60F and damp, but not raining yet…
Really doesn’t feel like a new year yet. I guess once the kids are back in school it will hit me. That’s tomorrow by the way. Still home today.
Wife is working, so I better get her breakfast ready 🙂
n
Mon. Jan. 7, 2019 – feels weird
60 Comments and discussion on "Mon. Jan. 7, 2019 – feels weird"
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Wife returns to work after 16 day holiday. Why do so many not go back until Tuesday or Wednesday? They all get another this month for MLK day. What a racket. Paid too.
Back when I still worked for the “man” I never took extra time off from Thanksgiving through New Year’s Day. All the problem/useless people did and it made for six weeks of pure joy at work. I got at least three months of work done in that time so when everybody else was dragging in I would take a couple of weeks off to let the kerfuffle die down.
I, unfortunately, had to take phone calls and answer emails because I was considered “essential” and far too many managers and supposed “senior” engineers couldn’t find their butts with two hands. I kept a log/journal of all the calls/emails and the time involved because I got “comp time” for time worked from home.
Comp time, what a scam. When I worked for BigCorp salaried employees supposedly got comp time. This was informally managed thru the LA office because the official policy was “work your 40 and go home”. The Canadian office paid overtime, or enforced time off. Just try to get your 1000 hours of comp time when you separate from the company….
About the only way I’ve ever seen comp time work was when you had very ‘bursty’ schedules, and a much bigger parent org. Like a college department that has long hours only a few times a year….
n
About the only way I’ve ever seen comp time work was when you had very ‘bursty’ schedules, and a much bigger parent org. Like a college department that has long hours only a few times a year….
We have comp time where I currently work in theory, but I’ve never received the rundown from management about how it works.
My 25 year-old female co-worker did get the briefing, but management sees her as the future whereas I’ve always been a temporary necessity in their plans.
We have comp time here, but I don’t use it. We are payed every 2 weeks, and our company allows us to flex time during the 2 week pay period. For example, I can work 50 hours during week 1 and 30 during week 2. Since I work on a gov contract, I have to record my hours daily. Technically I am salary, but I can work overtime (straight pay.) The requirement is you work 40 hours and overtime is approved in advance. We have plenty of funding, so overtime is automatically authorized.
One of the reasons I’m still at my present employer is they are very flexible with the schedule. They didn’t bat an eye when my son’s carpool situation changed and I had to start doing some afternoon pickups. I also like the flexibility of being able to go to appointments during the day. I can make up the hours any time during the 2 week pay period.
Countdown to SCOTUS nomination—-
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, misses Supreme Court sitting for the first time EVER after cancer surgery to remove lung growths last month”
n
Um, ya think?–
“Is your home becoming TOO connected? Experts warn smart gadgets are creating a ‘decentralized surveillance’ system as gadget makers unveil their latest products”
From yesterday, @ech replied to me:
@Lynn. Season 2 of Stranger Things is also really, really good. I’m looking forward to Season 3, July 4, 2019!
Good to hear that ! I watched the first half of the first season two episode last night before I could tear myself away. Looks like the entire cast including Winona Ryder came back for season two.
I forgot to mention that “Stranger Things” is kind of a cross between “The Goonies” and the “Alien” movies. You have been warned.
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, misses Supreme Court sitting for the first time EVER after cancer surgery to remove lung growths last month”
The only reason she hasn’t retired with all her medical problems is: ORANGE MAN BAD! Maybe she sees the writing on the wall, she’s not gonna make it two-six more years to save the FUSA. Enjoy your remaining time with your family.
My book “Light Blink – Book One” is done – and available as a Kindle ebook, and a paperback (via Amazon). The book is here https://amzn.to/2Rw1ZyY . It’s also available as a Kindle Unlimited book, which makes it free if you are part of that. The paperback is a ‘Print On Demand” via Amazon and CreateSpace (bought by Amazon).
The story is not a post-apocalyptic story, although there are some traces of that. It’s partly a ‘fantasy’ or ‘alternate universe’ category; or maybe a non-space science fiction story. It was interesting to write, though. Even if it took me several years to complete.
