My wife is fond of quoting Dr. Laura Schlessinger, “Even a bird knows, you have to make a nest before laying an egg.” Truth is that birds seem to have more sense than people. We drag all sorts of stuff back to our nest that we shouldn’t. Sometimes it’s from the local watering hole and sometimes the local Best Buy or whatever vendor of electronic gizmos hits your fancy.
When you put a Google Nest or similar product in your house, you should be wary of what you’re letting thru the front door. Every electronic device in your house is collecting information about you and sending it to others. Here’s a partial list of stuff that is already collecting data on you.
Television Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and all the other streaming services that you use are collecting information about you, but did you know your television and Blu-ray/DVD plays are too? Have a PlayStation, XBOX, or Nintendo product connected too? Many of these devices and associated peripherals have cameras and microphones and are never truly shutoff even when the power light is de-energized.
Computer If you own a computer—whether desktop or laptop, tablet, or smartphone—then all sorts of folks all over the world are collecting information on you. They know what websites you visit (even in private mode), what you have installed on you device, where you are—often in real time, where you work, live, send your children to school, shop, and much more.
Folks, the Internet allows the outside world into yours, but the reverse is true as well. The Amish say that Satan travels thru wires, but he went wireless decades ago.
Google Nest Hub Max
The new trend is having mesh networks with smart devices on them. This technology has been available for about a decade, but it has gone mainstream in the last couple of years. Folks, I can understand protecting the perimeter of your property but, I can’t understand why you’d want high definition cameras with microphones in every room in your house.
Google, Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, and others have people listening to you and watching you at will any time they wish. Never thought of yourself as the Truman Show, too bad ‘cause you might be.
A Milwaukee couple said hackers broke into their smart home devices and raised the thermostat while blasting vulgar music through the wireless electronics, a report said.
Samantha and Lamont Westmoreland, who purchased a Nest camera in 2018, experienced the shocking breach on Sept. 17, they told FOX 6. “It gives me the chills just talking about it,” Samantha told the network, describing the virtual intrusion that began when she returned from work to a scorching home with the thermostat set at 90 degrees.
She turned the temperature back down, chalking it up to a one-time malfunction.
But soon after, somebody started speaking through her kitchen security camera.
Then she heard vulgar music coming from the same device.
I can understand the family feeling violated but should their feelings really be the issue here?If the people had watched them without saying something, is that somehow better? By the way, they only found out about this because the watchers decided the reveal themselves, so we don’t know how long they were watched first? Yes, it might have just been kids in this instance, but others know how to cover their tracks better. Folks, nothing would prevent someone from recording something happening in the house and then posting it on the Internet, what then?
Google of course disavowed any responsibility and blamed the family. What else can they do?
The bottom line is, just because it’s on sale at Costco doesn’t mean it belongs in your home. Folks, if you want a system like this to protect your home’s perimeter, you should hire someone who knows more than you do. However, if you want this system in every room in your house then you’re a nut.
Back in the 1960’s, the Beach Boys admonished us to be true to your school. As a youth, I thought this song was about cheering for the football team and supporting your community. Boy was I wrong.
It turns out to be much more serious than that. If you thought being true to your school is what I thought, don’t go to Wisconsin. Such a casual view of school can get you thrown in jail. Say the wrong thing and you’re in legal jeopardy. No, really.
Anyone who delivers a speech at an event hosted by the school district in Appleton, Wisconsin, must submit the speech in advance and then swear under oath they will not deviate from the script. And that includes students.
“The opportunity to speak at a school event is a privilege, not a right,” the Appleton Area School District wrote in a statement.
The new guidelines require all speakers, including students, to submit their entire speech in writing two weeks in advance of delivery.
Speakers are also not permitted to wear “jewelry, clothing or accessories that reasonably could be understood to communicate a message to the audience when the speech is given.”
School Board member Rev. Alvin Dupree
But the swearing of an oath is perhaps the most disturbing part of Appleton’s crackdown on free speech.
“Speakers that submit proposed speeches shall be required to certify that they will deliver the speech as written, except for minor and immaterial variances from the text of their proposal,” the district wrote. “Certification shall be in writing and shall be sworn under oath.”
The oath must be signed by student and adult speakers and must be witnessed and sealed by a notary.
The oath states, among other things, “that I am affirming the statements to be true and correct under penalty of law.”
Lest you had any doubts about this draconian policy…
Their new policies and procedures are meant to silence people of faith – specifically Christians.
Why did the district do this?
The new regulations were implemented after a Christian school-board member invoked the name of Jesus Christ during a graduation ceremony last June.
Submit or else you’ll get worse
Oh how terrible. And worst yet, this school board member had the gall adlib his prepared remarks by deviating from the script. He “told students to ‘never succumb to the pressure of being politically correct’”. “He also changed the district’s prepared statement of ‘best wishes’ to ‘God bless.’”
The article ends with this controversial endorsement of the US Constitution and the First Amendment.
Every freedom-loving American should be appalled by the actions of the Appleton Area School District.
Heaven forbid the day comes when an American teenager or a pastor is dragged off the stage by security forces simply for uttering the name of Jesus Christ at a graduation ceremony.
To which I can only add a hearty and appropriate, “AMEN.”
In the last few years, our family has been attending a Lutheran Church. My wife and I like many things about the church, but there are times that I just want to scream. Last night was one of those times.
Before getting into the details of my complaint, let me preface a few things. Within the Protestant churches that take the Bible as the Word of God, there are two traditions that are polar opposites when it comes to doctrine and worship.
