I Hate Technology and Other Things

Yesterday we reported that our fancy 'smart' thermostat was broken. When the AC guy arrived, we briefed him. He knew right away what the problem was. Turns out the thermostat is just fine. Thank the lord.  A safety feature on the AC unit was activated, triggering an automatic shut off. $209 later, everything is working within normal parameters. We still hate technology. 

We realized last night that by the time we usually turn in, the sun is rising in Israel. So we don't have to wait till morning to see if Iran has attacked Israel. This assumes Iran will attack at night. Why not attack during the day? They'll catch more people out in the open that way. We keep seeing reports that the Iranian attack is 'imminent'. The IAF buzzed Beirut today.  Whatever. What will be will be. Inshallah. Just follow Israel Radar. 

So we saw an interesting NJ.com video last night about New Jersey and its various accents. Click on over, the video is only 6 minutes long. New Jersey can be divided into roughly three zones. Northern New Jersey, Southern New Jersey, and the Shore. There are numerous subzones. There is no such thing as central New Jersey and we'll fight anyone who says there is. 

Northern New Jersey sounds like New York of course, the western part of the state along the Pennsylvania border sounds like the Lehigh Valley. The video shows someone in Phillipsburg saying 'Warsh' for 'wash', which is totally a Pennsylvania thing. Some folks in southern New Jersey have an accent that sounds Mid-Atlantic, which is just a tweak away from a southern accent. Remember, Cape May is across the bay from the border states of Delaware and Maryland, and less than 75 miles from Virginia. 

We speak American Standard English but say many words with a New York accent with an added 'w'. We say 'cowfey', 'mawl', and 'chowcolate', for example. We do know a few people with north Jersey speaking patterns. But the accent we hear the most in our neighborhood is Indian. 

Speaking of Indians, Kamala has chosen Minnesota governor Tim Walz for the Veep slot. We'll repeat, we just don't think veep choices make much difference. Dukakis lost with Bentsen and Bush won with Quayle. Without googling, who was Hillary's veep pick? How about Nixon's in 1960? For that matter, the Camelot myth says Johnson reassured southern voters about JFK. But this comes from the same media that insists Kennedy won the debate because he looked good, and this is demonstrably untrue. Lieberman probably turned out some Jewish votes in key states for Algore. Vance might help Trump's message a bit. 

Our grognard wants us to write stories about the destruction of the Soviet Northern Fleet and the British Army of the Rhine in War Night. It's a thought. Given where we are, those two ideas would just about stitch things up. In the meantime, we are writing two Taoiseach scenes in two different novels at once. We are also engaging in tropes. [Can one 'engage' a trope?-Ed] Whatever. Two Irish military characters in World War 1990: Thatcher's War served with British forces, one in the Falklands, one with the BAOR. Our people tell us this is totally a thing and quite normal.