Category: Government

Cool, Government, Politics

Are You A Badass?

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • I stumbled on this clip and it made me smile. I see this a lot with my elderly patients. Talk to them for a bit and you’ll often realize they did some badass shit in their day. Makes our current generation of kids look pretty weak. When your family looks back at your life are they going to say, wow my grandma/grandpa/aunt/uncle was really cool or a badass? Why not? You’re only here once, may as well make the most of it.
  • I don’t care if you’re left or right leaning, take a moment to watch this monologue from Tucker Carlson. I’ve said it many times before, what the media did to this country is disgusting. The fact that your entire worldview is dependent upon what channel you watch should be frightening. The Hunter Biden laptop story is the perfect example. Actual proof that the next president at minimum lied about his involvement with his son’s business dealing with China and may have financially benefited. Maybe it was all innocent, but certainly serious enough it should have been vetted by the press. When the story came out I started checking the The Hill, Politico, CNN, and MSNBC each day leading up to the election. The story did not appear on any of their sites. Not once. The deliberate spiking of a legitimate story by “journalists” because it might harm their candidate of choice. Twitter actually censored and blocked the NY Post over it. That should frighten you.
  • Speaking of elections, it certainly looks like Trump’s goose is cooked. All the hand waving, tweets, and bad press conferences… and nothing. We have yet to see anything resembling evidence of fraud. Could we see something still? Sure, I suppose. Not going to hold my breath. Was there significant fraud? I personally think so. Unfortunately like the mythical Durham report, it’ll be three years before some report gets released to a senate committee we’ve never heard of. At the rate we’re going, the next presidential election will be via a twitter poll. What could possibly go wrong?
  • I’m terribly impressed by this short little clip of a close inspection. I can’t imagine how much practice it takes. Then again, I’ll manage to drop a fork, spill my drink, and trip over the dog just walking to the dinner table.
  • I made a silly little video about my paralyzing indecision regarding what motorcycle to buy. I literally flip flop every week. Last week I’d decided the little dual sport was the right choice. This week after seeing some travel web sites and thinking about badassery, I’m back to the big adventure bike and getting out to travel and explore. At least I have the rest of the winter to agonize over the decision.

Song of the day: Jimi Hendrix “Voodoo Child”

Cool, Government, Health, Politics, Solving the wrong problem

Hot Tub Chemistry

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • There has never been a point in my life where I thought what I really need right now is a hot tub. Hot tubs are so… 1980’s. When we bought a house that had one I assumed I’d simply shut it off and find a way to get rid of it. I pictured having to start robbing convenience stores just to pay for the electric bill if I kept it running. And then one fateful day I decided to get in and see what the hype was about. I can now honestly say I love my hot tub. I’m in it at least once, sometimes twice a day. I couldn’t imagine not having one. The only issue I struggle with is the chemicals. I have two strikes against me. I floundered with chemistry in school and I’m not terribly precise with measuring things. This is why I can’t do carpentry or bake things. Anyway, I ran out of bromine and mistakenly bought the wrong kind. I wanted the tiny little tablets that go in the floaty thing, but instead came home with giant hockey pucks obviously intended for swimming pools. I figured what’s the difference and threw a couple of pucks in the tub. The bromine quickly rendered the PH to zero. My test strips wouldn’t even register any more. I spent the better part of an entire day doing mad scientist calculations and adding chemicals to get the PH and alkalinity back to normal. Note to self, don’t do that again.
  • The mask discussion has become religion. And as with religion, you don’t dare question someone’s beliefs. It amuses me to no end listening to people who probably couldn’t pass a human physiology test if their life depended on it, pontificate on the merits, or lack thereof, of mask wearing. As someone who could pass a physiology test (maybe, it was a while ago) and has had actual classes on reading and interpreting research studies, here’s what we know – nobody has any actual idea if masks work or not. No, seriously. We have no actual idea at this point, despite what the talking heads on TV and YouTube say. Plenty of theories, but that’s it. Up until eight months ago, here’s what we understood: A well fitting surgical procedure mask offered protection against bacteria but not viruses because a virus was smaller than the openings in the mask material. The only thing that would protect you (or others) from a virus was a properly worn, fit-tested, N95 respirator. Magically that has all changed. The Covid virus must have gotten fat, because now any mask dangling below your nose or nasty-ass bandana pulled over your face is just as good as an N95. Now, I do think there’s an argument to be made that a mouth and nose covering of any sort in certain circumstances has the potential to lower the possible viral load you ingest, resulting in a more mild case of the ‘rona. The problem I have is that is NOT what’s being talked about. Politicians and the religious mouth-diaper fanatics are talking as if mask mandates are going to somehow stop the virus. Only two things will stop the (any) virus. Herd immunity achieved naturally or via vaccine, or a complete and total quarantine of the population for an extended period (remember 15 days to flatten the curve?) We’ve lost all perspective and reality about what benefit wearing a mask might provide.
  • I stumbled on a magazine called “Route” that’s all about stories and photographs of the old Route 66. Now that would be a neat trip – a week of exploring and photography of the old byway.
  • The verbal scuffle between Tucker Carlson and Sidney Powell will be interesting. Someone’s reputation will get tarnished over this one. Who’s it going to be? I will say, Powell needs to put up or shut up soon or she just became a whacky conspiracy theorist. If she’s right, the Trump army will leave Tucker in droves.
  • ZdoggMD reading mean comments had me laughing out loud.

