Mon. Mar. 17, 2025 – The Feast of St. Patrick

By on March 17th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Sunny and clear, moderate wind and temps. Like yesterday. Which I ignored and stayed inside all day.

I did office stuff. I meant to get out in the sun and wind, but I was feeling a bit under the weather, and with wife sick and one kid getting over the sick, I didn’t feel like doing much more than sitting. They watched TV all day, Grey’s Anatomy and Walking Dead. Not sure which show is which any more, they are both sudsier than most soap operas.

Today I’ve got a visit to my client for a troubleshooting mission. He’s got two TVs not working. That is a bit of a mystery, as the simple failures would take out 4, and I can’t think of anything to just take out the two… so I have to go poke at it.

I’ve also got some auction pickups to do, so I hope to get the site visit out of the way quickly.

All the normal home stuff is still waiting for attention too. So I’ll be a busy boy after my Spring break…

At least I’m not broke.

Stack something. Fix something. Make something. Meet someone.

nick

41 Comments and discussion on "Mon. Mar. 17, 2025 – The Feast of St. Patrick"

  1. Denis says:

    Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to the Irish, and those who wish they were!

    Working today. Meh. No parade for me.

    Nick, wishing your family members a speedy recovery, and that you don’t get whatever they had.

    Whatever Nick’s client’s TVs have does seem to be contagious. W1 complains of intermittent function of her satellite TV.

    Of course, all my satellite and coax tools, testers and supplies are at the BOL, where I am not. Quick and dirty inspection late last night indicates that there is no signal on one of two coax cables coming in from the dish to her TV room. This morning’s extracurricular task is to diagnose that further. I also have my doubts about her 15-plus year-old satellite receiver.

    Perhaps a wee beastie nibbled a cable, or W1 hit one with the grass trimmer. Diagnostics. Joy.

  2. Denis says:

     I used to watch a different, UK based rat and pest controller, who would sometimes use a .22 rifle with suppressor IN THE UK.

    The Brits are weird. It is (still) easy to hold a shotgun, though the current government is looking to make shotguns as hard to have as rifles. If you have paperwork for a rifle, having a suppressor is no problem at all, though I did notice that Plod in some places now wants to know serial numbers off the cans.

    Pest control can still be found on YT, but they do their best to hide it. I have noticed that I was surreptitiously unsubscribed from, and had notifications turned off on, several channels, including Nathan’s.

    The non-moonbat alternatives to YT have pretty much failed to take off, but perhaps 4 years of Trump followed by eight of Vance will turn the public square around.

  3. PaultheManc says:

    @Nick

    Food rationing in the UK ended in July 1954.

    Interestingly, research from 1939 indicated that UK food production was adequate for maintaining a healthy population.  Boring diet of course.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    @paulthemanc, what continued into the sixties?  I’m pretty confident I remember that part correctly.

    ——

    The wartime scarcity and “we’re all in this together” along with the rebuilding effort shaped europe in ways that still echo.  Socialism in the cold countries.   Soft socialism elsewhere.   A culture of scarcity vs our culture of abundance….

    ——

    Up and moving.   W is going in to work today despite still feeling sick.   Kid is mostly over it and will be back in school today.

    I still plan to get to my client’s house in the later morning and either fix the problem, or figure out what I need to order to do so… then do my  normal daily stuff.

    —–

    Had a really detailed and mildly weird dream about a ham radio estate, youtube, and a piece of gear.  I still can’t quite shake the feeling it really happened.

    nick

  5. Greg Norton says:

    There will be a whole lot more of this,  with specialist shrinks for AIs, as they evolve.

    Take a look at the response of the AI in the paper when posed the non-coding question about what the woman should do about her husband.

    When we stayed in Southlake two weeks ago, the hotel parking lot often overflowed during daylight hours so I parked in the lot of the XO Marriage building across the street. One day I got curious about what that was about and hit The Duck.

    Maybe their clients’ emails were part of the material used to train the AI.

