Fri. Dec. 30, 2022 – the end is nigh! (of the year that is…)

By on December 30th, 2022 in culture, decline and fall, personal

Wet, maybe still raining.   Cool.   Although the national forecast shows clearing weather for the next couple of days, it was raining pretty hard when I went to bed.   We were good all day, until late afternoon, then it came pouring down.   Localized street flooding kind of pouring down…  Stopped for a while but started back up around 11pm.   So it seems likely we’ll still have rain in the morning today.

Did some things yesterday.  The dental appointment in the morning did blow most of the morning, but I didn’t get much done after lunch either.   Fell asleep at the desk from too many carbs at lunch.

Spent some time looking for my ebay sold item and didn’t find it.   There’s one more place to look today if the rain isn’t coming down.  I absolutely HATE not being able to find things that I know I have.  What is the point of having something you can’t put your hands on?   Le sigh.   I’ll either find it or cancel the sale.   I really need to go through all my sale items and organize more than I have.  More things on the list.

I’ve got a couple of pickups to do today, and some other stuff to take care of, if it’s not raining.  If it is, I’ll work the indoor list.   We’ve pretty much decided to stay home for the New Year’s holiday.   Along with the uncertainty of the LP gas situation, I’ve got plenty to do here.   Then next week I’ll pick up the stone veneer and geotextile and take them up to the BOL, and hopefully get the gas situation sorted out.

There is always something more that needs to be done.  And I’ve got less time and energy and desire to do it.  Just keep plugging away at it seems to work.  When I stop, then I’ve got trouble.   So keep plugging away.  And keep stacking the basics.

nick

 

77 Comments and discussion on "Fri. Dec. 30, 2022 – the end is nigh! (of the year that is…)"

  1. Geoff Powell says:

    It’s just over 4 years since I was diagnosed with, and had surgery for, cancer of the colon. Upon evidence to date, this, and the ensuing chemotherapy, was successful, but my next follow-up consultation is late next month, so things might change, since I should get the result of my last CT scan (earlier this month) then.

    G.

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  2. Greg Norton says:

    Bernie Marcus believes Home Depot’s success couldn’t happen in 2022”

    I see that I am not the only one who feels that Biden and his ilk are killing us.

    Bernie’s hands are not clean when it comes to the decline in living standards in the US, particularly with regard to the erosion of the Middle Class.

    He is right in that Home Depot couldn’t happen on the same scale today. The “inefficiencies” which the big box stores found in the system and exploited no longer exist.

    Home Depot and Lowes have their “moats” as Warren Buffett puts it.

  3. MrAtoz says:

    Attention Mr. Lynn:

    The Smith & Wesson 500: This Is No Gun (More Like A Cannon)

    Put this puppy in your pants pocket and down come your pants.

  4. lpdbw says:

    Goldarnit.  I need to do a bunch of flying soon, and my favorite airline is self-destructing.

    That means I now have to fly American.  And Bush instead of Hobby.

    Could be worse, I suppose.  Could be United.

  5. ITGuy1998 says:

    I’ve never flown Southwest. The closest location is either Birmingham or Nashville, both 1.5 – 2 hours away. Add in that travel time and parking fees, and it has never made sense to not fly out of Huntsville.

    Prices being equal, I fly Delta. I do not have blind loyalty though. I don’t fly enough for that to make sense.

  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    60F but at least it’s not raining.

    —-

    I’ve got over 500,000 air miles on United.   Most were on Continental.   The merger DESTROYED the culture of Continental and replaced it with United, where they would charge you for air if they could.   Once in a while you find a pocket of Continental employees, and it’s very nice.

    —-

    IIRC, someone famous in the industry once said something like “ in the long run, no airline has ever made money, PEOPLE have made money, but not the airline”.    Southwest had some advantages that the others did not.   Younger staff meant low cost for pensions and benefits.  Younger planes meant less maintenance cost (and they still cheated on maintenance).  Smaller airports meant lower costs for facilities.   Some other things that looked good for them like quick turns, ended up costing money in aircraft wear and tear (and metal fatigue.)   MOST of the advantages they had are gone.

    Coffee is needed.

    n

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m sure it’s just coincidence.

