Cool and clear, warming later. Breeze if we’re lucky. Friday was like that and it was lovely. More please…
Did my pickups yesterday. Filled the pickup bed, again. Did I mention finding an entry door just laying on the side of the road? Propped against other heavy trash, clean and perfect condition. Should fit the dock house entry, which is currently a peeling old hollow core door. Might be a little tall, but we’ll see. Now if the universe would give me the other 3 entry doors I need…
Also hit the Goodwill bins and picked up some good stuff for resale, and a few things for me. Good LP records, some reel to reel pre-recorded performances that should sell, and some nice books– some for the apocalypse library, and some to sell. I’m ripping the CDs and DVDs as I write this. Someone liked Charlie Parker, so I filled a gap in my collection. I think I had 62 pieces of “media” all told which is a lot since they went to “by the each” pricing for “media”. The LPs are a wash compared to weight, but the CDs and DVDs got more expensive. They raised the price on books, which have always been “by the each” from 50c or 3/$1 to 69c or 2/$1. All “media” is now the same pricing as the books, so I’m a bit more careful buying CDs and DVDs. Books I grab if I want them or if I think they’ll sell. Given my review of what made money in my local auction, getting books is smart.
Today I need to continue in-processing auction items, and make a big loop to pick up this weeks winning bids. After that, I want to work on holiday decor for a few hours. I won’t put up the big display yet, but I want to get some stuff up to enjoy for the week.
I feel like I should head to the BOL this weekend as I’ve got a big pile of stuff to get up there and it’s piling up around the house. Just doing a quick run to take stuff up is kind of expensive in gas though, and more critically, time. The drive time:work time ratio doesn’t make sense unless I can stay up and do some work for a couple of days. Maybe later in the week…
So much to do, and time keeps ticking away.
I can stack though, and that’s a good thing.
nick
Expect is an old system of scripting interactive programs in Unix by hooking standard in/out/error. The classic example is getting two copies of the GNU Chess command line program to play each other.
IIRC, Expect came out of NIST.
The Hot Skillz crowd doesn’t like Expect because of the learning curve for Tcl syntax combined with the language’s event driven I/O. Plus it isn’t a chance to reinvent the wheel and look like a hero.
At the last job, even though I replaced a mess of Tmux scripted by Python with eight lines of Expect, the DevOps guy turned architect was still leery of the code and kept trying to swap it out behind my back without success. He was designated “architect” after all.
I spent that whole year interviewing counting on that not ending well. Ironically, one of the companies provided a third party implementation of exactly the same kind of system I work on now, but, in that interview, I didn’t demonstrate sufficient knowledge of the Vim keystroke commands or know the difference between left and right outer joins – in SQLite3, used heavily in this kind of work, there is none but I lacked confidence delivering the answer – so they passed.
Old school Hot Skillz, if that makes sense.
Now I work on the system managing one of the most important server boxes on the planet right now, writing a key process which is critical to the machines leaving the factory. No one asks what Vim keystrokes I use to edit my code.
And all of the SQLite3 queries came from my limited SQL knowledge. They just work even if I don’t use a fancy join method.
Good artists copy. Great artists
stealship.Keep an eye out for “Real Genius” for the kids. It will be rare since the DVD came very late in the period when physical media still sold well at Best Buy in the late 00s, but the disc was a labor of love for someone at the studio.
Best Buy just announced that DVD/BluRays would be dumped from their online stores as well as the physical locations. End of an era.
Yes, there is an uncomfortable line in “Real Genius” where the girl shares her male sexual performance standards, but the kids have probably heard worse at school.
My first thought was, is he/she/it watching the scum on camera? I always check my camera when it goes off. The Arlo’s are getting long in the tooth. I still plan on running cat to PoE cameras. Any day now.
Tilda Swinton was excellent in that movie. There are a couple of animated flicks if you want to continue the genre. The actor who played Constantine on TV voices the character.
Dr. Strangelove would mention the women-to-men ratio. Sign me up for the “fattening up” aspect of survival.
