Thur. Dec. 29, 2022 – in praise of standards

Cool, turning warm later.   Part sun, and humid.  Probably.  If I guessed right.   But that was what the day turned into yesterday, so I’ve got at least a 50/50 chance of being right.  Weird to go out in low 80s temps after the cold.  Houston.

Spent the day catching up on stuff, not doing plumbing.  I did cut my hair, shave, and trim my beard.   Cleaned up around the house too.

Ended up selling an ebay item,  so now I have to find it.    It’s somewhere.  Not where the other listed ebay items are, unfortunately.   While looking for it, I went through about half of one storage unit.  Found stuff to bring home, sorted some bins, and found the bigger grinder I picked up earlier in the year.   It’s a vintage Enterprise “tinned” number 22 meat chopper.   It is manual, and bolts to a table.  I’ve got a couple of smaller Universal grinders, but they clamp to a table and tend to squirm around too much.

I spent a while boiling the grinder and parts, then scraping and cleaning.   It came up pretty nice, considering it’s about 100 years old.  The plates are razor sharp still.   Unfortunately, it was missing the blade.   Fortunately, grinders were sold by size, #12, #22, #32, #8, etc. for a long time. There are brand new parts available, plates and knives.   So I bought the cheapest one on amazon, to see how it works.   I don’t use the grinder very often, and a replacement blade that looks like the original was $37 instead of $13.  Even the cheap blade should outlast me, but if it doesn’t, we’re either living like it was 1890, or I can order another.  If push came to shove, I could make one from steel plate.

A manual grinder/chopper/sausage stuffer is a good backup tool, and a useful kitchen accessory.  If you are harvesting wild game, you already know that.  If you think you might in the future, or that you might process it yourself instead of paying a shop to do it, get you a grinder…  They are widely available in estates, and online.  Make sure it’s not worn out and comes with the blade and a variety of plates.   I see smaller ones still in the box relatively often.

Why my sudden interest in getting my grinder working?  I want to make some of my family recipe sausage for the holidays.  Pork butts were on sale, and allspice was back in stock, so with a working grinder, I’m good to go.  Just need to get some sausage casings.   My local HEB used to carry them, but doesn’t have any.  There is a sausage supply house near my secondary location, and I’ll be headed by there later.  They keep in the fridge for a long time, and are pretty cheap, so I’m not worried about the cost, just the availability.

Of course, anything I do today will be after my semi-annual trip to the dentist to get my fangs cleaned.   Whole family is going this morning.    That will probably occupy us most of the morning.  Dental care is important.   People died from dental problems.  Don’t be a people.

Get out there and find some stuff to stack.   This week, try to get everything you’d need to process wild game- or at least familiarize yourself with what is involved.   Knives, saw, grinder, lift, trays, pans, cutting boards… and watch a video or two.   You might not every need the familiarity, but the tools aren’t expensive, fit in a smallish box, and might feed your family.

Stack it up.

nick

47 Comments and discussion on "Thur. Dec. 29, 2022 – in praise of standards"

  1. SteveF says:

    Don’t be a people.

    Good advice. People suck.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    nope.   He could have asked the question without the challenge…  it’s the tone that tipped me off.

    The seething anger never stops.

  3. lpdbw says:

    Academy used to carry sausage casings.  And I’m pretty sure Bass Pro Shops at the Katy Mills mall does.

  4. lpdbw says:

    OBTW

    I’m at flandrey@ the three letter company that sent out millions of disks when dialup was still a thing. 

    I sent email on 12/21.  Did you get it?

  5. paul says:

    To find the product key in Win11 (and W10 I think) run regedit and go to

    Computer\HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\SoftwareProtectionPlatform

    Look on the right side for BackupProductKeyDefault

    The How-To Geek shows a couple of ways.

    https://www.howtogeek.com/784986/how-to-find-your-windows-11-product-key/

    I had to use ShowKeyPlus from the Microsoft Store. Easy to use.

    I copied both keys into a text file and added it to the USB and to the DVD. 

  6. drwilliams says:

    “Why do I need a god other than myself?”

    Thou art God. 

    Perform your own miracles. 

  7. MrAtoz says:

    Posted on wrong day:

    We have several scheduled flights on SWA after the first. Biz stuff and some family coming home. They still show “on time” on the web/app. SWA may just fold after this catastrophe. I wonder if they will ever admit what “really” went wrong.

  8. SteveF says:

    Thou art God.

    Perform your own miracles.

    God helps him who helps himself. By definition!

  9. ITGuy1998 says:

    https://time.com/6242949/exercise-industry-white-supremacy/

    Every time I think we’ve hit peak stupidity, I am proven wrong.