    XO looks like Ramsey Solutions for marriage therapy. The building was huge, but most of the cars in the lot seemed related to the hotel.

    Most large corporate codebases are garbage. Too many diversity hires and H1Bs with “Electronics and Communication Technologies” undergrad diplomas for which the institution back home won’t issue sealed transcripts.

    Assuming a code base is “secure” just because it passes a Coverity scan and a few other static analysis tools is dangerous, but that’s what most places do with their build pipelines. Hot Skillz!

  6. Greg Norton says:

    The non-moonbat alternatives to YT have pretty much failed to take off, but perhaps 4 years of Trump followed by eight of Vance will turn the public square around.

    Gotta have the bandwidth and advertising revenue to support the service. Plus, an army of staff psychologists working on the web and app UIs for 20 years like Twitter is a competitive advantage most managers don’t completely understand.

    Twitter’s appeal is the dopamine hit from that app’s interface. The model for the messaging service itself is a long afternoon CS grad student project.

  7. PaultheManc says:

    @Nick

    In 1957 the then Prime Minister said “most of our people have never had it so good”,  which was the overwhelming feeling of the population at the time, resulting in him being reelected in 1959.  I am unaware of what you might be thinking.  The 60’s are still referred to as the ‘swinging 60’s’ which brought money and freedom to the youth in the UK – I was one of them.  Compared to today, what we had then was limited, but so much more than  pre and immediately post WW2.

  8. Denis says:

    The non-moonbat alternatives to YT have pretty much failed to take off, but perhaps 4 years of Trump followed by eight of Vance will turn the public square around.

    Gotta have the bandwidth and advertising revenue to support the service.

    Indeed.  The incumbent has a huge advantage. The problem with all the alternatives is that they need subscriptions to keep the door open, and who is going to put up a subscription for content that might not might not be of usable quality? With the possible exception of Ian McCollum’s Forgotten Weapons, for which I might fork over some of my scarce beer money, I have yet to come across content for which I would be willing to pay real money. I don’t even pay YT to go ad-free.

  9. JimB says:

    Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to the Irish, and those who wish they were!

    Thank you!

    I used to wish I was Irish, and then one day I discovered that I AM Irish. That was way back in grade school when I attended an Irish wake for a distant relative. That was in the nearby town of Plymouth, Michigan, where my mother was born. It was a beautiful day, so we kids played outside the home where the deceased was on display in the parlor, and the food was being prepared in the kitchen. There were way too many people to eat inside, so the yard was filled with borrowed tables and chairs.

    I remember talking with other kids, and two things were notable. One was that we weren’t sure HOW we were related to the deceased, and the other was that we tried to figure out how we were related to each other, with last names we didn’t recognize as relatives. Yes, a big family.

    Fun times. All I really remember is that somewhere on my mother’s side were folks of Irish descent. When I went back to school, I told some of my obviously Irish friends my story, and was perhaps a little more welcome in the clan.

    I just looked up clan, and discovered it is of Gaelic origin, and simply means family in a loose sense. I like that. I used to think it was only used by Scots. Not that it makes any real difference. We are all cousins in a loose sense. Even the Hatfields and McCoys were originally related. I’ll bet that frosts some descendants to this day.

    Enough learning for today. I do consider a day wasted if I don’t learn something.

  10. drwilliams says:

    Missing caption:

    Soon to be deposed Emperor denies failing powers but fails to make Sith sparks

    https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2025/03/17/chuck-schumer-post-cr-vote-book-tour-n2186744

    In other news, Marjoe Gortner offers to share static electricity tricks.

  11. JimB says:

    I have yet to come across content for which I would be willing to pay real money. I don’t even pay YT to go ad-free.

    Oh yes. I browse a lot. Goes back to my days visiting libraries. Sometimes I would just walk down a random aisle and grab at books until I found one I wanted to read. I would usually find a comfy spot and spend a few minutes with it. I would rarely check those out, but just enjoyed a little distraction. The WWW is my replacement for reference libraries, and is so much more accessible.

