Hot and humid, I’m sure. Yesterday had T-storms scattered around town. Nothing at home or where I was, but I could see them. Hot as blazes too.
I spent part of the day doing auction pickups. I scored some good preps to go along with the fishing poles and reels I got at the yard sale.
At one auction, I got 3 Mr Buddy propane heaters, 3 camelbak backpacks (two minis and one small), a small “tactical” back pack, a big box of fishing tackle, a cast (fishing) net, a really cheap weapon laser (<$50 retail), and some other odds and ends. I now have enough camelbaks for everyone in the family, in an appropriately sized backpack for a day hike, and ‘baks for more serious bags too. I’ve got one just for my Expedition now too, and I should have one just for the ranger as well.
One of the odds was a GunVault Micro. I use one for my Shield when traveling and thought it would be good to have another. I prefer the Mini for everything else. I’ve had the micro not open with the code if there was pressure against the clasp. It always opens with the key though. It’s a good size and shape to fit in a laptop sleeve which obscures it from the kids.
Another odd was a pool pump and filter- the kind for a small wading pool. I’ll test it, then put it up with the vinyl pool that I have “just in case” I need to harvest rainwater. It won’t purify water, but it will do a decent job of filtering out the big stuff. It was less than $16 and falls into the “unlikely but just in case” category. I can always use the pump by itself.
I picked up some stuff to help out my gun store buddy, which is always good, and a few more odds and sods for me. Not much to resell, but good cheap preps.
This particular online auction is mostly store returns and open box merch with some estate stuff mixed in. Go to estatesales.net and drill down to your town to see if you have any similar local online sales. Also try hibid.com. They have more local online stuff. If you treat it like a yardsale, and don’t pay too much, or buy cr@p you don’t recognize the quality and brand, there are bargains to be had. In general I paid 1/3 or less of retail, and so far, it’s been better than I expected.
I also had a chance to pick up some really inexpensive stuff one of my neighbors needs. It can’t hurt to be though well of by your neighbors. Help them out when you can, establish a relationship. Meatspace!
In closer to home news, today at after school care, one daughter got a (baby) tooth knocked out in the gym, and the other snipped off a piece of her knuckle with scissors during an art project. Second day of school. The YMCA that runs the after care didn’t have a first aid kit in the gym, and had to move all the kids together to where the kit was to treat my daughter. Lesson learned for the YMCA counselors I hope. You have two kits, one stays in the gym, one in the cafeteria, FFS.
On the other hand, for some reason, I’m out of knuckle and finger tip bandaids too. I’ll be fixing that later today. I think I threw out the ones I had as they were not Bandaid ™ and had lost their ‘sticky’. If I did, I completely forgot to replace them. Prepper and dad fail. From now on, I’m sticking with the brand name. And I need to go through ALL the kits and check adhesiveness and replace as needed.
Some ebay stuff to do today, and a couple of items to pick up, so I better get tuit…
nick
I’m looking for an apartment. A cheap apartment. I think I’ve mentioned that we’re moving to a house that we’re building – but that’s a long way from my job, so I’ll need an apartment for during the week.
I haven’t look for this kind of place since my student days, and I’m looking at the same kinds of apartments as students, the poor elderly, and low-skill construction workers. Definitely a strange feeling.
There’s a pretty severe housing shortage in the locations I’m looking at, so there’s a lot of competition among potential renters. On the other hand, if you were willing to go away from public transport and away from the center of town, there is a lot of stuff empty – and they’re throwing up new apartment buildings with wild abandon, which will also sit empty.
What’s weird: The empty stuff has the same price as the apartments in desirable areas. I’m sure that makes sense to someone, but surely not to me. In the town where we currently live, there are brand new apartments that have been empty since they were first build, 3-4 years ago. These buildings are generally owned by big insurance companies, retirement funds, and the like. My best guess is that they would rather wait for urban expansion to increase the value of their buildings, and don’t want to risk lousy renters trashing the place.
I just got back from looking at a fourth (US fifth) floor apartment in a historic building in downtown Olten. Near as I can tell from surfing, the building dates from around 1600 or so. Of course, there’s not much left of the original building, except (probably) the outer walls. It would be a fine apartment, but the interior stairway is steep, narrow and winding – getting furniture in and out would be quite the challenge. On the other hand, I have two 20-something sons as slave labor, so there’s that…
Holy cow, this would make a good list of what to avoid….
