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WTF Arizona

Uncategorized / September 20, 2016 September 20, 2016

“The Arizona Supreme Court issued a stunning and horrifying decision on Tuesday, interpreting a state law to criminalize any contact between an adult and a child’s genitals. According to the court, the law’s sweep encompasses wholly innocent conduct, such as changing a diaper or bathing a baby. As the stinging dissent notes, “parents and other caregivers” in the state are now considered to be “child molesters or sex abusers under Arizona law.” Those convicted under the statute may be imprisoned for five years.”

…

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Is Talk radio dead in Central Vt.?

Media / September 17, 2016 September 17, 2016

Program format changes are afoot at WSNO 1450am. Conservative talk radio appears to be no more. In a way I’m not surprised. I would often listen to Glen Beck and especially Rush Limbaugh to get a does of sanity in a world increasingly going insane. The station recently switched from Sean Hannity to Howie Carr to perhaps a local New England conservative talk show host would pull better ratings. Apparently that experiment also failed.

But one couldn’t help but notice that during the breaks for local commercials there would be nothing but “dead air” or listen to the network countdown to cue the program back on.

Was it because no Central Vermont businesses wanted to advertise on conservative talk shows? Did they worry that their liberal democrat customers would boycott them? Did they really try hard to sell advertising?

Well I don’t hold anything against them. Radio is a business like everything else. And it comes down to ratings. Probably most of the people who would have listened have day jobs where the boss frowns on them listening to the radio. No doubt to many would refuse to listen because of preconceived notions about conservatives and will not lower themselves to listen to anything that might pierce their liberal bubble.

You can’t run a business and continue to be in the red. Those show cost money. Low ratings mean you can’t charge as much for advertising and even break even, let alone make a profit. So you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do.

It’s good that I my blog isn’t a business. looking at my viewer numbers which have been declining for some weeks, I wonder if the only people who read my blog are my friends and relatives. Oh well, I enjoy it .

Fortunately I’m able to pick Rush up on 620am out of Burlington.

So there.

A brilliant essay

Politics / September 16, 2016 September 16, 2016

From “ “THe Political Hat”

It Doesn’t Affect You, But It Does
Posted on September 16, 2016 by The Political Hat
John Donne once said that “no man is an island”. Society has evolved, does evolve, and will evolve, with the actions of each to one degree or another affecting it and being affected by it. Society isn’t some abstract idea or social construct of the conspiratorial vein. The libertarian ideal that everyone can do what they want and anything not affecting others in the strictest 1st degree will not have a depreciative or dilatory effect others, and thus society, is based upon a blind faith that the way, the truth, the light, of Randian enlightenment can not, and will not, be snuffed out a la Anthem because the choices of others does not, in the strictest 1st degree, command another. …

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Single payer, Yea that’s the ticket

Obamacare, Politics, Social commentary / September 16, 2016 September 16, 2016

British newspapers seem to be a lot more truthful then their American counterparts. Even the most unabashed left wing paper The Guardian won’t sugarcoat and spin the news like cotton candy.

“Years of underfunding have left the service facing such “impossible” demands that without urgent extra investment in November’s autumn statement it will have to cut staff, bring in charges or introduce “draconian rationing” of treatment – all options that will provoke public disquiet, it says.”

Single payer is goal of the “progressives”. Obama care is collapsing as intended. Obama wants “single payer”, Hillary wants “single payer, The “progressives” in Vermont does not want the State to wait on the Feds and be an example to the nation. Be the first State to adopt “single payer” health care.

Being that Vermont has one of the “oldest” populations in the nation, and already one of the highest taxed, and when it comes to health care there is never enough money. Perhaps society should simply cut you off at 75 as Dr. Ezekiel Emmanuel explained in an American Thinker article . Not everyone of course, as every progressive knows “some people are more equal the others”. This is what can happen when you turn your healthcare over to your ‘benevolent” masters.

Or we could adopt “resolution” and celebrate a life (hopefully) well lived and not be a “burden” to society, as shown in this episode of Star Trek ” Half a life”.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7w1iT21nHQ

One of the first things Lenin did after the Bolsheviks seized power in 1917 (aside from killing the opposition as fast as they could) was to make healthcare “free” Once the government controls that they control you.

What’s the alternative you ask? Get the government out of healthcare. Allow insurance companies to compete, to write individual policies for people (i.e. catastrophic) that are portable, form pools for high risk individuals, promote health savings accounts and encourage people to take responsibility for their own health.

The choice is between being a free citizen or a farm animal.

Just Random Thoughts

Social commentary / September 15, 2016 September 15, 2016

Was speaking with a co-worker yesterday about the upcoming election. He basically was disgusted with both candidates. Didn’t trust either of them. I tried to explain to him that If Hillary becomes President the Constitution will be “dead”, not “living” DEAD!

He did mention to me that he “concealed carries” every where except at our place of employment which is a “gun free zone”. He sited a recent fatal stabbing at the Champlain Valley Fair, “that’s why I carry” he said.

