Cool and wet.
Yesterday turned into a fine, if somewhat cool day. Nice clear sky and sunshine.
I skipped the chiropractor yesterday but will try to get in to see him today. Both my pain and range of motion are almost back to normal.
I wasn’t going to buy more stuff at auction, but I really couldn’t help myself with this one. 3000 lots of camping, outdoors, and tactical stuff, including gub parts and accessories, armor, fishing gear, and Mr Heaters… I might have overspent a bit. It just means I’ll have to sell some to cover the rest. Why does something like this auction come up when I’m in the mood I’m in, with the world the way it is? Fate. That’s my answer and I’m sticking to it.
I really do need to inventory and sort. I’ve been on a tear lately and need to pause and catch up. Can’t just ‘buy all the things!11!!1’ I also have some high value items purchased specifically for resale that need to be resold. Hard to let go of useful things, but I really need to. They won’t get sold if they don’t get listed.
I really don’t need the distraction of replacing my phone. But, some of you will remember, I got plenty of warning, and should have acted all those weeks ago when I first thought of it. Let that be a lesson, I guess. Maybe one of my old one’s will work for a couple of days with my current sim.. add trying that out to the pile of stuff to do.
Wife will want Christmas decor to be taken down and put away too. I put that off as long as possible as I find it to be quite melancholy… but it has to be done too. Kids will be back in school this coming week which has both pluses and minuses…
Fun times ahead! [and only partly sarcastic]
It’s a great life if you don’t falter, right?
n
Been a bit out of touch: aside from the crazy neighbors (who cost us some sleep), our older cat seems to be going senile, and she is restless (and howling) much of the night. So I’m a bit short on sleep….
Anyhoe: WTF is the US doing, beating the war drums again? Have the defense contracts run low, so it’s time to attack a *fifth* country over there? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just…leave? I thought Trump had better sense.
On a related note, there’s this… https://www.androidauthority.com/google-pixel-4a-1071233/
One opinion… https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-is-the-uss-soleimani-assassination-meant-to-deflect-attention-from/
I go back to work tomorrow. I took 2 weeks off to be home while my son was on Christmas break. He’s 15, so he has his own life, but it was fun just being there, and getting to spend time together. We also got lots of driving practice in. Tomorrow’s 0515 alarm is going to be hell…
Nonsense. If there were any real crimes underlying the impeachment, and the illegal, three-year investigations which preceded it, it would have been trumpeted from the hills. It’s in Trump’s interest, both personally and politically, to keep the impeachment front and center in Americans’ attention and to haul as many witnesses as possible before the Senate for interrogation.
@Alan: it’s the obvious theory, but it seems dumb. Seems to me that the D’s are digging their own grave with the impeachment stuff. If they fail to hand the charges over to the Senate, Trump can just ignore them and they look like fools. If they do hand over the charges, unless the R’s are totally spineless Trump will be acquitted and the D’s again look like fools.
What I don’t get about the Iran stuff is that Trump has said – many times – that previous Middle East adventures were mistakes. Of course, he has failed to remove many forces from there, though he should have.If the US were no longer in Iraq, there would be no US diplomats there for the Iranians to mess with. Problem solved. Starting a shooting war with another country is…unwise.
In related news, it is hilarious how the prog’s are claiming that the attack (and planned attacks) represent war crimes. They do, of course, but then so did the many military actions by peace-prize-Obama, and they said nothing…
One opinion… https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-is-the-uss-soleimani-assassination-meant-to-deflect-attention-from/
It could well be that the assassination was the most adequate constrained response.
Sooner or later, the younger generation will clean house, purging the theocracy. The attack did not take place within Iranian territory, and if there military is anything like ours, the hierarchy probably includes a number of individuals who have their own personal priorities not always in the best national interest.
It cuts thru the bullsh!t about who our friends are in the region.
