Sarah has a post up today, one on a subject that always rings with me.

Small pull qoute to get your interest..

The Earth is not sentient. it doesn’t want this or that or the other thing. So who are we saving it for? 

Now, I’ma gonna break that up into two parts, driving with the last part FIRST “So who are we saving it for?”

Damned good question.   We know that our progeny are going to inherit what we leave, in pretty much the exact same state as we had it, since the time-line is too short to do SERIOUS change,,,  

We are also finding that the little bit of this-that, that certain groups hollar over,  are actually ‘nothin’burgers’ in the grand scheme of things.   We do far more damage to OTHER lifeforms than we can do this rock we inhabit (currently)    We nearly wiped out certain breeds of whale in the pursuit of lamp oil as example.  We have wiped out some forms of birds, such as the passenger pigeon, back in the beginning of the last century.   

And we have been finding that species extinction is a whole lot more common than those that WE as a species have caused.    Its a natural thing, even if we sometimes ‘put our thumb on the scale’.

So who are we saving the Earth for?    It gets a little grey in the grand scheme of things, or in certain timelines; like Epochs,,,,

I recall one discussion over coffee in the wee hours after the clubs had closed,,,  (way back in my past life as SOundDood,,,)  We were discussing nuclear weapons and how damaging they really are.     One of the peeps in the discussion was a undergrad Engineer, and was usually the silent one, but on this, He jumped alive and debunked all sorts of garbage thinks.    

One was some idea that we could ‘split the earth in two’ with our weapons: the person even went so far as to describe what they thought would do it.   Dropping the largest nastiest weapon into the Marianas Trench and detonating when it hit bottom, wherever that is.   Engineery type slammed that one fast.  Explained that the pressures of water at those depths would TAMP the explosion and about the most you would get would be a big “Burp” of radioactive steam and gas at the surface HOURS LATER,,, And probably a lot of dead fish from the limited concussion spike.   At worst, it would start some seismic shit and might be ‘felt’ around the world, but more likely, not even that.

Then there was the “waste the entire surface of livable earth”,,,   that one got a nod, but quickly turned into,  ‘nope,,,   maybe for a few years, but Earth bounces back fast,,,,”   (note: the next night, he brought photocopies of Hiroshima /Nagasaki b4 and after pics to prove his points)  “we, as humans might get wiped out, but in 10 years, not a trace of the war other than rubble.”   All one need do is look to Chernobyl and how the wildlife and habitat are back to normal; that happened in only a few short years.   No Hyper-mutant Bugbears or xenomorphic freaks running in the woods there: the wolves look like wolves and the squirells are still tree clowns of normal size.  

Seriously, even the damage we cause in strip mining (and there are more than a few MTR projects left over from the 50-60’s in this area to use as example) is quickly absorbed ONCE WE LEAVE THE AREA TO ITS OWN DEVICES.    Yah, it takes some time, but even in the short span we inhabit this rock as individuals, one can see the change.   Plant a tree when you are ten, and by the time you retire, its ready to be harvested for lumber.   Most living things do not live at the same pace.  A dog lives for 12-18 years.  A horse might go 30.  Mules may live 50.   People are averaging around 80 these days

And the earth is  8 BILLION* years old,,,,   

8,000,000,000/80   8.0*10(exp9)/8*10(exp1) ,,,, Our lives are one one hundred millionth a percent of time compared to the earth,,,,   your eye blinks are roughly that percentage of your life,,,,   We are but FLEAS on the surface of this planet.    Smaller than that even, when you compare a flea to the size of your dog, vs our size in comparison to the whole of earth,,,     Maybe we make this planet itch in our doings, but I would say, in the grand scheme of things, we aren’t doing THAT MUCH, at least not to the rock we live on.   As I mentioned, we do more damage to each other and other species than we could ever hope to inflict upon this rock.  (and the other species are just as much ‘FLEAS’ as we are, just not as obnoxious about it,,,,)

And if modern Geographical evidence is to be believed, this rock has gone through MANY changes and only a few of  them have been hospitable to life as we know it.   Many periods in our rocks time period, where the surface was nastier and meaner than the surface of Mercury or Venus.   We just happen to be lucky enough to be in a ‘good spot’ in our rocks time.

