Well it ended up raining most of yesterday, at times VERY hard. Several places recorded over an inch in 15 minutes. It’s a good thing it didn’t keep to that rate, or there would be real flooding going on. Today might be more of the same, if the national forecast is correct. Hard to get it right for our little corner of the city though, so I’m hoping for at least some sun.
I did get one pickup done before the skies opened. The main items were a hitch assembly and led spot lights for my truck. More projects to add to the list, but I’ll have the stuff if I ever get the time. I got a couple of things cleaned up and put away, and some more stuff organized and put in the ebay/auction bins.
Today will be the first time since last March that we had our cleaning service in. While we won’t get back to where we were, we are at least getting some elements of that time back. My wife is very happy.
I’ll be doing office stuff, finishing up my part of the taxes, and maybe doing some more organizing. The cleaners don’t come into my office. This mess is all on me.
I’ll have to make an appointment to pick up the item I won that I couldn’t pick up yesterday. Maybe I can wait a couple of days and combine trips. I would like to pick it up and inspect it and make sure it functions well, but I also don’t want to do that with kids in tow. I would also like to put a few items through it and that will need a bit more organizing than I can get done in the next day or two.
Finally got a contract from the “pallet load” auction house, so I’m going through that today and looking at the calendar. I’ve got to move that forward.
So OF COURSE, we have houseguests next week (in laws) and a trip to Florida a couple of weeks later. The grandparents will at least let me get out of the house and get some work done at my secondary location by babysitting for the girls. If I get the auction set up though, I will have to move the pickup day around until after I get back from the trip.
It’s a good life if you don’t weaken, right?
Work on some skills, test out some preps, and stack some stuff.
nick
———-PING————— Miles Teg —————PING—————– haven’t seen you in a long time, please check in…
The places I’ve used Oracle it was overkill, but mandated by the Feds. I like how finely you can tune and tweak it (or at least 8i/9i) however I don’t think the granular level of control you can achieve is necessary in many business cases. MS SQL, MySQL, etc, are likely “good enough” for many operations.
That being said, I’ve got a strong suspicion that when the data gets enormous or the table structure very complex, then Oracle is worth its weight in gold.
I don’t have experience in data that complex, servers under that level of demand, so I may be talking out my hiney.
The concern with Oracle is always about the cost and full time staffing requirements, never the reliability for a properly spec-ed load. The only time I’ve seen an Oracle system truly down was at the university when the lab director had the brain fart of ordering all of the identical hard drives for the RAID arrays from the same vendor on the same PO so all of the drives came from the same manufacturing lot. Of course they all failed within a few hours of each other on a single day.
At first, the director blamed “hackers”, in particular a former lab employee who doubled his salary going elsewhere to administer … Oracle! Eventually, however, the truth came out.
The last job was toll road systems, and the load on my project could be 20-30,000 transactions during rush hour, morning and afternoon. There was wiggle room for PostgreSQL, but the systems were still Oracle when I was fired last Fall. If we ever had a problem, it was with the Python script that took XML and inserted it into the various tables, usually due to a miscommunication between my side and the DBAs over the data dictionary.
(I fixed the problem on my project by insisting that the DBAs be out at our rural test site when we were doing integration tests, but that frosted some Pop Tarts, particularly at Halloween one year, when everyone liked to be downtown to people watch the freak show that is Austin.)
When I worked for the Death Star on the VPN for Fortune 50 clients, including IBM, the back end system was all mainframe with DB/2. With hundreds of thousands of client machines and millions of authentication transactions possible daily, there wasn’t much of a choice.
Hard times produce strong men. Strong men produce good times. Good times produce weak men. Weak men produce hard times.
So OF COURSE, we have houseguests next week (in laws) and a trip to Florida a couple of weeks later. The grandparents will at least let me get out of the house and get some work done at my secondary location by babysitting for the girls. If I get the auction set up though, I will have to move the pickup day around until after I get back from the trip.
If you fly through TPA and have very specific luggage space needs for the rental car, be clear in advance what models the company may have available at the lot when you arrive. “___ size SUV” covers a wide variety of models, as we learned this Spring, and even TPA’s new rental car facility is reaching its limits.
Toyota RAV4 may be the best selling vehicle in the US, but it makes a lousy rental when you have four decent size suitcases for a week’s stay. CX-5 Mazda is better. Barely. Nissans are preferred — they’re someone else’s problem above 50k miles.
The food at La Teresita, 10 minutes from the rental car facility exit is still excellent. Even picky eaters are safe at that place.
We had our wedding reception upstairs.
