Thur. Dec. 11, 2025 – countdown to Christmas continues

By on December 11th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Cool and clear, sunny and warmer later. Nice, for cooler values of nice. Yesterday was very comfortable from about 10am to 6pm. Too cool before and after. Today and tomorrow should be the same.

I didn’t do a run from storage to my shop, but I did get a bunch of domestic bliss done. I cut my hair, washed and folded laundry. Cleaned some stuff up. Got out some more Christmas decorations.

I’ve been cutting my hair since the wuflu lockdowns, but I dropped my clippers and they haven’t been the same since. The last couple of times were very slow, and the result wasn’t up to previous times. My backup clippers were at the BOL, so I had a chance to bring them home this week. What a difference. Wahl Pro are smooth and quiet compared to the cheaper Wahl clippers. Don’t know why I kept the basic ones here and put the nice ones in the closet at the BOL, but they won’t be going back there. I have another set of basic clippers there anyway.

Clipper cuts might not be your choice, but having specialist tools for the specialist jobs makes them easier. At least have a set of good hair cutting scissors and combs. A couple of safety or straight razors and a styptic stick and strop would be a nice deep prep. Nail care tools are essentials too. Remember that infections used to be deadly and could be again. Taking care of fingernails, and especially toenails, is critical for good health.

Even if you usually have someone to do certain things for you, having the tools and some practice doing it yourself is valuable, whether it’s hygiene or auto repair.

Stack the stuff you need to do the common jobs you normally outsource. The day might come where it saves your bacon.

nick

27 Comments and discussion on "Thur. Dec. 11, 2025 – countdown to Christmas continues"

  1. Denis says:

    Great minds think alike, etc… I just got my pre-Christmas haircut. I look almost civilised!

    Cheese and ham rolls for a quick lunch, then off to the woods with a gub…

    Happy days!

  2. Greg Norton says:

    Spent yesterday evening helping rearrange the shelving in our town’s local store. Every mountain village has (or, sometimes, had) a little store – this is viewed as just as important as keeping your local primary school. Lose those, and the town starts to die. These stores almost always lose money, and get subsidized by the town. My wife is on an (unpaid) mission to fix that – she sees no reason why the store can’t at least break even.

    Dollar General stores in the US fill that need in many communities and the chain operates on a business model highly dependent on taxpayer subsidies since the stock returned to being publicly traded in 2009.

    The stock is mostly owned by institutions, but just about everyone with a pension plan and/or IRA/401(k) has a stake in the chain’s success. VTSMX alone holds its customary 3% or outstanding shares.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Our Aldi positioned itself as a high end Euro shopping experience.

    Aldi and Lidl are the super-discount stores of Europe. Nothing wrong with shopping there, of course, but hardly “high end”.

    Aldi South runs “Aldi” in the US while Aldi North runs Trader Joe’s, which is considered high end in many places.

    When we lived in WA State, we were in Trader Joe’s frequently, but I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve been in the Austin store, which is located in a Fancy Lad shopping area.

    It isn’t that the store is different as much as the clientele. Trader Joe’s in Austin got away with mandating masks and limiting shoppers inside the store well into 2022.

    Austin PD conducted mask enforcement operations in support of retailers through Spring 2023, when I saw the last one at our local Sam’s. By that point, however, none of the shoppers were entering the store in masks.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Likely due to the browser loading cached JS files which have changed since the upgrade. A hard refresh, flushing browser’s cache, or browser cache TTL expiration would normally fix that.

    Hmm, which site to flush?  Wordpress?  There isn’t a cache or cookie storage for this site as ttgnet.com

    I don’t want to dump the whole cache although I did just go thru and dump a bunch of sites with big storage use.   I have a bunch of sites I only visit rarely, and want them to recognize me when I go back.

    ————-

    44F this am.  Looks clear so far.   Coffee is ready.

    n

  5. SteveF says:

    Flush your local browser cache, Nick. Better, use a different browser, ideally one that you haven’t used for viewing any WordPress sites in a month or more.

  6. Nick Flandrey says:

    ‘Code Red’ issued at steakhouses across America as beef prices soar – and it’s bad news for customers

    By WILKO MARTÍNEZ-CACHERO, US REPORTER

    Published: 01:22 EST, 11 December 2025 | Updated: 03:43 EST, 11 December 2025 

    Soaring beef prices in the United States have forced steakhouses across America to issue code red warnings and pass on price hikes to consumers who are already  feeling the pinch.

    Halls Chophouse, with fine dining restaurants in South Carolina and Tennessee, has been forced to up the price of an eight-ounce filet mignon from $57 to $61 after initially trying to absorb the costs.

    That marked an increase of about seven percent.

