Cold changing to cool, changing to really pleasant later in the day. I really enjoyed yesterday afternoon. Blue sky, nice breeze, moderate temps. I’ll love another couple of days like that.
Spent the morning at my desk then on a pickup in Sugar Land. Then on to my secondary location. After that it was pick up the brat (couldn’t resist the rhyme, but she’s really very sweet). We went grocery shopping, picked up some cards, then got dinner started. Played my third game of chess and lost. Made a stupid mistake and didn’t defend my king properly. We replayed from that point on and I eventually won, but it took a lot more than the 3-4 moves I initially thought it would. I’m liking playing with a 10 yo. Probably wouldn’t like playing with someone who knew all the games and moves for thousands of variations by heart.
Today I’ve got a whole bunch of pickups in the same general direction, so I’ll do a big loop. It’s mostly stuff for this house or the BOL. I keep bidding on kayaks but I don’t want to pay! I’ll get one eventually for cheap enough that I can afford it AND the foundation work…
Speaking of fixes, at the BOL they have a system to pump lake water into the grass sprinklers. That pump is about the only thing I’m worried about freezing last week. Anyone know if a ‘shallow well jet pump’ is what that might be or if such a beast is appropriate for that job? There are a bunch of them in the auctions this week, and it seems like the universe telling me something… Signs and portents, they are everywhere. It’s just one of a thousand small jobs that might or will need to be done pretty soon after we take possession. The list of stuff is long. The house didn’t have much maintenance for the last dozen years, and no style or tech updates in 40…
There’s always something more to do. The plumbers came back and finished their work, so now the rest of putting the wall and ceiling back together is on me, as well as the siding and any sort of dressing up that the piping needs. I hope my wife will arrange the electrician, or I’ll be doing that too. I need two of me.
It’s all in the service of getting set for what’s coming. Old water heater was failing in 2008 when we bought the house. We got our money’s worth but it was WAY past time to replace it. Same with the HVAC system. The trick will be finding a replacement as sturdy, simple, and long lasting. The shortage of very high end systems may work in our favor there. I don’t need a Lambo, I need a Ford truck.
There’s always more to stack, another skill to learn or practice, more gear, more parts… more people. Get busy!
n
43F and 97%RH this fine AM.
It's probably worth remembering that Canada has the population of California. And that population skews younger than the US overall population.
WRT 'most of the people in the hospital are unvaxxed, they were saying that here too, until they got busted and had to admit it wasn't true the way they were saying it, see also NY state. You no longer hear anyone saying "epidemic of the unvaxxed." I wouldn't trust the Swiss numbers or Canadian numbers on this, or anyone else's numbers given their desire to get everyone vaxxed and their willingness to use any tactic to accomplish that.
Someone mentioned polio. Polio was destroying the lives of peoples' children. You could see the effect in any local hospital. It was terrifying and devastating. Chinaflu is not. The risk vs reward calculation was MUCH more straightforward.
WRT safety of the vax, no one can say we know the long term effects because no one has had the vax long term yet. That is a simple statement, and I would think very hard to refute.
We have FAR MORE anecdotal evidence that there are serious side effects than would have been needed to kill or pause any other drug rollout in history. They HAVE stopped, and then made the determination that IN THEIR OPINION the risks were outweighed by the benefit. The parents and survivors of the people affected might come to a different determination. Please remember – they admit the inflammation of the heart in young men. They admit the changes in menstrual cycle in women. They just determined that FOR THEIR REASONS they would allow the continued use of the various vaxxes.
Time and time again they have shown that, (they for any value of they), their goals are not necessarily YOUR goals. They are willing to lie, and distort, and suppress to achieve those goals.
You trust them at your peril.
n
Like many other similar nostalgia projects, the movie should have been done 20 years ago.
Mid-2000s at the latest, when George Carlin and Bernie Casey were still alive.
I wasn't unhappy with the end result, but, unlike the first two films, the flick failed to capture the era during which filming took place. Where’s the dead mall and the parking lot where the water park used to stand?