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    Missed my check in this morning.   Well then.   It’s damp, the streets were wet at 9am.   It’s 78F, and currently overcast although it was part sun this morning.

    Got my fangs polished.   I’ll never be able to relax with that going on.   

    Swung by the goodwill and got a bunch of stuff for the girls and the house.   And pokemon cards.   At least a dozen.  I’ll  have to look thru them and see if there is anything good.

    ————

    I sent email on 12/21.  Did you get it?

    nope.

    n

    re: the exercise article.   the author uses “like” “super” “totally”  and completely misses the point of the CCCorps “It’ll put muscles on your bones” slogan- the target audience was literally starving in the street.  FFS.

    n

  11. Jenny says:

    And now for something completely different. 
    this is one of our local musicians. 

    Wayfaring Stranger

    The banjo raised the hair on my neck. Might be the best rendition of this song I’ve heard. 
     

    https://tannerlackey.bandcamp.com/track/wayfaring-stranger

  12. Nick Flandrey says:

    @jenny, that is a pretty good version.

    Have you listened to Pokey LaFarge?  There is the occasional NSFW lyric, I particularly like “Something in the Water” and “Central Time” to give a feel for his style and sound.

    n

  13. Jenny says:

    @nick

    Pokey LaFarge

    Listening now. Good voice, like the rhythms and instrument combinations. Nice!

  14. Lynn says:

    Spent the day catching up on stuff, not doing plumbing.  I did cut my hair, shave, and trim my beard.   Cleaned up around the house too.

    Wild, I shaved and trimmed my beard up yesterday too before going into the office.  I only trim the beard every few weeks now.

    I just tested positive for the Koof again.  But, nobody else of the thirteen people in my house on Christmas day has gotten the Koof. Yet. Including my 81 year old mother who has never had the Koof, my 84 year old father who did have the Koof back in February while Mom was in the hospital for a month (Mom was mad that he would not come in the hospital while testing positive).  My wife and daughter have not had the Koof either  I am wearing a mask and gloves when I go out into the public areas of the house and the office.

  15. paul says:

    I forget.  Was the company that mailed trillions of CDs a .com or a .net.  ?

  16. MrAtoz says:
    I forget.  Was the company that mailed trillions of CDs a .com or a .net.  ?

    I don’t think .net existed when they started.

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  17. Lynn says:

    Perform your own miracles. 

    It is a miracle that I get up every day.

  18. Lynn says:

    I forget.  Was the company that mailed trillions of CDs a .com or a .net.  ?

    a*.com

  19. Lynn says:

    I don’t think .net existed when they started.

    .com, .org, .net, .gov, .mil, and something else were all created at the same time when top level domains were created.  I have had a .net domain since 1995.

  20. Lynn says:

    “SpaceX Launches 54 Next-Gen Starlink Satellites Amid Congestion Woes””

         https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-launches-54-next-gen-starlink-satellites-amid-congestion-woes

    “‘This launch marked the first of Starlink’s upgraded network,’ SpaceX says.”

    Wow, how did they get 54 of those 2,800 lb satellites on that Falcon 9 ?  Totally cool, that Falcon launched two of the new GPS III satellites, this is its 11th journey into space.

    We are living in the future now.  And maybe my Starlink at the office will be usable soon.

  21. paul says:

    All I know about the company that mailed trillions of CDs is that the only way to get shed of it on a 486Dx running WfW3.11 was to boot to DOS and type “format c: /u” and start over.

    Hey, is mIRC still a thing?

    Netscape was almost at bad.

  22. Lynn says:

    “Russia’s ‘final decision’ on leaky Soyuz spacecraft at space station to come in January: reports”

        https://www.space.com/russia-leaky-soyuz-decision-january-2023

    “The Soyuz is docked to the International Space Station and it’s unclear if it can bear its crew back home, following a severe coolant leak earlier in December.”

    Yeek ! The lifeboat has sprung a leak.

  23. Lynn says:

    ““How Dare You?”: Greta Thunberg Loses Her Cool at Ex-Kickboxer’s Automobile Collection”

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/12/29/how-dare-you-greta-thunberg-loses-her-cool-at-ex-kickboxers-automobile-collection/

    Oh Greta !

  24. Lynn says:

    “China Sails Warships Near Guam in Warning to U.S. Over Taiwan”

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/12/29/how-dare-you-greta-thunberg-loses-her-cool-at-ex-kickboxers-automobile-collection/

    “The Chinese deployment of its aircraft carrier Liaoning, which Japanese officials confirmed, capped a year of tensions with the U.S., particularly over Taiwan.”

