Cold-ish. 45F is cold for anywhere in the South after March… so I guess “cold” works for me. It should be clear, and sunny, and warm up a lot over the course of the day. That was yesterday, and the day before, so it should be today too. I’m hoping.
Did my pickups and kid taxi stuff yesterday. Had a chat with a friend. Had a tiny little fire. Felt better after both.
Today I’ve got a doctor appointment in the morning, that I never got details for. They all rely on their “portals” putting the onus on the patient to pull info rather than pushing– unless it’s about an outstanding balance, then they’re all up in your grill, pinging your text messages, leaving voice mail, and spamming your inbox.
And every portal is different, with different log in requirements. It’s a big pain in the butt, and I’m not sick or dealing with a major illness. I can’t even imagine what it’s like trying to keep track of all the pieces if you have a complicated care plan or a major issue.
I’ll be calling around this morning trying to figure out where I’m supposed to be.
On the other hand, the diagnostic tools available are awesome, almost to the Star Trek level of imaging. And only a lifetime ago, people were dying from infected blisters and cuts.
Anyway, after the doctor visit, I’ve got a couple of things to pickup, then more stuff around the house to do. Just like normal.
Around us the world spins and events happen, and we mice flee as the elephants dance.
Stack stuff, and put it in more than one place.
nick
Most of the portals are in the deck of the bilge with biofilm an inch thick. Convenient and transparent they are not.
Dollar General is all about gaming tax incentives. The real estate isn’t that valuable in most places.
I’ve never looked too deeply at Tractor Supply. Texas has a lot of them.
@nick, did the power outage / restart allow any updates to be installed?
– that’s a good question. I don’t think so. I’ve got everything I can set to manual. Maybe a cache got corrupted and needed to start fresh? Only thing I can think of.
———–
51F this morning, so WARM!! Well, it sounds less like “cold” and more like “cool”.
No coffee because of my testing. No breakfast either. Kid’s lunch is packed though.
n
We saw Ann and her other band Tripsitter in December 2023. She can still sing. She used a stool for a lot of the performance, but I was still impressed with her stamina for her age. She was talking to the crowd throughout the show and seemed to be enjoying herself. She (and Heart) were on my very short list of artists I still want to see live.
This Trump tariff stuff is not going to turn out well. I would certainly think that Trump knew the other countries would retaliate and turn into a pissing contest to see who has the bigger stream. I fear that the US, and probably other countries, will suffer a recession for several months or years. Neither side will be willing to back down.
The ego of the politicians and dictators are just too big to allow compromise. That would show weakness and that something that none of them want. Neither side will want to bend.
I know Trump will never admit he ever made a mistake. His ego is too big to suffer such a fate.
I would certainly think that this tariff issue would have certainly been discussed with some really good experts on international trade. But did Trump listen to these people?
This is probably a dump question. Have you seen the video of Heart paying tribute to “Stairway to Heaven”? That is one awesome performance and really showcases Ann’s talent.
$20 Reeboks.
The Pizza Box Dream.
Now the $25k EV horesh*t fantasy combined with everyone wanting a reliable beater pickup.
Dream on.
The car magazines are impulse buys at airport bookstores, and they sold out to the agenda a long time ago.
Yeah, it’s looking like a bit of a mess. I really thought he was just after a giant free-trade zone. Now he is demanding a lot more than that, for example, that the EU buy $350 billion of US oil and gas? He’s nuts, that’s just not going to happen.
His announcement that he now wants to put tariffs on pharmaceuticals, so that more is produced in the US? Does he have any idea how long it takes to build a major pharmaceutical factory, together with the necessary supply chains? With luck, it might take 5 years, but I’d bet on longer. With other products, people could just do without. With drugs, that doesn’t work, so drugs will just get that much more expensive.
This all seems terribly misguided to me. Unless, perchance, some folk were betting on the market crashing, and are milking it for all it’s worth? It would be interesting to see an analysis of the the short-selling contracts looked like over the previous couple of weeks…
AH, RV shower. Cramped, limited water flow, but not quantity. The hot water is really hot and no way to turn it down. It is surprising how much hot water a little 6 gallon water heater can provide. It can run on gas or electric but electric has proven to be more than enough. There is a shutoff on the spray nozzle to stop the water flow while sudsing up/down/around.
We don’t tend to conserve water while at the RV parks which provide water, electricity and sewer. Having to drain the tanks more than once in a week is not a big deal. We can generally go three full days without draining any of the three tanks. We have a black water tank and grey water tank for the bathroom. A third grey water tank serves the kitchen sink.
I don’t like having to make two connections to drain all the tanks. The bathroom grey and black are through the same drain connection, towards the front of the trailer. The other grey water tank for the kitchen is all the way at the back. For some reasons the building could not (or would not) connect the systems. It may have to do with the length needed and providing enough slope.
