Cold and clear, with overcast and a small chance of rain… says me. Dunno what the weather liars say. Couldn’t be bothered to check. It was cold yesterday and stayed cold all day. 50s. Yuck.
So I stayed in and did ‘in the house’ stuff. Payed taxes. Sorted bills. Filed. Cleaned and put away things. Fixed things. Got my soldering setup out and fixed 4 things that had been waiting for a while. I like fixing stuff, and it’s a valuable skill. I’ve got other stuff that needs solder repair and troubleshooting, but ran out of time.
Today I’ll do some more inside stuff, then leave the house and do a pickup or two. Time to get the stuff I won earlier in the week. It would be nice if it wasn’t raining, just to make the driving easier.
We’re also taking down inside Christmas stuff. I’d leave it for another week but someone else wants to clean the house. Oh well, Grinch wins this round. I’ll just leave the lights up for an extra week 😉 Can’t put them away if they’re wet, after all…
Seriously though, I should get some of the Christmas stuff put away, and the Halloween stuff too. I held it out so I could re-stack the stuff in chronological need order… but it means that some fake pumpkins are in the driveway still.
Can’t believe it’s already Friday. Kids are still out of school until Tuesday so they are keeping everyone up late at night. That’s what holiday breaks are for though, staying up reading, playing games, watching movies, sleeping late. Makes it harder to return to the school schedule though.
In the old days, you life revolved around the daylight, animals, and the seasons. Now our life revolves around school and the school schedule. Wonder if we’ll end up with something else to order our days in the not too distant future… like patrol schedules, watch rotations, AND the needs of the garden and animals.
Hope not, but I’m still stacking…
nick
The Geico Gecko holds a large chunk of Kroger along with the Big Three – Vanguard, Blackrock, and State Street.
Buffett was just in the news for a big donation to the foundation endowed by his late … “wife”.
The Susan Thompson Buffett foundation has a primary focus on abortion, but I’m sure they support the other portions of the agenda.
A chimp could have made 40% in the market over the last year with all of the printing press money sloshing around. A guy like Paul Pelosi could do much better than a chimp.
Pelosi’s usefulness to the Dems has reached its end.
Watch “Ford. v. Ferrari” if you haven’t already seen it.
I think that one is PG-13 and kinda-sorta kid safe beyond some naughty words and a “fight” between Matt Damon’s and Christian Bale’s characters.
Benny Crump made his name in the Trayvon Martin case.
He then engineered an attempt to extend his rackets into the Florida Governor’s Mansion and the state’s Supreme Court with his sock puppet candidate, known meth head Andrew Gillum, which was thwarted by DeSantis’ narrow victory in 2018.
These days, Benny Crump seems to pop up at any race pimp situation within easy driving distance of Tallahassee, where he is based.
Looking at the things I bought in 2023, Intel is up 60% for the year.
Paul Pelosi would have seen the same things in the charts that I did, and he probably picked up Nvidia for ~ 350% gain.
Both Intel and Nvidia are local stocks to him, and he probably sees the Intel execs regularly at the club.
I was not convinced the AI monkey trick would work as long as it has, but never under estimate the C-suites’ appetites for firing people to boost the bottom line.
QQQ is up roughly 50% for the year, and that is about as dumb as money management gets.
That was me. The now defunct Jackery 2000 (after four free returns for service, I gave up on it when the warranty expired). I switched to Anker for my “solar generator” backup.
Fry’s went out of business in 2021.
The Fry’s grocery stores are still around as part of Kroger.
Fry’s Electronics famously started when the father of the three brothers sold his grocery business to … name escapes me … who subsequently sold to Kroger in the 80s.
The brothers used the proceeds of the sale to start the new family business.
Valley legend. Probably more true than The Legend of BillG, Boy Genius or The Legend of Jeff, Family Man, Drove An Accord and Wore The Same Shirt Every Day.
As a division of Kroger, the gub magazines are probably gone there too.
To be fair, however, the last time I was in Publix, the magazine section was really small, even in the touristy areas which tend to have larger selections of periodicals and mass market paperbacks.
I am somewhat of a gub enthusiast, but I gave up spending money on magazines long ago. They are little more than advertising, and the writers never met a new gub about which they don’t enthuse. Better to spend the money on ammo and targets, or the other kind of magazine.
I had a thought: Here or here.
