Thur. Jan. 16, 2025 – low vibrational energy. Hmm.

By on January 16th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Another winter day in Houston is about to start. Cold and wet. Place is a swamp so it’s usually wet. Cold air pushes down from the north, and we get cold. SO we get cold and wet. We did yesterday, we will today, and tomorrow is likely to be cold and wet too. Or at least cool and damp…

Very short shrift today.

Spent yesterday doing a few things. Morning was full of domestic bliss. Early afternoon too. Kid celebrated her braces removal with donuts, and I had too much sugar to stay awake.

Afternoon was taken up with the other kid.

Rainy and grey all day had me hiding in the house. Not much got done. I’m also not feeling 100%. Could be too much sugar poisoning me, or I could be getting sick. In any case I am dragging.

I did get a bit of cleaning done, but there is so much left to do.

Today I have some pickups to do. Then there will be kid taxi stuff. Not much else getting done. I guess that’s ok but it feels like slacking.

Should I be the best possible slacker I can be?? Hmm, probably not.

I will just keep on plodding along, and stacking.

nick

68 Comments and discussion on "Thur. Jan. 16, 2025 – low vibrational energy. Hmm."

  1. Denis says:

    I’m also not feeling 100%.

    Mind yourself and be well, Mr Nick!

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    Thanks Denis.   I really don’t like the grey days.  I have to keep an awareness of that and consider it a factor…

    ———–

    38F so the cold part was correct.   Haven’t stuck my nose out, so dunno about the wet, yet.

    ———–

    Coffee will be ready in a minute, and that is a good thing.

    n

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    Blue sky, sun poking up.   Chilly but without a breeze it’s tolerable.  

    Frost on some roofs.

    n

  4. Ray Thompson says:

    I am so tired of all of the failed predictions

    I fully remember the predictions of the Ice Age that was going to descend upon the states. Ice dozens of feet thick as far south as the TN KY border. Anything above that line was going to be unlivable within a dozen or so years. Crops were going to fail and half the population was going to starve. Really dire predictions. We must do something. Like buying their books and paying them lots of money to speak on the topic.

    I remember the predictions of Al Bore. The U.S. would be a scorched desert by the year 2010 if we did not do something. Something like buying his book. That little conceited twerp Greta Thunberg (who has no real education in anything) predicted we were going to be sweltering in caves because the earth would not be livable above ground unless we did something. Something being paying her lots of money to speak at conventions.

    My biggest takeaway from all the “climate change/global warming/ice age” is that it is all about money. Transferring money from the pockets of some and into the pockets of others. Allowing some to fly around the world in private jets while the rest of us must use skateboards. Putting people in jobs for which they are unqualified in made up positions in unnecessary government agencies.

    We are being scammed by multiple opportunists on climate change. Fauci made a lot of money in the Covid scam. As did a few drug companies and syringe suppliers who made billions of unearned monies that were tossed at them without any oversight. Some people are building a very lucrative career by being in a worthless position and doing basically nothing of value. We were scammed on Y2K. We are being scammed on every little virus that affects one or two people.

    Climate change is the biggest scam. The sun is a giant weather machine. To think that us puny humans can effect such massive change is akin to an ant trying to move half a dozen connected locomotives. The climate changes, duh. All this cold in TN is being blamed on, you guessed it, global warming. The fires in LA are being blamed on climate change. As if building in fire prone areas, in high density flammable housing, failing to properly clear brush, and a known low moisture area, had nothing to do with the fires.

    The only good thing that has come about from climate awareness is the reduction in pollutants in the air. The LA basin is a good example. Watching the Emergency shows it was readily apparent in some shots that the LA basin was cesspool of poor air quality. India is worse and little (or rather nothing) is being done there.

    We should be responsible for the environment and not do things that we know are noticeably harmful, that is certain. But we should not do so by impoverishing people and making life miserable for everyone except the “climate experts”.

    11
  5. Denis says:

    I really don’t like the grey days.  I have to keep an awareness of that and consider it a factor…

    I do wonder about the effect of short days and lack of sunlight in our northern climes. My GP says to take a Vitamin D supplement, and I like to eat citrus fruit (fruit salad for breakfast), so Vitamin C is OK.

    Does anyone have experience of solar simulators (“sunlight” lamps)? A former colleague from southern parts kept one lit on her desk through the winter, and seemed to feel it helped against the grey-day blues. Any suggestions?

  6. Alan says:

    >>Return To Office.

    The rumors are that we will be told to go back to five days a week in February.

    Maybe because I was “retired” in 2019, but before that (pre-Covid) most everybody worked full-time in the office and WFH was an occasional thing, usually if you had a doctor’s appointment. 

  7. Alan says:

    >>Does anyone have experience of solar simulators (“sunlight” lamps)?

