Putting Myself About

Posted on January 5, 2023 by Fec

I got out of the house, today, and enjoyed the weather by visiting my old haunts, the soft underbellies of Burlington, Greensboro, and High Point, where small manufacturers needed custom software, back in the day.

I left business cards with CPA firms, with whom I used to work. Otherwise, only UPS is advertising that they are hiring.

Most businesses are locked down, lest they be mobbed with the unemployed, desperate to document their job search on NC Works.

I successfully applied and tested for a job at Home Depot. UPS and Lowe’s not so much.

One day, I’ll have an opportunity to explain to a CPA that I have a secure software solution, not available on the internet.

A couple of weeks getting accustomed to custom software, and I may as well be selling drugs.

From what I saw, today, my money is on Burlington. The I-85 corridor toward Mebane offers more good hunting.

I was a dBase guy, which meant becoming a FoxBase guy and then a Microsoft Visual FoxPro guy.

And then we got moved to .NET. I even migrated the rating app front end for Carolina Farmer’s Mutual to .NET, before I was ceremoniously fired after seventeen years for telling the guy who ran the place exactly what I thought of him.

Since I quit my eight years running a website in the back of the Wife’s dress store on Halloween, after headbutting the morning manager at the restaurant next door, who had called me a faggot and consequently socked me smartly upside the head, I’ve dusted off my copy of VFP and rendered a piece of software featuring all the old bells and whistles.

After twelve years of being poisoned with eBay and Shopify, I’m back in the world of brick and mortar apps which are bespoke and do not rely upon the internet. It isn’t that the internet will go down – but that it will become unsafe – especially for anyone trying to do anything proprietary.

I really want Mike Rowe to revive a perfectly wonderful Windows-based programmable multi-user database.

On Baker Road in High Point, there is a trucking company which uses dBaseIII+ software written and maintained by Russians. I called on them twenty years ago, and then again, recently. We were in the convertible. Blew the Wife’s mind.

Among the exquisitely beautiful relationships I have enjoyed is with a Liberty CPA named Robert Ward, who directly my development of The Chair Co.’s GL, AP, AR, PR and Inventory software, as we did $10M per year, building 2500 glider rockers and ottomans per week, prior to NAFTA in 1994. By 2000, it was gone.

The owner, Tom Ferguson, was a cost accountant who grew to be a force in the industry, while gleefully giving me one highly defined task after another. Inscrutably, he sold out to his reps in 1996 and ended up getting most of his millions.

Of course, the reps mortgaged their homes and chose a HP furniture magazine editor to run the place. He took one look at me and started a contract with the software guys on I-85, near the airport.

I seem to remember coming back from a cruise with the Wife in March, to find all the hardware and software I used to keep 10 PCs and several printers running all day, in the attic.

I came back a few times, to fix problems associated with Y2K, but the new guys said it would take a year and $100k to replicate our Bill of Materials in the Inventory, to calculate product cost.

That was a fantastic crash and burn. I won’t bore you with my seventeen year empire among NC County Mutual insurance companies, but it was spectacular.

Posted in Software Disasters | Tagged | Leave a comment

1/3 of Duke Energy’s Power Plants Went OFFLINE | 8AM – December 24

Posted on January 1, 2023 by Fec

Poplar Preparedness put up the video.

The New-Normaling of Blackouts

To be very clear: rolling blackouts are not now, nor have they been, normal in the US. Therefore, having to expect rolling blackouts going forward would be abnormal. Nevertheless, as utility providers and power grid monitors have recently warned, the more grids are saddled with intermittent, unreliable wind and solar facilities, the more unreliable they are becoming. They’re more prone to capacity shortfalls and blackouts.

Duke Energy acknowledges multiple generators failed, despite promise they were fully prepared for extreme cold

Duke spokesman Jeff Brooks did not have details on which units failed to respond.

“We did have some reduced power generating capacity, and were challenged in our ability to secure additional power from outside of our service area due to all utilities in the region dealing with similar challenges from the extreme cold,” said Brooks.

NC Utility Commission attorneys who represent energy consumers, known as the Public Staff, confirmed that multiple generating units were offline or not responding at the time of the outages. They did not have details on the exact number of units affected or what percentage of Duke’s generating capacity they represented.

Duke Energy told regulators it had a plan to keep customers informed if rolling blackouts were needed. They even had social media posts ready. But there was no advance notice to customers before the outages started.

Energy utility expert Liza Reed, a research analyst with the nonprofit Niskanen Center, says that probably means Duke Energy was caught off-guard, too, and needed to move quickly to avoid a much worse outcome.

Duke Energy could reimburse customers for losses related to recent rolling blackouts

Power companies are protected under the law from outages that are out of their control.

However, last week, Duke Energy turned the power off intentionally before the “Act of God” could occur.

That decision could be a major difference for many families who were left in the cold.

Duke Energy said it turned people’s power off to avoid a bigger catastrophe from last week’s cold blast.

But for families who rely on that power for medical equipment and survival, that explanation isn’t cutting it.

Duke Energy customer Stacy Staggs’ daughter has medical equipment that requires battery power to run.

She said there wasn’t any communication about the blackouts.

“So we didn’t know the power was coming back on,” Staggs said.

And because families didn’t know, they had to make expensive, split-second decisions because lives were depending on it.

“I feel like Duke should get all of those bills,” Staggs said.

Carter learned Duke Energy is going to look at customers’ bills and decide whether to pay any of them.

A spokesperson said customers can submit a liability claim for an evaluation online.

There are supposed to be different protocols for customers with medical needs.

Duke Energy has a Medically Essential Program, which is aimed at giving advanced notifications for service interruptions.

Duke Energy confirms some power plants ‘unavailable’ during Christmas Eve blackouts

There have been reports that has many as six plants may have had planned or unplanned outages in specific generating units that day. Those were Dan River combined cycle plant, the Lee combined cycle plant, Marshall Unit 1 coal plant, Mayo coal plant, Robinson nuclear Unit 2 and Roxboro Coal Unit 4…

“It’s very strange Duke would have ramped down their gas so much in the middle of rolling blackouts, unless one or more of their gas units failed,” CCEBA says in its assessment of what happened on Christmas Eve.

