Hot and wet, or maybe not but probably hot and wet. Yesterday was cooler with overcast, patchy clouds and occasional blue skies. It was very humid though, and the rain was actually a relief from the mugginess.
Of course the rain interfered with my plans, but I was able to work around it somewhat. Rain is a fact of life in Houston and you either figure out how to keep going or you get nothing done. Some days I pick a, some days I pick b…
I did get my drop off done, with promise of more later in the week. I did my northerly pickup for my non-prepping hobby. I’ll do my southerly pickups today.
I’m planning to do some more ebay listing and auction gathering during the morning, pickups in the afternoon, and then home to cook dinner. Depending on the weather, I might get some more work done on the patio, in the driveway, or at my secondary location.
The world situation continues to escalate. More spending, more disruptions, more supply chain difficulties, more violence, more rhetoric, more unrest. At home, the vax mandate is starting to hit people in the pocketbook and in their sense of self. It isn’t going to end well.
You know my advice, it makes me feel better to have food, tools, meds, and stuff. If there is something I haven’t mentioned or that you think I haven’t mentioned ENOUGH, comment below, especially if you are stacking it for your use.
And keep stacking.
n
*the title is the punchline for an old joke
67F and wet at Casa de Nick at 6am.
Time to start the day.
n
You know my advice, it makes me feel better to have food, tools, meds, and stuff. If there is something I haven’t mentioned or that you think I haven’t mentioned ENOUGH, comment below, especially if you are stacking it for your use.
Propane. We bought a gas grill this summer after 12 years without one, and I noticed that the number of empties in the exchange racks at the supermarket now always far outnumber the filled canisters. We’ve also exchanged for a canister where the valve turned out to be broken.
I started buying refills at the local UHaul, but their system was down this weekend with no word on repair date.
I want to accumulate a set of canisters we rotate. And I need to test our camp stove with adapter for the big canisters.
In Vantucky, the gas lines in the house included an external connection for a grill, but we never tried it. I wouldn’t want to depend just on that supply here because Atmos cut the gas to the fancy lad neighborhoods in Leander for a few hours during the freeze event in February, and they’ve never adequately explained why, at least, not in the media.
I’ve built up to 12 BBQ tanks. 8-10 are full at any normal time. Two are installed.
I get them filled by a bulk guy at a gas station near my rent house. UHaul by me takes forever and costs more.
I filled 4 tanks for $10 each a couple of weeks ago.
n
Campbell Soup is relegated to the bottom shelf at our local HEB. There is not much variety. I remember when Campbells had a big dispenser rack that took up the end portion of the aisle, with *chunky* stocked next to it. This was last year. Are they going out of business?
The difference between ‘naughty’ and ‘nasty’, between ‘classy’ and ‘trashy’ in two contemporary songs.
Earl – Tongue Tied – beautiful woman, great voice, def recommended.
Cardi B – W.A.P. – link is to the ASL version by another person, still explicit. Volume WAY down or mute. Don’t want to send links to Cardi B
n
+1,000,000
And people wonder why our *yutes* are so messed up. Imagine laying around all day listening to WAP and ilk like it. Desensitized. Demoralized. But, but, but this is what passes as female empowerment. Or is that birthing person empowerment? Nigga’ out to make a buck is what this is. That’s not racist since I identify as Black.
Give this a listen from a doctor. Yes, it’s just him talking, I wish I could get a copy of his flash drive:
More COVID facts the CDC & Biden Administration doesn’t want you to hear.
He points out COVID isn’t like mumps or measles and can’t be vax’d away. That’s why we have flu and cold seasons and there isn’t a way to get rid of them due to animal depositories. I’m not knowledgeable to explain it.
I don’t see how wearing a mask everywhere will stop the spread. I’ve never wore a *mask* until last year when I was made to. Goobermint mandates didn’t work. I’m glad I work mainly from home. I can’t imagine wearing a mask all day at work. My latest trips via air saw so many people wearing masks wrong. People are tired of it. I also read Stretch Pelosi had snuck in bigger fines for businesses who violate vax and masking mandates from OSHA, into the $3.5 trillion boondoggle. If that passes, and OSHA can actually mandate it, the goobermint will totally control our lives. We will live by goobermint diktats.
/rant off
Whole lotta people already going Galt.
I see it every day in the secondary market.
n
And people wonder why our *yutes* are so messed up. Imagine laying around all day listening to WAP and ilk like it. Desensitized. Demoralized. But, but, but this is what passes as female empowerment. Or is that birthing person empowerment? Nigga’ out to make a buck is what this is. That’s not racist since I identify as Black.
The Austin City Limits festival opens Friday night with one of the planned highlights being a performance of WAP by Meghan the Stallyn and, possibly, Miley Cyrus on the other side of the duet.
In theory, everyone showing up at the gate will present proof of vaccination or a negative test for Covid.
In theory.
I also read Stretch Pelosi had snuck in bigger fines for businesses who violate vax and masking mandates from OSHA, into the $3.5 trillion boondoggle. If that passes, and OSHA can actually mandate it, the goobermint will totally control our lives.
