Wet and cold. Probably still raining. Rain started late last night, and continued. Thur. was overcast and humid most of the day. Better than raining though.
Did some things. Mostly domestic bliss. Then made leftovers for dinner. Wife and kids are cleaning out closets. They are eliminating some redundancy but also weeding out the outgrown. I’ll be stealthily putting some redundancy back in the next month or two.
The plan was to head to the BOL for the weekend, but the kids have a school function that will run late. Dunno what will happen. Might leave tonight, maybe tomorrow. Have to take the Expedition, so no haul of stuff this weekend. Change and flexibility, right?
Short shrift today as I fell asleep in the chair and woke just long enough to write this.
Stack something!
n
First post.
Off to sub today. One of the teachers had her car severely damaged at Walmart so she needs a sub. Naturally, no one left a message or took responsibility. Probably some welfare loser in Oak Ridge with no insurance.
@ray or one of the new nomads, roaming the walmart parking lots, living in their car, showering at 24 Hr Fitness…
Looks like the rain stopped for now. Sun may even peek thru.
Dunno how much rain we got but the power went out sometime between 330 and 6am. UPS didn’t keep the PCs alive. Again. I don’t know what the heII is wrong with that thing. It should be as simple as a doorknob, and yet…
n
I’ve been suffering with a crap office chair for a year now. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever had a good one at home. I just placed an order for a refurbished Aeron from btod.com. We’ll see how it looks when it arrives next month.
The reception they receive at Walmart depends on the store manager.
Management at the store closest to the house, just inside the city limits, is very aggressive about keeping the nomads out of their immediate parking area, but the people living in their cars set up in the Lowe’s parking lot next door.
The City of Austin bought a business traveller hotel nearby from the immigrant family who got tired of running the place after the location next to a regional KB Home office stopped being lucrative, but the plan to turn that building into a shelter has received a lot of pushback from the neighbors, most of whom own houses outside the city limits and have zero political say over the project beyond our worthless RINO “Judge”, who quietly signed off on the deal the moment it hit his desk a few years ago.
The Aeron is a good chair, but, depending on how you sit in it, the chronic design flaw is the lumbar support pad. Sooner or later, the plastic splits on one side or another, requiring replacement of the pad to maintain the ergonomics. I’ve never had one last more than a year in 20 years of owning the chair.
When dot Com 1.0 burst in the late 90s, Aeron chairs were often the only salvageable assets a lot of startups had left. The cycle must be repeating again.
I saw it in London. Highly entertaining. Not deep philosophy. Recommended.
From yesterday: “PBDAC” is, I think, “problem between desk and chair”.
A good day so far. I spent the morning mostly scaring clay pigeons with friends, followed by lunch. Beautiful spring weather, trees budding, birds singing, fruit trees in bloom. Tested and liked a new-to-me shotgun (Browning B325) I acquired during the lockdown. Tidied the gub room and found a rifle that I intend to take on a trip to Tirol (Austria) in the autumn. Need to test it and decide if it needs a new scope.
>> Alan, you really wouldn’t want a Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat. Really.
Well, maybe just a few minutes to test drive one.
Well, yeah, once around the block and then to a “garage queen.”
I’ve had mine for about twenty years now. The old style with the big block lumbar support. Still going strong. I tried put “skate” style wheels on it since it mainly sits on wood/tile. The skates failed after two months, so the original plastic wheels are back on it.
I probably don’t ride it as much as you do yours, but, still, twenty years (Hi, Mr. Ray).
I bought a Steelcase for my gaming chair. It is top notch. It came with “skate” style wheels and runs fine on the wood floor.
Apple, specifically MacOS, is strange and does strange things. Plug in a thumb drive with about 8K pictures in various folders. Sports from the school year. I am not copying anything to the drive. I have not accessed the drive. Yet MacOS is constantly doing something on the drive and has been for the last two hours.
