Remember the fallen. Raise a glass. Absent friends.
n
Mon. May 29, 2023 – Memorial Day, US
73 Comments and discussion on "Mon. May 29, 2023 – Memorial Day, US"
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Remember the fallen. Raise a glass. Absent friends.
n
Comments are closed.
Here in UK, the Ultra Low Emissions Zone in London will expand to cover everything inside the M25 London Orbital Motorway (known colloquially as the London Orbital Car Park) in 3 months time, the 29th August. It is claimed that 70% of vehicles are compliant.
As a result, vehicles that are non-compliant will pay £12.50 per day, if they are driven within the enlarged Zone. Residents who have non-compliant vehicles will only pay the fee if the vehicle is used.
This led me to check the compliance of our two cars – again, just to be sure. Still compliant, so we won’t be liable for the charge when we drive.
The Congestion Charge Zone is much smaller, thank $DEITY, and is very unlikely to affect us any time soon. That pays £15 per day, and is just another reason to not drive in Central London, over-and-above weight of traffic with associated jams, and difficulty of parking. Of course, there are people who have to do it, and people to whom paying the charge is a status symbol.
G.
“Enlarged Zone”
Now there’s an image.
OFD isn’t here so I’ll post a link to some Ann Barnhardt randomness on his behalf.
https://www.barnhardt.biz/2023/05/27/memes-of-fire/
The Incitatatus-related imagery is particularly hilarious.
The Nanny State Stains a Deck
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2023/05/the_nanny_state_stains_a_deck.html
Incorrect on several points, but pretty good nonetheless.
The specific instance that prompted the rant (descriptive term, not judgemental) is a reminder that anticipatory stacking is a 5P activity-Prior Planning Prevents Poor Performance. Sealed cans of oil stain will last a long time, but would benefit from a once-a-year shaking.
So I had to visit the wiki page to see what kind of propaganda they were currently spewing, and found this:
Which is hilarious on two counts.
Increasing carbon dioxide is the driver of increased emissions from plants because the plants grow better. Reference 25 is behind a paywall, but the introduction at least mentions CO2. “Upsetting the biosphere-atmosphere interaction ” sounds ominous and would poll well in SF as a call to climate action and new laws, but I have no doubt it’s a steaming pile of carp.
For those old enough to remember the regular savaging of Ronald Reagan by the press, one occasion was his claim that trees were a source of pollutants. The MSM found no shortage of “experts” to poo-poo that claim. My comment was “Smoky Montains”, a place the ivory tower dwellers had apparently never heard of.
ADDED:
On STDS9 and possibly others, the villains were caught several times trying to smuggle components that could be assembled into a “biogenic weapon”. Good thing they didn’t think to raid earth for some pine trees.
Coffee pot is doing its cleaning cycle, soon to be pressed into service… Sun is out, sky is blue. It’s 79F in the shade. Flag is at half staff until noon.
Some people are already out on the water, but this crowd is slow and stiff this morning.
I believe I’ll have some breakfast.
n
(congestion fees and restrictions on entering cities seems very anti-citizen to me. I get that London can’t just condemn enough buildings to build proper roads and bypasses, and that the streets aren’t exactly vehicle friendly, but ‘ever was it thus.’.. and since people DO have to enter, taxing them because they can’t avoid it is wrong. Do you get the money back if you had official business with a state or city agency located in London?)
Tyler Durden cowardice protecting honesty about the shuttering of the Old Navy flagship store in San Francisco. RIP.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/old-navy-shutter-downtown-san-francisco-store-amid-retail-exodus
The store isn’t far from the Moscone Center on Market, which makes the location prime real estate.
It never failed that when I went as part of a work group for a conference, someone would fail to realize that June/July in San Francisco is not the same as it is in Tampa, and we would end up at the Old Navy so that person could get a few sweatshirts for the week.
I’ve had to buy a jacket when the job unexpectedly meant spending 10 hours a day in the server room. Gets chilly at 68F and humid.
n
Ummmm, coffee. Got the hash brown mi soaking and the pig fat melting. Breakfast is coming up!
n
@nick:
Surely you jest. This is a government agency – local government, but even so… The intent is to reduce use of personal transportation, in favour of public transport. Ostensibly because of poor air conditions.
I have commented before (maybe not here) that anyone who drives into the centre of London (and by extension, any city) is a masochist.
G.
Just wait. Within a decade, the surface streets of Manhattan will be tolled and it will spread to other cities in the US.
The tech is there. Fortunately the system integrators are currently managed/staffed by idiots, but that won’t always be the case.