If anyone here wants a free copy of the ebook (mobi or epub format), you can email me at rhellewell at gmail dot com . Let me know which format you want. Although if you have Kindle Unlimited, get it via the link, as that counts towards my KU ‘pages read’. I may do some temporary promotional pricing.
There is a companion web site: https://www.LightBlink.com which I built using “CSS Grid” techniques (which was a new experience for me). CSS Grid, if done properly, lets a site adjust to the different ‘viewports’ (displays/devices) automatically.
I used the Atlantis word processing program to finish the book (it started out in Word, but Atlantis reads/writes docx files). Atlantis has some good ebook-creating features, in addition to being a full-featured word processing program. They have a 30-day full-feature demo available, and the cost is only $35 (with free lifetime updates). (Although the process of creating a Kindle book is fairly easy with the KDP tools.)
So, I am quite pleased that I got the book finished; at least the first book of the series. It was getting too long to be a single book – Book One is almost 100K words, and 262 pages long. Book Two is at 20K words at the moment. The only problem is that I am not exactly sure how the story ends.
“Light Blink” is actually the second book I have published as an ebook. The first one was “Digital Choke’. It was written back in 2011, which is why it contains quaint terms like ‘modem’ and similar terms. Sales of that one are in the low 2 digits. But if you want to take a peek at it, it’s here: https://amzn.to/2LV4Fkm . Also available free via Kindle Unlimited.
“The government shutdown is far worse than we even imagined”
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/the-government-shutdown-is-far-worse-than-we-even-imagined-24399/
I have no idea what to think about this. On one hand, people are constantly going in the ditch due to bad personal circumstances and bad personal decisions. On the other hand, many ? most ? people do not maintain any kind of savings for bad days.
The oil and gas sector is going in the ditch again. We are the victim of our own successes. Inventions and methodologies have found more oil and gas that we ever thought existed or was recoverable. The USA is energy sufficient again and will be for a long time, barring any kind of craziness. As a result, many of the entrepreneurs who have brought this cheap energy and wealth to us are on the border of bankruptcy.
Countdown to SCOTUS nomination—-
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, misses Supreme Court sitting for the first time EVER after cancer surgery to remove lung growths last month”
That’s the political payola seat on the modern court, but I doubt that the Democrats will honor the choice the way the Republicans did with Ginsberg and Byron White.
Chances are that Trump owes a politcal favor to someone who will promote a candidate who is moderate to mildly conservative, but every nominee is toast in the current environment.
Congrats, Rick!
I kind of question either the word counts or the page count — 10k words on 262 pages is only 40 words per page. Formatted for the vision-impaired, perhaps.
Listening to another surveillance on a drug dealer.
They remarked that his phone was back on, after being off for months.
— if you’ve used it once, they’ve got you– words to the wise for any upcoming unpleasantness….
They are intercepting his phone calls in real time, and now following him on the ground and from the air. His ‘stash house’ looks like a normal working class home in a normal neighborhood.
n
at the moment, the target is slow rolling thru his neighborhood, zig zagging thru block after block. Probably looking for a tail, but not looking up at the sky 😉
@SteveF – whoops….it’s 100K words, not 10K. Slight difference. Fixed.
And thanks!
xkcd: “Marsiforming”
https://www.xkcd.com/2095/
Why ?
For the explanation:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2095:_Marsiforming
“Elon Musk is building himself a Hugo.”
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DwKIR5EWkAAqDuW.jpg:large
“This is currently under construction down at Boca Chica. Its a testbed for the engines to be used in the BFR, now renamed ‘Starship’.”
Heh.
Looks totally cool. Reminds me of the spaceship from “When Worlds Collide”.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0044207/
@Avennati: Take your necktie to the cleaner’s and ………
@Feinstein: Get ready to leak that memo.
Remember when the girl popped up out of no where with sudden allegations? Then disappeared after doing the hit?
