Cool and damp. ‘Cuz Houston! Joy. Forecast has us in the storm zone. As always, we’ll see. It was pretty darn nice yesterday. Nice temps, some sun, just generally nice. More please.
Spent yesterday playing catch up on my auction sites. Then did two pickups- almost entirely stuff for the BOL and plumbing supplies for here. My sprinkler system froze, so there are parts that need to be replaced. It’ll be hot soon and I’ll need to run the system, so I better get it fixed. Conveniently, everything I think I need was in the auctions last week.
Today, I’ll be doing more home stuff, I think. I keep putting it off, but especially if the weather isn’t great, it’s time to do some.
Time. Who knows how much we have? There were articles this week about some sub-prime lenders being in trouble. Sub-prime is where the last bad thing got started. More articles about food too, and issues with the food supply. Time feels short to me. I hope not. But .mil and .gov are getting their ducks in a row. I read Guns, Germs, and Steel and I was amazed by how long the process took to get ready for war, how much happened in full view and yet was dismissed, and I’m seeing many of those same things happening now. War is always disruptive to society and the economy. It’s also a great distraction from internal issues. Think we have some of those?
My advice is the same. Keep stacking. It can’t hurt and it might save your life.
nick
Yup, cool-ish and damp this morning. Kids have testing today so extra snacks in the back pack. Coffee is in the bowl, and some made it into my mouth already.
Time to roust the slackers.
n
I almost wonder if the families are sacrificing a member to win the lawsuit lottery. Take one of the less desirable members, strike a deal to interact with cops in a less than desirable fashion, hoping to be able to sue when something goes wrong. A risky mission should they decide to accept it. Choosing one of the family members who is a pillar of the projects, would do anything for anybody, would give someone their last dime (bag) if they had one. At least spin it that way when the member is demised.
I suspect the large awards in cases like George Floyd have spawned other attempts. If not by the individuals, or at least by the scum lawyers looking for a large payday. Perhaps even encouraged by the lawyers. I know the lawyers look for such cases and will then blow the cases up in the media. The absolute worst racist cretin is Ben Crump.
I don’t think individual families have decided to sacrifice individuals, but the community as a whole has seen doing so as a means to an end – political power, possible reparations which cripple the US economy, and, in the case of Benny Crump, an entire state government beholden to his pocket-lining rackets.
If Ron DeSantis accomplishes nothing else in his political career, keeping Benny Crump’s sock puppet candidate Andrew Gillum out of the Florida Governor’s Mansion despite significant media opposition across the state — cough … Poynter Institute … Politi-Fact … cough — was a huge public service.
Any of you who watch the “Picard” finale should keep watching through the credits.
Eugene Bradford lives — he had a time machine, after all. The showrunners acknowledge a 36 year debt.
@Lynn is not going to be happy.
re: trucks
I probably misled all y’all. When I said “Modern trucks”, I didn’t necessarily mean “new”. My last truck was a 2004.
Thanks for the advice. I’m willing to travel to get a truck, and I have people I could visit in NYFS (Hi, SteveF!), Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Eastern Washington, and Southern California. I could also travel to places where I don’t have friends and family, of course. And it’s not urgent at this time, but sooner would be better; we’re a one car family at the moment.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/waco-30-years-later-its-not-atrocity-if-feds-do-it
n
Janet Reno eventually paid a price for going along with the Clintons, never making it to the Florida Governor’s Mansion she eyed for 30 years but always deferring to FL Dem establishment “wisdom” about maintaining power in the state — you see where that got them.
Ironically, part of Reno’s undoing in the primaries when given a shot may have come from voting machine issues in … Dade/Broward!
It blowed up real good.
At least the explosion happened down range and didn’t destroy Boca Chica.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wsKyM1Raeu4
Musk did tweet that even if there was unplanned rapid disassembly, it would be exciting.
Man that’s a big bird.
n
If you don’t own it, you don’t own it.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11991103/The-movies-impossible-watch-Netflixs-DVD-service-shuts-down.html
n
So, who gets the Netflix disks now?
Amazing the telemetry and video streams from the systems on board. There must be thousands of streams of data. I did notice that five engines failed to ignite. Then the tumbling at the end was not good.
Korolev ghost looking at Elon
Ray:
I think the major failure was at MECO, when the main engines DID NOT cut off. The Starship couldn’t separate with the mains still firing, and then it started to tumble. But the point of failure was at MECO.
