Cool and damp. Maybe some precip? It was kind of grey most of yesterday, with some patchy blue sky later in the day. Didn’t ever rain on me though. It got hot enough that the attic was uncomfortable, although it was pretty nice if you were just in the yard.
I did get a few things done. I got most of the Halloween decor put away. The remaining stuff lives outdoors anyway so it won’t matter if it gets wet. (it looks like we got some rain overnight) I pulled some of the Christmas stuff, with the intention of sorting it into trash or recycle, or possibly use again… it’s stuff from the back corner of the attic, and mostly strings of lights. I have been upgrading as I find them cheap, so I will cull anything that is iffy. I need space in the attic for new stuff.
The holiday decor suffers from the same issue as a lot of my prepping. I don’t get to go through the stacks every year, so I forget what I have, and where it is. Sometimes, it gets old/faded/rusted/damaged or has issues from animals. I budget for losses on the preps, not so much for other areas of my life. I need to try harder to keep up. I really should be taking some sort of inventory every year, even if it’s just “so that’s where that went” or “oh yeah, I need to put that somewhere else/somewhere more permanent” as I put eyes on it.
Managing all this stuff takes work. And I sometimes don’t do the work.
That is one of the reasons to organize in a way that you can determine what you have, at least casually, easily. I like having stuff where I can look at it. I don’t like drawers or cabinets for that reason. Whether in my pantry or my workshop, I prefer to see at a glance what I have. That means shelves and literal stacks for the most part. Wife hates the clutter that results. So I’m trying to shift some of the stuff into cabinets. At the BOL it’s especially important to not have everything out and on display, so I’ve gotten started up there. Changing my local environment here at home will be a lot harder. Baby steps.
And maybe there is a little bit of progress. That’s all it takes, a bit at a time. Over time it will pay off. Do a bit of organizing and sorting yourself… and stack some new.
nick
How does Fetterman vote?
The glue factory awaits for Incitatus.
Lots of inside jokes, but the big cameo’s money line is profound and increasingly prescient.
Blake Lively was also demonstrating that she could still get into that kind of costume after four kids.
I think it was also a slap at “Elliot” Page being willing to squeeze his mostly-female body into the Kitty Pryde costume if a Disney Marvel paycheck was involved.
Also, Mrs. Ryan Reynolds.
No way would he get away with casting anyone else for the cameo.
Playing academic last week, I saw an article about someone’s paper being retracted because they used pirated process simulation software from another company.
Apparently, one of the criteria for peer-reviewed journals is licensed sofftware. Strange but true.
Keep that in your toolbox when confronting the pirates, especially in Eastern Europe.
I’ll have more about what I was up to later.
The best inside joke for me on a personal level was the “Slingblade” reference.
The Village Idiot at the tolling company – whose stupidity inspired me dropping the two f-bombs which were the catalyst for my firing – talked just like “Slingblade”.
He even dropped the occasional “I reckon”.
Refugee from the F35 program in Fort Worth.
Lots of inside jokes, but the big cameo’s money line is profound and increasingly prescient.
Blake Lively was also demonstrating that she could still get into that kind of costume after four kids.
Wait, Blake Lively was in the movie ?
I really enjoyed seeing Gambit in the movie, especially since our 15 year old Siamese is named Remy LeBeau. He even talked like a real Cajun this time.
I see that Wolverine and Deadpool are slotted to be in the next two Avenger movies. That should be wild for that stodgy bunch.
And I loved the giant dead skeleton of Antman being used for a lair.
The best inside joke for me on a personal level was the “Slingblade” reference.
The entire movie is an inside joke. The TVA is totally stolen from Loki. I approve.
The brief writing credit to Reynolds and four other people was a statement to somebody.
Playing academic last week, I saw an article about someone’s paper being retracted because they used pirated process simulation software from another company.
Dude, you are just teasing me. URL ?
I think it was also a slap at “Elliot” Page being willing to squeeze his mostly-female body into the Kitty Pryde costume if a Disney Marvel paycheck was involved.
Being left out of that movie was a slap at Page. Everyone else was in it who wanted to be in it was in it.
Lady Deadpool.
People and their attempts to commit fraud and win the lawsuit lottery continue to amaze me.
