Warm and damp, but maybe not raining all day. Yesterday finally dried up in the mid and late afternoon, but by then everything was saturated and my day was shot.
So I stayed in and did cleaning and paperwork. I let it go far too long. Every year I think I will get a better handle on it, and every year I don’t. I don’t beat myself up too hard about it anymore, but it does lead to stress for my wife and me, that could be avoided by some more consistent habits. It also takes big chunks of time when I leave it to be done last minute, that I’d be better off using for just about anything else.
That points out two things- staying on top of a job by doing little bits as they come in saves the big effort later, and the flip side, you can spend a great deal of time doing stuff a little bit at a time, that you completely lose track of because it gets lost in the noise of your normal life. In other words, you can either piss away a lot of time on small tasks, or you can use the little bits of time efficiently and save a big continuous chunk for use later. I guess it depends on the task and your personality which is which…
Today I’ve got auction stuff to drop off if the weather is dry, an orthodontia appointment for oldest, and a Costco run, along with the usual errands.
———————————————————————————–
The idea that hyperinflation might be coming is spreading throughout the prep-o-sphere and related circles on the blogoverse Venn diagram. Peter has some interesting things aggregated over at https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/ I’ve linked to him before, his ongoing observations on irregular warfare and his experiences in failed states and conflict zones are well worth your time. He mostly blogs about gun stuff and writing with a healthy dose of preparedness (not necessarily ‘prepping’.) Lately he’s been addressing some of the basics as if they’ve just come up for him (which is odd) but it does lead to some good comments. There is also the usual bunch of “waddabout-ism”- “waddabout after the zombies eat your wife, what’ll you do for laundry then?” and shite like that that always crops up… This time it was “waddabout after your pile of stored food runs out? Waddabout then? Huh?” Go read the post and the comments for yourself, and then think about it.
My response there was that all your preps basically give you time and choices when it comes to adapting to the new circumstances, and that there are always more options. Which led to a comment about solar powered freezers and a company I’m not familiar with, SunDanzer that specializes in off grid freezers. I don’t have any experience with them, but they look the business, and it’s one more option, so I’m linking it here.
It is VERY common when talking about storing food, especially frozen food, to get the “waddabout”. What about when the power goes out? Get a gennie. What about when the gennie runs out of fuel? Go to solar and batteries. What about when you’ve eaten all the frozen food? Well, you won’t need to worry about powering the freezer, you’ll be too busy working on your garden, hunting, or roasting strays over gasoline fires… The “waddabout” thinks every option is the only one, the last one, and because it’s limited or has flaws, it’s useless. The “waddabout” is frustrating and can be infuriating if you’ve already asked the questions and considered answers.
It’s frustrating because asking the question the “waddabout” asks IS valuable, if you don’t ask it as a ‘gotcha’ but as a way to explore second and third order effects and their problems. Absolutely ask “what do we do when the fuel runs out”? but then find an answer that works for you. Then iterate again and again, as far as your time, money, experience, and imagination will allow. Just going through the exercise is valuable. Actually doing some of the stuff to mitigate the problems is even more valuable. The “waddabout” stops with the first question, and sits gloating with his triumphant ‘gotcha’ shutting down the discussion. It’s a lot easier than actually prepping.
Attitude is everything. Mine is that “I’m going to get through this.” “I am going to get my family through this”, for whatever the values of ‘this’ turn out to be. This illness. This job loss. This economic collapse. This worldwide pandemic. This civil disturbance. This race war. This gulag.
Whatever the S in the SHTF turns out to be, I’m getting through it. Skills, people, and stuff will help. You need some of each, and more besides. Keep stacking.
nick
(and not just get through it, LIVE and prosper afterward. Don’t forget that after you get through it, you’re just getting started…)
73F and 93%RH with a bit of sun poking thru this am.
Time to make the donuts….
n
Huh, I don’t see any prohibition on owning the glassware, only recordkeeping requirements for selling it or “transferring” it.
That reminds me of the other Texas weirdness we’ve lived — the shadow DEA that the state maintains.
For whatever reason, people, particularly males, in this state, consume Adderall like candy, but the Texas DEA is always beating doctors up about writing the prescriptions.
Don’t write the prescriptions and the complaints to the insurance companies and Texas DLR (who issue the medical licesnses) begin.
Before anyone cites “War on Drugs”, there are no truly harmless drugs. I always suspected Adderall was the attitude problem in my management chain at the last job. Management’s management’s hands twitched all the time, which my wife theorized was either extreme T-therapy or Adderall. Either was possible.
And Adderall won’t be on the shelves in the pharmacias in Nuevo Progresso.
But I’ll bet they have Hydrochloroquine.
This is just one of the reasons I read the Daily Mail vs the other MSM…
n
There are plenty of people who thought this day wouldn’t come…
n
There are plenty of people who thought this day wouldn’t come…
Isn’t the Capitol still off limits to visitors?
At the end of the day, it is just a building. Granted, it isn’t something we want vandalized, but standing at the Speaker’s podium doesn’t impart any particular power.
Turns out when you read the article that he didn’t DEMAND anything.
–it struck me because the dad isn’t the sort of person we hear making DEMANDS. And he didn’t.
Rapists make demands. Armed robbers make demands. Kidnappers and terrorists make demands. Demands involve coercion and threat or actual violence.
I’m tired of people demanding things from me.
n
Last week, the House approved a $1.9 billion measure to fortify the Capitol.
Even more? I was hoping for the day when Mrs Pelosi would tear down that wall!
What can I say, I’m an optimist.
I’m tired of people demanding things from me.
Reminds me of HOAs.
My MIL used to do that and then freeze the ones she wasn’t going to use right away. Every time some store had a loss leader sale on milk she’d buy 6 gallons of it. She maybe used 1 gallon per week. Now, I did know some families growing up that went through a gallon per day. Between multiple kids, bowls of cereal, and milk as a beverage they’d easily drink a gallon (or more) per day. For some people it’s their standard drink with a meal. Growing up we had iced tea at every meal, but in some families everyone has a tall glass of milk sitting in front of them.
