08:37 – It was 54.6F (12.5C) when I took Colin out at 0630, bright and breezy. It sounds ridiculous for mid-summer, but I was glad I was wearing my hooded sweatshirt.
Barbara is off to the gym this morning. Kit stuff after she gets back. Kit sales have been slow for this time of year. We’ll do only about 50% the revenue this July that we did last July. Ordinarily, sales are slow for the first half of July and pick up significantly in the second half. We haven’t seen that jump in the last couple of weeks, which probably just means that August will be bigger than usual.
I had two USB flash drives fail yesterday. One I’d bought in November 2013 and the other in mid-2014. As I was sitting looking at the dead flash drive, Colin walked over and sniffed it, looked at me, and said, “It’s dead, Jim.” I gave that one to Barbara to destroy. She took a hammer to it on the garage floor and tossed the pieces in the trash. Flash drives are easier to destroy than hard drives. For them, I use a .44.
I need to order a couple more flash drives to replace those. It’s difficult to choose, because now that flash drives have become commodity items there really aren’t any good brands any more. I think I’ll just order a couple of these and use them until they die.
I don’t really follow the Trump news, but I’m surprised every morning when there aren’t headlines announcing that he’s been assassinated and Clinton is stepping in to rescue the country from us Deplorables.
“Flash drives are easier to destroy than hard drives. For them, I use a .44.”
They sure are, though the little 2.5″ drives that use ceramic platters are pretty simple to wreck – just hit them with a bfh and shatter the disc. The 3.5″ ones with metal platters, not so much; I prefer .308 for that.
I buy bulk pack flash drives from Costco or Sam’s. I’ve never had a problem.
I do have an issue with the latest type of portable hard drive Costco carries in the stores. When partitioned with NTFS and Mac OS X, the drivers blue screen Windows 7 on my Santa Rosa MacBook Pro running the Microsoft OS under Boot Camp.
Of course, Apple isn’t any help with regard to keeping the SATA drivers current. They wish the Santa Rosa machines would disappear off the face of the planet.
I don’t really follow the Trump news, but I’m surprised every morning when there aren’t headlines announcing that he’s been assassinated and Clinton is stepping in to rescue the country from us Deplorables.
Pence might get things done. Can’t have that.
“72-year-old woman kills 11 copperhead snakes in Oklahoma”
http://www.chron.com/news/strange-weird/article/Copperhead-Snakes-Killed-by-Woman-in-Oklahoma-11719965.php?ipid=hpctp
11 down, 100 million to go.
I don’t really follow the Trump news, but I’m surprised every morning when there aren’t headlines announcing that he’s been assassinated and Clinton is stepping in to rescue the country from us Deplorables.
Pence might get things done. Can’t have that.
I hope that you are kidding. Pence is just George W. Bush in a different suit. GWB is part of the problem why we are in this mess. Don’t forget, Medicare Part D was added under GWB.
I don’t really follow the Trump news, but I’m surprised every morning when there aren’t headlines announcing that he’s been assassinated and Clinton is stepping in to rescue the country from us Deplorables.
Please no. Trump is disruptive for us deplorables. Pence will just lead us down the RINO road to the muddy watering hole.
And Scott Adams gets it again. “The Turn to “Effective, but we don’t like it.””
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/163600884141/the-turn-to-effective-but-we-dont-like-it
The thing that I am noticing most about Trump is that he will fire people until he gets his way. Right now, he is figuring out how to fire Congress. And federal employees who think that they are safe forever in their cubes, federal healthcare, and pension plans.
I hope that you are kidding. Pence is just George W. Bush in a different suit.
Note that I quantified the statement with “might”. And Pence strikes me as being more like Jeb! (always include the !) except without the ex Playboy bunny girlfriend.
The failure of the “skinny” repeal was McCain getting even with Trump.
I had two USB flash drives fail yesterday. One I’d bought in November 2013 and the other in mid-2014.
