Cool, but clear. Damp, well that’s a given. Cleared up yesterday and dried out a bit. I was able to do some work in the sun in shirtsleeves, but it got chilly when the sun went down.
While it was up though, I got some work done. Got the remainder of the grass mowed. Got the loose deck boards screwed down on the dock. Installed white and red rope lights around the edge of the dock. Put them between the slats on the benches. Standing, you see them and they mark the edge of the bench and the dock, seated, you only see the glow cast under the benches, but it’s enough to move around, and know where the edges are. The red is specifically for any astronomy nights.
Spent some time repairing two of my patio heaters. They wouldn’t stay lit, which suggested thermocouple issues. Cleaning with a fine sandpaper is usually enough, and that worked on one unit. The other turned out that the t-couple nut was loose. Tightened that and it worked fine. Just in time to provide some much needed heat for movie night.
Found a few minutes to sight in the finder scope on my wife’s 8″ dob. Unfortunately last night was overcast. Maybe tonight it will clear up.
Couldn’t do the annual service on my mower because I still haven’t brought a complete tool kit up here. I needed a socket driver extension to get to the wheel and oil drain bolts. Oh well, next time.
I finished my mowing anyway, and then did the HOA lot next door. Part of the community, solid citizen, all around good guy, that’s me.
Speaking of which, I’ll be headed to a not quite a neighbor’s house on the lake this afternoon to help with an antenna tower raising. More meatspace, more networking. More finding my place.
Go forth and help someone. Stack up some community. We’re all gonna need friends, come the day.
nick
Work at any large organization lately, and closing those Jira tickets becomes all that matters for the support people.
Internally, a whole bunch of funny money probably got billed to the Authentication development group as a penalty.
That’s still a strange response. I’ve had the keys fail and when I call the 1-800 number, it was always resolved with navigating a long phone tree.
Ingram probably still lists the books, which is where Amazon will obtain the copy if you order one.
Scott Adams used to have at least a foot of shelf space in the humor section of any Barnes & Noble, even with the glory days of “Dilbert” long in the past and the PHBs running the Death Star.
lpdbw, I hope you could get back to sleep and you’re OK. Hopefully you can see the experience as a pleasant, if unexpected, visitation.
You funny! And
speak with forked tonguetype with forked fingers. Or perhaps one middle finger extended.I had an Office 2013 key fail to activate online. I called the 800 number, couple of key presses, read a series of numbers, was given a set of numbers, the product activated. It seems that support should have been able to issue a new key or fix the one in their activation system.
@Nick – I didn’t want to break op sec when it happened earlier this week, but I got my first close up in-person look at a Moon Swatch at one of the company’s stores.
That watch is pure arbitrage fodder. By creating the “shortage” they’ve put the brand back in headlines as Apple eats the industry alive.
Redmond is serious about ending new Windows 10 licenses being activated, and distribution stopped at the end of February.
Now I’m concerned because I bought a license for my new desktop which I haven’t activated while waiting for a replacement motherboard to go into the build.
France just raised the retirement age by two years and people are furious
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/03/16/france-just-raised-the-retirement-age-by-two-years-and-people-are-furious-n537436
I commend your attention to a graph about ⅓ down, titled “Expected years in retirement, men”
The graph is labeled “Washngton Post, Source: OECD” (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) which is a bloody useless non-specific reference. If I get around to it I will try to track down the data, as it probably has more interesting bits.
France is currently 62 and increasing to 64. Germany is 65 and increasing to 67. Thus the position of the U.S., second from the bottom at 18.6, would presumably change if the retirement ages were equal. Germany at 20.1 might go to 18.1, and France at 23.5 (highest) might go all the way to 18.5 if “normalized” to 67.
Very interesting considering that the EU countries in general have a much shorter work year icompared to the U.S., with shorter wok weeks and much more time off.
I’d like to see a full economic comparison, particularly with respect to taxes levied on workers to fund the retirement system. I would not be surprised to find that we get less for our money. Much less.
In the early 1980’s I spent quite a bit of pre-internet research time compiling data and creating a Lotus 1-2-3 worksheet that used band interest rates, T-bill rates, FICA withholding and salary information by year to compare Social Security retirement vs. private investment accounts. The results were disheartening to say the least, and would be even more so now having to factor in the Feds distortion of interest rates.
