Mon. May 1, 2023 – no color hare, no color hair, no color hare….

Should be nice in Houston today.   Clear, moderately warm…   it was actually hot at the BOL yesterday.  Started mild and cool, ended up 85F in the shade.   In the sun, my pale kids got sunburned, and even I got some additional color on my arms and neck.  It was sweaty in the sun.   If not for the breeze, it would have been unpleasant.   As it was, it was gorgeous.

Wrapped up birthday week for the kid.   Returned all the extra children.   A good time was had by all, but there were definitely fraying edges after the second night of staying up late.   I didn’t do any real work at all, except the lawn care.   It was nice.

Today I’ve got estate stuff to process, and a couple of pickups to do.   I’ve got to get some of the pure aloe gel from the health food store for the kids.   It’s been on my list for a couple of weeks, and I kept putting it off.   Today they’ll use the last of what I have in stock.   I have a backup of course, but it’s a watery product that isn’t as comfortable or effective as the gel.   The main difficulty is storage.   The pure stuff needs to be refrigerated, and I don’t have the room for extras.  Plus, we are VERY slow to use up a bottle, literal years.  Nothing I’ve ever used since I first found the pure aloe when I was rock climbing regularly in Arizona has worked as well to heal a sunburn.

So I’ve got stuff to do today, and I’ll be doing a client site visit tomorrow, and all the normal stuff, as I drop back into my normal life.   I guess that short vacation will have to do for a while…

All those buckets of food aren’t gonna stack themselves, get to it.

nick

65 Comments and discussion on "Mon. May 1, 2023 – no color hare, no color hair, no color hare…."

  1. Clayton W. says:

    Invisible rabbit?

  2. Greg Norton says:

    illegally in the country + multiple firearm violations

    And he was still in the country, and not in jail, because…why?

    It is easy to blame the US border policy, but the culture in that community is that Papi gets what Papi wants as long as he brings home what’s left of his day labor pay after sending the remittances at WalMart on Friday night. They’re hiding him even now in the area.

    The report I saw last night cited multiple witnesses saying that Papi was muy stinko drunk. While it is unusual that the “undocumented immigrants” go out and shoot up the neighboring safe house, it is a fairly common scenario that they get liquored up on a Friday night, climb behind a wheel, and commit DUI manslaughter, blowing .30 on the breathalyzer or blood test when the cops arrive.

    The community can only hide Papi so long. It isn’t easy to see on a map, but Houston down to the border is a looooong drive, easily four hours or more, and Border Patrol can stop/detain any car and check papers within 100 miles of the coast or border without any reason.

    On our last two trips to the border, I saw a lot of new technology deployed for tracking vehicles and counting occupants on both of the major routes south, and a big internal checkpoint exists on I-69 about mid-way between Corpus Christi and Brownsville.

  3. Nightraker says:

    From yesterday:

    I was told by a firearms instructor to push the gun into the ribs and fire at least twice.

    For Mr. Lynn’s revolver, that isn’t actually bad advice.  However, with 1911’s and I assume other autos, it would be quite easy to push the slide back slightly against the target’s body resulting in an out of battery failure to fire.  Ungood.  

    At Trayvon Martin contact ranges, the risk of adrenaline or drug fueled assailant manually  gripping the cylinder or blocking the hammer of the revolver is a consideration.  Better to have just a bit of distance, if possible, and tuck elbow to above the hip ala Jack Ruby for a point rather than aimed shot.

    BTW, as I recall, Jack Ruby’s stated justification for his action was “to spare Mrs. Kennedy the agony of a trial for Oswald”.  Ridiculous, but there it is.

    For analysis of the minutia and tactics of actual gunfights, see Ayoob Files:

    https://americanhandgunner.com/category/our-experts/ayoob-files/

    Recommended.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Mas is the acknowledged expert, but something about the guy rubs me the wrong way.  My loss, I guess.

    ——————–

    The process of waking the sleepers has begun for today.  My coffee is brewing.    Kids have a field trip today so lunches are in order…

    ——————-

    Show me someplace where immigrants AREN’T jammed into substandard housing, since forever… there’s a sort of purposeful darwinism involved.   Guy should fry, btw, but won’t.   Yeah, Houston isn’t a border town, exactly, and neither was Phoenix or San Diego, but  I’ve lived near the southern border all my adult life.   As President Trump said, they aren’t sending us their best and brightest.

