Thur. Sept. 21, 2023 – Today we’ll see how clever I am…

By on September 21st, 2023 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse, march to war

Cool and damp. Slightly less so than last week. It’s been getting into the low 90s and higher in the sun by later in the day. That’s still pretty hot, and the sun is like a laser roasting the top of your head and back of your legs. Hot.

On Wednesday, I did mostly auction stuff. Two pickups and a drop off had me crossing town. And I had to dig through a storage unit for the drop offs. I did pick up what I hope will be a drop in replacement for my main PC, and some scaffold to use at the BOL. I’ve been trying to buy scaf for a year, but it always goes for too much money. This isn’t what I’d prefer, and it’s too short, but it will do for a start. Turns out that there are a ton of things that make life easier in the country. Scaffolding is one of them. Heavy equipment helps too.

Today will be eaten up with getting a pool table for my wife. Yup, that’s what she wants. So I got one in the auctions and it even comes with all the accessories. But I’ve got to disassemble and transport it. And at some point, someone will have to reassemble it… I really hope it’s a three piece slate. Because my ToDo list is fractal, I need to clean up and move a bunch of stuff to get my drywall cart out of storage, and ready for use. I’m sure there will be more things to do to get ready to do things…too.

While I’m messing around with totally unrelated things, go to the gun store and buy something. Then stack it up.

nick

63 Comments and discussion on "Thur. Sept. 21, 2023 – Today we’ll see how clever I am…"

  1. brad says:

    Good luck with the pool table. Even if it’s three-piece slate, the pieces (and the frame) can be very heavy and awkward. My wife talked about us getting one as well. We would have the space for a smaller one – not a full-size 8-footer. But somehow with all the other projects, that’s gotten dropped along the wayside – maybe it’ll come up again in a year or three.

    We are/were looking at the ones that convert easily into a project table. Some have a “lid” that you put on. One that I found really nice just flips on a central hinge, so the pool-table side is down and the project-table side is up. They swear it’s still rock stable, but I’d want to see it in the “flesh” before buying…

  2. Greg Norton says:

    We are/were looking at the ones that convert easily into a project table. Some have a “lid” that you put on. One that I found really nice just flips on a central hinge, so the pool-table side is down and the project-table side is up. They swear it’s still rock stable, but I’d want to see it in the “flesh” before buying…

    “Project table” … or “fancy eating table”?

    “The Beverly Hillbillies” airs every night in the US on the MeTV national feed at 8 PM. Prime time.

  3. drwilliams says:

    Pass the taters. 

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Not actually “cool” feeling, and super damp.  Sun’s not up yet though…

    The new PC does boot.   Came with a 27″ monitor too.   Didn’t want to crawl around under my desk yesterday after running around all day.   

    Testing it thoroughly is a good idea.  Worst case, I install win10 and mount my drives as data, but that would be very sub-optimal.    This is a “cheat” if it works and an example of the universe smiling on me.     Dunno if windows will choke on the changing parts and need re-activation.   We’ll see.  But it could turn into a project which is why I didn’t want to start it after dinner.

    Or I could start by just stealing the PSU.  What I paid wasn’t out of line for just the PSU from ebay.

    n

  5. Ray Thompson says:

    Dunno if windows will choke on the changing parts and need re-activation.

    It will depend on how much is changed. A MB change will probably trigger a reactivation depending on the type of original license. Change video card, no problem. Change video card, change disk drive and add memory, problem. Been there, done that on an OEM license. Regular license no problem. Truth is no one really knows.

  6. Greg Norton says:

    Testing it thoroughly is a good idea.  Worst case, I install win10 and mount my drives as data, but that would be very sub-optimal.    This is a “cheat” if it works and an example of the universe smiling on me.     Dunno if windows will choke on the changing parts and need re-activation.   We’ll see.  But it could turn into a project which is why I didn’t want to start it after dinner.

    Image the primary drive and install the copy in the new old PC.

    That’s how I approached the swap out of my primary desktop motherboard/CPU/memory.

    Windows 10 did ask for a new license and I had to install new sound utilities, but that was it.

    I was really surprised at how smoothly everything went with Windows since I went from Intel Q6600 to AMD Ryzen 5, keeping only the video card.

