Sat. Feb. 1, 2025 – non-prepping hobby day, or meatspace baby!!

Cool again, and supposed to be clear. That will be nice. It was clear on Friday and crazy bright. Nice temps too. I was back in shorts.

Did a whole bunch of pickups yesterday. I made a big loop, west side to Alvin, to Pasadena, to Kingwood, to The Woodlands, to The Heights, and then home… Didn’t look at the mileage, but it was a lot. I hit two estate sales along the way, since I didn’t have a lot of actual stuff to pickup. Got some good books. Almost bought another telescope, a Meade LS200, but the drive was NFG and it wasn’t priced with that in mind.

I almost didn’t bother stopping at the sale, as the seller was a guy I thought had really high prices, but the title of the sale said “Priced to sell”. And the estate had ham stuff, astronomy stuff, woodworking stuff, and vintage vinyl with age appropriate hardware. It was a bust though. Prices were NOT good. I don’t understand estate sellers that won’t believe ebay sold listings for what an item is worth. There were a LOT of people attending, but no one was leaving with purchases. That is what is called “a clue”.

Did stop at the seller I used to use to move my stuff. He’s just about ready to start taking consignments again. Oh, and the first pickup seller will take some golf stuff on consignment for me as his next auction is featuring golf stuff.

Maybe I’ll sell some stuff at today’s swapfest… it’s our quarterly members sale and general meeting. I am hoping to avoid a board position… webmaster is taxing enough. But that is one of the risks and benefits of getting out there in meatspace, getting sucked into the groups you participate in.

After this morning’s meeting, I’m doing house stuff all day.

Working to improve my position. That’s me…

Somehow the stacking takes care of itself.

nick

30 Comments and discussion on "Sat. Feb. 1, 2025 – non-prepping hobby day, or meatspace baby!!"

  1. drwilliams says:

    “I am hoping to avoid a board position… webmaster is taxing enough.”

    Yup. Quote LBJ. 

  2. Greg Norton says:

    “Used Car Buyers Beware: Odometer Rollback Fraud Up”

    Lovely, just lovely.  I thought that this nonsense had stopped.  I should have known, certain people will do anything to get an advantage over other people. 

    Just about anyone can get one of the gadgets that measure body paint thickness these days.

    Even a Kia is going to have very consistent paint numbers on all of the metal.

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    I know I said “cool” but I sure didn’t think it would be 42F this morning…   Very light overcast too.

    Chilly  willy.

    Getting my shower, then getting out of the house.

    n

  4. drwilliams says:

    Title IX Has Been Restored to Sanity With New Trump Dept. of Education Memo

    At long last, the National nightmare of Biden’s Title IX rewrite – & a loss of equality for female students everywhere – comes to an end.

    Today, Trump’s Dept of Education has released a “dear colleague” letter to every school in the country, stating that the social experiment of “trans inclusive” facilities, sports, bathrooms, & scholarships is done. “Sex” under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is back to being interpreted as male & female, as it always was.

    The Department relies on a recent federal court ruling vacating the rule & indicating that the rewrite violated civil rights, administrative, & constitutional law.

    Any school, recipient, college that doesn’t comply with the directive could lose federal funding.

    Sanity has returned.

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/01/31/department-of-education-memo-title-ix-has-been-restored-to-sanity-n2185067

    Now some lawsuits by the victims applying the ruling to swimming and other race results, stripping teams of “wins” with ineligible players, etc. There are more than enough precedents for doing so from high school to college to Olympics.

  5. ITGuy1998 says:

    >> https://twitter.com/i/status/1885321930506457450

    From videos of both plane incidents it’s interesting the number of people that are randomly recording the sky on their phones,

    We are well past the point of anonymity. If it happens in public space, it’s being recorded. I don’t want to think about private space, which is one of the reasons I severely limit smart devices in the house. 

  6. MrAtoz says:

    Yup. I estimated using 140 million, which is Mexico,

    Canada…Mexico…what’s the difference?

