Cold and clear, until it rains. And it will probably rain, just to mess with me.
Yesterday was cool and clear everywhere I went, but I could see the rain coming down HARD in the distance. Some parts of the Houston area must have been hammered.
Ran my errands. Have another load of industrial stuff scheduled to drop off on Monday or Tuesday. Most of my stuff in the last auction did well. Both auctioneers are happier with the stuff I’m bringing. Me too for that matter. Now I just need to get MORE of it to them each time.
If I can I’ll work in the garden today. I’ve got cleanup and pick ups scheduled though. Sunday is supposed to be clear so that’s my backup plan.
Got the dog’s ashes back yesterday. There will need to be some time spent dealing with that, and the family, over the weekend too. I’m still checking for him every time I walk through the room, or checking that his water dish is full when I walk past that area. It’s amazing how much energy an 18 pound chihuahua mix can infuse into the house, and how empty it can feel when it’s gone.
Out in the world, the crazy continues to grow and spread. The government wants to make literally half the country into outlaws and domestic terrorists. (Funny how we have so many flavors of ‘terrorist’ these days.) It’s a bit like the constant use of the ‘racist’ label, and I can’t help thinking of the saying, “as well to hang for a sheep as a lamb”. Be careful what you wish for….
The casino that is the financial markets finally met a card counter they didn’t own, and they’re running scared. It’s been a house of cards for a long time, and it might finally be crashing down. This isn’t good by the way.
I saw a meme that kinda lifted a veil so to speak, exposing something I’d internalized that wasn’t true. For a long time, I’ve been referring people to the election map of the last election BY COUNTY because it shows quite clearly that the majority of the country is red, with only the big cities in blue. It looks very different from when the whole state is colored in. The meme (I can’t find again) showed the same map, and said- There are no blue states, only corrupt blue cities in red states. And just like that, I realized I’d been programmed. My way of thinking about the issue was framed by someone else in a way that benefited them more than me. Watch out for that.
We have some time yet before whatever breaks things for real happens. I don’t know how long, but it’s not infinite. Keep working to improve your position. Keep stacking.
n
The casino that is the financial markets finally met a card counter they didn’t own, and they’re running scared. It’s been a house of cards for a long time, and it might finally be crashing down. This isn’t good by the way.
Antitrust action in GameStop’s retail segment was long overdue, but now it is too late.
I noticed Staples is making another run at Office Depot. More Bain Capital antics.
Naturally. The major of source of the non-working, the lazy, the welfare careers, the ignorant, the incompetent, the corrupt politicians, gang bangers, thugs, illegal immigrants, and other worthless dregs of society. The Free Stuff Army.
Overcast and grey. 66F with 80%RH. Might get rain after all.
n
Is there a consensus as to who the chief string-pullers are?
@Ray
The tragedy is that the leftist politicians–corrupt and incompetent and determined to hold on to power at any cost–have enabled the rest to flourish.
The arc of history was headed elsewhere in 1960. Johnson’s Great Society programs destroyed generations of progress.
@Lynn
I posted lthis on last night’s thread, but here also:
Sorry, I went to bed.
ONT = OverNight Thread
The photo is After the Inauguration.
Is there a consensus as to who the chief string-pullers are?
Biden is the third Obama term. They put the band back together, just with slightly different titles — Susan Rice, John Kerry, Janet Yellen, …
Oh, for one lazy afternoon with a water board…
Some Texas distances.
Port Arthur to El Paso : 889 miles. Port Arthur to Chicago: 770 miles
Brownsville to Texline (north of Amarillo): 956 miles. Texline to Canada: 960 miles
El Paso is closer to California than to Dallas
Re: the gun bill.
It was submitted by Shiela Jackson Lee. No cosponsors. She has never, to my knowledge, authored any significant legislation. Her staff turnover is incredible, with many stories from former staff of terrible working conditions. It has been said that the most dangerous place in the US is between her and a TV camera. Her major donors are, last time I checked, unions and plaintiff’s attorneys. At one time she would have staff make a first class seat reservation on every flight from DC to Houston on Continental (now United) and just show up for the one she wanted to take. Eventually, they stopped letting the staff do that and she pitched a fit with the airline. When she was on a NASA oversight committee, they did a trip to JPL to see a prototype of a Mars rover that was about to be launched and get briefed on the mission. She wanted to know if the rover would take pictures of Neil Armstrong’s flag.
Shiela Jackson Lee: there are a few Congresscritters who are so dumb that you wonder they graduated from elementary school. She affirmative auctioned her way through school, got elected based on her skin color, but…who is running the puppet? It’s certain Ms. Lee couldn’t write coherent legislation, so…who wrote it for her.
