Hot again, but starting out cooler. 85F last night, but 100% RH. The cooler temps almost felt pretty good. It rained in the morning, and again throughout the day depending on where you were in town. Today looks a lot like that on the national map.
Did some clean up and putting away then I went out to do my pick up. The only thing I was getting was the fridge I won to replace the garage fridge that died. It’s big, in good shape physically and pretty clean. I got it home and plugged it in. We’ll see if it gets cold before I go to the trouble of moving stuff to get it into place.
I also hit the Deseret Industries thrift store since I was in that part of town. Nothing too good, one book and some vinyl…
The rain hit and I headed home.
Today will be getting the fridge into place, if it’s cold, moving the chest freezer out, and generally moving stuff around. I might do a pick up or two, if I won stuff in the same area. I try to combine the trips to save gas and tolls.
If I’m out and about, I might throw a pry bar and a big hammer in the truck. There are lots of piles of broken fencing all over the neighborhood, and some have the wood I need to finish repairs on my fence. I like to make fence repairs with similarly aged material just so it looks uniform. I won’t grab it if it isn’t good stuff, it’s easy enough to buy the material, but as I said before, it’s not really my fence, so I don’t want to spend money on it. But I do want it fixed. I’m really looking for some cedar 4×4 posts. They are crazy money at the Home Depot, and I’d like some for mail box posts and other stuff too. You never know, and it’s prudent to be prepared…
Speaking of which, I do have a pile of fence stuff in the back corner of the yard, behind the garage. Pickets of several sizes, and some other smaller repair pieces. Much easier to have the stuff and replace a broken picket than to go to the store…
Anticipating future needs is the essence of prepping. And then stacking stuff to take care of those needs.
Stack on my friends…
nick
Today the wife and I have been married 49 years. Tomorrow is the anniversary and we start the 50th year. We were married July 26, 1975.
Congratulations, Ray! That’s quite an accomplishment!
Congrats, Mr. & Mrs. Ray! Only 33 years for the Atoz’s.
My case with the VA has been remanded back to the board. I am now at the back of the queue. That last time I looked the queue was 85K+. It took a little over four years to get the case originally looked at by the VA and the VA rejected the claim. That is when the lawyers got involved and that took six more months.
This all meshes nicely with the VA strategy. A massive game of survivor, “Outwit, Outplay, Outlast”. In this case the VA is playing the Outlast portion of the game. The VA drags a claim as long as possible in the hopes the veteran will die and the claim is no longer valid. I have no real hope that the decision of the VA, when it does reach the board again, will be any different than the last time. Dealing with the VA is like mud wrestling with a pig. “You both get dirty but the pig likes it.”
I did get a PDF of all the records on myself that the VA possesses. A PDF for 2,667 pages. Several of the pages are just a bunch of dots and are not readable. Most of the stuff is in good shape. I even found one of my performance reviews while in the service. Just the one. I have no idea if the others are there as looking through that many pages take time.
I did find the hospital bill for when I originally broke my back. I had to be transported by private ambulance to a private hospital in New Braunfels. The ambulance charged the USAF $18.00 for the ride back in 1974. The total hospital bill, including x-rays, was about $65.00. The ambulance ride from New Braunfels to Lackland was $35.00. There was also a bill from the rescue squad of $14.00. Total billing was $132.00. Today that same excursion would be well over $5,000.00.
Congratulations, Ray. May you live happily for many more years.
Almost a coincidence, our wedding date is June 26, 1971.
The spending continues on credit cards, payday loans, and, now, BNPL services like Affirm.
Plus the IRS just turned IRA and 401(k) plans into sources of cash with penalty/interest-free withdrawals up to $1000.
The amount is not enough to do anything meaningful, but that is a lot of Walkin’ ‘Round money to tide everyone over until after the election.
Taxes are still due on the money and the withdrawals can only be done once a year. I can see a lot of people using that money come Christmas even though it is only for emergency expenses. People that get into money trouble are generally poor money managers and this will just be another pit into which they can fall. Come time for actual retirement they might just have nothing but SS, if that is still around. I foresee a lot more leaches on society in 20 years or so.
