07:48 – We got a lot done yesterday, including making up and bottling chemicals, building a new batch of the FK01B forensic science kits, and making oatmeal cookies. I made up the batter. When we got ready to bake them after dinner, Barbara took over to actually put the globs of batter on the pan and bake the cookies. I think she grabbed the reins because she saw me ready to weigh the prepared batter and divide it by mass into 24 portions. Hey, the recipe said it made 24 cookies.
Incredibly, the DVD boxed set I ordered Wednesday from Amazon.ca showed up about 6:15 yesterday evening. Two-day delivery for international mail is pretty impressive. I mentioned it to the DHL delivery guy, and he said it was pretty routine. He said they often see ordinary non-priority parcels from China arrive at the US destination in one day.
Yes we’ve had a couple of China deliveries arrive quickly, both Amazon and Ebay. Small items. I’m guessing very large planes with excess freight space.
I’ve had several small items, antennas, and some replacement parts, that sold on ebay for less than $5, with free shipping from China. Some less than $3. I guess they are shipping a containers worth, and then US mail from the port…
Amazingly cheap to move stuff around the world.
nick
Amazingly cheap to move stuff around the world.
Except my fat ass when I travel to Germany.
But can you fit in a shipping container and wait 3 weeks?
n
An email from my aunt:
Subject: Why People Support Trump – An interesting analogy and possibly an explanation.
I’ve been on vacation for two weeks. When I come home I find my basement is infested with raccoons….. hundreds of rabid, messy, mean raccoons have overtaken my basement. I want them gone immediately so I hired “a guy”.
A pro. I don’t care if the guy smells. I need those raccoons gone pronto and he’s the guy to do it ! I don’t care if the guy swears, or how many times he’s been married. I don’t care if he voted for Obama. I don’t care if he has plumber’s crack…I simply want those raccoons gone ! I want the problem fixed ! He’s the guy. He’s the best. Period.
That’s why Trump. Yes, he’s a bit of an ass, yes he’s an egomaniac, but I don’t care. The country is in a mess because politicians suck. The Republican Party is two-faced & gutless. Illegals are everywhere.
I want it all fixed ! I don’t care that Trump is crude. I don’t care that he insults people. I don’t care that he had been friendly with Hillary. I don’t care that he has changed positions. I don’t care that he’s been married 3 times. I don’t care that he fights with Megan Kelly and Rosie O’Donnell. And I don’t care that he doesn’t know the name of some Muslin terrorist.
Our country is weak, bankrupt and our enemies are making fun of us. We are being invaded by illegals and we are becoming a nation of victims where every Tom, Ricardo and Hamid is a “special group” with “special rights” to a point where we don’t even recognize the country we were born & raised in.
I JUST WANT IT FIXED and Trump is the only guy who seems to understand what the people want. I’m sick of politicians, sick of the Democratic Party, Republican Party and sick of illegals. I just want this thing fixed. Trump may not be a saint, but he doesn’t have lobbyist money holding him back and he doesn’t have political correctness restraining him.
All I know is that he has been very successful and a good negotiator He’s built a lot of things and maybe he can rebuild out nation. HE’S NOT A POLITICIAN. He says he’ll fix it.
I don’t care if the guy has bad hair.
I just want those raccoons gone.
Out of my house.
Whew, blustery day here. Temps dropping, wind gusting, blue sky and sun, now gone down.
Got most of the Christmas decor in. Got a bit of storage food organized and stored.
Added some stuff to a box of mountain house. Costco used to have boxes that were ‘assorted’. Basically 2 meals for 6 people, and dessert. I add 12 pouches of oatmeal, 12 tubes of drink mix (flavor for water) and 12 pouches of instant coffee. That gives me a generous 1 day for 6 adults. Reseal the box and good to go. I still had a box I hadn’t done so it was time. And it helped with the literal pile of food to put away.
Some of the rest got organized into boxes, and will be shelved as soon as I clear enough space.
So much stuff, so little time.
nick
added, it doesn’t sound like much, but just getting that box filled and shelved has been hanging around on the task list, and now it’s finally off. If I could get one thing like that every day, I’d be back to making steady progress. I definitely feel stalled and a bit burnt out. So any progress is progress…
“Not my job. What’s for dinner?”
