Sun. Mar. 23, 2025 – A day of rest? Or just another day to work…

By on March 23rd, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool and clear, with possible rain later. The forecast has southeast Texas in a possible rain and storm area, but it didn’t look like that when I went to bed. We’ll see what happens. What happened on Saturday was another beautiful day.

I got up and loaded the auction items I was dropping off onto the truck. Got D1 up and moving, and then we spent 5 hours driving around and doing auction pickups. She did ok, with coaching and me watching out. Only occasional “no,no, NO!” and only two blown stop signs… She’s improving but still needs a lot of practice, especially moving through the current task and into the next one. She wants to do them one at a time, and there is a mental pause between them. Can’t drive that way, have to be looking out, thinking ahead, and acting quickly and decisively when it’s called for.

We made a big loop, on some complicated and rough expressways, with a lot of crazy drivers, and she did OK. We also spent some time talking about what to do if cops pull you over, and what NOT to do. There is a lot to learn besides the ‘rules of the road’ and how to operate the vehicle.

Today I’m going to sleep in a bit, then if the weather holds, I’ll do some outdoor work around the house. If not, I’ll be doing indoor stacking and organizing.

From sun up to sun down, a prepper’s work is never done… or something like that.

Get out there and meet some people. Stack up the things you need. Raise the next generation.

nick

55 Comments and discussion on "Sun. Mar. 23, 2025 – A day of rest? Or just another day to work…"

  1. Ray Thompson says:

    First post. Up early to go visit the only child.

  2. Denis says:

    A beautiful spring day here. I had big plans to get up early and be productive, but I have caught the crud from W1, who kindly brought it home from work, and I have zero energy. I turned over and went back to sleep when I should have got up, and am now surfacing around the crack of noon. Ah well…

  3. lynn says:

    64 F here on the west side of the Brazos River as the sun is coming up.  Both varmints have been outside and are back in eating their treats.  

    I always go outside with them the first time as my neighbors dog was eaten by coyotes last summer in her backyard at 6 am.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    It’s off to court we go! Disney faces lawsuit over Snow White snub of ‘little people’ actors who were replaced by cartoons in ‘woke’ £215m live-action remake 

    – when the weird go pro.

    It isn’t about the lawsuit as much as getting a case to Discovery and getting access to Disney’s email servers.

    Maybe someone knows that Gina Carano is going to settle before her case reaches that point.

  5. Greg Norton says:

    The pea brains at the freak show commands in Tampa still toy with the idea of a hot war with Iran. They nearly got Trump to go for it in his last term.

    Israel has been using the F-35 against the Houthis and Iranians with impunity.  And the F-35 has more range than the F-22.

    The Saudis lost at least one F-15 to the Houthis.

    In air superiority situations, if stealth isn’t important, eight hardpoints capable of launching AIM-120s are better than four, and the F-15 has the speed/range advantage.

    The F-35 can do six, but that blows the stealth advantage of the aircraft.

  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    Up and at ’em, Atom Ant!

    Grey, with a medium overcast, which blows “clear” away.   Also 76F which is a bit on the warm side for 10am.  It’s still not stifling summer time….

    ———

    I haven’t been 100% but I still haven’t got the crud here.    W still won’t go to doc in the box, and is still coughing.   I hate the sound.

    It’ll be “a lingering cough” soon, and that ain’t right…

    ———-

    One of the things I picked up yesterday was a “solar combiner” which is a box that lets you tie multiple panels together in a clean and neat way.   One more piece of the puzzle toward cobbling something together here.

    I’m bidding on some forklift batteries, 2200 pounds each, and 750Ahr each, at 36v.   There are lots of people online using them for solar storage.   I’d prefer a format I could more easily move around, but this might  be my opportunity to get some storage cheaply.   We’ll see how the bid goes.

    n

  7. drwilliams says:

    Police Find 43-Year-Old, Former Federal Prosecutor Dead in Her Alexandria, VA Home

    https://redstate.com/beccalower/2025/03/22/va-police-find-43-year-old-former-federal-prosecutor-dead-in-her-home-n2186987

    Just normal. Move along. Nothing to see here.

  8. drwilliams says:

    “China and Russia Are Scared”

       https://areaocho.com/china-and-russia-are-scared/

    “This is the state of our military. These are three female Masters at Arms (Navy MP’s). This picture was taken right after they got out of a Navy Law Enforcement vehicle. Massive change in the military is required to end this nonsense.”

