Cold and clear this morning, getting nicer later. At least I hope so. Yesterday ended in “shirt sleeve” weather, so it could happen.
Of course, yesterday my wants and needs were bigger than my does and deeds.
I got a couple of small things done. Looking at the two tvs that were stacked in the toy room was a good thing. Moving a couple things out of that room was good. Moving some stuff to the attic was good. Spent some time doing auction things too.
Picked up the kid and her friend from school. Kids are winding me up.
Made dinner and did more auction stuff. Then youtube shorts got me for a couple hours. It’s like crack cocaine. Or popcorn with a never ending bucket, and an expandable waistline.
Today I’ve got a lot of driving to do. Kid to orthodontist, then school, then some auction stuff, and some rent house stuff… and then kid stuff again.
Not much time to mess around. Or stack.
But I’ll do what I can. You should too.
nick
Apparently the most extensive pardon ever issues. Most pardons name specific crimes. Nixon’s didn’t, but was restricted to his time in office. A blanket pardon for literally anything for a huge timespan? That say’s an awful lot about how many crimes may have been committed in that time period.
But, ok, run with it. As Ken says: take the crimes he is known (or highly suspected) of having committed. Summon him to testify about those crimes, exactly what happened and who was involved. He cannot claim the fifth, because he has been pardoned. If he lies? That’s a new crime outside the pardon. Done right, you will have testimony incriminating his co-conspirators.
The pillars are increasingly thick, as requirements are added: roll-over, air bags, etc. That makes the windows ever smaller. Sensor blocks (ours has a huge one behind the rear view mirror). Passenger headrests.
Specifically in the US market, the SUVs and trucks are ever higher off the ground, meaning that you can’t possible see anything close to your care. Even an adult pedestrian may be little more than a bobbing head.
That seems to make zero legal sense, since the shareholders *reconfirmed* that they wanted the pay package to happen. Judges do not get to overrule shareholders.
I guess, even being a techie, I am too conservative. Completely missed the boat on crypto. Bitcoin – I figured it was a cute toy. I did invest in Monero, because things like Bitcoin are anything but anonymous. Monero solved that problem too well, and governmental pressure got it kicked off a lot of exchanges, which nuked it’s value. I looked hard at Solana, but waited too long. That would have been a different kind of investment – in the early days, they needed people to run hardware. Complicated, and initially expensive, but would have been good. I do have some beer money in another cryptocurrency that showed (shows?) promise at competing with Ethereum, but it is down about 30% from my initial purchase a couple of years ago. Ah, well, I guess wealth and riches are just not in my future…
Generally speaking, our real investments are just treading water. For whatever reason, the Swiss stock market is not following the rise that the American markets are seeing. I hope that’s just a delay – time will tell…
Yes, Mexico Knows Exactly What It Is Doing
https://victorhanson.com/yes-mexico-knows-exactly-what-it-is-doing/
Tax on remittances to Mexico should be 40-50% unless there is proof of taxes paid by a US citizen or legal immigrant.
We’ve been told by my mother-in-law that the accident is none of our business so that ends our direct involvement.
Of course, we don’t get involved financially either, but I did want my wife to assess the situation and file the knowledge away for later just in case.
The American market is still figuring out how many of the Biden Bux wooden nickels it will accept mixed in with whatever real value is left in the dollar.
A 50% gain in three years for an index fund emulating VTSMX is not a good sign for the economy.
All inflation in the US originates in the basement of the Eccles Building, but too many soup bowls are tied to government spending at all levels so no one really wants things to change.
We went to the local mall last night. The final days of the Corn Pop/Kamala economy. That was depressing. The JC Penney’s closed at 7PM, and the rest of the stores were preparing to shut the gates at 8 PM if they hadn’t already closed earlier in the day.
Serious money lives in the neighborhoods around the mall with a big temple for the Islamic faithful for the Subcontinent hidden in one of the developments.
the Swiss stock market is not following the rise that the American markets are seeing.