The problem could be the USB connector. I read an article a year or two ago that the USB connector is really designed for just 50 insertions. You may be at 50 on those. And it could also be your pc front usb connector starting to fail also.
There was the Bush Crime Family (see Roger Stone’s book on them) and then the Clinton Crime Family, and they got/get along just fine together and do the same chit. Now we have the tRump Crime Family, the difference being that they don’t really need to rob us as badly as the Clintons have. But otherwise it’s down to them and factional disputes with Deep State people from now on. Every day is another circus freak show in the White House lately, and like DadCooks says, watch what the other hands are doing.
If by some quirk of fate and his actual beliefs and actions tRump gives us a small window of relief and opportunity to get our ducks lined up, that is all to the good. Just keep in mind that any Black Swan events can outrun whatever the National Administrators might be trying to do. 9/11 happened on the GWB watch and then we got the national security state kicked up a few notches.
Meanwhile the clusterfuck wars overseas continue, and if anything, tRump is ramping those up and once again we’re poking the Russians and Iranians, just like Obummer did. And building another huge base in South Korea now, too??? WTF?? With 45k troops and “dependents?”
I dunno about anyone else, though I am aware we have some Roman history fans here, but I am minded of the late Roman Empire, AKA “Late Antiquity.” Not a good time to be anywhere near the Roman metro area; much better to be way out in the rural countrysides of northern Italy, Gaul, Spain, etc. You know, where Russell Gladiator Crowe had his nice farm.
My next younger brother keeps telling me that Pence is a hard-right guy but I fear he has his categories off-kilter due somewhat to still being glued to the nightly nooz bullshit. I think of tRump as a long-time moderate Dem with a corporate billionaire twist, and Pence as a moderate Repub who happens to be pro-life and pro-military, allegedly. In any case, neither guy is gonna save us; I would just like several more years of lining-up-ducks time.
Sunny w/blue skies again today. Minor errands and cleanup ops and reorganizing a bunch of stuff. Wife and MIL on their way across Noveau Brunswick to Pigeon Hill, on the Atlantic.
And BTW, Trump has a low bar with me. All I wanted from Trump is to put a true conservative on SCOTUS to replace Scalia. Everything else is gravy.
“Another Way to Make Mexico Pay for the Wall?”
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/163604001306/another-way-to-make-mexico-pay-for-the-wall
“I don’t expect this to happen because Congress is not effective. They’ll let that low-hanging fruit rot.”
I AM DOWN WITH THIS ! Lets run the freaking country like a business !
Arrived in NY, beautiful sunny cool day. Kids running around campground like maniacs….
Fun times.
N
Please no. Trump is disruptive for us deplorables.
I would just like several more years of lining-up-ducks time.
Yaaaasss! We could all be dust in the wind before the Barackalypse hits.
“72-year-old woman kills 11 copperhead snakes in Oklahoma”
My grandmother used to call that “A good morning”.
We lived on a small lake in central OK and copper-heads were numerous. From age 8, I would take my gun and kill time hunting snakes after school. I had an old 22 / 410 over-under that was murder on snakes and squirrels. Most snakes would turn and run when fired at but most copper heads would turn and attack. HATE those copper-heads.
Late Republic, I’d think.
Hillary Bitch Clinton will never be President. All else is gravy.
All I wanted from Trump is to put a true conservative on SCOTUS to replace Scalia. Everything else is gravy.
AMEN !
Hillary Bitch Clinton will never be President. All else is gravy.
Yaaaaass! My day is made.
“I don’t expect this to happen because Congress is not effective. They’ll let that low-hanging fruit rot.”
I AM DOWN WITH THIS ! Lets run the freaking country like a business !
I’m guessing that seized Mexican weed wouldn’t sell well in the states with legalization and branding. Connoisseurs are going to stick to the stuff with the Willie Nelson seal of approval. 🙂
“Late Republic, I’d think.”
