Alternatives

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Censorship reminds me that there are a few things really worth buying into for your online peace of mind. The first is a VPN. You should not connect to the Internet without a VPN. There are many great options to choose from, there is NordVPN and Private Internet Access, or PIA. I strongly suggest that people buy a year’s worth of service from a VPN provider and then connect to it every time you use the network.

I also can strongly suggest that people download the Signal application on your Smartphone or Tablet. Signal uses End-to-End Encryption so that whatever you want to talk about is secured from your device to the other device, preventing anyone on the network who may be snooping in, from reading your private conversations.

Since Twitter censored one of my tweets, which resulted in me losing faith in their service, I downloaded the entire Twitter archive for my account and then I set virtual fire to it, burning it to the ground. I then (mostly) left Facebook and found a different community in the Federated Universe or Fediverse based on ActivityPub technology, specifically the Mastodon system. Mastodon is a lot like Twitter, only with better filters and controls and a generally better group of people. After Facebook slapped their gag on me, I went right over to my Mastodon instances and laughed it up.

It goes without saying that everyone should get at least some rudimentary apps for your privacy downloaded into your phone and set up. If you install Signal, it will offer to show you people on the system who are registered, and I will pop right up!

Another Smartphone app that is worth your while is Bridgefy. It allows you to use Bluetooth as a short-range communications radio, about 30 feet. The neat part of Bridgefy is that it creates a Bluetooth Mesh, allowing messages to spread across Bluetooth from participant to participant, so if you are in close proximity with others, and everyone has Bridgefy, you can have an ad-hoc mesh network where you can communicate with your phones without the need of the Internet. This is really important if the government or the Internet providers try to control the flow of information by active denial of service. While the Internet provider can simply just turn off their data services, they cannot touch Bluetooth radio. The Bridgefy app really leverages large populations of people, enabling long-range communications over the mesh network. It is really something everyone should have, just in case.

Censored and Silenced on Facebook

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Today on Facebook I posted a share to my Friends of Friends about how I had suspected that a thick stripe of politically motivated sponsored stories on my Facebook feed had appeared, and that I suspected them all of being Russian trolls. Ever since 2016, when Facebook was the fertile ground for the first Russian meddling in our presidential election, and then there was Cambridge Analytica, that now when I spot a political sponsored post, I immediately suspect Russian meddling.

Russia attacked my country. A silent war, not a shot fired, but it was Russia none the less. And so, in the spirit of that attack, on Facebook, I referred to them as “Filthy Russians”, because they meddled where they should not have. I don’t need to prove the meddling, Robert Mueller did that in his report, after all. Everyone can see it for themselves. So, this phrase, “Filthy Russians” was flagged by Facebook as hate speech.

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Here it is, the service I hate to use slapping me with a gag for 24 hours. I regard this as a badge of pride. Facebook was the platform that refuses to take responsibility for Russian meddling, they are the ones at the center of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and here they are silencing me as I call out Russian trolls who are just starting to ramp up their attacks on my country again, now that we are on the edge of 2020.

I have let my blog go fallow for far too long. As I was considering this image from Facebook, it struck me that it would be a great conversation piece to start talking about defending ourselves against Russian aggression. But how would we start to defend ourselves? A great place to start is having everyone who is going to have a sponsored page on Facebook register their citizenship with the service so that we can see if the source of the sponsored messaging come from our fellow Americans, or say, as we suspect, from Russian trolls. I think that would be a great place to start.

So I can browse through Facebook, but I cannot comment or post for the next 24 hours. Fine. I can of course post on my blog whenever I feel the whim and nobody can slap a gag on this blog. I have been kicking around the notion of sharing from the blog and posting links to Facebook anyways. I pay for this after all, why not make more use of it?

The Future of Power?

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The California PG&E outage is a clear note about what happens when you ignore your infrastructure and you don’t have a regular preventative maintenance schedule. PM can cost a lot, but as we see in California, does it really?

I started wondering about alternatives to high tension power lines in California. You couldn’t really bury any of it, with so many quakes, maybe. So what else? Microwave transmission? Maybe make it auto-aiming so if there is a quake and the tower moves a little, it can reacquire the source faster? Or perhaps spread out the generation stations, like solar reflector installations, to distribute the load and increase the production rate…

But then these ideas lead me to truly knackers ideas. If you are going to go this far, why not just also install immense Tesla coils and then outfit cars with wireless AC receivers and then the entire automobile fleet can be electric and not need charging, since you can skip batteries, it’s much easier and cheaper.

