Warm-ish, at 65F and humid. Warming more later, with sopping wet humidity. ‘Cuz that’s what yesterday was like. Mid 80s in the afternoon, and high RH. Not really pleasant to work outside.
So I only did a bit. I did get more decor up, and some lighting. I also moved some stuff around from close in “seen” storage to ” out of sight” storage. Did a bunch of pickups and did some favors too. One auctioneer had some things he bought with locked cabinets. I brought my picks, and opened them up. No money inside though. It turned out to be easier to physically bypass the locking mechanism than to pick the locks, so that’s what I did. He’s happy, as he can get into them now.
Second stop I used my tubular lock picks to open an inexpensive “safe” the guy had sitting around for a while. He wanted to use it, as it’s a finger print based lock. Took longer than it should have, but I was trying to use too much force. Easy does it with those picks. There was a 5 year out of date paycheck, and one dollar in quarters inside. I like opening locks/safes/storage boxes. I especially like to finesse the opening, instead of just bouncing it until it breaks.
Third stop I ran into one of my friends from my non-prepping hobby. I’ve been here 20 years, and I’m running into people I know when I’m out and about. In the old days, that would be a sign I needed to move… but I kinda like it. Even in the 3rd or 4th biggest US city, I run into acquaintances.
Fourth stop, I got the auctioneer to take some consignment stuff for me, so I’ll make some money on that, and get some stuff out of the house. Win win! From then it was kid taxi for the rest of the night.
Today, I’m working my list. Maybe I’ll get some more stuff listed for sale too. If I’m working on decor, maybe I’ll get a chance to chat with our new neighbor. Meatspace baby!!
Stacking will likely occur too.
nick
Blowing up Germany’s modern economy to coerce their cooperation on Ukraine.
Heck, German missiles and tanks in Ukraine.
@Lynn – Billy Joel and Sting were awesome last night.
We had bad seats, but, even if the overall show sucked — it didn’t — I’ve now heard Billy Joel effective cover “Tush”. He also threw in a little Rolling Stones, opera, and even Trans Siberian Orchestra-flavored Beethoven.
These guys aren’t beholden to the labels with the set lists anymore.
The crowd was surprisingly cold. Sting opened and was visibly frustrated with the lack of audience participation on “Message in a Bottle”. He did get people enthused with “Roxanne”, but the response was still lacking.
Oh, one more point on the AirPods hearing aids, they must be AirPods Pro 2.
CWII will not be like CWI. Guerrilla warfare will rule. It will start with us dirt people fighting goobermint agencies, including LEOs. Who knows which way the military will fall after Obola’s pussification of said military. It is almost like he planned it.
IOS 18.1 comes out Monday. You can opt into the RC candidate this weekend and it will probably not change. On Monday, you can just stop beta testing. You will also have to request “Apple AI” access if your device supports it. There is a waiting list.
I’m reminded of Bradford Angier. IIRC, it was he who decided to move further into the wilderness when he met 3 stangers in the same year.
Heh. Mr. Ray certain qualifies for Elysium, but only the lower decks. To be a resident on the upper decks, the minimum requirement is:
Sniff.
Current active duty has been paid off to look the other way, starting with the last housing allowance increase.
I could not qualify to buy my wife’s nephew’s house on my salary alone. A civilian would need a monthly take home of ~ $12k a month and a $75k down payment to qualify for the best rate available and without PMI.
So to use the ipod I need and iphone. I suspect I’d would need to have the ipone neaby for the ipod to work. I’m never had an Iphone.
I need a new phone as my Motorola motoz4 doesn’t work well, especially inside my shop. Can I import all of my emial, photos etc to the iphone? I don’t use it to stream so would an iphone 14 with minimum memory and ios18 be OK?
Sunny and warm, now that I’ve dragged this bag of bones and fluids out of bed…
Coffee is dripping. I think I should make some bacon. I’ve been eating a thin pork chop with my egg the last couple of days, so bacon will be nice.
n
D2 dropped her iPhone 7 and broke the screen/ digitizer to the point she can’t use it. There is no way to turn off the phone w/out swiping the screen, and that part of the screen is unresponsive. So is the part that takes her unlock code. I’ve got a box of old phones but none that would work with her sim card… gah, not good planning.
