This date marks three years since Dave Hardy, aka OFD, and long time friend of the blog passed away. He was old school church folk, so if the spirit moves you, say a prayer for the repose of his soul, and the health and safety of his loved ones. If it’s spirits that move you, raise a glass to Absent Friends.
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The weather in Houston this week is supposed to be reverting to normal, with more rain and more heat on the way. I guess we’ll see. Yesterday was still gorgeous. I did get some stuff done outside, but not as much as I could have. I moved stuff, found some more to send to auction, and cleaned up. It was pretty dang hot by the time I got out there which limited me.
One thing I did get done was to apply the Home Defense Max to the perimeter of the house. We’ll be seeing live and dead bugs for a week as it does its magic. I got a couple extra gallons stacked up for later too. I need to reapply about every 6 months, when I get tired of hearing the shrieks from the others in the house.
Pest control. It’s gonna be a thing when stuff goes pear shaped.
Plan for today is more ebay stuff, grocery shopping, including Costco, and more cleaning. If the weather holds, there will be painting with my youngest to move our daddy/daughter project along. If it is raining, we’ll do something else. I really hope it doesn’t rain.
Oh, and I’ve got a couple of pickups to do. Mostly household stuff, but also one or two needful things to add to the stack, and one cheap item for resale.
We’ll see what the grocery stores look like today.
Use this time, stack the things.
nick
67F and 95%RH at 6am.
Stiff and sore. again.
I guess I’ll push thru.
n
1) If it has a bar coded ISBN, pass unless it is a technical book (college texts are not).
Some college texts are considered to be gold standards in their field and desirable to the target audience, particularly in math or CS.
It is a niche market and volatile, but with so many classes shifting to online texts, paper copies can be highly sought after items.
Bought some preps this weekend; fire extinguishers, for example. Looked at generators. Crossing stuff of the list feels good. Very pleasant peace of mind. But there is always more. At least the feeling is addicting so it’s encouraging to continue stacking.
@nevada, absolutely. In the face of giant problems you CAN take steps to improve your position.
I’ve preached it before, fire extinguishers,and lots of them. I have one in the Master Bedroom closet (one end of my U shaped house) and one in the laundry room entryway (other end of the U), one near the garage door, and a couple in the kitchen cabinet opposite the stove.
The CERT standard is if the fire is bigger than a wastebasket, don’t bother and get out, but SHTF or if you are more than a minute or two from a fire station, you are going to try.
I always put one within 6 feet of the gennie when I’m running it, NOT next to, you don’t want to have to battle flames to get to your extinguisher, but near…
I’m still using the gennie I bought for Y2K. I never used it until hurricane Rita here in Houston. I’ve written about it a lot 🙂
They are expensive but buy quality and it will last, and the chances of it running when you need it are much higher.
n
I’m putting it here as a reminder for me and you….
FUEL LINE. I need to get a spool. While working on my pressure washer I noticed cracks at the end of the fuel line. I can clip it shorter and keep using it, but most engines these days have very short fuel lines. They do age out.
If you use a chain saw, get a couple of priming bulb kits, and some fuel line for chainsaws too. That seems to be the single most common issue, the pickup line fails or the bulb rots.
n
@Nick
FUEL LINE
Nalgene fuel-rated tubing is tinted yellow and has the product number permanently printed on the side. There are yellow-tinted imports that are questionable. Beware.
Or get an electric chainsaw. I have an EGO and I was impressed with the capabilities. It will not cut down a 200 foot oak but for a small tree, say six inches in diameter or so, it is more than adequate. If you keep the chain sharp. With a couple of extra batteries a person can do a lot of cutting. The batteries recharge quickly. I have completely cut up a six diameter, 15 foot high, tree using just two batteries. Due to my slow pace the first battery was completely recharged by the time the second battery was discharged. I run down before the batteries.
In SHTF scenario electricity may be an issue but a generator should be available. If a large tree falls on a house, forget it. Leave that to the professionals.
My old chainsaw the entire fuel system rotted out. I don’t know if it was the gas but I think so because of the ethanol. It ran, but leaked fuel something fierce. Not worth repairing so I gave it to a small engine shop for parts.