Song of the day: Tracy Bonham “Mother Mother“

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Health, Solving the wrong problem

Do You Smell That?

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • We came home last night to an odd smell and a bathtub full of, well, sewage. I’m no expert, but that’s not normal. Our main sewer line to the house was completely clogged. This is where you realize that one of the most important things for you to acquire as an adult is to “have a guy”. A trusted mechanic. A handyman. A snowplow service. And, of course, a plumber. I firmly believe that the truly powerful people in life, from entrepreneurs to politicians to mobsters, got that way because they cultivated a rolodex of “guys” who can get things done when needed. Feminists please don’t get your panties in a bunch – I’m using the stereotypical “a guy” as a figure of speech. Yes I fully realize the “guy” you need may be a woman. For example, we stumbled upon a trusted decorator that’s done some great work for us who’s a woman. Wait, men can be decorators as well. Shit, now I’ve stepped in it. What was I saying? Oh right, we now have a plumber who did great work at a fair price added to our rolodex of non-gender specific trusted servicepersons.
  • Things that smell part two. Did you see the Trump campaign’s press conference yesterday about post-election lawsuits and alleged voter fraud? I don’t blame you if you didn’t as probably only two networks covered it. This brings up two points. Ok, three. First while I personally think most of the allegations will fizzle out, I do think there’s enough smoke to warrant serious investigation. Second, you cannot credibly claim the press is unbiased. Just like the Hunter Biden laptop, this is a major story and needs to be covered. The intentional choice to spike stories that don’t fit the media’s group think narrative is probably the single biggest reason Trump lost. And third, as he’s done for most of his presidency, Trump continually harms his message with his choice of messenger. Independent of the message or strategy being accurate, Giuliani is a horrible spokesperson for the campaign and should have been relegated to behind the scenes work a long time ago.
  • Update to the sore ear/surgical cap crisis. I’ve worn the silly wannabe do-rag bouffant cap for a week now. My ears are much happier because the mask ear loops are connected to cap, not my ears. My self esteem lost a few points, but at my age I don’t really care.
  • As California moves from stage Saffron-Yellow to Crimson-Burgundy, the governor announced a state wide 10 PM curfew. More keys to solving the Covid puzzle! Turns out the ‘rona is a night owl. As long as we stay below five feet, only go out during the day, and only dine at ungodly expensive restaurants – we’re going to be ok.
  • Started watching the Netflix series “Challenger the final flight“. Very good so far. I still remember exactly where I was when this happened. Working at a ski shop watching a tiny little TV. Didn’t have a single customer all day (wasn’t ski season) and no such thing as a cell phone yet (can you imagine?). I watched solitary all day with nobody to interact with until I got home. Was a very strange feeling.
  • Speaking of Netflix, proof of what I dork I am. Recently a friend asked what I was doing that evening. Mrs Troutdog was traveling so I said “Netflix and chill“. I had no idea that was actually a euphuism for sex. Awkward!
  • While I don’t think it will happen, the mere suggestion by the Biden team of cancelling student debt is enraging. I completed college working and without loans. Please explain how I’m going to be compensated for that. Otherwise, it’s not fair… and isn’t everything today about participation trophies and fairness?
  • A guy who drinks champagne and reviews pine cones.
  • And finally, some kick-ass outdoor sports footage by people wearing weird teletubby onesies. No, really. Worth the watch.

