Warm again, sunny and clear. Humid, too. Like the 13th. Sweaty thighs just standing around. Yuck.
I drove around in that heat doing my pickups. All over town and back. Got a couple hundred feet of razor wire. I’ll add it to the stacks of several hundred feet of barbed wire. Don’t know where or when I’ll need it, but I’ve got it. I actually think one of my neighbors at the BOL will need the barbed wire… or we’ll need to build some barricades after the fall…
And my project of ripping DVDs to the media server continues. Like so many things in life, just doing a little bit at a time, over time, will yield results. I’ve managed to rip another dozen or more movies, and a couple dozen CDs while sitting here doing other things. My collection grows…
Today I’ve got my non-prepping hobby monthly meeting. We’ll be doing show and tell about what we got at our big yearly show, and wrapping that up. My duties will be limited to the web site again, which is just fine. I enjoy being a part of the group and the group effort. I recommend finding something that gets you out of the house and involves you with people outside of your immediate acquaintances. It is a valuable experience, helps avoid tunnel vision, and is rewarding in its own right. People are important, and learning (or re-learning) how to get along and be part of a group is a valuable skill.
Stack up some friends and acquaintances. Stack some stuff. Do both!
nick
And the Jesus Truck was supposed to hit the streets priced starting at $40k.
Of course, $25k seems like an incredible bargain now that compliance means that a base Camry has a MSRP in the mid $30k range due to the necessary additon of the hybrid drive. Show Ya will have their moment at last even if only a single vehicle gets delivered at that price point.
So what’s the fine print. Is that $25k after a tax credit?
sunny and warm, definitely humid.
Headed out to socialize and network…
hmmm, coffee… donuts….
n
Your post about barbed wire reminded me of that old classic, seen around the internet. Here’s the reddit version:
I’m pretty sure that’s the way you intended it, too.
The foreign invaders in Springfield, Ohio need to be schooled:
We have a saying in the country: I’m so hungry I could eat the a$$hole out of a roadkill skunk. You’d better be that hungry and able to show an empty skunk pelt full of bones before you even think about touching one of our dogs or cats.
I’ve seen a buzzard eating a polecat (two stripe skunk) around here. He / she was all by their lonesome, no friends. Must of been pretty bad because buzzards always have friends show up for dinner from the 200+ buzzard roost down the way by the bend in the river.
I drove around in that heat doing my pickups. All over town and back. Got a couple hundred feet of razor wire. I’ll add it to the stacks of several hundred feet of barbed wire. Don’t know where or when I’ll need it, but I’ve got it. I actually think one of my neighbors at the BOL will need the barbed wire… or we’ll need to build some barricades after the fall…
Razor wire is difficult to work with. My former USMC son and two other Marines were putting out a bunch of it in Iraq at their FOB and the dadgum wire broke. He got 80 feet of razor wire wrapped around him. He has scars all over and lost fingerprints off two fingers which really freaked out the FBI when we got our carry licenses.
RW is nasty stuff. That’s why our TOC/CP was always surrounded by it. No sneaking up in the dark. I like the stuff around prisons. The razors are bigger than a double-side razor blade.
Sadly, Shaq’s commercial for The General about survival in the woods is not online.
“Five more minutes. My skunk is almost done.”
I was a bad boy this week and reread “Memories of Iron” by: becuzitswrong while I was suppose to be working on the 64 bit version of my software. Taylor Hebert triggers with the dying memories and personality of Tony Stark as he lays dying on an alternate Earth that was consumed by the Silver Surfer and the Celestial. Taylor proceeds to build all kinds of neat stuff for her world along with many variations on the Iron Man suit for herself. 295,394 words.
I may sneak in a rereading of “Life’s Ending, Life’s Beginning” by: becuzitswrong. 180,265 words. In an alternate reality, Buffy and Zander’s blowing up the school library to kill the snakely Mayor goes horribly wrong and all of the scoobies die. So the Powers have Buffy join the US Air Force and then the Stargate Program.