Yes, it is the edge of Tampa’a Amish Country, but you are safe at La Teresita. Just go south or west getting out of there to pick up I275 to go over the bridges to Sarasota or out to I-4 heading to Orlando.
East Columbus, East MLK and I275 north from Downtown to Fletcher Ave. are serious Amish Country in Tampa.
BTW, @Nick, if you’re doing parks, Universal was more serious than Disney regarding the Wuxu Flu.
We avoided The Mouse for the most part in March except for a brief side trip to Disney Springs.
Disney is doing capacity, and the reservations for the “Star Wars” and “Avatar” rides are maxxed every day. Even friends with Annual Passes are grumbling. Mickey wants to keep the Fox catalog, and rumors say that they might write another big check for Warner.
The “Hagrid” motorcycle coaster at Universal is possible with advance work, even with discount tickets.
They likened the broadcast to watching Ted Baxter on WJM. Not sure how I should take that comment.
Ted Knight won two Emmys out of six nominations for Ted Baxter and probably would have received an Academy Award nomination for Judge Smalls in “Caddyshack” had that film not been such a disaster before release.
Consider it a compliment.
I quote Judge Smalls all the time.
Rodney had some great ones, too:
“The last time I saw a mouth like that, it had a hook in it.”
I wonder if plugs will start a war when he meets with Vlad. plugs’ bipolar, dementia riddled, sponge brain will take over and ugly, angry, incoherent words will shoot out of his mouth. I can see Vlad just sitting there with a smile on his face while plugs embarrasses whats left of the FUSA. I wonder if The Kamel will be looking over his shoulder as usual. Oh, wait, she’s supposed to fix the border and voting, right?
Another Shot Girl ™ exclusive on logic:
Ocasio-Cortez Says Building Fewer Jails Will Reduce The Number Of People Who Go To Jail
Ms. Jenny could use this logic to solve Alaska’s homeless problem: if you don’t build more shelters, there will be less homeless.
TidePod Evita is right. With fewer jails, the US will have more violent criminals, burglars, and other pests out on the street, committing crimes. At some point the ordinary decent citizens will say that enough is enough and deal with the problem. Crime rates will go down dramatically.
Illegal aliens, who are by definition criminals, may be caught up in this. Speaking Spanish in public may be treated as a “kill me” sign taped to their backs.
As a nice bonus, people will wonder just what government is doing for us, to consume 40% of the nation’s GDP.
@greg, this trip will be just local Sarasota attractions and time with grandma. Sibling’s house has a nice pool.
The October trip will be to WDW, and I don’t think Universal HP is on the agenda this year.
n
“people will wonder just what government is doing for us”
–they’ll be going after the law abiding for violating the criminals’ rights….
like now.
n
Saw a few foodie vloggers making fun of air fryers. The gist being that it’s essentially just a tabletop convection oven. That is, heating element + fan. You can accomplish the same thing with a convection oven or even a convection toaster oven. However, by making them countertop appliances and giving them a nifty name like “air fryer” they found the marketing sweet spot and they got super popular as a result. I did see an interesting argument that a convection toaster oven can do everything an air fryer can plus more and, like an air fryer, is also a convenient countertop appliance.
Yep, it is now cheaper to frame with steel than with 2×4 lumber. Last example I saw showed steel studs at $6 while wood studs were about $8 (varies geographically).
I wish we could normalize relatives staying in hotels when they’re visiting. They get their space you get yours. Much nicer! We’ve partially solved the problem by turning the spare rooms into things that don’t have beds.
The nearest convenient inexpensive hotel has not reopened yet. There are several in the neighborhood in that state.
n
I’ve got four solar panels out this morning. It’s overcast to partly cloudy. I’m getting 60W from them to the Jackery. The Dometic draws under 50W about every 15 minutes. The battery is slowly charging and running the cooler no problem. When Sun comes out I’ll hit over 400W in, more when the Sun is at the correct angle.
The Sun peaked out, it’s 10:26am with a tree blocking some light, I’m getting 262W from four panels.
So it’s been 15 months since lockdown began, and a world figure can’t be bothered to wear her mask properly?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-9647907/Queen-Letizia-Spain-48-latest-star-embrace-grey-hair.html
Gaps at sides, nose wire not shaped. Mask filter media made in Spain, claims to work by mechanical filtration, designed to protect healthcare workers (so not just for show.)
https://bioinicia.com/proveil/
FFS, at this point, if you are going to burn a real mask, at least wear the freaking thing properly.
n
Yup, all for show. When’s the last time you saw plugs wearing a properly fitted N95? Now, it’s just a cloth mask. The jokes on us, the Dirt People.
