Obligatory, 4.28.18

It has been a busy day.  Spent most of the day on the road, doing some errands.  There is still more to do, so that part hasn't been completed yet.

After I got back, I found a page that discusses the Mars Rovers.  Made a cool pic out of its route inside Gale Crater.

If you will note, the "sol" numbers go from top to bottom.  Top is north, so the Curiosity rover is moving south.

It has traveled a little over 11 miles.  Obviously, it is not going very fast.

Gale Crater is much bigger than this shows, so the 11 mile trek has barely scratched the surface of what can be explored.

Follow this thread for more information.

Rare Earths and American Security

Key quotes:

"No shortage of rare earths".  "It is a market problem"

Subway closing 500 locations

Sierra Blanca has one major fast food joint, and that is Subway.

Shucks, where will I eat lunch if they close this one down?

Instead of driving 35 miles for lunch, I will have drive a hundred.

Obligatory, 4.27.18

Now that I won't write about politics, I am a little hard-pressed at the moment to come up with any type of new content.

So, where do I go from here?

There is still my off-grid project, which is nearly four years old now.  Wow.  After four years, there's still nothing out there.  Well, there is the remains of a failed structure.

I retrieved some videos I took from that time.  Unfortunately, there's not enough material there to answer a few questions that I now have.  No, the only way is to go back out there, and that costs money, and I don't want to spend it right now.

What I am looking for is another location for the cabin.  The thought occurred to me, why not build it in the same spot as before?   The problem is the building restrictions.  It was okay to build something simple.  This is going to be something permanent, and so I want it a bit further away from the property lines.  It may be far enough now, but why take the chance?

As for the structure itself, I am settling in on a plan to use the footers as a foundation.  These will require the use of a jackhammer, as the soil is hard as a rock after about six inches or so.  I will go down about a foot and a half.  The current plan is to make a 2x2 foot square base, upon which I will put a cylinder that is about sixteen inches long by eight inches in diameter .  The cylinder will rest inside of the base, and will have rebar for strength.  The cylinder and base will still be a couple inches below ground level.  At ground level, another 2x2 foot square will top it off.  Not exactly, though.  I may put a preformed concrete pod down in it.  The pod has a place where a four x four inch post can fit into it.   The posts will be eight feet tall.

All the posts will be eight feet apart, which allows for a neat fit for standard size boards and studs.

Therefore, the structure can be 24 feet by 8 feet in dimension.  That is about the size of this trailer, so I know that it will be big enough.

There will eventually be a porch on the south side.  This will allow me to avoid having the sun shine on the south side of the structure, and that will help in climate control.

The hardest part of this project will be in getting the foundation in.  Using that jackhammer is not something I look forward to.  With some luck, it may not be all that bad.

Since all the wood is pre-cut, it should be a snap once the foundation is in, and it is square and level.

Cattle panels will not be used this time.  I tried to work that idea in, but it is not feasible.

So, this is my thinking so far.

You know, looking over those videos reminds me of a few things.   One thing, is that this place is really remote.  The other is all of the sand and all of the bushes.  No trees, just bushes out there.

A perfect place for a hermit.

Mankind: The Failed Experiment - by Robert Ringer

Mankind: The Failed Experiment - by Robert Ringer: As I think about the havoc that has reigned throughout the world century after century, I am reminded of one of those ancient-astronaut books I read many years ago that set forth a fascinating theory. The author believed that munificent aliens from another galaxy visited the earth eons ago and created man.  After a long …



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Great minds think alike?  Ha, ha.  No, I did not read this before I wrote my last piece.  But reading this more or less confirms what I was thinking and what I just wrote.



If the USA goes to hell, there's not a damn thing I can do about it.  Neither can you, or most anybody else.  But I am taking it further than this piece.  I am just not going to write about it anymore.



Hopefully, I will remember not to write about it.   Old habits die hard.

Click bait

Morris doesn't really show what this says, so I am going to have to call bullshirt.

Look, if the majority wants to keep this alive, they cannot be that tired of it.

