Ahem, cool to cold, clear for a bit. It was nice yesterday at the BOL with clear sky and sun, and a high in the mid to high 60s. Got cold quickly when the sun went down though…
I spent most of the day organizing the ‘big’ shed. I’ve been using it to store material for projects, and just dumping stuff into it. I took a bunch of stuff out, built some more of the steel shelves I got months ago at an estate sale with a bunch of circus stuff, and cleaned out wasp nests.
I made progress, is about all I can say. More to do later, but at least I have a better idea of what is in there, and there is room to move stuff from other places to the shed.
Today is ‘stuff around the house’ day, and maybe a pickup. Certainly I’ll be doing sorting and stacking for an auction drop off tomorrow, if my auctioneer agrees. I’ll be sorting in any case. Cookie time is coming and stuff needs to get out of the house to make room for cookies.
Really, all the auctions stuff should get out of the house, but that’s a task for another day.
———————
The stressors in the world and nation continue to increase tensions and the likelihood that it will all end in pain and bloodshed. Do as much as you can to brainstorm what that might look like in your area and for your life, then act accordingly.
Stack. Resources will help.
nick
Go get a war declaration from Congress instead of letting the freak show commands in Tampa run wild.
Lloyd Austin is not “civilian oversight”. He worked at the freak show for a while.
Sure, let’s start another front…
Chilly this am, but clear with a beautiful sunrise. Moon is super bright too.
Coffee is soooooo goooooood…….
n
I’m not in favor of it, but the freak show at the south end of the Interbay Peninsula in Tampa needs a spotlight put on their antics.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13017895/civil-war-texas-border-Dan-Patrick-maria-bartiromo.html
Depends on the Feds, but when you have a Border patrol that thinks their job is “rescuing” invaders and refers to them as “irregular migrants” that kinda speaks to mindset.
n
My question is: why does the US have a base in Jordan? Or most of the other 150+ countries where the US has troops…
Rory Miller, who writes a lot about violence, and who I’ve come to respect for his viewpoint and advice after reading many of his books, says that violence almost always comes with a warning. It rarely comes ‘out of the blue’. “If you don’t shut up, I’m gonna kick your @ss!” is the classic example.
In that vein, I’m seeing A LOT of warnings about upcoming violence. A LOT.
They aren’t usually outright declarations, but a bunch of people are writing articles, speculating, etc.
WW3, Civil War, Insurrection, secession, invasion… anyone remember any of those, let alone all of them, on the same news page back in 2019?
n
Plugs’ statement should have been: “Last night we bombed the shit out of Iranian terrorist strongholds. Next, we’ll nuke Iran from orbit just to be sure.”
I also don’t want another war front, but we’ve spent $ Trillions on Global reach weapons systems. Stop giving everything to Ukraine and seek revenge for every drop of our troop’s blood.
The President’s “100,000” authority can do that without Congressional approval. I’m sure plugs is forming a committee after the debacle of Ukraine‘s grift of our $$ and equipment. Better to have good poll numbers than save a few expendable troops.
@brad, the straight answer is “force projection”. The physics insist that you have to have people and gear nearby if you want to respond quickly.
Also to support intelligence gathering.
And to put some spine in local allies.
And some fear in local aggressors.
Whether it does those things is debatable as is whether that is desirable.
n
Plus, we have a demented Corpse POTUS who would rather yell about tRump than fix things. It’s all about power for politicians. I hope the Texas Guard Commander has the backing of the troops. They don’t have to fight the Border Patrol, just refuse to stop what they are doing.
Indeed. In some places, sure. The entire Middle East, however, seems to be one giant cluster fsck. Best thing the West could do, would be to ignore the entire region. No commerce, no military presence, no embassies, nothing. When they decide to join the civilized world, they can come knocking. Or not.
Won’t work. Like post-digested food from an overflowing chamberpot, they’ll ooze out onto the rest of the world.
