Cool and clear, warming later. It got to be very nice yesterday after a chilly start. Sunny, clear, and windows down temps… I’d like another day or two of that.
I did my pickups yesterday. The spent far to much time to-ing and fro-ing with D1 and her school stuff. Communication doesn’t happen unless understanding is exchanged. Kid needs work on communicating.
Today I might have another pickup or two but will mostly be working on other things. I’ve got a list you know…
I did stack a bunch of stuff for the BOL. One of the things was the lithium ion battery pack I hope to use with a solar system. I’ll be looking at that today in addition to so many other things. And I’ll be looking at the various inverters and charge controllers to see if I can match one with the battery pack. I know the lead acid batteries I have will work with any of the controllers, as that is the base level default. Not so sure about the Li-ion. It sure would be easier to just buy a packaged system, but that isn’t my style at all.
Gotta learn about some things to understand them, and later to fix or maintain them. Like nuking the site from orbit, it’s the only way to be sure– To be sure you CAN fix them when they go wrong. And they will go wrong since the perversity of the universe tends toward maximum.
Guess I should get busy doing something…
n
(stack)
A lot of retail will have to be re-learned, including mall book stores stocked mostly with trade paperbacks.
The Brown Truck store is not amenable to browsing and impulse buys, and Barnes & Noble sees opportunity in Manga right now with shelf space in their big stores.
51F and just enough cloud in the sky for a truly spectacular sunrise.
n
From JimB:l
Oooh, you guys are making me seem old, Where is CowboyStu when I need him?!
I’ll be in Huntington Beach today, Talked to SI, David, and we are definitely going Randsburg this summer.
I’m in, and should be home. Also hope to meet EdH.
I enjoyed that one a lot, even though I am not a gamer nor a fighter.
The sequel is okay – I think I enjoyed it less mostly because the novelty was gone. It struck me as very much a “second book of a trilogy,” but I haven’t yet heard whether a third book is in the works.
YES!!!
but I haven’t yet heard whether a third book is in the works.
– they gave the series a name, so I’m betting more than three…
n
– not even funny anymore.
n
And then Biden said, “You know, my son, Beau, he was on a train on that bridge when it derailed and he, he lost his life, saving others.”
“…While in uniform. I personally pinned the Medal of Honor on him…”
Beau *drove* the train over the bridge. C’mon, man!
Big Mike is coming.
The Brown Truck store is not amenable to browsing and impulse buys, and Barnes & Noble sees opportunity in Manga right now with shelf space in their big stores.
You gotta find a B&N that is open first. I tried going to the B&N over at Westheimer and Hwy 6 the other day after my friend’s funeral. Closed, replaced by a used furniture store. There are only 6 or 8 B&Ns left in the Houston Metropolitan area. There used to be 20 or 30 of them.
“How Boeing’s leadership was ‘fired’ by its own customers”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/boeings-leadership-fired-own-customers-171352211.html
“(Reuters) – It took 80 days. But for the airline industry, enough was enough.”
“A revolt by U.S. airline bosses helped topple Boeing’s top leadership including CEO Dave Calhoun this week, capping weeks of pressure after the freakish Jan. 5 blowout of a door plug on an Alaska Airlines 737 MAX 9 passenger jet, people familiar with the discussions said.”
And Kamala was pulling it.
The Shell gas station that I normally go to by my house just upped their cash price for regular to $3.039 / US gallon. People used to vote their pocketbooks, I sure do hope that rule of thumb continues this fall.
I disagree with that statement.
The whole point is that became clear to everyone that it wasn’t freakish, and that it or something like it was inevitable, and would cost airlines themselves if not addressed.
So they threw Boeing management – all of it and not just the lowest ranking internally designated executive scapegoat – under the wheels, and rightfully so.
SF went woke, and they are going broke. Look a the hugo list for the last 10 years or more.
People love SF, they just don’t love the dreck being foisted on them.
n
Yup, most of the old school style SF is going Indie. Self published books, etc that will never be considered for a Hugo or a Nebula award.
The last good Hugo winner was “Among Others” in 2012 and it was a mixed SF and Fantasy book mostly about 1960s and 1970s SF/F books. I like it but I am an outlier.
Sigh, I have been reminded on reddit that The Murderbot Diaries got a Hugo in 2021. Make that several Hugos.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Murderbot_Diaries#Reception
Getting old sucks, I seem to be forgetting a lot.
