Warm and clear. Back in Houston, where it seems a bit less humid. Clear for the next couple of days should be nice. It stayed overcast, but got hot and muggy too at the BOL yesterday. Well into the 80s. Spring is well underway.
I slept in, woke feeling more myself than previously. Looking back I see that I first complained of being snotty on the 28th. 5 days or less is great for getting past the worst of it.
I did a few things on my list, finished the door install. Got the threshold installed, and installed the weatherstripping. Then the knob wouldn’t work, so I replaced it only to have the same symptoms happen again. The only thing that changed over the last weeks was the weatherstrip, so I pulled it out.
I didn’t get my garden planted. I spent the afternoon messing with the sprinkler pump. I just couldn’t get it to prime and pump no matter what I tried. I ended up taking the one way valve off the inlet (without getting in the water) and checking it. Seems fine and I took the time to clean it. Nothing worked to get the pump to pump. Motor runs fine though. I’ll have to dig deeper next visit. It could be that it has actually failed. Or the impeller is shot…
So I brought the stuff I was going to plant home with me. I’ll either plant it here, or leave it in pots, and take it up next time. Drove past our shared garden and the potatoes are going nuts. The new peas have all sprouted, and the radishes, turnips, and other stuff is starting to really grow. Even the persimmon tree in my yard went from ‘no buds, I wonder if it died’ to ‘hey, those are buds’ in one day.
The rest of you need to get going on your gardens.
Today I’m catching up on auction stuff, maybe doing pickups. I have several to do, but can do some on Wed. if needed. I’ve also got all the stuff here that should be done, with one fewer weekday to do it. Kids will need rides too.
There’s plenty to do now that I’m feeling better, that’s for sure.
Oh, I finally found the bucket of himalayan pink salt I KNEW I had somewhere. I took it to the BOL. I brought a gallon bag home, which should last several years…
Stacks. They are good.
nick
Glad you’re feeling better, Nick!
Back working today after the long Easter weekend. Boss refused my usual Easter week off, so you can guess at my motivation and productivity…
Re: yesterday’s discussion of “secure” mail accounts in Switzerland or elsewhere
The only issue I see with those is figuring out which TLA is actually behind any particular offering, so one can select the least inimical. Remember Crypto AG?
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypto_AG
Rowling probably spends a fair bit of time in the US, especially now with construction on a third Harry Potter themed land nearing completion in Orlando. The word is that she is involved down to the smallest detail, an accommodation Disney hesitated about when negotiating with her twenty years ago.
Based on what I saw at Universal the last time we hit a Harry Potter attraction, the boycott does not have broad support even among the LGBTQXYZ community.
The only protests I saw out of that demographic at the park on that day were two (guessing) gay women berating a ride attendant, expressing disgust with how Universal managed the crowds at the new roller coaster.
“What do you mean we should be here when the park opens?!? That’s ridiculous!”
Nary a mention of transgender rights.
The really crazy aspect of Rowling’s contract at Universal is that Disney could still take the rights down the road. The Mouse still has two EPCOT-sized theme park spaces available on either side of Western Way leading out to the Pedo Junction strip mall and hotel area.
Rowling’s trans-tweets finally motivated me to create a Twitter account, just to read them in all their glory. It’s nice that someone with a megaphone is speaking out against the nonsense.
There’s a quote, something like “The most firmly held belief can be beaten out with a rubber truncheon.” (I don’t remember it well enough to find it.)
There are a handful of quotes amounting to “Do you know the best way to eliminate an idea? Kill everyone who holds it.”
To paraphrase Chris Rock, Now, I’m not saying that we should kill the wokesters … but I’d understand.
Gonna need a bigger distraction. Any Starships on the pad in Boca Chica?
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/death-by-1000-cuts-tesla-to-report-disappointing-car-sales-amid-market-challenges/ar-BB1kVUgi
It’s here; it’s finally here:
A step closer to limitless clean energy? Nuclear fusion reactor breaks record after hitting 100 MILLION degrees for almost 50 seconds – seven times hotter than the sun’s core
I wonder how much power went in to get 48 seconds… Funny how the ole’ FUSA can’t do shite anymore. Did we really put a man on the Moon?
“Reckless Disregard for Accuracy”
https://legalinsurrection.com/2024/04/stanford-mathematics-education-professor-who-got-algebra-banned-in-sf-now-accused-of-reckless-disregard-for-accuracy/
Lying sack.
Based on the damage done to thousands if not potentially millions of kids mathematical education, there is nothing that this asshat could do to compensate in a thousand years of continuing in position. Stanford has a choice: they can fire her and reaffirm the standard, or journey down the trail of a thousand cuts with Harvard.
