Cold, warming gradually, maybe still clear. Barometer was way high on Monday. 35F when I went to bed after a nice day.
I got a couple of things done Monday. I finished the replacement door on the dockhouse, installing the threshold was pretty straightforward for once. Then I finally got around to replacing the 3 posts holding up the roof over the porch on the dockhouse. That job has been on my list for months. They are in place, lagged to the roof, and screwed to the concrete. Today I’ll spend a couple of minutes adding the hurricane straps and I’ll be completely done with that task. It’ll be the wife’s job to paint them. (the hurricane straps are probably overkill, but hey, they’re cheap and quick to do.)
I made a lamb roast for New Year’s dinner. Discovered I didn’t bring any mint jelly up here,but I’m the only one that really missed it. Also discovered there is something consistently wrong with the scratch and dent oven I got at Habitat last year. It goes out about 5 minutes after you start it, but then runs fine when re-lit. At some point I guess I’ll have to look at it, but it was a temporary solution. Who knows when we’ll be redoing the kitchen though, so I should probably check it.
Played Risk with D2 and my wife. It only took about 2 1/2 hours which has to be some kind of record. My impression was that Risk took days to play, but this is the first time I can remember actually playing. It’s been at least 45 years if I did play before. I lost. D2 followed, and W1 swept through asia, Europe,and North America in one turn to win…
Today I’ll be buttoning up, doing some more maintenance things, and sorting and organizing. Already changed out the US flag. The wind beats up the cheap printed flags pretty quickly. I’ve got a bunch from the auctions so I change them whenever they look bad. I appreciate anyone who flies it, but I do get frustrated when they are in poor condition. Sewn and embroidered, from a US company, is the way to go to have them last.
Traditions are important.
As is stacking.
Let’s get this party started.
nick
Yes.
As with many things, it requires that all parents, and grandparents, if live-in, be onboard.
Rankin-Bass still sets the standard for “The Hobbit” film adaptations. That is, if you can find an uncensored copy.
The Tolkien estate was always unhappy with Rankin-Bass, but I think their adaptations of “The Hobbit” and “Return of the King”, airing on network TV in the 70s uncensored kept interest in the books alive and selling.
Peter Jackson had a contract to deliver three films. Plus, Benedict Cumberbatch and, to some extent, Martin Freeman were at career highs thanks to “Sherlock”.
The “Sherlock” episode “A Scandal in Belgravia” is an amazing 90 minutes of TV and, as more emerges from the Epstein ‘Pedo Island’ scandal, possibly one of the most prescient pieces of media of the last 20 years.
Steven Moffatt is never boring.
If you’re curious, don’t watch the clips from “A Scandal in Belgravia” on YouTube. Watch the entire 90 minutes cold.
“Sherlock” is not for kids.
I frequently tell my wife about things I read here. I mentioned this one because she is a quilter. Without hesitating, she said, “Good thing that doc isn’t a surgeon!”
search keywords “logo hat crown” and filter by image turned up an example, and that let me to: https://www.scottycameron.com/store/apparel/
Daughter and I moved the chicken coop and run to the patio under the deck 3 ½ weeks ago, timing it then because we’d gotten light snow a couple times and I wanted them under cover before the real snow came.
As one might expect, if one believed in the malignancy of the universe, we’ve since had no snow. More rain than we really needed, but not enough of that that I’d have needed to protect the birds. Viewed in hindsight, I could have waited a month or more. On the other hand, if I hadn’t moved the run, we’d have gotten a foot of snow a couple days later… or so my belief in the malignancy of the universe tells me.
I lined the patio with several layers of large boxes. Some were Amazon shipping boxes, flattened. Most were obtained from Sam’s Club, the bottom cardboard of pallets of stuff. I’d flattened these, too, then spread straw over it all. That turned out to be a waste, as the wind and the birds flapping and flying blows it all to one edge of the run. Next time I get “pallet bottom boxes”, I won’t flatten them and will just lay them down and put straw in them. That’ll keep the straw from moving more than a few feet and will make it easier to pull it back into place to do its job of catching poop.
There’s cardboard on the windward side of the run, with the door. Only about 75% of that end has the cardboard, as otherwise the run isn’t strong enough to handle it when the wind picks up. (We live at the narrow end of a terrain funnel, so the wind we have is 50-100% higher than reported at the airport a few miles away.) I did make sure that the side which has the coop, the dust bath, and the car tire that the sit on is better protected, leaving the “running around” area more open. There’s also a little cardboard on the cage under the coop, to block wind rather than for insulation. I might insulate the coop with cardboard and styrofoam, but haven’t gotten around to it because the temperature has been so mild that the heat light seldom comes on even just before dawn.
So long as there’s no snow, I’ve been letting the birds stay in the garden for several hours per day, limited usually by the older hens getting bored and escaping. I also let them run free, as much as I can afford to be out with them to keep them in our yard.
