Saturday, February 6, 2016

An idea with problems, but it just might be worth thinking about.

Today was the kind of day where I was thinking and thinking hard.

It is about a final plan to make the move.  I've been back and forth on it, it seems.  I talked to somebody about renting out a space in El Paso, but the conversation was not favorable to my proposition.  Naturally, I would expect some hesitation, and also with this next idea.

The thought was if a storage location is 24 hour, how do they know when you are there, and what you are doing there if they are gone?  See what I mean?  If they knew you were sleeping in one of their storage locations, they'd probably object.  But then, maybe they aren't that interested in finding out what you're doing as long as you are quiet about it.

I don't want to sneak around, but maybe that is the only way right now.  And maybe the only way to go forward.

Naturally, you cannot expect the comforts of home.  It would be a Spartan existence, to say the least.  Some may say "crazy".  They may be right.

Basically, I would live out of the vehicles.  They would be parked in one big, covered spot.  There looks to be enough room to put a few other things as well, but I plan on removing them piece by piece over time.

No electricity, no water.  It probably has some lighting.  I figure I can handle no water.  But no heating without electricity.  No a/c without electricity either.  That would be the biggest problem.

Something to puzzle over for awhile longer.  It may not be a practical idea.  But it seems to have most of what I need.  Sufficient space, 24 hour access.  The rest may be dicey, though.


Blown In Insulation, Spray Foam Insulation - Bob Vila

Blown In Insulation, Spray Foam Insulation - Bob Vila: There are different methods for spraying different kinds of blown insulation into the walls, attics, and floors of your home.



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I'd have to find somebody who'd be willing to insulate something unconventional, to say the least.



Also, this isn't necessarily cheap.  Nothing is, it seems.



Update:

Here's a how-to video ( Bob Vila ), that shows the installation of blown-in cellulose insulation:




I'd only consider this for the RV conversion, but not the van I'm driving now.

Update:

One more video demonstrating how to do this.



Update:

Note:  I'd think that this woman would not be happy with that still pic.

Anyway, this procedure may not be too good for vehicle conversions.   Better for the shack.  Maybe.


Heck, this one can now go into the construction subseries of the off-the-grid main series of posts.

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Rubio Immigration Record - Eagle Forum

Rubio Immigration Record - Eagle Forum: To win in the 2010 Tea Party Wave, Rubio ran as the anti-amnesty candidate despite an aggressive pro-amnesty record.

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Here it is, in bold relief, Rubio's betrayal of his promises.  Not only once, but again, and again, and again.

This is why I wouldn't vote for Rubio even if he ran against Sanders.  At least Sanders is honest about who he is.  You know what you are getting.  Rubio v. Hillary?  Hillary and Rubio are opposite sides of the same coin.  Personality wise, they are identical twins.  Both will say ANYTHING to win.

Rubio should be considered toxic to the GOP.  The only reason he isn't, is because they don't know what the hell he is.


Friday, February 5, 2016

Obama Quips That New Low Unemployment Number Is 'Inconvenient' For Republican Candidates

Then let the Fed raise rates.

No!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That might hurt this mighty economy.

Update:

Actually, the line that the economy is still weak is not really going to work politically.  I think it is really weak, but it may not play out well in the election.

There were jobs created in the report.  However, the economy isn't really growing very much.  Not to mention that it is largely built on leverage that will fall like a house of cards once the support is removed.

The economy is fragile.  It is also galling that Obama is taking credit for oil prices when he fought against Keystone and fracking.  The thing that is really working has little to do with him.



I was wrong. Rubio isn't an asshole.

He's what comes out of one!


Not only this, but also ICBMs

Here's an article saying that ballistic missiles can be shot down by "howitzers".

Sure, why couldn't they?  All you need is where to intercept, and by golly, you can do it.  Today's computers can calculate the trajectory and launch an intercept that will knock down a shell.

So, why can't they do this as a terminal defense for an incoming ICBM?

