Hot and hot and hot today. Overcast in the morning, scorching sun in the afternoon. That’s MY prediction, without even looking at a map or satellite images.
‘Cuz that’s what it was like yesterday, and the day before too.
I spent most of the day alternating between cleaning in the garage, and working on my daughter’s dresser, and doing other auction stuff. I had to water the garden, the sprinklers weren’t getting enough water where it was needed for the melons. I’ll have to take a look today and see if they’ve changed, or if it’s just that dang hot. The pool was noticeably lower so my wife topped it up this evening. And then started reading the newest Harry Dresden novel… while the hose ran. Sometime around 11pm I noticed the water running. Oh my, the water bill is going to be high this month too…
One of the things that is hard to stockpile effectively is two part epoxy adhesive. It will eventually kick off in the tube over time. I try to pick up a package every so often so I have a fresh one if I need it. I haven’t picked one up recently enough I guess. I’ll be using other glues on the dresser, but it would have been nice to use some epoxy on certain of the repairs. Super glue will also get hard in the tubes, and super glue is incredibly useful. Eventually, if things go downhill enough, some things just won’t be replaceable.
And because of the chemistry of soft plastics, lots of otherwise functional things either crumble (like the shoes I’ve been wearing this week), get sticky (like half the radio stuff in the garage, and the cruise control buttons in my Ranger), or turn white and corrode to powder. There’s a reason .mil gear looks like it does, and not like consumer product. Consumer product just won’t last anymore. I’d like to think that no one expected cheap FRS radios to last more than a couple of years, so it wouldn’t be a big deal when the antenna covers and plastic knobs failed. On the other hand, I suspect they see it as a feature and not a bug. If you’re looking for long term use and longevity, avoid soft plastics and overmolds.
Dinner was chicken tacos, from canned costco chicken, lawry’s chicken taco spice pouch, and fixin’s from the fridge. The pouch spices were in date, the chicken was BB 2017. It was just as good as when it was made. The canned white chicken chunks and a variety of easy meal spice packs makes for a lot of tasty and easy food. Mexican, indian, chinese, and others are all things I’ve made and pouches I keep on hand. Add some rice and you can stretch for another 2-4 people or get two meals out of it.
Today will be more of the same. It’s like Groundhog Day here at Casa De Nick. Keep stacking. Neatly if you can manage it…
n
(and if you haven’t already, drop Barbara a card… addy is on her site.)
My wife is very upset that a lot of our friends are saying they want the kids back in the classroom. Half the teachers don’t want that.
The online education has been a crock, even in “good” schools.
If the situation really is projected to be that dangerous in September, lay the teachers off and put them on unemployment until the threat passes. I’ll bet you would see some real fast changes in both public health policy and government projections about cases/deaths if that happened.
Again, if we’re not even going to treat the virus patients as we do with those testing positive with TB, what’s the point? Camp their happy a**es at home or close the schools and refund the money.
People are not going to be patient if the property tax bills come due in October/November and the kids are still sitting at home watching Baby Yoda, brains rotting away. I owe $5000 to the ISD this year for what? Instruction on the Civil War consisting of a History Channel Magazine special issue?
(My youngest’s actual instructional materials)
Yes, parents use the schools as daycares incorrectly, but that situation has been allowed to develop in the name of indoctrination over 50 years. The system can’t reform overnight.
At this point, the mortgage companies probably don’t have the escrow to cover the education taxes sufficiently anyway. The end of the year is going to be *really* interesting at the local taxation level. Wait until trim notices go out next year.
@Mr. Lynn: Western Digital has some new drives for you to try..Western Digital releases new 18TB, 20TB EAMR drives. I wonder how much they cost, in quantity. I wonder if Backblaze will get a few and report on their findings.
At some point, probably still several years away, SSD will compete with spinning metal and glass and become a better option. Reduced power, speed, and physical size may make SSD the better option even if slightly costlier.
