07 November 2024

But It Does Not Effect Kids!

I am, of course, referring to Covid, and the claim the it does not effect children is a lie.

Children are getting sick once or twice a year, and prospect of long disabilities is mind boggling:

Since the COVID pandemic began, claims that the disease poses only minimal risk to children have spread widely, on the presumption that the lower rate of severe acute illness in kids tells the whole story. Notions that children are nearly immune to COVID and don’t need to be vaccinated have pervaded.

These ideas are wrong. People making such claims ignore the accumulating risk of long COVID, the constellation of long-term health effects caused by infection, in children who may get infected once or twice a year. The condition may already have affected nearly six million kids in the U.S. Children need us to wake up to this serious threat. If we do, we can help our kids with a few straightforward and effective measures.

The spread of the mistaken idea that children have nothing to worry about has had some help from scientists. In 2023 the American Medical Association’s pediatrics journal published a study–which has since been retracted—reporting the rate of long COVID symptoms in kids was “strikingly low” at only 0.4 percent. The results were widely publicized as feel-good news, and helped rationalize the status quo, where kids are repeatedly exposed to SARS-COV-2 in underventilated schools and parents believe they will suffer no serious harm.

As an aside, even if this were true, the parents would be getting sick from their kids, and they would be suffering severe illness, disability, and possible death.

In January 2024, however, two scientists published a letter with me explaining why that study was invalid. Some of the errors made it hard to understand how the study survived peer review. For example, the authors claimed to report on long COVID using the 2021 World Health Organization definition, but didn’t properly account for the possibility of new onset and fluctuating or relapsing symptoms, even though that definition and the subsequently released 2023 pediatric one emphasize those attributes. Any child with four symptom-free weeks—even nonconsecutive ones—following confirmed infection was categorized by the study authors as not having long COVID.

In August, the authors of the study retracted it. They did not admit to the errors we raised. But they did admit to new errors, and said these mistakes meant they understated the rate of affected children.

This was deliberate Great Barrington declaration deception, just like the anti-masking humbuggery that was done at the Cochrane Review

In reality, the occurrence of Long Covid in youth is pretty firmly in the double digit percentages.

There is an entire extremely well-paid industry dedicated to peddling this anti-vax/anti-mask/anti-public health bullsh%$.

Billionaires who don't care that their workers die pay good money for this sort of crap.

And in Other Disasters

Avian Influenza has detected in Los Angeles waste water.

H5 Avian Flu Detected at Wastewater Sampling Site in Los Angeles County, Public Health Closely Monitoring Situation - Risk Remains Low

The Los Angeles County Department is investigating possible sources of H5 avian flu, which has been detected at low levels for the first time at one of the wastewater sampling sites in Los Angeles County.

H5N1 is one type of avian influenza that has been spreading among birds and mammals, leading to a nationwide outbreak. There are no reports of human H5N1 cases in Los Angeles County and the overall risk of H5N1 to LA County residents remains low. There is no evidence of sustained human to human transmission with this strain of H5N1.

Public Health is actively engaging key risk groups such as dairy and meat processing sites to identify possible sources of H5 avian flu in wastewater. The virus may have been introduced into wastewater by discarded contaminated animal products, infected wild bird droppings entering the sewage system, or animal infection. Public Health routinely monitors and tests symptomatic birds, pets, and wild mammals in LA County for H5N1 through our Public Health Laboratory.

Wastewater sampling is routinely performed as part of ongoing surveillance for infectious diseases including H5N1. H5 has previously been detected in wastewater in both northern and southern California. The virus has been detected in more than 200 dairies in California and there have been 16 human cases of avian flu in California. Public Health, in conjunction with the California Department of Public Health (CDPH), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and state and federal agriculture agencies, has been tracking the situation closely. 

While the current risk of transmission to LA County residents is low, Public Health encourages residents to follow these best practices when around animals or when consuming animal products:

  • Do not eat raw milk, raw cheese, and undercooked meat products.
  • Avoid unprotected contact with sick or dead animals, or materials contaminated with bird feces. The virus can spread to other birds, pets or mammals by contact with infected feces or consumption of infected animals.
  • Avoid handling wild birds and observe them only from a distance. If you have to handle wild birds, even if they appear healthy, practice good hand hygiene and consider wearing a well-fitting mask. Some birds may carry the virus but appear to be healthy.
  • Report sick or dead birds to local animal control agency for potential collection and testing. Sick birds or animals may not have flu-like symptoms, but instead may be unable to fly, have seizures, have difficulty walking or be found dead.
  • Prevent wild birds from getting into areas housing pet birds or poultry. Also make sure wild birds cannot defecate down into areas holding pet birds or poultry.
  • Take down bird feeders and communal bird baths to reduce the risk of the virus spreading from bird-to-bird.
  • Residents should also keep pets away from sick and dead birds. There is some risk of the virus being transmitted to mammals such as dogs, cats, and wild mammals, especially if they eat infected, uncooked birds.
  • It is especially important that people who may have exposure to infected or potentially infected birds or other animals get a seasonal flu vaccine. Seasonal flu vaccination will not prevent infection with avian influenza viruses but can reduce the risk of getting sick with human and bird flu viruses at the same time.

About H5N1

Avian flu refers to various strains of influenza A viruses that typically infect birds. While these viruses mainly affect wild birds, sometimes they also infect other animals, including wild and domestic animals (including seals, foxes, cats, and cows). H5N1 is one type of avian influenza that has been spreading among birds and mammals, leading to a nationwide outbreak. This is the first time these bird flu viruses have been found to be spreading in cows.

Signs/symptoms of H5N1 virus infection in humans may include:

  • Cough, sore throat, runny or stuffy nose, muscle or body aches, headaches, fatigue
  • Fever* or feeling febrile
  • Eye redness (or conjunctivitis)
  • Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing
  • Diarrhea, nausea, vomiting

*It is important to note that infection with influenza viruses, including novel influenza A viruses, does not always cause fever. Fever may not occur in infected persons of any age, particularly in persons aged 65 years and older or people with immunosuppression.

For questions or to find a nearby clinic or doctor, residents can call the Public Health InfoLine at 833-540-0473. Open every day from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

For more information, visit our websites:

Avian flu in animals: publichealth.lacounty.gov/vet/HPAI.htm

Avian flu in humans: ph.lacounty.gov/acd/diseases/h5n1.htm

If I were superstitious I would think that it seems that we are headed for a cursed year.

Luckily for me, I'm not superstitious.

History Rhyming

This time though, it's commercial real estate, not home mortgages, where commercial mortgage backed securities.

Not to worry though, I'm sure that taxpayers will bail this group of gonifs as well.

