Cool, but not too cool. Damp. Maybe still clear later, but also maybe some ‘early morning low clouds’ as they put it in Cali when I lived there. In any case, I’ll be out in it until the bus gets here. It did get to be very nice yesterday. We had a bit of rumble and overcast around dusk, but no actual rain.
I spent the afternoon at one of my storage units, the biggest, organizing, sorting, and assembling more shelves. I really need to get at least one of the other units into this one, and get more stuff out of the house. I should have about 6-8 bins of stuff going to my auctioneer this week, if he’s in. Getting some of the stuff out of storage and up to the BOL will help too.
Since I took advantage of the nice weather to work at the storage unit, I didn’t get the Christmas decorations down. They were a bit damper than I’d have liked after the fog, so maybe if it’s not so wet I can take an hour and get them put away. The fact is I’m not being as productive as I’d like. I’ve got to work on that. Cold and damp weather provides an excuse with all the aches and pains it brings, but that isn’t all of the issue. I’m tired and looking for excuses.
Identifying the problem is the first step to fixing it, right? So I better get to it.
Stack some stuff. Don’t put off to tomorrow what should be done today. Tomorrow has its own work waiting.
nick
That is a very real problem for which people have complained. People have to document how such money was used. Rather than the government prove the people are guilty, the people have to prove their innocence.
Art serves the egos of the aloof privileged class. Reminds me of the art critic that praised a couple of pictures as dynamic works expressing the struggle and conflict of the inner demons of the artist and truly a masterpiece of expression. Turns out the paintings were done be a chimp.
That basically sums up the art world. Some critic likes it and the other art patrons go along so as to not appear to be out of touch. Meanwhile, I call it like I see it, worthless crap that is a waste of time.
Every transaction not based in cash in the US is extensively data mined.
If you’ve seen the press reports of the Idaho college student killing, the key piece of evidence is DNA found at the crime scene and initially matched to a relative through the database of an Ancestry.com-type service.
From there, my guess is that the authorities used financial transactions to determine which family members were in the area around the time of the killing and began pulling cell phone location records, which are considered “maintenance data” in legal terms and easily obtained by law enforcement with a written request. However, finding a suspect in four murders prior to classes restarting this week was important for economic reasons in a college town so a court order or even a warrant would have been easy to obtain.
69F and 95%RH so not quite saturated. Made sausage patties for breakfast. Squeezed them out of the tube myself…
I like the idea of national sales tax in lieu of income tax. It captures the transactions in the secondary and black markets, taxing the money made by illegals, and criminals as well as honest folk. You’d need something like what china does, which is run a national lottery on cash register receipts. It encourages people to ASK for a receipt, which forces the business to collect the tax (no cash under the table business). Still doesn’t get it all, but IF you decide to have taxes, it at least gets money from everyone.
It does the opposite of what a consumer based economy focused tax policy does, so it will never fly with policy wonks. They want MORE, ever MOAR!! consumer spending and taxing sales adds friction and burden to that.
VAT absolutely sucks. It taxes the very basis of economic activity and discourages it. IE taking something and making it worth more…
n
What? I’m shocked. Shocked!
Not that I ever believed one of those Ford Jesus Trucks was going to be delivered outside of an occasional one-off fleet sale for $40,000.
https://www.motortrend.com/news/2023-ford-f-150-lightning-pro-price-increase-msrp/
To be fair, I did see a Maverick on a lot … while wandering in the fleet area of our local dealer … with a window sticker of $19k for the base hybrid version last year, but Ford goosed prices on those too, with the turbo engine starting at $23k and hybrid now more expensive.
Just wait until Tony introduces his Jesus Truck … at $100k base price.
There is no “value add” in the US anymore to tax. Even the jobs opening the shipping containers from China have been outsourced.
Jobs which can’t be outsourced need to have “work from home” possibility or no one will want them.
ALL US flights are grounded until at least 9am EST after FAA system FAILS: White House says ‘no evidence of cyberattack’ behind computer failure that has left tens of thousands stranded
Third world
n
Going to make the FAA and congress investigations of SWA software problems more interesting.
“Payment card and…third-party settlement organizations, including payment apps and online third-party settlement organizations.”
https://www.irs.gov/businesses/understanding-your-form-1099-k
I’m sure Mayor Pete will have an awesome press conference…
As we see the work form home trend get slowly clawed back by employers, mine has said “hold my beer”. Our new building will be completed in a couple months (in theory). It is designed with most spaces either being open, or cubes that can be reserved. Very few dedicated offices (6 floor building, so not small). Main exception is the closed area, but even that has less offices than our current space.
