Cool and clear, warming later. It was basically a beautiful day yesterday and I’m expecting the same today.
Did my big loop of pickups yesterday. Went without issues. Got stuff for home, BOL, and everyday living. Some is deep backup, some is more “shallow”, like the solar panel. My feeling is that you can’t use something you don’t have, so better to have it.
Today will be mostly taken up with me shopping for and then cooking a special dinner for my wife, and the kids will benefit too. D2’s birthday, our weekend trip to the BOL, and other factors combined to make today the day, no matter if it actually matches the calendar or not. I’m thinking surf and turf, but we’ll see what we can find fresh. Of course there is plenty in the freezer, if it came to that, but I’d like to keep benefiting from western civilization as long as we can.
I spent a bit of time trying to come up with another paragraph about the fall, but I went to bed instead. It’s falling, locally and globally. Internalize that idea, and figure out how you’ll live with it.
And stack, for Pete’s sake, and your own…
n
I don’t know if this made national wires, but the local Faux News photographer was still in jail at the beginning of the 10 PM broadcast.
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/ut-texas-protest-palestine-israel-gaza-rally-college-university-campus
Gaza is a mess, and I’m not going to comment on it further, at least not in this comment.
What I did want to say is this: the way people throw around the word “genocide” is irritating. Genocide is the “systematic extermination of a national, racial, religious, or ethnic group”. There is no “systematic extermination” in Gaza. If there were, instead of 20,000 there would be 2 million dead. Wiping out Gaza would be easier than this painful, step-by-step pacification.
This is a story that makes me wonder WWID (What Would I Do):
Just When We Thought ‘Drag Queen Story Hour’ Couldn’t POSSIBLY Get Any More Repugnant…
I would never let my kids (and they never did) attend a drag show. The parents sitting there with their kids are inculcating them to hate a specific national group of people. Yet, they are the first ones to call you a RAYCISSSS! just for being WHITEY! I’ll be 69 in June, and if I happened to be there, I would kick that clown right in his big ole’ nutsack. I’m sure I would be arrested and maybe even beaten by the crowd. I can afford jail, court, and punishment for this shite. I’m sure I would also be charged with a hate crime since I’m WHITEY!
Being a rational person, I would never be there in the first place. However, you never know when some clown face drag doosh might show up at the grocery store spouting off trash.
PS The photo of the wood chipper towards the bottom of the article sums up the “drag queen” movement of today.
We’ve always had clowns in our culture. In the past, no one took them seriously though, and they were reviled and scorned. Not celebrated.
—————–
70F and overcast this morning. Some dark overcast off in the distance and it feels like rain… but this is Houston, next to the Gulf, and there’s no telling…
==========
Coffee, it is good.
n
Now we have a well-connected world and platforms to spread the vile message of the clowns. Years in the past these were isolated pods of misfits and sub-humans. Now they can spread their deviant behavior with ease. Anyone who criticizes their abnormal behavior is consider a homophobic racist individual.
The absolute proof that I don’t have a genie lamp with wishes left?
All the Hamasholes on American university campuses haven’t been instantaneously transported to Ramah/-ding-dong
Ray, nice pictures, and well organized teams. We didn’t have baseball or softball where I attended school, or I would have attempted to play. Baseball was the only school sport I was decent at, and I played in pickup games when I could. Fun.
Is there any way to scroll from a single picture view to the next picture without going up to the thumbnail view? I am viewing this on my phone, which is where I start my day.
One of Weinstein’s convictions overturned, re-trial needed. He’s still in his 70s, in jail for 16 years on a different rape charge. Realistically, he’s going to die in jail. Who is paying all the attorney costs, and why?
In related news, where is the Epstein list?
Yes. There is a link at the top of each large image that says Next. Also Previous and Index.
If Epstein’s client list is ever released, Congress won’t be able to make a quorum to do business the next day. And the city of Washington, D.C. would be depopulated. The FBI will never release that list because a large number of senior FBI leaders are ON that list.
It is in a sealed mayonnaise jar on Funk and Wagnel’s front porch. Guarded by the Hillary mafia.
@brad:
You need to ask that? Too much of its content is shared with another list, the one that enumerates the “rich and powerful”.
Or so I think.
G.
