Cold again, warming later. It did get up into the high 80s yesterday, with a nice clear blue sky, so I’m hoping for the same today.
I spent part of yesterday online, then part doing auction pickups. This time it was mostly just household stuff, Dawn dish soap, Windex, gloves, Clorox cleaner, and a few tools to take to the BOL. And another Toto Drake toilet bowl. I can’t say no to Toto toilets for less than $20 even without the tank. One will come, or I’ll order one on ebay if I need to and then I’ll have a $300-$600 toilet to install.
I made it home in the late afternoon and worked on my Halloween display. It is shaping up to be cool, which is what I want. I find it to be a great creative outlet, and a great thing to be known for in our neighborhood. The best disguise is one that doesn’t even look like a disguise.
I had the opportunity to move a few things on my food shelves. There have been depredations and spoilage, caused by the possums. Now I’ll have to spend some time cleaning that stuff up. Most of it was really aging out anyway. I’m the king of keeping food past its date, but some stuff really doesn’t last well. Mac n cheese in the box, for example. Country Time lemonade powder, or gatoraide powder, powdered cream, powders in general, don’t last forever. They are usually good for about a year past Best By, and they probably won’t kill you, but they don’t taste good at that point.
Plan for the day is more of the same. Maybe with some small engine repair mixed in. Definitely some auction stuff mixed in. Have to pick the kids up from school which cuts my afternoon short, so we’ll see what gets done.
There will be stacking, even if it’s just goodwill…
nick
48F and saturated this fine am. Chilly willy.
So, anyone have a link to what Kanye actually said?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11360021/T-J-Maxx-joins-ban-against-Kanye-West-rappers-vile-anti-Semitic-outbursts.html
‘cuz there are a number of things you could say about the reaction, if you knew what the truth was…
n
Perhaps the truth. People don’t like hearing the truth anymore.
I am just about over CBS morning news. It is turning into a racist pig reunion. This morning Whoopee, that blob of useless racist tissue, and the author of Till, spent 10 minutes bragging and stating how important it was that everyone see the movie. In the process of the interviews it was revealed that some (my guess is most) of the movie had missing parts and information made up.
Another movie I will never watch. Of course the movie will get an academy award so the academy can prove they are “woke”.
Listening to audio clips of the debate on another site, I swear Festerman was reading from a script.
“… a signal mother … *”
“… a willing wage …”
“… individuals who simply can’t evave [?] to pay their own way…”
“… the choice beleens [?] women and their doctors …”
“… I’ve always supported fracking …”
Were the closed captions being fed to him visible to everyone?
Nexstar hosted the debate. The fix is in.
I suspect there are a shite-load of Amish that support Ye. He should sell all his stuff online. Probably make another billion as BLM proudly wears Yeezys.
@lpdbw
An experience some years ago when I was a Trustee/Director of a Social Housing Group for three years. I eventually rang the Chairman and resigned, asked why, I stated that I had been a Trustee for three years and achieved nothing – and that was the same for the board. The Trustees were all very ‘nice’ people; I was the only Trustee with commercial experience. They were more concerned about upsetting people than ensuring they had a safe and effective operation, to the point where staff were put at risk and recognised issues were not resolved. My failing is that I point things out straight; this makes ‘nice’ people uncomfortable. Subsequently when progressing other such opportunities, I have been very direct as to what I understand the role of a Trustee/Director – meaning of course that I have not taken on any new roles (why waste everyone’s, including my, time). This of course is excepting the small charity I was instrumental in establishing to take on a previously council run sports centre (said to be unprofitable and intended for closure), which was of course impeccably run.
42…. Base 13
Yes, but the joke is more subtle than that, summed up by Arthur, upon seeing the question on the Scrabble board, proclaiming, “I always knew that there was something fundamentally wrong with the universe.”
The problem wit rebooting the audio/video versions will always be replacing Simon Jones as Arthur Dent.
>> Were the closed captions being fed to him visible to everyone?
Iirc, they were on two 70 inch monitors mounted above the moderators.
Ugh. I bought a quart of Chobani Oatmilk oatnog last night at HEB. Yup, it has faint echo of nogmilk. But, not near the real thing.
I am allergic to milk and almonds so that kills those two options. And I cannot find Silknog anymore. Bummer.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-10-26/airbnbust-how-desperate-airbnb-sellers-will-pull-housing-market-down
“Over half of all AirBnB units were purchased within the past 2 years.”