– did the swiss give up their currency? If not, maybe it’s not inflating like the USD…
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Despite 5 days of earlier bedtimes, last night I stayed up too late. Feeling it today. Letting the kid sleep in though.
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Didn’t look but it’s another cool to cold morning. I’ve asked for a new weather station for Christmas, and I might even get one. Much easier to just glance over and report the actual temp.
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Telecoms Cable Between Sweden & Finland Damaged In Two Separate Places
– a cable cutting war is a bad thing.
n
46F. chilly and willy.
n
I was busy yesterday, so missed the news about the Hunter Biden pardon.
I think we may now safely regard the USA as a banana republic:
Welcome to the third world!
How sad. I hope Biden will be vilified by history.
I was once told by a local police officer that I could not park in front of the high school. I asked why because there is no “no parking” sign and it is off the road. His response was “because I said so”. I said “you don’t make the laws”. His response “you want to go to jail for disobeying a police officer?”.
I chose the better option and moved on. But I did contact the police chief and told him of the exchange. The police chief said the officer was wrong and he would take care of it. I never saw that officer again.
I hope Spongey will go down in history as the most incompetent, corrupt, self-serving, lying, manipulated, senile president of all time. And those are his good points.
Jimmy Carter you are a good man, but as a president you sucked, and have been removed from the worst president of all time pedestal being replaced by Spongey. Had the Humper been elected, you would be in third place.
Perhaps not war this time. Finnish police say it was an accident during building works. Call before you dig!
Well, that may be part of it. Another part is probably that the franc is very strong right now, which puts a serious damper on exports. And Switzerland is very export oriented.
I’m about the same with Bitcoin and Ethereum. I bought those to practice the crypto process and found out there are actual uses for crypto. I get Modalert (you can get metformin, too) from an Indiamart source and they only take BTC. A few info sites and freeware (Calibre) I use take crypto donations to keep running.
Jimmy Carter prevented Ted Kennedy from getting the nomination and running on the Dem Desperation ticket in 1980.
If you don’t understand the significance of what Carter did for the country, go visit the Chappaquiddick site and look over the edge of the bridge.
The water isn’t very deep, even at high tide. The girl may have actually suffocated in an air pocket while trapped in the overturned car, but, of course, the record says otherwise.
Perhaps not war this time. Finnish police say it was an accident during building works. Call before you dig!
A backhoe probably, “the natural enemy of the internet”.
Helping a neighbor police his yard this week. Move his vintage cars, RV, & trim some tree foliage.
Apparently his homeowners insurance company took it upon themselves to fly a drone over his 2.5 acres, photograph and video things, without his knowledge, and threaten cancellation of his policy if he didn’t change things to their satisfaction.
He basically has a very nice policy that he is grandfathered into, and they want to gouge more money, so I’m not sure that anything he does will suffice.
My guess is that the end game for the insurance companies is to get a state subsidy for each house in California.
Last Act for ActBlue?
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2024/12/03/actblue-in-trouble-n3797550
Three words:
RICO, RICO, RICO
his homeowners insurance company took it upon themselves to fly a drone over his 2.5 acres
– there was an article about this recently… w/in a month, iirc.
n
My insurance company to which I changed to about a year ago stated they needed to view the property to make certain the SQFT was correct and that the property actually existed. I was told this was done from the street.
Turned that was not true. The inspector arrived when I was not home when I specifically stated I wanted to be home when the inspector showed up. From what the inspector stated he did not like, the inspector had to have walked around the property, behind the RV, into the backyard through the gate, and peeked into the sliding glass door and windows in the back.
What else the inspector did I don’t know but I suspect it was fairly invasive. I suspect he/she tried all the doors, looked into the garage, and tried to access the mower shed.
When I complained I was informed that since insurance company was taking the risk, they had the right to inspect my property they were insuring, however they desired, whenever they desired, without permission, whether I was home or not.
I was told I could cancel the policy but if I did they would make the cancellation date the same as the origination date and that would mean I would have a one week lapse in insurance coverage. And that would significantly increase the rates by as much as 50% due to the lapse in coverage for any other insurance company. Oh, and they would still charge me for one day coverage.
