10:15 – Happy New Year. Let’s hope it’s better than 2016.
Every New Year, I think about how long I’ve been keeping a blog–since before the word was coined–and wonder how much longer I’ll keep doing it. Along with Jerry Pournelle’s, mine is the oldest blog that is still currently active. Jerry and I both started HTTP blogging on the web in mid-1998, and both of us were “blogging” via earlier protocols starting ten years before that. In my case, back to when I still had a bang address, and even before that on my seven-line MajorBBS system. Almost 30 years of blogging for both of us, and all our stuff back to the late 90’s is still on-line.
Barbara and I drove into Sparta yesterday to visit Farmer’s Hardware, in search of a tube of silicone caulk to seal the edges of our new gas cooktop. She’d mentioned earlier that they had an impressive display of Lodge cast-iron cookware, which of course as a guy I’d never noticed on earlier visits. It was indeed an impressive display, a 30-foot wall full from floor to ceiling of cast-iron cookware and accessories. And the prices seemed pretty competitive with Amazon or Walmart. The owner, who always greets customers at the door, said that they were actually low-stock at the moment because cast-iron cookware is an extremely popular Christmas gift up here.
The secondary purpose of our trip into town was a search for deep-cycle marine batteries for the solar power setup. The guy at Farmer’s said they didn’t carry them, but recommended CarQuest or NAPA. He didn’t mention O’Reilly, which also has a local store, and when I questioned him he didn’t say anything bad about O’Reilly but simply said that the first two “carry good batteries”. So we went to the first two first. Both of them carry marine D-C batteries, but only small ones for trolling motors and so on. We then went to O’Reilly. Same deal.
I’d printed out the page for a battery that Home Depot carries. The important specs on it were the Amp-hour rating (115 Ah, which means it can deliver 5.75 Amps for 20 hours), reserve capacity (205 minutes, which means it can deliver 25 Amps for 3 hours and 25 minutes), weight (62 pounds), and price ($99). None of the three places had anything close to those specs. Not even half, and at a considerably higher price. As the guy at CarQuest said, they carry D-C batteries for trolling motors and similar applications, when what I was looking for was more like a forklift battery. He said he’d had several people come in looking for PV solar batteries, and sent them to Home Depot.
So we’ll have to pick up batteries the next time we’re at Home Depot in Winston.
“Along with Jerry Pournelle’s, mine is the oldest blog that is still currently active”
Congrats to you both; your blog/s and his have been very informative and interesting for a very long time now. Thanks for putting in the effort. I never had my own, but was on the Boston Computer Society BBS’s in the early 80s and then on DEC’s EasyNet before I got onto Compuserve and AOL. Now the gas station down the road has a web site and every Tom, Dick and Harry runs a blog. Yours and Jerry’s are many cuts above them all, by orders of magnitude. (I believe I’ll start using BOOM instead of that whole phrase.)
Interesting also about the batteries, actually; I wonder if we should just pick up a couple of those; we have both Home Depot and Lowe’s down in the Burlap/Colchester area, plus the Costco. Just for laughs I may swing by the Wall-Mutt superstore up here to see if they carry batteries like that.
Mrs. OFD is flying back to the East Coast islands of the Clinton Archipelago today but won’t get in until late tonight so she’ll stay at her mom’s down in Shelburne. Princess is supposedly coming down AGAIN tomorrow at some point and I dunno how long she plans on staying here or there but I’m guessing one of us will have to drive her back up to Moh-ree-all at some point and then I’ll be cleaning the car out AGAIN. I sent her an email asking her to do that this weekend (because it’s the worst I’ve ever seen it) and to tell me where she put the sheet of paper with our wireless and other passwords on it. That’s on me; I should know by now I can’t just hand stuff to them and see it again without a nationwide search for it, or maybe even international. It’s also on me because I never got around to making a copy and keeping it somewhere else here. Fail.
Overcast with patches of blue here and there; supposed to be sunny and clear and in the high 30s the next two days; I may try to get a couple more outside yard things done, besides picking up more of the sticks, branches and twigs that came down in that last series of 55 MPH wind gusts.
Happy New Year to us all; my dad would have been 90 this year and my mom will be 85 and MIL 89. I’ll be 64 in July assuming I make it that fah and Mrs. OFD will hit 62. Tempus fugit.
Did a quick search for that battery/specs and no Home Depot store within 100 miles carries it, but Lowe’s and Wall-Mutt carry similar models; next time I’m in either one I’ll make a point of looking for them. You’d think that on this 130-mile lake shore on both sides there would be BOAT-loads of marine batteries.
Starting batteries are designed to repeatedly provide very high current for a few seconds to start a car, while being built as cheaply as possible. Deep-cycle batteries are much more expensive to produce. What costs money is reserve capacity and cycle life, neither of which starting batteries focus on. Interestingly, a deep-cycle battery can competently fill the starter battery niche, but not vice versa. The next time I need to replace the batteries in our vehicles, I’ll opt for the largest deep-cycle battery that will fit.
WRT batteries….I needed to replace the batteries in the wife’s electric scooter. Couldn’t find the right ones at the local auto parts store, so went online. Walmart had the best prices, even with delivery to the house (they do free delivery to the store for pickup). There was no in-store stock available.
Who pays for Princess’ endless commutes?
Link to PDF listing everyday household chemicals that are useful for other things. Looks pretty comprehensive.
http://www.chymist.com/Common%20chemicals.pdf
n
Found while looking for a home source of potassium permanganate for something my 7 yo wants to do. I’ll find out WHAT it is before getting her any 🙂
“The next time I need to replace the batteries in our vehicles, I’ll opt for the largest deep-cycle battery that will fit.