When I worked at the bank in San Antonio I remember about 1986 they bought a solid state disk drive to store the operating system and a few heavily used files. I don’t remember the amount of storage but I do remember a large cabinet with dozens of circuit boards with hundreds of memory chips. The cost was several hundred thousand dollars. I am certain that I have multiple thumb drives with 10 times the capacity for which I probably paid less than $20.00. The little micro-sd card in my GoPro is probably 10 times, or more, the capacity and I paid $11.00 for that little memory card. I have no idea how the transfer speed would compare.
My son is a rising Junior and he wants to go back to the classroom. He attends one of the top 5 high schools in Alabama, and he said the online instruction was a joke (his assessment.) Our school district is giving the option of in class or online learning for next year. It will be interesting to see the numbers participating in each.
Mirrors my observation. Students get out of bed sometime around lunch time because they are hungry. They spend 15 minutes on the computer doing their “lessons”. Then chatting with their friends and off to goof off. They learn very little and the parents really don’t care. I thought the last wave of students were stupid with their inability to distinguish between “there”, “their”, “they’re”; “accept”, except”; “break”, “brake”, etc. The one that is really strange “Anyone want to sale their iPhone”. No concept of the difference between “sale” and “sell”.
If online learning is so great why are schools begging for more money to build new facilities? Why not just close the buildings, establish a small center where teachers can congregate around computers and make everything online. One hundred teachers could easily fit in an office building that would be 1/10th the size of a school building. Much cheaper than building classrooms.
But what about the parents of the 5-12 year old where both parents work? Will the parents now have to pay a babysitter rather than relying on the school? Many of the parents aren’t smart enough to help their children with basic math and history so why stay home to help the student?
Online learning is a cop-out by the school system and the teachers. Teachers just copying stuff off the web, or pointing the student to some other online learning system. When kids are at home doing the online learning, they cheat. The look up the answers on the web. The students learn nothing. The students were doing that in regular school where online lessons were used. Not such behavior is even more rampant.
The school districts think they are being proactive, progressive, intelligent solutions. When in reality the school board and such are just as clueless and ignorant. They read what someone else has done and think it is good without really thinking through the process. It does not help that almost all the school board members have not set foot in a classroom in 30 years except for a photo-op to get their face in the paper.
Agreed. Even my daughter’s school, which missed only two instruction days as they set up for lessons over Zoom, did poorly. It looked to me like it was going well, with 4.5 hours of class per day and homework, but a year-end wrapup showed that not as much material was covered as planned* and the kids did poorly on tests and assignments. Even my daughter, who did her classwork about four feet from me and was able to get help for computer difficulties, problems with the material, or motivational shortfalls. Kids with less technically adept parents were frequently offline during class and had trouble uploading their work. (Or at least that was what was claimed. I’ll reserve judgment.)
The public school “remote instruction” was a waste of time. And my tax dollars.
* Though note that it’s common for teachers at her school and most schools to either not cover all of the planned material by the end of the school year or else rush through the last quarter or third in the final month.
Yeppers.
And the same goes for all public services which aren’t being performed “from an excess of caution” or whatever bullshit excuse is put forth. Government offices which are closed to the public but which don’t provide a way to submit or get paperwork online are a good candidate for permanent closure and firing of all staffers.
If online learning is so great why are schools begging for more money to build new facilities? Why not just close the buildings, establish a small center where teachers can congregate around computers and make everything online. One hundred teachers could easily fit in an office building that would be 1/10th the size of a school building. Much cheaper than building classrooms.
Education is a racket. Teachers are Made Men and Women, and a lot of livelihoods outside of direct instruction depend on the players being able to “wet their beaks”, particularly construction-related companies. However there are others dependent on that cash flow.
The girl who was our cat sitter last week was laid off from her job at a video production company which covers most of the local school systems’ big events such as graduations and special band events. Of course, since she isn’t “made” in the racket she has to hustle for other work temporarily, but the expectation is still there that schools will return to normal in the near future.
Of course, with the multimedia experience, our cat sitter might actually fare better in the kind of system you proposed, possibly make a *lot* more money. People would adapt, but it is a threat to the established way of doing things, especially to those with no other skills beyond pushing a spreadsheet or word processor. Pournelle’s Iron Law lives on.
