Tues. Jan. 31, 2023 – where does the time go?

By on January 31st, 2023 in culture, decline and fall, prepping

Cold. Wet.  Cold.   37F at midnight, so probably at least that this morning.  Yuck.   And rain throughout the day if we’re unlucky.

There was a soldier whose blog I read way back in the day, when the powers that be had no idea about blogging or the web.   He used to try to keep up OPSEC and would say that he “went somewhere and did some things…” and that’s pretty much  what I did yesterday.   Sounds a lot more interesting if you put it that way, than saying “I took the kids to the orthodontist, then school, then did some online stuff before I took a bunch of stuff to my auctioneer.  Oh, and I sold a thing to a guy from Craigslist.”  But that’s what I did all day.

Went to Goodwill too.   Picked up a really nice Sony amplifier (wooden sides tipped me off, usually Sony isn’t very collectible) that could be worth as much as $600.   Picked up ONE Bowers & Wilkins shelf speaker, that has seen better days, but should still be worth $200-300 and maybe much more.   The pair is over $1500 in good condition.  I looked through the whole place twice hoping to find the match.   Crazy stuff shows up at the outlet.  Clearly it’s time for me to start listing stuff again.

Gotta fund the BOL somehow.

Dinner last night was frozen tilapia filets, broiled with ginger, garlic, lime and butter.   Garnished with thin lime slices, pickled sushi ginger slices, and super thin sliced red onion.  Drizzled with melted butter.   Pasta for a side dish.   Nothing on the table except the onion and lime was less than a year old. Kids and wife loved it.  Who knew?

Pasta was from a bucket I’d sealed and put up some time ago.   Opening the bucket broke the rim though.  It’s been outside in the shade, but still seems to have gotten brittle as if it was in the sun.  I couldn’t pry up the lid by hand, so I used a bucket tool.   The lid was trashed in the process.    I think I’m gonna have to recommend having more lids than buckets if you think you will be re-using buckets.   And you can never have enough buckets.

So stack the things you need to stack the other things!

 

nick

 

90 Comments and discussion on "Tues. Jan. 31, 2023 – where does the time go?"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    38F and wet out.    Yuck indeed. 

    Got plenty to do today, mainly the same stuff I set out to do yesterday.   We’ll see about the pickup of the freezers.  If it’s actually raining, I’m going to call them and beg off, if I can.  Don’t want them soaked.   Can’t clear  a place for them with rain coming down.

    n

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11695171/Eight-million-Americans-earning-100-000-year-living-paycheck-paycheck.html 

    Worth reading.     258million adults in the US.   

    Of 4,000 people surveyed by industry publication Pymnts.com and LendingClub, between December 8-23, a total of 64 percent said they were living paycheck-to-paycheck.

    That means 166 million Americans are unable to save any money at all at the end of the month.

    And of those 166 million, 8 million – almost 5 percent – were earning more than $100,000 a year. The total figure represents a 9 percent increase from last year.

    The average American earns $58,260 a year, according to the Bureau of Labor statistics. 

    That is an incredible number.    Granted that the survey might be flawed, we still have this-

    Almost one in four – 24 percent – said they had issues paying their bills in December. 

    Among those earning more than $100,000 and living paycheck-to-paycheck, the share rose to 16 percent – up from 11 percent a year earlier. 

    The headline should read “Almost ⅔ of Americans living paycheck to paycheck.”

    n

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Wealth tax

    As I read it, the California version kicks in if you have a net worth over $1 billion. I’m not seeing how this is really a problem? It seems more like it’s more of a show for the sheep. First, there aren’t that many billionaires. Second, a billionaire can establish a residence wherever they want.

    Wealth accumulates, and causes problems in a society. The Kennedy clan, as an example. The Clintons, as another example. You don’t really want those dynasties to exist – they bring only negatives. Maybe a wealth tax is at least part of the solution.

    Unlike Europe, dynasties don’t last in the US more than ~ three generations on average. The Kennedy money is gone and the infamous Palm Beach “compound” sold more than two decades ago. 

    State wealth taxes, specifically in WA State, would open new legal doors for exploration of ways around prohibition of income tax at the state level in places like Florida and Texas, which have explicit bans on that form of taxation as part of their state constitutions but who also have large numbers of voters who quickly forgot why they fled blue states in the first place and want to reestablish the stupidity in their new homes.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Poor choice.   Maybe not an english speaking person?

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11694299/Connecticut-woman-fears-shell-ruined-opened-cafe-called-WOKE-angered-locals.html 

    The “angered locals” part is interesting.

    n

  5. Greg Norton says:

    It would be sad if it wasn’t so infuriating.

    Biden, 80, goes off the rails as he repeats false story for the EIGHTH time about conductor who congratulated him for logging more miles on Amtrak than Air Force Two as Vice President 

    The Maryland Governor Wes Moore is an emerging Jesus Candidate for the Dems. Biden was probably feeling the heat at that appearance and felt the need to be “Scranton Joe”.

  6. drwilliams says:

    “It’s been outside in the shade, but still seems to have gotten brittle as if it was in the sun.”

    Shade is not total for visible or UV. A few months of 16 hours per day of reflected sunlight in a Houston summer adds up.

  7. Greg Norton says:

      Opening the bucket broke the rim though.  It’s been outside in the shade, but still seems to have gotten brittle as if it was in the sun.

