Hope Falls Road
Shoulder-Fired Weapons May Pose Brain Injury Risk To The Shooter, Army Finds
"During the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, military officials recognized that the blast wave from a roadside bomb could damage a person's brain without leaving any visible sign of injury. And in 2010, the Pentagon issued a memo outlining steps to improve care of troops exposed to these explosions."
"Since then, there's been growing evidence that blasts from weapons like the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle and the AT4 anti-tank weapon can also affect the brain."
"Sgt. John Wagley fires an AT4 anti-tank missile during a training session at Camp Fuji, in Japan. Studies find that some who fire these weapons repeatedly have short-term problems with memory and thinking. It's still not clear, scientists say, whether those temporary changes can lead to permanent deficits."
"If you're looking at a large anti-tank rocket that a soldier would carry on his or her shoulder, that's now a pretty large explosion — and it's happening right next to your head." Scharre says."
April 30, 2018 Morning
Good morning! Where did April go? It must have froze up. But now it’s leaving like a lion with a blustery and cold rain. Four weeks to Memorial Day 🇺🇸. Hopefully we will have better weather than. Rain and 42 degrees in Delmar, NY. ☔ There is a west-northwest breeze at 11 mph. 🍃. The skies will clear tomorrow around 5 am.
Today will have rain then be cloudy ☁ for the balance of the day :(, with a high of 49 degrees at 5pm. 14 degrees below normal. Northwest wind around 11 mph. Chance of precipitation is 60%. New precipitation amounts between a tenth and quarter of an inch possible. A year ago, we had mostly cloudy skies. The high last year was 53 degrees. At least it was a bit drier than. The record high of 86 was set in 1903. There was a dusting of snow in 2008.❄
The sun will set at 7:55 pm with dusk around 8:25 pm, which is one minute and 7 seconds later than yesterday. 🌇 At sunset, look for cloudy skies☁ and 47 degrees. There will be a west-northwest breeze at 9 mph. I don’t care, I have to work late. Today will have 14 hours and 4 minutes of daytime, an increase of 2 minutes and 30 seconds over yesterday.
Tonight will have a chance of showers, mainly between midnight and 3am. Mostly cloudy ☁, with a low of 41 degrees at 4am. Three degrees below normal. Northwest wind 5 to 7 mph becoming calm after midnight. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New precipitation amounts of less than a tenth of an inch possible. In 2017, we had cloudy skies. It got down to 49 degrees. The record low of 28 occurred back in 2008.
Definitely a very wet morning. Misplaced my good umbrella.☔ There was enough breeze that my shitty umbrella struggled to remain right side up. 🌂
Dyed my shoes again now that the salt is gone. 👞The dye I bought earlier in the year has really kept the shoes in good enough condition to ensure that I can continue to get use out of them for a few more weeks. That said, the soles are wearing thin with no grip and the fake leather continues to peel from the top, although it’s not visible below the pants cuffs and the polish has helped make them look good. 👣At some point I will have to replace them. They are a few years old now. I’ve always gone to Super Shoes in Northway mall but I’ve heard you can get really good values online📶 for dress shoes from colleagues.
Managed to break some of the wire connections on my board that drives the new big led display I built when I hooked up a power button to it. Either the data or clock line ⏳is loose and needs to resoldered to the time chip and I need to clean up the connects to the pins that run over to the display. ⚡Not a big deal but just something else to fix with my soldering iron. 🔬That said, I’m running out of leaded solder so I’m going to have to buy some more – maybe a big roll as 50 gram of lead solder goes fast as lead is heavy and I do a lot of soldering.
Dropped my contact solution and later on a towel in the toilet. That wasn’t fun. I emptied out the container and tossed it on the recycling bin🚮 as I didn’t want to risk an eye infection. 👀The towel – which really is a rag – was rinsed off and hung up. I’m going to make sure to close the lid of the toilet after I use it.
Definitely looking forward to the nicer weather mid week.👍For the first time this year it will be in the upper seventies and eighties 😎, which is a nice change after all the cold weather. Going to cool off for the weekend but hopefully will be sunny.
Still chewing over taking off Friday for a three day weekend in the Adirondacks. ⛺ Even if it continues to look wet💦 for Friday, I am thinking of taking off Friday so I have time to pack and shop. 💼 I look forward to a great weekend up north, especially if it’s warm and sunny and I early enough in the season that black flies won’t be out. 🐜 Looking forward to a great big campfire and enjoying long nights in the wilderness. 🔥
Glad that they fixed the bug in QGIS that kept the geography fixer from working.🌎 Having broken geometries meant it couldn’t process many of my shape files so I’m glad that bug is fixed in 3.02.🐞 I have several new interactive maps I’ll be posting over the next few days. 
Sunday night dinner was nice at my parents house.🍝 Pasta and meat balls from Falvo’s Meat Shop in New Scotland which is closing. Always a good treat. I made a spring cake with pink cake and blue frosting🍰🎂 but it certainly wasn’t spring like yesterday.
Looking ahead, there are 4 weeks until Memorial Day 🇺🇸 when the sun will be setting at 8:23 pm with dusk at 8:57 pm. On that day in 2017, we had cloudy skies and temperatures between 74 and 60 degrees. Hopefully this year won’t be so wet for camping. ⛺Typically, the high temperature is 73 degrees. We hit a record high of 93 back in 2016.
Why I’ve Become Obessed with Saving for Retirement
I am 35 years old. Why am I so obsessed with retirement and saving for retirement ?
1) I need a major life goal to save for and look forward too. Having goals and a plan to get to those goals means that I am working towards a worthwhile retirement, one where I can have land and my off-grid cabin 🏡in a low-tax, high-freedom state in my later years.
2) Money saved in my thirties will have a lot more of a chance to grow over the next 30 years💸 then money saved during my 40s and 50s.
3) I don’t want to be a renter, living in the city my whole life.🏢 While I enjoy the ease of public transportation and the conviences of urban living, 🐣I’d much rather have the right to build fires, shoot guns, ride four wheelers, and even hobby farm in my later years.🐮
4) Rather then waste money on shit I’m going to have to pay to get rid of eventually at the landfill🗻, I would rather be putting my money where it’s helping to grow the economy by investing, and have more money in later years.
5) I don’t trust that I will make it to my final years in good health, so I want to be able to retire at a fairly early age so I can enjoy my land, 🚜do things before the end comes. I have no interest in living long enough to ever need nursing care.
6) I don’t trust that social security or my pension will be there in full when it finally comes time to retire.⚠ Simply said, social security and pensions are both under-invested in💰 and with shrinking GDP projections📉, it’s going to hit taxpayers hard to make whole on their promises in further generation. 🙊I am fine with living frugally in retirement, having wood heat and small-scale solar, no Internet or television, and a small cabin in wilderness, but I want to be able to afford those goals in my later years.
7) People who make saving for retirement a priority are more likely to live to their retirement,👴 as they have a life goal they’ve been working for their whole life to obtain.
8) Retirement savings in IRAs and deferred compensation are generally locked up until retirement. 🔒While other investments like stocks and bonds can be sold, retirement savings can’t be touched with a significant penalty. This means they’ll have decades to mature without being touched. 📈Obviously having money in savings, CDs, and mid term market investments of stock and bonds are important too.