67F and saturated. Yesterday was beautiful but a tad damp. Nice breeze for the last softball game of the season- we ended up second overall. Volleyball should end soon, but swim is just getting started.
This week was a bit slow for preps as my main effort continues to be selling off excess stuff. I did pick up some more pieces for a permanent solar install, and I had another chat with a guy who installs solar for a living (another dad at our pool). Meatspace baby!
The garden is doing well. The cukes and zukes seem to be growing and are still alive and flowering. The apple trees are flowering, and the peach is leafed in. The old pepper plants are still producing. I think I got the caterpillars on the grapes before they did too much damage. The blueberries have yielded a handful with more set to ripen soon. Lots of tiny fruit growing on the lemon and lime. There is at least one green tomato so far.
I added the one bucket of bulk that I described this week, and some cans. More to come.
I found a dead rat in the garage, on a sticky pad, so they are still plaguing me. Time to refresh the poison and reset traps. I have to get that taken care of.
Ebay continues to be slow. The local auction is selling but not for huge prices. Next week I’m moving a bunch of bigger items to them. We’ll see how they do. If nothing else it will give me room to clean up some stuff and work on other things.
Some ammo might have come my way… and some parts. Lots still to do in that regard though.
So what have you done this week to increase your readiness? It’s FEMA’s Preparathon time, so you have natgov backing for your efforts….
n
A week ago I replaced my aged Moto Turbo Droid because the battery was causing unexpected shutdowns at 20%. Went online and bought the Pixel 2XL direct from Verizon. Cheaper than the 3 at net of only $10 a month for 2 years. Delivered in two days. Nice phone.
My one bitch is it upgraded to Android 9 Pie. Fine, I’m okay but I think the multi-app view was better as cascaded windows than a horizontal scroll. Now it has asked to restart about 15 times and it’s gettin’ old.
Saw urologist yesterday. All good. No sign of kidney stones. I do have one small gallstone. No change in adrenal gland tumor so not a worry. Hernia or fatty tumor in groin area so saw the expert on that also (same group of surgeons). May have that fixed but wait and see. Too busy right now. All in all I came out better than Ray. Not gloating Ray, just saying.
Gloat away, cheer, jump for joy, shove it in my face. I don’t care and am in fact pleased you don’t have to go through this shirt(-r). That is something to celebrate.
Alley Oop: Raccoons and time machines
https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2019/05/17
Oddly weird and yet funny too.
BC: one of these is not like the other
https://www.gocomics.com/bc/2019/05/17
Heh.
Over The Hedge: water trauma
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2019/05/17
Traumatic childhood events suck.
So what have you done this week to increase your readiness? It’s FEMA’s Preparathon time, so you have natgov backing for your efforts….
I’m gonna go buy some more TP and paper towels tomorrow at Sams Club. Maybe some more canned goods for the bug out place. It never hurts to throw a $100 more of cans in there.
“ICE to hire contractor to transport 225,000 migrants to shelters across the US”
https://www.foxnews.com/us/ice-hire-contractor-transport-225000-migrant-shelters
And the invasion continues.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
“New SAT scoring will combat Asian privilege”
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/five-years-in-prison-for-offending-someone-online-25076/
“And this should really put a dent in Asian privilege. Yes you read that right. With an average SAT score of 1223, Asians achieve the highest marks among all the ethnic groups tracked by SAT administrators.”
“But these same Asian test takers also typically come from dual-parent, higher-income households. So they’ll be penalized because of their parents’ success.”
“This is truly amazing thing to be teaching young people.”
As mentioned here previously, this new “adversity score” is definitely a hit on successful families who used to define the norms in society. Next, we will see families being legally unmarried and living in the hood to get their kids into the ivy league schools.
As mentioned here previously, this new “adversity score” is definitely a hit on successful families who used to define the norms in society. Next, we will see families being legally unmarried and living in the hood to get their kids into the ivy league schools.
The hit actually happened when the SAT and GRE stopped being IQ tests 20 years ago.
I had a combined 1320 Verbal/Quantitative on the old GRE, taken in 1992, with 660 on Qualitative, a percentile high enough to qualify for MENSA. My 1985 SAT score was 1240, second in my high school graduating class.
When I took the new GRE in 2015, I went into the test cold, thinking (incorrectly) that things couldn’t change too much, and my essay score (ESSAY?!?) barely qualified for my last grad program along with math/verbal percentiles in the 80s.
The GRE and SAT are no longer accurate predictors of academic success. I finished my Masters with a 4.0 GPA.
Our group at work gives an IQ test, but we are under enormous pressure to stop that practice. The other groups don’t so their hiring is more “diverse” (cough … Music Ed Major from Baylor … cough).