On the one hand are folks like the Baptists and Presbyterians. While you won’t often see these two groups lumped together, they do have one thing in common; namely, expository preaching. They vary widely on doctrine but during the sermon, neither group is afraid to take a deep dive into their understanding of the Bible. In their worship, the sermon is the focal point of the worship and Communion is like the cherry on top or caboose of the train, nice but not necessary.
On the other hand are folks like the Anglicans and Lutherans. Their focus in worship is very different. Anglican and Lutheran sermons are shallow by comparison and rarely expository in nature. In these churches, the deep dive into theology is outside of worship, usually Sunday school or small group Bible study. In their services, Communion is the focus of worship and the sermon is typically a meditation on a passage of Scripture appointed to be read on that Sunday. In the Anglican world, depending on the Lectionary, the Scripture reading many have been selected for that Sunday several hundred years ago.
In a typical Anglican or Lutheran service, you will get a 12 to 20 minute sermon whereas the Baptist or Presbyterian sermon will be 30 to 50 minutes. Anglicans and Lutherans practice frequent, often weekly, Communion. Again, the former group tends to be much more focused on the individual and less on the corporate body while the latter group is the opposite. During their sermons, Baptists and Presbyterians expose everyone to the more difficult theological issues while in Anglican and Lutheran circles, individuals desiring more need to seek it outside of the weekly service. The difference is that some folks are stuck in the shallow end of the pool and the Baptist and Presbyterian folks expect everyone to swim. The irony in my experience is that the most scholarly people are the Anglicans. Their command of Church history and doctrine is better than any other group, you just don’t get that from their sermons because of the difference in focus.
Last Night’s Gathering
Twice a month, the men of the church which I attend, meet at a local watering hole to discuss some aspect of the faith. Since the Reformation started in Germany, beer is often associated with church gatherings. Trust me, Martin Luther was a big fan of beer. As a recovering Baptist, beer is something I can only tolerate in very small doses.
Anyway, last night was such a gathering. In attendance were a cross-section of men from the Lutheran church and perhaps a visitor or two as well. It started with one of the pastors talking about reconciliation especially as it concerns forgiveness and reconciliation to our fellow man. As we talked, people brought up relationships between husbands and wives and parents and children. A comment was made that single folks can’t really appreciate the depth of love that a parent has for a child. One guy said that he didn’t realize what this was like until he because a father. At this point in the conversation, a young, single man made a comment that sounded right out of the OAC camp. He said that he can’t imagine bringing a child into this world because of all the acrimony in our society and then invoked climate change and overpopulation as reasons not to be a parent.
She who shall not be named
Folks, I about hurled my meager dinner when I heard him say this. I was literally seated next to this guy and stunned. (I whispered to him that global warming was nonsense but I don’t think others heard me.) Instead of disagreeing with his comment, another guy chimed-in about larger families in the past and another about people in poor countries having larger families. A third comment was about the Bible not addressing what our lives and families are like today because it was written for an agricultural society. A fourth guy said that sometimes other people have large families for religious reasons—the way he said it implied that the people who believe this were not present at this table. I waited for the pastor to jump in but he never forthrightly corrected the comments.
I had many things rush thru my mind but knew that if these guys agreed with the first comment, then they were incapable of understanding what I was thinking. It was clear that many at this gathering were comfortable in the shallow end of the theological pool. It occurred to me that I had to say something brief because a multitude of words would be casting pearls. I pointed out that our faith is based on having many children. Thankfully, I had a few others agree with me.
Folks, I’m really angry and alarmed about the extent to which people in the Church have been deceived by the lies propagated by our culture. No wonder we aren’t salt and light to our world. When we don’t know what the Bible says about families, and worse yet, don’t think it speaks to the nonsense that passes for knowledge these days!!! Lord have mercy.
This is the second time this week that I’ve crossed paths with supposedly Christian people that are embracing this environmental wacko crap without realizing that they are following a false religion that is the antithesis of Biblical Christianity.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I were both shocked that a different pastor that we know prayed during the service for God to put out the forest fires in the Amazon—again more environmental hysteria which was nothing but propaganda.
Environmental Syllogism
Folks, the modern environmental movement is easy to understand. Here is the logic.
There is a crisis
The crisis is too big for you to solve
The only one big enough to impact the crisis is government
Therefore you need to yield more control of your life to government because only it can save you.
The environmental movement is really that simple.
Closing Thoughts
The Bible has the answers to real environmental issues. In part, it begins with a principle that is so simple you should have learned this as a child but again, common sense these days is uncommon. In essence, if you make a mess, clean it up. Don’t throw your trash over your neighbor’s fence and call it good, clean up your own mess.
Case in point is China. 30 percent of the plastic pollution in the ocean is from China. If you don’t like the garbage patch in the Pacific, evangelize China and most of the problem will go away. In addition, the United States needs to quit sending our trash to China because we don’t want it in our landfills, we need to deal with our own refuse, not dump it in our neighbor’s back yard.
Lastly, the Church needs to counter false doctrines and teachings instead of allowing them to be accepted by her congregations because her leaders are silent. God is in control of the creation and we are to exercise dominion over the creation. He’s told us what to do. We are to bring every thought into captivity and weigh everything on the basis of His Word.
