Cool and clear, maybe even chilly. Except in the sun, then it feels hot.
Did a couple of pickups yesterday in the bright sunny coolness. Lots of driving. Since I tend to fall asleep while driving, I thought I’d try listing to a book on tape (well, cd.) I picked up the second Jack Reacher, and since I’ve been seeing the books at Goodwill, I was thinking I might as well give it a try. Geez what a tedious pos. I’m 7 chapters in and he JUST thought to ask how the girls have been murdered, and NO ONE has yet asked how the killer might FIND his [extremely specific] type of victims. Given the huge popularity and success of the series, I think it must get better. MUST. I’ll keep listening to see, but so far, not impressed.
Today is my non-prepping hobby meeting, and tiny swapmeet. I’m bringing a couple of things. Leaving the expensive items at home… it’s close enough that I can pop home if someone asks about them.
Wife and eldest will be learning about shooting rifles. Youngest will be home with me. Full weekend.
Store up some good times while you are at it. These are the ‘good old times’.
Stack it up.
n
I keep telling myself that, about a lot of popular book series or movies, but it’s usually not true. I don’t think my standards are too high — much of the fiction I read is amateur works or self-published with little editing — so I can only conclude that most people are idiots with no taste. (I reach that conclusion by several different paths. That might say something about me but most likely says something about the idiocy of most people.)
In modern society, how can that even be allowed???? #LiterallyShaking
You know what you need, Brad? More Daylight Savings Time.
@Lynn: (From arstechnica)
Texans paid far less than the real cost of their electricity for years, it seems. The utilities weren't collecting money to make the system more robust. Leastwise, I haven't heard any claims that the utilities were taking out excessive profits rather than put the money into their infrastructure.
Ah, 41F and almost saturated this am… I'm off to my meeting.
Amuse yourselves, but leave the cat alone!
n
Oof:
Oklahoma National Guard defies Pentagon, won't impose COVID-19 vaccine mandate
I can't wait for the PinHeadaGon's response. "No new equipment for choo!" I wonder if Red States will follow suit.
I read my Jack Reacher on my Samsung tablet WiFi'd from our public library at no charge,
Currently reading “Nothing To Lose”.
There are signs from the Supreme Court that they are looking for a good case to rein in what is called "Chevron deference".
What is that, you ask?
More at the link https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/chevron_deference
For the first time., I am getting that internal error when trying to post. Repeatedly. I am copying and pasting from the Ubuntu text editor as usual, and no links or code.
Even dividing it up and eliminating the quotes didn't help. It simply will not post.
Oh well. Short version:
If I don't like a book, I just toss it into the kitchen trash. I no longer feel compelled to finish it.
And
We Texans have been paying for infrastructure improvements, plus the true real cost of electricity, plus great wages to all staff, plus profits for investors for as long as I've been getting bills. They always like to claim they aren't making enough money, but they keep building and investing. Kind of like farmers. Or the Post Office. *cough*
I was just looking in Boot Barn site and noticed that boots are separated by gender. How criminal and unconstitutional is that?
https://www.bootbarn.com/featured/collections/handcrafted-boots/?utm_source=promo&utm_medium=memail&utm_campaign=20211113-Sa-Promo-NewHandcraftedShyanneCodyJamesBoots-Core&utm_term=ThumbFeatured&utm_content=Boots
Home from my meeting. Sold a couple of things, paid for my table and the donuts. Didn't buy anything 🙂
Wife and D1 on their way to camp. D2 reading. Caught up on the intarwebs so it's time to start working. Huge mess in kitchen from pre-cooking and packing camp food. I guess that's mine to fix…
Fantastic day, bright sunny blue sky, 75F in the sun, and cold in the shade…
n
Starlink is a great idea, but not for urban areas. Satellite communication is ideal for rural or mobile links, but it makes no sense for a city. If you're in a city, you want fiber.
I live out in the county and work out in the county. At the house we have 300/? mbps cable internet for $70/month. I won't replace that with Starlink.
My office building is also out in the county. I have two 12/1 mbps DSL lines at $175/month bonded together with a Peplink 30. The Peplink automatically selects which DSL line is least loaded and sends the traffic that way. I look forward to replacing one of the DSL lines with a Starlink line.
