Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 5:25:51 AM

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Snow. 

Snowblower was checked out about 2 weeks ago. Works fine. 

Already around 8" on the ground. Need to make room for the dogs to go.

Another 3-7 coming. 

Work is remote only today (not that I was going to go in). Until COVID, it would have been closed and I'd have to take the day off. Now remote work is allowed, and actually preferred, if possible.

vxbush 12/17/2020 6:45:22 AM

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In #1 Kosh's Shadow said: Work is remote only today (not that I was going to go in). Until COVID, it would have been closed and I'd have to take the day off. Now remote work is allowed, and actually preferred, if possible.

After going through extended work at home periods, I'm starting to be of the opinion that introverts like me really don't want to work with people; we just want to socialize with friends. Working with others is just frustrating and annoying. I'm sure extroverts are really struggling with working alone and may be spending a lot of time hanging out in video sessions with coworkers, but five minutes in Zoom is enough for me. 

JCM 12/17/2020 7:10:22 AM

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Chernobyl crossed mind last night, and that it relates to our current state of affairs.

The root cause of Chernobyl, was Communist arrogance. The Soviet Communist system was to the believers the perfect system. If one wasn't a true believer one went along so as not to have a trip to Gulag. Since it was the perfect system anything created by the system therefore was perfect. Engineering concerns raised about Chernobyl were buried, so much so even after the event the investigators were not allowed access to the contrainian documents.

Fast forward to today. We again have true believers they think the system they want to install is the perfect system. There must be something wrong with people who raise objects, they must be defective to oppose perfection. The election, many believe there are indications of fraud. Instead of showing us we are wrong, allowing examination of voting machine, ballots etc... we are buried, shouted down. There is no fraud is issued as a statement, it was a perfect election don't question it.

Political Chernobyl.

vxbush 12/17/2020 7:37:32 AM

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vxbush 12/17/2020 7:38:31 AM

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In #3 JCM said: Political Chernobyl.

A good way to put it. 

lucius septimius 12/17/2020 8:00:59 AM

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Reply to JCM in 3:

I think it's even more cynical than that.

Part of the problem in the Soviet union -- and in government here now -- is the bureaucratic tendency to refuse to acknowledge problems because (1) they would reflect badly on the individuals pointing them out (i.e., managers), and (2) they would require taking responsibility for fixing them, which depending on the size of the problem can be an invitation to failure and hence disgrace.  So the best thing is to deny, even in the face of overwhelming evidence, the possibility of there being a problem.  And if the reactor melts down, hopefully you will have secured a better position in the bureaucracy by then and be insulated because of the privileges of rank.  Happens in business all the time.

My son's experience in school was a classic example of how this worked.  He was bullied for being autistic, plain and simple.  Teachers were aware of the problem but ignored it whenever possible.  The assistant principals -- all failed teachers (and barely literate) who had been promoted to get them out of the classroom -- denied that autism was a thing and defined him as the problem, citing as "evidence" that he was a "discipline problem" behaviors specific to his condition.  When I called them out on that the matter was deferred up to the principal.  His response was to deny autism was a thing, then deny there was bullying at his school.  How did he know there was no bullying?  Because he refused to identify was what clearly "bullying" according to the county, state, and federal guidelines as such.  Never wrote up a single case of "bullying."  Q.E.D. no bullying.  Then he threatened us.

Those are the people who built and ran Chernobyl and who built and run the voting system.  And even if everyone was (justifiably) put up against the wall and shot, another crop of the same would rise up to take their place.  So it has been since the Sumerians.

Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 8:17:46 AM

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Here in DC we've got icy glop, but Little OR did get some fun sledding in at his mom's place in Maryland yesterday, which got nicer, fluffier snow. 

And by the way, almost every single word in this post is being red-underlined, with replacement words - in Spanish - being suggested.  

turn 12/17/2020 8:19:11 AM

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Reply to JCM in 3:
Great observation JCM. And just as Chernobyl melted down under its true believes, so will America under ours unless the conservative control rods are slammed down hard and fast. It starts in Georgia with us gaining control of Congress.

lucius septimius 12/17/2020 8:21:47 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 7:

You should see what Word does when I'm typing up notes in early modern German.

