Tues. Oct. 8, 2024 – seems more important than it is.

By on October 8th, 2024 in culture, decline and fall

More cool, followed by hot and humid. And a hurricane for Florida. It was pretty warm by yesterday afternoon, but cooled later. Still 84F after dark though. I’d say that we are well into Fall now, with the consecutive days starting at 72F or under. Nice.

Did stuff around the house, did my pickups, did my kid driving chores. Did some domestic bliss. Did some minor computer stuff. Didn’t work in the yard or driveway.

Today I’ve got one pickup, unless I won something I didn’t think I’d win. And I’ve got my busy day with driving D1 around all afternoon. I really need to get a few things done that will have a big visual impact and be a real change in the house. If I can get a couple of them done in the morning, I’ll be golden. If not, I’ll be a goat.

I’ll spend some time watching the weather too. Got plans that should probably change, and a couple of people in harms way. It’s difficult to change plans though, and easy to tell yourself lies.

Try not to lie, to yourself or others. One is hard, one makes life easier.

And of course, stack like your life depends on it.

nick

81 Comments and discussion on "Tues. Oct. 8, 2024 – seems more important than it is."

  1. Greg Norton says:

    FFox updated.   For months it told me there was a newer version available, but when I tried to d/l it, I got an error that my OS was too old and so no update for me.  Today I allowed it to update, it did the d/l and restarted and now youtube seems to be working normally.

    Some days I hate computers.  And programmers.   

    Firefox has been weird since they started down the Rust path in a serious way.

    Hot Skillz!

    The Linux Kernel team has seen serious pushback from portions of the benevolent dictator hierarchy who know how the Hot Skillz game works in Corporate America.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    FFox updated.   For months it told me there was a newer version available, but when I tried to d/l it, I got an error that my OS was too old and so no update for me.  Today I allowed it to update, it did the d/l and restarted and now youtube seems to be working normally.

    All versions of Windows through 8.1 have been banished to “ESR” releases of Firefox.

    Windows 10 will be next, but deprecating that platform would have to be a coordinated effort with the Chrome developers.

  3. drwilliams says:

    Coffee is not enough to start the day. 

    Lowell George and Little Feat with “Feets Don’t Fail Me Now””

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    71F and clear this morning.

    Coffee is brewing.

    ————-

    “Evacuate or die”  isn’t really helpful when the roads are gridlocked and there isn’t any gas available along the route.   That kind of hyperbole is why people don’t take warnings seriously.

    Also points out the importance of preparation.  And acting when it’s time to act.

    n

  5. Greg Norton says:

    “Evacuate or die”  isn’t really helpful when the roads are gridlocked and there isn’t any gas available along the route.   That kind of hyperbole is why people don’t take warnings seriously.

    Also points out the importance of preparation.  And acting when it’s time to act.

    Jane Castor is the clueless DEI hire Mayor of Tampa. She was a clueless Chief of Police.

    The Dem bench is so empty in Florida that the party may decide to run her to be a clueless Governor.

    If you want to be Mayor of Tampa, you have to play well at the Garden Club.

    Literally.

  6. MrAtoz says:

    Has FEMA/goobermint/PLTs/Goracle declared Hurricane Milton definitive proof of GLOBAL WARMING IS REAL, yet.

    Since FEMA is out of money for NC, what are they gonna do for FL?

  7. MrAtoz says:

    You can’t hate the LSM enough:

    And How Did That War Start? ABC News Disgraces Itself (Further) on the Anniversary of October 7

    Send more money to Lebanon! Frack the Former United States of America!

  8. Greg Norton says:

    Since FEMA is out of money for NC, what are they gonna do for FL?
     

    Nothing.

    DeSantis don’t surf, and he’s not a hugger.

  9. CowboyStu says:

    My Ralph’s, AKA Kroger, has plenty of toilet paper and paper towels.

  10. Brad says:

    Helene says “hi” from Europe. Windy and wet, not much more. Checked Reuters to see what the news is on the next hurricane:

    “Hurricane Milton was expected to enlarge on Tuesday as it grinded past Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula”

    “Grinded”? Journalism sure ain’t what it used to be…

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    Teamsters boss eviscerates Democrats: ‘They have f**** us over for the last 40 years’ 

    – ha ha

    you and everyone else…   when will American blacks realize?

    n

  12. Nick Flandrey says:

    Best.  Economy.  Evah.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-13934331/starbucks-customers-verdict-price-rises.html

    As consumers tighten their budgets, affordability in the restaurant sector has become a hot topic. 

