71F and just slightly less than saturated. Never did rain yesterday. I got a couple of fence panels powerwashed and my wife got some gardening done. She takes the herb garden and landscape, I take the food and trees.
I’m meeting with the ham group for lunch, we’re going to the Rodeo carnival in the afternoon, and then the actual Rodeo and concert this evening. Busy day, once it gets going. Not much room for work in there.
I’ve ordered stuff for work and the house direct from the manufacturer or the distributor in the last couple of weeks. I must say, amazon prime and 2 day shipping has really spoiled me. My expectations need to be reset for normal. Several of the items I ordered are taking 5 days to arrive. It seems intolerably slow. Even my non-prime amazon order is taking 5 days. Since the 5 days cross a weekend, it seems even longer. I am bothered by how completely amazon has altered my brain and expectations. I made my choice of supplier based on availability and price, not speed of delivery, but it still feels wrong to wait so long. There’s a problem in there somewhere….
n
37º and cloudy, with a high of 50º expected. Almost shirtsleeve weather for the first time this week. Unfortunately, I have a meeting I can’t get out of, so no lunchtime run. Fortunately, they’re buying so I get a “free” lunch. (TANSTAAFL, so I’m paying for it somehow.)
I, too, am getting used to non-prime shipping. Why? Because the incentive (credits for Prime Pantry) outweighs the benefit. I don’t need the camera right away, so there’s no rush to get it. And $16 in credits (for the camera and other things) are well worth the cost. I’m _also_ working on retraining my brain. 2 day shipping is spoiling me.
My wife’s Christmas present was seat covers for Dora (the Explorer). Since she told me in early December, I thought I should have no problem. But fitted covers simply don’t exist except for the most mundane bench seats, so I ordered customs. They arrived two weeks ago. They’re really good, and they were not cheap. but there was NO option for fast turnaround. The upside is that the wife REALLY likes them. I chose the right colors and right fabric, and I’m taking my time to install them right. In fact, I still have one seat to do in the back. Maybe tonight. Should be warm enough, and with the time change it will still be light enough when I get home.
Good day, all.
I made my choice of supplier based on availability and price, not speed of delivery, but it still feels wrong to wait so long. There’s a problem in there somewhere….
The Brown Truck Store is convenient, not efficient.
A lot of forgotten aspects of retail will need to be relearned by both buyers and sellers when energy prices start to rise again. The only question I have is how much of brick-n-mortar retail are we going to let Amazon destroy before their inevitable decline begins.
I believe the decline starts before the year is out. The Bezos divorce is gonna bite. Hard.
It wouldn’t hurt me to have all my Amazon deliveries on Tuesday. Or Thursday. Or any single day of the week. In fact, it would be better for me, as I could ask my Mother in Law to drop by to get that stuff inside. This daily stuff is really more than I need.
The weirdest thing is same day delivery. Wife ordered a new door lock set and it was here later in the day. Do they have so much stock? How low are the ‘gig’ package delivery services willing to go paying their people?
The grocery stores in my area are mostly full of delivery service shoppers, and HEB’s own curbside workers. At least when I’m there. It USED to be all young-ish moms in yoga pants, with a toddler in the cart. I guess some people have more money than time.
n
The weirdest thing is same day delivery. Wife ordered a new door lock set and it was here later in the day. Do they have so much stock? How low are the ‘gig’ package delivery services willing to go paying their people?
The ‘gig’ companies are burning a lot of private equity. The Valley is going to head for the exits this year, however.
The grocery stores in my area are mostly full of delivery service shoppers, and HEB’s own curbside workers. At least when I’m there. It USED to be all young-ish moms in yoga pants, with a toddler in the cart. I guess some people have more money than time.
Credit cards. I’m not sure it is a good thing that grocery stores started taking those. McDonalds either.
“some people have more money than time.”
We’ve been on both sides of that equation, and more than once. When my wife was still running her business, up through the middle of last year, neither of us had much time. So we blew all sorts of money on eating out, on a cleaning service, on all sorts of stuff. There’s just no choice, even though you really would rather be socking the money aside.