The official policy is that anyone on partial telework does not get an office, so I don’t have one. I am not just the first level manager, I also actively do SA work, and not just on secure systems. I have to remind myself that my company is not the only one that does not have an even basic understanding of how IT works. I got the often spouted “there are a lot of changes, and just have to learn how to adapt to them” spiel. I told him fine, when something breaks and I can’t fix it, or it will take me three times as long because I don’t have the necessary setup, I will let you know. He wasn’t happy with that response, but I really don’t care. I’m seeing way too many jobs advertised right now…
In the short term, I plan on teleworking most of the time now, as does my direct boss, who also won’t have an office. I will offload most of my SA work. Honestly, I can do that any time, but I like keeping skills current. I’ll just have to be more dedicated about doing that at home.
Having said all of that, our company can’t go back to a normal work schedule without a) doing major demo/reconstruction on the new building after it’s completed or b) completely pissing off everyone and forcing them all into the existing shared cubes. We all know which option would be implemented.
For reference, our company, way before I joined, started out as a small business. It was purchased several times. They always had a policy that everyone had an office – no cubes. I knew it would change when we were purchased by megacorp and not kept a subsidiary but were integrated into the matrix. I just didn’t realize how much the change would end up being.
The emperor’s new clothes.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11619415/PICTURED-Robber-30-armed-fake-gun-killed-Houston-restaurant-vigilante-Criminal-bond-assault-grand-jury-decide-hero-customer-46-protected-shooting-face-charges.html
Tone is already starting to change. Still calling him a vigilante though.
n
Re: 1099s. Anybody who has business. (Tax ID registered with the IRS) knows what a PITA 1099s are. Next year it will be a nightmare. You are going to need accounting software to keep track and produce the 1099s. We hire a lot of parents to babysit, cater, do misc things. $599. When it its cumulative 1099s will be out of control. Wait until the IRS says “hey this guy you are giving a 1099 to, he might really be an employee, so we are investigating you for payroll taxes, penalties and interest.” No wonder the PLTs need 87,000 new dicks.
When this first came around, a lot of brick and mortar stores balked. Think of all the extra 1099s they will have to produce. Best Buy will have to roll in the terabytes of core.
Petey Buttplug: We are going to investigate this horrendous failure at Southwest Airlines.
Federal ATC: Hold my beer, biatch!
FAA lifts ground order on flights after two-and-a-half hours: White House says ‘no evidence of cyberattack’ behind computer failure that delayed at least 4,000 flights and halted America’s air traffic for the first time since 9/11
Another reason to not watch the Golden Globes (or any Hollyweird kiss ass award), King Zelensky gets air time to beg for more money. Promises not WWIII. Sure.
Think about Walmart and Amazon with all of the third party sellers.
The rule was delayed for another year IIRC.
Art also serves their tax returns. Rich person pays an “emerging” artist 10k cash for an “artwork”. Rich person has it valued by their friend, an “independent” art expert, for 200k, paying them 10k cash for the valuation. Rich person now donates the “200k” artwork to a museum, foundation or gallery with charitable status, getting a receipt and writing it off their taxes as a deductible donation of 200k. Net gain, 180k.
This is why there is so much junk “art” on display.
Regarding the vigilante – the head shot was over-the-top, but I sure hope the guy doesn’t have to face charges. All he did was take out the trash.
Of course, I’m sure we’ll soon here sob stories about what a great guy the perp was. Oh, yes: “…hours before the robbery, he promised his mother he would do better”.
– – – – –
On another humorous note: Have you all heard about Andrew Tate? The super-macho guy, influencer, with lots of wannabe macho followers? Baited Greta Thunberg on Twitter; she handed him his head. Not having learned to never enter a battle of wits unarmed, he tried again. In his pic, he’s sitting in a wood-panelled room, bragging about the fast cars he owns, but he has with a takeout pizza box visible on his table. Turns out he was wanted for human trafficking and other sordid deeds, and the pizza box identified his whereabouts. So now he’s in a Romanian jail, while the authorities argue about who gets to prosecute him.
Couldn’t happen to a nicer guy…
>> completely pissing off everyone and forcing them all into the existing shared cubes.
