Saturday, December 20, 2014

Ghost guns

Awhile back,  there was this post that linked to these things called "ghost guns", which are untraceable, yet legal guns.  So, I get this brilliant idea that I may be able to make these things and sell them.  They are not legal to sell or transfer though, unless you have a license.  So now I am wondering what it would take to get one of those and whether or not it would be worth it to obtain it.  I'm thinking most likely that the guns will have to be made traceable before they can be sold, though.  Not to mention that I would have to do background checks or obtain the info so that background checks could be made.  What would be the reason why people would buy these guns?

Not to mention that a lot of equipment and expense must go into this first before you sell even one gun.  Something to think about, though.

Update:

I managed to obtain a copy of an application for a license to sell firearms.  What it requires may be rather complex to execute because it requires a physical address, which may be hard to obtain.  Although "da Ranch" is indeed a physical location, the research that I've done so far suggests that it may be hard to obtain what is called an "RFD" set up so that mail can be delivered to "da Ranch".  Without this, it may be hard to do business at "da Ranch", which may necessitate doing business in town, which could prove to be a pain in the neck.  A little more footwork on this may yield a solution, hopefully.

The fee is $90, which expires after 3 years.  Not that bad.

Update:

Further research leads to discouraging words.  Some of what is being sold as not a firearm is actually going to be considered as indeed a firearm, and the work that comes afterwards is just bunk--- meaning trying to fool the public.  In other words, it's a scam.  You get mixed up with this, and you just may be sorry.



Recap of last week's posts 12/20/14



Breakdown by categories:

videos and movies      1
how to                       9
sugar observation       2
energy                          1
politics                        15
misc                           1
space                          2
Financial Markets ( Cheat You Fair)             2

Heavy on the politics, and frankly, I think I got more politics than I care to see for awhile.

Perhaps next week at this time, I will have more posts about energy, space, and my special project at "da Ranch".



Off the grid general remarks

Did a short inventory of the stuff I took out there last time.  I left a heavy duty stake out there by mistake, drat it.

I remembered that I lost track of my wooden handles that would be used for a form to make a hole in the concrete that I was laying.  It reminds me of my tendency of being unorganized.

Cleaned up my shovel, which had a lot of caked up concrete on it.  This made me wonder about the quality of my work. Will the concrete be strong, or will it crumble?  Have to make another trip to find out how it came out.

Here it is, at the end of December, and there's only a little over 5 months left in my lease.  If I am to move by then, I'd better get going.  Except I'm not.

If I move sooner, as opposed to later, I have to get rid of a lot of stuff.  I haven't the foggiest notion of what to do with all this stuff I've accumulated.  If my venture fails, I'd have to get a bunch of new stuff, and get rid of the stuff that I am accumulating for da Ranch.  One idea is to build a shed, but I hear that you need two people for that, and that creates a bit of a dilemma.

Looked further into the getting a temporary storage facility.  I'd like to do a dry run assembly of the trailer.  I want to do some fit and finish work before I go out there.  I did not contact one place that seemed interesting, though.  How long of a lease would be required?  Always some pain in the ass type details, like leases.

Gave some further thought about floor plans.  If I keep it as simple as possible, then I would only use what I've already got.  That would be an air mattress on a Murphy bed type set up.  The air mattress is about 30 inches wide, which is a pretty good fit for what I'm trying to do.  I studied for awhile the hinges on the doors in here.  Perhaps you can make it like a door that swings down from the wall and sits on top of a couple legs that fold out.  Clearance for the freezer needs to be over 30 inches.  A little taller than it would be in width.

None of this has been "dry runned" so that I know that it can work.  It's just ideas at this stage.

The Murphy bed setup looks the best because it will allow the most use of all of the limited space inside that little trailer.  You can store stuff underneath the bed, for example.

I will need area for batteries, so the batteries can go under the bed.  There's an advantage to keeping the batteries inside, because if they get cold, they lose effectiveness.  Sealed batteries would be best because there won't be any hydrogen leaks.

