Sat. May 14, 2022 – and we’re off…. no not really

Hot and humid, although it didn’t seem as hot yesterday as the day before.

Picked up a pickup load of stuff for the house, took it to storage, swapped it out for the thing I’m hoping to flip today.  For today is my non-prepping hobby quarterly swapmeet/ sale day.    Really only a half day, and most deals will happen in the first 10 minutes anyway.

My hope is to flip the big thing, and then after the meeting, load the  truck for the lakehouse and head out.  My wife was planning to  take the kids up last night and get started painting another room, or putting floor down, I’m not entirely clear which.  However, they ended up staying late at a birthday party so they’ll be heading up sometime this morning.   I’ll already be gone to my meeting.


Work at the BOL will be whatever I can do, but emphasis will still be on getting the garden stood up.

I don’t have to set the fence yet, I decided I can do a tunnel of hardware cloth over at least a couple of rows of low plants to start.   I have this fear that the heavy equipment for the foundation work will need to go through the garden to get to the down slope area.  That would suck.  It’s not going to stop me from trying to get something to grow, but time is slipping away.

At home I’ve got blueberries ripening on the bushes.   The seedlings I planted haven’t died yet.   The grape vines are trying to make a comeback, and the herbs are doing well.  It won’t feed the family, but it’s something.  There were almost no fruit trees at the Lowes and Home Depot yesterday.  I was hoping for an apple tree, but there was one persimmon, a couple of meyer lemons, and some peach trees.  Very limited.

Shortages are getting attention from a wider array of folks.   Predictably they are clamoring for .gov to “dooooo sooommmeeethhhiing “.   I don’t really know what they expect Slow Joe to do, pull some baby powder out of his diaper?  If they do try something, I expect it to make the situation worse.

You are on your own.  Plan accordingly.

And stack some stuff.

n

66 Comments and discussion on "Sat. May 14, 2022 – and we’re off…. no not really"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    Enron was going to serve all of their video streaming from their 50+ story building in downtown Houston.  They had that building wired with multiple fiber lines going to each floor with fiber routers using the old glass cables.  Hundreds of fiber routers just inside the building.  Thousands of web servers inside the building.  Billions of dollars.  Horribly expensive back in the 1990s.  

    Video streaming? I haven’t heard that one. It seemed like Enron threw a bunch of things against a wall to see what would stick.

    Hollywood never would have cut a deal with Kenny Boy. At one point Lay explored funding Ashcroft for President in 2000. In retrospect, it was easy to see that a Shrub Presidency was not going to end well for Republicans with the cabal behind the throne fuming about the unfinished business in Iraq.

    Plus, a Netflix type streaming service really is something where you want AWS-type server capability on demand and not centralized servers. Yeah, Bezos gets a cut, but it is better to let him maintain the network and hardware.

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    @greg, but all those things were lessons learned and only obvious in retrospects.

    n

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    It’s 72F and 97%RH at 7 am.   Looks like the sun will come out and it’ll be sunny and clear again.

    Time to get showered and head out.

    Talk amongst yourselves…

    n

  4. Greg Norton says:

    Shortages are getting attention from a wider array of folks.   Predictably they are clamoring for .gov to “dooooo sooommmeeethhhiing “.   I don’t really know what they expect Slow Joe to do, pull some baby powder out of his diaper?  If they do try something, I expect it to make the situation worse.

    I don’t recall the formulas having a very long shelf life since they are a lot more complex than powdered milk with acids and fats. As I noted, groups have tried arbitrage going back at least as far as when my kids were infants, and back then, Amazon didn’t even try to carry the stuff.

    I imagine that, like everything else, key components in production now come from Chyyyna, preventing new players from coming online easily.

    Slow Joe is going to try. Baby formula affects the suburban Dem female voter in the suburbs of DC and the tech hubs, who pulled the lever for Biden/Harris with the thinking that they were getting rid of the Orange Man’s mean Tweeting while preserving the McMansion and Getter in the driveway. “Joe and Kamala understand. We worked hard for this.”

    They picked that X5 at the factory.

  5. brad says:

    Sometimes you get these classes… Just gave a quiz today, to a tiny (10) class of beginning programmers. I published a sample quiz a week ago, basically 1-to-1 with the real quiz. 2 people passed, 1 person was close. 7 failed miserably. Even for beginning programmers, that’s pathetic. Lots of questions just left empty, like they has zero idea what to do. Yet they never ask for help, either in class or outside of it.