(*an arguable point for certain,  and NO, I am not going to go into that rabbit hole that some christian sects go, saying the earth is only 12,500 years old,,,    too many points I have valid points against, and most of the ones that do believe that crap are leftoid indoctrinated shits that don’t WANT to hear any evidence otherwise,,,,” believe what I say or you are Heretic!!!!”  )((Update: getting numbers backwards in me mind.  Universe is supposedly 8 billion years old, Earth is a mere 4.3billion Y.O.   my numbers are off, but my point remains ‘close enough’ from ‘simple hooman perspective’,,,,))

Ah,,, and now its time to pick apart the first part of Sarahs quoted statement.     I won’t say she is Wrong,,,, Its a statement based on empirical evidence,,, BUT,,,, Its unprovable, in either argument: “You can’t prove a negative”    You can only make suppositions (in both orders)   

I propose that the Earth, and every other stellar body (that isn’t frozen solid rock, aka our moon and that may be wrong as well.) is alive in some fashion.  Sentient?  thats a very tightly defined term using only empirical evidence.  When a ‘being’ has a lifespan in BILLIONS of years, who is to say it isn’t sentient?   It may ‘think’ or ‘live’ on a different frequency level, one we can’t really detect with our current state of tech, but that does NOT mean it isn’t alive.    What if the beings ‘eyeblink’ takes 250,000,000 years to achieve?   What if ‘being sentient’ the earth isn’t even aware of us, except for the occasional ‘itch’ we give her as we dig into her skin for our resources?

And I think we are going to find through Quantum mechanics that even the peices of gravel in your driveway have a certain amount of life to them,,,   it just moves MUCH much slower than us FLEAS,,,   

That was the only part of Sarahs article I took exception too.   I understand the statement; I just had to be the contrarian and point out my opinion of the matter.   

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tore the tip of one of my fingers off, while at the J.O.B. today,,,  Just skin, but its down to the subcutaneous soft tissues and exposed nerve endings.   One digit down makes typin’ a bit OUCHIE!!!!   ‘specially if I’m hammered down,,,  owww!

Watched some of the hearings when I stopped at Da’s this eve.   Tulsi is one gorgeous woman, no matter what anyone says.   Her creds even more respectable.    Didn’t get to see RFKjr rip The BERNIE a new one on live TV, but I did get to hear about it,    Garan-dang-teed that he won’t get a single Dem vote now,,,   They’z SKEERED,

And maybe they should be.   Bastaches have been doing the dirty deeds thing for decades, accountability free,,,    Pay back’s a bitch as they say.    They’d best be grateful for a courts system that still functions in the marginal sense: far better than tar, feathers, split rail fence, or hemp and Oaktree.

just sayin’

Finger’s a throbbin’ more tomorrow

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We now have a Secretary of Defense with more REAL combat time than all of the Generals within ranks COMBINED,,,,

By real, I mean two way shooting gallery where your ass is on the line,,, not 30 mikes away in an airconditioned Shack listening to the battle over the radio,,,

As is, the gnashing of teeth and screeching of harpies has been a thing of wonder to me.   

Word to RFKjr,,, DON’T FRELLIN BACK DOWN OR ‘WALK IT BACK’,,,, Stand ground brotherman, stand YOUR ground,,,,    Get weaselly for even a moment and you lose,,,,

more laters

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Cyberwar breakin’ out ‘tween China and US,,,, China releases an open source AI app that is powered by NVidia chips,,, NVidia is a US Patented chip, that I beleive is made in Taiwan, though I have heard it is made here as well,  Not sure and not willing to dive too deep at this stage.   The point I bring up is that this is par for the course at this point.   China doesn’t want a kinetic war, never has, never will.  They are prepare(d)(ing) for one, but as was seen on their Northern border, where their soldiers got their collective asses whomped and ran home,,, They ain’t ready.   Besides that, kinetic is the last option for them, they much prefer the long game and strategy over blunt force trauma.

Fact is, WE aren’t ready either,,,,    WE have a serious problem in the logistics department since we haven’t brought production up to usage levels, let alone surplus levels, which is what you need if you even wanna think about ‘Going Hot’.   We are dependent on 40+ year old tech to keep the wheels turning as the newer stuff (not including small arms stuff, but the big expensive toys) is purt much CRAP (coff, F35, coff coff,,,)

Then you bring up the personel side of things,,, Recruitment is down by the tens of percentage points, and falling.    Force reduction has been the name of the game since 2020, even if they call it by other names.   Maybe with Hegseth at the helm of defense, things will start to ‘return to normal’.   Lord knows, we could lose the cadre of O-6 and up and probably do better than we have the last four years.  