    <snip>

    The price of boneless steak has increased by 20 percent to an average of $14.13 per pound over the last year, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics

    that must be a wholesale price.    We’ve been talking about shrinking herds and increases in beef prices here for a few years now.   Even with freezers full, I’m worried that I won’t make it thru to meat going on sale again.

    Longest I’ve gone without buying meat at the store was 8 weeks.   I think I’m at six this time around.

    n

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    Flush your local browser cache 

     I don’t see an option to just flush the cache, only cache and cookies…  I don’t actually want to lose the cookies in most cases.

    n

  8. Nick Flandrey says:

    I just  looked at the wp admin page for here, from my linux box with a different version of firefox that I haven’t used on the site in months and the check marks don’t appear.  

    n

  9. Nick Flandrey says:

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/article-15372145/taco-giro-arizona-ice-raids.html 

    Taco chain forced to shut seven restaurants after workers are detained by ICE

    By MARTHA WILLIAMS, US NEWS REPORTER

    Published: 00:43 EST, 11 December 2025 | Updated: 08:34 EST, 11 December 2025 

    An Arizona taco chain was forced to close seven of its restaurants after dozens of its workers were detained by ICE.

    Taco Giro, which operates nine locations in the state and one in Mexico, lost about 10 percent of its staff after their homes were raided. 

    yeah, nothing shady going on here…

    Cesar Rodriguez, director of operations, confirmed to the Tucson Sentinel the seven closures, though three have since reopened.

    Forty-six workers were swept up in the raids, which were part of an operation by the Department of Homeland Security, the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies.

    ‘Basically, they corralled everyone in the homes where they were living, which was a couple of houses,’ Rodriguez told the publication.

    ‘And they came into the establishment to verify documentation and some questioning items what they were investigating on and pretty much that was it.’

    One of the Taco Giro outposts, located at the Country Club of Green Valley, lost about six employees, Rodriguez said, noting no agents turned up at the restaurant. 

    ‘The accusation is they were paying the employees that were undocumented cash under the table,’ Rodriguez told the publication. 

    He believes this caught the attention of the IRS and that ICE officials took ‘materials’ as part of an audit. 

    ‘There were a lot of false allegations that we were drug smuggling and child trafficking,’ Rodriguez added. ‘It was just ridiculous.’

    So 46 people were living in “a couple of houses” and the IRS is involved.   Sounds like trafficking to me. 

    When I lived in San Diego, in the late afternoon, going on dusk, you’d see the young men line up on the Mexico side of the border.   They’d all be  wearing black pants and white shirts.   They were waiting for dark to dash across the border and go to work in US restaurants.   They did it every day.  Their version of the daily commute.

    n

  10. Ray Thompson says:

    One thing I like about Switzerland: There is generally no withholding. Come tax day, you have to cough up the full amount of tax you owe for the year. Tends to make people think about things…

    The problem with that method in the U.S. is that most would not put aside enough money. The number of tax deadbeats would skyrocket. There are a lot of people in my area that when given a check, blow most of it immediately. Then come the end of the pay period have no money for the basics.

    The good news for me this year is that I owe $0.00 in federal taxes. I can itemize this year. The sales tax on the new truck is deductible. The large amount of medical expenses helped. The measly $14.00 in interest I paid on the truck is deductible. The new $6K per adult born before 1961 deduction drops my taxable SS earnings way down. All that combined puts my taxable income below the tax level. Even with pulling money (RMD) from an IRA.

    And I will be buying a lottery ticket today. The jackpot has grown to over $1B. The odds of winning are astronomical I know. But the odds are even worse if I don’t have a ticket. If I win the jackpot I will give each one of you regular posting clowns $1M. I cannot imagine what I would do with $700M (after taxes). Impossible to even conceive.

    I would probably give a large chunk away and just keep $20 or $30 million for myself and indulge myself on just the interest. At 4% that is about $1.2M a year. New football and baseball fields for the high school would be nice. Endow enough money to fully pay scholarships for anyone that goes to vocational school. Endow enough money for anyone that goes to college in a STEM capacity to fully fund a scholarships. Anyone that choses liberal arts gets nothing.

    However, the first thing I would do, is get a good lawyer. Then an armed transport in an armored vehicle to Nashville to redeem the ticket. And keep my mouth shut.

    I will be pleased if I win $10.00, the price of the ticket (5 sets of numbers).

  11. SteveF says:

    I’m an admin on several WP sites, one of which was brought up-to-date very recently. Everything seems to be working correctly on the post creation page, in terms of checkboxes for tags and such. Of course, there are a bazillion plugins and the odds of that site and this site having the same plugins and the same versions are very slim. 

  12. Nick Flandrey says:

    Checkboxes don’t show check marks (selection) on my hobby site either.

    n

  13. SteveF says:

    If I win the jackpot I will give each one of you regular posting clowns $1M.

