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I haven't heard that word used in a while. News today: Investor in company that took Trump Media public pleads guilty to insider trading. Who would have thought that everything would have been on the 'up & up' yeah?
Gerald Shvartsman pleaded guilty at a hearing before U.S. District Judge Lewis Liman.

"TMTG shares were trading at around $51.60 on Wednesday morning, making Trump's stake worth about $4 billion, though he is not allowed to sell or borrow against it for six months.

Trump Media is also embroiled in legal battles in Delaware and Florida with co-founders Wesley Moss and Andrew Litinsky, who have accused the company of trying to improperly dilute their stake."

Just another day in Trump world.



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The linked story: Trump's Truth Social lost $58 million in 2023, and the stock is taking a hit

And people want this guy to run the country???

Like it or not, electric cars are here to stay. Every major manufacturer has at least one EV in their lineup. Do they sell? Yeah... kinda. Price incentives and options change all the time. More charging stations are being built and there is less fearmongering as there was a few years ago.
My memory says the same group of people who complained about 5G cellular technology are the ones who complained about electric vehicles. Battery fires, landfills of dead EV batteries and negative issues were regurgitated over and over.

I haven't personally witnessed an EV battery fire. I'm sure it's a spectacular explosion with zero time to escape. I have seen car fires of the gasoline version... That's a monthly event on highways. There was one in a residential community near me that scorched the tall trees along the roadway. It's been more than a year and the void in tree growth is still apparent.

I know a few people who are driving EV's and have no complaints about them.

A few weeks ago, I attended a swap meet for model aviation and one guy had a table with old lithium-polymer rechargeable batteries he was selling for a fraction of the price for new ones. As these batteries age, they become less efficient and gasses form inside the sealed jacket and they begin to swell, making it obvious the battery life has been shortened. I asked what he would do if they don't sell and he told me they would be dropped off at the recycling center.
Prior to this, we were told to drain the power to zero and leave the old batteries in a bucket of salt water as it will neutralize the volatile metals when exposed to air where they can be disposed of like normal garbage... probably in a landfill somewhere.
The guy told me advances have been made to reclaim the precious metals these batteries contain and the technology is improving all the time.

I did an internet search and found that EV batteries are being reprocessed and not ending up in landfills as originally feared.

Batteries that were originally mined and manufactured in China get recycled in America, the new batteries are now considered to be made in America. The plus side of that equation is we didn't have to strip mine land in America to make these products.

Easter has come and gone. With that, my first long time off from work came and went as well. Naturally, some people freak out over the smallest things. Often, it's stupid things. Take the whole MAGA/conservative crowd, for example. President Biden declared March 31st the International Transgender Day of Visibility. March 31st was also the same day as Easter this year, so naturally - freakout came.

"Easter is ruined", and "This is an assault on Christianity".

However, they neglected to mention that March 31st has been International Transgender Day of Visibility since 2009 - and even under Trump. Easter falls on different days every year.

Next year, Easter falls on 4/20. Blaze it, boys..

The next time International Transgender Day of Visibility and Easter coincides is on March 31st is in the year 2086. 62 years from now. By that time, everyone who is complaining about this, will be dead and buried. Unless someone finds the cure for immortality, that is.

With Easter comes my mandatory Easter holiday break. This year, it was one week. I spent my holiday going to a metal concert, catching the new Godzilla X Kong movie in IMAX and just pure relaxation. I also went to the annual Easter lunch in my family. My mother showed up rocking a cold - the kind of cold where your nose is red from all the tissue wiping. Naturally, she was asked to leave, since two small children were present.

That did not sit well with my mother, and she became offended that she was getting sent home again to rest and recover. With two small children, the youngest less than a year old, it was the correct thing to do. I'm sure my mother will be fine and see that it was the right thing to do.

Eventually.