The office sector of commercial real estate has been in a depression for about two years, with prices of older office towers plunging by 50%, 60%, or 70% from their last transaction, and sometimes even more, with some office towers selling for land value, with the building by itself being worth next to nothing even in Manhattan.

Landlords of office buildings are having trouble collecting enough in rent to even pay the interest on their loans, and they’re having trouble or are finding it impossible to refinance a maturing loan, and so many of them have stopped making interest payments on their mortgages, and delinquencies continue to spike.

The delinquency rate of office mortgages backing commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) spiked to 9.4% in October, up a full percentage point from September, and the highest since the worst months of the meltdown that followed the Financial Crisis. The delinquency rate has doubled since June 2023 (4.5%), according to data by Trepp, which tracks and analyzes CMBS.

Office CRE fund managers have spread the rumor that office CRE has bottomed out, but the CMBS delinquency rate doesn’t agree with this bottomed-out scenario; it’s aggressively spiking. 
I'm wondering if maybe "Office CRE fund managers" are wining and dining all those bosses who are trying to mandate a return to the office.

………

But now there’s a structural problem that won’t easily go away with the price of oil: A huge office glut has emerged after years of overbuilding and industry hype about the “office shortage” that led big companies to hog office space as soon as it came on the market with the hope they’d grow into it. However, during the pandemic, companies realized that they don’t need all this office space, and vast portions of it sits there vacant and for lease, with vacancy rates in the 25% to 36% range in the biggest markets.

Yes, but it's different this time.   ╭∩╮(︶︿︶)╭∩╮

Linkage

I am not generally a fan of FBI sting operations, they frequently cross the line into entrapment, but this time it is spot on:

06 November 2024

Missed in the Run Up to the Election

Boeing machinists have voted to end their strike.

It's a decent contract, though I would have liked to see them get their defined benefit retirement package back:

The Boeing strike is over after 53 days.

Machinists union members voted Monday to approve the company’s most recent contract offer, enabling Boeing to restart work at assembly plants in Everett and Renton and at parts plants throughout the region.

Results announced late Monday showed the offer was approved with 59% of ballots cast in favor. 

………

The 33,000 Machinists in Boeing’s Puget Sound factories walked out Sept. 13, kicking off a strike that has left the company’s factories sitting idle and its financial position increasingly precarious.

Before Monday’s vote, Machinists had rejected two offers from Boeing as they pushed for greater concessions on wages, which have failed to keep up as living costs skyrocketed in the Seattle area over the past decade. The latest contract offer, put forward by Boeing on Thursday, included a 38% general wage increase over the next four years, which compounds to roughly 43% over the life of the agreement.

And still only 59% of union members voted to support this.

………

Under the latest proposal, wages increase 13% in the first year, then 9%, 9% and 7% in subsequent years.

The Machinists also get a $12,000 cash bonus. That sum is a combination of the previous offer’s $7,000 ratification bonus and one-time $5,000 contribution to 401(k) retirement accounts.

The offer did not restore the defined benefit pension plan. Compared with the prior contract that expired this year, the latest proposal would bump up the Boeing matching contribution to the 401(k) to a maximum of 12% of annual income. That’s unchanged from the previous offer. 

Unfortunately, they still have management that will f%$# the workers, the customers and safety

Adding to the List

I am referring, of course, to my list of "They Who Must Not Be Named."

I am adding gay pr0n star Mark Longo and the now dead squirrel he used as a mascot, P-Nut.

Ecch (Tweet) of the Day


The Lincoln Project has always been a group of "Never Trumper" griufters, led by the guy who convinced John Seymour McCain that Sarah Palin was the perfect running mate.

They deserve nothing but mockery, and this is exceedingly high quality mockery.

This is My Meme.

There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My meme is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.

Doom Scrolling for the Past 5 Hours.

The current AP projection is 210 electoral votes for Harris, and 247 for Trump.

Harris needs to win Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Arizona to make it to 273 EVs, and she is behind in all of these but Minnesota right now.

In addition, the Democrats have lost at least 2 Senate seats, Sherrod Brown's loss hurts a lot, and thus control of the Senate, and appear unlikely to take the house.

We are fucked, and I am having a stiff drink and going to bed.

In the morning, I will have to evaluate my options.

(On edit)

Also having pie, my eldest baked a fresh pie tonight.

05 November 2024

No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

At in Benjamin Netanyahu's (×™ִמַּ×— שְׁמו) Israel.

So, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced 7,000 draft notices being sent out to Heradim (Ultra-Orthodox) conscripts, and was promptly fired by Benjamin Netanyahu. (×™ִמַּ×— שְׁמו)

Gallant's actions were sensible and serve the needs of Israel, but they do not serve the needs of Netanyahu's coalition partners, and if they bail from the coalition, Bibi loses power and goes to jail.

As I have stated before Benjamin Netanyahu (×™ִמַּ×— שְׁמו) would sacrifice anyone and anything, including the future of the state of Israel to save his own ass:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firing of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant is not a surprise. Given the bad blood between them and Netanyahu’s desire to squelch any and all dissent within the ranks of his ruling coalition, it was inevitable. But the timing is notable for a few reasons.

First, it comes on the heels of Gallant yesterday approving a round of 7,000 new draft orders for Haredi conscripts. This is after 3,000 draft notices for Haredim were issued earlier this year, and only 230 of those receiving notices reported to the Israel Defense Forces induction center.

Drafting the Haredim has been the major issue in Israel this week in light of Haredi threats to vote against the budget unless the coalition passes a bill addressing their draft-evasion priorities. Today, Netanyahu pulled a bill from the Knesset that would have guaranteed daycare subsidies for Haredi draft dodgers because it could not command a majority. Gallant was the bill’s leading opponent in the coalition. The Haredim pulling out of the coalition is Netanyahu’s nightmare since it will cost him his majority, and that possibility increased today when the prime minister was not able to wrangle his coalition to pass the incredibly unpopular bill, which is opposed by nearly every non-Haredi Israeli. Netanyahu is hoping that firing Gallant removes one big obstacle. 

But wait, there is more.  It appears that Netanyahu aides leaked secret documents in an attempt to sabotage any hostage deal with Hamas.

The only reason for this is to prolong the war in order to keep Netanyahu in power.

Second, the other big news this week is the arrest of five people, including a Netanyahu spokesperson, for stealing classified information and leaking it to reporters to squelch support for a hostage deal. There is also an investigation into Netanyahu’s aides altering the minutes of war cabinet meetings afterwards to deflect blame for thwarting a hostage deal. Anything that changes the conversation and draws attention away from the leak investigation and Netanyahu’s inner circle is good from his perspective, and firing Gallant will definitely do that, at least temporarily. Netanyahu excels at flooding the zone to distract from bad news.

