Cold, but not freezing. Probably. Forecast says, low in the low 40s. It was freezing yesterday morning, and it warmed up during the sunny day. In fact it was pretty nice until sunset.Today should be similar but warmer.
I got skunked at my one pickup (of three invoices) yesterday which threw today’s plan into disarray. I did get some other things done -costco, auto repair, post office, etc.
Today I’ll start by doing the pickup I should have done yesterday. Then I’ll do some other pickups as well. I had planned to do mostly pickups today anyway. If I can get some decorations up, or some items moved or sorted, it will be a bonus.
Of course every day is a bonus day.
Do what you can. And stack.
nick
Oops!
Denis and SteveF slacking!
40F this morning, and it looks like it will be clear today.
Fresh ground coffee is burbling away, kids are stirring, and the list is long.
I should probably start getting ready to face the day.
n
Slacking, perhaps, but not lacking!
Greetings from a Christmas Market in Germany. No vehicular enrichment attempted so far. Merkel Legos all over the place…
I really enjoyed those Christmas markets in Germany. We spent one Christmas in Germany. It was one of our better journeys. We may do it again in 2026.
Looks like a couple tried to disarm one of the muslim terrorists, but failed and paid the price.
Heartbreaking details emerge about heroic couple who died in each other’s arms after bravely wrestling rifle off Bondi Beach terrorist… before they were gunned down
n
No insulation in the walls to burn?
My father’s house in Martinez California was like that, built in 1918 by the lucky silver dollar of that date found in the ruins of the chimney base – though the paperwork on the deed said 1922.
By the time I finished remodeling it in 2012 most of the old wiring was gone.
Off to Walmart for lights.
“feel a certain type of way”
“intending on”
getting “less” and “fewer” confused
I’m turning into a grammar nazzzi
n
The house my wife bought here had knob and tube wiring originally. The flipper who sold it to her replaced all of it that could be seen… but there might be some still in the walls.
n
If any are left. Pretty picked over by this time.
And considering the really sketchy plumbing and structural changes, I’m pretty sure there is some in the walls.
n
Just don’t become a health nazi, because the original nazis were genuine health nazis.
Well, the good timers were all under glass at Walmart and I couldn’t get anybody to come get them out for me, so I’ll just hold off on the stuff around the trees. Since they still have leaves on them so it’s not a rush. maybe I won’t bother at all this year.
I usually run an extension cord from inside the garage and under the eaves for the eve lights’ so that’s not an issue, i can use an indoor timer at the socket.
Taking a break from ladder work right now.
A year and a half ago I put a couple of white 10″ beach balls in one of our trees near the street, putting them in a net and fastening the net to a couple branches. I magic-markered pupils on them, to stare at the neighbors across the street. They stayed there perfectly well for over a year, needing occasional reapplication of magic marker. I got a fair number of comments and questions from pedestrians and cyclists if I was in the front yard.
But now they’re gone. Presumably the wind took them a few days ago. I has a sad.
I have several more new beach balls, since I got something like a 12-pack in different sizes, but I have no idea where I put the extras. I has a annoy.
I sure seem to be getting a lot of mail from Betty Crocker lately. Yeah, it’s the season and if I were into baking cookies she has lots of varieties.
I’m not much for baking beyond browning off some some porkchops and covering with mushroom soup in a Corning Ware dish. And I can make that in a skillet.
Better Betty Crocker stuff than some random e-mail offering to “tune up” my web site and make it more mobile friendly. My site looks fine on my phone and Kindle. And of course the constant “check your bitcoin account balance” silliness.
I haven’t had the “I have video of you pleasuring yourself” junk lately. They sound so serious. Please send a copy of the video. I don’t have a camera on my PC.
Blah weather today. Cloudy and gray, Almost 60f and breezy enough to be miserable. Tomorrow is suppose to be almost 70 and a bit of sunshine. I’ll season the chicken parts today and grill them tomorrow.
Greetings from a Christmas Market in Germany. No vehicular enrichment attempted so far. Merkel Legos all over the place…
Ah, vehicle blocking blocks.
https://www.reddit.com/r/KeineDummenFragen/comments/1k4zo9n/warum_werden_diese_kl%C3%B6tze_auch_manchmal/?tl=en
It might be cheaper just to throw all of the muslims in Germany into the Med.
“Life and death in a social media age”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/12/life-and-death-in-social-media-age.html
“Speaking as one who’s had to deliver many sermons at funerals, I couldn’t help laughing at Stephan Pastis’ modernization (?) of the field. Click the image to be taken to a larger version of the cartoon at the ‘Pearls Before Swine’ Web page.”