    Humid marine environment. It is the same anywhere along the Gulf coast.

    I just had a grill tank stand go brittle after less than a year, stored in a shed in almost complete darkness most of the time. North and west, into the hills, is where the marine environment influence stops around here.

  8. MrAtoz says:

    I do know this: There is not enough cobalt in the world to make iPhones and Teslas for everyone. 

    Not to worry, sir. Mining asteroids is “just around the corner.” Just like fusion.

    I have to get new Apple devices each year to keep my ticket to Elysian current.

  9. MrAtoz says:

    As I read it, the California version kicks in if you have a net worth over $1 billion. I’m not seeing how this is really a problem? It seems more like it’s more of a show for the sheep. First, there aren’t that many billionaires. Second, a billionaire can establish a residence wherever they want.

    This is a problem because it puts more $$ into goobermint coffers. Where it will be wasted on more “woke” programs.  Leave the billionaires alone. If they get out of control, the goobermint can always kill them with F-15s as plugs has said repeatedl.

  10. Jenny says:

    For a depressing exercise, use one of the “what was my dollar worth” calculators to recalculate your annual salary going back as far as you can stomach. 
     

    I have been with my current employer since 2006, with a couple promotions and a couple of job title changes. We work hard to live below our means, we don’t live lavishly. 

    Looking at straight numbers, I’m making several times what I was making in 2006. Recalculated to 2006 dollars, I’ve barely moved the needle, maybe 50% more. 
     

    So yeah. I don’t find it hard to believe $100k households are struggling. 
     

    It takes effort, willpower, an ability to plan ahead to resist buying a new car for each spouse ($500-$2000 / month), recognize the mortgage loan company for a liar when they say what you can afford, the real estate agent for their blandishments, and planning meals at home instead of out every night because nothings thawed. 

    And the willingness to recognize the US dollar has less buying power each day that goes by. The inability or sheer obstinate and ignorance people have regarding the impact of government spending and government regulations have on the value of our currency is stunning. 

  11. Jenny says:

    The property tax we are paying has doubled since 2020 when we bought the house. Not because taxes have gone up, but because the muni says my house is worth way more than what we paid. I’m filing an appeal this year. It will go nowhere and I’ll lose $100 in the process. 
     

    My property taxes are now about ⅓ what the federal government gets. And for this I get corruption, incompetence, and being told by elected officials what a despica loathesome creature they consider me for being a conservative Christian. 

  12. MrAtoz says:

    OK, let’s:

    Follow the Science: MIT Brainiac Calls for Immediate End to Covid Jabs

    I wonder how plugs, FauXi , and the LSM will discredit the scientist. “He’s not a real scientist like FauXi.”

  13. Ray Thompson says:

    I don’t find it hard to believe $100k households are struggling.

    I live on little less than half that amount without difficulty. I don’t have new cell phones or new vehicles. I still have money for other items, such as my upcoming trip to Europe. Flying in Delta Premium+ both directions.

    The key, in my opinion, to be able to live on that amount, is to be completely out of debt. No mortgage, no car loans, no credit card balances. Owing no entity a dime is critical. Interest rates consume a lot of money. I also live in a cheaper part of the country. We also do not drink wine or alcoholic beverages or waste money on cigarette. We don’t buy Starbucks coffee.

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  14. SteveF says:

    What Ray said.

    Most of my coworkers on my former job (2018-2021) were 20- and 30-somethings. Except for the couple of fresh graduates, everyone in the Data Science group was making $100k or more. Most of the 20-somethings were living paycheck-to-paycheck. All of them had student loans, but the real problem was the expensive coffees a couple times a day, eating out or getting takeout for every meal except maybe breakfast, an expensive vacation every year, going out drinking with friends, top-end cell phones, top-end cell phone plans, new cars, and living alone rather than sharing an apartment.

    Charles Dickens called it a century and a half ago in David Copperfield: Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six , result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.

  15. Alan says:

    So seems like Dallas was the southern boundary of the icy weather… stay warm folks. 

    Currently 49 F here in the desert with the weather liars predicting a high of 60 F. 

  16. Greg Norton says:

    So seems like Dallas was the southern boundary of the icy weather… stay warm folks. 

    Austin has ice this morning.

    In theory, Dallas shouldn’t have a problem dealing with ice, but there are a lot of CA transplants.

    8 Bit Guy on YouTube lives up there, and he was still kvetching about the government response at the video game show in Austin in the Summer after the Feb. 2021 freeze, when his pipes burst after he abandoned his house during the power failures. You can see the saga on his channel.

  17. nick flandrey says:

    Oh boy.   I’ve got a noisy fan in my main desktop pc.   Suddenly with a scream like a girl, I don’t hear it.   Guess I’ll be opening that case later today.   

    Not now though, got stuff to do.

    n

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  18. drwilliams says:

    “Not to worry, sir. Mining asteroids is “just around the corner.””

    Can I choose where we land the asteroids to mine them?

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  19. Jenny says:

    @Ray

    Owing no entity a dime is critical.

    Agreed 100%. And something that’s hard to achieve and maintain without an exquisite and often missing level of self discipline. 
     

    We humans can be so foolish. One struggle we have in my family is the credit card that offers airline miles for spending. It’s a stupid trade because it invariably results in debt. I want to cut them up and never use them again. My husband in the past wanted to run every household expense thru them and pay off monthly. Predictably paying off monthly fails. We are on the right path currently but it took years of struggle to agree that the miles for spending  was a fools path. 
     

