Hot and humid. Some brain boiling sunlight. More hot and humid. Getting kinda monotonous. SOOOOO glad we have A/C.
Got up early and did my load in duty, as well as bringing in my own stuff that I couldn’t get out of storage on Friday. We did have a couple of people show up later. It seems like the show was well attended, but I’ll reserve judgement until we get a final count.
I did a good business, in terms of gross sales anyway. Moved a bunch of stuff I’d been dragging to shows for a while. Made some people happy by selling them the thing they needed. Found some stuff I’d forgotten I had. I should be able to turn some of it back into money if I get it up on ebay.
D2 was a big help and charmed them all.
Today we have an early breakfast get together, some awards, and then back to the show floor for a few hours. I might still make some more sales. I’ve been very disciplined about not buying stuff…so far.
Politically, I heard a lot of anti Biden sentiment. A lot of disbelief and snorting about the coming new wuflu variant. LOTS of mentions of how expensive everything is, and some about how their items aren’t bringing what they used to. If the stuff you are buying is getting more expensive and the stuff you are selling is getting cheaper, that’s a pretty big problem. At the show, people were buying but they were only doing so if the prices were right (lower than in the past.) It’s a hobby, or part time business for most of the attendees, so very discretionary spending. Food and gas come first. Then spending on the hobby. A lot of them are like me, just selling off stuff that isn’t their core interest, or is ancillary to their main collection. Some are pros though, making a living on the show circuit. At least a few of the pros were happy to have made good sales at the show.
I do get the feeling that people are pulling in, so to speak. Their area of concern is contracting, moving their attention closer to home. A lot of them live in low cost rural areas around the region, and there was/is a lot of “I’m glad I’m not in a city, and you should think about getting out…” too. Buying a country place for the future and moving away from the city and the Gulf got hearty endorsement.
————-
Today should be fun. Breakfast is a good time, and D2 has won door prizes more than once. My tables are paid for, I did ok for the show, and I sold much of what I wanted to, so I can relax and have a good time, being a bit more ‘social for social’s sake’ today. I’ve even learned more about my local guys, and a couple of them are more like minded than I thought.
Meatspace baby!
Local local local is going to matter a lot. Having reliable and known humans outside of local is going to be valuable. Heck, even having more cash will be valuable.
Stack up some friends. Stack some things.
nick
With the hope of some friends and some filthy lucre in the offing, D2 and I are out the door…
n
Hedge funds? Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard own everything. They’re hardly fringe.
Those three had 20% of Disney the last time I bothered to look.
Again, if you say that you’ve never heard of State Street, you probably haven’t read every Fidelity mailing you’ve received from your 401(k) plan in the last 15 years or so.
What happened at Disney has taken place at all of the big companies. The Mouse will simply be the first to go over the cliff.
Yes, but go back three years, and how many of the crowd at the show were running around wearing their armbands -er- masks and spouting agreement with the concept of forced vaccination if that’s what it took to get back to “normal”.
Whether or not I’ve agreed with the decisions, I’ve never said I disagree with Roberts’ point about “foolish political choices” and the error of people counting on The Court to bail them out of their brainfarts at the polls.
I’d be willing to bet that, three years ago, more than a few pro-level vendors at the show were also contemplating the arbitrage possibilities of Hydrochloroquine, Invermectin, and whatever jabs were in the offing.
Larry, Darryl, and Darryl Inc.
Finally getting some rain. Probably doesn’t sound like much to Houstonites, but for our microclimate, which is really dry in the summer, almost an inch of rain is nice. Possibly that much more coming over the next day or two, hopefully enough to remove the “absolute fire prohibition” we are currently under. It would be nice to be able to grill again.
@Lynn: Just finished the second book about Ia, about to start the third…
LOL! Suck it, plugs:
Mask study published by NIH suggests N95 Covid masks may expose wearers to dangerous level of toxic compounds linked to seizures and cancer
I’m sure the CDC and WHO will state “It’s only a study, no rigorous scientifically controlled experiments that we do…”.
No more face diapers.
An Osprey crashed in Australia. It happened in the morning. No work of mechanical failure. At least 3 dead. 23 Marines on board.
What “small manufacturers” of ceiling fans are left in this country outside of boutique labels?
Even Hunter Original fans are Hecho en China now thanks to Bernie Marcus and his crew at Home Depot putting the squeeze on the company for the last 30 years.
The only Hecho en USA fan I have in the house is the Big Ass Fans Haiku L in my home office, and that doesn’t compare to an old school Hunter Original both in terms of features – no separate circuit for the light – or, occasionally, noise.