There's no reason they couldn't.  Most people don't get this because they don't know how nuclear bombs work.  You won't make it explode if you destroy the warhead.  Nope, you KEEP it from exploding.  It gets its power by being confined in a small area.  If you "blow it up", you prevent it from becoming as dangerous.

I'm convinced the idea could work and make ICBMs obsolete.

Powerful lasers may be even better.  The incoming warheads are at their most vulnerable as they approach their final target.  Melt the warhead and it breaks apart.  A ground based laser can be fired at the warhead and kept on it until it begins to break up.  When it is time to explode, it becomes a dud.

The Hunter Gas Gun can definitely hit it with an awful amount of force that cannot be defended against.

It is taken for granted that an ICBM attack cannot be defended against.  But that's wrong.


U-Haul Truck Sales®: 10' GM Savana box truck for sale in Houston, TX, 77066

U-Haul Truck Sales®: 10' GM Savana box truck for sale in Houston, TX, 77066: 10' GM Savana, box moving, business, work, and delivery truck for sale in Houston, TX, 77066 at U-Haul Truck Sales at Antoine Dr. Maintenance and repair history available as well as truck specifications.

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This is a bit crazy, but I gave this another brief thought this morning.   It made me think.  This van I'm driving now is wholly unsuited for making an RV.  It may be possible to do so, but it just isn't big enough.  This 10 foot box van is also a bit too small, but at least you can stand in it.  It is also square, which makes it a lot easier to work around.

Trouble is, I'd have to pay for it, and insure it.  Too much money.  Since I am considering going back to work in the delivery biz, I could keep driving the van, and then replace it with one like this when I am ready to move.

Put it on the back burner along with the move itself.

Update:

Idea is OUT.  Too many complexities.

This post will go in the general subseries of the off-the-grid main series of posts.

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Losing the argument to the warmists

We accept their premises.

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Here, here!  Indeed, that's the entire problem of the so-called right in a nutshell.  If they make up their minds to oppose the left, they can win.   But the so-called right cannot make up its mind.  So, they keep giving in.

The left has no such problems.  They have made up their minds, and they keep going after what they want.

Arguing with them doesn't work.  Fighting them might.  You can't guarantee the outcome if you fight, but if you don't fight, you will certainly lose.


Thursday, February 4, 2016

Dick Morris' podcasts

Whether or not you agree with Morris, politics is his profession.  So, it is a good idea to listen to what he has to say.

His podcasts give a thorough analysis of what is going on in the races, and it is profitable to listen to them if you have the time.

Who does Morris like?  On the GOP side, he doesn't say a whole lot of bad stuff about Cruz.  Frankly, I find it a bit hard to believe he could actually like Cruz, because I figured Morris to be quite moderate.  Cruz has the rep for not being all that moderate, you see.  I want to be careful though.  Morris isn't explicitly for anybody, so what I'm saying here is like reading between the lines.  There's nothing explicit about Cruz.  Just that Cruz doesn't seem to have problems that the others seem to have.  Rubio has them.  If you listen, you may hear something new that you didn't hear before.  Trump has a problem, but Morris doesn't have a feel for what it is just yet.

On the Democrat side, Hillary has got big problems.  But she may win anyway.

He doesn't say a whole lot bad about Sanders, but that doesn't necessary mean he thinks Sanders will win.

It is a shame about Trump.  I get the impression that he just doesn't want it very badly.  You really have to want to be president.  You have to have a reason for being president.  It's not to bask in the glory of it, but something bigger than self.

Trump is starting to be a disappointment.  If he doesn't turn things around, he is going down.  That's not from Morris.  That's from me.


What a ripoff

Starting on my taxes recently.  As I have written before, I've got an ETF "short" position in stocks.  That is to say, the stock is a derivative that gets its value from the stock market.  It is supposed to go up when stocks go down, and vice versa.

On a trade like this in 2007-2009, I made a good profit on such a trade, but not this time.  I figured that the market would go down back in 2013, but it didn't.  It kept going up, but by not all that much.  However, since it magnifies the movement, the slight movement up exaggerated  the fall of my ETF, so that it lost a lot of value.

