Cool and dreary. Supposed to rain today, but we’ll see. Got the faintest couple of drops late in the day yesterday, barely a mist. That would be fine with me for today too…
Spent most of yesterday driving around. Got some good stuff so that’s ok. New in box inverter generator, 1/3 retail. That will go to the BOL asap. Solid core door that matches my interior doors. Some tools and supplies. Fishing gear. Some stuff for resale, some stuff to bribe gift to people.
Got home and unloaded the truck. Took some time to add lights to my display. I wrapped a couple of strings around several wreaths, now they look nice at night too.
Then I did one of the security upgrades I first thought about years ago- I replaced the door between the living/public areas of the house and the bedrooms with a solid core door. I still have to change one hinge, and add reinforcement to the frame around it, as well as a couple of deadbolts. Then my wife will need to paint it, but for now, it’s in place. It was an exact fit with even the hinges lining up. It already makes a difference in noise transmission. Next will be the master bedroom door, or the master closet door. It’s been on my list for a long time, but there were always other ways to spend the money or time. This time it all fell in my lap.
I’m hoping the universe will give me what I need for the bedroom project, and for the front door to the house. I need to do some work to the door jamb and the side lites and I’d like to upgrade and make them more sturdy and break-in resistant. The door itself is solid core with fiberglas skin, so it’s pretty strong, but over the last 50+ years the bottom of the strike side of the jamb has rotted loose. Ideally I’d find a metal door jamb that would fit. They come through the auctions, but I haven’t caught one that was just right, yet. I reinforced the strike area with additional steel long ago. Hardening your residence is something everyone should do.
My stop at REI didn’t get me a water filter, but it did get presents for my wife. And I got a few more isobutane canisters for the jet boil and little backpack stoves. She likes them for camping with the GS troop, when they are backpacking. I like them as one of several layers of backup for cooking food and boiling water. Which reminds me, I should just bite the bullet and buy a case of 1 pound propane bottles for the BOL, and one for here. I have been coming across them in the auctions and estate sales, but I guess everyone knows how pricey they’ve gotten and I can’t pick them up cheap like I used to.
I did get several kerosene lanterns in the past couple of weeks. I really like using a small one when I’m at the lake sitting on the dock. They seem to attract fewer bugs, and I like the soft light. Easier and longer lasting than the candles that I used to use too. So I’ve added several to the stacks. I used the kerosene heater in the garage last time I was up there too, so now I need to increase my kero stacks. Unfortunately, I didn’t see any ‘end of season’ sales last year, and the stuff is expensive. It’s very common to see the wick based heaters out in the country as supplemental or even the main heat source for a home, so I won’t find any bargains at Tractor Supply either.
Today I’ve got two minor pickups. One for my hobby, one is some maintenance items, and I’ve really got to get some stuff out of the house and over to my secondary location. That should occupy my time for the middle of the day. If it’s raining, I’ll be confined to the house for the rest of the time, but that’s ok too. Still plenty of stuff on the list for indoors.
And there is Christmas to get ready for. I’ve got presents to wrap, and it would be nice to have them done BEFORE 10 minutes prior to opening them… like last year. Baking would be nice too. Even just watching the kids playing Skyrim would be nice.
Stacking memories as well as stuff. It’s all good.
nick
Caesar once, seeing some wealthy strangers at Rome, carrying up and down with them in their arms and bosoms young puppy-dogs and monkeys, embracing and making much of them, took occasion not unnaturally to ask whether the women in their country were not used to bear children; by that prince-like reprimand gravely reflecting upon persons who spend and lavish upon brute beasts that affection and kindness which nature has implanted in us to be bestowed on those of our own kind.
— Plutarch, Parallel Lives, start of the chapter on Pericles
“POC” critics screenings of “Aquaman 2” didn’t help.
That is, if stories about the events are true.
Our cat was the only other living being in the house who understood that Vantucky sucked.
The living room couch still has an indention where she spent four years burrowed into the back seat cushions, waiting for the trip east, back home, which would come when the humans regained their sanity.
