Sun. Aug. 25, 2024 – last day of my hobby thing…

And it will still be a hot one. Because yesterday was, and it’s still Summer in Houston. There might be a little relief from the humidity though. When I got home yesterday a little bit of localized rain had cleared some of the humidity and it was almost nice out in the evening.

Got my ice and got to the venue on time. Set up the tables and spent the next 9 hour talking to people an trying to sell them stuff. It was tough. The mood on the floor was very subdued compared to previous years. I was selling $3, $5, and the occasional $10 or $20 item, and not doing much in the way of combined sales. Things got better before lunch and when the general admission started, and I sold more higher priced items and more combinations.

By 230pm the crowd started to thin, and several vendors packed up their tables. It felt very late in the day, and by the end of the day even more people had packed up early. Not good.

People I chatted with all blamed the economy, and everyone was very aware of price inflation for groceries.

We’ll see how today shapes up. Sunday has always been a slower day, and one that some vendors skip. I hope it isn’t a ghost town today.

So I’m off to do my thing, and then pack up and head home later.

I’ve talked to a LOT of people and gotten a feel for the lay of the land, which is always useful.

And I’m feeling like I should redouble my prepping efforts. It’s getting worse, but stacks will help.

nick

33 Comments and discussion on "Sun. Aug. 25, 2024 – last day of my hobby thing…"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    Up and moving,  Breakfast at the show today.  

    Sore, and tired,but that’s mostly ok.

    Ha, maybe instead of “show and tell” we could have “ sore and tired”…   I’m sure I’m not the only one who could present on that topic.

    n

  2. Greg Norton says:

    >>Musk will probably be on the manned Dragon recovery ship in the Gulf off Pensacola when the rescue mission splashes down to personally welcome the astronauts home.

    Never miss an opportunity to twist the proverbial knife. 

    It is better that Bill Nelson have a way to leave office while saving face before the astronauts come home.

    Nelson became a whore for the NASA contractors after his Shuttle ride in the 80s.

    As much as I despise Rick Scott RINO-FL, he accomplished two great things for Florida – ending the Tampa-Orlando I-4 bullet train boondoggle as Governor and booting Bill Nelson from the Senate.

    February makes the PR Bob Iger’s problem. Discovery in the Carano lawsuit should be rocking Disney by then.

  3. lynn says:

    Make the politicians and the greens and the rest, but in particular require  the scientists and engineers who advocate and make grandiose claims design the project, sign off on it, and live in it as a contractual obligation.  Said contract to include continual presence in the project for the first year, and absences limited to 10% for years. 

    One is not sufficient. We need three, and the logical candidates are The District of Columbia, Austin, Texas, and San Francisco. 

    By all means, run hydrogen through existing infrastructure without upgrading or derating, and see what happens.

    Electric fire engines too !  And water supplied by electric facilities too !

    The electric fire trucks will never leave the fire stations.  The huge diesel engine is not in the fire truck for motive, it is for that 400 psig, 2000 gpm pump on the power takeoff.  That pump requires hundreds of hp and will kill an electric battery posthaste.

  4. lynn says:

    It is 75 F and clear as a bell at 7am.

    Winter is coming.

  5. lynn says:

    I had an Amazon delivery at 4am this morning, Sunday.  The driver texted me and asked me to put up my dog (she was on my bed between wife and I) and to turn on the front porch lights (I never turn them off).  Wild.

  6. Greg Norton says:

    The electric fire trucks will never leave the fire stations.  The huge diesel engine is not in the fire truck for motive, it is for that 400 psig, 2000 gpm pump on the power takeoff.  That pump requires hundreds of hp and will kill an electric battery posthaste.

    The diesel engines are also durable, easy to maintain, and aren’t going to spontaneously combust sitting in the fire house due to a manufacturing flaw in the battery which went uncorrected on the assembly line.

    The poster child for fire truck durability, but it isn’t an isolated example, just the most famous one. After 13 years of duty for Universal, the engine went to Yosemite for 15 years.

    https://web.archive.org/web/20110713180929/http://www.lacountyfiremuseum.com/Engine51Ward.html

    How many Jesus Trucks will turn over 50 years from now? Ford is already denying battery claims in F150 Lightning trucks.

