Warmish, or cool, but definitely some chance of rain. Damp too. Hands are like paddles in the cold and damp weather. So I’ve got that to look forward to.
Spent the first part of yesterday testing speakers for ebay. I was supposed to take a load to storage, but ended up running out of time. Then I got to spend the rest of the day wrestling with IP configs, and messing with hardware trying to get it to do something, anything, that it was supposed to. Kinda failed.
Today will be more of the same, and may include soldering. Joy. And the week is almost over.
I went to bed early for a change. My brain was not working at full capacity due to tiredness, so you’ll have to find something to talk about. Maybe the world economy collapsing under the weight of hyperinflation? Or another plague? On the other hand, Christmas is coming…
Stack something.
n
Hhmmm, I may try again today, give it one last shot.
My car has been down for almost 2 weeks. Long story, but to short take is the dealer did shirty (-r) work on a recall 3 years ago that caused one of the half shafts to almost fall out. They are taking care of the repair and not charging me. The problem is two fold. One, they don't have any loaner cars. They sold everything they have. I can deal with it since I'm half work from home and my in office schedule is flexible so the wife and I can commute.
The second issue is parts. They are still waiting on one piece and don't have a definite delivery date – I'm hoping by the end of the week. If we still have these inventory issues this time next year, I'm getting a spare vehicle. I'll need a truck since my son will be off to college, and I don't want to drive one as my daily. Actually, I've started looking now. I have the benefit of time and have the ability to jump on a deal if it pops up. Deals will be fewer with prices as they currently are, but they still happen.
As so often: A really cool sounding idea that no one thought through. First, AirTags are ideal for stalkers. It's not really about cars: they are so small that you could sew one into someone's jacket, or their backpack. Second, if someone finds an AirTag, it has a short text that the owner has completed, to tell you who it belongs to. Only, it turns out they didn't defend against injection attacks, and you can include anything at all in that text, so…
Those kinds of oversights would have been excusable 20 years ago. Today? Absolutely idiotic, especially from a big company like Apple.
It's like Apple's CSAM idea. Sounds great, right up until you spend about 2 seconds thinking about the wider implications. Pundits have noted that all mention of their surveillance software have been removed from public documents. Which doesn't mean it doesn't exist – most likely, it is already implemented and live, but Apple doesn't want to talk about it anymore.
When I have the time and energy, I need to isolate all of our IOT devices in a subnet, and put a firewall on them. Just this week, I hooked our washer and dryer up to the net, because it's useful for them to ping your phone when they're done. But it means they *could* be calling home. And they could become conduits for malware.
So many IOT devices are designed by idiots. Especially the ones that could keep their traffic entirely within your local network, but insist on routing it through some server somewhere, and fail without Internet access. Stupid.
Was it ever?
Anyway, fellow geezers: is it just me? I used to be a night owl, but I can't imagine even wanting to stay up for some late-night talk show, and if I tried, I would snore at it. Nowadays, it's early to bed…
Hey, subscriptions all the rage! Like the new idea from Toyota: if you want all the functions on your key fob to work, you need to pay $8/month. Since key fobs aren't internet-based, I can only assume they are sending your car OTA updates, telling it what buttons it is allowed to recognize…
She is willing to question the pro-trans narrative, and good for her. Of course, the progs are flipping out over her latest comments. Apparently modern feminism thinks it is better to have a few women raped, than to risk using the wrong pronouns?
Meanwhile, athletes like the recent "trans" swimmer are laughing. I put "trans" in quotes, because there's an excellent chance he is mopping up women's medals for laughs. After he leaves school, and is out of the spotlight, he will suddenly be a guy again. I really don't understand how women can support this. If you have "XY" chromosomes, you don't belong in "XX" competitions, period.
I'm reading now that plugs' Build Back Worse plan is DOA at the Senate, the Dumbocrats are preparing a massive push for some kind of Federal control on voting. The key line: "It's not who votes, it's who counts the votes."