From a year ago: Duke Energy Reaches $1.1B Deal to Resolve North Carolina Coal Ash Cost Issues

Duke Energy is aggressively pursuing net-zero carbon emissions ambitions. So far, it has announced plans to retire all its coal-only units in North Carolina and South Carolina by 2030. Since 2010, it has already retired 50 coal units—a combined capacity of 6.5 GW. 

The utility’s 10-year capital plan will require substantial near-term investment, but it will provide for a doubling of its enterprise-wide renewable portfolio from 8 GW to 16 GW by 2025 and bring its regulated renewable capacity to 50 GW by 2050. It will also add more than 11 GW of energy storage across its system by 2050. 

In October, the company said its current five-year capital plan will increase by about $2 billion to approximately $58 billion. And beyond that, Duke Energy’s 2025 to 2029 capital plan will be in the range of $65 billion to $75 billion. However, officials said that to keep customer bills affordable, the company will mitigate these capital increases by reducing other costs. 

Power failures amplify calls for utility to rethink gas; NC regulator to review Duke Energy’s rolling blackouts

Duke Energy said no solar energy was available Christmas Eve when rolling blackouts started — plunging 500,000 customers into the dark for hours during sub-freezing temperatures. Friday’s order from the Utilities Commission directed Duke Energy to conduct by 2024 two more competitive procurements for solar generation that will come online by 2028.

V for Vendetta is real

Duke Energy sells Google Themostats and then uses them to control the temps in our home. We had to remove it to stop the intrusion. We would erase their programming and every week it would come back. We put back in manual controls.

Raoulduck

Duke has dragged their feet on new renewable sources and replaced coal with gas turbines. It was these that failed to fire up during peak demand.

Lynn Good

In 2011 Duke of Charlotte and Progress Energy of Raleigh agreed to merge. The deal stipulated that Progress CEO Bill Johnson was to replace Duke CEO Jim Rogers. But in June 2012, on the day that the deal closed, the board fired Johnson and re-hired Rogers instead. North Carolina regulators, following an investigation, reached an agreement with Duke in which the company was required to choose a new CEO by the middle of 2013. Good was selected by a board composed of both Duke and Progress members.[2] Lynn Good became CEO of Duke Energy on July 1, 2013.[2] Good was also elected to the Duke board. In 2016, she was elected chairman of the board. In 2018, Duke Energy awarded Good just under $14 million in total compensation.[5]

Good is one of the most highly compensated women executives in the United States.

Posted in Energy Disasters | Tagged | Leave a comment

Winter Storm Elliot

Posted on December 26, 2022 by Fec

About a month ago, the overnight temperature dropped to 24 degrees and I was awakened as my furnace, just outside my bedroom window, failed to come on. As it is relatively new, I assumed the gas line and/or regulator had frozen. So, I got up, started the kerosene heater and went back to bed.

As Winter Storm Elliot approached Friday night, with the temperature forecast to drop into single digits, I brought the kerosene heater back out, and sure enough, the furnace failed to come on about 1:00 am, just like before. I let the kerosene heater and went back to bed.

When the furnace failed to come on the next morning, I grew concerned and devised a plan to cover my gas line and regulator with a fleece blanket and put an electric frying pan under it. The furnace finally came on about 1:00 pm.

With more single digit temps forecast for Saturday night, I repeated the process and the furnace came on about 10:00 am, Sunday morning.

Last night’s temperature was scheduled to be in the teens, so I prepared to repeat the process again. About 8:00, I received a message on my phone, thanking me for helping to reduce power consumption the previous two nights by participating in the rolling blackout.

That is when I remembered participating in Duke Energy’s energy conservation effort by allowing them to place a box on my furnace, so they could reduce power at peak times. I remember it being Summer and thinking I wouldn’t notice a reduction in my AC, while asleep. It never occurred to me they would also use it in Winter.

I put the electric frying pan, fleece blanket and drop cord away, and fired up the kerosene heater. Sure enough, the furnace failed to start about 10 pm, but came back on at 10 am, this morning, as stated in the message.

Later, as I was perusing Twitter, I came across this:

“Duke Energy assures me NC is in the clear now. But I’m deeply concerned about people who lost power and who didn’t get notice about rotating outages. Grateful for those who conserved energy. I’ve asked Duke for a complete report on what went wrong and for changes to be made. – RC”

https://twitter.com/NC_Governor/status/1607405446616211457

Later, I came across this from Tim Buckey, WFMY meteorologist:

“I just don’t understand. Low temperatures in the 10-20° happen several times each winter and this is not something that’s happened before. Something with the grid must be damaged.”

https://twitter.com/TimBuckleyWX/status/1607173161417641984

Combine those comments with the report of two more power substations in the Northwest being attacked and a conspiracy theory begins to emerge.

But first, allow me to relate a phone call I received from Duke Energy, several months ago, asking if I would like to participate in their green energy program, by adding a few dollars to my monthly bill. I replied that I consider natural gas to be the cleanest and least expensive energy source available. He began to insist and I ended up hanging up on him.

Is Duke Energy taking advantage of extreme temperatures as excuses to invoke rolling blackouts, in an effort to convince us to invest in alternative energy?

Does this have anything to do with over 100 attacks, so far this year, on the electric power grid?

Is our government using the power companies to engage in increased fearmongering, now that the COVID crisis has ended?

I’m happy to rely on kerosense during winter storms, but then I live alone, my 100 year-old home is well insulated and I can close off the bedrooms and easily heat the living area.

What must it be like to do without heat in suburban McMansions, with high ceilings, wasted space and young children?

Whereas the Governor and our local meteorologist are starting to have questions about Duke Energy and their motives, mine began after that phone call.

“Duke Energy (NYSE: DUK), a Fortune 150 company headquartered in Charlotte, N.C., is one of America’s largest energy holding companies. Its electric utilities serve 8.2 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and collectively own 50,000 megawatts of energy capacity. Its natural gas unit serves 1.6 million customers in North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Ohio and Kentucky. The company employs 28,000 people.”

https://news.duke-energy.com/releases/duke-energy-thanks-customers-for-energy-conservation-that-helped-keep-the-power-on-today

Posted in Environmental Disasters | Tagged | Leave a comment

The Mushroom Principle

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Fec
The Mushroom Principle

“There does eventually come a time when complete lies must be abandoned, especially when every single one of the US personnel in Iraq could never, ever, verify any finding of WMDs whatsoever.

