Fri. Sept. 8, 2023 – week flew by and I’m still behind…

By on September 8th, 2023 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Hot, humid, and hateful… that’s the weather for the last few months and for the next few days at least. In theory there may be some relief coming but I’ll believe it when I see it. And I’m not holding my breath. It was well into the 100s in the sun and humid as well. Felt like a laser burning my scalp and a wet towel over my mouth in the late afternoon. I think today will be similar.

Did some of my stuff yesterday. Got some stuff ready for the auction, looked at a few auctions. Didn’t end up driving across town for my pickups. That will have to happen today. I’ve got a lot of driving to do. But first I need to pull some stuff out of storage and take it to my auctioneer. I did put a bin or two together at the house, so I’m starting from that. Did I mention it was hot? The storage places are just big parking lots without any shade. My attic is just a slightly dry sauna. Neither is fun when it gets hot.

This weekend I’m home with my non-prepping hobby. We’ll do a show and tell of the cool stuff we got at the show, and after the meeting we’ll do an AAR on the show. First though I have to get through today.

Pickups, drop offs, and if there is time, some shopping. My stacks are woefully disarrayed and my pantry has been run down. I need to stock up on fresh. Maybe some meat will be on sale and I can stock up on that too.

So I can stack it!

Don’t face the future empty handed, stack!

nick

87 Comments and discussion on "Fri. Sept. 8, 2023 – week flew by and I’m still behind…"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    Looks like ERCOT hit 83,911 MW at 5pm.  And then the 13,000 MW of solar went away.  I’ll bet that a certain part of their anatomy was puckering up.

    Firday’s XXXXX Friday’s peak is estimated to be 84,198 MW.  I predict a bumpy ride.

    Austin will still have temps well over 90, pushing 100 degrees at sunset through the weekend. Lots of new EVs and AC units are everywhere.

    I had to go to campus yesterday, and the managers all seem to have Model X Tonymobiles now, which they use to cruise down from 3000-4000 sq ft houses in new developments pushing up through Georgetown.

    Wednesday may be the usual break which happens this time of year, when the rain starts and temps go back to 80s.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    I had to go to campus yesterday, and the managers all seem to have Model X Tonymobiles now, which they use to cruise down from 3000-4000 sq ft houses in new developments pushing up through Georgetown.

    Parmer Lane/Ronald Reagan Blvd. starts at I35 north of Georgetown, loops west, and runs down to the Apple campii (plural) before crossing I35 again, passing Samsung, and heading to a termination point near the Tonyfactory. Lots of development and growth, with the usual Texas level of planning.

    Next summer will be ugly if the heat dome sets up on top of the city again.

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    What’s the famous saying?   “A conservative is just a liberal who has been mugged…”

    Democratic party official Shivanthi Sathanandan is left bloodied in violent carjacking and now calls for tougher crime laws after once vowing to dismantle Minneapolis Police Department

    ——————

    Warm start to the day, no hint of cool in the breeze.   Dew point somewhere around ambient too.  Getting my day started.  

    Ah, roasted bean broth and sliced pig…    

    n

  4. SteveF says:

    A conservative is just a liberal who has been mugged…

    Not all liberals are self-aware, honest, or intelligent enough to get a wake-up call following an assault or other obvious bad consequence of the policies and goals that they support. You probably can bring to mind any number of mugged liberals who refused to give a description of the assailants because that would further promote racial stereotyping or add to the distrust of migrants or whatever feeble rationale (rationalization) occupied their feeble minds.

  5. paul says:

    I paid off my truck.  If I had made normal payments it would be done 12/07/26.  But Mr Over Achiever paid it off effective 09/07/23.

    I bough the truck 08/26/21 and first payment was 10/04/21. 

    3.94% interest.  Why let the money sit in savings which pays 1%?  26 weeks t-bills are paying 5.5%.  I could have bought a t-bill and come out about 1.5% in interest ahead.  But my way?  I’m done, no more payments. 

    Now I wait.  Wells Fargo’s web site says I’ll get a letter from them in a few days.  They say 3 to 6 days.  I’m sure that’s business days.  Some time in a couple of weeks.  Then I get the title from Texas and who knows when. 

  6. SteveF says:

    3.94% interest.  Why let the money sit in savings which pays 1%?

    Son#2 had a student loan at a high interest rate so I paid that off and he can start paying me back when he’s paid off his other loans. My savings account was getting IIRC 0.5% annually at the time and his loan was IIRC 9%.

    His mother’s lack of comprehension about money beyond spending it was a leading reason for divorce. Interest rates are beyond her and “time value of money” might as well be expressed in Greek. I tried to teach him something about interest rates and credit cards and not borrowing for luxuries but time with him was too limited – the usual family court crap, putting the kid with the mother despite unemployment, suicidal depression, and the rest of the litany.

    (Tooooooootally unrelated, I’ve mentioned before that Western culture and government are pushing and pushing and it’s reached the point that men are better off killing ex-wives, as well as hookups who show the least sign of craziness, fiancees that the man has decided to break up with, and so on. It seems to me foolish of women to have pushed things this far, but they’ve collectively made their choice and can collectively reap the whirlwind.)

  7. Ray Thompson says:

    Then I get the title from Texas and who knows when.

    The title should come from Wells Fargo with a sign off on the lien. At least that is the way it used to work. I financed my truck through Ford Credit to get the $1,000.00 rebate. Paid the loan off with the first payment.

    And in other news. Last Sunday I fell off my bicycle. I was stopped by my truck and my foot hit the frame while dismounting. I hit the ground hard. Head, with helmet, struck the ground. After I assessed that nothing was broken I slowly got up. I was dizzy so I sat on the truck rear seat. I vomited. I was dizzy for several minutes.