At this point, I doubt we’ll actually see a rule from OSHA for vaccine mandates at private employers.
The moment the rule is issued, the lawsuits can begin and injunctions put into place. In the mean time, there is plenty of compliance without OSHA doing any work.
If the rule does get issued, we won’t see it until after the Virginia Governor’s race is decided.
I don’t see how wearing a mask everywhere will stop the spread. I’ve never wore a *mask* until last year when I was made to. Goobermint mandates didn’t work. I’m glad I work mainly from home. I can’t imagine wearing a mask all day at work. My latest trips via air saw so many people wearing masks wrong. People are tired of it. I also read Stretch Pelosi had snuck in bigger fines for businesses who violate vax and masking mandates from OSHA, into the $3.5 trillion boondoggle. If that passes, and OSHA can actually mandate it, the goobermint will totally control our lives. We will live by goobermint diktats.
So many people wearing masks here in downtown San Antone are either wearing them below their nose or on their neck.
Looks like we have to pass the $3.5 trillion bill to find out what is in it.
Tom Brady is going to need a bigger rental house in Tampa.
https://www.tampabay.com/sports/bucs/2021/09/29/richard-sherman-to-sign-with-bucs-an-opportunity-i-couldnt-pass-up/
if I didn’t have so much to do, I’d be commenting about declining standards and quality across the board.
One of my trade mags, New Equipment Digest, had a half page ad with the header “Keep Organized”. They mean “stay” organized of course.
===========================================================================
There is some good background and current info in this article
https://www.mhlnews.com/transportation-distribution/article/21168952/the-state-of-us-logistics-2021-building-an-agile-supply-chain
and several interesting articles linked from their main page.
https://www.mhlnews.com/
n
“John W. Hinckley Jr.’s freedom is unprecedented. Others who tried to kill presidents faced very different fates.”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/john-w-hinckley-jrs-freedom-is-unprecedented-others-who-tried-to-kill-presidents-faced-very-different-fates/ar-AAOUK77
Shameful. Hinckley should have been executed.
When are they going to let Sirhan Sirhan free ?
if I didn’t have so much to do, I’d be commenting about declining standards and quality across the board.
My favorite is substituting “you” for “your”. I am seeing that everywhere.
I have to agree this is crazy:
“This is Wrong and It Will Not Stand:” Lt. Col. Scheller’s Attorney Joins Tucker Carlson to Discuss His Political Imprisonment For Speaking Out Against Biden’s Afghanistan Debacle; Marine’s Father Also Issues Statement – (Video)
You don’t lock guys like this up in the military. This smells like political revenge. You give him a kids desk and have him hand you your pencils. You put him in charge of the cleaning crew in the back of a large depot warehouse. You send him to the Marine Corps Logistics Base Barstow. You don’t lock him up. Disgraceful.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I’m so glad I’m retired for The United States Army. I can’t imagine the perfumed princes walking around with their heads up plugs’ ass.
Political prisoners. Guards and fence around the peoples’ house. Political purges in the military.
It isn’t going to end well.
n
So many people wearing masks here in downtown San Antone are either wearing them below their nose or on their neck.
Inside or outside?
We passed on attending the big anime show in San Antonio at the beginning of the month in part because the conference wanted everyone to walk the main floor in that Gonzales convention center masked at all times.
My wife and I agree to disagree about my vaccination stance, but she came home yesterday talking about a father/son she had as patients at the VA who died in the hospital of the Wuxu despite being fully dosed.
No word on other factors or risky behaviors. I’m guessing 6th Street as a factor.
Hello fellow Neanderthals:
CDC claims it has authority to use police to do everything you see going on in Australia; and Congress agrees
I wonder what “Wheels” would do if plugsy had the CDC try and commandeer the Texas Rangers?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-10037419/Study-finds-Latinos-likely-wear-masks-public-follow-COVID-19-safety-measures.html
n
When are they going to let Sirhan Sirhan free ?
He was recommended for parole last month, but, by murdering a candidate he committed a California crime, not Federal.
Squeaky Fromme has been out for about a decade. A “Where are they now” piece I saw as part of the PR for “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” had her living in New York.
Squeaky is not part of the revisionist history that ends the flick. Of course, in that parallel universe where all of the films since “Plup Fiction” seem to be set, Gerald Ford may not have ended up as President.
Squeaky is not part of the revisionist history that ends the flick. Of course, in that parallel universe where all of the films since “Plup Fiction” seem to be set, Gerald Ford may not have ended up as President.
The Tarantino films, that is — Red Apple Cigarettes and Big Kahuna Burger.
Charles Manson’s cult have been the slam for about 50 years. Taxpayers are getting screwed over beacause stupido bureaucraps won’t execute them.
Why are Hispanic Americans at greater risk for COVID-19? Study finds Latinos are less likely to wear masks in public and use hand sanitizer than whites and blacks – and twice as likely to participate in social gatherings
FOMO.
