Colder, and still damp. Not a pleasant combination when you are carrying around a bunch of damaged bits and pieces. I’ve been moving away from cold climates since I was 20. Yesterday was nice until about 8pm then the temp dropped. 47F when I went to bed. Misty drizzle periodically throughout the day too.
Did three pickups, chatted with folks at two. Both agreed that the weirdness seems to be increasing. I think the distractions have a frantic sense to them, as they become less effective over time. After all, we’ve gone from accepting gay marriage to cutting off kids’ genitalia and stopping them from having puberty in TEN years. (H/T JW) Distractions have to be pretty freaking big when the people have learned to ignore something like that. Pretty soon a mushroom cloud over Ohio isn’t even enough.
Pay attention. Improve your situation. Have somewhere to go. Avoid notice. Pull your circle in tight.
Today I’ve got a couple of pickups to do. I bought a concrete saw to use at the BOL. I need something to help me up there and it was cheaper than a single blade. I hope it runs without too much trouble. I would like to pick it up on my way out of town, it’s in the right direction, but don’t know if I’ll get the rest of my stuff done. Not even sure if I’m headed out today or tomorrow. I will be ‘playing it by ear’.
The list at the BOL needs some attention, and it needs it with increasing urgency. So I will head that way and do those things. Maybe, I’ll get the crawdad traps in the water, and I’ll get some bugs. That would be a nice surprise.
Then I just need to stack the butter and seasoning for the boil!
Stack it up, for all values of ‘it’.
nick
Brrrrr. 38F and 67%RH this morning. That is unpleasantly cold.
Definitely want the coffee. Wants it, the precious…
n
Paramount+ inserted an ad for “Wolf Pack” into “Picard”.
We also saw a long ad for Pfizer’s Covid “medication” starring Pink, Jean Smart, Michael Phelps, and Questlove.
Phelps looked like he needed help for something. Jean Smart is 73 and she looked healthier than the Olympic athlete.
Strange, no Comirnaty ads?
Realize it is a rhetorical question.
Go watch the Pfizer exec’s hissy fit video at Project Veritas while you can. Once O’Keefe is fired, all of it will go away.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5n7RRKgDog
Hissy. Fit.
crypto mining must be done. MicroCenter has graphics cards on sale.
n
RE TV shows:
Wolf Pack – I like it, but it is starting to drag. Get on with it already.
The Last of Us – I love it. Two tear jerker episodes very well done.
Picard – Will watch tonight.
Will Trent – Good cop show.
National Treasure – Liked it. Catherine Zeta-Jones was over the top and funny. Hope it gets a 2nd.
The Rookie – Nathan Fillion good as usual.
Mayfair Witches – Just started it with D4, may have potential.
The Bad Batch – Like it, yes I’m a cartoon nerd.
…..
I’m currently binging Bones on Hulu. Loved that show. David Boreanaz has TV staying power. Buffy, Angel, Bones and now Seal Team. I hope he keeps going.
Seen on AoSHQ this morning:
“J.D. Vance sure did hit the ground running. He’s looking like a champ in the very early going. Safe to drink? The bastard child of Predator and the Toxic Avenger wouldn’t drink that with Gene Simmons’ tongue and Kamala Harris swallowing.”
“Hogwarts Legacy” on Steam.
Worth watching:
CHRIS STAPLETON REFLECTS ON INCREDIBLE SUPER BOWL NATIONAL ANTHEM, REVEALS HE PROBABLY WON’T EVER WATCH IT
Whitney’s version is also great. Every time I hear her rendition of I Will Always Love You I get goosebumps. I may watch The Body Guard tonight. A favorite movie.
I’m going to make a point of catching the Whitney Houston biopic when it hits Redbox just to see the Super Bowl performance and the original Tampa Stadium digital re-creation.
Hillsborough County taxpayers were still paying on the Old Sombrero when the Yucs and local decision makers razed it to build Raymond James Stadium.