I see I’m not alone in that opinion.
G.
Disney, but I’m guessing.
Beyond the value of their ownership of the Miramax catalog being essentially nil with Weinstein in prison, Burbank put a ton of money into “The Acolyte” series at Lucasfilm, and they don’t want the press to read “produced by former assistant to the disgraced Harvey Weinstein assistant Leslye Headland”, at least in whats left of the mainstream media.
When the series tanks – and it will – they want to be able to blame the fans not being able to handle the stunning and brave women lead characters, not the inexperienced show runner and creepy groomer themes she included despite having her fingerprints all over what went down in Weinstein’s office on her watch.
A lot of money poured into “The Acolyte” has disappeared overseas. One of the reasons for the recent proxy fight with Nelson Peltz was to keep the auditors out of England.
Ooops. Disney sold Miramax in 2010.
My granddaughter, a senior at USC, could not make it to classroom yesterday. Why are the Hamasholes punishing her for what their leaders did?
Because American academics tremble at the sound of a Middle Eastern accent, especially one which draws authority from “the religion of peace”.
No one wants to be the first university president to experience a mass murder event perpetrated by one of the adherents getting even for some perceived slight against The Prophet.
Gotta protect that soup bowl.
Thanks, Ray. Now on my desktop, and can clearly see the Next and Previous buttons. They are very hard to use on my phone, but that is the joy of portability.
The teams seem to have a pretty good skill level, and the games are probably enjoyable to watch. Very nice uniforms. Things have come a long way since my HS days.
Your action shots are very good, and clearly illustrate what is taking place. Did you “cheat” and use burst mode? I have never had much use for that – landscapes don’t move much. I did try using it from a moving vehicle with mixed results. I still find it better to just time my shutter push. Even my cell phone seems to have close to zero lag. Ain’t tech wunnerful?
Yes, the site generation I use is not really phone friendly. I just use what is in Lightroom as these images are not generally available to the public, only the two newspapers that use the images.
Oh, yeh. Hard to time things if not using burst mode. I am not that good. I am not using the highest speed which is a couple dozen frames per second. I use what provides about six frames per second. Good enough for my needs. My timing is close enough to make that work. Besides, why make my life harder when there is an option to make it easier?
My iPhone has a slight delay, enough to be annoying and miss given my reflexes. There is burst mode on the iPhone 15 PRO.
Yes, it is indeed. The capabilities of the iPhone camera are amazing for something that is in the pocket. My handheld camera has the advantage of a very good zoom telephoto lens with a constant aperture. The memory card in my camera can hold 10K+ images which boggles my mind given the size of the card.
Yes, the teams are very skilled, the good teams anyway. I could not hit many of the pitches unless I got lucky. There are some schools that really struggle. Even the middle school, think 12- and 13-year-old kids, are actually quite good. It starts at a very early age, about 5 or 6 years old with junior programs for baseball, softball and football. What helps in this area is the support from parents and businesses.
One of the girls from the local high school is getting a four year fully paid scholarship to South Carolina to play softball. That is quite an accomplishment for a player in a small school with less than 250 students.
The amount of time the kids have in training and games is nuts now. They are wearing out their joints before college.
And you generally have to focus on one game, instead of playing year round in whatever sport was in season, you play YOUR sport year round. And the conditioning they have the kids doing is pro level.
n
Good for her, I guess. However, I don’t think colleges should do that. Way too much time, money and attention is paid to college sports – it’s supposed to be about learning.
Due to scheduling conflicts, I wound up in one of the special courses intended for athletes. What a joke.
Yes. Sports Management, Sports Inventory, Sports Marketing, Sports Corruption, etc. All classes designed to keep the athlete in school, give them a passing grade (with testing done by others in some cases), just so the athlete can play on the team. A large part of that is due to the corrupt and greedy organization called the NCAA. The courses are really not courses, just snooze fests for the athletes.
Some schools, and I put University of Tennessee (UT) in the category, are largely sports programs with a school attached. The bulk of the donations are to sports, not the school. To get season tickets for UT football it is necessary to make a $1,000.00 donation to the sports program to get the person’s name in a lottery for a drawing for season tickets. Of course, the larger donors are given preference in the “drawing” for season tickets. The more a person gives, the higher their name is in the lottery.