    I am sorry but these ladies are not qualified to be in our military forces.  Being in the USA military requires a certain amount of physical conditioning.

    What, the Chinese and Russians are afraid their troops will laugh their asses off?

    Those “ladies” are at least two ax handles wide in the ass, and if you followed them around they’d probably wait outside the grocery store if an electric handicapped cart wasn’t immediately available.

    I’d like to see the physical preparedness test and the test results they turned in, as well as their small arms quals. I’d bet that half the old farts on this board, myself included, could turn in better numbers getting up from our recliners and having someone hold our beers.

  9. drwilliams says:

    I’m bidding on some forklift batteries, 2200 pounds each, and 750Ahr each, at 36v.   There are lots of people online using them for solar storage.   I’d prefer a format I could more easily move around, but this might  be my opportunity to get some storage cheaply.   We’ll see how the bid goes.

    I’ve mentioned before that in the late 70’s I visited an elderly farmer that had never hooked the farm up to the electrical grid when the REC came around. He was running primarily off of glass case Bell Telephone batteries, the kind that the central office used. I should pull out the photos I took that day. One of them was in his battery room, and I could easily find the specs on those batteries and calculate his storage capacity. 

    When he passed the state should have turned that property into a museum.

  10. Denis says:

    It’ll be “a lingering cough” soon, and that ain’t right…

    This is how I am feeling. O2 saturation meter says 96-98 p.c., but I nevertheless feel like I am a hundred years old, and everything is an effort. I can’t get an appointment with the doc for tomorrow, so I will try for Tuesday. 

    Doc makes a few urgent appointments available each morning for the following morning, so I will have to be online at 10.30 tomorrow to get a slot for Tuesday.

    Now I must bestir myself to put the robot lawnmower back in operation after the winter break, as if I leave it any longer, I will have to get out the petrol mower first, as the grass will be too high for the robot. We had a torrential downpour of rain last night, after weeks of dryness, so one can almost watch the grass growing…

  11. drwilliams says:

    Anti-Semitism May Be Offensive, But Should It Be Illegal?
    Short Answer: No

    Brandeis famously stated that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants” in a Harper’s Weekly article in 1913. It was true then and it is true now!

    Brandeis didn’t say, “Jail time is appropriate for bad thoughts,” and that is a vital point.

    Am I defending anti-Semitism? No, of course not. I think it is stupid, flies in the face of everything we hold dear in our country with respect to our fellow citizens, and is ultimately counterproductive, as the Nazi nuclear program discovered to its chagrin. But it is an opinion, however misguided. It is a thought..a world-view…a prejudice. And we as Americans are entitled to our beliefs, and we have every right to shout them to the heavens!

    https://acecomments.mu.nu/?post=414140

    Defending anti-Semitism as a First Amendment protected viewpoint is all very well. Now take the above essay, and any other that does the same thing, and substitute “anti-Palestinian”, or more to the point, “anti-black”, and ask what degree of protected speech those viewpoints get on any college campus or in any government workplace.

    The principle cuts more than one way, and the actual practice quickly gets us to George Orwell’s “All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.”

    Trump should have started the forcible reform of colleges and universities by informing them on January 20 that any institution that did not “confess their sins and promise to do better” and promulgate a plan to do so within 30 days including, real concrete actions would be subject to cuts in federal funding. Non-restorable cuts. Doing something and then undoing it after the miscreants promise to do better does nothing but invites the liars to lie. 

    Cut federal funding by $500 million that isn’t coming back, and then announce that there are $500 million in federal funds that are available to qualified institutions that cap the overhead expenses at 15% and meet the other requirements. 

    If we can have a college“player portal” for the aspiring billionaire athletes maybe we should have a “researcher portal” for science and engineering. 

    And maybe we need to toss the existing “accreditation” systems and create a new one that measures whether “all animals are equal”.

  12. Jenny says:

    Here’s my long winded write up of the four seconds leading to getting punched on the train in Auckland. 
     

    How I got punched in the face on my last day in Auckland . A Comedy of Errors.

    The events occurred swiftly as they tend to do. Hammering  / entry – exclamation / camera away – seated / step step – feint punch away

    Four, possibly five seconds.

