The Green Energy Devolution

by on February 17, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

Ah, it is so nice to see windmills spinning all over the landscape, killing birds with their swift strikes, and sending energy all across the land. It is so nice to see solar panels baking in the sun, and sending energy all across the land. Except when the snow comes down and covers everything. And when it is so cold even the windmills stop turning. We don’t tend to have that problem in the Great White North, where we expect cold every winter, but Texas is not having a good time of it right now.

This is why I support the idea of distributed power creation. Every city and town should have it’s own generator. They may choose to buy cheaper power from others, but they should have at least backup generators to power the city in times of emergency. This really is the least a city or town should do for its residents. Freezing homes are not comfortable, as many are learning today.

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Presidents Day

by on February 16, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

We just got done celebrating Presidents Day, though celebrating may be too strong a word. I remember when I was a kid, we celebrated Washington’s and Lincoln’s birthdays separately, but then modified the holiday schedule to add Martin Luther King day and then have a generic Presidents Day. Now of course, there is little mention of the holiday at all.

Today we have to go looking to learn about the Presidents that came before us, unless we are talking about which recent President we plan to impeach next. Or which jobs the current President plans on erasing with his next Executive Order.

When I was a kid, we learned how George Washington could not lie about cutting down some tree, and how he led the Continental Army that helped liberate our nation, and later served as the first President under our second Constitution. We knew Jackson fought the Bloody British at the Battle of New Orleans by firing cannons until the barrels melted down. Then he grabbed an alligator and fought another round. We learned about how Lincoln and his famous Stove Pipe Hat held the nation together after the Democrats touched off a Civil War because they didn’t think the Republicans would let them keep their slaves. They ended up being right on that point. We learned how Teddy Roosevelt charged up some hill during an old war with Spain or something and conquered Cuba. We read about Wilson bringing us into World War I and FDR pulling us through the Great Depression and World War II. We knew Truman Dropped The Bomb on Japan, and that Everybody Liked Ike.

Not everything we learned was accurate, of course. But that was the thing. We were celebrating the Presidents of the past, and sometime telling tall tales about them while we were at it. We celebrated our country, and all the great things we did.

That is not fashionable today, so it is up to those of us who love our nation to remember what we were taught. How the Presidents have sometimes saved and sometimes changed our nation. Cherish the good ones and remember the bad ones.

It’s Presidents Day. A good day to remember and celebrate the Presidents who have represented our nation.

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Defund the Police?

by on February 15, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

A year after riots burned down entire neighborhoods in Minneapolis, a year after the city took the “brave” step of defunding the police, now they are seeking millions of dollars to rehire and expand the police force again. It seems that crime went up, response rate went down, and public safety went down. Gee, I could have told you that would happen a year ago. In fact, I think I did. So this is my shocked face…

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The Republic of Texas

by on February 14, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The Republic of Texas Marine Corps Fighter Attack Squadron 112, the Cowboys never was simply a fighter squadron after the Second Great Depression. The Tarrant County Sheriff deputized the unit, and he or one of his representatives was on station to help swear in every new member of the Cowboys in the centuries that followed. The War expanded on this. The Peloran picked the Cowboys as their primary point of contact with America, and gave them access to everything in their bag of technological tricks. They helped the Cowboys design new upgrades for their fighters and turned over entire fabricator nodes to build hundreds of the most advanced fighters the galaxy had ever seen. The Peloran took a reserve fighter unit filled with children from many of the Great Families of Earth, granted deputized powers of law enforcement by one of the premier Texas counties, and made them the most powerful fighter unit in the known galaxy. Trust me when I say that this was no accident.

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The Republic of Texas

by on February 13, 2021 at 12:01 am
Posted In: Diaries

The public face of the Republic of Texas Marine Corps Fighter Attack Squadron 112, the Cowboys, has always been the fighter squadron. But the Cowboys are also a loophole in the laws that have been updated to say that Marines cannot be deputized into law enforcement anymore. The Tarrant County Sheriff deputized the entire unit during the Second Great Depression, and has never rescinded it, and grandfather clauses being what they are, the entire unit is still included in his posse. Which happened to include a large number of non-fighter pilots, air and spacecraft, and even a respectable ground combat or military police element. The exact organizational chart covering the Cowboys was suitably complex and esoteric, even before The War. It has become far more interesting since then. This is a feature, not a bug, per the wishes of both the Tarrant County Sheriff and the Cowboys.

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