    Nearly 80 percent of Americans now regard fast food as a ‘luxury,’ according to a survey by YouGov for LendingTree. Many view casual dining chains like Applebee’s as better value. 

    – fast food is a luxury.

    n

  13. Jenny says:

    @nick

    fast food is a luxury.

    FIFY

    11
  14. Greg Norton says:

    “Hurricane Milton was expected to enlarge on Tuesday as it grinded past Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula”

    “Grinded”? Journalism sure ain’t what it used to be…
     

    AI and/or an intern.

  15. Jenny says:

    Our family trip in September was great fun. We did very little, mostly hung out with old friends chatting by their pool. Really needed that break. 
     

    It drove home that my awesome daughter is a train wreck in the management skills she needs to get through homework independently, though. She’s diagnosed with some mild focus deficits and we start coaching sessions this week. Getting her through five days of homework in a ten day trip was a huge grind. I’m sure she felt the same. We need to get a handle on it before I haul her to New Zealand for a month to meet my dads side of the family. 
     

    Fall is here with heavy hard frosts and temps flirting with actual freezing temps. No snow yet. Next week maybe. My last batch of kits for the year haven’t gained well so I’m contemplating calling them done at eight weeks and taking the hit on weight. Thing is I’m not convinced another four weeks would provide much gain. It would make rabbit chores nominal to shut down early. I’m also considering dropping to three rabbits for the winter to make the NZ trip easier on the house / animal sitter. 
     

    We are three months into the new Mayor. More visible inebriates, a return of familiar faces kicked out by the conservative mayor. Anchorage is a mess and no end in sight. We are looking more seriously at leaving state, though I still don’t know where we would be better off.  I can retire in late 2030, we won’t make any changes before then. But we are looking. 
     

    On more fun news, our community garden plot yielded significantly more potatoes at less effort than our backyard plot. That’s pretty exciting. I harvested quite a bit of garlic from one of the three beds I planted. The other two beds yielded almost nothing. They were shaded part of day, I assume the garlic varieties I planted couldn’t tolerate anything less than full sun. 
     

    I brought a cello back from California to replace my thrift shop cello. Buying the new cello was a great experience. The luthier brought me instrument after instrument to try until I narrowed it to two. Best three hours of the trip -grin- I’ve been playing nonstop since then. It’s a joy to play an instrument that feels so good in my hand and makes even a rank amateur sound competent. I’m not fighting the instrument anymore and that’s fabulous. 
     

    Rest of the week is finalizing essential winter chores. Leaving as much as I can for spring though that rankles. I think I’m out of time. 

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    0
  16. Greg Norton says:

    – fast food is a luxury.
     

    Four coffee places are about to slug it out not far from my house — Starbucks, Dutch Bros., Tim Hortons, and McDonalds.

    A fifth, Chick-fil-A, is a bit of a dark horse, but their building has the best throughput potential and real estate.

  17. Jenny says:

    @Greg

    Dutch Bros

    Got a coffee at the drive thru in Escondido when I took my daughter to the skatepark. Great customer service. Wasn’t impressed by the coffee. 

  18. nick flandrey says:

    @jenny, hard to vacation when you have livestock…  at least that’s what everyone I read says…

    I don’t regret much, but not making more effort to learn spanish, not learning to play an instrument, and dropping my daily study of martial arts are definitely in the regrets column.   It’s great that you are playing the cello and having fun.

    n

    8
    1
  19. Brad says:

    Cello is a lovely instrument!

  20. Greg Norton says:

    Got a coffee at the drive thru in Escondido when I took my daughter to the skatepark. Great customer service. Wasn’t impressed by the coffee. 
     

    The “Broista” concept is popular here, but Austin still has a lot of money sloshing around the suburbs.

    BROS is strictly a “beer money” investment.

  21. Jenny says:

    @nick

    Rabbits and chickens are easier than goats or cows, certainly much more difficult than cats or dogs. 
     

    Our sitter was messaging us multiple times a day about the rabbits, not sure why she was hyper vigilant as in the past she’s been quite relaxed about it. Make sure they have food and water once a day, call it good.

     I can’t diagnose a rabbit health problem from 3000 miles away. I certainly can’t fix it at that distance, and no, the rabbit isn’t going to the vet for what is likely perfectly normal rabbit behavior.  Frankly, rabbits go from fine to stiff without warning when there is an actual problem. 

    So no point in fretting about it as a sitter. She has watched the rabbits multiple times since 2020, no clue why this time was different. I wound up ignoring her texts (not hard because connectivity was awful). 
     

