Thur. May 11, 2023 – more weather for Houston?

Cool and wet.   Supposed to keep raining off and on.    Which it did yesterday.   Parts of town got absolutely hammered.   I caught it in a couple different places as I drove around.

Bayous are high, some road flooding occurred, and various places lost power, including the kids’ school.

I was driving all over town, from the NW side of town to near IAH, then down to HOU then back out west… and I got caught in a downpour that could have stripped paint.  Fortunately I was in the wife’s minivan so all the stuff stayed dry.   She worked from home and I borrowed her car.  It’s great to be bourgeois.   To  bad it won’t last.

D1 is feeling better, so will return to school today.  No wuflu.  I’m a bit headache-y so I’ll be taking it easy for a couple of days.  No desire to get sick.  Between Mother’s Day and school stuff we’ll be home this weekend so I better start planning for  that.  It’s actually easier to load the truck and head to the BOL, and the task list is more straightforward.

I will spend today continuing to sort, clean, and make ready for sale a bunch of stuff… and if I get to it, continue household chores as well.   The rain helps by narrowing the choices I have.

Prices continue to rise.   Social conditions continue to deteriorate.   Tens of thousands of invaders are poised on the border, ready to descend on our cities and towns like locusts.   Supply chain issues continue, and the banks are getting sketchier by the day.

Stack what you can.   All the classics, and then some.   I don’t think you’ll regret it.

nick

 

104 Comments and discussion on "Thur. May 11, 2023 – more weather for Houston?"

  1. SteveF says:

    your monthly cell phone bill of $42

    Hopefully you have the ‘unlimited everything’ plan.

    Yes, I got The Child the unlimited-everything plan. It included a “free” previous-generation iPhone (12?) but the main reason I went with the unlimited data was that I want her to be able to call for guidance when needed without worrying about running out of minutes and to get unlost when she starts driving in a couple months. The phone-based GPS maps seem to be better than the stand-alone units that we have. (As tested out by my wife over the past year.)

    I winced at the monthly price, which is almost per month what I typically pay per year for my pre-pay, but it’s not a deal killer. (Obviously, since I got her the phone.)

    re stacking silver or gold, I don’t see the point. I don’t expect a total collapse into Mad Max anarchy. I expect Great Depression 2.0 But With Increased Surveillance. Greenbacks will still be used as currency. Haggling prices with a handful of (depreciated) 20s will be more straightforward than arguing that this silver coin is pure silver and is worth that bag of rice.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    I think I got pushed into retirement at a good time in IT. I hear from some of my former colleagues (app dev managers and app owners) that there’s more and more grumbling in the ranks over the time spent on implementing ‘flavor of the month’ tools (too much) vs. time spent writing code (too little). Not to mention Agile, containerization, etc.

    The industry has been on a FOMO skills treadmill since the days of “Learn Powerbuilder or lose your job” ads inside the front cover of PC Magazine in the late 90s.

    Plus, hookers, steaks, and shots of Pappy at SxSW sells development tech and Agile consulting services.

    And total cr*p like Solarwinds. That was always a C-suite toy.

  3. Ray Thompson says:

    Tens of thousands of invaders are poised on the border, ready to descend on our cities and towns like locusts.

    Tens of thousands of new democratic voters are poised on the border, ready to descend on our cities and towns like locusts.

    Fixed it for you.

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  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well it’s warmer today, and not raining at the moment.  Very damp  though, and overcast.  

    Looks like this bus driver is our new normal.  He’s consistently on time, which is very nice.   Hope he’s not a pedo.  Doesn’t have unsupervised access to kids in any case.    Bus driver is a cr@p job, with poor hours and pay, and they took away most of the bennies and perks that come with district employment.   Applicants have to have a clean driving record, clean criminal record, clean p!ss test, and be willing to work with kids for not a lot of money.   One of the four is usually a stumbling block.

    The drivers on our route seem to last about a month.

    n

  5. Nightraker says:

    re stacking silver or gold, I don’t see the point. I don’t expect a total collapse into Mad Max anarchy. I expect Great Depression 2.0 But With Increased Surveillance. Greenbacks will still be used as currency. Haggling prices with a handful of (depreciated) 20s will be more straightforward than arguing that this silver coin is pure silver and is worth that bag of rice.

    JP Morgan:”Gold is money, all else is Credit.”  

    I don’t expect Mad Max either, however, urban ghettos and surrounds will burn to the ground with the death of Fiat.  When the Dollar becomes “not worth a Continental” ala Venezuela, Argentina, Zimbabwe, I expect gold backed crypto to emerge from China or Texas or  the Caymans, maybe all three!  

    In the meantime, Precious Metals have no counterparty and demand will be stratospherically astronomical.  The risk, then, will be spending it and worrying about exchanging it as Pb as a “bonus”.

    TPTB are largely irrelevant without the power of the Dollar. When it goes, many things will change.

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  6. drwilliams says:

    Patricia McCarthy writes about the CNN townhall with Trump and drops this quote: 

    “It is the mark of the mind untrained to take its own processes as valid for all men, and its own judgments for absolute truth.”  Aleister Crowley

    In obvious reference to the interviewer, who did not fair well.  

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    Wrt yesterday’s post title, who else remembers that ad campaign?   Who can imagine that campaign today, with attractive natural born women anyway…   Is it a good thing we don’t have ads like that anymore?   I don’t thinks so.

    n

  8. drwilliams says:

    Four more dead whales beached in NE

    https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/05/after-4-whales-die-in-4-days-nj-gop-wants-60-day-ban-on-offshore-wind-farm-construction/

    Intellectually and morally bankrupt green hypocrites. Write a fake paper blaming this on climate change, coal, nuclear plants and lack of diversity and it would get cited a thousand times in a week. 

