Rise and shine! Time to start your day.
63F and slightly less damp this am. Sunny and clear. Hoping for another nice day.
The headlines all look the same, sorta. More slow motion coup attempt, more disconnect between ordinary people and those who would rule. More bad stuff in the world, and more march to war.
It’s enough to make anyone prep! (since despair is a sin.)
Anyone got plans for this week that they’ll probably not get to?
n
Well, Memphis made the news….
“Police hunt ‘disgusting’ criminals who killed two people and injured four including a 14-year-old high school student in ‘hail of gunfire’ in Memphis
Local police said the identities of the victims was unknown but one was just 14
Four people were said to be in critical condition following the deadly shooting
The shooting took place in an art deco high rise building in the midtown area”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5698517/Memphis-Police-2-killed-4-injured-midtown-shooting.html
n
I’m assuming “slow motion coup attempt” is the Mueller investigation. Funny.
52º and fair up here. It’s a good day to exert outside, as you don’t need so many clothes as to feel uncomfortable, and heat generated will dissipate quickly.
Plans for the week: Family dinner on Thursday. I’ll get to try out the gluten-free cornbread tonight to do again for then.
The rest of the gravel gets distributed this week, the walkway gets dug out, and the raised bed gets moved to the old sandbox (inside the fence).
Sunday is Mother’s Day, so my first wife gets to run in the Mother’s day race for free. Mother in Law, if she wants, and the kids do, too. It will be good.
Saturday I replaced the u-joints on the left half shaft of the Corvette. I lost a cap on one of them, which caused an awful ticking noise. No idea how it came off,a s there is a clip that is supposed to keep it in place. Either the clip failed or I forgot to put it on. Anyways, picked up new joints, pressed them in, and triple checked that all clips are on (checked the other side too.) Drives like a dream again.
Saw Avengers: Infinity War part 1 on Sunday. A good movie, but not sure it was worth $31.08 for the three of us. I ddin’t fall asleep, so that’s a plus. Saw a preview for the next Mission Impossible movie. Looks ok, and they are usually entertaining. Once again, for the price, it’s hard for me to justify. Maybe I’m just getting old. We go to the movies to watch the movie. For the younger crowd, it’s as much about the socialization as it is the movie. Plus they generally only pay for themselves. We do save a small mortgage each time by sneaking in bottles of water and our own snacks. Much healthier too.
Another note on the movie. We saw it a Cinemark theatre, and our first movie in one of their XD theatre’s. No 3D (hate it), supposedly upgraded sound (can’t tell difference from THX certified), and a bigger screen. That was worth it. The screen was the entire width of the wall. We always sit in the top row (so I don’t have people behind me), and the screen filled up my entire forward vision. If you were half way down, you’d have to scan left to right a little to see the entire screen.
I’m assuming “slow motion coup attempt” is the Mueller investigation. Funny.
What is funny is that if you google “slow motion coup usa” you will get tons of links to articles that say Trump is staging a slow motion coup against the federal bureaucracy and a ton of links that say the federal bureaucracy is staging a slow motion coup against Trump. Early on Scott Adams blogged frequently about people seeing what they want to see, hearing what they want to hear. At first I thought it was just an interesting bit of trivia, now I realize that it is a solid fact of politics.
What is really going on? I don’t know. It doesn’t seem very stable to me, though. Unstable things have a tendency to fall over.
It’s like both sides using the term “woke” to describe a certain set of views… that are opposites.
What else would you call established .gov workers attempting to displace a lawfully elected president because of their own prejudices and a desire for their crimes (graft, abuse of office, etc) to not come to light?
Can anyone think of a previous president who was subjected to the same sort of ‘investigation’ from even before he was elected? Or the tenacity with which they continue, despite lack of result?
n
It’s like both sides using the term “woke” to describe a certain set of views… that are opposites..
I’ve seen “woke” in many places recently.
Another abused term is “I’m jus’ sayin” or a variation. That really drives me nuts since it seems like a mechanism for someone to drop an idea bomb without pushback in polite company.
I was honest when I said I really don’t know what is going on with the US government. All media is so untrustworthy today. I read a dozen articles on one subject and I still feel uninformed. Plot holes everywhere.
My gut feeling: the bureaucracy will do whatever they can to hold onto their sinecures.
My gut feeling: the bureaucracy will do whatever they can to hold onto their sinecures.
Pensions are at stake. Don’t you know that?
On a personal level, my latest brush with bureaucracy was the band director sending home an extra box of candy to “sell” (we donate $60) without any advance notice or discussion. The fallout of me returning the box to the director in person, without advance notice or discussion, is that my son was left in JV for his upcoming Junior year.
