Hot and humid is so boooorrrrrriiiiiinnnngggg. Why not some hail? Or a hurricane? Or the way things have been going, a rain of frogs? Just kidding, boring is great, and time marches on. We’ll be in Fall soon enough. Heck, August is almost gone already. It was butt-sweaty-hot at the BOL despite the occasional overcast and nice breeze.
I did manage to get some stuff done, despite the power outage. Just a little over 2 hours, and even the upright freezer in the kitchen fridge barely warmed at all. I will move the big UPS for the comms support up the list… can’t go online to report the outage if the cell booster is dark. I did drive to the county road at the entrance to the subdivision, and got good signal there. The electrical co-op has an interactive outage map and it lied. It showed no outages at all, but I was down, and so were a bunch of my neighbors, and for over an hour at that point. Some of them had already called it in. Interesting thing to learn was that my neighbor to the north had power, but my neighbors to the south were dark. Everyone thought the last two on the road were on the same circuit as me. Guess not. I’m going to have to spend a little time looking at the local infrastructure at some point, like I’ve done at home.
Today will be a couple of pickups, then a bunch of home stuff to do. That stuff won’t stack itself…
Get busy…
nick
I guess the co-op figures Abbott’s reelection is already a lock out where you have the BOL.
Plus they probably didn’t count on the seasonal transition to Fall starting this early. When I worked at the tolling company job, October was the time to avoid the trailer test facility at the Taylor Airport … ironically across the runway from ERCOT HQ.
This is what’s scary – how many bad apples are there out there? Now, if you punch a law enforcement officer, you deserve whatever roughness is necessary to subdue. Not punish, not exert your authorita, subdue. They went just a little beyond necessary force. Bets that they won’t be fired?
The officers involved will resign. Their next job will be guarding the dumpsters at Target at night.
There will be a civil lawsuit against Crawford county and the state of Arkansas. A jury will award millions. The plaintiff will get a couple million for future meth purchase. The lawyers will get millions.
There are bad officers in every police force. I have encountered a couple in my small town. On a power trip and make up laws that don’t exist. It is a shame those few spoil the image for the rest of the officers.
Yeah, few people remember the second half of the aphorism.
A few bad apples SPOIL THE WHOLE BUNCH.
n
Today started at 84F and it’s up to 94F in the sun. A bit cooler in the shade. Broken clouds…
Stuff to do! But first, lunch…
n
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I’ve mentioned these guys before, but their channel keeps growing…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11134263/It-took-amateur-YouTube-divers-just-35-MINUTES-missing-teen-Kiely-Rodnis-car.html
Calling them “amateurs” at this point is a bit misleading. They consider it full time work, and probably have more experience doing it now than any other group in the country.
They have the advantage of doing it daily, of taking as long as they need to, and of having state of the art gear that they are very familiar with.
n
Considering their other evils, it’s amazing what youtube has enabled.
I spent the morning playing in the house septic tank with the repairman. One of the sprinklers is busted, probably by the lawn mower ZTR. He dug out a five foot by five foot area looking for the pipe but could not find it. So I am suppose to call him back when the area dries out so he can find the pipe. Fun, fun, fun. I soaked my sweat pants and tshirt with sweat, it is muggy out there.
He did not believe my story about getting to unplug the chlorine grate at 3 am in the morning on Memorial day. He said that I was using pool chlorine so I gave him the tub of bad chlorine that says for septic tanks. And the grate was partially plugged this morning which I cleaned out again with my old yardstick.
“Dallas flash flooding submerges cars, spurs rescues across city”
https://www.chron.com/weather/article/Dallas-flash-flood-forecast-weather-17389718.php
Dallas – Fort Worth has gotten 14 inches of rain in the last 12 hours. Flooding !
“Texas Universal Service Fund Update”
https://www.puc.texas.gov/industry/communications/reports/tusf/default.aspx
https://frontier.com/txusf
“The amount of the surcharge has been the subject of litigation in Texas brought by small telephone companies and co-ops who asserted that the Texas Public Utilities Commission had been underpaying them Universal Service Funds. Recently, a court agreed with them and ordered the Texas Public Utilities Commission to repay small telephone companies and co-ops the shortfall. To collect this shortfall, the Commission ordered all voice telecommunications providers to increase payments to the fund from 3.3% to 24%, resulting in a significantly higher surcharge assessment on consumers.”