Three of the humans didn’t regain sanity, but it didn’t matter after the primary cat servant delivered the “or else …” ultimatum.
From yesterday…
“Star Trek”, “Patterns of Force”.
They control the horizontal and the vertical.
I like my dogs more than most people. Fcuk Caesar.
MrAtoz, you’ve had and raised children. (Five of them. Five daughters, for your sins.) You’ve carried out your duty to society, if you look at it that way, or your biological imperative.
Combining Plutarch with other things I’ve read, I believe that Caesar’s complaint was against women who never had children and misdirected their biological imperative to doting on critters. If that became widespread, population and then society would collapse.
Application to today’s Western nations is left as an exercise for the reader.
If you fly out of Austin these days, you would believe that the collapse was imminent.
It isn’t just purse dogs, either. Some of the dogs, complete with requisite fake therapy vests, are quite large.
Yep, see also “ fur baby” “ pet parent” both used un-ironically. n
Mild and dry so far. Time to get moving. Coffee in my cup. Did I mention that Costco had some sort of roasted whole bean on sale, a lot on sale, so I tried it? Not bad. I grind a week’s worth at a time for convenience sake. I thought it would be more of a hassle than it is. I don’t like it quite as much as the Community Dark Roast that I normally drink, but it’s well within the “um that’s good” range.
And cheaper.
n
BTW, it’s not just the possibility of a new Tomkin Gulf incident that is concerning about the Houthii terror in the Red Sea. It’s supply chain disruptions too. Remember those?
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/red-sea-container-ships-all-disappear-key-trade-route-freezes
n
Nick, practically every day you comment about rain and its negative effect on transporting stuff that needs to be kept dry. Maybe things are different there, but here used enclosed trailers are inexpensive and available in a variety of sizes. Once registered, they don’t even need annual renewals, making tires the only continuing cost. You wouldn’t need to trade your PU for a box truck, and they can be dropped anywhere to be unloaded at your convenience. Seems like a good solution.
The animals fly totally at the discretion of the airlines, with safety overriding whatever the ADA says about the “accomodation”.
Publix in Florida calls “bullsh*t” on the fake safety vests, insisting on documentation to prove the necessity to bring the animal into a grocery store, but no one else goes that far for fear of lawsuits.
@JimB, I will rent a trailer when I absolutely have to, but I can usually work around it. Today I’m taking the wife’s minivan, mainly because I’ve already put the stuff that is going to the secondary in it. The problem with a trailer is storing it when it’s not needed, and always having the wrong size for the job… If I get some of the driveway cleared, I can revisit the issue.
Sometimes I can use the Expedition, but there is a lot of stuff in it normally- work stuff and prepping stuff, and just stuff that has accumulated and needs to be removed periodically.
n
Oh, you mean like the two sacks of mortar that resided in my Explorer for a year or so? For lack of a space out of the weather to store it.
Now that you put context on it, I still like my dogs more than most people.
Being 68, societal collapse really won’t affect me much. The daughters can deal with it. LMAO! The last two are Millennials. Their idea of society is ording grubhub from their bed and living with me.
So… we’ll pencil you in for the fourth quarter of 2037?
That won’t leave much time before the societal collapse from Y2038, which will happen in the wee hours of the observed MLK birthday Federal holiday less than a month after the quarter ends.
a.k.a. Christmas Adam
Festivus.
Ooh, SteveF said something I might have thought, but am too polite to say in print. ;-]
Srsly, all of us live the way we want. We change the things we want. Occasional complaining just lets out excessive steam, and prevents blowups.
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2023/12/23/new-authorities-knew-maine-shooter-robert-card-was-threat-but-thought-confronting-him-was-unsafe-n2167874
So 18 citizens died when Robert Card went on the shooting rampage that our “public defenders” knew was likely. No duty to protect, donchano.
Thank goodness no officers were put at risk.
Ian Vandaelle, Canadian Covid Nazi, Dead at 33
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2023/12/23/canadian-journalist-who-pushed-vaccine-mandates-and-concentration-camps-dead-at-33-n2632795
Shame it was so quick.
