Wed. Feb. 4, 2026 – too many good post titles…

By on February 4th, 2026 in culture, decline and fall, march to war

Warm and wet. It’s like winter never happened all of a sudden. I’ve got to run the defroster in the truck to see because it’s so damp. That’s pretty unusual for Houston. We had rain yesterday, depending on the time of day and where you were, and I’m pretty sure some people had a sunny day, while others got gloom and rain. I got some of each because I was driving all over the north side of town.

And there were lots of cops and not a few accidents. I did get my pickup done. Mostly it was things for the BOL. I took them and staged them at the shop, then spent a while sorting and organizing there.

Today I’ve got another pickup, on the far south side of town this time. Nothing to combine it with either. Oh well, it was a great deal on a machine for my hobbies. I’m also going to see a potential new meeting space for my non-prepping hobby. Both things should be done in the morning though. If it’s not raining, or threatening rain, I’ll probably try for another load from storage. I just got charged another month’s rent and it stings.

I need to get rid of the “inventory” I’ve built up by buying stuff to sell, but then not selling it because I’m too busy. Buying is more fun, and less work. Let that be an example to everyone. You aren’t running a store, you don’t need inventory. Buy it, then SELL it. It’s called ‘flipping’ for a reason. And I forgot that.

It’s not stacking when it’s stuff you didn’t intend to keep in the first place.

Do some real stacking. Clear the decks for it.

nick

70 Comments and discussion on "Wed. Feb. 4, 2026 – too many good post titles…"

  1. Denis says:

    Wednesday. Good morning. Spring is trying to peek through here, some green things, alas mostly weeds, are waking up in the garden. There is sunshine and little birds flitting about.

    Have a beautiful day!

  2. Greg Norton says:

    I have the feeling that Trump has a trump in his pocket.  He has the tariff money at $50 billion per month.  That should be enough for DHS.

    DHS includes the Coast Guard which falls under the spending mandated by the Constitution for “common defense”.

    Also, the Coast Guard fills a lot of rice/soup (your choice, sticklers) bowls in Portland among other Prog strongholds.

  3. Greg Norton says:

    Hah, our school district just sent out an notice that they are aware some students might be planning on a walkout or other disruptive protest, and reminded parents and students that there will be consequences if they do.

    Local Faux News had clips of Abbott threatening their funding last night since state allocation of money to ISDs post-2023 property tax “reform” is based on attendance, not enrollment.

    The Governor has primary opponents, but I doubt he’s going anywhere absent a freeze debacle. Maybe the RINOs are worried about Cornyn. He’s first on the Republican ballot here in Williamson County, ahead of the Governor and House seats.

  4. Nick Flandrey says:

    Up long enough to get the kids out the door.   Then back to bed for a couple of hours.   I was up ’til 4am.  No cofffee until later.

    n

  5. Ray Thompson says:

    From CNN:

    World record speed skier Simon Billy describes ‘crazy feeling’ of traveling over 158 mph downhill

    Yikes.

  6. EdH says:

    A Navy F-35 shoots down an Iranian drone:

    https://www.twz.com/air/f-35-from-uss-abraham-lincoln-shoots-down-iranian-drone

    The take-away here, nowhere mentioned in the article, is that issue that the Iranians were able to find the carrier 500 miles from the coast.

    If you can find, you can target.  If you can target, you can strike.  If you can strike, well, the observed real world leak rate for ballistic missiles (from Kyiv and Tel Aviv actions) seems to be 5-10%. A moving target is harder than a static installation, but how much so?

    I wonder how they did it?  The simplest way would be a search pattern with multiple drones, the ones that get shot down are closest, unless the navy gets clever and shoots down one far away, as a ruse…

  7. paul says:

    Nightraker,  thanks for the Durkee Olive Butter recipe.

    I remember Clark bars.  I liked them more than Butterfinger.  There’s another I haven’t seen in eons.  Maltomilk? I don’t remember.  It was like a 3 Musketeers but the filling was more chocolaty and well, malty.

  8. drwilliams says:

    “I wonder how they did it?  The simplest way would be a search pattern with multiple drones, the ones that get shot down are closest, unless the navy gets clever and shoots down one far away, as a ruse…”

    Simplest way would be the Russians passing 12 bytes of intel from one of their satellites.

  9. drwilliams says:

    “I remember Clark bars.”

