Another cool sunny day is on order, like yesterday. It got pretty chilly when the sun set, and it was cold when we ate on an outdoor patio for dinner. Today should be similar. It’s not onerous, just a bit cold.
Spent the day spending time with family. Played a couple of games. Ate. Watched a movie. Read for a while. A good day. I’m still making inroads on the overabundance of baked goods too.
Today will be a visit to a local flea market, and some more eating. Maybe some more reading and games too.
I’m doing what I can to make sure there are some good old days.
I hope you can too. Stack them up for later. We will probably need them.
nick
“Deadpool & Wolverine” went to the big room at Skywalker Sound to do the audio mix according to the credits.
Disney owns the room, and their whole year was riding on the dialogue-heavy film to work.
The pine flavored hard candy is “Gicopa” made in Belgium, “Pine Candy, naturally flavored.”
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Clear sunny day.
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Headed to the swapmeet.
n
A friend in Finland brought back a sweet syrup derived from pine-tar, which I assume is a by-product of turning pine into charcoal. Really intense, not sure what they actually use it for.
We’re having a spending frenzy – after the desks, we’ve decided to spoil the cat with two more cat perches. So she’ll have one on each floor of the house. Our crazy dog loves to herd her (she is not amused), but somehow if she’s on her perch, he can ignore her. Since she’s getting older, I’ll have to modify them with ramps, so she can walk up, but that’s easily done.
To recap:
Margaritaville is Austin.
The real “Cheeseburger in Paradise” is served on Cabbage Key, off the coast of Fort Myers, and not at the chain founded by the Mississippi native Jimmy Buffett.
The black beans on Cabbage Key are better than the burger.
Jimmy was a workaholic.
Something about today’s Tyler Durden cowardice doesn’t sit right.
Border Patrol has a staffed checkpoint with climate controlled office on the road out to the “Starbase”, and anyone not from the US has to be prepared to present a passport or face being turned around.
Something tells me that The Real Life Tony Stark is looking to use his new influence to close traffic to the beach on the highway past the launch site.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/were-here-blow-starship-fbi-probes-bomb-threats-against-spacexs-texas-facility
In May, I make “Maiwipferlsirup” (“May evergreen sprig syrup”) from the fresh, soft, pale-green new needles from the very tips of spruce or fir tree branchlets.
There are two methods:
Macerating the fresh needles in a jar of caster sugar until the sugar draws out their moisture, giving a treacly piney syrup that is great for coughs and colds.
Boiling the needles in sugar with water until a honey-like syrup is produced. It has a mild evergreen taste, and is nice used as a substitute for honey. I like it on toast…
Caution: don’t use the needles of yew trees, which are poisonous!
If anybody is interested, I can look up recipes with quantities.
MrsAtoz and I are having “Scotch” coffee, ie, 15-year-old Glenlivet and coffee. I also add heavy whipping cream and raw honey.
Sacrilege! Ice, sure. Soda, maybe. Neat, by all circumstances.
But for coffee or mixed drinks, step down to an inferior Scotch, like Johnny Walker Black.
Just kidding, you do you. But I’ll drink my Glenlivet neat.
Pine trees are natural producers of complex hydrocarbons, and were used as a source for many products before the modern oil industry came into being:
https://www.hhhistory.com/2019/04/the-secret-shame-of-turpentine-industry.html
@brad
Suggest you buy/assemble one first, to see if it is acceptable by the feline decider. If it has a new carpet smell you might want to put it outside or in the garage for a few days to air out, lest the smell put her off.
I bought a very nice multi-level unit for our cat that would have nothing to do with it. Fortunately I did not give it away, as the succeeding cat loves it. BTW, he has two, and just this morning was back and forth several times between them before settling in one that had the advantage of a sunbeam.
Both came from the factory that makes this one:
https://www.amazon.com/YUNWEI-Newest-Tree-Condo-Hammock%EF%BC%8CGrey/dp/B084YZWS2C?tag=ttgnet-20
As assembly is required, I’d suggest saving your wrist and fingers by having an Allen wrench of the correct size in your cordless driver, and the same in a manual version either as the T-handle with the side bit or the fold-out set. The L-shaped wrench that comes with is a pain to use as the socket-head bolts typically do not turn freely. They are also cheap Chinese steel and camming out rounds the hole.