    W2’s son has SAD (seasonal affective disorder) and finds an hour a day exposure to a sunlight lamp during the winter to help improve his mood. 

    Ottlite is a reputable brand. W2 has two of their reading lamps. 

  8. Greg Norton says:

    The rumors are that we will be told to go back to five days a week in February.

    Maybe because I was “retired” in 2019, but before that (pre-Covid) most everybody worked full-time in the office and WFH was an occasional thing, usually if you had a doctor’s appointment. 
     

    That was the general situation for white and “white adjacent” (Asian) males pre-Pandemic kabuki. Even then, the WFH numbers were limited, mostly Made Members of the Work From Home Mommy Mafia.

    IBM had numbers 20 years ago that WFH didn’t work, but there wasn’t much they could do about it at the time. Now, the big employers are going to go AI in a big way and pray it works.

  9. Nick Flandrey says:

    Ah, it’s bleed from the eyes season in Africa again.

    Urgent warning for travellers over new outbreak of terrifying ‘eye-bleeding disease’ that’s already killed eight

    By EMILY STEARN, SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER FOR MAILONLINE

    Published: 04:51 EST, 16 January 2025 | Updated: 06:15 EST, 16 January 2025 

    An untreatable Ebola-like virus is on the rise in Tanzania, global health chiefs have warned. 

    Marburg, one of the deadliest pathogens ever discovered, has already infected nine people, killing eight of them. 

    There are currently no vaccines or treatments available meaning medics are forced to instead focus on helping patients survive the infection.

    This often puts health workers at direct risk of the virus, which can cause people to bleed from their eyes, as it is passed on through infected bodily fluids.

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has deployed teams to the African nation’s northeastern Kagera region — where all cases so far have been spotted.

    But doctors are also being warned to be on the lookout for cases in neighbouring countries including Rwanda and Burundi, sparking fears that the virus may be spreading under the radar.

    —————————–

    Surprise, it costs a lot of money to raise someone else’s kids….

    Staggering cost of educating undocumented students in American schools is revealed in new lawsuit

    By RACHEL BOWMAN FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    Published: 16:39 EST, 15 January 2025 | Updated: 17:16 EST, 15 January 2025 

    An Oklahoma school superintendent has sued the Biden Administration for a staggering $474 million over the cost of educating illegal migrant students.

    Superintendent of Public Instruction Ryan Walters filed the lawsuit Tuesday seeking compensation for the ‘severe financial and operational strain’ the administration’s border policies placed on Oklahoma’s public schools.

    Approximately 3,000 unaccompanied migrant children were sent to the Sooner State from 2021 to 2023, according to the filing.

    The lawsuit stated that educating those children, ‘imposes a significant financial burden on the State of Oklahoma.’

    Financial data reported by the Oklahoma Cost Accounting System found that it cost $13,736 per student in the 2023-2024 school year.

    ‘Given the approximated 3,000 undocumented, unaccompanied minors estimated to reside in Oklahoma, that results in an estimated additional cost to Oklahoma taxpayers approximately $41,208,000 since the start of the Biden-Harris Administration,’ the lawsuit said.

    ———————————————-

    John Deere, F ing it up again.

    Right to repair, DIE, and exporting jobs- not really news but all in one article…

    John Deere faces backlash over deeply unpopular practice that farmers hate

    By DANIEL JONES, CONSUMER EDITOR FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    Published: 13:16 EST, 15 January 2025 | Updated: 13:58 EST, 15 January 2025 

    Regulators sued John Deere on Wednesday – alleging the tractor-maker of ripping off farmers.

    They say the 187-year-old firm – the leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery – drives up repair costs by forcing farmers to rely on its authorized dealer network.

    It is the latest scandal to hit John Deere in the past year. Over most of 2024, it was under fire for axing jobs in the Midwest – at the same time production is being moved to Mexico. 

    And in July, John Deere made a huge U-turn on its DEI practices – including a Pride event for toddlers – after a backlash by farmers.

    Wednesday’s lawsuit by the US Federal Trade Commission argues John Deere has unlawfully boosted its profits by requiring farmers to use its network of authorized dealers for repairs. 

    This makes it difficult for farmers to use independent mechanics or do repairs themselves.

    The only software that enables repairs of all Deere equipment is produced by the company, which it only makes available to its dealer network, the FTC said. 

    As a result Deere has maintained a 100 percent market share, allowing it to hike prices.

    n

  10. Alan says:

    >>”I am so tired of all of the failed predictions”

    Going out on a limb here but I predict @Ray will fart several times today without any climate impact. 

  11. Nick Flandrey says:

    ‘Earlier today, one of our students used a firearm to commit self harm.’

    The inability to speak plainly is affecting our lives in ways we don’t even understand yet.

