Guard Dog

New Batman movie looks pretty good so far:

Thanks Raithe, I'll give him a look.

Considering the effective range of the 6.5 Creedmoor is 1k meters unless you live in the sticks you likely shot him in the street three blocks away. Self defense would be a hard sell of course in my case 1000 meters he was well inside my property. Nary a word would be said!

Not the worst plan I've ever heard

It's been a while since I was disappointed by a sci-fi novel. Thought I'd see how bad this one is: So it's just OK. Mildly entertaining.

Me too!

Insomnia is a frequent problem for me. Especially since I gave up booze. Sometimes the only way to shut my brain down was to drown it in bourbon. I wish Crusader Kings 3 was out. At least then I'd be playing that rather than googling Chernobyl critters.

Why doesn't the US use the metric system? Actually we do. Nearly all engineering work is done in metric then converted if needs be. When I graduated from college I worked as a RF Performance Engineer for AT&T. All of our work from calculating tower rad center to coverage arcs and distances were all done in metric. Most STEM field applications are designed using metric measurements. In my current job we do not which makes it an oddity. Why it isn't generally used is a mystery to me. Maybe no one wants a "Royale" with cheese

Interesting short read: 8 Facts About the Animals of Chernobyl

Nice to see you back Dan!

This might be my cynicism creeping in again but I'm not sure "leading" or "fixing problems" or "helping the middle class" or even healing wounds or division is a goal for either party. I do think it once was. Now, not so much. It's far easier to exploit societal problems than it is to solve them. The ACA did not make health insurance universal. The "wall" such as it is did not stop illegal immigration. Neither of them solved any big problems. But each gave their respective proponents something to thump their chest over and proclaim a societal ill as solved. Until the next election when it's time to exploit it again. Trump became President by not being Hillary. Biden will likely do so by not being Trump. Very little will be different in terms of outcomes. The conduct of the administration and it's members might be different (let's hope) and that is something. But it's more likely we'll get a different bad flavor . But no matter who wins the US will outspend it's revenue, drive more business out of business or offshore and the debtpocalypse still approaches with all the hardships that will bring. Probable currency collapse not the least of it. Oh, FWIW I have withdrawn my support for Jorgensen/Cohen. To hell with them. To hell with all of them.

I do not envy what you NorCal folks have to deal with every summer.

Tick tock tick tock.... https://dnyuz.com/2020/08/21/we-just-crossed-the-line-debt-hawks-warned-us-about-for-decades/

Whatever they gave Biden before his speech last night agreed with him. He was in full command of his faculties for the time it took to deliver it. I thought he did a decent job even if it was served up with an overdose of platitudes and promises that cannot be kept. Still, probably better than the s--t show we're getting next week.

It's overcast an a little cool today (by mid south summer standards). Might rain later. I worked until 11 pm last night so no work to do today. Looks like a good day to sit on the porch, drink coffee and read a book.

It's hardly new, many Presidents have done it. But is anyone else a little tired of the President picking fights with individual private entities in the US? https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/19/politics/trump-goodyear-cancel-culture/index.html

No one in any official capacity has ever done so. There is no "war" on religion in the US. But it is clear there is a cultural shift going on where (certain) religious practice is held in disfavor by a lot of folks. The reasons for that can only be speculated on but the result of it right now are incidents like I listed. Small, petty persecutions. Mostly it has little to do with religion and a lot more to do that a lot of people are just awful s--ts who can't tolerate someone in their field of vision doing something they don't like.

You are assuming a conclusion I did not draw. A preponderance isolated incidents is a trend. I provided a handful of isolated incidents. I didn't draw the connecting line.

Here are a few I have saved. I know of a few others I'd have to hunt: https://wreg.com/news/student-told-he-could-not-read-bible-during-school-free-time/ https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=9114 https://miami.cbslocal.com/2014/05/05/teachers-ban-on-reading-bibles-in-class-sparks-protest-change/ https://wreg.com/news/teacher-principal-apologize-about-not-allowing-god-assignment/ Now it would be fair to say these are isolated incidents and many were apologized for after. But enough isolated incidents demonstrates a trend.

Oh there is a good deal of wisdom in the separation of church and state. But, like in many other things we're going to far. We have established no religion, we got that part right. But they are often running roughshod over the "prohibiting the free exercise thereof" part. Some are construing that to mean being religious excludes one from serving in government. In fact Senator Feinstein of California, one of the biggest and most repulsive turds floating in the government bowl, specifically used religious affiliation to vote to disqualify a judicial candidate a few years back. Don't get me wrong, she can do so for any reason or no reason. Not suggesting otherwise. However, that she did it tells you a lot about where the folks who think they are better than us are on that topic. I wonder though, if the candidate would have been a devout muslim if she still would have objected on the grounds of religion? I suspect not. Another way it has gone too far is in both public schools and universities students have been asked to leave class for having the audacity to read a bible or other religious test on campus. I'm not suggesting that is commonplace or would happen every time but I can surely feed you a hyper-link salad to demonstrate it IS happening.

BLM = Burn Loot and Murder. It's a shame because it started as a cause with a legit axe to grind. Now? Nope. Now it's this:

Just a bit of sardonic humor. What is left when there are naught but villians on both sides of every issue? Just because I picked on the Democrats does not mean I'd let the Republicans off the hook. I just dislike them slightly less.

You know the Democrats are going to hate it. It not only says God on it, it says we trust Him. That will make them near as mad as the old one I'll bet

Mississippi is down to five finalists for the new state flag. I like the first one: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/18/politics/mississippi-final-five-flags/index.html

Added to my "to do" list