Warm and damp. Chance of rain. Maybe a lot of it. Depends on which forecast you look at. I’m going with “someone will get some rain”. Yesterday the wind out of the Gulf seems to have blown the predicted system north of us. We had overcast all day but no precip.
I finally got up on the roof and replaced the batteries in my weather station. And it didn’t make a difference in the “77F and 84%RH” displays. Time to dig out the backup. While I had the ladder out, I cleaned off the roof. The pollen pods (like little caterpillars) were clumping and filling the valleys. The sharp leaves from one of the oaks were also collecting and forming dams. It all looks a lot better now that it’s clean. Cleaned the domes on a couple of the cams. Then I noticed that I have to do my annual ‘cutting back of the tree’ too. Might be bi-annual this time around. There’s a lot of growth too close to the roof.
I did a bunch of sorting and binning for the auction, but couldn’t do a drop off. No reply from the auctioneer, and then I’d missed my window. Had to pick up the kids.
Won a couple of things for the BOL and the house in yesterday’s auctions. There is always something more I need, and an endless flow of stuff through the auctions means I eventually get a chance to bid on it. Sometimes, I win.
Today I’ve got pickups to do. Hopefully the rain holds off, but I think I can get everything in the Expedition if it’s pouring down. Before that though, I have to get the house cleaned up. My organizing and sorting means there is a ton of stuff piled up around the house. No way can I leave that for my wife to come home to. Wouldn’t be prudent.
We continue to head down the slope. The arrest of Trump while Hillarity walks free, while epstein’s client list remains a state secret, while the Bidden crime family enjoys all the incest, hookers, and blow they can pay for with chinese money, is but one more step on the road to hell. Trump doesn’t have to advocate for violence. The left exercises violence as a means of intimidation and control every day, and the ruling junta uses the threat of violence with impunity. Well, mark my words, that impunity won’t last. They THINK they can control it, harness it, USE it. “Look what you made me do!” but they’re wrong. They always underestimate their opponent, and overestimate their own capability.
When it all goes live, it will happen in an eyeblink, and the whole world will change. Get yourself as ready as you can be. Stack the things you’d have to venture out to get. Stack the things you need to be safe. Stack what you need to KEEP the things you have. Stack.
And keep your eyes open and head down.
nick
I maintain a micro-website for the apartment building next to us. It just has information for residents – nothing fancy. Initially, I didn’t even bother advertising it to the search engines, because…why? I just told everyone the URL.
Do you know how many people thing that Google is the Internet? They open their browser, which has Google as the home page. They type URL into Google, instead of into the address bar. Which, of course, didn’t work, so the site must be broken. Gaaaaaahhhhh!!!
Ok, so I advertised the site to Google. It took two weeks, but now the site shows up in the search results. Great.
For completeness, I also advertised it to Bing. Bing has indexed the site, but it *still* doesn´t show up in results. Instead, Bing proposes all sorts of vaguely similar names. I’ll make up a similar example: If the site is “marbles.com”, then Bing proposes “marvels.com”, “marble.com”, etc.. The actual site is nowhere to be found, despite Bing Webmaster Tools swearing that it has been indexed.
Am I missing some stupid trick? Or is Bing really that bad?
Edited to add: One of the top search results is a sex shop. This goes over really well with the largely elderly population… :-/
First post!
(For you purists, Brad’s is the Zeroeth post. C-style array counting for the win!)
Yes, easily. That all works. I have created the latest recovery image on the thumb drive. System boots from it, I select the proper recovery options, the system trundles for a while, then displays a message it was not able to recover and no changes were made. Which is a false statement as the system will no longer boot from the internal SSD.
My last attempt is to disconnect all peripherals. I am using the docking station for power and it has a couple of peripherals. I am removing that item from the mix. I don’t have much hope.
The system was getting flakey when it was able to boot from the internal SSD. Things were not starting normally as in strange things were happening when booting. Something was failing. I figured it may be the Windows installation.
At this point I think there is a hardware failure, probably in the SSD. The system is over five years old.
Anything John Landis. I think “Blues Brothers” is safe, but only as long as Dan Aykroyd is alive.
OTOH, the 40th anniversary of “Vacation” got a huge recognition at the con I attended last week. It is really too bad that civilians are overwhelming these shows as of late searching for Pokemon and Nintendo for EBay. I don’t think we covered half of the floor, where things like repros of the Wagon Queen Family Truckster and Cousin Eddie’s RV were on display.
Seeing a Caprice turned into a Ghostbusters rig reminded me about how rare spotting even a mid 90s station wagon has become — bizarre.
Cash for Clunkers 2.0 is coming for the 00s.
Coffee is brewing. Kids have been poked, but still continue hiding under covers. Tired this am.
No rain yet.
No brain yet either.
n
n
how rare spotting even a mid 90s station wagon has become
– I saw a giant one, maybe mid 80s? (the kind a full sheet of plywood would fit in the back) while driving around last week. It was off to the side of the road, in a lot, and didn’t look driveable. It really struck me how few you see, considering how ubiquitous they were.
n
Then it sounds like you have nothing to lose by cracking it open and seeing if you can swap in a new SSD. YouTube is likely your friend for finding out how to do that.
It was only a matter of time…
YouTuber Tanner Cook, 21, is shot in the stomach and is in intensive care after ‘simple prank’ on male mall shopper BACKFIRES
n
The recent equivalent vehicle I see frequently is the mid-2010s Exploder, but those are all going away fast due to the water pump replacement labor cost.