    I get really worked up about this stuff. Why are you in school if you’re not even going to try?

    Ah, well, I’ll head out to the garden and dig some holes. Starting on the first terrace (dry stone wall) for my wife’s permanent garden.

  6. Greg Norton says:

    @greg, but all those things were lessons learned and only obvious in retrospects.

    Netflix-type streaming service architecture or the Bush cabal’s obsession with the unfinished business in Iraq?

    The Bush cabal has never really been great at hiding their motives. The plan to run one of the brothers for President to finish in Iraq goes back to Florida in the early 90s, but the cabal seriously underestimated how dirty the fading Florida Dem party and Lawton Chiles would play in 1994 to extend their power to at least the 2001 redistricting.

    “The Old He Coon walks just before the light of day.”

    Desperate to win, the Florida Dems and the He Coon even went as far as releasing the Helvering v. Davis and Flemming v. Netsor twin genies out of the political bottles, where they had lived since the ink was dry on the Court decisions. Of course now, that is biting the national party in the a**.

    The rest is history. Jeb! couldn’t run for President in 2000 when the opening came up so the fall back plan of running Shrub went into play.

    As much as I think Ken Paxton is a dirtbag, I believe it is more important to stop P. Diddly now so I keep voting the lesser of two evils, just like we did in Florida with our worthless Congresscritter, Bush cabal member “Opie” Putnam.

  7. Pecancorner says:

     “Texans asked to limit electricity use after six power plants went down ahead of a hot weekend”

        https://www.texastribune.org/2022/05/13/texas-power-conservation-heat/

    “The Electric Reliability Council of Texas is asking electricity consumers to keep their thermostats at 78 degrees or above and avoid using large appliances between 3 and 8 p.m. from Friday through Sunday.”

    Six out of a thousand power plants is not bad.  Probably all of the hydroelectric plants are down due to no rain.  And the wind don’t blow at 100+ F.  Hopefully those six were small and not large.  The power plants in Texas are anywhere from 3 MW (burning trash dump gas) to 1200 MW (the four nukes).

    We finally began using air conditioning on the 7th, when it was 108F and has been >100F ever since. We use one window unit from about 10am until 8pm to cool the main part of the house and Paul’s room, after which our ceiling fans are sufficient. He’s in bed all the time now, and gets cold.  

    I’ve been opening the house in the cool of the mornings. 68F, listening to the birdsong right now.  We had a wild storm last night, but only 1/4 inch of rain. We keep having clouds come over, but they don’t release more than a trace of water.   The rain situation is getting desperate… my dad said his cattle are coming up and drinking from the horse troughs now because the pond is so low and muddy.   I really hate La Nina years.   And they say now that the La Nina is going to hang on through winter.    

  8. MrAtoz says:

    On marriage:

    My own thought for years has  been for goobermint to completely get out of it. A contract and POA can take care of the legal side. If you want it. Didn’t Dr. Bob say “why do I need a license like a dog to get married?” 

  9. MrAtoz says:

    On Stranger Things:

    Yes, yes, S03 Mr. SteveF. Ground Pounder be jealous.

  10. Greg Norton says:

    As much as I think Ken Paxton is a dirtbag, I believe it is more important to stop P. Diddly now so I keep voting the lesser of two evils, just like we did in Florida with our worthless Congresscritter, Bush cabal member “Opie” Putnam.

    BTW, early voting starts in Texas on Monday. If you believe that the Bush cabal is a problem, here is your chance to be proactive and not feel regret in hindsight.

  11. Greg Norton says:

    My own thought for years has  been for goobermint to completely get out of it. A contract and POA can take care of the legal side. If you want it. Didn’t Dr. Bob say “why do I need a license like a dog to get married?” 

    Gay civil unions were always inevitable. It is a problem when they start demanding religious services or the Bridezilla(s) start screeching because the “only florist to use” or one baker in town who makes “the wedding cakes to die for” won’t accept the business for whatever reason.

    For the record, our flowers came from Publix — Florida’s HEB. Sack up, Sunshine. Publix doesn’t care if you are gay.

  12. Pecancorner says:

    Sometimes you get these classes… Just gave a quiz today, to a tiny (10) class of beginning programmers. I published a sample quiz a week ago, basically 1-to-1 with the real quiz. 2 people passed, 1 person was close. 7 failed miserably. Even for beginning programmers, that’s pathetic. Lots of questions just left empty, like they has zero idea what to do. Yet they never ask for help, either in class or outside of it.