They really like round orange crackers, store-brand Ritz. No idea why, but they gobble them as enthusiastically as they gobble meat scraps. I discovered it by accident some months ago, when I was sitting out with them for a couple hours, with my computer and thermos and a tube of crackers for my own snack. The rooster came up when I was eating a few crackers, so I offered him one. And then the hens came up and a feeding frenzy began. Now the birds get probably ⅔ of these crackers that I buy, with The Child and me splitting the rest. Not to worry, I’m not neglecting their nutrition to give them junk food. I’ll typically hand out a little more than one cracker per bird.
The brown hen is the meekest of the birds, the one most likely to be pecked and to have treats stolen. As such, she’s learned to grab a treat, whether a cracker or a piece of meat, and then run well off to eat it while the others are squabbling over the rest. She gets less than the others, on average, but this way at least she gets some.
Diet is mainly pellets and cracked corn in about a 60/40 mix. The pellets have extra protein and calcium for egg layers, but I’ll sometimes put some oyster shell in, too, seeing as my wife bought a box of it. This regular feed is heavily supplemented by meat trimmings, vegetable trimmings, leftovers, crackers, other human food, and whatever bugs they find – I’ve been making it a point to bring the birds up to the driveway after it rains and they go to town on the worms. At least, those who aren’t too dumb will. Some of them are alert to look when I whistle and smart enough to come if I’m pointing near my feet. The others, well, if they can find a worm on their own, more power to them.
We’re currently getting a little over 2 ½ eggs per day from six hens. That’s near the solstice and doing nothing to provide extra light.
Jenny, when I was a kid, we admired other kids’ abilities to improvise things from free castoffs. I know you are trying to teach your daughter a lesson, but she can’t help learning from your abilities around the house. Doesn’t she realize she could make a music player from a free cast-off smartphone? She might even start a trend among her friends.
Not me. I just find it tiresome. My wife is constantly doing things like that – most recently, getting fabric paint on the good dining room tablecloth because she couldn’t be bothered to put the fabric on the piece of cardboard I’d put right there for that express purpose – and almost always I’m the one who gets stuck with dealing with it because she’s certainly not going to.
Ray, the investment I referred to can’t be estimated because it is private. Sure, there are quarterly reports, but I was never smart enough to concoct my own K-1. It is far simpler to let my CPA handle it.
Tax complexity reminds me of a story. Years ago, I went into an auto parts store and asked for a distributor cap for a Chrysler-built 8 cylinder distributor. The counter dweeb asked me for the car year, make, model, and a partridge in a pear tree. I said I didn’t know, besides all Chrysler built distributors use the same cap. He explained he couldn’t find it on the shelf without this info. I made something up, and he was able to do his job. This is an example of artificial complexity. I should have insisted the car was green.
@SteveF
Dollar stores are usually good for cheap crackers.
Cardboard to protect from paint… when I visit some homes, I see paint drips and overspray on outdoor concrete. Really hard to clean. When I have to paint a small object, I do it over an unpaved area in the yard. Self healing.
Teaching responsibility is the better approach given the tech companies inept security practices and unwillingness to keep their devices updated beyond a 2-3 year window at most.
Apple’s cypto people are particularly bad. Any iOS device no longer receiving updates is a huge risk beyond the first few months.
No, a surgeon would be much worse in terms of being inattentive outside the operating room environment. I’ve met quite a few.
Then there is the arrogance. I know one surgeon who “euthanized” her father in a medically questionable situation primarily for convenience but also to pick up the deed to his lake house when the will was read.
Oof. So many solutions. Don’t do projects on the nice table. Remove tablecloth first. Use the cardboard.
Personally, I favor the first – have a table specifically for projects.
Even though our kitchen table isn’t anything special, I keep a 2×3 ft self healing cutting mat nearby (mudroom) to put under any project, even if it’s just setting up an amp or turntable, or opening a pc. That stuff has sharp edges that can scratch the table.
Mom says it was 34F when she got up, it was 52F when I got up and it’s 54F now.
Chickens, a cow,and pigs contributed to breakfast, and Juan Valdez, with an international cartel of coffee roasters, growers, and shippers exploited the downtrodden to provide my morning cup…
It’s sunny and clear. Once I start moving, I’ll wrap up my carpentry, get the Christmas stuff put up, and generally get ready to leave….
n
@Greg
Rankin-Bass still sets the standard for “The Hobbit”
I remember watching the adaptations and recall how good they were. I found copies on DVD over the years in pawn shops (our pawn shops have magnificent dvd / blu ray selections). DVD so surely censored I assume. Tried watching with kiddo a few years ago but they were too much for her. We watched The Last Unicorn New Years Eve, and though the Red Bull was scary it wasn’t too much. In many ways we have fiercely guarded her innocence so there’s a lot of media her friends consume that she doesn’t like. Might be time to try those adaptations again.
I watched a couple of the Sherlocks and liked them. Thanks for the tip on Belgravia episode, I’ll look for it. I watch more movies in theater than I do media at home. I cannot help but see things that need doing when I sit and am horribly frustrating to watch shows with as I constantly get up to do something – dishes, laundry, chase that dust bunny. My husband and I did get though several episodes of Reacher S2 last night without (many) shenanigans on my part.