Like the flipper mania that wiped out so many savings accounts and credit scores.
emph added.
Change that to “inexperienced in remodeling” and “no cash flow to pay the carrying costs of their investment property loan” and you have single moms flipping houses.
n
Catching up:
@lynn – I also have a 2019 Highlander XLE, wasn’t aware of the immobilizer. Will have to look in the manual.
But found this article online https://rxmechanic.com/how-to-deactivate-toyota-immobilizer/ .
Added after catching up on comments – a dead battery could be considered an immobilizer.
PICTURED: Young mom, 14, who was among four teens to die in horror crash after they stole and hotwired Kia car in TikTok ‘Kia Challenge’ – before losing control
– YOUNG MOM.
14
and out stealing cars.
For likes on a chinese spy and manipulation tool.
n
We saw a lot of new condo buildings along the Florida Gulf Coast between Destin/Fort Walton Beach and Panama City when we went for July 4th in 2020. We came to the conclusion that it was mostly AirBnB, particularly the buildings about midway between the resort areas where traffic and road capacity meant an hour drive either way for restaurants and/or grocery stores.
It will be interesting to watch how the bursting of the bubble affects the hurricane recovery on Fort Myers Beach. Go back 15-20 years, and that wasn’t a big vacation destination despite being a few minutes from the Sanibel Causeway. Fort Myers Beach was for locals who were too cheap to pay the toll to Sanibel/Captiva. AirBnB changed that area in a huge way.
It will also be a test of the modified Florida condo law that allows the legal entity of the “condominium” to be dissolved at less than 100% approval of owners under certain circumstances.
Yes, July 2020. Height of the pandemic, pre vaccines. People thought we were nuts.
I tell ya, they were dropping in the streets in Florida, corpses piled everywhere. By the time we hit Olrando in March 2021, they were stacking ’em like cordwood along the side of the road.
Lynn, have you considered cockroach milk-nog? Add eggs, sugar, and nutmeg and maybe it’ll taste ok. Add eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and enough rum and after a couple glasses you’ll forget that you drank cockroach milk.
Four teens died when they crashed a car, and the Kia was the only thing of value lost.
I helped one acquaintance with a few things … until i realized that she wasn’t an underfunded single mother getting a house ready to live in but was being used as an unpaid handyman to get her investment property ready to rent. The relationship chilled at that point, more from her side because I had tools and knew how to fix things and wouldn’t help her. I don’t have much patience for entitled people.
Bah. Braincramp-level editing mistake in the above: When I went to capitalize the uncapitalized “I”, I instead deleted the I between “but” and “was being used”. I’m almost certain that this error was Ray’s fault, though I’m at a loss as to how he managed to perpetrate this mischief.
And I am not going to tell you how old Jedi.
Catching up:
@lynn – I also have a 2019 Highlander XLE, wasn’t aware of the immobilizer. Will have to look in the manual.
But found this article online https://rxmechanic.com/how-to-deactivate-toyota-immobilizer/ .
Added after catching up on comments – a dead battery could be considered an immobilizer.
I got the wife’s Highlander to start after I put my 100 amp battery charger on the battery. I have no idea if that fixed the problem but the wife thinks so. I am a hero for the moment. I will probably screw up before the end of the day.
And the Highlander started just fine this morning. Weird and worrisome. Don’t leave your key in the vehicle is the message we are getting.
Lynn, have you considered cockroach milk-nog? Add eggs, sugar, and nutmeg and maybe it’ll taste ok. Add eggs, sugar, nutmeg, and enough rum and after a couple glasses you’ll forget that you drank cockroach milk.
My hands are probably too big to milk a cockroach.
“The Big Tech Hiring Slowdown Is Here and it will Hurt”
https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/the-big-tech-hiring-slowdown-is-here
“Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Amazon have all dramatically slowed or frozen hiring. How will this impact the rest of the tech industry?”
The rest of the tech industry is just like the oil and gas industry. Not hiring and slow paying their bills.
Does your key fob have a battery? A low key fob battery can cause intermittent no start issues.
“Electric School Buses Ditch Diesel But Come With Their Own Challenges”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/electric-school-buses-ditch-diesel-but-come-with-their-own-challenges
“Schools are going to need the money; electric buses cost as much as $400,000(Opens in a new window) versus around $150,000 for diesel. To further offset costs, districts are partnering with public utilities and startups whose software connects the battery to the electrical grid. This allows them to sell back stored power for as much as $7,500 per bus per year during times of peak consumption.”
