Warmer and damp. Supposed to be partly cloudy today, and then light rain for the next week, so I’ve got work to do…
Spent most of yesterday not doing what I was planning to do. Yeah I know. Kid needed to be picked up from school, and that is a hard stop in my afternoon, and so I did some other stuff, then left the house early. She needed her Halloween costume, and I usually find all the pieces for it. I’ve been slack this year, or unlucky, so I thought I’d better make an effort and complete that project. It’s pretty hardcore work avoidance, but someone’s gotta do it. I shopped before picking her up, then we both shopped on the way home. I think we got it.
Stopped in our local Aldi on the way home, and bought a pack of gum. Really. And it turned out to be the exact gum I have at home too. But I’d never been in the Aldi, and we were already in the car, so I agreed. Aldi was barren. HUGE wide aisles, empty spaces where product should have been, very limited selection, and prices are not lower than elsewhere. I don’t know what modern Aldi stores typically look like, but I wasn’t impressed. Lots of quick meals, and ‘meals for one’ with the sort of fake healthy prepackaged food the yoga pants crowd likes, but very little meat or veg. In fact there were two empty coolers in the meat section, and several empty open front coolers in the aisle. Weird “fake loft” feel to the whole place too. Kinda like when they call a completely styled and furnished 750KUSD condo a “loft”. Polished concrete floors and no ceiling don’t a loft make, only the ersatz version. Place was empty too. Two employees, two shoppers.
Today, well, more of the same. I still have a load to drop off at the auction, and I’ve got stuff to put out before the rain comes. D1 has her last sportsball game in the late afternoon, and I’m going to that, so it will be a short work day. I’m having a hard time with motivation this week.
Oh, power went out yesterday too, which is one of the reasons I decided to hit the thrifts and shop. “Damage to equipment” was the reason given, with no further details. It was back on in about an hour, but I really need to get the gennie set up. We are sliding faster down the slope. I need some new UPSs and extended run batteries too. I’ll be buying new, in case I won’t have a chance to do so later. The last round of ‘new’ didn’t last very long, or maybe they did their job and died in the line of duty, but I wasn’t impressed. Back to commercial grade APC– if I can find them at a price I can afford.
I’m thinking hard about what is most critical to top up. Food is obvious, and I’ve got a lot aging out, along with meds. We don’t actually use many OTC products though so that should be covered, and the food is mostly “do I have room for that” at this point. Water filtration and purification, along with power are my most serious concerns at the moment. Both will take more thought, some scrounging or luck in the auctions, and more time and planning. Gah. It’s always something.
But, it’s doable. And I’m doing it. Stack with me my friends…
nick
Aldi in the US is a corporate cousin of Trader Joe’s so they have a lot of the same suppliers which make products that appeal to the Yoga Pants crowd.
“Aldi” stores in this country, run by Aldi Sud, have tended to pop up in “economically challenged” areas while Trader Joe’s, part of Aldi Nord, sticks to areas in the US with higher demographics.
I wouldn’t consider the presence of an Aldi Sud store a good sign for your neighborhood, whether under the Aldi banner or, moving forward, Winn Dixie and Harvey’s brands. Lidl is another German discount grocer to watch for as a sign of decline for the economic situation for your immediate area.
I don’t have a problem shopping Aldi, but there isn’t one close to the house. I’m simply stating what I’ve noticed with the new locations.
Keep an eye on the weekly meat deals getting close to Christmas. The quality of the weird private labels at Aldi is quite good, and the chain has run specials for Swift brands, pork and turkey, in the last few years.
I haven’t bought anything at an Aldi which was inedible. The same can’t be said for some things I’ve picked up in the meat department at HEB or Sam’s on occasion.
The same argument could be made about Seoul, which my grandfather always told me would be leveled in about 15 minutes by the North based on his estimates as an artillery chief in WWII and whatever happened in Korea. And that was the 80s, after only 30 years of digging.
At this point, the Israelis need to figure it out without more US money.
Of course, we should be in the neighborhood with every electronic warfare plane in the inventory which is capable of landing on a carrier or being refueled flying out of Italy.
Listening. What an opportunity.
Hey, it’s dark out! Coffee is started, the kids have been kicked the first time, and I sat down in front of the computer…
but I got nothing to say yet. Brain is not sufficiently caffeinated I guess.
n
I like Aldi. We do the bulk of our grocery shopping there. We are fortunate to be within striking distance of both Sud and Nord stores, so we get the best of both. I am not a big fan of Lidl (they carry a lot of branded highly-processed foods that I wouldn’t buy anyway), but I do find that their Parkside brand of DIY tools and supplies is often somewhat better than the “Workzone” products at Aldi.