I have been looking through online medical records for my wife and myself. In these more modern times, there are many individual files. Most of these repeat the same data, with only one item that is new. Finding that item is tedious, a case of “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshirt.”
I have watched a doc enter stuff on a computer. He types a few words, but mostly picks stuff from menus. When I see the result later, the relevant info is surrounded with endless repeated data. The systems have no graphics capability, so a meaningful x-ray is reduced to the words of the analyst, often with no context. This is no way to run a critical function.
My eye docs have much better systems, but don’t routinely share much with me. I suppose I could request it, but they show me their screens, and explain what I see, which is great, but I can’t see them a year or more later.
Kicking the can …
Christmas? They’ll use it now.
Everyone’s chillin’ until the election. A Kamala win will come with very high expectations about free money. Student loans will be a priority after abolishing the Filibuster and packing the Court.
I just read an article in which the IRS commissioner is quoted as recommending taxing unrealized gains in retirement accounts.
Outright seizure isn’t on the table any longer because the $7-8 Trillion really doesn’t mean much these days and they can only do it once.
Since we have had a wet few years here, wildlife is flourishing. The most noticeable so far is a major uptick in birds, such as quail and chukar. There are two or three hatchling redtail hawks this spring. Haven’t been able to see into the nest to count. Last year, there were two.
Also, lots of rabbits, which will give rise to coyotes. Already seen some young ones.
And, the latest is the sighting of a young male mountain lion. This is at the edge of population, as usual. Last time one was spotted was a few years ago. The mountains are several miles away, but in between is a lot of space for predators to roam.
TSLA is up slightly today, but the market is down again this morning.
My current employer’s annual survey made national news in the last week, but I don’t think that is what tanked the stock price.
We’re getting very close to the share price at which a lot of execs received their RSUs (think post-Internet bubble options) in the Spring. If I were sitting on a bunch of stock about to go negative after paying the taxes on the vested shares, I’d be working the Fidelity account this morning.
I should be a weatherman. I’m at least as bad at forecasting as they are. 72F and raining. I’ll be doing inside stuff today.
n
It looks like a repeat of yesterday here in the high desert, 108F, maybe some 30mph winds to cool things down.
Not getting a lot done outdoors…
There’s a lot to unpack here. I supported Epic’s EHR for a dozen years, and what you say is mostly true. It’s funny, as an analyst, how you can never get it right. Doctors whine about having to click too many times to document their “services”, and you do your best to make it easier, and then they complain about having to type too much, so you add more boilerplate and more menues (more clicks) to help, and then they complain about clicks again.
re: graphics capability, that’s a no-win situation too. Radiologists use special certified monitors to view digitized imagery. They’re very expensive, and carefully controlled for size and aspect ratio and contrast and focus and brightness. They write their notes, and it’s the notes that are part of what’s called the “Legal Medical Record”. Sometimes, the imagery is also included, but it’s clearly documented as “for informational use only, not diagnosis”. When you view it on a regular monitor, or over the web, or after image processing that may happen without your knowledge, it’s not the same.
If I were ever involved in a malpractice lawsuit, I’d insist on the entire electronic record in discovery. The
Medical Records DepartmentHealth Information Management department has too much say in what information they share with opposing counsel.I’ve got a couple of those monitors in my stacks… Barco black and white, certs are out of date…
n
Losing CRT monitors came at a price of color depth.
Most people didn’t care because LCDs were kewl, but CRTs had their place, just like 4:3 aspect ratio.
I have been looking through my military records from the VA. I found my performance reviews while working at Langley and Randolph. I have no idea what happened to Hawaii and Colorado.
In those reviews I could apparently walk on water, well maybe ankle deep. Look out Mr. Steve F as at one point I was described as the top 1% of all programmers in the USAF. A wonder stud among programmers who could leap a disk drive cabinet in a single bound without disturbing the platter heads.