I wonder how long after this comes out someone figures out how to disable the built in connectivity. Buy the car, subscribe to everything, kill its ability to get changes, cancel subscription.
I might sound like an old fart for saying this, but I won't buy a car that has this. A subscription for XM? Fine. A subscription to allow using a key fob or open the sunroof? No way in heck.
I'm not holding my *breath*, but YIPEE!!
Major Airline CEOs Push Back On Plane Mask Mandates: ‘Case Is Very Strong That Masks Don’t Add Much’
68F and 99%RH. Yet not actually raining.
Meanwhile, elsewhere….
Slowly, then all at once… Don’t wait. Even if it’s just a “well, maybe a little, just in case” sort of thing.
Fed Chair says he’ll start calling inflation “persistent” instead of “transitory”.
n
Long past time to escape from NYFC…
–Notice anything weird about the picture of the group? Hmmm.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10315407/NYPDs-female-commissioner-makes-debut-mural-depicting-black-revolutionaries.html
n
If we still have these inventory issues this time next year, I’m getting a spare vehicle
–that’s what I’m saying guys. You need spares while you can get them. My logistics trade magazines are saying 2023 before the supply chain is back to normal, IF EVERYTHING STAYS THE SAME. Chances are it will get worse.
n
A while ago — two years? -ish? — I looked into designing and building some IoT devices. I looked at maybe four brands of hardware+software marketed at hobbyists and a couple "pro-level" boards, which were basically a programmable controller chip, wifi, and places to attach other sensors or controls. Every single one was designed to work only with internet connectivity. Yes, some of the hobbyist items could talk to each other (through the router, not directly) but they needed internet access.
That might explain the internet-required "feature" of the IoT devices put out by small companies or by bigger companies which don't have this as their main business. Of course, there's also deliberate choices to monitor usage or data or to increase revenue via subscription.
I get an offer about once a month from the dealer to buy my newer car. I think the interest is more about parts or a replacement under warranty for the people who had bad engine bore specs — Toyota goofed on ~ 5000 engines … that they will admit to.
Contrary to popular belief, the Federal Government does not require a manufacturer to make new parts for a model for any particular length of time; the company just has to make sure that parts are available during the warranty service period, new or used doesn't matter.
“Contrary to popular belief, the Federal Government does not require a manufacturer to make new parts for a model for any particular length of time; the company just has to make sure that parts are available during the warranty service period, new or used doesn’t matter.”
If you tend to keep cars a long time, it’s in your best interest to buy a popular model – better aftermarket support for parts. The greater question in my mind is how do all the new cars, in general, hold up 10 -15 years later? If the center console is glitchy when new, it won’t magically get better.
May I recommend a Deuce? Been around for a bit, and you can, in theory, build one from scratch with only aftermarket (no OEM Ford) parts.
Also girls dig it when you roll up in a roadster.
If the center console is glitchy when new, it won’t magically get better.
–it could develop that, like adding better sound systems or air conditioning to classic cars, there will develop a group or culture that wants to update those systems. There would have to be a larger group of enthusiasts though, and I’m not really sanguine that it would happen.
Too much of the plastic will degrade for certain models to be salvageable. The soft plastic parts turn to goo, the harder parts crumble. I’ve replaced the cruise control buttons in my 2003 Ranger, am on my third set. Eventually I’ll have to do something else as all the stock will be gone, or degraded too. The cable ends that allow me to open the suicide doors crumbled. I’ve replaced those with cottage industry machined aluminum ones, but the Ranger is wildly popular and a big market. Can’t see the same being said of the Metro, or the Aztek.
So many systems, add ons, and they were all built to lowest spec. Will anyone want to do a frame up resto? No frames! Thousands of plastic parts. Lots of obscure electronics.