My dad did a private retirement vs socialist security comparison in the 1970s and chose private investment when he was self-employed. He was quite annoyed when the law changed so that the self-employed could not opt out.
Cool and currently overcast, but should clear.
I need a new outdoor thermometer up here.
WRT Parent Trap, both are good. The original has Hallie, and she’s cute as a button, but the updated Linsey Lohan one has jokes and moments of its own. It’s hard to separate the young actress from where she ends up later, but the movie is very well done. Both are worth watching. The summer camp stuff is great.
n
I would not be too concerned.
I suspect old keys will still activate, even ones for W7. Microsoft will stop selling W10 keys but they will probably still activate. I have a dozen keys for W10, some keys good for 50 installations. I have never had a key fail to activate. The last activation I did was for W11 ARM on Parallels on MacOS and the W10 key worked without an issue.
I have keys for Windows XP. I suspect those keys will still activate. Some people have computers running process machinery with software that will only run on Windows XP. Those machines need to be activated if they have to be replaced.
I have Office 2010 keys that still activate. That is for 22 year old software. I have a static key for Office 2003 that does not even phone home. I think that Office 2003 would suffice nicely for the majority of Office users. Especially those that purchase overpriced computer bundles from HSN or QVC.
I saw one showing on HSN where the hosts were bragging about their “special price” for a MacBook Air M2. $1200 retail on the Apple site. HSN had the machine for $1500 with their extras. Such extras being a cheap case, a generic mouse, some crappy headphones, some useless software and 1 year tech support. All the extras were not worth $100.00. Do the math. It is all about presentation. The showing indicated they were selling tens of thousands, running low on certain colors. P.T. Barnum was correct.
@Ray Thompson
MS would face some real backlash if they tried to sunset the keys that are out there.
Yuppers.
BTW, a couple days ago you said:
I’ve never tried, but based on pros and cons discussions in several places it seems that Keynote has some real advantages for some people who are hopelessly mired in corporate meetings.
A University of Alabama football player wound up in the Holmes County Jail for allegedly bringing a load of marijuana into the state.
Holmes County Sheriff’s deputies arrested freshman Tony Mitchell Wednesday in Bonifay. They said Mitchell and another man had a large bag of marijuana in their car.
And that’s not all.
“They were coming down here with a lot of money, some weapons and some drugs,” Panama City Beach Police Chief J.R. Talamantez said.
https://www.wkrg.com/state-regional/florida/alabama-football-player-had-drugs-weapon-and-cash-in-car/
“No. 24 recruit in the nation according to the 247Sports Composite”
https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/sports/high-school/2022/08/28/tony-mitchell-alabama-commit-rave-reviews-from-trent-dilfer-after-lipscomb-win/7847234001/
I’m sure Nick will have a theory on this…
MS would face some real backlash if they tried to sunset the keys that are out there.
MS would face some real lawsuits if they tried to sunset the keys that are out there.
Fixed that for ya.
A Saint Patrick’s Day weekend to remember! Ireland just won the Six Nations rugby tournament with a grand slam, beating England 29-16 in Dublin.
I have not seen Windows XP or Office 2007 “phone home” when I install from my Death Star site license copies, but the trick there will be finding all of the patches and getting them installed.
Holmes County is the boonies. That was a stupid choice of route, regardless of the time of day.
High praise from Dilfer? That’s enough to raise suspicions in Tampa … or Baltimore … or Seattle … or Cleveland … or San Francisco … or even Lipscomb Academy.
Dilfer is also the new head coach at UAB, so add all of Alabama to the list except the campus in Birmingham … for now.
Toss in the animosity in the entire State of Florida for Nick Saban and the football player was in trouble the moment he crossed the state line.
He may have skated if arrested on the other side of the border. I smell a tip from one Sheriff’s Office to another.
And Dilfer won a Super Bowl in Baltimore, but they were still tired of his schtick after a year.
Beautiful day here in the high desert, 68F and a slight NE wind.
Put in about 3.5 hours weed pulling and weed whacking – the wet winter has all the vegetation excited. Wanted to do more, but when my back says STOP I now stop.
Did a little on the brick and bark border for the house front, I need to grade a slope away from the house and a little to the north as well, for drainage. The earth there is noticeably damper than elsewhere, but I after I grade, compact and use weedblock it should be fine. If needed then maybe a section of roof gutter.
