No News is Bad News

This morning's Yahoo News headline:

"Breaking News: Hormuz closes again as more talks planned in Switzerland"

That's not news; it's just a prediction that came true.

Failure to “Practice What You Preach”

A blog post in March on the Proton website¹ recommends several European programs or apps that circumvent potential US privacy violations. The "privacy-focused European alternatives" that are recommended in the social media category include Mastodon (which I use), Lemmy, and Friendica.

However, if you want to share that blog post, the you're offered choices of X, Reddit, LinkedIn, and Facebook! I wanted to point out the irony to the author, but there is no comment box in which to enter a reply.

Share options on Proton blog post

Even better (as in more ironic) is that blog post had been posted to Facebook with a link back that included a "fbclid" parameter. I suppose maybe we can give Proton a pass on this - they're entitled to know where their readers come from and when. But why not just have a simple "referral" parameter set to "facebook20251005185942" (or "linkedin," or whatever)? I ask because who knows what the 118-character value of fbclid unencodes to?

If you'd like to be a bit of a disruptor (or just have fun), you could append "?fbclid=biteme" to the link to the blog post before you navigate to it.

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¹ https://proton.me/blog/european-tech-alternatives

Forget MAGA -- Focus on MACFA

I had planned to write another of my silly “Forget MAGA...” posts^{1, 2}. The new post would have called for a focus on MACFA, or Make All Commodes Flush Again. This was something that Trump himself promised he would do.

But when I looked for background material and sources, I came across a recent Slate article³ that reports on the great progress that was made in low flush (LF) toilets. According to the article, the newest models can flush effectively with as little as 1.28 gallons of water.

I believe it. I can flush my toilets with a two-gallon bucket half filled with water. But the bowls remain nearly empty after that, so I suppose it takes another half gallon to refill the bowl.

The article explains that the earliest LF toilets used 1.6 gallons as does my newer fixture. However, they didn’t flush away all the solid waste; Trump himself said the operator had to flush “10 times.” “Not me, of course,” reports say.

So, have we Made All Commodes Flush Again? It would seem so. But I remain skeptical. I’d expect that the gradual accumulation of crap (quite literally) and minerals would reduce the water velocity in a low-flow toilet. And flushing is all about water velocity.

I can recall how well our 1.6 gallon toilet flushed. The water would almost totally disappear the moment I pressed the handle. But now it’s just like any other old-fashioned toilet in which the water rises before anything solid goes down.

When the commode was installed, there was a bumpy patch at the bottom. Now I wonder if the toilet was used or defective and that the bumpy part was scale or corrosion that was painted over.

Earlier today, I used my improvised drain clearer (an old bent coat hanger) to scrape at the entrances to the trap and siphon jet. The toilet flushes much better now. I’ll clean the visible portions with a pumice stone later tonight.

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¹ Forget MAGA -- Focus on MATA https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/07/forget-maga-focus-on-mata.html

² Forget MAGA -- Focus on MEGA https://ludditegeek.blogspot.com/2025/07/forget-maga-focus-on-mega.html

³ https://slate.com/technology/2025/02/toilets-low-flow-trump-environment-cost-savings.html

Forget MAGA -- Focus on MATA

Have you noticed that towels don’t seem to absorb water any more?  Pick up a cold drink from the countertop and try to wipe away the ring of water.  What happens?  You smear the water across the surface.  My wife and I complain all the time about how modern towels can’t absorb water.

Bath towels that are heavy, plush and soft bother me.  These are the towels that seem to be least absorbent.  They’re so thick, I can’t get them into narrow places, such as behind my ears.  And they’re heavy so it takes effort to pick one up and move it around, so I end up working up a sweat.  Such towels are good for:

• decorating
• lining the dog bed
• gifting to people whom you don’t really like

My preference is a cheap, plain, white, 100% cotton towel that I can wash in hot water to get out all the oils that prevent absorption.  I like them because they're light weight and a bit scratchy.  And they absorb really well.

I don't use fabric softener because it coats the towel with a film that repels water.  See for yourself.  Lay a towel on a flat surface and drip water onto it.  The water will form a bead, then a puddle, indicating the towel is hydrophobic.¹

Advice abounds on the Internet about not using fabric softener on bath towels.² I see the same advice even on the bottles of fabric softener itself as shown below. (Note that most towels are made from terry cloth.³)

I’m convinced that if we just had towels that can absorb water, we will make America great again.

