Warm, and getting warmer through the day. Damp. Maybe rain. Grey. Meh. We had some nice days, and now we have some grey days.
Did my thing for my client in the morning. I’ve put most of it in yesterday’s comments. I’ve still got stuff to do over there, but the gear has to arrive before I can finish up. The home theater receiver is not here yet, and probably won’t be today, until maybe later. So I’ll do other stuff.
I’ve got a scrap run that is long overdue. I’ve got a pickup to do too. And all the rest of the list still lurks. I just hangs there, lurking. Maybe I can get a couple of bites out of the dang thing today. It is a kid taxi day too. Oh well, my life is not my own, and hasn’t been for some time.
Short shrift, I know.
Stack or die hungry…
nick
Look, another sunrise !
We made it through the night again!
Someone must have gotten the sacrifice right, or we’d have been destroyed overnight….
———-
74F. I was tired all day yesterday, and I’m starting today tired.
Coffee tastes awesome.
n
Good morning! Still alive, and hope you are too! Attempting an afternoon vertical… wish me luck. It is a beautiful day here, so will try to spend some time in the sunshine.
Nothing in my area, not even rain. All the nasty stuff is far west of my location, in another time zone.
– hope all you guys timed the market correctly and got out of the casino in time. Sounds snarky, but I’m sincere. I don’t think you did, or could, and have been saying that since 2016.
Don’t panic, and don’t “lock in losses” if you can avoid it.
n
It’s grey, windy, and there is distant rumbling outside. I think we might actually get some rain today.
n
Our new district in North Austin/Round Rock runs in a narrow strip all the way to North Houston.
The advantage is to the incumbent, who is one of the wealthiest members of Congress thanks to marrying into the ClearChannel talk radio fortune.
The Legislature is a club. “Republicans” are nominally in charge, but it doesn’t really matter which party runs things in this state. The goal is to protect soup bowls and keep kicking the real problem cans down the road. The crazy redistrcting games are just a symptom of a wider problem.
Right now, I beieve the Legiscritters have a shared goal of a state income tax to p*ss away.
Sunny, windless, and 32F this morning in the high desert.
VTSMX during that period averaged nearly 12% annually.
Irrelevant if it lost all that back today, and you need to cash out today.
n
What, me worry? A. E. Neuman, philosopher at large.
The S&P would be down by about 50% right now if that was going to happen.
Win for humanity
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2025-04-02/79-arrested-takedown-one-worlds-largest-online-pedophile-networks
n
I bought the first book, on Lynn’s recommendation, and I am about 1/2 way through. Very well written, and the author is obviously trying to be as realistic as possible, for what life in a lawless, collapsed society would be like. Depressingly so.
I’m not sure I want depressing realism in a book I’m reading for fun…
The author follows The Walking Dead algorithm, the zombies are not the worst things out there. It will probably be your fellow survivors. Just don’t get bit by one of the zombies …
Book #2 gets better. Hah, that is a lie. I am waiting on book #3 to show up so I went back to my favorite genre, Space Opera, a book about literal planet busters who break the core out of planets to kill the infestation, humans and their alien friends.
Look, another sunrise !
We made it through the night again!
It was another universe that got toasted last night. There are so many to pick from. Our number probably will not come up for another millennia or ten.
I bought the first book, on Lynn’s recommendation, and I am about 1/2 way through. Very well written, and the author is obviously trying to be as realistic as possible, for what life in a lawless, collapsed society would be like. Depressingly so.
I’m not sure I want depressing realism in a book I’m reading for fun…
The author follows The Walking Dead algorithm, the zombies are not the worst things out there. It will probably be your fellow survivors. Just don’t get bit by one of the zombies …
Book #2 gets better. Hah, that is a lie. I am waiting on book #3 to show up so I went back to my favorite genre, Space Opera, a book about literal planet busters who break the core out of planets to kill the infestation, humans and their alien friends.
BTW, there are 22 books in “The Remaining” series…
It turns out that the apocalypse is interesting.
There was that Peter Hamilton series where everytime someone “adjusted” their home world reality, whole galaxies were destroyed to fuel the changes… a big chunk of the sky is going dark.
n
I expect the markets to come back spectacularly. Countries already want 0/0 tariffs with us. My remaining IRA dropped 5.X% but it will be back and more. My annuity is fine.
Does anyone know where I can buy military type pistol holsters from ? I have searched (not desperately) for a revolver flap type holster that secures to your leg with one or two straps. Something for my 7 shot Ruger GP 100 with the 2.5 inch barrel.
https://www.gunnersalley.com/ruger-gp100-holsters/
I expect the markets to come back spectacularly. Countries already want 0/0 tariffs with us. My remaining IRA dropped 5.X% but it will be back and more. My annuity is fine.