Maybe it’s just ’cause I’m an arrogant self centered prick, but what other people think of me JUST DOESN’T MATTER. So even though we’ve been under attack for decades, I will still act the way I have to act to live with myself. Because what I think about me is way more important than what the meat puppets that move across the stage of my life think.
AmIrite, Steve F?
nick
“Except my fat ass when I travel to Germany.”
So I guess you and me can forget about buying one of those human-passenger drones for now until they design one that will accommodate us and my M60 plus ammo.
“I don’t care if the guy has bad hair.
I just want those raccoons gone.”
He’s just a blowhard con artist and carny barker with his own money, that’s all, and he’ll tell peeps what he’s pretty sure they like hearing in the Current Situation. A conundrum of sorts, a multi-millionaire populist demagogue. Would he be better for the country than Cankles? Who the eff knows? It’s what the actual rulers decree anyway. Out of our hands. Totally.
“I definitely feel stalled and a bit burnt out. So any progress is progress…”
Ditto. Along with continuing daily spats here with the fems and facing the same five pages of To-Do stuff no matter how regularly I chip away at it, I seem to not have any energy or interest to do much of anything lately. Hope it’s just a temporary phase.
““Not my job. What’s for dinner?”
I get the daily DBD toons via email, but usually not till after 01:00; this must be his longer weekend edition.
Yeah, we white males are the Devil’s spawn, of course, responsible for all the evil and pain and suffering in the world since Adam took that bite of the damn apple. Oh wait–Adam wasn’t white, was he…we all came originally Out of Afrika, or so the prevailing Accepted Narrative goes.
Matriarchies here and in Europe did in fact DEMAND the current state of affairs and now we’re all reaping the whirlwind.
I wonder if this is how it was 500,000 years ago when, according to the batshit crazy radfem imbeciles, women ruled the world. According to them, nasty old men rebelled and took over. Kinda like the space-cadet mad-scientist lab mythology of the Nation of Islam. But I bet we finally said enough was enough and gave them the boot and put them back in the goddam kitchen making our sammiches….
He’s just a blowhard con artist and carny barker with his own money, that’s all, and he’ll tell peeps what he’s pretty sure they like hearing in the Current Situation. A conundrum of sorts, a multi-millionaire populist demagogue. Would he be better for the country than Cankles? Who the eff knows? It’s what the actual rulers decree anyway. Out of our hands. Totally.
Another POV: Notes on a Phenomenon.
Longish but worth reading. Not saying Steyn’s right or wrong; just an interesting take on el Trumpo.
This evening I got annoyed because I pulled several spoons and bowls out of the cupboards. Dirty spoons and bowls. For the past couple years there’s been maybe a 1/3 chance that any particular spoon, knife, bowl, glass, or pot will be dirty when pulled out.* My wife found my annoyance intolerable — “If you get a dirty spoon, just wash it! Stop being so babyish!” — and demanded to know why I got married if I can’t tolerate other people. She was very angry when I told her I married her because I’m stupid.
The main reason I haven’t moved out yet (or five years ago) is because of the child. The lesser reason is my wife’s multiple prescriptions, some of which have potential mental side effects. It’s possible that my wife’s many behavioral, social, and mental problems are not her fault. (Though I’ll note that none of the meds have “may turn into a self-centered raving bitch” as a side-effect.)
Yes and no. Your own goals and personality should be the main factor in determining your behavior. Main factor, not only factor. Only a fool doesn’t respond to his environment. You might not have any emotional response to other’s hatred of you (I certainly don’t — but I should not be used as any kind of role model.) (Not unless you’re trying to create utterly awesome people.) but your actions should change depending on the words and actions of the people you affect.
In the simple case of black Americans getting race-based assistance from individuals or the US as a whole, it was reasonable 50 years ago. Black Americans did labor under not only a legacy of discrimination but ongoing discrimination.** Special assistance to get an education or to buy a house seems fair from where I sit, here and now. Yes, it took marches and shouting and maybe even the Black Panthers but, from where I sit here and now, those all were justified in overcoming the prejudiced power structure.