Ach, ze oldt ways, ja. Ze gold stars come first followed by ze kampfs (sp).
Paraphrasing:
“I, for one, advocate ve bring ze carrot *und* the stick. Incentivize getting ze vaccine however ve like – ice cream, lotteries, literally whatever, I don’t care – und require vaccination to do, uh, non-essential things, ja. Wanna go to a bar to watch ze game? Your papers please.”
The Child figures to live with me for a good long while. Conceded, she’s sixteen and is well aware that she has several years before she’s ready to live on her own, but she doesn’t even seem to itchy to be out on her own. Sheesh. Kids these days! Why, in my day, we were making our own log cabins when we were six years old because we knew we’d be kicked out of the house when we turned seven. And going to fetch the logs was uphill both ways!
That’s kind of my thing. Not infrequently people – Karens, whether male or female – will fuss at me about something I said in a meeting or something. I’ll ask “Why are you criticizing? You know you were thinking the same thing, just were too cowardly to say it.” Rarely, someone will acknowledge – privately! never in front of others! – that I was right.
I internet-know quite a few people who called for firings, arrests, internment, and even assault in public with no legal repercussions, against those who declined the clot shots or who – gasp! – questioned the narrative. One of them got very sick from either the Chinese bioweapon or the clot shot but SFAIK did survive. As may be, if I ever find myself face-to-face with any of them, I have every intention of visiting upon them the violence which they called for against me (when they were safe and apparently anonymous behind their keyboards).
Paraphrasing:
“I, for one, advocate ve bring ze carrot *und* the stick. Incentivize getting ze vaccine however ve like – ice cream, lotteries, literally whatever, I don’t care – und require vaccination to do, uh, non-essential things, ja. Wanna go to a bar to watch ze game? Your papers please.”
Reparaphrasing:
“get ze jab and enter ze lottery for guard positions at ze womens campz”
I wouldn’t travel out of my way, but if I happened to walk past his grave, I’d be fighting a strong urge to water his tombstone.
OBTW, those who were advocating camps and mandatory door-to-door vaccination squads? I suspect they didn’t realize how many of us decided to resist that deadly assault with firearms.
John Campbell on Youtube is continuting to focus on excess deaths worldwide, and the abysmal, horrifying lack of attention Parliament and Congress are paying to it.
Go back two years, prior to the Supreme Court killing Corn Pop’s mandate scheme, and even here many believed that it would be appropriate for the unvaccinated to be denied treatment by the healthcare system and/or face steep premium increases in their insurance plans commensurate with the projected cost of their care going “unprotected” by refusing the jaob.
I spent $25 total on my bout of Covid. Afrin isn’t cheap ($12), and I bought a test kit two pack.
There was recent discussion about sources for good leather belts.
In doing some online shopping recently, I struck one of the companies off my list after reading this:
“The Elephant belt is a prestigious wardrobe piece made from exotic, ethically sourced elephant leather.”
I’m not going to look into what arguments are used to justify “ethically sourced”, I’m simply going to recognize it for what it is, an oxymoron.
But if someone would like to argue, let me put it this way: It would be a whole lot better for the elephants if there were belts made of certified “elephant poacher hide”. I’d buy a whole hides worth of belts myself, to proudly wear and give away as gifts, and do my best to make it a fashion item for the modern conservationist. I think a lot of people would join me, the price of EPH belts would increase dramatically as demand outstripped supply, and before long I would hazard that elephant poaching would become a very dangerous profession indeed.
A good harvest of elephant poacher hides would be worth a lot more than the elephants they were trying to poach, which could lead to some interesting stories of dishonor among thieves and an award-winning screenplay that I could probably draft now in the finest tradition of
http://tinyurl.com/2ueta3a9
Now if someone would just focus the power of economics and offer certified “Islamic Terrorist Belts”.
All elephants die, eventually. You’re saying it’s unethical to harvest the remains, and produce income for the poor people who live near them, and deny the finished goods to willing purchasers? It’s more ethical to bury the hide and burn the ivory? Does this extend to denying the meat to starving villagers?