    Musical instruments and Spanish. If you can find 15 minutes a day you can still do these things. If you cannot find 15 minutes a day then you’ve got bigger fish to fry. I am a lousy musician. But I love it. It brings me a calm I need and cannot find that quickly or deeply any other way. 
     

    My observation of adults taking up instruments is they ratchet their standards and expectations higher than they can achieve with their competing responsibilities. My response to that is give yourself permission to suck at something. Embrace it. Pick three chords or whatever the equivalent is on the instrument, and just enjoy it for what it is. 

    Choose an instrument with a deeper voice, soprano instruments sound worse in amateur hands. Make fixing the instrument part of the process – pawn shops have guitars coming out their ears. Abuse places like Guitar Center to find out what manufacturers you like. Then make it part of the routine when you’re thrifting to find that instrument. A wooden tenor recorder by a decent maker, like Moeck, is portable and won’t be as offensive to your ears as the more common soprano. Teach yourself to adjust the neck and bridge of the guitar, or recork the tenons of the recorder, or place a sound post. 
    Then just try. Because it’s worth it. 
     

    I’m so glad I brought home that crappy $80 cello from Goodwill earlier this year. I replaced strings, regreased the pegs, placed the sound post, reset the bridge, rehaired the bow. All things I didn’t know how to do 6 months ago. I can play simple songs in three key signatures at a walking pace. It’s not much but it’s enormously satisfying. 

    10
  22. Jenny says:

    @brad

    I concur!

  23. EdH says:

    A pleasant morning here in the high desert – it is nice to take a walk and work in the yard without crisping.

    They are saying 95F later, but they said that yesterday and instead it hit 101F in the shade.  That 6F makes a huge difference.

    —–

    Bought a solar charge controller, a Victron Smart Solar 100V, 20A – 48-Volt, from Amazon. It certainly won’t run my house but it should suffice for emergencies to charge my batteries, and for car camping.  

    And later in the week I have an appointment to go look at some solar panels, dirt cheap around here, basically $.20 a watt. I need to read the specification sheet for the controller before purchasing anything.  

    so many projects, so little time.

  24. nick flandrey says:

    20c /watt is cheap.

    I will usually pay up to 50c/watt for new.  Even old panels still produce about 80% of their rated output, at worst, and if they are cheap, you just get an extra panel or two to make up the difference.

    n

  25. Lynn says:

    “Did Hurricane Milton Have Help in Suddenly Becoming One of the Most Powerful Storms in History?”

       https://thelibertydaily.com/did-hurricane-milton-have-help-suddenly-becoming-one/

    OK, I have heard it all now.  Apparently the USA government has a storm enhancer machine using lasers and has used it to accelerate hurricanes Helene and Milton from a Cat 1 to a Cat 5 and targeted red areas to suppress the votes in the upcoming presidential election.

    So, the net effect is that North Carolina and Florida go blue for this election.

  26. Lynn says:

    FFox updated.   For months it told me there was a newer version available, but when I tried to d/l it, I got an error that my OS was too old and so no update for me.  Today I allowed it to update, it did the d/l and restarted and now youtube seems to be working normally.

    Some days I hate computers.  And programmers.   

    Firefox has been weird since they started down the Rust path in a serious way.

    Hot Skillz!

    There were several versions of Firefox with the new Rust code that were unstable.  The problem is the advertisers are continuously seeking holes to exploit in the blocking technology.

  27. Lynn says:

    I brought a cello back from California to replace my thrift shop cello. Buying the new cello was a great experience. The luthier brought me instrument after instrument to try until I narrowed it to two. Best three hours of the trip -grin- I’ve been playing nonstop since then. It’s a joy to play an instrument that feels so good in my hand and makes even a rank amateur sound competent. I’m not fighting the instrument anymore and that’s fabulous. 
     

    “Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World (MTV Unplugged)”

    With cello !

       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fregObNcHC8&list=RDfregObNcHC8&start_radio=1

  28. Brad says:

    Weather control? Yeah, there are really, really dumb people in the world. Apparently MTG is one of them, as this isn’t her first idiotic idea.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    So, the net effect is that North Carolina and Florida go blue for this election.
     

    Sure. Florida is going from 60-40 victory margins for DeSantis and Little Marco in 2022 to blue In two years.

    Go look at who the Dems put up against Rick Scott RINO-FL. That’s the best they could do.

    Florida won’t go blue for at least a decade.

    And court decisions would be needed to redraw DeSantis’ redistrcting maps.

  30. dcp says:

    With cello !