@Greg Norton
“Some college texts are considered to be gold standards in their field and desirable to the target audience, particularly in math or CS.”
Standards are generally refreshed with a new edition. In some cases the older edition retains considerable value.
If it says “intro” it’s unlikely to have value unless it is current. Graduate texts can go out of print and increase in price. Publisher is usually a clue: McGraw-Hill or Van Nostrand Reinhold seldom have value. Springer Verlag is worth taking a look.
Technical books that are thin on the ground (one or a few copies offered online) can result in situations where one actual book is offered at a high price, and other listings are from drop shippers at increasingly obscene prices.
I was in a HPB in Dallas about twenty years ago and found thirty esoteric math books. University stamps and no evidence of deascension. I checked the website and every one was listed as lost. I sent an email and contact info and the library got their property back. HPB employees are usually better trained.
I’ve just bought some EGO equipment, and I’m impressed. There are a couple of things I could fuss about, but the positives are more important: their stuff is quiet, doesn’t emit exhaust in your face, and has nearly the same power as gas-power devices. I bought the largest batteries, two of them, so that I can just use them on everything. It makes the weed whacker a bit heavy, but I use a shoulder strap anyway, so who cares.
Their battery prices are pretty high, but I guess that’s where they make their money…
@ray, that’s a good point. I don’t actually have a running gas powered chainsaw. I’ve got battery powered pole saws, a pruning blade on my dewalt 18v sawzall, and a small plug in electric chainsaw. I use the dewalt with the pruning blade for 95% of the jobs, and the pole saw for 4% more. VERY rarely I use the electric.
If you have solar, you can charge your batteries and run your saw long past the point that fuel runs out, or spoils.
Worth having as a backup if nothing else.
Big jobs need the gas tools though.
n
added- all the gas chainsaws in my pile have fuel line issues.
Big jobs need the professionals. If it is too big to tackle with my electric stuff, it is too big for me. With the exception of the mowing of the grass.
Although I would really like to get the EGO electric ZTR mower. It would be more than enough for my yard, would be quiet, no more gasoline (100% stuff mandated). I have power in the mower shed and could easily install their charger that charges all the batteries in the mower.
But having spent $7500.00 four years ago on the current mower the wife has firmly placed her foot down on such a purchase.
In downtown San Antonio since yesterday. Havent seen any Hatians yet.
Have you checked the bottom of the River Walk?
In downtown San Antonio since yesterday. Havent seen any Hatians yet.
Have you checked the bottom of the River Walk?
The Riverwalk is pretty heavily policed/controlled since the tourism and convention business is so important to the city. When we went earlier this year, the place didn’t seem too different beyond a lot of businesses being shuttered, most notably the big McDonalds on … Commerce?
Make sure to get the cheesecake at Schilo’s if you go for lunch.
RIP Mr. OFD. He is sorely missed.
RIP Mr. OFD. He is sorely missed.
Today is the anniversary of his passing?
RIP Mr. OFD. He is sorely missed.
Today is the anniversary of his passing?
NM. I didn’t catch the top of the page until just now.
When I was working in downtown San Antonio it was on Soledad street. We could take the basement exit from the bank, walk about a block before encountering the river walk, the part behind the flood gates. From there we would walk to Fuddruckers or several other places for lunch.
San Antonio really did a nice job on the river walk. A good place to spend an afternoon, or an evening. Watching the Christmas parades was fun.
At least it was 30 years ago. Can’t speak for now. But I suspect it has been kept to a fairly high standard.
Article about failure to comprehend the concept of directory structure: https://www.theverge.com/22684730/students-file-folder-directory-structure-education-gen-z
When I was working in downtown San Antonio it was on Soledad street. We could take the basement exit from the bank, walk about a block before encountering the river walk, the part behind the flood gates. From there we would walk to Fuddruckers or several other places for lunch
The Fuddruckers is no more, but most of the chain is gone. After the Pappas restaurant group passed on buying the restaurants, Luby’s sold the brand and liquidated the company-owned stores.
The last time we visited the Riverwalk as just a few days after equipment auctions at the Fuddruckers and a couple of other restaurants on that street. At least, that’s what the notices on the door said.
