Wed. Oct. 22, 2025 – hoping to catch up, knowing I won’t

By on October 22nd, 2025 in cooking/baking, culture, march to war

Cool, and warm later. Some clouds. Probably not any rain though. And that’s what yesterday was like too. Just gradual changes day to day, and soon we’ll be headed into Winter. Such as it is in Houston.

I got nothing done yesterday morning, except sleep. I can rationalize that sleeping helps fight off any infection from the little disease bags, but it’s a rationalization and part of me regrets the loss of usable time. Part of my likes to sleep though.

In the afternoon, I did pickups, getting some housewares for here, 100ft of direct burial gas line, small engine parts, and some Christmas decorations. The gas line will go to the BOL against the possible eventual need to replace my main line to the house, or for future use either in a shop space, or second living area. It was so cheap I couldn’t say no.

Then it was home to leftovers for dinner, some auction stuff, and a tiny fire by the water feature…

Today, I’m going to try to wrap up the wall repairs, and get as far along on the pantry project as I can. Now W is talking about repainting the whole laundry room instead of just doing the 2×8 ft repair area in a match color. I think I’ll at least get primer on it, and that might be “good enough” with the cabinet covering most of the repaired area. I don’t want the project to take forever.

And there is the rest of the list that needs work, including a Costco run for paper products and anything that might be on sale this period. There is always more to do.

Stack, work, improve. Do what you can.

nick

83 Comments and discussion on "Wed. Oct. 22, 2025 – hoping to catch up, knowing I won’t"

  1. Denis says:

    @denis,  the denons in question are on a full time UPS, with surge suppression.   There is a whole house surge suppressor on the house service too.

    Thanks, Nick.

    Our BOL is in a locality that gets more than its share of lightning strikes, so EMP induced in cables is a thing.

    On top of that, I have a suspicion that our voltage in the mains supply is a bit dirty. I will ask the power company to look into that, but I am thinking that whole-house surge suppression is necessary, and perhaps something to condition the voltage, at least for the circuits with sensitive electronics, which unfortunately seems to be about all of them.

    Need to chat with Sparky. The new Hi-Fi cost about the same as a decent used small car, so I would like to protect it. As you say, complete disconnection when not in use might be the way to go…

    Working now on shelving and cable conduit to get it installed. What is this “day off” about which I hear talk?

  2. Greg Norton says:

    I’ve been binge watching Game Of Thrones all day on HBO.  It is obviously not set on Earth.  It is incredibly brutal.  I wonder how true it is to “Songs Of Ice And Fire” ?

    I never watched the series or read the books, but I know that Martin elevated Osha from minor character to important after watching Natalia Tena’s audition.

    Many fans credit Tena’s Osha going “full frontal” in Season One as having been the key moment that saved the series. Ratings were mediocre at first, and that was still the era of linear TV where the number of viewers on Sunday night meant more.

    Tena didn’t have a problem with the nudity, but she has always viewed the scene as unrealistic since she appears “groomed”. Martin and the producers disagreed. “Tonks nekkid” worked.

    Natalia Tena from that time period.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4vOkuT4Ero

    Tena is a serious musician. The backstage sessions of Tena and George Harris on various “Harry Potter” film sets are legendary but never captured on film/tape.

  3. Nick Flandrey says:

    @greg, I really liked that song, it’s going in my playlist.  Thanks.  I don’t have any interest in GOT or Martin, but I love that style of music.  And I had to think about who “Tonks” was.

    ———

    @gavin, I have commented recently about how my vision is improving.   I credit the supplement that is supposed to soften my lenses, and not using a pillow (which pressed on my eyes and changed their shape every night.)

    ———

    66F this morning.  I’m sure it’s moist too.   Everyone is quiet and tired today.

    I think I better get some coffee in me.

    n

  4. Greg Norton says:

    I’ve been binge watching Game Of Thrones all day on HBO.  It is obviously not set on Earth.  It is incredibly brutal.  I wonder how true it is to “Songs Of Ice And Fire” ?

    Diana Rigg also had a lot of say about how the Queen of Thorns developed in the series.

    Who tells Diana Rigg ‘no’? The actress literally worked until two weeks before she died, filming reshoots for Edgar Wright on “Last Night in Soho” his follow up to “Baby Driver”.

    You don’t get more hip than that at the time.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD0A-tsqXzI

    Spoiler alert!

    Wright received money from Sony to do reshoots shortly after Rigg was diagnosed terminal, and I wondered if making sure the actress went out with a career highlight resulted in the end of the film feeling out of place with the rest of the movie.

    “Soho” is one of the pieces of Wright’s catalog that I don’t own. I had mixed feelings about it when I first saw the flick, but the scene is amazing.

  5. EdH says:

    I’ve been binge watching Game Of Thrones all day on HBO.  It is obviously not set on Earth.  It is incredibly brutal.  I wonder how true it is to “Songs Of Ice And Fire” ?

    Close enough that one high school teacher was reputedly able to calm down an unruly class by threatening:  “to tell them what happens next”.

  6. Bob Sprowl says:

    I protect all my electronic devices – TV, computers, stero, etc. – with standalone UPSs.  I have a whole house surge suppression provided by the power company ($5/month) as the first line of defense.  

    I often unplug things that I will not be using for more than a day.  Only the kitchen stove, microwave are plugged in when not in use.   Hard to hurt the device if the plug is on the floor and it saves a bit of electrity as many things are instant on which requires some power when “off”.

  7. EdH says:

    Need to chat with Sparky. The new Hi-Fi cost about the same as a decent used small car, so I would like to protect it. As you say, complete disconnection when not in use might be the way to go…

    Maybe run it off a “power station” with true sine wave output, no mains at all?

  8. Greg Norton says:

    I’ve been binge watching Game Of Thrones all day on HBO.  It is obviously not set on Earth.  It is incredibly brutal.  I wonder how true it is to “Songs Of Ice And Fire” ?
     