I might buy some more BRK-B. I bought some last week.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/BRK-B/
If I had not sold off a low six figure amount of BRK-B in 2011 to buy five acres of cleared and unimproved land, I would be a rich man now.
Look, another sunrise !
We made it through the night again!
And the aliens coming from a distant star at 0.99 SPEOL have not arrived yet with their star killer device to snuff out Sol.
Swan Eaters: Rasputin Was A Jerk
https://www.gocomics.com/swan-eaters/2025/03/27
And kinda evil too.
I was going to give away the old non-operational Ford Explorer to a charity … then I remembered from a decade ago the pain of being put on a “donor list” that was apparently sold to every grifting non-profit in California.
Emails, phone calls, texts, for years….
Ugh.
“Celebrity-backed climate change finance company is bankrupt after Democrat-linked co-founder arrested for $145M fraud scheme”
https://www.theblaze.com/news/climate-friendly-finance-aspiration-bankrupt-fraud-scheme-arrest
Are there any Climate Change businesses that are not frauds ?
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“Our Electric Rates Continue to Climb Because of Greedy Utilities and Climate Grift”
https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2025/04/03/our_electric_rates_continue_to_climb_because_of_greedy_utilities_and_climate_grift_1101708.html
“We are continually told so much about our electric systems that simply isn’t true.”
“This means that we are paying more for our electricity than we should, and utilities and green grifters are the reason. The green grift is based on the misinformation that life-giving CO2—that we must breath in and exhale with every breath—that is greening our world and increasing crop yields must be lowered. Somehow, this will stop global warming and make our weather better.”
“We are told wind and solar will lower our electric costs. It is just the opposite.”
“Wind produces electricity about 30% of the time and solar 20% of the time. Solar produces little or no electricity for the first and last hour of the day, which is important because our daily peak demand is from about 5 to 9 PM. This means on demand electricity must ramp up when the sun is setting or out go the lights.”
Starting gas turbines daily to run for 2 to 4 hours is incredibly expensive.
BTW, the federal government is on track to spend $400 billion this year for green electricity and cars. I can remember when $400 billion was the entire federal budget.
Hopefully tRump killed off those fugly electric Postal vehicles.
“Life really comes at you fast. One day I was a leftist because I was into organic food and not taking pharmaceuticals and now I’m a far-right extremist for being into those exact same things”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/04/true-dat.html
Wait, I take BP meds and lots of vitamins. Where does that put me ?
Hopefully tRump killed off those fugly electric Postal vehicles.
USPS has gotten about 80,000 of the gasoline ones with air conditioning. My postal person loves it. They also hold several hundred packages.
Oh wait, you are talking about this monster:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oshkosh_NGDV
The new USPS vehicles that I have seen around here look like a Dodge Caravan / Chrysler Voyager in a panel van configuration.
Your optimism is showing. The markets may come back, but in this case, I think it will take several years. Today’s disaster is not over by a long shot and I expect to see the markets plummet another 25%, maybe more, over the next couple of weeks.
When a person with $10 billion dollars loses half of that, it still leaves them with $5 billion. Most certainly that is enough to live on for several years. A person with $500K that loses half is now left with just $250K. Barely enough to live on for five years. I don’t think Trump gives a rat’s posterior about anyone but himself and his billionaire friends.
A tariff is nothing but a pre-sale tax where the money goes into the government’s coffers. The price increase is passed on to the buyer effectively making a tariff a tax without representation. If I am paying 10% more for an item, and that 10% is being collected by the government, then it is a backdoor tax.
I understand what tariffs are designed to accomplish and are probably necessary. I feel what the orange man is doing is being vindictive and not being well thought out. He may have expert advisors, people well versed and educated in international trade. But is orange man listening to them? I don’t think he is.
Short term there is going to be real pain for the middle and lower class. How long is short? I am thinking at least through orange man’s presidency, maybe longer. Will the markets recover? I believe so, as historically, the markets have always come back stronger than before. For the immediate future I see visions of 1929 through 1939 being repeated. Maybe not as bad with the safety nets in place. But it will be a struggle for many.
“One can only salute her courage”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/04/one-can-only-salute-her-courage.html
“A highly rated fencer “took a knee” in a Maryland tournament rather than face a transgender opponent.”
I cannot believe that this crap is still going on.
“Honor Student”
https://areaocho.com/honor-student/
“Austin and his classmates were attending a track meet at 10am on Wednesday when Austin told someone who was sitting in the stands that seating was organized by school, and that he was sitting in the wrong section. The 17 year old who was seated in the wrong seat apparently though that it was a serious transgression for someone to point out that he was sitting in the wrong seat, because he pulled out a knife and stabbed Austin in the heart.”
