Rained all day Wednesday, mostly light drizzle with occasional heavier and lighter moments. Today will probably be similar, with temps in the high 60s or low 70s and more rain. I have plenty to do indoors…
Which is where I spent yesterday. I got a bit more cleaning and organizing done, and sorted paper for a couple hours. I should be able to power through the tabulating and aggregating that I need to do to get the taxes done.
I spent the evening watching a bunch of auctions close, including my “industrial” guy, with several of my lots listed. I was worried about the description on the lots that I was counting on to bring in the most money, but the buyers were smarter than I thought and it was fine. Everything else brought minimal money though. I am definitely seeing lower prices in the auctions now. SOME items, notably store returns and damaged packaging, are doing well, but the normal ‘estate’ stuff and ‘surplus’ stuff is very cheap. Had a chat with one seller and he thinks more people are discovering the auctions and are buying for their own use. It was mainly resellers for a long time. Buying for yourself, you can afford to pay more than a reseller, who has to make money on the item when HE sells it.
The resellers will have to shift gears or find a new supply in order to stay in business if retail buyers keep driving up the prices. I’ve seen it before in the surplus auctions. New money comes in, prices go up, because they are still far below retail and the new money thinks they are great, but eventually the new money stops buying or learns what the price SHOULD be, ie. lower.
The exceptions to the low prices are anything gun related or precious metal related. If it’s been in short supply, the auctions are satisfying the demand with some supply, and people are willing to pay for the privilege. Although I have to say, while there is still some oddball ammo showing up, and it sells well, there isn’t as much as last month. There are VERY FEW guns of any sort coming up lately.
My feeling is, more people are moving into the ‘secondary’ economy, shopping thrifts, estate/garage/yard sales, auctions, and other non-retail options. More people are moving into the ‘secondary’ economy on the sell side too, looking for a side hustle, or as a primary income source, or as just a way to feed their addiction to shopping. I’m seeing far more street vendors around my neighborhood, and in the places I drive through too. If you’ve been in a third world city, you know the ones- cheap flashy stuff to give to a date, flowers, water and sodas or “cocas”, mysterious food hanging from sticks hawked on street corners, clothes or shoes on tables in the parking lot of a closed business… and a lot more food trucks all over town. This is in addition to the used tire shops, the corner fruit stands, and the little kiosk places to do phone unlocking, card loading, vape refills, etc. All the cheap pleasures and necessities of daily life at the lower end of the economy.
We are well on our way down the slope, and yes, there IS ‘a lot of ruin’ in a country, ours especially, but absent something out of left field (benevolent aliens?), we’re on the slope, and the pace seems to be accelerating.
Think hard about what that might really mean for you, and your dependents. Then do some prepping. And stacking. Always stacking.
nick
67F and drippy outside. Looks like it might clear though.
Hope so.
n
““It seems to hold true no matter what!!!! Conservative girls are just better looking… maybe that’s why the libs are always outraged for no reason,” Trump Jr. wrote with a photo of Levine (who looks like a busted can of biscuits) next to Jenner.”
Genetics plus the best plastic surgeons in the country.
Plus, the theory at our house is that Jenner hasn’t done the final surgery.
The weather geeks in the media are way too eager for some bad event to happen in Central Texas this week. Yesterday, my wife went to watch something TiVo-ed Tuesday night, and most of the hour-long recording was the former Oklahoma storm chaser Chief Meteorologist on the CBS station preempting the normal schedule with 45 minutes of narration over radar coverage of a possible tornado chewing up farm land in some far flung county at the edge of the station’s viewing area.
The local Faux News station didn’t have anything about a tornado on their 10 PM newscast later that evening. Just flooding.
Slow news week. Austin is moving the homeless into various city parks as part of the trick embedded in the ‘camping ban’ voters passed last month, but, for now, the neighbors are “showing compassion”.
I’d love to see statistics on what percentage of trans women, who have the means to, have actually gone all the way and had the downstairs done. It certainly raises questions about the level to which they identify as women when they have the means to have it done but have not. Upstairs doesn’t count as it is so easily reversible.
Who is Jenner dating? Men or women or both?
I’d love to see statistics on what percentage of trans women, who have the means to, have actually gone all the way and had the downstairs done. It certainly raises questions about the level to which they identify as women when they have the means to have it done but have not. Upstairs doesn’t count as it is so easily reversible.
