Walking to Work in San Francisco
November 6th, 2023It’s not just San Francisco. California, in general, is a disaster.
One of my sons was playing Minecraft and fighting a boy from California in some sort of online player vs player arena. They became friends. This boy, I’ll call him Bob, was also homeschooled and he’s around my son’s age. Bob’s parents removed him and his two siblings from public school as soon as mask wearing was implemented during Covid.
Flash forward a couple of years.
Bob’s parents ran a small transportation business east of the Bay Area. They sold their house, and packed up their children, their dogs, their money, their tax revenue and their business assets and ran for their lives. Let’s just say that they now live in a state with more firearm freedom.
My point in telling the story is that normal, working people are increasingly viewing California as a disaster. Only so many families like the one above can flee before California won’t be able to kick the fiscal can down the road anymore.
Via: Daily Mail:
The terrifying reality of life on San Francisco’s drug-ravaged streets has been laid bare by one life-long resident who filmed her walk to work through scenes that have made the city an international symbol for squalor and despair.
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The Tenderloin district is in the heart of San Francisco and near the Asian Art museum. It’s just a few blocks from City Hall. The area also includes part of the Compton Transgender Cultural District.
Robberies are up 14 percent so far this year in the Golden Gate City where mayor London Breed last month demanded cuts of 18 percent from next year’s police budget.
Reported deaths from drug overdoses reached 620 in the first nine months of the year, according to the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, up from 540 for the same period in 2020.
And the city stands to lose $200 million a year in revenue through its business exodus – which has seen major hotels and retailers flee the city center.
Retail stalwart Old Navy announced they would be shuttering their flagship store in the area last month, becoming the latest chain to exit the city.
Nordstrom also announced they would be closing all of their locations in the city.
In April, Whole Foods announced it was closing all their locations, with Anthropologie and Office Depot having also made the same decisions leading some analysts to predict that the city has entered a ‘doom-loop’ of permanent decline.
Meet the Never-Updaters: Why Some People Refuse to Download New Software
November 6th, 2023For many years, companies have been changing OS and application features and interfaces FOR NO LEGITIMATE REASON.
Users mostly hate this, especially because the changes are often terrible.
Easily the most absurd example of this in recent times was on Windows 11. Microsoft removed the ability to never combine icons on the taskbar. Bewildered Windows 11 users thought that there had to be a mistake, something they were missing. Maybe Microsoft moved the setting?
Nope. The functionality was removed (along with a lot of other standard and familiar things). People sought out third party software in attempt to fix the issue.
Only after years of complaining did Microsoft decide to return the never combine functionality to the taskbar in development builds. This has still not rolled out to mainstream users.
Just yesterday, I noticed that Adobe’s PDF reader had shit the bed again and started floating useless toolbars all over the place. No options to remove them were visible in any standard way. The View dropdown menu, visible in applications since the 1980s… Gone. Actually, the entire menu bar was gone.
I had been using open source PDF readers for years, but Adobe puts a large amount of effort into breaking things. I needed to interact with a document that simply wouldn’t work without Adobe’s closed source blob. That’s why I installed it.
The search that worked for me was: adobe pdf reader restore legacy view. I found, Acrobat 2023: How to revert to classic GUI user interface.
Anyway, so it goes…
I have had people ask me what they can do to make it stop. Besides suggesting to stop using computers and modern phones, I have no good advice.
Linux Mint seems to have a fairly slow (meaning good) pace of, “Innovations.” Maybe that will be the way I’ll go when I finally can’t stand Windows anymore. (I’m still on Windows 10, which goes end of life in October 2025.) Mint looks a lot like Windows 7, which was the last version of Windows that I didn’t hate.
Via: Wall Street Journal:
Love of the status quo or fear of unknown issues? Some phone and computer users are holding on to earlier OS versions for dear life.
U.S. In Rare Move Advertises Location Of Nuclear-Capable Submarine Near Israel
November 6th, 2023Via: ZeroHedge:
The US military build-up off Israel’s coast and especially Central Command’s (CENTCOM) willingness to advertise it openly, is cause for serious alarm in terms of the prospect for yet more Washington intervention in yet another major Middle East war.
In a very rare statement, CENTCOM on Sunday evening announced that an Ohio-class submarine has arrived in the region. The US submarine, which is both nuclear-powered and capable of carrying nuclear warheads, has arrived in an “area of responsibility” which includes the eastern Mediterranean, Red Sea, Persian Gulf, and Gulf of Oman. It is unknown and undisclosed precisely what types of advanced weapons it is carrying.