    Bada-Boom.

    Actually, I’ve been to both countries dozens of times and thought they were lovely.

  7. MrAtoz says:

    I didn’t even know:

    Welcome Home: Special Envoy Grenell Returns From Diplomatic Mission With 6 Freed American Prisoners

    I’m not sure why they were detained but Grenell walked out with them. I guess plugs was just gonna let them rot. Maduras doesn’t seem to want to FAFO.

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

     Home from my meeting.  Didn’t get nominated for a board position, whew.

    Sold some stuff and made money.   

    Lots of members were there, so it was a good meeting too.

    n

  9. Greg Norton says:

    Now some lawsuits by the victims applying the ruling to swimming and other race results, stripping teams of “wins” with ineligible players, etc. There are more than enough precedents for doing so from high school to college to Olympics.

    Lots of damage was done with regard to scholarship awards so the mess will take decades to untangle in the courts.

    OTOH, some schools have such crazy rabid fan bases that many things are excused to win. Ends justify means.

    Penn State alumni still try to excuse Paterno covering for the child molester coach.

  10. Alan says:

    >>Title IX Has Been Restored to Sanity With New Trump Dept. of Education Memo

    Wait, what? I thought Trump was getting rid of the DOE? 

  11. Greg Norton says:

    I’m not sure why they were detained but Grenell walked out with them. I guess plugs was just gonna let them rot. Maduras doesn’t seem to want to FAFO.

    Maduro was told that the invasion the Venezuelans have been waiting for since Chavez took power isn’t happening during this Trump term either.

    The US Government raised the reward for Maduro’s capture to $25 million from $15 million right before the Inauguration.

  12. drwilliams says:

    Army Releases Name of the Female Black Hawk Helicopter Pilot in Reagan Air Disaster

    Army releases name of co-pilot of Blackhawk helicopter: Captain Rebecca Lobach, a star ROTC student who graduated from UNC with top honors and wanted to attend medical school after her Army service. She had 500 hours of flying time, about 250 flights, considered on the high end for a Captain, according to Army officials.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/02/01/army-releases-name-of-the-female-black-hawk-helicopter-pilot-in-reagan-air-disaster-n2651508

    Withholding the name for so long let the nutballs roll down the anthills.

    67 souls lost in a heartbeat. RIP.

    Our technology should be able to do better.

  13. drwilliams says:

    Look How Much Money Dems Get From Big Pharma – and Who Takes the Most!

    a metric buttload is 1.14 Imperial buttloads.

    https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/02/01/look-how-much-money-dems-take-from-big-pharma-and-who-takes-the-most-n2185087

    Wonder what a poll of the Bernie Buds would find? How many think they were had?

    And Fauxahontas, that pinch-faced scold, must sit in a cattle trough and have a front-end loader bast her with hypocrite sauce at least weekly.

  14. drwilliams says:

    Noted Race Hustler Al Sharpton Declares Trump Racist, Incapable of ‘Human Feeling’ in DC Crash Remarks

    Laments cost of haircuts under Trump is over $500, stiffs barber for tip …

    no link. shittebag has nothing to say.

    5
    1
  15. drwilliams says:

    I want to tell you, Gorsuch, I want to tell you, Kavanaugh: You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price,” Schumer said to a chorus of cheers. “You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

    According to 18 U.S. Code § 115, whoever threatens a federal official, “with intent to impede, intimidate, or interfere with such official, judge, or law enforcement officer while engaged in the performance of official duties, or with intent to retaliate against such official, judge, or law enforcement officer on account of the performance of official duties, shall be punished” by a fine or imprisonment of as much as ten years.

    Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch, has been calling on Schumer to be federally prosecuted for years.

    https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/02/01/this-top-senate-democrat-is-under-federal-investigation-n4936581

    Investigation shouldn’t take long.

    Be interesting to see if CBS tries to edit that smoking gun, or if they just ignore it and claim there’s no evidence.