    And Big Chief.

  10. drwilliams says:

    An L.A. Eviction Lawyer Has a Message for Billie Eilish, and I Can’t Stop Laughing

    Sinai went on to add, “Eilish’s admission that she lives on stolen land gives the tribe a rightful action for possession as the true owner of the property,” and that his firm has a 30-day eviction notice fully prepared and ready to serve — talk about a pro, right? All he needs is a Tongva victim of European settler-colonialism to make the claim, and he’ll file the paperwork, pronto.

    So imagine you’re one of the remaining 3,900 or so Tongva people native to the Los Angeles basin and Southern Channel Islands, who had everything stolen from them by nasty white people just like Billie Eilish, including their language.

    https://pjmedia.com/vodkapundit/2026/02/04/an-la-eviction-lawyer-has-a-message-for-billie-eilish-and-i-cant-stop-laughing-n4949086

    Be a shame if virtue signaling cost her a $14 million property.

    A real shame.

    A real “Karma is a 24K solid gold $14 million be-otch”

  11. Greg Norton says:

    I wonder how they did it?  The simplest way would be a search pattern with multiple drones, the ones that get shot down are closest, unless the navy gets clever and shoots down one far away, as a ruse…

    You assume that the carrier battle group was trying to hide. 

  12. drwilliams says:

    Illegal Chinese Biolab Used As Airbnb, Made Several Deathly Ill; Defendant Owns Multiple Homes in NV, CA

    https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2026/02/04/several-people-became-deathly-ill-after-staying-at-las-vegas-home-housing-illegal-chinese-biolab-n2198804

    This ones easy: Tie them all to chairs in the garage and crack the doors on the reefers.

    whoops–neighbors…

    Take them all out to the desert, set up a hoop building, tie them to chairs, and open the doors on the reefers.

    I watched part of “The Crazies” last night, a remake of a George Romero with Romero himself as executive producer. Real life has a slightly better plot.

  13. drwilliams says:

    The Greatest Two-Sentence Rock Review Ever Written

    https://hotair.com/headlines/2026/02/03/the-greatest-two-sentence-rock-review-ever-written-n3811482

    And the greatest 3-letter rock review.

    I must have blinked in 1986, because I do not remember GTR. I had to look up the two “hits” from that album, and all I can say is that 1986 was a freakin’ rock-and-roll wasteland if they made the charts.

    The cd is relatively pricey online. The only reason I can think of is they didn’t bother to remainder the discs, just recycled them into K-car dashboards.

  14. drwilliams says:

    Scholarship vs. the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

    Additionally, contemporary artworks, such as those from Harry Fonseca, have been claimed by tribes as items of cultural patrimony. Even replicas, made as recently as 1994, are being repatriated as items of cultural patrimony, such as the replica cocoon rattle made by Native Americans Craig and Carson Bates, which was donated to Florida Museum of Natural History in 2012. 

    Yet, Native American tribal consultants are far from finished in their attempt to destroy our ability to study and understand America’s prehistoric past.

    At the last NAGPRA meeting of 2025, a representative from the Association on American Indian Affairs argued that “NAGPRA regulations support the repatriation of all information obtained” from human remains and artifacts. She added that “the physical item and the knowledge, spirit, or information it embodies are inseparable.” She went on to argue that “a photograph of sacred items captures and reproduces their sacred qualities. Field notes describing funerary associations replicate sacred knowledge.”

    She claimed “[i]t would be an absurd result to repatriate ancestors, yet allow a museum to retain the data, the DNA sequence, osteological report, and images that can constitute the very identity of the individual.” She concluded with a call to return all research projects to tribes.

    Incredibly, this call to repatriate, and, therefore, destroy data was not met with incredulity. The NAGPRA committee instead encouraged the representative to submit specific regulatory language that may make it possible to carry out such changes.

    The destruction of data, even without further changes to regulatory guidelines, has already begun. In a first ever case, a January 7, 2026 notice of repatriation from the Fowler Museum, associated with University of California, Los Angeles, listed photographic negatives as “objects of cultural patrimony” to repatriate.

    The loss of these photographic negatives, which contain images of petroglyphs from the Black Canyon site in San Bernardino County, may occur as soon as February 6, 2026.