  9. Ray Thompson says:

    Write a fake paper blaming this on climate change

    I farted more than normal yesterday. Must be climate change. I demand that Taco Bell be banned in all 48 states. I don’t give a rat’s rear end about California and New York.

  10. ITGuy1998 says:

    Re: paper routes. I had one in 6th grade. The route was a 3 or 4 minute bike ride from my house. The bundle of papers was dropped off and I had roughly 50 houses. Wednesday papers were kind of rough, as they were the second thickest and I sometimes had to deliver half and come back for the rest. I also couldn’t deliver them on my bike as they were too heavy.

    Sundays sucked. Big, thick, heavy papers that absolutely took two trips walking. I remember Mom helping me out on Sundays quite often. We would load the papers in the back of the Civic hatchback and leave it open. I’d walk the route while she slowly followed.

    What sucked was I was responsible for collecting payment. Most people were good, but there were always a few where there were issues. If I didn’t have the money from a subscriber, I was still required to submit that money every other week, cutting into my pay until I could finally collect it. The whole operation was very shady. Every two weeks, on a Saturday morning, I think, the newspaper rep would be in a local church parking lot collecting money from all the local routes. He drove a piece of crap car and even then reminded me of a pedophile. 

    I can’t remember how long I did the route, but it wasn’t more than a year.

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    I had a big route too.  Had deadbeat subscribers.  Did it in the winter with the papers on a sled.

    The remaining routes have long been held by adults.   Online billing, or mail billing, and adults driving the routes.   I’m sure routes have gotten longer, but with fewer subscribers.   I see the guy delivering on my street while I wait for the school bus.

    Stranger danger,  and declining subscriber numbers killed that job for kids.   Illegal immigrants killed fast food for kids in most places.   Same for lawn care.   Adults doing the minimum wage jobs kids used to do to find out what work was all about.

    n

  12. Mark W says:

    And total cr*p like Solarwinds. That was always a C-suite toy.

    Everybody who uses it knows that but it the price is right and there’s no practical alternative without going into 6 digits.

    Also, re yesterday’s posts. Every fake downthumb is really a ‘like’! 

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  13. Nick Flandrey says:

    new democratic voters  

    – everyone says this, but.   A. they can’t legally vote.   B. They are mostly Catholic and are opposed to the Democrat sacrament of abortion.

    Even once and if they get legal, will their kids remember the Ds with fondness and vote for them?   Or will their cultural programming take over and oppose them.

    If I was a D counting on the latin vote (in 15 years) I’d be re-thinking that.  And then I’d decide to make SURE the votes came in the way I wanted them to.   Hmmm,   Do you think?  Naw….

    n

  14. Nick Flandrey says:

    Also, re yesterday’s posts. Every fake downthumb is really a ‘like’!   

    –fake or real, Drwilliams seems to have struck a nerve.   +1

    n

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  15. Rick H says:

    Every downthumb is really a ‘like’.

    No. If I down-thumb something, it is because I disagree. I don’t think either are ‘fake’. The vote plugin only allows one vote per visitor.

    You might as well say “every up-thumb is really a ’dislike'”.

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  16. Nick Flandrey says:

    No rain yet, and even some sun poking thru.   And all but one camera has reset.   Sometimes procrastination does pay.

    n

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  17. Mark W says:

    The vote plugin has a new-ish extra security layer. So maybe the count is not as fake as I thought. There is still a workaround or two, though.

  18. Geoff Powell says:

    @stevef:

    your monthly cell phone bill of $42

    Hopefully you have the ‘unlimited everything’ plan.

    I have 2  phone plans. My prime one is with UK Vodafone, for hysterical raisins, and costs £22.95 for unlimited calls and texts and 20GB of data, per month. This is now a 30 day rolling contract, after the 2 year contract  term expired. I stay with it since Voda have better coverage.

    I have a second contract, again 30 day rolling, with C.K. Hutchison’s 3 network, which is truly unlimited – or if it isn’t I will be very displeased. That costs £28 per month. I have that for mobile data, and as a diverse backup for my home broadband.

    Both mobile plans are 5G enabled, although the data plan runs on a 4G device. “Sub-6” 5G – mmWave as a production service is conspicuous by its absence in UK.

    Thr home broadband is with EE, and is bundled with landline service – unlimited data, and unlimited free voice calls evenings and weekends. Weekdays are chargeable, though. Normally data rate is mid-50sMbit/sec down/18Mbit/sec up VDSL, but for the last week downlink rate has been only half that, for reasons that are unclear to me. I need to call customer service. Even at the 23Mbit rate, home broadband is fast enough for me – I don’t need as much as100+Mbit down. But then I don’t stream TV. That said, I want it fixed – I’m paying for it!

    G.

  19. Alan says:

    >> The vote plugin only allows one vote per visitor.

    Oh for the good old days when we had Gravitars! 

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  20. drwilliams says:

    Dealing with the joyjuice product of yet another snot-nosed programmer, I am reminded of the disposal of one particular nasty in Bannerman’s Westport (John Maxim).

  21. drwilliams says:

    “Drwilliams seems to have struck a nerve.”

    In my youth the government decided not to ship me overseas to have personal discussions with communists. Who knew that I would have a second chance with the revealed fellow travelers in my own country. 

  22. Lynn says:

    >> Congress does not work for the people that elected them. Congress works for themselves and their own ego. Sensible legislation is not a real consideration.