“Did we really put a man on the Moon?”
allegedly
They have an agenda, and will lie and cheat to prove their agenda.
Ralph Kramden threatened to put Alice on the moon many times. Maybe he did.
Yes. Fifty-five years ago. Call it sixty years from when the real effort kicked in.
Ed Dutton claims that IQ in the West is dropping by about 1.5 points per decade. I’m not convinced by the standards and proxies he uses but he’s looked into this a lot more than I so let’s posit that he’s correct. Nine points is the difference between a high school science teacher and a good engineer – not a superstar but not a lumpen. The engineer of today is as bright as the teacher from sixty years ago. Could a thousand high school science teachers in the 1960s have put together the Apollo program? I have my doubts.
Counterargument: SpaceX is doing well with today’s engineers. Note, though, that they’re paid very well and there are complaints from other employers that Musk is hogging all of the talent. It’s plausible that he’s selecting from the top 0.5% of intelligence and ability rather than the top 5%.
“1.7 million Texas households are set to lose monthly internet subsidy”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/affordable-connectivity-program-ending-19381138.php
“The Affordable Connectivity Program provides a $30 monthly subsidy to help low-income households pay for internet service. The program is slated to run out of money at the end of the month.”
I wonder what it costs to administer the program ?
Link here (and other places)
Which is an idea for a new apocalyptic book –
Yeah, that’s a lot of water. And it’s about 400 miles under the surface. Time to start preparing your BOL that is at the 5000 foot (current) elevation about sea level.
“New map shows more of Texas will get to see the total solar eclipse”
https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/texas-path-of-totality-map-19379302.php
“Due to a miscalculation, the path of totality in Texas just got bigger.”
“Per the report, the Sun’s diameter is bigger than previously thought, meaning the moon’s shadow will be smaller and the path of totality more narrow. The path is not only more narrow than it appears on previous maps, but also has jagged edges. Irwin also published a new online interactive map depicting the slightly different, more accurate eclipse path, which is about 9,200 miles long and 115 miles wide on average. Red lines on the map represent the original path of totality while the orange line depicts the updated path. Red arrows indicate a loss, while green arrows are a gain.”
Why do I feel like my leg is being pulled ?
Link here (and other places)
That is not a link, that is an email address.
(Fixed link – Rick)
They forgot to account for Lizzo’s mass pulling the moon closer, making it relatively larger than the sun.
Yeah, that’s a lot of water. And it’s about 400 miles under the surface. Time to start preparing your BOL that is at the 5000 foot (current) elevation about sea level.
“Flood (A Novel of the Flood)” by Stephen Baxter
https://www.amazon.com/Flood-Novel-Stephen-Baxter/dp/0451463285?tag=ttgnet-20/
BTW, Big River is wrong. This book is book one of the two book series.
“The Drowned World” by J. G. Ballard
https://www.amazon.com/Drowned-World-Novel-50th-Anniversary/dp/0871403625?tag=ttgnet-20/
Plus there is this book called The Bible. It has a flood in it.
But the ‘law of unintended consequences’ takes effect: their drilling fractures the barrier between the surface and the underground source. The water below, under great pressure, starts a massive flow of the water to the surface. With no way to stop the water flow, the amount of water slowly raises the surface level of the oceans 200 feet in just two years, causing massive effects on the Earth’s population areas.
Hey, my house and and my office building are 81 feet above sea level. That will drown me out !
My son is at 45 feet. My parents are at 24 feet.
Supposedly, 80% ??? of the world lives at less than 100 feet above sea level.
Of course, if Greenland, Iceland, and Antarctica melt, that will raise the oceans 300 ??? feet.
I’m at about 350 feet. My mom, dad, and brother are about 800. Sister and her kid, about 650. My elder son is something over 1000 and my uncle wins the competition at certainly well over 1000. He lives on the side of a mountain, well up there. I’d guess closer to 1500 feet than 1000. My younger son, on the other hand, is currently “several” feet above sea level. With any luck the flood will be slow enough that he can at least bring the stuff up from the cellar.
Fixed the link to the ‘water under the earth’ news story. Thanks.
And that flood in the Bible. Maybe it was caused by a massive meteor passing close to the earth, pulling water to a localized area due to gravitational forces.
As for the book links – interesting. There are no new ideas in fiction, just variations of old stories.
And in regard to the eclipse path – the local weather guy here (Cliff Mass) thinks that the cloud forecasts may cover most of the eclipse path except up in the northeast US, due to the projected path of the subtropical jet stream bringing moisture (and therefore cloud cover) over most of the path.