Some of men from last night’s gathering have clearly never received proper biblical instruction. Christianity is a way of living not just something you do for an hour on Sunday mornings. Our faith must be applied to every area of our lives, our families, and our communities. Jesus is Lord of all; now, not at some distant date in the future. Until we start living that way, we will be blown about by every wind of doctrine no matter how ridiculous; including the myth of climate change.
Democrats are having a revolution in their midst. The leadership doesn’t know how to stave-off the insurgency of the Broad Squad and likeminded socialists in their midst so what can they do? Oh, how about unite by fighting a common enemy? Perhaps, someone that they hate almost as much as the Republicans. Amongst themselves they say, “Let’s investigate Donald Trump. Let’s impeach Donald Trump. Let’s imprison Donald Trump.” In their Keynesian little minds they reason that Trump has to be guilty of something, how else could he become rich?
If you pay attention to the Democrats, you learn something very significant about them; namely, they always accuse others of doing what they do. In their mind, when they do something, it’s just natural and right but when others do it, its corruption, shameful, or otherwise wrong. It matters not the subject, you can find this in so many areas of public policy and discourse. One of their favorite accusations is racism, but did you notice that they are the only ones that care about a person’s race. The rest of us care more about the content of one’s character, but everything Democrats talk about is based on skin color and other categories that only they care about.
Likewise, they are now accusing Donald Trump of doing what Joe Biden actually did as Vice-President; the difference is that Trump never did it and Joe did. Thus Democrats have one rule for themselves—the ruling class—and another rule for everyone else. The corollary is that it’s patently unfair to hold people to the same standard.
But why impeachment? Is this Nancy Pelosi’s Hail Mary pass to achieve the impossible or her last ditch effort to hold on to the Speaker position? Both?
I think you have to go back to the time when Democrats last hated someone as vehemently as Trump and that President would be Richard Nixon.
Richard Nixon
(Democrats didn’t hate Ronald Reagan, they just didn’t take him seriously and unlike Trump, Reagan was a likeable guy and worked with both parties.) Democrats came off the 1972 revolution when Pelosi’s generation took control of the Party and were promptly focused on crucifying Richard Nixon. Nixon was Vice-President during the McCarthy hearings and hated communists. For many, it was payback time. Nixon was only guilty of trying to protect his friends but back then that was enough to run him out of office. Nixon was ultimately forced to resign because of phone calls—sound familiar. Why do you think no tape exists of Trump’s call to Ukraine? Nixon had tapes and was crucified for it in Congress. Now because Trump has transcripts and not an actual recording of the call, Democrats will try to use that against him. Do you see the circular reasoning employed here? If you have a tape we’ll use it against you and if you only have a transcript and not a tape then we’ll use that against you too because that means you must have something to hide.
I think the Democrats are trying to relive the glory days of Watergate but the glory is only in their heads and not based in reality. Neither the Broad Squad and their fellow travelers towards Communism nor Donald Trump are going to let this reenactment end like last time.
The impeachment effort has already come off the rails because the narrative has been proven to be based on lies, innuendo, and fabrications.
President Trump is a bull in a china shop. He says inadvisable things to inadvisable people, mainly because he is inadvisable – literally no one can advise him. The vast majority of things Trump says are ignored or brushed off by those who understand the difference between bloviation and manipulation. Still, Trump’s constant stream of noise can make it difficult to tell the difference between the two.
So when an intelligence community whistleblower came forward with an allegation that, on a call with the Ukrainian president, Trump proposed a quid pro quo with the Ukrainian government – release of military aid in exchange for a Ukrainian investigation into Joe Biden and son Hunter Biden – the allegation didn’t appear absurd on its face. The timeline, after all, seemed to match up: Trump allegedly suspended military aid to Ukraine personally a week before talking with the Ukrainian president, only to release the aid after the holdup was met with public scrutiny.
Then, the Trump administration released a transcript of the call, in which Trump used the typical New York real estate wheeler-dealer language of favors: favors related to investigations surrounding CrowdStrike, the firm tasked with analyzing the hack of the Democratic National Committee in 2016, an investigation that concluded with allegations of Russian interference; favors related to helping Rudy Giuliani investigate the origins of the 2016 Trump-Russia investigation; favors related to investigating the Bidens. The theory seemed to be gaining credibility.
Then it seemed to fall apart. It turned out that the Ukrainian government apparently had no clue that Trump was even withholding military aid – and without such a quid, there couldn’t be a pro quo. The Ukrainian president publicly proclaimed that Trump hadn’t pressured him. The whistleblower report turned out to be third-hand gossip rather than first-hand information. And allegations of a cover-up imploded as the Trump administration released information ranging from the transcript to the whistleblower report itself.
Two other thoughts on the impeachment thing. First, Trump has a right to defend himself from the accusations of the Democrats; to expect him to just sit there and take it like George W Bush did for eight years is not going to happen. Trump will vigorously defend himself. Second, Trump promised to investigate the corruption of the last administration. Clearly Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden deserve scrutiny given their known behavior while in office. There is enough on the public record, often in their own words, to indict either. Is this impeachment push a ruse to thwart forthcoming criminal charges on one of them?
Folks, this impeachment thing will result only in the termination of Joe Biden’s candidacy for President. As others have predicted on this blog, Biden couldn’t win, place, or show in any early primary states anyways. Given the weak Democrat field, it is possible that someone else may step off the sidelines and enter the fray. The filing window will begin closing soon in some states but if the field remains like it is, I see Trump easily winning reelection. I can’t speak to the other side but by their actions, Democrats have boosted the enthusiasm for Trump voters to an all-time high.
