Cold and wet. [51F and 99%RH]
It was 53F and falling when I went to bed after almost 3 inches of rain during the afternoon and evening. My joints were aching, fingers were stiff, and even the dog had trouble moving. Indoor work all day.
I’m hoping to do some outdoor stuff today. One piece in particular needs some small things done so I can list it and hopefully get it out of the driveway and put some cash in my pocket. There are a couple of estate sales that I would like to check out too, even though they are farther than I would normally go. They have a bunch of stuff for my non-prepping hobby.
NEXT weekend, there is an estate sale with a ton of stuff I want. Like $10K worth of stuff. The guy was a hobby machinist, ham, and woodworker. That’s almost the trifecta. I have no idea what pricing is going to be like, but he’s got a brand new, unused Epilog laser engraver, with the rotating extra axis. I want. Yes I do. Add in mini versions of machine shop machines, a CNC router, and piles of tools and smalls, and I am sure to find stuff I need. I don’t think I can convince the wife to finance me on this and I’ve got a ton of money tied up in unmoving inventory. Timing is everything and mine sucks. But that’s a whole week away…
Meanwhile, I’ve got food to put on shelves, after they’re cleaned and re-set up. I’ve got gardening to do. I’ve got sales to make and stuff to get out of the house.
What have you guys gotten done this week?
n
and I am sure to find stuff I WANT. Fixed it for you.
Subbing again today. Had half a day on Wednesday ($30.00, hardly seems worth it) and ran into the math teacher. She decided she wanted two days off. I was already committed for Friday (today) but arranged for the spousal unit to take that class and I took the two days the teacher wanted. Most of the kids are OK, have their assignments on Google Classroom. Some just goof off, only so much I can do to make them work, other than that, not my problem.
Football playoff games start tonight on the road to the state championship. I have another contract with a local paper, same as I have had for the last five games. Something to do, gets me in the games, on the sidelines. But really cold tonight, will be below freezing by the time the game is over. Oliver Springs, this school, will win easily. Hoping Harriman beats Cloudland (which is 100 miles, three hours, away) so OS can play Harriman at home rather than Cloudland. Ah the drama of local HS football. Where winning, or losing, never made anyone thinner, richer, younger or better looking. But around, like Texas, the emotions run high on a game.
I have a press pass from the local paper. It is worthless during the playoffs. I must get an approved pass from TSSAA (Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association) which run the games with a tight fist. OS will let me in without issue, but TSSAA has spies that look for people on the field without the approved press credentials. The penalties are severe. Thus I get an approved pass.
Posted under culture war, losing it-
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7661257/Study-finds-LGBTQ-characters-hit-record-high-network-TV.html
“The percentage of regularly seen LGBTQ characters on prime-time broadcast TV this season reached an all-time high of 10.2 percent, or 90 out of a total of 879 characters, according to the study released Thursday. ”
-I remind you that blacks make up 12-13% of the US population. Does anyone here think there are as many LBGQTPi people in America as blacks?
“LAAD called on the television industry to increase the number of LGBTQ characters and more accurately reflect the world we live in…”
-the percentage of gays in HOLLYWOOD is certainly higher than the general population…
“increased representation of LGBTQ stories and characters on television is especially critical to advance LGBTQ acceptance.'”
-ah, the real motive.
n
This is really weird. There is obviously MUCH more to this than is reported so far…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7664451/LA-neighborhood-evacuated-man-woman-dog-dead-bomb-threat-wall.html
I have noticed that myself. Almost every show contains a gay person or someone with an odd self sex identification. An attempt to make it seem normal. Normal is just living the life and not flaunting the lifestyle. If a person wants to marry a goat, fine, just don’t shove it in my face and demand that I accept the lifestyle. Accepting is much different than ignoring. I prefer to ignore.
There is also many more black people on TV, higher percentage than the general population. Of that I have no issue if the person is talented. I do not like placement just for effect. I have also noticed these black actors have lines that if spoken by a white person would be considered racist which would cause Sharpton and his loser buddies to be up in arms.