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-01-07/alabama-dems-used-russia-style-false-flag-facebook-ad-campaign-hurt-roy-moore-nyt
And thus endeth the experiment in representative democracy in America….
n
The effects of the shutdown… It’s one of those situations where I have a very different view of the individuals as opposed to the overall picture.
It’s like the African migrants flooding Europe: For any particular individual, including people I know personally, I feel for them. All they want is a better life, and a chance to send some money back to their families. They have my sympathy. However, above the level of individuals, we have entire populations on the move. These populations are unskilled and uneducated – nearly unemployable – meaning that they will expect to live off of our social system. Worse, they come from cultures that are fundamentally incompatible with Western values, as evidenced by the criminality and violence these groups bring.
I can sympathize with the individual, but still reject the group.
So, government employees and contractors, furloughed without pay. Even if you have savings: what do you do? First, because you hope to be reinstated, you probably don’t start looking for work. If it goes on long enough, and you do look for work, well, there are hundreds of thousands of people in the same boat – far too many for the labor market to absorb all at once. So, unless the shutdown is short, they are screwed, and they have my sincere sympathy.
But there is the larger picture: A government spending like a drunken sailor, even during “good times”. Handing out benefits to too many people who have failed – indeed not even tried – to make anything of their lives. Printing money, effectively borrowing against the population’s assets – which is just another kind of debt. What cannot go on, must end.
This shutdown, like every shutdown in the past, is a huge opportunity to get rid of hundreds of thousands of government employees, possibly millions if you include the contractors. They’re “non-essential”? Then be rid of them, and the non-essential programs they represent. Because the other choice, kicking the can forever down the road, has a much uglier end.
If I were able, by fiat, I’d declare all the unconstitutional agencies null and void and put them all out on the street.
This would cause MASSIVE disruption, as it’s millions of .gov trough feeders, and most probably are incapable of real competitive work.
Want to cut some fat from the budget? Housing and Urban Development. Education. Health and Human Services. Axed. 90 days to wind down any ongoing business, then done.
Want more? Pretty much any of the “temporary” agencies from the great depression, and the Great Society. Any program that attempts to control pricing by buying excess or creating shortages by controlling supply. Any program that has moral clauses to control spending, ie- using Federal Highway funds as a cudgel to bludgeon states into raising their drinking ages. Any program that benefits fewer than 100 businesses, or 1000 people.
Any of the rest of the cabinet agencies that aren’t specifically mentioned in the Constitution.
Just a start….
n
Good start. We’d wind up paying them unemployment for a while, but that would wind down. But then what? That would be a MASSIVE bump in the economy. What will people do?
For one thing, they won’t be sympathetic to illegal workers anymore when they’re looking for work themselves…. that alone would be worth it.
n
Oh, SNAP, again!
https://www.theorganicprepper.com/cant-process-food-stamp-payments-due-to-govt-shutdown/
Living in Vantucky, I got to know the schedule which the local Winco used to mark down the meat close to the date at which they had to remove it from the store. Even in a metro with 25% of the population on food assistance, I was the only non-hispanic face in the meat department of the store on those mornings.
Things will get bad in Vantucky when the cards stop working at Papa Murphy’s.
things will get bad everywhere. It will be extremely hard for the Dems to keep up the pretense they are on the side of the poor and hard working if that happens though.
“You can’t eat because we want MORE low cost labor and useless eaters and won’t build a wall, because TRUMP!!”
Not sure that even the willfully blind could miss something like that.
n
Countdown to SCOTUS nomination—-
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 85, misses Supreme Court sitting for the first time EVER after cancer surgery to remove lung growths last month”
That’s the political payola seat on the modern court, but I doubt that the Democrats will honor the choice the way the Republicans did with Ginsberg and Byron White.
Chances are that Trump owes a politcal favor to someone who will promote a candidate who is moderate to mildly conservative, but every nominee is toast in the current environment.