No, the only thing to do is kill them all.
You will note that this is the solution to many problems.
I have several thousand dollars worth of Canadian mint stamps courtesy of my Dad’s collection so I have looked into this. (I am assuming the Canadian and US situations are very similar). They are of course still good as postage but how many Christmas cards are any of us going to send?
The general rule is if they are from before 1950, they may be worth something to a collector. After 1950, they were printed in the 100s of millions so they are hardly rare. Stamp collecting (of rarities) is a dying hobby, so the supply is increasing as collectors (like my Dad) die off and their collections go on the market while demand is decreasing (no new collectors). My advice would be to use it as postage yourself or sell it off to a bulk reseller of mint postage to other businesses. Typically you will get around 35% of face value. Or, you can try to sell them on eBay for more like 65% (percentages are very rough), but that is work.
@Brad re; the mideast. Is Turkey isolated also?
When Iran (or whoever) sends nuclear missles into Israel and/or the Suez canal what is the response and who giv@Brad re; the Mideast. Is Turkey isolated also?
When Iran (or whoever) sends nuclear missiles into Israel and/or the Suez Canal, what is the response and who gives that response.
So, if the western world had isolated the middle east after 9-11, what would we have done when Russia or China continued to trade with them. Getting the whole world to do anything is not easy. (Try getting your whole family to do anything is not easy.)
There are no simple answers. Our withdrawal from Iraq was a disastrous mistake. Yes, there were attacks on our troops, but the attacks were from those who were losing and wanted us to leave. Most of the common people wanted us to stay. The average Iraqi was like the average Japanese after WWII, we had whipped their butts and they knew it. They were adjusting to the new rules, the new norms, and I say wanted the these, but we needed to stay as it would take a generation or two to complete the change.
We occupied Japan for many years and they are now a western country. For example, at a very formal wedding by upper class Japanese, the dress is coats and tails for men and a white wedding drew for the bride and long formal gowns for the women, not traditional Japanese clothing.
The way the Iraqi young men envied our troops and especially the young women envied our female troops was so obvious. We had them by the short hairs and then quit and walked away. That was our mistake. Because the other Mideast countries could not have controlled their people. Korea, Malesia, and Singapore copied the Japanese changes in spades and are now westernized.
Yesterday, Brad said:
Brad, I love my Meindls, despite their awful advertising slogan “Shoes for Actives”, but my hunting boots https://meindl.de/produkt/dovre-extreme-mfs-wide/ are easily ten years old or more, and I still have a spare unused pair of similar vintage. Alas, I am hearing that their newer production is not of the same quality at all. Perhaps they outsourced production?
I wear my Meindl “Identity” https://www.identity-leder.de/ Ascona shoes daily, and love them – are these the quality rump that was not outsourced? Who knows…
Anyhow, I really just wanted to suggest you look at Hanwag Boots https://www.hanwag.com/ , which are still made in Europe (Bavaria, Hungary and Croatia).
aaannnnnnd… did the telescope arrive?
This has been a long time coming and widely enough known that I knew about it…
wonder which banks are hurt the worst?
n
Care to bet they won’t get a taxpayer bailout because they’re too big to fail?
Re: Boots
I stacked a couple dozen sets of boots now pushing a decade ago. Corcoran, Carolina, Caterpillar, Chippewa, Dr. Martens. All sold as waterproof, reinforced toes and some as insulated. At the time, offshore assembly styles ran $100 to $150 and domestic ~$300 plus. All leather with sewn on Goodyear soles. I’ve worn down the heels on one pair, over represented in daily wear because of the convenient zipper closure. Stored indoors in my living space. Maybe not as shiny as the 1st day, but otherwise unblemished.
workboots.com, shoeline.com when Big River doesn’t stock your size. The Amazon reviews will generally reveal decline in quality of current production. I rarely wear anything else.
