Still warm. Getting clearer. The forecast is for clearing over the weekend. There was also talk of more winter. Didn’t see it yesterday. It got to 82F despite the overcast. Only cleared around dusk and only on the north side of town. Perhaps today will be nicer.
Spent all day either running errands or napping. Every half hour of down time had me sleeping. I was simply up too late reading, and paid the price. The rest of the day was moving from appointment to appointment.
Crock pot dinner was easy enough and delicious- chicken drumsticks and veg in the Crockpot stewed chicken flavor mix.
Today I’ve got a couple of pickups to do. Unfortunately they are all over town, so I’ll have more driving than I’d like. Then I’ve got to get the house ready for extra kids. D2 is having a couple friends over to get ready for a school dance. D1 is volunteering to chaperone a Girl Scout function. W1 wants a lot less of my stuff out and stacked when we have people over.
I’ve been working on it. Really I need to get sale stuff out of the house. And not bring more in.
And edit some of the other stuff piling up.
Maybe next week.
Stack!
nick
The local UPS Store is starting to look as trashed as the Kohl’s thanks to Amazon returns. The bin behind the counter for those packages gets larger every time I drop something off.
I used an Amazon vendor for a replacement print head for our HP OfficeJet, and the mechanism arrived dripping with ink, clearly used. The added insult is that the printer still displayed the error message about the print head being defective after the swap.
I don’t think it helps that the UPS store’s next door neighbor is now the Trippiez Smoke Shop instead of the Subway which was there before.
The upside of Trippiez is that the parking lot at the new Tim Horton’s, strategically located across the street at the turnaround lane, is always full.
I put beer money into the Tim Horton’s parent company stock recently.
Currently 68F, so no cold front yet.
Some lightening on the horizon, so maybe clearing soon.
Coffee is especially tasty this morning.
n
Big storm last night close to me. A tornado touched down briefly. Two people were killed. You guessed it. They lived in a mobile home that was not properly secured to the ground.
I have this theory about tornados. They are attracted to aluminum. Especially the aluminum boxes that contain meth.
Thoughts And A Warning
Part of tRump’s tax plan is eliminating income tax on Seniors SS.
Sign me up!!!
Don’t take our slaves away…
We love our low cost labor, that’s afraid to rock the boat or push back…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14371013/Entitled-residents-ritzy-east-coast-hamlet-meeting-deported.html
n
Hey all, I’ve updated the comment plugins, so if you have any unusual problems or behaviors, let me know.
I’ll be updating the base WP install later if the comment updates went well.
n
Test edit
Me too. I get taxed on almost 50% of my SS earnings. If it were not for the SS taxes I would not pay any income tax.
I really would like for TN to drop the sales tax on groceries. That is a tax that is really unfair to low income families. The stupidity of the system is that people on food stamps, get their money from taxes, then pay sales tax on that money they got from the government (well, other taxpayers). The government is effectively taxing itself.
I also that utilities should be tax free. I currently pay about $10.00 a month on my water bill in sales tax. I am not exactly certain what is getting taxed. I think it is the sewer and trash portion of my bill from the city.
I like the idea, but $1T expenditure every 90 days means it is probably not going to happen.
Deleting $44B of the USAID budget extends that by about 4 days, for example.
A wet night here in the California high desert, a half of a tenth of an inch! Whoot!!
Can you bring back Gravatars?
Can you bring back Gravatars?
Can you bring back Gravatars?
Three times, Sir, three times.
Was that the town with the “scandal” this summer of the $120/lb lobster salad?
Yup!
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/lobster-salad-cost-hamptons-new-york-b2563634.html
The going rate for a quarter pound lobster roll was $30 in the Boston Metro this fall, even at locals-only places like we hit in Portland, ME.
The Highroller Lobster Company. You will have to work to find the restaurant, but it is worth the effort according to my wife.
I had the hot dog, which was a relatively pricey but still more affordable $7.99 IIRC.
The iPad just updated to iOS 18.3 (code name: “UCFA, unpaid content farm animal”).
it looks like the microphone works again. But I will turn it all off i suppose.
“Thur. Feb. 6, 2025 – I’m a lumberjack and I’m ok…”
Wait, does your wife know about this ?