Once the Exploder hits $3000 KBB, they will be done until we start emulating Cubans in the near future, when only party elites have new Tonymobiles and Jesus Trucks.
Anything that runs will get hauled out of salvage yards … until they ban …. Guzzzzzoline!
(Say it like Mad Max)
Shot for a stupid prank? Some of the pranks are absolutely not funny, and really can be seen as assault. Maybe this will be a lesson for the TikTok idiots out there. Or not…
I ran across another video that wasn’t too far removed. From what was shown, one kid decided to pick a fight with some other kid. No reason other than because his friend was filming. All maybe 13 or 14 years old. The kid he picked on turned out to be a younger SteveF. Clearly an experienced MMA fighter: Kick, punch, takedown, headlock. Oops.
Ah, dirty data. Reminds me of the days we sold and installed an ERP system for schools. We would import data from their old system, but often that was a mashup with little or no validation. Birth dates in the name field. Phone numbers in the email field. Email addresses in the zip-code field. Utterly impossible to import as it was, and requiring a lot of scripting and hacks to get it more-or-less fixed. Every old system was different, and this was always under time pressure, because you didn’t want them entering new data in the old system after the transition.
I imagine that being a full time “YouTube-er” doesn’t come with Aflac protection.
Plus comedy is tougher these days. Saying anything seems to offend people, and we’re left heading towards “Idiocracy”-style “Ow, My B*lls” programming as humor.
Joe Rogan opened a new comedy club in Austin during SxSW a few weeks ago, and, from what I understand, everyone showing up to see the inaugural show was required to put their powered-down cell phone in a Faraday cage mesh bag and leave the bag visibly on their table until the end of the last performance.
That’s probably going to be a standard procedure soon, both to protect copyright and comedy careers.
The show at Rogan’s club included an hour from a (reportedly) drunk and/or stoned Dave Chappelle. Now *that* would be YouTube Gold … and instant cancellation fodder.
BTW, I was clueless about how big “Abbott Elementary” was last week and the fuss at the convention center over parking to see the actress who portrays the Principal. until my wife clued me in. She watches, but I don’t find the show funny.
There is hope — my daughter, who also watches “Abbott Elementary”, heard about the mess and asked “Why did an education conference invite *her* to speak?”
Generally in impossible task as everything is installed with massive amounts of glue.
And in other news.
However, it turns out I was wwwrrrr, er wwrroo, er, wrong. Hard to say that.
I was able to get the Surface running again, just like normal. The problem was not with the Surface device itself, but the docking station. My attempts at reinstalling were with the docking station attached as that is what provides the power connection and ethernet connection.
Something in the BIOS, or the recovery image, or who knows, does something weird when the dock is attached. Whether the dock is considered a USB drive and the Surface attempts to boot from the dock, or the dock interferes with the installation of the recovery drive I do not know.
The revelation came to me about 03:00 in the morning when I woke for no reason. One last thing to attempt to rescue the machine. Disconnect the dock. It worked. Currently updating to W11.
Abbott Elementary
– one of the kids loves the show. It has some bitingly funny lines. Not something I’d sit down to watch though.
n
(funny assuming they’re mocking the concepts expressed, not advocating them. Sometimes the requirement for straight faced delivery makes it hard to tell in today’s world.)
“the kind a full sheet of plywood would fit in the back)”
1966 Chevy Impala. Hauled everything to finish a full basement, including paneling and two loads of 8’ 2×4’s.
Microsoft ditched the proprietary “Surface” dock connection in favor of USB-C with the latest version of their own dock. That was a very controversial move and something Redmond had hoped to keep under wraps until the leaks started this week.
“I ran across another video that wasn’t too far removed. From what was shown, one kid decided to pick a fight with some other kid. No reason other than because his friend was filming. All maybe 13 or 14 years old. The kid he picked on turned out to be a younger SteveF. Clearly an experienced MMA fighter: Kick, punch, takedown, headlock. Oops.”
I was 12 walking down the sidewalk downtown (pop 100,000) when a kid on this bike decided to throw a punch on the way by. He was 30 feet away snd clear when he decided to take issue with my comment on his parentage.
Big mistake.
I trashed him and his bike, under the watchful eye of a storeowner who had seen the whole thing from the beginning. I suspect he would have stepped in if I hadn’t stopped banging the kids head on the sidewalk to emphasize the point I was making.
Instant justice in better times.
Disney is trying to promote the writer/lead on “Abbott Elementary” as a kind of African American Tina Fey. The PR was everywhere on property last week.
I’ve heard interviews with the woman, and she didn’t grow up poor with an axe to grind.
OTOH, the new “Proud Family” episodes include a really divisive episode advocating reparations so Disney obviously hasn’t learned a thing from “Get woke go broke”.
The “Proud Family” PR was also everywhere.
I saw that yesterday. The dock has a really large and heavy power supply. Even the new USB-C version has a large power brick. Rumor is that the new dock from MS will also work within the Apple OS system although it is not clear if MacOS has the drivers to use the dock to its full potential. I do know the travel dock, which is USB-C, will not work on my MacBook. I expect nothing different from Apple, or Microsoft.
I like the current dock. Provides power, ethernet, HDMI, USB-A and USB-C, and audio. Magnetic connection so easily removed. Especially when the connection is forgotten and the laptop is pulled off the desktop. The connection does not occupy any USB-C ports, same as MagSafe which everyone praises Apple for providing.