Generally speaking, our real investments are just treading water. For whatever reason, the Swiss stock market is not following the rise that the American markets are seeing. I hope that’s just a delay – time will tell…
Inflation of 8 to 15 % per year with a few standouts like Netflix, FAANG. The government loves inflation, they get us to pay capital gains tax on the “growth”.
You would also receive a bill from your mortgage company for “gap” coverage for the week.
@lynn / @Greg, hoping for a full recovery all around. Any summonses issued to either driver? Any parking lot video cams? Are accident attorneys a ‘thing’ there?
Dad is doing well for an 86 year old guy hit by a car. His right knee is very stiff and his elbows are still bleeding according to him. I asked him if he wanted me to come down and help out and he said that he already has a nurse (my wheelchair bound mother). He got up this morning and made breakfast for him and mom so he is somewhat mobile.
So what happens if you are in an accident and have a gun in your pocket ? The responding officer calls for an ambulance, takes your gun, and deposits it in your car for “safekeeping”. Apparently the hospital takes a very dim view of armed people arriving in ambulances and has notified all the police officers that they are responsible for this.
I asked Dad what happened to his car. He said the town EMS director took his car home for him yesterday. Dad is fairly well known in Port Lavaca, being one of the Port Commissioners and freely giving his opinion out on many issues.
I am fairly sure that there is a video of the incident since on Buccees property and about 15 witnesses. No ticket to the driver as the incident happened on private property. Lots of hungry attorneys in Texas.
“Climate Change over the past 4000 Years”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/12/03/climate-change-over-the-past-4000-years/
“Many paleoclimatologists, archeologists, and historians agree that there is a correspondence between the level of solar activity and climate. They also agree that humans do better in warmer times than in colder times. It is time for the “consensus” to face up to the historical and archeological facts.”
Very shocking, climate is variable over the years and it is mostly caused by Sol’s variability. And people can grow more food in warmer times and live easier.
“Muslim No-Go Zones in Europe Are Increasing”
https://basedunderground.com/2024/12/03/muslim-no-go-zones-in-europe-are-increasing/
“Citizens born in European nations, having the right to travel wherever they wish within their own country absent government restrictions, are being illegally banned by Muslim residents from exercising that right. These Muslims have established “no-go zones” where non-Muslims are denied entry. Fearing attacks, even local police will not venture into these zones where, as a result, Shariah law then becomes the law of the land.”
Not good.
I have no mortgage. I really don’t have to even carry insurance. Which would be really stupid.
“Small asteroid is on the way to strike Earth today”
https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/asteroid-strike-earth-19955349.php
“The asteroid was detected by astronomers earlier this morning, just hours before impact.”
“A small asteroid will impact Earth’s atmosphere this morning. Currently dubbed COWEPC5, the 1.6 to 4-feet asteroid was discovered earlier this morning, hours before its expected crash over Eastern Russia’s Olykminsky District at 10:14 a.m. CT, according to EarthSky. The area was previously struck during 1908’s Tunguska event, when a massive asteroid plunged into Earth’s atmosphere and exploded in the skies over Siberia, flattening hundreds of miles of trees. It is the largest impact event on Earth in recorded history. Fortunately, today’s asteroid will result in no damage but will create a harmless fireball in the sky. ”
Heads up !
“Glory Road” by Robert A. Heinlein
https://www.amazon.com/Glory-Road-Robert-Heinlein/dp/0765312220?tag=ttgnet-20/
A standalone science fiction book, no prequel or sequel that I know of. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Orb (Tom Doherty Associates) in 1963 that I bought new on Amazon in 2023. There is an afterward by Samuel R. Delaney apparently in 1974. I am sure that I read this book fifty+ years ago but it was not familiar to me at all.