    Unfortunately, EV firetrucks probably appeal to Show Ya types.

    The museum’s website is under rennovation which made the link to Archive.org necessary.

  7. Greg Norton says:

    I had an Amazon delivery at 4am this morning, Sunday.  The driver texted me and asked me to put up my dog (she was on my bed between wife and I) and to turn on the front porch lights (I never turn them off).  Wild.

    Some of the Amazon drivers making deliveries in my neighborhood aren’t people I would want to see approaching my front door at 4 AM.

    I’m sure they are … fine people … cough … but, yeah, I have a bias about too much “ink” and extreme piercings.

  8. Greg Norton says:

    One is not sufficient. We need three, and the logical candidates are The District of Columbia, Austin, Texas, and San Francisco.

    Austin has already run the experiment and failed. Keyword search “Austin Energy” in the Googles or the Duck.

    What? The Governor? The Legislature? The “Republicans” running this state ostensibly? Yeah, right.

    Generac commercials run all the time on the local Faux station and on the Weigel channels we watch out of a Waco station.

    Of course, we aren’t immune to the stupid living in unincorporated Williamson, just outside the city limits. During the February 2021 freeze, you could have heard crickets chirping at the offices of our local utility district offices, everyone “working” from home, fingers crossed that the weather didn’t harsh the buzz of the extra-long holiday weekend.

    Anything you hear about the Attorney General doing any investigation lately is payback for his Impeachment from last year, itself a political trick from the Bush cabal. The AG’s office cut a check out of the surplus to bail out the Griddy “victims” completely in 2021, without even asking for pennies on the dollar.

  9. Greg Norton says:

    Generac commercials run all the time on the local Faux station and on the Weigel channels we watch out of a Waco station.

    One of the problems with exposing the failures in Austin is that all of the news outlets are simply different divisions of Vanguard State Media.

    And, again, the Texas Tribune is a think tank, not a newspaper.

  10. CowboyStu says:

    @ EdH & JimB:  David just made a room reservation for us in Lone Pine for Sat., Sept. 9.  We will be stopping at the Five Fingers Pub in Inyokern at 12 noon.  Let’s get together there for another chat & refreshment!

  11. Greg Norton says:

    From the Swimming Naked in Texas Files:

    https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-environment/kyle-texas-city-growth-heat-water-6660dc42

    San Marcos – where the NFL franchise will eventually play – has strict limits on rentals but New Braunfels and Kyle, located on either side of the future stadium site along I-35, do not.

    Construction has been non-stop along I-35 in that part of the metro for ten years.

    In case it sounds familiar, Kyle/Buda will also get a new Buc-ee’s even though what was the chain’s largest store will continue operation less than 20 miles away in New Braunfels.

  12. lynn says:

    Austin has already run the experiment and failed. Keyword search “Austin Energy” in the Googles or the Duck.

    Back when I worked for the predecessor of Oncor, Austin was a joke.  We had hundreds of interconnects with them so they could “borrow” power from us all the time.  Then they never wanted to pay us back or worse, pay us back at 2 am when nobody was buying power.

  13. Greg Norton says:

    Back when I worked for the predecessor of Oncor, Austin was a joke.  We had hundreds of interconnects with them so they could “borrow” power from us all the time.  Then they never wanted to pay us back or worse, pay us back at 2 am when nobody was buying power.

    Austin Energy bet heavily on the “biomass” fueled power plant in Nacadoches around the time we moved here, and I don’t think that plant has ever lived up to the promise.

    The city scapegoated the White male City Manager for the 2023 freeze problems with tree limbs knocking out power, and, instead of getting the gig permanently, the White Hispanic interim City Manager replacement got shown the door after the city workers pushed back on his “return to office” effort last year.

    The new City Manager:

    https://www.austinmonitor.com/stories/2024/03/t-c-broadnax-is-austins-next-city-manager-heres-why-he-was-picked/

    Even if he’s a putz, Austin is stuck with him for a while.

