Cooking With Hotplates

My stove is a countertop appliance than plugs into a regular wall outlet.  Like a lamp.  It consists of two "burners", each of which is a metal disc.

The idea is that the metal disc will eventually get hot enough to cook something.  I've learned to turn the thing up as high as it goes, and use a large frying pan with a lid.  Not a heavy cast iron pan.  That might take forever.

Here's what you do.  You put whatever it is on the pan, add the upside down large stainless bowl that serves as lid, turn control up to high, go do something else.  Like write here, read an article, start a show on hulu.  Practice playing when you are in that mood.  Right now, I am not very interested in playing music.

A clever trick is to place a small piece of butter here and there.  It serves as a temperature report when you check to see how things are.

In some ways this cooking system is a time saver.  If the burners actually burned like real burners do, I'd have to keep a close eye on it.  This set up can be left for awhile; take a shower, go to the next step in changing the oil in the car, turn on computer and see what's up, etc.

Now that I think of it, this is the picture of an idiot who has gone too long without getting married again.  Not necessarily legally and all that.  Often there is no point, at a certain stage, in bringing the state and/or the church into it.  That probably means commitment.  No wonder I am here now.

Age of Hypocrisy

European types have experienced a number of eras to which they gave labels; the Enlightenment, the Renaissance, etc.

This era may stand out as the Hypocritical Madness.  Either you get or you don't.  Not sure expounding on it is worth the trouble.

I was thinking how I am not a fan of basketball. It is OK, I guess, but doesn't appeal to me.  On top of that I do not agree with Obama's view of the USA, the role of government in general, and federal power specifically.   This would easily land me the label of "racist" among those who lend non-critical support to anything the president does.

Yet, my views are not formulated using race as a factor in the equation.  Oh well.  Label away.

One statement which defines our difference in viewpoint was made during Obama's first inauguration.  I paraphrase but I think the essence is intact.  He stated that the size and scope of government is not an issue, only whether it works.

How one defines what "works" means in that assertion is less and less a mystery every day.  It is not comforting that some close to the president, supporters in the Congress, have stated that China's government "works".  It is a slippery slope.

My idea of a government that works would be one in which individual rights are protected, and one's freedom is maximized as much as possible; personal freedom, and economic freedom.  That is not a system under which citizens are subjects and businesses are running the state through convoluted regulations, cronyism, and competition killing measures.

My ideal place is not one in which the immediate answer to anything bad is to curtail the natural rights of individuals.

So, that is why I don't support the would-be king, and most of the others who live large while stealing, and seeking to control the lives of those whom they view as "the masses".

A totalitarian system can be said to work, if your goal is unfettered control over the individual.   Of course those in charge assume they know best.  One benefit of being older is that one may have glimpsed a freer time, and observed as the political world created crises and wars, then pretended to address the issues by closing the grip on the citizens.  Over and over and over again.

Create a problem, tout a worthless fix, spout ay irrelevant lie needed, over and over until people buy it for rational, or include some inducement which will quiet people's better sense.  Then do it again.  The result is incrementally more responsibilities for government, more money spent, more erosio of rights and liberty.

One key is the casting of the crumbs.  nother is convincing people that only the evil, label of the month to hate, group is affected.  Like "the rich", the "1%", NRA, Oil, this that the other.  Wow, I get a phone or some other perk while my lords stick it to the rich or some ethic group who is out of style.   Yippee.

And the truth is, the evil whoever is probably not phased.  Especially the echelon of that group which is very much in bed with the powers that be.   Often the public face of the relationship is a total facade to project a adversarial impression.  If you have never had cause to discover such deception first had, you may think this sounds like paranoia and fantasy.

I assure you it is not.  I was bit pretty hard one time due to this phenomenon in our federal government. I'm sure it occurs on every level to some degree.  Anyway, there was no doubt about the truth.  My discovery was the result of pure coincidence and being in the right place at the right time.  Or wrong time, depending upon how you look at it.