    I get really worked up about this stuff. Why are you in school if you’re not even going to try?

    When I took algebra, our class was pathetic.  I said out loud that I’d gotten a 47 on the first week’s quiz. Nobody else said a word.  Later, people quietly came up and asked me “did you really get a 47? I made a 52”  etc. Turned out the whole class was incapable. We were mostly people who hadn’t taken algebra in high school.  A few of us were older.  Some of us got together to study.    Our teacher was really exasperated with us, until we went to him and asked for his help.   

    They were ashamed. I was just appalled.     This was 30 years ago.  But I have noticed that recent generations are not raised to ask questions.  My youngest son’s teacher called me to complain that he was “asking too many questions”.   Many people belittle kids for asking questions. So they might ask strangers online but they’ve been shamed into not asking in person or anyone they know.    

    The woke culture claims to be all about ending “shame” but in fact they have just made it exponentially worse, by requiring people to wait for their signal on every single matter and follow the mob “without question”.  

  13. Pecancorner says:

    BTW, early voting starts in Texas on Monday.

    Thanks for the reminder.  Runoffs get so few votes that a single vote really can make the difference. We have an important local runoff we want to be sure we vote in. 

  14. Clayton W. says:

    Gay Marriage.

    My understanding is that Gay Marriage is based on the Civil Rights laws that prohibit discrimination based on sex.  That is NOT a constitutional right, as the ERA was never ratified.  Perhaps it should.  Interracial marriage was deemed a constitutional right based on the 14th amendment regarding equal rights.  Perhaps that could be stretched to cover gay marriage and discrimination based on sex.

    What the Court can do is force states to accept marriage certificates from other states as valid.  This clearly in the realm of the constitution and has precedent wrt age.  (IF a state legalized other forms of marriage, this is a way to legalize it nationally.  The tax code would have to be adjusted.  Personally I think the Fed should not be involved in marriage.)

    I actually thought that was the way they were going to rule on the DOMA.  It is clearly a states right, but differences in State law are coved.

    It is also a no-brainer way to, partially, resolve the abortion question.  While it is a State’s right, clearly one state cannot govern people in another state.  Laws forbidding travel to another state to have an abortion are clearly unconstitutional.

  15. Pecancorner says:

    “Super Flower Blood Moon 2022: Everything to know for the total lunar eclipse”

         https://www.space.com/blood-moon-lunar-eclipse-may-2022-guide

    “While timing depends on your location, TimeandDate.com says the partial eclipse begins May 15 at 10:28 p.m. EDT (0228 GMT on May 16). The Blood Moon will peak May 16 at 12:11 a.m. EDT (0411 GMT). Then the event ends at 1:55 a.m. EDT (0555 GMT). Note the penumbral moon ohase of the eclipse will begin about an hour earlier and end about an hour after the partial eclipse.”

    Thank you! I sent the links to all my bunch so that they can show the kids.  That is early enough they could stay up or wake them for it.   

  16. Clayton W. says:

    I don’t know how to teach programming.  You can teach context and syntax but the ability to break a problem down to small steps is not something you can teach by rote methods.  Ditto word problems in Algebra or much of Calculus.  Or Chemistry (I hated chemistry).

    You can demonstrate it, but the student has to do the work, without cheating, to train their brain to see the steps they need to follow.  There is no one method.

  17. Greg Norton says:

    Sometimes you get these classes… Just gave a quiz today, to a tiny (10) class of beginning programmers. I published a sample quiz a week ago, basically 1-to-1 with the real quiz. 2 people passed, 1 person was close. 7 failed miserably. Even for beginning programmers, that’s pathetic. Lots of questions just left empty, like they has zero idea what to do. Yet they never ask for help, either in class or outside of it.

    When I took Differential Equations, the professor sat and read the tests to the class in advance, the problems and how to solve each one, everything except the numbers. The curve still worked as usual.

    Undergrad Computer Science in the US is rapidly becoming all about getting the diploma as a weird “right” and not much else. At the graduate level, most of the schools except for the very top institutions in the field or programs too small to work the racket run Masters programs as an OPT diploma mill.

    One of my last classes in grad school was beyond disgusting, with the professor offering a ‘B’ to everyone as long as they showed up for class and weren’t obvious about the cheating.

    I noted that professor didn’t make tenure, but it wasn’t like the admins cared about the cheating or the grade inflation.

