Mon. July 10, 2023 – Ah work, I could watch it all day…

Hot and humid. Starts around 80F gets to be over 100F, especially in the sun, and then the cycle repeats. I wish I’d fixed my weather station. I can skip back in the blog and see that ‘yes, the temps were that high’ a couple of years ago, it just feels new every year. Without a specific temp recorded here, that won’t work for me in a year or two when I’m feeling especially wilted and put upon.

Didn’t get much done in the way of work. I cut the grass and my hair. One was hot and exhausting, the other pretty routine at this point. Since I wear my hair in a short crew cut, it’s an option for me. The Wahl set has been paid for 10-20 times over at this point, and I save time too. I don’t get to see or chat with my barber, so I miss out on that reality check.

Some of the other stuff I’ve mentioned over the last few years is still working well. The wireless charging stand for my phone is a great purchase. I bought pads and stands for my phone to stash everywhere I liked it so much. Got the wife onto wireless charging too.

The little flip top trash can for the bathroom counter is still making me happy. It gets the packaging from my daily meds, the paper from my BreatheRight strips and other small bits and pieces. About half the time, those small things would end up on the floor instead of in the big trash can but now they are neatly tucked away.

The metal container we use in the kitchen for bacon grease continues to ‘save our bacon’… fat.

The FIFO can racks I bought for storage and dispensing when I set up our ‘staying in’ pantry work, not perfectly, but pretty well. I’m glad to have them.

The combat boots I mentioned last week have failed since then. The soles separated after some frustrated kicking of equipment. I love everything about them, but the damnable glue failed. New Balance was the manufacture, and I’m very disappointed.

The chinese kit I bought for refilling the 1 pound propane bottles has failed. One of the fittings leaks making the whole rig unusable. Recommend the concept, cheap chinese execution – not so much.

I bought fruit in cans to avoid the sunlight degradation and breakage risk of fruit in glass jars, and the cans all failed. Use them within the best by, or stick with jars.

I really like my Morakniv Pro Chisel. I carry it when I’m doing work around the house/BOL and use it instead of my Benchmade pocket knife for rougher tasks. It sat on the shelf for a long time after I got it, but once I started actually doing work and carrying it, I have been using it for all kinds of things.

I still really like the Toro battery powered lawn mower too. It’s quiet, powerful enough for normal use, and mostly ‘just works’. Where if falls down is the battery seems to self-discharge if left in the mower, so I have to remember that and pull it part way, or put it on the charger so it’ll be ready to use. It’s a good match for my 7000 sqft suburban yard. A BrushHog ™ it is not.

And to close out the list, I still really like the low carb Epic Meat Bars. The bacon flavor is my favorite, even if it has some added sugar.

I’ve been meaning to revisit some of those for a while, and it popped into my head to do it today.

Speaking of, today’s agenda includes grocery shopping, a couple of auction pickups, and more neglected work. Fun times!

At least there will be legit stacking involved, as I get a few things for the BOL. I encourage you, even if you don’t have somewhere to BO too, to get some basics stacked outside of your normal home. Many ordinary and bad things can keep you from accessing your stacks at home. Have some tucked away as a backup.

Back it up, and stack it up.
nick

52 Comments and discussion on "Mon. July 10, 2023 – Ah work, I could watch it all day…"

  1. Greg Norton says:

    And gun confiscations are the recipe for a civil war in the USA.

    Find a copy of “Zombieland 2″. That shows you how the gun confiscation will work. Leave the gun in the bin at the entrance to the camp – WiFi is inside.

    99% of the population would go along … just like the movie. And, as I’ve stated before, referencing another film, I believe half of the white people in the US and Europe would go full Rolfe Gruber given half of a chance, even if they knew the neighbors were loaded into a boxcar for a “shower” facility as a result of the phone call or literally blowing a whistle like Rolfe.

    “Mah property values! Skippy’s lawn! Ah say, boy, get your head right!”