Good night ! Our office phone bill with AT&T just jumped from $240/month for three lines to $488/month. I may just move us to cellphones.
“Another Bad Day at Black Rock”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/08/22/another-bad-day-at-black-rock/
Um, the financial responsibility to your clients trumps EVERYTHING else. It is irresponsibility like this that cause plaintiff attorneys to gather in groups to study the situation and sign up clients who have been damaged.
Amazon wants me to go to town to pick up a package. They’ll even give me $10 off of my next order of $20 or more.
I’d have to install their app on my phone and enable Bluetooth. Sounds interesting. What if I don’t have a phone? I do have a phone. I usually forget to grab my tracking device when I leave the house.
I wouldn’t be surprised if that became my default delivery location. Un-defaulting is probably a total pain in the backside.
One location is the Circle K. I buy gas there, one more time anyway*, and the other is a trashy looking gas station half a mile or so north. It’s four miles to the Post Office, HEB is across the street. I’m guessing a bit more than half a mile from HEB to the CircleK which includes working around to a traffic light.
Call it nine miles round trip. Gas is what? $3.80 a gallon? So I have my time to town and back, half an hour if I drive like a crazy person and half a gallon of gas. Nope, I’ll pass.
* “one more time” is the printer at the gas pumps hasn’t worked my last two visits. First time the pump said “out of paper” and I went in to get my receipt…. which says “reprinted receipt”. Last week, the “Yes I want a receipt” button did nothing and the receipt I got from inside the store didn’t say it was a reprint. There’s almost nothing they sell that I want. I don’t smoke, don’t drink sodas, the microwave food doesn’t look good, they don’t sell my flavor of beer. It’s a nice store. A bit cluttered but it looks and smells clean. They do have a Frost Bank ATM but so does HEB.
Anyway. If you want me to come inside for my receipt, cut the BS and say so at the pump.
>> {{{{{{{{{ ping }}}}}}}}}}
Slept late…in catch up mode…
92 F / 41% RH here in the desert.
Just heard on Fox News that Fauci will be retiring by year-end rather than at the end of Joe’s term in office.
It was sunny with wisps of clouds this morning. The crescent Moon was up and holding water.
Buddy went for a walk about 2 PM. Usual Buddy stuff. I think it was 90F and the humidity was set to Sauna. Buddy isn’t a fan of hot weather so his looking for kittens routine did not happen. (He cracks me up.)
It’s now cloudy and we’ve had a quarter inch of rain. Temp is down to 80F. Plenty of thunder rumble going on. Maybe we’ll get that inch of rain NWS predicted this morning.
I don’t care much about my so-called lawn. The trees need the rain.
>>I’d have to install their app on my phone and enable Bluetooth. <<
I did that and stopped getting text messages when packages were sent to OR delivered to either the Bluetooth lockers or the regular ones. Called Amazon & they couldn’t figure out the problem.
Uninstalled the Amazon App and I still don’t get text notifications.
If I were you, I would go anywhere near that stupid app. Just go to a regular locker.
ADDENDUM —
Speaking of Amazon, not wanting to pay Google 30% for books bought through the Kindle app or movies rented or bought through Amazon Prime is wearing a little thin. I’d pay some extra just for the convenience. Let’s split the difference?
@~jim:
Can’t you buy direct from the website, via your web browser, and then download the content via the app?
I use the Kindle reader on one of my computers, in order to get an ebook onto a computer I control, so that I can convert it to epub, thus removing the encryption. I use Calibre for this. It works well, although the add-in for Calibre is a little flaky on the latest version of Amazon’s DRM. Luckily, I don’t need to read many ebooks that carry that latest version.
G.
I read a lot, but almost exclusively with Kindle Unlimited. I read via the Kindle app on the smartphone, or the same app on other devices.