The other night in Cracker Barrel, towards the end of our meal, our server warned us that they were prepping for a party of 50 to show up at the restaurant and suggested placing our planned “to go” order with her ahead of that group being seated. Based on the crowd gathering in the store area, I’m guessing everyone was from points south, a couple of extended families connected by a few soccer players in uniform.
We’ve seen really crazy group sizes in restaurants on holiday weekends around Texas this summer, but that number was really astonishing. Up until then, 22, also Latin, was the largest we saw in a hole-in-the-wall seafood place near Corpus Christi on the Sunday before Labor Day.
Charles Manson’s cult have been the slam for about 50 years. Taxpayers are getting screwed over beacause stupido bureaucraps won’t execute them.
Watch the Tarantino movie. The revisionist history at the end is fun whether you hate hippies or always wanted to see the Manson Family get the justice they deserved.
The viewer is left to ponder what took place out at Spahn Ranch afterwards, but a house cleaning and skull crackings by law enforcement is assumed.
Lt. Col. Scheller arrested? That’s nuts. I’m glad to see that he’s getting lots of public support.
The swamp has been working on de-fanging the military for a long time.
In my day, it was bad enough that lots of single mothers joined for the free child care – and no one cared that they couldn’t actually do their jobs. I was USAF, and I remember one specific case of a woman who couldn’t (or wouldn’t) lift her own toolbox. Her NCOs weren’t allowed to do anything about it, so someone else had to carry her tools for her.
Since then, we’ve added women in combat, which might be fine, if they had to meet the same physical standards. But they don’t, of course, because then there wouldn’t be more than a handful. Or the male soldiers ordered to parade around with fake pregnancy bellies, or in high heels. A primer on how to make the military “woke”, and drive out the competent officers.
This all wouldn’t be possible, if the general staff had a spine. But the selection process for higher ranks has long since been driven by politics, with the inevitable result.
So now they claim Biden overrode their withdrawal plans for Afghanistan? Biden doesn’t remember what he had for breakfast – he didn’t order anything. Competent generals would have insisted on a simple order stating an objective – an orderly withdrawal – and dealt with the details themselves.
/rant
Hispanics … Mexicans at least… simply have big families, and everyone is affectionate. When I was married to my first husband, our immediate family Christmas gift list was 40 people. And when my youngest married, I printed 1000 invitations with my letterpress (and we still managed to accidentally overlook a loved uncle and his family). It’s not abnormal, just the difference between having siblings, all of whom have several children starting at 20, or waiting until 35 to have one or two.
From yesterday, Kenneth C Mitchell, with gravatar: P-3C Mission Commander
Wow. I worked on some equipment integration on a P-3C in late 1969, when I worked for Collins Radio. We had one aircraft and flight crew at our disposal for a week for final integration and testing. We had to be off the ground to test, because it involved an antenna. Everything went well, but I was especially appreciative of the aircraft and crew. Fighters and bombers may get a lot of attention, but there are many other essential types of aircraft. That was one rugged and roomy aircraft. Sorta comfy, too.
On one day, the flight engineer demonstrated the autopilot’s capabilities. This was unrelated to our work, but it was a company made autopilot. He asked us to put a full cup of coffee on a console and then the pilot commanded a heading change. The coordinated turn was amazing: all we could feel was a slight increase in gravity as the horizon rotated. The coffee remained flat, except of course for some vibration ripples. I have never experienced such precision.
On another day, the pilot made a maximum performance takeoff, with a 180 turn immediately after liftoff. That was FUN! I am not a pilot, but have been on a few aircraft. That P-3 was the top experience.
In July of 2017, my wife and I were invited to a retirement at Pt Mugu. The honoree had been associated with P-3s, and two were parked outside the hangar bay where the retirement was held. We were able to walk through them. Brought back memories.
And when my youngest married, I printed 1000 invitations with my letterpress (and we still managed to accidentally overlook a loved uncle and his family).
I understand large families. If we had sent out 1000 invitations for our wedding to my wife’s extended family, they would have all shown up.
We had to pay for it all ourselves, but there were still a lot of hurt feelings when we capped the number at what I could afford to pay cash.
I don’t think it was affection as much as FOMO in the case of my wife’s family.
I also understand FOMO. This is a very FOMO-driven pandemic.
Back safe in Fort Bend County. So glad to be back here, away from all of those Trump 2024 people south of San Antone.
Oof:
If Education Secretary Miguel Cardona wants to ‘follow the science’ on masking in schools, he should probably ask for directions first
After being called out, the author of the “data driven” article tells him “Secretary Cardona, I was the senior author of this study. Our study is not able to give any information about the role masks played in the observed low in-school transmission rates. We had no control group so don’t know if the rate would have been different without masks.”
This is the lying mofo’s of the plugs administration.
FEAR PORN!!!
Think Psaki will *clarify* his statement for him?
Lt. Col. Scheller arrested? That’s nuts. I’m glad to see that he’s getting lots of public support.
