38F damp and windy. Joy.
Jam packed day and weekend coming up.
The crazy continues. I think that some of it is not as crazy as it looks. Using a young ambitious woman for your own ends is old hat to the aging reptiles that inhabit the halls of power. It’s a two-fer- discredit a rival, and get your radical ideas out in the public sphere for discussion. Trial balloon launched! Catspaw used successfully! Achievement unlocked! The danger to the reptile (and the Republic) is that the catspaw understands the new political media better (instinctively, natch, ‘cuz there certainly isn’t intellect in that persona) and eventually turns the tables on the manipulator.
It’s an age old negotiating technique- demand the moon, then settle for less. There are also elements of classic prog techniques- emphasize the outrageous to get people used to the idea, then sneak in the lesser evil. Eventually, they get to the greater evil. It’s a play we’ve seen many times and damned hard to counter.
It’s a bit terrifying looked at this way.
On the other hand, perhaps it’s just the pendulum at its farthest swing, and the swing back starts soon. That’s what I’m hoping for. One of the radio commentators said that the main bulk of people in the country are finally opening their eyes, with the Virginia and NY abortion/murder laws. Perhaps it’s not too late.
n
22f clear and frigid this morning. 15f if you add in the wind chill. It was 70f the same time yesterday. Welcome to Memphis.
Don’t feel like commenting on national politics, far too depressing. We hit a snag with the financing for our retirement home. The bank is demanding two latest paystubs. We are direct deposit and I haven’t seen a paystub in a decade. So I spoke with Payroll who said “No problem, just visit the ADP payroll portal and they will get you what you need”. Except the ADP portal refuses to accept my credentials. Payroll and ADP are supposedly working on it but I am looking at missing locking in a 4.25% rate because of the delay. On the upside we will be taking the late and lamented Bobs advice and removing ourselves from a major, troll filled, metro area to a small, rural community, far from population centers and off any major highways. Hell, it doesn’t even have a McDonalds.
A few weeks ago I ordered a LaserFire indoor target practice kit and promised to report on it. The “kit” simply consisted of a tripod stand to hold your smartphone and 9mm laser cartridge. You have to download the “iTarget Pro” app to your phone to make this work. The idea is that you point your phone at a target, run the app, and it registers laser “hits” on the image shown on the screen. That part works as advertised. The issue I ran into was with my M&P Shield carry pistol. It’s a common striker fired action. For the laser cartridge to “fire” it must be struck by the firing pin, obviously. On the M&P, the action is cocked by the rearward movement of the slide and re-cocked by the ejection of the fired round. So what this all means is that I have to cycle the slide manually, requiring two hands, each time I want to “fire”. This is a real pain. If I had a hammer fired pistol I would just re-cock the hammer, much faster and easier and one handed. So my experience with this LaserFire thing has been much less than satisfying. My little Bersa Thunder .380 is hammer fired and I have ordered a .380 laser cartridge for it ($30) to see if this is any better. Summary: it does exactly what it claims but the amount of work required with a striker fired pistol makes training slow and less than enjoyable.
@harold, thanks for the report. You have to reinsert the laser cartridge each time too, right? I suppose you could buy 5 or six and cycle thru them….
That’s super inconvenient. But PRACTICE IS A GOOD THING.
n
I have been on direct deposit whenever possible since the early ’70s. I always had a pay statement that showed exactly how much I earned, what was taken out, and the final deposit.
Nick: Actually, the laser cartridge is rimless so the extractor won’t remove it when the slide is cycled. To remove at the end of a session simply push a pencil down the barrel
Ray: When I started at my current employer our pay was direct deposit and a pay stub mailed to us in the post. They stopped doing that about 5 years ago and I never even noticed.
@Harold: I am surprised an outfit as big as ADT would not be able to email you a PDF of a pay stub each pay period. That would save the mailing and printing costs and still provide a copy of the earnings. I am not certain but years ago when I was working with some payroll systems it was mandatory that a document of some sort detailing hours worked, amount paid, taxes withheld, amount of direct deposit was required by law. Of course that may have been a state law. It is also possible I was misinformed by upper management the demanded the pay information be created. And it is possible that over the years that requirement has been dropped with the ability to login and view payroll information.