    Lindley Middle School student in ‘critical condition’ after pulling out gun and shooting herself

    By BRITTANY CHAIN and BETHAN SEXTON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    Published: 16:53 EST, 15 January 2025 | Updated: 20:11 EST, 15 January 2025 

    A Georgia student has been left in a critical condition after she shot herself on a middle school campus.

    The terrifying incident unfolded at Lindley Middle School in Mableton on Wednesday.

    In an email sent to families of students and seen by DailyMail.com, school officials said: ‘Earlier today, one of our students used a firearm to commit self harm.’

    The young girl remains in hospital ‘surrounded by family,’ the email said.

    A ‘Code Red’ was issued and a Cobb County District police officer responded to the scene, working with administrators to ‘secure the weapon.’

    n

  12. drwilliams says:

    In violation of federal law and AWOL:

    https://thefederalist.com/2025/01/16/report-defense-secretary-lloyd-austin-went-mia-twice-last-year-and-didnt-tell-congress/

    Only two choices:

    prosecute the federal law violations and court marshal

    Or

    don’t prosecute anyone ever again for a non’violent violation of federal law, and do not ever prosecute anyone below general for being AWOL.  

  13. Ken Mitchell says:

    “Gray” days?  I’m a victim of “SAD” – “Seasonal Affective Disorder”. I treat it with BRIGHT full-spectrum light. I have a set of 4 40-watt fluorescents hanging over my computer desk.  Having them OVER my head prevents most of the glare that bright lights normally cause. 

    A year ago, I bought a device called a “Happy Light” from Amazon which is good, but is a desk-mount and causes LOTS of glare. I need to figure out a way to hang it from the ceiling. 

  14. MrAtoz says:

    2) What are yous guys taking?

    My Nutraceutical Stack. I eat two meals a day. Bacon/steak/eggs in the am and a steak in the afternoon. Carnivore style diet. I call it dirty carnivore because I use spices and seasonings. I try to walk in the afternoon sunshine to enhance vitamin D. I will eat off carnivore during holiday meals.

    Tech nerd Bryan Johnson thinks he can live to 186 by eating vegan, exercise, meditation, and supplements. He is kidding himself on vegan, exercise, and meditation. There are plenty of people who have done this and lived no longer than anybody else. Have you ever seen someone 100+ that didn’t look like dessicated leather over a skeleton? Supplements and medical procedures ala Ray Kurzweil are the only way we will live longer and not look like living skeletons. Kurzweil has been stacking for decades. He is 76 and looks it. By the time he hits 90, he will be a prune unless there is some medical breakthrough to reverse aging.  I take my stack as health insurance. I will be lucky to live to my 90’s and I don’t want to be a dried up drooling mummy (Hi, Mr. Ray).
     

    Wake UP
    Colloidal Silver mouth rinse - swallow half
    
    
    Nutraceutical 1 am
    Methylene Blue (1% 10 drops in water)
    
    
    Nutraceutical 2 pm
    Lugol’s Iodine (5% 4 drops in water, or 9 drops of 2%)
    
    
    Main Meal afternoon
    StemEnhance Ultra
    Cyactiv
    PlasmaFlo
    Masszymes
    Organs 101
    DAKE
    Minerals 101
    Mitopure Time-Line
    VITALITYbits (Spirulina/Chlorella 10 bits)
    
    
    Nutraceutical 3 if needed for concentration
    Modalert (100mg, break 200mg in half)
    
    
    Snack Shake if hungry
    Jocko Mölk
    Collagen
    Creatine
    
    
    Water Electrolyte during exercise
    Gorilla Collagen
    Re-Lyte
    
    
    Sleep if needed
    ZMA (has magnesium)
    
    
    Sources
    
    
    Cerule
    StemEnhance Ultra
    Cyactiv
    PlasmaFlo
    
    
    SuppGrade Labs
    DAKE
    Magnesuim
    Masszymes
    Minerals 101
    Organs 101
    
    
    Time—Line
    Mitopure
    
    
    Amazon
    Re-Lyte Electrolytes
    Gorilla Mind Collagen
    
    
    SNAC Supplements
    ZMA
    
    
    Modalert
    Modapharma.org
    
    
    VITALITYbits
    www.energybits.com
    
    
    Lugol’s Iodine
    www.jcrowsllc.com
    
    
    HEB
    FinaFlex Creatine
    Ancient Nutrition Collagen
  15. Ray Thompson says:

    Going out on a limb here but I predict @Ray will fart several times today without any climate impact.

    Noted. I will make an effort to comply. It may difficult as that last expulsion did not go as planned and contained an inadvertent surprise. Any further effort today will need to be done with much caution.

    12
  16. MrAtoz says:

    Going out on a limb here but I predict @Ray will fart several times today without any climate impact.