Trump will nominate Amy Coney Barrett. The word on the street is that Trump wanted to nominate her to replace Kennedy but was talked into nominating Brett Kavanaugh and holding Barrett for the Ginsburg replacement.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy_Coney_Barrett
Judge Barrett is a devout Catholic and has seven kids. She is a founder of a Catholic society. Dianne Feinstein has already hated on her Christianity in the Senate.
ADD: One wonders what lies and tricks the dumbocrats will try on her.
Important in that particular case in the article, it’s the new owner’s need to get their paperwork approved that is holding up the SNAP acceptance, not any particular problem with SNAP processing.
This Christmas one of her classmates gave my daughter a ‘build it yourself’ Gingerbread House as a gift. The receipt was still in the bag and showed that it was purchased with SNAP. The family in question is living in an apartment while their custom home is under construction. While a gingerbread house is technically food, it sure wasn’t edible. And anyone who can build a custom home can certainly afford groceries… just sayin’.
n
Turn about is fair play. They should illegally immigrate to Honduras.
Two things about this–
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6566133/Man-charged-murdering-father-Malibu-campsite.html
First is the DailyMail following up on a previous story- the guy who was shot in his tent camping on the beach. One of the reasons I read a tabloid is that this one ALWAYS follows up.
Second is the use of the word “survivalist”. NO ATTRIBUTION at all, no reason to use this word, except to conflate it with “crazy” and “dangerous”. It sounds to me like the guy was homeless, not a survivalist. I have noticed this usage in the news for the last year or two. I think it’s battlespace preparation by TPTB.
n
added- after reading eight stories from local to the arrest media, both at the time of his initial arrest and later when charged with the murder and attempted murders, the closest you get to ‘survivalist’ is a speculation that he ‘may have been living and surviving in the area’. BTW, convict, with history of burglary and weapons violations, out on parole….
Trump will nominate Amy Coney Barrett. The word on the street is that Trump wanted to nominate her to replace Kennedy but was talked into nominating Brett Kavanaugh and holding Barrett for the Ginsburg replacement.
I get the strategery involved there. Interesting. Payola for Pence, most likely, to start, but some deep thinking is taking place if Trump nominates her.
But they will still have enough money for smokes and booze. Most probably spend $200.00 a month minimum on smokes and booze. I see it in the stores. Big basket full of expensive groceries, paid with a food stamp card. Then a supervisor has to come over and ring up the cigarettes and beer paid for with cash. Supervisor is required because some cashiers are not 21 or older.
It’s all about how they report their income. Probably not married, one person makes the money, the other makes nothing or very little. Typically the mother claims head of household with limited income and thus gets food stamps, rent money and utility money. Rent a room from the parents of the partner for $1.00 a month and pocket the rent assistance and utility money. At least until the next cigarette or beer run along with a couple of lottery tickets. I know of several families in this area that are living that way.
It’s all about how they report their income. Probably not married, one person makes the money, the other makes nothing or very little. Typically the mother claims head of household with limited income and thus gets food stamps, rent money and utility money. Rent a room from the parents of the partner for $1.00 a month and pocket the rent assistance and utility money. At least until the next cigarette or beer run along with a couple of lottery tickets. I know of several families in this area that are living that way.
The guys with two to four wives around here do this too. He is not married to any of them legally, just in a religious ceremony. The wives all file for food stamps, etc.
I can feel some bit of sympathy for the low wage contractors but have none for those whose check comes direct from the Treasury. Articles I’ve read in the past intimate that Fed workers make at least 33% better wages than equivalent private sector jobs and the benefit package is certainly gold plated. Any that haven’t squirreled away a coupla months expenses for the irregularly scheduled but certainly predictable theater of a “shutdown” deserve what they get.
I’d also be wearing a BFG if 3/4 of the cabinet went the way of the dodo. Cut defense 50-75+% too. SSA/Medicare/-Aid would still sink us.
Interesting.
big part of that chart labelled “income security”, which must be welfare and related…
n
ADD: One wonders what lies and tricks the dumbocrats will try on her.
We can only hope the Redumblicans show some spine this time. Before tRump is gone.