Song of the day: Lenny Kravitz “Are you going to go my way (pinkpop 1993)”

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Health, Solving the wrong problem

Remain Seated To Avoid The China Plague

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • Due to the increase in the number of Covid cases, my state has decided to roll back to a modified Stage Two response. The new restrictions include the following:
    – No gatherings of greater than 10, unless it’s for school, business, religion, or political events.
    – Bars, nightclubs, and restaurants can remain open but only if the patrons are seated.
    Science has been wrong this entire time – Covid particles hover about five to six feet off the ground. As long as you’re seated they’ll drift right over your head! This is a tremendous breakthrough! Forget masks, we just need everyone to move around on little low recumbent scooters and we’d stop this virus in its tracks. And we already knew that the ‘rona was smart enough to skip large gatherings as long as they were for an appropriately woke cause, rioting, or looting. Biker events and rallies are not woke and everyone is standing – also known as super spreader events.
  • It started snowing today. The local ski resort web cam shows nine inches so far. It’s fair to say I’m getting a little excited. Come on global warming… don’t let this just be a cruel tease.
  • After spending approximately two hours watching snow web cams, weather channels, and Warren Miller clips on YouTube, I realized I’d left an unfinished item in my Bullet Journal – start workouts for ski fitness. I think I wrote that sometime in June. Ooops. Guess it’s time to put down the pirate booty and actually start working out. Otherwise my fat ass is never going to get up or down the hill.
  • As a healthcare worker I have to wear various types of masks for 13 hours at a time. It’s gotten to the point that the back of my ears are absolutely killing me. Even wearing my glasses is starting to hurt now. I’ve tried various solutions to no avail. There’s complex physics involved, but women’s hair and fashion offer more options to get the straps off the ears than us dudes have. Today I ordered some surgical caps with buttons on the side. I’m desperate. Stay tuned.
  • If you need a smile to finish out your week, watch 10 year old Nandi Bushell rock out to Nirvana. A serious prodigy. The pure joy on her face is awesome. Imagine how happy we’d all be if we could approach our work and hobbies with that level of enthusiasm?

Song of the day: Nirvana – Breed (Live At The Paramount/1991)

Confirmation bias, Daily Life, Government, Politics

Ye Olde Hypocrisy Cup Runneth Over

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • Let me see if I’ve got this right. Four years of non-stop obstructing, harassment, bias, calling half the country racist, xenophobic, white supremacists. Tearing up state of the union speeches for political theater. Literally calling for your supporters to get in the face of the opposition at gasoline stations, restaurants, and shopping at department stores. How many videos have you seen of leftist/Antifa/BLM crowds chanting and screaming in the face of people in restaurants just trying to eat a meal? (none if you only watch CNN) And NOW you’re the party of unity and healing? A man, who’s stated mentor was an actual racist and member of the KKK, said that he decided to run when he saw the president support white supremacy. Seriously?

    Look, I could care less you supported. Personally I think 90% of both parties are twatwaffles who care only about power and enriching their inner circles. But if you can’t at least admit there’s hypocrisy, media bias, and big tech influence… then you, my friend, are seriously part of the problem. A problem that can only be fixed by becoming a contrarian. Make an effort to expose yourself to many different opinions, not just the ones you agree with. Soon, you’ll realize that most of the steaming turds that run the media (which includes social media) and politics have only one purpose – to separate you from your hard earned quan. I implore you – please don’t be naive enough to believe these folks actually care about you. As the saying goes, if you aren’t paying for something you consume – then YOU are the product being sold.
  • In my never ending attempts at being creative, I’ve been really trying to learn how to make little videos for the YouTubes. It’s working out about as well as my blogging and photography have gone. But, I enjoy learning new things so it’s all good.
  • Just know that if I see you driving alone in your car and wearing a mask, I will laugh at you. Not to go down the mask rabbit hole, but just to illustrate for you that in the real world there is no “scientific consensus” about mask wearing… I’ve been observing the comings and goings of the various doctors at my hospital. Surgeons, neurologists, hospitalists, residents, there is no conformity on mask wearing. Some wander around with a paper procedure mask dangling from one ear. Others wear an N95, covered by a procedure mask and a face shield on top of that. These are folks who are smarter and more immersed in science than most of us and there clearly is no universal agreement on “the science”.
  • Ok, ok, just one more point and I’ll stop. Please find me a graph of any country, state, county, or city that shows the ‘rona case count dropping significantly after a mask mandate. I’ll wait.
  • Today was our first snow. I’m looking forward to forgetting politics and focusing on winter sports. I don’t care many times I see it – the first snow of the year and we run around like little kids. Every damn time.
  • Mrs Troutdog informed me that I’m buying a new motorcycle and gear. My bike (and gear) are from 2005. Can’t say I don’t get the most use possible out of my stuff. The problem is that I’m so overwhelmed by indecision that it’s now winter. I have five more months to consume every YouTube bike review and further paralyze myself. I expect to make a decision sometime around 2023.
  • If the news, media, politics, or the ‘rona are getting you down, do the following. Step 1: Open a beer, pour a glass of wine, or pop some champagne. Step 2: Scroll through images of Quokka’s.

