Fri. Jul. 22, 2022 – finally Friday… or what the heck did I do this whole week?

Hot and humid again, without any rain in sight.  Like yesterday.  Like all week in fact.  So I’m gonna bug out.  Should be cooler at the lake.

That is the plan.  Do my pickups.  Do my shopping for stuff to do at the BOL.   Then head up there.

I’ll be there with D1 while mom and D2 finish out the Girl Scout sailing thing.   I will probably be buying a sail boat in the near future.   Just a tiny little Sunfish style boat, but with two daughters that can sail, and a place on a lake, it seems like a no brainer.  Especially when one  of my auction guys has one for sale cheap (couple hundred bucks cheap).  Networking.  Meatspace.  Secondary market.  It’s not what you know it’s who you know…. all that and more, and it’s the future in a collapsing economy.   Get some practice.

Didn’t get much done.  It’s really disruptive to my whole day to have to be home at 3, and stay home for the rest of the afternoon.  I spent far too much time learning about the scanner I picked up yesterday.   It’s a Uniden, similar to the Home Patrol, but not as intuitive.    Later I got to the grocery store.   LOTS of gaps in the shelves.  Checker said it was warehouse and staff issues.   I got the last heavy cream, the last of the soda I like, and there were several things I didn’t find.   I didn’t buy any meat, as it was all too nasty or too expensive.   Chicken legs finally broke the resistance at 99c/ pound.  They were on “super special, limit two” at $1.09 / pound and thighs were $1.39.   Oddly, the house brand frozen turkey was still the same price it’s been for years, without any fluctuation.   There weren’t many items on sale either.

Pharmacy was busier than I’ve ever seen it.  Don’t know why, but there was a line, and more techs working than I’ve seen in a while.

I don’t make the news, I just report it.

And I encourage you to stack it up.  Pork is still cheap.  Chicken, even with the price increases is cheap.   Beef might be cheap for a short period coming up.   Rice, flour, sugar, salt, peanut oil.  Don’t forget yeast.  Canned veg, some canned fruit, and a big bottle of multivitamin…

Stacks, lots of them.

nick

119 Comments and discussion on "Fri. Jul. 22, 2022 – finally Friday… or what the heck did I do this whole week?"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    The Girl, Gold Watch and Everything by John D, MacDonald was his best sf. Reminds me I need to hunt up the movie sometime–I only saw it once on tv.

    Good luck finding a way to see the movie. Robert Hayes has been persona non grata in Hollywood since way before cancel culture.

    Ask Svengoolie. A couple of years ago, he picked up several Alan Landsburg movies from that era including “Ants” and “Tarantula: The Deadly Cargo”. I remember those being on the same independent stations as Operation Prime Time, which produced both “The Girl, The Gold Watch, and …” movies. IIRC, Landsburg made the documentaries stirring up interest in Noah’s Ark back in the 70s so I can’t imagine him being less politically radioactive than Robert Hayes.

    Paramount made the movies so they know where to find the negatives.

  2. MrAtoz says:

    Welcome to the woke FUSA my friends:

    Biological male convicted of making pornography with 7-year-old daughter transferred to women’s prison

    Apparently all a man has to say is “I identify as a woman” and you get to go to a women’s prison. You don’t even need to “transition.” No snip, no clip.

  3. drwilliams says:

    Do you say that before or after “I want an attorney”?

    Asking for a friend.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    81F at 8am.  Wonder if we’re going to get a “10s” day.  95%RH too.

    Sun is peaking out.    

    It was actually 79F when I got up, so already warmer, and that’s the first time it’s been under 80F in a while.

    n

  5. Clayton W. says:

    Serotonin is bunk.

    Anecdote is not data and all that, BUT…

    Circa 2000 I got messed up over a girl and seriously considered a high velocity heavy metal injection.  After not sleeping for 3 days, I finally decided I needed some help.  Saw therapist, which helped a little.  She finally convinced me to try an SSRI (Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitor, the drugs make the serotonin signal last longer).

    10 days later I woke up one morning happy for no apparent reason.  Did you know that, absent something making you sad, you should be happy?  I did not know that.  I have clear memories being mildly depressed all the time back through 7 years old.  Some of that was a bad childhood, for sure, but I was never really happy unless there was a very positive event in my life.  Even then, it never lasted.

    I say Paxil changed my life and I mean it.  My anger issues just went away and most days I am happy now.  If I skip the meds for a week, I can feel the depression coming back.  In fact, my last ‘experiment’ was this week.  Started them back up 2 days ago.  Life is good again.

    The side-effects SUCK (hence the experiments) but not enough to give up the ‘happy’ pills.  At least SOME of us get a lot of benefit from them and you can take them away from me by prying them from my cold, dead fingers.  😀

    So I lump this with most psychological studies:  There is probably a kernel of truth there, but the data was likely manipulated to get the results the researcher wanted.

    I guess I should expand that to all studies.  Le sigh.

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  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/07/attempted-assassin-david-jakubonis-jumped-stage-knife-attempted-murder-republican-lee-elder-charged-felony-attempted-assault-immediately-released/

    –my oh my.   Try to kill a Republican candidate, get released immediately.    Threaten some Democrats, even obliquely, and rot in jail.   Not sure it could be any clearer.

    n

  7. Greg Norton says:

    –my oh my.   Try to kill a Republican candidate, get released immediately.    Threaten some Democrats, even obliquely, and rot in jail.   Not sure it could be any clearer.

    As much as I find Alex Stein entertaining, I think he’s pushing his luck with Robert Francis security goons. If you watch any of the videos where Stein harasses the candidate, there’s always Mr. Shaved Head around with a look on his face like he’s going to seriously hurt or possibly kill the vlogger given half a chance.

    These people take it that seriously.

  8. MrAtoz says:

    –my oh my.   Try to kill a Republican candidate, get released immediately.    Threaten some Democrats, even obliquely, and rot in jail.   Not sure it could be any clearer.

    May I raise you:

    ‘Shocker!’ Here’s why 2 fentanyl traffickers arrested with 150,000 pills have disappeared in Calif.

