72 and humid. A bit warmer this morning, with concrete damp from dew. Ugg. I better get my outside and attic work done soon. Chances are slim though.
Spent all day yesterday poking at stuff for OFD. Man what a racket. These vendors all seem intent on squeezing desperate people for every last penny. With healthcare out of reach of many, I wouldn’t be surprised if there developed an underground market for stuff that hasn’t jumped thru all the hoops. This stuff used to be expensive due to small market, arcane knowledge, and regulatory hurdles. I think it’s expensive now mainly due to regulatory hurdles and third party payers. Hopefully the culture of open source and desktop manufacturing will destroy open it up like other markets. So far, the established players have simply bought out and/or co-opted the promising projects.
In broader news, a 1500 strong army of young men is marching toward the US with a stated goal of crashing thru our border. This is not new, 100s of thousands have done so already. This time, they are being more “F you” about it, daring us to respond. The response or lack will set the tone for our ‘new sheriff in town.’ I’m thinking gunships, pour encourager les autres. Not likely though.
And the long warned of collapse in automobile sales may finally be here. Last year Ford took a big hit to their stock price for giving honest guidance that they saw the market contracting, and sales decreasing. This week we see stories about a collapse in used car sales, and sub-prime auto lending. GM is switching from reporting monthly to reporting by quarter. That should allow them at least a couple of months to hide their collapsing sales too.
Do not get complacent. Keep working on your preps, finances, personal skills, and relationships. None of us knows what the future will bring, but like Edison, we can invent it, one little bit at a time.
nick
In this case I am thinking Napalm for this particular event.
Of course there will be scuffles when the hoard of losers reaches the border. May be a few shot. And it will be the fault of that nasty US government denying non-citizens the right to free stuff paid by taxpayers of the US. Jerry Brown will denounce the federal response and attempt to welcome the lazy shiftless hoard with open arms.
Meanwhile people are leaving California as fast as they possibly can. Both my brothers are leaving as soon as they can make arrangements. Soon California will be a state with nothing but people on the public dole. Few paying taxes, no money to fix infrastructure and require the federal government (other peoples tax money) to bail California out of bankruptcy.
Yes, Trump should build a wall. It should span the border between Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, then take a sharp right heading north along the CA/AZ border, a slight left at the CA/NV border, head northwest along the CA/NV border, and a final sharp left heading straight west at the CA/OR border. Isolate California along with Mexico. Sorry Slim.
Last night on the news there was a bit about earthquake victims in Mexico. Not the most recent earthquake, but one a couple of years ago. It made their apartment buildings uninhabitable, so the government put them into some temporary shacks. Where they still are today.
The question no one asked, but that seemed obvious to me: WTF are they waiting around for the government? Surely they have jobs? They can go rent some other apartment, what’s the problem?
The problem, of course, is that these are the shiftless, living purely on government support. They can’t even be bothered to keep their free shacks in decent shape: the things are falling apart, the whole area looked like something out of the worst part of the third world.
What do you do with useless people like this? No skills, no motivation. Just a black hole for resources, and a source of endless petty crimes. It wakes my inner sociopath: I want to send them somewhere where they have to take care of themselves…or not. It’s a shame that Australia is already full.
On a similar topic: I read that Israel was about to deport 16000 illegal African immigrants, until the West kindly volunteered to take them. WTF? Look at the pics: it’s the usual horde of young males, not in any way genuine asylum seekers. We already have millions just like them, and they all need to be sent home.
Talking about hordes of losers, I’m back in San Bernardino. I had a first here. Pulled up to a Chevron to gas up and two beggars hit me up at the same time. I just stared at them and smiled while gassing up. That got a few expletives and they walked away. Lol!
We actually got enought HS students to attend one of our programs on Spring Break. The HS Principal will only let students from his HS attend. Too much gang violence between HS’s.
I’m wondering who will employ these dolts. Oh, yeah, that bullet train construction will. and their children, grand children, great….
The problem with culling the herd is that you lose the gentle, and talented, as well as the useless and violent.
For a while, only the violent and ruthless survive.
Then when they run out of people to exploit they die off too.