    House hunting in 2003 and in 2020, banks and realtors both pushed for higher spending. We bought looking at what could we afford to maintain, what level of taxes could we afford to pay in retirement, what could we afford in utilities. Two bathrooms means more hot water. Two floors and more square footage means more gas. Simple roof is less expensive to reshingle than a multi angled roof. And so on. We passed up houses that we could easily afford the mortgage because the upkeep of the property would have drowned us. 
     

    @SteveF

    I use that Dickens quote. I also appreciate how Twain addressed economics in “A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court”. The villages comparing wages while overlooking cost of living. That’s one the $20/minimum wage crowd doesn’t comprehend. It’s not the hourly wage, it’s inflation / devaluing of our dollar, that’s the culprit. And the same crowd agitating for wage increases are simultaneously lobbying for greater government handouts. What a disconnect in fundamental understanding of economic.

  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    Best  January?   Jan ’19 started with a low, a sharp low.   Closed up about 200 points by Feb.    At ~2700.

    This year started with a low, about 3800, and ended January at  ~4000.   

    Of course, you could compare to January ’22 with exactly as much validity.

    Jan ‘22 started around 4750 and ended ~4330.   Nice market “correction”.   and even with this January’s uptick, it’s still down ~10% over the last year.  Only up a couple hundred since Jan ’21.  

    That’s while real inflation for the things people buy is running at 20-30%.  And even if you use the .gov lies, S&P is barely keeping pace with inflation over the last 2 years.

    https://www.bloomberg.com/quote/SPX:IND 

    n

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  21. Nick Flandrey says:

    Stand by with the hammer.  I’m headed out.

    n

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  22. Vic says:

    You’re cherry-picking again. Do you know anyone investing in the S&P on the short timeframes you quoted? The S&P is up 46% over 5 years and something like 300% over 20 years. Which is the more realistic timeframe for working adults looking to fund their retirement: your 2 years or my 5 or 20 years?

    If you want to gamble in the short term, go to Vegas. For the long term, I believe in investing in America—and not in constant doom and gloom news. 

  23. MrAtoz says:

    Activate The Hammers of Bob!

  24. EdH says:

    I also live in a cheaper part of the country. We also do not drink wine or alcoholic beverages or waste money on cigarette. We don’t buy Starbucks coffee.

    Heh. Makes me wonder…

    “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, what does he do??”

    .https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o41A91X5pns

  25. Nick Flandrey says:

    You’re cherry-picking again.

    guess the “again” means this really is the troll called Non.   OF F#CKING COURSE I’m cherry picking.   That is the whole POINT of my comment.  The article cherry picked those two periods to compare so I picked some others.   You can infer anything you want to if you pick your data.

    I don’t care about the markets in any specific way anymore.   I believe it’s nothing but a casino that benefits insiders and some big fish to the detriment of retail investors.  I’m not alone in that belief, I’ve linked before to big and famous investors who have said much the same, while they were getting out of the markets.

    Any market that creates and destroys millions of notional dollars based on computer algorithms responding to tweets and headlines is no longer a rational investment, but has become gambling.

    I don’t gamble with my money.    Anyone else is free to do as they like and I wish them well.  

    n

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  26. ITGuy1998 says:

    CNBC: 

    S&P 500 gains on Tuesday as it heads for best January since 2019

    it’s not all doom-and-gloom out there. 

    How is this not cherry picking? Take your time, we’ll wait.

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  27. Ray Thompson says:

    My husband in the past wanted to run every household expense thru them and pay off monthly. Predictably paying off monthly fails.

    I have the opposite view. I run as much as I possibly can through my Costco credit card. I like the yearly check that is more than $600.00. I pay off my card weekly through the Citi website. In almost eight years I have not paid a cent in interest to Citi. Looking back 15 years I have not paid a cent in interest to any credit card company.

    For the long term, I believe in investing in America

    I have to agree with that sentiment. Stock markets are for long term investing, 10 or 15 years or longer. Historically the stock market has always out performed inflation and bank interest rates. The key is diversification, and getting an advisor that knows what they are doing, with lots of certifications and must be a fiduciary.

    I have done OK during the downturn. Much of my stuff is guaranteed principle and enjoying the gains. Downturns I loss the gains, but never the principle. In return the gains when the markets rises significantly I don’t get the big gains.

    I survived 2008 where I lost $250K. My advisor said to stay the course, don’t panic. It felt bad at times but I listened. I have gained all that back and then some, a couple of funds quite a lot.

    My requirement to my advisor was to protect the principle, reduce the taxes and moderate the risk. That risk reducing over time as I get closer to needing the money.

    “Don’t drink, don’t smoke, what does he do??”

    I photograph, I take trips with the RV, I travel, and even sub at the school. Yep, watching string burn is more exciting than my life.

  28. Vic says:

    How is this not cherry picking? Take your time, we’ll wait.

    Go back and read my comment about double or triple digit growth over the long term. To be clear, I’m aware you can find periods of significant loss or gain in the short term. My concern is the long term.

    The point was also to show good news, which never gets much attention here.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    CNBC: 

    S&P 500 gains on Tuesday as it heads for best January since 2019

    Preferred financial network of the sheeple the market fleeces regularly. Why not throw in some Cramer quotes while you are at it.

