Hot and humid again/still/etc. It got over 100F in my driveway yesterday. That’s hot. Especially when it is humid enough that mildew grows on the moist windows, and condensate drips from A/C vents…indoors. Probably gonna be like this forever now, ‘cuz of the global warming. Or at least until Fall.
Did some stuff yesterday, although not the stuff I started the day thinking I’d do. My truck wasn’t finished, for one thing, so I didn’t spend any time on that. And I stepped through the ceiling in the kitchen, which led to fixing drywall there, and in the bathroom.
I did get a random camera to boot, and figured out how to access its stream without installing any of the chinese malware disguised as an app. It’s a new one built very cheaply, but loaded with ‘features’ and sold for incredibly low prices. I’m not totally comfortable about having it on my network, but it’s better than having the app running on my phone, or in a browser. Slightly better. If even I will put a chinese IOT device on my network, the average joe doesn’t stand a chance of maintaining security. I’ve got it in the attic watching one of the major rat traffic paths. Oddly, I haven’t seen any today.
I also vac sealed and froze a bunch of meat, and did some small tasks for auction and sales stuff.
Today should be more of the same, with some drywall mudding, some auction stuff, some car stuff, and some cleaning and organizing and fixing…
The stacks have been neglected for a while, and they need attention.
Stack what you can, but also maintain what you have.
nick
@Nick
I’m tired just looking at your list, and I haven’t looked at mine today. I need coffee.
Send it to yourself. I have been retired for almost 10 years and I still think about stuff at work that I could have done better. Did I really need to use a BCD tinyint in the database to flag yes/no items when I could have just used eight tinyint fields in the database? Me thinks I was too clever/stupid for my own good.
Marc Beinoff (founder of Salesforce.com) should do the same with Time Magazine, which he bought in 2019 to address “a crisis of trust”.
Time to set up your own servers, VMs, containers, etc.. Then you’ll have something to fiddle with 🙂
—–
We finally have a bit of sunny weather here. Not supposed to last more than a couple of days, but “hope springs eternal”. The German version of that saying is depressing: “Die Hoffnung stirbt zuletzt” – “Hope is the last thing to die.”
It had to be asked…
https://ogdaa.blogspot.com/2024/06/do-men-with-big-guns-have-small-penises.html
Might be german, or might be yiddish, but “Don’t borrow trouble.” is one of my favs.
———–
74F and heavy large raindrops are falling from the sky. Swirly local wind too, with that eerie color to the light.
—————–
shop called, Ranger is ready EXCEPT no smog. They let the battery run down, had to jump start, and that needs to fall off the report or it won’t pass. Says them. “Drive it for 80-100 miles”. Which is fine except 1. it’s not registered. 2. I have to find the time to bring it BACK to finish the service. So a probable $2000 in service and STILL NOT REGISTERABLE.
Jebus h.
n
Interesting spam this morning.
DocuSign
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From:dse@eumail.docusign.net
To:[redacted]
Wed, Jun 5 at 9:25 AM
Pay_Pal Customer_Support
bijab23834@jahsec.com
PayPal
Trust the way you pay.
Account specialist : +1(831)-999-4091 (Toll free).
Transaction Id : 4F5R1YT645TR54G
Date : June 5, 2024
Thank you for using PayPal account as your payment method for your recent purchase of fire arm product with the transaction of worth $673.99. As we look upon your previous transactions ,we did not find any payment for these categorized purchases through your PayPal account. It looks cautious for now,We would suggest you to look upon your PayPal account security with our PayPal support team.
Order Details
Payment Mode : PayPal
Gun Type : Semi Automatic
Model: 2844176
Bud’s Item Number: 141068
MFG: Walther
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— yes, I will “look upon” my transactions. Nope.
n
Nick, I accidentally reset (using a scan tool) all OBD2 readiness parameters on a 2006 Mopar just before taking it in for its emissions test. I found a rapid OBD2 learn procedure online. Maybe there is something similar for your Ford.
I had to start with a completely cold engine, and then it only took about 30 minutes and about 5 miles of driving. It was about ten steps, and I could never have guessed them. Didn’t take any tools other than my wristwatch.
