Wed. Nov. 25, 2020 – and the beat goes on

By on November 25th, 2020 in culture, personal, WuFlu

Cooler, damper, maybe some rain.

It was overcast most of Tuesday, with some very light sprinkles to keep me from doing much outside.  Did a bit inside, chronicled in the comments yesterday.

My wife got one coat of mud on the repair, so maybe she’ll get another on today, and maybe we’ll get the hood hung.  At least getting the ceiling penetration done and the mounting bracketry in  place would let the painting progress.  I bet we get there, someone is strongly motivated.

And there is turkey prep that needs to happen.  Every year we try some new method, and every year I hear “this is how we’re doing it from now on, this is great”, and then the next year we start afresh.  Alton somebody’s method this year.  Sides, french meat stuffing and pie, and dessert all need to get started today too.  We’re not doing a lot of sides, because we’re not having anyone over, but we do need the traditional stuff…

And I have to go to the rent house and do some plumbing work in the tub.  The tenants are away this week, so I feel ok going over.  I’ll wear my mask and gloves.  I am feeling better.  Not fully 100% but better.  Still moving slow.

Kids have been playing Skyrim, both are working their way through the assassins guild and the thieves guild quests.  Kinda fun to watch how each one approaches the moral dilemmas.  Both have adopted orphan kids and gotten married in game too.    Weirdos.   The most recent version also lets you design and build houses too.  You have to quarry stone, forge nails, cut wood…  MORE freaking grinding, but the kids love it.  Minecraft is ALL grinding, so I guess it’s what they think gaming IS.    Funny that my favorite movies are 30 years old or more, and my favorite computer and console games are 10-15 years old.    Older than my kids.  I’ve had my gmail account for 21 years it told me the other day.  That’s my “new” account.

Time flies.

And time is getting short.  Get your stuff in one bag and keep stacking.

nick

 

101 Comments and discussion on "Wed. Nov. 25, 2020 – and the beat goes on"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    Minecraft is ALL grinding, so I guess it’s what they think gaming IS.

    The irony is that the younger employees at my last job, many of whom grind away at these games endlessly in their spare time, complained about the drudgery of pouring through our log files and — gasp — reading code to spot patterns and fix problems.

    Still no yelling from management at the new job.

    10
  2. Greg Norton says:

    It’s changing. Seeing their kids get refused admission to top schools is having an effect.

    It isn’t so much that their kids are denied admission as it is that their friends’ kids get into the school.

    You Ain’t Got No Ice Cream. Kiasu. Whatever you want to call it.

    In the meantime, there’s still lots of support for Dems and Twitter followers for the raging hypocrite George Takei. If you aren’t on the “right” side of Trayvon and BLM, you aren’t smart.

  3. ~jim says:

    Hmmm, this bears keeping an eye on if only to find out what the little green cells are eating to produce the hydrogen. Or spitting out as a side product. Unintended consequences, dontcha know. Yet if the production problems are solved, storage and transport will eventually be surmounted.

    Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy source

  4. Greg Norton says:

    And there is turkey prep that needs to happen. Every year we try some new method, and every year I hear “this is how we’re doing it from now on, this is great”, and then the next year we start afresh. Alton somebody’s method this year. Sides, french meat stuffing and pie, and dessert all need to get started today too. We’re not doing a lot of sides, because we’re not having anyone over, but we do need the traditional stuff…

    Alton Somebody has the physics of cooking nailed down pretty well, but his flavor combinations can be a bit odd sometimes. Venture carefully there if you have last minute guests.

    Back in Vantucky, we did a spiced brine one year that either originated with Alton Somebody or the California Wine Valley-named kitchen store. It was not a big hit with the in-laws, and their in-laws, something that became a bigger stink than we ever imagined because — I’m not kidding — the in-laws’ in-laws had signed paper contracts from the family to the effect that they would always be taken care of at holidays.

    The West Coast relations are beyond weird.

    This year’s turkey is pre-brined from HEB, and the audience is just us.

  5. Chad says:

    And there is turkey prep that needs to happen. Every year we try some new method, and every year I hear “this is how we’re doing it from now on, this is great”, and then the next year we start afresh. Alton somebody’s method this year.

    The brine portion of this Alton Brown recipe is excellent: https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/good-eats-roast-turkey-recipe-1950271

    We use it most years with excellent results. Works for both roasting and frying the turkey.

    I’ve had my gmail account for 21 years it told me the other day. That’s my “new” account.

    My Amazon.com purchase history goes back to 1997. I shudder to think what 23 years of those purchases adds up to. It is fun to periodically browse orders from 10+ years ago and see what I was buying. If I bought a baby shower gift the year I opened my Amazon account that baby has now graduated college. lol

    My eBay and PayPal accounts both go back to like 2000 I think. I was dating a girl at the time who got a job at their call center when PayPal came to town.

    My email account is only probably 14(ish) years old.

  6. ITGuy1998 says:

    My Amazon.com purchase history goes back to 1997

    Mine goes back to 2002. The first purchase? Babylon 5 Season 1 dvd set.

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well, it is a bit cooler this morning. And it is pretty humid.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/durables-goods-orders-jump-october-remain-down-year-over-year

    –they expected to be down. People worried about inflation? Venezuelans did something similar, turning as much inflating cash into hard assets as they could right before the hyperinflation hit… or pent up demand? I’d be interested to know if it was fridges and freezers or high end clothes washers. There’s a difference. Could just be normal cycles are disrupted by the covid pause. It’s interesting though if people are unemployed, have a negative outlook, think armed conflict and fighting in the streets is coming, that they’d be spending big money on stuff.

    n

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    Amazon lists a purchase in 2003, ebay says member since 4/2000, paypal would be very similar. AOL dates back to 9600baud.

    n

  9. Nick Flandrey says:

    I get FedEx service alerts in my email. They are a good indicator of where and when something is really messed up. Seems they had t storms in Memphis and that’s causing delays. THIS caught my eye…

    Our suspension of Money-Back-Guarantee is ongoing at this time due to the increase in U.S. e-commerce and other effects of the pandemic throughout the world.