Students are given a few hundred tickets to each game, if they pay money. Again, all by a chance drawing of the names. And the student seats basically suck.
Yes, I hope she does well. Whether she will profit from the NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) is an entirely different question. The NIL with the court forced blessing of the NCAA allows the athlete to profit from their image rather than the NCAA. A lot depends on how well she does in the four years in school. It could mean a lot of money. On the downside, girls’ collegiate softball is not exactly a 5K seat stadium filling event.
She has spent a tremendous amount of time and money playing softball. Travel teams during the summer, some as far away as California. Very expensive for the parents. They have probably spent as much on softball as it would have cost to get a real college degree with help from a couple of intellectual scholarships.
And in other news.
I picked the winner of my Purple Ping Pong Ball scholarship. All the applicants, (there were 10) are going to the same vocational school. What was really surprising is that all of them put down “Welding” as their area of study. I know the girl, she plays softball, and is a good student in class as far as attitude. I don’t know about grades and don’t care.
The scholarship is meant to help someone that would otherwise struggle with expenses in vocational school. A lot of kids in the area do really well working with their hands. Providing a small push to help them succeed is money well spent I think. I know her family and they are not overly abundant in the spare cash department.
The award, along with a small trophy, will be given out at awards night. That is kept separate from graduation to speed up graduation. I will not present the award. I am not seeking anonymity and would rather my name not be prominent or widely known about the award.
This is her.
https://www.raymondthompsonphotography.com/Wartburg/content/P4230498_large.html
There was a conservative columnist who told a story about a friend in college on an athletic scholarship.
After a while it dawned on the friend’s coaches that he was using them to get a degree in engineering…
A college friend of mine was a starter on the football team and an Academic All American in chemical engineering. No easy courses for engineering athletes.
“Minneapolis smokers to pay some of the highest cigarette prices in US with a $15 per-pack minimum”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/minneapolis-smokers-pay-highest-cigarette-195123109.html
I foresee a lot of smuggling.
“Hertz loses another $200 million from its EVs”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/hertz-loses-another-200-million-from-its-evs-172735716.html
“Hertz is increasing the number of EVs it will sell from its fleet — and will take a loss on those sales.”
Bad decisions usually lead to loss of job.
“High mortgage rates hang around, reaching 7.17%”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/high-mortgage-rates-hang-around-reaching-717-164439632.html
“Homebuyer demand took a hit this week as mortgage rates stuck above 7% for the second week in a row.”
Bidenflation.
We are getting a lot more traffic at the wife’s townhome for sale. Only that one offer that fell through as soon as the wife counter offered.
“FCC Votes to Reinstate Net Neutrality”
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/04/25/fcc-votes-to-reinstate-net-neutrality-n2173303
“On Thursday, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), by a 3-2 vote, reinstated the Obama-era net neutrality rule.”
More putting the huge thumb of the feddies on the marketplace.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“EPA finalizes power plant emission rules, but utilities balk at expected need for carbon capture”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/biden-administration-finalizes-power-plant-emission-rules-requires-CCS/714248/
“Beginning in 2032, baseload coal and new gas plants will be required to meet an emissions standard equal to installing a carbon capture and sequestration system and running it at 90% efficiency.”
Get ready for electrical costs to soar. Oh wait, they are soaring already.
A $400,000 house in a decent-sized metro in Texas would require take home of ~ $12-14k/month to qualify for that rate.
My neighbor has his house up for $610k. He dropped about $100k into it so he could get the property sold and closed before the school year ended.
The neighbor’s son graduates high school this year, and they’re bugging out for Virginia.
They should take a hit, honestly, recent rates were historically (and unsustainably) low.
Here is a chart of mortgage rates since about 1960:
https://bluewatermtg.com/historical-trends-in-30-year-mortgage-rates/
I’d say 6-7% is a reasonable number.
I would suggest that the current problem isn’t the rate itself, but the rapid change in rate, the market needs time to adjust.
EV resale is pathetic.
Hertz hasn’t been a serious company for a very long time.
HQ in Fort Myers, Florida means lots of people “working” from home in Gulf-front condos.
Sellers will have to be willing to take a haircut on price in order to move a property quickly, but most are either unwilling or, more likely, unable to do that.