From the book marketing blurb: “E. C. “Scar” Gordon was on the French Riviera recovering from a tour of combat in Southeast Asia , but he hadn’t given up his habit of scanning the Personals in the newspaper. One ad in particular leapt out at him:”
“ARE YOU A COWARD? This is not for you. We badly need a brave man. He must be 23 to 25 years old, in perfect health, at least six feet tall, weigh about 190 pounds, fluent English, with some French, proficient in all weapons, some knowledge of engineering and mathematics essential, willing to travel, no family or emotional ties, indomitably courageous and handsome of face and figure. Permanent employment, very high pay, glorious adventure, great danger. You must apply in person, rue Dante, Nice, 2me étage, apt. D.”
So what do you do when you have slain the dragon and won the princess ? You marry her of course and then settle down and have babies. But what if you want to slay more dragons and she already has babies and a really big baby that she takes care of ?
Most people call this Heinlein’s first fantasy book but I do not. Arthur C. Clarke said it best, “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” There is much magic in this book that is really technology. So, the book is science fiction for me.
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (1,902 reviews)
Lynn
Well time wasted thanks to someone placing a $500 order for a Dyson vacuum on Amazon. Addressed to my wife but at a location in Bluff City TN. Charged to my daughter’s cc. Spotted the email just by luck I think. Right now W1 and D1 are busy buying like drunks on dollar shot night. Reporting fraud is not easy on Amazon. Used chat and requested a call back. Meanwhile changed password and got a call back fairly quick with a short hold. Pleasant woman from India of course but easy to understand. Still took awhile and they said it had shipped so couldn’t be canceled. Yeah right. D1 had already called the bank. Charge only pending so card canceled too bad for Amazon.
No idea how but right now not worried, just aggravated. Happy Holidays.
Another scam from a fake USPS text today. Second in two weeks.
>> The ER in Port Lavaca was closed today so they ambulanced him to Victoria.
Hmm, I guess don’t get really sick in Port Lavaca on a Monday??
>> Well time wasted thanks to someone placing a $500 order for a Dyson vacuum on Amazon.
Same here on W2’s account, but for a $200 cooler. Bank says it’s on Amazon to refund the money and of course Amazon says not us, talk to your bank. Meanwhile the package was delivered. I wonder if the local PD would get involved if we called them…probably not. Eventually one side will capitulate.
@Lynn
Past time to pull funding from the variable climate deniers. The U.S. government can cancel the $30 billion or so that supports that particular communist attack on the U.S. and spend one-tenth that amount on improving weather forecasting.
Then the U.S Marshals need to take control of all the samples (ice cores, anyone?) and data that the U.S. taxpayer has paid for and make it freely available to the public
>> The ER in Port Lavaca was closed today so they ambulanced him to Victoria.
Hmm, I guess don’t get really sick in Port Lavaca on a Monday??
The C-T machine in Port Lavaca was down yesterday. No way to look for a brain bleed.
Don’t get sick in Port Lavaca ever. I finished having a heart attack at my parent’s house on turkey day 2009 that started on Monday even though I too stupid to recognize it. My wife took me to the ER when the pain in my chest and left arm got really bad. The only person in the ER was a 17 year “nurse”. When she saw me walking down the corridor to the ER, she picked up the phone and yelled at a senior nurse to get down here now. I was walking with my arms straight up in the air so I could breathe. Freaked her out.
They called the cardiologist in Victoria when they saw my 210/110 blood pressure and that my EKG was real bad (nothing happening on the second stage side). They then gave me four aspirin, four nitroglycerin pills, 200 mg of Lopressor, two shots of the pink stuff (stomach settler), and then two huge shots of morphine. The morphine did the trick and they put me in an ambulance for Victoria.
No Locum (temp doctor) on Mondays?
No money or no one wanted the gig?
“Trump Jokes About Taking Over Canada: 51st State, Trudeau as Governor”
https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2024/12/03/trump-jokes-about-taking-over-canada-51st-state-trudeau-as-governor/
“Trudeau visited Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida after Trump threatened to slap a 25% tariff on goods from Canada and Mexico unless they cooperated in protecting the U.S. border from illegal migration and fentanyl.”