Too bad that they aren't.   This is a fishing expedition.  Imagine conducting a murder investigation without a murder.  Imagine conducting a grand theft auto investigation, when the car is right in front of your eyes, and hasn't been anywhere.  Imagine conducting an investigation of the theft of the Hope Diamond, when the Diamond has never been missing.  All of this is absurd, yet people go along because.... why????

It makes no sense to allow this, yet people go along.  Somebody isn't doing their job right.

New, Explosive Poll: Public Getting Tired Of Mueller – Lunch Alert! https://t.co/i2D4iSUls0

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) April 26, 2018

What wrong with this?

A little snippet of what President Macron of France said about the Iran deal--- he said it was a treaty.

No.  It is not a treaty.  Under the US Constitution, the Senate approves a treaty if it votes 2/3 majority in favor of it.  The Iran deal was never submitted to the Senate for ratification as a treaty, which is what the Constitution requires.  It is most definitely NOT a treaty.

So, how does the President of France say that the US is flip-flopping on a treaty?  Either Macron is lying or he is misinformed.  Either way it is bad.  A president of a major country should not be that ignorant.  If he is lying, why is that being tolerated?

The same is true of the Mueller "investigation".  There is no adherence to law here, but there is the appearance of such.  Why?  In order to fool gullible people.  Is Macron gullible?  It does not reflect well on him, nor on much of this country that it gets this most basic fact wrong.

Bill Kristol

This guy is said to be the leader of the Never-Trumpers.  After 15 months of Trump, and now knowing that Trump can govern as a conservative, why this continued opposition?  It never made sense, unless you realize that these guys are not about ideas.  The ideas that they claim to believe are just a front for what they are really about.  But what is that?  Lots of times I have seen that the motivation may be money. 

But money doesn't automatically get you elected.  If that were true, Jeb Bush would have won Florida's 2016 primary instead of Trump winning it.  Instead, Bush bombed out.  Money can't polish a turd.  No amount of money is going to change the facts on the ground.  Money doesn't vote, people do.

I read something about Kristol today.  He seems to think that once Trump is disposed of, things can get back to business as usual with these guys.  I have to wonder about that.  From my point of view, if the GOP stands by and lets Trump be removed on frivolous grounds, then they never recover from that.

Moreover, if they let Trump be hounded out of office by a completely unfair and fraudulent abuse of power, then they do not recover from that.  Their credibility is on the line here.  The GOP has run on a lot of ideas, and people have believed those ideas.  Nobody is going to believe that they can't get these ideas accomplished just because they don't like Trump.  Trump is not causing this failure.  These people who claim to be conservative, but aren't, are to blame.

Lots of talk out there about a "blue wave".  If this happens, it will be mostly because the GOP isn't giving anybody any reason to vote for them.  In fact, as I have written already, it looks like they are taking a dive.  People are seeing this, and they may be staying away for that reason.

It isn't Trump, it is these Bill Kristol types.

The thing to do is to vote for the GOP guys left, because these guys cannot credibly force Trump out of office.  Staying home only elect Democrats.

Most of the guys leaving are Never-Trumpers.  Let them leave.

Lazy man cooking

Well, here's a post on housekeeping.  Guess what?  Not that much to post about, that's what.  I got one idea, and now this is it.  The next post may come in a couple months, maybe.

Okay, maybe not that long.

Here it goes.  In the last few months, I contrived a way to cook which uses a lot less propane.  I cook off the top instead of the oven.  I figure the oven uses too much propane.  This way uses very low heat in order to accomplish the same goal.

It works for me because I cook for myself.  If I had somebody else to cook for, maybe this wouldn't work as well.

Looks like this system will cook frozen meat and a frozen veggie side like this.  I put it in a pan, in the which the bottom is covered with aluminum foil.  This is so I won't have to wash the pan after cooking, you see.  I put a piece of foil on top, with another pan on top of it.  This will trap the heat, so that I get the most out of the heat that is being used to cook.  Cooks fairly fast, by the way.  Faster than you would think.

It is fairly healthy, too.  That is, if you want it to be.  I am using frozen broccoli and cauliflower.  The meat is ground pork.  I'll season it up once it is done.  Very simple, quick, and I don't have to wash the dishes.  The lazy man's way of cooking.