I still tell young'n's to watch the first "Bill and Ted" to see a actual 80s mall with all of the real stores, food court, and ice skating rink.
During a milspec trip to Chile (teaching war gaming to their Army), we got a side trip to the Chilean Horse Calvary Academy. An unforgettable event. It’s up in the mountains. After parking in a bus lot, we rode in horse drawn carriages to the academy proper. Big draft horses and you got to see how a work horse sweats since we were going over “hills and dales”. After a tour of the facility and a meal, we were seated in a large outdoor arena. You have all seen military parades with marching maneuvers. Imagine that on a couple hundred horses. Flanking, turns, etc. Amazing. They patrol the mountains on horseback.
Amusing, and perhaps reassuring: the political party currently gaining ground here is called "die Mitte", roughly "the middle". Maybe people are getting tired of the left/right polarization.
I remember the massive push for an AIDS vaccine (now I know FauXi was behind it). Still no vaccine, but many treatments. Those treatments are keeping people alive. No doubt FauXi is behind nixing treatments for a vaccine. Even tRump was “saved” with treatments. Maybe a combination would have kept the mortality rate down to acceptable. As usual, the “Deep State” will protect those responsible as long as they tow the line.
/tinfoil hat
Yes, yes we have. Thanks plugs:
‘West has been destroyed without a shot fired’ – Russia
The great foreign policy expert, plugsy McSpongeBrain, putting that half century in the goobermint to work. Good job destroying all those Embassy computers and deploying thousands of troops.
Ruh, Roh:
Report: “Majority Of MN COVID Cases Are Now Among The Vaccinated”
What was somebody saying?
Buckle up
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2022/02/15/breaking-bidenflation-shocker-as-producer-price-index-jumps-1-in-january-9-7-in-past-year-n448701
Puddinhead Biden claimed “14 Nobel laureates” told him inflation was temporary.
What, on geological time scales?
Every journalist in America should demand he name them all. Fukcing liar.
For frequent flyers:
On returning to San Antone via
McCarran“Dirty” Harry Reid airport. I handed my boarding pass and ID to the cop at the security checkpoint. He says “I don’t need your boarding pass” and scans my ID and lets me through.Is there now some data base where the TSA doesn’t care if I show a boarding pass anymore? This is the first time some sort of boarding pass wasn’t required.
WRT the long term affects of the Covid vaccines, of course, we don't know yet. However, I go to my drug store every fall for my traditional flu shot. No big deal…just like my Covid, Moderna booster shot, zero after affects (all three Moderna shots).
Tampa's airport has experimented with allowing people without boarding passes out to the gate areas to eat/shop. IIRC, as long as the numbers on a per-hour basis do not exceed a certain level, the TSA allows the practice to continue.
Airside C in Tampa has concessions run by the Columbia Group, and I believe they petitioned for the change.
Obviously, you're using the wrong goalposts. Covidiots use cases when convenient, but the latest has been to use deaths. So, we were sold the "vaccine" on the basis it would keep us free from infection, give us herd immunity, and stop us from spreading the disease.
They've moved the goalpost to "It will reduce symptoms and keep you from dying". And then they back it up with statistics produced by the same people who lied to us before.
"Unexpectedly"? Really?
https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/us-producer-price-inflation-unexpectedly-remains-near-record-highs-jan
n
I'm saying the same as you. Goobermints are lying they azzez off to fit the narrative
That kind of political movement is just as dangerous as polarization because it appeals to the portion of the population who just want to avoid arguments with friends/neighbors/co-workers as long as the taxes don't jeopardize their own lifestyle.
In the US, the left frequently co-ops "the middle". As long as the 2% mortgage on the McMansion is current and payments on the X5 get made, a lot of people around here will put out B*TO! yard signs again.
I've always considered most self-declared independents and moderates to just be people who don't feel like talking about politics (either at all or at least not in present company). It's just a way of avoiding taking sides or getting in political debate. They are likely very much left or right and their voting record would probably prove it. Also, moderate is a very subjective term and while a person may be considered moderate by liberals, for example, they'd be considered radical by staunch conservatives. A true moderate independent is a very rare thing.
