Coffee Mess

You should always take care when drinking coffee to not let things surprise you, sadly I didn't.  I was reading my email when I found this:

 

decided I needed to share, now that the mess is cleaned up.

I'd help pay for signs like these - would you?

Pursuing Life

Haven't posted in a bit.  Between the fight over gun control, the continued and expected idiocy of the left, and not surprising idiocy from the right (they should know better).  I've sort tired of it.  It won't last, there's a target rich environment full of progressive morons, and politicians who I think are starting to believe their own lies.   Yeah I'll go to any pro-gun rallies, I'll keep writing to my useless progressive party puppet non-representatives.  I'm thinking though the similarities of Bernanke's Zero Interest policy and Price Control on Money.  But for present - I'm too busy having fun to give a much of a crap. 

 I've been studying for my Ham Radio license.   Too the exam on Saturday - well actually I took all three.

Way back when, you needed to learn Morse Code and be able to answer a bunch of questions about rules, electronics and procedures.  They also had Novice, Tech, General, Advanced, and Extra Class licenses.   Well things have changed, now there's no Morse Code requirement (I'm learning anyway) and there are only Tech, General and Extra classes.  Each class adds some extra frequencies you can use.  

I'd studied for the Tech and General which I got 100% on - Go ME!  Having not looked at the material for the Extra Class at all I figured I'd take it just to see - yeah, no 100% on that one, only a 54%.  I wasn't really surprised.  So now I'm studying for the Extra class.   It's interesting, and it takes math I haven't used since college - Polar Coordinates, imaginary numbers, natural logarithms.  

I've also been doing some reading about the Raspberry Pi™.  It's a tiny (slightly bigger than a credit card) computer that runs Linux.  It's powered by a USB port, has two USB ports for things like keyboard, mouse, etc.  An Ethernet connector, and HDMI connector for video/audio, and an audio only port.     You can add prototyping cards to it for your own projects - like robots.  You can connect Arduino boards to it as well - should be fun.

Stupid Celebrities

I usually think of celebrities as opinionated, egocentric, idiots - sure there's a few exceptions.  Everyone is entitled to their opinion but in a society that seems to worship celebrity, I think it's better if they just keep it to themselves. Way too much influence for the amount of thought (little to none) happening behind the words.

Here is a perfect example:  Dennis Rodman

Then there's this little gem from our idiot secretary of defense.
Of course as Borepatch points out - we only have something to upgrade because Regan wouldn't let the lefties kill the system.

Sure Dennis - he's a great guy, a great leader - you moron. 

Now I don't think Kim is really stupid enough to launch on the U.S. (Japan maybe), but he might be crazy enough.  I suppose it depends on how steeped in his own propaganda he is.   Look at Obama, he's been steeping in his own propaganda and media worship for so long he seems to really believe he is the second coming, and it's only been 6 years (including the campaign)   So we shouldn't be too surprised if Kim, who was born with it, believes his own bullshit.

What I really want to know is who's profiting from this little upgrade.

I'm sort of speechless

This article at breitbart doesn't really surprise me, the antics of Kelly don't really surprise me.   It's standard practice for the elite - especially the leftist elite to view Rules, Regulations, and Laws as something they create to apply to other people.

Well I suppose since the leftists have become the Man, it must be time for us to do unto them what they have done unto the country. 

For example.  When you hear a leftest say "For the Children"  ask the how saddling a newborn baby with more than $52,000 of dept before they take their first breath is good for the children - sounds like child abuse to me.   How are the children our future when if we continue as we have for the last 16 years (or longer) that child will be in dept to the tune of almost $200,000 Because the politicians couldn't break their addiction to spending.   How is that better than saddling the child with parents on Crack?  It's Child abuse pure and simple.

If I got to high school and found out my parents had voted to put me in that kind of dept I'd file for emancipation and move to a different country, say Switzerland  for example.

Bad news - S. 374

Well it's not a surprise anyway.  Initial indications are that it was written by Bloomberg.

Basically they want to register guns.
Almost everything you do with a gun and another person is a TRANSFER.
Most Transfers are illegal.
The transfers that aren't are subject to a FEE - No language of what that fee will be.  Which means they can make it want ever amount they figure will make it impossible for anyone to stay in business selling guns.

Oh and don't leave home for more than 7 days - or you might be put in jail for 5 years for engaging in an illegal transfer to a family member, or room mate.

I strongly suggest you write to your congress critters and tell them if they don't vote no - you will make it your person mission to support ANYONE running against them in the next election.

Two Idiots and a Blonde

There's a difference between expectation of privacy and government programs to record and track everything you do.

She sort of gets it.  The Moron on the left wants me to feel all warm and fuzzy about it.  You know it wasn't that many years back, when it was the Leftists  worrying about the GOP being all Big Brother, now they ARE big brother. 

The sad thing is that EVERY bit of it is recorded FOREVER anyway, maybe the NSA has just decided not to give the DHS the analysis they want.  Anyone who thinks this stuff ever gets deleted is not paying attention.

Yeah, what he said.

Hat Tip to  the folks over at SHTFPlan: here's a video that shows what you can expect from your cops.

Even the cops trying to stick to the NY party line don't believe that the shit Bloomberg and his buddies are spewing.  