    If the negatives are destroyed, will the tribe next seek out copies of the 1973 book Prehistoric Rock Art of California by Robert F. Heizer and C. William Clewlow that contains these images and destroy those too? The repatriation of these negatives may seem minor, but they open the door to similar repatriations — and, ultimately, to the burning of books.

    For those who think this is hyperbole, the latest round of notices of repatriation includes two notices to repatriate books: one coming from Turtle Bay Exploration Park in Redding, California; and, the other coming from Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

    NAGPRA started as a compromise between Native American tribes on the one hand and scientists and academics on the other. It has now been hijacked by activists, and has become part-joke and part-grift — at taxpayers’ expense. The NAGPRA committee seems unable or unwilling to do anything more than rubberstamp increasingly ridiculous requests.

    The only way to stop this destruction of knowledge is to repeal NAGPRA. 

    https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/02/scholarship_vs_the_native_american_graves_protection_and_repatriation_act.html

    This has been a scam since day one.

    Suggest two courses of action:

    1. Find a judge to declare that buffalo shit is culturally significant to NA tribes, and all such must be repatriated to them. Bury the res. Maybe include deer, hoot owl, bear and other sacred animals, too.
    2. Once a tribe is had all their shit repatriated, remove them from the tribal list, along with all associated privileges. “Sorry, we have no records of that tribe.”
  15. Nick Flandrey says:

    Up and moving.   Tired though.  Not doing my long drive to get the auction item.   That can wait.

    I will  try to salvage my venue meeting though.

    Sunny out, it was 49F at 7am, but I bet it’s warmer now.

    Coffee and breakfast are waiting.

    n

  16. Nick Flandrey says:

    59F

  17. OldGuy says:

    @Nick – WordPress 6.9.1 (maintenance release) update went out yesterday, so that might have fixed your checkbox problem: the release notes have this about the checkbox problem in the admin screens: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64350 . You should have seen a notice about the automatic update being installed on the first admin login after the update, and also on the admin, update screen.

    A quick read of that ticket implies that the issue was a function of some CSS code that wasn’t being processed by older and/or non-supported browser versions.:

    General: Use legacy content properties for CSS icons.
     

    In modern browsers the CSS content property provides alt text support for assistive technology in the form display / alt text. This introduces support for legacy browsers that do not support the new syntax.
     

    CSS content properties take advantage of the CSS cascade and browsers ignoring values they don’t understand by adding duplicate content properties in the form.

    So, the automatic update process for WP ‘core’ has fixed your issue. A list of all bugs and enhancements is here: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2026/01/30/wordpress-6-9-1-rc1-is-now-available/ , for those that might be interested.

    4
    1
  18. SteveF says:

    Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act

    Word to the wise among the “natives”, if there are any such: You lost. The fact that you are alive today is nothing but a sign of the magnanimity of your White conquerors. You should shut up except to briefly express gratitude.

  19. nick flandrey says:

    Ah, so in order to better support screen readers, they broke functionality on win7 and ffox ERS.*   Win7 being used by about 3% of the internet…  and screen reader NON-use being such a touchy issue, you can’t even get a straight answer to the question of “how many people use screen readers for websites.”

    Glad they fixed it.

    n

    *and older versions of safari

  20. Greg Norton says:

    *and older versions of safari
     

    At this point, I believe that includes all of the Intel Mac systems and the “101” MacBook Pro 13 which was the last non-disposable Apple laptop.

    Windows ESR Firefox stops receiving updates soon.

  21. Lynn says:

    I wonder how they did it?  The simplest way would be a search pattern with multiple drones, the ones that get shot down are closest, unless the navy gets clever and shoots down one far away, as a ruse…

    You assume that the carrier battle group was trying to hide. 

    A carrier battle group has so much EMF that it should be detectable over a thousand miles away.  Just the talking to the P-8 patrol planes would be high bandwidth to capture their radar, sonar, and such.

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_P-8_Poseidon

  22. Lynn says:

    A Navy F-35 shoots down an Iranian drone:

    https://www.twz.com/air/f-35-from-uss-abraham-lincoln-shoots-down-iranian-drone

    That was probably an F-35C, the Navy non-vtol version.  The Air Force flies the F-35A and the Marines fly the F-35B with vtol off amphibious carriers.

       https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II

    I am kinda surprised that the Navy is willing to go back to a single engine craft to replace the F-18 but the stealth capabilities probably outweigh everything else.  My uncle flew the last Navy single engine, the A4, he loved it even though it did not have an after burner. Of course, a single engine plane does get better gas mileage over a twin.