Ditto, and a very good bit of info even if SHTF never happens.
“Who pays for Princess’ endless commutes?
We do, of course. Us and MIL, repeatedly, and over the course of, let’s see now, seven years and counting. To be fair, she worked a summer or two, and a couple of parttime jobs here and there, but the pay was peanuts. Also to be fair, we’re paying a grand total, including tuition, books, fees, apartment, groceries, utilities, etc., of probably half of what it would have cost us, for just tuition down here. She has dual Canadian-Murkan citizenship, speaks French and qualifies as a Quebec resident, so she gets those three discounts right off the bat. It’s just taking about twice as long as I had figured and now I’ve heard murmurs of yet another semester, which is bullshit. First her mom’s heard of it, too.
Her mom’s airline miles get her to Europe and back and supposedly MIL was paying for her music classes in Nova Scotia, Brittany, Scotland and Ireland this past summer but we still took a bath on it. (always gotta pay MIL back anyway, see how that works?) So if we put our foot down and say NO, MIL undercuts us. And this is a granddaughter who will show up at Grandma’s, say “Hi” and then leave to be with her little commie/hipster friends down here. 24 years old.
When I was that age, I’d been done working for Uncle for three years and was working as a cop down in small-town Maffachufetts and had my own apartment and car and was about halfway along in college credits for the BA.
[snip] You’d think that on this 130-mile lake shore on both sides there would be BOAT-loads of marine batteries. [snip]
Have you checked boat dealers & marine supply houses? Plenty of those around here; as another poster says we’re on the world’s largest hot tub.
Mr. Creekmore just laid some major buzzkill on us all:
http://www.thesurvivalistblog.net/predictions-trump-presidency/
I certainly hope he’s wrong on all points, but suspect he’s correct; just not sure of the time-span involved yet.
And in any case, we still have just under three weeks where anything at all can still happen. Never count the Left out; they never stop, never give up.
“Have you checked boat dealers & marine supply houses?
Oh no, I haven’t even gone out looking yet; it’s just another item for the five-page to-do list that wasn’t on it yesterday. I also suspect those places will want full price.
“cast-iron cookware”
I was checking its wikipedia page, and found an amazingly simple and very useful project:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucky_iron_fish
It’s just taking about twice as long as I had figured and now I’ve heard murmurs of yet another semester
Here in The Great State of Texas, kids who cannot get finished in 30 hours over their primary degree program gets transferred from in-state tuition cost to out of state tuition cost. The difference in cost is significant.
http://prtl.uhcl.edu/registrar/excessive-hours
I think this BBC Health article is more informative and correct than the wikipedia page regarding the Lucky Iron Fish:
http://www.bbc.com/news/health-32749629
Found while looking for a home source of potassium permanganate for something my 7 yo wants to do. I’ll find out WHAT it is before getting her any
Add glycerin to make fire. Pour G into small glass bottle with P in it, quickly fasten cap and throw. Nice frag grenade.
I did that with swimming pool crystals in a small jar, poured a glob of glycerin in it, very quickly fastened the cap and three it. Like an M80 with a green flash fire.
In middle skool, aged about twelve or so. A harbinger, perhaps?
Uncle showed me more advanced tricks a few years later. Thanks, Unc.
Just watched Patriots slaughter the Dolphins; Brady is on track for NFL MVP, and maybe the oldest guy to get it since Jim Brown. Also on track for being the greatest QB in NFL history, and that’s going back a long ways past some really great guys. He’s a multi-millionaire married to a multi-millionaire model and yet he’ll still pop up around greater Boston and bump into regular peeps and shoot the breeze like a regular human bean. One of my nieces has chatted often with former Pat, now Texan, the great Vince Wilfork, who lives in their town down there and considers it home.
Didn’t wanna spend the day at the laundromat to use their dryers so did my skivvies and socks in the oven on four levels at 140. Worked like a charm. Not sure if we have a plan yet to replace our dryer; I have yet to dismantle it and look at a possible DIY solution, next up this week. We’ll probably also run a line out from the porch to one of the trees out back, but first we’ll have to clean out the back porch again.
So many mundane chores and errands to run. Exciting.
Dad checking in to wish one and all of you a Better New Year.
I’m working at perfecting my low profile.
My wife is no longer working. As of 12/30/2016 she is officially retired after working for more than 35-years as an RN in the Operating Room at the hospital formerly known as KGH (Kennewick General Hospital) now called Trios (which means nothing other than a million dollars in some consultant’s pocket).
Her “boss” giggled when Elizabeth turned-in her papers for 2-weeks notice. My wife said this is no joke and your attitude just proves that I am making the right decision. Her friends were hoping that she might reconsider, but at the party they threw for her on Friday they realized that come Tuesday there will be no more Elizabeth. Much crying and wailing.
All the Medicare stuff is already in force: Part A (hospital), Part B (medical), Part F (supplemental), and Part D (drug). The Social Security is set to start, the gotcha is that the January check is deposited in February and the next gotcha is that it is deposited on the day closest to your birthday (for me that is the 21st and for Elizabeth is the 30th). We are fortunate that her final paycheck will include 3-months of PTO payout so cash flow is not a problem.
4-inches of snow today and a couple more expected tonight or tomorrow. My son and I put up my new weather station yesterday, an AcuRite Pro from Costco. The display unit is a POS (you have to be looking directly at it to see anything) but I have it reporting to WeatherUnderground and an Android App.
Well, so much for my low profile.
Always vigilant.
Yep. Before I was 25 I had two college degrees, almost seven years of military service (reserve and active), an apartment, a job, and a start on a Master’s degree.
