Warmish, and damp. Really damp. Pretty sure about that part, here in the swamp. It did occasionally get sunny yesterday and the temps got into the 70s in the afternoon. Still, it was pretty damp and unpleasant.
I did get my pickup done, which got me two Christmas presents. Stopped at the Goodwill in Katy (better local stuff than most) and got a few more- some funny graphic T shirts for D1 and something for my sibling.
Then it was home for the list. So I got to work clearing some of the stuff out of the room where the Christmas tree will be. That meant taking a look at some of the things there. One was a big cigar humidor (like a 3 ft tall wine fridge) that had no power. I bought it for pennies because it was a scratch and dent. Troubleshooting through the power supply and onward, tested the compressor by jumpering past the control board.. and just when I’d almost given up, I thought to pull the control panel on the door. The connector was not connected… plugged it in, and everything came to life. Hooray. That’s not just a fix, now it will leave my house and head to auction. I need more to leave.
While this was going on I was watching a couple of auctions close too. Didn’t buy anything. But every time I walked past the kitchen, I snagged some cookies. Lots of cookies. I’ll pay for all the sugar today… but it was worth it. W1 and D2 outdid themselves piling up the good stuff.
Today I’ll be working the list AND doing all the normal school day stuff. And maybe shopping for the rent house repairs. Or actually doing them. Who knows. Could happen.
And I think I should probably order a couple of gifts from my wife’s list… that seems… prudent.
I’ll be pulling presents out of the stacks, but some things off her list might be a good idea.
Stack ALL the things, even gifts for your loved ones…
nick
Lot of cookies…
and coffee.
“Die Hard” is an action movie set at Christmas time.
“Lethal Weapon” is a “Christmas” movie.
If you want a really surreal holiday movie experience, watch a few episodes of “Kolchak The Night Stalker” and then screen “A Christmas Story”.
Is “A Christmas Story” Carl Kolchak in hell?
65F this morning. So many cookies… all just waiting there, for me, and only me, begging me to pick them up and eat them, the voices so loud!
But I resisted. Only had one.
so far.
n
I watched The Sound of Music last night on TV. Basically because nothing else was worth watching. That is still a really good movie. I remember seeing that movie about 1968 in a theater in Portland Oregon. That movie is almost 60 years old. However, ABC did manage to take a 2.5 hour movie and stretch it to four hours with the insane number of commercials. Having been to Austria a couple of times adds significance when watching the movie.
I have also seen the play a couple of times at the Cumberland County Playhouse. A small theater in Crossville TN that does an excellent job of producing plays. When they did The Sound of Music, at the end of the play when the Nazi’s are looking for Von Trapp, the theater had about 20 people, dressed in military uniforms, standing in the upper raceways, holding fake weapons, looking over the audience. It was unnerving but very effective.
We had also taken one of our German exchange students, and her friend also an exchange student from Germany, to see the play. Maybe not the best decision but it was the student’s choice to see the play. They also said the last part was somewhat intense.
I like musicals, Oklahoma being my favorite (The Corn is as High as an Elephant’s Eye), followed by The Sound of Music, then South Pacific, West Side Story, Annie, Beauty and the Beast and several others. Color me “DORK”.
The new crop of musicals, such as Hamilton, which is nothing more than bigoted nonsense, are not nearly as good as the older musicals in my option. Cats being the only recent exception.
Christmas Eve viewing for us.
My son and I went out yesterday for a little Christmas shopping. We went to the local mall. Yes, we still have one (the other closed a long time ago). I haven’t been in there in a couple years. It was busy, but not 10 days before Christmas busy. There was no Christmas music playing, and not a lot of decorations. It just didn’t have that “feel” of Christmas. I think the mall is on the slow slope of decline though. Pottery Barn left, apparently a while ago. No Gap either. A lot more “local” stores that fill a space for maybe a year before they go bust. Belk’s was also pretty sad, though to be fair their showcase store is at the outdoor shopping center across town and is much nicer.
We did stop in a retro gaming store. I was curious to see if they had any N64 games. All they had were Original Xbox and PlayStation and newer. I’m old.