  18. ITGuy1998 says:

    Yet they never ask for help, either in class or outside of it.
     

    This is what I’m trying to get across to my soon-to-be college freshman. Go to a professor‘s office hours. Ask questions. Speak up. 

  19. Greg Norton says:

    BTW, early voting starts in Texas on Monday.

    Thanks for the reminder.  Runoffs get so few votes that a single vote really can make the difference. We have an important local runoff we want to be sure we vote in. 

    The Republicans have the big race on the ballot in the runoff state-wide, but some of the more moderate Dem Congresscritters are fighting challenges from hardcore Progs. The runoff with Henry Cuellar vs. an upstart with open support from Justice Democrats – the organization who gave us Shot Girl among others — immediately springs to mind.

  20. Greg Norton says:

    This is what I’m trying to get across to my soon-to-be college freshman. Go to a professor‘s office hours. Ask questions. Speak up. 

    Also become familiar with the school’s Ombudsman process and maintain healthy skepticism about the faculty, especially the ones without tenure where something can be nipped early.

    When I TA-ed in the Northwest, one professor for whom I worked got a miserable midterm performance from the class and lied to the students, telling them I graded the exams, in order to preserve her survey scores with an eye towards tenure. She’s department chair now.

    The curve was bad, with the test design truly being the problem. The only passing grade was the Hermione Granger-type cult escapee whom the department designated would be their Magna Cum Laude grad for political reasons while she was still a Junior.

    Gotta wonder if Hermione had an advance look at the test, sufficient to get her 84/’B’. The next highest grade was a 50.

  21. Ray Thompson says:

    It is a problem when they start demanding religious services or the Bridezilla(s) start screeching because the “only florist to use” or one baker in town who makes “the wedding cakes to die for” won’t accept the business for whatever reason.

    Indeed. I got slammed because I turned down photographing a gay wedding. It took me quite some effort to explain that I didn’t give a rat’s rear end about their lifestyle. I had to explain that I did not think I could properly represent properly a gay wedding as I had no experience and did not understand what was appropriate for pictures. I was still threatened with a lawsuit. I never heard back on that threat although there were some snotty comments on social media.

    It should be my right, and that right should trump their rights, to turn down any business I choose. The reason should be my choice. Because I don’t like them, I don’t feel qualified, I don’t support their lifestyle, I don’t like them, they are both butt ugly.

    They can live how they want; I don’t care. But when they start imposing their lifestyle on me, I draw the line. I don’t meddle in their life, do me the same favor and stay out of my life.

    the student has to do the work, without cheating, to train their brain to see the steps they need to follow

    I vividly remember the concepts of “proofs” in Algebra II. I, along with the rest of the class, really struggled with the concept, the steps, and getting results. Then suddenly the light bulb came on full brightness. The process made sense, it worked. Eventually the other five students in the class achieved the same moment of understanding.

    I think that process helped me tremendously in programming, which was my chosen career. The ability to break a problem into the smallest component, devise a solution, put it all together to make it work.

    At the last class reunion that math teacher showed up. I thanked him and bought him breakfast as a small token of appreciation for his patience and teaching me proofs.

    it wasn’t like the admins cared about the cheating or the grade inflation

    As I have stated here multiple times, most colleges and universities are all about money. Employing the unemployable. My experience when my son went through university planted that wisdom and reinforced it over four more years. Incompetent administration, professors not qualified to teach, many of them to get diversity goals and nothing else. Graduation ceremony was nothing more than the administrators’ pompous asses showing off their robes and bragging on themselves. I was really disgusted.

    Speaking of universities. If Sponge Brain offers $10K in student loan relief, am I entitled to get $10K to help with the cost of paying for my son’s tuition? Seems fair. I paid the money like a responsible person who takes out a loan. Or is the $10K in relief simply a political move at taxpayers’ expense to bolster the democrats?

  22. CowboyStu says:

    Tapped before or after the gas meter?  

    After, tapped into the line in the crawlspace above the first floor living ceiling and below the roof.  The line was to supply the fireplace.  Went down to city hall for a building permit and had city inspector approval when done.

  23. Geoff Powell says:

    Sticker shock today. I needed to fill my car (remember cars in Europe are consistently smaller than yours). My SEAT takes 95 octane unleaded, which is now E10 in UK. Pump price was 160.7 pence/litre, which is much higher – 20+ pence – than last time I filled up, albeit that was months ago. I don’t drive much. For comparison, that’s 38.27 litres (10.1 US gallons), at 160.7 pence/litre, 10.1 gallons at $1.96 per litre , or $75 to fill the tank from “screaming to be filled” to brimming.