Netanyahu is a cancer on the Israeli body politic.


 

Ecch (Tweet) of the Day


This election cycle, I am generally eschewing election predictions from pundits, but this one seems to be lead pipe cinch.

F%$# Jon Stewart

So, Jon Stewart talked about Trump's German American Bund campaign rally at Madison Square Garden.

I don't have a problem with the people he excoriated.  He did a very good job of that.

I do, however have a problem with the one person that he defended, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe. (Note that he lacks the cojones to say his name)

He argues that the guy is a comedian, and specifically a roast comedian, and that he is good at this.

That may be true, but this is not a roast, because at a roast, your target is in the room, and there is a symmetry of power.

He knew that he wasn't a roast, and he workshopped his racist joke the night before at a comedy club, and he bombed, but he wanted to be edgy, or something.

F%$# Hinchcliffe and f%$# Stewart for alibiing for him: (Starts at 3:45)

REPORTER: The opening act grabbing headlines for all the wrong reasons-- a comedian who offered unfunny, racist, cringeworthy jokes. --basically calling Puerto Ricans trash. --the most repulsive racial jokes about Latinos. --disgusting and hateful. --so incredibly crude. --frankly, just too X-rated to play here. --extremely vile so-called jokes.Extremely vile so-called jokes—

…Now, obviously, in retrospect, having a roast comedian come to a political rally a week before Election Day and roasting a key voting demographic-- probably not the best decision by the campaign politically.

But, to be fair, the guy's really just doing what he does. I mean, here he is at the Tom Brady roast a few months ago.The great Jeff Ross, ladies and gentlemen-- Jeff is so Jewish, he only watches football for the coin toss.

Gronk, you look like the Nazi that kept burning himself on the ovens.Kevin is so small that when his ancestors picked cotton, they called it deadlifting.

Yes, yes, of course. Terrible.Boo.Yes.

I-- there's something wrong with me. I find that guy very funny.

So I'm sorry.

I don't know what to tell you. I mean, bringing him to a rally and have him not do roast jokes-- that'd be like bringing Beyoncé to a rally and not have-- oh.

Tony Hinchcliffe out a joke, it bombed, but decided that it would be "Edgy" to say it anyway, because it the MSG rally audience had the comic sensibilities a Hitler Youth rally, and Jon Stewart defended it.

F%$# them both.

04 November 2024

Expecting a Long Night Tomorrow

I hope for a Harris win, but I do not expect a Harris landslide.

I still have to decide if I want to cover this sober or not.

More of This

Columbus police officer Adam Coy has been convicted of murder for his shooting of Andre Hill.

Hill was following police instructions when Coy lost his sh%$ and emptied his gun into him.

This is a good thing.  When police are held criminally liable for their crimes, they are less likely to commit crimes:

A Franklin County jury has found a former Columbus police officer guilty of murder and other charges in the December 2020 fatal shooting of an unarmed Black man.

Adam Coy, 48, is guilty of murder, felonious assault and reckless homicide in the December 2020 shooting death of 47-year-old Andre Hill, the Common Pleas Court jury decided Monday.
Karissa Hill, daughter of Andre Hill, reacts as the jury's verdict finding former Columbus police officer Adam Coy guilty of murder and other charges is read Monday in Franklin County Common Pleas Court. Coy was convicted of murder, felonious assault and reckless homicide in the Dec. 22, 2020, shooting death of 47-year-old Andre Hill.

Judge Stephen McIntosh will sentence Coy on Nov. 25, but the only sentence McIntosh can impose is life in prison without the possibility of parole for at least 15 years.

………

The unprecedented conviction marks the first time a Columbus police officer has been found guilty of murder for a death that occurred in the line of duty. Coy and his defense attorneys argued he believed his life was in danger when he shot and killed Hill, believing a silver key ring in Hill's hand was a revolver.

Yeah, his defense was that he is an abject coward and so should be excused for shooting a man to death.

………

Coy went to Oberlin Drive around 1:30 a.m. on Dec. 22, 2020, after a neighbor had called the Columbus police nonemergency number about a silver SUV parked there that had been running on and off for about three hours.  

Coy arrived and spoke with the SUV driver, now known to be Hill. Evidence in the case showed Hill had shown Coy a cellphone and said he was waiting on someone. Coy testified he saw Hill walk up to the door of a neighboring home on Oberlin and knock on the door with no response from inside.  Hill walked back to the SUV, rummaged inside, and returned to the front door of the home, knocking again with no response.  

Coy told the jury that when another officer, Amy Detweiler, arrived on the scene, Coy told her that the situation seemed off, and the two began walking up the driveway and approached the home, where the garage door was open.

Evidence from the trial showed the officers saw Hill inside a vehicle inside the open garage, which had no lights on, and Coy told Hill to come out and show himself.  

As Hill came out of the garage, he had his left hand up holding a lit cellphone. Coy suddenly yelled, “Gun, gun, he has a gun!” before drawing his firearm and firing at Hill four times. Coy testified he saw silver metal in Hill’s right hand.

The metal was Hill’s key ring. He was unarmed.  

Officer Detweiler testified that she raised her gun but did not shoot because she did not see a gun.

Neither Coy nor Detweiler had their body cameras on at the time of the shooting, but they caught the shooting with no audio through a 60-second look-back feature.  

Columbus police fired Coy less than a week after the shooting.  

Jurors in the case did not hear evidence or see body camera footage about how Coy or other officers did not provide Hill any medical aid for about 10 minutes after the shooting because Coy was not facing any charges related to what happened after the gunfire.

Columbus City Council later passed Andre’s Law, requiring city police officers to provide medical aid to someone they wound on or injure while awaiting medics to arrive. Columbus also enhanced police officers’ body cameras, including a two-minute look-back feature that captures audio and video.

Of course, the head of the police union implied that the police will basically engage in a sit-down strike in response, but that's par for the course for police union reps.

Even if you don't think that Coy should be held criminally liable, it is a good thing that he will no longer carry a gun and a badge, because incompetent cowards do not serve the public good.

Get Your Cardboard and Tape Somewhere Else

The Uihleins are big Republican donors, and they own Uline, a company that sells things like boxes, tape, and other packing materials.  

They are one of the giants in the space.

I'm not a fan of their politics, but that's not why I suggest that you shop elsewhere.

I'm suggesting that you shop elsewhere because the Uihleins are conservative rat-f%$#s, but because because they illegally asked their employees how they would vote, and by implication are pressuring their employees to vote the way that the Uihleins want them to vote:

The Republican mega-donors Dick and Liz Uihlein, who are the third largest donors in this year’s US presidential election, have sought information about who employees at their company Uline will be voting for in Tuesday’s ballot.