Man is the only mammal that drinks milk after weaning, or so I read. I can’t stand the stuff. Stopped drinking it at an early age. I likes me wottah, as OFD might have put it. Of course, I like certain cheeses, plus some baked goods that have milk as an ingredient, but we all have our quirks.
Same for eggs. If I have to eat them, I add enough salsa to overpower them. About 50% is good. Again, baked goods are fine.
Don’t get me started on bacon. 🙂
Stretch is out of her mind. I guess every CongressDork will now have personal security 24/7. Next it will be lifetime security. Geez. Defeat this.
The exact tactics Jesse Jackwagon and Sharpless use to squeeze moola out of corporations.
Judeaus Priest:
Ocasio-Cortez Says She Is Currently in “Therapy” Because of Capitol Riot, Says Lawmakers “Served In War”
Shot Girl ™ is not well. Please vote her out. What an insult to all first responders and the military.
I think it’s a matter of access in the animal kingdom. Set a bowl of milk outside in the woods and something will drink it. Animals just don’t have the ability to milk other animals, so it’s just never been an option. That said. Is there something a little unnatural about drinking milk after being weaned? Probably. However, I like milk and I love cheese, butter, sour cream, and yogurt.
I have read that the majority of the world is lactose intolerant (to varying degrees) as adults, so it’s actually the norm. Lactase Persistence is the oddball trait and not Lactose Intolerance.
“NYT “one of the good ones” Jew is mad this las week has exposed how the Left really is”
https://gunfreezone.net/nyt-one-of-the-good-ones-jew-is-mad-this-las-week-has-exposed-how-the-left-really-is/
“This is an actual headline from the New York Times opinion section.”
“Attacks on Jews Over Israel Are a Gift to the Right”
We really need to stop importing muslims into the USA. Right now. And send back the trouble makers to their hell holes.
“See how a martyr story suddenly disappears”
https://gunfreezone.net/see-how-a-martyr-story-suddenly-disappears/
“Last weekend, the World was forcefully introduced to a British BLM activist named Sasha Johnson. She was shot in the head and her friend/colleagues/handlers were quick to point out she had been getting numerous threats against her life because of his racial work.”
“And the way it reads now, she was indeed targeted, but by the wrong color people according to the official Narrative.”
I thought the UK did not allow people to have guns ??? Oh wait, only the good people cannot have guns.
“Democrat Dystopia — You Have NO Property Rights — Here’s a Terrifying Example”
https://thelibertydaily.com/democrat-dystopia-you-have-no-property-rights-heres-a-terrifying-example/
“Here, from an upscale suburb of Seattle, about 45 minutes from the Democrat dystopia, depending on traffic, comes this CRAZY story that should not happen in a civilized country (emphasis added):
A multimillion-dollar home in Sammamish is at the center of an ongoing investigation, as squatters continue to break in and make the home their own.”
“The homeowner lives overseas, but a few people living locally help maintain the home with routine checkups. One of those workers stopped by the home and found 12 guns, bulletproof vests, more than 15,000 fentanyl pills, heroin, meth, and more than $40,000 in cash.”
“But that’s not all! The squatters were allowed to steal whatever goodies on the property they desired, apparently, including APPLIANCES!”
“Pictures taken by a neighbor show police vehicles lined up on the street with officers watching, as the squatters filled a U-Haul truck with items inside. Another picture shows a garage full of appliances, including an ATM.”
“Sammamish Police Chief Dan Pingrey assessed the horrible Democrat-caused disaster, saying “Somehow these squatters who are living in this residence have as much rights as the homeowner. And that’s very difficult for any of us to understand; It could happen again somewhere else and this is where people in communities really need to be diligent.””
Something is not right here. And if I owned a multi-million dollar home and was not there, I would have security checking it out daily.
Something is not right here. And if I owned a multi-million dollar home and was not there, I would have security checking it out daily.
Ghost house. Mainland Chinese investor/owners.
The squatters were probably Chinese too, maybe even friends or relatives of the owner. Nothing to see here, Americans. Go back to jogging and listening to your Justin Bieber iPod play list.
Sammamish is a brutal commute if you actually work for a living. That area used to be filled with a lot of Microsoft option money or wireless carrier merger cashouts, but those households are pushing mid-60s and retiring to Arizona or lake houses south of the city.
As for a sign of civilization in decline, I’d take that one with a grain of salt. May sweeps at KIRO with a slow news cycle.
From yesterday:
Texas definitely used to make Erlenmeyer flasks illegal without being registered, but I’ve heard they repealed it. (The same law also listed “transformers” as illegal-to-possess laboratory equipment, which shows you how well it was thought through. Yes, that’s as in electrical transformers.)
Wow, and I thought California had a lock on craziness. Politicians: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Compromise: maybe reduce the politicians to, say, 1% of present numbers? It would take a while for them to multiply back to the infestation we have now.
Huh, I don’t see any prohibition on owning the glassware, only recordkeeping requirements for selling it or “transferring” it.
That reminds me of the other Texas weirdness we’ve lived — the shadow DEA that the state maintains.
For whatever reason, people, particularly males, in this state, consume Adderall like candy, but the Texas DEA is always beating doctors up about writing the prescriptions.
Don’t write the prescriptions and the complaints to the insurance companies and Texas DLR (who issue the medical licesnses) begin.
Before anyone cites “War on Drugs”, there are no truly harmless drugs. I always suspected Adderall was the attitude problem in my management chain at the last job. Management’s management’s hands twitched all the time, which my wife theorized was either extreme T-therapy or Adderall. Either was possible.
And Adderall won’t be on the shelves in the pharmacias in Nuevo Progresso.
But I’ll bet they have Hydrochloroquine.
We need to get rid of the War On Some Drugs ™. But licensing of Doctors is important.
Why no Adderall in Nuevo Progresso ? Seems a natural for them.