Yeh, right! None of it helped my promotions. I did get a couple of medals, Meritorious Service, etc. Nothing that gets me anything or is worth bragging about. (Or did I just do that?)
My cats cared, they missed the warmth of laying on top of them. It was funny/sad/concerning to watch their attempts with my early LCDs, which were maybe 2″ thick.
Commander Zero has an interesting short post today about the importance of being prepared.
https://www.commanderzero.com/?p=11300
He is in Missoula Montana.
If you want to move around after a big wind event, you need to take a chain saw and a tow rope.
After a hurricane or tornado, you need some pre- mounted spare tires, a plug kit, and a tire air compressor. There are a lot of roofing nails laying around when the roofs blow off…
Of course that is for the most affected areas. Marginal zones you can probably do without the extra tires.
n
Still raining, although slower..
n
I just read an article in which the IRS commissioner is quoted as recommending taxing unrealized gains in retirement accounts.
Typical bureaucrat. He just wants to feather his nest some more.
We need a total reboot of the federal bureaucracy in and out of DC. They think that they are our masters.
This is why the reversal of the Chevron decision at SCOTUS was so important.
https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/06/supreme-court-strikes-down-chevron-curtailing-power-of-federal-agencies/
Commander Zero has an interesting short post today about the importance of being prepared.
https://www.commanderzero.com/?p=11300
He is in Missoula Montana.
“I flagged down the waitress and said I was leaving, gimme a check. All payment options were dead and even with cash she didnt have the ability to print a bill. I had her handwrite a bill, give it to me, and told her I’d be back at lunchtime the next day to square up.”
This dependence on linked computers is really beginning to bother me. I am wondering if the link goes down permanently, if society would fail at that point. If all of your money is binary zeros and ones at the Federal Reserve, oh baby we might be in for a world of hurt some day.
“Boeing Starliner remains in space while astronauts await return home”
https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/boeing-starliner-nasa-astronauts-space-19596527.php
“Officials said that testing continues. No date has been given yet for a flight to Earth.”
Reminds me of the movie “The Terminal”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Terminal
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-doctors-stunned-number-gaza-children-headshot-wounds
There are so many red flags in this article but here are just a few…
Beginning with– these must be miracle kids, to be shot in the head with rifles by soldiers while playing in their homes and be alive to be taken to the hospital.
Two shots, one in the heart, and one “dead center in the head”, but still taken to the hospital?
Then the bit about “a Jew” implying he is a more trustworthy source than some random doctor because he’s criticizing jews…
Trust him though, he’s been to a lot of disasters. No war zones listed, so maybe war really is hell. And no indication of where his “world’s best sniper” attribution comes from. Snipers aren’t typically shooting inside homes though, and their headshots are not survivable.
And the main guy Dr. Feroze Sidhwa of the group, mostly composed of palestinian sympathizers, appears to be active with DemocracyNow.
google of the dr gives 4 pages of results about the same article, and even the 5th page and beyond are heavy with the article or commentary. Most of the links start with the same two phrases, one a variation of the other…
Ducks gives a more balanced result, with more about the dr, and less about his article.
The main article after being very specific switches to unnamed sources and generalities, another red flag.
Nice piece of propaganda is my verdict. None of it to be trusted.
n
The Kubernetes Hot Skillz technology is about decentralization. Hopefully, the big players take a step back after CrowdStrike and evaluate having some capability of their own to run clusters in house.
Am I biased based on who currently fills my soup bowl?
Oh, heck no. I don’t care. Buy Lenovo if that’s what you want. I’m typing on a ThinkPad.
The point is to decentralize and get away from AWS and Microsoft.
My current employer does have the superior OOB server admin system on their systems. There’s my bias.
