Another hot and mostly dry day, with high humidity. Yesterday was a scorcher by afternoon, and stayed hot well into the evening. It was still in the 90sF when we had a late dinner. Today should be the same. The local .gov had the highway advisory signs warning of heavy rain and possible flooding on Saturday. I expect well be seeing flood warnings with every drop of rain for the next year at least.
I mostly did auction stuff in the morning, still keeping in mind my new desire to limit pickup days. Then D1 drove me around town doing a pickup and grocery shopping in the afternoon. She’s improving but still brakes too late, and her situational awareness needs work. She doesn’t seem to be able to keep three directions or steps in mind at the same time though. Thinks like “stay on the Beltway to US 59 north, then exit at Kingwood Blvd.” IDK if that’s from the online stuff changing her brain structure, or just her nature, but it’s unsettling and I’ll be working on it. I wonder if any of her schooling has worked with algorithms and figuring out steps toward a goal?
Driving a car, or a boat, or just navigating through life takes the ability to predict the near future and react to it, taking steps to manage where you will be physically and metaphorically. Living in the moment is ok, and even necessary and desirable for some things, but humans don’t live in a constant now. Or at least we don’t normally. Or didn’t.
We did have a good conversation about the “hidden” layers around us, triggered by an outlaw biker passing us and almost getting into an altercation with another driver. (Full patch Bandido with his b!tch riding pillion in a patched vest. Not someone you want to engage with.) Fraternal organizations, secret societies, alumni groups, outlaw culture, even prepping and LMIs all got touched on, with emphasis on seeing the “flags” that people fly to identify their affiliate groups. I’m hoping it spurred some thought and will entice her to look around at the environment and actually SEE some of it. Since the kids were little we played games like “spot the cameras” and “is this a good neighborhood or not (and why?)” Hopefully I’ll get a chance to pass along more stuff about the way the world works that will help her navigate around some of the pitfalls.
Speaking of seeing what’s around us, there was a hawk in my tree this afternoon, perched on a limb and quite agitated. A squirrel was about three feet away looking at it, and then the squirrel shot by the hawk, running on the UNDERSIDE of the limb. The hawk hung around long enough for my wife to get a picture with her new iphone. We don’t see a lot of hawks in our neighborhood, despite a neighbor telling me one swooped a squirrel right out of his front yard. I do see them flying overhead occasionally.
Oh, a big fat possum ambled by me when I was out having my little fire. I made a ‘tssking’ noise and he turned around to look at me calmly before ambling on. Body as big as a basketball. I think a lot of local wildlife visits my little water feature throughout the day and night. The frogs are starting their mating calls and are quite loud about it…
The world is full of hidden mysteries all around us.
————
Today I’ll do some paperwork, move some stuff around, and then do some pickups in the afternoon. Kid starts band camp on Wednesday, so that will be me getting up early again.
I was going to write about my talent for self sabotage today, but I’ll leave that to another time. Do what you can with what you’ve got, and always be working to improve your situation. Even if that means disconnecting for a bit to look around you in wonder.
nick
(and of course, you should be stacking.)
My wife brushed a curb with the car today – construction site, very narrow, completely understandable.
What’s not so understandable is that the brushing apparently tore the sidewall. Slow leak, I pumped up the tire three times on the way to the garage. Tiny-looking tear, I don’t actually understand why it would have caused a leak.
Of course, sidewall damage is not repairable. Grrr…
Time to find the Petzold book.
Linux has TLPI as the equivalent.
I think we have a leak in Json-C code which one of our “rotational” engineers wrote and I need to check.
The “rotational” program people are recent college grads who the company sees as the future leaders. Fancy Lad schools, but, occasionally, we get one who can really do the work … and of course they rotate out
Furries in Texas.
And Ren Fair. Management at the tolling company hired “Sir Pratt” after they geeked out on costumes. Apparently, he was another Fancy Lad who couldn’t do my job so he got promoted to management.
https://www.sherwoodforestfaire.com/
“Ren Fair” in Texas is literally covered in an HBO documentary of the same name.
