Hot ah, so hot. And drippy wet humid. Yesterday too. Got to 107F in the late afternoon, and I looked twice to be sure the sensor wasn’t in the sun. Dropped off pretty quickly and was down to 79F by the time I went to bed.
Got up here a bit later than I wanted to. Had to stop in town and pick up my order at Tractor Supply. They still have lots of empty spots on the shelves where they just haven’t been restocked. They are getting seasonal from corporate but not plumbing fittings.
Jumped right into my deck project, and then it got hot… kept going, eventually my friendly neighbor made me take a break. I needed it. Then finished what I could do with the materials I had. Since the design changed, I didn’t have everything I needed. Did some small things like weedwhacking with the trimmer, and cleaning up.
Today I’ll head into a nearby town and pickup what I need at Lowe’s. The online tool says they have plenty in stock. Still a 2 hour round trip… If they have the electrical stuff I need, I will just buy it there too. That will give me more stuff to do if I finish the deck project. Ha. WHEN I finish…
I didn’t bring much up with me, some instant coffee for the long term freeze dried food boxes, and some medical supplies and OTC meds. I’m adding stuff to the stacks up here as I can. My main focus remains on improvements though. Whichever you choose, stacking or improvements, get to it!
nick
We’ve had a crazy number of thunderstorms here the past two weeks. One or two is normal, but two weeks worth is unusual. It’s been good for the forests, though, reducing the likelihood of fires. The national holiday here is August 1st. Fireworks were going to be forbidden. After this rain, maybe they’ll relax that. Our dog hopes not…
It is 75 F and clear as a bell this morning. Kinda cool here in west Fort Bend County.
There was a truck with a 38 foot enclosed gooseneck parked in front of our house when we got up this morning. The wife thinks it is a guy working on the new 120 foot diameter turnabout being installed in front of our house. I did not see him doing any work and he just left.
The turnabout is ging to be so big because of the new 80+ ft long hook and ladder fire truck bought by the county. It is really 100+ ft long due to the ladder overhangs.
I’ve got a guy in Turkey and a guy in Brazil trying to crack the software security in my software today. They made it through the first layer that pisses me off. I thought I made it way harder with multiple encryption methods of everything. But at some point you have to actually do actual comparisons.
“The Haunted Mansion” was not awful. No agenda and kid safe.
I’m a huge Mansion geek so I as going to see it sooner or later, regardless of my current feelings about Disney and how they deserve what’s coming to them.
One of the Disney blogs has Lowes stocking a Madame Leota animated tombstone for Halloween, similar to the one at the parks. Gotta keep an eye out for that.
BTW, The Mouse lost the argument for dismissal of the case on against DeSantis on First Amendment and jurisdiction grounds in Florida courts on Friday, but the mainstream press is ignoring that development and the implications for the Federal case.
The crazy rumor in Florida this weekend from friends who hold annual passes and DVC memberships is that Apple will buy the company without the parks and cruise ships.
We were 108F with 20mph winds and 9% humidity yesterday here in the high desert.
NOAA Weather says that made it feel like 101F.
No. Wrong. It just felt like 108F with 20mph winds.
Next they will be p*ssing on my boots and telling me it is raining.
I watched “The Flash” on the projector a couple of nights ago. It wasn’t awful. Too bad the actor’s shenanigans tanked the movie. The Nicholas Cage Superman was nice.
One of The Twins and I are bingeing Veronica Mars this weekend. We finished the movie and are into S04.
Spoilers!
Though, to be fair, IIRC, the director leaked Cage’s appearance.
Comic book movies have been ruined by the agenda and Girl Bosses.
I noticed last night that either DC or Alamo decided to nix the “Batman is a fascist!” line in the “Blue Beetle” trailer, which ran in front of “The Haunted Mansion”.
Yup. That image has been all over the innertubes for some time.
Gal Gadot appearing in costume with the lasso too, but fans have been more respectful of keeping Cage’s appearance quiet because the story of that never-produced “Superman” flick still reverberates in geek circles thanks to Kevin Smith.
I thought Gal Gadot was fired.
@Jenny – If you saw “The Haunted Mansion” or plan to see it, did you get a “Different Strokes” vibe from the kid?
The Lancet’s Scientific Chicanery on Mortality Exposed by CO2 Coalition
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/29/the-lancets-scientific-chicanery-on-mortality-exposed-by-co2-coalition/
Just click on the link above and scroll down. Take a look at the two graphs. Yes, the underlying data set is the same.
