MaxRedline

FedEx

My CrowdCow order was supposed to arrive last Friday. It didn't. FedEx delivered it this afternoon - in 87 degree heat and in a repackaged box. That didn't look good. It wasn't. CrowdCow flash-freezes and vacuum-packs the meats, and place them in a styro container with dry ice. From Washington state, it should arrive within the day. FedEx really screwed up.

So I sent a note to CrowdCow, noting that $100 or so of beef arrived fully thawed and repackaged, and within an hour got a call back - they're filing a claim with FedEx and sending out a box with the order I'd placed, still 100% grass-fed and finished, free of charge; no shipping charge either. Of course, it'll be from a different ranch, but they're apparently pretty serious about the customer service thing. Unlike FedEx.

USS Fitzgerald Attack

Media portrays it as a "collision"; it was no such thing.

Cargo ships, like cruise ships, have a large bulb projecting forward below the waterline. That's what hit the berthing areas and caused the flooding of compartments. The cargo ship ACX Crystal turned 180 degrees, went dark, and deliberately rammed USS Fitzgerald amidships. This was no mere "collision" as in the case of a couple of boats innocently bumping together on a foggy night. It was a deliberate act; no less so than was the bombing of the USS Cole some years ago.

I'm reminded, however:

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BIG Hawaii

Hawaii recently passed a bill by unanimous vote in their legislature to examine providing a Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) for all residents.

The bill, passed recently by both houses of the state legislature in a unanimous vote, declares that all Hawaiians “deserve basic financial security” and directs state agencies to analyze “universal basic income” and similar policy options.  

They have little, if any, manufacturing and tech in the islands; most of the jobs there are low-paying service industry work. In a state that has the highest cost of living in the nation, it's understandable that they're looking for answers; though they seem to have good intentions, it's unclear how they would go about implementation. Superficially, it appears as though the goal is to come up with some way to tax the hell out of the rich and redistribute income to the less wealthy.

In that case, one might expect to see a downturn in investment in the islands and a migration of wealth toward places like Florida and Texas, among other more tax-friendly locales. One thing is clear: looking toward the future, legislators see an increasing shift to automation on a number of fronts, from agriculture to autonomous taxis and more. Such developments stand to throw more people out of work. While they can be credited with exploring ways to ameliorate the perceived impending damage, it nonetheless seems similar to that of the Luddites, who correctly predicted that automation would remove jobs but failed to consider that it might also expand opportunity.

Anxious In Astoria

Astoria's Sunset Empire Transit Center has reportedly become a transient magnet, and that's become a source of irritation for some of the locals due to the trash and other presents left in their wake:

Birdeno owns Commercial Adjustment Co. on the corner of Ninth Street and Marine Drive, directly across the street from the Sunset Empire Transit Center. He said people who appear to be homeless often gather behind the building and leave their trash, forcing him to pick up cans and bottles on a weekly basis.

“They keep leaving their little nest behind,” he said.

Recent problems at the transit center involve people using bathroom sinks as showers, adults gathering in children’s play areas, lice infestation and loud music. Criminal behavior, such as assault, is also common.

Transients seem to really like the town during the summers, but they sort of make it a bummer for everyone else, mainly due to the above issues. Some folks claim that it's only about 5% of the transients that cause problems, but it seems as though that's a low-ball estimate.

Riverwalk seems to be another place they really like to hang around.

It doesn't seem that the needle problem is as much of an issue there as it is in places like Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver B.C. - probably because the cities are so much larger than those along the north coast, so heroin's probably easier to come by. However, when you have them hanging around in numbers even in the smaller towns, you've got yourself a problem. How you fix it, no one knows.

What is certain is that the things authorities have been doing to date is not only not working, but seems to attract even more. This is sort of why it's inadvisable to feed wildlife. It's one thing to take care of those from the town who've just fallen on hard times, but quite another to attract transients from the outside.

 

Opioid Epidemic

It appears that a lot of people are dying from drug overdoses, mostly stuff they cook up and shoot into their veins. This is a Big Problem, as the activists and politicians see it.

It doesn't seem like a problem; each overdose means that break-ins and other harmful activities decline. That's a good thing. Amusingly, many of the same people who rant about man-made global warming and human overpopulation are the same folks who wring their hands over the "opioid epidemic".

Well, what do they really want? If they truly believe that we're killing the planet due to overpopulation, then overdose deaths should be as widely celebrated as abortion. They're big on the latter, but consider the former to be some sort of crisis. It's almost as though there's some big difference between the two. There isn't. If you condone "a woman's right to choose", then you have to condone an addict's right to choose.

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Snow Due This Week

Yes, it's June, but we'll be getting more snow over the next few days. Depending on which of the weather geeks you follow, we could possibly get a few flakes here, but most is supposed to hit the higher elevations, more than our 1000 foot level. This raises some issues, like increased avalanche danger and of course, flooding should the stuff ever melt.

You'd think with man-made global warming and all, these concerns would never arise. The computer models must need some tweaking. Maybe they should take into account the fact that solar activity is at its lowest level in over a century...nah, that would mean that the sun drives planetary climate, which is something that the religion adamantly denies.

It's an endless winter in the West.

Snow from the barrage of storms that pounded the western mountains over the winter is still on the ground. Many mountains in the Rockies, Sierra and Cascades are packed with at least 8 feet of snow, the National Weather Service said, creating a dream summer for skiers and snowboarders.