But if we did — then we might be able to use addressable frequencies per vehicle or overlay a data stream on top of the power itself, so a car that did a hit and run or is involved in an OJ chase could be remotely turned off. But man, with enough coils dotting the landscape, powered by solar reflector stations you could drive from coast to coast with ease. We could possibly make covered tunneled roadways and then increase the speed, then automate the entire thing so after you get past human reaction limits, your car can accelerate to a comfy cruising speed of 350mph or higher.

I want to trade an immense battery bank for honeycombed graphene and kevlar car bodies so I’m traveling safely even if I impact at ridiculously high speeds. Or I want a car that automatically fills with a gassy rubber filler and ejects the passenger compartment upon a catastrophic impact event, like we have with fighter jet ejection systems. And an adorable theme-able packed parachute, maybe Hello Kitty? 😉

But an entire truck fleet that is automated and powered by solar reflector stations and tesla coils. Zero emissions. Poof, just like that. I suppose I like solar reflectors more because they mean business. Plus you could put the parabolic mirrors on gantries say twenty feet up, and then have open pasture underneath for cows, chickens, and sheep. Or grow shade-happy crops?

These power stations might, if there are enough of them, raise the albedo of the local area and then you nip greenhouse effect at the beginning of the cycle. You’re channeling the incoming solar radiation elsewhere. It isn’t heating up water or pavement or farmland. It’s being soaked up by hungry devices like trucks and cars and trains.

I sort of wonder what an airplane with a wireless AC box would look like? Different jet technology, based on electrics not on jet fuel. And the tons of carbon saved. You could replace the jet fuel with new safety equipment, like foam bursters and ejection systems in case of some sort of failure in the air. The plane just falls apart, the cabin fills with sticky goop, and it parachutes to earth safely.

We would be free of oil completely. It would rewrite the entire narrative.

Apple iOS 13 or How To Kill An App

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Apple released iOS 13.0 a few days ago, and then a series of iterative updates from there. The last I checked, we are now up to iOS 13.1.2. They have updated the Reminders app, and in doing so, and making the updates non-functional across their entire platform across the version barrier of iOS 12 and 13, iOS on iPad and iPadOS, and Mojave/Catalina they have, with a single stroke, killed their Reminders app for me. I was looking forward to the update to Reminders, maybe replacing the rather dull Toodledo app on my devices, and then they did it. Reminders only works if you “Convert” and if you do, it’s a one way deal. So now there is little to no point in actually using Reminders since it doesn’t work everywhere I am any longer, but it does push me further into using Toodledo and reinforces my purchase of another year of premium service with Toodledo.

I have just fielded a question about Exchange and sent items in iOS 13. It appears that iOS may not be successfully chaining Exchange emails into conversations. I will have to look into that today.

Chesapeake Beard Company’s Mercury Beard Balm, 2oz.

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I encountered the Chesapeake Beard Company during a beard competition event at the Old Dog Tavern here in Kalamazoo, Michigan. They had a table set up, and they had an array of products available. Amongst all of their products, the Mercury line appealed the most. I bought both the oil and the balm, but the scents are nearly the same, so I’m only reviewing the balm. The product comes in a glass jar with a plastic lid. The balm is waxy, yellow in color and has the same consistency as the Viking Revolution balms, slightly firmer than Honest Amish and somewhat looser than the Reuzel.

The scent is the strongest of all my balms and oils and the fellow selling the product sold it as a homage to Freddie Mercury, that one of his favored drinks was a kind of Cherry and Rum flavored cocktail. This balm screams black cherry and a light undercurrent of rum running underneath. The fragrance is amazingly strong and has significant staying power. They use fragrance oils instead of other more easily diffused scents like linalool or vanillin. Much like how Honest Amish is an “exploding pumpkin pie,” Mercury by Chesapeake Beard is an exploding cherry pie. The scent is overwhelming and delightful. You likely wouldn’t use this balm if you were attempting a formal dress event where strong fragrances are frowned upon, but if you were in any other situation, this balm would be a home run. If you like cherries or if someone you know prefers cherries, this balm might be the perfect way to condition your beard and have a wonderful experience along for fun. I estimate that the fragrance lasts at least three to four hours long, significantly longer than any other balm, except perhaps the Honest Amish one.

It is worthwhile to note that they have renamed this product to Rhapsody, but they do include the old name, Mercury, on their website.