    Putin’s ‘rocket man’ becomes latest senior Russian official to mysteriously die – days after top former Kremlin general was found dead on Christmas Day

    • Man who made Putin’s dreams of space exploration possible has died aged 74 
    • He is the fourth senior official with Russian links to die mysteriously in days
    • There have been suggestions Putin is ‘clearing out’ his inner circle and critics
    • Alexander Buzakov and General Alexei Maslov both suddenly died this week
    • Putin critic and sausage tycoon Pavel Antov fell to his death before Christmas
  8. Greg Norton says:

    Southwest had some advantages that the others did not.   Younger staff meant low cost for pensions and benefits.  Younger planes meant less maintenance cost (and they still cheated on maintenance).  Smaller airports meant lower costs for facilities.   Some other things that looked good for them like quick turns, ended up costing money in aircraft wear and tear (and metal fatigue.)   MOST of the advantages they had are gone

    Southwest had the advantage of being free of traditional segment management, which is no longer the case since Kelleher died.

    The AirTran merger also brought Atlanta management along which is a whole different attitude than the rest of the country, particularly for HR and/or airlines.

    To be fair, I miss AirTran, even with the ValuJet history. The Death Star made us fly AirTran coach, but I always took the $75 business class upgrade using my personal Amex on the TPA-ATL flights, the Spanx Shuttle.

  9. Terry L. says:

    Seems like it is not healthy to be a ‘friend’ / acquaintance / critic of either Putin or Hillary…  wonder if anyone has been keeping a body count. 

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    Being close to the King has always been a two edged sword.

    n

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    Linked because my memory isn’t what it was.   More legal wrangling.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11584273/Rust-assistant-director-handed-Alec-Baldwin-gun-asks-judge-DISMISS-claims-fault.html 

    no new info.

    n

  12. Ray Thompson says:

    Trump’s tax returns are online at CNN. If anyone cares to go through all 2,744 pages. Along with deciphering the cryptic tax forms and applicable tax laws. His business taxes are another 3,150 pages. Again, good luck deciphering.

    I suspect there would be dissention among tax lawyers and IRS agents about what is legal in the returns, and what is not. To have a tax code that is so complicated that different results can be had from different people, including IRS agents, is a sick endorsement of a screwed-up system.

    If the man used every loophole and gimmick in the tax laws to avoid paying taxes, more power to him. It is the job of every taxpayer to use every possible loophole in the tax laws to avoid paying taxes. Do not let threats from the IRS prevent anyone from legally avoiding taxes.

    Don’t think for a minute that Biden, his relatives, Pelosi, Schumer and the other incompetents in the legislator have not done the same thing. Seeing Pelosi’s tax returns would probably be a real eye opener as to how she became worth millions on less than $223K a year (current salary, less earnings in prior years). Shrewd investments, nope. Craft and corruption, insider trading, high probability.

    I have been in a couple of battles with the IRS. The last time I disagreed with the IRS I demanded a full, in-person, detailed audit at the Knoxville tax office. Even though the correspondence was threatening, I stood my ground. After that demand the next correspondence from the IRS indicated they owed me money. I still think they are wrong, but I kept the letter in case the IRS ever comes back and demands interest and penalties.

  13. Alan says:

    >> Being close to the King has always been a two edged sword.

    “B@lls” proclaimed the Queen, “if I had them I’d be the King!” 

  14. Ken Mitchell says:

    Ray:

    I suspect there would be dissention among tax lawyers and IRS agents about what is legal in the returns, and what is not. 

    Tax Cut and H&R Block used to do “sample” tax returns and send them to several different tax offices. The different IRS agents routinely found “errors”, but never found the SAME errors. I conclude that IRS agents were, by and large, incompetent. 

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  15. MrAtoz says:

    I assume all of tRump’s tax returns were gone over with a fine tooth comb by the IRS when they were filed. Massive losses are a red flag at the IRS.

    A nothing-burger our Congress spent $millions on. What exactly did the J6 Commission produce? I know people have been rotting in jail thanks to the DoJ.

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  16. Nick Flandrey says:

    What exactly did the J6 Commission produce?  

    – the stifling effect that it was meant to produce. 

    n

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  17. Lynn says:

    “With Only Dozens of Cancellations on Friday, Southwest Steps Closer to Normal”

        https://dnyuz.com/2022/12/30/with-only-dozens-of-cancellations-on-friday-southwest-steps-closer-to-normal/

    Hat tip to:

       https://drudgereport.com/

  18. paul says:

    Big River thinks I need a garlic press.  Why?  I’ve no idea.  It looks like a nice garlic press.  It has studs on the part that squishes the garlic through the holes and they (hopefully) help to clear the holes.