When I see the mort of superannuated children, and even more when I hear the excuses made for their lack of accomplishment, I’m filled with disgust. Not a homicidal rage, but disgust and contempt. Not only for the overgrown babies but for their parents, the public schools, and the entire culture which lets the lazy little turds think that playing video games or hanging out drinking or pursuing a college degree which will “improve them as a person” is a perfectly acceptable way spend their lives.
I read about those iron fish some time back. They are an easy and inexpensive cure for anemia, for people who have cheap cookware.
I don’t think anybody answered Mr. Eugen’s question(s) yesterday about water storage.
First follow-up question: How’s the quality of public drinking water in your area of Romania?
Uh-oh, Mr. DadCooks just blew his low profile. Sad. Now he’s on the radar in more ways than the usual, lol.
“…Not a homicidal rage, but disgust and contempt.
Yeah, that, and just weariness and frustration with it all. The commies made the focus of their Long March through Murkan cultural institutions our “educational system,” and have won that particular battle without firing a shot. Each generation since the Good War has been worse than the one before it; mine is the Boomer Gen, and man, am I sick and tired of hearing about us. I have mostly nothing but loathing and contempt for my own gen in this country. I guess our kids are the Millennials, and although they’re both very smart, one is rising through corporate ranks at a company that could be here today and gone tomorrow, despite their huge size and impact thus far. (Salesforce.com). Their kids must be Generation Z or whatever the meme is currently, and one has the same sort of behavioral issues that my nephew had/has, and the girl acts out a lot and creates havoc. Our youngest grandson is probably gonna be the winner out of that group; he’s wicked smart, has a sense of humor and is a bruiser.
The other kid has been documented here at tedious length already; brilliant at languages and music but behavior and attitude are still huge problems. She imbibes the toxic lefty vapors all the time and is in that other dimension of reality a lot, that we’ve also talked about here.
Both kids are big and would be hard to take down by the average schmuck attackers, but neither has ever been in a real fight or had to deal with what their mom and stepdad have lived through. And they apparently believe, like everyone else stuck in Normality Bias, that the whole carnival will just keep rolling along forever, and one of them thinks that money grows on trees and is available whenever she wants it.
I fear that they are in for a very rude awakening, like so many people, and they will not thank us for having foreseen the coming shit-storm and tried to get ready for it.
Here in The Great State of Texas, kids who cannot get finished in 30 hours over their primary degree program gets transferred from in-state tuition cost to out of state tuition cost. The difference in cost is significant.
Out of state tuition in TX is still slightly cheaper than what I paid in-state in WA.
My grad CS program is 98%+ Indian. To them, it is an awesome deal.
And coming this way, sooner or later, unless it is stopped, and the scum already here deported:
http://gatesofvienna.net/2017/01/silvesternacht-2016-once-more-with-groping/
Like the article says, how long will the Germans be able to stem the tide, financially, if nothing else as an issue. The Italians seem to have given up already, a huge surprise.
It’s just a trickle here now, leaving aside 9/11 and several other large incidents around the country. But from my perspective it’s getting closer; we had the Boston Marathon bombing, sexual assaults and rapes and at least one murder by Somalis in Burlington, VT, and every once in a while one of these animals gets caught trying to come across the Quebec border. And they brought in 100 Syrian “refugees” to Rutland, VT, recently. We’ll be watching and listening.
Brady is on track for NFL MVP
Will never happen as long as Roger Goodell has anything to say about it.
the great Vince Wilfork, who lives in their town down there and considers it home.
Texans call the home of the Pats Taxachusetts. There are many refugees here.
http://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/07/vince-wilfork-naked-silhouette-nfl-shield
One wonders how many NFL quarterbacks wake up in a cold sweat every night envisioning this guy laying on top of them.
Her “boss” giggled when Elizabeth turned-in her papers for 2-weeks notice
Is her former boss 19 ? This is serious adult stuff. Sounds like a sequel to the movie “Mean Girls”.
“Will never happen as long as Roger Goodell has anything to say about it.
Good point, I’d happily forgotten that guy even existed. Shit.
“Texas call the home of the Pats Taxachusetts. There are many refugees here.
No doubt. Tired of wading through heavy wet snow to scrape ice off their windshields in the morning before their commutes in heavy-ass traffic while the wind howls. Winter there is like it is up here, only not as cold, but with ten times the people and traffic. Taxes and fees are crazy insane there, too. Plus the virulent anti-gunner hacks who control the Commonwealth’s government. Mr. JLP can probably add more recent intel; I left there 20 years ago, after being born and raised there.
“One wonders how many NFL quarterbacks wake up in a cold sweat every night …”
Indeed. I saw him squash one just a couple of weeks ago; for such a huge guy he can move pretty effin fast for short distances. My niece says he’s a real nice guy and he was wicked bummed that the salary cap drove him from the Pats to Houston.
Looks like the Broncos just upset the Raiders. And KC is killing San Diego. Pats will have home field advantage throughout the playoffs, and I suspect Roger Dodger will make an appearance. He was supposed to show up last year for one of the home playoff games but didn’t, and the crowd would periodically chant “Where is Rogerrrrrrr?” Today the Pats fans in Miami were chanting “MVP.”
Commentators have said Brady has a lock on it now but like you say, that effing Goodell could screw him out of it somehow.