Without that procedure, a couple of parameters take “up to” 50 fully cold to fully warmed up cycles. Most shops don’t know about this, and just say to drive, sometimes hundreds of miles.
Hope this helps.
Oh, I always ask my favorite shop to do a precheck. If the car isn’t ready for any reason, they don’t charge me. Without the precheck, they can charge for a failed test, and then again for the later successful test.
Fractal. I’ve got a turn signal out on my Expy. FFS.
n
DocuSign spam; DO NOT EVER open a Docusign document that you weren’t expecting. But that’s just part of “Never open ANY computer document that you weren’t expecting.” The only times I have ever needed DocuSign was buying or selling property.
I have used DocuSign eSignature a few times, and it is certainly convenient. When I first encountered it, I looked at independent security reviews, and they seemed favorable. Who can I trust? A rhetorical question,
My CPA is pretty modern in a lot of ways, but still has me sign forms. These are just (usually) IRS forms. Although his office is paperless, he suggested I print, sign and scan for him. He is over a hundred miles away, and we conduct all business by various forms of remote communications. He makes no claim of understanding modern computer stuff, but that is better in my opinion than if he claimed to and didn’t.
Lately, he has moved toward some electronic forms, and it is more convenient. The only thing is that presumably electronically fillable PDF IRS forms aren’t, probably because they have been printed and scanned. That’s OK, I can simply paste our signatures using Foxit PDF Reader. He has a Dropbox account, which is secure enough.
A thought about our signatures. As soon as UPS (the first?) started using their tablets to sign delivery receipts (probably 20 years ago,) I predicted that our signatures would become useless as ID. They have, as evidenced by the increasing use of such services as notaries and signature guarantees. Also, note that many credit card transactions no longer require a signature. Here in the US, CC signatures have been largely ignored for decades. We were in New Zealand about 20 years ago, and routine cashiers would not finish the transaction and return our card until they compared the signature on the receipt with the one on the card. That was a little creepy. When I made a lighthearted joke, it was met with a proper but serious reply. I learned to not make jokes during transactions.
Ford has been using that same bulb for a couple of decades at least so I though I had one somewhere…
my organizing system paid off. I found the working one I put away after changing both on my old Expy… 2 minutes later, I’ve got a working turn signal. I’ll stop at the parts place and get new ones, but I’m certainly not paying anyone to replace a turn signal lamp on the Expy.
n
(NB, we had the dealer change the front right turn signal on my wife’s old Cadillac SRX when it failed. It was a multi-hour process that involved removing an inner fender well, iirc. It was covered under warranty.)
FFS:
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2024/06/california_clean_energy_company_set_to_bulldoze_more_than_3_500_joshua_trees_so_coastal_homes_can_go_carbon_neutral.html
I thought j trees were protected?
n
Still raining and just had some crazy close thunder and lightning.
n
That is near Kramer Junction, the intersection of Us 395 and CA 58, where an old solar project is being torn down.
That project, owned by various private companies, but no doubt government subsidized, was profitable for most of its life. It was one of a few early solar generating facilities I know of that could operate at night. It was thermal, and at night, when market conditions were favorable, natural gas was used to keep the boilers running. All the equipment will be replaced by PV panels and electronics. I don’t know if batteries will be used. I have a few used batteries, and could make them a good deal. Right.
Everything is possible for the greenies.
“Rare black bear dies after getting hit by truck in Texas Hill Country”
https://www.chron.com/life/wildlife/article/texas-black-bear-killed-19495041.php
“A male black bear is dead after getting hit by a truck on a busy Central Texas highway over the weekend. The Divide Volunteer Fire Department, which is based in Mountain Home, Texas, said the tragic accident occurred along Highway 83, approximately three miles south of Garven Store, around 10 p.m. Saturday night. The driver suffered minor injuries. However, the bear was found dead approximately 30 feet from where he was hit by the truck, the fire department said. A game warden took possession of the bear after the incident. ”
He did not listen to his mama. She said stay off the road.
Henry Axe .410
https://www.henryusa.com/firearms/axe-410/
I need one of these. Brass please.
If I buy another gun, the wife is going to beat me with it.
Over The Hedge: Coercion
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2024/06/05
Yup, that non-musical racket is definitely coercion.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coercion
That’s pretty. I’ll go with black and wood.