    Of course, Linux didn’t care.

  7. MrAtoz says:

    Like Mr. Ray, I orded an iPhone 15. Pro Max 1Tb. I save up for new phones and buy them outright from Apple. Apparently Pro Max’s sold out fast at Apple. I use T Mobile so I can have cell service added to my Apple Watch. The phone has an eSIM and the T Mobile site is not real clear on how to move that to the new phone. In the past, I’ve always had physical SIMs and you just put it into the new phone and it worked. While waiting for the phone (I have to wait until early October), I’ll call T Mobile and try to get definitive instructions on moving the eSIM.

  8. MrAtoz says:

    By the way, I usually pass my Apple devices on to needy family members. In this iteration, I’m trading everything into Apple. Dang Apple!

    Also, to ensure my seat on Elysium, sniff, I’m getting an Apple Watch Ultra 2. Dang Apple! How much money do you need?

  9. brad says:

    iPhone 15. Pro Max 1Tb

    Good grief. Phones are up to 1TB now? I can’t imagine needing that kind of storage on a phone, but I suppose I don’t take TikTok videos…

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    ‘A total free for all’: Biden sends 800 troops to help at Eagle Pass as another 250 migrants wait to be processed this morning after 4,000 flooded in and triggered state of emergency 

     

    Rolando Salinas, the mayor of Eagle Pass, said 2,500 people crossed into his town of 29,000 on Monday – and 7,200 the week before. So far this year, the Del Rio sector of the border, in which Eagle Pass sits, has recorded 317,866 migrant ‘encounters’, the latest Border Patrol data shows. On Tuesday night he declared a state of emergency. The Biden administration said it will send 800 active-duty military personnel to the border, to boost efforts by the 2,500 National Guardsmen already deployed to help Customs and Border Protection at the border. Abbott, the Texas governor, said he was also sending additional members of the state National Guard. He said the razor wire his team had installed along the banks of the river had been taken down: he deployed troops to reinstall it.

    300K in one place.

    n

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    Non compos.   The haitian kid blood transfusions aren’t working anymore.  The lizard is ready to jump to a new host.

    😉

    Biden wanders off UN stage without shaking President Lula’s hand at end of joint speech – leaving Brazilian leader visibly irritated

     

    President Joe Biden appeared to wander off the UN stage without shaking hands with Brazil ‘s Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva at the end of a joint speech, leaving the leader looking visibly irritated. Biden, 80, shared a stage with Lula, 77, in a gaffe-filled presentation about their vision to jointly improve workers’ rights in their countries. But their diplomatic meeting got off to a labored start when Biden shuffled into a seven-foot Brazilian flag, leaving it teetering slightly as he approached the podium.

    n

  12. Nick Flandrey says:

    Love that it’s “gaffe filled” instead of snide comments about his intelligence or militant “fact checkers” denouncing every mistake.   Even the Daily News swims in the water.

    n

  13. Ray Thompson says:

    The phone has an eSIM and the T Mobile site is not real clear on how to move that to the new phone.

    Bob’s (or rather Google is) your uncle.

    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT212780

    I orded an iPhone 15. Pro Max 1Tb

    I considered the 1 TB option but it was $200.00 more. My current phone is 256 Gig and it stores a surprising amount of data. On my trip to Europe I took about 2,000 pictures on that phone and still had a lot of space left. My MacBook M2 Air has 1 TB and I can store a tremendous amount of data, including about 100 movies and still have a lot of space left.

    Based on that I considered the 512 Gig option to be a good compromise and allow for considerable future growth.

    1 TB is really a considerable amount of storage. With the new BlackMagic Design photo application and the quality of those videos, the larger sensor (pixel count) of the iPhone 15, 1 TB may be a wise decision. Seriously, if you take videos get the BlackMagic Design video app. It is free and a really excellent product. And if you have a Mac, get DaVinci Resolve from their site. It is free and an excellent video editor.

    so I can have cell service added to my Apple Watch

    I question that capability as I can answer calls on my watch (and iPad and MacBook) through my iPhone. What does cellular on a watch actually add that I don’t already have. And it is an expensive option for the capability plus the monthly cost.