“Austin died in his twin brother’s arms.”
“His murderer? We all know what you are about to see, but here he is.”
Incredibly sad. And the murderer needs to go to death row, that type person will never be rehabilitated.
I understand what tariffs are designed to accomplish and are probably necessary. I feel what the orange man is doing is being vindictive and not being well thought out. He may have expert advisors, people well versed and educated in international trade. But is orange man listening to them? I don’t think he is.
Apple just announced that they are going to move all of their computer plants to the USA and spend $500 billion here over the next four years. I call that a win. There are many more companies moving their manufacturing back to the USA. I call that a win. Those will be lots of high paying jobs.
Short term there is going to be real pain for the middle and lower class. How long is short? I am thinking at least through orange man’s presidency, maybe longer. Will the markets recover? I believe so, as historically, the markets have always come back stronger than before. For the immediate future I see visions of 1929 through 1939 being repeated. Maybe not as bad with the safety nets in place. But it will be a struggle for many.
The $36 trillion deficit is the real pain generating device. That incredibly large deficit will cause us to go through massive inflation for the next decade, maybe 30% per year on average.
When the other countries get pissed off enough, they will enable BRICS and get it going. Then trillions of US Dollars will come flooding back into the USA. It will happen very suddenly, maybe just a year. We will have 100% to 1,000% inflation that year. The damage will be incredible.
I decided to finally replace the auger motor on the pellet BBQ grill. Again. It’s a Char Griller clone of a Trager grill. It’s a pain in the neck but once you start it’s not so bad. Like changing the oil in the car… get the ramps, gathering tools and the drip pan. Not difficult.
I’ve had the replacement part for just two years. First the weather was too cold. Then too hot. Or it was raining. Then too cold. Then someone died and then it was too hot and too cold again.
Yesterday’s first step was to plug it in and see if it works at all. Everything seems to be ok other than lack of pellet feed. I checked the blower fan and knocked out a mud dauber nest. The fan was stiff so I pulled it and oiled it. Cleaned out more mud dauber nests. Scooped the pellets from the hopper and vacuumed the fines. Vacuumed the ashes in the grill, too.
Plugged the grill in and it sounds normal. The auger motor is cycling like it should and the auger is not turning. I thought the gear box was bad. What the heck? The auger itself is broken. A bad weld. The soon to be replaced replacement motor is fine.
A new auger is on the way. I am going to fix this machine by the end of the month. I have four or five briskets in the freezer and they aren’t going to smoke themselves. There are a couple of pork roasts in the freezer looking real lazy, too.
But first some chicken thighs and leg quarters to make sure the grill is fixed.
Someone’s gotta test it out Paul… might as well get the fowl deed done…
n
But it will be a struggle for many.
– it’s already a struggle for many. The shift to a service based economy was lauded far and wide, but we know now that you have to have MONEY in the system to pass it around thru services. You can’t build an economy based on everyone giving everyone else backrubs and bl*wj0bs. You can’t just pass the same $20 check from hand to hand and have everyone count it as income.
If you MAKE things, you make money, out of raw materials, ideas, and thin air.
Bringing back manufacturing jobs is important. When we had strong manufacturing, we had strong families.
Inflation HAS to be reined in. HAS TO BE. Even the guy with $500k can’t live on it if inflation takes 30% of the value every year.
EVERYONE knew/knows that a major break in the economy is coming. They tried a “soft landing”. They tried printing money. Austerity, a re-valuation, and war are the next options. Pick your own order, pick your timeline, but what can’t continue WON”T.
n
I think there’s basically two schools of thought you can have:
(1) Tariffs are bad, in which case Trump using his bully power as president to force other people to drop theirs and then drop out is a good thing, or,
(2) Tariffs are good, and we have to hope nobody else drops theirs we and so will keep ours and things will be better off.
Trump may be setting up Iran as the patsy for a ‘Short Victorious War’ if the economy gets too bad.
Probably beats rolling out a “NewDollar” for us. Hard on the little folk in Iran.
How well it actually goes depends on how much the Armed Services have been degraded under the last few administrations.
So, decided to sell the truck rather than give it away, so some Hispanic dude is gonna come by this afternoon and give me $300 for it.
I can’t see any particular reason for them to sell my name and phone number to anyone.
No, because the entire THEORY of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is a hoax.
CO2? The entire history of human civilization has generated less CO2 than ANY volcano.
This is strange.