Big River is being weird. At the bottom of the page where it says “Top picks for you” it’s showing stuff I’ve already bought. Even from a couple of years ago.
As long as they’re not showing “Dykes of the WNBA” calendars.
Or any WNBA calendars. PROLLY THE SAME THING.
Can I program the phone keyboard to ding-ding-ding if I leave the caps on? Or is that sound reserved to the nanny state?
Yes, it is mostly moral posturing, used as cover for looting the public under cover of law & regulation.
And to invert the usual roles of good and evil, right and wrong.
Probably in Joshua Tree National Park.
I passed by one of those big solar projects with mirrors directing sunlight into some type of boiler. That thing was bright in the daylight. My first thought is that it must be really blinding for drivers at night. Make what you will of that thought.
There is a big solar project on the west side of Pendleton OR right next to the interstate. As you come down a hill into the little valley, there is a sign warning about possible glare from the panels affecting drivers. But the panels are the movable type that track the sun, so I suspect it doesn’t happen often. The complaints were during construction back in 2018, though. I couldn’t find any reporting that it was still an issue. There is an airport next to the array, and there have been no issues with glare reported to the FAA.
The news stories from 2018 indicated the use of anti-glare glass.
There was a big solar installation west of Las Vegas NV next to I-15. All pointed towards a tower in the middle. You can see it as a bright light in the day, but nothing overpowering. I recall seeing it from an airplane, and it wasn’t overpowering. Still active – link here.
Not much problem with reflected solar light at night, I’d think.
Since there were some comments on the solar thermal plant I mentioned, here is some more on it. I didn’t find one article that covered it all, so just do some browsing. First, search for <solar generating plant at kramer junction>. That will get several articles. Here is a good one:
https://www.solaripedia.com/13/32/solar_energy_generating_systems_(mojave_desert,_california,_usa).html
I had forgotten that it is (was) the largest solar energy generating facility in the world. It is not a tower configuration. Instead, linear parabolic troughs track the sun and concentrate it on a pipe at the focal line, where oil is heated and routed to a boiler. The steam operates turbines.
Happy reading.
It had to be asked…
https://ogdaa.blogspot.com/2024/06/do-men-with-big-guns-have-small-penises.html
Um, I have both small and large guns. I had better not crow about the other.
Last night’s movie was Fury. Brad Pitt. Pretty decent movie. I sat and watched it, no urge to eject the disc. Spoiler, almost of them die at the end.
To the Thrift Shop stack.
I tell my wife it is quality, not quantity that counts. She says she would settle for either.
The first mass windmill installation I ever saw was on the WA side of the Columbia at the point across from where I-84 westbound descends into the Gorge on the OR side. Doing some research later, I learned it was a boondoggle for an in-law of Christine Gregoire, the Governor of WA State at the time.
Oregon had its own mini-Solyndra, Solar World. I’m guessing the panels came from that factory.
Both of Pitt’s movies made with Tarantino, “Inglorious Basterds” and “Once Upon A Time In Hollywood” are excellent and not a bit pretentious.
Pitt did win the Oscar for “Hollywood”, but don’t let that stop you.
We just saw “Basterds” on a big screen earlier this year. Everyone got a laugh out of the “chewed out” line, which pretty much sums up my career.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IGHj_l11vPI
>>Big River is being weird. At the bottom of the page where it says “Top picks for you” it’s showing stuff I’ve already bought. Even from a couple of years ago.
What? You expect AI code to be bug free??
OK, because it is a gooberment total waste of taxpayer’s money, they cannot use simple, everyday words. Those that reflect the sunlight up on the boiler panels they call “heliostats”.
Another notch towards CWII:
Trump Was Just the Beginning: Wisconsin AG Files FELONY Charges Against Trump Attorneys and Aides
At this rate, CWII will kick off BEFORE the election. The Dumbo’s are crazy. Next up, if you say you voted or will vote for ORANGE MAN BAD you will be prosecuted.
i received an email yesterday from Kodeco (Ray Wenderlich) advertising a video promoting Diversity in the Workplace.
Odd. I thought the steam was running out of private companies being in your face woke.
Then again they had a newsletter making snide remarks about MAGA stuff a few months back.