    Didn’t realize that “demand for our service is high” was a valid reason to drop your service guarantees.

    n

  10. DadCooks says:

    Best wishes to all for whatever you can make of this Thanksgiving holiday.

    Be alert to what the Left Hand is doing while we are pre-occupied with celebration and spending too much money on “the Friday of color”.

    Vigilance is not just a word.

  11. brad says:

    my favorite movies are 30 years old or more, and my favorite computer and console games are 10-15 years old.

    Much the same here. I also find myself almost exclusively re-reading old books. Sort of mental “comfort food”. One of my kids suggested a new game to me – one that I really ought to like – but it’s very complex, and I just can’t be bothered to learn it.

    But…why? Is it that we have so many other responsibilities? Or is it mental laziness somehow tied up with getting older?

    On the professional side: I really enjoyed keeping up with all the latest stuff – until sometime in my late 40s, and…I just stopped. I remember when .NET came out, and I just thought: nope, not gonna learn that. Why bother, if I don’t need it?

    – – – – –

    On a completely different topic: our lovely neighbors reported in, in an unexpected way. There is a sort of general-purpose appeals process that I’ve never heard of. They complain to the canton (think: state) about actions taken by the town. It’s an odd process, with no particular requirements or results – basically, what you do, if the local government is screwing you over, and you want big daddy to come and spank them.

    Anyway, both we and the town have to reply to the complaint by mid-December. Then I suppose someone in the cantonal government will look at the two sides and…I have no idea what happens next. If things are cut-and-dried, I suppose they will issue an opinion. Otherwise, maybe there will be some kind of hearing.

    Anyway, we just passed the complaint on to our lawyer. He can figure out how best to reply.

  12. JimB says:

    And it is pretty humid.

    Well, soooprise!
    /snark

  13. Greg Norton says:

    On the professional side: I really enjoyed keeping up with all the latest stuff – until sometime in my late 40s, and…I just stopped. I remember when .NET came out, and I just thought: nope, not gonna learn that. Why bother, if I don’t need it?

    Even Microsoft tried to ditch .NET with WinRT/Win8 about 10 years ago. My C++ certificate program at UW was filled with their employees who were told to pick up the language. I think I was the only one on GCC and Valgrind, which gave me a huge advantage doing the assignments.

    Microsoft ultimately backed down, however. It is really hard to get away from .NET when outsourcing overseas.

  14. Nick Flandrey says:

    I think you get to a point where you realize that the ‘next new thing’ is probably going to be like all the other ‘next new things’. You’ve seen it come and go several times, and you don’t have the energy to waste on something that might not stick around.

    Experience teaches you that most things are crap, most people are just ok, change just for change’s sake has costs, you spend your life on all those things, and you are not getting it back, nor are you getting more.

    Some people call it ‘getting set in your ways’ and there is truth to that. It could also be ‘not wasting energy on novelty’ for it’s own sake.

    You have tools that work. You have systems and routines that work. Until they don’t, the most economical thing to do in terms of time and resources is to continue using what works.

    n

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    When it comes to reading or movies or games, if your goal is relaxation, then taking a chance on something new has costs. It can be great, but it can also burn some of your increasingly limited life. I don’t read to be ‘challenged’. I don’t read to be ‘enlightened’ or browbeaten, or for self flagellation. I read to relax and for comfort.

    I explored those paths long ago, found I didn’t like them, and moved on. Younger people are still on the path.

    n

  16. JimB says:

    You have tools that work. You have systems and routines that work. Until they don’t, the most economical thing to do in terms of time and resources is to continue using what works.

    Oh, how I wish I could get the rest of the world to embrace that. 🙁

  17. CowboySlim says:

    WRT to the public educational system comments, when feasible I decline discussing the middle of the spectrum while I fine it reasonable to discuss the ends.

    Failure end: Unwed, unemployed and minimally educated mother with several children fathered by one or more unwed man, lives in a Section 8 subsidized apartment and lives on food stamps and other welfare.

    Sucessful end: Both parents are married and college educated. One, usually the husband, works full time at a professional endeavor and the other my work part time but spends significant time at home with children. No welfare ever.

    My family history: I have a BS degree in engineering and my wife with a BS in nursing. Both children born after marriage and I worked full time professionally for 45 years and wife worked part time for a few years for enjoyment. Not one penny of welfare ever. Both children have earned Master’s degrees.

    On which end am I? How did my children not fail in our public school system?

    I apologize for being 100% politically incorrect.

    10
  18. SteveF says:

    Experience teaches you that most things are crap, most people are just ok

    Gotta disagree with you there, dude. Most people are crap.

    5
    1
  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    @cowboy slim, don’t forget the effect of the passage of time and the long march.

    While my kids still say the pledge every morning, most don’t. History and civics got replaced by “social studies”. Rights and responsibilities got replaced by only rights. Immigration put a serious resource crunch on schools. Our district is 83% non-white, about 60-70% non-english speaking, and of (un) questionable legal status. Parents pay little or no taxes, not income, not sales, not property. They get a pile of benefits, paid for by the working stiffs, said benefits and monies no longer available to said working stiffs.

    We wouldn’t need more teachers or new schools if we reduced our enrollment by 50%. The exact same property tax money would pay for 30-40% more stuff (after the skim).

    The only losers would be the banks and funds that own the low rent apartments, and the mom and pops that service the illegal population. There’d be a lot fewer tire shops around here.

    n

  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    “dude. Most people are crap. ”

    –I let my lighter angel overcome the darker one for a few minutes there. 80% of everything is crap.

    n

  21. Nick Flandrey says:

    Scanner has a huge op going on to arrest someone. Huge perimeter, lots of agencies, helo, 2 K9 units, orders not to pursue if he runs- let the dogs work him….

    n

  22. Nick Flandrey says:

    guy was not in the motel room.

    they are looking elsewhere. They had his location for the last three days. If you want to keep from getting ‘ketched’ keep moving.

    n

    They are ‘tracking his IP address’ and watching for posts

    DPS, ATF, HPD so far

    added- they’re tracking his INSTAGRAM account and what IP it’s posting from, they just added tracking of a girl who rented the motel room for him but expect it to take a day to get activated. They’re not tracking the phone, per se, which probably requires a warrant.

