurry up with the camera, already.

One of the things we struggle with is what to have for dinner.  Neither one of us likes to cook, we're not particularly interested in eating, so what's for dinner is an issue.  Breakfast and lunch are easy, they're always the same.  Dinner is a different matter.  So - who can guess what this is?

It's this.

That's chicken that was cooked sous vide.  It comes out of the pouch looking like that, then you cut it into strips and heat/brown in a hot pan.  Then the contents of the second pouch are poured in and heated through.  It was actually good.  Prep time is about 6 minutes.  We had it with broccoli and a small baked potato and it was enough dinner.  Safeway carries them, if you're on the hunt for something you haven't had before.

Twitter is mutating into something malignant.  Many people in Ukraine use two factor authentication, which requires the sending of a text to your phone.  Twitter has taken the Ukrainian country code out of their authentication table, so people using TFA can not get on.  Ukranians hve relied on twitter to get the word out on Russian atrocities, looting of homes and museums and other despicable forms of terrible behavior done by the invaders.  It's not good that they're been blocked.

This came out yesterday.  Elon is desperate for money.  Thus far he has stopped paying rent on his buildings, he's auctioning off kitchen equipment, staff took all of the furniture out of one building and then closed the bridge between them, he's not going to pay the severance money that employment laws specify must be paid, and in general he's being a jerk.  He suspended the account of Jack Sweeney who has been tracking the location of Elon's jet.  He doesn't want his location known but he's happy to force users to share location data.  It also looks like he's suing Sweeney "for supporting harm to his family." if this goes through, I guess I'll be deleting my account.

If you're interested, and I understand that many of you are not, there is an good article which you can read by CLICKING HERE.

The orange dumpster fire is teasing us with a BIG MESSAGE release tomorrow.  This is what he put up to get our attention.

If you're stuck for ideas for Christmas gifts, there is always this.

Pretty amazing, eh?

A while back I did two posts on Direct Contracting Entities, which are the first step towards privatizing Medicare.  I was horrified then as well as now.  They are HERE and HERE.  This issue has resurfaced in the Senate, Senator Warren is not happy about the prospect and wants it stopped.  There is a new article up and you can find it HERE.  It you're on Medicare, like me, this is important stuff and it's time to start writing your congressional reps about this.

A few days ago, Germany arrested 25 people for plotting to overthrow the government.  Lawfare blog did an excellent article about the people involved in the plot.  What's so disheartening is the fact that some of them are influenced by QAnon.  America's crazies are going international.  Here is an excerpt of the crazy, "... the alleged coup plotters were united by the belief in a global conspiracy that sees dark forces behind all global and domestic events and so strongly desired to overthrow the existing system of governance that they were able to paper over ideological differences in pursuit of a common goal. Explicit anti-Semitism plays a role in this belief system: In a speech in 2019, Prince Heinrich XIII blamed the Rothschild family for financing all wars and the revolutions that toppled monarchies. Coronavirus conspiracies fit easily into this toxic mixture, too: The alleged plotters were allegedly also looking for seers who would be able to determine whether people had received “chip implants” and are thus “controlled” by Bill Gates and the pharmaceutical industry." Batshit crazy everywhere you look. The article can be found HERE.

So, class, that's your list of required reading for today.

I forgot a picture of the poor maple who refuses to shed his leaves. He looks so miserable.

That's it maties! It's time to get on the rowing machine.

Rain and Fog

Yesterday we got about three more inches of veeeeeery wet snow.  Heavy wet snow, the kind of snow that breaks tree branches.  Jim got out the snow blower and got the walk up to the front porch and the driveway cleared.  I put on my new winter yard work footwear and started in on getting the snow off the arborvitae and the giant juniper.  Their many branches are spindly, and snow leaves them bent. 

These are good for tromping around in soft, wet, deepish snow.  Even with gaiters, snow is trying to make your feet cold.  With these I pretty much stay on top of the snow, except when I don't.

Our neighbor (former arborist) shakes his trees to get the snow off because it does less damage than sticking a rake into the branches and trying to dislodge the snow.  Since I like the arborvitae, I'm trying to be nice to them, so there was a lot of shaking and pulling off of ice chunks.  Much fun was had.  Did I mention that the entire time we were out there, we were getting sleet which eventually turned into rain?

After the yard, there was dinner to be prepared.  Once again, it was stoup.  I had a large package of chicken thighs, so there was food for three nights.  Cooking once for three meals is good.

Today we had fog.  Here we are in the morning.

It eventually cleared up a little and got up to 38F.  This now rates as not miserably cold.  This is the cul de sac down the street.  The guy that plows here has been rolling snow up on the grass over there.  I was too far away, but if you look at the short person, he's standing in front of a snow cave his Dad was digging for him.

Here is the big rock.  It's an unimpressive photo due to the lack of light due to the returning fog.

Elon Musk has invited all of the terrible people back on to twitter.  Pretty soon it's going to be like Parler or Gettr, full of hate and vitriol.  I've already gotten an account on Post, and it's a lot nicer over there.  Anyway, this was up on twitter today.

