44F and sunny.
Bladder got me up. Kids are still sleeping, and so should I be…
But I’ve got lots to do and I should get started on it. This afternoon will be taken up with family and social commitments.
Company coming in a week, Christmas presents to buy and wrap, decorations to dig out and put up, food to buy… office to put back together, sales to complete… children to cuddle, teams to cheer, and so many more things.
It’s a great life if you don’t weaken.
n
And for the record, last week I had the Krusteaz pancake mix that was one year past it’s best by, and made very heavy and not great tasting waffles. This week I decided to see if it could be saved. I added baking powder and a dash of lemon juice and twice the water, and it was pretty good. Much better than without. I might do one more attempt with more baking powder next time. For 60c/lb mix, it’s not a big deal, and fresh would be better, but I did want to test if it could be improved.
It can. It was very edible.
n
@Nick, try adding a tablespoon or 2 of instant dried milk to the mix. To add another taste dimension us buttermilk powder. For even more variety use instant vanilla pudding mix. Also, use whole milk instead of water, but still add the various “powders” I mentioned.
I just picked up 2 new cans of buttermilk powder. The rats love the stuff.
N
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-12-15/paris-protests-turn-violent-again-police-use-riot-measures-yellow-vests
about 2:41:33 is where the smoke grenades start, followed by baths for the dirty hippies.
Or possibly these are not the usual dirty hippies, in that case, excuzeme….
n
Dad and I went to see Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule” yesterday in Victoria. Recommended. It is the story of how one can get hip deep in trouble without even trying. And I am not just talking about the drugs. The 115pm movie theater was full before the previews started rolling.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_mule_2018
Dad and I also watched “The Angel” on Netflix last night. Highly recommended. It is the story of the Yom Kippur war between Egypt and Israel from an angle that I never expected.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_angel
64 F and not a cloud in the sky here in Lavaca Bay in Texas. The wind is out of the north and pushing the water out into the ocean.
“Federal judge in Texas strikes down Affordable Care Act”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/federal-judge-texas-strikes-strikes-down-affordable-care-act-n948306
Looks like we will have Medicare For All ™ in February.
Dad and I went to see Clint Eastwood’s “The Mule” yesterday in Victoria. Recommended. It is the story of how one can get hip deep in trouble without even trying. And I am not just talking about the drugs. The 115pm movie theater was full before the previews started rolling.
Warner learned what happens when they don’t give Clint Eastwood money to make films — an Oscar sitting in another studio’s display case.
Even Eastwood’s weak films make money, and his budgets are rounding errors on Warner’s contracts for reruns of “The Big Bang Theory”.
Geesh, “Friends” generated $100 million for a year renewal on Netflix last week — 4 or 5 Eastwood budgets.
Looks like we will have Medicare For All ™ in February.
BOHICA. I have faith that Roberts and Kavanaugh are already writing the majority opinion preserving Obama’s signature achievement, however.
Whatever happens, my wife should have her background check complete for the VA clinic in Austin by that point.
So she’s a felon with a lifetime of drug and alcohol issues? She’s been fired from job after job? She demonstrates active distaste for her patients? She’s Indian? (dot not feather)
??
n
So she’s a felon with a lifetime of drug and alcohol issues? She’s been fired from job after job? She demonstrates active distaste for her patients? She’s Indian? (dot not feather)
None of the above. We’ll see what happens. Right now, they’re paying more than private practice, and, if things don’t work out, resigning doesn’t require “tail” malpractice insurance.
The other government job she looked at recently was at the semi-secret ICE detention center in Taylor. As soon as they asked her if she could drag 150 lbs of dead weight across concrete in a “extreme situation”, she realized that she wasn’t cut out for that gig.
“None of the above. ”
Then I don’t think she’ll meet their minimum standards……
the ICE thing sounds interesting. 150 is way less than rescuing a co-worker, and more than a child detainee… hmmm
n
So she’s a felon with a lifetime of drug and alcohol issues? She’s been fired from job after job? She demonstrates active distaste for her patients? She’s Indian? (dot not feather)
My very limited experience with VA docs is fairly good. However, they are overworked and very limited by managerial triage.
I believe that Greg has talked before about his Chinese relatives out west so I am going out on a limb here and guess that his wife is of Chinese heritage.
Kidding kidding kidding– mostly.
The worst of the worst don’t seem to be fireable, and they’ve got a long history of fraud and rewarding incompetence.