@JimB
I think we should get you started on bacon, because once you start you won’t be able to stop…
Boy that buys an awful lot of razor wire. The problem is when they pass trillion dollar relief bills, spending billions seems like loose change to these cretins. And I get worried if my credit card balance goes over $1,000.
“Tow “Range Anxiety” Builds For Ford’s All-New F-150 Electric Truck”
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/tow-range-anxiety-builds-fords-all-new-f-150-electric-truck
“There was a ton of hype last week when Ford Motor Company unveiled its all-electric F-150 Lightning pickup truck. As of Friday, Ford secured more than 44,000 reservations for the new truck.”
“Ford’s first all-electric truck is expected to have a targeted range between 230 and 300 miles depending on the version the customer chooses. Ford said the truck could haul up to 10,000 pounds.”
“Auto blog Jalopnik points out that Ford failed to release data on how hauling or towing would affect range last week.”
So when towing, just look for a supercharger every 100 miles or so. “grin”
As I’ve said here before: Term Limits. One term in any elected or appointed position (POTUS, SCOTUS and other judges included). You were voted in as dog catcher 20 years ago and now you want to run for President? The dogs thank you for your civic duty but we’ll give someone else a chance to serve. Plus mandatory retirement at age 70.
Why no Adderall in Nuevo Progresso ? Seems a natural for them.
Controlled substance. Even there, it would require a prescription, and the prescription would have to originate with a US doctor to clear US customs when returning.
Why?
I get the notion of public harm, but how is the addition of politicians and bureaucrats to the AMA better than the AMA by itself? Why should any group be allowed to tell you, the consumer, what products or services you are allowed to purchase?
I support trade unions giving their stamp of approval to products and providers but strongly oppose restriction of trade to only those products. Underwriters’ Laboratories, while anything but perfect, is much better than a federal bureaucracy picking winners and losers and criminalizing the sale of anything which doesn’t pass the wickets.
This might change your mind: https://www.culvers.com/menu-and-nutrition/fresh-frozen-custard
My waistline says we live too close to one of these.
“Last week, the House approved a $1.9 billion measure to fortify the Capitol”
Boy that buys an awful lot of razor wire. The problem is when they pass trillion dollar relief bills, spending billions seems like loose change to these cretins. And I get worried if my credit card balance goes over $1,000.
A lot of money will get sprayed around among the contractors whose employees live in the suburbs on the other side of the Potomac. This is an election year in Virginia, and the outcome is often interpreted as a direction for the midterms.
She’ll wake up every day thinking ‘If only I hadn’t given him the finger…’
Recounting the incident to ABC News, Cloonan said she was taking her son to school when a vehicle cut her off while she was in the carpool lane.
Relatives told KTLA she then made a gesture at the other car, which is believed to be a white Volkswagen station wagon.
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/feels-like-my-life-is-over-mother-of-6-year-old-boy-killed-in-55-fwy-road-rage-incident-speaks-as-family-offers-reward-to-help-catch-shooter/
A.) To enrich the goobermint through licensing fees
B.) To protect the stupid people???
C.) All of the above
Am I the only guy whose funny bone is tickled by <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Swedish-Dicks/dp/B08VFYGLJVSwedish?tag=ttgnet-20 Dicks on Amazon Prime? I’m halfway through season 1 and I’m starting to laugh/chuckle so hard I’m getting tears in my eyes. It’s simple, stoopid, and quirky.
To my mind, licensing for any profession should be issued by your liability insurer, not some publicly funded bureaucracy. The insurer will want to endow training academies to keep the pipeline full. Should be a win all around.
Wow, and I thought California had a lock on craziness. Politicians: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Compromise: maybe reduce the politicians to, say, 1% of present numbers? It would take a while for them to multiply back to the infestation we have now.
As I’ve said here before: Term Limits. One term in any elected or appointed position (POTUS, SCOTUS and other judges included). You were voted in as dog catcher 20 years ago and now you want to run for President? The dogs thank you for your civic duty but we’ll give someone else a chance to serve. Plus mandatory retirement at age 70.
Hmmm. We’ve had three Presidents over 70 now and only one of them sucked.
I think that Trump slept about two hours a night. The dude was always hard charging.
Anyway, that would require a constitutional amendment and we both know that is not going to happen. And my priorities for Constitutional amendments is much higher for the right to privacy and a stronger gun amendment. And, a Castle Doctrine (the right to stand your ground) defense.
To my mind, licensing for any profession should be issued by your liability insurer, not some publicly funded bureaucracy. The insurer will want to endow training academies to keep the pipeline full. Should be a win all around.
I don’t carry professional liability insurance, over $100K/year in my business. And an increasing number of doctors do not either. In Texas, they cannot take your house or your car so the risk is less here.
I think we should get you started on bacon, because once you start you won’t be able to stop…
My parents liked bacon, but I am neutral. I will occasionally eat it, but much prefer a good sausage as a breakfast side. Putting bacon around a chunk of beef is sometimes OK, and even sometimes on shrimp. Oh… oh!… There is an Italian pasta dish that is flavored with pancetta that I like a lot, but it is hard to find in the US. Aaaand, I liked Canadian bacon while growing up just North of Canada. (I remind that I grew up (height, not mentally :-P) near Motown, which is North of Windsor, Ontario.) For those who think Canadian bacon is a travesty, try the real thing some time. I have forgotten the exact difference, but to me it is like real Polish or Czech sausage vs imitations.
OK, that reads like I am a food snob. Far from it. We here in the good ol’ US of A have some of the best food anywhere. In many major cities, it is possible to get ethnic foods that are actually better than the genuine article over there, and there can be almost anywhere. My theory is that talented cooks have brought the real recipes here, and then continued to improve them with other influences. Is it pure? Maybe not, but it can be very good. Also, this recipe evolution goes on back in the old country, making “purity” moot to me.
One last. One of the very best Cajun dinners I have had was done at a little strip mall restaurant in Orange County, CA, by a JAPANESE chef! Who says we are not a melting pot?
I’m getting hungry.