A house seller often has to buy a new house – at current rates and prices. Significant costs to stay in the same area.
Even moving to a new, lower-cost area is more expensive than before – houses and interest rates.
House next door just sold for about $650K. Estimated monthly payment at current rates was $4k/month. Don’t know how the buyer is affording that. She is widowed with unmarried son – perhaps has a big nest egg from spouse.
I can’t afford to move – but I’ve got a 3% refinance, so my current payments are low.
When we moved from Cacafornia here to Texas in 2020, we managed to get a new mortgage at 2.5% interest, which kept the monthly payment low. Texas doesn’t have a state income tax, so we saved money on CA state income tax, but Texas property tax is WAY higher than our Prop-13-limited CA property tax was. Between them, they were about a wash.
But our other expenses here in Texas are significantly lower than they were back in Sacramento. Gasoline is just the most obvious one.
“Is the Arm version of Windows ready for its close-up?”
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/04/is-the-arm-version-of-windows-ready-for-its-close-up/
“Checking back in with Windows 11 on Arm on the eve of the Snapdragon X Elite.”
Will have both X-86 and X-64 app translation layers. No telling what the speed is.
Oh, I lived it in the move to Vantucky without an adequate reserve to buy a new house, even after selling ours in Florida.
I stopped believing in “Happy Wife Happy Life” after that experience.
OTOH, I’ve never looked at a house as a way of building wealth, which is what a lot of people do these days. The Tenbagger Dream.
Oh, I lived it in the move to Vantucky without an adequate reserve to buy a new house, even after selling ours in Florida.
I stopped believing in “Happy Wife Happy Life” after that experience.
Was she happy in Vantucky ? I would have thought being cheated by the clinic that she was working for would have really soured the experience.
“China’s Tiangong space station damaged by debris strike: report”
https://www.space.com/china-tiangong-space-station-space-debris-measures
“Astronauts repaired the damage during two spacewalks this winter.”
“China will beef up its space debris procedures for astronauts after a partial loss of power on its Tiangong space station, according to state media.”
Oops. Gotta keep a firewatch, even in space.
When we moved from Cacafornia here to Texas in 2020
We met our neighbors mother the other day. She lives east of the San Fransisco area and wants to get out of Cacafornia. She said that things are much worse than the news reports say it is. But her daughter still lives in the area and still loves it.
“The FTC has banned noncompete agreements”
https://www.theverge.com/2024/4/23/24138559/ftc-noncompete-agreement-ban
“Most existing noncompete clauses will also be voided.”
“The Federal Trade Commission has voted to ban noncompete agreements nationwide, saying that they are an “unfair method of competition.””
“Noncompete agreements — which attempt to prevent employees from working for or starting competing businesses — are especially prevalent in the world of tech, where we’ve seen companies like Amazon enforce and then retract a noncompete agreement for warehouse workers. Acer even sued its former CEO for allegedly breaching a noncompete policy by becoming a consultant for Lenovo.”
I wonder if this is enforceable. If so, it will change things mightily for the common worker.
OTOH, I’ve never looked at a house as a way of building wealth, which is what a lot of people do these days. The Tenbagger Dream.
You gotta live somewhere. And owning where you live is nice, otherwise your landlord can do stupid things like renting to someone else or raising your rent by 50%. Of course, there is the rent that one pays in the form of property taxes.
My wife is a nice person and wants to help people. The fact that she was cheated didn’t really sink in until the associate from Texas was hired and given first dibs on the holiday vacation time that year despite not having any children … well, unless you count the idiot husband, the “spirits blogger”.
The real catalyst, however, was losing our lease on the rental and still not being able to afford a place of our own.
Another goobermint “agency” making a law and shoving it down the dirt peoples throats. Our Congress is a bunch of spineless cowards.
Non-competes are used to maintain the indentured servitude in healthcare. Things will get ugly in states with air tight non-compete laws like Texas.
@paul
No need to respond. Thinking about you and hope you’re managing OK today.
While the city has turned into a hole, the amenities available within a few hours driving distance of San Jose or the East Bay are substantial.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/minneapolis-smokers-pay-highest-cigarette-195123109.html
I foresee a lot of smuggling.