    The S&P technicals are mediocre on light volume. Lots of resistance here built over the last year so things are going to go sideways for a while. That’s an index heavily driven by mutual fund cash flows and algorithms more than economics.

    Oh, and before I forget:

    Ever.

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  30. drwilliams says:

    “Best January since 2019”

    Blatant cherry picking.

  31. MrAtoz says:

    Activate The Hammers of Bob before entrenchment takes place!

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  32. Nick Flandrey says:

    So discrimination, cancel culture, whatever you want to call it,

    – and again, we see a complete lack of understanding or discernment.  Cancel culture is not in and of itself discrimination.   Cancel culture attacks people for their beliefs, and seeks to punish them for their beliefs, not who or what they ARE.     Two different things.

    Instead of asking the question, does a company have the right to deny service to people, and under what circumstances?  which is a valid and interesting question, there is the straw man, and a red herring in the same attack.   

    MSG does not want the employees of law firms actively suing it to have access to its facilities.   That it is using facial recognition is interesting, but a side issue.   It could be data mining ticket purchase information, or using humans to recognize people entering the venues instead, or some combination of these things.   

    Does a company have a right to exclude people who have filed ‘slip and fall’ lawsuits or other injury claims against them?   Does a company have a right to exclude Republican lawmakers?  Does a company have the right to exclude blacks/jews/women/men/gays?  The left says yes to the second and no to the third.    

    WRT bashing lawyers, yeah, so what?  The left keeps telling us there are consequences for our choices while trying to avoid them for themselves.   If you are justified attacking KBR or Halliburton employees, tarring them with the same brush- to turn a phrase, why is it wrong for someone else to discriminate against the employees of a  company hostile to them?

    n

    nb- this is my only attempt to get something useful out of what I expect to degenerate quickly into trolling.   I didn’t hammer the two original comments BECAUSE this isn’t an echo chamber, despite having a high degree of certainty that they were from someone who has been banned from participating here.  Unfortunately “vic” has outed himself and thus will not be allowed to continue as he is a banned person.

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  33. Ray Thompson says:

    “Best January since 2019”

    Blatant cherry picking.

    Wait until the election campaign starts for sponge brain. He will be bragging about the economy improving while under his guidance. Of course forgetting to mention the economy crashed during his tenure and the improved is not even back to where the economy was before spongey destroyed the economy.

    Politicians always cherry pick.

    It’s all about spin and manipulating the numbers, or narrative.

    My portfolio is down about 3% from the peak, on paper. Some of those funds are guaranteed and have not really lost the principle, just have no gains, and the gains I did have from two years ago have vanished.

  34. RickH says:

    Ira “Bob” Born, who invented the machine that automated the making of Peeps, passed away recently.

    Rest in Peeps.

  35. Nick Flandrey says:

    Vic says:

    31 January 2023 at 13:51    

    So much rage. Get help, Nick. 

    Yep, there it is.  ‘Bye Felicia.

    n

    And it only took 45 minutes.

  36. Nick Flandrey says:

    Anyone with the hammer please use it while I’m out.

    n

  37. Mark W says:

    January is up!

    No, you can’t cherry-pick January!

    Seriously dude.

  38. Greg Norton says:

    WRT bashing lawyers, yeah, so what?  The left keeps telling us there are consequences for our choices while trying to avoid them for themselves.   If you are justified attacking KBR or Halliburton employees, tarring them with the same brush- to turn a phrase, why is it wrong for someone else to discriminate against the employees of a  company hostile to them?

    LBJ is well documented to have been a frequent flyer on KBR airplanes back in the day while running for Senate and then Vice President.

    I remember Bill Moyers going crazy on someone who asked him about his experiences traveling with the boss on the company’s airplanes at some speaking event in the last 20 years.

  39. Nick Flandrey says:

    The channel, [Fox News] which celebrated 15 years of broadcasting in October, topped CNBC with an average of 224,000 overall viewers during the business day hours from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern Time (6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Pacific Time), beating CNBC’s 209,000 total viewers during that same time period, according to Nielsen figures provided by the network.

    SO… CNBC has  209K viewers during the day.    A youtuber I watch posts pretty much daily, he has 1.78 MILLION subs, and his vids tend to get about 250K views in the first day or so… so he has as many daily viewers (roughly) as CNBC, but he also has a ‘long tail’ and his older vids keep racking up views– to the tune of 12M to 20M views.  MILLIONS.    

    He trims cows’ feet.   

    Just to put some perspective on cable channel viewership in 2023… 

    n

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  40. Ken Mitchell says:

    “Best January since 2019”

    Y’know, 2019 was only four years ago, and two of the intervening years were crazy.  I don’t think a “Best January since 2019” claim deserves much credence.  

    San Antonio Weather: the Winter Storm Warning has been extended south to the next row of counties including Bexar,  Guadalupe, Comal, Val Verde, Medina, Fayette, Wilson, and Gonzales Counties. And while it isn’t actually snowing, most Bexar county schools are closed for wintery temperatures.  Current temperature at almost 2PM:  33F.  

    One of the advantages of being retired is that I only need to leave the house once, to get the mail and feed the deer.  Hose bibs are already insulated, well house heater is already on, and there’s nothing I need to go to the store to get. 

  41. SteveF says:

    Stock market prices are not indexed to inflation, are they? If there’s been (conservative estimate) 15% price inflation from Jan 2019 to Jan 2023, then if the S&P or DJ aren’t 15% higher, they’ve lost ground.

