It is a bit cooler in the morning now, several days in a row. I call that a trend, and might be the end of summer. Still getting plenty hot during the day, especially when the fusion furnace is in the sky irradiating all of us.
And hurricanes are coming one right after another, after a very slow start to the season.
Today the national forecast has us firmly in the middle of some possible rain, with the same for Thursday too. I wouldn’t mind, except that I’ve got drop offs to do, and the truck is open to the weather… so I’m hoping that it doesn’t necessarily rain on my patch of dirt. We could use it though.
I did auction stuff most of the early part of yesterday. Drove out and did a pickup. Did some bin shopping since I was in part of town I don’t get to all that often. I got some good resale items, as well as a couple of neat things for the kids, or me…
Did some domestic bliss, laundry, haircut, cleanup… there is a lot of stuff spread around the house as I pull stuff for the auctions.
Dinner was a box meal, cheese, mac, and chicken. Canned chicken was a year past ‘best by’ and was fine. Box meal kit was in date. The cheese will last longer than the date in a foil pouch, but the sour cream in the “seasoning” packet will get an ‘old’ flavor if you let it go too long. In general, prepared food with high fat content seems to age out before the other ingredients.
Vac sealed 6 pounds of hamburger. I pack 1 1/3 pounds into a square storage container to form it, then put it in a bag and vac seal. They sit on the shelf better that way, and I have just enough for dinner. All the recipes that call for 1 pound get the extra 1/3 to feed the meat eater, and they taste just fine. Still need to break down the pork loin, but since it is in the heavy vac pack, I have a bit more time. Still, better to do it right away than to delay. It’ll make roasts, chops, and a bit for pulled pork.
Today I’ve got to pull more for the auctions, and hopefully will do some settlement with my auctioneer after I drop off the next round of stuff. Frankly I could use the money. I should do some ebay listing too, but I’ve been dragging my feet on that.
One of the pickups from yesterday was a new old stock, Dell labelled Key Tronic full sized ps/2 keyboard. Heavy as a mother, clicky keys, F keys across the top… made in USA. It’s not super valuable on ebay, but there does still seem to be good demand. I couldn’t leave it behind… And that is my problem. Lack of discipline. Yup. Lack. Or sentimentality. Could be that too.
In any case, I’ve got a bunch of ebay stuff, some quite pricey, that I could list, and not have to grind on $20 items. Maybe today. If it rains.
Stack while you can. Do what you can to raise funds. Get your life in order.
nick
(share your story and inspire me!)
n
Unicomp in Kentucky still makes/sells the Model M type keyboards. IIRC, they bought the old IBM tooling.
The PS/2 port is getting hard to find on motherboards. I have new a ASUS “business” AMD AM4 board with two, mouse and keyboard, but it isn’t leading edge tech.
My primary keyboard is a Das Keyboard 4 with PS/2 compatibility offered via an adapter, included with the keyboard. I’m covered for the day the PS/2 port goes away completely.
I probably would have gone USB-only already, but my KVM is PS/2 with D-Sub and the switching via the scroll lock key is muscle memory at this point.
D-Sub on a video card? Fuggedaboudit.
Up for work stuff too early.
I’ve just had my internet connection upgraded to FTTH, via an “alt-net”, i.e. not BT (VDSL) or Virgin Media (cable).
It’s 400Mbit/sec symmetrical, uncapped, via gigabit-capable GPON, at £25pcm, wth an introductory offer of 6 months service at £0.99 pcm, and an option to upgrade to gigabit (well, 900Mbit) for an extra £4 pcm.
No POTS service. I can get that, including porting my landline number, via VoIP, for another £10 pcm, but given the number of useful calls is within epsilon of zero, its a waste of money. I won’t miss it. Memo to self: tell family that landline phone will go away!
It’s early days yet, but I hope all will be well.
G.
Yup, haven’t had a landline in years. Even on mobile, I only get 1-2 calls per month.
Private, everything is messaging: Signal or WhatsApp. Professionally, it’s all email.
