Not so cool in the am, warming later. Should be clear. It was nice yesterday although it did get into the mid 80s. Breeze was nice too.
Although I didn’t get out much in the nice weather, I did get a bunch of small things done or underway in the house. About half way through the day, I found out my Wednesday obligation got moved to Tuesday… which makes my day very short. That meant trouble doing my pickups. BUT when I looked at them, I found I could delay all of them to today. So today I’ve got a bunch of stuff to pick up in a bunch of places. I will be making a BIG loop as I hit all the auctioneers. It also adds two pickups to the loop that I would have had to go back for today. Saves a trip and gas…
Gas is averaging around $3.30/ gallon last week and this week. You can find it cheaper, but that’s what I see most often. I’m also noticing more “small” fills at the pump, seeing round dollar amounts as people add just enough gas to get by… $10 and even $20 doesn’t buy much mobility any more.
Between the war drums in the middle East, and our own strife here at home, I am surprised gas isn’t more expensive. I know it’s an election year and TPTB want to keep gas low, but the tool for them to do that, selling the SPR to drive down prices, isn’t an option anymore. Pressuring OPEC is another tactic but the war parties need OPEC more than OPEC needs them at the moment. Sh!te is about to get real for a lot of people who have been just ‘getting by’ and using credit cards to make up the difference. There is about to be a serious contraction in discretionary spending. I don’t think the summer driving season it going to be very big this year.
I wouldn’t want to be in the Hospitality or Travel sectors either. I could be wrong. The people with covid campers might see it as a cheap getaway. And some people might figure that blowing the last of their remaining credit before throwing in the towel is the way to go out with a bang. People are funny, and trying to predict the future is hard. Spending more money to get what you need leaves less for what you want. The prudent already know this. Fix it up, wear it out, or do without. The profligate are going to learn at some point.
Still time to stack some reserves though. Put a little by for later, while you can.
nick
The Sheriff occasionally sets up near the schools at the 30 day mark to check for out of state tags or expired Texas registrations, but this is an unincorporated area,, not the city.
Remember “Defund a po-lice?” Austin took that seriously and, IIRC, they’re down by a couple of academy graduating classes worth of manpower.
DPS (State Troopers) filled in where necessary to make sure that the state capital was reasonably secure, but then they got pulled under accusations of racism.
As long as the credit cards clear, people will use them to travel or, at a minimum, order Door Dash sushi.
What I find really interesting is that the Door Dash/Uber Eats/Favor drivers are the people behind the wheel of the $60-80k vehicles – Ford Lightning, Tesla, loaded Subarus, and even a Rivian truck.
A Thai restaurant near the house has a lot of traffic from those services.
I know Toro gets discussed at the dealerships locally when people want that $80k Lariat but can’t swing the monthly payment even after the F&I weasel throws in repossession of the $60k truck bought three years ago but is still under water. Maybe driving for the delivery services is now part of the finance package.
Turo. Grrr.
Still, I gotta wonder what owners of pricey cars are thinking when they put their vehicles up for rent through that service.
I’ve seen attendants pulling all kinds of garbage out of rental cars in return lanes when we travel. People are pigs.
Waitress! More bread!
https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2024/04/16/orlando-based-red-lobster-considers-filing-for-bankruptcy-report-says/
The bottomless shrimp deals get the blame, but biscuit production, where the end result will pass muster in The South, particularly among the Sunday after-church crowd, cannot be automated.
I doubt Red Lobster is popular among users of the delivery services since they can’t call the drivers back for “More bread!”
Funny weather here. It’s not unusual to get a late snow at the end of March, but in mid-April? We had about 10cm overnight, and dribs and drabs forecast for the rest of the week. Plus freezing temperatures at night – that’s may be a disaster for the fruit growers, because the fruit trees were in full bloom. We’ll see how hard it freezes: if it’s only -1 or -2, the trees might be ok…
Killing time before a meeting at 15:00 that I am not looking forward to. Without a lot of luck, the meeting will be dominated by interpersonal politics, and what should take 30 minutes may well take 2-3 hours. If I were chairing it, I could move things along, but in this case I am just a lowly participant. We’ll see…
Yep. This is what a real “War on Drugs” looks like. Those tankers bringing in precursors? That would end after several were sunk. Of course, this will never happen. We are the FUSA, and we are pussies.