    $7.50 per gallon! Ouch!

    G.

  24. Geoff Powell says:

    And most of that is Fuel duty and VAT. Which, to me, is taxing a tax, but officially duty is not a tax. Which is playing in the cracks of nitpicking details of definitions.

    To me, anything collected by the government is a tax.

    G.

    7
    1
  25. Greg Norton says:

    Speaking of universities. If Sponge Brain offers $10K in student loan relief, am I entitled to get $10K to help with the cost of paying for my son’s tuition? Seems fair. I paid the money like a responsible person who takes out a loan. Or is the $10K in relief simply a political move at taxpayers’ expense to bolster the democrats?

    You’ll receive your money around the time my wife and I are compensated for the payments we made on her $200k in student loans over 15 years, including monthly minimums which required me to sell $10k in Apple stock in 2010 to keep paying at all costs even as we flirted with Bankruptcy in Vantucky.

    Do the math on the stock.

  26. JimB says:

    @Geoff, that was an interesting salad of units, but you might have added Imperial gallons!

    No disrespect. I fondly remember visiting Windsor, Ontario, Canada, in the 1960s and seeing Imperial quarts of liquor. I might still have one of those bottles from Seagram’s. The distillery tour was an attraction.

    Hmm, I think gasoline is still cheaper than whisky.

  27. drwilliams says:

    @pecancorner

    But I have noticed that recent generations are not raised to ask questions.  My youngest son’s teacher called me to complain that he was “asking too many questions”.   Many people belittle kids for asking questions. So they might ask strangers online but they’ve been shamed into not asking in person or anyone they know.  

    There’s been a lot of studies that have been done on barriers to learning, and some of them have shown that academic and even athletic performance can be affected by the instructor in subtle and unconscious ways.

    When I have taught or tutored STEM courses at high school or college level, I emphasize that it is my responsibility to present the material in a way that they can understand it, and their responsibility to let me know if they are not getting it. I tell them that I have sufficient experience that I can usually explain things in different ways, and if they have done the prep work I should be able to guide them if they want to learn.

    I also tell them that there are cases where they don’t have the background, or have the intelligence but are simply not ready for the material. In those cases, it may be better to drop the course and take it later. If they only have one window for scheduling, then maybe additional tutoring is an option.

  28. Geoff Powell says:

    As far as student loans are concerned, I never had one. D1 may, I don’t know, but D2 certainly did. And paid it off in jig time.

    She graduated in 2007, as a B.Sc. (Geog) before doing a PGSE (Teaching) qualification and she’s been a Primary teacher ever since – fully paid up, loan-wise, since about 2015 ( I think). Certainly several years.

    G.

  29. Geoff Powell says:

    @jimb:

    that was an interesting salad of units

    Indeed it was, but since the main audience here is American, I left out the Imperial gallons.

    But that doesn’t invalidate my main point – that our petrol costs more than your gas does.

    G.

  30. drwilliams says:

    @Clayton W.

     You can teach context and syntax but the ability to break a problem down to small steps is not something you can teach by rote methods.  Ditto word problems in Algebra or much of Calculus.  

    One rock that founders a lot of first-year calculus students is the “related rates” problems, which typically combine word problems, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. I developed an approach that used seven discrete steps to the solution. Not rote by any means, but a method that worked. The most important step and the hardest for some was the “draw a picture”. A lot of math students could draw triangles, but had never taken shop classes and needed to understand a flat drawing. 

  31. Geoff Powell says:

    @jimb:

    I think gasoline is still cheaper than whisky

    Yes, it is.  Even at current prices, here in UK, a 70 centilitre bottle of single malt is in excess of £25, or £35+/litre even for the cheap stuff, like Auchentoshan, Glenfiddich is £50/litre; petrol is £1.60 per litre.

    G

  32. drwilliams says:

    Geoff Powell

    My SEAT takes 95 octane unleaded, which is now E10 in UK.

    Our E10 is typically 87 octane as the average of “research” and “motor” octane numbers. With a 10 point difference, the pure RON rating in the UK should be 92. Do the pump labels indicate the measurement method?

    ADDED:
    “But that doesn’t invalidate my main point – that our petrol costs more than your gas does.”

    There’s a surcharge for extra letters and syllables.

