Don’t Cry For Me America

Posted on 14/11/2021 by Grumpa Joe

Forgive me for stealing the title from the song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for the musical play Evita. A dear friend sent me a video this morning which I have seen many times before and decided to use as the basis for my post. There are so many parallels between the economic and political history of Argentina and the United States that this short video is a scary prediction of the direction and eventual outcome we face.

It is hard to understand why the country is divided almost an exact 50-50 between liberals and conservatives, but it is that way. What is harder to understand is that there is not a very large middle ground where some of the population can see, and argue both sides with compromise. For years we the people have been living with such a population, i.e. one that sees the value in compromise and is happy with the out come. Today, we face completely opposite mindsets. Both conservative and liberal are so set in their philosophy that they cannot even imagine not getting their way. I for one believe the only way to return the country to a manageable sanity is to totally destroy the other side. This would mean a civil war fought to the bitter end with one hundred and fifty million dead all on the same side. Since wars don’t turn out that way it would mean a hundred and fifty million liberals and a hundred million conservatives dead. The picture is not very pretty.

A civil war in the United States today would most likely mean that China would side up with the liberal side and take advantage of the situation. I’m not sure Russia would get into the fray, but they would sure enjoy watching the self-annihilation happen. All of this because one faction believes it is more correct than the other. I for one believe the correct side is the conservative one. To me communism stinks and has proven to be wrong many times over the years. Why the liberals continue to believe in this errant philosophy can only be attributed to mental illness. Of course the liberals see conservatives as being mentally unstable. So, may the best man win.

At this moment I see the liberals with an advantage as they control the military, the leadership power, and a very sympathetic press. It is a lot to overcome. Conservatives believe in the power of ideas, and liberals believe in the power of giving people what they want. The giving side works for a little while, but eventually dives into oblivion as the country goes bankrupt.

In the meantime, how do we fight this war? How can we defeat the evil without nuclear annihilation, and the help of a billion man army feeding themselves with chopsticks? Of course the liberals will say we must use diplomacy, but we know that doesn’t work too good unless one country carries a huge stick and holds it over the head of the other. World Wars One, and Two were fought because one country believed that by creating the perfect race it would lead to the perfect world. We know that didn’t work, but it cost both sides millions of lives to decide it. At the end of WWII a new philosophy entered the picture. The USA and England made a pact with the devil to help beat the Germans and that in turn led to Joe Stalin infiltrating Europe with his marvelous, wonderful political philosophy of communism. That really initiated a third war which we called the Cold War because there were no bullets or bombs involved. Even though the USSR disbanded and we thought our prayers were answered, the underground communists persisted and are beginning to win big. A large number of these communists invaded our schools of higher education and have been teaching our kids how wonderful it is to not have to work for a living and to get free stuff along with five weeks of vacation, and free child care, and free health care, and free food. Experts tell us to look at Norway and Sweden, they are living the high life under the socialist veil. What they don’t understand is that citizens in these countries are taxed, taxed, and taxed to the point of not being able to strip themselves of the yokes that bind them. They are not free to start their own enterprises, they have become slaves to the system. But, they like it! They lead relatively good lives and seem to be happy. Most likely they are happy because the government tells them repeatedly how happy they are. The North Korean fat boy tells his people repeatedly all day long over country-wide speakers how fortunate and happy they are to be starving. China does the same. Chinese seem to be very nationalistic, and happy to be serving dear leader. Just watch some Youtube videos of Chinese people being interviewed about their lives.

If the socialist system is so great then why do Hong Kong and Taiwan, both Chinese populations living in a capitalist world resist socialism so strongly? The answer is obvious, they like freedom and liberty more than the socialist yoke of sameness.

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Racist Roads?

Posted on 09/11/2021 by Grumpa Joe

Thank God I gave up spending my life reading news websites in favor of living to enjoy life. A few years ago I spent myriads of hours reading political BS about just about everything. All it did was to expand my vocabulary to understand what Democrats were calling me, like racist, homophobe, xenophobic.

This morning I spent driving to the north suburbs of Chicago to visit a business called Aum-Bio in Rolling Meadows. My wife believes and relies on alternative therapies for curing her ills and maintaining her health. Upon our return I decided to spend an hour reading internet news sites. The one headline that caught my attention contained the term “racist roads.” That one made me laugh out loud. Democrats are no longer satisfied with calling their opponents racists and are turning to the roads. Pretty desperate if you ask me. I had to open this article to get the details for how roads can be classified as racist. Wonder-Boy Secretary of Transportation Mayor Pete Buttigieg made the comment. He explained that he would use a large percentage of the money from the 1.5 trillion dollar infrastructure bill to address the problem of racist roads. To me that means that he will invent several new agencies staffed with high paid impossible to fire government employees to study the problem and at the end will recommend replacing the so called roads with new ones that cut right through old established neighborhoods.