So it turned out that the pre-invasion testimonies from experts such as Hans Blix, Scott Ritter (UN weapons inspectors) and Andrew Wilkie (Australian military intelligence officer) that no significant WMDs in Iraq existed back then were 100% vindicated. The US Deep State 1 (and its Satrapies) spared no effort to discredit, punish and even kill those who had dared to contradict the US “WMDs in Iraq” fabrications. Andrew Wilkie was forced out of his job. They harassed and bullied Hans Blix endlessly, prompting Blix to call the Anglo WMD liars “those bastards” who used “bad faith” to perpetrate a “witch-hunt”. Scott Ritter was character assassinated, tried and convicted on unrelated matters, in what was an obvious set-up 2. Word of warning to vocal opponents of the Deep State: their surveillance tentacles are all pervasive and they can easily plant kiddie porn on your computer as an excuse to throw you in jail.

In the UK, the story of Dr David Kelly, a scientific weapons expert who had contradicted Tony Blair’s claim that Saddam could deploy WMDs in 45 minutes, was even more tragic. Kelly, who had no prior psychiatric history, was found dead in the woods with a slit wrist. Very little blood was found at the scene, indicating that his wrist was slit elsewhere and his body then moved. Phoney Blair appointed good-ole-boy Hutton to head a bogus whitewash “enquiry” that dutifully declared Kelly’s death a suicide, exonerating his buddy Blair and the UK authorities 3.

In the USA, the psychopath in charge (limp-Dick Cheney, not the gormless crab-infested Bush) viciously turned against even long term Republican loyalists and CIA employees who did not toe the line. I refer of course to the Republican loyalist Joe Wilson, who proved that Saddam Hussein had never sought Uranium from Niger, which Wilson duly reported to Cheney. Cheney nevertheless persisted in spreading that lie to the public, which Wilson then openly disputed. In retaliation Scooter Libby, Cheney’s lapdog, publicly outed Valerie Plame (Wilson’s wife) as a CIA agent, a disclosure that was illegal under US law because it destroyed her career and could put her life in danger. What then happened? Scooter was found guilty and convicted in a court of law but later received a Presidential pardon.”

“There has been a systematic purge of any and all honest investigative journalists who dare to challenge the Deep State narrative. Most notable was Chris Hedges, Pulitzer prize winning head of the Middle East Bureau of the NY Times, who was forced out of his job for his righteous opposition to the US invasion of Iraq. Another luminary, summarily removed from The Guardian (despite contributing to their Pulitzer Prize win in 2014), was Glenn Greenwald. Voices of reason such as that of Noam Chomsky have long been sidelined and shunned. The legendary John Pilger, former icon of Fleet Street, has been denied any mainstream platform that could earn him a living wage. There are many others too numerous to mention. Now the Deep State is slowly murdering the greatest journalist of our modern times, Julian Assange, using bogus charges that were trumped-up by the Trump regime. Assange’s greatest crime? Exposing the war crimes of the USA.”

“When Russia was provoked by the USA into invading Ukraine in February this year, it was falsely and repeatedly and uniformly described as an “unprovoked invasion” by those MSM sewer outlets, completely ignoring the genocide the Ukronazi proxies of the US had been committing against Russophone civilians in Donbass over the previous 8 years.”

Posted in Totalitarian Disasters | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Zelensky Addresses Congress

Posted on December 22, 2022 by Fec

When I think about being one of Mike Rowe’s seven million unemployed men, as the Wife had six trees removed and created an horrible mess for me to clean up, I see things like Zelensky’s visit to DC as among the reasons a lot of us have simply said, no.

To have battled the Russian false narrative since 2014, only to see this occur, is far less than encouraging. It merely proves once again that the neocons will pull every stunt possible to have their way, and to stick it to us as hard as possible in the process.

Top Republican reveals ‘number one priority’

Making sure the Defense Department can deal with the major threats coming from Russia and China, providing assistance for the Ukrainians to defeat the Russians, that’s the number one priority of the United States right now, according to most Republicans,” McConnell said during the press conference.

House Minority Leader Representative Kevin McCarthy (R-California), who promised no more “blank checks” to Ukraine if Republicans retook the House of Representatives, also came out against the omnibus bill. He warned McConnell that any legislation he brought to the floor would be “dead on arrival” in the coming congressional term if the senator backed the package, which McConnell’s fellow Kentucky senator Rand Paul condemned as “$1.7 trillion in hazardous debt.”

Biden explains why Zelensky can’t get everything he wants

“Giving Kiev all the weapons it wants might break NATO, US President Joe Biden said in a joint appearance with his Ukrainian counterpart Vladimir Zelensky in Washington on Wednesday. Biden added he was not worried the delivery of Patriot missiles to Ukraine might escalate tensions with Russia – as Moscow has warned – because they’re “defensive” weapons.”

Tucker Carlson: Where does Zelensky get off talking to us like this?

Russia Blasts Zelensky’s “Hollywood-Style Trip” In Furtherance Of US “Proxy War”

“The Hollywood-style trip to Washington by the head of the Kiev regime has confirmed that the administration’s conciliatory statements about the lack of intention to start a confrontation with Russia are just empty words,” Russian ambassador to the US, Anatoly Antonov, said in fresh statements.

“What was essentially announced to applause and sarcastic smirks, was the need to continue the ‘proxy war’ against our country. Until a complete victory over us,” he added.

“The supply of weapons continues and the range of supplied weapons is expanding. All of this, of course, leads to an aggravation of the conflict. This does not bode well for Ukraine,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov had said.

Russia reacts to Red Cross office shelling in Donetsk

Russia has expressed solidarity with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), whose office in Donetsk was hit by artillery fire on Monday night. The global community should recognize Kiev’s responsibility for this and other incidents, the Foreign Ministry suggested.