Kindle Unlimited supports the author with ‘page reads’ royalties. And since we have Amazon Prime, there is no extra cost.
I probably wouldn’t read as much if not using Kindle Unlimited. Maybe used book stores or libraries. but KU is very convenient.
@Lynn
from the link in your blockquote above:
The last sentence should end with a period after “multiple lawsuits”. Way too late.
I’ve discussed before that one of the things I learned in scab training for the Death Star was that a lot of wealthy households in California have the $6.95/mo subsidized lines, the landline phone service carried in the housekeeper’s name.
Someone has to pay for it.
Not me.
This is labelled “25 minute read”.
Should be “required reading”
Think The FBI Deserves The Benefit Of The Doubt? This Laundry List Of Corruption Should Make You Think Again
By: Tristan Justice August 19, 2022 25 minute read
A look at the FBI’s last six years shows a pattern of irredeemable corruption.
thefederalist.com/2022/08/19/think-the-fbi-deserves-the-benefit-of-the-doubt-this-laundry-list-of-corruption-should-make-you-think-again/
A reasonable look at history would go back fifty years, but for the purposes of discussion, six years plus a few highlights like Ruby Ridge and Waco should be enough.
Whew, still 92F and saturated.
Got the propane kit installed on the honda gennie and it’s running. Cut the grass in the back. Weeded one of the raised beds.
Soaked to the skin. Need to figure out what to feed the family. Good thing I’ve got some stacks 😉
n
In honor of the upcoming state fair, I’d vote for corn dogs.
Speaking of corn dogs…
I was looking for golf on CBS yesterday (turned out it was NBC’s turn) and found an ACL tournament instead. Yes, folks, that’s American Cornhole League, not to be confused with the AC Organization or the AC Association.
With three organizations and increasingly big bucks (one supposes), it’s about time for two things to happen.
First, we get two orgs to merge, creating a super-org that will draw more prize money and start to muscle the third org out of existence.
Second, the French will get into the act, creating something high-sounding like Société Internationale de Legumes, making beans the one and only dried veg allowed in the bags, because their research has shown that the game was invented in 1232 in Southern France according to a woodcut in a monastery near Avignon, and possibly even earlier if a cave painting of blue-painted men tossing something at a vaguely rectangular object is viewed from the proper angle, and the suggestion that the object has legs is ignored.
I suspect that their research will also show–since French artists have inestimable powers of perspective–that the true board de legume is not rectangular, but tapered, having the same keyhole appearance that they imposed on American basketball to keep our centers from hammering their little cheese-eating keisters.
All dimensions and weights, de naturalement, in metric, and just sufficiently different that coupled with the shape change it will have the same effect of handicapping American champions.
We had bean bag tosses… the whole ‘cornhole’ game thing was new and unsettling to me when I moved to the South. Because ‘cornhole’ has always had the meaning from the Frank Zappa song to me.
n
Dinner ended up being Costco tempura shrimp, minute rice, and pan fried broccoli with ginger, onions, and garlic.
The veg was fresh. The shrimps were ok, and I think I got the ratio wrong somehow for the rice as it was watery. Oh well.
n
And basically suck at the competition.
We had bean bag tosses… the whole ‘cornhole’ game thing was new and unsettling to me when I moved to the South. Because ‘cornhole’ has always had the meaning from the Frank Zappa song to me.
n
Frank Zappa’s songs always had some sexual element in them. That was one weird dude to name his kids “Moon Unit”, Dweezil, Ahmed, and Diva.
Greg: That sounds like the kind of thing that would easily be caught. Can you substantiate this?
that would easily be caught
-what would they do, send someone to every house? and even so, there’s nothing that says the maid couldn’t have a phone in the house.
n
I feel like auditing the “$6.95 special“ shouldn’t be too hard – for example, cross check it against ZIP codes where it doesn’t seem to make sense. And, why would a maid have a landline phone at a client’s house? So many things don’t add up that it makes it sound fishy.
It kind of sounds like the “welfare queen” trope that resonates at first but doesn’t stand up to scrutiny. I believe there are rewards available for people who report welfare fraud – if half the claims made online were true, the commenters would have a tidy sum to enjoy!