I’m not fat. I’m just carrying 75 days of rations around…
The Japanese voice actors who starred in the “One Piece” anime are doing the Japanese dubbing of the live action series from Netflix, apparently at the insistence of the creator, who maintains JK Rowling level control of the IP.
They don’t play games in Japan with “woke”. Valuable IP is protected.
Disney will be in real trouble when Super Mario hits Orlando. The clock is ticking.
Here’s hoping Sony fixes “Doctor Who” like they did with “Ghostbusters” and “Spiderman”.
Cool and clear this am. Up. Time to get moving.
– so baby duck thought there was no existing guides? or that HE could make a better one? His “keys” have been well known for, well, ever.
– yeah, right.
He “shared his guide on X.” so not a guide at all, just a series of short statements.
n
A one off terrorist nuke would be bad but not the end. The response of the Feds would be far worse than the damage done by the actual event, as demonstrated by 9/11.
Yes, a few buildings fell in New York and the Pentagon got hit. Maybe the terrorists mailed some anthrax. And … ?
A nuclear exchange between the US and the Russians with all of the MIRV toys would be an extinction level event for humanity. Anyone thinking they can prep for that has a serious case of rectal cranial insertion.
Having the tank and plane parts spread across all fifty states makes all fifty states targets.
And it assumes a state actor with a full bombardment. Dirty bomb terror is easily prepped for, and much more likely.
MOST likely is Israel bombs some local-ish targets and we all deal with fallout and a hotter terror war in the rest of the world.
n
@Lynn
“Note to self, add another G19 each to the front door stash and the back door stash”
You should also have extended magazines in your stash. If you have to reload, going from 15 to 22 can be an unpleasant surprise to unpleasant visitors.
@Brad
“Adding more crimes for shouting “police” isn’t going to help. The criminals were already breaking a lot of laws, so one more isn’t going to interest them. It does show, however, that “no knock” warrants should not exist.”
I’d like to see the applicable law crafted to eliminate prosecutorial and judicial discretion. Where the hard evidence (i.e., security audio/video, police body cams) shows the crime, make it a “must charge”, and if the evidence is unequivocal, make it a “must sentence”.
I had an interesting experience yesterday that will make most readers here a little sick:
Some elderly relatives have gotten to the point that they have had to move to a nice assisted living apartment facility in their town. This means that they need to sell their large, up-market house. Various parts of the family have come to town and taken the things they wanted from the house (antiques, heirlooms, some furniture), so we hired a moving company to come and clear out the house and donate the perfectly serviceable items left over.
Since I am closest, I went to the house to observe and facilitate. They moved quickly and put most items in large black plastic bags. You may want to stop reading now. They didn’t show a lot of care for the kitchen appliances, cookware, glassware, clothing, furniture, tools, art & history books, etc. I knew they needed to move quickly to keep the costs as low as possible, so I figured this was their normal way of efficiently getting things to the donation site, accepting some level of breakage. They completely filled a 26-foot box truck. As they were leaving, and I was writing the check, I noticed the fee for the dump. Yup – everything except a few items that the movers wanted got “donated” to the city dump.
I certainly didn’t have the time to sort all that stuff, but I would suggest checking where donations go before hiring a similar service.
FDNY
#3 – Forcing Inward Opening Doors: Mike Perrone Forcible Entry Training
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F98S_L5-gKo
As noted in the comments, this is one of nine forcible entry videos from Mike Perrone of FDNY.
The analysis starting at 0:50 is my favorite.
Israel won’t use nukes on Gaza or Lebanon. They’re not officially a nuclear-armed state so using their bombs means that they feel their existence is threatened since a lot of questions will be asked, starting with “Who else?”
Taiwan? Japan? The Afrikaner expats? All are possibilities since Israel will have needed help and resources.
The Israeli targets would be strategic – the Middle East oil fields. That’s the Faustian bargain they have with the world.
Israel goes away and the planet gets Medieval quickly.
The simple answer is: they don’t want to live next to an atomic crater.