Lock up your daughters, Britain. Randy Andy is back on the prowl!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crime/prince-andrew-agrees-to-settle-sexual-assault-lawsuit/ar-AATT8XN
It makes sense, I guess, if they are using IDs anyway. Kind of like voting in Texas now that ID is required (again): they no longer need to see our Voter's Registration Card.
Check-in was what I always wondered "why" about. Even back when I was still flying regularly, ~15 years ago, remote check-in seemed absurd to me. People could say 24 hours in advance that they planned to be there, but that didn't mean they would be at the gate on time for the airline to know whether they'd need their seat or not. At least with airport check-in they knew we were actually in the building somewhere. But with the new way, they don't know how many passengers they have until boarding is complete.
they don't know how many passengers they have until boarding is complete.
— they don't always know even then. Wife and I were flying standby, they boarded the plane, let us on, but there weren't two seats left. Gate attendant said that sometimes someone will board with a "lap child" then put the child in a seat. They don't always have time or inclination to figure it out.
n
Last time I flew, 3 years ago due to the virus and job changes, they typically give you until 10-15 minutes before departure to board, and if not, someone else gets your seat.
I agree that the check-in doesn't have much value. So far as I know, you can check in up to that 10-15 minute cut-off. Seems like its a way to weed out those who won't be flying so they know how many seats to give to standby customers.
On southwest I've changed flights at the last minute and been given a number in the C range that is beyond the number of seats in the plane, and still been allowed to board. I got C63 one time, and flew, but only because not all checked-in passengers showed up.
I bought a premium ticket one time 2 hours before departure and got A1. Front of line. Money talks.
I think that applies to online discussions as well, if not moreso. So, MrAtoz, let me explain myself more thoroughly..
I believe you were legitimately pointing out factual errors by the vaxophiles, showing that the vax does not, in fact, stop infection.
But they have already moved on, trying to claim it saves lives, and that they never claimed any of the things that they clearly did early on in the vax rollout. It is that hypocrisy that I was commenting on.
In other words, I think we are in violent agreement.
Yup to the above.
https://americandigest.org/noted-in-passing-first-as-tragedy-then-as-farce/
best comment
You don't want to be in that last row on Southwest, especially the window seat.
You don’t want to be over the wing with a reluctantly flying metallurgist who is looking at rivets and seeing metal fatigue.
The Silverado will probably have a generator option just like the Ford Jesus truck.
Once again, the commercial is targeting "Show Ya". The sky will be the limit for the dealers.
Hit the 'small' HEB for VDay cards and to see what was fresh.
Small avocados are 83c and smaller than tennis balls.
Great big holes throughout the store–
-no cream cheese at all
-no biscuits in a tube, nor cinnamon buns in a tube. One or two tubes of cornbread muffin and small crescent rolls. Couple of packages of break and bake cookies, basically an empty cooler.
I hit our HEB at Riverpark in Sugar Land last night. They had Blue Charmin so I bought two 24 roll = 96 roll packs and eight Kleenex boxes for the office. Ever since I had The Koof two years ago, my sinuses seem to flow like Niagara Falls nowadays and I ain't the only one in the office. Plus the glaucoma medicine reputedly causes your sinuses to flow too.
But, there was no qtips. Weird. Oh well, I opened the backup at the house last week and still have the backup to the backup. I will keep a watch for when the new qtips come in. Keep on stacking !
The Silverado will probably have a generator option just like the Ford Jesus truck.
Once again, the commercial is targeting "Show Ya". The sky will be the limit for the dealers.
Once we hit the saturation point with the electric trucks, they will release the commercial with people running window a/c units in the tent, powered by the truck battery.
Might be a while, Ford has 500,000 deposits for the electric truck.
WRT the long term affects of the Covid vaccines, of course, we don't know yet. However, I go to my drug store every fall for my traditional flu shot. No big deal…just like my Covid, Moderna booster shot, zero after affects (all three Moderna shots).