The tumble was probably when the booster was SUPPOSED to do its boostback burn prior to a “soft” water landing. But with the Starship still attached, the programs couldn’t control the amount of the tumble.
>> Often, that’s something that would damage a truck bed, like a load of rocks or gravel.
Real men have pickup trucks with dinged and dented beds.
>> So, who gets the Netflix disks now?
AOL?
Hmmm, thumbs are MIA again…
n
New term from Space X used in broadcast of launch – Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly
Even Ford only wants to sell garage queens anymore.
In other words, a glitch in the matrix.
Use one of the online used vehicle search tools and see what’s available from Cali. CarFax should confirm full life in Cali away from rain, salt, snow. Cheap one-way ticket and drive it home or have it shipped. For the latter I can recommend a reliable carrier that I’ve used several times.
I have used https://www.autotrader.com/ and https://houston.craigslist.org/search/cta#search=1~gallery~0~0 in the past.
I said the same about my wife.
Good thing I have an RV in which to sleep.
>> Often, that’s something that would damage a truck bed, like a load of rocks or gravel.
Real men have pickup trucks with dinged and dented beds.
I’ve got several bright shiny aluminum tears showing through my F-150 bed liner. Both in the bed and on the inside of the tailgate. I guess that I should get something to put in there. My bed liner is about an 1/8 inch thick and is bonded to the aluminum.
BTW, my tailgate locks to the vehicle. My brother has had three tailgates stolen from his truck that he parks outside his house inside the inner 610 loop in Houston. He parks everything inside that he can.
Around my house, if you leave a truck in the driveway overnight, chances are you will come out to four cinder blocks supporting your vehicle. It is that bad, even out here in the sticks.
Musk did tweet that even if there was unplanned rapid disassembly, it would be exciting.
Man that’s a big bird.
Sized for 200 passengers from Houston to Tokyo in 30 minutes or a long weekend trip around the Moon. Barf bags are free !
No thumbs and no post editing today. Were we bad ?
Any of you who watch the “Picard” finale should keep watching through the credits.
Eugene Bradford lives — he had a time machine, after all. The showrunners acknowledge a 36 year debt.
@Lynn is not going to be happy.
What did I do now and who is Eugene Bradford ?
Picard is reminding me of an old movie set in a nursing home. I am about 5 or 6 episodes in.
Oh, Q. John DeLancie. The trial for humanity is still going on.
@lynn. Theme or plug-in issues. Working on it.
I am not complaining, just noting.
Dude, you do a marvelous job keeping this place going.
I’ve written about 3,000 lines of new Fortran code this month and the effort that it takes me to concentrate now is amazing. What I took for granted 30 years ago is now gone. For those who are like, what the crap is he talking about, watch “For Love Of The Game” as the baseball pitcher zones out and gives perfect concentration to his game.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0126916/
BTW, it is reputed that John D. Lancie got a seven figure check for his participation in Picard. Before that, in all of the 40 or 50 Star Trek episodes that he was in, he got Union Scale.
But .mil and .gov are getting their ducks in a row. I read Guns, Germs, and Steel and I was amazed by how long the process took to get ready for war, how much happened in full view and yet was dismissed, and I’m seeing many of those same things happening now. War is always disruptive to society and the economy. It’s also a great distraction from internal issues. Think we have some of those?
An Army general gave a speech to Congress the other day, the Bayou dude picked it up. The Army general says that we have given 1/3rd of our nation’s ammunition to Ukraine. Not just grenades, but the HIMARS and Javelins. My son got to use Javelins in Iraq to some bothersome people located a ways away. Those people went away, permanently.
https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/himars.html
https://www.lockheedmartin.com/en-us/products/javelin.html
The general said maybe a decade to replace the HIMARS. He said 13 years to replace the Javelins. The Army has ordered them both but the assembly lines and machines were put away a long time ago.
Logistics sucks if you screw it up.
We, the USA, have some tough decisions to make when China invades Taiwan. We are building new chip factories here in the USA but the process is slow. Actually, my son thinks that we have already made the decision to abandon Taiwan.
I’ve spent a lot of time on the last three jobs making libcurl do things I’m sure it was never originally intended to do. I had to walk another developer through my latest new code last night, and I’m still not sure where that came from.
The company behind my last job just got sold on the cheap. I’m sure it was about the patents.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-11993945/Elon-Musks-Starship-set-launch-today-frozen-valve-thwarted-earlier-attempt.html
$3 billion dollars. Hopefully the next test will be cheaper.