I’ve did a few Obj-C tutorials, some years ago, for free, this does not make me want to buy their services…
Politicians concerned about their constituents? Really? I suspect that there’s more to this story…
https://nypost.com/2024/06/05/us-news/gov-kathy-hochul-considering-delaying-congestion-pricing-report/?utm_source=url_sitebuttons&utm_medium=site%20buttons&utm_campaign=site%20buttons
The facts (emphasis added):
So, people that participate in illegal activities should not be charged just because they are associated with Trump? Does being associated/supportive of Trump give you a ‘free parking’ pass?
WSJ: Behind the Scenes, Biden is Slipping
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2024/06/05/wsj-behind-the-scenes-biden-is-slipping-n3789665
WTF do they expect?
He’s slipping in front of the scenes fer cryin’ out loud.
If he wasn’t already FJB he’d be PJB (Pratfall Joe Biden).
Do the duo who “authored” this arriving-with-a-thud “revelation” think that the public expects that he staggers back behind the curtain and suddenly makes like Fred Astaire and becomes coherent?
If he was an engine cylinder the compression would be zero.
Sure, facts. Being charged four years later just before the Presidential election. There was also no election cheating by Dumbocrats.
Aaron Hillegass, who used to be the big kahuna of Objective C/Cocoa development training, turned political activist in the last few years after walking away from a new professor gig at New College of Florida following DeSantis replacing the trustees.
Hillegass has always leaned left politically and helped mastermind the technology behind the mortgage tranches which almost collapsed the economy in 2008, but I thought that his activist days were behind him.
I attended one of the first Big Nerd Ranch “iPhone Bootcamp” classed in 2008. We refer to it as “iPhone Deathcamp” at our house due to the extremely controlled environment and weird, low protein menu served all week until the Priority Mail containers started showing up in the retreat facility’s offices with food inside.
“Magic Claims (Kate Daniels: Wilmington Years)” by Ilona Andrews
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Claims-Kate-Daniels-Wilmington/dp/B0C4ZJSJTL?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number two of a two book paranormal romance dark fantasy series. There are predecessor books, short stories, and successor books to the series also that is over twenty books long. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by NYLA Publishing in 2023 that I bought new on Amazon recently. Note that “Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. I will purchase successor books if they become available (hopefully).
Kate Daniels is a mercenary in Wilmington, North Carolina and married to the former Beast Lord with an eight year old half beast half magic son. As the former owner of the city of Atlanta, Georgia, she is in hiding from her fame and just wants to live a quiet life with her family. But, people are seeking Kate and Curren out because of the need for heroes in a horribly fallen world.
All of her life, Kate has been running from her father, a 5,000+ year old all powerful mage currently known as Roland. In the Bible, he is known by another name. Now her father visits with his grandson constantly and trying to installing his family values, to rule the world ruthlessly.
Kate Daniels’s universe sucks. Fifty years ago, the tech world crashed over the entire Earth and was replaced by the magic world in the form of a magic flare. Guns don’t work, cars don’t work, electricity and phones do not work. But magic works. Good magic and bad magic. After a week, the tech world came back to a drastically changed world. And radically fewer humans. And the magic world came back after a while. And the tech world came back after that. And so on and so forth. Each world can last a few weeks or a few hours.
I liked everything about the story. I especially liked the very clear distinction between the tech time and the magic time. I had never thought about it that way. The series may be inspired by “Ariel” by Steven Boyett and “Dies The Fire” by S. M. Stirling except those never interchange the tech time and the magic time, they just transitioned to the magic time.
BTW, I would recommend that you read the ten book Kate Daniels series before reading this series.
https://www.amazon.com/Magic-Bites-Ilona-Andrews/dp/0441014895?tag=ttgnet-20/
The authors have a website at:
https://www.ilona-andrews.com
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.9 out of 5 stars (9,801 reviews)
Lynn
Fortunately, the Dems have used a four-step process that is replicable:
Note that since packets are sent randomly though the internet, it can be argued that server traffic used every connection at some time of another, making jurisdiction shopping for the bleached bathroom server of infamy easy-peasy.