LOL! Why are the murders all wearing “masks”:
BREAKING NEWS: Five Memphis cops appear in court on second degree murder charges for beating death of Tyre Nichols: Officers come face to face with his family for the first time
Maybe they’re afraid they’ll get lead poisoning. Lead does fly through the air, you know.
Our best guess about the origins of Covid at our house was that we picked it up in Memphis during our abbreviated trip this past summer.
The most likely venue was at Graceland in the rain with everyone huddled under the bus shelter at the end of the mansion tour.
We may pick up where we left off in Nashville in November, but that’s going to be even more of a roll of the dice in terms of weather.
Someone once said the secret to a good relationship with a woman was to “Find one that’s not crazy… Unfortunately, they’re ALL crazy.”
Well, that may or may not be true, but this one certainly is…
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/02/17/14/67799217-11763293-image-m-19_1676644149821.jpg
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11763293/Serial-killer-obsessed-mother-stabbed-boyfriend-death-convicted-murder.html
Dr Drew always maintained that anyone with serious numbers of tattoos or body mods was suffering from mental issues.
Run away fellas.
n
“We Will Still Need Fossil Fuels In 2050–AEP’s U-Turn”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/17/we-will-still-need-fossil-fuels-in-2050-aeps-u-turn/
“The $190 trillion (£155 trillion) global economy runs on a legacy infrastructure of fossil fuels. Three quarters of British homes are heated exclusively by gas. The fleet of 1.5 billion vehicles on the roads today will depend on petrol and diesel for a long time. Ditto for aviation and maritime fleets. Steel, cement, chemical, and fertiliser plants can be decarbonised but for now they run on fossils.”
The cost to decarbonize is at least 10X the cost of fossil fuels. Including nuclear as we have not figured out yet how to control nuclear’s costs.
“Old fields are depleting. Few new projects coming on stream. Shale drillers have tapped the best seams in the Permian. The “expected ultimate recovery” of wells has dropped this year for the first time since the fracking boom began.”
And here we go with the Peak Oil stuff again.
“Investment in nuclear, renewables, and electrification has not compensated. It needs to rise by a factor 2.4 this decade to plug the gap. “The world is underinvesting in all forms of energy,” said Columbia University’s Jason Bordoff.”
We need to invest in nuclear big time.
“Own the Anker 535 Power Bank? It May Burst Into Flames”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/own-the-anker-535-power-bank-it-may-burst-into-flames
“The faulty power bank has already caused one house fire in Maryland.”
I wonder if Ford is putting these in their EV trucks ?
Neck tattoos are always a bad sign IMHO.
A lot of people want to get their strange on, however, both men and women.
Scott Johnson ends today’s entry at Powrrlineblog:
“The Biden administration is a nightmare of malice, falsehood, uncertainty, infirmity, ineptitude, incompetence, and ignorance from the top down.”
He left out incontinence, and idiocy, just to add a couple “i’s”
The really scary part is that only 15,000 are out rolling around at this time.
With Ford’s track record of technical competance over the last 20 years, we’re safer.
Bah. If we randomly shoot a Greenpeace or Sierra Club member in the head every day that a nuke plant’s approval is delayed, the cost of setting up a site will be halved.
Over The Hedge: Poop Bags
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2023/02/17
That is not going to work in the short run or the long run.
GM had 60,000 Bolts out before they issued a recall for every single one.
“Proposed distribution transformer standards ‘could significantly impact’ grid reliability, utilities warn DOE”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/doe-efficiency-distribution-transformers-eei-appa/642912/
“Utilities and efficiency advocates have staked out opposing positions ahead of a Thursday meeting with the U.S. Department of Energy to discuss proposed efficiency standards for distribution transformers – a vital piece of equipment the power sector is struggling to keep in sufficient numbers amid supply chain constraints.”
Sure, change the standards on operating equipment that currently has a 1.5 year backlog. What could go wrong ?
“I’m currently binging Bones on Hulu. Loved that show. David Boreanaz has TV staying power. Buffy, Angel, Bones and now Seal Team. I hope he keeps going.”