@stevef
requires that all parents, and grandparents, if live-in, be onboard.
Fortunately we have that happy circumstance, at least in this instance. The (not live in) grandparents buy her too much stuff, but several temper tantrums on my part have slowed that, and what they do buy remains at there house. Their indulgences don’t include screens or other electronics, and lean more to cute teeny things and novel art supplies. I can live with that. Live in uncle is an old farmer with eclectic skills and very much on board with our raising method, phew.
And your chickens sound much like mine. Good job getting coop and run moved, that’s a big task. I’m curious how the cardboard cleanup will go come spring. It sounds promising. I haven’t tried it and don’t know how it would work for your wind environment, many folks up here swear by wood stove pellets as bedding. The ones that have no additives. Less expensive than shavings, absorbent, and easy to shovel once soiled. Break down nicely. We’ve had birds in the past who would willingly tromp through snow if it was shallow enough or firm enough to support their weight. Current birds will if it’s a dusting.
We‘ve got three birds currently. They’ve got medium combs and wattles and the cold gets to them. I’d prefer a winter hardy variety like Chanteclers but these have been made pets and will be here into their geriatric years. I very much enjoy hanging out and watching their antics, and yes, hand feeding tidbits and the odd cracker. Wish we could keep a rooster but they’re prohibited in city code. Current neighbors would turn us in to code enforcement -eyeroll-
The willful incompetence / carelessness you have to deal with is infuriating even as second hand news. I can see why the duvet story would be tiresome had it occurred under your roof.
@JimB
No cast off phone for her, but she’s been poking around thrift stores for a Walkman. I’ve got an inexpensive used discman coming from eBay for her birthday. Her music desert will soon be over.
Your car story reminds me of replacing something, a starter? An alternator? on my first car, decades ago. The counter guy was asking a lot of cool questions after I had already told him what I needed. I adopted a vacuous tone, gave him the year, make, model and threw in “Blue” just to be as annoying as he was. Void was pierced and I obtained the correct part.
@Nick
Regarding oven requiring relighting after a few minutes – any idea of cause? That seems really odd.
I think that the censorship is limited to the last DVD release of “The Hobbit”, done during the time of ownership of Warner by my former corporate masters at The Death Star.
The 2001 release is probably clean. VHS definitely since they just kept using the one master tape in production and for pre-HDTV syndication.
IIRC, the censorship did not touch the songs … yet … but was limited to the screaming in the city when the dragon attacked and set everything on fire among minor tweaks.
For now, the Rankin-Bass original material would be noticed if it suddenly disappeared, but, as my generation dies off in the next few decades, no one will be around to remember “Where there’s a whip, there’s a way” or the other non-“woke” pieces which didn’t come from Tolkien’s imagination.
(Or Francesca from R-B’s “Mad Monster Party” — those two were shameless)
Even if you have to accept a censored version, “The Hobbit” is worth watching.
Kitchen tables – we’ve got a sturdy hand made beauty that was built for us by live in uncle, years ago. He’s a woodworker. Legs are from trees he felled in siblings back yard, top is several 2” thick slabs of pine he brought with him many decades ago when he moved to Alaska. His then coworker, a master at finishes, put a virtually indestructible finish on the top. It’s beautiful but not fussy. We can seat 8, and it’s seen a lot of projects. My husband has put a few dents in it assembling rifles, and it’s had its share of paint spatters. The paint scrubs off. The dents add character. We don’t deliberately abuse it, however the uncle was wise to our heathen ways and built it appropriate to our life. He built it as a housewarming gift for our first home some 20+ years ago.
That requires making space for a table in the house, obtaining one, and then keeping the area clean.
Dusty common areas in my house, especially upstairs, tend not to get used, and I’m the only one who does the dusting.
I will never buy another house with a “nursery” or a large upstairs “bonus” room which dominates the square footage calculation. That covers about 15 years of construction in Texas, unfortunately.
Our formal dining room table actually has the most durable surface in the house, something which a furniture repair tech did for us gratis when he was called out in Vantucky to just touch up the scratches in the table put there by movers and couldn’t let the job slide with the minimum the relo company paid out of the insurance coverage.
Eek! Pitchforks and torches come to mind. I have only personally known one surgeon, and he was a family friend when I was a kid. Great guy. He operated on me when I had a finger nearly cut off in a door accident. He saved it, and later admitted that standard protocol would have been to remove it instead of all the extra work he did, and on a busy day. He also did complex surgery on my mother a couple times, and extended her life for which all were grateful. I can’t imagine him ever doing something like you said. He didn’t know the meaning of the word arrogance.