“Bear”
https://raconteurreport.blogspot.com/2008/10/bear.html
900 lbs of grizzly bear is something to behold. I ran into one in central Alaska in 1981 and it still gives me the shakes. We were 20 feet apart and I was taking a nap on the side of a stream that was 10 feet across and maybe 3 foot deep. The other guys woke me up and the guide said back away very slowly. I did so and the bear shuffled off after standing up and getting a good look at me. He was way taller than me, at least eight foot, maybe ten foot tall.
This dependence on linked computers is really beginning to bother me. I am wondering if the link goes down permanently, if society would fail at that point.
Yep. if you mean mostly peaceful and law abiding society. Even if it goes down for more than a few days. A month without any banking or commercial transactions would be pretty hard to recover from.
Think Delta will recover from their recent cloudstrike issue? I bet they take a huge financial hit, maybe wiping out any profit for several years. The reputational hit is big too.
Now consider it’s everyone.
One of the reasons I don’t like the kids to be separated from us by a flight, 9/11 (or something like it) can happen any time, leaving the kids on their own. Unaccompanied minors had their flights cancelled leaving some in airports just this week…
Separated families are just one aspect. “Money” evaporates. You think you can provide, but all your money is out of reach or gone permanently… you can’t even buy a soda with what’s in your wallet. You’ve got no food at home, no stores are open, WIC cards don’t work and no one is open to take them if they did, grocery stores that do stay open for sales can’t reorder. Trucks can’t refuel. Planes don’t fly so no relief is coming from out of the area. Army/NG can’t mobilize because they can’t contact anyone, and failure to report for duty is almost universal as people choose to take care of family.
Utilities can’t bill, or track outages, the work order system won’t work to assign labor, if labor shows up. Cell service and ham radio repeaters run out of battery and backup generator fuel in 48 hours max…
All those computers masquerading as public service radios rely on trunking and cell systems to work, and batteries. They only work as long as the trunking and repeater sites have power. Cop cars and ambulances run out of fuel…
Then the fires start.
n
This dependence on linked computers is really beginning to bother me. I am wondering if the link goes down permanently, if society would fail at that point.
Yep. if you mean mostly peaceful and law abiding society. Even if it goes down for more than a few days. A month without any banking or commercial transactions would be pretty hard to recover from.
It is almost as if somebody could write a book. “Lights Out” by David Crawford:
https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-David-Crawford/dp/0615427359?tag=ttgnet-20/
One of my six star books.
Or “Buck Out” by Ken Benton:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1514666979?tag=ttgnet-20/
“Southwest scraps open seating, ending decades-long practice”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/southwest-scraps-open-seating-ending-decades-long-practice-144630077.html
Something is pushing this. Ah, money.
“Southwest Airlines (LUV) announced Thursday that it will get rid of open seating in a sweeping change from its decades-long practice. Instead, it will begin assigning seats and offer premium seating with extra leg room.”
“Traitor Joe Vows to End the Separation of Powers and Impose His Own Rules on the Supreme Court Before He Leaves Office”
https://thelibertydaily.com/traitor-joe-vows-end-separation-powers-impose-his/
““Over the next six months, I’ll be focused on doing my job as president,” he said, highlighting key goals such as boosting economic growth, lowering inflation, tightening gun control, and safeguarding the planet from what he described as a “climate crisis.””
““And I’m going to call for Supreme Court reform because this is critical to our democracy, Supreme Court reform.””
“There has been media speculation in recent weeks that President Biden is considering establishing an enforceable ethics code for Supreme Court justices and ending lifetime appointments to the high bench.”
These are all Constitutional issues that Joe the Thief cannot change without the Congress and the super majority of the States agreeing with.
I can hardly wait to see Hunter thrown down his pardons in his next trial in California State Court.
This dependence on linked computers is really beginning to bother me. I am wondering if the link goes down permanently, if society would fail at that point.
Yep. if you mean mostly peaceful and law abiding society. Even if it goes down for more than a few days. A month without any banking or commercial transactions would be pretty hard to recover from.
It is almost as if somebody could write a book. “Lights Out” by David Crawford:
https://www.amazon.com/Lights-Out-David-Crawford/dp/0615427359?tag=ttgnet-20/
One of my six star books.