    It was about 9:40 AM. We were on the STH train and had just pulled into the Remuera station.

    We were returning from filing my paperwork for my Citizenship by Descent with the immigration folks. I had not traveled on public transport by train before, I sat in the aisle seat (error) while my husband sat by the window. I found the segmented train cars interesting as they made a sinuous motion and cool visual effect as we traveled the tracks.  I pulled out my camera and put it on time lapse and was filming down the center of the train (error). We had not observed a lot of people using their cameras in public, mostly tourist taking pictures of themselves which we did as well but we didn’t see the extensive filming of everything that we do here in the states. I shouldn’t have had my camera out – I was violating local norms.

    We pulled into Remuera station. The automatic doors were slow to open and there was a hammering on the doors. I should have recognized that as outside the norm and my cue to stash the camera (error). I didn’t. The conductor manually opened the doors. A ticked off young woman entered, slight of build, maybe 5 foot 2 short dark wavy hair dark features, I believe she was Maori. She wore a red hoodie with the hood up – given it was a warm day, unusual. She noticed my camera right away even as I was putting it back in my pouch. She spoke in an agitated tone indicating that she assumed that I was taking pictures of her that she was upset about that. She sat on the opposite side of the doors from us in seats that faced us. She continued complaining about the camera. She asked whether I was filming her and I said something like “no ma’am”.

    Her body posture was somewhat relaxed her shoulders were down, her hands were loose at her side, her forehead was smooth.

    What I expected at that point was she would yell a bit more until one of us exited the train or the next station interrupted her. That she would glare at me for the rest of the trip and that would be the extent of it (error).

    I kept my body posture neutral and relaxed because honestly, I just wasn’t worried. Her hands were not clenched. Her forehead wasn’t wrinkled. She wasn’t leaning forward in an aggressive posture and honestly, she was pretty slight of build and just didn’t have a lot of muscle on her.

    She stood up and took a couple quick steps towards us. I could see at that point that she was gonna get in my face and probably also yell some more. I thought that she might take a punch at me, but that it will be a feint and not an actual blow based off her body language and my past experience with angry people called to violence.

    My husband apparently thought the same thing because neither of us responded to her approaching.

    I decided I would remain as I was, maintain eye contact, and let her get it out of her system. I considered standing up, I considered blocking the blow. I considered yelling back.  Any of that I calculated likely to escalate the situation and I really didn’t wanna get into an altercation with a stranger in a protected class in a foreign country. We didn’t have time to deal with law enforcement, reports, or hospitals. We had a flight to catch that night. Maybe an error?

    She threw her feint as expected. Her tiny ineffectual fist stopped short of my face. I remained relaxed. I didn’t flinch. I didn’t respond (error). I should have given the satisfaction of a flinch or gasp so she could save her pride and walk off, since the goal was to end the interaction. If I had flinched I think it would’ve been over at that point.

    My lack of a response flipped her to anger. Now she got the tight shoulders, mouth grimace, wrinkled forehead, squinchy eyes and up on toes.

    Before she returned her punching hand to her side she took another jab, this time making contact with my left eye.

    She walked away.

    My husband said I had a look on my face like “Well. That just happened.” and the conductor started trying to chase her off the train at that point.

    There were several minutes of Keystone cops as she would jump off the train, the conductor would come back inside and then she would run down to a different door and reboard the train. 
     

    At one point, she came marching towards me for another go. My husband hopped up in front of me and told her off and she made a wiser choice and walked away.

    Eventually we were able to pull away from the train station and the conductor came to check on me. I was laughing at this point cause it’s just it was just stupid. Conductor was more upset than my husband or I. 
     

    Despite my education and training I’d made numerous errors where I knew better.

    I thought it was hysterical that I got punched in what was supposed to be this Kum ba yah peaceful country by a whisp of a woman with no muscle.  I was fine, no bruising. It was the most pathetic hit I’ve ever taken.

    I recognize I was fortunate because I misread the situation at several points. I would have been helpless against acid or other serious weapon. Her fists never strayed to her pockets, nor clenched until last moment.

    At the time I wanted to avoid the conflict – I didn’t have time to explain why she got broke or my innocence. Earlier in the week my Aunt had explained self defense wasn’t a legal defense anymore and in a white-maori conflict the maori wins the legal part. I was weighing time with the police and missing our flight against some verbal abuse and a slight possibility of harm.

