Humid. Soaking wet humid. Yesterday and today. Gah. It started cool, but got hot, especially in the sun, and I expect more of the same today. I was sweating through my shirt by noon.
I did auction stuff in the morning but got over to help my buddy for a few hours in the afternoon. It was crazy hot in his shop space when the wind wasn’t blowing. Also very dirty. And the stuff we were moving was heavy. Yeah, I was filthy and soaked with sweat by the time I went to get D1 from school. Turns out she doesn’t want to walk home on sweaty hot days.
Today I’ve got several auction pickups to do, as well as help my buddy. I’m thinking I’ll start with him, then do the pickups, then the kid stuff. I’m busy. Days are full. And I’m still falling behind.
I’m overdue for another Costco run. I haven’t added any bulk food to the stacks in months. I’m actually a bit short on toilet paper. Rats ate my bucket of sugar. And I have projects stacked like firewood.
I guess I’ll steal a line from Oingo Boingo and sleep when I’m dead.
n
(and I’ll keep stacking all the other things, like solar panels and inverters. Stack something.)
Hi-Fi progress. Visited the https://teufel.de/ store in Cologne yesterday to listen to their speakers.
Looking like we might combine their Definion (top-level) main speakers with their (lower-level) Ultima surround sound speakers, a Denon X3800H receiver and a Yamaha CD-S303 CD player to create a hybrid “home cinema” system with improved stereo capabilities for listening to classical music via digital radio or from CD.
Waiting for the young man from Teufel to send me a price offer for the particular mix and match that we want. They have a lot of good bundles, but none was precisely what we needed.
The choices were partially dictated by W1 vetoing black for the main speakers. She is probably right, as the room is not enormous, and black towers would dominate it.
Interesting “clash” of generations when I realised the vendor knew all about home cinema, but not so much about hi-end music listening. The Teufel speakers certainly do a nice job of moving air, though.
It was locked at 65. His 65. My 65 is another deal because the name on the deed has changed. Spouse doesn’t count. Yeah, stupid. We talked about putting my name on the properties but it was too cold or too hot or a holiday weekend or something and suddenly it was too late.
The Over 65 is for the house and its acre.
They seem to be fine. They stay busy. I think if folks are unhappy with their names being #1 and #2 (because that’s their ear tag numbers) or Blacky and White Face, I’m going with Lawn and Mower.
Huff and Chuff?
Pop and Phooey?
I was an early patient for Acutane, and, after experiencing that, I wouldn’t let the dermatologist put my kid on that cr*p for a much milder case of acne.
I’ve noted incidents over the years where mass casualty events involving teenagers have included Acutane in the drug mix. IIRC, that was one of the meds involved in Columbine.
Johnson doesn’t have the votes either, realistically speaking, and he’s facing loss of control of the House next year.
The Republican majority in the chamber still rests on the four seats DeSantis delivered with his Redistricting plan in Florida.
DeSantis don’t surf, but other “Republicans” don’t want to take the kind of grief he’s endured doing necessary things like crushing Mickey’s nuts in Florida to make sure The Mouse stayed out of the 2022 Midterms with their hand picked Senate candidate challenging Little Marco.
Of course, DeSantis didn’t tell Iger to drain the river this Summer in Orlando with Super Mario and Donkey Kong filling the Disney hotels with Universal ticket holders.
Or release “Snow White”.
73F and raining. Oy. That kinda puts a crimp on things. Aluminum loading ramps and truck floors are slippery as [insert politician joke here] when wet.
It’s humid all right…
———–
Coffee in the mug, kids poked and prodded, and everyone made aware of the moistness in the environment.
My job is mostly done… mostly.
n
Today is Holocaust
Remembrance Day.
My neighbor had the tattoo. Hard to deny it when the old lady next door can tell you first hand. We’re losing that as they age out…
n
When I worked for EDS my office installed a computer system in a retirement home in Dallas for Jewish people. Some of the residents had serial numbers tattooed on their arms. Most were just children when they were branded. Probably all were separated from their families. My regret was not taking time to sit down with one or two of those people and listen to their story.
Rain stopped just long enough to get the kids out the door. Now it’s raining again.
and I’m off to help my buddy.
n
Klaus is a crook.
