Sun. July 28, 2024 – bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do?

Another rainy day in store if the weather liars get it right this time. Overcast, light rain, cooler… now look what I’ve done. It’ll probably be 100F and sunny, just to spite me. It spit rain and stayed overcast pretty much all day Saturday.

Did my thing in the morning, hit a couple of thrift stores and a pawn shop near my pickup. I’d never been in the stores before. The Goodwill was laid out differently than most, and had zero good stuff apart from a few t shirts. I need some new shirts as I’m wearing them out at the BOL. The non-affiliated but still churchy thrift had high prices but I still found a couple of LP albums. They had a dozen pipes and a rack with a humidor jar, but none of them were anything special and they wanted 3x what I was willing to pay. They did cut the price in half when I asked, but that still wasn’t really enough. Dr Grabow pipes are very common and were never expensive pipes.

Ran out the clock on the rest of the day doing laundry and messing around. I was tired and my brain was fried.

Today I’ve got all the usual stuff to do, and some stuff for my non-prepping hobby. Depending on weather, I will try to do some of the outdoor stuff too. Don’t think that is likely though.

I’m sleeping late today, trying to catch up a bit. Doesn’t really work, but it feels better.

Can’t make up sleep, and can’t use the preps you don’t have… so get to it.

nick

71 Comments and discussion on "Sun. July 28, 2024 – bad boys bad boys, whatcha gonna do?"

  1. lynn says:

    Europe is in a world of hurt 

    And I’m supposed to care…  Why?

    Because we are ten years at most behind them.  

    The same people over here are trying to shut down our crude oil wells, our refineries, our chemical plants, and our coal and natural gas power plants in the name of saving gaia.  We are on the cusp of a world of hurt too.

    I give Kamala a 50/50 chance of winning. With 3% cheating, that may be enough to push her over the edge.

  2. lynn says:

    72 F and raining.  It has been a really cool July.  I wish that we could save some for August and Sept.

  3. lynn says:

    Some mohammed guy in Germany emailed me five times yesterday about his phone sim problems.  And they charged him for his international roaming for his trip home to the middle east.  I replied once that I am not http://www.winsim.de and he sent me another complaint.  I am doing a slow burn.

  4. Geoff Powell says:

    @lynn:

    Some mohammed guy in Germany emailed me five times yesterday about his phone sim problems.  And they charged him for his international roaming for his trip home to the middle east.  I replied once that I am not http://www.winsim.de and he sent me another complaint.  I am doing a slow burn.

    Your link is broken. It points to a (non-existent) page here. I suspect you meant to say https://www.winsim.de.

    That said, the mohammed guy in Germany would have been charged for Middle East roaming, anyway. Even though I don’t speak more than a smattering of German, I could see that EU roaming is included in the tariffs. Outside EU, no.

    Unless he thinks that the Middle East is part of the EU.
    Protip:It isn’t.

    G.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    Some mohammed guy in Germany emailed me five times yesterday about his phone sim problems.  And they charged him for his international roaming for his trip home to the middle east.  I replied once that I am not http://www.winsim.de and he sent me another complaint.  I am doing a slow burn.

    Using the phone to surf pr0n when he’s back at home won’t protect him from the local government snooping on the traffic.

  6. Greg Norton says:

    Unless he thinks that the Middle East is part of the EU.
    Protip:It isn’t.

    For now.

  7. nick flandrey says:

    85F and the air is saturated.   Pretty unpleasant outside.   Nice inside thanks to St. Carrier.  

    ———-

    Million-dollar homes evacuated after huge sink hole opens up in luxury gated community in Houston

    By James Gordon For Dailymail.com 

    Published: 00:46 EDT, 28 July 2024 | Updated: 00:49 EDT, 28 July 2024 

    Texans living in million dollar homes got that sinking feeling on Saturday after the ground suddenly collapsed in the middle of their gated community.

    Ground in a courtyard area of a Houston development known as Memorial Green suddenly appeared to give way.

    Photos from the Houston Fire Department show a grassy area and nearby sidewalk subside about 10 feet during the collapse which appeared to happen without warning.

    Not actually a sinkhole.   It’s the collapse of underground stormwater detention.   City requires underground storage at all the new developments, where they don’t have enough greenspace.   Failed in 8 years.   The HOA should see a nice big assessment to pay for the repairs.

    Looks like the property owners can afford it, but they still shouldn’t have to.  Lots of lawsuits coming.

    n

  8. Greg Norton says:

    “Star Trek: Lower Decks” doesn’t always work, but, occasionally, it drops something brilliant.