Now that Iraq voted US military out, NO ONE can argue against it. IIRC LOTS of people were arguing that we must stay…
That looks kinda like T gets what he wanted, after trying it one way and having that not work. (I won’t believe it until I see them home though.)
Remember the hoopla about european tariffs? Remember when T finally said “OK, let’s get rid of all tariffs” and forced the EU leaders into the position of defending tariffs? That was the end of that news goat rope…
The other thing to keep in mind is that the POTUS is the single most heavily briefed guy on the planet. It’s REALLY unlikely that you or I or John Cusack is in possession of facts or recommendations that POTUS is not. Despite the fifth columnists in .gov and .mil, if he needs to know something, I bet he does. He said they whacked this guy because of what he was planning. Anyone think this guy ISNT capable of planning a 9-11 or a stadium massacre, or some other atrocity? A nice decapitation strike, followed up with another on the next tier seems like a very limited response, if the threat was big.
I personally don’t think he needed any distractions. The Dems have been running their game for 4 years and he’s still standing.
n
I believe that’s exactly why the Dumbo’s will lose at the voting booth. Stretch seems to think it is a Dumbo advantage, but it won’t be.
As for the *assassination*, Soleimani met every factor we studied at the Army’s Command and Staff College, as a legitimate military target. The MSM TV and rags are trying to pass him off as some sort of cool dude. He wasn’t. And no mention of Obuttwad taking out a US Citizen with a drone. Not to mention tons of collateral damage.
Looking at phones, the samsung S10e is the same size as my S7, with upgrades to everything. It’s a bit more than I wanted to spend. The Note 10 is what I wanted in a pocket computer when I got my Newton, but yikes that costs a bunch.
The moto Greg recommended comes with a free (slightly less capable) new phone, which is a $250 value, but I don’t need a second phone. I’m going out to Costco and the ATT store to get hands on with the ones they have locally. The S7 is about as big as I can reasonable see going. The pixel is about 1/2 inch longer, which makes me hesitate despite the benefits.
It’s amazing the range of features, tech, and price available now.
n
It’s amazing the range of features, tech, and price available now.
Smartphones for what most people need were perfected 3-4 years ago. The forced obsolescence from Apple and Google is the reason there is still a steady stream into landfills.
I was a bit surprised how quickly I adapted when I switched from the Pixel 2 to the 2XL.
Before the 2 I had a Moto X (gen 2) which at the time I thought was “big enough” but now looks tiny compared to the 2XL. Similar to when multiple monitors first started to become popular – i thought at the time, what the heck would I do with a second monitor? Now I have three at the office and miss the third when I’m logged in from home and have to ‘make do’ with just two.
Nice site to compare phone sizes (make sure you do the calibration first)
https://www.phonearena.com/news/How-to-make-full-use-of-our-phone-size-comparison-tool_id65258
https://www.bostonglobe.com/sports/patriots/2020/01/05/mike-vrabel-took-page-from-belichick-playbook-and-patriots-coach-didn-like-bit/oxXGVTunZGIAvzTIup8ZRO/story.html
Breaking (but not surprising)… Iran’s government said it was ending all its commitments under the 2015 nuclear deal and that it would no longer limit its enrichment of uranium.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/05/world/middleeast/Iran-us-trump.html#link-1a78e050
Like the other news out of Iran, “so, I guess it’s Wednesday”….
“death to america” is how they open every civic meeting. I’d bet hardly a day goes by that someone isn’t yelling it from a soapbox.
The only reason there’s any limit on their enrichment efforts is that someone *cough* israel *cough* damaged their centrifuges with a virus. They certainly aren’t trustworthy, or willing participants in any “treaty”….
n
From @Greg yesterday:
The TARDIS came home, replaced by my stuffed Target dog swag. Hopefully that avoids controversy.
I have prepper stuff stashed in my office behind my work stuff. Camp cots, MREs, canned food, etc. Maybe a carbine behind my office door. I am slowly moving all of the stuff upstairs to the air conditioned storage area.
