Good morning all, the polar snowmaggedon freezing hell on earth end days – otherwise known as “a bad winter storm” seems to be over for a while. It’s 60F and dreary here in Energy City.
Our continued best wishes to RBT, Barbara, and OFD.
Some interesting things going on in the world-
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/swedish-government-warning-citizens-be-prepared-least-week-without-help
Only a week, seems short to me. FEMA says 72 hours, but after the Cascadia rising exercise, they increased that locally to 2 weeks. Ebola (or similar) could take 45 or more days to burn thru an area… do you really want to be standing in line with a bunch of other people if SHTF, even locally and temporarily?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/second-developer-wikileaks-inspired-securedrop-commits-suicide-36
Don’t know the two guys’ histories. Often creative people have other issues. Could all just be coincidence.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/replacing-cashiers-robots-just-makes-sense-jack-box-ceo
- “”With government driving up the cost of labor, it’s driving down the number of jobs,” then Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s CEO Andy Puzder told Business Insider in 2016. “You’re going to see automation not just in airports and grocery stores, but in restaurants.””
“Elections have consequences.” Hah. What does society look like when there is no entry path to the world of work for indigenous people? What are the long term implications of that? And what happens when you continue to allow the influx of low skill, low education laborers into an economy that has fewer and fewer low skill jobs?
Weeelllll, one possible answer is an increase in crime….
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-10/brinks-reports-theft-mysterious-11-million-international-gold-shipment
That’s a lot of shiny.
nick
We are getting the second round of artic blast here in Memphis tonight. After two weeks of unusual below zero temps it finally warmed to 60 yesterday. But the wintry blast is coming in tonight and temps will drop by 40 degrees accompanied by sleet, ice, and snow. The percititation wont last long, but is timed to make Friday morning commute deadly. Memphis doesn’t have the infrastructure to cope with snow & ice and our drivers make it worse. We are also warned to expect power outages from high winds blowing down ice covered trees. Good thing I have my generator and gas fireplace.
Speaking of bad drivers, our traffic and poor driving has not returned to its normally bad level after the hurricane and rains. Everyone I talk to says they think driving suddenly got worse.
Most of us no longer move when the light changes, instead waiting for that last @sshole to run the red. Two days ago, on one trip, I saw two near misses right in front of me (I was second car) and one where the driver ran the stop sign, while I sat at the stop on the cross street. Three serious violations in one trip is a lot.
Stay home and stay safe!
nick
I get honked at for stopping at a changing light. I’ve had people go around me to run the light as it turned red.
I drive a big truck with big lights. I drive the speed limit most of the time. If you can’t stop behind me, you’re either not paying attention or are following too close.
Yes, driving has gotten worse over time.
Tax Cuts increase wages (and take home pay) for WalMart employees
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-11/wal-mart-raises-u-s-hourly-wage-to-11-in-wake-of-tax-overhaul
Who needs Government Minimum wage meddling?
Most of us no longer move when the light changes, instead waiting for that last @sshole to run the red.
There are several intersections in Memphis area that are notorious for this. I have seen big rigs run red lights at speed here. You can tell a dangerous intersection from the amount of debris on the roadside.
Yes, and honking never results in behavior modification.
There are several intersections in Memphis area that are notorious for this. I have seen big rigs run red lights at speed here. You can tell a dangerous intersection from the amount of debris on the roadside.
Outside Tampa, the light at the road to the Progressive call center building is bad. Easily, 2-3 cars will run the red light getting close to the 5 PM shift change. From what I understand, “Flo” will dock employees for the whole hour if they are more than a few minutes late.
Tickets would. Enforce the law. (Don’t make new laws, and even repeal bad ones. Just enforce the laws on the books.) If the speed limit is 75, either enforce it or repeal it. Ticket those that blow stop signs or run reds. Enforce the law.
Plenty of people won’t like it. Probably some on this board. Enforce it anyway. The law is not subject to “give ’em 5” or “there’s nobody coming, so blow the stop.” The law requires a stop, so enforce it. If a speed limit is too low, raise it. If a stop sign should be a yield, campaign to change it. But enforce it while it is there.