The generator will be stored on the tongue of the trailer and it will be outside.  I haven't given enough thought about the batteries, nor the generator.  Power generation will not be cheap.

Then there's the money question.  How to pay for all this?  The current plan is to sell worm castings, but what if they don't sell?  The sales from the worm castings could pay for the land and the equipment that I have to buy.  That, or I can exhaust my savings down to the last penny, which I really don't want to do.  Always best to leave something in reserve.  There's not enough money to buy all this stuff and buy store bought food and not work and not have an income.  That's the bottom line.  I'll have to wait until I get the government cheese, or make the venture pay for itself, which seems like a tall order with a lot of uncertainty.

Time's running out for the move sooner as opposed to later.  But that has always been a long shot, anyhow.


Falcon 9/Dragon launch rescheduled

Behind the Black blog

The link notes that though SpaceX doubled its launch rate from 3 in 2013 to 6 in 2014, this was still half of what the company had planned.

To borrow a phrase:  "Faster, please."

For His Own Sake, Mark Levin Should Leave the GOP

Free Republic

An informal poll of Free Republic shows them on Levin's side.  If Levin took them with him, the GOP would be hurting for sure.

That's why Levin should do it.  They need to impose real pain upon these people, because they do not fear nor respect the people who put them there.

But I've said it all before.  We're getting past words here, people.


Friday, December 19, 2014

Home again, 12/19/14

Just now getting home, as it has been a long day.  It rained most of the day, so my feet are a bit wet.  Not in the best of moods, but glad to be home.

All during the day, I had these unpleasant thoughts.  Perhaps what kicked it off was the news item that I saw in which the Speaker invited the President to the House for the State of the Union.  Usually, this is no big deal, but we've been hearing how this executive amnesty disregards the Constitution and such, and there was talk that the President would not be invited.  So the Speaker's invitation just looks like another in a series of frivolous moves being made with respect to what Boehner said PRIOR to the amnesty, and what he has done afterwards.  The deeds don't match the words.  That seems to be a pattern.

What about those words?  Do they mean anything at all?  I decided no, that they don't mean anything.  Basically, they are full of crap.  All of them.  All the damned time.

This reminded me of something I read in Herb Cohen's book You Can Negotiate Anything.  It went something like this:  Once you get past the phony tinsel, you get to the REAL tinsel.  Meaning, I suppose, that everything is a bunch of bull.  The deeper you dig, the deeper the bull.

As another example, I know that the media is full of crap.  Now, I've pretty much decided that the so-called conservative media is also full of crap.  For, if they really meant what they said, they would definitely be up in arms over what Obama did.  But they aren't, really.  It's just words.  It's just bullshit.  So, I thought this one joke up, and it made me smile a little.  It goes like this:  You go listen to the MSM and there you get the phony bullshit.  But if you want some real bullshit, go listen to Limbaugh and Company.  For if Limbaugh really believed in what he said he believed in, there'd be a revolution going down.

Why do you suppose Limbaugh gets taken so seriously?  I mean, I took him seriously.  That's why this stuff bugged me so much.  But since I thought up that joke, I realize that it is a waste of time to get angry with them.  Since they are full of crap,  they should be ignored as much as is feasible.  I mean, you have to listen to the news some of the time.  But you aren't obligated to believe any of their bullshit.

But again, why is Limbaugh taken so seriously?  He has always said that he was a "harmless fuzzball".  Yet, he balances that off with things like a claim to be the all knowing all seeing MahaRushie.  Or the doctor of democracy.  Or some other hype meant to promote himself and make himself look SERIOUS, when he is not really.

If you read his first book, perhaps you remember how he fooled somebody in thinking that there was such a thing as a "disgronificator".  He goes on and on about how he got a big kick out of fooling that guy.  So, I wonder how far all of that really goes.  Does he get a kick out of making people take him seriously, when he is really just putting us on?

