Cold and clear, but maybe not as cold as it has been the last few days. Cold enough Sunday that I wore a coat while grilling dinner…
Cleaned the house, welcomed the pack members home, poked at computers and moved some stuff around. Not particularly productive weekend.
Today I’ll do some pickups of household stuff, or I might push it off til tomorrow. I’ve got pickups in opposite directions so it would be nice to do some today, some tomorrow. But. We are driving up to look at a house on a lake in the afternoon, leaving around noon. I don’t want to be late for that departure.
I’m hoping to add some redundancy to my living situation, to get somewhere to ‘bug out’ to if needed. It will be a big stretch, but it looks like that is the ante at this point. While the “covid rush” to get somewhere outside of cities seems to be slowing, if things go further downhill, there will be an even wider rush to get out of cities, and prices (and inflation) will move up even more. That’s my current thinking anyway.
So you will be left to your own devices this afternoon, and possibly this morning as well. Enjoy!
Don’t burn the place down, use that manic energy to stack some things 🙂
n
52F and 68%RH, maybe the cold snap is over… still plenty damp though.
n
What the actual F?
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/01/cdc-monitoring-local-residents-cold-like-symptoms-following-crash-semi-carrying-100-cdc-test-monkeys/
n
The i3 also lacks the crypto acceleration of the i5 and i7 IIRC. AES is best done away from main memory, inside the CPU or a smart card. Corporate drone laptops shouldn’t spec i3.
I had an i9 MacBook Pro with 64 GB RAM at the now previous job. Non-volatile storage was similarly huge.
Great machine. I don't think there is any development task I couldn't do with the laptop. The downside was the cost for the potential lifespan. I have an i7 MacBook Pro still going strong after 10 years, and I don't see their new machines going that long.
We will see what happens with "Apple Silicon". I don't think even Apple knows.
The new job gave me one of their own laptops with a i7 vPro and 32 GB RAM. Nice, but the mouse pad is clunky.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10433933/Biden-considers-sending-thousands-troops-warships-aircraft-Eastern-Europe-Ukraine-Russia.html
Biden considers sending up to 50,000 troops, warships and aircraft to NATO allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe as fears grow over Russian invasion of Ukraine
–um, 50K is pretty much all of them, isn't it? All the actual fighters anyway….
n
When I first saw some buzz about "Fresh", I assumed a promising female indie director turned in her own take on Favreau's "Chef", reversing the gender on what was, at its core, a father-son bonding flick.
I should have known better. Maybe the fanatics have a point about the US culture.
https://www.showbiz411.com/2022/01/22/sundance-disney-focuses-its-searchlight-on-horror-cannibalism-with-charmer-who-cuts-up-dates-and-eats-em
The author of the review can posture all he wants but then he says "All that saves the film is the casting. "
SAVES THE FILM.
FFS.
n
Saw a trailer for Picard. More masturbatory wokeness.
Report this week that “old music” is 70% of new sales. (Last week report was vinyl outselling cd’s for first time in decades). Lineup of this year’s superbowl is a who’s who of why new music ain’t selling 70% of the time.
Gotta call Burton and tell him we need the “definitive” Guess Who collection.
Every Guess Who CD is a collection. Every. Dang. One. I think they've made most of their money with collections. 🙂
n
Might seem that way but
Canned Wheat
American Woman
Share the Land
Road Food
and
Live at the Paramount
On a good day, that would be a Division “Task Force”, but since that includes sea and air assets, pretty paltry for war fighting against the Bear. A show of force that will get troops killed in accidents, spend a lot of treasure, and a year too late.
Ordered an iPad Air. My old iPad is about 4 years old. I got it through Comcast on one of their promotions. $5.00 a month for two years which put that cost at $120.00. Apple is giving me $130.00 trade in on the new iPad.
Needed to get a new adapter to play videos in the RV through an HDMI cable as the iPad air uses USB-C rather than the lightning cable. Another $70.00 for the adapter. Oh well, it are what it are.