The shelling was “expected,” considering the years-long indiscriminate attacks on the city by Ukrainian forces, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said during her daily briefing on Thursday.

“Even this will not be a reason for the international bureaucracy to get the courage to reject the bland lies of [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky…about purported ‘self-shelling’ in Donbass,” the diplomat predicted.

Zakharova noted that over roughly the last two weeks, 21 Donetsk residents had been killed and 94 others injured. She blamed Ukrainian forces for the civilian losses.

The EU’s freeze of Russian media assets is a perversion of its own principles

“Apparently, it wasn’t enough for the European Union to block access to media outlets on TV and radio, and demand that YouTube and all social media restrict access to them across Europe. Now, with a ninth round of sanctions, they’ve frozen the assets and funds of various media outlets, including RT’s parent company ANO TV-Novosti. “Through its subordinate media outlets, including RT, it spread pro-Kremlin propaganda and disinformation, and supported Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” according to the new sanctions announcement.”

The EU alleges without any specific details or qualification that the media outlet “supported, materially or financially, actions which undermine or threaten the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine.”

As former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill once said, “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.”

“There’s a big difference between actual disinformation or misinformation on the one hand, and information or analysis that you just don’t like on the other.”

More than half of US House Republicans ditched Zelensky’s speech – media 

Only 86 out of 213 Republican members of the US House of Representatives showed up to hear Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky address Congress in Washington on Wednesday, according to The Hill. The snub occurred after the House Foreign Affairs Committee narrowly rejected the proposal for an audit of military and other aid to Ukraine earlier this month.

Posted in Foreign Policy Disasters | Tagged , | Leave a comment

SBF Payoffs

Posted on December 18, 2022 by Fec

0,ACROSS THE AISLE PAC,,5000.0,FTX US

1,ACTIVATE

AMERICA,,22000.0,FTX

2,ALABAMA CONSERVATIVES

FUND,,105000.0,FTX US

3,ALASKA DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

4,AMERICA

UNITED,,1300000.0,FTX

5,ARIZONA DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,10780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

6,AXNE PAC (AMERICANS

X-PECT NEW ENERGY),,5000.0,FTX

7,BFB PAC,,5000.0,NOT EMPLOYED

9,BLUE NEVADA PAC,,5000.0,FTX

10,CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

11,CENTER FOR ESSENTIAL

INFORMATION,,220000.0,FTX

12,CHC BOLD PAC,,2500.0,

13,COLORADO

DEMOCRATIC PARTY,DEM,780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

14,CONNECTICUT

DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

15,DC DEMOCRATIC STATE COMMITTEE,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

16,DCCC,DEM,250000.0,FTX

17,DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF

FLORIDA,DEM,780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

18,DEMOCRATIC GRASSROOTS

VICTORY FUND,,400000.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

19,DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF

ARKANSAS,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

20,DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF

HAWAII,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

21,DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF

ILLINOIS,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

22,DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF

NEW MEXICO – FEDERAL,DEM,10000.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

23,DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF SOUTH CAROLINA,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA

RESEARCH

24,DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF VIRGINIA,DEM,780.0,ALAMEDA

RESEARCH

25,DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN,DEM,780.0,ALAMEDA

RESEARCH

26,DEMOCRATIC PARTY OF WISCONSIN

FEDERAL,DEM,10000.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

27,DEMOCRATIC STATE

CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF LA,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

28,DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL COMMITTEE OF

MARYLAND,DEM,10000.0,NOT EMPLOYED

29,DEMOCRATIC STATE

COMMITTEE (DELAWARE),DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

30,DMFI

PAC,,250000.0,FTX TRADING LIMITED

31,DNC SERVICES CORP /

DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE,DEM,900500.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

32,DSCC,DEM,66500.0,FTX

33,FF PAC,,5000000.0,FTX

34,GEORGIA

FEDERAL ELECTIONS COMMITTEE,DEM,10780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

36,”GMI PAC, INC.”,,2000000.0,FTX US

37,GRANITE VALUES

PAC,,5000.0,FTX

38,GREAT LAKES PAC,,5000.0,.

39,GREATER

OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT (GOLD

PAC),,5000.0,FTX

40,GREATER TOMORROW POLITICAL ACTION

COMMITTEE,,5000.0,FTX

41,GUARDING AGAINST PANDEMICS

PAC,,5000.0,FTX

42,HEARTLAND RESURGENCE,,50000.0,FTX

43,HEARTLAND VALUES PAC,,5000.0,FTX US

44,HOUSE MAJORITY

PAC,,6000000.0,FTX

45,IDAHO STATE DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

46,INDIANA DEMOCRATIC

CONGRESSIONAL VICTORY COMMITTEE,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

47,IOWA DEMOCRATIC PARTY,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

48,JERSEY

VALUES PAC,,5000.0,FTX US

49,JOINING IDEAS TO MOTIVATE

MOVEMENT FOR YOU (JIMMY PAC),,5000.0,FTX

50,KANSAS DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,10000.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

51,KENTUCKY STATE

DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA

RESEARCH

53,LIMITLESS HORIZONS,,5000.0,FTX

55,MAINE DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,10000.0,FTX

56,MASSACHUSETTS DEMOCRATIC STATE

COMMITTEE,DEM,10000.0,FTX

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COMMITTEE,DEM,10000.0,NONE

58,MINNESOTA

DEMOCRATIC-FARMER-LABOR PARTY,DEM,10536.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

59,MISSISSIPPI DEMOCRATIC PARTY,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

60,MISSOURI DEMOCRATIC STATE COMMITTEE

(FEDERAL),DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

61,MONTANA DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

62,NEBRASKA DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

63,NEVADA STATE DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

64,NEW HAMPSHIRE DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,20000.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

65,NEW JERSEY DEMOCRATIC

STATE COMMITTEE,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

66,NORTH CAROLINA

DEMOCRATIC PARTY – FEDERAL,DEM,10780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

67,NORTH DAKOTA DEMOCRATIC-NONPARTISAN LEAGUE

PARTY,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

68,NRCC,REP,45000.0,FTX

69,OFF THE SIDELINES PAC,,5000.0,FTX

70,OHIO DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,10536.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