As for the rest of the people who take him seriously:  do you really want to be taken seriously yourself?  Or is all of this just a big gag made to make you people feel yourselves to be more important than you really are?  If Obama can walk all over you with impunity, you must not be very important at all.

This would have bothered me earlier today, but now, I just shrug my shoulders.  You have to expect something out of somebody in order to be disappointed when they fail you.  If you don't expect much, you won't be disappointed.  The trick here is just to not take them seriously, because they aren't serious people.

Have you ever seen the bumper sticker that says "Since I lost hope, I feel a lot better."  Maybe there's something to that, because I DO feel a little better now.


Update:

Another thing I thought of yesterday was the notion that I had failed.  The blog is a failure and I may as well quit posting on politics.  I would continue with my off grid stuff, but anything having to do with politics would be terminated.

Upon further review, I think I should wait awhile before such drastic action.  But I am thinking about it.


These people are just too much

As you know, I've mentioned the Mahablog before.  Well, she's at it again.  I guess she must have gotten her talking points that originated deep within the bowels of the prog movement.  She's all for capitalism and freedom now!  Yay America!  Yay Capitalism!  Yay Freedom!  The GOP hates these things now.  They hate the Cuban people!  Boo!

What a self serving crock of Bovine scatology.

She's talking about how the embargo "didn't work".  Embargoes do work and this one worked.  It worked against the Soviet Union.  Oh, but those were white guys.  Oops, don't count that one.  Castro isn't doing that well over there, so why bail him out?   Compassion for the people there?  Puh leeze.  The left's only compassion for anybody is for themselves.  All they are interested in is some angle to aggrandize themselves at someone else's expense---particularly YOURS.  You can bet your sweet bippy that that's all they are interested in here, NOT in helping Cuba's people.

She's probably right that the public won't care.  Hell, you can't even get the GOP to care about anything anymore.  Hey, if the money's good...


Hacking news

Computer hacking is in the news today.  You know, it may not seem like it, because I seldom discuss it, but I do have a degree in Computer Science.  Even with this degree, this hacking stuff puzzles me.  It puzzles me on one level and it doesn't puzzle me on another.

The way that it puzzles me is why it should be a problem at all.  If these people got serious, there wouldn't be any hacking threats.  Just couldn't happen.  It's like robbing banks.  If you try to rob a bank in this country, you WILL be caught.  There's no other crime that gets committed that has a higher solution rate.  Rob a bank, and you are going to jail.

The same can be said of hacking.  If the powers-that-be cared about this, there wouldn't be any hacking.

I remember reading some discussion about Windows once.  Windows is inherently unsafe and unsecure, it was said.  This is not a bug, but a feature.  It allows easy access to anybody's CPU.  That's why it is unsafe.  There's no way that should be allowed to happen, but the software system was made that way in order to facilitate commerce.  Therefore, the powers-that-be care more about money than they do about your security.  Kinda like solving murders v solving bank robberies.  The government knows where its priorities are.  Your safety and security is not one of them.

One of these days, I am going back to programming computers.  But it won't be with Windows.  I don't know what kind of development platforms are available in Linux, hopefully it is robust.  Otherwise, I see no personal solution for this crap.


Manipulation of the markets?



Fed Cat Bounce: Stocks Soar Most In 3 Years As Crude Crash Continues


Thursday, December 18, 2014

Trailer concept F.0 ( Murphy bed frees up floor space )

Prev  Next

The next in the off-the-grid construction sub series.

Yet another floor plan!  I had better get this out of my system before I start building the thing.  You can erase a blueprint, but once the wood is cut, it is cut.  Once you nail something in, it 's nailed in.  Better have this settled out before building.

This system allows for a Murphy bed, which will fold up when not in use.  That way, the rest of the trailer can be used for maximum advantage.  The bed itself can be twin sized and be as strong as I want to make it, because I probably won't find what I need in a store, so I'll have to make the thing myself.  It can be made strong enough to hold a horse, if I want to sleep with one of those.  Hardy har har.

I'm figuring on some finishing touches, like privacy screen for the toilet and shower.  What delicacy!  What considerateness!