“Fri. Feb. 7, 2025 – I’m the urban spaceman baby, I can fly, I’m a supersonic guy…”
More claims for the wife to judge on.
Part of tRump’s tax plan is eliminating income tax on Seniors SS.
Sign me up!!!
You do realize that one way of not paying tax on Social Security is getting zero Social Security by means testing Social Security. Basically the means test will be “do you own a house?”.
I figure the next dumbrocrat President after Trump will means test Social Security so he/she/it can give free condoms to Gaza.
Did you keep “…I dress in women’s clothing, and hang around in bars…” from her?
(Thanks Monty!)
@Lynn
There had better be eight years of Vance after Trump. With a little luck most of the PLT’s will be starved after twelve years, or requested euthanasia.
“BREAKING: Musk Says His DOGE Team Uncovered $100 BILLION in Medicare and Medicaid Waste After Gaining Access to the System”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/breaking-musk-exposes-shocking-100-billion-waste-medicare/
“In a bombshell revelation that could shake the foundations of American healthcare, Elon Musk, leading the charge under President Trump’s newly minted Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has uncovered what he describes as a staggering “$100B of taxpayer money” wasted by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).”
I cannot believe that there is this much low hanging fruit ??? This must be outright fraud.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
@Lynn
There had better be eight years of Vance after Trump. With a little luck most of the PLT’s will be starved after twelve years, or requested euthanasia.
Apparently Don Jr and JD are going to fight it out for 2028. But I am wondering who the dark horse from the commie side will be ? I know people who would love to vote Nuisance in for eight years. They do not care that Nuisance is incompetent.
Don Jr. appears to be a womanizer. He wouldn’t win the primary against Vance.
DeSantis will try again. Trump is a liberal Republican, and people will want tighter fiscal discipline beyond vetting the rackets like USAID.
I don’t believe that Trump and DeSantis had a serious falling out, however.
Thanks to DeSantis working with Florida’s new Junior Senator on a creative interpretation of state and local laws, Ryan Wesley Routh is rotting in a Martin County jail cell at least through September, pssobily longer.
Bondi probably would have been on a DeSantis short list for Attorney General.
We still need to know all the nominees’ Kenny Boys, however. No more Shrubs.
@Jenny – “True Stories” was the Talking Heads follow up to “Stop Making Sense”.
WarnerDiscovery dumped it on YouTube this week along with a bunch of other IP which has essentially been written off, including, surprisingly, “Oh God”.
Other than David Byrne, the Talking Heads do not appear in the film, but they wrote many of the songs.
As far as importance in film history, this is the film which marked John Goodman graduating from 70s/80s Crest and Levis TV commercials to being a major star.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LhTS_RSQxw4
“New DOT Secretary Makes Big Changes To Fuel Economy Standards”
https://www.carpro.com/blog/new-dot-secretary-makes-big-changes-to-fuel-economy-standards
“There’s a new head of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT). Last week, Sean Duffy was officially sworn in its 20th Secretary. Secretary Duffy was administered the oath of office by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas at the U.S. Supreme Court. His first order of business after being sworn in was signing a memorandum directing staff to start the process of resetting Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards. USDOT says it will ultimately lower the price of a car for American consumers and eliminate the electric vehicle mandate.”
About time to stop the crazy.
Trying to get out ahead of the DOGE pound
Money games. It was never “worth” more than Ford.
n
A dealer is not going to carry much below $25k on their floor plan these days. Jerry knows this.
Anything introduced below that price point will be gamed as the Maverick was when the base price was $19,500.
>>I like the idea, but $1T expenditure every 90 days means it is probably not going to happen.
Deleting $44B of the USAID budget extends that by about 4 days, for example.
We’ve become immune to hearing about sums of money in the millions and billions and trillions. Might as well just use Monopoly money.
@Lynn
“The roundabout is to try to slow down traffic on my 30 mph street. I see people routinely running 50 mph and occasionally 70 mph.”
How long is the road? I could set up 30mph timed stoplights on the cheap with a base designed to tear the tranny out of a pickup with a lift kit if they try to run over them.
So what’s a ticket for 20mph over in your county? $500? Twice a day and Sundays off and that’s a quarter mil in county revenue per year.