The Big Ass Fans box arrived with all kinds of Energy Star logos on it, however.
Grist for Mr. Lynn:
EXCLUSIVE – Woman, 38, whose undiagnosed Lyme disease left her ‘MINUTES from death’ reveals how plant-based diet nearly DESTROYED her body – before she turned to strict carnivore regimen that completely cured her symptoms
Just saying. We carnivores claim all sorts of stuff not proved.
I have problems using touch screens. I’ve tried pressing, tapping, rubbing, swiping , and hitting with my knuckle but all to often my input does nothing. Doesn’t matter if its my phone, or my tablet or a cash register at Walmart. When I complain to the clerk at Walmart, she touches the screen and it works fine for her. I touch the screen and nothing, she reaches around me and her touch works fine. It’s as if I’m wearing gloves.
This problem is not new but it has been getting worse. When I was shopping for my first smart phone I was struggling when getting my input to work and tried rapping the screen with my knuckle when the clerk took it away from me saying I was going to break it.
Opening my phone is a hassle, selecting an app is not easy; my son thought it was my phone but when he uses it, it works fine for him. My hands are clean but not always recently washed.
I hate sending texts from my phone because I can’t create a ten character message without dozens of presses and monitoring every press to make sure it took before doing the next one.
When using a Kindle it takes several swipes to move to the next page. Playing games on a touch screen is all but impossible for me.
Any ideas or suggestions?
Mr. Brad, you must be capacitively neutral. JK. The only thing I can think of is your skin is very dry. When I can’t get the fingerprint reader to work at the CLEAR airport kiosk, they squirt a little moisturizer on my hands, I rub my hands together, and it works (No jokes from Mr. Ray or Mr. SteveF, please).
I breath on my finger when the touch screen i cranky. Sort of like fogging your glasses.
Are “Hunter Original” fans still original or just a label now? My Hunter has the oil bath.
Bob Sprowl, I have the same problem. Not on all of my fingers and not on all parts of my fingers. I’ve taken a fair amount of damage over the years and figure the touchscreen problems are from nerve or circulation damage.
To deal with it, carry one of the styluses for use with phones and tablets. Maybe a couple of them, as I think there are different types. I’ve had a few over the years and they help. (Don’t currently have any, as they’ve all gone missing. Pretty sure I lost one myself. For the others, I was assisted in losing them, shall we say.)
This is entirely plausible. After all, he grew up in a poor family in a ghetto where no medical care was available, and he never got physical exams, and especially never got the extra scrutiny a star athlete would get.
Given that most doctors are about half as bright as they think they are, I’ll say “plausible” but most likely pure guesswork. Like they were thinking “His heart is damaged, and it couldn’t possibly be the vax, so he must have been born with it.”
Label. Thank Home Depot’s relentless pressure on the company.
Any Hunter Original purchased after 2002 is Hecho en China with a very lightweight motor compared to the ones made in Tennessee up through 2001. The motor still has an oil bath, but I think that’s just Kabuki.
I have a new-ish Hunter Original in my family room. The thing still isn’t balanced right because the motor housing doesn’t weigh as much as it should for the layout.
I kick myself for leaving a true Hunter Original in Florida at our house. The buyers trashed the fan making a suite out of my home office for Granny to use to circle the drain – square footage being the only reason they bought the house “as is” with obvious regret.
BTW, I assume Granny died. They sold the house a few years ago. The listing was how I learned about what they removed from the house, the fan trashing not being nearly as shocking as the sight of the circa 1989 real oak floor in the kitchen/nook replaced with a cheap tile.
re: styli (Meriam-Webster says styluses is also correct).
There are at least 3 types. Two are passive: A nylon pointy tip, and a soft bulbous rubber tip. The active one is the Apple Pen and its much cheaper clones. They need charging via USB.
I have the most success with the soft bulbous rubber tip. I keep forgetting the Apple Pen clone I have, so for all I know it works better.
Fortunately, I don’t have a problem with screens and my fingers. I tried the styli to see if I could be more precise or efficient on my Android devices. And the Apple Pen to see if it made the whole iPad experience bearable. Which it failed.
Definitely plausible. My son had a not uncommon birth defect where a section of the coronary artery embedded in the aorta wall which never would have been caught on routine physicals. His was caught and corrected only because he had ASD left from being born premature, which required an annual ultrasound of his heart as a precaution.
High school athletes dropping dead suddenly wasn’t unheard of pre-pandemic. The numbers have gone up since the introduction of the jabs, however.