In my town we have an intersection of great danger. It is a small road that is cut by Rt 1. The small road has a stop sign, then there are 4 lanes of 55 MPH speed limit (65 MPH in real life) traffic and then the continuation of the small road on the other side of Rt 1. In one direction on Rt 1 is a hill so you can’t see the speeding traffic coming until the last moment. Many accidents and a recent death and the town finally decided to block it off.
What gets me is not that this intersection exists but that it was used at all. A 90 second detour takes you to a road that crosses Rt 1 with a traffic light. I can understand an out-of-town person taking a wrong turn or following lousy GPS directions, but most of the accidents reported in the daily paper mentioned the name of a local trying to make the “crossing of death”. Fools.
One of the intersections near me, a main road crossing the freeway frontage and then under the freeway, has broken glass and car parts in the pedestrian island every single Monday. If you are getting more than average crashes ANYWHERE you should address the issue with engineering. WHY is that intersection so bad? It LOOKS just like any other, with good visibility and stop lights.
Our local “BID” or Business Improvement District rep was complaining about the number of times they’ve had to replace the neighborhood ‘branding’ sign (welcome to “Neighborhood XXXXXXXXX”) at one particular intersection. I asked him Why don’t you relocate to sign before it kills someone? (Signs are big brick and stone things.) Never occurred to them apparently.
Texas freeway engineers also never learned what Cali finally admitted. Don’t build ‘decreasing radius’ on ramps or off ramps. They kill motorcyclist and kill or maim drivers when they suddenly hit the barrier. You can spot them by the large number of black smears on the barriers. Same goes for ‘irregular’ curves. If it is engineered poorly, you’ll know by the scrape marks. Too late for the victims of the professional malpractice at that point though.
nick
I15 parallels “The Strip” in Vegas. The access roads used to be 45 and I15 65. Finally last year the access roads changed to 65. You’d be a fool to go 45 on the access road. Cars swerved around noobs who followed the speed limit.
I think the worst here is speeding in parking lots. People leave no margin of error for someone popping out from behind a car, crossing to the store, etc.
And for the rayciss comment of the day: Asians are the worst fucking drivers I’ve ever seen. I’m talking older peeps who want to turn the FUSA into whatever shithole they came from. The younger crowd follow the laws.
Good article on Drudge about Project Veritas exposing Twitter and “shadow banning” political speech and anybody they think is “shitty”. People post, but no one sees it and the “shitty” person thinks no one is engaging them. The worst of Big Brother.
Yup. Although I don’t waste any of my time with social media platforms, I follow them in a meta way. It’s classic ‘un-personing’ straight out of the marxist playbook.
n
My only question is “why would you bother being on those platforms?”
Asians are the worst fucking drivers
I heard the same think in the UK where the joke was, to get a license in Asia (India / Pakistan) you just have to drive from one end of a football pitch to the other without hitting anything.
I read Twitchy.com a conservative aggregator of Twitter. Mostly for the stupid Libturdian comments on EVERYTHING. I dont have a Twitter or Facebook account or any other account other than here, as Dr. Bob said, an anti-social platform.
“asians are the worst fucking drivers I’ve ever seen.”
In San diego, my good friend wouldn’t ride his motorcycle thru certain neighborhoods because he didn’t want to die by “DWA”.
They combine an unshakable self centeredness with a disdain for practice or skill building. It’s a deadly combination.
(illegal hispanics generally drive very cautiously around here. They don’t want to get busted. DRUNK hispanics don’t. They know they can kill with impunity and JUST DON’T CARE.)
n
Cops first. When I can drive down the highway and not see cops doing 15 over the speed limit, when cops don’t just blow through red lights and stop signs, maybe hitting their lights for a few seconds and maybe not, when cops don’t leave their cars on the sidewalk or in handicapped spots or in fire access areas, when cops don’t yammer on their cell phones while driving, then I’ll listen to calls for cops to crack down on traffic violations by the serfs.