There is no excuse for this. Back in the antediluvian times when I learned to present data with graphs, something like this would have cost a full letter grade by the sophomore year.
But i do have a question. When you examine the first graph you will see a break in the scale at the lower right. This may be an indication that the graph was generated by pizz-poor software (like Excel). That’s not an excuse for any of the perpetrators, who should know the data inside-out, but rather a suspicion that the origin of this particular deception may have been a graph produced by bad software, which was then enthusiastically embraced by the authors and editors.
Moving slow this morning. Went to bed early, no tiny fire. Woke a couple hours later with killer leg cramps. Even the palm of my hand cramped. Managed to get up and move around, ate some salted crackers and a pinch of salt, drank more electrolyte replacement. Went back to bed.
Feel better, not on the edge of cramping. Late start to the day though.
Headed to Lowes as soon as I get coffee in me…
n
A spectacular superconductor claim is making news. Here’s why experts are doubtful
https://www.science.org/content/article/spectacular-superconductor-claim-making-news-here-s-why-experts-are-doubtful
Two observations.
First is that Mr. Norman does himself no credit with intemperate language a mere week after the publication of the paper in question. Note that as a “theorist” he has no substantive criticism to make, and his half-ashed “verdict” is not the last word at Argonne, as other people who do real work are trying to replicate the results. If those results are promising I’d suggest that they could free up some public funds by letting a theorist go.
Second is that Professor Mason (yes, I did bother to look her up–full professor) not only takes a much more cautious and scholarly approach, she gives her South Korean colleagues credit for publishing the information that allows others to check the work. Checking the work is the way science moves forward.
-snort- OK, Grandpa. Maybe that’s the way science worked back in the 20th Century, but doing science takes money. Money comes from government and foundations and sometimes from international corporations. If they don’t get what they want, the money turns off – the customer is always right. Therefore, in order to do science, you have to find out what the customer wants to hear and make sure to give it to them. That’s how you do 21st Century science.
Dumpster Diving NASA Climate Scientist Peter Kalmus: ‘Biden must declare a climate emergency’ – Admit he has ‘bottomless grief’ because ‘we are losing Earth’ & seeks to ‘end’ fossil fuels
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/28/dumpster-diving-nasa-climate-scientist-peter-kalmus-biden-must-declare-a-climate-emergency-admit-he-has-bottomless-grief-because-we-are-losing-e/
Why do I suspect that this pearl-clutching hypocrite has been busy living large on fossil fuels for decades?
And yes “hypocrite” does mean that I’ve already concluded–based on an inverse relation between the loudness of the mouth and the carbon footprint–that this berk has flown around the world to “scientific” circle jerks, passed up every opportunity to doff his uni-vehicle lifestyle in favor of carpooling or public transportation, and his trash is full of virgin plastic packaging materials derived from oil.
“[I]nto climate emergency mode as a society.” with leaders such as himself consuming the energy that they need to think their lofty thoughts and impoverishing the dirt people who will just have to get along without and serve their betters.
@SteveF
No, Steve. 21st century science is being done by the ChiComs, who first steal everything that they can then use researchers educated by gullible Americans to try to move forward a bit while they primarily toe the party line.
The end result of that process AND towing the party line* is useless dissipation of resources in service of our enemies and the residual is more drunkard’s walk that progress.
*You know, calling the non-science studies “science”, attacking actual STEM as having the wrong people doing the work and being too concerned about “facts”, “academic honesty”, “replicability” and pronouns.
BTW, those international corporations quite likely have 20-40 years of useful hard-science research locked up because it’s not in their interests to push it out there unless they can figure out how to make beaucoup bucks with it.
If only someone had warned us. Like, say, Eisenhower in 1961:
The American C-suites encourage the “transfer” of knowledge and capital spending to China.
As hot as AI is right now, R&D levels are still extremely low while the big companies wait for export friendly versions of the chips which make monkey tricks like ChatGPT possible to become available in volume.
If you think they’re spending money now trying to replace the white collar workforce in the US, wait until China can import the hardware to do the software development there and export the digital models elsewhere to run on chips capable of processing at full resolution.
Neal Stephenson’s “Diamond Age” – – hand crafted objects and “ high touch” services still have value, even when material goods are essentially free. The main theme of the book is how to raise the next generation, but there are a number of other themes and thoughts about globalization of the workforce, and advanced economies and what happens when very few are producers and most are consumers.