    No one has addressed the “window” before in over 30 years of Stage 8/9 era “Star Trek”, since we started seeing Klingon women on a regular basis.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0jTyLSP-sTM

    And once you’ve heard it, rewind to the beginning of the scene and watch Mariner’s eyes.

  9. nick flandrey says:

    Poop window?
    n

  10. Greg Norton says:

    Not actually a sinkhole.   It’s the collapse of underground stormwater detention.   City requires underground storage at all the new developments, where they don’t have enough greenspace.   Failed in 8 years.   The HOA should see a nice big assessment to pay for the repairs.

    Looks like the property owners can afford it, but they still shouldn’t have to.  Lots of lawsuits coming.

    Concrete for the water detention system provided by I Know A Guy, Inc.

    OTOH, Texas practically invented “swimming naked”. Everyone probably knew from the developer to the city code enforcement.

    The City of Houston is technically insolvent.

  11. lynn says:

    Some mohammed guy in Germany emailed me five times yesterday about his phone sim problems.  And they charged him for his international roaming for his trip home to the middle east.  I replied once that I am not http://www.winsim.de and he sent me another complaint.  I am doing a slow burn.

    Your link is broken. It points to a (non-existent) page here. I suspect you meant to say https://www.winsim.de.

    Nah, I put in just www and winsim.de and the software gifted me with http.  

    It really needs to add https in this enlightened age.

  12. RickH says:

    The ‘http’ URL is not broken. That is a valid URL. Modern browsers don’t like them, showing them as a ‘security risk’.

    The issue is with the site, which is not properly rewriting the URL to an ‘https’. Or the SSL certificate on the site is broken/invalid. 

    A site can ‘force’ the URL to the https version with an htaccess command. (That’s done here, BTW, and all other sites I manage.) 

    The responsibility to have a properly installed SSL certificate is on the site owner. The responsiblity to ensure that an ‘http’ request is rewritten to ‘https’ is also the responsibility of the site owner.

    The result of an http request that is not rewritten, or a site that does not have a proper/valid SSL certificate, is noted by current browsers, who have decided that an ‘http’ only site should be blocked, unless otherwise overridden by the user. 

    All site owners should ensure that they have the proper htaccess rules in place to redirect http to https, and have a valid SSL certificate. Most hosting places will include a free SSL certificate in their hosting plan.

  13. Geoff Powell says:

    @rickh: @lynn:

    The ‘http’ URL is not broken. That is a valid URL. 

    Indeed it is. But it doesn’t point to where @lynn intended, which is semantically broken. Hand entry of http: or https: works to go to the site. It looks like WordPress didn’t “Do The Right Thing”

    Of course, relying on software to “Do the Right Thing” is dangerous, “There be Dragons”

    G.

  14. Rick H says:

    There are a couple of plugins on this site that deal with text that is a URL. Along with the standard WordPress functions that convert the text that looks like a URL into an HREF code.  And how that text is displayed.

    You’ll notice that the visual representation of the URL looks valid (although uses the http protocol), but the underlying code (the HREF) shows the text as a ‘relative URL’ to this site. (You can see the actual URL of the HREF at the bottom of your screen [depending on your screen and browser].)

    So there is some conversion problem that happens during the process of saving the comment text. That conversion takes text that looks like a URL and converts it into a clickable link. The standard WP function that does that is ‘make_clickable()’, and uses a complex regex to ‘build’ the HREF code.

    It may be that one of the plugins that deals with text that looks like a URL is not working properly in that instance. I don’t think it is the editor we use here. And there is a ‘link’ button in the comment editor that can be used. I don’t think that Lynn used the ‘link button’ but just typed in the URL as text. 

    Still poking around to see who is at fault.  It will probably turn out to be @Ray’s fault.

  15. nick flandrey says:

    Yeah, there is a lot of stuff going on in the various text editors… sometimes you get strange results.   

    I ran into the http vs https issue with the old existing version of my hobby site.   Even though the site has a store, no “s” and no cert.  It’s an old site, built with old tools, and looks it.  Which is why I’m tapped to update it.  And between the browsers doing stuff to bare urls and the sites redirecting, it’s hard to know where an issue is happening.

    No access to htaccess on the old site hosting platform…

    n

  16. Geoff Powell says:

    Thanks for that, Rickh.

    Doesn’t alter my contention that relying on software to “Do the Right Thing” is asking to be bitten in a painful place,

    G.

