Divemedic

A Request

For the first time ever in my blogging career, I am thinking about having a guest post or a collaborative post from another blogger. It came about from a question posed by commenter Joe Blow at this link.

I used to wonder, like what would be the sign, how would you know the communists really have taken over, bolshevism is coming, etc , etc… like, how would you know that balloon has gone up?

My answer was:

I posted on that just after the 2020 election. You can read it here.
https://areaocho.com/vzyali/

The trials have begun.
https://areaocho.com/cia-insurgency-manual/

The show trials MUST happen. I outline why here:
https://areaocho.com/show-trials-4/

You bet your ass that I am closely watching the lists of Republican donors and prominent political figures. If the disappearances begin, you will know that its time to disappear before you hear the knock at your own door.

My experience is all on research and guesses on my part. I would be interested in hearing from anyone who isn’t from the US, and experienced it firsthand.

So here is my request to all of my readers:

If you have any first hand experience or memories of what this would look like from your own past, it would be an honor if you could share some firsthand experience with all of us. You can either share them with me so that I can do a post, or post it on your own blog. If you are interested, please email me at the link in the sidebar. Divemedic at areaocho.com. I have also reached out to another blogger to see if he would be interested in this project.

By Divemedic, ago

Remote Control

The EU has a law that takes effect next year- it would mandate that cars made after June 2024 have installed in their innards a device that allows the government to remotely limit when, where, and at what speeds the car can be driven.

The State of New York is proposing similar legislation, calling it a “safety measure.” New York City is also proposing that the devices be added to the vehicles of people with older cars who are caught speeding.

The limiting device, once installed, would bar vehicles from traveling no more than 5 mph above the posted speed limit. The devices would have to be installed in cars caught six or more times by an automated speed camera.

Now go back and refer to my post about updates to electronic devices being updated and changed without your permission before you proceed with this post.

This isn’t about speeding. New York makes far too much money from speed cameras each year. $100 million each year, in fact. There is no way that they are getting rid of this income stream. No, this is not intended to stop speeding. It’s obviously for another reason.

How long do you think it will take before this device has been expanded to limit or stop people from driving to a political protest? Or from preventing anyone who doesn’t vote for Democrats from driving? Or even disable the cars of Republicans on election day? This is a way for the government to remotely control the people.

By Divemedic, ago

Clique

From the local cops/news:

Several vehicles in an Apopka neighborhood were vandalized last month with inappropriate slurs and images. The phrase “CKM” — likely meaning “Certified Kutt Mafia,” which is an Apopka-based clique — was also spray-painted onto one of the vehicles, police said. Detectives said that members of CKM are young juveniles and some adults who live in the Apopka area, several of whom have extensive criminal histories.

So they aren’t criminal gangs any more. We now call them “cliques”

By Divemedic, ago

“Male Subject” Shoots Car After Driver Honks

An individual described in a news release as a “male subject” was reportedly one of several people crossing Grove Street when the victim honked their horn at the group. The subject then allegedly brandished a gun and fired a single shot into the vehicle’s trunk as it left to the north.

To the police: If you are looking for him and want the public to give you leads, perhaps a more accurate and precise description is in order…Never mind, a picture speaks 1,000 words.

By Divemedic, ago

Ask and Receive

Many have asked for a video copy of Sharpton’s boneheaded quote. Here is a link to it. I can’t find it on a platform that will allow me to embed it, so follow the link to see it yourself.

One day, our children’s children will read American history, and can you imagine our reading that James Madison or Thomas Jefferson tried to overthrow the government so they could stay in power?

The best part? MSNBC though his quote was so pithy and poignant that they decided to highlight it on their feed:

I’m so glad that MSNBC brought in a subject matter expert for this segment. So I have a question for Mr. Sharpton. Who wrote the following phrase?

whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive… it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

was it:

  1. Thomas Jefferson
  2. Donald Trump
  3. James Madison
  4. 1 and 3, above

No cheating.

By Divemedic, ago

My Plan

The Biden administration is again pushing for free student loan money. This time, they are trying to make it income dependent. Keep in mind that SCOTUS has ruled that the President doesn’t have the power to forgive student loans, so he is trying to dictate payment terms.

Biden’s new Saving on a Valuable Education (SAVE) plan is setting repayment plans based on a debtholder’s income and family size. Under the income-driven repayment plan, many debtholders would pay $0 per month. Single wage earners would not pay any money until they make $40k or more a year, while a family of three would not repay any money unless they make $60k or more per year.