Warm and bordering on muggy this morning. Medium overcast too, although the sun is peeking thru in places.
Neighbors are having their front yard turf replaced, and sprinklers installed. Now there is someone measuring for sprinklers at the neighbor on the other side of me too. Shabbiest house on the block… our lawn is suffering from “brown patch” and lack of sunlight. I’m not one for keeping up with the Jones’s but I don’t want to attract attention either. I might have to get some professional help with the grass this year.
n
SCOTUS Exposes Biden DOJ Prosecution Corruption
https://thefederalist.com/2024/04/17/oral-argument-in-j6-scotus-case-lays-bare-dojs-partisan-lawfare/
Aaargh. When did yesterday become today? The time zones bit me! Ah well, consider my “yesterday’s” comments “today’s”.
My excuse: I went down the internet rabbit hole selecting scope mounts for the auction purchase rifle. I ordered some Talley’s. They look good, being an integrated base/ring combo that cuts some weight and messing around with additional clamping rings.
https://www.talleymanufacturing.com/product/weatherby-vanguard-scope-mounts/
I found a Winchester-branded 1.5-6x 40 30mm-tube scope NIB on the “optics” shelf in my home office. That’ll do nicely.
https://www.holtsauctioneers.com/asp/fullcatalogue.asp?salelot=S1014+++3820A&refno=+++81719&saletype=
Goodness, how I hate the markup on gub stuff from the US sold on this side of the pond. Someone is getting rich, and it is not I…
@Denis
That‘ll be fun to shoot when you’re done. We get hit hard in Alaska with shipping costs. A $2 item on a commerce site becomes $50 at checkout because the site builders / seller can’t be bothered to find reasonable shipping options for AK and default to overnight air delivery. Dumb.
Sorry – no can do. I am only allowed to use my powers for good.
Re @SteveF’s picture and small screens causing readability issues; I may look into that. Probably an issue with the theme CSS not adjusting images for smaller screens. Looks fine on my laptop screen.
As for the source of the pictures: that was the most ‘family-friendly’ picture I could find of @SteveF. I was glad I had the search filter set to ‘safe’.
The no-pants lifestyle is only for the resolute!
Thanks, Rick H. Today’s page displays as normal, so SteveF obviously broke the internet yesterday.
We get the same ordering from overseas. Typical is a USD 10 item, plus USD 50 shipping, because the seller can’t put it in an envelope, weigh it and lick a USPS stamp. I bought a pair of Weaver-brand scope mount bases today: less than 10 bucks retail in the US, 46 bucks plus postage here.
To add insult to injury, local customs will stop and delay anything thicker than a single-sheet-of-paper letter for at least a month, then charge 30 bucks “inspection fee” to release it. If they actually condescend to open it and look inside, they will also add import duties based on their official and objective assessment of how much they would like to charge today, even if the original invoice is right there in the package looking at them. The charges are payable even when they lost (or vanished) the contents.
A joyful noise! Good for you, Jenny. I play a few instruments too, but I rarely take the time to do so these days. You might inspire me to get back to it. https://youtu.be/rtqfn2Fy9yA
The police cannot stop a vehicle for a license or insurance check. They must have another reason for a law being broken, taillight out, speeding, failure to stop, etc. Just stopping for random checks is against the law. The police can institute checkpoints for DUI but only for that purpose. Asking for license or proof of insurance at such checkpoints is not allowed unless DUI is suspected. In the case the police must smell booze (or other chemicals), see an open container, or other evidence of DUI.
We used to send cookies to former exchange students. Six homemade chocolate cookies, in an envelope, started costing $25.00, as everything going overseas must be 1st class.
There’s a thing called the “three block rule”, the distance a cop has to follow the average driver before he makes a traffic violation.
More like the one block rule around here…
With our firmer whisky business, we had that once. Some customs doober claimed to want to test the alcohol content. Took two bottles. We told him that we wanted the rest returned, after a reasonable scientific sample was removed. Never saw the bottles again, of course.