  9. drwilliams says:

    @Clayton W
    I’ve lost two friends who went “off their meds”, became paranoid and withdrawn, and disappeared.

    Maybe if we get a better theory we get better treatment and better results.

  10. Clayton W. says:

    Maybe if we get a better theory we get better treatment and better results.

    No argument.  I just don’t trust many of these studies.  WAY too many variables that aren’t controlled.  People are messy

  11. SteveF says:

    I just don’t trust many of these studies.  WAY too many variables that aren’t controlled.

    Too many profits, careers, and reputations invested in the results.

  12. MrAtoz says:

    Well, my post is gone again. At least have the balls to say who did it. 

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  13. MrAtoz says:

    Did I step on somebody’s toes?

  14. Rick H says:

    The intent in the discussion area here is to not encourage trolls. Or those that respond to trolls with snarky remarks.  Your “OK” comments in response to trolls do not add to the commentary here.  Which is why your comment was ‘moderated’ (removed). Only the site admins have the ability to remove ‘trollish’ or inappropriate comments.

    We also use some other technical techniques to block troll access to this site.  

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  15. MrAtoz says:

    Thanks for fessing up, Mr. RickH. It is sad that one troll has been allowed to destroy the site.

    Goodbye to all. Some of you have my email if you are ever in SA and want to have lunch.

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  16. lynn says:

    “Dr. Fauci’s Retirement Pension ($414,667) Will Exceed President Joe Biden’s Salary ($400,000)”

        https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/dr-faucis-retirement-pension-414667

    “It’s the largest federal retirement package in history. An unprecedented golden parachute made possible by career-end salary spiking.”

    Unreal.  And people wonder why the feddies are going broke.

    Nobody in the federal government should make more than the president.

    Hat tip to:

       https://drudgereport.com/

  17. Alan says:

    >> Thanks for fessing up, Mr. RickH. It is sad that one troll has been allowed to destroy the site.

    Goodbye to all. Some of you have my email if you are ever in SA and want to have lunch.

    Maybe not appropriate discussion, if so I’ll understand if this comment goes away.

    My POV is that @Rick and @nick have been effective of late keeping this place relatively tr**l-free, which unfortunately(?) includes removing comments that they feel ‘feed’ the tr**ls. So, sorry to see you go if you have a different take on what happened today.

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  18. Rick H says:

    It is sad that one troll has been allowed to destroy the site.

    It is sad that one troll has required us to implement more strict moderation. And implementation of certain ‘troll-blocking’ procedures that are available only to the admins. 

    We ( … I, and I suspect others here) welcome and enjoy the wide variety of discussion here. That is one of the big positive appeals of this site. Comments that are ‘trollish’ are not appropriate for this site, and are removed. There have only been a few instances where we have had to do that.

    It is my opinion that a comment that responds to a troll and doesn’t enhance the conversations here are also not appropriate and perhaps trollish. The “OK” comments in response to a trollish comment are, in my judgement, just as bad as the troll’s comments. So my judgement was to remove such comments. 

    It’s not something I do lightly. There are often comments with views or opinions I don’t agree with, but those comments are part of the discussion and are not ‘moderated’. Other admins here can override my decision to remove a trollish comment. There aren’t many of those types of trollish comments, as just about all here provide reasonable discussion of all viewpoints. 

    But trolls, and response to trolls (such as just containing “OK…” as an attempt to ‘troll the troll’), do not enhance the varied discussion here. 

    I’m always glad to see new people participating in the comments here. And the ‘regulars’.  Sorry to see anyone (except trolls) decide to leave.

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  19. Greg Norton says:

    “It’s the largest federal retirement package in history. An unprecedented golden parachute made possible by career-end salary spiking.”

    Unreal.  And people wonder why the feddies are going broke.

    My wife works with providers at the VA who see 3-4 patients per day. She regularly sees 15+.

    In private practice, typical volume for a GP with a large corporate group is 25+.

  20. Chad says:

    I think when deciding whether or not to remove a comment you should err on the side of NOT removing it. Seems like a wildly unpopular policy judging by the comment votes. Short of it being spam or hate speech, I don’t think any of it should be removed. Personally, the word troll is overused and incorrectly used. Just because someone disagrees with the consensus and is passionate about that disagreement doesn’t make them a “troll.” This trend over the last 10 years of labeling every dissenter on the internet a “troll” is disturbing. A real troll is someone who is there ONLY to stir up shit (sometimes obviously, sometimes on the DL). Just because they disagree politically (or religiously, etc) and it occasional gets personal doesn’t make them a “troll” and deleting regular commenters comments for “feeding the troll” is sort of a dick move.

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  21. Alan says:

    >> My wife works with providers at the VA who see 3-4 patients per day. She regularly sees 15+.

    In private practice, typical volume for a GP with a large corporate group is 25+.

    It will be interesting to see what Amazon has planned with yesterday’s acquisition of One Medical. I used to be a member back in NYFC. Their practices are “concierge-lite” for a $200/year membership fee. Been waiting for them to expand here as I would likely rejoin, maybe this will push that along.

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  22. Alan says:

    >> …deleting regular commenters comments for “feeding the troll” is sort of a dick move.

    @Chad, how so? In many(?) instances, if it’s truly a ‘troll’ comment, then getting a response is what they’re looking for.

  23. lynn says:

    “FEMA report: Flood insurance hikes will drive 1M from market”

         https://www.chron.com/weather/article/FEMA-report-Flood-insurance-hikes-will-drive-1M-17322525.php

    “Higher prices could cause Americans to drop their policies.”

    I got my flood insurance bill yesterday.  My flood insurance cost for the X (no flood) zone rose from $550 to $678.

    My friends down the block who have been flooded three times in the last decade had their flood insurance drop from $2,000 to $678 since the TXDOT added retaining ponds to the main road feeding our subdivision.