Standards are still high in the area. In addition to tourism being a huge economic engine for the city, any NFL expansion or existing franchise move to I35 south of Austin will involve the Alamo Dome as a temporary home for the football team.
It was those “symbolic links” that screwed me up. I get it now but didn’t at first. I think hiding file extensions added to the problem, too. MP3 is music, so goes in the Music folder. Duh!
I remember working a computer that belonged to a clever teenager. He had hidden his porn inside a folder inside a folder inside a folder inside a folder inside a folder. Mom won’t find it there!
Am I the only one who misses card catalogs?
EDIT: That reminds me. The first time I ever used a computer was Melvyl at the Bancroft library at UC Berkeley. My very first search term was “fleas”. Too cool!
Article about failure to comprehend the concept of directory structure:
More concerning are the increasing number of “senior” level Linux developers I encounter who can’t function outside of Visual Studio Code or other IDE.
I decided to pre-order an iPhone 13 Pro Max the day available. And, of course, Apple poked the pooch. It’ll take another 3+ weeks making at least a month. At least I’ll get $500 back from my 11 PM. I guess the Fedex bollux doesn’t help. Same for the iPad Mini. I’m really looking forward to that and it’s getting some great reviews on YT.
Sniff, Apple, sniff. Securing my seat at Elysium.
LOL! Butto is already sniping at McConaughey. Be afraid, be *very* afraid. Not wise to make enemies.
LOL! Butto is already sniping at McConaughey. Be afraid, be *very* afraid. Not wise to make enemies.
Pretty minor stuff.
I still believe McConaughey will run as a Republican. The last two Dem candidates have been loons, and the party wants a blueprint to win statewide before 2024, when Cruz’ seat and the Presidency are up.
Plus tax. I am getting $491.00 for my 11 Pro. Apple wanted to put the money on my Apple Card. But that card is virtual and the tech at the store had already wiped my old phone. New phone was being restored, slowly, as the customer WiFi was swamped from all the customers.
What color did you get? Blue seems to very popular. That is the color I got.
Knowing file/directory structure is basic to understanding the machine in front of yourself, but also understanding that anything, absolutely anything, in a browser window is a file(s) on *another* machine(s). Then there is the concept of the Cache.
Circa 1996, I had my only personal contact with Jerry Pournelle. Symantec had written a downloadable version of Norton Commander for Win95 and buried it on their website. I forwarded the link to Jerry and we overcame some issue about link string length to get him a copy. Thing was, NC depended on the command line and Fx keys but the right click menu with shift or ctrl click was a better way to select files, making the Commander obsolete.
Yes, blue. And purple on the Mini.
But…Fahrenheit 451.
Best lose them in the river next to the gubs.
–once again we’re told we need to change to accommodate gen whatever’s lack of ability to accommodate US. Let’s make every keyboard random. No need for them to accommodate themselves to the rigid requirements of the keyboard….
Windows starting with ‘homegroups’ and ending with libraries and symbolic links that aren’t identified as such, has become part of the problem. Hell they started the problem with the windows style guide. That locked UI development for 30 years. The desktop metaphor works for the world of work. A 3D room/ hallway/ building/ campus/ city model might make more sense to someone grown up with 3d gaming.
But there has to be an organizing structure.
n
Hey Uncle Joe, your booster (broadcast live today by the MSM) is gonna need a booster…time for your nap.
Israelis Rise-Up Against Vaxx Passports After Being Told More Shots Needed To Be Considered “Fully Vaccinated”
It is now expected to be announced that at least FOUR vaccinations will be needed to be considered ‘fully vaccinated’ and able to engage in society.
But…
Israeli health minister Nitzan Horowitz was caught on a hot mic admitting that vaccine passports were primarily about coercing skeptical people to get the vaccine and not for medical reasons.
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/watch-israelis-rise-against-vaxx-passports-after-being-told-more-shots-needed-be
re throwing all files into one pile, I think that GMail and similar applications are also responsible. “Search, don’t sort” was one of GMail’s early catch-phrases. Leave everything in the Inbox and just search for what you’re looking for.