    But you know what, it is really none of my business what people buy or why. I can express my rational for my decisions, not others. Buy what you want, what you look and to h3ll with my opinion.

    But out of curiosity, what does cellular on the Apple Watch provide that I am obviously missing?

    My phone should arrive tomorrow according to Xfinity. Then I have to wait until Monday to go to the store as the representative I need to talk with only works Monday through Thursday. I will have to pay for one month of service I really don’t need and there will some discussions with Xfinity about that extra cost because their system has my account messed up.

    I am using eSIM for my phone having converted the physical SIM to eSIM. Since the iPhone 15 does not have a SIM slot I will have to explore other options on the next trip to Europe. Hopefully the eSIM will be more widely supported in Europe. Europe is usually ahead of the US in terms of cellular systems. It is surprising the eSIM is not more widely supported.

  14. Nick Flandrey says:

    Google did something to break the functionality of “send directions to my phone” from online maps.   Used to just work.  First the nickname for my phone disappeared from my choices online, now when I click on the notification on the phone, it opens maps, but doesn’t load the directions.

    No explanation or notice that they are making changes either.

    n

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    It is surprising the eSIM is not more widely supported.  

    – not really, they swap out sim cards all the time, and have a culture of doing so.   Us, not so much.

     And iirc their phones weren’t locked to carriers like ours because the financing for the phone wasn’t built in to the service.

    n

  16. Ray Thompson says:

    their phones weren’t locked to carriers like ours because the financing

    My new phone will be locked to Xfinity until six months pass or the device is paid off, whichever comes first.

    With Xfinity, if I did not get the monthly plan, the trade-in value was reduced. An obvious ploy to keep the phone on the Xfinity network. Once I get my phone I am going to try and pay it off within a couple of months, if Xfinity does not bill me for the reduced trade-in value.

    Regardless, it does not matter much as I see no reason to leave Xfinity. $65.00 with taxes for two phones, unlimited talk, text and data including tethering is actually a good price. Plus I get a reduction on my cable bill each month making the price even better.

    Xfinity does all of this, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but out of greed, to keep people attached to their environment. Where I live there is really no viable alternative to using Xfinity cable, phone, and internet. Other offerings are slowing, or combination of competing providers for each service, as some don’t offer one of the items I need. I can get internet, but no phone. I can get TV but no internet or phone. I can get phone and internet, but no TV. Xfinity pays the city a lot of money each month to keep it that way,

  17. brad says:

    Marines under fire for flying F-35 into lightning after report showed $80M jets CAN’T handle electrical storms:

    That’s pretty insane. Lightning strikes are an ordinary, everyday hazard for aircraft. Even more insane is that this wasn’t immediately corrected.

    Switzerland was just recently informed of this minor little defect, now that they have placed a firm order. We were also informed that a fix won’t happen until 2027 at the earliest.

    FWIW, I even wrote an article saying how stupid it was to order that kind of plane. We just need something to handle basic air-police actions, nothing more.

  18. MrAtoz says:

    But out of curiosity, what does cellular on the Apple Watch provide that I am obviously missing?

    Not much. Besides the obvious making calls without your phone, you can stream Audible. All Ultra’s come with cell connectivity. Sometimes it is nice to take a walk at midnight completely naked with only your watch. T Mobile charges $10/mo for watch cell. I’ll probably drop the add-on after the novelty runs out.

  19. Geoff Powell says:

    @nick,

     And iirc their phones weren’t locked to carriers like ours because the financing for the phone wasn’t built in to the service.

    They are service-locked, on all  mobile services – PAYG and contract both. The only way to get an unlocked phone in UK is to buy it from someone other than the carrier.

    That said, phone unlocking is relatively easy here. It may cost you up to £20 to get an unlock code, but you can do it.

    And the carrier (mine, UK Vodafone, included) is not obliged to unlock the handset at contract end, and they routinely don’t. In fact, the last time this happened to me, I had quite a battle to get the handset without paying through the nose. 

    Now, by policy, I buy unlocked, direct from the manufacturer – or the ‘Zon.

    G.

  20. MrAtoz says:

    Bob’s (or rather Google is) your uncle.