The palace coup in Saudi Arabia continues, with the sheik down and confiscation of assets…..
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-01-11/saudi-arabia-taking-over-binladin-group
Perhaps, like the dis-integration of the USSR, we’re about to see some big changes in the M.E.
There seem to be large undercurrents moving thru the world. Tectonic shifts coming soon. I doubt the world will look at all the same in 10 years as we pass out the other side of whatever we’re starting through. (look at europe after WWI and WWII- that’s been shaking out for 70 years)
In case people missed it with the similar post titles, Barbara posted this morning. Scroll to top of this page, click the link on the left.
n
I used to post comments on articles on the Boston Herald website. I never posted anything that promoted violence or containing off color language but definately had a more conservative view than the tone of the newspaper. Most of the time my comments would be heavily up voted and often ended up as the top comment. A couple of years ago, I noticed that my comments weren’t getting up votes any more. Initialially, I thought that I had just lost my touch, but then decided it just didn’t make sense and that something was up. I ended up going to the website using another browser and found out that none of my comments appeared. Turns out, the Herald would only display my comments if I was logged in to the site leading me to believe that they were being displayed.
It’s bad enough if you’re banned because of your opinion (an opinion apparently held by many others based on the number of up votes), but it’s really low when the don’t even have the guts to let you know about it. I guess some people feel that non sanctioned ideas should not be expressed because they’re too threatening.
Cops first. When I can drive down the highway and not see cops doing 15 over the speed limit, when cops don’t just blow through red lights and stop signs, maybe hitting their lights for a few seconds and maybe not, when cops don’t leave their cars on the sidewalk or in handicapped spots or in fire access areas, when cops don’t yammer on their cell phones while driving, then I’ll listen to calls for cops to crack down on traffic violations by the serfs.
Yes, cops too. No courtesy card, no wink & nod. Enforce the law. If you want fair (and I certainly do), you have to treat everyone the same. This includes cops & congress critters. Enforce the law.
Should cops get a free pass on the way to an emergency? I think so, but I can see how you might disagree. If my daughter is bleeding out at the scene of an accident, I won’t object to first responders bending the rules to get there faster. Around here, there are already explicit exceptions for those cases.
If the cops have their emergency lights on (legitimately have them on, not flipping them on for two seconds rather than stop at a stop sign), there’s no problem with them speeding, going through red lights, or parking on the sidewalk. The problem is the constant, casual law-breaking by cops.
Tax Cuts increase wages (and take home pay) for WalMart employees
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-01-11/wal-mart-raises-u-s-hourly-wage-to-11-in-wake-of-tax-overhaul
Who needs Government Minimum wage meddling?
Walmart closed a lot of Sam’s Clubs this morning. That announcement was cover.
http://www.chron.com/business/retail/article/Sam-s-Club-abruptly-closes-some-stores-in-Houston-12490832.php
I initially heard that all of the Sam’s Clubs in Houston are closed but the radio walked that back.
The problem is the constant, casual law-breaking by cops.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve been blown off the highway by a cop with no lights or siren on. Vegas Metro also has a history of abuse of power. Especially when getting filmed. They still threaten you here with “it’s illegal to film me”. A bazillion courts have said no, it’s not. The latest is accusing you of interfering or the all purpose “I feared for me life” schtick.
Walmart closed a lot of Sam’s Clubs this morning.
A big Sam’s in South Tampa closed. Kinda surprising, but the immediate surrounding neighborhood is iffy.
Publix (think FL HEB) routinely does the same thing with their stores.
Our Sam’s Club in Sugar Land at Hwy 6 and 90 is still open. Today. There were about a 100 or so cars around it at 2pm.
Looks like Walmart closed 63 Sam’s Clubs today.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/01/11/sams-club-closing-dozens-stores-reports-say/1024986001/
“Cops first “
Pet peeve of mine. I have only received 2 traffic tickets in my 35 years of driving.
One was for speeding. I was 17, on a motorcycle, and going very fast. I deserved that.