    ——————–

    Looks clear out, and not too hot.   Good for the kids.

    n

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  5. Greg Norton says:

    BTW, as I recall, Jack Ruby’s stated justification for his action was “to spare Mrs. Kennedy the agony of a trial for Oswald”.  Ridiculous, but there it is.

    An old Dennis Miller stand up routine from the late 80s had the comedian wondering just who security was turning away at the garage entrance that day in Dallas.

    “Hey, Sarge, the owner of the local titty bar (Ruby) is out here? Is it ok?”

    “Sure. Let him in.”

    If you’ve never been, that part of the city strikes me as creepy and cursed. My father-in-law died in the same hospital complex, Parkland/UT Southwestern.

  6. Nightraker says:

    An old Dennis Miller stand up routine from the late 80s had the comedian wondering just who security was turning away at the garage entrance that day in Dallas.

    Like riding around in an open topped limo, I suspect, in that gentler time, there was NO security per se.  There were no manned barriers or access control for anyone, anywhere, other than at a prison or military base.

    I think Ayoob’s obvious cops’ attitude of “Us against Them” is frictional.  To his credit, “Us” doesn’t require a uniform.

  7. Ray Thompson says:

    The wife’s nephew’s daughter, about 3 years old, does this high-pitched, loud scream when she does not get her way. Take something out of her hands, she screams. Look at her in a way she does not like, she screams. Tell her to leave something alone, she screams, and ignores the person. The boy, 5 years old, gets into stuff he has been specifically told to not touch, repeatedly. He will sneak around and do it anyway.

    There is not a lot of discipline from the parents, they just talk to the kids. You know, part of the new woke way of parenting. A good swat on the butt does no harm but will get the kids attention.

    The girl took a dump in her diaper, then reached in and proceeded to smear the crap on the carpet. When the nephew’s wife grabbed her the child screamed and spread crap further. All because the little snotty shirt(-r) machine did not get her way. I had to shampoo the carpet in multiple locations.

    In short, the kids are really, really annoying. The parents are not fully stepping up to the plate, in my opinion.

    Of course, parenting is a personal choice and there are few rules beyond the basics. The kids are well fed, clean, and are loved. Discipline is a personal choice. Beyond that, who knows.

    We are leaving for Dollywood today. We were supposed to leave at 9:00. The wife’s nephew’s wife started getting ready at 9:00. It will be another 30 minutes before we leave. Grrrrr.

    The wife’s nephew’s wife is about as clueless as they come. A common sense mental midget. The wife’s nephew could have done better, maybe, I don’t know.

  8. Greg Norton says:

    Like riding around in an open topped limo, I suspect, in that gentler time, there was NO security per se.  There were no manned barriers or access control for anyone, anywhere, other than at a prison or military base.

    Kennedy was facing a tough reelection fight against Goldwater, and the Dallas trip was part of a swing through The South, which the Republicans were starting to make headway winning in the Presidential elections.

    He used the same limo in a stop in Tampa a few days earlier without incident. Various conspiracy theories say that was intentional and Santo Trafficante kept a lid on the Cuban expats angry about the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

  9. Greg Norton says:

    We are leaving for Dollywood today. We were supposed to leave at 9:00. The wife’s nephew’s wife started getting ready at 9:00. It will be another 30 minutes before we leave. Grrrrr.

    Are they there to do the whole Gatlinburg experience?

    Friends from Florida who go up there all the time said that Ober Gatlinburg and the ski runs were sold to a weed billionare from Oregon and that big changes are coming to the mountain, which they learned about from the band who plays at the top of the mountain for the tourists.

    Apparently, those guys are in the know. The signs changed this Summer.

    We need to finish our TN trip, but I don’t want to go up to Nashville at Thanksgiving and feed my ex-brother-in-law Thanksgiving dinner just because he’s in town working on my wife’s nephew’s rental house scheme using the nephew’s off-base housing allowance.

    My ex-brother-in-law is white, but he’s always had a Papi attitude towards getting what he wants, regardless of cost or personal sacrifice from others, which I can only tolerate in brief doses. The divorce settlement, drafted without lawyers using Legal Aid was hugely one sided in his favor.