My wife and I have been rewatching NCIS over the last year, and have finished almost all episodes. We just watched “Stop the Bleeding” with Mimi Rogers and Jon Cryer, which spans two seasons. It just popped up late on streaming. Anyhow, Jon plays a quirky surgeon with aplomb. I can’t imagine the pressures of trauma surgery, but it must be the epitome of forced calmness and attention to priorities. Perhaps part of his character’s patter is just a cover for the enormous concentration needed. NCIS is a great series.
Also rewatching the original Magnum P. I. Have the DVD set, but streaming is more convenient. Finished Blue Bloods. Will watch almost anything Selleck is in. A favorite is High Road to China, one of the few movies I will watch more than once. Fabulous flying scenes and characters. Recently showed my wife the 2003 remake of Monte Walsh, with Selleck in the lead. We somehow missed that one. Good all-around movie, with gorgeous scenery and memorable characters.
Some time I should mention James Garner…
Maybe I am missing something. If it is just going to be a music player, isn’t it possible to keep most devices safe by turning off the radios? Airplane mode? Maybe load an Android alternative; I think you or someone else here did that? The music could be loaded by direct connection to a computer. That’s how I load my music. Of course, the kid would have to learn how to get the music on the computer. Another teachable moment.
One of my older phones seemed to have its antennas on the removeable back. I’ll bet cutting a run would permanently disable all wireless connections to the outside world. No risk if the phone is a freebie. Could also start a whole career as an RF engineer.
An old HS friend, who just reconnected with me, mentioned his grandson just got his ham ticket at age 7. SEVEN! I thought I was young when I got mine.
There is a hierarchy of doctors. I’ve dealt with them as caretaker for my mother, caretaker for my brother, parent of children, and my own care. I also worked alongside/with/for them in the IT EHR world for 14 years, including 3 medical schools.
Here’s how I scope it out.
Family practice/GP/Primary care/pediatrics: I entered medical school with the intention of helping people get and stay healthy, and I like people. [Unfortunately, these folk tend to be unimaginative, and easily fooled by “standard of care” and the drug companies and the politicians in FDA, NIH, and CDC.]
Internist: Whatever the drug companies tell me, that’s what I do. They’ve got all this money, they must be right. Make no waves.
Surgeon: I’m better and smarter than other doctors, superior in every way, and very important. Patients are a necessary evil; life would be better if I never had to talk to them, only cut them.
Anesthesiologist: Pay me.
Neurologist: I hate people and I enjoy hurting them. I’m a sociopath bordering on psycopath.
To be fair, they’re all either sociopathic or emotionally challenged. If not before, medical school made them that way. Doctors are convinced they’re little gods, never wrong, and the ones who teach at medical schools realize that they’ve ascended to the next level; they are the ones who make new gods.
I know a few exceptions online. Curiously, most of them dropped out of direct patient care in favor of education. Ken Berry, Shawn Baker, Annette Bosworth. The system is biased against actually helping patients. The system says: “Do shallow investigation, and then drug them or cut them.”
The smartest thing I’ve heard a doctor say is “When I was in medical school, a prof told me that as we go through our career, we’ll discover that half of what we’re taught is wrong. We just don’t know which half yet.”
@Lpdbw, I tend to agree, but my background is much less than yours.
My wife and I are getting to the age (now 78) when we will more likely need to rely on doctors, and this troubles me. So far, our needs have been dental, vision, and occasional injuries, and we have been pretty fortunate in the service we get.
I have some friends in the medical profession, but I can’t lean on them too much. Most are as you described, and this is troubling. There is also the Internet. I can’t seem to read enough to keep up. The people I know who are the most successful with their health take charge of their own needs, and I tend to agree. Sad, though, when we can’t rely on the pros.
There is a similarity with auto maintenance, but with health, the stakes are infinitely higher. Most engineers I have known are better diagnosticians than most doctors. Sad, indeed.
Gay out at Harvard.
Two down, one to go.
@JimB
I’m pushing 70, hard, and I have the same fears you do. During my career in IT, I always delegated my healthcare to my doctors. I also grew fat and weak in the process, and they prescribed (straightfaced) a regimen they knew failed in 95% of patiets (count calories, be continuously hungry, and exercise more). They recoiled, in horror, from clinically proven approaches like Atkins and the later, more refined, low carb and keto approaches. Because of the American Heart Association and the FDA food pyramid, and an irrational belief in the cholesterol myth and fear of saturated fat.
For 50 years, they have tried, unsuccessfully, to link consumption of cholesterol and saturated fat to heart disease. Due to Ancel Keyes and George McGovern, the research money has been diverted such that therapeutic ketogenic diets, low carb, and other similar interventions have been ignored or supressed.
That logjam has been broken. The news is getting out that it’s sugar, carbohydrates, and processed food, mostly grains, that cause issues. New studies are getting funded, finally, to prove what clinicians alreday know: Eat fat and protein, mostly unprocessed, and you can control your weight, reduce your heart attack risk, and extend your life.
I’m doing what I can to learn the truth, and heal myself. I am hoping the new research bears fruit, and doctors get educated, before I become dependent on them. But as you point out, there is little enough time for that.
