Pan Flipping

 

S O S Just Another Day

Today, we decided to close our pool for the winter...  I cannot remember if we did this earlier or later last year but that does not really matter.  This year, we are not reducting the water levels as we have done in all the other years of pool ownership because our contacts at the pool place that sells chemicals and stuff says not to...  although, on one of the items they sold us to close our pool with, does recommend lowering the water level...  so, we thought what the shit, let's do something different this year and now lower the water level...   I'll let you know what happens, if I can remember to do that...  but, at 75, who knows what the hell my mind might remember or not.

We trim bushes each years and put the cuttings on the road for pick up.  Our back cuttings are done, we just need to complete the front yard.  Yes, we know it is actually too early to do fall trimming but we don't care if our bushes live or not as we just as soon plant grass and mow instead of trim.

If all goes well, I will also drain the hot tub this weekend, clean it out, and refill it for use during the winter months.  I did not use it for over 5 months because of my back problems and surgery but I started using it again to try and relax my muscles which is the reason for cleaning.

Our pool and hot tub are almost 15 years old and they have lasted this long because we have taken care of them.  We have spent less than $5,000 maintaining them over these 14/15 years which averages out to less than $500 each year or less that $50 each month or about a $1.60 each day...  but, who the hell figures out what it costs them each day?  It certainly isn't me...  lol

While my finances are personal, my keen insight into financial planning, which is one of the classes I still teach at the university, has put me and my family in a position where we are not hurt by the current inflation...  in the sense that we have not yet had to cut back on anything.  Of course, our current lifestyle does not have us traveling like we did from 2015 to 2020.  During those years, we were going somewhere every other month.  And, that shit gets old as you get old.

At my age, I mainly eat fish, chicken, veges, and beans and very seldom do I ever eat red meat, fried food, or sweets and absolutly no alcohol or cigarettes.  I also walk 2-3 miles a day, once in the morning and once in the late afternoon.  When I do eat red meat, it is usually a cheeseburger or an everything pizza.

I don't give a damn about politics and politics does not give a damn about me.  But, the irony of politics in the US and possibly Canada is that over half of the world IS NOT GOING TO FOLLOW OUR LEAD when it comes to going green...  And that is going to make us look pretty damn foolish, to say the least...

I am really looking forward to watching an electric airplane take off and land...  I doubt I would ride in one.  I do have an electric chainsaw and tiller and vacuum cleaner.

Of course, I doubt I would fly on a nuclear airplane either even though I know there are nuclear submarines.

All in all, I have about another 20 years to live and a lot of shit can happen in twenty years.  I am sure that one of the first things that is in our near future is robots replacing over 80% of our jobs.  At that point, everybody gets to retire which is going to be crazy when it comes to going places...  we will all spend our time standing in lines...  just like in the military...  hurry up and wait.  Military mentality...  ain't nothing like it...  unless it is other government workers.

Well...   Imma gonna close...  doubt if anyone read this far or not...  but if you did...  see ya.

Possible Thief

 

WIll Not Weaponize Robots

A quadrupedal robot armed with a machine gun built by Ghost Robotics, which has not signed the pledge. Photo by Chris Jung/NurPhoto via Getty Images


A group of robotics companies including Boston Dynamics — makers of the well-known quadrupedal robot Spot — have pledged not to weaponize their most advanced robots. However, the pledge will likely do little to stop the wider weaponization of this technology.


In an open letter addressed to the entire robotics industries (and first reported by Axios), the companies said they “believe that adding weapons to robots that are remotely or autonomously operated ... raises new risks of harm and serious ethical issues.”  READ MORE...

Tats

 

Redeployed Aircraft Carrier

The USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is returning to waters off the coast of South Korea in the latest show of strength after North Korea's most provocative missile test in years.

A Navy spokesperson confirmed Wednesday the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group is now in the Sea of Japan, which is off the Korean peninsula's east coast, but declined to comment further on "future operations."

The USS Ronald Reagan nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is returning to waters off the coast of South Korea in the latest show of strength after North Korea's most provocative missile test in years.

A Navy spokesperson confirmed Wednesday the Ronald Reagan Carrier Strike Group is now in the Sea of Japan, which is off the Korean peninsula's east coast, but declined to comment further on "future operations."  READ MORE...

Dancing Couple

 

Preparing For More COVID

Director of National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci testifies during a hearing before the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies of House Appropriations Committee at Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill May 11, 2022 in Washington, DC.
Alex Wong | Getty Images



Dr. Anthony Fauci has a sober warning for Americans: Don’t be surprised if a new, more dangerous Covid variant emerges this upcoming winter.