D1 found one of the phones with a slide out keyboard, and loves it to fidget with. Now her girlfriend wants one too.
In the “Little House on the Prairie” books, Pa Wilder moves because of encroaching people for several of the books.
Now I have to convince myself that it’s a good thing, as I’ve been preaching meatspace…
n
Shopping for an iphone on-line, as we don’t have a apple store in Montgomery, and discovered that the iOS is never listed.
An iphone 14 Pro with a 256 memory in the detailed specs shows 6GB of ram. ??? No iOS is mentioned. Screen size is 6.1. Is that 6.1×6.1 or diagonal? No overall dimensions are listed. Until today I’ve never seen an I phone. I would prefer a small phone so it will be easy to carry. I don’t stream or take many pictures as I can’t really see them until I down load them to my PC. The picture details mean nothing to me.
Will the iphone 14 iOS 18 connect to windows 10 and 11? I shop for the cheapest carrier and change carriers frequently. I TING sells apple phones so isn’t a problem.
Ok, I don’t know what the actual instructions to the AI were, but it NAILED it. I actually laughed out loud as I scrolled down the page.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-14002395/AIs-offensive-views-Europeans-Americans.html
n
added — “Just type in ‘create a photo of what Europeans think the average American citizen of [state] looks like.’ If your result doesn’t look like these, you’ve probably input the prompt incorrectly, or you’re using an obsolete AI program,’ Huff responded.”
I learned in grade school that Daniel Boone would move when he saw the smoke from a neighbor’s fireplace.
I have been running it for a couple of weeks now. Downloaded the release candidate yesterday.
I have a M2 Air, iPhone 15, iPad Air, Apple Watch, AirPods, (2) Apple TV’s; wife has iPad air, iPhone SE, Apple Watch; we also have eight AirTags stashed in various suitcases, attached to keys, camera and laptop bag (which is a little redundant). I think I qualify for the upper decks.
Yes, within Bluetooth distance. Or a MacBook, although on the MacBook a couple of settings are different and there is no hearing test to set the frequency response curve. An iPhone is a minimum in my way of thinking.
That phone can be updated to the latest IOS version. 256 Gig of memory is more than enough unless you store thousands of pictures and dozens of full-length videos.
The screen is measured diagonally like all phones.
Full specs are here: https://www.apple.com/uk/iphone-14/specs/
Yes, it will.
Decided to have a bacon waffle instead of my normal egg. Yummy.
W is heading out to look at iPhones to see if she wants to upgrade, and trickle down her phone to the kid… or to see if there are iPhones for $100 for the kid.
I don’t think rewarding the kid for breaking her phone by upgrading her is a good idea.
n
Funny you are young Jedi.
Yes, they can be had but usually are locked to a provider and require some sort of plan. Getting anything older than an iPhone 13 I would not recommend. That is three cycles old.
To purchase outright, and not locked to a provider, look at the Apple refurbished store. Devices are checked, new battery, screen replaced if any flaws, case replaced if any flaws. Better than new in many cases as a human has looked over the phone thoroughly. They come with a full warranty, by Apple.
@Bob:
Best Buy usually retails phones at no markup over Apple, so you can go look & handle.
I don’t know if I would get a iPhone 14, that’s pretty old, it will go out of support and you will be shopping for a new phone shortly (time seems to be moving faster & faster I have noticed).
Other than that … meh. Other than a poor camera (by modern standards) my vintage iPhone 11 does everything I need.
I do believe the new screens are brighter than mine, which my aging eyes would appreciate, particularly outdoors.
The iPhone 14 will be supported for another 10 years. The latest version of IOS (18.1) can be installed on the phone. The iPhone 13 is the newest phone that is no longer in production but it is still supported and will be for another 8 years. It can run the latest IOS update.
Best Buy usually has discounts over Apple, as does Amazon. One advantage with Apple is that a device can be returned within 14 days for a full refund. I am not certain what Best Buy’s policy is on returns.
The iPhone 13 was the last year that a physical SIM slot was available in the US. Now everything is e-SIM. The 13 is still supported and will for be for at least 8 years.
Over The Hedge: Universe Birthday
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2024/10/26
Um, not a good idea.