When our Midwest office went to shared desks there was more than a few heated “discussions” when interlopers had reserved a particular desk that “belonged” to a regular occupant who hadn’t bothered to reserve ‘his’ desk.
More and more convinced that I picked the right time to retire from corporate America.
Oh, my sweet summer child, do you think the government holds itself to the standards that it demands of the peons?
And another sign of the apocalypse, my Crest toothpaste has dropped from 6.5 oz to 6.3 oz. I buy them at Sam’s Club in packages of four.
Listening to the James Darren Pandora station on SXM. “Come Fly With Me.” How appropriate.
@Lynn
Those tubes used to be 8 oz.
Just wait until Tony introduces his Jesus Truck … at $100k base price.
Tony introduced the Cybertruck at $40K a couple of years ago in 2019.
https://www.gearpatrol.com/cars/a649078/tesla-pickup-truck-cybertruck-everything-to-know/
“The base single-motor Cybertruck will start at $39,900 without incentives (Tesla’s federal tax credit allotment will have expired by the time it goes on sale). The dual-motor AWD version will cost $49,900. The tri-motor AWD will cost $69,900. “Self-driving capability” is an additional $7,000, and will be added at a to-be-determined date. Buyers can reserve a vehicle on Tesla’s website with a refundable $100 deposit.”
@Lynn
Those tubes used to be 8 oz.
Yup, the new 6.3 oz tubes are skinny. But I was wrong, they now come in a five pack, not a four pack.
>> completely pissing off everyone and forcing them all into the existing shared cubes.
When our Midwest office went to shared desks there was more than a few heated “discussions” when interlopers had reserved a particular desk that “belonged” to a regular occupant who hadn’t bothered to reserve ‘his’ desk.
More and more convinced that I picked the right time to retire from corporate America.
When my son interviewed at Google for a programmer position a couple of years ago, the groups were in large bullpen offices with 3 or 4 rows of tables. There were 30+ computers in the office, first come, first served. No personal items on the tables.
And speaking of Tesla, the big building is getting bigger. “Tesla files $776 million expansion plans for Texas gigafactory”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/tesla-expansion-texas-gigafactory-17708864.php
“Documents outline the electric automaker’s desire to open five new additions to its already massive Austin facilities.”
That building might be bigger than the F-35 / F-16 / F-??? / B-52 / B-17 building in Fort Worth, Texas.
“Tesla inches toward Gigafactory Indonesia with preliminary deal in place”
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-gigafactory-indonesia-preliminary-deal/
And now there will be five. California, China, Germany, Texas, Indoensia.
“SpaceX stacks Starship and Super Heavy booster for “wet dress rehearsal” test”
https://www.teslarati.com/spacex-starship-fully-stacked-prelaunch-testing-2023/
“Measuring around 120 meters (~390 ft) tall from ship tip to booster tail, the fully-stacked rocket is again the largest ever assembled. Compared to the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets SpaceX currently operates, Starship is far larger. It’s also meant to be fully reusable, while the Falcon family – which expends its orbital upper stage – is roughly 80% reusable. If SpaceX can meet its technical goals, Starship could eventually cost around a magnitude less to launch than Falcon while carrying roughly 5-20 times more payload per launch. In short, it could revolutionize the cost of access to orbit.”
I would love to watch that monster take off. From about 20 miles away.
Re: “Death in Paradise”, which is currently at Series 12, do you have access to recordings? Or streams? I’m currently collecting it from the BBC’s iPlayer, at 720p/25 resolution, and can post episodes within a couple of hours of end of UK TX, if desired.
G.
Or, for that matter, any BBC series. Just say the word.
G.
Yeah, we will have that directive as well. I think if you have an office you can have 2 small items. No items on the walls. Corporate didn’t want white boards at all, but grudgingly gave in to some, not all, requests. No filing cabinets. No bookcases. Complete stupidity.
No filing cabinets. No bookcases. Complete stupidity
– that usually includes no coat closets, no closets, no storage for paper, folding chairs, or flip charts…. no spare network cable, or docking stations…
Corporate offices here have no personal lighting or temperature control at desks too, because of energy code. So no lamp to compensate for the too low light levels when the ‘daylight harvesting’ and LEDs controlled by occupancy sensors fail to provide enough light for your tired eyes. And no fans or heaters either, which primarily impacts women ‘of a certain age’ and should be subject to lawsuits…
n
Hopefully, another visit with Vic Fontaine is on the punch list for “Picard” season three if they really are wrapping the Stage 8/9 era “Trek” series arcs with this season.