    I hurt my lower back by wrenching the muscles. Very painful and still is. It is most difficult to get out of bed as that uses back muscles. It is a slow process straightening up. Not a level 10 pain but close to 9.65.

  8. SteveF says:

    Sympathies, Ray. In the words of my dad yesterday, this getting old crap sucks. (Not quite his words. His were a bit more colorful.)

    Would it help to have a low stool in the driveway or garage, for mounts and dismounts? That wouldn’t be available if you’re biking to the store, but would be an easy risk reduction for at least half of your ons/offs. Or have a shoulder-height grab bar or even a tree branch. For that matter, open the truck door and hang on to the top edge.

    I’ve been going through the house, again, looking for places to put grab bars, non-skid rugs, and low, sturdy cabinets for the M-i-L to lean on to catch her balance. She’s wobblier since the last mini-stroke – well, of course – but seldom uses the walker unless my wife is there to fuss at her about it. I’m doing what I can to reduce risks.

  9. Alan says:

    @Ray, sorry to hear, checked for concussion?

    Presume you know to replace the helmet even if it appears undamaged. (At least that was the protocol last time I bought one.) 

  10. Alan says:

    Play stupid games… 

    Get Amish lottery ticket… 

    Queue TikTok video… 

    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/one-chip-challenge-pulled-shelves-teen-death-rcna103906

  11. nick flandrey says:

    @ray, puking after a head injury is a bad sign, you need to get checked out.  If you do have  a slow growing problem it will be very bad when symptoms finally appear.

    WRT a low stool, etc, you can use the curb that way.    Pull up on the bike in the street or gutter, dismount on the curb side.   That’s a free 8 inches of height.   I use the curb or a hill to ease loading and unloading my pickup all the time.   

    Some bikes have a more ‘mountain bike’ style too, with a lower center bar that is easier to straddle.    Don’t know about e-bike styles though.

    Good thing you were wearing the helmet.

    n

  12. Alan says:

    Migrant crisis will ‘destroy’ New York City, Mayor Adams says

    https://www.newsnationnow.com/us-news/immigration/migrant-crisis-will-destroy-new-york-city-mayor-adams-says/

    So what’s the problem here?? What am I missing? 

  13. nick flandrey says:

    even if it appears undamaged  

    –with motorcycle helmets this was because the underlying foam would crush, doing its job, but the outer shell would bounce back, leaving a gap between the hard shell and the energy absorbent foam that you couldn’t see.   Since the foam was already crushed in places, the protection of the helmet was reduced.

    n

  14. Brad says:

    I’m of two minds re the one-chip challenge. On the one hand, teenagerscdo stupudcstuff, and this is safer than a lot of idiocy. Some might even learn a valuable lesson about following TikTok trends.

    On the other hand, it’s a company pushing the idea. I figure they should be liable for any medical costs.

  15. nick flandrey says:

    Migrant crisis will ‘destroy’ New York City  

    – and everywhere ELSE too.   Mr Narcisist doesn’t care that Hartford CT went from predominantly American blacks to almost entirely hispanic immigrants.  Or that that is happening everywhere in the country.

    We now have salvadoran restaurants,  columbian restaurants, and honduran restaurants.   They are not named or advertising to US whites, they are named with (forex) the slang that hondurans call themselves.  We have clothing stores advertising and specializing in clothes for people from those places too.   IDK why columbians need their own jeans store, but there is now more than one in my area.   “Ropas para su cuerpo” – clothes for your body, emphasis on “your”…

    The invasion and replacement is ongoing.   We’ll be South Africa soon.

    n

  16. Ray Thompson says:

    Would it help to have a low stool in the driveway or garage, for mounts and dismounts?

    My bicycle is a step through frame where there is not upper bar, just the bar from the front fork to the pedal and electric motor. My foot caught on the bottom when I was dismounting. I normally dismount from the right but this time I did the left side as that is where the kick stand is located.

    checked for concussion

    I don’t think I had one. I think it was more disorientation and being hot and a little dehydrated from the bicycle ride. It was a 10 mile round trip and it was warm and very humid. I forgot to take water. There were a couple of water stations on the way that I used last time I was on the path. This time the stations were turned off because of Covid and have never been turned back on.

    https://www.gazellebikes.com/en-us/gazelle-ultimate-c380-hmb#pim_itemcolorcodeonergb=98%2C181%2C196&pim_itemgenderframe=Low-step&color=color-denim-blue&frame=frame-low

    Is the bicycle that I purchased and ride. It is basically a commuter bicycle, designed for roads and urban bike paths. No mountain biking for me.

  17. MrAtoz says:

    Ah, get better Mr. Ray.  We are both getting to the age we have to give up stuff. Not because we can’t do it, but because falls at an advanced age are probably in the top ten killer events for us. I scraped up my right side on a bike fall several months ago by riding like I’m 30 years old. Helmet on, didn’t hit my head. I did buy some knee/elbow pads and gloves.

  18. RickH says:

    I note the 6th anniversary of Dr. Pournelle’s passing (8 Sep 2017) today. His commentary is missed.

    Condolences to his family.

    18
  19. SteveF says:

    I did buy some knee/elbow pads and gloves.

    Check eBay. Monica L might be selling her old kneepads.

  20. lynn says:

    Several of my customers are working on DOE and DOD projects. I think I can say that. Electric backpacks are very interesting to a certain group of people.

    As long as no one crosses the beams…

    IIRC, those were nuclear powered particle accelerators ….