FFS, TAIL LIGHTS are controlled by the computer thru canbus and are not even hardwired thru switches for some models. Chevy/GM uses pulse width modulation to dim tail lights, and stops when you apply the brakes (so they get brighter.) what a backwards approach. What a huge increase in possible failure points.
n
BTW, large percentage of 500 errors today already, including this comment
The Aztek has become a cult thing thanks to "Breaking Bad". I see a couple rolling around in my area, and one is customized to look just like what you see the lead character driving on the show.
Mechanically, the vehicle was fine, much better than current GM product, and parts should remain available for the engine and transmission.
The problem with the Metro is that Suzuki pulled out of this country and the parts are unobtainium. The cars may yet have a second life, however, as electrification kits start to become common. Curb weight on a Metro is only 1800 lbs *with* the drivetrain. Pull/replace the drivetrain and the car gets much lighter.
No glitchy center console here:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aeZ0BUc3kMw
Ah, the Rust Belt. Don't miss it a bit.
We had rain on Tuesday, quite a bit for us, with some puddles, and even a little flow. New gutters drained what looked like twenty gallons. Went out the next morning to check my rain gauge, an old cookie can. It had already dried out. The ground is still damp, enough that I did a little digging while it is soft.
Turned cold, lows right at freezing. Yecch! C'mon sun!
>> Late night aint what it used to be.
Was it ever?
Letterman had his moments.
Long rain Tuesday in Bakersfield. Got about an inch which is good for here. Woke yesterday to snow all around, even on the coast range to the west. Beatiful! Lots of ice on cars and had to scrape the windows. More rain expected today.
Wife headed to Albertsons's a 6 am yesterday to score prime rib for about $6 a pound with specials and coupons. Looks pretty good and $100 beats the hell out of the $16.99 which was $200 most places. Prime is going for almost $400 at quality meat markets.
Let's Go Brandon!
@alan:
And his awful quarters of an hour. (Apologies to Rossini for pinching his comment about Wagner)
And yes, even though I live in UK, I have seen Letterman. I had to edit out the ad breaks at $LAST-JOB.
G.
On mesh routers for networks. Some advice was given to Ray to change the router. No matter how many actual devices are on a mesh network it will all be under the SSID and appear to be just one. Of course the mac addresses and ip of each device different but wireless or wired it looks the same. The whole idea is cover more area with seamless roaming. I have a TP-Link Deco with three units. Works just as it should. I was loath to use the brand at first but to be honest their products work and cost less. I had been using a DLink as main with two TPLinks acting as bridges and extra aps. Too much trouble when moving around.
At work I tried a Ubiquiti think we'd go premium and ended up tossing it as we had to reset contantaly. TPLink again, this time an Omada mesh. Yes it has software control but I found it easy to mange compared to Ubiquiti.
Old cars. My mother-in-law's 2008 Pontiac Vibe is one dorky looking car but is really a Toyota wearing a comic nose. Now in our stable and mostly sits in a corner of the driveway but I have to say it can be useful and runs very well. I use it sometimes but prefer my bigger Sorrento. She (95 and still here with us) is planing on giving it to her great grandson. He's being kind and says ok but I'm not sure. Still a year to 15.5 when he can at least get a learner's permit. Good car, holding up well but linda ugly.
Excuse the typos, Rick, I think a little longer on the edit time would be better. Usually I type in LO and paste to here but I didn’t today and it shows.
Yeah, but the cost of installing all the needed readers and connection software would be absurdly high. There are over 680,000 lane-miles of road in Texas. And any politician that supported this would be out on his ear at the next election.
Now, there is some agitation for a mileage tax in states with high numbers of electric and hybrid cars. If we shift to all-electric, something has to replace gas taxes to fund roads. My guess is an electricity tax on chargers would be put in place and/or a mileage tax.
In theory, a mileage tax could be implemented as part of annual inspections, but that has the problems that some states don't have inspections and it would result in a big tax in a lump. Plus you would need to collect at title transfer from the old owner.