Or do it the easy way: Put in cameras with radars and LPN’s. Anyone more than 10 over gets an administrative charge of $50 without a ticket–just enough to pay for the hardware. But the video and other data goes to the insurance company of the vehicle. Obscured plate or no insurance? Vehicle goes on the hot list for confiscation and the driver happens to be in the county lockup overflow agreement that is outsourced to Haiti.
I’d seek legislation making 70 in a 30 enforceable by privateers–shotgun or rifle.
“About time to stop the crazy.”
Easy: All government vehicles including all transportation for elected officials is required to meet cafe standards. Law enforcement excepted, but not security details.
The automated enforcement systems are illegal in Texas since 2019.
I imagine one to many members of the Legislature got caught on camera with their Bang Bang riding in the passenger seat.
The crazy thing is that many municipalities have long term contracts with the vendors so you may get the occasional red light ticket in the mail.
Biden Admin Filled Terrorist Coffers With Over $1,300,000,000 Before Trump Took Wrecking Ball To Foreign Aid
https://dailycallernewsfoundation.org/2025/02/04/biden-admin-filled-terrorist-coffers-with-over-1300000000-before-trump-took-wrecking-ball-to-foreign-aid/
Time for a consent decree agreement, where the Trump administration agrees to waive qualified immunity for all government employees actions that result in deaths by terrorist organizations. FJB and down.
Trying to remember a book title from the 80’s. Guy loses his fiancee to terrorists, vows to track them down. He follows every lead and discovers that it was some kind of false-flag op run by the U.S. government.
There are 7 other hydrogen class trucks? Who knew?
Prepping for the win.
D2’s friend that was over to get ready for the dance needed some allergy meds. Call her mom, get approval, dig thru box to find the exact thing she takes, even though it’s not something we take (zytec), confirm with mom, and kid is all set. Kid was with us at the BOL a couple of weekends ago, so we already went thru it once, with me finding both things she regularly takes in my bin – o meds.
n
LOL tRump rescinded plugs’ security clearance because he’s senile and a threat to national security. Payback is a bizatch.
A dealer is not going to carry much below $25k on their floor plan these days. Jerry knows this.
Anything introduced below that price point will be gamed as the Maverick was when the base price was $19,500.
This announcement is to stop larger vehicles from hitting $100K due to gas guzzler taxes for not meeting the 50 mpg CAFE. That will shut down the economy for larger vehicles like SUVs and Trucks. Or else all large SUVs and Trucks were going to come with a $20K gas guzzler tax. Redneck Ron was going to get angry and shoot up the Ford stealership.
There are 7 other hydrogen class trucks? Who knew?
Class 1 through Class 8 is the size and weight rating of the truck.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truck_classification
I thought that the old Kenworth long hood tractor truck that you could put a 23 liter Cat straight 8 cyclinder (450 continuous hp) into were Class 9 but I do not see that.
My F-150 4×4 is a Class 2a truck.
Or do it the easy way: Put in cameras with radars and LPN’s. Anyone more than 10 over gets an administrative charge of $50 without a ticket–just enough to pay for the hardware. But the video and other data goes to the insurance company of the vehicle. Obscured plate or no insurance? Vehicle goes on the hot list for confiscation and the driver happens to be in the county lockup overflow agreement that is outsourced to Haiti.
Red light cameras and speed cameras were outlawed in Texas several years ago.
My neighborhood has several speed cameras that can be directly operated by the sheriff’s department but we have not had them calibrated in several years. All speed detection equipment in Texas has to be calibrated every two years.
The 85 mph in a 30 mph ticket given out last week was not the highest ever. That privilege belongs to a young man with a GT V8 Mustang who was going 105 mph in my neighborhood 6 or 7 years ago. Since it was his third reckless driving felony ticket and he was under 18, the vehicle was seized and turned over to the Sheriff’s Department. They painted it black and white and used it as a daily driver. His father was hopping mad and sued Fort Bend County. He lost.
Trying to remember a book title from the 80’s. Guy loses his fiancee to terrorists, vows to track them down. He follows every lead and discovers that it was some kind of false-flag op run by the U.S. government.