    “Whomever’s taking notes for the post-CW2 new Constitution, please make sure addressing this is on the list.”

    Just a start: 

    Strict single-subject rules for bills. Authors of every part of every bill must be elected representatives, identified in the submission of the original and identified for all changes, sworn on penalty of perjury and revocation of seat. Public submissions permitted to their elected reps with certification of the origin and identification in the bill as above. No votes on bills until 30 days after last changes to allow public comment, with exceptions for emergencies requiring supermajority. Any bill found in violation of authorship requirements nullified from date of passage.

    Canes and swords allowed on the chamber floors. No other weapons. No armor. Dueling permitted. 

    Citizens are the only voters in elections, and the only ones counted to determine representation. Minor children of citizens are enumerated for representation. Those on the public dole give up their voting rights– they are counted for representation but their children are not. Illegals do not vote upon penalty of death.

    Voter rolls certified . Registration separate and closes day before election. Voting in person only on election day. Physical ballot issued upon presentation of voter ID. Election day is a National Holiday–businesses and government offices are closed, local travel only, local emergency medical services only.

    You forgot Term Limits.  Which, should be extended to the federal bureaucracy.

  23. Geoff Powell says:

    I need to call customer service

    So I did. EE said they can see my datarate is lower than they guarantee by contract, so they have called OpenReach (who own the line plant) and an OR engineer will attend tomorrow afternoon, to fix an apparent high resistance fault in the twisted pair from me to the street cabinet. That said, the fault may be in my internal wiring, on my  side of the demarc, in which case I’ll get hit with a callout charge.

    G.

  24. Lynn says:

    “Drwilliams seems to have struck a nerve.”

    In my youth the government decided not to ship me overseas to have personal discussions with communists. Who knew that I would have a second chance with the revealed fellow travelers in my own country. 

    I am starting to have a new appreciation for Tailgunner Joe.  He was right.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_McCarthy

  25. Lynn says:

    Hmm.  Somebody seems to have figured out my trick of a dozen likes.  Looks like I need to break out my 20 SIMs again.

  26. Ray Thompson says:

    A. they can’t legally vote.

    How does anyone know when identification is not required in many polling locations? As someone who had someone vote using my name I am a little miffed at the no identification requirement. It took much effort to get the person in charge of the polling location to allow me a provisional ballot.

    How many other people on the voting list, who didn’t show up, had someone else vote for them? Until positive identification is required by all polling places, the risk of others voting for someone else is high.  Do all the polling places even check the person’s name against a list of registered voters?

    your monthly cell phone bill of $42

    Hopefully you have the ‘unlimited everything’ plan.

    I pay $60.00 for two phones, unlimited data, unlimited texting and unlimited calling. Works out to $65 with taxes added. The plan also includes tethering, which after so much data, the speed is throttled. Good enough for me.

  27. MrAtoz says:

    Oh for the good old days when we had Gravitars! 

    Oh for the good old days when we had Gravitars! 

    Oh for the good old days when we had Gravitars! 

    Oh for the good old days when we had Gravitars! 

    I said it three times…

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  28. Alan says:

    >> I said it three times…

    But did you also click your heels?? 

  29. Nick Flandrey says:

    Huh, thought I had linked this…

    ‘The squeeze is unlike anything I’ve experienced before’: Inflation-hit Britons reveal their struggles paying mortgages, feeding their children and filling up their cars as Bank of England hikes interest rates to 4.5% 

     

    Britons have revealed how they are struggling to cope with rampant inflation, with one saying even a rise in the cost of bananas from 13p to 18p starts to build up.

    – and it looks like the Brits count fuel, housing, and food in their inflation number, unlike the US.

    As consumers continued to find ways to manage budgets, own label sales were up 13.5 per cent year on year, with the very cheapest value lines soaring by 46 per cent.

    – which means people are moving ‘down market’ or into cheaper alternatives.   Name brand canned peas are the next luxury good…

    n

  30. PaultheManc says:

    @Geoff

    That said, the fault may be in my internal wiring, on my  side of the demarc, in which case I’ll get hit with a callout charge.

    Why not move your router to the NTE5 (line termination unit) and run a test there – this will eliminate any internal wiring issues?

    I also have two mobile phones – one with Lebara (uses Vodaphone network), currently GBP0.99/mth (introductory, moving to GBP4.80/mth) with unlimited calls and text plus 5GB data (I don’t use more than this, as I connect to WiFi); the other is an ASDA Pay As You Go, standby, so costs me nothing as I don’t use it).  My home FTTC broadband is with PlusNet for about £24/mth 40/10Mbps.

  31. Lynn says:

    “Stacks of WWII-era Nazi cargo are washing up on Texas beaches”

         https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/texas-beach-nazi-rubber-18093644.php

    “If you’re a student of history, or just love the scent of 80-year-old rubber, you’re going to love the shores of Mustang Island State Park this summer.”

    Yuck.

  32. Lynn says:

    “Donald Trump Says Republicans Should Let the U.S. Default. What Would Happen Next.”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/m/b89baa50-dbce-3aaa-9892-321d8fc86108/donald-trump-says-republicans.html

    “Negotiations around the U.S. debt ceiling continue to drag on ahead of a looming deadline, as partisan wrangling potentially endangers the safety of the global financial system. From stocks to bonds and beyond, there is little in the financial system that the U.S. debt ceiling doesn’t affect. While former President Donald Trump this week said Republicans should let the U.S. default if they don’t get the spending cuts they want, markets are still largely shrugging off this doomsday scenario.”