Also, I'll put the toilet in its own little storage box so it doesn't gross out anybody when they see it.  When you need to use it, just pull it out on rails.  Push it back in when through.  Since the toilet will have a ventilator on at all times, bad odors should end up outside, thank goodness.

The shower will fold down like a Murphy bed.  It will fit over the rails where the toilet is when it is in use.  What an economy of space!  Yep.  It is a crowded little old trailer, but it just might do me good.



Updated estimates of cost is well under $10 grand.  I'd like to see if anybody can do better.



Earthworm castings business

This looked like it might be a good thing, but it became a little discouraging yesterday when I checked into it.  Why?  Selling price looks too cheap.

You need lots and lots of this stuff.  The trouble is: there won't be time to make enough of it in order to make it worthwhile.

Let's do some quick math here.  I think that the 10 gallon container in the video has enough worms to produce maybe a pound per day.  If each pound can be sold for 30 cents, you'd need about 100 of these to produce just 30 bucks worth of castings.  It may take hours to pull off that 100 lbs worth of castings.  Maybe you can do this all day and make maybe 30 bucks, I don't know.

You'd have to find a market for your castings.  You'd have to ship it out.  There's the business end to manage as well as the production end.

Let's say you sold a ten pound bag online for 5 bucks plus s&h.  Would there be a market for it?  Shipping a ten pound bag even by regular mail won't be as cheap as the stuff itself.  Would people pay to receive this online and why?

Here's somebody selling it for 10 bucks for a 4 lb bag.  Now that is more like it.  But what's the market for it?  Can you sell this stuff?  Can you get a reasonable price for it?



What should conservatives do?

I like to say that this blog is about solutions.

Well, if you agree that we have a political problem in this country, and you believe that the problem is with an out of control government, then the solution is a more conservative leadership.  You get that by electing conservative leaders.  How do you get conservative leaders?  Well, you don't nominate moderates, and you certainly don't re-elect them like we just did.  Wouldn't that help?

How? Well, that the crux of the problem, isn't it?  How does a guy like Romney get the nomination when so few in his party actually liked him?  It seems to me that the conservative base just isn't organized, thus can be easily defeated.  You can almost see that start happening again.  Romney starts talking about running, and then Bush throws his hat in.  Do the conservatives really want this kind of nominee?  But, unless the conservatives get organized and present enough of a force to stop this kind of thing, this is what will happen.  You'll get another moderate running and he will definitely lose.  Even if he wins, he may as well be a Democrat.  Conservatives, who make up the majority of the GOP, somehow can't get one of their own nominated.

The solution?  Get organized and united.  The chances of this happening?  Probably near zero, unless something changes drastically and soon.

Well, like a lot of things, the solutions are simple.  Implementation is the difficult thing.


Is Limbaugh a problem?

I don't like bashing Rush, I really don't.  It only helps the liberals, why help them, for heaven's sake?

What I am bashing is this:  Rush won't do anything meaningful about the rift between the so-called moderates in the party and the base.  I don't think you are going to get them ( meaning moderates ) to change anything or to oppose anything.  So why ally yourselves with them?

Make the break complete, I say.  Sure, you risk losing elections, but what have you won with this latest victory?  These "victories" are hollow and meaningless.  You may as well be losing anyway.  Better to run on what you believe in and secure victory for that, than to water down your proposals until they mean nothing at all.

The moderates don't believe in anything.  Separate yourselves from them.

But all Rush wants to do is to criticize them.  That's really not going to work.  The moderates will sell out and you are left with nothing anyway.


Hatred is okay with liberals, as long as it is a white guy

U Michigan Department Chair: We Should ‘Hate Republicans’

A University of Michigan department chairwoman has published an article titled, “It’s Okay To Hate Republicans,” which will probably make all of her conservative students feel really comfortable and totally certain that they’re being graded fairly.  

Perhaps it would be good to consider to remove funding for any organization that tolerates hate speech like this.  Oops, I think they may already do this, except it is the wrong people and wrong color.