If you have a home invasion and your not armed you'd better hope they wearing masks and are only interested in your stuff, otherwise your screwed.  They'll be long gone before the cops arrive.

Krauthammer needs to think more an talk less

What is it with these people? The time to worry about misuse of power is BEFORE it happens.  So yeah, fuck the whole drone thing without due process, and I  don't give a damn if it's in Pakistan, Afghanistan or Californiastan (well maybe it would be OK in Californiastan)

Yes there are more pressing issues, doesn't mean we shouldn't step on Government overreach before it get's out of hand. It's not like we're going to solve the fiscal problem this week anyway.   That's typical DC think - wait until EVERYONE is SCREAMING before tackling an issue that way I get more Press. Whoot ME! 

Friggen idiots.

What does she mean?

Wow - "Legal to hunt humans with 15 round, 30 round and even 150 Round magazines" - how cool is that!

Or did that mean you could only hunt humans by throwing 15, 30 and 150 magazines at them?    I'm confused.   I checked my state laws, it seems to be considered 1st degree murder to hunt humans, with anything - must be in California.... no, it's just the cops that get to hunt humans with 30 round magazines...

Oh wait - maybe she meant that the bill should legalize hunting human beings with 15, 30 and 150 round magazines in their possession? That does sound a bit more like reality - the police out hunting down humans using their AR-15/M-16 rifles with 30 round magazines at least in California.

Ahh, it's a brave new world.

Foyle's War

If you have Netflix you can stream this show.  It's a Brit period detective mystery that takes place during WW II.  I'm really enjoying it.

The Economics of Obamacare

When politicians talk about Controlling Costs of health care - what they really mean is Controlling Prices.   They really can't make real estate cheaper, nor or they likely to reduce the production and R&D costs of medical hardware.  They sure haven't don't anything about reducing the cost of malpractice insurance - so what they really mean is Price Control.

Price controls work just like Rent Controls - When you put an artificially low price on something you will have Shortages.  These shortages arise first because people see something they can get for less than it's true value - and we all like a bargain (yeah - hard to conceive of Bargain and Health Care in the same document let alone the same sentence).  In EVERY documented case of rent control that I've been able to find, buildings have either been maintained by the residents - as the landlord has abdicated that responsibility - which means the building in question is populated by the wealthy - taking advantage of the rent controlled property - (Say Mayor Koch of NY, who during his 12 years in the Gracie mansion also kept his rent controlled apartment - or New York Congressman Charles Rangel who has 4 of them - one used as an office.)*  - If the rent controlled properties are populated by the poor - which was the Intention of Rent Control - then they can't afford to do the upkeep - the landlord can't or won't so the buildings fall apart and are eventually condemned.  In every case - there is a SHORTAGE of available apartments - people who would normally move every few years stay put for decades.  A couple with an empty nest is unlikely to give up their $300 four bedroom apartment to move in to a $2500 two bedroom unit.

Back to ObamaCare - 
So we now have more people going to see the doctor for everything that comes along, I mean it's free right? When you artificially lower the price of something, it get's wasted.  Medical care is an area where you really want a surplus as it allows for the occasional emergency overload.   At the same time, the undervalued resources - in this case that would be Doctors, Nurses, Hospital Real Estate, etc - will be looking for more lucrative places to be. Plan on immediate reduction in capital spending - no new MRI machines, etc.  Followed by much longer waits to see a doctor - the standard greeting will be "The doctor will see you in 3 Months if your still alive" - 4 months if this were England.  You should probably expect to see a shortage of drugs as well - the costs of developing new drugs are substantial and unless the pharmaceutical companies can be sure of a profit then there's no up side to doing the development.   As it stands now at least one company is sacrificing future returns by cannibalizing current research spending to keep the share holders happy - Immediate gains vs Long term - and the trend seems to be toward VERY short term.

In the longer run the Best and Brightest, will loose interest in a field where they are essentially Slaves to the State - who the hell wants that? So what you can expect from our future medical students? Well since Harvard will be desperate for students you can figure all those idealistic young girls and boys with big hears and small minds will be heading that direction since the admissions requirements will be dropping as fast as doctors can flee the system.   Why?  because we still need the doctors - the smart people will have found something else to do or someplace else to do it and that leaves the ones that probably wouldn't have made it into med school in Granada, never mind Harvard, to fill the ranks working for a  Government Paycheck.  You should also expect to see the at first gradual but rapidly increasing unavailability of things like CAT scans, and MRI machines as they break down and no one can afford to replace or fix them. 

Like they say - the Road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions.

* Nevertheless, some unlikely things do get hoarded under price controls. For example, under rent control, people may keep an apartment that they seldom use, as some Hollywood stars have kept rent-controlled apartments in Manhattan where they would stay when visiting New York. Mayor Ed Koch kept his rent-controlled apartment during the entire 12 years when he lived in Gracie Mansion, the official residence of New York’s mayor. In 2008, it was revealed that New York Congressman Charles Rangel had four rent-controlled apartments, one of which he used as an office.

Sowell, Thomas (2010-12-28). Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy, 4th Edition (p. 54). Perseus Books Group. Kindle Edition.