When I drain the black water tank I connect the water supply to the flush system for the tank and run the water for several minutes to get as much as possible out of the tank. I look for lumps in the clear elbow connection to the waste connection at the site.
I would wager that Trump’s portfolio and the portfolio’s of his closest friends are not suffering much. IF/when this mess is over I suspect such funds owned by Trump and his friends will have grown substantially.
I would like a federal law that every person elected to congress, senate, executive branch, and all presidential appointed positions, be required to sell all their stock holdings and put all their money in T-Bills. No penalties for such transfers. No hiding the money in spouse’s accounts. Then make the tax returns of the senate member, congress members and the executive branch public information. Let the people that elected these clowns know where the clowns are getting their money.
A beautiful morning here in the high desert.
It dropped into the high 40s last night, but the wind stopped and the house interior never properly cooled off, it is 64F.
We are facing several days of 90 degree outdoor temps but it is about a month too early for the swamp cooler, so maybe window a/c again.
I have a friend in hospital with a Malignant Brain Tumour. When I visited at the weekend, she was struggling with the hospital (screen) technology to listen to the radio and watch films. This is in part due to her reduced cognitive function, but also due to the poor user interface (I will ignore commenting on the cost.)
So, over the weekend I picked up a cheap second hand Android tablet, and removed nearly all visible functionality with only the ‘Gallery’ option immediately accessible. The idea being that only one selection would take her to a list of films for her to select from. Oh how I dislike the user interface of Gallery. Select ‘videos’ and you get thumbnails of the films, most of which are the Studio introductions, so no idea what the film is. My logic says you should at least have an option to show the file name as well – but what do I know? So I have had to create individual ‘Albums’ (folders?) using the film title, putting each film in its own ‘Album’. At least that way the user can select ‘Albums’, then get a title list of film ‘Albums’ which when opened only have the stated film.
I am visiting again today. I will see how she copes.
Yep, I’ve seen it – it is great.
At the show, they performed a “The Immigrant Song” and another that I can’t remember at the moment.
Rivian received a $6 billion “loan” from Biden after the election.
I see a few Rivian trucks around my neighborhood, but we see one of just about everything in Austin with all of the tech money sloshing around.
My neighbors‘ Bronco reappeared, but the ID Buzz has taken the big garage throne.
The Buzz is an even bigger horesh*t EV fantasy than the $25k pricepoint, but people my age and older want to believe.
Had a tiny little fire.
Globalwarmingest !
Did you have a permit to release CO2, Citizen ?
The OrangeMan is up to something. He paused some tariffs for 90 days causing the markets to jump, NASDAQ up almost 10%. I would sure like to know his plans. But so would the other countries. My confidence is still not high this is going to turn out well.
Mr. ATOZ may be the genius in the gene pool on this. Although I don’t want to give him the big head (the one with the ears). Certainly maybe outguessing me. Regardless, I am in this for the long run. I have another 5 years before I really need the money in the funds. The crash of 2008 recovered mostly in five years. Maybe this will do the same. But I am not placing any bets.
The OrangeMan is up to something. He paused some tariffs for 90 days causing the markets to jump, NASDAQ up almost 10%. I would sure like to know his plans. But so would the other countries. My confidence is still not high this is going to turn out well.
Simple. Trump wants China to pay through the nose to sell their products in the USA.
Trump also considers China a bad actor in the world. He is not wrong.
When I drain the black water tank I connect the water supply to the flush system for the tank and run the water for several minutes to get as much as possible out of the tank. I look for lumps in the clear elbow connection to the waste connection at the site.
“RV (2006) – The Poop Geyser Scene (3/10) | Movieclips”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-C0bpTLEmZw
Uh iz zmart. Iz goed to pubic skool.
LOL, the first chapter in tRump’s bOok says “I’m not in it for the money. I like to make deals, big deals.”
The moral of the story is it is too soon to jump out the window because the stock market is going up and down.
Many countries are willing to “deal” with the orange man. When he gets us energy independent again, and fills the SPR, more tariff shenanigans will come. Hang in there.
Also, BUY THE DIP! Especially in crypto. LMAO. Inverse-Cramer.
Americans buy too much stuff they don’t need from China. Better to cut off the flow now than later, after the mainstream retailers legitimize the “small packets” garbage that currently arrives from Temu.
Arguably, Cramer contributed to Ted Bundy getting a relatively quick trip to Old Sparky, the Florida electric chair.
Less than 10 years.
When “One Piece” was a bigger hit on Netflix than anyone predicted, the only way to get merch like the ripoff Lego brand pirate ship or Loofey’s hat was to go to a con or hit Temu.
Now, Netflix is about to open a chain of store “experiences” to sell merchandise related to their shows.