Who is Jenner dating? Men or women or both?
Women IIRC.
Means doesn’t automatically get someone cleared for surgery in a program in the US. My wife had patients who did the overseas route because they could not clear the psychological screening.
Means does buy better pastic surgery, but, again, that only gets you so far. Levine had a background with money also.
During our tour of the BioSphere several years ago, the tour guide said they grew enough coffee beans for members to have a cup a week.
On one of my many trips with the USAF the group I was with went bar hopping at night. We wound up in one bar with some really good looking “women”. And it wasn’t just the light or the booze as I didn’t drink while in the service and haven’t since. One of the guys, married (scumbag), and was making out with some “lady”, getting hot and heavy.
Suddenly he quit, gathered all us together and said we were leaving immediately. Leave the drinks, bolt for the door. Turns out it was transgender bar, or whatever the term is, and all those good looking “women” were actually men. I asked how he knew as they looked good to me. His response “I grabbed a handful of balls”.
I’ve heard that’s fairly common in Thailand. It’s actually quite the fetish there. Top half is a woman and the bottom half is male. What’s shocking is that many are rather attractive looking “women.” They’re certainly don’t fit the “she-man” look that so many American trans do. Makes you wonder how many tourists have gotten a “favor” or two and, to this day, still have no idea it was a dude.
This reminds me of a scene from Crocodile Dundee.
More people are moving into the ‘secondary’ economy on the sell side too, looking for a side hustle, or as a primary income source, or as just a way to feed their addiction to shopping.
I’ve seen a lot more outright garbage show up in boxes sent from newbie EBay dealers in the last few years. They are either counting on the return being a hassle or prevailing in a dispute arbitrated by the auction site.
A lot of retailing will have to be releared the hard way.
MS sunsettting IE. Who would have thought it possible just a couple of years ago. Past time for that bloated, non-compliant POS to go, and every .gov website that requires it too.
@lynn’s gonna drool over the electric F150…
Just now getting vax??
and Kate still not? Hmmm.
n
Can you imagine how much that thing weighs? All the lithium makes it a bomb on wheels.
Wills is in the age cohort that has just become eligible for NHS vax. He’s 38. That said, Kate is 39, but I would point out that age cohort is not the only criterion – as witness the fact that I got mine weeks before my wife did.
One should note that, unlike certain others that I could name, “Do you know who I am?” appears not to apply here.
G.
MS sunsettting IE. Who would have thought it possible just a couple of years ago. Past time for that bloated, non-compliant POS to go, and every .gov website that requires it too.
Sunsetting for the general public. Big customers, including the Federal Government, will continue to see support and patches when necessary.
Got my Apple AirTags. Four of them. From China. In three days. With government approval of course.
Neat little devices. Attach to something you want to find and the iPhone can locate the device to within inches. Works better in a densely populated area as more iPhones are available to keep track of the token. The way I understand the workings is the device uses Bluetooth to report location by using other people’s iPhones to report back to Apple servers which then sends to location to the owner’s phone.
At least the battery is replaceable, standard CR2032. Supposed to last about a year.
There is where a conspiracy theorists jumps in and says the royal family got the vaccine 6 months ago and the one he just got for the sake of PR was really saline.
A FB friend is an attorney at a large litigation firm. Last Friday, his firm got a brief on one of the cases, where their client is being sued for supposedly causing damage to a street last year. They had to respond by Monday, so he worked all weekend.
One of the exhibits in the plaintiff’s brief was a picture from Google street view showing the damage. Except they found that the picture was taken in 2019, well before the damage could have been caused by their client. The plaintiff’s attorney is asking for mercy. Heh.
OK, fine. You can now edit your comments after you submit them.
Thank you! I shall of course use the power only for good and never for evil!
I will not make that promise.
When I was doing construction/install work, I’d take a 360 series of photos at the end of the day in the room where the work was happening. Saved us from an expensive back charge when some damage was blamed on us. The photos, which they didn’t know about, clearly showed the damage as pre-existing.
n
@lynn’s gonna drool over the electric F150…
“The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup looks like brawny, battery-powered bargain”
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2022-ford-f150-lightning-electric-truck-reveal-specs-pricing/
“Available from around $40,000 before incentives, this EV looks like a huge deal, and it’s not just the price that makes it a potential gamechanger.”