I did not want the iPad Pro as it was more expensive for basically the same device. Pro has additional cameras which I don't care about. I have taken about 5 photos with my four year old iPad. The regular iPad was missing some features such as a better display. I also like the color selection of the Air (Pro is only grey and silver) and ordered a blue unit to match my phone and watch. Yep, call me a slave to fashion.
I did look at the iPad mini. Worked out to a little cheaper. Seemed the mini is too small for my needs. Primarily browsing, reading email, weather, some notes, etc., while watching TV. The regular size iPad would be a better fit as the screen on the mini is too small. Nice for travel I guess, but not for my use.
New iPad will also support WiFi 6 which I have in my house. Old iPad supported WiFi 2.4 and 5 so was reasonable fast. So faster browsing speeds with the new iPad. I also got the Apple Pencil 2 to basically use as a stylus. Attaches magnetically to the side of the iPad and also charges while attached.
Should arrive in the first week of February with free shipping. Apple uses FEDEX. Apple will send me a box at no charge to send in my old iPad at no charge. Works well as that is what I did with my old Apple Watch. I would rather do online and stay away from the crowded stores if possible. I used the store when I bought my iPhone, first day of release, and it was a nightmare with a line queued out on the mall corridor.
My guess is Whoopi is at a minimum or, at least, will be once the current round of editing is done.
"Picard" has to follow in the wake of home video releases by Sony for "Cobra Kai" Season Three, "Ghostbusters", and "Spiderman", in sequence. Plus, throw in "Dune" from Warner, which was sold out when I went looking for a copy this weekend.
Wokeness and failure to make the fans happy will backfire, as Disney is finding out with "The Book of Boba Fett".
USB-C offers more third party options for video adapters.
The EU was getting antsy about Apple's charging options not being standard.
I have no love for the fragility of Apple lightning connectors and cables.
But Apple introduced their connector two years before the USB-C standard was even finalized.
Headed out in an hour. Been looking at plat maps, tax records, etc.
Two lots, 85ft wide, 212ft deep. The second lot is mostly open and would have room for a nice garden. City water and power, septic old enough to be grandfathered, probably still an active well for watering yard. If not, I think most people use a pump and lake water. Good insolation if I decided to add solar.
House is about a couple blocks from the volunteer fire department, which is good. Access to the various neighborhoods is circuitous at best and not quick for a responding truck so being on the same spit of land is a plus.
House is on a cove so it's quieter than being on the main part of the lake. It's still the deeper end of the lake though, which is good. Most of these sort of lakes were made by damming a creek and filling the valleys. The house is closer to the dam than the 'headwaters'. They didn't cut the timber first so there is a lot of submerged tree debris, but it's great fish habitat. The head of the cove is several acres of undeveloped woods on rolling ground with some ravines and dry creeks, so unlikely to be developed anytime soon. There is a community lot, with dock and launch ramp on the other side of the property so it feels pretty separated from the neighbors' houses. That's rare on a lake.
It looks great from afar, I hope there aren't any hidden show stoppers. Kinda pricey for a fixer upper, but it is supposed to be just cosmetics, and there is the second lot included. The price is really for a house on a lot, and a second buildable lot. That has long term potential value.
More later.
n
I suspect the iPhone 14 will go USB C.
I'm going to load my iPad mini with a bunch of nav apps (sea, land air) to play with. I have a Bad Elf GPS Pro+ unit that pairs well with iDevices. I've used it on commercial air next to the window and got good GPS tracking. I know, nerd alert! The last time I did land navigation was in the Army a lifetime ago. Something to do in my "old age".
BTW, plugs can use the "President's 100,000" rule to send the troops without anything from Congress. If it was tRump, the Dumbocrats would be outraged he didn't get Congress' approval.
Lotta stock prices down today….
Crypto too.
n
Oh, yeah, as plugs evacuates the Embassy in Ukraine, other US Citizens are on their own. Not even a "meet at this airfield" for evacuation. Or go to this border for safety. Sound familiar.
I have never had an Apple cable or connector fail. I have been using Apple products since the iPhone 5. Phone and iPad. I like the interoperability and the ability to share through iCloud. Not a big anymore as others are offering the same but Apple was the first.