“CEOs of 181 major corporations including Amazon, Apple and J.P. Morgan say their new business focus is to ‘improve society’ rather than make money for their shareholders and maximize profits ”
n
Suck it whiners!
“Trump’s wall is WORKING! Two illegal immigrants are arrested after they tried and FAILED to climb over a newly-built part of the barrier at the Mexico border”
n
“Wall working”? Something here doesn’t make sense. If they didn’t make it over the wall, how is it that they were arrested by the US. And if they’ve been arrested and are being held in the US, then they made it past the wall.
Re the CEO statement: if you read it, it makes a lot of sense. It doesn’t say anything at all about improving society. Instead, it reads more like a commitment to get away from “next quarter’s numbers” and start think long-term. If you piss off your suppliers, exploit your employees, and cheat your customers: you may be able to make a great profit in the short-term, and bail out with your bonus.
Long-term thinking has been notably absent from businesses for quite a while now. This statement could be – maybe not, but could be – a much needed course change.
“a much needed course change. ”
Only if you believe in the things they’ve enumerated. Or that they don’t do those things already.
In any case, those things all might make good business sense, and human sense, but they are not why corporations exist, or were allowed to be formed. They exist to allow people to pool capital for the purpose of increasing it, by doing something together that they couldn’t do separately.
Most of the listed activities are detrimental to profitability in the short term, and a distraction from whatever business activity the corporation was formed to engage in. There are corporations that exist to further those aims, we call them ‘non-profits’ because we recognize that those activities and profits are usually exclusive. We call them ‘charities’ because that is what they are engaged in.
I think it’s probably also a cynical move to preempt some of the left’s talking points. The language speaks directly to the placards of the angry mob.
Let’s not forget, without the business activity, there wouldn’t BE any extra money to support those other things.
—
The border wall article is probably just poor reporting. I think the bad guys crossed one barrier before getting stopped. The wall is well on our side, so if you get to it, you’ve already entered. My main point from the link is WALL! The one that wasn’t being built, and wouldn’t work anyway, is standing right there. Call it a ‘primary border barrier’ if it lets you save face, but it’s what we meant when we demanded a wall.
I used to live in San Diego. When I first moved there the “decades old” wall wasn’t there. People would line up at dusk to make the illegal crossing, already dressed for work in restaurants, carrying lunch boxes. They’d swarm across while the agents could only watch. Enforcement moved north of San Diego, and was primarily meant to protect LA. That changed when the old wall was built. Hopefully, it will continue to stop the invasion.
n
@Nick: Indeed, the key question is if they mean what they say, nothing more and nothing less.
I do agree that corporations are there to provide a way for joint investment. The thing is: many corporations are being run for the benefit of top management. Short-term goals, leading to massive bonuses, then hop to the next corporation, rinse and repeat. Meanwhile, those same top managers sit on each others’ corporate boards, and they protect each other. As often as not, the majority shareholders in big corporations are other big corporations (or banks, or investment trusts – it’s all the same thing), being run – again – by that same 1%.
If they actually cared about long term corporate value – as they should, for the actual benefit of the shareholders – their policies would be different.
Just as a minor example: a company that my wife used to do business with would offer her substantial discounts to move her orders forward by a few weeks. The goal was to get a big order in this quarter, and not in next quarter, so that they would make some arbitrary quarterly goal. If the discount was big enough, and she had the cash – why not? But all they did is cannibalize next quarter’s numbers, and give away a chunk of money. For their shareholders, it was stupid.
Or the IT outsourcing game: I’ve seen this at a number of big companies now (always at a safe distance, thankfully), and I’m watching it play out at a big insurance company just now: New CIO wants to earn his bonus. Outsources IT to India, saves megabucks. This is where this particular company currently is, but I already know the rest of the story: the CIO will leave as soon as he has proven the massive savings – probably at the end of the next full financial year. Those savings will justify a whopping bonus, but he’s got to get out before the disaster hits. The next CIO will get to clean up the mess, bringing IT support back in house in time to soothe the pissed off customers and demoralized staff. Depending on the pain tolerance of the company, this whole cycle will take somewhere between 3 and 5 years, and will cost the company (and hence, the shareholders) tens of millions, possibly even hundreds of millions of dollars.