Bob Sprowl says:
Some people’s skin don’t trigger modern touchscreens. My wife, for example, bitches mightily about being unable to touch her smartphone and getting it to respond. She has the same problem with my phone, and I don’t have any problem with either of them. So I bought her a Unihertz Titan phone which has a physical keyboard, and a separate stylus. A stylus is less convenient than a finger, but the stylus is definitely more reliable than her finger.
And there are gloves you can wear with fingertip pads that are designed to activate a touchscreen. You might try one of those.
@Bob Sprowl
ADDED:
I keep my XXX Parker at home
@lpdbw
“I have the most success with the soft bulbous rubber tip”
I’m just going to pass.
I do like a good combination of words. I was once in a room where a guy unironically used “epistemological efficacy” in a sentence.
Write ih haste, repent at leisure.
“We feel that working from home suppresses the provenance of the synergy of the creative paradigm.”
I think I have that line right. I heard it in the interview for the job in Seattle.
Or maybe it was, “… suppresses the synergy of the provenance …”
Not that it really matters. That was the only professional job I ever walked out of without notice.
The line came from the 1099 contract recruiter droid whose tell was playing with the front clasp of her bra. She was fired within a week of me walking out. The CEO, with whom I’m guessing she was involved, got the hook within a month.
I guess their creative paradigm failed.
Our flight to JFK is delayed 5 hours. We are looking at moving to the same flight, but tomorrow departure. No Jet Blue gate/kiosk personnel anywhere in sight. JB will hold you hostage until the last minute and then say “too bad.” At least the AMEX Centurion Lounge is right across from the gate. MrsAtoz gets in free, $50 for me.
Or the soft bulbous rubber tip.
Don’t you haul all of the gear for these trips? Write off!
Lunch for two in the airport would probably cost more, but I’ve never flown out of San Antonio.
Yeah, every biz trip goes on our AMEX “Plum” card and is written off. Even pricey Jet Blue Mint Class flights. Cancun was a business “retreat” don’t you know.
I’m glad to see more and more women pushing back against the tranny nonsense of men being women.
I’m getting to the age I might flip out and go postal on some tranny getting in my face.
“Plum” must be a new one. “Black” is the highest we’ve ever been offered.
I carry “Green” which drives the Amex reps crazy whenever I call to play the game with the late fee. I think that they add the late fee one day late on purpose so I call in and get the pitch.
Plum is a biz card, so we all get one. No interest, but an annual fee, you have to pay ½ to ⅔ balance each month.
“soft bulbous rubber tip”
or would
“bulbous soft rubber tip”
be preferred?
My wife and I discovered the wonderful world of Delta Sky Clubs this year. For a multi-hour layover, completely worth it. We also bring ziplock bags to take food with us on the plane.
In the short term, invest in fan companies.
I am fairly sure that Big Ass Fans is a private company. You can see them in your local Costco here in Texas. One of my acquaintances has one in his 3,000 ft2 shop. He turned it on for me, I thought we were getting ready to lift off in a big old chopper.
https://bigassfans.com/
Since you asked…
There is a natural order to adjectives in English that native speakers usually adopt without realizing it.
So if “soft” is quality, and “bulbous” is shape, and “rubber” is a proper adjective, then soft comes first.
I first ran across that whole order of adjectives thing about a year ago, and was impressed that I had never thought of it before then.
“In the great green room there was a telephone…”
@Lynn: Just finished the second book about Ia, about to start the third…
Glad you are enjoying the series. I did not peg you for a military SF guy.
As you are reading book #3, think about that 10 meter diameter laser cannon with the 10 second pulse in the middle of her light cruiser spaceship. I am guessing multiple yottawatts with the full 10 second pulse.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orders_of_magnitude_(power)
With four light months until diffusion, that would be an incredibly dangerous weapon to fire if you miss or punch a hole through the target.
“I first ran across that whole order of adjectives thing about a year ago, and was impressed that I had never thought of it before then.”
Well, it’s just English. “bulbous soft rubber tip” has “soft” in the wrong place and so, as an unneeded word.
Man, I HATED diagramming sentences but I reckon I actually learned something.
re: Ia and lasers and the 4 rules of gub safety
I haven’t read anything except your reviews, so the following is a guess.
Assumption 1: She sees something way in the future, and thinks she can change that future. So her precognition is not completely deterministic, at least for far-distant events.
Assumption 2: I would guess that the closer an event in time and space, the better her precognition. Say, 4 light-months.
