Another hot day, with maybe some rain in it too. Summer in Houston… hot and humid. Yesterday it was well into the 90s, then rained. Cooled it down into the low 80s which feels pretty cool in the middle of Houston summer. After living in Chicago, Phoenix, LA, and San Diego, the hardest thing to get used to in Houston was the humidity. And I can’t really say I’m ‘used’ to it.
Slept in then did kid stuff most of yesterday. Squeezed a couple of pickups in the middle, they were only 5 minutes apart. Finished a book. Did some domestic bliss. Not a super productive day.
Today should be a little bit better. I don’t have any pickups, an kid duties are limited. Should be able to tackle some of the list. Get me a book I’ve been waiting for and my productivity goes to shite.
Can’t be all work and no play, I guess. At least that’s what an unmotivated slacker would say…
And I don’t know why the self sabotage is happening. The need to get caught up is more pressing now than a year ago. I guess it could be disaster fatigue. I did spend most of the last month doing storm cleanup.
That’s part of why we passed on buying another lot at the BOL. It’s probably the best non-lakefront lot in the subdivision, and they offered it to us first, but W really doesn’t want another property that needs work and maintenance (it has a heavily modified trailer home on it, that needs a bunch of work.)
I’ve got tons of stuff I’m not keeping up with already.
So today I need to focus, get some stuff off the list.
So that I can stack…
nick
The Weatherman’s raging dumpster fire continues to burn.
On tap for this weekend is the probable debacle that is “Inside Out 2” and the continued trashing of the Pixar brand.
Is The Acolyte that bad? I don’t even have a Disney+ subscription anymore since I switched my wife’s phone from Verizon to Mint mobile. I went from $98/month to $50/month – both unlimited plans. If Disney ever does anything worth watching again, I’ll sign up for a month. It may be a long wait.
The comic book nerds on YT are collectively trashing Lesbian Space Witches.
EdH and JimB: SIL David made motel reservation for us in Lone Pine on Saturday, June 29. We intend to arrive at The Joint in Randsburg at 11 AM that morning.
I met some of those people Saturday night in Dallas.
Except for one troll who showed up to make trouble, the crowd was remarkably polite. Loud, but polite.
The nerds are branching out and publishing their own content. The owner of the comic book company spent the whole night selling books. Four hours, roughly $25 bucks minimum per person.
@CowboyStu: I will add it to the calendar!
Been years since I was there.
@CowboyStu, already on my calendar. Still clear to meet.
88F and light overcast.
——
contract tree trimmers are going along our neighborhood streets and cutting out any dead or loose branches they can reach from their boom truck. Couple of years ago it was ASHPLUNDI (whose heiress was in the news lately) but this year it’s a much smaller outfit.
Dunno how it helps prevent storm damage, but saves me cutting a couple of limbs.
——
bought this setup for D2, I was going to clean up an all in one from the early 80s, but haven’t gotten to it yet. This was <$5 in an auction. The lock down clip for the tone arm is broken, the dust cover has a crack, but it sounds surprisingly good. The stylus was out of the cartridge, and although I put it all back together and it sounds good, I”m buying a new stylus. They’re cheap and I have a lot of up-side room when I started with a $2 item…
It’s a large step up from the “Victrola” suit case style players that seem to be the new starting point for a person new to vinyl.
https://1byoneaudio.com/products/h004
Not a recommendation yet, we’ll have to see how it works for a while before I can recommend it, but my initial evaluation is “pretty great if cheap enough.” and the internet seems to agree.
n
One of the arguments against an economic collapse was the US dollar’s role as reserve currency.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/06/us-saudi-arabia-petro-dollar-pact-ends-joe/
I think that the expiration of the petrodollar pact and the build out of the alternative to SWIFT are going to put paid to that…
It’s just a matter of time.
n
One of the arguments against an economic collapse was the US dollar’s role as reserve currency.
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/06/us-saudi-arabia-petro-dollar-pact-ends-joe/
I think that the expiration of the petrodollar pact and the build out of the alternative to SWIFT are going to put paid to that…
It’s just a matter of time.
n
These things happen slowly and then all of a sudden. Biden’s damage to the USA economy is mostly hidden at this point.