A friend of mine hit an empty parked car when he was traveling about 35 MPH. The owner of the vehicle heard the crash, rushed out of the building, and jumped in the car before the police arrived. The owner
requireddemanded an ambulance to the hospital. The owner is now claiming whiplash, loss of relations with his wife, severe mental trauma, and of course not being able to work. He is filing for SSI and he and his lawyers have put together a huge lawsuit.My friend has no proof the owner was not in the vehicle, just my friend’s word. It is all a fraud. My friend is now trying to find people that saw the crash and the owner get in the vehicle. He is not having much luck because he is white and the area he was in is largely black. My friend is also trying to get video from the area with the same lack of success. I need not tell you the skin color of the other vehicle owner.
I have seen that happen before where someone is involved in a crash. Immediately bystanders jump in the vehicle that was hit and start claiming severe medical trauma. Fortunately in many of these cases the other driver, the one at fault, had a camera in the vehicle.
I didn’t see this exact link previously, but the story is here.
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/08/complaint-from-engineering-software-company-prompts-two-retractions/
Apparently Halle Berry was snubbed after unofficial communication happened.
I imagine Rebecca Romijn would have shown up too if asked.
If you haven’t seen the “Those Old Scientists” episode of “Strange New Worlds”, make it a priority. Frakes lets everyone improv something, and Romijn does not disappoint.
DUuuuddddeeee…. you know far more about the meat puppets than is healthy! Everyone needs a hobby or three, I guess…
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Started raining about 330, poured about 4-430, and is still gently drizzling. Condensation so thick on windows I can’t see out.
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Up early on Sunday because my back hurts. Too much lifting and carrying yesterday.
—————
I’ve got plenty of indoor things I can work on today, we’ll see if I do.
n
Leadership on the Right has mostly ignored the ongoing war for pop culture. That was a mistake, but people are waking up and starting to vote with their entertainment dollars.
– polls are fundamentally compromised now. People are not telling pollsters the truth, and pollsters are crooked.
My guess is that betting markets and open source efforts will be the way forward.
n
@greg, I absolutely agree that the right made a mistake by abandoning entertainment. I blame the echos of the McCarthy investigations, and the Cold War Russian efforts.
The subversion of ideas like American Exceptionalism and individualism, and the death of people like Walt Disney also contributed.
The shift from people whose war was WWII to those whose war was Vietnam was critical.
n
Disgraced polster Ann Selzer takes the payoff for her rigged poll results and quits
https://pjmedia.com/scott-pinsker/2024/11/17/shamed-democratic-pollster-quits-profession-after-failing-to-rig-the-presidential-election-n4934375
being off by 16 points is prima facie evidence of corruption.
Hard to believe this is solely her work, and not collusion among a number of the people in her company. Now that the shop is closed and it’s going to be difficult for anyone with Selzer & Company on the resume to get a job in the polling industry, it will be intersting to see if any of the rats turn on her. Wouldn’t it be priceless if one of them saw the train wreck coming and archived a thumb drive with the raw data?
“That is a very high bar to cross. Not sure if he will make it.”
Trump and his lawyers need to get to discovery. If they can put the cesspool in front of the public, it will accelerate the decline of the MSM and give the WH more cause to exclude them from briefings.
@Greg Norton
I didn’t see this exact link previously, but the story is here.
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/08/complaint-from-engineering-software-company-prompts-two-retractions/
Nice!
@Lynn
“Jensen said the company came across the papers because it regularly conducts reviews of citations of its software on the internet”
I think a phone call to Tom Jensen at Flow-3D is in order.
Have you noticed that the LSM has been a lot less careful about getting flattering angles and lighting of certain wrinkly, jowely, crepey faces in the last week of so?
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2024/11/16/what-environment-kamala-campaign-blew-through-staggering-amounts-on-private-jets-n2182091
@Lynn: here’s the link
Please rethink this.
McCarthy understated the influence of Communism on our institutions. He was proven right in every regard.
But the commies had already subverted the press and academia, and so the pro-American movement was transformed, in the public eye, to “the Red Scare” and a “witch hunt”.
But there really were reds, and hunting them was a good thing.
What we saw with “Red Scare” and “Witch Hunts” was the voctory of communism in America.
@lpdbw , my comment reads wrong. I blame the REACTION to the McCarthy investigations, not the investigations themselves. By failing to make the point, the investigations made it harder to combat forever after. (“If McCarthy couldn’t win, I’m not touching it…”)
Without a deep study of the investigation, one problem that is glaring now, is the “never pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel” problem. The media circled the wagons, and fought back. IIRC there were also some bigger cultural problems, with a shift away from suit and tie, biggov knows best, authoritarian systems, that made McC an unappealing person on a personal level.