“I’ll drink my Glenlivet neat.”
I would, too. Please send it.
spot on:
https://ace.mu.nu/archives/GffVv4KWAAAPio2.jpeg
Judge Strikes Down Gun Ban For Pot Smokers
https://bearingarms.com/tomknighton/2025/01/04/judge-strikes-down-gun-ban-for-pot-smokers-n1227282
It’s past time for the disconnect between state and federal law to be corrected. Congress should either do their job or the Executive should order federal law enforced. Since the consequences of doing the latter would fall almost entirely on blue states, the prospect might lead to some bipartisan cooperation.
Marijuana should never have been assigned to Schedule I with narcotics in 1970. But decades later we have enough data to show conclusively that it is not a harmless recreational substance and needs controls. The modern product is actually in a different class, being up to ten times more potent that the 1970 version.
LOL, that’s the way I like it in a whiskey glass, but MrsAtoz ran out of Irish Cream.
Around Boston, we saw several billboards for a weed delivery service.
The mascot (?) for the service, featured prominently on the billboard, was an Apollo-era astronaut with the catch line “We’re going to the moon!”
Decriminalization and legalization, complete with retail sales and ads, should be two separate debates.
Oh, yeah, back in SA I have my CO2 jug for an occasional Scotch and Soda. Tasty.
My favorite drink these days is any bitters and sparkling distilled water. Refreshing and cheap compared to buying sparkling water.
BTW, my CO2 tank is almost empty. Off to the home brew store when I get back.
>> “Judge Merchan Sets Trump Sentencing for Hush Money Conviction BEFORE Inauguration Day”
The judge, Juan M. Merchan, indicated that he favored a so-called unconditional discharge of Mr. Trump’s sentence, a rare and lenient alternative to jail or probation. He set a sentencing date of Jan. 10, and ordered Mr. Trump to appear either in person or virtually.
Who’s gonna serve him with the bench warrant if he’s a no-show?
Does the corrupt judge from Columbia known as Merchan have enough guts to issue a bench warrant ?
Who is going to serve the warrant at Mar A Lago if it comes to that?
Trump will appear in person.
The judge is an idiot to give more free publicity to The Orange Man.
When tRump’s appeal shows how corrupt and moronic Merchan is, and the conviction is overturned, Merchan should be mocked back to Columbia.
tRump’s biggest roadblock implementing his agenda are the RINO’s in Congress. Redumblicans don’t vote lockstep like Dumbocrats. It is almost like there are multiple Redumblican Party’s in Congress. At least we will have EO’s and any Federal Judges that retire/croak.
About the only soi-disant “achievement” of the now-defunct socialist/green/liberal federal government in Germany was the decriminalisation+legalisation of THC.
Today I say my first Autobahn-side poster admonishing one not to “drive high”. I suspect the number of road accidents with THC showing in the driver’s breath/blood tests has skyrocketed. As was predicted.
“Drain the Swamp” by Larry P. Arnn, President, Hillsdale College
https://imprimis.hillsdale.edu/drain-the-swamp/
“The recent election is the product of a decades-long struggle in American politics that has intensified since 2016. The election produced a victory for the man who caused the intensification, Donald Trump. He caused it by convincing a people, jaded from broken promises, that he would “drain the swamp.””
“He also convinced the people who inhabit the swamp, and they have scorched the earth to stop him. He has been canceled, derided, slandered, libeled, investigated, searched, impeached, arrested, prosecuted, tried, convicted, shot, and yet…reelected!”
…
“It is not only the 23 million who work in the administrative state, many of them fine people. It is the universities who inspire and guide it while enjoying its emoluments. It is the corporations it regulates, protects, and subsidizes. It is the press that keeps its secrets and tells its fibs. It is the education bureaucracy that outnumbers the teachers with whom it interferes. It is the half of the American economy it occupies. It is the regulations it gushes, the prosecutions it wages, the verdicts it renders. It is the influence on elections it peddles in the grandest conflict of interest of all.”