Oh, there was the time that the entire top layer of a palette disappeared. That was too big to ignore, so got them checking camera footage. But whoever did it knew where the cameras were…
Latest of the ‘robot overlords’ from Boston Dynamics: https://youtu.be/29ECwExc-_M?si=pF5A648fOGKuacNL
@Denis – I fixed issue that caused @SteveF’s photo to bork the layout on your ‘fancy-pants phone’.
Apologies for allowing the picture to overpower your screen. It was actually @SteveF’s fault, you know.
I doubt that. It was clearly Global Warming Cooling Climate Change.
I don’t quite understand their real market for robots like that. Likely there isn’t one. That said, it makes for incredible publicity. Scary, but incredible.
Not so out here. Any DUI checkpoint they can and often do ask for license, registration and proof of insurance. The reports after are usually 2-5 DUIs and many more registration and insurance missing. Not only to they then get fines there’s the impound. Very profitable.
Many thanks, Rick. Yesterday’s page indeed displays perfectly now, apart from the woegeous issue that there is a picture of SteveF on it!
“Scary” is an understatement. Not sure if I can sleep after watching that…
Very disruptive!
The nerve of some people. He makes breakfast and I make supper. I load the dishwasher and he unloads it. Then I put away the stuff he can’t find a place for and put away the ziplock tubs and lids after they are dry.
Simple, right? Today I had to unload the dishwasher and put everything away. Harumph!!!
I wonder how much time you have to return stuff at Wal-Mart? I gave the kids the store brand Columbian k-cups. Three and a half 96 k-cups per box. I’d never drink it. HEB is often out of store brand sugar free Metamucil. So is Wal-Mart. I buy 3 or 4 when it’s in stock. I’m already there for coffee k-cups. There were three in the cupboard. That’s almost $75.
I found the receipt. If it been too long, oh well. They can throw it away.
>> My wife has an offer to buy her townhome in the Dallas area. It is ok but the purchaser wants her to pay $8,000 of their closing costs. The wife is going to counter offer.
Also, the purchaser is getting a 5% down, 6.75% 30 year loan. I thought that those were gone.
Hmm, I’d wager a guess that replacement tile would cost…oh, say,$7995?
Will the house appraise for the loan amount?
The County Appraisal District just lowered their value of the property from $423K to $406K. Hopefully the appraiser will hit at least $400K.
Between the war drums in the middle East, and our own strife here at home, I am surprised gas isn’t more expensive. I know it’s an election year and TPTB want to keep gas low, but the tool for them to do that, selling the SPR to drive down prices, isn’t an option anymore. Pressuring OPEC is another tactic but the war parties need OPEC more than OPEC needs them at the moment. Sh!te is about to get real for a lot of people who have been just ‘getting by’ and using credit cards to make up the difference. There is about to be a serious contraction in discretionary spending. I don’t think the summer driving season it going to be very big this year.
There is not much left in the SPR.
Our former friend and ally, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia, got his feelings hurt when Slow Joe let his people talk about that journalist that was annoying him that died mysteriously. Sun Tzu says never do the King a small hurt. Obviously, Slow Joe never read Sun Tzu.
So, the crown prince of SA wants to punish Slow Joe. And, he wants to maximize the price of crude oil that he has left to sell. And his USA Dollars are dropping in value due to Bidenflation. So, ain’t no discounts coming from Saudi Arabia any time soon.
Between the war drums in the middle East, and our own strife here at home, I am surprised gas isn’t more expensive.
BTW, my favorite Shell by my house has unleaded regular 87 octane for $3.129 / US gallon cash. Great price. Diesel is $3.499 / US gallon cash.
Credit cards are 10 cents / US gallon more.
Many thanks, Rick. Yesterday’s page indeed displays perfectly now, apart from the woegeous issue that there is a picture of SteveF on it!
My son’s beard is about 18 inches long right now. Much longer than SteveFs. And my son just shaved his head again.
I wouldn’t want to be in the Hospitality or Travel sectors either. I could be wrong. The people with covid campers might see it as a cheap getaway. And some people might figure that blowing the last of their remaining credit before throwing in the towel is the way to go out with a bang. People are funny, and trying to predict the future is hard. Spending more money to get what you need leaves less for what you want. The prudent already know this. Fix it up, wear it out, or do without. The profligate are going to learn at some point.