    I guess all of those trillions of dollars of tbills that the existing banks are holding will go to a zero value.

    The financial apocalypse of the USA is no more than ten years away anyway.  Why not resolve it now ?

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  33. lynn says:

    I’ve got another large dead snake on the office property.  One of my employees ran it over going home yesterday.  It is a three footer water or rat snake.

    A buzzard was eating the moccasin today that I killed Monday. I threw it over by the septic tank yesterday so they could see it. Yummy !

  34. MrAtoz says:

    I don’t get why plugs is whining about the border now. He’s been POTATUS for two years. T42 ends should just mean close the border, put up a sign that sa’s “We will open to immigration in two years”.  No Visa/Green Card, you don’t get in. Period.

  35. MrAtoz says:

    Oh, yeah, just because T42 ends doesn’t mean the POTATUS can’t keep them in jail. He’s the POTATUS.

  36. drwilliams says:

    VEGETATUS

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  37. SteveF says:

    If one were to toss an annoying teenage girl (redundancy alert) over by the compost heap or septic tank, would buzzards eat her? Asking for a friend.

    One of our chickens died today. No sign of injury but I suspect a hawk struck it and then wasn’t able to carry it off. (Small hawks around here. They mostly go after chickadees and chipmunks and baby rabbits.) The other chickens were panicked and ran into the coop as soon as the gate was opened. I’m annoyed because my wife let the birds into the garden and then didn’t stay to keep an eye on them … even though the garden is about three feet from the forest and several trees overlooking it have raptor nests and I’d mentioned the danger of letting the younger chicks run loose. But no, she knows better than everyone else.

  38. Geoff Powell says:

    @PaultheManc:

    Why not move your router to the NTE5

    Down 2 floors, and too much wiring.

    Besides, the only wire between the NTE5 and the router is 1no 15  metre RJ11-to-RJ11, which is only a few weeks old.

    G.

  39. EdH says:

    Besides, the only wire between the NTE5 and the router is 1no 15  metre RJ11-to-RJ11, which is only a few weeks old.
     

    Modern networks are far beyond me, but one should always keep Pournelle’s Law  in mind. 
     

    When I used to troubleshoot computers one of the first questions I asked was “What did you change?”

    Usually the answer was “Nothing”, which upon further questioning often became “… except blah blah blah”.

  40. lpdbw says:

    @SteveF

    First  you mention teenage girl, then wife.

    Gonna need some larger raptors.

  41. SteveF says:

    Does anyone know where to find instructions for attracting rocs to live in your area? Asking for a friend.

  42. Geoff Powell says:

    @EdH:

    What did you change?

    Nothing in the last week, since the loss in datarate, or even just befor it. The cable change was several weeks-to-months before that.

    Give me credit for being able to notice cause and effect. Also, I’m a retired electronic engineer. I know that most faults are linked to connector problems.

    G.

  43. paul says:

    Yeah, Jerry’s “check the cables first” is a good rule.  How a cable, like a 40 conductor IDE cable, sitting in a computer case and untouched since the machine was built spontaneously fails has always mystified me. 

    Ethernet cables do it too.  Sometimes re-crimping the connector works.  Ok, that has worked twice for me.  Easier than replacing the connection. 

    Usually just unplugging the wire and plugging it in works.

  44. ITGuy1998 says:

    Not just cables. Earlier this week I had to install a new switch on a smaller network. There was one existing switch, and the new one replaced it. We had to bring everything down (DC’s and other servers) but left the workstations up. After reconnecting everything, one windows workstation wouldn’t communicate. My Window’s guy and I eliminated the cable and switch configuration as problems. The onboard NIC died. We put a pci-e Intel NIC in and were up and running again. Weird. 

  45. EdH says:

    Does anyone know where to find instructions for attracting rocs to live in your area? Asking for a friend.
     

    (1) Capture an elephant 

    (2) Stake out said elephant in a large clearing…

  46. EdH says:

    Give me credit for being able to notice cause and effect.
     

    I do.  No insult intended. 

  47. paul says:

    My LAN sort of died a few weeks ago.  Huh.   I crawled around and everything looked good.  Power cycled the nearest switch and everything works.  I didn’t think a switch could crash.

  48. Lynn says:

    If one were to toss an annoying teenage girl (redundancy alert) over by the compost heap or septic tank, would buzzards eat her? Asking for a friend.

    Only if dead for a few days.  Buzzards don’t like to struggle with their prey.

  49. Ray Thompson says:

    How a cable, like a 40 conductor IDE cable, sitting in a computer case and untouched since the machine was built spontaneously fails has always mystified me.

    When I was working at the church there there was a modulator to convert the analog video and audio (separate connections) to RF to place on the cable system. On that modulator were three short (about 3″) coaxial jumpers on the back of the modulator. Obviously for use beyond my comprehension. One Sunday the broadcast looked great on the TV. The next Sunday it was horrible.

    It took a lot of troubleshooting, negotiating time with the owner of the cable channel to test, but it ultimately came down to one of those jumper cables being bad. Nothing else was solving the problem so I decided to just replace those jumpers, the last cables in the broadcast path. It worked. Why would three short cables, hidden in the back of the rack, never touched for several years, suddenly go bad?

    Did the insulation finally give way and crack from age? Thereby causing cross talk or other signal issues. It would have to be the center conductor insulation as the exterior insulation and shield looked fine.

  50. paul says:

    “Only if dead for a few days.”

