Wed, Oct. 2, 2024 – driving all day, my hands wet on the wheel…

Cool to start, then warming. And maybe getting all the way to “hot”. Dry, only in the sense of no precip, it’s still humid and muggy. But, it is a little bit less of everything, which is moving in the right direction after a long hot summer.

Yesterday I did my big circle of pickups. Skipped one that I had already made arrangements to ship my small items, but ended up wishing I’d gone by. They missed my instructions, and ended up nagging me to pick up my items. I will still have them shipped…

Spent some time getting the front yard sprinklers to run. Grass is crunchy. I’ve got to replace at least one head. I’ve got spares, but no time.

So I’m taking today to drive out past Austin for a pickup. WTH? The payoff is potentially massive though, and one of the lots consists of expired proprietary filament for my commercial 3D printer. It’s pretty hard to find the consumables for that printer, so I was a bidder on that stuff. As long as I was making the trip, I might as well make money flipping something. And, if I’m honest, I started bidding thinking this school district was in Rosenburg, only an hour away, not three… I’m happy to have won, and happy to have the stuff for the printer, and have the stuff to flip, but I could have skipped the whole thing and my life would be the same. I am looking at it as the universe giving me a gift…

One I have to spend a day getting.

So while I’m hopefully adding to my stack of stuff for making stuff, and adding to my stack of money, I’m also losing time, which I probably should have spent in a different way. I’m conflicted, obviously. Feel free to discount any whining about not having enough time to do stuff for a few days at least…

And while I’m doing my thing, do some stacking of your own.

Because who had “union shuts down shipping” on their card for October?

Stacks are a good thing.

nick

77 Comments and discussion on "Wed, Oct. 2, 2024 – driving all day, my hands wet on the wheel…"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    The recall applies to the 2020 to 2024 models of the Wrangler 4xe and the 2022 through 2024 models of the Grand Cherokee 4xe. 

    Fiat technology goes splodey if you look at it funny, but the 4xe is a popular midlife crisis vehicle.

  2. SteveF says:

    re Western women’s leftward lunge, inability to find suitable men, and childbirth rates: These are all consequences of a prosperous society. Quite likely, a prosperous Western society. I don’t know of any similar results in classic China or Persia or Mali, when they were the richest empires around, but it happened in classic Athens and the Roman Republic and the Hanseatic League. Prosperity and catering to women hurt them all. Athens stopped it in time but was weakened, Rome did not and the Republic failed, and the cities of the Hanseatic League lost their prosperity through other causes (largely the European discovery of the New World). However, if Western ideals are the cause, then the contemporary spread of Western thought has infected Japan, South Korea, and China and is causing problems for them.

    A few years ago someone, whose name I don’t recall and can’t find, looked into natal statistics in nations with plunging birthrates, including the US, South Korea, and Japan. He found that the difference between 1974, say, and 2019 was that the relative proportions of women having one child, two children, three children, or four or more were about the same. The cause of the drop in birth rates was that the number of women having no children jumped from about 5% to 25%. Whereas the earlier number is probably largely due to infertility or to infant mortality, the latter is certainly due to choice. A sizable fraction of women simply don’t want children. In the past, women as a whole were not able to support themselves and live on their own, so they had to get married and children were a result. Today, women are able to support themselves (so long as they have government assistance) and consequently become very picky about men to marry and men to have children with. (Not necessarily the same men.)

    Because the majority of government benefits (free housing, medical assistance, hiring set-asides, legal support) in the West go to women (in the US, Canada, and the UK, women are net recipients of government money), it is perfectly rational for women to support a larger government. However, I doubt that rationality has much to do with it. It’s more to do with feelings, wanting to make sure everyone gets “their share” and all problems are made to go away. Never mind that communism invariably results in poverty and safetyism invariably results in weaklings, its about the feelz.

    On the plus side, the demographic collapse and the preceding economic collapse will put and end to much of this. Having half of the workforce doing makework “jobs” which produce nothing is a luxury of a rich economy. When the excess wealth goes away, the fake jobs will go away and the deluded will get a reality check. (Or that won’t happen, things will continue as they have, and society will collapse. One or the other.)

    10
  3. Greg Norton says:

    Sure, that’s a decent political move. Not so clever were the Republican Congresscritters who voted against FEMA funding shortly before the storm hit. Still, FEMA listing “equity” as their number one priority? That is beyond stupid.

    A funding vote would be part of an omnibus package instead of a separate bill. I’m sure you could find many line items which would be “bad optics” for Florida politicians to vote against.

    Florida 2026 is running now, and the Republican majority in the House is within the four seats DeSantis delivered with his office’s redistricting plan after he threw away the Legislature’s map in 2021. 

