Hot and humid.
Yesterday was hot and humid, with a bit of a strong wind from the south on the south side of town. The breeze helped a lot, but it was still stinking humid anywhere the breeze wasn’t.
Ran around town all afternoon doing pickups. Stuff for my wife, and a few tactical items, and one or two lots of my hobby items.
Supply drop from Costco and HEB is mostly put away. I spent last night breaking down the bulk meat into dinner sized packages, then vac sealed and froze them. They’re in the new freezer too, even though it’s just sitting in the driveway.
I baked bread in the machine again Tuesday, and again it had a ‘sharp’ flavor too it. I suspect that even though it’s edible, and not actually bad tasting, the flour from 2014 isn’t great. So I ordered and received 50 pounds to replace the bucket or two from 2014. Flour is cheap, we can get it, and I knew there would be some spoilage and waste with the way I stored it. As mentioned, it doesn’t smell or taste funny or bad, but there is something that isn’t quite delicious when you bake with it. Given that this isn’t the actual zombie apocalypse, replacing it makes sense. Six years with no particular care taken to store it is a long time.
I was able to get clorox bleach from costco, the 3 gallon pack. That’s a change. Still only Kirkland brand TP, although they had kleenex tissues. Still no clorox cleaners or wipes, and no lysol spray.
HEB had Prime top sirloin for $7/ pound. I bought 6 pounds. It was definitely ‘short time’ but that doesn’t bother me as it got vac sealed and frozen. It wasn’t listed as short though. That is cheaper than almost any of the beef except hamburger, and there were hamburger choices that were that much or more. It is still possible to be a smart shopper, even remotely with instacart.
Today will be one last trip to the pool for swim team. I decided that the kids really needed to see their friends and say goodbye. They missed that when school ended and it really bothered them. I hope it isn’t a mistake. Cases and hospitalizations are both rising quite steadily in Houston and the rest of Texas, no matter what my friend says. Hopefully he’s right and there is enough of everything, and that the panic is overblown. I’m not panicked, I’m just sticking to what I decided to do early on. It’s not ebola, but I still don’t want to roll the dice on it.
One of the local country clubs does a nice little fireworks show for their members that is visible from some public spots. We went there last year, and they say they’ll be doing a show this year too. We’ll be outdoors and distanced… if the weather is good. Trying to find the balance between staying isolated and going out to play in it is difficult. Even I’m glad to be out and about, getting a break from being in the house.
It’s not just wuflu either. The madness of some black lives matter is still ongoing, although it looks to be thoroughly co-opted by antifa and the prog/socialist left. I put some links up yesterday or the night before with violence directed as us ‘normals’. Keep your awareness up if you are going out.
And keep stacking while we can.
nick
On Tuesday’s post, Alan commented, regarding Fauci’s prediction of 100k new Chinese Flu cases
and provided a CNN link. Humorous. Why not cite Weekly World News if you really want to persuade people?
(Yes, I read the article. It was the usual bullshit and bafflegab, drifting between tests conducted and people who are actually sick without distinguishing between them, and all the rest which has been much commented upon.)
Nick, regarding your “sharp” flour, you might try a few things.
– Use the flour in biscuits, which generally have a “sharp” taste from the baking powder, or sourdough bread, or some other recipe with strong flavors. Plain white bread in particular is sensitive to funny-tasting flour because the flour provides most of the bread’s flavor.
– Use the flour in batter for chicken-fried steak or similar, or for thickening gravy, or for similar miscellaneous kitchen uses. Heck, stale flour might be better than fresh for redeye gravy.
– Just hang on to it, unless you’re constrained by space or secure(-ish) storage containers. If there’s a real collapse, a few pounds of ten-year-old flour is a lot better than none.
– Make a mountain of ooblek and give the kids something to do.
– Worst case, compost it or give it to someone to compost. No sense in tossing it into the garbage.
I mentioned that I had recently purchased a pair of “in ear” earbuds. I’ve decided I like them – the fit seems a lot better, as I’ve gotten practice with inserting them.
So, I want some background music while grading a massive pile of exams. I picked a couple of individual albums off of Google Music. Fine, the albums played. Then there is an option, in English probably something like “try your luck”, where Google will play things it thinks you should like.
This is a bit frightening. It’s playing song after song after song from other albums that I happen to own. Even when these are a totally different genre. At some point, Google appears to have indexed my music collection. When and how, I have no idea.