The other wildcard to watch is the Supreme Court. I think it highly probable that Justice Ginsburg will not be on the court come next fall. A looming court vacancy will upend anything else the Democrats might do between now and then.
No, I’m not writing about Tesla’s 3rd quarter financial report but their latest feature called “Smart Summons”. If you thought their autopilot was sketchy just wait ‘til you read this. Oh, emphasis was in original post.
With Tesla releasing V10 of its vehicle software earlier this week, owners were chomping at the bit to get their hands on the long touted “Smart Summon” feature, which is supposed to allow drivers to summon their vehicles to them in parking lots using their cell phones.
But, as things go with Tesla, the idea of the idea was worlds away from the actual implementation of it. In fact, early customer videos and reports of the “feature” are making Smart Summon look extremely dangerous and nothing short of a complete disaster.
As soon as the software update pushed to drivers, videos began popping up on social media showing a litany of negative consequences of everyday users beta testing Smart Summon in real life.
Tesla says that with Smart Summon “customers who have purchased Full Self-Driving Capability or Enhanced Autopilot can enable their car to navigate a parking lot and come to them or their destination of choice, as long as their car is within their line of sight. It’s the perfect feature to use if you have an overflowing shopping cart, are dealing with a fussy child, or simply don’t want to walk to your car through the rain.”
Tesla claims that “customers who have had early access to Smart Summon have told us that it adds both convenience to their trips and provides them with a unique moment of delight when their car picks them up to begin their journey.”
What follows is a series of Twitter posts from Tesla owners complaining about bumps, scrapes, and bruises to their vehicles as a result of trusting this half-baked idea. If you need a quick laugh, take a look at the rest of the article.
As usual, Elon sells the sizzle and not the steak.
Yesterday, I got to drive a car full of kids to the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. The drive each way was three hours; remarkably, that’s using the car pool lane otherwise it would have taken much longer.
For the trip, I figured that I would use Google Maps instead of my car’s navigation system since cities like San Francisco and Sacramento like to arbitrarily change the direction of one-way streets and add random bike lanes where cars once freely roamed. I figured, if there was an area that Google had down cold, it would be the highways and byways of their own backyard. Sadly, my experience was less than satisfactory. Things were OK until I got in San Francisco and then, when I needed it, Google failed. Twice when going down the highway (I-80 and then Highway 101), Google suddenly put me on surface streets just because I did a lane change. Worst of all, when exiting 101, it was totally messed up and kept rerouting me to get me lined-up to head west on surface streets towards Golden Gate Park.
Finally, we turned from John F Kennedy Drive to Nancy Pelosi Drive and got our first look at our destination.
Folks, in principle, I hate anything named after individuals that are still alive. Lots of people start well and finish life poorly. I’m speaking in generalities and being very charitable in this instance. I think the filter of history needs to weigh a person’s life before naming public places (or holidays) after them. This is not a slam on just Pelosi but my town of Elk Grove as well. Elk Grove is constantly naming parks and schools after living people. My reaction on hearing the name of the street (Nancy Pelosi) was mirrored by one of my son’s friend that verbalized my feelings. Folks, knowing that the boundaries of the museum are in part defined by invoking Nancy Pelosi’s name, is what is known in literature as foreshadowing.
The California Academy of Sciences is a composite of different areas under one roof. For one price you get access to an aquarium, planetarium, rainforest, and natural history museum. I have seen better displays elsewhere but for northern California, it is a respectable assembly of experiences in one place.
Steinhart Aquarium
The Steinhart Aquarium—which used to be a standalone attraction—is the best part of the museum. It is a fraction of the size of the Monterey Bay Aquarium but does boast an impressive display of mature freshwater fishes including some trophy sized arapaima.
River Monster sizes arapaima
The largest saltwater tank is supposed to be representative of a reef system in the Philippines; however, I doubt its authenticity. As it happens, I have scuba dived in the Philippines and many fish that I frequently saw while diving were missing from the display.
Philippines reef display
Also strangely absent from the displays were sharks. In many of the smaller salt water tanks, I saw algae and other things indicative of poor water quality. I think there is room for improvement in this area. This is one area that Monterey Bay beats all others since they take water directly out of the sea and don’t have to recycle and extensively tinker with water chemistry.
Osher Rainforest
The Osher Rainforest is supposed to represent a generic rainforest. It is housed in a Plexiglas bubble structure with a pathway through it. You walk up several levels from the ground to the tops of the trees. The most predominant feature is the assortment of butterflies. Also, you will notice various tropical birds. The exhibit is kept humid compared to the outside air but it’s not really as humid as a tropical region (otherwise my glasses would have instantly fogged over). Various small insects are displayed as you go thru the display including beetles, ants, etc. Signs also make mention of the roles of elephants and apes in such an environment. Of course there are also signs claiming that the Amazon rainforest is in danger due to human activity like logging and agriculture.
Morrison Planetarium
The Morrison Planetarium can seat several hundred people. Sadly, we didn’t see a show about the stars but instead a film about oceans. The film was Expedition Reef. This film is completely computer generated. It begins at the Philippine reef display at the aquarium and then does a reverse angle to reveal the open sea in all its CGI glory. The production is stunning except for one small problem, the sea doesn’t look anything like it does in the film. Folks 4K photography can’t really capture the brilliance of the undersea adventure let alone the limitations of CGI. The colors and lighting of this film was more akin to diving just after sunset than in broad daylight. The scope of seeing it on the planetarium screen was reminiscent of an IMAX presentation.