Wisconsin. As they say, you can get a grand jury to indict a ham sandwich, and it is lawfare to spook people into settlements to avoid ruining their finances with legal bills defending themselves in front of a jury drawn from a Madison jury pool.
I still haven’t found out what was going on in Milwaukee the first week of November with Big Mike banners hanging all over the outside of the UW Milwaukee basketball arena one afternoon and what seemed like every school bus in the state parked on the surface streets waiting for whatever was going on inside the arena to let out .
Maybe it was just school kids inside seeing the former First Lady on a book tour (plausible), but, if so, why all the secrecy. Even the arena’s web site had nothing listed for the afternoon when we got to the hotel and I checked.
No, I didn’t get pictures since I was driving and figured that the event would be local news or, at the very least, covered in the UW Milwaukee student paper.
Bah. Multitasking again. My day will run until midnight tonight.
I was involved in something for work late on Friday which proved that not much has changed in over 45 years since “Smokey and the Bandit” — a truck still cannot reach Atlanta from the eastern borders of Texas in less than six hours while obeying posted speed limits.
“Hanes Men’s X-Temp Utility Pocket Boxer Briefs Pack, Total Support Pouch, 3-Pack”
https://www.amazon.com/Hanes-Utility-Support-Awesome-Palatinate/dp/B0C1P9ZBS5?tag=ttgnet-20/
Complete with side pocket for your phone.
It is getting weird out there.
For guys wearing Athleta or Lululemon yoga pants.
Yes, I’ve seen it.
Most of the styles of tights (c’mon … lets be honest) sold by those stores at this point have phone pockets, however.
People need to give the devices a rest. Stores at the beach and the water parks sell waterproof pouches for phones.
Baby Yoda just isn’t that important.
I finally got a chance to see “Godzilla Minus One”.
That Oscar was well deserved. Hollywood as a business is over.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvSrHIX5a-0
Someone will use the studios in Southern California — with new soundstages rising as I type on the old Warner Ranch — but it won’t be the current players.
And I watched Atlas on Netflix. Yeah, JLo can’t act, but ignoring the complete Terminator ripoff, it wasn’t that bad. Why Netflix dropped $100 million on JLo’s 54 year old big boote I don’t know. Bad decision on their part.
Controversy plus AI.
Half of “Bennifer” got big ratings for them, and the AI hype is unbelievable right now.
“So, people that participate in illegal activities should not be charged just because they are associated with Trump? Does being associated/supportive of Trump give you a ‘free parking’ pass?”
The U.S. Constitution is routinely rewritten by Democrats to mean anything that they want, but in this case you have it exactly backwards: The Democrat Principle is:
illegal activities should not be charged if they are associated with Democrats
Examples:
Hillary Clinton illegally deducting the fabrication of the Steele Dossier as “legal expenses”.
Hillary Clinton illegally possessing classified documents, putting them on a homebrew
serverbulletin board, covering it up, and lying about it.Hunter Biden still skating on non-payment of income taxes and underreporting of income years past the point where an ordinary citizen, or a conservative in particular, would have been prosecuted.
[insert long list here, skip to The Big Guy]
FJB not getting prosecuted for possession and theft of classified documents (many apparently Sandy Bergered out of secure containment)over DECADES of service
FJB not impeached for using his office to threaten the government of Ukraine and line his own pockets
FJB using federal resources to bribe for votes
FJB’s White House with cocaine in baggies, and an FBI that just can’t figure it out
FJB illegally forgiving student loans that he has no authority to forgive
FJB releasing illegally altered transcripts and stonewalling the release of the actual audio
Well, if you can say with a staight face that there was no cheating in Wisconsin, that Biden won fair and square without chicanery, and that there is no grey area were maybe one could believe Trump actually won or that alternate electors might be a legal way to proceed in that circumstance, then sure, bury these guys.
I’ll grant that the alternate electors theory is novel, and should probably be explored in the courts. But only in the context of widespread election fraud.
I, however, don’t believe there was no cheating. I don’t believe Biden won fair and square. I believe that many remedies to that situation should have been explored, and maybe the alternate electors scheme was one approach to remedy it. Or maybe not; due to Pence’s backstabbing, we’ll likely never know.
I also believe that vote tampering should be a capitol offense. As it may very well be, come November. One way or another. A few dead vote-counters may set an example for the others.