Rush Limbaugh’s buddy Vince Flynn ? “American Assassin: A Thriller (1) (A Mitch Rapp Novel)” by Vince Flynn
https://www.amazon.com/American-Assassin-Thriller-Mitch-Novel/dp/1501180800?tag=ttgnet-20
Or do it the easy way: Put in cameras with radars and LPN’s. Anyone more than 10 over gets an administrative charge of $50 without a ticket–just enough to pay for the hardware. But the video and other data goes to the insurance company of the vehicle. Obscured plate or no insurance? Vehicle goes on the hot list for confiscation and the driver happens to be in the county lockup overflow agreement that is outsourced to Haiti.
BTW, the most common vehicles speeding in my neighborhood are empty school buses. I routinely see 4 or 5 of them in a row doing 40 to 34 mph. They even flipped one of the school busses a few years ago in one of our deep ditches when it bounced off the road. You can give a school bus driver a ticket in Texas but it is a paperwork nightmare.
@Lynn
“Red light cameras and speed cameras were outlawed in Texas several years ago.”
I’m too lazy to look up the law, but I suspect that it’s using them for ticketing that is outlawed. No ticket, no points on the license, just the facts to the insurance company.
The auto companies could do it at any time with the self-narcing cars they sell.
Heck, keep the goobermint out entirely, have a private company do it. No need to have the insurance info, just send the data to the top 20 insurance companies. Or make it public, so everyone can look: law enforcement, wives wondering where their cheating husbands really were, parents with teenage drivers…
“You can give a school bus driver a ticket in Texas but it is a paperwork nightmare.”
Send the data to the school district.
Speeding empty school bus injures someone, give their attorney the data and the dates of transmission to the school district.
@Lynn
1980’s. pre-dated Flynn’s work by nearly 20 years.
“Texas eyes 765-kV transmission lines in regional ‘transmission race’”
https://www.utilitydive.com/news/texas-puc-ercot-765-kv-transmission-lines-regional-transmission/738990/
“Utility regulators are concerned about the potential for costs to spiral and supply chain constraints to slow development.”
Apparently half of the new AI data centers are going in Texas and expected to triple our state electric demand in less than ten years.
“You can give a school bus driver a ticket in Texas but it is a paperwork nightmare.”
Send the data to the school district.
Speeding empty school bus injures someone, give their attorney the data and the dates of transmission to the school district.
All of the 1,200 ? school buses in our school district have GPS transmitters in them. They know what is going on.
Our school district has 36 elementaries (1st to 5th), 9 middle schools (6th), 9 junior highs (7th to 8th), and 8 high schools (9th – 12th). We have 4 elementaries, 1 middle school, 1 junior high, and 1 high under construction. Almost a billion dollars. They are most concerned about getting all those new schools open for Fall of 2025. They could care less about speeding school buses, shoot if the buses did not speed then they might need more buses.
Yup, it’s all good until county equipment kills someone and they claim immunity.
“The Rock”.
The left building is almost done. Site work on the other side started last year.
I didn’t know about the other three buildings shown in the bottom drawing.
https://www.switch.com/switch-announces-fifth-prime-expansion-with-development-of-exascale-data-center-campus-in-texas/
Don’t forget about the smaller servers which NVIDIA expects to sell in large numbers.
Yup, it’s all good until county equipment kills someone and they claim immunity.
Not County. There are five public school districts in Fort Bend County with about 230,000 ???students. Each school district is an entity unto itself.
More likely is that the Ford dealers will start to think about torching their floor plans and hire Redneck Ron to do the job with the understanding that it has to look like “Eco Terrorism”.
Trump repurposed DOGE from an Obama office:
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2025/02/07/the-dirty-secret-of-doge-dems-built-it-n3799582
Apparently there is some sort of comic con going on here in Orlando.
Whatever.
Had dinner with a high school friend and his wife. How did he get so old, when I’m still in my 20’s?
(For those keeping score, I’m 70).
>>Apparently half of the new AI data centers are going in Texas and expected to triple our state electric demand in less than ten years.
AI or EVs – pick one, can’t have both…
– the problem with craft beer is that for most people beer is beer. The next level, someone who will order an IPA or a stout or a wisse beer, will order which ever is available. Very few people, and indeed very few beers, rise to the level of people seeking them out. Even then, it has to be available when you want to drink it.