Did Ted Cruz really bungle the lame-duck session for Republicans? | WashingtonExaminer.com

The balance of the evidence suggests that he didn't. The GOP really doesn't want to oppose Obama.



"They can give us consents more easily now because they know Cruz will be blamed. There is less pressure on them to hold out and actually force us to run clocks. So that's why I say it is certain that we will walk away with more nominees confirmed than if Cruz had not done what he did."
It is easier to blame Cruz than to actually oppose Obama.  That's how I read it.  The blame game is designed to help give the GOP cover to cut and run, which is what they wanted to do anyway.



Wednesday, December 17, 2014

What I'd like to see in a POTUS candidate

My wishlist:

  • Accountabilility should be restored and made a permanent fixture of our society.
  • There should be a return to the land type movement, which would include assistance in homesteading.
  • Taxes should increase on corporations and nation states, decrease on individuals.
  • To ensure probity in our political system, political donations must be sharply limited and paid only by individuals who choose to do so.  ( Barry Goldwater proposal of many years ago. )
  • The growth of government must be curtailed and turned back.
  • Reforms in elections must take place.  Nobody should be able to run without a sponsorship.  No individuals are to be allowed to run for any office on their own capacity alone.
  • Presidential powers should be reduced and spread out to other entities in the government. 
This would be a nice start.  Other things, like an economic program should also be considered.  That would be one in which nuclear power is enabled and space travel is highly encouraged.

The odds of any of this happening?  Zero, unless something starts changing and fast.


A little preliminary footwork on Donald Trump

Donald Trump as President?  I didn't like the idea before, but I may reconsider.

Here's a couple posts that I can find on this blog.  I am sure that there is more, but Google seems to block out relevant posts that I want to search on my own blog.

  • Robert Ringer: Our Most Dangerous Enemy  Ringer says that we've met the enemy and they is us.  Trump is only mentioned in passing.
  • Birtherism and Trump  Is Trump a conservative? The risk here is that you vote for somebody who doesn't defend your values.  But he can win.  He's different from the Establishment ( maybe ).
Trump has the financial independence and familiarity that many candidates would love, but as a man, and as a potential president, I'd say he'd been a desperation choice.

He doesn't have the temperament.  He doesn't have a program.  He's not a conservative.  Another mark against him is his age, he will turn 70 in 2016.

Okay, that's it.  No reason to look at Trump, unless he is the only alternative.  He may be useful as a Stalking Horse for conservatives to use against the Establishment candidate.  That's a thought.


Jeb Bush: McCain/Romney or Giuliani/Huntsmann?

Powerline

we can say that there’s about a 50 percent chance that the establishment (overlooking the immense unpopularity of the last Bush presidency) will make Jeb Bush its preferred candidate and that there’s a 40-50 percent that the establishment’s preferred candidate will be nominated.---Paul Mirengoff 

I may be slow in getting this, as it is beginning to appear that our choices are already made for us, and we are only there to ratify what has already been decided.  What can those who say that they hate this do about it?

You can sit out and not vote.  You can vote for a minor party.  Or you can try to form your own party.

I can't see giving up my vote.  It's the only thing we've got that we can use on these people.  That is, aside from outright rebellion.  Outright rebellion is a last resort.  I'm not convinced we are at that point, but if people don't wake up, it is the only viable choice on the table.

Bottom line is that there should be ZERO chance that Bush could be nominated.  Somehow, that message needs to be transmitted to people who are controlling things.

They don't listen to us because we are not giving them any reason to.  They push buttons and we respond like Pavlov's dog.


Jeb Bush “actively exploring” a run at the Presidency

Legal Insurrection



comment:



Can these people be that obtuse?  I'm thinking perhaps not.  The real purpose of this is to be a stalking horse for any conservative who decides to run.  The same was probably true for Romney and McCain.  There's no seriousness here.



Another Bush?  Are you kidding me?