I have heard that several species are maintained and even improved by – sit down – hunters. Hunting licenses provide conservation funds to preserve and expand habitat. Also, organizations like Ducks Unlimited exist to grow the duck population via habitat preservation. For hunters.
If I get some of the driveway cleared, I can revisit the issue.
So… we’ll pencil you in for the fourth quarter of 2037?
We have to make it past the financial apocalypse of the USA in 2029 first.
A smart amicus brief says Jack Smith is an illegitimate special prosecutor
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/12/a_smart_amicus_brief_says_jack_smith_is_an_illegitimate_special_prosecutor.html
@lpdbw
Yup. Yup. And yup.
Elephants seldom die, eventually–they are murdered for their ivory. As soon as any kind of “poor villager” exception is made for animals that “eventually” die, we’ll see a whole lot more of “eventually” coming prematurely.
Somewhere in the archives I have a copy of Hustler (once an excellent magazine I read for the fine articles) ca. 1984 with a fine article on elephant poaching, accompanied by some graphic photographs of elephants murdered in their prime by “poor villagers” who hacked the tusks from the dead copses and left the rest to rot.
Those poor people who live nearby are the main source of the poachers that have been murdering elephants for generations. And the elephants are arguably more intelligent that the villagers. Those people are also the main reason for the second major cause of elephant deaths–habitat reduction.
People who want belts made out of animals like alligator and ostrich that are plentiful and not intelligent can indulge themselves all they want. They can makes belts out of snail darters if that’s the fad. Mink coats out of farmed furs? Go to it.
Animals that are endangered? No.
And animals that are arguably as intelligent as human beings? Not just no but FN.
You could also observe:
“All humans die, eventually.
>> (from yesterday) ok, total left field, but several people have pointed out that slojoe has been using some sort of body double…
and I’ve been skeptical, but after watching his speeches, I’m pretty certain that any public appearance that goes longer than about 45 minutes can’t be him. He starts to slur words at 20minutes, gets angry, does the yelling and whispering thing at 30, and starts talking about random lies after that. By the end of most speeches, he doesn’t know how to exit the stage. Ergo, any time he holds it together longer than that is suspect, since you’d think his handlers get the best possible performance out of him for something like a nationally televised speech.
Queue up the noise from the SloJoe campaign: ‘Well, if Trump didn’t show for any of the Repub
shout-festsdebates, then it’s “fair” for Joe to skip the Presidential debates’Whew, disaster averted…and democracy at work!
I recall only one (former) regular who was saying that, and to be honest I’m not even sure of that memory. ISTR a couple of trolls (or a troll with a couple of screen names) flinging turds, but who cares about them?
This has been known since early this year if not since the day after he was appointed.
re elephants, poachers, and Africans, I propose reducing the number of (allegedly human) Africans to the same number as the number of elephants in Africa. I had first been inclined to be generous and make the upper limit the total of elephants plus great apes, but humans are great apes and I didn’t want to get into arguing semantics.
For a little thought and morality exercise, consider a couple of facts: Humans are generally evaluated as 98% genetically similar to chimps and bonobos, meaning we are bonobos with 2% something else. Caucasians are on average about 3% neanderthal and 97% subsaharan African. This means that subsaharan Africans are genetically more similar to chimps and bonobos than to Caucasians. These are verifiable facts and there are no logical flaws in my reasoning (trust me on that), so we need to form policy on this basis.
And it is my pleasure to aid them in meeting an early ‘eventually’, if they deserve it.
The Child and I just replaced the dishwasher. Unlike replacing the shower mixer a week or two ago, which was bim-bam-boom-done, this was nothing but aggravation every step of the way. About two and a half hours in all, non-stop except for 90 seconds to close the chicken coop when I went down to turn the breaker back on. Doesn’t seem to be leaking, which is good, but I discovered that the sink faucet seems to be leaking, and seems to have been doing so for months or more, and wife seems to have known about it for months, and wife seems never to have mentioned it to me. Judging by the rust on the underside of the mechanism, I think it’ll need to be replaced. And the bottom hardware which holds the faucet in place may need to be folded, spindled, and mutilated to remove it. -sigh-
@steve, sometimes it’s easier to pull the whole sink so you can get to the faucet…
n
Or buy a new sink and faucet and s-can the old stuff. Your time is valuable.