563 hp with the 300 mile battery (150 kwh) ! All Electric F-150s are 4×4.
My Dad just jumped on the order list. I told him to get the 300 mile battery and the 230 volt panel so he could use it to power his house.
My F-150 with the 35 gallon tank has a 600 mile range. I wonder how I get that in the electric F-150 ?
@Nick,
Thanks for the wellness check. Yes, I am still here and doing well, sort of; my joints continue to deteriorate, so mobility is more of a problem each day.
The wife, daughter, and I have been “fully vaxed” for some time now. My son had to wait until his company was declared “essential.” They make custom/specialty wheelchairs.
Both kids are still working from home with no changes in sight. They are fortunate that we have excellent internet and “in-house” (me) computer support.
I’ve kept busy with my model railroad hobby (Z, N, and HO scales). The Z scale is becoming a real challenge as my sight is slowly deteriorating, and my hands are not as steady. Growing old is not fun.
@Ray Thompson, your story about a USAF “buddy” getting a surprise at a bar sounds just like an experience a “buddy” of mine had while in the Navy in the early 1970s. The young “kid” who took up on the offer by the “girl” got a life-changing experience.
I hope you all are doing well. Take care and enjoy what you can.
@lynn’s gonna drool over the electric F150
Can you imagine how much that thing weighs? All the lithium makes it a bomb on wheels.
No smoking.
@chad:
I did say “appears”, so possibly. That said, I’d suspect elected politicians to be more likely to try that – “But I’m important”
G.
Pull a generator. I am guessing the vehicle has a towing receiver.
I guess I was lucky. I was probably 10 minutes away from a life altering experience. He, shim, thing, whatever, whom I was sitting next to was really good looking. And I had not had a drink so it wasn’t a vision problem. Unless you count the glasses fogging up.
@dadcooks, glad to hear from you… we were starting to get nervous.
EVERYONE! If you are taking a step back from commenting, or going radio silent, let us know! We do notice and care.
I have boxes of HO scale railroad stuff in storage. I loved messing around with it when I was a kid, and hoped that it would be part of my kids’ childhood, but it didn’t work out that way. Now I just get my fix around Christmas, and by watching a couple of guys on youtube…
Everard Junction — nice layout, skilled builder, running sessions. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpOcgNqc3JFMhR2L3hHd4ww
Luke Towan — awesome modeling, not much train running anymore. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjRkUtHQ774mTg1vrQ6uA5A
I had some N scale rolling stock in boxes but sold it. This week I found some N scale track in the bin at goodwill… HO makes sense to me, for some reason N never looks right.
n
This is in addition to the used tire shops, the corner fruit stands, and the little kiosk places to do phone unlocking, card loading, vape refills, etc.
I’ve been listening to my David Allen Coe CD for the blues. One of his songs talks about his Dad buying junk cars and stripping the parts from them in their front yard. His Dad sold the used tires for a dollar or two each, cash. WARNING: there is a trigger word (N!) in the song that I wish he had passed on. 50 years ago, people used that word casually down here in the South and I hated it then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhEHB0a7Uyg
And then there is “Hank Williams, Jr. – “A Country Boy Can Survive””
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cQNkIrg-Tk
“how to get kicked out of the gun range in 10 seconds”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51HjuUDK-5w
Bump gun.
My F-150 with the 35 gallon tank has a 600 mile range. I wonder how I get that in the electric F-150?
You don’t.
Plus you can fill the tank in less than 10 minutes and get another 600 miles.
Ford had the right idea with the hybrid, but that was in the pipeline going back to Mulally.
In red China the replaceable battery electric car is still extant. Here’s a video of a 1m battery replacement for 200 mile range:
https://insideevs.com/news/507098/geely-battery-swapping-china-video/
I have the impression that there are two or three competitors in that market over there.
Huh. A bunch of California Quail just walked by the office window.
There’s a 50mph windstorm going on, I didn’t bother to put bird feed out today. They’ll scratch for yesterday’s, they are good at that.
For now, I’m sticking with my Tile Pros. The Bluetooth range is what I wanted for traveling and tracking our dogs. When testing, they beeped every time at 100′ and are supposed to work out to 300′. The premium service gives you “fencing” and left behind (I dropped that since I hardly used it). Same price as the ATs and have replaceable batteries.