Ted Cruz gives his side of the story

The one about Harry Reid getting more nominations in was not so, says Cruz.  Come to think of it, that sounds plausible, because there's nothing to prevent that now.  The filibuster was taken away.

Cruz also points out something else that is plausible.  He says all of the GOP members who voted with him are up for reelection.

Just goes to show you that the outcome of the election is being disregarded.  They are also trying to trash Cruz, and it succeeded.  Cruz was indeed made to look bad, and I'm sorry to say that I fell for that.

Not that I am especially enamored of Cruz.  But he's got to be better than those who are attacking him.


Tuesday, December 16, 2014

Gravestone doji

Japanese candlestick analysis is but one of many methods to read the financial tea leaves as a manner of speaking.  Just noticed a gravestone doji pattern in both the stock market and the gold market.

What does it mean?  Nothing good, I don't think.  Doji patterns indicate indecision---the market doesn't know what it's direction is to be.  In this pattern, it starts and ends at about the same price, but has a rally intraday.  Clearly, the rally will not hold, so this is not good.

Here's today's chart, courtesy Yahoo.  Note the rally and the opening and closing prices.

The Japanese Candlestick pattern for this would look like a horizontal line connecting the open and close, with a line going up to the high.  It looks like a gravestone, hence gravestone doji.

The fundamentals behind all of this is the FED.  If the FED attempts to normalize interest rates, the party is over and a bear market should ensue.

We'll see.

Update:

The gravestone doji analysis just died big time. What can I say?  These things are not science.

Update:

There's a press release from the FED which suggests that normalization of interest rates won't be happening soon.  That's what probably moved the markets yesterday.  It only proves that the markets are addicted to easy money.  The easy money has to end sometime.  Evidently, not now.


Can earthworms eat sawdust?

Yes, according to The Earthworm Farm article.

In order to make a home for your earthworms, you need a medium for them to swim in. There are a couple of choices here. The hardcore gurus use Canadian Peat Moss, which you can get at hardware stores. Peat Moss is lightweight, making it easy for the worms to swim around, but costs money, and has very little food value to the worms. Shredded cardboard, paper, or leaves is popular as well. My favorite is sawdust, or stove pellets.[emphasis added]---Ronnie Ugulano
Another good source of info for raising earthworms.


Next Big Future: Massive space colonization and industrialization i...

Next Big Future: Massive space colonization and industrialization is within reach by 2030s...: There was a NASA analysis of a minimized technological approach towards human self sufficiency off earth. We can now look at building up from the basic level with likely new space capabilities Spacex Heavy launches with some level of reusability, Bigelow expandable space stations and Spiderfab.


comment:

In my series about mining asteroids, I think I may have pointed out that there has to be a raison d'être for these type of projects.  I hold that mining asteroids could be made profitable if there exists a will to do so.  A profit can provide the motivation that leads to a development of such willpower.  Otherwise, without a raison d'être, this is all mental masturbation.  Nobody is doing this.


Hudspeth County, Texas

Interesting facts about the place:

It covers 4572 square miles, larger than the states of  Delaware and Rhode Island, and very close in size to Connecticut.  It's population is less than 1 per square mile, which is less than the average for the state of Alaska.  The county was organized in 1917 as a separate entity from El Paso.  The county's per capita income is one of the lowest in the United States, according to the Wikipedia.  There are 4 school districts.  Interesting to note that the high school that I graduated from has more students than this entire county.  Even more striking is that the population of that high school may have exceeded the entire population of Hudspeth county.

Why would I go there?  Land's cheap there.  You sure don't go there to make money.  Neither am I.


More planning for living on da Ranch

Once I leave town for da Ranch, I'll need an income source.  I've considered raising chinchillas and now tilapia.  However, there are downsides to each.  Raising chins for pets may be an idea, though.

One idea that looks promising is raising earthworms that feed upon Spirulina.  Both are prodigious in their growth rates and can support each other.  For I think that the worms can eat the Spirulina because it is accessible to them.  The worm castings can be sold as fertilizer, hence an income.  This may be the way to get started.  Then, it may be possible to move on to something a bit more challenging, like raising chins.