The orange dumpster fire did say those words.  I had some hope after the mid-terms, but now I'm not so sure.  Politico printed an interview with Fiona Hill, in which she discusses how the republicans and Fox news are functioning as conduits for Putin's propaganda and his world view.  Twitter is starting to be a conduit as well.  It's worth reading, and you can find it by CLICKING HERE.   

On this happy note, I think I will stop talking.

 

Traffic Accidents, Slush, and a Bad Week for the Dumpster Fire

Yesterday we had ice fog all day, it was just dismal.  All of the 8 inches that fell November 30 are still with us.  Parking lots have hit the stage of ice layer on the bottom, with water and sand sloshing around on top.  We're supposed to get between 1 and 6 inches tonight.  Apparently precise forecasting here is very difficult.  We walked up the hill today without wearing the snowshoes because we were in a hurry.  I do enjoy the snowshoes, but getting them on is just a bear.  Enough people have made paths with snowshoes already that it wasn't bad.  I did wear the new ear bra and it is quite warm.  They have them at REI if your ears are cold.

So, it does snow here - as well as on the west side of the state.  There is a pass between here and there that is about 3,000 feet high.  There is snow and ice accumulation.  They had ice fog as well, yesterday.  They also had a 30 car pile up that closed I90 for 10 or so hours.  The guy that caused it was cited for driving too fast for conditions. Really, people?  Slow down.  This is the truck that caused it all.

This is collateral damage.  No one died.

Then today, there was this on I90.  It did not involve as many vehicles, but it did close the highway for a few hours.  We will not be going this way when we head south.

As most of us who follow the clown show that is US politics know, Rev. Warnock beat Herschel Walker for senator of Georgia.  What astounds me is that the race was as close as it was.  This is a tweet written by one of the guys that lost to Walker in the primary.  It amuses me greatly.

Other than walking up the hill, doing spin bike youtubes, rowing and lifting the weights, I have been packing.  We measured the amount of space that will be available in the car and marked off that much space on the floor in the room that has no purpose.

Yes, I do think I have a touch of OCD when it comes to loading a car.  The main thing is not to get out there in the freezing cold garage and realize that something has to go.  So far I'm under my 29 inch height limit.  We're both relieved that we're not towing a cargo trailer down there.  If the weather is decent coming back, we might, so we don't have to take the wheels off the bikes.  I hate doing that now that we've gone to the new technology.

DOJ is considering charging the dumpster fire's lawyers with contempt.  DOJ wants them to sign a document attesting that all of the classified documents have been turned over.  They don't want to do that because dumpster fire lies about this, and they don't want to do down for perjury.  Two more classified documents were found in a dumpster fire controlled storage unit, after the Chief US District Judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia ordered the search.  I did not know a judge could do this, but she did indeed.  More can be learned HERE.  It was a bad week for him, the Trump Organization was found guilty of 17 counts of tax fraud.  Many of the twitter lawyers think this will help Letitia James' case to levy a $250M fine for tax fraud, which will be the death knell for him doing business in New York State.  The 11th circuit over turned the entire Special Master thing, so now DOJ has unfettered access to all of the seized documents from Mar A Lardo.  The January 6 committee has said that they're turning over their records to DOJ and might make a referral to the Justice Department for criminal charges.  Maybe something, somewhere, will stick.

Meanwhile, in Wyoming, there have been Kelvin-Helmholtz instability caused clouds over the Bighorn Mountains.  This is pretty amazing stuff.

That's it - that's all I have to say.

Ok, one more thing.  This was the moon last night.   It was very full.

Walking and Overthrow of the Consitution

I forgot to post this picture the other day.  Are these not darling pants?  That's my darling husband wearing them.  Over his left shoulder you can see the darling chicken milk pitchers.  They're from the Shawnee pottery company, which I believe is out of business.  The top yellow one was used by Jim's Mom when Jim was young, which gives you an idea of how old they are.  Kidding, just kidding.

Today we went up the hill departing about 1:20 pm, in the bright sunshine, at 24F.  I was wearing my long sleeved V-neck capilene undershirt, with my cheap JC Penny fleece pullover, under my big Lands End Fleece with a scarf, ear bra under the watch cap, mittens and hand warmers in the palm, black fleeced pants, gaiters over the Thermochill boots with snow shoes.  The snow is still 8 inches deep because it's too cold to melt, I was almost too warm from the effort required to move across the snow.  It was good, we waffled about going, but when the sun is out you really have to go.

Steve was wondering what an ear bra is.  Here is a picture.  My ears do not like to be cold, so I wear this under a stocking cap, or a hiking hat to keep my delicate ear lobes warm.  They're really good, not a lot of bulk and they're comfortable.  For whatever reason, Blogger has decided not to center that photo for love or money.



Later there was sort of a sunset shortly after 4 pm.

Changing subjects now, this is what our former Commander in Chief, President of the United States had to say today.

Yup, he wants to overturn the Constitution so he can become dictator for life.  Clearly this man has issues.  Thus far no one from the republican party has said that perhaps this was inappropriate.

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