When a utility asks the California Pubic Utilities Commission for a 4% increase in rates, that is considered a significant rate increase.

Not everyone has a smart phone. My wife and I have "dumb cell phones" and a land-line. Neither of us can handle QR codes, reply to text messages, or have any kind of phone-based Internet connections. We have no APS on any phone. We can send and receive photos only through our desktop PCs.

I am not anti-technology. After all, I was a software test engineer for over 30 years before I retired. I tested the software used by the U.S. military to fly its space satellites. However, neither my wife nor I are interested in social networking, online games, or other non-phone things when we are away from our house. If my phone rings while I am driving, I pull over and stop before answering my cell phone.

For a long time now, I have advocated that users subscribe to a real ISP for their E-mail. Yes, that means paying for a service; but that also means dealing with a service whose business model is based on subscriber payments and not on selling your privacy.

At the same time, pick an ISP that allows you to have an E-mail address using your own personal domain. That will allow you to move from one ISP to another without having to inform your correspondents.

The concept of custom mRNA vaccines was reported in the December 2025 issue of Scientific American magazine. There, such a vaccine was described as successfully treating pancreatic cancer.

Trump objects to Anthropic's rules against autonomous use of AI in military operations. The real reason is that Trump wants systems of military offense that can operate without any person being held accountable for unnecessary civilian casualties.

Trump also objects Anthropic's rules against the use of AI for domestic surveillance. He wants to create the world described in the novel "1984".

I wish my water was as cheap as $1,300 a year. My water bills added to $3,678.97 in 2025. In part, that was to pay for the replacement of a 50-year-old above ground water tank with an underground tank. Also, that paid for the ever-rising cost of electricity to pump the water from northern California to southern California. My water bill exceeded the sum of my electricity, natural gas, and phone bills. Note, however, that our water is among the best in the U.S.

Also in 2025, my sewer fees totaled $1,381.32. The sewage plant thourghly processes its input and then releases the result into a nearby natural creek. The area is an undeveloped watershed that is home to wild animals. Lawsuits against the sewage plant now require that the flow in the stream below the plant must be cleaner than the flow above it despite the fact that excrement from the animals washes into the stream. I am paying for the extra processing of the sewage.

I was already over 80 when I bought my Nissan Leaf EV.

The only time I needed roadside repair was when I misjudged a driveway and hit a curb at speed; that destroyed a tire. The Leaf does not come with a spare tire or even with space for one. So I needed a tow.

I recently had a minor collision. The paint was scraped on the left front. That part of the body shifted about 1/2 inch or less, causing a "click" when I opened the driver's door. All that was repaired in less than a week.

My wife (also over 80) regularly goes to a clinic for treatment. As we are now a one-car family, she uses door-to-door transportation provided by our local city. While waiting for a ride home, she has seen EVs towed from the clinic's parking lot. In every case, the owners of those EVs failed to charge their main batteries. Stupidity and negligence by owners are not reasons to denigrate the reliability of EVs. As I write this, my Leaf is plugged into a charger in my home's garage.

CVS drug stores sell two CVS-branded ointments that fight fungus. One is for athlete's foot, and the other is for jock itch. A tube of the jock itch ointment costs $2 more than a tube of the athlete's foot ointment. A close examination of the tubes reveals that they contain the same amounts of the same strength of the same product. They both have instructions for both kinds of fungus. Other than the names and the prices, they are the same.

After a 41-year career in computer software -- first as a programmer but 30+ years as a software test engineer -- I am very glad I retired 22 years ago. News items like this destroy any thoughts I might have about going back to work.

How do I block Southern California Edison (SoCalEd) from draining our backup battery? I had the battery installed because of health reasons.

My wife has COPD and Parkinson's. She needs electricity 24/7 to run an oxygen concentrator. She needs electricity to run the stair-lift in our two-story house. I have sleep apnea. I need electricity at night to run the CPAP machine that keeps me breathing.

During a public safety power shutoff (PSPS) earlier this year, we were without electricity from SoCalEd for more than a day. In the daytime, we had electricity from our solar system; in the night, we had electricity from our battery. The PSPS did not impair our health.

Actually, a PSPS is not my only concern. SoCalEd fails in my area without warning, without regard for the weather, at any time of the year. Sometimes, it is only for a few minutes; sometimes it is for many hours. If it happens while we are sleeping, we might not realize that we must report the outage. With our battery, we are protected.

Rather than relying on the "official" version published by a government where people are fire for telling the truth, I rely on [http://www.findlaw.com/casecode/constitution/].

I too use Thunderbird for RSS feeds. My list of 10 feeds, however, does not include news sources. My list includes a Web site hosting stories by amateur authors (some quite good), blogs, podcasts, and announcements of software updates,

Spectrum's fiber optic cables in southern California were recently cut, knocking out Internet and phone service across several very populous counties. It took several hours to repair. It appears the vandalism was caused by thieves thinking the cables contained copper. Copper theft has become a major problem across the U.S., affecting residential plumbing, public street lighting, and electrical service.

I am glad I have an over-sized solar electric system on my roof and a 12 hour backup battery.

According to the 17 June Los Angeles Times, the outage extended from western Ventura County (including Ojai and the city of Ventura) to central Orange County (including Anaheim),