I am currently binging “The X-Files” – season 9, “Better Call Saul” – season 1 (3rd try) and “Wolf Pack”. I will try season 3 of Picard tomorrow if I have time.
I never could get into Bones.
The really scary part is that only 15,000 are out rolling around at this time.
The F-150 EV is a totally new vehicle under the body and hood. Teething pains are to be expected even though they drove engineering samples over 10 million miles.
I am surprised that they are having battery problems though. I suspect that the refrigerant based battery cooling is having problems. Not good. That means flow diverters and other such devices that tend to wear out over time.
“I’m currently binging Bones on Hulu. Loved that show. David Boreanaz has TV staying power. Buffy, Angel, Bones and now Seal Team. I hope he keeps going.”
I am currently binging “The X-Files” – season 9, “Better Call Saul” – season 1 (3rd try) and “Wolf Pack”. I will try season 3 of Picard tomorrow if I have time.
I never could get into Bones.
I forgot, I am binging “Lie To Me” also.
I am driving my F-150 4×4 up to Norman, OK on Sunday to attend an engineering conference. Hopefully find a new customer or two. I need a dozen. I am staying through Thursday next week.
As per the rule, when I drive a 4×4, there is zero snow and ice forecast. If I took one of our 2WDs, there would be three inches of ice and three feet of snow all the way there and all the way back.
Don’t worry about missing anything from the first two seasons of “Picard” before watching the first episode of the new season.
It does help to have seen Stage 8/9 era Trek to really appreciate some of the sight gags, however, starting with Bev’s pearls and Jack Crusher’s suitcase in the opening shot.
And “First Contact” for the musical cues from the first notes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CKGv6uvvQ4c
RIP Stella Stevens. The pinups of my youth are starting to pass.
“Biden is a liar, and these financial documents prove it.”
https://www.sovereignman.com/podcast/biden-is-a-liar-and-these-financial-documents-prove-it-145874/
“There’s hardly anything that POTUS loves to brag about more than his ‘economic success’. He is, after all, a self-proclaimed “capitalist”. Even in last week’s State of the Union address, he boldly claimed that he “cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion– the largest deficit reduction in American history.” And he’s made that same assertion over and over and over again. Unfortunately it’s a complete lie. And just yesterday the Treasury Department released financial documents proving it.”
“It turns out that the FY22 Net Operating Cost of the federal government was MINUS $4.1 trillion. And that figure was MUCH worse than FY21’s Net Operating Cost of $3.1 trillion. So this guy did not, in fact, “cut the deficit”. The real deficit, as determined by Net Operating Cost, INCREASED by a trillion dollars.”
We, the USA, are in serious trouble. “The Mandibles” book financial apocalypse is coming closer and closer.
>> There are several catalytic converter anti-theft devices on Amazon, see here.
An SLC TV station did a review of various types last year – see here
The only anti-theft deterrent is the additional time the thief spends under the vehicle cutting off the anti-theft device. And when that becomes too much trouble, they’ll just resort to hauling away the vehicle using a flatbed tow truck.
>> “Hobby Club’s Missing Balloon Feared Shot Down By USAF”
https://aviationweek.com/defense-space/aircraft-propulsion/hobby-clubs-missing-balloon-feared-shot-down-usaf
“A small, globe-trotting balloon declared “missing in action” by an Illinois-based hobbyist club on Feb. 15 has emerged as a candidate to explain one of the three mystery objects shot down by four heat-seeking missiles launched by U.S. Air Force fighters since Feb. 10. ”
Oops.
From the article…
Executive Order to remove exemption coming in 5…4…3…2…1
Make the cost too high, and the thefts will stop. Shooting the thieves cut down horse theft…
And make every recycler who accepts cats post a million dollar bond, forfeit for a single stolen cat without paperwork…
n
>> Something similar happens with aging plastic tool handles, particularly from Xcelite and Craftsman. The plastic starts to break down and smells like vomit. Xcelite are the worst, in old cases you can see the discoloration around the decomposing handles. Craftsman, you can soak the handle in water with Simple Green until a white outer layer forms and softens. Remove that layer, then dip the handle in acetone to create a new ‘skin’ sealing the handle. You’ll get another 10 to 15 years at least out of them after doing that.