The current blandess at 11:30 is the direct result of Letterman letting the meds and mistress control his life, which led to his being fired.
Of the current crop of late night hosts, only Kimmel is remotely risky due to his past as a pioneer in the morning "zoo" radio format, including a year stint at the infamous Power Pig station in Tampa in the 90s.
That is how the ASUS mesh network works. Devices can seamlessly transfer from one node to another without any issues. My main router and primary node is downstairs. I have an ethernet connection to a room upstairs. I hard wired another node into the system. I bought the router, updated the firmware, then installed. I told the main router to look for another node, it found the node and made it part of the mesh.
My son had an extra, in white, router from ASUS. I had no ethernet to the living room. I installed the node in the living room, connected it via WiFi, told the main router to find another node. It did and all was good. TV, DVD and Apple TV are connected via wired to the node.
All functions of the network are controlled by the main router. In fact it is impossible to access each node with it's IP address and any attempts will be routed back to the main router. Firmware updates are handled by the main router and dozens of information screens on devices, traffic, etc. It is possible to schedule uptime for the WiFi. I also have a USB drive connected so that file sharing is done via the network share.
Along with guest network the system also has no real designation of 2.4 or 5 Ghz. The band used is selected by the router for each device connected. If a device support 5 Ghz, that is what is used other 2.4 Ghz.
The stuff has really come a long ways in the last few years. More features, more options and certainly much easier to setup. Mine has been running for over a year with no issues.
@Ray – still some issues with Wyze devices being off-line due to the AWS outage (which is not quite fixed).
See latest https://support.wyze.com/hc/en-us/articles/360015979872 here.
My front doorbell is still off-line; the other 5 devices are back online. I'm going to wait before I try to reset/reconfigure it. The doorbell camera is not vital, as I am almost always home. And I live in an area that skews 'old' (plus-55), so the sidewalks are rolled up at 7pm.
That is, politicians will look for another way to pull money into the general fund, some of which will be used for roads.
Money is fungible.
The roads will be sold to private interests and the state will get a cut of the toll revenue.
The State of Virginia has already done this with the reversible express lanes around DC on I395, 495, and, soon, 95 down to Fredericksburg, the "Fredericksburg Express" or FredEx. The State of Maryland is next.
If you're in DC and driving on the 395 express lanes or the FredEx, wave at my successor on those projects through the plate cameras.
His name is Roger. He's special. He went to Cornell.
Cramer is burying himself with idiot takes on clot shots:
‘YOU WOULD HAVE BEEN PRO-POLIO’: Fresh off his hot authoritarian take, Jim Cramer declares that ‘you are anti-healthy if you are against me’
The Dumbocrats must pay him by the word for this garbage. He's becoming FauXi Junior "I'm right and you're wrong and must be killed."
Carson was irreplaceable.
Tom “Morrow” could be very good, but usually much too late.
Settling the MIL's investment accounts at Vanguard is a nightmare. Several documents that must be signed, long delays on the phone, getting someone where English is their 1st language, etc. The latest fiasco was the online account. We were able to get into the account, suddenly no more. The agent we talked with said we were set up for online access and did not know why it quit working. She would have the tech department look into the issue. That was two days ago.
To get into the account you have to establish security questions. Then provide the name and SSN, again, and lastly the account number. Problem is Vanguard did not provide us with the account number. Another phone call to agent Habu Habby Jabby (call me Bob), who speaks English "very goodly".
One account, the stocks and bonds, have been transferred to my wife's name. It was impossible to simply sell the stocks and bonds from the MIL's account. No, another Vanguard has to be opened and the stocks and bonds transferred. Now we need to sell those items and have the money sent to the credit union.
There is also an IRA account, less than $300.00, that has to be split between her and her brother. Vanguard sent an 8 page form that must be signed by wife and her brother. Problem is that printing the document, having the wife sign, scan the document to send to her brother, him signing, then scanning the document to send back makes it almost unreadable. Partly because he has a crappy scanner. Mostly because Vanguard chose to use a grey font color rather than black. Idiots.