We’ll see when Tony ships his first Jesus truck.
*If* he ships his first Jesus Truck … ?
yep, let’s add MOAR!!! load to the elderly and failing electrical grid… powered by coal, b!tches!!
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/aoc-claims-gas-stoves-give-brain-damage-trumps-former-physician-responds-epic-tweet/
n
I have access to the episodes as soon as they run. Both the Boxing Day special and the first episode of the new season are on my home server now.
I’ll also try to catch the Kris Marshall spinoff the BBC commissioned to keep his mouth shut about the “Doctor Who” casting fiasco.
The KOA at the south end of South Padre Island should be a safe enough distance. The only non-SpaceX employees who will be closer are the holdouts living on the Boca Chica … colony?
They lived close.
The big problem with South Padre is that just getting there from Corpus Cristi is three hours, following a two hour drive from where I live. It isn’t a short notice hop like Kennedy was from Tampa.
We’ll see when Tony ships his first Jesus truck.
*If* he ships his first Jesus Truck … ?
Tesla is shipping the Cybertruck parts in the 100+ Semis that they are delivering to Pepsi. Motors, batteries, etc.
https://www.teslarati.com/tesla-semi-next-units-prepare-delivery-nevada/
“In October, we reported that Tesla was building the Semi at a top-secret facility located on Gigafactory Nevada’s property. Employees who work at Gigafactory Nevada told us they were forbidden from entering the building and that Tesla was being tight-lipped about the Semi project.”
Whoa, there is a Gigafactory in Nevada also ! That makes six of the monsters.
USB Reading Lamp with 14 LEDs Dimmable Touch Switch and Flexible Gooseneck for Notebook Laptop, Desktop, PC and MAC Computer + On/Off Setting (14 LED, Black) here for $9 .
Proper white boards, even small ones, are expensive.
At a lot of places I’ve worked, those usually have “Do Not Erase” someplace on the board because they become so important in terms of documentation of work in progress.
I keep a paper notebook as well, but I’ve noticed those seem to make people nervous, particularly younger employees.
Heck, I fall into that category now. Our current building is cold all year round. I wear a light jacket inside year round.
I have yet to work somewhere where there wasn’t at least one whiteboard with the “Do Not Erase” warning. A previous job had one that directly affected me, and I had copied the info into my notebook by the end of my first week. The info was still on the whiteboard when I left about a year later.
Added: Oh, and it’s not about expense, its about aesthetics. Stated so many times I want to puke.
Reno? That has been around for a while.
Gonna eventually need lots of space to hide -er- store the “recycled” batteries.
That is the other hot button issue with my wife’s back channel source at Toyota in San Antonio, from whom I get the $100k delivered number for the Cybertruck.
ITGuy1998:
Ditto. I’ve found that my cell phone’s camera is an excellent method of documenting these items.
Nope. The net gain is (200k * 0.37) – 20k = $54k
Nope. The net gain is (200k * 0.37) – 20k = $54k
I don’t understand why the net gain is not $180K ?
Oh wait, you are looking at the net gain after taxes. Gotcha.
We so need to get rid of the income tax. People are using charitable nonsense to play with the income tax system all over the place.
ITGuy1998:
Ditto. I’ve found that my cell phone’s camera is an excellent method of documenting these items.
Me too.
Right. They are sheltering $200k of income, spent $20k, save $74k in federal taxes, net $54k.
One of the legends, although not my cuppa…
Jeff Beck dies aged 78: Legendary British guitarist passes away after contracting bacterial meningitis – weeks after finishing tour with Johnny Depp
n
@Rick – Timing belt broke on the Solara due to a bad water pump bearing.
Non-interference engine 2.2L 4-cyl so I may luck out.
It is definitely living on borrowed time, however, and my wife is not happy. She wasn’t happy when I bought the car.
Looking around at used inventory online today was friggin’ scary. 2008 Honda CRV with total cr*p paint was $13k.
At first, I thought the paint was reflected clouds on a sunny day, but nope.
>> I have yet to work somewhere where there wasn’t at least one whiteboard with the “Do Not Erase” warning. A previous job had one that directly affected me, and I had copied the info into my notebook by the end of my first week.