Well if Hillary becomes President she is going to be nominating Supreme Court Justices. The first will be to replace the late Anthony Scalia. She will nominate a flaming leftist in the mold of Ginsburg, (or maybe that constitutional scholar himself, Obama). Even if the Republicans retain control of the Senate which is not a sure thing, would the Republican party have the balls to prevent a confirmation. Judging from how they have performed for the last eight years, and with the pressure the MSM propaganda on them (the first woman president you see) I expect they will crumble. And kiss goodbye the 2nd Amendment.

Hillary will not be held accountable for ANYTHING BAD! Wither it be the economy (which Bill is slated to control) to national security and everything in between. The lapdog media will spin this disaster as something good for the country.

Hillary will open the borders and let in a flood of Hispanics and Middle Eastern refugees who with very few exceptions will constitute a much larger permanent under class to go along with African Americans who will vote democrat in perpetuity. To keep those checks coming and to go to the head of the line regardless of merit.

The billionaire progressive are so filthy stinking rich that higher taxes on them will only be a minor itch. And if it bothers them too much they know exactly where to go to get it scratched.

No, it will be the middle class and small business that will carry the brunt of the cost both in wealth and in freedom. Hillary taking the precedent set by Obama will ignore Congress and rule by decree. With a stacked Supreme Court backing her ( and that weasel John Roberts likely going along) guns will be confiscated from law abiding citizens, energy cost will skyrocket (we’ve heard that before) to save the planet from global warming, the military will continue to be gutted and neutered and America’s enemies will look on in amazement that we could be so stupid!

The First Amendment will be twisted in knots also. Freedom of speech HA! You still have freedom of speech as long as you don’t OFFEND anyone! White males and Christians excepted.

Deep blue Vermont that presently has NO gun restrictions on law abiding citizens, will discover that the omnipotent federal government has corrected that oversight.

Trump on the other hand is despised by the media, despised by the left (democrats, progressives, socialist, communists, and half the stupid Republican party. If he wins the media and left will pull out all the stops to insure he falls flat on his face. He will be hated more the Bush ever was. The Democrats will be united in opposing all his efforts at reform, especially on immigration. And I’m sure there will be a few Republicans “crossing the isle” to show their “bipartisanship”.

No with Trump it will be the exact opposite from the last eight years.

America’s future, will it remain a land of freedom and opportunity or descend into “soft tyranny”? Which no doubt will harden as time passes.

Trump was not my first choice, but considering the alternative he is the only choice.

1950’s Technology and the standing of watch

personal history / September 12, 2016 March 2, 2019

Shown below Is a LORAN “A” timer. It is the main controls for monitoring the radio signal of a now long obsolete and discontinued aid to navigation.

It all starts with a stable 100KHZ sine wave which gets multiplied, amplified and then synchronized with a master primary station. Loran stations operates in groups of three with one master primary and two slave secondary stations. A boat on the ocean would receive signals from all three and by means of triangulation determine the boats location on the high seas usually within a half a mile. Not bad for the time.

The electrical drawer on the right, third from the bottom housed the crystal oscillator oven, yes, radio crystals, used since the 1920’s That made standing watches a lot more intense because the crystal had to be maintained at exactly the correct temperature to ensure a steady 100KHZ frequency.

The 100KHZ base frequency was where it all started. If the Frequency drifted the signal synchronization was lost and alarms would sound and the deviations would be recorded on the chart recorder shown on the left. One would have to practically stand his entire watch in front of those oscilloscopes with your right hand on the dial regulating the temperature of the oven that housed the crystal oscillator

But when I was there we had some state of the art 1970’s technology. To the right is a cesium oscillator. This unit was able to maintain a steady 100KHZ sine wave with no drifting at all. Which made the system more reliable. Which made watches much more relaxed.

This is another one of my station mates. His name is Sid W. As you can see quite a bookworm. This is where we spent most of our time on watch. A multiband radio, transmitter, and though not shown a teletype machine which we used for messaging other loran stations and communicating with headquarters. When sending you would type out the message on a paper strip by punching holes in it. This is what texting was in the seventies.

On the wall behind Sid are the alarm boxes, all green. Through the opening you can see the transmitter and the power amplifier to the left. These things were huge, 1 megawatt of pulsed power we put out. the metal unit closest was the switch unit. All the equipment had backup, one on-air, one stand-by. Current, voltage, ant Watts readings were taken and recorded every hour. routine maintenance and good troubleshoot skills a must.

It was good duty, especially if you were on the 11am to 7pm watch. enough spare time to read, think, make phone calls to home

In Summer it never gets dark, at 3:30 am it’s as bright as noon. And your the only one awake. In winter, darkness 20 hours a day or should I say night.

Of course staying awake while on watch is a prerequisite. NO DOZ and coffee were always available. On rare occasions a ‘crossroad’.

A year in Kodiak Alaska. I had more fun then was legally allowed.

It was a long time ago. But such a good time.