    IMHO, “The Sound of Music” should run on NBC every year, like it used to in the 70s, as a public service. Does The Mouse hold the rights now?

    It used to be no one wanted to be Rolfe because the annual lesson was on TV reinforcing the character as a negative. Now, we still have lots of people running around in masks, displaying their party allegiance. But I digress.

    Sadly, “Zombieland 2” fell through the cracks in the early days of the pandemic. It is a sly piece of social commentary on the preceding decade since time effectively stopped for them in the mid-2000s.

  2. Denis says:

    Some days, the early bird really does catch the worm. By lunchtime today, I have dried a load of laundry in the sun, had breakfast, had the house intrusion alarm system serviced, got a vehicle through its annual inspection, put a gub gratis into the hands of someone responsible who will use it to train beginners, and picked up pizza della casa from my favourite Italian restaurant: tomato, mozzarella, speck, goat’s cheese, black olives, oregano and honey. The nice lady recognised me as a regular and snuck in a portion of tiramisu too! Success.

    Hard to top that. I think I will have a nap…

  3. Denis says:

    I really like my Morakniv Pro Chisel.

    I really like Mora knives in general, and have several. I was lucky enough to buy a 20-box of Companions when they were around four bucks a piece wholesale. They are over eleven each now.

    I don’t have one of the Pro Chisels yet, but I have a number of very similar implements from the “Werckmann” line of tools at Action.com (a European discount chain). With the long edge ground flat (non-cutting) from the hilt to about 2cm / an inch from the end, and the sharp corner between the two edges rounded off, they make a fantastic tool for quickly splitting the breastbone and pubic symphysis of deer and wild boar while field dressing using the “gypsy” technique, tapping a small hatchet (or this chisel knife) with a hammer.

  4. drwilliams says:

    The FJB Timeline:

    Yesterday: FJB: “The US is low on ammo.”

    Today: Hunter: “Dad! How can I sell it when you give it away?”

    Today: FJB: “This football thing is too complicated. I just write the launch codes on my wrist.” Pulls up sleeve as lsm cameras helpfully zoom in.

  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    Mmmm coffee.   Time to start moving.   Only 85F so far.  Sunny.   Gonna be hot.

    I forgot to add the shelf bottle organizer things I got to the list of things I still like and are worth the money.    I stack two racks in each side of the cabinet, and they hold the nalgeen bottles and water bottles that are too tall to stand on the shelf.  I’ve got a couple different versions, all acrylic.

    ————–

    There are some communities, ironically they are typically low trust areas, where snitches get stitches and end up in ditches.  The willingness to rat out someone comes from the (quite intentional) shift away from personal responsibility.   “Someone should do something” only works if you let ‘someone’ know the thing needs doing.   So you get Karens ‘reporting’ that they ‘saw something’ so they are ‘saying something’.

    Individual responsibility and group guilt don’t work together so the progs have been downplaying individualism for years.   All the stories about people who just go and do things are gone, replaced by navel gazing and group activities.   Even if someone in the story does something, they are likely to organize a GROUP to do it.

    n

    NB – group guilt is critical for the liberals and progs.

  6. EdH says:

    It was reasonably clear last night, the wind had dropped, almost nothing, and the moon wasn’t scheduled to rise until after midnight, so I went out with binoculars to do some stargazing. 

    I generally use Sky Safari on the iPhone and a planisphere as guides, with the iPhone set to red light only:

    https://skyandtelescope.org/observing/stargazers-corner/red-light-filter-for-iphone/

    (Note: the red tint directions are for ios10 and apple has randomly moved things around, so you will have to apply some creativity, but settings are in the same area and it still works. )

    Initially I was disappointed in Sky Safari, BTW,  but with familiarity it has become a favorite aid.

    First was a quick look to the west, where Mars and Regulus were in conjunction, with Venus nearby.  Mars is on the far side of the sun and didn’t resolve as a disk. Venus should have resolved easily, but was too low in sky and the atmospheric turbulence made it difficult.