    Agree, unless it is one of those special Mr. Ray bun-flappers. Then, all bets are off.

  17. MrAtoz says:

    A year ago, I bought a device called a “Happy Light” from Amazon which is good, but is a desk-mount and causes LOTS of glare. I need to figure out a way to hang it from the ceiling. 

    There may be something to “red light” therapy, but I’ve not tried that. I would like to try an IR sauna for a month if I can find a reasonalbe spa to do it in. MrsAtoz is already talking about redoing the main bath in our new house. There is room for a 1-2 seat IR sauna and a wheel chair access shower (when we need a wheel chair).

  18. Greg Norton says:

    Supplements and medical procedures ala Ray Kurzweil are the only way we will live longer and not look like living skeletons. Kurzweil has been stacking for decades. He is 76 and looks it. By the time he hits 90, he will be a prune unless there is some medical breakthrough to reverse aging.
     

    Kurzweil has fantasies about living long enough to see tech which allows him to upload his mind into a computer and, down the road, into a new robot body.

    The man isn’t playing with a full deck.

  19. Greg Norton says:

    Hashtag#PulitzerPrizePervie
     

    Assume pedo in DC unless proven otherwise.

    Yummy pizza is a favorite dish inside the Beltway.

  20. Greg Norton says:

    Assume pedo in DC unless proven otherwise.
     

    BTW, after cataloging my father in law’s porn stash for the estate after he passed, I put guys who have the Bang Bang kink into a “pedo adjacent” category.

  21. Lynn says:

    I”m not much for supplements, but the D3 and B12 and the one for better vision seem to be working for me.  

    Vitamin for better vision ?  Probably too late for me.  My right eye just went from -6.25 to -7.00.

  22. Lynn says:

    I am so tired of all of the failed predictions

    I fully remember the predictions of the Ice Age that was going to descend upon the states. Ice dozens of feet thick as far south as the TN KY border. Anything above that line was going to be unlivable within a dozen or so years. Crops were going to fail and half the population was going to starve. Really dire predictions. We must do something. Like buying their books and paying them lots of money to speak on the topic.

    I remember the predictions of Al Bore. The U.S. would be a scorched desert by the year 2010 if we did not do something. Something like buying his book. That little conceited twerp Greta Thunberg (who has no real education in anything) predicted we were going to be sweltering in caves because the earth would not be livable above ground unless we did something. Something being paying her lots of money to speak at conventions.

    Global Ice Age, Global Warming, Silent Spring, Mass Starvations across the globe have all been pushed heavily over the last 50 years.  I am waiting for the biggie, oxygen reduction in the global air supply supposedly due to reduction of the Amazon Forest.

    Greta is now demonstrating and making speeches for Palestine to be a country taking over all of the Israeli land. She wears a head scarf now.

  23. Gavin says:

    “Gray” days

    Growing up and midlife I enjoyed the grey days, as I was less anxious, for no reason I can fathom. Now, I would rather see the sun.

  24. Lynn says:

    “Houston mayor John Whitmire orders return to office for all city employees”

        https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/houston-work-from-home-20036252.php

    “All City of Houston employees will transition full-time to their assigned offices beginning Monday, Feb. 1, 2025. ”

    I predict that many of them will retire with Houston’s overly generous pension plan.

    Oh wait, there I go making predictions.

  25. Lynn says:

    “If you own insured property anywhere in California, stand by for a very expensive surprise”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/01/if-you-own-insured-property-anywhere-in.html

    “The new policy affects the backstop for California’s Fair Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort, which sells fire-damage policies to homeowners who can’t get coverage elsewhere.”

    “The worry is that the Fair Plan lacks the resources to pay for the quickly escalating cost of the fires, which have destroyed tens of thousands of structures.”

    “The rules change means insurance companies can bill their customers if they are forced to bail out the plan, which has an estimated $200 million in cash and $2.5 billion in reinsurance, according to data it reported last year.”

    “That is likely not enough to cover the Fair Plan’s share of the losses from the fires, forecast at up to $6 billion by analysts at Evercore ISI.”

    Get ready, here it comes.

    All of the insurance companies in California will spread their losses across the entire nation. State Farm was smart and got out early.

  26. Greg Norton says:

    I predict that many of them will retire with Houston’s overly generous pension plan.

    Oh wait, there I go making predictions

    The City of Houston is technically insolvent due to that plan. Whitmire‘s sister-in-law started the mess on this trajectory 40 years ago.

  27. lpdbw says:

    re: Vitamin C

    There is a theory, backed up by anecdotes, that your requirement for Vitamin C is largely dependent on your diet.

    The less fruits and vegetables you eat, the less Vitamin C you need.

