Warm and moist, probably grey and overcast. Like yesterday. It was pretty grey most of the day. Some brief periods of sunshine, depending on where you were in town… and I got a couple. Still, no real rain either.
Did my auction stuff in the morning, then started on the errands. First was picking up the ham gear I won in an estate sale. I got a nice all modes, all bands portable radio. It’s 20 years old but still pretty desirable. Yaesu FT-817, with an antenna tuner, and an external speaker. My current plan is to use it at the BOL as a portable, from the dock. I’ve got to get a battery or 13vDC power supply set up, and some sort of antenna, but then I’ll be able to actually take advantage of the nice radio quiet environment, without having to wait until I can build out a whole shack. One of my non-prepping buddies gave me an old cushcraft R4 or R6 multiband vertical antenna, and I can mount that at the dock or on the dockhouse. I can run a wire dipole or inverted v or sloper for lower bands. I’m itching to get on the air up there, so the ham project might jump the queue.
I found an entry door at Habitat reStore for the BOL. That will get me through all but one of my door replacement projects.
I got a costco run in, although most of the stuff I buy wasn’t on sale this cycle. I did manage some OTC meds, and about 40 pounds of beef.
Seems like beef is cheap the last couple of weeks, so I’m a buyer. Australian lamb is cheap too. The price at costco hasn’t fluctuated much over the last 10 years, but it’s actually down a little bit at the moment. Great quality for the money, and a nice change of pace from chicken, beef, and pork. The boneless leg roasts are economical, tasty, and easy to cook. Modern lamb has a lot less of the “gamey” flavor lamb used to have, so if you haven’t tried it in a decade or more, you might be surprised. Chops and rib chops are awesome too.
Today I’ve got my non-prepping hobby meeting, where I’ll share with the board the work I’ve done so far on the website redesign and hosting move. They should be pleased, and if not, they can volunteer instead. Meatspace is important. Community is important. Getting out of the house and talking with real people is important. There are costs though, even if they are minimal. It’s worth it in my estimation to do some volunteering, to be known as a good guy, and one who is willing to help. You get a lot more help if you are known to help others. I might never need it, but I’ve already been introduced to a local group of hams, and met some good folks, sold stuff to them, and gotten a free antenna… nevermind that I’ve had the pleasure of the company of people who share many of my interests for these last few years.
Get out and join a community of interest to you. You never know where it will lead, and it will probably enrich your life.
Stack some friends and acquaintances…
nick
Lots of Good Germans in Austin still believe that ze old days will return, ja, und still wear ze symbols of National Socialist allegiance.
Tito’s distillery here produced tons of “sanitizer” when their sales fell off a cliff in 2020 until Abbott reopened the bars. One of my wife’s VA clients is a supervisor in the plant.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Ze Symbols were required to vote in person this Fall, even in Texas.
If you don’t think it can’t happen, keep in mind that Texans just passed a whopping property tax increase on themselves and called it “reform”.
Say, did anyone notice Corn Pop proposing $400/month tax credit for first time home buyers for the next two years. Gotta keep the payments “affordable” until 2026.
One ounce silver rounds from my preferred supplier are $35 each delivered right now.
Cool and breezy this am, and overcast.
I’m headed to my non-prepping hobby…
n
Good thing your chiropractor does good work. Can’t do a good Riverdance performance with a bad back.
I reckon Nick plays the bodhrán.
What?
@Nick
Heh.
IPA has a considerably higher heat of combustion than ethanol, making it a better fuel on paper (roughly equivalent to gasoline). There have been studies using IPA as additives for gasoline and diesel fuels. It would be well-worth investigating setting up a gennie to run on straight IPA.
IPA is more stable in storage than gasoline, which over time will gum up and require redistillation. The hand sanitizer IPA is not packaged for long-term so the bottles are a concern. Minimally, keep it out of the sun. I’d be inclined to find some nice used IBC totes, then set up a small pilot plant to do batch processing to remove the water.
BTW, standard hdpe gallon bottles with caps are about a buck apiece in quantity, so a clean rinsed used jug should have some secondary value.
Finally that brings up an observation: Caps are easy to lose. If your preps include containers such as gallon jugs and 2-liter bottles, save extra caps. I have tried to get in the habit of transferring an old cap to a new container when I open it, saving the new cap. Look at all the things you have in containers with plastic caps, and make sure you have spares.
I think the consensus here is Sailor Moon cosplay, but just which Sailor Moon remains unclear…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Sailor_Moon_characters
Sailor Moon is more of a Dallas thing.
Houston/Austin have more Furries due to the high concentrations of A&M alumni in those metros.