    My wife cooking Papi a turkey dinner post-divorce? Oh, hell no.

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    And with the collapse of FRC, three of the four largest-ever U.S. bank failures have occurred in the past two months. First Republic, with some $233 billion in assets at the end of the first quarter, ranks just behind the 2008 collapse of Washington Mutual. Rounding out the top four are Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank, a New York-based lender that also failed in March.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/second-largest-us-bank-failure-history-first-republic-bank-seized-fdic-sold-jpmorgan 

    n

  11. MrAtoz says:

    RIP Tim Bachman of BTO. 71 died of brain cancer.

  12. brad says:

    There is not a lot of discipline from the parents, they just talk to the kids. You know, part of the new woke way of parenting.

    When kids demonstrate unwanted behaviors, some form of negative feedback is required. It can be a timeout, it can be taking away a favorite toy, whatever. Obviously, positive reinforcement is also important.

    Take something out of her hands, she screams.

    Then she gets sat in a corner and ignored until she stops. If necessary, she gets physically restrained from leaving the corner. When she stops screaming, she gets praised. This is only hard, if you have let kids develop stupid habits – even then, it’s only hard the first couple of times.

    The parents are not fully stepping up to the plate

    Sometimes, parents also need negative consequences. Maybe it would be a wake-up call, if they were told that their children are unwelcome, until they behave better?

  13. SteveF says:

    Maybe it would be a wake-up call, if they were told that their children are unwelcome, until they behave better?

    That requires cooperation from one’s spouse. Doesn’t work, in my experience. “They’re just babies! They don’t know any better!” “Right, but I was talking about the parents.” “You can’t blame them. They’re stressed because the children are misbehaving.” It’s a no-win situation.

  14. Alan says:

    >> Um…how? Except for the very local politicians, they live in a different world. You might get to see them at a carefully controlled meet-and-greet. Otherwise? They aren’t getting anywhere near anyone’s fire, unless its warmth of the money-bonfire fuelled by lobbiests.

    See… 

    Gabby Giffords 

    Steve Scalise

    Paul Pelosi 

  15. Lynn says:

    “Opinion: The Fed says don’t worry about U.S. banks, but why should anyone believe them?”

        https://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-fed-says-dont-worry-about-u-s-banks-but-its-unclear-why-you-should-believe-them-2b309c06

    I now know why SVB was 100% bailed out.   Apparently about 20% of the Direct Deposit paychecks were sitting in the bank, ready for distribution.  Sage and several others payroll processors were using SVB as the gathering point before they transferred all of the paychecks to people’s various bank accounts.

    Can you imagine what would have happened if 20% of the paychecks in the USA failed to pay up to the various employees ?   The anger and resulting financial desperation might have toppled the federal government.  And yes, the money for my main business paychecks was sitting in that account also as we use Sage Direct Deposit.

  16. Lynn says:

    Over The Hedge: Future Star Light

       https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2023/04/29

    The future is not bright.

  17. Ray Thompson says:

    That requires cooperation from one’s spouse.

    Exactly. I would have thrown them out when “The shirt(-r) hit the fan, or rather the carpet. They are part of the wife’s family. So my lot in life is to suffer.

    We gave the parents a break and we took the kids around Dollywood. The kids actually behaved for us. If one of them got whiney, we put our food down, hard. Sit and watch and do nothing else.

  18. Greg Norton says:

    Can you imagine what would have happened if 20% of the paychecks in the USA failed to pay up to the various employees ?   The anger and resulting financial desperation might have toppled the federal government.  And yes, the money for my main business paychecks was sitting in that account also as we use Sage Direct Deposit.

    God forbid the sheeple wake the f- up and learn the meaning of “money market” accounts in a post-MF Global environment.

    I despise Direct Deposit because of the surveilance opportunity afforded the employer, but, anymore, when you decline to participate, the management makes getting that check nearly impossible. I’m reminded of the quote from “Hitchhiker’s Guide”:

    “But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”

    “Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”

    We maintain separate banks at our house, only one Direct Deposit payroll process per bank.

    And by “bank” I mean credit unions.

    That was a p*ss poor decision by Sage which would have broken their company beyond repair but the Fed probably would have stepped in and printed enough money to meet the payrolls. The Federal Government wouldn’t have fallen, but a good chunk of the 20% of the population who actually do something productive on the job would have stopped showing up for work.

