08:58 – It was 68.0F (20C) when I took Colin out at 0710, partly cloudy. We had about 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) of rain overnight. Fortunately, the rain came in in the late evening, putting a stop to the fireworks that were terrifying Colin. More work on science kits today.
The caramel sauce turned out okay, although I had some problems with it. Firstly, I simmered the sugar/salt/water for about 15 or 20 minutes and very little color change occurred. So I added a blurp of molasses, not so much for flavor as to catalyze the caramelization reaction, and continued simmering for a few more minutes.
A few minutes of simmering, even at neutral pH, should be enough to hydrolyze the sucrose into its component simple sugars, fructose and glucose. Fructose caramelizes at 110C, and with that much dissolved solids the boiling solution should have been at least 110C due to boiling point elevation. It didn’t get anywhere near the 150C required to caramelize glucose.
But after standing there for the better part of half an hour stirring and then swirling, I was tired of doing that. So I added the 12-ounce can of evaporated milk (best-by date August 2014) and continued the process. I then added the 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract, but the bottle blurped and I ended up adding probably twice that.
I then allowed it to cool to about 50C and transferred it to two pint canning jars, one full and the second about half full. At that point, the liquid was no longer thin and runny like water, but it hadn’t set up much. So I put the jars in the refrigerator to cool. Barbara tasted the result. Her only comment was “too much vanilla”. I tasted it, and indeed it was strongly vanilla flavored, but I thought it tasted pretty good. I had it on ice cream last night, and it was actually pretty good. Runny, but good. I’m going to call it a fail, because Barbara said she didn’t want to use it.
I’ve been following the McEnroe/Williams thing. As I told Barbara when the story broke, McEnroe was being extraordinarily generous when he said that Serena would be about #700 on the men’s tennis tour. In fact, as McEnroe is fully aware, there are many high-school boys who would beat Serena. She’d rank more like #70,000 on a unisex tennis tour, if that.
There was an article on Takimag that quoted Serena from a Letterman appearance four years ago when she said she wouldn’t play an exhibition against Andy Murray because he’s a boy and she’s a girl. FTA:
For me, men’s tennis and women’s tennis are completely, almost, two separate sports. If I were to play Andy Murray, I would lose 6-0, 6-0 in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes. No, it’s true. It’s a completely different sport. The men are a lot faster and they serve harder, they hit harder, it’s just a different game. I love to play women’s tennis. I only want to play girls, because I don’t want to be embarrassed.
She was speaking honestly and literally. It’s unlikely she’d have taken a point from Murray, let alone a game. I actually had almost the same conversation with Jim Elliott, one of our astronomy observing buddies, at a club observation up at the Wake Forest cabin probably a dozen years ago. The Williams sisters were at their peaks, and I told him that they were extremely good tennis players, for girls. Probably not as good as either Martina Navratilova or Steffi Graff, but good.
I went on to say that at my peak, in my late teens and early 20’s, I would have blown any of them off the court, as would any of the guys I played regularly with. He ridiculed me for that statement. I told him pretty much the same thing that Serena told Letterman, that there was just a world of difference between how strong, fast, and hard-hitting men were compared to women. I told him that my brother, at his peak, had played Chris Evert at her peak, and blew her off the court 6-0. I told him that when I was about 15, before my peak, I’d played a set against Peaches Bartkowitz, who was at the time ranked #9, and she didn’t take a point from me. But he just didn’t get it. Men and women are physically different, and there’s no way a woman can compete physically with a man. That should be obvious to anyone who’s not severely retarded.
It’s been made abundantly clear just watching my kids’ swim team competitions. They alternate the boys and the girls in their heats, so you actually see them next to each other. The boys are faster, more precise, more aggressive, and more ‘driven’. Even the aggressive and driven girls, who are serious about competition, are so different you can hear it with your eyes closed.
I can’t believe there’s still any discussion about the McEnroe comments, must be a slow social media week. SHE admitted it. NO ONE knows better than her what she’s capable of, so what’s the point?
Anyway, when it broke I almost spent the time to do a side by side comparison of times in olympic events, then decided it wasn’t worth the effort.