I will get a 4-pack of AirTags to play with (and renew my ticket to “Elysium” when the TEOTWAWKI Barackalypse hits).
My F-150 with the 35 gallon tank has a 600 mile range. I wonder how I get that in the electric F-150?
You don’t.
Plus you can fill the tank in less than 10 minutes and get another 600 miles.
Ford had the right idea with the hybrid, but that was in the pipeline going back to Mulally.
Wait, I forgot about the Ford F-150 range extender patent.
https://www.caranddriver.com/news/a34277725/ford-f-150-range-extender-ev-pickup-patent/
In red China the replaceable battery electric car is still extant. Here’s a video of a 1m battery replacement for 200 mile range:
I have the impression that there are two or three competitors in that market over there.
Sure, that kind of design is possible, but those cars are not capable of “Ludicrous” speeds or out-towing a conventional 1-ton pickup.
Those Chinese companies will be operating here within five years, including setting up manufacturing facilities, if WA State doesn’t back off its mandate that only EVs will be sold in the state by 2030.
Ray, when I said I don’t do much image processing, I meant both quantity and the amount done to each picture. In the film days, I did a lot of slide shooting of stationary scenes, and learned to compose using the camera because I couldn’t do any cropping. I also did other things, such as control perspective and exposure, although in those days I had to sometimes resort to bracketing. Those habits carry over to today.
Much of what I do is illustrative: all the way from architectural to small objects. Most of my corrections are perspective and cropping, something I couldn’t do in the film days without a view camera.
I also photograph quilts for my wife’s quilt guild. These are some of the most difficult subjects I have worked with. The fabric needs to be flat, and the edges need to be straight. Most of the editing is manual, with corrections applied to each picture. Tedious. I don’t have a permanent studio setup, but probably won’t use one because some of the pictures are submitted by members, with the expected variations. Editing someone else’s writhing is difficult; editing their photos is even more challenging.
Regarding Google Street View, Alan got it. I meant that Google makes older pictures available for a given spot on the street. That building in Chicago has the current picture plus six older ones. I can only see the older ones when viewing Google Maps in a browser (even in the browsers on my phone,) not in the app on my phone. This might be because my phone is old, but that is another issue.
To illustrate, when I look at that address and select Street View, the resulting picture has a small menu box in the upper left of the picture (not in the side panel.) Clicking “Street View” near the bottom of the box opens another box with a thumbnail of the current picture and a timeline if there are older pictures. Select one of the dots on the timeline and the older picture’s thumbnail fills the small box. Clicking on the thumbnail makes it replace the larger picture in the main window. The great thing is that it adjusts to the same zoom level and look angle as the previous picture. It is also taken from the same location on the street, at least in this one example. Maybe Google keeps a database of the exact locations of pictures, and has the camera take new pictures from the old locations. I will admit most of the places I look at are in less populated places, and don’t have any older pictures. This is a terrific research tool.
I used Bing Maps a few years ago, but found it too slow on the phone I was using at the time. I occasionally look at it, and Bing seems to use different sources for their data (of course.) This can be useful. Also, both Google and Bing treat downtown areas different from less populated areas. Using all this can be a rewarding time sink.
Even in normal street view, there is a way to see when the image was taken. I found one corner near me that had a 2 year difference between the north/south street, and the east/west street. The decline visible in the images was jarring.
Interesting. I will look for how to do that. Can’t seem to find it right now, and am running out of time. That building I mentioned has gone the other way: the trees, sidewalks, and general landscaping have improved over the picture taken in the 1930s; the building itself is brick, but the windows seem nicer. Good to see someone still takes pride.
Nick, that building is at E 89th St and St. Lawrence Ave. The house for which I don’t have an address is much farther south, well up in the hundreds. I remember driving by it with my parents, and must have the address around here… somewhere. I won’t take the time to try to find it; it will most likely turn up when I am looking for something else.
Shot Girl ™:
Very serious person AOC reminds us that the ‘all-out attempted coup’ on January 6 brought us to within 60 seconds of ‘a martial state’
How can this moron be a U.S Representative?