He who controls the high ground controls the world. The Chinese know this and are working on the high ground themselves.
I am convinced that the DOD is the funding for SpaceX. They know what is coming.
The first season is rough except for “Nepenthe”, the episode featuring Picard’s visit with the Riker family at the house from “The Great Outdoors”.
The second season? I can’t think of anything really good there.
Third season was something which the main “Star Trek” production office ignored which is probably the reason it worked.
I so wanted to give this a thumbs up…
Seriously though, you are much appreciated, Rick
BTW, three more of my natural gas production customers have gone bankrupt so far this year. I am wondering where the nation’s crude oil and natural gas is going. We are in the peak for both and starting a rapid decline in both due to lack of investment. Part of the problem is a hostile bureaucratic and legal adversarial environment causing new installations to be incredibly expensive. The other problem is the pricing, we are the victims of our own successes.
TSMC has a presence here, but not on the tech level of what they have in Taiwan. I used to live down the street from their WaferTech fab in WA State, which supposedly produced chips for the GameCube and PS3.
If Taiwan is invaded, the fabs get blown and rebuilt in Arizona.
Third season was something which the main “Star Trek” production office ignored which is probably the reason it worked.
It seems that Johnathan Frakes (Will Riker) is driving the third season. He is picking up serious notations in the credits: director, actor, writer, producer.
If Taiwan is invaded, the fabs get blown and rebuilt in Arizona.
The fabs are being built in Ohio right now. Not enough water in Arizona.
Congress is investing $45 billion.
“Star Trek: The Next Generation” never would have made it out of the first season without DeLancie’s soap opera audience.
Mike Okuda got a nice check this season I’m sure, but the reason is a spoiler. I don’t think it is exaggeration to say that we interact with tech today was directly inspired by Okuda’s work. Apple openly credits the TNG “PADD” devices for the iPad.
Lefty BuzzfeedNews is done. Reading the CEO’s letter is interesting.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/buzzfeed-news-shuttering-operations-shares-plunge
It’s another internet/social/web20 company cutting 10% of workforce. They’ve also cut real estate leasing, which has an large effect. Some of the numbers are crazy.
– so less money being raised by selling shares. Less chance of spinning off and cashing in on smaller chunks of company, and people figuring out that online ads don’t work… while the readers evaporate.
– Create “content” in a form advertisers like, find new talent to exploit, figure out how to do it without talent at all, and astroturf.
All I have to say is “bye Felicia”
n
They went the way of the Gravatar.
Bring back the Gravatar!
Bring back the Gravatar!
Bring back the Gravatar!
There, I said it three times.
I lock the tailgate on my Frontier. I figure if they put a lock there that maybe the back-up camera is pretty expensive. I wish it was a power lock. With the fob, one unlock press unlocks the driver’s door. Two unlock the rest of the doors. How about three to unlock everything, including the tailgate? There’s wiring for the camera…. just a thought. A rocker on the dash for the tailgate lock would work as well. Put it next to switch for the cargo light that lights the bed.
Scratch the switch on the dash. Make it key fob only. If the camera is worth enough to need a lock on the tailgate, a quick smash of a window defeats the point of a lock.
David Bowie has re-incarnated?
Oh, that’s just the face of modern “beauty”.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11995109/Billie-Pipers-lookalike-sister-Elle-showcases-jaw-dropping-figure.html
One is bowie from ziggy stardust, only LESS feminine and the other is the Joker from the modern batman franchise.
Yikes.
n
@paul, yep, the camera is the reason they steal them.
There is a trick with a hose clamp that will slow them down, making it much harder to remove the tailgate.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6K_fgTKn5c
Of course, even for my 20+ yo ranger, a tailgate is $400 – 600, and that’s without a camera.
n
Real estate leasing starts to get into the fixed income portion of 401(k) and pension plans for most people.
I saw a quote from the current iteration of LaSalle Partners recently in a piece about Facebook and Amazon cutting back on their real estate expenditures. For those of you unaware, that’s the company co-founded by Robert Francis’ father-in-law and where his real money originates.
No more runs for state-wide office in Texas. However, I think Greg Cazar will be who the Dems plan to use to challenge Rafael Edward.
AKA Gregorio Eduardo here in the future.