As for the actual move, I figure that I may need a transition of some kind.  I really can't work in this apartment.  One thing I could do is to rent a storage space to assemble the trailer.  However, I don't want to pull it out there, so I will have to disassemble it, and then assemble it all over again once I get there.  The purpose of all that extra work is to prepare some of the pieces so that I know that they will fit when I get out there.  I don't want any nasty surprises.  I'm pretty sure some holes will need drilling.  In addition, I may have to substitute longer bolts so that they will fit through the 2x4's, as well.  Some of the hardware will have to be changed, and other parts will have to be fitted to make sure that they will work with each other.  Once I am assured of that, then it can disassembled and stored away for that time when I am ready to go.

Now the point of the earthworm discussion comes into play:  If I can be assured of a market for my worm castings as fertilizer, I can consider an early move.  I cannot sustain a long term cash burn, you see.

This requires more thought, but I am running out of time for the earliest possible move would be in late Spring.  Besides, the nod hasn't been given for that yet.


Monday, December 15, 2014

More on the supposed breakup of the Union

Saw something on Maha's blog that hinted the same theme.   Now these guys on the left really don't know their vulnerability.  Their problem is bigger than the South.

Here's their proposition:  they want to split, but their populations are on isolated islands in the big cities.  With their world view on such issues as war and piece plus energy, how the heck are they going to run these energy intensive areas?  You can't put windmills and solar panels in New York City.  War and Peace?  Where do these social justice warriors going to come from when they kicked out the people who are likely to man the battalions?  How are they going to reproduce when their access to  the red states is cut off?  They need people, how are they going to get them if they are aborting them or having same sex relationships?

They need all these things, but somehow they think they can do without them.  A breakup of the Union would be sheer folly for them.

What would stop the red counties from seceding from their blue states?  Does the secession only work one way?  How do they stop it if they don't believe in force?

It doesn't work.  Sheer lunacy.


How to Farm Tilapia for Food, Fun, Fertilizer & Profit 9-5-13

Prev   Next

This will go into the off-the-grid  raising food subseries.

There is a full course on how to raise Tilapia for a couple hundred bucks.  Below is a video, and there are several more, but I won't put those up.






Raising Earthworms

Prev     Next

This post can go into the off-the-grid subseries raising food.

Here's several videos describing how to do this.  The reason you do this is to enrich the soil.  It is excellent to add to soil.  You can feed the worms to fish, if you have them.  Maybe to chickens, too?  Books about raising worms.


The first two videos by David Ramsey












The next describes how to collect the worm castings, By GardeningFriends.





More climate hocus pocus

More from Free Republic...

This business about climate change is pure hocus pocus.  The very idea that--- a gas that is just 1/25th as prevalent as it is on Mars, which has an atmosphere "too thin" to affect its climate, could have an adverse affect on Earth's climate-- strains the credulity of even the local Village Idiot.

Mars' atmosphere is 1% of the Earth's, and is almost all carbon dioxide.  The Earth's concentration of carbon dioxide is just 400 parts per million.  If you multiply this number by 25, you get 10,000.  Ten thousand is 1% of a million.  So, how does an atmosphere on Mars that is too thin there to cause warming when present at 1% of our level going to be a problem for us here at only 1/25th of that amount?  Nonsense!!!

The real greenhouse gas on Earth is water, but you can't do anything about that.  It covers 3/4 of the Earth's surface.  Besides, you'll never convince anybody that water is going to be a threat anyway.  But only if it melts!  Why isn't there a complaint about too much water?  Simply because you can't do anything about it, and nobody would believe you anyway.

Carbon is easier even if it doesn't have a damned thing to do with the climate.  They're after the money.


Breakup of the Union? Not a chance

Saw this on Free Republic.  It outlines a future scenario in which the United States splits up into two countries:  Red America and Blue America.

That's the way that people vote, but it isn't an organizational practicality.