71,OKLAHOMA DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

72,OPPORTUNITY FOR

TOMORROW,,300000.0,FTX

73,PENNSYLVANIA DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,10780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

74,PRAIRIE POLITICAL ACTION

COMMITTEE,,5000.0,FTX TRADING LIMITED

75,PROTECT OUR FUTURE

PAC,,27000000.0,FTX

76,RHODE ISLAND DEMOCRATIC STATE

COMMITTEE,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

77,SERVING OUR COUNTRY

(SOC) PAC,,5000.0,FTX

78,SMP,,1000000.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

79,SOUTH DAKOTA DEMOCRATIC PARTY – FEDERAL,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA

RESEARCH

80,STATE DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF

ALABAMA,DEM,9756.2,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

81,SUMMITT PAC,,5000.0,FTX

82,TEAM BLUE PAC,,5000.0,FTX US

83,TENNESSEE DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

84,TEXAS DEMOCRATIC

PARTY,DEM,10780.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

85,THE NEXT 50 PAC,,5000.0,

86,UTAH STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA

RESEARCH

87,VERMONT DEMOCRATIC PARTY,DEM,9752.21,ALAMEDA

RESEARCH

89,W VA STATE DEMOCRATIC EX COM,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA

RESEARCH

90,WASHINGTON STATE DEMOCRATIC CENTRAL

COMMITTEE,DEM,10000.0,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

91,WORKING HARDER

PAC,,5000.0,FTX

92,WY DEMOCRATIC STATE CENTRAL

COMMITTEE,DEM,9756.19,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

,cand_name,cand_pty_affiliation,contribution_receipt_amount,committee_name,contributor_employer

0,”STABENOW, DEBBIE”,DEM,26600.0,STABENOW VICTORY FUND,.

1,”COLLINS, SUSAN M.”,REP,17400.0,COLLINS FOR SENATOR,FTX US

2,”PADILLA, ALEX”,DEM,5800.0,ALEX PADILLA FOR SENATE,FTX US

3,”HASSAN, MARGARET WOOD”,DEM,5800.0,MAGGIE FOR NH,FTX

4,”JEFFRIES, HAKEEM”,DEM,5800.0,JEFFRIES FOR CONGRESS,FTX US

5,”GOTTHEIMER, JOSH”,DEM,5800.0,JOSH GOTTHEIMER FOR

CONGRESS,FTX US

6,”GILLIBRAND, KIRSTEN”,DEM,5800.0,GILLIBRAND

FOR SENATE,FTX

7,”AUCHINCLOSS, JAKE”,DEM,5800.0,JAKE

AUCHINCLOSS FOR CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

8,”MALONEY, SEAN

PATRICK”,DEM,5800.0,SEAN PATRICK MALONEY FOR CONGRESS,FTX

9,”GALLEGO, RUBEN”,DEM,5800.0,GALLEGO FOR ARIZONA,NOT EMPLOYED

10,”MANCHIN, JOE III”,DEM,5800.0,MANCHIN FOR WEST VIRGINIA,FTX

US

11,”CRAIG, ANGELA DAWN”,DEM,5800.0,ANGIE CRAIG FOR

CONGRESS,FTX

12,”MURKOWSKI, LISA”,REP,5800.0,LISA MURKOWSKI

FOR US SENATE,FTX US

13,”MURRAY, PATTY”,DEM,5800.0,PEOPLE FOR

PATTY MURRAY,FTX US

14,”CASSIDY, WILLIAM M.”,REP,5800.0,BILL

CASSIDY FOR US SENATE,FTX US

15,”AGUILAR,

PETE”,DEM,5800.0,PETE AGUILAR FOR CONGRESS,FTX US

16,”CARBAJAL, SALUD O.”,DEM,5800.0,SALUD CARBAJAL FOR

CONGRESS,FTX

17,”BOYLE, BRENDAN F”,DEM,5800.0,CITIZENS FOR

BOYLE,NOT EMPLOYED

18,”SMITH, TINA”,DEM,5800.0,TINA SMITH FOR

MINNESOTA,NOT EMPLOYED

19,”BOOZMAN, SEN.

JOHN”,REP,5800.0,BOOZMAN FOR ARKANSAS,FTX US

20,”BURR, RICHARD

M”,REP,5800.0, RICHARD BURR COMMITTEE; THE,FTX US

21,”HOEVEN,

JOHN”,REP,5800.0,HOEVEN FOR SENATE,FTX

22,”BOOKER, CORY

A.”,DEM,5700.0,CORY BOOKER FOR SENATE,FTX

23,”PETTERSEN,

BRITTANY LOUISE MS.”,DEM,2900.0,BRITTANY PETTERSEN FOR

COLORADO,NOT EMPLOYED

24,”PANETTA, JIMMY”,DEM,2900.0,JIMMY

PANETTA FOR CONGRESS,FTX

25,”MENENDEZ, ROBERT

J.”,DEM,2900.0,MENENDEZ FOR CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

26,”MCGARVEY, MORGAN”,DEM,2900.0,MORGAN MCGARVEY FOR

CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

27,”MCBATH, LUCIA KAY

MS.”,DEM,2900.0,FRIENDS OF LUCY MCBATH,NOT EMPLOYED

28,”NEGUSE, JOSEPH”,DEM,2900.0,JOE NEGUSE FOR CONGRESS,FTX

29,”HORSFORD, STEVEN ALEXZANDER”,DEM,2900.0,NEVADANS FOR

STEVEN HORSFORD,FTX

30,”QUARTEY, JOHN QUAYE

II”,DEM,2900.0,QUARTEY FOR CONGRESS,”WEST REALM SHIRES

SERVICES, INC., D/B/”

31,”ROSE, MAX”,DEM,2900.0,MAX ROSE FOR

CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

32,”KAMLAGER, SYDNEY”,DEM,2900.0,SYDNEY

KAMLAGER FOR CONGRESS,FTX

33,”O’HALLERAN, TOM”,DEM,2900.0,TOM

O’HALLERAN FOR CONGRESS,FTX

34,”STEVENS,

HALEY”,DEM,2900.0,HALEY STEVENS FOR CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

