Poison Spider

 

From the Mailbag

Q – What am I doing now?

A —You mean in addition to blogging? I’m Headed for Moab. The weather has changed, allowing me to go there without melting. I will run Poison Spider, among other places, including the Rose Garden. Portable Starlink means that I can blog wherever I am.

Q – Have you found anything interesting at pawnshops lately? I know that you browse them when you travel.

A—I tend to browse rural pawnshops in less traveled areas more than urban decay pawnshops because there are more interesting pieces in the rural shops. I’m not sure why that is. It’s important to have a couple thousand in your pocket in cash when you travel if you want to take advantage of bargains.

For example, the Fusil Automatique Léger – Of the sort LSP carried when he served with the British Army (below).

Sometimes, I buy firearms to keep and other times, to flip. It all depends on the mood.

I also laid hands on a pristine Valmet, which I flipped to a buddy who wanted one in the worst way.

Q – Since there is sand in the desert (gold tends to follow silica), is there also gold?

A – The short answer is yes because gold is everywhere in trace quantities. The question was smart-assed, but I’ll give a more honest answer as the nearly angelic being that I am.

Gold (an element) is sometimes combined with other elements, such as copper. Much of the “gold” the Aztecs and other Mesoamerican groups had was called “tumbaga.” Tumbaga is an alloy composed primarily of gold and copper. It has a significantly lower melting point than gold or copper alone. It is harder than copper but maintains malleability after being pounded. Tumbaga can be treated with carboxylic acids, such as oxalic acid (Its name comes from the fact that early investigators isolated oxalic acid from flowering plants of the genus Oxalis) to dissolve copper off the surface. A shiny layer of nearly pure gold remains on top of a harder, more durable copper-gold alloy sheet. This process is referred to as depletion gilding. In some cases, it may have been mined in combination; in others, the alloy could have been created. It’s common to find gold, silver, copper, palladium, and platinum combined in the same ore in different concentrations. This may have come directly from ancient meteoric impacts. In nature, gold often follows quartz or carbon veins in recoverable quantities, including ancient coal deposits. I don’t know why this is geologically, except that it occurs. Gold formations beneath the surface follow water movement as a sedimentary byproduct because the lighter material washes away more readily.

Remember that gold and everything heavier than iron on the periodic table (below) was formed in exceptionally dense stars such as neutron stars and was spread throughout the universe when these stars exploded or collided. You can call it only a theory, but it’s a sound working theory (follow the science). In August 2017, the spectroscopic signatures of heavy elements, including gold, were observed by electromagnetic observatories in the GW170817 neutron star merger event after gravitational wave detectors confirmed the event as a neutron star merger. Current astrophysical models suggest that this single neutron star merger event generated between 3 and 13 Earth masses of gold. This amount, along with estimations of the rate of occurrence of these neutron star merger events, suggests that such mergers may produce enough gold to account for most of the abundance of this element in the universe.

1. “LIGO and Virgo make first detection of gravitational waves produced by colliding neutron stars” (PDF). LIGO & Virgo collaborations. 16 October 2017. Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 October 2017. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
2. “Neutron star mergers may create much of the universe’s gold”. Sid Perkins. Science AAAS. 20 March 2018. Retrieved 16 October 2024.

Gold (AU) has an atomic number of 79.

 

Bullet Points:

** The democrats care about you. They care so much they learn to fake an accent, thinking you are so dumb you won’t notice. Every two years, they talk like y’all. Has anyone ever heard Trump do this? No? Bc he is not a freaking empty-suited whore. Love him, hate him. He is not a phony.

** “Walmart is making considerable progress in the retail sector by adopting powerful AI and immersive technology, heralding the start of its “Adaptive Retail” age. These advances attempt to create highly personalized shopping experiences that cater to each customer’s unique interests, both online and in physical places. At the vanguard of this initiative is Wallaby, Walmart’s newly designed retail-specific Large Language Model (LLM).”

** Despite all that we’ve accomplished on the Third Rock, we owe our continued existence to six inches of topsoil, the fact that it rains and that the 25 million + meteorites that strike the planet each year are small.

** Pimping my boat ride – with EdB.

** Kamala – classic Marxist ho.

** CDRSAL takes a hard pass on submarine-launched nuclear cruise missiles. I agree with him. There is no such thing as a tactical nuclear weapon. Once they start detonating, it’s all over at the Alamo. It’s a well-referenced article.

 

For Mike_C

 

Arizona Elections

It’s a pretty eye-opening number: According to Pew Research, fewer than one in four Americans is ‘very confident’ the 2024 election will be conducted fairly and accurately—only 23 percent. For many Republicans, trust was shaken after the unusual 2020 election, which saw Biden grab an overnight come-from-behind victory over Trump. Scott Thuman reports from the battleground state of Arizona, a hotspot for election fraud claims.

The following is a transcript of a report from “Full Measure with Sharyl Attkisson.”

Hot under the collar in a political battleground as candidates spent their summer crisscrossing the Grand Canyon state, stumping for votes.

Tensions have been high ever since the last major cycle, when only 10,500 votes from a total of 3.4 million separated Joe Biden and Donald Trump. Biden eked out the win.

Republican claims of fraud and corruption left some here wondering, is the election system itself trustworthy or broken?

Gina Swoboda is the chairwoman of Arizona’s Republican Party.

Scott: Talk to me about this distrust in the election system here in Arizona.

Gina Swoboda: Yeah, it’s heartbreaking. It’s heartbreaking. It’s bad for turnout. It’s bad for the country. So we have had three election cycles in a row where we had various process issues or equipment issues, and it was highly problematic.