Lots of small tasks completed since my update a week ago.
Buried the corrugated pipe that directs the water underground for two of the front down spouts. I only have 5 more to bury. Three of the downspouts I’m going to let dump above ground.
Rebuilt the bottom cabinet that goes in the right rear of the kitchen. Access to this storage space is from the wood shop. Re-enforced the bottom so that it wouldn’t collapse if I store heavy objects in it. Framed the opening in the wood shop; this took twelve pieces. Sealed the sheetrock so it wouldn’t bleed dust forever. Replaced the drawer with a shelf and added a second shelf.
Made a shelf for another cabinet with a left-over piece of plywood.
Modified the light circuit in the carport adding a light in the back right corner. I was then able to close the wall next to the door in the inside the lift area. Caulked and insulated around the door.
Repainted the bathroom. I originally painted it using drop lights and it didn’t cover properly. Need to get a couple of towel racks. And to install the linoleum floor.
Decided to put a linoleum floor down over the OSB in the loft. I don’t care about pattern – cheapest thing I can buy will make it so much easier to keep clean (and close/cover all the small gaps in the OSB).
Hung the upper kitchen cabinets Saturday and installed the right side base cabinets and right-side countertop. (The left base cabinet and countertop were installed some time ago.) Started on the cabinet trim; will take a few days to complete due to staining, etc.
The front doorknob came off the new Schlage lock. After three hours of fiddling, I decided to replace it. I either get the keyset 90 degrees off and the key won’t come out, but the knob stays on or the key and knob lineup properly, but the knob won’t stay on. The instructions that came with lock are poor and I can’t find anything useful on the internet.
New photos added at the end: http://fordfe.info/AL-Shop.html
@bob, it’s a never ending task… our local reStore has commercial vinyl floor in giant rolls right now. I need new vinyl for the BOL baths, but the pattern is very “commercial” looking. Way back in the day, while in college, I worked in a carpet store measuring and rolling up offcuts for sale. We had leftover vinyl flooring too. I’m sure there are still stores like that… but the big roll of the cheap pattern at Home Depot is probably pretty cheap too.
n
“Alexei Panshin (1940-2022)”
https://file770.com/alexei-panshin-1940-2022/
I have been thinking about growing my goatee out like his. I always get to a couple of inches long and chicken out.
I just learned of another side of Robert Heinlein that I did not know of. Interesting.
http://www.panshin.com/critics/StoryHiD/HiDC.htm
“There was a parallel in this to my correspondence with Heinlein in 1959 which had come to an abrupt end after I failed to agree that Russian dishonesty and bad intentions were sufficient justification for putting nuclear fallout in the air with continued atomic testing. It would gradually become evident to me that when it came to dealing with other people, Heinlein was comfortable only in situations where his dominance was conceded and his authority was not questioned. And when it was, he was quick to draw the line.”
I prefer underground nuclear testing.
@Robert “Bob” Sprowl
Looking better every time. Thanks for the update.
@Lynn
Read the reviews:
https://www.amazon.com/Heinlein-Dimension-Critical-Alexei-Panshin/dp/0911682015#customerReviews?tag=ttgnet-20
I bought the book. I read part of it. My conclusion was that Panshin was simply a shitheel.
I also tried to read Panshin’s science fiction, but quit in disgust. I thought about applying his critical techniques to his writing–not worth the time.
His technique is evident in the two quotes that some Heinlein-hating moron slipped into the wiki article on Door Into Summer. I only point you that way because there’s also a clanger from Campbell.
Westfall gives Panshin shiort shrift
https://locusmag.com/2012/11/the-joke-is-on-us-the-two-careers-of-robert-a-heinlein/
>> And to install the linoleum floor.
@Bob, real linoleum (harder to find these days), or vinyl?
and don’t get the impression that I think too much of Westfahl:
But I find him worth reading in part where AP is not.
“And why are these stories so unsuccessful? ”
Which ones?
David Weber
David Drake?
John Ringo?
Jerry Pournelle?
Michael Z. Williamson?
I suspect GW is trying himself to be engagingly outrageous, and simply fails.