Reuzel Wood and Spice Beard Balm, 1.3oz

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The Reuzel Wood and Spice Beard Balm is a brand new fragrance from the Reuzel company. They immediately get top-choice amongst my beard products because they were the first ones I had, and they have performed admirably for me. The tin is just like the standard Reuzel, a screw-top aluminum canister with the product within. The Reuzel Wood and Spice Balm, much like its predecessor, suffers from the same unusual crystallization in the wax that the standard Reuzel suffers from. The solution is to warm Reuzel products up to melting and then let them gently cool. This fixes the problem for both the standard Reuzel and this one. The front has the recognizable Dutch pirate and on the back the ingredient list.

The balm itself is stiff, waxy, and quite solid. It scrapes with the back of the thumbnail readily and melts with ease when you work it in your hands. The color is bisque, and the scent is wonderful and subtle. The fragrance is warm with vanilla, wood scents, and spiciness that lends a kind of forest-guide warmth to the user. There are notes of butterscotch as well, which really appeals to me. It is a remarkable departure from the standard Reuzel fragrance, but still quite pleasant to use.

When pairing this balm with oil, either unscented, which would be best, or even the Honest Amish Premium Oil would work as both have notes of woodsy warmth that would compliment each other nicely. I can definitely see this becoming a standard entry in my beard care kit.

Bossman Magic Beard Balm, 2oz.

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Bossman Magic Beard Balm comes in a tin container, two ounces, much like all the other balms that I have reviewed. The product is not tested on animals, made in the United States, Austin, Texas, to be specific, and is made of only natural ingredients. The tin has labels on the obverse and reverse with directions and ingredients clearly written out. The tin itself doesn’t have screw grooves, so it is only secured by friction, this is not a problem when it comes to balms that I have experienced.

The balm is paper white in color and the scent, “Magic” smells clean and soapy, with notes of warmth, exuding cleanliness. The consistency is waxy, and the top lid claims that it will actively relax beard hairs. I’ve found it to be delightful to use, the scent lasts about an hour or so, and it has done well for my uses. This scent would pair best with unscented beard oil, and not a scented one unless it would be paired by a beard oil from Bossman themselves with matching scents.

I am looking forward to exploring more of the scents that Bossman sells, they have a four-scent pallette where Magic is just one of the available kinds. They also make a beard wash and beard oil, but I haven’t tested either yet.

2020 Democratic Debates

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While the Democrats were sorting out the first debate cycle with twenty candidates for the office of President of the United States, I had a chance to live-chat it out with a beloved family member. I have copied some of the things I said in this chat because as usual, when I start to work extemporaneously some significant things tend to fall out onto the page, or in this case, into the chat.

These are all my perceptions of the candidates. Mostly first impressions. It is also worthwhile to mention that I have already picked my candidate from the field, Pete Buttigieg.