“Biden EPA Rules Will Cause Blackouts for Millions of Americans, Study Warns”
https://freebeacon.com/biden-administration/biden-epa-rules-will-cause-blackouts-for-millions-of-americans-study-warns/
SCOTUS said that the EPA could not change power plants based on CO2 since Congress did not explicitly authorize that. The EPA is doing it anyway. Must be nice to rule the world.
It takes a decade to install new power plants. Two decades for nukes. The permits, the studies, the capital, etc…
We are already behind the demand curve with all of the new electric vehicles and electric appliances. Plus the population growth from all of the illegals. Rotating blackouts for all !
“Biden Administration’s EV Push Faces Legal Challenge From Wide Industry Coalition”
https://freebeacon.com/energy/biden-administrations-ev-push-faces-legal-challenge-from-wide-industry-coalition/
“Biden wants half of all U.S. car sales to be electric by 2030”
The USA population does not want these pieces of crap vehicles.
Nor do we want clothes washers that take three hours and don’t get clothes clean, or soaps that aren’t effective. We don’t want criminals coddled and released, we don’t want bums sleeping on every horizontal surface, we don’t want the cops to have civil asset forfeiture. We don’t want millions of poor and un-educated people displacing us in our own communities. We don’t want school librarians defending child porn in our middle schools, or SEL sucking up classroom time.
Last time I looked, I hadn’t been asked about ANY of those things, and I’m told that there is nothing I can do about them.
There will be bloodshed. Lots of it.
n
The Corn lobby and the auto dealers. We’re saved.
^^^ I need a lot more thumb to stick up.
Nick’s comment.
I have a KitchenAid dishwasher. It has a cycle called “Pro Wash”. There’s a sensor to tell the machine how dirty the water is, somehow.
I don’t use heated dry. I don’t use the Sanitize feature. Just Pro Wash.
I rinse dishes before loading the machine. I run the machine when it is full and who wants the smell and perhaps drawing in bugs? I usually run it at night.
It’s a quiet machine. The refrigerator is louder. But, really, TWO hours to wash “dog licked clean” dishes? Nuts.
“South Florida Submerged Under Nearly 2 Feet of Water”
https://www.toddstarnes.com/weather/south-florida-submerged-under-nearly-2-feet-of-water/
Miami floods due to land subsidence from pumping the ground water out of the ground for decades. This problem will get worse unless they pump water back into the ground.
Hey, that’s one of our cash cows! Ka-Ching! I’m in the money, I’m in the money…
About that turntable, from the manufacturer’s website:
Let’s hope they are investing their savings on proofreading in building a good machine.
Just arrived at the BOL. The farmers are making silage. Huge tractors racing through the village, and will be all night. There is a lovely smell of cut grass. That is, until the next rain is forecast, whereupon it’s “out with the muck spreaders, lads!”. Country air …
Just arrived at the BOL. The farmers are making silage. Huge tractors racing through the village, and will be all night. There is a lovely smell of cut grass. That is, until the next rain is forecast, whereupon it’s “out with the muck spreaders, lads!”. Country air …
When you say “muck”, do you mean human poo, cow poo, or pig poo ?
All of them add a unique smell to the air.
“What NASA Wants and Expects from Starship Testing”
https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2024/06/what-nasa-wants-and-expects-from.html
“Eric Berger at Ars Technica speculates that few people if any were happier with Starship’s flight test IFT-4 last week than a NASA engineer named Catherine Koerner.”
I may start taking bets if Artemis II or Artemis III ever fly with a human crew. I might give even money right now.
Everything on the Peninsula south of ~ Gainesville is technically swampland.
Maybe DeSantis will luck out and some Yankees will get scared enough to go home.
South Florida isn’t New Orleans. Once the rains stop, the water will disappear and any necessary rebuilding will commence.
@CowboyStu: It isn’t gonna be like #20, right?
https://ogdaa.blogspot.com/2024/06/thursdays-memes_01141692841.html#more
Nope, I tried for that, but failed.
You really believe that Artemis I will fly?
Putting all of the tooling into the three high bays in the VAB to support SLS took more than 10 years. I figure it will take another 10 to pull it all out and dismantle the three (!) launch towers built to date.
Full employment for space geeks!
Whatever really flies will roll out of the fouth high bay.