    I came close to paying YT to go ad-free, but decided to try the Brave browser. A friend had been reminding me to try it, but I put it off for months. I had tried extensions in Firefox, but they required constant tinkering, and that was a chore. Vivaldi looked good, but procrastination won again. Besides, I preferred Chromium (the open source version, the closed source version was not available in my Linux repo.) It had certain features others lacked, and it worked as well as Chrome on Android. IIRC, it had no ad-killer extensions at that time. So, I tried Brave on my Android phone.

    A miracle occurred! No ads! Clean! Fast! And… it used the Chrome codebase, so it had the search features I liked. I was hooked, and will use the slightest provocation to plug it. I have been provoked!

    Seriously, give Brave a try. I did, and have been using it as my primary browser for several years. I have not had any desire to try any others. Well, maybe Vivaldi. It IS Italian, isn’t it? I like Italian.

  12. MrAtoz says:

    I’m trying Brave on my iPad right now, Mr. JimB. So far no ads on YT or DM.

  13. Ray Thompson says:

    Home. 2,834 miles of driving. Relatively uneventful overall. Now to catch up on some sleep although doctors say that is a myth. It sometimes works for me, especially when I am in my own bed, on my CPAP.

    12
  14. Greg Norton says:

    Missing caption:

    Soon to be deposed Emperor denies failing powers but fails to make Sith sparks

    https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2025/03/17/chuck-schumer-post-cr-vote-book-tour-n2186744
     

    Sandy the Shot Girl is not deposing Schumer.

  15. Lynn says:

    BC: St. Patrick’s Day

       https://www.gocomics.com/bc/2025/03/17

    Don’t drink the river downstream of the dinosaurs.

  16. drwilliams says:

    StSG is not in the Senate.

    Schumer bet the farm on the Republicans not being unified. He led them to defeat, and may get replaced as Minority Leader if the slobbering left gets its way. 

  17. drwilliams says:

    DHS Denies Reentry for Brown U. Professor Due to Attending Terrorist Funeral in Lebanon

    Rasha Alawieh attended the “funeral of Hassan Nasrallah— a brutal terrorist who led Hezbollah, responsible for killing hundreds of Americans over a four-decade terror spree.”

    On Friday, Alawieh’s cousin filed a habeas corpus petition, which got on the docket at 6:43 PM.

    Sorokin’s order to not move Alawieh outside the Massachusetts district at 7:18 PM.

    What an obscene steaming pile of crap.

    The leftist judiciary conspired with the Biden DOJ to keep J6 defendants in jail for months awaiting trial, yet a terrorist sympathizer got a judge’s order in 35 f***ing minutes.

    Turley argued today that the judge trying to keep violent South American filth illegally in this country should not be impeached.

    https://jonathanturley.org/2025/03/16/no-the-house-should-not-impeach-judge-boasberg-over-his-tren-de-aragua-tro/

    He’s right, but not the way he means it. We should be impeaching one a day.

    6
    1
  18. Lynn says:

    ☕️ POLITICAL ALCHEMY ☙ Saturday, March 15, 2025 ☙ C&C NEWS ”

       https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/political-alchemy-saturday-march

    “Just a few quick weeks ago, President Trump casually renamed the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. He didn’t appoint a two-year, blue-ribbon committee to study the name change and give him advice. He just did it. Boom. Who cares what anyone thinks or says about it? Next.”

    “I dare you to argue that Trump’s talk of annexing Greenland and Canada isn’t surreal. He’s not even hinting around—he’s said it outright, repeatedly, with signature bluntness. He’s been entirely consistent in his explanations: America needs Greenland for Arctic security against Russia and China. Canada, he’s argued, cannot exist economically without the U.S.—so why pretend it’s independent? Just make it the 51st state and move on.”

    “And, crucially, President Trump doesn’t seem to be joking. And we’re now actually discussing annexing all of North America.”