Please define.
And when you’re finished, tell me how and at whose expense.
As I’ve said here before: Term Limits. One term in any elected or appointed position (POTUS, SCOTUS and other judges included). You were voted in as dog catcher 20 years ago and now you want to run for President? The dogs thank you for your civic duty but we’ll give someone else a chance to serve. Plus mandatory retirement at age 70.
I have also said that. I have been surprised at the resistance I get from well meaning people. If the notion of a citizen politician who went back to normal life after a term or two was good enough for our founders, it should still be good. But I dream. It will never be codified in this climate. Sad.
I am not sure of numerical age limits. All of us have seen exceptional people, in both age directions. Maybe some sort of cognitive test. Of course, cognitive tests are probably worse than IQ tests, so I don’t like either much. Some people are just mentally better than others, but being smart doesn’t guarantee success at anything. I can’t help this much.
“To my mind, licensing for any profession should be issued by your liability insurer, not some publicly funded bureaucracy. The insurer will want to endow training academies to keep the pipeline full. Should be a win all around.”
I don’t carry professional liability insurance. And an increasing number of doctors do not either. In Texas, they cannot take your house or your car so the risk is less here.
Your 401(k) and IRA accounts are also protected in Texas.
And if you lose your medical license in Texas, you can always go work at the VA. They aren’t particular as long as you have a license from one of the 50 states.
For the record, my wife maintains active licenses in Texas and Florida, very difficult states to get starting from scratch. I joke that we burned the WA State license, but it wouldn’t take much to reactivate. My wife’s former employer only just replaced her after seven years of looking, and the clinic was semi-rural, not fully “beyond the cows”.
The ProgLibTurds are getting madder and madder at plugs now that he dropped student debt forgiveness. What did they expect? plugs has been lying for almost 50 years to the sheeple. The more lies about his campaign promises that bubble to the surface, the less chance he gets re-elected. The Kamel should run on that!
“plugs sucks, so vote for meeeeee!”
KAMEL/SHOT GIRL 2024!
Who was it that mentioned that books were being packaged badly these days?
I’d ordered a copy of “I Learned About Flying from That” a few days ago, used, but specced as good/very good.
It arrived with the spine broken and separating, a box cutter slit nearly the entire height of the dust jacket, and another separate 4″ long tear. The cuts and tear were as-shipped, since the paper cover (no padding or even cardboard sleeve) was undamaged.
I suspect the spine was broken before shipping as well.
I’m not particular, I read for content, not looks, but that’s ridiculous. I left them a 2 star rating at Amazon.
The ProgLibTurds are getting madder and madder at plugs now that he dropped student debt forgiveness. What did they expect? plugs has been lying for almost 50 years to the sheeple. The more lies about his campaign promises that bubble to the surface, the less chance he gets re-elected. The Kamel should run on that!
Student loans fund Obamacare, the nationalization of the program happening within the bill. Forgiving the loans even partially would have meant monetizing the debt, requiring an act of Congress, and, arguably, brought into question the legality of passing the healthcare bill as “revenue neutral” under Reconciliation after Uncle Ted assumed room temperature.
I don’t know. There’s something to be said for being an adept politician. There’s a lot of well-intended people who can’t get shit done.
I’ve always sort of felt the House should be rotating in and out pretty frequently. Perhaps a limit of two consecutive terms and no more than four terms overall. They’re only 2 year terms.
Senators should be appointed by the states. Period. Repeal the 17th Amendment.
You could probably safely cap it at 80. Who would scream about that? So, have a rule that the end of their term must fall before their 80th birthday. I think that’s reasonable. Probably more reasonable than saying you need to be at least 35.
A thought on our “cancel culture” in historical perspective:
The regime’s national security apparatus recently warned that politically conservative and independent Americans are potential domestic terrorists, extremists, and white supremacists—dangerous to our society. The Justice Department is persecuting political protesters and hundreds of people who are, essentially, political prisoners are now being held without bail, many in pre-trial solitary confinement for allegations of misdemeanor protest activity.
https://amgreatness.com/2021/05/19/never-again-standing-up-to-the-oligarchy/
Of course, it could never happen here…
As I’ve said here before: Term Limits. One term in any elected or appointed position (POTUS, SCOTUS and other judges included). You were voted in as dog catcher 20 years ago and now you want to run for President? The dogs thank you for your civic duty but we’ll give someone else a chance to serve. Plus mandatory retirement at age 70.
BTW, I would like to extend the maximum of two terms limit or ten years limit for the President to all federal employees, elected or not. The only way to stay employed by the feddies is to move to a new position every two terms or ten years. I think that would solve many problems.
And my priorities for Constitutional amendments is much higher for the right to privacy…
Please define.
And when you’re finished, tell me how and at whose expense.
My definition of privacy could be “Leave me alone and get off my lawn !”.
I could not believe that SCOTUS had to reaffirm the fourth amendment recently in a 9-0 decision. That is a travesty of the lower courts.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2021/05/in-unanimous-fourth-amendment-ruling-a-reminder-that-there-is-in-fact-no-place-like-home/
Who was it that mentioned that books were being packaged badly these days?
I gave up on new books from Big River after receiving too many either damaged in shipping or visibly used, including a copy of the last edition of Stroustrup C++ with a coffee cup ring on the first page inside the cover.
Warehouse guys doing a little coding between shifts?
I’ll still buy used through their third party vendors, but I don’t hesitate to request a return if the book is not in decent shape. Broken spines should just be tossed.
I used to have decent luck with Half.com before they went away, including a very nice copy of Second Ed. Sipser’s “Theory of Computation” (arguably the most expensive CS text on a per-page basis) for $25. Though, lately, I’ve received so much outright garbage from EBay that I wonder what percentage of books from Half would be acceptable.
Who was it that mentioned that books were being packaged badly these days?
I’d ordered a copy of “I Learned About Flying from That” a few days ago, used, but specced as good/very good.