35,”TORRES, RITCHIE JOHN”,DEM,2900.0,TORRES FOR CONGRESS,

36,”VILLEGAS, GILBERT”,DEM,2900.0,GILBERT VILLEGAS FOR

CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

37,”MARLINGA, CARL”,DEM,2900.0,MARLINGA

FOR CONGRESS,FTX

38,”GARCIA, ROBERT”,DEM,2900.0,ROBERT GARCIA

FOR CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

39,”HARDER, JOSH”,DEM,2900.0,JOSH

HARDER FOR CONGRESS,FTX

40,”GILLEN, LAURA”,DEM,2900.0,GILLEN

FOR CONGRESS,

41,”AXNE, CINDY”,DEM,2900.0,CINDY AXNE FOR

CONGRESS,FTX

42,”BALINT, REBECCA BECCA”,DEM,2900.0,BECCA

BALINT FOR VERMONT,FTX

43,”BEATTY, JOYCE”,DEM,2900.0,BEATTY

FOR CONGRESS,FTX

44,”BIAGGI, ALESSANDRA”,DEM,2900.0,ALESSANDRA

BIAGGI FOR CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

45,”BISHOP,

SANFORD”,DEM,2900.0,SANFORD BISHOP FOR CONGRESS,FTX

46,”BROWN,

M SHONTEL”,DEM,2900.0,SHONTEL BROWN FOR CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

47,”BUDZINSKI, NIKKI”,DEM,2900.0,NIKKI FOR CONGRESS,NOT

EMPLOYED

48,”CARTER, TROY A. SR.”,DEM,2900.0,TROY CARTER FOR

CONGRESS,FTX

49,”CHERFILUS-MCCORMICK,

SHEILA”,DEM,2900.0,”SHEILA CHERFILUS MCCORMICK FOR CONGRESS,

INC”,CEO

50,”CONOLE, FRANCIS”,DEM,2900.0,CONOLE FOR

CONGRESS,NOT EMPLOYED

51,”CORREA, LOU”,DEM,2900.0,LOU CORREA

FOR CONGRESS,FTX

52,”COSTA, JIM”,DEM,2900.0,JIM COSTA FOR

CONGRESS,FTX

53,”CROCKETT, JASMINE”,DEM,2900.0,JASMINE FOR

US,NOT EMPLOYED

54,”DURBIN, RICHARD J.”,DEM,2900.0,FRIENDS OF

DICK DURBIN COMMITTEE,FTX TRADING LIMITED

55,”FLYNN, CARRICK

RONAN MORGAN”,DEM,2900.0,CARRICK FLYNN FOR OREGON,NOT EMPLOYED

56,”FOUSHEE, VALERIE”,DEM,2900.0,FOUSHEE FOR CONGRESS,NOT

EMPLOYED

57,”FROST, MAXWELL ALEJANDRO”,DEM,2900.0,MAXWELL

ALEJANDRO FROST FOR CONGRESS,FTX

58,”GARCIA,

JESUS”,DEM,2900.0,CHUY GARCIA FOR CONGRESS,FTX

59,”WELCH,

PETER”,DEM,2900.0,WELCH FOR VERMONT,NOT EMPLOYED

60,”BIDEN,

JOSEPH R JR”,DEM,2800.0,BIDEN FOR PRESIDENT,ALAMEDA RESEARCH

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged | Leave a comment

MIT Media Lab

Posted on December 14, 2022 by Fec

Shortly after the spectacular demise of FTX, Mathew Crawford dropped this amazing long post at Zero Hedge. As we watch Congressional hearings on SBF, we shouldn’t overlook certain aspects of the article, related to Gary Gensler, the current SEC head.

‘Gensler is a journeyman insider. A former whiz kid himself, Gensler made partner at Goldman Sachs at the age of 30 (the youngest in history at the time). He later served as Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Markets, Under Secretary of the Treasury for Domestic Finance, and Chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), all prior to his current position as Chair of the Securities and Exchange Commission, a position made possible by Joe Biden’s election in 2020. It should not surprise anyone then, as cryptonews reports, “Speculation is mounting in the community that Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) chairman Gary Gensler could have worked with FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried to find legal loopholes the exchange could take advantage of.”‘

“Aaron Swartz, then a 24-year-old fellow at Harvard, was caught in 2011 hacking MIT in order to liberate gated (JSTOR) journal articles that he could have freely downloaded from his account at Harvard, then hung himself without a note using somebody else’s after being sentenced in court for violating the draconian Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). Outside that mainstream narrative is another tale,

A quick look at MIT Media Lab reveals some questionable characters at the helm.

– Negroponte’s major promoter and sidekick has been Steward Brand, who evolved from being a back-to-nature founder of the Whole Earth Catalog to a raving advocate of “nuclear power, genetic modification and geoengineering”. (Let’s hope he relocates to Fukushima where he can personally enjoy all three wondrous advances.)

– Walter Bender, founder of Sugar Labs, which developed the One Laptop per Child project’s XO-1 Children’s Machine, the communication tool of choice for pedophiles to communicate with their little brown lovers.

– Frank Moss, who was trained at the Technion Institute in Haifa, a center for the Israeli Defense Force’s cyberwarfare R&D projects. The Media Lab itself is heavily involved in military-related projects with the US Air Force, the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center, the Army Research Office and Google, which is a high-tech contractor in artificial intelligence for DARPA.

– Joi Ito, who once ran a nightclub in Roppongi, Tokyo’s drug-peddling and prostitution district run by a yakuza boss whose interest lies in Caucasian models performing coprophilia and bondage, increasingly favorite video themes besides child porn among the American university technocrati. Since he never earned a higher degree, Ito’s main qualification is apparently his status as godson of Timothy Leary. For those who were/are too stoned to comprehend political reality, Leary began his drug experimentation as a psychologist for the MK-ULTRA mind-control program and became a proselytizer of hallucinogens under a CIA psy-op campaign to disable the antiwar movement.

