Tag: china

Root Cause Analysis

Why did it stop working, or why doesn’t it work?

Precocious doesn’t begin to define my childhood.

When my alarm clock stopped ticking, I carefully removed one screw at a time until all hell broke loose. Yes, gears and parts flew across the room, some lost forever in the dustbin of history. I never understood why the clock stopped working, as there was not much left to forensically examine.

The lesson learned was, don’t mess with clocks or things with springs. I didn’t understand that lesson as I have repaired more clocks than I can count.

Curiosity drove me to take more things apart that were discarded. I can admit now that I walked the alleys home from school on trash days to see what treasures were abandoned by our throwaway society.

TVs to Stereos, lawnmowers, edgers and a host of other things filled my storage shed with parts galore.

Why did they toss it out?
Why did it stop working?
What does it take to repair it?

I started a lawn service business using discarded lawn equipment I learned to repair. Knowing nothing about running a business, I cobbled together a plan. I made small advertisements to canvass the neighborhood using carbon paper, a ruler, and the best printing I could muster.

My teenage years were spent walking around the streets of my neighborhood, wagging a recycled lawn mower. My first car was paid for by my lawn-mowing efforts.

When I moved out of my parent’s home, they were delighted as my collection of treasures went with me. I found a modest place to live where I rented a mobile home.

Millennials today would not step foot in such a place as they don’t understand the value of doing it yourself. I digress… I tried many jobs, from press operator to managing a Radio Shack and TV repair. All self-taught. I learned how to spell autodidact, the personification of who I am.

The library was my home away from home. From history to how things worked, they knew me well.

For years I worked as a field service engineer. I met some of the most significant people during that time. Presidential candidates to high-profile attorneys and even rich villains who were later sent to prison for murder.

Befriending some of the pioneers in heart surgery was rather unique. I was intrigued enough to overcome my repulsion with blood and gooey things. Had I had the funds, I would have become a doctor. I witnessed surgeries, autopsies, and a host of other medical procedures.

I could name-drop, and many of you would know the names.

One of the doctors I knew was at Parkland working in the emergency room when Kennedy was brought in after ‘one loan bullet did so much damage to so many people.’ Pfft

I await the day that our leaders tell us the truth. I won’t hold my breath.

We have dumbed down society to the point that people willingly buy that story. We have stopped asking questions that are critical to the community. If we studied the rise and fall of the Roman Empire, we would see that we are headed down that same path. Instead of worshiping Athena or Mercury, we worship the dollar and cheap shit from China.

Since I funded everything in my life with a job of some kind, I had to settle for jobs where one didn’t need a license or certification.

With the invention of the throwaway razor, society has transformed into a disposable mindset which is as catastrophic to the climate as private jet travel.

We fill landfills with things that should be recycled. Apathy rules. Nobody calls anyone out on it.

Other than those idiots destroying artwork to vilify those who actually work and drive cars, the educated have taken a back seat to chaos and victimhood.

I was known as the guy who could fix anything at my church. I ended up with all kinds of home appliances from my extended family. I did this to assist those in my extended family and to keep shit out of the landfill.

While that is another story, I had to leave the church and find another and then claim ignorance so I could have time to myself. Ying and Yang…we need balance.

I made notes on why so much of this Chinese-made stuff was suddenly on my bench to repair for them.

Cheap stuff from China has taken me back to my days of digging through the trash. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

The Christmas tree this year has been adorned with the usual lights. Finding the one bulb that doesn’t work takes up more time than the tree is worth, but…why fill the landfill with a pre-lit tree for one 2-cent bulb?

We complicated the event with these little motors that twirl the ornaments around as if by magic.

Amazon delivered a package with these little plug-in devices, and guess what? They didn’t work or stopped working quickly.

The problem with this is equivalent to who I am. Most would take them back to where they would end up in the landfill. The makers of these things most probably have slave labor making them. The question was, are you smarter than a five-year-old Chinese kid?

Tiny clips held the front together, and this plastic thing on the back had the back together.

The root cause analysis of the failure is the gears on the lower part of the mechanism were assembled in a faulty shell. The pin that the gears spin on allows the axel to slide down to the motor.

Moving the gears to the other side, where the casing was in good shape, fixed the problem.

I found similar issues with the other motors, which surprised me.

If you look at some of my other blogs, you will find similar stories about cheap SHIT from China.

Why am I mentioning this?

I have examined many things from China that would not pass the Underwriter Laboratory or be UL-approved. They are not looking at things like this if they are still around.

Could this get hot enough to start a fire?

Maybe so on a real tree, which is a tinderbox in the making. The moral of the story is, don’t leave the tree unattended.

There are other devices that people should pay attention to, and those are what I call WALL WARTS.

Looking around your home, you will find many things powered by these square boxes that take up both outlets.

Many of them are not even fused. If your pet chews through the wire and it shorts, there could be a fire. Unplug those things that are not in use. They consume electricity even if they are not currently attached to an apparatus that is powered on.

Put down the video game and the remote control, and pick up a book.

Have a wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas!

Scott

Should we stick with incandescent bulbs?

I had written before on those fluorescent curly Q bulbs that were the next end-all-be-all to saving the planet. We talked about the fact that they contain mercury and, if something goes wrong, there might be a fire.

LED bulbs seemed much more promising.

Well, not so fast. First off, there is the issue of different types of LED bulbs for circuits with dimmers vs. without. How many ‘users’ of these things truly understand the difference and, how many care?

To that end, all LED bulbs entering the US market should be designed to work in either situation.

I feel a little like Ralph Nader when I mention this fact, as it seems obvious but, they should at the very least be clearly labeled.

The last batch of ‘dimmable’ LED bulbs I purchased clearly was marked ‘dimmable’ on the box, but no place on the bulb itself did it distinguish itself as dimmable.

My next nit to pick is quality control.

Out of six regular LED non-dimmable bulbs, I had a 50% failure rate.

The bulbs would either flicker or just not work.

My curiosity got the best of me.