I like to think of it as constructive pessimism.
Went out and looked at a slender crescent moon and a brilliant Jupiter this morning.
I thought there was a conjunction but they were well separated. Very beautiful nonetheless.
63F and 72% RH at sunrise this morning in the high desert. Weird for that kind of humidity this time of year.
The sun has finally moved south at sunrise an appreciable amount, a degree or two. ‘Solstice’ is well named, it really does almost stop moving for a few weeks.
Apparently a week of coolish temps (90F) and then we are back to our regularly scheduled 100F.
91F at the moment and sunny. Humidity is normal for us, ie. high.
Several late nights in a row caught up to me. Slept late and still a bit tired. 6-7 hours. I think I really do better with a consistent 5 hours.
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Need to get some caffeine and food in ma belly.
n
https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/no-spare-capacity-watchdog-warns-largest-us-grid-maxed-out-amid-data-center-buildout
RTWT.
So if there isn’t any capacity for additional data centers, where will the capacity for all electric homes come from? Or additional electric vehicles? Simple population growth will increase demand, yet there isn’t any capacity.
Who do you think will get rationed? Google or you? Smart meters USED to come with a contract that you’d allow load shedding and blackouts in exchange for lower rates, time based rates, or some other perk.
Anyone want to bet that .gov mandated residential solar, provided mostly thru their programs and to their specification will be the proposed solution? And it will be mostly grid tied so it won’t even solve the base issue for YOU which is no power during high demand, but it might be configured to feed the grid and keep their favorites up and running.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/cars/article-14928883/Biggest-US-carmakers-profits-plunge-CEO-admits-hard-truth-EVs.html
Still claim EVs will be the future, and maybe they will, but not anytime soon and not without new battery tech.
n
Short term, they will raise the thermostat on your AC remotely. If you don’t have a “smart” thermostat, they will require a replacement.
The monkey trick will run out if steam before mandatory solar could get rolled out.
Time to find the Petzold book.
Petzold does not load DLLs dynamically in VBA inside Excel.
Of course, I dynamically load DLLs all over my C++ and Fortran code already.
Of course, I dynamically load DLLs all over my C++ and Fortran code already.
– isn’t that almost a recursive redundancy? DLLs are Dynamically Loaded Libraries, after all.
——
And now I’ve managed to almost exhaust my knowledge of programming, having used DLL and algorithm in the same day. Why back in my day, you’d’ve had to GOSUB somewhere…
n
A) Entered as a child with family, left voluntarily or B) Entered legally, overstayed, left voluntarily or C) Entered illegally, surrendered voluntarily to be deported and then, after having left, accepted a waiting period prior to applying for legal admission. That shows awareness of sovereignty, acknowledgement of wrongdoing and willingness to accept legal requirements and follow process.
I’m not saying all of the above should necessarily be readmitted; this is just the starting point, and not all would qualify as there would be appropriate vetting of background.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-14919419/The-surprising-group-workers-struggling-hired-experts-puzzled.html
Not actually surprising as anti male sentiment increases.
n
Here in the People’s Paradise of Commiefornia that is already mandated for new construction. The rates are set by the state and have been getting lower and lower and lower. If you have rooftop solar you have to pay extra high rates (and California is already sky high) in the afternoon for (say) running your a/c, even if you are still a net generator for the grid.
RIP Ozzy Osborne
“Are American motor manufacturers and dealers destroying their own market?”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/07/are-american-motor-manufacturers-and.html
“Karl Denninger thinks so – and alleges that manufacturers and dealers have effectively conspired to hide the real ongoing cost of their vehicles from purchasers.”
No freaking joke ! Cars and trucks have gotten incredibly expensive to run and maintain. And my six year old F-150 4×4 needs battery number three at 53K miles as my start stop system has shutdown again due to low battery strength.