The “establishment” has been flogging the idea that there is no difference between the sexes for so long that it’s taken as fact, even by those who should know better. And giving the media blackout on comparisons, I figured it would be work to do the comparisons. (Forex, you’ll never hear Olympic commentator say “Well, Betty just finished the 1000m run in yyseconds, which is a world record, but far behind Bobby at XX seconds…..”
n
I’ve noticed a difference in shooting sports, where strength isn’t such a factor. The women are seconds behind even the slowest of the men in 3 gun, western, and anything timed. The only place they seem comparable, is in shotgun events where you just stand and shoot.
In NASCAR, doubtful that Danica Patrick will ever come close to winning a top level race.
OTOH, females in drag racing are doing better, comparatively.
Maybe it is in turning corners that is difficult for them.
OK, now to watch recorded 5th day of Tour De France (men).
I didn’t look closely yesterday at the quantities in your butterscotch sauce recipe, but from your description of how the test went, I’d say you had too much water relative to your sugar…
That’s also why I gave up playing mixed doubles. It’s not a social event, at least high-level mixed doubles. The stronger player’s job, always the man, is to beat the crap out of the other team’s weaker player, always the woman. The general rule in mixed doubles is that the team with the stronger woman wins, always.
In college, my brother and I played a fair amount of mixed doubles, partnered with women who were on the college tennis team. It wasn’t fun for either girl, because my brother returned every one of our shots to my partner and vice versa. The girls often ended up literally bruised from being hit by our shots when they were at the net. They couldn’t even get out of the way of the balls, let alone return them.
“I’d say you had too much water relative to your sugar…”
You’re probably right. Next time, I’ll try half as much water.
As to boiling cans of sweetened condensed milk, I may try that, with a modification. Rather than boil them for hours, I may put them in a pressure canner and process them for half an hour at 15 PSIG.
[snip] In NASCAR, doubtful that Danica Patrick will ever come close to winning a top level race. [snip]
Which is at least as much a function of her team’s skill & financing as it is her ability to drive. Anyone who follows NASCAR(and I’m sure other motor sports) knows just how fine the line is between success & failure. During Jeff Gordon’s glory years, he had a car that was capable of winning every week, and that’s testimony to the skill of Ray Evernham and the rest of the crew.
I know that Winston Cup cars don’t have power steering, although I imagine that’s not a big deal while they’re rolling. Still, I’m sure it takes some strength and endurance to drive a 500 mile race. OTOH, there have been a lot of Winston Cup drivers who were still competitive in their 40’s and even 50’s, and my rule of thumb is that it’s not a sport if guys that age can compete successfully with guys in their teens and 20’s. So I don’t know any reason Danica couldn’t be a top champion if she had the car and team she needed behind her.
@RBT – Here’s a place to start for your pressure cooker sweetened condensed milk:
https://www.hippressurecooking.com/dulce-de-leche-pressure-cooked-condensed-milk/
And a not too bad YouTube:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgzUMoAqnjU
“So I don’t know any reason Danica couldn’t be a top champion if she had the car and team she needed behind her.”
Yes, but the facts are that the male drivers (Kurt Busch…Kevin Harvick) on the two NASCAR teams for which she has driven have been very successful (Harvick champion on that team) with a number of wins. Must be sexist discrimination putting her in inferior cars…..Nancy Pelosi?….Maxine Waters?
OTOH, there have been a lot of Winston Cup drivers who were still competitive in their 40’s and even 50’s, and my rule of thumb is that it’s not a sport if guys that age can compete successfully with guys in their teens and 20’s.
Anytime I hear the word “NASCAR”, I think of George Carlin’s line, “Everybody knows who wins. It’s the same five rednecks every week.”
NASCAR carefully curates their drama and personalities. Winning in the modern era largely depends on having access to a lot of money and the right engineering talent, but no one seems to do well in the standings without the blessing of the managing organization.
Men and women are physically different, and there’s no way a woman can compete physically with a man. That should be obvious to anyone who’s not severely retarded.
Where is my safe place !
Ruger has a new built in suppresor system for the 10-22 Takedown rifle, “Ruger® Silent-SR® 10/22 Takedown® Integrally Suppressed Barrel”:
http://www.ruger-firearms.com/micros/silent-sr-ISB/index.html
Nice ! I would like to have one of these but I do not want to do the paperwork. I am hoping that our do nothing Congress passes the Hearing Protection Act soon:
http://www.guns.com/2017/05/26/audiologist-id-rather-write-a-prescription-for-a-suppressor-than-a-hearing-aid-video/
“You can now snort chocolate to get high”
http://nypost.com/2017/07/04/you-can-now-snort-chocolate-to-get-high/
Is there anything you cannot snort to get high ?