  21. Greg Norton says:

    The title should come from Wells Fargo with a sign off on the lien. At least that is the way it used to work. I financed my truck through Ford Credit to get the $1,000.00 rebate. Paid the loan off with the first payment.

    In Texas, the bank holds the title until the note is paid off.

    That reminds me – when I received the title on the Jetta, I didn’t see the title on the Exploder in the stash. Hmmm. Gotta check with the spouse.

  22. dcp says:

    I don’t think I had one.

    Get a 2nd party opinion.  All the points you listed might be true, and you still might have given yourself a concussion. 

  23. Ray Thompson says:

    falls at an advanced age are probably in the top ten killer events for us

    Yes, indeedy. Older person at church and his wife took a fall in their home. Hit her head on the dresser. She did not survive in spite of the best efforts of the EMT’s and the ER doctors.

    Every time I go to the VA or my primary care physician I get asked if I had any falls recently. On my next visit I will have to answer that I did.

    My doctors (VA and Primary) have both stated that I should refrain from using ladders of any kind. Of course, being an idiot, I ignore their advice.

    Wife and I have started discussing moving into a senior living facility. Basically an apartment in complex that caters to seniors. Maybe a duplex or building with a few apartments. We would need a two bedroom apartment. Something like Blue Sky of Texas where the MIL moved. But she only lasted two months so that scares me. I also don’t want to move back to Texas as it is just too damned hot.

    https://www.blueskiesoftexas.org

    Something to consider a couple of years into the future when I get close to 75. We would sell the house and that would pay for about 72 months worth of living. After that savings and income. The places are expensive but after 10 years when I run out of money a medicaid nursing is the next option. At that point I probably will not care.

    The biggest issue with Blue Skies was the dining room. A lot of retired colonels and generals and they dress for dinner. No shorts and t-shirts. When my wife and I were cleaning out the MIL’s apartment we went down to get some dinner. We were not appropriately attired compared to others. We got a lot of not-so-kind stares and looks of disdain from many of the diners. I did not feel comfortable.

    I need to find something like that in middle Tennessee near Nashville. But with no retired high-ranking military officers.

  24. Greg norton says:

    I did buy some knee/elbow pads and gloves.

    Check eBay. Monica L might be selling her old kneepads.

    Filthy rich oncologist daddy. He was well-published and prominent 30 years ago so he was a big donor to the cause.

  25. Alan says:

    >> In Texas, the bank holds the title until the note is paid off.

    That reminds me – when I received the title on the Jetta, I didn’t see the title on the Exploder in the stash. Hmmm. Gotta check with the spouse.

    TX not doing electronic titles yet?

  26. Greg Norton says:

    I need to find something like that in middle Tennessee near Nashville. But with no retired high-ranking military officers.

    You’ll have to get outside of major metro areas, but affordable places exist in The South.

    My grandparents were at a place in Quitman, GA, in the boonies between Thomasville and Valdosta. The facility was a major employer for the town. The food service wasn’t fancy but it was decent.

    Of course, this was 30 years ago, long before the nonsense emerged that we deal with now. Most of the staff were Black and the residents White. My guess is that the staff would be Hispanic now, but the South has been devastated by offshoring, particularly textiles, so who knows now.

    About 15 years ago, I attended training at Banning Mills, GA, not far from Newman. The town had one restaurant outside of the retreat facility grounds, “EATS” – I’m not kidding – and had been decimated by the fallout of the closing of the denim mills up in Columbus. All of the staff were college age or older and white.

  27. drwilliams says:

    @Ray

    ”When my wife and I were cleaning out the MIL’s apartment we went down to get some dinner. We were not appropriately attired compared to others. We got a lot of not-so-kind stares and looks of disdain from many of the diners. I did not feel comfortable.”

    next time take your zubbas

  28. ITGuy1998 says:

    Wife and I have started discussing moving into a senior living facility. Basically an apartment in complex that caters to seniors. Maybe a duplex or building with a few apartments. We would need a two bedroom apartment. Something like Blue Sky of Texas where the MIL moved. But she only lasted two months so that scares me. I also don’t want to move back to Texas as it is just too damned hot.

    Some of them are really nice. One set of in-laws lives here: https://lagunawoodsvillage.com/  

    Until recently, they were in a condo there (called a condo, but really more like a house). They completely gutted it before they moved in and it was still in great shape. After a series of health issues, and scares, they sold it and moved into the towers there, which provides a level of assisted living.

    My wife and I have said we wouldn’t have any problems living in a condo there. Plus we both love that area (wife is from San Clemente). If only it weren’t so liberal, expensive, and overcrowded…

    1
    1
  29. nick flandrey says:

    @ray, one thing to consider is if you expect to have memory issues or alzheimers.   We moved my grandmother into  a facility, that she’d chosen, and purchased, and as planned.   But as she aged, and she had a harder time with recent memories, she couldn’t remember that it was her place.  She couldn’t find stuff because it wasn’t where it ‘should’ be based on her old home of many decades.

    To make it worse,  mom and her sis downsized her from a 2 bed to 1 bed, and got rid of some stuff, in an effort to save g-ma money.   THat REALLY messed her up as a bedroom and dining room were suddenly missing too while the rest of the condo unit was almost exactly the same.   And of course it made her belief that staff was stealing her stuff even that much worse.

    Even though it was all according to her wishes and her plan, in retrospect it was a bad choice.   I think she’d have been better in her old familiar environment as her mind failed.    Since she needed someone there most of the time anyway, that person could have helped her in her own home.