    Then it was on to southern skies & Scorpio almost due south. There is Antares with M4 just to the right. Then one follows the curve of scorpio, left and down, down, down, until the base with the bright little star cluster of NGC 6231 just above it, and the dim Trumpler nebula above it.  Then up and left into the masses of the Milky Way.  

  7. Greg Norton says:

    NB – group guilt is critical the liberals and progs.

    Try military retirees in an HOA in Florida defending their belief that they will get a 10x return out of that off base housing allowance 3/2 stucco shack if Skippy would just resod.

    “Gosh darn it, he needs to get with the program and stop using invectives when we try to be reasonable.”

    “What’s a death threat between neighbors?”

    “Drought. Schmrought. Water illegally … or else.”

    Fascism. Literally.

  8. Greg Norton says:

    Try military retirees in an HOA in Florida defending their belief that they will get a 10x return out of that off base housing allowance 3/2 stucco shack if Skippy would just resod.

    Or go read up on The Villages, the seat of Republican power in Florida these days.

  9. JimB says:

    “Drought. Schmrought. Water illegally … or else.”

    When we lived in a brand new mobile home in a nice park in Ft Lauderdale in 1971, we weren’t supposed to have an outdoor potable water hose bib, but most people had one hidden. Used it for car washing. The irrigation water was pumped from a canal, and was too dirty.

    Yes, I am trailer trash. Don’t miss Florida one bit. We escaped to California and freedom. Freedom? Why yes, just ignore some of the more eggregious rules. Most folks around here do, and there are no snitches. Wouldn’t be healthy.

    BTW, that trailer still exists, and looks well maintained on Google Street View. It was well built, better than most houses, and cost us very little for the year we were there. I have always liked the idea of manufactured housing. I also inherited my strong dislike for realtors from my father, but unlike him never used one. Guess I learned from him.

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    Microcenter is having a sale for three days.   Some good buys.   Filament printer for $99.     I’m still kinda surprised by the cost of laptops and desktops, they are more than I’d pay for the middle of the road performance.

    n

  11. Greg Norton says:

    Microcenter is having a sale for three days.   Some good buys.   Filament printer for $99.     I’m still kinda surprised by the cost of laptops and desktops, they are more than I’d pay for the middle of the road performance.

    I just used Microcenter recently to pick up a new battery for my road laptop. The machine is seven years old at this point and no longer supported by the OEM.

    I tried a replacement battery from Amazon, but the laptop wouldn’t recognize/charge the cells.

    Everyone is losing money on laptop and desktop PCs right now so adjustments in prices are inevitable.

    Plus, no one is going to buy a laptop without USB-C docking capability anymore unless they are on a severely constrained budget.

  12. Greg Norton says:

    BTW, that trailer still exists, and looks well maintained on Google Street View. It was well built, better than most houses, and cost us very little for the year we were there. I have always liked the idea of manufactured housing. I also inherited my strong dislike for realtors from my father, but unlike him never used one. Guess I learned from him.

    The trailer parks are an endangered species in Florida. 

    The land is too valuable, and the state changed the rules in the last twenty years regarding dissolution of the parks and condominiums, ostensibly to speed up restoration of hurricane damaged areas. However, give a lobbyist access to FS 720 and 721 with a strike out pen applied to strategic portions of text, and all kinds of mischief is possible.

    I’ve seen parks closed and redeveloped in Pinellas recently which had been there and in really well maintained condition since before we moved to the state in the 70s.

  13. lynn says:

    I have a weather forecast for south Texas for the rest of July.

    Gonna be hot.  It is 100 F at house at noon.

  14. Nick Flandrey says:

    Hey look ladies, men are even better at winning female beauty pageants than you…  /sarc

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12280819/Transgender-woman-crowned-Miss-Netherlands-time.html 

    Um, that’s not a ‘woman’, transgender or otherwise, that is a man with a sh!tton of cosmetic surgery and chemical alteration. 

    n

  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    It occurs to me that most people have a strong reaction to a visibly odd ‘trans’ person because they fall into the ‘uncanny valley’.