Old nintendo stuff sells well in the estate and consignment auctions, so someone is buying it. Those systems were after my time, so I don’t have an attachment to them. We had Pong, and an atari 2400. Then I switched to computers and didn’t really play games outside of the arcade. Played a lot of arcade games though. Time Pilot is still one of my favs, and I love Sinistar and Xevious, although I wasn’t very good at either. Crystal Castles, a game with no violence and a trackball still brings back good memories. There was a version of Asteroids with two ships linked together, Duel? that I liked because the physics were crazy. And Marvin’s Maze is still a fav.
Back then there were many different styles of controller, and different styles of games. They had to be easy enough to understand that you could walk up and play, but compelling enough to keep you pumping in quarters. Good times.
n
Christmas Vacation. Always on Thanksgiving day (at least the first time). Everyone knows the lines and the trivia.
We had a Tandy Pong game – I had to be 4 or 5 years old. I was deep into the Atari 2600 and then the 5200. I had an original NES, but not a lot of games (it’s the only system I don’t still have).
I was in college when the N64 came out. Groundbreaking graphics and Mario 64 was the killer app, and it holds up well today. Goldeneye 64 was another great game, though it doesn’t hold up nearly as well today.
I had an original Xbox, but never played it much. I love our Nintendo Wii. That is the best version of Mario Kart to me.
As for arcade games, I played all the earlier games – Space Invaders, Asteroids, etc. The first passion though was Pac-Man. The local corner market had one, and I would get my $1.00 allowance Saturday morning and head straight down there to play. There was almost always a wait to play.
My favorite arcade games in no particular order:
Pac-Man
Ms. Pac-Man
Galaga
Star Wars (the vector graphics game)
Tron
Mortal Kombat (original)
NBA Jam
Gah, yeah, 2600 not 2400- that was phreak stuff.
Funny, I liked the vector graphics Tie fighter game, and the one where you fall down a hole and have to spin the knob to avoid spikes… but not the tank commander game.
I liked one in a mine with ladders, bags of gold, and dropping bags on bad guys, but I can’t remember the name. I always tried to play Dig Dug, but couldn’t master it and died too early for it to be fun. Played a lot of Asteroids and Space Invaders, not much Centipede or Galaga. Didn’t care for Pac Man. My cousin held a world record for Q*bert at some point, so I didn’t compete with that.
Played Joust but didn’t love it. Played the role playing laser disc arcade game, a bit. Didn’t love it.
Fighting games were after my time. Looking back, I preferred games that weren’t “button mashers” and that didn’t move too fast.
I still prefer open world games that let me play as a slow sneaky character, and not a “wade in swinging” fighter, but it’s been a LONG time since I fired up the console. Kid2 plays every day, usually with friends.
n
My favorite game from the past has always been Zaxxon and Super Zaxxon. I think I shit my pants the first time I beat them both.
“Phantom of the Opera” with a theater capable of handling the full set is worth the time once.
When the production first hit the road, the (then) new Tampa Bay PAC spent a year rebuilding the main auditorium’s roof structure in order to be able to handle the set, including the crashing chandelier.
Very impressive practical effect.
“Hamilton” is about Lin-Manuel Miranda and Woke.
N64 games are hot right now. You aren’t going to find any collecting dust in a retro store.
If this reimplementation of the console works well, the classic N64 cartridges such as “Goldeneye” and “Perfect Dark” are going to go to the moon in terms of price.
https://www.analogue.co/3d
“Perfect Dark” is *the* N64 game. “Perfect Dark Zero” was slated to be the key launch title for the GameCube until Microsoft took that away by purchasing the developer.
2600 is the phreak frequency, Kenneth.
Many people who worked at Atari before the Warner buyout had their roots in phreak culture, including Jobs and Wozniak.
No one is good at “Sinistar”. That is possibly the hardest arcade game ever created.
MAME and a PC game controller with a true analog X-Y joystick comes very close to re-creating the arcade experience of that game.
The last Chevy Chase movie to make money even by Hollywood accounting standards.