I need to restock my mask supply for the next time ebola gets here, and people are still burning good ones for show. Use a hankie.
n
Costco switched flavors for my every day coffee, and I’m betting they never bring it back, because that’s what usually happens.
Ordered several pounds online. Only a couple of bucks more, and free shipping, and still cheaper than the grocery store.
n
The nearest convenient inexpensive hotel has not reopened yet. There are several in the neighborhood in that state.
The Federal unemployment boost continues until June 26 in Texas.
Florida’s continues until the end of July. If you opt for a hotel in Sarasota, don’t expect much in the way of services beyond the room being clean when you check in. Double the tip for the maid if there is daily service.
Florida isn’t as open as the media portrays. Despite being an outcast among the party establishment in Florida, DeSantis is still pretty much an establishment Republican. Be sure to take a mask stash.
Contrary to how it looked on the surface, our March trip was carefully considered and planned. The only place we went that didn’t have people doing mask kabuki was Cabbage Key.
https://cabbagekey.com/
Disney in October will be a roll of the dice in terms of services at the on property resorts. Covid hysteria could well be over by then, but the FL minimum wage goes to $10/hr, and since that time of year is usually “off season” with the exception of the Halloween events at the park, the mouse is bound to experiment with skimping.
Might be interesting to see what amazon thinks they know about me… and overshare!
In my “you might like”
–Cane Fighting -: The Authoritative Guide to Using the Cane or Walking Stick for Self-Defense
–BLUETTI AC200P Solar Generator with Panels Included 2000W Portable Power Station with 3pcs Foldable Solar Panel 120W SP120, Solar Power Generator for RV House Outdoor Camping
–Dietz #2500 Jupiter Oil Lantern (Blue)
–LogOX 3-in-1 Forestry Multitool – The Back-Saving Log Hauler, Cant Hook, and Timberjack
— Cottonelle Fresh Flushable Wipes
— razzberry pi starter kit
–a lot of logging and forestry stuff, chainsaw accessories, home sawmills, etc
–lot s of freeze dried food and long term storage food too.
I look up a lot of stuff researching auction items, and doing research for preps…. it skews my profile a bit.
n
Re grepping for previous/following lines, use -A and -B flags
4 lines before match
$ grep -B 4 ‘keyword’ /path/to/file.log
4 lines after match
$ grep -A 2 ‘keyword’ /path/to/file.log
And combined
$ grep -B 5 -A 2 –color ‘keyword’ /path/to/file.log
I wish. My grep is written for the Windows command line known as the Thompson Toolkit ( http://www.tasoft.com ). Your grep is newer and has more features.
@Lynn: All is not lost! 😉
Redirect the grep output to a file containing the filename (or complete path, if you’re grepping multiple directories) and lineno, for each matching line
Write a quickie C/C++ program to print the matching lines in context by doing the following for each line in the grepped output file:
1. Print the filename and lineno.
2. Open the file.
3. Read the file line by line until lineno – 2.
4. Print the next 5 lines.
5. Close the file.
Somewhat ugly and inefficient, but it should get the job done.
This trip we’re staying at my sibling’s house. October at WDW we’ll be in one of the DVC properties, don’t know which one. We HAD booked the treehouses. Never stayed there back in the day, and they’ve all been redone. Might be somewhere else with the rebooking though. Boardwalk is our “home” property.
A cast member confided in me that there is no ‘off season’ any more. They have gotten very good at creating reasons to go there during those formerly slow times, like Food and Wine, or the marathon.
n
Huh. Sun is shining and it’s raining. Light, very light drizzle, but still rain.
80F and only 80%RH showing.
Cleaners are here going thru the whole house. There is a lot of ‘deep cleaning’ to do.
n
I hate to gripe about ‘them’ but I hate it when ‘they’ do that! Maxwell House did it, and then Yuban. Except for my occasional espresso I get from a local roaster I’ve given up and just drink instant for my morning cup or two. Nestle will probably muck that up in a year or two, as well.
</gripe>
I thought of a slogan for Caitlyn’s new contraption: “Now you see it, now you don’t!”
went online to figure out how to get my new toll tag, and to pay my missed tolls. Had $40 in tolls on my temp plate. No tolls showing on my new TX plates yet.
Used to be you had to come into the office and get a tag, now you have to do it all online, they’ve closed all the EZTag offices that I can find.
Cameras seem to be working pretty well… Greg. Don’t suppose there is a list of plate numbers that just can’t be tracked or tolled…………….
n
I drink an instant iced tea every afternoon. It tastes fine, is cheap and easy to make. I’m not a fan of instant coffee though, I like it dark and very strong, with a lot of cream and sweetener.
added– I do add instant starbucks coffees to all my Mountain House variety boxes. Also some instant flavor for water.
n
A cast member confided in me that there is no ‘off season’ any more. They have gotten very good at creating reasons to go there during those formerly slow times, like Food and Wine, or the marathon.
