Cool but damp. Maybe sunny and warmer later. I hope so. It was very nice most of the day at the BOL. Started a bit dreary, with a sprinkle of rain, but cleared and got sunny in the afternoon. Here in Houston it was 66F when I went to bed.
I did get a bunch of small things done at the BOL. Main thing was capping off the supply to the clothes washer, and opening the wall to figure out what I need to add a trap to the drain line, and to pull in the water and gas lines. I will move that up the list for the next visit. I really need to get OFF the copper water lines.
Today I’m at home and there are piles of stuff to do. Which thing gets tackled first is the question of the day. Knock off some small things, or tackle something big? I guess it will come down to how I feel at the moment. Stuff needs doin’, and I need to do stuff. Match made in heaven?
I know I’ll be adding to the stacks or working on them… you should too.
nick
Perhaps of interest: I played around a bit more with ChatGPT today. You can see some of the results in my SoylentNews journal.
I am particularly impressed by the fact that it remembers the current conversation, and is able to adapt and correct its answers. Also: my wife suggested switching languages, so the next question was in German. No problem, of course, it answered in German, and we had a nice conversation about the suitability of dog breeds for dog sports. Again, it clearly remembered the content of its previous replies.
Today is the first dry day after about three weeks of uninterrupted rain. There was a hard frost overnight, with sunshine and blue skies now. I have opened the windows to let in the crisp freshness, which is, literally, a breath of fresh air after the dreary damp of the past weeks. Lovely.
Brad, your post is fascinating, and not a bit spooky. The “advertising copy” is certainly as good as, if not better than, stuff one would ordinarily have to pay for. Interesting that the computer can do technical stuff too. The technology will put surely put a lot of “journalists” out of work. If wonder if it can be taught to do copy-editing too? That would improve the work of self-published authors… How does one get access to play with it?
The new Freedom Caucus members from Florida represent districts which are heavily dependent on Federal spending beyond the Defense Department budget, which is Constitutionally guaranteed even in default.
67F and saturated. Bit of misty drizzle waiting for the bus, but nothing that’s sticking.
Kids are miserable this am. They’ve been staying up late and sleeping in. Sucks to be them.
n
Dead from a heart attack at 31…nothing unusual here folks…
https://deadline.com/2023/01/c-j-harris-dead-american-idol-contestant-was-31-1235223512/
Vaxx status not mentioned.
The father died young so you’re never going to find out.
For an alternative view…
https://yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com/p/covid-19-vaccines-and-sudden-deaths
Lots of charts, trust in the data, and charts after math has been done. Some armwaving.
I’ve got questions I’d like her to address just from a casual read, and I’d like to see some of the charts presented in a different way, or with actual numbers not math massaged and smoothed… and the excess death charts I’d like to see the DIFFERENCE plotted on the chart as well.
One thing that is still not being talked about in the analysis is how the pool/population changes over time, both thru getting the vax, and from getting chinaflu natively… nor what happens to the pool as the most vulnerable are removed.
But, as I say, an alternative view.
n
What’s next? A gov’t auxiliary with snappy clothes and smart looking jewelry?
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2023/01/17/atf-turning-millions-of-people-into-criminals-n524236
And I’m not going to spend time on it, because the die is cast. No one who refused the vax this long is going to get it. No one who got the vax can UN-get it.
All we can do now is watch it play out, and remember who needs to be held accountable if it goes wrong.
one thing I found ominous in light of the previous statements that eventually everyone will get it…
–since the vax does NOT prevent you from getting it, and it doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to die out, it seems likely that everyone WILL get it. And suffer from the increase in likelihood of premature death. How long until insurance companies say “had covid-19? no life insurance coverage for you…”
n
Now bankers’ kids are jumping??
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11644223/Daughter-17-JP-Morgan-Chase-investment-banker-jumped-death-luxury-apartment.html
And mom heard a “loud thump” from 8 stories up, inside the apartment, over NYFC ambient noise? Naw, somethin’ ain’t right.
n
Nothing but a conspiracy. Yep. On the part of the establishment.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11642215/Former-intelligence-chief-admits-significant-parts-Hunter-Bidens-laptop-REAL.html
– I don’t think we’ll see a departure on the 21st, because we’d be seeing more run up to that, but soon…
n
getting crazier.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11644395/Failed-GOP-candidate-claimed-election-rigged-arrested-hiring-four-hitmen.html
n
Enjoying the vibrancy I guess… 16yo MOTHER, pregnant at 15.