The swamp has been working on de-fanging the military for a long time.
Yup, the crap started in Korea and then Vietnam after all the swamp creatures got to dip their beaks.
It appears Wells Fargo Auto doesn’t send a payment book. Ok, send a monthly bill ala credit card and include an envelope.
No option to pay, that I saw, with a credit card. Capitol One gives 1.5% cashback, just saying. I’m not letting Wells Fargo hit my checking account directly. I don’t trust them. Logging me out while trying to read everything on the web page is a “nice” touch.
I set up a Payee on my Frost account. It looks like Frost will mail them a check to the address in Los Angeles on the payment stub. But elsewhere on the bill the mailed payments address is Denver. Shrug. It’ll sort out.
I don’t understand having the payment due on Oct 7 and after Oct 22 a late charge may apply. Then again, at the top of the bill it says Daily interest is $3.27. 🙂
Nice weather today.
No option to pay, that I saw, with a credit card. Capitol One gives 1.5% cashback, just saying. I’m not letting Wells Fargo hit my checking account directly. I don’t trust them. Logging me out while trying to read everything on the web page is a “nice” touch.
Wells is such a criminal enterprise anymore that even Buffett bailed out, and, at one point, BRK held 10% of the bank’s stock.
Progress made on the new theme I am building for this place. I’ve added a ‘Rich Text Editor” (CKEditor version 4.x) to the comment form. A bit fancier than the editing buttons allowed above. There maybe some changes, but the basics are there.
On the ‘to-do’ list – further customization for smaller screens and phones/tablets. The test site is here: https://www.cellarweb.com/fstraptest/
There is probably a way to do it as an ACH payment, where it is sent electronically. Several of our bills are paid that way, via Frost.
It appears Wells Fargo Auto doesn’t send a payment book. Ok, send a monthly bill ala credit card and include an envelope.
No option to pay, that I saw, with a credit card. Capitol One gives 1.5% cashback, just saying. I’m not letting Wells Fargo hit my checking account directly. I don’t trust them. Logging me out while trying to read everything on the web page is a “nice” touch.
I set up a Payee on my Frost account. It looks like Frost will mail them a check to the address in Los Angeles on the payment stub. But elsewhere on the bill the mailed payments address is Denver. Shrug. It’ll sort out.
I don’t understand having the payment due on Oct 7 and after Oct 22 a late charge may apply. Then again, at the top of the bill it says Daily interest is $3.27.
Nice weather today.
My previous house mortgage was with Wells Fargo. Even though I had two checking accounts there, I still mailed them a check.
I do have my commercial property mortgage with WF. They draft my savings checking account every 15th of the month for the payment. But that is per prior agreement and they knocked down my interest rate by 0.25% in order to get that privilege.
OK, the top to bottom swift move after I post a comment is giving me vertigo on my 27 inch monitor.
OK, the top to bottom swift move after I post a comment is giving me vertigo on my 27 inch monitor.
Awww. Imagine how it would be if you were wearing a gaming thingy.
Let’s see, some might say no one DESERVES such a large monitor. Plague of the rich. /sarc off.
I do sympathize. Sometimes I just close my eyes.
I had an interesting Wells Fargo experience, when I got locked out of their poorly written and managed website. I was just going to find out my payoff amount on my car loan.
I eventually decided their web and phone support was less than useless, so I went into a branch, and asked a banker “What do I have to do so I never deal with Wells Fargo ever again?”.
He talked me through the phone tree to get the payoff amount, and I wrote a check on the spot. From my Credit Union. Where I had been making regular payments for 4 years through billpay with no troubles.
I hate all banks, but USBank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo most of all.
I also just this week had an interesting phone conversation with a B of A banker after our face-to-face last week. He informed me that as the Attorney-in-fact for my brother, I did not have the ability to remove a POD beneficiary from his account. I asked him if I could use the Power of Attorney to close the account, and he said yes.
Ok, to be completely open here, a couple days before I went into that branch, I had sent their estate servicing department an email containing this paragraph:
Hey, I just noticed. Mine does the mad scroll only on F5 (refresh.) When I post, it just snaps to the top and back to the bottom. That’s better.
Wheeee!!! Just refreshed. Sometime it is fun and refreshing, but sometimes I agree: vertigo.
@Pecancorner; What press do have/had? I got hooked on printing (aka “Graphic Arts”) in high school shop class. My brother has a Kelsey 8×10 size(?) letterpress and an AB Dick 350 offset press in his basement. Also a composing stand and probably 25-30 job cases. I run across stories from time to time about people keeping the letterpress craft alive. Fun times.
That scrolly thing (which I haven’t figured out how to disable) is not in the new theme I’m working on. And the name/email fields will be there. And the comment box has a ‘rich text editor’ so you can go crazy with formatting.
And progress has been made on CSS styles adjustments for smaller screens. For the big giant screen of Lynn, no changes anticipated. But no scrolly thing for you!
No edit-after-submit yet. Not sure if it’s a good idea; the plugin doesn’t always play well with others.