I did a lot of looking around for a new primary care doc, and I’m with a nephrologist now. He’s somewhat open-minded, although he has knee-jerk reactions due to his training/indoctrination. The main thing is he lets me make decisions. I selected him through a search tool for doctors willing to prescribe ivermectin at the FLCCC website.
The Obamas own the “Magnum PI” “Robin’s Nest” estate now. They razed everything except the tidal pool, including the main house, the guest bungalow, and an outbuilding that was the exterior location for scenes at the King Kamehameha Club.
The tidal pool was probably spared so Barry and Mochelle could re-create that scene in the water from the opening credits every night.
Now try to remove that image from your head.
If you are a completist, find all of the “Friends” episodes with Selleck as a guest star, including the episode from the final season. His character has a pretty cool story arc.
@JimB
Maybe I am missing something. If it is just going to be a music player, isn’t it possible to keep most devices safe by turning off the radios? Airplane mode?
My goal is to ensure her irresponsibility with her iPod is painful enough to change the behavior that resulted in its loss. I had that iPod locked down pretty hard – she could message her at her and I, play music, take pics and not much more. I had updates and app installation disabled and no free access to the internet.
I could replace it, but she needs to grow her responsibility first.
With any cellular device approved for use in the US, if the hardware has power, the “phone” transceiver is under the complete control of the carriers, not the user.
WiFi is, in theory, under the user’s control, but I have my doubts about 5G phones ever truly being offline, since they will use bandwidth in the unlicensed spectrum if necessary.
Amazon devices are never offline in a populated area with other Amazon devices within WiFi range.
I’m not sure about Apple. Steve originally planned an all WiFi communication system since he loathed the US carriers, especially AT&T. However he eventually came to realize that this would significantly delay the rollout of the phone so he gave in on a cellular modem. A lot of work still went into the WiFi-only concept, however, and I doubt they threw that away, particularly on a data level.
@SteveF
Dollar stores are usually good for cheap crackers.
Too late, he already spoiled them with top shelf Ritz crackers.
“John Whitmire rides along with Houston police on 1st night as mayor”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-mayor-john-whitmire-18585243.php
“Just minutes after being sworn in as Mayor of Houston, Whitmire rode along with the Houston Police Department in a midnight run.”
Hands on mayor or photo op ?
“How to Clean Your Computer Keyboard”
https://www.pcmag.com/how-to/disinfect-clean-computer-keyboard
“From the classic shakedown to bathing keycaps, these tips will help you banish keyboard grime.”
I have not cleaned my keyboard since I started using it in 1992, why start now ?
I wondered why that name sounded familiar and then I hit the Duck.
John Whitmire is the brother-in-law of former Houston Mayor Kathy Whitmire, who was famous nationally during her term for being a dead ringer for Dustin Hoffman’s en femme appearance in “Tootsie”, released in 1984.
It is one big club and you aren’t in it.
Indeed. My mother was a trade-school nurse from Scotland who tolerated no nonsense from doctors, and the attitude was contagious.
Worst example of tin god syndrome I encountered was an immigrant doctor from Eastern Europe, where there is much more of that. I’d been referred because, and I quote, “patient has digestive issues since quitting smoking”. After giving that complaint in at least 4 oral histories, I had a gastric scope and was told thereafter, “The first thing you’ll have to do is quit smoking” and then listed a long list of other dietary restrictions and medications I’d have to live with forever. My response, as you might imagine, was … No, and if you can’t read your own workup notes, your advice is worthless.
Nah, store brand. Usually Savoritz, from Aldi.
Man, everything has fallen apart during the holidays. My six cubic yard dumpster has not been serviced for two weeks. They keep on sending me a text saying tomorrow. Tomorrow, tomorrow, it is only a day away ! Our agreement is that I pay them $400/month and they service my dumpster twice a week.
I’ve been ghosted by two siding contractors in the last several weeks. A third came out and looked at the hail damage a week ago, promising a quote by Friday, but the office called today looking for the detailed measurements I sent in an email, claiming that the estimator never received the PDF.
We’ll see if they ghost me too.
“The state of Windows as 2023 ends — Windows 10 nears end of life as Windows 12 rumors heat up and Microsoft bets on AI”
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/the-state-of-windows-as-2023-ends
“Big on AI, features and updates, but is this enough for Microsoft to convince Windows 10 users to transition to Windows 11?”
With the hardware requirements of Windows 11, hundreds of millions of PCs are obsolete.
BTW, what could go wrong with Windows 12 permanently connected to Clippy 2.0 ?
“How Gaston Glock rocked the firearms world”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2024/01/how-gaston-glock-rocked-firearms-world.html
“The announcement of Gaston Glock’s death last week, at the age of 94, has brought forth a wave of obituaries and reminiscences about “the way things used to be” in the firearms industry. Very few individuals can be said to have changed the way arms manufacturers designed, built and marketed their products. Glock stands tall in the most illustrious of that group, including inventors such as John Moses Browning, Samuel Colt and Hiram Maxim. He does so, not because he improved the technology in the market at the time, but because he drastically streamlined and improved the productivity of the industry. Since then, no-one’s looked back.”