Back in the nineteen fifties then mayor of Chicago Richard J. Daley was responsible for getting a new super highway built to serve Chicago. Since Lake Michigan borders the east side of the city the new road had to enter the city from the south, and exit to the north. This road would be part of Interstates 90, and 94 that skirt the south end of Lake Michigan and then head back north through Chicago into Wisconsin before they again turn west at different latitudes.

The 1950’s demographic history of Chicago shows that most of the black population lived on the near south side in ghettos that came into existence after the great fire in the eighteen hundreds. I can call these ghettos because I personally witnessed the neighborhoods as I road the Red Rocket street car down Cottage Grove Avenue to 22nd street where I got off and walked to Michael Reese Hospital for physical therapy. I was shocked at the dilapidation of the buildings along the way especially those north of 55th street. It got worse and worse the further north toward the city-center. At times I was the only white boy on the car amongst blacks. Since I wore a neck brace and used crutches I was often offered a seat by a black person, usually a very tired looking lady who could hardly wait to get home. Since I was taught to respect my elders I never accepted an offer, I waited until a seat became open. I never feared for my life, no one ever tried to intimidate me we were just passengers on a public mode of transportation trying to get somewhere.

Looking at the map that decided where the Dan Ryan Expressway (1-94) was to go, it is clear to see that the black population won privy to Chicago’s prized lakefront access. It was the white who could not cross under low bridges by bus to get to the beaches, it was the blacks who had privilege to prime lakefront views and access. It was the whites who could not access Chicago’s largest parks like Washington Park, and Jackson Park. The whites the of the city are owed reparation for access to the prime lakefront properties, and access to the nicest parks in the mid-west.

Since the fifties and Interstate 94 (Dan Ryan Expressway) was completed as a necessary road, the black population has expanded twenty miles to the east and west sides of I-94 all the way into the south suburbs to east-west road Interstate 80. Chicago has had a Democrat mayor exclusively during that time. Wonder-boy Mayor Pete should have claimed this fact as well in his announcement. Instead he makes it sound like the entire population of the U.S.A. is race hating. I can say with some probability of accuracy that his home town of South Bend, Indiana of which he was mayor, has a similar historical story to tell.

I do say to Wonder-Boy Buttigieg yes, Chicago was segmented into neighborhoods, and yes, at that time whites were very prejudiced. I have a problem with that because my trips for physical therapy were the result of spending four months in a hospital being cared for by many black nurses, and therapists. I got to know these people very well and never came to a conclusion that they were anything other than people just like me. They just happened to be a different color and a different culture. Maybe Mayor Daley decided the interstate should split the blacks from the whites, but he had to make a decision on which neighborhoods to upset with this road which goes directly into the city from the south, and at the same time would destroy some very old and dangerous buildings.

As I examine the map above the split shows a that ten to twenty percent of the black population was on the white-side(west) of the highway. Since the interstate system was new in 1950 there were no laws that dictated the clearance of underpasses or overpasses. As a point of interest the Dan Ryan does not have underpasses. Every street that crosses the highway is an overpass and does not limit any bus or truck from passing over it. The laws did not dictate that there should be ample clearance for busses to carry us from the west to the east side beaches because there was no need for it. It is my guess that if Wonder-Boy Buttigieg were in a position to make that decision he would have done exactly the same, except he too would have forgotten to raise the clearances for busses. Where we do have clearance problems is when a railroad crosses a road. Many of these underpasses are so low that trucks crossing under them decapitate their roofs. Wonder Boy does not address problems caused by hundred year old railroad crossings. Were these intentionally made too low for the purpose of separating blacks from whites? I don’t think so.

There are no racist roads anywhere in the country, only racists who keep promoting that we are a racist country.

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He Has Got to Go!

Posted on 10/09/2021 by Grumpa Joe

Here is an one simple example of why I am so upset with you, the voter, who elected this man.

If you don’t understand what I am telling you please watch this short video to learn why stupid is as stupid does.

Filed under: Conservative, politics | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Zero-day Hacked Bugs

Posted on 02/07/2021 by Grumpa Joe

Every once in awhile I read a non-fiction book that challenges my intellect. The most recent is called “This Is How They tell Me The World Ends,” by Nicole Perlroth. This account on cyber security scared me to death about the internet and computers in general. It is my conclusion that the only way one is safe from being hacked on the internet is to shut off the computer and pull the plug, and never plug it back in. If you are using a laptop the only way I can think of is to disconnect from the web, and pull the battery.