Getting good and dedicated people in there can only be a Good Thing ™
n
the ICE thing sounds interesting. 150 is way less than rescuing a co-worker, and more than a child detainee… hmmm
The key word there is “dead”. That is fairly ominous.
Underneath Medicare for All ™, I figure that the VA is the model for the future of public health care. Administrator heavy with doctors under pressure to up their daily patient totals and minimize their patient tests. But, once they notice something, they are good at monitoring and fixing things when they go wonky.
In a country that is growing at 1.5% per year due to immigration, public health care is going to be more and more minimzed.
the ICE thing sounds interesting. 150 is way less than rescuing a co-worker, and more than a child detainee… hmmm
Taylor is an ICE center specializing in Chinese human trafficking. 150 would be the max if I had to guess.
In a country that is growing at 1.5% per year due to immigration, public health care is going to be more and more minimzed.
As I’ve noted before, my wife’s job has been open since we left Vantucky, four years ago. Absent a real doctor, the clinic uses a pair of nurse practitioners, occasional physician’s assistant, and empowered pharmacists at Fred Meyer (think Vantucky HEB), all supervised by my wife’s former associate, now promoted to partner out of desperation. That’s the future everywhere.
If the complete Doh-bamacare law is declared unconstitutional, that means the associated effective nationalization of the student loan program ends. Interesting. If the banks suddenly have to underwrite the loans themselves, the lending standards are going to get much tougher.
Remember, we had to pass the law to find out what was in it. We may learn more from revocation.
I am helping my 80 year old dad install an Alexa enabled microwave.
Dad now has three old tvs and a microwave to get rid of.
Put them on the curb, the can miners will get them within a day or two.
n
Dad now has three old tvs and a microwave to get rid of.
Working tube TVs of any size are of value to retro video game nerds.
Working tube TVs of any size are of value to retro video game nerds.
All dead. One 35 inch Sony tube, a 50 inch dlp, and a 65 inch samsung plasma. All dead.
Put them on the curb, the can miners will get them within a day or two.
My parents live on the outskirts of Port Lavaca. Not many miners out here.
Alexa won’t talk to the new microwave.
I’ve driven thru Port Lavaca, and I’m sure there are scrappers there 🙂
Speaking of gaming nerds, I’ve been meaning to put together a MAME machine for the kids. Get them hooked on the classic arcade machines I grew up with. I even have a PC and screen built into a table that would be great if I had a game room or man cave… I’ll probably have to put it on their all-in-one and then I’ll have to watch that they aren’t playing when they should be building powerpoint (google version) slides for school…
Went to the Houston Ballet’s Nutcracker today. Very nice production. Short, and very accessible. As a bonus, the city owns the land under the theatre so they can’t ban guns. In TX, with few exceptions, if it’s publicly owned, guns are allowed. I didn’t know this so left my carry in the car, but I’ll know next time. The last time we went to a show, it was a different theatre and there were so many 30:06 and 30:07 (no concealed carry, no open carry, and yup, someone got the carry statue number to be 30:06) that they might as well have been wallpaper. They had security wanding everyone too. This theatre is not posted and can’t be. Since it’s downtown, and you park underground, there are good reasons to carry, esp at night.
anyway, good show, great seats, and the kids loved it.
n
Arcade1UP Pacman Machine, 4ft
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Arcade1UP-Pacman-Machine-4ft/792203275?athcpid=792203275&athpgid=athenaItemPage&athcgid=null&athznid=tic&athieid=v0&athstid=CS020&athguid=20c2f6dd-5a7-167b582952b4e0&athena=true
@Nick: Not sure what the chances are of getting your kids hooked on old classics. I tried a bit of that. We have fond memories of the classics, because they were the “new shiny” for us. For our kids, they are mostly clumsy and clunky. So don’t put too much time and money into it at first, and don’t be too disappointed…
Speaking of gaming nerds, I’ve been meaning to put together a MAME machine for the kids. Get them hooked on the classic arcade machines I grew up with.
I update my MAME ROMs a couple of times a year. Let me know if you need a set to start.
All dead. One 35 inch Sony tube, a 50 inch dlp, and a 65 inch samsung plasma. All dead.
The Sony tube might be salvageable if it is just power supply.
The supply on our WEGA went once, right after purchase, 18 years ago, and the set has been flawless ever since. Einstein Movers even dropped the set onto our washer in the last move, and the incident didn’t affect the picture.
The DLP and plasma are probably done.
I have the Galaga machine from Arcade1Up. I just play it seated – no base. It is the official rom – plays just like you would expect. Two issues though.