JCM 12/17/2020 8:27:18 AM

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Reply to lucius septimius in 6:

My daughter's mental odyssey was similar to your. Her current school denies the mental health aspect as it relates to learning, and school etc...

 
My observation is the schools, police, mental health providers are larger process driven. Is the paper work filled out correctly, are the protocols complete? Problem solved. regardless of the objective conditions.

We my wife ended quitting her job to get the situation stabilized. The job I took last year was a God send, the increase in salary nearly covered the difference from losing her income. The amount of proactive work we had to do to drive the institutions to acceptable results was astounding.

JCM 12/17/2020 8:37:42 AM

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Reply to turn in 8:

My big frustration... and my kids laugh at me when I go off on a rant.

The left wrote all of down, from Rousseau on down. The left has done all this before.

It's what they DO!

Around here we get that. But it's rare for people to point this out. Unheard of in the political class, in the media class.

Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 8:53:58 AM

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In #6 lucius septimius said: How did he know there was no bullying?  Because he refused to identify was what clearly "bullying"

Sounds like the way the Seattle city government is "dealing" with crime.

lucius septimius 12/17/2020 8:54:29 AM

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In #10 JCM said: Is the paper work filled out correctly, are the protocols complete? Problem solved. regardless of the objective conditions.

They also insist that the IEP is a favor granted to you and a statement of the bare minimum they have to do.  In fact, it is a Federal requirement that the parents control and was instituted to force the school to provide the serves they are legally obligated to.  But no education bureaucrat will tell you that.

lucius septimius 12/17/2020 8:55:07 AM

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In #12 Occasional Reader said: Sounds like the way the Seattle city government is "dealing" with crime.

Yep.  Say it's not a crime, then problem solved!  No crime!

Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 9:00:09 AM

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buzzsawmonkey 12/17/2020 9:02:07 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 15:

I keep seeing graffiti all around New York to "Abolish ICE."  I guess global warming isn't coming fast enough for some people.

turn 12/17/2020 9:03:10 AM

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In #11 JCM said: Around here we get that. But it's rare for people to point this out. Unheard of in the political class, in the media class.

This is why I really appreciate this blog, there are few places that offer better insight into the left’s mindset than what is offered here. Thanks to all that post here, keep up the fight!

Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 9:05:54 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 16:

I'm tempted times to wander around my deep-blue neighborhood late one night applying grafitti that simply reads, 'KILL ALL WHITE PEOPLE"; just to have the shameful joy of hearing my deep-blue neighbors trying to rationalize the sentiment in the days that would follow.

Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 9:06:47 AM

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Reply to turn in 17:

JCM for POTUS 2024!

Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 9:07:35 AM

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In #14 lucius septimius said: Yep.  Say it's not a crime, then problem solved!  No crime!

Monty Python proposed that, iirc in the Hell's Grannies sketch. "The only way to get the crime rate down is to reduce the number of offences"

vxbush 12/17/2020 9:12:33 AM

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In #20 Kosh's Shadow said: Monty Python proposed that, iirc in the Hell's Grannies sketch. "The only way to get the crime rate down is to reduce the number of offences"

I'm shocked at how often the Python crew was prescient. 

JCM 12/17/2020 9:17:15 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 19:

If you thought the media had a meltdown over Trump wait till the get a load of me.

What? You want to shut down all the departments that aren't enumerated in the Constitution?

JCM 12/17/2020 9:25:50 AM

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vxbush 12/17/2020 9:31:34 AM

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In #23 JCM said: Problem is it is too late. The Electors have cast their votes in the Electoral college. This puts it beyond the jurisdiction of the courts.The only remedy now would be challenges when The House and Senate meet to finalize the election. One Senate and one Representative can challenge the results of a State's Electoral vote.

And that would require people who go begging for money every 2 or 6 years to finally grow a spine and a set of stones. I'm not expecting it. 

vxbush 12/17/2020 9:31:35 AM

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In #23 JCM said: Problem is it is too late. The Electors have cast their votes in the Electoral college. This puts it beyond the jurisdiction of the courts.The only remedy now would be challenges when The House and Senate meet to finalize the election. One Senate and one Representative can challenge the results of a State's Electoral vote.