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
“US: North Korea launched new kind of missile”
http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/05/politics/us-north-korea-launched-new-missile/index.html
When is Trump going to take out this wacko ?
@CowboySlim, keep a sharp eye out !
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
Damn, another hot one here, currently 104F with 45%RH and 115F “feels like.”
Hiding in my office, wasting time with my friends on the internet….
n
Damn. If it got as hot in Sparta as it gets there, everyone would probably drop dead.
I assume that your area is populated mainly by mad dogs and Englishmen.
Predicted to hit 109 in Vegas. But, it’s a dry heat.
“it’s a dry heat.” — until monsoon season.
n
I had a buddy who took my place in a last minute change as I was being transferred from San Diego to Phoenix. He’s the only person I ever heard this from: “It’s a dry heat… like a blow torch”
“populated mainly by mad dogs and Englishmen.”
12-14% africans…
Even my dog is hiding in the house.
Might be some english in me somewhere, probably from mom’s hillbilly side.
Supposedly you can acclimate to this, but I’m not convinced.
I did live more than 4 years in the Phoenix area. the first year was miserable, the next 2 were fine, and the last got miserable again. The heat was just inescapable and that was wearying…
nick
Phoenix used to feel like opening an oven door and sticking your head inside.
and during monsoon season, it was 115F with 13% RH. You can get a bunch of water in the air at 115F….
n
Speaking of acclimating, I halfway expected to have breathing problems when we moved from 800 feet elevation to 3,100 feet. There’s a lot less air that high. But I never had any problem, never even noticed it when doing manual labor, and I understand that people’s blood accommodates such changes very quickly, hours to days rather than weeks.
Of course, 3,100 feet isn’t really THAT high. When Mary Chervenak did her around-the-world run back 10 years or so ago, the highest she got was in the Rocky Mountains. She posted a picture of her standing beside a Continental Divide sign that was at 12,095 feet.
https://www.ttgnet.com/daynotes/2007/2007-33.html#Tue
I told her I didn’t think I could remain conscious at that altitude, let alone run 10 mile shifts every day.
Yesterday I sent an SMS from my inReach EXPLORER to Bob’s email while in my daughter’s backyard.
https://www.amazon.com/AG-008727-201-Explorer-Satellite-Communicator-Navigation/dp/B00I6EY01C
The messages are transmitted from the device via the Iridium Satellite Constellation. Bob acknowledged as “pretty impressive” and inquired abo ut payment.
https://explore.garmin.com/en-US/inreach/content/docs/consumer-inreach-fees-us-only.pdf
Additionally, as the device also contains GPSr functionality, its messages also contain a link to a map showing where the sender is located.
I use this when I am outside of cell service, typically on our camping trip up in the Sierras, Sequoia National Forest. As such, I can check up on our teenage grandchildren when they don’t go with us or get in touch with friends and neighbors down here.
Yes, I understand that the outcomes of NASCAR races are determined pre-event such as are WWE events. However, what really amazes me as how wonderful and skillful these are pre-orchestrated as when the winner emerges from the last lap pile up where a dozen other cars are colliding and can get to the finish line.
Now, off to watch the unscripted fights on the Jerry Springer show….
Sure wish that they still had Roller Derby……..
“Yes, I understand that the outcomes of NASCAR races are determined pre-event such as are WWE events.”
Yeah, I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the pre-race drivers’ meeting when Dale Earnhardt was killed. “Bad news, Dale. You’re gonna hit the wall on the final lap and be killed.”
Of course, 3,100 feet isn’t really THAT high. When Mary Chervenak did her around-the-world run back 10 years or so ago, the highest she got was in the Rocky Mountains. She posted a picture of her standing beside a Continental Divide sign that was at 12,095 feet.
https://www.ttgnet.com/daynotes/2007/2007-33.html#Tue
I told her I didn’t think I could remain conscious at that altitude, let alone run 10 mile shifts every day.
I tried jogging across the parking lot at Pikes Peak around 15 years ago. I ran out of breath about halfway across. 14,115 ft (4,302 m).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pikes_Peak
The drive up and down the mountain is the fun part of that trip. How hot can you get your brakes ?
until monsoon season.
Wut dat?