Any small, retiree friendly places for sale?
I don’t know what the difference would be that would appeal to corporate meetings. It would seem solitaire would be good enough in dull corporate meetings.
Drwilliams says:
I’ve got a theory about that; young people are often stupid, especially when they haven’t been raised properly.
Verizon is wacky. Every two or three weeks the phone chirps and it’s Verizon’s “health check” thing. Which is at least 97% useless. The “click for more info” just takes me to the Verizon web site. NO, I don’t want a new phone and NO I don’t want to change my plan.
Today’s so called “helpful hint” was that I need to clear my cache. Which cache? Where and how cache? Internal storage has 48 GB free of 54 GB. The SD card is 31.13 GB free of 32.90 GB. I don’t have a problem.
I’d like to know what the heck is using wi-fi. 14% so far of the current battery charge. Wi-fi is turned off….. I could go to Airplane mode but then again, turning the phone off would as useful.
I was wrong about the new battery having 4380mAh. I read the package not the battery. How about 4600 mAh? An LG factory battery is 3200mAh. Anyway. They are all made in China. I just know I would get almost 3 days from the LG battery that came with the phone compared to eight days for the new battery to drain down to 15% charge.
Yeah. I bought another. It will have a couple of test cycles to see if I have a extra good fluke from the production line.
Time will tell.
Nah, young people are often just stupid because they are young. Thing back to the mists of pre-history when you were just starting out. 🙂
https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/03/18/german-health-minister-says-covid-vax-can-cause-permanent-disabilities-n537737
If litigation shows that Pfizer withheld data from the government, they can kiss that EUA shield guhbye.
Chicken and Dumplings report.
They taste great, just like they should. Without the “plastic” texture/taste of Sue Bee canned chicken and dumplings. I like the canned stuff just fine.
So, get the six quart pot and put a couple of quarts of water in it. Add five chicken thighs. Add a teaspoon or so of salt. Best to go light, you can always add more. Add a heaping teaspoon of black pepper and about a tablespoon of dried onion. Medium low heat for a couple of hours. Your stove and pots will vary the cooking time.
About half way through, I used a couple of forks to take the skin off of the chicken. Left the skin in the pot. Tasted the broth and added some salt. And more black pepper of course.
When the chicken was cooked, I used tongs to get it out of the pot and then de-boned it and broke the meat into smaller pieces. I poured the broth through a wire strainer to filter out random things. The broth and the chicken went back into the pot and oh, I need more broth. So, a couple of quarts of water.
Heat and sample for salt and pepper.
Where I screwed up was putting the meat back into the pot. Because you bring the stock to a boil and add your Pioneer or Bisquick dumplings and simmer for about ten minutes or so. Mean while, the chicken disintegrated into strings of chicken ala pot roast.
So. Add the chicken back to the pot after the dumplings are cooked.
Now I know. It tastes great.
Just one more “secret ingredient” thing like a couple of tablespoons of dill pickle juice in potato salad.
Stop Conflating Leftists with Liberals
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/03/stop_conflating_leftists_with_liberals.html
Well, ok then. It’s a b.s. argument that supposes that the majority of liberals have been taken in. Sure, just like most of the Germans had no idea in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 or 1945.
Just to be all-inclusive :
ProgLeftLibTard
but
ProgLibTard
works just fine.
(from the other day)
>> How do you guys read those dailymail links without turning off your adblocker?
Brave, and before it, Chrome, with latest uBlock Origin. No ads.
So uBlock Origin is not detected by DM’s ad-block checker? I’m using AdBlockPlus and the DM site stops me with a “You’re using an ad-blocker, please un-block this site to continue.” This is on Chrome.
@alan:
Somehow, I don’t see cookie popups either – I think it’s a non-default uBlock setting. Or maybe Brave is doing it, and uBlock is redundant. I dunno.
But it ain’t broke, so I’m not going to mend it.
G.
>> Redmond is serious about ending new Windows 10 licenses being activated, and distribution stopped at the end of February.
Except if you’re a large, deep-pocketed corporate user. Plus steaks, bourbon and ladies.
I added uBlock and the Daily Mail is now readable. Chrome.
So the sky didn’t fall…due to ‘green’ initiatives?…or just a mild winter and lots of sweaters??