I get far more solicitations than actual calls. Both on my cell and VOIP home line. I don’t even have a phone on my home line, just a machine, and I only keep it at this point because it’s on business cards and old jobsites all over the world.
————
cool this morning, no rain yet.
Bacon is cooked but not eaten, coffee is slowly doing its job.
n
Added- low clouds are clearing. “cool” is relative, as it’s 80F
I cancelled my SiriusXM subscription yesterday for my car. I’ve been a subscriber since 2009, and have always been able to renew for the trial offer. At first it was every 6 months, then every year, for $5/month. It was worth it to me at that price.
My phone call yesterday to renew at the promo price was not successful. The best they would offer was a non-intro price of $7/month. Sometimes, you have to decide if something is worth the cost. Would I even notice an extra $24/year? Of course not. Do I feel XM is worth the increased cost? After some evaluating, no, I don’t. I usually stayed on 3 or 4 presets.
I don’t have Apple car play in my car, but Bluetooth audio works just fine. I also have one or two songs in my collection to play…
The hardest part is going to be breaking the habit of listening to XM.
I renewed my wife’s subscription a couple months ago, so she is good for a while.
We’ve got three subs between us. All different plans, with different stations. I’d go insane listening to straight radio on long drives. I can listen to XM from the house to the BOL. There isn’t much over the air at the BOL. One english language station, and they play old school country.
Although my listening has shifted with the audiobooks, I still prefer music sometimes, but the subs get more expensive every year.
n
Agreed on listening to radio. I do that when I use the boy’s truck making Lowes runs. That is a 7 mile round trip drive and I am ready to throw the radio out of the car by then. Of course, he has Apple car play and never listens to the radio. I don’t bother connecting since I use the truck so infrequently.
We have Sirius/XM in both vehicles. Last time we renewed, about two years ago, the $5 promo was no longer an option in spite of my pleading. I had to get the cheapest plan which was/is $7.00 a month per vehicle. After taxes, royalty fees, etc., the amount comes to $18.50 a month. The most expensive plan is $35.00 a month without fees, royalties, and taxes. Yikes.
My plan also me to use the app on my phone to get music through the internet or cellular data. There are some stations on the streaming plan that are available on the vehicle plans. We both listen to the ’60s channel and there is still talking on that channel. There are channels on the streaming option that have zero talking. A couple of the channels have a broader genre spread of the years.
Wife thinks it is worth it, I am on the fence. I do like being able to not have to listen to local stations, which around here are junk. They are talk shows, are classical, thumper music, hard heavy metal rock and of course country music. Nothing worth listening, in my opinion. Stu would like the country stations.
I could still use the app and my wife’s account. Better to break the habit now though – cold turkey. I also don’t like the app. It works ok on the phone, but is buggy. The app on Roku is just garbage and I stopped listening on it years ago (mainly in the garage).
Well, when it takes 30 flushes to get that one to go down…
The solution is obvious, unless you have a critical lack of counter space which can’t be freed up for a few days.
I’m not a fan of above-range microwave ovens because of my height. They usually interfere with me using the back burners or the controls on the back of the range if that’s where they’re located. Rather, I can use them OK but I can’t see them unless I squat.
That’s an irrelevant question. The money goes into the pockets of the defense contractors and of the congressmen who steer the budget, and that’s good for America.
I get a three-year S/XM with streaming for my Subie when renewal hits. The streaming is great on the Mac at home, and can stream on the phone when travelling in rental cars. Our biz pays for a Spotify account which we inject into Zoom virtual programs. It also streams well on the phone and the Subie has Car Play. It works well.
hmmmmm
Tell me the LSM isn’t carrying water for plugs:
POLITICO journo leaks marching orders from WH on how to cover Biden impeachment inquiry in thread
This almost seems illegal.
This almost seems illegal.
– It was until they changed the rules.
n
If you define “America” as the suburbs of DC and the tech hubs. Add in the Buckhead section of Atlanta where the HR consultants live.
