55F and rainy today. Mixed rain and sun yesterday left bayous full and raging…
Just an observation, but if we as a society can’t even consider some ideas in the public sphere, then democracy is lost. This is when a ‘strong man’ steps in with promises to ‘make it all better’ because you are a helpless and frustrated victim who ‘just wants the problem solved.’
We’ve seen how this ends, and it’s NOT with an increase in liberty and prosperity.
nick
In other news, I got this update/press release that had an example of real world ‘big data.’
“Big Data Portends Big Changes To Spot Buys”
“Ad sellers — broadcasters and cable networks — are wading deeper into data pools so that they are helping advertisers and their agencies program-target their buys and avoid undervaluing their time.”
“Tapping a variety of sources, it identifies voting blocs — Trump-weary Republicans that may vote Democratic, for instance — and determines what shows they are watching. Then, it’s a simple matter of buying those shows.
“Borrell Associates, …has been working with Cox on a project that blends Polk auto registration data with auto dealers’ customer bases to identify likely buyers. …”
“Broadcasters may plunge more deeply into data-based advertising if they can successfully deploy the new ATSC 3.0 broadcast standard with its ad-targeting capability.
It is in trials now. “Because it’s part of the ATSC 3.0 standard, it’s applicable across all the platforms — broadcast, OTT, mobile,” said Nil Shah, CEO of Verance.”
Sorenson Media, which launched last year and tracks consumer behavior with smart-TV data.”
RTWT
n
http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/111352/big-data-portends-big-changes-to-spot-buys?&nocookies
The TL:DR on the link above is they are de-anonymizing tv viewership. They are targeting ads at specific small populations. I’m certain it will be down to particular viewers before too long.
This is like a spearphishing attack on you to get you to buy instead of just opening a malicious email.
The data collection is built in to the hardware, and the spearphishing will be built into the broadcast (that word’s gonna be out of date) standards.
How weird will it get when you see different ads during a broadcast than your neighbor sees?
Will the ACLU and the other grievance whores sue and complain that this is the new “redlining”?
Will it eventually be extended to CONTENT? So you see a different news segment than your neighbor?
n
The TL:DR on the link above is they are de-anonymizing tv viewership. They are targeting ads at specific small populations. I’m certain it will be down to particular viewers before too long.
The scarier part of ATSC 3.0 is that it obsoletes existing TVs without the converter box mandate that came with the NTSC->ATSC transition. All of the old ATSC converter boxes enabling tube TVs to still function will also be obsolete as well as the limited amount of ATSC home recording hardware that still functions (TiVo, HD DVD recorders with tuners).
We have a 37″ Sony WEGA in our family room. 17 years old, but it runs like new.
You asked for it.
Dad’s cranky ol’ man opinions:
Dave is not going to get any real help or true rehabilitation from the VA. Us Vietnam Era Vets were written off long ago. Just look at his discussions with his Vet Group, he and they provided all the counseling and mental rehab, there was just a token person in a white coat sitting there waiting for his next smoke break.
People absolutely do not understand the First and Second Amendments and the HOW and WHY they were developed and worded as they are.
Once again the news is full of examples of what happens when children/students are told how to think, not taught how to think. These demonstrations and marches are being funded and directed by “adults” who do not have a clue about the fundamental purposes of the First and Second Amendments. They are representing the tyrannical government that they are trying to bring to power.
The First and Second Amendments are supposed to be being used BY US to identify and eliminate the “tyrannicals”.
The First Amendment is not about allowing porn or the LGBTXYZ+ or black lives matter or socialists to override the words of freedom.
The Second Amendment is not about hunting rifles but about the absolute right of man to have weapons equal or superior to those of the tyrannical government. People need to learn what a “well regulated militia” really means.
The lack of proper scholastic education and religious education over the past 50 years+ are bearing the bitter fruit we see today. We, yes we, all of us are to blame because we have tolerated people who have unrighteous agendas.
Start with respect for all life, born and unborn. Respect your parents and your elders. Children know your place, you do not have all the answers, you never will, and until you realize that you must live a life of learning and compassion you are lost.