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/04/23/wef-klaus-schwab-is-a-crook1-n3802054
Yeah. OK. The new guy. is maybe too much to believe. heh – owns sharks with lasers on their heads.
… and may it never be forgotten. I spent some time over Easter speaking to W1’s nephew, 10, about the evils of the NSDAP regime. When he is 12, school will bring him to visit at least one of the holocaust remembrance sites. Dachau would be the nearest to him. I think that is soon enough to meet the nightmare in person, for a young person.
On a rather happier note, today is also Tag des Bieres. On 23 April 1516, the “Reinheitsgebot”, which restricted the ingredients of beer to water, barley and hops, was promulgated in Bavaria.
I have been there. On of my trips to Germany.
Yes, it was. I was glad that I went but I never want to return. Aside from remaining buildings, the ovens being the most sickening followed by the showers, the museum and the displays within were truly depressing. What those people endured was/is beyond belief. What one human can do to another is just despicable.
Even more astounding is the proximity to a town. The people in the town knew what was happening and did, or were unable to do, nothing. It would have been impossible to not smell the burning of human flesh. When Dachau was liberated the townspeople were made to walk through the place and shown the horrors.
My remaining IRA has recovered to slightly above the tRump dUmp. The market is still fluctuating. It will take 6 months to settle down.
Prepping is not just for the apocalypse. It’s also for when the main cook and bottle washer is ill but still needs to get the family fed with minimal effort. Had everything on hand, in freezer. Minimal chopping required.
—
I’ve been down with a bronchial ick the last few days.
Managed to pull together a pretty tasty, albeit simple, dinner last tonight.
Bacon and egg pie
Bacon and egg pie plus
Toss your thawed premade shells into the oven for a bit. Crack a bunch of eggs into a bowl, add a glug of milk, beat them with a fork. Snip the leftover bacon into a pan and cook. Run around opening windows as the smoke detector bellyaches that the heat is too high and it’s burning.
Drain the bacon, it’s crazy greasy so give it a quick rinse. Throw those frozen chopped onions you put in the freezer in a pan. Fry those too hot, too. Drop the cooked / rinsed bacon on top, give it all a stir and shut off the heat.
Pull the shells out of the oven. Pierce them to let the air out because you forgot earlier and now they look like something out of a b horror movie with their grotesquely distended pastryness.
Split the bacon and onion between the pie shells. Man that’s boring. Uncle in law kinda likes boring, so only make one fancy.
There’s most of a leftover tomato, de-seed it and rough chop into a pan. Add the last of that spinach. Cook it up. Ooohhh there’s a couple tablespoons of pesto left, and some Parmesan. That’ll do.
Add all that mess to one of the pies. Put the pies back into the oven on a large flat cookie sheet on a pulled out rack. Split the egg mix between them.
Sprinkle some pepper.
Gingerly slide rack back into the oven without spilling. Go read a book.
Wait awhile. Remember you didn’t turn the heat down from prepping the shells. Whoops. Remedy that unhappy situation before ruining the pies.
Pull them out as husband and teen daughter get home. Call uncle in law upstairs.
Eat.
Leftovers for tomorrow.
Yum.
About 15 minutes of active effort and two meals.
If you watch “Hogan’s Heroes” in hi def on MeTV, every now and then you will see flashes of Robert Clary’s tattoo from his time in Buchenwald.
A day trip to the DMV in Las Vegas going on here.
A friend has a vehicle that he needs to get into the trust from a deceased relative, they’re making it just as hard and expensive as they possibly can.
I am just along for the ride.
Read Rick Harrison’s book. The chapter about acquiring the license for the pawn shop is an education in crony politics in that city.
I just ordered a “Jase Case” of meds for the July cruise. I added some “cruise meds” they recommend. It’ll come to our new house. They offer Epipens now, too.
The leak in the pool has been located. A company came out and used pressurized gas in the discharge pipe to find the leak. That is where we suspected the leak was located. They used a sensitive microphone to listen for the leak. The company claimed they can find a leak within 10CM.
