The Illusion of the Present

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It’s no secret that I’m a lazy procrastinator. I mean, why should I do anything at this moment when I can put it off, perhaps forever? Moreover, if I put something off long enough, maybe someone else will do it. Then again, maybe it really doesn’t need to be done at all.

The thing is, people like me can be pulled into the illusion of the present. It’s the proverbial “Okay so far,” remark of the optimist. Never mind the problems or the dangers that lurk ahead. I am okay and I refuse to concern myself with the future.

I know this attitude has been and will be costly in the future for me. I wish I could change my attitude, but, you know, it’s just me.

As an individual, that’s bad enough. However, when a person holds an office of public responsibility, such as mayor, governor, or president, this can be very costly.

Consider the national debt. “okay so far,” so, naturally, nothing gets done about it. Indeed, they keep adding to it. They have been deceived by the illusion of the present.

I speak of the national debt but it is hardly the only thing that the politicians keep putting off. After all, as long as things last for the remainder of their time in office, it’ll be okay. Whoever inherits the job will inherit the problem. And, invariably, they will find some way of putting it off as did I.

And we, the voters are fooled as well. The politicians say, “All is well,” and we believe them. After all, we do go to work each day. We draw our paycheck. We go to the store where we are able to buy food and other goods. When we toggle that switch, the light comes on. Me, with my wonderful 8,000 BTU AC, am living in more comfort than the kings of centuries past never dreamed of.

What could go wrong. What stupid thing will some stupid politician do that can change all this? Right?

Some Things I Just Hate, for Many Reasons

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I decided to charge my almost new Nissan EV. The instant I opened the trunk to get the cable out, I realized the source of that horrid smell I couldn’t help but notice the last 3 or 4 days. There, right next to the charger were the remains of a big black cat.

Stupid cat likely climbed in whilst I had the windows down to cool the interior. I hate when any animal dies. But I also hated dealing with what was left. It almost fell apart when I picked it up. I spent portions of the next hour cleaning it and trying to deal with the smell.

I did hate that it died. And, as I said, I really wished it didn’t climb into the car. I am going to need to really be more careful. Maybe we need screens on car windows. It would be good for keeping flies and skeeters out too. When I leave the windows down, it does seem an instant invite to any little pest with wings.

Just Have to Pass Along This Selleck

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Just happened on this quote. I don’t know all the specifics. I’ll let you figure it out.

“I refuse to debate gun control with someone who believes a man can have a baby.” said by Tom Selleck

When I read this, my wife wanted to know why my sudden laughter. So much I wish I thought of it. It has been repeated by hundreds of thousands and I can’t remember how many likes.

Anyone Thinking of Their Reputation

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I don’t know but there was a day when people really thought long and hard before sullying their reputation. Nowadays dems don’t think anything of tossing all that they have down the tube for the party. They must realize that it will be found out. The current and prior press secretaries have and do tell lie after lie and one day, it will be clear to all.

Senators and representatives know Old Joe ain’t all there and yet they jump at the chance to say he is. Then one day, it will be that their rep will be worth nothing. All will know that they willingly lied and did for the party.

Then again, they do have another type of reputation to think of. Just how much are they willing to do for the party? Is he a soldier willing to give all for the party, in spite of the harm it causes to their country.

It is casual to the most obvious observer just how much the democrat soldiers are willing to do and say to protect the power of the party.

Sometimes I wonder, just how much the party is willing to do to the soldier who steps out of line.

Seeing is Believing

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We need to start challenging Old Joe. If he has no cognitive problems, he needs to prove it. He needs to destroy all all doubt.. And as they say, seeing is believing. On the other hand, all the hiding only generates more doubt.

If he really has the proper mental capacity to be the leader of this nation, he needs to prove it, instead of constantly, consistently hiding.

Bring him out on a stage… BY HIMSELF… and make him answer real unprepared questions… WITHOUT KNOWING what they are in advance… for fifteen minutes.

Trump proved he can do it. He has in multiple times under multiple situations. All Old Joe does is hide most of the time. Then he comes out where others lead him around, where the questions are prepared and where time is limited. Even if his policies were perfect, that is not the way to lead. AND, his policies are horrible.

The Democracy vs the Republic

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It is a shame but the vast populace of the US get the two terms confused. You don’t need to take my word for it, but they are not the same. You can look it up. Moreover, though the Democrats would like us to believe we live in a democracy we don’t and never did.

The fact is that we live in a representative republic. No sane person who knows and understands what a democracy is would want to live in a true democracy. Let’s consider a home owner’s association run totally by democracy. Let’s also assume that there are 100 members in the association.