Now that she’s not working, we’ve taken a massive income hit, so all that stuff has to go. It’s quite a change in lifestyle. And if she decides to go back to work, we’ll swap again.
More money, but less time? Stress, which laps over into all aspects of life. Less money, but more time? You have to think before spending money, and there’s a lot of stuff you just can’t afford, which is a different kind of stress. Assuming “less money” still means enough to live on, I’m honestly not sure which situation I prefer…
Yeah, it’s the classic good/fast/cheap — pick any two problem.
I’ve made many comments on the trade offs WRT prepping and searching for bargains over the years. Nothing wrong with picking any combination (home delivery of groceries =fast, good !=cheap) [think I used the correct symbols there]
I spend an hour to two hours in the “big” HEB, walking all the aisles and looking for markdowns and sale items every couple of weeks. I also pick the items with the longest ‘sell by’ dates. I usually save 12% or more off my bill, and the food I buy will stay fresh longer. If you can bill an extra client, or make extra money during that 2 hours, it might make better economic sense to use the service. Or if you can play tennis during that time, or sit on the floor with your toddler, or any other thing you’d rather trade the time for… I’m a bit shocked by how quickly and how widely the services got adopted here and this time around, considering their failure during the last boom cycle. Granted that my surrounding 5 mile radius includes some well above average, and quite wealthy neighborhoods, I’m still surprised.
It seems we are slowly recreating a household full of staff, but we’re outsourcing the staff, and timesharing them. Maybe in another decade we’ll get back to where the upper middle class was in 1970.
n
More of the intrusive monitoring and control–
The sad truth is that the US is not alone in this–
I just wait until my wish lists gets to $25, then I keystroke order. I rarely need small, inexpensive items immediately.
I on the other hand am glad they take such cards. Accepting a credit card allows me to walk around with only a couple of dollars in my pocket. If the card gets stolen I am not out the money. I use a credit card a lot and pay on the card multiple times a month so the balance never gets above a couple hundred dollars. It has been higher when ordering plane tickets, hotels, etc. but that gets paid as soon as the transactions hit the card.
I make several hundred dollars on cash back bonuses, never pay a dime of interest. I don’t need a checkbook nor carry cash. As many of my bills as possible are paid with the credit card.
Besides, most of the idiots at McDonald’s have difficulty making change when the amount is $4.45 and you give them $5.50. A big waste of my time to explain I am due $1.05 in change. Confuses the snot out of them as they attempt to hand the $0.50 back. Especially when they have to call the manager who then does the same thing.
I’m a bit shocked by how quickly and how widely the services got adopted here and this time around, considering their failure during the last boom cycle. Granted that my surrounding 5 mile radius includes some well above average, and quite wealthy neighborhoods, I’m still surprised.
The grocery delivery services were everywhere when I temporarily lived in Issaquah in 2013. The irony is that the homes surround Costco HQ.
Private equity is rolling the dice that the delivery services will get their fees covered by SNAP during the next Prog administration so they’re being aggressive with pricing. The arrival of the Feds subsidizing Fresh and competitors was supposed to happen under Cankles, but she blew the election.
If Trump is reelected, the Fresh fee will suddenly get very expensive, and most of the competitors will disappear. HEB’s curbside service may endure, but, like Publix, HEB is isolated from Wall Street.
It seems we are slowly recreating a household full of staff, but we’re outsourcing the staff, and timesharing them. Maybe in another decade we’ll get back to where the upper middle class was in 1970.
That living standard isn’t coming back unless things change dramatically. The Boomers and others supporting Robert Francis want to believe that Camelot Redux is possible with status quo, however.
In 1970, we had four auto manufacturers and three major players making jetliners along with all the manufacturing infrastructure, not to mention a space program driving tech. Now, we’re down to maybe one semi-viable automaker and one company making jets, both with supply lines extending overseas for many critical components. Our space program is building launch towers for a rocket which may never fly. As for the tech industry, they sold their soul to advertising and gutted the traditional media on the theory that web pages will sell deodorant. What, exactly, is the economy to support even a 70s living standard supposed to be based upon?