I think everything should be color blind. But things are not. Black is the new freedom to say what people want without repercussions. We have shows like “Blackish” where if there was a show called “Whiteish” the network would crucified in the media. Black Congressional Caucus? Fine. White Congressional Caucus? Racist. Black Entertainment Television? OK. White Entertainment Television? Racist. Black Power? Progressive. White Power? Racist. Black is Beautiful? Awesome. White is Beautiful? Racist. It’s OK to be Black? Amazing. It’s OK to be White? Racist.
There is a pattern there. It is being pounded into our heads, especially those of the younger persuasion. To me it should not be an issue. Everything should be color blind. People should be free to marry who (or what) they want. Just don’t make an issue or flaunt the issue just to be obnoxious.
Despite the URL, the report does not say that…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7661785/Study-says-school-shooters-showed-warning-signs.html
Note that the sample size is smaller than you might think, as is the number of fatalities. Racial breakdown pretty much matches US in general, but the article doesn’t say that, it blames whites.
–under those rules, Sandy Hook doesn’t count.
It would be interesting to see if they left out all the black on black gang violence that plagues some of our schools. (Even here in Houston, we had a drive by on a drug seller at a high school in a more affluent area.)
And of course there is this– you’re on your own. “The shootings happened quickly and were usually over within a minute or less. Law enforcement rarely arrived before an attack was over.”
n
“GLAAD is upping the stakes for the future. It’s asking the industry to reach 20 percent representation of LGBTQ regularly seen characters on primetime scripted broadcast series by 2025, and to ensure that half of LGBTQ characters on every TV platform are people of color within the next two years.”
20%! FOUR TIMES the [probably overstated] 5%…
“An estimated 4.5 percent of adults in the United States, approximately 11.3 million people, identify as LGBTQ, according to new analysis by the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. ”
And Ray, you’re not wrong–
“African-Americans, estimated at about 13 percent of the population, remained at 22 percent of regular TV characters, ” and they are half of the LBGQTXYZ characters, a twofer!
I’d bet that white viewership of broadcast tv is steadily shrinking. I’d also bet that hours and type of programming stratifies to strongly correlate with income (inversely.)
n
Posted under culture war, losing it-
I fell asleep in front of “For All Mankind”, but not before I noted the beginning of the story arc for a “Wise Latina” (I’ll bet first person on Mars) and Werner von Braun’s contrived female assistant character who wants to be Gene Kranz.
I’m guessing she’s sitting in Kranz chair before the end of the first season.
Evidently von Braun, the white European *who actually masterminded the rocket* is dispatched pretty quickly in the second episode, with Nixon’s operatives dredging up records of his antics in the SS during a political showdown.
The shame of it is that Apple and Sony spent serious money, to the point that they cribbed construction materials lists and sources from the mission control renovation which took place at Houston over the last couple of years. The fake MOCR looks just like the renovated one.
I haven’t watched TV in 2? years. Haven’t seen many movies during that time either.
n
None of our readers from across the pond commented on this the first time I linked the story, so here’s a recap with commentary….
https://wilderwealthywise.com/free-speech-not-if-you-want-healthcare/
Things are gonna get worse before they get better.
n
Things are gonna get worse before they get better.
In Britain, a patient can pay for care beyond NHS. Going back to HillaryCare, the Progs want to make sure no one has that option here.
$2 Billion. Cheap!
Once. Maybe. And that will be it.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2019/11/the-white-house-puts-a-price-on-the-sls-rocket-and-its-a-lot/
Nick: what resource do you use to find estate sales?
I use estatesales.net but there are others that might have better coverage in your area, notably estatesales.org
For online estate sale auctions I use hibid.com, I avoid maxbid.com as they have terrible local service and onerous policies.
When I attend a sale and the seller seems to be someone I would like to especially keep track of (prices are great, stuff is clean, staff is helpful) I sign up for their email blasts. Sometimes you will get an extra day of access or early view of photos…
n
Thanks Nick. I may be doing this in the future in Oklahoma.
I just spent an hour cleaning out my email inbox. I haven’t archived it since 2017. Deleted about 50% of the emails as rubbish. I need to spend the time to build rules to filter and file the rubbish so I won’t have to do this.