I'm just venting.  It is all true and right, but...never mind.  I know this is a worthless waste of time.  I like to write such things down.  I'd say, "so sue me", but I'm not sure you won't, ad not sure you wouldn't win.

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Life Meaning

It must have been a reaction to someone describing the "service" of a senator.  The tone and context implying that living on the public dime, making a career of it, is somehow an elevated calling.  Not in my book.  I checked it and it said "NO".

That brought me to thoughts and recollections of harboring and hearing concerns about meaningful work.  I think any honest, freely traded work is significant.   People are designed to create, cultivate, build and imagine.  Our minds and bodies are designed for that and sex.  That's it.

Really, that should be a great deal.  We're designed to be nuts as well.  It humors the powers that be.  Should I have capitalized Powers That Be?   Maybe add PBUH(peace be upon him; it, they, she, he, that).

When I remember that any endeavor which requires use of body and mind, and pays money or serves as trade, is making use of what I've been given to navigate life, I tend to do better.  It all has meaning.

That doesn't mean all work has the same market value.  The significance is still there.

Things that I am only just learning, a healthy 13 year old would already know.  My parents, for whatever reasons, just assumed I'd understand life and all else by pulling the info out of the ether.   To some extent I guess I did.

Most of the time I feel freer and less stressed now than I did at thirteen.   Looking back it hardly seems like that was me.  I don't think I enjoyed much for several years.  I know.

I did go through the motions, and I had my dreams, even though they seemed somehow forbidden.   I'm pretty sure, if I had to grow up the way it is now in the USA, I'd be locked up or dead.  Kids have less freedom, in some ways, than did everyone older than them.  That trend has been there for awhile.

I'd roller skate up and down the street, at four years old, with no one outside watching.   I was five or six when I got my first BB gun.  I'm not sure if crime was that much lower or the politics of paranoia and the accompanying entertainment industry built around fear had simply not yet matured and molded the psyche of the culture.  

Whatever the case, it was not all roses.  Not in Miami, that's for sure.  Largely a town of jerks when I was growing up.  Living elsewhere makes that clear.

Alright, finding meaning in what's being done right now.  Making use of the design in which they chose to house me, whatever I am.  It was all arranged at the factory.  I don't remember it.   Who knows where to find the factory.  Cheap imitations, like public schools, are the best you get.

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29 feels like 18

That may or may not apply to age; in my case 18 is not a year I'd care to relive or feel like.

However it is 29 deg. F in Descanso, and it feels like 18, according to authoritative weather sources.

Keep an eye on the water pipes.  We don't get a lot of freezing weather, but the last few ights have dropped into the 20's.  Sometimes low 20s.

I wonder how this works with SDGE's billing system, and smart meter assessments.  Out here people use wells.  They will be letting water drip or run to avoid bursting pipes. That means the pumps will run more.  Or they will have some heating setup for the pipes.

Because you pay more per unit if you use more units of power, and smart meters bill you more if sdge deems it a high usage time of day, those living very thin financially could be dealt a slight blow which needn't be.

The rationale for such price fluidity is that this will save the world.  In practice these measures, and many others geared at behavior hurt the poor and not so wealthy the most.  Does it actually do anything toward saving the dear earth?  I don't think so.

I've always turned out lights that didn't need to be on, minimized use of electric heat and A/C, but my motive for this over the years was purely to save money.  I am a creature of the market, I suppose.  Certainly no one can claim I am an activist who hates all things related to oil, coal, and industry.

I happen to think that the business--government complex has retarded development in areas which would have resulted in fewer side effects sooner.  People have been trying to find ways to save fuel, power homes, etc., in better cheaper, more independent ways forever.

Those who think everything should be highly regulated, ad that personal liberty is a permission rather than a natural state of being crushed many outspoken innovators over the years.  It was in the interest of those who pay for campaigns and whose companies were in bed with government.