A screenshot seen by the Guardian shows how employees at the private Wisconsin paper and office products distributor were asked to take part in what was called an anonymous survey to track who the employees were voting for on 5 November.

………

While the button employees are meant to click says the survey is anonymous, the webpage also says that employees “may be asked to sign in”. “This is solely to verify you are a Uline employee and to ensure one submission per person. Your name is not tracked, and your answers remain anonymous.”

Public records show that Dick Uihlein has donated almost $80m to the Restoration Pac in the 2024 cycle, which supports the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and other Republican candidates.

………

The voter survey is particularly significant because Uline’s operations are headquartered in the critical swing state of Wisconsin, which is one of three so-called “blue wall” states that are seen as necessary for Kamala Harris to win the White House. While Joe Biden won Wisconsin in the 2020 race for the White House, Trump took it in 2016, solidifying its status as a swing state.

………

Danielle Lang, senior director of voting rights at the Campaign Legal Center, said she did not believe the request was benign.

“Employers should know to be very careful around pressure on employees, about whether they vote and certainly who they vote for,” Lang said. 

………

“I think that is an implicit recognition of how much power employers can have over employees and the undue influence they can wield,” Lang said.

In Wisconsin, it is also criminal to solicit a person to show how their vote is cast.

A spokesperson declined to answer the Guardian’s question about the results of the survey, which were due by 25 October.

I would also argue that their behavior is a federal crime as well.

Do not patronize Uline.

To quote Billie Ray Valentine from Trading Places, "You know, it occurs to me that the best way to hurt rich people is by turning them into poor people."

Ecch (tweet) of the Day


Have I mentioned that I hate Daylight Savings Time with a burning passion?

03 November 2024

You May Be Able to Get Your McFlurries Again

The USPTO has ruled that McDonald’s restaurants will be allowed to fix their ice cream machines.

Previously, the manufacturer of the notoriously unreliable machines have been using the DMCA to prevent store owners from diagnosing or repairing their machines.

McDonald’s often maligned, seemingly perennially-broken ice cream machines could soon become a thing of the past.

On Oct. 25, the United States Copyright Office granted a copyright exemption that gives restaurants like McDonald's the “right to repair” broken machines by circumventing digital locks that prevent them from being fixed by anyone other than its manufacturer.

The Golden Arches’ vanilla cones, sundaes and McFlurries are all made in machines from Taylor Company, as they have been for nearly 70 years. Back in 1956, future McDonald’s CEO Ray Kroc made a handshake agreement with Taylor to supply milkshake machines as McDonald’s exclusive supplier.

The Taylor company holds a copyright on its machines, and in the past that has meant that if one broke, only its repair people were legally allowed to fix it, according to a 2021 Wired article. This is due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a 1998 law that criminalizes making or using technology, devices or services that circumvent the control access of copyrighted works.  

………

The exemption granted by the United States Copyright Office went into effect on Oct. 28 and was jointly petitioned for by repair-focused website iFixIt and advocacy group Public Knowledge. In 2023, iFixit documented its teardown of McDonald’s machines and said it spat out multiple “nonsensical, counterintuitive, and seemingly random” error codes, but it couldn’t do anything to repair it.

Although the full request wasn’t granted, retail-level commercial food preparation equipment received an exemption that will allow third parties to bypass digital locks on machines for repairs.

Meredith Rose, senior policy counsel at Public Knowledge, said that the Copyright Office’s decision will lead to an “overdue shake-up of the commercial food prep industry.”

The DMCA is a horrible law, it serves primarily to reinforce the corrupt and monopolistic practices of bad actors in our economy, whether it be Taylor, or HP preventing the use of 3rd party toner in HP products, or John Deere's horrible repair policies.

Repeal it.

osh%$

When one talks about potential zoonotic disease transfer, there is one animal that figures prominently, and that is the pig.

So the fact that bird flu has been found in pig is the proverbial big f%$#ing deal:

H5N1 bird flu virus has been found in a pig on a farm in Oregon, the first time the virus has been seen in a pig in the United States, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported Wednesday. A second pig may also have been infected, Oregon authorities later revealed.

………

Pigs are sometimes called a “mixing vessel” for flu viruses, because they can be infected with both bird flu viruses and human flu viruses. If the animals are co-infected at the same time with two or more viruses, the viruses can swap genes, potentially creating a hybrid virus that is better able to spread to and among people than bird flu viruses typically are. This phenomenon, called reassortment, is what gave rise to the 2009 H1N1 pandemic.

Because pigs can play this role, flu experts have been worried that the H5N1 virus currently spreading in cows in the United States could make its way to pigs — though any version of the H5N1 virus in pigs would be an unwelcome development.

Best evidence right now is that the 1918 influenza strain originated from bird that was subjected to a porcine "Shake and Bake" before jumping to humans.

This is not good.

Damn

I have been following the story of this technology for over 40 years, and it looks like the liquidation of Reaction Engines has put a steak in the heart of pre-cooled hypersonic engines.

The short version is that there is an heat generated when supersonic flow is slowed down to subsonic speeds in an engine inlet, and at around Mach 5, the air becomes too hot to burn.

One solution is supersonic combustion, but another, first pursued as HOTOL in the 1980s, the idea was to use the cryogenic temperatures in the fuel to cool down the intake air to manageable temperatures.

At higher altitudes, it would transition to a conventional rocket motor.

Given the higher fuel efficiency of the air breathing engines, on the order of a factor of at least 10, this could promise better performance and potentially a single stage to orbit platform.

Well, I thought that it was cool, but it's gone now:

Aerospace specialist Reaction Engines has gone into administration, potentially taking with it the dreams of hypersonic aircraft powered by its hybrid air-breathing rocket engine tech.

The company is a privately owned engineering research biz that operated for more than 30 years. Its major focus was the development of SABRE (Synergetic Air Breathing Rocket Engine), said to combine the fuel efficiency of a jet engine with the power and high speed offered by rockets.

It had been hoped that SABRE would lead to a new generation of hypersonic spaceplanes, but on October 31, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) was appointed as administrator after the company was unable to secure further funding.

………

SABRE is an exotic design, described as an air-breathing rocket engine. It allows an aircraft to take off from a runway as normal, then travel at velocities of about five times the speed of sound in the atmosphere. Switching over to liquid oxygen, a spaceplane using SABRE engines was envisioned as accelerating to Mach 25 to go beyond the atmosphere and into orbit.

The innovative precooler technology, one of the three core building blocks of SABRE, was tested in 2019. This is necessary because the air entering the engine would otherwise be hot enough to melt steel, thanks to the effects of friction and compression. Testing of the core engine components and preburner took place during 2020 and 2021.