    But for $25.55 and tax, pass.  I like my $5 if that much chrome plated press just fine.

  19. Lynn says:

    I suspect there would be dissention among tax lawyers and IRS agents about what is legal in the returns, and what is not. To have a tax code that is so complicated that different results can be had from different people, including IRS agents, is a sick endorsement of a screwed-up system.

    The Tax Code is built that way on purpose to require tax experts and lawyers. Many of the congresscritters are re-elected solely on their basis to provide certain tax favors and tax cuts. I would argue that it is unconstitutional when the laws are so complicated that several people have different interpretations of the tax laws.

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  20. Nick Flandrey says:

    No affiliation, but  they have ar500 armor on sale.

    https://www.ar500armor.com/promotions-sales.html 

    I haven’t heard anything bad about AR500, other than when they were new they took a while to fulfill orders.

    n

  21. Lynn says:

    My wife and daughter now have the Koof.   And one of my nephews.  Looks like Christmas was a disaster.

    Near as I can figure, given the five day incubation period, I had it last Saturday but did not feel it. So that means I got it last Monday or Tuesday a week ago. All I did in those two days was go to Chipolte Mexican grill for a takeaway chicken bowl and to the office.

  22. Charles says:

    I assume all of tRump’s tax returns were gone over with a fine tooth comb by the IRS when they were filed

    The committee report also listed several overarching issues it believed the IRS should have investigated. For example, Trump claimed large cash donations to charities, but the report said the IRS did not verify them. The report also said that while Trump’s tax filings were large and complicated, the IRS does not appear to have assigned experts to work on them.

    The Ways and Means Committee separately released a 29-page report summarizing its investigation into an IRS policy that mandates audits of returns filed by presidents and vice presidents. The committee found that the IRS had largely not followed its own internal requirements, beginning to examine Trump’s returns only after the House panel inquired about the process. Just one year of Trump’s returns was officially selected for the mandatory review while he was in office, and that audit of Trump’s 2016 taxes was not complete by the time he left the White House, according to the report.

    10
  23. Lynn says:

    “After Soyuz Leak, NASA Talks to SpaceX About Getting ISS Crew Back to Earth”

        https://www.pcmag.com/news/after-soyuz-leak-nasa-talks-to-spacex-about-getting-iss-crew-back-to-earth

    “There are still a few months to fix the leaking Soyuz MS-22 craft, but in the interim, NASA is in talks with SpaceX about possibly transporting people back to Earth in a Crew Dragon ship.”

    I wonder what kind of antifreeze that Soyuz radiator uses ?  Just about the only things that are liquid at 3 K are helium and hydrogen.  Or else that radiator is heated also.

    Lifeboats are important.  Nobody wants to be on the Titanic. Makes one reconsider about the single spaceship to Mars.

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  24. Greg Norton says:

    Lifeboats are important.  Nobody wants to be on the Titanic. Makes one reconsider about the single spaceship to Mars.

    The crew version of Dragon has seven seats, but I don’t believe that NASA has flown more than four on the capsule at a time.

    Theoretically, landing seven would be possible. Redundancy is always good, however.

    The Sierrra Nevada Dream Chaser started out as a lifeboat concept for the ISS which went nowhere. The idea was that the lifting body would have been flown to the station on Shuttle and maintained for emergencies. Dr. Pournelle touched on it a few times, and I’ve seen the prototype up close at a flight museum in Oregon — not exactlly a comfy-looking ride down from orbit, but it would have been a ride.

    Of course, the Soyuz reentry capsule isn’t spacious. One of those sits in the exhibit hall with the Shuttle trainer at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and the point is to present the contrast.

  25. Rick H says:

    Organism found that ‘eats’ viruses: 

    The so-called “circle of life” dictates that if a living thing exists, it’s probably food for something else. Viruses, however, have historically managed to escape this unofficial rule. Although plenty of organisms eat viruses accidentally as they consume other living things, no organism has been known to munch viruses on purpose—until now.

    A research team at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln has identified the first known “virovore,” or virus-eating organism.

    https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/341872-scientists-discover-the-first-virus-eating-organism 

  26. lpdbw says:

    @Nick, please check your spam folder.  I sent to “flandrey”, and to “atflandrey”, and to “flandry”, at the a* com, and two of them bounced back.  “flandrey” didn’t bounce back, so it must might have been delivered.

    Sorry to be such a pain.

  27. MrAtoz says:

    Get tRump! GET HIM!!!!