First – out of the box – the joystick wouldn’t move to he left 50% of the time. I called their support and I had a replacement joystick in a week. The problem with that was it was the wrong model. Apparently, they changed their design at some point. I received what I’m guessing is the later design as a replacement (it connects via 5 pin connector.) My original joystick used directly soldered connections. I called them back and they supposedly were sending the correct joystick. After two weeks, I said screw it, and modified my system to use the updated joystick. It took a few tries since there is suprisingly little documention out there, but I got it working. Much better feel than the original too.
The other issue is the fire button. It works ok, but you can tell it is not a quality button. I find that it can’t keep up with me. Real soon now, I’ll order a replacement for it.
Oh, and I have a sneaky feeling that I’ll be getting the Pac-Man game for Christmas…
My son built a mame machine, with a little assistance from me. Some games are better emulated than others. We’ve had the best luck with Nintendo games.
I loved a sit down game called Sinistar. “I AM SINISTAR” was your warning that you were in trouble. It didn’t play well in MAME.
Loved Time Pilot. Xevious. and the only track ball game I ever really played, Crystal Castles. Space Duel (vector) if you had a buddy. There was one that was a 3d maze of walkways with one way bridges across holes and robots would try to follow you, I think it was Marvin’s Maze- loved that.
I’ve got some actual arcade hardware from the repair guy next to me, when he quit working. I could have had cabinets and front glass, and even some sit downs if I had space.
I never liked the fighting games, and the classics don’t thrill me (asteroids, pacman, qbert, digdug, centipede… you still see those out there in the world.)
Amazing amount of gameplay in the old games. They had to work- hook you in, and give you a reward for your money, or they went away.
n
I always liked Time Pilot. We have a local arcade that has it.
My first obsession was Pac-Man. I remember getting my allowance as a kid ($.50!) early Saturday morning and walking to the store close to the house and playing. That kind of set my pattern for later. I like to sample a variety of games, but I generally just play one game at a time for a length of time.
The next obsessions were Ms. Pac-Man and then Galaga. Other favorites include Star Wars (the vector graphics game), Tron, Donkey Kong, original Mortal Kombat, and Pole Position to name a few.
I developed a love of a good pinball machine in my early 20’s. My favorite was Jurassic Park. They cost 3-4 grand to buy.If I ever find a good one cheap, it’s mine.
The local arcade (it’s a family friendly bar and arcade) has a Star Wars pinball that I waste was too many tokens on whenever we go.
I loved a sit down game called Sinistar. “I AM SINISTAR” was your warning that you were in trouble. It didn’t play well in MAME.
Sinistar has played flawlessly in MAME for a long time, and, prior to that, Digital Eclipse nailed emulation for various “William Arcade Classics” ports to older consoles. The problem was probably your gamepad. You need an analog stick with more than 8 directions, something like this:
https://www.logitechg.com/en-us/products/gamepads/f310-gamepad.html
I have one of the predecessor models. 300? Sinistar works well for me on my Q6600 Core CPU with the Logitech gamepad.
Williams selected an innovative controller for the game. IIRC, it had 18 directions instead of 8.
Hardest arcade game ever.
“Hardest arcade game ever. ”
yes, I loved playing but never got good. That flying cookie would always get me.
There used to be so much exploration in controllers. Buttons, joysticks, trackballs, yokes, steering wheels, spinner knobs (tempest!).
I watch “The 8 bit Guy” on youtube for his restorations. He just talked about how some of the old games and pcs used their joystick ports. The great thing is he’s WRITING a new 8 bit game, Planet X3, and he’s nearing release. It’s not the sort of game I liked but I think it’s AWESOME that we have enough spare cycles in our world that he can do it.
n
Have the microwave make Alexa a nice dinner. Or try flowers.
Galaga and Ms. PacMan. I have rolled over Galaga a couple of times. Once while the wife was standing there tapping her foot. She was not impressed.
I own a Ballys Harlem Globetrotter pinball machine. I had it fully rebuilt and working for a while. Haven’t touched it in five years as it is sitting in our storage unit.
Space Invaders for me. Hm, I might get the Atari out and try it on a 55″ TV.
added: And Asteroids.
Scratch that plan. The TV is wall mounted and I already have an antenna connected. Also the Atari antenna switch connects to 300 Ohm, not coax.
I have all of the parts. I just don’t want to look at the clutter hanging under the TV.
I could dig a VCR out of the closet, connect the Atari to that, and then VCR to the video ports on the side of the TV. I could.