  17. nick flandrey says:

     It will probably turn out to be @Ray’s fault.  

    – it’s easiest to blame whoever isn’t here…    SteveF???

    n

  18. paul says:

    Just having fun (not) filling paperwork.

    Mom has a prepaid plan.  The nursing home and Medi-whatever were all in wanting copies of her insurance card. Then she went to the hospital and then a helicopter ride to another hospital I learned about after she died.  I don’t know who paid for her cremation.   Next I knew I had a signature required notice in the mailbox to pick up a package at the Post Office. 
    I called the prepaid plan folks back in March.  I finally received the paperwork they want to be filled out at the end of May.  Sort of have had other things happening… anyway.  It’s $810 cash value.  Now to wait. 

    Fidelity seems to be doing a good job.  They “found” that AT&T has a 25 grand Death Benefit for Retirees..  Yeah, they withhold taxes at 10%.   The forms came from Fidelity and go back to Fidelity but the letterhead is AT&T.  Wow, never had a clue that benefit existed. 

    Fidelity is contacting MetLife for possible Life Insurance.   There was a policy as part of his retirement package but it went away when he turned 65 or so.  That was the “gonna make me a rich widow” policy, it was something crazy like 150 grand.  But it went away as far as we knew.  Might still be a bit there, who knows.

    Next is to call about his AT&T stock.  Isn’t much. 48 shares.  The quarterly check was cut in half when they spun off Warner-Discovery.   But $13.32 four times a year is better than nothing. 

    Now.  It’s not hot in the house. It’s cool enough my toes are almost cold.  The a/c just turned on at 2PM.  Why are my armpits running sweat down my sides?

    Sheese.  

  19. nick flandrey says:

    I’m watching a video and the guy says “The easiest way to learn something is to do it wrong on the internet, and then have 100 people shouting at you how to do it correctly…”

    And he’ s not wrong.

    n

  20. Lynn says:

    The ‘http’ URL is not broken. That is a valid URL. Modern browsers don’t like them, showing them as a ‘security risk’.

    The issue is with the site, which is not properly rewriting the URL to an ‘https’. Or the SSL certificate on the site is broken/invalid. 

    A site can ‘force’ the URL to the https version with an htaccess command. (That’s done here, BTW, and all other sites I manage.) 

    http://www.winsim.com/

    Cool !  Looks like I have put the rewrite rule in there on my main website in the distant past that I cannot remember doing.

    So just another thing that https://www.winsim.de is incompetent about. Refusing to talk to their customers is their biggest sin though.

  21. paul says:

    I probably misunderstand  but say you have a domain.  remsset.com, for example.

    You can have sub-domains.  Like, mail.remsset or photos.remsset or (gasp!!!) http://www.remsset

    I did something years ago so the www goes to remsset.  Darn if I remember what.

    I have “AddHandler server-parsed .html” in my htaccess file because of IE insisting  a page had to end with htm.

  22. nick flandrey says:

    Joy.  Big thunder just now.   Guess we’re gonna get hammered again.

    n

  23. JimB says:

    nick flandrey says: 28 July 2024 at 12:18

    85F and the air is saturated.   Pretty unpleasant outside.   Nice inside thanks to St. Carrier. 

    I happened to look at the conditions here at that time, and it was also 85F, but the RH was 17%. It was delightful outside without Willis Carrier. That 17% might be reasonably accurate, measured on my new-ish wireless battery powered temperature-humidity thingy. I haven’t checked it enough to trust it. I wouldn’t trust it if it read below 10%, but it is supposed to be pretty good down to 20%. I have checked it a few times, and it is surprisingly good.

    Our wx has been about 10 degrees above normal for a couple of weeks, and the RH at the high temperature of the day has been in the double digits. Yesterday was the first day both were about normal. The evaporative cooler has been running essentially full time to keep the house at 75F, although some days it has been as high as 79F inside, with a RH of 65%, definitely warm. Outside it was a bit dangerous in the sun for extended exposure. Yesterday’s high was about 102, which felt nice. Those of you who haven’t experienced the desert at ~100 wouldn’t believe how nice it can feel during short exposures in the shade with a breeze. Working in the sun is not for the inexperienced, but can be tolerable with acclimation. Sweat doesn’t drip. Sitting outside after dark at ~80F with a breeze can feel chilly. For some reason, all this reminds me that winter is just a few months away; I don’t like winter.