We trudge on hoping to settle this by the end of the year.
Watching reruns of Johnny Carson from 40 years ago is still more entertaining than any light night fare currently shown.
@ech
”In theory, a mileage tax could be implemented as part of annual inspections, but that has the problems that some states don't have inspections and it would result in a big tax in a lump. “
They’d like to have automatic monthly billing based on an electro-narc that reports in “hands-free”. Who knows what’s already built-in?
About a year ago, we saw a Carson show rerun with, in order, Jackie Cooper, George Carlin, and Marvin Hamlisch. This was mid-70s, pre Cooper as the best Perry White in "Superman" ("There is only one 'p' in rapist, Lois."), Carlin was still in the "hippie" phase of his career, and Hamlisch was fresh off of his Oscar win for "The Sting". *That* was a show.
Carson was a combination of the timeframe and his talent.
Joan Rivers would have preserved "The Tonight Show" as institution, but that had a limited life beyond the early 90s. Plus, her husband never forgot being stiffed in Carson's strategy in getting his new deal with NBC in the early 80s which included creation of the 12:30 show that went to Letterman. Sadly, it wasn’t meant to be because Edgar Rosenbaum wanted payback — in the late 80s, Carson/Letterman were responsible for 50% of NBC’s ad revenue, either directly or indirectly.
Certainly, Joan Rivers as "The Tonight Show" host would have prevented Letterman's defection to CBS, and I doubt Bill Clinton would have been elected President with Joanie roasting his nuts in the monologue nightly — she adored the Reagans and despised Clinton.
Oh Christmas tree. Oh, Christmas tree.
Here comes the fun. In the SEC.
The Jaguars cut Urban Meyer loose.
Before he bought his Christmas goose.
https://www.tampabay.com/sports/bucs/2021/12/16/jacksonville-fires-urban-meyer-after-13-games/
The "fired coach walking" at UT was just on local Faux News last night, crowing about the ranking of his recruiting class.
I'd like to personally thank plugs for the drudging the market is taking. "With a bullet to *his*…" Fill in with Ricky Martin lyrics.
Sure, to some degree. In Texas, the gas tax is, by law, dedicated to roads and has, in the past, generated enough that the (non-Interstate) highways and farm-to-market roads were generally in good repair and there were lots of FM roads linking rural areas. The Interstates, being partly Federal funded have always been subject to the whims of the Congress.
Things like the assertion in Texas that "the lottery is dedicated to Schools and Veterans" is sophistry because of that.
Our Wyze devices are slowly coming back. I torched some of them before getting the AWS memo. Gargh.
we’ve got several models of cameras, electric plugs, motion and climate sensors, etc. We’ve gone whole hog with Wyze over the last umpteen years.
The devices have been a big aid with easing the work on outdoor animal care. Cameras on the coop and rabbitry, sensors to see if doors are closed, electricity on timers for lights and (temporarily) bucket deicer.
For the most part they’ve been useful easy to use low cost devices. We don’t use Wyze for anything critical, though.
Pearls Before Swine: Supply Chain Issues
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2021/12/16
Wow, the supply chain issues are getting even worse !
"A massive underground tunnel may be the way to alleviate Houston’s flooding, Army Corps says"
https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/environment/article/A-massive-underground-tunnel-may-be-the-way-to-16703473.php
Got $13 billion in your pocket ? And, yes this is probably the only workable solution to the Houston flooding problem.
Hat tip to:
https://spacecityweather.com/houston-is-finally-on-the-cusp-of-an-extended-stretch-of-winter-like-weather-but-christmas-remains-a-question-mark/
Have them contact California. They're building one under the Sacramento/SanJoaquin Delta. Mostly to pour money down.