MIT Media Lab is yet another spin-off from the all-powerful MK-ULTRA and DARPA. No wonder it’s been producing child porn and involved in overseas pedophilia. The One Laptop program is a clever vehicle to provide early sex education to children across impoverished Asia and Africa who have yet to reach pubescence.

“After Epstein’s donations to MIT Media Labs (MIT’s well-nerfed internal report goes back to 2002), which totaled millions of dollars, often sent through him from sources including Bill Gates, came to light, Joi Ito resigned amid media coverage that seemed to nerf the story as best as possible. He did receive a letter of support signed by over 100 individuals—including Lawrence Lessig who had served as Swartz’s lawyer. As Whitney Webb has been pointing out in interviews, the story of Jeffrey Epstein is about much more than the lurid details of his sexcapades with underage girls. Epstein was a specialist in financial crime—something the mainstream media somehow always fails to delve into. But these two crimes go hand-in-hand most closely in a world in which politicians are hard to blackmail with a garden variety sex scandal. After JFK had dozens of affairs in a single year, and the U.S. later elected three consecutive presidents working to bury rape accusations (Reagan, Bush, then Clinton, in case you never heard), catching a politician in bed with a live boy or a dead girl may be the only blackmail plan with teeth.”

“Epstein worked (as a donor or fundraiser) with MIT Media Labs since its founding, and Joi Ito was elevated to Director to shepherd MIT’s Digital Currency Initiative (DCI), which was incidentally involved in Facebook’s attempt to establish Libre as a dominant digital currency. Also incidentally, Gary Gensler served as Senior Advisor to the DCI project. All this seems like quite a coincidence, but it makes complete sense on a level of financial mega-power plays. If morality doesn’t factor into your decision calculus, who would you want involved in an attempt to establish a new global financial control center? How about the world’s leading Economics and technology center that just so happens to have relationships with what might be the world’s most powerful sex blackmail ring?”

From Matthew De Silva on September 12, 2019:

Matthew De Silva

September 12, 2019

Joichi Ito, formerly of MIT Media Lab.
Joichi Ito, formerly of MIT Media Lab.

‘Joichi Ito, director of MIT’s Media Lab, resigned Saturday (Sept. 7) after The New Yorker published an investigation into his attempts to conceal financial contributions from pedophile Jeffrey Epstein. Although Ito stewarded MIT’s lab, his work and legacy in the crypto community have largely passed under the radar.

Ito established the Digital Currency Initiative (DCI) at MIT, helping bitcoin survive some of its darkest days in 2015. That year, when the Bitcoin Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the cryptocurrency’s development faced “funding constraints,” the DCI welcomed bitcoin core developers Gavin Andresen, Cory Fields, and Wladimir van der Laan in full-time roles.’

Why MIT’s crypto expert loves bear markets in tech

“Neha Narula runs the Media Lab’s Digital Currency Initiative, where she and her team tackle the technology’s thorniest challenges, including scalability, security and privacy.”

So much money has flowed into the cryptocurrency ecosystem, yet not all has gone to products that bring value to users. Some of that money is lining investors’ pockets. There have been outright scams. There have been people who unintentionally oversold what their technology could do. And that has resulted in a lot of sad stories about people who lost a lot of money. We can do better. As an industry, we have to call out trespasses and hold ourselves to a high standard…

The goal was to design, build, experiment with, and evaluate a hypothetical digital currency. We started simple: Let’s move money fast, securely and safely, in a fault-tolerant, scalable way. We’ve achieved that. Next, we’ll address programmability and privacy, and at MIT we’re also working with the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England.

Posted in Currency Disasters | Tagged | Leave a comment

Mike Rowe Can Kiss My Ass

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Fec

Besieged as I have been, these last six weeks, with offers to deliver pizzas or work in a warehouse, I was not amused by Mike Rowe’s latest contention that men have largely given up and spend all day in front of a computer screen.

I wrote software for twenty five years. Bill Gates destroyed my programming language in 2014, in an attempt to move everyone to .NET. After twelve years of doing anything else, I recently installed my copy of Visual FoxPro on my Windows 10 PC with no problem.

I ordered a 3.5″ USB floppy drive and installed one of the last apps I wrote in 2010. I have spent the last week writing a Purchase Order app and it is looking mighty good. I’ll soon be hitting the streets, searching for manufacturers looking for a way to deal with long lead times and cash requirements toward getting the materials they need to make things.

So no, I will not be working in a warehouse or becoming a plumber. I am picking up where I left off in 2010..

I ordered an inexpensive Windows 11 laptop and successfully installed the database software on it, so that I will have some way to show people what I have written. It also runs the documentation, as I continue to create forms and reports.

I spent eight years watching Shopify grow to 20 million users on one piece of software.

Every one of my customers has always had and will always have their own piece of software, the source code that makes it run, and a copy of Microsoft Visual FoxPro, in case something happens to me.

This is how I made a living for twenty five years and, by God, it is how I will continue to make a living. Until then, the Wife, for whom I have labored twenty six years, must support me.

I remain a man of immense value and will not be denied.

Posted in Employment Disasters | Tagged | Leave a comment

We Are All Communists, Now

Posted on December 3, 2022 by Fec

Last night, the reality of our new condition hit me like a diamond bullet between the eyes. We are all Communists, now, and to be farmed like mushrooms.

Dissent lies in not participating in government psyops like Twitter.

Death is the ultimate statement of nonsolidarity.

Conformity means spending all our free time watching Tik Tok on our cell phones.

What did you think the words Tik Tok meant?

They meant our Chineses overlords are coming.

We will own nothing and we will be happy.

Our new leaders will not be firebrands who exhibit excellence as successful entrepreneurs.

No, silly comrades, we shall be led into oblivion by serial failures. The pursuit of excellence is nonconformity. It is rebellion and must be destroyed, wherever it is found.

Truth comes to me in dreams, now, as nightmares, reminding me of how things used to be and can never be again.

I will not participate in this new reality. I am saying no.

I will go among you in silence, with a smile upon my face and a cheerful attitude, so that you cannot suspect that I will never be one of you. I will practice excellence in private, like a bomb-making terrorist.

Excellence and freedom of thought are going underground.

Ideas are now verboten and to be hidden away like precious jewels.