A lot of shirt(-r) has changed over the years and my information, perception and memory ain’t worth shirt(-r).
This article, and the document that was produced need much careful consideration.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-07/snyder-one-world-religion-looms-pope-islams-top-imam-sign-historic-covenant
I’m really missing OFD and his knowledge and position on this. I suspect that he would be denouncing the false pope as a start. While I was raised in the Catholic Church, I had broad exposure to other sects and faiths. I have come to believe that the Catholic Church was in fact suborned, taken over in fact, in the 1960’s and the Blue Army and others who opposed Vatican II “reforms” were right to do so.
In any case, this agreement is another one of the expressions of how the world political order is undergoing MASSIVE changes right now.
n
I believe OFD made it clear the current Poop was not his Poop.
I think some of these are spot on.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-08/telltale-signs-recession
I’d add:
formerly occupied commercial real estate sitting vacant (which I’m seeing more of)
number of “day laborers” in the park decreasing,
increase in beggars and vagrants in areas you didn’t normally see them. (I was shocked yesterday by a tent village under a bridge in an area I visit all the time. New and unwelcome.)
restaurants lowering prices, offering more cheap options
used car dealerships closing
I’m unsure how to look at increased prices in thrift stores, but that has been the trend lately.
Normally I’d assume an increase in yard and garage sales was a sign too, but they have been almost non-existent here lately. Weather might be the biggest factor though. Also, people have sales to raise money, but they also have them to primarily get rid of a bunch of stuff. People don’t give away stuff when they’re hurting…
n
Yuuup, I agree that the current Poop is incompetent. He is still protecting all the upper echelon bishops and cardinals that are hiding their Pedophile Priests.
If I were him, I would call St. Peter at Pearly Gates and order him to refuse entry to all the PPs named on the provided list. They should all be defaulted to Hell.
23º and windy as heck in the land of melting snow. The wind blew the storm door open & warped it just enough to crack the upper (glass) window. I’ll take it out & to the glass shoppe to get a plexiglass window in its place. I am loathe to replace the door as it’s got to be 40+ years old. I hate to get rid of old things.
I’ll give the glass shop the business. I _can_ do the glass replacement. I just don’t _like_ to do glass replacement anymore.
I believe OFD made it clear the current Poop was not his Poop.
OFD read a lot of Ann Barnhardt, and he shared her opinion, based on interpretation of Catholic doctrine, that Papal succession can only happen after death and that the Hitler Youth hiding in the guest house in the Vatican’s garden is still the real Pope.
Little Grrr.
A couple of years ago, I was asked to set up a laptop & scanner so some old documents could be scanned & stored on the network. He explicitly did NOT use our tracking system as it is too cumbersome.
User supplies the storage location, I provide the space.
Today, he’s asking me where I put his files. I don’t have the records I normally have because he refuses to use the system. So now I’m digging.
Grrr. I’m bored.
The danger to the reptile (and the Republic) is that the catspaw understands the new political media better (instinctively, natch, ‘cuz there certainly isn’t intellect in that persona) and eventually turns the tables on the manipulator.
The reptiles still control the new media and who has access.
And a reporter’s career is waiting to be made breaking the story of the sugar daddy behind Ocasio-Cortez.
“the current Poop is incompetent”
–I disagree. He’s doing and accomplishing exactly what he wants.
n
“the current Poop is incompetent”
–I disagree. He’s doing and accomplishing exactly what he wants.
The Vatican assassins are either incompetent or derelict in their duty in taking care of Francis. A bad Poop has been bumped off in the modern era — John Paul II’s predecessor lasted only 43 days.
I can’t disagree. The Poop is competently declining to send the Pedophile Priests and those higher ups protecting them to the Devil in Hell.
Also, he should order St. Peter to remove the previous Poops, likewise guilty, from Heaven and off to Hell.
Or, with in the organization chart, does St. Peter occupy a higher level than the Poop?
If so, the Poop cannot order S. Peter what to do. Well, maybe he could bribe the Pearly Gate guardian.
I can’t disagree. The Poop is competently declining to send the Pedophile Priests and those higher ups protecting them to the Devil in Hell.
Pedophilia is rampant in institutions of all kinds. The church is hardly unique. Hell will be a busy place.