Now, they hammer into everyone that alternative energy is good, and it has become a cause.  These are the people who prevented private production of home power, and squashed many enterprises which aimed to make life better.  They act as if all this is new.

The only reason it is now OK is because they have cornered solar and wind, and decide where the payoff grants go.  Often to cronies whose companies can't survive, yet their CEOs walk away much richer for the failed endeavor.

This is where side issues and non-sense get in the way of sanity.  Marriage, abortion, and other things which are not really worth governmental involvement unless a contract is in play steer people toward those who share their views on these narrow topics.  Those same people may be destroying the economy and restricting rights in any number of ways, including the freedom needed for individuals to thrive in a free market.

I'm not sure, but it seems like in San Francisco, and other places no doubt, pets are no longer called pets.  I think they are nonhuman companion animals now.  And they have rights, dammit!   So, the number and nature of restrictions is daunting.

California.  Maybe the gold rush miners were mostly crazy, and their madness still dominates the gene pool here.  I don't know.

I'm pissing in the wind.  Too many people are vested in an over litigated, bureaucratic nightmare of a society to set their sights on a culture of respectful freedom.  Earth justice, because the earth needs a good lawyer.  I didn't make that up.  Now the ad council and some outfit have an ad with little kids claiming it's the animals turn to have rights, so please donate to whatever that is called.

It's insanity.  Most people eat animals.  Many animals eat animals.   And they seriously do not give a damn whether humans survive and thrive or not.  There is a balance of sorts, but the most consistent thing about nature is that it is never in a static balance.  It is in constant flux and things change.

Where are the saber tooth tigers?  Did they die because they didn't have a good lawyer, or kids who were told what to say spouting off about their rights?  Maybe global warming got them, or the incandescent light bulb.

If It Saves Just One Life It Must Be Right

Here's the sort of logic that dictates rights, regulation and way too much else.   According to Uncle Joe and His Excellency any measures enacted which could save just one life are hereby justified and good.

Think of all the people who die in cars, who die because they eat too much, who overdose, who buy the farm base jumping.  By the logic presented, banning automobiles,  over-eating, and sky diving would be just and righteous because that would clearly save lives.

Banning cars is easier than banning guns because you'd be able to quickly identify scoff-laws because only they would be on the roads.  The arguments which seek to limit bullet clip capacity and such would hardly have prevented most of the troubles we had with people shooting people when they shouldn't have shot people.

Perhaps if we go to the root of the problem and ban dangerous lunacy we'd fare better.  Ban any form of mental disorder or character flaw which could result in maniacal outbursts which could be dangerous to others.

To do otherwise, and to oppose such a ban is clearly an indication of callous indifference to the children and their families.

While we are banning stuff, let's ban swimming pools, lousy parents, ladders, and bicycles.  All of these items have been critical items in the death of citizens.

Perhaps we should also ban police and others who have been known to shoot people for whatever reason.  One life saved is worth it.

I'm not really a big fan of guns myself.  I am a big fan of people being able to defend themselves, and I'm a fan of being armed in whatever way if one chooses.  Being armed and being threatening or violent are not necessarily tied together.

What is always a red flag is when people run around in hysterical madness demanding that "something be done!!" while labeling those who question such things as heartless bastards and fools.  I'll agree, a lot of fools have come out of the woodwork on both the alleged sides of the discussion.

It is a happy orgy for professional demagogues.   These people who want for nothing, rarely wait on themselves, have the nerve to preface their statements with "what the American people want" while maintaining a straight face.  I don't have a clue what "the American people want", and I am one.

I'm working on figuring out what I want.  Clearly I have not allowed myself to think in those terms for quite some time.  That is unacceptable.

What a World

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Dog and Pony Show Glut": 

I think the admin of this website is genuinely working hard in favor 
of his web site, as here every information is quality based data.
Stop by my webpage media.   The word "media" was a link but I removed it.