BTW: I do back-up my local email storage weekly using a BASH scrip to TAR the entire mailbox off to my removable media. The process should go much faster now.
I have archived emails going back to the early 1990s.
20%! FOUR TIMES the [probably overstated] 5%…
Actually somewhere between one and two percent, according to some research I did a few years back.
It had also struck me recently that POCs seemed to be way over-represented in commercials. Oh, and whenever a doctor is referred to in a commercial, it’s almost invariably as “she.” Last time I checked, women only comprise about 15% of MDs.
Added: This site and this site state the actual figure is more than twice that, but male MDs still out number females ~2:1.
It had also struck me recently that POCs seemed to be way over-represented in commercials. Oh, and whenever a doctor is referred to in a commercial, it’s almost invariably as “she.” Last time I checked, women only comprise about 15% of MDs.
My guess is that the percentage is higher in primary care (family, pediatrics).
Salary discrepancy is definitely still an issue. I don’t think my wife ever made what her male co-workers made, even in the same specialty, prior to getting the job at the VA.
NEXT weekend, there is an estate sale with a ton of stuff I want. Like $10K worth of stuff. The guy was a hobby machinist, ham, and woodworker. That’s almost the trifecta. I have no idea what pricing is going to be like, but he’s got a brand new, unused Epilog laser engraver, with the rotating extra axis. I want. Yes I do. Add in mini versions of machine shop machines, a CNC router, and piles of tools and smalls, and I am sure to find stuff I need. I don’t think I can convince the wife to finance me on this and I’ve got a ton of money tied up in unmoving inventory. Timing is everything and mine sucks. But that’s a whole week away…
Sucks when you die, somebody else gets our toys …
My Echo Dot is pulsing green. It’s either gone radioactive or is trying to tell me something. Searching online tells me to turn off notifications. No luck. If I ask for notifications it has none. If I tell it to clear them, more of the same.
It’s just trying to bring me closer to insanity.
Not sure yet about after life situation, get back to me in about 30 years.
I tried Subway’s Garlic Bread bun today. With Italian fillings I suppose. Pepperoni and Salami. It was toasted. Added a few slices of jalapenos and black olives. Pretty good. And after four hours and a couple of Tums I’ve almost stopped burping it. I liked it, it didn’t like me. Oh well.
Then to HEB for a few things. I picked up a couple packages of the Lemon Pepper seasoned boneless pork chops. Plus a couple of packages of BBQ seasoned chicken drumsticks. Huge drumsticks. All marked down 25%.
I would have bought more but I would have to hear “that’s plenty!”.
Pork loins are $1.89 a pound. I have one in the fridge to slice and vac seal. Tomorrow.
I could buy a jar of lemon pepper and make my own. I just thought of that. Save a buck a pound, too.
I almost bought a spiral cut ham. The HEB labeled are $2.99 a pound. Their Hill Country Fare brand is $1.99 a pound. Other than the pretty mylar wrapping, I can’t tell any difference. I just need to double chack freezer space.
Not much in the way of prepping other than having food handy.
@dkreck – re your ‘Dot pulsing green’
The googles say:
From https://www.cnet.com/how-to/what-the-light-ring-colors-on-your-amazon-echo-mean/ .
@dkreck, regarding your dot pulsing green:
Unplug it for a while, as with all electronics a restart never hurt and often fixes things.
“The STEMs of Backblaze: How We Got Here”
https://www.backblaze.com/blog/celebrating-national-stem-day/
“November 8th marks the celebration of National STEM day, calling attention to the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) in young peoples’ education. Without these programs encouraging young minds to enter STEM fields, we would be hard-pressed to find the Backblaze staffers of the future. As such, a day like this is something we have to celebrate here in our office.”
Neat !
“Science Fiction Purges its Problematic Past”
https://quillette.com/2019/11/05/science-fiction-purges-its-problematic-past/
“Since 1991, the James Tiptree Junior Award has been given annually to a work of “science fiction or fantasy that expands or explores our understanding of gender.” The award was founded by two women science fiction writers, Pat Murphy and Karen Jay Fowler. From next year, it will be called the Otherwise Award.”