I sort of forgot about it.  It so happens that a few changes have occurred since that time to this, and now the stock has reversed split.  Because of that event, it required that I make an adjustment in my holding so as to allow the stock to split evenly, because without that adjustment, I'd have a partial share.  Can't allow that.  Since I didn't attend to it, it resulted in a forced sale.  I have to now account for it in my taxes.  It is a loss, but since I didn't buy much, it didn't lose that much.

But while doing this, I noticed how the price action has gone on the dow since I bought it and now.  Instead of being near break-even, as I think it should be, I'm still way down.

I've probably written about this before.  I don't know how they figure that I'm down, since I bought the ETF when the dow was just about 15k.  Now it is around 16k, which isn't that big of a rise, yet I am still way down.  I guess it is the "new math".  Or maybe it is "democrat math".  Heads I win, tails you lose type of math.  Donald Trump math.  Let's do it over type of math, cuz I've been schlonged.

I figure that the thing might make a profit if stocks fall below 10k, which is quite a bit below where I bought it.  Good work if you can find it. /sarc

Let's see how that all works out.  Right now, it looks like a big ripoff.  Or maybe not that big.  I didn't bet the ranch on it.  I figured small risk, big potential gain.  It now looks like big risk, small potential gain.  Just the opposite.


Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Trump meltdown?

Many predicted an implosion of sorts, but it didn't happen.  Maybe it is happening now.  After a narrow loss, he is accusing Cruz of fraud and asking for a do-over.

The smarter thing to do would be to point out any irregularities and vow to keep an eye on them.  Iowa isn't going to accommodate him with another election, and even if they did, it might be even worse for him.  With his outbursts, he may even put New Hampshire into play.

What he's doing isn't helping him.  He really is freaking out.

Wow.


A look at the emerging dark age in California

Behind the Black blog



...shows a German townhall meeting where an elected mayor tells his citizens that rather than stop the physical abuse of women by Muslim immigrants the women should run and hide. The crowd understandably reacts in horror and indignation. Whether they will move to replace this mayor and his ilk remains an unknown.


A people have to have a choice.  If there's no real choice, that is to say, nobody can get elected unless they act the same way they are acting now, then there's only a choice to rebel or surrender.   How to oppose this?  The people there have been disarmed.  They want to disarm us here as well.  But if you aren't willing to use what forceful means that you have left, what does it mean even to have that?



You've got to do something.  That's all there is to it.



Vertigo (5/11) Movie CLIP - Wandering Together (1958) HD

Doggone it.  Here it is, noon, and I've posted nothing.  Here's a video portion of a movie that I'd like to see again, but that means rustling up the old vcr and vhs tape.  Maybe it would be good enough to just watch pieces of it.  Here's one, where Scottie and Madeline go on an outing together.  It may not be on this video, but they go through some tall trees on the way.  I've gone on some outings that went through some tall trees before.  It reminded me of that.  Nobody was with me at the time, though...





Update:

I did find it, but it wouldn't play on the vcr.  It must need servicing.  I wanted to see it, so I rented it.  On streaming video.


Tuesday, February 2, 2016

HARRY NILSSON Jump Into The Fire MUSIC VIDEO

The intro sounds pretty cool, with that bass, and then the guitar coming in.  I'd love to be able to play it.  Of course, that was a long time ago.  I used to play around with a guitar all the time.  Not that I learned anything with it, mind you.

I was watching the Goodfella's video when this song started up in the background.  Henry Hill, the gangster in the story, is now dead, or so I understand.   All of those hoodlums are now dead, most likely.   What seems important at the time eventually doesn't mean a thing.  What they did at that time in their lives seemed important to them, but what does it mean now?  That's what I was thinking...  If your life could mean anything, what would you make it?  Just to live like a king for awhile?  At what cost?

Then I think about this song Jump Into The Fire.
  You can climb a mountain,
   you can swim the sea,
   You can jump into the fire,
   But you'll never be free.