    These guys are hard on their bows, but still very fun to watch:  https://youtu.be/uT3SBzmDxGk?si=jsHFjPYkNrpnb7vr

  31. drwilliams says:

    Ben Bova “The Weathermakers”

  32. nick flandrey says:

    You can make some changes in the weather.   Rainmakers have been around for a long time, and recently had a major mis-step in the middle east.  

    Pretty sure no one can generate enough energy to change the intensity of storms, yet.  Unless there really are aliens, and we really did steal their tech.   The HAARP project in Alaska is usually the focus of the “we can control the weather” crowd.

    We’ve had a bunch of sunspot activity interfering with radio propagation lately, and that’s more likely to be a weather modifier than anything the mostly hairless apes can do.

     n

  33. Lynn says:

    xkcd: University Commas

        https://www.xkcd.com/2995/

    I like and use the Oxford Comma.

    Explained at:

       https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2995:_University_Commas

  34. EdH says:

    The Eyewall.

    “This website is dedicated to covering tropical activity in the Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea, and Gulf of Mexico. The Eyewall was founded in June 2023 by Matt Lanza and Eric Berger, who work together on the Houston-based forecasting site Space City Weather.”

    Looks like a good site to follow Hurricane Milton.

  35. nick flandrey says:

    My wife follows space city weather exclusively.

    n

  36. Lynn says:

    “Why I Want My Kids to Grow Up to be Union Bosses” by James Hickman 

        https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/why-i-want-my-kids-to-grow-up-to-be-union-bosses-151634/

    “In fact the only occupation I can think of which will provide absolute financial security is that of a union boss.”

    “For example, on Friday we highlighted that the man in charge of the dockworkers union— which briefly went on strike last week— makes about a million dollar per year, lives in a mansion, and drives a Bentley.”

    “Stacy Davis Gates, the President of the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU), pulls in nearly $300,000 per year.”

  37. nick flandrey says:

    And yeah, at this point the only question is how bad will it be?   It’s not a prediction that it MIGHT get to cat4 of cat5, it’s been there, and is there, and could be back there.

    n

  38. Lynn says:

    “Crisis (Kelly Turnbull/Peoples Republic)” by Kurt Schlichter 
        https://www.amazon.com/Crisis-Kurt-Schlichter/dp/1734199326?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number five of an eight book alternate history series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Kurt Schlichter in 2020 that I just bought new on Amazon. I am now reading book number six in the series as I have purchased all of the books now.

    In an alternate universe, the USA split into two countries in 2022: the People’s Republic (the blue, the west coast and the northeast) and the United States (the red, flyover country). Initially people can cross the lines easily but that gets more difficult as the years go on.

    This book is the first prequel to the series, it is about the USA before the split into the red and the blue. The treachery, the anarchists, the outright stealing of the USA is expounded upon in great detail. 

    My favorite caliber is .44 Magnum.

    My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (2,900 reviews)

    Lynn

  39. Greg Norton says:

    “Nirvana – The Man Who Sold The World (MTV Unplugged)”

    With cello !

    For the “Look Into The Eyeball” tour David Byrne replaced his usual backing band with a string sextet.

    “Once in a Lifetime” was phenomenal and we were down close so you could feel the low frequencies.

    This concert has a taste of it, but with a different song and percussion provided by traditional drums.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXN5r1viSFY

  40. Lynn says:

    And yeah, at this point the only question is how bad will it be?   It’s not a prediction that it MIGHT get to cat4 of cat5, it’s been there, and is there, and could be back there.

    Looks like they ran out of lasers.

  41. Greg Norton says:

    I caught this link from the page with the David Byrne clip.

    “The Blue Album” is 30 years old. Geesh.

    “Buddy Holly” almost diddn’t make the album?!? That song is immortal thanks to Windows 95 and Spike Jonze brilliant video.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P_vI3FV1H4U

  42. Ray Thompson says:

    hard to vacation when you have livestock…

    Very much true. On the farm we had 150 head of cattle that needed tending. The only way that my aunt and uncle got a vacation was to leave me and my brother at the ranch by ourselves. Generally for a week at a time. The neighbors knew and were asked to, and they did, check up on us. Meals were arranged to be provided by the neighbors and that was part of the checkup.

    We did go camping on the coast for a couple of days and I have no idea who looked after the animals.

    On one of my aunt and uncle’s vacations I was only 15 years old. I had a very limited driver’s license to operate on the roads bordering ranch property plus a limited distance of a few miles. Not enough to actually drive into to town. I really needed to get to town, 15 miles distance. Couldn’t drive so I took the tractor. I was too stupid to ask one of the neighbors to drive.

