Possibly cooler today with a chance of rain? It was only 75F when I went to bed, after another hot and humid day. I was still a little dehydrated after dinner so I stayed up until I got caught up with my intake.
I got a bunch of stuff done. Small things but they should make a difference. Got the utility closet in the garage framed in and sheathed. Cut out the last of the copper pipe from behind the water heater and insulated that wall. Made some adjustments to the garage door so it would close completely. It was leaving a 2″ gap at the top, which let in a lot of hot air and made it hard for the A/C units to cool the room. They should have a chance now. We’ll see how it goes.
Re-mowed the lawn to break up all the rows of cut grass. It was drying out but not blowing away and I don’t want the grass to die in stripes.
I got a late start, but it feels good to get some things off the list, even if they weren’t high priority.
Today I’m going to do some more stuff, and then I’ll head home later. Wife and kids are back home from their trip to see the grandparents.
I’m looking forward to having the pack back together.
I didn’t get to meet with the foundation guys this trip, so I’ll have to find a time to do that, but otherwise I feel pretty good about what I did get done.
Stacking the jobs, and stacking some small achievements.
Always be working. And stacking.
nick
Hotel? Why? That’s the Obama power base, and they still own the home in Hyde Park.
I believe the convention is there for a reason.
It isn’t over until the Senate certifies the Electoral College results in January.
Intel is the legendary end result of two instances where key technical personnel at established organizations decided that they had enough of the C-suite and exercised their rights under CA law.
What was the title of the Andy Grove (co-founder) autobiography? “Only The Paranoid Survive”?
Chipzilla will survive in some form.
Who here is typing on a computer with Arm-based CPU which doesn’t have an Apple logo on the case?
Last time I checked — recently BTW — Arm and Qualcomm weren’t doing well either.
Gonna have to go much lower, Qualcomm. Your CPUs are garbage, and the marketplace recognizes that.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/qualcomm-teases-700-snapdragon-x-pcs/ar-BB1r2Gt2#
79 F and was pouring down rain with incredible thunder. The dog went outside and came back in. The cat was standing at the back door letting more mosqitos in when lightening hit on the street behind us. He must have jumped two feet in the air.
Really warm and muggy. May gonna rain all day as no sun. We have so many mosquitos in the house that I have been vacuuming them.
Finally found a vacuun cleaner that does not suck. Wait, it sucks real good. Shark Professional Rotator. Works well on our deep pile carpet and tile both with crevice tools.
Those Light Adjustable Lenses look amazing. They have only been available for a couple of years. If that technology had existed when I had my lenses replaced, I would have opted for that procedure. It also seems that the process for removing the old lens has improved with the femtosecond laser technique. Amazing advancements.
And I just did a massive Greta Thumberg “up yours”. The other people in the elevator were not as supportive.
I feel for everyone with vision issues. My wife pretty much can’t see anything without her’s. Same for my son. I can function fine without them, distant objects are just a little blurry. I do wear glasses, and they correct my vision back to 20/10.
Temp has risen 3 degrees to 92F while I made coffee. It’s sunny and clear, not much sign of cooling or rain.
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F MS. I started my lappy so MS decides to run a virus scan while I’m working. Disc spinnning like mad, keystrokes buffering and spitting out one at a time.
MY MACHINE BILL.
n
OK, not entirely Bill’s fault. “Trusted installer” sucking up a lot of disc, as well.
EVERYBODY decided to run their updater at the same time- google, flashplayer, MS, firefox, and a couple of others including End of Support notifier and SIP notifier from MS. Freaking dozen things all clamboring for disc while I’m trying to type.
Doing that while MS is doing something in the background is PAINFUL on this toughbook, or my old lappy, or basically any hardware that wasn’t purchased yesterday sitting on a fat pipe.
————
with a slower machine or a slow connection you notice things that others might not see, like really poor web design loading a massive page, then hiding most of it.
Or a dozen programs that don’t even check if this is a bad time, all suddenly wanting to do their own thing. Selfish.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13706599/Michael-smerconish-black-kamala-voters.html
So much to unpack in one article, read to the end for the real meat, and Trump’s actual quote.
I love the shock when the newswhores find out their racial prejudice has blinded them to reality.