“In 1930, government consumed twelve percent of the gross domestic product of the nation. That was about how it had been from the beginning. Today, government handles a little over 50 percent of the nation’s wealth. This is a gigantic transfer of resources from the private to the public sector, which defies the meaning of a free society. To quote again Churchill, a champion of the free society, “money should fructify [bear fruit] in the pockets of the people.””
We are now slaves of the Swamp, the administrative state.
Thanks for the very interesting link!
I love the smell of turpentine, not only because it reminds me of my father, who was a keen and talented hobby woodworker. He always had turps in the garage.
“New Captcha requires defeating three enemies or you’re Doomed to repeat it”
https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/cyber-security/if-you-cant-defeat-three-enemies-youre-doomed-to-repeat-this-new-captcha
“Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch built a DOOM captcha that requires you to finish off three bad guys in Nightmare mode to prove that you’re human. According to Hackaday, the DOOM captcha is built as a WebAssembly app, which is ideal for graphics rendering, video processing, and gaming right on your browser.”
These CAPTCHAs are getting worse.
The DOOM captcha is too cool!
Over Christmas, Nephew, 10 asked me what video games I knew how to play. Pong, Space Invaders, Wolfenstein, Doom, Quake and Heretic meant nothing to him. I am officially old.
I have a Vizio soundbar connected to a Squeezebox player. The soundbar has a “wide surround” effect that to my ears sounds like the middle third of the stereo field is eliminated.
I watched the first and second episodes of Deep Space 9 last night. Great picture with 5.1 surround sound and perhaps better, NO commercials.
The weather forecast through Friday looks charming. Mid to low 20’s and highs in the mid 40’s. Might show on Thursday. Dog walks will not be the usual wander all over the place for the next few days.
I’m slightly younger. I play “Starcraft”.
Have patience with the series. The studio gave the production team a wake up call that they would be cancelled after the fourth season unless ratings improved, and big changes begin happening at that point.
“The Visitor” is the inflection point where DS9 arguably changes from being episodic and mostly positive to a serialized tragedy centered around a war. It is the episode right after Mr. Worf shows up.
Have a lot of patience with the Ferengi. They received the most significant character arcs and growth.
>>The killer app for AI is probably not what we currently expect it to be.
Then what happens to all the monkeys?
The reports of Chipzilla’s impending death are greatly exaggerated.
No one is selling much outside of AI right now, and none of the vendors are shipping Nvidia Blackwell servers yet much less Blackwell servers using ARM CPUs instead of Intel.
https://semianalysis.com/2024/12/09/intel-on-the-brink-of-death/
Tyler Durden cowardice reporting on a quiet ban that is somewhat surprising since the tankless heaters are popular with the Dem female voters who supported Biden replacing Trump.
My plumber quoted Rinnai tankless when we needed a replacement water heater, but I opted for a conventional system.
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/biden-quietly-bans-most-gas-powered-tankless-water-heaters
The Doom CAPTCHA offends my non-violent and constitutionally protected religious sensibilities, and I will be looking to file suit and have my attorney seek class status.
Trump should issue an EO declaring that all EO’s signed by Biden since he was removed from the Democratic ticket are null and void, and publicly speculate whether he should reach back to Richard Hur’s determination and report that he was a confused old man. Then bring suit to have all laws and regulations that the senile puppet “signed”, at the same time setting forensic handwriting examiners loose on avery signature not done in full public view with multiple cameras.
And as to the latter, I will be a nickel at even odds that close examination of said video turns up at least one example where the scribbles on the “signed” document do not look like what is now claimed is the official document. Who knows how many times he signed “Help Me Help Me” despite the likely use of aversive operant conditioning.
All at the same time have Harris and all the Biden cabinet are impeached for violation of their oaths of office and treason by way of leaving the nation effectively rudderless. And drop the complete files on congressional STFU payments for sexual assault and harassment claims.
Then pull all of the Biden executive emails, texts and other communications to find out who has been pushing the wave of crap that they are using to further destroy the country as they surf out the door.
Of they can do nothing but publish the whereabouts of every one of those White House flunkies and see if any freelance I-teams pop up to do a little aqua-based fact finding.