I’m sure the ProgLibTurds are panicking about the de-indoctrination of the children. It’s hard to screech about tRump and the Redumblicans when a kid can just turn down the volume (or switch to the pr0n tab). The PLT’s have literally cut their own throats. As others have said above, how long are people going to look at their tax bill and think “I’m not getting shirt (-r) for this”. I hope this whole COVID crisis crushes the Dumbos. Just because tRump is down in the polls doesn’t mean Plugs is going to win.
Never interrupt an enemy while he is making a mistake.
There’s a 98.7% chance that Biden will win!
Yah, I don’t believe it, either. The poll results are cooked or completely made up.
Comet NEOWISE is getting bright in the evening sky, visible to the naked eye but an excellent binocular object.
I’ve been checking it out in the am hours, but the Moon has been washing it out lately, evening is better.
I may make a trip up to the Sierras or Death Valley for good seeing, I believe BLM land is still open for dry camping.
The district has plans (which I haven’t reviewed yet) that involve a LOT more teacher interaction with the online kids than previously. It won’t be self guided, the teacher will be looking at them throughout the day. They’ll have to sit in the chair, just like school.
Which takes away the biggest advantage, in that a good student can finish in about an hour or two, what the district takes 6 hours to grind thru.
n
I used to put my tent up at Opal Mtn.
Publicly funded services
Holler if you can’t view it and I’ll put it up somewhere.
There was no accountability. Because they couldn’t be sure every kid had access to learn online all grading basically stopped mid-March. So, if your kid went home when the pandemic hit the US and never did another lick of school work that year their grade was completely unaffected. Kids aren’t stupid. So, that fact start circulating and attendance in online classes went from 20 kids in mid-March to a half dozen by mid-May.
We were very strict with our daughter. She had to video into ALL of her classes (fully dressed, hair brushed, in a chair not laying in bed). All of her homework had to be done same day. Though, as others have noted, it only took her about an hour or so. Sort of makes you wonder why in the hell she has to sit in a public school 7 hours a day. I was a bit amused at how the pandemic brought to light how much of the school day was bullshit.
I used to put my tent up at Opal Mtn.
Hmm. Never been. North of Anza Borrego, right? Best amateur photo of Halleys Comet I ever saw was from AB.
Heh. I see the makings of the new “Obama-Phone” with free internet (+all equipment). Gotta justify those property taxes somehow.
The district has plans (which I haven’t reviewed yet) that involve a LOT more teacher interaction with the online kids than previously. It won’t be self guided, the teacher will be looking at them throughout the day. They’ll have to sit in the chair, just like school.
That is still a lousy value proposition to me.
Of course, the teachers aren’t going to be required to show up at the otherwise empty school buildings where the multimedia equipment and Internet bandwidth can be easily installed to facilitate the approach with proper social distancing maintained. No, they’ll want to “work” from home, requiring the ISDs to spend more money on high speed network connections and, at a minimum, laptops capable of dealing with the multimedia requirements.
If I was an administrator at an ISD, floating a bond issue this fall which was planned long before the virus, I’d be concerned about having the buildings still closed come election day. Long term, bond issues are going to be highly contentious ballot entries.
–I commented last year that I discovered that the district is leasing ground to tower operators, taking a below market rate, so that they can use the top 15ft……… to provide free wifi to our “underserved community”.
That was ‘approved’ as part of a tech upgrade bond issue.*
n
*scare quotes because no one was ever asked it they’d like to pay to develop a whole district wide wifi internet provider. They were TOLD that some money was needed to improve the district’s tech, and increase access to resources. Funny how by moving some material online a few years ago, suddenly every student NEEDS a big pipe, and I’m the sucker who should pay for it.
“The Twitter timebomb: Experts warn hackers could swing elections, stock market and potentially start a WAR after Barack Obama, Joe Biden and Elon Musk accounts were hijacked in ‘biggest ever’ security breach”
–wow, anything that powerful should be regulated and controlled if not outright banned.
n
hmmm, battlespace prep? Accounts can be hacked, so anything they say the blows up in their faces can be blamed on “hackers”, or they can use my specious argument above to shut down a tool that the current president used to his great advantage, while people weren’t taking it seriously…
NW of Barstow. Go west from Barstow on 58, then just before town of Hinkley, north on Hinkley about 18 miles.