    No doubt hookers, steaks, and shots of Pappy Van Winkle at SxSW served by a better looking shot girl than AOC were involved in that decision. I wondered why SVB had an Austin presence when the story first broke.

  19. Lynn says:

    “Gradually and then suddenly”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/gradually-and-then-suddenly.html

    “The title of this article is a quotation from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises“.”

    “How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.

    “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”

  20. Greg Norton says:

    And yes, the money for my main business paychecks was sitting in that account also as we use Sage Direct Deposit.

    I’d be concerned if any of your team are living paycheck to paycheck unless you finally got that intern out of TAMU this Spring.

    You know, the one testing the capability to run your unmodified Windows binaries on RHEL under Wine.

    Seriously, no one at the stage in their career I assume you target with hiring should be that tight on funds.

  21. Lynn says:

    That was a p*ss poor decision by Sage which would have broken their company beyond repair but the Fed probably would have stepped in and printed enough money to meet the payrolls. The Federal Government wouldn’t have fallen, but a good chunk of the 20% of the population who actually do something productive on the job would have stopped showing up for work.

    The Federal Government did step in and guarantee those paychecks.

  22. Lynn says:

    Anyone losing a paycheck is going to be upset.  Extremely upset.  The only worse thing is to miss three meals.

  23. Lynn says:

    “Gradually and then suddenly”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2023/05/gradually-and-then-suddenly.html

    “The title of this article is a quotation from Ernest Hemingway’s 1926 novel “The Sun Also Rises“.”

    “How did you go bankrupt?” Bill asked.

    “Two ways,” Mike said. “Gradually and then suddenly.”

    I am not sure how to prepare for a financial apocalypse other than stored food, stored water, guns, ammo, long term investments in real estate, etc. I have read the Mandibles book three times now and the outcome never gets better.
       https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver/dp/006232828X?tag=azlinkplugin-20/

  24. drwilliams says:

    @Ray Thompson

    “So my lot in life is to suffer.“

    Been that way since Adam. 

  25. Greg Norton says:

    The Federal Government did step in and guarantee those paychecks.

    I meant the Federal Reserve, which, in theory, is separate from the US Government.

    Instead, the Federal Government nationalized the banks, and now even Apple offers savings accounts.

    This won’t end well.

  26. drwilliams says:

    Going into the Depression there were many companies that owned their own banks. Afterthe high rate of failure there were only two companies that qualified under the new regs and kept their banks: Pepsi Cola and Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing, now known as 3M.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    So who’s the next Gov “Kirkland”? 

    Costco needed to own the Governor to make sure their lawyers wrote the rules for liquor deregulation passed by voters in 2012, but now he’s jeopardized their gasoline cashflow and the revenue stream from the vendor providing the car buying service, which is strictly a license of the name — pure profit.

    Yeah, EVs will require more frequent tire replacement along with specialty tires for the 6000 lb Jesus Trucks, but cash is king in Costco’s board room.

    Inslee was also one of the big Covid tyrants.

    Someone in Issaquah probably dropped a dime on Governor Kirkland. There won’t be another.

    Don’t get excited if the Republicans dredge up Rob McKenna to run again. He’s a former Perkins Coie partner.

  28. Lynn says:

    “Microsoft-branded mice and keyboards are going away after 40 years”

        https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2023/04/microsoft-branded-mice-and-keyboards-are-going-away-after-40-years/?comments=1&comments-page=1

    “Higher-end Surface-branded accessories will carry on, at least for now.”

    Bummer, I love the original Microsoft Intellimouse USB wired mouse.

        https://www.amazon.com/Microsoft-D58-00026-Intellimouse-Optical-Mouse/dp/B00005TQ08?tag=ttgnet-20/

  29. Greg Norton says:

    Bummer, I love the original Microsoft Intellimouse USB wired mouse.

    I used an original Hecho en USA (imagine) Logitech mouse for a couple of decades until one of the plastic buttons cracked in Vantucky from the plastic going brittle, probably something which happened during the cross-country move with the truck sitting in the New Mexico desert for a week during Labor Day weekend while the driver was on vacation.

    I bought the mouse to play “Harpoon” from the Egghead Discount Ponzi Scheme when I worked there for a second time during Christmas 1990. I can’t complain about the longevity — at least 20 years. It certainly outlasted the Ponzi.