  23. CowboySlim says:

    As they say on late night infomercials, “…but wait, there’s more…”. My daughter’s, with Master’s in education, has husband with degree from UCLA. Their son is doing very well as a junior majoring in civil engineering at USC. Their daughter is doing well in freshman year at a junior college and been conditionally accepted (passing all current classes) to enter as a sophomore at USC.

    Have I said that is all dependent on home environment? Well, quantitatively, educational success is 10% school system and 90% family.

  24. Nick Flandrey says:

    I realized that I may have made a strategic error last night. I think I probably chose unwisely when I started reading 1001 Nights with my daughter, who always wants “just one more story before bed….”

    n

  25. dkreck says:

    Boy, people call me a cynic. Y’all make me look good 😀

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PF9JmtGZa0

  26. mediumwave says:

    Althouse: “He is an icon of hate speech and transphobia and the fact that he’s an icon of white supremacy, regardless of the content of his book, I’m not proud to work for a company that publishes him.”:

    “Said an unnamed employee, quoted in “Penguin Random House Staff Confront Publisher About New Jordan Peterson Book During a tense town hall, staff cried and expressed dismay with the publishing giant’s decision to publish ‘Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life.'” (Vice).”

    Not so many years ago Jordan Peterson’s approach to life would have been considered so bland and uncontroversial as to be nonpunishable. Nowadays he’s almost the anti-Christ.

    From the comments:

    Publishing house staff are a dime a dozen. Jordan Peterson is big money. Do the math. Fire the staff, keep Peterson. Fire the staffer with the highest salary first. Pour encourager les autres. Then ask the next one if he/she wants to stay or join the ranks of the unemployed. Continue down the list until all the “concientous” objectors have been queried.

    Yep.

  27. CowboySlim says:

    @Nick, here is how it was in the school district that my grandchildren (USC boy and USC bound girl) attended grammer and high school. School district (Newport Mesa Unified School District) served both areas: (1) substantially white, middle and upper class, financially sufficient familes, and (2) substantially economically disadvantaged, non-english speaking families of recent, questionable immigration status.

    My grandchildern went to the former and my daughter taught in the latter. She also had me volunteer to assist in her classroom, so I am very knowledgeable in the characteritics of both. Yes, it is 90% in the family and 10% in the school. The majority of my garnachildren’s classmates are going to college and I can’t imagine that even 5% of those where my daughter taught and I helped would go to college.

    And yes, today all the public education politicians and bureaucrats say we have to be taxed more to make the disadvantaged succeed at improved schooled. IM(not so)HO, that is a total fraud. If they 100% bussed up all the students where my grandchildren attended and did the same swapping out with 100% where my daughter attempted to teach the disadvantaged, it would not change a thing.

  28. Nick Flandrey says:

    I hope everyone has been stacking needful things.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8985391/Worlds-largest-latex-glove-maker-shuts-factories-amid-coronavirus-outbreak.html

    Saw this late last night elsewhere. Now you know too.

    n

  29. MrAtoz says:

    Ruh, Roh:

    REPEAT: Georgia Sees 800,000 Absentee Ballot Requests For January Election

    Let me guess, unpopular Dumbocrat Senate candidates win in a landslide. No Redumblican observers allowed within 50’ of the count. This could be historic in that Dumbos could finally change us into The Commie States of America.

    h/t Liberty Daily

    LET THE HEELING AND BREAD LINES BEGIN!

    2
    2
  30. Nick Flandrey says:

    It may be higher than 80%, given the active measures taken by the institutions….

    Man wows with eight-step hack that leaves dirty oven trays sparkling in 30 minutes without any chemicals

    his viral cleaning hack that uses baking soda, soda crystals, white vinegar and a Brillo pad.

    –yep, that’s the “no chemicals” recipe, never mind the Brillo pads

    “Q. What are the ingredients in Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads?
    A. Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads are made of steel wool, soap, fragrance, and colorant

    Q. Are Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads kosher?
    A. No, Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads are not kosher; however adding your own soap or detergents to Brillo® Supreme® Strip & Shine™ Steel Wool Balls is a good option for those practicing kosher living.

    Q. Do Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads contain animal products?
    A. Yes, the soap in Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads is made from natural beef tallow.

    Q. Do Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads contain detergent or soap?
    A. Brillo Steel Wool Soap Pads contain sodium tallowate soap. ”

    Brillo has a faq, who knew?

    n

  31. SteveF says:

    Y’all make me look good

    I make anything look good.

    Continue down the list until all the “concientous” objectors have been queried.

    That’s probably the worst way to handle it. You’ll end up employing a bunch of saboteurs. It’s better to encourage them to speak up and object, and then fire every one of them together.

  32. Greg Norton says:

    Let me guess, unpopular Dumbocrat Senate candidates win in a landslide. No Redumblican observers allowed within 50’ of the count. This could be historic in that Dumbos could finally change us into The Commie States of America.

    Even most African American voters in the state would be shocked and suspect mischief if Raphael Warnock wins in Georgia.

    I still believe it comes down to the women in the Atlanta suburbs and who they view as a bigger threat to their lifestyle. Ossoff and Perdue look the same by that metric so flip a coin in that race.

  33. lynn says:

    Hmmm, this bears keeping an eye on if only to find out what the little green cells are eating to produce the hydrogen. Or spitting out as a side product. Unintended consequences, dontcha know. Yet if the production problems are solved, storage and transport will eventually be surmounted.

    Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy source

    Every time I look into one of these magic energy solutions, I find out that the cost is about $10 per gallon equivalent of gasoline.

    BTW, the source for the hydrogen is water vapor in the air. They created an oxygen scavenger so the algae whatever splits the water molecule. It ain’t free !

    Can you imagine having a hydrogen pipeline in your backyard ? Going into your house ? Driving in trucks down the road, wait we already do that.

    Each of the power plants that I used to work at leaked and vented a million ft3 of hydrogen to the atmosphere each month. Sometimes a lot more. Each of the bottles held a cubic yard of hydrogen at 3,000 psig. We used hydrogen for cooling the generators so the windage losses of the generators turning at 3,600 rpm were 1/10th of air.