Probably so. Frost will figure it out.
Meanwhile, stuff is still in the air. The window sticker was $32,000 plus a few hundred more. I put down $10,000. About two grand for taxes and plates. And got suckered into enough extended warranty stuff that I owed a couple of hundred less than window sticker.
Wait a minute.
After a few days to stop shaking, dropping this kind of money is difficult for me, I went and quit all of the extended stuff. Truck still has a few years on the factory bumper to bumper warranty.
I’m on my own for wiper blades. 🙂 That warranty is just six months.
The rest, like tail lights, is covered. The torture of driving to the Nissan dealer in Cedar Park and dealing with them…. yeah, I’ll change my light bulbs.
I get it, I can get “free” oil changes and tire rotations every 5000 miles or twice a year at the selling dealership for the next 3 or 5 years. But I drive maybe at most 3000 miles a years. For what the local oil change joint charges, that’s easy 15+ years of annual oil changes.
But the warranty stuff should credit back to the loan. That’s what I was told. It was supposed have been canceled effective Sept. 1st.
Any day now. Waiting for my $7500+ credit. Just like getting the license plates.
Other than my ’85 Cavalier, this is the newest set of wheels I’ve bought. Most expensive, too.
It’s making me itch like I have fleas.
I like “edit after submit” just so I can correct typos… so I can look a fraction smarter.
Added: A bit more than 5 minutes or whatever it’s cranked down to now would be nice.
My previous house mortgage was with Wells Fargo. Even though I had two checking accounts there, I still mailed them a check.
I do have my commercial property mortgage with WF. They draft my savings checking account every 15th of the month for the payment. But that is per prior agreement and they knocked down my interest rate by 0.25% in order to get that privilege.
I forgot to mention that I was sent / am sent an account statement for each mortgage in the mail each month by WF.
BTW, my commercial mortgage has a 3% early payment fee that expires in December on the third anniversary of the commercial mortgage. At 5.48% interest rate (commercial is always 2 to 3 points higher than residential), it may be time to double my payments.
I hate all banks, but USBank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo most of all.
US Bank. We had an account there since they were my wife’s employer’s bank in Vantucky, but I always had the sneaking suspicion that someone at the bank was giving our account balances to the clinic management on a regular basis.
BTW, my former employer was a no-show at my UI hearing with TWC. About how long after that happened to you did the tribunal decide in your favor?
Is it true that now that the government can mandate that I take a vaccine, that they are going to mandate that I drop my BMI below 30 ?
https://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/educational/lose_wt/BMI/bmicalc.htm
And apparently there will be a new retirement savings mandate of 6% if the $3.5 trillion (actually $5.5 trillion) budget passes.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/democrats-retirement-plan-mandate-is-pretty-heavy-handed-expert-says-200249580.html
But the warranty stuff should credit back to the loan. That’s what I was told. It was supposed have been canceled effective Sept. 1st.
Any day now. Waiting for my $7500+ credit. Just like getting the license plates.
Definitely keep on top of the company that sold the extended warranty. What usually happens is that they will send the check to the dealer’s F&I departent who is supposed to apply it to the loan. The moment the warranty company says that the check was sent, you want to be all over the dealer’s accounting people until that credit appears in your loan balance.
The dealer spiff on a warranty is insane. Price an extended warranty yourself on the vehicle and then subtract that number from what the dealer charged. That’s the dealer’s take.
With my wife’s Exploder deal, the big extended warranty was with Ford, and the people I talked to in Dearborn on almost a daily basis until I got the refund seemed embarrassed about what the dealer charged us for the warranty.
“Gas-Starved Europe Can’t Look West as U.S. Faces Its Own Crunch”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gas-starved-europe-cant-look-140009958.html
The price of natural gas has doubled from $3/mmbtu to $6/mmbtu and is looking to significantly increase if we have a hard winter in just about any portion of the USA but especially Texas. The price in Los Angeles is now $11/mmbtu. The amazing jump is the $26/mmbtu price for natural gas in Germany as their winter has already started and their wind turbines have failed to meet their electrical requirements.
About 20% of the USA natural gas production is being sent out of the USA now to both Canada and Mexico via pipelines and as LNG to South America, Europe, and Asia (especially China and Japan). We have been shipping LNG to Japan for fifty years now since the first LNG liquefaction plant came online south of Anchorage.
And of course, the price of crude is jumping also to $80/barrel since people are running out of natural gas and turning to crude / distilled products for electricity production.
You know what would be nice? More storage and more lines, so we don’t just waste half of what comes out of the ground.
That would even help with the dread caaaaaarrrrbon being put into the air. I don’t much care about that but some do.
“Enterprise Stardust (Perry Rhodan)” by K. H. Scheer and Walter Ernsting, translated by Wendayne Ackerman
https://www.amazon.com/Enterprise-Stardust-Perry-Rhodan-Scheer/dp/B0007I83EU/?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number one of a series of one hundred and twenty-six space opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number in the thousands. The English books mostly have two translated German stories per book. The German books were written from 1961 to present time, having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted. I read the well printed and well bound fourth edition book published by Ace in 1974 (first published in 1969) that I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of 1989.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan
In this alternate universe, USAF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in 1971. The first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio interference, they discover a crashed massive alien spaceship with an aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of 500.