The trick is making it past that initial burst of deadly competition.
n
WRT the hoard approaching our Southern Border, they need to be treated as invaders and shot.
A strong message needs to be sent.
Forgive me all you religious nutters, but God does not help those who will not help themselves*. Going some place to suck off the gooberment teat is not going to help them and most assuredly will not help us.
* And that goes for us too. We must take back control of our lives.
The enviroweenies and the 9th Jerkit Court have intercoursed us over again. BTW, it has been proven that actually more young salmon get downstream and spawning salmon get upstream with our elaborate system of fish ladders, lifts, and “busing”.
http://www.tri-cityherald.com/news/local/article207769934.html
excerpt:
BTW nuclear, solar, and wind production in the PNW are maxed out so fossil fuels will have to be burned to ensure that the Californicaters have enough power to power their cappuccino machines and smartassphones.
Locked and loaded against the invading hoard.
BTW nuclear, solar, and wind production in the PNW are maxed out so fossil fuels will have to be burned to ensure that the Californicaters have enough power to power their cappuccino machines and smartassphones.
Don’t forget the Teslas and weed grow houses.
During our sentence in Vantucky, I remember stories about several smaller local hydro dams being demolished to save the fish. Flooding and power grid concerns were secondary.
I think it’s expensive now mainly due to regulatory hurdles and third party payers.
Liability also figures in there, maybe 10-30% of the cost. And the small market, as you mention.
Don’t forget the Teslas and weed grow houses.
ALL Teslas are powered by the solar plant on the CA/NV border. That’s why it was built.
@Ray: That’s OK, the skin on my neck is not only red, but real thick!
Yuuup, some ahole trying to sell me solar roof panels actually told me electric cars were truly green as their batteries are charged from solar facilities. Yuuup, when you bring your tesla or volt home, if you don’t have solar on your roof, they install another set of power cables.
Yep, didn’t you know, they label the electrons. Only solar electrons fit in electric cars. If the sun doesn’t shine for a while, you can’t charge them so fast because the electrons have to come from somewhere far away. And if the sun shines too long, the solar electrons stopper up the wires. Computers get really unreliable if you leave them standing in the sun too long – it’s because they can’t use pure solar electrons, they need some other kinds mixed in.
I have a cousin who can spin tales like this, and just about make you believe them. It’s downright scary.
You mean those shiny bright towering contraptions that are blinding in the daylight. Yep those are going to charge all the Teslas at night when the people get home from work. When I passed by them I thought to myself it must be a wonderful sight to see at night. After all they are supposed to be the solution 24 hours a day so they must be working at night.
I surmised as such. I am too old to get offended anymore myself.
You mean those shiny bright towering contraptions that are blinding in the daylight.
The solar plant was featured in a book I read. One of the bad guys gets knocked into the concentrator during a fight on the tower and is incinerated. This plant uses only steam turbines if I remember correctly, but the one up north uses liquid sodium/potassium nitrates so it can generate at night and not need a “ramp up” when the sun comes up.
I guess they will pay for themselves during tRump Jr.’s 8th Presidential stint.
Finally 42º and I can post. B ut all the good things have already been said, so I’ll take my towel and not panic.
WRT the hoard approaching our Southern Border, they need to be treated as invaders and shot.
Sad but true. See the original “Red Dawn” movie for an extreme possible outcome. Wolverines ! ! !
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0087985/
Mexico is allowing them through (and providing food and comfort) as a payback to Trump’s “diplomatic” language. Mexico does not understand that the relationship with the USA can get worse, far worse. Reminds me of the old saying, “Do not stand next to the man throwing fecal matter at the man with gun”.
Looking for some suggestions from the hive mind.
I just volunteered to configure a donated Apple iPad Air (1st generation, A1474, current iOS) as a kiosk for self registration of students at our dog club.
I set up the device last night, implemented parental controls and Guided Accessibility. I’m not happy with the final result. The steps I’ve used are good for 95% of the likely security scenarios. However.
All the security is null if the battery runs down and the device power cycles.
The website used for registration does not time out the logged in user and per the provider they aren’t implementing any such feature.