AT&T has offered me (is demanding !) that I move to a fiber line at the front of my 14 acre office property. They want me to sign a contract for five years at $500/month for a dedicated 10/10 mbps fiber line. Plus they want me to move my three copper phone lines to VOIP lines.
xkcd: Occam
https://xkcd.com/2541/
I'm with them, Murphy needs to stay away from the razor.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2541:_Occam
I found out a couple weeks ago that there is a “new” ISP in our area. Turns out they have been in business for at least a couple years, but I never heard about them until now. They are tied to the fiber that comes into town, and provide an RF link to homes. They offer good price-performance service, and reasonable installation cost using good (Ubiquiti) equipment. I talked to the owner (small towns have perks,) and he seemed very knowledgeable. He checked his coverage map, and suggested starting with a site survey to make sure I am in a good signal area, because I am at the edge of his coverage. I will do that as soon as we get some time. He said they are small, just a few employees moonlighting this company. That seems to be the only risk, and I take that seriously. I do have a good feeling about this service.
They offer three tiers of service: 25, 50, and 100 Mbps, all symmetrical, at 40, 60, and 80 $/month, no long term contract. No data caps, and net neutrality they define as what I would expect. The only competitor who comes close charges $159/month for 25/10 Mbps. He also said they will be offering a good TV package in about a month. His description led me to believe we could replace our DirecTV at half the cost per month. More details needed.
Another example of what some of us who live in small remote areas put up with. I sure hope this is viable. Starlink looks good, but I am concerned about a host of problems that are becoming known, such as lawsuits. My biggest concern is the delay, which could be a year or more for our area.
Did a couple of pickups yesterday in the bright sunny coolness. Lots of driving. Since I tend to fall asleep while driving, I thought I’d try listing to a book on tape (well, cd.) I picked up the second Jack Reacher, and since I’ve been seeing the books at Goodwill, I was thinking I might as well give it a try. Geez what a tedious pos. I’m 7 chapters in and he JUST thought to ask how the girls have been murdered, and NO ONE has yet asked how the killer might FIND his [extremely specific] type of victims. Given the huge popularity and success of the series, I think it must get better. MUST. I’ll keep listening to see, but so far, not impressed.
I've read about 12 or 14 of the Jack Reacher books. My dad loves them. I do know this, Tom Cruise may have the gumption to be Jack Reacher but he ain't Jack Reacher.
Tom Cruise may have the gumption to be Jack Reacher but he ain't Jack Reacher.
Tom Cruise is a shrimp. Reacher is supposed to be a monster of a guy. Nope, haven't seen the movie, don't know if he pulls it off. He's a pretty good actor and the camera loves him, so maybe…
I'm hoping that like the Harry Potter books, they get better as it goes along.
And it may be slow as frozen molasses, but I am interested in what happens next.
n
Forgot to put the battery on the charger for the lawnmower, and I didn't pull it out at the end of the last use. It does seem to self discharge if left in the machine.
Finished all but about 4 sqft of the back yard. And since I spiral in out of habit (there used to be a tree in the middle) the uncut patch is right in the middle of the yard.
n
The hatchet and hammer crew is back next door. They arrived 8am on Saturday after 2 days off. They appear to have started another job elsewhere. More evidence that they are about to slide out of here with the job undone.
I found the opposite: The first couple Harry Potter books were perfectly good children's stories. Kind of dumb plots, plenty of holes in the universe, plenty of plot holes, stereotypical characters, but overall perfectly good for children's stories. The universe problems and plot holes became more blatant as the series went on. Note that I read only up through the fifth book (because after that my sons wanted to read the books themselves rather than be read to before bed) but I understand that the sixth and seventh books were atrocious so far as plot and in-universe consistency and such go.
The movies, I have no idea. Haven't seen them except for the third movie, and remember nothing, not a thing, about that, except for the werewolf transformation scene, during which one son was scared and jumped in my lap.
10 Mbps on fiber? The three copper lines have more bandwidth potential if conditioned properly.
They offer three tiers of service: 25, 50, and 100 Mbps, all symmetrical, at 40, 60, and 80 $/month, no long term contract. No data caps, and net neutrality they define as what I would expect. The only competitor who comes close charges $159/month for 25/10 Mbps. He also said they will be offering a good TV package in about a month. His description led me to believe we could replace our DirecTV at half the cost per month. More details needed.