The wind has stopped and it’s just a cold raw January night. I’ll watch the Packers/Giants game later and expect to hear from the wife when gets to her two-hour layover in beeeyoooteeful Newark, NJ. She belongs to the United Club and it’s worth the $ to have a comfortable place to grab something to eat, nap, read email, etc. She won’t arrive at the Burlington “International” Airport until nearly midnight, so will stay over with Great-Grandma. Dunno how she’s getting back up here unless it’s with Princess in my car tomorrow, or GG drives her up. I can’t get the Princess Matrix registered in VT until Tuesday, and it will still need decent snow tires, so as usual, I expect there will be all sorts of new plans for this week that inconvenience as many people as possible. And I’ll find out what those plans are at the very last minute, and if I act the least bit peeved then I’m the mean and evil fascist stepfather again.
@dadcooks, I have the same weather station, and I love the display. Plug it in to the wall wart, and it is bright and clear.
I can see mine from across the room (10ft) or arms length (where it used to be.)
I don’t have mine connected to a pc or the web. Keep meaning to, haven’t yet. I’ve got an energy monitor I want hooked up too. Maybe my security cam DVR machine can accommodate those two things too.
I don’t trust the wind indicator, because I don’t have a tall post and it’s too close to my roof, in a swirly area of the house/yard. That was another thing that I was supposed to upgrade when I had time.
There is never enough time…..
nick
The nice thing about ebay is it is passive once you’ve got the listing up.
Sold $100 last night, and another $20 just now. Did some craigslist today for another $150. Might not send the kids to school, but it adds up.
n
@dadcooks and @nick: I also got a Accurite in 2015. They had some QC problems with the display connection to the PC; bad software, but they wouldn’t admit it. I did get a replacement display after complaining. They never asked for the original back, so now I have two.
And I use the PC software from http://www.valleyinfosys.com/ Valley Info Systems to report to Weather Underground. Valley Info Systems wrote the original Accurite version. Their software is better than the Accurite versions, IMHO. I had problems with the Accurite software and switched to Valley Info System software with better results.
My weather system is down at the moment. I’ve been in other AO’s for a couple of weeks, and the PC that does the weather software must have gotten a power-down (probably a power blip due to storms), and it doesn’t power on after an outage. So the station is down for the moment. It will be back after I get closer to my normal AO.
The outside system is only 25′ from the house on an 8′ galvalnized pipe. (I have a really narrow back yard, with a steep downhill slope that is not part of my property, so it’s the best/only place to put the wind sensor). So wind direction can get a bit swirly and not entirely accurate speeds. But it is close enough.
I really like mine. It does exactly what I wanted, which is temp, and RH that I can see from my desk. The web and collaborative stuff is gravy.
I got mine in 2015 or 14, whenever costco first had them onsale.
Been on 24/7 since.
n
She is in her mid-40s and has an MBA, just what is needed to “manage” nurses and doctors. The doctors can do no wrong in her eyes and the nurses and scrub techs are the problem. She has been in the job less than 6-months. In that time most of the nurses who can retire have.
Thanks @nick and @RickH for the weather station comments.
I have been using the “wall wart” for the display and have now mounted it on the wall. That base/stand puts the display at an angle that just doesn’t work for across the room viewing. Mounting flat on the wall at eye-ball height works.
Took a quick look at the VIS Reader site. I’ll have to take some time to look at it in more detail.
For those who don’t know, in the US an “International” airport is one which has a Customs Agent; no direct flight to a foreign land is required.
Aha! Thus Bangor “International” Airport, Burlington “International” Airport, etc., and yeah, they’re both close to the Canadian border and have U.S. Customs offices. Another fact: so far as I know, any disruptive passengers on northern U.S. flights still automatically get taken to Bangor where they are arrested, etc.
WRT to weather stations; rather pointless here as the weather changes from minute to minute and we are here, or at least I am, to see and hear it. We’re on a sheltered bay on the northeastern coast of Lake Champlain and we’ll typically have different weather from what’s happening five miles north or south of us. I’ve seen it snowing in the back yard, steadily, with nothing at all in front of the house. And vice-versa. This house is probably some kind of weird vortex and a homing signal for alien life forms from another galaxy. Perhaps Princess will be able to communicate easily with them.
There’s a Weather Underground station near here that’s useful for temperature and wind direction. It tends to match my porch thermometer with inside display (incidentally Acurite) better than the data from the airport (some miles away). I just mean that I like to get the info, before I stick my nose out the door. While quite leaky, this old house is sometimes slow to cool off or warm up to ambient.
And if she ever gets tired of that, her MBA will perfectly qualify her to manage engineers or programmers.
From the Summarizing Leftist History Department:
http://gatesofvienna.net/2016/12/when-did-leftism-go-bad-or-was-it-ever-any-other-way/
Most Murkan derps have no idea of this history, and still less, probably, do its wannabe revolutionaries here.
But those of us Normals still above ground should know that it percolated along right into the 1930s after Stalin’s (Koba the Dread) terror famines in the Ukraine and elsewhere, and right through the Good War and the 1950s after it, when we had hundreds of Soviet spies infesting the government and culture (Senator Joe McCarthy was a genuine American hero and patriot, incidentally).
From that period, now going on 80 or more years, they’ve made their Long March through Western culture and especially its media and schools and universities. And they won, quite simply, without firing a shot. Now almost all of us, even us hardcore right wingnut types, accept a lot of stuff that goes on entirely for granted and never think to question it.
Seems like it’s more useful to question the activities (attempted or succeeded, overt or covert) rather than the ideologies.
It’s a shame that there isn’t a more cost effective battery available than the ones Bob mentioned. I’m looking at the same batteries if I get a solar setup. The only difference is I would be getting them from Menard’s instead of Home Depot. This battery on Amazon has more useful capacity than two of the batteries that Bob is looking at. Sadly it costs 50% more. If you drain conventional deep cycle batteries below half of their maximum capacity, their life is dramatically shortened. AGM batteries can put out 80% of their maximum capacity without a shortened life.