Safari doesn’t include any ability to automatically clear cache. Virtually all iPad browsers are required by Apple to use Safari engine at their heart so not sure if an alternate browser would help.
Closing and reopening Safari (not possible during guided access) does not cause the user to be logged out of the web provider.
I’d like to ensure the iPad returns to the whitelisted URLs in whatever browser upon restart.
I’d like to ensure if a user neglects to log out of their registration account their session is ended after a period of time.
I’ve used Apple Configurator frequently to manage large numbers of iPads in the past, but it’s a huge PIA and would require I use my personal MacBook. Apple Configurator has its used but I think in this simple situation is more likely to cause problems than help.
I’m tempted to just put up a carefully crafted sign to the effect “hey dork – log out when you’re done”.
That last 30 feet is always the hardest in IT.
Anyway – any suggestions from the hive mind?
My 79 year old Dad is getting three phone calls a day now that the IRS is calling for him to send them a mail order of money or else the IRS is going to have him arrested by the sheriff.
This must stop. It is obviously working on some people or else the fraudsters would quit. But I have no idea how to stop it.
You can’t. The calls are probably from India. There was one of these rings that the Indian police busted up a while back, but the cost to set one of these up in pretty small.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2017/04/24/indian-police-allege-irs-fbi-other-law-enforcement-not-interested-in-phone-scam-arrests/#39be84374a3e
Nor do a lot of people including myself. I get calls from Microsoft because they have detected a problem on my computer. I tend to string them along and act like a total idiot. At the end of about five minutes I inform them that I am with the FBI and have had time to trace their call and have myself planted a virus on their system that is currently encrypting their files.
I have had the IRS call and tell them I work in the phone fraud unit of the IRS.
Mother in law got scammed out of $1,200.00 a couple of years ago. Someone called, claimed it was her grandson, stuck in Mexico. She went to Walmart and wired money. The scammer knew enough details about her grandson to convince her it was him. But he was in Texas. Makes me think it was someone that knew him. She now trusts no one on the phone. In light of what others have lost perhaps it was a “not too” expensive a lesson.
Even call blocking does not work as they change phone numbers. Many of my callers have local numbers on the caller ID. The phone companies really screwed up when they allowed caller ID to be spoofed. What good is caller ID if it is not reliable?
DreamHost is annoying me. I’ve used them since May 10, 2002.
It’s the affiliate rewards… I looked at my balance a couple of months ago and there was a $35 charge. Almost half of what has accrued since last May. No mention of what the charge is for. I contacted support and received a mess of copy/paste boilerplate nonsense for a reply that makes no sense in the morning over coffee or in the afternoon over beer.
Today, an e-mail for “Domain Name Renewal Notice”. Er, I’m quite sure this is part of my plan… that renews annually. I asked “what?”. Another e-mail and that is supposedly fixed. “It appears we have a bug in our billing emailer.”
I replied to today’s response to ask about the $35 charge. Now I wait. It’s not a huge amount, it’s a “what the hell did I pay for?” question.
Why DreamHost? They seemed to be the best option. As best as I remember, unlimited e-mail accounts and addresses, same for discussion and announcement lists along with 200MB of disc space for a website. My ISP at the time allowed 2MB for a website and two e-mail addresses.
There was always the pure hassle of changing e-mail addresses involved with changing ISPs. Which is part of the game. But when the local ISP hires a “guru” from Austin and he decides, with no warning, to change the mail server’s name, so that your address is now “paul@mail.tstar.com” instead of “paul@tstar.com”, oh, screw that. Even back then, as dumb as I am, I had a slight clue about .htaccess files and redirects. Key word “slight”.
Just give me a stable connection and bugger off with the extra “service”.
knew enough details about her grandson to convince her it was him. But he was in Texas. Makes me think it was someone that knew him.
Perhaps not. I’ve talked with two people who received those calls. One got bitten for a couple of grand the other figured it out before it went on too long. The callers ask very leading questions and run with the answers given.
One conversations went something like this:
“High grandma, can you guess who this is?” There is only one grandson so she replies “Matt.”
“Yes, grandma, it’s Matt. Do you know where I am?” His army unit had just been transferred to Kansas so she says “Kansas.”