    Hat tip to:
    https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/03/i-dont-normally-post-on-saturdays-but.html

    4
    1
  19. drwilliams says:

    ‘Trust the Science?’ Even Physics Has Been Infected By Radical Politics

    NEW: A gender studies professor who says “white empiricism” undermines Einstein’s theory of relativity sits on a top advisory panel at the Energy Department. 

    Meet Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, who claims string theory “failed to succeed” because the field has too many white men.

    Prescod-Weinstein will remain on HEPAP until 2027 unless the Trump administration takes action to remove her. Her role at the Energy Department has rankled some scientists, who say that an institution tasked with directing federal research should not be advised by a woman who, in one 2020 paper, wrote that “Black feminist theory intersectionality should change physics.”

    https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/03/17/trust-the-science-even-physics-has-been-infected-by-radical-politics-n3800856

    “I am enormously proud of the students who have sacrificed to fight back against a genocide,” she wrote in August. “Let the students protest, and don’t fucking snitch. Free Palestine!”

    FFS. And a Jew-hater as well. Boot her out so hard she slides.

  20. Lynn says:

    “Trump’s FBI Moves to Criminally Charge Major Climate Groups”
          https://newrepublic.com/post/192660/trump-fbi-charge-climate-organizations

    “The Trump administration is targeting climate organizations that received a Biden-era grant.”

    “The FBI is moving to criminalize groups like Habitat for Humanity for receiving grants from the Environmental Protection Agency under the Biden administration.”

    “Citibank revealed in a court filing Wednesday that it was told to freeze the groups’ bank accounts at the FBI’s request. The reason? The FBI alleges that the groups are involved in “possible criminal violations,” including “conspiracy to defraud the United States.””

    YES !  They are all fraud.

    Hat tip to:

       https://www.coffeeandcovid.com/p/the-end-of-the-world-as-we-know-it

    9
    1
  21. drwilliams says:

    SQT: Pardon Invalidation

    https://www.laughingwolf.net/2025/03/17/sqt-pardon-invalidation/

    Mr. Powers games out some political scenarios.

    One of the things that will come out of this is a procedure for validating POTUS signature, with autopen use heavily proscribed and subject to rigid controls. 

    5
    1
  22. MrAtoz says:

    What an obscene steaming pile of crap.

    “Leavin’, on a jet plane, won’t be back again…” Off to Gay Paree.

  23. MrAtoz says:

    FFS. And a Jew-hater as well. Boot her out so hard she slides.

    Shit-can her.  Hopefully enough people will get to Granholm to get admin leave or fire her outright for defying tRump’s orders.

  24. Lynn says:

    “BREAKING: Fani Willis ordered to pay $54,000 for ‘intentional’ violations in Trump case”

       https://thepostmillennial.com/breaking-fani-willis-ordered-to-pay-54000-for-intentional-violations-in-trump-case

    “”Defendants’ failures were intentional, not done in good faith, and were substantially groundless and vexatious.””

    “According to Fox News, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Rachel Krause on Friday ordered to pay $54,264 in attorneys’ fees and litigation costs. Krause said that Willis “Intentionally” failed to provide records requested by Ashleigh Merchant, the attorney who filed the motion to disqualify Willis from prosecuting Trump. Krause’s ruling was formalized on Friday.”

    “The judge said that Willis’ office had failed to hand over documents related to the employment of Nathan Wade, who served as special assistant district attorney until a judge ruled that either Wade or Willis would need to step down from the case.”

    Fani Willis needs to be disbarred.

    11
  25. Greg Norton says:

    Fani Willis needs to be disbarred.

    Another one with the theme from “A Different World” running around in her head.

    Disbarment won’t happen to a black woman attorney in Georgia with a JD from Emory and undergrad from Howard.

  26. Nick Flandrey says:

    Kill the FDA  

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-14500429/Top-heart-doctor-reveals-five-foods-mainstream-medicine-lied-you-about.html 

    Shifts in thinking about foods – which are harmful and which are good – are due to evolving research surrounding fats and fat intake, particularly saturated fats, the growing emphasis on whole foods, understanding of the impact of ultra-processed foods, and the rise in more personalized diet and nutrition plans.