Below is a summary of the film’s content.
Narrated by Tony Award® winner Lea Salonga, the all-digital Expedition Reef takes full advantage of the Morrison Planetarium’s fulldome screen to immerse you in the undersea adventure. Along the way, discover how corals grow, feed, reproduce, and support over 25% of all marine life on Earth—while facing unprecedented threats from climate change, habitat destruction, and overfishing.
“This is a difficult story [and] a turning point for reefs,” says Academy scientist and reef expert Dr. Rebecca Albright, “but it’s not too late.”
Folks, while much of the usual Darwin and millions of years was missing from many of the displays, radical environmentalism was front and center of this whole place. The centerpiece of this worldview was this film at the museum. In it we are told that we need to stop using plastic, synthetic materials for clothing, and reduce CO2 emissions amongst other things. As always, we are told that by some arbitrary date in the future, in this case 2050, it will be too late.
The plastic waste in the seas was presented as being all our fault because of our lifestyle even though most of the trash in the world’s oceans is from Asian countries.
In 2015, a study published in the journal Science sought to discover where exactly all of this garbage is coming from. According to the researchers, the discarded plastics and other debris floats eastward out of countries in Asia from six primary sources: China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In fact, the Ocean Conservancy reported that China, Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam dump more plastic in the sea than all other countries combined. China alone is responsible for 30% of worldwide plastic ocean pollution.
Also, this film neglects that the plastic in the ocean is serving as impromptu coral reefs with millions of creatures including juvenile fish living in their midst. In fact these trash zones have their own unique ecosystems.
Imagine you’re on a small boat in the middle of the open ocean, surrounded by what looks like a raft of plastic. Now flip the whole world upside down. You remain comfortably attached to your seat—the abyss towers above you, and all around, stretching up from the water’s surface, is an electric-blue meadow of life. What you thought was plastic is actually a living island. This meadow is made up of a diverse collection of animals. The most abundant are blue buttons and by-the-wind sailors, with bright-blue bodies that dot the sky like suns, and deep-purple snails found in patches so dense one scientist described collecting more than 1,000 in 20 minutes.
This is the neuston, a whole ecosystem living at the ocean’s surface. I once stumbled upon a raft of neuston when a storm blew it ashore in California. Many neustonic animals are vibrant highlighter colors, and the sand was saturated in bright blues and pale pinks. Together, these small creatures may function like upside-down coral reefs: an oasis of shelter and life far out to sea. As far back as the Cold War era, scientists were describing these colorful and important ecosystems, yet they still remain all but unknown. But now, as efforts to clean the ocean of plastic start up, our ignorance is putting this ecosystem at risk.
The neuston is home to more than blue buttons and bright snails. Erupting through the lawn of blue are crackling purple, red, gold, and yellow strands. These are Portuguese man o’ wars, whose tentacles stretch like lightning from the meadows of blue and pink. And among them, dragons roam.
Small nudibranchs, known as blue sea dragons, feast on blue buttons and man o’ wars, using their winglike cerata to grab and hold onto their tentacled prey. There are sea anemones, barnacles, copepods, color-changing crabs, specialized bacteria, even bugs, all living in this inverted reef in the middle of the open ocean. (Organisms that live exclusively by floating at the surface of the water are called pleuston, while neuston is a broader term, referring generally to the sea-surface ecosystem, which is why I chose to use it here.)
Just like reefs on the seafloor, this ecosystem does not stand apart from the open ocean around it. The neuston is a nursery for multiple species of larval fish and a hunting ground for paper nautilus octopuses. It supports sunfish, leatherback turtles, and diverse ocean grazers, which frequent these islands, relying on them as a food source. At night, soft-bodied jellies rise up to join the neuston, sparkling like fireflies. But all of this, from the blue sea dragons to the by-the-wind sailors, is in peril.
When I learned about the Ocean Cleanup project’s 600-meter-long barrier with a three-meter-deep net, a wall being placed in the open ocean, ostensibly to collect plastic passively as the currents push water through the net, I thought immediately of the neuston. How will it be impacted? But in the 146 pages of the Ocean Cleanup’s environmental-impact assessment, this ecosystem isn’t mentioned once.
I was disturbed by this omission. Though the neuston isn’t known to many people, it is certainly known to marine biologists. Evidence that the Ocean Cleanup knows about the neuston is clear from a table reporting animals in the vicinity of the Ocean Cleanup deployment area, where both blue buttons and by-the-wind sailors are listed. But the ecosystem itself is never discussed. By omitting the neuston from its assessment, the project is overlooking the habitat it could be impacting most, and there is no sense of what the damage might be.
We were told in the film not to wash our clothes because doing so introduces microscopic plastic fibers into the water. We are also told in the film that plastic can never truly be removed from the environment once introduced into the water which is false.
Did you know that microscopic critters are actually eating and dissolving the plastic?
Many flourishing microbes appear to interact with the plastic surfaces we examined. These observations, together with findings from previous studies, suggest that microbes are helping to break down plastics at sea. This could be another explanation for the less-than-expected level of plastic pollution at surface waters.
Plastic-eating microbes may also support biotechnological solutions for better plastic waste disposal practices on land. Perhaps in the future, we may come up with industrial “composts” that can break down our plastic waste.