Cruz wins Iowa

The thing that is most significant about this is that Trump didn't win.  Trump needed a quick knockout blow.  Three straight victories in the early states could have put him on that track.  Now, he won't get that.  He is in a race now.  The longer it goes, the less it plays to his strengths.

As for that last sentence, I get it from Dick Morris.  Morris thinks that Trump does better in large fields than in a two or three man race.   Once all the also-rans get eliminated, it becomes more of the latter than the former, which isn't good for Trump.

Cruz needs to keep Rubio at bay, and stay close to Trump.  Then he may take it away from Trump, unless Trump can up his game quite a bit.

New Hampshire could really muddy things up, or clear things up.  If Rubio finishes ahead of Cruz in New Hampshire, it muddies it up.  Cruz really needs to stay close to Trump and in second.  But Cruz won't win New Hampshire.

The main thing to take away from this is that it is a real race now.  Trump won't sweep the board, he has to work hard for victory now.  It is also possible that he won't even win the nomination.


Monday, February 1, 2016

What to write about?

Don't really know.  I'm a blank today.

I think the Iowa caucus is tonight.  Not 100% sure about that.  What comes from that will say something about the next few years.  It won't say everything, but it will say something.

I could write about my move out west, but I'm starting to lean against that right now.  Reason being that I'm not so sure that I want to live in a van.  Even if I can make that van comfortable in terms of climate control and so forth.  It's rather small area to live in, you know?

If I don't move, I'll have to stay here.  If I stay here, I need to get back into delivery.  Hopefully, I can stay healthy enough to do that work.

Besides all that, there's a lot to do, and I'm not doing a lot right now.

Just one more month in order to give notice on intent to move out at end of lease term.  At the rate I'm going, I won't give that notice, and may end up here for another year.

Not a whole lot here, but there's not a whole lot going on.


Sunday, January 31, 2016

Trump's focus on China trade is missing the point

Trump undoubtedly believes that if this gets fixed, our problems are solved.  I'm not so sure.

The Chinese are building nuclear power plants really fast.  What are we doing in that department?  Virtually nothing.  Consequently, the Chinese will pass us up in energy efficiency, if they haven't done it already.

In manufacturing or any other economic endeavor, it is the lowest cost producer that wins.  No trade deal can fix that problem.

We must adopt nuclear energy at the earliest possible time.  Unfortunately, that is not likely to happen.  Our scientific establishment is creaking and groaning under a mountain of ideological ( idiot alogical ) abuse.  The pursuit of such non-scientific notions like AGW is dooming our future to one of mediocrity.  Ironically, the development of nuclear power would solve the alleged AGW "problem", but the non-scientific community will prevent any solution at all, because solutions aren't really sought.  Monetary and political gain are sought, not scientific solutions to real problems.

If Trump would embrace nuclear power, I would be much reassured.  I don't think he's on the right track.


Helen Caldicott - "Th" Thorium Documentary

If there's any criticism I'd make, it's that this is too long.  How long will people stay with this video?

The key finding here is that when anti nukes are exposed to the REAL science of nuclear energy, they change their minds in FAVOR of it.

The ones that are most opposed to nuclear energy are those who are least familiar with it.

There's no scientific basis for opposing nuclear energy.  NONE.




Donald Trump is winning ... reason: he can think strategically and his opponents cannot.

American Thinker



The current dust-up between Trump and Fox News is a prime example of his opponents’ strategic blunders.  For decades, television has driven the fantasy of the “globalism” that is the basis of Rupert Murdoch's business empire.  As Brietbart has recently pointed out, Murdoch is co-chair of the “open borders” Partnership for a New America, a prime lobbyist for the 2013 “Gang of Eight” immigration bill.  Correctly, Trump understands that this world-without-borders has collapsed.  Indeed, this fundamental change has been driven by digital technologies -- which, unlike “analog” television, point us towards a world of differences not one of “world federation.”

Comment:



A method to the madness?   Trump just looks erratic to me.



I supposed we'll see.