Unfortunately, the author of these awesome fanfics passed away in 2016 and there will be no more chapters.
There are no congressional offices in Texas so I know you are “Texas-ing” the truth.
Over The Hedge: Bitter Stars
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2024/09/14
Not every black hole deserves a hug.
Crankshaft: Banned Books
https://www.gocomics.com/crankshaft/2024/09/14
I cannot believe that anyone would ban “Fahrenheit 451” by Ray Bradbury.
This comic arc starts at:
https://www.gocomics.com/crankshaft/2024/08/30
“Razor wire is difficult to work with.”
I looked at some pallets which were designed to be anchored at one end of the line and then deployed by hooking the “free” end to a HumVee or larger vehicle.
I imagine if you ever had the need to deploy it the method of undeployment wouldn’t much concern you.
DIY Hesco, gabion basket
Build them standard pallet size, on a pallet, and get firing slits, and easy to move at the same time.
n
A banned book would not have 854 copies on eBay, or thousands of copies in Amazon warehouses, or hundreds of thousands of copies in schools all over the U.S.
https://bannedbooks.library.cmu.edu/ray-bradburys-fahrenheit-451/
Four notes:
https://www.enotes.com/topics/fahrenheit-451/criticism/criticism/george-r-guffey-essay-date-1983
Twenty years ago Dick Gregory’s N-word titled bio was banned on eBay (there are 48 copies currently listed). Book dealer friend of mine listed a nice collectible copy, had the listing taken down, appealed, and was rejected. He packaged the book with the letters and sold for a premium. (It is an excellent book–I was assigned to read it in high school)
There is no way to ban books in an America spanned by the internet. Any “banned” book can be purchased in a local bookstore or from Amazon, travel through the mail in the latter case with impunity**, and be in the possession of anyone, including a minor child. No one gets arrested for possessing a “banned” book.
There’s been no effective way to ban books for centuries. The most banned book in history is the bible*
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Censorship_of_the_Bible
The counter-question that should always be asked: “How many copies of the Bible are available in public school libraries?
Another good question to pose is “Can you provide a list of pornography and other ”adult” material purchased by the public school system in the last five years?”
What the PLT’s call “book banning” is an effort by parents to exhibit some control over books available in public schools to their minor children as a part of the attempt to normalize drug use and all deviant behavior and accelerate the breakdown of American societal norms and society in general. The advocates invariably choke when parents take a copy of the book in question to an open mike and read selected passages.
It’s also worth noting that the same political groups that protest the “banning” of books in high schools will claim that certain words in the English language are for the exclusive use of people with qualifying skin color.
*A staple of European history, the EU is fraught with modern examples–try to get a copy of Mein Kampf in Germany.
**The sf is listed here: https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/publisher_authors.cgi?21049+name. In addition there were about half a dozen titles of military fiction.
***I attended an estate sale of a retired postal employee about thirty years ago. His book collection included a large number of paperbacks from the 50’s and 60’s that were considered pornographic and could not legally travel through the mails of the United States.
This is one of the most succinct summaries of the issue I have ever read.
I remember people passing around Catch-22 in high school, with certain passages marked.
I thought it was fairly mild, having read my brother’s bookshelf from end-to-end. He was 12 years older than me. Nonetheless, I would agree that it would be unwise to present that novel as an example of desirable moral behavior to an immature audience, incapable of broader judgment.
Remember, once upon a time, civilized white men were taught Latin and Greek so they could read the ancient texts in their original languages. As children.
(Bleep) Me, Ray Bradbury – Rachel Bloom (NSFW)
“People’s Republic (Kelly Turnbull)” by Kurt Schlichter
https://www.amazon.com/Peoples-Republic-Kurt-Schlichter/dp/1539018954?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number one of an eight book alternate history series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform in 2016. I have ordered the following two books in the series.
In an alternate universe, Hillary Clinton won the Presidential election of 2016. In the middle of her administration, the USA ends up split into two countries: the People’s Republic (the west coast and the northeast) and the United States (flyover country). Initially people can cross the lines easily but that gets more difficult as the years go on. And Kelly Turnbull is a people extractor, no matter how difficult the extraction is.