I’ve only owned one Glock, a model 23 which I gave to my son when I went back to revolvers. I never shot it but every cop I know carries a Glock.
“Get ready to spend two years in prison”
https://www.sovereignman.com/trends/get-ready-to-spend-two-years-in-prison-148545/
“Hunter Biden most likely isn’t going to jail any time soon despite an obvious track record of fraud and criminality. But if you happen to be a small business owner in the Land of the Free, you are looking at potentially two years in prison if you don’t comply with a new law that just took effect yesterday.”
“Large, publicly traded companies are specifically exempt from reporting under the CTA. So are hedge funds, banks, and other large financial entities. Curiously, tax-exempt charities are also exempt.”
“So the Corporate Transparency Act deliberately goes after the little guy. Goldman Sachs, Black Lives Matter, and Facebook/Meta are exempt. Bob’s Hot Dog Stand is not.”
Crap, I thought that this nonsense got thrown out. I am hoping that I do not have to file a report for each one of my businesses.
I’ve had no problems with Win11 other than a few things beyond “where the hell is that setting?” Went through that going from XP to Win7 but Win11 seems to be actively hiding settings on purpose.
Biggest PITA with Win11 is to not have a Microsoft account. That the new PC has built in wi-fi makes it harder… then again, up-plugging the internet from the router for half an hour works.
Lots of great hardware for Linux users to choose from on EBay.
I was happily using a 15 year-old Q6600 CPU with 16GB RAM running Windows 10 and the latest Mint up until last Summer. I upgraded to play with Docker on Windows, but, as usual, I have not had the time to do the experiments I had planned.
The new machine is an AMD Ryzen 5 5600. No ‘X’. 64 GB RAM. It will run Windows 11, but I’m not in a hurry.
The “features” which make Windows 11 incompatible with a lot of hardware were intended to make Hollywood and the streaming service owners happy. There isn’t any performance reason that Windows 11 could not run on any system adequate for Windows 10.
Now that all of the studios are headed for Bankruptcy Court and Netflix profitable but far from a number which justifies that stock price, why not give on the security hardware requirements and EFI?
Linux floated the idea of going EFI only, but that got shot down quickly. I imagine some three letter government agencies were involved in that veto, much like x32 ABI.
BTW, I figured out why my web server load has gone so high. Last month, while my host was updating my webserver operating system, they changed out the chassis from a two core Intel cpu for an eight core cpu. Still with 16 GB of ram and two 100 GB SSD drives. So the load program is cumulative for the cpu loads, not averaging like I thought. 0.40 is about the minimum load and 8.00 is full load.
I contacted support to find out about the “high loads” and they told me about the chassis swap out. So I can use “top -P 0” to find out what each cpu is doing. Very boring after a while.
I remember you saying that you put the cast iron in the dishwasher, you heathen.
I have a Glock 22 in .40. It fits my hand like it’s part of my arm. Just point… I just wish it had a off switch safety.
Yeah, I know, I’ve heard it before. But I’m the dummy that catches Cuisinart blades before they hit the floor. Much blood.
Oh, did you know the bone on your index finger is bumpy? Not smooth like a chicken leg bone? I know this.
I have a question. If part of becoming a citizen of the US requires being able to read English, why are ballots bilingual?
No, seriously.
https://www.usa.gov/naturalization
Add on to that, I get mail from SS and Medi-wtf and there are always a couple of pages with info links in like 25 languages if you need help. I’m kind of like, you don’t read or speak English enough to get it done, why are you getting benefits? Because “Able to read, write, and speak basic English” is part of part of being a citizen.
Just a random thought that pisses me off to no end. ….
BTW, Sean Hannity announced today on his radio show that he has moved from New York State for Florida. He said that he got tired of the confiscatory taxes, crazy laws, and grumpy people. He now performs his radio show from Florida (I wonder if he bought Rush’s old studio ?) and his tv show from the Fox News Miami office.
https://deadline.com/2024/01/sean-hannity-florida-move-1235694053/
“Tesla reports record 485K deliveries for Q4; hits 1.8 million annual delivery goal”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/tesla-reports-record-485k-deliveries-for-q4-hits-18-million-annual-delivery-goal-151050675.html
“Hitting its 1.8 million delivery target is a ‘clear win’ for Musk and Tesla.”
That is a lot of vehicles.
>> I have some friends in the medical profession, but I can’t lean on them too much. Most are as you described, and this is troubling. There is also the Internet. I can’t seem to read enough to keep up. The people I know who are the most successful with their health take charge of their own needs, and I tend to agree. Sad, though, when we can’t rely on the pros.
If it fits your finances, consider a concierge physician. I’m on my second now (relo from FL) and both have been very open to listening to my input (including info, good and not so good, from the internet) with the intent of coming to an approach that we both agree on. Doable given 30 or 60 minute appointments as the norm, and longer if justified. As usual, YMMV.
