Cooler and wet.
Yesterday was hot and humid until the big front blew through later in the day. Finally got the rain in earnest, about 1.32inches according to the gauge. It was 67F when I went to bed.
Didn’t do much all day. Woke up feeling beat up, and with the pressure changes, most of my joints were aching and my hands were like paddles. Some days are just a pain.
Dinner was hot dogs and whatever greens I could find in the fridge. Dessert was the last of the birthday cake.
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Today is the day we put aside to remember our dead. Veteran’s Day we celebrate and thank all those who have served, but today is for remembrance of those who gave all…
ARLINGTON, VA – MAY 27: Mary McHugh mourns her dead fiance Sgt. James Regan at “Section 60” of the Arlington National Cemetery May 27, 2007. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)
Light a candle, raise a glass, smokem’ if ya’ got em’, but spend a short while in remembrance.
Absent friends.
nick
I think back to those men who stormed the beaches on D-Day where they had to know that half of them would perish. To imagine the bravery, dedication, and balls of those men is just overwhelming. Many of them not having departed their teen years. Compare to the sniveling little snot monkeys today who need safe places and grief counselors when their pizza is short one pepperoni.
I’ve been considering getting some in-ear headphones. Ars Technica has a nice review of Google’s new entry: “Pixel Buds 2”. They sounded nice enough that I wondered where you could get them. Turns out that, at the moment, they are only available on the Google Store, and only in the US.
But something about the page bothered me. I mean, aside from the crappy design with too many pictures and scroll effects. The pictures. Something about the pictures. Hmmm… A gay women, lots of asian women, one or two mixed-race women. Only one guy, who is carrying an asian girl on his back. None of the women have children. I looked at another page for a new product (Pixel 4). Much the same: All women (mostly minority) except for one lonely guy, who again is carrying a girl on his back. Again, none of the women have children.
Basically, the pages look like a progressive manifesto. It certainly doesn’t represent any sensible demographic: not the US population, not the people who buy the latest tech toys. Does this really sell product? It is more important to score political points, than to appeal to your target demographic? Does scoring political points actually sell product, even though some of us find it irritating?
A post asking these questions on Ars was, of course, immediately downvoted into oblivion. Thou shalt not question progressivism.
Memorial Day, we remember the men who served with our son in the 3rd LAR who gave their lives in battle in Iraq in 2006:
Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus
Lance Cpl. Anthony E. Butterfield
Cpl. Adam A. Galvez
Lance Cpl. Jason Hanson
Lance Cpl. Shane P. Harris
Lance Cpl. Randy L. Newman
Sgt. Christian B. Williams
Seaman Chadwick T. Kenyon
A series of articles I compiled about their experiences, taken from military published accounts. Links to Parts 1 through 5 are in the first post. Be sure to read the comments, for some of their fellows have commented over the years and added their own testimonies to the events.
https://pecancorner.blogspot.com/2010/05/mettle-of-honor-part-i-heroes-of-3rd.html
OTOH, sixty percent of the enlisted men in the US military are now Millennials.
Not all of them are pepperoni bawl-babies.
Fairly common theme everywhere. If the white male is to be included it is mostly by accident.
Ever notice that every news show now has a female desk reporter. And they are not white. Have to be inclusive. Notice also that any new report about an alleged crime against a black person is always done by a black reporter. As if white reporters, asian reporters, latino reporters, etc. are not able to the same, ahem, objective reporting as a black reporter. I also notice the news will also interview the most racist black lawyer they can find to get an “objective” statement.
I personally don’t give a rat’s hind end the color of the skin. Give me competent, objective reporting without bias and especially subliminal racial bias by choosing reporters for stories based on the color of their skin. I want integrity, honesty, and accurate reporting.
Jerry Pournelle often posted this on Memorial Day.
We memorized In Flanders Fields for 7th grade English. I still remember it by heart 50 years later. Thanks for posting it.