    Matt Gaetz wants to be Governor of Florida. His votes are the ones to watch.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Because the majority of government benefits (free housing, medical assistance, hiring set-asides, legal support) in the West go to women (in the US, Canada, and the UK, women are net recipients of government money), it is perfectly rational for women to support a larger government. However, I doubt that rationality has much to do with it. It’s more to do with feelings, wanting to make sure everyone gets “their share” and all problems are made to go away. Never mind that communism invariably results in poverty and safetyism invariably results in weaklings, its about the feelz.

    Trump is Bad Daddy. America has to work it out of its collective system.

    Meanwhile, pass the Chardonnay … and don’t bogart that bag of gummies.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    Colin Zachary suddenly has a lot of money to spend and his new ads are hammering Rafael Edward’s adventure in Cancun “while Texas was freezing”. That must be scoring points in the focus groups.

    Now that he has some gray hair in the beard and put on a few pounds, Rafael Edward is another Bad Daddy … but not as bad as Trump.

  6. drwilliams says:

    “I started bidding thinking this school district was in Rosenburg, only an hour away, not three…”

    One memorable night in New Jersey I was reading a map (remember those? paper things? foldy?) and mistook Riverdale for River  Vale. 

  7. Greg Norton says:

    While on the subject of splody …

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReD1-oHfSyU&t=26s

    Ch. 10 in Tampa is Tenga and waaaay left, often partnering with The (St. Petersburg) Times.

    Maybe the long knives are out for Musk in that newsroom.

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    72F and the failure of the best laid plans…

    Ended up waking at three am, and again later.   I’m a stumbling zombie.   Forgot that I was looking for bags of chips for the kids’ lunches….

    I’m rescheduling for Friday.   

    No idea what the issue was last night but I can’t drive 6 hours in the condition I’m in, I’d die in a crash.

    I”m beginning to think I’ve been suffering with a mild case of depression.   It fits the symptoms.   Getting out of the house and to the range last week might finally be breaking its hold… but slowly.

    I need to get the people out of the house, take a nap, then get to work.

    n

  9. Nick Flandrey says:

    There have been a number of IC vehicles that spontaneously combust, but you can fight the fire conventionally.   And getting them wet wouldn’t cause a fire.

    It’s now axiomatic that the left is after Musk.

    And I’m headed back to bed for a couple hours.

    n

  10. MrAtoz says:

    Now I gotta have me some Radar Love.

  11. Greg Norton says:

    Geesh. 600 deliveries short and TSLA gets pounded.

    Line up and buy the dip, sheeple!

  12. Greg Norton says:

    It’s now axiomatic that the left is after Musk.
     

    What is hilarious is they buy the cars.

    I‘d be willing to bet that the Ch. 10 parking lot is full of Teslas.

    The WTSP studio complex parking is easy to access off Gandy Blvd in St. Petersburg. The sister CBS/CW station, WTOG, is nearby and probably has a similar percentage of the employees owning Tonymobiles. 

    You can see the hypocrisy just driving by casually.

  13. Denis says:

    I”m beginning to think I’ve been suffering with a mild case of depression.   It fits the symptoms.   Getting out of the house and to the range last week might finally be breaking its hold… but slowly.

    Good luck, Nick. Be well. Taking time to do things that do you good is definitely helpful. Spend time with people who do you good too. If you need external help, please get that for yourself. If you need to take a break from the constant pressure to post here, do that. I’ll even write nonsense to fill in the white space if you need it.

    Speaking of nonsense, a colleague turned up to a recent meeting with a steaming bowl of porridge in hand. Now we are going to do some taste testing to determine the relative merits of Finnish and Irish oatmeal. I learned to my horror, that there are people in Finland who don’t salt their porridge. Hakkaa päälle!

  14. Brad says:

    @Denis: are you one of the barbarians who make porridge with water and salt? Milk and brown sugar are the way to go.

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    Salt the boiling water, add butter and maple syrup for sweetness when serving.

    ————–

    Saw two cybertrucks yesterday in less than a couple of blocks, and less than a couple of minutes.  Different license plates.  It was the costco area, near the “villages” so close to money.    It’s not unusual to see a bentley, a masarati, a mercedes sports car, and an alfa romeo in the line for gas at that costco.  G Wagons are so common I rarely note them anymore.     It’s getting to be that we have the shabbiest vehicles on my street.  Of course, ours are paid for and have been for years.

    ————–

    I feel better after getting some sleep.  It sure shot my plans all to heII.

    Still, there might have been  a good reason for it, that I just don’t know.  My life works in weird ways.

    n

  16. Denis says:

    @Denis: are you one of the barbarians who make porridge with water and salt? Milk and brown sugar are the way to go.