Regarding the pending legislation, most are in direct contradiction to at least the First and/or Second Amendments at the least.
But it is entirely understandable as the Dumbocrats do not believe it is a legal document, and it has not been taught in Public Schools (of re-education) for about the last five decades.
The NRA is not going to be of any help. They are bankrupt and are asking the Endowment Members (I have been one for 25+ years) for more money.
Shiela Jackson Lee: there are a few Congresscritters who are so dumb that you wonder they graduated from elementary school. She affirmative auctioned her way through school, got elected based on her skin color, but…who is running the puppet? It’s certain Ms. Lee couldn’t write coherent legislation, so…who wrote it for her.
Interns and/or low ranking staff. Like all legislation. A page or two may come from a lobbyist.
Costco’s lobbyists rewrote the liquor regulations in WA State when we lived there, but they own the Governor’s Mansion.
Just out of interest and for some perspective.
My state, Western Australia.
2,642,753 km2 (1,020,373 sq. mi)
Population total 2.7 million.
Oh yes. I have only been to eastern Australia, but have wanted to visit the rest. It is a vast and wonderful land, so that could take a long time. In my experience, most Australians are warm and welcoming people.
G’day! Probably messed that up. 🙂
“Would You Be Considered A Domestic Terrorist Under This New Bill?”
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/would-you-be-considered-domestic-terrorist-under-new-bill
“The Domestic Terrorism Prevention Act of 2021
The DTPA is essentially the criminalization of speech, expression, and thought. It takes cancel culture a step further and all but outlaws unpopular opinions. This act will empower intelligence, law enforcement, and even military wings of the American ruling class to crack down on individuals adhering to certain belief systems and ideologies.”
“Saturday Sarcasm: 9 Great New Jobs For Laid-Off Oil And Gas Workers”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/saturday-sarcasm-9-great-new-jobs-laid-oil-and-gas-workers
“Here are 9 exciting new opportunities for laid-off oil and gas workers:
#1 Installing urinals in girls’ bathrooms – There are over 120 million buildings in the US. That’s 120 million girls’ bathrooms that will need a new urinal installed for the sake of equality. Not bad!
#2 Trumpet boy for Biden’s royal decrees – Biden’s executive orders just seem a little more special with a trumpet boy out front heralding the coming of a new decree! Whitehouse.gov recently posted an opening for this position. Get on it!
#3 Elementary school teacher in Chicago – There’s nothing nobler than working for the education of a child. Well– we don’t mean work, we mean get paid by the government just for existing. Not a bad gig.
#4 Carry buckets of oil up and down the Continental United States on foot – The Keystone XL pipeline may be gone, but that oil has to get to its destination somehow, Jack! There are thousands of new positions opening up for people to carry oil across the country, balanced on their heads, like tribal natives after fetching water at the village well. Start practicing now!
#5 Take that job at McDonald’s – Might as well. At this rate, the minimum wage will be $45 an hour by the years’ end.
#6 Open a GameStop – It’s the wave of the future!
#7 Go back in time and buy bitcoin – Just do it. Get off your butt, build a time machine, and buy some Bitcoin in 2009. Accomplish something for once!
#8 Replace all your body parts with cyborg implants and become an Amazon drone – Helicopter arms!!! Literally no downside to this.
#9 Become a youth pastor – Hardly any work required.
Hang in there, bucko! There’s plenty of opportunity out there!”
Over The Hedge: Migrating To The Mall
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2021/01/30
At least somebody is going to the Mall.
#1 Installing urinals in girls’ bathrooms – There are over 120 million buildings in the US. That’s 120 million girls’ bathrooms that will need a new urinal installed for the sake of equality. Not bad!
During my time at grad school in Vantucky, we had two transmen in the engineering department who advocated for special private restrooms in every building on campus where they could utilize the devices which allowed them to make use of urinals.
The “family” restrooms were deemed inadequate bacause those did not provide urinals.
During my time at grad school in Vantucky, we had two transmen in the engineering department who advocated for special private restrooms in every building on campus where they could utilize the devices which allowed them to make use of urinals.
The “family” restrooms were deemed inadequate bacause those did not provide urinals.
I have never seen a private home with a urinal. I am sure that they exist but they are rare. I don’t even have urinals in my office building. But the mens and ladies restrooms have showers, much more important.
“Schumer Says Biden Should Declare ‘Climate Emergency’, Rule Like A Dictator”
https://nationalfile.com/schumer-says-biden-should-declare-climate-emergency-rule-like-a-dictator/
“Now that Democrats are in one-party control, fairness, equity, diversity of thought, and rules don’t matter any more”
Now that is scary. Because the climate emergency will never end. Because the climate emergency never started.