There were a lot of things changing in our culture that were used, if not engineered by our enemies. We’re still seeing the echos and ripples today.
n
Speaking of American culture, if you have any interest in Chip Foose, or Overhaulin’ or Boyd Coddington or hot rods, this interview with Chip is awesome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8opAGrTJY0
n
The few seconds starting at 19:29 about how he felt about the show Overhaulin’ are EXACTLY why the show was a success. Even my wife liked watching it.
Lady Deadpool.
Ah, my wife beat you to it while I was in the shower. My wife also said that Baby Deadpool was their youngest child. Also their oldest child was Young Teen Deadpool.
Blake Lively was also demonstrating that she could still get into that kind of costume after four kids.
Genetics. Choose your parents wisely.
If you were running for president, hired a pollster, wouldn’t you want to get good numbers from the pollster?
Other side of the coin. A presidential candidate hires you and tells you that they want good numbers from the polls. Would’t you as a pollster do whatever is necessary to make your client look good? Keep that money train moving?
Last time a poll worker came to my door I told them to get off my property or I will call the police and press charges for trespassing. The poll worker said “all I want to do is ask a few questions”. I raised my cell phone and said “Siri, call the police department”. The poll worker left quickly. I have never seen another poll worker.
Two NYT food writers just destroyed their credibility:
https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2024/11/17/rfk-froot-loops-ingredients-n2403906
Some friends of mine like to watch pole workers…
n
Isn’t the BHT in the cardboard to keep it from going moldy?
The cereal is in a plastic or waxed paper bag…
n
And does anyone REALLY think Fruit Loops are healthy?
n
This deserves reciprocity: If you violate someone’s IP rights, all copyrights in the work should be voided. That would certainly discourage the publishers from accepting or publishing “fruit of the forbidden tree”.
I bought a dozen HEB large eggs in October. $2.66. I thought I had five left so I bought another dozen a couple of days ago. $3.97.
I know it’s the time of year for lots of baking. But almost $1.50 more in three weeks seems… extreme.
I had seven, not five, left.
Eggs in Tx are still way cheaper than other places.
n
Seems like Froot Loops use to be like Cheerios but made with corn. And sugared and colored. I haven’t bought any for over thirty years so I have no idea how the ingredients have changed.
BHT is an antioxidant. I guess it is cheaper than using Vitamin E.
@Nick
“Isn’t the BHT in the cardboard to keep it from going moldy?”
BHT is an antioxidant*. Some sources refer to it as a form of synthetic Vitamin E. It is added to foods that contain fats and oils to delay the onset of oxidation aka rancidity. It does so by chemically interrupting the free radical reaction that leads to spoilage. Since the BHT does not regenerate, it is used up over time and the protection is lost.
*It is also used to stabilizing cosmetics, industrial materials like cutting fluids, and prevent ethers from forming unstable peroxides.
From another site where he does not want link-backs because it tends to draw the trolls.
If this is all AI, that stuff is getting scary good.
And then someone commented:
I didn’t see this exact link previously, but the story is here.
https://retractionwatch.com/2024/11/08/complaint-from-engineering-software-company-prompts-two-retractions/
Nice!
@Lynn
“Jensen said the company came across the papers because it regularly conducts reviews of citations of its software on the internet”
I think a phone call to Tom Jensen at Flow-3D is in order.
Why ???
I have had several people publish using my software. All legit (that I know of !) except for a professor at Tehran University in 2000 ?. He used a cracked version of my software to write a 6 ? 8 ? page paper for Oil and Gas Journal. I loved it. I could not sell to him anyway, the State Department lifted my export permit to Iran in 1998 ? at President Clinton’s EO to lift all export permits to Iran after one of Iran’s stupidities.
That video was pretty impressive. There were a few signs of AI rendering – the “greeked” text on placards, weirdly bending arms and elbows on dancers, some odd musculature on female shoulders…
n
“Elon Musk’s X Corp. Intervenes in Bankruptcy Case of Alex Jones’ Infowars with Surprise Filing”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/11/elon-musks-x-corp-intervenes-bankruptcy-case-alex/
“Attorneys for X Corp., the Elon Musk-founded firm that took over Twitter and rebranded it as X, have filed a notice of appearance in the bankruptcy case of Alex Jones and his Infowars platform.”