Not a problem, just go directly to DOJ fraud indictments. They can do the chant as they march down the hall for new wardrobe and free living quarters.
Well I only gave into solar last year when my summer PG&E bills were over a $1K. July last year was just short of $1300. My solar payment is $375 a month which is lower than any month in the year before the solar went in. Summer and the a/c still puts a hit on the system, $103 paid just today for last month, but I pay every month rather do a true-up. Some months I’ve had a credit so come this November we will get an idea of the true. cost. System is 36 panels and 3 batteries. I should probably invest in a newer a/c.
But just for fun today is W1’s birthday, she catches up to me. Refrigerator died this morning. Bought her gift too soon.
Off for ice to load up the ice chests. Garage refer too small for everything. Go buy a used one at the outlet center in the morning, about $2K I figure.
Gather all the geniuses responsible for that boondoggle and demonstrate that low is not “no” by attaching jumper cables to their privates and connecting the depleted batteries.
DOJ Accountant’s Husband Created Anti-ICE App, Now She’s Looking for Work
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2025/07/22/doj-accountants-husband-created-anti-ice-app-now-shes-looking-for-work-n2191952
Trump needs to order screen doors fabbed from sharpened 6-inch I-beams with JATO-assited door closers.
Here is my fix for the DLL Hell that Microsoft just put me and my customers through in a Excel Security patch two weeks ago:
OK, I have a fix for this but you are not going to like it. The fix is to add the Design II installation directory to the system path on your Windows 11 or Windows 10 PC.
For Windows 11, you must have Administrator access in order to change your path.
Steps:
1. right click on the Windows start button and select “Settings”
2. go to the “Find A Setting” search edit box and enter the word “path”, press Enter
3. click on the “System Environment Variables” button, a dialog will popup
4. click on the “Environment Variables…” button, a dialog will popup
5. double clock on the “path” entry in the “system variables” list box, a dialog will popup
6. click on the first empty space in the list box and enter “C:\Program Files (x86)\designii\” into the space
7. click on OK
8. click on OK
9. click on OK
10. reboot the PC
Three years is pretty much it for standard car batteries in Texas in general. If you get more than that, consider yourself fortunate.
When the Highlander battery goes, you may want to take it somewhere for the battery replacement. I learned the hard way with the Camry that Toyota has started skimping on the handles for the OEM batteries.
Getting the battery out without a handle was … challenging.
Either that or futz with the manifests features supported in VS 2007 and later. Hopefully you are not embedding a third party DLL.
After we embedded Python at the Death Star, we got everyone’s trouble reports about embedded Python, including many game companies.
The third parties embed Python and then the developers get lazy with CTypes
Mix VC runtimes used to compile the EXE and DLLs, and malloc/free become ticking time bombs.
@Greg
“Getting the battery out without a handle was … challenging.”
Before handles there were other solutions.
I have kept Dad’s tool chest and roller cabinet from the garage pretty much intact, because my knowledge of what is in there is pretty ingrained after 50+ years.
One of those things is a commercial battery lifting strap that attaches between the terminals. I haven’t needed it for years, but it’s there.
similar to:
https://www.walmart.com/c/kp/battery-lifting-strap
The dealers and US-based manufacturers just want to sell garage queens. They are no longer interested in making daily drivers.
That still isn’t an excuse. The OEM Toyota battery was obviously designed for a handle.
Well I only gave into solar last year when my summer PG&E bills were over a $1K. July last year was just short of $1300. My solar payment is $375 a month which is lower than any month in the year before the solar went in. Summer and the a/c still puts a hit on the system, $103 paid just today for last month, but I pay every month rather do a true-up. Some months I’ve had a credit so come this November we will get an idea of the true. cost. System is 36 panels and 3 batteries. I should probably invest in a newer a/c.
My sister in laws solar system in Texas refuses to give her credit right now. Solar City was the installer and owner. She is very unhappy as she is paying a premium for electricity right now.