@brad:
Several years ago I bought these headphones:
https://www.amazon.com/Bluetooth-Headphones-Waterproof-Sweatproof-Cancelling/dp/B07PBS21V8/ref=pd_sbs_23_2/144-4032177-9308729?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07PBS21V8&pd_rd_r=abf9b67e-986c-4b9e-8ec0-53943a938387&pd_rd_w=s9uPc&pd_rd_wg=YIAXe&pf_rd_p=12b8d3e2-e203-4b23-a8bc-68a7d2806477&pf_rd_r=0FQNZEZ293EDYN36KD12&psc=1&refRID=0FQNZEZ293EDYN36KD12&tag=ttgnet-20
Very happy with them. They hold a charge and have bluetooth so I can play them from my watch.
In re Bluetooth headphones, how hard is it to sychronize audio with visual, say, for watching movies? When they are out of sync by even a fraction of a second it drives me batty.
Memorial Day, we remember the men who served with our son in the 3rd LAR who gave their lives in battle in Iraq in 2006:
Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus
Lance Cpl. Anthony E. Butterfield
Cpl. Adam A. Galvez
Lance Cpl. Jason Hanson
Lance Cpl. Shane P. Harris
Lance Cpl. Randy L. Newman
Sgt. Christian B. Williams
Seaman Chadwick T. Kenyon
Wow, similar occurrences. My son served in the 1/7 Battalion in Iraq in 2006 and 2008. His first deployment, they lost four men in two situations. One of the men survived in the blown up Humvee and still lives at the burn unit in San Antonio as far as I know. My son has visited him a couple of times.
The other situation was an Iraqi turncoat soldier in their FOB (Forward Operating Base) who shot and killed a US Marine in my son’s platoon who surprised him messing with the base generator. My son had to shoot the Iraqi, it took him years to get over that. He also came back from that first deployment with multiple concussions. But he came back from both deployments. He left the Marines Corps in 2009 but was still in the inactive reserve for another four years.
Got the lawn mowed. Working on the garage org . . .
93F in the sun, so humid.
n
All of Anchorage’s ‘official’ Memorial Day ceremonies were cancelled.
A couple hundred people gathered with a DIY ceremony. It was perfect.
-added-
“The mayor will not be joining us” -sustained applause-
around 23 minutes. I couldn’t find off Facebook but doesn’t look like you need account to access. Love the grin on speakers face.
https://www.facebook.com/politadick/videos/2708221376089394/
Yesterday my wife and I rented a power washer to blast the crappy old paint from the deck, along with the mold in the spots where the sun never hits. Of course, when I say “we” I mean that I did 90% or so of it. To be fair, controlling the nozzle when it was blasting away was a strain for her whereas I could do it one-handed.
Then, since we had it, we washed the siding of the house and a couple other things. Annoyingly, washing away the moss (?) on one section where the supergenius /sarc contractor had built up one of the plant-growing mound thingies right up against the house — I don’t know jack about landscaping or any related subject so I don’t know any of the terms — anyway, when I washed away the green growing stuff it revealed that the next row up looked pretty grubby, so I did that, then the next, then the wall around the corner, then …
That’s why I usually never clean anything except dishes. Once you start cleaning something, something else always looks dirty by comparison. What you should do is never clean and let everything reach its natural level of grubbiness and clutter. If you can live with that, congratulations! You never have to clean again.
So anyway, that’s what I was doing yesterday. Today I took away The Brat’s computer for lying about something (related to work she was supposed to be doing on the computer, when in actuality she’d been screwing around; this wasn’t an arbitrary punishment) and when she somewhat got over the sulking we did a chemistry lab. (From RBT’s book, cooking the water off of epsom salts.) We’ll do the writeup in a bit.
Go SteveF.
I need to power wash a couple airline crates and a 24×24 small animal wire cage today. I like power washing. It’s satisfying watching the dirt flake off and go flying.
Sort of like when I shower.
I have my own pressure washer. I use it to clean the concrete around the pool. Generally takes about 5 hours. Do it once a year in the spring. I also do the driveway once a year In the fall and that takes 7 hours.
re the chemistry lab, I just had Selene compute the molar weights of Magnesium Sulfate Heptahydrate (ie, epsom salts) and of Magnesium Sulfate without the water, then compare the ratio of those to the before and after heating masses of the stuff in the crucible. The ratio came out just about perfect.
I’m left scratching my head, wondering what to do next. Normally when I have her write the lab report a large part of it is expected results compared to actual results and a list of possible error sources. This report will have “What went wrong? Not a thing.” Hmm. All I can think of is to have her list what might possibly have gone wrong but by dumb luck didn’t today.