“James Tiptree, Jr. was the pseudonym of Alice Sheldon. Born Alice Bradley in 1915, she travelled the world with her parents as a young child. In 1940, after a brief unhappy marriage, she joined the women’s Army Auxiliary Corps and worked in intelligence. She married Huntington “Ting” Sheldon in 1945, and in 1952 they both joined the CIA. She later earned her doctorate and took up writing. She wrote short stories and novels, but it is the former that stand out as truly remarkable. With prose as subtle and precise as the most refined literary fiction, she penned imaginative tales like “Houston, Houston, Do You Read?” and “The Girl Who was Plugged In,” which became classics of science fiction and also important works of feminist fiction. Later in her life, she suffered from heart troubles and depression. Her husband went blind. She recorded in her diary in 1979 that she and her husband had agreed to a suicide pact if their health worsened. In 1987, she shot her husband, called her lawyer and told him that they had agreed to suicide, and then shot herself.”
Wow. Sad story compounded by the sad need of some people to remove the memory of less than perfect people in this world.
re the Echo oddities, the best fix is to unplug it. And don’t plug it back in. I mean, it’s your business if you want to keep a surveillance device … but before long your business will not be just your business.
I read some of these without knowing that “James Tiptree” was a nom de plume of a woman. I wasn’t impressed. I don’t think it was the plots or situations or dated references, as I still read and enjoy EE Smith and Jules Verne. I think it’s simply that stories by James Tiptree were not in the same league as those of Heinlein and other greats of the golden age. If James Tiptree weren’t a woman, I think his/her/zir stories would have been swept away with the rest of the not-as-goods.
Product Review: We have used the “as seen on TV ” granite stone frying pan for 8 months now. We only use it for eggs and it delivers on its claims. Omelets and scrambled eggs simply slide right out leaving almost no residue. It literally cleans up with a wipe, but I put it the dishwasher anyway. I was skeptical when the wife brought it home from Walmart but it has proved a great tool. Highly recommended.
“The Catholic Church Made You ‘Weird.’ That’s Not a Bad Thing.” By Stephanie Pappas – Live Science Contributor a day ago History
https://www.livescience.com/catholic-church-made-westerners-weird.html
“The policies of the medieval Catholic clergy may be responsible for modern psychology in the West.”
Ok, interesting. Maybe not marrying your cousin is not such a bad thing.
I do fully expect to have polygamy legal in the USA in the next five years though. Probably sooner.
“Seagate is planning 50TB drives for 2026”
https://techreport.com/news/3466913/seagate-50tb-hard-drive-roadmap/
The NSA asketh and Seagate will giveth and giveth and giveth.
That is quite the plan. Looks fraught with technical difficulties.
Home.
Gone thru much of my sales scores for the day. I’m hoping to flip one item for about $400 profit, but I’ll be happy with $300.
I have my non-prepping hobby monthly meeting tomorrow, and even though I just had the swapmeet, I’ve got plenty of things to show the group and hopefully sell.
One daughter is on a sleepover with friends for the weekend. The other will be doing Girl Scout things with my wife tomorrow, all day. Just me and my hobby then….
n
Gone thru much of my sales scores for the day. I’m hoping to flip one item for about $400 profit, but I’ll be happy with $300.
Wow, your income tax filing must be a real pain in the posterior with your high volume of transactions.
My income/loss tax filing for my sole proprietorship is half an inch thick. We send a bunch of electronic records with additional summary and explanatory documentation to my tax accountant, and we get back a stack of paper to sign.
