Cold and damp again. 40s to start the day, warming a bit. Sunny, if we’re lucky. It was clear yesterday but the sun wasn’t out much. We might get a high in the low 70s.
Spent the day sorting auction items. Didn’t get anything dropped off at my auctioneer. That slipped to today. I’ve got a pickup this morning, so I’ll be out of the house and moving earlier than usual. That will help me get my stuff done.
I got some paper work done, and some household stuff done. Not much, but a little. Perhaps today will be a bigger work day.
I haven’t been commenting much on the election, the war/ongoing money laundry in Ukraine, or any other politics, because I’m worn out. My ‘give a flock’ is all used up. A while ago I mentioned someone observing that people were ‘pulling in’ their circles of friends and attention. They are focusing on issues and people closer to home. I think that is what is happening to me too, and I didn’t really notice at the time. It seems pretty clear now though.
When times get tough, your attention and what you care about condenses. I once asked my mom what her experience of the Vietnam war was. She married in 1965 and started having kids. She replied that she didn’t pay much attention to it. She had several babies in diapers and then toddlers and young kids for the duration. Her brother was serving overseas, but not in country, iirc. To look at media from the time, you’d think everyone was involved in the war in one way or another, but that’s simply not true. It AFFECTED everyone, but didn’t dominate at home, for a new wife and mother anyway.
Times were tough, and her attention was focused inward. It’s hard to care about other peoples’ troubles when you have troubles of your own.
I’ve also not been posting a lot of basic prepping stuff. That’s mainly because at this point, Bob or I said most of it. Have food, water, shelter, defense, and meds. As much as you can. Avoid trouble if you can. Get your house in order. That means relationships and networks and circle of friends too. ESPECIALLY circle of friends. They are the people who will help you get by, or dime you to the Feds. VERY important to get that right. Far more important than I ever thought it was when I started this journey.
Remember too that life is what happens when you are doing other things. These are the ‘good ol days’. Live them. Pay attention. Don’t be so focused on the future that you miss the present. My prepping is so intertwined with my daily life that I barely think of it anymore as something separate that needs to be done. Equipping and preparing the BOL brings some of it to front of mind, and I try to share that, but otherwise, it’s just normal every day life. As I meet more of my neighbors up north and talk with them I see that “prepping” is really just “what we’ve always done” for a whole lot of people. If you aren’t one of those people, you really need to look for them and learn everything you can from them.
I am convinced more than ever that this is one of those times when everything changes. There will be disasters along the way, and plenty of strife and hard times. But there are still Romans in Rome. We’ll get through this. It just won’t be pretty or easy.
Preps will help. Stack ’em up.
nick
Scott plays a long game, but I doubt even he knows where it is headed. Maybe a White House run if DeSantis falters.
The Turtle needed the wake up call.
Ha ha!
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/two-thirds-french-want-stricter-immigration-policy-new-poll-shows
– that would probably be the ⅔ of France that isn’t a recent immigrant.
n
44F with 77%RH and the sun coming up.
Time to make the donuts.
n
As are most teachers. Teachers decided on that career path as they care about children and helping them learn. Especially in smaller schools. Some of the larger school districts in cities like Chicago and New York I am not so certain that teachers are that concerned about the students. Some are just trying to keep from getting assaulted.
I am going to guess from this that your town is not large. One of the advantages of a small town is that people know a lot of other people and what is happening in their lives. It can also be a disadvantage as the neighbors are nosey. The kids benefit the most, I think. The support structure is larger and when there are problems people step up to help.
My wife and I helped a couple of kids in the past. They were from poor families and resources were limited. We purchased a couple of warm coats for winter. One of them wanted to play football so we paid their fee for uniforms and equipment. We donated a couple of used computers, and a couple of used laptops that we no longer needed. We could have sold the items for a few dollars but felt this was much better use of the items.
I fund a scholarship each year, an award chosen by the school staff to whom they think would benefit the most. Vocational school only. The award has universally gone to a student who comes from a lower income family. That small scholarship may be just what they need to develop an honest trade and career and keep them off welfare rolls.
I’ve written before about almost ending up working for Rick Scott in another phase of both his career and mine. I know a few of his Kenny Boys!
Back from our cruise. Spending a couple of days in South Beach.
Awesome:
Conservative moms take over SC school board, fire superintendent and ban CRT in two hours
Screw CRT.
I am all for Critical Race Theory. Think it is good and necessary.
For NASCAR, Top Fuel, Formula 1.
The others can pee on themselves.
Were you up at Mar a Lago for the big announcement? 🙂
Unfortunately, that’s a haul from Miami anymore.