    Of course YMMD and everyone walks that path alone, but it’s something to consider that you might not have thought of.

    n

  30. Greg Norton says:

    The biggest issue with Blue Skies was the dining room. A lot of retired colonels and generals and they dress for dinner. No shorts and t-shirts. When my wife and I were cleaning out the MIL’s apartment we went down to get some dinner. We were not appropriately attired compared to others. We got a lot of not-so-kind stares and looks of disdain from many of the diners. I did not feel comfortable.

    In Florida, my obnoxious Colonel Bat Guano neighbors were actually NCOs, hoping to strike it rich with a tenbagger from their last active duty housing allowance and sweet base credit union loans.

    The impression I got from my wife’s nephew is that the allowances are even more generous now, to the point where he is building a “portfolio” (his word) of rental properties starting with his soon-to-be-former place in Clarksville.

    We haven’t seen what he bought in Georgetown yet. I doubt he’s seen it either.

  31. Greg Norton says:

    TX not doing electronic titles yet?

    No. I had to go early one morning to the tax office and wait in line to get the Jetta titled. People started showing up an hour early, much to the chagrin of a pinchface who arrived after I did and parked illegally in the fire lane since all the close-up parking was filled at that point.

    Texas still has blue laws which restrict dealerships from opening on both weekend days. They have to pick – Saturday or Sunday.

  32. Alan says:

    >> I don’t think I had one. I think it was more disorientation and being hot and a little dehydrated… 

    Hmm, same thing Mitch said! 

  33. Alan says:

    >> My doctors (VA and Primary) have both stated that I should refrain from using ladders of any kind. Of course, being an idiot, I ignore their advice. 

    Of course you do, otherwise how the heck are you gonna get on your roor?? 

  34. Lynn says:

    “UAW Votes 97% In Favor Of GM, Ford, & Stellantis Strike”

         https://www.carpro.com/blog/uaw-votes-97-in-favor-of-gm-ford-stellantis-strike

    “The UAW is asking for a 46% increase in pay and want their hours to be cut to 32 hours per week.”

    Wow.

  35. Lynn says:

    TX not doing electronic titles yet?

    Sounds like another thing to be scammed.  We are having serious problems with fake house titles in the Houston area.

  36. Lynn says:

    Wizard of Id: Full Moat

         https://www.gocomics.com/wizardofid/2023/09/08

    Uh, that is a different kind of a hoarder.

  37. Brad says:

    It’s been a while, but I knew a gitlvfrom the rusybelt. The pay and benefits for UAW workers were pretty insane. I expect they’re still very good.

    I also remember a study that showed the labor cists of GM&Co were around $5k per car higher than in Japan. That is a lot.

    With crazy demands, UAW risks killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.

  38. Lynn says:

    No matter what, we will see the former Big 3 move more and more factories to Mexico.

  39. Greg Norton says:

    “UAW Votes 97% In Favor Of GM, Ford, & Stellantis Strike”

    “The UAW is asking for a 46% increase in pay and want their hours to be cut to 32 hours per week.”

    The Maverick is Hecho en Mexico, and the pricey half tons are stacking up on lots all over the country as interest rates on car loans rise and the F&I room can’t put $75k annual household income into a $100k truck no matter how much Papa wants it.

    The Mach-E abomination? As much as Tommy Boy would probably like to see production stop for a while at this point, that vehicle is Hecho en Mexico as well.

    Disney may not be the only 100+ year-old US company headed for the scrap heap before the end of the year.

  40. Lynn says:

    Disney may not be the only 100+ year-old US company headed for the scrap heap before the end of the year.

    GM is a zombie.  I don’t know about Stellwhatever.  But Ford has a cash stash and very interested Class A stockholders.  Ford will survive but it may not look like Ford. 

  41. Lynn says:

    “Charter’s CEO isn’t flinching in the $2.2 billion rumble with Disney and ESPN: ‘We had to say enough is enough, or else we’re gonna have to move on to a different model’”

         https://finance.yahoo.com/news/charter-ceo-isn-t-flinching-211610653.html

    Charter Communications CEO Chris Winfrey has a message for Disney in the companies’ $2.2 billion dispute over cable television. With an estimated 15 million missing out on ESPN and live sports since the country’s largest cable carrier was unable to agree on terms with one of the dominant content providers, Winfrey was asked at a Goldman Sachs event on Thursday about a sportsless future. He called the possibility “more and more of a potential reality.””

    “As of September 1, Charter took the unprecedented step of blacking out all Disney-owned channels on its cable boxes. Charter wants Disney to grant its customers free access to the Magic Kingdom’s various streaming services, such as Disney+ and ESPN+, arguing that the current financial model of cable television, where programmers receive a fee from cable companies who then pass the cost on to their consumers, no longer works in the days of a dying cable business.”

    That looks ugly.

    My Fubo is $100 per month now with sports. I will probably drop it after the World Series.

  42. Lynn says:

    “Retail Giant To Pay Over $1 Billion In Opioid Settlement”

       https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2023/09/08/retail-giant-to-pay-over-1-billion-in-opioid-settlement/

    “Retail giant Kroger will pay up to $1.2 billion in a nationwide opioid settlement, according to a press release by the company.”

    “The settlement will cover most of the opioid claims against Kroger by U.S. states and Native American Tribes, who will receive $36 million from the company, according to the press release. The company asserts it has been instrumental in fighting opioid misuse and is not acknowledging any wrongdoing in the crisis.”

    What ???

