Cooler and wet today at the BOL, with a chance of some light rain in the morning. Yesterday was beautiful in Houston until the front came through. I was half way to the BOL when that happened and it was a pretty active storm. I won’t mind if a little rain falls, but I would like a nice day for the kids.
Did my pickups yesterday. Got a small solar system, barely bigger than a gate charger, but not a bad size for a standalone camera or WAP. We’ll see if it works, but it’s all new in box. Got some paint too. Stopped at a yard sale and bought some sockets and wrenches. Price was right and I can always use more quality tools.
Then loaded up and headed out. It was pleasant after the storm had passed. D2 has three friends and D1 has another up here for birthday shenanigans so I hope the weather is nice.
I’ve got another chance at the estate sale I had access to through my non-prepping hobby, so that is where I’ll be this morning. Yup, headed back toward Houston to do an estate… there was so much good stuff there it is worth it.
It coincidentally keeps me from participating in the HOA ‘clean up day’. Since I mow the lot several times a year, I think I’ve established that I participate. Still, it is probably a good day to meet neighbors. I’ll see them when I get back and at the annual HOA meeting tonight. Meatspace baby.
I guess that counts as stacking some things.
Stack what you can. Beware the banks.
nick
Sympathies, Greg.
Sorry for your loss, Mr. Greg.
She passed while we were giving her some fluids. I hope we were doing the right thing instead of letting her go in her sleep.
When I felt the bladder let go, I initially thought that the final kidney infection was responding to the antibiotics until I realized that she was limp to the point of not holding her head up for the liquid.
My condolences Greg.
n
@Greg Norton: sorry for your loss.
Hunter Biden’s Ex-Mistress Wants to Know Who’s Paying His ‘Stable of American Super Lawyers’
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/hunter-bidens-ex-mistress-wants-to-know-whos-paying-his-stable-of-american-super-lawyers/
A smart journalist might be camped on Arkansas Circuit Court judge Holly Meyer’s front lawn over the weekend, just in case the IRS should find a compelling need to pay an entirely unrelated visit.
@Greg: My sympathies also.
The paternity case is interesting in that Hunter cannot be pardoned and discovery can dig pretty far into the family’s rackets to establish Number Two Son’s income streams.
The family was stupid not to settle with the woman, probably dismissing her as white trash from “flyover country”, and believing that they were safe from the reach of Arkansas law with RINO Asa Hutchinson as Governor and the Clintons always a phone call away.
Things change. Arkansas has a new Governor. Plus, my impression is that Bubba is looking the other way and probably laughing. He may even be supplying the plaintiff with information.
Remember those FBI files?
My money’s on a SWATting.
Very sad to hear about your friend, Greg.
Not in Arkansas, especially in the current political environment.
“Welcome to “Future Headline Friday””
https://www.sovereignman.com/future-headline/welcome-to-future-headline-friday-147063/
Ah, a short version of the Mandibles book:
https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver-ebook/dp/B01824RDKK?tag=ttgnet-20
It would not surprise me if the lawyers say “we are doing this pro bono for our friend”. I hope the judge is no nonsense and at least gets a good life for the kid.
The only “white trash” I see is the Biden Crime Family.
“I am being treated for severe depression”:
Congressman chugs a beer with Sen. John Fetterman (and people have medical questions)
Uncle Festerman is going to be entertaining for years. Unless he croaks. Stroke, severe depression, brain damaged… How long can he last?
Dad, myself, and my former USMC son went to the Covenent movie in Victoria yesterday. It was about an Army sergeant going back to Afghanstan to rescue his interpreter and his family Highly recommended. Guy Ritchie finally made a good movie.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/guy_ritchies_the_covenant
Is this a misleading title?:
Texas man massacres FIVE neighbors including an eight-year-old boy after they asked him to stop shooting his gun at 11.30pm because they were trying to get a baby to sleep
In the article, the cops describe him as a “Mexican man” and know who he is. Well, is he a citizen or not? I’m going with crimmigrant since he immediately ran to Mexico.