German food is good in West Palm Beach thanks to all the Big Smile guys the US Government stashed down there to work on the jet engines at Pratt in the 50s.
At least it wasn’t an EV…
https://www.tmz.com/2022/11/15/jay-leno-car-fire-friend-saves-life-flames-burns/
It is turning out the best thing tRump is doing for the Redumblicans is burning down the party. It is too fractured to accomplish shite. Build it back up. Dump tRump as the “head” of the party and get back to conservatism.
All Hail The Constitution of the United States of America! Frack the commies and socialists!
Shocking! No nuclear secrets, just some unique souvenirs…
https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kevindowneyjr/2022/11/16/shocker-wapo-sheepishly-admits-the-fbi-found-no-nuclear-secrets-or-anything-else-in-mar-a-lago-raid-n1646445
@Ray
Thanks, I agree regarding most teachers.
Town is Anchorage Alaska, largest city in the state. About half the states population lives here.
Private school, team forming is local Christian community.
Girls are current in their homework and will be in their own home for a few days. It’s rough on them going back and forth but beats the alternative. Hope we can convince their folks to prioritize rest and schoolwork. Dad’s not going to change his behavior, mom has ability to make several changes that would genuinely help. She’s operating beyond capacity so I don’t know if she can / will make the required changes.
Nothing new in their scenario, thousands of families have dealt with similar problems.
Doesn’t make it any less sad or painful.
As Nancy announces that she will finish her current term in Congress, Paul sighs in relief that he’ll still have his “alone” time.
Well, I missed that one by a huge margin.
Ah, even better.
I wish I had been removed from my aunt and uncle when I was about a junior in high school. Living with the Nankervis’, the neighbors, would have been a better alternative. In the late ’60s, not an option. Kids knew nothing and anything I told anyone would have been denied and resulting in a severe beating. Sleeping two or three nights in the barn was the only viable option.
Ha ha!
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/two-thirds-french-want-stricter-immigration-policy-new-poll-shows
– that would probably be the ⅔ of France that isn’t a recent immigrant.
n
I am convinced that we are heading towards WWIII. Immigrants tend to get rounded up during war times.
Wizard of ID: Fire Breathing Dragon
https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2022/11/17
You know, I have thought of a lot of uses for a fire breathing dragon but that is a new one.
“Who is Still Hiring Software Enginers and EMs?”
https://newsletter.pragmaticengineer.com/p/who-is-still-hiring-software-enginers
“I asked the tech community for details of which companies are hiring for software engineering and engineering management roles. A list of more than 750 companies.”
That is a pretty good list.
“50 Funky Years & Done – Batiuk Retires Winkerbean”
https://www.dailycartoonist.com/index.php/2022/11/17/50-funky-years-done-batiuk-retires-winkerbean/
I will miss the daily Funky Winkerbean.
JEP’s Rods from God:
https://youtu.be/s7piGzIULQE
Did not mention Heinlein’s Moon Rock launcher…. from TMIAHM.
Big River is just weird.
Friday’s package was Saturday’s package and is now scheduled for tossing over the fence at the gate sometime today ‘tween now and 7PM.
Saturday’s stuff is coming on Friday. Instead of Monday. And looking at the weather forecast, that’s a Good Thing. Because Saturday’s weather is supposed to be 60% chance of rain (HAH!!!) and a high temp of 45F.
The weather seems to be a bit on the cool side. But December weather in mid-November happens once in a while. I’ve had a couple of years where I started feeding the Earth Stove in mid-October.
Seems like it’s time to tote a few bags of pellets from the barn to the house.
In a lot of respects, that’s a good thing. With modern tech we hear about every disaster everywhere, when there is absolutely nothing we can do about it. That saps energy and motivation, when we should be concentrating on things that we can actually affect.
Certainly, we need to be involved in our local communities. To a lesser extent, at the regional level. At the national, or even international level? Maybe it’s not worth getting riled up about, or even following, given that there’s not a lot a normal individual can do. Better to spend one’s energy where it can actually have a real effect, i.e., locally.
Speaking of which, it appears that Trump continues to live in his echo chamber. His candidates did terribly, his vitriol is beginning to split the party, so…he announces his candidacy? I’ll buy popcorn while watching the train wreck, but I’m sorry for you folks who are going to have to live with another four years of Biden (or whoever his successor may be).
It is pure pandemonium around here. One of the kids called in a active shooter at the 2,300 kid high school a half mile away from my house and two miles away from the office. I have heard that over 30 police vehicles from multiple agencies responded.
Along with 15 ambulances, 20 fire trucks, 12 SWAT vehicles, three helicopters, 8 news vans and 22 lawyers. You will not get home tonight on all the blocked roads.