    Hat tip to:
    https://thelibertydaily.com/

  43. Greg Norton says:

    Amazon bought the screen rights to the book back in 2016. They hired Ron Howard to direct the series for streaming. Ron Howard put a note on twitter in 2020 that they were working on the script but that was the last word.

    A “Seveneves” series would be stillborn in the current media environment. Fans are p*ssed off, especially conservatives.

    If you are willing to overlook the problems in the book, which are similar to “Seveneves”, “Termination Shock” might be worth the time.  Written word will be the only way to get a Stephenson fix for now.

    I stopped reading “Fall; or Dodge in Hell” about a third through and never touched it again.

  44. EdH says:

    “Charter’s CEO isn’t flinching in the $2.2 billion rumble with Disney…”

    There is an interesting take on that here:

    https://www.outkick.com/espn-charter-cable-bundle-sports/

    Short precis:  without “bundling” the Disney & ESPN rates are unsustainable, and everyone is unbundling, streaming makes things worse, and the numbers people  know it.

  45. paul says:
    “The UAW is asking for a 46% increase in pay and want their hours to be cut to 32 hours per week.”

    I forget if I’ve said this or just thought it.

    Wasn’t there some squawking when Obama care kicked in that a company didn’t need to supply or offer health care / insurance if you were a part-time employee?

    Ok, from CNN: “Obamacare requires that companies with at least 50 employees provide affordable insurance to their staffers who work more than 30 hours a week.”

    So the UAW wants a 32 hour week and a 46% pay raise.  A four day work week.

    Give it to them.  Give them MORE than they ask for!.  A 27 hour week and the 46% raise.  A three day work week!  Way cool!!! 

    If you’re making $10 an hour that’s $400 for a 40 hour week.  Eight hours a day plus an unpaid hour for lunch. Bump that to $15 an hour and yeah, sure, you work nine hours a day plus the unpaid hour for lunch but it’s just three days a week.  And you get a raise, too! 

    It’s going be not so cool when your three days to work are Monday and Wednesday and Friday.  And Friday is a night shift.  But it is a good way for Management to weed out the lazy. 

    Let folks get all excited about having a raise and just working three days a week.

    Gonna suck to lose your health care what with being a part-time employee, but hey, you asked for it.  Do part-timers at UAW plants qualify for a pension?  Oh, sucks to be you. 

    The auto makers could come out ahead if they don’t have to fund healthcare or pensions.  Just make everyone a part time employee.   It seems to work for Retail.

  46. Lynn says:

    If you are willing to overlook the problems in the book, which are similar to “Seveneves”, “Termination Shock” might be worth the time.  Written word will be the only way to get a Stephenson fix for now.

         https://www.amazon.com/Termination-Shock-Novel-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0063028069?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Termination Shock is about Global Warming going wild and boiling the planet.  I don’t believe in Global Warming so that is a hard pass for me.

  47. dkreck says:

    “Retail giant Kroger will pay up to $1.2 billion in a nationwide opioid settlement, according to a press release by the company.”

    “The settlement will cover most of the opioid claims against Kroger by U.S. states and Native American Tribes, who will receive $36 million from the company, according to the press release. The company asserts it has been instrumental in fighting opioid misuse and is not acknowledging any wrongdoing in the crisis.”

    What ???

    1. Serious reform needed on class action suits.
    2.  With little chance of that – Kill all the lawyers first 

    (++ so many congress critters are lawyers).

    not to mention gov’t administrators and judges

  48. paul says:
    My Fubo is $100 per month now with sports. I will probably drop it after the World Series.

    I pay via Roku, Sling $76 a month.  That’s Orange and Blue.  Which covers almost everything I ever watched on DirecTV.  The sports package, for the Longhorn Network, added $15 to the total.

    Beats paying DirecTV $143 a month and listening to that dang DVR whining all of the time.  Stupid thing never spun the disc down.  I think my electric bill dropped almost $10 when I got rid of DirecTV.

  49. Lynn says:

    “Seveneves” by Neal Stephenson
       https://www.amazon.com/Seveneves-Neal-Stephenson/dp/0062334514?tag=ttgnet-20/

    A standalone science fiction apocalyptic novel with no sequel or prequel. I read the massive illustrated trade paperback published by William Morrow Paperbacks in 2016 that I bought new on Amazon. I would like to see a sequel for the many hanging threads but I doubt it. BTW, Seveneves is a palindrome for those words smiths out there.

    Cool, I got moved into the top review on Big River.

  50. paul says:
     I had to go early one morning to the tax office and wait in line to get the Jetta titled. 

    It’s not like that here.  The folks here have their shi(r)t together.  They have a drive through window, like a bank, to renew your plates.   You have to go inside to do “title stuff”. 

    The most folks ever in front of me in line has been four.  In 30 years.  And at that, in and out in half an hour. That includes the time before they moved from the courthouse to the courthouse annex with the drive through window. 

    Travis County is simply retarded.  They hire equal opportunity folks and most of them over weight folks ain’t all that bright or motivated to get things done.  It was like that in 1980 when I moved to Austin and I never saw it ever improving.   I thought it was bad in Edinburg/McAllen (mostly because no habla espanaol) but the state capital sets a very low bar.

    Diversity ain’t a strength. 

  51. paul says:
    No matter what, we will see the former Big 3 move more and more factories to Mexico.

    Maybe not.  

    My Nissan Frontier was built in (I think northern) Mississippi and it’s flawless.  Fit and finish and paint look perfect to me.   Toyota builds stuff in San Antonio.  Honda has plants in the US.   

    I don’t hear anyone yelling about having a crappy “Jap brand” car compared to GM or Ford or Chrysler products.