    Eskimos ( I hate calling them Inuit, even if it’s what they want) and Arctic explorers who eat mostly meat don’t suffer from scurvy.  Dr. Shawn Baker has been 100% carnivore for 8 years; Dr. Ken Berry for over 5.  Both have asked “When do I get the scurvy I was promised?”

    6
    1
  28. EdH says:

    Re: Vitamin advice.

    “Trust in the force, young Jedi!”

    Avoid Polar Bear liver.

    Once I finish my Ph.d degree in Astrology I will be able to dispense nutrition advice with authority…

  29. Ray Thompson says:

    unless it is one of those special Mr. Ray bun-flappers

    I save those for when I am exiting an airplane. The people behind me have no idea who fouled the air. The look on the faces as the people exit the jetway is priceless. In the confined spaces of the airplane aisle there is simply no escape.

  30. Lynn says:

    I predict that many of them will retire with Houston’s overly generous pension plan.

    Oh wait, there I go making predictions

    The City of Houston is technically insolvent due to that plan. Whitmire‘s sister-in-law started the mess on this trajectory 40 years ago.

    Several of the Houston city employees took lump sump distributions in the ultra low interest time period, bankrupting the plan.  Lump sum distributions are no longer allowed as far as I know.

    Several city employees are now taking their pensions and still continuing to work.  The plan is that generous.

  31. Lynn says:

    My Nutraceutical Stack. I eat two meals a day. Bacon/steak/eggs in the am and a steak in the afternoon. Carnivore style diet. I call it dirty carnivore because I use spices and seasonings. I try to walk in the afternoon sunshine to enhance vitamin D. I will eat off carnivore during holiday meals.

    Do you cook all of those steaks inside on the stove or outside on a grill ?

  32. Lynn says:

    Tech nerd Bryan Johnson thinks he can live to 186 by eating vegan, exercise, meditation, and supplements. He is kidding himself on vegan, exercise, and meditation. There are plenty of people who have done this and lived no longer than anybody else. Have you ever seen someone 100+ that didn’t look like dessicated leather over a skeleton? Supplements and medical procedures ala Ray Kurzweil are the only way we will live longer and not look like living skeletons. Kurzweil has been stacking for decades. He is 76 and looks it. By the time he hits 90, he will be a prune unless there is some medical breakthrough to reverse aging.  I take my stack as health insurance. I will be lucky to live to my 90’s and I don’t want to be a dried up drooling mummy (Hi, Mr. Ray).

    A friend of mine is turning 100 in February.  He has not been able to walk for about five years now (neuropathy) and has a little bit of dementia.  His four kids are keeping him in a nursing home in Kerrville, Texas against his wishes.

    He was a copilot on a B-24 in the Pacific in WWII.  He has had many problems over the years with blood clots in his lungs and strokes from flying too high to get away from the Japanese Zeros.  His chest looks like somebody played tic tac toe all over it from all the lung blood clot removals.  He also was called up for the Korean war and missed flying on the day the Russian MIGs showed up and shot down half of the B-24s.  He retired from the Air Force as a Lt Colonel after being XO of Kelly AFB in San Antonio.  He has buried two wives.

    Life is unpredictable.  Make the best of it you can.

  33. Gavin says:

    Just watched the Starship 7 test flight. Good launch, booster catch went well, Ship lost contact just after separation, and declared lost.

  34. EdH says:

    Just watched the Starship 7 test flight. Good launch, booster catch went well, Ship lost contact just after separation, and declared lost.

    Models S-1 through S-7 were not entirely successful.”    – R. Daystrom

  35. Greg Norton says:

    Models S-1 through S-7 were not entirely successful.”    – R. Daystrom

    Blacula!

  36. drwilliams says:

    Megyn Kelly Reveals Stunning Comment From CA ‘Woke’ Friend Who Lost Home in Fires

    “My friend who lives in California, whose house burned – this is my one woke friend. I love this woman dearly, but she’s woke. Amazingly, we’ve maintained our friendship, we kinda just don’t talk about these subjects much. But she’s woke. And she’s like, ‘MK, everyone I know is ready to vote Republican. Everyone I know.’ All of her woke friends, all of her Dem friends. We’re all talking about how soon we can get Republican leadership into these offices. I mean, that is saying something.”

    https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2025/01/16/megyn-kelly-comments-on-la-fires-and-woke-friend-n2184415

    Could have applied some thought before November 7. Now it’s too much like “better suck up to the republicans who can send us money so we don’t have to be responsible for our years of bad choices.”

    So, yeah, welcome if you’ve finally seen the light, but after four years of Biden there is no money left. None. Nada. Zip.

    Cali has the biggest economy of all the United States, and if it were a country it would rank fifth. The voters and the pols have spent years pizzing it down the drain. Listen closely and you can hear me playing the world’s smallest violin.