Neo feudalism?
Landowners and other rent collectors employing an army of serfs? The money has been concentrating in the hands of fewer and fewer folks for some time now. Every wealthy person now supports a larger group of retainers.
One of my clients: just the ongoing services I’ve seen on site
Me and another guy to maintain network, cameras, AV thru out the house
Security/alarm company
HVAC service to change filters, do any maintenance
Lawn service
cleaning service
pool service
outdoor appliance service (patio stuff, gas fired)
indoor appliance service (icemakers and trashcompactors break)
mosquito abatement service
pond service (aeration and fish in large pond on property)
tree service
Offsite services,
local garage for auto service, 5 vehicles
drycleaning
health club/rec center
medical
vet
tax and accounting
Services available that they don’t use
childcare
prepared meals
Big Corp services
ATT for internet
DirecTV for cable (4 tuners)
netflix
applestore (2x apple TV, multiple devices)
XBOX live
cell phones
Additional impacts
built a 3 car garage and apartment over, lots of money to local contractors
Cruise/vacations- one or more a year
high end online shopping, including cigars and wine clubs
Net net is if you tax the rich out of existence, you destroy the services companies that they depend on. Every “rich b@stard” employs an army of people. Poor people don’t hire out those services, because poor people don’t have any money.
n
Landowners and other rent collectors employing an army of serfs? The money has been concentrating in the hands of fewer and fewer folks for some time now. Every wealthy person now supports a larger group of retainers.
20% of the population at best, and employment in the services listed requires a lot of IQ points.
We’re basically turning into the Venezuela of 30 years ago, when the oil money flowed freely and the government handed out free plastic surgery to anyone who wanted it in order to keep the masses happy.
HEB charges $4.95 for Curbside. I know a couple of people that swear by it. I prefer wandering around the store just as much to see what is new as to avoid dented cans.
Local store likes to change its layout periodically to drive sales. This makes me more than a little angry. Last time (2+ years ago) I left rather vocally halfway through my shopping. I left my cart at customer service and told them WHY I was leaving. I want 3 things. It is beyond ridiculous that the layout changes so completely that I can no longer find grits (or whatever it was). It was no longer even with the items it had been displayed with.
I’m told they’ve changed the layout a couple of times since then, but I wouldn’t know. Aldi’s and Wal-Mart have had my business since then. And they haven’t changed layout once in all that time. (Okay – Aldi’s has their specials aisle, but bread is always where bread is, as are the other staples.)
Curbside pickup? Nope. Never. Same with self check-out. Not for this Luddite.
HEB charges $4.95 for Curbside. I know a couple of people that swear by it. I prefer wandering around the store just as much to see what is new as to avoid dented cans.
In Florida, I noticed Publix offered delivery, but they’re allowing Instacart to take the hit for building the infrastructure making the service possible.
Kinda risky, but Publix only expands with cash and abhors unions.
Besides, most of the idiots at McDonald’s have difficulty making change when the amount is $4.45 and you give them $5.50. A big waste of my time to explain I am due $1.05 in change. Confuses the snot out of them as they attempt to hand the $0.50 back. Especially when they have to call the manager who then does the same thing.
It is the new math that the incompetent Teacher PhDs introduced in the 1990s. That rounding methodology that they tried to teach the kids does not work. And, it was against the philosophy of exact change.
If you were looking for Aunt Jemima Self Rising Corn Meal Mix in the 5# bag, it’s seasonal. Shows up about mid-October next to regular corn meal in the Baking aisle.
How would I know this? It’s what I buy. $2.80 or so is a lot cheaper than the same amount in a million single batch pouches at 3 for $1 or whatever. Also, I’ve been chewed out by a couple of old ladies when they want a bag in June. Viciously, as if I took it off the shelf as a personal insult. 🙂 FWIW, Wal-Mart is the same way.