Half the US voted for him, why should it be different in any group of men? OH ‘CUZ THEY”RE BLACK.
n
Didn’t think it would start in England…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13707233/Balaclava-clad-activists-swilling-beer-cans-begin-protest-outside-migrant-hotel-Rotherham-just-hours-thugs-tore-cities-apart-violent-riots-Keir-Starmer-slammed-going-holiday-Britain-burns.html
Funny that the URL holds the initial focus of the article…
Too bad this guy isn’t this passionate about protecting the kids that were stabbed.
Nothing like telling the world you are a .gov thug by promising short trials followed by convictions.
No mention of special arrangements to prosecute criminal illegals and deport them.
It’s not just our .gov that is putting their own citizens last and illegal invaders first.
n
Flashplayer? Really?
Smerconish was billed as the “fair and balanced” guy for CNN when he was hired.
Hahahahahaha!
Meghan Markle said she hopes speaking of her suicidal thoughts will
help othersThere, FIFY.
n
Yes.
And this once again displays Microsoft’s total indifference to the user. This nonsense has been going on for decades.
Updates should have to apply to the OS for permission. The OS then sorts them by importance and lets them, one at a time, do their thing. If the importance is the same then it sorts that ‘importance tier’ randomly (hash number maybe) to avoid vendors gaming the system for priority.
p.s. And Flash? I literally won’t allow an Adobe product on any system I own.
It is currently 101°F in Vegas. We are in town for a house walk through and hopefully closing. Then back to SA for me to pack the house and get it ready for sale. I’m going to try Pods, or similar, for most of the house.
Yeah, Flash. I needed it on this lappy when it was my “in the field” machine, for some specific piece of hardware or control software. I could probably kill it now, but I’d forgotten it was even on here.
The Java updater is insistent little bugger too.
n
@MrAtoZ – for our last two moves, I used the UPack guys. They put a semi trailer in your driveway, you pack it and lock it up, and they drive it to your new location and park it so you can unload at your leisure.
On the last move (UT to WA), the new house wasn’t ready yet, so they stored it in a secure lot and delivered it when the new place was ready.
Very convenient. And I didn’t have to drive a big UHaul-type truck. Overall cost was a bit less. Site info here; there is an estimator for cost.
Bottom feeder talk host. I swear I remember him filling in for Cutie Pie on occasion.
Thanks! I’ll check them out.
We used PODS when we moved from Cacafornia to San Antonio, and was quite happy with their service.
“Skies Are Lit Up Over Northern Israel As Hezbollah Fires Dozens Of Rockets”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/us-embassy-implores-americans-leave-lebanon-any-ticket-available
“2045ET: Hezbollah in the overnight hours has launched dozens of rockets toward Beit Hillel settlement in northern Israel, possibly over 50, triggering Israel’s Iron Dome anti-air defense system.”
“The sky has been lighting up over northern Galilee Sunday morning with the intercepts, as several social media videos show.”
“Despite many intercepts, Israeli media is reporting that there were several impacts as a result, and any potential casualties are as yet unknown, but multiple fires reportedly broke out in northern Israel.”
Israel is getting pushed harder and harder. I really doubt that Israel has the manpower and supplies to run a two front war. That means very difficult choices like two or four Jericho Ballistic Missiles with battlefield nukes.
There would have to be a trigger, something horrible. They won’t just use them out of convenience because that signals weakness.
n
added– it will have to be righteous retribution.
People have been using World War III as a shortcut for massive global nuclear war for so long, they can’t think of it as “a war that involves most of the world.”
They scoff when they hear the phrase because of that.
I think an all out exchange is unlikely but I think a war that involves most of the world is inevitable at this point.
Thus WWIII is coming.
Scores will be settled. Canned sunshine will be released. Probably after a dirty bomb in a population center. That seems to me to be the only thing that would “justify” the big response.
It’ll be the end of the mullahs and it WILL get out of hand.
n
Officially, Israel does not have nuclear weapons.
Yeah. Ditto Taiwan/Formosa and Japan. I’m sure they all have all of the parts.
Nice little thunder storm just now. The temp outside has dropped 20f, Quarter inch of rain so far and it’s doing a “heavy sprinkle” now. Nice.
I watched two movies last night. The Lost Boys and Caddyshack. One is vampires with some neat special effects and the other is just silly Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase and Bill Murry.