Let’s see if the DM follows up.
This article identifies him as a “Mexican national”, and provides his name.
“Snatch” is fun as are the Robert Downey Jr. “Sherlock Holmes” flicks, but, yeah, a lot of Ritchie’s films are remakes of “Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Jar2XkBboo
Dennis Farina had a run of supporting cast roles like that at around the same time. His best is “Out of Sight”, but “Snatch” is pretty good. Ritchie has an eye for interesting casting … and, at the time, Trudy Styler’s rolodex.
Dog.
Dunno who cast him. 🙂
We had the fortune/misfortune of seeing “Snatch” in the historic Tampa Theatre. Brad Pitt was even more unintelligible. The crowd was into the movie, however, because of the dedication required to just see the film.
>> It would not surprise me if the lawyers say “we are doing this pro bono for our friend”. I hope the judge is no nonsense and at least gets a good life for the kid.
She seemed decently annoyed about Hunter’s non-attendance, combined with his attorneys inability to speak for their client. IIRC, she said he is to be in court in person for the rest of the case. They might need some of Daddy’s ‘drip’ to keep him from dozing off.
Will be interesting how much, if any, coverage this gets on Monday.
@Mr. AtoZ
Texas man massacres FIVE neighbors including an eight-year-old boy after they asked him to stop shooting his gun at 11.30pm because they were trying to get a baby to sleep
“Is this a misleading title?:”
Relax. By U.S. Goobermint classification, Latinos–Mexicans and Hondurans–are White.
So this is just white-on-white crime.
Nothing to see here.
Move along.
Yeah, yeah, consider the source, but nonetheless an interesting read…
https://slate.com/culture/2023/04/disney-ron-desantis-lawsuit-florida-boycott-history.html
Greg, sorry to hear about your long time friend. I have heard some say they are only pets, but to me pets are family members. Sometimes some of the best ones.
Those scary guns the National Guard leaker possessed? Airsoft rifles
Twitter user added:
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/04/29/those-scary-guns-the-national-guard-leaker-possessed-airsoft-rifles-n547202
The FBI SWAT team that arrested Jack Teixeira–who was quietly reading the Bible on the front porch when they pulled up–was reportedly incensed that they were so outgunned, and are demanding full National Guard support with SAW teams for future arrests.
Ray, a belated thanks for the tips on how you use flash with your Olympus camera. I checked, and mine came bundled with the FL-LM3 flash. Yours might have also. This flash is powered by the camera’s battery, and is integrated with the camera’s controls. I don’t have a cord that can allow it to be moved from the hot shoe to a flash bracket. I would bet you are using one of the higher powered units for more flexibility.
I also use a flash bracket with my Pentax K20D. I use a cord that is compatible with the Pentax flash, with a hot shoe adapter to the camera. This is fine for my occasional use photographing quilts. I also attach the flash to the camera for occasional bounce flash. I sometimes use a diffuser that can provide a variable amount of direct light, and have found this to be pretty good for some circumstances. I think my flash can be remotely triggered by the on-camera built-in flash, but that is more complexity than I want. I rarely do the kinds of photos you do – don’t like photographing people. Do like scenic photography with natural light, and illustrative photography with only artificial light. I don’t use flash for either.
As for using the Vivitar 285HV, I have not found any reliable specs for my Mark II camera, which might be different from your Mark III. I have found conjecture that the Oly bodies will be OK with up to 6 V, 12 V, or 24 V, but nothing directly from Olympus, other than “Connecting flash units with signal contacts that do not conform to Olympus specifications may damage the camera.” in my instruction manual. Not helpful at all, and I have yet to find any specs from Olympus. I don’t want to risk the camera. Also, you are probably aware that the 285HV can have different trigger voltages depending on when it was manufactured. I measured mine at 8.9 VDC.