I don’t have the volume of transactions of a brick and mortar store, but I don’t run a cash register either. Since most of it happens inside paypal, with invoices and 1099s, or with cash deposits (documented as splits) it’s not that hard to track in quickbooks. qb imports from Ppal and my banks.
added- every sale in paypal(ebay) I generate an invoice, stick the shipping cost label to it, and write the source and cost of the item, with a net profit on the sale noted. Those invoices all get stacked up and filed.
n
@Nick: That’s difficult article to read. After the initial bit about the NHS, the guy jumps all over the place. Anyway, to “free speech”:
The British policy is something you guys could use in the US. It’s worded very broadly – perhaps risky – but the intent comes down to this: If people behave badly, you ought to be able to deny them service. Look at the EMTALA mess in US emergency rooms: When some druggie comes in wanting free drugs, or some family comes in and treats the waiting room as their personal trash dump – you really need a basis to throw these people back out.
This leads more generally to the European view on free speech: politeness is important. Having a peaceful, agreeable society is worth some infringements on the right to say whatever one damn well pleases.
You can see this most clearly from two sentences:
– Universal Charter of Human Rights: “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression…”
– In the European Convention on Human Rights, this is immediately followed by: “The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society…”
One may disagree with this view of things, but it is pretty deeply embedded here. It is illegal to claim that the Holocaust didn’t happen. It is illegal to call the Queen of England a bunch of four-letter words. And now, in Britain, if you cuss out your nurse, she can tell you to get lost.
On the subject of “polite society”, I thought y’all might be interested in another aspect of the Swiss justice system. I think this is generally European, but I’m not sure. I don’t recall anything equivalent in the US.
There’s a guy in jail who has beaten up a number of people. He refuses therapy. In prison, he has attacked other prisoners as well as the guards, something like 30 times in the last 3-4 years.
His sentence will be ending in a few years. It is almost certain that he will not be released. A judge can decide that, even though his formal sentence is over, he is certain to commit further crimes. On that basis, he can be kept in jail indefinitely.
If the guy changes – maybe he decides to accept therapy, maybe he goes a few years without beating anyone to a pulp – the courts can then decide to release him.
In my uninformed opinion the guy is a rabid dog, and needs to be put down. Why should he be allowed to continue assaulting people? But that’s just me (ok, and probably SteveF).
@brad, the difficulty comes when they redefine assault (or whatever) down to ludicrous levels, vis. “eye rape”….
And that it’s a GOVERNMENT service, not a private industry, and access to healthcare is a “right” there isn’t it?
What if some old guy calls a nurse “honey”? Is THAT offensive enough? Is there a tribunal (don’t Euros love tribunals?) that decides? And WHEN would they decide? 10 months later when the guy is dead, since he wasn’t seen for followup care as he wasn’t ’emergent’?
If it’s assault, charge them with assault and let the justice system deal with them, WHILE providing the care, even if in a prison setting. (Although I hate this too.)
What ever happened to just growing a pair? Words, especially from some random person, shouldn’t send someone into a case of the vapors. I’m pretty sure I know what would happen during your catheter change if you said “hurry up you fat black b!tch” in a US hospital…
n
“November 8th marks the celebration of National STEM day, calling attention to the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) in young peoples’ education. Without these programs encouraging young minds to enter STEM fields, we would be hard-pressed to find the Backblaze staffers of the future. As such, a day like this is something we have to celebrate here in our office.”
I hate seeing stories like that in the press, even if it is true (I have my doubts, even at Backblaze). My management is still pretending the Music Ed major can do my job, starting again next weekend.
I told the project management directly and clearly that any awards thrown that individual’s way for my work will result in my immediate departure, no notice. The last time it happened, I eventually profanely chewed out that project manager in private, and he knows I don’t touch that mess without a direct order from the people to whom I directly report.
Re: Echo Dot / Alexa notifications.
Yes I did search and ask Alex. Following sugesstions to go to the Alexa app and
settings – notifications – turn all off
Was still glowing so a power cycle. Came back pulsing green.
Finally to the bitch to play the message
“Based on your previous buying you may want to orrder blah blah blah ”
That did it and lets hope for no more.
Home, fed, watered, etc.
Didn’t have the big score I was hoping for. Turns out there were parts missing from the thing- parts that are very hard to obtain. But I did get $50 more than I paid for it, so yea! Some of the other little bits and bobs sold too.
Spent a bit of time at my secondary location organizing. Ay carumba, what a job.
One daughter and wife are back in the nest, so that’s good too.
n