Frakes has been involved with new Trek since “Discovery”. Ironically, it was probably Frakes work on Trek kinda-sorta spoof “The Orville” which landed him the gigs in Alex Kurtzman’s “Star Trek” series.
The key figure behind making the third season of “Picard” work was Terry Matalas, the showrunner and head writer. If he hadn’t pitched a decent idea and scripts to the supporting cast previously reluctant to participate, the key reunion scenes on the bridge of [spoiler] never would have happened.
Gates McFadden in particular was frustrated by the movies and having nothing to do. And it wasn’t just “Star Trek” – McFadden is the original Dr. Caroline Ryan in Alec Baldwin’s “The Hunt For Red October”.
Blink and you’ll miss her.
Channeling lynn,
I finished listening to the audiobook of the second “Nikki Heat” book, “written by” Richard Castle…..
If you liked the show “Castle” starring Nathan Fillion, the “Nikki Heat” books are the books his character supposedly wrote, based on his (in show) experiences with the female lead and the NYPD. It’s all a bit of an in joke, “play within a play” experience.
They are an even more cartoon-y version of the characters in the TV show, and essentially wish fulfillment of the character Richard Castle.
As such, they are a bit over the top, even for genre books, with the nested versions of reality…
Well produced, and full of in jokes, nods to Fillion’s other famous character – captain Malcolm “Mal” Reynolds, and other fan service. I enjoyed the first two enough that I paid for the third on ebay…
I only watched the first couple of seasons of Castle, but it was engaging and fun in a way that isn’t common on TV. It reminded me of Home Improvement before it became a hit. It’s nominally one thing, but is really a relationship show at heart. (in Castle, the crimes being investigated are VERY secondary to the character relationship.) The Castle writers also had fun with Nathan’s Firefly past.
Somewhat surprising to me is that according to wikilies Fillion and the female lead didn’t even get along in real life…
Acting. Who knew?
n
lynn says:
Nonsense! That term was WIDELY used in the ‘60s and ’70s when NASA blew up MANY rockets.
Yikes! For that kind of money I’ll do without a tailgate until I find one at the junkyard.
I was poking around on eBay yesterday to see what there is for my truck that would be useful. It’s pretty much zero. Window vent shades for about $40. No-name brands. Side step rails are about $200. And that’s about all I can think of that I possibly want.
The USB fast charger gizmo that shows system voltage looks interesting. It has two USB ports and a straight outta 1978 red LED push the button to see the time on your watch display for the voltage. Pretty funny, actually. It’s a “snap into an unused switch socket”. I don’t have an unused switch socket. So I’ll just suffer and use the USB charger that plugs in to a cigarette lighter socket. Woe is me. Do I use the port on the dash or the one in the armrest? Yeah, woe is me assuming I remember to take my tracking device with me at all.
I can buy a new review mirror for $15. It’s just a mirror, no auto dim or compass and temp display. Meh, I have a couple from old Chryslers in the shed. Lots and lots of seat covers and floor mats. And what? Coasters that go into the cup holders? I use the cup holder to hold my beer when I get to the end of the road while I get out and walk across the street to the mail box.
Oh! I can get a set of LED lights for the grill. ALA Ford Raptor. Pass. I can buy sets of LED bulbs to replace the incandescent bulbs, in and out of the cab. I’ll pass, I think the the last dome light I replaced was about 15 years ago.
Sony/Bad Wolf and the BBC need Billie Piper to return for the “Doctor Who” 60th anniversary show in November, which probably explains the pickup of the Piper sisters’ “I Hate Suzie” for another season.
The new co-star of “Doctor Who” starting with the regular run of shows after the anniversary is the second coming of Billie Piper except without the obvious smoker skin damage.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2022/millie-gibson-doctor-who-companion-fifteenth-doctor/
The thumbs and editor are back. PBDAC, resolved.
Thanks for the kind words. I get much more out of the comments (mostly) than the effort I put in here. Glad to do it.
I finished listening to the audiobook of the second “Nikki Heat” book, “written by” Richard Castle…..
If you liked the show “Castle” starring Nathan Fillion, the “Nikki Heat” books are the books his character supposedly wrote, based on his (in show) experiences with the female lead and the NYPD. It’s all a bit of an in joke, “play within a play” experience.
They are an even more cartoon-y version of the characters in the TV show, and essentially wish fulfillment of the character Richard Castle.