    I want a DOJ promise that every one of the sob’s involved in the J6 prosecutions gets treated exactly the same way, and that most particularly includes any judges who decided that their political imbecility and hurty feeling was more important that the rule of law.

  16. drwilliams says:

    Columbia: Ivy League Communist Fangirls Strike Again

    What did Professor Zenkus from CoLuMbIuHH do? Being the anti-violence, pacifist that he is, he quotes Che Guevara:

    The life of a single human being is worth a million times more than all the property of the richest man on earth -Che Guevara

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2025/02/01/columbia-ivy-league-communist-fangirls-strike-again-n3799400

    Fidel’s backhole buddy spent years trying to export the revolution to other countries, killing many before he was cornered and killed like the rabid syphilitic rat in a toilet he was.

    What do you bet that this committed Ivy League Che-quoter is a fierce defender of his designated parking spot?

  17. drwilliams says:

    The First Trans Person Nominated for an Oscar is Being Canceled Over Tweets

    In one of the posts on X, which were published in Spanish and shared in screenshots by the journalist Sarah Hagi, Gascón wrote that Islam was “becoming a hotbed of infection for humanity that urgently needs to be cured.” In another, she wrote that “the religion is INCOMPATIBLE with Western values.”

    Gascón also described [George] Floyd as a “drug-addicted con artist” in a 2020 post criticizing people who were protesting his deadly arrest by police officers. Later that year, during the coronavirus pandemic, she wrote that “the Chinese vaccine, in addition to the mandatory chip, comes with two spring rolls.”

    https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/02/01/the-first-trans-person-nominated-for-an-oscar-is-being-canceled-over-tweets-n3799404

    Votes already cast, presentations Sunday night. 

    I might watch.

  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    Grrrlfiend pretty much nailed it in the tweets.

    This is nominated for the film with the girls name?

    n

  19. paul says:

    I had four Blackberry z10 phones.  I copied his pictures from the phones to a memory card and have them on my PC now.  I wanted to do a factory reset on each but, no.  I don’t know the password.  No problem.  I deleted what I could and tossed them into the trash.  The batteries went in another trash bag.  If someone does play with the phones there isn’t much there but his phone contacts. 

    I notice the latest photo date is June 2023.  He died in April 2024.  Feels like I should have noticed something. More than he was sometimes walking (and he noticed it himself) like Tim Conway.  But I didn’t.   Shrug.

    When my mom moved here she brought a box of yarn.  A two foot  by two foot by 20 inches size box.  I finally got tired of walking around it and went through the box.  It wasn’t all yarn and partial projects.  There was a “make a pillow” insert from TG&Y with a $1.99 price sticker.  I can  use that as a friend gave me an un-stuffed pillow.  There were several bags with a ball or three of yarn and what looked like purse clutter and water bills and a few pay stubs from around 1988.  I now have two much smaller boxes of yarn and partial projects.  A friend was interested in the yarn before kung-flu and may be still. 

    Also in the box was a letter from Violet to dad and mom.  One of dad’s sisters.  I never met any of his siblings.  Dad died in 2010 and Violet says in the letter to come visit.  Dad would be 99 this year.  Violet is two or three years older.  So much for sending her a letter.  

    I found two 5000 Peso notes with the date of 1985.  Best I can tell they are worth a total of 28¢. 

    The best part is finding a picture in a cardboard folder of a little girl on a pony.  Huh.  Looks like mom.  A little kid wrote “Bertha” on the inside a few times.  A clue!  On the back Granmama, I recognize the handwriting,  wrote in pencil “2 1/2 yrs”.  Cool!  I need to find a picture frame. 

    I’m a few episodes into season five of Deep Space Nine.  There are a few glitches in the overall story that you wouldn’t notice if watching an episode a week.  Nothing horrible, just “huh?” kind of stuff.  The blu-ray player has not frozen again.  I still wonder what button I pushed.