Two White women on WHITEY! Supremacy:
White Woman (NBC Journo) MELTS DOWN When Vivek Ramaswamy Dismantles Her Woke ‘White Supremacy’ BS (Watch)
This was not an interview. It was “follow our narrative or you are a Nazi.”
If asked to define White Supremacy, I’m sure the answer would be: tRump, MAGA, tRump, MAGA…
The actual election happens with the Electoral College, certified by the House counting the Electors’ votes reported by the state legislatures. Each state can set their own rules about selecting Electors, and the Legislatures can override the voters’ choice.
Corn Pop was elected in 2020 if you follow that strict definition.
Dr. Carol Swain Demands Answers From Harvard Regarding Gay’s Alleged Plagiarism
Dr. Carol Swain claims former Harvard President Claudine Gay plagiarized her famous book, Black Faces, Black Interests: The Representation of African Americans in Congress.
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/01/duplicative-language-dr-carol-swain-demands-answers-from-harvard-regarding-gays-plagiarism/
Jacobson’s comment is: “Man, the attorneys bring the heat:”
Gay stole from Dr. Swain’s book in her dissertation, in clear violation of decades of established academic rules on plagiarism. In trying to salvage Gay’s career and position, Harvard has absolutely screwed themselves.
First, Harvard has bought themselves a seat at the litigation table. Read the letter from Swain’s attorneys.
Second, Harvard has enforced the traditional definition of plagiarism in student discipline, up to and including expulsion. That has opened them up to litigation by those damaged by unequal enforcement of student vs. faculty. It also raises the question of unequal enforcement based on race. Harvard will be desperate to avoid discovery.
Further, their is a huge group of Harvard grads that are seeing the perceived value of their degrees decline. Litigation is probably a long shot here, but since successful degree holders are also donors, some are likely to follow Ackman and demand changes.
Gay has screwed herself. There isn’t much chance that she could have responded in any meaningful way once the publicity started–it seems that there’s not much if any of her very, very thin publication record is free of plagiarism. Given the overwhelming evidence and the ease the public can peruse the side-by-side proof, any institution that hired her would be immediately diluting their own brand.
Gay’s enablers, starting with her own thesis adviser, who either ignored or was culpable in the plagiarism which included his own writing, are going to get some high-quality microscope time.
And as expected:
Bill Ackman defends wife Neri Oxman after she admits to plagiarism in dissertation: ‘She makes mistakes, owns them’
https://nypost.com/2024/01/05/business/bill-ackmans-wife-neri-oxman-admits-to-plagiarizing-in-dissertation/
Business Insider found four instances of paragraphs lacking quotation marks in her 330-page dissertation. Early reports seem to indicate that the sources were cited, but I have not seen the actual material in question. And as Oxman notes, the original publication will have to be examined and the problem confirmed.
As I noted before, I expect that there is a lot of scrutiny going on, and I expect that the libs are going to get the worst of it. Virtually every dissertation from the last thirty years is going to get examined, if for no other reason than to generate statistics on error rates in the population (by year and subject and institution), not just the higher-profile cases selected for proctology.
Late start this am, but here I am. Cold and wet out, heavy mist, not quite a drizzle. And grey, with gusting wind. A blustery day, with moisture.
@brad, a lot of people eat lamb, not as many westerners as once, and then mostly from Australia… but we eat it here a couple of times a month. Islamists eat it much more often. Modern sheep bred for meat have less of the “gamey” flavor, so can be grown larger before slaughter. And IDK about in euro-land, but wool is pretty pricey here. Don’t know what the world market is, but just hobby wool blend yarn is $7 a skein, with merino and specialties going up from there.
WRT gub magazines, it’s true they never met one they didn’t like… and I quit reading them decades ago. But if you WANT advertizing and to know what’s out there, I love focused magazines, whether for gubs or laptops.
n
Go back to 2016, when the Dems were in full-blown TDS over Trump securing the nomination, and you will find serious proposals from some leftist legal scholars arguing that Obama running again to win at the ballot box was not a violation of the strict definition of the Presidential election process, just his election through the Electoral College.
The thought was to then dare the state legislatures to subvert the “voice of the people” who voted to retain the Jesus President.
horse is not yet dead–a couple more thoughts on dissertations:
“Virtually every dissertation from the last thirty years is going to get examined”
The wise in academia will be proactive and dusting off their own. I expect outside firms to spring up quickly to offer the service, and many institutions will be going outside to check current dissertations, check current faculty’s work, and that of famous alumni. The left will try to limit damage by creating their own compromised creatures to do this, in the vein of Media Matters, but any efforts to falsely vet something like Gay’s work are doomed to failure.