My guess is that Apple will completely abandon any port on the iPhone 14. Wireless charging works and that is what I use. I have yet to use the cable for my iPhone 13. Headphones and earbuds are wireless and work really well. My Bose headphones sound great using wireless. I really don't see the need for a cable for any purpose except one. That is for recovering a phone that has gone into DFU restore. That requires a cable, currently. I suspect Apple will change that requirement through a Magsafe stand. I think Apple really wants to eliminate the cable port entirely on the iPhone.
I do however think the Lightning, or more likely USB-C will become standard on the iPads. More room for the port requirements. Removing the port on the iPhone allows more space for battery and other components.
How do you like your mini? It was one of the models I considered. Screen size and color choices (yeh, call me limp wrist) made me opt for the iPad Air model. Mini has the A15 chip whereas the Air has the A14. The difference is probably not something I would notice. Screen is supposedly better on the Air than the Mini. Again, probably not something I would notice. Both have USB-C so a wash in that category.
Convenient devices to use to browse, email, watch videos, keep notes, etc. Android has a lot of the same capabilities, now, but Apple was first. I know IOS and when I have to help someone with Android it is frustrating. I don't want to spend the time to change.
It works well. I got it to replace my Kindle and the app is great. Kindles are the best e-readers, but have no real browser, and, lookup in Wikipedia is slow. It also is USB C. I like to take a break reading and check email and browse. I'm expanding what I do with it for a larger screen. It easily fits in my 5.11 shirts with the "admin" pocket, so I can carry it without a murse of some kind.
I also got the cell capable model for travel.
EDIT: The mini is also Apple Pencil 2.0 ready.
The high end iPad has the same Apple M1 chip as the MacBook Air and low-end MacBook Pro. Full Lightning with USB-C compatibility similar to the MacBooks is more likely than completely eliminating the port if Apple continues moving the iPad to their higher performance M series.
One of the places I go to look at CPU and video card performance is Tom's Hardware.
CPU
https://www.tomshardware.com/topics/cpus/buying-guides
Video
https://www.tomshardware.com/topics/graphics/buying-guides
Best wishes on the lake house, Nick! Of course there will be some detriments, but I hope it proves nice enough that ya'll are able to get it! Being near people who are already your friends, and who want your family as neighbors, is worth a LOT and will make up for many defects!
Fixed that for you. 😛
Video cards are still at ridiculous price levels. The new Radon 6500 XT has MSRP of $200 but sells at street level prices above $300 from any reputable manufacturer. This despite being intentionally crippled by AMD to avoid appealing to mining dweebs.
That should be an entry level card ~ $99 just because it offers 4 GB in most configurations.
"How long will your three free N95 masks last?"
https://www.chron.com/shopping/article/How-long-will-your-three-free-N95-masks-last-16794648.php
"The White House announced Wednesday that N95s from the government’s Strategic National Stockpile will be available for free to U.S. residents starting next week, with the caveat that the distribution will be limited to three masks per person."
"Given the conflicting (or at least confusing) instructions about what masks are safest, many Americans may wonder how long three masks can last, and whether they’ll need to supplement that supply with the continued purchase of their own masks."
Unreal.
The shrews are crazy:
‘Imagine being this broken’: The ladies of The View are determined to prove Bill Maher and Bari Weiss right by bitterly clinging to COVID [video]
Wear a mask Guinan. Ladies my arse.
I'd say masking as an arbitrage opportunity is over, but my wife saw two idiots *jogging* wearing masks in our neighborhood over the weekend.
Austin, but mask commercials were back on Weigel (MeTV/H&I) this weekend, including during "Black Sheep Squadron" on Saturday.
The last I heard, the Pappy Boyington statue is still at the Museum of Flight and not at UW, which originally commissioned the work. The audience for “Black Sheep Squadron” are not the “Woke” by any stretch.
No matter how little Whoopi footage makes in into "Picard", her appearance is still going to be a boost for "The View". The trailer alone probably emboldened her.
So much for Big River "Prime" and 2-day shipping. I just placed an order and it'll be here February 5th. Or maybe February 8th.
That's just two weeks. Huh. USPS is faster.