  34. lynn says:

    Swan Eaters: Little Hut, Little Hut
    https://www.gocomics.com/swan-eaters/2020/11/25

    Oh my ! I would be willing to bet that the inside of that little hut is bigger than a football field.

    BTW, Swan Eaters has become my favorite comic now.

  35. Greg Norton says:

    Every time I look into one of these magic energy solutions, I find out that the cost is about $10 per gallon equivalent of gasoline.

    Like “water fuel” cells. I debated those endlessly with my project partner at AT&T because he used to watch his neighbor “fuel” a mower with a garden hose.

    “It runs on water.”

    “It runs on acetylene. He has a hunk of calcium carbide hidden somewhere.”

  36. SteveF says:

    he used to watch his neighbor “fuel” a mower with a garden hose.

    Unless the mower was a goat, I have some doubts about that.

  37. lynn says:

    “‘Star Wars’ author says Disney is stiffing him on royalties”
    https://nypost.com/2020/11/20/star-wars-writer-alan-dean-foster-says-disney-owes-him-royalties/

    “The Mouse House added that it only asked Foster to acknowledge that the discussions would be confidential rather than sign a formal non-disclosure agreement, which it said is standard practice for such negotiations.”

    Disney has now acknowledged that Alan Dean Foster is a breathing person.

    I do not trust lawyers, especially Disney’s lawyers. Alan Dean Foster is wise to say no to any confidentially agreement, written or verbal.

  38. lynn says:

    “Fat Vampire 4: Harder Better Fatter Stronger (Volume 4)” by Johnny B. Truant
    https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Vampire-Harder-Better-Stronger/dp/1629550043/?tag=ttgnet-20

    Book number four of a six book fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback. In fact, printed and bound here in Coppel, Texas in October. I have books five and six in my SBR (strategic book reserve) and will be reading them in the future.

    Let the vampire wars loose and the humans shiver and shake in their hideaways ! Things have gotten way worse and our intrepid vampire heroes have fled to Europe, Luxembourg specifically. But, the long reach of the vampire war goes everywhere.

    Please note that the author has a website at:
    https://sterlingandstone.net/

    My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.1 out of 5 stars (73 reviews)

  39. Greg Norton says:

    “he used to watch his neighbor “fuel” a mower with a garden hose.”

    Unless the mower was a goat, I have some doubts about that.

    Acetylene from calcium carbide is old tech. It resurfaces from time to time but is not cost effective.

  40. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8987331/Police-arrest-man-caught-video-trying-rape-girl-14-hallway-cardiologists-office.html

    Gonzalez was seen getting on a moped and speeding away along Foster Avenue toward McDonald Avenue.

    The New York Daily News reported that police relied on surveillance video from the area to track down Gonzalez to a home in Crown Heights, where he was taken into custody just after 2am on Wednesday.

    Gonzalez has a criminal history that encompasses 19 prior arrests on charges including public lewdness, assault and robbery.

    The child continued fighting back and the assailant eventually let her go and ran away. The victim was not physically harmed during the attack.

    –good for her. I know for certain she would not have been “not physically harmed” if she hadn’t resisted.

    n

  41. SteveF says:

    she would not have been “not physically harmed” if she hadn’t resisted

    Violence never settles anything!

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    2
  42. drwilliams says:

    @Nick
    Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of everything is crap.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sturgeon%27s_law

  43. lynn says:

    On the professional side: I really enjoyed keeping up with all the latest stuff – until sometime in my late 40s, and…I just stopped. I remember when .NET came out, and I just thought: nope, not gonna learn that. Why bother, if I don’t need it?

    The problem with .NET is that it is just another interpreted language. Interpreted language are awesome for small tasks. But as the task gets larger and larger, they spend all their time garbage collecting. I can usually tell when any consumer device is garbage collecting in panic mode as they stop responding to user input for 10 to 30 seconds. And then they process all user events collected in that time. We went to the wall with this in our Win16 Smalltalk app, never again !

    I have noted that each major release of C# has a new garbage collection method in it. To me, the good old Mark And Release works just fine. Until, you run out of memory. Then all GC methods suck.

  44. lynn says:

    Hmmm, this bears keeping an eye on if only to find out what the little green cells are eating to produce the hydrogen. Or spitting out as a side product. Unintended consequences, dontcha know. Yet if the production problems are solved, storage and transport will eventually be surmounted.

    Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy source

    I forgot. Hydrogen just wants to be free !

    BTW, I have seen a major hydrogen fire. It was not pretty, especially when it set our 8,000 gallon lubricating oil system on fire. Then the smoke got intense, especially as the DC lubricating oil pump sprayed oil on the fire for six hours while we watched it.

  45. lynn says:

    Dilbert: Protestors Destroy Our Stores
    https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-11-25

    Yup, Target.

  46. mediumwave says:

    The problem with .NET is that it is just another interpreted language. Interpreted language are awesome for small tasks. But as the task gets larger and larger, they spend all their time garbage collecting. I can usually tell when any consumer device is garbage collecting in panic mode as they stop responding to user input for 10 to 30 seconds. And then they process al user events collected in that time. We went to the wall with this in our Win16 Smalltalk app, never again !

    I have noted that each major release of C# has a new garbage collection method in it. To me, the good old Mark And Release works just fine. Until, you run out of memory. Then all GC methods suck.

    TIOBE Index for November 2020

    The C language has consistently been in one or the other of the top two slots since the index’s inception; C++ and C# have been perennial also-rans. C plus good library code beats bloatware every time.

    Added: Lest anyone here think me a C bigot, my favorite languages stand at 40, 41, and 48 in the index.

  47. lynn says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8987331/Police-arrest-man-caught-video-trying-rape-girl-14-hallway-cardiologists-office.html

    Gonzalez was seen getting on a moped and speeding away along Foster Avenue toward McDonald Avenue.

    The New York Daily News reported that police relied on surveillance video from the area to track down Gonzalez to a home in Crown Heights, where he was taken into custody just after 2am on Wednesday.