From the How Important is Israel? Department:
http://www.vdare.com/articles/john-derbyshire-israel-is-not-that-important-to-america?content=the%20wealthy-donor%20classes.
As he says, fah less important than either Japan or Mexico.
So let’s quit sending $3 billion/per annum to them and another $3 billion to its surrounding enemies, like Egypt, along with all our advanced weapons systems. (I use those dollar figures because they represent what I used to see being bandied about in any discussion of this matter; no idea what the figures are now but I bet they’re a LOT more.)
Also, any kid that goes over to serve in a foreign army should automatically forfeit his or her Murkan citizenship. And yes, I am well aware that adventurer types went off to join the Canadian, French and British forces prior to our involvement in the world wars. They’re simply mercenaries, as I would have been, had I accepted the $500 per month to hook up with the Rhodesian armed forces upon my return to the States in ’75.
Mrs. OFD is back in the Great Green Mountain State, praise the Lord, and we’ll link up sometime tomorrow. And the mutt is downstairs asleep on the couch and having bad doggie dreams; the mama cat is sleeping on a chair in the dining room; our little Squirty female is probably up in the attic; and our big male cat is out cold on my office chair here. When they’re awake they all stick to me like glue, and I’ll end up with at least one of the cats and often two or all three asleep on the bed with me.
Life is pretty OK tonight at This Old House. So long as I don’t think too much about that five-page to-do list and taxes.
I’ve mentioned it before, several times, but I’m a big fan of surplus UPSs. Big ones are available in auctions, they’ve got a charger, inverter, and batteries with lots of life left in them. Lots of projects online to convert them, or use them as is.
n
“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Teaser Trailer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dW1BIid8Osg
More cool music including “Fox on the Run” by Sweet and “The Chain” by Fleetwood Mac.
There is going to be a billion baby Groot dolls XXXXX action figures sold.
May 2017, be there.
It’s a shame that there isn’t a more cost effective battery available than the ones Bob mentioned
Generally any marine rated battery is going to do quite well. Those batteries will generally allow deep cycle but also provide very strong starting current. They are also much better built than auto batteries as the jostling and slamming is more severe in a boat. More expensive than car batteries but will also last longer as they have deep cycle capability. I have two of them in my boat on a battery switch that allows selection of either battery, both batteries or no batteries. Switch is useful when sitting with the lights on and the music going as you switch to a single battery leaving the other battery to start the engine. After started switch to both and get the discharged battery charged. Key to long life is a good charger when not using the boat. I use a charger specifically designed for such applications and will charge both batteries at the same time and maintain a trickle charge when the batteries are charged. Last set of batteries I got eight years and replaced them because they were at the end of their life and did not want to be stranded on the water.
My wife says her curriculum vitae shows she has already worked her magic in those fields.
DH wrote:
“…(Senator Joe McCarthy was a genuine American hero and patriot, incidentally). ”
Yeah, sure. And Trofim Denisovich Lysenko was a first rate geneticist and Pope Alexander VI was a humble and devout Christian who never stole a ducat and kept his weiner in his pants.
DH wrote:
“…had I accepted the $500 per month to hook up with the Rhodesian armed forces…”
You’d risk your life for $500 per month?
Someone (actually most people) has been fed the standard commie boilerplate narrative on Senator McCarthy.
Allow me to recommend, for entry-level noobs:
Blacklisted by History: The Untold Story of Senator Joe McCarthy and His Fight Against America’s Enemies (2007).
by M. Stanton Evans
DH wrote:
“…and now I’ve heard murmurs of yet another semester, which is bullshit. First her mom’s heard of it, too. ”
What for? Are you and the old lady ever going to say “no”? And tell MIL if she lends Princess another cent she is not getting paid back.
McCarthy lied about his war service – “tail-gunner Joe”, he lied repeatedly about having “names”, he slandered good Democrats and Republicans. and he destroyed the Republican Party in Wisconsin for half a century. He also fought to get Nazi war criminals off the hook.
May he rot in hell.
Where did you get all that “information,” pray tell? I note that the most prominent critics of Evans’s book are themselves far-left libtards or outright commies.
I’m with OFD on this one.
So long as I don’t think too much about that five-page to-do list and taxes.
Ugh. Taxes. I’ll be scrubbing W2’s and 1099’s today to get them out. Ugh.
Thus speaks someone who’s never been married. Seriously, Miles_Teg, not joking around like I usually do, you should observe more and suggest less when it comes to marital dynamics.
We say “no.”
She says “yes.”
And MIL has a history of control-obsession (rather than using the word “freak.”)
Mrs. OFD is terrified that as the only child, she will lose her mom soon. Remains kinda devastated that she never had a father and her deceased uncle was a beast to her and the other one never contacted her after all these decades and yet is still alive and well down in Delaware or someplace.
The third-gen female connives, plots and manipulates, and feels herself Entitled, like many if not most of her Murkan cohorts. And she has only had me for the patriarchal repression, not related by blood, thus giving me weaker legs to stand on as she got older. Remains angry that her real father is deceased and she got this lousy substitute.
Leaving me, and I am far from a saint and leave much to be desired in the way of husband and father, and also have my own load of creaky baggage to tote in my remaining years.
Thus, a summary, poorly done, of the “marital dynamics” here as I understand them.
Would I have preferred to remain single my whole life? Some days I think so, but most of the time, no. And supposedly us married fools live longer, which is pretty pathetic when you consider that we croak earlier than women do anyway.