WRT Anza Borrego, yes tent there many times. However, hotel in Borrego Springs for 2 decades. Every Thanksgiving WE and one WE in spring (except this year). Then go up Coyote Canyon to Coyote Creek and put feet in water. Hopefully, this Thanksgiving (Gov. Screwsom not forbidding).
Funny how by moving some material online a few years ago, suddenly every student NEEDS a big pipe, and I’m the sucker who should pay for it.
The arguments with the recent bond issues in Round Rock has been that the tax increase would be $X number of dollars for the typical household. With fewer households paying mortgages and, indirectly, property taxes without penalty, $X is going exponential this fall.
“19 Best Post-apocalyptic Fantasy Books” by Dan Livingston
https://fantasybookworld.com/19-best-post-apocalyptic-fantasy-books/
“Gathering this list together in mid-2020 makes me think I should read post-apocalyptic books not for entertainment, but for practical tips and tricks.”
Yup.
I have read “Swan Song”, the awesome “Ariel”, “The Passage”, and the gruesome “The Stand”. Four out of the 19. I would have thought more.
The Stand and the Brandon Sanderson are the only one’s I’ve read. I recognize several of the authors, including the SJW ones…. his lists are always heavy on recent and SJW titles…
n
I’m a college teacher, but I have done a lot of volunteer work with younger kids, from age 5 and up. I’ve mentioned before that I’m spending the summer in an intense re-work of my courses, because online learning is so different from classroom teaching.
The younger the students, the more difficult this is going to be. You’re going to lose more of the students who don’t have good support at home. The younger the kids, the more support they need – at the youngest ages, it will basically be home-schooling.
The quality of teachers in the US is not reassuring, seeing as many of them are the dregs of college graduates. Their ability to teach is already questionable – their ability to adapt to a drastically new situation? Forget it.
Meanwhile, even well-meaning parents may not be capable of supervising the online schooling of their children, either because they don’t have time, or simply because the role of a parent and the role of a teacher are very different.
There is an answer: Create neighborhood schools, with just a few kids being taught by qualified and talented local adults. Let the national- and state-level bureaucracies provide their usual pathetic quality of education for the neighborhoods that can’t be bothered.
Just in case you haven’t figured it out – or are not paranoid enough – ‘they’ are watching you …
https://atlasofsurveillance.org/
“Documenting Police Tech in Our Communities – Explore 5,300 datapoints in the U.S. collected by hundreds of researchers.”
Map is zoomable, click on data points to see what they mean.
Meanwhile the public schools continue to collect tax money and distribute it to unionized public school employees and thence to Democratic politicians.
I’m not saying that your solution is the wrong solution, just that it’s horrible.
“Cowboys, Dak Prescott don’t reach deal; Dak’s brother lashes out”
https://www.chron.com/sports/texans/article/Dak-Prescott-brother-Tad-Dallas-Cowboys-contract-15411090.php?cmpid=hpctp
“The Cowboys failed to reach a long-term extension with quarterback Dak Prescott before Wednesday’s deadline. That means Prescott will play the 2020 season under the franchise tag valued at $31.4 million.”
So $31 million is chump change ? Especially when they are not going to play this year.
And Dak needs to tell his brother to shut up. Of course, the older brother is hoping to get a million or five off his superstar brother.
Wow. We drove the second night of testimony to midnight.
We prevented our Assembly from voting on spending 22 million Covid funds to buy 4 buildings to be homeless shelter, and from changing our B3 business district zoning to permit homeless shelters without zoning and planning review.
The Assembly Chair was forced to offer another night of testimony. Regrettably, he is rolling it over to tomorrow night. The security guards (they brought in a full crew, instead of the normal single guy) are not very happy with all the extra hours but are remaining more professional than our elected officials.
@Jenny, sorry but you are getting railroaded. The city officials in Anchorage are getting free money from the state or the feddies. They will ignore you and do it anyway as soon as your back is turned.
Probably your only option right now is to move out of the city. And do it quickly before the homeless shelter shows up in your neighborhood.
Showered and did my haircut/shave/beard trim routine. Headed out on my auction errands.