    Gonzalez has a criminal history that encompasses 19 prior arrests on charges including public lewdness, assault and robbery.

    The child continued fighting back and the assailant eventually let her go and ran away. The victim was not physically harmed during the attack.

    –good for her. I know for certain she would not have been “not physically harmed” if she hadn’t resisted.

    n

    He will do it again. And again. And again.

  48. lynn says:

    TIOBE Index for November 2020

    The C language has consistently been in one or the other of the top two slots since the index’s inception; C++ and C# have been perennial also-rans. C plus good library code beats bloatware every time.

    Added: Lest anyone here think me a C bigot, my favorite languages stand at 40, 41, and 48 in the index.

    I prefer C++ over C. But to me, C++ is just a superset of C. Yes, I know it is not but a programmer can hope.

    Disclosure: I write Fortran 77 and C++ code almost every day.

  49. lynn says:

    Ruh, Roh:

    REPEAT: Georgia Sees 800,000 Absentee Ballot Requests For January Election
    https://nationalfile.com/repeat-georgia-sees-800000-absentee-ballot-requests-for-january-election/

    Let me guess, unpopular Dumbocrat Senate candidates win in a landslide. No Redumblican observers allowed within 50’ of the count. This could be historic in that Dumbos could finally change us into The Commie States of America.

    h/t Liberty Daily

    LET THE HEELING AND BREAD LINES BEGIN!

    Please tell me you are not surprised. Yes, both senators from Georgia will be dum-bro-crats.

    Cory Booker will have competition for the annual award for the stupidest senator.

    1
    1
  50. lynn says:

    “BREAKING NEWS: Donald Trump pardons Mike Flynn for lying to the FBI saying ‘he will have a fantastic thanksgiving’ in move set to cause fury with Democrats”
    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8987775/Donald-Trump-pardons-Mike-Flynn-lying-FBI-saying-fantastic-thanksgiving.html

    Just another sign that the Trumper has decided that fixing the election is beyond him at this point.

  51. ~jim says:

    … unwisely when I started reading 1001 Nights with my daughter, who always wants “just one more story before bed….”

    You’ll definitely need to ban more “age inappropriate” books when you get to The Terminal Essay! 🙂

  52. ~jim says:

    I just threw the hydrogen article out there because it seems interesting. Might be another pipe dream, who knows? But if it works, is cheap, and w/ no untoward consequences, ingenuity and necessity might father the invention to circumvent the storage and transport difficulties.

  53. Marcelo says:

    Hmmm, this bears keeping an eye on if only to find out what the little green cells are eating to produce the hydrogen. Or spitting out as a side product. Unintended consequences, dontcha know. Yet if the production problems are solved, storage and transport will eventually be surmounted.

    Research creates hydrogen-producing living droplets, paving way for alternative future energy source

    I forgot. Hydrogen just wants to be free !

    It is done by Mann so the reactions must be exponential and create a hockey stick graph that indicates we are all gonna die! Am I getting confused here? 🙂

  54. lynn says:

    I just threw the hydrogen article out there because it seems interesting. Might be another pipe dream, who knows? But if it works, is cheap, and w/ no untoward consequences, ingenuity and necessity might father the invention to circumvent the storage and transport difficulties.

    Many of my customers use hydrogen for several needs. Until recently, it was mostly cooling. Now it is energy storage. I have one customer using my software to model a one ft3 hydrogen carbon fiber tank with the pressure at 15,000 psia. Sadly, we had to fix a thermodynamic bug related to that as hydrogen is wildly non-ideal at that pressure.

    A lot of natural gas has a little bit of free hydrogen in it. And of course, as the carbon in methane combusts to form CO2, that frees the hydrogen and it combusts also to form water. That is why natural gas is such a good fuel for us.

    And of course, extensive hydrogen is used in refineries and natural gas treating for catalytic cracking. Pretty cool stuff.

    1
    1
  55. mediumwave says:

    I prefer C++ over C. But to me, C++ is just a superset of C. Yes, I know it is not but a programmer can hope.

    Disclosure: I write Fortran 77 and C++ code almost every day.

    Tain’t nuthin’ that C++ kin do that cain’t be done in C, usually with fewer resources!

  56. ~jim says:

    Sturgeon’s Law: 90% of everything is crap.

    Lol, I’d never heard that! First thing that comes to mind is the shampoo aisle at the drugstore. I love capitalism, but 100 different kinds of crap shampoo? I’ll stick to Dawn, thankyouverymuch.

  57. lynn says:

    I prefer C++ over C. But to me, C++ is just a superset of C. Yes, I know it is not but a programmer can hope.

    Disclosure: I write Fortran 77 and C++ code almost every day.

    Tain’t nuthin’ that C++ kin do that cain’t be done in C, usually with fewer resources!

    Our user interface app is approaching 500,000 lines of C++ code, the organizational aspects of C++ (classes and polymorphism) really help out. The CAD code is C (predates C++ !), the data storage and window management code is 617 classes of C++.

    Our calculation engine is about 800,000 lines of code, mostly F77. It is freaking disaster because common methods do not have any relationship to each other other than their vicinity in the file system (heat exchange subroutines in one directory, recycle subroutines in a directory, etc). I often have to debug the code just to figure out what is calling what.

  58. Greg Norton says:

    The C language has consistently been in one or the other of the top two slots since the index’s inception; C++ and C# have been perennial also-rans. C plus good library code beats bloatware every time.

    Unlike 20 years ago, C++ linkers are very good at eliminating bloat from templates as of late. Depending on what you’re doing, performance from C++ vs. C is either a wash or, in some cases better with C++. C++11 was a huge usability change in the language IMHO, just with the addition of auto and closures. I have my own shared pointer class.

    Compiler/linker quality makes a difference. I once had a retired Sun engineer tell me that our code at GTE paid a 60% performance penalty with their compiler circa 2000 vs. using GCC. Of course, Gnu didn’t spring for the manager’s hookers and steaks like Sun salespeople.

    (For the record, my manager at GTE didn’t go for hookers. He had a mistress, the head of our European sales.)