Granted, for my present purpose, it’s nice. But the personal data that’s running around out there…um…this is not good…
This is a bit frightening. It’s playing song after song after song from other albums that I happen to own. Even when these are a totally different genre. At some point, Google appears to have indexed my music collection. When and how, I have no idea.
How long have you used an iPod or descendant? Apple sells stats collected from the devices and the iTunes store. If you ripped a CD in the last 20 years in iTunes, that piece of information is in there too.
Anonymous, but Google fills in the blanks. They’re good at that.
Google makes money on data. Using that data to serve targeted advertisements. I also don’t trust my ISP to not be doing the same thing based on sites I visit. I did some research on hearing aids, using Google, and within a couple of weeks I was getting advertisements about hearing aids. Even my FB feed started showing advertisements.
My research was about the devices the VA was going to provide and if I could find, and possibly select alternatives. I had zero intention of buying the devices. Yet I got slammed with advertisements. What was more alarming was I got some phone calls. I never provided my phone number so that had to come from my ISP.
I suspect the theft of personal data (randomized my arse) is a lot more prevalent than is being reported to the regulatory agencies.
Maybe even this site is being scanned by Google and other nefarious outfits to glean personal data.
If you use gmail, I wonder if Google bypasses it’s own junk filters and sends it to you anyway? It wouldn’t surprise me.
The Twins have been binging Buffy and Angel during the Bat Cooties lock down. You can’t go wrong with the classics.
We are going to watch Warrior Nun on Netflix premiering today. It seems Buffyesque. We’ll also start The Order about werewolves and dark magic.
We also like Doom Patrol on DC Universe. I even read that comic in the 60’s. You have to be in the nerd column to get it (Hi Mr. Greg!). I would watch it just for Brendan Fraser voicing Robot Man. It is live action.
PS don’t screw up and google “Voyeur Nun” instead of Warrior Nun. Woof!
I’m currently watching Buffy again, but I average an episode every couple of nights. I’m in the middle of season 2. Also in my current view rotation are Frasier, Scrubs, and Z Nation. Only Z Nation is new to me. It’s low budget and campy, but it’s entertaining enough that I’ve kept watching. In the middle of season 2 right now.
I have completely cut out watching live tv on the weekdays. I used to watch the Seinfeld reruns, but I just can’t stand the commercials. The only broadcast tv I watch now is sports, which right now at least has golf and Premier League back. The only other sport I’m missing is baseball.
We are going to watch Warrior Nun on Netflix premiering today. It seems Buffyesque. We’ll also start The Order about werewolves and dark magic.
We also like Doom Patrol on DC Universe. I even read that comic in the 60’s. You have to be in the nerd column to get it (Hi Mr. Greg!). I would watch it just for Brendan Fraser voicing Robot Man. It is live action.
I was never a comic book person beyond Mad Magazine. I watch Marvel movies to see Cobie Smulders and that’s about the limit of my interest.
BBC’s recent “Dracula” reboot made Van Helsing a “warrior nun” type. I believe it is avaiable on Netflix. The middle 1/3, a vastly expanded story of the ocean voyage, is very good, classic Stephen Moffat/Mark Gatiss on the level of better episodes of “Sherlock”. The ending is the only real disappointment about the effort.
When you first see that Van Helsing is female and a nun, wait for the money line to drop from Dolly Wells before making any judgements. The re-gendering of the character isn’t just a PC stunt, but I’m sure it helped sell the BBC.
“Dracula” is not for the kiddies.
Now he tells me. Also avoid searching for p*ssy cat pictures.
Again, another lockdown would be pointless unless sick people are quarantined by law.
https://sports.yahoo.com/california-man-dies-coronavirus-1-135744913.html?src=rss
@Nick, your client must know that he is going to have infected guests on the 4th. Based on what I’ve seen in FL this week, the higher rent the resort, the more out of control the guests with regard to masking and distancing.
One family who showed up at the mini golf course in a really high end SUV yesterday were booking through the holes, pushing us near the end. Dad was obviously bored without his drink on.
Mini golf. We haven’t played at all this year. As my son gets older, we play less, but we’ll get out 3 or 4 times during the summer. More difficult now, of course. Also, 2 of the 3 local courses here went out of business last year. I think we need to make a trip out to the last one soon.
One of the local courses that closed went through several different owners in the last few years. If I could have seen any reasonable way for it to be profitable, I’d have bought it. There’s no way except in a high traffic tourist area. The course is physically gone now, made into a lot for trailer sales.