Hmm, I have two (orange?) Xcelite handles for interchangeable screwdriver blades that are 35-40 years old and are in excellent condition.
Also a number of ChannelLock pliers of similar age with the blue coated handles still in good shape. And a Stanley steel hammer with a rubber handle that was my dad’s and is probably 50 years old and still serviceable. Finally “retired it” and put it aside as a ‘family keepsake.’
>> Dr Drew always maintained that anyone with serious numbers of tattoos or body mods was suffering from mental issues.
Define “serious numbers.” Asking for a friend…
>> I am currently binging “The X-Files” – season 9, “Better Call Saul” – season 1 (3rd try) and “Wolf Pack”. I will try season 3 of Picard tomorrow if I have time.
Don’t give up on BCS…on par with, if not better than Breaking Bad…really top-notch.
>> I forgot, I am binging “Lie To Me” also.
@lynn, how is it so far? Wife has it on our list but we haven’t gotten to it yet.
Oh, and we just finished Tulsa King…not too bad if you’re a Stallone fan.
>> Dr Drew always maintained that anyone with serious numbers of tattoos or body mods was suffering from mental issues.
Define “serious numbers.” Asking for a friend…
It also depends on why you got the tattoos and body mods. For instance, my wife got a tattoo (faded away now) and two body mods from breast cancer treatments.
>> I forgot, I am binging “Lie To Me” also.
@lynn, how is it so far? Wife has it on our list but we haven’t gotten to it yet.
“Lie To Me” is freaking awesome. Too bad it is only three seasons. I am at the end of the first season, the wife has finished it.
“California loses 500,000 residents in 2 years as Americans flee high costs, COVID restrictions”
https://www.foxnews.com/us/california-loses-500000-residents-2-years-americans-flee-high-costs-covid-restrictions
“California’s population fell by 500,000 people between April 2020 and July 2022 as residents fled the state in droves to find greener pastures. Census data showed migration out of the state surpassed those coming into the state by more than 700,000 throughout the two-year period, according to the Los Angeles Times. California’s major cities have been plagued with homelessness, crime and skyrocketing housing costs, causing many residents to flee to nearby states like Utah, Nevada and even Texas.”
Lynn writes:
And I was right there on the leading edge! August 2020 was the great migration from Sacramento, Cacafornia to San Antonio, TEXAS.
>> It also depends on why you got the tattoos and body mods.
Tattoos were my “midlife crisis.” I have a few, but none, except the last one, are visible if I’m wearing long pants and a polo shirt, so the work dress code was never an issue. A long sleeve shirt covers the last one, but by the time I got it the work dress code had been relaxed to allow ‘G-rated’ visible ink. Nothing on the neck or above though. Mine is just some text on my arm so no concerns. Oh, and I passed on any of the body mods. And I don’t regret not buying the “red convertible sports car.”
I suspect the tattoos = crazy rule is subject to some nuance nowadays.
My 18 year old granddaughter has at least 2 tattoos and a few piercings.
But she’s modern, tattoos are more acceptable to young’un’s, and both of her parents are mostly-recovering addicts with several tattoos.
So in that environment, it can be justified as fashion, not necessarily a symptom.
Not that I believe it, myself. What’s happening is that a reasonably effective metric for identifying stupidity/illness has been diluted.
Personally, I’d err on the side of caution. More than pierced ears and a discreet butterfly tattoo, and I’ll pass.
From the Kamel today…TPTB let her be briefly interviewed by MSNBC…
Wait, no, the Chinese thought it was plenty helpful.
My son was in the US Marines Corps for eight years. Most of his buddies had tattoos or got them in the Corps. But the Corps starting coming down hard on sleeve tattoos so the guys were hiding them with long sleeve shirts all the time. No neck or face tattoos allowed though. He thinks that tattoos are somewhat addictive.