    Gotta disagree.  A few years ago there were so many raccoons trying to get to my chickens that I just set a live trap near the chicken’s door.  No bait.  I caught around 47 ‘coons that summer.  It was a shoot ’em, dump into the wheel barrow to take out back and it got to where there were 20 buzzards waiting in the trees for breakfast.  Trippy ain’t the word. 

  51. Lynn says:

    One of our chickens died today. No sign of injury but I suspect a hawk struck it and then wasn’t able to carry it off. (Small hawks around here. They mostly go after chickadees and chipmunks and baby rabbits.) The other chickens were panicked and ran into the coop as soon as the gate was opened. I’m annoyed because my wife let the birds into the garden and then didn’t stay to keep an eye on them … even though the garden is about three feet from the forest and several trees overlooking it have raptor nests and I’d mentioned the danger of letting the younger chicks run loose. But no, she knows better than everyone else.

    One of the wife’s cousins raises Guinea Hens, they have a coop only for cold weather.  They are fairly tough birds and will attack anything that attacks them, including rattlesnakes.  She has a rattlesnake mound about 100 feet away from the house.  They have killed several hundred rattlesnakes over the years.  Her advice when seeing one on the road is to stop, then roll forward and backwards several times.  Apparently rattlesnakes do not get killed the first time the vehicle runs over them.  

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guineafowl

  52. Lynn says:

    My LAN sort of died a few weeks ago.  Huh.   I crawled around and everything looked good.  Power cycled the nearest switch and everything works.  I didn’t think a switch could crash.

    Until I put my internet switches on UPSs with power conditioning, I had to power cycle them monthly.   I have about 6 or 8 here in the office, they are hidden all over the place since we only have one ethernet wire pulled to each office.

  53. Ray Thompson says:

    Buzzards don’t like to struggle with their prey.

    Well that explains why Nancy Pelosi is still around.

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  54. Lynn says:

    Not just cables. Earlier this week I had to install a new switch on a smaller network. There was one existing switch, and the new one replaced it. We had to bring everything down (DC’s and other servers) but left the workstations up. After reconnecting everything, one windows workstation wouldn’t communicate. My Window’s guy and I eliminated the cable and switch configuration as problems. The onboard NIC died. We put a pci-e Intel NIC in and were up and running again. Weird. 

    My home PC has been beset by mysterious failures since a roof leak dumped a few gallons of water in it during the May 2019 monsoon.   I am going to finish building the replacement any day now, I bought the parts in August 2021.  The wife was taunting me about it the other since the motherboard audio and the both of the audio boards that I bought have now failed.  So she cannot watch youtube videos on my PC with sound while watching GH on my TV.

  55. Lynn says:

    “Only if dead for a few days.”

    Gotta disagree.  A few years ago there were so many raccoons trying to get to my chickens that I just set a live trap near the chicken’s door.  No bait.  I caught around 47 ‘coons that summer.  It was a shoot ’em, dump into the wheel barrow to take out back and it got to where there were 20 buzzards waiting in the trees for breakfast.  Trippy ain’t the word. 

    Dead coon must taste good the first day.  I am not sure that I could shoot them, they are too cute.  That is, when they are not rolling my trash can.

  56. Lynn says:

    Today is the second anniversary of my glaucoma diagnosis in both eyes.  Today’s diagnosis is mild glaucoma in each eye controllable with a single drop each day of Latanoprost. And both of cataracts are immature.  I still have to go back every three months to check the pressure in my eyes.

  57. Lynn says:

    “Judge rules 18-to-20-year-olds can’t be barred from buying handguns”

         https://news.yahoo.com/judge-rules-18-20-olds-202925985.html

    I agree.  I don’t know where these laws for 18 to 21 year olds came into being, they sure are not constitutional.

  58. Lynn says:

    “Elliot Page, in shirtless photo, celebrates the ‘joy’ he feels in his trans body, and the end of ‘dysphoria.’ Here’s what it all means.”

        https://news.yahoo.com/elliot-page-shirtless-photo-celebrates-204413773.html

    You know, I’ll bet that she still pees sitting down.  The top surgery is trivial compared to the bottom surgery.

  59. Ray Thompson says:

    The top surgery is trivial compared to the bottom surgery.

    Not if I did the bottom surgery. Sharp scalpel, 15 minutes, tops. Death in 30 minutes. Done.

  60. Nick Flandrey says:

    By virtue of my being a volunteer at the school, I’m a ‘mandatory reporter.’   But.   I also know that CPS is a VERY blunt instrument and may not be appropriate when some finesse is called for.  I was hoping for more information first.

    It’s out of my control now.   I hope it doesn’t end up completely out of control.   And I really hope there’s no splashback.

    And that is all I really can say about that.

    n

  61. Nick Flandrey says:

    Elliot Page, in shirtless photo,  

    – to be crude, still getting her t!ts out for attention.   The attention wh0ring “look at me” culture of the moment is out of control.   This woman is sick.  She’s paid surgeons to mutilate her body.  How is she different from the many  “real life barbies” or “the human ken doll” or the endless parade of women who have died from illegal “enhancement” surgery?   How is she different from the tattooed lizard guy or the guy with horn implants?   

    in fact, the lizard guy and the horned guy are probably MORE sane, as they don’t think they are ACTUALLY lizards or satan.

    n

  62. Lynn says:

    “EPA proposes power plant greenhouse gas limits with carbon capture, ‘green’ hydrogen main compliance options”

        https://www.utilitydive.com/news/epa-ghg-carbon-emission-limits-power-plants-carbon-capture-hydrogen/650039/

    “The Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday proposed greenhouse gas emissions limits for coal-, gas- and oil-fired power plants, with initial requirements beginning in 2030 for coal-fired generators and 2032 for gas-fired units.”