Do you think that anything in the stores will be made here in the US except, possibly, the bags?
I bet this guy went to pubic skool, too:
Harvard scientist claims Mars was home to a civilization wiped out in a nuclear war
He’s right up there with David Hogg as a prime example of what Harturd turns out.
In defense of Harvard, GIGO. He didn’t give them a lot to work with.
Apple TV just released the “Murderbot” trailer on YT.
“Why Comparing Trump’s Tariffs To The Smoot-Hawley Act Is Dishonest”
https://thefederalist.com/2025/04/09/why-comparing-trumps-tariffs-to-the-smoot-hawley-act-is-dishonest/
“Trump’s tariffs are not designed to encourage Americans to borrow money and maximize their consumption. Nor are they designed to encourage participation in speculative stock market or real estate bubbles. America’s free trade policies encouraged such excesses after the end of the Cold War, and we can’t stand a repeat of the folly. While his critics wrongly invoke the Smoot-Hawley tariff failures of 1930, Trump’s emerging tariff policies, particularly if combined with the appropriate monetary policy, will have much better results and Make America Great Again.”
“As Trump’s tariffs are implemented, they will generate revenue for the federal government and encourage investment in atrophied as well as cutting-edge sectors of the American economy. In addition, they will increase the quantity and quality of jobs available for Americans as a whole, will persuade (and are already persuading) our trading partners to adopt fairer and less predatory trading regimes, will arrest a possible slide into recession, and will get our economy moving toward our long-term growth potential of 3 percent (or more) GDP growth per year.”
I don’t know why we removed our tariffs after WWII but that was a mistake.
Apple TV just released the “Murderbot” trailer on YT.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEioDeOiqEs
Murderbot is a guy ???
I may have to subscribe to Apple TV.
If the china tariffs clean out all the counterfeit, fraudulent, craptastic, and undersized crap from amazon that alone will be a win.
The crap they sell that is immediately returned, and then sent to the auctions is staggering.
———
Time to get kid 1.
n
Well, I didn’t jump, but I opened the window to let the breeze in. Such breeze to calm me down. I made a mistake in 2008 based on bad advice and it cost me a lot of money. My advisor’s advice has always been to get a plan that fits my goals, and stick to the plan. Any modifications are small and not done in haste.
The storm is not over but the damage might be considered urban renewal like when all the two-bit shacks along the river are washed away.
Him/shim spell vary gudly. Lurned much he done did young Jedi.
We wanted to rebuild Germany and Japan as industrial democracies.
Setting aside Argentina-UK, democracies where rule of law prevails generally don’t go to war against each other.
All politics sit downstream of culture, and Smoot Hawley was famously spotlighted in “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”.
Drug prices in the US and Canadia bear no resemblance to their actual cost to produce.
In the US the insurance companies decide what they will pay for and what they will pay, their ‘formulary’. In the country to the north of us, the government provider decides what they will pay for and how much.
It’s collusion at worst, market rigging at best, and all kinds of ways illegal in any other context.
If the insurers want the manufacturers to suck it, they will because no matter if the pie is reduced, it’s still a big freakin’ pie.
n
Yes, yes, and yes. Do you hear the LSM, PLTs, and Dumboshits talking about this. No, it’s “Rules For Radicals” all the way. Orange Man Bad! Hitler! Nazis! Dictator! The Deep State is going all in on the sheeple are too stupid to understand any of this. It will backfire. Or CWII will advance to 1 minute before midnight.
The Deep State needs the 20% of the population who actually do something productive with their time during business hours.
Places like the old Eckerd Drugstore HQ turned Raytheon Spec Ops Q Division in Clearwater, FL need qualified staff who don’t ask too many questions.
Raytheon literally poisoned their old campus/neighborhood in St. Petersburg and had to move.
Rules for Radicals #10 and #12:
Sound familiar? Hitler! Hitler! Hitler!
Ironically, the Progs destroyed film comedy and sitcoms.
When we went to Warner Bros. last week to get t-shirts for the kids, all of the “Friends” merchandise and sets required a tour admission to visit.
“Friends” is still big but production of new material ended 20 years ago.
“Kevin O’Leary Makes the Case for 400% Tariffs on China”
https://discern.tv/kevin-oleary-makes-the-case-for-400-tariffs-on-china/
“On the surface, it may appear that “Mr Wonderful” Kevin O’Leary is making a ludicrous suggestion. He told a CNN panel that the 104% tariffs against China are not enough and it should be 400%.”
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
The new auger arrived yesterday. I installed it today. Only two glitches but nothing a hacksaw and a couple of files couldn’t fix. The grill is running to use up the pellets that have been the hopper for the last two years. It holding temp like it should.