  52. Greg Norton says:

    Travis County is simply retarded.  They hire equal opportunity folks and most of them over weight folks ain’t all that bright or motivated to get things done.  It was like that in 1980 when I moved to Austin and I never saw it ever improving.   I thought it was bad in Edinburg/McAllen (mostly because no habla espanaol) but the state capital sets a very low bar.

    I live in Williamson County went to the tax office in Georgetown to do the title paperwork.

    We were careful to avoid buying a house in Travis and/or City of Austin.

    Apple played the same game with the site for their new campus.

  53. paul says:

    The Travis County stupidity is spreading like an oil slick. 

  54. Ray Thompson says:

    one thing to consider is if you expect to have memory issues or Alzheimer’s

    Unfortunately, that runs rampant in my family. My grandfather, his son, his daughter (my aunt), his other daughter (my mother) all suffered from the disease. My mother had early symptoms but died from other complications before she got really bad. My aunt really rotted away and was probably the worst. I have no idea about prior generations as that information is not available.

    The symptoms start at about 80 and reach full blown brain rot at about 85. My aunt lasted the longest but she was a tough old bird and before the end was basically a shell that was barely living.

    My only hope is drugs, activity and perhaps a .38 through the lower jaw to avoid dying of the disease. I had once stated I would stand on active railroad tracks and be buried with a SP logo on my school. That option is out as that would punish the train crew.

    I knew a gitlvfrom the rusybelt

    I think someone’s brain farted. Even though I know (or think) what they meant.

    Off to a local high school game this evening. Oakdale High School where Oliver Springs Academy will play. OS should win. After my back problems this week it will be interesting standing for 3+ hours.

  55. Ray Thompson says:

    Travis County is simply retarded.  They hire equal opportunity folks and most of them over weight folks ain’t all that bright or motivated to get things done.

    Same problems here. When I renewed my driver’s license to get Real ID I was told I needed my social security card. I said no, not required. The document, and the website states “The social security number must be provided and if not known, social security card is required”. I knew my SS number and provided.

    The clerk got her manager, same story, demanded SS card. I pointed to the language on the sheet they gave me. I showed them where it said “if not known”. The manager huffed and puffed and said she would call the state offices and confirm she was correct. After 10 minutes on the phone the manager came back and said she would submit the application but was certain it would be rejected. It was not.

    The SS administration on their page is strongly encouraging people to NOT get SS cards. Instead memorize the number or use other documents. Apparently the county clerks are too stupid to know this or don’t care. I will wager the clerk is still demanding SS cards for proof of SS number. Ain’t no rinky customer going to tell them how to operate. Or read basic English.

  56. Nightraker says:

    Re: The UAW 

    I had effectively a 4 day work week in 1980 working a Chrysler line in Illinois.   There were 10 + holidays,  vacation 2 weeks,  shutdown 2 weeks,  “Personal Paid Holidays ” 7 days, and a couple other things I’ve forgotten.   80 % supplemental unemployment pay when laid off too, which happened as Iococca negotiated the 1st bailout .  

    There was a COLA paid quarterly that was quite a boost.  $10/hr for essentially unskilled labor when minimum wage was 3.35 as I recall. 

    Full health,  pension, and a lawyer fund too.

    40 odd years ago.  It won’t have gone down.

  57. Alan says:

    >> Good thing you were properly wearing the helmet.

    FIFY – I see way too many children, and adults, with their bike helmets unbuckled or with their chinstraps so loose that the helmet would easily slip off in an accident. 

  58. Lynn says:

    The Travis County stupidity is spreading like an oil slick. 

    Yup, it jumped to Harris County and Fort Bend County.

  59. Lynn says:

    I knew a gitlvfrom the rusybelt

    I think someone’s brain farted. Even though I know (or think) what they meant.

    I knew a girl from the rustlbelt

    I knew a git from the rustbelt

  60. Lynn says:

    My only hope is drugs, activity and perhaps a .38 through the lower jaw to avoid dying of the disease. I had once stated I would stand on active railroad tracks and be buried with a SP logo on my school. That option is out as that would punish the train crew.

    Asphyxiating (hanging) yourself seems to be popular nowadays with Robin Williams showing us the way when he was diagnosed with dementia.

    https://www.lbda.org/blog/robin-williams-and-lewy-body-dementia-2/

  61. Greg Norton says:

    “Charter’s CEO isn’t flinching in the $2.2 billion rumble with Disney and ESPN: ‘We had to say enough is enough, or else we’re gonna have to move on to a different model’”

    Missing one more weekend of “patsy” games won’t mean much to a lot of fans, but we’ll see what happens next week.

    Seriously, Florida? McNeese State? A high school team wasn’t available?

    BTW, the Geico Gecko has a decent sized interest in Charter.

  62. Lynn says:

    “”It’s Ma’am” 2.0 just dropped! Watch this dad confront the viral character outside the women’s restroom.”

        https://notthebee.com/article/watch-this-chad-dad-stop-the-its-maam-transgender-guy-from-following-his-daughter-into-a-womens-restroom/

    “Things got heated with the “It’s Ma’am” guy who tried to follow this father’s daughter into the women’s restroom.”

  63. paul says:

    For my last DL renewal the letter said to show up with a lot of stuff.  Like my birth certificate.  And SS card and something else.

    I took none of that. I gave them all of that stuff when I got my DL when I was 16 or 17.   I had my passport.  I told the guy, not a diversity dude, I didn’t bring any of that stuff that the letter says I need to bring.  He clicky clicked on his PC and “yeah, we got all your info”.