    “The proposal would spur 22 GW of coal-fired capacity to retire and 24 GW of natural gas-fired capacity to be built, including 11 GW of capacity co-fired with clean hydrogen, from 2023 to 2035, according to the agency. The proposal, which includes a process for allowing power plants to exceed GHG emissions limits if they are needed for grid reliability, will have little effect on reliability, the EPA said.”

    Sure, this won’t affect electric grid reliability.  Pull the other leg, it has a bell on it.

    You know, SCOTUS has already ruled on the EPA’s ability to set so-called greenhouse gas limits. But, this administration just ignores SCOTUS when they want to.
    https://www.scotusblog.com/2022/06/supreme-court-curtails-epas-authority-to-fight-climate-change/

  63. lpdbw says:

    By virtue of my being a volunteer at the school, I’m a ‘mandatory reporter.’   

    Sucks.

    I’ve debated offering my services for free as a tutor at the local schools, in hopes of inspiring some students to actually learn Math and Science.

    I mostly decided the personal risks are too high.  No matter what steps I take, there’s always someone who will make false accusations against white men.  Or anyone who teaches White Man Science.

  64. Nick Flandrey says:

    Even the wokesters can’t get it right…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12074217/Halsey-dressed-CORPSE-chilling-new-role-filming-MaXXXine-cemetery-Hollywood.html 

    While little is known of Halsey’s role, the singer – whose pronouns are she/they – appeared to be playing either a zombie or a corpse in this particular scene. 

    Their upper body was completely covered in massive cuts, scrapes, and dark bruising. Even Halsey’s face was full of deep cuts, dark smears, and black eye makeup to complete the ghoulish effect.

    Interestingly, a pentagram was etched onto their right shoulder.

    The tats look like hers though.

    n

  65. Ray Thompson says:

    This woman is sick.

    So is the Ken guy/her/shim/it/thing/queer. As the saying goes, I wouldn’t f____ it with your d____.

  66. Nick Flandrey says:

    there’s always someone who will make false accusation  

    – they mocked Mike Pense for his open door policy,   yet 30 years have gone by and… 

    n

  67. Nick Flandrey says:

    Everyone forgets the next part of that phrase…

    I wouldn’t f____ it with your d____, and him pushing…

    n

  68. Alan says:

    >> In obvious reference to the interviewer, who did not fair well.  

    Total mis-match…maybe they (CNN) saw this as an opportunity for her to get some experience in this type of setting…though I did hear that Chris Licht thought it went great, so maybe that was the setup. If they wanted something less ‘softballs’ I would have expected Jake Tapper or maybe Dana Bash.

  69. Nick Flandrey says:

    A new low for San Francisco: Cleaver-wielding convict terrorizes BART train passengers trapped in tunnel before slashing man in the back 

     

    Charles Johnson, 24, was arrested at West Oakland station, California, at 1pm in connection with the stabbing which occurred on the Transbay Tube – the Bay’s underwater rail tunnel.

    – yep, all the excitement and glamour of living in the city…

    n

  70. Nick Flandrey says:

    If you don’t want them to shoot the woman with the knife, either don’t let her get a knife, or don’t call the guys with guns.

    ‘Please don’t shoot her’: Shocking moment mom-of-three is fatally shot four times in the chest by cops after she pulled a KNIFE – as her boyfriend begged them not to shoot 

    n

  71. Lynn says:

    “Watch: Panic Hits Tel Aviv Beach As Over 100 Gaza Rockets Pound Israel”

         https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/watch-panic-hits-tel-aviv-beach-gaza-rockets-pound-israel

    The entire world is on fire.

  72. drwilliams says:

    “The entire world is on fire.”

    Setting Gaza on fire and letting it burn until it was flat to the border fences would be a good start.

  73. Alan says:

    >> Have ChatGPT Write a fake paper blaming this on climate change, coal, nuclear plants and lack of diversity and it would get cited a several thousand times in a week. 

    That should help… 

  74. Alan says:

    >> What sucked was I was responsible for collecting payment. Most people were good, but there were always a few where there were issues. If I didn’t have the money from a subscriber, I was still required to submit that money every other week, cutting into my pay until I could finally collect it. The whole operation was very shady.

    When my kids had routes they were considered independent contractors. The newspaper sold them the papers and you paid for them all every week. If you didn’t get paid for a given week, either because of a deadbeat customer or because they weren’t home when you went to collect, you had to lay out the money. When they first started, the typical payment was via a reuseable envelope that customers left in their mialbox on Saturday night. After a few weeks one Saturday a number of envelopes were stolen. After that I helped the kids create and print weekly invoices to be paid by check via the mail. A few people wouldn’t cooperate but luckily most of them were home  and would pay in cash during the week.

    >> The remaining routes have long been held by adults.   Online billing, or mail billing, and adults driving the routes.   I’m sure routes have gotten longer, but with fewer subscribers.   I see the guy delivering on my street while I wait for the school bus.

    Same for the paper my kids delivered. In fact, the paper did a short article about the spreading demise of the ‘paperboy.’ Turns out somebody saw the article who’s kid had been trying to get a route and found out that because it had been primarily kids for so long the paper never bothered with 1099s. The parent ‘dropped a dime’ and after that everyone got a 1099 the following January.

  75. Alan says:

    >> So I did. EE said they can see my datarate is lower than they guarantee by contract, so they have called OpenReach (who own the line plant) and an OR engineer will attend tomorrow afternoon, to fix an apparent high resistance fault in the twisted pair from me to the street cabinet. That said, the fault may be in my internal wiring, on my  side of the demarc, in which case I’ll get hit with a callout charge.