I had a combined 1320 Verbal/Quantitative on the old GRE, taken in 1992, with 660 on Qualitative, a percentile high enough to qualify for MENSA. My 1985 SAT score was 1240, second in my high school graduating class.
I seem to remember the GRE having three 800 point sections in 1981. I scored above 2,000 back then, out of 2,400. I scored a 780 on the math section and a low 700 on the statistical ??? portion. A 600 on the verbal section.
Of course, I am trying to remember something from 40 years ago. I may be totally in left field.
And it was good that there was no essay back then. I could not have written an essay to save my life.
And it was good that there was no essay back then. I could not have written an essay to save my life.
The essay score was the only number my grad program looked at. I scored high enough to avoid remedial English, but the number wasn’t stellar. I was *not* prepared for that task.
In the 80s, Florida had a standardized test for college sophomores which included an essay, but I knew going into that test what would be required. In that section of the test, I outscored my English major friends.
My wife’s friend who took the GRE on the same weekend I did scored a 600. Combined verbal/quantitative. Of course, being African American, with that number, she received a full ride scholarship offer for grad school from Boston University.
From Thursday:
Ha ha! President tRump is cancelling funding to Kalifornia’s high speed rail to the tune of almost $1 billion. Nuisance says it is illegal and will go to court. tRump will win that one, too. Waste some more money Kali.
https://www.npr.org/2019/05/16/724145472/trump-administration-cancels-nearly-1-billion-in-california-high-speed-rail-fund
Wow, that looks like a bridge to nowhere.
From Thursday:
Interest rates concern me. We are getting mortgages on the new house we are about to build. Rates are under 1%, which is just nuts. Granted, Switzerland is a bit of a special case: trying to keep big investors and countries from hoarding CHF, the national bank offers an interest rate of -0.75%. In other words, please put your money somewhere else.
Still, this is in line with the low-rate policies of all national banks since the 2008 crash. But the economies have recovered – economically speaking there is no reason for this. If/when the next crisis comes, the national banks have no leverage left.
Personally, I suspect is has to do with the massive indebtedness of governments. If governments are writing whopping deficits in good times, at low interest rates (and most of them are)…just imagine what kind of deficits they would have if the national banks raised interest rates back to something sensible!
The next crisis will come, sooner or later. Over-indebted governments will have only one choice: print money like crazy to survive it. Which will lead to massive inflation, with all of the well-known effects that will have on the populace. It’s not going to be pretty…
The financial crisis will come here in the USA in 2025 when AOC becomes President. That will be the start of the Worldwide Great Depression II as she reverses every policy that Trump enabled and outlaws fossil and nuclear energy sources. Green Energy For All ! Medicare For All ! Free College For All ! Free Jobs For All ! Free Housing For All ! Free Food For All ! Free Cruises For All ! Free Electric Cars For All !
Did I miss anything ? There is so much stuff being bandied about that I lose the count of a few items.
Yes. She will have all private pensions forfeited to the government to fund the free programs. No more private 401Ks.
She will also implement guaranteed minimum income where everyone will have $x,xxx.xx a month. Make more, give it up. Make less, get it from the money taken from others. No one gets ahead.
Meanwhile she will make the three branches of the government exempt from any such requirements.
No way we’ll make it that long.
Commercial vacancy is everywhere I look in Houston. (To counter that, I do see lots of ‘hiring’ signs for light industry and service work.)
The automobile yards at the port of Houston are chock full of unsold cars.
Ford is offering $15000 off list on new F150s.
Flippers are flipping houses left and right, but time on market is rising.
Other people (zerohedge) have other indicators, like sale of big rig trucks, or shipping dry index, or credit defaults…
Amazon is about to disintermediate UPS right out of its dominant position. That will create havoc for one of the biggest trade unions in the US.
Ebola WILL get out, and then everyone will panic again.
Killary or Billary will die, and set off a whole round of revelations that will ROCK the normies and destroy their worldview. Once it’s destroyed, who is waiting to build it in their own image?
n
The water softener seems to be fixed. Time will tell. Yay me.
I added two bags of salt and dipped out a couple of gallons of water. It now has 120 pounds of salt and the water level is a few (like, 3) inches over the salt. That will make some wicked brine… as in, soy sauce tastes like water. I’ll check the water level after the next re-gen cycle.
Now if I can get my blank blank internet connection stable. Yeah, sure, 25 down and 5 up is nice. 10 down is ok but 50K up doens’t work worth a shirt(-r). When e-mail fails….
Ford is offering $15000 off list on new F150s.