Beware the false prophets in Hollywood, the news media, and the pompous oligarchs.
Hashtags, Tweets, CNN, The View, and the like are not the actions that will restore the human race.
Good commentary Dad
If any have not read Sultan Knish
http://sultanknish.blogspot.com.au/2018/02/shooting-down-gun-control-memes.html
And Wayne LaPierre ate em up this morning at CPAC
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/22/wayne-lapierre-cpac-2018-421685
Fantastic speech
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/02/22/nra-hits-back-lapierre-at-cpac-says-opportunists-exploiting-florida-tragedy-for-political-gain.html
Thanks @dkreck and thanks for the other links. (Edit: added “Sultan Knish” to my RSS)
Yesterday I sent it to my liberal younger little sister (and a few others) and pissed her off royal. Her poor Constitutional Conservative husband (a year older than me, he robbed the cradle and is paying for it) really liked it though. So did my niece and her truck-drivin’ husband (both a year younger than me). Sorry for the TMI, but I though it might add perspective. What a difference a few years make.
Subbing again today. Lot of teachers out because of a field trip. They need one adult for every X number of students. Planning period where the teacher has no class is resulting in taking another class for the period. The school many times does not have enough subs. I think there are only five for the high school, two of those being my wife and myself.
I have a lot more respect for teachers and what they endure. What has not changed are the kids trying to scam the sub. Happened once but I have gotten more wise. Forgot the crap I tried to pull in high school when a sub was present. It is all coming back.
-nod- I know a couple doms who complain of not being able to find enough subs.
Just an observation, but if we as a society can’t even consider some ideas in the public sphere, then democracy is lost. This is when a ‘strong man’ steps in with promises to ‘make it all better’ because you are a helpless and frustrated victim who ‘just wants the problem solved.’
We’ve seen how this ends, and it’s NOT with an increase in liberty and prosperity.
President Trump is a strong man. But, he is a conservative and he loves the USA. So, we will end up with a better country with him. Just like with Ronald Reagan.
The next president will probably be a strong man also. But someone like Bernie Sanders. Or Elizabeth Warren. He (or she) will be a gun grabber. I don’t think that they will put APC’s in the streets collecting guns but crazier things have happened. The result might be a civil war of the heartland versus the coasts. I am just hoping for no nukes.
Of course, the other problem is the looming bankruptcy of the USA. As we get closer and closer to the event horizon, crazy things will happen faster and faster. When the bankruptcy happens, it will be a time of great changes. The last time the USA had a bankruptcy, we got the Federal Reserve. I suspect that the changes will be more fundamental this time.
“many times does not have enough subs”
We found here in Oregon that it costs about a full weeks pay to just get an application to substitute submitted. As a result my wife has declined to bother.
Your Most Basic Right:
“The only people who believe that the way to prevent violence is to disarm the law abiding people and leave them at the mercy of psychopaths are children and idiots. The ones using this to disarm the populace are neither, but would-be totalitarians like the disgusting Soros who is a Nazi collaborator and quite literally a race traitor. (The left caviled at Pope Benedict having belonged to the more or less obligatory Hitler’s Youth, but they’re okay with Soros selling out innocent Jews for a cut of their fortune. Go figure. It’s almost like they have no moral compass, and only standards of convenience.)”
If you blow up the Constitution, you’ll regret it:
“… If the Constitution is abrogated by a “repeal” of 2A, it will be revolution time – millions of armed Americans will regard it as their moral duty to rise up and kill those who threw it in the trash. I will be one of them.
“Left-liberals, you do not want this. I’m a tolerant libertarian, but many of the revolutionaries I’d be fighting alongside would be simpler and harder men, full of faith and hatred. If that revolution comes, you will lose and the political aftermath is likely to be dominated by people so right-wing that I myself would fear for the outcome.”
I will admit I have absolutely no idea what will happen. I think the country is more polarized than it has been since the 1860’s, and that polarization does not conveniently fit itself into Northern and Southern states. There is no clear Mason Dixon line to be drawn. It is a shame that the media and Democrats are determined to further polarize it rather than build common ground.