Scanner has the cops running a surveillance op in exactly the area I’ll be in doing my pickups….
n
@SteveF: You’re right, of course. But I don’t know what you can do about it. Government does not willingly give up money – there’s nothing more permanent than a temporary tax. Maybe if enough people are organizing their own schooling, school vouchers would have a chance?
Only vaguely related, but I remember back in 2016, when Trump was promising to “drain the swamp”, I was hoping he would fire some huge proportion of federal employees. He can’t eliminate agencies that Congress has funded, but he certainly could fire their staff and set hiring limits for the replacements. If the Dept. of Education had a staff of 4 instead of 4,000, it would do less damage…
Only three months until we start early voting in Texas for prez, senate, and house on Oct 19, 2020. I can hardly wait to get this behind us. I predict long lines. You know, they should give us a full month to early vote instead of just two weeks.
https://www.sos.state.tx.us/elections/voter/important-election-dates.shtml
So $31 million is chump change ? Especially when they are not going to play this year.
And Dak needs to tell his brother to shut up. Of course, the older brother is hoping to get a million or five off his superstar brother.
They’re trying to turn it into a race thing and lump Prescott in with Colin Kapernick.
Only three months until we start early voting in Texas for prez, senate, and house on Oct 19, 2020. I can hardly wait to get this behind us. I predict long lines. You know, they should give us a full month to early vote instead of just two weeks.
A month is too long. A lot changes in politics in a month.
Two weeks is bad enough. When MJ Hegar ran for Congress in our district in 2018 and the exit polls at the beginning of early voting showed her losing, badly, out came the abusive father/mean old white man meme campaign commercials. She almost pulled off the win after two weeks of that garbage. It definitely played well in the suburbs since she won Williamson County.
“Sorry, Elon: Fully Autonomous Tesla Vehicles Will Not Happen Anytime Soon”
https://www.pcmag.com/opinions/sorry-elon-fully-autonomous-tesla-vehicles-will-not-happen-anytime-soon
“Elon Musk says Tesla vehicles could soon be fully self-driving, with no human intervention needed. But self-driving cars rely on deep learning, and the technology just isn’t there yet.”
Yup. Responding to different situations is tough to learn. Traffic, bad drivers, snow, rain, pedestrians, accidents blocking the road, etc.
The Uncertain Future of Ham Radio:
@EdH
Comet NEOWISE … – snip – … I may make a trip up to the Sierras or Death Valley for good seeing, I believe BLM land is still open for dry camping
I hauled my sleeping bag into the hills behind my house as a kid to watch Halley’s comet away from the lights. Fantastic. A strong and cherished memory. It would be extraordinary if I am still alive on it’s next pass. If I am, boy would I like to do that again.
“Elon Musk says Tesla vehicles could soon be fully self-driving, with no human intervention needed. But self-driving cars rely on deep learning, and the technology just isn’t there yet.”
Yup. Responding to different situations is tough to learn. Traffic, bad drivers, snow, rain, pedestrians, accidents blocking the road, etc.
This has been well known for a while, but making cars amenable to *automation* (note: I did not write “autonomous”) has been the real goal of selling the fantasy of autonomy as justification for removing the braking, steering and throttle systems of vehicles from the driver’s direct control.
The fleet will be sufficiently turned over and amenable to automation in about five years. First, however, the older vehicles will have to be removed through the use of congestion pricing (tolling) on surface streets and special license plates for “high polluting” (old) cars and trucks.
Yuuup, and BLM and antifa protesters smashing up cars.
A woman actually said to me the other day, as she supported an anti-Betsy Devos rant: “People don’t consider how hard it will be to feed them, get them to the restroom, wash hands, walk down the hall, etc. …. ”
I am still cutting my own hair, and it still looks surprisingly good. Maybe I just need stronger glasses, but I think I will continue to cut it myself. If I get really brave, I’ll film it for my little channel one of these days.
My own garden is being killed by the spider mites. Whatever product killed them was taken off the market a couple years ago, and as far as I know nothing effective has replaced it.