  24. Ken Mitchell says:

    When I lived in Sacramento, CA, the weather was quite constant; if you added the temperature and the humidity, it was about 120 all year long. Summers were 110 degrees and 10% RH; winters were 30F and 90%.   

    Sacramento weather is the ONLY thing I miss about moving to San Antonio, where it is often 100 F and 90% RH.  Especially the “delta breeze”, when cold marine air would flow inland from the Golden Gate right up the Sacramento River, and drop our 110 degree days down to 65F in about 2 hours after the sun set. 

  25. Ray Thompson says:

    It will probably turn out to be @Ray’s fault.

    Hmmm, I am not that talented.

  26. paul says:

    I’m starting on another set of DVD movies.  Last night’s disc was a double feature.  Because they save 15¢ or so per set of 10 movies by putting two movie on a disc.  So, 10 movies on 6 discs.  On the plus side, no previews on this disc, anyway.

    Anyway.  I watched Vision Quest.  A 1985 movie that I do not recall ever seeing.  Pretty good movie.  I knew every single song.  Everyone looks normal, like when I was in HS.  No weird hair or waddling around 100 pounds overweight.  Pre HFCS I think. 

    Even though I don’t like her current politics, Madonna singing “Crazy on You” was perfect, I know that feeling. 

  27. nick flandrey says:

    I liked the desert, a lot, once I got used to it.   The subtle color is glorious, when you aren’t expecting everything to be green, yellow green, or blue green….

    I spent over 4 years in the Phoenix area, rock climbing and visiting Tucson in the south and Flagstaff/Red Rocks in the north.

    When it’s so dry that kiln dried lumber dries out and warps, it’s pretty dry…

    And when getting in a hot tub set to the legal limit of 108F feels cool, you know it’s pretty hot…

    n

  28. paul says:
    Hmmm, I am not that talented.

    I’m quite sure you can do it! 

  29. Greg Norton says:

    Anyway.  I watched Vision Quest.  A 1985 movie that I do not recall ever seeing.  Pretty good movie.  I knew every single song.  Everyone looks normal, like when I was in HS.  No weird hair or waddling around 100 pounds overweight.  Pre HFCS I think. 

    1985 was the year of the New Coke/Coke Classic kabuki to introduce HFCS as the sweetener.

    It is easy to blame HFCS, but that was also the era before the fast food restaurant chains took credit cards.

    Also Food Stamps were paper and covered very specific types of … food. Imagine!

  30. EdH says:

    Ah, California weather.

    Sacramento weather is the ONLY thing I miss about moving to San Antonio, where it is often 100 F and 90% RH.  Especially the “delta breeze”, when cold marine air would flow inland from the Golden Gate right up the Sacramento River, and drop our 110 degree days down to 65F in about 2 hours after the sun set. 

    It isn’t as dramatic here up in the high desert, but last night was an example of that, after entire month of 100+ temperatures here and the desert to the east of us, the marine air was finally sucked in and we were down to about 65 last night. 

    It is harder to enjoy when the cool air in question is moving at 40 miles an hour though.

    When it’s so dry that kiln dried lumber dries out and warps, it’s pretty dry…

    I have piles of that “kiln dried” in the backyard from various projects, you just cut short chunks that are “kinda straight” as needed and use the rest for firewood.   Unless it is copper treated.

  31. Greg Norton says:

    Even though I don’t like her current politics, Madonna singing “Crazy on You” was perfect, I know that feeling. 

    “Like a Prayer” was used multiple times in “Deadpool & Wolverine”.  Madge probably charged a mint for that license so Ryan Reynolds had to justify the money.

  32. lpdbw says:

    I lived in Spokane in 1985 when they filmed Vision Quest there.   Much of it at a high school about a mile from my house.

    I’ve never seen the movie.

  33. paul says:

    I think HFCS started around 1975.  Or maybe it was just a change from sugar to corn syrup.  Spring of 1976.  Coke tasted different but was still OK.   Dr Pepper went right out of my drinking list.

    Isn’t that about the time the new and improved food pyramid came out?  Meat and eggs bad, bread and corn chips good? 

    Credit cards?  I remember folks with Diners Club and various colors of AMEX.  Very nose in the air and yer gonna drown it’s it raining.

    Discover was just starting as a Sears spinoff as I recall.  Need cash? The Frost ATM would let you have about $200 per business day.   It was only an ATM card, none of that “check debit” faux credit card stuff.

    “Also Food Stamps were paper and covered very specific types of … food. Imagine!”