The other was for rolling through a stop sign. I slowed way down, looked, no one was coming and went on without making a full stop. The officer’s car was hidden behind some brush and I never saw him. Yeah, I was wrong and I got a ticket. But ever since then whenever I am behind a police car I watch to see if it comes to a full stop. My unofficial non-scientific observations tell me that 75% of the time they break the law that I was cited for.
I’m not anti-cop by anyone’s measure, but that irks me. Every time a member of the public sees a police officer do something that would get that person cited, it subtly undermines the trust with the police department.
My unofficial non-scientific observations tell me that 75% of the time they break the law that I was cited for.
That would mesh with my experience also but I think your numbers are a bit low.
In Oak Ridge, on South Illinois Avenue, speed limit 40, I was doing 45. An officer comes up behind me quickly, probably doing 55, passes on the right doing maybe 60, passes a couple of other cars in front, one such pass using the middle turning lane. Caught up with the officer at the next traffic light and obtained his vehicle number. Sat and waited for almost two minutes for the light to change.
I called in to make a complaint and was transferred to someone that identified themselves as the watch commander. I explained the offenses the officer made never once stating the vehicle number. When I finished the watch commander stated “the officer was on an important call”.
I then asked the watch commander which patrol officer that would be as I had not yet identified the officer and the vehicle. Total silence for several seconds. Then the watch commander modified their response to “it was an important call that required no sirens or flashing lights to warn the offender”.
My next question was if response time was important why did the officer wait at the red light for almost two minutes before proceeding. At that point the watch commander asked for my name and address. I balked and told him NO as I was not setting myself up for retaliation. He then hung up.
I wrote a letter to the paper stating what had happened, my conversation with the watch commander, and unfortunately the paper used my name in spite of my request for them to withhold. I guess there were enough people with similar names that I was never uniquely identified. I also was not a resident of the city. I have to wonder if a couple of other people with my same name weren’t subject to some harassment.
And as a side observation, when I was young, not quite a teen, my father was a deputy sheriff in Wrightwood CA. On more than one trip down to San Bernardino my father got pulled over on I-15 for speeding by the CHP. My father would show his badge and off we would go, same speed as before.
“DiFi Leaked Testimony to Get Ahead of Bombshell Obama Spying Scandal”
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2018/01/11/difi-leaked-fusion-gps-testimony-to-get-ahead-of-bombshell-obama-spying-scandal/
“Many of us have believed for I can’t tell you how long that that Trump dossier, the Steele dossier, whatever you call it, was in fact used by the Obama administration to get a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign and the Trump transition. Folks, if that is ever confirmed — we’ve got some people saying it’s gonna be confirmed next week, but these people have been dangling that carrot for a couple of weeks now, so we’ll have to wait and see. But if that is ever confirmed — and I frankly think it’s true. I don’t need confirmation.”
“My instincts guided by intelligence, I know what happened here, I know the players, I know Obama and Hillary. I know Clapper and Brennan and these clowns, and I know that the Democrats and their politics have corrupted all of these government institutions. I have no doubt that dossier was used. I mean, I think Brennan has pretty much admitted it when he said it forms the basis of their investigation.”
Somebody needs to go to jail over this using a fake document to get a FISA warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. I am hoping that the FISA judge, whoever they are, is hopping mad that they were fooled by fake news paid for by the FBI, DNC, and the Hillary campaign.
Looks like Walmart closed 63 Sam’s Clubs today
Fern Park/Casselberry, FL is another surprise to me. Busy location, and immediate neighborhood isn’t close to iffy.
The store is *old*, however, easily 20 years or more. Maybe that is the common thread. The South Tampa location dates back to when we lived on that side of the city prior to 2000.
I’m not anti-cop by anyone’s measure, but that irks me. Every time a member of the public sees a police officer do something that would get that person cited, it subtly undermines the trust with the police department.
This. Exactly. Enforce the law. Nobody is above the law. Ask Nixon. The law must be enforced evenly or it will be trusted by nobody.