As such, they are a bit over the top, even for genre books, with the nested versions of reality…
The Castle books were supposedly written by James Patterson, Mr. 5,000 words per day …
BTW, James Patterson’s autobiography is really good if you like those.
https://www.amazon.com/James-Patterson-Stories-My-Life/dp/0316397539/
The thumbs and editor are back. PBDAC, resolved.
Thanks for the kind words. I get much more out of the comments (mostly) than the effort I put in here. Glad to do it.
Dude, you rock !
@paul, until I find one at the junkyard. um, that IS the junkyard price.
@lynn, the second book has acknowledgements that are written in character by “Richard Castle” that mention Patterson. And Steven J Canell. (sp?) and mention the ‘writer’s poker game’ that Canell was part of IRL. There are probably many in jokes that I miss with my casual listening while I drive.
n
I probably misled all y’all. When I said “Modern trucks”, I didn’t necessarily mean “new”. My last truck was a 2004.
I have two dragaways, a 2003 F-150 V6 Supercab with a 5 speed manual and no air bags (just holes in the steering wheel and dash). 170K miles. Hasn’t run in five XXXX seven years.
A 2005 Chevy C-10 Silverado 5.3L V8 automatic Supercab stepside. Hasnt run in three years. Had an electrical system failure and turned the seat heaters on wide open so he went and bought a Camry.
For that, I’ll southern engineer a tailgate.
So, who gets the Netflix disks now?
Do you think that anyone is going to return them ? You have until September to get anything you want.
I’ve spent a lot of time on the last three jobs making libcurl do things I’m sure it was never originally intended to do. I had to walk another developer through my latest new code last night, and I’m still not sure where that came from.
Making old code do new things is cool.
@paul, until I find one at the junkyard. um, that IS the junkyard price.
I doubt that any of the Ford dealers are carrying any parts for the old Rangers other than spark plugs and oil filters. Certainly not tailgates. They will order you a “new” tailgate from a junkyard somewhere. Parts in a warehouse are expensive when you have to pay 3% in property tax on them every year.
The libcurl code literally makes customers AI systems possible.
Of course it came at a price of two doublings of my hypertension med dosage within the last year along with two new pills.
This is my last tech job.
We stopped off to see friends from the GTE days in Florida before leaving Tampa two weeks ago, and anyone still working some kind of hands on development job had the same sentiment about their current gigs.
“6 capital murder defendants accused in a second killing while out on bond for capital murder”
https://www.fox26houston.com/news/6-capital-murder-defendants-accused-in-a-second-killing-while-out-on-bond-for-capital-murder
“HARRIS COUNTY, Texas – The Texas constitution allows judges to deny bond to defendants charged with capital murder. It’s the most serious crime with punishment that includes life behind bars or the death penalty. Still, some Harris County Judges grant bond to capital murder defendants.”
Just another day in the neighborhood. Be careful out there, these criminals are out wandering around.
Wizard of Id: No War In The Future
https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2023/04/20
Uh oh.
@ Lynn: RBT got me interested in reading ebooks about 20 years ago. I have read a couple of dozen James Patterson ebooks along the way. A few years ago I joined up with my local public library. As a member there, they connected me up with the cloudLibrary app whereby I can download ebooks and then read them on my tablet or cellphone.
https://www.yourcloudlibrary.com/
Pearls Before Swine: Giant Cinnamon Rolls
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2023/04/20
No way could I eat three of these in a day.
Had the van to the Ford dealer last month or so. The brakes were squealing, mostly the right rear. The ABS light comes and goes. The Check Engine light, yeah, I can read the code, it’s “high pressure on the fuel rail” and Torque takes me to Amazon to buy the part. Which is cool.
So. The dealer pretty much charged a lot of money for a brake job. They did a good job, too and it seems they gave the van a good checking over. The ABS, they can’t get that little computer anymore. The check engine light, same story…. even though I can buy the exact Motorcraft part on Amazon.
I fixed the check engine light. Easy part to replace and the van seems to run better. The ABS light, dunno. It turns on and off. The brakes work fine. I can remove the light bulb if needed.
“The “Welcome Corps” – for those whose feelings override common sense”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/04/the-welcome-corps-for-those-whose.html
“And magazine points out the reality of the illegal alien invasion. It’s being organized, sponsored and facilitated by the US government – which now expects us to accommodate the invaders.”