He may have been seduced into shilling for money, but his earlier work always had a number of thoughtful and incisive thing in it. There is a line in Cryptonomicon about what happens when the world economy is downgraded and outsourced to the level a pakistani bricklayer would consider prosperous that stuck in my mind.
His observation about the “logolo” or ubiquity of yellow and black signs among sh!tty little low end businesses hit the nail on the head. Now the yellow and black has been replaced by white, navy blue and green.
And I’m still not off to Lowes. Had coffee on the mostly completed deck with my wife. Until it got to 97F in the shade. You need a pretty good breeze off the lake at that point, and the wind is still. So NOW I’m getting moving.
n
Bricklayer is not a job which can be done at home so Americans wouldn’t be interested in that.
This post is an appeal for donations (not to me), so feel free to skip to the next post.
This the link.
Here’s the backstory:
A whole bunch of us were fired for refusing to take the experimental Covid treatment. One person, in particular, was vocal up front, objecting to the policy and arguing publicly against it. She is a nurse and confronted the executives and eventually went to the media.
After we were fired, she found a lawyer and we filed a group lawsuit, which was eventually tossed out by the most incompetent federal court judge (you can look that up).
Nonetheless, she persevered and fired our counsel and found new representation. She then found an angel investor, so our new lawsuit is fully funded and is proceeding. She has worked for 2 solid years on our behalf, seeking justice, while also working full-time as a nurse and fundraising for those harmed by the vaccine.
While we wait for the next court date, life goes on. She went on an anniversary trip to celebrate 10 years of marriage. Shortly after getting home, her husband died suddenly and unexpectedly.
Besides the emotional devastation, it appears they did not adequately prepare for his passing financially. Her household income has been halved, his life insurance is compromised, and she and her son are now facing some tough times.
She is good people. I donated.
I saw a “Full Measure” filler segment on the local Sinclair station’s 10 PM newscast last Sunday night spotlighting a group of providers at Methodist who were in trouble over refusing the vaccine. Their employment status seemed deliberately vague, as if some may have still been on the payroll.
Whether or not any were part of a lawsuit also wasn’t disclosed. Maybe that was covered in the complete segment during the 30 minute “Full Measure” show, but that program airs at least an hour later, way past my bedtime.
Some providers being considered more equal than others wouldn’t surprise me, especially at that place.
Houston ISD to convert libraries into disciplinary centers
Gotta lock ‘em up somewhere and it’s not like they were ever taught to read much of anything.
I would use the gyms. Toss a few basketballs in there and let them do their thing.
But that’s me, I think libraries are an important thing to have.
Whenever I hear or read someone spout off about global warming XXXXXXXXXX, climate change XXXXXXXXX, or climate emergency, I think and sometimes feel like saying, “You are directing your anger toward the wrong country. You need to campaign in China and, especially, India.”
Together, China and India emit more than twice the CO2 we do, and are still increasing their emissions. India in particular has declared the well-being of its population to be a human right, and burning more coal to generate electricity is needed to ensure that right. They plan to increase their use of coal by 40% over the next decade, and have pushed back their pledge to reach net-zero emissions to 2070. They will still emit less than China, however.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/at-climate-summit-india-pushes-for-leeway-on-coal-western-emission-cuts-11668864398 (ADDED, my wife is a subscriber; hope this is not behind a paywall for folks here.)
China’s picture is harder to analyze. Their GDP has undergone some slowing, dramatic in some sectors. Meanwhile, their emissions have only decreased slightly, or even increased. This article has a lot of data:
https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-contradictory-coal-data-clouds-chinas-co2-emissions-rebound-in-2022/
Ah, data. Do we trust any Chinese data? Glance through the article and draw your own conclusions. I also glanced, but it would require study, and time I don’t have. It might not be worth it, given the lack of trust.
It might be more instructive to look at China’s policy papers. These reveal their attempts to plan the future. Again, probably not too trustworthy. Looking at their recent actions, especially as revealed by institutions that study China, might be better. For instance, China is helping some small third-world countries with power generation. All of it is coal. Their reason is that these countries are starting from zero, and cannot afford the intermittency of wind and solar. Smart. This is not altruism: China has highly vested interests in these countries for their various resources.
Do note my selection bias. I looked at several articles that emphasized both China and India’s desire to become “greener” in electricity generation, while mostly ignoring what they are actually doing. This is the stuff we see in our mainstream news media. We are being played.