Well, when I see something on the Zon, it does tell me (before and after ordering) when I can expect it. Not all items are 'prime-worthy'. Example: print on demand books (especially books – like mine – that are not in demand).
And Zon does tell you if an item is out of stock.
So, depends on the item you ordered. And whether it is a third-party order. In general, I've been happy with the delivery times on Zon items. And I've got the Zon boxes to prove it.
@greg
I should have known better. Maybe the fanatics have a point about the US culture.
Feeling queasy and disturbed reading the review. FFS indeed.
@Nick
Crossing fingers on lake house. Being close to friends is valuable, little off beaten path more so.
@ray
I have an older iPad Mini 4 I bought second hand for a song a couple years ago. It’s been a real work horse and I do lots of tasks with it. Surfing, reading, studying, Wyze stuff, practicing simple coding projects when I was doing school. I use it three times as often as my perfectly adequate laptop.
I have small hands – I wear gloves sized for nine year olds. So form factor and weight are important considerations for me. I would probably appreciate a new iPad, but can’t get past the increased weight and size. Plus this iPad mini fits in my coat pocket.
Kits are thriving. Mama rabbit went full jerk last night and has decided she doesn’t need to hop in the nest box when I bring her babies to nurse. Not a big shocker, first time mother and unnatural messing with the normal mama/baby habitation. I put the babies in a different nest box outside her hutch, brought mama out and set her in the nest box, then placed a domed trash can lid over the nest box so she had to stay put. She grumbled but settled and nursed. She even groomed a couple. Not a huge hassle but takes a few more minutes. We had some warm weather and rain. All the snow is gone from back deck and steps. The street is a literal ice rink. Neighbor kids strapped on their ice skates and were gliding back and forth on the street this weekend. Walk down the hill to the rabbitry is treacherous. I’ve got cleated boots but it’s hairy.
As the review pointed out, it is an unusual movie even for Searchlight. That project has Mouse fingerprints all over it … and a few stray bunny (as in Bugs) hairs.
I remember when the secret movie shame of the Disney corporation was "Midnight Madness".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyXmNfLzj8E
Yes, it is Michael J. Fox.
I ordered "PetArmor 7 Way De-Wormer". Amazon has it in packages of two pills. Barney needs one, Penny needs two. So I ordered three packages to have first dose and then later a second dose. $43.80 with a bit of tax. Cool. Two weeks delivery? Not so cool.
I went and looked on eBay. How about a six pack for $23 with tax and it arrives a whole week earlier?
One is delivered by tossing over the fence at the gate, the other is delivered to my mailbox at the road or perhaps a package notice.
Saving $20 is nice, but not the point.
As annoying as Amazon Delivery is, they at least toss my packages into the grass near the gate. FedEx? Right over the gate near the latch, not the hinge, so if you don't see the package in time it's scraped across the driveway like a windshield wiper dealing with chunks of ice.
How to open the gate? There's a landscape timber as a post, that's what I had handy, with a doorbell button. No BS with keypads and secret codes to open the freaking gate.
UPS has no problem figuring it out.
Perhaps a gravel path and a handrail?
Eye Book…
I believe RBT mentioned a book of eye exercises meant to correct/improve vision by strengthening the eye muscles. I want to say it was some out of print book from back in the day. No luck searching. Anyone know what I'm talking about?
Easily one of my most favorite sayings (and abbreviations). lol
Octocopter big enough to carry Jenny from the house to the hutch and back.
Out buying a sous vide on recommendation from a friend.
Since I was at the mall (and man is it dead there) for the first time in years I figured I’d replace my old Hechler that I broke the point off a while back.
Penny’s, Macys, Dillard, Best Buy and Target – nothing but minute numbers of stamped Chinese stuff, Cuisinart being the mainstay. I think Macys had a single 15 knife H block. Wow.