“According to anonymous reports, Trump was said to have joked that if Trudeau did not like the idea, Canada could avoid the tariff by becoming the 51st state, with Trudeau as governor.”
Trump’s his Daddy now.
@Lynn
re: “Glory Road” by Robert A. Heinlein
This 2005 by Peter Tilman review is worth reading, not only for itself but the links:
https://www.sfsite.com/03a/gr195.htm
NB footnote #1.
This is the third of five consecutive Heinlein novels with cover art by Irv Docktor and arguably the best. Sadly, Docktor didn’t do much sf illustration, so he is not commonly recognized. But if you grew up in the 50’s and 60’s, you might remember his work on Scholastic Books covers.
The book was serialized in 1963. The world was different then. Reading it at forty or sixty years remove it takes an effort to recall just how different society was then. Younger reviewers simply can’t do it, and older ones have decades intervening and typically a few dozen millions of words along the road. This was pre-Pill, pre-Hippie, full-on Brooks brothers and crew cuts, and a woman had a hard time checking into a hotel without a husband.
So don’t read it for the society mores that it reflects, read it for the adventure and the imagination of Robert Heinlein. What you find is that the science/fantasy and the adventure hold up quite well. And it’s worthwhile to ask: If Star is rewritten as a “modern” woman, does the novel survive at all? And how about Oscar as a Gen Z? Imagine Prince Harry and whosis in those roles–would you read it?
“Trump Jokes About Taking Over Canada: 51st State, Trudeau as Governor”
a joke
We let Canada break up, then let Ontario become New Canada and pick up the rest as states.
append this to the bottom of the Glory Road post above:
https://x.com/LangmanVince/status/1863774606555070624
Did my stuff.
Rent house will indeed be getting a new faucet. The current one is old, and worn out. I hope that’s where the water is coming from, because that’s the easiest fix.
Tenant decorated the front of the house very nicely.
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Got some sprinkles of rain on the east side in mid afternoon, and the west side by dark. The groceries got a little wet unloading from the back of the truck.
Not much on sale this week. Turkey isn’t cheap, and the brisket is still normal price.
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Hit the regular Goodwill store in the trendy neighborhood on my way home. Got several nice T shirts, including two, NWTs. Got a nice dress shirt from Needless Markup that has 36/37 sleeves. It is HARD to find my sleeve size in a store, forget about on the rack at Goodwill for $6. I’ve seen several Orvis shirts in Goodwill lately, and while they still look like quality, they are made in China now. For some reason, this Goodwill had them priced at $13, so I passed. Normally, long sleeve shirts are $4-7… regardless of brand. Orvis is a brand I would normally pick up. Resale is good.
Several pairs of Allen Edmonds shoes in great condition. Just barely worn, but at $20 and not my size, I passed. I’ve got enough shoes for sale at the moment. They were styles selling for $40-50 on ebay. If they were over $100, I’d have paid the $20…
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Won a bunch of bits and pieces of ham gear tonight. Same seller as the last auction. The radios and big accessories went for ebay money, or near enough that I wasn’t in the running. People forget what connectors and adapters and power supplies cost. A parts organizer full of capacitors was a steal. A bunch of Anderson power pole adapters can be easily repurposed for whatever I need to connect.
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Time to do some plumbing in my master bath. W tells me the toilet won’t stop running and she’s turned the water to it off. That won’t do.
n
Fani Full Release Ordered After Fulton DA Sat On RICO Records
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/fani-full-release-ordered-after-fulton-da-sat-rico-records
The line for presidential pardons is starting to look like A Taylor Swift concert when they open some nosebleed seats the day of.
“During the week of Nov. 6, MSNBC averaged just 38,000 viewers among adults 25-54, its lowest-rated non-holiday weekday since July 19, 2004.”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/end-fake-news-msnbc-hits-new-low-ratings
Modified Limited Genuflect to Power Suck-Up not working?
append this to the bottom of the Glory Road post above:
https://x.com/LangmanVince/status/1863774606555070624
Thank you very much for that comparison. I could have waited for another decade or five for “Wet A* P*” song lyrics.