If you notice those two blobs of solder, they are situated by the plus and the minus terminals for the LEDs. That blob of solder in the middle does not belong. In my business, we call that a solder bridge. This is incredibly shoddy work, and while the bridge is not zero ohms, it is close enough to render the bulb useless.

I have not opened the other two failed bulbs but, I can guess what I might find.

Are these a fire hazard?

I would like to believe that because these circuits are housed in plastic-coated aluminized housing that a circuit breaker might blow before the thing catches on fire.

The companies that create and sell these things need to tighten up quality control and, all of them should be made to fit into either a dimmable socket or a regular socket.

Since Underwriters Laboratories turned into a for-profit company, one must wonder who is watching out for the American public. Someone should be testing this stuff independently of company sponsors. Currently, the FTC takes complaints and tips but, to my knowledge, does zero pro-active research on something as basic as substandard or hazardous products.

While I loath bloated government, there is a need for an Underwriters Laboratories to test, check the quality, and so forth of products imported into this country.

Are they safe?

Is there lead paint?

Are they going to catch on fire?

Are they labeled correctly?

If I take the time to open the other two failed products, what will I find?

I would think that the Chinese companies would be overly careful of this type of quality. Just possibly, they know they are the only game ‘in town’ and that people will just accept the lack of value for the dollar and lower their expectations.

Maybe the Chinese should offer repair kits for their poorly constructed bulbs so those of us with the skills and know-how can fix them.

Is it worth it? Knowing these bulbs should last years, would it be worth your time to ‘fix them?’

Stay safe until we meet again.

If there is nothing new, maybe I will tell you all how to make Banana Bread.

-Cheers

Watch Out For Crap Like This.

From the early 70’s I was tinkering with electronics. While my peers were playing ball or getting their hearts broken, I was getting shocked and talking to people all over the world.

Peering through the back of a radio or perhaps the TV, one would see all these glowing amber lights. Soon after my fascination with the front of the radiant dial on the old floor model radio piqued, I wanted to know how it worked.

Garage sales and discarded appliances became a source of amusement for me. Boxes of small parts from different devices soon lived in the closet, under my bed, and soon I had to pare down the collection. A borrowed receiver, some junk box parts, and a crystal as were the rules back then, I was on the air as a newly minted Novice Amateur Radio Operator. The glowing 6AQ5 tube was the final for a whopping 7 watts unmodulated Carrier wave controlled by the steady fist of what they used to call ‘brass pounders.’

Today, 47 years after the date, I still remember Morse code, but I must confess I have not pounded a key in eons.

Tubes gave way to transistors, which soon turned into integrated circuits. Now we have software-defined radio that minimalizes the power usage and, of course, exaggerates the complications if you need to troubleshoot it.

Time marches on.

A man once stipulated that we stand on the shoulders of giants, and the same is true of the law of accelerated return of advancement regarding technology.

Most teenagers today have more technology in their back pocket or on their wrist than we used to send a man to the moon. What they do with it remains to be seen but, the possibility of great things is within their grasp.

Licensing for the Amateur Radio Service is nothing like it was. One could argue that nobody builds anything anymore, so it does not need to be as difficult as it was back in 1973.

I still tinker, albeit minimally and mostly with antenna design and theory. All that said to get to the point of this blog.

When I purchased this switch box online, I knew what to expect. Never in a million years would I push any wattage through this thing.

When I wiggled the wires a number of them came lose of their own accord, cold solder joints. — Here is the inside of the box. Wow.

In my office resides a desk, with several different apparatuses on it. From state of the art to antique, I still listen to and ‘mess’ with them on occasion. You see I always appreciate the glow from the dial light of old shortwave radios. I wanted a way to control the RF from my antenna to the different devices without messing with cables.

The name of this device is miss-leading, and I am confident if put to the test, they would call it a ‘name’ and say they never meant it to handle 1000 watts. With the wording CB in the advertisement, they could argue the illegality of using more than 12 watts PEP ergo ‘what were you doing with this thing?’

A smart person could take them to task, in that this thing would perform miserably at 27mhz.

Whoever designed it had a handle on DC but not AC. The integrity of the 50 ohms impedance is violated, making this a horrible device even for switching between receivers. Again I knew what to expect when I spent the $20. Why then did I buy it?

Real coaxial switches have the same essential components, they are just well thought out. If you look at the contact on the switch, you can tell that any kind of wattage would burn the connections and or arc over to the next. In its original construction, I would not even use it for low wattage use.

Below you can see how I modified it with coax and common grounds. One last modification is to add a ground lug to it, so I can ground the box to earth ground.

Enjoy your hobbies, and be very wary of crap from the Far East. While it is all made there, ‘for the most part,’ some companies have a reputation at stake, while some just want to sell cheap junk.

In its original form, it was just that, junk.

-Best

Scott

Am Radio kit from China

Cheap Chinese Radio Kit

As a radio enthusiast from way, back I thought that it might be fun to build a radio from a kit.

A quick search of eBay turned up a simple six transistor kit for less than $10.

I was interested in a kit that was as close to the radio’s we had in the 1960’s which would leave out anything with integrated circuits.

Ordering the kit it was about 3 weeks before it arrived and another 2 months before I opened it.

Not wild about the color of the case nor the front plate, but this is a kit, not a work of art; right?

notice the 2 transistor places marked v4

The board looks pretty straight forward.

Problem 1… the instruction are all in Mandarin.

T2, T3 and T4 Are not interchangeable.

Those character by the purple blotch are the designations of which are which.

On another part of the document is a chart for the resisitor color code. Since I know what it is I can work it backwards and figure out what the colors should be.

There you go…the primer as it were. BBROYGBVGW

Now working this backward…The IF cans were identified.

T5 is the audio output transformer and it too has a key. Notice the white dot on the board and the slightly raised up bump on the housing of the transformer.

The rest of this was simply to populate the board correctly and see if you guessed right.

I noticed on the circuit board that there were traces that were not completed for some reason. If I could read Mandarin I am guessing that possibly those are stages at which you could do tests before completing the entire circuit.

Notice the C and the D… There is also an A and a B which are not completed either.