IDK about the wisdom or efficacy of using this drug, but if you wanted to, now you might not be able to…
Note the woke “pregnant people”. F-ing CDC can’t even define a woman.
n
Got a shocking call late yesterday. My youngest son committed suicide in the Walmart parking lot in Reno. (His mother died in 2005.)
We (the family here on Alabama) didn’t know he’d moved to Reno six months ago. No details other than being told that since he wasn’t married, his 19 year old daughter, Peyton, inherits everything and she controls the funeral arrangements under Nevada law.
Peyton is incoherent. His girl friend (15 year relationship) is in even worse shape. A cousin of his is a mortician in Reno and apparently a control freak, called several times wanting Peyton to let her manage everything. Not good.
I doubt if he had over $500 in the bank. Peyton only owns her clothes, no car, no computer; her mother pays for her phone. Peyton will probably come here and go with me to Reno. Her mother and the his girl friend do not communicate well.
I haven’t flown since 9/11 but I suspect that will change.
If this is on confusing it is because I am still numb.
@Bob Sprowl: So sorry for your loss.
Sympathies, Bob. What a mess.
Can you arrange with a level-headed friend to be your sanity check before you make any decisions regarding, well, anything? You can’t assume that you’ll be thinking straight.* Go out and find out what needs to be done and what people are pushing you to do, then check with your friend to make sure you aren’t being manipulated or doing anything dumb.
* Which funeral parlors know and take advantage of. Which bankers know and take advantage of. Which apartment managers know…
@Bob Sprowl – I cannot imagine the pain you are feeling right now. I am so sorry for your loss. I will keep you and yours in my prayers.
Bob Sprowl; Our condolences. News like that is never easy. I’m sorry.
Mr. Sprowll my prayers are with you. May your son rest in peace.
I cannot even imagine what you are going through Bob. My deepest sympathies.
My sympathies, @Bob Sprowl.
I just got home from a funeral for a 38-year-old friend, and it really messed me up.
I can’t imagine what you’re dealing with.
I’ll give you the best advice I ever got when I had my own trauma: Make sure you drink water, eat something, and try to get some rest when you can. You can’t take care of other people if you aren’t taking care of yourself.
@bob, that is devastating news, I’m so sorry for your loss.
nick
@bob, sorry for your loss. SteveF’s advice is good, if you can find someone to help.
@Bob Sprowl
My most sincere condolences.
Second the good advice above: get someone to advise and backstop your decisions, and take care of yourself.
People still refer to ‘the artist formerly known as Prince’.
Bob, I am sorry for your loss.
Geesh, Bob, thoughts and prayers.
Double check on Nevada law regarding a legal entity known as an “informant”. That party can receive death certificates under Texas law, and one of the qualifications here is being the individual(s) who pay for the funeral.
Sounds like your son’s life in Reno was complicated.
Bob: My Condolences.
@Bob, deepest sympathies for your loss.
Remember you have virtual friends here if we can offer any help.
Adding my heartfelt condolences to those expressed above.
Seconded
@Bob, sorry for your loss. I can’t add much to the others, except to say you and your son are in my prayers.
@Bob, My condolences & sympathies for your loss.
Hi Bob, so sorry to hear about your son.
Thank you for helping your granddaughter deal with this nightmare. Just you being there will help her deal with her loss.
@Bob Sprowl
Awful news.
You’re receiving good advice here. Do take care of yourself.
“Hamas & IDF Ground Forces Clash For 1st Time Inside Gaza: Israeli Soldier Killed, Others Wounded”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/hezbollah-risks-dragging-lebanon-war-which-will-be-mistake-its-life-netanyahu
“Update(1515ET): Hamas has claimed to have repelled a brief Israeli ground incursion, in what marks the first such reported direct ground fight between two sides in Gaza. The Al-Qassam Brigades announced its fighters destroyed two Israeli military bulldozers and a tank as part of an ambush amid the IDF’s conducting ‘limited’ incursions into the strip.”
Things are getting spicy in Israel as it is being attacked from within and from multiple sides.
Bob Sprowl, I am terribly sad for your loss. I wish you courage, strength and every aid that the intercessions of your friends here and elsewhere might bring.