Epcot is severely torn up this year, with just about all of Communicore either demolished or undergoing remodel and the event pavilion delayed. If you’re going for Food and Wine, that event may be underwhelming.
went online to figure out how to get my new toll tag, and to pay my missed tolls. Had $40 in tolls on my temp plate. No tolls showing on my new TX plates yet.
Used to be you had to come into the office and get a tag, now you have to do it all online, they’ve closed all the EZTag offices that I can find.
Cameras seem to be working pretty well… Greg. Don’t suppose there is a list of plate numbers that just can’t be tracked or tolled…………….
Houston is the competition’s territory. Their tech sucks so people are probably reading the plates somewhere in a sweat shop office in Manilla. People are very accurate.
If you get a new passive tag, don’t mount it on a piece of plexiglass for quick transfers between vehicles. The acrilic is opaque to the RF transmitted by the readers. You can use a glass block, but the positioning is usually not ideal. Just get another tag for the other vehicle and mount it properly.
Blecch. You could probably add freeze-dried goat bowel and get better flavor.
“. Just get another tag for the other vehicle and mount it properly. ”
–yeah I discovered that some time ago. You also have to be careful not to put it behind the various conductive paints silkscreened onto your windshield. They have a test sensor at the eztag store to be sure it can be read.
Cheaper tag, more finicky to read.
Rules require one tag per vehicle in TX no sharing. All the better to track you.
n
Coffee flavors remind me of a bit from Denis Leary (1997ish) about his rage at not being able to find coffee flavored coffee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-f_dxLiuXuw
I have a buddy that “mounts” his to the back side of clear packing tape. Seems to work for him. Or, it doesn’t but they just associate his license plate back to his toll pass and charge him that way. Though, I think they send nastygrams to people who habitually do that.
In my current state our roads are paid for solely with tax dollars and we have no toll roads, so I find it especially irritating to be on cross-country drives and suddenly have to pay to use a road.
“freeze-dried goat bowel and get better flavor. ”
–bowel, or bowel contents? One of my favorite scenes in a book I love, Cryptonomicon by Neil Stephenson, uses the phrase “former pig bowel contents”. It’s very evocative.
In my mind,even bad coffee is better than no coffee.
n
Most places there are alternatives to the toll road, but they take longer, go out of the way, or are in poor repair. Google always notes that the route has tolls, and offers a non-tolled route.
Our EZTag system has been passive RFID from the beginning. BIG patch antennas to read that little squiggle.
I actually prefer toll roads for major arteries, if they are well run and maintained. Taxpayers aren’t paying for something they never use, only the users pay for it.
n
“Their tech sucks so people are probably reading the plates somewhere”
–wasn’t there a captcha project that used OCR from project gutenburg to get a read on problem scans?
n
Cheaper tag, more finicky to read.
Rules require one tag per vehicle in TX no sharing. All the better to track you.
The stickers are passive and must be positioned to quickly fluoresce in response to a signal from the reader. Usually, multiple reads are necessary for the arrangement to work and avoid billing the vehicle by plate. You want the tag positioned as optimally as possible.
Real time tracking is possible in theory but not in practice. The industry supplying the tech and the bureaucracies behind the toll roads put the fun in dysfunctional.
Ok, and if I have to pay a toll, on that section of 183, why are the pigs there with radar guns?
I take the old road. Paying extra to save 15 minutes going into Austin isn’t worth it to me. Paying extra to get out? Yeah, I’m doing that.
Anyone else notice that Russia is unloading all their dollars?
n
— “but the US is the world’s reserve currency, it can’t happen here” with apologies to @lynn….
Nothing lasts forever.
n
“48 Hours: A Novel” by William R. Forstchen
https://www.amazon.com/48-Hours-William-R-Forstchen/dp/0765397935/?tag=ttgnet-20
A solitary science fiction apocalyptic book, no prequels, no sequels. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Forge Fiction (Macmillan) in 2020. If there are any more books in the series then I will purchase and read them.
So how would our society react to a level five CME (coronal mass ejection) event ? Level five is the same level as the hurricane levels, except that the entire planet is affected. And then two months later, a level six CME occurs, and the Earth is positioned to catch the CME event again. How will our various governments react ? How will the people react ? And how will our machinery and computers survive these events ? The author takes a deep look into this rare but possible scenario with severe life threatening results.
My rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (663 reviews)
Without a toll tag they go by license plate. And charge extra because they mail the bill.