We desperately need a cold winter. We do not have any animals, have never had animals here, but I called this morning to have the exterminator come spray house and yard for fleas! The lady who answered the phone said that ours was the second such call she had had today, same exact issue. Between the warm winter and the hot dry summer they are a serious problem. Insecticides are another Miracle of Science and Modern Life that are greatly unappreciated by activists who don’t realize what it takes to keep a clean and safe environment.
@cowboySlim:
I may just do that. That and the B Springs site sound neat.
@Jenny:
Yep. It sticks with you. Odd how 1986 seems like yesterday and a million years ago at the same time.
@Mr. Lynn: Western Digital has some new drives for you to try..Western Digital releases new 18TB, 20TB EAMR drives. I wonder how much they cost, in quantity. I wonder if Backblaze will get a few and report on their findings.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2020/07/western-digital-releases-new-18tb-20tb-eamr-drives/
At some point, probably still several years away, SSD will compete with spinning metal and glass and become a better option. Reduced power, speed, and physical size may make SSD the better option even if slightly costlier.
Wow, that reminds me of the good old Prime mini days with the $250,000 twelve platter twelve inch hard drives.
SSD is definitely coming on strong. I keep on wondering if the holographic media is ever going to be useful.
Backblaze is getting their hard drives directly from the manufacturers now. They have jumped to enterprise SATA units, mostly Seagates. Their last report was all about their 12 TB drives so they are behind. I still suspect that the NSA and other agencies are getting priority on these big drives.
@Lynn
@Jenny, sorry but you are getting railroaded. The city officials in Anchorage are getting free money from the state or the feddies. They will ignore you and do it anyway as soon as your back is turned. Probably your only option right now is to move out of the city.
Oh absolutely. There’s not a snowball chance we are changing the minds of our elected officials. We are buying time for other legal actions. We are also talking about moving. I hate that. It will be a huge financial blow, not to mention the emotional and mental drain.
If I was an administrator at an ISD, floating a bond issue this fall which was planned long before the virus, I’d be concerned about having the buildings still closed come election day. Long term, bond issues are going to be highly contentious ballot entries.
Our school district is voting on a $700+ million bond this fall. I will be a flat NO.
@EdH, coming down the north slope of Opal Mtn is Inscription Canyon. Bona fide Indian petroglyphs in there, well at least 40 years ago and there has been some vandalism.
Only three months until we start early voting in Texas for prez, senate, and house on Oct 19, 2020. I can hardly wait to get this behind us. I predict long lines. You know, they should give us a full month to early vote instead of just two weeks.
A month is too long. A lot changes in politics in a month.
Have fun in the long lines to vote. We had very long lines here for voting early in the 2016 election. I think that I had to wait about 30 or 40 minutes to vote with about 60 people ahead of me.
“Spirit Airlines employees battered in attack over delayed flight”
https://nypost.com/2020/07/15/spirit-airline-employees-injured-in-brawl-over-delayed-flight-in-florida/
What is wrong with these three women who battered the airline employees ? I hope that they have to do some time in the pokey.
I read not long ago that the biggest problem is stationary objects…
Some soap like Ivory liquid or Dawn mixed with water in a pump-up sprayer?
Maybe add some tobacco juice. Get a pouch of chew and soak some in water overnight.
Just guessing.
I was going to say guess the race but their names confirmed that question.
People are crazy.
“Spirit Airlines employees battered in attack over delayed flight”
What is wrong with these three women who battered the airline employees ? I hope that they have to do some time in the pokey.
Ever ridden Spirit? I have. A couple of hours in one of those seats, dealing with the employees’ attitudes, and I guarantee you’ll want to hurt someone.
Southwest it isn’t.
Spirit was my wife’s brain fart when oil prices spiked in 2012 during our Vantucky adventure, but she really wanted a trip to Florida for a conference. We still paid $750, each, round trip, more than the Southwest price, when we got done with Spirits add-on fees and surcharges for little things like seats with our kids, then 11 and 6.
I doubt the employees are totally blameless. The airline might as well have “FU” painted on the tails of all the planes. That’s the attitude.
Gentlemen – do any of you recall the stats we were chatting about a few weeks (months???) ago regarding homelessness in terms of root cause (alcoholism, job loss, mental illness, drug addiction, etc)?