@DadCooks, glad to hear from you. Although I am new here, it is good to see a forum where people stay in touch, and notice absence 🙂
I bought an N scale set at Christmas time, but have not set it up yet. No room for HO, although that would be a lot more fun. As my little grands get to school age, and don’t get to visit as often as we would wish, I just want a little set to put out on a table-top for them to have something special to remember doing at our house. 🙂 For two of them, that will probably be once a year only, as they live too far away. I’ve found some cute little “village” houses that seem the right size to use with N scale…. if I tried to indulge the fantasy of building my own, it will all still be just a track on a board by the time they are grown! LOL!
Speaking of model trains; I have a Lionel O-27 gauge train set that I had as a child in the mid-1950’s. (Yes, I am that old).
Had a custom-built ‘train table’ (platform on raised legs). Double-oval track, with trestles. Engine used smoke pellets to puff out ‘steam’.
Still got it, in a box in the garage. Haven’t used it for decades; maybe last time in 1980’s. May give it to youngest daughter – grandsons are 9 and 2 (the 2-year-olds are twins).
Good memories .
When I was doing construction/install work, I’d take a 360 series of photos at the end of the day in the room where the work was happening. Saved us from an expensive back charge when some damage was blamed on us. The photos, which they didn’t know about, clearly showed the damage as pre-existing.
After losing $700 of our deposit on the rental house in Vantucky over water spots on the faux marble backsplash among other minor issues, I documented *everything* about our rental here with a couple of hundred pictures posted to Google Photos in a public directory. No problems on checkout afterwards.
That reminds me – our former landlord’s nearest house, just around the corner, has a sign up for the first time in five years. I’ve seen different cars in the driveway over the intervening time so tenants have changed.
Memorial Day silly season will start next week with all of the (serious) issue-free “for sale” houses gone by the holiday and rentals picking up whats left.
Still got it, in a box in the garage. Haven’t used it for decades; maybe last time in 1980’s. May give it to youngest daughter – grandsons are 9 and 2 (the 2-year-olds are twins).
If you don’t give the set away, get the locomotive out and check it. I run my Lionel 70s-era locomotive every few years for about an hour to make sure it works.
The upside of Made in China Lionel is the FastTrack system and transformers are super simple to assemble/disassemble for testing trains.
Vendors on EBay split apart retail sets into train, track, and transformer.
I have my dad’s O-scale train from the 1950s boxed up. I keep meaning to get it out and set it up and test it (it probably hasn’t actually been used since the early 60s) but I’m not sure I have the space for it and finding the box, unboxing, and reboxing it would be quite tedious.
I have my dad’s O-scale train from the 1950s boxed up. I keep meaning to get it out and set it up and test it (it probably hasn’t actually been used since the early 60s) but I’m not sure I have the space for it and finding the box, unboxing, and reboxing it would be quite tedious.
The beauty of FastTrack is that it sets up fast/easy, even on carpet, and breaks down just as fast for easy storage.
I see I sparked a little interest by bringing up model railroading. The pandemic has brought a lot of old model trains, and railroaders, out of the closet. So much so that retailers, both online and storefront, are low on stock, and getting new stock is difficult. The manufacturers that are doing well are those that are 100% in the USofA, like Micro-Trains.
Currently, I am doing modules following the TTRAK and NTRAK standards. Modules provide a small amount of space to work on at a time. Basically, you are making model railroad dioramas that you can connect in unlimited ways.
Here are a couple of sites if you are interested.
T-TRAK Wiki
NRail
True. Or imported and rebadged (as in the 1970s and 1980s) as a domestic Big 3 vehicle.
“I can’t fault his tactics”
https://gunfreezone.net/i-cant-fault-his-tactics/
“If it’s stupid but it works, it’s not stupid.”
Wow ! I give the dismount a 10 !
Is this the USA in the near future ?
Those Chinese companies will be operating here within five years, including setting up manufacturing facilities, if WA State doesn’t back off its mandate that only EVs will be sold in the state by 2030.
True. Or imported and rebadged (as in the 1970s and 1980s) as a domestic Big 3 vehicle.
GM says that they are going to be electric only by 2035.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/business/gm-zero-emission-vehicles.html
“And now they are attacking Jews in New York”
https://gunfreezone.net/and-now-they-are-attacking-jews-in-new-york/
At some point somebody will start bringing guns. Then everyone will bring guns.
@lynn’s gonna drool over the electric F150…
“The 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning electric pickup looks like brawny, battery-powered bargain”
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/2022-ford-f150-lightning-electric-truck-reveal-specs-pricing/
“Available from around $40,000 before incentives, this EV looks like a huge deal, and it’s not just the price that makes it a potential gamechanger.”
