Oddities happen when things wear out

 This is one of life's anecdotes. it's a story about our dryer.  Our dryer is old, I don't know how old, I bought it used at least 12 years ago so probably pushing 20?  It still works, so no need to replace it. But yesterday Vicki (my wife) came and told me the dryer stopped working. I went out and checked the clothes, yup still quite wet. Started the dryer, it's spinning. I looked over the back. There is a little crack between the sheet metal pieces that if you look at just the right angle you can see into the element housing, and if it's on, there is a red glow. Yup I see a red glow. Dryer is working, walked away. Went back an hour later to move laundry and the clothes are wet. Odd eh? Went through the same process, yes it seems that everything is working. So this time I was piddling around in the garage and I heard a strange clunk, after which the dryer stopped spinning. Hmm?  Again I restart it and this time stood and watched. It took about 2 minutes and I saw it. The door opened, maybe 1/2 inch, but just enough for the dryer to stop. Apparently the little latch that keeps the door closed is wearing out. Vicki was drying a pair of sneakers with her clothes, I took out the sneakers and tried again. Success!  I guess I'll replace the latch this week. 

Mail in voting is a bad idea

The latest item that the socialist liberals are having orgasms over is that president Trump is trying to destroy the Post Office to stop mail in votes and interfere with the election. Frankly I'm tired of the hatred and derangement of the Trump haters. All that we've head, every week for the last three plus years is how Donald Trump did something wrong and he's going to be removed, only to discover just a few days later that it's not true. So let's look at what's actually happening. Mail in voting is a bad idea, which I will address later. First though, let's look at the Post Office. The Post Office has a unique and strange position, it's not a branch or part of the federal government, although employees are federal, and part of the Civil Service Retirement system. These are some extracts from documents found on federal government web sites. They can help understand how the PO is supposed to work.

In 1971, the Postal Reorganization Act, eliminated the old Post Office Department, replacing it with the US Postal Service. The act was intended to make the USPS self-financing from its own revenues, and to make it an independent, non-political public service. Prior to the PRA, postmasters (including the postmaster general) were political appointees; rates were set by Congress, and the POD had to go through the appropriations process to get the money it needed to operate.  

This is from the PRA of 1971;

”The United States Postal Service shall be operated as a basic and fundamental service provided to the people by the Government of the United States”. It also defines the USPS as “an independent establishment of the executive branch of the Government of the United States”.

So the act in 1971 was supposed to set the PO to independently operate and be self supporting. As a part of the executive branch it comes directly under the pervue of the president. 

Since 2006, primarily due to some really dumb legislation, and poor managment, the PO has been operating at some significant losses. Almost 70 billion dollars in debt since then. 

So now here we are, with losses just last year of nearly 9 billion dollars, and the PO comes directly under president Trump. (Losses in the previous two years were 2.7 and 3.9 billion). So enough is enough. Something HAS to change. And so our current president, being primarily a business man, and understanding that every business needs to make a profit, is making changes. It has nothing to do with the coming election, it's simply needed to stop the hemorrhaging of money. Most folks really can't grasp what 9 billion dollars means. So let's try to put things in perspective. The average American will amass about 2.7 million dollars of gross earnings in a lifetime. (This is average, college grads (bachelors) should be slightly over 3 million, and high school grads around 2.2).  Currently in the area where I live, one of the local high schools, Palm Bay Heritage, has about 1900 students. The money lost by the PO in the last year would pay the lifetime wages of twice the population of Palm Bay Heritage high. 

So now let's look at some basic reasons why mail in voting is not a good idea. Initially, I don't understand the constant objection to requiring a photo ID to vote. One needs an ID to purchase about half of all prescription medications, to buy tobacco, and alcohol. An ID is needed to cross borders, but not to vote. The only logical reason for not wanting to show ID is to make fraud easier. Without the ID requirement, people cast multiple votes and dead people vote. I just had a discussion with someone who did not believe this but just a quick internet search will show several documented cases. It's the undocumented though, if we know that some are doing it and getting caught, then others are not getting caught. The most secure method to vote is in person with ID. The second most secure is simply in person. 

Mail in voting being bad has very little to do with the PO. Potentially it could have something to do with some employees. It's more that a lot of people simply do not follow directions. In a recent mail in campaign in New York, up to a quarter of mail in votes were disqualified because the voter did something wrong. Similar things have been happening in other cities.