If I was into flipping estate sales items – there might be something in here for possible big bucks. Nick would know what to get – I’ve got no idea.
It’s in my neighborhood. But not sure I have any room (or need) for any of this stuff. Massive sale, though. Link here.
@Nick – want to take a ‘short’ trip up here to WA with your truck? There’s a U-Haul place around here for the trip home.
@crawdaddy: That seems odd. Here, at least, you can get a charity to come out for free to get stuff they can sell. They won’t take everything, but they’ll take a lot, leaving less to dispose of…
A moving company is paid to move the items out to the destination as quickly as possible.
The value of what was left in the house was probably nil after the relatives got through taking what they wanted.
“Serviceable” to you isn’t the same as what it would mean to another person.
My father in law got depressed when the family cleaned out his house in Orlando 20 years ago and a 20 cu yd dumpster went to the landfill. He kept a lot of junk for weird reasons.
ISA CGI graphics card anyone?
Even back then, that was a useless item.
Mom called the Salvation Army after Dad died. They hauled off a lot of stuff. Gave her a receipt saying it was worth 15 grand or so.
Was looking at the auction site for the estate auction in my neighborhood. There’s a lot of old books – Asimov magazines and Analog Science magazines, science fiction books, books on trains and ghost towns, some old comic books, stereo equipment (classic stuff), even old electronics (tube testers, tubes, etc). Even a collection of old “Mad” magazines. Lots of tools.
Early days on the auction, so don’t know what prices things will go for. Interesting what people will collect over the years.
I could grab book/magazine collections for anyone that wants them, and ship them to you (in the US). You pay auction costs and shipping. Other stuff might be too big/heavy to ship. But interesting to see the wide variety.
Any old Commodore gear? I can put you in touch with someone out of Vantucky who has a very strong interest in that sort of equipment. Anything with the C= logo.
The retro scene is one of the few things I miss about WA State. Put something in a garage for 20 years up there and it won’t end up as corroded junk.
I might have two C-64s, tape drives, floppy drives, and miscellaneous other stuff. That is, I know that I used to have them in the basement but I haven’t seen them in a while and misdoubt that they’ve been tossed in the trash when I wasn’t looking. If they’re around I’d be willing to give them away for the price of shipping them.
I know that my Amiga 1000 with sidecar, hard drive, and misc stuff was disposed of when I was out of town. Annoyed me rather a lot, I must say.
I’ll take and pay shipping on Atari some hardware.
Had an interesting week. Probably half way done consolidating/sorting all of the small parts. Stripping the ’66 Galaxie is almost done. Got the windshield out this morning. Hope to hauling away on Monday afternoon.
Received the Tremex 6 speed transmission Thursday; absolutely no paperwork came with it. There is a Tips .pdf file online. They suggest you drive it easy for the first 500 miles -lol- no quarter mile race car that isn’t street legal can to that.
Helped my son take down four trees at his house on Friday morning.
Bought the Smith and Wesson 9mm carbine at a gub show today. It’s the first gub I’ve purchased as an adult. Got a Vortex Scope for it also. Total was about $200 than I thought I’d spend. 1000 rounds were shipped Friday. I’ll order and the other two gubs and a silencer early next week.
Saw an ad for an aluminum after market short block engine very much like the iron one I was going to build. Price was less that what I would have to spend and it would be 100 pounds lighter while being stronger. He also had the rest of the motor for sale. (My bare block will probably get me $1500.) Definitely will get this, negotiating on all of it. I’ll drive to Minnesota to pick it up with two stops in Illinois and one in Wisconsin to visit family I haven’t seen in years.
Also had some quality time with my son at the gub show.
I heard the end of the Houston/Texas game tonight while driving home from getting dinner.
Yeah, the fix was in, but the win was costly in terms of injuries. Seven Wins Steve will be hitting the sauce hard tonight.
@Rick, the first 200 or so lots are all stuff I’d be watching, and most of it I’d bid if it was cheap and close by.