  37. Greg Norton says:

    Several city employees are now taking their pensions and still continuing to work.  The plan is that generous.

    My immediate “member manager” at CGI was what I call “Cop Army” – think KISS Army but with less emphasis on music and more on the fascism.

    20 years Army. 10 years city cop. Pensions from both. Then he went to work at CGI to pour as much money as he could into the ESOP plan, which sold employees the stock at a discount without any restriction on resale timing.

    He was clueless when it came to the tech work. I believe he took Java classes at night at the local community college, but he wasn’t even in the same league as the new grad CS hires.

  38. Greg Norton says:

    Cali has the biggest economy of all the United States, and if it were a country it would rank fifth. The voters and the pols have spent years pizzing it down the drain. Listen closely and you can hear me playing the world’s smallest violin.

    Your retirement money is invested in the California economy.

    Even Musk still has a huge stake in California despite relocation of HQ operations to Texas for his various grifts.

  39. nick flandrey says:

    Vitamin for better vision ?  

    – lutein and something with a z I get at costco.   My GP actually recommended it.   It supposedly softens the eye,  helping with age related farsightedness…

    n

    https://www.costco.com/trunature-vision-complex-lutein–zeaxanthin-140-softgels.product.100003048.html

  40. drwilliams says:

    “Your retirement money is invested in the California economy.”

    Not so much.

  41. nick flandrey says:

    Walgreens CEO makes stunning claim about the impact locking goods up has had on the industry

    By ALICE WRIGHT FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

    Published: 15:02 EST, 16 January 2025 | Updated: 17:02 EST, 16 January 2025 

    Walgreens’ CEO has admitted that locking up items to avoid shoplifting has not worked – and it will close stores instead.

    Not only has the practice not curbed theft, it has dramatically hit sales. 

    Over the past few years, major retailers like Walgreens, CVS, Walmart, and Target have increasingly resorted to locking up everyday items such as toothbrushes, deodorant, laundry detergent, coffee, and even milk. 

    The practice has sparked customer frustration, with many complaining about the inconvenience of waiting for an employee to unlock basic necessities. 

    During an earnings call on Friday, Walgreens CEO Tim Wentworth made a startling admission. 

    Despite these measures, the company reported a 52 percent increase in ‘shrinkage,’ the retail term for inventory lost to theft. 

    When you lock things up … you don’t sell as many of them. We’ve kind of proven that pretty conclusively,” Wentworth admitted. 

    – now they will just close stores.  

    n

  42. Greg Norton says:

    – now they will just close stores.  

    We stopped at the Walgreens closest to the Oak Alley plantation outside New Orleans around a year ago. Half of the store was locked up in a glass case, and, as far as I could tell, there were only two employees in the entire store, not counting the pharmacist.

    The point of the trip was to get zinc oxide cream, something a Walgreens should have, and we came away empty handed.

    Again, however, Walgreens bit hard on the agenda four years ago so I’m not feeling bad for the chain or the employees. Their Subcontinent pharmacists in particular seemed to delight in denying prescriptions for that “I” word medicine once they got the word that they could be rough on the customers over that purchase.

  43. lpdbw says:

    re: locking stuff up

    My GF, who is a lib, won’t buy cosmetics and beauty supplies at Walmart any more, since they make you shop in a fenced-off portion of the store, and check out separately. It’s just too much trouble.

    She’s incapable of connecting the dots as to WHY it’s this way.

    I love her anyway, but jeez sometimes it’s hard to remain quiet.

  44. Gavin says:

    When you lock things up … you don’t sell as many of them

    Partly because thieves keep thievin’, but become more creative. E.g. if you add security wires, they will first steal pliers, then cut the wires. If you insert security tabs they will take the product out of the box, and if you put it on a secured peg, they will find a way to cut / break the packaging around the peg. If it’s in a locked cabinet, it becomes a social engineering attack, or a product return scam. And all of that will happen because you don’t have enough employees to open the cabinets or watch for the other thefts, and the ones you have are not paid enough to care.

  45. Lynn says:

    “Tax Burden By State”

       https://areaocho.com/from-mrs-medic/

    “The lowest 5 are:

    1. Alaska
    2. Wyoming
    3. New Hampshire
    4. Florida (tie]
    5. Tennessee (tie)”

    I am surprised.  I thought Texas would have been in the lowest five.  I guess that our property taxes are too high (they are !)

  46. Lynn says:

    Here come the hard freeze to South Texas !  28 F Monday morning with a snow mix starting at 2pm.  Then 20 F on Wednesday morning.  That is a hard freeze for us. 

       https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/richmond?cm_ven=localwx_10day

    And it has not been a decade since the last hard freeze in Feb 2021.  Calling Mr. Sol, Mr. Sol to the white phone !