Over to the left of the board you can see two of the incomplete circuit paths.

If you look carefully at the parts layout you will notice that V4 and V5 should really be V5 and V 6 as there are two V4’s wich in our nomenclature would be Q4,5 and 6.

So not only are the instructions worthless to those who cannot interpret Mandarine the printing is flawed.

My review and guess of this “kit” is that someone bought a bunch of them because they were dirt cheap as the printing was flawed.

The kit does not use a detector diode which causes it to lack sensitivity. My guess is that they are using the driver Transistor as part of the detector as well.

Since these are silicon transistors and not germanium that too hinders the performance as a detector.

Once built you must insert a 455Khz signal with the variable capacitor open and tune the black If can for maximum sound output.

Using a non-metallic tuning tool you can then tune for your radio stations. The two adjustments on the back of the variable cap work in conjunction with the oscillator and the last IF can to set the stations on the dial accordingly.

Even though this kit was cheap, unless you have some pretty good radio savvy, I would take a pass.

As an FYI the speaker is very tinny sounding.

I took a short video of it working but, the video type is not compliant with WordPress. Sorry about that.

-Best

Repairable light bulbs?

As an electronics guy, when something fails I like to figure out what failed and then why.

When lights fail, well they just fail!

Not so much with the CFL or LED variety.

led bulb taken by me — LED bulb with clear dome etched by some sort of out gassing from something.

Today I want to examine this bulb, an LED bulb that did not last the advertised amount of time by any stretch of the imagination.

The first thing to notice that there was some sort of out-gassing during its use which adhered to the inside of the plastic dome and actually etched the plastic in such a way that it is no longer translucent but rather opaque even after I cleaned it with 409.

The reason I pulled it apart is that it became dim.

Failed LED — Here you can see the electronics of the LED bulb and possibly you can see the loose leg of the electrolytic capacitor.

After disassembling it, I found that the electrolytic capacitor had become un-soldered on one of its legs.

Re-soldering it and re-assembling it, the bulb became bright again for about a minute until it flickered and quit.

LED — Same bulb flickering before second failure

Removing and testing the capacitors they were both in tolerance and I suspect OK.

Checking the LED’s one by one, I found one that was dead. As I tested each with a DVM the good LEDS would slightly illuminate. 98% of these when biased correctly would illuminate properly. One of them was much dimmer than the rest, and one of them would not light at all.

Failed LED bulb — Dead LED at the end of my thumb

If I were of the mind to, I could replace the dead LED and the dim LED and I would guess I would obtain more hours of life out of the collective bunch of LED’s

LED lights being in series to me says that when one fails, the light is dead and trashed. Much like that lousy string of Christmas lights that are a real bugger to keep going.

Does it make financial sense to “repair” light bulbs?
Will dead LED bulbs fill the garbage dumps with the same frequency of regular light bulbs or CFL bulbs?
The good news about LED bulbs is that there is no lead in the solder as it is Tin.

I would be interested in knowing what actually out-gassed from the light during its use?

What actually pitted or etched the plastic?

Looking closely you will see what looks like flux, that suggest that there is heat generated with use.

I am thinking about holding on to this bulb and when another like it fails, making one out of two, just because. Is my time worth more than this, of course it is! Does this interest me enough to prove a point? Yes.

While LED bulbs will save you cost in operation, will that cost be offset by the cost and reliability of the bulb? Even though there is a warranty on these bulbs as well as CFL bulbs, do you know anyone that puts a date on them when installed and then keeps up with the sales slip in case they don’t last the warranty?
I don’t think that you can prove much, and it would really be up to the benevolence of the store where you purchased them from to replace your product..

-Best

Attention #CEO, is your #network #Secure? #Sony thought so!

I received an email from someone asking me about the internet outage in North Korea.

Firstly, if we, (America) had anything to do with it, I think it analogous to punishing a pugnacious brat, by taking away their computer. This kid really needs a good spanking! For you who think that corporal punishment belongs in the dark ages, well you’re wrong, unless of course you consider North Korea is still in the Dark Ages!

This country, as stated in another blog; keeps its people in the dark. Looking at a picture from space one can tell that electricity is not even well distributed much less the internet or the free exchange of information and thoughts.

Contained inside the Red Outline is North Korea.

If you want to control a people, take away weapons, power, their ability to communicate with others, and feed them a constant feed of Bullshit daily! Prevarication is called for if you want a submissive people who will do what you say without question.

The people of this country are brainwashed into “loving their dear leader” and believe anything that they are told. Any type of truculence on their part is met with swift, brutal retaliation.

If the evidence indeed points to North Korea in the attack of Sony, (the only people with motive,) Most assuredly, there was someone on the inside at Sony. Sony should be looking real hard with forensic experts to determine what happened!

As a security geek, I would love to be part of that team!

The sad truth today is that there could be a spook! Money talks, with our lack of morality on the rise, it could be anyone.

Most firewalls today are pretty good at keeping bad people out so, planting a spook or a Trojan or worm of some kind on the inside of the firewall, enabling communication from the outside through some spoofed port that is normally open like 80, would have to be employed.

Many of the remote control desktop software out there today which some people use, violate all security protocols. The problem is that a lot of companies don’t hire a security officer or have a limited IT staff who are too busy resetting passwords and posting on Facebook to be bothered with doing nothing more than putting out fires.

If you look at the OSI model (which I dare say few are familiar with, consist of 7 layers. The OSI model (open system interconnection model) is a packet-based structure of layers, or protocol stack.

Starting at layer one, we have the physical layer which is basically your cable and associated hardware which allows your computer to communicate with the host. This layer is responsible for the “frame bit.”
Layer two is the layer that established the protocol used to communicate whether it is frame relay or Ethernet or what have you. This layer is called the data link layer.
Layer three is known as the network layer and is responsible for transmitting data from node to node. This layer provides switching and routing information.
Layer four or transport layer is responsible for such things as error recovery and end to end flow control.
Layer five or session layer sets up, coordinates, and terminates conversations, exchanges, and dialogues between the applications.
Layer six or presentation layer works to transform data into the form that the application layer can accept.
Layer seven or application layer is just that Everything at this layer is application-specific. This layer provides application services for file transfers, e-mail, browser, Google, and other network software services, and yes, Facebook. This is the layer that the end user has the most to do with in that applications exist solely at this level.