Given those assumptions, she could aim the laser with her eyes closed, just using her predictive powers. She’d know her backstop was safe.
Sort of like using the Force.
I suppose I should actually read some of the books. Military SF is probably my favorite.
If only Weber had managed to control his word diarrhea in his Safehold series. I gave up after one of the middle books where basically NOTHING happened for 500 pages. The diversion into cyberpunk didn’t help, either. Not my thing.
Hedge funds? Blackrock, State Street, and Vanguard own everything. They’re hardly fringe.
The main drug that I was thinking of is the epipen going from a cost $100 ??? each to $1,000 ??? each in the last ten years after some millionaire bought the company.
https://hedgeclippers.org/hedgepapers-no-35-billionaire-john-paulson-the-epi-pen-profiteer/
Assumption 1: She sees something way in the future, and thinks she can change that future. So her precognition is not completely deterministic, at least for far-distant events.
Assumption 2: I would guess that the closer an event in time and space, the better her precognition. Say, 4 light-months.
Given those assumptions, she could aim the laser with her eyes closed, just using her predictive powers. She’d know her backstop was safe.
Sort of like using the Force.
Yes, yes, yes, and yes. Ia’s precognitive ability is about a thousand years in the future. With clarity. Her postcognitive ability is about 15,000 years in the past.
If only Weber had managed to control his word diarrhea in his Safehold series. I gave up after one of the middle books where basically NOTHING happened for 500 pages. The diversion into cyberpunk didn’t help, either. Not my thing.
Yeah, several times as the troops in the Safehold series are slogging through the mud, I said to myself, why I am slogging through this book. I stuck it out and got through all ten books.
To me, the Safehold ten book series is a complete rewrite of the third book of the Dahak series, “Heirs Of Empire”. And stretched mightily.
@lpdbw
“ if “soft” is quality ”
But if it’s an adjective modifying rubber, as
thermoplastic rubber
butadiene rubber
natural latex rubber
“Soft” or “hard” can be split from “rubber” without immediately perceiving awkwardness, but the others not so much.
I have a gub question. I have a Glock whatever 40 s&w and it fits my hand/arm perfectly. Sorta point and click with either hand with or without wearing my glasses. Point arm and on target.
But I’m the kind of idiot that upon dropping the Cuisinart blade that tries to catch the blade. Yes, I did catch it. Did you know your index fingertip bone is textured? And the same color of your teeth? And that it takes about three hours with a tight bandage and arm above your head to stop the bleeding? It’s true!
So Glock has their kind of safety. It’s suppose to be great. But I want an Off switch. Because fingertips bones are textured.
Any suggestions? All I get around here is “just stop being a pu$$y”. I’d rather not shoot someone in the leg if I drop my pistol. But that’s just me.
The Wunderground weather station northwest of me is reporting 116 F outside right now. I am wondering if there is a malfunction. But it is bloody hot out there. My truck reported 107 F at 1 pm when the wife and I got home from church, Whataburger, and Sam’s Club. I swear I could feel the skin on my bald head boiling as I walked across the Sam’s Club parking lot.
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/sugar%20land/77469
The epipen went off patent decades ago so the profiteering was probably short lived. The person who designed the mechanism has been dead for at least a decade IIRC, and he lived in a section of Clearwater, FL where old retirees lived.
My wife currently catches grief from the Vets about the insulin pens which are not off patent and from which some drug company is trying to reap big profits. The VA either doesn’t cover the pens or covers only part of the cost since conventional insulin and needles are readily available cheap.
I think the epipens and the the inhalers went way up on price because the propellants were changed. So it’s all “new drugs” with a new patent.
Kind of like changing from R12 to R410 to Rwhatever that is soon to be propane.
“This shooting, based on the manifesto that they’ve discovered from the scumbag that did, this – was racially motivated.”
https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/08/27/desantis-tears-up-scumbag-j-ville-shooter-n574092
Wow. 24 hours from shooting to public condemnation and “scumbagification” based on the “manifesto”. Florida has an entirely different standard than Tennessee. Coming up on 5 months in Nashville–that’s 150 times as long–there has been no discussion of the manifesto and the shooter is the victim.
“ I swear I could feel the skin on my bald head boiling as I walked across the Sam’s Club parking lot.”
If you need to borrow a hat I have a Stetson I hardly ever wear.
@paul
Did you try superglue?
Suggest you stay away from Sinclair monowire.