“Vaccine Wars: EU Demands Seizure of Covid Vaccines Made in Britain”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2021/01/29/vaccine-wars-eu-demands-seizure-of-covid-vaccines-made-in-britain/
“Following the recently announced failure of French vaccine trials, the EU appears to have panicked, and is attempting to seize vaccines made under contract for the UK. They are even demanding vaccines physically manufactured in Britain be sent to Europe. The UK contract was reportedly signed three months before the EU contract.”
Not good.
I saw a report on the BBC website (can’t re-find it now) that the EU have withdrawn the demand, and admitted that they shouldn’t have made it in the first place. AIUI, it was only for the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, which HMG has only just approved, and has not yet started using.
G.
“Following the recently announced failure of French vaccine trials, the EU appears to have panicked, and is attempting to seize vaccines made under contract for the UK. They are even demanding vaccines physically manufactured in Britain be sent to Europe. The UK contract was reportedly signed three months before the EU contract.”
Not good.
Come and get it, Frog.
The old hostilities die hard.
Geoff, I think you are mixing up the actions of the EU. The EU invoked Article 16 of the Withdrawl agreement, which would have meant a de facto border for vaccines between Ireland and Northern Ireland – acting against the EU commitment to free movement (no borders). The EU had not even mentioned this to the Irish government before enacting it. Following contact from the Irish and British governments, the EU decided they ‘had made a mistake’, revoked Article 16 but decided to put in place procedures to monitor transfer of vaccines between Ireland and Northern Ireland.
The EU is still arguing that they should receive vaccines manufactured in the UK because ….
The EU have published a redacted version of the AZ vaccine contract, made 3 months after the UK contract, which clearly states ‘best endeavours’ but they still claim they have rights because ….
Net is, the EU procurement process was less than optimal and they are trying to find a scape goat for the EU populace – as politicians do.
PS – UK EMEA approved the AZ vaccine 30 December with the first dose administered to Professor Pollard on 5 January. EU EMA approved the AZ vaccine 29 January, days after the EU was complaining about a lack of supply.
Who needs one when there is a front porch?
@Paulthe Manc:
You may very well be right. I don’t aggressively follow the news (particularly politics). Of course, it’s something I expect from the EU Commission, unelected bureaucrats that they are, and hence unaccountable. The EU Parliament is elected, but powerless.
G.
@Lynn
“Because the climate emergency never started.”
see Roy Spencer:
“As can be seen, the largest warming effect with a change in population density occurs at the lowest population densities (not a new finding), with the most total warming at the highest population densities.”
https://www.drroyspencer.com/2021/01/could-recent-u-s-warming-trends-be-largely-spurious/
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9202749/Mexican-government-calls-Bidens-administration-help-stop-smuggling-illegal-weapons.html
–the irony, it burns
n
–it really burns
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2021/01/president-not-king-attorneys-general-blast-joe-biden-signing-record-number-executive-orders-first-week-office/
n
Shame they don’t demand Obama and Holder be extradited for Fast and Furious trial.
Trump should have declassified mountains.
This is not the first story like this I’ve read in the last 6 months. It reads like something directly out of some of the fiction I’ve been reading (Bernard Lee deLeo in particular). Someone here recommended them and I do enjoy them the same way I enjoy buckets of popcorn, or dipping doritos in vanilla icecream….
n
The world is getting weirder.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9202857/French-blogger-killed-drugs-overdose-day-520-000-Capitol-rioters-donation.html
https://www.zerohedge.com/covid-19/us-covid-hospitalizations-fall-world-bank-donates-12bn-african-vaccine-effort-live-updates
Weird URL considering the headline and story….
Trump vaccine in record time and made in the U.S. to avoid just such problems.
What makes me suspect that those “essential personnel” in Brussels are at the front of the vaccination line?
@Lynn
“Because the climate emergency never started.”
see Roy Spencer:
“As can be seen, the largest warming effect with a change in population density occurs at the lowest population densities (not a new finding), with the most total warming at the highest population densities.”
https://www.drroyspencer.com/2021/01/could-recent-u-s-warming-trends-be-largely-spurious/
I have a basic problem with the temperature measurements, at least through the 1980s. The error bars on those temperatures are +-0.5 F on a good day since they were read using foot long thermometers.
And I don’t buy that current day temperature readings are +-0.01 F. That is just crazy. I might buy +-0.1 F with all of these newfangled electronic temperature measuring devices. But even that bothers me.
Oh, but Lynn, you just don’t understand modern statistical methods, which can transform unreliable, manually transcribed raw data with a wide error bar into completely reliable processed data with a tiny error bar, suitable for any number of long-range predictions.