Where I worked we were subject to the firm-wide ‘clean desk’ policy. Any work-related docs were to go into a locked desk drawer. No docs left sitting on a printer, copy machine or in the mailroom (printouts from the mainframes). Also specifically mentioned were whiteboards. Anything left at the end of the day was subject to erasure by the cleaning staff, “Do Not Erase” not withstanding. This policy was included in the corporate conduct policy and violations were subject to discipline up to, and including termination. Since a review of the conduct policy was required yearly training, we had no issues if the whiteboard in our conference room was full of ‘important’ stuff, we went right ahead and erased everything if we needed to use it. Most of the time we took pics of what was there, just in case. I recall one time one of the developers was frantic that what he needed had been erased. We strung him along until lunchtime and then shared the pics with him.
Tyler Durden cowardice protecting someone mainstream.
Sure, other outlets have this story, but where else are you going to see a picture of Swalwell and Christine Fang these days? Swalwell continued on the Intelligence Committee for two years beyond the revelation which forced Fang to flee the country.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/schiff-swalwell-and-omar-get-boot-committees-mccarthy-cleans-house
At the peak of the popularity of “Dilbert”, a lot of companies, GTE included, started clean desk policies, mostly to get rid of the calendars and stuffed toys which popped up everywhere.
Scott Adams observations hit a little too close to home at telecoms.
@Nick
Make it “old eyes” and you have the basis for an ADA lawsuit. It’s well-documented that older eyes need more light.
In the meantime, that roller bag with the battery powered light on the telescopic arm is my “man purse”.
Yeah, it has audio and video. Any questions?
“The Commission, which employs a total of 500 employees, is now urging consumers to buy electric stoves.”
House of Representatives.
Power of the purse.
Allocation: Not just zero: F-A-Zero.
@ech
“Right. They are sheltering $200k of income, spent $20k, save $74k in federal taxes, net $54k.”
Glad to see ya.
Happy New Year, man.
@Nick
“One of the legends, although not my cuppa…”
One of the true greats, but lacked the voice required to form the nucleus of a late-20th rock band.
Heard him on tour with B.B. King. Freaking awesome.
There are a lot of sublime guitarists and bass players out there whose work is instantly recognizable, but you just don’t know the name.
Skunk Baxter released his first solo album last year.
>> Wed. Jan. 11, 2023 – can’t think of a single funny thing to say…
Just turn on C-SPAN for a few minutes, that should inspire you to laugh…okay, more likely to cry…never mind.
@Alan
“Where I worked we were subject to the firm-wide ‘clean desk’ policy”
I used to use a classic organizational method: “heap sort”.
I had two signs in my office. The first said:
“If an orderly desk is a sign of an orderly mind, what is an empty desk?”
The second was some Steve Wynwood lyrics that sounded very anti-establishment, but had another meaning entirely.
Beer if you guess correctly.
“Sure, other outlets have this story, but where else are you going to see a picture of Swalwell and Christine Fang these days? Swalwell continued on the Intelligence Committee for two years beyond the revelation which forced Fang to flee the country.”
Normally I don’t care where someone puts it*, but I make exception for this one.
*Legal age.
Congress has been punting on these issues for 50 years, starting with CAFE.
Next up will be a 55 MPH Federal speed limit policy on the Interstates from the Mayor Pete-led DoT and the EPA, the point being to negate any advantage offered by the modern overdrive transmissions in the half ton trucks for the MPG tests. Over 20 years of R&D and increased MSRP as well as maintenance costs down the drain.
Might as well have kept the six speeds … and the V8s.
tURLEY:
“…if Biden will not confirm what the documents were and whether he has any recollection of those documents?”
lmaofofpip
If there isn’t a classification called “Fourth World Countries” somebody had better create it pretty damned quick.
Yeah, a member of the Intelligence Committee and a Chinese “honeypot” girlfriend.
If I called down to Central Casting for someone to fill that role, a girl who looked like Christine Fang would show up wearing a cheongsam.
Though a black strapless dress would work too.
All she’s missing in the picture are the gloves. Bespoke. Probably a little too much for the event, however, based on what he’s wearing and the background.
@Rick – Timing belt broke on the Solara due to a bad water pump bearing.
Non-interference engine 2.2L 4-cyl so I may luck out.
$2,000 to fix ?
If you want to see something really hilarious, go find video of the press conference and wait for a wide shot of the stage showing who is smirking just a few feet away.
I’ll wait.
Now wasn’t that fun?