“Yes, grandma, it’s Matt and I’m in Kansas and I’m in some trouble…….”
With the difficulty of identifying a voice on the phone (especially for elderly) and with it happening quickly the last line is clearest in her mind and it sounds authentic. I think it is a lot like those TV guys who talk to your dead relatives by asking you questions.
I had a call from the Internal Revenue Services (yes, plural, not my typo). I was told that I was being charged in court and would be summoned if I did not cooperate with caller. I asked in which city was the Federal Court to which I will be summoned and could he please send me the airline tickets to get there. Before I could ask for hotel reservations, he hung up.
WRT spam, fraud, and other unwanted phone calls:
I have several layers of “protection”.
I have my phone service through Charter/Spectrum. They give us NoMoRobo and in my account online with Charter/Spectrum I can put calls on a do not accept list. Some other phone companies provide the same service(s).
My cordless phone also allows us to block calls. IIRC all the cordless phones at Costco have this feature now (Costco is where I got mine).
For our cell phone we use Hiya.
Another alternative is this call blocker available on Amazon. I used this before Charter/Spectrum gave us NoMoRobo.
WARNING: If you answer one of these fraud calls NEVER NEVER EVER say yes or any other affirmative word. It will be recorded and used to get you.
My 79 year old Dad is getting three phone calls a day now that the IRS is calling for him to send them a mail order of money or else the IRS is going to have him arrested by the sheriff.
This must stop. It is obviously working on some people or else the fraudsters would quit. But I have no idea how to stop it.
Both Microsoft and the IRS stopped calling me. Loan me your Dad’s SIM for a week.
One of the benefits of a grad program that was 98% Indian is that I know how to push their buttons. I’m a Fresher-buster.
“The ‘condom snorting challenge’ is every parent’s worst nightmare”
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2018/04/02/condom-snorting-challenge-every-parents-worst-nightmare/477431002/
Rush Limbaugh was talking about this today. This is absolutely crazy. What is wrong with these kids ?
Mnnn, no, daughter pregnant by random homeless crackhead, daughter kidnapped by slavers, daughter victim of random or targeted acid attack, daughter lured into sexual abuse, those are just the ones from TODAY.
Some random fock up snorting a condom thru his sinuses, not even on my list. I’ll add that if you are seriously worried that YOUR kid might try this, you’ve already failed as a parent.
n
some people have led such sheltered lives that they have no idea what sort of ‘worst nightmares’ there are out there.
@jimL – FINALLY someone got it…..
n
“It feels a bit like being drunk.”
“Oh, that doesn’t sound so bad.”
“Ask the glass of water…”
Who the heck sends a pair of brand new $45, tags on, 5.11 Taclite shorts to the thrift store?
IDK, but THANKS! $13 score!
And three other pairs of cargo shorts, like new, $4 each, all name brands, all high tech fabrics.
Also snagged a $35 electronics learning kit, NIB, for the kids for $4, and some other stuff for the house. Good day in the thrifts on my way to work on my rent house….
n
@Jenny….sorry, can’t help you with configuring …. don’t (and don’t want to) speak Apple.
There is probably a web-based process for registration/etc, and some JavaScript on the web page would take care of timing/logging out. Years ago, I found a registration process that ran on PCs; worked well, was able to customize a bit. Doesn’t have to require internet access; you could run a server local on the PC. But, have no idea how to configure the Apple stuff.
As for hosting: this place is on Dreamhost, and I don’t really like their hosting interface. I moved TheHomeScientist to my hosting place (JustHost), and will move this place and Barbara’s there when the Dreamhost hosting expires. JustHost lets me have unlimited domains/email/data-transfer, and has worked well for me since I started there.
Moving sites is not hard (well, if you don’t count the problem with changing the nameserver for the wrong domain here….but I plead temporary insanity). Changing email addresses is a pain, though.
Anyway – any suggestions from the hive mind?
If the computer is to be left unattended, you really need to secure it with a big old chain.
There are LOTS of people out there who need to be protected from temptation.
And speaking of protection, AR500 ARMOR is doing a ‘buy one, get one’ blow out deal.
https://www.ar500armor.com/promotions-sales.html
Two sets of class three lightweight armor, and a decent plate carrier, with some accessories, upgrades and shipping for about $550.