Is spamming a hobby?  Maybe it is done automatically, with such nonsense being generated by software which picks up key words.  Ca this possibly lead to customers for whatever it is they market?

I don't know.  I do know it takes people of suspended sense of values to market in ways that attempt to trick and mislead.  Unfortunately, the realization that this is rule more than exception struck me long ago, before the internet was even up and running.  I found that it is easy to legally walk that line between  out and out deception and legitimate trade, with one foot clearly over the line.  It usually requires the buyer to be one who wants something for nothing, or something beyond his means. So, you have both sides of the trade ignoring reality.


Some think that capitalism is synonymous with tricks and boondoggles.  This is false.  That is like saying that driving a car involves mowing down pedestrians on the sidewalk.  Free trade and enterprise is not the same as deceptive and dishonest trade and enterprise. 

The idiocy is to believe that the number one tool used in the corruption of trade--government--is the entity which, if further empowered, would ensure equal opportunity and transparent transactions.  They've circumvented enforcement of measures against force and fraud by writing thousands of regulations which more often than not serve to promote one interest or company over their competition.  Always those writing the regs seem to enjoy more wealth after some time in office than they did before becoming "public servants".

Coincidence?   

Anyway, thank you, Mr and/or Ms Articulate spammer.

An offshoot of the indictment I made against government solutions to problems largely of their making can be seen in the brazen efforts of Biden, Holder, Obama and company to usurp more power on the backs of those killed at the school in Connecticut.  

Here we have an attorney general whose underlings provided Mexican cartels with weapons which have killed Americans and Mexicans.  The gun running scheme has been kept rather vague as it obviously did not result in anything pleasant.  The idea was apparently to track the weapons.  It must have been carried out for other reasons because none of the reasons I've heard make any sense.  

Biden talks in terms of the 2nd amendment and hunting which clearly shows he either does not realize or does not want to admit that the right to bear arms is unrelated to hunting.  It is about power.  Not about violence or deaths.  

But these are the people to solve the problem and soothe the panic and hysteria they fuel.   

The problem is that people are greedy in that they will sucker for anything if you throw them crumbs.  They are also woefully ignorant to the point that the majority of people cannot follow a simple logical syllogism.  Who is in charge of the organization and content of education?  No child left behind.  We'll be sure they all know how to conform and be pliable fools for the Crown.

I've only see one person in this public theater of the absurd regarding guns who did a decent job refuting the skewed statistics and reasoning put forth by the poster boy of gun control in the US, piers Morgan who thinks he is superior because he's a Brit.  

What Piers and many others do not get; our rights are not privileges granted by kings or Congress.  Their powers are privileges granted by the people.  And such power is limited by a constitution simply because it has been well known for centuries that governmental power naturally grows into totalitarianism and tyranny if not severely and closely checked and limited. That is the distinction between our model and that of the rest of the world.

Obviously I speak in terms of what was to be, should be, should have been.  Today, in this country, people see presidents as kings and DC as a royal court. The fact that they exempt themselves from certain rules they pronounce upon others, are lifelong politicians, and vote for themselves cushy pensions and healthcare which is not subject to the rules their "healthcare reform" placed on us. 

We were told that driving is a privilege, and so is everything else. 

No secret that I disagree.  You don't have the right to be dangerous or abusive to others.  Beyond that you have the right.  Even if it is a thing which demands a show of competency, once demonstrated, then that activity is a right, not a privilege granted by His Majesty.

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Dog and Pony Show Glut

I'm pretty sure that will bring spam comments for livestock and pet products.   Although, spammers have become my best and only fans.  I understand that.  I've become repetitious and possibly boring.  I'm  not sure why.  Since the Journalspace days, I've gone downhill in many ways.  Uphill in others.

If you do not see the futility of the grandstanding and pure demagoguery resulting from the Connecticut school shooting, then I doubt a logical approach to the discussion would be fruitless.  