    You’ll feel better, I promise.

Song of the day: Katy Perry – California Gurls ft. Snoop Dogg

Confirmation bias, Government, Health, Motivation, Politics, Solving the wrong problem

Whatever You Think, You’re Wrong

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • In difficult times it’s natural to want an expert to tell you the definitive answer. We don’t deal well with uncertainty. Right now the social medias are chock full of people pontificating, lecturing, and shaming people by posting whatever “expert” opinion happens to fit their view of the world. The problem is… nobody really knows diddly squat yet. Seriously. Whatever you think we know is probably wrong to some extent. Every study you cite, I guarantee I can find an opposing study that says the opposite. It will be years and massive amounts of data analysis before we really understand this zombie bat flu virus. Seasonal influenza is probably the most studied virus ever – and we still don’t fully understand everything about it. This shit is complicated and takes a crapload of research to make any meaningful progress.

    This doesn’t mean there aren’t elements of truth in all the stuff you see being posted. It’s just that the real truth is nuanced, and will take a lot more data and time to tease out. Is Hydroxychloroquine an effective treatment? Possibly, given a very specific set of conditions we don’t understand yet. Are masks effective? Probably, given certain environmental conditions. Lockdown vs herd immunity? Way too early to fully make a judgement. The point is that real science takes time. Take every breathless claim posted on Twitter/Facebook/YouTube with a grain of salt.
  • The real failure is our governments inability to react quickly to actual measurable trends. They pick a one size fits all strategy and choose to die on that hill rather than adapt when data shows things aren’t what we originally thought. The under 65 and no comorbidities crowd aren’t impacted in any statistical meaningful rate by this pandemic. So why aren’t we modifying our approach to protect just those folks? Instead we’ll make everyone suffer because, god forbid, we admit we didn’t fully understand when this started. Changing your approach with the arrival of new (verifiable) data is the very foundation of good science. I think I read that somewhere.
  • We were finally able to join the modern era in internet speed. We live in the very first neighborhood built in our city so our infrastructure has been lacking. I was very pleased a number of years ago when we were able to upgrade to DSL and a blistering 33 Mbps download speed. They just ran fiber to our area and this morning I’m seeing 881 Mbps. Praise be, as the Handmaidens say.
  • Our hospital is virtually out of hand sanitizer. At least two-thirds of the containers on my floor are empty. How is this possible? As usual, reality on the ground doesn’t match the fancy claims our government makes.
  • I never saw Breaking Bad when it came out. Binge watched it the last couple of weeks. What a fantastic series. Just started Better Call Saul and it seems equally good.
  • Joe Rogan’s podcast jumping to Spotify is an interesting development. Google/YouTube’s censorship strategies are starting to get noticed.
  • In our corner of the world, this has been a cold, wet spring. It needs to get warm and dry soon or I’m going to lose it. Every day my motivation to go outside and recreate dwindles… which leads to my not caring what I eat. This is a poor combination. Sitting at home reading internet conspiracy theories on the social medias for hours is no way to go through life son…