“Sure wish that they still had Roller Derby……..”
Roller derby going strong!
https://www.houstonrollerderby.com/
And it plays a role as setting for a couple of novels by Mr Lynn’s cousin…
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01H17UAT0/
n
“until monsoon season.
Wut dat?
”
That’s when Vegas’ swift water rescue team starts earning their pay.
n
(not really a ‘dry’ heat at that point)
I would like to have one of these but I do not want to do the paperwork.
In TN it is now legal to have a silencer. Don’t know if there is much paper work, if any, involved.
I’d have loved to have been a fly on the wall at the pre-race drivers’ meeting when Dale Earnhardt was killed
I suspect that no one expected that outcome. Looking at video from the crash it did not seem that severe. I have seen much worse with almost no injuries. The neck snapped. That is why they now all wear those neck protection thingy’s.
NASCAR is a sport that if you are not cheating, you’re not trying.
However, what really amazes me as how wonderful and skillful these are pre-orchestrated
I know that professional wrestling is faked, it is entertainment, not a competition. However I am impressed with the skill level of those chaps that can take a table slam, jump off the top rope and land on an “opponent” and not hurt themselves, flip somebody over their shoulder. Amazing acrobatics and athleticism from some really big dudes.
The drive up and down the mountain is the fun part of that trip. How hot can you get your brakes?
Did it several times. Rarely used the brakes. About half way down there used to be an inspection station that made you stop and they took the temperature of your brakes. Mine were always way under the limit. Down shifting, and going slow is the key. Learned that from driving cattle trucks through the mountains in Oregon in Washington. Some hills I would only be doing 10-15 MPH with some pissed off drivers behind me. But you know what? Fuck ’em. I was not using my brakes and made it to the bottom.
Another gorgeous summah day with sun and blue skies and a light breeze off the bay, temps in the 70s, maybe low 80s.
Wife is working on stuff around and in her studio; I helped her get her invoices together and sent in to the assholes in Mordor; they now owe her around $20k. And we’re broke again. Oh well. We shall endeavor to persevere and get through this next four or five days, which won’t be fun at all, at all. Not sure yet if I’m continuing on with her to the Concord, NH area for this next week ahead. I got plenty of point man chit to do here but I can do a good chunk of it remotely and I could use a break away from it all for a few days. We shall see.
The discussion involving men versus women in sports hit my funny bone today as wifey had to help me stand up out in the driveway. I was down on one knee pushing rubbish into a trash bag and couldn’t get back up, as I had nothing to hold onto for leverage. This is so fucking pathetic as to beggar belief. Former track-and-field runner and high jumper, football end and 3rd-string QB, soldier, cop, etc. etc. Now a complete decrepit wreck. Tempus fugit, I guess, eh?
“Don’t know if there is much paper work, if any, involved.”
Fed NFA paperwork, $200 fee, and anywhere from a month to a year to wait for the permission slip from Big Bro.
“…I am impressed with the skill level of those chaps that can take a table slam, jump off the top rope and land on an “opponent” and not hurt themselves, flip somebody over their shoulder. Amazing acrobatics and athleticism from some really big dudes.”
Agreed. It’s is simply awesome to behold. Very few pro athletes have that level of skill and strength. Many of them were athletes at various levels in different sports. The late Randy “Macho Man” Savage had been a catcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Hacksaw Jim Duggan was a football player and a high school classmate of Mrs. OFD; his dad was the city police chief. The late Rowdy Roddy Piper had played football and was also a master of Olympic-level Greco-Roman wrestling.
And now back to the daily grind here.
When I was a teenager I could sit cross-legged on the floor and stand without using my hands, not even for balance. Those years are far, far behind me.
“Former track-and-field runner and high jumper, football end and 3rd-string QB, soldier, cop, etc. etc. Now a complete decrepit wreck.”
They don’t call Motrin “ranger candy” for nuthin’.
Everything listed destroys your joints and wears out your body. Not to mention all the brain injuries that add up over time…
n
“Roller derby going strong!
https://www.houstonrollerderby.com/”
Be back……calling my real estate agent now.
Down shifting, and going slow is the key. Learned that from driving cattle trucks through the mountains in Oregon in Washington. Some hills I would only be doing 10-15 MPH with some pissed off drivers behind me. But you know what? F*** ’em. I was not using my brakes and made it to the bottom.