When the Highlander battery goes, you may want to take it somewhere for the battery replacement. I learned the hard way with the Camry that Toyota has started skimping on the handles for the OEM batteries.
I own two Highlanders. I am thinking about trading my mother’s car for a third one.
And the Highlander batteries last 4 to 5 years.
“Bill Gates Complains Trump Has Put His Global ‘Vaccine’ Agenda ‘at Risk’”
https://slaynews.com/news/bill-gates-complains-trump-put-global-vaccine-agenda-at-risk/
“Billionaire Bill Gates has accused President Donald Trump’s administration of putting his global “vaccination” agenda “at risk” by cutting off taxpayer funding for his organization GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.”
“In a dramatic move that has sent shockwaves through the global vaccination network, Trump’s Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last month that the United States will halt funding to GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance.”
Good for US.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Yeah, RIP Ozzy. He had many health issues.
Almost to our first stop on the Alaska cruise.
BillG still wants to be Feynman.
The Boy Genius also still has the needle kink. I can only imagine what really took place during his famed “reading weeks”.
That is, the weeks he wasn’t spending with Ann Winblad in the North Carolina love shack per his prenup.
I got six years out of the Camry battery, but the car didn’t go anywhere for most of that time except for our abbreviated trip to Tennessee.
Our part of Austin is also just out of the marine environment.
Or Pam Edstrom.
Or Christine Comaford.
Or …
“Pete Buttigieg shoveled out $80 billion in DEI from Transportation Dept while ignoring air traffic control upgrades: Report”
https://www.theblaze.com/news/buttigieg-dei-dept-trans-control
Yup, the Buttranger will be running for prez in 2028.
Back from my pickups. Kid did ok but still needs work. Still stopping way too late.
———-
Time to start thinking about dinner.
n
“300 Milliseconds to Admin: Mastering DLL Hijacking and Hooking to Win the Race (CVE-2025-24076 and CVE-2025-24994)”
https://blog.compass-security.com/2025/04/3-milliseconds-to-admin-mastering-dll-hijacking-and-hooking-to-win-the-race-cve-2025-24076-and-cve-2025-24994/
And I believe this is what prompted Microsoft to clamp down on DLLs in Excel.
Mayor Pete is serious Deep State and being groomed/protected for something.
RIP Malcom-Jamal Warner.
Loved him in Jeremiah. He did a lot post Cosby.
“A.C.” in “The People Vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”.
“Holding Their Own IX: The Salt War” by Joe Nobody
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1717543812?tag=ttgnet-20/
The ninth book in a series of nineteen alternate history books about the economic collapse of the USA in 2015 and onward. I reread the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2014 that I bought new on Amazon in 2014. I own the first twelve books in the series and am rereading the first ten before my first read of the eleventh book.
Um, this series was published in 2011 just as the shale oil and gas boom was really getting cranked up. The book has crude oil at $350/barrel and gasoline at $6/gallon in 2015. Not gonna happen due to oil well fracking in the USA so the major driver of economic collapse in the USA is invalid for the book. That said, the book is a good story about the collapse and failure of the federal government in the USA. The book is centered in Texas which makes it very interesting to me since I am a Texas resident.
The $6 gasoline was just the start. The unemployment rises to 40% over a couple of years and then there is a terrorist chemical attack in Chicago that kills 50,000 people. The current President of the USA nukes Iran with EMP airbursts as the sponsor of the terrorist attack. And the President of the USA also declares martial law and shuts down the interstates to stop the terrorists from moving about. That shuts down food and fuel movement causing starvation and lack of energy across the nation.
The accumulations of these serious problems cause widespread panics and shutdowns of basic services like electricity and water for large cities. The electricity grids fail due to employees not showing up to work at the plants. Then the refineries shutdown due to the lack of electricity.
The story is an sad example of what can happen when resources are short in an area and there is no over-riding legal authority. Tempers fray and people die. Very quick page turner.