Really? I’d have us down as attempting to run an empire since 1898, starting with the Spanish-American War. Then a hundred-plus more years of wars and “conflicts” and “police actions,” with one grand emperor after another, starting with Mr. Rough-Rider and Professor Wilson and culminating now in His Excellency The Donald.
YOU’RE FIRED!
As the empire disintegrates, with more wars on the frontiers (across the moats on both sides) and barbarians inside the gates in their millions, I see us eventually collapsing due to financial ruin, barbarians, and costly wars that get us nothing except more enemies.
But I could be wrong. Never happened before, though….
“SCANA, Santee Cooper Abandon V.C. Summer AP1000 Nuclear Units, Citing High Costs”
http://www.powermag.com/scana-santee-cooper-abandon-v-c-summer-ap1000-units-citing-high-costs
“SCANA Corp. and Santee Cooper have ceased construction of Units 2 and 3 at the V.C. Summer Nuclear Station in South Carolina.”
“The project owners said the decision, prompted by analysis of detailed schedule and cost data, would save customers nearly $7 billion. The project has been in limbo since key contractor Westinghouse filed for bankruptcy in March.”
Two nuclear power plants getting canceled in South Caroline due to the incredible amount of cheap natural gas in the USA due to fracking. Fracking and directional drilling have caused huge disruptions in the energy industry. Several more of the dozen or so nuclear power plants under construction in the USA will be canceled soon.
The word for today is Disruption. I am reading Cory Doctorow’s “Makers” book about the next 20 years and that word is hugely forecast in this incredibly dystopic view of the USA’s future.
https://www.amazon.com/Makers-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765312816/
The Roman Republic occupied territories surrounding the Midworld Sea and extending beyond, conspicuously France, Spain, and Anatolia. It was an empire in all but name, particularly in the extraction of food and other wealth.
The so-called American Empire is no such thing. Under the influence of busybody Presidents, Congresses, and newspapermen, we’ve stuck our nose in business all over the world. We have conspicuously not extracted wealth from our so-called territories. Quite the opposite.
You did write “attempting to run an empire”. If we have been doing so — and Teddy “Macho Man Who Belonged in the Village People” Roosevelt certainly did want to — then we’ve been spectacular failures at it.
Other similarities to late Roman Republic include the obviously corrupt legislature and the concentration of wealth in fewer and fewer hands. The latter happened in the Empire as well, but it was an essential pressure on the Republic which set up conditions which allowed Julius Caesar to take charge.
Speculating or listening to others’ speculation is fine for entertainment. You’re likely to be disappointed if you use the speculation as a forecast.
Several more of the dozen or so nuclear power plants under construction in the USA will be canceled soon.
Dang, you were just telling me about new nukes when I asked why we couldn’t have any. I blame Obola and the Libturdians.
“We have conspicuously not extracted wealth from our so-called territories.”
Well, oil comes to mind.
Also a bunch of minerals that are apparently critical to the functioning of our economy and military forces: platinum, palladium, rhodium, manganese, indium, niobium, vanadium, titanium, copper, and rare earth elements.
Plus human capital from south of the Rio Grande to provide cheap labor and cheap votes.
Some may argue that these are not our territories, per se, but I would put it to them that the whole world is now, or potentially, our territory, and we make no bones about it, either. We fire on Iranian boats in the NORTHERN Persian Gulf and send aircraft everywhere we so desire for whatever reason or no reason at all. We have military installations and troops all around the next two-biggest nations, Russia and China, and are constantly poking at them and the Iranians.
If the situation was reversed, we’d have Russian bases in Baja California and the Bahamas, maybe Cuba again, and Chinese naval exercises off the Aleutians and Cape Cod.
Yes, our attempts to run an empire have been a spectacular failure, indeed; we’ve been largely unsuccessful at our foreign wars over the past half-century and yet we’ve let barbarians by the tens of millions inside our gates. And we’re tens of trillions in debt with fake nooz and fake currency.