His blog about it here.
(Insert your opinions about weather forecasters/forecasting … although he is fairly accurate, and does mention that things can change – the various models – which he shows in the blog – show some variations.)
Fixed the link to the ‘water under the earth’ news story. Thanks.
And that flood in the Bible. Maybe it was caused by a massive meteor passing close to the earth, pulling water to a localized area due to gravitational forces.
As for the book links – interesting. There are no new ideas in fiction, just variations of old stories.
You are welcome.
Orson Scott Card wrote a book that I cannot remember the name of conjecturing that the Mediterranean was a huge inland valley 20,000 years ago, sealed by a land bridge at Gibraltar. Parts of the Mediterranean are three miles deep. He broke the land bridge and it flooded in 24 hours or so.
Stephen Baxter wrote another book series about the land bridge between England and France flooding due to rising seas 10,000 years ago. We now call it the English Channel. He had the natives building a sea wall at the tallest part. “Stone Spring: The Northland Trilogy” by Stephen Baxter:
https://www.amazon.com/Stone-Spring-Northland-Stephen-Baxter/dp/045146446X?tag=ttgnet-20/
And that flood in the Bible. Maybe it was caused by a massive meteor passing close to the earth, pulling water to a localized area due to gravitational forces.
My grandparent’s farm was 750 feet above sea level, 20+ miles outside Sherman, Texas. Every time they plowed the west field for wheat and hay, we would go look for shark’s teeth. We would usually pick up a dozen shark’s teeth.
At sometime in the far distant past, the Earth looked way way different.
Just collected eggs. Six today, from the six hens. Six yesterday. Thirty-five eggs from last Wednesday through today. These birds are definitely earning their keep.
You can’t say that for sure … perhaps it was a prehistoric Sharknado.
Several simulations / videos about continental drift and Pangaea . One here ; several other videos on that page. (Another one here )
The engineers aren’t getting dumber, but the managers seem to be dumber now than when I started.
Plus, these days, they are much more likely to be on a controlled substance of some kind, legal or not, and people in general are less shy about pursuing kinks at work.
Since I’ve been back on campus on a regular basis, I’ve noticed that the company banishes smokers completely from the property. I don’t think that is just out of health insurance concerns.
“Progressive Patriarchy: Democrat Governor Brags About Destroying Girls’ Sports in Schools by Vetoing Bill to Ban Trannies”
https://thelibertydaily.com/progressive-patriarchy-democrat-governor-brags-about-destroying-girls/
“This “Progressive Patriarchy”, as Dana Loesch succinctly calls it, is far more damaging to women than the “patriarchy” that feminists have been ranting about for decades. Whereas a traditional patriarchy seeks to confine women to their own spaces, this progressive patriarchy seeks to invade those spaces and replace women with dudes in dresses.”
I don’t understand why the dumbrocrat party gets a single vote anywhere in this nation.
At sometime in the far distant past, the Earth looked way way different.
Understanding Climate: ‘Climate the Movie’
The long range forecast in Austin Sunday night was for clouds next Monday. We’ve been busy so I didn’t see the local Faux News last night.
Ed Dutton claims that IQ in the West is dropping by about 1.5 points per decade. I’m not convinced by the standards and proxies he uses but he’s looked into this a lot more than I so let’s posit that he’s correct. Nine points is the difference between a high school science teacher and a good engineer – not a superstar but not a lumpen. The engineer of today is as bright as the teacher from sixty years ago. Could a thousand high school science teachers in the 1960s have put together the Apollo program? I have my doubts.
The Apollo program at the peak had 220,000 people working on it. A significant percentage of those were engineers, way more than a thousand.
Obama’s place on Martha’s Vineyard is barely above sea level but he doesn’t seem concerned about the oceans rising anytime soon.
“UT-Austin announces round of firings in latest step to comply with Texas’ DEI ban”
https://www.texastribune.org/2024/04/02/university-texas-austin-firings-dei-ban/
“The firings come after state leaders criticized universities for not doing enough to enforce the ban. Students say UT-Austin has already overcorrected.”
They were told by the state legislature to stop using state money to hire DEI and other crap. Now the legislature is getting ready to go after them.
As a reminder, The Texas Tribune is not a real newspaper.
What’s left of the paper of record in Austin is the Statesman, but their stories are frequently paywalled.
The TV stations with news organizations in town are owned by Nexstar, Tenga, Faux, and Sinclair. On Sunday nights, during the 10 PM newscast, Sinclair runs a teaser story for Cheryl Atkison’s “Full Measure” at midnight, but that is usually the limit of any reporting not biased left in the market.