“In the Name of Progress, Biden Will Take Away Your Truck”
https://mishtalk.com/economics/in-the-name-of-progress-biden-will-take-away-your-truck/
“Like your gasoline-powered truck? Sorry, Biden says you won’t be able to buy another.”
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/03/americas-dumbest-man.php
Racism all the way down…
“Preparing for crises: to whom is our greatest responsibility?”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/03/preparing-for-crises-to-whom-is-our.html
“I’m sure everybody who makes preparations for potential problems, no matter how small, has run into the sort of friend who says, “If disaster strikes, I’m coming over to your place. You have enough to take care of us, too!” My response to that is usually less than polite, to put it mildly.”
I have the same reaction. Don’t come to my house and demand that I hand over my preps. You won’t like my shotgun.
“Robots Read News about protecting freedom”
https://scottadams.locals.com/upost/5444131/robots-read-news-about-protecting-freedom
“I dropped the subscription wall for this one so you can share it.”
Lately I think I like RRN more than Dilbert. It was always funny but has been getting better.
“BEETLEJUICE BEETLEJUICE | Official Teaser Trailer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6yDanmWI1E
“Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire” was a letdown for me. Hollywood wasting another franchise and actors who many not be with us for much longer.
The funeral must be for Jeffrey Jones’ character. He’s beyond cancelled and has been for over 20 years.
Pedo.
Jenna Ortega is the new Winona Ryder, filling the same niche of characters.
Could an admin or editor kick loose the comment I wrote at about 10:00EDT? TIA
BTW, The Mouse settled with DeSantis today.
Game Over, Weatherman.
One vote left in the House, but DeSantis playing hardball with Disney helped give the Republicans four and saved Little Marco’s Senate seat.
I’m already sick of her playing the little school girl. I’m sure directors lover her, she’s 21, “sex it up a little, girly, it’s alright, don’t wear a bra…”.
Ha, ha:
Houston Mayor John Whitmire says city is ‘broke’ after decades of overspending that has stopped them from being able to pay firefighters
Let the begging begin. Those pensions need to be paid if want firefighters and cops.
Nice to know. It started streaming/PPV today so there is a 1080p going to my server.
My ex-wife was a realtor for a while (back in the 80’s), and it was clear from her officemates that the ones who wanted to make money were always “on”, always networking, always looking for listings, and scrupulous about following up with prospective buyers. Once you had a prospect, you’d dedicate yourself to finding properties for them. If one deal fell through, you’d instantly be on to presenting the next similar property.
I’ve worked with 2 realtors in the last month. The 1st one showed me a property that even she admitted was not good. The second showed me a property I liked very much. Both were aware that I’m interested in a cash purchase. There was another one the previous month who never returned my phone call.
Neither followed up with me. At all. I sent a query to the second one with a couple questions, and it went unanswered. I had to find out from har.com that the property has had another offer made and accepted.
This is only irritating to me, but it’s a disservice to the sellers.
Here are some SF/F recommendations by independent authors:
Worm – Wildbow https://parahumans.wordpress.com/
Superheroes and supervillians and a worlds-ending danger. The opening chapters are pretty rough but get past them and he finds his stride.
Pact – Wildbow http://pactwebserial.wordpress.com/
Pale – Wildbow http://palewebserial.wordpress.com/
Fantasy with the viewpoint character dropped into things and having to figure them out to survive. I haven’t read Pale, the sequel, yet but Wildbow says that it was fun to write, so that’s a good sign.
Collective Thinking – Tower Curator https://www.towercurator.com/collective-thinking/
Is the world what it is or what we make of it?
Bitter – mooderino/V Moody http://royalroadl.com/fiction/10293 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078NK1GTV?binding=kindle_edition&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tkin&tag=ttgnet-20
Isolated girl sneaks into a virtual world and levels up her life.
How to Avoid Death on a Daily Basis – mooderino/V Moody https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/5288/how-to-avoid-death-on-a-daily-basis
A group of young adults are pulled into a fantasy world. Main character is a jerk, but he’s a pragmatic, survivor jerk. My only complaint is that the tenth book, the series finale, isn’t finished. He started it, threw it away, restarted, threw it away, restarted, gave up. Still, it’s good through the nine completed books.