A review by the Republican attorney general alleged real problems, like how early votes were handled, but Democrats and even some Republican administrators said that review was full of falsehoods.

While election audits confirmed Biden’s victory, voters we met still doubt the system.

Scott: Do you feel confident when you cast your ballot that it’s appropriately counted and that the winner really is the winner?

Man: It’s pretty hard to tell right now, but we want to stay hopeful.

Woman: I don’t think our votes count just based on the last election. You’re supposed to fill it in with a pencil, but they gave us Sharpies. And so based off that, I don’t think it even counted last year or not last year, previous election. So, no, I don’t think it counts.

As we previously reported on Full Measure, Arizona had its share of 2020 drama. A former Democratic mayor and school board member was caught on camera illegally collecting ballots in the town of San Luis and served a month in jail. And in Scottsdale, a registered Republican received two years probation for voting her dead mother’s ballot.

Hopes that the midterm elections 2022 would go smoothly turned to dust amid widespread problems with voting machines in Maricopa County, home to six in ten Arizona voters. Republicans went to court later to keep the polls open, but they were turned down.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake had led the polls up to election day.

Kari Lake: We had a big day today, and don’t let those cheaters and crooks think anything different!

But, in a surprise, she lost to Democrat Katie Hobbs. Lake sued over the result but lost that too.

Scott: Is there anything that you regret?

Lake: I wish I had known that on election day, they were going to roll out equipment that didn’t work, but I don’t know how I would’ve prepared as a candidate.

The former news anchor is now running for Arizona’s open senate seat.

Lake: People come from out of town all the time and try to tell us everything’s fine in Arizona, but they weren’t here voting on election day. And so all we want is a fair, fair system. The laws are followed; that’s what we’re fighting for, and then we live with the results. But if the rules aren’t followed, we got a problem.

Mike Noble runs his own polling company in Phoenix and studied voter confidence.

Mike Noble: It’s interesting that overall, the majority of the electorate among Arizona voters, based on our polling, shows that Arizonans are confident in our elections. However, you notice that there is a group or a segment of the voter demographics that isn’t, which happens to be more on the Republican side of the aisle and typically more ideologically conservative. There are probably about half of Republicans, or a few more, who are not confident in the elections.

To build up public confidence in the electoral system, the local Recorder’s office, led by a Republican, has made changes, like locking mail ballots in cages, providing tours in person and online, and paying for 24/7 cameras so anyone can monitor the process in the tabulation center. They hope people can trust it if they can see what’s happening.

GOP party chair Swoboda believes close monitoring is key to a fair election. She’s hoping to recruit more than 7,000 people to monitor the polls this year.

Swoboda: We call them observers in Arizona. My goal is that we’re going to have our people, they’re going to sit, they’re going to observe, and we’re going to win this election.

Win or lose, here in Arizona this election will be watched more closely than ever before.

By the way, Pew says Democrats are thirty percent more likely than Republicans to express confidence that the presidential election will be fair.

 

Bad Meat

BrucePac, based in Durant, Okla., has issued a recall of approximately 9.9 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products due to concerns about potential contamination with Listeria monocytogenes. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced this recall following routine product testing that revealed the contamination. Below is the full alert as issued by FSIS.

---

BrucePac, a Durant, Okla. establishment, is recalling approximately 9,986,245 pounds of ready-to-eat (RTE) meat and poultry products that may be adulterated with Listeria monocytogenes, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) announced today.

The ready-to-eat meat and poultry items were produced from June 19, 2024, to October 8, 2024. They were shipped to other establishments and distributors nationwide and then distributed to restaurants and institutions. Information regarding product labels and the list of products will be provided when available.

The products subject to recall bear establishment numbers “51205 or P-51205” inside or under the USDA mark of inspection.

The problem was discovered after FSIS performed routine product testing of finished products containing RTE poultry produced by BrucePac and confirmed those products were positive for Listeria monocytogenes. Subsequent FSIS investigation identified BrucePac RTE chicken as the source of the Listeria monocytogenes.

There have been no confirmed reports of adverse reactions due to consumption of these products. Anyone concerned about an illness should contact a healthcare provider.

Consumption of food contaminated with L. monocytogenes can cause listeriosis, a serious infection primarily affecting older adults, persons with weakened immune systems, and pregnant women and their newborns. Less commonly, persons outside these risk groups are affected.

Listeriosis can cause fever, muscle aches, headache, stiff neck, confusion, loss of balance, and convulsions, sometimes preceded by diarrhea or other gastrointestinal symptoms. An invasive infection spreads beyond the gastrointestinal tract. In pregnant women, the infection can cause miscarriages, stillbirths, premature delivery, or life-threatening infection of the newborn—in addition to serious and sometimes fatal infections in older adults and persons with weakened immune systems. Listeriosis is treated with antibiotics. Persons in the higher-risk categories who experience flu-like symptoms within two months after eating contaminated food should seek medical care and tell the healthcare provider about eating the contaminated food.

FSIS is concerned that some products may be available in restaurants, institutions, and other establishments. These other establishments may have used affected meat and poultry in RTE products on store shelves or in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers. Restaurants, institutions, and other establishments are urged not to serve or use these products. These products should be thrown away or returned to the place of purchase.

 

Identify the Vehicle

1

The Luftwaffe rides.

 

2

 

3

 

4

Not a motorvehicle – but it has wheels

 

5

 

6

 

Identify the Feature Film

A

And…the character, if you’re able. Were his people originally from Finland?

 

B

Maybe you’ll get it, maybe you won’t. Are you a SciFi nerd?

 

C

Television series – Some say that Hillary Clinton is one of them.

 

Parting Shot

 

 

End