Contemptible traitors, all.
Good decision. We got a Rinnai four years ago, when we moved in. It was hideously expensive. I think it works OK, but my wife hates it, and keeps talking about ripping it out. If I had it to do over again, I’d have gotten a new, larger, conventional water heater.
But why would FJB ban gas-powered instantaneous water heaters? Certainly an electric water heater would cost more in power to run than the fairly low cost of propane here. I’d bet dollars to donuts that this was a payoff for a campaign donor who was heavily invested in tank-style water heaters. I further expect that Trump will overturn that ruling “Real Soon Now”.
Tyler Durden cowardice reporting on a quiet ban that is somewhat surprising since the tankless heaters are popular with the Dem female voters who supported Biden replacing Trump.
My plumber quoted Rinnai tankless when we needed a replacement water heater, but I opted for a conventional system.
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/biden-quietly-bans-most-gas-powered-tankless-water-heaters
Biden thinks that he is a dictator. Who knows what he will be dictating through the end of his reign.
It will be hard for the DOE and EPA to enforce anything when most of them are walking the street looking for new jobs.
Good decision. We got a Rinnai four years ago, when we moved in. It was hideously expensive. I think it works OK, but my wife hates it, and keeps talking about ripping it out. If I had it to do over again, I’d have gotten a new, larger, conventional water heater.
My master plumber buddy says do not put in a tankless water heater, put in a 50 gallon tank water heater. He says that the computer in the tankless will die after 2 or 3 years. $500 fix.
>>But why would FJB ban gas-powered instantaneous water heaters? Certainly an electric water heater would cost more in power to run than the fairly low cost of propane here.
Besides the payoffs, they’ve convinced FJB that free electricity comes from monkey farts.
We like our tankless so far. The teen girls LOVE IT and want to have it’s babies. The consensus seems to be you won’t save money because you will use more water, but that’s not why we put it in. Two teen girls is why.
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I’m thinking of adding a small, under counter electric tankless in the master bath. It’s at the far end of the house, and we never get hot water before we’re done using the sink. Getting instant from under the sink, that then stopped heating the water when the hot water finally got there, seems like a good solution. Recirc isn’t possible with instant unless we added a tank. We even looked at doing that as a hybrid system be decided on simplicity.
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nice day. I found some great stuff at the swapmeet, mostly old tools but a great vintage case knife, and primus gas lantern will be coming home with me too. Had pleasant chats with a couple of folks too.
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Played games after dinner, and we’re all calling it an early night. I’ll probably stay up reading too long though, I’m enjoying the Dungeon Crawler Carl book a lot. I even laughed out loud more than once.
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FWIW, the pine flavored candy isn’t bad. I kinda liked it. It’s VERY different from what I expect from candy so there is a constant mental disconnect that is distracting.
I too love the smell of turpentine.
n
>> A friend in Finland brought back a sweet syrup derived from pine-tar, which I assume is a by-product of turning pine into charcoal. Really intense, not sure what they actually use it for.
People ask the same question about Marmite.
Isn’t that the stuff they soak railway sleepers in so that nothing will eat them? 🙂
I might have to find some now, just out of curiosity.
Nick, you might enjoy the Maiwipferlsirup honey substitute. It’s a fun afternoon project to do with the kids in the spring, gathering the needles, boiling and bottling…
When we totally renovated our main residence nearly 20 years ago, I didn’t know about recirculation, so didn’t ask the plumber to provide for it. That was a mistake, as our kitchen especially is at the end of a long branch, distant from the boiler, so it takes ages until the water runs hot for doing the dishes.
When we did the BOL in 2019-2020, my plumber buddy suggested including a recirculation pump, and I praise his name every time I step under the instant-warm shower, or wash my hands in instant-warm water.
I suppose there is a small additional cost in electricity for the recirc. pump, and a bit of heat dispersed by the warm, but insulated, PEX pipes, but I don’t care, it is totally worth it!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9pBarDSaGKE&pp=ygUWaGVhdCBwdW1wIHdhdGVyIGhlYXRlcg%3D%3D
The newest hot ticket for domestic hot water is the heat pump unit.