  43. Greg Norton says:

    And yeah, at this point the only question is how bad will it be?   It’s not a prediction that it MIGHT get to cat4 of cat5, it’s been there, and is there, and could be back there.

    Looks like they ran out of lasers.

    If they did manipulate the storm, it is about to backfire on the Dems, similar to Disney “leaking” DeSantis wedding pictures two years ago trying to make the Governor look like a hypocrite.

    DeSantis don’t surf.

    https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-undermines-harris-claim-ron-desantis-politicizing-hurricane-response-doing-great-job

  44. Lynn says:

    “Double Whammy: Israel Takes Out the ‘Replacement of the Replacement’ of Hezbollah Leader Nasrallah”

       https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2024/10/08/double-whammy-israel-takes-out-the-replacement-of-the-replacement-of-the-late-hamas-leader-nasrallah-n2180319

    “There are short-term jobs, and then there are really short-term jobs. It would seem that being the leader of the terrorist group Hezbollah falls into the latter category.”

    Looks like there are lots of promotion opportunities in Hezbollah.

    Hat tip to:

       https://thelibertydaily.com/

  45. Greg Norton says:

    Looks like there are lots of promotion opportunities in Hezbollah.

    They drop faster than Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers at Hogwarts.

    At grad school in WA State, the equivalent position was “Networks”.

    I graded the class, and the professor’s answer key to questions about Metcalfe’s seminal paper on Ethernet were wrong.

  46. paul says:

    This morning I had the thought that I need a vent hood for the new range fan.

    I had one in my Wishlist.  A 4 inch but I knew they made 5 and 6 inch sizes.  It’s not a hooded exhaust, it’s louvers.  I have the plastic version for my dryer.  Works great. This is stainless steel. 

    While I’m there, how about some 5 inch duct?  Yeah, I know, 4 point 9 inches.  A foot of that.  I have tin snips.

    Right at the end, a 5 inch hole saw was recommended.  Nice!  Add to cart!  I used the 6 inch version for recessed light fixtures, sure made it easy.

    The local hardware lumber place might have all of the above but I’d spend an hour looking for it.  Big River won today. 

  47. drwilliams says:

    The dean of Michigan State University’s College of Education, Jerlando Jackson, plagiarized extensively over the course of his career, according to a complaint filed with the university on Thursday, lifting text without attribution and raising questions about his fitness to lead one of the top teacher training programs in the country.

    The complaint includes nearly 40 examples of plagiarism that span nine of Jackson’s papers, including his Ph.D. thesis, and range from single sentences to full pages.

    https://freebeacon.com/campus/a-mockery-of-education-dean-of-michigan-states-top-ranked-ed-school-is-a-serial-plagiarist-complaint-alleges/

    Off with his heads.

  48. lpdbw says:

    Four coffee places are about to slug it out not far from my house 

    No Scooters?

    The new one by our house has already closed.  Poor access I guess, or maybe just too many stores too close together.

    I buy coffee out maybe 4 times a year.  Usually Dutch Bros.

  49. drwilliams says:

    Whut: How Did 50K Dockworkers Strike at Ports w/ Only 25K Jobs?

    half of the dockworkers at the East and Gulf coast ports are allowed to sit at home collecting “container royalties” negotiated decades ago to protect against job losses that result from innovation

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/10/08/whut-how-did-50k-dockworkers-strike-at-ports-w-only-25k-jobs-n3795540

    Off with their heads, too.

  50. drwilliams says:

    NY Times Opinion: We Should Abandon the Idea of Masculinity

    https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2024/10/08/ny-times-opinion-we-should-abandon-the-idea-of-masculinity-n3795560

    Hump a 40-lb ruck and a rifle for 10 miles, shoot and qualify at three distances and get back to us.

    In the meantime, NYT employees should abandon the idea that they are journalists.

    10
  51. EdH says:

    A 15′ storm surge at and around Tampa may well do more death & destruction than the winds. It’s going to be biblically ugly.

  52. drwilliams says:

    following up:

    Judge Rules That Nine-Year-Old NFL Fan Can Sue the Crap Out of Deadspin for False Blackface Allegations

    https://redstate.com/jeffc/2024/10/08/judge-rules-that-nine-year-old-nfl-fan-can-sue-the-crap-out-of-deadspin-for-false-blackface-allegations-n2180321

    From one head to the other, and wood chip everything between.