This radical environmental theme is found throughout the museum but the film, Expedition Reef, is the centerpiece of the message. Second only to the film is the “Living Roof.” I found this quite hypocritical given the construction materials used in the building. The Living Roof is described as:
Our living roof is more than beautiful—it’s the heart of the Academy. Weather stations on the roof monitor wind, rain, and changes in temperature to help inform the building’s automated systems and skylights, keeping rainforest temps just right, the interior piazza cool and comfortable, and natural light streaming to the exhibits below.
Edged by solar panels, the roof’s seven hills are lined with 50,000 porous, biodegradable vegetation trays made from tree sap and coconut husks. An estimated 1.7 million plants fill the trays, their roots interlocking to create an extraordinary oasis for birds, insects, people, and other creatures.
The Living Roof provides excellent insulation (reducing energy needs for heating and cooling), captures 100% of excess storm water (preventing runoff from carrying pollutants into the ecosystem), and transforms carbon dioxide into oxygen—just for starters.
Sounds really green right? Only problem is that the living roof is only possible because it is coated with polystyrene and other petroleum based materials which allow the roof to be inches thick on top of a concrete roof. Only because of the plastics used can the roof absorb rain water, retain moisture, not leak, and give enough anchor points for the roots so plants can grow.
As with any other modern structures, the building is built of Plexiglas, steel, and concrete. Yes it’s certified as a “green” building but only because of these materials and a host of petroleum based products used in things like solar cells, wiring, plastic piping, and various displays.
Given their radical environmental posture, it makes me wonder why plastic is ok for them and not us. Lest you think I was alone in perceiving a double standard, the students in my car noted the plastic waste in the museum’s food areas as contrary to their message.
Natural History Museum
Scattered in various places were displays collectively known as the Natural History Museum. At the entrance to the building is a plastic or fiberglass reproduction of a T-Rex skeleton along with the obligatory plaque touting the millions of years old party line.
A section dedicated to the continent of Africa also has a brief mention of human evolution on one wall and various displays of taxidermied animals. No other continent had its own display area. Also, there is a section dedicated to mammals that live in the Pacific Ocean. Whales and sea otters made up much of this portion. A docent was allowing people to see pieces of whale baleen.
FYI The docents that I spoke to were all nice and willing to talk about their subject areas with visitors.
Conclusion
The radical environmental message needs to be countered by parental discussion. I’ve provided you with at least a few resources in the discussion above to counter some claims made environmentalists. None of us is in favor of trashing the planet but saying it’s all my fault because I happen to live in the United States is disingenuous. As stated elsewhere on this blog, our recycling scheme is broken and needs a private sector solution.
This Gaia worship is wrapped in scientific sounding jargon but don’t surrender to this false religion. God has put man in charge of the planet while the view portrayed at the California Academy of Sciences is that man is the cancer that plagues the planet. A proper Christian worldview would go a long way towards fixing our understanding of this issue. Over time, I think that will happen but not by following the environmentalist religion but by the Gospel permeating the world and bringing into subjugation every area of life to the authority of God’s Word.
If you make the trip to Golden Gate Park during the week, allow plenty of time to drive and expect to spend much on bridge tolls, parking, and food. Not counting the admission tickets, I think I spent about $120 for my son and I to participate in this outing. Truthfully, if you can; go to Monterey Bay Aquarium instead. The food on Cannery Row is world class and the aquarium is better.
Lastly, remember my pet peeve about naming things after people that are still alive, when did the Bay Bridge get renamed the Willie L Brown Jr. Bridge?
The motto of the television show Survivor is Outwit, Outplay Outlast. Apparently, this idea has practical application for criminals as well.
Fremont, a city in the San Francisco Bay Area not far from famed Silicon Valley, is testing a fleet of Tesla cars in their police department. A few nights ago, police engaged in a high speed pursuit that didn’t go very well. Sadly, the Tesla’s battery died in the midst of the eight mile pursuit and the cops didn’t even have enough juice left in the battery to limp back to the station.
Bing Map showing Freemont and surrounding area
During the pursuit of a “felony vehicle” that started in Fremont and reached peak speeds of about 120 miles per hour on the highway, the officer driving the Tesla radioed in to dispatch that he might not be able to continue the chase he was leading.
“I am down to six miles of battery on the Tesla so I may lose it here in a sec,” Officer Jesse Hartman said.
“If someone else is able, can they maneuver into the number one spot?,” he asked fellow officers nearby, as the chase approached the Jacklin Road exit on Interstate 680 south in Milpitas.
However, shortly after Hartman called out the low juice warning, the person driving the car police were chasing began driving on the shoulder of the highway as traffic was thickening, prompting police to call off the roughly eight-minute chase at that moment for safety, according to police dispatch recordings on Broadcastify and a department spokeswoman.
So the Fremont cops pulled off the highway in San Jose and headed back to their city — but not before the officer in the Tesla made a pit stop.
“I’ve got to try to find a charging station for the Tesla so I can make it back to the city,” Hartman said over the radio.
He eventually found a charger in San Jose to juice up his car, said Geneva Bosques, a Fremont police department spokeswoman.
Law enforcement agencies using vehicles powered by internal combustion engines later located the suspect’s vehicle crashed on the side of the road and abandoned.
We’ve been doing the Dave Ramsey snowball for going on five years now. Although the end is in sight for getting out of debt, several of our appliances have reached the end of useful life. A few months back, we bought a new washer and dryer. Next on the list was the dishwasher.
