Missing an old friend

March 27, 2021 Griz2 Comments

I don’t know if any of the old gang still monitors for activity here anymore or not.

We lost a dear friend of the site a couple of months ago and it is still bothering me.

Our dear Badcat passed suddenly. Her husband logged into her facebook account and let us know that she was in grave condition. A couple days later he let us know of her passing.

While she did not want to return to Pennsylvania, I am very thankful that her family was able to be there for her passing not to mention being able to support her loving husband. I am not mentioning his name out of respect for his privacy. I do not know how many outside of her circle knew his name.

She was such a good friend to be over the years, we were kind of like family that was separated by an entire country, but until the last year, we were only twenty miles apart. I would have loved to gotten to meet her and her husband in person.

Fond memories of chats and debates over more than a decade. She was here not too long after the website came into existence.

We were quite the gang of digital miscreants, full of opinions that we were happy to share. We got to know where the hot buttons were for our group and tried to stay off of them for the most part, but like all families, we would tap those buttons just to make sure that the other was paying attention.

Badcat, you were loved by almost all. we know that there were some that were never going to fit in, but you didn’t care, you weren’t that kind of cat. You were and always will be Badcat.

It has been a while

June 2, 2020 Griz

I have put Disqus back on the website. I tired it for a short bit several years ago.

Alas, IntenseDebate chose to not integrate to social media platforms, so I am going to try it again to see if it allows for more interaction between the various platforms.

Please test it out and see if you like it.

Oregonians Feel That The Poor Are Subhuman

March 18, 2020 Griz

The title takes a short journey to connect the dots.

In 1951 Oregon passed a law that was initially to protect customer from pumps that were far less safe than today. They felt that a refueling technician was needed.

After those initial safety concerns were mitigated making pumps quite safe, they found that gasoline (and the other fuels as well) had carcinogens. The average driver did not like the smell of gas either.

Rather than having everyone pump their own fuel (or pay for full service like forty eight other sates (New Jersey is the other wimpy ass state that doesn’t allow self-serve pumping) thus minimizing the intake of carcinogens, they relegate that to the poor working class. No there are exemptions, motorcycle riders can refill their own gas tanks. Could that be a hold over of feeling that bikers are nonredeemable scourge? Since diesel is also exempt truckers are in the same class as bikers, seen as less than… You have probably seen that as well. Yes, every time that you pull in and have the minimum wage worker scratch off a ticket to a lottery of fatal health issues. The longer than they stay in their oppressed role, the more likely it is that they will win that evil lotto.

Now a couple of years ago, they allowed the people in rural regions to pump their own fuel. Could this be yet another subjugation of the country folk? I will leave that you for consideration

The Oregon voters have decided that gasoline vapors are hazardous to humans, so they have gas station attendants do the pumping. Gas station attendants are typically a low wage job with little room for progression, so they remain poor and not worthy of the protections granted to humans, thus sub-human.

Google Ads

March 18, 2020 Griz

I am tweaking the site to get it ready for more content.

Part of those tweaks was Google Ads, they were either obnoxious if you didn’t have a blocker, or invisible if you did. Since I want to use some of the money from ad clicks to put up a prize for Dead Pool, I need the ads to be clickable.

What else should be on the list of to-dos?

Covid-19 Mortality Theory

March 8, 2020March 18, 2020 Griz

Three days ago I had put forth the theory that countries with socialized/universal health care appeared to have lower mortality rates than countries without it.

Universal healthcare is only .01% higher than non-universal healthcare countries.
When you look at countries with universal healthcare, it is more dramatically different.

Countries with universal healthcare (most of the world) had 75 countries with a sum of mortality at 62.53 this gives an average mortality rate of 0.83%.

Now if we look at countries without universal healthcare, there were 29 countries with a sum of 4.09% mortality. This gives us an average mortality rate of 0.14%.

So, my initial view an opinion was incorrect. Countries without socialized/universal health care fare better than countries with it.