The word for today is Disruption. I am reading Cory Doctorow’s “Makers” book about the next 20 years and that word is hugely forecast in this incredibly dystopic view of the USA’s future.
I read “Makers” when we lived on the West Coast. When I first saw Disney Infinity, it struck me as life imitating art.
I thought Doctorow was a bit rough on South Florida while his home territory of the Pacific Northwest, especially the I-5 corridor between Portland and Seattle, is a lot closer to becoming the dystopia presented in the book if not already there in places. Seattle and Vancouver BC people wear rose colored glasses along with the raingear.
Of all his books, I like “Down And Out In The Magic Kingdom” the best even if it is more fi than sci. The Mansion *is* perfect … but it could use a Hatbox Ghost in Florida.
Eh? Trade now constitutes empire?
The wealth from trade with the US often went into select families’ pockets, but that’s hardly the US’s doing. Most parts of the world, especially those parts between the Tropics of Cancer and Capricorn, have had extremely lopsided power and economic distribution since prehistory. US corporations or the US government sometimes chose which corrupt family would run things (for favorable terms for us) but if we’d stayed out some other globe-spanning nation would have picked the winner or the natives would have fought over it by themselves. A representative democracy spontaneously forming and giving all citizens a fair chance at wealth and success was not in the cards.
“A representative democracy spontaneously forming and giving all citizens a fair chance at wealth and success was not in the cards.”
For sure.
Better, I guess, that we got in and got the stuff we wanted/needed than somebody else or the locals screwing it up. Most Murkans have no idea; the late Paul Fussell and the late George Orwell called it the ‘power of facing unpleasant facts.’
And while the MSM and history books excoriate the slave-holding Southern states to this day, they spare zero time for informing us of the New England shipowners and captains who got rich shipping them here, and the Massachusetts church pews made from wood simply stolen from some of those places.
Well, oil comes to mind.
Also a bunch of minerals
Eh? Trade now constitutes empire?
For one of the many different definitions of empire. You will trade with us on our terms (could also be called a controlled seizure). Unless, you piss us off and we decide to stop trading with you. And then if you really piss us off, we forbid the rest of the world from trading with you (lately Iran and North Korea).
BTW, the USA is a Constitutional Republic. It may look like a Democracy but, we are not, at least not on the federal level. Otherwise, the popular vote would decide the chief executive of the nation.
“HATE those copper-heads.”
Copperhead Road, too?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvaEJzoaYZk
“2012 TC4: NASA’s Planetary Defense Systems Put to the Test Over Near Miss Asteroid”
http://www.newsweek.com/nasa-planetary-defense-asteroid-october-2012-tc4-644072
“On 12 October, an asteroid will pass by Earth at an astronomical stone’s throw from the surface of Earth, whizzing past us at a distance of as little as 4,200 miles. And NASA is using this opportunity to test out some of its planetary defense systems.”
“2012 TC4 is a small asteroid, measuring between 30 and 10 feet wide. This is just a little bigger than the Chelyabinsk meteor that impacted over Russia in February 2013. During this close approach, there is no risk to the planet: “We know the orbit of 2012 TC4 well enough to be certain that it won’t hit Earth,” Paul Chodas, manager of the Center for Near-Earth Object Studies, explained earlier this month.”
Be sure to duck.
Can’t trust the government! We’re all gonna die!
N
“Copperhead Road, too?”
We almost bought a house that sits about 15 miles east of Copperhead Road.
I almost stepped on a copperhead a few years ago. It was dark, just star glow. I went out to go pee on the grass. Of course I was barefoot. And I don’t know how to describe it but my body sorta twisted so I didn’t step on the snake. Ok, WTF and go turn on the porch light, grab a hoe, and chop that snake a few times in the middle.
Then pee on the grass.
Went out the next morning to find a dead snake that had his fangs sunk into his back half.
About 3 feet long.