Now that you have a small idea of how one communicates over the internet, looking at this model, how would you interrupt traffic between them and us?

Keep in mind that North Korea gets internet from China and most probably through a Russian satellite. Neither of these do we have control over, so pulling the plug leaves out the physical layer.

Again, I could not use layer two; as again I don’t have control over that either.

Ah, now layer three I do have control over. What if I change their known ip addresses to non internet routable or private, much like the 192,172 or 10 subnets? Now they have to go to Russia or China and beg for another subnet and… as soon as they do, we kill that as well.

Why do we have private addresses you ask? Most reading this far probably already know this however, there are simply not enough addresses to give every company that wants one, a block of private addresses.

If you look at RFC 1918 a private addresses scheme was created that are not assigned meaning, that they cannot route through the internet. In this way business’s and homes and even North Korea can use them to their hearts content, on their private networks and then using something called NAT or network address translation can make your home computer look as though it is talking on a public address.

This BLOG’s intent is to underscore the need to have a good CIO and a good security officer. Your company could be the next Sony and as you can see, if some rogue country like North Korea who has a very limited pool of talent can take down a giant like Sony, just think what a Russia or China or other country who does not stagnate its citizens, and keep them in the stone age could do.

-Best to you and those that you care about and if I don’t get to write again by Christmas…Have a Merry Christmas!

#Gods and #Insects

Gods and Insect

The text below contains some graphic language and situations that some might find offensive.

Seventy three years after one of the greatest tragedies to ever befall this country was perpetrated; we find ourselves in the midst of yet another struggle for mankind.

The word “Mankind,” has a hollow ring to it as I write it. In light of recent events unfolding around the globe, I often wonder how it is that we have not managed to destroy ourselves. We have enough nuclear material to kill all living things on this earth many times over.

More than the WMD, we have a never ended supply of hate. We cherish the hatred, and feed off of it like it was some tonic that would cause destruction to our enemy’s. We see heinous crimes committed against our fellow man, and feed off the anger. We are taught to love our enemy but, that is a little tough when your heart is full of anger, isn’t it?

We see Americans who hate America and everything that it stands for. We watch as innocent people loose their livelihoods because someone ran afoul of the law and paid the ultimate price. We have lost trust in our governing bodies, and indeed don’t trust the man on the street, who we hire to protect us, from those that would harm us.

We have celebrities who for whatever reason think it necessary to foment racial tension using their celebrity status and while they are at it, desecrate the flag. I wonder how many wounded warriors and vets saw that; and would love to have been there to visit with you about that.

Our government lies to us, and the media covers it up. We have folks on either side of the isle that are either stupid, or ideologues, or just plain brainwashed into believing that communism will work “this time.”

Communism never has worked. The people at the top enjoy living like a king, and everyone else is subjugated to supporting them and their reckless endeavors while surviving on what is not taken from them.

There was an analogy that I heard the other night that made sense. If you think of the people as gods and insects, some are born gods, the rest insects. The gods don’t worry about stepping on a few ants!

Every communistic country has gods and insects! North Korea, a xenophobic country run by a 20 something year old god, or son of a god; keeps its people ignorant of the rest of the world and literally in the dark. They are the worker bees in that bee hive and there is one queen, well leader.

Kim Jong iI was truly given god status. His legacy includes the fact that he never defecated. Gods don’t poop. On his first ever game of golf he scored a 38 under par with no less than 11 holes in one! This God was enthralled with movies. While he enjoyed King Kong movies it is reported that he owned somewhere in the vicinity of 20,000 DVD movies. He enjoyed Pornography, and had a huge stash of same.

This God had a fear of flying, so he traveled everywhere by armored train car. While millions of North Koreans were starving to death, this god had shipments of live lobsters shipped to his train as he traveled. Dignitaries that traveled with him from time to time noted that whatever kind of food you wanted, was delivered.

His list of accomplishments goes on to say that he composed 6 operas in 2 years

This god liked the spirits to the tune of $800,000.00 in one year. Cognac Hennessy and Burgundy red wines from France were also shipped to his train.

Officially, Kim was born in Siberia while is father Kim-iL Sung was in exile. The “official Korean story is” that He was born in a log cabin on North Koreas highest mountain, where the event was marked by a double rainbow and a bright star in the sky.

This particular God had a reverence for the King, Elvis Presley. He had several jump suits and even had glasses that looked like the kind that Elvis wore.

After his death, his son took the rains and it is reported that his son went and had plastic surgery to look more like his father.

While they call it the “Democratic Peoples republic of Korea,” that is where democracy ends.

There are gods, and insects.

Some other not so nice gods were:

Talat Pasha.

As the Grand Vizier of the Sultan in the Ottoman Empire circa 1917 – 1918 Talat declared an order to wipe out the Armenian Race. They were forced into concentration camps, force to trudge naked with no food or water and when they could no longer continue they were killed. The entire male population of Angora was exterminated. The methods of their killing were bayonets, clubs, axes, hammers, spades, saws, and scythes. Many were mutilated via their genitalia. Tens of thousands were burned, drowned, poisoned, crucified, boiled and beaten to death. Talat is accredited for killing over 1.5 million Armenians.

Josef Mengela

This physician was known as the Angel of Death in the Auschwits concentration camp. His job was initially to choose which Jews were to be sent to the concentration camps to be killed. He experimented on them like lab rats. This “person” is accredited with killing over 400,000 Jews by various methods including torture. Much like the Syrians he would torture children to see how long they could live while being tortured. He would choose twins and see if there were any differences. He escaped to South America where he died of a stroke in 1985.

Does this new Universal health care have such things in it like death panels? There is indeed a small group that will decide when they have spent enough on keeping you alive or when they should just let you die. How far have we really gotten away from playing god?