  33. drwilliams says:

    @Greg

    One of my last classes in grad school was beyond disgusting, with the professor offering a ‘B’ to everyone as long as they showed up for class and weren’t obvious about the cheating.

    Beyond disgusting and well into malfeasance and fraud.

  34. Geoff Powell says:

    @drwilliams:

    Do the pump labels indicate the measurement method?

    RON, I think. But I need to check.

    There’s a surcharge for extra letters and syllables.

    You jest, I think. But there may be something in that.

    G.

  35. JimB says:

    But that doesn’t invalidate my main point – that our petrol costs more than your gas does.

    Of course, but units can be fun, such as furlongs per fortnight.

    As for drinking fuel (booze,) I didn’t think the difference was that much. No wonder I drink water. Straight from the tap. Some occasional wine, however.

  36. Geoff Powell says:

    @jimb:

    Yes, malt scotch is expensive, the cheaper, blended labels can be less. But the difference, in my opinion (no references to quote) is that most of it goes to HMG in duty – probably at least 75%. Plus VAT.

    Even beer is £4 or higher, per imperial pint.

    Remember, our shop prices are inclusive of tax. And that tax (VAT at 20%) is higher than your sales tax.

    G.

  37. lpdbw says:

    re: Math, word problems, proofs, etc.

    I did poorly on anything that required memorization, up until I was in my middle 20’s.   I had a poor algebra teacher in high school, and almost gave up on math.  My geometry teacher turned things around, and I did great in second-year algebra, trig, and analytic geometry, in spite of my memory limitations.  I learned to love proof and word problems.

    I did ok in calculus but ran into brick walls in differential equations and statistics.  I blame the teachers, at least in part, since I went on to my favorite math class of all time:   number theory.

    If you want to keep up a bit on math, and like to watch an excellent teacher doing his work, go to youtube and look at videos by Michael Penn.  I wish I had had teachers like him.

    Funny story:  I was talking on the phone to a friend who was at MIT about calculus and how I was having difficulty because we couldn’t refer to the tables of differentials and integrals in the front and back covers of our textbook for quizzes and exams.  My MIT friend was using the same textbook, and noted that his professor said words to the effect of “In real life, you’ll be able to use all the resources available.  We’ll let you use the book, and just make the problems a bit harder.”

    His professor was Thomas, who wrote the book.

  38. Greg Norton says:

    Beyond disgusting and well into malfeasance and fraud.

    A lot of students don’t fully realize that they have grounds for Borrower Defense, the existing protection against fraud written into the original student loan law.

    The education racket wants loan forgiveness because Borrower Defense is getting more play as of late, and that would jeopardize the “reputation” of some of the biggest names in academia as well as shining a light on the value of a lot of the degrees granted outside of the sciences.

    I’ve even heard Ramsey letting callers on the air as of late who are in Borrower Defense as part of trying to follow “the path”, and his line used to be that not honoring and paying the debt was stealing.

  39. Alan says:

    Mass shooting in Buffalo NY. 

    8 reported dead, shooter in custody, reportedly dressed in ‘tactical gear’ and saying he was ‘on a mission.’ 

    Shooter reported as White, most bystanders are not.

    Just one more step downhill.

  40. Alan says:

    Store security guard (retired PD) engaged the shooter, striking him at least once, however the bullet hit body armor to no effect. Shooter returned fire and the security guard was killed. 

    Death count now 10. 

    Already being labeled by LE as a hate crime. 

    Be careful out there folks. 

  41. paul says:

    and his line used to be that not honoring and paying the debt was stealing.

    He’s not wrong.  But.

    If you make a late payment on your credit card and they slap you with a $30 late fee and jack the interest rate  from about 12% (long time ago) to 28%, until the entire balance is paid, who’s stealing?  

    Way back in the dot com crash days we dropped down almost 95 grand a year income.  Huh, pay the house note, the land note, the electric bills, and buy groceries OR pay the credit cards.  The credit cards that didn’t care to arrange a payment plan.  Refused to even discuss it.  I can’t give you $600 a month.  Not when the new job pays 25 grand a year.

    Yeah, stupid to get the cards loaded up in the first place.  My bad. 

    So a $3500 balance went to $32,000+ by time they stopped sending bills.  That was one card.  I said I was stupid, I had a couple more cards loaded up.  

    Anyway.  Change the phone number and go on with life.  The credit cards get to write off about $60,000 for each card but just $12,000 was what I owed before fees and jacked up interest. 