    I lost so many things to the moves, whether they were damaged, lost, or sold to pay rent.

    Now I use the last ball mouse with a PS/2 interface which Logitech made for my current employer, purchased in a bulk pack on EBay. I’m down to my last of the three.

  30. Lynn says:

    Now I use the last ball mouse with a PS/2 interface which Logitech made for my employer, purchased in a bulk pack on EBay. I’m down to my last of the three.

    I used to have to clean the ball mouse weekly.  What a pain !

  31. EdH says:

    Bummer, I love the original Microsoft Intellimouse USB wired mouse.

    Yep.  All my machines, including the Macs, use USB wired Microsoft mice.  Just bought another a few weeks ago.  

     Sigh.

    p.s. I want to use Logitech, years ago I had good experiences…but not lately. The USB and Bluetooth just don’t seem to work well with OSX.

  32. Greg Norton says:

    p.s. I want to use Logitech, years ago I had good experiences…but not lately. The USB and Bluetooth just don’t seem to work well with OSX.

    I’ve had an excellent experience with the wireless Logitech keyboard/mouse sold at Sam’s which uses their proprietary USB receiver, plugged into a USB-C dock connected to our Macs.

  33. Greg Norton says:

    I used to have to clean the ball mouse weekly.  What a pain !

    An old school neoprene mouse pad solves that problem. The one I’m currently using came from Fry’s, one of the few times I went into that store here looking for something specific and found the item.

    Granted, the mouse pads had clearance tags on the shelf, but I still found it.

  34. paul says:

    I get e-mail from Logitech.  Must have been on Big River because I can’t find “logitech” in my saved mail. Darned if I can remember what I bought, it’s not attached to my PC, and then registered on their site.  I suppose it seemed like a good idea at the time.

    I delete, it’s mostly “gamer crap”.  I’m not interested in lighted keyboards or headphones.

    Logitech is on my list of “f-you” companies.  Because… I had a PageScan.  Dropped like $400 for it, scanners were pretty expensive back then.  Worked great and awesomely. But support for Win XP? Nah, piss off. 

    Grudge holding?  Moi?  

  35. paul says:

    My mouse-pad is so old it says “Desktop of the 90’s Today” across the top and “digital” in the bottom right corner.

    The computer guy at work had a few spares and when I won the bid for the Compaq toteable, he gave me a pad.  Because I needed one. 

    I give it a scrub in the kitchen sink once in a while and then stand on it in a folded up bath towel to blot it dry.

    Yeah, I’m saving up to be Eccentric and not Crazy.  

  36. Greg Norton says:

    Logitech is on my list of “f-you” companies.  Because… I had a PageScan.  Dropped like $400 for it, scanners were pretty expensive back then.  Worked great and awesomely. But support for Win XP? Nah, piss off. 

    I wouldn’t trust Logitech with any product more complicated than a mouse, keyboard, or game pad.

    I’m guessing the scanner used the half-assed parallel port substitute for a real SCSI port on a PC like Macs had at the time. My father-in-law and I argued for a decade about those among other tech issues, since I wasn’t letting the parallel port Zip drive or scanners into my house and then get stuck supporting them.

    Our ugliest disagreements were about “digital” cellular, however.

    His arguments were akin to the arguments against watering the plants with water in “Idiocracy”.

    “It’s digital. It’s better.”

    “No it isn’t. Analog cellular is 10 kHz of FM signal. Digital is 3.4 kHz sampled at 1.7 kHz, three audio channels poorly TDM-ed into one Analog channel bandwidth, making everyone sound like they’re using the X-wing comm systems in the original “Star Wars”.

    “It is *digital*.”

    In other words, “digital” cellular had electrolytes.

  37. paul says:

    It did use the parallel port.  So did my printer and the Zip drive.  They worked on XP, just get the new drivers.

    Later, I had a SCSI Zip drive and a couple of MO drives.  Just worked.  Went from XP to Win7 and oh, how nice, my SCSI card doesn’t fit and a new card costs 2/3rds of the new PC.

    Well.  I got rid of a lot of clutter.  Somewhat expensive clutter but yeah, sunk costs and all.

    I just toss stuff I want to back-up across the LAN onto Moa.  Burn a CD or DVD once in a while   So far, so good.