    As I said in the beginning, from hammering on the door to walking away from the punch maybe four seconds passed. Maximum distance crossed was perhaps 12’. She was definitely inside my OODA loop and while I mostly predicted her actions, I didn’t foresee my lack of a flinch would initiate the second punch.

    Condition white. If I’d really been paying attention the camera wouldn’t have been out, I would have been in the protected seat by the window, we wouldn’t have sat adjacent to the door, etc.

    10
  13. drwilliams says:

    Wyatt Hendrickson stuns Olympic champion Gable Steveson to win wrestling national title, celebrates with President Trump

    https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/23/sport/wyatt-hendrickson-gable-steveson-trump-ncaa-wrestling-spt-intl/index.html

    Gable Steveson is an outstanding wrestler who will join Dan Gable in an elite group of the best U.S. champions of all time.

    Congratulations to Wyatt Hendrickson. Congratulations to Gable Steveson.

  14. drwilliams says:

    Republicans Move to Shut Down Chinese Police Stations Operating In the U.S.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/saraharnold/2025/03/23/chinese-police-stations-in-the-us-n2654288

    We’ve know about this for years. WTAF are we waiting for and whay do we need more law to do it  Arrest everyone connected and put them in prison. 

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    self defense wasn’t a legal defense anymore and in a white-maori conflict the maori wins the legal part 

    – this sort of unequal treatment, no matter which way the colors go, always leads to violence.  Really glad it wasn’t more serious.

    n

  16. drwilliams says:

    @Jenny, very glad that you were not injured.

  17. Nick Flandrey says:

    The Treasury Secretary has candidly admitted that the GDP numbers that dominated the previous administration’s economic approach are not accurate.

    Scott Bessent said the Trump administration is focused on what the American public are actually feeling about the money in their pockets than Joe Biden‘s team.

    The former hedge fund boss argued that Biden made a ‘mistake’ by dismissing the hardships that consumers were actually feeling at grocery stores and gas stations.

    When asked point-blank whether he believed that GDP numbers and nonfarm payrolls were accurate on the All-In podcast last week, Bessent replied: ‘No. They’re subject to big revisions over time. 

    ‘I thought one of the big mistakes of the Biden administration was that they went with the numbers and not what the American people were feeling.’   

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14528223/treasury-secretary-gdp-joe-biden-presidency-scott-bessent.html 

    We knew they were cooking the books.   Called it out here many times.

    The crazy thing is that markets moved as if the numbers were real.  I guess when you playing in a casino, betting with the sheep is a good strategy.

    n

  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    The interns are writing without any editors again…

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14527399/New-Mexico-shooting-footage-car.html

    One of the deceased victims was reportedly shot at the head and pronounced dead at the scene along with another victim, while the third passed away later at the hospital. 

    Seven of the fifteen surviving victims were treated at the scene and seven were raced to hospitals, with the injured ranging in ages from 16 to 26. 

    ESL or just public school graduates?

     These “unsanctioned”  “car shows”   are a prime example of “just don’t be there.”

    n

    who exactly would be the “sanctioning body” for such a thing?   and “show” is a big stretch for a bunch of miscreants mobbing a parking lot or park to do illegal stunts with their cars…

  19. Nick Flandrey says:

    While I’m supportive of the husband/wife owners, they should have just STFU, or let a lawyer give a statement.

    They are going to jail if the DA wants them.  

    Their own statements near the bottom of the article will be what the DA uses against them.

    https://www.fox26houston.com/news/w-18th-street-burglary-suspect-shot-amid-break-in 

    we installed one specifically in the area we knew he was going to go to,” she said.

    Then Friday morning, an alert went off, “and we jumped up. We loaded up and got here and circled around”

    n

  20. Greg Norton says:

    Their own statements near the bottom of the article will be what the DA uses against them.

    https://www.fox26houston.com/news/w-18th-street-burglary-suspect-shot-amid-break-in 

    Pill mill or ambulance chaser clinic. The tire store is 1602.

    The guy wasn’t in there going after copper.

  21. Greg Norton says:

    Pill mill or ambulance chaser clinic. The tire store is 1602.

    The guy wasn’t in there going after copper.