Now it’s a whole different world. Government discrimination against blacks is gone. There’s private prejudice against them, but that irrelevant. There have been special grants and set-asides and government programs and societal turning a blind eye for longer than most Americans have been alive … and they’re not helping. And most black Americans are not satisfied with their official and unofficial special privileges, and refuse to accept responsibility for “unequal outcomes”, and constantly demand more, and unendingly insult their “racist oppressors” even as they demand more handouts, and even justify felonious assault, rape, and murder on the basis of their “racist opressors” deserving it.***
If giving special consideration to black Americans 50 years ago was justified and moral, and I think it was, the change in conditions and especially the attitudes of the recipients make the handouts no longer justified or moral. Cut off the race-based privileges because they’re not working or cut them off because you’re tired of being called a racist while you foot the bill. If you willingly continue to pay for race-based handouts to black Americans as they belch hate in your face, you are a fool.
* Interestingly, when my wife and her mother are on vacation and I do all of the dishes, there’s never a problem with dirty dishes being put away. My wife avoids having to consider the ramifications of this observation by denying its truth. She knows that the dishes are not clean, even though she’s not here to see them, apparently by knowing that I’m a liar.
** Or so I’ve been informed. I was still in diapers 50 years ago, so my memory of the time is rather vague.
*** Not all black Americans, by any means, but a large minority, and the rest are mute in pointing out the “extremists'” excesses. Only a tiny fraction are visible in calling on black Americans to take responsibility for their own condition. Comparison to Mohammedans is probably on point.
“Not saying Steyn’s right or wrong; just an interesting take on el Trumpo.”
That was a pretty accurate rendering of the events in Burlap the other night; I wasn’t there, but saw and read about it on several media venues, plus the local rags. Burlap is a big college town filled to the rafters with progs and SJW types, in the middle of the most affluent county in Vermont. So for Chump to make a splash there was interesting; spouse here downloaded a pic of the lefty ass-hat protesters outside and I pointed out how SO 1970s they were, and sprinkled among them, Progressive Labor Party-type Maoists, you know, “Fight Racism,” and “Fight the Bosses.” But it’s like RBT keeps quoting from that old Who song; “same as the old boss.”
I predict the Repub hierarchy will use every trick in the book to keep from having to nominate him, including dirty tricks. And I just saw both Kasich and Rubio ads on the tee-vee; I thought the former had already bailed; he’s still paying for TV ads? Yikes. And Rubio mentioned the “gangster in Moscow.” What a jerkoff; we have REAL gangsters running our country here and among the biggest is the SOB in the White House. Prince Vlad is the very model of probity and rectitude and honesty compared to our scum. And that’s pretty unfortunate, isn’t it.
“This evening I got annoyed because I pulled several spoons and bowls out of the cupboards. Dirty spoons and bowls.”
Same shit here, daily, if not hourly. Nobody bothers to rinse anything before dumping it with food encrusted on it, into the dishwasher. It comes out worse, with the encrusted food BAKED on. Dishes, silverware, glassware, all over the house. And I’ve found coins, wire, hair, and broken glass dumped into the sink drain. If I say anything, I’m also told to just clean it up and stop being such an asshole. Or overreacting. Always the bad guy. But don’t get me started.
“…and demanded to know why I got married if I can’t tolerate other people.”
I ask myself that same question all the time. You’d think that doing it twice I would have learned something by now. Apparently not. Apparently I’m stupid, too.
“The main reason I haven’t moved out yet (or five years ago)…”
Pretty close here; wife has a potentially terminal disease, is on ass-kicking meds for it, is nearly legally blind, and I’d feel like a total shit if I abandoned her in this life and current national/world situation. She’s in Condition White most of the time, like most peeps, and doesn’t believe any bad shit is ever gonna happen; this, despite the evidence of her own life experiences. We’ll see when her mom finally goes; pending millionaire son and grandkids are out in wunnerful sunny Kalifornia and genius daughter is poised to make some kind of big splash somewhere, so maybe she can do without me at some point. I really have a hard time being tolerant of other people and I’m sure I’m no day at the beach, either, so what the hell, maybe we’d all be better off if I was gone somewhere else, or at least that’s how I think some days, like today, for instance.
“If you willingly continue to pay for race-based handouts to black Americans as they belch hate in your face, you are a fool.”