I’ve written before that I’ve seen lectures from Jesse Kornblum, the real live version of McGee on “NCIS” except he worked for the Air Force. Most of Kornblum’s forensics work for OSI concerned unglamorous tools for combatting kiddie porn in the offices, not Al Qaeda or Chinese hackers like you would expect from watching TV.
Freefall: Mutiny is not cheap !
http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff3300/fc03237.htm
You have to pay to commit mutiny on a starship ? Who knew ?
Ha ha! /muntz voice
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-02-08/amazon-reconsidering-ny-headquarters-site-following-wave-opposition
Yoink!
_Light Blink – Book One_ by Richard Hellewell
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Blink-Book-Richard-Hellewell/dp/1793202060/?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number one of proposed two book fantasy series. I read the well printed and bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback. I will read the second book when it is released.
Rick presents a well written and tight fantasy about a man’s existence changing from billions of inhabitants to one inhabitant, him. And then a couple of other characters show up but nothing of significance. The sun does not rise nor does it set. Cars do not work anymore but water still flows from the pipes. Distances are weird and not consistent with before the event. The book ends on a cliff hanger that is a little weak but gets the job done.
Please note that Rick asked for people to read and review his book in a group that we are members of. It is his first book that I know of. I paid for my copy of his book and was not paid for my review. Rick says that his second book is about a quarter complete.
There is a website for the series:
https://www.lightblink.com/
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 5 out of 5 stars (1 review)
The bank is demanding two latest paystubs. We are direct deposit and I haven’t seen a paystub in a decade. So I spoke with Payroll who said “No problem, just visit the ADP payroll portal and they will get you what you need”.
I always give my employees a paper pay stub showing their pay to date, the various deductions, and the payments to their bank(s). I figure that if I want to know, so do they.
Ha ha! /muntz voice
As if we didn’t already have enough pressure at work to get the toll road to the DC HQ working.
Just please don’t reconsider Austin. I’m still not sure how Apple will make commuting work to their new campus unless they plan to build a train station for the local light rail at the back edge of the property.
https://www.google.com/maps/search/lakeline+austin/@30.4593111,-97.7496212,3868m/data=!3m1!1e3
In the map, Apple’s new land acuisition in the center and the train winds around the top and right. Maybe they’ll have their own spur off the main line.
@lynn … thanks for the review of the book (and taking the time to do so). All reviews are appreciated. (If you can do a review on Amazon, it would be appreciated.) I appreciate your comments; they are helpful as I work on the second book.
The second book in the series is coming along; at about 30K words; I think it is about 1/3 done. Still figuring out the exact way to get to the ending.
Here in the Olympic Peninsula, big storm coming today. Lots of snow, from 4 to 12 inches forecast over today through Sunday. That might not be very much compared to others that lurk at RBT’s place, but it is an unusual event for this area. And more snow storms are forecast for next week.
So this morning, I rotated out one of the 5 gal gas [for use by generator] cans into the car, and got some fresh (and Stabil’d it) gas for the generator. I have about 12 gals total, which should be fine for any outages here. My house is in a residential area, so power restoration is sooner than more rural locations. Longest outage we had here was about 9 hours.
So, preps today included getting new gas for the generator. All lights in the house are LCD. Generator bypass panel installed and ready to go. Generator load (refrigerator, freezer, lights, oxygen concentrator [for wife], and TV [with DirecTV]) is only about 2500 W, about half of available from generator.
Cell phones are charged, as are several cell phone battery packs. If house power goes out, can stay in contact with local utilities and etc with cell phone and FB status pages.
Did a food run yesterday. Both vehicles have full tanks. Snow shovel at the ready.
And, of course, lots of FLASHLIGHTS – all LED, fresh batteries, and two LED lanterns.
So, staying home, and working on the book. Nice view out the window to see the snow falling.
@lynn … thanks for the review of the book (and taking the time to do so). All reviews are appreciated. (If you can do a review on Amazon, it would be appreciated.) I appreciate your comments; they are helpful as I work on the second book.
@Rick, you are welcome ! The book went in a different direction than I expected and that was a pleasant surprise. I guess that I could have mentioned that in the review. And, the review is up on Big River now.
https://www.amazon.com/Light-Blink-Book-Richard-Hellewell/dp/1793202060/?tag=ttgnet-20
The ultimate preparation.
