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Backseat Driver

Backseat Driver's Journal
Backseat Driver's Journal
October 11, 2019

Denver goes from 83 to 19 degrees in just 18 hours

https://komonews.com/weather/scotts-weather-blog/denver-goes-from-83-to-19-degrees-in-just-18-hours?fbclid=IwAR0zn52b21ECA1pjbHVQi7n7N3v1AJgh7oyqw-1q3G9on6qMDhKEOzxg6d8

DENVER (KOMO) -- I have never lived in Denver, so I'll have to defer to those who have lived or still live there:

How do you handle your wardrobe in the autumn?

As a radical shift in the weather came rolling across the Rockies, the Mile High City went from summer to winter Wednesday ... in mere hours...[snip]


CRAZY!
October 10, 2019

A girl's best friend (?)


https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a29401027/matryoshka-diamond/

This Is the World's First Diamond Within a Diamond

Russian miners unearthed a gemological oddity—a type of rare diamond called a Matryoshka diamond. It is thought to be the only one on the planet and the first of its kind, but has not yet been assigned a monetary value, according to a statement.

Named for the famed Russian nesting doll toys, the Matryoshka diamond is a tiny, tabular-shaped diamond encased within a larger diamond. Incredibly, there is enough space within the larger diamond, that the smaller specimen rattles inside, the report said. The outer gem is roughly .62 carats, but the inner gem is much smaller, weighing only about .02 carats. '[snip]
October 7, 2019

Hmmm....

And no Attorneys General Took to change...along the way, Sessions, legally recuses, not so the current one. In fact, his past op-ed opinions about sitting WH Executive should have thrown down a serious red flag to his confirmation at all.

From Lawrence E Walsh's, Independent Counsel, Iran/Contra
Executive Summary

[snip]

This report concludes with Independent Counsel's observations and conclusions. He observes that the governmental problems presented by Iran/contra are not those of rogue operations, but rather those of Executive Branch efforts to evade congressional oversight. As this report documents, the competing roles of the attorney general -- adviser to the President and top law-enforcement officer -- come into irreconcilable conflict in the case of high-level Executive Branch wrongdoing. Independent Counsel concludes that congressional oversight alone cannot correct the deficiencies that result when an attorney general abandons the law-enforcement responsibilities of that office and undertakes, instead, to protect the President.

Independent Counsel asks the Congress to review the difficult and delicate problem posed to the investigations and prosecutions by congressional grants of immunity to principals. While recognizing the important responsibility of Congress for investigating such matters thoroughly, Congress must realize that grants of use immunity to principals in such highly exposed matters as the Iran/contra affair will virtually rule out successful prosecution.

Independent Counsel also addresses the problem of implementing the Classified Information Procedures Act (CIPA) in cases steeped in highly classified information, such as many of the Iran/contra prosecutions. Under the Act, the attorney general has unrestricted discretion to decide whether to declassify information necessary for trial, even in cases in which Independent Counsel has been appointed because of the attorney general's conflict of interest. This discretion is inconsistent with the perceived need for independent counsel, particularly in cases in which officers of the intelligence agencies that classify information are under investigation. This discretion gives the attorney general the power to block almost any potentially embarrassing prosecution that requires the declassification of information. Independent Counsel suggests that the attorney general implement standards that would permit independent review of a decision to block a prosecution of an officer within the Executive Branch and legitimate congressional oversight.

Bolding mine. Oops - edit for link: https://fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/execsum.htm

Sorry, but feeling so "triggered" this PM as this impeachment inquiry moves forward alongside this whistleblower stuff. Time hasn't yet healed some very old wounds. Think I need to give it a break

October 3, 2019

Another "pressured" foreign president?