I am SINISTAR HA HA HA HA
–used to give me shivers because I knew I was about to be killed. MAME had trouble with the audio last time I tried Sinistar. It always felt like you could get better, and could figure out a way to play for longer, but I always died too soon. Liked playing despite that.
n
This article, written by and aimed at electrical contractors and consultants, lays out some home truths about EV adoption and problems, even though it’s tone is positive on EVs.
Disable javascript and reload to get past the paywall.
https://www.ecmweb.com/electric-vehicles/article/21280602/challenges-with-charging-infrastructure-and-fleet-electrification
These are they guys faced with building the infrastructure. Note that getting juice from the utility is a BIG problem. 50 chargers is a HUGE demand when talking about trucks… and so is finding places for them to park while charging.
n
Forgot this part, you and I are going to pay for it whether we want to or not.
n
Sega manufactured a “Star Trek” vector graphics game for arcades, and Atari released a WWI fighter sim, “Red Baron”.
I remember other fringe Atari vector titles in magazines after the video game industry self destructed, but, living in Tampa, we were at the far end of the pipeline for arcade machines.
“Froma Harrop: Anger against insurers comes honestly”
https://www.wctrib.com/opinion/columns/froma-harrop-anger-against-insurers-comes-honestly
“I have my own story. I shared it after the insurer had launched its cruel “Delay Deny Defend” strategy to avoid covering my husband’s cancer treatment. Those three words became the title of a 2010 book on the subject, written by Rutgers University law professor Jay Feinman. They may have been the inspiration for the words etched on bullet casings found at the crime scene: “deny,” “defend” and “depose.””
Legit.
“COLUMN: Kill Obamacare, not CEOs” by Ann Coulter
https://insurancenewsnet.com/oarticle/column-kill-obamacare-not-ceos
“Premiums went through the roof because Democrats mandated, among other things, that insurance companies cover an array of exotic medical treatments popular with their base — e.g., men who think they’re women, people who can’t figure out how to use a condom, drug addicts, day drinkers, people who bring their emotional support Shetland ponies on airplanes, and so on.”
If this is is true then we have been screwed.
3-5 dead at a private Christian school in Madison, WI. I’m sure the PLT’s are drooling.
AP probably has updated product placement in both movies–’tis the season to market the Baby Jesus and everything else.
Minnesota Somalis pivot from Feed Our Future to autism services fraud, score more millions:
https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/12/16/millions-stolen-in-autism-medicaid-fraud-walz-all-somebody-oughta-do-something-n3797930
Timmy Tampon helpless, offers up another tap dance.
Wonder how many bureaucrats pulled bonuses for overseeing such a great program expansion?
Never mind.
“Phantom of the Opera” with a theater capable of handling the full set is worth the time once.
When the production first hit the road, the (then) new Tampa Bay PAC spent a year rebuilding the main auditorium’s roof structure in order to be able to handle the set, including the crashing chandelier.
— As I toured across the country in mostly old vaudeville theaters but also modern performing arts centers, it was immediately obvious which ones had hosted a production of Phantom. Those were the ones with 20,000 pounds of steel counterweight sitting on the floor of the theater. The rigging for the chandelier was unusual by typical theater rigging standards, and had specific needs that no one else had or has had since. A huge amount of extra counterweight was the most obvious.
n
Currently 78F and sunny blue sky, occasional clouds. Wet though. Puddles on everything.
n
65F this morning. So many cookies… all just waiting there, for me, and only me, begging me to pick them up and eat them, the voices so loud!
But I resisted. Only had one.
so far.
I am hoping that my wife does not make Christmas Cookies this year. They are covered with icing front and rear and superb little fatmobiles. It is very hard to hold oneself to just 3 or 5, especially when one is trying to lose weight over the holidays. Still down 5 lbs in the last month, even after yesterday’s sugar and fat filled gathering.
When our son went to Iraq the first time, we made him 200 Christmas cookies at 3 to a baggie in October and shipped them to him. Supposedly enough for his entire platoon. Well, his entire company (150+ Marines) got at least one. They even jimmied his locked footlocker later and stole the last 20+ cookies that he was apportioning out to himself. Marines consider anything that is not tied down to be community property, just ask the Navy and Army.