Here in TN any snow events, even major ones, will not last more than a couple of days. Some people in more rural areas lose power for a couple of days which is not major in my opinion.
Longest I have been without power in TN was 8 hours many years when an F1 tornado came through at the end of the street. Destroyed a house on the corner and took down some major power distribution lines. Those were fixed rather quickly.
Longest power outage in when I lived in Oregon was seven days. Very rural area, 15 miles from town. The power lines going up the valley crossed our property and were severely damaged by storm. The power had to work their way up the valley fixing all the issues.
When they got to our property they brought one of their big trucks in to work on the poles. The truck got stuck in the field, badly, as in up to the axles, one of those all wheel drive trucks. They got the power fixed but the truck sat for about a week until the power company brought in a big bulldozer to pull their truck out of the mess.
This retrieval left huge ruts in our field, almost two feet deep. In the spring the power company sent in a crew to fix the ruts and they sort of did. Not a real good job so we had to fix what the crew did not finish.
We had a pump in the creek at the lower end of the property. 30hp, 3 phase, feeding a six pipeline. The meter was read every couple of months. I was mowing one of the fields on the hill, alfalfa, which can be slippery when freshly mowed. He drove his truck on the mowed part, stopped and walked down to read the meter. When leaving the field he stayed close to the edge of the fence on the mowed part. Considerate of him rather than driving through the uncut field.
It did not turn out well. His truck wound up stuck against the fence. The driver’s side of the truck was all scratched up and had minor dents. When making the rounds with the mower I would look at him and keep mowing. After about three rounds he finally came over to me and asked if could help him get unstuck. I hooked up a tow strap from the tractor to his truck and pulled him out of his predicament.
After that the power company let us read our own meter. Once a year they would send out a person to reconcile the readings.
What this has to do with snow and storm damage I don’t know. I get sidetracked easily.
Here in the Memphis area we get our share of heavy storms. Most power outages last between 4 and 10 hours. My generator really came in handy three years ago when a Memorial day storm knocked lots of trees down and blew a major transformer in our neighborhood leaving us powerless for 5 days. The black swan event.
I keep six, five gallon cans of gasoline that I rotate through the vehicles every three months or so. My generator primary fuel is propane so I don’t need to worry about it aging.
I have mostly put prepping on hold until I complete the purchase of the retirement (bug-out) home. Once I have that, I will go all in and stock my new bunker with everything I can afford.
So much for the weather forecast. It was not 32F this morning. 28F. Now, at 2PM the temp is 31F. Small sleet (tapioca size) mixed with a bit of snow. It sounds like a misting rain on the shed roof. It doesn’t seem to be sticking.
I made a run to Tractor Supply. After several years of forgetting the coupon at home or being too late, I got my “free hat”. I bought dog food, cat food, dog cookies, and a FLASHLIGHT.
It’s a knock-off of the Siege I bought last month. The handle is slightly different and the mantle doesn’t seem to be removable. But it has the snap clip on the bottom so it can hang upside down. Weird. Two light levels. The tag says 1000 lumens with mantle removed and 20 hour run time on low. The Siege is rated for 540 lumens and 30 hours on high. Side by side, the new light is a bit brighter. Like comparing a 60w incandescent to a 75w. With the Siege on medium (275 lumens / 70 hour battery life) and the new light on low, almost the same.
The battery hatches look interchangeable. The LEDs are different.
It was in the tool bin of cheap pliers and screwdrivers. “Why are you buying that? You just bought three.”
Because it’s marked down to $2.99. And it’s a FLASHLIGHT!
There were two. I left one for someone else.
Laser Dryfire Trainers: Like Harold’s, my Laser Ammo gizmo works best with hammer fired pistols. Works fine, no phone app necessary. I find I prefer Airsoft CO2 powered pistolas for indoor training. The weight is similar and there is zero chance of accidental discharge due to operator dumbfuggery. (The laser trainer has no external indication of its’ presence making confusion possible.) Years and years ago, a friend was in the habit of dryfiring the nightly TV news reader with his carry piece. Musta been tired one evening when he terrified his sleeping wife upstairs and had to buy a new TV the next day. 🙁
Airsoft spring guns work dandy too. Downsides are no weight, manual cycling. Upside is downright cheap. BB models make sense outdoors or in a garage or basement without valuables anywhere around.