  24. lynn says:

    “Offshore wind farm proposed for Gulf of Mexico near Galveston could power 2.3 million homes”

         https://www.chron.com/business/energy/article/texas-gulf-of-mexico-wind-farm-17322286.php

    “Two proposed wind farms off the Texas and Louisiana coasts would join offshore oil drilling rigs in the gulf as the Biden administration tries to boost the country’s clean energy supply.”

    What could go wrong  with these 780 foot tall windmills ?

  25. EdH says:

    Hat Trick weather here in the California High Desert: 103F/20Mph/5%RH.

    Some high clouds are keeping the temperature down a bit…

    I really need to put up some rabbit proof cages about some shrubs, but its too unpleasant. It should be down to 90 by 9pm.

  26. lynn says:

    “It’s the largest federal retirement package in history. An unprecedented golden parachute made possible by career-end salary spiking.”

    Unreal.  And people wonder why the feddies are going broke.

    My wife works with providers at the VA who see 3-4 patients per day. She regularly sees 15+.

    In private practice, typical volume for a GP with a large corporate group is 25+.

    My eye surgeon who is treating my glaucoma sees 80 people a day.  Plus he does 40 to 50 cataract surgeries a week.  He has a staff of about 20 people handling all the mundane details but he sees each one of those 80 people each day for at least ten minutes.  He likes to look inside peoples eyes himself and see what is going on.  I appreciate that.

  27. Alan says:

    >> My eye surgeon who is treating my glaucoma sees 80 people a day.  Plus he does 40 to 50 cataract surgeries a week.  He has a staff of about 20 people handling all the mundane details but he sees each one of those 80 people each day for at least ten minutes.  He likes to look inside peoples eyes himself and see what is going on.  I appreciate that.

    Yikes! How old is he? No time for lunch or breaks. How often does he need to change Depends?  🙂

  28. lynn says:

    > My eye surgeon who is treating my glaucoma sees 80 people a day.  Plus he does 40 to 50 cataract surgeries a week.  He has a staff of about 20 people handling all the mundane details but he sees each one of those 80 people each day for at least ten minutes.  He likes to look inside peoples eyes himself and see what is going on.  I appreciate that.

    Yikes! How old is he? No time for lunch or breaks. How often does he need to change Depends?  

    He is 66.   Since he is an eye surgeon, most of the people he sees are on Medicare or Medicaid which does not pay a fair wage to doctors.

  29. lynn says:

    The 2005 Honda is sold.  A guy came by and gave me a $500 cash deposit for his son who is out of town until Aug 1.  We will complete the transaction then.

    The wild thing is that I knew the guy from somewhere.  I did not say anything and then he mentioned that his daughter lives out here.  I asked him where and he said my neighborhood.  I asked which house and I said I knew her and her husband, I taught her husband in Bible School 20+ years ago.  In fact, my wife and I went to their wedding 15+ years ago which is where I met the guy.  Wow, small world.

  30. lynn says:

    “Newsom signs gun law modeled after Texas abortion ban, setting up Supreme Court fight”

         https://www.yahoo.com/video/newsom-sign-gun-law-modeled-140032215.html

    “California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a controversial gun control bill modeled after Texas’ vigilante abortion law on Friday, teeing up a legal battle with a U.S. Supreme Court friendly to 2nd Amendment groups and firearm owners.”

    “Newsom started a game of legal chess in December when he called for gun control legislation in California modeled after a Texas law that authorizes private citizens to sue anyone who aids and abets in an abortion, which the high court declined to block.”

    Looks like Bozo the clown has a friend.

  31. paul says:

    Is stupidity on the rise?  Or is it just laziness and not giving a rat’s behind?  Beats me.

    I ordered a light switch for my fridge.  They sent a dryer door switch.  I sent e-mail and they sent the correct part.  I mailed the wrong switch back, $4.80 postage, and on the packing slip explained what the deal was.  Whoever it was on their end refunded the purchase.  When I asked said they can’t stop the refund.  Some of this may be because it went through WalMart.  But, they can’t re-charge me?  Or tell me to send a check?  The attitude was “whatever”.   I guess paying postage twice on an $8 part is unimportant.  Oh well, I have the part I need, they refunded my money and I’m out $3 and handful of being grumpy. 

    Then I ordered three remotes for my TV.  They are cheap at $8 each or $7.19 each if you buy three.  They sent one.  I did the whole e-mail via eBay routine and they apologized for the error.  Guess how many remotes arrived in today’s mail?

    “Two” is the wrong answer.

    I’m just going to leave positive feedback and leave it at that.

    I had one break because the dog got crazy and knocked it off of the coffee table with his tail.  Onto a carpeted floor.  If they can sell one for $8, assuming they are actually making a living, take that $8 minus PayPal fees minus ~$4.80 postage and the cost of printing the label and buying the padded envelopes, I’m going to take a stab and figure they buy the remotes for /at most/ $1 each.  So they make a buck per remote.

    Actually, if you fudge in paying the help, they might buy the remotes for 50¢.  

    Crazy stuff. 

    One more.  The power supply I bought way back in February for my SqueezeBox 3?  Ordered two, the post office lost the package.  The seller re-sent the order and suddenly the post office found the first package.  Now I have four power supplies.  I mailed the seller a check.  It’s yet to be cashed.

    But I’m cool.  The first power supply I used quit after a month.  Voltage tests good but I suppose it’s like a car battery testing good and dropping to 8 volts when you try to crank the engine.

    Buddy is being pesty.  I must be, no, it is!, time for his afternoon cookie.  🙂  

      

  32. Jenny says:

    Ditto on Chad’s comment. 

    I acknowledge that deleting the MrAtos‘ “ok groomer” comment reduces the burden on the admins by not goading NaN or NaNs pseudonyms into further comments that require deletion. 
     

    I find value in most of the comments here. I’ve enjoyed reading ttgnet for twenty some odd years. The faces periodically change. The topics drift and change. 
    I hope, MrAtos you’ll reconsider flipping the game board. I truly enjoy reading your views and would miss you, sir. 