The new auger was too long. Oh well. You buy a 17″ or you buy a 23″. Without taking the machine apart I eyeballed it with a tape measure and went with 23″. That’s where the hacksaw and a file come in. There’s a nylon washer the auger shaft goes through. More of a spool than a washer since it’s 1¼ inch thick.. Sort of a bearing to take some weight off of the gear box. Maybe. I’m guessing. The new auger’s shaft is a little bigger than the old auger. That’s where the other file comes in.
I have a set of wood rasps that are flat on one side and rounded on the other. With sharp chisel tips. I don’t remember what door knob or dead bolt I needed them for. The small one was just right to rasp out the hole in the nylon washer. And the tip is sharp enough to add some blood to the entire project.
A useful afternoon.
I have a package of four chicken thighs thawing in the fridge for tomorrow.
Stock market report: Dow surges 2,900 points, S&P 500 posts biggest gain since 2008 on Trump tariff reversal: Live updates.
Night before last I was in a hotel room, tired from driving all day, (St. Louis to Arkadelphia) and allowed Windows 10 to install “feature updates”. Windows update lied to me.
I am now running Windows 11. So far, it’s only annoying and irritating, and the task bar sucks, and the window sliders are weird, and it broke my HDMI output. Oh, and there’s some weirdness when I move windows around.
I am overjoyed. I had been saying “No” for over a year.
Adding blood is necessary for homeowner projects. How else can you remember for days on end what you accomplished?
My primary Windows laptop is a T470 Thinkpad, deemed by Microsoft to be “too old” for Windows 11.
When the time comes that the risks are too great to continue running Windows 10, I will shrink that partition in favor of expanding the Linux root and run Fedora.
Currently, the Linux root has Ubuntu, but I’m not happy with Snaps for Firefox and Thunderbird.
I will eventually get a new Thinkpad with Windows 11.
And, yes, I work for the competition.
My eight year-old Thinkpad i5 with 16 GB RAM runs rings around my brand new work laptop with an i7 and 32 GB RAM.
Honest price discovery in the market hasn’t happened since 9/11.
After 2008, the Fed turned T-bills into liquidity instruments and opened the throttle on the printing press to place $1 Trillion a year into the economy to make up for auction shortfalls. On top of that was the $5-6 Trillion Trump and Biden ordered printed up for “stimulus” during Covid.
Wall Street wiped out Main Street, and everyone in town shops at the Vanguard/Blackrock/State Street-owned Dollar General and Tractor Supply.
We got $20 Reeboks, however … at a cost.
Today’s gold price delivered from the US Government.
https://www.usmint.gov/american-eagle-2023-one-ounce-gold-uncirculated-coin-23EH.html
2024 coins sold out this afternoon.
https://www.jmbullion.com/2023-1-oz-american-gold-eagle-coin-mintsealed/
At $3,276.40, a much better than “mint price”.
With caveats.
“If the china tariffs clean out all the counterfeit, fraudulent, craptastic, and undersized crap from amazon that alone will be a win. ”
I was on Amazon the other day. Found the product I was looking for, but the wrong size. Clicked on the “xxx” brand link, looked through the results, still couldn’t find it. Looked up the UPC code, searched found it. Brand was incorrect “xxx kids”. Clicked on the link and here were 26 items from “xxx”, all listed under the wrong brand.
I was waiting for my chicken pot pie to cool, so I went to chat. Explained to them what the problem was, with links. Not 8×10 glossies. They said they couldn’t change brands for a bunch of reasons. I told them their db was incorrect, they were doing the vendor a disservice, and it might even be false advertising. Nope Nope. G’bye. They ended the chat while I was typing.
Got a string of emails after. Looks like someone tweaked and they wanted me to answer some questions about my stellarly lucid and complete description of the problem. Sorry, you hung up on me, dude. Be happy to sent you my rate card. What tariff rate should I apply?
Canada, Oh Canada…
Canada spectacularly bends the knee to the U.S. as Trump scores major victory over the ’51st state’
Orange Man…Good?
If this one passes…
Anti-Trump judges brutally slapped down with groundbreaking bill reining in their power
…Judge Lurch takes one right in the nuts. Is there any doubt this guy is a PLT? Ordering planes in the air to return, deciding what he says applies to the whole country. One, unelected doosh-nozzle.
I wonder if this counts as “giving them enough rope.” Get to see who is owned, who is willing to put themselves first and betray their oath…
Then act later.
Short of exercising the ultimate veto, I can’t do anything more about than to live my life.
n
Ah, nothing like turning your bathroom into a superfund site. P!ssing radioactive again.
Modern medicine does some things very well, like imaging. No reason but cost to not take advantage. At some point I’ll have paid my deductible and then I’ll pile on all the stuff I’ve been putting off…. gotta get my money’s worth.
n
With caveats.
Such as ?