Personally, I’d err on the side of caution. More than pierced ears and a discreet butterfly tattoo, and I’ll pass.
I guess that pierced ears could be considered a body mod.
Dr Drew’s thing with females with piercings/body mods, and lots of tatts was that it was almost always a sign of sexual abuse. He described it as the person getting control of some aspects of her body, when she had a history of not having control of her body.
And that was 15 years ago, fashion has come a long way. Look at lotti moss for example though and tell me there isn’t a history there. “Not Yours” tattooed on her @ss… just one example.
“issues” not always crazy.
n
And I don’t regret not buying the “red convertible sports car.”
I regret selling my 1995 Honda Nighthawk 750 and buying a 2003 Honda Valkyrie.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_CB750#Nighthawk_750
Wait, I regret selling my 750 but not buying the Valkyrie. The Valkyrie was plain fun. Just too dadgum hot in south Texas in the summer with that radiator and 12 inch fan in the front. But the 100 hp Valkyrie would smoke anything but a superbike.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Valkyrie
I would like to have my 750 again.
Hmm, Plugs didn’t mention this in his speech to the nation yesterday…
US tracked Chinese balloon from launch, may have accidentally drifted: Official
You got a tramp stamp, didn’t you?
Also, thanks heaps for putting that image in my mind. Ugh.
>> My son was in the US Marines Corps for eight years. Most of his buddies had tattoos or got them in the Corps. But the Corps starting coming down hard on sleeve tattoos so the guys were hiding them with long sleeve shirts all the time. No neck or face tattoos allowed though. He thinks that tattoos are somewhat addictive.
Yup.
I’m not entirely ink free, but I’m old enough now to recognize that tattoos themselves are a fashion, and the style and subjects are fashion too. Fashion is by definition temporary, and tattoos by definition are permanent. Something here doesn’t add up to long term happiness.
Most of the people my age who I’ve asked about their tatts regret either the subject matter, the placement, or the tatt itself.
I know a LOT of people who have had rework done to change them over the years.
n
>> I have a few, but none, except the last one, are visible if I’m wearing long pants and a polo shirt
You got a tramp stamp, didn’t you?
Also, thanks heaps for putting that image in my mind. Ugh.
Sorry Steve, no tramp stamp.
Try a cold shower.
>> Most of the people my age who I’ve asked about their tatts regret either the subject matter, the placement, or the tatt itself.
I only regret one tattoo, and only because it didn’t hold up well over time due to its design.
I spent 21 years in the Navy, including 3 years at Subic Bay, RP. If anybody SHOULD have gotten inked, it would have been me.
But the easiest way to avoid tattoo regret is to never get a tattoo. Not even one. Tats are a personal choice, and my choice was “Nope!”
When I said that people wanted to get their strange on, I meant that a decent percentage of the population would want to have sex with the dominatrix tattooed woman regardless of the signs that said “stay away” … like the extensive “ink” on her neck.
Good. Fast. Cheap.
Pick any two.
Wide but not universal application.
“Russia’s Death Toll From Ukraine War Is as High as 60,000, U.K. Says”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/russias-death-toll-from-ukraine-war-is-as-high-as-60-000-u-k-says-14305ba5
“U.K. Defense Ministry estimates that more than 200,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded since the start of the invasion”
“Kyiv doesn’t reveal figures on its dead and wounded, though Western officials have estimated some 100,000 casualties among Ukrainian troops. Valery Zaluzhny, commander-in-chief of its armed forces, said in August that Ukraine had lost nearly 9,000 soldiers in the war.”
Wow. This could have been avoided. Maybe.
Hat tip to:
https://www.drudgereport.com/
Starting to cut out the deadwood.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11724079/Goodbye-anti-bias-training-DEI-teams-axed-diversity-RECKONING.html
n
Ace cited a 2015 article which contains:
https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2015/07/27/wind-farms-use-fossil-fuels-for-construction-and-operation/#:~:text=The%20blades%20are%20made%20of,of%20oil%20and%20natural%20gas
Wind turbines are getting bigger, so the raw materials per megawatt may vary a bit with size.