    When NaN proved to be disruptive my concern became whether dealing with the anti-social unproductive behavior would deleteriously impact readers. Not by the childish behavior of NaN, but the responses of commenters and admins to NaNs behavior. Admins are left in a tight spot as effectively deleting a single users nasty comments is a game of catch up and unreasonable time sink. And when we commenters invariably rise to the bait. Well. That’s just more burden on our unpaid admins. 
     

    Only winner here is NaN.

    Which perhaps was NaNs goal all along.

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  33. paul says:

    Which perhaps was NaNs goal all along.

    And he’ll be back.  That type never goes away.  All you can do is scroll on down the page.

    It’s sort of like Facebook.  Just scroll past the Jesus pictures.  And the “share this” crap “if you love your Mother” or Jesus or your Dad or any random family member or Vets or the flag. Don’t forget the various lost and found dogs and cats posts.  Man, if I snooze those folks I actually have almost nothing to look at.

    Oh.  I haven’t been to FB for at least a week.  Why bother?  I have almost 200 friends, post a meme liberated from somewhere or make a comment and I might get 15 Likes.  Friends indeed.  FB seems worried… they’re sending a few e-mails a day and they’ve started sending text messages to my phone.  Interesting.

  34. lynn says:

    One thing to remember is that we are here as Barbara’s guests.  I sure do not want to upset her.

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  35. Nick Flandrey says:

    “time for his afternoon cookie.    ”

    oohhh me too!

    n

  36. lynn says:

    (over loudspeaker) “Is there a biologist in the house?”

    https://twitchy.com/foundersgirl-313133/2022/07/18/trans-swimmer-lia-thomas-nominated-for-woman-of-the-year-women-hardest-hit-once-again/

    That is absolutely crazy.  All of these men running around, grow their hair long, start wearing dresses and want you to call them Ma’am.  I’ll bet that this guy still has an outie and I suspect that when he finishes competing as a woman goes right back to being a guy.  I wonder if he and his buddies laugh as they kick back with their beers at night ?

  37. lynn says:

    “Riley Gaines on the Lia Thomas “Woman of the Year” Nomination”

        https://www.clayandbuck.com/riley-gaines-to-cb-lia-thomas-woman-of-the-year-nomination-is-heartbreaking/

    “GAINES:  Well, one, the locker room situations, it’s incredibly uncomfortable.  It just kind of puts them all in a place, that they didn’t sign up to be in.  And so they’re threatened.  They’re intimidated.  Their coaches, obviously quiet them down.  I actually saw an email, that the Ivy League sent out to the swimmers, that said, if you feel uncomfortable seeing male genitalia in the locker room, you should seek counseling.  And so what an infringement.  I mean, that just seems that it should be illegal, should it not?”

    Oh my goodness !

  38. lynn says:

    “David Harbour opens up about his 75-POUND weight loss as Hopper in Season 4 of Stranger Things: ‘It was a difficult and exciting ride’”

        https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-11038425/David-Harbour-opens-unique-body-transformation-Hopper-Season-4-Stranger-Things.html#comments

    I thought that the dude had lost quite a bit of weight in Season four of Stranger Things.  Of course, living in a Russian gulag would probably be good for a rapid weight loss program.

    I dropped down to 205 lbs in college with a 36 inch waist.  I would like to be there again without the many skipped meals, the weight lifting, and the 2 or 3 five mile jogs a week.

  39. lynn says:

    I carry my S&W Airlite PD (5 shot .357 revolver with a 1 inch barrel) in a MD-5 Sticky Holster.  Works great !

         https://www.amazon.com/Sticky-Holsters-858426004078-MD-5-Medium/dp/B007MQC6MU?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Now I want a Sticky Holster for my Ruger GP-100 with a 2.5 inch barrel and a 7 shot cylinder.  I managed to drop it in my truck console today and ended up with the barrel pointing at me.  That was a bad feeling.  I was pulling out a USB cable and did not realize the cable was wrapped around my gun barrel.  Flipped my gun right up into the air.

    Does anyone know if they make an appropriate Sticky Holder for my big shorty ?  I emailed them too.

       https://ruger.com/products/gp100/specSheets/1774.html

    Sticky Holsters emailed me back !  They recommend the LG4 for my big shorty.

       https://stickyholsters.com/lg-4-large-sticky-holster.html

  40. Tony Russo says:

    I have to agree with Jenny. Mr. Altoz I also hope you will reconsider your decision to quit this site as I also feel your inputs here are valuable. I also feel that admins here are doing a good job monitoring this site and eliminating the spam. Deciding when something should be deleted is tough, but the powers that be seem to have a light touch which I believe is important. The stuff that the regular commenters put here it what makes this site worth reading. The troll isn’t really interested in having an honest discussion and seems to want to tick people here off.  

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  41. Jenny says:

    @lynn

    One thing to remember is that we are here as Barbara’s guests.  I sure do not want to upset her.

    +1000

    And that trumps absolutely everything else. 

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  42. lynn says:

    “Hydrogen blends higher than 5% raise leak, embrittlement risks for natural gas pipelines: California PUC”

         https://www.utilitydive.com/news/hydrogen-blends-higher-than-5-percent-raise-leak-embrittlement-risks/627895/

    “Blending more than 5% hydrogen into existing natural gas pipelines raises the chance of leaks and the embrittlement of steel pipelines, the California Public Utilities Commission said Thursday.”

    ““Hydrogen blends above 5% could require modifications of appliances such as stoves and water heaters to avoid leaks and equipment malfunction,” the CPUC said.”

    I am shocked, I had no idea.  Yeah right.  Hydrogen embrittlement in steel is long, long, long known problem in the industry.

    Besides that, natural gas is already 40% hydrogen. But that hydrogen is bonded to a single carbon atom which makes it “bad hydrogen”.

  43. Pecancorner says:

    The moderators removed one of my posts on another place a while back. It surprised me, but really, the post was technically a violation of the house rules and their call.  

    Moderation is an unpleasant job, and I respect the people who do it, and the decisions they have to make for the good of any forum, even if I grumble when sometimes it touches me. I’d rather have a post removed than have to scroll past a bunch of fighting and insults.