Red Wing has a good reputation, but I never got around to getting a pair as they ran on the expensive side. Caterpillar seems to have declined in quality but mine have held up very well being my oldest well worn pairs.
I’ve been wearing Red Wings for over 60 years,
https://www.redwingshoes.com/
For those near the Houston area who are interested in Ham Radio or electronics or making in general, the Greater Houston Hamfest is March 1st and 2nd and tickets are now available here.
Same link if you want to rent a table to sell stuff.
Ham Radio Outlet will be there in person, and the ARRL Division Convention as well.
I’m not involved this year, but I’ll probably show up one of the days.
Unless something happens, I’ll be in the parking lot swap area selling off some “junk” and treasures.
n
@Denis: Yup, telescope here. Jupiter still has moons. The eyepiece with the higher magnification isn’t good, nor is the finder scope. But the scope itself and the low mag eyepiece are fine. For around $150 including shipping, I’m pretty happy. The mount seems really solid, but I’m still learning how to work it. Following Jupiter as it moves seems to require adjusting two axes at the same time.
The scope was cheap, because it was a return. Whoever bought it first broke off a knob, and crammed it back on to hide the damage. It’s a knob on the end of a long plastic rod, so it was actually easy to fix: remove knob, carve the end of the rod to be hexagonal, and remount the knob correctly.
“Scientists discover the moon is shrinking, causing powerful ‘moonquakes’”
https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/nasa-moon-shrinking-18634923.php
“The seismic activity on the lunar surface could spell trouble for future human exploration on the Moon.”
“Our nearest neighbor in space is gradually shrinking, causing wrinkles on its crust and several “moonquakes,” according to a new study. Researchers found that over the last few hundred million years, the Moon has shrunk more than 150 feet in circumference due to the gradual cooling of our natural satellite’s interior.“
RBT would have loved this.
The scope was cheap, because it was a return. Whoever bought it first broke off a knob, and crammed it back on to hide the damage. It’s a knob on the end of a long plastic rod, so it was actually easy to fix: remove knob, carve the end of the rod to be hexagonal, and remount the knob correctly.
Dude, you rock ! That has got to be one of the things that Heinlein says that every person should be able to do.
There are no simple answers. Our withdrawal from Iraq was a disastrous mistake. Yes, there were attacks on our troops, but the attacks were from those who were losing and wanted us to leave. Most of the common people wanted us to stay. The average Iraqi was like the average Japanese after WWII, we had whipped their butts and they knew it. They were adjusting to the new rules, the new norms, and I say wanted the these, but we needed to stay as it would take a generation or two to complete the change.
Hi Bob, did you mean Afghanistan instead of Iraq ? As far as I know, we still have 30,000 or 40,000 troops in Iraq.
BTW, I really enjoyed reading about your journey over the holidays to properly take final care of your son.
“Going to Romulus in the USS Trans Am to pick up Romulan Ale”
https://ifunny.co/picture/going-to-romulus-in-the-uss-trans-am-to-pick-V21EB4njA
Sweet !
The third season of “Picard” has a Red Barchetta, right out of the song.
“You’re looking at the last functional ship in the fleet not tied to the system.”
If the clip is a spoiler at this point, you aren’t a fan.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfkQ12mFPzY
I wa refering to the big draw down in Iraq under Obama. I firmly believe we lost all of the momentum for change in the middle east.
Thanks, it was a painful trip in some ways. I hadn’t traveled since 2019 and I hadn’t driven a lot of it in 25 years or more. Very eye opening for me.
I like the Keen last. Huge toe box is very comfortable, but every pair I’ve owned has been slicker than snot on wet pavement. No grip at all. It was bad enough I quit wearing Keens entirely.
Hmmm, interesting. I didn’t pick these keens up until after I stopped my last inspection job (and merrill got rid of their semi-wide toe box model) so I was unaware of the slippery issue.