    No, those are the Scots barbarians 🙂

    My recipe for perfect Irish porridge is Flahavans Progress Oatlets with water, milk and salt when cooking the porridge. I often microwave it for convenience, but the texture is nicer if it is cooked in a pot. Best of all is cooked, left overnight and then re-heated in the pot.

    My favourite way to serve it is with pouring cream, brown sugar and a splash of Irish whiskey. Of course, that’s over the top for every day, but it is nice for a special occasion or at Christmas. Usually I eat it with ordinary sugar and milk. Maple syrup, golden syrup or honey are tastier alternatives to sugar.

    My everyday concession to porridge luxury is that I commissioned one of my favourite Irish potters, Helen Ennis, to make porridge bowls to my specifications. I enjoy my breakfast all the more, knowing that the bowl was made especially for it.

  17. Lynn says:

    “Wed, Oct. 2, 2024 – driving all day, my hands wet on the wheel…”

    Do you radar love ?

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckM51xoTC2U

  18. Lynn says:

    re Western women’s leftward lunge, inability to find suitable men, and childbirth rates: These are all consequences of a prosperous society. Quite likely, a prosperous Western society. I don’t know of any similar results in classic China or Persia or Mali, when they were the richest empires around, but it happened in classic Athens and the Roman Republic and the Hanseatic League. Prosperity and catering to women hurt them all. Athens stopped it in time but was weakened, Rome did not and the Republic failed, and the cities of the Hanseatic League lost their prosperity through other causes (largely the European discovery of the New World). However, if Western ideals are the cause, then the contemporary spread of Western thought has infected Japan, South Korea, and China and is causing problems for them.

    Welcome back SteveF !  And I agree with you, a certain percentage of women do not want to have kids.  Or husbands (big kids).

    One of my cousins is a lesbian now and living with another woman.  She did not attend her dad’s (my uncle) funeral last month.  They had a knock down drag out 30 years ago and he told her to get out.  But, she had a kid in high school that she gave up for adoption which already had her dad on edge.

  19. Lynn says:

    Wait, “Twilight Zone” is by Golden Earing too ?  I thought that they were a one hit wonder.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oaS3vbfOLJI

  20. Lynn says:

    On the plus side, the demographic collapse and the preceding economic collapse will put and end to much of this. Having half of the workforce doing makework “jobs” which produce nothing is a luxury of a rich economy. When the excess wealth goes away, the fake jobs will go away and the deluded will get a reality check. (Or that won’t happen, things will continue as they have, and society will collapse. One or the other.)

    Coming soon to a USA near everyone on the planet.  Because when the USA gets a cold, every other country on the planet gets pneumonia.

    My prediction of the USA financial apocalypse is five years away with Kamala, eight years away with Trump.

  21. Lynn says:

    “33,000 Boeing workers lose health care coverage”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/33-000-boeing-workers-lose-160919420.html

    “Boeing has cut health care coverage for 33,000 of its workers and their families as machinists union strikes continue to halt production in the Pacific Northwest.”

    IAM refused to vote on Boeing’s “final” contract offer last week, stating that the company bypassed the negotiating process by broadcasting the offer publicly. That offer expired on Friday.”

    You go on strike, you get all of the benefits of quitting your job.

    10
  22. Lynn says:

    “Coffee containers pile up at US ports during strike”

       https://finance.yahoo.com/news/coffee-containers-pile-us-ports-172527679.html

    Got coffee in your stacks ?

  23. Lynn says:

    “Oil prices pare gains after rising on Israel promise to retaliate following Iran’s strike”

        https://finance.yahoo.com/news/oil-prices-pare-gains-after-rising-on-israel-promise-to-retaliate-following-irans-strike-164211648.html

    If I was Israel, I would use 500 lb bombs on the Iranian oilfields and bunker busters on Khomeini’s secret bunker. Take away Iran’s oil money and go after the chief idiot.

  24. Lynn says:

    Pearls Before Swine: Books On Tape

       https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2024/10/02

    Books on tape count as real books.   I do not know where this tempest in a teapot is coming from.

  25. Greg Norton says:

    One of my cousins is a lesbian now and living with another woman.  She did not attend her dad’s (my uncle) funeral last month.  They had a knock down drag out 30 years ago and he told her to get out.  But, she had a kid in high school that she gave up for adoption which already had her dad on edge.
     

    I gave up on communication with my mother nearly 20 years ago.

    Parental estrangement in my generation isn’t uncommon. Life is simply easier that way.

  26. Greg Norton says:

    If I was Israel, I would use 500 lb bombs on the Iranian oilfields and bunker busters on Khomeini’s secret bunker. Take away Iran’s oil money and go after the chief idiot.
     