It would be nice to see more long-term thinking. Of course, I’m naive to think that these CEOs actually mean what they wrote in that statement.
Corporate ‘rebranding’ is a huge waste of shareholder value too.
In theory, all the bad behavior would be punished by the shareholders and the board. I agree that it’s not being punished for the reasons you cited. When they take you down to the stream where the money flows, and hand you your own bucket, you dip it in, not throw it way. And so it goes.
But- only in good times can anyone afford the sort of waste those activities entail. And only until the upstart, lean and mean, focused on the goal of selling widgets, comes along. Then they are Dicks Sporting Goods, or Gillette.
n
Well, that’s weird. The little tool that strips out unnecessary whitespace in posts with this template was doing some unusual things today. It rendered my post as a wall-o-text, despite lots of paragraph breaks. The ‘visual’ editing tool showed the breaks, as did the ‘text’ tool, but only the first couple survived the tool.
I tried several combinations of single and double breaks, but the tool removed them all.
So I tried adding some spaces to one of the blank lines from the paragraph breaks. That did the trick.
The weird part is, I didn’t do anything different from normal, but got different results. I hate when that happens.
n
@Nick
Re your ‘pioneer prepping tools’, a super common tool used in India is like cross between a pickax and an adze, with a full-length handle and minus the pick. Think of a hoe with a heavier, slightly curved, and slightly wider 7-8″(?) blade. It’s perfect for digging farrows or skinny trenches.
Maybe we have the like here, but I`ve never see one. Don’t know what they call it.
You ought to post your eBay store`s address. You come across some good finds and I don`t think it would constitute commercial infringement or that anyone would mind.. Or send it to me via gmail cooleyjim.
And don’t forget an anvil!!!
I finally found one and shoulda/coulda wish I’d had one going back years and years.
Thanks Jim, I’m going to look into that tool. I use my folding shovel (GI entrenching tool) almost exclusively when doing some small digging around the house. I set the shovel blade at 90 deg and swing it like an ax. A mattox, or a pickax is very common for below ground contractors, but I think both are too heavy unless you have rocks and need them. The mattock is skinnier than you describe.
An adze is similar to what you’re describing, but usually has a shorter handle and is used for woodworking not digging… although I suppose it could be used for digging.
I don’t post my ebay account, mainly because I still think of myself as a caretaker here, and because it is easily linked to my real life. I am trying to keep my kids and family from being the top search result when searching for ‘nick flandrey’. It won’t help against three letter agencies or 4chan, but is an additional barrier to normal nuts.
n
Anvils, yes! And every farm had a home forge for simple blacksmithing work. Anvil, forge, vise, hammers and tongs. You can do a lot with those simple things.
n
It’s a mystery. Um, gangs?
“Sister of school teacher, 24, who was shot dead in her truck next to her five-year-old son and boyfriend says it is a mystery as to why she was killed as gunman remains at large
Nancy Magaña, 24, was shot and killed while sitting in her truck near Delmann Heights Park in San Bernardino, California, at about 2am Saturday ”
–I guess it’s hard to date when you have a 5yo, but to keep a kid out at a restaurant and bar until 2am, then go to the park and ‘watch the submarine races’ shows the same poor judgement that led to a single 19yo getting pregnant in the first place.
—
It’s nice when TPTB drop all pretense….
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7374953/Naked-woman-sparks-outrage-twerking-Ferrari-Ibiza.html
“Once they are identified, the police will determine which rules were violated and the punishment they should face.”
–probably if the guy is a ‘somebody’ it will be quickly forgotten or a slap on the wrist. If he’s a wannabe or gangster or foreign, he’ll get more charges. She’s almost certainly going to be treated harshly, both by TPTB and by the public.
—
“Man, 18, ‘flew 2,000 miles from Nevada to Kentucky and showed up at a school with a bag of rose petals to kidnap and have sex with a 16-year-old girl he became obsessed with marrying after briefly talking on an app four years earlier’
Benjamin Margitza, from Las Vegas, is charged with felony attempted kidnapping and criminal trespass in Hebron, Kentucky
Officials say Margitza met a girl on now-defunct staring contest app called Flinch four years ago
Earlier this year, Margitza allegedly began send the girl sexually explicit messages and talking about marriage
On Monday morning, Margitza showed up at the girl’s school in Hebron, Kentucky and grabbed her, but she screamed and ran away
Victim’s male classmate intervened and blocked Margitza’s way, allowing the girl to run inside the school building for help ”
–kudos to her classmates for helping
–4 years ago she was 12, (and he was 14). And WTF is a “staring contest app” anyway?