    I’ve had that happen a couple of times back in Tampa with the Frontier cable guy. A ten-spot “for lunch” usually “revealed” an issue on their side of the demarc.

  76. Alan says:

    >> “If you’re a student of history, or just love the scent of 80-year-old rubber, you’re going to love the shores of Mustang Island State Park this summer.”

    80-year-old-rubbers?? Ohh, helps to RTFA. Never mind.

  77. SteveF says:

    I know that most faults are linked to connector problems Trump, climate change, toxic masculinity, or a legacy of white privilege.

    FIFY

    (1) Capture an elephant

    Would a typical American woman (average weight of American women over age 18: 174 pounds, as of a report from 18 months ago) suffice?

    I mostly decided the personal risks are too high.

    As well as the BS involved: Fingerprinting, criminal background check, filling out applications which take a half hour or more each, possibly being required to read and initial a policy manual, possibly being required to watch a video on any of a half dozen topics to cover the school’s butts … How about, No. Why would any volunteer put up with that crap? Especially at a public school, with grossly overpaid underworked teachers, paid assistants, and a legion of administrative staff, all funded by your tax dollars?

    I continue to tutor or mentor, as it comes up and I have time. (Which is to say, regarding that latter, not for a while and not for the foreseeable future.) Nothing formal, just helping out kids or young adults whose need catches my attention. My tolerance for BS is much too low to do anything through a school or other organization.

  78. Alan says:

    >> VEGETATUS

    I thought we were saving this one for the Kamel.

  79. Alan says:

    >> Well that explains why Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein is still around.

    F I F Y

  80. Nick Flandrey says:

    Hurricane season is just around the corner

    Hurricane season starts May 15 for the Eastern Pacific region and June 1 for the Atlantic and Central Pacific regions.

    In April, Colorado State University released its extended range forecast for the 2023 Atlantic basin hurricane season. Colorado State predicts we will have slightly below average activity this season. It is forecasting 13 named storms, six hurricanes, and two major hurricanes.

  81. Nick Flandrey says:

    For future reference.

    FBI releases Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2022

    The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) released its annual report, Active Shooter Incidents in the United States in 2022 in April.

    The FBI defines an active shooter as one or more individuals actively engaged in killing or attempting to kill people in a populated area. Implicit in this definition is the shooter’s use of a firearm. The active aspect of the definition implies the ongoing nature of an incident, and thus the potential for the response to affect the outcome. Given these criteria for active shooter incidents, the report does not encompass all gun-related shootings occurring in 2022, such as gang-related violence, drug violence, or self-defense.

    The FBI has designated 50 shootings in 2022 as active shooter incidents. The report includes brief narrative summaries of all 50 of these incidents, as well as summary statistics characterizing the incidents and identifying year-over-year trends.

    Some notable statistics include:

    • Although incidents decreased by 18% from 2021 (61 incidents), the number of active shooter incidents increased by 66.7% compared to 2018 (30 incidents).
    • There were 313 casualties (100 killed and 213 wounded).
    • One law enforcement officer was killed and 21 were wounded.
    • The month of May had the highest number of active shooter incidents (nine), with January and September tied with the least number of incidents (one).
    • Based on location, 46% of the incidents occurred in open spaces (23), followed by 28% in commerce (14), 8% in education and residences (four), 4% in houses of worship and government (two), and 2% in health care (one).
    • Four shooters wore body armor.
    • Twenty-nine shooters were apprehended by law enforcement, seven were killed by law enforcement, two were killed by armed citizens, nine committed suicide, and three remain at large.

    – of note to me, THREE REMAIN AT LARGE!  Some wearing body armor, not all suiciding, and 2 stopped by armed citizens.   Good guys with guns DO save lives.

    n

    This is the eighth report of its kind published since 2014. All past reports and more active shooter incident resources can be found on the FBI’s Active Shooter webpage.

  82. Nick Flandrey says:

    Did someone say “outfit made of rubbers??”  No?   Oh well…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12074409/Julia-Fox-plenty-protection-skimpy-ensemble-CONDOMS.html 

    n

  83. Nick Flandrey says:

    “One unused prophylactic.  One soiled.”

    https://youtu.be/MW5WUejMZHU?t=256 

    n

  84. Ray Thompson says:

    80-year-old-rubbers??

    Belong to Pelosi. (And Feinstein after being corrected).

    >> Well that explains why Nancy Pelosi and Dianne Feinstein is still around.

    F I F Y

    Thanks. I stand corrected.

    As well as the BS involved: Fingerprinting, criminal background check

    I had to have that done as a sub. I had to pay for the background check in case I failed. Once I pass the school district reimbursed me. Every time. As if I am going to fail the second time. I have to have that background check done every two years.

    Wife has been subbing for 34 years. She just recently had to submit to a background check after 32 years of not requiring a background check. And the check must be done every two years. As if 32 years of prior working and interaction was not good enough.

  85. Greg Norton says:

    “Elliot Page, in shirtless photo, celebrates the ‘joy’ he feels in his trans body, and the end of ‘dysphoria.’ Here’s what it all means.”

        https://news.yahoo.com/elliot-page-shirtless-photo-celebrates-204413773.html

    You know, I’ll bet that she still pees sitting down.  The top surgery is trivial compared to the bottom surgery.

    “Elliot” has expressed interest in wearing the very female Kitty Pryde costume again if Disney-Marvel reboots the X-Men. 

    My guess is that Nissan paid for “The Marvels” to be released this year. Otherwise, Disney-Marvel is probably over for a while.