Where ? This 4WD 2019 F-150 lists at $44,355 and is offered for $36,892:
https://www.helfmanford.net/new/Ford/2019-Ford-F-150-for-Sale-in-Stafford-TX-380c550f0a0e0aea0de4ad1e0a512d7a.htm?searchDepth=2:37
I may buy a new F-150 when the plug-in hybrid comes out this summer if the price differential is not too much. And I want that 6.5 ft bed crewcab 4WD in white with max towing, a rare beast.
Flippers are flipping houses left and right, but time on market is rising.
Yeah, I think a few flippers are getting ready to get their clocks cleaned.
What? No Free Beer?
What? No Free Beer?
Sorry dude, somebody had to lose.
It would be diet beer (yech) because “yer fat”.
Amazon is about to disintermediate UPS right out of its dominant position. That will create havoc for one of the biggest trade unions in the US.
Are you saying that Amazon is going to start carrying packages for other people too ?
“Make no mistake: Amazon is going to take on delivery behemoths FedEx and UPS”
https://medium.com/@itamarzur/make-no-mistake-amazon-is-going-to-take-on-delivery-behemoths-fedex-and-ups-d047cf6b6b0c
“In other words — FedEx and UPS do not believe that Amazon, a company whose revenue is 3 times higher than theirs, and growing at 30% annually, and who has tamed its investors to forego any expectations for short-term profit, would ever make that investment.”
Wow. Maybe I should short UPS and FedEx.
Ford is offering $15000 off list on new F150s.
More ominious is the amount of GM Arlington truck output hidden at rental car lots around Texas. Even execs flying in on our tight fisted travel policies show up in Taylor with a free upgrade from compact.
Wow. Maybe I should short UPS and FedEx.
FedEx drivers aren’t union IIRC.
Killary or Billary will die, and set off a whole round of revelations that will ROCK the normies and destroy their worldview. Once it’s destroyed, who is waiting to build it in their own image?
A lot of people my age now in positions of power have a vested interest in the vault doors staying closed when BJ and Cankles kick, starting with “Lean In” at Facebook and various Google execs.
It is part of the brilliance of BJ. Keep in mind that he rose from *nothing* to be President. The only job “Lean In” ever had for which she was truly qualified was teaching aerobics at the Harvard Co Op — lots of people like her owe the Klintons for taking them along.
In other words — FedEx and UPS do not believe that Amazon, a company whose revenue is 3 times higher than theirs, and growing at 30% annually, and who has tamed its investors to forego any expectations for short-term profit, would ever make that investment.
The Teamsters will ask the next Prog President to split AWS from Amazon retail.
Heard the Ford promo on the radio. They were doing kickbacks on Expeditions too but I didn’t hear the amount.
$15k is a LOT. Even in 2008 they were only doing 8-12k off depending on when..
Once amazon has the network built out, they will absolutely start delivering for others, “to help defray the costs” of their own deliveries. That’s if regulatory hurdles aren’t in their way.
n
$15k is a LOT. Even in 2008 they were only doing 8-12k off depending on when..
One of my co-workers got a big incentive on a Ford truck at the model year change last fall, but he had to finance initially with Ford Credit at some insane rate. 8-9% IIRC.
Of course, he was free to head down to the nearest bank or credit union to arrange a new loan after the deal closed, but how many people bother?
When we got scammed on the Exploder, we had the opposite finance issue — with a loan at 2%, lots of mischief gets hidden in the paperwork.
What lovely people, we should have more of them here…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7041973/Three-teenage-members-MS-13-arrested-brutally-murdering-14-year-old-girl.html
” Three teenage ‘members of MS-13’ are arrested for ‘brutally murdering a 14-year-old girl with a machete and baseball bat because they thought she was going to tell police about a kidnap they’d carried out the day before’
Three minors – including a girl, 14 – have been arrested and charged with adult counts of first-degree murder, police in Prince George County, Maryland, “
n
What lovely people, we should have more of them here…
Dreamers.
I did. Got the loan through Ford Motor Credit to get an additional discount on the vehicle. Paid the loan off 30 days later.
Had a vehicle loan on my Highlander through a credit union, only open 15 days. Another credit union offered $200.00 to transfer any vehicle loan to them. I did. Got the $200.00 then paid off the loan 15 days later.
Got two new credit cards, $150.00 credit after spending $500.00 within 90 days. Paid a couple of my wife’s medical bills for exactly $500.00, got the credit, then put the cards away to never be used again.
If these companies want to give me money I will take their offer.
When I took the GRE in 1977, there were two main parts (verbal and math) and subject tests. I scored a 820 verbal and 790 math. My subject (Physics) was 700, in part because I was an Astronomy major and didn’t take atomic physics class. I applied for a job in 1988 that required GRE scores and they “renormed” the main test to 800/800. They used to not have a top score. They now score 130-170 on verbal/math and 0-6 on writing.