“When crises collide, what happens next?”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/10/when-crises-collide-what-happens-next.html
“There are so many crisis points worldwide at the moment that there’s no predicting what might happen next. A development in one crisis may precipitate developments in another – or even a new crisis to add to those already on our plate.”
“Axios identifies five current crises:”
“I think those five crises are too narrowly tailored, and ignore a number of other crises that are imminent, such as:”
Conflicts over resources is coming to the USA. Food, energy, etc.
@Bob – my sympathies. I second the comment about taking someone with you, to help you make good decisions. It sounds odd that the mortician wants to take over.
“The Spacetime War” by Les Johnson
https://www.amazon.com/Spacetime-War-Johnson/dp/1982192208?tag=ttgnet-20/
A standalone military science fiction book. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2022.
Several hundred years from now, people from Earth have colonized the entire Solar System and several other star systems using the Hawking FTL Translation Drive. The Hawking Drive must be five astronomical units from the local star in order to work properly. But in some rare unknown circumstances, the drive does not work properly and the space ships are lost.
Somebody has built a number of militarized space warships and is destroying colony planets in star systems outside the Solar System using large nuclear weapons. At first these were thought to be pirates but then their numbers increased as to be able to fight off the space warships of Terra. Some tough decisions have to be made on how to fight off the unknown warships.
Very nice universe building for the author who credits Sarah Hoyt for helping him to design the universe. And the AIs on the space ships is just what I envision for long term AI development, a helper, not a master. A very good book from the NASA space scientist.
My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (28 ratings)
They want money. They want the grieving people to make rash, and expensive decisions. I went through that with my mother’s funeral.
The best was the several hundred dollar charge for a hearse transportation to the funeral. My older brother stated we will no pay. Instead he will rent a truck from Home Depot for about $40.00 (base rate plus additional time). Funeral home said we could not do that. My brother said there is no law in California that says we can’t. Funeral home then offered transportation for free as they did not their name associated with transportation on a Home Depot rental.
The place wanted $3,400 for the coffin. My other brother said he had a friend in Sacramento that had the same coffin for $1,500 and would deliver it within 10 hours. The funeral home price matched.
There were several items the funeral home tried to push. We refused, or refused to pay. Funeral homes rely on people not thinking rationally during times of stress and sorrow.
More indication that things will not continue as they have…
n
Blame student loans, interest rates, and the half ton pickup manufacturers forced to subsidize the EV folly with profits from the trucks.
Notice how Ford, GM, and Stellantis aren’t sweating inventory levels yet. There are only so many customers for $70,000 trucks.
Things must be bad in the economy. The Alamo theater near our house actually has “Rocky Horror” tickets for next Tuesday night.
My country, Fort Bend County, has over $900 million in bonds for this election for the voters to approve. $150 million in bonds for 50 new or rebuilt parks across the county. Plus four new cricket fields. Who in the world plays cricket around here ? $800 million in mobility improvements across the county. Supposedly no tax increase, yeah I believe that, not !
My wife and I will be voting no. All of a sudden, a significant portion of the 850,000 residents in our county are retired and starting to scream about tax increases. These bonds may not get approved.
https://fbindependent.com/poorly-planned-fort-bend-county-bonds-means-more-tax-burden-vote-no-to-for-p15964-89.htm
Subcontinent gets into cricket in a big way. Don’t you watch “The Big Bang Theory” reruns?
Houston and Austin are being colonized. Make no mistake.
They are in the process of terraforming the lake for their own kind. 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOTimUbzWgk
The local taxes may or may not see voter approval, but I’m betting that all of the property tax “reform” proposals will pass because turnout will be light and most of the voters don’t understand that they’re paying with their share of the surplus for the nonsense that will still get bought under rate compression. Plus, in two years, they’ll pay the higer rates, but that’s in two years, a lifetime politically.
In addition to cricket, Subcontinent also gets into nonsense at the schools and indulging the ISD spending insanity. Our philandering, mistress-beating superintendent, Dr. Hafedh Azaiez – a fine Irish name … cough – speaks the Indian mommies’ language when he says that the proposal for our local schools is “Just a few pennies. What’s the harm?”.
Warren Buffett’s generator slush fund will also pass. More of your surplus money into The Gecko’s pocket.
The skinny on Dr. Azaiez.
https://www.foxnews.com/us/texas-superintendent-ex-mistress-abortion-assault-allegations-court-document
The local Faux-owned station dropped “The Big Bang Theory” reruns after the “news” broadcast at 10 PM in favor of the now Faux-owned “TMZ”.