I know. Texas. Football, band, and, depending on the area of the state, the drill team are sacred. Trips to Band Grand Nationals necessitate chartered jets, and a lot of candy has to be “sold” to pay for those essentials.
Long term, I don’t think the band director is long for that job, but, in the mean time, we’re probably going to have to “sell” a lot more candy next year.
With the emerging evidence of brain injury, I really don’t understand how ANY school can continue to have football, especially for really little kids. If they want to, they need some drastic changes to the rules. No cleats. Very light pads. Very light helmets. Weight limits for players. That should hurt more, and reduce the force of impacts, and the no cleats will help with knee injuries.
Soccer with all the heading is starting to be recognized for causing brain injuries too. CBI and ‘pugilistic dementia’ are real things.
n
ALMOST tongue in cheek: They should eliminate helmets altogether. If you’re afraid of getting your bell rung, you’ll do more to protect your noggin.
I really don’t know. I love football. I played pickup for 3 years in the service. We didn’t wear pads or helmets. One guy had a set of cleats, and we wouldn’t let him wear them. Nobody got a rung bell. One guy (ONE!) dislocated his shoulder. I’ve loved to watch it ever since.
What happened to the “up” arrow at the bottom right?
I use it in the morning when I want to get up to the calendar.
The arrow is there for me.
It’s there for me too….
n
oh-oh, maybe because I’m using Chrome, I’ll check Edge.
OK, I see it now on MSFT Edge. Looks like a Chrome issue.
I really don’t know. I love football. I played pickup for 3 years in the service. We didn’t wear pads or helmets. One guy had a set of cleats, and we wouldn’t let him wear them. Nobody got a rung bell. One guy (ONE!) dislocated his shoulder. I’ve loved to watch it ever since.
Playing pickup as adults, you knew the limits of where someone would get hurt.
Bragging rights were at stake, at worst beer tabs, but not scholarships or careers.
Texas schools build $70 million stadiums for *high school* games. Our ISD will try again to float a bond issue next Spring to build one at the local high school.
The arrow is present in Chrome for me, and I even use a blocker – Ghostery, which blocked the GDPR question.
San Antonio NISD is using our money to promote the next bond. How is that right?
I dunno. He might have a point.
https://xkcd.com/1990/
Self-driving cars bother me because they CAN’T feel. On the other hand, they don’t get tired, either.
there is a metric cr@p ton of passive and active engineering in place in the vehicles themselves, in the rules of the road, and in the actual design of roadways and their surrounds that keeps it from being “100s every day.”
Can you imagine the toll if today’s drivers were tooling along on 2 lane undivided roads at any speed they chose, with no power steering or brakes, tremendous body roll, and at least 2 tons of steel, with non-collapsible steering columns, steel dashboards, no seatbelts, no crumple zones, no reinforced structure in doors, and cell phones in their hands?
Serious crashes were not survivable. High speeds were not limited to controlled access roadways. Lighting was not as good. SAFETY GLASS wasn’t common.
The only reason we aren’t awash in deaths is because of the advances in engineering.
n
Actually,
from http://branlawfirm.com/many-car-accidents-usa-per-day/
, which should be a reasonable approximation of real numbers.
There was this meme about how a 57 chevy would laugh at accidents that can total a car today. And it’s true. At < 5 mph, the 57 chevy laughed, while a Malibu suffered heavy damage.
But at 35 mph, a left-side crash (such as running into a roadway barrier or tree) totaled the '57 as well as the new Malibu. The difference? The driver of the Malibu could walk away. The driver of the '57 would be scraped off the seats.
Cars today are safer than they've ever been. And they're more efficient than ever. But 100 people die in them in these United States every day just the same.
I don't TRUST autonomous vehicles in & of themselves. But I can hardly wait to get a car or truck I can put on I-80 and tell it to wake me when I get to my exit. Or alert me when conditions are such that it should not be in control.
I think technology is cool, and all the innovations in the automobile world that Nick mentioned are great. I however am not ready for the self driving car. I’m not ready for a car that becomes a single car accident to prevent a multiple car collision.
I’m assuming “slow motion coup attempt” is the Mueller investigation. Funny.
Not funny. What Mueller is doing to Michael Flynn is horrible. They have bankrupted him and his family and forced him to plead guilty to a non-crime.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/05/04/house-intel-report-comey-testified-fbi-agents-saw-no-physical-indications-deception-by-flynn.amp.html
Never, never, never, ever talk to a federal agent without legal council present. Even if they do not Mirandaize you, you are still testifying. Anything that you say, or don’t say, can and will be held against you. Anything you turn over to them will be used against you. I have made this mistake in the past and will never voluntarily cooperate again with the FBI and CIA.