    I wish the T Mobile site was clear. I read the Apple instructions before, also, who knows what TM supports. There are also stories of completely borking the transfer and you have no cell phone.

  21. Greg Norton says:

    Also, to ensure my seat on Elysium, sniff, I’m getting an Apple Watch Ultra 2. Dang Apple! How much money do you need?

    Seat on Elysium? No, you are only confirmed to be sewn in near the head of the Human Centipad rather than one of the later segments.

  22. MrAtoz says:

    That said, phone unlocking is relatively easy here. It may cost you up to £20 to get an unlock code, but you can do it.

    I unlock any carrier phone ASAP. I’ve never had a problem. I now buy direct from Apple, so phones come unlocked.

  23. MrAtoz says:

    Seat on Elysium? No, you are only confirmed to be sewn in near the head of the Human Centipad rather than one of the later segments.

    I’d prefer the ass-end near Tim. LOL!

  24. MrAtoz says:

    Xfinity does all of this, not out of the goodness of their hearts, but out of greed, to keep people attached to their environment. Where I live there is really no viable alternative to using Xfinity cable, phone, and internet.

    I’ve switched to the evil Google Fiber from cable base and am not looking back. At this point my entire life is know to every three-letter agency anyway.

    Google has dropped major bucks getting fiber out in San Antonio.

  25. MrAtoz says:

    I am using eSIM for my phone having converted the physical SIM to eSIM. Since the iPhone 15 does not have a SIM slot I will have to explore other options on the next trip to Europe. Hopefully the eSIM will be more widely supported in Europe. Europe is usually ahead of the US in terms of cellular systems. It is surprising the eSIM is not more widely supported.

    The 15 supports multiple eSIMs.

  26. Ray Thompson says:

    Sometimes it is nice to take a walk at midnight completely naked with only your watch.

    I hope the watch is on your wrist and not some alternative location.

    The 15 supports multiple eSIMs.

    I believe it is six eSIMS and only two can be active at one time. I got a physical SIM the last trip as the logistics of getting service before I left was much easier than with eSIM.

    The next trip I will have to get an eSIM which may mean getting the service while in the arrival airport at one of the rip-em-off stores. Which is still are bargain when Xfinity wanted $10.00 a day for foreign use of the phone. For my 26 day trip in Europe it would have been cheaper to buy a burner phone, with service.

  27. Alan says:

    >> I’ll call T Mobile and try to get definitive instructions on moving the eSIM.

    On Verizon, going from a physical SIM (Pixel 2) to an eSIM (Pixel 6) required speaking with a CSR. Fortunately, both times I did so, it was with US-based CSRs and things went smoothly.

    I prefer not to go into a Verizon store and hope the nerd listened when I said twice that I just want the phone activated and I would do the setup myself. 

  28. Alan says:

    >> I hope the watch is on your wrist and not some alternative location.

    And I guess that relegates you to Open Carry. 

  29. Lynn says:

    The wife and daughter spent last night in the ER again.  We should be getting frequent flyer miles from the number of times this year.   Her iron count dropped from 11.1 on Monday to 10.6 last night so they did not give her any more blood (below 9.0 is the trigger point).  

    The daughter has had a constant period for about six weeks now.  She will be getting a hysterectomy in the morning at 730 am at Texas Childrens Hospital.  My wife found a endometriosis specialist group of four doctors there.  The surgery will complicated as her uterine lining has spread out through the fallopian tubes, encompassed her ovaries, and spread up into her intestines.  My daughter made the obgyn surgeon promise her that they will not resection her large intestine and come out with a colostomy.  There will be three surgeons, two obgyns and bowel surgeon. 

    13
  30. Lynn says:

    “One of the most docile rattlesnakes makes rare appearance in Central Texas”

        https://www.chron.com/life/wildlife/article/texas-rattlesnake-black-tail-18376484.php

    “Before its last sighting in 2019, the rattlesnake species hadn’t been seen in Central Texas since the 1950s.”

    Should have stayed away.  Of course, the feral pigs will eat those as they are immune to the venom.

  31. Lynn says:

    “Pretty much”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/09/pretty-much.html

    Yup, anyone discussing sex with a kindergartner is definitely a predator, not a teacher.