A lot of people are moving into their campers now. “The Dirt-Cheap Survival Retreat: One Man’s Solution” by M.D. Creekmore
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1983810592?tag=ttgnet-20/
Yep. This is what a real “War on Drugs” looks like. Those tankers bringing in precursors? That would end after several were sunk. Of course, this will never happen. We are the FUSA, and we are pussies.
You forgot the words “belt fed weapons”.
Gas at the Shell in town was $5.05 when I went by today.
Guess I should top off the tank before the balloon goes up.
Latest of the ‘robot overlords’ from Boston Dynamics: https://youtu.be/29ECwExc-_M?si=pF5A648fOGKuacNL
How would you like to work on an assembly line next to one of those at Tesla or Mercedes ? That bot looks about 10X stronger than me. Maybe 20X. You may get assembled too.
““Import a New Electorate”: Congress Alarmed by Flyers in Mexico Urging Illegal Aliens to Vote for Traitor Joe”
https://thelibertydaily.com/import-new-electorate-congress-alarmed-flyers-mexico-urging/
“(The Daily Signal)—The “vote for President Biden” flyers found at a center for migrants in Mexico constitute foreign meddling in U.S. elections, congressional Republicans say.”
“Amid the ongoing crisis of illegal immigration at the southern border, the lawmakers decried flyers posted at the migrant services center near Brownsville, Texas, that tell illegal aliens: “Reminder to vote for President Biden when you are in the United States.””
Just another reason to deport all of our new friends.
plugsy McSpongeBrain is out telling more lies about his family and tRump. The LSM gives him a pass. The sheeple don’t care. The FreeShitArmy will vote for plugsy.
I still have a tRump win at less than 50/50. A lot of people think tRump’s trial will give him a boost. I’m not so sure unless there is a unanimous not guilty. The use of lawfare against tRump will be in the history books for generations to come.
Attention Dumbocrats and PLTs: what goes around, comes around.
“Tesla Cybertruck No Match For Car Wash”
https://jalopnik.com/tesla-cybertruck-no-match-for-car-wash-1851417011
“Interestingly the user doesn’t mention whether Tesla was able to offer any insight as to why the truck decided to stop working, if it was caused by the car wash or something else entirely. The Cybertruck’s owners manual does caution against ever washing the truck in direct sunlight, and there is a section expressly mentioning that the truck has to be switched into “Car Wash Mode” before washing to avoid damage to parts of the vehicle.”
Are you kidding me ? And a complete reboot of the Cybertruck takes five hours ?
Trucks are suppose to be rugged. This truck is not.
The kitchen ceiling light has never really satisfied me. It’s pretty in a flying saucer hugging the ceiling way. Just not right. You are in your shadow at the sink or stove. It’s about 25 years old, I forget, I don’t save every receipt. I’m actually not that anal.
Anyway. It uses two circline tubes. A 32 watt and a 40 watt. I gave up trying to find the incandescent wattage equivalents. Because I don’t care at all about CFL bulbs. The best I found seems to be both tubes together equals about 250 incandescent.
It’s been acting up. One tube lights and the 40w tube takes about an hour. I’m just not going to mess with it.
I replaced the fixture with this: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CF2N7ZRG?tag=ttgnet-20 13.5 watts. From the living room, compared to the LED Phillips 75w flood equivalents in the dining room recessed lights, I’m going with “about 100w of light”. Nice color, too.
I found my roll of 3M aluminum tape and covered the mounting holes in the fixture. While connecting the wires I could feel a breeze.
I still have a tRump win at less than 50/50. A lot of people think tRump’s trial will give him a boost. I’m not so sure unless there is a unanimous not guilty. The use of lawfare against tRump will be in the history books for generations to come.
Me too. The Millennials hate Trump with a passion. If they break tradition and come out and vote against him, Trump is sunk.
The wildcard here is that older Blacks and Hispanics are not happy with the dumbrocrats support of the trans people. Very unhappy. I am not sure if this is enough for them to vote repuglican.
