Merry Christmas everyone!

If you are standing a post or on duty today, then I thank you.

If you aren’t, then think about those who are.

So the past few weeks, I have noticed that my Android (Google) phone has some interesting quirks:

I get advertisements based on subjects about which I have texted….and only texted (not spoken) about.

Now, we all know that Google reads your Gmail….I no longer use Gmail for that very reason.

But Texts? And then there is the fact that I believe (and have evidence pointing towards) that they are reading emails from other mail services for which I have apps on my phone.

Scary. I mean, seriously. reading texts as well as email? And getting ads associated with that keyword in less than 15 minutes?

So I bought an IPhone. Lots of changes. Lots different. But I knew that going in. The learning curve will be steep for the next couple of days.

Having said that, it works pretty much the same. But the apps available are not the same, nor are they as well implemented. Things like calculators and levels and weather apps and such are much better implemented on Android (Google) apps than on Apple devices.

Having said that, I will adjust. Apple may well be as bad, but they are at least more discreet about their spying on their customers.

Except that, as far as I can see, no one has presented a budget bill for his signature…..

So, at this point, Trump hasn’t done anything to “Shut the Government Down”. He;s merely said he would, and the House and Senate haven’t gotten their shit together and sent him a bill he could sign or veto.

How can it be his fault when the other parties can’t get their shit together to create a budget?

So, exactly whose fault is it?

Surprisingly, the Bosch dishwasher lasted 9 years.

Then it failed.  Which was, in part, a Good Thing. Of course, having laid out nearly 3 Large for a transponder just yesterday, the timing could have been better….

The float switch for water level had become intermittent, and then more and more so. From a “didn’t wash because no water” once in 10 times, then to 1 in 5, then one in three, then nearly every time. It didn’t take much, just a little wiggle of the float to make it work. Once it started the cycle, it worked until it cooled down again. No Bueno.

When I pulled the inspection panel off the bottom to see what I might find, I found water. Seems the drain hose had developed a crack. Lucky for me I pulled the panel when I did. No real damage.

The switch assembly for the dishwasher is still available. 171.83 plus shipping.

A new basic dishwasher is 3 times that. Tough call.

I ordered the new one. It’ll be here Wed the 26th.  Faster, stronger, better than the other one. And even more blinky lights to tell me shit I don’t care about…and more cycles! (I only ever use the “Pot Scrubber” cycle, but hey, now I go from 4 cycles to something like 23 cycles: half load/full load/delicates/permanent press/Pots&Pans//normal cycle/glasses/silverware only/extra dirty/heated rinse/heated dry/heated wash and dry/beer glasses/shot glasses/wash and rinse/wash rinse wax// spin dry….whatever…I’m only ever gonna use the one cycle).

Can’t see putting 1/3 the price of a new one into a 9 year old unit. My luck, the pump motor will fail about 10 days later. Or something else on the unit that is also 9 years old.

Handwashing dishes for a few days. I used to wash dishes in an Italian restaurant/Pizza Parlor when I was in high school. I was pretty good at it and pretty fast too…Lets see if I remember how to do it.

I just ordered my Stratus transponder for the plane. Schedules are already out to mid February for installation.

There are thousands of planes that have not had the installation done. I expect the techs are gonna do a lot of overtime later this year, and that some plane owners are simply gonna have to either not fly, or do VFR-only in uncontrolled airspace at the end of this year.

$2700 deposit for the unit. about half that for installation. I paid for the unit upon scheduling.

Why are the DNC and RNC so terribly against a Border Wall?

What have they against decent border security?  Against keeping invaders out of our country?
Slowing the flow of drugs across the southern border?

I mean, the Republicans had the chance in the first two years (along with healthcare, but that is a topic for another post) and they chose not to even try….And the Democrat party leadership is admantly against any wall or any “border Security” measure that will actually work.

It’s not the money. We waste more than that on other countries yearly in “economic aid” and “foreign aid” and all sorts of other “aid” and “grants” and such. We can easily fund the wall.

Is it because the Wall will stop people (or greatly reduce the flow) without providing enough opportunities for graft?

At least this time the press is admitting that most parts of the “government” are already funded and that it is only about 24% that will shut down because there is no current funding.

And I think they are on a level of tannerite exploding targets. Fun for big adult children who have more money than brains, but really a useless accessory. Not that I object to people wasting their money on them, if they want a fast way to turn money into smoke and noise without hitting their target…..

Having said that, I think this ban is stupid.  It will not materially affect any killing statistics, it won’t change the crime statistics, it is panering to a bunch of folks that will simply see it as a small victory in their War on Scary Firearms, and it will alienate a lot of folks that might have supported Trump in other more important things.

And then there is the point that MZW makes in his blog post.  (go on, read it….I’ll wait).

Kinda scary, innit there, Bubba? 

I can’t verify this, but it is likely true (Or maybe “Fake but accurate”?)

Read it HERE