  32. Nick Flandrey says:

    Got the pool table.  It was actually pretty straightforward after watching the vids.   Putting it back together might be more difficult.

    I’m about to pull my old PC and move the drives to the new version.  I’ll move the memory if it works as the new one only has 8gb.   It has win10 on a terabyte drive.   I wonder if I could install win10 on my win7 disk as a dual boot.   Then I could migrate more easily…

    Well, first things first.

    n

  33. lpdbw says:

    I’m learning much more about microwave oven repair than I ever thought I would.

    It died last week, and I just assumed I’d replace it.  But I went to lunch Wednesday with my ham radio friends, and one of them used to run a TV and appliance repair business.  He still dabbles.

    He told me the likely problems and general fixes, and pointed out all the Youtube videos available.  I’m sort-of shamed into fixing it, and shamed into saving the money.

    It turns out that door interlock switches fail after a time, especially if you have a bad habit of opening the door while it’s cooking before pressing “pause” or “stop”.  Something about heat and repeated switch cycling of the under-power circuit.  If you pause it first, there’s less load, less arcing, and it’s overall gentler.

    When it fails, it fails catastrophically, blowing the main power fuse.  They really don’t want you to have an open door and a running magnetron.

    You can buy the individual switches (there are 3) for about $50 apiece from a supply house.  Or aftermarket in a three-pack for under $10 on big river.

    While doing my youtube due diligence, I learned that there are basically only 2 manufacturers of microwaves, and most of them have the same interchangeable parts regardless of brand.

  34. RickH says:

    All three books of my new thriller series are sitting on Amazon waiting for me to hit the “Publish” button. Three covers done. Ebooks and paperbacks formatted. Bunched into a series. Blurbs tweaked.

    Author web site updated with the final covers and the blurbs. Even the series website – a single-page – is almost done; I need to tweak it for smaller screens. That’s the next step.

    Publication might be next week for the first three books in the series. And my brain (such as it is) is working on the plot for the fourth book.  

    Some minor marketing in place via FB.  But I need to figure out Amazon advertising, and maybe FB advertising. Not sure which is the best.

    Publishing a book is easy (relatively). But marketing that book is important. Otherwise, your book is about as noticeable as a new grain of sand on the beach.

  35. paul says:

    They really don’t want you to have an open door and a running magnetron.

    Haters.

  36. Lynn says:

    “Biden is unveiling the American Climate Corps, a program with echoes of the New Deal”

         https://www.npr.org/2023/09/20/1200483937/biden-climate-corps-job-training

    “The White House on Wednesday unveiled a new climate jobs training program that it says could put 20,000 people to work in its first year on projects like restoring land, improving communities’ resilience to natural disasters and deploying clean energy.”

    “There is another key difference, too. While the Conservation Corps primarily employed young, white men, the White House says that the American Climate Corps is designed to attract participants from disadvantaged communities disproportionately impacted by the changing climate.”

    And another federal agency is created out of thin air.

    Why yes, they will be wearing brown shirts and most of them will have experience organizing the streets.  Why do you ask ?

  37. Bob Sprowl says:

    Watching movies on your phone:

    I’ve watched three movies recently,  Grand Torino at a theater when it first came out, Red Tails when it came out, and The Accountant at a friends house when I was visiting and had no choice; I actually enjoyed all of them. 

    Before that I don’t think I saw more that five movies in since Star Wars was released and two of those were part of the Stars War series.  I read a lot,  teach and take classes.  I always have at least two or three do it your self projects. One I’m wrapping up and usually waiting on a small part or some assistance to finish, another that is underway and my main focus, and the third that is just getting started and I’m gathering parts and pieces for it.  ( I’ve got more than that now: 1) writing a book, 2) finishing my shop (95% done), 3) building a gasser for drag racing, 4) writing  detailed biography at the request of some of my grand and great-grand children.   

    I do watch college and pro football and the Spring March Madness basket ball tournament.  I found that since my hearing failed two years ago I can’t hear the broadcast announcers most of the time.  When they talk over the crown noise I can’t understand anything they say.   