— he’s clearly not right in the head, but notice the use of “man” instead of “teen” or “youth”.
— she divulged enough info that 4 years later he could find her in real life, her phone number, and her social media.
–kids, the internet is forever.
n
Benjamin Margitza, or Mr Margitza, or, if we strip out some unneeded letters, MrAtz, seems like a deranged creep. And he’s from Las Vegas. Just sayin’…
Benjamin Margitza, or Mr Margitza, or, if we strip out some unneeded letters, MrAtz, seems like a deranged creep. And he’s from Las Vegas. Just sayin’…
Hmmm. If you strip out the Steve from SteveF and add uckyou.
That’s a black helicopter he flies.
Whoops.
https://www.npr.org/2019/08/20/752695554/23-texas-towns-hit-with-ransomware-attack-in-new-front-of-cyberassault
Backup your data. And then know how to restore the data. Small town IT will continued to get nailed by ransomware, I’d bet.
From @greg yesterday:
First worlders won’t enjoy it, except for the few at the top.
Americans don’t realize what they are going to be competing against. I’ve seen a taste of it with my Taiwanese in-laws.
The ~ 200 million Number One Sons who I expect will show up here will be decently education and driven, staked by families back home in order to establish places for the rest of the family to show up and live. The elbows will be *very* sharp, especially in desirable areas like California.
The people who vote Prog think they’re going to get Medicare on the level of their parents and reap the benefits of mass immigration in the form of $40/month maid, nanny, and gardener services.
The Progs have a plan for you, and, in a generation, the top 20% of income in the US will be completely replaced with a more pliant group of voters.
My in-laws see American politeness as a weakness. I made a mistake being polite in WA State during our sentence -er- tenure, but I woke up in time to get us the h*ll out.
You are wrong on that 200 million first son figure. It will be 100 million first sons from China (with 200 million relatives) and 100 million sons from South America (with 200 million relatives). The USA will be overwhelmed.
Went to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Half the exhibits don’t work. Hope that is not typical of the people working the space program. Apollo control room tour was OK, not that impressive. Was going to take the rocket tour but have done that at Huntsville. Lots of rain, as in couple inches an hour as we were getting ready to leave. Got drenched on the walk to the vehicle, then had to drive up to the front to get the wife.
Then left for Conroe to visit nephew. On and off rain showers on the journey. Looks like rain outside now. Such is south Texas. And humid, really humid.
Here tonight then off to Bridge City, the border between Texas and Louisiana, tomorrow for the night.
Went to the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Half the exhibits don’t work. Hope that is not typical of the people working the space program. Apollo control room tour was OK, not that impressive. Was going to take the rocket tour but have done that at Huntsville. Lots of rain, as in couple inches an hour as we were getting ready to leave. Got drenched on the walk to the vehicle, then had to drive up to the front to get the wife.
Sorry about the trip being a bummer. Yeah, without the Galileo, the exhibit hall in Houston is a bit empty. My wife and kids amused themselves chasing Pokemon.
In general, Kennedy is the better experience. The vendor puts a lot more time and money into the exhibits, especially the Saturn V show, and the shuttle on top of the 747 at Houston left Florida to make way for the Shuttle simulator ride building expansion which put Atlantis on display.
(Atlantis smells … odd)
Dunno if you caught that the City of Webster paid for the MOCR restoration, not NASA or Space Center Houston.
You are wrong on that 200 million first son figure. It will be 100 million first sons from China (with 200 million relatives) and 100 million sons from South America (with 200 million relatives). The USA will be overwhelmed.
Nah. The wealthy South Americans are all waiting in line at Toy Story Mania at Disney in Florida so they can have the once-in-a-lifetime experience of exiting the ride with bored looks on their faces wondering what the fuss was about.