I sold my Stratus. Grandpa bought it for Grand Daughter. About a year later I received a bill for traveling on 45? I don’t know, far side of Austin and I’ve never been in the area. I called, they reversed the charge.
It happened again several months later. Same result.
So I’m up to almost an hour and a half on the phone.
Then she moved to Colorado to work at a weed dispensary. WTH. And her parents, stunning and brave and all that, sent the car to scrap because it would not start because the battery was bad. Or something just as stupid like a flat tire. Oh, a three year old battery?
I received another toll bill. I called again. The lady was helpful and looked at the picture…. and the car was on a flatbed tow truck. Tow truck didn’t have a toll tag and taking the toll road.
They removed the charge.
Moral? When you sell a car, remove the plates. She never bothered to transfer the title or any of that stuff like buying insurance.
“Their tech sucks so people are probably reading the plates somewhere”
–wasn’t there a captcha project that used OCR from project gutenburg to get a read on problem scans?
With a decent camera and exposure. The cameras I’ve seen on I-10 in Houston look ancient, and I doubt they receive a lot of tweaking from qualified techs trained by the manufacturer.
Even with funtional OCR, the minimum confidence level for billing by plate is really high, with people still in the loop to verify reads. The cost of an American rep to take a call for incorrect billing is much more significant than someone verifying the plate numbers sitting in Manilla.
@Lynn: All is not lost!
Redirect the grep output to a file containing the filename (or complete path, if you’re grepping multiple directories) and lineno, for each matching line
Write a quickie C/C++ program to print the matching lines in context by doing the following for each line in the grepped output file:
1. Print the filename and lineno.
2. Open the file.
3. Read the file line by line until lineno – 2.
4. Print the next 5 lines.
5. Close the file.
Somewhat ugly and inefficient, but it should get the job done.
I went the other route. I fixed the problems causing 99% of the thousands of warning messages. There are only a dozen warning messages now and I am fixing those after pondering the problems.
I am going to try the 64 bit version of cgywin. Soon, real soon now. Maybe even this year. I have dozens of projects that I am working on, including upgrading our shop to Windows 10 x64 Pro.
Then she moved to Colorado to work at a weed dispensary. WTH. And her parents, stunning and brave and all that, sent the car to scrap because it would not start because the battery was bad. Or something just as stupid like a flat tire. Oh, a three year old battery?
Probably following a guy. Or a girl. And $15/hour.
Good grief.
Another blog is talking about trout fishing. Made me remember the days when there was only one “nice restaurant” in small towns, other than various cafes, and that one ancient restaurant always had “Tenderloin of Trout” on the menu. Have not had trout since those days, and now it sounds good. Would be a nice change from the salmon, flounder, or catfish we usually do. I looked up United’s fish and they say they have fresh whole trout. We are so far inland, and just “so far” in general, that “fresh” fish is usually suspect. I wonder if they have any frozen. How best to cook it?
@Lynn
Just in time to get it done before Windows 11 is released (rumored to be on the 11th this month at 11:00am).
“including upgrading our shop to Windows 10 x64 Pro.”
Just in time to get it done before Windows 11 is released (rumored to be on the 11th this month at 11:00am).
Microsoft has a press event regarding a new Windows release later this month, on the 24th.
I doubt that the new release will be Windows 11. Maybe the long-rumored subscription OS for consumers which will make the platform much more of a closed ecosystem like iOS. Or a totally closed ecosystem ARM OS with an Apple-like store for compiled binaries.
Microsoft pledged to support VB6 applications until Windows 10 went away, and the major customers will gripe if they aren’t ready to abandon VB6. They certainly won’t give up Win32 or x86 compatibility.
I still saw VB6 used in the customer service desktop configurations at the Death Star when they sent us all for scab training leading up to the last serious strike year in 2009. I would be surprised if those apps weren’t still being used.
@paul, yikes! I got a scooter back for that reason, or I could have. Sold my 50cc scooter to another student on campus who never did the paperwork. When the agency that does parking violations siezed it, they sent ME a letter about paying the fines to get it back. I could have gotten it back for not all that much money, and sold it again. Instead I sent them a copy of my bill of sale, and let them auction it.
In Texas we can file a notice of sale so that they can’t run up fines in our names by not changing everything over.
n
I’m the last person to ask about cooking fish. I buy Gorton’s or Mrs. Paul’s. Stick it in the oven on a cookie sheet.
Salmon? Grew up eating it. Dad caught a lot when we live in Oregon. Back when I was around four. He took it to the cannery and I don’t know…. but we moved to Hawaii and Oceanside and Mobile and then Mission/Edinburg and they still had a few dozen cans when I graduated High School. It wasn’t full of spine like store bought.