    More later

  38. Lynn says:

    Publication might be next week for the first three books in the series. And my brain (such as it is) is working on the plot for the fourth book.  

    Did you write the third book first ?  Is that why you are releasing all three at once ?

    There seems to be a problem on Big River with releasing ebooks and POD (print on demand) dead tree books simultaneously. Several of the independent authors that I read take more than a month to get the dead tree book out after the ebook version.

  39. Lynn says:

    “America’s tax collectors may escape a possible government shutdown”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/americas-tax-collectors-may-escape-a-possible-government-shutdown-111211477.html

    “Why the IRS could stay on the job even if the standoff in Washington continues.”

    I am not surprised.  Soon all federal agencies will be deemed too important to shutdown.

  40. Lynn says:

    “Housing economist warns of 8% mortgage rates after home sales disappoint”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/housing-economist-warns-of-8-mortgage-rates-after-home-sales-disappoint-141850108.html

    The wife and I had a variable rate mortgage in 1985 – 2001 on a $80K house that drifted down from 11% to 8% over the years (started at 11%).   We rejoiced when it dropped down to 8%.  It felt like a burden was off of us.  Then the taxes went up.

  41. RickH says:

    Did you write the third book first ?  Is that why you are releasing all three at once ?

    Nope. Wrote them in order. Second book continues the story from the first book, but they all three can be read standalone. (Although I would prefer that people buy and read in the order of the books.)

    There seems to be a problem on Big River with releasing ebooks and POD (print on demand) dead tree books simultaneously. Several of the independent authors that I read take more than a month to get the dead tree book out after the ebook version.

    The Zon lets you set a pre-order for ebooks, but you can’t set pre-orders for print books. So some authors publish the ebook but with a publish date in the future (making it visible but in pre-order mode), and then release the print book after the ebook has gone live.

    Some authors ‘pre-announce’ the next book in the series with a future date (a pre-order). (Matt Lincoln is one that does that, but it’s common for book series.) That future book is an ebook, and probably not finished yet. But the pre-announce time allows them to gather pre-orders, which helps visibility of the book.

    I plan on releasing the first and second books the same day, and in print and ebook form. Although I could have a short pre-order phase on the ebook. Both formats are ready for me to hit the ‘publish’ button at any time.

    Book three might get a pre-order date that would be after book 1-2 release. But it is also ready for the ‘publish’ button.

    Haven’t decided whether book 4 will get a pre-order. I haven’t started writing it; still looking at plot ideas.

    At the moment, all three books are still in ‘draft’ mode on Zon, so not yet visible or available for pre-order.

  42. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    “730 am at Texas Childrens Hospital”

    Arriving at 5AM?

    My thoughts and prayers will be with you.

  43. drwilliams says:

    @lpdbw

    My GE microwave is over 40 years old. It’s the last of 4 identical microwaves in the family.  Two of the others had the door interlock fail, and when the third one became available I removed the door and stashed it for use in a future repair–haven’t needed it yet.

    A friend in college co-oped with Amana and had a microwave in the dorm his senior year. The dorm had regs limitiing the size of the refrigerator that could be used, but there was nothing about microwave ovens. 

    In those days appliances were still made in the USA and worth having repaired by a pro. Now anything on the kitchen counter is just replaced, and one repair part and a house call cost more than most of the major appliances. Good thing we have YouTube and parts on the internet at virtually wholesale prices.

  44. EdH says:

    @RickH:   A page oddity. 
     

    If you click on the current day in the Calendar display at the bottom of the page you get Nick’s main post, and no comments. 
     

    If you click on ‘Recent Posts’ you get everything. 
     

    Not a big deal, I only notice because every once in a while I check Daynotes from my iphone, and it’s often the quickest way to get to current from days or even a week ago. 

  45. SteveF says:

    (Although I would prefer that people buy and read in the order of the books.)

    Where’s the fun in that? Do it the Pulp Fiction way: read the middle third of the third book, then the first third of the second book, then the last third of the first book, then…

  46. Rick H says:

    If you click on the current day in the Calendar display at the bottom of the page you get Nick’s main post, and no comments. 

    Fixed. That is an ‘archive’ page, which handles things a bit different. But now the comment count and links show to allow you to read the comments.