/sarc
Some years ago someone got their hands on the computer code which transformed not-terribly-accurate data with a number of gaps and a number of ridiculous values (eg, air temperature of 899 degrees) into processed data. It will not surprise you to learn that the analyst’s biases were built into the correction code, so that (IIRC) a string of unseasonably cold values were adjusted upward to account for the “error” but a string of unseasonably warm values were left as-is. The statistical methods used to transform 0.5 degree accuracy into 0.1 accuracy were, IIRC, not accepted by more conservative statisticians but were gaining general acceptance in the statistics community. (My interpretation of that: more progressive statisticians wanted to be able to put their names on papers announcing strong results. Conservative methods didn’t give them their strong results, not at accepted confidence levels. Consequently, confidence levels were loosened and innovative approaches were developed to turn weak data into strong data which would support these strong results. That said, I’m not a statistician. It’s possible that these innovative methods are rigorous and supportable.) (That said, while I don’t know statistics beyond what a working engineer needs, I do know people. I’ve seen wiggle room added to engineering, data science, accounting, and probably other fields for no better reason than “I’m not able to do what I want or get the results I want unless I make the change”.)
This all was from some years ago, pushing ten. I might have read it on wattsupwiththat; if not, then on some other “calling BS on the BS” site.
I had a very interesting day today.
I woke up to find the contractor had unloaded three pieces of equipment to create the 78×36 dirt pad for my shop. In five hours the crew of six were done with what they planned for today. They cut the high corner by four feet and filled the low corner by six feet. They also leveled the drive way and created diversion swells so the rain would flow away from the shop. The pad is rough (not ready for concrete). While the shop will be 54X36 I plan to add a 24 wide by 36 deep shelter on the east side for my trailers. They will put pour the footers for the shelter when they pour the shop footers and slab.
Before they started we discussed the exact location for the shop. I gave them the general location but after they took measurements today, they lowered it by two feet and slid it two feet closer to the property line so less dirt would have to be moved.
They had three people that did nothing but remove exposed roots and cast them aside. ( I had made a real effort to to that when I removed the tree stumps but did not know it was a major issue.) I will have to burn the roots one of these days.
They had to cut the hillside back to provide a parking pad in front of the shop. They did a nice job with this, leaving slope that I can mow later. Only thirty or forty feet will need a wall.
We had rain Wednesday night and more predicted for tomorrow so today was he best day for this work. I’ll have before and after pictures up tomorrow.
After they left I started on the fence replacement. I got two post holes dug and the posts aligned but it got dark before I could mix the concrete.
I finished “Variable Star” by Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson yesterday. Highly recommended.
And as Doctor Pournell often pointed out, an accurate measurement at one point is not a measurement of the overall system. He often cited his aerospace experiences as evidence.
The fact is that none of the ISPCC models have proven anything like accurate yet politicians still insist we pretend its settled science in an obvious grab for more power for an authoritarian state.
I finished “Variable Star” by Robert Heinlein and Spider Robinson yesterday. Highly recommended.
I liked Variable Star also. I have yet to read the newly found Heinlein yet.
https://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Pankera-Parallel-Novel-Universes/dp/1647100291/?tag=ttgnet-20
I want to reread several of the Heinleins over the next decade. “Friday”, “I Will Fear No Evil”, “The Number Of The Beast”, etc., some of his later works.
News from Utah:
@Lynn
Direct from the publisher at 50% off:
https://www.arcmanorbooks.com/pursuit
@Lynn
Direct from the publisher at 50% off:
https://www.arcmanorbooks.com/pursuit
Yup, the trade paperback coming out in April is only $9.99 (half price) on Big River:
https://www.amazon.com/Pursuit-Pankera-Parallel-Novel-Universes/dp/1647100291/?tag=ttgnet-20
I prefer trade paperbacks. Big fonts in a smaller binding than the hardbacks. I’ve got over 5,000 books right now and storage is a big issue.
Making a rosette iron
99,757 views
•Jan 29, 2021
Torbjörn Åhman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=55WrP4AqgUI
perfectly innocuous vid, in which one of my favorite youtube blacksmiths does very little forging, but should be food for thought. 3d printed form, sand casting aluminum, a bit of hand finishing, some metal and woodworking… He gets a tasty treat to share with the kids, but. Same techniques, same tools, and different aluminum object just as straightforward to do.
n
another story out of a crime novel
–just happened to get beaten to death….
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9205915/Jordan-Peterson-claims-suicidal-hooked-benzodiazepines.html
-yikes.
n
G’day! Probably messed that up.
Perfect… No worries… 😀
Plus some states consider the clergy to be Essential Workers for a priority covid jab.
Build That Wall!!
The reviews among Heinlein fans are … mixed at best, trending to sub-par.