These are not good investments for the school districts. But, I will bet that the numbers have been juggled to make them appear so.
Had dinner tonight with someone who wanted a bit of advice. I had a bit of a panic, when they asked me what I thought of one of these “boot camps”, to get into IT. I mean, you want to be careful not to come down too hard, or you might push them into doing it out of sheer cussedness. Some delicacy required…
Of course, the place didn’t sell itself as a boot camp, but as something much more serious. Still the sales pitch was clear: Come from any background you want, including totally non-technical. Attend virtual classes part-time for six months. Pay them lots of money. And – wow – you’re totally “guaranteed” to land a high-paying IT job. I expect they also sell bridges.
Thankfully, my advisee had pretty much understood this already, and really just needed confirmation.
There are routes to do what they want, which we discussed. Of course, it takes years, not months. On the other hand, it will be a lot less expensive, since schools here are state run.
“SpaceX’s Starlink Quietly Mentions High-Speed Data Caps Are Coming for US Users”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacexs-starlink-quietly-mentions-high-speed-data-caps-are-coming-for-us
“The company adds new language to Starlink’s terms of service about users receiving a monthly allocation of ‘Priority Access.’”
I’ve been wondering when they were going to put in data caps.
I didn’t know that was still a thing. I mostly see everything geared towards “cyber”, which makes me cringe as much as the “cloud”, but I digress. So many people are being hired in IA roles with zero technical knowledge, zero desire to learn, and zero desire to do any actual work.
One of many examples – I had an IA person tell me this week that my team could not put a new domain controller on the network until it was approved. I asked how, when you specifically have to apply STIG’s to it before it can be approved. The answer was to do it before it was on the network. I asked how to promote it to a DC of an existing AD forest without connecting to the network. Silence, then “I’ll check with another clueless IA person and let you know.” I don’t ever expect an answer.
I didn’t know that was still a thing. I mostly see everything geared towards “cyber”, which makes me cringe as much as the “cloud”, but I digress. So many people are being hired in IA roles with zero technical knowledge, zero desire to learn, and zero desire to do any actual work.
What is IA ?
Information Assurance. What the .gov calls cyber. 95% are completely inept.
What are they actually supposed to be doing? Are they meant to be QA? Or IT security?
We seem to have had the same problem for decades: 10% of IT people are really good. Another 30% can do productive work, but if it’s anything complex, they need to be carefully supervised. The remaining 60% are Dunning-Kruger writ large: their productivity is actually negative, unless you manage to find some harmless make-work to keep them occupied.
Sounds like your IA people are in the latter category…
Security, if we’re all talking about the same thing.
That’s one of those subfields which have nicely vague success criteria. “Have you published standards that all employees must follow? Yes? Good job!” “Have any data breaches been made public? No? Damn, you’re good!”
There might be competent, diligent people working in IA. Somewhere. Can’t say as I’ve ever met one. To be fair, there might be difficulties in the job which I don’t appreciate, making true success all but impossible. However, I suspect that for the most part IA is just a runoff tank for people who wanted to be programmers but couldn’t hack it.
Yes, security. On DoD classified networks, you are supposed to have separation of duties. SA’s (system administrators) configure and deploy systems, including security controls. IA’s job is to maintain accreditation paperwork and continually verify security controls are in place, along with monitoring for security events. IA is mostly a paperwork job, and it sucks. Most IA people don’t want to do it, and do as little as possible. Also most IA people have no technical knowledge, so how can they effectively monitor systems?
IA on the gov side is in a growth period like IT was in the 90’s and early 00’s. Everybody and their brother are getting into it with the promise of big money. It’s going to take some time to wash out at least some of the waste.
Tech companies are also really tight on benefits, the tradeoff being that the plans are generally so lousy that the employees qualify for the HSA which is usually offered but rarely utilized.
Unfortunately/fortunately, where I currently work the benefits are decent which means no HSA.
The 60% are those who know enough to be dangerous, either activating RDP on an open Internet connection or installing TeamViewer for themselves and friends so they can “work” from home even when remote isn’t permitted for security reasons.
My gut keeps telling me something is wrong with TeamViewer’s protocol. Way too many hacks related to that service.
RDP is well known to be weak. Tunneling over a VPN or even SSH is possible, but the 60% are not going to bother.
“Show Ya”. I think it is what drives a lot of EV sales. And the Jesus Truck hasn’t even arrived.