I don’t know about the long term affects of plugging, and unplugging stuff from a USB-C port. USB-C has never struck me as a durable solution.
For the same reason that a big data conference had Brent Spiner as the keynote speaker. I had to look up who he was, never having been much of a TV watcher. As might be expected, he had nothing worthwhile to say at a data conference. The organizer’s fawning over him was cringeworthy but not humorous enough to make up for the waste of time.
Catkins?
Similar to how many people thought AOL was the Internet.
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
I hope my Alienware game rig has something as simple. I’m guessing W11 is preventing some apps from running due to a permission or such. Dell should get back to me later today or tomorrow. I hope they can get all working. Normal Steam games work fine. VR is borked as are some Alienware apps.
In the meantime, I’ll use Dell’s web site to download a USB image of the original OS setup. I don’t mind reinstalling since 99.9% of what I do on it is gaming. And I’m an infrequent gamer.
Beyond the sci fi geek interest, I swear I remember Brent Spiner being a golf guy. THAT would get him a lot of keynote invitations at tech conferences in the last 25 years.
Dana Carvey used to be a regular on the circuit, but he has the family tech cred/connections, especially his brother Brad, and Carvey is not clueless about the industry.
Chicago Mayoral Election:
Chicago chooses chaos over recovery
New boss, same as the old boss…You don’t need to commit suicide by cop, just go to Chicago. Even during the day.
Brent Spiner’s best work was on Night Court.
– getting too close to the flame can be hazardous to your health…
n
– live by the urban vibrancy, die by the urban vibrancy. There ARE no “good parts” of the city.
n
I obviously can’t haul plywood in my ATS, but I have hauled 2×4’s and other long goods in it many times. With the back seats folded down, a good tarp laid down to protect the back, and a big towel to protect front console and side of the passenger seat, I can fit things almost 10′ long and still close the trunk. I can only carry 8 2×4’s, as height becomes an issue, but for 99% of the time, that’s not an issue.
@dcp:
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même
chose. merde.FIFY.
G.
And the sexual liberation movement simply increased the number of available sexual partners, and convinced them to willingly do things you couldn’t pay a professional to do in 1975.
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2hRfERuByDXpBYreBnmSh-4HiBCJMERvmYsLvQWzxVqE8S-Q5ie_WlhaRetO6o_w9vMOj4imgkwbZ5ELGlAPQBg3Hjz51RuOkIIPpElfTS_8P2zS4OUFnyQlJYcCXSFcJ7TlfBgxNb30H09VOKP-P3qOPKeMQGbnVwrApdvF8zwD4_lLUuRbC_7_2/s1663/1%20(26).JPG
n
Plus Windows 95 putting a pipeline for pr0n from the Internet into every home thanks to Jeffrey Epstein pal Bill Gates.
Watching the “That 90s Show” on Netflix is interesting because the time period was very carefully selected to be Summer 1995, when AOL and dial up was still “The Internet” in most households. I figure the writers have some kind of statement to make about society and how things changed over the next few years, with TCP/IP stacks appearing everywhere as the series continues.
Continuity with the original show is severely strained due to time shifting but the silliness of the program allows the problems to be forgotten while the writers explore.
There are things I love about the internet and youtube.
Don’t know why but a song from a movie, that I find very moving, popped into my head. Found it in <30seconds.
The Closing of the Year, Soundtrack from Toys.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QegI6v36YCg&list=PLN12qZ-3jjUkG8qrEZCg9up00lWa15P68&index=2
The whole album was awesome.
n
added- it has a very melancholy feel, maybe because the go go 80s with their crazy optimism were over?
Anyone need 3000 rounds of 9mm MAKAROV?
https://hibid.com/lot/152234113/three-thousand—-3000—9mm-makarov-cartridges?ref=catalog
n
>> 1966 Chevy Impala. Hauled everything to finish a full basement, including paneling and two loads of 8’ 2×4’s.
https://youtu.be/EOXMZF8ajQY
San Francisco, RIP
John Hinderaker, Powerline
“I am not sure whether the people who run cities like San Francisco, Portland, Seattle and Minneapolis understand how close their cities are to circling the drain. The good times are gone. If you can’t reasonably guarantee the safety of your citizens and visitors, and if anyone who enters your city is exposed to people shooting up and using the street as a toilet, it is over for your city.”
San Fran is going to be interesting. The other cities cited are the political power and population centers of their states. For SF to get truckloads of cash from the state they will have to convince citizens of LA, San Diego and the rest to load the trucks. How likely is that?
Portland and Seattle can probably vote state largesse. Minneapolis is a bit less likely, but with Dems holding all the power I have no doubt the dirtiest of deals is possible, at least until the corporations start bailing in earnest. .
Gargh.
Anchorage stayed progressive in yesterdays local election.
Plus a bunch of bonds and changes moving various sin taxes out from the limit of the tax cap. More money more money more money. Those things were under the tax cap to provide property tax relief. Gone.
And the school board voted to close the most successful charter school (1,700 children scoring significantly higher in standardized testing than their counterparts) in the district. The charter school had a dysfunctional board but instead of replacing the board ASD Board stripped the charter. This gives the ASD the $4.1 million in the charter schools coffers. There are promises made by people who don’t have the power to enforce the promise that the money will stay with the school as it is changed to an alternative school.
You know what seems mostly irrelevant?
Voting.
Voting seems to be mostly irrelevant.
