Dumb Energy Policy? That Depends on their Goal

Posted: November 9, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

I was perusing the next this morning and spotted this at Powerline on the Biden Administration’s energy policy

So at the same time the administration is trying to block oil and gas leases on federal lands, it contemplates leasing federal waters for wind turbines. Wind turbines are environmentally awful and produce electricity less than half the time, so along with wind farms watch for many billions of dollars to be spent on natural gas plants that will operate the majority of the time when the wind turbines produce no electricity.

I didn’t think it would be possible to produce an energy policy this mind-numbingly foolish, but the Biden administration has exceeded my expectations.

As usual this piece is worth reading but it is making a simple error when it classifies the Biden Administration policy as “dumb” and the origin of said error is based on a faulty assumption.

The author assume that the goal of the Biden Administration is the same as the goal the Trump administration had, namely to make America energy independent and to lower fuel prices to help the economy and the working class.

Now if this was the goal of the Biden Administration then, yes this would be a really dumb energy policy.

BUT if your goal is to use government power, funds and taxes to enrich allies who will in turn enrich you and your relatives and your hangers on and to support those who are advancing your goals of remaining in an exclusive powerful rich elite, then not only are these policies not dumb, they are VITAL to reach said goal.

Once you realize that this is the goal of the Biden Administration then you realize that it is far from dumb.

Now if you want to argue that’s it immoral , or bad for the interest of America and Americans then fine, but don’t call it dumb, because its primary result, satisfying the powers that support them, is being achieved.

Pintastic is just over a week away!

Posted: November 8, 2021 by datechguy in Uncategorized

One of the causalities of the COVID business was Pintastic NE the annual NE Pinball festival which I have attended and covered each year that it took place.

With the return of something resembling normally (despite the best efforts of the federal and some state bureaucracies) Pintastic NE has returned.

Because of the uncertainty of what the COVID situation would be Pintastic choose to remain it their previous location at the Sturbridge Host Hotel additionally to insure enough lead time instead of scheduling the show for the week before the 4th of July the show was moved to the week before Thanksgiving.

But delayed or not the show is on which means from November 18 through the 21st those who live within or book a hotel room within driving distance of Sturbridge MA will get a chance to enjoy days of pinball on 100;s of machines at a very good price.

Almost as good is the chance to get away from the political and cultural insanity and simply have fun.

Oh and if you’re a Catholic the Shrine of St. Anne in Fiskdale is literally five minutes from the hotel just down the road so you can catch Mass and confession if you’re interested in getting the daily November Indulgences

Pintastic’s web site is here. You can get more info, buy passes and see the list of games, oh and one note. There will likely be more than the games listed as this would not include games brought by various vendors..

Here’s the video

Hope to see you there

Report from Louisiana: a trip to Fredericksburg, TX

Posted: November 7, 2021 by Pat Austin in Uncategorized
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By:  Pat Austin

SHREVEPORT – I was on the road last week and so missed posting here. We travelled to Fredericksburg, Texas, the Hill Country, which has been a bucket list trip for my husband for several years. It’s only about a seven-hour drive from where we live, so we took the opportunity last week to go.

It was a wonderful trip, but we are exhausted! We had three days to cram in as much as we possibly could; Monday and Friday were driving days. We had to be back home Saturday for other obligations.

Tuesday was a highlight for me: we went to Luckenbach, Texas (if you know, you know.). My husband calls Luckenbach “the Grand Old Opry of Outlaw Country Music,” and I guess it is. The song made it famous, but the musicians made history and if you’ve never read about Hondo Crouch, do yourself a favor and “meet” this man.  If only we all move through this life with the grace, love, and humor of Hondo, we would all be so much better off.

Hondo’s daughter, Becky, has written one book about her father and now has another called Luckenbach, The Center of the Universe, which I bought on my trip there and it’s one of those laugh out loud books that you want to read aloud to someone. Hysterical.

Anyway, the trip to Luckenbach was a sort of pilgrimage for me and was a highlight.

The other super cool thing we did was visit the National Museum of the Pacific War in Fredericksburg. I have read a lot of books and memoirs of the Pacific War and so I was excited about this outing; however, that being said, I can not express how exhausted I was at the end of our visit! I’m one of those people who wants to see it all, read it all, touch all the interactive stuff, watch all the videos, at a museum. You just can’t do it, here. I really needed two days to see this museum the way it should be done. We started in the Nimitz Gallery and learned so much about Chester Nimitz – what a fascinating man! Then we moved on into the timeline of the War, then the various exhibits for each stage. We got to 1943 and had to stop for lunch.

After lunch, my brain was like a sponge that had soaked up all it could hold. Nothing was sinking in. We finished, and man, the finish was fabulous! There is a video display of a submerged airplane while a video takes you through the treaties of surrender and the celebrations. You never forget the price of war.

The exhibits in this museum are awesome and it is so well done. There are exhibits outside as well and most impressive is the Japanese Garden of Peace which was a gift from the people of Japan. It is beautiful and impressive.  There is a specially trained gardener to maintain the space.

We did several other things like tour the Texas Ranger Heritage Center in Fredericksburg (not to be confused with the Texas Ranger Museum in Waco), which was cool, and we visited Fort Martin Scott, an Army frontier post.

The landscape in the Hill Country is beautiful and has proven itself perfect for vineyards and so now there are at least forty wineries in the immediate area. Not being a wine-girl myself, we stuck to the German restaurants and breweries, but groups of people go there just to get on trollies and visit the wineries.

It was a fun trip and now I’m trying to get back into my routines, pack up the Halloween decorations, and think about the holiday season ahead.

Pat Austin blogs at And So it Goes in Shreveport and at Medium; she is the author of Cane River Bohemia: Cammie Henry and her Circle at Melrose Plantation. Follow her on Instagram @patbecker25 and Twitter @paustin110.

Fr. Leonard in Fitchburg. Video from St. Bernard’s at St. Camillus Parish Oct 27, plus Fr. Leonard Mary’s video

Posted: November 7, 2021 by datechguy in catholic, special events
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Here is the 2nd of three posts from Fr. Leonard Mary’s visit to Fitchburg, Medford and Boston during his trip to Massachusetts Oct 26-30.

You can see the full playlist of videos here.

Rosary at St. Bernard’s

fyi those people on the side and in the back are getting confession

The Mass part 1

the Sermon from the mass part 2 of 5 from the mass part 1 of two of the sermon

Fr. Leonard celebrates Mass and completes his sermon 3 of 5 of the mass 2 of 2 of his sermon. I made it a point to keep the sermon separate for those who wished to watch it or listen to it independent of the Mass.

Fr. Leonard mass at St. Bernard part 4 of 5

fyi for those not familiar with daily Catholic mass It’s normally a bit shorter. This one is longer because with a visiting priest the sermon is naturally longer plus the number of people attending and receiving communion is much larger than for most daily masses which at St. Bernard’s usually runs about 20 min or 25 tops.

part 5 of 5

Following the mass was the healing service here is part 1

and here is the final part, as before the larger crowd meant for a longer service.

This week Fr. Leonard put up his video of his visit. It was an 8 minute video that had stuff from all his events including three in Medford that I could not attend.

My final post next weekend will include the events from his final day in Massachusetts including mass, the Cenacle for priest onboard ship in Boston Harbor and interviews with Fr. and his assistant Gus on the bus as we took them to the airport to go home.

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