    The Iranians would burn the oil fields of the entire Mideast In retaliation.

  27. Lynn says:

    If I was Israel, I would use 500 lb bombs on the Iranian oilfields and bunker busters on Khomeini’s secret bunker. Take away Iran’s oil money and go after the chief idiot.
     

    The Iranians would burn the oil fields of the entire Mideast In retaliation.

    I doubt it, the Saudis alone have a serious war machine and are already fairly upset at the Iranians for arming the Houthis.  But, go for it !

  28. nick flandrey says:

    I’m a child of the 80s with mostly older friends and cousins.   Golden Earring ROCKED!   Don Kirshner’s Rock Concert on TV, what was it, Friday nights?    The Tubes, Golden Earring, lots of others…

    And Dr Demento on late night weekend radio…   along with the King Biscuit Flower Hour.   For a change of pace, WFMT’s folk music show late at night was hilarious and where I learned about what’s underneath the scotsman’s kilt.

    I wasn’t a big fan of WXRT in chicago, like zendo deb at https://wheelgunr.blogspot.com/ , but I did listen along with my friends.  WXRT played a lot of cutting edge stuff in the 80s.

    WLUP was the ‘rock’ station, as well as having shock jock shows.   That was my primary listen.    Before Jr. High, and High School, it was WLS on AM which played a wide variety of pop and rock.   That was before AM went over to sports, news, and talk.

    I miss the diversity of radio, before everything got programmed to death and the formats got narrower and narrower.

    One of the things I like most about shortwave listening is the serendipity of it, and the broad range of music.

    n

  29. Lynn says:

    One of my cousins is a lesbian now and living with another woman.  She did not attend her dad’s (my uncle) funeral last month.  They had a knock down drag out 30 years ago and he told her to get out.  But, she had a kid in high school that she gave up for adoption which already had her dad on edge.
     

    I gave up on communication with my mother nearly 20 years ago.

    Parental estrangement in my generation isn’t uncommon. Life is simply easier that way.

    I would never walk away from my kids for ANY reason.  Maybe I am different.

    I talk with my cousin through facebook occasionally.  Her brother told her that their dad passed away at my urging.

  30. nick flandrey says:

    Got coffee in your stacks ? 

    – yes.   Not great coffee, but in the land of the blind the one eyed man is king…

    n

  31. nick flandrey says:

    Books on tape count as real books.    

    – listening is not reading.   I listen in the car, but it’s really not the same, even after learning to do it and enjoy it.  Different parts of the brain.

    n

  32. Lynn says:

    “Another example of hyperinflation: Lebanon”

       https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/10/another-example-of-hyperinflation.html

    “Here’s an account of how one man experienced the hyperinflation that ravaged Lebanon less than five years ago.  It’s from a Bitcoin-promoting magazine, so their “solution” to the problem is, obviously, investment in Bitcoin.  I don’t agree with that, and don’t recommend it – but the factual account of hyperinflation in Lebanon remains valid and valuable, despite that.  Here are some excerpts.”

    “In early 2020, Lebanon defaulted on its foreign debt, and the value of the Lebanese pound plummeted. Hyperinflation set in, destroying the purchasing power of ordinary people.”

    “Tony watched helplessly as his savings evaporated and his businesses crumbled. “I went from being a successful entrepreneur to having just $70 to my name in what felt like the blink of an eye,” he recalls. “I couldn’t pay rent, school fees, or even afford basic groceries.””

    “Hyperinflation took hold with shocking speed. “A loaf of bread that once cost 1,500 LBP shot up to over 30,000 LBP within months,” Tony explains. Fuel prices were even worse. “In early 2023, a gallon of gas went from 25,000 LBP to over 500,000 LBP in just a few weeks. It was impossible to keep up with the prices.””

    I had no idea that Lebanon walked on their foreign debt in 2020.

    Could this happen here in the USA ?  Yes, in a heartbeat.

  33. Lynn says:

    “The devil is in the details – doubly so for terrorists”

       https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/10/the-devil-is-in-details-doubly-so-for.html

    “Most of us know the idiom “The devil is in the details“.  Hezbollah terrorists now know it as a pretty accurate assessment of why so many of them are dying.  The Financial Times reports:”

    “That’s a pretty impressive effort by Israel (made easier, of course, by modern computer power and the very low cost of data storage, allowing it to keep track of so many minutiae at once).  However, it’s also a salutary reminder to all of us to be careful about our own privacy.  We complain about credit monitoring companies and others who keep track of every penny we spend, and where we spend it, and on what – but it’s precisely that level of intrusive monitoring, across every aspect of society, that allowed Israel to attack Hezbollah so effectively.”