@Nick
3 kilo rounds ain’t enough to mess with if the cartridge isn’t already in your inventory. For 100k at the right price…
Portland and Seattle have the population centers of their respective states, and the major corporations based in OR and WA either lean Prog or, as in the case of Costco, who owns the current WA Governor, fully embrace the agenda.
Anyone receiving public welfare should lose their right to vote. All these people do is vote themselves more money from the pockets of others. I might even extend, or rather limit, the right to vote to people that pay property taxes. That penalizes the renters and I am not certain that is a good idea.
There should also be a simple financial test. Say something along the lines of “If something costs $1.93, your have $2.00, the tax rate is 4.5%, do you have enough money to purchase the item?”. That would rule out a surprising number of people.
From yesterday:
Every night on Cartoon Network – Tom and Jerry, Bugs Bunny, Sylvester and Tweety, Road Runner and Coyote, etc.
A several hour block of Looney Toons every night. Originals, no editing.
@rick, Actual originals from the 40s and 50s? no editing? mammy chasing tom with a broom? Tobacco use? Or do they do the soft edit where they just don’t show certain episodes that have “problematic” content? If it is truly every episode, without edits, I’d be willing to set up a dvr again.
The “not showing certain episodes” was the implied part of the discussion of classic shows in the modern woke environment. The modern Tom and Jerry is an abomination. And as Greg said, you are REALLY unlikely to see any of the house of mouse stuff that demonizes the japanese, or makes fun of the author of Mein K…
n
I think you can see evidence of a larger, coordinated agenda when Budweiser risks alienating their core consumer by glorifying someone who is representative of less that 0.001% of the population of beer drinkers… (not just trans, a famous and successful “influencer”, who makes a pretty good living off his mental illness.)
Because if it’s not agenda driven, WTAF were they thinking?
n
For extra credit, how many times has Budweiser put someone’s face on a can of their product?
Seeing a Caprice turned into a Ghostbusters rig reminded me about how rare spotting even a mid 90s station wagon has become — bizarre.
Those large station wagons were killed off by the Dodge Caravan and its copies. We had an 1987 with the first V6. Was a great vehicle that got 20 mpg regularly until the automatic transmission failed at 63K miles. And 69K miles. And 90K miles. All taken care of by the powertrain warranty with our $250 deductible. And the a/c failed at 70K miles, that was my $800. And then it starting smoking and burning a quart of oil every 300 miles. Was like one of those old WWII tanks that laid down a smoke screen behind it. My brother and I rebuilt the motor and stopped the smoking but then it had a cooling problem. So I got rid of it and bought a 1993 model. That was a mistake. Ditched that one in two years after the third stranding.
Scott Adams is saying get out of the cities now in his morning diatribe. “Move out of cities now”
https://scottadams.locals.com/upost/3799165/coffee-with-scott-adams-april-5-2023
“Move out of cities now”
– the part of this that rarely gets a mention (ahem, except you your host of course) is that it takes a while to do, and it takes a while after you have done it to settle in, and it takes even longer to establish yourself as anything other than ‘part of the problem with the world’ wherever you end up moving.
Even doing it part time has compromises, and very big changes from the life you might be accustomed to.
It beats getting stabbed to death on your front stoop though.
n
The big Caprice wagons were made well into the 90s. 1995? 96?
Exploders and the other SUVs killed the wagons. Most of the minivans have been awful.
Yup, agenda.
– she doesn’t see the irony of using a man to push “female representation ” or of using a mentally ill attention whore as a symbol of “ who we are and what we stand for.”
But hey, any publicity is good publicity, right?
n
Most of the minivans have been awful.
– and yet, they’ve been insanely successful.
– of 14M in 1984
n
Exploders and the other SUVs killed the wagons.
– – I’d say CAFE rules and mileage requirements by segment killed the wagons.
n
I can’t provide a detailed analysis, but I have seen typical 1950-60’s cartoon ‘violence’ in those cartoons. Even some stereotypes that some might find offensive in today’s culture.
SWMBO and I often watch together with enjoyment.
Me! Me! Me!
My carry (and practice) gubs include a P64 and a CZ-82, along with my Charter Arms Undercover .38.
UPS stole 1000 rounds of 9×18 I ordered at the beginning of the Dempanic. I actually saw it on the tracker until is just disappeared at a UPS facility. I wonder if the UPS worker who stole it tried to fire it in a 9×19 pistol. Idiot.
I had a devil of a time getting a refund, and my reorder from a different vendor was at a much higher price.
Having said that, I feel pretty good about my stacks of 9×18. And most of that lot you listed is steel-cased, so you can’t shoot it at indoor ranges. OTOH, minimum bid is less than $4 per box… And who ever said “I have too much ammo?”
Keep an eye out for Nissan ads with Brie Larson. She disappeared for a couple of months but has returned for the EV push as female empowerment.
The signatures on those contracts must have predated the implosion of Marvel movies and delay of “The Marvels” into next year.
Clark Griswald killed the Family Truckster.
The Truckster lives. Start at the 11:35 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bd_NqI9btzg
Sunday was the better day to go and see things. I went on Saturday, and the show was crawling with civilians looking for EBay Gold, to the point that movement was nearly impossible in the vendor area.
And yes, Aunt Edna is tied to the roof … just like Mittens’ dog.
If you watch “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” there is a nod to Clark Griswold taking the Truckster airborne when the kid finally manages to get the old ambulance running.
Station wagons, built on car frames, were killed by CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards. Big heavy cars couldn’t meet the standards.