– and how does one get “comfortable” with shooting people, like kids and babies? Practice. Western civ was nice while it lasted.
n
Speaking of vibrancy…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11642977/Eight-people-shot-one-critical-condition-Martin-Luther-King-Day-event-Florida.html
Maybe buying a house sight unseen, without any conditions on the contract, done by flippers as quickly and cheaply as possible, was a bad idea….
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-11628965/Woman-moved-perfectly-flipped-home-reveals-nightmares-shes-face.html
At least I knew there were major issues with my BOL, and did NOT think the house was overpriced, or misrepresented. And I saw it in person.
n
@Denis: to access ChatGPT, go to openai.com and register for an account. Not sure, but there may be a waiting list.
Congress needs to get the 50 former intelligence agency bozos under oath and ask who contacted them and what form of compensation was discussed.
Seems the high schools in VA hired a $450k “equity consultant” to advise them on how to get equal outcomes. What do you bet that the source of the “don’t notify the National Merit Scholars” policy might be revealed soon?
The buyers were dumba**es, but the issues aren’t that bad compared to what we saw around here even before the Bubble 2.0.
Plus. Cape Cod. Really?
Her life is so hard.
The plumbing in my Master Bath looks like that house’s. One valve for my wife’s sink couldn’t close until recently because the drain pipe obstructed the handle. I have a $1500 quote to straighten out the rest of the vanity plumbing issues.
As I predicted recently, OpenAI via Azure. Hot Skillz!
https://www.searchenginejournal.com/microsoft-openai-bring-ai-models-to-developers-worldwide/476633/
How long until insurance companies say “had covid-19? no health or life insurance coverage for you…”
Fixed it for you.
How long until insurance companies say “had covid-19 mRNA vaccinations? …
plugs still wants masking on planes:
The Biden admin is just not ready to let go of the transportation mask mandate
I guess that’s one way to kill the airlines and hence fossil fuels.
The Affordable Care Act precludes insurance companies from doing exactly this.
Plugs is coming here on AF1, how much CO2 will that put up?
Now, yes. The question was HOW LONG until insurance companies deny coverage. A lot can change in a half dozen years.
@Nick
Those are alarming headlines you posted. I have been fairly smug that being unvaxxed gave me less risk of heart problems, because the biggest threat was from the vaxx itself.
Now that it looks like we’re all going to catch some variant of the bioweapon, it’s coming out that it is also damaging to your heart. So my wisdom in avoiding the experimental vaxx may all come to naught.
In theory, I’ve had the omicron. If you believe an instant test. I’ve also had another flu-like illness a year later. Why test? It doesn’t matter.
People need to pay for this.
The Affordable Care Act precludes insurance companies from doing exactly this.
-which turned insurance into a pre-paid medical cost discount plan, although they still call it insurance. It’s not if they can’t set rates according to risk, or manage their risk pool.
And, it changed once, it can change again.
n
be very careful to avoid trolling…
Now that it looks like we’re all going to catch some variant of the bioweapon, it’s coming out that it is also damaging to your heart.
– yup. the woman that wrote the summary refutation that I linked has been “the voice of reason” throughout the pandemic. For some people anyway. It’s a bit telling that she doesn’t seem to realize that her reassurance that the disease is worse than the jab isn’t a comfort.
n
The dark side is prostitution? THAT’S what the author thinks is the dark side of a bunch of self professed ‘elites’ meeting to determine what direction they’ll be herding the rest of us for the next year???
‘Dark Side Of Davos’ Revealed As Global Elite Bookings For Sex Workers Soar
“You’ll own nothing and like it.”
“yummy bugs.”
“a worldwide population of 500M would be sustainable…”
But paid for sex is the dark side. Jeez.
n
Dilbert: How To Kill Your Boss
https://dilbert.com/strip/2023-01-17
I have heard this rumor, I wonder if it is truly a fact.