@nick:
We’d have to raze half of the buildings in the centre to have enough space to build “proper roads and bypasses”, not to mention car parks. Remember, here in UK (and Europe) we don’t have the obsession with “jump in the car to drive 2 blocks” that is endemic in the US – for 2 blocks (or even twice that) we’d walk.
For longer distances, public transport (in London, read “the Tube”, or buses) is a viable option, one that we are used to.
In the matter of car parks, Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi” is apropos.
G.
But perfectly in keeping if the rulers view the people as subjects, not citizens.
“The coldest winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.”. — Mark Twain
SFF – All I really remember a quarter century after my last time staying downtown is the fantastic Dim Sum and the hotel maid who pretended to be surprised to find me in the shower. That was a fun few days.
I rode the BART back in the day in SF. It was clean and pleasant. I wonder what it is like today. I wonder if the Rusty Pelican still exists.
Isn’t this just state rights?
And yes you need to stock up on things that may be outlawed by the lefty government!
But he’s the real life Tony Stark!
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/texas-welcomed-elon-musk-now-his-rural-neighbors-aren-t-so-sure/ar-AA1bNcNf
I read the following on some site and saved this snippet:
@Nick
@Greg
In the U.S. we have the precedent that it is too onerous to expect people to pay for a government-approved ID. Wait until they try an extra tax if you have business in the courthouse.
Many counties already have the jury duty scam, requiring you to take off work, drive into the city pay for parking, and often have to buy lunch at exorbitant prices. . They may just find paying street tolls a bridge too far. Lots of space available in suburban strip malls for cheap–can you say “Distributed government services?”
@MrAtoZ
You get used to being concerned about feral Amish and cleaver-wielding psychos. Allegedly.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/05/cpl-luther-herschel-story-korean-war-medal-of-honor-recipient-and-mia-for-73-years-is-home/
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/lifestyle/meet-american-who-earned-medal-honor-was-mia-korea-73-years-cpl-luther-herschel-story
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luther_H._Story
Welcome home, Corporal Story.
“Indigent” households don’t pay toll bills in California.
I don’t know about Manhattan, but PANYNJ had a collection enforcement problem when I left that business. The first time the customer activated a system I developed to flag toll tags and license plates for repeat offenders, they thought that the software was broken since it flagged ~ 10% of the vehicles crossing the bridge we targeted first.
Trying to make a dent in that payment backlog would have been a 4-5 cop 24/7 job had they kept the system active.
And that was just one bridge.
In Flanders Fields
By John McCrae
In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie,
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.
On this day every year I think of the veterans of 20th century wars in my family. My great grandfather and his brothers went to France and came home sound in body. While they were gone the influenza ravaged their children, leaving only one boy and two girls in that generation. For one brother it was too much–he lived the remainder of his life a recluse, seldom speaking. I recall seeing him outside his house only once some forty years later.
Meanwhile:
Beau…Beau…Beau
Geez.
The loss of a child due to any circumstance should not be mocked. The sense of loss never goes away. I speak from experience.
Biden has earned a lot more than mocking.
Being a glutton for punishment or a fool, perhaps both or more, your call, I bought this little PC eight months ago and I’m happy with it:
https://www.newegg.com/neosmay-ac8-jasper-lake/p/2SW-006Y-00003?Item=9SIBDYFHWZ7094
The price has dropped from $319 to $279, of course. But today had a bonus! A $15 gift card for a future purchase. Hold that thought.
I added a WD 1TB drive:
https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-1tb-blue-sa510/p/N82E16820250232?Item=N82E16820250232
I honestly don’t know if New Style or Old Style is better. New is about half the price, so, shrug.
My plan is to drop Moa off of the LAN, just un-plug the Ethernet. Renaming it might be better. I’m still thinking about it.
After the new Moa Fortified With Win11 is set up and up-dated, and Win11 is beaten into submission, I’ll use Acronis to clone the new PC’s half gig drive to the 1 TB drive. I’ll put the half gigger in a USB case for whatever. Then I’ll install SlimServer (or whatever the current name is) and then copy over My Stuff from the current HDs to the new PC.
Clear as mud?
And why? Moa is running Win7 and has been flawless. For almost eleven years and has been on the entire time. I think it’s time to replace it just for the age of the hardware.
That $15 gift card? That’s almost what a couple of SSD drive external cases cost. And Moa has its original hard drives, I just unplugged them when I installed the SSD drives.
Yep, this is not a one day and done project. But that’s part of the fun.