I suspect MacOS is scanning the drive and the files and writing those annoying “.” dot files that are hidden from the user. I can see them on my Windows machine when plugging in a thumb drive that has been used on a Mac.
MacOS is so persistent in writing those dot files, that plugging a completely full thumb drive will result in the drive becoming corrupted. MacOS is going to write those dot files and with no space left it will corrupt the directory.
I got my first Aeron chair at the office before they were commonplace when I had bad sciatica. Required a letter from my physician submitted to HR to get it requisitioned. Have used them ever since, including used ones at the home office. Have sat in a few clones but none have ever been comfortable.
The drive is probably being “indexed”. There is a way to turn that off for external drives where macOS is supposed to remember that drive.
It escapes me how to do that, but you will probably find it with the googles.
I carry one of those 64G USB A/C SanDisk flash drives formatted in exFat. It goes between Macs and PCs all the time. I’ve have over 50G of briefings, photos, vids for work. Never had a problem with corruption or space in three years of use. It is indexed, too.
Every drive I install on windows I mark “do not index”. Much easier to do so an a blank disk than one with 3Tb of files.
I never search my drive, so search indexing has zero value for me.
n
@ JimB: My daughter, SIL and I will be, sometime this summer, driving in my Jeep Grand Cherokee, with 5.7 L Hemi, up to Lone Pine for a few (non Bud Light) at Jake’s Saloon. Let you know when we finalize date.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g32646-d3323055-Reviews-Jake_s_Saloon-Lone_Pine_California.html
I have one external drive that I used for backups. I have that drive marked “do not index”. Every time after the backup runs something starts using that drive. The access will be for several hours. I suspect something is accessing the new files. I have no idea what application is accessing the drive or what the access is doing. It may be the backup software doing something. There is no way to know, well there may be if one really digs deep into windows, to know what is being done and by what.
Just your friendly TLA checking in…
Looking for a simple podcast app with minimal functionality. Basically download new episodes when available and delete them after I listen to them. Anything else is superfluous for me. Suggestions? Thanks.
As others have mentioned, my reference to ‘PBDAC’ is “Problem Between Desk And Chair”. (There are other variations.)
It’s an old Help Desk term I used to use back in those days. Related is “I-D-Ten-T”.
And the old story that includes “Do you have the box your computer came in?” I think that my reference to that in an interview question helped get me that job. Their question was “How would you respond to a user help desk call that …”. And my response started with “Well, I wouldn’t ask them if they had the box their computer came in.” And then smiled and gave them the proper (politically correct) answer.
“Hello, Help Desk? I can’t get the cup holder on my computer to open up today. Please send help!”
I use Apple’s, but probably not what you want.
I know Mr. SteveF listens to PCs a lot.
“Hello, help desk? My computer will not turn on.”
Does the computer have power?
“Yes.”
Unplug from the wall, turn the plug over, plug back in.
“Thanks, that worked.”
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.
Good for you, Dad ! Our kids do not understand what we give up for them and I am ok with that.
BTW, those two vehicles are about most ends of the car spectrum that I have heard. One is mild, one is not.
Wet and cold. Probably still raining. Rain started late last night, and continued. Thur. was overcast and humid most of the day. Better than raining though.
Dude, the storm that came through here at 4 am was awesome. The wind was gusting to 40+ mph, maybe 60 mph, the rain was sideways, and the lightning lit up the entire bedroom when the electricity failed. The generator came on automagically so I have no idea how long the electricity was off. I have to admit, my hurricane rated triple pane windows gave me comfort as I was worried that one of the metal patio chairs was coming to get picked up and thrown into a window.
I listen to podcasts on the computer, downloading with Rhythmbox (a Linux app) and listening with VLC. I have no idea about phone/tablet apps for listening to podcasts.
I got an email that I can claim against the Facebook privacy issue where user data was used without permission. I fully expect to get no more than $1.79 while the lawyers will get over $100 million. Like most class action lawsuits, the actual victims get almost nothing, the legal system wins the lottery. Imagine my glee when I got a coupon for $0.29 off my next purchase of a can of Bush’s Baked Beans because of winning the class action lawsuit.