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2023/09/13/emperor-michelle-i-a-lawyer-a-lawyer-my-kingdom-for-a-lawyer-n577626
Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.
Good bye, goodbye,
goodbye, goodbye,
don’t let the screen door hit you,
hope the bus rolls over you,
and backs up for another shot.
Wow, that’s a lot of water! Where does it all go?
One of my tenants is a landscaper. He has a lot of inventory that they water daily.
Hybrids actually catch fire the most often. Which maybe isn’t surprising since they contain both gasoline *and* batteries.
Hybrids have the most complicated electrical systems of all cars. They are the most subject to a wiring fault to spark the fire. Plug in hybrids are the worst as any undersized wiring or cooling failure can spark the fire.
LMFAO at the “plugs wasn’t involved at all with his dooshnozzle son…” narrative evolution:
WH adviser says Biden attended Hunter’s business meetings because he loves his son
The bad son may get plugs to stroke out yet. If only war hero Beaux was alive to temper out porn/doper Hunter.
tRump, tho.
Ruh, Roh:
We can’t try to date her anymore? AOC in ethics quandary over marital status
The grift is strong in this one.
Well, when it takes 30 flushes to get that one to go down…
Yup, I have five toilets and eight sinks on the property.
Dig around in the history, and it gets awfully hard to make the case that Beau was the “good” son as much as he was the “Michael” of the Biden crime family to Hunter’s “Sonny”.
Hunter, for all of his faults, clearly has more IQ points than his late brother possessed.
If Beau were alive today, he’d just be another ethically challenged Dem pol serving under a cloud, either Governor of DE or sitting in Corn Pop’s old Senate seat.
Peter has some good comments today on the destruction if South Africa, ending with:
“It’s not race. It’s culture, and the lack of basic education, sound leadership and moral order, that’s at the root of all those problem areas. Remove those aspects, those values, and any society will fall apart, no matter what race(s) is/are involved.”
In the previous paragraph he gave examples, including the American Left Coast and our shiitehole blue cities. Those are the areas where the Democrats have been in charge for decades and are furthest down the road in making our society fall apart.
>> Private, everything is messaging: Signal or WhatsApp. Professionally, it’s all email.
And The Zuc enjoys reading some of your more amusing messages.
And speaking of Sirius/XM, had it on this morning in the shower, listening to Fox Headline News (channel 115) and heard a commercial from Jase Medical for their Jase Case. They mentioned a discount code of “FOX” that can be applied at checkout.
Mittens announced he was told not to run for re-election.
GFR.
BC: The Spider Has Moved From the Forest
https://www.gocomics.com/bc/2023/09/13
Uh, that is a fairly sticky situation.
Mittens announced he was told not to run for re-election.
GFR.
Go For Real ???
Does this mean a chance for Utah to get a Republican senator for a change?
HA HA HA HA HA…..
I amuse myself.
Mittens is setting himself up to be the “compromise” VP nominee in the event that Kamala moves up.
Buttgag (sp?) has already been out to One Observatory Circle with Chasten, but McCarthy would face an immediate “vacate the chair” motion the moment Kamala spoke the name, short circuiting any chance of a floor vote.
All the current problems in South Africa are caused by communism.
Peter has some good comments today on the destruction if South Africa, ending with:
“It’s not race. It’s culture, and the lack of basic education, sound leadership and moral order, that’s at the root of all those problem areas. Remove those aspects, those values, and any society will fall apart, no matter what race(s) is/are involved.”
In the previous paragraph he gave examples, including the American Left Coast and our shiitehole blue cities. Those are the areas where the Democrats have been in charge for decades and are furthest down the road in making our society fall apart.
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-wilful-destruction-of-south-africa.html
Sad, very sad. I know several South African refugees here in the USA, they all left SA in the 1980s and 1990s.
How do we keep the USA from going down this road ? We seem to be headed down it at 100 mph.