  42. Lynn says:

    Wealth tax

    As I read it, the California version kicks in if you have a net worth over $1 billion. I’m not seeing how this is really a problem? It seems more like it’s more of a show for the sheep. First, there aren’t that many billionaires. Second, a billionaire can establish a residence wherever they want.

    Wealth accumulates, and causes problems in a society. The Kennedy clan, as an example. The Clintons, as another example. You don’t really want those dynasties to exist – they bring only negatives. Maybe a wealth tax is at least part of the solution.

    Sorry but this view is naive.  At first, the wealth tax will be for billionaires.  Then it will be for hundred millionaires.  Then it will be for millionaires.  Then it will be for thousandaires (all of us !). 

    Just look at the federal income tax.  First enacted for millionaires who would be called billionaires now.  Now everyone is supposed to file an income tax return.  So much paperwork that the IRS can not keep track of it (see articles about the IRS throwing away paper tax returns during the Koof).

    This is nothing but a money grab.  And the majority of the money is in the middle class. 

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  43. lpdbw says:

    indexed to inflation

    Oh, SteveF, there you go introducing facts into a debate.  You must be a racist.  Next thing you know, there’ll be some of that racist math stuff.  Then what happens?

    Never mind what real wages or stock market growth, indexed to inflation,  have done.

    Remember my rule on arguing with leftists:  The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.  Only feelings, impressions, and intentions matter.

    Which observation I had to come to myself, because my “educators” shielded me from Aristotle, who made basically the same observation 2000 years ago.  I only read it myself in his “Rhetoric” a couple years ago.

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  44. Lynn says:

    The key, in my opinion, to be able to live on that amount, is to be completely out of debt. No mortgage, no car loans, no credit card balances. Owing no entity a dime is critical. Interest rates consume a lot of money. I also live in a cheaper part of the country. We also do not drink wine or alcoholic beverages or waste money on cigarette. We don’t buy Starbucks coffee.

    My entire debt is two mortgages.  One on my home and one on my commercial property.  Their costs are about a third of our income.  The commercial mortgage will be paid off in about five years.   Sooner if the wife sells her father’s townhome in Carrollton, Texas.

  45. Lynn says:

    “Not to worry, sir. Mining asteroids is “just around the corner.””

    Can I choose where we land the asteroids to mine them?

    We will mine the asteroids in space.  And using solar ovens for smelters.

    No EPA. No OSHA. No etc, etc, etc.

  46. CowboyStu says:

    WRT Hammer:  I recall a big rig driver out on I40 saying:  “Meat wagon in the Hammer Lane!”

    It was an ambulance.

  47. Lynn says:

    “Annie Wersching, best known for her roles in the television shows Star Trek: Picard and 24 has passed away. She was 45.”

        https://www.etonline.com/annie-wersching-star-trek-and-24-actress-dead-at-45-198143

    “Wersching’s publicist confirmed the news ET Sunday, sharing that the actress passed after a battle with cancer. Her husband, actor Stephen Full also issued a statement, in which he reflected on the tremendous “hole” left behind in the wake of his wife’s death.”

    Great actress.  She was in “The Rookie” as a female serial killer recently.  I thought that she looked kinda stressed.

  48. Lynn says:

    SO… CNBC has  209K viewers during the day.    A youtuber I watch posts pretty much daily, he has 1.78 MILLION subs, and his vids tend to get about 250K views in the first day or so… so he has as many daily viewers (roughly) as CNBC, but he also has a ‘long tail’ and his older vids keep racking up views– to the tune of 12M to 20M views.  MILLIONS.    

    He trims cows’ feet.   

    My favorite episode was the Shetland pony in the stall for years.  The hooves were over a foot long and curled.  It was horrible.  He got the pony trimmed up the best he could and it went prancing all over the place.

  49. EdH says:

    Yep, watching string burn is more exciting than my life.

    Heh, yeah, star watching for me.  

    Though lately I am considering branching out into the exciting and energetic pasttime of bird watching, which can be done in the daytime.

  50. Greg Norton says:

    Great actress.  She was in “The Rookie” as a female serial killer recently.  I thought that she looked kinda stressed.

    Annie Wersching was a good Borg Queen in a “Picard” season filled with underutilized talent and/or callbacks to Stage 8/9 era storylines, starting with Jay Karnes.

    Scott Pilgrim’s drummer is the new Borg Queen. God help the Collective.

  51. EdH says:

    Well, well, well: net hypersonic thrust from a scramjet, enough to accelerate a vehicle from supersonic to hypersonic.

    https://newatlas.com/military/darpa-nails-latest-us-hypersonic-missile-test-flight/

    Its been a long time coming.  I remember a presentation in the 90s on scramjet tests (in Australia I believe).  At lunch, before the presentation, I mentioned to others at the table that it would be interesting to see if they had achieved “net thrust”.

    At the presentation the speaker started off with “To be clear we achieved sustained supersonic combustion but not net thrust…”

    It turns out the presenters were at the lunch table next to us.

  52. SteveF says:

    Oh, SteveF, there you go introducing facts into a debate.

    MrAtoZ is probably disappointed in you for missing the opportunity to call me a sweet Summer child.

  53. Greg Norton says:

    Just look at the federal income tax.  First enacted for millionaires who would be called billionaires now.  Now everyone is supposed to file an income tax return.  So much paperwork that the IRS can not keep track of it (see articles about the IRS throwing away paper tax returns during the Koof).