After Trump is elected we need to investigate to find the people pulling strings on the senile old plagiarist and find them guilty of 134 counts of forcing their religion on the public.
And being innumerate green weinies.
Go Away, Lia Thomas
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2024/06/13/go-away-lia-thomas-n3790183
incomplete:
Go Away, Lia Thomas
Die
begin loop:
Reincarnate as a June bug
Encounter Peterbilt windshield at 80mph
Die
end loop;
“Bayou Moon (The Edge, Book 2)” by Ilona Andrews
https://www.amazon.com/Bayou-Moon-Edge-Book-2/dp/0441019455?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number two of a four book paranormal romance dark fantasy series. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2010 that I bought new on Amazon recently. Note that “Ilona Andrews” is the pseudonym for a husband and wife writing team. I have purchased the successor books and will read them soon.
“The Edge lies between worlds, on the border between the Broken, where people shop at Wal-Mart and magic is a fairy tale—and the Weird, where blueblood aristocrats rule, changelings roam, and the strength of your magic can change your destiny…”
William Wolf has lived in the Edge ever since his best friend Declan and Rose moved to the Weird with Rose’s two younger brothers. But William is still a changeling and a warrior for the Weird, when he wants to.
Cerise Mar and her family have lived in the Edge for two generations, ever since her grandfather was exiled from the Weird. And her parents have disappeared, leaving her in charge of the extended family. Her first thought is to find her parents but the neighbors seem to be involved in their disappearance.
The authors have a website at:
https://www.ilona-andrews.com
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (3,408 reviews)
Lynn
“Even the AI thinks Scott was right – get away from dangerous democrats”
https://www.reddit.com/r/dilbert/comments/1df94eo/even_theai_thinks_scott_was_right_get_away_from/
Yup, that is a peaceful protest.
You really believe that Artemis I will fly?
Artemis 1 flew on Nov 15, 2022 to a successful mission. Uncrewed of course.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_1
Artemis II and III are freaking disasters in preparation. They cannot even get the equipment that they need so the programmers are faking the devices for the operating system software.
Full employment for space geeks!
Retirement for the white haired heads pretending to work at NASA.
Ok. I didn’t think that launch counted as an “Artemis” mission, but I don’t keep up.
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, the former US Senator from Florida, is even further down the dementia trail than Corn Pop.
Go find “Capricorn One” if you’ve never seen the flick. It was on Tubi for free at one point.
n
Someone dropped a dime on management at Vanguard and Blackrock.
The market will pass judgement in the morning.
Someone dropped a dime on management at Vanguard and Blackrock.
The market will pass judgement in the morning.
Musk has serious billionaire friends, Peter Thiel, etc. They group together for support at times like this. Go after them at your own risk.
“In a sluggish economy, never f#ck with another man’s livelihood…”
Words of wisdom.
n
Vanguard holds 7% of the stock, 3% in VTSMX. Blackrock has 6%. Where else are they going to park that kind of money?
The vote about the pay package was largely symbolic.
I love this guy’s aesthetic and personality. If I could have a shop to just putter around in, I’d want it to look like a cross between his, and a Victorian parlor converted to a laboratory, strewn with curiosities…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpSUuIv-D9o
Uri Tuchman
n
– not so rare anymore.
n
Vanguard holds 7% of the stock, 3% in VTSMX. Blackrock has 6%. Where else are they going to park that kind of money?
That is growth stock money.
The question is, is Tesla still a growth stock ? With 50,000 excess cars hidden on lots around the world, is Tesla in a temporary doldrum or are they going to rise above this setback ?
My cousin just bought two new Teslas. A replacement for his 2019 Model 3 that had well over 100,000 miles and a Model Y for his girlfriend. He loves the car, especially ludicrous mode. Tell me of another 3 seconds from zero to 60 mph car for less than $100K.
“IDF uses medieval siege weapon to fling fireballs at Lebanon”
https://www.jpost.com/israel-hamas-war/article-806054
That is so cool !
>>SCOTUS said that the EPA could not change power plants based on CO2 since Congress did not explicitly authorize that. The EPA is doing it anyway. Must be nice to rule the world.
What comes around goes around.
Ignore one branch of government at your peril.
Buckle up folks, gonna get bumpy.