Billionaires have loud voices.
And don’t bankruptcies have to declare everything that happens to the public ?
Hey, let’s poke the Bear:
Biden gives Zelensky the green light to fire long-range American missiles into Russia for the first time – raising chance UK will follow suit with all eyes on Putin’s response
Really, plugs? You are gone in two months and now you want to escalate. tRump, again, should call Zelenskyy and say “fire one missile and Daddy is cutting you off.” Zelenskyy may end up “ending” Ukraine as a country.
This is a dumb idea with a new President coming in.
“Jensen said the company came across the papers because it regularly conducts reviews of citations of its software on the internet”
I think a phone call to Tom Jensen at Flow-3D is in order.
“Why ???”
It might be of interest to see if he would share any insights on their review process.
@MrAtoZ
Zelnsky’s reply might be: “Why don’t you call Putin and tell him that shoring up his lines with 12,000 NK mercs on our border is an escalation?”
Or better yet, call “Little Rocket Man” and ask him to reconsider.
ADDED: It would be interesting to see who in the Biden WH put forth this change in policy. I smell Obamanation.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/11/17/doe-efficiency-standards-consumer-time/
Dwight Eisenhower is often considered prescient in his remarks about the military-industrial complex. The subtitle of the Jefferson book referenced above is “Correspondence 1782-1786”, making these words older than our republic.
The WUWT article, btw, makes the case for destroying the Dept of Energy, as their “net zero” zealotry would have insured the destruction of our society and country if given four more years of Biden/Harris.
“In essence, it’s time to go big. Scrap DOE and part-out whatever missions are worth saving. ”
That’s a start. There is ample good scholarship demonstrating the foolishness of spending trillions of dollars chasing GHG reductions that would have no real effect, the impossibility of getting the raw materials to de-fossilize energy production, etc. The base corruption underlying all of it is not the DOE, but the legions of scientists and engineers who have prostituted themselves supporting these things.
Kill the DOE and the federal support of “energy” research that is nothing more than the pursuit of a new-age religion which is just another facet of the communist program to undermine and destroy Western society.
We went on a quick tour of coastal Massachusetts and Maine last week.
The most surreal part of the trip was visiting Chappaquiddick Island off Martha’s Vineyard and seeing first hand where Ted Kennedy killed Mary Jo Kopechne along with any chance he had of becoming President.
Tubi has the recent “Chappaquiddick” dramatization which uses all of the locations, but, strangely “Jaws”, shot on location in and around Edgartown, has a better set of scenes around the ferry route which Uncle Ted claimed to have swam in the wee hours of the morning on July 19, 1969.
The Beard couldn’t have missed that detail doing location research.
BTW, lots of houses on Martha’s Vineyard still had Harris/Walz campaign signs in the yard. We were deep behind enemy lines all week with the possible exception of Portland, Maine.
Yes, this stinks to High Heaven of Deep State. plugs is so far gone that he probably wanted a fire in the fireplace, and the PLTs used that to “Launch Vipers!”
Christa McCall Middle School. Houston, TX.
A 14 year old was arrested and handcuffed when the student tried to pay for her lunch with a $2 bill. Neither the school staff nor the police were familiar with the existence of $2 bills.
https://x.com/Sadie_NC/status/1858279297699525054
I’m thinking that the school, the lunch lady, and the police officer involved all need a month’s worth of remedial training on American currency. With shock collars.
He, and the police department, should be charged with false arrest, assault, and kidnapping.
Zelnsky’s reply might be: “Why don’t you call Putin and tell him that shoring up his lines with 12,000 NK mercs on our border is an escalation?”
Or better yet, call “Little Rocket Man” and ask him to reconsider.
ADDED: It would be interesting to see who in the Biden WH put forth this change in policy. I smell Obamanation.
For some weird reason, they want to spread the Ukraine war to Europe. That way lies insanity.
“Private Firms, States Use Tobacco Lawsuit Playbook in Energy Cases”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/11/04/private-firms-states-use-tobacco-lawsuit-playbook-in-energy-cases/
“Other actions are more on point – and more disruptive and dangerous. Protesters have chained themselves to the White House gates, tied up traffic in New York City, London, and Washington, blocked bridges, and sabotaged oil pipelines. The perpetrators of such measures (and their sympathizers) describe such methods as “direction action.” Critics use a different term. They call it “eco-terrorism.””