Song of the day: “Shut up and let me go” The Ting Tings

Government, Health, Politics, Solving the wrong problem

Won’t Get Fooled Again

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • Peaks out from under covers… is it safe to come out now?
  • I’m going to go out on a limb and say – it’s ok to use a little common sense now and again. Are you old, have known comorbidities, immune or pulmonary compromise? Taking care of a family member in that situation? Then I’d take this very serious and isolate yourself. Don’t feel well or have a cough? Wear a mask and be respectful of distancing. Be mindful of washing your hands or using hand sanitizer more frequently. Otherwise – it’s time to rejoin society. Go out get some sun, eat out at a restaurant, and interact with your fellow human beings. We cratered our economy. It needs to get going ASAP or we’re facing a dark future. We just printed $7 trillion dollars out of thin air. That’s not sustainable.
  • I have now used the 3-2-1 method of smoking my babyback ribs twice. They come out fabulous. I won’t be going back to my old method.
  • The government experts suffer massively from institutional inbreeding (TM Pat Mac). They appear completely unable to think out of the box and react to new or changing information.
  • That permit we were waiting for? Not only got it, but got the preferred date we wanted. We’ll be climbing Mt Whitney via the main trail mid-August. I’ve done it previously, but a few people in the group haven’t. This is a consolation prize for our failing to summit via the mountaineers route a few years ago. We turned around 300 yards from the summit.
  • My hospital issues one paper surgical mask that I have to wear for 12+ hours and make last three shifts. I don’t know where all these millions of masks are going you hear about on TV, but they’re clearly not filtering down to the healthcare workers in my state. I have sores on the top of my ears from wearing the damn mask for so long.
  • Interesting cross training observation. I did almost exclusively skate skiing all winter. No running or mountain biking since last fall. Starting running again now that it’s spring and it felt like I was starting all over. Sore muscles and gasping like a three pack a day smoker. With mountain biking it felt no different than last fall. No change to climbing or endurance.
  • I have not tried to get the COVID serologic test. I probably should. The last time I posted to this blog I’d gotten sick after Mrs Troutdog traveled to Vegas. Felt crummy for a handful of days and spiked a mild fever for a few days. This was early Feb. I think it’s a 50/50 that it was the China virus.
  • The toilet paper hoarding is further example that humans are easily frightened herd animals that will do unexpected and dangerous things when spooked. The hand sanitizer and disinfectant hoarding I get. But TP? Seriously people? I hope it’s a wake up call that you need a reasonable food and water supply, sanitation items, guns and ammo, a good first aid kit, and apparently now toilet paper. Dr Fauci and Govs’ Newsom, Whitmer, and Coumo aren’t coming to save you when SHTF. Oh, and bourbon. Plenty of bourbon.

Song of the day: “Won’t get fooled again” The Who

Daily Life, Government, Health, Motivation, Politics

It Could Be The Ebola

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  •  I work in a hospital. I am literally surrounded daily by nasty bugs. I never get sick. Never. Mrs Troutdog has a new territory and had to fly to Vegas and LA. Sure enough, several days later she feels like crap. And… several days after that I now have the Ebola cold. It sucks majorly to feel horrible on my precious few days off. I don’t do well just sitting around. I tend to get very negative about life in general, nap, and buy useless junk on Amazon.
  • Speaking of bugs, have you been following the news about the latest epidemic? This year alone there have been 19 million cases, 180,000 hospitalizations, and 10,000 deaths. Oh wait, that’s the flu not the Novel Coronavirus. But yes, let’s freak out about 12 cases in the US. How about we put our critical thinking hats on people? (no, not the tinfoil one)
  •  We’re applying for a very hard to get permit for an outdoor activity today. Fingers crossed. More to share if it comes through.
  •  On that crazy running goal I was contemplating… I clearly haven’t been watching enoughDavid Goggins, because I bailed. I can’t seem to muster up the discipline to get my ass up early every single day. More importantly, Mrs Troutdog yelled at me for thinking I was 25 again. It was all in all very demotivating. I need to find some focus with activities and hobbies. I lurch from hobby to hobby, never getting good at any one thing. I think part of it is I have zero structure to my life. I know what days I work and beyond that, there is no plan. On my days off I wake up and try and figure out which of my 37 hobbies I’m going to do. No goals, no plans. There are certainly times I wish I had a more structured calendar. I’m sure there’s a YouTube video somewhere to help with this.
  •  I’ve completely enjoyed watching the goat rodeo that is the DNC this week. They better right their ship in a hurry if they want any chance of competing in the general election.
  •  I spent some time talking to one of our hospital case managers about insurance. Major insurance company A owns insurance company B. Patient who has insurance company A gets approved for rehab in hours. Patient who has insurance company B routinely takes 72 hours. The approval agent is THE SAME PHYSICAL PERSON for both company A and B. It defies description how convoluted our system is.

Song of the day: “Walkin’ On The Sun”  Smashmouth

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Health, Motivation

Groundhog Day, Again

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • Everyone has their own version of Groundhog Day. Some issue that keeps returning time and time again. Mine is this blog and posting creative content to the social medias. My last post was the end of December and after that I started asking myself why? (again)  What’s the point of writing and posting? I’m not angling to become a columnist or make a living with an award winning blog. Same with photography or YouTube videos. I love the creative part, but then ask myself why bother?