Also keep in mind that body armor is on the perennial “ban” list. This is one of those things that you might want to get while the gettin’ is good.
n
(no association or endorsement, but if you were gonna anyway, I don’t think you can beat the deal.)
Anyway – any suggestions from the hive mind?
All browsers on iOS must use the Safari engine, including Chrome and Firefox. The trade-off for the restriction is that creation of a custom browser with a limited interface is ridiculously easy.
You don’t have any high school or college students around who could use a project for class?
“Deerfield bans assault weapons and high-capacity magazines”
http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/deerfield/news/ct-dfr-deerfield-assault-weapon-ban-tl-0412-story.html
“Owners of assault weapons living in north suburban Deerfield have until June 13 to remove the firearms from within village limits or face daily fines after a ban was approved Monday night.”
“Violations carry a fine of between $250 and $1,000 per day, according to Matthew Rose, the village attorney. He said the fine is levied each day until there is compliance.”
“Street said the new law is modeled after one approved by Highland Park in 2013. That ban survived a legal challenge by one of the city’s residents and the Illinois State Rifle Association. The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals held that legislation constitutional and the U.S. Supreme Court let the decision stand when it declined to take up the appeal.”
Here we go.
One wonders how they know what guns and magazines that people own ?
”
One wonders how they know what guns and magazines that people own ?”
FOID. Firearm owners id. Required by the state of Ill for owning, buying, or even really looking hard at a gun. Also ditto for ammo. Remember that Ill is run by crooks and con men that come from the Mob tradition. Two sides of the same coin.
NFA law passed because of the Mob, like NYC knife ban because of West Side Story. Shirt you not, they believe in myths and think they should write laws because of them.
n
The most interesting thing you will read today.
@Greg Norton said:
How about an Eagle Scout Project?
I should have thought of that earlier. It hits many hot buttons, Veteran and disabled. Would get the kid a lot of good press to say nothing of the feeling of helping someone who really needs it.
Don’t miss the news over on the OFD project page….
My 79 year old Dad is getting three phone calls a day now that the IRS is calling for him to send them a mail order of money or else the IRS is going to have him arrested by the sheriff.
Was with 84 yr old MIL last month when she got a similar call. “You owe the IRS $15,000 and if you don’t pay right now the sheriff will be sent to pick you up today”. She said “Send him over then, I don’t own nothing and I ain’t scared of you”. We all got a good laugh.
How about an Eagle Scout Project?
I should have thought of that earlier. It hits many hot buttons, Veteran and disabled. Would get the kid a lot of good press to say nothing of the feeling of helping someone who really needs it.
You mean for OFD’s laptop?
I doubt that a custom browser for Jenny’s iPad would be enough of a project. A browser could probably be cookbook-ed out of any recent Apress iOS programming book with Dave Mark’s name on the author list.
OFD’s laptop on the other hand would probably qualify.
Don’t miss the news over on the OFD project page….
Not quite the news we were hoping for, but NEWS! And, in some small ways, PROGRESS!
Thanks, Nick.
The most interesting thing you will read today.
http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7934
Hey, thanks for that. I posted it in rec.arts.sf.written also.
“If you blow up the Constitution, you’ll regret it”
http://esr.ibiblio.org/?p=7866
“Thus, repeal of any right enumerated in the Constitution is not possible without abrogating the Constitutional covenant – destroying the legal and moral foundations of our system. The ten in the Bill of Rights are especially tripwires on an explosive that would bring the whole thing down. And of all these, the First and Second are especially sensitive. Approach them at your peril.”
I keep on forgetting how absolutely libertarian Eric Raymond is.
I am unnerved that towns in Illinois and the state of Connecticut think that they can define what kind or the amount of guns that a person can own. It is a short jump from that position to outlawing all guns.
Right here in TX. The little village north of 59, just outside the beltway has “no weapons allowed” signs at the edges of the polity. Most apartment buildings around my house have 30.06 signs on the parking lot gates. Doesn’t make them legal, but they are there and give them a reason to hassle you.
n
And I’m off to the land of nod…..
n
“My 79 year old Dad is getting three phone calls a day now that the IRS is calling for him to send them a mail order of money…”
I often wonder what kind of scum it takes, to do things like this to elderly people. Scum.