Mother of Learning – nobody103 https://www.fictionpress.com/s/2961893/1/Mother-of-Learning https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CHSJ19J9?binding=kindle_edition&searchxofy=true&ref_=dbs_s_aps_series_rwt_tkin&sr=8-1&tag=ttgnet-20
Dropped into a time loop. Make the best of it. Recommended. Very highly recommended.
Super Powereds – Drew Hayes https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074CDM25G?binding=kindle_edition&ref_=dbs_s_ks_series_rwt_tkin&sr=1-1&tag=ttgnet-20
Superhero also-rans, made good.
A Wand for Skitter – ShayneT https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/a-wand-for-skitter-worm-hp-complete.730018/
Fanfiction of Worm and Harry Potter. Very good, better than most original fiction. OK, I’ll admit that that’s damning with faint praise. Many Crowning Moments of Awesome, and a few humorous reactions to those moments.
Francis Porretto
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/fporretto
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Francis-Porretto/author/B005OCTW2Q?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&sr=1-1&tag=azlinkplugin-20
Couple dozen shortish novels, most of them vaguely tied together by reference to common characters. This hasn’t been a problem; just blerp over unrecognized names. Consistently high quality. Even with the couple that I didn’t much care for (romance genre just isn’t my thing) I could see the craftsmanship.
Bill Quick
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=william+quick&i=digital-text&ref=nb_sb_noss&tag=ttgnet-20
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=digital-text&rh=p_27%3AW.T.++Quick&s=relevancerank&text=W.T.++Quick&ref=dp_byline_sr_ebooks_1&tag=ttgnet-20
Good suspense/thriller books. I don’t much care for this genre but they’re well done. The older books are notable for predicting technology and social trends decades in advance. When I read Systems I kept going back to the copyright page to confirm that, yes, it was published in 1989. Just one example: After 9/11, Tom Clancy’s Debt of Honor was pointed at as evidence that someone had thought of flying a plane into a building. Well, Bill beat Clancy by five years.
William Palafox
https://www.amazon.com/stores/William-Palafox/author/B00LLGU2NW?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_4&sr=1-4&isDramIntegrated=true&tag=ttgnet-20
I’ve read only Sands of the Undead and started another (don’t recall why I stopped reading; busy with work, probably) and was impressed. Genre shifted a couple times, so what it’s about isn’t what you think it’s about.
PS Power
https://pspowerbooks.com/
I have mixed feelings about this. He’s wildly imaginative and was spitting out a short novel every month for years … but the little mistakes drove me up a wall, especially in the earlier works. Also, his series tend to converge into one big universe and you need to read all earlier works to follow what’s going on. Still, they’re creative and mostly enjoyable.
Sarah Hoyt
https://www.amazon.com/stores/Sarah-A.-Hoyt/author/B001HCVAX6?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&sr=1-1&isDramIntegrated=true&tag=ttgnet-20
She’s gone indie so I’m including her here. No introduction should be needed.
Could an admin or editor kick loose the comment I wrote at about 10:00EDT? TIA
Done. I moved the clock date to now so it is at FIFO position of last so that people see it.
Worm – Wildbow https://parahumans.wordpress.com/
Superheroes and supervillians and a worlds-ending danger. The opening chapters are pretty rough but get past them and he finds his stride.
I am trying to finish Worm but it is dark, very dark. As is mega dark. Over 2 million words dark.
I have read anything by mp3.1415player. I love “Taylor Varga” (reading it again, need WSOD) and “Bugs In The System” (cute, very cute, need WSOD):
https://wormstorysearch.com/?is_nsfw_eq=any&story_keywords=mp3&page=1&limit=20&sort=stories.rating&direction=desc&searching=true
WSOD = Wide Suspension of Disbelief (mine is about 98%)
Oh, don’t be exaggerating. Worm is only 1.6M words. That’s for the story itself, the thirty arcs and handful of epilogue chapters. The chit-chat in the forum is very voluminous, certainly exceeding a million words. Wildbow’s responses in the forums might bring the word count over 2M, but I wouldn’t count them as they aren’t the story.
>> And Kamala was pulling it.
There’s a bad joke there that I’ll refrain from posting so as to keep up the level of decorum here 😉
@lynn, so having binged Travelers, Away and The Signal, any other of a similar genre you recommend? We tried Another Life but gave up after the first episode.