At this point, 51 people would control all 100. If 51 people decided that the other 49 needed to pay 55% of the cost of the operating costs, guess what? 51 people would pay 55% of the operating costs. 49 people would pay only 45 % of the operating costs.

“Unfair!” you say. And it is. It is the weakness of the democracy. The minority would always be at the mercy of the majority. It is why, when they wrote the Constitution, they decided on a representative republic. The same problem, to some degree still exits, however, there are some advantages in the republic in that there are protections in the system for the minority. The majority has some limitations over minority.

We do not vote on the laws. We vote for people who write and vote on the laws. As such, the majority has it’s limits. There were many things in the constitution that keep the majority from rough-riding over a small group, or even an individual. Certainly, The Ten Amendments are a big part of it. By them, individuals and groups are protected from the government, which represents the majority.

Theoretically, before a man can be imprisoned, he must be convicted of a crime. Moreover, there is great care to make sure that many rights must be observed. Laws and procedures must be followed. Moreover, there are higher courts to make sure of this.

The democrats don’t like these procedures. President Trump was convicted outside a proper trial system. It will very likely at some point be overturned. Nonetheless, it shows what happens when the mass takes control, a true democracy. Virtually all of Trumps rights have been sidestepped by a biased system. The whole court system, even the jury was strongly biased. They needed no proof. The prosecutor could have stood before them and said he’s guilty and they would have returned a guilty verdict on the spot.

No one, but not one person should be glad at what happened. It is the 51% ruling over 49% regardless of the evidence. AND it can happen to all of us. If it can happen to a multi-billionaire, it most certainly can happen to a penniless man in the slums, no matter what color his skin is.

One of the most important and overlooked amendments is the tenth, in which all authority which is not explicitly given to the federal government is supposed to be reserved to the states and the people. Nowadays, it is mostly ignore. Some laugh at the few important words. If it were properly observed, there would be no department of education. There would be no FEMA. It was a good thing that the north won the Civil War. However, the the 10th Amendment was one of the casualties of the war. Since the war ended, not many pay attention to it. And we truly suffer because of it.

I have a question concerning this. Do we really want to put the national government in charge of deciding what we teach and and how we teach our kids. It is how Hitler took over in Germany, through the schools, and quickly. Better that schools be controlled as local as possible.

When The Constitution was first ratified, senators were selected by the state assemblies. The idea was, the people selected the representatives and the states select the senators. A constitutional amendment ended that, as well as all representation of the states. It was a horrible blow to the concept of a republic.

Now, another aspect of the republic is apparently sitting on the chopping block. If it falls, it will be devastating. The majority will have their rule. The president will be selected by the majority and the communists will take over. Maybe not immediately, but soon.

Believe it or not, their is a purpose to the Electoral College. I suppose if we do away with it, we’ll find out about it. Maybe a little late.

Heat and Mileage

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I have always known that the heat will effect mileage of electric cars, or any car with air conditioning really. However, as usual, experience is a good teacher. Now that it has been hitting 95 degrees daily lately it is becoming a great deal more obvious. For this reason, the wife and I have started waiting longer before we go out.

At the end of each trip, my EV Nissan gives me a report on how many miles per KW hour I had. It is pretty normal to score anywhere from 3.0 to 3.8. However, here lately, I have been getting reports around 2.3 and 2.4. It is somewhat logical as it takes half the 5 mile ride to cool the car down.

On rare occasions, when driving at night, I get reports close to 5.0. Then the other day, in the evening, I needed very little air conditioning. It wasn’t so hot and my trip was about half in the shade. When I pulled into the drive and turned off the car, I was surprised with a 6.1 miles per KW Hour.

That tells me, I would get much better mileage if I could do all my driving in a climate of 72 degrees where the sun is not heating the cabin through the windows.

Well, I have also drawn a few more conclusions. I could drastically increase my mileage if I could always park my car with the windows wide open. If I could leave the air conditioning off, I just might be able to double my range.

I can’t imagine that others are not completely aware of what I am saying. Moreover, air conditioning does create a load on internal combustion engines, too, likely more than we want to admit. Might it be possible that AC might cost as much as 5 or 6 miles per gallon. This is particularly true when a car must be parked in the sun, pushing the cabin heat to 130, maybe 140 degrees. Likely that compressor in any car is kept running the first 3 or 4 miles.

In the old days, we just rolled the windows down which helped a lot. We just can’t do that anymore. Weather aside, too many thieves. Too much of a temptation. The cost of insurance is high enough. However, If the cost of fuel keeps going up, we might need to roll the windows down anyway and make sure we leave nothing in the car we don’t want to lose.