    10
  53. drwilliams says:

    EXCLUSIVE: 40 US Soldiers Stranded in Israel on Oct 7; Hamas Knew Their Names, Ranks, Locations

    Approximately a quarter of the soldiers were just miles from Gaza in off-base housing near the IDF’s Tze’elim base when the attack began. A group of local Israelis – IDF reservists, police officers, and ordinary citizens – got them to the base, which Hamas terrorists were quickly heading toward. With his men in mortal danger, the U.S. team leader requested permission to open the arms locker so they could retrieve their firearms but was denied at the US Central Command level and “denied and/or ignored” at a level above that, according to a military intelligence analyst with knowledge of the mission and exfiltration.

    https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2024/10/08/exclusive-40-us-soldiers-stuck-in-israel-on-october-7-n2180273

    Identify that chain of command and …

    off with their heads.

    11
  54. nick flandrey says:

    Mom found some gas this morning in Sarasota.   They are going to get hit, just a question of bad, or really bad.   All the barrier islands are probably doomed too.   Currently she’s with my sibling, pretty far inland.   She thinks she’ll spent the night at her place, then spend the day with my sibling.   

    Sibling has food and water, and a house that’s modern construction.   Mom’s condo is 50-60 years old, but is brick construction.

    Disney has shut down some of the hotels, and the campground for a couple of days.  Mostly older properties.

    No word yet on their operating schedule after Thursday, but the weather forecast is actually for nice days thru the weekend.   Won’t matter if planes can’t get in and out….

    n

  55. dcp says:

    Looks like Hurricane Milton is tracking a little more to the South.  Sarasota and Siesta Key may get the worst of it.  https://www.cyclocane.com/milton-storm-tracker/

  56. paul says:

    Tonight’s DVD from the bin of $5 discs was going to be Milk.  I made it through the first ten minutes and then skipped a few chapters.  First impression?  Dreary. 

    Not interested in watching a “documentary” about stuff I heard about while growing up.  

    To the Thrift Shop stack it goes. 

  57. paul says:

    That deal I made with the wISP?  He has his new PC.  An AMD something with two nVidia RTX A2000-6GB video cards.  Looks impressive!

    He named his new machine Paul. Eh, I guess he’s real real happy.

  58. Lynn says:

    @Greg, just saw where your boss is #12 in the Forbes 400 at $101 billion.

    Now that is an exclusive club.

  59. Greg Norton says:

    With his men in mortal danger, the U.S. team leader requested permission to open the arms locker so they could retrieve their firearms but was denied at the US Central Command level and “denied and/or ignored” at a level above that, according to a military intelligence analyst with knowledge of the mission and exfiltration.

    Identify that chain of command and …

    off with their heads.

    CentCom. One of the Joint Base MacDill freak shows.

  60. Greg Norton says:

    @Greg, just saw where your boss is #12 in the Forbes 400 at $101 billion.

    Now that is an exclusive club.

    I try not to get too specific about my employer here right now, but, yeah, the specialist has been working overtime to keep the stock price up since the beginning of the fiscal year so all the execs’ net worth numbers are climbing.

  61. Greg Norton says:

    Tonight’s DVD from the bin of $5 discs was going to be Milk.  I made it through the first ten minutes and then skipped a few chapters.  First impression?  Dreary. 

    Not interested in watching a “documentary” about stuff I heard about while growing up.  

    To the Thrift Shop stack it goes. 

    How much does the film touch on the Peoples Temple influence on SF politicians of that era, including Milk, Moscone, and Dianne Feinstein?

  62. Greg Norton says:

    Disney has shut down some of the hotels, and the campground for a couple of days.  Mostly older properties.

    You don’t want to be a campground/cabin guest with a storm approaching.

    Cabin guests get banished to the a** end of the All Star buildings to ride out the storm without any means of heating food and only water from the sink. Of course, you will continue to get charged the full cabin rate unless you check out.

    Meanwhile, back at the cabins, the staff help themselves to whatever you brought and claim that they were disposing of perishable items due to the health risk.

    The urban legends about Disney hurricane hospitality are mostly myth these days.

  63. EdH says:

    How much does the film touch on the Peoples Temple influence on SF politicians of that era, including Milk, Moscone, and Dianne Feinstein?

    My maternal grandfather was in the police department in San Francisco. 

    Apparently rumor was that there was a grand jury in about to come down with an indictment against Milk and Moscone – that was rendered moot, I don’t recall being Feinstein’s name there but it may well have been.

    SF was always pretty dirty politics, but the old school pols didn’t cr*p where they ate, they kept the streets clean & the tourists coming.