It goes further than that. When I was younger, about all anyone would get away with was 5 mph over the limit. Any more than that, or blowing a stop sign, and you would get pulled over and you would get a ticket. Then it was 7 mph. Now it’s 10. And people are skating lights and blowing stop signs with barely a pause. This makes all traffic laws subject to erosion. This erodes respect for the law in general.
Enforce the law across the board. Including cops & Congress.
At one point I got a free sams club membership, and I never once used it. I might at this point, if Costco wasn’t available to me. Some people have both, since there are things that each store carries that the other doesn’t, but I don’t know how that coule pay off unless you had a large family.
I have never been impressed with the quality of stuff (that’s not national brand) at walmart. Even the nationals use smaller quantities and cheaper packaging when selling thru walmart (size inflation.) I bought some first aid stuff for my folks just last month and was caught off guard by how small the actual product was inside the packaging.
I just got back from Costco, where I was picking up a replacement car battery. My 8 year Kirkland battery wasn’t holding a charge for more than a day or two, and it had 2-3 years left on it. Took it back, they did a direct exchange for a 3 year Interstate battery at no cost. Sweet. Seems that they no longer sell anything other than the 3 year batteries. One unpleasant surprise is that I haven’t used a key in my door locks in so long, that they wouldn’t turn. As practice, I got out the slimjim… but despite the fact that I USED to be able to pop the doors in seconds, I couldn’t get them open. On the ranger there is another vulerability though, you can use a screwdriver thru a hole under the door handle to push the lock open. Never did it before, so I gave it a try. Worked like a champ ;-( A shot of wd40 got the locks working again.
In my ongoing battle with rats, I searched the attic last night. They are using the tops of the ducts as highways. There is plenty of clear sign. Before christmas I didn’t notice any, so either they went nuts since then or I didn’t see the evidence. I know they weren’t there a couple of months ago, because I went looking specifically and didn’t see it. I would have if they were there then.
I got 5 of the big black bins with the yellow lids to move the food out of the garage temporarily. I’m off to the dollar store to buy a stack of sticky pads and I’ll be trapping all the ‘highways’ I can find.
nick
Well that sucks, it was sunny and blue sky after dreary day, but now it is P!SSING down rain and thundering.
Glad I got the truck work done.
n
In my ongoing battle with rats, I searched the attic last night. They are using the tops of the ducts as highways. There is plenty of clear sign. Before christmas I didn’t notice any, so either they went nuts since then or I didn’t see the evidence. I know they weren’t there a couple of months ago, because I went looking specifically and didn’t see it. I would have if they were there then.
I have rat poison in my attic. The glue strips did not work so well for me.
https://www.amazon.com/Tomcat-Killer-Resistant-Disposable-Station/dp/B004XWULZU/
I’m worried they will die in the walls and stink up the place.
n
And now it’s clear again, with blustery winds from the complete opposite direction at 5mph.
Prepper note, check out the local dollar store. They have a surprising number of brand names, but in much smaller packaging. Slightly bigger than travel size, less money.
They also may have some of the forgotten American foods from your youth. Seems that some of the smaller USA bakers and packers are selling to dollar stores. Moon Pies, in 4 flavors! Ginger snaps, windmills, iced oatmeal, all made in USA.
They have so much stuff that you might get the weird thing you need in a one or two pack instead of having to buy a larger size.
Check it out, I was surprised. Oh, it is a different world in there. Like walmart without the weirdos… and I wouldn’t let my kid out of my sight.
n
I’m worried they will die in the walls and stink up the place.
Has not happened yet. I have killed four roof rats in the house since we moved here five years ago. Two with blunt force, one with a glue trap, and one with poison. Now the one that I killed with poison died under the fridge and cleaning his parts out was horrible. The condenser fan kicked in while I was cleaning and blew his rotting corpse smell right into my nostrils, I almost hurled. But since I left the poison behind the fridge and in the attic, I have not had a roof rat in the house in almost three years.