“Since illegal aliens start their lives in the USA by disrespecting and disobeying our laws regarding immigration, I don’t have
muchany confidence that they’ll uphold other laws. That being the case, and since I have all too much experience of dealing with criminals, my home will remain firmly closed to them, thank you very much! (On the other hand, progressive leftists and their ilk are invited – indeed, encouraged – to participate in the “Welcome Corps”. It’ll probably be an education in reality for them!)”Not in my house. Or my office building.
The wife needs to sell her inherited townhome in north Texas right now but we are too distracted with our daughter.
The libcurl code literally makes customers AI systems possible.
Of course it came at a price of two doublings of my hypertension med dosage within the last year along with two new pills.
This is my last tech job.
We stopped off to see friends from the GTE days in Florida before leaving Tampa two weeks ago, and anyone still working some kind of hands on development job had the same sentiment about their current gigs.
Sorry, but you are getting old. Be glad for the pills, 100 years ago you would have had a heart attack by now.
I work on my own terms nowadays. I came in at 2pm today and will work until 7pm. I will go home and go for a walk with the wife. Then I will come back and work until midnight.
I’m getting to the point where I’m not happy with the GP and will take a look around at the options if he doesn’t drop his mask policy at the office.
I will not entertain the hints of Adderall he was dropping for a while as a substitute for what he believes is my “self medication” with caffeine. The ADHD med is way overprescribed in Austin, and I notice it generates a peculiar aggression in the people who take it, which is probably what was going on at the tolling company.
Adderall or T-therapy. My wife goes back and forth on the symptoms I describe among the management.
“Rogue Protocol (The Murderbot Diaries, 3)” by Martha Wells
https://www.amazon.com/Rogue-Protocol-Murderbot-Martha-Wells/dp/1250191785?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number three of a seven book series of science fiction novellas. I read the well printed and well bound hardcover published by Tor in 2018 that I bought new from Amazon. The first novella in the series won the 2018 Hugo, Nebula, Alex, and Locus awards. The series won the 2021 Hugo for the best series also. I have the next book in the series and have ordered two more books in the series.
Murderbot is a SecUnit, a cloned genderless human upgraded with replaceable trunk, arms, and legs using it’s external autosurgeon cabinet. All of the major arteries and veins have clamps to stop bleeding in case of damage. There is a MedSystem computer with an AI, a HubUnit computer with an AI, and a governor module that can force the SecUnit to follow orders using pain sensors in the brain. It has a energy gun in each arm and several cameras, all directly wired to the brain. The SecUnit can sustain severe damage to everything but the head and still survive.
Murderbot is a self named SecUnit due to an unfortunate circumstance with 57 miners on a remote moon. It has hacked its governor and no longer allows the governor to give it orders or inflict pain. It prefers to internally watch its 35,000 hours of downloaded media such as episodes of “Rise and Fall of Sanctuary Moon”. Even though it has a face, it does not like to interface with humans, yes, very introverted. It will follow human orders if necessary as it is used to doing so even though it is owned by Dr. Mensah now.
Murderbot is on the run from its new owner and has been called a rogue SecUnit by the news feeds. It has been hitching rides with AI Bot Cargo and Transport spaceships by sharing it’s 35,000 hours of downloaded media. It has researched its responsibility in the deaths of 57 miners on a remote and decided that somebody else caused the deaths and then blamed it. It is now researching GrayCris Corporation’s behavior in banned alien artifacts and the murders of several research scientists.
Warning: The violence is graphic and extreme. And this is a series of novellas, not regular length books so the price is quite high to acquire all seven books.
The author has a website at:
https://www.marthawells.com/
My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (17,464 reviews)
I’m getting to the point where I’m not happy with the GP and will take a look around at the options if he doesn’t drop his mask policy at the office.
I will not entertain the hints of Adderall he was dropping for a while as a substitute for what he believes is my “self medication” with caffeine. The ADHD med is way overprescribed in Austin, and I notice it generates a peculiar aggression in the people who take it, which is probably what was going on at the tolling company.
Adderall or T-therapy. My wife goes back and forth on the symptoms I describe among the management.
Go see a real cardiologist now. Half of them are actually good doctors and will keep you from having a heart attack. I’ve had two, don’t go there. I actually survived both, apparently the survival rate on the first heart attack is 50%. You may need a stent or you might have an adrenal gland overproduction problem.