Well, again, it might be a dream summer if you discount the avalanche likelihood. The idiots at Mammoth Mountain in California Figure to stay open for skiing and snowboarding through August, and brag that this season is the best in the country. Apparently, they've never heard of Timberline - the only place in the country that features year-round skiing, and incidentally a favorite training location for Olympics participants. But then, at Timberline, they have decades of experience in snow overload control and course maintenance.

That darned man-made global warming's trying to pull a fast one on us.

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Emotional Support

My back-side. I've worked with a few animals, and when it comes to service animals, they have to be trained to provide specific services for the owner. Under ADA, businesses are allowed to ask two questions of the owner: "Is this a service animal?" and, if affirmative, "What services is the animal trained to perform?"

The problem is that almost no businesses bother; Fred Meyer employees, for example, are instructed by management to ask no questions - which is why Poopsie's riding around in a shopping cart and piddling on the floors, and why there have been a number of incidents of these animals getting into fights with other "service animals". Trained service animals don't do stuff like that.

In the latest incident, a Delta Airlines passenger was taken to the hospital for treatment after an "emotional support" dog brought aboard by another passenger became a bit emotional itself and tried to eat the face off said passenger last Sunday.

This is stupid, and enough is enough.

Back in January 2016, Delta Airlines (on which I will never fly), actually allowed some idiot to claim that this was an "emotional support" animal:

Yep, that's right - a freaking turkey. People need to start buying a clue: "emotional support" isn't covered under ADA; there is no such category.

I repeat: Those who bring a pet on an airplane because they are nervous or afraid to fly are not covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Same goes for those who bring their pets to go shopping with them.

We're long overdue for a serious crackdown on entitled idiocy in this country.

Reality Bites In Portland

As planned, the "free speech" rally downtown went off yesterday without a hitch. They held their federally permitted event, sang their songs, gave their speeches and whatnot without incident. A bunch of opponents and detractors had a city permit to hold their event in front of City Haul, across the street from the singing and stuff by holders of the federal permit. The detractors remained nonviolent as well, although they didn't do any singing or speech-giving; they were too busy yelling  at their opponents across the street, calling them racist and haters and generally accusing them of embodying exactly the sort of behavior that they themselves exhibited. In other words, standard far left projection.

State and local police, along with DHS cops, lined the street to encourage the two groups not to mingle. All in all, for Portland, these events were fairly successful. Right up until the kiddies in their black hoodies and bandanas and stuff showed up in Chapman Square and on rooftops and started chucking bricks and other things at police. Undoubtedly to the surprise of the little weenies, police broke out chemical munitions and flash-bangs, and started taking them out. At one point, they had over 120 of them up against the wall and awaiting processing. And much to the dismay of the weenies, that processing involved full searches, confiscation of their weapons, and worse yet, confiscation of their hoodies and bandanas.

The snowflakes were then photographed and identified, right out there in front of God and everybody, and at last count 14 were actually arrested, although others were cited. Of the arrestees, four or five were also presented with charges from Federal Protective Services (FPS - Homeland Security).

Among items confiscated from the nutters:

Yes, these little nutballs want to hurt or kill as many normal people as possible, By Any Means Necessary. I don't imagine that any of them actually believed that they'd have their weapons and hoodies and bandanas taken away, have their photos taken, and then positively identified. That sort of thing just doesn't happen in Portland! Surprise, kiddies!

By the way, the number of detentions involving attendees at the two permitted events: zero. Zip. None.

Congratulations to police and DHS on a job well-done. And congratulations to the participants in the competing rallies for staying cool.

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CNN Surprise

Hard to believe, but they actually allowed this blasphemy:

"Liberals think they are tolerant, but often, they aren't," argues @FareedZakaria

@guytaur @CNN @FareedZakaria I will go along with your desire to criminalize hate speech on one condition .. I get to decide what qualifies. You OK with that?

And therein lies the problem, these days: many people fail to understand the basic concept of freedom of speech. They think that they get to decide what qualifies for censorship, when in fact nothing does in a public arena.

Sure, if I choose to do so, I can censor opinions on this site - because I own it. As a rule, I don't do that, and for a couple of reasons: it's been my experience that in general, most people aren't jackasses - and I appreciate and respect First Amendment rights. I did exercise my ownership right and banned a self-professed "science writer" from the Salem, Oregon area because he simply could not manage to conduct himself in a civil manner here. I did give him a couple of warnings, "yet, he persisted".

Still, although not allowed onto this site, he is free to express his views in a public arena, and he does so frequently. That's the beauty of God-given rights.

Ponderosa

Nasty trees, they loose (as in release) pollen and needles and at this time of year, sap. For the latter, WD-40 is your friend. A lot of people - including auto professionals - have no idea how to get the sap off your car. All you need is a soft rag, your thumbnail, and WD-40. Yep, you can get it off without damaging the clear-coat or other parts of the car.

You scrape away dried-on sap with your thumb-nail, then hit it with WD-40, then wipe with cloth. For fresh sap, hit it with WD-40 and then wipe. We have one of the darn trees next to the driveway, and the sap's running at this time of year. So I spent 20 minutes cleaning, then covered the car.

The sap may take three or four treatments to dislodge, but I've found it works well.