I plan to vote for Trump. He pisses off so many of the “chosen ones” he has to be doing something right. I thought he did a good job with a lot of bad advisors. I expect the cheating to go into overtime to get FJB a second term.
And that’s cool. Sort of. Because if the economy pukes like some folks say, the Democrats will own it.
Will the Dems cheat that much for Biden? Or will they throw the election and give Trump another term?
We will see. Stack groceries and ammo and other supplies while we wait.
During the week I attended Death Star scab training in Atlanta, the gay student association at one of the traditionally black colleges in town voted 102-3 to support the college’s ban on crossdressing in the classroom.
I’ll never forget the “man on the street” interview with one black woman I saw at breakfast in the hotel when asked if she thought that the issue was akin to the civil rights struggle. “No. You can take off that dress, boy.”
An acquittal will become another score for Big Mike to settle with The Orange Devil.
And after Big Mike gets that Orange Devil, he’s comin’ for the rest of you.
I plan to vote for Trump. He pisses off so many of the “chosen ones” he has to be doing something right. I thought he did a good job with a lot of bad advisors. I expect the cheating to go into overtime to get FJB a second term.
And that’s cool. Sort of. Because if the economy pukes like some folks say, the Democrats will own it.
Will the Dems cheat that much for Biden? Or will they throw the election and give Trump another term?
We will see. Stack groceries and ammo and other supplies while we wait.
Yes, Trump did a good job with bad advisors, including his kids and their spouses. All I wanted was one conservative SCOTUS judge, I got three. Everything else Trump did, I got a bonus.
Did Trump mismanage covid ? Yes. Did Fauci and scarf lady lie to Trump ? Yes, they had Trump convinced that Covid was going to kill 10% of the USA. Me too ! Fauci and scarf lady need to pay for their lies and causing covid but I doubt that will happen.
I am worried that Biden is going to get a world war going and then join in at the worst possible moment. The Israel and Ukraine things are not settled in the slightest. I am still waiting for the nukes to fly.
The environment inside the car wash probably overloaded the optical system software which the vehicle uses to “see” the world.
At the tolling company, the flexible barrier “sticks” used to separate toll lanes from the rest of the freeway would jiggle slightly in the Santa Ana winds out in California, and the randomness drove the company’s proprietary optical vehicle tracking system crazy.
Whether or not FSD is active, my guess is that the car is always modeling the environment.
“This Is Why the Price of Gasoline Could Soon Double”
https://thelibertydaily.com/this-is-why-price-gasoline-could-soon-double/
“(The Economic Collapse Blog)—Can you imagine paying seven dollars for a gallon of gasoline? It could soon happen, because it appears that Israel is about to strike Iran, and that is likely to cause events in the Middle East to spiral completely out of control. Right now, approximately one-fifth of all oil used in the world goes through the Strait of Hormuz. An apocalyptic war in the region could potentially close the Strait of Hormuz until the conflict is resolved one way or the other.”
“In addition, oil infrastructure could be destroyed in Iran and other nations in the Middle East as the fighting rages, and that could substantially reduce global oil production for an extended period of time. Our way of life depends on cheap oil, and so if a major regional war in the Middle East causes the price of oil to go skyrocketing that is going to deeply affect all of us.”
I read an oil and natural gas blog last week that if Israel hits Iran in the pocket book, their oil fields, that expects the price of crude oil to go to $300 / US barrel. This will be devastating to the world’s economy. The entire world is built on cheap energy and the world has not had cheap energy outside the USA. The USA and Saudi Arabia are just about the only countries with robust economies and cheap energy. If anything else happens, the world is going to hurt mightily and those people are going to try to get even with the USA and Saudi Arabia.
“Supreme Court Rules 7-2 for Veteran Seeking Education Benefits”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/us/supreme-court-rules-7-2-for-veteran-seeking-education-benefits-5630836?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=TheLibertyDaily
“Loss for Biden administration could open the floodgates to veterans seeking education benefits under two different GI bills.”
Typical liberals, trying to deny EARNED benefits from veterans.
Whether or not FSD is active, my guess is that the car is always modeling the environment.
Do you agree that five hours to reboot the truck is very excessive ?
Squeezbox just played Donna Summer’s version of “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”. I don’t know, she sounds sort of thin and reedy. And I really like Donna Summer.