You make a good point about ISO with the 285HV. The low ISO limitation is probably not much of an issue for me, because my past use was in full sunlight, which would be pretty low ISOs. This was with my Panasonic DMC-FZ10. With that camera, there was no coupling other than triggering through a sync cord. I used the flash on automatic, so it only compensated for distance. The camera adjusted its exposure based on the sunlight on the scene. I could adjust the amount of fill flash independently. Probably primitive, but it worked perfectly for me. I still have that camera, and loved it in its day.
More “rules for thee, exception for me…”
https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/3979092-florida-bill-allowing-desantis-to-stay-governor-and-run-for-president-heads-to-his-desk/
Maybe not as sure of his destiny as he lets on.
@Alan
I’ll support making an exception for you, too, Governor.
Wife’s nephew, wife, and two rug rats are visiting for four days.
I understand why some animals eat their young.
Go back 25-30 years, and The Villiages had yet to assimilate the better part of three counties, Publix still had real competition, and the Dems retained control of the court system even as the Legislature and Governor’s Mansion went Republican.
The political environment was very different.
Plus, dissolving Reedy Creek was a big Dem talking point in Florida in the 90s and early 00s. Carl Hiaasen’s “Team Rodent” was prominent in every Florida Interest section of Barnes & Noble and Borders.
“A LETTER TO EPIC FANTASY READERS: I KNOW ROTHFUSS AND MARTIN HURT YOU, BUT IT’S TIME TO GET OVER IT AND MOVE ON.”
https://monsterhunternation.com/2023/04/18/a-letter-to-epic-fantasy-readers-i-know-rothfuss-and-martin-hurt-you-but-its-time-to-get-over-it-and-move-on/
“Consider this an intervention.”
Yup, never worry if an author will finish a series. Just enjoy it and hope for the best.
“Can anyone imagine Joe Biden with a chainsaw?”
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/04/the-age-issue-biden-vs-reagan.php
@Lynn
So it’s not all bad.
Biden with a twine spool weed whacker would be concerning.
I have been working on some posters for the basketball team. Here is a link to what I have created. Waiting on names to go with the numbers.
https://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/Posters
If it works, it works. I have seen some really primitive stuff produce remarkable results. One guy used a pie pan as a reflector, or crumpled tinfoil. Bed sheets for light diffusers. Really talented people using everyday items. I envy them.
It is hard to bounce outdoors. I have never been a fan of on-camera flash. Red-eye is a real problem. Using a bracket helps but the light on the face tends to be flat. Faces have contours and that produces shadows. Really off-camera, as in remote triggering, produces results I like much better. I like indirect lighting, either natural, or artificial. Gives a person depth.
One of my cameras did. I have never used the flash. I have the FL-50 and FL-50R. Communicates with the camera when on the hot shoe or the “too” short cable. Remote triggering everything is manual. There are several options in the flash for compensating. I smoked one FL-50 at a wedding, magic smoke came out. Fortunately, I had a spare.
People are tough, critical, and at times uncooperative. Landscapes generally cooperate.
“Yup, never worry if an author will finish a series”
Waiting for Jim Butcher…2015-2023…
The second book in The Cinder Spires series comes out in November.
I am more concerned about getting the next book in the series before I cease caring. I was handed “Windlass” and made the mistake of liking it, and even recommending it. It’s doubtfull that #2 will get my time, even though #1 still sits in my bedside shelves.
The problem with fantasy is that the author makes up the rules–all of them.
Science fiction is largely based on violating one particular rule–causality–in the form of ftl travel, whether said is simply “X-Drive,.. whoosh!” or has a hundred pages of made up science-shiite.
Fantasy, otoh, is based on one author making up entirely new rules*. It doesn’t matter whether he reveals them all at once (if he knows them entire) or they are discovered over the course of twenty volumes, three pounds at a time. There is no author clever enough to make up a set of fantasy rules with the complexity and unexplored consequences of the physical universe. And usually the limited set that does get made up is too divorced from conservation of energy, much less other rules and laws, to hang together.
The development of CGI allowed science fiction movies to explode out of the constraints of miniatures and green makeup, but fantasy has become the the real landslide. Why accept any constraints when there aren’t any on the special effects?