    “That level of monitoring will do the same to all of us should an autocratic, controlling government want to force its citizens to behave in a certain way, and punish them if they don’t obey.”

    “That’s a scary thought . . . but it’s the reality in which we live right now.  It’s why I, and many who feel as I do, prefer to pay cash for most of my purchases, and leave my cellphone at home on random, unpredictable occasions, and purchase privately rather than through big corporate vendors whenever possible.  It may not help much, but any sand I can throw in the gears of Big Brother is a worthwhile effort, IMHO.  I wish everyone would do the same.”

    I suspect that the Deep State considers all deplorables to be terrorists.  You are warned.

  34. Ray Thompson says:

    One of my cousins is a lesbian now and living with another woman.

    A girl I dated in high school became a lesbian, or whatever is the term of the day. I have no contact and learned it from someone else. I like to think there are two reasons why.

    First is that once she experienced me, is that she decided there was nothing that could top the experience.

    Second is that once she experienced me, is that she decided if that was as good as gets, move on to a different gender.

    12
  35. Lynn says:

    Scott Adams says:

    1. There is a new TV movie about a handsome prince who defeats a troll in a public competition
    2. The movie is called “The 2024 VP Debate”
    3. One of the actors has been nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the minor-attracted troll

    Woof.

  36. Lynn says:

    “A.F. Branco Cartoon – Simply Put”

        https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-simply-put/

    “A.F. Branco Cartoon – Putting the VP debate in simple terms. Vance spoke from a put-America-first perspective to solve America’s problems, while Walz came from a big-government Marxist viewpoint when looking at the disaster Kamala’s policies have created.”

  37. EdH says:

    @Nick:  Statins, which doctors love to prescribe, can cause depression.  Not everyone, but I am one of them, can’t endure the stuff.

  38. SteveF says:

    Welcome back SteveF !

    I wasn’t really gone, or else I’m not really back. I’ve been calamitously busy since the beginning of Summer, largely as a consequence of family members’ health issues. Swinging up to my brother’s house to take care of the lawn kills a good five hours, between the mowing and the drive each way. And so on.

    This morning I had a few minutes in which I had a computer and internet access but didn’t have anything else that I particularly needed so I read DayNotes (not terribly rare) and had something to say (not at all rare) and had time to write something (rare indeed).

    Today I was gone from the house for almost ten hours, shuttling people and taking care of things for people who aren’t me. I had a couple hours with a computer but no internet access so I couldn’t work for money but could write, so I’ll be putting up a couple essays shortly, after I proofread and “nonsense read”.

  39. nick flandrey says:

    Statins, which doctors love to prescribe  

    – they can also destroy your heart muscle…

    I was only on them briefly and it’s been years.     I have a feeling that it’s hard not to be negatively affected by the current state of the world…  despite prepping to get some control over it.

    n

    (well, technically, control over my response to it.)

  40. Greg Norton says:

    Scott Adams says:

    1. There is a new TV movie about a handsome prince who defeats a troll in a public competition
    2. The movie is called “The 2024 VP Debate”
    3. One of the actors has been nominated for an Oscar for his portrayal of the minor-attracted troll

    Woof.

    I wonder what Adams take would be on a debate between Rafael Edward and Collin Zachary.

    If there is a debate.

    The Wine/Weed Moms may allow Collin Zachary to get away with not agreeing to one.

  41. Lynn says:

    “33-year-Old Israeli Mom Dies Shielding Baby Boy from Palestinian Terrorists”

        https://www.breitbart.com/middle-east/2024/10/02/palestinian-terrorists-murder-33-year-old-mother-in-front-of-9-month-old-baby-boy-israeli/

    “Two Palestinian terrorists murdered seven people in Jaffa, near Tel Aviv, Israel, on Tuesday night — among them a 33-year-old mother who was gunned down in front of her nine-month-old son in a stroller on the train.”

    “The State of Israel’s official X account said that Vigder had actually shielded her infant son, saving his life.”

    I don’t see how Israel manages to keep from genocide.

    11
  42. Greg Norton says:

    Too big to fail.

    The current incarnation of Bank of America is questionably legal and never should have happened.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bank-of-america-outage-down-b2622878.html

  43. paul says:

    It’s 91f outside.  32% humidity.
    It’s 83f inside and 42% humidity.

    I’m almost itchy with dry skin.

    Not warm enough to close up the house and turn on the a/c.  It will cool to about 60f tonight.  Nice time of the year.   Maybe all of October will be like this.

  44. Gavin says:

    how Israel manages to keep from genocide

    After the last year, I think they are one, or at most two, horrific acts from there. Maybe I’m following the wrong news sources, but the Israeli objections to retribution seem to be disappearing.