Harry Chapin wrote a song about 30,000 lbs of bananas going downhill into a town.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODMye94wMfk
“Everything listed destroys your joints and wears out your body. Not to mention all the brain injuries that add up over time…”
Gee, that must be why I’m so fucked up now.
I also did extra-credit destruction of my brain for forty years.
I’ll be damned if I ride around in a wheelchair or use a cane, though. I’m losing weight and doing light PT to strengthen abdominal wall and lower back. Threw out all but two pairs of shoes. I kicked dope and booze and ciggies cold-turkey; I’m kicking being a wreck the same way.
“The discussion involving men versus women in sports hit my funny bone today as wifey had to help me stand up out in the driveway.”
Obviously I was referring to athletes, i.e., young men and women. Nowadays, Barbara could beat me up.
Well, a little girl could beat me up today. Barbara goes to the gym and plants stuff while you fiddle with nasty and dangerous chemicals.
I’ll be trying not to piss off or scare any little girls around here for now.
Well, a little girl could beat me up today
Or just watch you sit on the ground until you decompose. Done.
Gee, that must be why I’m so fucked up now.
Huh. My knees and back seem fine after twenty years of sitting in a choppah. Wut’d you do wrong?
When I was a teenager I could sit cross-legged on the floor and stand without using my hands, not even for balance.
I can still do this. With any luck I’ll turn 60 at the end of October.
And it plays a role as setting for a couple of novels by Mr Lynn’s cousin…
The series looks interesting, but $7.99 for the ebook is a tad steep. And $3 more than the paperback is. Not her fault, it’s the publishers that are to blame for not allowing discounts on ebooks (and, from what I have read, paying some authors a lower royalty on the ebook than the paperback.)
I’d advise her to go self-published when the rights revert to her, put up on Kindle Direct or sell for $1.99 or less.
Two things:
1. Called to sub in a tennis foursome in two hours. Shhh……, lack of diversity, don’t tell Pelosi, it will be four guys – men’s doubles.
2. My earlier post about the inReach Satellite Communicator: I decided to reply to Bob’s reply in a post here as opposed to replying back via the inReach as my original SMS went out to Bob. This is because the text messages are limited to 160 characters.
I’d advise her to go self-published when the rights revert to her, put up on Kindle Direct or sell for $1.99 or less.
Seanan Lynn McGuire is writing around 3 to 4 books a year, I cannot keep up with her. She has published over 30 books in her catalog now. I doubt that she has time to do the self publishing thing as she quit her day job a couple of years ago to write full time. She also writes under the nom de plume of Mira Grant.
http://seananmcguire.com/other.php
“When I was a teenager I could sit cross-legged on the floor and stand without using my hands, not even for balance.
I can still do this. With any luck I’ll turn 60 at the end of October.”
I can still do that, but only from the sofa, not the floor.
I noticed this morning that the long knives are suddenly out for Tesla. Is the business and tech press getting nervous about what will roll out the door in Fremont on Friday when the Model 3 finally ships?
https://www.cnet.com/news/tesla-latest-company-to-face-scrutiny-for-workplace-environment/
“I noticed this morning that the long knives are suddenly out for Tesla. ”
OK, I see it….one cannot take the politically incorrect position of being an anti-global warming denier. To do so one would have to talk about the fraud of solar energy. Consequently, one must take the politically correct, prog position of going after them on the bases of their anti-woman, sexist policies, if possible.
If I sit in the cross-legged position on the floor tonight I’ll still be sitting in it tomorrow morning. Wife will be conked out and no help to me. The cats will be amused.
Maybe if I do WD-40 injections to all joints…and morphine directly to the lower spine…
I doubt that she has time to do the self publishing thing as she quit her day job a couple of years ago to write full time.
From what I can see, it doesn’t take much more time than working with a traditional publisher. There is a learning curve to climb, especially with formatting books for Kindle and the like. When her catalog starts to revert, she may have no other option but to go self-published. She should make sure that as she upgrades her word processor that she copies all her manuscripts into it and saves to the latest format. Then burn copies to store off-site.
[snip] There is a learning curve to climb, especially with formatting books for Kindle and the like. [snip]
That sure sounds like a business opportunity for someone. Our gracious host has more than once speculated on the notion of a contract editor working in the self publishing world.
Mr. SteveF has described his own experiences in that realm and they were not overly positive, to put it mildly, IIRC.