Truth be told, I’d rather clone the existing Win7 system to the new 1TB drive and swap the WD drive into the new PC. But, drivers for everything are probably different enough to make things break.
I just got a text from an unknown number asking if I could come in tomorrow for an interview. Mentioned William in the name. I responded back, “No, your company sucks.” If someone is going to use my phone number as a point of contact, I will have my revenge. If it was a mistake on the part of the company, I will get their attention.
I have commented before (maybe not here) that anyone who drives into the centre of London (and by extension, any city) is a masochist.
Been there, done that in 1996 or 1997. Never again.
I’m mocking him because his son didn’t die while serving in the military. His death was not related to his service. If he wants sympathy for Beau, fine, but using Memorial Day to do it is a dishonor to those who died while serving. Period. I have many friends and immediate family who died while serving, so, I speak from experience, also.
Memorial Day (originally known as Decoration Day[1]) is a federal holiday in the United States for honoring and mourning the U.S. military personnel who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.[2] From 1868 to 1970, it was observed on May 30.[3] Since 1970, it is observed on the last Monday of May.
Many people visit cemeteries and memorials on Memorial Day to honor and mourn those who died while serving in the U.S. military. Many volunteers place American flags on the graves of military personnel in national cemeteries. Memorial Day is also considered the unofficial beginning of summer.[4]
Wow. It may be Memorial Day but a few guys came by my house this morning and dumped my trash can into their truck. And somebody just came by and threw an Amazon box on my front porch.
Elon Musk has it right. Demanding to work from home is crazy by the Laptop Class when all of the blue collar people are working in the factories and cleaning our office buildings and homes.
Biden did concede in his speech that his son died of cancer and not in combat.
He wasn’t going to get away with it if he tried the whopper today. Beau’s “service” involved running the Attorney General’s office in Delaware from a bunker in Baghdad, hardly front line.
Holiday pay for the trash pickup. God only knows about Amazon. Probably not.
Hanoi Jane: Lock up all the white men over “climate change”
https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/05/29/hanoi-jane-lock-up-all-the-white-men-over-climate-change-n554157
H.J. used up 10000x her share of CO2 credits during the Turner years. Putting her in prison with Kerry and BillG on the bugburger diet wouldn’t square things, but it would be a start.
And how many barrels of oil did those plastic VCR exercise tapes use up?
Holiday pay for the trash pickup. God only knows about Amazon. Probably not.
Maybe holiday pay for the trash truck driver but I doubt it. But not the day labor. The trash truck drivers pick up the day labor loaders from the Citgo about a mile north of my house and pays them in cash at the end of the day. No bennies in that job. No work, no pay.
So do I.
You know what I don’t do? Lie about the details of my personal tragedy. Use a personal tragedy as the basis for public policy. Use a personal tragedy as a justification for unrelated actions. Use a personal tragedy as an all-purpose Get Out Of Criticism Free card.
“‘Largest Deficit Reduction Bill in History’ — Official Estimate Shows Debt Deal Cuts More Than $2.1 Trillion in Spending”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/05/29/largest-deficit-reduction-bill-in-history-official-estimate-shows-debt-deal-cuts-more-than-2-1-trillion-in-spending/
Ain’t no cuts for two years, it is all a scam.
In the immortal words of the Who, we won’t get fooled again !
Two trans athletes did not show up for California state finals
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2023/05/29/two-trans-athletes-did-not-show-up-for-california-state-finals-n554173
So two women who showed up to compete all their lives and got cheated by a couple of cheaters who had hormonal and biomechanical advantages not only didn’t get to go to finals, the cheaters didn’t show up and will be feted by the likes of Whoopsi Bloberg and the other commies?
And how many barrels of oil did those plastic VCR exercise tapes use up?
Plastic is made out of natural gas, not oil. Ethylene polymers, Vinyl Chloride, etc.
To DC, a freeze is a “draconian” cut.
It will mean about as much as Sequestration after the first year.
Thanksgiving weekend will start the 2024 fundraising cycle and mark the effective end of Biden’s first term.
All that’s left are the Supreme Court decisions pushed out before the end of June, when The Court adjourns until October.
>> Many counties already have the jury duty scam, requiring you to take off work, drive into the city pay for parking, and often have to buy lunch at exorbitant prices.
Getting excused from these tactics, not to mention hours spent waiting…one of the benefits of a concierge physician…according to a friend of course.
@Michael
“And yes you need to stock up on things that may be outlawed by the lefty government!”