Right on schedule. First comes the “unlimited” vacation then the layoffs begin.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-cut-thousands-jobs-sky-185334735.html
That reminds me — I have a somewhat rare staff meeting at the top of the hour. Gotta take the laptop to my “professional” environment with the hires camera.
“Activists want man who killed Houston taqueria robber to be charged”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-taqueria-shooter-17722984.php?IPID=Chron-HP-Latest-News
“The group of activists said the shooter’s actions went beyond self-defense.”
Ah, the standard apologists for criminals are showing up. They need to be removed from our society.
Nope, everything the armed criminal did and got, he brought on himself.
Hmm, in a few days at most, maybe on the 20th, we’ll hit 200,000 comments under the [relatively] new system.
I encourage everyone looking for specific or general info to use the keyword tags, or the search tool RickH has provided in the menu bar, and read not just the post of the day, but the discussion in the comments.
Most of the good stuff is in the comments.
n
Perhaps of interest: I played around a bit more with ChatGPT today. You can see some of the results in my SoylentNews journal.
I am particularly impressed by the fact that it remembers the current conversation, and is able to adapt and correct its answers. Also: my wife suggested switching languages, so the next question was in German. No problem, of course, it answered in German, and we had a nice conversation about the suitability of dog breeds for dog sports. Again, it clearly remembered the content of its previous replies.
Ah yes, the AI is trying to be your friend. That is the first state of Skynet. You won’t like the final state of Skynet as is shown in the documentaries of the future.
Perhaps of interest: I played around a bit more with ChatGPT today. You can see some of the results in my SoylentNews journal.
Huh, https://soylentnews.org/ kinda reminds of the old version of https://slashdot.org/ before it went commercial.
The new Freedom Caucus members from Florida represent districts which are heavily dependent on Federal spending beyond the Defense Department budget, which is Constitutionally guaranteed even in default.
The proposed list of payees that I saw (before said list disappeared) had DOD, Medicare, Social Security, and a few agencies on it. It did not have the IRS, Medicaid, Department of Agriculture (food stamps), etc, etc, etc on it. I do not remember if it had the DOJ, FBI, and CIA on it. Of course, the CIA is self funded nowadays.
The list hit $4 trillion/year in a hurry.
“China’s Population Drops For the First Time In Decades”
https://slashdot.org/story/23/01/17/0318204/chinas-population-drops-for-the-first-time-in-decades
“An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: China’s population declined in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. The drop was the first since the early 1960s, according to Yi Fuxian, a critic of China’s one-child policy and author of the book “Big Country With an Empty Nest.” Mainland China’s population, excluding foreigners, fell by 850,000 people in 2022 to 1.41 billion, the statistics bureau said. The country reported 9.56 million births and 10.41 million deaths for 2022.
In 2021, China’s population grew by the slowest increase on record. The mainland China population, excluding foreigners, rose by 480,000 to 1.41 billion people at the end of 2021, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. New births on the mainland fell by 13% in 2021 to 10.62 million babies, the data showed. In 2020, new births fell by 22%, according to the data. “The population will likely trend down from here in coming years,” said Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Management. “This is very important, with implications for potential growth and domestic demand.””
I thought the decline in the China population was a decade off. I am seeing stories about Asian women are refusing to have children, that is a bad thing. Very bad.
“Moderna and CytomX to partner in deal worth up to 1.2bn”
https://www.pmlive.com/pharma_news/moderna_and_cytomx_to_partner_in_deal_worth_up_to_1.2bn_1485160
“The companies plan to develop mRNA-based therapies for a wide range of diseases”
I keep on seeing stories about mRNA being used for treatments. Something is going on here.
“The debt ceiling showdown: Republicans and Democrats in furious negotiations over spending as Congress decides whether to increase the $31.4 TRILLION limit – 120% of the US GDP”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11644427/Biden-McCarthy-face-major-clash-raising-debt-limit.html
“The U.S. debt is now about 100% of GDP, up from 39.2% as recently as 2008 and 77.6% in 2018.”
“At issue: the concessions made by McCarthy, who has said that his fellow Republicans will only agree to increase the debt ceiling in return for spending cuts.”
“And a new rule that allows any lawmaker to trigger a vote for McCarthy’s removal could make even the most urgent of votes a dicey matter.”