U.S. Troops Face Life Shattering Mental Health Consequences from Repeatedly Firing Heavy Artillery
November 6th, 2023Via: New York Times:
A few gun-crew members were eventually given diagnoses of P.T.S.D., but to the crews that didn’t make much sense. They hadn’t, in most cases, even seen the enemy.
The only thing remarkable about their deployments was the sheer number of artillery rounds they had fired.
Research Credit: PW
Turkey Recalls Ambassador To Israel, Holds Netanyahu Personally Responsible For Gaza Atrocities
November 5th, 2023Via: ZeroHedge:
Turkey on Saturday announced the recalling of its ambassador to Israel, and the temporary breaking off of contacts with the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in response to the soaring death toll in Gaza due to Israeli aerial and ground attacks.
Israel had already begun recalling some of its diplomats from Turkey exactly one week prior, after President Erdogan said Israel has been “openly committing war crimes”. Turkey’s foreign ministry has newly announced that its ambassador is being recalled “in view of the unfolding humanitarian tragedy in Gaza caused by the continuing attacks by Israel against civilians, and Israel’s refusal (to accept) a ceasefire”.
Related: Jordan Recalls Ambassador to Israel to Protest Gaza ‘Catastrophe’
Maersk Cutting at Least 10,000 Jobs as Shipping Boom Unravels
November 4th, 2023Via: Reuters:
Shipping group A.P. Moller-Maersk (MAERSKb.CO), reported a steep drop in third-quarter profit and revenue on Friday and said it would cut at least 10,000 jobs in the face of overcapacity, rising costs and weaker prices, sending its shares tumbling.
Maersk, which controls about one-sixth of global container trade, transporting goods for a host of major retailers and consumer goods companies such as Walmart and Nike, flagged a steeper downturn in demand than analysts and investors had expected.
U.S. Federal Reserve Threatening to Sue Bitcoin Magazine Over Apparel that Parodies its FedNow System
November 3rd, 2023#comedygold
Via: Bitcoin Magazine:
The U.S. Federal Reserve is taking legal action against Bitcoin Magazine in an attempt to silence criticism of its recently launched FedNow interbank clearing and settlement service.
In a letter sent to the publication by the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, the central bank of the United States is claiming that Bitcoin Magazine merchandise that parodies its services are not protected speech, but rather an unauthorized infringement of its image and trademarks.
The dispute centers around the use of the FedNow Service image and trademark in a line of merchandise sold by Bitcoin Magazine that seeks to criticize the surveillance capabilities of the FedNow system, and how it threatens American civil liberties.
Sam Bankman-Fried Found Guilty On All Counts, Faces Over 100 Years In Prison
November 3rd, 2023Via: ZeroHedge:
After 15 days of testimony and about four and a half hours of deliberations, jurors found FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on all seven counts related to fraud and money laundering, in a lower Manhattan courtroom.
He is scheduled to be sentenced March 28, when he faces more than 100 years in prison if he receives the maximum on all counts.
As a reminder, now convicted criminal Sam Bankman-Fried is "one of the people most responsible for Biden being in office" and one of his "biggest donors" https://t.co/tFRtchjC6w
— zerohedge (@zerohedge) November 3, 2023
Pentagon UFO Chief Dr Sean Kirkpatrick Will Be Replaced, Whistleblowers Accuse Him Of Lying And Ignoring Witnesses
November 3rd, 2023Lying to the public and ignoring witnesses? That will earn Kirkpatrick a Mission Accomplished in his spook file folder.
Via: Daily Mail:
The Pentagon’s UFO chief will resign by year’s end — amid a wave of complaints accusing him of making false statements about UFO whistleblowers and fostering an ‘atmosphere of disinterest,’ the DailyMail.com understands.
‘Four major candidates’ have been interviewed to replace the current director of the Pentagon’s UFO office, Dr. Sean Kirkpatrick, following months of heated public sparring between the former CIA physicist, UFO whistleblowers and activists.
Illegal Immigrants Caught With Explosive Devices
November 2nd, 2023The border is wide open for illegal immigration and, “As an American citizen, I’m expected to let a TSA agent go to second base on me simply because I want to get on a plane.”
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“They are locking this place down, and it’s going to be for everyone.”
Via: Epoch Times:
Republican senators have sounded the alarm on the Biden administration’s border policies after Border Patrol agents caught illegal border crossers who were carrying explosive devices that Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) said were “tailor-made for terrorism.”