    And the negative response to the ones who look like women is because no one likes to be tricked, or lied to, and that is the predominant feeling not “wow, he’s really good looking”.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    Um, that’s not a ‘woman’, transgender or otherwise, that is a man with a sh!tton of cosmetic surgery and chemical alteration. 

    Thai ownership of the pageant. That was inevitable.

    Plus, nice gowns are usually cut for someone six feet tall. Heels can mitigate the problem of making the fabric flow right, but there really isn’t any substitute for height. Transwomen will have the advantage in that part of the competition.

    Watch Alex Kingston’s gown in this “Doctor Who” cold open. That is the desired visual effect.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uxILSVCdFC4

    When gay men really ran “Doctor Who”. God only knows who runs it now, but the G part of the LGBTQ spectrum wouldn’t dress a Timelord like the Jodie Whitaker disaster.

    Maybe Sony really will fix that frachise like they did with “Spiderman” and “Ghostbusters”.

  17. lynn says:

    IMHO, “The Sound of Music” should run on NBC every year, like it used to in the 70s, as a public service. Does The Mouse hold the rights now?

    What is this NBC that you speak of ?

    Yes, “The Sound of Music” is on Disney Plus.

  18. lynn says:

    I was looking at Paramount’s movie list yesterday.   They should rename themselves the Tom Cruise channel.  Between the Mission Impossible and Top Gun movies, they have about 20 of his movies.

  19. lynn says:

    First was a quick look to the west, where Mars and Regulus were in conjunction, with Venus nearby.  Mars is on the far side of the sun and didn’t resolve as a disk. Venus should have resolved easily, but was too low in sky and the atmospheric turbulence made it difficult.

    Thanks !  So that was Venus at about 35 degrees off the horizontal on the West side of our walk at dusk last night.  We were wondering, it was really bright in the rapidly darkening cloudless sky.

  20. Greg Norton says:

    I was looking at Paramount’s movie list yesterday.   They should rename themselves the Tom Cruise channel.  Between the Mission Impossible and Top Gun movies, they have about 20 of his movies.

    Paramount is still in serious trouble. Warren Buffett has a large stake, probably speculating that the rumors are true about the studio becoming a subsidiary of Netflix.

    MI:3, run by Bad Robot, was very nearly the end of the franchise. I vaguely remember something about Cruise and Paula Wagner stepping in with their own money for “Ghost Protocol” and replacing JJ Abrams as director with Brad Bird, which was genius even though Bird is primarily an animator, known best for “The Incredibles”.

    I don’t think Bad Robot is involved with the latest MI film, even on a money level. “Jar Jar” Abrams has ruined many franchises with direct or indirect invovlement since nearly killing “Mission Impossible”. The flick was arguably the end of Philip Seymour Hoffman’s career in mainstream film.

    I saw an article recently which noted that, from the release date of the first “Mission Impossible” movie to when production started on the lastest film, roughly the same amount of time passed as between the relase o f”Dr. No” and casting/pre-production for “Goldeneye” in the Bond Series.

  21. Lynn says:

    Paramount is still in serious trouble. Warren Buffett has a large stake, probably speculating that the rumors are true about the studio becoming a subsidiary of Netflix.

    That would just make too much sense.  We have a Paramount streaming subscription through Amazon that I pay $6 ? $8 ? a month for.

    The winnowing of the streaming services is happening behind the scenes right now. Four may survive: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and ???.

    Not Hulu, Disney is going to fold that into Disney Plus.

  22. JimB says:

    More on our mobile home in Ft Lauderdale. We were not sure how long we would stay, so we focused primarily on apartments. We quickly found out that the most desirable ones were separated from my work site by serious traffic problems, so we concentrated on a developing area 11 miles inland, near the edge of the Everglades, where commuting traffic was negligible. A lot of apartments in that area did not offer leases, and the rent would triple in the snowbird season. At that cost, we found houses to be a better deal, except that houses required a lot of maintenance because of the rain and humidity, and we were not sure owning a house for a short while would be a good deal. A co-worker had bought a mobile in a new park, and we looked. We were impressed. Mobiles were much less maintenance intensive, and had a reputation for holding up very well in the local weather.