– switch to the pipe or roll their own…
Love the attitude in the last para… ““I know it’s easy for me to sit up here and say that, as a nonsmoker, but it’s the truth. The only way we’re going to break our dependence on tobacco is if we make some really hard changes.”
And by that she means break YOUR dependence or break your budget…
I remind people that it’s LEGAL to use tobacco products. They just don’t want you to use the form that they don’t LIKE.
I remember when I was in Cali and they were talking about the “sin tax”. They rightly pointed out that it’s mainly the poor and minorities that are hurt by high taxes on cigs. Wealthier people switch to cigars or buy from more distant suppliers in bulk. Same thing with beer vs liquor or wine. In this case they aren’t increasing the tax on vapes, since that’s the new hotness, so look for more horrific illnesses from vaping…
Freaking tea party time.
n
>> I wonder if this is enforceable. If so, it will change things mightily for the common worker.
The Big Tech companies have lots of lawyers on staff
ifwhen they decide to fight this.I personally knew a cigarette smuggler in St. Louis back in the 70’s.
There was a big tax difference between Missouri and Illinois, and he’d buy truckloads of cartons in one state, and stocked cigarette machines in the other.
A quick internet search shows it’s still happening. Back in 2018, Missouri had 17 cents tax per pack, and Illinois had $1.98.
You could make a lot of money if you could move the product. And not get caught.
Dinner was a success. Surf and turf. Prime beef tenderloin grilled rare, pan seared scallops with a soy ginger bourbon reduction sauce, fresh baked bread, baked potato, and fresh Caesar Salad. All but the potato came from Costco today.
None of the ingredients were on sale, or cheap, but I did dinner for four for about the same cost as 2 trips to KFC for the family. And it was way cheaper than going to a steakhouse. It did cost me several hours to shop and cook it, and some people would have to count that cost. I tried for a restaurant level presentation, stacking the scallops on a smaller plate, with a dollop of sauce, and three chive blades, and a super thin slice of orange… and D2 set a nice table. We had slices of our favorite chocolate Costco cake for dessert. A very nice meal. The four of us ate a bit over three pounds of protein and it was GOOD.
n
And, a data point from yesterday… Dinner was indian curry take and make from Costco, with rice, and an additional pouch meal of spicy mushrooms in tomato sauce. Best by on the foil pouch was 2010. The texture and color were both good, and the taste was great. The main reason for its longevity is that it was in my pantry, cool, dry, and dark the whole time. The puppodum box was also about 4 years out of date and delicious.
I enjoy eating indian food, and I’ve found their pouch meals are very good, regardless of the manufacturer.
n
the amenities available within a few hours driving distance of San Jose or the East Bay are substantial.
– those same amenities are available within similar drive times, without living in the cities. And really, what percentage of life does one spend on those amenities, vs the day to day in the shitehole?
I lived in LA and worked in Hollywood for years. Then lived in San Diego for another decade or more. Yes. You are close to nice things and fun things. But you and your neighbors are getting shot at or robbed while at home, which is where you are most of the time. Unless you are surfing/sailing/climbing/skiing etc as your primary lifestyle, you’re better off living somewhere cheaper and safer and vacationing to do those things.
n
I remember when I was in Cali and they were talking about the “sin tax”. They rightly pointed out that it’s mainly the poor and minorities that are hurt by high taxes on cigs. Wealthier people switch to cigars or buy from more distant suppliers in bulk. Same thing with beer vs liquor or wine. In this case they aren’t increasing the tax on vapes, since that’s the new hotness, so look for more horrific illnesses from vaping…
Freaking tea party time.
My point exactly. We are turning into a society of Karens and Do Nothings.
“Kharkiv, Ukraine. Kid in a bulletproof vest waiting for his KFC order.”
https://www.reddit.com/r/pics/comments/1cd9gys/kharkiv_ukraine_kid_in_a_bulletproof_vest_waiting/
I have no idea if this is true or not.
I remember when we were able to refinance down to 7% and happy to get it.
My student loans were a low 8%. Refi would have INCREASED the rate…
Things can get a LOT worse.
n
Cross=border reservations, just like the ‘90’s when Canada taxed tobacco until it wasn’t competitive.