Our Dishwasher was in a sorry state. Both racks in our dishwasher were broken. All but two of the wheels on the bottom rack had broken off, some more than once, but the top rack the worst. It literally fell off the rail system. The rails would disconnect from the side of the dishwasher and the wheels in the rails were broken too. The end result was when emptying or loading, the top rack would fall onto the bottom rack. Also, since the top rack was broken, the mechanism for washing the top rack did not have water feeding into it. Frequently, the dishes in the top rack were not clean. We lived with this for the better part of a year. Finally we had enough money to buy a new one.
Off and on, all summer long, we looked at various makes and models. Prices range from about $500 on the low end to over $2K on the high end. Given our experience, we decided on a different manufacturer and were mostly concerned about the rack system. Anything with an abundance of wheels and plastic was shunned.
LG top rack–metal rails like dresser drawer
We found a model ( LDT7808BM) that we liked at the local Best Buy. Later, we found the same model, for the same price at R.C. Willey. Both stores required an additional charge of about $180 for installation and removal of your old unit.
As the summer went on, a suggestion was made to take a look at Costco. Costco did in fact carry the very same dishwasher. The difference was that Costco would double the manufacturer warranty and install the dishwasher for free. This sounded like a great deal so we decided to purchase the dishwasher from Costco.
LG bottom rack-wheels have bearings for smoother action
Note to readers: we are aware that if you buy such an item with the Costco credit card that you can get an even longer warranty with the purchase. However, we cut up all our credit cards about five years ago and pay cash for everything including, Christmas, vacations, and appliance purchases.
When payday arrived, we went to our local Costco to purchase the dishwasher. Guess what? You can’t buy it there even though they have a whole row of appliances on display. While they do have a part-time guy that can help you make your purchase on the Internet, it matters not since it must be purchased on the Costco website. Being that we are not Apple users and perfectly capable of operating electronic devices, we went on our way and made the purchase on the Costco phone app.
This began a series of adventures that I wasn’t expecting.
As you would expect, the charge was pending in our bank account almost instantaneously. However, about two days later, it dropped off of our checking account. About a week later, the charge showed up again and finally cleared. Like Amazon, I guess they don’t charge you until the item actually ships. Costco ships it directly to a third party with whom they have the installation agreement.
About two weeks after our initial purchase, we were contacted by the third party contractor used to install the dishwasher. Per Costco, you must agree to an installation date within ten days of being contacted by the third party vendor. When having work done in your house, the company is required to give you a four hour window for arriving to perform work. While you might think of the four hours as morning or afternoon; that is not in this case. Instead, these guys actually give you two time intervals on the same day. Interval number one is the time for delivery and interval two is for installation. When I found this out, I decided that I needed to burn a day off to get this done.
Dishwasher as delivered
The delivery window was something like 9 AM to 1 PM. Two guys arrived about 10 AM and were in and out of the house in about two minutes. They used a dolly to wheel in the new dishwasher and set it down in the kitchen area. Along with the dishwasher, was a plastic bag with new water and drain hoses.
Hosed and electrical cord arrived too
The installation window was 10 AM to 2 PM; so much for that morning or afternoon thing. I had tentatively set up a 12:30 lunch meeting at the salsa bar with Johnnie Does but the timing of installation was problematic. I was really hoping for a 10 AM start. Finally, at noon, I threw in the towel and cancelled the lunch. As expected, the installation guy arrived promptly at 12:30. Murphey’s Law in action.
As the installation guy was getting organized, I went outside and shut off the circuit breaker for the dishwasher. It wasn’t properly labelled but I got it on the second try. The installation guy began asked what brand we had purchased, and I said, “LG”. He responded affirmatively and said it’s a good thing we didn’t buy Samsung. He never explained why.
He then began to remove the old dishwasher. As he inspected the old the dishwasher, he said that it was hardwired into the circuit. He told me that this was against building code standards and that I needed an outlet to plug in the dishwasher. He then gave me the choice of getting an electrician and rescheduling the installation or writing him a check for $175 and he would do the work.
Folks, having a 20-amp circuit running from the breaker and terminating under the door of the dishwasher—which is what my old one did—seems like a very bad idea. Like some other things I am fully capable of doing myself, sometimes I’m willing to pay for the work because this guy has liability insurance and I don’t. I find comfort that I have some level of recourse if this goes sideways in the future. In the end, I agreed to the extra charge and the work proceeded.
Much of the accumulated stuff under the counters was evacuated to allow for the new install because in addition to the electrical junction box with outlet, the tech ran new hoses and drain line under the counter. Once all connections were made, the dishwasher was moved into place, leveled, and attached to the cabinet in which it is housed.
LG dishwasher
The dishwasher is quieter and lighter than our old one. It actually has three racks, the very top one for silverware. The one quirky thing is that is can connect it to your home’s Wi-Fi. I can somewhat understand using technology for operating lights and thermostats in your house but a dishwasher? Folks, you still need to manually add soap, so it seems an idea with limited utility.
Epilogue
Mama is happy to have a working device in her kitchen now. There is some truth to the slogan, “Happy wife, happy life” but the whole outlet charge was kind of a gotcha moment. I guess that’s as close to the Paul Blanco buying experience as I’ve gotten lately. It makes me wonder if Costco is familiar with this practice. $15 in parts and less than five minutes of work for $175 seems disproportionate. My “free installation” really wasn’t but…
I will say that we do a lot for Ukraine. We spend a lot of effort and a lot of time. Much more than the European countries are doing and they should be helping you more than they are. Germany does almost nothing for you. All they do is talk and I think it’s something that you should really ask them about. When I was speaking to Angela Merkel she talks Ukraine, but she doesn’t do anything. A lot of the European countries are the same way so I think it’s something you want to look at but the United States has been very very good to Ukraine.