Another mystery item is Barley. It comes in a box. Would it be in the same aisle as rice? Nope. Soup aisle, top shelf. Took a month to find it although I didn’t ask, I just figured the HEB here was too small. I don’t know where Wal-Mart has it, I can’t find anything there now since the latest “remodeling” that made the place look slummy. I suppose there was a good reason to scrape up all of the vinyl tile and wax the concrete slab but appearances isn’t one.
I’m told they’ve changed the layout a couple of times since then, but I wouldn’t know. Aldi’s and Wal-Mart have had my business since then. And they haven’t changed layout once in all that time. (Okay – Aldi’s has their specials aisle, but bread is always where bread is, as are the other staples.)
My HEB store almost totally reset the non-cold food aisles last year. One of the things that they did was to put bread and sandwich makings (peanut butter, jelly, pickles, etc) on the same aisle which makes sense once I got used to it. It just took me about a year to get used to the new normal of those ten aisles.
And the Trump just piled on Boeing and grounded the 737 Max 8 planes here in the USA. I am ok with this, something is going on as Boeing acknowledged yesterday that they are working on a software patch.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6805505/Trump-grounds-Boeing-737-Max-planes-effectively-immediately-crash.html
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
I wonder if it is time to buy some Boeing stock ?
Curbside pickup? Nope. Never. Same with self check-out. Not for this Luddite.
Curbside pickup is good for moms with kids, especially sick kids. And the aged or informed. Otherwise, I can park my vehicle, grab a cart, and walk inside. And, I don’t use the self service check-out unless I have less than ten items.
I would think so. The stock is down 10% so is actually a bargain. My uneducated brain thinks there is a software glitch in the code that is controlling the flight controls. A mixed signal, a buffer overrun, a counter overflow, incorrect message to some module, some incorrect indicator being sent to the cockpit etc. You know, the kind of stuff us old farts know to watch for and not repeat. Youngsters fresh out of college with a masters or PhD who have never really written any useful code in their life. If it was an aerodynamic issue that would have been found out long ago. The code in an airplane has to be incredibly complex and almost the entire plane is run by computers with the pilot just giving commands to the computer.
Or maybe some idiot left his cell phone on and tried to make a call.
Today’s Fort Bend Herald:
“Middle age is when your age starts to show around the middle – Bob Hope”.
Heh.
Good chance there is some software glitch involved, but I suspected immediately that the biggest problem might be lazy pilots engaging auto-pilot as soon as they clear the ground leaving no room for correcting any errors or sudden wind shifts.
Or maybe some idiot left his cell phone on and tried to make a call.
Cell phones *probably* don’t interfere with the aircraft operation, especially the modern handheld models, but no one wants to pay for the testing to provide a definitive answer.
The airlines want the manufacturers to do it and pay the bill. The manufacturers look for ways to stick the government with the tab. The government says it is up to the airlines. And so on …
I’d rather the testing not get done. People are stupid with their phones as it is.
This. Exactly this. It’s *barely* mentioned at all in any of the articles, but the ones that talk about it mention autopilot.
Why the absolute living heck would you engage autopilot less than five minutes after takeoff? I’m thinking about cruise control. Get out there. Get to cruising altitude. Get a feel for things. Then engage cruise (autopilot). Not “get out of the driveway and engage.”
“British Lawmakers Reject No-Deal Brexit” and “Lawmakers Reject Brexit Deal.”
Meanwhile, your citizens are ready to string you up from the lamp-posts, and you want to reject Brexit.
Things are likely to get sporty over there.
I think Trump needs to see about adding the UK and Australia to NAFTA.
“Windows 7 users to receive notifications from Microsoft about end of support”
https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/12/18261699/microsoft-windows-7-notification-end-of-support
They are going to annoy 500 million people to inform the two people who do not know about Windows 7 EOL.
Hat tip to:
https://www.codeproject.com/script/Mailouts/View.aspx?mlid=14215&_z=1988477
I think Trump needs to see about adding the UK and Australia to NAFTA.