  38. Greg Norton says:

    It did use the parallel port.  So did my printer and the Zip drive.  They worked on XP, just get the new drivers.

    XP forgave a lot of sins among the third party software and hardware vendors, but it was expensive to maintain and regression test. Windows 7 marked the “Game Over” point since development started going overseas and the OS would not run a device on the 64 bit version without WHQL signed drivers. 

    The parallel port spec in the original AT reference was not bi-directional on all of the data pins so making that work was quite a hack for anyone writing a device driver.

    USB solved a lot of problems. I was weird there too, however, since I liked FireWire.

  39. Greg Norton says:

    Tyler Durden cowardice protecting someone mainstream.

    The lake house is fine, but Bernie regrets not holding out for the G-IV in 2020.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/bernie-sanders-government-should-confiscate-all-wealth-over-999-million

    Bernie worth only $3 million. I’m definitely not buying that one. Mainstream media.

    You can take the writer out of the mainstream media, but you can’t take the mainstream media out of the writer.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    I think Rafael Edward is in trouble, but Colin Zachary won’t be the Dem nominee.

    Two words: Perkins Coie.

    https://www.politico.com/news/2023/05/01/allred-texas-senate-cruz-00094674

  41. nick flandrey says:

    Well probably not going to my client’s house tomorrow.   I found out the cable run is longer than 440Ft, which means simply pulling in cat cable is not an option.

    I ordered a converter to get into and out of the existing buried coax which is supposed to extend ethernet to over 500ft, but it won’t get here in time for install tomorrow.   There are a lot of interesting products made to re-use your existing surveillance camera physical plant, ie. coax, while easily upgrading to IP based cameras.   Most of them even have PoE.

    I was hoping that MoCA would work but it has a practical limit of 300ft according to the one ‘carrier grade’ manufacturer that would actually list distances.

    Point to point wireless ‘cable replacement’ wifi would be an option too, but for some reason the gate people and my client want a hard line run.   If I can, I’m happy to oblige.

    n

  42. drwilliams says:

    The federal government has been completely out of control for decades, and the Chevron Doctrine has been at the heart of many of the abuses.

    Now, the Supreme Court is poised to overturn the doctrine at some major level. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is already recused from the case, meaning that the conservatives don’t have to deal with one of the most liberal justices in oral arguments and deliberations. On that front, most of the conservatives on the court have already signaled a willingness to curb the power of the bureaucratic state by rolling back the Chevron Doctrine.

    So while 2024 presidential candidates all make mostly unenforceable promises to roll back administrative overreach, this coming SCOTUS decision is, by far, the most probable way that actually gets done. The story won’t get weeks of headlines because it’s not sexy, but it’s incredibly important. A rollback of administrative agency power would positively impact American lives more than almost any policy Congress or a president could institute. It would send shockwaves throughout the federal government.

    The left’s bureaucratic fiefdom is facing oblivion, and that’s a very good thing.

    https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/05/01/scotus-grants-review-of-case-that-will-gut-the-federal-bureaucracy-n739579

    Chevron gets reversed and the GOP candidates keep STFU. No need to crow about intentions of trimming 90% of the EPA on the first day in office. No need to fire them, just lateral moves to the Park Service, to staff visitor centers at national parks, retrain them for fire prevention services, etc. Don’t want them to lose their government service. Nosirree.

  43. drwilliams says:

    @Greg Norton

    one of the plastic buttons cracked in Vantucky from the plastic going brittle

    Presume it’s already bu-bye, but if not, I could make you a replacement in pearlescent thermoset. 

    I already have a similar non-computer project on the shelf. Make ten, use two, sell the rest online.

  44. Greg Norton says:

    Well probably not going to my client’s house tomorrow.   I found out the cable run is longer than 440Ft, which means simply pulling in cat cable is not an option.

    SFP to Ethernet converters won’t work?

    I think I posted here about successfully making a (huge) Mint 19.3 Docker image capable of running on Docker for Windows. If you’re still looking for a way to make a portable install of the DVR software, that would be a route to investigate.

    Now that I have a primary desktop capable of running Docker for Windows, I can spend more time on science experiments.