ADDED:
Finally found this:
http://www.nitrosyncretic.com/rah/critics.html
>> I have been thinking about growing my goatee out like his. I always get to a couple of inches long and chicken out.
@lynn, actually, in the photos he sports a Van Dyke. A Goatee is without the mustache.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en-US&ie=UTF-8&source=android-browser&q=goatee+vs+van+dyke
Coincidentally, I’m growing out my goatee right now. Not sure exactly how long, depends in part what the wife will tolerate. From what I can recall, it’s been 40+ years since I’ve been clean-shaven.
Of course, if you’re daring enough, there’s always this style.
I also tried to read Panshin’s science fiction, but quit in disgust. I thought about applying his critical techniques to his writing–not worth the time.
His technique is evident in the two quotes that some Heinlein-hating moron slipped into the wiki article on Door Into Summer. I only point you that way because there’s also a clanger from Campbell.
Westfall gives Panshin shiort shrift
https://locusmag.com/2012/11/the-joke-is-on-us-the-two-careers-of-robert-a-heinlein/
Panshin was apparently one of the first of the modern day hippies. I see him screaming in a protest, “No Nukes ! No Nukes !”.
Someday, I am going to reread “I Will Fear No Evil”. When I first read it at 13, I could not believe that the USA would be that crazy. Now I wonder if Heinlein underforecasted the crazy years.
I also have a copy of “Grumbles From The Grave” that I picked up the other day from HPB for $1.75 that I am going to reread.
>> I have been thinking about growing my goatee out like his. I always get to a couple of inches long and chicken out.
@lynn, actually, in the photos he sports a Van Dyke. A Goatee is without the mustache.
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en-US&ie=UTF-8&source=android-browser&q=goatee+vs+van+dyke
Coincidentally, I’m growing out my goatee right now. Not sure exactly how long, depends in part what the wife will tolerate. From what I can recall, it’s been 40+ years since I’ve been clean-shaven.
Of course, if you’re daring enough, there’s always this style.
Then I have a Van Dyke. No beards here, I do not have hair on my cheeks above the jaw line. As opposed to my ¼ Native American son who can grow a full 12 inch long beard with cheek support almost to his eyes in just 6 to 8 months. In fact, he cut almost a foot off his beard the other day and I swear that it is already back below his sternum. In Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children, he had to shave twice a day while in the base.
Due to the timing of the book and biographical comments later, it is generally accepted that Robert Heinlein did the first draft but was not able to contribute much to the editing process due to his near death from peritonitis. What editing was done was probably a joint effort of wife Virginia and agent Lurton Blassingame, but I’m not sure the definitive word on that has been properly researched.
Steve Wilson’s essay is worth a read for the background:
https://www.stevenhwilson.com/even-at-his-worst-hes-still-the-best-robert-a-heinleins-i-will-fear-no-evil/
ADDED:
Steve’s background:
https://www.stevenhwilson.com/farewell-yoji-kondo/
But I find him worth reading in part where AP is not.
“And why are these stories so unsuccessful? ”
Which ones?
David Weber
David Drake?
John Ringo?
Jerry Pournelle?
Michael Z. Williamson?
I suspect GW is trying himself to be engagingly outrageous, and simply fails.
These authors have sold well over 20 million books between the lot of them. David Weber alone has sold over 8 million books. Ringo claims 6 million books sold. They have made a lot of money for Baen over the years.
Pournelle bought houses in California and paid for all 4 ? 5 ? of his kids to go to college from his book sales.
Steve Wilson’s essay is worth a read for the background:
https://www.stevenhwilson.com/even-at-his-worst-hes-still-the-best-robert-a-heinleins-i-will-fear-no-evil/
True dat.
Three of Heinlein’s books are in my ten ten books: COTG, TSB, and TMIAHM. There are copies of all three in my SBR, waiting for a rainy day.
And my favorite short story of all time is “The Long Watch” by RAH:
https://www.baen.com/Chapters/1439133417/1439133417___4.htm
One wonders how may long watches RAH stood at the US Naval Academy and on Navy ships before he got TB and had to take a medical discharge.