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-germany-prices-cca7e5afd38fbcfc1ad72934e8e59bd9
https://e360.yale.edu/features/europe-energy-crisis-winter-gas-coal-wind-solar-emissions
@Greg, thoughts on Baker Mayfield?
People do stupid things.
Young people do stupider things.
Young people raised without fathers do stupid things which are much farther on the pathological side of the social ills spectrum.
Commies without the courage or honesty to admit that they’re commies.
Dadgumit, I am going to get a beating from the wife when she gets home. I lightly burned my jambalaya that I made with turkey sausage in her 4 quart pan. Just lightly, not enough to mess up my jambalaya. Hopefully I can scour out the bottom before she sees it.
The best episode I saw of Duck Dynasty is Miss Kay making jambalaya in their front yard over an open fire using a 20+ gallon pot and boat paddle. I think Phil ate a gallon of it. I would have.
Am watching Pulp Fiction for the first time on Amazon Prime. The music is awesome.
He was all the Yucs could afford next year with the salary cap issues.
They have to develop Kyle Trask or the next coach will be drafting high.
I don’t think a better 10 minutes of film exists than the act which starts when Harvey Keitel rings the doorbell in “Pulp Fiction”.
“I’m Winston Wolf. I solve problems.”
People will still watch that flick 100 years from now, when the last print of “Forrest Gump” is rotting in the vaults of the AFI.
As for music, make a point of watching “Jackie Brown”, Tarantino’s follow up film. Verizon blatantly ripped off the segment backed by Randy Crawford’s “Street Life” for their first commercial, right down to using the same camera angles. Awesome soundtrack.
BTW, “Jackie Brown” has to be a double feature with “Out of Sight” to appreciate one of the best casting gags of mid-90s films – pay attention to the FBI agents in both. And “Out of Sight” ends with a fun “Pulp Fiction” related cameo.
Tarantino offered to do a “Star Trek” film using the new cast as a “freebie”, outside of his self imposed 10 film career limit, but Paramount lost its nerve after he submitted the script, a riff on “A Piece of The Action” from the original series but with the Iotians influenced by 70s drive in crime flicks instead of Chicago gangsters.
I know *exactly* how that would have worked. Sigh.
A hard ‘R’ “Star Trek”? Eh. They had the implication that the Klingons ate Michelle Yeoh in “Discovery”.
And the genius of John Travolta – the dance scene is all improvised, and that is the “Batusi” he’s doing.
Points to Uma Thurman for making it look easy too. The legend is that it was a two day shoot.
Oh, that reminds me — her Oscar film is worth the look if you need something to watch. “Everything Everywhere All At Once”. I’ve seen better Michelle Yeoh flicks, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen her do anything boring or uncool.
Being married to a billionare allows Yeoh to be choosy.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The only problem with that film is that the sons were maybe 7 and 9 when we saw it, and for weeks after they were jumping around the house trying to replicate the wire acrobatics, as well as attacking each other and me with their “Green Destiny” plastic swords (or Grey Destiny or Red Destiny – whatever they happened to be able to dig out from the toy box).
I don’t think a better 10 minutes of film exists than the act which starts when Harvey Keitel rings the doorbell in “Pulp Fiction”.
I just got a life lesson from “Pulp Fiction”. If you are going to rob a diner, pee first.
Oh, and a second life lesson. Take your gun into the bathroom with you. Otherwise Bruce Willis is going to cap your butt.
The wife’s pan came clean. It is the one I just bought for her two weeks ago when she melted a 4 quart pan. So I bought two more.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JK960X8?tag=ttgnet-20/
“The Southern Border Is a Hybrid War Zone”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-southern-border-is-hybrid-war-zone.html
“As long as we allow effectively unrestricted illegal alien migration across our borders, we do not have any security in our own country. Criminals, drug smugglers, potential enemy or terrorist agents and combatants . . . they can all just walk in, laughing contemptuously at our at best nominal efforts to contain them.”
And the current rumor is that we have spent $500 billion in Ukraine now when you count the replacement value of the weapons we have shipped there.
“A menu for the manly man”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/03/a-menu-for-manly-man.html
“1 medium sized elephant”
Buy yourself one of these if you can get the Jambalaya into 3.2 Qts.
Highly recommended and nearly indestructable.
Also very versatile. The last time we used the pan was to bake foccacia on the gas grill for the incredible temperature control.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/product/seasoned-cast-iron-combo-cooker-wanderlust?sku=LCCWND
Go further back. “Supercop”, with Jackie Chan.