Karen Carpenter did a much better job.
Oh, KT Oslin is coming on. “Two Hearts”. Ouch … for the truth.
Five hours to reboot the truck is insane.
You may get assembled too.
“ NO DISASSEMBLE JOHNNY 5!!!’”
n
Excessive but not surprising. The truck probably lots of ERoTs which need to be checked from a cold boot in order to completely bring up the system from zero.
I imagine that the software is bloated. The talent pool around here isn’t deep, especially with regard to C++.
Big Mike
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXIHly7o8F6EzV97iLEifDukpq_5FnsRllmPOywSwl3BVACclByHb2s7d908JM-T75uhmh86GaUp34T-ua6w3RFwrl-uJDYoeT962mSGEGxqNvAMm5ZXTBELO5fx3hDN7HTZcu_DhAOyU4hPGZB6PSLkd_7R6w9QdlTdqTLWyBODwe4gvV-hfjP_mG6u4u/s1170/1%20(30).jpg
n
Question for Greg.
I’ve read folks can cover their plates with tape. Like, the clear stuff folks use for traction on their skateboards. Stuff comes eight or ten inches wide. Has a sort of prism effect. And the cameras can’t read the numbers. But human eyes can read the plates fine.
True? Maybe true? Or pure BS?
I mean, I have a TXtag. Avoiding tolls is not my goal. Preventing random street lights from tracking me seems to be a good thing.
Some types of tape might be opaque at longer wavelengths so it is definitely possible if the plate camera is infrared.
Mythbusters tried all the things you can buy online, but they used regular cams, so I didn’t think their results were valid. They found nothing worked to obscure the number.
At night, really bright IR strobes next to the plate might “white out” the camera, but during the day they use visible light.
I had several of the cams and strobes they USED to use that I bought in a surplus auction. Normal video cams… probably specialized IP based cams now.
n
If the point is evading plate readers, your best bet is to interfere with the mechanism used to trigger the capture at the right time and not try to fool the camera.
Excessive but not surprising. The truck probably lots of ERoTs which need to be checked from a cold boot in order to completely bring up the system from zero.
Do not google “ERoTs” ! NSFW.
And, what in the world is an “ERoTs” ?
I imagine that the software is bloated. The talent pool around here isn’t deep, especially with regard to C++.
All software written in higher languages is bloated.
I wrote a square root routine in IBM 370 assembler in 1979 for CS 204. It was about 280 statements using only integers, no floating point whatsoever. But, it was floating point because that was the requirement.
If the point is evading plate readers, your best bet is to interfere with the mechanism used to trigger the capture at the right time and not try to fool the camera.
I have heard that the license plate flipper technology is the best. Apparently quite a few people around here use it.
https://www.licenseplateflipper.com/
Just print a fake paper tag…
n
… or take your 4-wheeler muddin’.
External Root of Trust. The various devices in the system don’t start until the firmware driving them is certified as free of malware.
We have one piece of new hardware which can take up to 20 minutes to fully boot and reach a point where the management system can communicate with it.
Five hours is a crazy amount of devices, and the Jesus Truck probably can’t be shut down cold without bad things happening.
Summer has come to the desert.
High today was 88 with 7% RH.
Some real info near the end…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-13315181/millionaire-homeowners-quadruple-five-years.html
n
the newsletter my financial advisors publish had this bit of fluff in it today…
— I’m pretty sure that if you needed to be told this, you are not capable of benefiting from it.
n
External Root of Trust. The various devices in the system don’t start until the firmware driving them is certified as free of malware.
We have one piece of new hardware which can take up to 20 minutes to fully boot and reach a point where the management system can communicate with it.
Five hours is a crazy amount of devices, and the Jesus Truck probably can’t be shut down cold without bad things happening.
I will pass. This is crazy.
ICE for vehicles, except in limited and controlled circumstances. Like golf carts or industrial trucks.
n
Good morning. The rains seem to have passed for the time being, and the sun is shining. Birds a-tweeting. Time to get up from the PC and be active.
>> I’m pretty sure that if you needed to be told this, you are not capable of benefiting from it.
Obviously for their non-rocket scientist clients.