The leak was indeed in the return line. A craft that was spewing a significant amount of water. The pipe was beneath the concrete. The company cut the concrete, dug out the leak, repaired the pipe and, and patched the concrete. They did the repair while we were not at home.
When I opened the pool by taking off the winter cover it was a green slime pond. I had to pump it down and drain the pool. Refilling takes 72 hours of straight running with the hose. And it costs a little over $700.00 as I have to pay sewer, which is generally double the water bill.
At least I did not have to drain the pool again. Last year I had to drain it twice to patch a couple of cracks. That was expensive. I still have a very small crack I need to get to with pool putty.
What did you get? Link if possible.
The only meds I am taking on the cruise are my normal medications. I did add the Scopolamine patch. That will be applied when I get on the ship. It is better to start before any seasickness starts. I have a stateroom with a balcony so I will have a view of the ocean which will help. It may limit my excursions within the ship.
I am currently looking into medical insurance and trip insurance for the cruise. Getting sick on a ship can be very expensive.
I’m glad you mentioned this – I had been meaning to order a kit for a while now, but never did. I just placed my order for a Jase Case – no add-ons.
Sitting here waiting for the NDMV to finish torturing my friend, and perusing y-combinator articles on “vibe coding”, I am reminded of an old Vernor Vinge (RIP) novel.
In it the protagonist uses low level coding to spy on the bad guys through the network. I remember thinking at the time that it was unlikely, wouldn’t people be alert for such a thing?
But if all programmers ever know was “vibe coding”, for generations of ‘programming’, maybe?
I’m overdue for another Costco run. I haven’t added any bulk food to the stacks in months. I’m actually a bit short on toilet paper. Rats ate my bucket of sugar. And I have projects stacked like firewood.
I was going to go to Sam’s Club last Sunday but they and HEB were closed.
I will go Saturday. Maybe. I am having a low energy year.
“A woman hugs the man who fatally shot her brother and 22 more in a racist attack at a Texas Walmart”
https://www.chron.com/news/article/what-families-told-the-texas-walmart-gunman-who-20289132.php
I am sorry but I could not do that. And something else Jesus will have me doing pushups for in the afterlife.
The only meds I am taking on the cruise are my normal medications. I did add the Scopolamine patch. That will be applied when I get on the ship. It is better to start before any seasickness starts. I have a stateroom with a balcony so I will have a view of the ocean which will help. It may limit my excursions within the ship.
I am currently looking into medical insurance and trip insurance for the cruise. Getting sick on a ship can be very expensive.
Be sure to get the go back home on a medical jet insurance. That is a $100,000 trip home.
I am leery of Jase since I am so allergic to several antibiotics, Penicillin and Keflex being the major two.
Sitting here waiting for the NDMV to finish torturing my friend, and perusing y-combinator articles on “vibe coding”, I am reminded of an old Vernor Vinge (RIP) novel.
In it the protagonist uses low level coding to spy on the bad guys through the network. I remember thinking at the time that it was unlikely, wouldn’t people be alert for such a thing?
But if all programmers ever know was “vibe coding”, for generations of ‘programming’, maybe?
Name and URL of the book ? I do not remember Vinge writing a book like that.
I remember the Byte ??? article of the sysadmin who detected somebody sneaking into their company network 30+ years ago. It was a shocker.
I did auction stuff in the morning but got over to help my buddy for a few hours in the afternoon. It was crazy hot in his shop space when the wind wasn’t blowing. Also very dirty. And the stuff we were moving was heavy. Yeah, I was filthy and soaked with sweat by the time I went to get D1 from school. Turns out she doesn’t want to walk home on sweaty hot days.
Who does ? Walking uphill in the snow is much more pleasant than Houston’s sweatbox.
That is what I am looking into getting. Wife and I are at the age where taking a chance becomes more taking a chance. A couple hundred dollar policy is probably worth the peace of mind. Especially considering the price of the trip.
I want a policy that covers trip expenses and medical, including medical transport.
After what happened with my friend dying while in the Cayman Islands. Just getting the body home was expensive.