And that would require people who go begging for money every 2 or 6 years to finally grow a spine and a set of stones. I'm not expecting it. 

JCM 12/17/2020 9:37:55 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 24:

Yertle the Turtle McConnell already threw in the towel telling (R)s not to challenge results.

Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 9:42:04 AM

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Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 9:50:52 AM

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They aren't going to send conservatives to re-education camps.  They'll just make sure we can't work anywhere, live anywhere, or own a business.

That includes even liberals who support Israel, even if they think the "Palestinians" should have a state. 

It has started at the NY Times, for example, and will spread. 

Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 10:01:48 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 28:

In my own workplace, we recently had mandatory training (online) on having a workplace free of  "discrimination";   On the one hand, the training noted that our policies prohibit discrimination based on, inter alia, religious belief and political belief.

On the other hand, the training not-so-subtly hinted that expressing opposition to same-sex marriage (even in a private conversation) would be actionable "discrimination", subject to disciplinary action.

So, you have freedom of religious and political beliefs... as long as they're the CORRECT beliefs, of course.

Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 10:07:52 AM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 29:

And if Muslims talk about killing Jews, it is their religious right, but Jews cannot defend themselves. I have heard of, but not experienced that. Probably won't where I work, but you never know what will happen under the Harris administration.

JCM 12/17/2020 10:23:26 AM

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Death certificate analysis shows Washington’s COVID-19 death count remains inflated

Washington’s data was riddled with cases — as much as 13 percent of the total — in which the death certificate made no reference to COVID-19 as a cause of death. In several cases, even gunshot deaths were chalked up to the virus.

This is just WA State.
Claim is 225,000 COVID deaths.

My number crunching give me around 70,000.

I've seen and heard reference to a study where they took the the previously used CDC methodology and applied it COVID and the numbers are similar to mine. Problem is I can't find the paper.

vxbush 12/17/2020 10:47:58 AM

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In #31 JCM said: I've seen and heard reference to a study where they took the the previously used CDC methodology and applied it COVID and the numbers are similar to mine. Problem is I can't find the paper.

If you do find it, please post it here. I'm trying to keep copies of the papers I can, under the assumption that these will disappear over the next year. 

buzzsawmonkey 12/17/2020 10:49:03 AM

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Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 10:50:40 AM

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Reply to buzzsawmonkey in 33:

indeed, “progressives“ love to virtue signal about how they favor everything being locally sourced and independent and all that. But when the rubber meets the road? Not so much.

JCM 12/17/2020 10:53:35 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 32:

Not the one I'm looking for but one for your files.

The COVID-19-related economic crisis and food- and health-system disruptions threaten to exacerbate undernutrition in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC). We used three modelling tools (MIRAGRODEP, Lives Saved Tool, and Optima Nutrition Tool) to estimate impacts on child stunting, wasting, and mortality, maternal anemia, children born to low BMI women, and future productivity losses for three scenarios across 2020–2022 (n = 118 LMICs). We also estimated the additional cost of mitigation for six nutrition interventions to maximize non-stunted and alive children. By 2022 COVID-19 could result in an additional 9.3 million wasted and 2.6 million stunted children, 168,000 additional child-deaths 2.1 million maternal anemia cases, 2.1 million children born to low BMI women and US$29.7 billion future productivity losses due to excess stunting and child mortality. An additional $1.2 billion per year is needed to mitigate these effects. Governments and donors must maintain nutrition as a priority, continue to support resilient systems, and ensure efficient use of new and existing resources.

Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 10:55:14 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 32:

I can add a "files" section that lets users upload files. That will take a little work, but given the current Big Tech Ministry of Truth might be needed more than adding time zones and avatars.

However, it will require database changes, which caused about a day outage last time, before I figured out how to get the scripts to update the database.

JCM 12/17/2020 10:56:04 AM

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Reply to JCM in 35:

Of course they look to government for a solution....

Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 11:05:20 AM

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In #37 JCM said: Of course they look to government for a solution....

vxbush 12/17/2020 11:15:50 AM

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In #36 Kosh's Shadow said: I can add a "files" section that lets users upload files. That will take a little work, but given the current Big Tech Ministry of Truth might be needed more than adding time zones and avatars. However, it will require database changes, which caused about a day outage last time, before I figured out how to get the scripts to update the database.