“What’s in the backpack, Reggie?”
“Snacks!”
https://twitter.com/buitengebieden/status/1743023916166099306
That reminds me…I was at Albertson’s and Safeway (both owned by Kroger IIRC) the other day and noticed that both have stopped carrying what used to be a decent selection of gub magazines…now, nothing. Not sure about Fry’s, haven’t been their of late.
Our Kroger totally dropped their magazine and mmpb section. It was in the far corner of the store behind the pharmacy, no man’s land.
“Everyone Could Have Died in the Tokyo Airport Crash. Here’s Why They Didn’t.”
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2024/01/japan-airlines-crash-at-haneda-couldve-been-much-worse.html?utm_source=pocket-newtab-en-us
“It was exactly the kind of disaster scenario that aviation-safety experts have been warning could happen. A pilot, apparently disoriented, taxis his aircraft onto an active runway right into the path of an inbound, heavily loaded airliner. Unable to react in time, the pilot of the landing plane collides head-on into the first plane. The ensuing fireball envelops both aircraft.”
“It is all the more remarkable, then, that there were no fatalities and just 11 injuries aboard the Japan Airlines A350 that crashed into a Japan Coast Guard Dash 8 at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport on Tuesday. The situation aboard the Dash 8 was much worse, killing five of the six crew members aboard.”
I am amazed everyone did not die on that A350 with lots of fuel and full passenger cabin. I can just imagine the confusion of the 367 people on board that huge airliner. I did read that the FAA wants crashed planes cleared in 1.5 minutes and that the A350 took 10+ minutes to clear.
WRT gub magazines, it’s true they never met one they didn’t like… and I quit reading them decades ago. But if you WANT advertizing and to know what’s out there, I love focused magazines, whether for gubs or laptops.
I read Guns and Ammo magazine and American Rifleman. I find both to be interesting. All of my other magazines have died except Consumer Reports.
Shoplifter’s Paradise.
Go for it. There are so many worthless degrees out there. Especially in the “soft” fields, where they just rehash each other’s ideas, and maybe pretend to use statistics.
So many schools have succumbed to quantity over quality.
@ EdH & JimB: Wearing my Indian Wells Brewery Co. t shirt and going to have a Mojave Gold in a while.
I enjoyed American Handgunner’s “Ayoob Files” in depth gubfight analysis but they are online at:
https://americanhandgunner.com/category/our-experts/ayoob-files/
I have no subscriptions of any kind today and haven’t for a long, long time. There are several shelves worth of a variety of old periodicals in my library neatly boxed, just in case. JerryP used to contribute to Survive! back in the 70’s…
My Kroger (AKA Ralph’s) still has magazines and paper back books.
Mom made lamb chops a few times. Fried them like pork chops. They were different but they sure were good. That’s all I’ve had… and that was before we moved to Texas in 1972/3.
I’ve never seen lamb of any kind in an HEB. Nor goat. Next county over is San Saba and I’ve read that’s the “goat raising capital of the US”.
I remember a lot of stuff Mom cooked and HEB doesn’t sell it. At all.
Pork chops with bones? Nope.
Rolled Roasts, a big chunk of beef wrapped in a string mesh that looked like hardware cloth, stabbed with a paring knife and cloves of garlic shoved in, then rolled in salt and black pepper a couple of times. If you were lucky you could get the string mesh to chew on.
Arm Roasts. I’m not sure what part of the cow that is but it looks like a bicep. Easy to cook, like a little pork loin. Makes awesome jerky.
What happened to pot roasts with the bone in the center? Why would the same folks selling chicken “marinated with up to 10% of a solution” (aka “filler”) take out the bone in a pot roast?
@brad
My dissertation-reading experience is primarily limited to job applicants and a handful with research that was in some way relevant to an area of interest.
At one time I was reading the Patent Gazette and well-versed in the leading edge of a couple of technologies. My estimate for those technologies was that as a minimum half the patents were garbage of several sorts, including a large proportion that should never have been issued based on the existence of “prior art” that would have been apparent to someone truly versed in the field, but probably not evident to the poor underpaid examiner that was relying on literature searches.