Or “Buck Out” by Ken Benton:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1514666979?tag=ttgnet-20/
Or “Going Home” by A. American, another of my six star books:
https://www.amazon.com/Going-Home-Novel-Survivalist-American/dp/0142181277?tag=ttgnet-20/
“‘What I Say To My Own Dad:’ Detransitioner Chloe Cole Reacts To Elon Musk Saying He Lost His Son To Gender Ideology”
https://www.dailywire.com/news/what-i-say-to-my-own-dad-detransitioner-chloe-cole-reacts-to-elon-musk-saying-he-lost-his-son-to-gender-ideology
“Chloe Cole, a detransitioner who is outspoken about the harms of child transgender medical interventions, reacted Monday to Elon Musk saying he “lost” his son to gender ideology.”
“The Tesla founder said he was “tricked” into putting his son on puberty blockers, and the “woke mind virus” figuratively killed his child in an interview with Dr. Jordan Peterson on DailyWire+ which premiered live Monday afternoon.”
“Cole said Musk’s experience reminded her of her family’s experience with the psychologists and physicians they were seeing at the time.”
Sad. They cut off her breasts before she turned 17. Criminal if you ask me. It leaves horrific scars, I know this by experience.
Another “small” house in my neighborhood for sale, 6/5.2/2 for $1,430,000.
https://www.har.com/homedetail/6018-bridlewood-dr-richmond-tx-77469/2402595?lid=8948589
My house is half the size of this house. I do not have a pool but I do have a bigger detached garage.
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-doctors-stunned-number-gaza-children-headshot-wounds
There are so many red flags in this article but here are just a few…
Beginning with– these must be miracle kids, to be shot in the head with rifles by soldiers while playing in their homes and be alive to be taken to the hospital.
Child soldiers. They give rifles to the kids and have them stand as a combatant. They will shoot an IDF soldier if they can.
Sarah is on a roll today.
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2024/07/25/you-dont-hit-a-girl/
…
…
…
…
– RTWT
n
Joe and Kamala understand. We worked hard for this.
Low dose T therapy is something becoming popular with the Wine Mom set.
Yeah, the whole quote is more devastating…
n
Gina Carano’s lawsuit against Disney will proceed to Discovery after the judge refused to dismiss the case this week.
Musk is covering the legal bills and will probably get a look at the emails between the Disney execs covering many topics.
Got popcorn?
The DIS specialist once again tried to boost the stock above 90 today but couldn’t make the number stick.
>>My eye docs have much better systems, but don’t routinely share much with me. I suppose I could request it, but they show me their screens, and explain what I see, which is great, but I can’t see them a year or more later.
Those records are yours. Regardless of having been ‘shown the screens,’ you shouldn’t be the least bit hesitant to request copies. I have hard and soft copies of all my pertinent medical records going bank a number of years.
It is troubling that the Humper is taking the role of the president with this Palestinian debacle. She is not in a position to tell any other government leader to do anything. Yet she is. Spongey has not resigned, is not room temperature, but the Humper is already stepping outside her authority. I would not be surprised to find she has already picked out the new White House china and designing a full redecoration of AF1. Complete with knee pads for sentimental reasons.
If only someone could have told them this would happen… oh, wait…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13673233/survey-california-gavin-newsom-minimum-wage-fast-food-workers.html
n
Panera Bread knew. They’re big donors so they asked for and received an exemption.
Isn’t the Second Gentleman Jewish?
911 call centers should be a little harder to take out…
n
DM always follows up. Even if it’s just to say “we don’t know anything more.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13669905/Mystery-deepens-Bentley-driver-Kurt-Villani-plowed-300-000-Flying-Spur-supercar-Rainbow-Bridge-fireball-crash-sparked-terror-fears-cops-release-major-update.html
n
Renewed my fishing license. Just one more poke in the eye from .gov.
n
Time to surrender to the siren song of sleep…
n
manage expectations:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1816975976905212087