Enter the Sport Utility Vehicle, build on a TRUCK frame, with much lower standards. Between that, mini-vans, and crew cab “luxury” pickups, the station wagon was quickly dropped.
Nonsense. They don’t handle as well as a commuter car or a sports car but they’re better than a full-size van. They don’t hold as many people as a bus or as much cargo as a panel truck but they hold a lot more than a regular car. They’re an excellent compromise vehicle for many people and many purposes. As Nick noted, their sales figures have been very high since Dodge put them out, and that does not comport with “awful”.
SUVs picked up a lot of sales because of government interference: They were considered to be trucks for CAFE purposes, so the manufacturers were able to satisfy Americans’ desire for large vehicles with large engines without harming their fleet numbers.
EDIT: Pretty much what Ken said while I was typing.
Most have been awful in terms of long term durability with the exception of the Sienna and the early Transit Connects.
In terms of marketing, they were very successful. The genius of Lee Iacocca was selling that first generation of Dodge minivan using that Mitsubishi engine knowing what would happen with the vehicle being so grossly underpowered.
Iacocca was shameless.
The previous generation of Exploders used the Taurus/500 unibody platform. They were essentially a next generation of Taurus station wagon.
The new generation is body-on-frame, more truck-like, using a platform which was supposed to be shared with a new Crown Vic for the cops and taxi companies, but Ford cancelled the Crown Vic once Impeachment started and the writing was on the wall for Trump … and CAFE.
I have a half dozen pics I took of a Crown Vic prototype rolling around Chicago in 2019. There isn’t any mistaking that silhouette, no matter how many shrouds they had on the vehicle.
how rare spotting even a mid 90s station wagon has become
– I saw a giant one, maybe mid 80s? (the kind a full sheet of plywood would fit in the back) while driving around last week. It was off to the side of the road, in a lot, and didn’t look driveable. It really struck me how few you see, considering how ubiquitous they were.
n
When we moved to Texas in 1970, Dad had a 1964 ? Vista Cruiser with over 100K miles on it. He was driving it to Houston from Lake Jackson, a 100 mile round trip, sometimes twice a day. About every 10K miles, the valves would start leaking and it would start burning oil like crazy. So he would pull the heads on the V8 and rebuild the valves. At some point he forgot to put the daily oil in it and it wiped the bearings.
He then parked it in a cousins field and my grandfather loaned us his newish 1969 Station Wagon. It was just as big as the Vista Cruiser which had three rows of seats. In 1972 we had a headon with it in Navasota, Texas on highway 6 with a TAMU student who crossed the line in a curve. We all made it out of that beast but they had to carry it away on a trailer since the frame was popped.
I remember seeing the first Chrysler minivan at the the State Fair of Texas (it’s the best State Fair, don’t miss it, don’t even be late!) when they came out and well, what a cool set of wheels.
But I like station wagons, too. My 2nd favorite car was a 1978 Volare wagon that cost $1000.54. The odo turned to zeros on the way home to Austin from San Antonio. I sort of think that was the second trip and I put almost 70k before it tossed a rod and punched a hole in the block. It was pretty when it rained. Earl Schirbe might do a decent paint job but it sure was faded.
A friend had one. Second model year. It seemed to haul his plump ass and his wife’s fat ass around just fine. And when we all met at their house to go out for supper, it hauled 6 people around just fine. Not gonna burn rubber, not meant to burn rubber, but it seemed peppy enough.
I have Loony Tunes on LaserDisc. “The Golden Age of Loony Tunes”. 70 complete uncut cartoons. Five discs per set, I have all four sets. I don’t know if there was a 5th set or more. I bought the first set ‘89 or ’90. I don’t know it they were issued on DVD, DVD wasn’t much of a thing then .
Some of the toons are “wow” but if you think about how things were with coming out of the Depression and leading up to and during WW2, yeah. It’s fine. Funny stuff.
A friend had one. Second model year. It seemed to haul his plump ass and his wife’s fat ass around just fine. And when we all met at their house to go out for supper, it hauled 6 people around just fine. Not gonna burn rubber, not meant to burn rubber, but it seemed peppy enough.
Burning rubber with six people in it will get a beating of the driver by one of the passengers.
I could put eight in my 1999 Expedition and 2005 Expedition. And did so at least 4 or 5 times. The people in the third row seat had to have short short legs though.
Arlo And Janis: Natural Lighting
https://www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis/2023/04/05
Yup, several jiggawatts in that natural lighting.
In terms of marketing, they were very successful. The genius of Lee Iacocca was selling that first generation of Dodge minivan using that Mitsubishi engine knowing what would happen with the vehicle being so grossly underpowered.
Iacocca was shameless.
Even the 1987 Mitsubishi V6 burned oil at 96K miles. I saw many of them smoking after I got rid of ours. And rebuilding the heads was a total pain.
And the 1993 Caravan V6 that we had with the Dodge 3.3L V6 was a piece of crap. By 30K miles, it had stranded my wife three times.
I have bought my last Dodge. And my last Chevy.
Ken’s van couldn’t burn rubber without a strong tail wind and rain slicked asphalt. It was just a somewhat peppy people hauler.
The 2004 Freestar sitting the carport here, will toss some gravel on a dirt road if you stomp it hard. It’s peppy enough to get around. It’s not ‘75 Cordoba fast but it’s not suppose to be.
My ’96 Dodge Stratus had the 2.4 DOHC engine. I got it with 50k miles. It always used a little oil. A bit more than a half quart per 3000 mile oil change. Dealer said no problem. The extended warranty folks said no problem. The extended warranty expired, a waste of money.