    We were told that mobiles practically had to be in a park. That was actually a plus for us, because of the amenities. We bit. We liked a model that was already set up. We got a good deal on it, and moved right in. It was ideal for a couple just starting out. We also avoided the delay of ordering, with the hassles of homes showing up with ordering mistakes. That was a big deal, and several neighbors invited us to a meeting where they were trying to have their mistakes corrected, with difficulty. When we were asked, we said ours was exactly as we had seen it, because it was a model. In addition, we got a healthy discount because it was some kind of loss leader. We really lucked out, but did not make a big hit with the neighbors.

    During the winter of our year there, many family and friends visited. Our place was set up with a bedroom and bath at each end and a kitchen and living-dining room in the middle, ideal for guests and entertaining. We enjoyed the guests, but probably would have tired if we had stayed longer than a year.

    When we were ready to leave, we sold it back to the park, another hassle-free deal. By then, the park was finished and attractive, so there had been some appreciation. The total cost of ownership was less than we would have paid for rent. We had a nice sized yard, and the privacy of a detached home. I had a driveway where I could do auto maintenance. There was no crime. It was quiet. Such a deal!

    Too bad the rules are changing to make parks impractical. Don’t get me wrong, our experience wasn’t perfect by a long shot, but that was mostly a dislike of Florida. We really didn’t like the weather. There was too much growth, with severe stress on utilities and infrastructure. There was way too much traffic. Cost of living was high. Schools were horrible. There was essentially no industry, just mostly tourism. I learned I would never again live in a tourist place. Florida was just a detour on our way to California. I had the advantage of family in CA, so that helped. Yes, CA has deteriorated, but it is still better than the Florida we left. We just need it to last another ten or so years.

    We know people who have left CA, and have watched their experiences, even visiting some of them. Some of them are happier, some not. More importantly, we have never found a place that we would like better. Life is dynamic. Make decisions accordingly.

    7
    1
  23. Greg Norton says:

    Not Hulu, Disney is going to fold that into Disney Plus.

    Yes, and Disney will have to pay Comcast somewhere between $11 and 30 billion before the end of the year for that last third of Hulu, which is the core of The Mouse’s money problems right now.

    SInce Disney doesn’t have even $11 billion, the payment will have to come from commercial paper, and those bonds will be pricey since, essentially., Hulu has no value as an asset without a catalog.

  24. MrAtoz says:

    Brad Bird, which was genius even though Bird is primarily an animator, known best for “The Incredibles”.

    Don’t forget  “The Iron Giant”, one of my favority animation movies of all time. Alas, no sequel.

  25. JimB says:

    drwilliams says: 8 July 2023 at 23:02

    Not yet playing near me:

    https://awfulannouncing.com/mlb/director-sean-mullin-on-yogi-berra-and-it-aint-over-he-was-criminally-overlooked-his-entire-life.html

    Apparently me too, although it is sometimes hard to find anything that has already been shown locally. I will watch for it, or might consider streaming, but I see that would cost me $20 unless I find a better deal.

    I really liked Yogi.

  26. paul says:

    I hauled a pick-up full of crushed cans to the recycle place.  Also eight UPS batteries.  Batteries pay 10¢ a pound.  Not much, but I made $3.80 and they get recycled vs tossed in the trash.  You have to show ID for batteries.  Pretty good haul, I left with an extra $74 in my pocket.

    Cans pay 40¢ a pound. It’s been a while.

    Then Walmart.  Paper towels, TP, Arm and Hammer laundry detergent.  A couple of bottles of Biz before I saw the powder version.  I bought the powder, I’ll semi-vac seal it so it doesn’t turn into a brick.