    Still that way.  You should be working at the grocery store when that rotisserie chicken is cash only.  Lawdy, lawdy.  Pre-cooked food doesn’t qualify for EBT/Food Stamps.  Never has as far as I know.

  34. Lynn says:

    I saw a Cybertruck in the drive thru line at Whataburger today at lunch.  The second one that I have seen around these parts.

    It is pouring down rain again.  Again.  If this is global warming, chain me to the wall.  This is what Houston was like when I was a kid, hot every day at lunch, pour down rain at 1pm, then not so hot with 100% humidity.

  35. Greg Norton says:

    Discover was just starting as a Sears spinoff as I recall.  Need cash? The Frost ATM would let you have about $200 per business day.   It was only an ATM card, none of that “check debit” faux credit card stuff.

    Yes, Discover was part of Sears originally under Dean Witter, the brokerage they bought in the 80s.

  36. nick flandrey says:

    Still getting rumbles, but no rain that I can see.  Maybe some spatter.  I’m hiding inside today.

    n

  37. Lynn says:

    “The Return-to-Office Productivity Argument Is Over”

       https://www.inc.com/joe-procopio/the-return-to-office-productivity-argument-is-over.htmlH

    “A couple weeks ago, I wrote an article declaring the end of return-to-office mandates. In it, I referenced a story about a return-to-office mandate from Dell that allegedly resulted in over half the company’s remote workers choosing to stay remote, even if it meant they could no longer be promoted or hired into new roles within the company.”

    “It’s not that one side or the other finally won the argument, but that the argument itself no longer holds any weight. The folks at Dell heard all the evidence, collectively shrugged, and chose remote work at the expense of their career.”

    I do not understand Millenials and Gen Z.  

    I do understand this, that without the pressure of having a spouse and children, the pressure to have a job is much less than a person who is supporting a spouse and children.

    Are we redefining what having a job means by changing what marriage means ?

  38. paul says:

    When brother and his wife showed up yesterday, they had a “to-go” box from some Mexican restaurant.  There were a few of looked like bacon wrapped shrimp.  Some beans.  Pretty much a box where half looked like plate scrapings with what was left of the basket of chips dumped on top and then covered with a few flour tortillas.

    There were a couple of chunks of “cooked like fajitas” beef.  With the onions and red and green peppers.  I ate one, no problem.  Last night I made a quesadilla  with a couple of the included flour tortillas and I chopped up the last piece of beef.  Put the rest into the freezer until trash day.  

    Watched a movie and got queasy.  It all came up.  I’m not a barfer, down is down.   I walked the dogs and did the usual brush teeth routine and went to bed about 7:30.  Ate a Tums. The rest of the night wasn’t great.  Burning up or freezing.  

    Today?  Not hungry at all.  I’ve had a few pretzels.  My shoulders and arms feel like I’ve unloaded a couple of cords of firewood onto the woodpile.  I’m ready to go to bed at 5PM..  But, dogs…. they need their supper and bedtime walk.

    I’ll watch another movie while letting the dogs process their supper.   Maybe I’ll sleep better tonight. 

    Then again, I just had a bell pepper burp.  

  39. Greg Norton says:

    I do not understand Millenials and Gen Z.  

    I do understand this, that without the pressure of having a spouse and children, the pressure to have a job is much less than a person who is supporting a spouse and children.

    Are we redefining what having a job means ?

    No. As soon as the AI monkey trick runs out of gas, the industry’s major players who rode the wave will gut the payrolls.

    Nothing else is selling right now.

  40. nick flandrey says:

    Then again, I just had a bell pepper burp.   

    – then comes another rainbow burp.   If it wants to come out, let it.   Don’t keep the poison in you.   You will feel better as soon as it’s not there poisoning you.   

    n

    added- I’d drink a bunch of water. It will help it all come out.

  41. Ray Thompson says:

    If it wants to come out, let it.

    I tell my wife the same thing, even quoting Shrek, ”better out than in I say”. Wife doesn’t agree and leaves the room. As does the dog.

  42. Lynn says:

    “Israel Says “All-Out War” Imminent After Hezbollah Rocket Slams Into Soccer Field, 30 Casualties “

        https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/israel-says-all-out-war-imminent-after-hezbollah-rocket-slams-soccer-field-30

    “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Israel Katz are holding emergency consultations with the country’s senior defense leadership following a devastating Hezbollah rocket attack on the town of Majdal Shams in Israel’s north which resulted in 30 casualties, including at least ten killed.”