If you feel that I misinterpreted the data, I am sharing it here for full transparency.
The Data is from 03/07/2020 at 17:23:12 (Perhaps my theory was good three days ago, but it isn’t now.)

The one part that did not get tossed into the equations is the people that were on cruise ships. Since they are not really part of a country since they are on the high seas.

Country	Confirmed Cases	Deaths	Mortality Rate	Socialized Medicine
Mainland China	80654	3559	4.41	Yes
South Korea	7041	44	0.62	Yes
Italy	5883	233	3.96	Yes
Iran	5823	145	2.49	Yes
France	949	11	1.16	Yes
Germany	799	0	0.00	Yes
Others	696	6	0.86
Spain	500	10	2.00	Yes
Japan	461	6	1.30	Yes
US	424	17	4.01	No
Switzerland	268	1	0.37	Yes
UK	206	2	0.97	Yes
Netherlands	188	1	0.53	Yes
Belgium	169	0	0.00	Yes
Sweden	161	0	0.00	Yes
Norway	147	0	0.00	Yes
Singapore	138	0	0.00	Yes
Hong Kong	108	2	1.85	Yes
Malaysia	93	0	0.00	Yes
Bahrain	85	0	0.00	Yes
Austria	79	0	0.00	Yes
Australia	63	2	3.17	Yes
Kuwait	61	0	0.00	Yes
Canada	54	0	0.00	Yes
Iraq	54	0	0.00	No
Thailand	50	1	2.00	Yes
Iceland	50	0	0.00	Yes
Greece	46	0	0.00	Yes
Taiwan	45	1	2.22	Yes
UAE	45	0	0.00	Yes
India	34	0	0.00	No
San Marino	23	1	4.35	Yes
Denmark	23	0	0.00	Yes
Lebanon	22	0	0.00	No
Paletsine	22	0	0.00	No
Israel	21	0	0.00	Yes
Portugal	20	0	0.00	Yes
Czech Republic	19	0	0.00	Yes
Ireland	18	0	0.00	Yes
Vietnam	18	0	0.00	No
Algeria	17	0	0.00	Yes
Oman	16	0	0.00	Yes
Egypt	15	0	0.00	No
Finland	15	0	0.00	Yes
Brazil	13	0	0.00	Yes
Ecuador	13	0	0.00	Yes
Russia	13	0	0.00	Yes
Croatia	12	0	0.00	Yes
Estonia	10	0	0.00	Yes
Macau	10	0	0.00	Yes
Argentina	9	1	11.11	Yes
Azerbaijan	9	0	0.00	No
Romania	9	0	0.00	Yes
Qater	8	0	0.00	Yes
Slovenia	7	0	0.00	Yes
Belarus	6	0	0.00	Yes
Mexico	6	0	0.00	Yes
Pakistan	6	0	0.00	Yes
Philippines	6	0	0.00	No
Poland	5	1	20.00	Yes
Fench Guiana	5	0	0.00	No
New Zealand	5	0	0.00	Yes
Saudi Arabia	5	0	0.00	Yes
Chile	4	0	0.00	Yes
Georgia	4	0	0.00	Yes
Hungary	4	0	0.00	Yes
Indonesia	4	0	0.00	No
Senegal	4	0	0.00	No
Bosnia and Herzegovina	3	0	0.00	Yes
Malta	3	0	0.00	Yes
North Macedonia	3	0	0.00	No
Saint Barthelemy	3	0	0.00	No
Dominican Republic	2	0	0.00	No
Luxembourg	2	0	0.00	Yes
Martinique	2	0	0.00	No
Morocco	2	0	0.00	No
Afghanistan	1	0	0.00	No
Andorra	1	0	0.00	Yes
Armenia	1	0	0.00	No
Bhutan	1	0	0.00	Yes
Cambodia	1	0	0.00	Yes
Cameroon	1	0	0.00	No
Colombia	1	0	0.00	Yes
Costa Rica	1	0	0.00	Yes
Faroe Islands	1	0	0.00	No
Gibralter	1	0	0.00	No
Jordan	1	0	0.00	No
Latvia	1	0	0.00	Yes
Lichtenstein	1	0	0.00	Yes
Lithuania	1	0	0.00	Yes
Monaco	1	0	0.00	Yes
Nepal	1	0	0.00	No
Nigeria	1	0	0.00	No
Paraguay	1	0	0.00	Yes
Peru	1	0	0.00	Yes
Serbia	1	0	0.00	Yes
Slovakia	1	0	0.00	Yes
South Africa	1	0	0.00	No
Sri Lanka	1	0	0.00	Yes
Togo	1	0	0.00	No
Tunisia	1	0	0.00	Yes
Ukraine	1	0	0.00	Yes
Vatican City	1	0	0.00	No