    The photo in the article shows the newish dual garage bay building in the right spot, but the address pops up associated with the clinic.

    The situation still doesn’t pass the smell test.

  22. EdH says:

    Beautiful day here in the California high desert, supposed to hit 82F, and maybe 90 tomorrow.   Even the wind has (temporarily) relented.

  23. Jenny says:

    New Zealand was great. We inserted a full day layover both directions to give ourselves a good rest between the 6-8 hour direct flight segments. Highly recommend the Economy Sky Couch if your size is such that you can squish into a short narrow single bed. 
     

    Most of our time in NZ was visiting family and dad’s old stomping grounds. Spent time in the libraries or Morrinsville and Hamilton and received excellent research help from staff digging up info on the family. Museum at Morrinsville was a treasure trove – they had multiple photos of my dad I’d never before seen as well as one of my nana. That was tear inducing. We didn’t visit any grave sites however we found the old houses, grandads shop. I could imagine the frustration my mother must have felt, married so young and in a podunk, if prosperous, agricultural town. No place to play her violin, raising two babies with a mother in law that didn’t much like her. Hard. 
     

    We toured around trying to find the lands my great something grandfather gave away on his death bed at the goading of a nasty preacher who threatened his immortal soul. The church later defrocked the church and gave the widow enough that she stayed off the street – then took back that little bit on her death. There’s a nice church that his money and land built. A hundred years ago, and the family retains a resigned anger at what was stolen. Their lives may have been so different. 
     

    We swam in a warm ocean. Rode horseback. Had some nice gentle walks. Ate too many meat pies, apricot bars, fresh fruit. Husband drove on left side – yeehaw that was exciting once or twice. Saw gloworms and heard fantastic jazz music. And spent a lot of time learning about the family. 
     

    My aunt laid her hands on a cello for me. I spent the first week repairing its separated seams and setting up the bridge, etc. had a great time sawing away on it every chance I had. 
     

    Aunt also told us after the punch incident that Maori women have been assaulting white and Asian women unprovoked on public transport in Auckland. That would have been useful to know beforehand. 
     

    Daughter and husband are eager to return. As am I. Cost wise, between the exchange rate, and high cost of living in Alaska, it was no more expensive than being at home for the most part. We had the loan if my aunts car, and reorganized her rented home so we could stay with her comfortably. We had a few days of AirBnB and hotel in NZ. A single night in Honolulu was more expensive lodging than the combined cost of lodging in NZ. 

    We had a lot in common with my conservative cousins. I’d like to spend a lot more time with them. NZ itself is unabashedly socialist but we knew that going in. 
     

    I will receive my citizenship around May. I‘ll apply for my NZ passport after that. Don’t know what I’ll do with those things, call it maintaining options because I can. 
     

    We are planning on returning spring/summer of 2027. Spend more time with cousins and either explore north island more thoroughly or hit South Island. 

  24. Greg Norton says:

    Aunt also told us after the punch incident that Maori women have been assaulting white and Asian women unprovoked on public transport in Auckland. That would have been useful to know beforehand. 

    As I said the other day, incidents of middle age ethnic Chinese women physically abusing others in crowds, especially caucasians, seem to be increasingly common in Texas these days.

  25. drwilliams says:

    The downfall of climate change poster boy Michael Mann

    Even if you’ve never heard of Michael Mann, you will have felt his baleful influence on your energy bills. He is the inventor of the hockey stick chart…

    https://www.spectator.com.au/2025/03/the-downfall-of-climate-change-poster-boy-michael-mann/

    Another report on the recent end of litigation against Mark Steyn by one of the primary architects of the global warming religion.

    I don’t usually have a beef with JD, but this is intolerable. First, putting that lying pernicious sack in the same league as real inventors is an afront. And second because the only appropriate term for that abomination is “fabricator”. 

    [For those unfamiliar or don’t remember, the hockey stick chart was fabricated by cherry-picking proxy temperature data from tree rings, using undisclosed algorithms to tart it up, and then grafting in only similarly suspect data from purposely poorly chosen modern temperature records.]

    The mystery, still. is why Mann and his lawyers, after lying to the court and committing perjury, are not in jail trying to raise very high bonds. 

  26. Nick Flandrey says:

    That would have been useful to know beforehand.  