Then the car started leaving oil spots. And it’s using a quart per oil change. It was the head gasket. From the very beginning. Had the gasket fixed and the car never used another drop of oil.
That was a great car.
“Only Human (The Themis Files)” by Sylvain Neuvel
https://www.amazon.com/Human-Themis-Files-Sylvain-Neuvel/dp/0399180133?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number three of a three book science fiction series about giant robots. I read the well printed and well bound trade paperback published by Del Rey Books in 2018 that I purchased new from Amazon. This is the current end of the series but the author reserves the right to add more books at his leisure.
This book is written in the style of interviews with various people. Much like the book “World War Z”. And, personal logs and video transcripts.
Dozen more giant robots have shown up around Earth. All of them deploy their mysterious fog with the 20 mile radius that kills people with the alien genes, over 100 million people are killed. Dr. Rose Franklin manages to disable one of the giant robots in New York City, the other giant robots teleport in, and discover that Dr. Franklin’s pure humanness without the alien genes is rare, very rare, under 0.05% of the population.
The giant robots all leave, taking Themis with them, back to their home planet Esat Ekt, home of the Ekt. Themis has a crew of four on her that the aliens do not know was teleported also. After finding the crew in the thousands of giant robots, the Empress of Ekt tries to use them to manipulate the populace. nine years later, three of the crew return to Earth in Themis but in Russia. And powerless.
Dan Livingston recommended this book series to me:
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/review-sleeping-giants-by-sylvain-neuvel/
My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.2 out of 5 stars (1,510 reviews)
Not going to say this is going to be a great supper. But I have a plan.
Thaw some chicken tenders. Slop with mustard, yes, that yellow stuff. Let it sit a bit, roll in a mix of HEB bread crumbs or crushed saltines and parmesan with a wave of pepper and whatever else that sounds good at the moment. Bake in the oven for a while, maybe not too long for a change (it could happen someday), might even put the chicken on a rack so it’s crispy all over.
Boil up a pot of egg noodles, add butter and some sour cream to make fake fettuccine.
I’m pretty sure I have chicken tenders in the freezer. If not, onward to Plan B. 🙂
Amazon Vine thinks I might like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNL9NYGN?tag=ttgnet-20
It appears folks tie the drain into a sink drain. Like, a laundry room sink. The drain line that comes with the product is corrugated. You know that’s going to hold water and start to smell real bad real soon.
I’m like, just go outside and face away from everyone and whip it out to water the grass. Or pee in the sink if it’s raining like crazy and run some water.
“Ford invests $50 billion in EV production through 2026”
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2023/04/03/ford-ev-lightning-f150-carbon-nuetral/3531680533718/
“April 3 (UPI) — U.S. carmaker Ford said Monday it set aside more than $50 billion for electric vehicles and battery components, with a goal of 2 million in production runs for EVs by 2026.”
Um, maybe I better sell my Ford stock.
>> Shot for a stupid prank? Some of the pranks are absolutely not funny, and really can be seen as assault. Maybe this will be a lesson for the TikTok idiots out there. Or not…
Obviously needs repeating…well, maybe better for them scribbled on the bathroom wall…was gonna say men’s room wall…but you know….
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes
The T T idiots will continue as long as they think it’s a much more promising career than scrubbing the toilets at Micky Ds…of course one they will never achieve.
Amazon Vine thinks I might like this: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BNL9NYGN?tag=ttgnet-20
It appears folks tie the drain into a sink drain. Like, a laundry room sink. The drain line that comes with the product is corrugated. You know that’s going to hold water and start to smell real bad real soon.
I’m like, just go outside and face away from everyone and whip it out to water the grass. Or pee in the sink if it’s raining like crazy and run some water.
I keep on telling the wife that the whole world is a urinal for men. She does not think that is funny.
Meanwhile, the model year has effectively ended for the 2023 Bronco as Dearborn figures out how to produce the new Ranger and Bronco on the same assembly line for the 2024 model year.
You would think Tommy Boy would be trying to figure out how to make a few more Broncos elsewhere. People actually want to buy those.
Dilbert Reborn 4/5/2023: Dogbert’s Sensitivity Training
https://www.reddit.com/r/dilbert/comments/12c7prp/dilbert_reborn_452023/
The first lesson is weeping in your cubicle silently.
Meanwhile, the model year has effectively ended for the 2023 Bronco as Dearborn figures out how to produce the new Ranger and Bronco on the same assembly line for the 2024 model year.
You would think Tommy Boy would be trying to figure out how to make a few more Broncos elsewhere. People actually want to buy those.
The accountants run Ford.
The accountants would tell Tommy Boy to figure out how to sell a few more Broncos.
Who has a cubicle these days?
Our next staff meeting is scheduled for Monday in the newly renovated main building on campus, giving us a preview of what will eventually become of all of the buildings over the next few years.
@lpdbw – and it’s in Houston…
Wife drives a honda oddyssee and loves it. Has the second highest trim level – no dvd. I hate it. Loud, noisy, loose as a goose, and the glass is all distorted. Makes me carsick to ride shotgun. But she loves it. It fits hundreds of cases of GS cookies with the seats out.
FREAKING HAIL as big as my thumb, slightly smaller than golf balls. Means we’ll be getting all the roofing scams for the next year…
n
Rain stopped for a bit around 230 so I went and did pickups. Started up again around 5ish. Then we just had thunder, lightning, and freaking hail.
n
Who has a cubicle these days?