       I hope Mr Atoz will wake up in a better humor in the morning.  

    Speaking of, when I first started reading here,  Mr Atoz, I think it took two months before I realized your nom de plume was Mr A To Z and not Mr “Atoze”.  I think it was the Billy Jack reservation hat that threw me off! 😉 

      

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  44. ~jim says:

    I always thought MrAtoz was the character from that old Star Trek episode in which Spock falls in love with Mariette Hartley!

  45. CowboyStu says:

    “Blending more than 5% hydrogen into existing natural gas pipelines raises the chance of leaks and the embrittlement of steel pipelines, the California Public Utilities Commission said Thursday.”

    ““Hydrogen blends above 5% could require modifications of appliances such as stoves and water heaters to avoid leaks and equipment malfunction,” the CPUC said.”

    What we really need for assessment of comments like that above is Hunter Biden.  Was not he employed by the Ukranian Natural Gas company for $50,000 per month?  We need real experts here, not just me and lynn with BS Chem Eng degrees from US universities.

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  46. Ed says:

    The moderators removed one of my posts on another place a while back. It surprised me, but really, the post was technically a violation of the house rules and their call.  

    The difference is that, here, comments that blatantly violate the policy stay up, but others are removed based solely on who wrote them.

    -=============================================================================================
    EDIT– Nick here, just reminding everyone that I can. But that I don’t. And I have said several times that the policy will be enforced AT MY WHIM. I’m host, you’re in my parlor, and I’m under no obligation to listen to anyone talk bad about me, my friends or their families.

    -n

  47. Alan says:

    >> And when we commenters invariably rise to the bait.

    And that’s the hard part…and I’ve been guilty too…champing at the bit with a witty response…but instead it’s better to let the fish off the hook and ignore the trolling.

  48. Ed says:

    Chad nailed it. Calling someone a troll because they challenge you to provide evidence to support a claim sounds a LOT like crying “fake news” because you don’t like what you hear. 

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  49. ITGuy1998 says:

    The troll was a troll. Period.

  50. ITGuy1998 says:

    The 2005 Honda is sold
     

    Congrats! I’m surprised it took this long.

  51. Nick Flandrey says:

    @ed, that SORTA makes sense, but it might have more weight if you didn’t comment with a different IP and email the 3 times you’ve commented.

    n

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  52. Ray Thompson says:

    I am starting to miss the FLASHLIGHT discussions.

  53. Alan says:

    >> Speaking of, when I first started reading here,  Mr Atoz, I think it took two months before I realized your nom de plume was Mr A To Z and not Mr “Atoze”.  I think it was the Billy Jack reservation hat that threw me off!

    See! It’s the missing Gravitars!

  54. CowboyStu says:

    I am starting to miss the FLASHLIGHT discussions.

    I have a Fenix flashlight.

  55. Ed says:

    Nick, a few thoughts:

    • Appeal to authority is a logical fallacy 
    • People use VPNs for OPSEC reasons
    • You have disclosed the nature of commenters, IP and email addresses, right? No surprise others don’t want to share details you might describe publicly 
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  56. Rick H says:

    It appears my comment that …

    It is my opinion that a comment that responds to a troll and doesn’t enhance the conversations here are also not appropriate and perhaps trollish. The “OK” comments in response to a trollish comment are, in my judgement, just as bad as the troll’s comments. So my judgement was to remove such comments. 

    …needs some clarification.

    My intent was that responding to the a troll’s comments with just an ‘OK….” comment is just ’feeding’ the troll. Not as bad as writing trollish comments (‘just as bad’ was a poor choice of words), but not a comment that is useful to the discussion here. And that an “OK…” comment is perhaps validating (in the troll’s mind) the troll’s comments. The troll is looking for an argument, and gets one with a response of “OK…”. 

    Because I thought that the “OK…” comment was ‘feeding’ the troll, and that ‘feeding’ isn’t something that is desirable, I deleted the “OK…” comments.

    If anyone wants to respond to opinions here, that’s great. The discussion that happens because of different opinions, or replying with facts to something that was written, is a good part of this place, and I think why people visit.

    The ‘trolling’ comments, or deliberate ‘harassment’ (not the best word) type of comments, or those that directly attack another commenter, IMHO don’t belong here. And, perhaps, those comments, no matter who they are from,  should be removed from view. 

    It is a hard thing to judge. I don’t remove comments that I disagree with – although I might roll my eyes. For the most part, the discussion here is one of the main reasons I hang around here.  

    But ‘harassment’ type comments are not appropriate or wanted here. IMHO. YMMV.

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  57. Ed says:

    I don’t remove comments that I disagree with

    The problem, though, is that it’s pretty clear Nick does. Some of the posts I’ve seen disappear weren’t insulting, just pointed out contradictory things or ideas that don’t comport with, lets say, the general “worldview” adopted here. It’s enough of a problem to make infrequent commenters want to come in and suggest it should stop (and, frankly, that Nick is going too far)

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  58. Rick H says:

    On a technical note, IP addresses are stored (by default) as part of the comment table in the database. They are only available to the admins, and are not (or shouldn’t be) disclosed to others. (And that is covered in the Privacy policy.) The same thing for email addresses – they are in the comments table, but not disclosed publicly. (And not verified.)

    The IP addresses of visitors (not just commenters) are tracked by Google Analytics. In that case, the IP address is anonymized by removing the last octet of the IP-4 address. (Also disclosed in the Privacy policy.)

    There’s a minimal use of ‘cookies’ here, mostly for the convenience of commenters – if you choose to save your user/email  when making comments, that is stored in a cookie in your browser. There is no other cookie tracking or sharing of your access other than those generally standard things. 

    We do block proxy access. That was enabled very recently only because of visitors that use a proxy to hide their identity because they like commenting with ‘trollish’ comments. It’s a lot of trouble to go through because of the actions of one or two that are abusing the discussion area of this site.