Michelle Yeoh is the only woman Jackie Chan fears.
Had a long and sorta productive day. Antenna went up without a hitch. I learned some things from the local expert, which is always good. Ate some delicious pulled pork and chatted some more with the guys.
Also did some more small stuff around the place. Tried a bit of fishing. Even got out the small table top dob and tried to look at the sky. Too hazy though to see much. I did get the chinese red dot aligned on the tabletop ‘scope and verified it against stars tonight. I think I’ll look for the control pendant, it’s a Tasco StarGuide, and will make a good spotter (ie. point to the right part of the sky) scope with the computer. Knowing where to look should help point the big dobs too.
Currently 41F and pretty still. Lake is like glass. If it wasn’t so cold it would be a great night to sit out.
Family watched Shaun of the Dead. Not quite as funny as I remembered, a lot more angsty 20 something relationship nonsense than I remembered. Kids wanted a zombie movie… and I don’t have Dawn of the Dead up here, so….
Time for shower and bed.
@EdH, if you’re serious I can send you email to the account you use for commenting…
n
They all break down and confess eventually…
Well done on dodging that bullet, Lynn.
@Greg
And the genius of John Travolta
My copy of Phenomenon arrived today from SwapaDVD. John Travolta is so enjoyable. I still love the scene where he’s being tested. I misremembered my favorite line. Not “Be specific, Bob”. Rather, “Specifics, Bob” is the brilliant exhortation.
Two thumbs up from our eleven (11!) year old.
Busy week, insurance is hateful. We still have a roof. It’s going to be a long painful excursion to put it right.
The camper van I lined up for an upcoming California visit thru Outdoorsy cancelled. Owner had good reason. I’ve lined up a different one. We swung by our local RV place to heck out that model. Nice. Ought to be, for costing as much as our first house. Crazy. We walked thru a Winnebago Ekko. That’s a nice rig. Expensive. But nice.
I bought another guitar. La Patrie under the Godin brand. Oh my. It’s classical (nylon strings), well built, under $400, solid wood top, Godin branded pickup / amplification / on board tuners. Neck feels perfect in my hand, nice tight action. Good intonation all the way up the neck. The classical pieces I can play really do sound fuller voiced and better. It’s going to be a lot of fun playing this instrument. I’ll pass along my original 2001 Seagull (also under Godin umbrella). It needs regular playing and it’s neglected.
>> The wife’s pan came clean. It is the one I just bought for her two weeks ago when she melted a 4 quart pan. So I bought two more.
@lynn, kinda afraid to ask how someone melts a stainless steel pan…though did for a second think about the Breaking Bad RV…
>> Busy week, insurance is hateful. We still have a roof. It’s going to be a long painful excursion to put it right.
@Jenny, just wanted to check that you had seen my comment to you from iirc two days ago.
@Alan
I did. Memory short / bad,so I need to reread.
Yikes! Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy is pretty intense for your kids’ ages.
I look at all of those films as fantasies of Simon Pegg’s “Spaced” character and extensions of that series … which dealt with 20 something relationship nonsense.
The films matured as Pegg/Wright/Frost matured.
I still like “Hot Fuzz” the best of the three, however. More mature, but the boys still have the “lad” thing running.
As for zombie flicks, if you’ve crossed the “Shaun of the Dead” Rubicon, “Anna and the Apocalypse” is the next step. I have an “illegal” UK copy, but I think it is on home video in the US now.
Scottish teen relationship nonsense, but that is only a small part of a bonkers movie.
I never saw “Phenomenon”.
Yeah, turn in my 80s movie fan cred.
People are already surprised when I say that I don’t like John Hughes’ flicks beyond “Ferris Bueller”, “Weird Science”, and (his script) “Mr. Mom”.
“Mr. Mom” is the most real … mid-80s Terri Garr is way hotter than any Hughes Brat Pack actress …and … he’s Batman. Geesh that casting was bold genius.
BTW, on the subject of Hughes’ flicks, didya catch who Iceman married in “Top Gun: Maverick”?
Tubi?
“Anna and the Apocalypse” dumped on Tubi?
Many cultural crimes happened as a result of the Pandemic, this included, but the flick deserves much better.
https://tubitv.com/movies/663316/anna-and-the-apocalypse