As much as I dislike Apple, their long support times are laudable.
Perhaps so, but it is unlike Apple to leave forced upgrade money on the table.
My comment was a bit tongue-in-cheek, I could swear I just bought the 11 early last year … not 4 years ago.
Apple does guarantee 5 years minimum support.
If you like Androids my brother’s Pixel is pretty amazing, and Beezelbub Inc. now guarantees 7 years.
“California Train Employees Celebrate $7.8M Win After Forced Vaccination Clash”
https://resistthemainstream.com/jury-awards-7-8m-to-bart-employees-fired-over-vaccine-beliefs/
“A jury has awarded over $7.8 million to six Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) employees following their termination for refusing to get vaccinated against COVID-19 due to their religious beliefs. Each employee has been awarded more than $1.3 million from the discrimination lawsuit, which claimed wrongful termination against the regional transit agency.”
Things are finally starting to be set right.
I want/need the hearing aid options. I have a hearing aid that is useless and costs me $10 a month. Takes me an close to an hour to setup it every time I try to use it.
Is it possible to turn Siri off? I don’t talk to “devices” because, while I can hear them, I can’t understand their replies.
I hate the employees at Best Buy; their “f*ck you old man” attitude makes me want to commit murder. I don’t even know if we have one around here.
I found a refurbished iphone 14 with 256 GB of memory for $600. What would iOS 18 cost? The ipods Pro 2 are $269. I’m trying to spend less than $1000 total.
“Racist Left”
https://areaocho.com/racist-left/
“The left thinks that blacks are too stupid to get on the Internet, and also think that blacks in Florida are all convicted felons and can’t vote.”
“But it’s the right that is racist.”
Yup.
I just did the Medicare open enrollment stuff for Part D. You know, the drug coverage.
The old plan was $9.80 a month last year. I was cool with that. It was $6 and has crept up every year. But hiking up to $44.80 this year? Yeah. No. I found a company on the Medicare site that has a $0 per plan month cost and a $3.80 a month plan. The difference is for whatever tier of drug, one plan pays 23% vs 25%.
I’m not on any drugs. Ok, I guess beer counts as a drug.
So that’s done. I have Part D coverage. So no penalty for dropping Part D for a while until needed. I am quiet sure I will be f****d by drug prices when I actually have to have some drugs. But it’s like house insurance….. you get it just in case of a hurricane or tornado.
Nice weather today. Sunny with few small clouds. A little breeze. 87f and 35% humidity. Nice.
The turds at Best Buy had that attitude towards me 30+ years ago. So I quit shopping there.
As for Siri, no clue.
As for the phone deal, I have no idea. I have nothing Apple here. But there are lots of fart smellers here. Err, Smart Fellows.
Yeah, it’s 86F and sunny here, but I feel like the RH is a LOT higher than 37%.
FEELS warm and uncomfortable.
———
The iPHone comments are fitting nicely with my wife’s need to do something for D2…
n
Well, Houston is in a swamp next to the Gulf and what? 60 feet high is a lot?
Burnet is almost 1300 feet above sea level. I think Austin is pushing 600 feet.
I have no fear of the icecaps suddenly melting.
I did inherit an iPad. No idea what it cost. Nice big screen and easy to use. It seemed pretty locked down… like you could change the icon sizes but no no, no getting out of the 4 icons across the grid. That is verboten. And the dang thing was heavy.
It didn’t seem to do anything my Kindle Fire can’t do. So I gave it to one of the kid’s mom. She loves it.
The update to IOS 18 is free.
You are golden. The AirPods Pro can be found for $200 at Costco and other suppliers. Costco includes two years of Apple Care. That should put under $800 including tax.
Hah!
Yeah, I know the feeling (though incredibly the guy selling the Starlink package to me was pressureless, knowledgeable and helpful this summer) but you can always go in there, browse and look and fondle, then walk out without buying anything…
There’s a term for that.
CostCo is also an authorized reseller.
Sounds like you’ve found a decent deal you like though, so no matter.
iOS & upgrades are free, no charge, and Siri only comes up for me if I hold (long press) the power button. I occasionally do this by accident and it goes away if I don’t talk to it.
I’m sorry, sir. There was not enough “Pro” in your buy-in. Don’t worry; I won’t dump on you from the upper deck.