    It is clear in the various policies here that while we do track site usage, and IP addresses, that is only because that is a standard practice on any WordPress site.  That information is not used nor shared with third parties.  There is not, at the moment, any blocking of the site by IP address, because that is usually not effective. 

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  59. Rick H says:

    …and …. FLASHLIGHTS ….

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  60. ITGuy1998 says:

    The problem, though, is that it’s pretty clear Nick does. Some of the posts I’ve seen disappear weren’t insulting, just pointed out contradictory things or ideas that don’t comport with, lets say, the general “worldview” adopted here. It’s enough of a problem to make infrequent commenters want to come in and suggest it should stop (and, frankly, that Nick is going too far)
     

    It’s pretty simple. If you don’t like it, leave. Nick has stated his policy. 

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  61. Ed says:

    I disagree with that. If the goal is to make it Nick’s blog (with his own content policy), I agree with prior posts that Nick should start it fresh and not piggyback on the TTGNet domain…

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  62. Ray Thompson says:

    I have a Fenix flashlight.

    “A“ FLASHLIGHT, singular? Rookie.

  63. ITGuy1998 says:

    I disagree with that. If the goal is to make it Nick’s blog (with his own content policy), I agree with prior posts that Nick should start it fresh and not piggyback on the TTGNet domain…
     

    Bob left the content of this place in Nick’s care. You, like everyone else here, has no say in that. If you don’t like that, leave. 

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  64. Ed says:

    That simply isn’t true. 

  65. mediumwave says:

    And now for something completely . . . germane to  one of the themes of this blog: Food Expiration Dates Aren’t Based on Science. Here’s What You Can Do Instead.

  66. ITGuy1998 says:

    That simply isn’t true. 
     

    How? Explain.

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  67. drwilliams says:

    At a sale last week I saw a guy pull a classic Neebo Redling FLASHLIGHT out of a fifty-cent bin. He kept it.

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  68. Ed says:

    No. You made the claim, you back it up. Show me (and everyone here) where “Bob left the content of this place in Nick’s care”

  69. Greg Norton says:

    It will be interesting to see what Amazon has planned with yesterday’s acquisition of One Medical. I used to be a member back in NYFC. Their practices are “concierge-lite” for a $200/year membership fee. Been waiting for them to expand here as I would likely rejoin, maybe this will push that along.

    If I had to guess, it is for their own employees. Back in the 90s, GTE bought a chain of clinics in Tampa to take care of their workers, but that ended when the Bell Atlantic buyout happened to form Verizon.

    I didn’t know One Medical was concierge. All of the people involved in that game give me the creeps.

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  70. ITGuy1998 says:

    Simple. He made him an admin and told him to post as he saw fit. But you know that’s the case.  Back up your claim.

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  71. Greg Norton says:

    The 2005 Honda is sold

    We kicked the idea around of checking with you after the first of the month, but that was a decent price so I’m not surprised. The only question mark with Honda’s of that era is the transmission, but I assume you were the new buyer and would have been taken care of in the event of a problem.

    I received an offer today for $17k trade on my 2018 Camry from the dealer, but that would be part of a package where I kicked in an additional $14k to get the exact same trim level, same model albeit with the warranty and ToyotaCare clocks reset since it would be a 2022.

    Uh. No thanks.

    A bunch of 2018s had engine bores incorrect, and even Toyota doesn’t know how far the problem really goes. The dealers have been scrounging for trades to give customers under warranty repair/replacement for a couple of years.

  72. Ed says:

    This isn’t a children’s playground.  Trite, unsupported, un-cited claims are worthless. I’m finished engaging with you because it’s not worthwhile. I suspect you know you’re incorrect and, ironically, now you’re the one trolling. 
     

    Honestly, this should be a lesson in why so few people comment. It’s an echo chamber, and reasonable disagreement isn’t tolerated. 

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  73. ITGuy1998 says:

    The only question mark with Honda’s of that era is the transmission,
     

    That was the auto transmissions. The manuals have always been solid.

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  74. drwilliams says:

    Bob left the content of this place in Nick’s care. You, like everyone else here, has no say in that. If you don’t like that, leave. 

    Bob ran it the way he wanted to, and left it in Nick’s hands. Bob was also more than smart enough to realize that no one, Nick included, would run it the same way. I’m pretty sure he was good with that.

    I want to emphasize that I think Nick and Rick are doing a good job. As above, not quite the job that Bob would be doing, and certainly not quite the job I would do (doubtless better than that).

    I do think pulling MrAtoZ’s comment was unnecessary. I understand his reaction. I hope he is reading today’s posts and reconsiders. The bad times are here and getting worse–we need everyone’s eyes and ears and comments. 

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  75. ITGuy1998 says:

    This isn’t a children’s playground.  Trite, unsupported, un-cited claims are worthless. I’m finished engaging with you because it’s not worthwhile. I suspect you know you’re incorrect and, ironically, now you’re the one trolling. 
     

    Honestly, this should be a lesson in why so few people comment. It’s an echo chamber, and reasonable disagreement isn’t tolerated.
     

    Still refusing to answer and engaging in a rage rant. Yep, seems about right. Still waiting.

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  76. Ed says:

    “left it in Nick’s hands”

    He did not. Waiting for proof otherwise.  Echo chamber. 

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  77. Greg Norton says:

    Speaking of, when I first started reading here,  Mr Atoz, I think it took two months before I realized your nom de plume was Mr A To Z and not Mr “Atoze”.  I think it was the Billy Jack reservation hat that threw me off!  

    Amazon’s “Q Division”, R&D division is Lab 126. Lab ‘A’ (1) to ‘Z’ (26).

  78. ITGuy1998 says:

    He did not. Waiting for proof otherwise.  Echo chamber
     

    You have no proof.

  79. drwilliams says:

    @Ed

    Honestly, this should be a lesson in why so few people comment. It’s an echo chamber, and reasonable disagreement isn’t tolerated.

    Easily refuted. See the back-and-forth between Nick and I on the subject of Alec Baldwin.