Ok, a Shower Thought…..
A couple of months ago I put mud flaps on the truck. Eh, almost $40 from eBay. To install the rear flaps I had to jack the truck and pull the wheels.
I’m not 40 anymore. Twenty inch tires are heavy. Very heavy. I’m guessing 75 pounds. I can pick the wheel/tire assembly up enough to get into the truck’s bed. But sitting on my butt and lifting it an inch onto the wheel studs? Nope. I don’t have the arms. Getting the wheels back on the truck involved letting it down a bit so I could hook a lug bolt and then jacking it up.
Ok. So if I have a flat on the side of the road it’s just going to be worse with sloping muddy ground. But I can do this. Will be sweating like a pig, but.
Now the Shower Thought part. I have a Glock 22. .40 S&W. It fits me. Ah, point and shoot and tin cans don’t stand a chance.
So if I’m beat and sweating like a pig, if someone stops to “help” themselves to my stuff, my aim is going to be off. Hollow points don’t count if you miss. I need to Google, but is there .40 rat shot?
Just a thought.
The guys with two to four wives around here do this too. He is not married to any of them legally, just in a religious ceremony. The wives all file for food stamps, etc.
Another area of law where Texas differs from most other states is in common law marriages. He may actually be married to them all by Texas statute, and every marriage subsequent to the first is illegal.
A couple of months ago I put mud flaps on the truck. Eh, almost $40 from eBay. To install the rear flaps I had to jack the truck and pull the wheels.
I bought the mud guards for my new car thinking the job was similar to my Ford install 25 years ago. Bzzzzt. After watching the YouTube video showing drilling into bodywork, I made an appointment at a Toyota dealership and let them handle the work.
I have a somewhat cheap .22 revolver. It’s a ladies gun, my little finger waves in the air. 🙂 It works great for shooting ‘coons in the trap. Not so good for snakes in the chicken coop. I use .22 rat shot for the snakes. One and done almost every time.
That’s why I thought of .40 rat shot.
Yes, I had to drill a few holes in the edges of the fenders to install my mud flaps.
For replacing corroded battery terminals, I recommend these from McMaster-Carr:
https://www.mcmaster.com/7980k53
No soldering needed, and no crimp tool; you tighten a nut into a tapered hole to clamp down on the wire. There are different sizes for different wire gauges; the above link is to just one size. Also, positive and negative terminals are of different diameters, so pick the right one.
Hey, I like that ! I wonder if I could drill a hole in my current battery clamp plate and connect that plate and the other three wires to that bolt ?
I bought a battery clamp crimping variant from the Autozone last night kinda like this:
https://www.mcmaster.com/69645k56
My rigged positive battery terminal clamp is still working just fine. In fact, so fine that I got the three new battery terminal clamps in the mail from McMaster and am just going to throw them in the Expedition tool box for now. You know, just in case.
@hcombs, did I miss an update on the wife ? Hopefully she is doing much, much, much better.
It begins. Newsom/O’Rourke 2020.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Gov-Gavin-Newsom-governor-inaugural-speech-brown-13514913.php?t=6c49ce5a9d
“Democrat Beto O’Rourke Plans Solo Road Trip to Meet Voters Outside Texas”
https://www.wsj.com/articles/beto-orourke-plans-solo-road-trip-to-meet-democratic-voters-outside-texas-11546900932
And so the two year nightmare starts …
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
It begins. Newsom/O’Rourke 2020.
https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Gov-Gavin-Newsom-governor-inaugural-speech-brown-13514913.php?t=6c49ce5a9d
Dude, you beat me by seven minutes.
Dude, you beat me by seven minutes.
I expected Newsom to start making noise this week. His money and media people helped Robert Francis and (guessing) MJ Hegar here in Austin.
Licensing “Mr. Blue Sky” probably wasn’t cheap.
Nice stunt with Newsom’s toddler running out on stage during the speech.