Visitors to the Reaction Engines website will find the home page redirects to PwC, but the rest of the site still appears to be up, including pages on the SABRE engine technology.


 

02 November 2024

It's 2 November

And I am sitting outside in Centerville, Maryland, and it is 61°F, and the sky looks

Like this:


This is not normal November weather.

01 November 2024

Yeah, That Will Fix Their Problems

I am not a big fan of most DEI programs.  This is not because I think that anti-discrimination policies are unimportant, but because I think that such policies are very important.

I think that most DEI programs are ineffective, the training does not make people less bigoted, so all they serve to do is provide employment for DEI professionals within the company and contracts for DEI consultants from outside the company.

From an organizational perspective they are more about checking boxes to reduce liability than anything else.

An effective DEI program is not about training, nor is it about raising awareness.  An effective DEI program should be punitive in nature, because potentially harassing and abusive employees will behave properly if they believe that there is a credible possible of negative consequences, firing and demotion.

It should be about deterrence, not about trying to make everyone love each other.

That being said, the decision by Boeing's CEO to shut down their Diversity Equity and Inclusion office is about as close to rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic as one could get.

Boeing Co. has dismantled its global diversity, equity and inclusion department, making it the latest high-profile corporation to make changes to its DEI policy as its new top leader oversees a broader revamp of the company’s workforce.

Staff from Boeing’s DEI office will be combined with another human resources team focused on talent and employee experience, according to people familiar with the matter. Sara Liang Bowen, a Boeing vice president who led the now-defunct department, left the company on Thursday.

“The team achieved so much — sometimes imperfectly, never easily — and dreamed of doing much more still,” Bowen wrote in a farewell post on LinkedIn.

Boeing’s new Chief Executive Officer Kelly Ortberg is streamlining the planemaker’s operations and trimming its executive ranks as part of a broader 10% reduction in headcount. The shift also comes as large US companies face increasing pressure from conservative activists to dismantle or downplay their efforts on diversity, equity and inclusion.

The problem at Boeing is white MBAs from Harvard and Stanford and Yale and Princeton 

This is a bullsh%$ action by a bullsh%$ CEO who won't accomplish sh%$ at Boeing.

If he wanted to change things, he'd be firing senior managers, and not posturing over what HR is doing.

First Friday of the Month ╭∩╮(︶︿︶)╭∩╮


Jobs added


Relative Weather Impact


Unemployment Rate
While the unemployment rate was unchanged, there were only 12,000 new non-farm payroll jobs created last month, well under the 125,000-150,000 needed to account for natural workforce growth.

The consensus estimate of 100,000 was also under the replacement level, but not near as bad. 

Obviously, the Boeing strike and hurricanes Helene and Milton had a lot to do with this, but these are very weak numbers:

Job growth slowed sharply last month, with workers sidelined by hurricane effects and the Boeing strike. The report, released just four days before the presidential election, could play a key role in how people view the economy as they head to the polls.

The Labor Department on Friday reported that the U.S. economy added a seasonally adjusted 12,000 jobs in October, versus a September gain of 223,000. That wildly missed even the muted expectations of economists, who had forecast 100,000.

Still, the unemployment rate stayed steady at a historically low 4.1%. That was in line with economists’ expectations.

Hurricanes Helene and Milton put thousands of people out of work across the Southeast, while the Boeing strike took more people off the job. Economists generally reckoned that the bulk of October’s downdraft was temporary, and didn’t affect the larger dynamics of the market. Wages, for example, continued to rise.

………

Still, the report’s timing four days before the election isn’t great for Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign.

Gee, ya think? 

Absolute crap jobs numbers 4 days before the election might be a problem for the incumbent?

………

Over the last several months, the general pace of job growth appeared to be slowing. Then, the September report released a month ago blew past expectations. Economists are now trying to figure out which is the one-off and which is the trend. The noise in Friday’s report makes it difficult to interpret.

Economist Brian Bethune of Boston College estimated that without the effects of the fall hurricanes, the Boeing strike and further adjustments, the October job-creation figure would have been 130,000, instead of the 12,000 the government reported.

Mr. Bethune's number would basically be treading water.

………

The unemployment rate is based on a separate survey of households. Respondents who say they had jobs but weren’t at work because of bad weather are still counted as employed. The same goes for workers with jobs who are on strike.

Some context:

The Boeing strike began in mid-September. The Labor Department’s monthly report on strike activity, released last week, said that there were 33,000 Boeing workers on strike for the entire pay period that included Oct. 12. Friday’s report showed a loss of 46,000 manufacturing jobs, driven by a decline of 44,000 jobs in transportation equipment manufacturing that the Labor Department said “was largely due to strike activity.”

To some degree, the hurricanes’ effects have already dissipated. Initial claims for unemployment insurance moved notably higher in early October, but last week they slipped to their lowest level in months.

Meanwhile, the economy has continued to grow solidly, with the Commerce Department reporting Wednesday that gross domestic product grew at an inflation-adjusted 2.8% annual rate in the third quarter.

Those last two numbers are good.

Now I wonder what the f%$# the Federal Reserve will do when it makes its interest rate decision 2 days after the election. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

………

Even though the economy and the labor market appear poised to keep buttressing one another, there are also limits to how many jobs the U.S. can sustainably keep adding without driving unemployment down to the point that wages start running too hot, noted Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US. Immigration added to the pool of available workers for much of this year. But with the number of people entering the U.S. down sharply since the spring, that supply has been curtailed.

Meanwhile, with population growth slow, more people reaching retirement age, and the share of Americans aged 25 to 54 who are employed near its highest level in a quarter-century, finding qualified workers is no easy chore for companies looking to hire.

That all suggests to Brusuelas that the economy might only need to gain somewhere between 100,000 and 150,000 jobs each month to keep the unemployment rate steady.

I do not know what this means for the economy, nor do I know what it means for the Federal Reserve, but it ain't good political news.

31 October 2024

Headline of the Day

Elon Musk, Who Has Ties to Both Epstein and Diddy, Criticizes People With Ties to Epstein and Diddy
Futurism

You do realize that Elon Musk attempted to embezzle funds to build himself a literal glass house in Texas, don't you?

You cannot make this sh%$ up:

Business magnate and newly-minted political wrecking ball Elon Musk loves to have friends in high places — until those friends happen to be embroiled in widespread sex crime scandals.

In a post re-sharing someone else's meme, the 53-year-old billionaire used the social network X-formerly-Twitter — which he owns, by the way — to once again promote a baseless political conspiracy theory: that people who would have been on "guest lists" for both deceased pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and accused predator and trafficker Sean "Diddy" Combs are Kamala Harris supporters.