563 hp with the 300 mile battery (150 kwh) ! All Electric F-150s are 4×4.
My Dad just jumped on the order list. I told him to get the 300 mile battery and the 230 volt panel so he could use it to power his house.
My F-150 with the 35 gallon tank has a 600 mile range. I wonder how I get that in the electric F-150 ?
Freak me, there is a front trunk, 14 ft3.
https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/pictures/2022-ford-f-150-lightning-pickup-truck-electric/12/
And the solid rear axle has been replaced with an independent rear suspension.
Our PPP loan from the goobermint for 2020 was just forgiven. I’d like to thank all of you tax payers for a free $42,000.
GM says that they are going to be electric only by 2035.
They certainly won’t be selling any gas-powered vehicles by then.
“Walgreens Closes 17 San Francisco Stores Due To “Out Of Control” Shoplifting”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/walgreens-closes-17-san-francisco-stores-due-out-control-shoplifting
“The effects of allowing chaos to prevail in Democrat-controlled cities across America might not be evident to liberals and social justice warriors now, but when businesses close up, it’s going to be very transparent then.”
“According to the San Francisco Chronicle, 17 Walgreens Pharmacy locations have shuttered their doors in San Francisco during the past five years. At least ten of the stores in the city have closed since 2019.”
I used to think San Fransisco would be a cool place to live and work when I visited AutoDesk back in 1993. Now SF has become a third world toilet bowl.
That is not a customer jumping over the counter, that is a looter.
@JimB, that house must have been right behind the Jays Potato Chip plant! And not an area that has been “nice” for the last 40 or more years…you can tell because they renamed the N/S street just west of Cottage Grove to MLK Blvd. And as Chris Rock says, no matter what city you’re in, if you’re on MLK, you are in the hood.
added– although I should say that it might be a neighborhood that is surrounded by the ‘hood.
If you took 94 south from there, just before you cross into Indiana is where I grew up. In fact, if you took Cottage Grove south until it ends at the Forest Preserve, you’d be a couple miles or less from my childhood home.
n
Our PPP loan from the goobermint for 2020 was just forgiven. I’d like to thank all of you tax payers for a free $42,000.
Our 2020 PPP loan was forgiven two weeks ago. More than $100K, less than $150K.
I will start the paperwork to forgive our 2021 PPP loan in June. Same amount.
I sure do hope we get a 2022 PPP loan. We could get addicted to this free stuff.
Wow, google streetview’d the ALLEY!
No graffiti tags in the alley, it must be nicer than I thought.
n
In fact, it’s now nicer than the neighborhood where I grew up, which has only begun to start coming back.
It’s funny the effect season has on your perception though.
https://www.google.com/maps/@41.5630164,-87.5442115,3a,75y,183.74h,94.69t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1saaY-uzECt8vEFBpPqp0N-g!2e0!7i16384!8i8192
that should open a view pointed straight south on Chicago Ave in November of 2018. If you advance south, the time will suddenly jump BACK to October 2018 and everything will look better.
n
added- and if you continue past the tennis court, it will jump forward to Oct 2019…
n
The last hurah of HBO Max.
Netflix. Sometime between Thanksgiving and the end of the year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRXVQ77ehRQ
And if you want another imagery time machine time sink,
https://www.historicaerials.com/
They’ve locked aerial imagery and old maps together and you can move thru time, or use the spotlight tool to make one layer clear, to see what used to be there….
n
”
That is not a customer jumping over the counter, that is a looter. ”
–yeah, that caught my eye too….
n
They’ve locked aerial imagery and old maps together and you can move thru time, or use the spotlight tool to make one layer clear, to see what used to be there….
Meigs Field 2002<–>2005 Northerly Island
If you took 94 south from there, just before you cross into Indiana is where I grew up. In fact, if you took Cottage Grove south until it ends at the Forest Preserve, you’d be a couple miles or less from my childhood home.
I gave up trying to follow Cottage Grove to its end, but I could see the approximate location. I wish Google Maps had a way to click on a street and highlight it. Some map software from the 1990s had that feature, and I loved it.
My grandparents left Chicago in the 1940s and went to Los Angeles. I have never been to that apartment building location, and was not aware of it until yesterday. I can’t speak for the neighborhood. Times change neighborhoods, and small distances can make a difference.