Cyber security is something that bugs the crap out of me. I have written just recently about my hatred for using passwords. Companies like Google, and Apple are password paranoid. I always tell people that the only one being protected from getting into my programs and sites is me. I don’t remember passwords at all, and these companies are forcing users to input passwords for every segment of their business. Take Google for instance, I am now familiar with Google, but I wasn’t really interested in Google Drive, Google Photos, or Google anything. They now require user names and passwords for each individual segment of their business. Apple has iPhone, Icloud, and Ipie all demanding user names and passwords. I confess that I don’t get into these segments very often so I don’t remember those details. I keep a 3 x 5 card file with the information as my password manager. The trouble with my system is that it is antiquated and cannot keep up with the digital world. In the case of Apple, I have a stack of 3×5’s stapled together that are 1/4 inch thick with information. Usually, by the time I need to use one of these passwords Apple has deemed it too old and requires a new one. That blows the hell out of my system to make all passwords the same. Recently, by the recommendation of my friends, I am searching for a digital password manager that will replace my card file. I am convinced that it might be easier to give in and use the suggested long complicated passwords generated for me and to forget about keeping track of anything. Except, now that I have read this book I cannot knowingly give in to the hacking world by allowing easy access into my world. It is bad enough that every professional program that I use is froth with hacker entry points that would easily circumvent my passwords.

Let me digress for a moment from the general theme of this post. I like to read news, that is genuine news, and not all the political clap-trap being put before us as news. Over the last few years there have been some notable stories I have followed and forgotten. One of them was a story about a mysterious bug that took over Iran’s computers and disabled (destroyed) several thousand computers they used to control their centrifuges to enrich Uranium. At the time, there was no proof, but the speculation was that the United States and Israel were responsible. Another story, more recent, involved a complete power blackout in Ukraine that crippled the country for days that was attributed to Russia.

As it turns out, both of these stories are accurate and both hacks caused extensive and expensive damage to the countries they were perpetrated on. STUXNET was the invention of the U.S. Our government genii invented this mechanism by sewing several known software-bugs together and also invented a way to sneak it onto an Iranian computer. It took a while for this new bug to work it’s way through the Iranian network, but eventually, it infected a lot of machines, which in turn infected the devices controlling the centrifuges. I give our government an “A” plus, plus, plus for committing an act of war upon Iran without hurting people.

According to author Perlroth, the United States unleashed a weapon that other countries either never thought of, or were afraid to undertake. The end result was a string of cyber attacks by Iran on the U.S. and also from other countries all using “zero-day” openings in software that allowed hacks to occur(a zero-day opening is a hole in software that allows another hacker to enter and infect the program). For years Hackers have been finding these openings in programs and a market for them has developed. At first they were being sold for a few dollars each. As brokers began to understand the value of the bugs the prices shot up. The hope was always that the company whose software the bug was found in would buy it and fix it. Instead, the bugs were sold to the highest bidders which were often countries that could benefit by using these bugs in cyber warfare. The STUXNET was developed using several zero-day bugs. The prices on the market shot up to $250,000 and higher. The U.S. with its deep pockets bought many at millions of dollars a bug. They didn’t use them but rather stored them for future use. After STUXNET, the cyber world got the idea to do the same and wage war the same way.

On the Ukrainian front a special task force of Russian hackers was assigned the task of developing cyber war. They began by developing small discreet components which caused trouble in the Ukraine but because of the size of each they were not considered dangerous. What the world cyber experts did not figure out was that Russia was testing the Ukrainian systems with their hacking bugs. Eventually, the world found out that Russia’s goal was to shut off the lights of a country, and this was probably a test to determine how to shut off the lights in America.

This book is loaded with story after story of hacks that were publicized, but the public didn’t think much of them or was too dense to accept the fact that these wars were taking place on a regular basis. When we think of countries going to war against one another we think of planes bombing sites, tanks shooting buildings to pieces and soldiers shooting each other in the field. We don’t think of war being computers in banks and hospitals being crippled with millions of dollars of damage, or you and me having a bank account hacked and drained of our savings. Luckily, so far that is because the damage is restricted to the computers whose programs had the zero-day bug in them.

Another example is Russia’s attempt to influence the election in this country. I truly believed the crap that Hillary was the one trying to cause our problem, but she was accurate in blaming the Russians. Trump (my hero) on the other hand sided with the Russians to aid him in his quest for the presidency. All I can think of in his defense is the story about Senator Harry Reid from Nevada claiming that Mitt Romney didn’t pay his taxes. After Romney lost to Obama and everyone was asking Harry how he could tell such a blatant lie is “that Obama won the election didn’t he?” This has truly soured me on the election process and politics in general. All of the lies that were told about Russia trying to affect the election were not lies, they were true, but Trump took advantage to use the Russian influence against Biden.