And if you’re saying “What’s the big deal about the Mexican President being there? He just looks uncomfortable”, you haven’t seen the entire stage.
@Greg
“Though a black strapless dress would work too.”
Had to read that twice–thought you wrote “strap-on”
It is definitely living on borrowed time, however, and my wife is not happy. She wasn’t happy when I bought the car.
Looking around at used inventory online today was friggin’ scary. 2008 Honda CRV with total cr*p paint was $13k.
The Solara is a great kid car.
I bought a 2008 Highlander V6 for the office in 2021 with 158K miles for $9,600 when they forced me to buy a company vehicle to cover all my employees for commercial insurance. I had to put a water pump and and a/c evaporator in it in less than three months for $4,000. Warranty, what warranty ?
Who knows. The car is worth $1000 at best.
Still, I’d rather fix it and have the next child learn on that vehicle.
I probably would have been able to get away letting the water pump slide until the death march at work stopped, but the kid didn’t tell me he was going to a music venue in South Austin last night, driving an hour at highway speeds. The belt, beaten up by the bad bearings of the pump according to the mobile mechanic who diagnosed it today, broke about a mile from the offramp for the destination.
Geesh, Austin. Really? A Tuesday night in January?
When we drove by, the club was mobbed and drunks were circling the neighborhood streets trying to park.
Heading home, I noticed the variable tolling in the express lanes on MOPAC was $7.30 to go from Downtown to near my house..
@Greg
“Might as well have kept the six speeds … and the V8s”
They can have my V8 when they pry it from my cold dead hands…
nope, never mind. It has EFI now and starts without ether and flames when it’s -20.
Did I ever tell you about the time I followed a green Camaro on to I-70 out of Columbus and heard them do a bear check? I heard my shotgun say “Punch it” and the 428 downshifted and started the long windup. She had local plates and I didn’t, so I quit first. Chickened, we used to call it.
@Lynn
“I bought a 2008 Highlander V6 for the office in 2021 with 158K miles for $9,600 when they forced me to buy a company vehicle to cover all my employees for commercial insurance. I had to put a water pump and and a/c evaporator in it in less than three months for $4,000. Warranty, what warranty ?”
You should have asked. I would have said Ford Crown Vic Police Inteceptor. Preferably a detective’s car. Four gallons of Bondo where they tore out the radios, and if you mix in a little spearmint it’s like a permanent air freshener.
@Greg
“When we drove by, the place was mobbed and drunks were circling the neighborhood streets trying to park.”
oh. park. had to read it 2ice.
Must be the fumes from my horseradish spreadable cheese.
Congress has been punting on these issues for 50 years, starting with CAFE.
Next up will be a 55 MPH Federal speed limit policy on the Interstates from the Mayor Pete-led DoT and the EPA, the point being to negate any advantage offered by the modern overdrive transmissions in the half ton trucks for the MPG tests. Over 20 years of R&D and increased MSRP as well as maintenance costs down the drain.
Might as well have kept the six speeds … and the V8s.
Congress will never allow a federal speed limit again. The public outcry was tremendous the last time.
You should have asked. I would have said Ford Crown Vic Police Inteceptor. Preferably a detective’s car. Four gallons of Bondo where they tore out the radios, and if you mix in a little spearmint it’s like a permanent air freshener.
Nah, those cars needed a complete chassis rebuild at 100K miles. Plus the detective’s car meant that only a dozen people had thrown up in the back seat. The regular police cars probably had a hundred people throw up in the back seat.
And being the Houston area, those police Crown Vic’s were flooded at least once.
@DrWilliams, Rick Beato just did this vid about a guitarist I’d never heard of but who apparently was one of the most influential guys ever.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L4-KJu4czaQ
n
So , here’s my spreadable cheese story.
I was headed to Mexico for a semi-monthly meeting with a client, and packed the usual treats as requested. This included spreadable cheese, sausage and crackers for the Friday close-out meeting.
The National Socialist TSA agent running the x-ray proctometer shuffled my bag to hand-search and discovered my spreadable cheese. Doubtless the morning inspection had revealed no reason to shave yet this week, but a distressing retreat of the third fold of fat over the collar, and he was looking for a remedy.
“Can’t take this on plane, sir.”
What? It’s cheese. Sealed.
“Can’t take this on plane, sir.”
Yeah, they got it, and why do I suspect it went straight to the break room?
I was tempted to spike one with ipecac for the next trip, but it went into check bags instead.