Do you have a way to back up both the files and the database? If so, then it could be useful as a repository of information. 

Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 11:20:04 AM

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Reply to vxbush in 39:

I can back up the files and database to my local system using the hosting control panel. 

Reading the DB backup requires the exact SQL server version as the hosting company uses, however. The files would just be files.

And I have multiple systems and a NAS device for backups at home. 

Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 11:20:28 AM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 40:

NAS device is RAID 1 for reliability

lucius septimius 12/17/2020 12:03:50 PM

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Reply to Occasional Reader in 29:

Some years ago my employer wanted to add a "diversity" statement to the handbook.  The statement was the usual blather, mainly about sexuality since it was written by the Coalition of Lesbians.  When it came up for a vote, a colleague in sociology stood up and said everyone needed to understand that the statement was in direct contradiction of the "non-discrimination" clause that appeared in the same handbook.  He acknowledged that it would be approved anyway, but wanted to make sure everyone at least took a second to think about the necessary contradiction.

The result was a full-throated attack on him rivalling those of chimpanzees in its savagery.  He was called every name in the book (granted, there were fewer -phobe categories then), yet no one could come up with a logical counter to his point.  Quite the opposite:  they all said "of course they contradict one another, but who cares?  if you disagree with either you are a fascist!!!!!"

Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 12:12:55 PM

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In #42 lucius septimius said: Quite the opposite:  they all said "of course they contradict one another, but who cares?  if you disagree with either you are a fascist!!!!!"

And right after that, the chocolate ration was increased from 30 grams, all the way up to 20 grams. 

vxbush 12/17/2020 1:11:38 PM

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A graduate student at a local university was talking to me about the diversity stuff going on at the university, and he pointed out that the requirement to write in English with correct grammar and syntax was not diverse enough and that other modes of writing should be allowed. He even gave me a link to a group dedicated to doing exactly this at most universities. 

I just smiled politely and walked away. 

doppelganglander 12/17/2020 1:26:00 PM

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Reply to vxbush in 44:

I guess he wants to spend tens of thousands of dollars to leave college as ignorant as he started.

JCM 12/17/2020 1:33:58 PM

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Part of what I've been doing for the past year, release to the public.

Kosh's Shadow 12/17/2020 1:36:01 PM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 45:

Worse. Colleges will now be turning out people who can't communicate clearly, and not just in fields like gender studies. Wait until law schools and medical schools have to take these people or be considered racist.

Occasional Reader 12/17/2020 2:27:38 PM

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In #47 Kosh's Shadow said: Wait until law schools and medical schools have to take these people or be considered racist.

"Wait until"?    Did you compose this post in around 1985, and it got hung up in a buffer or something?

/

vxbush 12/17/2020 2:32:31 PM

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In #46 JCM said: Part of what I've been doing for the past year, release to the public. Amazon marks breakthrough in Project Kuiper development Custom-built antenna architecture will allow Amazon to deliver a small, affordable customer terminal to connect unserved and underserved communities around the world.

Outstanding!

doppelganglander 12/17/2020 3:53:24 PM

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Reply to JCM in 46:

That's very exciting! Think of the prosperity that could bring to rural and remote areas. Soon we may be arguing with strangers from Senegal and Bangladesh!

doppelganglander 12/17/2020 3:55:33 PM

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Reply to Kosh's Shadow in 47:

One of the nice things about my field is that we are all grammar Nazis and punctuation nerds. I enjoy working with people who care as much about proper spelling and usage as I do.

JCM 12/17/2020 3:59:17 PM

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Reply to doppelganglander in 50:

Absolutely, we could give those people a direct voice into the discussion. The term of art is "digital democracy" I believe.

Think about closed countries, image getting in the antenna and modem? Totally goes around any countries filters.

The target is for the hardware to be competitive with what you'd pay for a good modem and router today. 

At 12" a little larger with enclosure it won't be obvious and since it phased array it can sit flat, doesn't have to be at an angle pointed at a satellite.

doppelganglander 12/17/2020 4:35:44 PM

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Reply to JCM in 52:

Getting these units into closed countries would be an excellent project for charities to take on.