    No beer.  No toothpicks.  Picked up four cans of R-whatever that replaced R-12.  $10 a can.  Seems like it was $5 last year.  The van uses about a can a year which seems ok for a 2004 model. 

    Loaded all that into the truck then went to the garden department for softener salt.  Twelve bags. Everything will sit in the truck until tomorrow when it’s not 102f. 

    I don’t know anything about the specs or audio quality but they have an 86″ LG for $1198 and an 85″ Samsung for $1288.  Nice looking TVs.  That’s tempting. But first, pay off the truck. 

    Walmart seems to have a s#!t ton of cameras.  Enough to notice.  I had a nice buggy, like new.  I noticed that too.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    The winnowing of the streaming services is happening behind the scenes right now. Four may survive: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and ???.

    Not Hulu, Disney is going to fold that into Disney Plus.

    Apple. The streaming service is a rounding error on Tim’s balance sheet, and it sells hardware.

    And, no, I don’t believe the rumors about Apple buying Disney as currently constructed. Cook didn’t want to deal with Musk, and Disney has several personalities equally as strong who would be tough to fire.

    2
    1
  28. Lynn says:

    My Mom and Dad have been married for 64 years now.  Amazing and still going strong.  

    I was born 11 months after they got married.  Mom told me a year or two ago that I was not part of the five year plan but they loved me anyway. We moved to Princeton, New Jersey from Freeport, Texas when I was six weeks old, my bassinet laying on the back seat of Dad’s 48 Dodge all the way up there. Seat belts, we don’t need any stinking seat belts.

    11
  29. Lynn says:

    The winnowing of the streaming services is happening behind the scenes right now. Four may survive: Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, and ???.

    Not Hulu, Disney is going to fold that into Disney Plus.

    Apple. The streaming service is a rounding error on Tim’s balance sheet, and it sells hardware.

    And, no, I don’t believe the rumors about Apple buying Disney as currently constructed. Cook didn’t want to deal with Musk, and Disney has several personalities equally as strong who would be tough to fire.

    Apple can’t stream if the surviving services buy all of the old content.  HBO, Universal, Sony (Columbia), WB, Paramount, all are going to get bought probably.  Netflix can raise the money if it wants to to buy one or two.

    This may be the reason why Disney is going to get bought or merge with somebody.  They need the content.  For that reason I do see Disney getting bought by Apple.

  30. SteveF says:

    I was born 11 months after they got married.

    I was born after my mother and father got married. Further deponent sayeth not.

  31. Greg Norton says:

    This may be the reason why Disney is going to get bought or merge with somebody.  They need the content.  For that reason I do see Disney getting bought by Apple.

    I could see Apple buying bits of Disney at the fire sale that is coming in Burbank. The Fox catalog is still valuable with mostly intact franchises, and Apple would preserve Pixar if it were made available.

    If you’re tempted by the stock thinking Apple would take the whole thing, Tim Cook is not going to buy 40 PE with ongoing labor union problems and Kathleen Kennedy still on the payroll.

  32. Lynn says:

    “Bye Bye Paris: Chinese CO2 Emissions are Skyrocketing”

        https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/07/10/bye-bye-paris-chinese-co2-emissions-skyrocketing/

    “As industries in green nations like Germany struggle with unaffordable green energy, China is boosting coal use.”

    “Under the Paris Agreement, China has pledged to ensure carbon emissions peak by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2060. Our analysis suggests China may struggle to reach these ambitious goals.”

    I don’t trust anything coming out of China.

  33. drwilliams says:

    “As industries in green nations like Germany struggle with unaffordable green energy, China is boosting coal use.”

    “Under the Paris Agreement, China has pledged to ensure carbon emissions peak by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2060. Our analysis suggests China may struggle to reach these ambitious goals.”

    Another clever plan by the lying noface Chicoms to sabotage the economies of the running yellow dogs of the West.