The top cities for murders per 100,000 population in 2016 and 2017 weren’t the usual suspects of Chicago, DC and NYC. They were St Louis and Baltimore. I wonder why the crime was so bad in St Louis and Baltimore? I’m sure it has absolutely nothing to do with Michael Brown or Freddie Gray. The Baltimore police are now so corrupt that a Maryland legislator actually proposed dissolving the Baltimore Police Department.
We found here in Oregon that it costs about a full weeks pay to just get an application to substitute submitted. As a result my wife has declined to bother.
I always thought it was interesting that the “Twilight” movies filmed the exteriors on location in Oregon *except* the high school, which is about an hour north in Kalama, WA. The producers couldn’t find an older high school in Oregon convenient to I-5 which wasn’t too run down for filming.
The next president will probably be a strong man also. But someone like Bernie Sanders. Or Elizabeth Warren. He (or she) will be a gun grabber. I don’t think that they will put APC’s in the streets collecting guns but crazier things have happened. The result might be a civil war of the heartland versus the coasts. I am just hoping for no nukes.
Newsom 2020. Dunno if he fits the image of a “strong man”, but the push will start after he takes the oath as CA Governor in January.
Bernie and Fauxcahontas don’t present much of a contrast with Trump.
Most of the young’n’s I’ve worked with can’t believe the government ever confiscated negotiable gold, but it happened … and could again.
Ran across this last night in my reading:
‘Anyone who has raised or closely observed a border collie intuitively understands the points of this chapter about being driven to work. Bred to herd sheep, the border collie is an extremely energetic dog with seemingly unlimited stamina and an intense need for physical and mental stimulation. The border collie’s drive to work is so strong, in fact, that if the dog is not given an outlet for its physical and mental energy it can become aggressive or neurotic. In dog breeding circles there is a saying that “A border collie needs a job, and if you don’t give him one, he’ll come up with his own, and you won’t like it.”‘
Wonder how Colin’s doing …?
Never Let A Tragedy Go To Waste:
“Are these people deliberately trying to split the USA? And if so, why? Because there doesn’t seem to be a good reason to so loudly propose measures that are unpopular, won’t work and would, if implemented, almost certainly lead to a lot of violence as gun owners refuse to peacefully hand over their firearms. The only slight good news is that in these days of 4chan and “weaponized autism” the instigators aren’t as anonymous as they might like. They might want to think about the possible consequences of that.”
polarization does not conveniently fit itself into Northern and Southern states. There is no clear Mason Dixon line to be drawn
And no “Go West Young Man” outlet.
here in Oregon that it costs about a full weeks pay to just get an application to substitute submitted
Here it costs nothing. Fill out the paperwork, get a background check (you pay at the time), attend a 3 hour class, done. After subbing 5 times the money you paid for the background check is returned to you. County still has problems getting enough subs.
The teachers at the HS (only place I or my wife sub) have their favorite subs. There is an online system the teachers are supposed to use but most don’t. They just have the cell phone number of their favorite subs and contact them first. While at school today one of the teacher who likes me to sub asked me to do two days next week. Helps the kids in the class know the sub, what the sub will allow, and what to expect. I am hard on cell phone usage, if I see a phone, being used or not, I take it. Students now know I will and comply. Amazing what a little discipline will accomplish.
Does this tie in (DYSWIDT?) with the dom/sub stuff you were talking about earlier?
Students now know I will and comply. Amazing what a little discipline will accomplish.
And that is the key to solving all the problems. Really. The progs have convinced the kids that their parents cannot discipline them. Way too many courts back this up. Parents have become afraid of their kids’.
This is a situation that has gotten worse with each generation, at least 5 generations now. Coincides with the dadless homes. I have seen statistics that say with blacks 50 years ago 80% of of families had a dad. Now it is just 5%. There are similar but not as drastic statistics for all ethnic/mixed ethnic groups.
The number of people who have been in the various welfare/disability and ADC (aid to dependent children) programs for more than 3 generations is unreal.
No, I do not have links. Mostly because the internet is full of fake statistics that try to hide the facts. But read between the lines and see the reality that cannot hide the lies.