    From what I understand from friends who are fans, George R.R. Martin has given up on finishing the book series before he dies.

    Martin also had a falling out with the showrunners of “ House of Dragon”.

    It probably no longer matters if the TV stays true to the book series.

  9. EdH says:

    Claude: “I should have warned you and asked if you wanted to backup the data first before deleting the volume. That was a significant oversight on my part.

    https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1oceaqz/claude_deleted_my_database/

  10. SteveF says:

    George R.R. Martin has given up on finishing the book series before he dies.

    I read the first book of the series late in 2013. In early 2014 I mentioned to someone that I wasn’t going to read any more until the series was finished because the time between each book being released was increasing and Martin was old and very fat and would probably die before finishing it. My acquaintance poo-pood that and showed me an article on the web which had Martin unambiguously stating that the next book would be out soon and the series definitely would be finished. The article also showed a picture of Martin flipping off skeptics.

    So here we are, almost 12 years later. The next book has not been released.

    Once again, skepticism and pattern recognition win out over assurances.

  11. Ray Thompson says:

    @Mr. Lynn:

    How is the vision this morning? Do you notice a significant improvement?

  12. Lynn says:

    How is the vision this morning? Do you notice a significant improvement?

    Wow, my right eye is still partially dilated today.  It has been 24 hours.  That is a strong dilation.

    I can see a long ways using the right eye now.  But I cannot focus on anything at less than 4 or 5 feet with the right eye.  

    I am using +1.25 monovision glasses on the computer and can see with the right eye ok, not great.  

    I still read with the glasses off and the left eye which can focus at 8 to 12 inches.

    So, without glasses, I am running monovision but I have a non-focussing zone at 12 inches to 5 feet.   It is very disconcerting.

    And my floater in my right eye is back.  My brain had gotten rid of it a long time ago but my brain is confused.  The floater is about 3X the size of my lens.

    And the color difference between the new lens and the old lens is incredible.  I can see sunsets again with the new lens.

  13. Ray Thompson says:

    the color difference between the new lens and the old lens is incredible

    That was one of my first impressions. How crisp, and blue, the colors were now being viewed.

    my right eye is still partially dilated today

    It took me about 24 hours for dilation to subside. Just give it time. Your eye is probably still swollen. Use the drops Luke, use the drops. Seriously. I skipped a couple of doses and wound up in significant pain that required a visit to the doctor, where I was promptly scolded.

    The floater is about 3X the size of my lens.

    That is a large floater. Those can be eliminated with a vitrectomy. That was done in both of my eyes. One eye because a blood vessel burst and there were thousands of dots in my vision. It happened on a Friday night and I waited until Monday to see the doctor. That was a big mistake and could have been really serious. My eye doctor that is an immediate visit to an emergency, not a wait a couple of days event.

    The vitreous fluid tends to get thicker over time and pull on the retina. Especially for near-sighted people. That was the second reason I had the vitrectomy. Stop the pull on the retina and during the process laser the retina to the back of the eye.

    That is when my left eye hemorrhaged, which was really scary. Blind and an eye that looked like one massive bruise.

    At one point a bubble was placed in each eye. That was to help the retina. That is really annoying until the bubble is eventually absorbed.

    I really want to know, when the dust settles, how well the astigmatism “holes” worked.

  14. Greg Norton says:

    So here we are, almost 12 years later. The next book has not been released.
     

    Martin “went Hollywood” a long time ago.

    Tom Clancy stopped being “Tom Clancy” the moment he typed the words “Minister Sausage” writing ”The Bear and the Dragon”.

    I’m not into Martin, but I’m sure a clue is in the last book somewhere.

    Maybe it was seeing Tonks nekkid as Osha.

  15. nick flandrey says:

    Seeing pretty women naked is always fun,  but isn’t the show full of violent rapes and murders?

    Pretty sure I saw an article talking about that subject some time ago.

    n

  16. ITGuy1998 says:

    Seeing pretty women naked is always fun,  but isn’t the show full of violent rapes and murders?

    Yes, it’s pretty brutal.

    The worst part is the last season. It just completely shirts (-s) on everything that has been built on.

  17. drwilliams says:

    “I read the first book of the series late in 2013. In early 2014 I mentioned to someone that I wasn’t going to read any more until the series was finished because the time between each book being released was increasing and Martin was old and very fat and would probably die before finishing it. My acquaintance poo-pood that and showed me an article on the web which had Martin unambiguously stating that the next book would be out soon and the series definitely would be finished. The article also showed a picture of Martin flipping off skeptics.

    So here we are, almost 12 years later. The next book has not been released.

    Once again, skepticism and pattern recognition win out over assurances.”

    I generally use a five year rule for tv programs, although streaming has made that interesting, as the rule of thumb that it takes five years of episodes to have enough for syndication is based on 20-ish episodes per year. 
     

    I broke the rule with Vegas and got burned. I’m watching Slow Horses because they will never be syndicated. 
     

    I put The Astronaut’s Windlass aside halfway through in anticipation  of at least one sequel, and it has aged out and Jim Butcher can kiss the wind. 
     

    I was reading a Rick Shelley military sf series that did not get to the ultimate book and promotion of the main character to general due to the author’s death. The penultimate book was rushed or perhaps didn’t get the final author edit, and several Amazon reviews were posted by people that did not know. All understandable, whereas poor planning and unrealistically feeding expectations is not. 

  18. nick flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-15216805/car-repossessions-fastest-rate-2008-economy-cracking.html 

    Car repossession trend shows chilling echo of 2008 crisis as economists warn of more dominoes to fall

    Car loans tend to be the final payments that Americans are willing to miss, after credit card or mortgage payments. 