Seriously, though, beyond Venezuela, living standards for the wealthy in South America are pretty high, and the countries aren’t trying to feed/clothe/house a billion people. The incentive just isn’t there to spring for Number One Son to live in the US as middle class when life isn’t bad at home for the rich.
Seriously, though, beyond Venezuela, living standards for the wealthy in South America are pretty high, and the countries aren’t trying to feed/clothe/house a billion people. The incentive just isn’t there to spring for Number One Son to live in the US as middle class when life isn’t bad at home for the rich.
I am not talking about the wealthy in South America. I am talking about the people that stand on street corners in Honduras and the police come by and shoot them because they are “not needed troublemakers”. They are getting money from Soros and friends (see Open Society Foundations) to come across Mexico in these caravans. The caravans are getting put together right now and will resume in October when the temperature drops. If the caravans are not stopped then they will multiply rapidly. It is dangerous in the Honduras when the police themselves shoot people for just existing.
“Annual U.S. refinery runs expected to decline for first time in 10 years”
https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=40933
We are going to shutdown more refineries in the USA. We are below 100 refineries now and still dropping. It was 275 (IIRC) refineries in the USA twenty years ago.
Just fewer points of failure in a very complex supply system. We have built two new refineries in the USA in the last five years (Texas / North Dakota) and are talking about building two more (Texas and Arizona).
I did catch that little bit of information from the display. There were also some private donors. The big displays were static and did not change during the landing sequence that was replayed, disappointing.
May go there next year. Huntsville was in general good but the Saturn V display was outstanding. The displays on the sides of the exhibit wall were excellent. I did not realize there was an instrument ring between the second and third stage that provided significant control logistics of the rocket during the launch.
I was also disappointed in the discount offered by Houston for veterans, a miserly two bucks, same as senior discount. Bah humbug.
“A.F. Branco Cartoon – Seeing Red”
https://comicallyincorrect.com/a-f-branco-cartoon-seeing-red-2/
“How will “Red Flag” laws be implemented? Many people feel these type of laws can be easily abused and turned against law-abiding citizens. Political cartoons by A.F. Branco ©2019.”
Yup. A red flag will be issued upon voting for a conservative.
“In general, Kennedy is the better experience.”
May go there next year. Huntsville was in general good but the Saturn V display was outstanding. The displays on the sides of the exhibit wall were excellent. I did not realize there was an instrument ring between the second and third stage that provided significant control logistics of the rocket during the launch.
Kennedy spent serious money on their Saturn V about 15-20 years ago, building an enclosed air conditioned shelter for the rocket along with a pre-show theater simulating the launch experience inside the firing room, complete with original consoles (viewed from much closer up — better photo opportunities — than MOCR) and rattling windows.
If you’re in the area for Disney or a cruise, it is worth the side trip.
Just fewer points of failure in a very complex supply system. We have built two new refineries in the USA in the last five years (Texas / North Dakota) and are talking about building two more (Texas and Arizona).
Lots of NIMBY combined with the need for skilled labor which is a little hungry.
Still, something is going to have to give with the CAFE stupidity which will basically eliminate cars most of the population can afford. The oil companies are obviously hedging their investments given what is going on in the US and further advanced in the EU. Lots at stake in the next election.
Closer to home, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Mayor Nirenberg declare an intent to make parts of San Antonio EV only by a particular deadline. Mayor Adler in Austin is just as brain dead, but making Austin EV only would be more challenging politically.
Generally, if I must, I visit Walmart on Sunday mornings before 9am. The party types are home hung over and/or asleep, the religious types are at church – it’s almost empty.
Today, however, I was in town on other business in mid-afternoon and decided to check on their stock of TV stands for the spare bedroom. There wasn’t anything I liked so I headed out.
As I was exiting two young ladies were entering. Out of the corner of my eye I saw one punch the other in the mouth, and that person give the first a shove that sent her sprawling. Voices were raised and I kept walking. From the parking lot I could hear other voices yelling for security…
Don’t be in stupid places, don’t be around stupid people.
Huntsville has the Saturn V, horizontal, in an enclosed building with A/C and many additional exhibits. Impressive machine.
That would be nice to see. The ones in Alvin are lit, but the displays never change during the entire presentation. A couple of the big screens change but that is it.