In other news: “Idaho school district buys rifles, will warn visitors building is ‘armed’ ”
http://idahonews.com/news/local/garden-valley-school-dist-buys-rifles-will-warn-visitors-building-is-armed
The good news is that the double that my mother and aunt used to own has been sold to an investor. So it is now someone else’s problem, and my aunt and I both got cashier’s checks out of the deal. Not a big sum of money, but getting money and having a problem go away at the same time is always a good thing.
I tried to change the title on the truck a couple of weeks ago but I had to have a bill of sale or “this form” signed by the seller. Ok, got the form completed. I paid $1000 cash for the truck. It’s what she asked. It’s what I pulled from my account at the credit union. I have the withdrawal receipt. ALL pointless. Even if I had paid via check and had a copy of the check.
The state says the truck is worth $1560. And that’s what I “get” to pay 6.25% sales tax on.
I appreciate the $4.75 Processing Fee. Paying extra for them to do their freaking job feels really warm and special.
Anyway. Done for a year.
The state says the truck is worth $1560. And that’s what I “get” to pay 6.25% sales tax on.
Really ? Of course, just about all private transactions that I have seen misrepresented the amount of money that changed hands. I wonder where they got their valuation from ?
Kelley Blue Book?
Hah, they tried that sh!t with me when I went to register my Expedition. NOPE. In TX if you buy from a municipality at auction they HAVE to accept the auction valuation as the fair value of the vehicle. After all, what could be a more transparent way to find value than an open public auction?
Rare that common sense and the law agree.
n
Am I the only one to think that the proposed location of the Obama Worship Center and it’s proximity to the Museum of Science and Industry will make anyone with half a brain want to avoid the Museum of Science and Industry? It won’t have any of his Presidential papers, so it isn’t a library. If it isn’t a library then its only reasons for being are to worship Obama and/or to perpetuate his social injustice agenda.
It’ll make it easier for the busloads of kids to visit both in the same day. Which means less science….
n
I love the Museum of Science and Industry. Loved going there as a kid.
Cool ! It stopped snowing in Norman, OK finally. I am driving up there, just a 450 miler in my 190K mile Ford Expedition, on Saturday.
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/ok/norman/73071?cm_ven=localwx_10day
The weather liars totally blew the forecast for Norman this week. I looked at it last Sunday and it was predicting 60s F and 30s F all week. I looked at it Tuesday and it is 28 F and snowing and going to be 50 F on Wednesday. I looked at it on Wednesday and it is 26 F and snowing and going to be 50 F on Thursday. I looked at it today (Thursday) and it is 30 F and snowing. Suppose to be 43 F on Friday and 61 F on Saturday. We will see.
Really gives one a lot of confidence about their ability to predict temperatures in 50 years. Not.
Made an improvement to the house today. I bought a new Jenn-Air 30 inch natural gas downdraft cooktop to replace our dying Jenn-Air electric cooktop. I watched the two guys installing it for three hours. Hard work, especially since they had to shim the cutout in the silestone countertop. One was 67 and the other was my age, 57. They did a great job. Bloody expensive cooktop though.
https://jennair.com/appliances/details/JGD3430GS
wrt MrOFD and the laptop project.. I am happy to contribute some funds if a “kitty” or similar is set up. Not much else I can do due to distance etc.. 🙁
Alas, I just re-worked a laptop, installing Mint 18.3 on it, for the son of a lady friend. Given how the relationship seems to be turning, I wish I’d kept it for OFD’s benefit. I do, however, have a couple of laptop drives which I’d happily offer up for the cause. They’re 80 GB; one’s Seagate and the other is Toshiba. Obviously not load & loads of space, but more than enough for the project’s needs.
Thank you MrK and PCB_duffer, I may be asking for money if the current plan doesn’t work, and if we end up shipping stuff back and forth a lot….
Please see the updates on the OFD Project page, link in the black bar at the top of this page for current status.
nick
Ditto on the funds for OFD.
Bob’s original Ikonboard forums had a way through PayPal (IIRRC) to “support” the forum with the benefit of having a “title” by your name (contributor/supporter/patron).
How much of an administrative nightmare would that be? Create a board/council to determine allocation of funds?