Why did the Chinese bust out an AI app right now???  

Try a 25% tariff for starters.   Now, I have  had qualms about that whole scenario from first mention.  Tariffs never truly effect the tariffed: the damage is downstream of that.   The purchasers of such items end up paying the tariff, much like Big Corps don’t actually pay taxes, they adjust the costs to pay that and the buyers are the ones that pay the taxes.    The only upside to tariffs, and this only applies if you have REAL competition: it prices the tariffed items out of competition.  To compensate, they have to lower the quality (lower the prices) and then they are still pricier than the competition.    That would work, except most of the items we might see tariffed are sole source these days.  Most everything we purchase, no matter what the namebrand says, is made in China.   Dewalt tools-CHINA, Milwaukee tools-CHINA,  Snap-on Tools-CHINA,,,    All our manufacturing (most all, that is) OUTSOURCED and kept only the admin side of things here at home.   Even the service side of things, in most cases, is outsourced to places like India!!!  (that is starting to shift back though with ‘work from home’ being a killer advantage to many people.   I’d happily do desktop support if I could work at my house, and not chained to some terminal in a cubefarm, like I was when I did that stuff before/during the crash of 2008)(downside to that for me,, We have such shitty internet providers here local,,, I would need to move to a better location to make that work for me.  Not far, not even out of state, just not HERE.)  And its not just US.   I saw a broadcast while at Da’s about Mercedes,,,,, and how they had a factory IN CHINA, that was producing ALL of their crankshafts.  In a small factory that had only a handful of employees to run the CNC 5 axis mills that were turning out thousands of crankshafts a day, to include the heat treatment of them.       This is across the spectrum, and if you start slapping tariffs on countries of origin, you may as well be slapping a VAT tax on things as well ( DON’T!!! just DON’T,,, That way lies dragons and destruction,,,,)

So, with the above thinking, I have to wonder, how much of this Tariff thing is bluff and bluster from OMB?   I know that Hillsdale College has had tentacles into the admin; mostly as advisors, and they lean very much toward Mises Institute teachings when it comes to economics.   Someone must have had OMB’s ear on this and should have told him ‘this ain’t gonna work like you think,,,’     Dunno for certain, but after seeing his Golf Cart diplomacy sunday (Columbian Prez caving on taking their criminals back.   All between the third hole and the 9th hole while Trump was playing golf; hence the ‘Golf Cart Diplomacy’ kick.)  I would say there is far more ‘Bluff and bluster’ involved.   Its when the ones that won’t bluff come into play that things get sticky.

We ain’t ready for kinetics, and financially, we are teetering on the razor’s edge of total collapse.   China is one of the BRICS group and they were making serious inroads to being ready for the DOLLAR to collapse before all of this: does anyone think for an instant, that that has changed just because Trumped took office?    Maybe we are ‘recovering’, but that is NOT PAST TENSE,,, Recovering patients die all the time, before they become ‘recovered’ patients.   

NO, we ain’t ready, and the opening salvo of this war was not the current AI app from China.   The first shots fired were threats of tariffs, and shuttering/throttling a different set of apps. 

Honestly, you want things to change, DEREGULATE, Offer tax breaks to ON SHORE production, Free up energy resources to lessen the cost of production and shipping (helping to lower costs) (about the only thing he is nailing down correctly, IMO, at least in the economic regions)    In other words, GET GOVERNMENT OUT OF THE FRELLIN WAY AND LET THE PEOPLE DECIDE.   There are other ways for the government to make money, other than taxing thier people to blood and bone existence (seems they did quite fine prior to 1913,,, may wanna look into that DJT.)  BUT, we are going to need a sound money supply, not fiat bux,   THAT needs to become a priority.

Oh, and since we are going all “MERIT” based stuff, lets talk about De-UNIONizing.    Bust the unions to shreds!   That will help bring down production costs, incenitivize merit based hiring practices, and put competition back into the workforces.   The Unions had a good reason to exist at one point, but have become another arm of government and a financial one at that, and the original intent has become diseased beyond recognition.  (note, I have NEVER been a Union member and never will be.  Every union shop I ever saw was a flat mess of dead wieght overshadowing the real workers.   And god forbid the days I did shows in FNYC,,, Teamsters unloaded us on the street, and IATSE from the stage doors in: DO NOT TOUCH ANYTHING or the hands go to lunch, on the shows dime.   The only upside to the IATSE-NYC, there was enough turn over that talent was able to rise in ranks, not get buried under seniority.)