I had many a great meal and great pints at the Karl Strauss brewery in San Diego. I’d love to drink his amber. He even had a bottling and distribution deal eventually for one or two flavors. They didn’t taste the same as fresh of course. Which leads to buyer disappointment. Not a good feeling.
Micro brew is difficult to scale, because the part you love gets lost when it grows.
n
CyrusONE operates a big data center near me.
DataBank has a building on the same land. Different address.
They pulled a lot of new distribution line thru the corridor that feeds those facilities.
Between just those two, it’s 100MW if I’m reading that right…
n
Megacon. Just avoid the Orange County Convention Center area for the weekend.
Between just those two, it’s 100MW if I’m reading that right…
Looks like it. That is amazing.
When the AI replaces all of the white collar workforce, no one will be able to afford an EV.
I just found my retirement home:
4/2.5/2 single story in Clyde, Texas on 5 acres with three other buildings for $725K:
https://www.har.com/homedetail/468-s-hays-rd-clyde-tx-79510/6814292
“Beautiful 2381 sqft 4 Bedroom 2.5 bath on 4.8 oak tree filled acres. Pool, Pool house with half bath and kitchenette, three shops, one with solar panels, one 24×24 shop with a 24×24 carport, one 1500 sqft shop with a 25×50 lean to and a 750 sqft one bedroom living quarters. Also has a 400 sqft Building with a half bath and small kitchenette. Eula water and has a well for the sprinkler system.”
This is what I think that I would love to retire to. Even in Clyde, Texas.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/468+S+Hays+Rd,+Clyde,+TX+79510/@32.4055057,-99.5272241,47m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x8656be344af602a1:0x1be58b4a1342bef7!8m2!3d32.4056025!4d-99.5258761!16s%2Fg%2F11gv179zlr?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDIwNS4xIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
My daughter can live in the “750 sqft one bedroom living quarters” that I cannot find in the pictures. Ah, I found it, it is a separate building from the complex with a separate driveway. Weird.
https://www.bing.com/maps?cp=32.405405%7E-99.526689&lvl=19.1&style=h
Bummer, no hot tub in the pool.
https://www.zerohedge.com/political/recycling-makes-plastic-pollution-worse
Lotta people been making this point. We collect it, then stack it, then bury it. We generally don’t recycle it.
The point about rinsing and hot water use is especially telling.
n
@lynn, abilene is undergoing a bit of a Renaissance… maybe, and kinda.
That’s pretty far from anything though.
n
@lynn, abilene is undergoing a bit of a Renaissance… maybe, and kinda.
That’s pretty far from anything though.
You should see where I lived 45 miles west of Abilene in Sweetwater back in the 1980s. And I worked 35 miles further west in Colorado City, 5 miles south of town. It was a heck of a 35 mile daily drive each way in 115 F or 4 F weather for several years.
My wife is from Abilene. She has lots of family there. Our best friends just moved to Abilene where their son has worked for 20+ years.
Dadgumit, 16 miles to the HEB in Abilene. I am six miles to my nearest HEB now.
16 miles is “Don’t forget the milk” distance.
Hey, only 3 miles to the Whataburger in Clyde, Texas. That is keeping it classy.
My wife can do her Keto diet there. Maybe I will drop my vegetarian diet and join her Keto diet.
Our son was born in Abilene 42 years ago. I barely remember it.
“Elon Musk Announces Customs and Border Protection Has Taken Over USAID Office Building”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/02/elon-musk-announces-customs-border-protection-has-taken/
Oh my goodness, that is hilarious.
I just found my retirement home:
4/2.5/2 single story in Clyde, Texas on 5 acres with three other buildings for $725K:
https://www.har.com/homedetail/468-s-hays-rd-clyde-tx-79510/6814292
362 miles to my parents home in Port Lavaca, Texas. That is a real downer.
Down 183, go through Austin (easier said than done), still on 183, go through Luling, go through Victoria, then PL.
>>That’s pretty far from anything though.
Isn’t that the point?
And as long as the ‘Big River flows there you won’t starve.
I guess there is a sportsball game coming up too. I’ll be missing that.
n
No problem. Mention you’ve forgotten, and ask your wife about it.
(Follow me for more relationship advice!)