  14. EdH says:

    I am going to be at a wedding in League City, this Saturday.

    The weather doesn’t look so good… Hopefully everything is indoors.

  15. drwilliams says:

    I had an Amazon delivery at 4am this morning, Sunday.  The driver texted me and asked me to put up my dog (she was on my bed between wife and I) and to turn on the front porch lights (I never turn them off).  Wild.

    text back: “Dog is in and lights are on. I’ve disabled the trap gun and asked the chupacabra to stay in the back yard. Have a nice day.”

  16. Lynn says:

    I had an Amazon delivery at 4am this morning, Sunday.  The driver texted me and asked me to put up my dog (she was on my bed between wife and I) and to turn on the front porch lights (I never turn them off).  Wild.

    Some of the Amazon drivers making deliveries in my neighborhood aren’t people I would want to see approaching my front door at 4 AM.

    I’m sure they are … fine people … cough … but, yeah, I have a bias about too much “ink” and extreme piercings.

    We are all God’s children.  Just some of us are kinda challenged.

    I’ve worked graveyards before. And swing shift. I like swing shift, graveyards suck.

  17. Lynn says:

    Over The Hedge: Boys Gone Wild

       https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2024/08/25

    It is 101 F in my backyard but it ain’t that hot.

    Thank goodness for Mr. Carrier and Mr. Friedrich.

  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    Show wrapped and I’m home.  Still need to empty the rental trailer, but thought I might grab a bite, and some time in the smallest room first. 

    W, D1 and D2 and the extras are headed home.

    96F in the shade but the humidity seems better.   The air is clearer.

    73F here in my office…

    n

  19. Lynn says:

    “The Atom Hell of Grautier (Perry Rhodan #71)”
       https://www.amazon.com/Perry-Rhodan-Atom-Hell-Grautier/dp/044166055X?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number seventy-one of a series of one hundred and thirty-six space opera books in English. The original German books, actually pamphlets, number in the thousands. The English books started with two translated German stories per book translated by Wendayne Ackerman and transitioned to one story per book with the sixth book. And then they transition back to two stories in book #109/110. The Ace publisher dropped out at #118, so Forrest and Wendayne Ackerman published books #119 to #136 in pamphlets before stopping in 1978. The German books were written from 1961 to present time, having sold two billion copies and even recently been rebooted again. I read the well printed and well bound book published by Ace in 1975 that I had to be very careful with due to age. I bought an almost complete box of Perry Rhodans a decade or two ago on ebay that I am finally getting to since I lost my original Perry Rhodans in The Great Flood of 1989. In fact, I now own book #1 to book #106, plus the Atlan books, and some of the Lemuria books.
       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perry_Rhodan

    BTW, this is actually book number 79 of the German pamphlets written in 1963. There is a very good explanation of the plot in German on the Perrypedia German website of all of the PR books. There is automatic Google translation available for English, Spanish, Dutch, Japanese, French, and Portuguese.
       https://www.perrypedia.de/wiki/Die_Atomh%C3%B6lle_von_Gray_Beast

    In this alternate universe, USSF Major Perry Rhodan and his three fellow astronauts blasted off in a three stage rocket to the Moon in their 1971. The first stage of the rocket was chemical, the second and third stages were nuclear. After crashing on the Moon due to a strange radio interference, they discover a massive crashed alien spaceship with an aged male scientist (Khrest), a female commander (Thora), and a crew of 500. It has been over seventy years since then and the Solar Empire has flourished with tens of millions of people and many spaceships headquartered in the Gobi desert, the city of Terrania. Perry Rhodan has been elected by the people of Earth to be the World Administrator and keep them from being taken over by the robot administrator of Arkon.

    Perry Rhodan is building a huge fleet of 1,200 space ships around the hidden Terran base at the Grautier planet for attacking the Arkonide Robot Regent. But the Terran battle cruiser Rigel had its FTL transition compensator fail and the Terran base on Grautier was exposed to the Arkonides. An Arkon robot battle group shows up and bombs Grautier with Arkon bombs that start an unextinguishable nuclear fire which destroys the planet. But, Perry Rhodan and his entire command staff are on the planet.