    Processing for 2021 returns didn’t start until ~ August of last year.

    The wealth tax proposal by that group of states is not about a wealth tax as much as poking precedent holes in WA State’s constitutional prohibition against income taxes during the inevitable lawsuits.

    Breach WA State’s prohbition, and all bets are off in Texas and, eventually, Florida.

  54. Alan says:

    >> Can I choose where we land the asteroids to mine them?

    Yeah, but Bruce Willis called ‘shotgun.’ 

  55. Alan says:

    >> Though lately I am considering branching out into the exciting and energetic pasttime of bird watching, which can be done in the daytime.

    “…branching out…bird watching…” uhh huh. 

    Easier to do it though from the comfort of your recliner using Google Image search. 

  56. Lynn says:

    “B***H, YOU’RE NOT GONNA TALK TO ME LIKE THAT: Deranged Ninth-Grade Female Student In Georgia Viciously Assaults Her Teacher (VIDEO)”

         https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/bh-not-gonna-talk-like-deranged-ninth-grade-female-student-georgia-viciously-assaults-teacher-video/

    “This is a scene that has become all too common in classrooms across America: students not only showing blatant disrespect for authority but also emboldened enough to resort to physical violence. A ninth-grader in Georgia became the latest when she issued a beating so bad her teacher ended up with a broken leg.”

    One hopes that the 9th grade student is in jail right now.  But, I doubt it.

    The 9th grader is a future dumbrocrat voter in Georgia.  No wonder that place has gone to the dogs.

  57. Greg Norton says:

    Do you know anyone investing in the S&P on the short timeframes you quoted? The S&P is up 46% over 5 years and something like 300% over 20 years.

    With all the hammering, I didn’t think to check the math.

    46% over 5 years is 7.86% per year.

    300% over 20 years is 5.65% per year.

    If you believe these to be good returns, I think you need a new money manager. You’re getting screwed if he’s charging the usual 2% of assets under management, an effective rate of 35% of the gains annually over the 20 year period.

    And maybe consider a math textbook.

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  58. Greg Norton says:

    The 9th grader is a future dumbrocrat voter in Georgia.  No wonder that place has gone to the dogs.

    The voting problem in Georgia is the suburbs north of Atlanta, where the stay-at-home mommies still believe that “Joe and Kamala understand – ‘we’ worked hard for this money”.

    As long as there is gas for the German grocery getter and the mortgage gets paid, they’ll continue to believe. 

    They went to the factory to pick the X5.

  59. paul says:

    This weather isn’t so great.  Could be worse.  I have faucets dripping because I’d rather waste the water than have to crawl around in the mud to fix a broken thing.  That would suck in the summer, but now?  It’s 28F.

    It’s been hanging about 28F here in the hinterlands of Beautiful Downtown Burnet.  26 to 30.  The EDC has eight inch icicles hanging from the roof.  Pretty.  I saw some snow earlier, just a few flakes.

    On the plus side, the dogs don’t want to wander all over, like to the gate and back, to bark at whatever they bark at.  It’s pretty much a go outside and drain a few times and sniff around before expelling processed food.  Then of course a bit of messing with the cats.  But then, right back into the house and curled up on the sofa.

    Even with no sunshine, just getting out of the wind makes a big difference. 

  60. Greg Norton says:

    300% over 20 years is 5.65% per year.

    Looking again, you must have meant 300% added to the initial investment. e^(LN(4)/20). Ok. 7.18%. 

    That’s still garbage, but it is your inheritance to invest as your advisor sees fit.

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  61. Lynn says:

    “Emergence” by David R. Palmer 
       https://www.amazon.com/Emergence-David-R-Palmer/dp/0553255193?tag=ttgnet-20/ (1984 MMPB)
    and
       https://www.amazon.com/Emergence-David-R-Palmer/dp/194881806X?tag=ttgnet-20/ (2018 trade paperback)

    Book number one of a two book apocalyptic science fiction young adult series. I reread the POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press in 2018. I also have the MMPB published by Ballantine in 1984 that I purchased in 1985, one of my few books that survived The Great Flood of 1989. It may be yellowed and the back broken in three places but it is still very readable. The book was first serialized in Analog magazine in 1981 and nominated for the Hugo and Nebula awards. I am rereading the second book in the series, “Tracking”, now. Spider Robinson claims that there is a third book in the series but I have seen nothing of it.

    Somewhere in the very late 1800s or early 1900s, the human race forked. The new race, Homo Post Hominem, was immune to all human diseases, faster, stronger, smarter, etc. And, the new race traits were dominant in breeding. The Russian Homo Sapiens realized this and started a bionuclear war in 1988 to cleanse the Earth of the Homo Post Hominems. They did succeed in killin 99.999% of the Homo Sapiens on the planet but virtually none of the Homo Post Hominems.

    Candidia (Candy) Foster-Smith is a precocious 11 year old girl who was adopted by Dr. and Mrs. Foster after her parents were killed in a car wreck. She is one of the few survivors of the planet wide bionuclear war in the late 1900s. The book is her diary of surviving the war. And, she is one of the several thousand Homo Post Hominems on the Earth. She spent the first three months of the war in her father’s bomb shelter in Wisconsin then took off in a 4WD van looking for other survivors.