Big Nerd Ranch used to run “boot camps” in Atlanta and Munich. Those were actually useful paths of getting into whatever they were teaching because you could get help with your project at night from the instructors since the facilities in both cities were chosen for lack of entertainment and, in the case of Atlanta’s Banning Mills, off site dining alternatives, enabling focus on the subject.
When I got back from “iPhone Boot Camp” after a week in 2008, I had lost so much weight that my wife joked that they should call it “iPhone Death Camp”.
“How far was the nearest alternative food?”
“Three miles. Uphill hike. A place called ‘Eats’. I’m not kidding.”
OTOH, the Big Nerd Ranch “boot camps” were not for people who had zero programming background.
>> Change that to “inexperienced in remodeling” and “no cash flow to pay the carrying costs of their investment property loan” and you have single moms flipping houses.
But, but, it looked so easy on HGTV.
>> YOUNG MOM.
14
and out stealing cars.
For likes on a chinese spy and manipulation tool.
Obviously she didn’t have ten bucks to participate in that other recent TikTok craze, recording yourself eating a Ghost Pepper potato chip. (~ 1MM SHU – scoville heat units)
And post on Arstechnica acting like they really are experts.
I got into a clam bake with one clod who did not like my assertion that 300Mbps download is really a lot of speed. More than good enough for six 4K streams, a dozen Zoom calls, streaming audio to 20 people all at the same time. He got all wonky and said I should stay with a 56K modem as I was living in the past.
Yes, I like fast download speeds. My is currently above 900Mbps. Upload speed is miserable. I would much rather have 300/300 symmetrical speeds than 1Gbps download and 20Mbps upload.
Yes, downloading an ISO of Windows 11 in less than a minute is nice. Would I really care if the same download took 90 seconds? Nope. The limiting factor is the speed of the download site, congestion on Xfinity’s network, and my network.
I tried a small piece of a ghost pepper, once. Dying would have been a welcome relief. Tears were flowing, snot running, gasping for breath, drooling, rolling on the floor, stomach in knots, cursing the lack of milk or heavy cream. Burns going in and coming out. Farting 24 hours later was a special event that gave new insight into rectal displeasure. Lesson learned.
We have 300 Mbps service, but my home office is on the other end of a MOCA connection to where the line enters the house so I get 24-30 Mbps to my desktop, server, and USB-C laptop dock, which is still fast enough for streaming.
Torrents can be slow, but I’m not pirating 24/7 like your clod friend – if I had to guess.
I grabbed the BBC “Inside Man” the other night, and that was my first torrent in almost a year.
We always settle kharma, even if it means buying a Group II DVD.
Friends are getting a divorce, and the wife is not quite coming to grips with the fact that the recent $100k kitchen remodel is meaningless in setting the sale price of their house.
Basic cable is one of Pournelle’s “Cultural Weapons of Mass Destruction”. I half joke that tactical nukes in the suburbs of the 20 biggest cities in the US in the 80s would have done less long-term damage than cable TV systems.
Our local cable company in Florida was the birthplace of Home Shopping and an early supporter of Nickelodeon and MTV to the point that “Thanks to Vision Cable of Pinellas County” is in the credits of “You Can’t Do That On Television” if you ever manage to catch one of the rerun marathons.
Friends are getting a divorce, and the wife is not quite coming to grips with the fact that the recent $100k kitchen remodel is meaningless in setting the sale price of their house.
Hey, when I sold my last house by the river in 2020, I only got $40K of my $92K 455 ft2 house addition of a game room and a full bathroom. I was upset.
That’s why I call my house a bad savings account, not an investment. Better than throwing money away on rent long term, but not going to make me rich.
The kitchen renovation didn’t involve a permit, and they didn’t add square footage.
Change your house for your own enjoyment, not to enhance resale value. Although some things do increase the value, that’s not necessarily a good thing in today’s rising mortgage rate market.
And don’t buy into the b.s. about changing your kitchen, your bathroom, etc. every few years to chase “trendy”.
Trust me, orange shag carpet will come around again if you wait long enough.
drwilliams:
Your house could last as long as the Pyramids, but orange shag carpets will NEVER be in style again. 🙂
Next she’ll want to visit that Yellow Submarine that we all live in.
https://nypost.com/2022/10/27/kamala-harris-mocked-for-gushing-over-a-yellow-school-bus-they-really-cant-let-her-talk-in-public/
Never forget…one heartbeat away…
I don’t care about the shag carpets. I’m waiting for fondue pots to come back into style.