  64. Greg Norton says:

    Looks like Hurricane Milton is tracking a little more to the South.  Sarasota and Siesta Key may get the worst of it.  https://www.cyclocane.com/milton-storm-tracker/

    Tampa may luck out. Again.

    Just 13 ft. tidal surge in Tampa Bay would put 500,000 or more homes under water, and that would include some of the most expensive real estate in the region as well as the MacDill freak show runways, where the hurricane hunter planes operate.

  65. Lynn says:

    “Something Massive Is Shifting Deep Inside the Moon”

        https://futurism.com/the-byte/shifting-deep-inside-moon

    “A recent study from scientists at NASA and the University of Arizona found that a layer of low-viscosity goo sits between the Moon’s rugged mantle and its metal core. This goo is rising and falling beneath the lunar surface — not unlike, say, ocean tides — which they concluded is likely caused by the gravitational push and pull of the Sun and Earth.”

    I wonder if we can eat it ?

  66. drwilliams says:

    Teamsters Boss to Democrats: ‘You Have (Screwed) Us Over’

    The Teamsters made waves this year by breaking with Democrats for the first time in decades by declining to endorse a presidential candidate for 2024, after the union’s internal polling showed its members favored Republican former President Donald Trump with 59.6% support over Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, who received 34% support.

    O’Brien acknowledged he is being “attacked from the left” over the decision, but he told Von that in the two-and-a-half years he has been president of the Teamsters, the union has given “the Democratic machine” $15.7 million and only given $340,000 to the GOP.

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/10/08/teamsters-boss-to-democrats-you-have-screwed-us-over-n2180316

    Wow. Big tough-talking Teamster’s prez showing they can’t be pushed around. “Screw us over for 40 years and we might only give you 97% of our contributions instead of 98%” 

    Rank-and-file votes for Trump by nearly a 2-1 margin and the prez declines to endorse? You guys getting your money’s worth? Do you get the feeling that he might have been paid off for that move, rather than send the message?

  67. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    “Something Massive Is Shifting Deep Inside the Moon”

    Mothra lives.

  68. nick flandrey says:

    Ok, this is both great and horrible … if you like the Soft Cell tune “Tainted Love” this cover version by Broken Peach is pretty dang good.

    n

  69. drwilliams says:

    One of two things is happening here: Either the Biden camp (and I think we all know who is really in charge in that group) is demonstrating a staggering display of incompetence in scheduling and they aren’t even trying to speak to whoever is in charge of setting up Kamala Harris’ string of feather-soft interviews, or the Biden camp is miffed at the way old Joe was shoved rudely aside (for which we can scarcely blame them) and is trying to deliberately sabotage the Harris run for the White House.

    Or, we could embrace the power of “both.”

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2024/10/08/joe-biden-chucks-kamala-harris-under-the-bus-and-then-chucks-the-bus-off-a-cliff-n2180305

    It’s not nice to mess with President Jilly.

  70. Lynn says:

    “Elon Musk Believes Epstein’s Client List Will Become Public if Trump Wins, Hence Harris’ Celebrity Support”

       https://resistthemainstream.com/elon-drops-epstein-bombshell-about-powerful-dem/

    “Tech mogul and staunch Trump supporter Elon Musk has suggested that prominent figures are rallying behind Vice President Kamala Harris to prevent the release of potentially damaging information.”

    “During a candid interview with Tucker Carlson, Musk dropped a bombshell claim about the motives behind Harris’s celebrity support.”

    ““I think part of why Kamala’s getting so much support is because if Trump wins, that Epstein client list is going to become public. And some of those billionaires behind Kamala are terrified of that outcome,” Musk stated bluntly.”

    Whoa.  That is just nasty.  We already know that Gate’s wife divorced him over this.

  71. Lynn says:

    “Regional conflict prompts Chevron to halt Leviathan pipelay”

        https://www.offshore-mag.com/pipelines/news/55233808/regional-conflict-prompts-chevron-to-halt-leviathan-pipelay

    “Chevron Mediterranean has suspended installation activities related to the third subsea gas export pipeline from the deepwater Leviathan field offshore Israel to the near-shore platform.”

    Everyone in the region is looking forward to cheap natural gas.

  72. lpdbw says:

    “Something Massive Is Shifting Deep Inside the Moon”

    layer of low-viscosity goo

    So it turns out that it’s not  Green Cheese, but Brie?

  73. Ray Thompson says:

    We already know that Gate’s wife divorced him over this.

    Me did knot no that.