Beyond the fact that there's zero evidence the theory is true, what's particularly bizarre about the post is that Musk himself has bragged about being friends with and taking money from Diddy, and has not only been photographed with Epstein's accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell but has also been tied to the dead creep on multiple occasions.

In other words, rudimentary context makes the post look like an epic act of projection.

I pity anyone who works at The Onion.  You simply cannot out-snark reality.

They Are Completely Insane

So Jesse Watters, Bil O'Reilly's former evil minion, and current Fox News anchor has declared that if his wife voted for Kamala Harris, he would consider it equivalent to adultury.

Ignoring the opportunity to snark Mr.Watter's history of cheating on his prior wife with his now current wife, this is completely bat-sh%$ crazy:

JESSE WATTERS (CO-HOST): I don't believe these fake stories that you're saying on television about these guys, that they say that they voted for Trump and now they're voting for Harris because of their daughters. That is such a lie, Harold. I know you and I've met your friends and none of your friends strike me as that lame. And if I found out Emma was going into the voting booth and pulling the lever for Harris, that's the same thing as having an affair. That, to me —

………

PIRRO: Have you threatened her? Why would she lie to you?

………

WATTERS: Why would she do that and then vote Harris? Why would she say she was voting Trump, and then voting Harris, and I caught her and she said "I lied to you for the last four years."

PIRRO: So you admit you intimidate people.
When you have Jeanine f%$#ing Pirro calling you out on this, you have done something very, very, very wrong.

The North Korean Deployment to the Ukraine

A lot of people are looking at this as a sign of desperation by Russia, but the best evidence that the situation is reverse.  Pyongyang is looking at this deployment as payback for the materiel it has supplied Moscow during the conflict.a

The DPRK's military has not had meaningful modern battlefield experience in many decades, and they are looking to learn by participating in this conflict.

Truth be told, this lack of experience in modern near-peer conflict could be said to apply to almost any military in world, with the possible exception of India and Pakistan.

Most other conflict has been some variant of colonial or counter-insurgency conflict, what Captain Edmund Blackadder would describe as a, "Viciously sharp slice of mango," type of war.

Ever since the possibility of North Korea assisting Russia in its war effort emerged in the Summer of 2022, quantifying exactly what that would look like and its downstream effects have been challenging. Now, as indications point to North Korean troops wading into the direct fighting, one aspect of this major geopolitical shift beyond how it impacts Ukraine couldn’t be more clear — North Korea getting real-world combat experience on a modern battlefield alongside a well-versed ally is a very unwelcome development for South Korea and the United States.

The experience aspect of North Korea’s involvement in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is one we have stressed repeatedly, but it’s often overlooked, with the focus being more on the immediate impact an influx of troops could have for the Kremlin’s cause. This is understandable as Russia has experienced heavy losses and Ukraine has as well. Any major infusion of able bodies into the fighting from an external source could erode either side’s ability to compete on the battlefield.

………

With one of the largest standing armies on the planet and the need for cash, energy, and technological know-how for weapons development, North Korea has excess supply to offer when it comes to exporting fighting men in exchange for what it needs and wants. Add security guarantees from the world’s largest nuclear power and technological assistance in advanced weapons manufacturing and it’s clear that Kim Jong Un has every reason to provide Russia with whatever manpower it thinks it needs to turn the tide on the battlefield.

But the fact that under such an arrangement North Korea also gets real-world combat experience is an offering Russia could not provide the Hermit Kingdom during a time of relative peace. North Korea’s isolated forces could use this experience badly.

………

The massive and as ‘realistic-as-possible’ combat exercises South Korea executes alongside its American partners are far more advanced and actually combat representative than anything North Korea is capable of emulating. This is on top of the relatively poor standards of combat training for North Korean regular forces as a whole. So, being able to train with Russian forces and then fight in a real war with the threat of things like standoff guided weaponry, kamikaze drones, electronic warfare, night vision and thermal optics, and so much more, against a very battle-hardened enemy ground force, is arguably a priceless opportunity. The fact that the Ukrainian battlefield has direct similarities with what would exist during a war on the Peninsula is an even bigger plus.

 Foreign and military relations are confusing, neh?

Ecch (Tweet) of the Day


Hell, this may be the Ecch (Tweet) of the year.

It's Thursday ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

It's a very good unemployment report, with initial claims falling by 12,000 to 216,000, the lowest number in almost 6 months, and continuing claims fell by 26 K to 1.86 Million. 

A lot of this is people getting back to work after hurricanes Helene and Milton, though it should be noted that layoffs are up 3.7% year over year.

Meanwhile, PCE prices rose by .3% month over month, a bit higher than expected, which would seem to imply that the Federal Reserve will moderate any rate cutting.  (My guess would be ……… Naah.  Homie won't play that game today.  I should probably never play that game.)

Wages continue to (slightly) outpace inflation, which in my mind is a good thing, though in the mind of the Federal Reserve, not so much.

Not a clue where this all goes.

Deep Thought

I continue to mask to protect myself and my family.

There are good things, like not getting Covid, not getting Long Covid, and not dying. 

There are bad things, like when it chafes, the feeling of moistness on my face, and when a strap snaps.

The worst is when a sneeze catch me by surprise, and I end up ensnoterating my mask.

30 October 2024

Yeah, I Work There

Normally I don't just publish a press release, but Antenna Research Associates is my workplace, so I am posting this without comment:

OceanSound Partners Acquires Antenna Research Associates, a Leading Provider of Integrated Radio Frequency

OceanSound Partners (“OceanSound”), a growth-oriented private equity firm that invests in technology and technology-enabled services businesses serving government and highly-regulated enterprise end-markets, today announced the completion of its acquisition of Antenna Research Associates, Inc. (“ARA” or the “Company”), a leading provider of integrated radio frequency (“RF”) and advanced communications products to the aerospace and defense (“A&D”) end-markets. ARA’s management team, led by CEO Logen Thiran, will continue in their operational roles and as investors in the Company. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

Founded in 1963, ARA enables the U.S. Department of Defense and other national security-focused customers to modernize legacy platforms and deploy next-generation systems that enhance situational awareness, threat detection, and advanced communication capabilities. The Company leverages its over 60-year heritage in electromagnetic spectrum expertise, combined with scaled innovation, engineering, manufacturing, and testing infrastructure to design, develop, and deploy advanced antennas and other mission-critical RF solutions across several use cases, including Communications, Tactical RF, and Radar-Critical Subsystems. ARA’s core differentiation lies in its ability to leverage active electronically scanned array (“AESA”) technology applied in size-, weight-, power-, and cost-constrained applications.