Walmart Door Gestapo

February 12, 2020 Griz

Does your Walmart have people at the exits wanting to check your receipt and cart/bags?

Do you allow them to intrude on your ability to exit the building unimpeded?

I would like to hear the excuses that they have given you for why they are stopping you. Please drop a comment to share your stories.

This is not a valid case of loss prevention. Having a person standing there to check receipts does not work. There are three components that need to be met for a shoplifting case:

You must witness merchandise being concealed
You must keep them in line of sight
they must set foot outside of the building without paying

What are the chances that the well intended person at the door has witnessed any of the three from their vantage point?

I have watched the loss prevention guy in my local Walmart. We was creepy enough that I went to another staffer to verify his role. They wanted to deny knowing him until I suggested that they may have a problem within the store and that they may have a problem with a person in the store. Yes, I have worked security enough to know odd behavior well enough to notice it.

Before you play the Costco card, keep in mind that they are a club store. You pay for membership and part of the agreement is to be checked on the way out.

Yes, Frye’s Electronics has the same receipt check and I handle it the same way as Walmart. Here is what I suggest…

Simply respond in a polite manner, “No thank you, but have a nice day.”

Remember that your transaction was completed at the register. They no longer have a right to detain you. One exception that I make, is when goods are not contained in bags. If it is a gallon of milk, I don’t stop, at it is customary for that to not be bagged.

Obviously how you choose to respond to their requests is up to you, but just know that they will not stop this behavior as long as we let them get away with it.

Excuses given for stopping us:

It helps with inventory (as if the registers do not do this)
You can’t return anything without the receipt being checked

What is the term for…

January 5, 2020 Griz

What is a geologist? One who studies rocks, right?

What is a linguist? One who studies languages.

What is a separatist? One who wants to keep the races separate.

What is a sexist? One who believes that one sex is better than another.

What is a racist? A person who feels that their race is better and the others are less than human.

What is a person who believes that their religious faith is better than all others? Who knows? I am unable to find a term/label for it?

I know people who are steadfast in their religions, which is fine. The problem comes when they refuse to coexist. If you wish to believe in a boogeyman with a golden chariot that hands our chocolate chip cookies on April 21st, great! Just be sure to not interfere with those who do not share your beliefs.

What people choose to believe is up to them. The only caveat to that, is that they must not trample on others while they practice their own faith.

So, with all of the thousands of years that we have had many religions floating about, they were mostly peaceful. Sure there were periods where one religion or another would get a wild hair and try to eliminate all of the others, but for the most part co-existing until Christianity came onto the scene.

Our current world situation is one where conservative Christians and to eliminate most or all Muslims, and the far right Muslims wish to do the same.

In the end after all this time, we do not seem to have a term for a person who hates religion other than their own. This is a faith equivalent to racism. I myself, find it just as repugnant as racism.

Are you aware of a term for it? Perhaps it is a theological bigot. I did find a site that refers to Christian Bigots, and that may be appropriate. ( https://www.redletterchristians.org/am-i-a-christian-bigot/ )

Trying something new

December 29, 2019December 29, 2019 Griz

I am playing with splitting the site into three parts.