Several of the people around Trump are being bankrupted. Mueller has infinite resources and will hound these people to the ends of the earth.
Nope, not a Chrome issue. Back on Chrome and arrow is just to the right of this text box.
I have a friend who is a police officer in the closest major metro. He made a remark on Facebook about how rude people are to him when he is working. The only rude thing I would ever do to any police officer is not talk to him. If I ever run into my friend when he’s working, I will not answer any questions other than pleasantries, and I would think twice about that.
Since nobody has mentioned it, the arrow appears in Firefox.
collision with a speeding motorcycle.
Yuuup, when was the last time that you saw a motorcycle voluntarily going less than 10 mph over the speed limit?
You do realize that they are participating in voluntary suicide?
I completely agree with what Lynn said. I agree with what happened to Flynn being horrible and politically motivated. I want to make it clear to everyone who doesn’t like Donald Trump that this is a problem for everyone, and not just a few people they don’t like. Martha Stewart was send to jail, not for a securities crime, but obstruction of justice. I don’t particular like her, but the Fifth Amendment does not exist to protect the rights of people I like. It exists protect the rights of everyone, whether I like them or not.
When I did ride my motorcycle, I rarely exceeded the speed limit. It was (and still is) an early Yamaha sport bike. I like it because it’s an upright ride. That’s not to say I never went fast. Just barely, and not in traffic.
The ethics and the decision matrix on autonomous are pretty complex. How I would react by myself versus when my kids are present differ vastly. I might sacrifice myself for a kid lying in the street. I most certainly would not sacrifice my children for a child lying in the street. I do NOT want a machine or decision matrix to arbitrarily decide that my kids are not the most important thing in the world.
That’s why I think highway driving is the best first place for them. Very few very difficult decision matrix problems with a LOT of tired driver problems. Put them on the interstate. Don’t put them on Main street.
And if I have to listen to one more idiot, politician, news caster or celebrity say “What’s the problem with talking to authorities if you have nothing to hide”, I just might lose it. Really? How stupid must you be.
And if I have to listen to one more idiot, politician, news caster or celebrity say “What’s the problem with talking to authorities if you have nothing to hide”, I just might lose it. Really? How stupid must you be.
They are apparently charging Flynn with a minor item such as changing the date in his “story”. He was not Mirandized and aware that he was testifying. Otherwise, I’ll bet that he would have looked up all the info. BTW, looks like the judge on Flynn is not going to accept the plea bargain.
https://conservativedailypost.com/michael-flynn-to-withdraw-guilty-plea-could-bring-down-fbi/
“Moving swiftly, one of the first acts of the new judge was to ask that the Mueller investigation expediently turn over any information that would determine the defendant guilty. The judge also asked that any information that showed Flynn favorable should also be turned over to the court and presented to an in-camera review.”
Presumption of innocence, the right to not self-incriminate, the right to personal property. These are all freedoms enshrined in the constitution.
I want a constitutionalist in office. Not a statist.
Nothing to hide? You’re asking the wrong question. The state has no right to compel a citizen to speak. None.
It is the prosecution’s job to prove guilt. It is not the defendant’s (or citizen’s) job to prove innocence.
Well, there’s two exceptions:
– The Family Court System where alimony is not very feminist so they just lump it in with child support and where all men are the devil and children are better off with any horrible female than they would ever be with a man.
– Sex crimes where if you’re a woman you get probation or minimum sentencing and where if you’re a man they lock you up and throw away the key. Upon arrest you’re guilty until proven innocent and then you still have to spend your life with a destroyed family and reputation.
Don’t get me started on our sexist Judicial system.
Well, Memphis made the news….
The only thing unusual about this story is the location. Most Memphis murders occur in well defined crime locations, usually apartment complexes in the “less desireable” parts of town. We generally wake up to news of multiple shootings, murder & rape, it looses the ability to shock after a while.
I know a couple of men whose lives were destroyed by allegations. No conviction. Even proven innocent. But still destroyed.
That’s why the Cosby thing bothers me so much. So many people were ready to hang him right now. But he had not been convicted at the time.
That’s WHY we have a criminal justice system. It has to be allowed to work. I get a lot of hate because of that stance. I’m okay with that.
In Illinois, some counties are turning the “Sanctuary” movment around by declaring themselves Sancturies for gun owners and refusing to enforce restrictive state anti-gun laws.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-illinois-gun-sanctuary-counties-20180506-story.html
“Such talk worries Kathleen Willis, a Democratic state representative from suburban Chicago who sponsored some of the gun legislation. (and voted for Sanctuary State status) “I don’t think you can say, ‘I don’t agree with the law so I won’t enforce it,'” she said. “I think it sends the wrong message.”