    Rob Reiner doesn’t let reality of #TrumpTaxReturns dampen hopes he’ll be arrested

    I guess the IRS could have passed on tRump’s tax returns. Lazy? Nah, he said she said the committee said. What does the IRS say? I think tRump is right. This has opened up a can of worms for the Dumbocrats. Just like when the late “Dirty” Harry Reid nuked the filibuster on Federal judges. Redumblican committees are coming up real soon.

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  28. Greg Norton says:

    Redumblican committees are coming up real soon.

    Eric Swalwell’s fling with Bang Bang and an explanation for his continued presence on the Intelligence Committee after the revelation of the affair with the “honeytrap” spy are still out there waiting for investigation.

  29. Alan says:

    >> Federal prosecutors opening investigation into Santos

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2022/12/29/federal-prosecutors-opening-investigation-into-santos-n520592

    At the urging of Democrats, Federal prosecutors opening investigation into Santos.

    F I F Y

    The only thing the Repubs are concerned about is losing the seat and further narrowing their slim majority in the House. Time to drag out the Sleepy Joe plagiarism memes. The vacancy rules in the NYS Constitution are in lawyer-ese (duh!).

  30. Lynn says:

    Attention Mr. Lynn:

    The Smith & Wesson 500: This Is No Gun (More Like A Cannon)

    Put this puppy in your pants pocket and down come your pants.

    I’ve played with one of those before at a gun store but I never pulled the trigger “groan” and bought one.  Weighs about twice that of my Ruger GP100 .357 seven shot 2.5 inch barrel that is my main EDC which is sitting on the corner of my office desk right now.

    That S&W .500 is your backup gun when you are on walkabout in Alaska so you can get the attention of black bears.  However, I am not sure anything will get the attention of a brown bear.  My close encounter with a grizzly back in 1981 in the center of Alaska still unnerves me.  I stood up, he stood up, and he was more than two feet taller than me.

  31. Lynn says:

    “BREAKING: President Trump Rips Democrats and Supreme Court Following the Release of his Personal Tax Returns – Warns of Dire Repercussions”

         https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2022/12/breaking-president-trump-rips-democrats-supreme-court-following-release-tax-returns-warns-dire-repercussions/

    “On Friday, the corrupt Democrats in the House destroyed President Trump’s right to privacy and released President Trump’s six years of the tax returns moments ago.  Unfortunately, they failed again in their goal and only proved their contempt for the US Constitution.”

    You know, the USA Constitution has an implied right to privacy and once again, the dumbrocrats in Congress have violated it.   One wonders if there will be any legal repercussions from the DOJ over this ?

    So who will they dump the tax returns of next ?  Elon Musk ?  Ron DeSantis ?  Mine ?  Yours ?

    We are not a nation of voyeurs. We should not need to have the tax returns of our neighbors dumped in the public trough.

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  32. Alan says:

    >> The Democrat majority committee report also listed several overarching issues it believed the IRS should have investigated. For example, Trump claimed large cash donations to charities, but the report said the IRS did not verify them. The report also said that while Trump’s tax filings were large and complicated, the IRS does not appear to have assigned experts to work on them.

    >> The Democrat majority Ways and Means Committee separately released a 29-page report summarizing its investigation into an IRS policy that mandates audits of returns filed by presidents and vice presidents. The committee found that the IRS had largely not followed its own internal requirements, beginning to examine Trump’s returns only after the House panel inquired about the process. Just one year of Trump’s returns was officially selected for the mandatory review while he was in office, and that audit of Trump’s 2016 taxes was not complete by the time he left the White House, according to the report.

    F I F Y

    >> “The committee found that the IRS had largely not followed its own internal requirements”

    Was the IRS Commissioner subpoenaed to testify?

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  33. Alan says:

    >> So who will they dump the tax returns of next ?  Elon Musk ?  Ron DeSantis ?  Mine ?  Yours ?

    We are not a nation of voyeurs. We should not need to have the tax returns of our neighbors dumped in the public trough.

    Nancy’s not my neighbor…go right ahead and dump hers.

  34. Lynn says:

    Nancy’s not my neighbor…go right ahead and dump hers.

    I count everyone in the USA as my neighbor.  In fact, if you take the literal words of Jesus, the entire world is our neighbor.

    However, if we want to make a federal law that all elected officials must have their tax returns dumped, I do not have a problem with that as they will know going into the process that their tax return will be published.