Do you recall where those figures came from?
Gentlemen – do any of you recall the stats we were chatting about a few weeks (months???) ago regarding homelessness in terms of root cause (alcoholism, job loss, mental illness, drug addiction, etc)?
Do you recall where those figures came from?
Mine are annectdotal, based on my wife’s observations of the homeless doing rounds at the psych hospital downtown once a month. Someone else might have real sources.
Jenny, I looked for the 4-3-2-1 thing but couldn’t find any cites, merely a few mentions of it. With luck someone else will put something up before it’s time for your meeting.
Nope. Congress is one step ahead of you.
Most agency funding bills have staffing limits – both upper and lower. NASA had to find something for a bunch of the shuttle staff to do when it was shut down (the contractors were laid off) and the same for ISS staff when it finished assembly. A lot ended up getting added on to SLS and Orion. The Orion add ons caused a lot of disruption, because some wanted to reopen requirements and design decisions that had been settled for a year or more.
Gentlemen – do any of you recall the stats we were chatting about a few weeks (months???) ago regarding homelessness in terms of root cause (alcoholism, job loss, mental illness, drug addiction, etc)?
Do you recall where those figures came from?
CATO 4321
I first heard the mnemonic on a podcast by John Derbyshire, but I have no idea of his source.
Added: It may only be a sort of urban legend, but it is likely close to reality.
He can’t eliminate agencies that Congress has funded, but he certainly could fire their staff and set hiring limits for the replacements.
Nope. Congress is one step ahead of you.
Most agency funding bills have staffing limits – both upper and lower. NASA had to find something for a bunch of the shuttle staff to do when it was shut down (the contractors were laid off) and the same for ISS staff when it finished assembly. A lot ended up getting added on to SLS and Orion. The Orion add ons caused a lot of disruption, because some wanted to reopen requirements and design decisions that had been settled for a year or more.
The President, not any particular one but all of them, drastically needs a line item veto. Most of the state governors, if not all, have that tool.
How about a camera small enough to fit on a beetle?
Yep, got one: https://gizmodo.com/researchers-created-tiny-camera-backpacks-for-beetles-1844361973
The possibilities for surveillance ….. ?
Now you just need someone who can control the beetles and make them go where you want them to.
Wife of my best friend who died suddenly of a massive heart attack four years uses me occasionally for minor repairs around her house and solving computer problems. She pays me, which is really not necessary, but makes her feel better.
Today I replaced the drain valve and all the tank seals on one of her toilets. The tank gasket was getting soft so best to replace them all.
I cut my arm fairly badly on the flush handle on a sharp edge. Combination of angle and motion. Lot of blood but not something that warranted stitches as it was not deep. Eight hours later and it showing signs of infection. Red, hot and starting to swell. I have applied alcohol on the wound (yeehaa), multiple times opening the wound each time. Bandaged with Neosporin. This is something I am really going to have to watch carefully.
I cut my arm fairly badly on the flush handle on a sharp edge. Combination of angle and motion. Lot of blood but not something that warranted stitches as it was not deep. Eight hours later and it showing signs of infection. Red, hot and starting to swell. I have applied alcohol on the wound (yeehaa), multiple times opening the wound each time. Bandaged with Neosporin. This is something I am really going to have to watch carefully.
Ouch ! It may be clinic time !
Now you just need someone who can control the beetles and make them go where you want them to.
https://parahumans.wordpress.com/
I got about 200,000 words into this 1.7 million word ebook. Someday, I will finish it.
Worm starts pretty bad, in terms of World Full of Suck rather than quality of writing, but if you can make it past that it gets better. Well, sort of. The world by and large gets worse but there’s a mostly happy ending.
I like Pact better, in part because it’s half the length and in part because it’s Wildbow’s second big writing project and the quality is better. Couldn’t get into Twig but Wildbow says that was “experimental” and many people didn’t like it. Haven’t started Ward, the sequel to Worm; probably will someday but leisure time is somewhat limited.
One possible benefit to reading Worm is that there’s a huge amount of fanfiction written for it, if you’re into fanfiction. I’m not, unless I know the author; “90% of everything is crap” should be 99% when it comes to fanfiction.