Limbaugh was up in West Palm Beach. Fox News Miami is on the FIU campus. That would be a brutal drive in the early evening, 90+ minutes without traffic.
I’ll bet Hannity is in the office building in Little Havana which Jeb! used when he ran for President in 2020.
Hannity has a townhouse on Palm Beach which was remodeled over the last year, but that wouldn’t be as isolated as Hannity needs to do professional radio.
https://therealdeal.com/miami/2022/11/23/palm-beach-green-lights-addition-for-sean-hannitys-oceanfront-townhouse/
“Cutie Pie”, as Neal Boortz used to call Hannity when they competed fiercely in Atlanta, annoys me.
I have no use for Hannity or his warmongering, but he had a lot of good guests at least back when I was still driving home in the afternoon.
>> I’ll bet Hannity is in the office building in Little Havana which Jeb! used when he ran for President in 2020.
I presume he’d still want a space that would continue to allow a studio audience as he had in NYFC?
>> I have a question. If part of becoming a citizen of the US requires being able to read English, why are ballots bilingual?
No, seriously.
https://www.usa.gov/naturalization
@paul, that’s the requirement to become a naturalized citizen. Subsequent progeny may continue to learn their native language outside of the US education system…which is fine by me, as long as they are equally proficient in English.
>> I watched a couple of the Sherlocks and liked them. Thanks for the tip on Belgravia episode, I’ll look for it. I watch more movies in theater than I do media at home. I cannot help but see things that need doing when I sit and am horribly frustrating to watch shows with as I constantly get up to do something – dishes, laundry, chase that dust bunny. My husband and I did get though several episodes of Reacher S2 last night without (many) shenanigans on my part.
W2 crochets or (jigsaw) puzzles during most of the shows we watch. For the most part, I just watch.
We’re four episodes into Reacher S2. Enjoyable so far, but a few too many plot holes as compared to S1.
Also watching “Fargo,” (in the midst of S3,) some of which is a hoot, and “The Gold.”
Hannity had an audience in NY?
IIRC, Hannity moved into Glenn Beck’s old Clear Channel space after cancelling his contract at ABC following that network’s buyout by Premiere.
@Nick
Regarding oven requiring relighting after a few minutes – any idea of cause? That seems really odd.
– I have given it some thought today. I am beginning to consider that turning on the big burner on the stove, which is downstream of the oven on the same supply, might starve the oven for gas briefly, which causes the shutdown. The timing could be because we start the oven, the start preparing the sides on the stove… Or it could be having a burner or two on and starting another that causes a dropout…
When I replaced the gas line I just used the same size and arrangement as what was existing, but maybe I should have upsized the “trunk” line to the two appliances. I’ll try some experiments next trip, and see if I can induce the behavior. I can always pull in a new gas line when we remodel the kitchen if there is an issue, or try tapping the line differently. It should be sufficient for the flow, but maybe it’s not.
n
You don’t need as much for a video studio now as you used too. The LED lighting cut the power requirements, and that cut the HVAC too. Almost everyone uses robot cameras, even if they have a person running them, and there are REALLY good products for switching, recording, and other studio function because of the rise of vlogs, streamers, and youtube.
n
@Nick
Regarding oven requiring relighting after a few minutes – any idea of cause? That seems really odd.
Could the problem be with the thermocouple detecting that there is a flame in the oven for keeping the gas valve open ? Does the oven have a pilot light or a gas igniter ?
@lpdbw and Alan, thanks for the thoughts. Choices of primary docs are limited here. I am actually going to try one new to me. He is recommended by people I trust. I just did some searching for concierge physicians, and there are none closer than about 90 miles. I am used to that situation, but I would prefer someone local for this type of care. I will try the one I mentioned first.
As for diet, I have read a lot, but not very lately. I am not one to diet to lose weight, but prefer to eat healthy foods. I was a big fan of Nathan Pritikin’s original dietary advice, and followed it way back in the 1980s. This was the best diet I have ever followed for good health. I was very happy with it, but it is very hard to eat at restaurants while traveling. However, it is easy to drift back and forth from it to more popular foods.
I don’t know much about the low carb diets, except that they can be used temporarily to lose weight fast. I know people who have used the Ideal ProteinTM diet with great success, but it is not a long term healthy diet, even with supplements. I think a Mediterranean type of diet is close to ideal for me. I especially like almost anything that lives in water, plus some of the complex carbs for energy, mostly raw vegetables. I try not to consume simple carbs like sugar except as a last resort. My one exception is wine.
Would this be true if the SIM card were removed?
Ah. Sure glad we didn’t have kids, with the exception of my brother in law, who finished high school living with us. That was enough, although I still like him a lot. He is smarter and successful in ways I was not, and vice versa.