I lived in Forest Park for four months in 1971 and worked at the old Motorola “bus garage” on W Agusta Blvd a few miles directly East of my apartment. The neighborhood around Motorola was very nice for a couple of blocks, but not beyond that. Paul Harvey lived a few miles somewhere NW of there; I looked him up in the phone book and rode my motorcycle past his house. It was beautiful. Imagine him being listed in the phone book. Remember phone books?
Dad got me a huge O Guage train set in 1958. It had a milk car that delivered little silver milk cans at a stop, working signal lights and arms that would block roads when the train came by, and a huge engine that used smoke pellets. Sadly it wzs lost in the tornado in 1961 that destroyed our home. Great fun. Grezt memories.
I used to think San Fransisco would be a cool place to live and work when I visited AutoDesk back in 1993. Now SF has become a third world toilet bowl.
The Locust class didn’t descend on the Bay Area until Windows 95 kickstarted the Internet bubble. They moved on to Seattle and are currently draining Austin dry.
Miami briefly had a bullseye as the next feasting ground last year, but the talent pool just isn’t there.
H&I network has “Trials and Tribble-ations” tonight as the “Deep Space Nine” rerun, possibly the best “Star Trek” episode made during the Stage 8/9 era, written by Ronald D. Moore of “Battlestar Galactica” and “For All Mankind” fame.
The “Next Generation” rerun is “Devil’s Due”, not a bad hour either.
Don’t forget to stop and read the little ‘historic register’ plaque next to the front door.
Could spell doom for FLASHLIGHTS discussion.
Mississippi River bridge inspector fired:
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/inspector-who-failed-catch-mississippi-river-bridge-crack-fired-n1267723
Drone video from a cable inspection showed the crack in May 2019. Inspector did not see in in two inspections.
Even money whether the inspector claims stress relating to transitioning decision or just learns to code.
√
Drone video from a cable inspection showed the crack in May 2019. Inspector did not see in in two inspections.
Even money whether the inspector claims stress relating to transitioning decision or just learns to code
A lot of things got missed in the last year with everyone trying to “work” from home.
That won’t be the last “oops”.
“Sméagol Sets Pronouns To Ourses/Theirses”
https://babylonbee.com/news/smagol-sets-pronouns-to-oursestheirses
“MIDDLE EARTH—Sméagol, a once Hobbit of the River-Folk, is causing a stir across Middle Earth after announcing theirses plan to start using non-binary “Ourses/Theirses” pronouns.”
“Following this statement, Sméagol has made clear that once theirses Ring has been returned then theyses will be the master. “The Precious will be ourses, once the Hobbits are dead!” exclaimed the poor, wretched creature.”
@Greg Norton
re: ST:TNG “Devil’s Due”
In which a third-rate con artist reveals that the flagship of the Federation has fourth-rate shield and sensor technology.
★★ (for moderately hot antagonist)
✓
@Lynn
Sméagol plans to extend current gig as Mayor of Chicago as necessary awaiting return of Precious.
✓
Politifact has retracted the fact-check of the lab leak origin of the Wuhan lying noface Chicom coronavirus.
Tough pill for them to swallow. Hope it burns all the way down and out.
✓
In which a third-rate con artist reveals that the flagship of the Federation has fourth-rate shield and sensor technology.
★★ (for moderately hot antagonist)
Marta DuBois and some nice bits with Picard and Data.
Much worse TNG was made — including “Sleep, Data” — and the shields were always fourth rate.
Re TRAINS ….
No, my Lionel 027 steam engine had a headlight – I’d run my TRAIN at night in my dark bedroom so I could have a FLASHLIGHT .
@Greg Norton
“Much worse TNG was made”
Most of which could have been improved by adding a moderately good high school science student to their script readers.
✓
Got the child’s presents wrapped and set out. Taking a break from that. Still need to get out the decorations before bed.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9571753/Former-FBI-director-Louis-Freeh-gave-100-000-private-trust-Joe-Bidens-grandchildren.html
–nothing to see here… move along.
n
Local PD is working street racing tonight. They must have grabbed a bunch earlier, because they are commenting that the racers are just sort of wandering around, without leadership. They mentioned the lack of leadership a couple of times.
I guess it’s possible they just stayed home tonight, but that seems unlikely.
n