I was just about to suggest that Lynn get some drugs to help with his difficulty in focusing.
re
undocumented migrantsrefugeesillegal aliensthe undeclared army invading our nation and the facilitators thereof, remember the rule: kill two traitors for every invader.“The Best Optimistic Science Fiction Books” by Dan Livingston
https://best-sci-fi-books.com/the-best-optimistic-science-fiction-books/
This is quite the list of 24 books, I have read several of them.
21. Red Thunder (one of my six star books)
20. We Are Legion (We are Bob) (one of my six star books)
18. The Warriors Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold (another six star series)
17. Have Space Suit- Will Travel
8. Down & Out In The Magic Kingdom
6. Zoe’s Tale
5. Rainbow’s End
4. Contact – I saw the movie
1. To Say Nothing Of The Dog (awesome book !)
I met Cory Doctorow and bought a signed copy of that book and “Makers” at the C2E2 conference in Chicago in 2019.
The Mansion is perfect … but I do like the new OpenGL “Hitchhiking Ghosts” gags in Florida and the Hatbox Ghost finally perfected (after 50 years) thanks to new tech in California.
Big distraction. 78,000 unsold cars is a lot.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/04/19/musk-s-price-war-leaves-tesla-with-self-inflicted-wounds/eab54898-df0a-11ed-a78e-9a7c2418b00c_story.html
Finally saw the Starship launch video, wow!
First thought s that it is extremely overbuilt – multiple rotations of the stack. Understandable that the winged portion held together, but the booster and interstage hung in there too!
Secondly…concrete isn’t strong enough for 33 engines, go buy some 1” steel plate from the roads department and armor the launch tower up.
So the BBB and pink-haired girl are off the hook, for now.
All charges dismissed without prejudice.
https://deadline.com/2023/04/alec-baldwin-charges-dropped-rust-shooting-halyna-hutchins-1235329568/
To you and me. But he has sold nearly 2 million, so maybe 4% sitting on the lot a bit longer isn’t a big deal to him.
The DASH Rapid Egg Cooker made Instapundit today.
I think I recommended it a few months ago.
Finally saw the Starship launch video, wow!
First thought s that it is extremely overbuilt – multiple rotations of the stack. Understandable that the winged portion held together, but the booster and interstage hung in there too!
Secondly…concrete isn’t strong enough for 33 engines, go buy some 1” steel plate from the roads department and armor the launch tower up.
I read a conjecture that the concrete under the launch buckled and sprayed up into the rocket engines, damaging five of them. Those five engines would not shut off and caused the separation to fail.
Yup, I believe in the bad Baldwin’s case, justice has been served. Pinky needs to see the inside of a prison.
OSHA has already fined the production company, and the 1stAD plead to a lesser charge with time served.
Production on Rust is restarting this week, so the DP’s family might see some money eventually.
n
Could be. It looked like it had multiple engines out and was streaming fuel and igniting it during most of the ascent.
Until the separation event it seemed that the gimbaled engines, and (speculating) maybe some judicious throttling of engines on the opposite side of the failing engines, were enough to keep the vehicle on an upwards trajectory.
“I’m to blame for Russia’s invasion: Bill Clinton admits ‘terrible’ mistake in forcing Ukraine to give up its nuclear weapons in 1994 – and Putin would not have attacked if they still had them”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11942467/Bill-Clinton-admits-terrible-mistake-forcing-Ukraine-nuclear-weapons.html
Not our worst President by far.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/atf-director-unable-define-assault-weapon-despite-bidens-call-ban
n
I hate software re-entrency problems ! ! !
Maybe he is a single malt guy, and a pipe smoker?
As the famous philosopher J. Steinman once said: “…two out of three ain’t bad.”
p.s. I did not know that “Bat Out of Hell: The Musical” existed, until just now.
Where has Bubba been for the last couple of years?
For a while, he looked close to death anytime he was seen in public.
>> The thumbs and editor are back. PBDAC, resolved.
PBDAC??
I’m guessing not “Principal Bank For Development & Agricultural Credit.”
>> BTW, three more of my natural gas production customers have gone bankrupt so far this year.
@lynn, time to add SMR modeling to your software?
Zuckerberg is a long way from being done firing people.
https://www.marketwatch.com/story/zuckerberg-says-meta-may-not-be-through-with-layoffs-report-3355c9ec
We have to be on site for a meeting tomorrow, no exemptions except for the girl based in CA working remote as part of the new grad rotation program.
It must suck to be the guy who has to be here from Katy for a couple of hours.
>> TSMC has a presence here, but not on the tech level of what they have in Taiwan. I used to live down the street from their WaferTech fab in WA State, which supposedly produced chips for the GameCube and PS3.