Another example of what some of us who live in small remote areas put up with. I sure hope this is viable. Starlink looks good, but I am concerned about a host of problems that are becoming known, such as lawsuits. My biggest concern is the delay, which could be a year or more for our area.
I would get the AT&T fiber to my office but I won't sign a long term contract. That is the stickler. And I have to have a backup, we cannot live with a single source of internet.
The perils of hiring unlicensed, uninsured 'contractors'… who become employees if you direct them in how to do the work…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-10197461/Olivia-Munns-renovations-complete-worker-fell-roof-died-injuries.html
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10198685/Billionaire-Bill-Ackman-shocks-followers-defending-Kenosha-gunman-Kyle-Rittenhouse.html
–they thought his account had been hacked because they couldn't conceive of someone like him supporting rule of law…
n
10 Mbps on fiber? The three copper lines have more bandwidth potential if conditioned properly.
Oh, the fiber can be cranked up to 1/1 Gbps for $1,500/month. The fiber running in front of my office property has 40 or 50 strands in it. Each strand can do 1/1 Gbps and they do not use all strands that they pulled. They would pull off one of the strands for my office, a dedicated circuit that they are so proud of.
…I have to have a backup, we cannot live with a single source of internet.
Me too, but we have our two cell phones. They do for communications, and now the new account gives me 40 GB per month for each phone serving as a hotspot. I can send that to the wife’s notebook computer. I would like a way to feed it into our LAN to serve all the computers, but that would be another device, and probably a time sink. The phones serve as backup for communications such as email. We rely on email for most of our communication.
Texas sold its soul to get AT&T to lay fiber.
The company actually dug up the fiber that SNET laid in CT before that merger.
…I have to have a backup, we cannot live with a single source of internet.
Me too, but we have our two cell phones. They do for communications, and now the new account gives me 40 GB per month for each phone serving as a hotspot. I can send that to the wife’s notebook computer. I would like a way to feed it into our LAN to serve all the computers, but that would be another device, and probably a time sink. The phones serve as backup for communications such as email. We rely on email for most of our communication.
I have a USB backup on Verizon if both DSL lines go out. One of these days I am going to try it out in my Peplink switch. My Peplink 30 can manage three WAN lines simultaneously.
re: Reacher and Harry Potter
I enjoyed the first Harry Potter book, was ok with the second, and lost interest at the third. I enjoyed the hell out of reading Reacher, right up until Lee Child inserted a blatant case of BDS into a book, and I haven't read one since. Now that I have a library card again, I may start. I was buying them and refused to put any more money in his pocket.
Could the problem be with the audiobook format vs. reading it yourself? I've never been interested in audiobooks myself, in part because I can read faster than most people talk. I watch a lot of informative/instructional youtube videos, and most of that, even higher math, is at 1.5 to 1.75 speed. BTW, Michael Penn (on youtube) is the math teacher I wish I had in college. Shame he wasn't even born yet.
re: Reacher and Harry Potter
I enjoyed the first Harry Potter book, was ok with the second, and lost interest at the third. I enjoyed the hell out of reading Reacher, right up until Lee Child inserted a blatant case of BDS into a book, and I haven't read one since. Now that I have a library card again, I may start. I was buying them and refused to put any more money in his pocket.
What is BDS ? Budget Derangement Syndrome ?
Bush Derangement Syndrome. Seems so quaint and far away now….
n
I thought the first Harry Plopper to be poorly written, with a retread plot… poor abused orphan discovers he's special after all. Dead parents, evil caretakers, hidden powers, eh, been done, and better.
What she did have was a sense of the contemporary and an interesting parallel society.
I thought her writing improved dramatically over the course of the books. The first HP is very much a freshman effort. I didn't even consider consistency or world building. Like Stephen King, she really needed an editor.
The movies benefit from heavy editing of the books.
n
BDS = Bush Derangement Syndrome.
He specifically identified a mastermind villain as a person who was involved with both the GHWB and GWB administrations. To go further would be to leave a spoiler.
Don't know if he put in the usual disclaimer in the front about similarity between characters and real life, but it didn't matter.
What's funny is that I didn't like the man (in real life) anyway, but I don't need that kind of crap in my escapism.