Reinhard Heydrich

This person was the Chief of the Reich Main Security Office and second most powerful person in the SS. His actions caused the death of millions of people. He was responsible for the mass murder of Soviet Officials and Russian Jews.

Saddam Hussein

This congenial fellow was responsible for the death of over 2 million people. He authorized chemical attacks killing over 5000 people. His other campaigns killed between 50,000 and 100,000 Kurds. Torture included such things as the gouging out of eyes, sever beatings, and electric shocks. This nice guy had 40 of his own relatives murdered. He executed over 400,000 Iraqis. Many were tortured and he had the sessions filmed so he could watch it later at his home.

Maximilien Robespierre

Here is a swell fellow who was the leader of the French Revolution. Originally he wanted the people of France to have freedom and rights but when he gained power all of that changed. He became fascinated with cutting off peoples heads! From reading his history there were most probably mental issues “paranoid schizophrenic” as he saw everyone as his enemy and thus cut off their heads via the guillotine. He had no favorites; from Aristocrats to ordinary folks he killed upwards of 40,000. Under his orders his men attacked Vendee, killing well over 100,000 men women and children. He believed that it was better to kill someone, than to forgive them.

Kim Il Sung

We have already referenced This “god” who killed over 3 million people as a result of the Korean war which he started. After the war he brainwashed the people of North Korea into loving him. Subsequently he killed all of his officers and rivals. More than 200,000 people were forced into concentration camps for offenses as small as dropping a picture of Kim. A crime committed by a father would not only cost him his life but that of his children and their children. Of over 22 million people, up to 3.5 million died due to starvation. His death was brought on by an argument with his son who has proven to be worse than his father.

Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini

This person was a religious leader from 1979-1989 He was the leader of the Iranian Revolution which killed up to 60,000 people. Shia law is a strict law which removes individual’s rights. Among strict dress codes there were harsh punishments for breaking any of them. One could be imprisoned and tortured for listening to music. People were lashed 100 times for kissing in public. Failure to believe in Allah meant death. Death could be met in a few different ways which included hanging, stoned, stabbed in the chest blinded, shot or burned alive to name a few. If you steal something your hand is cut off. Clubs cutters and acid were other methods they use for killing people.

Emperor Hirohito

Emperor of Japan from 1926-1989 This wonderful fellow and his army killed countless Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos and Indochinese. It was he who committed the war crimes known as the Rape of Nan king which alone killed over 300,000 people. 200,000 Women were sexually assaulted. Husbands were sometimes forced to rape their wife’s and or daughters. Young girls were raped and if they were too young to be penetrated, a bayonet was used first. A total of 10 million Chinese were forced into slavery. Many of these were tortured and some were eaten! Many of these were killed in various ways including beheading, burned, boiled, roasted, buried alive, and impaled. Some were hung by their tongues on iron hooks while some were used for bayonet practice while still others were cut in half by a sword.

These were not nice people. As the crimes piled up they outdid themselves by disemboweling, hacking, crucifying and dismembering men while similarly women were tortured by having a long stick of bamboo or sword through their vagina. Thousands were frozen to death and still others died from chemical attacks. 4 million people in Indonesia died from famine and 2 million in Vietnam. 400.000 died of disease and another 580,000 died after being human experiments. The Sook Ching Massacre killed up to 90,000 Chinese. Another 100,000 civilians in the Philippines died from the Manila massacre.

In fact, his men had orders to kill burn and loot all Chinese. Over 20 million Chinese and 10 million Asians in other countries were killed.

Nero

5^th Emporer of Rome in AD54 to AD68

He is responsible for the ruin of the empire. Not only did he kill his entire family the way that he did it was semi-unique in that some were killed in searing hot baths! He often raped women and cut off their private parts as well as the genitalia of men. Nero more than likely started the great fire that left its citizens destitute. He blamed the Christians which were then summarily starved to death, burned, torn apart by dogs, fed to the lions, crucified and even used as torches. Did he fiddle while Rome Burned?

Caligula

Romes 3^rd Emperor was a wild and crazy guy underscore Crazy! He liked sexual adventure. He became ill and his mental facilities were impaired. He believed that he was god. Under him the law became an instrument of torture. His belief was that all prisoners should have a painful death. He began to brutally murder folks for fun. He forced families to attend their children’s execution which often consisted of strangulation and decapitation. This man was truly sick as he would have people sawed vertically from their crotch to their chest. This man actually chewed on peoples testicles. People often preferred to die of suicide, versus being one of his victims.

Genghis Khan

Here is another lovely fellow. He conquered most of China. He killed people by pouring molten metal in their eyes and ears. Genghis and his army killed up to 60 million people or up to 30% of the world’s population.

Leopold II of Belgium

King of Belgium from 1865-1909 He ruled the Congo free state and he lied to the world telling them he was helping them. Nothing could be further from the truth. His men tortured and slaughtered millions of Congolese. Hundreds of thousands had their hands, feet, noses ears and heads cut off for not bringing enough rubber. Many villages were burned forcing them to flee into the jungle. His men flogged, raped and ate the natives. They slaughtered the children to the tune of hundreds of thousands. Leopold and his men are accredited for killing up to 10 million Congolese during his rain of terror.

Tomas de Torquemada

No paper on assholes would be complete without this man. This was the Grand Inquisitor of Spain. This man is responsible for the Spanish inquisition which many of you may reference in a time of rebuttal with someone but, I wonder how many really know what this was about.

This inquisition was to root out heretics, those who threatened the Roman Catholic Church. Remember during this time the church was not only the spiritual guidance place but it was the school and it was also the government! His first ploy was to get people to turn on one another. His spies manage to sew enough discontent that friends turned on friends and sons and daughters turn in their parents. Countless people were tortured, whipped, and forced to surrender all of their personal property. Children died of starvation. People were often naked when they were tortured. Foot roasting and suffocation were some of their favorite techniques. Others were hanged, burned alive or grilled.