The tour guide was very adamant that everyone be quiet as the ISS was still being operated from the building. Any excessive noise and supposedly the staff would throw us out, emphasized a couple times by the guide.
Pffftttt, that covers most of the U.S.
The tour guide was very adamant that everyone be quiet as the ISS was still being operated from the building. Any excessive noise and supposedly the staff would throw us out, emphasized a couple times by the guide.
I imagine that the stairwells echo, but the building is pretty solid. I don’t think that building has ever been evacuated for a storm.
I got that impression. I also suspect the building is highly shielded. Appears rather mundane from the outside, nothing fancy on the inside. Functional, as it should be. Room was smaller than I thought, screens were bigger than than I thought. Amazing room for certain with a lot of history that should be preserved by the federal government.
I worked on a project across the hall from the backup shuttle control room in Maryland… it was old pcs on folding tables.
n
Gov. Gruesome will not be allowing any new ones here.
Just fewer points of failure in a very complex supply system. We have built two new refineries in the USA in the last five years (Texas / North Dakota) and are talking about building two more (Texas and Arizona).
Gov. Gruesome will not be allowing any new ones here.
California is not going to let any more refineries shut down either. They are already importing too many refined products and the pipelines are full.
Still, something is going to have to give with the CAFE stupidity which will basically eliminate cars most of the population can afford. The oil companies are obviously hedging their investments given what is going on in the US and further advanced in the EU. Lots at stake in the next election.
Oh don’t worry, Fauxcahontas is going to give each one of us a new Tesla. The illegals get theirs first though.
The decline is well underway.
“Medieval diseases lurk in LA: 124 cases of Typhus are confirmed amid fears bubonic plague is infecting homeless on filthy streets
Homelessness in Los Angeles increased by 16 per cent in years 2018-19
The explosion of new people has caused sanitation difficulties, attracting rats
Typhus travels on fleas from infected rats, cats and opossums to humans
Symptoms are nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, stomach pain and rashes
Fears the filthiness of LA streets could bring back medieval ailment the Plague”
Oh don’t worry, Fauxcahontas is going to give each one of us a new Tesla. The illegals get theirs first though.
I prefer Mark Steyn’s alternative name for Warren, Crockajawea.
Warren as the nominee would be a butt kicking of Mondale-esque proportions. CA and MA. Maybe OR and WA. New York would go Trump.
No one really wants to vote for a scold outside of her home state. OR and WA are full of scolds.
Driving home today, the news on the radio had the story that the Castro idiot polls high enough to appear in the next debate. The dynasty isn’t dead … yet.
Speaking of homeless…currently in Seattle. Went to Pike’s Market. Homeless on every corner on the way. Ganja smell everywhere. Leaving tomorrow for Othello. Back to SEATAC and off to Orlando on Saturday.
I read the SF city council voted to eliminate bottled water from the airport. Imagine the loss of money on $2 a bottle for 50cents investment. I’m glad we don’t have any work in SF. Last time I was there, I was a Captain/O-3 in the Army. It wasn’t a shithole then, just liberal.
I’ve got a cracker group in China, Taiwan, Algeria, Ecuador, Belgium, Kazakhstan, and Iraq trying to crack the security in our software since last Friday. They are using the serial number “dont@use.commercial” on version 15.15. They used to use the serial number “primes@are.good”. It would be funny if they were not so dedicated. Many, many, many crash messages.
Several of them have their email addresses embedded in the crash emails (I am not telling how, trade secret). I have been tempted, so tempted, to ask how they are doing.
Speaking of homeless…big fire in a homeless encampment visible from the freeway. Lots of black smoke from two or three derelict RVs. Difficult to tell from a distance but it looked like the fire people weren’t putting water on it. Given the near certainty of propane canisters present I doubt the chief will let his men get close.
Not to mention plague and typhus.
My poor little desert town.
Speaking of homeless…currently in Seattle. Went to Pike’s Market. Homeless on every corner on the way. Ganja smell everywhere. Leaving tomorrow for Othello. Back to SEATAC and off to Orlando on Saturday.
SeaTac still a wreck?
Rhetorical question. 🙂
We didn’t get our regular trip to Orlando this summer. Instead, my wife is headed to Tampa next month for continuing ed towards her Florida license.
Sigh. I need a trip to The Beefy King. And some Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza.
http://beefyking.com/