There are other solutions of course. I did many years ago cover my car with a reflective cover. It worked okay, but by the time I took it off the car, the sun already heated the car. Besides, someone took the cover.

My wife is always tell me, I think to much. I guess that’s true. I did consider just a couple of 4 x 8 pieces of plywood with aluminum foil. I almost did it a time or two. I also wondered if I might be able to mount the things on the car while driving. I am sure it would drive the cost of AC down, but I’m not sure it would be legal.

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a piece of foam that would fit over the car and hang over the windows a little. That would not only protect from the heat but it would also prolong the life of the interior, maybe a little. The foam could be rolled up while not in use and put in the trunk. I kind of like this idea the most, if I could find a piece of foam. It would not help while driving. However, it would not take as long to cool the cabin.

My car, I guess as most cars with AC allow the driver to select to recirculate the interior air or pull in fresh air and cool it. Many overlook it. When the cabin is 120 degrees, it is better to draw 95 degree air in and cool it instead of the hot interior air, while forcing the 120 degree air out.

On the other hand, once the interior of the car has cooled blow the 95 degree outdoor temperature, it is far better to cool the interior air than the the hotter outside temperature.

My car has all kinds of automation, but I must do this manually. Moreover, I must only guess. I have no interior temperature indication, other than guess. With all the push to go green, why is this so. Nonetheless, I do my part. When I get in my car, I select outdoor. After about 5 minutes, I switch to recirculate. My guess, I’m probably off some.

Another more recent Idea I had is to get one of these battery powered leaf blowers. Roughly five minutes before going anywhere, I can roll down the front windows and point the leaf blower in one window and blow 95 degree in one window forcing he 120 degree air out the other window. I haven’t done it yet, but it does seem that it would work.

Then the blower would go in the trunk for just before I start home.

If anyone has any other ideas, I have my ears on. If the engineers don’t want to solve this problem, let’s do it for them. Incidentally, Old Joe is going to make sure we are all going to go to electric cars. Y’ll are going to be facing these problems one of these days.

Keeping Cool

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Unlike most folks, I have really taken a liking to window ACs. When I had central air, I spent over a grand a year to keep it running. Considering the increase in prices these days, I would not be at all surprised if it’s pushing 2 grand a year.

Roughly 5 years ago, I bought a 12 thousand BTU unit that lasted 5 year. I pulled it out and put it at the curb. My guess is that someone cleaned it up and now has a perfectly good unit that will last another 4 or 5 years.

Those window units are really built well. Some just might last forever but for the dust.

I put a new 8 thousand BTU unit in for about 5 hundred. I was

afraid it wouldn’t carry the load, but, with my age, 12 thousand BTU units are just too heavy for me.

So now the unit is being tested as the temp is hitting 95 daily. I am impressed. During the heat of the day, it runs about 75% of the time and keeps us comfortable.

My guess is that it also uses about a quarter the power of a 2 ton central unit.

There is a side benefit. When I finish working in the yard and come in really hot, I sit in front of the AC 15 minutes and I’m recovered. Can’t do that with central air.

Maybe one of these years, they will start making central units as reliable as window units. However, I’m not going to count on it.

1989 Plus or Minus a Year or Two

Posted in Advertising, Awkward Situation, Christian values by

Why in the world do I bring up the year? What would be the significance? Most folks weren’t even around then or are aware of what all is going on in the world beyond their own home or school. Approximately at that time, a news announcement that bras would be advertised on TV with models wearing them OVER their clothing.

It wasn’t long after that, I remember seeing one of the commercials. Before that time, they did not model bras on TV. They did advertise them but no one ever wore them on TV. It seems a few weeks later, they lowered the standards and started modeling the bras without the clothing. Indeed, nowadays, they model underwear, both genders, with just the underwear.

However, it is more than that. It is a matter of frequency. It used to be that the underwear ads weren’t all that frequent. Now, it seems that we are treated to undergarment shows at least once every commercial break.

I guess we can thank the TV industry to the fact that all children past the age of 4 knows what a woman looks like in her underwear. I don’t know about others, but I really don’t think that is much of a progress. I mean, as they say, we can turn the TVs off, which I am tempted to do. However, that is not really an answer. Do we really want to deny the entertainment to 4 year-olds just so the world of lingerie can display their wears any time any day, and by the way, without forewarning. No one makes any remark, “The following ad might not be suitable for children.”

The fact of the matter is, none of us can dive for the remote fast enough keep our children from seeing such things.

I guess, there is nothing to be done. We must actually live in a world where modesty is disappearing at lightning speed.

Just one last question. Is this really the sort of thing we want want our children watching? Does this really improve their environment during their formative years? Okay. I know. Two questions. Still, sort of a different way of asking the same thing.