As far as the Glock is concerned, when are you concerned about dropping it. and how are you going to catch it and cause it to discharge? The only way to disengage the safeties is by pulling the trigger, so unless you are going to spear it on the fly through the trigger guard…
“And the same color of your teeth?”
That’s Wild. Who knew that chew and coffee was working it’s way to my index fingers?
See the Rare Spotless Giraffe Born at a Tennessee Zoo
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/see-the-rare-spotless-giraffe-born-at-a-tennessee-zoo-180982785
Tennessee again.
“Hardship (Theirs Not to Reason Why #4)” by Jean Johnson
https://www.amazon.com/Hardship-Theirs-Not-Reason-Why/dp/0425256499?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number four of a five book military science fiction paranormal series. I reread the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2014 that I just rebought used from Amazon (new is not available). This is my second or third reading of the book and series. I am reading book five now.
Ia is a heavyworlder, born in the year 2472 and raised on the independent colony world Sanctuary, a 3.2 gravity newly colonized planet. At 15 years of age in 2487, Ia experienced the awakening of her precognitive and telekinetic abilities. Being one of the strongest precognitives ever known, she watched the future invasion of the Milky Way galaxy by an overwhelming force of wasp like creatures in a crowded Dyson sphere who proceeded to kill everyone and everything in the galaxy 300 years from then.
Ia traveled the 700 light years to old Earth and joined the Terran United Planets Space Force Marine Corps on her 18th birthday. At one hour per light year, the trip took over four weeks and allowed her to finish making her 300 year plan to restructure the two billion person strong military forces of the Terran United Space Force to fight off the future invaders.
Ia is now a ship’s captain in the TUPSF Navy. Her light cruiser, the Hellfire was blown up so she and her crew are fighting the Salik invasion on the planet Dabin. And things are not going well for the TUPSF Army forces..
This is a strong military series. There are short term threats and long term threats. The non-human races are well thought out and interesting. And then there are the Greys, the non-human race who have tortured the human race for millennia. At least the Greys don’t eat the humans like the Saliks do.
Here is my 2014 review: “Book four of a five book series. The fifth book is to be released in November 2014. Supposedly the series will sadly end at that point. The invasion by the Saliks is not going very well and Ia is here to help! Or, make things worse depending on your point of view.”
The author has a website at:
https://jeanjohnson.net/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars (I may add this to my six star list)
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (640 reviews)
Did not try super glue. Didn’t know that trick back in ’97.
“The only way to disengage the safeties is by pulling the trigger, so unless you are going to spear it on the fly through the trigger guard…”
And that would be this idiot dumb ass moron , me, the one that caught a Cuisinart blade mid air. OF COURSE I’m gonna catch the pistol with my finger on the trigger. That’s why I want a solid off switch.
Costco installs the fans but doesn’t carry the home models in the store.
I’d be surprised if the manufacturer would ever cut a deal to do that. I’m sure the lesson of Hunter and the big box stores isn’t lost on the management.
Also, the returns would be through the roof. The home models have quirks which most people would not get at first and rush the half assembled fan back to the store.
I’m not totally thrilled with mine, but it does move air. The 25% restocking from the company web site provides the incentive to solve the problems with their phone support.
Today at Costco, waiting in line at the return desk, I saw an Indian or Pakistani gentlemen in line behind me with two office chairs which looked like the store might have stocked them a decade ago, but not recently. Totally worn vinyl and stains in the seats which may wife commented looked like someone sh*t their pants while sitting.
When I walked back by later on my way out, the chairs were sitting in the returns area. Of course Costco took both back.
I felt weird making a return on a toilet seat because the screws didn’t fit the 28 year-old toilet. I told the clerk, “We didn’t use the item,” while gesturing with my head in the direction of the office chairs in the cart behind me.
The clerk smiled.
I have a gub question. I have a Glock whatever 40 s&w and it fits my hand/arm perfectly. Sorta point and click with either hand with or without wearing my glasses. Point arm and on target.
But I’m the kind of idiot that upon dropping the Cuisinart blade that tries to catch the blade. Yes, I did catch it. Did you know your index fingertip bone is textured? And the same color of your teeth? And that it takes about three hours with a tight bandage and arm above your head to stop the bleeding? It’s true!
So Glock has their kind of safety. It’s suppose to be great. But I want an Off switch. Because fingertips bones are textured.
Any suggestions? All I get around here is “just stop being a pu$$y”. I’d rather not shoot someone in the leg if I drop my pistol. But that’s just me.