  35. Lynn says:

    Of course, the Soyuz reentry capsule isn’t spacious. One of those sits in the exhibit hall with the Shuttle trainer at the Museum of Flight in Seattle, and the point is to present the contrast.

    I’ve sat in bigger seats in a Piper Cub airplane than that Soyuz capsule.

  36. Alan says:

    Constitutional Carry laws for Alabama and Georgia, passed earlier this year, go into effect on January 1.

    https://www.nraila.org/articles/20220401/nra-achieves-historical-milestone-as-25-states-recognize-constitutional-carryhttps://www.nraila.org/articles/20220401/nra-achieves-historical-milestone-as-25-states-recognize-constitutional-carry

    For once the crooks politicians do something constructive.

    Sheriffs in Alabama are reminding citizens that their CCW permit fees help fund the Sheriff offices and as such to keep applying for permits.

  37. Alan says:

    >> In fact, if you take the literal words of Jesus, the entire world is our neighbor.

    Any volunteers to ask Putin for a copy of his tax return?  🙂

  38. Lynn says:

    Sheriffs in Alabama are reminding citizens that their CCW permit fees help fund the Sheriff offices and as such to keep applying for permits.

    In Texas, LTC (licence to carry which is both concealed or open) holders have more rights than the Constitutional Carry people.

        https://onlinetexasltc.com/texas-constitutional-carry/

  39. Greg Norton says:

    So who will they dump the tax returns of next ?  Elon Musk ?  Ron DeSantis ?  Mine ?  Yours ?

    DeSantis released his tax returns in 2018 during his first run for Governor after being challenged to do so by his opponent, Andrew Gillum. Of course, Gillum did not release his 2017 returns, a time period covered by a later indictment for wire fraud and lying to the FBI.

    https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/ron-desantis-releases-tax-returns/

    https://www.fox35orlando.com/news/florida-judge-refuses-to-dismiss-charges-against-andrew-gillum

    I couldn’t find any word about a release of DeSantis most recent returns, but if something was amiss, a desperate Charlie Crist and FL Dem party would have received a heads up from the IRS. Crist is a Congressman until next week and sat on the Appropriations Committee.

    A “leak” of the tax returns probably would have backfired as spectacularly as the “leak” of the wedding photos from Disney World. My wife and I half joke that the wedding photos probably won Dade County for DeSantis.

  40. lpdbw says:

    duly elected 

    Lol.  Looks like the schizo is back.

  41. Geoff Powell says:

    @Lynn:

    So who will they dump the tax returns of next ?  Elon Musk ?  Ron DeSantis ?  Mine ?  Yours ?

    None of us here are “important” enough to suffer that indignity. On the other hand, any public office holder, especially if elected, should be fair game. And if you object to that, don’t stand for election.

    In that regard, Douglas Adams had it right when he had Zaphod Beeblebrox (I think it was) say (I paraphrase) “Any one who desires power over others, should be prevented from gaining it.” Which means that you would need to co-opt people to do the various jobs that are filled by election – which is, in its simplest form, a popularity contest.

    I believe, without citeable evidence, that most American politicians are scared of Trump, be cause he is more popular with the electorate, although he isn’t “one of us”. Hence the frantic “Throw everything at him, and see what sticks” recent events.

    G.

  42. EdH says:

    Battery things…

    I noticed the aftermarket battery for my old Makita 14.4V drill was failing.  I was going to give the seller (ExpertPower)  a bad review on Amazon, but when I checked the buying date:

    June 13, 2013.

    Ok, 9.5 years,  not gonna complain.  Ordered another from them, actually.

    —————-

    The battery on my Eufy 11S robot vacuum cleaner is failing, down to 45m max.  I seem to recall someone else on this forum has the same model.

    That would be the OEM from September 2019.  Not bad for 3-4x usages a week. 

    Ordered another. Sadly EP didn’t make one.

  43. Ray Thompson says:

    @Ken:

    I conclude that IRS agents were, by and large, incompetent

    You will get no dissention from me as my experience has proven the above to be true. In one case I had to remind the IRS agent that VA money is not taxable and need not be reported. I also had to have a letter from the VA to the state of Tennessee to remind Medicaid that VA benefits are not included as income.

    I assume all of tRump’s tax returns were gone over with a fine tooth comb by the IRS when they were filed.

    I would also think that his tax accountants accomplished the same task. IF, well rather when, something is found, it will be a matter of opinion between tax accountants, the IRS, and the clown reporter who cannot balance their own checkbook making a remarkable discovery. In their opinion.