He told me recently that the packages of socks, underwear, tshirts, tuna, pimentos, crackers, canned jalapenos, etc etc etc that we and our families and our church were shipping him daily made him a very popular guy in the 1/7 Marines Battalion. Only 1 out of 10 or so Marines got care packages and he got the most. The weekly mail truck would show up with a dozen or more packages for him and they forced him to open the packages with a 100 guys standing around him.
So, if you are looking for something to do, sending care packages to our deployed soldiers is an awesome thing to do. It makes their life in hell a little bit better.
https://troopster.com/ is just one place that I googled for.
See’s Peppermints came home yesterday.
My wife bought a bunch of candy for the staff as gifts. I will eventually get some of the money back since See’s is a Geico Gecko subsidiary.
I think the best “vector graphics” arcade game was a tank game called “BattleZone”.
“Die Hard” is an action movie set at Christmas time.
“Lethal Weapon” is a “Christmas” movie.
Nope, “Die Hard” is a Christmas movie. My son and I agree on this.
My second favorite Christmas movie is “A Wonderful Life”. My third is “Hitched For The Holidays”.
My wife’s second favorite is “White Christmas”. Her third is “Holiday In Handcuffs”.
I liked one in a mine with ladders, bags of gold, and dropping bags on bad guys, but I can’t remember the name. I always tried to play Dig Dug, but couldn’t master it and died too early for it to be fun. Played a lot of Asteroids and Space Invaders, not much Centipede or Galaga. Didn’t care for Pac Man. My cousin held a world record for Q*bert at some point, so I didn’t compete with that.
Galaga was the best. Ms. Pac Man was the second best. They got many quarters out of me at my wife’s unhappiness.
“EU Officially Begins Work on $11 Billion Starlink Rival, IRIS2”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/eu-officially-begins-work-on-11-billion-starlink-rival-iris2
“The European Union has committed $6.2 billion to the project, which will involve 290 satellites across different orbits. Private satellite companies in Europe will pick up the rest of the tab.”
I suspect that they will launch a dozen satellites at a billion dollars a launch and quit.
“Biden’s mass pardons are unpardonable”
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/3260271/bidens-mass-pardons-are-unpardonable/
“The big problem is with his 1,499 simultaneous sentence commutations, including a large number of people who have been serving home detention under a COVID-19 relief law that sent inmates away from prisons where the virus could easily spread into presumably safer home confinement. This follows two separate rounds of pardons, earlier in his administration, intended for thousands (each round) of low-level marijuana offenses. (Actually, only 257 of the intended beneficiaries actually followed through to secure their pardons.)”
I am wondering when Biden will pardon all of the illegal immigrants. It is coming.
Wee Pierre is in serious trouble.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14199087/Justin-Trudeau-brink-resigning-liberal-government-collapses-canada.html
No. The Dems want a way out on the illegals without upsetting their base.
Yeah, deportations. Trump tho.
If you’re going to make “Die Hard” a Christmas movie then “Road House” has to be one as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ZyJCV_dyug
“You keep Christmas in your way and let me keep it in mine.”
“Rocket Loves Coffee”
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMAJ4aUnZpMzrfasn-ra-wY0Nmp_mjP3Cb0jTfE8YuhjNrxzinuyPGuo6-uMbBHux5W1QdL0yhCoqlvKyunc3uDyCnKXGenQsi5iUwUpzWM3t1yGGJ4-U0YQwoZhT6Mac5dRPiNGQ6SZC07iIQ-WPjmPhs3ROb_R4UX2eD2RpRjyD8VSVdxCrQfpor2fM/s632/Meme%20-%20coffee%20rocket.png
“It has been 0 days since I spilled coffee.”
From:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/12/memes-that-made-me-laugh-240.html
If you’re going to make “Die Hard” a Christmas movie then “Road House” has to be one as well.
Is Christmas even mentioned in “Road House” ? I have watched “Road House” several times, I just don’t remember Christmas in there.