    Crazy.  

  42. RickH says:

    Already being labeled by LE as a hate crime. 

    Sure seems like one, from the initial reports. 

  43. paul says:

    The plan for tomorrow is to make lasagna.

    Today is make the sauce.  First brown off a fresh pound chub of Italian sausage and almost a pound of ground beef from the deep freeze dated 2014.  Then make the tomato sauce.  Several cans later and the meat goes into the pot.  It’s slow simmering on the back burner.  I’ll turn it off in a couple of hours and let it sit overnight.

    It’s missing something.  Best as I can tell, it needs salt but no,  it’s something else

    Something weird like nutmeg.  Maybe some caraway?  Fennel?  

    Anyway, it’s not going to be a pan of sugar like the last Stouffer’s lasagna I bought.  Jeebus.  A pinch of sugar to tone the tomato acid down is one thing.  Chemistry!!!  HFCS as the third or forth ingredient is just wack. 

  44. lynn says:

    “’I wonder how long we’re going to have these institutions’: Justice Thomas warns that leak of abortion draft judgment could herald the END of the Supreme Court as he suggests leak came from clerk and takes dig at recent appointees”

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10815579/Justice-Thomas-warns-leak-abortion-draft-judgment-herald-END-Supreme-Court.html

    Serious stuff here.

    Hat tip to:

       https://drudgereport.com/

  45. lynn says:

    “Food Riots In Sri Lanka Turn Deadly As Protesters Beat Up Police, Burn Down Politicians’ Houses”

        https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/food-riots-sri-lanka-turn-deadly-protesters-beat-police-burn-down-politicians-houses

    One wonders if the food shortages are political or the beginning of the worldwide starvation ?   I have read of several nations starting to stash their excess food now instead of selling it.

  46. drwilliams says:

    @paul

    The sauce recipe I use has garlic, hot pepper, Bell pepper, Sweet basil and oregano.

    Meat is browned with olive oil, which adds another flavor profile.

    YMMV

  47. Alan says:

    I wonder how much these ‘talking heads’ (retired LE in this case) get paid by the MSM to fill airtime with their endless speculation. 

  48. SteveF says:

    Already being labeled by LE as a hate crime.

    If Darrell Brooks was not charged with a hate crime or with terrorism, then no one should be.

  49. SteveF says:

    HFCS as the third or forth ingredient is just wack.

    That’s one of the reasons I eat very little that I don’t make myself from scratch. I despise HFCS just as much as I despise processed vegetable fat.

  50. drwilliams says:

    National news is reporting 10 dead in Buffalo.

    The 18-year-old white shooter allegedly drove two hours to a store in black neighborhood. Had a racial slur written on his weapon and a “manifesto” posted online. May have been live-streaming.

    So, yeah, “hate crime”–a meaningless and fully politicized appellation. 

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  51. EdH says:

    I‘ve been suspicious of the “soffit venting” on this place for a while. It has a cathedral ceiling so it made sense for the architect to ask for it. Nonetheless a thermometer check shows 127F on a 89F day, with some high cirrus.

    So I’ve ordered a “smart” gable vent fan. I’m not actually a big fan of the “smart“part, but it’s also a 10 speed ECM motor and can be remotely controlled. Since the northern attic gable vent is directly over the master bedroom avoiding noise is going to be a big issue.

    While up in the attic I took a cursory  look at the whole house evaporative cooler ducting: metal, uninsulated, tapes at joints coming off, undersized (12”).  

    Gah.

  52. lpdbw says:

    If Darrell Brooks was not charged with a hate crime or with terrorism, then no one should be.

    I’m not sure of the logic of this, but I’m pretty sure you’re a racist for thinking that way.  I mean, sure, it was racially motivated and terroristic, but since he’s Amish it can’t be a hate crime or terrorism.

  53. RickH says:

    Lunar eclipse tonight Sunday night visible in most of US. Chart of time is here , but available in many sites.

    (fixed it to Sunday night. Usually I am a “day late and a dollar short”.)

  54. Pecancorner says:

    Lunar eclipse tonight Sunday night visible in most of US. Chart of time is here , but available in many sites.

    For us in Texas, it happens tomorrow evening.  🙂 

  55. EdH says:

    Lunar eclipse tonight visible in most of US. Chart of time is here , but available in many sites.

    For us in Texas, it happens tomorrow evening.   

    Rick’s on the left coast like me.  We’re ahead of everyone!