    So.  Maybe filtering for wetbacks?  I don’t know.  I have the “special star” on my DL now.  Like I’m planning on ever getting on an airplane?   With all the TSA stuff? 

    I mean, if  I want my junk fondled I can find a gay bar somewhere and maybe have a happy ending.

  64. SteveF says:

    guy who tried to follow this father’s daughter into the women’s restroom

    I knocked his teeth out because I identify as the tooth fairy.

    re Brad’s repeated typing problems, I figure is phone is acting up, he’s drunk, or he’s got Parkinson’s. Let’s hope it’s alcohol.

    6
    1
  65. paul says:

    Dunno SteveF.  My spell checker is doing odd things lately.

  66. paul says:
    “Retail giant Kroger will pay up to $1.2 billion in a nationwide opioid settlement, according to a press release by the company.”

    Pay to who?  Other than the leach class of lawyers?   And if Kroger says FU, what’s going to happen?  Gov somehow shuts down Kroger?

  67. Alan says:

    >> My bicycle is a step through frame where there is not upper bar, just the bar from the front fork to the pedal and electric motor. My foot caught on the bottom when I was dismounting. I normally dismount from the right but this time I did the left side as that is where the kick stand is located.

    Hmm, sounds like a product design defect to me…best give a call to Dewey, Cheatum and Howe. 

  68. lpdbw says:

    I knew a gitlvfrom the rusybelt

    Clearly, he meant “I knew a fugitive from the rust belt.”

    I agree about the spellcheck acting up.   I’ve noticed typos in my posts that are of a different sort than I make normally.  I’m not claiming to be an error-free typist, but my recent errors just seem different somehow.

  69. Lynn says:

    Dunno SteveF.  My spell checker is doing odd things lately.

    My spell checker on my phone died.  It won’t flag anything anymore.

  70. MrAtoz says:
    
    “Retail giant Kroger will pay up to $1.2 billion in a nationwide opioid settlement, according to a press release by the company.”

    Pay to who?  Other than the leach class of lawyers?   And if Kroger says FU, what’s going to happen?  Gov somehow shuts down Kroger?

    The same people and “indigenous spirits” (LOL) are now buying illegal fentanyl to replace their oxy. What, was Kroger selling oxy under the table with no script?

  71. Paul Hampson says:

    but after 10 years when I run out of money a medicaid nursing is the next option. At that point I probably will not care.

    Most of us probably won’t make it to 100, or even very close, but I’ve known too many people in recent years that have made it.  A lady in our church is 96 and just got her drivers license renewed for 8 years, and I would still feel safe riding with her.  It’s gotten to the point where we cannot count on not reaching 100, a good many of us are likely to do so. 

  72. nick flandrey says:

    Kroger thought it was cheaper in money and reputation to pay over a BILLION dollars to the extortionists than to fight it.   Let that marinade for a few minutes.   BILLION.  How much money did they make?

    n

  73. Greg Norton says:

    Kroger thought it was cheaper in money and reputation to pay over a BILLION dollars to the extortionists than to fight it.   Let that marinade for a few minutes.   BILLION.  How much money did they make?

    Ask the usual suspects – Vanguard, Black Rock, and State Street. Together with the Geico Gecko, they own 30% of Kroger.

    And if you say that you don’t have any money with those firms, you haven’t been paying attention to your 401(k) mailings.

  74. lpdbw says:

    apropos of nothing, some healthcare notes.

    The IRS stopped publishing non-profit 990 filings in 2021. I wonder why?

    In 2021, Houston Methodist hospital paid Dr. Marc Boom about $3.5 million in salary.

    There were 9 executives over $1 million.

    I imagine they have a lot of income outside salaries.  I suspect Pfizer and Moderna  might find ways to funnel more money towards  them.  Houston Methodist does, after all, own a research institute.  We were told the RI was involved in vaccine trials.

    HM has spent over $1 billion on capital projects over the last 8 years, including an all new hospital in The Woodlands and 2 new towers in the medical center, and $300 million to roll out the Epic software and hardware.

    During Covid, Houston Methodist received over $300 million from .gov to cover “losses” for not seeing patients.  Let that sink in.  They were paid to essentially stop providing healthcare.

    Two final ironies:  They paid for all of it from their cash accumulations.  No borrowing.  And Houtson Methodist is a not-for-profit organization.

  75. drwilliams says:

    @SteveF

    Check eBay. Monica L might be selling her old kneepads.

    Sold out long ago and fallen off the collectible list.

    The Camel might have some, though.

  76. EdH says:

    With crazy demands, UAW risks killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.
     

    More like they are making an example for others to see .

  77. Greg Norton says:

    HM has spent over $1 billion on capital projects over the last 8 years, including an all new hospital in The Woodlands and 2 new towers in the medical center, and $300 million to roll out the Epic software and hardware.

    Work started again on the two big children’s hospitals near our house, but the frantic pace from most of the last two years disappeared when the law went into effect banning transgender treatments for minors. Both hospitals had housecleanings in their relevant departments this Summer, one very public – “We’re shocked! Shocked!”

    Epic. I forget the song the CEO plays daily to rally the troops. “Good Day Sunshine”?

  78. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    Kroger thought it was cheaper in money and reputation to pay over a BILLION dollars to the extortionists than to fight it.   Let that marinade for a few minutes.   BILLION.  How much money did they make?

    Take it to trial and the simps they put on juries could award $10B or more.

    Kroger’s reaction should have been to announce the immediate closing of their pharmacies in the face of litigation for following the rules.