    The ‘archives’ page will show all posts for that date. On this site, there is usually only one post per page. Since the ‘archives’ page will show all posts for that page, only the comment count and link is shown, rather than the actual page and all of it’s comments.

     Otherwise, if there were ever more than one post per day, you would see the first post, all the comments, then the second post and all of it’s comments. Which would be confusing, I think.

    If you were to go to the ‘home’ page of the site on your phone, instead of using the calendar links, you would see the lists of posts and the links for the comments for that day.

  47. Rick H says:

    Where’s the fun in that? Do it the Pulp Fiction way: read the middle third of the third book, then the first third of the second book, then the last third of the first book, then…

    As long as people buy the books, I don’t care about their reading order.

  48. drwilliams says:

    Contrary to expectations, it’s the first kick that is a bit less powerful, not the third:

    https://twitter.com/TheFigen_/status/1704872710709420455

  49. nick flandrey says:

    Weehaaa….

    back to my normal setup.

    Turns out the machines are a bit different.   The old is an 8700 series, the new is 8900.   There are minor MB differences and a better video card with a slightly better processor.  Memory is DDR4 instead of 3…

    So.  Moving the drives didn’t work.    The new machine doesn’t see win7 as a bootable drive, no matter how I set the bios, enabling legacy, no security, etc.    I’m not ready to move to win10 on my main machines, so I moved the PSU to the old machine and put everything back together.

    Booted right up.   I was worried that the MB might have been the issue, but it wasn’t.    I’ll find a PSU for the new machine, and have one ready to go.

    My suspicion is that the newer processor doesn’t support pre-win10 OSs.  

    Used all the time I had for the issue.  I’m back up for now, which is good enough.

    n

  50. Lynn says:

    @Lynn

    “730 am at Texas Childrens Hospital”

    Arriving at 5AM?

    My thoughts and prayers will be with you.

    Arriving at 530 am.  My wife wants us there at 515am though.

    Supposedly it will be a day surgery through five different incision points in her lower abdomen using a camera and robot surgery.  

    Thank you very much.  This has been an incredibly difficult road.  Our daughter is 36, this will be her third major surgery.  She had the first at 15 (drilling drain holes in her sinus cavities), the second was at 17 (removal of her non-cancerous thyroid with three golf ball sized goiters).

    11
  51. Lynn says:

    Did you write the third book first ?  Is that why you are releasing all three at once ?

    Nope. Wrote them in order. Second book continues the story from the first book, but they all three can be read standalone. (Although I would prefer that people buy and read in the order of the books.)

    BTW, I forgot to say congrats !  

    Be sure to publish the URLs on Big River for us to look at.   Or the promotional websites.  No taunting from me but I cannot promise for the rest of the crowd.

    Of course, you know me, scifi (especially space opera) is my first love and fantasy is a close second.  I still have your second ? third ? blink book sitting in my SBR along with over 500 other books.  I have received several verbal warnings from the wife about the quantity as the stacking has moved to my nightstand.  I am not using her nightstand, yet.  She has her own stacks there.

  52. Robert "Bob" Sprowl says:

    RE my post earlier at  18:43:

    I was interrupted by an unexpected visit by my son.

    There is an error near the end of my post – crown should have been crowd.

    Additional open projects are: 6) construct a retaining 200 foot long wall – which I stopped last winter when it got cold and which I just haven’t been able to get back under way (50% done), 7) finish repairing/painting the trim and soffits on the house (75% done),  8) finish my move from NC to AL – I still need to hang photos and pictures and I’ll be done – when I get a round tuit, and there isn’t enough wall space for all the things I want to hang, 9) finish cleaning up the 3 acre property which  has only had a couple of days of work this year and it looks like it – I have kept the lawn , etc. trimmed, and 10) update my web site with current pictures of the shop and car projects and add the bio page(s).

    Another problem is that the two bouts of WuFlu have really slowed me down. Rare is the day when I can work for more that fours hours  – two years ago I was good for eight hours.  

    Not that I complaining, I can’t wait to do something every morning, I just have to decide how well I feel then get going.  