I was looking for the folder that I keep my old photo’s in on the Mac, the SLR days and scans of old film photo’s, all of that, and it is gone. (Wanted a photo of me and the new-to-me SUV from circa 2006).
Not a trace left of even the directory.
This is all old enough that it is backed up onto hard media (somewhere), but what the heck?
With any luck, ABOVE the daisies.
@EdH
It would not have the natural presence of a Chebby, but might look pretty good up on blocks in the side yard.
I saw a link to this article:
Mike Pence to Receive JFK Profile in Courage Award for ‘Putting His Life on the Line’ on January 6th
on a page with an adjacent paragraph where the word “asshat” jumped out at me.
Heh.
I honestly thought about that, plenty of room and my neighbor has a tractor & chains to help move it (so I could add it to the dead Alis-Chalmers, Mercedes, Ford Probe, boat trailer, compactor, etc) but I am on a bit of a declutter rampage lately.
No one has shown up, btw, except the neighbor who took the nice XLT sun visors for his old Ranger.
So it may end up there yet.
Tales of the Riverbank: Meat slinkies
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/04/03/now-heres-a-story-you-otter-read-n2187476
Ward Clark is a major reason I subscribe.
https://redstate.com/smoosieq/2025/04/03/ask-and-ye-shall-receive-matt-taibbi-responds-to-sydney-kamlager-doves-smear-with-a-10-million-lawsuit-n2187474
Arbitration? Why sure. If the tw** can get her apology printed in the same places in the same position as the comments were carried in all the printed media, make a sincere and absolutely clear apology on the floor of congress taking full responsibility, and have the comments entirely erased from the internet, I’ll scale the suit back to $1 million.
This reminds me of John Wick holding fire until he’s g*dd*n ready.
The insurance companies have reached the end of their pricing power. People will start to do without certain types of insurance if coverage gets any more expensive.
Just found out one of my neighbors was feeding a 12 foot alligator in his backyard on the bank of one of our ponds. He is now missing a hand.
People are incredibly stupid. You do not feed dinosaurs, they always want more.
“RESIGN: Justice Roberts’ secret friendship with Norm Eisen has been revealed…”
https://revolver.news/2025/04/resign-justice-roberts-secret-friendship-with-norm-eisen-has-been-revealed/
“According to Norm Eisen—the man who practically wrote the Deep State’s playbook on color revolutions, all things anti-Trump, and lawfare in the US—he and Chief Justice John Roberts are not only good pals, but they even spent a week together in the Czech Republic. According to Norm, the two BFFs were there working on “American rule of law” issues.”
“Hmm…”
“Norm was so proud of this that he actually bragged about the trip and made it very clear that Roberts isn’t corrupt—he’s just a “close friend” who happened to fly overseas and stay at Eisen’s posh 150-room palace to collaborate on transatlantic political projects.”
“Really…”
“And no, that’s not just weird; it’s a massive conflict of interest and could also explain a lot.”
You have got to be kidding me.
“Trump-Hating Judge James Boasberg Considers Holding Trump Officials in Contempt for Not Bringing Killers, Criminals, Gang-Bangers Back to US Homeland – May Seek Jail Time …Worthless GOP ‘Leaders’ Silent”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/04/trump-hating-judge-james-boasberg-considers-holding-trump/
Yup, Trump will be arresting this judge soon.
No, because the entire THEORY of anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change is a hoax.
CO2? The entire history of human civilization has generated less CO2 than ANY volcano.
I have to admit, I would like to see that calculation because I suspect that you are correct.
Just found out one of my neighbors was feeding a 12 foot alligator in his backyard on the bank of one of our ponds. He is now missing a hand.
– feeding them is bad enough, he was feeding it from his hands? WTAF? Of all the ways to lose a limb, that’s gotta be up near the top of “really stupid and embarrassing.”
Think it will make the news? It’s got all the “florida man” elements.
n
Motber: Lands Sakes, Amos Moses Junior, just what were you thinking?
Explorer is gone. Feels strange.
Need to keep purging tho.
Technically, the hand is not missing. He knows where it went. The hand is gone.
Just found out one of my neighbors was feeding a 12 foot alligator in his backyard on the bank of one of our ponds. He is now missing a hand.
– feeding them is bad enough, he was feeding it from his hands? WTAF? Of all the ways to lose a limb, that’s gotta be up near the top of “really stupid and embarrassing.”
Think it will make the news? It’s got all the “florida man” elements.
I am not sure when it happened. Several months ago at least.
So I trust that a trapper caught and killed the gator.
A real Florida Man will know better than to feed a gator.
Most “Florida Man” stories from the state feature transplanted dumba** Yankees if you dig deep enough.