Ray Thompson says: 28 July 2023 at 18:04
Nice work. He affected a lot of students and parents, and deserves such a memorial. All should be grateful to you.
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2023/07/30/watch-hurt-feelings-erupt-after-scott-jennings-reminds-cnn-panel-who-hunter-biden-really-is-n784881
Yeah, would that be the first dog that bites Secret Service personnel or the second?
Twenty years from now there will be 40 million yellow dog Democrats that will admit to voting for Biden, 40 million cowards that won’t, and 40 studies that have tried to find the rest of the ghost votes and failed.
Yeah, because forcing them to read would be cruel and unusual.
BC: Parched
https://www.gocomics.com/bc/2023/07/30
Yup, gross.
Combine confinement and an education in literature.
Push them in, lock all of the exits, and tell them that they’re learning about Lord of the Flies.
A deeper dive into Ford’s EV losses
https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/07/30/a-deeper-dive-into-fords-ev-losses-n568054
Ford’s Edsel sales in 1958 were 15,800 per quarter, fell to 11,200 per quarter in 1959, and were discontinued in Nov 1959. Short and brutal decision cycle more than half a century ago. Now Ford is in bed with FedGov. Goodbye.
I like this from the above link:
Houston ISD is what you would expect from a massive bureaucracy with no accountability and a metric Fton of taxpayer money. That also has something like 90% non-white student body. Between the black cultural programming, and the language difficulties with the illegal and legal immigrants, it would take miracles to get good results.
n
It is possible to find an Edsel in running condition over 60 years later.
The same will not be true of EVs such as the F150 Lightning six decades hence.
I doubt many will still be functional in 15-20 years.
The property tax reform essentially hands the state’s current surplus to the ISDs over a two year period. I wonder what the payoff is really all about.
>> If you think they’re spending money now trying to replace the white collar workforce in the US, wait until China can import the hardware to do the software development there and export the digital models elsewhere to run on chips capable of processing at full resolution.
@Greg, have you seen anything specific to replacing white collar jobs in the financial services sector? (ie Citi, BofA, JPMC, GS, UBS, MS, Schwab, Fidelity, Vanguard, etc.)
Echoes of American Politics In the Netherlands
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/07/echoes-of-american-politics-in-the-netherlands.php
The common factor uniting the extreme left in countries all over the world is that they intend to impose their agenda on other people and expect that they will be able to continue their profligate consumption of resources as a matter of entitlement.
In the U.S. we see how that attitude has evolved a parallel expectation that they are not bound by the laws that govern lesser people.
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/07/30/sunday-smiles-34-n567932
Tie between router goes to movie and black-tufted marmoset.
Well, the deck is skinned and painted- primer and one finish coat. Family has departed for home. Just me, some ginger ale, a shortwave radio, and Arturo Fuente…
My only debate is whether to shower first, and then again before bed, or just go down there sweaty and shower later… decisions…
nick
Nothing specific, but the AI chips which are allowed to be used in China are going to be popular.
Nobody knows where this will all lead. In the mean time, Intel and Nvidia are making lots of money.
There was a scifi story where the ship arrives in local space and its AI immediately starts trying to trade their investment portfolio, against all the in-system AIs, with offers, suits, counters, etc happening at the speed of thought… It was incidental to the main story but it stuck in my brain. Can’t remember anything else.
It’s down to 82F, dropping 3 degrees in the last 20 minutes. Time for me to head down to the dock to listen to some radio and relax.
n
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2023/07/echoes-of-american-politics-in-the-netherlands.php
The common factor uniting the extreme left in countries all over the world is that they intend to impose their agenda on other people and expect that they will be able to continue their profligate consumption of resources as a matter of entitlement.
In the U.S. we see how that attitude has evolved a parallel expectation that they are not bound by the laws that govern lesser people.
“Sri Lanka’s organic farming disaster, explained”
https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/2022/7/15/23218969/sri-lanka-organic-fertilizer-pesticide-agriculture-farming
“A shift to better farming practices is possible, but Sri Lanka’s abrupt switch to organics offers a bitter lesson in how to change food systems in a sustainable way.”
“Race to salvage sinking cargo ship carrying 3,000 vehicles as it burns out of control in North Sea after fire ’caused by electric car’”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/30/race-to-salvage-sinking-cargo-ship-carrying-3000-vehicles-as-it-burns-out-of-control-in-north-sea-after-fire-caused-by-electric-car/
Another ship burning due to a electric car?