If I get it right there will be the blog, a cybersecurity blog, and a store.

I may break the site at times as I learn new things.

Also on my list of things to work on is to adjust the horribly large ad block at top and bottom of the page. It is too large. I do intend on using ads, but modestly. It is how I plan on adding prizes for the Celebrity Death Pool.

Vaping with flavor

December 26, 2019December 26, 2019 Griz

It only took a few days of reporting for my wife and I to determine where the deaths and illnesses were coming from with respect to vaping.

We called it out at that time as being bad juice as it was using an oil based additive. It is easy to understand that we do not put oils into our lungs. It coats the alvioli thus preventing the oxygen to carbon dioxide exchange.

The media jumped all over this and the pressure to ban flavors jumped to the forefront. The establishment saw the opportunity to ban something that they did not like citing bullshit theory during a “panic”. Those who view the world in an analytical manner sat back and put thought to the issue. NPR did a show covering the topic and I sent an email in hopes that they would at least be interested in a dissenting view. I got a nice form email back form them. It was clear that my experience with vaping for nearly eight years did not fit their narrative to whip up supporting a ban on vaping or flavored juices.

Now, the CDC has confirmed what Gigglez and I were saying in the first few days. Juice using vitamin E acetate is to blame for for the deaths and illnesses. What?!? It had nothing to do with flavors? What sorcery is this?

With the truth being determined and brought out into the open, do you think that the jurisdictions that enacted bans, putting people out of work, and making people go back to smoking their death sticks have reversed their actions? Nope, the scare served their purposes to control the masses. Why should they?

It is time to right the wrongs. Allow flavored e-juices to be sold again. The arguments made to ban them are just as ignorant as those about flavored cigarettes, and some alcohols.

Speaking of ignorance, vaping does not lead to smoking. It is however a viable option for smokers to reduce their health risks. Vaping is not perfect. Most people still take in nicotine, but the rest of the ingredients are food grade… so think about that for a moment. the same stuff that we take in on a daily, the powers that be want to block because they do not like the way that it looks.

When I started vaping, both my doctor and cardiologist were in support of eliminating the tars, and 3000+ chemicals going to my lungs. I have not had a single puff from an analog cigarette since I switched. I reduced my nicotine levels form 24 mg (at a high) to 8 mg. When my supply runs out, I will have the choice of either illegally making my own juice, having it shipped illegally, or going to smoking again… none of those options are appealing. Bring back the flavors.

Bald Eagles and the EPA

December 19, 2019December 26, 2019 Griz

When I was a kid, the EPA was formed as our environment was going to hell.

Lake Erie had caught fire, the air over major cities like New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco etc were unhealthy not to mention looking like crap.

We started learning more and more about the effect of various chemicals on our bodies and the whole ecosystem.

Richard Nixon created the EPA in 1970 to address these problems and many more. The people knew that we had to do sometime or we would lose species after species.

Our national symbol was struggling due to pesticides thinning the shells of their eggs. After decades of hard work, sacrifice, and legal protection/action the bald eagles started to rebuild in numbers.

I did not see my first bald eagle in the wild until about fifteen years ago. I was taking my son out along a local river and there it was flying upstream. I was stunned at the sight and quite excited.

The other day as I was driving home over the Columbia River something caught my peripheral vision. I looked over and the was a bald eagle flying along beside me about 50 feet away from the bridge. It didn’t take long before it was joined by another eagle. The feathers on the head and tail were gleaming white. They flew together in the winds making their way upstream.

I do not think that I would have had a chance to enjoy this sight if it were not for the concern and hard work of the multitudes of good people.

Here at this same time, there are efforts to dismantle the EPA. They want to delist many species. It seems to be in favor of corporate interests time and time again. Yes, all life on this planet only has so much time to exist. Why not make our time as wonderful as possible?

Keep an eye on what the government is up to. We have to do what is right for the animals, people, and the planet, not just business.

Pissed Off Pirate

If you cannot be civil, you will walk the plank.

Author: Griz