And I should hasten to add that Miles_Teg’s question and suggestion are perfectly rational and reasonable– they just haven’t worked here in this particular clan’s dynamics yet, but there is still hope.
“or GG drives her up”
Did I understood correctly? The Great-Grandma still drives a car? She is like > 80 yo, IIRC.
“First follow-up question: How’s the quality of public drinking water in your area of Romania?”
The tap water here is of good quality. It is collected from mountain rivers nearby. It is treated with some bit of chorine (or how it is called).
I drink water from the tap, like most people here. There a few who buy bottled water (I guess, those who fears the smallish contaminations of everything)..
I never kept tap water more than a few days, so I’m not sure how storeable it is.
ADDED: Some info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorine#Public_sanitation
So let’s quit sending $3 billion/per annum to them and another $3 billion to its surrounding enemies, like Egypt, along with all our advanced weapons systems.
The problem is that we are not giving Israel cash. We are giving Israel advanced weapon systems. Israel is consuming the minimum production of four F-16 planes per month in the Fort Worth assembly plant. If we stop giving them planes then we have to shutdown the assembly plant which may not be restartable. I do not know what we are giving Egypt.
What a mess !
And what’s wrong with that? The F-35 can do everything the F-16, A-10, and Predator drone can do, and do it better!
Eugen, the chemical you mentioned is chlorine, with an “l”.
You can store chlorinated tap water indefinitely in soft-drink bottles or similar containers without any pre-treatment. After months or years it may become a bit stale and flat tasting, but it’s still safe. You can reduce or eliminate the stale/flat taste by allowing it to sit exposed to air for a few hours.
In case you find yourself needing to drink water from a stream or similar source, it’s a good idea to have some means of purifying it to remove biological contaminants. You can do that with ordinary chlorine laundry bleach (without brighteners, perfumes, or other additives–just use the cheap generic stuff) or by buying a microfilter like the $20 Sawyer Mini.
Seriously Steve, I don’t have to have been married to comment on marriage – I’ve seen several disasters at close quarters unfold in real time.
20 years ago my mum said to my father “Isn’t it a shame the boys (my brother and I) never got married.” He replied that we might have got into bad marriages. Having seen what happened to my sister (her ex stole $600k+ of their money, which he gambled and drunk away) I’m a bit skeptical of marriage.
Greg,
The fact remains that if you’ve never been married (or at least a common-law type marriage), you have no idea what you’re talking about. Outsiders simply never see what it’s like to be on the inside of a marriage, any more than I know what it’s like to be inside someone else’s marriage or they mine. Which is why I always think it’s a hoot to listen to RC priests giving marriage advice.
“Did I understood correctly? The Great-Grandma still drives a car? She is like > 80 yo, IIRC.”
Yes, you did indeed understand correctly; Great-Grandmother is 88 and will be 89 in April; she just got a new leased car and has recently driven it up to northern New Brunswick and back in one day, alone, a distance of about 600 miles. She also paints gallery-quality art, travels back and forth by air to Kalifornia and Floriduh, and moves furniture. Her big sister is 91 and rides a bicycle and kayaks alone on the lake. Your humble correspondent is having trouble making it up the stairs today, and is only 63. There is a lesson there somewhere but damned if I know what it is.
“The F-35 can do everything the F-16, A-10, and Predator drone can do, and do it better!”
We are scheduled to get the F-16s up here replaced by F-35s either later this year or next year; there was/is some protest about noise and proximity, blah, blah, blah, from the usual suspects. And they’ve already bought and emptied a whole street of houses so they can expand their runways. OFD likes having a fighter interceptor squadron thirty miles away with the latest chit. Tidbits: the Green Mountain Boys FIS has had one female pilot that I know of. And has had three generations of pilots in one family from three wars: Vietnam, Gulf War I, and currently; what’s this one called, the “Global War on Terrorism” or some such malarkey? OFD doesn’t care what it’s called; if Nork or Russian or Chicom missiles or jets or bombers are headed this way, light ’em up!
But I sure hope we never get to that point. OFD also likes having a small battery here of stuff for defending family and home but again hopes it never gets there. And yes, kids, it is better to have a .22LR cornpopper than nothing at all. Learn how to use it well and aim for the face or groin with the best defense ammo you can find.
“Having seen what happened to my sister…
That sucks, but that kinda chit also happens to couples whether they’re married or not. And over here it’s usually the husband who gets taken to the cleaners and bled white after a divorce, and also loses the chillunz.
I had gf’s on and off over the years and didn’t get married the first time until I was 35! But that four years of working for Uncle kinda put a monkey wrench in the usual planned college-job-career works. It also took me 14 years total to finish college, going part-time, nights, and working throughout. So I’ve been single for significant lengths of time and it has its advantages and disadvantages, but one major disadvantage is being alone all the time and ending up old and alone in a culture that doesn’t give a blind rat’s ass for old buggers anymore.
It’s also nice sometimes to have someone to talk with, other than like me here, for one to three weeks per month, chatting with the cats and the dawg. Sad. Even sadder is talking to myself, having arguments, and losing the arguments. Very sad.
“Which is why I always think it’s a hoot to listen to RC priests giving marriage advice.
Kind of, yeah. But all clergy sometimes give marital advice, just as they do on other issues with which they themselves may not personally be familiar. Just as with any counselor or therapist. After a long enough while, you’ve heard enough stories and been with enough people in so many different circumstances that you can at least give it a shot in trying to help out. Like some of us with other veterans.
I’ve never dropped bombs on villages full of people but that doesn’t mean I can’t understand what a pilot or bombardier might be going through. And that bugger has never slogged through mud and snakes and bugs waiting to get shot by guys wearing loincloths and B.F. Goodrich sandals.