    Candy does have a retarded, adoptive twin brother, Terry D. Foster, who also survived the bionuclear war. D is for Dactyll. Terry is a 36 inch tall Hyacinthine Macaw who adores Candy and follows her everywhere.

    BTW, to quote Jon Schild’s and Kurt Busiek’s 2008 conversation on the availability of the “Emergence” MMPB book:
    “Since the original post quoted above, I have looked for “Emergence” but failed to find it. Any hints?”
    “No idea. There are copies for sale at Amazon, but they’re frickin’ expensive.”
    “You can’t have mine; I stole it from the Scott Meredith Literary Agency fair and square.”
    “You cannot have my copy either. I paid $3.50 for it somewhere in 1985. However, the Amazon used book price is $50.61.”

    The book was subsequently republished by Eric Flint’s Ring of Fire Press in trade paperback in 2018 along with the second book in the series. Unfortunately, the new printing of the dead tree and ebook versions seems to have disappeared with the passing of Eric Flint.

    My rating: 6 out of 5 stars (this is one of my thirty top ten books)
    Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (254 reviews)

  62. Lynn says:

    With all the hammering, I didn’t think to check the math.

    Sorry, I was triggered by the personal attacks on Nick.  Automatic hammer for me.

    I hope that the troll(s) get some mental help. They direly need it.

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  63. lpdbw says:

    The facts, although interesting, are irrelevant.  

    Ok, my comment above with this quote in it got four upvotes, and one downvote.

    Unless it was the troll, I’d be interested in knowing why the downvote.   

    Hate me?

    Hate criticism of the primary argument style of liberals?

    Hate the idea that someone knows there are fact-free arguers?  It’s not actually restricted to liberals, just so very common there in my personal experience.

    Just hate the quote?  Which, incidentally, is attributed to Einstein, although, as I point out, Aristotle wrote about the phenomenon much earlier. 

    Since I am not abusive, petty, or acrimonious beyond the normal levels, I am sincerely interested in the reason for the downvote.  It might even lead to me changing my mind about something.  Unlikely at this point, but possible.

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  64. Ken Mitchell says:

    Lynn; if you find that 3rd book in the “Emergence” series, please post an advisory, because we both loved “Emergence”, and my wife was a volunteer proofreader for “Tracking”.

    I would concur with your 6 stars rating. 

  65. Lynn says:

    Ok, my comment above with this quote in it got four upvotes, and one downvote.

    Unless it was the troll, I’d be interested in knowing why the downvote.   

    Every time the troll(s) show up, I see lots of down votes.  So take those with a grain of salt.  

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  66. Lynn says:

    ERCOT is doing an awesome job of hanging in there ever though the so-called renewables are an absolute disaster as usual.  I mean, producing 5,000 MW all day long for the 38,000 MW of solar and windmills is an absolute disaster in my book.  If you cannot produce electric power for the Texas grid during tough times then why should we let you produce power for the Texas grid during the good times ?

    Nuclear is running 5,000 MW, natural gas and oil is running 43,000 MW, and coal is running 11,000 MW.  The current demand is 66,000 MW and ERCOT thinks that is going to increase to 68,000 MW over the next couple of hours.  The minimum demand since midnight was 55,000 MW, that is an incredible amount of natural gas, oil, and coal.  Billions of cubic feet of natural gas, tens of millions of gallons of crude, and maybe a hundred thousand tons of coal.  Just since midnight !

       https://www.ercot.com/gridmktinfo/dashboards

  67. MrAtoz says:

    MrAtoZ is probably disappointed in you for missing the opportunity to call me a sweet Summer child.

    In the summertime, when the weather is high
    Mr. SteveF can stretch right up and touch the sky…

  68. Greg Norton says:

    Nuclear is running 5,000 MW, natural gas and oil is running 43,000 MW, and coal is running 11,000 MW.  The current demand is 66,000 MW and ERCOT thinks that is going to increase to 68,000 MW over the next couple of hours.  The minimum demand since midnight was 55,000 MW, that is an incredible amount of natural gas, oil, and coal.  Billions of cubic feet of natural gas, tens of millions of gallons of crude, and maybe a hundred thousand tons of coal.  Just since midnight !

    People were home today, with many businesses closed.

    Most businesses and the schools are closed around here tomorrow.

  69. Lynn says:

    In the summertime, when the weather is high
    Mr. SteveF can stretch right up and touch the sky…

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvUQcnfwUUM

    Now those are muttonchops !

  70. MrAtoz says:

    Well, Killer Baldwin has been charged. It’s in the hands of a jury and judge now.

  71. MrAtoz says:

    St. Phillips College here in SA is closed tomorrow.

  72. Greg Norton says:

    Well, Killer Baldwin has been charged. It’s in the hands of a jury and judge now.

    Trial Science.

  73. Nick Flandrey says:

    and one downvote.

    what people are actually voting for was the subject of some discussion when the system debuted.     All of the things you listed could be possible, and there is no way to know, if it was the idea expressed, the way it was expressed, or the person expressing it.   

    I wouldn’t sweat it too much.  The ratio is still good!

    n

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  74. MrAtoz says:

    Was The Hammer activated?

  75. ech says:

    Pfizer flatly denied conducting gain of function 

    To be fair, what they were supposedly doing is not gain of function research. GoF research for respiratory viruses involves passing viruses through mice with “humanized” lungs over many generations and looking for mutations that make it more likely to infect humans. That is what the NGO did at Wuhan with NIH money to bypass the moratorium on federally funded GoF research.