One of my friends is a beta tester for Moderna, one of 30,000+. He got the first Moderna shot back in 2020. He got the first booster last August 2021. He ran a low fever for a day and it cleaned out his intestines. I need to contact him and see if he got the fourth shot yet.
If getting one of the jabs will keep you off the respirator then they are well worth it. But, I have not gotten the third Pfizer shot yet and I am at nine months since I got the first two jabs. I am thinking about it.
We need to start building nukes. NOW!
@greg:
"Show Ya"
Once again, this right-pondian is missing a cultural reference. Would you elucidate?
G.
We need to start building nukes. NOW!
There are two under construction in the USA at the moment, VOGTLE 3 and 4 in South Carolina. Of course, we need about a hundred under construction.
https://www.statista.com/statistics/513671/number-of-under-construction-nuclear-reactors-worldwide/
I had a UPS do like an armadillo on the side of the road. It started a low volume "beep" tone, would click off for a bit, click back on and make beep noises like a clock ticking. Why does this stuff happen at 3AM? Like smoke detector batteries.
I pulled it out from behind the bed (under the headboard) and while I should be ashamed at the layer of dust on it, I'm not much actually. Disconnected everything, moved it to another outlet, and it's doing the same with no load.
I bought it in April 2017. Way back when I still had DirecTV. Almost five years. That explains most of the dust.
I went to Provantage and bought a replacement. Same price as Big River.
I could replace the batteries. I don't think batteries are the problem. The same model under my desk chirps if the power goes out. When the batteries failed, a power blink was like having no UPS at all.
I'm guessing it's almost the same as the "You ain't got none" folks.
"Show Ya" is the personality type who, if they believe strongly in something, will spare no expense or even do minor illegal actions to prove naysayers wrong if even for five minutes of smug satisfaction. “You ain’t got none” is part of it but not totally satisfying to the type.
My brother is the personality. He probably has his F150 Lightning on order.
EVs appeal to that crowd in a huge way.
I don’t think the personality type is uniquely American, but, until about the last decade, the per capita true wealth in this country enabled “Show Ya” on an obscene scale in comparison to the rest of the planet.
Pearls Before Swine: Open Honest Dialogue
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2022/02/15
Support The Twinkie !
500,000 times 19.2 kW an hour for eight hours, roughly 10 k MW all night to charge the trucks or about 1/6 the typical generating capacity of Texas if I remember the discussions here correctly.
And that's just Ford.
Thanks, Greg.
G.
The batteries are a supply chain issue right now. The manufacturers have emphasized getting complete units shipped for the last year.
I replaced the battery in my network UPS, and I had just about given up hope of seeing the order from CDW after a couple of months when, right before I was going to cancel, I suddenly received an email that the replacement shipped.
$500/mo Starlink service is also targeted to "Show Ya". Elon definitely has a pattern.
Truly wealthy people are going to figure out alternatives, especially if they are self-made.
Peanuts; Sally Ranting
https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2022/02/15
Never interrupt a good rant with a fact.
My 83 year old father who I spent the weekend with in and out of the hospital just tested positive for The Koof by the hospital in Victoria. He is going to take the monoclonal antibodies and HCQ. He has three Pfizer shots, the booster was last fall.
Which test? What's the false positive rate? Can it distinguish the Chinese bioweapon from the common cold or the flu? Would it be a good idea to take another test of a different type for confirmation?
Did he ask for the test or was it routine because you were there for your mother?
Greg and SteveF are asking questions like they want some facts.
I learned something a long time ago, arguing gun control (pre-internet, in person!) with liberals/commies/democrats (some overlap).
The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.
As long as we're mentioning inconvenient facts, I wonder how many of the hospitalized "with" covid actually caught it in the hospital when they were there for something else? I've heard omicron incubation is less than 48 hours, and the word nosocomial exists for a reason.
It’s all in the service of getting set for what’s coming. Old water heater was failing in 2008 when we bought the house. We got our money’s worth but it was WAY past time to replace it. Same with the HVAC system. The trick will be finding a replacement as sturdy, simple, and long lasting. The shortage of very high end systems may work in our favor there. I don’t need a Lambo, I need a Ford truck.