I thought Trump killed NAFTA.
I wonder if it is time to buy some Boeing stock ?
The stock is still not a screaming buy. The shares were seriously oversold recently, bouncing back from the Christmas Eve market wipeout.
Play with your “beer” money not your “grocery” money.
@Lynn It is the new math….
For some old math: to multiply 2 numbers set the index of the C scale to the first number on the D scale and push the hairline to the second number on the C scale and read the result on the D scale.
With a little time on my hands right now I was playing around with my grandfather’s old K&E Deci-Lon 10. Darn thing is amazing with what it can do.
Ive got several old slide rules and the book explaining how to use them. No time just now….
Our “big” HEB has been going thru reset after reset. There are always a gaggle of employees following along as someone talks and points at shelves too. I think they are testing stuff on us. Drives me mad. I’m sure it also F’s with the shopping cart apps to change their pick order, but I’m not sure that is a goal. I shop the store every couple of weeks and I see changes every time. TWICE in the last 6 months there were BIG changes. Like moving whole aisles, swapping ends, adding a pallet storage area, etc.
Costco changes things regularly to encourage browsing, and because vendors pay for placement. Ours recently moved the bread to the opposite corner of the store, when it used to be next to the bakery. That is dumb. They’ve moved canned and bottled drinks into the cleaning supplies area too, which is just asking for an accident when the floor cleaner is purple like the grape drink and they are in the same shape of bottle.
I feel the same about gratuitous changes to web sites. Especially commerce sites. If you increase my mental friction, I’ll leave. I had an email exchange with support on one of my auction sites for just that reason. They changed the way search works on the site and broke my workflow. Flockers.
n
Skipped my ham lunch in favor of finishing the power washing. Got the fence and furniture done. Ran out of time, and let the gas run dry. Still have patio and driveway to do.
Light misty drizzle, so I don’t know how much time we’ll spend at the carnival with the kids before going into the Rodeo… Santana tonight, so that will be cool.
Probably have to completely disarm including knives, which will be giving me the red ass.
n
I agree with lazy pilots hitting autopilot ASAP. What a waste of practice time. The fun part of flying is the T/O and LND. Wind shear could certainly fool an autopilot.
The Army publishes a report each month on aircraft crashes. After 20 years in, I’ve read about everything from BJ’s in the cockpit (yes, the Army has a large fleet of turbo props) to joy riding a Cobra down a valley and hitting wires. Pilots are Human, therefor dumb-asses.
Blackhawks had a problem with the stabilator (that whale tail on the back) programming down. You’re flying at 50′, 100kts and before you know it you are in the ground for the big dirt nap. Problem was unshielded wiring and sensors. When you got close to power lines, radar, etc., the sensor programmed the stab down. The Navy shielded their ‘Hawks because of the environment they fly in. The Army grounded their ‘Hawks for months till it was fixed.
Aviation is fun until you die!
For some old math: to multiply 2 numbers set the index of the C scale to the first number on the D scale and push the hairline to the second number on the C scale and read the result on the D scale.
Old school math is now: 2 [Enter] 2 [X]
Ive got several old slide rules and the book explaining how to use them. No time just now….
Across two CS programs, I was the only person who walked into class with a *calculator*.
Lori Loughlin’s daughter is on the Daily Mail quoted as saying “her parents made her go to college..” For grins, I watched one of the “Youtube Star’s” videos. What a privileged, arrogant, spoiled brat. I hope YT drops her channel, alas, Hollyweird related so a by will be given.
Costco changes things regularly to encourage browsing, and because vendors pay for placement. Ours recently moved the bread to the opposite corner of the store, when it used to be next to the bakery. That is dumb. They’ve moved canned and bottled drinks into the cleaning supplies area too, which is just asking for an accident when the floor cleaner is purple like the grape drink and they are in the same shape of bottle.
The Costco stores we’ve used for the last decade in FL, WA, and TX have that same layout you described as being new where you live.