Other keywords not in your buy-in: 4K, Max, and Ultra.
A Kindle Fire can accept plug-in SD cards and runs VLC downloaded via FDroid.
I keep a bunch of movies and TV show episodes on the Fire in my laptop bag, mostly files I rip myself with Handbrake and MakeMKV.
iOS has an official VLC port, but storage tends to be limited.
Apparently, Billy Joel and his band have been doing “Tush” for a while.
Billy Gibbons was not present last night, but the rest of the band members in this video were on stage.
I know purists were not happy, but the song was one of the high points of the show.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ls_AkMWa0aA
An iPhone SE is $400. That’s the lowest cost iPhone. I wouldn’t hand something more expensive to a kid.
I have an SE, the current generation Apple sells. 5G and a decent battery life.
Of course, I’m old and my only installed apps are the cable company’s and The Geico Gecko’s.
I had Ticketmaster’s app installed temporarily last night.
If the kid wants a better camera, look at Pixels in the same price range.
So to use the ipod I need and iphone. I suspect I’d would need to have the ipone neaby for the ipod to work. I’m never had an Iphone.
I need a new phone as my Motorola motoz4 doesn’t work well, especially inside my shop. Can I import all of my emial, photos etc to the iphone? I don’t use it to stream so would an iphone 14 with minimum memory and ios18 be OK?
I would go to one of of your mobile service provider’s retail locations. You have a fighting chance there of getting some phone service. I have no idea of one phone manufacturer to other phone manufacturer, sounds dicey.
>>One advantage with Apple is that a device can be returned within 14 days for a full refund.
@Bob, have you ever used iOS or an iPhone before? The UX is quite different from an Android phone. Personally, I wouldn’t use a brand new iPhone if someone gave it to me for free.
Just my $0.02, ymmv.
I have used both. In fact, I do have an Android small tablet provided by the VA. It has cellular data with AT&T and I have no idea who is paying the bill. I find both interfaces have their quirks with neither being superior over the other. They are just different.
What IOS offers that Android does not, is good integration with a laptop or desktop, iPhone or iPad.
Android has zero options for the hearing aid function of the AirPods. Android has suffered some significant compromised apps. The Android store is not as heavily guarded as Apple. Apple is about privacy, Google (Android) is all about gathering data.
I also like Apple support. A phone call, or chat, and I can get problems solved. If I still don’t get a solution I can go to the Apple Store and get help. With Android there is only the service provider, or the web, which are many times useless, don’t know or don’t care.
That is what drove my decision.
People should use what they like and put my opinion where the sun don’t shine as that is all it is worth.
I quit shopping at Best Buy many many years ago when they sold and installed an ethernet card to my parents, for their full sized pc, when there was already ethernet present on the MB.
Mom explained that they were getting ATT broadband and needed ethernet to connect to the router.
“Geek” squad did squat, except shear the sheep. And they wouldn’t provide any refunds, not even to take back the unneeded net card.
It’s like QVC selling Packard Bell PCs, a decade after they were current, and at higher cost. That sort of thievery is foul.
n
Android also permits “side loading” apps by the user where the iOS platforms currently do not. All apps in the store must be vetted by Apple’s screening process which prohibits the apps from doing many malicious things with the fairly complete Posix/C API which iOS presents to applications.
This has upsides and downsides, but I view it as an upside for my needs.
Contrary to many stories on the Interwebz, experimenting with iOS development no longer requires a payment to Apple for a license to install a self-generated binary on your phone or tablet. Experiment away.
HSN still does that. Selling one model back iPads for about $200 more than a new current iPad. The cost difference is that HSN adds worthless software, cheap headphones, a crappy keyboard and a case. All those add-ons are worth maybe $75.00, max. HSN still sells thousands.
The HP laptops they sell are an even worse value. 4 Gig of memory, 256 Gig slow SSD, crappy screen, and Windows running in “S” mode. The add-ons are some really junk software. They sell hundreds.
Good night, I will be so happy when the election is over and they stop blowing up my email accounts and my phone with texts ! I am getting several messages per day for each.
The Dumbos rolled out the Mooch (Big Mike) to call tRump Hitler some more. I bet the Perkins-Coie printing press is going nonstop. The Kamel Humper going down in flames would be a setback for the Deep State, but they play the long game.