    When did China get a third aircraft carrier ?  Why wasn’t I informed ?  

    Hat tip to:

       https://drudgereport.com/

  25. SteveF says:

    .com, .org, .net, .gov, .mil, and something else were all created at the same time

    .edu was the other

    re Sweetcheeks Thunburg and her alleged self-own about the smalldickenergy email address, I think that the people mocking her are out of touch with at least one trope. It’s pretty common for people (mostly women, that I’ve seen) to put “Reply to me at IAmALoser@gmail.com”  and such when mocking someone.

    Gotta say, pretty sad state of affairs when I am more in touch with cultural trends than anyone else.

  26. Greg Norton says:

    “The Chinese deployment of its aircraft carrier Liaoning, which Japanese officials confirmed, capped a year of tensions with the U.S., particularly over Taiwan.”

    When did China get a third aircraft carrier ?  Why wasn’t I informed ?
     

    The Liaoning is a failed Soviet project. They only have one homegrown modern carrier and that is still in progress.

  27. Nick Flandrey says:

    Gotta say, pretty sad state of affairs when I am more in touch with cultural trends than anyone else.  

    – me too.   I know who the guy is because the other day youtube shorts sent  me down a rabbit hole involving him, his brother, a guy who I thought was him with different hair, and a very sensible female who knows men better than men do.    Whole subculture that I didn’t know about involving m vs f relationships, the current incel thing, the women who MASSIVELY overvalue themselves, and men fueled by porn and hookup culture and what that means for marriage and civilization.

    and our local franchise gym used an ad that played on “big dIck energy” , so the offhand comment by a Big-ass-ian, let to the resurgence of a song about BDE, and the introduction of the idea and phrase into the zeitgeist…   joy.

  28. lpdbw says:

    This guy was in a harmonica club with me, and I can’t say if it’s my favorite version of Wayfaring Stranger or not, but it’s definitely very personal and emotional, being a tribute to his brother.

    I’ll listen to the one Jenny posted later tonight.

  29. Lynn says:

    “Verily, the mind doth boggle!!!”

         https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2022/12/verily-mind-doth-boggle.html

    “I’m still blinking in utter disbelief after reading this tweet.”

    The mental illness in our society is getting worse.

    And I find this behavior horribly offensive with the fact that my daughter is getting ready to lose her capability to have children.

    Hat tip to:

        https://areaocho.com/more-silliness/

  30. Alan says:

    >> We have several scheduled flights on SWA after the first. Biz stuff and some family coming home. They still show “on time” on the web/app. SWA may just fold after this catastrophe. I wonder if they will ever admit what “really” went wrong.

    Having worked for 38 years in IT for the same company (not counting a merger here and there) I’ve been involved in production issues where what “really happened” was definitely never admitted, for many different reasons.

    That said, kinda surprised at the PR crafted/JD approved that Jordan (SWA CEO) released today. He obviously didn’t have the b@lls support of his board to say “we f’ed up and step one is to provide full cash refunds for every person on every cancelled flight, to be followed by hotel and meal reimbursurements.”

  31. Alan says:

    >> ““How Dare You?”: Greta Thunberg Loses Her Cool at Ex-Kickboxer’s Automobile Collection”

    Nice to see that Tate drives his Bugatti rather than making it a ‘garage queen.’

  32. Alan says:

    >> Perform your own miracles. 

    It is a miracle that I get up every day.

    And bonus points for getting out of bed 🙂

  33. Andy says:

    Nice to see that Tate drives his Bugatti
     

    Not right now he doesn’t. He revealed his location in his “gotcha“ video message to Greta, was located by authorities, and has been arrested as part of a human trafficking investigation. 
     

    Looks like Greta won this round. 

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  34. Lynn says:

    “List of Biden Tax Hikes Hitting Americans on Jan. 1”

        https://www.atr.org/list-of-biden-tax-hikes-hitting-americans-on-jan-1/

    “$6.5 Billion Natural Gas Tax Which Will Increase Household Energy Bills”

    “$12 Billion Crude Oil Tax Which Will Increase Household Costs”

    “$1.2 Billion Coal Tax Which Will Increase Household Energy Bills”

    “$74 Billion Stock Tax Which Will Hit Your Nest Egg — 401(k)s, IRAs and Pension Plans”

    “$225 Billion Corporate Income Tax Hike Which Will Be Passed on to Households”

    So much for the no new taxes pledge on households less than $400,000/year.

  35. Lynn says:

    Nice to see that Tate drives his Bugatti
     

    Not right now he doesn’t. He revealed his location in his “gotcha“ video message to Greta, was located by authorities, and has been arrested as part of a human trafficking investigation. 
     