Here are both sentences from the conversation related to Joe Biden. Per the transcript, this was a 30 minute call.
There’s a lot of talk about Biden’s son, that Biden stopped the prosecution and a lot of people want to find out about that so whatever you can do with the Attorney General would be great. Biden went around bragging that he stopped the prosecution so if you can look into it … It sounds horrible to me.
Oh, lest you think the Biden thing is some deep, dark secret, sorry, its not. Link to unedited video and transcript is embedded in quote below.
Two years after leaving office, Joe Biden couldn’t resist the temptation last year to brag to an audience of foreign policy specialists about the time as vice president that he strong-armed Ukraine into firing its top prosecutor.
In his own words, with video cameras rolling, Biden described how he threatened Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in March 2016 that the Obama administration would pull $1 billion in U.S. loan guarantees, sending the former Soviet republic toward insolvency, if it didn’t immediately fire Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin.
“I said, ‘You’re not getting the billion.’ I’m going to be leaving here in, I think it was about six hours. I looked at them and said: ‘I’m leaving in six hours. If the prosecutor is not fired, you’re not getting the money,’” Biden recalled telling Poroshenko.
“Well, son of a bitch, he got fired. And they put in place someone who was solid at the time,” Biden told the Council on Foreign Relations event, insisting that President Obama was in on the threat.
Nancy Pelosi is taking a page from Barack Obama and that’s not a good thing. Obama’s phrase while in office was “Leading from Behind.” Nancy is Speaker of the House and Leader of the House Democrat Caucus; however, both titles are in name only. The Impeachment Express was leaving the station today with or without her when she gave up and hopped on board just to save face. Nancy’s days are numbered, both in office and on the planet. The Democrats are charging full bore down this track with no map or destination in sight.
Today’s action reminds me of Nancy’s quip about Obamacare, “We have to pass the bill to know what’s in it.” Nancy and company don’t know why they are Impeaching President Donald Trump. The Caucus feels that he surely deserves it for something, they just don’t know what yet. Think of today’s vote as a huge fishing license to subpoena the world.
As long as the Republicans, less Mitt Romney, have the majority in the Senate, this turkey will never fly. In addition, this action will put even more distance between the House and Senate and further isolate the Democrat minority in the Senate. One practical result will be Republicans pushing even more judicial appointments through without Democrat input.
The first casualty of this nonsense will be the Presidential aspirations of Joe Biden. As many have reported elsewhere, Biden did all the things that they are accusing Trump of doing with Ukraine. As Vice-president, Biden is even on tape bragging about his part in holding up one billion dollars in aid until Ukraine fired the prosecutor in charge of investigating their government’s corruption. The time from Biden’s demand to Ukraine’s compliance was about six hours.
Oh, in typical Biden fashion, he came out in full support of the Impeachment vote. Note to Joe: standing in from of the train and cheering for it to go faster when both your feet are between the rails is not proof of superior intelligence. Maybe Biden is elevating “career politician” to a new category in the Darwin Awards.
In contrast, Trump maintains that any delay in aid to Ukraine was to get our so-called allies in Europe to get off their butts and take out their wallets to have some ownership of the situation. To quote a sports phrase, Europe needed some skin in the game. Sadly, for the Democrats, this is the same thing Trump said in the last campaign… you know, the one he won. Trump does what he promises, and the Establishment just can’t wrap their tiny minds around that fact.
Also, Trump said that this delay in aid was not linked to any request about investigating Biden’s son. He was simply letting Ukraine’s government know that America has a new leader that believes in letting the chips fall where they may, even if it happens to be on the family of a public figure in our country.
Trump told reporters Tuesday that his request to withhold the aid was due to his desire to see greater European contributions to Ukraine’s defense, and not linked to whether the country would investigate the Biden family, which media outlets have reported Trump brought up on the call with Zelensky.
Given all the political posturing today, Trump promised to release the transcript within 24 hours. Hardly the move you’d expect from a guy the media is trying to cast as a modern-day Richard Nixon.
Folks, give the track record of both sides, how can a rational person believe the Dems. We are back to the era where it’s not the evidence but the seriousness of the charges.
“The nature of the evidence is irrelevant; it’s the seriousness of the charge that matters.” Tom Foley, Democrat, Former Speaker of the House.
Folks I don’t want to rehash what others have already said on this today but as I thought about recent events, I couldn’t help but think of Aslan in the Chronicles of Narnia being killed on the stone table—which of course is a retelling of the crucifixion story of Jesus Christ. Here, the evil forces thought they had decisively won; however, the actions that they took ultimately insured their own destruction.
As Trump was happy to point out, not a single Democrat voted today on the basis of anything other than a single, uncorroborated story.
If Trump is exonerated when the transcript is released, then what?
I think this is the desperation Hail Mary pass with no time on the clock; and with it, the Democrats have sealed their doom for 2020. Democrats have played three years of prevent defense and Trump has been scoring at will against them (at least when Republicans decided to join him on the field).
Prevent Defense allows easy scores
This can’t end well for the Jackass team. As their quarterback, Pelosi will get the blame even though we all know she hasn’t been calling their plays for a long time.