    I would argue that it is unconstitutional when the laws are so complicated that several people have different interpretations of the tax laws

    I suspect it is more of clueless congress critters and whatever agency writes the tax code, are incompetent. They fail to fully understand what law they are really passing. When it is found there is a legal loophole, the cretins make matters worse by convoluting the existing laws. And we all know that no law is ever repealed just adding to the confusion.

    The committee report also listed several overarching issues it believed the IRS should have investigated

    Would any IRS agent want to be responsible for auditing Trump’s returns? Especially when such a return would be really complicated. The IRS could not even get my simple return correct. And matching wits with probably some of the best tax accountants that money can purchase. I suspect it was more of a buck passing by the IRS than a real failure.

    Because you’ve had payments for photography services issued in your wife’s name instead of yours to avoid reporting requirements, right?

    Wrong, you illiterate, clueless, zit-faced, self-abusing, clown. But I repeat myself. I have reported all my income, from all sources, that require reporting. I have filed schedule C for my photography business which requires reporting such income. Another case of you posting false statements. Pot calling the kettle black perhaps?

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  44. Alan says:

    So…according to reporting, unidentified DNA found at the Moscow, Idaho murder scene was not found in FBI CODIS database, but a familial match was found in a public genealogy database which was used, in part, to identify the suspect.

    Anyone get a ‘23 And Me’ kit for Xmas?

  45. Lynn says:

    >> In fact, if you take the literal words of Jesus, the entire world is our neighbor.

    Any volunteers to ask Putin for a copy of his tax return?  

    Yup, some of our neighbors live in really big houses and are literally crazy.

  46. Lynn says:

    So…according to reporting, unidentified DNA found at the Moscow, Idaho murder scene was not found in FBI CODIS database, but a familial match was found in a public genealogy database which was used, in part, to identify the suspect.

    Anyone get a ‘23 And Me’ kit for Xmas?

    I am shocked, shocked I tell you, that the police would get a subscription to https://www.ancestry.com/ .

  47. Lynn says:

    Because you’ve had payments for photography services issued in your wife’s name instead of yours to avoid reporting requirements, right?

    Wrong, you illiterate, clueless, zit-faced, self-abusing, clown. But I repeat myself. I have reported all my income, from all sources, that require reporting. I have filed schedule C for my photography business which requires reporting such income. Another case of you posting false statements. Pot calling the kettle black perhaps?

    Yup, we have a really nasty case of a basement dwelling nym-shifting literature professor wannabe troll.  It continuously throws out wild and false accusations that are not even consistent.  

    We have hammered it 38 times in the last week or so.

  48. Alan says:

    >> I suspect it is more of clueless congress critters and whatever agency writes the tax code, are incompetent. They fail to fully understand what law they are really passing. When it is found there is a legal loophole, the cretins make matters worse by convoluting the existing laws. And we all know that no law is ever repealed just adding to the confusion.

    Just say “everyone employed in DC,” and save some typing…and it’s not just the tax code, here’s a link the the recent omnibus spending bill, all 4,155 pages…let me know how far you get before you find gibberish or your head explodes, whichever comes first!  🙂

  49. Alan says:

    >> My wife and daughter now have the Koof.   And one of my nephews.  Looks like Christmas was a disaster.

    @lynn, hoping for a swift and full recovery for you and your family.

  50. Lynn says:

    I am not sure if people care, but the comic strip Funky Winkerbean is ending tomorrow.  It jumped 30+ years in the future at the beginning of the week to a USA after something bad happened.

      https://comicskingdom.com/funky-winkerbean/2022-12-26

  51. Mark W says:

    I watched the segment about Trump’s tax returns on ABC news tonight (I needed to lose a few IQ points). They showed but did not speak the $31M loss in the year he paid $750 in taxes and noted that a teacher pays more. I don’t know why they think teachers are special – I paid more. But also, I didn’t have a $31 million loss. 

  52. Lynn says:

    Hey, I just realized that I am starting the classic New Years trend of losing weight a little bit early.  You know, if I could figure out how to bottle this covid thing as a weight loss supplement, I’ll bet that I would make a fortune.  And soon after be on trial next to SBF in a New York slum for fraud.

  53. Lynn says:

    And my crazy office neighbor is back today of course.  He wants me to sign over 15 foot by 1,426 ft of my office property to him to use in perpetuity for free and we each pay our own legal and road maintenance expenses.  He now claims that he has gotten the other property owner to agree to this also.