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  80. drwilliams says:

    @Ed

    “left it in Nick’s hands”

    “He did not. Waiting for proof otherwise.  Echo chamber. “

    Bob’s charge to Nick in taking this over has been quoted more than once, the last time pretty recently. I’m not going to do your homework for you–it you read this place regularly then you should be able to find it with little effort, and if you disagree with my characterization you can spell out why.

    Inasmuch as Rick is doubtless reading this, he is free to chime in if he disagrees or thinks I have oversimplified or been insufficiently nuanced.

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  81. ITGuy1998 says:

    What exactly is your “Dr” degree in, by the way?
     

    Stay focused…provide your proof.

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  82. Ed, Who Rarely Comments Because Of This Stupidity says:

    No, you’ve got it backwards. The person making the claim needs to support it. If Bob transferred everything to Nick, you guys need to support that. 
     

    If I showed up at your house and said that I actually owned it, would it make sense for ME to make YOU prove otherwise?

  83. Rick H says:

    It appears to me that “Ed” might be the new nom-de-plume of “NaN”.

    But, we’ve had the discussion of how Nick was given the responsibility by RBT to this place a couple of weeks ago. No need to hash it out again. 

    The discussion is available to anyone who can spend a bit of time searching for it, instead of ‘baiting’ the discussion. 

    Everyone else knows the ‘rest of the story’. Detailed explanations are available to those that search.

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  84. drwilliams says:

    @Ed, Who Rarely Comments Because Of This Stupidity

    That has exactly one letter too many.

    (Rick, Nick: No. I am not and will never be sorry for that one.)

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  85. drwilliams says:

    Headed to the farmers market in the morning. Going to fill up my Yeti cup and take a fork. I’m sure that Paula will be up late tonight making her pastries, and I will ask again, just in case, if she would like to be adopted. Maybe should take a photo of the butler’s pantry.

    Should have stopped by the bank and got change for some of these yuppie food coupons. Yikes! In a couple years that will be $50’s, not $20’s.

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  86. drwilliams says:

    @mediumwave

    As I’ve pointed out before, Napoleon’s prize would not have been awarded to Appert if the shelf life had been so wretchedly short.

    I do get a laugh when I read the reference to the Bertrand:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canning

    and wonder if the 325kg or so of mercury had anything to do with the food being preserved.

    The Whiskey Rebellion came about largely because preservation, storage, and transportation of grain from the west was more easily accomplished after distillation. More fun, too.

  87. drwilliams says:

    I was just thinking today that a previous homework self-assignment regarding a legal question had not been completed and turned in by the student. 

  88. ITGuy1998 says:

    It appears to me that “Ed” might be the new nom-de-plume of “NaN”.
     

    Yep, pretty obvious.

    Done with the troll and going back to trying to avoid sharp puppy teeth.

  89. drwilliams says:

    “Perfect example”

    Why, thank you!

  90. drwilliams says:

    @Rick

    Are IP addresses recorded for the Like/Dislike buttons?

    Just curious how many devices are being used by trolls to self-rate hesheit’s nattering.

  91. Rick H says:

    @Rick

    Are IP addresses recorded for the Like/Dislike buttons?

    Just curious how many devices are being used by trolls to self-rate hesheit’s nattering.

    I haven’t looked into the code of that plugin, but, since you can only vote once, I assume that the plugin is using the IP address to block additional ‘votes’.

    I also believe that NaN/Ed is always one of the up votes on his posts, and the down votes on the other comments.

    I note that the up/down voting thing was a request of others here, and is a feature that many here like.

  92. Greg Norton says:

    “after the first of the month”

    Greg – If you need the next paycheck to afford it, you can’t afford it. 

    Money is not the issue. Going to Houston to look would be a whole weekend day which we don’t have this weekend.

    I guess we know the new pseudonym.

  93. Greg Norton says:

    Goodbye to all. Some of you have my email if you are ever in SA and want to have lunch.

    Sadly, you’re giving him exactly what he wants.

    If it didn’t start as something personal with me, its obviously escalated to that level. I can fight my own battles. I don’t care about the names, but I won’t tolerate the implied threat of the doxxing.

  94. lynn says:

    No, you’ve got it backwards. The person making the claim needs to support it. If Bob transferred everything to Nick, you guys need to support that. 

    If I showed up at your house and said that I actually owned it, would it make sense for ME to make YOU prove otherwise?

    I am trying to figure out what Ed wants to do here.  The only result that I can think of that would make him happy is to shut the whole thing down.  And we ain’t gonna do that.

  95. lynn says:

    We do block proxy access. That was enabled very recently only because of visitors that use a proxy to hide their identity because they like commenting with ‘trollish’ comments. It’s a lot of trouble to go through because of the actions of one or two that are abusing the discussion area of this site.

    Cool !

  96. Greg Norton says:

    Money is not the issue. Going to Houston to look would be a whole weekend day which we don’t have this weekend.

    My wife is up for any excuse to go to Phoenicia on Westheimer.

    Just need Dramamine for the roads around that part of town.

    The Austin Classic Game Fest show is tomorrow.

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  97. drwilliams says:

    @Rick

    I suspect that he is voting from more than one device.

    Or calling mommy for help.

  98. Kenneth C Mitchell says:

    DrWilliams says

    Should have stopped by the bank and got change for some of these yuppie food coupons. Yikes! In a couple years that will be $50’s, not $20’s.

    USAA and Chase ATMs already do; you can select all 50’s, all 20s, or a mix. 

  99. lynn says:

    USAA and Chase ATMs already do; you can select all 50’s, all 20s, or a mix. 

    Wells Fargo ATMs allow you to do the same thing.

  100. drwilliams says:

    There were two early Perry Mason shows where someone is sent to the bank for a $500 bill.

    The top income tax rate then was 90%.

    Stack popcorn.

  101. drwilliams says:

    “Reddit has now banned the word “groomer.” The left is now demanding that all social media monopolies ban the word as well.”

    Wow, we are at the cutting edge.

  102. lynn says:

    “Wind Turbine Struck By Lightning in Texas”

         https://www.wunderground.com/video/top-stories/wind-turbine-struck-by-lightning-in-texas

    Umm, I think that we can fix that with a sawzall.