    The current race between LLVM (Apple) and Gnu to produce better C/C++ compilers and become the standard for Linux has been of immense benefit to everyone, even Microsoft, which is free to crib from LLVM via the BSD license.

  59. Greg Norton says:

    Tain’t nuthin’ that C++ kin do that cain’t be done in C, usually with fewer resources!

    I’ll argue sorting. I like to ask interview candidates to speculate as to which is more efficient at doing that task, C (qsort) or C++’s sort() algorithm template model. Of course, if you want to take a binary from Linux to Linux on the same CPU, straight C is the way to go, only requiring the glibc to be compatible.

    Disclaimer: I like Tcl. I have no idea as to how far down the popularity list that one ranks these days, but I’ve yet to find a language with more concise/reliable Tcp socket communications. Tcl also still compiles with Visual Studio 6 which eliminates the MSVCRT hell that Python experiences trying to embed the language.

  60. ~jim says:

    I have one customer using my software to model a one ft3 hydrogen carbon fiber tank with the pressure at 15,000 psia. Sadly, we had to fix a thermodynamic bug related to that as hydrogen is wildly non-ideal at that pressure.

    I just learned of a trick that rocket scientists (Hi Slim!) used back in the day to free the O2 from hydrogen peroxide using silver gauze, thereby reducing the need for an explosive oxidizer. Made me think that perhaps with all the discoveries being made in materials science, e.g. graphene, maybe there’s a way to store hydrogen compactly without the trouble of gas and pressure. Might take unobtainium for all I know, or be just a few years away, like fission.

    ~jim
    who wants a FISSION POWERED FLASHLIGHT

  61. ~jim says:

    @ayjblog
    Lo siento, pensé que tu enlace era la caricatura de dreck. Lamento la muerte del hero. Perdóname.

  62. paul says:

    I love capitalism, but 100 different kinds of crap shampoo? I’ll stick to Dawn, thankyouverymuch.

    Dawn as shampoo? Other than I can’t stand the smell of the stuff, it seems it would strip too much oil from your head. Shrug.

    I used Flex for years. Balsam something or another. It smelled nice. They improved it and well, no, they didn’t actually improve it, they watered it down.
    Then I used the Aussie stuff that comes in a purple bottle for several years, the flavor I liked went away. What was left left my hair feeling greasy. I sure did like the pump bottle.

    Now I use Ivory soap. It just works.

  63. lynn says:

    Now I use Ivory soap. It just works.

    Me too. I get the 4 oz bars at Kroger at 10 for $5.
    https://www.kroger.com/p/ivory-original-scent-soap-bars-10-count/0003700082758

    I have no hair. What hair has not fallen out, I get cut every two weeks with a number one guard at Super Cuts. I do not like the PHB look.

  64. paul says:

    Bacon/meat grease, one more time.

    I had eight pints in the fridge.

    HEB sells peanuts and mixed nuts in 32 ounce containers. I rinsed a couple out and let them dry. I heated the grease and filtered through paper towels. I have two containers filled about half way up the neck. If they look good when they cool, I’ll use some saran wrap as a gasket and into the spare fridge or into a freezer.

    Future grease is going into a mixed nut container and tossed when full.

    I mean, how much bacon/meat grease do I need to store? Not much more, I sure hope. Dad told stories of when he was a kid they didn’t have butter. You used lard or meat drippings on your toast or sandwiches.

    Y’all have a nice Thanksgiving tomorrow.

    We’re going to Fort Worth and I will pay attention before glopping a spoon of what looks like apple sauce onto my plate. Mashed turnips are just evil.

  65. lynn says:

    I just learned of a trick that rocket scientists (Hi Slim!) used back in the day to free the O2 from hydrogen peroxide using silver gauze, thereby reducing the need for an explosive oxidizer. Made me think that perhaps with all the discoveries being made in materials science, e.g. graphene, maybe there’s a way to store hydrogen compactly without the trouble of gas and pressure. Might take unobtainium for all I know, or be just a few years away, like fission.

    ~jim
    who wants a FISSION POWERED FLASHLIGHT

    Did you mean FUSION ?

    I’ve got two very large fission reactors, 4 GWe each (South Texas Project), about 40 miles away from here. And two small fission reactors, 1 MWe each, about 20 miles (Houston Medical Center) and 100 miles (TAMU) away from here. In fact, I used to walk past one of the small fission reactors from my college dorm to the engineering building each day. I could look in the windows and see the reactor at the bottom of a large swimming pool.

  66. mediumwave says:

    Disclaimer: I like Tcl. I have no idea as to how far down the popularity list that one ranks these days, but I’ve yet to find a language with more concise/reliable Tcp socket communications. Tcl also still compiles with Visual Studio 6 which eliminates the MSVCRT hell that Python experiences trying to embed the language.

    TCL is number 45 on TIOBE.

    Confession: I’ve dabbled in TCL but just never had a project that seemed to require it.

    I’ve rarely met a programming language I didn’t like with the SOLE EXCEPTION of Python. Indentation to delimit the scope of a compound statement? No thank you. Guido really dropped the ball on that one. (I had the same “brilliant” idea back in the late 60s when I was learning FORTRAN II (!) but quickly realized just how impractical an idea it was.)

    With regard to code formatting, Haskell has something similar to Python with its “offside rule,” but the designers also provided more conventional syntax to do the same thing.

  67. Ray Thompson says:

    100 different kinds of crap shampoo? I’ll stick to Dawn, thankyouverymuch

    I use whatever is cheapest in the largest size bottle available. If the stuff can function as a body wash, then so much the better. Wife has to have specific kind, one for the hair, one for the body, a couple of rinses, conditioners or other such nonsense.

    trick that rocket scientists (Hi Slim!) used

    It’s rocket engineering. The science is pretty much settled. It is just a matter of making the science work without any big booms involved.

    Alas, my favorite language, Algol, did not even make the list. I am old school, from way back. A bit fiddler if you will. Even wrote a couple of compilers, RIP and SAMUEL, for very specific projects. Not surprised those did not make any lists. Pretty darn good, and fast compilers, single pass. Could do most everything that other languages at the time could accomplish but with different constructs more suited to the user.

