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flotsam

flotsam's Journal
flotsam's Journal
July 19, 2021

Flameless Cooking

A recent discussion was asking how elderly people could heat food during an electrical outage without using an open flame. I found several companies make survival type meals that heat in their packaging after you add water to a chemical in the outer envelope. They tend to be limited as to choice and are pricy at $10 or more per meal. I've been googling around and found several cookers that heat your food to around 200 degrees F. There are several systems-heat packets for this one are $1.49 each. A medium (28oz) cooker is in the $30-35 price range.

System here: https://www.amazon.com/Barocook-Rectangular-Flameless-Cookware-40-Ounce/dp/B00CRBWLI4/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=barocook&qid=1626720092&s=sporting-goods&sr=1-2&th=1&psc=1

Other systems and videos here: https://www.google.com/search?q=flameless+cooking&rlz=1C1GGRV_enUS800US800&oq=flameless+cooking&aqs=chrome..69i57j0i67j0l6j0i67j0.8512j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Helpful for forgetful seniors but as the climate changes we should all consider this cooker as a second heating source for food...

June 30, 2021

I believe Noem may have Ahmm, Fornicated the canine

By sending troops to Texas-It gets pretty dense but this seems to explain the legalities which I think she has exceeded:
https://www.military.com/benefits/reserve-and-guard-benefits/whats-difference-between-title-10-and-title-32-mobilization-orders.html

May 26, 2021

If you can't understand math as it applies

to often wrong news articles you should read just this one book: https://www.amazon.com/Innumeracy-Mathematical-Illiteracy-Its-Consequences/dp/0809058405 -it explains how to deal with published numbers...

April 8, 2021

Floyd trial: This is superficial

but doesn't their expert look exactly like Robin Williams doing a role with an Irish accent? I'm being distracted by this...

April 2, 2021

My brother posted this to Facebook

I think it says a lot about all our veterans:

Exactly 50 years ago today I got home from, Vietnam. A week earlier I was on a Firebase operating a radio 12 hours a day in harms way and now I'm sitting in my mom's kitchen. I Had left less than 2 years earlier as a wise ass teenager and now, wise beyond my years. In the last eleven and a half months I had seen and been part of something most people will never see! The ability to take another's life had been thrust upon me and I had actually not been afraid to do so. I had smelled death and seen human beings being torn apart by several different means, artillery, fast moving jets, gunships, machine guns, rifles, and booby traps. Those killed were both friend and enemy. The aroma and site of torn apart humans will be in my mind till the day I die! The screams and the calls for a medic or for a mom ! You can leave Vietnam, but Vietnam will never leave you. The friendships I earned back then are still with me, and the conversations with my brothers who died within hours of our last talks are still echoing in my brain. Why him and not me? Hopefully when I reach the other side someone will explain this to me. To keep your sanity you must push these thoughts down deep into your sub-conscious, but so many things can trigger thoughts. The clarity of the memories are frightening. I will use this half century of distance to try to never mention again to anyone anything about Vietnam. It has always been a waste of time because if you haven't been there you can't understand. I've had people say, I know how you feel, NO you don't, not even close. Then those of us who made it home, returned to an indifferent country. Throwing your uniform covered with medals away or stuffing it in your closet was the norm, because there would be no parade or thank you ! You made sure not to mention your Vietnam service on any job applications or you would likely not get that job. Hearing "baby killers" on the evening news was common. We did the job we were told to do, we did it well, and we were never given the respect we deserved. And we did NOT lose the war ! Currahee !

February 5, 2021

I see we have a fair amount of trans people here...

So I have a question-when a trans person says they're a trans woman or a trans man does the gender listed refer to birth gender identity or where you are or are headed in terms of gender and is this a fairly fixed protocol? Thanks in advance!