When I was working corporate I received a copy of a patent application from an employee in a foreign subsidiary. The “innovation” was not new to someone “skilled in the art” in this country, and I gave it rather short shrift. I’m guessing that the ensuing complaint came in at the corporate VP level and down to division management–I was called in to do some ‘splainin. The conversation was brief on the technical side, and I was told to be more politic in future. I never saw another patent application, but I suspect that the management solution was to just let the annointed whiz-kids file the application for his country, with no cross-filing to U.S.
I had a similar situation later when an end-user of one of our products got a patent on an application. Management was gearing up for a “how could this have happened” exercise when I simply pointed out that it would take me five minutes in court to break it based on prior art.
Lot’s of dodgy stuff in patents, which are supposed to be based on science. Chalk some up to imperfect knowledge. Probably a lot of dodgy stuff in STEM dissertations for the same reason. Another thing entirely in the soft non-sciences, where dodgy is standard.
Most current technology, the landing on the moon, modern vehicles, the interstate, commercial aviation, literature, music (except for drum solos), clothes, clean food supply, electricity, plumbing, good healthcare, all the modern conveniences.
RIP David Soul
https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/05/entertainment/david-soul-death/index.html
I had a green Gran Torino. Not the same.
My wife recently completed some postgraduate studies in an academic “discipline” related to pedagogy. The institution used something called “Harvard referencing”. After looking up the rules for that, I concluded that it is so non-rigorous that it would have certainly got me rusticated from my undergraduate studies for plagiarism, lack of adequate references, or both.
The main purpose of “Harvard referencing” appears to be to enable one to mention academic works of which one has, at best, read the abstract, and nevertheless make it look like one is intimately acquainted with their content.
I therefore take a certain Schadenfreude in the current Harvard/Gay débâcle.
Wayne LaPierre has stepped down from fronting the US-NRA.
I will give them a couple of years to get back on the Charlton Heston line, then I might consider rejoining.
The UK-NRA? I wouldn’t give them the steam…
“These are the hottest zip codes for home buyers in the Houston area”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/hottest-zip-codes-18591068.php
“The Houston suburbs may be hot, but the Lone Star State dominated the list, with almost half of the hottest zip codes for 2023.”
As far as I can tell, the exodus to Texas is not slowing down either.
“Elon Musk’s SpaceX Sues US Agency, Alleging ‘Unconstitutional’ Structure”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/elon-musks-spacex-sues-us-agency-alleging-unconstitutional-structure-5558911?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=TheLibertyDaily
“SpaceX hits National Labor Relations Board after board accuses company of illegally firing workers.”
If they win, good. If they don’t win, the NLRB will come after them with everything.
What timing!
At lunch Wednesday, I told the guy next to me that I was a life member of the NRA but they wouldn’t see another dime from me as long as Wayne LaPierre was in charge.
Ditto. I don’t think there is any doubt LaPierre milked the NRA dry. The Iron Rule took over at the NRA.
The Legislature kicked the can. Brownouts will be the wild card this year.
It isn’t a question of whether the brownouts will start but when.
“Ford F-Series Is #1 Truck For 47th Straight Year”
https://www.carpro.com/blog/ford-f-series-is-1-truck-for-47th-straight-year
“Ford is celebrating a milestone when it comes to the F-Series. The automaker says more than 700,000 customers chose a new Ford F-Series truck in 2023, making it the best-selling truck in America for the 47th year running.”
I am not surprised that F-150 is #1 in sales. I am surprised that Ford only sold 700,000 F-150s in 2023. That number used to approach a million.
“Joe Biden Calls Millions of Americans “Extremists” in First Campaign Ad of 2024 (VIDEO)”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/joe-biden-calls-millions-americans-extremists-first-campaign/
“Joe Biden’s campaign launched its first propaganda video of 2024. In it, Biden calls millions of Americans “extremists” with images of Trump supporters made to look bad.”
“In the video, Biden arrogantly says: “There is an extremist movement that does not share the basic beliefs of our democracy.””
“Biden is referring to patriotic Americans who love this country and support Trump.”
And here we go in 2024 …
“SpaceX Inches Toward Cellular Starlink Service With First ‘Direct to Cell’ Launch”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/spacex-inches-toward-cellular-starlink-service-with-first-direct-to-cell
“The successful delivery of six satellites to orbit allows T-Mobile to start testing the ‘Coverage Above and Beyond’ service it first teased in mid-2022.”