The author has a website at:
https://www.joenobodybooks.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (553 reviews)
Lynn
I’ve done that. Usually bourbon or scotch.
Was it eliminated by design or simply missing due to a random desire of the universe to screw with you?
Since I pretty much standardized on the Everstart batteries after discussion here and that was long enough back that I’ve replaced a couple, I’m going to look and see if the handles are detachable–I’m close to having so much shiite that I need to build another building anyway, so I may as well have a big drawer full of replacement battery handles.
>>I mostly did auction stuff in the morning, still keeping in mind my new desire to limit pickup days. Then D1 drove me around town doing a pickup and grocery shopping in the afternoon. She’s improving but still brakes too late, and her situational awareness needs work. She doesn’t seem to be able to keep three directions or steps in mind at the same time though. Thinks like “stay on the Beltway to US 59 north, then exit at Kingwood Blvd.” IDK if that’s from the online stuff changing her brain structure, or just her nature, but it’s unsettling and I’ll be working on it. I wonder if any of her schooling has worked with algorithms and figuring out steps toward a goal?
@nick, does she drive with the radio off or on? If the latter, have you tried the former?
.
Does she use a GPS while driving? Most (AFAIK) give directions one step at a time. That may help??
The time and weather app on my phone was acting different on the new phone. I figured it out. I had told it to use my location.
Since I turn location off unless I need it, I was getting a warning about location is off. So I deleted Burnet. Then reentered it with the zip code.
Fixed!
New: Pam Bondi Just Exercised the Nuclear Option on the Judges Who Removed Alina Habba
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2025/07/22/new-pam-bondi-just-excerised-the-nuclear-option-on-the-judges-who-removed-alina-habba-n2191968
The U.S. Senate needs to get up off their collective asses and do their job, or FO home and leave someone with an autopen to advance the appointments.
It wouldn’t surprise me that Toyota pinched the pennies that hard and eliminated the handle.
OTOH, the model year (2018) is notorious for having several thousand engines with bad bore dimensions on the cylinders so an assembly line mistake on something much simpler wouldn’t be a shock either.
>>Before handles there were other solutions.
There’s also this type: https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Ergonomic-Adjustable-Puller-Accessories/dp/B0DSZTXFPN?gQT=1&tag=ttgnet-20
Of course, I dynamically load DLLs all over my C++ and Fortran code already.
– isn’t that almost a recursive redundancy? DLLs are Dynamically Loaded Libraries, after all.
Most DLLs are loaded statically (automatically when the software program is first started). However, some software is not needed all the time so it is only loaded when needed by the user. So the programmer has the option to load the DLL manually (dynamically).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dynamic-link_library
“Billy Joel says he no longer cares what ‘woke’ left thinks of him”
https://thepostmillennial.com/billy-joel-says-he-no-longer-cares-what-woke-left-thinks-of-him
“It just always surprises me how people, they express this hatred.”
This song is mentioned in the interview: “Billy Joel – Prelude / Angry Young Man (Audio)”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2iNLt_hUZg
I love the extended piano intro and ending of the song. The new documentary on HBO shows Billy Joel playing this song which is just amazing.
Billy Joel has always seemed like a nice guy who has been screwed around by the universe. He’s successful, and has a string of triumphs, but he’s also got a lot in the “L” column too.
Not like Bruce Springsteen. He seems like a prick.
———————-
Time for me to head to bed. W is taking the kid to band practice in the morning, but I have to get my stuff done and get back to take her to a meet up with friends after practice lets out.
SO I should get to bed.
but there are books…
n
Someone just mag dumped in the neighborhood. 8 or 9 shots. Sounded like it came from the direction of one of the big apartment complexes nearby, but gunshots often sound like they’re coming from one direction in the house and another if you step outside.
I’m still going to bed.
n
Say brother, can you spare a watt?
How the diamond industry lost its sparkle
Nissan Versa – see ya’ – we hardly knew ya’
https://www.the-sun.com/motors/14788407/popular-sedan-discontinued-us/