Ick.
[snip] except without the ex Playboy bunny girlfriend. [snip]
I’m not sure where you’re getting your info, but Columba Bush was never a Playboy bunny.
Quite a while ago; 2001:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/1330351/Bush-brother-Jeb-denies-affair-with-former-bunny-girl.html
WRT to venomous reptiles:
WE DON’T HAVE ANY!
Unless we count a lot of the snakes in the Snake House down in Montpeculiar, that is.
I didn’t know today is “Black Women’s Equal Pay Day” ’cause I’m a rayciss WHITEY! mofo. Excuse me while I give myself 50 lashes with a wet noodle. Who thinks this shit up?
I’m not sure where you’re getting your info, but Columba Bush was never a Playboy bunny.
Columba? Oh, God no.
Note that I said girlfriend, not wife.
In Florida, we never thought Jeb! was serious about running for President since winning would have seriously curtailed his freedom.
Quite a while ago; 2001:
The pictures of Cynthia Henderson in her Bunny uniform have pretty much disappeared from the Internet since Jeb! ran for reelection in 2002. Bush was fortunate in that his opponent was a total, obvious sellout to the teachers unions in FL.
My father hung out at the St. Petersburg Playboy Club during its brief tenure. I’d love to know where his club key (membership proof) went.
“Black Women’s Equal Pay Day”
I thought welfare paid everyone the same. What are they complaining about?
The word for today is Disruption. I am reading Cory Doctorow’s “Makers” book about the next 20 years and that word is hugely forecast in this incredibly dystopic view of the USA’s future.
You’ve read “Ready Player One”, right? Lots of dystopia based on current trends.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znavw4akfoY
About 15 years ago someone here, most likely Ray, suggested a Fenix light to me. Well, I bought that and couldn’t find it so I just ordered this one:
https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-e15-led-flashlight-2016-edt/
Scarramooch, Scarramooch, will you do the fandango?
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/07/31/scaramucci-removed-as-white-house-communications-director.html
What a friggin’ train wreck this guy is. Yikes.
And the three-ring carnival freak show at the WH continues…
But watch what the other hands are doing…under the grandstands…behind the scenery…back in them tents….whatever it is, it’s not gonna be good for us…
I read Sheriff Joe Ar-Pie-Hole guilty of disobeying a Federal court order (profiling wetbacks). Our Masters and Commanders in Mordor continue to skate on everything. What a racket.
You’ve read “Ready Player One”, right? Lots of dystopia based on current trends.
“Ready Player One” is in my SBR (strategic book reserve). There are 500+ books in there. I’ll get to it someday.
https://www.amazon.com/Ready-Player-One-Ernest-Cline/dp/0307887448/
I also have the dystopian novel, “The Windup Girl” in my SBR. And a few others.
https://www.amazon.com/Windup-Girl-Paolo-Bacigalupi/dp/1597808210/
About 15 years ago someone here, most likely Ray, suggested a Fenix light to me. Well, I bought that and couldn’t find it so I just ordered this one:
https://www.fenix-store.com/fenix-e15-led-flashlight-2016-edt/
I now carry a two AA LED maglight to walk my two miles each night. They are fairly good, the Duracell two AA batteries last around two hours. I’ve dropped my current maglight around 10 to 20 times. Still works even though the metal is scarred. I buy AA batteries at Sam’s Club in packages of 48 of which I have a dozen packages in the hall closet.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005UUSAAM/
I was an early adopter of the edison bulbs AA Maglite when it first came out, lo these many years. Got a deal and gave ’em as Xmas presents that year. Belt carried it or the AAA model for a long, long time.
Moved on to the Ultrafire WF502B and its slightly smaller sibling with the double CR123 battery lithium 18650’s since they were about as inexpensive as a Maglite and quite a bit brighter. Then jumped down the rabbit hole and ,over time, went for various Nitecore, Olight, Fenix, ThruNite and Thorfire models to fill a tool chest drawer with the ones not scattered about in various rooms, bags, pockets, etc.