  34. Lynn says:

    “Earthside (Quantum Earth Book 2)” by Dennis E. Taylor
       https://www.amazon.com/Earthside-Quantum-Earth-Dennis-Taylor/dp/1680683373?tag=ttgnet-20/

    Book number two of a two book science fiction apocalyptic series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by the Ethan Ellenberg Literary Agency in 2023. I really hope that there will be a book three in the series.

    Basically in the first book, a group of college students invent a trans-dimensional device and start exploring a parallel Earth that does not have humans on it. The author’s description of the wandering Smilodons is unnerving. Then the Yellowstone Super Volcano blows up back on their home Earth.

    The first book pays very serious homage to _Wildside_ by Stephen Gould. It mentions the book in the story a couple of times.
       https://www.amazon.com/Wildside-Steven-Gould/dp/0312854730?tag=ttgnet-20/

    The second book starts a couple of months after the Yellowstone Super Volcano exploded, covering the entire planet with ash. Basically, the entire northern hemisphere of Earth is trashed with a severe population crash of over 90%. The southern hemisphere of Earth is very damaged too from all the volcano particles in the troposphere. Global cooling and crop damage mean starvation across the planet.

    The 400 people living in Rivendell on Outland have not had it easy but at least they have clean air, clean water, and plenty of food. The recent failed revolution was an eye opener as to what lengths people will go to get their way with several deaths and many injuries. Plus the roaming Mastodons, giant sloths, dire wolfs, and Smilodons make any trip outside the fence line dangerous. 

    There are six trans-dimensional gates from human sized to truck sized and many people gate back to Earth daily to scavenge what they can from the Lincoln, Nebraska area. Many of the buildings in Lincoln have collapsed due to the weight of the ash and snow so the pickings are starting to get fairly slim. And the gate electronics need maintenance but those materials came from Omaha so an expedition is needed. And more refugees are found to move across a gate to Outland. And other Earths have found, Dinosaur Earth and Greenhouse Earth, both very dangerous places to go to.

    I really enjoy the author’s writing style. Short chapters and continuously changing points of view. Also his books do not take themselves too seriously. 

    The author has a website at:
       http://dennisetaylor.org/

    My rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (I could be persuaded to go 5 stars)
    Amazon rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars (374 reviews)

  35. Ray Thompson says:

    that is the predominant feeling not “wow, he’s really good looking”.

    While in the USAF, TDY to somewhere horrible (Kansas I think), a bunch of us went to a bar. Being a one striper I just went along with the older NCO’s. There were some really good looking women at the club/bar. Really impressive looking. Or maybe I was just a horny teen (I was only 19) and the bar was not well lit.

    Suddenly one of the higher ranking NCO’s came to us at the table and said we need to get out of the place, and fast. We asked why. No answer, just a stern “move it now”. It seemed a shame as the music was good, the atmosphere was nice, the “ladies” were friendly and good looking.

    When we had driven about a half mile away, we asked the NCO why we had to leave so quickly. He stated he stuck his hands up the dress of one of the good looking “ladies” and found some junk that was not female.

  36. dkreck says:

    Lola?

  37. Lynn says:

    “Pence says some ‘just don’t understand’ why we must endlessly support Ukraine”

        https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/pence-says-some-just-dont-understand-why-we-must-endlessly-support-ukraine

    And I don’t understand why we must support Mike Pence ?

  38. CowboyStu says:

    @EdH:  My SIL went up and back from Mammoth July 4th weekend and stopped at Indian Wells Brewery on the way back.  I am now, as I type, enjoying a Mojave Gold while wearing a gifted Mojave Red tee shirt.  He wants to go back up to Lone Pine for a day and stop at The Joint in Randsburg on the way up.  Hopefully, we can meet you and JimB there!

  39. Gavin says:

    no one likes to be tricked, or lied to, and that is the predominant feeling not “wow, he’s really good looking”.

    My objection to trans people has always been the trickery. I remember maybe 3 minutes of Jerry Springer once (about all I could tolerate of his show) with the guests being a trans “woman” and the man who broke up with her when he found out, and of course the audience was shaming and mocking him for not wanting to be with “her”.