We generally watch Faux because, like the company-owned station in Tampa, they spend money on the weather department.
RIP.
https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/joe-flaherty-sctv-freaks-geeks-actor-dies-82-rcna146053
That’s interesting. “Paper of record” is more than a marketing term to connote importance. It’s a legal term meaning that the government can have notices or records printed and it counts as properly notifying the public. These had better not be behind a paywall.
Vaguely related, does anyone remember when President Trump blocked some people from viewing his Twitter account and they sued and a federal court asserted that his Twitter account was a public communication because of the way he used it and therefore he could not block anyone. But later, pre-Musk Twitter suspended or cancelled Trump’s account while he was still President and a different court found that he couldn’t demand that Twitter reinstate it because they’re a private company. I’m not the only one having trouble reconciling these two court filings. Well-known legal analysts who actually finished law school also had trouble.
I need to do the taxes. I don’t want to do the taxes. Be An Adult, right?
Everything I’ve read seems to say you don’t owe capital gains if you made less than $250,000 filing single when you sell a house. It was Mom’s but the lawyer did a thing to take Dad off of the deed and put me on the deed but Mom could do whatever she wanted with the house. Rent it, sell it, light a bonfire in the living room, it’s her house but when she dies it’s my house. I sold my house.
Not for the fabulous amount the RE dude listed it for. Yeah, 98 grand and no lookers. Dropped it to 84 grand and no lookers. I sense a trend here of being milked $400 every eight weeks for “The Gardener” to mow the yard.
The guy that bought the house offered 40 grand. I countered with a couple of grand more than the property tax valuation. It sold for about 58 and after all of the “stuff” I put 51 grand into the bank.
I have received no tax forms from anyone concerning the sale. From what I’ve read on various IRS pages, I don’t think I need to do anything special. I’m well under the $250,000 mark.
I have no idea what it cost to build the house. Other than Dad borrowing $9,000 from my insurance settlement after my motorcycle wreck, other than pouring the slab they built it a bit at a time with the money he got from his Marine retirement. Way back in ‘78 to ’80. What did cinder blocks and 2x8s cost back then ?
That $9,000? After the lawyer took his third and the hospital took it’s third, Dad borrowed the money from my third and left me with about $2400 which I slowly frittered away over three years. One of the oddest questions I’ve ever had was Dad asking me if we were even. I said I have no clue, I didn’t keep track but the random $100 check almost every month from ‘80 to ’86 was very appreciated. He just got a strange look on his face. Hey Dad, why would I even think you ripped me off? Water under the bridge……
When your Mom passed in 2020 ???, you inherited her share ? So that portion got upgraded to the current value, usually the tax value. Or the Zillow value on the day she passed.
When your Dad passed in 2000 ???, you inherited his share ? So that portion got upgraded to the current value, usually the tax value.
This is way too complicated. I would set the basis at the tax value and declare it to be such. I doubt that you made a profit.
For that $250,000 value, you had to have lived in the house for at least two of the previous five years.
I am not a tax accountant or lawyer, nor do I play one on TV.
Did you spend any money fixing up or cleaning the house before you sold it ?
The Statesman is a joke. The freebie Greensheet, last time I saw one, was more paper. The last time I paid attention, the Statesman is thin and the actual sheets of paper are about 2/3rds size. Oh, and $2.50 per copy for a daily newspaper?
But hey, they have color pictures now!
I have no idea what it cost to build the house. Other than Dad borrowing $9,000 from my insurance settlement after my motorcycle wreck, other than pouring the slab they built it a bit at a time with the money he got from his Marine retirement. Way back in ‘78 to ’80. What did cinder blocks and 2x8s cost back then ?
Plus the cost of the lot.
The IRS is staffed by arrogant pr*cks who don’t know the law or accounting.
When you made that deposit, the bank notified the IRS. A couple years from now, one of the 87,000 DEI employees may quit surfing pron and follow up on the notice. Follow-up does not involve any level of investigation; the stupid IRS agents just assume you got $51,000 of unreported income, refigure your taxes for that tax year and send you a notice for the unpaid tax, plus penalties and interest, accumulated over the time it took them to do the follow-up.
I have received such notices from the IRS 2 times. Each time, they wanted over $50,000 in taxes and penalties and interest. Each time, I was forced to do paperwork to make it go away. Never did I actually have to pay extra money.
My brother received such a notice, didn’t follow up, and ended up with liens placed on his property. When I took over his affairs, I had to hire a lawyer to get rid of the liens so I could sell the real estate.
Keep your closing statement, and consider filing a tax return with capitol gain/loss filled out.
As Lynn says, I am not a professional, but I am experienced. I pay a professional to do my taxes now.