EDIT: Bah. I’d read only half of the linked article and forgot that I hadn’t finished it when I made my comment. The author makes the same point. Frankly, I blame a legacy of white supremacy for any confusion.
Call it a “memory palace”? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci
Am I the only one who misses card catalogs?
— there was an element of serendipity to the card catalog. I often found stuff that I didn’t know to look for.
N
A 3D room/ hallway/ building/ campus/ city model might make more sense to someone grown up with 3d gaming.
Or to a company like Facebook with a pricey, questionable investment in a VR hardware manufacturer.
Same with the Encyclopædia Britannica. Both my middle school and my high school had the full set: Propædia, Micropædia, Macropædia and Index.
I got lost in there for SO many hours.
EXACTLY! There used to be a syndicated newspaper columnist by the name of Boyd, I think, who would occasionally publish a list of things he found while looking up other things. It was a great collection of miscellany and I always looked forward to it. It’s a shame I can’t remember his name or the name of his column. Another column I miss is William Safir’s on language. Even the memory gives me a chuckle.
L M Boyd
Today it’s called YouTube…
I admit to falling down the rabbit hole on youtube more often than I should. Someone used to call similar a ‘wiki-wander’ iirc.
n
Let’s see what wins, thumbs up or down.
Click and read at your own risk. Tinfoil hats optional.
“Damn You To Hell, You Will Not Destroy America” – Here Is The ‘Spartacus COVID Letter’ That’s Gone Viral
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/damn-you-hell-you-will-not-destroy-america-here-spartacus-covid-letter-thats-gone-viral
We had the Grolier Book of Knowledge when I was a kid. I know my Mom read through it at least twice. Probably just for something to read. I read most of it at least once by time I was 12…. skipping the boring stuff. It wasn’t as “educated” or as complete as Britannica. I suppose it didn’t cost near as much either.
Then again, my old Random House Dictionary works 99% of the time. Good enough that I never look at the Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary sitting under my desk.
Uncle Joe forgot to tell Powell that it was supposed to be transitory.
Grocery shopping later, let’s see how that goes…
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/sorry-fed-inflation-already-embedded
In a Melissa Scott book in the Empress of Earth series, the hyperspace navigator uses several different memory systems to learn the routes, iirc one was a ‘cathedral’ or something similar.
I found it much easier to memorize and learn if I can ‘hang’ the info on something I already know. Since my background is in theater production, I often would hang any project on the structure I learned for managing productions. Worked pretty well.
It’s also the idea behind one of the study techniques that emphasizes a structured approach to reading textbooks. Read the TOC, then the chapter intros, then the subs, etc.
n
Thanks Paul. _The Grab Bag_ it was!
https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/L-M-Boyd-Grab-Bag-columnist-of-factoids-2653558.php
I didn’t know he was from Seattle, but I certainly remember him from The Chronicle. I told California & SF to eff off in 2007 and I can’t imagine what San Francisco is like today. Makes me sad 🙁
@RickH, minor quibble – comment display could use a bit more white space between the date/time link and the first line of the comment and similarly between the last line of the comment and the emojis.
Anyway, overall the new look/feel is really coming together thanks to all your hard work (and our pesky requests).
Can we buy you a coffee?
I remember that from one of the last few boring years of grammar school. There is an acronym/mnemonic for it which I forget, but I liked the idea and still use it. Skim… something Read, Review?
We had the _Book of Knowledge_ when I was a kid, too. Only mine was my grandfather’s and from 1910 or so. An entry I particularly remember describes the Olympic and how its sister ship, Titanic, was going to be the largest in the world. I learned my school-girl French from it too, come to think of it!
EDIT: I say we buy him a drink!
EDIT EDIT: I agree with both of Alan’s suggestions.
Yes, I have noticed that, among other irritants on this new theme that are harder to fix. I might make a quick change for that. But, the spacing is not consistent – sometimes there is space there, and sometime not. Weird things happening with this current theme. Makes it hard to fix things when they keep changing.
But, I am working on a new theme. All my own. Much easier to customize. Follows basic WP standards. For instance, the name/email values are remembered in my new theme.
Might get it done by the weekend. Or maybe next week.