  45. Lynn says:

    The Shadowstats inflation calculation says that the USA inflation is only running 7% now as opposed to the 12+% that inflation was running in 2023.

         https://www.shadowstats.com/alternate_data/inflation-charts

    I maintain that any long term money requirements should put an inflation rate of 35% per year into the calculation.  The cause of the inflation, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, will be ramping up on January 1, 2025.

  46. Lynn says:

    “Grid Apocalypse Hits Carolinas: 360 Substations Down, Power Restoration Could Take “Months””

        https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/grid-apocalypse-hits-carolinas-360-substations-down-power-restoration-could-take-months

    “He explained that 360 power substations “are out,” indicating that “many of these substations were completely flooded, and Duke Energy is unable to assess the damage until the flooding has lowered, the water has been pumped out, and the equipment is thoroughly dried.””

    That really, really sucks.

    The science fiction author David Weber just said that power is back on in his neck of the woods.  The power guys even removed the downed trees from his driveway with their chainsaws.

  47. Greg Norton says:

    I maintain that any long term money requirements should put an inflation rate of 35% per year into the calculation.  The cause of the inflation, the so-called Inflation Reduction Act, will be ramping up on January 1, 2025.

    The “printing press” in the basement of the Eccles Building is the source of inflation. The price increases are the market figuring out how many of the wooden nickels everyone is willing to accept in return for their good or service.

    All Congress does is rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic and lock the gates to steerage class.

    The day of reckoning in Texas will be sometime during the Legislative session in 2027, when the “Republicans” in charge will have to decide between big tax increases, including an income tax on the ballot for the Fall, or a cratering school system as the constituents realize they were had voting for the 2023 ballot measures which gave away the surplus and removed certain restrictions on state money going directly to the ISDs.

    No more $80 million football stadiums? Son, that’s un American.

  48. Lynn says:

    The day of reckoning in Texas will be sometime during the Legislative session in 2027, when the “Republicans” in charge will have to decide between big tax increases, including an income tax on the ballot for the Fall, or a cratering school system as the constituents realize they were had voting for the 2023 ballot measures which gave away the surplus and removed certain restrictions on state money going directly to the ISDs.

    The Texas state legislature is going to pass a school voucher system in January 2025 that is going to knock your socks off.  The new school vouchers will pay for any private school or public school in Texas that a kid wants to go to.  It will even pay for homeschooling.  It will be the most advanced school voucher system in the USA.

    The Texas public schools are probably going to lose somewhere between 20% to 40% of their students in the Fall of 2025.  The private schools will be slammed.  And the homeschooling ranks will double or quadruple immediately.  

    This is going to happen because Governor Abbott managed to primary several of the House members standing in his way.  He even nailed the House Speaker.  All I can say is, deny the Governor what he wants at your own risk and the rest of the House is very scared of getting primaried now.  They will fall in line.  Any of the public schools that have fallen from their duty will be in serious trouble.

    BTW, Texas is sitting on a 35 BILLION dollar surplus from this year alone. The 6 million barrels of oil produced per DAY in Texas and the 50 BCF of natural gas produced per DAY are providing excise taxes at a level never seen before.

  49. nick flandrey says:

    Our district has paused construction projects, including ones that were already funded by bond money.   They have reduced bus service too.  No after school activities because no late bus.  Except on Monday, but the number of routes were reduced and combined.   Takes D2 40minutes to get nearly home now instead of 20 on Mondays.  (Nearly because the drop them at your nearest elementary school, not at your normal pickup and drop off point.

    n

  50. Lynn says:

    I am wondering what else the Texas Legislature is going to do to the public schools ?  The current Public School system is regarded as horribly inefficient and very expensive.  They may want to privatize the entire mess which would really turn everything upside down by introducing competition into a system that effectively has no competition today.

    Texas did not have state funded public schools until 1910 or so.  The public schools before that were funded by the parents and towns.  

    Great change is coming to Texas.  Those high school football stadiums may not survive.

  51. nick flandrey says:

    More followup…   remember the girl who disappeared from a ball game?  No one could explain why she walked off with the kidnapper…  and a private investigator who specializes in these cases found her.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13918209/Natalee-Cramer-snatched-Dallas-Mavericks-game-traffickers.html

    A Texas girl who was snatched from a Dallas Mavericks game in April 2022 has shared the horrors she endured when she was held by sex traffickers for days on end.

    Natalee Cramer, now 18, had attended a basketball game with her father on April 18, 2022 when she left her seat without a cellphone and told her father she was going to the bathroom – though in reality she had an urge to smoke marijuana or drink alcohol, which she used to cope with anxiety, she told WFAA. 