What can I say, there are so many aspects of the mess we are in, that focusing on one will only allow others to grow larger.   First things first, fix the Government, reduce its size and scope and SPENDING.   Get that done, then the focus needs to be on getting THE PEOPLE back on thier feet and on the ground RUNNING, not suckin’ at the teat of Gov.    Far too many on the dole, either directly or through ‘workfare’; far too many make work jobs that only prolong the pain.    (and that is the purpose of DOGE, right?  find the waste? eliminate it?  Sadly, a large portion of the make work jobs are State jobs, like the redundant number of DMV workers, who don’t actually do much of anything except find ways of saying ‘no’,,, Just as an example. but I digress)   There needs to be serious attention given to those that are SSD, that have never worked a day in their life, but get benefits that rival those of SSI that DID work their entire lives for a promise of support.   (and personally, I think we need to start phasing it out.  since its inception I feel that the American people gave it too much creedance to ‘retirement’ and not enough planning of their own: again, Just My Opinon,,,,)

So much more I can go into; things I feel need addressed in more ways to correct DECADES of failure.  

Biggest things.   GET EDUCATION STRAIGHTENED OUT.

DOWNSIZE THE FED GOV AND ENCOURAGE THE STATES TO RECIPROCATE.

IF IT CAN BE DONE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR, LET IT BE DONE IN THE PRIVATE SECTOR; Get government out of the way.  Let competition determine winners and losers, not best grifter and politics.

I do feel we are at the cusp of seeing TOP DOWN GOVS dying.  And amazingly, we aren’t the worst or the biggest dying dinosaur: that one would be China.   BUT, we are seeing worldwide, conservative values rising, revolution against government overreach, and downsizing the production means.  Independent producers, across the board, from music to books, to geegaws: even complicated aftermarket parts for current production cars.   I see that trend growing in leaps and bounds, and more and more seizures and fits from the old world TOPDOWN heirarchy

and thats my Twosday post,,,

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LOONNNGGGGGGG day today,,,,

Frustrating day,   Must be a muhnday,,,,

BUT, 

It’s now over and I’m home (came home in the dark if that tells ya somethin’) and all ready to head to bed.   Tried playin’ catch up on the news feeds and blogroll, but can’t get my brainium to focus past the yawns,,,,

I haven’t a thing to add to anything today, so I call it good and to you all, a good night.     I’ll try to put something together for the morrow,

till then

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Not much to talk’bout,,,

camping plans laid, kayaking plans to be laid,,, gear in place for both and ready to roll, but, Not.  Just.  Yet,,,,   Soonzzzzzz

Thoughts on the world at large.

Seeing that troll remove itself from the floor will be sweet elixir for certain.   Soonzzzzzz,,,,,

(not soon enough IMO, but I’m (not ordinarily) patient.

Life goes on.    Take the slow times with glee, boredom may be a pain, but boredom sure beats Fighting to Survive.    (then again, we thrive under pressure, and atrophy without it,,, Further thoughts later)

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weather is in transition compared to what we had over the last five days.   That cold that dumped snow on the southern (more southern) states, is creeping back this way and feels nearly spring-like now, compared to the low single digits we had three days in a row.

Went to the lake today,,, didn’t kayak,,, Sheets of ice piled up on the shore where I put in,,   about 5′ wide towards water, very unstable.   Steady breeze of around 5mph off the water that cuts to the bone with cold.   To hell with it.   I need a therapeutic paddle, not a technical one: with all the gear I need to don, its highly technical and thats not prescribed right now.  Besides,,, don’t wanna break my neck slipping on that ice while holding a 65# boat on my shoulders,,,   could probably slide her across the ice to get to the water but still a REAL chance of busting my ass on that stuff, and I don’t wanna damage my drysuit: that’s just bad mojo,,,

Honestly, didn’t do much of nuthin’ today,,, cleaned the house a bit, re-arranged the Buffalo’s back seat (was starting to get out of hand with all the kayak-y gear and those tools too big for the truck box, like my portable bandsaw that I absolutely love (one of those frivolous purchases made because I saw a deal and a half, so chose to jump.  Damned glad I did, as now, the same set up is going for over three hundred vs the hundred and small change I spent.)