Once in a while a judge will order the law firm to take their fee in coupons for free haircuts or whatever. That’s very rare. Like, once every couple decades.
Thursday’s SpaceX launch made quite a mess in the area of the launchpad.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/spacex-s-starship-launch-sent-dust-cloud-of-sand-and-soil-over-nearby-city/ar-AA1a9RlG
I thought that South Padre Island/Port Isabel would be a safe distance from which to watch, but now I’m not so sure.
Boca Chica is *not* LC38/39 at Kennedy.
BC: John Deere Riding Mower
https://www.gocomics.com/bc/2023/04/21
Oh no, BC went there.
Thursday’s SpaceX launch made quite a mess in the area of the launchpad.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/news/spacex-s-starship-launch-sent-dust-cloud-of-sand-and-soil-over-nearby-city/ar-AA1a9RlG
I thought that South Padre Island/Port Isabel would be a safe distance from which to watch, but now I’m not so sure.
Boca Chica is *not* LC38/39 at Kennedy.
Apparently the entire concrete launch pad was destroyed. They are thinking that some of the debris came up and hit the rocket motors at the launch, causing five of the rocket motors to fail. And a camera truck got a concrete boulder through it.
Off to sub today. One of the teachers had her car severely damaged at Walmart so she needs a sub. Naturally, no one left a message or took responsibility. Probably some welfare loser in Oak Ridge with no insurance.
This is why I carry under-insured / uninsured vehicle insurance. I have used it once in 1998 when an uninsured motorist turned left in front of me and I tboned her in my 1996 Ford Explorer V8.
I’ve been suffering with a crap office chair for a year now. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever had a good one at home. I just placed an order for a refurbished Aeron from btod.com. We’ll see how it looks when it arrives next month.
I use a $421 big and tall office chair at work that I bought back in 2017, “Space Seating 75 Series Air Grid Big and Tall Deluxe Ergonomic Office Chair with Thick Padded Seat and 400 lb. Limit, Black”. I have one at home also.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WJVB1Q?tag=ttgnet-20/
““Preparing for Mayor Pete’s Next Derailment!” Lauren Boebert Triggers Pete Buttigieg with Brutal Meme Regarding His Job Performance – Boebert then Responds in Epic Fashion”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/04/preparing-for-mayor-petes-next-derailment-lauren-boebert-triggers-pete-buttigieg-with-brutal-meme-regarding-his-job-performance-boebert-then-responds-in-epic-fashion/
“Is there anyone in the “Biden” regime that is competent?”
“the answer to that question….is nooope”
“An overview of the world food situation”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/04/an-overview-of-world-food-situation.html
“Today, a fifth (278 million) of the African population are undernourished, and 55 million of that continent’s children under the age of five are stunted due to severe malnutrition.”
That is going to cause problems very soon for the rest of us.
“Here in the USA, we’re largely sheltered from most of those consequences, apart from the higher prices we’ll have to pay at our supermarkets. However, we’re still importing a lot of our food, because we can afford to; and that’s causing problems for other countries that aren’t as rich as we are, and have to compete with us for a reduced supply of foodstuffs. It’s a never-ending ripple effect, and it’s going to cause us harm as well.”
People outside the USA still think that our Dollar is worth something. Big surprise coming soon.
I. Don’t. Care.
We’ve had starving africans as a trope my entire life. Still gonna have them in another 50 years. Starving is the normal human condition. It’s only with the invention of cities (literally ‘civilization’- the process of living in cities) and the middle class, combined with mechanized farming, that we have huge swaths of the world population that ISN”T starving.
n
Thankfully, here’s something you don’t see every day…
Socialite mom, 45, is arrested in child porn sting at Virginia hotel where she ‘planned to sexually abuse eight-year-old girl’: Federal judge ex-husband fights for full custody of their kids
n
Sally Struthers
Well. Last night’s thunder storm whatever that passed over us was “interesting”. Sure, you get some big fat rain drops and some maybe larger than pea sized hail and a lot of wind. Pretty much the normal thing.