    ‘I just walked around and that’s when I caught that guy’s eye,’ she recounted. ‘I told him, “I’m just really looking to smoke. Do you smoke?”‘

    The man allegedly replied that he did smoke, and had weed in his car.

    Cramer was later caught on surveillance footage voluntarily leaving the American Airlines Center with two men. She would not be seen again for another 10 days, when she was found in Oklahoma with a gang of sex traffickers.

    n

  52. Greg Norton says:

    Great change is coming to Texas.  Those high school football stadiums may not survive.

    The stadiums are only the most visible excess.

    Round Rock ISD has a bond measure on the ballot for this Fall which probably includes stadiums and or PACs at every high school.

    They’ve been able to float the PACs under the radar at about half of the schools, but HOK stadium blueprints are pricey.

    And don’t underestimate the importance of football, band, and drill team to just about every ISD.

    Our friends whose son has a very limited set of career options pursuing a band director position in a Florida high school are sending him to UT for a Masters at Butler starting in the Spring. They believe that he has a much better chance of fulfilling his dream here than in Florida where education spending is more under a microscope and the Governor has a line item veto which he isn’t afraid to use.

    Abbott cares what the media thinks. DeSantis and, eventually, Gaetz don’t surf.

  53. Lynn says:

    Round Rock ISD has a bond measure on the ballot for this Fall which probably includes stadiums and or PACs at every high school.

    What is a PAC ?

    Like I am saying, the ISDs may not survive the January 2025 legislative session.  The state legislature views them as antiquated, ineffective, and expensive.  Not a good combination when the legislature is dividing their $200 BILLION pot.

    The real question is going to be what happens with the troublemaker kids ? Those kids who don’t care about learning ? Or those kids who cannot function in society due to bran damage, etc ?

  54. Ray Thompson says:

    Those kids who don’t care about learning ? Or those kids who cannot function in society ?

    They become politicians.

  55. Lynn says:

    “Muslim academic claims Israel used jinn to take out Hezbollah’s chieftain”

       https://www.wnd.com/2024/10/muslim-academic-claims-israel-used-jinn-to-take-out-hezbollahs-chieftain/

    “’Considering the Zionists’ history of subjugating genies, they carry out many of their missions through this means’”

    Yes ! Although, all the stories that I have read of jinns did not go well for the caller of the jinn.

  56. Greg Norton says:

    2 October 2024 at 21:08

    Round Rock ISD has a bond measure on the ballot for this Fall which probably includes stadiums and or PACs at every high school.

    What is a PAC ?

    Performing Arts Center.

    Round Rock ISD has one which is similar in size, quality, and scope to Ruth Eckerd (as in the defunct drugstore chain) Hall in Clearwater, FL, but that has to be shared with four high schools and, I’m guessing, eventually, Apple, whose new campus is within the ISD’s tax district and sits just north of the PAC.

    A virtual duplicate of the auditorium at UT Butler School of Music was snuck in at the ISD’s ghetto school, but every Principal wants a facility of their own.

  57. nick flandrey says:

    what happens with the troublemaker kids 

    – right now they are in classes with my kids, and the neighbor’s kids.    No principal wants a troublemaker, so if there is trouble, they move the victim.   With social media, the victim is quickly outed at their new school and becomes a target again.   Meanwhile the troublemaker is free to abuse their next victim.

    PAC is performing arts center,  TX law says you have to spend as much on the arts as you do on sports.   Puts a lot of food on my table…

    n

    added – IDK if the opposite is true, if you could just build a PAC, or if you wanted one, you’d have to build the sports facility too.

  58. SteveF says:

    Two essays posted today, the result of a couple hours sitting and waiting with a laptop but no internet connection.

    “Disposable” at Daily Pundit or Cold Fury

    “Choices and Consequences” at Daily Pundit or Cold Fury

  59. nick flandrey says:

    Just asked my wife about the opposite, she laughed and said it’s never come up…

    n

  60. nick flandrey says:

    And apparently HOK isn’t the hotness when it comes to stadiums anymore.  They did design a buttload of them…

    n

  61. drwilliams says:

    Golden Earring stepped back from the success of Moontan and the hit “Radar Love” with their next album, Switch. 

    The story is told in “Kill Me”. Good song. But listen to “Love is a Rodeo”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zbLoT6rZ0I

    Channeling Blue Oyster Cult?

  62. drwilliams says:

    “The real question is going to be what happens with the troublemaker kids ? Those kids who don’t care about learning ? Or those kids who cannot function in society due to bran damage, etc ?”

    The first state that de-mainstreams the troublemakers and puts them in a de facto prison where they belong will see very large improvements in the rest of the class. 