  45. nick flandrey says:

    SFP to Ethernet converters

    – would work if I pulled in fiber… which I would have to order pre-terminated since fiber termination is a skill I never learned…

    IDK the actual conduit run shape either, and I’m not sure I could pull fiber around two 90 deg turns without damage.   I’m pretty sure they didn’t use minimum radius sweeps and there are at least two 90s…  and I would have to still get from the demarc to the equipment room.   If I can use the existing coax, it terminates in the rack already.

    n

  46. drwilliams says:

    According to The Villager, math teacher David Peng answered the call of one of his students and began teaching a one-semester course in personal finance. SHS is a STEM magnet school and, as the report says, “In a sea of AP Calculus and advanced and abstract algebra classes, personal finance has struck a chord with many students who say they want a practical class that offers real-life information.”

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2023/05/01/hmmm-kbj-recuses-from-scotus-case-challenging-chevron-precedent-n547686

    When I was in high school I took a similar class. Definitely not STEM, and most of the students taking it were seeking an easy course to satisfy a math requirement. “Personal finance” should be a requirement for HS graduation now, and one module should be protecting your personal data.

    I’ve considered putting together a “Practical Math” course. Using math to solve everyday problems is a mystery to a large segment of the population. 

    Probably too late. If not possible yet, it soon will be to get on the internet and ask a question like “I live at 123 Mathfree Lane. How much fertilizer do I need for my yard?” The Amazon AI will give you the answer and fill your inbox with discount coupons, while selling the inquiry to your local Ace Hardware and garden centers within 20 miles.

  47. Alan says:

    >> At Trayvon Martin contact ranges, the risk of adrenaline or drug fueled assailant manually  gripping the cylinder or blocking the hammer of the revolver is a consideration. 

    My wheel has an enclosed hammer.

  48. Alan says:

    >> I am not sure how to prepare for a financial apocalypse other than stored food, stored water, guns, ammo, long term investments in real estate, etc. I have read the Mandibles book three times now and the outcome never gets better.

    The definition of insanity is…  😉

  49. Lynn says:

    https://redstate.com/bonchie/2023/05/01/scotus-grants-review-of-case-that-will-gut-the-federal-bureaucracy-n739579

    Chevron gets reversed and the GOP candidates keep STFU. No need to crow about intentions of trimming 90% of the EPA on the first day in office. No need to fire them, just lateral moves to the Park Service, to staff visitor centers at national parks, retrain them for fire prevention services, etc. Don’t want them to lose their government service. Nosirree.

    Wow, scotusblog has already jumped in to the fray, that means that the case is interesting:

         https://www.scotusblog.com/2023/05/supreme-court-will-consider-major-case-on-power-of-federal-regulatory-agencies/

  50. Lynn says:

    XP forgave a lot of sins among the third party software and hardware vendors, but it was expensive to maintain and regression test. Windows 7 marked the “Game Over” point since development started going overseas and the OS would not run a device on the 64 bit version without WHQL signed drivers. 

    I had a 64 bit version of XP going on a dual AMD Opteron box.  Besides being noisy as all get out since I had to run multiple fans at full speed to keep it cool, the device drivers were a disaster.  The video driver was the worst, it would take me down two or three times a week.  Half of the devices did not work since I could not find device drivers.

  51. nick flandrey says:

    Houston holds week-long NUCLEAR training exercise led by the FBI and the military to learn how best to deal with a nuke dropped on a US city 

     

    Houston will host a series of ‘large-scale’ nuclear training drills this week as the military war games the unthinkable. Analysis shows a missile could kill around 130,000 people if dropped on Houston.

    –joy

    n

  52. nick flandrey says:

    People moved to the suburbs to escape the diversity, and the diversity with all its problems followed them there.

    Shocking moment mob of ninth-grade students viciously attack female assistant principal after she tried to break up a fight

    There is a corridor of sorts that runs east west just north of where that school is.   It used to be very nice, exclusive even, but it’s a freaking ghost town now, with half empty strip retail full of halal quickee marts, hair braiding salons, and barber shops.

    There was a lot of flooding in that area, which drove people out of what can actually be described as “mini-mansions” and wooded developments around the area.   The age of the properties, lack of maintenance as their occupants aged, weird room configuration that doesn’t work as well for modern families, and unrepaired flood damage combined to turn a very desirable area to a sh!thole.  Even the country club and golf course closed.   