“Along with 15 ambulances, 20 fire trucks, 12 SWAT vehicles, three helicopters, 8 news vans and 22 lawyers.”
Bunch of lawyers must have been busy elsewhere
Just a reminder:
“I’m not going to be out there for the national anthem. If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine. It will be all season long, I’ll not be out there,” she said. “I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing. I can only speak for myself.”
https://www.theroot.com/wnba-star-brittney-griner-wants-no-parts-of-the-nationa-1844530979
(h/t to AoSHQ)
Sounds like one fewer to do that thing.
Couldn’t make enough money in Phoenix, so she went to play in Russia. Did she not realize that her “special privileges” card didn’t have enough boxes ticked to make it a Get Out of Jail Free card in that country. I bet she’ll be a hot ticket on the talk show circuit in nine years.
Meanwhile, Phoenix has a an opening in their lineup. Anyone know if Dennis Rodman is identifying a human nowadays? And if so, what sex?
I find it ironic that a lesbian, who avoids the male gender, gets sent to a penal colony.
I personally hope she never returns to the US. She did not like it here anyway so she should enjoy her newly found environment.
Just a reminder:
“I’m not going to be out there for the national anthem. If the league continues to want to play it, that’s fine. It will be all season long, I’ll not be out there,” she said. “I feel like more are going to probably do the same thing. I can only speak for myself.”
https://www.theroot.com/wnba-star-brittney-griner-wants-no-parts-of-the-nationa-1844530979
She is very typical of her generation. They grew up in the USA with all kinds of rights and very few responsibilities. They are incredibly liberal, both socially and fiscally. They think that it is ok to do drugs and to break many of the small rules in life. I could go on and on.
She has athletic talent. She is also 6’9″. Maybe the tallest woman in the WNBA. But by the time she gets out of the gulag (she is 32 now), she will be 40+. Her joints will not allow her to run on the basketball court nor will her endurance. But her entitled opinion that she can use drugs here in the USA and in Russia will be a faded memory.
I feel sorry for her parents. They must be going through hell.
YouTube is streaming Artemis flying (passing? Orbiting?) over the moon.
Guess it is the 21st century after all. 
15m to earthrise.;
“3 students detained after false active shooter 911 call at George Ranch High School”
https://www.fox3now.com/george-ranch-high-school-on-lockdown-after-report-of-active-shooter-n-richmond-texas/
“Fort Bend County police able to identify the source of the initial call(s) and determined that it came from three students which are now in custody.”
Apparently they thought that using a burner phone would allow them to be anonymous. Looks like somebody ratted on them. Good.
“NASA Artemis 1 Mission Orion Spacecraft Approaching Moon Flyby and View of earth”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TeE7jC8HWss
I had to laugh when I saw one of the names. They need all the help they can get.
@EdH
“YouTube is streaming Artemis flying (passing? Orbiting?) over the moon. ”
It’s the 21st century. How in the heck did we get switched to a timeline where PanAm doesn’t have regular service to the moon?
“Fort Bend County police able to identify the source of the initial call(s) and determined that it came from three students which are now in custody.”
2400 students plus 200 (est) teachers and support staff.
2600 person-days lost.
2600/365 = 7.12 person-years
Sounds about right. Each.
In a nice, cozy low-security environment without tv, cable, phones or computers. Guarantee them jobs in the woodshop making Little Libraries for the benefit of folks that really want an education.
I use the same calculation for spammers, phishers, identity stealers, and virus writers, albeit a quick order-of-magnitude calculation and skip directly to “organ donor”.
Legacy media veil of silence on myocarditis and COVID ‘vaccines’ beginning to lift?
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2022/11/legacy_media_veil_of_silence_on_myocarditis_and_covid_vaccines_beginning_to_lift.html
Every stinking federal employee and every stinking Facebook, Twitter or other social media deus ex machina wannabe (in the true literal sense: god from the machine) who contributed to the censorship of information and the imposition of vaccine mandates needs to be subjected to the same calculation as above.
Making Niven’s Gil Hamilton universe come true is the nice way. I can think of a thousand fun ways, starting with dropping them from thirty feet in layers onto a rough 2-inch weave of razor wire suspended exactly at sea level over a large school of sharks.
There was supposed to be a big multi agency active shooter training today led by the FBI. Weird that there was a real incident.
n
from the email asking for volunteer role players…
n
“Fort Bend County police able to identify the source of the initial call(s) and determined that it came from three students which are now in custody.”
2400 students plus 200 (est) teachers and support staff.
2600 person-days lost.