Do I get my good housekeeping seal of approval?  Yuk, yuk.

Oh, forgot to mention...  I use water instead of oil.  Fewer calories!

How muddying the waters works

Someone commented upon the story linked below, and made a comparison between Trump and Clinton.  No, this is not correct.  Whatever Trump may be, Clinton is far, far worse.  But this is how muddying the waters helps the Clintonoids.

If the investigation of Clinton proceeded far enough, they would find evidence of pedophilia.  I have heard stories about it...

But nothing has been proven yet about Trump.  Yet they make the comparisons.  That's how it works.

‘EVIL’: Juanita Broaddrick marks 40 years since ‘forcible brutal rape,’ makes THIS vow to Bill and Hillary Clinton https://t.co/speW817BiT via @twitchyteam

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) April 25, 2018

Upgrading the blog

Originally posted 5.19.17,


Updated:

4.25.18:

In order to add content, I made a small change in the label attached to these posts called "Housekeeping the blog".  It has been changed to "Housekeeping".  The posts listed under that label have been retained, and new content can now be added.  The housekeeping will be general in nature, so that it won't necessarily be blog related.  This is so I can blog about stuff I do about the house.

It could include little things I do in order to save time and effort.  Lazy man ideas, so to speak.



The original post follows:


Did a bit of spring cleaning on this here blog.  Maybe it improves it, maybe it doesn't.

If you don't like it, you can get a refund.  Simply ask for one, and your money will be sent by check in the mail.

16:22

After reading a number of articles by Sharyl Attkisson , I note that she predicted months ago what I wrote earlier today.  She's way ahead.  What happened with the independent counsel was a result of energy, drive, and determination from the dems, which at this point has not been matched by the GOP.

A real disservice has occurred.  It is likely to get worse.  The people who support Trump are behind the curve, and have to catch up.

How to do that?

Something just occurred to me...

That is to say, the reason for this entire Russian collusion garbage.  The idea here is to balance off Hillary's criminality with the same for Trump, so as to arrive at some sort of equivalence.

Hence, the fishing expedition --- aka Mueller investigation.

They absolutely must find something with which they can muddy the waters.  Even if Mueller doesn't find anything, the Clintonoids can say that this was a political witch hunt.  Precisely that, because that is what Trump is saying about the Mueller investigation.  However, the Mueller investigation is no witch hunt.  No, it is a fishing expedition.  If the fishing expedition returns nothing, they can still tarnish Trump's name.  Not to mention, that this continuing investigation of the Clintonoids can be ultimately dismissed as a political investigation.

In the liberal mind, everything is equal anyway.  There are no differences, only a matter of a point of view.

In other words, nobody is innocent, all are guilty.  So why judge Hillary?  This is how they intend to get off scot free, even if they are proven as guilty as sin, and they don't even have the slightest thing with which to accuse Trump.

If you think about it a little bit, you can note all the interrelationships here.  Comey has hired Patrick Fitzgerald, who was the same guy who prosecuted Scooter Libby.  Comey and Fitzgerald are good buddies.  Comey and Mueller are good buddies, too.  There are connections between these guys and Hillary, too.  Not only the Clintonoids, but the Bushes.

Makes you wonder if it is indeed a conspiracy of sorts.  Or a mafia type organization.  But that is what these people are saying about Trump.

In the end, it will be reduced to politics so that it can be trivialized.

Newt on the New NASA administrator

Got the link below via Transterrestrial Musings.  It is rather visionary of Mr. Newt.  Psst!!!  I have been writing this stuff for most of the past 7 years on this here blog.  This is but half of the story.  The other half is in energy.  ( hint:  Thorium! )

Newt says we won't need Chinese rare earths.  But we never did.  That's one of the ways Trump can MAGA.

Newt Gingrich: A glimpse of America’s future in space in 2024 https://t.co/TW9ubOTlAJ #FoxNews

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) April 24, 2018

Concrete footers

Here's a video series on how to pour a concrete footer.  It is not exactly what I have in mind.  Well worth the time to look it over and learn something.