Among some of the methods the rack is most probably one of the worst in that the victim would be stretched, often to more than a foot or more of his or her original height. It was then that the inquisitioner would rip of the victim’s nipples, tongue, ears, nose, and genitals, while others were skinned from their neck to their waste. You were tortured until you confessed to whatever heresy that you were accused of, and then they killed you.

Sounds a lot like the mob in Ferguson wanting a fair trial for Officer Wilson, and then a hanging!

Up to 10,000 Jews were burned at the stake, many died of starvation. By one account he killed over 30,000 people.

Mao Zedong

Here is a dictator that had some ambitions. His goal was to make China a superpower that could Rival Russia or even the US. In the process he created the largest Famine and genocide in history. Millions died of execution, starvation and or suicide. 5 million Chinese were executed. Mao turned neighbor against neighbor and sons against daughters against teachers. He used fear to root out every last hint of dissent. A criticism issued privately could lead to your death. The famine killed up to 45 million. While people were expected to work until they dropped, being late or unable to function would get you beaten. Mao killed 70 million of his own people.

I could go on..

If you want more, read about

Ivan the Terrible
Idi Amin
Pol Pot
Don’t Forget Adolf Hitler
Joseph Stalin

Ok, just one more…

Vlad “Dracula” The Impaler

All of these people were monsters. It wasn’t enough to kill someone; it was how horribly painful can I do it. Vlad would have a pole with a semi sharp end oiled and pushed up the person butt or other orifice. The person was tied in such a way that they could not get off and slowly the pole would work its way up through the body until it emerged out the persons mouth. The person could live a couple of days in excruciating pain which Vlad loved! He is said to have killed over 100,000 people. History records him eating around naked tortured bodies, drinking blood and many more gruesome details. Nice fellow!

History is rife with things that we have not bothered to learn. Had we; we might have remembered some of this stuff and when certain people violated the constitution we might object a little more strenuously. Instead of protesting the fact that a thug was killed by a cop, you may want to think about protesting a president which makes his own laws.

If you notice, most of these monsters, made their own laws; and they had their henchmen do their dirty work.

“You are either born a God or an insect. Gods should not spend time thinking about insects, because it is easier to do the things that gods must do if they don’t have to worry about stepping on some ants.”

I borrowed that last paraphrased paragraph from Hollywood. It was used in a line on a program on TV and it hit home with me.

Who ever get’s into office should really come from humble beginnings. I think they should have served in the military so they would think twice about sending them into harms way or at the very least, have the background to know what is feasible and what they are sending them into.

America does not have emperors or kings. The constitution is as germane today as the day that it was crafted Ms. Ginsburg. If you don’t think that, you should probably retire.

You see, I believe that all men are created equally. I believe that we have inalienable rights that are endowed to us by our creator, not government. Respectfully; We are not Bugs Mr. President, and you are certainly no god.

-Best

#terrorist #AWOL #twelveyearold #slimman

Today

So much to talk about today it seems surreal.

We unlawfully allowed 5 Osama Bin Ladens on the loose, negotiated with known terrorist to “get back” a solder that was AWOL, who had denounced his citizenship, converted to Islam, and is known for his stance on hating America! Was that a bargain or what?

On top of this we have his father, also who hates America Bless Allah from the White House and talk about how he intends to get more people released from Gitmo.

The White house of course is spinning this whole thing as an oversight!

Along with that news, 2 twelve year old girls after planning for some months, try to kill their twelve year old friend to please some fictional character made up by some pretty twisted minds, even by Stephen King’s standards.

Now the crime is so horrific that the girls are to be tried as adults! You see it really doesn’t matter what the crime is; you really need all of the facts before you pronounce a knee-jerk reaction like trying them as adults!

While I detest what these girls did, they were/are not mature enough to understand what they were getting into with the Slimman character; and they damned sure did not have the maturity to speak with Police after they were “assuming they were” Marandized. There should in fact be a law that would prohibit the police from Marandizing or taking statements from children without the presence of their guardians and or lawyer. They should in fact be required by law to only speak with them after the family has had the opportunity to get lawyers involved. I know that you probably don’t really care at this point you want these girls put away! This could have been your kids that fell into the wrong crowd or became charmed with mythical creatures that took over their lives! They are children, not adults and even though they did something very heinous they are not adults and therefor should not be tried as such!

Kids do stupid things and if they don’t have the maturity to deal with the twisted stuff they are exposed to through Hollywood, books, violent Video games, and stuff on the internet, bad things will happen! We have seen it time after time after time! After something bad happens a bunch of anti-gun loons come out of the woods and start the same old tired rant about how evil guns are! We simply never learn, or are too stupid to learn or most probably don’t want to learn as we have an agenda and we want that agenda to work, facts be damned!

Some “adults” can not wrap their minds around this crap so how in the world do we expect our children to? On top of this we are such a non-functional family oriented country that because we are so motivated to succeed; our children suffer and are quite literally at the hands of Hollywood and other outside influences. We are so removed from our family and friends that we have traded “pokes and likes” for real conversation!

And finally we have the Obama administration castrating the American Business man once again by calling for EPA regulations that will drive more and more companies overseas or out of business!

The Chinese may very well take the lead as an economic power but my guess is that they will also take the lead in cancer related deaths as they don’t have or care about clean air, water and so forth. They are very much overpopulated so what if a few tens of thousands die early due to cancer! They don’t have any kind of record of human rights or caring for, or about their people so, this does kind of fit.

By the way Al, Global warming is a “global” thing and taxing business’s over here by selling them carbon credits will have no effect on our air or the worlds green house gas emissions as industry will simply move elsewhere. Those who do not move will simply raise the price of their products in such a way that will take them out of the global market as China and other countries without these restrictions will make the widgets cheaper.

Yes you can charge some ridiculous import tax but, you will only continue to hurt the American People who can ill afford to live today, much less in the future.

This is much like Seattle raising the minimum wage to $15 and hour. If I have to pay my employees twice what I pay them now, I will have to raise the price of my “widgets” to make up the difference. So those employees, who now have twice as much money to spend, will have to pay twice as much for goods and services by others. But we as a country are so stupid, that we can’t figure that one out.