    Two observations:
    1. Forrest Ackerman should have put two or three of the translated stories in each book. Having two stories in the first five books worked out well. Just having one story in the book is too short and would never allow the translated books to catch up to the German originals.
    2. Anyone liking Perry Rhodan and wanting a more up to date story should read the totally awesome “Mutineer’s Moon” Dahak series of three books by David Weber.
       https://www.amazon.com/Mutineers-Moon-Dahak-David-Weber/dp/0671720856?tag=ttgnet-20/

    My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 5 out of 5 stars (1 reviews)

    Lynn

  20. Lynn says:

    “Who Is Paying for This?”

        https://areaocho.com/who-is-paying-for-this/

    “In the wake of yesterday’s post about Harris renting crowds of adoring fans for the appearance of a groundswell of public support, I also noted that social media is awash is posts of lefty supporters. My social media feeds are swamped with what appear to be paid shills. The photoshopping of giant crowds into photos where no one was really there.”

    “All of this costs money, but one has to wonder where it’s coming from. Did you know that Harris’ campaign raised $40 million in only 3 days last week? Not only that, but she raised $540 in the 34 days between Joe dropping out on July 21 and August 25.”

    Biden raised and spent $3.155 billion in 2020 ???  Are you kidding me ?  Every person in the USA gave him an average of $30 in 2020 ?  I find this hard to believe.

  21. drwilliams says:

    Biden raised and spent $3.155 billion in 2020 ???  Are you kidding me ?  Every person in the USA gave him an average of $30 in 2020 ?  I find this hard to believe.

    They are starting to unravel one of the sources. What do you want to bet that this is/is not the only one?

    https://www.rubio.senate.gov/rubio-demands-answers-from-fec-on-potential-actblue-fraudulent-donations/

    All substantive records legally omitted due to laws crafted by Democrats whoi want to require photo ID to attend a rally, but not to vote for the Yellow Dog and The Kamel* Ticket.

    *I think the words to Heart’s “Dog and Butterfly” should be reworked to “Yellow Dog and The Kamel”, recorded, and the opening played at extreme volume by counter-protesters at DNC rallies. When the Wilson sisters yell and scream, we can all laugh and say “fair use” biddies**.

    **’cept it wouldn’t be biddies.

    5
    1
  22. drwilliams says:

    ‘A FRACTION of the Electorate’: Ohio Finds 597 Noncitizens Who Voted or Registered

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/08/25/a-fraction-of-the-electorate-ohio-finds-597-noncitizens-who-voted-or-registered-n3793636

    as noted on X:

    Josh Dunlap:

    In Indiana…… Barack Obama qualified for the primary with 534 signatures. The prosecutor discovered 100 to 200 signatures were forged. Barack Obama was never qualified for the primary in Indiana.

    Compare and contrast with the DNC’s proctological examination of Cornnel West’s paperwork in Pennsulvania, which found third-level technical deficiencies that they used to get him removed from the ballot to clear the way for The Kamel.

  23. JimB says:

    CowboyStu, Sept 9 is not on a Saturday. Whichever is correct, Sept 9 and nearby Saturdays look good for me. Hope to see both you and EdH in Inyokern.

  24. drwilliams says:

    Thailand Reports First Case of More Virulent Monkeypox Strain as Virus Spreads to Asia

    Don’t shake hands with anyone who’s been to Thailand.

    And if you know any women whose husband’s have been on a “business” trip to Thailand recently, suggest they schedule a doctor’s appointment.

  25. Lynn says:

    Biden raised and spent $3.155 billion in 2020 ???  Are you kidding me ?  Every person in the USA gave him an average of $30 in 2020 ?  I find this hard to believe.

    Sigh.  I cannot do maths anymore.  Every person in the USA gave Biden an average of $10 in 2020.  I still find this hard to believe.

  26. Nick Flandrey says:

    @lynn, which part, that they had $10 to spare?  Or that they gave it?