Perhaps he’s thinking of this book:
https://www.amazon.com/Cuckoos-Egg-Tracking-Computer-Espionage/dp/1668048167/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&dib_tag=se&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.vmpkg3-c0XR4jvD63Ajb0bef-t702MvBWsie62wNDUBErRf4d5H2FLGUagAqriMxxtJ88pbvgZ2XEX7WPXej9Wid3qHkjr1Y_ESKTXaUYQUCX6YWIPP9BdENJGf2W7QZwGJJjOScJhkJfWRYqr8ndJQaAP9j_C0vMHWy78QCfmwtCu4yMWewzpPtwiA8hWlRPAnA166O8wObymDxKr7joqVArwjwMIWPraQk6dPlyac.tQFifgHBDOhPTgqFVU-ieNlEtDqupsB9839x9dU5r4s&qid=1745435776&sr=1-1&tag=ttgnet-20
If you watch “Hogan’s Heroes” in hi def on MeTV, every now and then you will see flashes of Robert Clary’s tattoo from his time in Buchenwald.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Clary
Ah, LeBeau.
I can not watch Hogan’s Heros anymore after my mentor engineer described the 18 months in a German POW camp to me. He made 1.5 trips over Germany in 1943 in his B-17, he was the pilot since he was two weeks older than the copilot.
“US Can Produce Rare Earths If China Stops Exports–But There’s a Catch”
https://www.theepochtimes.com/article/us-can-produce-rare-earths-if-china-stops-exports-but-theres-a-catch-5843935?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=TheLibertyDaily
“China’s export restrictions on seven key manufacturing materials exposed a glaring absence of commercial processing capacity with few fast fixes on tap.”
“It could take up to five years to develop a domestic supply chain to supplant China’s global monopoly in processing rare earths into materials needed to produce everything from iPhones to F-35 fighter jets.”
“While the United States has most of the 17 rare earth elements and 50 critical minerals underground, it has no industrial capacity to refine them into processed metals and magnets, according to Melissa “Mel” Sanderson, American Rare Earths board member and Critical Minerals Institute co-chair.”
Yeah, the rare earth mines and the processing facilities will not pass current EPA standards. All of that rare earth processing uses horrible acids with horrible tailings that last forever. Dilution is not the solution in this case.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
On the road now, but this was a “slow zone” book. perhaps I am confusing authors, but I don’t think so. 30 years or so can play a lot of tricks on somebody’s mind.
—–
Stolls book was cool, too.
So, in fairness to the Nevada Department of motor vehicles I should say that my friend was actually very impressed by the intelligence and perseverance of the agent he got, tho the process of getting the appt was stupid, and after 80 minutes it was all taken care of correctly.
Sitting here waiting for the NDMV to finish torturing my friend, and perusing y-combinator articles on “vibe coding”, I am reminded of an old Vernor Vinge (RIP) novel.
In it the protagonist uses low level coding to spy on the bad guys through the network. I remember thinking at the time that it was unlikely, wouldn’t people be alert for such a thing?
But if all programmers ever know was “vibe coding”, for generations of ‘programming’, maybe?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibe_coding
“Vibe coding (or vibecoding) is programming technique dependent on artificial intelligence (AI), where a person describes a problem in a few sentences as a prompt to a large language model (LLM) tuned for coding. The LLM generates software, shifting the programmer’s role from manual coding to guiding, testing, and refining the AI-generated source code.[1][2][3] Vibe coding is claimed by its advocates to allow even amateur programmers to produce software without the extensive training and skills required for software engineering.[4] The term was introduced by Andrej Karpathy in February 2025[5][2][4][1] and listed in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary the following month as a “slang & trending” noun.[6]“
Yuck. Sounds like Hot Skillz.
Clary died recently.
Of the main cast, only Kenneth Washington is still alive.
I went to see the “Emergency” exhibit in LA three weeks ago. Not many of those guys are left.
Jase Case (5 antibios)
Plus
ADD-ON
Loperamide (OTC)
Scopolamine patch pk/4 patches
Ondansetron
Hydrocortisone 30g
Ivermectin (20 pack)
“So… is it over? And the surprising player that is holding the cards…” by James Hickman
https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/so-is-it-over-and-the-surprising-player-that-is-holding-the-cards-152673/
“Franklin Roosevelt pressed the red emergency button to stop the elevator on the way down to his private dining room. The King of Saudi Arabia was waiting for him, but the President wanted to smoke a couple of cigarettes first.”