I had a salmon steak at Denny’s years and years ago. So did a couple of friends. They were fine. Me? Nope… can’t stand the stench. I’ve only barfed more after getting totally drunk on tequila.
In Texas we can file a notice of sale so that they can’t run up fines in our names by not changing everything over.
Yep, did that. On-line. 🙂
So, you misplaced the remote again, eh?
Although that happens with some words, I am afraid that in this particular case it is just a matter of the language being learnt poorly by myself. My apologies.
I think most people in the trades in the US would make the same distinction. A ‘woodworker’ makes things from wood – ie the final object is made primarily from wood – boxes, cabinets, furniture, bowls, pens, etc and the object is useful in itself.
A “carpenter” builds with wood, but makes things that are not objects in themselves. He makes stairs, frames houses, builds decks, builds boats (sometimes), handrails, paneled rooms, etc.
Both have many further sub-divisions and specialties too.
n
I know cabinet makers, trim carpenters, framing carpenters. I know woodworkers who are turners (work at the lathe) making bowls, pens, or what is called a “turned vessel” or art pieces. I know woodworkers who make cabinets that are freestanding pieces of furniture, and not something for a kitchen. I know carpenters who just hang doors, and guys that just do stairs. Everyone wants to be special 🙂
— “but the US is the world’s reserve currency, it can’t happen here” with apologies to @lynn….
Nothing lasts forever.
n
Did I say that it cannot happen here ? I sure did not mean to as I firmly believe that the USA Dollar will be switched to a basket of currency some day. Just not today. And the ruble will not be in that basket. Maybe.
@Lynn
including upgrading our shop to Windows 10 x64 Pro.
Just in time to get it done before Windows 11 is released (rumored to be on the 11th this month at 11:00am).
Yup, a day late and a dollar short, that’s me.
Timothy Ash, senior emerging markets sovereign strategist at BlueBay Asset Manager, described the decision to ditch U.S. dollar assets as “very political” and one that’s meant to “send a signal” to President Joe Biden’s administration ahead of the upcoming summit with President Vladimir Putin.
“The messaging is ‘we don’t need the U.S., we don’t need to transact in dollars, and we are invulnerable to more U.S. sanctions,” he said
One problem with that is that ALL international transactions use Dollars as the mechanism. Except for Russia and China and they have a special arrangement that we the USA do not have the … testicles … to break. We won WWII and our price to the world was that they use Dollars for buying stuff.
The number one item traded in the world is Crude Oil. Billions of dollars each day in Letters of Credit. And most of the sellers are not trustworthy nor are many of the buyers. But they do trust the Dollar until they can convert it back to their currency. Or not, holding onto those dollars gives one a lot of comfort. Especially in a Swiss bank.
–right on schedule
n
@Lynn
Some people just don’t like to rush into things….have to wait for the dust to settle on new things.
Or, are very patient…
The voting rights campaign is the latest addition to Harris’ growing portfolio. Harris has been tasked with addressing the root causes of migration from Central America, expanding broadband access and overseeing space policy. On Thursday, Biden also said Harris would lead a tour across the South and Midwest this month to try to encourage people to get vaccinated for the coronavirus.
https://www.npr.org/2021/06/02/1002487488/biden-says-will-ramp-up-push-to-expand-voting-rights-and-puts-harris-in-charge
And I thought Chuck-E-Cheese Schumer didn’t let her leave DC in case of any Senate votes?
There’s also the Columbia Restaurant (spanish food) near Ybor City.
@Chad
I bought a Ninja on recommendation. It stands up when not in use, and pivots forward when you need it. The footprint is not much bigger than my 4-slice toaster.
I’ve had convection ovens for twenty years. The current model is a Bosch with a gas cooktop and electric oven. The time difference is that the air fryer heats up in under a minute and has most things cooked and served in under twenty, or not much more time than it takes the big oven to preheat. The energy difference is that the air fryer is probably less than 10%, which means the 90% doesn’t become a/c load in the summer.
Foodie vbloggers can kiss my third-best knife block.
“The food at La Teresita, 10 minutes from the rental car facility exit is still excellent. Even picky eaters are safe at that place.”
There’s also the Columbia Restaurant (spanish food) near Ybor City.
But it isn’t 10 minutes from the rental car counter at the airport.
And a good Cuban restaurant should be a bit run down and fairly cheap.
OTOH, the Columbia does run the best concessions *inside* Tampa Airport at the Southwest airside — the one with the Spanx store.