Granite countertop, one big piece. Not practical to remove it.
A smart amicus brief says Jack Smith is an illegitimate special prosecutor
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2023/12/a_smart_amicus_brief_says_jack_smith_is_an_illegitimate_special_prosecutor.html
Does this mean that every Special Prosecutor to date is illegitimate ?
Today has been cloudy with sprinkling rain. 65f or so. Light sprinkles to heavy mist without the fog. Wet enough the cats are staying where ever they stay when not on the porch. Buddy needed a pee walk. It was misting enough that runoff was trickling into the rain gutters that he was like “No, I can hold it!”. Yeah, we’re out here because I know you can’t hold it, so come on and water the grass. It didn’t take him long to pee three times and make a beeline to the house. He’s a fun critter.
No traffic noise this morning. Lots of robins making noise. A few hundred or more.
Supper tonight is lazy. Canned beef stew. Dinty Moore is the “good stuff” but that and a can of HEB Hill County Fare Beef Stew, well, almost the same thing. Store brand takes out a tablespoon of chunks and replaces it with gravy. Tastes the same. The price makes it worth the difference of missing a small chunk of beef and a couple of pieces of potatoes.
Plus, Dinty Moore has a pull top and I don’t know how that affects shelf life.
WalMart beef stew is the same thing as HEB’s. The date code font is slightly different but same can.
>> Publix in Florida calls “bullsh*t” on the fake safety vests, insisting on documentation to prove the necessity to bring the animal into a grocery store, but no one else goes that far for fear of lawsuits.
I suspect Publix would not prevail if not complying with the ADA rules. For a ‘service animal,’ all that’s allowed is to ask the animal’s handler “what service does it perform for you?” No documentation is required. The most common service animal is a seeing eye dog. Also in that category is a dog that’s been trained to detect when an epileptic is about to have a seizure.
The other category is emotional support/therapy animals. Many airlines no longer allow animals from these categories. At the state level, one of these animals, with a letter from a licensed mental health professional, will allow tenants to bypass breed restrictions and waive pet fees.
>> So… we’ll pencil you in for the fourth quarter of 2037?
Old Russian joke…
In Soviet Russia a Man Goes to Buy a Car…
He goes up to the owner and asks for a car, to which the owner responds:
‘You know there is a 10 year waiting list?’
The man then answers, ‘OK,’ and after some time he then agreed to buy a car.
So he pays for the car in advance, and just before he leaves he asks the owner,
‘Can I pick the car up in the afternoon?’
‘It’s 10 years away, what does it matter?’
‘The plumber is coming in the morning’.
@Lynn
“Does this mean that every Special Prosecutor to date is illegitimate ?”
Those that were private citizens at the time of their appointment, yes.
There will be an argument for precedent that goes something like this “The shitsandwich having been prepared and eaten previously somehow legitimizes the preparation and eating of all shitsandwiches forevermore.”
This could be known as The Doctrine of Stare Shitsandwich, not to be confused with Stare Decisis
Added:
Leon Jawarski, probably the most famous Special Prosecutor, declined to participate in the Nuremburg Trials becauee the laws did not exist when the crimes were committed.
“The decision by the AP to avoid using terms such as ‘terrorism’ and ‘terrorist’ due to their perceived politicization is deeply unsettling,” they wrote. “Mislabeling Hamas undermines journalistic integrity and confuses the public as to the nature of events transpiring in Israel and Gaza. By not accurately labeling Hamas and its continued terroristic actions, we believe the AP inadvertently provides cover for these heinous acts to be accepted.”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2023/12/bipartisan-house-coalition-urges-ap-to-change-stylebook-rule-advising-against-terrorist-term-for-hamas/
Please poll the bipartisan committee and determine who is claiming that AP’s cover is “inadvertent”.