If Sen. Thom Tillis Sabotages Trump’s Cabinet Picks, Voters Should Fire Him
https://thefederalist.com/2024/12/16/if-sen-thom-tillis-sabotages-trumps-cabinet-picks-voters-should-fire-him/
Clueless RINO.
If you invite enough people to spit on you, don’t be surprised when you drown.
Germany Gets Dunkelf**ked Again, Norway to Dismantle Power Cables To Europe
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2024/12/15/germany-gets-dunkelfked-again-norway-to-dismantle-power-cables-to-europe/
somewhere in those septillion quantum universes:
https://media.townhall.com/cdn/hodl/2020/72/d1503780-b91d-4793-ae68-3f75f0fd7f08-1052×615.jpg
And the first forecast for Christmas Day in zip code 77469 is 75 F / 62 F, partly cloudy.
https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/richmond?cm_ven=localwx_10day
“Die Hard … is a Hanukkah movie.”
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTTMnThYevcKslVVIXldp38ZopeElBek03V500-XlA4YW7ZjpPWZjKxUF19XWcG68n5tw302p2BDGB_07A_Po5E9MahlvtVaJcPAUoNpSjvUDOIB9d4au7oIMPL003pOOpkip2PC94a26q-tPThBAR7rcy_qCEwWDz-7J2VTxE8B9A1XnblmTmWS_0CAU/s600/Meme%20-%20Die%20Hard%20is%20a%20Hanukkah%20movie.png
From:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/12/memes-that-made-me-laugh-240.html
Trump is Flushing the Expert Class Down the Toilet
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2024/12/trump_is_flushing_the_expert_class_down_the_toilet.html
Treating them like turds is too good for them. Prosecution, incarceration, loss of pensions, and civil torts would be a good beginning.
“Google torched by social media users for ‘woke’ Christmas ad”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oickI8hl1L8
Yup, Google is now evil.
Hat tip to:
https://areaocho.com/oh-dear-lord/
Google is
nowstill evil.FIFY
Drone hysteria is sweeping the nation.
Car-size drones are following people around at night, disappear during the day.
Mark my words:
The anal probes are coming.
Ohhh, sign me up!
n
Seriously though, SOMETHING is going on there, and I’m pretty sure the official explanation is a lie. Because that’s their default setting.
So it’s not “nothing”, or “ordinary activity”. We can be pretty sure of that.
n
Seriously though, SOMETHING is going on there, and I’m pretty sure the official explanation is a lie. Because that’s their default setting.
So it’s not “nothing”, or “ordinary activity”. We can be pretty sure of that.
Alex Jones says that the drones are looking for traces of a nuclear bomb. I hope that he is wrong.
And there is an article about a missing medical device that is/could be radioactive…
n
Houston PD does annual or twice annual aerial surveys of the city mapping radioactive hotspots. With the med center, and all the industry and oil business, we’ve got a lot of radioactivity apparently.
If something new pops up, they send a ground team to see what’s what.
There are also NBC sensors on all the major routes into town. They are sometimes under overpasses and bridges. Hard to believe NYC and surrounds wouldn’t have similar sensing.
n
Trump, based on today’s (1 hour plus – take that FJB) press conference, it seems likely that he knows and is not ready to publicly disclose Top Secret information, at least until January 20th, after which he can pretty much do as he dang well pleases. Thanks SCOTUS.
>> Ohhh, sign me up!
n
What he said!
>> Alex Jones says that the drones are looking for traces of a nuclear bomb. I hope that he is wrong.
I read it was either ‘dirty boom’ material or a nuc war head that’s gone “missing.”
>> Treating them like turds is too good for them. Prosecution, incarceration, loss of pensions, and civil torts would be a good beginning.
At trials where each side will have “expert witnesses.” IIRC they call that a ‘circle j**k.’
Drones mystery uncovered ! ! !
https://x.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1868000735360905364/photo/1
>> 3-5 dead at a private Christian school in Madison, WI. I’m sure the PLT’s are drooling.
Female shooter, age 15, using a handgun, now deceased.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/least-5-dead-7-injured-wisconsin-school-shooting
ZH article links to her ‘manifesto.’
CoP said school did not have metal detectors, “nor should they,” he said.