Macro Economics must not be taught anymore. If you raise the minimum wage of “entry level jobs” guess what else you will have to raise? Yep, the salary of those who have worked their way up to $15 an hour as they are no longer entry level and it certainly is not fair to them to get the same wage as a rookie! If I am paying all of my employees more guess what happens to the cost of my widgets, and the stuff that I need to make my widgets.

Of course with the way that we are printing money, it will not be too much longer when paper money will be absolutely worthless and your $15 an hour will be a hollow victory as your money will be worthless as well, as there won’t be anyone in business to pay you.

In case you don’t have a clue what hyper-inflation looks like, follow this link.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weimar_Republic

Take a look at the stacks of money that the kids are using to play with instead of wooden blocks! That basket of money is for A single loaf of bread… How is that $15 an hour looking to you now?

Minimum wage is for entry level jobs, not real jobs. If you want more money; get a real job. Stop the government from strangling American companies through these EPA regulations with your vote! Become educated on what is going on in the world and stop listening to the Carney Spin from DC. They don’t tell the truth. Get your news from lots of different places and not just the main stream “lap-dog” media that we have “enjoyed” for the last 6 years.

It will be very interesting to see how history treats this time in our history. It will be even more interesting to see how we survive it!

-Best

NO!

“No” is a word that too many CEO’s need to hear. The problem is that too many hire people that will agree with them or say “yes” or “great idea” or some other such yes-man technique as they either fear that their boss does not want to really hear the truth or they are cowards or simply not well informed.

It is not only CEO’s that need to hear the word “no” but a lot of politicians need to hear it as well.

For instance, did Truman really need to drop not one but two atomic bombs on Japan to end the war? I would argue that one would have been enough and I would also argue that it could have been dropped on a small island that we were loosing so many marines on or perhaps an unpopulated island. Leveling that island would have been enough to demonstrate our resolve and abilities.

The simple truth is that Japan was already war weary and the people of Japan did not want this war. We could speculate who and why things transpired the way that they did but the end results of those decision have still not fully played out.

Yes, Japan surrendered. But now any dictator or want-to-be dictator in the world set their sites on getting an atomic bomb too. If the US had them than of course Russia needed them hence so many years of the cold war. Of course China would need them and of course any country with a dictator would need them as well!

Like Gunpowder, this is something that Einstein should have kept under his hat. Any time anyone makes any sort of advancement in technology, the dictators of the world wonder how to use it as a weapon. If one country has it, than they need it as well.

We have enough weapons of mass destruction to kill every living thing on earth many times over and yet we still keep trying to make something just a little more lethal.

No, that is not a good idea. Wasting so much money and resources on finding better ways to kill is just so juvenile. Now you put these weapons of mass destruction in the hands of irrational dictators and you place the entire earth and all of its inhabitants in grave danger. Brinksmanship is not lost on today’s “leaders” who seem to be nothing more than your classic neighborhood bully who will gladly get someone else to do his fighting for him.

If a race of beings from another planet were to visit and watch some of our news or other “entertainment” they would most certainly put some sort of beacon around our solar system warning anyone else to stay the hell away! We have entire countries to this day that are xenophobic in nature and bent on destroying anyone that does not agree with or cow down to them. This is 2014 and this is going on today!

Imagine if you will the difference between you and the Chimpanzee. Where DNA is concerned there is exactly one percent difference between human DNA and that of the Chimpanzee. That is 1%, that is it! Now let’s talk about intelligence of humans compared to that of the Chimpanzee. We think that we are intelligent because we have a space station, physics, music, weapons of mass destruction and of course we have E=MC2. The Chimpanzee can make and use tools, stack boxes to get to a banana and even use tree branches to escape their confinement in a zoo.

If this race of Aliens were watching us they may very well compare us to their progeny when they are in kindergarten.
Their 1rst grade kids may come home from school with something that looks like your masters thesis while ours come home with macaroni art or clay ash trays. To think that we are intelligent and that we could have anything to offer to a race of aliens that can traverse interstellar space borders on hubris.

One of our most beloved “inventors” was Thomas Edison. What history does not tell you is that this man was anything but nice. When Tesla came up with the concept of AC vs. DC as a way to power the city, Edison was furious. Instead of being an open minded person, he tried his best to discredit the idea. One of the ways that he did this was to electrocute an Elephant in public trying to turn public opinion on AC.

While both men were “out of the box” thinkers, one needed some morals; the other needed some business acumen.

Some CEO’s of auto manufacturers really needed someone to say “no” to them.

The Chevy Vega with that crappy engine comes to mind along with the Pinto’s exploding gas tank. GM using plastic parts in transmission was another not so bright spot in trying to make things cheaper. Liquid filled motor mounts was another costly invention that failed and let’s not forget “air bag suspension!” “Not a better idea!”

Bringing German engineering to Texas was really not too smart in the early days, as air cooled engines in 100 plus degree weather did not work so well. The VW Microbus while a really cool looking van was not really very well suited for Texas or any place that was not flat. They were so lacking in power that if one had to go up hill, they may very well not make it. On top of that if the engine got a little oil and or grease on the housing and one did not take great care to keep it clean, it might very well catch on fire as was the fate of many of those vehicles. It would be an interesting statistic to see what percentage of microbuses did not burn up compared to those that did.

Aluminum wiring for houses was another area where someone should have said “no.” While aluminum wire conducts electricity better than copper and while it is cheaper than copper; that is where it stops. When you connect aluminum wire to electrical outlets, switches and so forth that are not specifically designed for this, you increase the chance of fire.

Dissimilar metals have different coefficients of thermal expansion due to differing resistances of the metals. I have actually tracked down problems like this in a house that was made in 1957. Using an old transistor radio tuned off of any station, I tracked the source of interference down to an electrical socket in one of the rooms of the house. Removing the cover of the socket revealed a blackened terminal that was arcing right in front of me when a load was present. This arcing causes heat to be generated. The heat can be sufficient enough to cause a fire to start. Houses made in the late 50’s 60’s and 70’s in the US should be checked for such wire and if it exist, should be brought up to code.