Watch lot 242, pipes and knives, it’s already at $35 with 11 days left…
That is one of the rare ones where I really wish I’d known the guy when he was alive. Pretty much all the stuff is stuff that interests me, or that I buy for myself. Except the kitchenware, and household stuff, or his wife’s stuff.
I’ve already got most of that stuff but I’d still be adding to my collection. About the only thing missing is model trains….
n
@Rick
Second what @Nick said about the auction.
Most of those hand tool lots are very large.
Strange that a guy with that much Craftsman didn’t have many of their screwdrivers.
reposting AoSHQ:
THE SATURDAY NIGHT JOKE
An Engineer dies and goes to Hell. Dissatisfied with the level of comfort, he starts designing and building improvements. After a while, Hell has air conditioning, flush toilets and escalators.
The engineer is a pretty popular guy.
One day God calls and asks Satan, “So, how’s it going down there?”
Satan says, “Hey things are going great! We’ve got air conditioning and flush toilets and escalators, and there’s no telling what this engineer is going to come up with next.”
God is horrified. “What? You’ve got an engineer? That’s a mistake – he should never have gone down there! You know all engineers go to Heaven. Send him up here! “
Satan says, “No way. I like having an engineer on the staff. I’m keeping him.”
God says, “Send him back up here or I’ll sue!”
“Yeah, right,” Satan laughs, “and where are you going to get a lawyer?”
oldie but a goodie
Amazon Managers Can Now Fire Employees Who Refuse to Work From the Office 3 Days a Week
Did someone say ‘loopholes?’ (emeph added) “may,” or may not, “gives,” but are they required to terminate in all cases?
If the employee does not “demonstrate immediate and sustained attendance,” a second meeting is held, reinforcing the attendance requirement and explaining that non-compliance without a legitimate reason may lead to disciplinary action. The guidelines state that this follow-up conversation should occur within a “reasonable timeframe,” typically within 1-2 weeks, depending on the employee’s circumstances.
The latest policy update now adds a final step, and gives managers the authority to terminate employees who persistently refuse to return to the office, a notable escalation.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/10/leftist-campus-embrace-of-hamas-barbarism-were-in-the-suddenly-phase-of-higher-ed-collapse/
Corrective action will take years. But the first step is to recognize that there is no public good in subsidizing an educational system that does not educate, or does something they claim is education but is not, or bestows degrees for being experts in oppressing other viewpoints, or studying things that have no intellectual rigor.
And if there is no public good the immediate first step is to withdraw public subsidies, starting with getting the federal government out of the student loan business. Followed by the states taking a hard look at the campuses of every college and university in their state and asking how it is that tuition has been the inflation leader for decades at the same time that free online courses make a mockery of the value.
And why has freedom of speech virtually disappeared from most campuses in direct proportion to the expansion of “diversity, inclusion, etc”. Remember the old rule: If a country is “The Democratic Republic of X” you can be sure it’s neither democratic or a republic.
Just looked at that auction site. Wow, did he have a lot if tools! Of every type!
I’m surprised the tool bids aren’t higher, but I suppose it’s still early…
@Brad, it is REALLY early. Here in Texas, Maxsold is a company I’d never recommend to anyone, but they are a franchise operation, and local talent varies widely. They are the only auction company that told me “too bad, shoulda done your inspection” when I arrived to find an expensive item ($450) was broken, had been photographed to minimize the damage, and was not listed with any defects. I didn’t even look at their auctions for a few years after that. I’ve started looking again, after seeing a VERY nice item that normally sells for $400-1000 go for $50 in an email newsletter. I figured the only one I was hurting was me.
It’s funny, if your auction runs too long, you run the risk of people forgetting to make their final bids, or getting bored with it. Too short and you miss out on some bidders who didn’t know about it, even if you send emails or newsletters. In either case, there typically isn’t much bidding until the last day anyway. And the locals doing Maxsold here typically only list about 50 lots max.
That lot 242 has several bids already probably means that one of those knives is valuable. I can’t make out anything obvious about the pipes, so it must be the knives.
Interesting to see the difference in the auctions.
n