Our next staff meeting is scheduled for Monday in the newly renovated main building on campus, giving us a preview of what will eventually become of all of the buildings over the next few years.
Just a bunch of desks that you can claim one of for a day and set your laptop on ?
I am so glad that I have an office with a door.
Of course, if I lose any more people then I may have the whole building to myself.
FREAKING HAIL as big as my thumb, slightly smaller than golf balls. Means we’ll be getting all the roofing scams for the next year…
The roof on my house is 5 years old.
The roof on my main office building is 19 years old.
Roofs in south Texas last 10 years according to my roofing dude. Then the next hail storm takes them out.
That’s an odd(yssee) spelling.
I’ve had four minivans. I wouldn’t say that I’ve loved any of them but I appreciate them for the amount of stuff or people they can carry. I not infrequently need to carry 3-5 teens plus the large backpacks they all need for their large number of schoolbooks. I occasionally need to transport a kid and a large number of boxes, more than can fit into a sedan or even an SUV except the largest models. Last week I got a flatpack chicken coop, a 170-pound box about 3 ½ x 4 ½ feet, while hauling two teens, their backpacks, and groceries. And I’ll not infrequently haul my large, heavy Werner multi-pos ladder, which won’t fit into several models of small-to-medium SUV, because my daughter’s school has come to rely on it for dealing with some of their high ceilings. I need the carrying capacity often enough that nothing smaller will suit my needs, if I’m going to have only one vehicle. And it’s a lot easier to drive and to park than a full-size van.
I might be getting a small, practical car soonish. I’ll probably be teaching The Child to drive this Summer. Depending on how things work out, she may need to drive regularly. I’ll let her drive my van most of the time – one of the things I had in mind when I bought it is that it’s large and safe and worth approximately nothing, so if she gets in an accident it will be as least bad as possible.
That is what out new building will be. The ones who are soldly on-site get an office. Everyone else hotels – you reserve a cube. They also have some offices that can be reserved. I’m going to break the system. We haven‘t even moved in yet, but they opened the reservation portal. I reserved a corner office on the top floor for 364 days – the maximum allowed.
The sad thing is there is plenty of room in the building for everyone to have an office, they just don’t want it.
https://www.nintendo.com/store/products/oddworld-munchs-oddysee-switch/
“nuttin’ to do Abe”
n
Desks? Haven’t had any of those in my last five contracts or jobs, going back over a decade. (Not including my current job, which started out and will always be work from home, allowing me to set up a good environment.) Three had cubicle tables with a few rolling three-drawer cabinets for the group, first come first serve. The others had plain ol’ tables in the middle of an “open plan work area”, no drawers or anything. I bought a rolling filing cabinet for one as an alternative to keeping things on top of the table.
they just don’t want it.
–the people that like to play power and status games always seem to find business reasons why THEY need offices…
BP went to something along those lines 12 years ago. Everyone hated it. No closets or storage rooms either, so all that flex furniture never changed position or shape as there was no where to put it… Not even a place to hang a coat, store your steel toes or a hard hat, and those last three were required even in the office if the ceiling was open for someone to do work…
n
>> Do you know how many people thing that Google is the Internet? They open their browser, which has Google as the home page. They type URL into Google, instead of into the address bar. Which, of course, didn’t work, so the site must be broken. Gaaaaaahhhhh!!!
@brad, are they using Chrome? On Chrome / Win11 for me, when you open the Google homepage, in the Google search box it specifically says “Search Google or type a URL” and both options work for me – if I enter ttgnet I get search results and if I enter ttgnet.com I go to this site’s homepage. Do you have a different UI experience?
I reserved a corner office on the top floor for 364 days – the maximum allowed.
Never be on the top floor. You are the first to know when the A/C goes out.
I had an office on the 27th floor of a 31 story downtown building (Skyway Tower) in Dallas, Texas back in 1987 – 1989. We had a fire on the 15th or so floor one fine day. So we are going down the stairwells as the firefighters are going up. There was about 30 or 40 firefighters in our stairwell, we all pressed ourselves to the outer wall as they were coming up with air bottles, full slickers, heavy duty boots, big hats, fire axes, and chainsaws. Wasn’t enough room for me and them so I grabbed the corner of a landing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheraton_Dallas_Hotel
Correcting myself. Something seemed “off”. Sure enough, pistol cartridges come 50 to a box, not 20 (generally). So it’s roughly $8.35 per box of 50. Still a bargain, but that’s only the opening bid.
I plead insufficient caffeination. I’ll keep an eye on the sale and see how it goes.
@ITGuy1998
Cool.
Check the local auctions–lots of Herman Miller reasonable.
Find some nice shelves and you might want to think about borrowing my Dilbert collection.
When “The Dilbert Principle” came out I copied a page of good ones that seemed particularly apropos and posted it next to the coffeepot.
I’ve seen a number of claims that the non-indictment (no crime charged) of Donald Trump is some sort of master manipulation by Democrats to make him the 2023 nominee.
He was already leading DeSantis by 30 points, so he really needed the help…
It seems likely that the real consequence of breaking precedent is going to be indictments–real ones–of a number of Democrat former officeholders. Given the abuses of the DoJ in prosecuting the Democrats political enemies–you know, those dangerous Jan 6 insurrectionists and the guy facing 10 years for creating a meme FFS–and the co-conspiracists in the LSM, it seems only a matter of time before we see the first of an avalanche of indictments of Clinton, Obamas, Biden family members, and former federal officials.