There are a crapton of air fryers in the amazon/target/walmart returns auctions. Literal tons.
n
I had a great cuban breakfast in the Miami airport almost two decades ago. When flying out of Miami, I expect to see livestock in the airport and on the plane.
n
–this apparently surprises people? BTW- it won’t take 30 years.
–this apparently surprises people? BTW- it won’t take 30 years.
On our last trip to Florida, we noticed that the big mosque was still tucked in just north of Disney World on Apopka-Vineland road. Of course, if something ever happened at Disney World, everyone living on that side of Orlando knows about the mosque as well.
And the latest addition to the neighborhood, right across the street from the mosque, is a new-ish International Sai temple. Only in America.
Coffee comes in five descending stages: Coffee, Java, Jamoke, Joe, and Carbon Remover.
Glory Road, Robert A. Heinlein
Powdered creamer makes excellent fireballs on the 4th, but doesn’t belong in coffee.
I’m partial to dark roast from a local roaster at moderate strength in copious amounts. No additives. In summer I drink two cups in the morning and it’s iced for the rest of the day, which means I brew a pot in the evening, let it cool and then refrigerate.
Cold brew is a nice alternative and gives a better product with cheaper coffee. Flask in a cooler doesn’t take much room on road trips.
Grew up on instant Nestea. Quit putting sugar in it in high school, when working on cars in a hot garage used up multiple pitchers. I’d buy more Lipton’s in the bottle on road trips, but the unsweet is hard to find.
Unless your brother-in-law has a Roro Rooter franchise there’s no such thing as “flushable wipes.”
And even that might not be enough for the folks here on septic.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9653491/USA-Today-fights-FBI-subpoena-asking-hand-readers-information.html
There is a whole lotta weird going on at the FBI.
n
SunPass got so bad a while back that I was checking the monthly bill line by line and finding errors every month. One time they had a picture of a frickin’ motorcycle and said it was for my car!
interesting Tweets:
https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2021/06/04/exclusive-high-ranking-chinese-defector-has-direct-knowledge-of-several-chinese-special-weapons-programs-n391238
SunPass got so bad a while back that I was checking the monthly bill line by line and finding errors every month. One time they had a picture of a frickin’ motorcycle and said it was for my car!
SunPass = Conduent. Yeah, they’re bad.
Conduent grew to prominence as a division of Xerox, but the parent company cut them loose a few years ago.
It is a niche industry with a few lousy players. The customers tend to be morons who only pay when sued so the management is going to be bottom feeders from construction and government contractor firms.
For my Subie there’s a dealer service bulletin with an attached PDF that you print, cut out and affix to the windshield and it shows the only allowable area where you can affix a toll tag without interfering with the stereo cameras than are part of the safety system (lane departure, etc.). They of course prefer that you stick it on in the lower right corner of the windshield but SunPass said that was a no-no.
Back when I had an EZPass they had a version that attached to the front license plates for some of the luxury cars that had a metallic film embedded in the windshield glass as a better defroster.
When we were doing our Hurricane Irma repairs my wife found a nice pair of old double doors at the local salvage store and the GC got his ‘I just hang doors’ carpenter to install them. Watching him work was like watching a surgeon. When he was done they worked as good as if they were pre-hung new stock doors.
Okay, so it’s 13 minutes: https://tinyurl.com/27peb5f8
And should I ask why you know where the Spanx store is at the airport?
My wife bought one for a dollar at a yard sale. Tried it once and dropped it off at Goodwill the next day.
Tried it once and dropped it off at Goodwill the next day.
–that was my impression, so it was very interesting to hear the opposite view. It’s a bit like the George Foreman grill. EVERYONE has one or had one, but few people keep using it. My inlaws actually use theirs all the time. I used mine until I had to clean it. That got tiresome. No idea where it went, but it’s not been in my kitchen in a couple of decades.
n
And should I ask why you know where the Spanx store is at the airport?
Tampa Airport legend. While building the company in Atlanta and still working her day job for Danka, Sara Blakely used to regularly fly the Airtran shuttle out of C35, the gate closest to the store.
I took that flight every time I went to Atlanta for the Death Star post BellSouth merger.
The Columbia Group concessions near the gate are so popular that, pre-Covid, the airport had started experimenting with limited numbers of shopping passes for people to go out there just to eat. My wife vouches for the Cafe con Leche.
For my Subie there’s a dealer service bulletin with an attached PDF that you print, cut out and affix to the windshield and it shows the only allowable area where you can affix a toll tag without interfering with the stereo cameras than are part of the safety system (lane departure, etc.). They of course prefer that you stick it on in the lower right corner of the windshield but SunPass said that was a no-no.