    Arrested and freed.

       https://nypost.com/2022/12/29/andrew-tate-brother-arrested-on-sex-trafficking-allegations-report/

  36. Ray Thompson says:

    So much for the no new taxes pledge on households less than $400,000/year.

    By a very small technical point, he did not raise individual taxes. Like a lifelong politician he skirted his mistruths and outright lies. If you cannot tax the individual, tax what the individual consumes. I will not see the tax increase on my withholdings or in my income tax return.

    Sponge Brain is a senile cretin. And the senile jerk is thinking of running for reelection in 2024. He will never make it before his brain completely collapses.

    Government leaches, and most government workers, and especially the elected fools in congress and senate, don’t seem to realize that the government does not make money, the government takes money from people, in some cases almost stealing the money, in a few cases actually stealing the money.

  37. Greg Norton says:

    A strange comment coming from someone who was fired for dropping f-bombs on a client. 

    That’s not how it reads in the state employment tribunal transcript awarding me damages for termination without cause but you prove my point.

    Seething.

    You haven’t read the transcript?!? 

  38. drwilliams says:

    “Is this what the future holds? Men who have no concept of decency or morality?”

    –Zephram Cochrane, Star Trek “Metamorphosis”

    (That alt timeline must have had a very different history, probably with John drowning, Bobby descending into alcoholism, and Ted convicted of rape and dying in prison. )

    But seriously…

    @Lynn’s recent comment about “The Menagerie” prompted some thoughts on the “best” of the original Star Trek episodes.

    A quick search finds several “best” lists, and several ratings of the entire episode list. 

    Although not a best list as such, the 12 title of the original fotonovels:

    1 City on the Edge of Forever

    2 Where No Man Has Gone Before

    3 The Trouble With Tribbles

    4 A Taste of Armageddon

    5 Metamorphosis

    6 All Our Yesterdays

    7 The Galileo 7

    8 A Piece of the Action

    9 The Devil in the Dark

    10 Day of the Dove

    11 The Deadly Years

    12 Amok Time

    is arguably a version. As a commercial bet on episodes that are remembered (pre-cable and VHS) fondly enough to sell books, it contains the 4-5 that appear on many lists, and some clinkers.

    In the middle of the pack is “Metamorphosis”, one of six episodes directed by Ralph Senensky, who is not only still living but continues to tell stories:

    https://senensky.com/special-who-voiced-the-companion/

    The story is underrated, perhaps in part because the Cochrane character was revised and denigrated by Braga and amid his continual struggle with inferiority wrt TOS. Senensky’s comments about the lines and special effects are spot on.

    (One of the episodes above, The Galileo 7, although it appear on a number of best lists, ahould be consigned to a dustbin of the sixties labeled “Another Angry Young Black”.)

  39. drwilliams says:

    Federal prosecutors opening investigation into Santos

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2022/12/29/federal-prosecutors-opening-investigation-into-santos-n520592

    Of course they are.

    He probably got the nuclear secrets from Trump. Gotta pertek thu cun-tree.

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  40. drwilliams says:

    about eight cents an hour

  41. drwilliams says:

    Like “nom-de-plumes for radicals”?

  42. Greg Norton says:

    about eight cents an hour

    The adjunct contracts are brutal these days.

    Things will get real ugly if the Roberts Court decides that belief in loan forgiveness was the foolish political choice which requires a lesson from the pen of the Old School Marm.

  43. drwilliams says:

    Who picked “Dipshit Trolls” for Eight Cents, Alex?

  44. Lynn says:

    “‘Nobody works. Nobody gives a damn’: Billionaire Home Depot co-founder, 93, blames socialism for destroying capitalism – as he slams Biden, ‘woke people’ and Harvard grads for putting obstacles in the way of entrepreneurial success”

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11583793/Billionaire-Home-Depot-founder-93-blames-socialism-destroying-capitalism-slams-Biden.html

    “Bernie Marcus believes Home Depot’s success couldn’t happen in 2022”

    I see that I am not the only one who feels that Biden and his ilk are killing us.

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  45. Lynn says:

    Federal prosecutors opening investigation into Santos

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2022/12/29/federal-prosecutors-opening-investigation-into-santos-n520592

    Of course they are.

    He probably got the nuclear secrets from Trump. Gotta pertek thu cun-tree.

    So, the DOJ is going to start prosecuting all of the republicans for any lie.  That should go well.

    I wonder if they will go after exaggerations too ?

  46. Nick Flandrey says:

    Jeez, tomorrow is only Friday.  I thought it was Sat, and I could sleep in.   

    n

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