I’m sure that Eric Holder could be charged with violation of state laws and held without bail by some county sheriff that let’s it be known that a request for extradition by the Mexican government might get a hearing in county court.
If a meme can violate election law then how can the refusal of the media to do the job intended under the First Amendment not?
DEVELOPING: Multiple Police Officers Shot in Kansas City, Kansas
n
So the message to women is “anything you can do, we can do better”. That should make friends and influence people…
Nike angers feminists after choosing controversial trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney as new face of its women’s SPORTS BRA, days after Bud Light was slammed for putting her on can
n
Honda has transmission problems on and off in those. However, if you don’t have that problem, the van will probably run forever.
For all of its faults, my wife likes the Exploder. I doubt any of that generation will be on the road in 10 years, however.
Not “in spite of” but “BECAUSE OF”
Trump’s polls KEEP surging despite indictment: Ex-President sees biggest 2024 lead over Biden in more than a year, despite mounting legal woes
n
https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/04/05/california-energy-panel-we-need-another-9b-to-go-green-n541924
Citizens of adjacent states should be demanding safeguards be put in place to isolate their electrical grids from Cali’s to prevent cascade failure.
They should also be restricting their electrical utilities from selling electricity to Cali. Not by restricting it per se, just imposing an implied value windfall profits tax to make sure that any electricity is exported at the top dollar that the poor suckers in Cali are charged.
Hi kids…today’s installment of “Rules for thee, not for me” focuses on the Amish and LGBTQ+XYZ combo from the LSM…
https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/cnn-don-lemon-misogyny-history-nikki-haley-1235574286/
>> You know what seems mostly irrelevant?
Voting.
Voting seems to be mostly irrelevant.
@Jenny, fraud, apathy, something else?
I’ll find out. The managers are having a “leadership only” meeting on Friday to learn how to sell us on returning to the office.
I don’t have a problem being back in the office full time, but my view is that everyone has to be there, not just the males lacking some kind of quota protection.
You might try self-identifying as a black, female, transgender, gay, non-binary, football. In other words, the weirder, the better to be a protected class. White, heterosexual, male is so boring.
I identify as an “ROF”.
Retired Old Fart (or Fogey).
Get off my lawn!!
Oregon’s electrical grid is in worse shape than California’s.
“Texas woman tosses possum out of a bar in true cowgirl fashion”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/texas-woman-possum-bar-17880694.php
“Banita Creek Dance Hall has named patron Jessica White “Possum Queen.””
She is tougher than me. Possums have awesome claws and will rip you up.
Don’t hurt possums though. They eat ticks and many other insects.
“Even power companies hate Texas Republicans’ new $10 billion grid plan”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/texas-power-grid-backup-generator-17880131.php
“GOP senators’ multi-billion proposal for a state backup grid earned bipartisan condemnation in session Tuesday–but GOP leadership pushed it through anyway.”
Looks like we are going to pay Warren Buffet a lot of money to build more power plants.
‘Bud Light Lit Brand On Fire, People Pouring Beer Down Their Sink, It Says Quite A Bit About How Out of Touch They Have Been’ Says PR Expert
https://slaynews.com/news/bud-light-lit-brand-on-fire-people-pouring-beer-down-their-sink-it-says-quite-a-bit-about-how-out-of-touch-they-have-been-says-pr-expert/
Scroll down for the Kid Rock video.
I’m sure I’ve had a Bud Light at some time or another when I needed o be polite, but it’s in that nauseating class of American Swill Beer that’s improved by passing it through the kidneys and peeing. It’s doubtful I would crack one after mowing the lawn if a cold garden hose was available.
https://babylonbee.com/news/testicular-injuries-skyrocketing-among-women-athletes?
The trend is terrifying!If this goes on every female athlete will be injuring testicles by 2089.
Rochelle Walensky needs to be reassigned to look into this full-time.
@Lynn
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that written in to a future episode of Yellowstone. “Git yore hands off my husband unless you want to go possum leggin’*”
*A variation on the ancient sport of ferret legging, developed in the American West where ferrets are difficult to come by.
I could have gone a lot longer without looking up “ferret legging” on Wikipedia.
Like maybe the rest of my life.
The power plants won’t be idle. Berkshire plans to build a bunch of charging stations at Pilot/Flying-J stations using the Federal subsidy money made available in the Inflation Reduction Act.
The upside of dealing with the Gecko is that he’s not one for secrecy. He likes to gloat too much.
I still have BRK-B. Unlike Warren, I won’t pretend that I could have done better with an S&P 500 mutual fund over the last 14 years. That is a complicated piece of BS which he spouts for a reason.
I could have gone a lot longer without looking up “ferret legging” on Wikipedia.
Like maybe the rest of my life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferret-legging
Is there anything that is not in Wikipedia ?
6,639,758 content pages with 57,909,267 pages and 45,324,932 editors.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Statistics
More reason not to use google.
Try searching google for tobacco products for sale. Not stores that sell tobacco, they are happy to point you to your local head shop (as they conflate “tobacconist” with “sells water pipes and kratom”) but use the “shopping” tab, and all you get are products that smell like, or are made from tobacco.
Do the same in the ducks and you get online tobacco sellers.
n
I thought pot replaced tobacco. I must know more people who smoke pot than people who smoke tobacco.
I never willingly inhaled any kind of smoke. There are reasons.