>> The veg was fresh. The shrimps were ok, and I think I got the ratio wrong somehow for the rice as it was watery. Oh well.
With minute rice (yeah, I know, it’s misleading, five minutes really, plus time to boil the water) I always use less water and more rice than it says on the box. For example, for one cup of dry rice I use a tad over 7/8th of a cup of water and a bit over a cup of rice.
Minute rice is also one of a few instances where I prefer the name brand to the store brand. Another that comes to mind is, oddly enough, wax paper.
>> Three of Heinlein’s books are in my ten ten books: COTG, TSB, and TMIAHM. There are copies of all three in my SBR, waiting for a rainy day.
Gonna have to move to, hmm, Dallas maybe?
>> In fact, he cut almost a foot off his beard the other day and I swear that it is already back below his sternum.
I wonder if group that makes wigs for people on chemo from donated head hair can also use beard hair?
It is not the service provider’s role to uncover the problems with the subsidy program.
The point of the training was to not ask too many questions about the $6.95 line going into a Beverly Hills address lest the company find itself sued.
I sat in the friggin’ training and received the instruction first hand.
Because the maid lives in the house and has a phone in her room. Duh.
He’s looking to create the same mess that happened here two weeks ago.
“Ed” says he would like to see this place return to the kinds of civil discussions the forum hosted in the past, but this topic has been discussed here before going back to when I first attended the classes more than a decade ago.
If that’s the case, it doesn’t really seem like anything’s amiss. A subsidy intended to be used by a low income person to get landline service where they live, and it’s being used by a low income person where they live (here, the claimed Beverly Hills mansion)? Checks out to me…
If you really want to experience subsidies abused look no further than the welfare programs.
Females here get pregnant and don’t get married until the child is two years old. That way the state pays for the pregnancy, medical, and provides no cost to the mother food for the infant. Plus some money for the mother. The father is still around, has been for a long time.
I have personally seen parents get divorced to get “free stuff”. They still live in the same house for 11 months out of the year. Come time to reapply the father moves out. The mother now gets significant aid as she has children. Food stamps, utility assistance, rent assistance, and other assistance. The kids come to school and brag about their parents getting free money from the government. At tax time the mother will get a large refund having paid nothing in taxes during the year.
A personal experience. My aunt was in a nursing home, basically a vegetable from dementia. I filled out a form about no-cost cell phone out of curiosity. It was not an application as far as I could tell. A couple of weeks later my aunt gets a “no-cost” cell phone. Paid for by the government (state or federal I don’t remember as it was 10+ years ago). The phone allowed 100 minutes a month and there was no charge for any of it, service or device.
I was afraid to turn in the cell phone for fear of being charged with fraud. I gave the phone to my MIL to use. This went on for several years until my aunt died. There was never a check to see if the person was competent. Just economic status and (I think) Medicaid. No one really cared.
I did not apply for the phone, I thought. I thought I was only filling out a questionnaire to see what the qualifications were. The plan was to find out more and possibly let the MIL apply. All online, no signature or validation of the individual. Did not work. Instead I was sent the phone.
I suspect the company that issued the phone and provided service was getting paid a lot by the state (or federal). They did not care if the person qualified, they just wanted the money. No vetting or verification, just issue the phone, get paid by the government.
Ray: You are in TN, right? There is a reward program for reporting fraud. Here: https://www.tn.gov/finance/fa-oig/fa-oig-cash-for-tips-program.html
Correct. And no, I cannot report the fraud. What these people are doing is technically not fraud, just abuse of the system. Gaming the system by following the rules and using the loopholes. All perfectly legal, abusive instead. A poorly structured program devised by clueless legislators.
The link you provided is for TNCare fraud, which is generally for abusing the medical system. Using the system when the person is not eligible, such as using someone else’s SSN to get free medical. Those people eventually get caught.
During the pandemic I was eligible for unemployment from the state. Even though I was on Social Security, my subbing job at the school had been cut back dramatically. That made me eligible. I did not want to deal with the hassle of applying for a job each week and reporting that to the state. It would have been legal, but it would be abusing the system.