Fri. Sept. 12, 2025 – to do or not to do, that is the question

By on September 12th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall

Coolish start, getting warmer, until finally hot… two days so far and more to come. It got to the middle 90sF yesterday and it was too hot to work in the garage.

So I did electrical stuff repair in the afternoon. Got several small things off the list. Did some domestic bliss. Cleared a drain in the master bath. Laundry. Cooked dinner. Pork chops frozen almost 3 years ago. I ended up baking them as it was easier and took less intervention on my part. Canned corn, and leftover mashed potatoes filled out the plate.

I haven’t bought any meat on my last few grocery trips because there wasn’t anything on sale. I bought 18 pounds of brisket this time because prime was on sale for less than $5/pound. Even 80/20 hamburger was $5/pound. I’d rather have the brisket.

Today I’ve got a doctor appointment in the morning, so I have to remember not to eat or drink before I go. Then I’ll work the list. Not going to the lake this weekend as I have my hobby meeting. We’ll do our after-show discussion, and review, which will take a while. W does think she’ll head to the BOL and might take D1.

D2 has some friend stuff to do all weekend. Of course, if I’m not feeling well, plans might change.

There is always something you can do. Always something you can learn. Always something you can stack. Get to it. Times are getting spicier.

nick

78 Comments and discussion on "Fri. Sept. 12, 2025 – to do or not to do, that is the question"

  1. Nick Flandrey says:

    That was weird, the auto publish post schedule didn’t happen.   Schedule was correct, and status was “publishing soon”, but it was a couple hours past when it should have published.

    ————-

    73F and I”m hungry.   Of course this is the day I’m fasting before bloodwork.

    Woke up soaked in sweat a couple of times.   Maybe I’ll miss this flu…

    n

  2. Nick Flandrey says:

    “bothside-ism”

    From a guess post to Sarah Hoyts column.

    Some will point to the recent murders of a Minnesota Democratic politician and her husband as evidence of equivalency. Again: no one should be murdered for their views. But in this case, the shooter’s own statements explicitly reject “Trump stuff” as motive. And while it may seem distasteful to compare tragedies, one great distinction matters. Killing a politician in her home is a different kind of violence from publicly executing an activist in front of a crowd. The former is skulking evil. The latter is a terroristic spectacle meant to intimidate not just officeholders, but an entire political side. Equating the two—pretending the spectacle wasn’t part of the point—is terror working its will.

    n

  3. Ray Thompson says:

    the auto publish post schedule didn’t happen

    Indeed. I was not able to make the first post of the day. My day is ruined.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    You can juggle the balls for a while, but not forever.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/cars/article-15085869/car-dealer-tricolor-bankruptcy-debt.html

    Major US car dealer goes bust in latest terrifying sign Americans cannot pay their debts

    By BEN SHIMKUS, US CONSUMER REPORTER

    Published: 01:53 EDT, 12 September 2025 | Updated: 04:42 EDT, 12 September 2025 

    A company that provides auto loans to families with poor or no credit has filed for bankruptcy. 

    Tricolor Holdings, a Dallas-based car fixing and credit company, has filed for Chapter 7 — or liquidation — bankruptcy. The filing typically means the company will quickly go out of business. 

    The company’s demise is a warning sign for the US economy: Americans are racking up a huge amount of debt to keep their cars, while a record amount can’t keep up with the payments.  

    Before the filing, Tricolor provided auto loans to customers in the Southwest with poor or no credit. Companies that provide risky loans to applicants without credit are called subprime lenders. 

    It was the seventh-largest independent used-car retailer in the US. 

    Last year, Tricolor issued more than $1 billion in auto loans, many to borrowers without legal documentation in the US, making its assets high-risk, according to a Kroll Bond Rating Agency report. 

    The company’s collapse adds risk to some of the world’s largest banks. 

    JPMorgan Chase, Fifth Third Bancorp, and Barclays are reportedly bracing for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in losses tied to Tricolor loans, according to Bloomberg.

    Last year, the country racked up a $1.66 trillion auto bill, passing student loans as the heaviest amount of US debt. Only home mortgages outpaced auto loans last year. 

    Auto debt has seen a 20 percent increase since 2020.  

    More than 5.1 percent of debt holders are falling behind on their payments, according to LendingTree

    ‘When auto loan delinquencies are rising, it’s a likely sign that people are struggling,’ Matt Schulz, a chief consumer finance analyst for LendingTree, said. 

    all in all, it’s just another brick in the wall…

    n

    Added– there are a lot of Tricolor lots around here. Enough that I’ve noticed them…

  5. darryl says:

    I wonder if ICE’s efforts on the “undocumented” ie illegals started impacting Tri Colors balance sheet.

  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    I wonder if ICE’s efforts on the “undocumented” ie illegals started impacting Tri Colors balance sheet. 

    – I’m guessing “Yes”.   That and the increase in self deportation.  Also, if businesses are not hiring illegals they won’t have the money to pay the dealer.

    Note how mainstream businesses profit from illegals too… “JPMorgan Chase, Fifth Third Bancorp, and Barclays are reportedly bracing for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in losses”

    Tricolor has a BILLION dollars in loans?   I bet a LOT of banks are on the hook for that.

    n

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15089675/colorado-school-shooter-pictured-desmond-holly.html

    ‘Radicalized’ Colorado school shooter, 16, who open fired ‘again and again’ at screaming kids is pictured

    By LAURA PARNABY, US SENIOR NEWS REPORTER

    Published: 13:55 EDT, 11 September 2025 | Updated: 16:41 EDT, 11 September 2025 

    The Colorado school shooter who opened fire ‘again and again’ on fellow high school students on Wednesday has been named and pictured by police. 

    Desmond Holly, 16, is shown in his driving license photograph released by Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in the aftermath of the horror. 

    Holly died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after he fired at terrified children at Evergreen High School, close to Denver, during their lunch break just after noon. 

    Two students were rushed to hospital. Sheriff spokesperson Jacki Kelley said that one victim has been discharged while the other remains in a critical condition. 

    The biggest argument against normal capacity mags doesn’t survive contact with reality.

    ‘We know that the suspect had a handgun,’ Kelley told a press conference on Thursday. ‘He had to keep reloading. He would fire and reload, fire and reload, fire and reload. This went on and on. As he did that, he tried to find new targets.’

    A suspected motive has not been disclosed, but Kelley said Holly was ‘radicalized by some extremist network’. ‘The details on that will come down the road,’ she said. 

    Who are they going to blame for this one?

    n

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15090169/Tom-Phillips-New-Zealand.html 

    – so the dad and kids were living in several campsites, stealing what they needed  and moving around.   Now the cops say “they had help”.   The reporting says the case “divided the nation”.  No one is saying what the case was though, or why the guy would grab his kids and run.   No one is saying why the kids are in state care and not with mom or other family.   WTF is really going on?

    How does someone with three young kids, the oldest being 8 when they ran, hide near a small community for 4 years??

    n

  9. SteveF says:

    Who are they going to blame for this one?

    You don’t really need to ask, do you?

    Indeed. I was not able to make the first post of the day. My day is ruined.

    The only thing to do is cry, rip off your clothes, and run around the neighborhood while still crying.

  10. drwilliams says:

    Re: MN political killings

    The shooter had no connection with MN Republicans, and no connections to conservatives aside from what has been ascribed from his involvement in a private security firm. 

    He was appointed to a state commission by sitting MN Democrat governor and former Democrat VP candidate Tim Walz. 

    His stated motive was to kill Democrats who stood in the way—in his mind—of Walz becoming a US Senator. 

    So this tragedy was an outlier: mental illness and internecine warfare within the MN Democrat party. Which is why interest by the media evaporated quickly. 

  11. MrAtoz says:

    Charlie Kirk’s killer is in custody. Now we start the usual 40 years on death row. Or, he might just be Epstein’d on day one.

  12. Denis says:

    That was weird, the auto publish post schedule didn’t happen.

    Friday the 13th is on the 12th this month.

    How does someone with three young kids, the oldest being 8 when they ran, hide near a small community for 4 years??

    Local sympathisers. Were these people Maori? Kiwis can be both very clannish and very canny in the bush.

    ‘Radicalized’ Colorado school shooter, 16, who open fired ‘again and again’ at screaming kids is pictured.

    Did whoever wrote that suffer a stroke? Proofreading is a lost art.

    I was at the optometrist this morning. The Zeiss company will get a good chunk of money, but they do make the finest spectacle lenses. I hope insurance will cover some of the expense.

  13. Greg Norton says:

    Note how mainstream businesses profit from illegals too… “JPMorgan Chase, Fifth Third Bancorp, and Barclays are reportedly bracing for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in losses”
     

    Don‘t forget Flo, The Lizard, Limu Emu, The General, and the other Capos in the auto insurance racket.

  14. Greg Norton says:

    Don‘t forget Flo, The Lizard, Limu Emu, The General, and the other Capos in the auto insurance racket.
     

    The Lizard’s stock has been hit this week. It is down this morning.

  15. EdH says:

    I may have broken the freezer portion of my fridge.   I accidentally left the door jar yesterday, or it opened on its own (too full).

    In any case it had gone up to 35F by the time I noticed last night (soft but not melted ice cream). I shut the door and it started to cool but I noticed just now that it was only 29F inside there, hours later.  Usually the setting it is at keeps it at about 3F.

    So i’ll bump the control a little and see if I can get it to cool more, but that’s not a good sign.

  16. Nick Flandrey says:

    Charlie Kirk suspect’s motive revealed as vile political messages surface after his arrest: Live updates

    By GERMANIA RODRIGUEZ POLEO, US CHIEF REPORTER and SHAWN COHEN and NATASHA ANDERSON, SENIOR US NEWS REPORTER 

    Updated: 12:09 EDT, 12 September 2025 

    The suspect in Charlie Kirk’s assassination became ‘more political’ in recent years and spoke about disliking the conservative activist’s ideas, officials said on Thursday. 

    The alleged assassin was named as 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, from Washington, Utah.

    Robinson was turned into police overnight by his father and a minister in southern Utah after authorities shared images of the shooter, law enforcement sources told Daily Mail.

    – not caught, turned in.

    n

  17. Nick Flandrey says:

    @edh,  check that you don’t need to clean out a bunch of ice blocking airflow, or covering coils.   You had the perfect conditions to grow ice.

    n

  18. Nick Flandrey says:

    So this tragedy was an outlier: mental illness and internecine warfare within the MN Democrat party. Which is why interest by the media evaporated quickly.  

    so NOT right wing violence.

    n

  19. Greg Norton says:

    – not caught, turned in.
     

    The shirt and hat in the surveillance stills were unique.

    People connected with LDS seem to have different logos on their headwear in particular.

  20. Alan says:

    >>The Colorado school shooter who opened fire ‘again and again’ on fellow high school students on Wednesday has been named and pictured by police. 

    Desmond Holly, 16, is shown in his driving license photograph released by Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office in the aftermath of the horror.

    And why do we need to publish his picture? 

  21. Alan says:

    >>Before the filing, Tricolor provided auto loans to customers in the Southwest with poor or no credit. 

    Are these cars equipped with GPS transmitters to facilitate the inevitable repos? 

  22. Ray Thompson says:

    Went to the BMW Museum today. Lots of nice and unique cars, displays of engines for cars and planes, some one-of-a-kind productions, motorcycles and racing cars. Very nicely done.

    There was a large police presence around the museum. Maybe 100 police officers and 20 police vehicles. There was a protest going on outside against BMW and fossil fuels from what I could discern. There were maybe 50 protesters trying to make scene, They were ignored by everyone but themselves.

  23. Greg Norton says:

    There was a large police presence around the museum. Maybe 100 police officers and 20 police vehicles. There was a protest going on outside against BMW and fossil fuels from what I could discern. There were maybe 50 protesters trying to make scene, They were ignored by everyone but themselves.
     

    The theme parks spare no expense to entertain the tourists.

    When we rolled into Madison two years ago, there were the requisite protesters on the steps of the capitol building, spilling out to the edge of the street.

  24. lpdbw says:

    And why do we need to publish his picture? 

    Because he’s white.

    That narrative that mass shooters are all white right-wing nazis isn’t going to push itself.

    Conspicuously, they delay or omit pictures of trans, LBGTQ, and black shooters.  And when they finally do print them, it’s neatly posed high school graduation pictures.

    Once you see the journalistic agenda, you can’t unsee it.

    12
  25. lpdbw says:

    Did whoever wrote that suffer a stroke? Proofreading is a lost art.

    Speaking of journalistic malpractice…

    My guess is it was written by a DEI hire, possibly someone for whom English is at best a second language.   Why on earth would they hire a well educated white American (or Brit) when they can get a Hindu feminist studies major for half the price?

    Good grammar and sentence structure is racist.  You deserve to die for that.

  26. Denis says:

    There was a protest going on outside against BMW and fossil fuels from what I could discern.

    The big European motor trade fair, the Internationale Automobil Austellung is on this week. That’s why the eco-fanatics are out protesting that we are not all getting around on horseback or shanks’ mare.

    https://www.iaa-mobility.com/en

    Good grammar and sentence structure is racist.  You deserve to die for that.

    Proper punctuation saves lives. Let’s eat, Grandma! \= Let’s eat Grandma!

  27. Denis says:

    There were maybe 50 protesters trying to make scene, They were ignored by everyone but themselves.

    My favourite ones to ignore are the firearms opponents outside IWA in Nürnberg (the equivalent of SHOT, but for Eurasia).

  28. Nick Flandrey says:

    At least until the AIs learn how to be ignorant we’ll be able to spot the intern written stories.

    n

  29. Nick Flandrey says:

    Poked, prodded, and sampled.   Now fed and caffeinated.    

    BP was good, which I expected.   We’ll see what the fluid analysis says in a couple of days.   No fever, and while I”m not feeling super, I’m not sick with flu or strep either.  yet.

    I’ve got stuff to do, but I think a nap may be coming for me.   Too much sugar and too many carbs in my attempt to catch up on food intake.

    n

  30. Denis says:

    The final has just taken place of the trumpet category in the German public radio competition for young musicians. Do yourselves a favour, and listen to the winner, Robin Paillet. He won both the jury and the audience awards.

     Absolutely some of the finest trumpet playing I have ever heard. His performance earlier in the week of the Hummel concerto was breathtaking. Look for the livestream on YT.

    https://www.youtube.com/live/MULRw0xXzYI

    https://www.ard-musikwettbewerb.de/en/competition-2025/ 

  31. EdH says:

    That was weird, the auto publish post schedule didn’t happen.

    I noticed a couple oddities this morning. 

    The pin tab in my Safari browser was frozen this am, with an empty window. I had to unpin and then delete the tab and then open Daynotes in a new tab to get any response.  I will say that this has actually happened a couple of  times in the last week or so, and it may be due to the new iPad, but it’s running the same OS as the old one.

    Also the date/time on posts is being given in Texas time, whereas before it gave me the time in local.

    —-

    Well, bumping the thermometer up from 3/5 to 4/5 on the freezer portion has dropped the temperature to 22F in a couple of hours. So I’ll have to clear out the freezer (and temporarily make room for the stuff elsewhere) and then see if I can clear the coils and any obstruction.

    Another chore…

  32. Nick Flandrey says:

    Also the date/time on posts is being given in Texas time, whereas before it gave me the time in local. 

    – Time on posts and time of initial posting is Eastern time  GMT -5, and I can’t change that without borking the entire history and db, pretty sure.  Likewise the timestamp on comments, at least that’s what I see.   I have my pc set to Central, but if they change, it must be because I’m logged in and on server time.

    I haven’t unblocked the amazon services IPs that were DoS-ing us.  I just haven’t had the desire, and I don’t think we’d get any visitors from there anyway.  Don’t know if it was poorly behaved services or and actual DoS attack, but the end result was the same.

    n

  33. EdH says:

    @Nick: I hadn’t thought about the DDOS blocking maybe being an issue, interesting.

    Really none of that was critical, I just thought I’d give some feedback to your comment of earlier this morning.

    ——–

    in other news while I was looking at the chest freezer and thinking about how to make room I saw its thermometer sitting in a basket and realized I should cross check the temperatures. 

    And the different thermometer shows the temperature in the fridge freezer as now being at -6F and it’s sitting right next to the one reporting 25F.

    a man with one thermometer knows exactly what the temperature is, a man with two is never quite sure.

    No worries: I have a 3rd.

  34. OldGuy says:

    @nick re time zone settings on a WordPress site: 

    The actual timestamps stored in the database remain unchanged. WordPress saves dates in UTC format, so the underlying data is not affected by the time zone change.

    Only the display of the date/time is affected by the time zone change, since the date is stored as UTC. There might be an effect on the date of scheduled posts, as the time setting will show in the new time zone setting.

    There will be no effect on post or comment date/time stamps, other than they will be displayed in the chosen time zone. No changes to the stored date/time. Although old posts/comment time stamps will be displayed in the new time zone.

  35. Denis says:

    Do any of you audiophiles have opinions about the best feet for floor-mounted Hi-Fi speakers?

    Our new Teufel Definion 3 Units come with a choice of metal bars with rubber feet, or metal spikes that make point contact on little hard washer/puck disk things.

    The bar-type feet are kind of clunky and ugly looking, but they do give the speaker a broader base than the spikes, which give a cleaner look.

    Our floor is massive oak parquet/planking, so I am reluctant to use the spikes without somehow protecting the floor, because it looks like the spikes could easily get bumped off their little puck bases and end up spiking the floor.

    I gather from Teufel’s website that the spikes are for soft floor coverings, and the rubber feet for hard floors. However, there seems to be some benefit of the spikes acoustically decoupling the speaker carcasses from vibrations in the floor. On the other hand, there is also some discussion of combining coupling and decoupling by using both spikes and rubber.

    I was at the hardware store anyway to get some plastic conduit in which to run the speaker cables, so I picked up a rubber isolating mat, of the kind for under washing machines, a sheet of cork insulating material, and a sheet of faux-oak laminate flooring which is very flat and hard.

    I am thinking of cutting a piece of the laminate to the shape of the speaker footprint and contact cementing the cork or rubber mat to the bottom of it. I could then fit the spikes to the speaker and lay the laminate/cork/rubber sandwich underneath them to protect the real floor, but still decouple the speaker body from the floor.

    What say you?

  36. Nick Flandrey says:

    Huh, that’s good to know.   It hasn’t been much of an issue, and even a tiny help as my post is usually automatically given tomorrow’s date when I write it in the hour between 11pm and midnight, as is my habit.

    n

  37. Nick Flandrey says:

    @denis, what is the floor structure?   Concrete slab?   Booming wood joist construction?    Do you know if you have a problem with acoustic coupling to the floor? 

    You are more likely to have standing wave issues from bass in the subwoofer than noticeable acoustic coupling with the floor.

    Try it with them sitting on the floor, then again with the spikes, then with the rubber feet.  I don’t think you’ll hear any difference at all.

    n

    added — 99% of “audiophile” rules of thumb are completely inaudible to most people. The one thing that does work is the psychoacoustic stuff Dr Bose started that is now in the fake surround, and multi-speaker emulation that is mostly playing with timing of treble sounds.

    added more– if the large front speakers sit on the floor, you may find the most improvement from a pair of stands that lift them off the floor and tilt them slightly so they are directly pointed at the primary listening position.

  38. Lynn says:

    “Winning Hearts and Minds”

       https://areaocho.com/17566-2/

    “One of the most frequent criticisms that I have heard from the right about Charlie Kirk is that he was too moderate, he was Milquetoast, all he wanted to do is talk, etc. I have a news bulletin for people who say that-”

    “The struggle between the US and the Commies of the left isn’t going to be won by guns.”

    “The left’s strength is young voters. For decades, the left has gotten young people on board with the message that the older folks are out of touch. The reason that young people are poor, the left tells them, is that those old farts over there are cheating the system and keeping you down.”

    “It just isn’t about violence. It’s going to be won by convincing the people of this nation that the left is nuts. That their ideas are unworkable. You don’t change people’s minds by shooting at others. You can’t shoot enough people to change the minds of an entire nation. On paper, Kamala Harris won more than 75 million votes. Even if half of those votes were fake, there are 37 million people in the left’s camp. It isn’t practical to shoot and kill 10% of the nation.”

    Yup.

  39. Nightraker says:

    Just 2 cents:  My 55 lb. AR-3A speakers lived on automotive shock tower buffers, 4 in. diameter rubberish donuts, 4 per speaker.  I could say I tried not to disturb the downstairs neighbor thru the wood frame floor.

  40. Lynn says:

    “Antifa”

       https://areaocho.com/antifa-2/

    “It seems that the organization that isn’t one, but is just an idea has reared its head. The shooter is believed to have Antifa and not Tranny ties.”

    Antifa is a revolutionary group in the USA.  They need to taken down right now.

  41. Lynn says:

    I wonder if ICE’s efforts on the “undocumented” ie illegals started impacting Tri Colors balance sheet. 

    – I’m guessing “Yes”.   That and the increase in self deportation.  Also, if businesses are not hiring illegals they won’t have the money to pay the dealer.

    Note how mainstream businesses profit from illegals too… “JPMorgan Chase, Fifth Third Bancorp, and Barclays are reportedly bracing for potentially hundreds of millions of dollars in losses”

    Tricolor has a BILLION dollars in loans?   I bet a LOT of banks are on the hook for that.

    My banker brother says that when a loan goes bad, their immediate loss is 40% of the loan.  If the collateral has been trashed, as is often the case, the loss can go to 80 or 90%.

  42. Lynn says:

    xkcd: Biology Department

       https://www.xkcd.com/3140/

    Grok tells me that humans outmass insects on Earth by two times.  I don’t believe it.  I think that there are way more insects by mass than humans.

    “Insect biomass: Insects are incredibly numerous, with an estimated 10,000 trillion (10^19) insects on Earth. Their individual weights vary widely, but an average insect might weigh around 3 milligrams (0.003 grams). Multiplying this by the number of insects gives a global insect biomass of approximately 300 million metric tons (10^19 insects × 0.003 grams ≈ 3 × 10^14 grams = 300 million tons).”

    “Human biomass: The global human population is around 8 billion. Assuming an average human weight of 70 kilograms (70,000 grams), the total human biomass is about 560 million metric tons (8 billion × 70 kg = 5.6 × 10^11 kg = 560 million tons).”

    “Comparison: Insect biomass (300 million tons) is roughly half that of human biomass (560 million tons). So, the ratio of insect mass to human mass is approximately 0.54:1.”

    Explained at:

       https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3140:_Biology_Department

  43. Lynn says:

    “Legal File: State Farm Underpaying For Totaled Cars”

        https://www.carpro.com/blog/legal-file-state-farm-underpaying-for-totaled-cars

    “I’ve told you for years that there is a good chance insurance companies are going to lowball you on your car’s value if it gets totaled or stolen and not recovered.  This is why I wrote the article on my FAQ page about dealing with an insurance adjuster.  As you might imagine, I found this legal case extremely interesting and frankly, satisfying.  Let’s hope this is just the start.”

    “An Arkansas jury has delivered what many would call a surprise verdict: hundreds of millions in potential underpayments by a major auto insurer. The case began when Rose Chadwick, whose 2011 Hyundai was declared a total loss, realized her settlement didn’t cover replacement costs—so she took the insurer to court. The jury sided with her and an estimated 37,000 policyholders, finding that the technology used to value totaled cars included an unfair “haggling discount,” resulting in systematically low settlements.”

    “The crux of the case centered on the software State Farm used to determine actual cash value for total-loss vehicles. That program factored in what it assumed a buyer could negotiate off a used-car price—effectively lowering the payout. Chadwick’s lawyers argued that in today’s tight used-car market, dealers rarely negotiate—and so customers were shortchanged. The jury agreed, awarding her roughly $600 more for a car valued at about $4,700.  Not a huge payout for Rose, but the implications are much more far-reaching.”

    I have been wondering this for a long time.

  44. paul says:

    What say you?

    Nice looking speakers.  The bar feet don’t look too bad and if they keep a speaker from falling over, they look like a good thing.  

    I say “That sounds like a good plan”.  While contact cement is FUN for the high, some caulk, anything, the cheap stuff that comes in a tube like tooth paste is enough to hold stuff together.  Heck, Elmer’s white glue like school kids use would work.   But the buzz from contact cement, hmm… gotta think about it.  

    I put felt feet on my speakers.  They are sitting on the TV stand.  I did not notice much change in the sound.  A tiny bit more focused / crisper,  Maybe.  Nothing dramatic.    My sub-woofer was wobbling on the new floor so I cut a piece of the foam underlayment a little smaller than the woofer and slid that under.  No more wobble after a few hours. No change in sound.

    I guess it really depends on how your house is built.  Anything over a concrete slab isn’t going to couple the speakers to the rest of the house.  Carpet or a wood floor over pier and beam, floor, yeah… but the resonance might sound good. 

    Do the new speakers have air ports on the back?  Distance from the wall and wall construction make a difference.  

    Hey, I know.  Just set up the new stereo and listen to a bunch of music you know and like.  Have a few beers and move the speakers around.   Because it doesn’t matter what the audio “experts” say.  What matters is “does it sound good to you?”.

  45. paul says:

    99% of “audiophile” rules of thumb are completely inaudible to most people.

    I use 16 gauge lamp cord for speaker wires.  It didn’t cost a whole lot more than 18 gauge wire.  But Monster Cable is supposed to be so much much better at what? $10 a foot versus 75¢ for lamp cord from Radio Shack?

    Yeah…. give me some Monster Cable to try for a week or so and I’ll let you know. 

    Ok.  I’ve read that electrons don’t go through the wire.  They travel on the surface.  So more strands is better.  And that’s why you don’t use solid wire for speakers.  

  46. Lynn says:

    BP was good, which I expected.   We’ll see what the fluid analysis says in a couple of days.   No fever, and while I”m not feeling super, I’m not sick with flu or strep either.  yet.

    Please do me a favor and check your BP yourself using an upper arm BP monitor on a minimum monthly basis.  

    I am a hypochondriac and check my BP daily.   I log it and my weight also.

    I do not check my blood oxygen on a frequent basis.  That may be coming soon in February after my lung imaging at MDACC.

  47. paul says:

    “Legal File: State Farm Underpaying For Totaled Cars”

    Not new.  I hydroplaned into a car that ran their red light.  Employers Insurance paid about half of what used 1985 Chevy Cavaliers were selling for in the want ads.  Never mind what the Type 10s fetched.

    Full coverage.  On a car that was paid off for all of 3 months. 

  48. paul says:

    I bought some boneless chicken thighs last week.  I had plans.  I was going to do some stir fry with a few and put the rest on the grill.  Never did anything but after a week, time to cook the chicken before it turns slimy. 

    I had a bottle of Fiesta Chicken Rub.  About a heaping tablespoon.  I had a bottle of McCormick chipolte pepper.  A couple of teaspoons.  I have a third of a bottle of Fiesta Brisket Rub.

    The various Fiesta rubs taste almost the same.  Salt, pepper, garlic, and maybe some cumin or chili powder with a pinch of thyme.   But pretty much all the same. 

    I mixed it all together.  Rubbed that on the chicken thighs and onto the pellet grill for 45 minutes at 350 F.

    Turned out great. 

    The dogs approve.  Of course they do. 🙂  

  49. Lynn says:

    I am becoming more and more convinced that Charlie Kirk was at the top of JD Vance’s list for a running mate in 2028.  Prove me wrong.

  50. drwilliams says:

    “It isn’t practical to shoot and kill 10% of the nation.”

    First, that is not a limitation that communists and other totalitarian governments would acknowledge .

    Second, those governments never limited themselves to shooting. Starving, freezing, using them as cannon fodder or any ither means of killing population were used with enthusiasm. 

    Any finally, consider that the current record holders in human extermination were stopped by other govts. They never stopped of their own volition,  so the claim of “not practical” does not hold up to scrutiny. 

  51. Nick Flandrey says:

    My BP is almost always slightly under “normal”, and doesn’t vary much.    

    Cardiac guy gave me a clean bill of health after all the tests short of sticking things inside of me.

    n

  52. SteveF says:

    10,000 trillion (10^19)

    One trillion = 10^12

    10,000 trillion = 10^16

    The obvious error at the beginning of the response calls the accuracy of the entire response into question.

  53. SteveF says:

    It isn’t practical to shoot and kill 10% of the nation.

    Challenge accepted!

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  54. nick flandrey says:

    It’s ebola season again.

    Ebola cases double as towns lock down to prevent spread and global health officials fear another pandemic

    By EMILY JOSHU STERNE, US SENIOR HEALTH REPORTER

    Published: 12:01 EDT, 12 September 2025 | Updated: 12:04 EDT, 12 September 2025 

    Suspected cases of Ebola have more than doubled in the last week as officials fear an impending pandemic.

    Health officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) said Thursday suspected Ebola cases have increased from 28 to 68 in the past several days. 

    n

  55. Nightraker says:

    Re:  Body Armor

    https://premierbodyarmor.com/collections/everyday-armor-t-shirt/products/everyday-armor-tshirt-360-armored?variant=46584982274293

    Only about $20 cheaper than the hoodie vendor’s similar product.  Probably no armor will be comfortable in Texas summers.

  56. drwilliams says:

    “It isn’t practical to shoot and kill 10% of the nation.”

    follow-up to earlier:

    It’s not necessary to kill 10%, or even 1%. It’s just necessary to be selective. In an sf trilogy that I mentioned more than a year ago , they settled on 15 million of the entire human population approx. 30 years in the future. If that was 10 billion, they eliminated 0.15%. 

    What was the book title from 15 years ago? “The 100 people screwing up America”? 

  57. drwilliams says:

    Appeals court rules DHS has power to end protection for temporary refugees from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua, and Venezuela. 

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/09/appeals-court-win-for-trump.php

    Now do Somalia, and all the rest. 

    Keep maybe 2% of the best who have followed the rules. Or not. Bigger fish to fry. 

    Win the 2026 elections and consolidate control of Congress by electing more conservative Republicans and replacing RINOS that won’t get with the program. 

    Then announce the New Blue Deal for illegal immigrants: Self-deport within 90 days, or be arrested and transported to the newest end of the 200-mile US economic zone and be put on a raft that will be towed to the nearest non-US port.  . 

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  58. drwilliams says:

    “No way”

    The price of used bookmobiles is sky-high these days. 

  59. Greg Norton says:

    “Legal File: State Farm Underpaying For Totaled Cars”

    I have been wondering this for a long time.

    The Lizard is really terrible. They totalled the vehicle of the party my daughter hit in December, a 2017 crew cab Chevy half ton with a V8 engine.

    $11,000. In Austin. Texas.

    Needless, that’s not going to touch the cost of a true replacement so the other party filed a personal injury lawsuit, offering to settle this week for the max policy payout per person of $50,000.

    Subtract attorney fees, and he may just have the right amount of money to replace the Chevy.

  60. drwilliams says:

    Oh, yeah. 

    New policy: Any U. S. citizen that disagrees with deporting illegal aliens can choose to go in there place and keep a post-border violator of the same age who is otherwise law-abiding in the US. as a  replacement. 

    Yeah, bad sentence—deal with it. 

    We’ll have to consider the adjustment to the FICA accounts. 

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  61. Greg Norton says:

    “No way”

    The price of used bookmobiles is sky-high these days. 

    John Morgan is the primary donor to the weed legalization movement in Florida, and he was Charlie Crist’s biggest booster across two campaigns for Governor, Senate, and the House races.

    If Morgan balks, Biden is going to have serious problems raising money for the project.

  62. drwilliams says:

    How about amending the plans for Obama’s library to add another basement level for Biden. I’m sure Pritzer would get right behind it. 

  63. SteveF says:

    Would the Biden Library just be copies of material from other libraries?

    The Lizard is really terrible.

    An acquaintance does research for a plaintiff’s law firm, looking up some case law but mostly finding and crunching numbers. The firm’s main work is hammering insurance companies to pay what they’re obligated to. This guy agrees that most lawyers are scum, specifically including plaintiff’s attorneys, but insurance companies are bigger scum and firms like his employer are the only thing standing up for ordinary people. He makes a good point.

  64. drwilliams says:

    0.15% of 400 million is 600,000.

    How many attorney’s do we have in the U.S. ?

    How many trial lawyers?

    I don’t believe Patrick Lee went into details, but I think it’s evident that not all country’s population would be culled at the same rate. Several would be at nearly 100%, or likely iver 100% as the expats were counted. Countries with higher percentages of lawyers, liberal professors, drug dealers, slave traders, etc would doubtless require more pruning than simple agrarian liquor manufacturers. 

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  65. nick flandrey says:

    I don’t know if this is the match, but people have been piling up barrels of powder for several years.

    I did predict it would be something no one expected (both the local spiciness and global spiciness.)  I don’t think the big players are ready for the global dance quite yet, but local can happen any time.

    n

  66. Lynn says:

    10,000 trillion (10^19)

    One trillion = 10^12

    10,000 trillion = 10^16

    The obvious error at the beginning of the response calls the accuracy of the entire response into question.

    Grok really screwed up.  I agree, the whole calculation is suspect.

    I remember in the back of my mind reading that the total mass of insects on Earth was 100X that of the total mass of humans.  I have no idea where I read that or if I remember the numbers correctly.

  67. Lynn says:

    The Lizard is really terrible. They totalled the vehicle of the party my daughter hit in December, a 2017 crew cab Chevy half ton with a V8 engine.

    $11,000. In Austin. Texas.

    Needless, that’s not going to touch the cost of a true replacement so the other party filed a personal injury lawsuit, offering to settle this week for the max policy payout per person of $50,000.

    Subtract attorney fees, and he may just have the right amount of money to replace the Chevy.

    Even at 200,000 miles, that 2017 Chevy truck would be worth at least $20K if it ran ok.

  68. Lynn says:

    “Texas A&M professor appeals firing for lesson with content on gender”

       https://www.chron.com/news/article/melissa-mccoul-appeals-texas-a-m-firing-21042788.php

    “The dean and department head at Texas A&M were also fired over the incident.”

    Some people just found out that words have meanings and maltreating students at TAMU will not be accepted.

  69. Bob Sprowl says:

    There are 410,000 miles on my 2000 Ford F-250.  I runs fine and all accessories work – I’ve got receipts for repairs.  I would want a similar replacement should it get wrecked.    

  70. Denis says:

    Thanks all. The floor construction is oak parquet on mastic on cement screed on terracotta brick over a basement. There is a fair amount of “springiness”,  as compared to a slab or a joist and plank floor.

    Maybe I am overthinking mounting the speakers. I can just try all the mounting variations we have, and see which one gives a sound I like and a look that W1 will tolerate.

    After unpacking, I do think the top of the line Teufel S6000 subwoofer that we got is too large for the available space, so I might have to swap it for a smaller unit. Meh. Another trip to Cologne. First-world problems…

  71. Nick Flandrey says:

    subwoofer that we got is too large 

    – you don’t have to run it at full… unless you mean it won’t fit where it’s supposed to fit.    It has a very different purpose for home theater than for music listening.   With nice full range speakers moving a lot of air, unless you like modern recordings of synthesizer music the sub shouldn’t really  be doing much.   Most older recordings prior to the CD just don’t have much bass in them.   There wasn’t enough dynamic range to really capture the low end.

    Of course, modern recordings of organ music tend to sound great with big speakers too.

    n

  72. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’ve had my tiny little fire and read a few chapters next to the burbling water feature.   It’s not the same as sitting on the dock, but occasionally I do see some wildlife.   A giant possum walked by last time, bold as brass, and not at all concerned about me.

    Time now for shower and bed, with an early rise for my non-prepping hobby.   Meatspace baby!

    n

  73. Lynn says:

    I’ve had my tiny little fire and read a few chapters next to the burbling water feature.   It’s not the same as sitting on the dock, but occasionally I do see some wildlife.   A giant possum walked by last time, bold as brass, and not at all concerned about me.

    As long as it is not a skunk. 

  74. Ray Thompson says:

    I have been wondering this for a long time.

    Travelers Insurance pulled this crap on me, only worse. My car was totaled. It was well maintained and in pristine condition before the wreck. But Travelers would only pay me the low book value, because … drum roll please … the car had been in a wreck and would not be worth as much if could be fixed.

    I balked at the settlement and Travelers said if I did not like it, take them to court. Knowing full well that the legal fees would more than exceed the difference between the amount paid and the amount that I wanted.

  75. brad says:

    Maybe I am overthinking mounting the speakers. I can just try all the mounting variations we have, and see which one gives a sound I like and a look that W1 will tolerate.

    That’s the way to go. Given that your speakers are good quality, placement mostly means finding the right spacing between them. Unless your room has weird acoustics, nothing else really matters. Put on some music you like, sit down, listen, move the speakers, listen some more…

    Regarding the subwoofer, I would ask: Why do you want one? For normal music, they don’t add much, unless you are listening to the 1812 Overture with actual cannons. Otherwise, (imho) a subwoofer is mostly for action films, when they start blowing up the scenery. We don’t have one, and I don’t miss it.

    W1? Do you have a replacement in the wings? 😛

  76. EdH says:

    W1? Do you have a replacement in the wings?

    The “Two is one, one is none” prepper mindset can be taken too far. 

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