Temp dropped to 80F, and felt a bit chilly on the dock.
Radio was a mixed bag. Lots of cuban stations tonight. Heard a couple of maritime weather stations I don’t usually hear, including one Australian one I’ve never heard in the 16. something Mhz band.
Not much on the ham bands, only 6M and that was not loud.
Did catch a program on 4.840Mhz, where Alex Jones has his show. Very well produced show explaining that the UFOs were really demonic entities, and the current increase in UFO news is to prepare the public to make contact with the demons who will appear as dead relatives and historical figures. Lots of bible references too.
Got out the 4″ ‘scope and looked at the moon for a while. It’s almost full and looked great. Fills the image almost exactly on that small scope. Lots of craters and mountainous landscape in stark shadow around the edges. Fun to look at.
No shooting stars tonight.
Tiny fish were very active at the surface of the lake. Didn’t see or hear any big ones feeding though.
Time for my shower and bed. I’m going to be stiff tomorrow, but hopefully I won’t have the cramping again tonight.
n
That article about Sri Lanka is almost exactly a year old, by it’s dateline… so what has happened since? Did it get worse? Did the IMF give or loan them more money to try to correct the problem? Did their leadership change again?
Part of me wants to stand and point and say “Ha Ha” in a Muntz voice… but the other part of me wants to know how much worse it got when they tried to “fix” it.
n
Hah, they all avoid the word “salt”. Every freaking article about heat cramps says “replenish your electrolytes” without ever mentioning what they are or what that really means.
Thanks CDC, you guys are aces.
Recommended treatment is fluid, replace electrolytes, and carbs. Snack.
Ok, then I did the right thing. Because once you drill down, adding salt to water ‘’replenishes your electrolytes.” Search on “can I add salt to water to replenish my electrolytes”. The articles are ridiculous with their caveats about too much salt and all the hedging they do to avoid saying “add some salt to water, lemon if you have it, and drink.” FFS, If you are cramping from sweating too much during activity in the heat, you need salt, and potassium, but that’s a bit harder to find in the kitchen at 2:30am. You do not need to worry about developing hypertension in 20 years, you need to worry about the next day.
Now I am going to bed.
n
>> For perspective, Ford lost the equivalent of a brand-new Mercedes-Benz E-class sedan on every EV it sold during the first quarter [2022]. (An E 450 4Matic has an MSRP of $66,700.)
Tesla’s profit margin per car in 2022 was $9580
But Ford makes it up on volume…oh wait…
>> It is possible to find an Edsel in running condition over 60 years later.
One of several for sale on eBay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/204410077812
Just what @nick needs for his auction pick-ups 🙂
>> My only debate is whether to shower first, and then again before bed, or just go down there sweaty and shower later… decisions…
Hmm, the expression “Go jump in the lake” comes to mind…
>> Nothing specific, but the AI chips which are allowed to be used in China are going to be popular.
Nobody knows where this will all lead. In the mean time, Intel and Nvidia are making lots of money.
@Greg, thanks.
If nothing substantive comes from it, hey, that’s why Baskin Robbins didn’t stop after just two flavors…
Looks like Sri Lanka is trying to borrow money from the IMF this year.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-61028138
Replace your electrolytes? A nice, cold beer!
– – – – –
As long as I have wireshark installed and port mirroring set up, I took a look at our total network traffic. Geez. I mostly learned just how little I know about network traffic (MDNS? Never heard of it before). I discovered a couple of minor issues, like the fact that my wife’s computer is using 8.8.8.8 instead of the PiHole. And she still seems to have Dropbox installed, even though she doesn’t use it anymore.
A lot of the traffic destinations are inscrutable. Our tablet, for example, is talking to some address registered to AWS. Which tells me exactly nothing, because everyone uses AWS. Decrypting the contents of the traffic, while possible, it way beyond my level of dedication.
The good news it that I found surprisingly little chatter by all of our “smart” devices. Likely there will be more when they are in use, but the oven, washing machine, etc. are not just randomly calling home…
– – – – –
There was an amusing article on the Swiss news today: Research shows that the most intolerant people are those on the left. People on the right are more accepting of opposing viewpoints.
Confronted with this, (rough translation) the leader of one of our leftist parties “…denies the accusation of intolerance. But when the right plays down climate change, I cannot accept that. Also when they assert that there are only men and women, we will never accept that.”
Said without a hint of irony or self-awareness…