Thanks for the kind offer – and the kind words about my efforts. I don’t drink coffee or hard stuff – I do have a weakness for Hi-C Orange (“Lavaburst”) from McDonalds (glad it’s back, but you can also get it at Wendy’s).
I’d rather people bought one of my books, and leave a nice positive review if they are so inclined. Head on over to my web site https://www.RichardHellewell.com . You might like “The Forgotten Winchester” – Classic Western genre.
If you want an old technothriller, you could try my “Digital Choke” story. Wrote that almost two decades ago…so it has quaint terms like ‘dial-up modem’.
Links to the stories on the “Zon” are on my author web site.
@lynn: From the other day:
My personal favorite:
https://twitter.com/wawawiwacomics/status/1248693046075629568
Apple sells these as refurbs I presume?
Linux Box Update (for those interested).
It now locks up so fast I can’t even get into the BIOS. However I did find my handwritten notes from 2018 and they say
ASRock A68M-itv R2.0
And looking up the manual for that, it says that I can’t use just one stick of RAM:
In today’s bunch of busyness, I have to take time out to salute OFD, one of the most interesting people I have ever “met.”
Huh. Got the Internal Service Error, first time in a long time. I’d included some copy-pasted text (from Rick’s most recent comment) and block-quoted it. This occurred maybe three minutes ago and my IP address is 24.29.51.37.
EDIT: And multiple attempts to modify the comment text, including deleting the pasted text and manually typing it (to get around any possible ascii 0s and such) and paraphrasing the body (to get around one kind of spam detector) didn’t make any difference. I saved the text and will try posting again later. (Unless I forget, which is likely.)
EDIT2: Let’s see if I can paste the problematic comment text into an existing comment.
60% of what you want, you get right out of the box.
20% is an easy tweak.
10% is challenging but you can get it.
That last 10% is not achievable with any reasonable amount of time and effort.
Rule of thumb for frameworks.
The ones that are in pristine condition, maybe. I think Apple refurbs are devices people have within the 14 day trial period and return. Either for different size or different storage. I suspect the phones taken in as trades are destined for the overseas markets.
I suspect the phones taken in as trades are destined for the overseas markets.
–I suspect they shred them to keep them out of the secondary market.
It’s possible they keep some as warranty replacements.
n
If you have Chrome for Android version 93 or better, the powers-that-be finally added an option to disable the loathsome auto grouping. Enter the above into your address bar and select “Disable auto group”
I have been infuriated with auto-group for the last few iterations. I’m sure it’s useful on a desktop although I’m not one of those guys with a thousand tabs open. Disabling the flag still leaves you the option to open a tab in a group. But on Android “auto grouping” is a pain in the posterior. Maybe it’s only my panties in a twist?
Rule of thumb for frameworks.
Yep. Related to that:
Making progress on the new theme. Today’s success: adding the sidebar and widget support to the theme. Main problem: sidebar ‘id’ (identifies the sidebar area) must be all lowercase. Any uppercase characters in the ‘id’ will cause the sidebar to not work. Also have tweaked some of the CSS. Looking much better, but not done yet. Enjoying the project, though.
I just watched a fella build himself a bed in a bus shelter in downtown San Antonio in front of the Mariott Riverwalk. I dont care how much your life sucks, his is worse right now.
I’d rather people bought one of my books, and leave a nice positive review if they are so inclined. Head on over to my web site https://www.RichardHellewell.com . You might like “The Forgotten Winchester” – Classic Western genre.
I bought, read, and reviewed your first Blink book on Big River. I bought your second Blink book and it is in my SBR.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1793202060/?tag=ttgnet-20
Sorry, I am reading my 50 year old Perry Rhodans right now.
@Alan
The original has been deleted–the link shows 404.
Anyone get a copy?
@drwilliams
2nd link (techstartups) has the text in-line…
https://lmgtfy.app/?q=spartacus+covid+letter
:–)
I can’t stand it either.
I’m on v94 and it doesn’t work for me.
The Lancet published an issue with the headline:
which prompted a reply:
Hugh Hefner and Larry Flynt, among others, might disagree.