So, MATA -- Make Absorbent Towels Again!

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¹ https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hydrophobic
² https://duckduckgo.com/?q=why+no+fabric+softener+on+some+clothes&ia=web
³ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terrycloth

Forget MAGA -- Focus on MEGA

When I was a boy, my shoes and sneakers never wore out.  Sure I would outgrow them when I was in elementary school, but by the time I was a fully-fledged teenager my feet stopped growing, and I wore the same footwear.  In fact, I still can fit into the same shoes, sneakers and boots that I wore in high school.¹  So the only things that needed replacing were the shoelaces.

Remember how shoelaces broke?  I do.  It would be a big inconvenience.  It would happen just as I was getting ready to leave the house to go somewhere important, not when I was stepping outside just to kick or throw some ball around.

These days I never have to replace the laces.  Why is that?  Are laces now made from a superior material?  Perhaps.

But perhaps not.  I think the reason is that the shoes would break before the laces did.  Right?  Have you noticed that sneakers don't have eyelets anymore?  They don't even have holes for the laces!  Instead, they have a loop of slightly elastic fabric through which to pass the laces.  What flimsy garbage!

I'm convinced that if we bring eyelets back, we will make America great again.

So, MEGA -- Make Eyelets Great Again!

¹ I have/had a pair of hiking boots that I wore every day in high school.  (I imagined that I was Aragon; in fact I almost bought a cloak.)  Thirty to forty years later I'd wear these boots occasionally.  The "have/had" arises from a recent purging my wife did of "all this old stuff on the porch."

A Change to Independence Day

It's the morning of Independence Day in USA.  As I watch bicycles cycle by, I dread tonight's inevitable displays of fireworks.  Of course they won't start until darkness pervades, when I'm ready to go to bed.  This will be at 9pm in my area.  (The sun will set here at 8:29pm ¹).  However, in the northern-most places, sunset may occur 90 minutes later ², at 10pm.  Imagine waiting until 10:30pm for fireworks!  Or worse, trying to get a good night's sleep for an early appointment the next day.

Then there's the issue of moonlight.  A full moon can detract from the intensity of a fireworks display.

Therefore I propose moving Independence Day to the day of the first New Moon in January.  Yes, let's celebrate the Fourth of July in January!

This year the New Moon occurred on January 29, and the sun set here at 5:00pm.³  So you might go to see fireworks, go out for dinner and then go to bed at the decent hour of 9:00pm!

Even in the southern-most part of the US, sunset occurred at about 6:00pm on January 29 ⁴, making a 6:30pm fireworks display a nice convenience.

The added benefit is that we'll have something to look forward to right after Christmas!

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¹ https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/springfield-ma?month=7&year=2025
² https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/@5689178?month=7&year=2025
³ https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/springfield-ma?month=1&year=2025
⁴ https://www.timeanddate.com/sun/usa/key-west?month=1&year=2025

Google's Epic AI Fail

Eleven days ago, the CDC reported that a recent outbreak of Listeria most likely was due to Boar’s Head Liverwurst¹. Since then, Boar’s Head issued a massive recall of meat products.

Having just bought a package of hot dogs, I asked my Android phone “What should I do with my Boar’s Head hot dogs?”

Google’s AI search engine replied:

Boar's Head hot dogs can be prepared in many ways, including grilling, boiling, or creating your own style. Here are some recipes for cooking Boar's Head hot dogs….

The correct answer is more along the lines of:

Consumers who have purchased these products are urged not to consume them and retailers are urged not to sell these products with the referenced sell by dates. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase. Consumers who have purchased these products are also urged to clean refrigerators thoroughly to prevent the risk of cross-contamination.²

Is this how AI plans to eliminate humans?

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¹https://www.cdc.gov/listeria/outbreaks/delimeats-7-24/details.html

²https://www.fsis.usda.gov/recalls-alerts/boars-head-provisions-co--expands-recall-ready-eat-meat-and-poultry-products-due

The Tissue Paper IQ Test

Tissues that come in cube-shaped boxes, “aka “cubes,” cost at least twice as much per tissue than those in the rectangular-shaped boxes. Both boxes cost about the same. But the cubes usually contain less than half the number of tissues as the rectangular-shaped boxes.

And yet my wife insists that I buy cubes. They take up less space on tables and the toilet tank; this is true, I admit. But still, I buy the rectangulars and then transfer the tissues into two empty cubes.

