Welcome to the Party

I figured this out years ago and have always adjusted my side-view mirrors thusly:

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) published a paper in 1995 suggesting how outside mirrors could be adjusted to eliminate blind spots. The paper advocates adjusting the mirrors so far outward that the viewing angle of the side mirrors just overlaps that of the cabin’s rearview mirror. This can be disorienting for drivers used to seeing the flanks of their own car in the side mirrors. But when correctly positioned, the mirrors negate a car’s blind spots. This obviates the need to glance over your shoulder to safely change lanes as well as the need for an expensive blind-spot warning system.

Everything they say and show in that very short article, published 15 years after the 1995 SAE paper, is 100% true.  Now it's almost 15 years after that article was written, do people still adjust their side mirrors in the (wrong) goofy way???

A Letter From My Congressman

About 3 weeks ago I called out my congressman for failing to respond to my letter about the rape of women Merchant Marine cadets while on ships at sea for training.  I closed that post by saying, "Ami Bera, on the other hand, from whom I've received more franked letters than all the other congressmen I've had in my lifetime combined, can't share a letter or a phone call regarding the rape of Merchant Marine cadets.  What are your priorities, congressman?"

Well, I received another of those franked letters today:

Fancy words, Ami Bera.  You're full of crap.  You care about yourself, certainly not about everyday Americans, certainly not about those in uniform, certainly not those women cadets.  And I'm not even going to address the obvious economic silliness in the content of the letter above, which is far worse than your usual letters.

I used to give the man the benefit of the doubt.  No longer.

Bison vs Buffalo

Recently, as in the last month or so, I had a conversation about bison.  Because of my advanced age I cannot even remember who I had the darned conversation with, but I remember pulling out my phone and showing the picture I took at Yellowstone of a nearby bison.  Anyway, part of the discussion was about how in America we don't have buffalo, we have bison--not that I know the difference, of course, but that was kinda the joke.

Well, we now have 13 fewer bison:

Multiple bison died near the western entrance of Yellowstone National Park in Montana on Wednesday after being struck by a semi-truck, according to police.

“Thirteen bison were killed in this traffic accident, with some of the bison needing to be euthanized due to severe injuries,” said the West Yellowstone Police Department in a news release posted to Facebook on Friday.

I just wonder how fast you have to be driving such that you kill or morally injure 13 bison at once. 

Here's An Example of Media Bias

Is it ok for a politician to go on vacation during a storm, or not?

link

I'd Never Heard of This Service Before

This link to the Veterans Canteen Service is on the VA web site:

It's Obvious Where Their Priorities Are

I'm just going to post the entire Instapundit post here:

NOTE THAT NPR IS SYMPATHETIC TO THE “CLIMATE ACTIVISTS,” NOT TO THE PEOPLE IN DANGER OF FREEZING IN THE DARK: Climate activists are fuming as Germany turns to coal to replace Russian gas.

Humans want to stay warm.  Anyone remember the stories of winter in Sarajevo during the siege?

This Seems Unjust

It's hard to believe that something like this is allowed to happen in American courts:

A jury convicted Dayonta McClinton of robbing a CVS pharmacy but acquitted him of murder. A judge gave McClinton an extra 13 years in prison for the killing anyway.

In courtrooms across America, defendants get additional prison time for crimes that juries found they didn’t commit.

The Supreme Court is being asked, again, to put an end to the practice. It’s possible that the newest member of the court and a former federal public defender, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, could hold a pivotal vote.

McClinton’s case and three others just like it are scheduled to be discussed when the justices next meet in private on Jan. 6.

Sentencing a defendant for what’s called “acquitted conduct” has gone on for years, based on a Supreme Court decision from the late 1990s. And the justices have turned down numerous appeals asking them to declare that the Constitution forbids it.

The closest the court came to taking up the issue was in 2014, when Justices Antonin Scalia, Clarence Thomas and Ruth Bader Ginsburg provided three of the four votes necessary to hear an appeal.

“This has gone on long enough,” Scalia wrote in dissent from the court’s decision to reject an appeal from defendants who received longer prison terms for conspiring to distribute cocaine after jurors acquitted them of conspiracy charges.

Yes, that's bad.  This is, too--have you ever heard of civil asset forfeiture? 