It’s a shame it’s come to that.
I’m not encouraging violence. I’m just observing that violence may come, whether we want it or not.
You know, it’s not really that hard. Paper ballots; ID (and proof of citizenship) required. Purple dye. Vote in person. Honest counting, auditable, in the open. Clean up the voter rolls; remove the dead and non-citizens.
Anything less is not just “appearance of cheating”. It’s opportunity to cheat, and allows for the assumption that cheating is happening.
A brilliant production. Good acting, good sets, and restraint on the CGI made an excellent balance.
Hollywood would have butchered it with liberal use of the f-word, gratuitous sex, gratuitous LGBTXYZ, and skimpily clad females with secondary sexual characteristics rather than actresses.
illegal activities should not be charged if they are associated with Democrats
https://pjmedia.com/kevindowneyjr/2024/06/05/what-a-bad-day-to-be-a-democrat-n4929650
President Trump should give congress plenty of notice that he will need more budget to hire a lot of seasoned pipe-hitters as prosecutors of the Biden Crime Family.
$350 million for a temporary pier in Gaza to deliver food, water, and luxury goods to people who support killing, rape, mutilation, and the death of all Christians, but Lahaina residents have been waiting for water and housing since last August:
https://hotair.com/tree-hugging-sister/2024/06/05/im-sure-people-on-the-edge-of-homelessness-in-lahaina-think-its-nice-potatus-wants-to-rebuild-gaza-n3789708
Note that the claim that FARD (Freaking American Red Cross) is spending $56 million a month is almost certainly a cover for FARD raking a large chunk off the top* for “administration” of taxpayer funds:
which seems to indicate the the county/state is taking a cut, too
Is that the position formerly held by the
BLMHLM studies major who refused to release water to firefighters to, you know, save lives, because it wouldn’t be “kulturally korrect”? Why is this position suddenly held by a non-native Hawaiian? Make a Haole the fall guy and face of evil?https://www.mauicounty.gov/directory.aspx?EID=651
*After Katrina FARD was delivering meals at only twice the cost needed by the Salvation Army.
Senate Campaign for Former Maryland Gov Larry Hogan Says He Plans to Skip Republican National Convention…
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/06/05/former-gop-maryland-gov-larry-hogan-plans-to-skip-republican-national-convention-n2175098
…Because He Has Scheduled “Barbie” Surgery To Turn Him Into a Liz Cheney Look-Alike
His back-up plan is flogging a new movie script:
Godzilla Plus 200-Pounds
but he’s pretty sure that starting a rumor that he likes kiddie-porn will get him some Democrat cross-over votes.
AFAIK, the Red Cross is not in good odour here in Texas. They were quite pointedly told to GTFO when they tried to muscle the good people out who were doing just fine providing for their neighbors after Harvey.
Regulatory capture. Iron Law. And a BIG skim.
n
Spam: It’s interesting to see the variety.
– Brain-dead stupid: being obvious is a pre-filter meant to suck in only people who are dumb, senile or desperate.
– Slightly believable: using colors and logos of real organizations, but the return address and links are obviously wrong. Here, this is typically “you have a package, please pay customs”, or somesuch. Meant to entrap people who are in a hurry and not paying attention.
– Dastardly: really believable, look three times to be sure. Usually pretty sophisticated phishing or malware attacks. Usually looking for system access rather than your credit card number.
All that said, I really don’t understand the immorality of the people who do this. I suppose it’s an us-vs-them kind of situation: the people they victimize are distant, and not quite real.
Yup.
First, it’s easy to scan someone’s signature. Heck, I sign lots of documents by pasting a graphic of my signature anyway. But anyone could do that.
Then there’s just the practical side: I physically sign so few documents nowadays, and half the time it’s with a finger on a touch screen, so my signature has degenerated. Sometimes I look at the scrawl and…oops…oh, well.
I’m on book 6 of the first series. It’s great! I didn’t realize that the authors had decided to continue past book 10.
Apropos of nothing: there was cute teenage girl at the train station wearing tights and crop-top. The tights were, um, tight and left absolutely nothing anywhere to the imagination. Walking soft porn. I like eye candy as much as the next guy, but…jeezum…