>> I’ve worked with 2 realtors in the last month. The 1st one showed me a property that even she admitted was not good. The second showed me a property I liked very much. Both were aware that I’m interested in a cash purchase. There was another one the previous month who never returned my phone call.
Neither followed up with me. At all. I sent a query to the second one with a couple questions, and it went unanswered. I had to find out from har.com that the property has had another offer made and accepted.
RE brokers get paid by the seller, unless you have engaged, and are paying for, a buyer’s broker. We found our current house ourselves on Zillow, and our prior one by driving around the neighborhood. Ya gets whatya pays for…
–too many pedos
n
It’s okay if a PLT does it…
https://nypost.com/2024/03/27/real-estate/jon-stewart-found-to-have-overvalued-his-nyc-home-by-829/
@lynn, so having binged Travelers, Away and The Signal, any other of a similar genre you recommend? We tried Another Life but gave up after the first episode.
Try Voyagers On Netflix:
https://www.netflix.com/title/81287587
I could watch Katee Sackhoff read A Tale Of Two Cities out loud so I watched all two seasons of Another Life even though it never really was that great. She is also in Riddick, The Chronicles of Riddick, The Mandalorian, Battlestar Gallactica, Longmire, etc.
Try “The Three Body Problem” on Netflix. I bounced off the second episode but all experiences differ.
Try “The Umbrella Academy” on Netflix. It has the girl who wants to be a boy but it is good.
Try “The 100” on Netflix. Starts off great and then gets weird in season 5 or 6.
There is also “SweetTooth”, “OA”, “Dark”, “Resident Alien”, etc.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-1-d&q=sci+fi+on+etflix#wxpd=browse:true
“Elliott” Page would don that femme Kitty Pryde costume with any necessary padding in a heartbeat if Disney called him for an X-Men movie.
RE brokers get paid by the seller, unless you have engaged, and are paying for, a buyer’s broker. We found our current house ourselves on Zillow, and our prior one by driving around the neighborhood. Ya gets whatya pays for…
Nope, that is getting ready to change. NAR (national association of realtors) just settled a class action lawsuit. The buyers are going to start paying their realtors directly. The sellers will only pay their realtor.
https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/what-the-2-billion-realtor-lawsuit-means-for-homebuyers-and-sellers
That means if you contact a realtor to show you around, they will be shoving a contract in your face immediately.
“Elliott” Page would don that femme Kitty Pryde costume with any necessary padding in a heartbeat if Disney called him for an X-Men movie.
Having watched my wife go through the breast removal surgery 18 years ago, I cannot imagine any woman doing that voluntarily. Definitely brain damaged.
Katie Sackoff is slated to replace Stuntman #12 as the title character in “The Mandalorian”.
That is, if Disney “Star Wars” survives “The Acolyte”.
“Stand with Trump; Fund the $355M Unjust Judgment”
https://www.gofundme.com/f/stand-with-trump-raise-the-settlement
Up to $2,019,065.
gofundme? Thought they were the bad guys. Givesendgo? were the good guys?
n
— at first I thought islamists, but it’s probably just amish. The school is a ‘last chance’ school for drop outs and “in school truants”.
They “take a different approach”
Students this messed up need to “act out.”
civilization was great while it lasted.
n
Rockford Il, used to be considered FAR out of town. A place you’d drive to for the antique stores. Then they got an airport. And it looks like they got some new residents.
A whole lot of NOT saying what happened in the article and then you get to the witness statement…
n
Oh yeah, pedos all the way down.
and yes, they really are working together to go after kids. BTW daily mail, It’s not the helicopter, it’s the fusking body fluid bukkakke bit just before that,
n
I have NO sympathy whatsoever. I took on more debt than that, and around the same time. I was unemployed, and broke, at various points during the years that followed. I was hounded by creditors, called at work, offered deals, and at one time or another on every plan to delay or reduce payments there was.
I PAID MY LOANS OFF.
On roughly $30k a year most years, working part time, living in California. I paid them off. Paid off the IRS for back taxes too.
Drove a sh!tbox hyundai hatchback. Lived with roommates when I had to. Ate white bread sandwiches for lunch for years with the cheap pressed meat slices. Didn’t date. Had a 13″ TV, no cable. Didn’t go on vacation. Didn’t have savings. Was prepared to sleep in my car if things got worse. Used my dentist as primary care physician because I couldn’t afford medical care. Bought my prescriptions in Mexico.