I just got my Expedition back from the body shop at Legacy Ford. They beat out the driver side front fender and replaced the driver side headlight and the radiator / headlight mount. The cost was $618. No paint, no bondo. The fender does not look bad at all. The only thing that bothered me is that the grille scraped its chrome trim plate in three places when he pulled it off but that is just life.
Amica sent me a check for $2100 so I am good. My 2005 Expedition with 190K miles has had the value reduced from $4,000 to $3,500 with the bent front driver side fender and the ripped front bumper cover. Who cares ? When I get a new F-150, I will have my Expy as a backup when my daughter feels like driving somewhere. And, it just proved its worth as a tank. At least a 7,000 lb tank versus a 200 lb deer.
You don’t get to argue with F=MA. You either win or lose.
Glad it all worked out.
n
@nick
You don’t get to argue with F=MA. You either win or lose.
Your white privilege is showing.
Rats! We had quite an infestation back in the 80s in our older home in an older neighborhood. First time I used snap traps and had a running scoreboard going. Wife would give me a point for every kill and the rats one for every empty tripped trap. Got it down to where they appeared gone so stopped trapping. Of course they came back, I sure there were nearby places contributing. Second round I trapped, then when it thinned out set out poison. The poison makes them act crazy and they start appearing in the open and during the day. Hunted the dead down and at that point the problem was gone for good. Kept poison out.
When we moved to this house we had some issues in the garage. (don’t let wife put indian corn decorations away in the Thanksgiving box). Used poison again and I renew it from time to time. Have found a dead one from time to time usually on the pool deck. We have plenty of feral cats to help out.
We had a mouse problem several months ago. Set out sticky traps to little success as the rodents avoided the traps. Even when set in such a way they could not be avoided. I was wrong. Did have one sticky trap with footprints and hair left so figure the mouse got loose or his/her buddies helped by having access to a small block and tackle. Set out wooden snap traps to little success as the rodents would eat the bait. The either failed to trip the trap or reset it on their own (using above block and tackle).
Then we tried the plastic snap traps. Those worked. Easy to set and very sensitive. Within 20 minutes of setting the first trap it tripped. Over the course of the next couple of weeks we trapped about 20 mice. Flushed them all down the toilet.
We thought we had all the places sealed. But by chance I saw a mouse outside who ran along the side of the house and disappeared. Sure enough by careful examination we found a small opening. Stuffed it with steel wool then sealed with expanding foam and covered with caulk. The opening was down low and was behind the trim for the sliding glass door. Not a direct entrance but enough for the mice to work their way into the house.
Still have the traps set and check them every couple of days. No signs of rodents.
Then there was that squirrel that got into the attic. Pulled the plug on the end of the ridge vent. Squirrel was out so I replaced the plug. Squirrel removed it again as I found it on the ground. Waited until the squirrel left and installed two plugs. Bastard chewed through the outer plug and pulled out the inner plug. Replaced with two new plugs with the outer plug having the exterior covered in a piece of tin I cut. I doubt his teeth would get through that. I also screwed the end pieces into the ridge vent.
Purchased a live animal trap and placed it on the roof in the path the squirrel used. Baited with dried corn on the cob. One morning heard a commotion outside and something rattling on the roof. Squirrel was trapped and it’s movements to escape had made the trap fall off the roof. He was pissed. I took the trap about 10 miles away and released the squirrel. Drowning was considered but the wife said no, in no uncertain terms.
Purchased a live animal trap and placed it on the roof in the path the squirrel used. Baited with dried corn on the cob. One morning heard a commotion outside and something rattling on the roof. Squirrel was trapped and it’s movements to escape had made the trap fall off the roof. He was pissed. I took the trap about 10 miles away and released the squirrel. Drowning was considered but the wife said no, in no uncertain terms.
Why didn’t you eat it ? That is the true sign of victory. My grandfather used to shoot them off the roof with his single shot .22 and bring them in. Grandma would skin it up in the kitchen sink and throw it in the chicken pot on the stove.
You don’t get to argue with F=MA. You either win or lose.