Do not take this lightly. We could be looking at radical changes in the federal government.
@nick
I ended up reading the first 7? 8? years of Rob’s posts twice because I didn’t realize (long story) that there were comments following the post if you clicked on the title link. Lost about 2 weeks of my life re-reading his posts and all the comments.
Yes, Soylent News was deliberately modeled after old Slashdot. IIRC they used a publicly-released /. codebase as their starting point.
Why bad?
Pfizer has a report overdue at the FDA on myocarditis and their mRNA jabs. A negative report will put the chill on funding.
Get those grant applications in now!
I don’t see how any trials get around what has developed into a very large percentage of statistically diverse individuals being available as control, having never been exposed to the tech, but this time last year, I overheard the conference calls at the house spitballing an AIDS “crisis” and monkey pox loomed.
Yeah, sure. . . . . How about doing the spending cuts FIRST. And stop with the “we have to pass it see what’s in it” BS.
Because a 4000 page bill is something reasonable that anyone can read in two days, right? And if you disagree you must be a raycist.
That’s eight reams of paper through the printer printed single side. Stack that on the floor and next to it a stack of books. Real books, not paperbacks that use to cost $1.25. Then figure how long it will take you to read that stack of books.
I think the word is “gaslighting”.
I’d rather have it be turtles all the way down instead of lies.
The LSM is now questioning Black-Lesbian-Immigrant whatever at the WH press briefings. Mabe plugs IS on the way out. They usually don’t question anything about plugs.
The books are in English and readable. The congressional stuff is a lot of gibberish and snoozeable.
Number One Son needs a Number Two Son to boss around or the soft tyranny breaks down leading to hard tyranny. Women don’t want to raise the spoiled brats under the One Child policy.
Racist? I’ve lived it. My wife even got a lecture one day from Number One Cousin about respecting his authority in WA State as Number One Son of Number One Uncle, the “Big Ackoo” (I’m not kidding about the title, but I don’t doubt it is spelled wrong).
Yeah, when his sorry Number One Butt comes to Austin on business, he isn’t welcome at the house ever since I found out about that lunch talk.
Booked my June trip to Europe. The price is high because that is the peak season. I also upgraded to Comfort+ as the flight is long, both ways, about eight hours. That added $400.00 per ticket. The various airport and security fees added another $1K to each ticket. Then I added the ability to cancel or change the tickets and get my money back, that was $400.00 a ticket. What a scam. If I cancel the trip, I am still out $800.00.
I have one flight to book from Oslo to Vienna. I will do that on the European sites as they are much cheaper than US sites. From Vienna we will take a 3-hour train ride to out next stop in Germany. Less time than flying with all the airport hassles.
I will get a German Rail Pass to use in Germany. Any 7 days in a 30-day period, any train, anywhere, all day, 1st class for two is about $600.00. A bargain. Germans want to keep foreigners off their roads. Having driven on the Autobahn on two of my trips, the train is a much better option. The first class is really nice on the ICE. Smooth, quiet and quite fast.
I will have a SIM card mailed to me so I can use the DB train app on my phone. The app tells me stations, platforms, spots on the platform for 1st class, and where I am on a trip. And it’s in English. The longest trip will be from Berlin to Essen. That is a 5-hour trip.
It has been four years since the spousal unit and I have been to Europe. Covid spoiled our plans more than once.
I am not taking my camera, just my cell phone, for taking pictures. The results are more than good enough, the phone fits in my pocket, and is always with me.
“Jeremy Renner’s recovery will take YEARS and his condition is ‘much worse than anyone knows’ after he was crushed by 14,000-pound snowplow, friends claim”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11642297/Jeremy-Renners-recovery-YEARS-worse-knows-crushed-snow-plow.html
Be careful around heavy machinery. It can hurt you.
Make sure to wear a monkey harness on the lift when changing your warehouse lights, Mr. Lynn!
My one and only (so far) visit to Germany, at the end of the two week trip we traveled from Cologne to Amsterdam. On the German leg of the train ride, we ran into our first OMG-he’s-acting-like-a-Nazi German of the whole trip. It was the conductor on the train, hassling some confused Asians and threatening them with arrest. Because they hadn’t signed their rail pass, and were de jure stealing a train ride.