Width has always been an issue for me, i am due for minor podiatrist surgery in a couple of weeks for an ingrown nail caused by narrow footwear 🙁
Speaking from past experience that numbing needle hurts like the dickens.
“Ammo warning – updated”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/01/ammo-warning-updated.html
“Getting into the details and a little more, a huge percentage of the nitrocellulose used to make gunpowder historically came from China and Russia, however according to my conversations with industry partners, the Chinese manufacturers who historically were the biggest suppliers at over 30% of the market share are no longer willing to ship raw nitrocellulose to the USA or NATO member countries in attempt to reduce the USA & NATO’s ability to supply Ukrainian forces with artillery shells, and of course Russia who historically was the 2nd biggest supplier is out of the supply chain as well. This decrease in supply in raw material has gunpowder manufacturers in the USA raising prices dramatically and cutting off many of the smaller ammo manufacturers.”
Well crap. Who knew that one of the major components of our ammo, civilian and military both, came mostly from Russia and China ?
I’ve seen this code before. "Junk?" Weed! Nick is selling weed. 😱
“Walkaway: A Novel” by Cory Doctorow
https://www.amazon.com/Walkaway-Novel-Cory-Doctorow/dp/0765392771?tag=ttgnet-20/
A standalone science fiction novel of the near future. I read the well printed and well bound 500 page trade paperback published by Tor Books in 2018 that I purchased new from Amazon in 2023. I was very proud of myself, I never threw the book against the wall even though I was tempted at least a half dozen times. I do not agree with the premise of the book but I do see the possibility of the events in it occurring.
The novel approximately starts in the year 2100 and ends up roughly 30 years later. The primary focus of the book is the struggle between the haves and the have-nots of the future. There is no middle class in the future. The haves are billionaires and trillionaires after the tremendous inflation caused by the semi failure of the USA Dollar in 2029 as documented by Lionel Shriver’s masterpiece novel “The Mandibles: A Family, 2029-2047”. The haves are nicknamed the zottas by the have-nots.
https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver/dp/006232828X?tag=ttgnet-20/
The have-nots are split into two groups, the wage slaves and walkaways. The wage slaves are tremendously burdened by debt due to failures of Social Security, Medicare, WIC, SNAP, and many other federal social programs. The walkaways have literally walked away from society and live individually or gathered together in communes, choosing not to participate in the cities. The walkaways are not highly regarded by society and are severely persecuted by the zottas, to the point of mass deaths. More and more have-nots are becoming walkaways over time which has the zottas extremely concerned.
My rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (1,947 reviews)
Lynn
You are misinformed. “Junk” means either heroin or male genitalia, either of which casts Nick’s side hustle in a new and disturbing light.
I did a prophylactic replacement of the battery in my 2019 Ram today, the OEM battery wasn’t displaying any issues but at five+ years I was getting concerned about taking it to remote (cold) camping spots.
After reading reviews for a bit I ended up with the Walmart Everstart Platinum AGM H7 battery, from what I could tell they are as good as any and – with a 4 year pro-rated warranty – hard to beat price wise.
No issues with truck electronics after the swap, thought I did look up the reset procedure.
And since the return core charge was just $12, I will keep the old battery, I can probably find a use for a spare 80 amp power battery.
Five eggs again today. Twenty-four in the past seven days from six hens. Pretty good for the middle of Winter.
I got a specialty fermentation crock as a Christmas present, and my first batch of kraut was put into jars yesterday. Two heads of cabbage made 3 quarts of pretty tasty, very krisp sauerkraut in 4 weeks.
When I opened the spare fridge to put two of the jars in reserve, I notice we had homemade ginger beer, mead, and yogurt in there.
To top this off, I bought hard cider supplies and equipment for my GF as part of her present.
And we’re not homesteaders. This is all as a result of paying more attention to our cooking and what we eat.
Doctorow is a huge Prog, but he can write interesting stuff.
Try “Makers” if you haven’t already.
One on one, Doctorow is an incredibly nice guy.