Silence as a sign of submission is the new reality.

We did not even try to oppose what has come to be. We rolled over at the first opportunity, like frightened children, like the cowards we have become.

‘China does NOT stand in opposition to global centralization under the control of western oligarchs. All they want is a prominent seat at the table when the “Great Reset” kicks off and total centralization begins.’

“Recently, Klaus Schwab of the World Economic Forum gave an interview to the Chinese government controlled CGTN at the APEC Summit. In that interview, Schwab praises China as a role model for many other nations.”

Why China Sucks: It's A Beta-Test For The New World Order

ZEROHEDGE.COM

Posted in Societal Disasters | Tagged | Leave a comment

I Was a Visual FoxPro Developer

Posted on December 1, 2022 by Fec

Since 1985, I have created and maintained databases on PCs using a succession of products starting with dBase and proceeding over 25 years to Microsoft Visual FoxPro 9.

I’ll never forget the day in 2010 when I went to install VFP9 on a new PC, only to have Windows inform me the software was no longer supported.

I kicked around for a few years, even working at Office Depot for 10 months. Eventually, I began developing an ecommerce site for the Wife’s dress store using Shopify, while all my customers went online with Microsoft .NET. The cost to go that route for a one man shop was prohibitive and I was competing for jobs with people from India.

So, I spent the next eight years running the Wife’s ecommerce site. On Halloween of this year I quit, no longer willing to spend my days in the back of a dress store.

For the last month, I have applied for nearly 200 jobs and have yet to find one for which I felt suited. The Wife has been helping me out and I’ve been doing things around her place, since I left for the umteenth to live in my house in Liberty.

This afternoon, I was doing some painting for her and remembering that day in 2010 when VFP failed to load on a new PC. It occurred to me that I might try again. So, when I got back to Liberty, I tried installing VFP9 on my Windows 10 PC.

It loaded like a dream. All these years, it never occurred to me that Microsoft had relented in its efforts to move everybody from VFP to .NET. So, I found all my applications, which existed on 3.5 inch disks. I ordered a USB disk drive and will soon be refamiliarizing myself with them, toward getting back out there and looking for customers.

I also updated my Indeed CV to include VFP9 as a skill, which I was very good at. Who knows, I might even get a job programming in my old language, after all these years.

My career has included having a $10M per year furniture company put out of business by Chinese competition, when Clinton signed NAFTA in 1994.

I want to get back up to speed with VFP9 because I’ve always believed in brick and mortar businesses who need custom software to determine the cost of manufacturing goods.

I desperately want to be part of the resurgence of US manufacturing, as we necessarily get away from cheap Chinese goods.

I really enjoyed turning the Wife’s Shopify site into a monster, but now I want to get back to my first love, and it appears that might actually be possible.

Occasionally, I will dream about the software I wrote. My menus always had three columns for Files, Reports and Utilities. I could walk into a new customer’s office, install the menu, convert existing spreadsheets to databases and have them doing data entry the first week.

They freaking loved it. Once the data requirements were addressed, we could start generating reports. Finally, we’d develop utility apps to do batch entry, like daily sales.

It was like being a rock star, something I also have a little experience with. I never had a problem getting paid, because I billed as we went along and the customer could see the results of my effort.

I was so happy for those twenty-five years. The last eight years have also been great, as there is nothing better than building a successful Shopify ecommerce site.

I took a leap into the unknown a month ago. Those mornings when I awoke from dreams of developing custom databases were very sad. The prospect of going to work in a warehouse was crushing my soul.

I think I’m going to be OK. I bring up the VFP interface and it’s beginning to come back, after all these years. It’s like saying hello to an old friend, a forgotten me. I’ve found a key to a door long closed, so that I could get on with life.

I’ve spent all these years despising Bill Gates for what he’s done to the VFP community. His recent attempts at genocide and transhumanism merely confirmed those emotions.

My dreams are always about the Insurance Policy Management System, which had nearly a dozen iterations. The Policy file had detail files for Residences, Related Structures, Contents, Mortgagees and Additional Endorsements. Each Policy database had iterations for current Current, History and Archive.

I could open 25 files at once, keeping the Current database clean and running fast by Archiving previous years to History. I kept the History database clean and fast by Archiving iterations no longer required by the auditors.

When the NCDOI hit us with accrual based accounting, the History file had snapshots of the policies prior to any change, giving us the ability to construct an Unearned Premium Report, designed to put them out of business.

When the NCDOI hit us with an unprecedented Market Conduct Audit, my customers were able to produce the required file and submit it electronically, as required, another attempt to put them out of business.

The construct also made it possible to freeze the system as of a said date, and use it to spend five years distributing $25M in reserves back to the policyholders, based on the amount of insurance, as specified by the terms of dissolution in the company by laws.

The guy who owned The Chair Company in Liberty could forecast his Accounts Receivable out 12 weeks, enabling him to generate a $50,000 payroll every two weeks.

My software generated every GL report required by the CPAs on a monthly basis. We were able to track inventory cost extremely accurately. We had seven week lead times on some inverntory items.

It was a NASA moon shot. It was a Swiss watch.

I wrote a system for Liberty Oil, where one screen allowed entry of sales invoices and relieved inventory, updated AR, and posted GL entries. It ran for twenty years and there will never be anything like it, again. CPAs fucking loved me.

I had a Farmers Mutual in North Wilkesboro who could print her annual reports at tax time and the accounts would balance to the fucking penny, as much a result of her work as mine.

My seventeen years in Asheboro ended up getting so fucked up that the code actually included policy numbers, in order to get their declarations to come out as requested.The dumbshit insisted that every policy said X number of X number of pages at the top.

I finally wrote him a note telling him exactly what I thought of him, so he would fire me.

Toward the end, I successfully moved all my customers to Microsoft Visual Foxpro’s Object Oriented Programming interface, which was merely a matter of sticking the menu code in objects on the form.

It was much prettier, but essentially did the same thing.

I even moved Asheboro’s Policy Rating app to .NET, doing the same thing, allowing agents to access it online, instead of installing a CD. The actual rating algorithm didn’t change at all..

Posted in Employment Disasters | Leave a comment