I am not running any water heaters past 10 years with my latest experience and damage. I own four water heaters at the moment and my wife owns two (down from five).
Did he ask for the test or was it routine because you were there for your mother?
Dad got the test at the hospital in Victoria. I am sure that it was a PCR test, I don't know why he took the test. He was coughing all weekend but I just figured sinuses as usual. The hospital has checked him in also and is giving him the monoclonal antibodies due to his age and health.
Amusing, and perhaps reassuring: the political party currently gaining ground here is called "die Mitte", roughly "the middle". Maybe people are getting tired of the left/right polarization.
People in the middle of the road usually get run over.
>> If getting one of the jabs will keep you off the respirator then they are well worth it. But, I have not gotten the third Pfizer shot yet and I am at nine months since I got the first two jabs. I am thinking about it.
@lynn, got my fourth Pfizer jab last week, now allowed five months after your first round (two or three if you are immunocompromised).
Sore arm the next day, dispatched with 500mg of Tylenol. No other adverse effects.
Also read that for the immuno folks the five month wait is being reduced to three.
In any case, check with your PCP and consider their input.
Prayers for your father, Lynn, May he recover as quickly as President Trump did, and have no lasting after effects.
I remember the massive push for an AIDS vaccine (now I know FauXi was behind it). Still no vaccine, but many treatments. Those treatments are keeping people alive. No doubt FauXi is behind nixing treatments for a vaccine. Even tRump was “saved” with treatments. Maybe a combination would have kept the mortality rate down to acceptable. As usual, the “Deep State” will protect those responsible as long as they tow the line.
/tinfoil hat
Matthew McConaughey even made an awesome movie, The Dallas Buyers Club, about dodging the police and the DEA while buying the drugs that stopped AIDS in its tracks. I remember all that going on when we lived in Dallas, they were persecuting those people for trying to heal their bodies. Shameful !
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0790636/?ref_=nm_knf_t1
>> The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.
Paraphrasing Kellyanne Conway, "these are the alternate facts."
A most excellent movie! 👍🏼👍🏼
"what if? 2: the book" by Randall Munroe
https://xkcd.com/what-if-2/
If you need to start working on Christmas presents for the inquisitive.
>> @greg:
"Show Ya"
Once again, this right-pondian is missing a cultural reference. Would you elucidate?
@Greg has so many 'references' (no offense intended) that sometimes I think we should have a glossary. But on the other hand, not having one may discourage some of the trolls.
"One of the best pieces of advice I ever heard" by Simon Black
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/one-of-the-best-pieces-of-advice-i-ever-heard-34643/
"Thursday, November 29, 2001 felt like any other day in Argentina. People woke up, went to work, and lived their lives. There was nothing really unusual about that day, everything seemed fine.
Sure, Argentina’s economy had been in a severe recession for three years, so life was difficult. But it was still normal.
By the end of the day, however, a major bank run had started in the country, and life changed forever."
When things change, they change in a hurry. Be ready.
Just ignore his sales pitch.
This is cool. The year was 1878 and after:
https://www.amusingplanet.com/2022/02/the-pneumatic-clocks-of-paris.html
Everyone wants a beater truck with a simple, reliable drivetrain, and no one makes those anymore. At least not any sold in this country.
All right, all right, all right!
The line originated in "Dazed and Confused", but the crazy Oscar speech for "Dallas Buyers Club" forever tied it to McConaughey in popular culture.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD2cVhC-63I
Turns out a shallow well jet pump is exactly what I need to water my lawn with lake water. And I won one at the auction. Hooray. Now I really hope I don't need it.
Lots of driving but home now. youngest and wife are at bball practice, eldest is holed up, "reading" on her lappy. IDK if anyone ate dinner, but I'm starving.
n
500,000 times 19.2 kW an hour for eight hours, roughly 10 k MW all night to charge the trucks or about 1/6 the typical generating capacity of Texas if I remember the discussions here correctly.