  47. Lynn says:

    Again, however, Walgreens bit hard on the agenda four years ago so I’m not feeling bad for the chain or the employees. Their Subcontinent pharmacists in particular seemed to delight in denying prescriptions for that “I” word medicine once they got the word that they could be rough on the customers over that purchase.

    You gotta spell it out of me, I am just a dumb old Aggie.  What is “I” word medicine ?

  48. Lynn says:

    When you lock things up … you don’t sell as many of them

    Partly because thieves keep thievin’, but become more creative. E.g. if you add security wires, they will first steal pliers, then cut the wires. If you insert security tabs they will take the product out of the box, and if you put it on a secured peg, they will find a way to cut / break the packaging around the peg. If it’s in a locked cabinet, it becomes a social engineering attack, or a product return scam. And all of that will happen because you don’t have enough employees to open the cabinets or watch for the other thefts, and the ones you have are not paid enough to care.

    There is a video of a guy in a Walgreens / CVS setting the display case locking mechanism on fire to get it open.

       https://www.youtube.com/shorts/dI1bJmqsz8E

  49. Greg Norton says:

    I am surprised.  I thought Texas would have been in the lowest five.  I guess that our property taxes are too high (they are !)

    Florida has a homestead exemption which limits the growth of the property tax assessment to a low single digit percentage every year and features a questionably Constitutional “portability” clause, allowing a homeowner to transfer their exemption value to another property.

  50. Greg Norton says:

    You gotta spell it out of me, I am just a dumb old Aggie.  What is “I” word medicine ?

    Ok. Ivermectin.

    This isn’t Facecrack or Twitter/X.

  51. Lynn says:

    “Catapult Launch Blows Open Cockpit Door”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZIMut7qt08

    Hah !  Looks like a blast. That is a Navy C-2 Greyhound.

    My uncle used to say it was the greatest thrill ride on the planet, 0 to 120 mph in 100 feet.

  52. MrAtoz says:

    Do you cook all of those steaks inside on the stove or outside on a grill ?

    Most steaks are made in an air fryer. Eggs/bacon in a pan on the stove. I will make small steaks in a pan with butter sautee.

  53. Ray Thompson says:

    5. Tennessee (tie)”

    Most of that has to do with the high sales tax on everything, even groceries. I even pay tax on my water, but not the sewer. Water because it is something I am purchasing; sewer is a service. The state tax rate is 7.75%, the county adds another 2%, which is the maximum allowed by law, for a total of 9.75%.

    There is a movement arising to no longer tax groceries. I don’t think it will pass.

  54. EdH says:

    Starship explosion:

    Wow.  I figured someone must have had eyes and a camera on it, but was thinking military, not Disney…

  55. Ken Mitchell says:

     I figured someone must have had eyes and a camera on it, but was thinking military, not Disney…

    Military imagery wouldn’t be released on Twitter, or within weeks of the explosion.  And it’s clearly a cruise ship passenger, not a Disney employee shooting the video. Either she knew when & where to look, or she’s incredibly lucky.  

    But with almost everybody having a cell phone with photo/video camera, and willing to post it on X/Fakebook/TikTok, I suspect that very few things are NOT recorded these days.  Which mostly falsifies UFO and Bigfoot and Nessie sighting reports. If they existed, they’d be on video.

  56. Bob Sprowl says:

     I’ve bought cook books, watched a hundred or more videos on YouTube, and I’m still a terrible cook.  Never been successful at following a recipe with three exceptions. 

    I’ve never gotten anything tasty out of the air frier.  I burn most things I cook on the stove.  If I can’t grill it or thaw it in the microwave, I don’t fix it.  The toaster oven was a waste of money; haven’t plugged it in in a couple of years.  Haven’t used the oven since I moved in as I can’t figure out how to get it to work and I no longer care.  I even screw up hamburgers to the point that I don’t even try fixing them anymore, they taste so bad my dog won’t eat them.

    I hate cooking.  It is something I really hate doing. 

    Please don’t make suggestions, I won’t reply and I won’t try them.

    A major part of the problem is that my taste buds didn’t die they are just so screwed up they make things I use to like taste bad and the food at restaurants I loved, now tastes bad also. 

  57. drwilliams says:

    @Bob Sprowl

    It might be worthwhile to look up “burning mouth syndrome”. 

  58. JimM says:

    One or a few batteries at the Moss Landing power plant are on fire again. It doesn’t look like it will spread. The learning curve for managing those batteries should be shorter than this.

  59. nick flandrey says:

    OR it could be that no matter what you do, some of them will catch on fire.

    n

  60. Lynn says:

    Here come the hard freeze to South Texas !  28 F Monday morning with a snow mix starting at 2pm.  Then 20 F on Wednesday morning.  That is a hard freeze for us. 

       https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/tx/richmond?cm_ven=localwx_10day

    And it has not been a decade since the last hard freeze in Feb 2021.  Calling Mr. Sol, Mr. Sol to the white phone !