Even though it would have cost the builder a few more dollars, they elected to save a few dollars on each house and use aluminum. Someone should have said “no.” How many people have died in house fires caused by aluminum wire?

Ralph Nader, love him or hate him is such a person who is an activist for humanitarianism among other things. Back in the day, I was not a fan because it was his activism which did away with the Corvair.

The 61 Corvair was probably one of the coolest cars to drive but also very dangerous. Rear engine cars create an environment that would allow a car to spin out more easily as the weight was behind the axle. Along with cars like this, his activism did away with the metal dash.

I restored an old Victrola not too long ago. While the genius of the device “again thanks Edison” is impressive, looking under the hood so to speak is what impressed me more.

Under the deck is a large spring and a governor consisting of weights that move out the faster the turntable spins. This governor is quite an impressive piece of mechanical engineering. The weights resemble steel balls that when expanded, slow the rotation down. Much like a ballerina bringing her arms in, speed up; so too the governor of the Victrola. This is where the phrase “balls to the walls” came from. The idea was of course to go fast enough to cause the balls of the governor to expand far enough to hit the casing “walls” around them.

Anyone in power of anything needs a governor. Even Bill Gates needs such a thing, although I suspect it is his better half. We all need someone to challenge our decisions from time to time. Some would argue that religion serves in such a capacity, others would argue, that is why we have laws.

So if we had neither; what would we be like as a people today?

One only has to study history to learn the answer to this. The problems are that we are too busy doing other things to look back. If I were to tell you that early man hunted, killed and ate each other as matter of day to day life, some of you would not believe me. Some of you would say that you had heard of it in the deepest darkest parts of Africa a long time ago. It amazes me that we have survived our animalistic instincts and tendencies.

If I were to tell you that there was a group of people that considered torture an art form, you might shake your head. Certainly not you decry.. [1]

If reading about the Assyrians does not give you nightmares, read about some of the 25 most brutal torture techniques. [2]

[3] Vlad the Impaler was someone history should learn from. Real nice guy!

History is full of this stuff. When we hear on the news that someone was murdered in some drive by shooting or some crime of passion, by histories standards, that isn’t nothing! I don’t mean to diminish their acts but by yesterday’s standards, that is child’s play.

There is a culture that is into bondage and such and one has to wonder if it is a leftover from earlier times when nothing was off limits.

The very cross that people wear around their necks is a miniature copy of a device that was made for torture. The traditional way to punish a criminal in those days was to nail them to that cross. This made it very difficult for them to breath so they would let them suffer for several hours before they would come along and break their legs so they could no longer support themselves, thus suffocate.

When they execute someone by lethal injection they are executing them on a device that looks like that very cross, just a little wider place to place the body, soon to be corpse, arms stretched and tied and feet held in place while the paralytics enter into the body and stop the bodies ability to breath. Some say that this is too kind and that they should be killed in some horrific manner. Really, does that sound familiar?

These documents are hard to read. This is important stuff as this is where the human race came from. This is where you and I came from. This is where Stalin and Hitler and many other modern day killers, came from.

We are capable of horrific acts! We can choose. We also come from the likes of Brahms, Ptolemy, Aristotle, Plato, Chopin, Pythagoras, Newton, and Voltaire to name just a scant few.

I often wonder about these violent video games that some play. They are very much simulators for war, violence and the conditioning of the brain to accept such things. We come from a very violent past and much like the alcoholic, steering clear of such things is probably a good idea.

We have thousands calling for stricter gun control. Do they think that laws regarding guns will affect criminals? It is a knee jerk reaction to violence, nothing more, and would serve nothing other than emboldening the criminal element among us.

Japan would never invade the mainland and it was never their plan. Why? They knew even back then that most Americans had guns.

If you think that I am full of shit, ask yourself “why these video games are developed in the first place, who thinks up this stuff.” Than ask yourself, “why do they sell so many of them, why are they so popular.”

Pornography fills something inside us that is basic and part of the programming. Violence does the same thing both in movie and of course video game and I would argue that some people who practice it for real have the need for the adrenalin etc that it releases.

It would be an interesting experiment for someone to develop video games where one can capture and torture their victim in ways mentioned below. Complete with screaming and gnashing of teeth and so forth. As sad as it is, I would bet that they would sell. The interesting part would be to see what demographic buys them, how many hours they “play the game” and how does it affect them. I would argue that it would condition them to be “monsters in the making.” The world needs less of this stuff, not more of it. That is my humble opinion.

Science makes arguments against the existence of God. A belief in God humbles one and I think assist us with being moral. Some will claim that they are a good person and don’t need such a belief to “be good.”

If you use God as an excuse to stop asking questions than that is a problem. Where there is mystery, a question to be answered, than search for that answer. Science and God must necessarily co-exist.

The links below are to some sites that speak of evil people and or techniques used to torture people. These are a scant few that history is full of.

All through the history of man, violence prevails. Some of the violence is mystical in nature and some is downright evil. The American Indian tortured white man by some horrific means as did the [6] Chinese torture people as did the Japanese. [5]

When you read about some of this stuff, it really makes you wonder why God would allow this?

[1] http://faculty.uml.edu/ethan_Spanier/Teaching/documents/CP6.0AssyrianTorture.pdf

[2] http://list25.com/25-most-brutal-torture-techniques-ever-devised/

[3] http://www.vladtheimpaler.info/the_impalement.html

[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Captives_in_American_Indian_Wars

[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanking_Massacre

[6] http://www.ishr.org/Methods-of-torture-in-the-People-s-Republic-of-China.1047.0.html

These links are a drop in the bucket. That is the sad part.

No, no advanced race or being would come here looking for anything from us. They might come here to enslave us, eat us, kill us and take our resources much like we exterminate insects before we build a house on the land they occupied.

Unless they like music, or poetry or our understanding of math and science and physics I would not hold much hope for a friendly meeting.

As always I welcome your thoughts, input, and of course enlightened conversation regarding this or any other blog that interest you.

-Best to you and those that you care about.