    —- kidding.   Yeah, that money is coming from somewhere, and given the past use of influence peddling, we should at least know who is buying the government.

    n

  27. Lynn says:

    “BONNER COHEN: Inflation Reduction Act Is Taking America Down The Road To Ruin”

       https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/08/25/bonner-cohen-inflation-reduction-act-is-taking-america-down-the-road-to-ruin/

    “In her speech at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday night, Vice President Kamala Harris vowed to “pass a middle-class tax cut that will benefit more than 100 million Americans.” In fact, while serving as vice president, Harris played a key role in enacting legislation that increased the cost of living for all Americans.”

    “Contrary to its label, the law had nothing to do with reducing inflation. In fact, it would soon drive-up prices for such essentials as food, electricity and transportation. The IRA is the administration’s signature energy-transition initiative, with a few provisions strengthening the government’s role in healthcare and an expansion in the number of IRS employees thrown in for good measure. Passage was a close call, with Harris casting the deciding vote in a Senate that was deadlocked 50-50. (RELATED: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Biden’s Climate Bill Turns Two Years Old)”

    “Sold to the American public as a vehicle to combat the “climate crisis,” the IRA’s backers put the price tag at $750 billion. But by April 2023, Goldman Sachs calculated the costs of the statute’s subsidies and other handouts at $1.2 trillion over ten years. In truth, the IRA’s costs cannot be measured in dollars and cents, because the law’s effect on the lives of ordinary citizens, the viability of the U.S. economy and American national security are so profound as to defy quantification.”

    The USA is heading towards a financial apocalypse at 100 mph.

  28. Alan says:

    >> Compare and contrast with the DNC’s proctological examination of Cornnel West’s paperwork in Pennsulvania, which found third-level technical deficiencies that they used to get him removed from the ballot to clear the way for The Kamel.

    All rigged months (3.5 years?) ago to continue the control by the puppet-masters. It seems more and more likely that the “extra” Georgia ballots are already printed and delivered to the necessary staging locations. Game over before the coin flip.

    The blatant manipulations are well covered by the Conservative media outlets, most which are frequently quoted here, just to be ignored by the LSM and their sheeple. Just  shouting into the wind. A POTUS debate on Fox – ha ha ha ha…

    Focus on your families and your preps…bad times are coming.

  29. Alan says:

    – kidding.   Yeah, that money is coming from somewhere, and given the past use of influence peddling, we should at least know who is buying the government.

    The .01 percent of the 1 percent. You’re not in that club and even if you were, the names – or should I say numbers – are on a ‘need to know’ basis and you wouldn’t need to know.

    I just saw that the DNC, since FJB was kicked out of the basement, has collected HALF a BILLION DOLLARS in donations. If only we lived in a civil society and could direct that amount of money to worthy causes.

    (slaps face) Right, time to go to bed and dream about it.

  30. Alan says:

    Location, Location, Location…

    This Texas City Is Too Hot, Short on Water—and Booming

    Kyle is one of the U.S.’s fastest-growing cities. But with extreme heat and limited water supplies, that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

  31. brad says:

    Grrr… We are getting lots of email replies from confused customer service agents. We never sent them email. I suspect someone is spoofing our email addresses as the sender address for phishing. I have notified our ISP that this is happening, in case they start getting complaints. Otherwise, there’s basically nothing we can do about it. The email protocols were designed for a high-trust environment, and the attempts to add some security have mostly failed.

    Have the Sollingen attacks made the news in the US? A Syrian guy (who was supposed to have been deported two years ago), attacked a bunch of people, killing three and injuring several others. Basically, he ran into a crowd and start cutting throats. Finally, finally a couple of mainstream parties are saying Germany should stop accepting immigrants from Syria. When the AfD said this, they were called extremists, but maybe it is finally sinking in. Now extend that to cover all countries with an Islamist outlook. Also, actually deport illegals, what a concept.

  32. brad says:

    Kyle is one of the U.S.’s fastest-growing cities. But with extreme heat and limited water supplies, that isn’t necessarily a good thing.

    A city is allowed to control its own growth. For example: they could stop issuing building permits. But the US mentality is “growth is always good”, and the local politicos smell additional tax money, so…

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