    They just changed the 20 F on Wednesday morning to 19 F and a high of 31 F.  This keeps on getting better and better.  

    When I was at TXU, we hated days where the temperature was below freezing the entire day.   That meant that the electric strip heaters in the apartments would be on all day long and our 125 generating power plants would be running at 105% power all day long. We would even start our blackout diesel generators, mostly supercharged locomotive motors.

    They have been running coal trains past my house for 24 hours per day for the last week.  Looks like they are getting ready.  I think all four coal plants are online now at the plant five miles away from my house (Parrish).

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

  61. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m taking extra fuel to the BOL this weekend.  Hope I don’t need the gennie up there, or the supplemental heat.   I guess the propane heat in the garage will be  a priority…  so much for getting networking and cams up.

    I also hope we don’t lose power here while I’m gone, or I’ll be back to baby sit while the wife and kids are at the BOL.

    Got plenty of food…

    n    

  62. Lynn says:

    Four really bad things happened in the Feb 2021 freeze.  One, the wind turbines accumulated ice on their blades to the pressure drop across the blade.  Wind turbines north of the Mason-Dixon generally have heater strips in their blades to melt the ice.  But the heater strips take half of the power generated so they are a compromise.  Here in the South, our wind turbines do not have heaters.  So the wind turbines trip offline due to vibration caused by the unequal weight of the ice.  That was 20,000 MW.

    Two, the falling ice coated the solar farm panels.  There are no heaters in the solar panels.  That was 3,000 MW.

    Then ERCOT shut off the power to the Permian Basin gas fields.  The wellheads started freezing up as their ethylene glycol systems failed due to the loss of power to their electric circulation pumps.  So the natural gas system in Texas failed.  About a quarter of the natural gas power plants in Texas do not have fuel oil backup due to EPA restrictions so they all tripped offline Sunday night.  Many of the chemical plants and refineries tripped offline also due to the lack of natural gas and triggered their emergency systems that had to have outside power to keep from blowing up.

    Then the inlet cooling water channel at STP nuclear power plant (Bay City) froze over.  One of the 1150 MW nukes survived, the other one tripped Sunday night at the exact wrong moment.  They did not get the tripped nuke back online until Thursday.

    ERCOT then managed to catch a falling knife as they lost 40,000 MW of power generation in less than two hours.  They rapidly cut power all over the place and managed to catch the system demand at 45,000 MW.  ERCOT stayed at that 45,000 MW continuously for the next four days.

    Hopefully things go better this time.  We have more gas turbines that have a week’s worth of diesel fuel on site now.   Maybe 5,000 MW.  And we have more solar panels, about 17,000 MW more.

  63. Alan says:

    >>I hate cooking.  It is something I really hate doing. 

    Please don’t make suggestions, I won’t reply and I won’t try them.

    @Bob, as you asked, no suggestions, just a reminder that you’ve got people here ready to listen if you change your mind.

    —–

    Good night all…

  64. brad says:

    My biggest takeaway from all the “climate change/global warming/ice age” is that it is all about money.

    Latest from Google: They are going to pay mega-millions to some Indian company that promises to take a bunch of invasive trees and turn them into charcoal. Supposedly 100,000 tons of charcoal. Whether there are 100,000 tons of such trees, and where they pull the energy to toast them, and how the transport works (surely not…diesel?). All those questions remain unanswered. But it’s green!

    I wonder who is really getting the money, and why.

    Climate change is the biggest scam.

    Yes, but the thing I do believe: we impact way too much of the surface area. Not enough left for bugs and wildlife and such, especially not in fertile regions.

    Arctic explorers who eat mostly meat don’t suffer from scurvy.

    Dunno about arctic explorers, but Eskimos (Inuit) eat the whole animal. Lots of organs contain Vitamin C. Also, they have adapted over many generations, for example, their livers are apparently pretty different from ours.

    the cost of educating illegal migrant students

    The trade school where I teach the occasional course, has five “integration” classes for immigrants. The goal is to get their education to the point that they can actually take trade-school classes. Apparently, the most challenging classes are the ones with immigrants who cannot read and write, not in any language.

    Of course, it’s mostly young, healthy males, often having “lost” their papers, who think milk and honey flow down European streets. WTF are we doing, allowing them in, in such huge numbers?

    I like the once-planned-now-on-ice plan of sending them to Rwanda, while their asylum applications are processed. If economic migrants didn’t get to stay here while the bureacracy grinds along, a lot fewer of them would make the trip. The ones who genuinely need asylum could then be processed a lot faster.

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