If Red America wanted to secede, it would be a different matter.  The Red areas control the food.  Blue areas are in the cities.  The cities aren't viable without the Red areas which support them.

In fact, Blue America would be indefensible.  It isn't a serious idea at all.   Besides, why would Blue America secede?  They pretty much run things anyway.  The Red states could stop that if they chose, but they don't.

The question should be is will the Red States decide to depart?  However, the Red States should think twice about that.  The high tech regions are still in California, which is a Blue state.  Red states could survive, but that's about it.

It's a dumb idea.


Timetable revisited

On the last post with this title, I speculated upon an early move out west.  This has been on my mind recently, and I've come to the conclusion that it is rushing things too much to go soon.  By soon, I'm referring to the end of my current lease, which is at the end of May.  It looks like I'll be staying here unless something happens in the interim that changes that plan.  Progress is too slow and there's just too many complex things that have to be done.  All of this will have to work, too.  The further out from retirement age, the more likely I'll run out of money.  In order to minimize risk, I think the earliest I can leave will be in early 2016.

This will be the initial post of the new subseries in the general category.  The referring post from the overall series is called Walking Away.  The next post begins here when it is ready.



Sunday, December 14, 2014

Watching the play "Hamlet"

It is a flick that is free for the watching by clicking on this site and then clicking upon the name of the movie.

It's fascinating, as Spock would say.  Patrick Stewart plays in it.  You know who that is, of course.

Before you roll your eyes, just think for a moment.  How many lines seem apt for some reason, particularly this one:
Something's rotten in Denmark.

Indeed!  But what do you do about it?  Like Hamlet's soliloquy, you don't seem to know.  Anyways, I'm a little over a third of the way through.  Thought I'd let you in on what I'm doing.

Update ( Mon. morn )

Hamlet is beset by indecision.  His indecision cost lives.  How?  ( assuming this production followed the play closely ---btw, I never read it nor saw it before )

He had a chance to kill the usurper, but stopped himself.  If he does that, the consequences fall upon him only.  As he hesitates, the situation gets more complex until it is out of control.  People start dying.

I think the play is a lot like our current political situation.  Those in best position to do something about "what's rotten in Denmark" are hesitating.  Eventually, things may be set right, but the delay is going to be costlier and costlier as time rolls on.   Yes, and people may die when things get out of control.

Let's be clear:  I'm not talking about assassination here.  We're not even to the point with many of these people that something's wrong, much less the need to do something about it.  The few of those who are left are clinging to the past, which is giving way to a future of some kind or another.  That future is what they should be concerned about.


Next Big Future: Integral Molten Salt Reactor targeting late 2016...

Next Big Future: Integral Molten Salt Reactor targeting blueprint stage in late 2016...: Terrestrial Energy Inc. ("TEI" or the "Company") announces that it has entered into a Letter of Intent for services ...This arrangement includes research and development work that is required to bring the company's Integral Molten Salt Reactor (IMSR) to the engineering blueprint stage, expected in late 2016.


comment:

Looks good.  I've been impressed with these guys.  They'll probably have something commercially available in less than a decade.


Here you go

Ace says exactly what I've been saying.  But I already did it.

I do think conservatives should seriously consider my suggestion that we pick 10 or 12 (I'm upping the number) Republican Congressmen and absolutely tank them in 2016. First, they get a primary, and if the primary fails to dislodge them, we give the seat to the Democrats. We actively vote for the Democrat.--- Ace

You can't just let this stuff go anymore.  You have to do something.


Wapo: Senate approves $1.1 trillion spending bill

Sen Cruz and Lee fail to slow down amnesty and the tactic backfires.

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said Democrats whom he spoke with on the Senate floor were pleased with the ultimate outcome, despite the weekend session. “The White House is going to end up with far more nominations confirmed than they ever would have,” he said.
Obviously, the tactics need to be rethought.  Cruz looks dumb here.  That's probably the idea.  Cruz shouldn't get brownie points for trying.  You should only get rewarded when you get results.  He got outsmarted.