    Further, scientists have since collected decades-long study findings about the complex relationship between nutrition and heart disease, along with a laundry list of other health problems affecting every organ.

    – it isn’t so much the “evolving research” as the discredited and fading lies.

    Politically motivated food pyramid, I’m looking at you…

    when someone goes to the doc with the chief complaint of unexplained weight loss, and the test result form from his bloodwork suggests “losing weight”  by ROTE, it’s a religious dogma not science.

    Eat everything in moderation.  Eat whole foods and avoid processed foods and chemicals masquerading as food.  Eat less sugar and fewer carbs.

    If that doesn’t provide the life and body you want, try variations.  Push away from the plate if you weigh more than you would like.

    n

  27. drwilliams says:

    31 U.S. Secret Service Agents Looking Forward to Extended Decontamination

    https://redstate.com/streiff/2025/03/17/trump-pulls-secret-service-detail-from-hunter-biden-n2186779

  28. Greg Norton says:

    31 U.S. Secret Service Agents Looking Forward to Extended Decontamination

    https://redstate.com/streiff/2025/03/17/trump-pulls-secret-service-detail-from-hunter-biden-n2186779

    I doubt Lady Bird Johnson had that many agents assigned to her out at the LBJ Ranch outside Fredericksburg when she passed in 2007.

    The Secret Service “hut” at the ranch is currently closed for rennovations along with the rest of the complex. Current projections are reopening the buildings for tours in 2027.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    I doubt Lady Bird Johnson had that many agents assigned to her out at the LBJ Ranch outside Fredericksburg when she passed in 2007.

    The First Lady was wealthy herself, with holdings which included what is now the Fox-owned Channel 7 here in Austin. Legend is that the penthouse of the station building is still set up as the Johnsons left it when Lady Bird sold the station.

    Lyndon Johnson was a ward of pre-Haliburton KBR among other Kenny Boys. The President did not have a lot of money himself.

    About 25 years ago, when reporters were scrutinizing Shrub and Cheney’s ties to Haliburton, I remember a video clip of someone asking (former LBJ Press Secretary and well known Prog PBS star) Bill Moyers about what the company’s airplanes were like inside. The normally reserved Moyers’ eyes grew wide and he stormed off, ending the impromptu interview and refusing to answer.

    Smell the Hypocrisy.

  30. drwilliams says:

    New YT on dashcams:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLjGazIxjEA

    Top performer is fifteen bucks less than shown price, and they had highly-rated refurbs 37% less. Got a refurb, ext warranty, mem card, and hopefully everything for hookup. About $140 all told. 

  31. Greg Norton says:

    New YT on dashcams:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLjGazIxjEA

    Top performer is fifteen bucks less than shown price, and they had highly-rated refurbs 37% less. Got a refurb, ext warranty, mem card, and hopefully everything for hookup. About $140 all told. 

    Hecho en China and “small packet” shipments avoiding tariffs.

  32. Lynn says:

    “Rep. Troy E. Nehls and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove Ask DOI Secretary to End Funding for Plan to Kill More Than 450,000 Barred Owls”

        https://nehls.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-troy-e-nehls-and-rep-sydney-kamlager-dove-ask-doi-secretary-end-funding

    WASHINGTON, D.C. Today, Congressman Troy E. Nehls (R-TX-22) and Congresswoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-CA-37) led a group of bipartisan colleagues in sending a letter to the Department of the Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, requesting him to halt funding an agency plan which authorizes the shooting of nearly half a million barred owls over the next 30 years across the Pacific Northwest.”

    “In September 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) approved an impractical and grossly expensive plan to kill 470,000 barred owls across the Pacific Northwest to stop the long and steady decline of spotted owls,” the Members stated in the bipartisan letter. “By extrapolating on costs for prior kills of owls, conducted on a small scale, this plan would require $1.35 billion over the course of thirty years to hunt and kill one owl species to the benefit of another.””

    You have got to be kidding me.  I knew that the Department of Interior people were savages but this is a step beyond savagery.