If Taiwan is invaded, the fabs get blown and rebuilt in Arizona.
They’re already planning ahead and Plugs should have no qualms handing over the bucks, why $15B is hardly even ‘real’ money:
https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/news/2023/04/20/tsmc-seeking-15-billion-for-arizona-chip-plants.html
like a movie…
n
>> BTW, three more of my natural gas production customers have gone bankrupt so far this year.
@lynn, time to add SMR modeling to your software?
That is a crowded marketplace with freeware going back to the 1960s.
Oooh, was testing a scanner, heard that we’re under a severe thunderstorm warning, and I’m starting to hear some thunder… Saw some flashes about ½ hour ago, but didn’t hear it, now I’m seeing and hearing.
Oops, now the rain just started.
Dang it, that’s putting tomorrow’s plans in a bind.
n
>> The libcurl code literally makes customers AI systems possible.
Of course it came at a price of two doublings of my hypertension med dosage within the last year along with two new pills.
This is my last tech job.
@Greg, jump ship as soon as you can. Don’t let the stress and long hours get to where it affects your health. BTDT and it wasn’t worth it.
“Not our worst President by far.”
You can now say that about Carter, too, but it doesn’t make him any better than he was. And in Bill’s case, he’s responsible for Hillary, who has to be the worst almost-elected.
TSMC has a presence here, but not on the tech level of what they have in Taiwan. I used to live down the street from their WaferTech fab in WA State, which supposedly produced chips for the GameCube and PS3.
If Taiwan is invaded, the fabs get blown and rebuilt in Arizona.
I have customers in Taiwan also … paying customers, unlike China.
BTDT = Been There, Done That
>> The libcurl code literally makes customers AI systems possible.
Of course it came at a price of two doublings of my hypertension med dosage within the last year along with two new pills.
This is my last tech job.
@Greg, jump ship as soon as you can. Don’t let the stress and long hours get to where it affects your health. BTDT and it wasn’t worth it.
Are both your kids in college ? My opinion, for what it is worth (zero !), is don’t let your kids impoverish themselves going to college. Help them out as much as possible. Med / Grad school is another matter.
I had one go to college and one stayed home. The one that went to college spent two years at TAMU, joined the Marine Corps, came back after four years and went to UofH on the GI Bill. I still helped him out when necessary but, he had to ask. He has been way cheaper than the one who stayed home.
>> Pearls Before Swine: Giant Cinnamon Rolls
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2023/04/20
No way could I eat three of these in a day.
Reminds me of the first time I saw this at IKEA:
https://www.reviewjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/web1_ikea_051116jd__038_10.jpg
Lynn:
As is usually the case, the book is FAR better than the movie.
Alan:
Problem Between Desk and Computer. Generally written as “PEBKAC”; Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair”.
>> “Joe Biden’s ATF Director just testified in a Congressional hearing that he’s not a firearms expert. Wow. Maybe the ATF shouldn’t be regulating your firearms then.”
Maybe he is a single malt guy, and a pipe smoker?
Single malt? Or more likely Bud Light?!
>> Are both your kids in college ? My opinion, for what it is worth (zero !), is don’t let your kids impoverish themselves going to college. Help them out as much as possible. Med / Grad school is another matter.
My two are both graduated and I paid as much of their undergrad loans (to the penny) that was part of the settlement with W1…and then kept on paying of my own desire so both could focus on their careers. Better that than driving, oh say, a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. I’m happy with my 2018 LEAF.
Alan, you really wouldn’t want a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. Really.
Well, maybe just a few minutes to test drive one.
That Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat, with its traction aids, is probably really smooth, and therefore can reach truly scary speeds before reality sinks in.
For a slightly different comparison, I had a friend who had a new 1980 Yamaha XS11. This was essentially a touring bike with a larger than normal (for the day) 1100 cc engine. The smooth suspension and broad powerband made for an intoxicating combination. He offered me a test ride, and it was just amazing. Required extreme maturity.
About a year later, he underestimated his speed and went straight when the road curved. Although he braked and bled off a lot of speed, he went off into the desert and totaled the bike. He went to the hospital unconscious, and woke up hours later. He was lucky, no severe internal injuries or broken bones. He went home after a couple days, really sore. Learned his lesson. Rode sanely for many more years.
Lesson: all vehicles have throttles and brakes. Use them wisely.