  • On the NBC Electoral Theme Music:
    • “I’ve got PTSD from the theme music. I heard it while making dinner. Muttered “fucking hell”
  • On Trump et al:
    • If you’re talking about Trump, McConnell, or Graham – you aren’t talking about what you would do.
  • On Cory Booker:
    • Something is terribly wrong with corys eyes.
    • The right eye doesn’t follow.
  • On Jay Inslee:
    • And Inslee has an old speech impediment he is trying to overcome.
  • On Amy Klobuchar:
    • Klobuchar must go
    • She has anger issues, and she is cruel.
  • On Beto O’Rourke:
    • Beto comes across as frustrated and angry.
  • On John Delaney:
    • Delaney has a caught-raccoon smirk
  • On Kirsten Gillebrand:
    • I can’t forgive Gillebrand for what she did to Al Franken.
    • Gillibrand isn’t looking at the camera.
  • On Andrew Yang:
    • He’s not there to win.
    • He’s there to get people to talk
  • On Bernie Sanders:
    • Bernie’s Hands Attack!
      Almost gave Biden a Karate-Chop
    • Bernie just applies volume.
  • On Michael Bennet:
    • None of these people can count.
    • One or two words!
  • On John Hickenlooper:
    • Hickenlooper has a hardon for government jobs and socialism.
  • On Kamala Harris:
    • She’s got an ax to grind.
  • General Debate Behavior, many candidates (not Pete):
    • One thing! God damnit!
    • They break out in babble when they see a camera.
  • On Taxation:
    • Let’s go back to 1957. Taxes.
    • We did it before. We can do it again! Make the IRS 1957 again!
    • Maybe we cut back on the military a bit.
    • Maybe we tax corporations, a bit.
    • Maybe we adjust the tax rates, a bit.
    • Maybe if we cut the poor tax to zero, cut middle class to say 10%, say to 75,000 we year, perhaps those people will have more buying power. Maybe the money we spend heats up the economy. Maybe. A bit.
    • So, the trap is “How will you pay for all your fancy dancy social programs?” Ooooh. I think we can find the money.
    • So, maybe we reject the narrative that we are a hard-scrabble lot struggling to make ends meet. Apple has a trillion dollars in Cash.
    • So, maybe there is some room for a chat. A bit. Just a little bit.
    • Or you know, we could nationalize the companies and eat the rich.
  • On GOP:
    • When you are attacking the GOP, you aren’t talking about your policies.
    • Witness the agonies of trickle-down economics. You’ll notice that we’ve swallowed the sales brochure from Ronald Reagan so thoroughly that we can’t imagine a world any other way.
  • On Universal Basic Income:
    • UBI tickles me. This is a natural consequence of trickle-down economics.
    • And how will we prevent mass starvation once automation eliminates all the jobs?
    • But that reveals the true nature of America. We hate the poor. We can’t give them cash. They are filthy gimmes. They’ll waste it on frivolities. They won’t buy yachts. They’ll buy bread. Tsk tsk tsk.
    • This is trickle downs time to burn.
    • This is why socialism is so remarkable. What I find fascinating is the spittle and vitriol when you mention socialism. UBI downright causes a stroke.
  • On Healthcare, and the inflection with Undocumented Immigrants:
    • Is healthcare a human right?
  • On Healthcare, Generally:
    • And what happens when we incentivize illness?
    • If a profit-seeking organization cures illnesses, they are actively denying profit.
    • So, are the pharmaceutical companies actually working in our best interest?
    • Healthcare from the very start. No stress about illnesses. No having to pawn wedding rings for insulin.
  • On Economics:
    • What entertains me is just how much of the kool-aid we have all internalized. We’ve written the GOP economic plan into our assumptions. So we don’t talk about anything else. We battle from the right to the ultra-right because the land has been gated off from the right to the center and all the way left.
  • On Religious Hypocrisy:
    • Oh, hey, Jesus. Oh them? Those are filthy sick poor people. They are drains on our economy. Why are you crying? Why are you shaking? Wait! Why did you flip over the dinner table?!
  • On Climate Change:
    • Ah, climate.
    • We missed the tipping point. 1973.
    • Just! A! Bit!

These were all the instant reactions while I watched the debate performances. There were some very notable and memorable candidates on both nights. Julián Castro was the most earnest in the first night’s debate, he was passionate and clear about many topics and especially about border and immigration policy. I found Elizabeth Warren to be the most experienced and professional in the first night’s debates, she has a drum, and she beats it well. I think that may be what may disturb other folks if they aren’t on board with the Warren drumbeat, they flee. I think Elizabeth Warren is the most polarizing of all the candidates for both nights, either you are very into what she is saying, or you are very not into what she is saying. Cory Booker in the first night’s debates carries himself with notes borrowed from Joe Biden, especially framing himself coming from a damaged or disadvantaged hometown. The negative threads started to collect around Cory Booker as he came across as more prosecutorial as the first debate night concluded. The first night had us agreeing that Castro, Warren, and Booker won that night.

The second night had the headlines of today in large blinking neon. The second night was overwhelmed by the conflict between Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. I fear that Joe Biden has lost his bid, because the frame in which he was speaking was already covered in a story from the New York Times about the bussing issue which became the focus from Harris, and Joe Biden neglected the very thing that was the pinnacle of both nights, which I will cover in the last paragraph. Bernie Sanders came across as desperate, angry, loud, and impatient. Bernie lost us when he decided that screaming was the answer, overwhelming your opponent with your voice, it was disrespectful and painted Bernie as a Daedalus watching his hopes drop out of the sky in flames. I am firmly against both Gillibrand and Klobuchar because they are unfit in their own ways for the office of President. Gillibrand for being opportunistic and unable to follow basic directions and Klobuchar for being abusive and cruel.