“Starlink’s Direct to Cell signal will employ the 1910-1915 and 1990-1995MHz radio bands (the PCS “G block”), which means most T-Mobile phones in service today should be able to receive it unmodified. AT&T, meanwhile, is already testing satellite voice and data connectivity to unmodified phones with the first of a series of low-Earth-orbit satellites from AST SpaceMobile.”
I wonder how well this will work ?
“Microsoft is adding a new key to PC keyboards for the first time since 1994″
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/01/ai-comes-for-your-pcs-keyboard-as-microsoft-adds-dedicated-copilot-key/
“Copilot key will eventually be required in new PC keyboards, though not yet.”
A new key for Clippy 2.0, will the wonders never cease ?
“Magic Strikes (Kate Daniels)” by Ilona Andrews
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Strikes-Daniels-Ilona-Andrews/dp/0441017029?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number three of a ten book paranormal romance dark fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2009 that I bought new on Amazon recently. Note that “Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. I am now reading book number four in the series.
Kate Daniels’s universe sucks. Forty years ago, the tech world crashed over the entire Earth and was replaced by the magic world in the form of a magic flare. Guns don’t work, car don’t work, electricity and phones do not work. But magic works. Good magic and bad magic.
After a week, the tech world came back to a drastically changed world. And radically fewer humans. And the magic world came back after a while. And the tech world came back after that. And so on and so forth.
Kate Daniels is a mercenary. And she is a current member of the Order of Knights of Merciful Aid despite her dropping out earlier in life. She carries a large magic sword. And many knives. And she has magic blood. And another magic flare is coming.
I liked everything about the story. I especially liked the very clear distinction between the tech time and the magic time. I had never thought about it that way. The series may be inspired by “Ariel” by Steven Boyett and “Dies The Fire” by S. M. Stirling except those never interchange the tech time and the magic time, they just transitioned to the magic time.
The authors have a website at:
https://www.ilona-andrews.com
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (8,056 reviews)
If the point of the AI is to fire people why would a new keyboard design be necessary?
Biden won’t be the nominee.
The party starts next week in Savannah and goes all month.
The Lady and Sons was probably booked up for January a year ago.
Try to find a new F150 on a lot at a dealer for less than $60k.
No special orders or fleet purchases.
2024. No 2023 or 2022s which are still sitting around on some lots.
2024. No 2023 or 2022s which are still sitting around on some lots.
“New 2024 Ford F-150 STX Truck SuperCrew Cab V-8 cyl”
https://www.autonationfordkaty.com/new/Ford/2024-Ford-F-150-883e64ec0a0e084c139c842ca2f3bc5c.htm
$47,656 plus TT&L
If I was going to get a new truck, I would buy this one, maybe. “New 2024 Ford F-150 XLT Truck SuperCrew Cab V-6 cyl Hybrid 4WD”
https://www.autonationfordkaty.com/new/Ford/2024-Ford-F-150-692edde20a0e0a9152e663b21b9fedc5.htm
$61,380 plus TT&L
It needs the Max Tow Package to make me happy. Probably another $1,000.
Huh, does not say what the MPG is. Ah, 25 / 26 mpg.
I love the new tailgate that opens to the side with a step. With my lift kit, my rear bumper is three feet off the ground. That is a big step.
Fair enough, but that is still a $700 car payment at a minimum.
Well the weather did clear during the day. Ended up sunny and clear, but it’s chilly now. Wish I had a little fire pit in the front yard to sit and watch the neighbors freak out….
n
And it is New Backup External Hard Drive At The Office Day. I archived the external backup from last weekend and broke out the new 14 TB external WD hard drive that I bought a month ago. I suspect that this will take about a day to build an image of the complete office LAN. Then it will be updated in the rotation of seven external hard drives, one every week.
Damnation, up too late again.
I’m off…
n
Sorry it is so late. By now, you must be quenched and tucked in. The next time I have some beer, I will think of you. That could be a while. I only drink about 6-8 beers / year.
Speaking of, I heard that Anchor officially closed 30 July 2023. I will miss them. At 127 years, they were the oldest craft brewery in the US. I especially liked their porter and their Christmas ales. Their signature “Steam Beer” was also good. I have a few bottles of all three in my SBR. My Strategic Beer Reserve is similar to Lynn’s Strategic Book Reserve, but with fewer units. Beer is perishable.
My condolences. Between that and illegal migrants, how long can Texas keep its identity?