  76. Greg Norton says:

    To be fair, what they were supposedly doing is not gain of function research. GoF research for respiratory viruses involves passing viruses through mice with “humanized” lungs over many generations and looking for mutations that make it more likely to infect humans. That is what the NGO did at Wuhan with NIH money to bypass the moratorium on federally funded GoF research.

    You would think Pfizer had better things to do. The report on endocarditis and their jab was due at the beginning of January.

  77. Nick Flandrey says:

    @ech, while technically the case, I’m not sure I trust them  when they parse the words so carefully.    

    Who am I kidding, I don’t trust them at all.   My money is the on the truth being closer to what the guy bragged to his date, than the lawyer approved statement.

    n

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  78. Mark W says:

    Disclaimer: not a biologist

    If not GoF, were they not “engineering” for an outcome similar to GoF? That’s what their description sounded like to me.

  79. Mark W says:

    Nuclear should be at least 20,000 MW of that. Or more. 

  80. EdH says:

    Re; David Palmer and Emergence. 

    I had no idea there was a 2nd or 3rd book.  I’d be very interested in reading them myself.  

    Its been decades since I read it, so I’m not sure how well Emergence has stood the test of time.

  81. EdH says:

    Here in the California High Desert the NWS has raised their estimate for tonight from 20F to 25F, but lowered tomorrow’s to the same 25F.

    This is actually normal winter weather, so no complaints. 

    A text from my brother in Carson City says he saw -2.5F last night, so…

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  82. Nick Flandrey says:

    The actual charging documents for the bad Baldwin make for interesting reading.   As someone who worked in the industry, and someone who reviewed the relevant safety protocols after the accident, I take issue with several of the statements made by the DA in the documents.    Parts of it read like a blind man describing the elephant…  they’ve been told how stuff is supposed to work on a set, but they keep running it thru their own filters and mindset.   It’s in the language they use, and the unconscious biases expressed in their statements.   

    It’s also strange the way the charges are offered.   EITHER he did it during the commission of an unlawful act, or he did it during the commission of a lawful act.   Doesn’t seem right that the DA can have it both ways.  Pick one and make the case.  

    We’ll see how it plays out.  One thing is fairly certain, NM won’t be having any more film work involving anything “potentially dangerous.”   I wouldn’t take work there for any amount of money.

    n

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11698945/Read-Alex-Baldwins-damning-involuntary-manslaughter-charging-documents-full.html

  83. Nick Flandrey says:

    Currently 38F on the west side of Houston.   Or Northwest Houston is it’s commonly described for some reason.

    n

  84. Jenny says:

    Filed my 2022 taxes today. Reviewed my 1040’s from the last eight years,made a list of what documents from whom I receive. Verified I really had all my documents and filed. 
     

    Tried to file my ten year olds. She has unearned income from the 2022 Alaska Permanent Fund Dividend. It was over $3,000 this year. $2,100 is a magical number for unearned income and the IRS. The IRS is taxing unearned income of minors at the parents rate when it exceeds $2,100. Nice chaps. Glad my ten year old can participate at an adult level with her paltry dollars. 
     

    Irritating. Because it is unearned income I don’t think there are any contributions I can make to reduce her tax burden. 

  85. Nick Flandrey says:

    The IRS is taxing unearned income of minors at the parents rate when it exceeds $2,100.

    – nice that they bake it into the cake that you are stealing the kid’s money by assuming your tax rate for it.

    n

  86. Nick Flandrey says:

    Huh.   Won another telescope.   Chinese ‘beginner’ scope, 

    “Gskyer Telescope, 70mm Aperture 400mm AZ Mount Astronomical Refracting Telescope for Kids Beginners – Travel Telescope with Carry Bag, Phone Adapter and Wireless Remote. Quality Optics: 400mm(f/5.7) focal length and 70mm aperture, fully coated optics glass lens with high transmission coatings creates stunning images and protect your eyes. Perfect telescope for astronomers to explore stars and moon. Magnification: Come with two replaceable eyepieces and one 3x Barlow lens.3x Barlow lens trebles the magnifying power of each eyepiece. 5×24 finder scope with mounting bracket and cross-hair lines inside make locating objects easily.”

    – it might be easier for the kids to use than the dob, and probably easier to point at stuff, and for $22.50 plus tax and fees, I didn’t think I could say no.  Supposed to be new in box.

    I think I have enough telescopes for a whole party now, in varying sizes and styles.  May be time to actually read Bob’s book.    Or at least watch a youtube or something.

    n

  87. Jenny says:

    @Nick

    Yeah, and according to some quick Google-Fu, 24% of Alaska’s estimated 733,000 residents are under 18. 

    Median household income in Alaska is $80,000. Say 150,000 children under 18 received a PFD in 2022.  Most of those folks are going to fall into the effective tax rate of 15%, with standard deductions. That bumps the tax burden on the child from about $215 to around $330 this year.

    That’s an extra $17 million dollars for our Federal government to waste, from the pockets of our minors.

    Pretty special.

  88. Greg Norton says:

    The IRS is taxing unearned income of minors at the parents rate when it exceeds $2,100.

    Teach them young.

    At least the schools aren’t showing the kids how to use the forms to report the parents as tax cheats.

    Yet.

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