The winner of both nights, the man who came out on top was the candidate that I had already decided on, Pete Buttigieg. The question started a conversation about the police shooting incident in South Bend, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg looked squarely in the camera and without blinking or looking away said in a clear calm voice, “I couldn’t get it done.” This demonstrates something I have never seen in any political debate in memory, the honest admission of fault and expression of humility to everyone who was watching the event. The calm, direct line was the most potent sentence uttered during the entire debate by anyone at all, for both nights. These events are built around pandering and seduction, powered by platitudes and lies, sweeping generalizations that deny reality to present the candidates in the best possible light. When something else, something novel, something new appears, it causes the entire Universe to stop, everything rotates around that one moment, and then everything resumes. It takes a proud man to flog his best qualities, but it takes the best man to trot out his failure and actually level with the citizens. There was no way to get through a police shooting like this, except this one way. The events in South Bend, because Pete Buttigieg took the hard road, makes him more my candidate for President, because he was honest, looked directly into the camera, and said the hardest thing. This is precisely, to pick up the thread from before, exactly what Joe Biden failed to do. Anyone can dodge their past, it takes real courage to skip the dodge, skip the obvious, easy road of peddling bullshit and express sincere regret and humility. We have been led by an unspeakable individual for a long while now, totally incapable of even looking at this sort of humility before everyone in the country and that is why I regard Pete Buttigieg as my candidate. I also put my money on this very thing. It was his humility before everyone, his raw courage, and honesty that made me a donor. I expect I will give more as we go along. Bravo, Mayor Pete, Bravo! Well Done, Sir.

King Manes Beard Balm, 2oz.

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The King Manes Balm comes in a different package than any of the other balms in this series. They deliver their product in a black tube with gold lettering. It’s made in the United States, and not tested on animals. The product is quite sensitive to room temperatures, so in the winter it’s really quite tricky to use, but in the summer it is very easy to use. The key in the winter is to massage the container until you warm it up so it will flow properly when you squeeze.

The product itself at first was a bit of a challenge to dispense as I bought it in the wintertime. After reading a lot of reviews on Amazon, I discovered many of the oddities about this product could be seen as features or remarkable qualities. Getting the right amount is the most significant learning curve, as you don’t scrape it out of a tin with your thumbnail. Instead, I’ve started to squeeze it onto my thumbnail for measurement sakes and then work it from there. The product is not waxy, it is more of a thick gel with small gritty beads. As it turns out, the beads are actually wax spheres that come solidified in the product and melt when you warm it up in your hands. The warming part is done when you don’t feel any more grit in the product as the wax has all melted. The scent is a mild mint and is quite pleasant, very light, and after about an hour, you don’t even notice it any longer. There isn’t anything more remarkable to mention about this balm, beyond any of the others other than the little wax spheres lend a kind of “readiness” factor to when it is right to work it into one’s beard.

The plastic tube is a novel packaging approach; however, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to extract all the product by squeezing. I also am concerned that this creates more plastic waste than the aluminum tins do. I assume the tins are more recyclable than the plastic tubes. The most significant factor for King Manes is room temperature and patience. You can’t just use this on the go, you need a few minutes with it, especially in the winter when the room temperature is lower than the products melt point. While I am impressed by the quality of the product, the packaging feels more wasteful, and so I probably won’t be refilling this particular balm once it runs out.

Beardoholic Beard Balm, 2oz.

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The Beardoholic products all have one central tragic failure, their packaging. The balm itself is a good product, it is yellow in color, and has middle of the road consistency and viscosity. The ingredients are what you would expect, however, the beeswax is the last ingredient which likely explains the natural variation in the texture between all the balms. For Reuzel, it’s the second ingredient, and so it’s a stiffer balm. This product also features an expiration date of about four years from production, something you don’t see in other products.

The scent is described on the packaging as “Sweet Orange,” and the smell is precisely so. The citrus notes are very light and refreshing. The orange isn’t bracing, cutting, or belting but more subtle. Everything about Beardoholic is a pleasure to use, except for the packaging. The first product I bought of theirs was their unscented Beard Oil, and that product came with a crumpled cap on the bottle. This product likewise came from distribution with the tin lid crushed. The packaging is thin enough where you can apply some pressure with your thumb and reform the metal cap at least on the balm. The price of this product is one of the most expensive too, at roughly $20 for 2 ounces. That puts this product at the top of the range, and while the product itself is good, for double the price of the Viking Revolution balms, I would expect more than this. I will continue to enjoy using the Beardoholic balm that I have, but considering the price, I will likely not be a regular consumer.