“Given the number of people I see with their heads buried in their cellphones, despite everything else going on around them (including their kids running amok!), this rings eerily true . . . I wonder if any pastor has looked down from his pulpit and found most of his congregation doing that? I’ve heard of some churches putting the lyrics to hymns on their Web sites, so worshippers can follow on their phones and sing along during the service, but I’ve always felt that merely encouraged further slavish concentration on electronic devices rather than God. Does that make me a spiritual Luddite?”
I am very guilty of checking my email during the sermon. Multiple times in fact if I have heard the sermon a few times before.
Pearls Before Swine: Pig is way too kind
https://www.gocomics.com/pearlsbeforeswine/2025/12/16
I refuse to believe that anyone is this kind to a traffic jerk.
Just filled up the F-150 at the closest HEB Gas/Grocery.
$2.199/gallon, 20 gallons. 17.5 mpg.
I think it’s been a month or more since the last fill-up.
I haven’t had the “I have video of you pleasuring yourself” junk lately. They sound so serious. Please send a copy of the video. I don’t have a camera on my PC.
Looks like a variant of that scam email is getting ready to show up.
“Pornhub Premium Members’ Search and Viewing Activity Stolen by Hackers”
“The hacking group ShinyHunters claims to have access to 94GB of Pornhub viewing data, including over 200 million records of personal information.”
https://www.pcmag.com/news/pornhub-premium-members-search-and-viewing-activity-stolen-by-hackers
“Big tech embarrassment: Microsoft absent from TIME’s AI Person of the Year recognition while rivals dominate”
https://www.windowscentral.com/artificial-intelligence/times-person-of-the-year-is-all-about-the-architects-of-ai-and-microsoft-and-ceo-satya-nadella-are-embarrassingly-absent
“Time Magazine’s famed “Person of the Year” was dedicated to the architects of AI this year, and the lack of mention for any of Microsoft’s alumni betrays how far the company has fallen behind.”
That picture is wild.
The Salesforce.com CEO owns Time Magazine.
Apple isn’t there either.
“Lawsuits Allege Smart TVs Spy on Texans Inside Their Homes”
https://texasscorecard.com/state/lawsuits-allege-smart-tvs-spy-on-texans-inside-their-homes/
“A series of lawsuits filed by Attorney General Ken Paxton accused top electronic manufacturers of unwanted surveillance.”
““Smart TVs are watching you back.””
“That’s how Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton opens a series of new lawsuits accusing major television manufacturers of secretly surveilling Texans inside their own homes.”
“Paxton has filed suit against five major television companies—Samsung, Sony, LG, Hisense, and TCL—alleging they unlawfully collected and monetized detailed viewing data from consumers without meaningful knowledge or consent. Two of the companies named in the lawsuit, Hisense and TCL, are based in China, a fact Paxton says raises additional concerns about data security under China’s National Security Law.”
This is very not cool and needs to stop right now.
Um, it ain’t a secret. Vizio used to brag about it in their Prospectus and annual reports.
And the cost disparity between a non-smart monitor and the smart tv of the same size and resolution should tell anyone who looks that SOMEONE is paying the difference.
$550-1000 for 85″ smart tvs, vs $2500- 4800 for 85″ digital signage monitors.
And the cheapest one was an amazon FireTV so even more walled garden.
n
Just filled up the F-150 at the closest HEB Gas/Grocery.
$2.199/gallon, 20 gallons. 17.5 mpg.
I think it’s been a month or more since the last fill-up.
Which motor do you have ? Is it 4×4 ?
Tuesday evening. Bedtime of a busy day. We got W1 to her early doctor’s appointment on time (all is well), then to the place that makes orthopedic insoles for shoes.
We had omelette for breakfast, and went later back to the same good place for afternoon tea. In the meantime we had walked around the local Christmas market.
Around dusk, we stopped at another Christmas Market venue. This one charged an entrance fee (certainly keeps the riff-raff out), and was rather upmarket, nicely appointed and festively lit, in the grounds of a castle. Lots of real crafts and artwork, plus plenty of variety in food. They even had live entertainment, including a Punch and Judy show for kids, live music, and book and poetry readings for adults. Fancy.
There was a man with a stall selling brushes of every conceivable type. I was delighted to find he still had silver badger bristle shaving brushes, something that has become almost impossible to find. I got one as a rather decadent Christmas gift to myself, and lined up the man to refurbish my old shaving brush, that has lost a lot of its bristles over the years. We also picked up some candied fruit and some gingerbread. I bought a hat too. A nice evening out.
Lots of little honey-do jobs on the radar for tomorrow, so time to listen to my pillow… Goodnight!