It arrived with the spine broken and separating, a box cutter slit nearly the entire height of the dust jacket, and another separate 4″ long tear. The cuts and tear were as-shipped, since the paper cover (no padding or even cardboard sleeve) was undamaged.
I suspect the spine was broken before shipping as well.
I’m not particular, I read for content, not looks, but that’s ridiculous. I left them a 2 star rating at Amazon.
I break the back of most MMPB and trade paperback books while reading them. Hardbacks, not so much.
Amazon’s book packaging is freaking awesome and uses a cardboard cover that protects well. But if you are getting something else, they just throw the book in the box, unprotected. The third party packaging is very variable, from awesome to how in the world did that reach me ?
Anyway, that would require a constitutional amendment and we both know that is not going to happen. And my priorities for Constitutional amendments is much higher for the right to privacy and a stronger gun amendment. And, a Castle Doctrine (the right to stand your ground) defense.
I forgot, I also want the federal income tax to be 10% of gross income. No deductions, no itemizations. If I made $100 today, I send in $10.
I have worked for at least 20 hours on my 2020 tax return so far. It started with a forced upgrade to Windows 10 x64 for my home PC as Turbo Tax refused to install on my Windows 7 x64.
My wife has put in over 40 hours for her father’s 2020 tax return up to his death last September. First she had to go through all his income / deductions and assign them to him or to his estate for the September to December estate income tax return that she is now working on. And she had to buy a special version of Turbo Tax for businesses and estates. She screams every once in a while.
I doubt that’s the language our founders would have included in our Constitution. So your demand of an amendment to a “right to privacy” remains, at very least, undefined.
Let’s talk about the weather, or the milage range of them new trucks, instead.
Changing the subject.
Thomas the TRAIN FLASHLIGHT !
https://amzn.to/3ujbvVh
Re getting income tax stuff together: Helps if you can find a CPA who will complete the return in a decent amount of time too. Our taxes aren’t too complicated, but I gave up doing them myself some years back (although I still put it all together for them). Took our stuff in on March 10th. She only completed it last week – she did not do “first come first served, but put her high-paying clients and the stimulus applications ahead of us. This is the second year she’s done this. That was the reason we switched from our old CPA. We won’t use either one of them again.
My wife has put in over 40 hours for her father’s 2020 tax return up to his death last September. First she had to go through all his income / deductions and assign them to him or to his estate for the September to December estate income tax return that she is now working on. And she had to buy a special version of Turbo Tax for businesses and estates. She screams every once in a while.
We are open with my mother-in-law that we would file to reject executor responsibility for her estate when that time comes. After the experience my wife had with her father’s estate, we came to the conclusion that there is just too much sneaking around that the family would like to keep my wife from discovering that would prevent her from having an honest accounting with her mother’s estate.
Oh man, listening to The Black Crowes. Sad, sad, sad song. I often wonder if my brother-in-law would have stayed clean had he not been murdered 39 years ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_5U0M9ErGA
I have yet to smoke a doobie for my glaucoma. In fact, I have no idea where to get a doobie, other than driving up to Colorado. I wonder if my buddy is going soon ?
via Behind The Black: “Formula One Pit Stops: 1950 vs Today”
https://youtu.be/LOJbM0aXZp0
I have yet to smoke a doobie for my glaucoma. In fact, I have no idea where to get a doobie, other than driving up to Colorado. I wonder if my buddy is going soon ?
If Southwest or Alaska have a direct flight from where you live to PDX (Portland) or Denver, that would be preferable to a long hot road trip to CO through Lubbock. Plus, you would have two states’ weed stores to choose from with Portland.
Curbside pickup at the weed stores in WA State from what I understand. Just like Best Buy!
Vantucky licensed 12 weed stores before we left, and I believe they applied for more licenses from the state, claiming that the 12 there plus 6 in the other cities around Clark County were insufficient.
Plus I imagine that there are new weed stores out near the Native American casino that is new since we left.
Business is a boomin’.
Re getting income tax stuff together: Helps if you can find a CPA who will complete the return in a decent amount of time too. Our taxes aren’t too complicated, but I gave up doing them myself some years back (although I still put it all together for them). Took our stuff in on March 10th. She only completed it last week – she did not do “first come first served, but put her high-paying clients and the stimulus applications ahead of us. This is the second year she’s done this. That was the reason we switched from our old CPA. We won’t use either one of them again.
It took my 75 year old CPA over three months to get the tax return for my primary business done this year. He is divesting clients right and left but they don’t want to leave since he is so good. We were his second client when he left his employer 30 years ago and went independent.
Besides that, getting the info together and separating it for your tax return is more than half of the battle.
Look for a cheap round trip to Vegas. Arrive in the am. Pot stores on every corner. Go to Planet 13 to experience the nicest store around. They’ll have an expert to recommend something for glaucoma. Doobie, blunt, vape, tincture, gummy versions. Have a meal in the cafe. Take the 7:00pm flight home. Locals can get up to 20% off.
That’s the spirit. Much better than wailing. I suspect she got the office manager job just for that. 🙂
I miss tRump:
Here’s the US Embassy in Madrid proudly flying the Black Lives Matter banner
What a disgrace.
Look for a cheap round trip to Vegas. Arrive in the am. Pot stores on every corner. Go to Planet 13 to experience the nicest store around. They’ll have an expert to recommend something for glaucoma. Doobie, blunt, vape, tincture, gummy versions. Have a meal in the cafe. Take the 7:00pm flight home. Locals can get up to 20% off.
I forgot Vegas legalized.
If Charlie Crist wins the Governor’s Mansion in Florida next year, the state will legalize real quickly. Charlie’s political benefactor, John Morgan, managing partner of one of the state’s biggest ambulance chaser law firms, is a huge proponent of legalization.
“Me Checking The Yard To See If I Can Mow Today”
https://www.sharecopia.com/checking-yard-mow-today/
Yup, there is the front yard. And the back yard too. Not quite that deep though “grin”.
All versions of TuboTax have all the forms. The only difference is the costlier versions have help for the additional forms beyond basic stuff.