BTW, Mexico was okay bringing cheese, and okay with beef sausage, but frowned on pork sausage. My friend Jorge rally liked the pork sausage, so I [redacted]…
“Where I worked we were subject to the firm-wide ‘clean desk’ policy”
I used to use a classic organizational method: “heap sort”.
I had two signs in my office. The first said:
“If an orderly desk is a sign of an orderly mind, what is an empty desk?”
I’ll post a picture of my office some day. 20 ft by 20 ft. Four sets of built in bookshelves, four desks, one credenza with two book shelves, a 20 in wide file cabinet, and two PCs. Hundreds of engineering and programming books, papers, and tools scattered all over the place. Kinda reminds me of Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos Manor. And four windows looking out at my back pond.
@Lynn
“Plus the detective’s car meant that only a dozen people had thrown up in the back seat.”
You thought the spearmint was for the residual of the sardines in his lunch?
The Federal policy will be all about crippling the overdrive transmissions in the MPG tests. No sane state government would try to enforce that kind of speed limit again.
I had a 2008 Highlander XLE for many years; bought from Hertz in 2009 (I think). Bought a 2019 Highlander XLE in 2020, and gave the 2008 to my daughter in Utah.
It’s still running fine. No major repairs other than tires and oil changes. As is the 2009 Camry, which was our second car. But after retiring, it was used only on Sundays to go to church (really). So gave it to my other daughter last year, who uses it as her daily commuter car. Also runs fine, with no major repairs other than tires and oil changes.
Had Camrys before 2009, forget what years they were – 2002 and a 1998, I think. Gave them to the oldest daughter, who has teens. I think one of them gave out after 250K+ miles – again: tires, oil changes, and a timing belt and water pump were the only major issues with that car.
The 2019 Highlander has 61K miles now. Several trips to UT and CA, and then just local trips. Did another oil change today. Replaced a set of tires in 2020.
Port wine cheese with Cascara Sagrada syrup.
“Violent” and “explosive” will be the appropriate adjectives to describe the result.
@Nick
Great link!
Hadn’t played that one yet.
Fil’s take on “face-melting flamenco” from the GOAT:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvYDrbWLZ40
1959. They didn’t have the frame-rate on the film to keep up.
I saw Carlos Montoya at 75. 2000 people so quiet you could have heard a match striking in the back row.
““Violent” and “explosive” will be the appropriate adjectives to describe the result.”
If we go beyond PG I can think of a few more.
@Rick H
“As is the 2009 Camry, which was our second car. But after retiring, it was used only on Sundays to go to church (really). So gave it to my other daughter last year, who uses it as her daily commuter car. Also runs fine, with no major repairs other than tires and oil changes.”
If the commute is short, just a reminder: It needs to see 20 miles of highway speeds once a week (JimB chime in, please) to get the crankcase up to temp. And short trips don’t charge the battery properly when it’s cold.
I started having issues with the water pump after the last coolant flush. It had been a while since the previous fluid swap out. The gunk in the system was probably keeping things running properly at that point.
The Pentagon’s desk policy was (is) everything goes into the safe style (combination lock) file cabinets every time the office will be empty (night or lunch or whatever). Desk drawers were unused and duct taped closed. Nothing on the desk everything goes into the safe file cabinets.
Glad I didn’t work there but even as a visitor it was a pain.
Camry’s are good cars, but not immune to problems. We used to have an 09, and after a couple years the water pump started leaking. It was replaced under warranty. Not a deal breaker by any means, but I don’t think I’ve had a car that hasn’t had some sort of warranty work performed. That includes Toyota, multiple Honda’s, Ford, and Cadillac. Machine designed and made by men will have issues.
The Federal policy will be all about crippling the overdrive transmissions in the MPG tests. No sane state government would try to enforce that kind of speed limit again.
Why cripple the overdrive transmissions in the MPG tests ?
BTW, my F-150 is in 8th gear (first overdrive) at 45 mph. 10th gear (3rd overdrive) hits at 52 or 53 mph. 1,400 rpm is full boost (14 psig) on both turbos so that V6 has serious torque down there.
I do have 3.73 gear ratios in my front and rear axles, for towing.
Working as ‘unclass’ in a classified space was a lot of fun- not. Mostly not for the customer who had to ‘sanitize’ the whole space… And the one contractor had their entire open plan office designated as a SCIF, so we couldn’t even walk thru to get to the toilet or the room we were working in without everyone logging off and shutting down both or all three different computers in their cubes, and physically locking up all the paper and files.