Civil forfeiture in the United States, also called civil asset forfeiture or civil judicial forfeiture,^[1] is a process in which law enforcement officers take assets from people who are suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without necessarily charging the owners with wrongdoing. While civil procedure, as opposed to criminal procedure, generally involves a dispute between two private citizens, civil forfeiture involves a dispute between law enforcement and property such as a pile of cash or a house or a boat, such that the thing is suspected of being involved in a crime. To get back the seized property, owners must prove it was not involved in criminal activity. Sometimes it can mean a threat to seize property as well as the act of seizure itself.^[2] Civil forfeiture is not considered to be an example of a criminal justice financial obligation.

Proponents see civil forfeiture as a powerful tool to thwart criminal organizations involved in the illegal drug trade, with $12 billion annual profits,^[3] since it allows authorities to seize cash and other assets from suspected narcotics traffickers. They also argue that it is an efficient method since it allows law enforcement agencies to use these seized proceeds to further battle illegal activity, that is, directly converting value obtained for law enforcement purposes by harming suspected criminals economically while helping law enforcement financially.

Critics argue that innocent owners can become entangled in the process to the extent that their 4th Amendment and 5th Amendment rights are violated, in situations where they are presumed guilty instead of being presumed innocent. It has been ruled unconstitutional by a judge in South Carolina.^[4][5] Further, critics argue that the incentives lead to corruption and law enforcement misbehavior. There is consensus that abuses have happened but disagreement about their extent as well as whether the overall benefits to society are worth the cost of the instances of abuse.

More evidence that just because something is legal doesn't make it right.  Neither of these judicial happenings sounds very American to me.  They sound like tyranny.

How To Destroy A School

You cannot take these actions and simultaneously claim to be doing right by students, the events are mutually exclusive:

For years, two administrators at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJ) have been withholding notifications of National Merit awards from the school’s families, most of them Asian, thus denying students the right to use those awards to boost their college-admission prospects and earn scholarships. This episode has emerged amid the school district’s new strategy of “equal outcomes for every student, without exception.” School administrators, for instance, have implemented an “equitable grading” policy that eliminates zeros, gives students a grade of 50 percent just for showing up, and assigns a cryptic code of “NTI” for assignments not turned in. It’s a race to the bottom...

It gets worse.

Last fall, along with about 1.5 million U.S. high school juniors, the Yashar teen took the PSAT, which determines whether a student qualifies as a prestigious National Merit scholar. When it came time to submit his college applications this fall, he didn’t have a National Merit honor to report—but it wasn’t because he hadn’t earned the award...

School officials had decided to withhold announcement of the award. Indeed, it turns out that the principal, Ann Bonitatibus, and the director of student services, Brandon Kosatka, have been withholding this information from families and the public for years, affecting the lives of at least 1,200 students over the principal’s tenure of five years...

In a call with Yashar, Kosatka admitted that the decision to withhold the information from parents and inform the students in a low-key way was intentional. “We want to recognize students for who they are as individuals, not focus on their achievements,” he told her, claiming that he and the principal didn’t want to “hurt” the feelings of students who didn’t get the award.

Anti-Asian racism?

I see ideas like these coming to many more schools, perhaps including in my district, before saner minds take over.

Is She A Cat?

Raising The Minimum Wage

FightFor15, baby. We told you this is where it would lead:

McDonald’s opened its first automated restaurant, with machines handling everything from taking orders to delivering the food – and dividing opinions everywhere. 

"When you step inside the test restaurant concept, you'll notice it's considerably smaller than a traditional McDonald's restaurant in the U.S.," McDonald’s said in a statement. "Why? The features—inside and outside—are geared toward customers who are planning to dine at home or on the go."

The Fort Worth, Texas, location uses technology to minimize human interaction when ordering and picking up food. The restaurant features an "Order Ahead Lane" where customers can receive orders by conveyor belt, Newsweek reported. 

The initiative is part of McDonald’s "Accelerating the Arches" plan, which works to grow and innovate the customer experience...

People who knew better still pushed for it. Why? To force people out of jobs and into more reliance on government? 

This was not an unpredictable result.  When people push ideas with predictable effects, they can be held accountable for those effects.  So good job, lefties.  Perhaps I should go buy some McDonald's stock now, as their amortized costs will be going down.

My Favorite Part of Christmas

I get to hold the newest additions to the family:

May your Christmas be as joyful as mine.

The Local Wildlife

My neighborhood of 1200-square-foot houses is over 60 years old. We humans have been here quite some time. I'm the third generation to live in this house! Not too far away is a creek, though, and with it what counts for "nature" in these parts. 

Periodically I'll look out front and see the wild turkeys out on my lawn or down the street. Even given their size they're somewhat skittish. (Side note: gawd, turkeys are dumb. Dumb animals. What was Franklin thinking?) 