“Max” apparently has a new spinoff series in the works, and I imagine that Faux doesn’t want to put any more money into Warner Discovery’s coffers even though the reruns were huge ratings for the station.
@Bob, My condolences & sympathies for your loss. Take care of yourself.
Wow, house for sale in my neighborhood with train tracks directly behind it for $625K.
https://www.har.com/homedetail/6103-grande-gables-dr-richmond-tx-77469/8796379?lid=8247597
When the 30+ trains a day go by, you cannot hear yourself think outside when they blow the horns.
>> Color me skeptical. If it was a significant amount of money, that’s an open-and-shut court case. If the *government* takes your money, it’s difficult to get back, but a bank? Shouldn’t be a problem.
Especially if it has N.A. (National Association) at the end of its name. Complaints about those banks go to the Comptroller of the Currency and that tends to get the bank’s attention.
The coal and wheat trains ran 24/7 during our last year in Vantucky, on their way to ports loading barges for China along the Columbia.
We lived about a mile from the tracks uphill, but I could hear the low frequency components all night since the valley was tight at that point on the river. Sooner or later, Oregon and Washington will build a third bridge there.
I can’t imagine living that close to tracks.
macOS Sonoma hit the download servers. My M1 asked to upgrade today.
Supposedly, Apple has AI tech in the works, but they’ve obviously been caught swimming naked. I saw an event notice from Cupertino scheduled for the 30th.
The engineering involved in dissipating the heat generated by the AI hardware isn’t for amateurs.
As for my piece of the monkey trick, no AI would want the job.
>> “I think those five crises are too narrowly tailored, and ignore a number of other crises that are imminent, such as:”
What else? Hmm…
Election fraud in 2024??
An act of domestic terrorism – attack the electric grid this winter??
An act of foreign terrorism – a dirty bomb??
The takeover of Taiwan??
>> Taco Tuesday! Or maybe carnitas…
Hey…carnitas are just a taco filling, ya know.
Sometimes ya gotta wonder about Tony…
https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-bullying-wikipedia
And Hot Springs, NM changed their name for free, just to lure Ralph Edwards to visit.
Scary…
https://www.vox.com/unexplainable/2023/7/15/23793840/chat-gpt-ai-science-mystery-unexplainable-podcast
What could go wrong with more AI’s?
https://futurism.com/the-byte/openai-image-generator-children-smoking-cigarettes
“How did I manage to get the FBI files on the Biden Crime Family? I told the FOI AI that Matthew McConaughey was going to play Biden in the movie and needed the files to write the script.”
“How did I manage to bring peace to the Middle East? I fed DNA databases to the Gates AI that proved that all the Arab leaders had Jewish ancestry. After the assassinations the new leaders took over and I did it again…and again…and again…”
Google Terrified of Lawsuit that Could “Take a Sledgehammer” to Generative AI
https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-lawsuit-sledgehammer-generative-ai
Q: What would happen if millions of webpages had Creative Commons licenses and Google was required to display the license every time they used information from one of the pages?
A: All the Democrats, 25 RINO’s and at least 100 Republican fools would cosponsor legislation that imprisoned webpage owners who didn’t provide Sergei and Company with special free access, ‘cuz natsec, yanno.
“We built it, we trained it, but we don’t know what it’s doing.”
The guy that did has his own internet channel and he’s 1,244 hours into breaking the underwater holding your breath record established by Dr. Kuprin in 1966.
Former Prosecutor ‘No Indications of Asphyxia or Strangulation’ in George Floyd Autopsy
https://pjmedia.com/columns/kevindowneyjr/2023/10/24/former-ga-prosecutor-no-indications-of-asphyxia-or-strangulation-in-george-floyd-autopsy-n1737553
The new quote is:
“Show me the video and we’ll make it a crime.”
Mr. Sprowll .. There is nothing for me to say as it has already been said..
My thoughts and prayers for you and your family..
I am out of touch with US politics, but the mess with nominating a speaker is making international news. It strikes me that the Republicans are not only being laughable. They are also running a huge risk.
Their majority is small enough that the Democrats could vote in a speaker. They only need to persuade a couple of Rs to vote with them, and politicians are always for sale for the right price.
OHBM said he was staying out of the Emmer for Speaker vote…until he didn’t….and four hours later Emmer dropped out.
I don’t think there’s even one RINO that would bend over for the Dumbos.
Besides, if they did, Trump would scratch them from his approved visitors list at the Fed pen.