Jenny, I made four points* in my previous message. To which were you cheering “Go SteveF”?
* Cleaning things, philosophy of not cleaning things, punishing The Brat, and doing a chemistry lab.
@SteveF
Calculate the weight of water driven off by heating a known quantity of gypsum. Compare expected results with experimental results. Note the history of quicklime and plaster of Paris; historical lesson: the evolution of concrete.
Bonus points: how many tons of quicklime needed to fill a mass grave containing 100 covid victims.
Wife’s out in the yard working on kid1’s bike. I’m taking a break from the garage.
I put a kickstand on my bike. Found it in the box o bike parts that I hauled out for my wife’s repairs….
It’s ok in the shade, with a breeze. Not so much in the sun.
n
I love using the pressure washer. It is SOSOSOSOSO satisfying…
I wash my western red cedar fence and recoat with Thompson’s Water Seal about every two years. It makes a huge difference in appearance, and the Thompson’s helps with longevity. Fence’s aren’t cheap.
n
Pressure washers are fun – for a while.
I last used mine to clean off the car. It sits outside in our Olympic Peninsula WA weather. The car paint is black, and you can really see the green moss tint on the lower parts of the car. The power washer gets rid of it. Although I need to do it again, because I missed a few spots. (I used the proper pressure setting so it doesn’t blast the pain.)
Also used it on the back porch a couple of years ago. Wood, with outdoor deck paint, came with the house. We’ve been here 6 years, and parts of it are flaking again. I used an outdoor desk paint with primer, but still some bubbling/flaking 2 years later. Looks like this summer’s project. Have to wait for a long stretch of dry days to allow the wood to dry before painting it. Sometimes takes a while to find a stretch of sunny days here in WA.
Took a day trip to Kreuz Market in Lockhart with the plan to leave if it was crazy. The place was pretty subdued, with lots of social distancing and masks so we stuck around. Beef prices are through the roof, however, so brisket was $24/lb. Yikes!
Buc-ee’s in Luling on the way back was a madhouse. We pushed our luck there. That was as risky a situation as I’ve been in for the last two months. Caldwell County doesn’t have a large number of cases, but Buc-ee’s is in a high traffic area, right off I-10.
Sometimes takes a while to find a stretch of sunny days here in WA.
August.
“Husband of ReOpenNC leader says he’s ‘willing to kill people’ to fight government control”
https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/local/article242971806.html
“Beshear hanged in effigy as Second Amendment supporters rally at Capitol before Memorial Day”
https://www.courier-journal.com/story/news/politics/2020/05/24/second-amendment-supporters-protest-covid-19-restrictions-capitol/5250571002/
It is getting spicy out there. These are fringe groups but the majority of the people feel the same way.
Hat tip to:
https://drudgereport.com/
It is getting spicy out there. These are fringe groups but the majority of the people feel the same way.
People are beyond fed up, especially in states with Dem control freak governors.
Compounding the situation in KY, Governor Beshear is another pol with Daddy issues.
Compounding the situation in KY, Governor Beshear is another pol with Daddy issues.
Oh gosh, the dumbocrats seem to have a plethora of these.
Is it just me or is the SARS-COV-2 death rate dropping in the USA ?
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/
I know that 500 deaths per day in the USA is still horrible but, it is much better than 2,000 deaths per day.
Oh gosh, the dumbocrats seem to have a plethora of these.
The Republicans have Mittens and Murkowski among others.
And George P. Bush is still on schedule to sit in the Texas Governor’s mansion one day, even if he’s keeping a lower profile as Land Commissioner this term.
At Ars? Heh. When 85% of the editors are watermelons (green on the outside, red in the inside) and the remainder are “apolitical”, what do you expect? All the fans comment on how good the article is and hammer any questions or comments with dissent. I long gave up on going to the comments. It is a waste of time.
There are some areas that are actually well covered there. It is unfortunate that they are biased when the topic “allows” it….
Related, when a forum has a rule of “no politics, no religion” but it’s enforced in only one direction, and always the same direction. (By an odd coincidence, this is the same direction that 99% of election fraud goes in.)
Wet and cool here in Oklahoma.