“It was 11:30 in the morning on Valentine’s Day, 1945. World War II was nearing its end, and Roosevelt had just come from the famous Yalta Conference with Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin to discuss what post-war Europe would look like.”
“But on the way back home, Roosevelt went out of his way to meet with the Saudis. Legendary amounts of oil had been discovered in the Arabian desert a few years before and he knew that such vast energy reserves would be strategically important to the United States after the war.”
“Roosevelt and Abdulaziz discovered they were the same age, both deeply interested in agriculture, and even shared similar physical handicaps. In fact, Roosevelt gave one of his own wheelchairs to the King as a goodwill gesture, which Abdulaziz later recalled was “my most precious possession [from] my great and good friend President Roosevelt.””
Interesting, very interesting.
MBS has a very tough decision to make. He will probably make the best decision for the Saud family, ignoring history.
“Commentary: Trump’s economic pain thresholds have emerged. In other words, he blinked.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/commentary-trumps-economic-pain-thresholds-have-emerged-in-other-words-he-blinked-155556365.html
“President Trump is finally signaling that his trade war has caused enough mayhem and he’s willing to do some damage control. Trump, so far, has raised the average import tax on some $3 trillion worth of products from 2.5% to 27%. He has also threatened to fire Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell for not fixing the damage Trump’s own policies are causing.”
“Markets have responded with steep losses in stock values. Investors have been voting against Trump’s “America First” facade by selling US assets in favor of gold or foreign currencies. interest rate moves show that investors are preparing for higher inflation. Economists have been raising their recession odds, in some cases making a Trump contraction their baseline scenario.”
“Trump and his team have also signaled that it’s time to rein in tariffs that, in some cases, are so severe they’re effectively an embargo on imported goods. Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent both recently said Trump’s draconian 145% tax on Chinese imports is too high and needs to come down, as long as China makes similar adjustments. New tariffs might be half the current level. Other Trump aides said that more than a dozen trade deals are in the works, which presumably would bring down high tariffs in exchange for trade-partner concessions.”
Has Trump really blinked ?
Get well soon, Jenny! I had a dose of something similar. It was no fun at all.
Thanks for the quiche laughs!
“Remaining: Refugees (The Remaining)” by D. J. Molles
https://www.amazon.com/Remaining-Refugees-D-J-Molles/dp/0356503496?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number three of a six book apocalyptic science fiction series. There is another series in the same universe with the main character. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Orbit in 2014 that I purchased new in 2025 from Amazon. I have the fourth through the sixth books in the series.
Captain Lee Harden of the US Army is a member of the US Special Forces. His duty is to live in his remote US Army built home with a steel and lead concrete bunker underneath it. Any time the US government gets nervous, he goes down into his bunker with his dog and locks the vault door. He then talks with his supervisor daily over the internet until released by his supervisor to leave the bunker. His duty is to stay in the bunker during any event and come out thirty days after he has zero contact with his supervisor. Then it is his duty to find groups of people to restore order in his portion of the USA.
Then one day, Captain Harden has been sitting in his bunker for a couple of weeks and his supervisor does not call. A plague has been sweeping the planet and things are getting more dire by the day. Apparently the infected do not die but their brains are mostly wiped out. Zombies. A month later, Captain Harden and his dog emerge from their bunker to find a total disaster with infected roaming the countryside.
Captain Harden’s home and bunker were burned out after everything to eat or shoot was stolen by a gang of bad guys. But he has a secret, he has ten bunkers built by the U.S. Army strategically located around the state. And only he can open the bunkers. But the bad guys are chasing Captain Harden to get the rest of the food and ammo from him. And nobody trusts anybody.
Captain Harden has taken command of a camp of survivors in South Carolina due to his caches of food, ammo, guns, clothing, etc. They are steadily cleaning out the nearby small towns. But hordes of infected are coming from the North to South Carolina. And not everyone in the camp agrees with his decisions.