Mr. X
The current issue of the Claremont Review of Books carries the informative review of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Elon Musk by Helen Andrews. The Andrews review is interesting and informative. I want to single out the penultimate paragraph:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/03/mr-x.php
Yeah, I know he’s not ideal. But he and Trump are the best we’ve got, and the reality of this world is that the pope lags behind both of them.
Bread-Gate?
h/t to AoSHQ (story this morning includes link to video report
Yeah, it’s a freaking mystery how that happened.
Liz Cheney, January 6 Committee Suppressed Exonerating Evidence Of Trump’s Push For National Guard
https://thefederalist.com/2024/03/08/exclusive-liz-cheney-january-6-committee-suppressed-exonerating-evidence-of-trumps-push-for-national-guard/
I got the link from AoSHQ before I checked thefederalist this morning, so another h/t to them.
Ace’s Comment: Sounds insurrectioney
Giving that mult-chinned loathsome traitor amphibian a blindfold/bullet or a noose would be too good. I’d vote for the lobster boil starting with ice-cold water for about two hours*, even if we have to have a custom big-enough pot fabricated and use John Kerry’s monthly carbon offsets for the fuel.
*The data on survival duration in cold seas was developed by the Germans in WWII and has been kept despite its more than questionable origins. Seems the fascists simply tossed Jewish prisoners into the North Atlantic and took notes, using a sample size big enough to develop statistics. I don’t have to consult those tables to know they have no data on Leaf-Lard Liz, so this is an estimate which could be refined by actual data.
CDC forced to “releases” myocarditis study… kinda
https://twitter.com/HansMahncke/status/1765852724606726557
History by Jan 30, 2025
One way to work on deficit spending at the federal level would be to change the law on pensions:
Pension credits shall not accrue during any quarter in which federal spending is in deficit.
And on cost of living increases for government employees:
Cost of living adjustments shall not include any quarter in which federal spending is in deficit.
Make it retroactive for five years, and use one of the PLT’s favorite legal tools, the phony lawsuit, to get a settlement in place under a friendly U.S. Circuit Court.
Trump can follow that with an executive order.
Papa Murphy’s probably got the same exemption. Their stores are allowed to accept EBT cards because the food is uncooked.
In Vantucky, where the chain has its headquarters, the lines were out the door on some nights, even in wealthy neighborhoods.
Here in Texas is a different story. I rarely see more than one customer waiting in the Papa Murphy’s closest to the house.
I order online and pickup.
Newsom is as dirty as any NYS or Illinois governor, he just has better PR.
And it is not as if with the state Judiciary, Senate, House, & Press all firmly in control of the Dem party that a lot of questions get asked.
Caps are easy to lose. If your preps include containers such as gallon jugs and 2-liter bottles, save extra caps. I have tried to get in the habit of transferring an old cap to a new container when I open it, saving the new cap. Look at all the things you have in containers with plastic caps, and make sure you have spares.
– definitely second this. I save at least one of every cap in the kitchen. Just dropping the ketchup bottle and breaking the cap is a bummer, but it’s a non-issue if you have a spare in the drawer. ‘course you can steal one off a new bottle, because of the seal under the cap, but that risks the new bottle, and puts you in a deficit…
—————-
website work was approved. I’ll continue poking at it.
—————
need to get my work done, and the truck loaded.
Weather is still chilly but the wind died down.
n
I saw a presentation in the 8 April 2024 eclipse last night. Interesting, the guy has been to 30 eclipses, all on his own dime. This time he will be inland of Mazatlan.
At the end the presenter mentioned and had a clip of an audible eclipse timer app, which might be of interest to people, particularly those wrangling a bunch of youngsters.
https://www.solareclipsetimer.com/?from=AppAgg.com
The app is free but the data costs $1.99. Probably worth it for many.
p.s. I am thinking of Texas myself, though still in preliminary terms. Need to get organized.
The whole planet is headed to Austin for the eclipse. Consider yourself warned.
Yesterday, Travis County joined Bell County in declaring a disaster area in advance for that weekend.
I’m not sure about Williamson, our county, located between Travis and Bell.
The best viewing area for the eclipse is supposedly going to be in Temple/Belton, roughly two hours north of Downtown Austin, but Austin has the bacchanalia on 6th Street.
Definitely BYOB, including water and soft drinks. I’ve seen Buc-ee’s drained of Coke products on holiday weekends as of late — Mixin’s! — and the eclipse is supposed to double the population of the greater Austin metro that weekend in a worst case scenario.
Spring Forward tonight !
I haven’t got used to Fall Back yet. Or the last Spring Forward.
I looked and the eclipse is close to me. Looks like it goes almost right over the Taco Bell in Lampasas. That’s about 20 miles north of me.