The Democrats won’t win running the 70-somethings against Trump. Newsom will be 53 in two years, but the young family gives the impression that he’s about the same age as Robert Francis.
Things are getting sporty in Deutchland
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/01/breaking-german-conservative-afd-politician-beaten-near-death-in-bremen-political-assassination-3-days-after-afd-headquarters-bombed/
@paul
https://www.brownells.com/ammunition/handgun-ammo/shotshell-ammo-40-s-w-88gr-shotshell-prod43035.aspx
I assume this is what you’re looking for. OOS right now, but it clearly exists.
Congrats Rick..
I’ve purchased the book and it is added to my list..
Spent a little time and fixed an audio signal generator that I picked up somewhere…
I put it on my o-scope, got nothing out, which led to testing the o-scope with another generator. Like PCs, you need n+1 to keep n running. Part of the process of cleaning up my office is making sure my stuff works as I rearrange it.
I ended up reflowing a bunch of solder joints, and that solved the problem. (heated them up with flux, added a bit of solder, what the cool kids call ‘reflowing’.) It didn’t take too long, my solder iron is set up all the time at my desk anyway. And I was doing other stuff on the PC while messing around.
Also cut a vinyl name sticker for my daughter’s new chromebook, and some id tags for it.
Got the electronic lock off the safe I bought last month, got it open, working, and with a new combo, so I’ll be able to get that safe locked as soon as I get it in place. Getting it into the garage is a whole ‘nother project with about 6 prerequisites….
They were super minor things, and not at the top of the priority list, but I got them DONE. Sometimes you just need some successes to bolster the other efforts.
n
(oh and as a data point, the chicken for yesterday’s InstantPot curry was in the freezer since 2012. Costco bulk pack, vac sealed, and given the deep sleep at 0F. Perfect in every way.)
I realize it doesn’t match the image that most people have, but on our visits across the border we are always struck by how nice and friendly the Germans are. Reading about the AfD attack in the German press, most of the comments – even from the left – are about how such actions should be condemned.
It’s been more-or-less quiet on the immigration front, lately. The AfD has the problem that Germans are basically nice: in the absence of uproar and problems reported in the media, AfD tends to lose popular support.
Mr. K: Thanks for the purchase! I hope that you enjoy the story.
Let me know what you think. Reviews are good too. (Hopefully they are positive. But I can take the abuse — I’ve had teenagers!)
Things are getting sporty in Deutchland
That’s a bad place for things to get sporty.
Doubly so considering that Monsanto is now part of IG Farben -er- Bayer.
Thanks Mark. I have the same in .22.
Doubly so considering that Monsanto is now part of IG Farben -er- Bayer.
California has declared Monsanto’s number one ??? product, Roundup, a herbicide that works in conjunction with genetically engineered crops, to be cancer causing. California is going to bleed Monsanto dry and into bankruptcy.
@hcombs, did I miss an update on the wife ? Hopefully she is doing much, much, much better
Don’t really want to talk about it. Yesterday she was told to prepare for surgery to take a dialysis machine. Apparently she has to have a shunt put in a vein and recovery from that takes about 3 months. Her kidneys are less than 50% and not getting better. This is a major setback.
I don’t know what to say. “Hugs” is pretty stupid….
Thinking of you and her… that’s all I know
Don’t really want to talk about it. Yesterday she was told to prepare for surgery to take a dialysis machine. Apparently she has to have a shunt put in a vein and recovery from that takes about 3 months. Her kidneys are less than 50% and not getting better. This is a major setback.
I said a prayer for both of you. For her to get better. For you as her caregiver.
My wife has been the caregiver for our daughter for a decade now. It is incredibly stressful.
@harold, that’s tough news. One of my dear family friends from childhood swore that she’d never put up with dialysis. She’d been borderline for years and years. I saw her when I was home dealing with my dad, and she looked bad.
Long story short, she crossed over ‘borderline’ and started dialysis. She feels much better now, much closer to her ‘old self.’ She hated the idea, but the result has been good, and she’s glad she’s done it.
I hope you have a similar result.
nick