I gave my Glock 22 to my son before I shot it. Great Christmas present. So I cannot verify this. You cannot fire a Glock by dropping it and catching it on the trigger. You must depress the trigger and the trigger safety both.
https://us.glock.com/en/learn/glock-pistols/safe-action-system
My XDM .40 pistol has two grip safeties. You must depress both grip safeties before it will fire using the trigger.
You can fire any of my revolvers that are DA (double action) by pulling on the trigger. But they all have at least a 10 lb trigger pull. None of my SA (single action) revolvers will fire without being manually cocked first.
how many of the crowd at the show were running around wearing their armbands -er- masks and spouting agreement with the concept of forced vaccination if that’s what it took to get back to “normal”.
– the first post-lockdown show was the first regional anywhere nationwide (for our org.) We’d been having in person monthly meetings for most of the year? at that point. Given the average age of our local members is north of 65, and might be as high as 70 if you threw out the high and low, some wore masks just to avoid or minimize the chances of getting anything. The attendee/exhibitor demo skews rural and old, and VERY conservative, so no Biden flags. We mostly avoid politics but I’ve never heard a defense of Slow Joe and the Ho, and what I do hear is strongly right of center. The only visitors at that show wearing masks were the very old and immuno compromised, and some people from NY, Chicago, and LA. The looks on their faces were pretty funny. (Wonderment mixed with horrified fascination…) Anyone who minded being around unmasked people either stayed home or wore a mask and kept their mouth shut.
FWIW, we have other chapters who have just recently started having in person monthly meetings again. (there are chapter meeting summaries in the monthly magazine)
Even at the height, I don’t recall anyone in person demanding masks or jabs. People who did, like the soon to be felon, lina hidalgo, got a lot of negative and pointed feedback. When someone refers to her and I call her “the most hated person in Harris County” I get nods and a “damn straight” response.
n
Costco installs the fans but doesn’t carry the home models in the store.
I’d be surprised if the manufacturer would ever cut a deal to do that. I’m sure the lesson of Hunter and the big box stores isn’t lost on the management.
Sorry, I meant that Costco has the 25 foot diameter Big Ass Fans installed in its stores here in Texas over the checkout area. I have no idea if Costco is selling the Big Ass Fans.
Sounds like something Whoopie Goldberg needs pointed at her backside.
Alley Oop: Cheap Aliens
https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2023/08/27
Really, a refrigerator magnet ?
Houston has the big money so it wouldn’t surprise me.
Pearls Before Swine: The Spotify Generation
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2023/08/27
I’ve bought a few hundred albums over the years. And ripped half of them for my truck. The latest was the Linda Ronstadt – Greatest Hits I and II album.
This is house closing season in Austin so the Costco here had toilet seats from one of the major manufacturers in the stores last weekend. I bought one, but when I got it home and opened the box, while the seat itself was okay, the mounting hardware was some of the worst Chinesium I’ve seen. I immediately realized why Costco had them at that price so back it went.
I guess I could have salvaged the old mounting hardware and made it work, but why?
We are down to 109 F at 644pm. The 116 F that we hit today here in Fort Bend County is the hottest that I have ever seen in Texas. I saw 115 F out in west Texas in 1983.
The “cold” front came through Austin about an hour ago, and we received more rain in about 15 minutes than the entire afternoon of the “storm” event last week.
My thermometer out the back door currently reads 88.
The Gulf is really warm so hot in Houston today isn’t surprising ahead of the front. Hopefully, fortune continues to favor Tampa and the track of Idalia will continue shifting east.
A real storm up the mouth of Tampa Bay at high tide would be ugly.
On Glocks:
Ayoob suggests safety check your G, rack it, carry it around the house for several days to build confidence it won’t fire without pulling the trigger.
I will admit to having trust issues with striker fired pistols.
I’m considering buying a Sig P365X with a safety. I rented one and it’s ok. I did test the safety by pulling the trigger when it was engaged. It worked fine.
I also have an HK VP9, but my trust issues keep me from carrying it.
re: Ayoob
I’m not afraid of it firing by itself in a holster. I’m afraid of a bad draw or foreign material activating the trigger while holstering. I know the bad draw part is a matter of training, but I also know accidents happen.
“Wind Output Plaguing Texas (ERCOT weathers on)”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/08/21/wind-output-plaguing-texas-ercot-weathers-on/
“For reasons of politics and government intervention over a quarter-century, Texas is the largest wind power producer and second-largest solar producer in the U.S. and will likely surpass California, the leading solar power state, within a year.”