And even then we were escorted and supervised.
Using the bathroom in the new Command and Control center at Pendleton meant an armed marine as a chaperone… which was nuts because I’d had the run of the building just a day earlier, pulling up floor, down ceiling, and installing the very equipment that now I couldn’t even touch…
In spaces like that, you don’t want stuff on your desk.
n
(and at an aerospace contractor in Terrance CA the walls of the open plan office we had to transit thru had very clear (and clean) rectangles on the walls where something sensitive used to hang)
Camry’s are good cars, but not immune to problems. We used to have an 09, and after a couple years the water pump started leaking. It was replaced under warranty. Not a deal breaker by any means, but I don’t think I’ve had a car that hasn’t had some sort of warranty work performed. That includes Toyota, multiple Honda’s, Ford, and Cadillac. Machine designed and made by men will have issues.
The fuel pump on the wife’s 2019 Highlander V6 has been replaced under warranty. No issues whatsoever on the 2019 F-150 other than the AGM battery was replaced on my dollar right after the 36 month warranty expired.
I chirped the tires of my Expy today pulling out of a parking lot into traffic. It goes FAST for as big and heavy as it is.
n
Just released version 16.16 of our software package. I keep on forgetting how much work this is. And I need to write the process down some day. I had gotten to patch 16.15g and realized that the last release was on Aug 29, 2022.
So I get an answer to the question bugging me all day, when did the M in NOTAM change to “mission” from “men”?
waste of freaking time and effort
n
I chirped the tires of my Expy today pulling out of a parking lot into traffic. It goes FAST for as big and heavy as it is.
Is it the Limited edition ? If so, it has the Raptor engine with 465 hp and 18 psig of boost on the turbos.
My buddy chipped his Limited F-150. He now has 25 psig of boost. I told him he is insane. He tows his heavily modified four door Jeep Wrangler to Colorado twice a year. He has no trouble going up the mountains.
What is it about the guitar that we lose so many so young?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HmLFyvFxTc
@lynn, it’s a big engine but I don’t think it has turbos. Lots of plastic covers under the hood. As I mentioned, it had no problem towing the 5000 pounds of trailer at 80 plus. I had to constantly watch my speed until I put the cruise on.
\
n
@lynn, it’s a big engine but I don’t think it has turbos. Lots of plastic covers under the hood. As I mentioned, it had no problem towing the 5000 pounds of trailer at 80 plus. I had to constantly watch my speed until I put the cruise on.
V6 or V8 ?
The turbos on the V6 are tucked into the exhaust manifolds. Not easy to see.
Aw jeez. These guys were and are doing good work. I sincerely hope the organization rises from this and continues doing the work they’ve been doing.
Jared always seemed a bit ‘off’ to me, haunted/hunted, something. The case raises some issues too, like statute of limitations, age at the time, history of abuse, -what an ugly mess.
n
And for my reference…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11624529/DA-WEEKS-away-deciding-Alec-Baldwin-crew-members-face-criminal-charges.html
Inflation news.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11623981/US-egg-prices-double-national-average-3-59.html
Supply side issues too.
n
@nick
One of the legends, although not my cuppa…
try Jeff Becks concert at Ronnie Scotts
tal Wilkenfeld his bassist
Life altering
——-
Whole house down for a week now with bronchitis. improving. Could be worse, a friend from political 2020 shenanigans dropped dead at last nights assembly meeting. Youngish and fit. Jeepers.
Why does an ex-Vice President *or* an ex-President have any reason to retain any classified documents? They are no longer in office. If it’s important enough to be classified, they shouldn’t have it. It’s really that simple.
The flip side, of course, is that the government classifies way too much stuff. The default seems to always be “if in doubt, classify it”. It ought to be the other way around – unless there’s a bloody good reason, everything the government does should be public.
The policy change would most likely eliminate the 80 MPH top speed cycle from the testing which justifies increased costs of the 10 speed automatics with improved MPG numbers in the results.
The addition of the 80 MPH test greatly improved the accuracy of the final vehicle numbers after its introduction — remember boxy K-cars with 40 MPG Hwy ratings? — and taking that away would seem counterintuitive at first because the test results would be higher, but that would open the door for “cheating” allegations from the EPA since they only hands-on test about 10% of models on the road in the US, leaving the rest for the manufacturers to analyze.