    “Nine victims among the several dozen injured are said to be in critical condition, many of them children, some as young as ten. Foreign Minister Katz told a state broadcaster, “There is no doubt that Hezbollah crossed all red lines.””

    Israel is at war in at least two directions.  They are getting poke, poke, poke, poked.   Sooner or later, Israel may respond with a huge boom, 10 MT or 25 MT.  Got  a Geiger counter ?

  43. Greg Norton says:

    I saw a Cybertruck in the drive thru line at Whataburger today at lunch.  The second one that I have seen around these parts.

    The Jesus Trucks are more common around North Austin/Round Rock, but I don’t know how much of that is because Tesla employees live up here or Tesla is a status thing with the Colonist demographic building many of the new houses up Parmer/Ronald Reagan.

    From here it is about an hour commute to Tonyland, but Tesla employees live as far away as Kileen, where the company sends shuttles daily.

    The Real Life Tony Stark. Or is Musk now The Real Life Doctor Doom following last night’s casting announcement Comic Con event in Hall H and the Musk-funded Gina Carano lawsuit against Disney advancing in the court system last week.

    I don’t feel it is right to discuss the most brutal “inside baseball” line in “Deadpool & Wolverine”, delivered by a cameo who was a complete surprise

  44. Rick H says:

    @Paul: Fever/muscle aches? Vomiting? 

    Perhaps the flu, or the ‘cooties’. Not something to ignore or try to fix with plain antacids. Remember that ignoring some symptoms can be deadly. At the very least, a Covid test might be indicated, especially since you just had some visitors.

    Watch out for dehydration. Simple foods to get the digestive system back in order. Rice, applesauce, bananas, plenty of water. No caffeine. Minimal dairy products, if any. Rice Chex are easy to digest and help settle things. I keep a bottle of anti-nausea medicine handy (“Emetrol”), which is effective to stop the urge to vomit.

    (I Am Not A Doctor, but the above techniques work for me. Important, as you live alone [except the critters]. )

  45. Greg Norton says:

    I don’t feel it is right to discuss the most brutal “inside baseball” line in “Deadpool & Wolverine”, delivered by a cameo who was a complete surprise

    It is a fist pump moment for anyone in my generation, however, who love movies and remember when things didn’t suck.

  46. Lynn says:

    ““All Hell Breaks Loose” In the Next Few Months as Recession Bites”

       https://mishtalk.com/economics/all-hell-breaks-loose-in-the-next-few-months-as-recession-bites/

    “Two of us are still adamant that a recession has started. The other is Danielle DiMartino Booth, in her best video yet. Please take a look.”

    ““This Economy hit a hard wall in October 2023. Everything I am hearing from people on the street and clients, something happened in October. And now we have builders and they have a problem. They have more completed spec homes than anytime since 2010 [Mish: 2008 if you factor in started but unsold homes]. According to Redfin, only 47 percent of the apartments that were delivered in the first quarter were move into. And there is a half-million units in the pipeline this year. Another half-million units in the pipeline next year. On the apartment side, I think they were hoping the nightmare would end in 2024, but developers have pushed completing projects out further to delay the pain.””

    So that is what happened !  The first hit was late last year, the second hit was March of this year.  We normally get a sale at least once a week, we have only had one sale since March of this year.   Hurting, hurting, hurting, hurting.

    I have over a dozen customers paying on their credit cards monthly right now.  My dadgum accounts receivable is almost $200K.  One of my biggest customers has not paid a penny on their May invoice and just disclosed that they had a huge layoff including the entire accounting department in March.

    Hat tip to:

       https://www.zerohedge.com/political/biden-harris-40-billion-high-speed-internet-plan-connected-nobody

    BTW, anything associated with Kamala or ButtRanger is totally in the dumps.  Big surprise, all they do is hire huge bureaucracies.

  47. Lynn says:

    Perhaps the flu, or the ‘cooties’. Not something to ignore or try to fix with plain antacids. Remember that ignoring some symptoms can be deadly. At the very least, a Covid test might be indicated, especially since you just had some visitors.

    The Koof has been ripping through Houston for the last two weeks.  But the period of infection is 3 to 5 days before any symptoms show up.

  48. Greg Norton says:

    This Economy hit a hard wall in October 2023. Everything I am hearing from people on the street and clients, something happened in October.

    Interest resumed accruing on student loans on October 1., 2023.

    Payments resumed on November 1.

    $70 billion cash annually, right off the top. No dismissal in Bankruptcy.