  56. drwilliams says:

    @RickH

    Usually I am a “day late and a dollar short”

    This time next year that will be “ten dollars short”

  57. drwilliams says:

    Anyone note the resemblance of Karine Jean-Pierre to Chuckie?

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  58. Greg Norton says:

    Anyone note the resemblance of Karine Jean-Pierre to Chuckie?

    There is only one Chuckie.

    https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nfl/key-hearing-in-jon-gruden-s-lawsuit-against-nfl-set-for-may-25/ar-AAXhcKX

  59. drwilliams says:

    Well, Chuckie had at least one bride and who knows how many Amish admirers.

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  60. drwilliams says:

    2 million views after 2 weeks:

    The Insane Engineering of the Javelin

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SUdHzKRiBX8

    The last three minutes or so is more or less an infomercial from the producer, Brian McManus at Real Engineering. It sounds like they have some interesting stuff, but have had trouble with YouTube demonetizing and suppressing their efforts, so they “tip-toed around by avoiding certain words” in this one, and have posted their “Battle of Britain” series on  

    https://curiositystream.com/realengineering/index.html

    which is by subscription, but at $14.79 for a year, might be worthwhile to try. Particularly since my Netflix is getting dropped this month after more than two decades.

    (note: At the end of the video they have links to a couple recent videos on YouTube so there is more free content easily accessible)

    Coincidentally today, 

    https://nypost.com/2022/05/13/netflix-tells-woke-workers-to-quit-if-they-are-offended-culture-memo/

    which has me waffling on dropping it simply because they are one of the few companies that has been relatively resistant to the twisted-panty wokeness of the GenPuke.

  61. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    Instructional video for proper servitude to fearsome beasts:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPMi136tURg

    note: follow-up video from CedarCoveTigerPark is “Silky Stocking”

  62. Kenneth C Mitchell says:

    Lunar eclipse; ““While timing depends on your location,”  is incorrect.  SOLAR eclipses have varying times as the Moon’s shadow passes across the Earth. Lunar eclipses happen ON THE MOON, and everybody who can see the moon will see the eclipse happen all together.  In fact, you can literally set your watch by it. 

    https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/LEplot/LEplot2001/LE2022May16T.pdf

    The partial phase of the lunar eclipse – the moment at which there will be a visible bite taken out of the Moon – will be May 17 at 02:27:53 UTC, so 9:27:52 PM CDT.  In the total eclipse phase, the entire Moon will become dark at 03:29:03 UTC, so 10:29:03 PM CDT. The total eclipse ends at 04:53:56 UTC, which is 11:53:56 PM CDT.

    The eclipse will be visible anywhere in the continental US except the west coast, and even the west coast will be able to see all of the total eclipse.  Depending on the weather, of course; looking outside just now, the Moon is slightly obscured by patchy thin clouds. 

  63. Kenneth C Mitchell says:

    So why doesn’t the Moon become totally dark? The Sun’s light, when the Sun is LOW in the sky, is refracted or bent a little. When you’re seeing a red sunset, the Sun is already down, but the red rays from the Sun are bent down around the Earth. Those red rays continue back into space. So when the Moon is in the Earth’s shadow, the Moon is still illuminated by the refracted “sunset” light. When the Moon turns red, what we’re seeing is the reflection of all the sunrises and sunsets, all around the world, at once. 

  64. lynn says:

    “Sen. Rand Paul: $60 Billion Dollars to Ukraine Makes No Sense, We Cannot Save Ukraine By Dooming The U.S. Economy”

        https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2022/05/12/sen_rand_paul_60_billion_dollars_to_ukraine_makes_no_sense_we_cannot_save_ukraine_by_dooming_the_us_economy.html

    “Senator Rand Paul, in a Senate floor speech on Thursday, explained why he is opposed to sending an additional $40 billion to Ukraine. Paul said this would bring the total to $60 billion of aid to Ukraine while the United States is dealing with crises of its own.”

    “”Congress should evaluate the cost of continuing down this path,” Paul said. “The biggest threat to the United States today is debt and inflation and the destruction of the dollar.””

    He is not wrong.

  65. Nick Flandrey says:

    Well, made it up here.   Was all set to watch the ecllipse… maybe tomorrow night.

    A/C went out.  Fans are working ok tonight.  Compressor isn’t running and IDK if it’s the pump itself or the starter cap.  I may stay thru monday to deal with it.

    Bedtime now though.

    n

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