    – it would probably be considered racizzz to warn you an ethnic group is committing racial violence.    Unfortunately.  But hey, you learned that your aunt puts pc above your safety,* so next time you know to be more explicit and ask.

    I’m really really glad it was a minimal injury.  

    WRT the passport, options are ALWAYS good. 

    About 30 years ago I looked at emigrating to NZ.   I even looked at property online.   I could domicile there, and fly here to work for a few months at a time.  One of our crew did just that.   At the time they used a point system and I would probably qualify, depending on how they rated my skillset.   They changed the system while I was looking at it.  My crewperson had to leave the country and a house she owned and RE-qualify under the new system.   I lost track of her and IDK if she made it back there.

    Lord of the Rings came out, and everyone in the world wanted to move there, so it was no longer an option.

    One of my mentors still has family there and visits occasionally. 

    It always looks very nice.

    n

    * no blame attaches, people are the product of their environment, and she has to live there. I’m sure her mental filters are calibrated to her surroundings and social circle.

  27. Alan says:

    >>The newest U.S. wonder drug — Zepbound — is extraordinarily effective in driving major weight loss. 

    Yet another GLP-1 receptor agonist that requires, if you read the fine print, a lifetime maintenance dose to keep the weight off. Lilly wants their soup bowls full. 

  28. Nick Flandrey says:

    There is enough tragedy in this story to go around but WTF is up with “lawmakers” and the rediculous charges?

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/mom-charged-murdering-11-year-old-son-slitting/ 

    Ramaraju has been charged with one felony count of murder and one felony enhancement for the personal use of a knife.

    That kind of BS implies that she’d have fewer charges if she DIRECTED someone to use the knife, or if she dropped the kid onto a stationary knife.  

    This sh!te is getting out of hand.

    And consider that this is Cali, where they are setting criminals free every day.   If they aren’t going to use existing laws, they don’t need made up BS like this.

    n

  29. Nick Flandrey says:

    DHS Revokes Temporary Legal Status Of 530,000 Immigrants

    The Biden-era CHNV parole program allows up to 30,000 migrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela into the United States each month. 

    30K PER MONTH.

    n

    That’s a new Anaheim, Cleveland, or Honolulu every year. THere are only 54 US cities with more than 360K population.

  30. drwilliams says:

    Judge Rejects Majority of Wind Farm Developer’s Lawsuit Against Knox County

    On March 14, 2025, Senior United States District Court Judge John M. Gerrard mostly granted my motion. After his ruling, I doubt that the industrial wind project will be built. The full 40-page memorandum and order can be found on PACER at 4:24-cv-3150.

    In footnote 6, the judge wrote, “there’s no mechanism under Nebraska or federal law that prevents Knox County from banning commercial wind farms, so long as there is a conceivably or hypothetically rational reason to do so.”

    https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/22/david-defeats-goliath-again/

    The title above is taken from the article linked in the WUWT essay. Both are worth reading. I’d suggest to anyone who might have an interest or live in an area where “Big Wind” might be trying to get a foothold that a close study of this lawsuit and the ruling of Judge Gerrard would be instructive.

    The whole thing may be moot in light of the dismantling of the federal subsidies, which at the end of the day are the only thing driving these boondoggles. I would be willing to bet that without stealing from the federal treasury at least 99% of this crap will stop. 

    North Fork Wind, which began developing the 45,000-acre wind farm in 2017, had already invested over $12 million into the project and paid $1.5 million to landowners in lease agreements before the county enacted stricter zoning rules. The new regulations included increasing setback distances from 2,000 feet to two miles, requiring a decommissioning plan, and mandating a $5 million insurance policy per turbine. The company claimed these restrictions made the project financially unfeasible and deprived landowners of their rights.

    https://www.knlvradio.com/2025/03/19/judge-rejects-majority-of-wind-farm-developers-lawsuit-against-knox-county/

  31. Greg Norton says:

    It always looks very nice.

    Didn’t New Zealand build Ze Kampfs for Ze Skippy?

    I remember the Prime Minister, Frau Bleucher, resigned rather than face the inevitable electoral butt kicking which was coming her way in the elections held that year.

  32. Nick Flandrey says:

    and they gave up their guns.

    n

  33. Greg Norton says:

    The whole thing may be moot in light of the dismantling of the federal subsidies, which at the end of the day are the only thing driving these boondoggles. I would be willing to bet that without stealing from the federal treasury at least 99% of this crap will stop. 