Have to stay away from the FLASHLIGHT websites since the new model is always brighter, lighter, USB chargeable or something. There is a new Nitecore that seems bright enough to illuminate fillings when placed up one’s backside…
Don’t even talk to me about folding knives either. 🙂
From the Ongoing Carnival At the White House Department:
https://twitter.com/JBurtonXP/status/891055822326968321
Sounds great; destroy the Stupid Half of the Party while the Evil Half destroys itself. I’m all for that! Break out the pretzels and Moxie, baby!
From the Great Reckoning Coming Our Way Real Soon Now Department:
http://kunstler.com/clusterfuck-nation/narratives-not-truths/
Narratives are Legion these days.
And from the tRump As Lincoln Department:
http://www.vdare.com/articles/the-sanctuary-cities-confrontation-will-be-our-fort-sumter-trump-should-fire-back-by-arresting-governor-brown?content=has%20long%20advocated).
That would also be interesting and entertaining.
http://www.captainsjournal.com/2017/07/31/law-enforcement-wrongfully-confiscates-new-york-veterans-guns/
I’m afraid the story would develop somewhat differently here.
From That PITA OFD Posting Another Late/Early Reading Department:
https://christianmerc.blogspot.com/2017/07/fear-imprisonment-or-death.html
@Lynn, I’d avoid the windup girl. It’s a lefty eco screed, with graphic scenes of rape sodomy and torture.
It has one interesting idea, that the disaster has eliminated power sources, and the replacement tech is wind up springs.
N
@Lynn, I’d avoid the windup girl. It’s a lefty eco screed, with graphic scenes of rape sodomy and torture.
Does it involve sheep? Asking for a friend.
@Lynn, I’d avoid the windup girl. It’s a lefty eco screed, with graphic scenes of rape sodomy and torture.
I figured as much. That is why it has been on my shelf for a couple of years.
I don’t know why so many SF/F authors think that the world is heading into an eco nightmare. The USA is so much cleaner than it was when I was a kid.
Because that’s what the NY editors are buying?
Say, anyone notice the financial health of the Big
EightSevenSixFive NY publishers? Wow. Either people are totally not reading anymore or someone’s been making an awful lot of bad decisions lo the past few decades.Say, anyone notice the financial health of the Big Eight Seven Six Five NY publishers? Wow. Either people are totally not reading anymore or someone’s been making an awful lot of bad decisions lo the past few decades.
Is there a URL to go along with this ?
And yes, I have noticed several articles about the declining health of the major publishers over the years. First it was the ebook phenomenon. Now, IMHO, the millennials do not read books anymore, they read blogs. Way different people.
I read a lot of author blogs. Many authors are going directly to Indy now and taking control of their back catalogue. they get to keep a higher percentage of a lower purchase price which encourages people to buy their books and they make more money.
N
I read a lot of author blogs. Many authors are going directly to Indy now and taking control of their back catalogue. they get to keep a higher percentage of a lower purchase price which encourages people to buy their books and they make more money.
Yes, that is also true. Especially for the new authors.
I am slowly gathering that the self published authors are making 70% of the sale price on their ebooks and 30% to 40% of the sale price on POD (print on demand) trade paperbacks. I thought that the POD revenue was 50% but a published author told me that the POD percentage was less than that.
Most published authors make 7.5% of the cover price. Unless they break out of the pack like Rowling, James Patterson, David Weber, etc.
There is a new Nitecore that seems bright enough to illuminate fillings when placed up one’s backside
Well, that sucks. I now have to purchase another flashlight.
Not me. I’m saving my pennies for that megawatt laser.
No recent article, if that’s what you mean. The fiction publishing industry’s woes are well known, so long as you limit “the fiction publishing industry” to the major NY publishers. Independent, small presses are making gains and self-pub is continuing to make great gains.