I read the sparticus letter, and I haven’t linked it because it has the classic signs of -it’s hard to pick a word– hoax isn’t quite right, misinformation? mis-informed? and it’s a bit like I think Qanon was, a distraction and a time sink.
It combines and expands on several ideas and bits of info from very early on. It draws connections, and links ideas in a way that makes sense. You can see WHY something might work, at least as it is presented. Then it gets hyper specific in the same way classic wrong ideas do. It’s not Dr. Brown, it’s Dr Micheal J Brown III, second son of Dr Micheal J Brown the famous guy you’ve never heard of from someplace that sounds prestigious…
He makes a case then makes a giant leap bringing in a brand new idea, conflating the two as if there was a logical progression, and then after a much shorter run of ideas he does it AGAIN. Now it’s even farther along and much less well connected, as if every time you might say ‘ok, but what if…’ he makes another jump and another even BIGGER statement. He ends with ‘neural lace’ and mind control interfaces, even though he started with cytokine storms. It’s a bit like an article by the doom prophet, Michael Snyder of the Whatever Man blog… or whatever his name is.
Statement, statement, link between, speculative jump, rush thru a new idea, BIGGER speculative jump, another headlong rush, and big conclusion… that really doesn’t derive from the beginning state at all.
At least that was my take, as I recall it without going back to copy paste and re-read.
It’s got the feel of what the monks do in Neal Stephenson’s Anathem, when they punish someone by forcing them to memorize incorrect theorems and heresies. It just doesn’t quite hold together.
n
Seen on the back of a Toyota pickup with mudders on it 50 miles south of San Antonio, “Dont blame me, I voted for Trump”.
Seen on a flag 20 miles south of San Antone, “Trump 2024” and another flag, “F*** Biden”.
–fedex’s service alerts are a pretty good heads up to conditions on the ground. You can sign up for their emails.
n
@Alan
I was specifically interested in the references doc.
I suspect it’s more revealing than the letter itself.
@Nick
Looks more like a false flag job to me.
“It was in that phony Sparticus letter so it’s not true.”
I went to a speech today by a former FBI hostage negotiator today. He started off his speech with “I have talked to a number of you GPA Midstream guys (1,300 of us here). You sell the most successful product in the world, oil and natural gas, everyone uses your products. And the government is treating you as the cause of all the worlds problems. You need to treat all conversations with them as a hostage negotiation.”
https://www.amazon.com/Never-Split-Difference-Negotiating-Depended/dp/0062407805/?tag=ttgnet-20
@DrWilliams, I’m not gonna say it’s wrong. The first part makes a lot of sense and ties together a bunch of stuff I believe to be true. But he just doesn’t stop there, and that’s when the whole thing gets suspect to me. The first part can be completely true and even the second and third parts can be true on their own. And just because one isn’t doesn’t mean the others aren’t…. I just get the same feeling reading it that I get reading other stuff that has turned out not to be true, or to be unsupported.
On the other hand, we know the enemy does stuff that is so outrageous it sounds crazy when you talk about it. And we know they often tell us straight out what they hope to accomplish and how they are going to try doing it. Since I don’t have the background to vet the medical info in the doc, I’ll withhold judgement for now. It’s interesting though.
n
<code>chrome://flags/#enable-tab-grid-layout</code>
Awww. I’m so sorry. Keep us abreast if you notice any changes!
SUGGESTION:
Let’s reduce the editing time to 3 minutes or less. If you can’t coherently compose and post your thoughts within that frame it’s probably not worth posting. 3 minutes is good for an erratum, but not an addendum. Might eliminate those 505(?) errors, as well.
ADDENDUM: Disregard previous submission.
EDIT: Elide foregoing suggestions.
Interesting wrt caching. These guys ‘magnet fishing’ pull up an ammo box, full of ammo and mags. https://youtu.be/if6Vwi_au6c?t=699
n
added- also water, although the stuff in the box doesn’t look too bad.
RIP, OFD.. Can’t believe 3 years have gone by..
Still no word from MrDadCooks.??
Nope, I know he was having some health issues, but he implied they weren’t concerning.
I’ll ping his email tomorrow.
and yeah, 3 years in an eyeblink.
n