But do take a minute to remember that the US government has been known to massacre people who were not threatening them with force.   Waco.  Kent State.  I guess Kent was the Ohio Guard.  I believe someone else triggered the gunfire there, but either way, it was wrong.  Other cases have happened, but those slaughtered were uncooperative and not good at conforming.

Those who are publicly arguing this thing are doing a piss poor job.  At least the ones who are close to my beliefs on this non-issue.  Or it should be a non issue.

In short, there is no shortage of entertainment these days if you are a fan of dog and pony shows.  Unfortunately, animal theater has never been my favorite genre.

It is hard to even talk to people these days, especially if they OD'd on the koolaid.  A friend in NYC was asking me about the place where I work, knowing that the owner is close her Lord and Master.   She gets dreamy and swoons at the mere mention of the president's name.

Yet she had to bring up "the 1%" in the discussion.    In reality, like Ed Asner and other limousine Luddites and neo-bolsheviks of that ilk, she is probably in the top 1%, financially.  This is not a person who is easy to please or who suffers reduction in standard of living gladly.  If were under the Castro/Chavez style of state that they applaud, I wonder if they realize that they may not be a part of the inner circle of elites running the show.

They think they are compassionate and cool.   Maintaining that chic edge requires looking down upon people who build companies that produce anything requiring natural resources.  Except farmers, as long as they are organic and greenish.

You've heard it before, maybe.  The 2nd amendment has nothing to do with hunting.  Never did.    The argument that all they had was muskets back then is also flawed.  That's mostly what the state had as well.  It says arms not muskets, etc.

Enough of that.  You are not any more going to reduce crime ad make people safer by blindly acting on flawed reasoning and incorrect descriptions of hardware than allowing cops to stop and search people at will served to reduce drug use.

We have new people to hate since that is easier than actually discussing the matter and using reason.  Democracy is tyranny without limits and rules.  Our limits were supposedly codified in the Constitution.  Clearly, this concept eludes most people, especially professional politicians and presidents.

That is because the lifers benefit most by continually increasing their power.   And people still love to act like the neck tie party mobs of old westerns.  Screaming and cussing at any who disagree.  No offense, but many modern union rallies, ad political rallies peopled by them, provide stark examples of this group-think phenomenon  which induces people to act according to the collective emotion of the mob without respect for life, liberty or property of others.  Not to mention rights of association, movement, etc.

That is why I shy away from demonstrations, even when I may be on their side.  I do not stop traffic or heckle individuals or shout people down.  I think it is wrong, that's why.

Someone must be buying the grandstanding.  They've been buying it forever.  Geez.  If regulation worked, people wouldn't do a lot of things they tend to do on a regular basis.

I could make the argument that I trust John Q Public with weapons more than I do government employees, on a per capita basis.  I base this upon my experience with police, some of whom were people I know.  Friends.  I also base it on the fact that out of many millions of people, it is very rare to encounter a seriously deranged maniac, though there are too many.

In government, I find every other person to show signs of a thirst to abuse power, or they simply enjoy not handling what you need.  And they often don't leave you alone when they ought.

I'm not sure that 50% estimate is accurate or not.  Because I am not sure in which direction I err, I settle for the balance point.

The tone and inflection in which "the one percent" was introduced into the conversation, mentioned above, took me aback.  It was as if I was being cued to respond in a similar tone of disdain for this hypothetical group.

I stopped cold momentarily, then tried to get back on subject.  She caught my lack of lockstep, and the entire tone of the conversation plainly changed.  We were talking things going on with us, nothing political.  We already know better than that.  But, I've noticed that if you don't ridicule who is chic to ridicule, and parrot platitudes, and love Obama, she is torn because her programming tells her to hate you, label you racist, etc.