And I PAID OFF MY LOANS.
So pardon me if I have no fusks to give when the subject of loan forgiveness comes up. They signed the paper. They benefited from the loan. They need to pay.
n
added– dang it, so riled up I forgot the link and quote.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13245879/retired-grandma-student-debt-psychology-degree-college-loan.html
BTW triple your debt in 40 years is 2.75% annual rate of return. FAR below inflation. She’s LUCKY it’s only triple.
n
I just found out that we had a attempted home invasion around the corner from my home last night. The robbers tried to break in but could not get past the doors and windows but the people were inside watching them and taking video.
The robbers then moved down the street and got into that house but the owner and his family were gone to HEB.
Video does no good. The first house called the sheriff and the deputies ran the vehicle plate but it was a paper fake. The second house called the sheriff when they got home.
I am fairly sure that had I been in the first house that I would have stuck a 12 gauge out the door and shot the vehicle since they had it parked facing the the front door.
Not good, not good.
One of my neighbors agrees with me that one of the robbers on the video had a pistol hanging out of his jacket pocket. I did not mention it, he brought it up.
So this was an armed robbery with an attempted home invasion. I am still freaked. The people in the second house that the armed robbers got into lost a wedding and other stuff.
There are less than 500 homes in our little subdivision, each on an acre or two acres. Hopefully they will not come back and hit more homes.
Still is. Chicago news, in Rockford, might as well be Ukraine news. I graduated HS there in ’73 and moved on in ’83.
Rockford is mainly an industrial blue collar shift town. Mostly segregated. The reported incident, by the map of the address mentioned, happened in an older suburban zone in the “good” side of town.
The airport you mentioned is a minor UPS hub. Without that, it has no real importance.
Do you carry inside your house?
If not, why not?
The airport you mentioned is a minor UPS hub. Without that, it has no real importance.
– huh, they were pushing for it to be a regional alternative to Midway some years ago when I was still paying attention. I guess that never happened? Did the push to move the blacks out of the projects and into the suburbs not have an effect? It was devastating to South Holland, Tinley, Orland, Blue Island, Harvey, Chicago Heights, and other southern suburban areas… pretty sure Lynwood, H-F and others were drastically changed, but I haven’t visited most of them in years. The enclaves will fight to keep their character… but bad drives out the good.
——
I had friends that lived out that way and we’d consider it to be a day trip to go there. Now, I drive for hours without a second thought. It’s funny how that changes. I still think of the NW and West suburbs and towns as “far” from where I grew up, but they are closer than a lot of the places I routinely drive here in the Houston area.
n
>> The suspect was arrested by a Winnebago County sheriff’s deputy after they were called to a reported home invasion, Sheriff Gary Caruana said.
When seconds count the Sheriff is only minutes away…
>> They “take a different approach”
Sort of like all these forced arbitration clauses buried in the T&C.
The Rockford Airport: Yeah, I remember that, too. If it had been done, what would have been the result? Still have to zip an additional 50-60 miles by O’Hare going into Chicago and the airspace would still be congested.
Circa 2012: When my uncle dropped in and forgot the luggage with his meds we returned across town to find the place shuttered and lights out. Met a feller in the vestibule looking for us.
They kicked the EAA fly-in out about the time we moved there due to the occasional crashes before Oshkosh snagged ’em.
Rockford had all the silly politics like Jenny’s Anchorage. I’d been long gone when I found that, in addition to City, County, Park and Library taxing authorities, there was a Township layer of sinecures. Never did figure out just what that was for. When the city was pressing for a downtown white elephant convention center that failed referendum twice, they just issued bonds anyway to get the thing.
>> Hopefully they will not come back and hit more homes.
The roaches will stay where the feeding is easy.
Consider a security audit as a prep.
Solid core exterior doors with deadbolts and importantly reenforced strikes.
Rip-proof window screens and/or window film.
Shrubs near house trimmed.
Floodlights covering 360 degrees of the exterior perimeter.
Alarm system, Simpl-Safe works well (for me) and is truly DIY. Get generic window decals from Amazon. No need to advertise your system’s brand.
Loud dogs.
Ole Betsy (12 or 20 GA)
Unfortunate as it may sound, be the least ‘inviting’ home in your neighborhood.