She complains about this and tries to throw away the empty cubes before I can refill them. But I persist.

I just can’t bring myself to buy cubes. I imagine the folks that monitor the security cameras look for people who are too stupid to realize that cubes are a bad deal. And then they post pictures of their subjects on some special website, similar to “People of Walmart.”

Is there a website called “People Who Pay Two Times More Than Necessary For Tissues” out there?  I doubt it, but I’m not taking any chances.

Just Like Hockey

I went to a fight the other day and a session of Congress broke out.

This is a take on an old joke, "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out."

As well, it's a commentary on the scuffle that took place between Kevin McCarthy and Tim Burchett on Tuesday¹, and the spat between Sen. Markwayne Mullin and Teamsters President Sean O'Brien in a Senate hearing also on Tuesday.²

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¹https://www.npr.org/2023/11/14/1212912482/mccarthy-burchett-elbow-house-republicans

²https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/stand-butt-fistfight-nearly-breaks-senate-hearing-bernie-sanders-steps-rcna125140

Trash Talk

 The capacity of my kitchen garbage can is 3.2 gallons, but I usually buy ordinary 4-gallon trash bags for it.  And I resent having to buy them; I used to use the free plastic grocery bags before they were banned.

It takes me a few days to fill it, too.

Yet when I go shopping for them, I find mostly 13-gallon bags.  There are bags from Glad and Hefty along with the store brand.  You can choose bags with drawstring closure, wire twist or hand tie.  The boxes have various quantities.

But that’s not all.  Now garbage bags can be found in a variety of scents, such as Lavender, Fresh, Hawaiian, Ocean, Vanilla, Lemon, Cherry Blossom, Mountain Air, Eucalyptus & Peppermint and more.  Sometimes you can even find unscented bags if you have the patience to look long enough.

What are people throwing away that they need a 13-gallon bag?  It would take me a couple of weeks to fill a garbage with that much capacity.  At full capacity it would be difficult to lift.  And even with a cover, the stink would be horrendous, regardless of what scent the bag is.

And why do we need scented bags?  When new, their smell is off-putting.  When full, they do nothing to alter the smell of what’s in the bag.

So let’s have only unscented bags.  It will leave more room on store shelves for other size bags or other products.  If people want to make their garbage scented, they can spray their favorite room freshener into it.

Losing Faith in America

I’m losing faith in our institutions.

First example is how the Federal Reserve thinks it can get inflation under control by raising interest rates.  If prices are higher now than they were one year ago, it’s mostly because they were so low before.  Recall that low demand in 2020 caused prices to fall sharply.  (In fact crude oil prices were actually negative¹ in April 2020.)  Now we’re seeing low supply as a backlash from that effect.  Thus prices climb as demand returns to normal.  The higher interest rates may placate Wall Street investors, but it hurts anyone who needs to replace an automobile or relocate.

Second there’s Justice Samuel Alito’s draft proposal to eliminate the right to an abortion².  In it he claims that the decision was “egregiously wrong from the start.”  So even the Supreme Court of today has no faith in the Supreme Court of five decades ago.  Sure, personal opinions change.  But law is built on precedent, isn’t it?

Third, and most troubling of all, is how the Federal Court in April struck down the CDC’s public transportation mask mandate³.  The person who brought the suit before the court has anxiety and complained that exceptions to the mandate did not apply to her.  In fact the mandate provides for a variety of exclusions that the plaintiff could claim, including “to catch [one’s] breath after ‘feeling winded’”.  The court decision is a blatant attack on science.

It won’t be long before we round up all scientists and engineers and burn them at the stake.

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¹ https://www.marketwatch.com/story/oil-prices-went-negative-a-year-ago-heres-what-traders-have-learned-since-11618863839

² https://www.politico.com/news/2022/05/02/supreme-court-abortion-draft-opinion-00029473

³ https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flmd.391798/gov.uscourts.flmd.391798.53.0_1.pdf

Trump vs. Amazon

“I have stated my concerns with Amazon long before the Election. Unlike others, they pay little or no taxes to state & local governments, use our Postal System as their Delivery Boy (causing tremendous loss to the U.S.), and are putting many thousands of retailers out of business!”

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 29, 2018

Look who’s complaining about Amazon not paying taxes! It’s He-Who-Will-Not-Release-His-Tax-Returns!