And that's just Ford.
The total generating capability of Texas is about 85,000 MW depending on how you treat the 25,000 MW of wind turbines and 7,500 MW of solar. That number is rapidly dropping now since it is OVERHAUL season as of Feb 12. Right now they are tearing into the steam turbines and the gas turbines and getting the shocked looks on the manufacturer engineers who say, "that was running ?".
Plus another 20,000 MW for the refineries and chemical plants. But only plants that can send 100% of their power to the grid like Dow Chemical down in Freeport. All the other refineries and chemical plants are limited by their interconnection wiring. Dow used to be able to generate almost 3,500 MW (those chlorine cells and magnesium cells take an incredible amount of power). Dow had full interconnects so that Plant A (back by the levee) could send all their power to Plant B (by the intercoastal canal) and vice versa. I am not sure what Dow can generate now but I suspect more.
BTW, there are four million to six million 1/2 to 1 ton trucks in Texas. There are another one million 18 wheelers. Powering those up every night will have every power plant Texas running wide open. The same with California. My back of the envelope calculation says we need 300 more nuclear power plants across the USA. Or, we need to cover 8% of the land in the USA with solar power plants. Not gonna happen.
And we have not talked about the trains yet. Those trains use 10 or 12% of the fuel in the USA. Those locomotives have 5,000 gallon diesel tanks on them for a reason.
Did he ask for the test or was it routine because you were there for your mother?
Dad got the test at the hospital in Victoria. I am sure that it was a PCR test, I don't know why he took the test. He was coughing all weekend but I just figured sinuses as usual. The hospital has checked him in also and is giving him the monoclonal antibodies due to his age and health.
I took a government issued Covid test tonight and was negative. I will take it again tomorrow (I have 4 tests).
https://www.covidtests.gov/
BTW, I had the The Koof back in Feb of 2020 (two years ago). I survived it then without incident. Did not even give to anyone in my family.
"The Question of Winterizing Wind Turbines"
https://www.asme.org/topics-resources/content/the-question-of-winterizing-wind-turbines
"In February of 2020, Texas wind turbines ground to a halt, literally frozen in place by a rare cold wave blanketing the region. When temperatures warmed, so did a debate unprecedented in the state. Should Texas turbines be winterized? With a deicing system on board the turbines could theoretically have powered through the below-zero temperatures."
It was Feb of 2021, not 2020.
I read elsewhere that adding the electric heat system uses half of the power generated by the wind turbine plus requires blade replacement (expensive !). From the owner's perspective, who cares, I am not going to spend that money. From the grid perspective, if you want to sell electricity to the grid in the good times, you have got to sell electricity to the system in the bad times also.
The Potentate of Canada had suspicious symptoms, so his doctor gave him a PCR test. When the doctor returned with the results, he said “Well, I have good news, bad news, and worse news.”
The PoC looked him in the eye and said, “Give me the good news.”
“Good news is, you’re negative for ChiFlu”
“All right. Now the bad news and the worse news”
“Bad news is you tested positive for fascism. Worse news is it only took one cycle.”
Yep, been there. That's almost as good as, "OK, listen up. I'm gonna need everyone to put down your tools and step back away from the [big dangerous machine]. Farther."
"We Bought a Tesla!" by John Varley
https://varley.net/nonfiction/varleylog/we-bought-a-tesla/
Yes, that John Varley, the award winning science fiction writer (back when the awards actually meant something). Great writer, looks like he could make a living at it. Yes, he is an extreme liberal living in Washington State. But his experience and analysis is pretty good.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Varley_(author)
"Obama/Biden Administration Kills the Israel to Europe Gas Pipeline a Second Time Helping Russia Instead"
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/02/obama-biden-administration-kills-israel-europe-gas-pipeline-second-time-helping-iran-russia-instead/
Looks like Israel needs to buy some of Hunter's "paintings".
Wow, you showed us. Went back 10 years (and how many other blogs can you do that on?) and found ONE conversation? One exchange of insults during a political argument?