    To the south and east is “gunspoint” or Greenspoint, a long term bad area on the north side.    A couple of failed malls are nearby too.   

    An area can decline very quickly.

    n

  53. lpdbw says:

    I have a friend who lives on the north edge of Spring.  It’s not very far from that high school.

    I’m reminded of my time living and working in the St. Louis area.  White flight moved people out of the city into the near north suburbs, like Ferguson ! and then west county, and then St. Charles, and then St. Peters, and finally to Lake St. Louis.  Further west each time, and the Amish followed.  Ferguson being a prime example of what happens.  

    There are some secure enclaves in west St. Louis county, but I bet they spend a bundle on cops.  Creve Coeur, Ladue, Clayton might be safe to live in, but you have to go in and out sometimes.  And the bordering communities are nasty, poor, and dangerous.

  54. nick flandrey says:

    I’ve been talking about cash and the ‘secondary economy’ —

    Half of Americans are paying with cash more this year after finding tap-to-pay cards made them overspend – as viral ‘cash-stuffing’ trend sweeps TikTok

    • Some 53 percent of Americans use more cash than they did a year ago
    • Research by Credit Karma found households spent less with physical money
    • It comes after a viral ‘cash-stuffing’ trend swept TikTok as a way to help households budget 

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12033725/Half-Americans-use-cash-year-viral-cash-stuffing-trend-swept-TikTok.html

    cash stuffing just sounds like Dave Ramsey’s cash in envelopes budgeting technique…

    n

  55. Nick Flandrey says:

    BTW, “white  rabbit, white rabbit, white rabbit.”   First of the month and all that…

    n

  56. Alan says:

    >> Instead, the Federal Government nationalized the banks, and now even Apple offers savings accounts.

    Trying to drive up usage of the Apple Card and Apple Pay.

  57. MrK says:

    @Nick.. re Aloe Vera. Is it possible to grow it in your climate?

    I have it growing here in Oz, keep it out of the sun with regular watering, (our soil is sandy). Very handy..

    @Ray.. yes, we have a godson about the same age, similar traits. A case of lock up your fragile stuff when the family comes to visit. Which thankfully isn’t often.  😀

  58. Lynn says:

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

    Oh.  Kinda like black eyed peas on New Years Day.

  59. Alan says:

    >> Half of Americans are paying with cash more this year after finding tap-to-pay cards made them overspend – as viral ‘cash-stuffing’ trend sweeps TikTok

    • Some 53 percent of Americans use more cash than they did a year ago
    • Research by Credit Karma found households spent less with physical money
    • It comes after a viral ‘cash-stuffing’ trend swept TikTok as a way to help households budget

    How exactly did we become functioning adults without TikTok??

  60. Lynn says:

    “Tuesday Morning going out of business, set to close all its stores”

        https://thehill.com/changing-america/enrichment/arts-culture/3982246-tuesday-morning-going-out-of-business-set-to-close-all-its-stores/

    Wow, just gonna be Amazon and Walmart some day.  I’m not even sure about Target.

  61. Alan says:

    >> Wow, just gonna be Amazon and Walmart some day.  I’m not even sure about Target.

    Lots of empty shelves at our Tar-gee. Probably could do with half the square footage. And always only one cashier open. All the rest of the sheeple grumble as they see how long the self-checkout line is.

    Our Wally-Mart is scary. I refuse to go there unless it’s something super urgent. I suppose it will survive for the lower class. Plus Amazon and probably a merged “Lowe’s Depot.”

  62. brad says:

    The kids actually behaved for us. If one of them got whiney, we put our food down, hard. Sit and watch and do nothing else.

    This is the way. It only takes once or twice, and the kids learn that tantrums are counterproductive.

    Of course, emotions still get the better of small children. Our youngest was hilarious when he was two: If he had a crying jag, we would wait it out. From one second to the next, he would return to normal, look at us, and say “done!” Sadly, he lost that ability towards the age of three…

    Shocking moment mob of ninth-grade students viciously attack female assistant principal

    What does a society do, when a significant portion of its population consists of barbarians? In this case,  could say “guess the race”, and I probably wouldn’t be wrong. However, there are plenty of white trash barbarians as well. And other groups.

    Somewhere along the lines, parts of the population stopped actually raising their kids, letting the streets do it for them. WTF do you *do* with these people?

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