I kept the utilities turned on and paid the property taxes after Mom moved here. Mom lost her “pay the bills” function after one of her spells. Then she went to the nursing home for a few years.
The realtor had his “gardener” clean the house and boy did he, of all appliances and furniture, and mow the yard an average of every two months. The house wasn’t dirty to start with.
I figure the house might be worth about 58 grand when I sold it. That’s what the tax assessor said. That’s on the high side. I have no paperwork showing what they spent to build the house. It never had a bank loan.
Any documents are long gone just due to time and oh, yeah, the tiny water leak that flooded the house caused everything to go to the dump.
The lot was $1200. I remember this because I somehow bought the lot next door.
A tornado touched down about 15 miles from here as the crow travels, 25 miles driving. Small town, mostly rundown buildings. In some cases the tornado did the owner(s) of the building a favor. Sunbright TN is little more than a wide spot in the road with a convenience store, mortuary, a bank, a few minor businesses and a school to support the surrounding area.
What is really annoying is the local newscasts scrambling over themselves to try and beat the other stations coverage. Endless repetition and safety advice from a weather person who is too stupid to get out of the rain. Facebook had better, and more, coverage than any of the news stations. In a week there will be the promotional videos about being the first, being the best, being the most accurate, when in reality, they all suck.
Dad borrowed the money from my third and left me with about $2400 which I slowly frittered away over three years
– that’s funny, it’s exactly what I did with my parents. I think I got $10K as my third, I paid off the folks mortgage (at that point there wasn’t much left) and they wrote me the mortgage check every month. I couldn’t blow it all on fast times and loose women… I don’t recall what I spent part of the lump sum on, but I think I took around a grand and bought something…
It was all gone in a few years in any case.
n
Unlikely. However, a much more likely “natural explanation” of the Flood is https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burckle_Crater. A likely bolide impact site in the Indian Ocean. The resulting tsunami would race up past the Horn of Africa, inundating the entire Sinai, flooding northern Egypt and much of the Middle East. This would explain the Flood, and similar flood stories about the destruction of Egypt, and most of Babylonia, and providing a basis for the Gilgamesh epics. The other way (because tsunamis spread in all directions) would tie in with the flood stories from Dreamtime Australia. And there are erosion “chevrons” in the mountains of Madagascar…..
God doesn’t need miracles; He has PHYSICS!
Archaeologists have been investigating a dig site called Tall el-Hamman in Jordan, just northeast of the Dead Sea. It was a thriving Bronze Age city about 3700 years ago.
Some of the pottery shards excavated show signs of intense heat; enough to turn one side of the shards to glass. The area may have been destroyed by the explosion of a meteorite, with the equivalent energy of a 10 megaton nuclear explosion.
https://www.universetoday.com/140752/a-meteor-may-have-exploded-in-the-air-3700-years-ago-obliterating-communities-near-the-dead-sea/
The name of the place? Sodom.
Looks Like One of Biden’s Tall Tales About His Background Just Got Called Out…by Joe Biden
https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2024/04/02/looks-like-one-of-bidens-tall-tales-about-his-background-just-got-called-outby-joe-biden-n2172214
Yanno…
He was visiting Mission Control the day of the moon landing and Neil Armstrong asked his advice on flying the lander.
Dale Earnhardt called him in 1987 to make sure Joe “The Intimidator” Biden was ok with Dale using the nickname, too.
He complains that they won’t let him fly Air Force One after he did “loops” the first time.
He’s designed the new Bay Bridge but refuses to take the credit.
The only question that stumped him in the last 3 years was when LeBron called him from China to ask how to dribble without carrying the ball, and he had to confess that he didn’t know either.
That’s not the story I heard. Way I heard tell, Ol’ Joe took the stick of Marine One and was doing barrel rolls the whole way. The pilots were jealous of his mad skillz so they got together and had him banned from the cockpit because he was making them look bad.
Time for bed. I’m putting the shiatsu massager down, and going to bed. I can’t believe how well this thing works. With a bit of shifting around, I can get it to hit stuff on my back I didn’t even know needed to be worked on.
I don’t know about longevity, but so far I’m impressed.
n
We’re at a few thousand – y’all enjoy your swim 😛
The Mediterranean really was a dry valley that flooded, but a loooong time ago, and it flooded slowly. Still, people may have seen evidence and understood what happened, leading to tales of a great flood. It is astounding, what ancient societies knew and discovered, without any of modern tech.
Super punchline, Ken!
Following your previous recommendation, I bought one from big river for Christmas for W1. It was DOA, so I returned it for credit. Perhaps I should try again.