SeniorJunior

Scooter's Looming YouTube Thang Update, New Spin, Preview-ish stuff on the post below . You remember "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag," James Brown rocking out? Well, I'm working on a new one myself, a YouTube "channel." [I do the quotes because to me a channel is a TV thing. Old school.] And speaking of old, the name of the channel in my mad bag pipeline is "Spider and Olde Scooter." That fine figger of a pixel pixie (I just can't help it) above is the logo of the iMac version of Spider Solitaire. Her name is Spider Mac. My plan is to play the game while making a mix of narration of the game, personification of Spider McGillicuty and saucy comments on pretty darn much of everything. (See the "darn?" I have taken the vow of no cussing on this channel. Also no editing. Go figure.) The gaming set up is like this (so far): I'm practicing a bunch, and I've imposed on several friends and relatives to see a game o...

Let's Just Let China Get Ahead It seems like just last month that I saw the Chinese seem ahead of us in super secure quantum communications. Eeeek! it WAS just last month. (See below) Now, I open my fav aviation news site, AviationWeek.com, and what to my wondering eyes should appear but hypersonic aircraft and spaceplane leadership in China! * There was a surprise set of disclosures about China's progress in this vastly important field at a convention in China. The reporter for AvWeek said, What has come into view is a cohesive, nationwide hypersonic research and technology program that not only shows astonishing depth and breadth, but has also produced a bewildering number of major accomplishments in a relatively short period. All this at just the moment our new Administration in D.C. is ceding leadership all over the map, especially in scientific fields. ** "What, me worry?" Darn. To be second or worse in this technology will kick us in each...

"Spider & Olde Scooter," the beta * I'm diversifying my collection of Ways to Waste Time. 80 year old guys need that. My friend Roger, a tech and programming whiz, keeps showing me what can be done with minimal investment here in Net World. Thus I've learned starting a YouTube channel is way easier than, say, writing a novel. So, by golly, I'm warming up to doing just that, start a...                                                                                                           ... channel! The plan is NOT to make a moom pitchers version of SeniorJunior, the enduring blog, but something maybe more fun. "Fun? You want fun? Whad'ya think of this, wussie?"  (a quote from a golf...

The end of patience... ?? A pal of mine writes prolifically from the rightwing perspective. I have made a sport of rebutting him. I usually put my contra-comments in blue , interspersed with what I am rebutting. He just distributed a commentary titled "Are the tactics of the Left working?" Here's a recent example: (After acknowledging Republicans blocked Obama)  How quickly turnabout becomes fair play and the Democrats attempt to justify their behavior by saying that it is because Donald Trump is not 'legitimate,' that he doesn't fit the mold of a President  Nay, nay; we do say that, but that is NOT the justification. Regressive taxation, plutocrat-benefitting, science-crushing, military-over-diplomacy strategizing, untruths and obfuscations galore, ally-insulting, conflict-of-interest gorging, Mar-a-Lago indulging, nepotism amucking, press-attacking… THOSE are just some of the actual justifications   AND because he is diametrically opposed ...

Wait, There's More... Just as the Chinese seem to be skipping past us (see below), the good guys - the U.S., Canada and Switzerland are pounding more research stakes into claims rich with quantum gold. To accomplish the communications marvels fictionalized in "quantum statistical networks," gazillions of atoms must be "entangled" (look it up), and that's what is happening. Right. Now. Read about it here.

The "Quantum Statistical Network"  Up & Running? One of the assumptions in my sci-fi novel  A Reluctant God is that an instantaneous form of communications has been developed.  It has essentially infinite range, huge bandwidth, total security and error free. Pretty good, eh?  Way sci-fi. Nobody I know seems aware that the Chinese put up a quantum communications satellite  last August.  I just found out myself. Here is a report from January this year saying it's working fine! Eeeeek! So, NASA, DARPA, Prez Trump.... where's the U S of A's response? In A Reluctant God, the "Quantum Statistical Network" was a huge military edge. (Seems like if one wants to spend a bunch of buck$ on Defense, this would be a starting point.) Should you get a copy of the book - GREAT idea! - you can read all about the "Quantum Statistical Network" in the "Historical Notes" at the end. Check the book ad on Amazon.