The "footers" that I had in mind were more like piers.  I looked these up, and there are pre molded forms that can be stacked.  But they cost some dough, which I want to economize on.

Otherwise, you have to construct the piers yourself. 

Don Surber: Mueller's harassment of Hannity may be criminal

Don Surber: Mueller's harassment of Hannity may be criminal: Bobby the Mule Mueller used the power of his office to harass Sean Hannity, a critic of Mueller's witch hunt. Using judge shopping to ...


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One of the reader's comments said that the Establishment GOP could get run over by a parked car.  Good one.

Yep.  Actually they are taking a dive.  They will sit out the election, and blame Trump for losing Congress.

Worthless as tits on a boar.

Words mean things, it has been said

As I recall back in the days when I listened regularly to the Limbaugh show, some conservatives advocated more precision in the use of language.  So, when I see that there is a rather loose use of the language, the old antenna goes up.

Why use this word "interfere" with respect to Russia, and not precisely define the word?  Seems to me that to interfere with the 2016 election entails a good deal more active work than what is being discussed.  Is CTH dropping the ball?  What do they mean when they use this word "interfere"?

For example, consider this a write-up of yesterday's Sunday shows.  CTH is letting this use of the word go by without giving a clear definition of what it means.  A quote:

That January reference was the infamous 17 agencies report, from CIA (Brennan), DNI (Clapper), FBI (Comey) and NSA (Rogers), all who had confidence -except Rogers-  according to the report, that Russia was attempting to interfere in the 2016 election.

While true that this is only a quote, it is still allowing this word to enter the public domain without challenge.

Okay, so what does the word "interfere" mean?  Hacking the DNC servers?  Then, giving those emails to Wikileaks so that they could be used against the Clinton campaign?  What else are we talking about here, but that?

So, the Mueller investigation is about the alleged hacking of the DNC servers?  Seems to me that this is an awful lot of bother about something that should have been settled a long time ago.  Hacking may be the crime everybody is talking about, but did that actually occur?  This "hacking" has not been established as a crime that was committed.  Indeed, it is challenged elsewhere that no hacking took place at all.  Instead, it was a leak.

It has long been my assertion that this Special Counsel investigation has never been justified by the actual breaking of any law.  Until that is established, there shouldn't be any SC at all.  It means that Mueller should not have been hired, and unless he is actually establishing that the law was violated, it should be demanded that he do so.  If he can't or won't do that, then he should be fired.

If all they are talking about is influence, as opposed to interference, then you have no crime.  There is no anti-collusion statute that I have heard of.

Mueller is chasing shadows, and ignoring the real issue here.  The purpose of his actions may be the result of incompetence or corruption.  Either way, it is not good.  If it is incompetence, then he is looking in the wrong places.  If it is corruption, then it is not truth that he is seeking, but the opposite.

Update:

Could this be the root of it all?  An alleged violation of the Logan Act?  Nobody has ever been convicted of violating that law.  Besides, the spying on Trump began before the alleged violation took place.

Wishful thinking?

How long will it take to bring the case?  It is already well into the election year.

Nevertheless, it is a good thing, but it may be too little, too late.

Need to pick up the pace.

US Attorneys Investigating McCabe Will Have More Impact than Mueller https://t.co/m2uehcs8lX

— Greg Meadows (@BootsandOilBlog) April 23, 2018

No More Messing Around - by Robert Ringer

No More Messing Around - by Robert Ringer: Expansion of the phony Russia-collusion investigation to include the Manafortization of Michael Cohen’s home and office is nothing short of a declaration of war.  Given that the DOJ/FBI police state has now become entrenched, it’s time for freedom advocates to be prepared to hang together or hang separately. I’ve always believed that God acts in …

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Hmm.  A step in the right direction.  The step needs to be towards a full run, so to speak.

Writing about it may start the ball rolling, but stuff needs to be done, and soon.  Time is running out.



Update:

The sentiment for this "no more messing around" seems to be spreading.  Jeanine Pirro asks Devin Nunes why the nice guy routine?  But Nunes agrees, and that's why the pace is picking up a bit.  But it needs to pick up even more.  Here's the video.