The author has a website at:
https://djmolles.com/blog/the-remaining-universe-reading-order
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (3,001 reviews)
Lynn
Part of the interview asks this question. They specificly state “for emergency use only with doctor advice.”
There are other online suppliers besides Jase, if the company is the problem. The days of “fish meds” are over.
Yep, I always get that when we travel outside the USA in case of medivac or carcass retrieval. I had that and medical coverage for a trip to Granada for the Mrs and I and an intern. The intern got an ear infection and probably couldn’t fly with a clogged up ear. A friend in G took us to a doctor. LOL, they don’t take any medical insurance. Diagnosis, treatment (unclogged his Eustacian), and a script was $60. Two meds cost $10 at a pharmacy. The insurance cost more than that.
I got the same for our trip to Trinidad. Nobody got sick, but MrsAtoz knew people that could take us to a doctor if we needed it (I think she knows somebody on every island in the Caribbean!)
Knowing somebody that can help in the country you are going to is just as valuable as having the insurance.
No. I’m not saying he hasn’t re-evaluated his positions. I’m saying that all the TDS sufferers in the media paint every nuance of every decision Trump makes as a failure, a backstep, a consequence of his bumbling chaotic method of governing. Since they are incapable of understanding anything but grift, they don’t see anything he does as either planned or successful. It’s all doom and gloom and failure, every bit of it.
For instance, all the bluster about tariffs was to get countries to take a stance on…. tariffs. To expose all the network of tariffs that already existed, universally against the US. To bring people to the bargaining table.
Now he makes bargains. The press will never present those deals in a positive way. If tariffs are reduced on both sides,i.e. free trade, they’ll say Trump failed to implement his tariffs and they’ll ignore the reduced tariffs on the other side. If he implements the tariffs, then his dealing failed, and they’ll report it that way, not as successfully defending the US.
Like a blind pig, they occasionally find an acorn. Because he will have some failure. He will impose tariffs that are too big, and have to recalibrate. He will penalize and alienate some innocents, and fail to sufficiently damage some enemies.
“Chinese Plastics Factories Face Mass Closure As US Ethane Supply Evaporates”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/chinese-plastics-factories-face-mass-closure-us-ethane-disappears
“Previously we explained that the US-China trade war has been unique in that the US was hit fast and hard, mostly through capital markets and financial linkages, which travel instantaneously with acute consequences (the recent dump of US treasuries by China and subsequent purchases of the yuan and perhaps gold took effect in milliseconds, and prompted a cottage industry of narratives how the US dollar is losing its reserve currency status). At the same time, the impact to the Chinese economy takes a while to propagate, as supply chains take weeks if not months to normalize to a new status quo; the period is even longer when the frontrunning of tariffs meant China would overproduce in the days leading up to the outbreak of the trade war, and keep economic output artificially inflated, as demonstrated by the paradoxically strong Q1 GDP numbers out of Beijing. Yet once the slowdown hits, as it inevitably will, the consequences for China – which unlike the US has no social safety net – will be far more dire. It also means that the trade war with China will apex only once Beijing suffers max pain, at which point Xi will be far more amenable to talks with Trump. The only question is when will said max pain moment hit.”
These things take lots of time to settle out. I think that China is going to be hurt worse than the USA.
“There Is A Growing Plot Against Dogs”
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/there-growing-plot-against-dogs
“In August 2020, Anthony Fauci co-authored an article in Cell that broadly called for “radical changes that may take decades to achieve: rebuilding the infrastructures of human existence.” Among the specifics, the article obliquely targets pet ownership, urging that we must reduce “unsafe exposure to animals.””
“I wondered about that line at the time. The whole theory of the article is that humans are everywhere surrounded by icky things that can infect us. We’ve neglected these threats for many thousands of years by traveling around, moving here and there, domesticating animals, and living too closely together. This must change, they opine, because bad pathogens are ever more leaping from the outside world into humans.”
Is there anything that Fauci has not tried to corrupt ?
“Border Czar Says 68,000 Illegal Immigrants Arrested So Far, More To Come”
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/border-czar-says-68000-illegal-immigrants-arrested-so-far-more-come
“Approximately 68,000 illegal aliens were arrested inside the United States over the past three months, Tom Homan, designated the border czar by President Donald Trump, told reporters at the White House on April 23.”