Anyway, lately I've learned that I have a new animal neighbor. Usually s/he comes between midnight and 1 am, but this morning was out there after 7:30:

Such videos are as close as I want to come to this "neighbor". 

(This has been posted for awhile and still the video hasn't rendered.  It's very short and in a format Blogger accepts.  Hmm.  In case it never renders, it shows security camera footage of a skunk running up my walk and across the front of my house.)

Update, 12/29/22:  Tried it again after converting the file from mp4 to avi.  Now you can see my furry neighbor.

Might There Be A Less Complicated Way To Do This?

I'm not against getting money, and I think our taxes are too high for what we (working Americans) get for them, but anyone who knows even Introductory Economics 101 knows that sending out money the way it's been done recently ("stimulus checks") is a tremendously bad idea, especially from an inflationary standpoint.  If government has taxed us too heavily, and has too much of a surplus, it can refund some of that money or lower tax rates, but the feds at least do not have an excess of money.  In fact, we're $31 trillion dollars in the hole, and counting.

Even though projections are for deficits for the next couple fiscal years, California has a surplus this year.  Pretending they care about average Californians, Governor Newsollini and the state legislature are refunding some of that money to many Californians.  We are to get anywhere from a couple hundred to over a thousand dollars each to "help combat the effects of inflation", or some such silliness.  Will these bribes refunds actually contribute to inflation while attempting to ameliorate its effects?  Ask an economist.

It may surprise some of my long-time readers to learn that I don't pay a lot of attention to the news, so while I'd heard about these California "Middle Class Tax Refunds", I didn't really know much about them.  I just assumed if a couple hundred extra dollars showed up in my checking account, that's where it would have come from.

Several days ago I received an envelope with the return address of  "California Middle Class Tax Refund Card" in Omaha, Nebraska.  Instantly my el-toro-poopoo detector was activated.  I opened the envelope and in it was a Visa debit card.  The way it was presented just didn't seem right.  Here's the letter:

No indication that the California government sent this at all.  A Visa debit card from "Money Network", whatever that is, just doesn't sound legit.  Not being sure, I just set it aside to deal with when I had more time.

It's my first day of Christmas break, so now I have more time!  I thought I'd see what the search engines could offer, so I typed in California Middle Class Tax Refund and the first hit was the web site of the Franchise Tax Board, California's version of the IRS.  This was actually helpful as it explained what was going on, and even showed a picture of the letter and the expected card--maybe this card isn't a scam but is, in fact, from the state.  I read on.

MCTR (Middle Class Tax Refund) direct deposit payments for Californians who received GSS (Golden State Stimulus) I or II are expected to be issued to bank accounts between October 7, 2022 and October 25, 2022. The remaining direct deposits will occur between October 28, 2022 and November 14, 2022.

MCTR direct deposit recipients who have changed their banking information since filing their 2020 tax return will receive a debit card. Debit cards for this group will be mailed between December 17, 2022 and January 14, 2023.

MCTR debit card payments for Californians who received GSS I and II are expected to be mailed between October 24, 2022 and December 10, 2022.

I don't even remember if I received those stimulus payments, I probably did, but I've never received a check or a card--any money I get from the state, including my state tax refunds, for example, has always been direct-deposited into the same checking account I've had for a few decades.  

So I should have received this money by direct deposit but instead got it via a debit card.  That's odd, but not a sure sign of a scam.  Everything from the FTB web site matches up with what I received, and this news report from San Francisco makes what I received seem entirely on the up-and-up.

Yet it's still goofy.  The 4th largest bank in the country, Wells Fargo, is headquartered here in California, yet the state went through the 47th largest bank in the country, headquartered in New York and one I've never heard of, to issue these cards (I'm still wondering why I received a card instead of a direct deposit).  The headline of the news report linked above says, "The state of California turned over data for millions of Californians so companies in New York and Wisconsin could issue the cards and mail them out."  Why?  Why not just mail checks from the FTB for those who don't have direct deposit? 

So I turn the paper over to read the fine print, and whoa, what fine print there is!