January 29, 2021

My Brother's rant on FB

So, I was listening to my personally signed copy of Lee Greenwoods CD(can't do that with a usb) God bless the USA. Got it in Branson Missouri at a military reunion a few years back. Was thinking of America today, So Sad ! Back when I was drafted and went to war, we didn't believe in the war, but our country sent us, so we went. Today, people claiming to be patriots, riot in D.C.. Although they have NEVER done anything to earn that Patriot tag, they follow the most unpatriotic leader ever. While my brothers were fighting and losing their lives in Vietnam, trump was screwing every hooker he could lay his greasy hands on, even telling Howard Stern in an interview that avoiding getting a venereal disease from these hookers was his private Vietnam and probably more dangerous. A man who has NEVER done anything for this country except cheat and steal from anyone who's path he's crossed now has a following of racist and Nazi's who CLAIM to be patriots ! WOW has America really sunk this low? I am ashamed! think of the young men of my generation laying down there lives for THIS???? So Sad. Does anyone remember JFK's speech,"Do not ask what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country" Grow up people !

Edit for typo

January 19, 2021

Killer Cars-No they weren't

Listed as the most famous people killers of the 60's (Corvair) and 70's (Pinto) were both basically victims of a smear campaign by overly litigious ambulance chasers. The Corvair suffered a suspension effect called "camber-tuck" which it at the time shared with all VW products and also the highly esteemed Porsche product line. The Pinto was a radical change in car design-Ford aimed to produce a car weighing under 2000 pounds and costing under 2000 dollars. They wound up producing over 3 million of them. 27 people died after other cars rear-ended them at high rates of speed.

Here's what Wikipedia says about the actual designs:

Corvair:
A 1972 safety commission report conducted by Texas A&M University concluded that the 1960–1963 Corvair possessed no greater potential for loss of control than its contemporary competitors in extreme situations.[25] The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a press release in 1972 describing the findings of NHTSA testing from the previous year. NHTSA had conducted a series of comparative tests in 1971 studying the handling of the 1963 Corvair and four contemporary cars—a Ford Falcon, Plymouth Valiant, Volkswagen Beetle, and Renault Dauphine—along with a second-generation Corvair (with its completely redesigned, independent rear suspension). The 143-page report reviewed NHTSA's extreme-condition handling tests, national crash-involvement data for the cars in the test as well as General Motors' internal documentation regarding the Corvair's handling.[29] NHTSA went on to contract an independent advisory panel of engineers to review the tests. This review panel concluded that "the 1960–63 Corvair compares favorably with contemporary vehicles used in the tests [...] the handling and stability performance of the 1960–63 Corvair does not result in an abnormal potential for loss of control or rollover, and it is at least as good as the performance of some contemporary vehicles both foreign and domestic."

Pinto:
A Rutgers Law Review article by former UCLA law professor Gary T. Schwartz (see Section 7.3 NHTSA Investigation above), examined the fatality rates of the Pinto and several other small cars of the time period. He noted that fires, and rear-end fires, in particular, are a very small portion of overall auto fatalities. At the time only 1% of automobile crashes would result in fire and only 4% of fatal accidents involved fire, and only 15% of fatal fire crashes are the result of rear-end collisions.[138] When considering the overall safety of the Pinto, subcompact cars as a class have a generally higher fatality risk. Pintos represented 1.9% of all cars on the road in the 1975–76 period. During that time, the car represented 1.9% of all "fatal accidents accompanied by some fire." This implies the Pinto was average for all cars and slightly above average for its class.[139] When all types of fatalities are considered, the Pinto was approximately even with the AMC Gremlin, Chevrolet Vega, and Datsun 510. It was significantly better than the Datsun 1200/210, Toyota Corolla, and VW Beetle.[138] The safety record of the car in terms of fire was average or slightly below average for compacts, and all cars respectively. This was considered respectable for a subcompact car. Only when considering the narrow subset of rear-impact, fire fatalities for the car were somewhat worse than the average for subcompact cars. While acknowledging this is an important legal point, Schwartz rejected the portrayal of the car as a firetrap.[140]

Both were radical design changes and change brings resistance. I dreamed of a Corvair but my Mom had heard of the "death trap" and begged me not to buy one. My family owned more than one Pinto and loved them. If I could buy either at a good price and condition today I would do it tomorrow.

January 7, 2021

The rioters should be stripped of citizenship

as was done, sometime for years, to southerners after the civil war...to be readmitted to the United States a majority of voters had to pledge allegiance (by vote) to the Union. Final amnesty for all except the leaders of the rebellion was given in 1872. Here's a timeline on how we handled the last insurrection...

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/reconstruction-timeline/

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