The condos in my community have open corridors with several points to gain access to the roof top where the air conditioners are mounted. Those doors in the ceiling open to the trusses and a crawl space where above are the hurricane rated steel hatches to the roof.
Management wants everything locked and only one centrally located hatch is to be used for contractors, inspectors and service tradesmen. When I moved in, I noticed that hatch access closest to me was always unlocked... the reason why was the guy with the key (association vice-president) was recovering from surgery and unable to get to the 2nd floor. No one was monitoring who went up on the roof. One day, the insurance inspector noticed damage to the roof, probably when an air conditioning contractor had dragged a unit. So the association president wanted some control to know who was going to the roof. It came up in an association meeting and I was asked if I would volunteer to unlock the hatch. Groan... I'm working from home most of the time and the hatch is ten feet from my front door. I see the ladders and hear them stomping around. There are signs on all the bulletin boards stating 24 hours notice is required to have the hatch unlocked.

I get the call to unlock the hatch prior to the technicians arrival. Not all the residents pay attention and I sometimes get called when the technician is standing under a locked hatch with no prior notification. Only licensed electrical or air conditioning contractors, home inspectors and insurance inspectors are allowed access. Rare occasion is when Cable TV technicians require access. Locked access is standard procedure for all the condos and contractors who know this village, know they need to call or have the homeowner call first.

One resident died last year and his unit quickly sold. The woman who moved in didn't like the procedure and became confrontational telling me she owned property elsewhere and didn't have to go through the process of calling for access. Also that she wanted the hatch nearest her unit to be unlocked. I don't have a key for that but she instructed her guy to pry open the padlocked door anyway. This became an issue with the association president who was to get the maintenance guy to reinforce the door so someone cannot pry it open again.

Last Tuesday, I open the lock for an a/c company but they didn't show up and Wednesday, while I was out on an appointment, the woman who recently moved in had her a/c guy standing waiting for someone to unlock the hatch. I told her it was unlocked from the previous day, but she said it was locked.

When I returned, I see the two of them were on the end where the hatch is always locked. Again, he forced his way into a locked hatch, ignoring the one near me that was unlocked.

Someone from the neighboring building notified the president of my building that the metal roof hatch was left open. The president called me asking what had happened. I explained the woman instructed her guy to pry open the hatch nearest her unit. She asked me to call and notify her what had happened and get her guy to return to close the hatch.
(That wasn't my responsibility and management should have made the call)
I called the woman and explained her a/c contractor left the upper roof hatch open that can be seen from the street. She needed to get her guy to come back an close it. She became annoyed and thought someone else should close it for her. I repeated it was her contractor who was responsible. This started an argument and she was ranting about procedure. I reminded her (from a previous confrontational encounter) that hatch was to be locked at all times and only the central hatch was to be used. The correct access point was unlocked as I said, but her guy pried his way into the locked hatch. She insisted he didn't break in then hung up on me.

The maintenance guy needs to fix the broken hatch and signs changed to explain only the center hatch will be unlocked

South Florida has 2 main east-west roads that cross the state passing through the Everglades swampland. Several stops along the way have gas, food, rest areas and all are part of the Big Cypress Wildlife Management. I know there are two Indian tribes who have land there. Seminoles and Miccosukee. They run the stores selling souvenirs like hand made jewelry, trinkets and normal things that tourists buy including things made from alligator hides.
If you have swamp, you need an airboat to travel across the Everglades. There are signs along the way advertising airboat scenic rides. Some are owned by the Indians and some by private companies.
Last week, coming back from an appointment south of me, two pickup trucks were alongside, each with and airboat in tow. One was a triple-deck and the other, really tall as it had four levels. That would put the driver/pilot about 15 feet above the water. My first thought was 'top-heavy' and a ride that would jar your organs loose.

Today in the news, an airboat flipped sending 9 passengers into gator infested waters.
The driver took a sharp turn so he could get a glimpse of an alligator, tipping the boat on it's side. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue responded and the boat's operator was arrested because he did not have the proper documentation necessary to operate the boat.

(medium size airboat pictured)



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Words fail me

Is that all beyond mutual understanding?
Let me know all your thoughts..

I want to ask you guys a question , but please do not judge me .
How do one go about getting insurance as a visitor in America , hospital to he exact ?
My daughter and my eldest son is visiting. Lne if them needs hospital action very regular . Help me please. And thank you

Releasing her first country album called, Cowboy Carter, should bring some attention to that genre of music.