My employees just think that I am crazy. But not many of them know about the gubs.
“Earth’s Ice Ages”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2020/01/03/earths-ice-ages/
“The phrase “Ice Age” is poorly defined and often abused, so let’s first define the climate state during most ice ages. It is called “Icehouse Earth.” The earth is in an icehouse state when either or both poles are covered in a thick, permanent icecap (Scotese 2015). Today, both poles are covered in ice year-round, so you may be surprised to learn this is very rare in Earth’s history. In fact, out of the last 550 million years, the earth has had permanent ice caps on one or both poles only nine percent of the time.”
I had no idea that we were still in an ice age.
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More prog fraud. Is not the definition of “witness” one who has actually seen the event with their own eyes in real time? All the testimony so far has been hearsay.
Yes, the fraud of the “war crimes” charge continues. Also used to convict US Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher, who fortunately tRump pardoned.
How can a war crime be committed when war has not been decreed by President and Congress? More prog lies.
@alan, that site is awesome.
What becomes immediately clear is that I bought a top of the line phone when I bought the S7. I don’t remember how much I spent but it must have been a lot. It still has a better screen than most of the <500$ alternatives. The only detraction is the older OS and slower processor. I can get a replacement S7, new in box for $155.
I'm leaning toward the simple replacement with the same S7, or taking the hit and upgrading to the S10e or Note 10. That will depend entirely on price and how big the dang thing feels in my hand.
Of course, my issues with the S7 will still be there with a new one- weird camera distortion, slightly laggy performance, older OS.
n
Just got around to signing into my AT&T account. Went fine. But then, I have auto bill pay, so they are happy. 🙂
Also checked my passwords, and they are just upper and lower case letters and some numbers, so they must comply.
AT&T used to have nice detailed bills, but they removed all the call details some time ago; I guess it is the Euro style. Now, the bills are useless to me, so I don’t capture them. Therefore, I rarely have any reason to log in.
My neighbor just received a Note 10 {mumble}. I believe it is a top of the line model, but I don’t have any details. What shocked me is that he bought it for something under $200, or maybe $300, I think. I won’t be able to get any details for a week or two, so that won’t help Nick. Also, he only opened the box to see if it was inside. When I asked about the really good price, he said he was also surprised, but maybe there is a newer model about to come out. He has bought quite a few phones in the past to play with, so he does know his stuff.
Another friend has had a Note 10 for a couple of weeks, his first Note. He paid about $300 on some kind of (large) family account through Verizon Wireless. He is a pretty serious user, and I see him about once a week. Last night, he said he REALLY likes it. Everything he has tried so far is to his liking. He especially likes that the battery can go three days (!) with his heavy use. His old phone was a Samsung something that had an add-on battery case that also lasted him about three days. His new Note impresses him a lot. Did I say he likes it?!!
My wife and I bought original Notes, and now have Note 3 models. Yeah, they are OLD, but they still work quite well. I am distressed with the fact that most updates are no longer. I believe with the right new set of OS updates, they could be excellent phones, but will not go independent. I want, am willing to pay for, stock setups. Then, if I have a problem I can just get it fixed by AT&T. In over ten years with them, this has happened only once, so maybe I am just paranoid. However, don’t forget that I have to keep my wife happy. With phones at least, that is challenging. She hates the constant app “updates” that seem to make useless changes. Me too.
As for size, I was a bit disappointed with the Note 10. Its screen width active area is about the same as mine, but the height looks about an inch taller. Since I use mine as a small tablet, and rarely as a phone, I was hoping for BIG. Not yet. As for one hand, I never got the hang of it. I almost always have used even small phones two handed. Anything else just seems awkward. Also never got the hang of typing with thumbs. I use the one finger method. I don’t have to type much; if I need to lay down a lot of text (rare lately,) I use dictation. For those who don’t use it, it can seem awkward until you get used to it. The built-in Samsung-Google dictation works very well for me.