There are a lot of them out there, but for an old out of print book, this website has one from the 1920s:
https://www.iblindness.org/ebooks/perfect-sight-without-glasses/
If that’s not it, try searching for “eye exercises to improve vision”, and you’ll turn up several different books.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10433933/Biden-considers-sending-thousands-troops-warships-aircraft-Eastern-Europe-Ukraine-Russia.html
Biden considers sending up to 50,000 troops, warships and aircraft to NATO allies in the Baltics and Eastern Europe as fears grow over Russian invasion of Ukraine
–um, 50K is pretty much all of them, isn't it? All the actual fighters anyway….
n
This is how Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq started. Pray that he does not send the troops.
But no mean tweets!
Two videos to watch on that page: the already-infamous press conference and a couple minutes of Peter Doocey talking to a network anchor.
Report this week that “old music” is 70% of new sales. (Last week report was vinyl outselling cd’s for first time in decades). Lineup of this year’s superbowl is a who’s who of why new music ain’t selling 70% of the time.
Gotta call Burton and tell him we need the “definitive” Guess Who collection.
There is no collection for Little Feat that I can find so we need a definitive collection for them also.
https://www.amazon.com/Dixie-Chicken-Little-Feat/dp/B000002KEP//p?tag=ttgnet-20
Wokeness and failure to make the fans happy will backfire, as Disney is finding out with "The Book of Boba Fett".
I went to sleep during the first Boba Fett episode. My wife went to sleep during the second episode. There will be no watching of the third episode.
It looks like the Mandalorian will show up this week. They teased an appearance with a musical cue at the end of last week's show.
I was half watching while my wife and son ran the latest episode. I had a bunch of background videos to sort through for relevant material for the new new job over the weekend.
>> Well, when I see something on the Zon, it does tell me (before and after ordering) when I can expect it. Not all items are 'prime-worthy'.
And if it is Prime-worthy and it's late, complain about it to their CS people and they should compensate you with an account credit (I forget if it's $5 or $10).
"Supreme Court to review Clean Water Act jurisdiction dispute"
https://www.ogj.com/general-interest/government/article/14224122/supreme-court-to-review-clean-water-act-jurisdiction-dispute
"The US Supreme Court agreed Jan. 24 to review a court case that could redefine the jurisdiction of the Clean Water Act, especially in regard to isolated wetlands."
SCOTUS really needs to come down hard on the side of the Fifth Amendment here. This is a taking for public usage.
https://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/fifth_amendment
Home and fed.
House is pretty much what we expected, condition wise. There are previous fixes to the foundation that were un-expected. The seller is pursuing the previous contractor (who has changed names) but has a back up estimate of $10-15K
Seller Sr. was an old school DIY 'make it work' guy so there are a LOT of sketchy things. I kept seeing my dad in all his work.
Site is great. View is great. Existing garden plot is about 20x20ft. No existing well for backup but the muni water is reliable. Power too. So they say. House needs a lot of cosmetics. Grounds need some work to retaining walls, trees taken down, grading issues addressed.
Septic is old school septic and hasn't been touched in years. Potential 8-10K if it ever breaks badly enough it can't be fixed.
House is priced fairly for two lots with a house that needs updating.
I think we're going to buy it.
n
@nick, sounds promising.
Inspection contingency?
What is the broadband situation?
@Lynn
Look up:
As Time Goes By: The Very Best of Little Feat
https://www.ebay.com/itm/291728679282
Heard that the set builders on Picard started with a stock item for Whoopi's new milieu:
https://www.titanfactorydirect.com/double-wide-mobile-homes
Nope, as is and where is.
n
I went thru it for longer than most inspectors. There are still things we didn't look at, but it's going to need lots of work in any case.
No leaks in the roof. No cracks in the brick (slab is intact,if sagging on one corner).
Typical list of stuff for a house built in '72
– undersized electrical panel
-homeowner electrical work not to code
-aging HVAC, relatively new water heater.
-kitchen is out of date.
-water flow is good, heat works, hot water is hot.
It's priced as a fixer upper. I don't need to test every outlet when I know I'm replacing them all and probably all the wiring, piping, and kitchen and baths as soon as money allows anyway.
The foundation issue is my only real concern, and an inspector would wave off and insist on experts for that anyway, which we'll bring in.
Almost everything can be fixed with money, and my wife is convinced the money side of things is good.