My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (5,976 reviews)
Lynn
Because I post them for Texas… n From FEMA
As long as we’re talking about censorship here, I present my favorite example.
The Count, Censored
NEW: ABC News Caught Grossly Deceptively Editing Kamala Harris’ Disastrous Solo Interview
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2024/09/14/new-abc-news-caught-grossly-deceptively-editing-kamala-harris-disastrous-solo-interview-n2179326
We’re making a list,
and checking it twice…
Senor Opossum knocked everything off a shelf in the garage last night. His days are numbered. I spent an hour stapling wire mesh to the opening between the garage and the house. If he’s outside, hopefully now he can’t get in. If he’s inside, hopefully he’ll decide to eat the food in the traps.
It’s possible there is another route in thru the soffits, but getting to that is going to involve a saw… so I’m going to wait and see.
———
did my meeting. did my pickup.
bought a couple of things at the goodwill in Katy that I don’t get to very often. They were busy with hispanics shopping and resellers looking for flips.
Bought a couple of vinyl records at a yard sale.
————
It’s hot and humid. The garage work had me sweating to my underwear. Still soaking as I sit here in the A/C.
Yuck.
n
Harvard Launches New Intro Math Course to Address Pandemic Learning Loss
The year after they can take long division.
By the time they graduate, they’ll have enough math skills to be able to figure that they will never make enough to pay off half a million dollars in student loan debt.
“After Saying She and Walz Won’t Take Anyone’s Guns Away in Debate, Kamala Harris Pushes ‘Assault Weapons’ Ban Three Days Later (VIDEO)”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/09/days-after-saying-she-walz-wont-take-anyones/
“Just four days ago, Kamala Harris stood on a debate stage and claimed that she and Tim Walz both own guns and that no one is coming to take anyone’s guns away.”
Liar. She cannot be trusted in anything.
But we already knew this.
“Everyone should have a home invasion playlist – change my mind”
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/playlist-1.png
I went to a Men’s lunch with friends on Friday, we actually talked about this. One of my friends has a shotgun at the foot of his bed with tall love seat that he and his wife can hide behind. They can take anything outside his bedroom but if they come through the bedroom door, it gets real. I was amazed at his plan.
From:
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2024/09/14/the-memes-of-life/
“Kamala says: ”If you like your pets, you can keep your pets!””
https://accordingtohoyt.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/gxiukvow4aa_pwo.jpg
The memes here are both true and vicious.
From:
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2024/09/14/the-memes-of-life/
Senior year of HS, several of use were deemed to be “college bound”. We were not asked.
So, first period was English 5. For the college bound. Second period, same room, same teacher, was English 4. You had to have that to graduate.
First period? There were about 15 of us, half the class, that actively didn’t want to be there. Flunk us, we don’t care. We passed around a copy of “The Happy Hooker”. And Ms Pena couldn’t do a thing.
Second period? Sit up and do the work.
I got an A in both classes.
She turned out to be a pretty cool teacher.
Tonight’s movie was a choice of Beatlejuice or The Neverending Story. Two movies to a disc. I recall seeing Beatlejuice a long time ago and I don’t remember liking it. So I watched the other. Pretty nice movie. Kind of odd in places but it was made in Germany in 1984, so… there you go.
And really, a fur covered covered flying dragon?
Nice movie. The kid is totally into reading the book… been there… in Narnia. The Foundation Trilogy. Grimms Fairy Tales. Lensmen.
I over cooked yet another little HEB bacon wrapped steaks tonight. Over-cooked as in “not pink”. Meanwhile, I did a single layer plus a few extra tots of Hill Country Fare “Potato Puffs”. AKA tater tots. In the air fryer’s 6 by 6 pan . I ate half with the steak. I don’t know what they are seasoned with, I smell a bare hint of onion. Buddy spent over an hour trying to open the oven door where I put the air fryer basket.