Unfortunately the backwash is destroying the real world. What passes for our policy makers are largely second-generation escapists brought up on fantasy movies, fantasy books, and fantasy science. Thermo and economics free**. The biggest problem is saving the planet by making a statistically insignificant reduction in carbon dioxide while being oblivious to the needs to eat and heat.
*Yeah, there’s a discourse on Dungeons and Dragons I skipped.
**Roddenbury’s “no need for money” crap, but half the STOS episodes are concerned with scarcity of resources, with the inevitable consequence being a medium of exchange. Micro/macro free. And why did we never did see the redshirts quit with a “Screw this! I’m not getting shot so Kirk can grope another alien babe! I’m getting my own starship! Who’s with me, boys?”
“Landscapes generally cooperate.”
Batteries don’t. I was lining up a shot of a double rainbow between mountains in Mexico when my batteries died. Bypassed the hotel elevator and humped it up the stairs and back. Too late. I’m not very bitter about it.
Ok, something to look forward to!
We are at the Symphony in Victoria, Texas.
>> “Can anyone imagine Joe Biden with a chainsaw?”
Maybe this one? Okay, without the batteries…
https://www.acehardware.com/departments/home-and-decor/novelty-items/toys-and-games/9064336
Yup, three years coming up. I have “The Law” on the Kindle, but it was free. Haven’t read it yet. Butcher has sqawked several times about The Dresden Files being 20 books. I guess if he counts the novella’s he is done.
I like “The Event Group” series. The author, David Golemon, had eye problems then a minor stroke. The last book was an editing nightmare and had to be reissued due to complaints. He has been hawking the next book for two years, but is ghosting his fans. Many complaints on the web about WTF is going on. If you are done, just say so.
Keith Laumer had a stroke in 1971 that paralyzed one side of his body and affected his mind. He fought the results–hard–but was never the same, and his work suffered greatly.
More problems for Jimmy…
https://jalopnik.com/ford-class-action-lawsuit-10-speed-transmission-1850387122?utm_source=jalopnik_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=2023-04-29
We are at the Symphony in Victoria, Texas.
I am amazed, there was about 1,200 people at the symphony. They brought in a Gershwin specialist from London to play for an hour.
Did the specialist fly United?
We saw “Air” tonight. That is a very good film made by and for grownups.
Tommy Boy. Same family.
You can stick your head up a truck’s undercarriage to get a good look at a transmission issue, but wouldn’t you rather take the engineer’s word for it?
I hate the eight speed transmission in my Camry. Sure 44 MPG highway, but I’d take the 34 MPG I average in the Solara with the four speed. That transmission still shifts as smoothly as the day it was new, and I never changed the fluid until ~ 180k miles.
GM developed that 10 speed hardware with Ford, and while they haven’t formally announced that they are giving up on the design, over the past few years, new Allison signs have sprouted on office buildings along the Tom Landry Freeway (I’m not kidding) near the exit for the GM Arlington truck plant. The writing is on the wall.
All of the gains at great expense will be moot if the Government goes back to 55 MPH on the Interstate as Federal policy. That means no more EPA MPG testing at 65 MPG, and “highway” numbers go back to being fudged like the 80s, with the fudge factor this time being political.
OK, you science fiction experts. I dimly recall a SF story about when the Earth stopped rotating.
Is that “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, or something else?
OK, you science fiction experts. I dimly recall a SF story about when the Earth stopped rotating.
Is that “The Day The Earth Stood Still”, or something else?
No, no, no, that is about aliens demanding humans treat the Earth well.
The only story I know is a movie called “The Wandering Earth” on Netflix. The Sun starts expanding and we turn Earth into a giant spaceship. Of course, we have to stop rotating the Earth first.
Long and busy day, but headed to bed.
Good stuff at the estate sale.
Good times with the kids after.
Fire roasted Peeps. Who knew?
n
There was a Larry Niven short story, set billions of years in the future. Earth and Luna were tidally locked.