So I’m sorta inclined to let Miles_Teg slide on this one. He’s old enough to have seen some shit, but I imagine he’s also seen successful marriages, amirite?
My arguments with myself are usually along the lines of “Get out of bed and go to the gym, lazyass!” “Fuck you!” and “Hmm. I see a piece of chocolate on the counter. I wonder if I should eat it.” “No, dumbass!” “Goddammit, fuck you! I’m never talking to you again!” And then the arguments kind of go downhill from there. That’s why I’m glad my daughter has some fish. I can argue with them and they never win, though sometimes they die and float to the top of the tank.
McCarthy made stuff up about having lists of communists in government. If he really had such lists shouldn’t he have published the names? Of course, doing so would have exposed him to being sued for defamation…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millard_Tydings
In 1950 McCarthy ran a scare campaign against Millard Tydings, a conservative Democrat from Maryland who Roosevelt tried and failed to purge in 1938 for not being supportive enough of the New Deal.
When Tydings ran for re-election in 1950, McCarthy’s staff distributed a composite picture of Tydings with Earl Browder, the former leader of the American Communist Party. Tydings had never met him before Browder testified in July 1950. The composite photo merged a 1938 photo of Tydings listening to the radio and a 1940 photo of Browder delivering a speech; the text under the composite photo stated that when Browder had testified before Tydings’s committee, Tydings had said, “Thank you, sir.” Although the quote was technically accurate, it was generally held to be misleading, as it implied a degree of amity between Browder and Tydings that did not exist.
In 1950 McCarthy assaulted journalist Drew Pearson in the cloakroom of a Washington club, reportedly kneeing him in the groin. McCarthy, who admitted the assault, claimed he merely “slapped” Pearson.
McCarthy an his acomplices also played a role in the suicide of Wyoming senator Lester C. Hunt.
In 1952 McCarthy was slagging former Chief of Staff, SecDef and SecState George C. Marshall, who played a major role in winning WWII. Eisenhower, to his shame, acquiesed in this to avoid antagonising McCarthy’s misguided supporters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tail_Gunner_Joe
The nickname ‘Tail Gunner Joe’ is a derisive term for the Senator that originated from his false claim to have been a tail gunner on American bombers during World War II
McCarthy and German war criminals:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malmedy_massacre_trial#The_Senate_subcommittee
“Successful marriage” is one where the husband died and left money for his widow.
I’m not being sarcastic there, though the cynicism is strong. If the husband leaves or is kicked out or if the wife leaves, almost always he’s blamed, and usually on the hook financially. If the husband dies without leaving money, he’s a thoughtless bastard and a poor provider. If the wife dies, it’s a tragedy. All are bad outcomes and the former are a sign that something was wrong in the marriage.
By contrast, if the husband dies first, that’s the expected course of events, and if he leaves money, he’s simply doing what’s expected of him. And women’s lib be damned.
Related: You know why married men usually die before their wives? Because they want to.
The third-gen female connives, plots and manipulates, and feels herself Entitled, like many if not most of her Murkan cohorts. And she has only had me for the patriarchal repression, not related by blood, thus giving me weaker legs to stand on as she got older. Remains angry that her real father is deceased and she got this lousy substitute.
Homeboy, you are living in a commune. Recognize this, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs” ?
https://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/From_each_according_to_his_ability,_to_each_according_to_his_need
Its OK if you like it. If not, watch out for blowups.
DH wrote:
“…but I imagine he’s also seen successful marriages, amirite?”
Sure, plenty, and I envy them. Two young women I adored in the 90s are now divorced. I wish I’d got to them first. I think that a couple have to plan to make a marriage work and keep it alive. A family member married a woman who was and is a control freak. Her behaviour drove him nuts, he tried to explain his feelings but she wouldn’t listen. He tried to get her to get marriage counseling. Nope, she wasn’t interested. When he told her he wanted a divorce that REALLY got her attention, but by then it was too late. She agreed to have counseling but it was pointless as she was in denial the whole time. He’s now happily remarried to an assertive but reasonable woman and his ex is on her own, and likely to stay that way.
@Miles_Teg; I recommend reading some other stuff on McCarthy besides Wiki entries, nearly always suspect on this period of history, as it is with our War Between the States and quite a few other things. Dunno what Murkan history you were taught in skool down there but we got a load of malarkey here, and it’s much, much worse now. The buggers just rewrite history to suit them and soon they’ll be wiping various people out of historical pictures just like the Soviets used to do. (probably group pics of the DNC w/Debbie Wassername Shultz and Johnny Podesta missing, lol).
“I can argue with them and they never win, though sometimes they die and float to the top of the tank.”
I should try that; maybe I’d feel like I’d won an argument once in a while here.
“You know why married men usually die before their wives? Because they want to.”
That’s gonna be interesting in this marriage; I’m two years older and should die first. But she’s got serious medical issues and doesn’t take real good care of herself in several areas. And I’ve got much lesser medical issues and have given up all the things that were gonna kill my worthless ass. I also keep the brain entertained with new and interesting chit as much as I can and like doing it, so hopefully any further senility and decrepitude in that area will be slowed down. She has said she wants to go first because she can’t take losing another husband. I figure she can, because it gets easier, doesn’t it? My predecessor left a $100k life insurance policy and that enabled her to get her MPH at Columbia, buy a house and take care of two kids by herself for four years until I came along.
I’ll be leaving this house, of course, and whatever funds I’ve managed to accumulate or have in an insurance policy, plus she gets all these books and guns and ammo!
If she goes first it will suck really bad for ME, of course. And we’ve got a couple of guys on here on and off to whom that’s happened.