Not a fat person waddling around in either movie.
brad says: 4 August 2024 at 03:48
Brad, I agree, although it seems your look at LASIK was some time ago, and a lot has changed. I wasn’t a candidate for LASIK because my corneas are too thin. Instead, I had PRK, an older procedure, which is still done on people who engage in contact sports or other potential corneal stress. That includes military pilots, although I think LASIK might now be approved for them. PRK offers the same optical results as LASIK, but with no flap. The LASIK flap never reattaches, which can be an advantage for touchups, because the flap can be lifted without cutting. This is true whether the flap is cut with a blade or a laser. In PRK, the epithelial layer is either dissolved off with alcohol, or more recently, scraped off with a special blade. I have had both. The layer reforms in a few days. Sometimes PRK is done to “erase” corneal injuries, including chemical burns or other trauma.
With PRK, the time to get full visual results can be a month or two; with LASIK it can be a few days. Bottom line, LASIK is more convenient because of quicker healing, but the optical results are the same.
There is a much newer procedure called SMILE. It is flapless, but with quicker healing than PRK Read about it here, and watch the videos:
https://www.coastalvisionmedical.com/zeiss-smile-pro.html
Some sources suggest SMILE could eventually replace LASIK. Don’t forget that some practices are still amortizing their investments in LASIK equipment.
There is a lot going on. Not all procedures are available from all practices and in all countries. Anything you might do will require study and consultation. Be careful of advice, because practices have invested millions in different proprietary equipment, training, and procedures. Each practice believes they have made the best decisions, but you will be responsible for your results.
Example: my wife has had monovision since the 1990s, and likes it. She does not wear glasses or contacts for normal activities. When she went to a well-respected practice for a cataract consultation, she was discouraged from keeping her monovision. I sat in on this. No one would explain why, other than to say THEY were uncomfortable with it. She was told they could try to accommodate her request, but no guarantees. She might have to start wearing glasses for reading. When we left, I explained that monovision is simply an adjustment in the implant’s prescription, and is easily accomplished. She decided to go back to a practice she had been to many years before, which did her RK and LASIK. It was farther out of town, but that was a minor inconvenience. They were much more attentive to her desires, and explained the pros and cons of their (different) proposal. She is happy with the results, although it is too early to assess all aspects. I think it will take a month or so to be sure.
Me too. That was hard with Linux. I do some business stuff, and have to sign and otherwise authenticate documents. My favorite PDF app wasn’t available on my distro, but Adobe’s version was… until it was discontinued. That was Mint Linux, and was several years ago. I struggled with inconvenient workarounds. The Adobe app did work fine.
As for Flash, never missed it on Linux or Windows. I must not get around to very many web sites, although I did have a few problems when Flash was first deprecated on Linux early on. Am I remembering this correctly? No matter. If a site can’t accommodate my practices, I find another.
Steve Jobs wouldn’t allow Flash on the iPhone, and that was it for the framework.
I generally like Adobe products, well, the ones I use. Lightroom (which Adobe bought) and Lightroom. I do not like Adobe Reader and don’t have it installed. I did like Adobe ColdFusion, which used to be a separate product, which was bought by Macromedia, which was bought by Adobe. Adobe has not done much to harm the product.
What I don’t like is Adobe taking over a system when an application is installed. After I installed Photoshop and Lightroom on my MAC system the battery was draining faster than normal and the system was sometimes sluggish. I traced it to some Adobe application that I never explicitly installed. It was constantly scanning my system. I took that application off the system.
Adobe is sneaky, doing things that should not be done and doing so without permission. I also don’t like their subscription model. But at $11.00 a month, I would probably spend that much, or more, on Lightroom or Photoshop upgrades. I use those two products. But that is all.
And truth be told Adobe is not the only nefarious company that thinks they own the computer system and no other applications should exist beyond theirs. This has been prevalent since the days for Windows 3.1 when installing applications if one was not careful other applications would be installed. McAfee was particularly annoying.
Nick, I don’t have much experience with notebook computers, but the ones I have owned and used all suffered from slow-ish data channels. I discovered this when I built a desktop system in the early days of PATA. I had a system board that only supported drives up to 32 (?) GB. As drives got bigger, I added a Promise (?) board. It had two data channels, and could accommodate four drives. If two drives were on different channels, data transfers between those drives ran very fast, and the CPU load was almost nothing. Since I used the second drive as a backup drive, it all worked very well. At the same time, the board made single drive access by the CPU noticeably faster, although that wasn’t the reason I used it.
All the above might be a little inaccurate because it is from memory. I don’t like benchmarking, and everything was from my (increasingly faulty) memory.