After having a problem with RainX on the windshield causing my Toyota’s safety system camera to malfunction, I wouldn’t be surprised if that coating created an issue with a passive toll tag. I never got out to our test range to try it before I was shown the door, however.
I too marvel at anyone who can do something with only the skill that comes from the apocryphal 10,000 hours, or more. Deft, precise, economic, with not a single molecule of ATP wasted.
In India I’ve seen reeds, ultra-skinny brown guys without an ounce fat, repeatedly heft 30-40 lbs of gravel from the ground onto just a plate atop their heads, carry it 50 yards and dump. Over and over. Without breaking a sweat. At 37° C. Eeez a wonderment!
The other examples which come to mind are, umm, pastoral. Pitching hay. Using an axe. A scythe! (Boy, is that hard. I’ve tried it) Surgeons. Violinists (Itzhak!).
Maybe it’s just anyone who’s practiced using his tool for a long, long time?
@Lynn
Just in time to get it done before Windows 11 is released (rumored to be on the 11th this month at 11:00am).
Yup, a day late and a dollar short, that’s me.
Some people just don’t like to rush into things….have to wait for the dust to settle on new things.
Or, are very patient…
We’ve got 13 or 14 computers. Keeping them all running takes too much time as is. And I have to upgrade our Act! from 2012 to 2021 as a part of the upgrade which is a potential disaster also. And I am still nursing my flaky server along. I’ve got a new pc built for it using windows 7 x64 pro, now i am thinking about making it windows 10 x64 pro.
Lynn, is there an Act! for Android app?
I used 6.03 for years, way past planned obsolescence, in my computer shop but still miss the calendaring and my personal db.
Edit: Jeez, I’m getting old. I remember registering that to one Wm Clinton, residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. What I meant was, is there a cloud App, with a good calendar and group options?
I had a great cuban breakfast in the Miami airport almost two decades ago. When flying out of Miami, I expect to see livestock in the airport and on the plane.
n
My brother and I flew from Belize to Miami in 1989. A guy next to me was smoking a really nasty Churchhill. A lady four rows ahead of us had a chicken in cage that sqawked all the way.
And even that might not be enough for the folks here on septic.
You would not believe what we have put in our septic tank. The moron rebuilding my daughters shower did not close off the drain with a rag so he managed to get a bunch of ornamental rock down the drain. But, for $600, a guy with a vacuum truck will show up and drain the three tanks for you.
Watched Tomb Raider with the kids tonight. I loved that game and the movie was a great adaptation. The sequel was not as good.
Lara Croft ROCKS. and angelina Jolie is one strange looking person, but she’s the perfect Lara.
n
And I have to upgrade our Act!
Lynn, is there an Act! for Android app?
I used 6.03 for years, way past planned obsolescence, in my computer shop but still miss the calendaring and my personal db.
Edit: Jeez, I’m getting old. I remember registering that to one Wm Clinton, residing at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. What I meant was, is there a cloud App, with a good calendar and group options?
There is an Act! Webserver version now that any browser can access. We just use the Window server and clients. The latest version requires Windows 10.
I think that the Google Apps are best in class. While not as good as the Windows clients, they are “good enough” for most usage.
I have our main domain mail record pointed at gmail for over a decade now since we were a beta tester. Just works and the google calender is freaking awesome.
Our indoor grill, not GF but similar, went back to Big River and probably on a pallet that @nick saw go by…
I guess ’89 was too early for ’emotional support animals’…
Great. Can you point me in the general direction?
Specifically, a URL? I’m sure I’m not alone appreciating the combination of a calendar/contact database. ACT! was a dream come true for me.
Lady Astor (over dinner): “Winston, if you were my husband I’d put poison in your tea.”
Winston: “If you were my wife, I’d drink it.”
Probably not true, but still fun.
Well, that was embarrassing…
We have a zillion flashlights. Well…we had a zillion flashlights before moving into the new house.
After a lightning strike yesterday evening, the power went out for several hours. No problem, I’ll just grab a flashlight. Um… There’s one, broken, on my desk. There’s supposed to be one in my backpack – nope, missing. I have a tiny one on my keychain. The others? No clue where they are…
Looks like it’s time to buy some FLASHLIGHTS 🙂
“Looks like it’s time to buy some FLASHLIGHTS ”
–and put them around the house…
n
Cops are working street racing again. They’ve been having some trouble finding the racers, but that’s changing. One just remarked “these groups are getting a lot bigger all of a sudden.” A marked unit tried to pull over a guy in a Charger, but he took off. The task force is just sorta shaking their heads. They have a big bunch of resources, and they have tactics that seem to work. Single patrol cars really can’t get these guys by themselves.
n