  68. lynn says:

    “Where have I seen this before”
    https://gunfreezone.net/where-have-i-seen-this-before/

    “This is a follow-up to my post about the Jewish wedding in New York City that had to be held in secret from the Waffen COVID Patrol.”

    ““Punish the Jews some more” said the reporter from New York.”

    “Makes you wonder why Jews in New York have to practice their religious rights in hiding.”

    “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen this bit of our history before. A few times.”

    This looks to be antisemitism if I have ever seen it.

  69. ~jim says:

    Did you mean FUSION ?

    Doh!

    It’s rocket engineering.

    Can you say picayune? I knew you could.

  70. SteveF says:

    It’s rocket engineering. The science is pretty much settled.

    That’s what I’ve been saying for years. F=mA. That’s it. Rocket science.

    Rocket engineering, now, that’s a whole ’nother kettle of fish. Gets very complicated very quickly.

  71. drwilliams says:

    For those not familiar with hydrogen as a fuel, it has several drawbacks. First and foremost is the wide explosive limits: 4-75 volume percent. (Natural gas is 5-15)
    Second is the weird flame behavior: nearly colorless (and hence difficult to see), and very little radiant heat (can’t feel it until you’re almost in it). Recent research has shown that the flames can have weird fractal shapes and propagate in very narrow spaces.
    Third is storage problems due to hydrogen embrittlement of metals.

    Metal hydrides have been researched for more than 40 years as a storage medium, but are not quite there yet. the hydrogen percentage is less than 10% by weight, but the pressure equivalent is about 7500 psia, hence the research into compressed hydrogen that Lynn mentioned using carbon fiber tanks at 15000 psia.

    Bush 43 advocated a hydrogen economy in his SOTUA in 2003. Scientific American published an entire issue of poo-poo hit pieces.

    The biggest problem is that although hydrogen occurs naturally as a small percentage of natural gas, a hydrogen economy would require hydrogen manufacture, which creates CO2. Since we’ve busted the peak oil and peak natural gas myths and have plenty of each in this country and no need to spend blood and treasure in distant lands to ensure the supply thereof, there is very little economic motivation for much hydrogen fuel research.

  72. CowboySlim says:

    @~jim: Rockets that I worked on did not use hydrogen and then hydrogen peroxide was not an issue. WRT to programming languages, a lot of my rocket app programming was in Fortran and MS Office VBA. Does the GPS in your vehicles work? Guess I made no fatal errors in getting those satellites up to proper orbits..

  73. MrAtoz says:

    Now I use Ivory soap. It just works.

    Me too. I get the 4 oz bars at Kroger at 10 for $5.

    Peppermint Dr. Bronner’s, liquid and bar. All over my little body.

  74. MrAtoz says:

    President tRump: It is my Great Honor to announce that General Michael T. Flynn has been granted a Full Pardon. Congratulations to @GenFlynn and his wonderful family, I know you will now have a truly fantastic Thanksgiving!

    Andrea Mitchell (representing the entire LSM and DNC): A full pardon for the disgraced ex National Security Advisor. Who’s next?

    This is a prime example of the HARRIS/plugs decree of *healing*.

    LET THE HEELING AND PARDONS BEGIN!

  75. Nightraker says:

    Mary something at the Everyday Cheapskate came around to Dawn as shampoo, among her many other recommended uses. Personally, I use VO5 or Suave or any other $1 bottle brand and as body wash. Probably TMI!

  76. SteveF says:

    I use the same cleaning product for my skin, my dishes, my car engines, mold removal in the basement, my asphalt driveway, and the oil drips on the concrete garage floor. Good stuff. Strong orangy smell to cover up the chemicals. Oh, and it’s a mouthwash.

  77. lynn says:

    I use the same cleaning product for my skin, my dishes, my car engines, mold removal in the basement, my asphalt driveway, and the oil drips on the concrete garage floor. Good stuff. Strong orangy smell to cover up the chemicals. Oh, and it’s a mouthwash.

    Just the thing for that annual bath ?

  78. Ray Thompson says:

    Can you say picayune? I knew you could.

    I can also be an anal orifice. You knew I could.

    I use the same cleaning product for my skin, my dishes, my car engines, mold removal

    Yeh, you’re a tough one. My skin is more sensitive having lived a life of relative leisure.

    Truth be told the ability to use one product was acquired while in the military. Less to clean and keep stored and inspected. In basic training there was one bottle for 25 recruits, such bottle being tossed after the morning evening shower. No time for showers in the mornings. Woe be to the last couple of people to shower as all that was left was generally luke warm or cold water. There was no more of the cheap bottled soap if a person was last.

    Many of us would shave with the same razor each morning. Only one device to clean among 10 or so of us. Easier to pass inspections. Many times that razor was just tossed to avoid inspections. Lot of tricks to get around the tedious, and generally useless forms of inspection. All designed to break down an individual.

    Of course the joy of showering with five other guys, some who were obviously thinking of, and saluting their wives, was never a fun experience.

  79. lynn says:

    “VIDEO: “Mysterious” Election Day Spike Gave Biden Nearly 600,000 Votes, Only 3,200 for Trump”
    https://www.toddstarnes.com/politics/video-mysterious-election-day-spike-gave-biden-nearly-600000-votes-only-3200-for-trump/

    Nothing to see here, just move along.

    Hat tip to:
    https://thelibertydaily.com/

  80. lynn says:

    “The Spirit Of Rebellion” by Aesop
    http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2020/11/the-spirit-of-rebellion.html

    The Meme is worth the visit, especially for Californians.

  81. Marcelo says:

    Uuuuhhh, open season on Lynn.

    Now I use Ivory soap. It just works.
    I have no hair. What hair has not fallen out, I get cut every two weeks with a number one guard at Super Cuts.

    Have you considered cause and effect?

    I could look in the windows and see the reactor at the bottom of a large swimming pool.

    Pretty careless if you ask me. I wonder the effect on the kids swimming there…

    THE JESTER.

  82. Greg Norton says:

    TCL is number 45 on TIOBE.

    Confession: I’ve dabbled in TCL but just never had a project that seemed to require it.