“NFI: New Frontiers, Incorporated: The New Frontiers Series, Book 2” by Jack L Knapp
https://www.amazon.com/NFI-New-Frontiers-Incorporated-Book/dp/1720016453?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number two of a eight book science fiction space opera series. I reread the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2018. I have all eight books in the series and am rereading them now with the number seven and eight books that I just bought from Big River.
Wow, great story with lots of character development and action. An older engineer buys a bunch of Nikola Tesla’s journals in an old chest and spots a design for an “electric turbine” that was never built. He builds a working version of the electric impeller (a device that converts electricity into motion) after many restarts and has an anti-gravity device. The rest of the story concerns project funding and building various containers for the electric impeller and various peoples trying to steal the design.
The book starts with NFI has spread itself across Earth into smaller countries like Finland and Japan after getting run out of the United States. NFI has totally left the land and sea businesses and is strictly focused on the space business. They have built several space ships now and are moving to a bigger class of space ships capable of carrying a multiple ton cargo plus a larger crew. Travel back and forth to the Moon is common now for NFI space ships but very people on Earth really understand this.
The writing of the story is a little bit rough, a little more editing would have been good. But for me, the story is always the most important thing. This is my second read so that makes it a five star book for me.
BTW, this is not the first time that a story has been written similar to this. Several stories have “magical” engines for space drives. A very similar book is John Varley’s most excellent “Red Thunder” which uses the squeezer drive.
https://www.amazon.com/Red-Thunder-Lightning-Novel/dp/0441011624?tag=ttgnet-20/
The reason why I like these stories so much is that it is not just the new drive device, it is also the design and work to build the container around the new device.
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (375 reviews)
Lynn
4 GB isn’t even remotely realistic for Windows 11, even in ‘S’ mode.
When I went through the laptop replacement process at work recently, the first machine they sent was 16 GB. That wasn’t really adequate for Windows 11 either, and I spend most of my time running Outlook, Teams, and an SSH terminal to my development environment.
My manager was reluctant to give me another replacement given the weird state of the company’s financial situation, but I eventually got 32 GB.
32 GB is … ok.
4 GB does make an adequate Linux machine, but just adequate. Email. Light browsing. Some software development, but I wouldn’t suggest VS Code if you are into it.
Lynn’s Aggies looking good tonight.
Lynn’s Aggies looking good tonight.
Freaking awesome ! The TAMU coach, Mike Elko, had the guts to switch to his freshman backup quarterback at the half and my Aggies scored three touchdowns in less than ten minutes of play. LSU had no idea what hit them.
BTW, I signed up for http://www.fubo.tv again today so I could watch my Aggies tonight. They sent me a $90 off coupon yesterday at $30 per month so my cost for three months is $70/month.
Got out my new 27ft pole saw and pulled a couple of widow maker branches down out of the oak in the front yard. It’s 3ft segments that screw together, and is made of metal tube. 27ft is crazy long. I couldn’t even stand it up. I took two sections off and had my wife “foot” it while I raised it like on Iwo Jima. I was able to hook and snip and drag the branches out of the tree.
Also cemented a flagstone back into our walkway. I ran out of cement before I could add the second and third. We’ll be having people walk up the walk in low light, so I really should fix the 1″ spots where stones are missing. Just a small task that has been put off too long.
It was hot and uncomfortable today, so I mainly did auction stuff.
n
I took two sections off and had my wife “foot” it while I raised it like on Iwo Jima.
What would we do without our significant others ?
Every person that I know who has lost their significant other is in a fog for months or years afterwards. It seems to be a very tough situation when you rely on somebody for help and they are no longer there.
W finished Jane Yellowrock 13 today, and I’ve only just started it. Now she’s ahead of me in the series… spoilers are probably inbound…….
And I decided to head to bed, and not have a tiny little fire on the porch swing next to our little “water feature”.
I’ll try to control my reading.
n
FWIW, she had the same reaction to the series I did- she wasn’t sure she wanted to continue, but couldn’t stop herself picking up the next one. And then something changed around book 7 or 8 that was almost as if the author changed, and suddenly I cared about the characters.