Currently at Indian Mountain State Park close to Jellico TN, slot 36. Here until Friday. No TV or internet, so-so cell service. Hot, humid in the days, nice at night. Thankful for RV A/C.
Left knee is messed up, lot pain to walk. Will schedule with the VA on Monday. I think the prognosis is going to be not so good. Have no idea what I did.
Lots of good suggestions in the comments below…keep in mind this is version 0.1 with version 1.0 to be negotiated (dictated?) as part of the CWII surrender treaty.
Home from errands. Weird missing items at costco. Weird substitutions.
Time for dinner.
n
Tax prep. I am never in a hurry, especially since there were revisions to 1099s several years ago. I know some early filer friends who had to file amended returns – one of them twice. I just watched the revisions roll in. This year, it looked to me like the COVID stimulus calculations (line 30 on 1040) were all botched up. There were several revisions, and at least one error in the calculation instructions on the IRS web site. I called my tax guy, and he said no problem; his software was up to date, and I was OK. If there is an error on his part, he will fix it for free. Or, so he says; so far, he has never made an error he needed to fix. I am happy with him. The IRS, not so much.
The CA Franchise Tax Board sent me a notice that I needed to file a 2017 return for an entity I dissolved before the end of 2016. I had filed all the necessary paperwork, prepared by the tax guy. Of course, I also have all the records. Emailed the tax guy, and he said he would take care of it. There was a 30 day window to comply, and I had not heard anything from the FTB. Emailed the tax guy, and he said he sent a reply the next day after I notified him, so I am OK. These things can take a while to get done. CA obviously lost my records. THEY should fix it on my say-so. I’ll see how this settles. I might be on the hook to pay, since it wasn’t the tax guy’s fault.
Oh, my tax guy is a CPA, plus lots of other alphabet soup. Smart guy, and very diligent. Smartest thing I ever done was to get a tax guy 35+ years ago. That guy retired, and sold the firm to the present guy. I used to do my own taxes, but got frustrated. Now, when I look at the various instructions, I get really frustrated. I like Lynn’s suggestion for a flat tax. Studies have shown that the rate for the same revenue would be even lower than 10%.
Is Arizona closer? They went legal recreationally this past election and started sales at the end of March. Funny though several of the existing medical dispensaries are running ads touting how their stuff is more potent, etc. and implying you can get a medical pot card if you’ve sneezed at least twice in the past two years.
–of COURSE he is.
n
Is Arizona closer? They went legal recreationally this past election and started sales at the end of March. Funny though several of the existing medical dispensaries are running ads touting how their stuff is more potent, etc. and implying you can get a medical pot card if you’ve sneezed at least twice in the past two years.
Nope but I-10 is a better road. All of the roads from Texas to New Mexico go through high mountain passes, Raton ?, to get into Colorado. I have driven it nine ??? times (three of the times were in a church bus going skiing).
My original tax accountant sold her business to my current one, and I think she’s grooming her replacement too.
It’s my strong suggestion that if you can’t file EZ, you are better off with a pro doing it, and if you have complications or business filing, you should use the SAME pro year to year.
My wife insisted we get a local TX guy some years back. ONE tax year messed up, with mistakes caught by my wife, and we were back to my Cali based CPA, EA, and a bunch of other letters.
You really need to know the strategy from year to year with business deductions, carry forwards, etc.
n
“Mitt Romney is first Republican Senator to say he will vote FOR the Capitol riot commission – but Democrats are still nine votes short”
–of COURSE he is.
Mittens does The Elders bidding, but they have looked the other way for just about everything *except* giving Amy Comey Barrett the Payola Seat. He had no choice there.
Gotta be someplace in Manhattan where you can get it as good as they make it in Italy, but I haven’t been to NYC in a number of years.
To find it in Italy watch the Stanley Tucci series on CNN (on demand) “Looking For Italy.” More than one ‘bucket list’ destination if you love top quality Italian food. Already renewed for season 2.
@JimB: Where in OC and name, I would love to try it if they are still there.
There is an Italian pasta dish that is flavored with pancetta that I like a lot, but it is hard to find in the US.
Gotta be someplace in Manhattan where you can get it as good as they make it in Italy, but I haven’t been to NYC in a number of years.
To find it in Italy watch the Stanley Tucci series on CNN (on demand) “Looking For Italy.” More than one ‘bucket list’ destination if you love top quality Italian food. Already renewed for season 2.
Muerte !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwBv2ZSJc5w
Stanley Tucci series on CNN (on demand) “Looking For Italy.”
My wife found that on DirecTV for free (we don’t pay for anything except the exorbitant DTV bill.) We have watched a few episodes so far.
Those fight scenes were great. I have not seen any of his movies. Reminds me of some of the old John Wayne fight scenes.
@Nick
“added- found the list under (53) definitions, but later in the section, the possession is only an offence if there is “intent” to manufacture or distribute. No intent, no offence.”
Would you be specific and direct me to that part? I looked and can’t find it.
In the second link that I provided yesterday is a link to this form:
Record of Sale or Transfer of Controlled Items
https://www.dps.texas.gov/InternetForms/Forms/RSD-904.pdf
which has sections for the recipient to fill out.
What’s the old saying: Ignorance of the law is no excuse?
I’ve been doing chemistry since my first close encounter with a Gilbert chemistry set more than 50 years ago. I have every piece of Laboratory Apparatus on that list, with the exception of the encapsulation machine. My tableting machine is a hand press for making pellets for a bomb calorimeter, so probably doesn’t qualify, but I don’t recal exactly what the label says.
Erlenmeyer flasks? I have a patent that describes the use of Erlenmeyer flasks in an analysis to monitor the results or a process, which can easily result in washing a couple dozen at the end of the day. From 5ml to 5000ml, I probably have upwards of a gross at any time. Heating mantles? What size you want? Condensers? Two drawers in the 36-in lab cabinets, but the Buchi’s are in the file drawer, right above the new filter funnels.