Well DUH Kathleen, when you voted for Sanctuary State status what message were YOU sending ??
That’s why the Cosby thing bothers me so much. So many people were ready to hang him right now. But he had not been convicted at the time.
I am still not convinced that Cosby is guilty of rape. Of being a jerk, yes. But too many of the women kept on chasing him after the “rapes”. I do know this, Cosby is going to be sued into oblivion by the “victims”.
I just got 20 more tons of limestone gravel delivered and laid down for the office roads. I will get 60 more tons delivered tomorrow. $550 / truck load. Each truck load is ten tons.
We figured out the chain lengths on the dump truck back door to put about two inches of gravel down. I still may have to get a tractor guy with a box spreader out here. The first truck had an uh oh and had to backup causing a pile of 3 ft of gravel to form. So, the three of us got to dig it out (they had shovels). My shoulders are killing me now.
I am not even going to ask my neighbors to contribute this time. They already said no when I asphalted 500 ft of the main road at a cost of $28,000.
My back neighbor at the office is trying to sell her 38 acres for $1.7 million. I think that a lot of it is under the 100 year flood plain so I wish her luck.
https://www.har.com/8639-fm-2759-road/sale_23080061
A big solar Oof from Kalifornia:
California, Land Of The Mandatory Solar Panels
They have to charge up all those Teslas somehow.
H/T Twitchy.com
Regarding the ‘go-to-top’ arrow at the bottom of this page: I assume that all are aware that it doesn’t appear unless you scroll up (or down) a bit.
It’s powered by a bit of javascript that senses if you are more than 200px from the top of the page, and that you scrolled a bit. So if you are blocking javascript, then it may not appear.
And in regard to the random ‘500’ pages that you might have been seeing, that’s a harder one to fix. It’s usually related to a timeout error, but not always (sometimes it is caching timeouts).
I got rid of a couple of extra plugins that *might* be causing it. I also upgraded the hosting server to PHP 7.2 (from 5.4) because of reasons. We shall see if that makes any difference in the randomness of the 500 errors.
I am still not convinced that Cosby is guilty of rape. Of being a jerk, yes. But too many of the women kept on chasing him after the “rapes”. I do know this, Cosby is going to be sued into oblivion by the “victims”.
I saw an article on one of the financial news sites that Cosby was liquidating his extensive real estate holdings in Los Angeles. He’s probably getting ready.
Cosby can buy a lot of Trial Science experts too. I don’t believe he thought it would be necessary in Philadelphia.
I’m replacing the screen on my 2015 Samsung J7 smartphone. (Mend, don’t end!)
Do you have any idea how tightly these things are engineered these days?
I love taking things apart and putting them back together. Kindles, laptops, you name it.
But things have changed… OY! I need a heat gun to loosen the adhesive, but that’s not all.
I do have a heat gun, but it’s old and really, really hot. So I had a bright idea: wrap the phone in a polyester bag (Those Bake In Bag things for turkeys) and dip the edge in boiling water.
And I need guitar picks; lots of them. Which I don’t have. But! I do have window points, lol. Another thing I got good at was replacing glass in old double-sash windows, so I have some sitting around. Wish I’d saved some of the old counter-weights, though. BTW, if you ever need to heat up putty for replacing glass, use the microwave on the jar of putty. Works great!
Any and all tips on replacing the screen are most welcome.
I like the little arrow. I see it fine on the desktop and tablet. Wish more folks had them.
Ifixit probably has step by step….
n
That’s a good tip about the putty. As for replacing a screen, no clue over here. I’m on just my second smartypants phone. I use Straight Talk. I might still be using my $300 Galaxy SII except for having rooted it and then trying to update the OS bricked it. Off to Wally World for a $129 LG that is a better phone overall. The camera isn’t so great.
On the plus side, a big plus, the LG is on Verizon and not on Deathstar. AT&T sucks here. I can now actually deposit checks with my bank’s phone app without having to go to Austin. Shrug.
I hear box blades are the way to go. Of course, all of the “experts” saying this have never offered to buy me a box blade …. because the “experts” don’t have a tractor much less a box blade to loan. I just smile, get a beer out of the fridge and go ahead with my evil plans for world domination.
I have a plain blade. It can swivel. It can’t tilt. So I run my driveway with it angled about 30 degrees left or right with the blade backwards. Think of the blade being shaped like a C. I’m dragging with the back side of the C. With the blade forward it digs in too much. Anyway, a couple of passes on each side of the drive to scoop the gravel back onto the drive and then a couple of passes with the blade straight and down the middle of the drive smooths it out nicely.
edit–
If I had read the above 25 years ago I’d be saying what the f*** is that idiot blabbering about.