One of the local courses that closed went through several different owners in the last few years. If I could have seen any reasonable way for it to be profitable, I’d have bought it. There’s no way except in a high traffic tourist area. The course is physically gone now, made into a lot for trailer sales.
The course we hit yesterday was Goofy Golf in Panama City Beach, built by one of the pioneers in the industry, Lee Koplin. The site had good traffic yesterday, but, depending on when the real estate market craters, may not be around in a few years.
We avoided crazy areas and ate lunch at a local place which was mostly empty.
I hadn’t been to Panama City in 30 years. The two lights at the “lifestyle center” (mall) at the edge of town took 20 minutes to sit through. God only knows what the road will look like tomorrow.
Maybe even this site is being scanned by Google and other nefarious outfits to glean personal data.
IIRC, at one point RBT asked the commentariat here to stop discussing FLASHLIGHTS because he was being inundated with ads for them.
My brother got hired on for a movie in Austin. Got there, got set up, then it was pushed 3 weeks due to the spike in cases there. They couldn’t guarantee access to testing as required by the union agreements. They had 3 “pods” of people. A pod of on-set people that can’t wear PPE and their support staff all of whom are tested daily. A pod of people that can wear PPE and are on-set when no shooting is going on, tested weekly. A pod of people that have no on-set access and many of whom work remotely – accountants, etc. All do temperature checks daily. There are also “COVID monitors” who are there to ensure compliance with the rules. The film had a PPE budget of over $500k.
@ech, that is all very interesting.
Talking to my older producer buddy, the only thing going on 2 months ago was building plague hospitals.
It’s good to see them at least trying to restart production.
n
My favorite, local tavern opened up yesterday after several months and had several Buds. Then not open today due to Gov. Screwsom re-shutdown.
Reclosing Pubs, Taverns, Bars, etc., is the death toll for those businesses. I’d let everybody go instead of waiting for more goobermint $$. Theaters were ready to open and now what? Dead. Close all beaches for the 4th. I can’t wait to see crowds saying fcuk you Govenors.
Got our 4th cook out groceries today. Our local HEB is out of TP except for that crappy (lol) Mexican stuff. I tried a free delivery from Sam’s since I’m a Plus Member. Got a big box of Scott TP, Members Mark paper towels (1 per member) and some paper plates for the preps. I hope it gets delivered next week and not cancelled.
Our HEB has big signs at each entrance “masks required” with Gestapo inside with walkies. Of course, a liitle old BLACK lady walked right in. I wonder why she wasn’t stopped.
If you use gmail, I wonder if Google bypasses it’s own junk filters and sends it to you anyway? It wouldn’t surprise me.
Reputedly half of the email on the internet goes through gmail now. Their filters, the old Postini honey pots, block everyone who is not on gmail now. If you send an email to one of the honey pots then you are put on their naughty list automatically. The honey pots email addresses are super secret.
Per postings today, when I see someone breaking the rules, I just keep my yap shut. If a commotion starts, I go the other way. I’ve taught that to all our kids from Kindergarten on. Don’t get involved in a fist, hair pulling, yelling fight.
@lynn:
We use Fortran and C++ so our code cannot be deobfuscated.
Ouch!
Write only code?
Nope. 700,000+ lines of F77 with 4,000 subroutines and 500,000 lines of C++ in 200+ classes. Very maintainable if you have five XXXX ten years of experience with it. I have 30+ years, my senior PhD has 11 years, and junior senior programmer has 15 years.
My long term memory is so full of the data structures and call trees that I have little room for anything else. Yup, total nerd.
Per postings today, when I see someone breaking the rules, I just keep my yap shut. If a commotion starts, I go the other way. I’ve taught that to all our kids from Kindergarten on. Don’t get involved in a fist, hair pulling, yelling fight.
Wise advice.
A friend of FB that works at HEB posted a link to the local rag about what HEB has done about this, and blah blah blah. Nice puff piece, needs editing.
Well,
“JULY 1: Required customers at all H-E-B stores statewide to wear face masks.”
Hopefully Wal-Mart hasn’t gone ‘tard with this.
I live 1 mile in from the beach. I’ll check it out and post back Sat.
The Twins have been binging Buffy and Angel during the Bat Cooties lock down. You can’t go wrong with the classics.
Speaking of cooties, Dilbert is not spreading some around:
https://dilbert.com/strip/2020-07-01
I’m currently watching Buffy again, but I average an episode every couple of nights. I’m in the middle of season 2. Also in my current view rotation are Frasier, Scrubs, and Z Nation. Only Z Nation is new to me. It’s low budget and campy, but it’s entertaining enough that I’ve kept watching. In the middle of season 2 right now.