WRT Amazon, they also have means on-site of putting together tee-vee and movie scripts for their possible evaluation and purchase.
WRT to self-publishing….I have formatted a couple of books for Dr. P, so know how to do it. It’s not really hard; if you start with a well-formatted Word document, you can import that directly into KDP (Kindle Desktop Publishing) to get it into Kindle format.
Once that is done, then add it to your Kindle account, and it will appear in Kindle-land. Then comes the harder part – promoting the book.
IMHO, not terribly hard to make an ebook. Harder to promote it. (Same as all the web sites I create: easy to make, hard to promote and make visible.)
But, I am willing to lend a hand with the process. I’ve got lots of time, being a retired old fart. And I’m finished with the last big project (the Reading program, which is ready to go when Jerry gets around to signing the ‘exclusive sales agreement’ doc – he retains the copyright).
I’ve even been known to help out with author’s web sites – like John D Brown’s (www.johndbrown.com ) . Really liked his “Bad Penney” book (sort of a Reacher-like characters), so now I run his web site. Was a beta reader for his “Awful Intent” – the second in that series. Even got to be a very minor (couple of paragraphs) character name mention in there, which was quite fun.
Bill Myers has a lotta interesting tips for doing ebooks and self-publishing and promotion of same; here’s one example:
https://www.bmyers.com/public/Create-3D-Promotion-Graphics.cfm
Paul wrote:
“I can still do this. With any luck I’ll turn 60 at the end of October.”
I was 59 in May, and I can’t remember how far back it was when I could do this. Certainly when I was 17, perhaps for a further 10 or more years after that. If I sit on the floor I like to have a chair or something nearby to push myself up on. If I’m in a chair I can usually get up without assistance, but a few weeks ago my thighs/knees gave way and I took a tumble.
“Getting old is hell.” ™
True, though I never made a serious attempt to find serious authors. I know there is at least one freelance editor who makes her living by editing independent authors’ fiction.
WRT women in sports: I time road races for side-money. I can count on one hand the number of races that a woman has won outright. (That number is two. One actually had 200+ runners – a big surprise.) Realistically, men and women do NOT compete against each other. Thousands of years of evolution have set that up.
That male competing as a female (in high school!) steams me. He (I will NOT call him a her) has an unfair advantage over the girls he is competing against. Promoting that kind of behavior is inherently unfair. Yes, fairness matters. I believe I would walk out of such an event.
When Son#1 was in 5th or 6th grade the schools had a track and field day. All of the boys ran in the long race, either 2km or 2mi, with some faster and some slower, per normal. Then all the girls ran same distance. One girl was way ahead of the rest, more than thirty seconds ahead of the second and third girls, who were well ahead of the next group. I was highly impressed.
Then the times were announced, and the lead girl was at best in the middle of the pack for the boys. Huh.
(I still congratulated her on her performance when I saw her at school a week or two later. Most kids need some help in developing proper pride in their accomplishments. As contrasted with shallow self-esteem based on nothing but being part of the no-failure culture.)
(My kid came in toward the end because he’s an idiot. He was feeling a little chilly before they started so he wore a heavy winter vest. He was about dying of sweat by the time he finished.)
Not at all. Women, or at least those who claim the right to speak for all women, have been demanding equality in all things since before I was born. They’ve been claiming there are no differences between men and women (except for where women are better). I say it’s high time to give them what they want. Good and hard.
WRT Roller Derby:
Yes, we have that http://www.atomiccityrollergirls.org/
Their website is “interesting”, worth a look and I did not come across any weird popups.
That sure sounds like a business opportunity for someone. Our gracious host has more than once speculated on the notion of a contract editor working in the self publishing world.
There a number of them out there. Some either are incompetent or their authors reject their suggested changes. I mentioned one book series that has a great premise, OK plot, horrible grammar, misused words, and some plot problems that could be easily fixed with no change to the arc. It had a credit to three editors at the end.
Sarah Hoyt, one of the Baen authors, has done a number of self-published items and has also started re-releasing her back catalog as the rights revert. She has written about the process and learning curve on her blog.
For general advice on self-publishing, read Joe Konrath’s blog.
For specifics, see Franklin Horton’s blog. His self-published books are professional quality. He employs third-parties for stuff like editing/layout, covers, etc. IIRC, one of them in in Germany.