    Too late in Texas. Drive down I-69 from Corpus Christi to the border, and the wind farms are everywhere.

    About 25 years ago, I remember T. Boone Pickens on some news program pushing the boondoggle, “Son, Texas is the Saudi Eye-rabia of wind.”

    It amazes me how Texas will go over the cliff following some billionaire’s hair-brained scheme as long as it is sold with the right accent and down-home schtick.

    Heck, Elon doesn’t even have the right accent, and this state is about to give him governmental authority over Boca Chica.

  34. Nick Flandrey says:

    this state is about to give him governmental authority over Boca Chica.  

    – realistically, who knows more about launching rockets at this point?   FAA and NASA can’t contribute anything.  EPA already tried to F him over politics.

    War is coming, and the DoD needs Starlink and a GPS alternative.   China is PRACTICING attacking satellites.

    n

  35. Greg Norton says:

    Frau Blucher.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAYVIY1izho

    Contrary to the film legend, “blucher” is not a German word for glue.

    In multiple interviews I’ve seen, Mel Brooks claims that the word was just a random word/surname that fit when he was trying to make the recurring gag work.

  36. Greg Norton says:

    this state is about to give him governmental authority over Boca Chica.  

    – realistically, who knows more about launching rockets at this point?   FAA and NASA can’t contribute anything.  EPA already tried to F him over politics.

    War is coming, and the DoD needs Starlink and a GPS alternative.   China is PRACTICING attacking satellites.

    Boca Chica has nothing to do with Starlink, Falcon, or Dragon. All three as well as the Boeing mini-shuttle launch from Kennedy, but Musk isn’t asking Florida for governmental authority there.

    Not that it would be granted as easily. DeSantis don’t surf.

  37. Greg Norton says:

    Remember the other day when we all laughed at the link about McDonald’s offering easy financing terms on Happy Meals?

    Well …

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/klarna-doordash-payments/

  38. Nick Flandrey says:

    What are they launching from boca chica?

    n

  39. Greg Norton says:

    What are they launching from boca chica?

    The Starship distraction.

    That too will eventually have to move to Kennedy.

  40. Lynn says:

    “One of the things I picked up yesterday was a “solar combiner” which is a box that lets you tie multiple panels together in a clean and neat way.   One more piece of the puzzle toward cobbling something together here.”

    “I’m bidding on some forklift batteries, 2200 pounds each, and 750Ahr each, at 36v.   There are lots of people online using them for solar storage.   I’d prefer a format I could more easily move around, but this might  be my opportunity to get some storage cheaply.   We’ll see how the bid goes.”

    New or used ?

    What is the amp and voltage rating of “solar cominer” ?  Does it invert the DC power to AC power too ?

  41. Lynn says:

    “HUGE: Barack Obama Was Using USAID to Pretend to Send ‘Aid’ Overseas But Was Laundering It to Train ‘Rent-a-Riots’ Instead”

       https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/huge-barack-obama-was-using-usaid-pretend-send/

    “During their conversation, Mike Benz shared how Barack Obama was using money to USAID to pretend to send “aid” overseas. In actuality, Obama was laundering the taxpayer dollars and using it to train “rent-a-mobs” instead!”

    “This is a huge development but maybe not so surprising considering how Democrats believe they can do anything they please. With other people’s money.”

    Again, I am not surprised but I am disappointed.

  42. Lynn says:

    this state is about to give him governmental authority over Boca Chica.  

    – realistically, who knows more about launching rockets at this point?   FAA and NASA can’t contribute anything.  EPA already tried to F him over politics.

    War is coming, and the DoD needs Starlink and a GPS alternative.   China is PRACTICING attacking satellites.

    n

    Plus, Elon is the majority land owner of Boca Chica.  He is trying to buy out everyone in Boca Chica with 3X payouts.

  43. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well, I don’t remember the Constitution giving the fedgov power to regulate land use in Texas, so per 10A, it’s up to Texas to decide what to do with Boca Chica…

    n

  44. Lynn says:

    “If Trump Defies the Courts, Here’s What a Judge Can Do”

        https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/03/20/trump-defy-courts-judge-interview-00239359

    “A former federal judge weighs in on the escalating tension between the White House and the judiciary.”