  49. Greg Norton says:

    The Koof has been ripping through Houston for the last two weeks.  But the period of infection is 3 to 5 days before any symptoms show up.

    My dentist in Cedar Park cancelled a procedure I had scheduled last Monday morning. 

    She caught Covid according to a message left on my phone Sunday night.

  50. lpdbw says:

    If I were a white male middle-aged or later,  working for an Indian or Asian company like Google, Dell or Houston Methodist Hospital, and I were given the choice of working from home and forfeiting all promotions, or working from the office and being refused all promotions because I’m not Black, Chinese, Indian, or Hispanic, I know what I’d choose.

    My last chain of command was several layers of Blacks, females, and immigrants.  Only the highest level was White Male.  At that level, it’s all Fancy Lad schools, and an hour a day at the gym on company time, and regular golf outings.  

  51. Greg Norton says:

    I saw a Cybertruck in the drive thru line at Whataburger today at lunch.  The second one that I have seen around these parts.

    We saw a new Land Cruiser returning from dinner tonight. Now that was a nice ride.

    2024. I don’t even want to think what they paid for that vehicle. Toyota of Killeen tag freame so the owner is probably military, down in Cedar Park to eat at Mandola’s or the Thai place in the same strip mall.

    My money is on Mandola’s.

    I’ve heard ADM on a new Land Cruiser is beyond 100%. Plus Hecho en Japan so getting one will require a big check.

    Of course that is what my wife wants to replace the Exploder.

  52. Greg Norton says:

    My last chain of command was several layers of Blacks, females, and immigrants.  Only the highest level was White Male.  At that level, it’s all Fancy Lad schools, and an hour a day at the gym on company time, and regular golf outings.  

    Along with a few “Hawk Tuwah” girls … or boys if the exec has that preference.

  53. Lynn says:

    I’ve heard ADM on a new Land Cruiser is beyond 100%. Plus Hecho en Japan so getting one will require a big check.

    Was ist ADM ?

  54. Lynn says:

    Along with a few “Hawk Tuwah” girls

    Was ist “Hawk Tuwah” ?

  55. Ray Thompson says:

    Was ist ADM ?

    Average Dealer Markup.

  56. Lynn says:

    “Ten Points About Post-Lockdown Economics”

        https://www.zerohedge.com/personal-finance/ten-points-about-post-lockdown-economics

    “1. The labor markets have never recovered

    2. Stimulus was wiped out by inflation

    3. Retail sales and wholesale factory orders are not up

    4. Output has not increased

    5. The inflation data is fake.

    6. Trade blocs have formed and will not save us

    7. Property rights are not secure

    8. The debt is out of control; personal, corporate, and government

    9. CBDCs are essential to the plan

    10. Financial markets will thrive until they do not”

    All of these are horrible but the suspension of property rights was the worst. Government officials should go to jail for that Constitutional violation. Especially the governors of Michigan and California.

  57. Lynn says:

    I’ve heard ADM on a new Land Cruiser is beyond 100%. Plus Hecho en Japan so getting one will require a big check.

    So the dealers are charging 200% of MSRP on new Land Cruisers which is nothing more than a fancy Toyota Highlander ?

        https://www.toyota.com/landcruiser/

  58. Ken Mitchell says:

    Was ist “Hawk Tuwah” ?

    There was a flash-in-the-pan internet meme about 6 weeks ago of a woman who (very noisily) spit on a man’s hand and then pretended to jack off his thumb. “Hawk Tuwah” is an approximation of the sound of preparing to spit. For “thumb”, you can substitute some other appendage. 

    And it’s now been connected to how the VP got her start in politics with SF mayor Willie Brown.

  59. Greg Norton says:

    So the dealers are charging 200% on new Land Cruisers which is nothing more than a fancy Toyota Highlander ?

    Land Cruisers are trucks, body on frame, not unibody like the Highlander.

    Fancy 4Runner is more accurate, but the drivetrain is hybrid where the new 4Runner is not offered with that option, just a turbo four.

    Toyota offers the Grand Highlander if you want fancy TNGA SUV.

    Jeep was selling $100k Grand Cherokees until interest rates zoomed, and Toyota decided that they wanted in on that action with a modified Highlander.

    The Land Cruiser was purty, but we’ll probably end up with another 4Runner.

  60. nick flandrey says:

    I just yesterday figured out what the new Ranger really is.   It’s the old Explorer pickup truck.   Same size, shape, 4 doors, and short short bed…

    I’d like to see them side by side, but I’m pretty sure it’s 95% the same at least.