    I can see that the day when I can’t do anything is coming sooner than I want and I’ve planned to watch all of those movies.  My son has downloaded dozens for me to watch but we and both concerned at to how I’ll deal with the audio issues.  

  53. Greg Norton says:

    My suspicion is that the newer processor doesn’t support pre-win10 OSs. 

    Microsoft, Intel, and AMD coordinated a cut off point. Alder Lake … ? … for Intel. AM4 for AMD.

    Redmond gave away Windows 10 licenses to the surplus vendors.

  54. EdH says:

    Fixed. That is an ‘archive’ page, …
     

    Thanks!

  55. nick flandrey says:

    we and both concerned at to how I’ll deal with the audio issues.  

    – do what all the kids are doing today, turn on the subtitles or closed captions.   

    If you have hearing aids, some will link with blutooth directly to the tv or player.   If not, my dad used the IR headphones to turn it up as loud as he needed.

    n

  56. drwilliams says:

    Biden authorizes $100 Billion for new Tiny House initiative:

    https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1704732240423362758

  57. Lynn says:

    “BONUS VIDEO: Slob Fetterman Presides Over Senate in T-Shirt and Shorts”

         https://www.thefirsttv.com/bonus-video-slob-fetterman-presides-over-senate-in-t-shirt-and-shorts/

    “Pennsylvania Senator John Fetterman presided over the US Senate this week in a short-sleeve shirt, shorts, and sneakers just hours after leader Chuck Schumer changed the dress code to allow less formal attire.”

    Yup, slob fits that person very well.

    Hat tip to:

       https://thelibertydaily.com/

  58. Nick Flandrey says:

    In the mid 80s I started getting student loans, at the low and subsidized rate of … 8%.    The world turns…

    n

  59. JimB says:

    Our daughter is 36, this will be her third major surgery.

    My thoughts and prayers are with you and your daughter. I hope this brings her relief.

    Waiting through these operations is harder than most people think.

  60. MrK says:

    @MrLynn..   Likewise thoughts and prayers from this side of the world.

    My nephew’s wife is going for a similar operation for extreme iron deficiency in a few weeks..  But her case is nowhere as severe as your daughter’s.. 

    Hoping all goes well.. 

  61. JimB says:

    @Nick, I don’t know your configuration, so take this with a grain of salt. Although I have moved parts around to experiment, I have always started with a clean hard drive on a new production machine. Once it is set up, I don’t change much for years. I do occasionally add some apps.

    When I plan a move to a new setup, I again start from scratch, and run it in parallel with the old one until I am satisfied it is ready for production. Then I switch, and keep the old one handy until I am satisfied the move is final. Since I have done testing on the new one, the overlap where both machines are operational is short. So, for that time I usually have a production machine and a hot spare.

    Besides getting the OS and apps set up, I use migration as an opportunity to clean house. I would never propagate an old configuration to a new machine. Just me. I also keep my data separate. I used to put it on a separate partition or drive, but have stopped that. I do keep my own data structure, and ignore the goofy stuff that Windows and Linux have added over the years.

    My one exception is Windows 10. I started with an OEM installation of W7 on a refurb box, and did the free upgrade to W10. It ran so well that I didn’t start over from scratch. It continues to run well years later, actually somewhat better than the OEM version of W10 on my wife’s newly purchased notebook. I bought her a new machine, mostly to insure that she would have something dependable. Turned out to be unnecessary.

    FWIW, several friends are Linux users. They play with their configurations, and do multiple boot schemes. To be fair, they don’t use these systems for real work, but they do have frequent trouble that causes them to reconfigure. I could never tolerate that on a work machine, but I will admit that starting over with some Linux distros is much easier than with Windows. I really like some of the package management schemes, but that could never work in a non-free environment. For Windows and Linux, I would like to see an attempt to create a user’s own package by simply checking a list before installation. That would avoid some of the clutter in some of the Linux distros, and further streamline installation in Windows setups. I would think this could be easier said than done, otherwise we would have seen it already.

  62. Nick Flandrey says:

    77F and rising with high humidity.   It already feels sticky out.   Sky is clear for now though.

    @lynn, I’m hoping for a great result for your daughter.   Your family could use a break.  

    Time to start my day.

    n

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