Once upon a time I had a top heavy Crossman 1911 pellet gun for indoor fun. The only time I was burglarized it vanished. 30 months later, the courthouse evidence locker returned a real 1911 firearm taken simultaneously, to my very great surprise.
“Earth Had Its 4th Warmest Year on Record in 2018, Say NOAA and NASA”
https://www.wunderground.com/cat6/Earth-Had-Its-4th-Warmest-Year-Record-2018-Say-NOAA-and-NASA
I am not sure that I believe the chart. I also wonder how big the error bars are as I suspect a real scientist would say that the error bars are plus or minus 0.5 F for any year. Therefore, most of that chart is in the error bars.
Austin had a mix of snow flurries and ice crystals when I went out at lunchtime.
I had a lot of ice crystals falling on my windshield on my commute in this morning.
“What Happened to the 100,000-Hour LED Bulbs?”
https://hackaday.com/2019/02/05/what-happened-to-the-100000-hour-led-bulbs/
“Early adopters of LED lighting will remember 50,000 hour or even 100,000 hour lifetime ratings printed on the box. But during a recent trip to the hardware store the longest advertised lifetime I found was 25,000 hours. Others claimed only 7,500 or 15,000 hours. And yes, these are brand-name bulbs from Cree and GE.”
“So, what happened to those 100,000 hour residential LED bulbs? Were the initial estimates just over-optimistic? Was it all marketing hype? Or, did we not know enough about LED aging to predict the true useful life of a bulb?”
My earliest LED bulbs are now failing. I think that 4 or 5 have now failed.
The sad thing is that Sam’s Club is no longer carrying the 100 watt equivalent GE light bulb. That says that either no one is using them or that they are not reliable.
Hat tip to:
https://www.osnews.com/story/129394/what-happened-to-the-100000-hour-led-bulbs/
“Democrat Socialism Must Be Taken Seriously”
https://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2019/02/08/democrat-socialism-must-be-taken-seriously/
“And I have to tell you that I think — and I hope I’m wrong about this — but it appears to me that we still have a whole lot of people who do not understand what we are up against. Now, I only understand it because I have the benefit of three decades of experience. This Green New Deal thing that they proposed yesterday is no more outrageous and no sillier and no more impractical than anything they have been proposing, particularly on climate change, for the past 30 years.”
“Thirty years ago when this stuff was proposed, we all laughed at it. And I remember making never-ending jokes, preparing never-ending satires and updates and bits and parodies about it because it was ridiculous. Banning airplane travel is not new. These people have been talking about banning jets for 30 years. They have been talking about high-speed rail replacing airplanes for 30 years. They have been talking about banning cow farts.”
“Now it is mainstream, and they’re leading with it, and it’s who they are — and the reason they’re doing that is because they think they can win elections with this stuff. They do not think that this is going to be harmful or detrimental to their efforts to win elections. They think it is a fundamentally required aspect of their agenda, and not just the Green New Deal stuff. Printing money, all of the economic insanity, they believe this stuff. And Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a whole bunch of “brain guards” — that’s what I call them — on Twitter.”
“She has a couple of million brain guards. Her Twitter followers eagerly defend her from every stupid utterance that she makes. She is shielded and protected from this stupidity and naivete. They prop her up at every opportunity. Whereas she might learn from failure and might learn from some of these mistakes, she’s not given the chance. They prop her up. They continue to fill her with this head-expanding, head-swilling idolatry to the point that she is approaching (in her own mind) goddess-like status.”
I agree with Rush, this is genuinely worrisome.
The sad thing is that Sam’s Club is no longer carrying the 100 watt equivalent GE light bulb. That says that either no one is using them or that they are not reliable.
I’ve had a few of those fail surprisingly quickly.
The only LEDs which I’ve seen survive a long time are the “flat” Philips 100 W equivalents. I suspect heat dissipation is a problem with the LEDs in traditional “bulb” shapes, and the Philips don’t have that problem.
Sadly, Philips doesn’t sell the “flat” models anymore, but I generally buy Philips other bulbs.
I agree with Rush, this is genuinely worrisome.
It is better that she is not allowed to fall flat on her face.