As for newer computers, We currently have a nice Dell notebook as my wife’s computer, and an old refurb HP Xeon “workstation” as mine. My wife’s computer slows down annoyingly when it is hit with update installations, but mine does not. My wife doesn’t notice it, so I didn’t offer to suspend updates. Interestingly, neither computer seems to use much CPU load percentage when hit by large downloads or installs, just disk activity. Both still have spinning rust. When my wife complains about slowness, every time I have watched, it is caused by Internet speed. We used to be at about 4Mbps, and now are at about 30, but there can be slowdowns and interruptions. Since getting faster Internet, her slowdown complaints seem to have vanished. Except…
Has anybody noticed an increase of warnings that the Internet is interrupted, or that Wi-Fi is inaccessible? This causes my wife to complain, although she isn’t actually using either at that moment. I think the programmers are just covering their sixes. I try to explain this to her, but she keeps telling her friends that her system is slow, and that is the reason for something. It really isn’t. She can watch videos and do other stressful things with no interruptions. Also, don’t get me started on similar warnings on cell phones. The drop might just be a tiny fraction of a second, but the notification persists for a few seconds. I put this in the same category as some friends who claim their email account has been hacked. Right. Rant off.
Alley Oop: Health Inspector
https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2024/08/04
I wonder how many restaurants would like to do this ?
Has anybody noticed an increase of warnings that the Internet is interrupted, or that Wi-Fi is inaccessible? This causes my wife to complain, although she isn’t actually using either at that moment. I think the programmers are just covering their sixes. I try to explain this to her, but she keeps telling her friends that her system is slow, and that is the reason for something. It really isn’t. She can watch videos and do other stressful things with no interruptions. Also, don’t get me started on similar warnings on cell phones. The drop might just be a tiny fraction of a second, but the notification persists for a few seconds. I put this in the same category as some friends who claim their email account has been hacked. Right. Rant off.
All of the Google Apps tell you when they cannot access Gmail or the other websites. I like it getting the information.
Much of the updates from Microsoft contains changes to the registry. Access to the registry is single threaded. Only one operation is allowed at a time, either read or write. Writes are really slow as the change has to be made, the change written to the disk, then the change verified.
I have seen many Windows updates where the CPU load is less than 20%, the disk drive is running at 30% of capacity, yet the system will slow to a crawl.
Updates on Macs are just as annoying as Windows, just not as often. Silently, in the background, Macs will download the update, prepare, then suddenly a notice appears on the screen that they laptop will be restarted in one minute. No other option to delay.
“Listen to Them”
https://areaocho.com/listen-to-them/
“The left is telling you what they are going to do. They are going to use their causes- anything from pronouns to climate change- to toss their opposition into camps.”
These climate people, the people who continuously scream the sky is falling, are barking mad. Barking mad people are very dangerous, you never know when they are going to slip a knife in your ribs.
“‘A disaster’: Paris Olympics’ lack of ‘meat-based protein’ to lower ‘carbon footprint’ creates havoc: ‘Athletes complain about the lack of animal protein-rich diet’”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/08/04/a-disaster-paris-olympics-lack-of-meat-based-protein-to-lower-carbon-footprint-creates-havoc-athletes-complain-about-the-lack/
“Euro News: The German men’s hockey team has panned the food served at the Olympic Village, calling it “a disaster”, while British athletes flew an additional chef out to Paris to bridge a shortfall of supply. Andy Anson, CEO of the UK Olympic Association, lamented the lack of protein – especially chicken and eggs – on menus in the village…
The Paris 2024 Food Vision document aimed for…reduced animal protein to lower the Games’ carbon footprint…
The European Vegetarian Union (EVU) welcomed the Food Vision’s emphasis on plant-based options and local sourcing. “This is an opportunity to showcase to millions of people that plant proteins are a better alternative for the planet and can also support athletic performance,” EVU policy manager Rafael Pinto told Euronews. …”
““Athletes requiring high animal protein diets is a myth that has been busted a long time ago. Those perpetuating it in these Games aren’t basing their arguments on science,” he argued.””
I wish that I thought the athletes were lying.
>>Chevron moving to Texas – Hell ‘va job Screwsome
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-08-02/chevron-in-a-blow-to-california-says-it-is-relocating-to-houston
Hey, isn’t Houston just about full?
>>Chevron moving to Texas – Hell ‘va job Screwsome
https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2024-08-02/chevron-in-a-blow-to-california-says-it-is-relocating-to-houston
Hey, isn’t Houston just about full?