Amazon devices have been able to phone home using other Amazon devices for nearly a decade, no direct Internet connection required.
These days, however, any TV with a 2.4 GHz transceiver can phone home on a 5g network.
Normally aspirated V-8 with 10 speed transmission. Yes, 4×4.
After I bought it, I had a discussion with my ASE and Ford certified Master Mechanic son; he told me that yes, turbos die and need replaced, but it’s routine and they’re commodities now. So I suppose my fear of turbos was unjustified.
If I had realized that, I might have gone with the Toyota Tundra. But we use the F-150 for travel, and it’s a great cruiser. Just impossible to park in some lots.
I have grown fond of Android Auto.
“No Coffee With Scott Adams 12/16/25”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plNFp7ZYTEQ
Live from the hospital bed. Already over 25,000 views.
The new turbo-ed V6 going into the Tundra has issues.
Regardless of what Trump does, the pipeline is filled with 50 MPG CAFE compliance, and I doubt the direction will change until after he leaves office.
Ford will use the opportunity to bury Tommy Boy’s EV F150 mistake.
Too bad they won’t use the opportunity to bury Tommy Boy’s career as well.
On 12/16/2025 1:16 PM, James Nicoll wrote:
> Five Books About Conversing With Animals
>
> How great would it be to talk with animals, through magic or technology or
> whatever?
>
> https://reactormag.com/five-books-about-conversing-with-animals/
I have read 2 of the 5, “The Jungle Book” by Rudyard Kipling and “Daybreak—2250 A.D.” by Andre Norton. Both awesome books.
The are many, many books to add to this list, especially if one includes the shape changing humans books.
1. “Ariel” by Steven R. Boyett
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0441017940?tag=ttgnet-20
2. “The Zero Stone” by Andre Norton
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0451451627?tag=ttgnet-20
3. “Dragonflight: Volume 1 in the Dragonriders of Pern” by Anne McCaffrey
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0345484266?tag=ttgnet-20
4. “Heirs of Empire” by David Weber
https://www.amazon.com/Heirs-Empire-Dahak-David-1996-03-01/dp/B01FIXYQ2G?tag=ttgnet-20
5. “Vic And Blood: The Continuing Adventures Of A Boy And His Dog” by Harlan Ellison
https://www.amazon.com/Vic-Blood-Continuing-Adventures-Boy/dp/0743459032?tag=ttgnet-20
Smart TVs spying on you? Can’t you just block that MAC at the router?
My Unifis keep wanting to call home. For some reason. Ditto the NanoBeams. All are internal network stuff and have zero reason to connect to the mothership. Yeah, NO, it works just fine and I don’t ever want the software updated. Now blocked at the router.
My Vizio TV is too old to have any of the smart crap. Doesn’t even have Ethernet.
Seems to be a lot of yelling from ignorant folks. Block the MAC at the router. Done.
Smart TVs spying on you? Can’t you just block that MAC at the router?
I don’t tell my TVs the wifi password. I use the Roku boxen to feed everything to the TVs. Of course, the Roku boxen are phoning everything home also.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freddy_the_Pig
Not an Amazon TV.
Or any TV with a 2.4 GHz transponder in an urban area.
At least, in theory thanks to 5g “unlicensed spectrum” service.
Apparently, the manufacturers were going a lot further than simply collecting viewer stats.
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/texas-sues-tv-makers-for-spying-on-users-selling-data-without-consent/
Smart TVs spying on you? Can’t you just block that MAC at the router?
BTW, does 1% of the population understand what a MAC is ? Maybe 0.01%.
Can’t you just block that MAC at the router?
– nope, not if it’s using MAC address spoofing. And not if you can’t get into your router. I’m looking at my ATT fiber router right now, and I currently have 14 mac addresses connected to my wifi and one doesn’t have an IP4 address. 14 seems like a lot but it’s 4 phones, a couple of tablets, some ipads, maybe a lappy or two…
n
So muslim terror murders already off the front page of DM.
The aussies aren’t covering themselves in glory. Cop station was 1000ft away but the terrorists shot people for 20 minutes, and were stopped by a bystander, who they then SHOT 3 times… WTF?
Their situational awareness was so bad they shot the hero? And after 20 minutes to get ready?
I was trying to link the article, but it’s off the main page.
n
That’s what’s being reported. “Aren’t covering themselves in glory” is understatement worthy of a Pulitzer.
A few of my thoughts on the event.
@Lynn: Thanks to this post, I found out there is a sequel to this book, titled “Elegy Beach”. It is now in my Kindle app awaiting my attention.
Boyett also wrote “The Architect of Sleep” which was intended to have a sequel, but apparently militant furries ruined that for us.
The fiber router is also a microcell and provisions AT&T WiFi service.
If you have Uverse, the router knocks plenty of holes in the firewall for that service and the set top boxes. Unless things have changed, your DVR-ed programs are not actually stored in your home.
Verizon/Frontier FiOS also runs a little MOCA network
In theory, we have the att wifi sharing turned off, like we did with the xfinity roaming.
In practice, it’s why I finally bought the ubiquiti router and firewall, and WAPs. I want off the stuff I can’t control.
n
not Uverse, straight ATT fiber. It’s the old Lightspeed infrastructure in houston, IDK what the legal relationship is. Lots of ATT that isn’t really ATT.
n
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15388769/democract-surveillance-ICE-oakland-flock.html
Flock is in the news. The article is actually well written, talks about the salient points, offers both sides.
Privacy advocates are anti, someone is monkeywrenching the deal with Flock, and the cops are for. The biggest opposition is that it would be used by ICE, with the city of Oakland in full on insurrection as far as I can tell. Ol Honest Abe would have sent in troops by now.
n
When I went out to get lunch today, “Clay and Buck” had a discussion going about how the female officers were on the scene quickly but kept their distance.
Turd Island dipshits.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15389663/marine-fifth-person-arrested-New-Years-Eve-terror-new-orleans.html
No mention of how the Febbies ended up in t he desert to intercept the first four.
n
Only if it has BIG in front of it.
I have 34 devices on my network.
AT&T Fiber is not “AT&T” but a separate communications company with a lot less regulation courtesy of the State of Texas selling its regulatory soul for fiber optic pr0n.
Of course, “AT&T” is not AT&T either but a rebadged Southwest Bell.
Yeah, I think it’s Lightspeed as that is the name of intermediate routers when I do ping or trcroute.
n
lightspeed.houston.sbcglobal.net
n
I decided to backup my aol mail.
I’ve got thunderbird pulling it all down to sync. currently on my inbox, 1028 of 10,001 emails.
I’m not good about filing read emails.
n
“Food Stamp Recipient Complains She Can’t Buy Junk Food With Your Tax Dollars”
https://thelibertydaily.com/food-stamp-recipient-complains-she-cant-buy-junk/
“Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced Wednesday the approval of a waiver request from Missouri and five other states to restrict the purchase of candy, sugar-sweetened drinks and other items after Oct. 1, 2026. Hannah Moore complained to KMOV reporter John Kipper in a story that the restrictions were “not even cool.””
“In a Dec. 3 news report, a woman complained about new work requirements for able-bodied adults up to age 64 in order to maintain eligibility to receive SNAP benefits that were enacted as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that President Donald Trump signed into law in July.”
Life is tough.
It’s harder if you’re stupid.
n
Liberals Are Right That Trump’s Reiner Tweet Was Ungracious, and They Should Shut Up About It Too
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2025/12/16/liberals-are-right-that-trumps-reiner-tweet-was-ungracious-and-they-should-shut-up-about-it-too-n3809935
Take the high ground? Sure, with a rifle and lots of belts, or better yet, a mortar.
Turn the other cheek? You mean the side that’s holding the claymore?
There’s not one of these pox-infested Democrat PLT’s that has ever shown any restraint, and they have no expectation of receiving any nor should they.
reminds me. good news:
Pentagon ‘Escalating Preliminary Review’ of ‘Serious Allegations’ Against Sen. Kelly
heard today:
“It’s not paranoia if the math agrees with you.”
It’s from Rules for Radicals. Use the opponents own beliefs against them. Hold them to a standard that you don’t hold.
n
60F at the moment with a bit of breeze. I thought about a tiny little fire but decided it’s too late and I’ll just go to bed instead.
So that’s my plan.
n
Been busy (or maybe lazy) lately. All quiet on the Social Security front, which is to say: I have heard absolutely nothing from any of the places I reported the fraud. Zilch, zippo, nada. Nothing more I could possibly do, so I’ll just have to wait and see what happens…
Meanwhile, France has cancelled their traditional New Year’s event in Paris, for fear of such enrichment.
Unfortunately, the French speaking parts of Switzerland are also being enriched. Yesterday, a guy who came in to the Geneva airport (right on the border) described the scene around the airport late at night: Lots of “multicultural” druggies and aggressive panhandlers. Even the taxi drivers made him feel unsafe – yelling and threatening him to take *this* taxi or *that* taxi – that he just found a local place to spend the night, and continued his journey the next day.
Yes, of course. Only…the practical problem is that too many of the recipients will not work effectively. You will have to supervise them, and even then they will do as little as possible.
The principle is important, but the actual implementation is likely to be too costly.