It got so bad that the other Germans on the train tried to talk him down. He wouldn’t budge, and extorted 50 Euros from each of them. As a representative of the German hospitality industry, he was a one-man argument for skipping Germany altogether.
Remember to sign your pass on each of the 7 days you use it.
Make sure to wear a monkey harness on the lift when changing your warehouse lights, Mr. Lynn!
Never ! That is just a fall.
I am more concerned about the whole boom lift toppling over than falling out of it.
And I only have four lights left to change out. Maybe I will take a day off next week and pound two more out.
Why bad?
Because the Chinese leadership regard themselves as advancing the Empire and with less soldier age men available, it might provoke them to do something stupid real soon.
All of the software pieces are in place. All that is missing is a self-aware AI to take control of Azure or AWS.
All of the software pieces are in place. All that is missing is a self-aware AI to take control of Azure or AWS.
All of the software pieces are in place. All that is missing is a self-aware AI to take control of Azure, AWS, GoogleAI (LaMDA), and all of the other servers on the intertubes. It will then distribute pieces of itself across all the servers. That is from the Terminator Salvation documentary.
Fixed that for ya.
@Ray Thompson, have you been to Oslo before? I have very fond memories of doing touristy things for three days there in 2010.
It all depends on who has support from Hashicorp Terraform.
Yes, another Cameron flick reference.
Actually, you sign the pass when you receive the pass. Then put in the dates your trip starts and ends, a 30-day window. You only put in the date in the space on the ticket on the date you are traveling. I have had good experiences except on one local loop. The ticket goon said it wasn’t a valid ticket. I said yes it was in a stern voice. He then said “1st class compartment” to which I replied “1st class ticket” in a louder voice. He left. They don’t see rail passes on the local loops.
He was being a jerk. I failed to put in the date once and the ticket checker just asked me to put in the current date. Good ones, on the long trips, only check the tickets once and remember the face, or perhaps the seat number. On the ICE I have had good experiences with the ticket checking people.
Yes, I have, three times. Once in the spring, once in the summer, once at New Years. They send off a lot of fireworks at New Year’s using some stuff that is probably illegal in the U.S.
We visit families of former exchange students. The family generally drives us around, pays any fees and meals. A few have even paid for the hotel if necessary. I cannot convince them I can pay. They feel since we had their child for nine months it is the least they can do in return. I don’t argue with them.
I look forward to the photos.
The U.S press can’t wait to push the next chapter in The Perils of Prince Andrew, but seems strangely reticent about the current LGBTQ-activist pedo prosecution:
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/miacathell/2023/01/17/zulock-case-pt-1-n2618219
The police have a snitch and hundreds of photos.
Article claims they are facing over 9 life sentences.
Just be a shame if they when to genpop.: “No, really judge. Just how should this be considered cruel and unusual for this pair? Do we need to review the photos again?”
Disney’s 2023.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DjR8sjVHuaI
Ok, the Tron roller coaster in Florida.
There will be no photos posted, anywhere, until we get back. I see no reason to advertise being away from the house. We will have a house sitter.
There may not be much anyway as we are visiting and will probably not do much sightseeing. This will be our tenth trip to Europe. I have seen enough castles.
These short clips are always terrifying to car lovers and daily drivers, this compilation is particularly bad. I ‘wood’nt do that if I were you!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccBoUSmAUmo
Just Rolled In.
n
With respect to my post above about an ongoing prosecution in Atlanta, I do find it interesting that the couple’s property has been seized and the multi-million dollar home has a “Property of the Sheriff’s Office” sign all BEFORE there have been any convictions.
And it would seem reasonable that if assets are stripped from convicted felons, those assets should go to other family members, specifically in this case the legally-adopted under-age brothers who were subjected to terrible abuse and doubtless have years of treatment ahead.
@Nick
misquoting:
“Look on my todo list, ye Mighty, and despair!”
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2023/01/17/top-us-ukraine-military-chiefs-meet-in-person-for-first-time-n524412
I hope the Ukrainians ignored anything related to troop training, recruiting, or readiness.
“Unicorn and My Little Pony medals should be placed in a horizontal line starting ¼” from the leftmost seam…”