    Tomorrow’s project is in the fridge.  I bought a five pound chub of hamburger today.  Sliced it into 16 patties. Worcestershire on one side, Louisiana Hot Sauce on the other.  I’m going to grill it all tomorrow and vac seal and freeze most of it for later. 

    Time for the bed time potty walk.  A certain beagle is staring at me.   It’s almost a heatwave going on outside.  It’s 62f and not 22f. 

    12
  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    A certain beagle is staring at me. 

    – my wife says “There is looking.   Lots of looking.  Very intentional LOOKING… ” when D1’s chihuahua/dachshund mix wants his dinner…

    I picked up a  6 pound flat of hamburger at Costco, since it was 88-12% which my HEB doesn’t even stock anymore.  I need to break that down tomorrow.   

    Usually I mold it into 1 ⅓ pound blocks before vac sealing, but I sometimes will cook 1 ⅓ # before freezing for those days when I REALLY don’t want to wait for dinner.  I rarely make patties, because I have problems breaking them apart to use them…

    n

  21. drwilliams says:

    @Nick

    “This is nominated for the film with the girls name?”

    yes.

    13 big middle finger nominations.

    ka-boom

  22. Greg Norton says:

    This is nominated for the film with the girls name?

    Two “Best Picture” films have a girl’s name as the title.

    “Anora” and “Emilia Perez”.

    “Emilia Perez” has the trans … actress lead.

  23. Greg Norton says:

    I’m a few episodes into season five of Deep Space Nine.  There are a few glitches in the overall story that you wouldn’t notice if watching an episode a week.  Nothing horrible, just “huh?” kind of stuff.  The blu-ray player has not frozen again.  I still wonder what button I pushed.

    “Trials and Tribbleations” is arguably the best episode of “Star Trek” made in the Stage 8/9 era.

    IIRC, it was the most expensive episode produced during that 20 year period.

    William Campbell, William Shallert, and Whit Bissel were still alive as was all of the original cast so everyone appearing on screen got paid residuals for footage from “The Trouble With Tribbles”.

    The best optical effect of the episode is Terry Ferrell in the minidress.

  24. Greg Norton says:

    I’m a few episodes into season five of Deep Space Nine.  There are a few glitches in the overall story that you wouldn’t notice if watching an episode a week.  Nothing horrible, just “huh?” kind of stuff.  The blu-ray player has not frozen again.  I still wonder what button I pushed.

    You’ve seen “The Visitor” if you’re now on Season Five.

    “The Visitor” is where “Deep Space Nine” became a tragedy stemming from Jake’s selfish decision to change history so he didn’t grow up without a father after losing his mother. Millions of people die before the end of the series, including one major character, and the consequences of that decision resonate into the 25th century setting of the third season of “Picard”.

  25. Nick Flandrey says:

    Anora is a name?

    I haven’t watched a movie in the release year since harry potter, that I’m aware of.

    The DM is running clickbait bikini features on mostly naked women so that they can mention the Emilia movie somewhere in the article.   The ‘stretch’ of the mention can be pretty big.

    n

  26. Ken Mitchell says:

    I rarely make patties, because I have problems breaking them apart to use them…

    Make the patties, separate them with 2  4″x4″ sheets of wax paper, and freeze. They should separate easily. 

  27. Nick Flandrey says:

    Then how do you get the wax paper off the patty?

    For some reason I always end up trying to slip a knife or cleaver between the patties to pop them apart.   It’s a high risk and stupid thing to do.  So I don’t do it often.

    n

  28. Nick Flandrey says:

    I have received word that Rick is fine, but otherwise occupied.  

    I pinged DadCooks, but haven’t heard anything.

    n

    10
  29. Ken Mitchell says:

    Then how do you get the wax paper off the patty?

    When you thaw each patty to cook it, the wax paper peels right off.

  30. Alan says:

    >>When you thaw each patty to cook it, the wax paper peels right off.

    Works like that for me too. One thing I’ve noticed is that this is one situation where I find the name brand (Cut-Rite) preferable to the store brand. YMMV.

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