I've never listened to audio books much. I just listened to a
Louis L'Amour short story (The Trigonometry Tenderfoot) and enjoyed it quite a bit. And it kept me awake while driving.
The reader of the Reacher novel, Running Blind, has a really passive energy and his female reading sounds like a muted drag queen- really bad.
It doesn't help that Child makes really dumb gun related mistakes*, and describes turning on the light switch when entering the room, over a whole paragraph for the freaking lights, and the rest of his exposition is equally tedious when read out loud.
n
*describes the Baretta 92 as an "automatic pistol", has Reacher "disable" it by putting dirt inside, has all the FBI wearing shoulder holsters (by 2000 they were unlikely to be wearing them at all, unless to make a point about someone being OLD SKOOL, with a tiny revolver, the FBI is famous for using strong side outside the waistband holsters with a forward "FBI cant"… And he disassembles the pistols but then throws all the pieces into the same dumpster, and presumably leaves the magazines loaded…but it's ok, he rubbed dirt on them so they can't ever work again…….
added– in fairness, the LLA was a dramatization with full cast, and the Reacher is an unabridged audio book.
Oh, certainly, but you're looking at the book from the perspective of an adult who's read a thousand novels. A six-year-old hasn't, and even if he's come across some of those tropes before, he doesn't care so long as the story is exciting and there's a relatable character.
Likewise.
I thought the first Harry Plopper to be poorly written, with a retread plot… poor abused orphan discovers he's special after all. Dead parents, evil caretakers, hidden powers, eh, been done, and better.
What she did have was a sense of the contemporary and an interesting parallel society.
I thought her writing improved dramatically over the course of the books. The first HP is very much a freshman effort. I didn't even consider consistency or world building. Like Stephen King, she really needed an editor.
The movies benefit from heavy editing of the books.
n
I'm sure that Rowling is crying over her hundreds of millions of pounds in the bank.
the perspective of an adult who's read a thousand novels. A six-year-old hasn't,
–that's true, but a lot of adults really liked it too.
Which is all a good thing, as I think anything that gets people reading is a good thing. Heck the HP books got my sibling reading books after a lifetime of not reading anything more than popular magazines.
n
Rowling is crying
Suzanne Collins too, with her ridiculous hunger games books.
n
The reader of the Reacher novel, Running Blind, has a really passive energy and his female reading sounds like a muted drag queen- really bad.
It doesn't help that Child makes really dumb gun related mistakes*, and describes turning on the light switch when entering the room, over a whole paragraph for the freaking lights, and the rest of his exposition is equally tedious when read out loud.
n
The best audio book readers (my wife is a connoisseur of audio books) are the Sean Dillon books (Jack Higgans).
https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Sean-Dillon-Jack-Higgins/dp/1469294249//p?tag=ttgnet-20
The best audio book readers (my wife is a connoisseur of audio books) are the Sean Dillon books (Jack Higgans).
https://www.amazon.com/Storm-Sean-Dillon-Jack-Higgins/dp/1469294249//?tag=ttgnet-20
Let's make that Jack Higgins.
Cruise made a valiant try at Jack Reacher.
It's too bad that he didn't buy the screen rights and then recruit the guy who would have been perfect to play the part: John Cena.
They never found the right actor to portray Travis McGee, and that ship has sailed.
McConaughey pretty much ruined Dirk Pitt, but I don't think it bothered Cussler too much. He laughed all the way to the bank after he bought back the publishing rights for his first two books, and if he didn't find a Cubby Broccoli for Pitt, he at least sold him twice.
Cruise made a valiant try at Jack Reacher.
It's too bad that he didn't buy the screen rights and then recruit the guy who would have been perfect to play the part: John Cena.
They never found the right actor to portray Travis McGee, and that ship has sailed.
McConaughey pretty much ruined Dirk Pitt, but I don't think it bothered Cussler too much. He laughed all the way to the bank after he bought back the publishing rights for his first two books, and if he didn't find a Cubby Broccoli for Pitt, he at least sold him twice.
John Cena is too short. Dwayne Johnson would be much better. Jack Reacher is 6’5″.
And speaking of Starlink…
+53
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-launch-rocket-landing-november-2021
And speaking of Starlink…
+53
https://www.space.com/spacex-starlink-satellites-launch-rocket-landing-november-2021
We are living in the future now.