Just utter garbage:
Deputy Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre says Republicans are ‘explicitly rooting for inflation to get worse’
Notice how she has to read it off a card and can barely speak. This is why the plugs administration is doing *nothing* for bi-partisan work. We’d be better off with no President at this point.
No link above due to 500 Errors.
>> Wow, the supply chain issues are getting even worse !
Even libraries…
https://www.bpl.org/blogs/post/the-global-supply-chain-and-your-library/
Giant tunnel under Houston?
I understand there's some African immigrant working on tech to make big tunnels.
Name escapes me for the moment.
He's a real Boring guy.
Tony? He says that he can build a tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica, and Houston seems like similar terrain.
Austin has a couple of drainage tunnels in the works around Downtown.
I thought that is what we currently have.
When I attended school in Milwaukee during the 80's the town built a 20 mile tunnel under the city as a holding tank for excess runoff. Down 300 feet. Wouldn't want to be a Norton doing inspections as the storm drains are combined with sewers.
https://www.mmsd.com/what-we-do/wastewater-treatment/deep-tunnel
https://youtu.be/h5uc8L07UC4
I believe Chicago has something similar.
Each 5% inflation lops more than $1 trillion off the real value of the existing deficit.
And devalues salaries, wages, and all holdings in currency.
The Bidens aren't worried–they get paid in Wuhan.
Have them contact California. They're building one under the Sacramento/SanJoaquin Delta. Mostly to pour money down.
I heard it never rains in California.
>> Tony? He says that he can build a tunnel from South Padre Island to Boca Chica, and Houston seems like similar terrain.
And fast too…
…
But girl, don't they warn ya?
It pours, man, it pours …
….
What's the old folk wisdom? If she has fun fun fun then they have six more weeks of drought but if her daddy takes her T-Bird away then rain is just around the corner.
Things like the assertion in Texas that "the lottery is dedicated to Schools and Veterans" is sophistry because of that.
—yup, and "ReCapture" or robinhood for the school districts. The state collects that "excess" money from the district, which is property taxes, and "spends" it on education, while reducing what they spend from the general fund. That leaves more general fund for the social engineering crep that they want to do.
n
—yup, and "ReCapture" or robinhood for the school districts. The state collects that "excess" money from the district, which is property taxes, and "spends" it on education, while reducing what they spend from the general fund. That leaves more general fund for the social engineering crep that they want to do.
The number one state expense is Medicaid of which their number one expense is little old ladies and men in nursing homes XXXXXX XXXXX skilled nursing centers.
Good day at the cliente' s. Got some actual progress made. We had video routing and some untested controls working when I left. I soldered one plug, only 8 more to do tomorrow.
Store (electronics specialty retailer, altex electronics) only had 8, maybe I can find one in the bottom of my parts bin.
They haven't restocked the IR emitters I bought them out of 2 weeks ago either.
You aren't a store if you don't have stuff to sell. They aren't to that point yet, but could be headed there.
n
I am sitting with Mom in her Methodist hospital room. She is not doing well, they put three bags of blood into her today, so no rehab. She has been a little incoherent but she does know where she is today. Dad said that she did not know where she was yesterday.
They are going to move Mom to skilled nursing over the weekend. Gonna be here for a while.
They are going to move Mom to skilled nursing over the weekend. Gonna be here for a while.
–truly sorry to hear that Lynn.
n
'I can't just jump across the table and choke him to death because I'll never get out of here.'
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/12/the_cold_heartless_face_of_chesa_boudin.html
Spawn of terrorists didn't drop far from the tree.
@Lynn
Prayers for your mom and family.
"Local Salvation Army chapters are seeing 50% drops in both volunteers and donations. Get woke, go broke."
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2021/12/the_salvation_army_pays_a_big_price_for_its_foray_into_wokedom.html
SA was my main choice for holiday giving for years.
Not this year.
If you dialed back SA contributions as I did, make sure you find a local alternative.