    I used Tcl occasionally at my last job, usually for socket code but also when I didn’t want a young’n’ getting credit for something I wrote. Few developers under 40 know Tcl well.

  83. lynn says:

    I could look in the windows and see the reactor at the bottom of a large swimming pool.

    Pretty careless if you ask me. I wonder the effect on the kids swimming there…

    I would advise not swimming in the nuclear reactor pool.
    https://engineering.tamu.edu/news/2020/05/texas-am-postdoctoral-nuclear-researcher-studies-reactor-safety-with-cherenkov-radiation.html

  84. Nick Flandrey says:

    “Peppermint Dr. Bronner’s, liquid and bar. All over my little body. ”

    —I finally stopped getting pimples on my face when I discovered Dr Bronner’s Peppermint liquid. MUCH later, I started using the bar for body washing. Then I realized I could use the bar on my face. And FINALLY I realized I could use the bar on my hair (#2 guard on the sides, #4 guard on the top). I really liked Paul Mitchell Tea Tree Oil, but there are just too many counterfeits out there to risk buying something that expensive.

    So I’m down to a bar of dr bronners peppermint for all my needs. It’s WAY easier to travel with it, and not worry about liquids. I just save the paper sleeve and put it back inside before travelling.

    n

  85. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well, back from the rent house, and no, not done.

    Spent an extraordinary amount of time trying to find blue threadlocker. THREE stores sold out of blue, with plenty of red (permanent). Finally found some at the auto parts store but waited about 1/2 hour in the checkout line.

    Got to the house and set off the alarm. Joy. Discovered that the plumbing issue was more involved than I’d been led to believe. Dripping was happening inside the wall.

    I made a plan for Friday, and it being Friday of Calor (so spicy!) I opted to buy all I hope to need on my way home. Turned what should have been a 5 minute part swap into a 5 hour ordeal with 5 more to come.

    The kicker is, none of it is hard. The original work was done so poorly though that every time it moves, it breaks. 5 minutes to replace a tub spout and 15 minutes to replace a valve stem will end up being many hours because all that moved the pipes and broke the piss poor work loose.

    n

  86. Nick Flandrey says:

    That Terminal Essay has a lot of words in it! LOTS OF WORDS. I thought I was pretty well read and had a decent command of the language. FREAKING highlight, right click, search with google, oh hell that word means THAT?

    n

  87. lynn says:

    AT&T just offered me a 10/10 mbps fiber line at the office for $451/month with a two year commitment. The 20/20 mbps is $495/month. The 50/50 mbps is $591/month. The 100/100 mbps is $806/month. The 1000/1000 mbps is $2,031/month.

    Still too high. I want the 100/100 mpbs for $200/month.

  88. Nick Flandrey says:

    San Diego authorities bust ‘three members’ of Sinaloa Cartel at truck yard where they seized $13.5 – I mean $10.5 — I mean $3.5 million cash, haul of cocaine worth $28m and boxes of ammunition

    The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of California charged Jesús Burgos, Juan Alatorre, and Jose Pérez with conspiracy to traffic drugs
    The three men, all Mexican nationals, allegedly formed part of a Sinaloa Cartel cell in the San Diego area
    The individuals were arrested at an Otay Mesa truck yard where agents confiscated $3.5 million in cash in U.S. currency
    Agents seized 685kg of cocaine, 24kg of fentanyl, at least 20,000 rounds of .50 caliber ammunition and hundreds of bulletproof vests

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8986951/San-Diego-authorities-bust-three-members-Sinaloa-Cartel-seizing-3-5-million-cash.html

  89. lynn says:

    Whoa, we have a light freeze predicted for Monday night, 31 F. Early this year.
    https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/richmond?cm_ven=localwx_10day

    Double whoa, we are forecasted to get 3.3 inches of rain over the T-day weekend.

  90. Nick Flandrey says:

    Oh the irony, it burns!

    PIERS MORGAN: Butt out of Brexit, Mr Biden – you’re not even President yet, and when your mate Barack tried to bully us into staying in Europe, furious Brits showed him at the ballot box where he could stick his threat

    –correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Piers the loudmouth Englishman who constantly butts in on American political issues?? SHUT YOUR OWN PIE HOLE, TOASTRACK.

    n

  91. Nick Flandrey says:

    By the way, the SD cops also siezed 20K rounds of .50Cal. That’s like 5000 pounds!

    And if a couple of grain of salt sized portions of fentanyl are enough to kill you, FIFTY FREAKING POUNDS is a LOT to import at one whack.

    n

  92. Greg Norton says:

    That Terminal Essay has a lot of words in it! LOTS OF WORDS. I thought I was pretty well read and had a decent command of the language. FREAKING highlight, right click, search with google, oh hell that word means THAT?

    My son briefly registered for an advanced English course entering 9th grade. The Summer reading was “The Bicycle Thief”, and a few chapters into that, he was done.

  93. drwilliams says:

    @Nick
    Yeah, and the fentanyl is all from our friends in China.
    We should repackage it and sell it on the streets in Mexico City for 10 pesos a hit. If they don’t give a flying eff, why should we?
    After half a pound is administered to the trafficantes as a high colonic.

    @Lynn
    Make them the offer, but put 99% daily availability in the contract.

  94. lynn says:

    @Lynn
    Make them the offer, but put 99% daily availability in the contract.

    I offered him $200/month for 100/100 mbps but he said no discounts.

  95. ~jim says:

    That Terminal Essay has a lot of words in it! LOTS OF WORDS.

    Heh, Latin is your friend.

  96. ech says:

    Made me think that perhaps with all the discoveries being made in materials science, e.g. graphene, maybe there’s a way to store hydrogen compactly without the trouble of gas and pressure.

    Storage in graphenes is ongoing. It’s not cheap, though, to manufacture. A friend is a Chemistry prof at Rice and part of the nanomaterials group there. He’s a physical chemist and told me once that it will take a while for nanomaterials to pay off big, as they need to understand them better and develop the theoretical framework behind them. (Same thing is true for high temperature superconductors. And one of my undergraduate quantum profs there won the Nobel prize in Chemistry for discovery of Buckyballs.)

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