Deer are stupid. I have to honk my horn at them all the time to get them off the cutoff road on my office property after dark. The idiots just stand there and look at me, flicking their ears.
The rats here seem to learn from others’ experience. I stapled glue traps completely around a maple syrup bait, which got one the first day. Never got another. They push the plastic snap traps off the shelves or against stuff to trigger them. I got ONE foot, and one rat with the snappers. None with the traditional wooden traps. That’s why I switched to the glue. I’ve got about 9 with the glue. they are getting cheeky. I now hear them during the day and I saw one’s tail flick.
I’ll get the food out tomorrow, if it’s not raining, clean up the mess, and set more traps.
I’m gonna set a webcam too, but I might be too freaked if it shows a swarm….
nick
President tRump really lit up the libturds with his “third world shit hole” comments. About time. That makes him rayciss, you see, cause of all the shitty useless Blacks that want to come here. Africa and the ME are shitholes. Who do you think comes from there? Not Norwegians.
Warm and sunny today. Took the big cat in for his shots, vet assistants were amused by his size and friendliness.
Frontier failed to show for DSL installation, again. Seven weeks and counting now. I had to call them, and They essentially said “don’t call us, well call you”. In theory I have about $100 in credits should they ever actually manage to connect up a house that was connected as late as last July.
Looking into expensive, limited, wireless or lousy satellite (Hughes gets 1.5 stars out of 5 locally) now.
Drivers have gotten bad here in the high desert. I keep my cool by counting the distance I can travel without encountering something stupid/dangerous/illegal (or all three). Not just ‘California stops’ but real risks. Generally under a mile.
Yesterday for example I was passed by someone on the right shoulder – wheels off the road in mud, less that 500′ (a few seconds at highway speeds) front he road widening to two lanes. A few minutes later someone else ran a stop sigh in front of me. This is typical stuff now.
Ah well…
Looks like we might be getting some more polar vortex down here. Currently dropped to 42F with some strong wind gusting to 10mph. Glad I didn’t uncover the citrus….
n
I’ll bump this tomorrow if I get a chance….
Puerto Rico is well on it’s way to failed state, WROL, if the article is believable…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5260129/Puerto-Rico-fears-post-Maria-murder-surge-11-days-32-slain.html
“Already bankrupt, the island’s overwhelmed government has fallen behind with millions of dollars in overtime payments owed to police officers, who have begun calling in sick in big numbers to protest. The sickout has taken about 2,000 police off the street each day in a territory that has 13,600 officers. It has forced more than a dozen police stations to close for several hours to a couple of days during the holiday period because of a lack of officers. No arrests have been made in the 32 killings this year.”
-snip-
“‘There’s a war over the control for drugs,’ he told The Associated Press. ‘They are taking advantage of all the situations occurring in Puerto Rico. There’s no power and they believe there’s a lack of police officers. … Criminals are taking care of business that was pending before the hurricane.’
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5260129/Puerto-Rico-fears-post-Maria-murder-surge-11-days-32-slain.html“
Dropped from 73 F at 4pm to 42 F at 11 pm with winds gusting to 30 mph. I wore my long sleeve oxford shirt from work today, a long sleeve tshirt, a thick hoodie, a fleece vest, and another thick hoodie on my one mile walk tonight at 1120pm. And, I did not get overheated. In fact, I was barely warm. The wife went with me, grumbling at the beginning. We did not take Lady, I worry about exposing a 15 year old dog to the bitter elements.
“‘The 97% climate consensus’ starts to crumble with 485 new papers in 2017 that question it”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/01/10/the-97-climate-consensusstarts-to-crumble-with-485-new-papers-in-2017-that-question-it/
“Author Kenneth Richard found that during the course of the year 2017, at least 485 scientific papers were published that in some way questioned the supposed consensus regarding the perils of human CO2 emissions or the efficacy of climate models to predict the future.”
“According to Richard’s analysis, the 485 new papers underscore the “significant limitations and uncertainties inherent in our understanding of climate and climate changes,” which in turn suggests that climate science is not nearly as settled as media reports and some policymakers would have people believe.”