“Ford debuts new F-150 pickup with focus on hybrid powertrain”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ford-debuts-new-f-150-pickup-with-focus-on-hybrid-powertrain-195219425.html
“The base version of the F-150 will cost $38,565 (including shipping) and comes equipped with a new 2.7L EcoBoost turbocharged V-6, smaller than the outgoing V-6 but offering more power. What’s even more interesting is Ford plans to double sales of the hybrid version of the truck, which comes equipped with a PowerBoost 3.5L mild-hybrid turbo V-6, to meet what it sees as more demand for an electrified powertrain.”
“While customers are increasingly opting for the hybrid F-150 (which starts around $52,825 for 2023 model), the question many are asking is whether those customers are balking at the high starting price of the fully electric F-150 Lightning, and going for the hybrid instead.”
I wonder if the new F-150 hybrid gets any better gas mileage ? The previous version was only rated 2 mpg better than my F-150.
I drove the 2019 F-150 4×4 with the 2.7L V6 dual turbo. It felt anemic to me without towing a trailer.
“2024 Ford F-150’s Pro Access Tailgate — how it works, what’s cool about it”
https://www.autoblog.com/2023/09/12/ford-pro-access-tailgate-2024-f150-how-it-works/
Ok, that is cool.
So I’ve been mostly AFTKB this past week as W2 had her second knee replacement (first one was last April.) First one had been poorly repaired after a childhood fall and eventually got to the point where there was bone-on-bone contact, quite painful. Through all those years of favoring the undamaged knee, eventually that joint wore out, hence the second surgery. Absent the significant prior damage, recovery has been somewhat easier. Interestingly enough, whenever possible, both replacement joints are specified to be the same make/model. And still represented as the most painful (operation) recovery one can endure.
“‘How Long Would It Take To Replace All Diesel Locomotives With Electric?’ Cynthia Lummis”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdlLtv8bKog
We are going nuts with this supposedly zero emission nonsense and the public does not realize that there is no way to produce zero emission trucks and locomotives in any kind of quantity required.
We need wagons pulled by horses ans mules.
Dual turbo on 2.7L is nuts. Maybe Ford wants the trucks’ engines to go ‘splody before 100,000 miles.
OTOH, those aren’t going to be used for real hauling.
The base price is a crock. I doubt you would see one on a dealer lot for less than $60k unless you wandered into the fleet area, but the fleet buyer isn’t going to want to deal with turbo maintenance.
I heard that the US owes $1.3 Trillion in auto debt at some point this week. Maybe it was Ramsey on YouTube.
Well, it starts.
There’s a website/facebook called Trojan Horse News that was formed by fedgov members of the “resistance” when Trump was elected. These are employees of agencies who swore to resist Trump in everything he tried to accomplish, subverting the will of the electorate. A sure case of insurrection if ever one existed, but I digress.
Here’s a post on FB from today.
Don’t click through, I’ll give you a summary.
Here’s a vaccine penguin, just because.
New Covid vaccine is very effective against current strains.
New flu vaccine looks very effective.
And then a bunch of links to those liars at CDC. Among them is a denial that there are serious side effects.
Someone I love posted this on her FB. I am pained.
High school pep rally tonight. First for all of us. Time flies.
n
I thought that modern diesel locomotives were very efficient. As in, more efficient than generating electricity, transmitting electricity, storing it in lossy batteries, and then converting the battery power into motion. Even without the expense in material and effort to produce new battery-electric locomotives and even taking the claims of battery longevity at face value, this would result in greater energy consumption for the same load-miles.
It’s ok, though. I understand the conversion effort is not about real efficiency or science. It’s about duh feeeelz.
-gag-
Steiner Ranch. Fancy Lad area. Lots of Californians.
https://www.fox7austin.com/news/steiner-ranch-residents-water-shut-off-ongoing-violations
Having been through the procedure two years ago this past July, I can state that it is a very painful procedure with a long recovery. I slipped in the shower the day I got home from the hospital and jammed all my weight on the replaced joint. I now know level 10 pain, as in almost blacking out.
I fear the other knee is going to need replacing in the next year or two. I am not looking forward to the procedure. Another person I know had their knee replaced and their recovery was much longer than mine and they had a lot more discomfort.