    I was much more tolerant of a gentleman I met, who was active service, and was transitioning MtF, who was quite open about what he was doing and willing to discuss reasons, and the process he went through to qualify for the transition. He was very clear that he would NOT be a woman, but would be much more comfortable in his new personna.

  40. Lynn says:

    Wow, I just got banned from reddit.  I have been putting my SF/F book reviews into https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/ .  Somebody falsely accused me of using an AI to generate my reviews, they deleted all my reviews, and banned me.  Now the moderators are ignoring me of course because they think that I am a bot.

  41. drwilliams says:

    The Government’s assertion of “grave harm,” therefore, boils down to the claim that it should be allowed to continue violating the First Amendment.

    In the end, their position is fundamentally defiant toward the Court’s judgment. It demonstrates that the Government will continue violating First Amendment rights by censoring core political speech on social media as soon as it can get away with it. The motion to stay should be denied.

    https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520/gov.uscourts.lawd.189520.299.0.pdf

    5 U.S. Code § 3331 – Oath of office

    An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath: “I, AB, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” This section does not affect other oaths required by law.

    (Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 424.)

    https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/3331

    Does conspiracy by government officials to violate the Constitution of the United States constitute abuse of office under the law?

  42. Lynn says:

    Does conspiracy by government officials to violate the Constitution of the United States constitute abuse of office under the law?

    Yes.

    11
  43. Lynn says:

    BTW, I have a complaint about the latest WD 12 TB USB external drive that I just bought and ran my office LAN backup on.  I could not get the drive to talk to my pc even though it spun up.  I played around with the formatting tool in Windows and everything.  I finally said to myself, “Pournelle says it is always the cables”.  So I replaced the USB3 cable, no joy.  Then I replaced the power cable, I was using an old power cable / brick already plugged into my UPS.  The drive spun again and started talking to my PC.  I guess that the new WD external USB drive has a higher amp requirement from the power brick ?  Very weird.

    Still is a 5 star out of 5 star external drive. I keep seven external backup drives and permanently archive a drive every six months. So my last 8 TB external drive went to closet camp.

  44. Nick Flandrey says:

    Got back from Costco.   Wasn’t in my normal part of the sale cycle, so not many discounts on things I buy.   Tried to avoid spending much but still needed some things like kleenex and paper towels.   At least the paper towels were on sale.   Meat was slightly lower than my last visit.   Staples like sugar, flour, and rice were about the same with a few more choices for rice.   

    Bacon was downright cheap.   I quit even looking some time ago because the price was so high, but it’s come down to less than the cheapest at HEB.  Coffee was priced all over the place, and they still haven’t gone back to my choice of flavors in my brand.   I’m still  buying that from amazon.

    —————-

    shoot, never  hit post.    

    Had dinner and watched several episodes of Alone, with D1…

    n

  45. Alan says:

    >> Had dinner and watched several episodes of Alone, with D1…

    Wait…aren’t you supposed to watch “Alone” alone??

  46. Alan says:

    >> Stargazing…

    Viewing the Northern Lights on Thursday – so now there are competing forecasts (details in the article.)

  47. Alan says:

    >> Wow, I just got banned from reddit.  I have been putting my SF/F book reviews into https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/ .  Somebody falsely accused me of using an AI to generate my reviews, they deleted all my reviews, and banned me.  Now the moderators are ignoring me of course because they think that I am a bot.

    They can be very  ‘touchy’ at reddit.

    https://www.fudzilla.com/news/57220-reddit-loses-key-spam-defence

    https://slate.com/podcasts/icymi/2023/07/how-reddit-turned-on-its-creator

  48. Lynn says:

    I just got unbanned at reddit.  They realized I was a real person.  The moderator told me that my posts were all being marked as spam though.  Even though my posting yesterday has 83 comments on it.

  49. Denis says:

    I was born after my mother and father got married. Further deponent sayeth not.

    There goes that epithet, then…

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