    I am beginning to understand why he ran away when I saw him two weeks ago.  He is freaking nuts.

    10
  54. Lynn says:

    >> My wife and daughter now have the Koof.   And one of my nephews.  Looks like Christmas was a disaster.

    @lynn, hoping for a swift and full recovery for you and your family.

    Thank you.  My daughter is freaked out, she cannot have her surgery without getting cardiology signoff and two more iron infusions.  And none of that can start until she has tested negative for two weeks in a row.

  55. Greg Norton says:

    And my crazy office neighbor is back today of course.  He wants me to sign over 15 foot by 1,426 ft of my office property to him to use in perpetuity for free and we each pay our own legal and road maintenance expenses.  He now claims that he has gotten the other property owner to agree to this also.

    Is he still planning an organic farm?

    I saw a lot of “For Sale” signs on large pieces of property on the road to/from Fredericksburg this week. 

    The wineries seem to be on the decline, dashing the dreams of many a pro alcoholic. Maybe an organic farm would work.

  56. Lynn says:

    “Under a Graveyard Sky (1) (Black Tide Rising)” by John Ringo
       https://www.amazon.com/Under-Graveyard-Black-Tide-Rising/dp/147673660X?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number one of a nine book dark fantasy zombie series. I reread the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2014 that I bought new recently since my originals are in the garage book stash. I own all nine books in the series and have read them all, I may repurchase and reread a few more of the books.

    Really, really good series on a zombie apocalypse caused by a human engineered flu virus with a rabies virus payload. The engineered flu virus is deadly itself with 20% fatality rate but if you survive that, the rabies virus takes over and fries your brain. After a couple of months, over 99.99% of the world population is infected and/or dead. The second half of the book is about clearing the zombies by reducing the problem to a manageable level and working through it. 

    Steve Smith, a school teacher and retired Australian Paratrooper, gets a bug out text message from his brother, confirms it, buys a used 45 foot sailboat, moves his family and a lot of supplies to the boat in the New York Harbor. His brother, the chief of security at a New York City bank, sends along more supplies. His daughters end up helping to make vaccine for the virus using spinal cords from infected “primates” (humans). Even with getting quite a few people vaccinated, NYC eventually falls to the zombies, and the bank skyscraper is abandoned. Steve and family sail for the Caribbean where they find that the islands are all overrun with zombies and so are thousands of boats, ships, and cruise liners. 

    My rating: 6 out of 5 stars (yes, 6 stars, science!)
    Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (1,134 reviews)

  57. Lynn says:

    And my crazy office neighbor is back today of course.  He wants me to sign over 15 foot by 1,426 ft of my office property to him to use in perpetuity for free and we each pay our own legal and road maintenance expenses.  He now claims that he has gotten the other property owner to agree to this also.

    Is he still planning an organic farm?

    No idea.  I don’t trust anything he says.  Lie to me once, shame on you, lie to me twice, shame on me.

  58. drwilliams says:

    @Lynn

    “In Texas, LTC (licence to carry which is both concealed or open) holders have more rights than the Constitutional Carry people.”

    If you have to pay for them they are not rights.

  59. Lynn says:

    “In Texas, LTC (licence to carry which is both concealed or open) holders have more rights than the Constitutional Carry people.”

    If you have to pay for them they are not rights.

    Privileges ?

  60. nick flandrey says:

    @alan, IDK why those two quotes look different.   Some weird glitch in the matrix…

    @lpdbw, I finally got an email and replied.   Sorry that was so hard.

    @lynn, thanks for the garbage collection efforts.

    @everyone else, thanks for your continuing patience with the brain damaged fool’s spew.

    ———–

    did some pickups.   bought some stuff.   put some stuff in storage.  Didn’t find the item I was looking for.    found some neat stuff though that I’d forgotten about.

    hey, i’m ee comings.  does it make the writing better?

    n

  61. nick flandrey says:

    Wow, Babwa Wawa died.    Guess that’s cruel and unnecessary, but I never did get her appeal.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11365843/Groundbreaking-TV-journalist-Barbara-Walters-died-93.html 

    n

  62. nick flandrey says:

    And SpaceX launched their 61st rocket this year…   un-freaking-believable.  And a perfect endorsement of free enterprise vs government jobs programs.

    n

  63. Rick H says:

    I’ll look at the funny blockquote formatting tomorrow. But I suspect that it is because a copy/paste from an outside source includes some HTML tags that are changing things.