I love the first three seasons of Buffy. And then it gets a little weird with Willow having a girlfriend. The Angel episode where Spike is announcing the saving of a lady by Angel is hilarious.
Z-Nation is moments of hilarity followed by long pockets of “did something happen ?”. There is now a prequel for it, “Black Summer”, with no hilarity at all, just lots of people going Z and lots of guns with infinite rounds. If we ever really get a Z apocalypse, Black Summer is a good aproximation other than the fast turnings to Z. Overworked soldiers, massive shortages, cities are freaking disasters.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Summer_(TV_series)
One of my neighbors is mowing his vacant 1.2 acre lot with a 100+ hp 4wd air conditioned tractor and a 15 ft wide batwing mower today. Never say overkill.
xkcd: Oily House Index
https://xkcd.com/2327/
Yup, we are living the dream. Not !
The natural gas index looks much, much, much flatter. And not in a good way.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2327:_Oily_House_Index
A friend of FB that works at HEB posted a link to the local rag about what HEB has done about this, and blah blah blah. Nice puff piece, needs editing.
Well,
“JULY 1: Required customers at all H-E-B stores statewide to wear face masks.”
Hopefully Wal-Mart hasn’t gone ‘tard with this.
I suspect that HEB’s insurance company forced the mask issue.
I also suspect that Walmart will be right behind HEB even though they are probably self insured.
My question to the personal injury lawyers, how do you know that your client got their SARS-COV-2 while they were at HEB ? The answer, it does not matter !
A friend of FB that works at HEB posted a link to the local rag about what HEB has done about this, and blah blah blah. Nice puff piece, needs editing.
Well,
“JULY 1: Required customers at all H-E-B stores statewide to wear face masks.”
Over The Hedge: masks
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2020/07/02
I suspect that HEB’s insurance company forced the mask issue.
I also suspect that Walmart will be right behind HEB even though they are probably self insured.
My question to the personal injury lawyers, how do you know that your client got their SARS-COV-2 while they were at HEB ? The answer, it does not matter !
Lots of Publix (FL HEB) workers are coming up positive here in Florida. The chain isn’t forcing customers to wear masks, but every employee is wearing one. In addition, the stores have social distancing markers at the registers and signs pointing the “correct” way to proceed down the aisle.
We have some regional grocery store chains around here that have set up their aisles to be one way, but mostly it’s a trainwreck. You walk past something then 20 feet later remember you need it are you going to go around in a big loop to get it? No, you’re just going to turn around and walk the wrong way back down the aisle for it. That’s assuming you’re even aware of and paying attention to the one way signs in the first place. Nice idea but mostly a complete cluster f*ck.
So what happens when I don’t pay the fine?
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/02/texas-issues-state-wide-order-requiring-face-coverings.html
Statewide face covering requirements are going to be so laughably unenforceable over this holiday weekend.
Is there an app so I know how many COVID cases are in each county so I know when to wear a mask?
This should be challenged immediately in TX courts.
Illegal, unconstitutional, only enforced through gestapo thuggery.
Good luck.
Cold and flu season are on the way in the Fall so it is *MASKs* 365/7/24 from now until the heat death of the Universe.
First 100 F day of the year and I have been working outside sweating off my backside. Man is it hot !
Cold and flu season are on the way in the Fall so it is *MASKs* 365/7/24 from now until the heat death of the Universe.
Yes and don’t touch me !
So what happens when I don’t pay the fine?
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/02/texas-issues-state-wide-order-requiring-face-coverings.html
You go to jail where you can get a fresh case of SARS-COV-2.
“Fauci Says New Mutation May Speed the Spread of Coronavirus (1)”
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/pharma-and-life-sciences/new-mutation-may-let-virus-more-easily-replicate-fauci-says
I am still wondering when China will release the weaponized version.
Google Analytics is nearly ubiquitous in deployment on websites.
Google Tags as well (on this site)
Its not really for the website owners to manage tags or view their stats/goals, etc either…
Re Google Analytics …
I use it on just about all of the sites I manage, because I am curious about usage.
But, many of the sites use a custom-written code that runs server-side, not client-side, so (I think) it is more anonymous. It just reports the page being accessed via an HTTP (CURL) request, along with the referring page/site and first three octets of the visitor IP address.