The statement:
“The other thing about renewables is that they cannot produce the intensity of heat required to not only build turbines but just about anything else that makes the modern world modern.”
is not exactly correct, inasmuch as every step of manufacturing could theoretically be converted from fossil fuels to wind/solar electricity with batteries. The economics wouldn’t work, and although Soros, Kerry, and a few others wouldn’t notice, the rest of us would be in huts with mud floors. There might be some solace in knowing that Barry and Michelle and 99% of the pols would be surprised to find themselves in mud huts when they thought they’d be ruling, but not much.
All this is preamble to what really turned my crank in that article:
“author Robert Bryce tells, if all the coal-fired generation capacity in the US were to be replaced by wind, it would need to set aside land the size of Italy”
I looked him up:
“Robert Bryce is a Texas-based author”
https://robertbryce.com/smaller-faster-lighter-denser-cheaper%E2%80%A8/
So my first guess was wrong, he’s not a lazy sodding Brit.
Size of Italy is what? I’ve been there, but I don’t have a good handle on the size, so the comparison is bloody useless. I looked Italy up, and it’s a bit over 116,000 square miles.
Taking a swag and imagining Italy superimposed on the U.S map, my first guess in trying to mimic the shape was the combination of Louisiana and Arkansas: 52,000 + 53,000 = 105,000. Not bad. And who would miss them?
Going to the state list here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_and_territories_by_area
We find Arizona is 114,000. Which is closer. Tempting. No more McCain Dynasty, Hoover Dam is out of power, and windmills don’t steal water from other states..
But Mr. Bryce is allegedly in Texas, so why didn’t he just say:
“it would need to set aside land 3/7’s the size of Texas”?
Draw the line north to south through Abilene and take the chunk to the west just about does it. Seems reasonable. Anyone miss it?
OTOH, let’s get real. It’s the red states that want the renewables. I say let’s give it to them:
Rhode Island, Delaware, Connecticut, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York. 113,000. Pretty close. Closer yet and better if you struck a north-south line about midway through New York and Pennsylvania, taking out the western part of NY and adding in eastern PA.
Yeah, I know, the Mainers would be cut off. So?
We call the new area the “National Wind Power Production District”. People could still live there, but no representatives or senators. District, yanno, like DC? Why do they need representation when they have all the blessings of wind power?
Now that we have the windmills sited, we need to decide where we’re going to dig up the raw materials to build the windmills. Stay tuned for Part II.
Every once in a while I click on a Temu ad, put a few things in my cart, then close the window.
I’ve been doing it for months.
Having so many useless people in useless jobs or other forms of welfare was a sign of the strength and wealth of the American economy.
Practically the only good to come from FJB and his puppeteers wrecking the economy is that there’s no longer so much excess wealth that we can continue to collectively pretend that diversity officers and other parasites make a company stronger or add to the economy or make things better in any way.
“Diversity officers and other parasites” are the functionally equivalent of Soviet political officers.
“Diversity officers and other parasites” are the functionally equivalent of Soviet political officers.
When my son went to interview at Google a couple of years ago, the diversity teams were rampaging through the hallways, going into workrooms, surrounding people working on computers, and forcing them to shout DEI slogans with them.
That was for the run of the mill programmers. The real programmers at Google were kept in a separate building and the rogue DEI teams were not allowed to harass them. My son was warned about this several times. He was worried that his PTSD might restart if he took the job there and fight back so he is ignoring the reinterview calls.
>> Good. Fast. Cheap.
Pick any two.
Wide but not universal application.
We used to do it this way:
Requirements / Cost / Duration
The business picks any two and technology gets to control the remaining one.
We called that the quality triangle when I was in Hollywood. If I ran a production company, that’s what it would be called.
n
This is really offputting when it’s your toothbrush. For a while I thought I was having a really bad dental problem. I now go out of my way to buy non-overmoulded toothbrushes.