“We long have been told that wind and solar can replace coal, oil, and natural gas for power generation, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Wind and solar are dilute, intermittent sources that depend on the weather. If the wind is blowing and the sun is shining, they may work to some extent, but the weather changes constantly, and so does their ability to produce electricity.”
“The summer of 2023 has been a very hot one as a result of two weather overlapping events: El Nino and the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Ha’apai volcano eruption, with El Nino bringing in hot air from the west and the HTHH forming a heat cap, resulting from the extremely large volume of water vapor accompanying the eruption.”
“Wind and solar are not reliable enough to maintain grid stability and therefore require dispatchable power sources such as coal, nuclear, and natural gas-powered generation to stabilize the grid. Until sufficient utility-scale battery storage is available, which is unlikely anytime soon due to the cost of current technologies, the ERCOT power grid and all others will require substantial natural gas generation capacity to maintain grid stability.”
“The Texas legislature understood this requirement and passed several bills with appropriate spending to keep the ERCOT power grid running with enough dispatchable power to maintain its reliability. ERCOT is doing a commendable job managing the Texas power grid this hot summer–even with the largest wind and second-largest solar portfolio in the US–thanks to Texas being the largest natural gas producer in the country.”
We need 100 more of the 48 MW gas turbines for next summer.
Whew. Fell asleep in the chair. Too many cookies.
I use a soft holster for edc. I holster the S&W shield before putting the holster on, to be sure there isn’t any way for it to fire. If I had to draw it IRL, I’d remove the holster, put it back, put the holster back in place. OR just set it on the ground and raise my hands.
While I’m confident in the trigger safeties, it’s not entirely true that you have to pull the trigger. ANYTHING that depresses the trigger safety first will allow the trigger to move rearward. A pencil, keys in you pocket, etc. Some people have had an AD by re-holstering with a finger inside the trigger guard, and a rigid holster- as they inserted the gub into the holster, their finger hits the holster, pushes on the trigger, and it moves rearward and fires. The Serpa holster requires a press inward with trigger finger when drawing, which can result in your finger still moving inward when the trigger clears the holster, and pushing the trigger to the rear, resulting in an AD on draw.
I worked in a kitchen for years. You train yourself NOT to catch the knife. You can do the same with a gub… Let it hit the floor, then pick it up.
n
48 MW is 2500 Jesus Trucks or roughly 4300 Tonymobiles on home 240 V chargers.
Tony sold how many Model S/X/3s? Gonna need a lot more generators even if the Jesus Truck lays an egg.
Oregon, Washington, California, and, most interesting, Florida plates are everywhere around Austin this weekend.
Before the eye damage, I caught falling knives and scissors by grabbing the handle. 100% success rate. Never occurred to me not to, until the second time that an older guy said “I don’t think I’d have grabbed for it.” Of course, now that hand-eyes coordination has devolved to hand-eye coordination, I don’t try.
re unintended discharge of a semiautomatic, I don’t keep a round in the chamber for EDC. It could happen that I need to be able to draw and shoot one-handed in under two seconds, but that’s never been the case and is unlikely to be, given reasonable alertness. In most dangerous situations, simply drawing is enough to deter. If more than brandishing is needed, racking the slide takes about a second. (With two hands, conceded. My fingers aren’t long enough to one-hand the slide on my EDC pistol.)
When I was going to arrest someone or some such, I chambered a round and probably was carrying a concealed shotgun, but that’s not an everyday carry situation.
Wife just informed me that the modern crime tactic of groups going into a store, grabbing merchandise, and dashing out has come to our locale. Happened in front of her at a department store in a strip mall. The perps were not members of the racial or ethnic group which founded the United States of America and drove its rise to global dominance. They were, as expected, descendants of obsolete farm equipment. Store employees did nothing, presumably on orders. Bystanders did nothing but stand by. Police arrived well after the van was gone.
I’ve noticed a slight increase in slow cruises in our residential cul de sac. Presumably casing the joint. Again, the nonresidents are descendants of obsolete farm equipment.
Keep pushing, dumbasses. 13% of the population stands a real good chance when the rest gets fed up with you.
They were, as expected, descendants of
obsoletepre-civil war farm equipment.Fixed it for you.
Why insult mules, horses and old steam tractors?
“Too many cookies.”
Never. Poor planning may see you with cookies after the milk glass or coffee mug is empty,
“probably was carrying a concealed shotgun, but that’s not an everyday carry situation”
Yet.