The procedure is basically cutting the leg off leaving blood vessels and some nerves. There is a dead spot on the outside of my knee that has no pain feeling. Surgeon said that is normal as they have to cut a nerve. Well, color me surprised. Actually, there were several surprises about things I had not been told.
And in other news. I got a notice it is time for my colonoscopy, again. This will be my third. Last one was really easy, except for the clean out. I don’t expect any surprises but one never knows. That is why one should have the procedure when recommended. Stopping problems before they become major is always a good thing.
@Lynn
So 100 years later the ass-end of an F-150 has more moving parts than the entire 1924 Ford TT.
And all of them put together by angry union members that want a 46% increase, pay for 40 and work 32, five weeks paid vacation, 17 paid holidays,and full traditional pensions (aka, they don’t want to save any money themselves.
La-dee-effing-da.
Well, that was not h3ll but certainly not heaven…
All I could think about sitting there in the stands was drive by shootings.
They recognized every active team. Then every single senior was named, and walked across the field with an escort of their choice, also named. L O N G night.
I think there are about 6 white kids in the senior class, and about 20 in the whole school. The invasion has already happened.
n
Small dog, large heart:
https://twitter.com/EP_AnimalLovers/status/1701913626007789903
Just What the Doctor Ordered: Norwegian Metal Detectorist Unearths Gold Discovery of the Century
https://www.antiquetrader.com/antiques-news/norway-gold-discovering?utm_medium=email&_hsmi=274145363&utm_content=274145363&utm_source=hs_email
alt timeline:
Cousin Erland calls from Norway:
“Hey Cousin Ole! This is your Cousin Erland! Just wondering if you still have Great Great Grandad’s sea chest that he took to America?”
“Ja.”
“I’m coming to visit this summer and would sure like to see it!”
“Ja.”
Headline in July:
Cousins Find Treasure in Great-Great Grandather’s Sea Chest
Puppy knows what is his and just wants to get home to play with it.
n
Huh, had a thought, then it vanished before I could get back to the comments. Guess I’ll spare you…
Bedtime… perchance to dream.
n
Walk to the next room: “why am I here?” Or, heck, click on a program to open it. It opens. “What did I want to do here?” More and more…
I read an explanation that we have “episodic” memory. You’re in room A, and make a decision. The act of entering room B is a transition that starts a new episode, deleting the irrelevant stuff from before. Unfortunately including the reasons behind your decision to go to room B in the first place.
A local university got access to some of the Catholic Church archives, specifically the records kept by Bishops over the decades. It was only a small portion of all the archives available, and one doesn’t know what didn’t get written down. Nonetheless, from this small sample they identified over 1000 sexually abused kids, and over 500 priests who did it. A condition of the access was that they anonymize the results so that they are useless to the police (and, anyway, most of the cases have passed the statute of limitations).
The church and its spokescritters, are “sorry”.
You have an organization that systematically abused thousands of children, whose hierarchy knew about and suppressed the cases. Why is the entire hierarchy not being criminally prosecuted? Why has the church not been declared a criminal organization and entirely disbanded? Get a search warrant, take all those archives, and hunt down all the criminals who still could be prosecuted.
>> Mittens announced he was told not to run for re-election.
GFR.
Go For Real ???
@lynn, I believe it’s “Good Fcukin’ Riddance”
I think of that as a context change. You go to the kitchen for more coffee (as you should!) and when you enter, it’s a new context. You have to evaluate the new context for needed actions and then recall the decision made in the previous context before you can proceed with your prior intention. Which also explains multitasking. Some people are very good at context switching, and so appear to multitask. They probably also remember that they came into the living room to pick up those dirty dishes.
Given the cultural and actual genocides committed by the Catholic church and governments influenced by them, I think terrorist is a better description.
I continue to slowly work my way thru “A World Lit Only by Fire” and I continue to see parallels to today. Not sure who will be our Martin Luther, or what will arise but something must. Unless we enter a new dark age.
n