    “There have to be three co-equal branches of government, and each branch has to respect the other.”

    I do not see much respect for the USA Constitution and the President by several of these liberal judges.

  45. Greg Norton says:

    “During their conversation, Mike Benz shared how Barack Obama was using money to USAID to pretend to send “aid” overseas. In actuality, Obama was laundering the taxpayer dollars and using it to train “rent-a-mobs” instead!”

    “This is a huge development but maybe not so surprising considering how Democrats believe they can do anything they please. With other people’s money.”

    Again, I am not surprised but I am disappointed.

    I saw the Palette-o-Bricks kits in a couple of locations scattered around Fort Worth during the first weekend of May last year.

    New Palette-o-Bricks kits too.

    Gotta wonder who bought those and what they had in mind. Or if the bricks are still there.

    The first debate forcing Biden out early probably prevented something ugly from happening after the conventions.

  46. Nick Flandrey says:

    What is the amp and voltage rating of “solar cominer” ?  Does it invert the DC power to AC power too ?

    no the combiner is just something to link the panels in a control NEMA box.   I’ve got inverter/battery chargers to use, some pretty big.  I think at least one will do 240v..

    n

    similar to this

    https://www.amazon.com/ECO-WORTHY-Combiner-Breakers-Lightning-Arrester/dp/B07F5HDP2W

  47. Nick Flandrey says:

    Kid is listening to Hamilton soundtrack again.   I can’t help but hear Sugar Hill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight” when I hear one of the songs.

    “I said-a hip, hop, the hip, the hippie. To the hip hip hop-a you don’t stop- the rock It to the bang-bang boogie, say up jump the boogie. To the rhythm of the boogie, the beat”

    n

  48. Nick Flandrey says:

    I am reminded that there is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution that is “good enough”.

    n

  49. Nick Flandrey says:

    Public school.   Kid gets exposed to a broader cross section of the real world.   And sometime that really sucks.

    Her friend, the one who wants to work hard, emancipate herself, and escape from her sh!tty home life?   Her dad got out of prison, got back with her mom, got mom pregnant (mom drinks and ‘parties’, so not a good thing), and now got himself murdered last night.

    Not sure which of the four guys who got killed in Houston last night he was, but he liked to drink and fight.

    D1’s friend is gonna have some really weird feelings for a while.  Dad was no prince, but he was still her father.

    n

  50. Lynn says:

    I am reminded that there is nothing more permanent than a temporary solution that is “good enough”.

    That is how I ended up with a Starlink antenna on the ground where the ants built a mound up into it after a year.

  51. Lynn says:

    ““Max Volume if Threat Detected”: Tesla Adds New Sentry Mode Security Feature to Deter Unhinged Leftist Attacks”

        https://thelibertydaily.com/max-volume-if-threat-detected-tesla-adds-new/

    “(Zero Hedge)—The Tesla-focused blog Not a Tesla App reported that following last week’s Q1 2025 All-Hands MeetingTesla quietly updated the Cybertruck’s webpage to include a new Sentry Mode feature that plays loud music as a deterrent against unhinged individuals—particularly Democrats—attempting to damage the vehicles.”

    “The new feature appeared on the lower half of Cybertruck’s About page. The text reveals Sentry Mode will soon be able to play loud music when it’s triggered:”

    Sounds good to me. Pun intended.

  52. Lynn says:

    “German Industry Fleeing High Energy Prices, Costs And Bureaucracy In Record Numbers”

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2025/03/23/german-industry-fleeing-high-energy-prices-costs-and-bureaucracy-in-record-numbers/

    “Soaring energy prices… regulations…35% of German companies say country is too hostile to business.”

    “Blackout News here reports on how a growing number of German industrial companies are relocating their production abroad, driven by soaring energy costs, stifling bureaucracy, and an increasing tax burden.”

    I am shocked that people would move their businesses to cheaper places.

  53. Nick Flandrey says:

    Shocked, shocked I say…

    n

  54. Alan says:

    >>“I’m bidding on some forklift batteries, 2200 pounds each, and 750Ahr each, at 36v. 

    @nick, of course you’ve given W1 a heads-up?…Right??

    And you couldn’t resist checking for any good deals on a forklift…

    Nite all.

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