I FELL FOR IT, DOCS FELL FOR IT, WE ALL FELL BECAUSE WE FELL FOR IT. One of the deadliest, most addictive  opioids of all came on the scene behind lies and misdirection.  I admit I believed the lie and was massively misdirected. I regret I ever wrote this. I leave it in my collection of posts as an object lesson I should have learned long ago.  Trust no one when vast sums of money are at stake!! will duff  8/25/2021 Is it  big, important medical news in the Mar 3 Science? Heaven knows we need some good news, amidst all the crashing cymbals of budget cuts to science, environmental, medical and basic research, Meals on Wheels, for God's sake and the destruction of the opioid recovery efforts addressing a current plague. It's not just the desire for a beat with a little bit of up in it, it's the hunger for distraction from the drumbeat of marching feet toward the past that never was, leaving the present in shambles. Enough bemoaning! On to the good new...

... Ok, most folks don't like "tests," but this one is quite educational and it's on a subject of vital importance, particularly as we analyze the "fear, fear, fear... fear everywhere and everything" mantra of the Trump administration. The Christian Science Monitor is the source, wanting you to know what you know about stuff like:      Think there might be some Sharia Law hiding under your bed?      Think there might be a Fatwa out on you demanding castration?  You get my drift. How much do you know about Islam and violence? Take the quiz   *   Here's the test The Christian Science Journal is one of the best newspapers in the country for straight up, uncompromising journalism, IMHO.  I mean, Rupert Murdoch doesn't own it yet. And God knows (literally) that they are honest practitioners of the craft of getting it right. (Full disclosure: My favorite great aunt "Gingy" was a Christian Scientist - a Reader, yet! - so I might b...

Science, Common Sense, Intelligence, Dispassion Ask yourself, could (even if he wanted to) DJ Trump write a cogent article for Science Magazine ? * Never mind. .. silly question. In the 13 January edition of the mighty Science Magazine , our then almost-gone President Barack Obama published a powerful, optimistic article. "The irreversible momentum of clean energy" Read it here. I t is spot on. The contrast of intellects pre- and post- Jan 20 is staggering.

Contrasts in Minds Burtynsky* set out bread and cheese, salad, and olives on a hardwood table. “What took out the dinosaurs was a meteor impact,” he said. “We, the human species, are now that impact. Humans are shifting the balance of the planet, and the choice rests within us to destroy it all, or not. It’s a huge, complex thing to solve. We are a predator species run amok.” He's discussing the Anthropocene, that new geological age (like the Pliestocene or the Jurassic) that started when humans started impacting the world in a way that will leave a geologic imprint. Trump**, opinionating on global warming:  "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non- competitive." He's discussing Heaven Knows What, or more specifically some of the crazy stuff he believes. * Burtynsky is the epic photographer (he shoots epic scenes), quoted in The  New Yorker,  an epic magazine. **Trump, can ...

Russia? Ye who actually blog know you get "performance" data on how many page views you get, and where they are from. Here is one of Google's Blogspot reports on how this venerable olde thang is doing on the world blog market. SeniorJunior is now at  72,818 page views, and here is where they originate:  The darker the green, the more the viewing. The concentration of views from Russia is downright amazing to me. The complete lack of sampling from the British Isles is depressing, but hey.... Audience  Wouldn't it be weird if ... aw, forget it. Postscript Mar 31, 2017:  I just can't forget it... Almost certainly all those Russian "page views" were hacking probes. Since 2/3s of all of them are from Linux operating systems, and Linux actually accounts for maybe 3% of all operation systems, it must be those badass hackers. I hope their bots are enjoying themselves.

Give predicting a shot Why not? Badda boom. The horrifying news that there is a massive spike in the most serious form of black lung disease in coal mining country couldn't come at a more ironic time. The great NPR investigative work has put a reality light on how the coal companies work. THIS IS A HUMAN LUNG, NOT A LUMP OF COAL If you thought the worker performance pressures were bad at Wells Fargo - leading to false accounts and phony billing - how about "work 16 hours a day and outperform the guy on the other side of the mountain or lose your job" therefore expose your lungs to silicon dust at a guaranteed fatal level. SO I PREDICT that the truth will come out that not only are the miners having to drill through a lot of silicate rock (because all that's left are narrow seams of coal), but that the new generation drilling machines make A NANO SIZED DUST. This partially explains how the respirators fail and the miners get killer silicosis complicati...