3 of the people commenting on that page are dead and at least two are AWOL. One for 2 years and I can't find hide nor hair of him, and I've looked.
I miss RBT and OFD. Nice to hear their voices.
n
Wow, you showed us. Went back 10 years (and how many other blogs can you do that on?) and found ONE conversation? One exchange of insults during a political argument?
3 of the people commenting on that page are dead and at least two are AWOL. One for 2 years and I can't find hide nor hair of him, and I've looked.
I miss RBT and OFD. Nice to hear their voices.
n
Me too. Both were very interesting voices on the intertubes.
An essay I finally had time to finish. Only took me a few months. Fun fact: if you're single-parenting one-and-a-half teenage girls* and working 45-50 hours per week and taking care of the house and cars and helping out some other kids who need it, free time is hard to come by. Whoever would have guessed. Ah, well, it's only a few more years, and anyway, sleep is for the weak.
http://coldfury.com/2022/02/15/unthinkable/
https://www.dailypundit.com/dailypundit.wordpress/2022/02/15/unthinkable/
(Same essay at each site.)
* The "half" teenage girl is not an amputee, not a half-wit**, and not half the age of a teenager. She spends only part of the time with us.
** Though she acts like it sometimes. She is a teen, after all.
"Wolf And Iron" by Gordon R. Dickson
https://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Iron-Gordon-R-Dickson/dp/0812533348?tag=ttgnet-20/
A standalone book, no sequel or prequel that I know of, of a post apocalyptic future USA. I reread a used MMPB published by Tor in 1991 that I bought on Amazon since my copy is buried in the maze of forty boxes of books in my garage. There is a collection of short stories called "In Iron Years" that does contain a short story that might be a previous version of this story.
What would you do if you knew that society was ending shortly ? Jeremy Bellamy Walther (Jeebee), a social scientist, predicted that society would end shortly and laid aside a few items. Gasoline and many other commodities were already long gone. He took off on a electric bicycle using a solar charger from Michigan to Montana, traveling 20+ miles a day. With only a .22 rifle to defend himself and hunt for food, he is joined by a young large grey wolf as a traveling companion. His target, a far off ranch in Montana that his older brother owns.
My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (I could be talked into 5 stars)
Amazon rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (341 reviews)
@Lynn
you might enjoy reading Joe's remembrance of Gordy:
https://web.archive.org/web/20150222014508/http://www.sfwa.org/archive/news/gdickson.htm
>> Ruh, Roh:
Report: “Majority Of MN COVID Cases Are Now Among The Vaccinated”
What was somebody saying?
But…one salient factor was not considered…
Just prepping us for the monthly booster regiment.
Link to the original article.
Trains are off limits. Warren Buffett owns a bunch of them and manufactures/leases/sells all of the tanker cars used in North America to transport things like, say, oil and diesel. You know, instead of pipelines.
That reminds me — the shareholder letter is due. I wonder who ghostwrites the Simple Homespun Wisdom (TM) these days.
Guess who made out like a bandit with Microsoft's acquisition of Activision. Berkshire was holding 1% of Activision’s outstanding shares. The Homespun Wisdom is probably being revised as I type.
@Greg's previous previous previous previous previous job interview…
https://dilbert.com/strip/2022-02-15
A quick thanks to Mr.SteveF for keeping coldfury ticking over.
IIRC, that's the guy who still willingly goes to my wife's former employer for healthcare, despite the fact that three of their clinics were hot zones in the Measles pandemic in WA State in early 2019.
Am I correct in remembering that he received less-than-adequate care for something at the clinic?
Vantucky is a backwards place, but he's exaggerating the pickup culture. Like the rest of the Portland Metro, Vancouver, WA is serious Subaru country. The only person I knew who drove a giant truck was my wife’s nurse, who pulled a horse trailer all over the Northwest on weekends.
Her daily driver? An Outback.
Nice. A Kevin Smith reference. I was ostensibly fired from the previous previous job for using one of Smith's favorite words twice, triggering a snowflake, but it was 2 1/2 years of what was, in the best moments, condescension from management.