@ray, go get AB NOW. You do not want to lose control of that. You can get sepsis and die. Seriously, if it isn’t cleared up in the morning, or if it gets noticeably worst tonight, GO. Even a doc in the box can write you a scrip for antibiotics.
You do not want to take a chance. all sorts of nasties live on surfaces in the bathroom.
n
It would probably be counted as a COVID-19 death.
I am watching it. I have marked the current area of redness with a black marker to see if it spreads and how much. If it gets much worse I will trundle to the ER to get some ABs. I am surprised that it got hot that fast and that is a significant concern. I have cleaned it well with alcohol but if the nasties have migrated too far into the tissue that would be for naught.
I actually get small cuts quite often from various offenses. Doctor gets irritated at me when he sees them. Most get mildly infected, red, slightly swollen. I leave them alone and it clears up in a couple of days with no problems. The elevated temperature of this spot is the biggest concern.
One possible benefit to reading Worm is that there’s a huge amount of fanfiction written for it, if you’re into fanfiction. I’m not, unless I know the author; “90% of everything is crap” should be 99% when it comes to fanfiction.
99.9%. The Kirk and Spock gay fan fiction (never visited !) is the absolute worst. Leonard Nimoy’s son made a documentary of his dad and mentioned that. BTW, the documentary is very good and interesting. Recommended.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Love_of_Spock
and
https://www.netflix.com/title/80115102
If you are going to write a story then create your own universe ! Otherwise people are expecting your characters to act a certain way and when the characters do not, the people are disappointed.
“If you are going to write a story then create your own universe”
— but it’s so much easier when someone else has done the heavy lifting of world building and characterization, and you can just steal their hard work….
n
I’ve been posting to Our community FB groups to encourage and keep people updated. The Assembly chair says no name calling but permits certain people to cast aspersions on others and I bet you can guess how that is tilted. We are succeeding in gaining time. Current rumor is we will be continued to next week, and that the news channels are finally starting to cover the ordinances.
——-
10:50 pm 7/16/2020
Voting on whether to extend to midnight…
———
Motion fails.
A move to reconsider (so they can revote)
Chair seems flustered but I’m not sure. Might just be tired.
Motion to reconsider the revote on midnight extension passes
—
Now revoting on extending to midnight
Motion passes
—
We are extended to midnight.
I see about a dozen people that are probably standing up so they can testify. Unknown number waiting for phone testimony.
I hesitate to hope – people may leave – do you guys think we’re going to make it to midnight?
I saw that Spectrum article about the demise of ham radio – only, it doesn’t make any sense. They complain about “an anemic 1 percent annual growth”: WTF do they want? If ham radio were in danger, licenses would be shrinking!
I can imagine that there is a generational divide between the hams that want to talk on the airwaves, and those that want to exchange data. There is enough space for both, though, and no reason why this should really be a problem.
Or a requirement, like we have, that a piece of legislation can only address a single topic. That would make pork-packing a lot more difficult.
Unbelievable. We got a continuance to Tuesday. GREAT testimony tonight. Last testifier was a very smart and articulate 17 year old, who made a point of stating that she would be voting soon, with a long pause to look sharply at every individual assembly member. Excellent young adult.
The phones were packed with those opposed. A lot of the speakers were keenly nervous, they had amazing courage because the assembly members were nasty with their questions and trying to trap people putting words in their mouth. People are furious. If you want a peek, go to http://www.muni.org and dig around on the Assembly site. You’ll find the recorded meetings. It’s better than day time tv by a long ways.
The continuance means I’ve got time to get another batch of postcards in the mail Friday night to hit mailboxes Monday / Tuesday. I have a volunteer to pay for it, and more volunteers to stamp and mail. The Assembly badly miscalculated yesterday and today by calling in the opposition. If they’d left us to our own testimony, we wouldn’t have made it through. We bought the lawyers four days.
Wow. Just f-ing wow.
I am beginning to hope we may be able to beat this. I do NOT want to see B3 zoning receive the proposed changes. I do not want the four purchases for shelters as proposed to go through. It will finish ruining our poor beleaguered city and neighbors.
wow, I’m too cynical!
great news.
n