I wrote several times advising not to trust any election in any state that uses computers in the process. there is only one thing worse than using a computer and that is using a computer that is connected to the internet. Author Perlroth used several more examples in her book like the Russian hacking of the DNC. She also explained that hacking into a state’s voter database invites the opportunity to change a voter’s party or to change his vote, and a number of other egregious offenses.

Finally, I am getting back to the point where I broke off above. What can be done about all this shit happening worldwide against us? First, we can regulate the entire software industry and require that they have controls in place to monitor their products. Except, regulation stifles corporations from creativity in favor of safety. Congress won’t buy it. Why don’t we require software companies to ask the public to find these zero-day bugs and pay for them, so they can fix their products? Again, it requires a Congress that is not in the pocket of lobbyists. Why don’t we offer tax incentives for companies who will comply with hack free software? Again, the answer is lobbyists.

There is no easy fix for this problem, but I would certainly be in favor of government regulation of the software industry to produce programs that would offer us some degree of protection from cyber warfare. Our Constitution dictates that the government protect the people. Just as banks are regulated to protect us why not software? Especially software that can be used to harm both the people and the country.

There is a lot more in this book that I have not tried to cover such as China’s role in the world. It is a huge subject, and Nicole Perlroth spent many years researching for her book. Once you read the story, the title will make perfect sense.

Filed under: Book Review, Conservative, Government, Hillary, Manufacturing, politics, Revenge | Tagged: , , , | 2 Comments »

PSA-210302-Green New Deal Cars

Posted on 02/03/2021 by Grumpa Joe

 

Over the past twelve years I have posted my thoughts about electric cars. None of it has been positive. Lately, I have been buying the cool aid being delivered by Elon Musk and the Green New Deal faction. This article came to me today, and renewed my negativity towards converting to electric vehicles. Perhaps I am wrong to do so, but there is a deeper problem residing within the electric movement which I have continually brought up to no avail. This brilliant article unveils the problem and should be taught in Kindergartens across the world.

 Interesting in what the engineers or others with knowledge and/or experience in this field have to say about this man’s comments. I did not write this, it was sent by a friend. 

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  As an engineer I love the electric vehicle technology. However, I have been troubled for a long time by the fact that the electrical energy to keep the batteries charged has to come from the grid and that means more power generation and a huge increase in the distribution infrastructure, whether generated from coal, gas, oil, wind or sun, installed generation capacity is limited. 

In case you were thinking of buying hybrid or an electric car:
Ever since the advent of electric cars, the REAL cost per mile of
those things has never been discussed. All you ever heard was the mpg in terms of gasoline, with nary a mention of the cost of electricity to run it. This is the first article I’ve ever seen and tells the story pretty much as I expected it to.

Electricity has to be one of the least efficient ways to power things
yet they’re being shoved down our throats. Glad somebody finally put engineering and math to paper.

At a neighborhood BBQ I was talking to a neighbor, a BC Hydro Executive. I asked him how that renewable thing was doing. He laughed, then got serious.


If you really intend to adopt electric vehicles, he pointed out, you
had to face certain realities. For example, a home charging system for a Tesla requires a 75-amp service. The average house is equipped with a 100-amp service. On our small street (approximately 25 homes), The electrical infrastructure would be unable to carry more than three houses with a single Tesla each. For even half the homes to have electric vehicles, the system would be wildly over-loaded.

This is the elephant in the room with electric vehicles. Our residential infrastructure cannot bear the load. So as our genius elected officials promote this nonsense, not only are we being urged to buy these things and replace our reliable, cheap generating systems with expensive, new windmills and solar cells, but we will also have to renovate our entire delivery system! This latter “investment” will not be revealed until we’re so far down this dead-end road that it will be presented with an ‘OOPS..!’ and a shrug.

If you want to argue with a green person over cars that are eco-friendly, just read the following. 

Note: If you ARE a green person, read it anyway. It’s enlightening. 

Eric test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors and he writes, “For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine. “Eric calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9-gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles

It will take you 4.5 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip, your average speed (including charging Time) would be 20 mph. According to General Motors, the Volt battery holds 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery. The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned, so I looked up what I pay for electricity.

I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh. 16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery. $18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery. Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine that gets only 32 mpg. $3.19 per gallon divided by 32 Mpg = $0.10 per mile.

The gasoline powered car costs about $25,000 while the Volt costs
$46,000 plus. Simply put, pay twice as much for a car, that costs more than seven times as much to run, and takes three times longer to drive across the country. 

  My Take:   😷

It’s always “Free Beer Tomorrow” – never “Today”

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Grumpa Joe predicts that the only real form of Green energy is as shown below. If you are really interested in saving the planet put air in your tires and pedal.

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