  74. nick flandrey says:

    The P Diddy stuff is coming out too.   That’s a lot of sick sh!te and there are hundreds of hollyweird and entertainment figures involved.  Ashton Kutcher, who was pals with his former co-star, currently serving a decade or more for drugging and raping women, is worried that Diddy will “throw his friends under the bus” and name names to save himself.  Why would someone worry about that unless they were gonna get named?  (Diddy drugged and raped people at his parties, allegedly.)

    Big-ass-ians, J Lo, and many others,  and it’s the kind of stuff that ties back to the Balenciaga “Pedo teddybear” ad campaign which, iirc Kim big-ass-ian never distanced herself from or denied.

    n

  75. Lynn says:

    We already know that Gate’s wife divorced him over this.

    Me did knot no that.

    https://finance.yahoo.com/news/bill-gates-spent-one-weekend-130310834.html

    “Bill Gates Spent One Weekend A Year With Ex-Girlfriend While Married To Melinda Gates And She Approved But Says It Was The Jeffrey Epstein Ties And Affairs That Led To Their Divorce”

  76. Lynn says:

    The P Diddy stuff is coming out too.   That’s a lot of sick sh!te and there are hundreds of hollyweird and entertainment figures involved.  Ashton Kutcher, who was pals with his former co-star, currently serving a decade or more for drugging and raping women, is worried that Diddy will “throw his friends under the bus” and name names to save himself.  Why would someone worry about that unless they were gonna get named?  (Diddy drugged and raped people at his parties, allegedly.)

    Big-ass-ians, J Lo, and many others,  and it’s the kind of stuff that ties back to the Balenciaga “Pedo teddybear” ad campaign which, iirc Kim big-ass-ian never distanced herself from or denied.

    There is a rumor of a video of Diddy raping a white male underage teenager.

    Didn’t Justin Beiber go to live with Diddy when Beiber was 15 ?

    There is a lawsuit filed against Diddy on the behalf of 120 people that were raped at his parties.  Supposedly 25 of the victims were underage.  Supposedly as young as 9.

         https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/lawyer-tony-buzbee-says-more-celebs-will-be-sued-with-diddy/

    “Buzbee shared during an October 1 press conference that his practice (the Buzbee Law Firm) and the AVA Law Group were representing a group of 120 victims, both men and women, accusing Diddy of sexual assault and sex trafficking dating back to the early ‘90s. Both firms had been contacted by over 3000 individuals, though no lawsuits had been filed at the time.”

    This is beyond sad, this is crazy.

  77. Nick Flandrey says:

    Yeah, there are clips of him and Bieber that are just predatory.   My youtube shorts are full of clips from old interviews where people talk about him and his tastes.   It wasn’t much of a secret apparently, for years.   And people let it happen and continue happening.   

    It was the price of admission if you wanted a career, because he could give you one.   

    I went to one party when I was living and working in Hollywood.  Took a date.  It was at someone’s house in the afternoon, and was a dress up/ costume party.    Within an hour a girl got naked and jumped in the pool.  I was pretty surprised.  My date wasn’t interested in sticking around.   That was the only date with that girl…  and the only party I went to in 2 years.  I have no trouble imagining what went on after dark, and after getting altered, especially among the ‘beautiful people’ and those desperate to join them.

    n

  78. Alan says:

    >> Today I’ve got one pickup, unless I won something I didn’t think I’d win. And I’ve got my busy day with driving D1 around all afternoon. I really need to get a few things done that will have a big visual impact and be a real change in the house. If I can get a couple of them done in the morning, I’ll be golden. If not, I’ll be a goat.

    And not the Brady type of GOAT.

  79. Alan says:

    >> I don’t regret much, but not making more effort to learn spanish, not learning to play an instrument, and dropping my daily study of martial arts are definitely in the regrets column.

    @nick, you could work on Spanish via audio lessons in the truck. Never too late to start. My wife has been dabbling with Spanish via (I think) Duolingo on her lappy. I would guess that some Spanish couldn’t hurt around town. Of course, always start with the curse words.

  80. Alan says:

    re Milton, plenty of these around the Tampa/St Pete counties…

    https://www.sciencephoto.com/media/733212/view/hurricane-storm-surge-warning-marker-usa

  81. Alan says:

    She “owns” a Glock she now has said.

    What kind?

    “Umm, uhh, a black one.”

    In any case, I would think she could carry as an officer of the court (e.g. DA).

    https://nypost.com/2024/10/08/us-news/kamala-harris-says-she-owns-a-glock-drawing-hypocrisy-claims-and-legal-questions/

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