“However they are characterized, such antics serve mainly to alienate the public. But a far more potent weapon is being deployed against energy companies: A cadre of liberal lawyers, environmental activists, and attorneys general from Democratic states and municipalities are systematically suing energy companies and demanding multibillion-dollar payouts. Their efforts have not risen to a top-tier concern in American politics, but that is about to change: The latest iteration of “lawfare” is now fully deployed and expected to reach critical mass in 2025.”
So after the Tobacco Lawsuit was settled across the USA, the price of a pack of cigarettes went from $0.50 to $6.00. I wonder what the price of electricity will go to ?
In lieu of my first or second inclinations, I would hire an attorney and instruct them that the minimum settlement that would be considered would be $50,000 and written apologies from all school and police officials involved, delivered to the child at the next school board meeting with the authors in the kneeling position, followed by remedial training* to take place outside the miscreants normal working hours and off the taxpayers clock.
If there was any legal way to get the s.o.b. cop that made the decision to put the child in handcuffs fired and out on his ass, I would push hard. What kind of power-tripping total idiot would do that to a child, when a reasonable response would be “Sit down her until I get this sorted.” And yeah, “in lieu of” I’d take ten minutes with him/her in the police gymnasium. No rounds, just ten minutes of eternity with no tap-outs.
BTW, an internet search using “U.S $2 bill” returns a top hit that has a photo and notes “current denomination U.S. currency”
I’ve seen some quarters recently that have some obviously woke b.s. on the reverse, and I doubt 1% of the population could identify the image and historical importance, but that is similarly discoverable.
*Demand that the chief of police and the school board take the training, too. Start with a test, results to be publicly released the same day: 1) Multiple choice: Identify the name of the person featured on each current denomination from cent to $20 bill. 2) T/F: Photos, check the box if current U.S. currency. Include Indian cents, wheat pennies, shield cent, buffalo nickels, Mercury dimes, Bicentennial quarters, several state quarters including New Mexico, the Guam quarter, Kennedy half, Eisenhower dollar and Suzies and Saccies. I’d add half a dozen outright fakes, including the Oprah quarter and others.
The most pernicious tactic is the “friendly lawsuit” by an NGO fronting for Democrats where the government is subject to a sham lawsuit from their friends, entering into a consent decree which gives the color of law to “solutions” that could not be passed as law by the legislative branch, and fills the coffers of the NGO for the next assault.
Our U.S representatives have spent years with their little pink heinies up in the air refusing to defend their prerogatives, and there’s a lot of stable cleaning that could be done. Such shenanigans should be subject to intervention by members of the public, who should have standing in any settlement with a public cost.
@Lynn
“For some weird reason, they want to spread the Ukraine war to Europe. That way lies insanity.”
Clear out the prols, suspend law, bring the country under totalitarian rule, and make everyone eat bugs.
I feel like I’ve seen that $2 bill story before. Either it happened again, or the X poster picked it up from somewhere that looked current but isn’t.
Hard to believe that any one in the Houston area hasn’t seen the billboards for C&D Scrap promising to pay in $2 bills.
n
A kid paying a school lunch bill with a $2 bill is still odd.
Maybe a relative gave it to him for a present. Most people think they’re cool to get.
I occasionally get one, and usually spend them.
n
And if you want extra snack or dessert you have to pay, even at a school where everyone gets free lunch.
“Matt Gaetz Will Be President Trump’s “Wingman” as Attorney General”
https://thelibertydaily.com/matt-gaetz-will-be-president-trumps-wingman-as/
“The mistreatment of Trump started when he first announced his presidential candidacy in 2015. It continued through the 2016 campaign, the transition period, and his first term as President. He was improperly surveilled, the target of a phony dossier and “Russian collusion” investigation, and was victimized by a coordinated effort to cover up the scandalous “Hunter Biden laptop” that would have been very impactful in the 2020 election.”
“At no point during this time did President Trump have an ally as the official Attorney General. While the interim Attorney General, Matthew Whitaker, was a strong bulwark against DOJ abuse of President Trump, the two individuals who were officially confirmed in that position, Jeff Sessions, and Bill Barr, did nothing to protect him.”
“In this first term, Trump did not have a “wingman” as Attorney General. Fortunately, he will be returning to the White House and his second term is an opportunity to correct the few missteps of his remarkably successful first term.”
I think I’ll start heading to bed. Maybe I’ll get some extra sleep tonight…
n