    This is because cars are so essential for their daily lives. They need them to get to work, to take their children to school, or to access groceries. 

    The average cost of a new car in the US has now eclipsed $50,000 for the first time in history. 

    This, coupled with high interest rates, has sent auto loan payments soaring and piled increasing pressure on car owners. 

    Drivers owe $1.66 trillion in car loans – a bigger burden than federal student loan debt or credit cards – which is up 20 percent since 2020. 

    The average monthly payment for a new car is now $749, and $529 for a used car. 

    Car insurance rates have also surged in recent years, as well as costs for repairs. 

    Even Ford, one of the largest car companies in the US, has started offering subprime loans revive sluggish F-150 sales. Last month, it began offering low-interest loans to Americans with credit scores under 620.

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

    n

  19. Lynn says:

     but isn’t the show full of violent rapes and murders?

    The show is effectively set in the dark ages. Violent rapes and violent murders are the norm in the show.  Violent disfigurements too.

    Just use the word violent for everything in the show.  There is a beheading in the first five minutes.

  20. Greg Norton says:

    Even Ford, one of the largest car companies in the US, has started offering subprime loans revive sluggish F-150 sales. Last month, it began offering low-interest loans to Americans with credit scores under 620.
     

    God forbid they try selling a few for the base price with just the essentials.

    To be fair, the dealers are never going to sell half ton trucks for less than $40k right now outside of their fleet lots.

  21. lpdbw says:

    George R.R. Martin.

    The “R.R.” stands for Rape-Rape

    Granted, all my information is second-hand, but credible people I follow have convinced me to avoid all the Martin stuff, whatever medium.

    Remember, he’s the one who handed out *ssholes at the Hugo awards when people objected to all the DEI stuff and suggested honoring works that fans actually liked.

  22. Gavin says:

    George R.R. Martin has given up on finishing the book series before he dies.

    I’ve never watched Game of Thrones by episode, but I’ve seen quite a few scene clips, enough to have a general grasp of the storyline. That saved me endless hours as I don’t find the story appealing at all. I enjoyed much of Martin’s early work, like ‘Tuf Voyaging’ and ‘Nightflyers’.

  23. EdH says:

    I put The Astronaut’s Windlass aside halfway through in anticipation  of at least one sequel, and it has aged out and Jim Butcher can kiss the wind. 

    There is a sequel out now, a lot told from the uplifted cats’ perspective, and the background is becoming a little clearer.

    Jordan and TWOT cured me of depending on there being a finish to a series, I take books as they come now.

    I stopped reading GOT because it was violent and just didn’t have much new to offer.

  24. nick flandrey says:

    the second one in the Aeronaught’s Windlass  is better than the first and expands the scope of the world tremendously.   There is also a short or novella that adds to the story.

    It was a long time coming though.

    That’s why I stopped reading new Brandon Sanderson.   He has so many series’ started that it takes years for him to get around to it again.

    Like this Wen Spencer, the Black Wolves of Boston.   She’s finally gotten back to it with a second book that starts a day or two after the first book ended.   With 8 years between books.

    I have ZERO recollection of reading the first one, and had to re-read it before starting the second. 

    —–

    one reason I have been reading a ton of LitRPG and independently published authors is that they don’t think it’s “hard” to write, and they don’t stick to a publishing house’s rule of one book per year.    Most of the successful authors in the genre have a half dozen series’ with 6-12 books in each series.   If you like one, you’ve got more to read.

    They’re not “literature” and aren’t going to change the world, but they are fun to read.

    n

    added– and they are on Kindle unlimited so they are cheap to read. The dang Kate Daniels series cost me over $600 when I added it all up.

    n

  25. SteveF says:

    people objected to all the DEI stuff and suggested honoring works that fans actually liked.

    Those monsters!

  26. Ray Thompson says:

    Well, cr*p. I got stuck with jury duty for the county. I was excused from federal jury due to my age and I got the exemption several months ago. The county age limit is 75.

    County jury duty gets to deal with the deranged dregs of the county, drunk drivers, domestic assault, maybe six good teeth with what’s left rotted by meth, fingers stained brown from smoking, the scum of the county. Which are generally lower than the scum of the earth. People that went through the sixth grade twice and called it a twelve year education.

    When they interview me I hope they bring up jury nullification. I will tell them my nephew is a state trooper, which he is. I doubt the death penalty will be on any of the dockets (sorry SteveF).

    The rules state a person cannot bring anything into the court house. No food or drinks. Instead you have to use the snack machines that charge 4.7 times retail price. No cell phones. No knives of any kind. Nail clippers are banned as is mace, nunchucks, etc. You get to sit and read 25 year old magazines while the lone 23″ glass tube TV shows HSN shopping channel.

    In a room full of people who only bath on the third Thursday of odd number months, reek of stale cigarette smoke, and take 1.5 chair widths to sit their fat @sses in an unpadded wooden bench that is left over from the great depression.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    County jury duty gets to deal with the deranged dregs of the county, drunk drivers, domestic assault, maybe six good teeth with what’s left rotted by meth, fingers stained brown from smoking, the scum of the county. Which are generally lower than the scum of the earth. People that went through the sixth grade twice and called it a twelve year education.
     

    Texas has jury trial divorce to assign blame. The county summons two pools of 500 twice a week and works down to about 120 showing up at the courthouse every Tuesday and Thursday.

    That is an interesting way to escape work for a morning and big business for the Monument Cafe diner out the back door of the courthouse.

    The Monument Cafe used to be good, but now it is just meh. The owners went broke during the pandemic trying to renovate a nearby motel into a boutique operation.

  28. Lynn says:

    “Earth has an unexpected new moon—and it’s been here for decades”

        https://www.chron.com/news/space/article/second-moon-earth-asteroid-2025-pn7-21111804.php

    “The space rock has been following Earth’s journey since the 1960s.”

    What ?  Lets land something on it.

    Or else use it for target practice.

  29. nick flandrey says:

    Sanded my drywall repair and got a coat of primer on it.   Vacuumed up the dust.   What a mess.    Debating what to do next and if I should shower the dust off of me.    I think I will.

    n

  30. Lynn says:

    one reason I have been reading a ton of LitRPG and independently published authors is that they don’t think it’s “hard” to write, and they don’t stick to a publishing house’s rule of one book per year.    Most of the successful authors in the genre have a half dozen series’ with 6-12 books in each series.   If you like one, you’ve got more to read.

    added– and they are on Kindle unlimited so they are cheap to read. The dang Kate Daniels series cost me over $600 when I added it all up.

    Ilona Andrews has been putting out 2 to 4 books a year.  Half of them are self published on Big River.  Their income is well over a million a year.

    How in the world did you spend $600 on the ten Kate Daniels books ? At ten books, that would be $60 each ???

  31. Lynn says:

    The rules state a person cannot bring anything into the court house. No food or drinks. Instead you have to use the snack machines that charge 4.7 times retail price. No cell phones. No knives of any kind. Nail clippers are banned as is mace, nunchucks, etc. You get to sit and read 25 year old magazines while the lone 23″ glass tube TV shows HSN shopping channel.

    In a room full of people who only bath on the third Thursday of odd number months, reek of stale cigarette smoke, and take 1.5 chair widths to sit their fat @sses in an unpadded wooden bench that is left over from the great depression.

    Can they bring their pet rattlesnake ?  Asking for a friend in a strange cult.

  32. Lynn says:

    “Delusional Democrat Jasmine Crockett Seriously Thinks She Has Shot at Higher Office”

        https://thelibertydaily.com/delusional-democrat-jasmine-crockett-seriously-thinks-she-has/

    DCNF)—The crowded Democrat primary contest to challenge incumbent Republican Sen. John Cornyn in Texas could soon get messier, with another name potentially in the mix.”

    “Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett said Wednesday that she is considering making a run for Senate during the midterms. Crockett, a two-term lawmaker and a member of the far-left cohort of Democrats known as “the Squad” argued that she could beat out the current field of candidates in the primary, citing recent polling.”

    Run Jasmine, run !  Please do so.  You would be the perfect dumbrocrat nominee for Ken Paxton to steamroller.

    Wow, she shut down Bozo O’Rourke.

    Stay away from dumbrocrats, they are dangerous.

  33. Lynn says:

    “Musk Responds After SpaceX Loses Guarantee Of First Moon Landing”

       https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/musk-responds-after-spacex-loses-guarantee-first-moon-landing

    “Up until Oct. 20, the return of NASA astronauts to the lunar surface was set to be carried out by a variant of SpaceX’s Starship upper stage.”

    “Now, according to Acting Administrator of NASA Sean Duffy, that may not be the case.”

    “Elon Musk’s behemoth rocket still has not conducted a successful mission into low Earth orbit, sparking some doubt about whether or not its human landing spacecraft would be ready in time for Artemis III, a planned moon landing, in 2027.”

    “To ensure American boots return to the lunar surface by then – and, most importantly, before communist China – Duffy officially opened the lunar lander opportunity to SpaceX competitors.”

    I would put my money on SpaceX.

    10
  34. Greg Norton says:

    Run Jasmine, run !  Please do so.  You would be the perfect dumbrocrat nominee for Ken Paxton to steamroller.

    Paxton won’t win the nomination. Cornyn will get another six years.

    1
    1
  35. EdH says:

    Question:   does anyone have a recommendation for a semi permanent outdoor duct tape? I want to tape the seams on my roof swamp cooler unit so that I don’t get the sound of the wind all the time.  i’ve covered the louvers, so that’s not the problem.

    But I do plan to take it off before next summer so I don’t want the super permanent stuff that leaves a  nasty residue.

  36. SteveF says:

    Can they bring their pet rattlesnake ?

    Yes, if it’s an emotional support rattlesnake.

  37. paul says:

    It was 57f this morning.  No dew.  I could have used more blanket around 4am.  And how is it that I’m all comfy warm, even my feet, and my knee caps feel like they have ice packs on them?  

    It’s 83f now, hazy clouds, 28% humidity. 

    I had a Planters 12oz nut container in the fridge for bacon grease.  I didn’t know the cardboard “can” was lined with plastic.  I scooped most of the grease into a frying pan.  Heated just enough to melt.  Then filtered it through a paper towel into a “Picosos’ Hot Chile Peanuts” can.
    They are not hot and I taste no chili powder.  Disappointing. Just lightly salted and good red skin peanuts.  But it’s a metal can.  I salvaged almost a cup of bacon grease.  

    The toilet has been quiet today.  Maybe it fixed itself.  Maybe the Demons moved on.  Shrug.

    The bathroom faucet had a light in the aerator that lit when the water was running.  Pretty handy place for a nightlight to get a drink of water.  It stopped working a few years ago.  I shopped for a replacement aerator but for $65 at Home Depot, nope.  Today I figured what the heck and tried to take it apart.  Maybe I can get the turbine generator unstuck. That didn’t work.  The part you unscrew sheered off.  I didn’t twist very hard. No big deal, I have a few saved aerators.  

    I’ll go check the mailbox tomorrow.  Maybe the property tax bill will be there.  I paid the rent last year on October 23.  I have the money, get it over with and miss the December and January crowds.

    After checking the mail, I’ll vacuum the house tomorrow, Buddy the Beagle sure seems to sheds a lot of hair.  Penny sheds plenty but her hair doesn’t show much in the vacuum cleaner or the carpet sweeper.  It’s like 75% Buddy and 20% Penny and various things like cookie crumbs and the fuzzy grass burrs they track in. 

    It’s real exciting around here.

    No.  Really.  Stop laughing.   🙂  

  38. SteveF says:

    Ed, would it work to wrap non-sticking plastic or minimally-sticky masking tape around the joint and then wrap the duct tape around that?

    Or go ahead and use the strong stuff and remove the glue residue with alcohol. (I think isopropyl alcohol is what I found to work. Might have been ammonia. I tried a few things before something worked.)

  39. SteveF says:

    emotional support rattlesnake

    BTW, ask me about my emotional support hot babe in a short skirt. I hate having to stand in lines and otherwise waste my time before I can do something, but the emotional support hot babe in a short skirt makes it tolerable. Recommended.

  40. Greg Norton says:

    Question:   does anyone have a recommendation for a semi permanent outdoor duct tape? I want to tape the seams on my roof swamp cooler unit so that I don’t get the sound of the wind all the time.  i’ve covered the louvers, so that’s not the problem.

    We used double sided Gorilla Tape to temporarily fix the passenger side mirror on our Jetta when we discovered that my wife’s nephew, the previous owner,  had simply glued a replacement mirror from AutoZone over the broken factory original after it broke.

    The tape has held a lot better than the glue did. At least the glue failed with the car sitting in our driveway.

    You can try Manco “Duck” brand tape first.

  41. paul says:

    Question:   does anyone have a recommendation for a semi permanent outdoor duct tape?

    Sounds like using caulk is off of the list.  Maybe some wide masking tape?  The tan stuff.  Or maybe some wide painter’s tape?  The blue stuff is made to peel off.  Buy Scotch, not the dollar walmart stuff. 

  42. SteveF says:

    my wife’s nephew, the previous owner,  had simply glued a replacement mirror from AutoZone over the broken factory original

    Doesn’t Texas have annual safety inspections? I thought it did. How did that pass?

    Regardless, is your nephew-in-law somewhere on the retarded side of the intelligence scale?

  43. paul says:

    So called safety inspections have gone away.  Some counties still have inspections.  For emissions only.  Greg or Lynn would know more. 

    Inspections were a rip-off anyway. Go get inspected. Pay an extra $5 to have your headlight’s aim screwed up. Go to the same place, with the same guy, next year and have your headlight’s aim re-adjusted in the other direction.

    Year three, I looked in the shop manual for the Imperial and marked the garage wall.

  44. Lynn says:

    “SNAP”

       https://areaocho.com/snap/

    “There are ten days left until the food stamps stop. Keep that in mind.”

    Uh oh.  Matt Bracken wrote a story about that.  It did not go well for the suburbs. 100 cars pull up at a grocery store simultaneously and loot the place.

  45. Greg Norton says:

    So called safety inspections have gone away.  Some counties still have inspections.  For emissions only.  Greg or Lynn would know more. 

    Emissions in Williamson County. Tailpipe sensor and OBD-II code scan.

    I’ve never owned a car which registered anything on the tailpipe sensor test, but you cannot have more than one “Not Ready” OBD-II check if you are trying to hide a chronic Check Engine light problem like I experience with my Solara and the evap cannister.

  46. lpdbw says:

    Look at your Texas renewal fees form.  They dropped the safety inspection, but now there’s an “inspection replacement fee”.

    Yes, they’re still charging you for the inspection that’s not required any more.

    And since  I live in Harris county, I have to pay for the emissions test anyway.

  47. Greg Norton says:

    Doesn’t Texas have annual safety inspections? I thought it did. How did that pass?

    Regardless, is your nephew-in-law somewhere on the retarded side of the intelligence scale?

    The glue held the mirror for about a year before it gave way. The Jetta passed the safety inspection two times.

    The mirror isn’t nearly as bad as the mess someone created in the fuse box trying to fix the 12 V “cigarette lighter” outlet. I believe that was the handiwork of his father, who, as regulars here know, I call Big Papi.

    Lest you think I’m being racist, Big Papi is the whitest person I know.

    The wife’s nephew is the same one who thought that he could move to Austin get a gig as a tech manager with his J-school diploma and military hiring quota eligibility, but I think he’s learned the hard way about that career path.

  48. drwilliams says:

    @Ray Thompson

    The rules state a person cannot bring anything into the court house. No food or drinks. Instead you have to use the snack machines that charge 4.7 times retail price. No cell phones. No knives of any kind. Nail clippers are banned as is mace, nunchucks, etc. You get to sit and read 25 year old magazines while the lone 23″ glass tube TV shows HSN shopping channel.

    Borrow an oxygen tank, put a boot on one foot and use one of those knee trolleys, and get your doc to write a letter explaining you must bring your own snacks because: special diet. Tell them you’ve made arrangements for the neighbors to feed Tiddles, since your wife doesn’t always remember, but you’re a bit concerned about the heaing aid batteries lasting a full day…

  49. drwilliams says:

    @EdH

    Question:   does anyone have a recommendation for a semi permanent outdoor duct tape? I want to tape the seams on my roof swamp cooler unit so that I don’t get the sound of the wind all the time.  i’ve covered the louvers, so that’s not the problem.

    But I do plan to take it off before next summer so I don’t want the super permanent stuff that leaves a  nasty residue.

    Alien tape is supposed to be good for outdoors–I haven’t tied it.

    The primary problem outdoors is UV exposure. If I were using a silver weather-resistant tarp I’d be tempted to use 1″ filament tape and protect it with 2″ aluminum tape to block the UV.

  50. drwilliams says:

    @SteveF

    Or go ahead and use the strong stuff and remove the glue residue with alcohol. (I think isopropyl alcohol is what I found to work. Might have been ammonia. I tried a few things before something worked.)

    Lighter fluid aka VM&P Naptha.

  51. Ken Mitchell says:

    I would put my money on SpaceX.

    For the moon rocket lander?  I would too, but this lights a bit of a fire under Musk’s ass. 

  52. Greg Norton says:

    I would put my money on SpaceX.

    For the moon rocket lander?  I would too, but this lights a bit of a fire under Musk’s ass. 

    The “Starship” has to reach orbit first.

  53. Greg Norton says:

    Borrow an oxygen tank, put a boot on one foot and use one of those knee trolleys, and get your doc to write a letter explaining you must bring your own snacks because: special diet. Tell them you’ve made arrangements for the neighbors to feed Tiddles, since your wife doesn’t always remember, but you’re a bit concerned about the heaing aid batteries lasting a full day…

    When I was summoned for jury duty on a molester case, I thought the defendant oozed guilt, but I told the Assistant DA that I couldn’t convict solely on the basis of the child’s testimony and would not hold it against the defendant if he didn’t testify in his own defense.

    Excused!

    Of course, communicating those two pieces of information took the better part of a day.

  54. nick flandrey says:

    At ten books, that would be $60 each ???  

    – IDK, it ended up being way more than 10 books but I might be including the other series too.   I basically bought and read their whole catalog.

    ———–

    I decided to put up some Halloween decor.   Couple of moving light projectors, some window clings, change out the door mat…   More later but at least I’m started.

    D2 has a thing tonight and I’m missing it.   Apparently.  Since no one told me.

    ———–

    WRT starship and the moon, no one besides Space X is even flying rockets to orbit, and if they manage to, it’s once a year.   They might have “opened it to competition” but essentially there isn’t any.

    https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2025/10/let-me-tell-you-something.html 

    ———–

    NASA quietly deploys planetary defense tools after interstellar visitor shows odd light behavior

    By CHRIS MELORE, US ASSISTANT SCIENCE EDITOR

    Published: 11:03 EDT, 22 October 2025 | Updated: 12:48 EDT, 22 October 2025 

    NASA has quietly made a major move to defend the planet after the mysterious interstellar object displayed more strange and unexplainable behavior.

    The supposed comet, dubbed 3I/ATLAS, has just been added to the list of threats tracked by a United Nations-endorsed group focused on planetary defense against near-Earth objects.

    The International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) works alongside institutions across the world that detect, track, and study near-Earth objects (NEOs) to assess potential impact threats to Earth.

    3I/ATLAS is the first interstellar object ever added to the list, triggering a worldwide drill aimed at improving detection skills for space rocks and preparing Earth for a potential incoming threat.

    On Tuesday, officials with IAWN admitted that the object was causing ‘unique challenges’ for predicting its trajectory and decided to add 3I/ATLAS to the Comet Astrometry Campaign. 

    The object has displayed several unusual features that defy the typical behavior of comets, including an ‘anti-tail,’ a jet of particles that points toward the Sun rather than away from it. 

    Moties?   Ring builders?  

    n

  55. Ken Mitchell says:

    The “Starship” has to reach orbit first.

    The sub-orbital flights lack about 100 KPS from going orbital. Musk hasn’t WANTED to make orbit yet.

  56. SteveF says:

    Moties?   Ring builders?

    Space Jehovah’s Witnesses. They want to spread the Good News and are willing to undertake the risks of cryo sleep on a 10,000-year journey in order to spread it.

  57. Lynn says:

    At ten books, that would be $60 each ???  

    – IDK, it ended up being way more than 10 books but I might be including the other series too.   I basically bought and read their whole catalog.

    I have 30 of Ilona Andrews’s books.  There are about 4 or 5 more.  Highly recommended and highly addictive.

  58. drwilliams says:

    Moties?   Ring builders?

    If it’s Charles Stross’ Festival, uploading Chaos Manor and ttgnet should be entertaining.

    If it’s Von Neumann machines we a so f***ed.

  59. EdH says:

    The “Starship” has to reach orbit first.

    Technically it has … but the elliptical orbital path intercepted the atmosphere.

    —–

    Overheard near Marine One….

    Trump: “Who is in the lead?”

    Vance: “SpaceX”

    Trump: “Who is in 2nd?”

    Vance: “There is no 2nd, Mr. President”

  60. Lynn says:

    I would put my money on SpaceX.

    For the moon rocket lander?  I would too, but this lights a bit of a fire under Musk’s ass. 

    I don’t trust anyone else to build a safe device to go into space.  DEI has ruined NASA, JPL, and Boeing.

    When your chief engineer got all F’s and was given all A’s, things are going to be bad.

    I’ve seen crazy things on this planet kill many people* but the Earth forgives a lot.  Space does not forgive at all, in fact, being in Space adds a danger all of its own.

    (*) I worked at several plants that five people died at while I was working there or within a year after I moved on to another plant.

  61. mediumwave says:

    Moties?   Ring builders?  

    Rama preparing for its transition to hyperspace near the Sun, obviously! 😀

  62. EdH says:

    Space does not forgive at all, in fact, being in Space adds a danger all of its own.

    There was something I read years ago, that stuck with me and went something like this:

    In terms of danger: Space is to the Air as the Air is to the Sea as the Sea is to the Land.

    We do take more care now, the casualty rate among early pilots and crews was horrendous.

  63. lpdbw says:

    I’m on jury duty next week.  Thursday’s pool, downtown Houston.

    Generally, engineers don’t make it onto juries, and CS degrees are close enough.  But I’ll have to show up anyway.

  64. SteveF says:

    I worked at several plants that five people died at while I was working there

    And you were never hauled in for questioning? Weird.

  65. Greg Norton says:

    WRT starship and the moon, no one besides Space X is even flying rockets to orbit, and if they manage to, it’s once a year.   They might have “opened it to competition” but essentially there isn’t any.

    NASA will continue to fund development the Starliner and Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser, but, with the ISS deorbiting planned for 2030, not a lot of time remains to declare Starliner operational and find a cargo flight suitable for Dream Chaser’s first launch.

    The Space Force also keeps its options open with development of the ULA Vulcan family.

  66. drwilliams says:

    The October Surprise Jay Jones Didn’t See Coming: Special Prosecutor Now Probing Reckless Driving Deal

    Jones was clocked going 116 MPH in a 70 MPH zone; he pleaded guilty in order to avoid serving time in jail, paid a $1,500 fine, and was sentenced to 1,000 hours of community service.

    His “community service” has certainly raised a few eyebrows; it looks like the wannabe AG did a significant portion of his time volunteering for his own PAC, Meet Our Moment (MOM). He also reportedly worked at the Virginia chapter of the NAACP. 

    According to the signed certificates from both the NAACP and MOM PAC, Jay Jones completed more than 500 hours of community service for each organization during the 2023 calendar year. And that means he would have had to work at least 20 hours per week on his community service while also handling his full time work at the Washington, D.C., law firm Hogan Lovell, all while crisscrossing the commonwealth campaigning for his fellow Democrats.

    …people caught going slower than Jones received jail time and suspended sentences, but there’s good ole Jay Jones free as a bird and volunteering for his own PAC.

    https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2025/10/22/special-prosecutor-now-looking-at-reckless-driver-jay-joness-community-service-n2195368

    Subpoenas to NAACP, MOM, and Hogan Lovell for Jones timecards should be interesting. Court orders to all three forbidding any external discussion of those hours without informing the court. Subpoena and geofence the cell phone records. Subpoena toll charge records.

    The principle should be universal and rigidly enforced: public officials, public employees, licensed professionals, and those who otherwise hold elevated positions in society should be held to the highest standards.

  67. EdH says:

    I worked at several plants that five people died at while I was working there

    And you were never hauled in for questioning? Weird.

    Bart Simpson  SteveF: “I didn’t do it. No one saw me do it. You can’t prove anything.”

  68. SteveF says:

    And that means he would have had to work at least 20 hours per week on his community service while also handling his full time work at the Washington, D.C., law firm Hogan Lovell, all while crisscrossing the commonwealth campaigning for his fellow Democrats.

    He had to drive so fast in order to get all that done.

  69. drwilliams says:

    @SteveF

    He had to drive so fast in order to get all that done.

    You caught me:

    “Subpoena toll charge records.”

    Easy to compute time between stations.

    I’d be shocked, shocked, to find that he wasn’t a first-time offender.

  70. drwilliams says:

    James Carville said every person or corporation – or collaborators as he called them – that “bent the knee” to President Donald Trump during his presidency should be shamed when he leaves office in 2029.

    “They should be put in orange pajamas, and it should be marched down to Pennsylvania Avenue, and the public should be invited to spit on them. The universities, the corporations, the law firms, all of these collaborators should be shaved, pajamaed, and spit on them,” Carville said.

    https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2025/10/22/carville_when_this_nightmare_ends_in_2029_trump_collaborators_should_be_publicly_shamed_and_spit_on.html

    With Carville as apologist and defender of years of Democrat lawlessness and perfidy, how about we strip him naked, paint him blue, march him down the street, and sell 1-lb bags of pig feces for people to pelt him with? And bag his head so he can’t dodge.

  71. Lynn says:

    “House Democrats Announce Plans to Launch “Master ICE Tracker” to Dox ICE Agents Defending America – Attorney General Pam Bondi Responds (VIDEO)”

        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/10/house-democrats-announce-plans-launch-master-ice-tracker/

    You know, this looks like treason to me.

    Stay away from dumbrocrats, they are dangerous.

  72. Lynn says:

    Moties?   Ring builders?  

    Rama preparing for its transition to hyperspace near the Sun, obviously! 

    Uh, that would cause Sol to nova.

  73. Lynn says:

    I’ve been binge watching Game Of Thrones all day on HBO.  It is obviously not set on Earth.  It is incredibly brutal.  I wonder how true it is to “Songs Of Ice And Fire” ?
     

    From what I understand from friends who are fans, George R.R. Martin has given up on finishing the book series before he dies.

    Martin also had a falling out with the showrunners of “ House of Dragon”.

    It probably no longer matters if the TV stays true to the book series.

    No telling what happens until it really happens.  People talk out of one side and act from the other side.

    Game of Thrones has a 9.2 rating on IMDB.   I am not sure that I have seen anything higher.

       https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0944947/?ref_=tt_ov_srs

  74. OldGuy says:

    Game of Thrones has a 9.2 rating on IMDB.   I am not sure that I have seen anything higher.

    Quick search (advanced search, rating higher than 9, 1000+ votes) on IMDB shows “Breaking Bad” at 9.5 rating, for the series (2008, 62 episodes), with “The Why Files” (2020, 210 episodes) also at 9.5.  

    Some other shows with 9.6 overall), foreign titles.

    4
    2
  75. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’ve heard of Breaking Bad.  Never watched it but enough clips come up on youtube shorts that I has a little familiarity with the show.   Never heard of The Why Files.  US production?

    n

  76. Lynn says:

    I worked at several plants that five people died at while I was working there

    And you were never hauled in for questioning? Weird.

    Bart Simpson  SteveF: “I didn’t do it. No one saw me do it. You can’t prove anything.”

    I must admit, I love that meme.

  77. Nick Flandrey says:

    Paywalled clickbait, but I found the format funny.

    I was a tinnitus doctor. Then the ringing started in my own ears… and a medicine we give thousands of patients was to blame. This one true fix saved me

     A trained audiologist who had spent years treating patients with tinnitus, a condition causing a constant ringing or buzzing in the ears, Dr Allen Rohe suddenly found he had the illness himself. 

    Presumably from the headline and summary, Dr. Jobsworth treated people for YEARS with no clue what they were really going thru, until HE developed the condition, and suddenly figured out that what he’d been doing wasn’t helping, but some other thing would.  

    It’s a tale as old as time.   

    As someone with tinnitus, there are a lot of snake oil remedies out there, and nothing really seems to work, although someone always has a secret cure for you, if you pay…

    Wear your hearing protection kids.   It will never get better, but it CAN get worse.

    nick

  78. Nick Flandrey says:

    I realized that some of the clips youtube shorts has been showing me must contain AI generated content.  

    For some reason, it started showing me dogs saving baby clips.   Then I noticed that some of them were suspect.   TVs don’t just fall over.  And they really don’t walk forward and then fall.   Bookcases don’t fall for no reason.  No one has bundles of bare wires sticking out of the wall of their nice living room.  And LIONS, TIGERS, PUMAS, and other exotic cats don’t attack kids in the back yard of suburban homes.  Bears might, and the bear clips look real.  Aggressive dog and coyotes do too.   But a big bird trying to carry baby away?  Or a freaking lion in the back yard?  Nope, not buying it.   They LOOK like real video though.

    nick

    added – yep, turns out it’s a thing.

  79. Nick Flandrey says:

    yeah, I meant to do that.   Because people are stupid.  Yeah.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-15217947/cracker-barrel-logo-change-highway.html 

    Now CEO Julie Felss Masino says the real reason for the change wasn’t political — it was practical. 

    Speaking at an investor summit in New York, she explained that the simplified design was meant to make the brand’s 660 restaurants more visible to drivers speeding down the interstate. 

    I guess no one mentioned to her that when you change your logo, people don’t recognize it anymore, and you have to teach them the new one.  Changing the logo is the best way to ensure that people DON”T see it or recognize it.

    n

  80. OldGuy says:

    I’ve also seen those AI clips on FB. Many have a ‘Soros’ AI logo; some have the logo area fuzzed out, which is another indicator.

    Lots of ‘animal attacking people/other animals’. They look sort of believable, until you look closer, and then you see visual inconsistencies. I just quickly click past them.

    And as for the “Bart Simpson Defense”, I thought it was “I didn’t do it. Nobody saw me. You can’t prove it. It was like that when I got here.”. Not sure that is the accurate quote; I never got into watching that show.

    6
    2
  81. brad says:

    Spent most of Tuesday installing Linux for my brother-in-law. 3 hour train trip each way, about 5 hours there. Mostly being super paranoid: he does do backups to an external drive. That meant, though, that (for a short while) that would be the only copy of all his data. So I made a couple of extra backups. Plus a lot of time finding alternate apps for the surprising amount of Windows-only stuff he used. Plus showing him generally how things work, since he is completely non-technical.

    The process made me realize that Linux installations still have a ways to go, to be ready for the mass market. For example: he wanted his computer wiped, Windows removed. So I told the Ubuntu installer to do that, and let it handle the disks automatically. It installed itself on the SSD, but completely ignored the big, spinning-rust disk. I had to bind it in manually, by editing /etc/fstab. Is there any other way to do it? Anyway, the installer should have asked, or just done something sensible. Joe Sixpack is not going to be editing fstab.

    Another example: there are a zillion varieties of keyboards listed in the dropdown, but I couldn’t find a Swiss layout (we have a weird layout that includes both German and French characters). I was about to despair, but then saw the “auto-detect” feature. Which successfully selected the Swiss layout, even though it did not exist in the list.

    Ah well, he’s a super-nice guy, so I don’t mind having lost a day to fighting silly stuff…

    The new Hi-Fi cost about the same as a decent used small car, so I would like to protect it. As you say, complete disconnection when not in use might be the way to go…

    Not sure what you mean by “complete disconnection”, but we have our hi-fi stuff on a surge-suppressed multiplug with a switch. We can just flip the switch to cut power to all of it, without unplugging anything. In the normal case, though, I (mostly) trust the surge-suppressor. Of course, our gear isn’t in the same price class as what you have installed.

    Claude: “I should have warned you and asked if you wanted to backup the data first before deleting the volume. That was a significant oversight on my part.”

    Idiots abdicating responsibility. It isn’t the AI’s fault. People who let them take direct actions on their computers without taking precautions? They deserve what they get…

    Acting Administrator of NASA Sean Duffy

    Duffy is a clueless empire builder. He is DoT, but was given temporary control of NASA until Trump gets over whatever his problem is with Isaacman. Duffy doesn’t want to let go, so he’s trying to permanently fold NASA into DoT.

    Anyway, it doesn’t much matter. SpaceX with Musk is independent. If they want to land on the moon, they will land on the moon – with or without a contract.

    On the gripping hand: I worry. Starship is big, heavy, and very long. It wouldn’t take much unevenness on the lunar surface (or the Martian surface) for it to topple over. It’s not like there’s a nice, flat landing pad prepped…

    NASA has quietly made a major move to defend the planet after the mysterious interstellar object displayed more strange and unexplainable behavior.

    It’s a comet. It’s coming in from interstellar space. It probably hasn’t seen a star in a few billion years, so it’s emitting huge amounts of vapor in all directions. What a surprise…not.

    I have 30 of Ilona Andrews’s books.  There are about 4 or 5 more.  Highly recommended and highly addictive.

    Same. I do get a bit tired of the forced romantic problems: Woman thinks man has rejected her, but he hasn’t actually, it was all a misunderstanding…and then it happens all over again in the next book.

    That’s a minor quibble – the books are incredibly well written.

  82. dcp says:

    Rama preparing for its transition to hyperspace near the Sun, obviously! 

    Uh, that would cause Sol to nova.

    “What’s behind me is not important.”  https://www.youtube.com/shorts/5kTtyQ4uq6s

  83. Roger Ritter says:

    Moties?   Ring builders?  

    Rama preparing for its transition to hyperspace near the Sun, obviously! 

    Uh, that would cause Sol to nova.

    Oh, well. Sucks to be us.

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