I absorbed some strong lessons from my parents. Some were what they consciously taught me, and some by examples they were probably unaware of. Yeah, kids and parents. Mine were very good. My father had his wedding band fall off his cold hand into a snowbank. Neither of us saw it happen, but he felt it and searched frantically. He didn’t find it. All my family doesn’t lose things, and that event was exceptional, and of course a treasured object. Partly as a result, I rarely lose things. If I do, it immediately spurs a search, and I almost always find it. I really feel sorry for those who lose things and mourn the loss. I don’t understand people who routinely lose things; it is not always carelessness.
Your daughter has a good mother, and I hope she takes you seriously. Nothing is worse than apathy.
Specialty chemical order today for a client.
Price increased 28% from last quote 8 months ago.
>> Hannity had an audience in NY?
https://www.tvtaping.com/tvshows/hannity
Anti-Israel Girl Who Attacked Teenager in IDF Sweatshirt Graduated From Barack Obama School for
Social JusticeRacial Hatredhttps://legalinsurrection.com/2024/01/youre-a-whre-free-palestine-anti-israel-protesters-accost-teenage-girl-in-idf-sweatshirt-in-new-jersey/
School choice for the right kind of bigot.
Specialty chemical order today for a client.
Price increased 28% from last quote 8 months ago.
Energy costs are still jumping outside the USA. And shipping costs are also jumping big time due to insurance.
>> Would this be true if the SIM card were removed?
Yup, via the phone’s IMEI number.
Yes. The only sure way to disable the transceiver is to remove the power source.
Wow, this cold front is coming in HARD. The temperature has dropped to 48 F and it is pouring down rain with a 20+ mph wind from the North. Two of my windows in my office point North so I am getting a lot of noise from the rain hitting the windows.
>> Yes. The only sure way to disable the transceiver is to remove the power source.
Or…
Faraday Bag for Cell Phone & Key Fobs – Faraday Phone Case – RFID Signal Blocking Pouch for All Phones and Car Keys – Anti-Tracking, Anti-Hacking and Anti Theft Protection
https://a.co/d/aVPseCf
It started light rain shortly after I got home. We went out for mexican food and the rain was a bit harder. It’s a steady drizzle here now and has been for some time.
I’m just catching up on auctions, and fell asleep in the chair. Mexican food isn’t low carb. the bowl of ice cream didn’t help either.
I should just go to bed early. Mom is leaving in the morning, and I’ll get up to see her off, so sleep would be a good thing.
n
The transceiver is still active but, in theory, blocked. I’m not sure about that fine Chinesium, however.
Today featured Vantucky-like weather in Austin except I heard thunder.
Portland has uber stable cr*ppy weather. Lightning is extremely rare and tornados are once-in-a-century events.
I’m just catching up on auctions, and fell asleep in the chair. Mexican food isn’t low carb. the bowl of ice cream didn’t help either.
So, you are following my newspaper editor’s New Year’s resolution !
80.14 PE. Beer money, not food money.
Every 100,000 EVs is roughly another 1200 MW charging nightly for eight hours.
ERCOT’s reserves are 6450 MW right now.
Things will get sporty next Summer if brownouts don’t happen this Winter.
@SteveF
cast iron in the dishwasher, you heathen
Yes sir, I continue to do that. Wicked irredeemable heathen. I do apply a fresh coat of oil but recognize that’s probably inadequate to purists.
@JimB
Thank you, sir. I try really hard. I make an awful lot of mistakes and have no patience with emotions for emotions sake. It really helps that my husband and I are mostly working from the same playbook for parenting, and that generally we don’t lose our parenting cool simultaneously.
@Nick
I wondered if a thermocouple could be messing with your stove, but couldn’t think of the name of the thing. And I suppose that would factor in only when lighting it… the theory that the oven is getting starved for fuel by a burner seems plausible. I’m curious to know the outcome when you find time to do some troubleshooting.
Regarding diet – I read ‘Mindless Eating’ 10 or 15 years ago. It was enlightening and entertaining – we do some crazy things as individuals when it comes to feeding our bodies. It’s a good read and I recommend it.
At 4’ 11” with a sedentary job compared to ten years ago, weight maintenance is a hassle. Slower metabolism, more responsibility, less time, and a drastic increase in food costs hasn’t done much for my waist. To maintain weight with moderate exercise I must not consume more than 1,300 calories a day. That sucks. A lot. My husband at 6’4” can consume twice that easily with no ill consequences. I eat a lot of vegetables and lean protein. I crave sugar when stressed, there’s been a lot of stress since 2020. I fit in activity wherever I can because burning even an extra 50 calories makes a difference in my particular caloric situation. I’ve been actively losing weight the last couple of months through diet and Jedi mind tricks, ½ pound a week, slow and steady.
Re phones in Faraday shields, I once put an old Windows CE phone in a steel desk drawer. A few hours later, the battery was nearly dead. My wife put her Note (original) in a steel locker for about three hours, and the battery was at about 25%. My belief was that the transmitter cranked up the power trying to ping a tower. I wonder if newer phones have better power management, or if turning them off would save the battery. I should do some tests.