The Orange Man needs to have a conversation with FJB:
“Lots of loose talk about hundreds of pardons. Probably be better if that didn’t happen.”
So don’t read it for the society mores that it reflects, read it for the adventure and the imagination of Robert Heinlein. What you find is that the science/fantasy and the adventure hold up quite well. And it’s worthwhile to ask: If Star is rewritten as a “modern” woman, does the novel survive at all? And how about Oscar as a Gen Z? Imagine Prince Harry and whosis in those roles–would you read it?
I don’t want to imagine anything different about the book. Especially not with Prince Harry. Gag me.
Or with a so-called “modern woman”. My son cannot find a woman of the type that I married, his mother, and so has given up looking.
My wife and kids call me quite antiquated. I like the way that I am and intend to stay that way until death. However, I ain’t no Hero. Or swordsman. Or bowman. Or knifeman.
No Locum (temp doctor) on Mondays?
No money or no one wanted the gig?
No idea. All I know is that the C-T scanner was broken.
I’ve linked to a youtuber before who does the lyrics in ASL so I don’t feed the coffers of the filthy. She’s entertaining to watch… and now I can’t find the channel, because it’s been polluted with hundreds of AI generated summaries and “news” articles and tickytackys
n
Addressed in another Heinlein novel, “Friday”, in which the Maritime Provinces (New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and the Island of Newfoundland) join the US North East. Currently, I think Alberta would be happy to join, though, as Texas Junior.
So don’t read it for the society mores that it reflects, read it for the adventure and the imagination of Robert Heinlein. What you find is that the science/fantasy and the adventure hold up quite well. And it’s worthwhile to ask: If Star is rewritten as a “modern” woman, does the novel survive at all? And how about Oscar as a Gen Z? Imagine Prince Harry and whosis in those roles–would you read it?
BTW, don’t forget that my favorite genre is Young Men’s Adventure Stories.
The Hardy Boys, Tom Swift, Ric Brant, …
BTW, don’t forget that my favorite genre is Young Men’s Adventure Stories.
You know, I may need to change that to “Young People’s Adventure Stories” as several of my Six Star list have a lady as the protagonist such as “Friday”.
Ooh, who is Ric Brant?
What about the Bobbsey Twins, or Danny Dunn?
n
While I stand ready to replace the guts of the toilet tank, IDK if there is actually a problem. I took the float valve thing apart, cleaned it, then put it back together and it seems to be working correctly. Toto is an expensive brand, but they use quality parts.
I’ve got a flapper and new valve assembly that were in the “plumbing” clump in the garage attic, so I can change both if needed. But I don’t think it’s needed.
Time for bed though.
n
Encyclopedia Brown??
Good luck with that. I’d like to see how Québec will fit and you will want their hydro resources. On the other hand, if you keep driving up your debt, maybe we can buy up some of your border states at bargain prices.
If Justin the Useless had his father’s brains instead of his mother’s he would have suggested that we introduce a matching tariff until the US stops letting handguns be smuggled into Canada. Turnabout and all that…
I’m not a big fan of firearm restrictions and the drive to make it appear that they don’t exist here and nobody needs them or should have them anyway, strikes me as stupid. As it is, the only people walking about with handguns are cops and criminals.
Actually, with the right firearm acquisition permit, you can have as many handguns (of certain approved types) as you want. But you have to keep them locked up and you can’t take them anywhere (well you can if you ask nicely).
Canada has the population of Cali, and a WHOLE lot more room. That makes a huge difference, with some aspects of the culture similar to the westward expansion in the US. If you didn’t like neighbors, you just moved further away.
If only they hadn’t doubled down on the multi-culti thing…
n
(on the other hand, something like 80-90% of the population lives within 10 miles of the US border… so not as spread out as could be.)(iirc)
So much for “early” to bed, now I will have to be satisfied with “earlier”…
n
How about if we take, say 50 illegal migrants at a time, and drop them off at the Arctic Circle for a ‘special’ edition of “Naked and Afraid.”