What’s that old saying: judge, jury, and executioner. This jerk thinks whatever he says is law. He has no right to classified info just because. Something bad is going to happen and it isn’t to the tRump officials.
Amos Moses knows better.
One of our Village Idiots at GTE in Florida was named Byron. He was a transplanted Yankee from the boonies of Michigan.
Byron’s most recent life accomplishment and probably the one that will leave him living in a box under a freeway is nearly killing a passenger driving Lyft in St. Petersburg.
I’ll go with Byron.
Land sakes, Byron, just what were you thinking?
Cue the late, great John Vernon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1hnwvWhbJw
https://redstate.com/wardclark/2025/04/03/boston-da-threatens-ice-officer-with-contempt-charge-gets-slam-dunked-by-us-attorney-for-massachusetts-n2187463
Arrest and perp walk them.
Ask for a no bail order as they are clearly dangerous f***tards.
Put them in cells with illegal aliens.
Srub appointee, later elevated to FISA court through appointment by Justice Roberts.
Grrr.
If Paxton primaries Cornyn, does that leave the Attorney General nomination open for P. Diddly Bush to try again?
For over a decade I used the same mouse on my main desk pc. The left click became unreliable, I can’t figure out how to open the thing up and even try to clean it, so I got a similar MS mouse off the stacks. The damnable thing is driving me mad. The scroll wheel is too smooth, and it twitches because it’s too sensitive which means that about half way thru a youtube short, the thing scrolls away as the driver decides the wheel wasn’t quite at position 1, or 2 and picks 1…
And it has an extra button that my thumb hits which does something unexpected in the browser. Dunno what, because it happens fast, but it leaves me not looking at the page I was reading.
But hey, it has a blue light instead of red…
AND I can’t find any way to adjust mouse settings like we used to do. Can’t control the double click, or how much it can move before a click turns into a click and drag, or the sensitivity of the scroll wheel, or the speed of the pointer moving.
The thing has more potential settings than an old school joy stick and I can’t find them anywhere.
It’s driving me nuts.
n
For over a decade I used the same mouse on my main desk pc. The left click became unreliable, I can’t figure out how to open the thing up and even try to clean it, so I got a similar MS mouse off the stacks. The damnable thing is driving me mad. The scroll wheel is too smooth, and it twitches because it’s too sensitive which means that about half way thru a youtube short, the thing scrolls away as the driver decides the wheel wasn’t quite at position 1, or 2 and picks 1…
And it has an extra button that my thumb hits which does something unexpected in the browser. Dunno what, because it happens fast, but it leaves me not looking at the page I was reading.
But hey, it has a blue light instead of red…
“Microsoft Intellimouse Optical Mouse”
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005TQ08?tag=ttgnet-20
Highly Recommended.
>>This is strange.
I was looking for the folder that I keep my old photo’s in on the Mac, the SLR days and scans of old film photo’s, all of that, and it is gone. (Wanted a photo of me and the new-to-me SUV from circa 2006).
Not a trace left of even the directory.
This is all old enough that it is backed up onto hard media (somewhere), but what the heck?
Ask Mr @Ray about disappearing iOS files. IIRC he’s had this happen to him.
>> “Microsoft Intellimouse Optical Mouse”
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005TQ08?tag=ttgnet-20
Highly Recommended.
I like my Logitech M525 wireless.
>>https://www.barrons.com/news/rising-odds-asteroid-that-briefly-threatened-earth-will-hit-moon-2c0fc2d5
Quoting @lynn, “We’re all gonna die.”
“We Were Paying for What? Trump HHS Slashes Hundreds of Millions in Woke “LGBTQ+” Grants”
https://thelibertydaily.com/we-were-paying-what-trump-hhs-slashes-hundreds/
Are there nothing but perverts working for the federal government ?
I don’t care what people do in their own bedrooms (unless you kill or maim your partner(s)). But do I have to pay for spreading your nonsense around the place ?
Anyone remember what comedian used to do a bit translating a woman’s statement–
“I don’t know why I don’t have a man, I have so much love to give.” means “I am a black hole of emotional need.”
Asking google just gets reddits about mental illness, and adding “comedy routine” causes the AI to come up with a half dozen unfunny jokes.
n
Sorry @nick, nada found here.
Oh well, it’s just a piece of detritus that washed ashore in my brain. Dang thing is full of bits like that, sloshing around. Apparently in the 30+ years since the guy’s routine, it’s become a standard thing and common phrase judging by the reddits and other search results.
One more thing that doesn’t exist because it’s not online.
I need some sleep. Really shouldn’t have finished the can of Dr Pepper.
n