“death to america” is how they open every civic meeting. I’d bet hardly a day goes by that someone isn’t yelling it from a soapbox.
A widely circulated tape among the students in my undergrad engineering program was our Digital Logic professor in full Palestinian garb leading a hotel ballroom full of the faithful in shouts of “Death to America. Death to Israel.” Keep in mind this was almost 30 years ago, when the country just viewed that kind of hoedown as “Mostly Harmless”.
He was a decent professor so the university looked the other way regarding his extracirricular activities until after 9/11. And even then, they were still willing to cover for him if he hadn’t gone on the air with Ted O’Baxter one night in 2002, ranting about how the US treatment of the Palestinian cause contributed to what happened with Bin Laden.
The alternatives the department faced for teaching Digital Logic were: (1) an emeritus adjunct from Rice, who claimed all the CS/EE students in my program were pathetic or (2) a bitter former test pilot whose eyesight went, washing him out of the astronaut program in the 60s and driving him to seek solace in a bottle.
“Howie Carr: President Trump ordered the strike, and came down to dinner cool, collected”
https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/01/03/howie-carr-president-trump-ordered-the-strike-and-came-down-to-dinner-cool-collected/
“I was there at Mar-a-Lago Thursday night when Gen. Qassem Souleimani got his 72 virgins.”
Trump knows way more than the rest of us.
And I am in favor of our boots leaving the Middle East. But keep the drones on patrol.
Soleimanni’s last ride … was in a Chevy.
Well, the ATT store had a qi wireless charger so I was able to charge my phone enough to finally access my att online account. Not that it helped, their only choices for my “upgrade” were the 10e at full retail, $845 or in 30 payments totaling $865. Not a bargain.
The size increases for all the phones I looked at were minimal in practice. The extra 1/4 to 1/2 inch in height doesn’t really make much difference. The pixel 3a would activate apps from my fat hands touching the sides. This happened repeatedly. The samsungs never did false or unwanted activations. That said, I don’t see the point of the “edge ” screen. I like the Samsung 10e for size and balance of performance. I just don’t like it for $700-800.
The best price I can find is $409 for “amazon refurbished” with amazon making the guarantees. The price is for the blue version. The pink version is $540! Blue must not be selling well. It’s almost 3 x the price of a new old stock S7 so I’m torn. The new os, processor, and bigger screen all look sexy.
One last consideration, the Note 9 is available new for $465. That would give me the stylus…. bigger screen and faster processor….
n
Used to be quite fast with my thumbs when I had a Blackberry with a physical keyboard but for some reason that didn’t translate well to the virtual keyboards where it’s mostly one finger but lots of text predictions with Swiftkey which I found years ago. My wife prefers the swipe entry mode and my son has Apple CarPlay which does dictation quite well. At least we’re past the T9 days (guess I date myself) although it’s available on the new Motorola Razr via an easter egg.
https://www.theverge.com/circuitbreaker/2019/11/13/20963297/motorola-razr-2019-secret-retro-razr-mode-easter-egg-foldable
Used “mint” on Swappa, best is $384. (Presume you’re looking at the 128 GB version.)
https://swappa.com/listing/view/LTNT36419
Not all that familiar with all the various Samsung models but I see both “8” and “9” variants – is there something between the 7 and the 10 that could work for you?
Samsung uses letters for the “trim level” and numbers for the iteration, so an A7 is much less of a phone than the S7, and the S10 is 3 iterations past S7… The NOTE family uses a number for iteration.
So if there is an S8 and S9 they are probably better than what I have. But the freaking S9 is still $350 for “renewed.”
n
Ok delivery dates sealed the deal. Two day for the refurbed S10e.
The Note 9 was from ebay and would take almost 10 days to arrive. No reason for that except scam, so I am wary. If you have it in stock and ready to go, it should ship in a day at most, and no service in the US will take more than a couple of days to cross half the country. No service I’d send a 400$ high theft item by anyway.
I will have to make do until then.
n