“ARA’s comprehensive RF solutions portfolio is well positioned to address critical U.S. Department of Defense priorities such as the modernization of legacy technology systems and development of lower-cost and high performance unmanned aerial systems (“UAS”) and counter UAS solutions to better manage threats from U.S. adversaries,” said Joe Benavides, Managing Partner of OceanSound. “Since its founding in 1963, ARA has developed a portfolio of over 50 patents used in the delivery of differentiated RF systems and, more recently, innovative products leveraging small form-factor AESA technology to become a leading provider of RF solutions to the A&D market. ARA’s ability to miniaturize their products enables the development of small, low cost, higher-volume platforms such as drones, low earth orbit satellites, man portable communications and other mobile A&D platforms.”

“We are at an important inflection point in ARA’s development and are thrilled to partner with OceanSound, whose expertise in the A&D technology market will be invaluable, to accelerate ARA’s growth and strategic transformation primarily focused on making complimentary investments in and acquisitions of technology solutions,” said Thiran. “As the defense industry continues to demand advanced, low-cost technologies, our team is focused on building sustainable partnerships with customers to develop and deploy cost competitive, high-performance technologies to address the rapidly evolving requirements of the Department of Defense. OceanSound’s partnership approach will enable us to continue fielding innovative solutions leveraging the RF spectrum to better serve the needs of the market.”

“We are excited to partner with Logen and the current management team who have deliberately transformed ARA through targeted acquisitions of technology capabilities and then cross-selling the resulting differentiated solutions portfolio to higher value A&D programs,” said Jeff Kelly, Partner at OceanSound. “ARA’s long history of innovation and its reputation as a trusted technology partner to A&D customers positions the company well to meet the increasing demand to modernize our country’s defense posture. We will work closely with ARA’s management team to enhance the Company’s RF capabilities and customer relationships, that, together with additional strategic acquisitions, will enable ARA to deliver a more complete portfolio of advanced technologies to the A&D market.”

Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP served as legal advisor to OceanSound. Raymond James & Associates, Inc. and Akerman LLP served as financial and legal advisors, respectively, to ARA.

About Antenna Research Associates
Established in 1963, ARA is a leading provider of integrated RF and advanced communications products, including components, assemblies and subsystems, to the aerospace and defense end-markets. ARA maintains deep specialization and differentiation in active electronically scanned array antenna capabilities utilized in size-, weight-, power-, and cost-constrained environments. ARA was founded in 1963 and is based in Laurel, Maryland. For more information, please visit https://ara-inc.com/.

About OceanSound Partners
OceanSound Partners is a New York-based private equity firm that pursues control investments in technology and technology-enabled services companies serving government and highly regulated enterprise end markets. OceanSound employs a partnership approach, working closely with founders, entrepreneurs, and executives of middle market businesses to drive transformational growth. For more information, please visit www.oceansoundpartners.com.

That is all.

Quote of the Day

If Nazis Are Involved, Nazis Are the Lede.
Jamison Foser

He makes what should be the obvious lede in a New York Times article about Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio.

This is what he is referring to:

Nearly two weeks ago, before Donald Trump and JD Vance began lying about Haitian immigrants eating pets, the New York Times ran a lengthy piece headlined “How an Ohio Town Landed in the Middle of the Immigration Debate” that noted “by most accounts, the Haitians have helped revitalize Springfield … But the speed and volume of arrivals have put pressure on housing, schools and hospitals” and attempted to explain both. Sprinkled throughout the narrative is praise for the Haitian immigrants and the effect they have had on the city, as well as criticism – some of it extremely racist. And then way down at the very end of the article, more than 70 paragraphs deep, came this striking image: “On a recent Saturday, about a dozen Nazi sympathizers — masked men in matching red shirts, black pants and boots — waved swastika flags as they marched in downtown Springfield near a jazz festival. At least two of the men, who authorities said were outsiders, carried rifles.”

It was in the 3rd to last paragraph.

More generally, he is talking about how the media in general, and the Times in particular engage in a style of journalism that magnifies the lies:

………

Imagine a man, let’s call him Bob, is standing at a bus stop, waiting for the 5:10. He’s wearing a Dave Matthews Band hat and doing a crossword puzzle on his phone. Now imagine another man, let’s call him Bill, who has twice been convicted of random assaults and just got out of prison, walks up to him and punches him in the face and says “I hate the Dave Matthews Band.”

Would you expect a news report about this assault to focus on Bill’s history of violence, his previous convictions for assaulting people, and his time in prison? Or would you want news reports to focus on the Dave Matthews Band and the polarized reaction to their music? You’d expect a focus on what the assault and Bill’s history of violence say about Bill, right? There are, to be sure, deeply held views both pro and con about the Dave Matthews Band, but the Dave Matthews Band quite obviously is not the story here, right?

Note that this sort of coverage only applies to Republicans.

In 2000, you literally had high school kids showing that the Washington Post and the New York Times misquoted Al Gore in order to reinforce the idea that Gore was a serial liar.

This IOKIYAR coverage of politics is endemic to the national news media, and particularly bad in the Times and the Post.

Only Democrats can have trust issues, only Democrats can tell a lie, only Democratic lies can be called lies, and Nazis are never the lede.

Not Murdered Yet


Mawage

As of today, by the Gregorian calendar, Sharon* and I have been married for 30 years.

By the Hebrew calendar, our anniversary will be on November 11.

I am not surprised that she is still with me, she is, after all, a famously stiff necked woman even by the standards of our famously stiff necked people.

I am a bit surprised that she has not murdered me.  She has not even tried. (It would be a crime of passion, not premeditated, so it would be something like a cast-iron skillet, a knife, a brick, a beading needle, or a plaster of Paris bagel and cream cheese paperweight)

If she had, it would have been completely justified, as my family and friends could attest to.

2 kids, 3 States, 5 domiciles, 7 cats (so far), 11 cars, and two people who have managed to put up with each other for 3 decades.

It's kind of a miracle.

*Love of my life, light of the cosmos, she who must be obeyed, my wife.

29 October 2024

There is Crazy Rich Guy, There is Bond Villain, and Then There Is


Quoting Cerebus………
Elon Musk having a "Compound" for his many children and baby mommies.

He is officially bat-sh%$ insane with an apocalyptic view of the future of the world.

His estranged daughter, Vivian Wilson, nailed it when she said that he, "Want[ed] to seem like the CEO from Ready Player One."

It is notable that the New York Times used the term, "Compound."

Rich people have estates, terrorists have compounds:

On a quiet, leafy street of multimillion-dollar properties, one stands out: a 14,400-square-foot mansion that looks like a villa plucked from the hills of Tuscany and transplanted to Austin, Texas.