Got to thinking a bit more on that “Can you do the work?” thing in a prior post.    One other thing that has always been demanded from (most) of my jobs was ‘Tools’,,, Applying for a welding position, you would ‘test out’, but if you showed up without a hood and other PPE, you were knocked down the ladder of choices.   Not ruled out, but not first dibs either.   Wrenching? you’d better have a decent tool chest ready to roll,,, Didn’t have to be one of these ‘MAximizers’ beasts, that break concrete floors when loaded to the gills, but it had better have the basics and they had better be something other than AutozoneAP or HF junk.  High-end Craftsman stuff would suffice, but get you the stink-eye.   Snap-on, Mac, Cornwell, etc,,, better: showed you were investing in your craft and yourself, and that looks far better than some vague resume entry,,,,   And your age would bear some scrutiny too.  Younger guy? You weren’t expected to have a bay filling tool chest, but it needed to be cared for and FULL.   Older guy? Yeah, you’d be expected to have more,,, and not just tools, but what was between your ears.    Saw more than a few that showed up with a single craftsman chest, minimal tools and less brains, but on the further end of the age spectrum: Always told us “watch closely, this’uns gonna blow up something and soon.”   And for the most part, we weren’t wrong.  Only saw one exception to that and that was due to a divorce and bankruptcy: Dude had the brains, but not the tools.

Where things were really strange was in the entertainment world.   That was a serious meritocratic world.   Wasn’t a whole lot of tools you brought to the fold.   My tool chest was a roadcase that looked like a small suitcase.   Headphones, analyzer mic, AD converter amp, laptop, some adapter cords for the oddball stuff, and that was about it.    The big tools were ALWAYS provided by the company you were working for or that your ‘Group’ hired for the gig.   KNOWLEDGE was king, and ABILITY had to be proven every damned day.    It was more like combat without the bullets: Fuck up and you were going home to start over again.  Take too much time off between gigs, and there was a very real chance you were starting from ground zero again.    Its a small world too: people you had never met would know all about you, if you were good, or bad.   Mediocre never made the cut or left the clubs; only the good ones and the ambitious fast talking bad ones.  (and I met more than acouple of bad ones that worked for pennies and beer to be able to lay claim to ‘touring hack’ hoping for that break into the big leagues.)(yes, I know what all the knobs and buttons do, and yes, it took awhile to learn,,,,ROFL)

((intersting peice of trivial BS for ya: the circuit in an autodarkening welding hood.  Its a compressor circuit, just like what we used in Audio to help control wild levels in sound.   Works exactly the same way with attack and delay and level, with the output being darkening of the lens, instead of compressing the sound.      I found it interesting anyway,,, ))

I’m bored,,, I hate the winter, even though I make the effort to up my information intake,  there are days where the mere thought of sitting and reading kills me.   I wanna be up and doing, not sitting,,,,   And that’s why I went to the lake today,,, situation dictated otherwise for me.  sigh,,,,,

And yah, that boredom is showing HERE,     I have no idea what to talk about.   Could talk about the fact that Hegseth made the cut and is now SecDef.   That Noeme is now the DHS head,,, Still waiting one word for Gabbards post,,, should be soon here.   Wanna see RFKjr make the post too.    THEN we see what is really hiding behind curtain # 3,,,,

But none of that does a danged thing to keep my bones from aching, or my ass from going numb while I provide kat-lap and read till my eyes are oozing out my skull,,,  Wanna DO,,,

SOMETHING,,,,

ANYTHING,,,  

Time, Space, Money,,,, The holy trinity of the modern man,,,, Usually have two of the three, but it takes all three to make the project move forward.   And right now, Money is the weak link,,, Plenty of time, has the space (could use an upgrade, but is what it is) just,,,

not whining,,, just noting.    Ain’t hurtin’ (much) and ain’ta beggin’ either.   But when you have a boat that needs resin and gelcoat to finish; well, that takes money to buy. (Talking about the Kapp and finishing the cockpit overhaul,,,   NO rush to finish, she is just hanging out in drydock until I DO have the goop on hand.   I have plenty of time currently, just,,,,,     Yeah,,, nuff said, right?))

Satyrday, bored, gettin’ late, and I reach to my right and pull another book off the stack,,,

Talk more laters,,,,

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