A woman threatened to bring rape charges against me. Total bullshit and she knew it. She was trying to get concessions from me on something completely unrelated. I asked her if she really thought she’d survive making a bogus rape claim against me. No charges were filed.
The lessons: 1) Have a reputation 2) Be prepared to back it up
“Roseanne doing an episode about Muslim neighbors at Roseanne Barr’s urging”
http://ew.com/tv/2018/05/07/roseanne-muslim-neighbors-episode/
Ok, where is the burka in her show ? Almost every time that I am in our HEB in far west Sugar Land, there are at least one of these black robes walking around. They are covered from head to toe with translucent panels for the eyes. Sometimes the hands are gloved. Usually they have a kid or three. Sometimes there is a man following them around. The first few times I saw one, it was freaky. Now I just count them as a small moving mountain of fabric.
Hat tip to:
http://drudgereport.com/
I hear box blades are the way to go. Of course, all of the “experts” saying this have never offered to buy me a box blade …. because the “experts” don’t have a tractor much less a box blade to loan. I just smile, get a beer out of the fridge and go ahead with my evil plans for world domination.
I have been forbidden from getting a tractor. The first reason she has is money, we just don’t need one. The second reason she has is that I will flip it over, break my neck, and die.
My reason is that I do not have a place to stash a tractor at the office. I would need to build a barn. And that costs money (see reason number one). If you leave anything of worth out around these parts, it will disappear quickly.
And I don’t even have any beer in my fridge.
I just got back from our regional Girl Scout ‘bridging’ ceremony. That’s when the various flavors of GS advance to the next level. There was a whole troop shepherded by 4 of the well covered [presumptive] females, with 2 of the young girls also wearing head and hair coverings. One interesting statistic was presented. There are 20,000 girls in our council. Only 100 were eligible for the Gold Award (supposed to be equivalent to Eagle.) That seems like a lot of attrition. Anyone know the numbers in the BSA?
Meatspace. I’m there.
n
Ok, where is the burka in her show ? Almost every time that I am in our HEB in far west Sugar Land, there are at least one of these black robes walking around. They are covered from head to toe with translucent panels for the eyes. Sometimes the hands are gloved. Usually they have a kid or three. Sometimes there is a man following them around. The first few times I saw one, it was freaky. Now I just count them as a small moving mountain of fabric.
IAH has lots of flights to the Middle East. I’m not surprised. Probably living in bug out pads like the Mainland Chinese maintained in the nice neighborhoods of Vantucky — mom and the kids in the pad, dad working in the mother country.
Thanks to Dell and HPE, we have quite a few members of what I call “Club Hijab” walking around Round Rock. I’ve seen more burqas and burqinis (Google it) here in Texas than I ever did in Portland, but flights to the Middle East from PDX were limited.
You know that Harmony charter schools are in the club, right? They recruited my daughter with a scholarship for her math scores to boost their averages, but we passed on that “opportunity”. At a minimum, she would have had to go to school covered up like Mayim Bialik on “Big Bang Theory”, with scarf suggested but not mandatory.
And, yeah, the neighbor would be wearing the scarf on “Rosanne”.
I think we have two or three bottles of Sam Adams in our fridge.
I haven’t knowingly taken a drink in almost 10 years and I have beer in my fridge! ‘Course that might be WHY it can sit in there……
n
Lesson: Be like SteveF. (Make them believe you really don’t care what they do, and the consequences will really suck. For them.)
I don’t often keep beer in the fridge. I keep it in the basement. When I want one (or two) I’ll put them in the fridge (or freezer) to chill. Drink later.
I only get drunk once every 4 years, waiting for the concession speech in the presidential election. 2016 sucked. I finally gave up & went to bed. Still not thrilled how that all went down.
FWIW, new install of Firefox with uMatrix, uBlock Origin and NoScript, the up-arrow icon showed a missing font/box with hex code until I granted temp trusted to ttgnet.com in NoScript. The GDPR banner appeared then also.
.mg
I think your beer could be older than ours. We bought our house almost nine years ago, and then bought the fridge. So the beer came sometime after the fridge. I’ve consumed some of the beer since then, but I’m not a big drinker.
It’s younger than that
I keep it in the fridge for friends.
That said, the Rolling Rock might be over a year old…
n
I can’t think of a situation in which this would not be good advice. Unless you’re a heterosexual woman, in which case the well-known SteveF irresistability to the ladies might be uncomfortable for you.