My gut tells me her end isn’t far off.
It is the same gut that told me five years ago that we needed to get out of Vantucky before something really bad happened. One word: Measles.
I simultaneously cringe/giggle when I see the case count increment another notch. Really awful, I know, but I suspect my wife’s former employer botched an early case which the newspaper is trying to help bury.
The only LEDs which I’ve seen survive a long time are the “flat” Philips 100 W equivalents. I suspect heat dissipation is a problem with the LEDs in traditional “bulb” shapes, and the Philips don’t have that problem.
The GE 100 watt LEDs that I have been buying lately are the straight cylinder. I have yet to have any of these fail.
https://www.amazon.com/GE-Lighting-63857-Brightstik-Replacement/dp/B01I48Z5PE/?tag=ttgnet-20
Some time ago I was test firing a BB gun in the garage. Because I didn’t want bouncers, I fired it into an empty bag on the floor. I was VERY surprised by the “whooooffff” and smoke and flame. I forgot that there were a couple of boxes of shotgun ammo in the bag, waiting to be put away. Lucky shot hit a primer straight on, I guess.
With this GND nonsense, what are they distracting us from?? Epstein the rapist getting investigated again? Mueller probe falling apart? Or something more sinister?
n
BTW, we got the letter from the TWC (Texas Workforce Commission) today. The former employee who quit and then filed unemployment on us got their appeal denied. The TWC agrees that getting married and moving 45 miles away is not a good reason to get unemployment. Go Texas !
Oklahoma Interesting.
“Has Trump Found the Formula for 2020?”
https://buchanan.org/blog/has-trump-found-the-formula-for-2020-135970
“His State of the Union address, say the two networks, met with the approval of 76 percent of all viewers — 97 percent of Republicans, 82 percent of independents and 30 percent of Democrats. Seventy-two percent agreed with the president’s plans for securing the border with Mexico.”
“Trump was not only unapologetic in defense of his wall. He seemed to relish savaging the rising radicalism of Democrats on two critical issues many Democrats have, since their 2018 triumph, seized upon: abortion on demand, right up to the day of birth, and soak-the-rich socialism.”
Oklahoma Interesting.
I’ve read this in other places. My son lives in OK and drives hundreds of miles each week servicing our ATMs and rentals. He has never heard of anyone having this happen. Not saying it doesn’t … simply saying it must be very rare, like an Oklahoman voting for Obama.
I suspect it is more a sign of the times or a preview of coming attractions everywhere. There is probably some profiling like out of state plates as a factor, too.
With this GND nonsense, what are they distracting us from?? Epstein the rapist getting investigated again? Mueller probe falling apart? Or something more sinister?
Hmmm. A dozen states suing the Federal Government, looking to remove the SALT deduction cap without cutting a deal with Trump, might be something they don’t want discussed much.
Democrats suing to …. cut taxes? For real?
Hmmm. A dozen states suing the Federal Government, looking to remove the SALT deduction cap without cutting a deal with Trump, might be something they don’t want discussed much.
Hey, I just figured out that the SALT limit is going to hit me in Texas. We paid $9,000 in property taxes on our home plus state sales taxes of over $2,000 plus $2,000 in sales tax on the new Highlander. That is $13,000+. So with the $10,000 SALT limit, we are losing $3,000+ in deductions. Bummer.
@lynn, so our congresscritters remembered to get us our sales tax deduct? Some years they haven’t.
Don’t know where we’ll be this year, but I’m sure the beneficiaries of my largess will despise me for it.
n
@lynn, so our congresscritters remembered to get us our sales tax deduct? Some years they haven’t.
https://money.cnn.com/2017/12/20/pf/salt-deductions-new-tax-plan/index.html
“Under the new plan, taxpayers who itemize will be able to deduct their state individual income, sales and property taxes up to a limit of $10,000 in total starting in 2018.”
“Currently the deduction is unlimited. But filers have to choose to deduct either individual income taxes or sales taxes. For most people, deducting income taxes is more beneficial (unless of course you live in a no income tax state). In addition, property taxes were also entirely deductible.”
@Rick, some weird trivia. Your last name comes between Heinlein and Herbert in my book collection.
@lynn … My book is surrounded by good company. Although I suspect it is somewhat awed by the company on the shelf.