    Each time I post a picture or a silly video, if I don’t aggressively promote it to Facebook, etc… it will get a couple of likes or views (or none). But I don’t like the idea of promoting myself because then it makes me feel that I’m only doing it for the vanity of clicks and likes and views. That’s not me. But like the tree falling in the forest, if I post a picture or a bit of writing and nobody sees it… what’s the point?

    Yes, I know that all the creative advice stresses that you need to be creating for yourself. If you enjoy it that’s all that matters. If other people happen to see it and like it, then it’s icing on the cake.

    What prompted this is that out of the blue someone followed this blog the other day. It surprised me since I hadn’t posted anything in so long. It instantly sparked a feeling of enthusiasm towards writing simply because someone cared enough to read what I wrote. Let’s be honest, everyone likes validation of their efforts. Being creative, whether it’s writing, photos, or video is a time commitment. And time is not something I have a huge abundance of. So why am I doing it and should I bother continuing? Sigh… my Groundhog day.

  • In other news, I took up skate skiing. I thought that I was reasonably coordinated and in ok shape – I should be a wiz at this. I got humbled very quickly. It’s hard. As in I can’t go more than a couple hundred yards without stopping to get my heart rate down. I’m sure it’s because I have zero technique and need to invest in some lessons quickly. But… I’m loving it. I’ve even given up some epic downhill days in favor of skate skiing. What’s wrong with me?
  • The impeachment clown show is the end result of the horrible divide in the country right now. This is a partisan hack job of the worst sort by both sides. What worries me the most is that it creates a precedent for any single party control of the legislative branch to remove a president for any reason because the minority won’t have the votes to stop it. That has the executive branch serving at the will of the legislative branch – and I’m pretty sure that’s not what the founders had in mind. If you see this any other way you’ve already been sucked into the biased vortex of whatever mainstream cable news outlet you follow. Do you really think any of these politicians from either side care one tiny bit about you? No – it’s about power and fundraising. Don’t be naïve.
  • I’ve been off the Keto wagon for a while. In support of Mrs. Troutdog, I’ve gone back on. Re-breaking the carb addiction is hard. I’m pretty well fat adapted and it only took a couple of days to be back in ketosis. Unfortunately I’m having dreams about baked potatoes, bread, and rice. The addiction is real.
  • I had a TBI patient who was unpleasant, aggressive, and spent most of the day yelling and cursing the clinical staff. In the midst of yelling every curse word he could think of at me, he stopped and said “You have really nice hair”. So I have that going for me. Hey, at my age the fact that I still have hair is a bonus.

Song of the day: “Don’t doubt ur vibe” Emo G Records (a.k.a. Elon Musk. Yes, that Elon Musk)

Cool, Daily Life, Government, Politics

Join The Space Force

Cool things, random thoughts, advice, and independent thinking from someone who’s been around the sun a few times.

  • We now have an official sixth branch of the military – the United States Space Force. I happen to think this is a good thing. Combined with reviving the US Space Command, we’re actually planning and thinking ahead for once. With SpaceX driving faster/better/cheaper access to space I think commercialization and conflict in that area is going to happen faster than you think. Hate this president, like this president… one thing you can’t deny is that he gets shit done. You may not like what he’s doing, but that will be for historians to decide on the positive/negative impact.
  • Speaking of space, I watched Ad Astra with Brad Pitt last night. Well, I didn’t watch it with him, he was in it. Not bad. A tad slow but all in all worth a watch. I felt the portrayal of commercialization of space was a realistic look at the future.
  • Most of the day yesterday was spent knocking snow off the roof, then shoveling the resulting massive piles to other places, plowing the driveway, hot tube maintenance, wood chopping. You know, basic dude stuff.
  • On the subject of fixing things, I have about a 50% success rate with repairs. Our fridge has been on the fritz for a while now. The freezer is at minus 11 and the main compartment wont go below 50. This is bad. I finally consulted Dr. Google and it looks like it’s just a bad evaporator fan. A $70 dollar part that’s in my limited skill set to replace. As soon as the magic brown truck shows up with my part we’ll see what happens.
  • I’m researching password managers. I can barely remember my own phone number, let alone multiple long passwords. God forbid if someone got into my twitter account and hijacked my follower. Keeper is the one I’m leaning towards at the moment.
  • According to climate experts the earth was destroyed 20 years ago. You should listen to the experts.
  • For the three people who actually read my ramblings, I’m at work saving lives (or eating tasty snacks) for the next three days. Y’all have a merry Christmas if I’m still allowed to say that.

Song of the day: “Middle of the road” Pretenders