Look at all those fees!  Why would someone have to pay so much money to a bank in order to access what's supposed to be their own money?  I thought that perhaps I wouldn't have to pay, because on the back of the card are the logos for the the Star, Interlink, and Plus networks, and one of those is on the back of my bank ATM card, but that's not good enough, because my bank can charge me a fee for trying to get this money (whether they will or not, I don't know, but it seems ridiculous even to have to find out).  I went to www.mctrpayment.com to find an in-network ATM I could use without a fee and typed in my zip code--I guess I can go to the nearby Rite Aid or Costco, as those are shown on the map, but no banks are shown.  Doesn't that seem odd?  I know it can be expensive to be poor in this country, and especially in California, but you shouldn't have to pay a bank or two (the bank that issued this card, as well as your own bank) in order to get your money from the state--that's just not right.  Again, why did they not just send checks rather than going through this bank to send out cards?

Shortly after Christmas I'll go through the hassle of activating the card, setting up a PIN, checking the balance, and then withdrawing all that money in cash at a nearby ATM.

So I ask you, Governor Newsollini, the California legislature, and the FTB:  might there be a less complicated way to do this?

Tell Me You're A Geek Without Telling Me You're A Geek

This is what I have playing while I putter around this morning:

Break, Day 1, Morning

Slept in, had a light breakfast, having tea while writing thank-you notes to students who brought me gifts.  It's a good way to spend time on an overcast morning.

It's Hard To Believe, But...

The days are going to start getting longer now.  Doesn't feel like it, but they are.

Sic Semper Thieves

I still believe in West Point's honor code regarding lying, cheating, and stealing.  All three are equally bad, but I think stealing is more equal than the others.  The guy who made this video doesn't like stealing much:

He might be my new hero.

Can You Imagine The Hue and Cry If White People Intentionally Excluded Hispanics?

Racismracismracism, that's all you'd hear.  When other Hispanics intentionally exclude Hispanics, well, that's somehow good:

A few months after she was elected in 2020, Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, the first Republican Latina senator in state history, considered joining the California Latino Legislative Caucus. 

It seemed only natural, she said. 

Ochoa Bogh had spent half her youth in Mexico. Her first language was Spanish. And she was raised by parents who immigrated to the United States to achieve the “American Dream.” 

But Ochoa Bogh soon learned that Republican legislators, regardless of Latino ethnicity, are barred from joining the caucus. 

“It came with an irony because traditionally Democrats speak of equality and opportunity and they’re not allowing all Latinos,” she said.

Democratic lawmakers created the caucus 50 years ago and excluded Republicans from the beginning. It is one of two ethnic caucuses in the California Legislature that prevent GOP members from joining, and the policy has been a point of contention from time to time when multiple Hispanic Republicans win state office.

The one-party dynamic works, Democratic members say.

I'm sure it does.

Raising The Standard By Lowering It

Rather than educating students, we retreat and call it a victory:

Kansas universities may scrap their algebra graduation requirement because too many students fail the course, NPR Kansas reported.

“About one in three Kansas students fails college algebra the first time around. Some take it several times before they pass. Others get so frustrated that they drop out altogether. And that cuts into university graduation rates,” the news outlet reported Dec. 12.

With that, the Kansas Board of Regents is considering alternative requirements such as statistics and quantitative reasoning under what’s called a Math Pathways program, it added.

“We’re sending the majority of students down the college algebra road, which is really not necessary,” said Daniel Archer, vice president of academic affairs for the Kansas Board of Regents. “It’s not practical. It’s not really needed. And it’s not relevant for their fields.”

I remember when a university degree used to be a sign of academic achievement. 

Pathetic.

The Sense of Entitlement Is Amazing

Have these college students ever been told no?  I marvel at the sense of entitlement.

First, the crazy artsy students at New School:

As part of their list of demands, students at the private New York City arts school The New School (TNS) are occupying a campus building until instructors agree to give As for the semester.

According to the Instagram account New School Occupied, the students occupied the TNS University Center on Dec. 8 in support of faculty on strike for higher wages and better healthcare. While the strike ended on December 10, the occupants published a new set of demands that day that included A’s for all students, the resignation of school leadership, and the dissolution of the Board of Trustees.

Second, students at Cornell who are supposed to be smart enough to know better:

Students at Cornell University are split over calls for “universal pass equitable grading,” which would ensure all students would pass their courses and receive credit regardless of one’s final grade.

As I quoted in a recent post:

There was a time when college administrators paid little attention to student dissatisfaction. Their opinions were largely written off as a sign of their immaturity. But things have changed because of the high stakes involved. Students believe that they are entitled to all A’s while putting in little effort because they are paying soaring tuition.

If this is how they're going to act, our society would be significantly better off if we returned to the idea of administrators' paying "little attention to student dissatisfaction."  College students may have lots of potential but they don't really know anything yet.