The top three photos in this link:
https://www.dps.texas.gov/section/precursor-chemical-and-laboratory-apparatus
I could do close duplicates except for the multi-position hot plate in the background and the exact model of rotary evaporator. Yes, I have glassware.
99% of 481 is outside the experience of any LEO without a chemistry degree. How much training has he had? Probably enough to recognize apparatus, and flasks in particular. Tell the difference between a benchtop setup for quant and a setup for synthesis? No way. Understand my explanation? Shirley you jest.
So, no, aint’ moving to Tehas where I’d have have the spend $10,000 in legal fees to make sure that I had the reporting requirements covered. Or where a chance encounter might cost me $50,000 to prove that I wasn’t in violation. (Yes, I could probably handle it with some proactive schmoozing with the county sheriff’s lab.)
You might think that I’m being too cautious. I also looked at the precursor list and noticed one thing: pyrrolidine. I don’t have any. But I do have n-methyl-pyrrolidone (fairly common solvent, waiting in the wings if they ever ban dichloromethane). Entirely different, and one cannot be turned into the other, but suspiciously similar in name…
Before I became aware of 481 I traveled through Texas with lab items including Erlenmeyer flasks in carry on luggage. After it was Fedex.
@RickH
Great for sleepovers and camping
8 AA Batteries (not included)
Easy to use
8 AA batteries? Wow!
My mistake. It is my right knee. I was looking in the mirror when I wrote the original post.
Stanley Tucci series on CNN (on demand) “Looking For Italy.”
My wife found that on DirecTV for free (we don’t pay for anything except the exorbitant DTV bill.) We have watched a few episodes so far.
Those fight scenes were great. I have not seen any of his movies. Reminds me of some of the old John Wayne fight scenes.
Undercover Blues is a huge laughfest from 1993. Stanley Tucci, Kathleen Turner, and Dennis Quaid are an awesome ensemble. Highly Recommended. My wife loves it and has watched it many times.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B016BSROJO?tag=ttgnet-20
Fauci: It would have been a dereliction of duty not to help China research coronaviruses
Keeping this guy in position is going to go down in history as the biggest blunder of Trump’s presidency.
It’s right up there with having Michael Vick on the board of the SPCA.
Now for some IT news: MS is in Marketing mode and ARM has announced first CPU designs under next v9 architecture after running on v8 for about 10 years.
neowin has a short article but it makes my 4 web page limit go bust…
and for a more comprehensive view, Anandtech obviously:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/16693/arm-announces-mobile-armv9-cpu-microarchitectures-cortexx2-cortexa710-cortexa510
https://www.neowin.net/news/you-can-now-run-linux-gui-apps-in-windows-10/
So, MS is is the best Linux yet and this is the year of the Linux desktop (running inside Windows) 🙂
https://www.neowin.net/news/microsoft-says-edge-91-will-be-the-best-performing-browser-on-windows-10/
I use Edge and Vivaldi. Edge is actually bringing out over time most of the features I have enjoyed with Vivaldi since it was released.
https://www.neowin.net/news/satya-nadella-says-hes-incredibly-excited-about-the-next-generation-of-windows/
Nothing to see there yet but I can imagine quite a few people here that will start shuddering just by the thought about that. 🙂
“Nothing to see there yet but I can imagine quite a few people here that will start shuddering just by the thought about that”
Pale sweaty billionaire should have gone to jail:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRelVFm7iJE
and the partition upheld on appeal.
Instead we got a precedent that pale sweaty billionaires could lie to the courts and congress with impunity.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/every-nerf-gun-could-be-turned-80-or-greater-receiver-under-new-atf-rule
–it’s not hard to build a gun at home. ‘Bangers have been making zip guns forever. This guy has a nice twisted sense of humor.
@drwilliams, it was late last night and I only looked at links you posted, or that were linked at those links so it should be there… if the phrase “intent to manufacture” in the ctrl-f page search doesn’t do it, I can go looking. There are a metric crapton of labs here, I know of at least three in a 3 mile radius of my house that I noticed because of their signage. The requirements can’t be that bad or no one would get any work done. Given HPD’s past history of just fabricating lab results wrt drug prosecutions, and their recent propensity to just arrest random people and kill them in their homes, I don’t think anyone is actually taking the time to go LOOKING for labs. They’ve got more work than they will ever get to from the guys they catch cooking, or dealing.
n
“Nothing to see there yet but I can imagine quite a few people here that will start shuddering just by the thought about that. ”
–oh yes. Maybe the new gui will have invisible borders, the windows will be random shapes, have only a 2 pixel active area, have no pop up text, and require that you only use your elbows and nose to select… plugging in a keyboard will crash the whole thing…. oh, and the mouse pointer will still freeze while the desktop gets redrawn over a 2 minute period for no apparent reason.
n
added- and if you don’t have a high end gaming graphics card, 90% of the fluff and flash of the new gui won’t work, but file operations will still be single thread 16 bit routines running in three layers of emulation and take 8 minutes just to list the files in a directory….
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9617755/Moment-30-gunshots-fired-near-George-Floyd-Square-anniversary-death.html
–ah hah hah ha ha ha ha ha !!1!!!!!!!!1111111111111!!!!!11
In the one video (on youtube, when the embed won’t play), you can see a shop window break down the street. So yeah, live rounds.
n
For current day racing I’ll take NASCAR pit stops over F1 or Indy.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9618319/Judge-rejects-bid-toss-DNA-incapacitated-woman-s-rape.html
–as I’ve mentioned before, one of the reasons I read DM is that they seem to ALWAYS follow a story to conclusion. It’s been a long time since this story was front page news, and here is a followup article.
n
Now for some IT news: MS is in Marketing mode and ARM has announced first CPU designs under next v9 architecture after running on v8 for about 10 years.
neowin has a short article but it makes my 4 web page limit go bust…
and for a more comprehensive view, Anandtech obviously:
https://www.anandtech.com/show/16693/arm-announces-mobile-armv9-cpu-microarchitectures-cortexx2-cortexa710-cortexa510
https://www.neowin.net/news/you-can-now-run-linux-gui-apps-in-windows-10/
So, MS is is the best Linux yet and this is the year of the Linux desktop (running inside Windows)
I have been wondering for quite a while when Microsoft was going to switch platforms again. They never made Win64 very exciting but the adoption has been fairly gradual to the point many people are now running Win64. I have been fighting 32 bit memory problems for the last couple of days and wondering if it is time for us to at least jump our user interface again. Our user interface dates back to 1987 with Windows 2.0, 16 bit. The 16 bit to 32 bit port was fairly horrible and took three of us 18 months.