I have a better idea. We need to stop overeducating people for jobs that don’t require it. If a student:

  • attends college using a student loan and fails to earn at least a 2 year degree within 4 years, they are not eligible for ANY public assistance, no refundable tax credits (including EIC), no further student loans, and all of their lottery winnings and tax refunds are forfeited to the loan servicer until their loan is repaid.
  • earns a 2 year degree and makes less than an amount equal to $35k a year or twice the annual cost of attending that college (whichever is more), the college must refund all tuition paid, directly to the loan servicer.
  • earns a 4 year degree and makes less than $40k a year or three times the annual cost of attending that college (whichever is more), the college has to refund all tuition paid- directly back to the loan servicer.
  • 4 year degree and makes less than $50k a year or four times the annual cost of attending that college (whichever is more), the college has to refund half of all tuition paid.

Any tuition not refunded by the college must be repaid by the graduate, and the payment will be equal to 10% of their pretax salary until the loan plus interest is repaid.

My plan will have multiple effects- it will end useless degrees, will keep tuition under control, and will make colleges more selective in who gets admitted to college, unless they make arrangements to pay with funds other than student loans.

By Divemedic, ago

Wayne Must Need Cash

I have been a life member of the NRA for about 25 or 30 years now. It cost me $300 back then. Before that, I was a recurring annual member. So I will say that I was surprised to get this email:

I haven’t gotten my magazines in more than a decade. That doesn’t stop them from bombarding me with requests for money from the NRA-ILA. Apparently, they have lost my membership information. Or maybe Wayne LaPierre just needs to add to the $100 million or so that he has stolen already.

No thanks. There are other organizations that are actually doing stuff to protect my rights. I donate my cash to FPC, and they are using it to kick some ATF ass.

By Divemedic, ago

Updates

I am getting annoyed at the new technology trends. It seems like everything that you own, from your computers, to cell phone, and even your car is being controlled by someone else. These endless “system updates” are becoming another income stream for technology companies that are looking to use your connected equipment to make more money. Car companies are charging people a monthly fee for things like using their cruise control and their air conditioning. The air conditioner costs $15 a month, the ability to tow a trailer is $20 a month, and engaging the four wheel drive sets you back $40 a month. Heck, even the seat warmers cost $4 a month. It will cost you $20 a month to use your key fob to remotely unlock or start your vehicle.

Remember when you used to buy software? Now you rent it by paying yearly fees to use the stuff that you bought.

One of the things that I did at my current house was to make it a smart house. I have more than 150 smart devices: I can control ceiling fans, lights, irrigation, and even the thermostat- all with smart devices. The backbone of the system is Samsung Smartthings. It has been great. I started doing home automation back in 2014. Since then, my system has expanded.

One of the best things is my lawn sprinklers. I have a personal weather station on the roof of my house, and the system analyzes how much rain I have gotten, using that to adjust the schedule and amount of water the lawn gets. The lawn looks amazing, and the only effort it requires on my part is some weed and feed every 3 months or so.

When I am out of the house, the system monitors for intruders, water leaks, fires, turns the air conditioning to a more economical setting, turns off the water heater, locks the doors in case I forgot, and even turns lights on and off to make it look like I am home. It monitors my freezer temperatures and the humidity of the gun safe and will alert me if there is a problem. The system feeds and waters my wife’s cats, and empties their litter box. My carpets are vacuumed and floors mopped. All automatically. Until we decided to move, I was going to add robotic lawn mowing to the stable and get rid of my lawn service. I feel like George Jetson. Nearly every household chore is automated, and it makes things very convenient and easy.

Until recently. Samsung has been making changes to their systems so that they are easier for people with no tech skills to use. What this means, is that my devices are getting changed and “dumbed down” to the point where I don’t think my next house will be a smart house. Where I used to be able to write, edit, and change the drivers to my system, it is becoming less so.

It all started with changes to how the system dealt with my Sonos speakers. I once had it set up so that the system made announcements over the speakers: things like “your wife is home” when she would arrive, or “your in-laws have arrived” when they came over, so that I knew to put pants on. Then there was a system update 2 years ago, and the speakers don’t talk to the system anymore.

It’s little things. I used to have the ceiling fans set up so that I could adjust their speed from 0-100 percent. Last night, there was a system update, and now my choices are low-medium-high. If I had wanted low-medium-high, I would have set it up that way.

It isn’t just Samsung. A couple of years ago, Google bought out the company that made my fire alarms. Now I can’t change, replace, or add anything without updating the drivers to Google device drivers and becoming a NEST customer, which will charge me money for monitoring the system.

So going forward, I have a few choices:

  • Continue with Smartthings, and keep losing functionality. It will still require a fair bit of time and money to set up the new house
  • As long as I am moving, I could switch to Home Assistant, which I have been playing with and will give me a lot of control, but will even more work, a steep learning curve, a good bit of money, and I just don’t know if I want to invest the time and money to do it right now
  • go back to having a “dumb house”
  • or sharply cut back on what automation I do have, to get what I refer to as “a mildly retarded house” with a lot less functionality, but at low cost and not a lot of work.

There is a lot going on right now, and I don’t know if I have the time for most of the options above.

By Divemedic, ago