Oh man, and I'm a white male.  She doesn't put those labels on me because she knows better, but she is perplexed by my lack of hip politics.  Not perplexed enough to discuss it rationally.   Some people make a good case for their man, even though I usually disagree with certain basic premises in their argument.  Mostly it comes down to function and scope of governments on every level; individual, local, state, federal---in order of legitimate importance and authority, from most to least.  

See? Right there, those who love to find a way to disagree, will find a way.  And those who simply don't agree for whatever reason, will have their way, as well.

Do people now pepper everything in their thoughts with political code?  I bet they have me programmed too or we wouldn't be discussing this.  We'd be profiling various musicians or discussing something cool.

Smart vs Intelligent

In my own life and in the world around me I see mounting evidence that pure intelligence does not necessarily equate to smart action and decision.   It is like having a computer with impressive capacity and power, but using it for worthless ends.  Someone else may have a computer of modest capabilities yet uses it to good purpose and profit.

At one time I could listen to talk radio, to get different angles on what is supposedly being done in the world of laws and spending public money.  When Air America was around I tried to listen to that but found it so full of angry rants which cloaked whatever kernels of fact there were in over the top hostility and violent self righteousness that I had to give it up.

The stuff that is out there now often contains material with which I agree, but presented in such a way that discredits the message, and often contains additional, irrelevant tenets with which I disagree.  Or I do not see it as a suitable matter for the forums they seek to influence.

It is hardly worth weighing in on current public debates.  Mostly what we have circulating constitutes an odd pop news phenomenon.  What wins is the caricature that has the air of being cool and trendy.  Often, when one sees some delineation between the approved sides as they go to battle, he might easily image he is watching the GlobeTrotters play the Washington Senators.

To actually be a big fan of either team, one must suspend disbelief and embrace the world of fantasy.

Glad I don't live in LaJolla.  They have a huge stink problem because they can't legally clean the bird poop off the cliffs, and they have seal issues which are rather misanthropic.

Public policy arguments invariably stray from the principles invoved and devolve into personal attacks and/or hysterical hyperbole.

This is where labels like "the 1%" tend to lose me.  For one thing not all the wealthiest 1% think the same, accumulate their wealth similarly, or interact equally with the public treasury.  It is a label because people flock to causes with some one or some group to hate.  Suggesting they be killed, shot, etc. is OK because it is righteous indignation.  Or self righteous, easily grabbed vanity.

I'm no fan of the feudal system, kings, and elitism in law making.  The controlled and directed hatred, and the fueling of base and petty qualities is the business of such systems.  People only strengthen the power of these tyrants when they fall into the trap of personal attack and studied ignorance of fact.

These are times when I prefer to ignore some nagging personal questions and assessments.   Those people who thrive do, rather than worry.  That is how it appears to me.

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Water water everywhere

perhaps a drop I'll drink.

I find myself forming New Year resolves.   It doesn't seem as if I did that last year, although I may have.  Wouldn't it be unique if I brought these plans to fruition.

Statistics; still the debate is pandering pablum for the public

According to the FBI annual crime statistics, the number of murders committed annually with hammers and clubs far outnumbers the number of murders committed with a rifle.

I guess that includes assault weapons, whatever they are.  Rifles, I think.   Seems like any weapon used in, or intended for the purpose of, assault would be an assault weapon.  Billy club, throwing knife, pepper spray, etc.

Quit controlling everything from diet to health care by force and threat of force, and let people defend themselves and their property legally, and the overall troubles may decrease.  Keep looking to the same gangster creeps, who take and use your resources for their personal gain, for solutions to theft and violence and you will get nothing but more theft and violence. 

How can people in NY listen to Chuck Schumer for 10 sec or more and not know he is crooked, creepy and most likely connected to every crime outfit in the country?  But he is in solidarinosc with the union!   Are people just outright nuts?  Or is the last shred of hope gone and they just threw in the towel, saying screw it, if it ain't nailed down I'm taking it--gonna get mine!