“About nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth, touching down on SpaceX’s drone ship Just Read the Instructions, for a successful landing.”
OK, that is a cool name for a drone ship.
@Lynn
"John Cena is too short. Dwayne Johnson would be much better. Jack Reacher is 6’5″."
Cena looks Ex-Army. The camera can fake a bit of height, but not width.
Johnson would have been a good choice before getting involved in the F&F movies.
At this point they're both too old.
Last night I watched "Red Notice" on Netflix. Good movie in the vein of the "Raiders" movies. The movie wasn't very serious about itself, but I enjoyed it. Had a few spots that caused a bit of chuckling on my part. There's a few "Easter Eggs" in the movie that are amusing.
Duane Johnson and Ryan Reynolds. Plus Gal Gadot. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7991608/ .
@Lynn
"John Cena is too short. Dwayne Johnson would be much better. Jack Reacher is 6’5″."
Cena looks Ex-Army. The camera can fake a bit of height, but not width.
Johnson would have been a good choice before getting involved in the F&F movies.
At this point they're both too old.
Nah, Dwayne Johnson is only 49. He would still be a good Reacher. And as RickH posted, his new Red Notice movie is pretty good. So was Jungle Cruise.
"Asking the Tough Questions About Superheroes and Public Nudity"
https://www.tor.com/2021/10/25/asking-the-tough-questions-about-superheroes-and-public-nudity/
"When I play superhero RPGs or read comics, I cannot help but wonder how it is that certain superheroes manage to stay clothed. Specifically, the ones who were extremely durable whose clothing was not. How do they avoid being frequently naked in public?"
I always wondered how the Hulk gained 4X mass, yet kept his pants.
@Lynn
"Dwayne Johnson is only 49."
Too old. Jack Reacher retired at 36.
Connery was 31 when he filmed Dr. No. He did four more Bond films within 5 years. His last Bond at 53 was geriatric albeit nostalgic.
Moore started at 50 and did 5 Bond films in 8 years. Stayed too long.
Craig started at 38 and did 5 Bond films in 15 years.
If they started with Johnson today they could get 2 and possibly 3 movies before they'd have to find another. Reacher is less acting and more physically type cast. Better to find a lesser-known in his mid-30's and get a commitment for 5 films in 10 years.
ADDED: Which is what Netflix got in Alan Ritchson at 6’2″ and 39 years old
John Cena should be boycotted. I saw a headline
The guy's a menace and has terrible taste in birthday gifts.
I enjoyed the Jack Reacher movie with Tom Cruise. I just ignored the fact that Cruise is shorter than Reacher, and a different 'build' than was described in the books. I have all of the Reacher books and have read them all.
Dwayne Johnson would be good as a Reacher, but maybe he is a bit bulker than the book character.
If you like the Reacher books, try the "Frank Shaw" books from my friend John D Brown. The first is called "Bad Penny" here: https://amzn.to/3CcbAOv . There is a second one in the series – "Awful Intent" – that I also enjoyed. (I'd read the third one, if he ever wrote and finished it.)
He's also written a few fantasy-type books: the "Drovers" series, which are well-done.
And the book he co-wrote with Larry Correia – "Gun Runner" – won this year's Dragon Award for "Best Military Science Fiction or Fantasy Novel". John D Brown's web site is here: https://www.johndbrown.com/ .
@SteveF
https://www.lynnetruss.com/books/eats-shoots-leaves/
Interesting details:
https://redstate.com/streiff/2021/11/13/oklahoma-governor-kevin-stitt-dropkicks-national-guard-general-who-kowtowed-to-lloyd-austins-stupid-vaccine-mandate-n475388
>> “About nine minutes after liftoff, the rocket’s first stage returned to Earth, touching down on SpaceX’s drone ship Just Read the Instructions, for a successful landing.”
OK, that is a cool name for a drone ship.
"Read The F'ing Manual" would have been better.
Of course, can't not mention this when discussing ship names.
>> https://www.lynnetruss.com/books/eats-shoots-leaves/
My wife (writer/editor) has this sign on the wall in her office:
LET'S EAT, GRANDMA
LETS EAT GRANDMA
COMMAS MATTER