And be aware what to look for at sales.
I suspect if you went back in time and told our U.S. Congress that they needed to be very careful with the unconstitutional delegation of powers to alphabet agencies, lest things like strike anywhere matches be outlawed, that both parties would deny it was possible.
So according to J. Yellen the world economy was going to crumble on June 1st, until Plugs called and told her to recheck in the very back of the bottom drawer of her desk, and suddenly the date changed to the 5th.
Do any of these clowns think that they retain a shred of credibility? Apparently they do…
@Lynn
”Plastic is made out of natural gas, not oil. Ethylene polymers, Vinyl Chloride, etc.”
Quite right.
Hammering down rain right now, and for about an hour. Just blew in.
Amazon delivered my steering shaft, the tracker said “out for delivery before 9pm” and it got here around 6pm.
Almost got it installed before the rain hit.
Front yard is flooding around the septic tank access. I may have to get dressed up and do some more drainage work. Probably not gonna get my fire and radio tonight, and observing is right out.
n
“Getting excused from these tactics, not to mention hours spent waiting…one of the benefits of a concierge physician…according to a friend of course. “
If you indicate a willingness to serve but confess that you have a hard time believing certain groups, chances are you will not get invited.
Ifcourse, if you tell them you’re a STEM graduate they will do the same.
Went to law school (though didn’t graduate) and was threatened with arrest for handing out Fully Informed Juror leaflets. Pretty sure they wouldn’t want me even if I were willing to fill out a voir dire (Latin for “jury packing”) form.
“Russia issues arrest warrant for Lindsey Graham over Ukraine comments”
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-lindsey-graham-arrest-warrant-52ea51c2f33145badbd0666c4e42da36
Not cool by Russia, not cool.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
People Are Not Buying LA Dodgers’ ‘Christian Faith’ Event After Team to Honor Anti-Catholic Drag Queens
People seem to be unwilling to believe that it’s rain when these companies are pissing on them.
Don’t see any Dodger players willing to take a stand.
To DC, a freeze is a “draconian” cut.
It will mean about as much as Sequestration after the first year.
Thanksgiving weekend will start the 2024 fundraising cycle and mark the effective end of Biden’s first term.
At some time, they will fail to sell the $2 trillion annual deficit plus the extra $5 trillion to $10 trillion that they refinance each year in new tbills. That day will be tough.
Isn’t the average federal employee over $100,000/year in salary now ? Plus another 40% in bennies.
According to “Bard”:
And they have the usual benefit packages common in other industries. Salary amounts will be different in different locations, of course.
“Bard” also says this:
Huh, rain stopped. At least for now it might be a nice night after all.
And the yard drainage caught up with the flow, so the septic tank looks fine.
Neighbor brought me a hamburger, but I had leftovers from yesterday. It’ll make a nice lunch tomorrow.
————–
one of the problems with cutting fed employees is what to do with them afterwards. Sure some can be made into agricultural supplements, and finally serve a useful function, but most will need to find a job. There will be a flood of unqualified job seekers pushing down wages in the day labor sector, and Jose’ probably works harder anyway… no one is going to let them starve, but it would be fun to make them jump thru the same sort of hoops they put in front of honest workers when they were in, in order to get any unemployment or aid… let the process take at least 6 months, and more like a year on average. Lose their paperwork at least 2 times. Only let them eat Micchele Obola approved school lunches, and then force them to march with placards listing their previous job title, ala dog shaming, to get a chance at a public salt lick when their nerves start to go from lack of salt. Fun times!
n
Yeah, no. Even since the retirement was revamped, the benefits are still better than most packages the average worker can get in the real world.
Also, where else can you, after your probation period, have a job where you are practically immune from termination?
Don’t be so sure of that…
ahem…
If they are determined to let themselves starve, I will let them.
“Whatever the method used, the value of the results is in direct proportion to the quality of judgement and common sense applied to the problem.”
– Handbook of Culvert and Drainage Practice, Elmer F. Wilson, Armco Drainage and Metal Products, 1950
In the book a comment on several methods for estimating rate and quantity of sewage flow in 20 years time, in city settings. In so many other areas, quoted for truth.
n
(my ‘smallest room’ reading material at the moment.)(recommended for the “rebuild society” library. Sewers are civilization.)
Nich says:
Indeed they are; when people gather, there has to be some way of getting rid of the byproducts of people gathered together to eat. That, and water systems. Both are required for any “civitus”, Latin for “city”, and “civilization” is “where people gather”.