Well, the choice has been taken away from us, through the brilliant machinations of the income tax as automatic deductions from our masters’ pay checks, and of course the depredations and power of the IRS. The State takes our money and does whatever it wants, basically using it to oppress us further and get our kids killed by the same weapons systems we paid for against enemies who were once our allies and who in another generation or two will be so again, like Orwell’s depictions of same. And of course the endless handouts to people who spit at us and threaten us and rape and rob and murder us.
“* Interestingly, when my wife and her mother are on vacation and I do all of the dishes, there’s never a problem with dirty dishes being put away. My wife avoids having to consider the ramifications of this observation by denying its truth. ”
DITTO.
“** Or so I’ve been informed. I was still in diapers 50 years ago, so my memory of the time is rather vague.”
I was wearing pants by then and remember it well. I also remember the cities on flame, and not with rock-and-roll, either; but with snipers on rooftops and in windows firing at firefighters until the Army rolled in with machine guns and APCs. Ten minutes of that every night followed by ten minutes on the latest body count stats in ‘Nam, with Mike Wallace not warning (saying so, anyway) an American patrol if he spotted VC ambushers before they did.
“Comparison to Mohammedans is probably on point.”
Exactly. Therefore, I, Judge OFD, pronounce them just as guilty.
“6 Reasons Obama Is Untrustworthy on Guns”
https://reason.com/blog/2016/01/08/6-reasons-obama-is-untrustworthy-on-guns
“If the idea that “Obama’s trying to take away your guns” is an “imaginary fiction,” it’s not because he does not want to take away your guns. It’s because political and legal realities prevent him from doing so. But for anyone who cares about the right to armed self-defense, the understanding that Obama does not like guns and reads the Second Amendment so narrowly that it has no practical meaning colors everything he does or proposes in this area. When he talks about “universal background checks,” for example, you have to wonder how that requirement could be enforced without a national gun registry, a prerequisite for the sort of mass confiscation that Obama has repeatedly praised. That’s not paranoia; that’s logic.”
Like I have said before, he will seek to entrap gun owners through cleverly written legalese and make us all criminals. But when all are criminals …
“Like I have said before, he will seek to entrap gun owners through cleverly written legalese and make us all criminals. But when all are criminals …”
Again, how does he enforce it against millions, and hundreds of millions of firearms? And remember, database registries and suchlike can be hacked six ways from Sunday, whether by them or someone on “our side.” Bits and bytes in cyberspace, like our money, so long as the electricity stays on, that is.
And we knew the bastard would do his damndest to accelerate the destruction of the country in his last year or two. There is nothing someone like Trump or any of the RINO scumbags can do to even slow it down now. We’re gonna be on our own out here, and the sooner more peeps figure that out, the better off we’ll be. Get in touch with your local meatspace and start moving away from online ephemera and those bits and bytes. Know your neighbors and fellow citizen-subjects in your AO, along with its geography and threat vectors. Stock up on stuff like a fummamucker.
Thanks Nick, I’m currently using 2 hikvision IP cameras, running on blue iris software.
Latest bushfire info is that it’s contained but not controlled. Two elderly people have died, One or two more are missing. Area is now roughly 73,500ha (181,500acres). Milder weather is helping thank goodness.
In relation to prepping, if there is no fire dept. or water pressure, you will need some form of backup (at least for small fires). Plus good neighbours.!
OFD writes: “the Repub hierarchy will use every trick in the book to keep from having to nominate him, including dirty tricks.”
No comment, too true. Agreements in smoke-filled rooms, manipulation of party rules, fiddling the primaries, lots of possibilities. Trump didn’t fall off the turnip truck yesterday, so presumably he is very aware of all this. It will be interesting to watch…
“I really have a hard time being tolerant of other people and I’m sure I’m no day at the beach…
Or, as my wife pungently put it the other day, when we were kind of fed up with some jerk: “well, we’re all neurotic, each in our own way”. True ‘nuf, we’re all just muddling through as best we can…
@MrK,
I no longer live in a wildfire area, but I still keep up when I see developments although I’m more current on hurricane requirements as that is my main threat now.
Your first defense is design and construction.
California leads the world in building code required defenses. They have a lot of info online about building design- emberproofing, roof systems, etc. There is also an intumescent paint that goes on exterior surfaces that is supposed to provide a tremendous amount of heat protection.