An inch and a third of rain in the gauge. Not a huge storm.
It came down pretty fast but didn’t wash out my driveway. The other side of the cattle guard towards the paved road, well, it was kind of ditchey today.
Anyway. Had a couple of power blinks. I walked by the t-stat and it was off. That’s a first. The dam back light that lights the living room was off. Weird. Reached in and yeah, the breaker on the air handler is tripped. Reset that.
At the back of the house, a UPS was chirping.
So I had the breaker on the air handler trip and ONE tripped breaker in the circuit panel. Everything else seems to be fine other than the range. Stove works, oven works, but the clock part has puked. Maybe it’s a fuse? I’ll google that tomorrow. Maybe it’s just 30 years of lighting storms and it finally fried.
T-stat talks to the air handler and the compressor. So, not a fried system. Compressor code is “no air flow” and the air handler, yeah…. I bet the blower motor got zapped. I’ll find out Monday. It’s just money…..
I may be called evil but, ya know, if we quit feeding the africans, (why are we, anyway?) the entire starving thing would self correct in a couple of years.
And if we are feeding starving folks, what about Chinese or “spins wheel” folks in Uruguay? It’s all money laundering.
Real Estate
So, part of my ongoing work involving my brother’s financial affairs (now estate) is a defaulter on a contract-for-deed sale he did in Spokane. I’m reclaiming ownership in the name of the estate.
My Washington lawyer is filing for probate, and listed the value of this slum-level property as over $300,000, which I found frankly unbelievable. I looked on Zillow, and it agrees with that valuation.
I pushed back on the attorney, and he actually used the tax assessor’s valuation. He enclosed the assessor’s report, which contains a history. The value of the property has trebled in the last 4 years. Wow.
I estimated the value at $40,000, double what he paid for it in 1980, and I think that’s what he sold it for in the 2010’s (before my involvement).
I’m still in awe.
Tax Assessor stuff is a mystery. Mom’s house was “worth” 45 grand like five years ago. I just sold the joint for about 58 grand. Which put about 51 grand in my bank account. So, cool.
The tax folks down there just sent their latest appraisal that you can protest and you better do it before the middle of May, and no shit, they say it’s worth 73 grand this year. Up from 66 grand last year.
Yeah. We ain’t raising taxes, it just your stuff if worth more now.
Interesting chart on how long it would take to decode a password
https://www.hivesystems.io/blog/are-your-passwords-in-the-green
There’s some details in the methodology that are important. But you can consider the chart a relative measure of the strength of your password.
In Spokane? Maybe the other side of the border is getting too expensive for people who work in the ski areas.
“Let’s hope it doesn’t blow up.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVbUJtfQEus
En fuego.
My UPS isn’t holding up too well either; eight years now since I replaced the batteries and they are again failing to hold a charge very well. Not exactly cheap either for this 1500 watt unit that used to keep a dual Zeon work station with a CRT graphics monitor going for more than two hours of active work.
Finished latest seasons of Picard and The Mandalorian.
Picard wasn’t bad – overall I enjoyed it.
The Mandalorian was ok as well. The whole season had one scene that has potential to pay off big later. No spoilers, but it is supposed to have a tie in to the events in the upcoming Asoka series. If it’s half as good as what is in the disowned expanded universe, there is hope.
So, part of my ongoing work involving my brother’s financial affairs (now estate) is a defaulter on a contract-for-deed sale he did in Spokane. I’m reclaiming ownership in the name of the estate.
My Washington lawyer is filing for probate, and listed the value of this slum-level property as over $300,000, which I found frankly unbelievable. I looked on Zillow, and it agrees with that valuation.
I pushed back on the attorney, and he actually used the tax assessor’s valuation. He enclosed the assessor’s report, which contains a history. The value of the property has trebled in the last 4 years. Wow.