Air fryer for the win! Best tater tots I have ever cooked.
Time for bedtime walk. Dang, it’s sure dark at 8:30 all of a sudden.
I think if St. Sara of Hoyt spent as much time writing books as she spends on her blog and other sites. she could crank out at least a novel a year.
Ditto for HGG. He talks a lot. Might should shut up and write the books he talks about.
But. That’s me. 🙂
I had to take Spanish in 7th grade to advance to the next grade. The teacher and I got off to bad start. He asked everyone, in Spanish, to say their name. I knew no Spanish and just sat there with a dumb look on my face. It ticked him off and the relationship went downhill from there. He did everything he could to keep me from passing.
There were booths in the back of the room to listen to Spanish tapes. There was a master control console that did not work. None of it worked. I struck a deal with the teacher. I would fix the system and I would operate the system in exchange for a passing grade regardless of my Spanish learning. He agreed. I fixed the communication system by repairing wires and fixed problems in the tape decks (cartridges). I got it all working. My final grade was a C+ for the class and I learned to count to 10 in Spanish. I never took the final exam, or any exams that I remember.
I was effectively the dork that operated the projector.
Time for bedtime walk. Dang, it’s sure dark at 8:30 all of a sudden.
Winter is coming. Even if it was 100 F today at my house.
I think if St. Sara of Hoyt spent as much time writing books as she spends on her blog and other sites. she could crank out at least a novel a year.
Ditto for HGG. He talks a lot. Might should shut up and write the books he talks about.
Yeah, I have thought that about Sarah too. She spends a lot of time on her blog that she could spend on story writing. But, she may be blocked on new stories. She did publish a changer novella last year using self publishing as Baen has dropped her.
Who is HGG ?
I get an almost daily email from the Ilona Andrews blog. They have mentioned that they have an entire paid staff to help them with the promotion of their products, mostly their books.
https://ilona-andrews.com/
Yeah. It was 88f for the walk. I wore a wind breaker in case of skeeters. And flip-flops. It’s that time of year where it’s warm and then you walk into a pocket of cool and back into warm. Pretty neat.
The acorns are starting to fall. Not many yet. The elms are starting to shed leaves. The hummingbirds mostly vanished the first week of August. There are still a few stragglers buzzing the feeder a few times a day. It’s suddenly down from a pint a day to a pint in two weeks.
What amazes me is that the birds go to wherever and come back to “right here” in the Spring. Some seem to know me, like suddenly buzz out of nowhere while I’m sitting on the front porch, chirp a lot about a foot from my face, and zoom off. Oh! I know what to do!
Humanity’s Greatest Genius. AKA VoxDay. https://voxday.net/
It’s a nickname on other sites. Not a slur, just a nickname. Like “Mustache Guy” for a certain Austrian painter. Another name to deflect the trolls…..
Sarah blames health issues, and I’m not gonna gainsay her… but yeah.
I tried to like her Darkship stuff, and it was well written, but it didn’t ‘click’ for me. Her book in the Monster Hunter universe was good, I could hear her ‘voice’ in it though and it was distracting.
I’ve come to align with her belief that world population numbers are widely over counted/reported and that our real threat is declining population and the risk that we don’t have enough smart people to keep our technological society running.
And she does often provide food for thought or an interesting POV, especially playing off her childhood in Portugal and her ‘outsider’ observations of the US.
n
“Springfield Residents “Displaced” As Landlords Triple Rent Prices To Accommodate Haitian Migrants [WATCH]”
https://www.lifezette.com/2024/09/springfield-residents-displaced-as-landlords-triple-rent-prices-to-accommodate-haitian-migrants-watch/
“A resident of Springfield, OH, has told a city commission meeting that locals are being displaced from their homes to make way for Haitian migrants.”
“The man, who has not been named, said the federal government was paying “triple the rent” for Haitians arriving in the town, thus incentivizing landlords to prioritize immigrants over existing residents.”