Another Story on the Hiring Scandal at the FAA
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2024/01/29/auto-draft-224-n608349
Jsut got the 500 server error
n
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/01/massive-fire-engulfs-feather-crest-farm-chicken-plant/
n
“2 Broods of Cicadas Are Preparing to Swarm the US Simultaneously”
https://www.extremetech.com/science/2-broods-of-cicadas-are-preparing-to-swarm-the-us-simultaneously
“‘Cicadapocalypse’ is expected to unleash billions of big, noisy insects on the environment.”
We got more than our fair share last year.
U.S. Out of U.N.
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/01/u-s-out-of-u-n.php
Few news accounts make mention that Trump defunded UNRWA and Biden restored funding.
Just be a shame if Biden and Blinken went over to address the UN General Assembly and a plane flew into the building and it all came down.
ADDED:
While we’re having happy fantasies, make that with the Clintons, the Obamas, and all the Democrats in Congress* in attendance.
*okay, okay. Fetterman and a few others have more important things to do like a checkers tournament and skip it.
@Lynn
“And for years researchers have sought to explain how the Magicicada life cycles developed, why they are so long, and why they are both prime numbers.”
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/deciphering-the-strange-mathematics-of-cicadas-video/
If they wrote the article now it would be because of global warming. I’m surprised they didn’t blame it on GW then.
“We got more than our fair share last year.”
New from K-Tel…
Solar-Powered Cicada Assassin!
Lures them in!
Zaps them!
Stacks the protein in a convenient drawer for future dietary needs!
Order now and get a second unit free, free shipping, and a bonus Cicada cracker press!
Was going to title tomorrow’s post with this, but then decided it was too long. And too debbie downer…
“You are a fluke of the universe, you have no right to be here, and whether you can hear it or not the universe is laughing behind your back” {chorus in background – “you are a fluke…”}
Looking at the Daily Mail, and there is more ‘died suddenly’, more ‘bumbling joe’, more idiotic spokeshole, more – wait a minute, isn’t that treasonous?
emphasis added.
They are getting pretty damn bold.
n
There’s a whole lot of ‘march to war’ too.
n
I think I’ll retire to my lair and read for a bit…
n
>> I’ve been wearing Red Wings for over 60 years,
Wow, that’s like a million mile car…60+ years from the same pair of boots…
>> Biden offers fresh assurances he would shut down border ‘right now’ if Congress sends him a deal
So he’s saying without a ‘deal’ (I presume this is more of our tax dollars for Israel and Ukraine?) he can’t (won’t?) shut it down?
FJB…and btw, NASCAR is back next week…
Dammit, hammer time.
No rest for the weary.
n
For the record.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13020207/ilhan-omar-slammed-speech-somalia-ethiopia-deal.html
Has embedded links to other sources.
n
@alan, I’ve got a pair of Florscheim’s full wing dress shoes that are more than 60 years old, look like they came from the factory yesterday. Of course no one was wearing them that whole time…
n
This guy is pretty dang cool…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TR1DemTt9YQ
Puddled People: The Art of Peter Renzetti
n
New from K-Tel…
Solar-Powered Cicada Assassin!
Lures them in!
Zaps them!
Stacks the protein in a convenient drawer for future dietary needs!
Order now and get a second unit free, free shipping, and a bonus Cicada cracker press!
Fun Southern Fact: Copperheads LOVE cicadas that have just shed their shell in the middle of the night. The copperheads wait at the bottom of the tree where the cicada is trilling about the new soft shell and then makes it way down the tree trunk to the waiting snake. I have heard of as many as five copperheads waiting at the bottom of the tree.
Yikes that is a horrifying image. I’ll be staying out of trees for a while…
n
These days, the manufacturing of anything dirty or dangerous (nitrocellulose is both) has largely been sent overseas. Surprise! The West is penny wise and pound foolish, and environmentalism is an ersatz for religion.