Site design and maintenance are critical too. Removing fuel around the buildings helps.
I’ve heard about automated sprinkler systems for roofs and exterior areas.
Lots of people have pools or ponds that are listed as “tanks” to provide water for firefighting. A gas powered pump and some hose is vital to take advantage of it.
I know from my buddy’s experience in Cali a couple years ago that wildfire moves FAST and can quickly enter and destroy even suburban residential areas. He had the proverbial 15 minutes notice from the sheriff to grab his shtf and go. He sent the family on ahead, and stayed to grab what he could. It was days before he knew if he’d have a home to return to. I’ve told the story elsewhere, but the takeaway was – be prepared to bug out, even if you wouldn’t normally – have written lists – prepositioned stuff elsewhere helps a lot. Lastly you might not have thought about family recipes, wedding photos, or the family Bible. If it’s important to you, it needs to be on a written list.
The news reporting on your fire is slim but the pix I’ve seen look devastating. Stay safe.
nick
He’s just a blowhard con artist and carny barker with his own money, that’s all,
Careful, words like that will keep you off my invite list for the 2017 coronation of my Lord and Master, The Mighty Trump ™.
Now that I’m confirmed to be TMT’s Chief of Staff, I’ll be on easy street syphoning off Mr. OFD’s bennies for my own pocket. Since Ofukstik is letting two disgraced VA execs back to work (after 18 months paid leave), I have no qualms about it. SOP.
Don’t forget, *fuck* the Vet!
Trump 2016! “At least we all know he is out to make more billions”
OFD won’t vote for Trump in 2016 but he’ll like him so much it will restore his faith in politicians enough to vote for him in 2020… 🙂
“Since Ofukstik is letting two disgraced VA execs back to work (after 18 months paid leave…”
I got into the wrong line of work when I got out from under Uncle; for some odd reason I didn’t want anymore to do with him back then. But imagine…actually finishing my original BS in Biz degree plan, going on to an MBA while working as a staff wallah at the VA office in Beantown…then moving on up (cue “The Jeffersons” theme) through the ranks, as it were, to one of those top exec jobs. Big money, many months of paid leave no matter how badly I fucked up or fucked over my fellow veterans, etc. With zero accountability and zero regrets. Onward!
“OFD won’t vote for Trump in 2016 but he’ll like him so much it will restore his faith in politicians enough to vote for him in 2020… ”
Good one! Ho ho. The only faith I’ll ever have in politicians is their innate ability to lie constantly and their insane lust for power at any price. And I’m willing to bet a sawbuck or two that the Repub hierarchy will find a way to torpedo that guy sooner or later and put their own RINO lackey in there, guaranteed to lose, of course, against Cankles.
And I’m willing to bet a sawbuck or two that the Repub hierarchy will find a way to torpedo that guy sooner or later and put their own RINO lackey in there, guaranteed to lose, of course, against Cankles.
Jeb is here to save the day!
IIRC Trump is the only wealthy political wannabe that is really his own money to finance the vast majority of his campaign.
Remember Trump is a Capitalist, well okay maybe falling into the Robber Baron league. So as I see it, only a very non-traditional non-politician has any hope of reversing our self-destructive course.
Time to clean house and that means the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches as well as the Regulatory Agencies of this Goober*ment.
Trump 2016
* From the Urban Dictionary, 10 words related to goober: goob, dork, idiot, nerd, goobers, loser, penis, cock, dick, dweeb
“Jeb is here to save the day!”
The last I saw of that jerkoff he was raving and ranting about saving the world from hadjis and still only in the low single digits; what a loser. They really haven’t got anybody; the rest of the RINO pack is WAY behind Chump. But they’ll find a way to do him, they’re pretty good at that sorta thing; those of us with long memories recall how they did Patrick J. Buchanan. What he said at that convention speech in Houston all those years ago that drove the establishment powers batshit is standard belief today; yeah, we ARE in a cultural war, fummamuckers!
“…only a very non-traditional non-politician has any hope of reversing our self-destructive course.”
I think we’re well past that now; our course is set for that iceberg regardless of which political hack or non-political actor comes to “power,” at least as that power is defined and delegated by the actual ruling junta.