    Week hardly goes by that some firm doesn’t roll over and pay the lawfare extortion. 3M settleded last month for $6 billion for the military hearing loss suit. They could probably have found a million photos of soldiers in the field who should have been wearing hearing protectors and weren’t. 

    And note that was after the $10 billion settlement on the Alinsky-inspired “forever chemicals”. My approach would have been to get the people responsible for the water analysis on the stand and ask what else was in the water at the same level. Fact is if you have lead and arsenic and other goodies at 1 part per million and you remove 99.9%, you still have 1 part per billion. They levels set for PFOA and PFOS are parts per trillion. Now consider that no chemical reaction goes to 100% completion for some number of significant digits, and that potential human exposure to these chemicals starts when parents set their kids down on the carpet as infants, and continues from their. Fluorochemicals were used to treat hamburger wrappers at MickyD’s at one point in the 1980’s. If parts per trillion are “potentially toxic” (no toxicity has ever been proven in a good study) then there are thousands of people that were involved in manufacturing since the 1950’s, and tens of thousands if not more that were involved in the application of the products (carpet mills in Georgia, for example). 

    Questions they can’t answer: 

    What is the contaminant level in medical grade PTFE at the fractional PPTr level? 

    Would it not be prudent for the U.S. manufacturer’s to get out of the biz? 

    Do you have faith that the new Chinese suppliers would be better? 

    If big pharma can extort $30,000 a month for new drugs, why would you squawk at implantable PTFE tubing at $10,000/cm that will last for years?

    If fedgov is helping to extort $10 billion with no evidence of harm, then it would seem that the line workers should be getting some pretty high hazard pay, say about on par with a senior attorney, say, $1000 an hour?

  79. drwilliams says:

    “With crazy demands, UAW risks killing the goose that lays the golden eggs.”

    Just one more step in the Democrat’s plan to destroy the country.

    If Heinlein lived now he would not write “The Roads Must Roll”

  80. Lynn says:

    Something to consider a couple of years into the future when I get close to 75. We would sell the house and that would pay for about 72 months worth of living. After that savings and income. The places are expensive but after 10 years when I run out of money a medicaid nursing is the next option. At that point I probably will not care.

    Medicaid Nursing is available TODAY.  It will not be available after the financial apocalypse of the USA, currently predicted to occur in 2029 but could just as easily occur in 2024.

    I don’t think that people understand how bad the financial apocalypse of the USA is going to be.  People are already calling it “The Greater Depression” as to indicate that the misery in the USA will be much more than Great Depression from 1929 to 1941.  Around half of the USA is living off the government right now.  That will come to a sudden and screeching halt.

    Many, many small businesses are barely hanging on right now. Can you imagine what is going to happen when the Dollar crashes and the government brings out the New Dollars ? It is going to be grim, very grim.

    7
    1
  81. Lynn says:

    Week hardly goes by that some firm doesn’t roll over and pay the lawfare extortion. 3M settleded last month for $6 billion for the military hearing loss suit. They could probably have found a million photos of soldiers in the field who should have been wearing hearing protectors and weren’t. 

    Mortar gunners cannot wear hearing protection in their right ear.  They must be able to hear the aiming commands for the mortar during the over pressure event as the round clears the tube: right, left, up, down.  And the infamous “bubble up”: get the mortar re-leveled for the next round.  

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jKndW86etjQ

    My son’s primary MOS in the US Marine Corps was mortar gunner for four years.  He shot off thousands of 81 mm mortars during that time.  Half of those were illumination rounds with all four rocket motors attached so that the Syrians would not overrun their FOB in the middle of the night when he was in Iraq.  His secondary MOS was light machine gunner, the infamous M-249, 800 rounds of belt fed 5.56×45 mm per minute.  He said it was like liquid metal.

  82. nick flandrey says:

    Yeah, I had a bad premonition about how bad it could be just the other day.   When I was suddenly thinking how nasty it would be without electricity or A/C.   And that I hadn’t really put aside enough to address that.    Like I should have a full solar setup now, and start learning…

    n

  83. Lynn says:

    Yeah, I had a bad premonition about how bad it could be just the other day.   When I was suddenly thinking how nasty it would be without electricity or A/C.   And that I hadn’t really put aside enough to address that.    Like I should have a full solar setup now, and start learning…

    I’ve been thinking about mounting some solar panels on my garage roof for grins.  But you have to be careful, if they take the distribution system down in your neighborhood, and your solar system powers it still, you could kill a lineman who did not ground the system first.

  84. Ray Thompson says:

    Hmm, sounds like a product design defect to me…best give a call to Dewey, Cheatum and Howe.

    I did. They referred me to Succitup, Butter and Cup.

  85. Lynn says:

    Kroger thought it was cheaper in money and reputation to pay over a BILLION dollars to the extortionists than to fight it.   Let that marinade for a few minutes.   BILLION.  How much money did they make?

    The real question is, how much liability insurance does Kroger have ?  $1 billion would not be out of the reasonable amount for a company with $148 billion in sales over the last 12 months.  In fact, $1 billion would be low. 

    https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/KR/financials?p=KR

    When I worked for TXU in the 1980s, we had $300 million in property insurance with a $30 million deductible.  We had a hydrogen fire one day, I got sent out by the senior VP to get him a quickie estimate not from the power plant manager.  I guesstimated that we would have no problem reaching our deductible, I was right, $36 million in damage plus a year offline.  It was one of our five peakers (daily start – stop units) so it hurt our dispatch operations too but that was not insured.  I have no idea how much liability insurance we had but our sales were $4.3 billion that year.

  86. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m calling it a day.   No fresh blood or secret swiss spa treatments for me, so I get worn out…

    n

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