Being in need during the holidays, which just happens to coincide with the darkest and nearly coldest time of year, sucks dead bunnies through a straw.
I'll bet you're jealous of New York. Why, if you had a Cuomo of your own, you might have thinned out that population by 20,000 or more
Ask anyone who owned a gun store in 2020.
Today or yesterday I saw a bit of apologia claiming that "get woke, go broke" isn't really a thing and that 2020 was an unusually high year for donations and so SA's supposed drop isn't really a drop and even if it is it has nothing to do with their since-backwalked announcement.
Yah, I'm not believing it, either.
I'm officially unemployed after tomorrow, but it's just a two-week break before I start my next job so money isn't a concern. (Or no more than it was a month ago.) I've given money to Mike Hendrix of Cold Fury fame, for some surprise medical expenses. (On the plus side, he's not dead, which apparently was not a given as recently as yesterday.) I'm fixing up my old vehicle and will donate it to someone who needs one. (Power train is in great shape, brakes and tires need to be replaced, body is what you'd expect of a Caravan in the Northeast.) I'm giving a nice Christmas bonus to every teacher and staff member at my daughter's school and I will continue to provide food and stuff for our neighbors who lost their husband/father. (According to my wife, their finances are dire. Anyone, who has a family, who doesn’t have life insurance and long-term disability insurance, might want to look into fixing that.) I'll continue give a place to live (and food and clothes and other necessities) to Spare Kid when she needs to get away from her family. And to hell with charitable organizations. That was the final straw.
And to hell with charitable organizations. That was the final straw.
What SteveF said.
I give money to my church but we are very transparent about what we spend money on. Since we are an indy, no crazy central organization that is pushing anti Christian issues.
I also give money to a local group called Second Mile Mission who help the poor with food and dental and help.
And we give money to the Church of Christ emergency group in Tenn. I suspect they rolled a dozen 18 wheelers of goods to their neighbors to help with the tornado victims.
https://www.disasterreliefeffort.org/
>> They haven't restocked the IR emitters I bought them out of 2 weeks ago either.
You aren't a store if you don't have stuff to sell. They aren't to that point yet, but could be headed there.
If we were allowed to be smart enough to understand it, we'd say it was a supply chain issue.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WaQLObkspf0
>> @Lynn
Prayers for your mom and family.
Hoping for the best.
https://www.wordfence.com/blog/2021/12/massive-wordpress-attack-campaign/
We use wordpress but aren't a 'wordpress site', right?
n
They are going to move Mom to skilled nursing over the weekend. Gonna be here for a while.
–truly sorry to hear that Lynn.
n
@Lynn
Prayers for your mom and family.
>> @Lynn
Prayers for your mom and family.
Hoping for the best.
Thanks all. Dealing with aging parents is tougher than I thought it would be.
This. Term life insurance is cheap.
We bought a 20-year term policy when each of the kids were born. Now expired, but the kids are adults now, and we had the coverage when it was important.
We don't donate as much as we probably should, but that's largely because a lot of the charities skim way too much off the top. The Red Cross being a prime example: they collect money, take their cut, and then pass the money on to second-line charities. Who take their cut and then pass the money on to third-line charities.
It all looks great, because each charity passes on most of the money. Only a small administrative cut, but that cut is taken over and over again, by each successive layer. How much money final dribbles out the bottom is impossible to know.
We try to support organizations that do work themselves. But leave out the woke organizations, leave out feel-good organizations whose work is counterproductive (food for Africa, that kind of thing), and there isn't a lot left.
Donations "in kind" to a local org. IE food, services, or other goods, and locally. Hard to skim, hard to pass on.
Food bank run by a small org or church is the best example I can think of. There are orgs that run a 'store' with business wear (clothing) for women entering the workforce. Things like that.
n
One of those in Houston is run by the Episcopal cathedral. They specifically target women getting out of prison. They have a pretty good success rate at integrating them into society as productive members. There are others that help women fleeing abusive relationships.