There are several good arguments for carrying with a round in the chamber, but as I’ve pointed out, I need to live within my comfort zone. Which, for me, is chamber loaded and safety on, mostly. I may need my left arm to defend myself while I draw. Attacks come out of the blue. Sometimes, even when you have great situational awareness. But you do you. As if you needed my advice on that.
Regarding that 13%, here’s a data point for you. When I went to the gun range to practice last Tuesday, the range was full up, and all the employees were white. Besides me, there was only one white shooter. The rest were hispanic and DOOFE (to make an acronym of your above classification.)
I don’t think one can count on opposing forces’ lack of training and practice when the shooting starts. Or your own superior firepower.
So, everyone, when’s the last time you hit the range? ← Rhetorical, shaming, and motivating. No actual answer expected.
I go most Tuesdays now, because they have a T-shirt special. If you bought a $30 store T-shirt, you get in free every Tuesday if you wear the shirt.
It has been shamefully long since I hit the range. I have some things to check out and vet too, which is even more shameful. And the cleaning is LONG overdue.
n
If the stuff couldn’t get sold quickly via EBay or Amazon, there would be a lot less smash and grab activity.
The “cold” front came through Austin about an hour ago, and we received more rain in about 15 minutes than the entire afternoon of the “storm” event last week.
My thermometer out the back door currently reads 88.
The cool front came through here about 9 pm. Wind gusting to 30 mph and big raindrops. Temperature dropped to 88 F. Now 86 F. Nice ! We walked in it and enjoyed the raindrops / wind.
“Shamefully long since I hit the range”…. Yeah, that describes me as well. I even have a few “cordless hole punchers” that I haven’t fired even once. Which is even MORE shameful. In my own defense, it has been VERY HOT for the last few months.
Texas doesn’t have air conditioned ranges? Where are your priorities? 😉
If more than brandishing is needed, racking the slide takes about a second.
I can’t rack a slide anymore. Severe tendonitis in the right wrist. Probably due to shattering my right humerus sixty years ago, spending eight weeks in traction. The third time they reset it was the charm.
I have to wear a wrist brace now except when I sleep. I refuse to get the wrist fixed as the fix can be worse than the problem. Through exhaustive testing, I have found the best wrist brace to be (XL in beige):
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07G4KVGQS?tag=ttgnet-20/
I’ve got a few new revolvers.
Texas doesn’t have air conditioned ranges? Where are your priorities?
Sure we do. Here is one in Rosenberg, Texas.
https://www.g2grange.com/
Oh, definitely. All of Pournelle’s “There will be war” series (though the commentary is now very dated). Back in the day, Saberhagen’s Berserker series. Lots of David Weber’s stuff: Hammer’s Slammers, Honor Harrington, etc.. A couple of you commented on Weber’s Safehold series: I made it through all 10 books. I recently thought about re-reading it – nah – way too longwinded. But the amount of research he put into the development of historical tech was fascinating…
For Ia: I’m still on page one of book 3: we had company over the weekend, so what little time I had, I spent in Baldur’s Gate 3. Which is an incredibly rich game: my wife and one son are also playing it, we’re all about the same place in progression, but we all have very different storylines and options, based on choices we’ve made along the way.
@lpdbw: The precognition is worked into the story pretty well. Basically, she sees *possible* futures. Long-term, she tries to steer events towards the one with the best outcome. Short-term is more deterministic: if I point my gun there, I’ll hit the guy about to stick his head around the corner. Without giving too much away, in case you want to read the series: her challenge is, that she has to hide her abilities, which makes using them effectively more difficult…
Um…that’s hot. Ok, maybe the station is next to a street, but…that’s hot.
I haven’t gone shooting since I left the US, so more than 30 years. I have a neighbor who’s going to set us up at a local shooting range. If I get back into it, I will probably sign up for some sort of gun safety course, just because it’s been so long. Need to have the guns carefully checked by a gunsmith – that’s a long time in the closet…
Looks like summer is over here. From mid-30s (that’s mid-90s F) last week to 7C (45F) this morning. Brrr…one gets used to the heat, so this is chilly.
Ooh, @brad, your temperature is approaching ZERO! Will all motion stop? 😉
Dude! You’re in Switzerland and you haven’t been? My mind is boggled.
@Denis: I know, but it’s not as simple as you’d think. Most of the shooting ranges here are either military, or belong to clubs. The club near where we lived for 20+ years was only set up for competitive target shooting, nothing else.
Where we are now may be different, anyway, the neighbor says he knows a good range. We’ll see…
@lpdbw
thanks
60 years reading english, never realized
There is a natural order to adjectives in English that native speakers usually adopt without realizing it.