Here is my 2011 review of the book, “Perry Rhodan is the classic tale of boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy gets girl. Except it extends to somewhere around 2600 volumes in the original German. This book is the English translation that was started in 1969 and ran out of steam in the USA in volume #117/118.”
“I believe that the original premise of Perry Rhodan was fairly original. A spaceship takes off from the USA and finds a crashed alien spaceship on the moon. This premise has been copied a few times, most notably in David Weber’s _Mutineers_Moon_, a work of five star excellence in my humble opinion.”
“I also am a big fan of the technology in the first issue of PR. The space ship that PR flies to the moon is a chemical first stage and nuclear second and third stages. I am in total belief that the lack of nuclear rocket engines is one of the failures of our current space program.”
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (16 reviews)
The price of natural gas has doubled from $3/mmbtu to $6/mmbtu and is looking to significantly increase if we have a hard winter in just about any portion of the USA but especially Texas.
Austin saw the first severe weather cold front last night.
Usually, that front doesn’t happen until mid-late October.
Way too many Californians moved here this Summer. The first predicted freeze will have people freaking out and stripping the HEB to the walls.
JimB; P-3s were fun. In the course of my career, I did every job on the airplane EXCEPT drive the bus. As an enlisted guy, I worked all three “sensor” positions, loaded ordnance and sonobuoys; after I got commissioned, I was the navigator and radio operator, then TACCO, and finally Mission Commander. 5500 flight hours.
Unless you were down low – which meant 300 feet above the water – it was pretty smooth. Of course, in bumpy weather down there, it could get pretty bouncy.
I once saw a demo flight at NAS Pax River; a “race” to 5000 feet. A lightly loaded P-3 on one runway, and an F-4 Phantom on the other. They set max power, and released the brakes together. The P-3 was off the ground in about 500 feet and climbed at a 30 degree attitude. The F-4 takes off SLOWLY, and levels off while accelerating in ground effect, and then turned vertical. The P-3 “won” the race, but barely, as the F-4 was going STRAIGHT UP at that point.
It was a good career, but I was glad to retire when I did.
The price of natural gas has doubled
You know what would be nice? More storage and more lines, so we don’t just waste half of what comes out of the ground.
That would even help with the dread caaaaaarrrrbon being put into the air. I don’t much care about that but some do.
With Biden telling everyone that 50% of natural gas, crude oil, and coal will be phased out by 2030, nobody wants to invest in fossil fuels at the moment. And with half of our stranded natural gas coming from shale (rock !), storages are very difficult to drill in that. Most natural gas storages are in salt caverns along the coasts that have been hollowed out using water jets.
Several of my customers are now stripping the propane / butane out of the natural gas and selling it before they flare the gas. But the propane market is close to saturated also.
And for some reason, nobody wants a natural gas pipeline on their land. The amount of lawsuits when a pipeline is run now is amazing. And of course, Biden canceling Keystone XL (a crude oil pipeline from Canada to the USA), has encouraged environmentalists to fight against fossil fuels.
$10 natural gas and $100 crude oil will bring the wildcatters out of their dens. Maybe.
Boom and bust. Boom and bust. I have seen it so many times in the fossil fuel industry.
The biggest problem with our gas bill is not the cost of the gas itself, but the blasted $20 “customer fee” they charge us just for having an account. I’d have to look, but I think Atmos has added a dollar to that every year for the past 3 or 4 years. And our city charges us $1.93 for the privilege as well.
The gas itself only cost us $2.40 last month, plus $6.41 for that “Gas Cost Recovery Rider” fee. So if they still billed the way companies did in the old days, without padding the bill for their profit, our gas bill would be less than $10 a month. Instead it is three times that.
A lot of, perhaps most, nice weddings today have to limit attendance and pick and choose. Most of the ones we’ve been invited to in the past 10 years have been that way. Bummer that it caused family upset. No one should have their feelings hurt if they don’t make the cut – at least, I think people should be understanding about those things. It’s tough. And, so much depends on what the bride’s wishes are: time of day, whether she wants a dance or the horse-drawn carriage, etc.
Mexican weddings have a bit of an edge, because each of the attendant couples pays toward the cost of the reception and dance, as do the Madrinas and Padrinos. That’s why you’ll read about weddings with 8 or 10 or 12 couples as Attendants. It’s a nice system that enables even poor girls to have a fairytale wedding, and everyone gets to enjoy a big party. 🙂
Venues can really run up the expense. Moderns lose out on a lot by not having church weddings. Among other things, they don’t have access to the church hall and all the ladies helping with a house party. Paul and I did our very nice afternoon wedding, with reception for 200 with food, for $1500 thirty years ago. Today, a church-going bride or groom could do the same for around $5000 and still have an impressive event, provided they don’t do a dance or booze.