This is where Elon Musk, 53, the world’s richest man and perhaps the most important campaign backer of former President Donald J. Trump, has been trying to establish the cornerstone of an unusual family compound, according to four people familiar with his plans.

Mr. Musk has told people close to him in recent months that he envisions his children (of which there are at least 11) and two of their three mothers occupying adjoining properties. That way, his younger children could be a part of one another’s lives, and Mr. Musk could schedule time among them.

Directly behind the villa is a six-bedroom mansion that Mr. Musk helped purchase, according to two of the people and public records. The total cost of both properties was about $35 million. When in Austin, he often stays at a third mansion about a 10-minute walk away, the people said.

Three mansions, three mothers, 11 children and one secretive, multibillionaire father who obsesses about declining birthrates when he isn’t overseeing one of his six companies: It is an unconventional family situation, and one that Mr. Musk seems to want to make even bigger.

Sounds a little bit crazy, huh?

A proponent of in vitro fertilization, Mr. Musk believes strongly in increasing the world’s population. He has even offered his own sperm to friends and acquaintances, including the former independent vice-presidential candidate Nicole Shanahan, according to two people familiar with his offer. Ms. Shanahan turned him down.

Sounds a little bit crazier, huh ?

………

In a biography published in 2015, Mr. Musk worried that educated people weren’t having enough children. “I’m not saying like only smart people should have kids. I’m just saying that smart people should have kids as well,” he said. “I notice that a lot of really smart women have zero or one kid. You’re like, ‘Wow, that’s probably not good.’”

His views seem to echo those of his father, Errol Musk. The elder Mr. Musk, who is 78 and has seven children with three women, praised his son’s “good genes” and desire to have many children.

“You breed horses,” Errol Musk said in an interview in September. “People are the same. If you have a good father and a good mother, you’ll have exceptional children. If you have no children, I feel very sorry for you.”

Yeah, there is a f%$#-ton of racist Apartheid born eugenics and family pathology there, ain't it?

This guy is nuts.

I Voted Early


Not a Long Video

I voted early, and it went very quickly.

Accompanied by my intrepid, if somewhat half-assed cameraman Charlie Saroff, I was in and out in 15 minutes.

I would have been out in 10, but I thought that it would be cool to use the digital marking machine.

I lost 5 minutes waiting for those, and then switched to the old fashioned stations with a pen.

I'm surprised that it went so quickly.

There were 11 early voting stations in Baltimore County, so I went after I picked up my kid at the train station.

Vote early and often.

Quote of the Day

I Dunno, Man, If the Business Model Is Guilting Liberals Into Paying Out of Some Sort of Civic Duty, Then Perhaps They (And I Include Many Journalists in This, Not Just Management) Should Stop Sh%$ting on Those Liberals.
Duncan "Atrios" Black

The New York Times and the Washington Post, among others have been complaining about criticism, the Times Maggie Haberman has suggested that a, "Vast Left Wing Conspiracy," set up to criticize the press.  (The actual quote is, "An industry ……… that is dedicated toward attacking the media," but that is a distinction without a difference.)

The mainstream press has been presenting false balance in response to false claims of journalistic bias from the right, and now that the sane people are pushing back, their feelings were hurt. (And their pocketbooks, but that is another story)

If you cannot call a lie a lie or call a liar a liar, you are not a journalist, you are a stenographer.

28 October 2024

Safely at Oakland International Airport

Probably not noteworthy, except for the fact that our plane was a Boeing 737 MAX 8.

No MCAS issues or fuselage plugs blowing out, so far.

The next leg of the trip is a 737-700.

Heading Back to Charm City

Just found my seat for the flight back.

Obviously, this will be a light posting day.

Posted but mobile.

27 October 2024

The Election is Over

You know how they say that it's all over when the fat lady sings?

This is not true.  It's all over when Insane Clown Posse raps.

In this case, Violent J had endorsed Harris:

In what surely comes as a heartbreaking disappointment to Donald Trump, Insane Clown Posse’s Violent J has endorsed In what surely comes as a heartbreaking disappointment to Donald Trump, Insane Clown Posse’s Violent J has endorsed Kamala Harris for president. Kamala Harris for president.

Speaking with comedian Troy Iwata for a recent segment on The Daily Show, Violent J confirmed that Harris is his preferred pick for the White House, saying “I want her to win because she’s a Democrat, and I love my mom.”

.......

Speaking about why he prefers Democrats to Republicans, Violent J explained, “My mom said the Democrats are saying less taxes on the poor, more taxes on the rich.” When asked about the taxes he pays, he enthusiastically claimed that he pays “up the fucking anus, and I’m happy about it. I pay double what they ask.”

Good.

Posted via mobile.

Epic Retro Hotel Sign

We are staying at this hotel and heading back to Baltimore tomorrow morning.

26 October 2024

This Business Will Get out of Control. It Will Get Out of Control and We’ll Be Lucky to Live Through It.


Cue Freddie Dalton Thompson

Israel has now launched missile strikes against Iran.

This is not, and has never been, about the safety and security of Israel, it has been about Benjamin Netanyahu's determination to stay in power at any cost.

The Israeli army launched airstrikes on military targets in Iran overnight into Saturday, the Israel Defense Forces announced in a statement.

"In response to months of continuous attacks from the regime in Iran against the State of Israel – right now the Israel Defense Forces is conducting precise strikes on military targets in Iran," IDF spokesperson Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari said in a statement released to the media.

………

Several strong explosions were heard in Iran's capital Tehran and the nearby city of Karaj city, Iranian state media initially reported overnight into Saturday.

The New York Times further reported that Iranians said that other explosions were occurring in other cities in Iran, including in Isfahan and Shahid. 

Iran's Fars News Agency reported that according to the information they currently have, the targets of the Israeli attack were military bases in western Iran. It was also reported that there are currently no signs of an attack on nuclear or oil facilities.

This is about Netanyahu wanting to prolong the war to prolong his time in power.

He would destroy the whole world to stay in power and stay out of jail.

For Your Mental Health and Relaxation

Think of this as a way to lower your blood pressure in this crazy world of ours.

We were down in Nescowin, Oregon for a memorial service for my stepmom.

Neskowin is a beach community on the coast of Oregon, and it is beautiful. 

The first post is a video with sound of the ocean on Sunday, followed by panoramic pictures in chronological order, followed by regular pictures in chronological order. 

We came in Friday afternoon, which was beautiful, 18°C and clear, a rarity on the Oregon coast in October. 

It was still that way on Saturday until about 2, when crowds started rolling in, and if anything it became even more beautiful. 

On Sunday, it was rainy and foggy and chilly, but more beautiful still.

Pictures are after the break: