More hot and humid too. I wouldn’t mind another yesterday though, it was less of both and had a fantastic sunset. I’ll take what joy I can find.
Had a nice, if slower day on the show floor. Did 1/4 the gross sales, but didn’t have a buying frenzy. My legs are stiff and knees feel like they are bundles of sticks. Standing around on concrete all day is hard on feet, knees, and lower back. Still, a good weekend.
Today is our last day, half day technically. I’m headed in for a group breakfast, then show floor, then load out. Hopefully other people are selling and having a good show too. I know that at least some buyers were happy after Friday…
Getting out with people is important. It’s easier if you have shared interests, and the event is at least a bit structured. Hobby clubs and service organizations make it easy to interact with strangers, and are a good counter to spending too much time on line in an echo chamber….
Stack some meatspace time. It’s worth it.
nick
Meatspace time for me today. Meeting two of my three surviving uncles, plus some cousins, for lunch. Looking forward to seeing them and maybe filling in some family history blanks, if they still remember.
Wishing you all a good Sunday! Safe and happy travels, Mr Ray.
Off I go into the wild blue yonder. It will be a long day, lot of dark hours in an aluminum tube. Thankful for upgraded seats. Leave for Atlanta at 09:00, stop at friend’s house in Smyrna to drop off some stuff, then head for off-airport parking, then shuttle to the airport, check-in and TSA.
We have requested transport assistance in the airport due to wife’s back issues. Requested all the way to the plane, but not in the plane. We will see how it goes. We should be among the first to board. I don’t know how TSA security will function with the assistance. I suspect there is a back door somewhere. We have used such before when a flight connection was close. It was still security but no lines.
@ray, have a safe and enjoyable trip. At Hobby airport, the wheelchair will be searched at the normal point for your status level, and then passed thru a gate. At IAH, I think they use the Clear or Crew line. I haven’t been thru Atlanta in a long time. It probably won’t be totally separate though.
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Looks clear enough outside today, but it might rain later. Or it might not. Houston.
Up and dressed, getting ready to leave for my breakfast and last day. I’ll probably unload my trailer before heading home this evening. That will make tomorrow much easier.
Time to get busy.
n
Lighter by one kidney stone. Got back yesterday, actually, but tired. My roommate had just gotten out of intensive care, and they were checking on him hourly, plus he had a couple of alarms go off, so…not a lot of sleep. Caught up some last night. Hope to catch up the rest tonight.
Had a funny situation, just before heading to the hospital. Neighbor calls in a panic, because she can’t get into her bank account or pay any bills, and none of her other usual websites are working either. She’s been locked out for two weeks. Stuff was going to get overdue. Her ex-hubby had spend hours re-installing drivers, downloading Windows patches, and hadn’t gotten anywhere.
Sometimes you just have to know which button to push. In this case: “delete cookies”. Somehow, apparently the whole Firefox cookie storage must have been damaged, because doing that allowed her to get back into everything. It does make me wonder what the actual cause was. Maybe a bad disk sector? I may go over and run some diagnostics next week.
It also reminds one of how most people handle security. Credit where credit is due: she doesn’t re-use passwords. OTOH, she does write them all down on a little piece of paper next to her computer, so…
“OTOH, she does write them all down on a little piece of paper next to her computer, so…”
So, is that properly air-gapped or too vulnerable if someone breaks in and murders them in their beds, steals their best beer, and then sits down to pillage their accounts while the bodies are still cooling?
I would tell her to get an address book with a brightly colored cover to record her passwords, and have a place in the desk drawer where it is always stored.
18,000 replies before she deleted it, but the internet lives forever:
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2025/08/24/an-awfl-made-an-anti-trump-post-about-the-dc-crime-crackdown-and-it-broke-the-internet-n2193161
I really liked the one from Kyle Reese.
In Which I Agree with Amy Klobuchar
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/08/in-which-i-agree-with-amy-klobuchar.php
“Parody and satire are of course time-honored forms of political expression, but why would any deepfake video be entitled to First Amendment protection?”
Because political parody in particular is the most protected form of speech.
The Debate Clause of the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 6) gives elected officials extraordinary protection, and Klobouchar’s Democrats have used that protection mercilessly to slander and lie to produce sound bites faithfully featured by their conspirators in the media to mislead the public.
Don’t like it, Amy? Fine. Give up Article I, Section 6, and be responsible for your own words.
Or keep your shield and suck it up when someone makes fun of you.
Scott Johnson at Powerlineblog regularly writes about music, and I always enjoy his columns.
This week he features Jackie DeShannon:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/08/sunday-morning-coming-down-209.php
I did not know that she wrote “Bette Davis Eyes”. Kim Carnes made it a hit, but Scott says Jackie’s original version is “unlistenable”.
I listened to several of the video tracks embedded in the link above. “What the World Needs Now Is Love”, of course. If you don’t know much about this song, I’d suggest reading the wiki entry, they queueing the recorded versions by DeShannon and Warwick that are easy to find on YT. Jackie owns that song. Warwicks is good, but clearly not as good.
The recording for “Sweet Inspiration” is nearly a perfect balance, putting the vocals right up front where we can hear every detail. Pity modern sound engineers have to process the vocal into dreck and then bury it under synth tracks.
Made it through security. We, both of us, had to go through the regular security. But we did not have to wait in line as there is an entrance for people being assisted. The guy immediately behind us, who was actually next in line, but got superseded by the airport employee, was bitching because we cut in front of him and the Atlanta Airport person told him to stand back. They exchanged words and I think a couple more words out of him would have resulted in a visit by some security folks.
Last time I flew, in July, I left the laptop, in its travel case, in my backpack. No issues. This time I got chewed out for leaving the laptop in the backpack. They even removed the laptop from the carry case and fondled it. Security is a moving target anymore.
Last time I also was taken aside and scanned with a wand because of my metal knee. This time nothing was said. The wife usually gets the second, or third, degree, because of both hips being replaced. This time nothing beyond the body scanner. Which seems to confuse a lot of people in spite of the diagram of how to stand.
Our former exchange student got the 2nd degree for batteries in their carry-on. I have a couple of flashlights, two battery packs for the hearing recharger, my earbuds, my Bose headphone, and nothing was said. No one took a second glance. Again, security is a moving target and changes day to day, week to week, an month to month.
Didn’t you upgrade the laptop recently?
My “road” machine is only valuable to me.
After the A18 MacBooks start rolling out and push prices down further on “Apple Silicon”, I may carry my M1 MacBook Pro as an experiment. I don’t currently take it anywhere.
As long as the Orange Man lives, a large number of Dems will not be satisfied.
Bad Daddy.
I am not joking when I talk about gallows going up on the steps of the Capitol at the spot where he was Inaugurated in 2017 if Kamala had won.
We may yet see gallows there.
Dad is home. And he is p*ssed.
Dig the picture of Reagan peeking over the map on the right, with the eyes looking at the seated leaders.
https://londonnewsnetwork.com/2025/08/19/new-pics-of-trump-holding-court-in-oval-office-branded-embarrassing-as-world-leaders-sit-around-his-desk-like-schoolchildren/
I would tell her to get an address book with a brightly colored cover to record her passwords, and have a place in the desk drawer where it is always stored.
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=shit+remember&i=stripbooks&crid=2JVG76WMBMYDA&qid=1756062815&sprefix=shit+remember%2Cstripbooks%2C517&xpid=BfdgwXeTUiZKM&ref=sr_pg_2&tag=ttgnet-20
Chinese Scammer Sentenced to 24 Months in Prison
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/scott-mcclallen/2025/08/24/chinese-scammer-sentenced-to-24-months-in-prison-n2662260
Not nearly enough. How many times do I have to state: Multiple victims, multiple prosecutions, no concurrent sentences.
OTOH, I’m thinking about calling a few of those numbers in the popups, to see if they will stop by and pick up a package from me. With my luck they’d probably open it on the freeway and cause an accident that hurt innocent people.
My experience is that the one thing you will never get in a hospital is rest.
My first stay, when I broke my arm/shoulder was in a ward with three others. In patient in the bed next to me was a very elderly gentleman, with dementia, that would throw himself out of bed and the shout for help. His family ended up hiring a private nurse to stay with him all night. Didn’t get much sleep for the seven days I was there.
My second stay, for my oesophagectomy, was much the same but this time I was in a private room. The way it works is that if I don’t ask for a private room and the put me in one, I don’t have to pay. If I ask for one, I do. Apparently all the rooms the Munk Wing of Toronto General are private. But with all the lights and displays on the bed and the noise of all the machines like the IV pump right beside me it wasn’t any easier to sleep than my previous stay at Sunnybrook. My wife finally brought me sleep masks and ear plugs so I could get some rest. I didn’t get a good night’s sleep until I got home.
Hospitals are busy, noisy places, no place to rest!
After Bolton raid, the Washington Post clutches its pearls
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/08/after_bolton_raid_the_washington_post_s_inner_pecksniff_is_showing.html
It’s not a comprehensive list, but a pretty good checklist of things that need to be pulled out, exposed to the light, and given a good hard dose of “Find Out”.
We are either a nation of laws that apply to everyone, or a banana republic whose rulers determine what the law says and who it applies to.
Today’s prepping win (I hope); I purchased a backup vehicle. It needs a couple of little things but should be a welcome, reliable addition to the lineup.
I track my budget in ridiculous detail, which allows me to say that in the last 16 years, I’ve averaged about $1350/year purchasing vehicles. All used, varying success, ranging from my usual daily driver, a 2006 GMC ½ ton which has carted me about for most of the last 10 years, to a 2011 Escape which got me home from the sale and never moved again under its own power. I got too frustrated to continue working on it. Still, as hobbies go, it’s not that expensive.
The Cracker Barrel fiasco getting traction on Friday took attention off of the Bolton home raid.
I would tell her to get an address book with a brightly colored cover to record her passwords, and have a place in the desk drawer where it is always stored.
Why the brightly colored cover ?
18,000 replies before she deleted it, but the internet lives forever:
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2025/08/24/an-awfl-made-an-anti-trump-post-about-the-dc-crime-crackdown-and-it-broke-the-internet-n2193161
I really liked the one from Kyle Reese.
Agreed. That is awesome.
When I read that, I assumed the bright cover would say “Address Book”, and thus be hidden in plain sight.
When I read that, I assumed the bright cover would say “Address Book”, and thus be hidden in plain sight.
My plain black cover book says “Address Book”.
Much better than a password manager. I cannot get into my dads password list because he has a unknown password on it.
Something is going to happen tomorrow with Cracker Barrel’s CEO. Someone has been tweaking her web page this weekend, and the picture now appears distorted.
https://investor.crackerbarrel.com/management/julie-felss-masino
Fired CEO walking.
“John Cornyn learns not to mess with Texas”
https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/08/john_cornyn_learns_not_to_mess_with_texas.html
““Don’t mess with Texas” is a homespun aphorism that expresses a genuine sentiment. Texans, and to a slightly lesser degree, Wyomingites, are independent cusses. They’re proud of their states and their beliefs, and pushed too far don’t whine about why government isn’t making things right. They handle it themselves and vote the useless weasels out at the next electoral opportunity.”
“One such weasel is long-serving Texas Senator John Cornyn. Once thought a reliable Republican, he forgot which state he represents and stepped on a known Texas land mine: gun control. In Texas, weakness on the Second Amendment and cruelty to animals are two things among many guaranteed to provoke political death. Cornyn was thought among the most untouchable politicians in Texas until he went wobbly during the Biden’s Handler’s years and crossed the aisle to pass a 2022 gun control bill, the “Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA).” Cornyn wasn’t the only line crosser, but he crossed a Texas line, which Texans don’t forget or forgive.”
Yup, RINO or weasel, they are the same thing.
Had a good day. Did about the same business as yesterday in half the time. I’ll call the show a success.
Unloaded the trailer and I’ll sort and re-bin stuff this week. Then it might go back to storage or might stay at the shop. I did some sorting as I loaded up, so I could just leave most of it. Valuable smalls came home with me.
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Kim Carnes made it a hit, but Scott says Jackie’s original version is “unlistenable”.
– wasn’t it Rod Steward? And that version was BARELY listenable. If you are an audio masochist.
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Still 89F as the sun sets. Hot. Hot. Hot.
——
Had several great conversations at the show, one friendly one with a liberal, whose most surprising comment was that he’d never hear the term “deep state.” This despite considering himself well read on the current political scene.
Polarized. Living in separate worlds. Carefully curated media. Nuts.
n
Paxton won’t win. If Robert Francis doesn’t run, the RINOs will provide the opposition research, sacrificing the seat thinking they can resolve the Colin Zachary problem down the road.
If the Bush cabal wins the Governor’s Mansion in Maine, I wonder if they will try again with P. Diddly going for the Senate seat.
I wish I had any confidence in Paxton. Cornyn is just so bad, that I like Paxton better.
Even though Paxton is a coward statist who wouldn’t stop the vax mandates, and he hasn’t written an amicus brief in our case against Houston Methodist, even though he’s been asked.
“Why the brightly colored cover ?”
Instant recognition. Easier to find. And my own personal distaste for anything being black.
When I bought a Nakamichi tape deck in 1982 I chose black because it was uncommon in a sea of brushed aluminum stereo faceplates. Now everything possible is cheap black to hide dust, damage, and the utter lack of designer originality and fear of choosing the wrong color. Phones and pads are made in a variety of colors and promptly disappear into heavy, clunky cases that are mostly black or barfworthy colors.
When the Macintosh G4 computer came out I was sick of Bondi Blue, and took a good look at the case and spent some time thinking about building front panel replacements in exotic woods. With laser measurement and CNC it would be much easier now.
Look…more COWS!
https://www.reuters.com/business/aerospace-defense/spacex-postpones-starship-test-flight-over-ground-system-issue-2025-08-24/
It takes a lickin’ and keeps on tickin’… sort of…
https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/30/science/lunar-time-zone-scale-nasa-artemis-scn
Very timely link…
n
Spending this weekend with Mom. Getting her from 4,800 ft2 down to 458 ft2 is not easy. And I have to turn in our ok for Dads monument tomorrow.
I hope to move Mom to Rosenberg soon. Like the end of this week. Getting her moved into the Assisted Living is easy, getting her moved out of her house is hard.