“We should anticipate that we very well may get another variant that would emerge, that would elude the immune response that we’ve gotten from infection and/or from vaccination,” Fauci said at an event with the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism this week.

Statistically, pandemic trends like hospitalizations and deaths are currently down nationwide: The seven-day moving average of new Covid deaths in the U.S. is 323 as of Wednesday, for example. 

That’s far lower than the country’s 1,000 to 2,500 in February and March, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

READ MORE...

Wet Paint

 

Blue Whales

 

Latest Legal Absurdity in Trump Case

First, she stopped FBI special agents from even glancing at the classified documents they recovered from Mar-a-Lago. Then she appointed a special court referee that former President Donald Trump wanted to slow down the investigation over his mishandling of classified documents.

But now, it’s clear District Court Judge Aileen Cannon already knew the Department of Justice was ready to hand Trump back a ton of personal records six days before she claimed the former president was suffering “a real harm” by being “deprived of potentially significant personal documents.”

The “medical records” she worried the feds might leak to the press—what she called a “risk of irreparable injury” to the former president—were actually a doctor’s note Trump himself made public when running for the White House in 2016 as part of a publicity stunt.

A description in court records indicates the feds were trying to return an addendum to the infamous, eye-rolling letter that a Manhattan doctor quickly typed up emphatically declaring, “If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”  READ MORE...

Cat In Pan

 

Long COVID

Data: U.S. Census Bureau, Household Pulse Survey 2022; Chart: Madison Dong/Axios Visuals

Of the nearly 24 million adults in the U.S. who currently have long COVID, more than 80% are having some trouble carrying out daily activities, according to CDC data released Wednesday.

Why it matters: Nearly three years into a pandemic that has left millions newly disabled, medical researchers continue to search for an effective treatment.

The big picture: Long COVID symptoms can include shortness of breath, cognitive difficulties and symptoms that worsen even with minimal physical or mental effort — a primary indicator of chronic fatigue syndrome.

The pandemic sharpened the focus on the once largely dismissed area of chronic fatigue in health care, but misunderstandings and stigma persist.

Up to 4 million people are estimated to be out of work because of long COVID symptoms, according to a Brookings Institute report in August.

While long COVID is classified as a disability, qualifying for Social Security benefits requires proof that the condition has or will last a year, even though there's no test to diagnose long COVID, per CDC.

Creating Movement

 

Transgendered Children

Across the United States, thousands of youths are lining up for gender-affirming care. But when families decide to take the medical route, they must make decisions about life-altering treatments that have little scientific evidence of their long-term safety and efficacy.

On the two-hour drive back from the hospital, Danielle Boyer kept replaying the doctor’s questions in her mind. Was her then-12-year-old child, Ryace, hearing voices? Was she using illegal drugs? Had she ever been hospitalized for psychiatric treatment? Had she ever harmed herself?

Danielle was still shaken when she and Ryace arrived home in this small town nestled in a bend of the Ohio River. Dinner would have to wait. She had to talk to her husband. “They were asking us these sad, terrible questions,” she told Steve Boyer as the two sat in their garage that August 2020 evening. “Do you know kids have tried to kill themselves?”

“I had no idea,” he said.  READ MORE...

Playful

 

Our World is On Fire

 

How do we stop it?

• Russia invasion of Ukraine
• North Korea launching missiles
• China eyeing Taiwan for invasion
• OPEC reducing production by 2 million barrels per day
• Global Inflation
• Global increase in crime and violence
• Global supply chain problems
• Global increase in illegal drugs

Muscle Girl

 

OPEC+ Cuts Oil Production - Gas Prices to Rise

A man walks past OPEC headquarters in Vienna on Tuesday on the eve of the 45th meeting of the Joint Ministerial Monitoring Committee and the 33rd OPEC and non-OPEC Ministerial Meeting. The in-person meeting of OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia and allied members headed by Russia will be the first in the Austrian capital since the spring of 2020.  Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images

In Vienna on Wednesday, the OPEC+ alliance is expected to consider a cut in oil production of up to 1 million to 2 million barrels a day — an amount that could drive oil and gas prices back up after weeks on a downward trend.

The meeting of the 24 OPEC+ oil-producing countries, including Russia, comes at a time when much of the world is already battling soaring energy costs. 

A supply cut could also exacerbate tensions between Saudi Arabia and the U.S., where President Biden has been trying to rein in prices at the gas pump ahead of the midterm elections.

OPEC+, formed in 2016, includes the 13 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries members and 11 other non-OPEC members.  READ MORE...

Dog Bubbles