Anyway, it’s nearly impossible to nail the scammers, unless the police want to get actively involved. Would the police be interested in using your dad as a “honeypot”? Probably not, because the scammers probably aren’t local, but it might be worth the question.
Otherwise: those lists of numbers get shared and re-sold and shared some more. The only solution I can imagine is to change his phone number.
Here, the most common scam is the grandchild scam, like Ray mentioned. Different game, same goal: take advantage of elderly and confused people. They can be really clever – like JLP says, they get the victim to fill in all the details.
There’s a discussion ongoing here with the banks – we need some intermediate solution between “grandma is still all there and can handle her own affairs” and “grandma is senile, and her kids have taken over everything”. There are years between those two situations where someone is mostly competent, but vulnerable. The banks need to offer a service like “any check or withdrawal over $X dollars requires confirmation by a second person”.
Happened with my aunt. A law firm from Seattle convinced her to create a trust, at significant expense and significant tax consequences. The bank called me and said something strange was going on with her account. Then her accountant called and said the same thing. So I immediately put a halt to all the transactions I could and made a trip to Seattle.
I confronted the law firm and told them to cancel the trust. They stated they could not as it was already created. I informed them I had POA and would be pressing charges with the DA for elderly abuse with the backing of the bank and the accountant.
The trust gave me about $400 a month after her death then when I died the remains of the trust went to the law firm. The interest on the money alone was $600 a month thus significantly benefiting the law firm after I died.
According to the bank this law firm had victimized several other retirees in the area and that is why the bank had contacted me about the transactions.
Even after the trust was canceled I could not get the $8K that was paid to the firm returned to my aunt. To do so would have required getting an attorney and the fees to another lawyer would have exceeded the $8K.
I still filed a complaint with the Washington legal board about the actions of the law firm. The response from the board was that what the firm did was perfectly legal, no laws had been broken and there was nothing they could do about my complaint. Lawyers protecting lawyers.
At least the bank was trying to be proactive as was her accountant. Problem with banks is that they have no one else on the account they can contact. In my case I had put my name on the account when I got the POA.
@Ray: That’s a good bank. Some bank employee took the initiative to contact you.
What would be nice would be to bake something like this into the bank procedures. Account flagged? Contact to second person required, for any substantial transactions. Take it out of the realm of luck and into the realm of guaranteed service.
Like a business account that requires two signatures on a check….
n
@Greg Said:
Yes, sorry to have not been clearer.
WRT banks and us elderly, long-story-short Reader’s Digest condensed version:
Our solution was recommended to us long ago (by a lawyer we trust and who went on to serve as a Justice on the WA State Supreme Court), it may not be for everyone.
My Wife and I can totally trust our kids’ (not everyone is so lucky). They are listed as secondaries on most of our account with survivorship clearly spelled out. My Dad had done a similar thing with my Sister (he was living in the same town and I was a half-a-country away) and boy did it ever work out well when he totally lost his mind and then passed on.
This is not for every situation and needs a bank and a lawyer (for wills and Living Trusts) that you can trust. How do you know that you can trust them? The bank should charge you nothing and the lawyer should be charging a reasonable fee for a complete package, not nickle and dime and charge by the hour. Use a site like LegalZoom to do a sort of draft so you get familiar with the terms and processes.
There’s a discussion ongoing here with the banks – we need some intermediate solution between “grandma is still all there and can handle her own affairs” and “grandma is senile, and her kids have taken over everything”. There are years between those two situations where someone is mostly competent, but vulnerable. The banks need to offer a service like “any check or withdrawal over $X dollars requires confirmation by a second person”.
My father-in-law bought an annuity for $100K when he was 76 or 78 years old, I cannot find the paperwork (he is 85 now). He wired the $100K to a small bank in Louisiana, I did find that. It was a tremendous ripoff since the annuity payment dies with him. My FIL maintains that it is a life insurance policy also but I have never heard of an annuity with a death benefit.