Now I am wondering if Windows is going to jump to the ARM chips like Apple. They will do it for speed and power (eco looks really good nowadays).
So, MS is is the best Linux yet and this is the year of the Linux desktop (running inside Windows)
I know this is heresy, but it actually makes some sense to me. A significant set of problems I had with desktop Linux was hardware compatibility. The same hardware ran Windows just fine, with everything, even power management, working as designed. Trying to get satisfaction from the Linux dweebs was a no-go. Eventually, I got most stuff to work, but it was a pain. I also suspected that at least some of my networking problems were due to hardware incompatibilities. I didn’t like the suggestion to “just change the hardware.” I even consulted with a couple of Linux experts, who did help.
Now I am back on Windows (10) after six years of all Linux. W10 isn’t perfect, but my problems have been slight and easily solved. I am not done (when is anything ever done?) but that is my fault for rushing this system into production. It is soooo much easier on the bench!
But wait! Running Linux inside Windows may be a neat trick, but I can’t find anything I need that is only available on Linux and not Windows. Since I have come back, I have been able to find software (paid AND open source) to do everything I tried to do on Linux with limited success. Software availability for desktop Linux is holding it back. That said, I still have some love (and I mean LOVE) for Linux. Like many unusual things, it inspires passion. Windows just works, and is boring; exactly what I want to get work done.
I never set up a command-line-only Linux server, and probably will never set up any kind of server. From what friends tell me, that is where Linux shines.
Now I am wondering if Windows is going to jump to the ARM chips like Apple. They will do it for speed and power (eco looks really good nowadays).
Reminds me of RISC. Another great thingTM that never caught on. Oh, sure, Sun…
I know some people need more power, but as has been said here, most of us can get by with five year old hardware, as long as it was good stuff to begin with. I would welcome something shiny, but not at the cost of planned obsolescence or lack of modularity. Unless it is really inexpensive. Remember thin clients?
I came across an article a couple of days ago that claimed it was a good thing the government was printing money, as a way to avoid inflation. Some journalists are just amazingly clueless. While governments may have had little choice but to print money during the past year, that money doesn’t come for free. We’re going to pay for it in the form of inflation over the next few years.
That said, hyperinflation isn’t going to happen. That’s just someone making up another reason to panic. Clickbait. No, it’s the year-by-year compounding that we have to watch out for.
We’re coming up on retirement age, and this is the one thing we cannot compensate for. I will receive a decent pension when I retire, but it’s a fixed amount per year. What will it be worth in 20 years? In 30 years?
Inflation of 5% doesn’t sound too bad, butafter 10 years, your effective income will have dropped by 40%. After 20 years, by more than 60%. We will be able to live comfortably on my pension, but on less than half of it? Not so much…
Most governments are increasing frightened of their constituents. Not just in the US, but also throughout Europe.
While the events of January 6th were not pretty, that must have been the least violent “riot” in history. Yet “peaceful protests” on the left can cause massive property damage, kill dozens, and be quietly ignored.
I have a friend who originally comes from Eastern Germany. His take is simple: Our governments are turning into exactly the system that he escaped when the Berlin Wall fell.
I agree with your sentiment – our tax returns here are also insanely complicated. The thing is: People have a right to privacy – the government is supposed to need a warrant to get at your personal papers. Yet government claims a right to know everything about your finances. How else , in order to ensure you don’t cheat on your taxes.
That indicates that we have the wrong tax system. If income tax cannot be collected without violating people’s rights, then it needs to be replaced with something else.
Of course, governments could also spend less money. That would help.
@brad:
Of course, governments could also spend less money. That would help.
But… But… We need to support <flavour-of-the-month>! Says a small minority, very loudly. Wile carefully neglecting to ask, “Can we afford it?” After all, it’s government money, and, as such, is free.
Trouble is, the demand for a free good is unlimited.
Until it isn’t.
Which is when you get the riots – “Give us our <x>. Or else.” Seems to me that the unemployed underclass in the US is at that point already. And most of the Western World is following in America’s footsteps.
G.
Along that line, there is a case to be made that the rich have behaved exactly the same way – arguing successfully for the last 50 years for tax cuts but not caring about how large the deficit may get, suggesting you could always spend less. That might have been true at first, but there has been less to cut in the last 20 years and the tax cuts, including the last one under Trump, continued. Can those tax cuts be afforded? Looking at the size of the US federal deficit and overall debt, the answer should be no. Now the “non-rich” are coming to the table for their share. Of course they are late and there maybe nothing left but scraps. I can’t and won’t blame them for wanting similar handouts.
I always looked at tax cuts to force the goobermint to downsize. But, dumb politicos just print more money and run the country into commie pinko bastard land.
The theory was you could “starve the beast”. But the government is elected by not just the rich but also by the “not rich”. They were unwilling to give up their piece of the pie just to give the rich a benefit. Very few politicians elected had the spine to actually try and pay for the cuts, or stand up and ask why any such cuts were required. Of course, many politicians were being financed by the rich in exchange for low-tax policies. The vast majority of the population, who do not directly benefit (if they benefit in any way at all) from low tax policies continued to vote for those politicians. Assigning blame is messy. The lesson seems to be: If you want smaller government, vote for a politician that will give you smaller government. A policy of cutting taxes for the rich, unsurprisingly, benefits the rich more than anyone else and, based on the evidence, has no connection to reducing government spending.