The only exceptions were that Vantucky had a full industrial coffee roaster between frozen foods and canned coffee, and the flagship in Issaquah orients the snack bar facing outside the store, available to anyone whether or not they have a membership.
I was just being silly. I would wager that probably well over 1/2 of the passengers on any given aircraft have their phone active and not in airplane mode. I have actually seen people texting when on final approach.
I just don’t think the problem is a mechanical failure. Something is amiss with the flight controls and how the pilots are activating the controls. There is no engine failure. Either an incorrect read out from the software or the software is ignoring pilot input and doing something to put the plane in a non-flying attitude. The software thinks the pilot is wrong and ignoring the pilot input.
Modern planes have become little more than a pilot issuing a command and the computer figuring out to achieve the result. My brother hated the A340 for that very reason. Pilots no longer flew the plane but suggested to the computer what needed to be done. Modern military jets are too unstable to be flown manually.
Across two CS programs, I was the only person who walked into class with a *calculator*.
For my CS 204, IBM 370 assembly language, class in 1979, I was the only person who walked in with a programmable computer. A TRS-80 pocket computer. BTW, that is the only computer programming class that I ever took.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_PC-1211#pc1
And…the Dumbo’s just introduced a bill for “ammo background check.” We don’t need a Congress anymore, just go full Commie and get it over with.
Not totally disarmed, the rools don’t prohibit ‘knives’ just ‘weapons’. I’m carrying a throwaway just in case. Don’t want to lose my Benchmade, no matter what sort of copsuckers they have turned out to be.
“Controlled flight into terrain”. What a rich and evocative language we have! And pilots are the drollest of the droll…
Someone has mentioned an aircraft that had the anti-stall feature that pushes the aircraft down and into the ground before. I din’t look, but was the aircraft in a steep climb? or maybe he was climbing out but didn’t have enough throttle? I guess we’ll find out eventually, and there will be a new rule written in blood.
n
ugg, I’m going to have to set up a face book account to participate in my CPA class activities. I’ll need a sterile notebook, I’m not having that mess on my phone or main pc.
n
“Across two CS programs, I was the only person who walked into class with a *calculator*.”
For my CS 204, IBM 370 assembly language, class in 1979, I was the only person who walked in with a programmable computer. A TRS-80 pocket computer.
My undergrad was EE. My first CS program was 2011-2014. Second was 2015-2017. No calculators was kinda surprising.
The irony is that postfix evaluation examples in textbooks always refer to HP calculator RPN.
BTW, that is the only computer programming class that I ever took.
I use Python for diagnosing problems in our C++ all the time. I didn’t really look at the language prior to grad school.
For the most part, I only took grad classes which were personally interesting even if they had little practical value. I’ll grudgingly acknowledge that every CS grad student should be able to state an qualified opinion on P vs NP, however.
(P != NP)
The only class I really disliked was Programming Languages. Lambda Calculus was not even remotely interesting, and our drip of a department chair taught the course.
ugg, I’m going to have to set up a face book account to participate in my CPA class activities. I’ll need a sterile notebook, I’m not having that mess on my phone or main pc.
Definitely keep it off the phone, but Firefox configured to purge all history at exit should be safe enough. Just start Firefox, use face book, and then exit/start the browser before doing anything else.
Someone is on the trail of the brains behind the Ocasio-Cortez operation. “Mr. Reagan” was on the afternoon drive time show out of San Antonio.
The Sugar Daddy remains unknown … for now.
And, no, the political guys are too poor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1h5iv6sECGU
This is probably closer to AOC’s success
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/03/meet_alexandria_ocasiocortezs_rasputin.html
Home safe, Santana can still rock.
going to bed, late wakeup tomorrow.
n
Robert Frances is in? Sheesh.
Robert Frances is in? Sheesh.
Veep to carry Texas.
If Bernie doesn’t prevail, the Progs will want a woman to vindicate Hillary.
They may insist on a woman anyway.
Nope, some changes are/were negotiated. I think a free trade zone adding the UK and Oz would be a good idea. Common language, Common Law in the areas, etc.