    The damaged kids suck up a disproportionate amount of resources.  We need to find a way to provide an education for the low-ability that gives them the best life skills possible, and make dignified and suitable jobs available. If that’s emptying waste baskets on the evening shift then so be it. 

    The ones that have no mental abilities and cannot be educated need to be removed from the educational system. Putting severely brain damaged kids in the classroom disrupts and degrades the education of the “normals” with no attendant benefits.  

  63. Lynn says:

    “Tucker Carlson’s VP Debate Response”

        https://tuckercarlson.com/vp-debate-response

    “The future of the Republican Party is JD Vance. That’s what the future looks like, that’s where the party’s going, that’s where its voters are, and he is the supremely articulate spokesman for that brand of Republican politics. He is the future.”

    I think that J. D. Vance is the future of the Republican Party also.  Incredibly articulate.

  64. Greg Norton says:

    added – IDK if the opposite is true, if you could just build a PAC, or if you wanted one, you’d have to build the sports facility too.

    I believe the ghetto school also has a new gym.

    Anything and everything gets tried to reduce the overcrowding at Round Rock High School, the Subcontinent school of choice … even if they build houses in the Leander and Georgetown cr*p districts.

    I still haven’t figured that one out.

  65. Denis says:

    Sleepless night, so might as well read TTGNET and post nonsense.

    Parental estrangement…

    I am sad for anyone who is estranged from family. I have a relative who did something unforgivable. It took me a decade, but I managed to forgive, and we are no longer estranged. We will never be as close as we were before, and that  makes me sad still.

    re Western women’s leftward lunge, inability to find suitable men, and childbirth rates:

    …shuttling people and taking care of things for people who aren’t me…

    Wohoo! SteveF spotted twice in one day. Hope you’re well, Steve. Good luck with taking care of those who need your help. Thanks for the essay and the links to more. I forgive you for the jab at fatties.

    …their dad passed away at my urging.

    Remind me never to offend Lynn.

    A girl I dated in high school became a lesbian… once she experienced me … she decided there was nothing that could top the experience.

    The flatulence was that bad already in high school? Poor Ray (and his entourage).

  66. Greg Norton says:

    Now I gotta have me some Radar Love.

    Ok.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eW9IMYcO47U

    Disney fired Edgar Wright from “Ant Man” so he made “Baby Driver” for Sony instead.

    Watch carefully. Everything happening on screen in the film is choreographed to the music.

    Wright always makes something interesting. He was going to remake “The Running Man” for Paramount until that studio imploded.

  67. Greg Norton says:

    Wright always makes something interesting. He was going to remake “The Running Man” for Paramount until that studio imploded.

    “Barbarella” with Sydney Sweeney?

    https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/sydney-sweeney-barbarella-edgar-wright-direct-1235897947/

  68. Alan says:

    @nick, please check your aol mail, thanks.

  69. Alan says:

    Just keep the monkey supplied with plenty of peanuts…

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-only-5-jobs-says-130000997.html

  70. Alan says:

    >> My prediction of the USA financial apocalypse is five years away with Kamala, eight years away with Trump.

    Eight years of Trump requires implementation of the PFLP (president for life program – Vladimir can help.)

  71. Alan says:

    >> “Grid Apocalypse Hits Carolinas: 360 Substations Down, Power Restoration Could Take “Months””

    Seemed to me that today was really the first day that the MSM had enough ‘boots on the ground’ to really present a compelling view of the level of horror that exists in the southeast. 

    UNREAL.

    Maybe best to re-up Timmy and give him some fatigues and a shovel and get him some real work.

    Whew…

    https://www.cbs17.com/weather/tracking-the-tropics/kirk-escalates-to-category-1-hurricane-forecasted-to-stay-away-from-u-s-coast/

  72. Lynn says:

    “People are panic-buying toilet paper because of the port strike. There is no need for that”

        https://www.koco.com/article/toilet-paper-panic-buying-longshoremen-strike/62488730

    “NEW YORK — Toilet paper shortages in stores across America are giving folks nightmarish reminders of the pandemic era. But the lack of toilet paper isn’t a direct result of a major port strike Tuesday. It’s because of panic buying.”

    HEB was cleaned out of TP, paper towels, and most water tonight.  

    Our TP comes from Alabama.

  73. Lynn says:

    >> My prediction of the USA financial apocalypse is five years away with Kamala, eight years away with Trump.

    Eight years of Trump requires implementation of the PFLP (president for life program – Vladimir can help.)

    Nope, Trump can only be prez for four years.  But he may be able to slow down the financial apocalypse that is coming. Kamala will accelerate the financial apocalypse.

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