“U.S. District Judge Alvin Hellerstein issued a ruling on April 9, which he extended on April 22, blocking the federal government from utilizing the act, citing a lack of legal protection for the accused.”
Is he really going to defy a US federal judge ? The fireworks will be simply amazing.
“I Was Swatted” By Sharyl Attkisson
https://sharylattkisson.com/2025/04/i-was-swatted/
“The most recent wave of swatting attacks against high profile figures began approximately March 9. Some victims are vocal supporters of President Donald Trump or have engaged with Elon Musk on X.”
“The attacks on me and my family started onTuesday, April 15 at 3:02 a.m. —not with a call to police, but with an email sent to city council members. The email was designed to provoke an overnight police response to my house. It read: “I’m so fuc*ed” and “I live at [address]. I was arguing with my girlfriend and I accidentally stabbed her to death. I’m so sorry, I did’t mean to. Just send an ambulance, no cops.””
People should not be able to spoof communication systems like phones and text messages. And emails should be traceable.
Time for The Old School Marm to get off his dead azz and rein them in. Our only Constitutional Crisis was the Dred Scott ruling by SCOTUS which led to CWI. The upcoming “due process for crimmigrants” SCOTUS ruling could be our second Constitutional Crisis leading to CWII.
Pinheads.
What was the old ad inside the cover of PC Magazine every month?
LEARN POWERBUILDER OR LOSE YOUR JOB.
At 50 years, the cast reunions of important movie and TV shows start to get a bit thin.
The 50th anniversary of “Emergency” was buried due to politics and the pandemic. The docents at the LA County Fire Museum remember, however.
“Jaws” should have a big event on Martha’s Vineyard this year in recognition of its 50th. The 30th anniversary festivities were huge.
The Dallas Fan Expo con has a 40th anniversary gathering for the surviving “Back to the Future” cast.
Ivermectin is over-the-counter in Tennessee.
I believe Idaho just put the drug into that category as well.
Boise is the last point of sanity heading west on I-84, but my rule of thumb is to never again live anywhere north and west of Salt Lake City.
That’s because Trump’s default first move in any bargaining is to demand the Sun and the Stars; he KNOWS he won’t get that, but he often will “settle” for the Moon, when that was pretty close to what he actually wanted.
For example; one of the things that Trump really wants – NEEDs, actually – is for interest rates to fall. That’s because there are trillions of dollars worth of US bonds that will be maturing soon, and the US will need to refinance that debt. If interest rates fall, refinancing the US debt will become easier and cheaper.
https://spaceweather.com/archive.php?view=1&day=23&month=04&year=2025
Link to May 2024 article: https://spaceweatherarchive.com/2025/04/23/solar-storms-are-driving-farmers-crazy/
It think the tractors need some vision technology to verify that the GPS data jibes with what is actually on the ground. I would be interested in the possibility of “ground mounted GPS satellites” that could be installed at a few points in a farming area to provide well grounded points of reference for local GPS operations.
The only way interest rates fall is for the Fed to start QE3 and throw in all of the mortage and car paper again.
The discount window just nibbles around the margins.
Rates are still at historic lows.
Cellular devices have A-GPS as well as WiFi location services based on databases gathered by Google and Apple over the last 20 years. Amazon probably has their own database as well.
Yes, but after the Biden spending surge, they need to be even LOWER to prevent the federal debt from exploding. We’re already spending over a trillion dollars PER YEAR in interest, or “servicing the debt” as the idiots in the Fed like to say.
To quote Bender from “Futurama”, “We’re boned.”
The Deep State will tank the market to remove excess cash from the system before they let hyperinflation happen.
The housing market is already teetering.