I suppose I should get some glasses and hope for a sunny day in my backyard.
I’ve changed a few clocks already. The atomics and computer clocks are automatic.
Seems I just set the clocks back.
I hope to avoid big cities & crowds, even Idaho was nuts back in 2017, though now I am retired & don’t have to travel on the day of the eclipse.
Just one old guy in a low end truck camper….
Yes, time really is zipping by these days.
The smart phones and the atomic clocks set themselves, but I still have three manual clocks. Oddly the digital clock in the Ram 1500 smart truck doesn’t set itself.
Hilarious. Every page redacted. Gee, other than personal information, what could the CDC be hiding? National Defense, crimes, aliens? I Want To Believe.
The microwave and stove are the only manual ones for me.
The smart phones and the atomic clocks set themselves, but I still have three manual clocks. Oddly the digital clock in the Ram 1500 smart truck doesn’t set itself.
What year model ? My 2008 Highlander digital clock does not reset either. But the digital clocks in my 2019 Highlander and my 2019 F-150 do reset automagically.
The eclipse is coming to me, and I planned it that way. When my wife was searching for our new home in San Antonio, working remotely using Zillow from Sacramento, CA, I subtly rejected houses that were not in the path of totality. We’re not on the centerline of totality, but we should get 2.5 minutes of eclipse darkness, if the weather cooperates. I’ve read that April 8 has a 50/50 chance of sun historically.
I might remember to set the TV to DST. Silly thing doesn’t have a clock to display but you have to tell it to use DST or not. It’s for the over the air guide. But /only/ while watching TV.
That made me kind of crazy for a bit. All the menus look the same but if not on the TV input, the option is gone.
No matter what the clocks say, the dogs run on solar time.
Idaho does not have the reputation for a party like Austin does.
The newer vehicles have multiple cellular modems each. That generation F-150 also has a system for reporting your driving habits back to your insurance carrier, something Ford developed with … Prudential?
So far, only the insurance carrier partner offers owners the option of using the system in return for a discount, but I’ll bet it isn’t long before the optional opt-in becomes mandatory to avoid surcharges and other members of the mafia want their “piece of the action”.
Boring but damning data about the “vaccines” that might be bad enough to motiviate people to do things like go pluck Bill Gates out of his giant house, drag him out in the street, beat him within an inch of his life, and then set him on fire.
For anyone contemplating that action, trespassing on the giant house property is a Federal crime which, in theory, gets an immediate FBI response from the Seattle office. OTOH, the FBI agents probably all got mandatory jabs so they’ll be right out … in a few hours.
Weather permitting, I’ll be taking up to six teens to see the eclipse. It’ll be about a two-hour drive each way. Not a delight, but worth it for the rare occurrence. Wife, mother-in-law, and unknown number of grannies will be going separately. I’ll pick up welding glass for each participant, only about $5 each, and I’ll have the kids install them in cardboard for a shield bigger than a face; better than risking them being careless (what? a teen, careless?) and zorching an eyeball. We can also do a pinhole viewer. I have a couple of digital cameras and might have one record a video through the glass and one bare; they’re cheap so I won’t mind if the bare one gets destroyed. Other than that, I can’t think of what to do/have the kids do in the couple minutes available.
The “weather permitting” is the tricky part, though. No sense driving half a day just to have 100% cloud cover. The odds aren’t great, but we’ll have a better idea in a few weeks.
@SteveF:
Consider buying ISO certified glasses online. Primarily to avoid legal liability issues in case something goes wrong. The welding glasses might be better, or might not, but the certification might help you in court.
Also, see this video and associated links. It may help you with ideas to enrich the eclipse experience.
Also, consider that it’s a 2 hour drive under normal circumstances. These will not be normal circumstances.
>> Recovering from an intrusion is more than just restoring yesterday’s backup. You have to determine how long they have been in the system – it can be months. You have to inspect each system to make sure there aren’t any ‘leftovers’ or other back doors into the system that can be used to infiltrate your system again. Not to mention purchasing new hardware and rebuilding everything. While still making sure that you aren’t reinstalling the backdoor access.
UHC is a top ten Fortune 500 company and no doubt has robust disaster recovery facilities/capabilities. Given that, getting a clean instance of their production environment up and running should be a matter of hours, not days. That leaves the exposure of customers’ sensitive medical data. If UHC that said ‘no thanks’ to the hackers demands, the result would probably have been the release of that data on the dark web. From there it’s all types of external investigations, fines and lawsuits. It’s possible that the Board decided that paying the ransom was “cheaper.” Of course, you’re putting your faith in criminals that they’ll hold up their end of the deal. I suspect there’s more to this event that has been/will be communicated publicly.