Close your eyes and think of England.
OK, the top to bottom swift move after I post a comment is giving me vertigo on my 27 inch monitor.
Close your eyes and think of England.
Can I buy a clue as to why I should think of England please ? I vastly prefer Scotland, Wales, or even Colorado. Or fly fishing down the Missouri River in Montana before the snow melt.
How cool! I hope he is still getting inked up every once in a while. 🙂 I loved printing and had a lot of fun with it. I only discovered it as an adult, and it was a solace during a hectic career with a tech company in those crazy early days. I could go stand at a cabinet to set type and forget the rest of the world existed.
I also did Living History demos for a while. My little sign press was close enough to the portable Army presses that were used in camp during the Civil War that I could carry it to events and show how it was done. Boys, esp, were interested in the mechanics of it all. And, people were surprised to learn that women have worked equally in printing and owned publishing houses since Gutenberg invented it.
I had a Pilot Clone, and a little Line-o-Scribe sign press. I sold all my equipment a few years ago, as I could no longer lift the typecases easily. I miss it, but it is still being used by a new printer, so that’s good.
A lot of, perhaps most, nice weddings today have to limit attendance and pick and choose. Most of the ones we’ve been invited to in the past 10 years have been that way. Bummer that it caused family upset. No one should have their feelings hurt if they don’t make the cut – at least, I think people should be understanding about those things. It’s tough. And, so much depends on what the bride’s wishes are: time of day, whether she wants a dance or the horse-drawn carriage, etc.
My wedding reception was $1200 total, which represented most of my life savings at the time.
If you’re ever in Tampa, Capdevila’s at La Teresita was the venue. Upstairs in the banquet room.
https://www.lateresitarestaurant.com/
10 minutes from the exit drive of the rental car garage at Tampa Airport.
@Greg
It took about a week or 10 days for the tribunal to issue a decision and for me to receive it.
Not much longer for the first payment to come in. Because I’d been submitting payment requests every 2 weeks.
I diligently make my 3 applications for employment each week, and I’m actually getting a little interest. I’m surprised because I didn’t think anyone would want a 67 year old techie, even a damn good one. Also, because I’m making a good faith job search but not a high energy one, due to thinking maybe it’s time to hang up my professional keyboard after all. My decision point comes when I get an actual offer. In the meantime, I can collect unemployment at my former employer’s expense. Win-win.
I diligently make my 3 applications for employment each week, and I’m actually getting a little interest. I’m surprised because I didn’t think anyone would want a 67 year old techie, even a damn good one. Also, because I’m making a good faith job search but not a high energy one, due to thinking maybe it’s time to hang up my professional keyboard after all. My decision point comes when I get an actual offer. In the meantime, I can collect unemployment at my former employer’s expense. Win-win.
Ok. Thanks. Tomorrow will mark two weeks since the hearing.
My situation was complicated, and I can’t decide whether not showing up was genius or stupidity on the part of my former employer
HR in Austin is former Chipotle management. They may have been worried about him committing perjury if I had shown up for the hearing with witnesses.
No one I worked with wanted to be involved, either out of fear of retaliation or preserving reference.
Found both of these today on AoS:
Making the rounds:
“At no time in history have the people forcing others into compliance been the good guys”
I did a brief check and could not find a source.
Lot’s of potential counter-arguments, such as the Northern oppressors version of the War Between the States, military conscription in the U.S. (depending on the era), mandatory school attendance, etc.
Lot’s more arguments in agreement.
Including, in a general fashion, this one:
Elijah Schaefer:
“In just 16 months the CDC became the fourth branch of government, the capitol police became a national intelligence agency, and OSHA went from becoming a regulatory agency to a force stronger than the constitution.
Never forget how quickly the federal government will grab power.”
https://ifunny.co/picture/elijah-schaffer-re-elijahschaffer-in-just-16-months-the-cdc-gLZfIrsv8
I’ve long been interested in the relationship between government and industry in the German insanity of the 1930’s and 40’s. It seems we have our own analogs to the House of Krupp (Google) and I.G. Farben (Apple), and Elon Musk is starting to look like he’s selecting his own model.
Is it possible the Redumblicans can gain control of the Senate/House in 2022? The Dumbocrats are afraid. That’s why they are pushing on this massive spending bill. The Redumbo’s need to grow a spine soon or it’s:
Game over, Man, game over!
I’ve long been interested in the relationship between government and industry in the German insanity of the 1930’s and 40’s. It seems we have our own analogs to the House of Krupp (Google) and I.G. Farben (Apple), and Elon Musk is starting to look like he’s selecting his own model.
BMW.
The Nazi’s jet had a BMW engine.
And BMW helped create the modern Serbia mess with a factory that made … batteries!
People in that part of the world have long memories.
And IG Farben is still around, albeit in pieces. Now they have Monsanto too.