Cowards didn’t even show up for my TWC appeal hearing so I took home $2700 covering my unpaid vacation until the previous job started.
The manager on the previous job was PC Principal from “South Park”. That only lasted a year before I found something else and turned in notice.
Other TV/movie characters I’ve worked for:
– “Shakes the Clown” – Previous previous job
– Fat Bastard from “Austin Powers” – The Death Star – Granted, I never saw him attempt to eat Verne Troyer, but I chalk that up to lack of opportunity. Verne Troyer wasn’t simply going to show up in our office to hang out for the day.
– Al Pacino in “Scarface” – GTE
– Fat Tony from “The Simpsons” – The now defunct Coco Communications in Seattle. Interstingly, the wannabe mobster’s ethic background was Polish.
And Yortuk Festrunck, at my first job out of college. You don't appreciate the kind of work Dan Aykroyd puts into an accent until you live with it for four months. Czech. IIRC, from Bratislava.
I am not kidding.
The experience was way more surreal than SNL could ever write, however, because Czech's have a weird genetic disposition towards carrots, and the boss was always munching on a bag.
So imagine one of the "Wild and Crazy Guys" yelling at you with a mouth full of carrots … and a slight orange tint to his skin and otherwise blonde hair.
And the Jewish conspiracy theories. This despite the fact that we were funded by a group of Hacidics out of Brooklyn.
Again, SNL couldn’t write a sketch like that.
Everyone wants a beater truck with a simple, reliable drivetrain, and no one makes those anymore. At least not any sold in this country.
I regard my 2019 F-150 4×4 as a beater. I've beat it up quite a bit already. The aluminium in the bed shines bright where the bed liner has been scratched through from me throwing crap in the bed and then driving it like I stole it.
I suppose the question is "what is a moderate". After all, people do have opinions. I suppose I count someone as moderate (or, at least, not as on the left or right) if they have a mix of opinions, some "liberal" and some "conservative".
I think a lot of the current political divide comes from people who pick a side, and then adopt all of its views by default – without actually thinking about them. It's all "rah rah, my team", without any applied thought.
If I look in the WayBackMachine at the CDC website, the earliest copy of their vaccination page that I can find, they explicitly said "Some people who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 will still get sick because the vaccines are not 100% effective against COVID-19 illness."
I think both sides tend to have selective memory. It's the way people work…
Lots. It's pretty well known that hospitals are not a place you want to be, because there are sick people there. I actually read an article about this a while back, and the Covid infections at the hospital were pretty common. Sorry, don't remember the specifics, or where I read it.
It's definitely one of the features. It *is* possible to hold different views here. And most of us seem to hold quite a number of non-PC views that would be censored elsewhere. Like the video I mentioned yesterday, where any comments observing that the rioters were black, were removed.
the vaccines are not 100% effective against COVID-19 illness."
— no vax is 100% but most of them are pretty dang close, and while the "fine print" might have said that, what were the people saying to us, how was it SOLD? They sure made a lot of promises…And said things like "get it so you can go back to your normal life." Here in Texas, and Fla. we mostly got back, but only over the screaming and wailing, and we're STILL not completely back. (we can't and won't go "back" to the way things were. No one ever does. we'll pretend until society catches up, like the 50s after WWII.)
Remember all the 'lawyerly' and very finely shaded and parsed statements?
n
Candice Bergen to Trudeau:
"I understand the prime minister admires basic dictatorships, but let's remind the prime minister that this is Canada, this is not a dictatorship."
https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1494033266608939009
Trudeau responds to Jewish Conservative MP Melissa Lantsman:
“Conservative Party members can stand with people who wave swastikas, they can stand with people who wave the confederate flag…”
https://twitter.com/TPostMillennial/status/1494043412785512453
“Trudeau’s state broadcaster is doxxing Trudeau’s political opponents. They’re teeing them up for financial punishments. This is not journalism, anymore than Der Sturmer or Pravda was journalism.”
https://twitter.com/ezralevant/status/1493637928169492489