@jenny, I’m glad you are feeling a little better, and that you managed to avoid a visit from the big red trucks… But I’m puzzled. You used a phrase that I don’t understand. You said “the leftover bacon.” What on earth could that possibly be?? I was similarly puzzled when someone once mentioned “leftover wine”… I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a thing…
😉
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The Vinge was probably “A Fire Upon the Deep” or “A Deepness in the Sky”, although I”m not sure which scene or character in particular…
I remember a character who is reconstituted, or awakened, or something, who was instrumental in the development of nanites and when the ambient nanites recognize his genetics, they invade is body giving him something like superuser access to the net… but IDK if that was in the “Deep” stories or somewhere else…
n
@JimM
I would be interested in the possibility of “ground mounted GPS satellites” that could be installed at a few points in a farming area to provide well grounded points of reference for local GPS operations.
There is currently a technique that uses terrestrial GPS beacons to increase accuracy for surveying to 1/10s of an inch. I think it’s called “differential” GPS?
When I was first playing with GPS, before they shut down selective availability for good, there was a way to add another signal to my Garmin from a known beacon (happened to be provided by one of the big survey companies.) In my case, it worked over the internet to a lappy, connected via serial cable to the Garmin GPSIII
n
It think the tractors need some vision technology to verify that the GPS data jibes with what is actually on the ground. I would be interested in the possibility of “ground mounted GPS satellites” that could be installed at a few points in a farming area to provide well grounded points of reference for local GPS operations.
I worked for a company in the 1990s that built flight inspection equipment for the FAA. One of the things that needed to be verified was the Instrument Landing System (ILS). GPS isn’t accurate enough to verify aircraft position to within a few feet. The way we got around this was to place a GPS receiver on the ground near the runway. It would transmit its position to the aircraft. Any difference in its position would be used to correct the position information of the aircraft. The FAA now uses this method for its WAAS system. This would work for tractors as well.
“It could take up to five years to develop a domestic supply chain to supplant China’s global monopoly in processing rare earths into materials needed to produce everything from iPhones to F-35 fighter jets.”
Can you say “Operation Warp Speed II”?
Fauci needs an unsafe exposure to hogs, Hannibal Lecter style.
I know, right? I once had a friend talk about some food he ate, and he used the expression “too much garlic”.
I told him we couldn’t be friends any more.
Adam Savage Builds a Book Press!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZZwMPgMRiU
I’ve never seen an actual book press in an antique shop. Every device I have seen represented as such has been a copy press, which was in common office use for a period in the nineteenth century.
For those who frequent estate sales, a package of vintage carbon paper is a worthwhile prep. Even better if it predates the conversion to solvent-based carbon paper in the late 50’s. The older product is probably more stable, but that’s a gut call based on chemical thermodynamics without doing any actual testing.
Tough call, but depends on the food.
I’ve had sausage that was rendered inedible by too much of the wrong kind of garlic, and putting too much garlic butter on a steak could get to the point where you’re eating garlic butter and may as well serve it on a slice of lab-grown protein.
Pre-Kungflu there were two vendors at one of the local farmer’s markets that offered 8-10 different kinds of garlic.
>>That is what I am looking into getting. Wife and I are at the age where taking a chance becomes more taking a chance. A couple hundred dollar policy is probably worth the peace of mind. Especially considering the price of the trip.
I want a policy that covers trip expenses and medical, including medical transport.
Does the policy pay for return airfare for the non-ill person?
Vibe coding. It’s called “playing pinball” with the AI, hoping something useful comes out.
I taught a lecture in my first-semester programming course yesterday. Each time, a few students are selected to present their code for an exercise that I pick (one of several that they were assigned). One guy said he didn’t have that particular one, but he had a different one that he could present.
Ok, let’s see it.
Fancy slides showing his code, but he is basically just reading the code off the page. So I ask him: “hey, that method you call, what exactly does it do?”.
Um…
Ok, the result from that method is assigned to a variable. What kind of variable is it? Note that this is Java, the data type is explicitly declared, so the answer is sitting there on his slide.
Um…
So I tear into him. You got this from ChatGPT. That’s fine, if you need the help, but you need to understand what you get. Otherwise you’ll never get a job in IT.
His answer: “I already have a job in IT.”
Fsck. There is your vibe coder. You really do not want them working on anything that you care about.
Back in college, when I was just teaching myself some basic cooking, I made some Italian dish. Maybe lasagna? Anyway, the recipe called for two pieces of garlic. So I put in two entire pods of garlic.
Yes, there can be “too much garlic”…