  103. AnotherAdmin says:

    @Rick, @Nick

    I marked some of Ed’s attacking comments as spam. Overrule if I made a bad call.

  104. drwilliams says:

    Homicides in Portland 300% of 20-year average:

    https://www.portland.gov/sites/default/files/2022/2022-pdx-problem-analysis-public-version.pdf

    and higher than the “peer*” blue shiitehole cities.

    *Minneapolis, Atlanta, Nashville, and Denver selected using the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Peer City Identification Tool. San Francisco selected based on comparable homicide rate trends

  105. drwilliams says:

    “Wind Turbine Struck By Lightning in Texas”

    Pretty! Awesome! and Pretty Awesome!!

    Begs the question: “Why try to recycle the darn things?” Just strip the lightning protection from them after 20 years and set up video cameras. Monetize the videos and you can buy replacements. 

    Yanno, them blades is hollah. Joose up some of that dip they use to make wahrs inta sparklurs, run an irrigation line to pumpit down the center with holes every ten feets or so, and wait foar the Lord’s natural ignishun.

  106. jenny says:

    @Clayton W.

    decided I needed some help.  Saw therapist, which helped a little.  She finally convinced me to try an SSRI

    I’m glad you got the help. So many do not. So many will not. There is a huge stigma, which is more than a little irrational. No one bats an eye about setting a broken bone.

    I was in a life altering car crash about eight years ago. My brain function changed significantly. For a  time it appeared I wasn’t going to have the mental chops to remain in the IT field. It took a long time to convince me to accept pharmaceutical assistance. Eventually coming off them after I’d learned an alternate set of tools and my brain function improved was medically difficult. Neither I nor my family enjoyed that experience.

    Glad I relented. Got through the bad times, my brain had time to heal. The drugs were a bridge. They helped. A lot. 

  107. Nick Flandrey says:

    There’s a special name for the fireworks that spin and spark, can’t remember it though.

    – finally arrived.   only 77F and even chillier by the water.  Absolutely black sky.

    Water level is even lower than last week.

    Saw some good sized fish lurking though when I got my FLASHLIGHT out…

    —-

    think I’ll get a soda and the shortwave out.

    n

  108. Jenny says:

    Title of todays post reminds me – has anyone seen Nope?
     

    I’m not good at scary movies. I enjoyed Jaws, Alien (s), Sixth Sense. They all gave me nightmares for a bit. I don’t care for realistic purposeless gore (though I like humorous zombie flicks). The trailers for ‘Nope’ intrigue me. I think I’d like to see it. Not sure it won’t give me nightmares or gross me out.

    Has anyone seen it? Was it well enough made to court nightmares?

  109. Alan says:

    >> I note that the up/down voting thing was a request of others here, and is a feature that many here like.

    But…but…but…the Gravitars

  110. lynn says:

    Water level is even lower than last week.

    My office back one acre pond is down to a foot deep.   The whistling ducks and their nine not so small anymore babies are loving it as they can feed on the bottom vegetation without having to dive, just rollover.  I need to take a picture and post it.

  111. Alan says:

    >> USAA and Chase ATMs already do; you can select all 50’s, all 20s, or a mix. 

    Chase does 100s, 20s and 5s. Most of the drive-up ATMs are 20s only. 

  112. Rolf Grunsky says:

    Spinning fireworks? Catherine  Wheel perhaps?

  113. Denis says:

    There’s a special name for the fireworks that spin and spark, can’t remember it though.

    Catherine wheels? They spin on a pivot point.

    There are “albatrosses”, a firework tube with a cardboard wing attached. They spin up from the ground and take flight, sending down showers of sparks.

    We get ones in Germany called “Frösche” (frogs). They are little green packages bound in string. When you light them and throw them on the ground, they jump and flip about on the ground, making little explosions and sparks. Quite fun.

  114. Jenny says:

    @Denis

    jump and flip about on the ground, making little explosions and sparks.

    They sound wonderful. I remember a spinning rose firework I enjoyed as a child. It was a bit smaller than a saucer. It made a buzzing whistling noise, spun and bounced fantastically while merrily shooting sparks up and out for several feet in all directions. It would occasionally thrill by seemingly chasing after a hapless observer. 
     

  115. Greg Norton says:

    think I’ll get a soda and the shortwave out.

    Have you tried ADS-B “Out” monitoring up there?

    I always have the TV receiver and antenna in my travel laptop bag and the dump1090 software on the old Inspiron.

    Maybe you’ll pick up Elon’s jet. 🙂

    The AC drain line keeps clogging tonight, shutting off the system when the float valve engages. I finally stumbled out and put the shop vac on the drain when I’d had enough fun with humidity.

    I can’t get at the unit until morning since accessing the attic involves moving the Exploder which is just narrow enough to get through the garage door but barely. I leave that to my wife to avoid problems. The quote I once got on fixing a serious ding in the door was $3000 for the paint alone.

    No one awake here except me … and the possum out back.

    Time to get another quote on replacing the thermostat which spends five minutes rebooting when the float valve cuts off the system.

  116. Greg Norton says:

    Oh, they mean act as a hotspot in a capacity accessible to an end user and not just to share capacity to another device so it can “phone home”.

    I assume Chromebooks have been doing the latter for a while. Most models sold now have as much power as the 4 GB Inspiron I use on trips … or monitoring air traffic for Elon’s jet.

    https://9to5google.com/2022/07/22/chromebook-mobile-wi-fi-hotspot/

  117. Greg Norton says:

    There were two early Perry Mason shows where someone is sent to the bank for a $500 bill.

    There was talk about putting those back into circulation when the EU introduced the 500 Euro note, but the Treasury quickly realized the only people who would really be interested are drug dealers, etc.

    Even the EU ended that denomination so the notes are collectible just like the US equivalent.

  118. Jenny says:

    @Greg

    bunch of night owls -laughing-

    Hope your shopvac trick worked. 

Comments are closed.