General Chat (Non-Music-Related)

Wow so many new features. I'm wondering why. Any one else have any thoughts? More security features than I've ever seen. They don't even take that much care printing hundred dollar bills...

LOL.

I wasn't familiar with it. I'm lucky to just be hauling backhoes and dirt.
Last year, I went to the bank and the teller informed me that my license had expired.
So I got on the phone, state agencies don't answer the phone anymore. So I listened to a long message and headed out 15 miles, to the place that we HAVE TO GO TO for all CDL needs. The other branch on the east side is easily over 20 miles away. And I'm in the middle of the friggin' state capital!
So I got there and they told me I just needed my birth certificate or passport. Not on the phone message.
So I drove home to look for it. All while I was SUPPOSED TO BE WORKING!
I went back, got the license reinstated. I asked them if I missed a notice in the mail. They said they don't send out a notice. They just have CDL's expire after 5 years, with no notice. Have a nice day!
Service with a government worker's smile

Can I just add that truckin' ain't a crime?

Good Post and comments ... all I could think of when reading was that the vast majority of goods and services ... the real ones not the government ones ... all move by trucks over highways through many States along marked and specific routes and more and more by specifically recorded individuals and trucks both restricted by a host of government regulations and rules that dictate rules like time allowed, licenses and etc. etc. What a great bit of info for someone or something that desires to take out the Infrastructure ... gradually and subversively ... like the very government who in turn was taken not by open conflict but over time and subversively.

Soon all the "boxes" will be activated and enforced and travel of all sorts will be restricted, regulated and taxed in order to slowly make it possible for only those that can afford to take a couple days away for 2.5 million dollars, will be able to "travel". Of course I truly believe as the Moody Blues put so well that "thinking is the best way to travel" , but it is nice to travel physically as it educates and opens ones mind and promotes understanding between different cultures and peoples ... hmmm. Do you think that someone might be against this sort of thing in order to control or in fact eliminate by trapping. Live Well Die Well ... and travel whilst you still may ....away ....far away.

We can only hope that the endless moronic regulations will force the end to over the road trucking so buffet can get a "Few Dollars More" Where is Clint when you need him??

Good Stuff. Trucks Bring It!

I was stopped at a Commercial Enforcement PowWow of 17 state and local agencies. The first time, I missed a temporary sign on the side of the road, stating that "All Trucks Must Go To Weigh Station". This was a temporary shindig, set up in a dirt lot. The officer who pulled me over was from another city, miles away, and didn't know the street names where he pulled me over. The second time I went there, I was lucky to see a Highway Patrol Man pointing at the sign.
They break it down like this;
Are you impaired in any way (drunk, drugs, prescription drugs)?
Do you have a CDL (w/ endorsements), Medical Card (current)?
Do you have warrants for your arrest (previous traffic violations, unpaid child support...)?
Is your combo (truck & trailer) registered and insured and / or overweight?
Is your vehicle in good condition (top to bottom)?
If you're an Over The Road (interstate) driver, they have dogs to sniff your combo for drugs.

$900 in fines from those two stops. Other drivers in my court appearances (they move you through like an assembly line) paid much more. On not so great wages.

How would " civil libertarians " feel about the general public being treated in this hostile manner?

Doing a bit more talking to cops... And friends that are in the same situation renewing a HAZ-MAT...

The general non consensus as it should be called, these new license types, for HAZ - MAT are chipped just like some of those credit cards that can be read with the proper equipment.

Now I'm not being some paranoid screwball, but... If I have to cary a license that can be tracked, say every time I go through an electronic toll... The ramifications of this are significant.

That's why I brought this up because if my government tracking my freedom of movement, that can only mean we are entering a very dangerous time.

Good post Vamp, and Schmed, and badstrat. I wasn't sure about this, but it makes me curious to research it more.

Any thoughts are welcome. Thanks guys.

We've been in a very dangerous time for a while now.

Anybody needed a pain pill lately? Hopefully not because the government nazis have decided to limit all that. They know best.

And Hippa? Medical privacy? All your prescriptions and treatments are on the web now so they can be trapped.

My dentist's secretary asked me to read and sign a Hippa document. We looked at each other for a minute and then broke out laughing.

A sad time for the USA. And the world.

Talbot

CONFIRMED! I stopped into my local sporting store. I'll keep this short...
All the cops are buying these body guard pistols firing 380 rounds. They can't keep them in stock.
I WONDER WHY?????
Funny thing is one of the cops buying this pistol pocket rocket, got real testy when I mentioned the fact about the chipped license he was using as ID. His claim was simple... What's the big deal.

Now you have a cop, that doesn't understand the fundamental rule of LAW that we all cherish and abide by.

Can't make this stuff up.

Reports are popping up that google can track you from the battery consumption of your android cell phone.
Not very specific that I can absolutely post that, but it does give a moment of pause to think about it.
Welcome to the brave new world. Any one remember the book, ON THE BEACH? Not funny!

glen,

"Reports are popping up that google can track you from the battery consumption of your android cell phone."

I don't know about cell phones but cameras can be tracked through GPS now days. The phone folks like and want that feature. When you take a picture GPS logs where it was taken longitude and latitude. I guess that people so stupid these days that they don't recognize where they were when they took a picture while on vacation.

The other thing is that camera batteries from Nikon (And I am sure others also have such features ) also have chips in them that tell the camera if it is a genuine Nikon battery. Multiple codes so that the factory can change them and block a battery that works today and change it into one that doesn't work tomorrow. Nikon charges upwards of $50.00 for a battery, and an after market battery for the same costs on the order of $15.00. They are doing the same with after market lenses. You almost as good lens that costs 1/2 as much as a Nikon may work today, but not tomorrow.

The point that I am eluding to is this. If the battery has a micro processor, how easy would it be to put a tracker in it? How easy is it to put a tracker in everything you own? Very easy.

It gets even worse than that. All of the stupid apps that people install on their phones enable big data to track your every move, access to your contacts, plus content of what you and your contacts are talking about.
We know that these firms will roll over when the men in black come around.
My advice, if you want a small flashlight, they have all sorts of them. You don't want that "free flashlight app" on your cellphone.

"We know that these firms will roll over when the men in black come around. " LOL

I always think about that every time I hear the advertisements on conservative talk radio for those company's that will store all your valuable information in the "cloud" where no one can hack it. They convince you to store all your important information there where it will be safe. (YUK YUK) They offer to copy and update all the information on your hard drive every time you boot up and go on line, that way your valuable information will be secure in case your computer gets hacked or crashes.

I always wonder if that isn't a government front just gathering all that information from the idiots who believe it will be safe ....until the Gestapo storm into their headquarters with guns drawn. Then all their most "valuable information" will be really really safe.

You are probably right Badstrat.

Kinda makes you want the easy times when few got sick, the food was pure, and God was important.

That was a long time ago.