Who actually "wrote" this one from this bi-partisan committee of Congress, and how is it "different" from the current scandalous behavior of persons within this admin? Also not familiar with any actual "withholding" of monies or "good will" to this country, but interested if it also represents a threat. Perhaps it was discussed here way back when? I'm just curious as to this community's consensus though seriously no fan of this "whistleblower gone wrong" nor his aggregated "complaints and document site" that jeopardizes any and all government's national security.

https://foreignaffairs.house.gov/_cache/files/a/8/a8a63343-fba7-4ea6-8090-5fb3d9f5d3de/7B8CEDB7545C8C99DEDB0AC0931C9873.10-16-2018-letter-from-engel-ros-lehtinen-to-president-of-ecuador.pdf






October 3, 2019

Eligibility requirements for Arlington burials to change

https://www.army.mil/article/227643/acting_secretary_of_the_army_announces_proposed_changes_to_eligibility_criteria_for_burial_at_anc

The Acting Secretary of the Army announced today proposed changes to eligibility criteria at Arlington National Cemetery. This begins the process for the federal government to prepare for the public rulemaking process which includes public feedback to the proposed changes. [snip]

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Let's make one more change, something along the line of: No hallowed resting place, here nor in any VNC for anyone who did not honorably serve and/or was investigated and tried for "high crimes and misdemeanors" regardless of disposition.
October 1, 2019

Next Mercury in retrograde Oct 31 through Nov 20

Oh-oh!

Several days coinciding with Samhain (Halloween/All Saints Day) and Dia de los Muertos

October 1, 2019

Schwab Announces Zero-Fee Stock Trades; Schwab Dives; TD Ameritrade, E-Trade Crash


https://finance.yahoo.com/m/d1808c5d-f955-3515-af19-6f007c59ed1d/schwab-announces-zero-fee.html

Really? Handing out "free play" at the casino - better the mattress and/or the bulk pantry-stable grocery store.
September 27, 2019

More regarding Equadorian data breach


https://www.ecuadortimes.net/system-analysis-warns-of-more-ecuadorian-data-leakage/

System analysis warns of more Ecuadorian Data Leakage
Posted On 25 Sep 2019

To the exposed data of millions of Ecuadorians – among them information from the Civil Registry – it appears that more data has been leaked. This is stated by Noam Rotem and Ran Locar, data analysts who led the vpnMentor Team that announced the original leak, on September 16.

The dawn of this Tuesday, September 24, Rotem wrote on his Twitter account that “the serious leak of information that we revealed two weeks ago is just the tip of the iceberg.”

September 15, 2019

Now this? - In defense of/or better assault targeting accessories

on their way to avoid haphazard sprays via a secondary lens. Maybe we should all get new glasses and a smartPhone app, LOL!

https://www.labroots.com/trending/technology/15613/artificial-compound-eye-improves-3d-object-tracking w/video @ link

Artificial Compound Eye Improves 3D Object Tracking

Flies are fast-reacting creatures and can sense movement quickly. Researchers have now used flies as their inspiration by developing an aThe development can be used with a camera for applications like the creation of 3D location systems for robots, self-driving cars and unmanned aerial vehicles. "Imitating the vision system of insects has led us to believe that they might detect the trajectory of an object based on the light intensity coming from that object rather than using precise images like human vision," said Le Song, a member of the research team from Tianjin University in China. "This motion-detection method requires less information, allowing the insect to quickly react to a threat." [snip]


"This uniform light receiving ability of our bio-inspired compound eye is more similar to biological compound eyes and better imitates the biological mechanism than previous attempts at replicating a compound eye," explained Song.rtificial insect inspired compound eye that can sense a moving object and its trajectory with an astonishing speed. [snip]

September 15, 2019

Can the World Find Solutions to the Nitrogen Pollution Crisis?

Just like having a carbon footprint, the world needs to consider excess nitrogen.

Norman Borlaug won a Nobel Peace prize for his work in increasing the yields of grains to feed hungry populations but with the use of increasing amounts of fertilizers. Now, as the climate change clock nears doomsday, his methods and hybridizations, the "green revolution" are being seen as a short-term resolution of problematic hungry populations.

https://e360.yale.edu/features/can-the-world-find-solutions-to-the-nitrogen-pollution-crisis

"The world is using nitrogen fertilizer less and less efficiently. A greater proportion than ever before is washing into rivers and oceans. An environmental catastrophe looms, nitrogen scientists say, and the world urgently needs to develop strategies to prevent it.

Post-war physicists fearing nuclear apocalypse came up with the Doomsday Clock. In the 1980s, biologists contemplating ecological meltdown began talking about “biodiversity” loss as a way to tag and measure the crisis. Soon after, climate scientists recast concern over global warming with a warning that within a century it would lead to temperatures greater than any in human history.

Now, it is nitrogen’s turn. [snip]

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