@MrAtoZ
Likely, even. Getting to 60 is not possible, but that should not inhibit the Republican majority in the House from issuing weekly bills of impeachment.
I had a Pilot Clone, and a little Line-o-Scribe sign press. I sold all my equipment a few years ago, as I could no longer lift the typecases easily. I miss it, but it is still being used by a new printer, so that’s good.
Selling good equipment in good repair that a craftsman can use is never a problem. My friends are getting out of the clothes cleaning business at 70+. They do not want to sign another five year lease and I do not blame them. They knew a guy who wants to get into the business and he is buying everything in their shop: the 200 hp steam boiler, the three steam presses (two shirt and one trouser), the 100+ foot electric rolling clothes rack, the metal hanger system for partial work (about 100 separate hangers), the commercial sewing machine, the thread rack, etc, etc, etc. They did not even have to advertise.
@Greg Norton
BMW would be a good corporate model, but I was thinking more of a cult of personality individual selection along the lines of Albert Speer.
IG Farben and it’s constituent parts should have been broken down and sold to pay war reparations. Didn’t happen in the realpolitik of denazification and the exigencies of building a bulwark against the Soviet occupation of East Germany. The air had already gone out of the balloon by the time they tried the IGF directors at Nuremburg–only about half got convicted, when it should have been a clean sweep and immediate “denazification” with Zyklon B.
@rick, my feeling is we must have the ability to edit comments for at least some short time. Whenever we haven’t, there has been a lot of wailing and teeth gnashing, and a lot of comments correcting other comments. Wasted lives…. I edit, most of the heavy commentors edit. If at all possible, please save the comment editing!
n
My preference it to be at the top of the page when reloading or even after posting. That way I can see the list of posts on the right, and click on mine if I’m caught up, or someone else’s if I’m not.
n
If at all possible,please save the comment editing!Wow, I haven’t checked the channel in a year, and they haven’t posted. I hope they survived the lockdown.
https://www.youtube.com/c/JukeboxPrintLive/videos
Lots of old press pron at that channel. Beautiful work, great sounds.
n
The japanese war machine survived pretty intact too.
n
Although not currently enabled on the test site, I’ll probably enable comment editing when the new theme gets installed (which might happen soon-ish). The ‘time’ will probably be 8-10 minutes – that should be enough time for someone to realize they screwed up something in their comment.
I’d prefer that additional text not be added to an existing comment. Editing should only be used to fix an error in a submitted comment. If you add to a comment, then someone looking at the site in that ‘edit time’ will miss your additional thoughtful thoughts.
Changes to the test area today include a ‘rich text editor’ for the comment box (with more icons); responsive CSS tweaking for smaller screens (tablet, phone), addition of a header image to the Customizer, and some other CSS spacing/width tweaking.
I think it’s getting close, but then I think of “why don’t I add [feature]?” (Been doing that for decades – I think of one more feature to add to a program before I quit for the day/night, and then it’s three hours later…)
Hold on there pardner, you may want to hold off on those extra payments until this “inflation” thing really kicks in and then make your extra payments with your dollars which will then be worth less.
Lol, I can relate. I find it helps to remember the Pareto Principle.
Likely, even. Getting to 60 is not possible, but that should not inhibit the Republican majority in the House from issuing weekly bills of impeachment.
Speaker of the House Donald J. Trump.
The Constitution requires the House to pick a Speaker, but the Speaker does not have to be an elected member.
@Greg Norton
Daily bills. Operation Warp Impeach.
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/president-bidens-new-plan-tackle-rising-food-prices
The author thinks they’re doing it because they are incompetent. What if they are doing it because that is the lever they have to pull on and they WANT the end state described- starving angry people.
They intend to use food as a weapon.
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/president-bidens-new-plan-tackle-rising-food-prices
The author thinks they’re doing it because they are incompetent. What if they are doing it because that is the lever they have to pull on and they WANT the end state described- starving angry people.
They intend to use food as a weapon.
n
This is what happens when you use food for fuel. The demand for a fuel is almost infinite, just like food. Given that the feddies are subsidizing food for fuel, the demand goes even higher.
Also, the USA is the breadbasket of the world. With so many immigrants (legal and illegal) coming in, the arable land in Texas is being used for homes instead of food crops.
“La Brea” series on Hulu: s1e1 “pilot”
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11640018/
“A massive sinkhole mysteriously opens up in Los Angeles, separating part of a family in an unexplainable primeval world, alongside a disparate group of strangers.”
4 out of 5 stars, has potential.
Also showing on NBC, Peacock, FuboTV.
Apparently inspired by “Lost”.
“La Brea” – started watching, but decided not to get sucked in. Although the CGI of the sinkhole was pretty good.
But I suspect it will fall prey to the “Lost” fiasco. Each episode will have about 7 minutes to move the story along, then 40 minutes of an unrelated story, then a cliffhanger to set you up to the next episode.
I switched over to IMDB TV to continue my binge of “Rockford Files”.
Gee, thanks a lot Rick. That tune is going to be stuck in my head all friggin’ day!