“Addressing the city commission, the resident – who said he’d worked with the homeless community for more than 25 years – said he didn’t know of “a single homeless Haitian in this town because they all got vouchers” from the federal government.”
What the heck ?
Ever wonder why the federal government is broke ?
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
I tried to like her Darkship stuff, and it was well written, but it didn’t ‘click’ for me. Her book in the Monster Hunter universe was good, I could hear her ‘voice’ in it though and it was distracting.
I’ve come to align with her belief that world population numbers are widely over counted/reported and that our real threat is declining population and the risk that we don’t have enough smart people to keep our technological society running.
I love her Darkship books. I forgot about the Monster Hunter book, it was great.
I agree with her that the world is heading into a period of great change culminating in a series of Strong Men running the world. I don’t even recognize the USA of my youth in today’s USA. I suspect that the next ten years will be even more change than the last 40 years.
Ordered new electrode pads for my AEDs. They were cheap on ebay, even with a few months left on the expiry date. Since I don’t care about the dates, that was a nice bonus.
I need a couple of new batteries though, and they aren’t cheap.
Of the 4 AEDs I bought a few months ago, one had some bad characters on the display, two needed pads and batteries, and one needed just a battery (although the pads were out of date.) The AED in my truck is showing low battery, but still indicates it’s ready to work. It takes a different battery than the one in my bathroom, or the 3 I just bought.
Adding a new battery and pads is still cheaper than buying a new AED. I got the 4 (three totally good) for the price of one used on ebay. I just need to bite the bullet and order some batteries.
I want one in each truck, one at the BOL, and one here at the house. If I get the batteries, I can do that. I may even put the one with the mixed up display in the wife’s vehicle, if I can get a good deal on another battery.
I’ve also got two older models that are out of support, and while I can buy batteries, I can’t find pads, and the newer models are better. I don’t think I’ll put the old ones to work. Maybe they have some good parts inside…
n
On censorship…
I was surprised to learn this week that there is still a censorship of publications board in operation in Ireland, that has been going strong since 1926.
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0802/1463072-ireland-banned-books-censorship-of-publications-board-committee-on-evil-literature-/
https://www.gov.ie/en/policy-information/09d62-censorshipclassification/#publications
It seems, however, that the current minister for justice intends to introduce legislation to abolish it.
https://www.gov.ie/en/press-release/dfd8b-minister-mcentee-proposes-new-bill-to-repeal-almost-century-old-censorship-of-publications-act/
On Sarah Hoyt’s blog writing…
She occasionally has important insights, and I want to like her writing, but she really, really needs to get someone to copy-edit her blog posts for brevity and staying on the point. I want to like her stuff because she sometimes hits the nails on their heads, but every time I dip back in for a look because someone mentions her or posts a link, I am disappointed anew by the rambling, so I ignore her blog until someone brings it up again.
Mermaids!
https://www.rte.ie/brainstorm/2024/0829/1467272-mermaids-irish-folklore-maighdean-mhara-merrow/
That sounds seriously unpleasant 🙁
Well said. However, what some folk want to ban can be pretty laughable. There were quite a few folks in uproar about Harry Potter, for example. Also, seriously important books like 1984 or Animal Farm get periodic attention from certain groups. Meanwhile, as someone already mentioned, religious books like the Bible (or Talmud, or Koran) contain lots of objectionable stuff.
I tried reading that – the idea seems interesting – but the book seemed boring, I just couldn’t get into it. Maybe the movie is better?
Population really is a problem. Worse is that (highly non-PC veiwpoint incoming) the successful populations are declining, while the non-successful ones, supported by aid from the successful, are exploding. Basic genetics tells you that this will not make the world a better place in the coming decades and centuries.
Tomorrow is the release day for iOS/iPadOS 18. I’m excited about the upgrades to Apple Notes and Math Notes. Those two apps can now replace many Third-Party similar apps. I’m looking forward to seeing how they work on the iPad Mini 7. If it is good, it is one more step towards a real ST Padd.
There is now one less Kamel Humper voter in the FUSA. The SS finally did its job.