I ain’t the only AGW skeptic hanging around.
“2018 U.S. Deep Freeze: Largest Weekly Draw on Natural Gas Storage… Evah!”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/01/11/2018-u-s-deep-freeze-largest-weekly-draw-on-natural-gas-storage-evah/
Great article with many graphs about coal and natural gas in the USA. Some of them are even true !
When I was at TXU, we had 10 Bcf of natural gas storage. We guarded it like precious jewels.
Dealing with rodents. These water-in-a-bucket fall-in traps are good if you have an infestation – they tend not to let many get away to warn the rest:
https://youtu.be/DY4nH9XCt_E
More traps than you can shake a stick at: https://www.youtube.com/user/historichunter/videos
If you must poison rats, but you want something non-toxic, or rats in your area know to avoid chemical poisons, grind some broken glass to powder between two bricks, and mix the powder into honey, molasses or peanut butter as bait. They’ll eat it and bleed out internally.
I heard of another allegedly very effective, but ethically doubtful, method used aboard infested ships: set the fall-in traps shown above onto 50-gallon plastic drums, but don’t put any water in the drums (other than maybe some drinking water in a pot). Rats will fall in, but can’t climb out. Eventually, they will turn to eating one another, until there is only one big, mean rat left in each drum, now with a taste for cannibalism. Release those ones and they will hunt their remaining brethren for you.
Jeezuz, remind me not to read this blog after waking up in the middle of the night!
I was going to mention that Friday the 13th falls on a Saturday this year, but now you’ve all reminded me of the cat who came back the very next day. Courtesy Pete Seeger…
Went away for a few days and left a window ajar so my own cat, Eubie (a Siamese named Eubie Black after a long-forgotten piano player) could come and go. Some damned feral cat took up residence in her stead and being the kind-hearted soul I am, I managed to box the thing in a suitcase and drove the devil a couple miles down the road and freed it.
Well, the cat came back the very next day. Followed the railroad track, I presume.
Long story short: tuna fish and strychnine make a good combination.
A propos of nothing in particular, I thought these photos of old missile silos were interesting: http://thechive.com/2018/01/11/old-school-missile-silos-53-hq-photos/
Warning: the silo page is OK, but some of the other photos on that website might be NSFW-ish.
@Denis
Eventually, they will turn to eating one another, until there is only one big, mean rat left in each drum, now with a taste for cannibalism. Release those ones and they will hunt their remaining brethren for you.
and when that one eats the rest where does he turn?
@jim~
Long story short: tuna fish and strychnine make a good combination.
Twice last year I’ve had to hunt down dead cats in the shrubbery outside my house. You can smell them but it’s hard to find them. Both times in difficult spots. Fireplace tongs make pretty good dead cat retrievers.
@dkdwreck
Showing my age here:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067991/
Yeah, been thinking of Willard a lot.
n
“…when that one eats the rest where does he turn?”
I suspect he graduates to hunting cats!
Eventually, they will turn to eating one another, until there is only one big, mean rat left in each drum
Sounds like the Hillary Clinton campaign. Except I would add the terms fat and ugly.
@Ray
Fat, ugly and myopic! Remember that pic of her wearing those funny glasses?
Aww, let’s not beat a dead whorse.
Fat, ugly and myopic!
I stand corrected.
let’s not beat a dead whorse.
Unfortunately, the creature is still alive and kicking.
Can’t say the same for her political career.
I initially heard that all of the Sam’s Clubs in Houston are closed but the radio walked that back.
Two closed. The one on the South Loop is one of the oldest and the neighborhood hasn’t developed the way they want it to. Some big construction projects in the area were canned. I also expect that they can sell the land to the Houston Texans for additional parking for the stadiums.
Two closed. The one on the South Loop is one of the oldest and the neighborhood hasn’t developed the way they want it to. Some big construction projects in the area were canned. I also expect that they can sell the land to the Houston Texans for additional parking for the stadiums.
Plus the Sams Club in New Caney.