I estimated the value at $40,000, double what he paid for it in 1980, and I think that’s what he sold it for in the 2010’s (before my involvement).
I’m still in awe.
We are in a recession now, headed for a depression. We are overdue for a major real estate correction in the USA.
Well the crazy neighbor who wants to have the legal right to drive through my commercial property is still crazy. His sale of the 37+ acre property fell through so a friend of mine offered him a million in cash if he sold the double wide on the property to them with the property and fixed the easement access. The crazy guy is asking $950K for the property.
Quote from the crazy seller, “no way am I going to pay Lynn a single penny for his legal fees and his easement access fee. And I am giving the double wide to my sister in Uvalde.” The crazy seller said that he will give the property to a charity first. Yup, crazy.
“Breaking: Woke Bud Light marketing chief takes leave of absence after transgender influencer disaster”
https://dnyuz.com/2023/04/21/breaking-woke-bud-light-marketing-chief-takes-leave-of-absence-after-transgender-influencer-disaster/
“Alissa Heinerscheid, the marketing director of Bud Light, has taken a leave of absence and has been replaced after a damaging marketing disaster promoting the transgender agenda.”
Whatcha want to bet that the leave of absence is unpaid and forever ?
Unplanned and unpaid.
I bet that even the new coke guy found work later though.
n
Another article about NOT throwing away food. Quite the opposite of a few years ago, and I think, very conscious ‘battlespace preparation’ or moving of the Overton window.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11999395/Food-safety-expert-reveals-four-foods-safe-cut-mold-eat.html
If they start talking about drying out and re-using paper towels, or washing out foil and plastic bags for re-use you will know in your bones that you don’t have enough food stored or hidden.
n
“Chiquitastan, Pt. 3,286”
http://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2023/04/chiquitastan-pt-3286.html
“In a letter from his legal counsel to the chairmen and ranking members of Senate and House Oversight and Finance committees, a senior IRS whistleblower alleges that criminal prosecution of Hunter Biden is being politically hindered by his father, Emperor Stumblef*** Poopypants Ist.”
“This is the exact crime, Obstruction Of Justice – 18 U.S. Code 1505, for which Nixon was going to be impeached when he resigned.”
“But that won’t happen in today’s Chiquitastan. The (wholly-owned propaganda arm of the DNC) media will never even mention this as a thing. Woodward and Bernstein are nowhere to be seen, and if they or anyone else made so much as a twitch towards talking about this (which they wouldn’t) they’d be found hung from their shower heads, wrists wired together, after committing suicide by shooting themselves in the back of the head seven or eight times apiece. Like happens every day if you cross any of the Five Families of the D party.”
This is bad, very bad. Selling influence at the White House and Obstruction will bring the Republic down fast.
Even more disturbing is this —
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-11995889/Child-suicide-attempts-drug-overdose-surged-70-PERCENT-Covid.html
which I may have linked, but I’m clearing tabs.
This is definitely increased by social media and isolation.
n
>> “Alissa Heinerscheid, the marketing director of Bud Light, has taken a leave of absence and has been replaced after a damaging marketing disaster promoting the transgender agenda.”
It still amazes me sometimes how a marketing / advertising group doesn’t have employed at least one person with opposing views and enough seniority to be in the chain of approval to be able to say “hold on a minute here folks.”
>> If they start talking about drying out and re-using paper towels, or washing out foil and plastic bags for re-use you will know in your bones that you don’t have enough food stored or hidden.
I remember being a kid in Brooklyn and my grandfather who lived above us (first generation US) saving every bread wrapper and turning it inside out to reuse it. Paper clips and rubber bands went into a cigar box. Any mail to be discarded was flipped over and used for scratch paper and pencils used down to the nub. Those that are too young to have seen these practices will be informed by the current generation very soon now.
Bob Woodward is still around, cashing in on gimmie book deals.
Chiquitastan. Who else has seen “Eating Raoul”?