    The Mouse is out of cash, and Iger upped the game with DeSantis yesterday.

  86. Nick Flandrey says:

    As if I am going to fail the second time.   

    – one of my best helper volunteers failed a repeat check.    I lost him as a helper dad due to some criminal fraud, nothing to do with kids.  Frankly, I’d have liked him back, and felt fine using him.

    People can make mistakes, and can do things at one point of their lives that they wouldn’t do at another, and wouldn’t repeat.  It’s why we have a statute of limitations.   

    n

  87. drwilliams says:

    Biden family members share $10 million in cash laundered through web of shell companies and Democrats have arranged for IRS to get 1099’s from eBay for everyone selling more than $600.

    Where to I contribute to the fund to bus alien invaders directly to Nancy Pelosi’s house?

  88. lpdbw says:

    I applied last year for a formal tutoring job at the community college, where they have an open bullpen tutoring center.

    Filled out an application and everything.

    I sort of thought they’d get back to me, what with my BS and MS in Computer Science with emphasis in Mathematics.

    Never heard a peep.

  89. Greg Norton says:

    >> Have ChatGPT Write a fake paper blaming this on climate change, coal, nuclear plants and lack of diversity and it would get cited a several thousand times in a week. 

    That should help… 

    I’m starting to wonder if we are the only vendor with H100/A100 boxes shipping now.

  90. Nick Flandrey says:

    I meant to link a ‘palate cleanser’ earlier…

    Cottagecore dresses.

    n

  91. nick flandrey says:

    There are some very interesting subcultures forming, in fashion and lifestyle.   Cottagecore.  Dark Acadamia.  Crossed over versions of each.   They are the descendants of steampunk, and dieselpunk, although those are still active too.   There is a very hipster thing in men’s fashion going on with 20s-50s menswear too.   The beard and pipe smoking are related to it, as is a sort of retro-outdoorsman vibe.   The 50s and 60s outdoorsman exists in a very graphical form in advertising from the era.  Very visually interesting and detailed advertising, in an appealing style.   Hats and pipes figure prominently, as do vests and pleated trousers.  No one wears jeans except kids.  With graphically appealing source material, people have lots of references and can pick and choose.  Plus, the clothes and accessories are available as those items are hitting thrifts and estate sales due to the passage of time…

    n

  92. Paul Hampson says:

    Do all the polling places even check the person’s name against a list of registered voters?

    Always did when I was voting in person – California.  Here in Oregon with mail in they not only check against the list of registered voters, they check the signature.  I found that out when I once signed with an initial instead of my full name; they notified me and let me fix it.

  93. nick flandrey says:

    Texas has voter id.

    n

  94. Paul Hampson says:

    Especially at a public school, with grossly overpaid underworked teachers, paid assistants, and a legion of administrative staff, all funded by your tax dollars?

    I have never met an over paid under worked teacher; a college professor perhaps, but so many are part time adjuncts now it’s hard to tell.  I can agree about the administrative staff though.

  95. Lynn says:

    New Google Pixel 11 inch tablet for $499.  Interesting. WiFi only. 17 ounces.

        https://store.google.com/product/pixel_tablet?pli=1&hl=en-US

  96. Greg Norton says:

    Almost nine points down today and still a PE of 51.57.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/DIS

  97. Alan says:

    >> I pay $60.00 for two phones, unlimited data, unlimited texting and unlimited calling. Works out to $65 with taxes added. The plan also includes tethering, which after so much data, the speed is throttled. Good enough for me. 

    @Ray, which carrier/plan, if you don’t mind? 

  98. Greg Norton says:

    New Google Pixel 11 inch tablet for $499.  Interesting. WiFi only. 17 ounces.

    I wish they would produce another Nexus 7 inch tablet, but Amazon is tough to compete against in that niche. Even Samsung doesn’t try anymore.

  99. Lynn says:

    Or do you want the new $1,799 Google Pixel Fold Phone with the 7.6 inch screen ?

       https://store.google.com/product/pixel_fold?hl=en-US

    At $799, I am interested.  Sounds like way out of my interest level.

    2
    1
  100. Nick Flandrey says:

    Remember the articles in the computer mags about “Will we ever see a sub-$1000 laptop”…

    Freaking phone is double that…

    n

  101. Lynn says:

    Remember the articles in the computer mags about “Will we ever see a sub-$1000 laptop”…

    Freaking phone is double that…

    n

    The guy next to me at the engineering conference back in February had a fold phone.  It was neat and beautiful.  Lots of real estate, looked just like a small tablet when he opened it up.

  102. Ken Mitchell says:

    “Cottagecore dresses”.  I looked at that list, and some of it was vaguely interesting, but it struck me that these, EVERYTHING THERE, are not “clothing” as much as they are “costumes”.  Even getting into the male outfits, they’re all costumes. 

    Is EVERYBODY trying to act like they’re in the past, to avoid the awfulness that is likely to be the future? 

  103. Alan says:

    >> Never heard a peep.

    All was fine ’til they saw that you frequent this fine establishment  😉

  104. Greg Norton says:

    “Cottagecore dresses”.  I looked at that list, and some of it was vaguely interesting, but it struck me that these, EVERYTHING THERE, are not “clothing” as much as they are “costumes”.  Even getting into the male outfits, they’re all costumes. 

    Is EVERYBODY trying to act like they’re in the past, to avoid the awfulness that is likely to be the future?

    Dapper Days at Disneyland.

    The dresses. The shoes. The handbags.

    And then there are the things the girls wear.

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