I took great granddaughter to the park in the morning before the rain started. She was thrilled. It was the first time she had been outside since early March. The park was strangely deserted except for a couple walking a dog. She’s been under strict Mississippi lockdown and is amazed that life goes on for the rest of us. Water parks usually open after Memorial day but this year are delaying til June 1. Good plan as it’s still too cool, 70s, to enjoy a water park.
A liberal friend took exception to the images of protestors wearing camo and carrying rifles. I told her these were simply posers and not dangerous. It’s the rest of us who wear work boots and jeans and carry concealed that are the real threat to communists.
Our pool opened for the season. Swim team practices are starting tomorrow. I do not think we will be participating this year, as there are no meets anyway. The kids will suffer for losing the practice swimming and the exercise though.
Local neighbors reported that the pool was not busy at all, with only a few people in the water and well separated.
n
Well there’s your mistake right there.
“It’s the rest of us who wear work boots and jeans and carry concealed that are the real threat to communists. ”
–that’s what I think whenever I see anything on other blogs about getting ‘training’ in small unit patrolling, or any sort of “army lite” messing around in the woods in camo. If it comes to a shooting war, it’ll be people in street clothes in populous areas against whatever uniforms TPTB bring in to ‘enforce order’.
n
Spent a while with the kids and wife shooting arrows at the target tonight. Skeeters were out in force, but we had a good time. I like using the ‘youth’ bows. We can shoot at a target only 20 ft away. We don’t need the whole yard, or to worry so much about backstop. It’s a lot of fun.
n
Our pool opened for the season. Swim team practices are starting tomorrow. I do not think we will be participating this year, as there are no meets anyway. The kids will suffer for losing the practice swimming and the exercise though.
The practice would be good for next year’s swim meets ?
Or keeping their heads above water if we ever go swimming again. Swim team was the single biggest factor in their improvement swimming and confidence in the water.
n
Or keeping their heads above water if we ever go swimming again. Swim team was the single biggest factor in their improvement swimming and confidence in the water.
Being able to swim competently is something that every person should know how to do. 71% of the earth’s surface is covered by water.
What a weird lie for our local paper to tell. They state there were over 400 people at the Memorial Day ceremony organized without benefit of government aid.
The aerial pic they posted was taken about halfway thru,I can see my bright blue coat at a particular spot that we moved to midway. We counted maybe 150 midway thru. The number of attendees was stable, we were walking around and counting. The aerial shot certainly doesn’t show a huge number of people, nothing remotely close to 400.
Who does the lie benefit? Or are they really that incompetent?
https://www.adn.com/alaska-news/anchorage/2020/05/25/unofficial-memorial-day-observance-draws-hundreds-to-downtown-anchorage/#4295
Those are two salient questions.
To answer the second question first: yes, they probably are that incompetent. As in: whoever wrote the article is probably incapable of looking at the photo and realizing that the 400 is wrong.
But, and this is your first question: where does the 400 come from? Someone came up with that number. Who, and why? It could be a stupid and harmless reason, or it could be something insidious.
where does the 400 come from?
Hmm. 400 wouldn’t be an outrageous exaggeration in a typical year. Could be sloppy reporting rather than anything sinister. We have a terrible paper.
Here’s a better article.
https://mustreadalaska.com/by-the-people-and-for-the-people-a-memorial-day-observance-like-no-other/
@lynn, 25 May 2020 at 14:49,
Thanks for sharing your son’s story and that of the other heroes he served with. God bless them all, God bless him. Our country is in good hands as men like him and the others of their generation come into their own.
@jenny,
You might be surprised which number is wrong. I took the photo into paint, added a dot per head, and man/woman/child, and I count 326 +-5.
One was over, one was under, about the same margin of error.
I used to work in live events and counting crowds is hard, and very counter intuitive.
You are, however, right to be suspicious of the number, always. And any picture from low, that doesn’t show the density.
n
Wow Nick – I am hugely surprised. It felt like a small dog show in terms of crowds, and was certainly smaller than past events.
The photos don’t reflect it but “in person”, family groups were maintaining good distance, mostly. The sound system was poor (not a complaint, pulled together in two days when most businesses are closed) and that eventually drew folks in tighter. Some good speakers who were not windbags. I much preferred this home grown ceremony. It was genuine.