Essentially it's priced as two bare lots, with a small upcharge for the dock and house. Even then, it's a stretch and double what we had hoped to spend when we started looking 3 years ago. The short story is that there aren't too many opportunities to buy 170ft of lakefront on this lake. Most of the lots are barely wide enough for a dock and a bit of bulkhead.
The upside of the house is that it was built as a full time residence and was lived in since 1973 by the same family. SO MANY of the places we've looked at are cabins, built up over the years, with bad addition grafted onto bad addition, all on a foundation that was never intended to hold up a house, let alone three stories…
In fact we looked at one in the same neighborhood today before meeting the seller. It's been on the market for a year, so you know something major was wrong, but you couldn't really see a deal breaker in the pictures. Turns out, no dock, no view, steep sloping yard, no grass. Original structure built on pilings (telephone poles set vertically in the hillside) with all additions on piers of concrete block, topped with rocks, or scrap wood in an attempt to keep them level. The block piers were not plumb. I could see open electrical boxes with stuff hanging out in the weather on the side of the cabin. Oh, and maybe 30ft of lakefront with neighbors' houses 10 feet to each side. Lakefronts are crowded.
The house we're offering on has a mostly vacant lot on one side, and the association dock and boat ramp on the other, with the house mostly on one of the lots, but a covered parking area and some sheds on the other lot as a buffer to the mostly vacant lot. No one is within 150ft of the house to either side…
n
What is the broadband situation?
— dire. None. ATT cell service is non-existent too. Supposedly Verizon is ok, so most people use a Verizon hot spot. 800 movies on a hard drive is gonna look like genius….
I'll try a tower with an ATT cell phone booster first. I intend to put up a ham antenna soon, putting the cell booster on it moves it up the list. 🙂 If I have to and Verizon is ok, I'll think about a Peplink to aggregate two lines of service if we need the bandwidth. Might have to get an actual phone line, but DSL isn't available.
There are other more involved possibilities. The other side of the lake can get some sort of service, and my buddy has friends or relations on that side. I've talked to him about setting up a ubiquiti link to get it from relative's place to my buddy's and maybe we can get it onward to me… Or there may be fixed wireless that I can see that my buddy can't… needs exploration.
n
Sounds ok Nick.. Good luck with the offer..
>> What is the broadband situation?
— dire. None.
Starlink?
Most of the neighbors there full-time or manly weekenders?
Most of the neighbors are weekenders according to the seller. She lives on another lake, and has a sister on the other side of this same lake, and two brothers somewhere. She must have been hell on wheels when she was younger, hanging out and water skiing every day….back when the drinking age was 18 and drinking and boating was just a fun day on the water.
I just thought about starlink minutes ago. Haven't checked.
n
Sitting up, wired on caffeine. Drank too much Dr Pepper so I wouldn't fall asleep driving.
n
What is the broadband situation?
— dire. None. ATT cell service is non-existent too. Supposedly Verizon is ok, so most people use a Verizon hot spot. 800 movies on a hard drive is gonna look like genius….
I'll try a tower with an ATT cell phone booster first. I intend to put up a ham antenna soon, putting the cell booster on it moves it up the list. If I have to and Verizon is ok, I'll think about a Peplink to aggregate two lines of service if we need the bandwidth. Might have to get an actual phone line, but DSL isn't available.
My Dad got his Starlink antenna delivered today in Port Lavaca, TX after they charged his card $600.
Def gonna look at that tomorrow.
n
@paul, @stevef
handrail, gravel, Octocopter
Sorry Paul, gotta go with SteveF, I always follow him for good advice -laughter-
Ahem.
Yes, certainly need a handrail. Eventually more steps though that means shoveling. Gravel is a sensible thing to consider, regrettably this time of year it’s traction features are done in by an accumulation of snow and then the ice. Shoveling snow from gravel paths is even more unpalatable than steps. I need a plan for our sixties, though I intend to be fit and ornery time has a way of circumventing plans.
Maybe a zip line and homemade t-lift like a snow park. Our neighbor has a zip line in his backyard already…
And fantastic on the house, Nick. You can build more house, not so much more land.