  33. Lynn says:

    “Shalom, Hamas! IDF Pounding Gaza With Massive Aerial Bombing”

        https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2025/03/17/shalom-hamas-idf-resumes-war-in-gaza-with-massive-aerial-bombings-n2653975

    “BREAKING: The IDF is absolutely obliterating Hamas infrastructure inside the Gaza Strip.”

    “This comes after Hamas planned to launch another Oct. 7th-style attack and refused to release the hostages.”

    You mess with the bull, you get the horns.

  34. Greg Norton says:

    “In September 2024, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) approved an impractical and grossly expensive plan to kill 470,000 barred owls across the Pacific Northwest to stop the long and steady decline of spotted owls,” the Members stated in the bipartisan letter. “By extrapolating on costs for prior kills of owls, conducted on a small scale, this plan would require $1.35 billion over the course of thirty years to hunt and kill one owl species to the benefit of another.””

    What’s left of the legal economy of the I-5 corridor in WA State between Portland and Olympia depends heavily on Native American casino employment, healthcare, and various levels of government jobs. Thirty years of concern for the spotted owl has eliminated the timber industry and jobs related to that infrastructure.

  35. Nick Flandrey says:

    Trees still been growing?   Then it can come back.   

    Most of the land around my BOL is timber farming.

    n

  36. Greg Norton says:

    Trees still been growing?   Then it can come back.   

    Most of the land around my BOL is timber farming.

    WA State would have to elect a non-RINO Republican Governor again, and I doubt I will see that happen in my lifetime.

    The last Republican candidate who made a serious run at the office was Rob McKenna, the Attorney General, in 2012.

    McKenna was a Perkins Coie partner so Costco stepped up and got involved with funding the Dem, Jay Inslee.

    In return, Costco’s lawyers got to write the rules for the liquor deregulation passed that year by voters.

  37. nick flandrey says:

    Can a car survive a 20 ton steel coil rolling off a trailer?

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_g3Px20DUik?feature=share 

    The fords’ rear seat passengers might survive.

    And the lambo might keep someone from complete pancaking.  

    FWIW, the biggest coil I ever personally helped move was 15 ton.   We had only a 10 ton forklift, stacked 5 ton of sheet steel on the back, and were able to bump and push the 15 ton coil from the storage area to the coil line.  Coil line had a big hoist to flip and lift the coil.     I did have a forklift operator drop a 300 pound coil  from 15ft up.  It landed about 10ft from me.  It wasn’t coil shaped after that.   Surprisingly, I didn’t have much reaction then or now.   There is a certain numbness working around big heavy stuff that can kill you in a split second.

    Oh, and one time while driving in the Chicago area (I-80) I saw what looked like a very shiny and crooked pipe laying along in the median for  quite a while.    I later found out it was a 20 ton coil that came off a truck at freeway speed.   It hit the ground and the center shot out, or rather the outer wraps did while the center stopped, and it extended into a pipe shape like one of those paper things on a stick that fling out and then recoil back…  lot of mass, lot of movement…

    n

  38. Greg Norton says:

    Can a car survive a 20 ton steel coil rolling off a trailer?

    My wife had a coiled box spring hit her Explorer head on after falling of the back of a truck on the freeway about a year before the pandemic. The A pillar and the windshield took the brunt of the hit.

    First gen front wheel drive Explorer with a lot of Volvo left over in the design from sharing the Five Hundred/Taurus platform.

  39. Alan says:

    >>Can a car survive a 20 ton steel coil rolling off a trailer?

    https://www.youtube.com/shorts/_g3Px20DUik?feature=share

    Watch out folks – really just part of a nefarious plot to get us to watch Youtube Shorts!  😉

  40. Alan says:

    >>Can a car survive a 20 ton steel coil rolling off a trailer?

    Of course, the EV (Tesla) bursts into flames…

  41. Nick Flandrey says:

    It survived the crush, but then popped and caught fire…

    The lambo was a surprise to me.

    n

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