No one working with my wife at the VA in the support staff positions collected stimulus checks during the pandemic. Everyone makes more than the cutoff number.
The tradeoff is that many of the state offices in Downtown Austin still aren’t fully staffed during the work week, with many people still “working” from home despite the Legislature being in regular sesson.
The session wraps this week and the next regular session will not happen until 2025.
The tradeoff is that many of the state offices in Downtown Austin still aren’t fully staffed during the work week, with many people still “working” from home despite the Legislature being in regular sesson.
Yes, the Laptop Class.
– Handbook of Culvert and Drainage Practice, Elmer F. Wilson, Armco Drainage and Metal Products, 1950
The Armco books are national treasures. I have a couple of them. You can get them off Amazon too.
https://www.amazon.com/Books-Armco/s?rh=n%3A283155%2Cp_27%3AArmco&tag=ttgnet-20
The session wraps this week and the next regular session will not happen until 2025.
The Texas Governor, Abbott, just called a special session of the Texas Legislature.
The Senate trial of Texas Attorney General Paxton has been moved back to August.
No one in Austin wants to be the first to order employees back to work full time.
The bust will happen all at once here. I see way too many cr*ppy Soy Boy apartments under construction on sites which were warehouses and strip malls not too long ago.
Nothing got done about property taxes as the Governor promised running for another term.
The counties here have not backed off the assessment increases even with 7% interest rates knocking about $100k off the value of the houses.
I didn’t see many signs this weekend, normally the silly season for relocation real estate excursions.
“Labour Will Block New North Sea Oil & Gas”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/05/29/labour-will-block-new-north-sea-oil-gas/
“Labour has confirmed it will block all new domestic oil and gas developments if it wins power, proposing instead to invest heavily in renewable sources such as wind and also in nuclear power.”
These people are barking mad. And they will find a reason to never add more nuclear.
>> Went to law school (though didn’t graduate) and was threatened with arrest for handing out Fully Informed Juror leaflets. Pretty sure they wouldn’t want me even if I were willing to fill out a voir dire (Latin for “jury packing”) form.
Yeah, apparently mentioning “jury nullification” in front of a judge is likely to get them p!ssed off. Of course, if you don’t mention it, and have the time to serve, getting on the right case can make for fun times when the deliberations start.
Copies both newer and older on ebay as well, and a bit cheaper… I love handbooks, especially when they fall into the golden time- no computers or electricity needed, but based on science and research while still capturing all the lessons learned on the job by hard men. Everything in the 1950s edition can be calculated using the book- it includes table and charts, worksheets, and the lookup tables for the math.
I have a bunch of handbooks for the manual trades, the kind of thing a journeyman or master would have in his box to refer to when called on to do a bit more than his normal daily work. Formulas, methods of work, tips and tricks, and especially captured ‘institutional knowledge’. Lots of graphical ways to solve math problems too. Something as seemingly simple as the “L” shaped carpenter’s square is actually a sophisticated calculator for solving the sorts of problems a carpenter encounters using graphical methods. I’ve got a pipefitter’s pocket handbook that has a stunning amount of information crammed into it.
————-
It was chilly on the dock, and very damp, but the shortwave DX was good.
n
Machinery’s Handbook is the classic. An edition from the 1920s to the 50s, a line shaft driven lathe in decent shape from the early 1900s and some basic metal working tools, and you could restart the industrial revolution.
n
>> Wow. It may be Memorial Day but a few guys came by my house this morning and dumped my trash can into their truck. And somebody just came by and threw an Amazon box on my front porch.
When your business runs 24×7 there are no holidays.
>> Yes, the Laptop Class.
Let’s call it the “Tony Test”… each assembly line worker, say 10 at a time so as to not materially affect regular production, stays home on the next Monday, and at 8:00 AM, one of ten Tesla EV semi’s pulls up to each worker’s house and drops off a giant wooden crate. Inside each crate are all the parts and tools, including a basic portable lift, needed to build a Model 3.
Any worker that can, within 24(?) hours, fully assemble a working Model 3 from the contents of their crate keeps their job and can work from home. Those that aren’t done at the end of the 24 hours are fired on the spot.
I would also get my hands on “American Machinist’s Handbook” by Colvin and Stanley. In fact, pretty much anything by those authors is worth having in the post-apocalyptic reconstruction library.
One can still today see the “cloaca maxima” in the Forum Romanum. Literally the foundations of civilization.
A lot of the Audel’s handbooks are available in electronic form on archive.org. Carpentry, electricity, masonry, plumbing, and more.