I figure there is so much of my data out there that the only way I could escape it would be to move to an area of NV (or a island in the middle of the ocean) that doesn’t have cell access or the interwebs. But, then there’s all those satellites….
Greg,
Welcome to the World’s Most Beautiful Beaches, a/k/a Lower Alabama. The Koplin family still runs Goofy Golf, as far as I know. My grandfather started his business here in 1955. The Pier Park area is always trouble; you’re correct that it will be a complete zoo this weekend. For a sobering moment or three, drive around the eastern 1/3 of the county and see all the un-repaired damage from almost 21 months ago.
>”You walk past something then 20 feet later remember you need it…”
Or you are at the end of an aisle and want something that is just 20 feet up it, but it is the wrong way.
I use the Parcheesi rule: As long as there aren’t two people side by side blocking your path, then going the wrong way for less than half the aisle length is OK.
I think the one-way aisle rules are mostly theatre (as with a lot of the other ‘cootie madness’ rules). But I suspect that it might increase sales – if you have to go down all aisles, then you pick up more stuff than you plan.
But, why are most of the things you want in the aisles that are the same direction? (Say, all even-numbered aisles.)
Maybe good to increase your walking time – walking is good for you. Unless you walk down the snack/candy aisles….
You can go to jail for up to 30 days. Where they have been releasing real criminals early to avoid getting COVID-19. Makes a lot of sense to…. No One.
Here in TN, Knoxville specifically, you have a health authority, never elected, never sworn to uphold the law, no judicial or legislative oversight, making laws where people can get fined or jailed. Some lawyer needs to really challenge the state on this abuse of power.
Welcome to the World’s Most Beautiful Beaches, a/k/a Lower Alabama. The Koplin family still runs Goofy Golf, as far as I know. My grandfather started his business here in 1955. The Pier Park area is always trouble; you’re correct that it will be a complete zoo this weekend. For a sobering moment or three, drive around the eastern 1/3 of the county and see all the un-repaired damage from almost 21 months ago.
We caught hints of the damage driving some of the back roads away from 98, and Goofy Golf needs some work.
Lee County was pretty grim a year after Harvey. I doubt things have changed much since we visited two years ago.
ARSTechnica has become nothing but a bunch of whiney zit face pimple squeezers whose only date in the last three years has involved five fingers and some Vaseline while watching Oprah.
Jeez Ray, I’ve had to use up most of my stored brain bleach after that image…
n
Sorry. I guess Oprah was a little over the top.
“Source: NFL plans to play Black national anthem before Week 1 games”
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29401000/nfl-plans-play-black-national-anthem-week-1-games
Well, I was on the fence about NFL games this year. This just pushed me off the fence.
I haven’t watched a game since what’s his name started kneeling.
“Source: NFL plans to play Black national anthem before Week 1 games”
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29401000/nfl-plans-play-black-national-anthem-week-1-games
Someone please remind me: Why is 13% of the population allowed to dictate to the other 87%?
“Source: NFL plans to play Black national anthem before Week 1 games”
I didn’t know there was such a thing as a “black” national anthem.
Oh. Part of the Legend of Maya, The Peoples’ Poet. Never mind.
FFS, I’m getting very tired of being dictated to by the loud mouth 10% who have contributed almost nothing to the advancement of mankind. Very few exceptions, and they’d be called uncle tom in today’s climate anyway.
I just got done looking at an alumni message from my college, and it’s FULL of the focus on blacks. It looks like my entire department has become nothing but grievance studies, with the entire student body composed of black and brown females.
It is getting tiresome.
n
It is getting tiresome.
The same thought has spontaneously occurred to me. 🙁
Gen. Michael Flynn: If we don’t act, 2% of the people are about to control the other 98%
“Source: NFL plans to play Black national anthem before Week 1 games”
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29401000/nfl-plans-play-black-national-anthem-week-1-games
Someone please remind me: Why is 13% of the population allowed to dictate to the other 87%?
I have no idea why the employees are permitted to dictate to the customers about their entertainment.
I am wondering how many of the customers are going to put up with it. This customer is not going to.
FFS, I’m getting very tired of being dictated to by the loud mouth 10% who have contributed almost nothing to the advancement of mankind. Very few exceptions, and they’d be called uncle tom in today’s climate anyway.
I just got done looking at an alumni message from my college, and it’s FULL of the focus on blacks. It looks like my entire department has become nothing but grievance studies, with the entire student body composed of black and brown females.
It is getting tiresome.
I am getting the same crap from Texas A&M Engineering department.
And yes, it is getting tiresome.