“Goober.” Wasn’t Gomer Pyle’s brother named Goober? And wasn’t there a song once upon a time about eating goober peas? And weren’t those actually peanuts?
Yeah, we’ll clean house alright, when the tumbrils start to roll. But we can’t forget that the vast Leviathan bureaucracy stays in office THROUGHOUT any administration and continues indefinitely, with constant rollover of parasites.
“Goober” has a lot of meanings, none of which are politically correct today. It used to be a rather innocuous term.
Goober: basically a goober is just a kindhearted, rather oblivious goofball. it’s term of endearment really. it comes from the ancient scottish verb “to goub”, which has to do with doing a dance and smiling sheepishly while doing so, exposing the goubs in one’s teeth.
Today it follows along the 10 related words I listed, which fit our Goober-ment to a T. IMHO
I had a dream last night where the FBI finally brought charges and perp-walked Cankels, all after the deadlines had closed for anyone to be added to the Democrat Ticket. Wouldn’t that be a laugh.
WOW, my Daughter won the Lottery! $16 for 4 Powerballs (13 is her lucky number) and $3 in the WA State Lottery.
Not a great return on her investment, but better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick 😉
Congrats to your daughter, Mr. DadCooks; nineteen bucks, and no doubt she bought you a nice box of ammo with it.
“I had a dream last night where the FBI finally brought charges…”
Supposedly the Feebie Director said he’ll resign if charges aren’t brought against her. I’m sure they’ll be more than happy to take him up on that and good riddance to yet another troublemaker in the way of her historic and earth-shaking and wondrous run to her destiny in the White House.
So a good example of a goober nowadays…hmmm….yeah…any of the RINO candidates swimming distantly in Chump’s wake.
Time to clean house and that means the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative branches as well as the Regulatory Agencies of this Goober*ment.
@dadcooks, I see three years in a reeducation camp in your future when the Cankles administration starts ferreting out dissidents.
Regarding OFD’s experiences with dirty dishes being put away…
I guess y’all have heated milk in a saucepan, well a young woman who boarded at my house in the early 1990s never seemed to realise that milky scum was deposited on the bottom of the saucepan and had to be removed with a scourer. I’d often find saucepans in the cupboards, washed except the scum. Drove me nuts. She’s got two kids now, I wonder if they’re being brought up to be grots like their mum.
DadCooks wrote:
“WOW, my Daughter won the Lottery! $16 for 4 Powerballs (13 is her lucky number) and $3 in the WA State Lottery.”
Hope she doesn’t spend it all at once… 🙂
@lynn – I’m too old for reeducation. I’ll do my own reeducating of anyone who tries to trespass on my unalienable rights. @OFD would insert some Latin here.
@Miles_Teg – she is “reinvesting” her winnings today. She also learned something, that she should have used the “PowerPlay” option which would have tripled her Power Ball winnings. I reminded her that lightning does not always strike the same place twice.
Okay, time for a Dad story. About 20-years ago I had to go to a 5-day DOE run Nuclear Safety Seminar in Las Vegas. These were the days when there were still really good 98¢ buffets and free flowing drinks for the nickle-slot players. Long story short, over those 5-days I played just off two rolls of nickles. I won enough to pay for all my meals (ate better than just the 98¢ buffets), never had to pay for a drink, and came home $50 to the good. Plus we were paid a travel per diem rather than having to submit expense reports so careful spending meant I had more than some per diem left.
Does Vegas still have cheap but nice hotel rooms and cheap but good meals?
@lynn – I’m too old for reeducation. I’ll do my own reeducating of anyone who tries to trespass on my unalienable rights. @OFD would insert some Latin here.
Ah, you are in the “Avenge Me” phase of life. And yes, the original Red Dawn movie is one of my favorite movies.
Does Vegas still have cheap but nice hotel rooms and cheap but good meals?
The only way to get “cheap” anything is through some casino deal. You need to join the casino “slot club” to accumulate points for free this and that. Look for direct deals on the casino web sites. Most casinos will give you a coupon book when you arrive. Now is a good time to come.
For the cheapest buffets, you need to be off the Strip. Add 20% or more for everything on the Strip unless you has a casino deal.