2600/365 = 7.12 person-years
Sounds about right. Each.
In a nice, cozy low-security environment without tv, cable, phones or computers. Guarantee them jobs in the woodshop making Little Libraries for the benefit of folks that really want an education.
The entire campus was on lockdown and upset. Three schools. A sixth grade school with about 800 or 900 students. A 7th and 8th grade school with about 1,000 students. Plus the high school. Well over 4,000 kids.
There is a rumor out there that only 238 people are left at Twitter. Drudge is running this: “Twitter’s Last Gasp”
https://view.newsletters.cnn.com/messages/166874088300551417e61c43c/raw?utm_term=166874088300551417e61c43c
That is only 238 people to move to Texas now.
“Twitter’s already decimated communications department didn’t respond to requests for comment. But Musk nodded to the situation in a tweet.”
“”How do you make a small fortune in social media?” Musk asked. “Start out with a large one.””
#RIPTwitter ???
FBI and Air Force Raid Area 51 Researcher’s Homes
“All my laptops, phones, memory sticks, cameras, drone and other items were seized.”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2022/11/fbi-and-air-force-raid-area-51-researchers-homes/
So, you think you’re backed up…
“‘This situation is unprecedented’: 10 crazy things detailed in FTX’s bankruptcy filing”
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/e2-80-98this-situation-is-unprecedented-e2-80-99-10-crazy-things-detailed-in-ftx-e2-80-99s-bankruptcy-filing/ar-AA14ejvO
“On Thursday, John Ray, III, the new CEO of FTX, dropped a long-awaited declaration in U.S. bankruptcy court, giving a sober assessment of the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire. The bankruptcy-court filing followed a whirlwind of events, including the publication of explosive texts Bankman-Fried sent to a Vox reporter earlier this week.”
“Ray set the tone for what he has found since FTX filed for bankruptcy protection last week, citing his 40 years of experience in the legal and restructuring business, including a role as chief restructuring officer and CEO of Enron, one of the biggest corporate collapses ever.”
““Never in my career have I seen such a complete failure of corporate controls and such a complete absence of trustworthy financial information as occurred here,” Ray wrote. “This situation is unprecedented.””
“Here are 10 revelations that Ray made in federal bankruptcy court on Thursday about Bankman-Fried and the FTX debacle he created.”
“1. Most of FTX’s digital assets have not been secured”
“As of Thursday, Ray made clear that while he now controls the various FTX trading and exchange platforms and Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, he’d “located and secured only a fraction of the digital assets” he hoped to recover. In fact, Ray said only some $740 million of cryptocurrency had been secured in new cold wallets. Ray cited at least $372 million of unauthorized transfers that had taken place on the day FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy last week, and the “dilutive ‘minting’ of approximately $300 million in FTT tokens by an unauthorized source” in the days after the filing. FTT tokens were created by FTX to facilitate trading on its exchange and made up a big chunk of Alameda’s assets.”
Looks like FTX got looted on the final day by people going out the back door as the cops were coming the front door. Oh yeah, this is a Ponzi scheme. Looks just like the Madoff ponzi scheme.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madoff_investment_scandal
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
>> I’ll buy popcorn while watching the train wreck, but I’m sorry for you folks who are going to have to live with another four years of Biden (or whoever his successor may be).
Better stack the popcorn high, it’s gonna be a looonng two years…
“Los Angeles Officials “Strongly Recommending” Masks Again As Variants BQ1 & BQ1.1 Near Dominance And Case Rates Soar”
https://deadline.com/2022/11/los-angeles-strongly-recommending-masks-variants-bq1-bq1-1-cases-rise-1235175595/
No.
Time to re-run the video of that navy guy folding a mask out of Sperry Topsiders.
Was that a f’cksake knot that he used?
Twitter headcount down about 88%…
allegedly.
Site traffic at all-time high as future soylent burgers sob their goodbyes.
Musk keeps his ultimate hole card in his pocket, but suspicions abound that it is …
Return of the Living Donald
Orange man bad, though.
n
Looks like Winter is finally going to arrive – snow coming next week. It’s been an unusually warm Autumn till now.
A couple of random thoughts, in response to y’alls comments…
Twitter: Musk could have taken his time, but he’s been fast and brutal instead. Fine. 90% of Twitter users won’t care as long as the tweets keep coming. As long as the infrastructure stays up, Musk is golden.
FTX: yup, most crypto companies are run by young, inexperienced folk. That said, it reminds me intensely of the banking crisis: each company is secured by other companies in the same branch. But when the whole sector is going under, that doesn’t help. The big difference is that the banks were better connected: they got to loot government coffers, to cover their mistakes.