Maintaining control and accountability of each vote is crucial. But there are other problems. What will stop someone from casting multiple ballots in someone else name?  If I drive around town and just look at yard signs, I can determine what candidate someone supports. Then I can fill out just two or three extra ballots in that person's name while selecting the opposing party. If the votes are caught as duplicate, they are all thrown out, If not caught, I have nullified the cast vote and added an extra for the opposing party. No mail in voting is not a good idea, it has nothing to do with the PO abilities and has nothing to do with president Trump trying to fix something that's bleeding money.

  

Corporate welfare, liberal double standard

 Let me begin by saying that I am not a fan of a lot of the corporate "welfare" type programs. I understand establishing tax incentives to attract business. I also believe that these should not be permanent. I was not a big fan of the various Wall Street or auto manufacturers which received federal monies. I know a lot of liberals who frequently complain of how the Republican party gives tax breaks to the rich. It's an old and worn out lie. But of late I've heard a lot of the same liberals who complained about bailouts who want the US post office bailed out. This is coming because there is a new postmaster who is trying to cut costs and work within budgets. Last year the Post Office lost nine billion dollars. I am trying to figure out where that money came from, who is fitting the bill for this huge fiscal failure?  Some time in the 70's, the Post Office was somewhat separated from the government and operates as a corporation. There are some specific restrictions and regulations, but there are other companies who operate under similar restrictions and regulations and do not have billion dollar deficits. The new postmaster general is  looking at cutting overtime, a significant expense last year. This has a lot of people angry. I have seen some proposals to bring the PO back to a federal agency, to pay for it's operation with tax dollars. The cost, if divided among all of the current taxpayers, is about $50 per person each year. The argument is that the Post Office, and receiving mail is worth the cost. Perhaps, but there are so many programs that could be considered "worth" the cost. This is corporate welfare, actually I look at this as another step towards socialism, federalizing agencies under the pretense that it's for the public good. Bull! We should not bail out companies which fail. No matter what the company makes or provides. I am glad to have a leader who understands how to run business, to make profits and cut losses. Frankly, I think that one of the best ways to reduce cost is to limit residential mail to three days a week. If someone really needs a letter earlier, express service will cost more. 

A better option would be to totally privatize the postal system. Allow competition, currently the only company that can deliver letter mail is the US Post office, packages can be delivered by a number of other companies. 

Beekeepers are a little crazy

Well, i think all beekeepers are a bit off, a group of people who actually enjoy keeping a box of bugs that will sting us. But queen rearers are another breed. The thing with making queens, once you start, you are bound by timing and nature. No matter how you may feel, or what the weather is like, once the grafts are set in the cups, the clock is ticking.  I went on vacation on the 24th of July. I wanted to have some capped cells when I got back but did not want to push things too close. So I figured the best grafting day was Thursday the 23rd. (my return day was August 1 at 10 pm).  It was raining Thursday when I got home, intermittent showers. And I had some other things to do. Finally, around 7:30 ish I was able to do a frame of grafts. A hard lesson learned is to check grafts a day later to be sure they took, if not there is probably a queen in the box. I did not want to come home and have no cells, I also did not want to come back home after work Friday, just planned to go straight to the airport. That meant that I had to go in the box before I left for work. So at 4:30 am, with a red light and my veil on, I went in. Just wanted to see if they are making cells. I didn't care how many. I can tell you that bees, like a lot of people I know, do not like being disturbed at 4:30 am. While they don't fly, they do crawl and sting, I got 4. I did however see that at least 5 cells were started so all looked good. Came home around 11:00 pm Saturday. Sunday morning we were expecting a tropical storm or hurricane, Isaias. Still as stated before, the grafts are in and I must move them before one comes out. Late Sunday morning, between some showers I pulled 8 capped cells and put in the incubator. But something else has to happen too, you guessed it, I need to put in some more grafts. It was not raining when I pulled a brood frame, wasn't raining when I sat in the truck and started to graft. Right around the third larvae though the sky opened up and it poured. Sat in the truck for 30-40 minutes after grafting, the rain turned to a light drizzle. I took the chance and put the grafts in and the donor frame back. I'll check today and see if any took.   Update on this, I did a quick check on the  thunderstorm grafts, did not pull it all the way out, bees were on all cups and I saw wax on at least 5.