>> txtify.it is your friend.
https://txtify.it/https://www.wired.com/story/alphv-change-healthcare-ransomware-payment
Didn’t work for me but 12ft.io did…
https://12ft.io/https://www.wired.com/story/alphv-change-healthcare-ransomware-payment
IIC, I believe Wired is just counting article views in a cookie. Delete the same and you should be good.
And I’m off like a prom dress. I’ll check in later.
n
My Ram is a 2019 Big Horn “Classic” model, i.e. 4th Generation, not 5th.
Since it apparently phones home regularly for updates you would think DSL updates would be easy.
I forgot about the clock on the Mr. Coffee. And the alarm clock in the bedroom. So that’s 5. Oddly the microwave doesn’t have a clock.
@SteveF: The schools around here bought enough official solar glasses for every student in the entire district++& family ( of 4) according to our local planetarium director, he handed out some to my astronomy club last night (legit, we help out the planetarium & school).
I think you might be able to get the certified ISO glasses for free.
I will be visiting 1.3% off the path of totality and call it close enough.
My new cables arrived. A day late. The guy was jittery and by his accent “not from here”.
Nice looking cables. Nice packaging (like so what, it goes to the trash). The long cables have a little bag of the clips we use to use to nail TV coax to baseboards. All cables have velcro strap, I suppose to wrap up excess cable? But black so worthless for tagging cables. Shrug.
All cables have a dust cap on the connectors which is new to me.
Anyway. The parts for tomorrow’s project have arrived.
I have been through two total eclipses. One in Virginia March 7, 1970, the other here a few years ago on August 21, 2017. It is an interesting event. Large crowds were expected in my area. I was in the Walmart parking lot and it was not crowded. I would not think Texas would be any different. Declaring an emergency before the event happens gets the local coffers extra money. The event does not last long.
I think those declaring an emergency should be fired. I’m been though a total eclipse and it was interesting but not a disaster.
Disturbed Lead Singer David Draiman Slams Hamas During Concert
https://hotair.com/karen-townsend/2024/03/09/heavy-metal-bands-lead-singer-slams-hamas-during-concert-n3784393
You Can Now Call a Non-Binary Lyft Driver Should You Choose to Do So
https://hotair.com/headlines/2024/03/09/you-can-now-call-a-non-binary-lyft-driver-should-you-choose-to-do-so-n3784396
How specific can you be?
And if it’s ok to specify a non-binary driver, is it ok to specify a binary driver? And if not, how is one and not the other legal?
Racial/religious preferences ok as an accommodation to those who feel “threatened” or “triggered”?
If a “Free Palestine” logo shirt is ok is “Am Israeli Chai” also?
How about my “Bacon is a Food Group” shirt?
I’ve seen the Saturday Night Joke several times before.
Try this instead:
https://ace.mu.nu/archives/funny%20probly%20true.png
and this:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1764512357554720901
(His name is obviously… Joe)
Chilly here at the lake. mid 40sF. Mostly clear sky so if it wasn’t late and cold, I might see some stars…
They got over an inch of rain yesterday so it’s pretty wet, and the clover is 8″ high. I’ll be mowing tomorrow morning. Or maybe later in the day if it’s too wet.
In which case I’ll be setting up starlink. Or installing a door. Or some thing that needs doing.
And there is always something that needs doing.
Drive up was uneventful, and traffic was light.
Thin pipe until I get the starlink running… so if there is news, post it.
Some of the flags were at half staff on the way up, but IDK why. That always bugs me.
It’s still early so I might get a tiny little fire tonight. Depends on how cold I want to get…
n
The VA in Temple declared an emergency for their territory which includes Austin and ordered everything shut down that Monday.
This place is like Mecca for high functioning alcoholics so who knows what will happen. Downtown will definitely be a zoo for several days prior.
Any gathering these days has the potential to get ugly.
n
>> Got home a little too late and missed getting a solar panel. 200w for $28 was the winning bid. I’d have gone to $60 if I’d been here watching.
See if Houston has ASA meetings…
“Hi, my name is Nick and I’m an auction sniper…”
>> I read the changed terms, basically you have to agree to arbitration in a dispute. I agreed, though I wonder what the underlying issue was that caused them to be so agressive?
You cannot do a class action suit if you are required to arbitrate.
Plus, the selection of arbitrators is fixed. Arbitrators that too often find for the consumer instead of for the company find work starts to dry up.
I listen to Disturbed once in a while. If you’re not familiar with them, listen to their cover of “Sound of Silence” on YouTube. It’s a powerful performance, and a tame introduction to their music.
Heh. I didn’t realize that Disturbed was the name of the band. I’d figured that the headline writer was expressing a judgment.