  64. Ken Mitchell says:

    Nick:

    And SpaceX launched their 61st rocket this year…   

    Successfully launched, with USED ROCKETS….

    AND LANDED, which is what makes it REALLY …

    un-freaking-believable

    NASA/ULA launched their SLS/Artemis capsule.  NONE of which is reusable, except for a couple of the Artemis computers. And they won’t be able to do it again for TWO TO THREE YEARS,

    And a perfect endorsement of free enterprise vs government jobs programs.

    Precisely so.

  65. Greg Norton says:

    Wow, Babwa Wawa died.    Guess that’s cruel and unnecessary, but I never did get her appeal.

    She did the work and got the interviews no one else could.

    Still, not the brightest bulb. I remember the night in the 80s when Sean Connery got the best of her after she asked him to clarify a quote he gave to Playboy about slapping women.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YDqm7LXt2g

    Hook, line, and sinker. But, yeah, he’d be hosed today.

  66. Greg Norton says:

    NASA/ULA launched their SLS/Artemis capsule.  NONE of which is reusable, except for a couple of the Artemis computers. And they won’t be able to do it again for TWO TO THREE YEARS,

    And a perfect endorsement of free enterprise vs government jobs programs.

    Precisely so.

    The launch tower will be thrown away too. Maybe one more flight. The rocket which will actually land people on the Moon or Mars will be bigger. 

    The Artemis capsule can’t be reusued?!? Geesh.

  67. Lynn says:

    NASA/ULA launched their SLS/Artemis capsule.  NONE of which is reusable, except for a couple of the Artemis computers. And they won’t be able to do it again for TWO TO THREE YEARS,

    A friend of mine is working on the Artemis 2 (crewed mission around the moon) code.  He wants my son to come work with him on the Artemis 3 (landing on the moon) code.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artemis_2

  68. nick flandrey says:

    Getting kinda cool out, temp is down to 55F…

    and suddenly it’s 1130, day flew by.

    n

  69. Greg Norton says:

    The launch tower will be thrown away too. Maybe one more flight. The rocket which will actually land people on the Moon or Mars will be bigger. 

    Not that I believe SLS will take anyone to the Moon.

    I used to think SLS would only fly once before stripping the tooling out of the VAB became a full employment project for another generation of space geeks, but then Bill Nelson became NASA Administrator.

  70. Lynn says:

    “Twitter employees using own toilet paper after Elon Musk cuts janitors”

        https://nypost.com/2022/12/30/twitter-employees-using-own-toilet-paper-offices-stink-after-musk-cut-janitors-report/

    “Some of Twitter’s remaining employees have reportedly begun bringing their own toilet paper to the office as Elon Musk implements sweeping cost-cutting measures at the company.  Musk’s scramble to save money included a move this month to abruptly fire janitors who worked at the company’s San Francisco headquarters. The cuts came after the janitors had gone on strike for more pay.””

    I’ll bet Musk only buys single ply for the worker bees.

  71. nick flandrey says:

    Down to 53F.   Time for bed.

    n

  72. Alan says:

    >> hey, i’m ee comings.  does it make the writing better? 

    only if you spell his name correctly! 

    it’s cummings. 

     :p

  73. Alan says:

    >> I’ll bet Musk only buys single ply for the worker bees. 

    Old saying: Job’s not finished until the paperwork is done. 

  74. Nick Flandrey says:

    :facepalm

    n

  75. Lynn says:

    “What Can We Learn from Barnes & Noble’s Surprising Turnaround?”

        https://tedgioia.substack.com/p/what-can-we-learn-from-barnes-and

    “Digital platforms are struggling, meanwhile a 136-year-old book retailer is growing again. But why?”

    “At first glance, this makes no sense.  All the cool and up-to-date technologies are in financial trouble. Tesla share price has collapsed. Crypto is in decline. Netflix stock has dropped more than 50% in the last year. Facebook is in freefall. Even TikTok might be in trouble.  But Barnes & Noble is flourishing. After a long decline, the company is profitable and growing again—and last week announced plans to open 30 new stores. In some instances, they are taking over locations where Amazon tried (and failed) to operate bookstores.”

    Hat tip to:

        https://accordingtohoyt.com/2022/12/30/youve-got-to-have-faith-riding-the-catastrophic-wave-of-change-part-v/

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