Color me dense, I don’t get it.
Color me dense, I don’t get it.
The buyer just paid the plumber who will be coming in 10 years to fix the plumbing. In the morning. In the afternoon, the buyer will go get the car.
Life according to Taylor Swift:
“Effortlessness is a myth.”
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/12/woman-of-the-year.php
Rain started up here too. About half hour ago? I’m wrapping presents so IDK exactly when it started. Sounds like a slow gentle rain.
n
The DC District Court appointed Ken Starr.
His predecessor was a Janet Reno appointee. Name escapes me.
Boxing Day. Hopefully, the BBC avoids the mistake made last year, broadcasting the version of the theme song with words.
The fans didn’t even wait for the show to be over before htting Twitter.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001tw4g
Many of the elements of the 70s are coming back- inflation, unemployment, assassination… when will we see hostage taking? Hijacking? Bank robbery to fund terror groups?
not fun
n
Speaking of the 70s….
Sick of boring, preachy movies that drag on for hours? Film critic BRIAN VINER reviews seven Hollywood masterpieces released in this month 50 years ago
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-12897641/Sick-boring-preachy-movies-drag-hours-Film-critic-BRIAN-VINER-reviews-seven-Hollywood-masterpieces-released-month-50-years-ago.html
The Sting. The Exorcist. Serpico. Magnum Force (Dirty Harry ii). Papillon. The Wicker Man. Sleeper (if you’re into Woody the pedo).
This month? Nothing but crep.
n
American studios. Toho is having a very good month.
Prior to the Writers’ Guild strike, “Dune” was scheduled to own November.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMF7wbhBJKY
The Japanese can make a Godzilla movie in Japan for $15 million with passable special effects and the direcctor being hands on with the VFX as noted in the credits.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r7DqccP1Q_4
American studios will have to re-learn that show business is a business.
>> Many of the elements of the 70s are coming back- inflation, unemployment, assassination… when will we see hostage taking? Hijacking? Bank robbery to fund terror groups?
when will we see hostage taking?
Given the ME mess, I presume you mean in the US?
And excluding being held hostage by the Plugs agenda?
I wonder how many of the top 25(?) PDs in the US have ‘no negotiation’ policies?
@alan, yeah, I meant outside of a war (and in the US), but it’s a good point. They are terrorists and grabbed non-combatants. There doesn’t seem to be any reason for it, except rape and torture.
The terrorists of the 70s are the government ministers of today. Sinn Fein, the Iranians, Ayers. Probably some Baader Meinhof or ETA in there too. No telling who’s who in South and Central America.
n
Finished wrapping presents and decided to watch the amazon version of Reacher. It was on Freebee or some app on the FireStick for free so I tried. Dunno if it was the internet, the stick, the app, or something else but it kept freezing, audio and video would get out of sync, occasionally it would go back to the main menu, show an “Up Next” popup on top of video, and all manner of errors and poor performance.
Since I’m on a 600MB fiber, and have good wifi at that tv, I’m thinking app or Firestick.
speedof.me says over 600 down, and almost 450 up. Kids were playing skyrim, wife was reading a book, so no big bandwidth hogs in house…
Add in the ads and I’m not interested in doing that again. FWIW, I’m not suffering from anything drugs will cure, I’m not looking to buy a new car, I don’t need insurance, and any other ads left so little impact on me that I can’t remember what they might have been. All the ads do is annoy me and give me a negative feeling about your product.
Note to self, move the dang pihole up the list.
n
@Lynn
I left out a crucial piece: The original Special Prosecutor law expired, and was replaced by a non-legislative regulation adopted by the DOJ:
https://redstate.com/shipwreckedcrew/2023/12/23/is-jack-smith-an-illegitimate-prosecutor-has-every-act-taken-by-him-been-without-lawful-authority-n2167897
In a nutshell, the argument is the DOJ cannot grant itself the power to create an office with powers that require confirmation of the appointee.