    Let’s see… Multiply $1M by the odds of you winning the jackpot, adjust for the chance of a simultaneous winner, take out expected taxes for the portion of the gift exceeding $17K, carry the one … I owe you a dollar. Let me know where to send it.

  14. Greg Norton says:

    The problem with that method in the U.S. is that most would not put aside enough money. The number of tax deadbeats would skyrocket. There are a lot of people in my area that when given a check, blow most of it immediately. Then come the end of the pay period have no money for the basics.

    Gotta have that $500 monthly nut for the truck.

    I was wondering how that would work with F150 prices new currently averaging $60k, but the new “Ford Crew” Christmas commercials running in my area show leasing terms at the end of the spots rather than highlighting rebates.

  15. Ray Thompson says:

    Gotta have that $500 monthly nut for the truck.

    The monthly payment on my truck was over $1,900 a month, for 36 months. I paid it off in 10 days. Only 2 days of interest as it took a few days for the loan origination documentation to make it to the CU.

    The dealer gets a kickback on the interest paid to the credit union. A percentage of the interest on the loan. The dealer asked me to not pay off the loan for at least three months. At first I was going to oblige but after they pissed me off I said “screw it, it’s my money”, and paid it off the second day after the loan arrived at the CU. Somebody floated the money for 8 days, I hope it was the dealer.

    Subbing today. Probably the last day this calendar year. Most of the sub days occur in April and May as the teachers use up their personal days and sick days. Between the wife and I we made a whopping $3K subbing at the school. If we wanted we could sub every day of the week if we did not limit ourselves to the local high school only. We refuse to sub at the four other schools in the district as it is not worth our drive time.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    I was wondering how that would work with F150 prices new currently averaging $60k, but the new “Ford Crew” Christmas commercials running in my area show leasing terms at the end of the spots rather than highlighting rebates.

    The “Ford Crew” ads also make me wonder exactly what the company is actually trying to sell — the trucks or the girls in the tight sweaters and high tech insulated coats emblazoned with the Ford logo.

  17. Nightraker says:

    I will be pleased if I win $10.00, the price of the ticket (5 sets of numbers).

    Lessee… Cash prize of a billion is about ½.  Taxes take another ½ of that, so net in the neighborhood of a ¼ billion: $250 million.  Yep, such problems to have.

    I would be pleased if the government funded itself with lotteries and bake sales only. 🙂

  18. EdH says:

    One weird aircraft, looked like a car size quad copter and sounded strange. 
     

    One of these?  A Pivotal “Blackfly”  as flown by Scott Manley.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oT804EAUVk4

    I’ve been musing about something like this for some time, interesting to see that somebody actually brought it to actual flight.

  19. Bob Sprowl says:

    If my son or I win the lottery we will give Bob’s science programs to many church schools.  

  20. EdH says:

    If I win the lottery I am buying a Starship ticket to Mars.

  21. nick flandrey says:

    Hmm, pretty sure the wordpress problem isn’t me, or plugins.    Even a virgin copy of portable firefox doesn’t display check marks when the boxes are selected.

    Oh well, not a huge deal.

    n

  22. OldGuy says:

    Hmm, pretty sure the wordpress problem isn’t me, or plugins.    Even a virgin copy of portable firefox doesn’t display check marks when the boxes are selected.

    If you were so inclined, you might try going into the ‘Inspect’ mode (usually via F9, or right-click and select ‘Inspect’), then look at the Console screen to see if there are any messages in there when you try clicking a checkbox.

  23. Nick Flandrey says:

    Clicking on the checkbox doesn’t generate any messages on the Browser console. And doesn’t display a checked box. It does select the item, even if you can’t see it is selected.
    n

  24. paul says:

    It does select the item, even if you can’t see it is selected.

    A new Firefox feature! 

  25. Lynn says:

    “Comfortable and Reliable Revolver Carry”

       https://www.shootingillustrated.com/content/comfortable-and-reliable-revolver-carry/?utm_source=newsletter

    “A wheelgun can be a very versatile firearm.”

    “One phone call changed how I feel about my safety. I was twenty years old and had a stalker. He called to tell me how cute I looked in my pink sweater, and then my hands began to shake when he told me he had been watching me for days.  That call changed how I thought about personal safety, and the next thing I knew, I had a snubnose .38 Spl revolver riding in my purse.”

    Good for her !  My favorite gub to carry.

  26. Lynn says:

    “Kyle Rittenhouse Breaks Social Media Silence With Surprise Pics”

       https://resistthemainstream.com/kyle-rittenhouse-breaks-social-media-silence-with-surprise-pics/

    Good to hear that his life is going well.

  27. nick flandrey says:

    Um, it ain’t because they went on the show, it’s because they were obese.

    The curse of My 600-lb Life: The 17 TLC stars who have died since appearing on the popular weight-loss show 

    n

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