Well ain’t these some cheery thoughts for the new year, eh?
I sat outside for a while with just a shirt on (and pants) and the sun and blue sky is still there with no wind. Amazing. Picked up some windblown rubbish, sticks, twigs, branches, etc., re-hung one of the kayaks, and planned a paver walkway from the studio to the house. And figured out how to stack the remaining firewood with less fuss and muss. Some cretin is out on the ice with a portable fishing shack. There is no way that you’d catch me out there. It hasn’t been cold long enough to freeze it to suit me. Two feet sounds about right. Take it from someone who’s gone under the ice.
I have a few Aussie friends from a couple of e-mail lists. Going back 20 years.
Once I asked “why are y’all so concerned w/ our politics and other bullshit?” “Everyone looks to the center of the Empire” was the answer.
Well. There ya go.
I sat outside for a while with just a shirt on (and pants) and the sun and blue sky is still there with no wind. Amazing.
Yep. Jan 2 and it is 75 on the front porch, no wind, and not a cloud. I tossed the pants….
Kinda feeling sunburned at the moment.
Bringing the conversation back to the F-35, or more precisely how the military procures new equipment.
My opinions and facts come from my time in the Navy building SSN 688 (the lead boat of the Los Angeles Class) and lifetime contacts with Military, Government Contractor, and Government folks. My later years in the Nuclear Industry expanded my contacts and I maintain them today. These are folks are now Gray Beards, some retired, and I trust what they tell me. Whether you want to believe me is your choice. I am going to write in generalities as going into detail would take volumes.
Today’s bureaucracy for procuring “new” planes, ships, tanks, etc. is about as fouled up and ineffective as possible. The people who actually use these items have virtually no input these days. There is no real “design to mission” anymore.
When I was building SSN 688 there was tremendous input from the real experienced submariner in how the boat was built. As testament to how well the SSN 688 Class was designed and built is the fact that it is still the premier submarine 40 years later. The follow-on classes did not have the “user” input and hence are no where as effective as the continually upgraded 688 boats.
The same can be said for the A-10, F-14, F-15, and F-16. Even the U-2 and SR-71, while long in tooth perform way better and more economically than their future replacements.
Today the Government just throws lots of money at the Government Contractors and tells them to make something flashy. There is no knowledgeable oversight of the design and building process. Therefore the services end up stuck with rocks and lemons and wonder how the hell are they supposed to fight a war with a broken stick. The Senior Officers, who today have only experience behind a desk and in D.C., sign off on this useless wasteful crap.
Since 1889 Newport News Shipbuilding had a motto that signified their work ethic, proudly displayed at the main gate: “We shall build good ships here, at a profit if we can, at a loss if we must, but always good ships.” Newport News built the majority of the 688 Class, the 688 boats built at all the other shipyards were all crap, plagued with problems and they were the first ones decommissioned.
That work ethic does not exist today in any Government Contractor today.
Look back at WWII and what we did in just a few years. Look at the ships, planes, tanks, guns, etc. that were designed and built in months, not decades. Look at our development and production of the atomic bomb. If you could see, close up and personal like I have, all the building that were built in just a couple of years at the Hanford Reservation you’d be amazed.
So this has turned into a rambling rant. But I do not apologize. From my perspective the Government has done its best since the 60s to destroy our military from within. We are not prepared to fight the war that the mooslems are waging. Good old fashioned reliable and effective arms in the hands of Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines who are concentrating on The Mission instead of what their “gender identification” is is what is needed.
Trump has his work cut out for him. The Military Industrial Complex has enjoyed their extended ride on the gravy train to the detriment of our security. There is not a new plane, ship, or tank that is currently in development or has been recently delivered that is worth a dime.
Trump has his work cut out for him.
Yes. Just like when Obama won, I said that man is gonna be eating shit sandwiches.
I agree with all that Mr. DadCooks has said, as a former mil-spec loser and student of how all that chit works in the real world back here.
“…the A-10, F-14, F-15, and F-16. Even the U-2 and SR-71, while long in tooth perform way better and more economically than their future replacements.”
I would only add that the A10 Warthog and B52s are still hammering away out there, too, and proving their worth; last I heard, they’re keeping and upgrading the B52s until 2050; that’s 100 years, folks. They will have been around and in good working order from before I was born until long after I’m gone.
“…Just like when Obama won, I said that man is gonna be eating shit sandwiches.”
Except he didn’t he eat any of those and lived high on the hog with endless vacations all over the world, along with his wife and kids, sometimes going separately, to the tune of many millions of our tax dollars. tRump won’t be eating any of those, either, and doesn’t need our tax dollars to live the life of Reilly. That job, however, will age him considerably in just the first year; it’s gonna kick his ass, like it does with all of our National Administrator Janitors.
Know who’s gonna be eating a lotta shit sandwiches? Yeah. Us. Per usual. Only without the bread.
That job, however, will age him considerably in just the first year;
If tRump cuts out Obola’s endless apology tour and vacays, he could accomplish a lot in just one year. Maybe undo some of Ofukstik’s Commie nonsense.
DH, I studied American history in my last year of high school. Got an “A” for it. Studied more of it the next year in uni. I made myself somewhat unpopular in the university bookshop by reading The Almanac of American Politics or some such for hours (literally) on end without actually buying it.
The book we used in HS was a civics type book, I didn’t think much of it. I bought myself this book (the 1972 version):
https://www.amazon.com/National-Experience-History-United-States/dp/0155003666
I use Wikipedia because it’s convienent, I know better than to trust it too much. BTW, why are your crackpot websites more reliable?