Plus, Arthur Rutenberg/US Home from mid-70s. That’s an acquired taste, even in Tampa, where Rutenberg got his start.
We had a weird brown shag in the house we rented in Vantucky. It must have been high end wool but still ugly. Circa 2007 because all the appliances eventually broke due to the bad power caps which went into everything at the time.
Divorced woman’s settlement check house. Never again.
>> And don’t buy into the b.s. about changing your kitchen, your bathroom, etc. every few years to chase “trendy”.
Trust me, orange shag carpet will come around again if you wait long enough.
Bonus points if you have it in your kitchen and bathrooms.
Lotsa fondue sets on ebay….
Hipsters.
n
Wife had a girl scout thing, so I took the kids to the china buffet. Filled up on seafood.
n
@Kenneth C Mitchell
“Your house could last as long as the Pyramids, but orange shag carpets will NEVER be in style again. “
What’s the basis for that claim? Surely you don’t think that people have gotten smarter or that their sense of aesthetics has improved in the last 30 years? Too many counterexamples for both.
IKEA is malnurishing entire generations. Pressboard, plastic, and thin-gauge not-so-stainless will sterilize the fashion sense and make them as desperate as a sumo wrestling team touring a bran muffin factory. It will not be pretty.
I have no expectations for leisure suits, tho….
@SteveF
Petro-cheese will make the bugs easier to swallow.
We do our own fondue occasionally. There’s semi-decent fondue cheese in most grocery stores, and cold cuts and bread are ALWAYS in style.
30 years ago, when we lived in Sunnyvale, CA, there was a fondue restaurant called “Monk’s Retreat” that had EXCELLENT food. Long gone, of course. I should ask Mr. Google if there are any decent fondue places here in San Antonio.
House values; make house additions to suit YOU, not for a buyer. Although we put $30K into new floors and new paint just before we sold our house in Sacramento, 2 years ago. Our realtor said “You need to do this and this and that”, and my wife said “I HATE those!” The realtor said, “I doesn’t matter what YOU want; you’re selling. What matters is what the BUYER wants, and I know what buyers want these days.” She knew what she was talking about, and got an offer easily $60K higher than I ever imagined.
When we moved in here, we spent $25K putting in a new concrete driveway and sidewalks, but we did that for US. Will the next owner like it? Don’t care and it doesn’t matter, since I’ll be dead.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/firings-begin-twitter-ceo-cfo-top-censor-escorted-out
n
Fondue restaurant. Was a thing recommended for date night when I went back on the dating market after my divorce.
‘Cause nothing says “he’s the one for me!” like dripping molten cheese on the table and your shirt and into your beard.
As it turns out, I never had the need to try it. Thankfully.
Fondue restaurant. Was a thing recommended for date night when I went back on the dating market after my divorce.
‘Cause nothing says “he’s the one for me!” like dripping molten cheese on the table and your shirt and into your beard.
As it turns out, I never had the need to try it. Thankfully.
Eating melted cheese three hours later out of my beard is awesome.
Ha ha.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11362339/Mark-Zuckerbergs-fortune-plummets-11-BILLION-disappointing-Meta-earnings.html
My wife says “ of course. Facecrack is an old people’s platform. No growth. I only use it to keep track of some groups, nothing personal anymore. It’s at least 50% ads.”
it’s the new myspace.
n
Waiting for Zuckerporg to get forced out by shareholders…
… after indictment and trial for conspiring to violate constitutional rights.
Tony keeps the plates spinning…
SpaceX Falcon 9 with 53 Starlink satellites aboard was launched earlier this evening from Vanderberg Space Force Base.
https://t.co/dR73hpR6kJ
Rain started. Hope my pirate ship is weather proof.
n
Tony keeps the plates spinning…
SpaceX Falcon 9 with 53 Starlink satellites aboard was launched earlier this evening from Vanderberg Space Force Base.
https://t.co/dR73hpR6kJ
“SpaceX launches 53 Starlink satellites, lands rocket at sea (video)”
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-group-4-31-launch
Totally cool ! And landed on “Of Course I Still Love You” sea platform.
We are living in the future !
San Antonio has a Melting Pot. It isn’t our thing, but I swear I remember seeing a sign on the Riverwalk and noting it was down there.
The Ruth’s Chris’ on the Riverwalk was excellent pre-pandemic. That is where we went for my wife’s 50th birthday, the weekend of the Lunar New Year 2020 superspreader event in town.
Two bad Lunar New Year Weekends in a row, 2020 and 2021.