    —————

    Was ist “Hawk Tuwah” ?

    –  can’t believe you missed that, but I did refrain from posting about it.   Cute white girl asked about some sex question like ‘how to get a man’ replied, “gotta spit on that thing’ and then made the sound, ‘hawk tuaah’ and mimed spitting and then manually stimulating ‘something’.   It was something a tipsy girl out with her friends just replied as a bit of fun to a quick question on the street, and it went crazy viral… because the guy was filming hoping to get some good content.

    She decided that she’s better off getting on that train and riding it for all it’s worth, so now she’s making appearances and has a booking agency, etc.   FWIW, I think it’s the only good way she could have handled it, giving that she was already going down in meme history as that girl.

    Hope she makes a bunch of money off the guy’s video.

    n

  61. Nightraker says:

    And for a different lighter meme:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdQOEdfefg

    Ronald Reagan

  62. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m headed to bed.  Lots to do tomorrow… 

    I missed one of Franklin’s suggestions already, but I can get the other, and maybe the results will still be the same…

    n

  63. Alan says:

    >>“Israel Says “All-Out War” Imminent After Hezbollah Rocket Slams Into Soccer Field, 30 Casualties “

    What about the Iron Dome? 

  64. Alan says:

    >>Average Dealer Markup

    It’s actually “Additional Dealer Markup” 

  65. Lynn says:

    >>“Israel Says “All-Out War” Imminent After Hezbollah Rocket Slams Into Soccer Field, 30 Casualties “

    What about the Iron Dome? 

    Something bad happened is all they know at this point.  I suspect that the Hezbollah found a hole in the radar.  Or they needed to reboot the Iron Dome due to time drift.  We may never know since will probably be a military secret.

  66. brad says:

    There was a policy as part of his retirement package but it went away when he turned 65 or so.

    Life insurance – we had a term policy timed to last as long as we had kids in the house. Kids are out, policy is gone. With just the two of us, it doesn’t make sense to spend the money. We have our retirement assets, even if we aren’t exactly rich, and if either of us passes, the other will still have enough to live on.

    Deadpool & Wolverine

    Deadpool is a lot of fun. Gory beyond belief, but hilarious. Looking forward to the new one, but I’ll wait until it’s downloadable. Happy to purchase it, unless they play stupid games (region locking, etc.), in which case, I will be happy to pirate it.

    I saw a Cybertruck in the drive thru line at Whataburger today at lunch.

    Initially, I thought they looked interesting. The reality looks different – very small bed for a pickup, and offroad capabilities are disappointing, probably due to the weight. I saw a Tesla video showing the Cybertruck offroad: if you looked closely: the truck was driving through water they had made muddy, to hide the fact that the bottom was paved.

    There was a great send-up: A narrator extolling all the virtues of the Cybertruck, and a mom with a classic minivan showing her car off. Ah, here it is.
     

  67. Lynn says:

    I saw a Cybertruck in the drive thru line at Whataburger today at lunch.

    Initially, I thought they looked interesting. The reality looks different – very small bed for a pickup, and offroad capabilities are disappointing, probably due to the weight. I saw a Tesla video showing the Cybertruck offroad: if you looked closely: the truck was driving through water they had made muddy, to hide the fact that the bottom was paved.

    There was a great send-up: A narrator extolling all the virtues of the Cybertruck, and a mom with a classic minivan showing her car off. Ah, here it is.

    The bed looks to be the same size as my 2019 F-150 4×4 SuperCrew.  The bed is 5.5 feet by 5.5 feet.  Is the Cybertruck bed smaller than mine ?

  68. JimB says:

    As soon as the AI monkey trick runs out of gas, the industry’s major players who rode the wave will gut the payrolls.

    Nothing else is selling right now.

    Maybe I should start planning to buy a couple newer refurbished computers.

    Buy overcoats in summer, straw hats in winter.

  69. JimB says:

    And for a different lighter meme:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ysdQOEdfefg

    Ronald Reagan

    Ah, a more dignified Era.

  70. paul says:

    Thanks Alan.  That looks like a good set of movies.  The Blu-ray has a USB jack on the front.  I’ll read the manual to see if it can do what I hope.

    Bell peppers almost always make me burp,  Even just a teaspoon of dried in a pot of spaghetti sauce.

    I slept like a rock last night.  Woke up around 2am for a while and next it was 6am. 

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