Houston was full about 30 years ago. They are building homes in the swamps all the time now.
2nd recommendation for UPack. They charge by the foot of length used. Then, there is a bulkhead you padlock into the sides of the trailer. Long hasps recommended. Take note of the trailer number! Any extra / unused space they can use for commercial shipping. You will never see any of that as it proceeds on at the appropriate hub near your destination. I drastically under-estimated my requirements, so a 2nd trailer was ginned up and arrived in the proper order at the destination. Stacks!
(Finger to lips, shhh.) No one checks just what is in the customer area behind the locked bulkhead. Moving companies have a long list of admittedly potentially damaging stuff they don’t want in the load, gubs, ammo, tomato sauce, alcohol. Pack well and discretely.
Consider just where a 28 foot trailer and ramp (they provide the ramp) can be parked for both loading and unloading! You WILL need your own hand trucks.
Helped a friend pack a house load of PODs. They provided extras as needed and the PODs jumped on a train from the MidWest to Florida before trucking to his new place. He seemed happy with that result, too.
Oh! Old Dominion Trucking has a similar service to UPack.
“Executive Action”
https://areaocho.com/executive-action/
“THROATUS claims that she will sign an executive order in her first 100 days that will require Americans to turn in their guns, because Congress won’t act.”
The first comment is probably the truest.
“Nope, it’s true no one is ever coming door to door to grab guns. They don’t have to. The feds will simply outlaw guns and…leave them in place. They aren’t worried about guns that are buried in your backyard rusting away, or hidden in your attic collecting dust.”
“The gotcha moment comes when three or four people break down your door and you have to ventilate them. Then the government has a field day on your ass. “How did you kill these guys with guns you aren’t allowed to have, HMMMM?” You disappear into federal prison for life.”
The Lost Boys and Caddyshack. One is vampires with some neat special effects and the other is just silly Rodney Dangerfield and Chevy Chase and Bill Murry.
Lost Boys is incredibly funny if you realize it’s a comedy… and it’s full of talented actors. Caddyshack is a classic, and it mostly holds up. It’s a parody of a particular point in time, that was probably already past when the film was made. Had to explain some of it to the kids when we watched it. The gophers and the baby ruth bar are the best…
————
I had LASIK before it was approved for general use, by a doc who was part of the U of C system and was still involved in the initial research. The procedure I had was very different from the “Wavefront” one my wife had 15 years ago. I am happy with the results still, and was from the first week… I later had PRK in one eye in an attempt to solve my chronic corneal ulcer issue. They fixed my astigmatism as a freebee while they were doing that. LOT more discomfort with the PRK which used to be the main thing to recommend LASIK. RK was even worse for weakening the eye…
I’m always freaked out by the people who will go to the lowest cost LASIK provider, who is so cheap they don’t even own the equipment, it’s rented and that’s why they only do procedures on Tuesday…. that’s when the gear is there… At least that’s how it used to work. It’s your EYES people…
———-
FIL loved his cataract results, wished he’d done it earlier.
———–
Home safe and sound. Lots of cops out on the road in the Woodlands. More than usual. Fewer street racers on the freeway tonight.
————
n
The final version of “Caddyshack” was largely the result of a semi-secret pass in the editing room by Blake Edwards frequent editor Ralph Winters, who worked with the director on “The Pink Panther” and “Victor/Victoria” among others.
Old school comedy.
There is a lot of tragedy and sadness associated with “Caddyshack”, the most recent episode being Cindy Morgan dying alone in Florida at some point between Christmas and the day her roommate returned to their condo after New Years Day.
>> The Humper is being touted as a black female Asian American by CNN. I wonder if a couple other minority words can be added to cater to other blocks of voters. If the media added Stupid making it “Stupid Black Female Asian American” the Humper could cater to the left half of the Bell Curve where 50% of the voters live.
Bell Curve? Nah, she only knows Venn Diagrams…
https://youtu.be/r-SUdkc5XI4?si=P552rfqMC_j5kb46
Kamel’s “Word Salad of the Day”
https://twitter.com/i/status/1820104024646959112
Maybe they’ll make Doug hold the nuke codes…
“There’s no need to fear…
Barry’s team is here!
“Elon Musk Warns ‘Civil War is Inevitable’ in UK as Anti-Immigration Protests Spread”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2024/08/elon-musk-warns-civil-war-is-inevitable-uk/
Will there always be an England ?