  23. Lynn says:

    “LGBT Activist Judge Faces Felony Charges For Wrongfully Detaining A Defense Attorney”

        https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/lgbt-activist-judge-faces-felony-charges-wrongfully-detaining-defense-attorney

    “A Texas LGBT judge with a history of clashing with authorities over her activism has been arrested and charged after she allegedly handcuffed and held a defense attorney captive in her jury box for the crime of arguing for the right to confer with her client during a probation hearing.”

    “Bexar County Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez was indicted last week on a felony charge of unlawful restraint by a judicial officer and misdemeanor official oppression.  The controversial judge was arrested for the 2024 incident, during which she and defense attorney Elizabeth Russell clashed in the courtroom.”

    If you are CIS in front of this judge, bend over and kiss your ass goodbye as she XXX it will throw the book at you for not being trans.

    Hat tip to:

       https://thelibertydaily.com/

  24. Lynn says:

    “Major Medical Group Advises Against Gender Procedures On Children”

       https://www.zerohedge.com/political/major-medical-group-advises-against-gender-procedures-children

    “The admonition to “first, do no harm” is an ancient cornerstone of medical ethics. With that in mind, the American Society of Plastic Surgeons broke ranks with other medical organizations on Tuesday, recommending that member physicians refrain from performing gender transition surgeries on anyone under age 19. The major milestone in Western society’s nascent recovery from gender-transition madness follows a landmark courtroom victory for a young woman whose breasts were removed at age 16, and the AMA has already signaled it will follow the ASPS’s lead.”

    About time.  The lawsuits are flying fast and furious now from “The Mutilated”.

  25. paul says:

    I had supper early.  I was hungry.  I had a bacon wrapped “filet”.  From HEB.  The four pack use to be like $8 but the last pack I bought was $22.  Anyway.  Sometimes it’s a good cut of beef, sometimes it’s chunks held together with the bacon.  Tastes about the same either way.

    Yeah, and nothing like the filet I had flying First Class on Delta to Hawaii.  That was, oh, gee, “good” is not the word.  Cut with the side of your fork tender and totally melt in your mouth.  Chew chew chew and the bite is simply gone.  

    Today was not that good.  But one can hope.

    I used the air fryer.  It’s a little 900 watt air fryer.  The roast cycle preset is 355f and 20 minutes.  I re-set it to 10 minutes.  No preheating.  Put the cold from the fridge steak in and start the machine.  Take Buddy the Beagle for a potty walk because he was acting antsy.  After 10 minutes, turn it over, add a handful of frozen french fries and set the timer for another 10 minutes.  Put the steak on your plate, re-start the machine to finish the fries while the steak rests for a few minutes.

    A small pat of butter on the steak and some black pepper.  After the fries have an extra 3 minutes I dump the air fryer basket onto the plate.  Meat drippings and all.  Sprinkle of salt on the potatoes.  A little bit of Heinz 57 sauce on the side.

    I’m not hungry now.

  26. nick flandrey says:

    I’m not hungry now.  

    – but now I am.

    n

    We used to eat a lot of those little steaks when I first moved in with my wife.   They are yummy and convenient.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    I am kinda surprised that the Navy is willing to go back to a single engine craft to replace the F-18 but the stealth capabilities probably outweigh everything else.  My uncle flew the last Navy single engine, the A4, he loved it even though it did not have an after burner. Of course, a single engine plane does get better gas mileage over a twin.

    The F117 is a big plane in person. The engineers opted for two F18 engines running at subsonic speed to spread out the heat signature, but everything had to be hidden inside the airframe.

  28. nick flandrey says:

    More closings, although I have to admit, I’ve never heard of Bahama Breeze.

    Olive Garden’s sister chain abruptly shuts all remaining locations

    By MARTHA WILLIAMS, US REAL ESTATE & CONSUMER REPORTER

    Published: 13:59 EST, 4 February 2026 | Updated: 14:04 EST, 4 February 2026

    Another familiar restaurant chain is vanishing almost overnight. 

    Bahama Breeze, the Caribbean-inspired sister chain of Olive Garden, is closing its doors for good. 

    Darden Restaurants – the company’s parent group – said on Tuesday that it will close its Bahama Breeze chain after nearly 30 years. 

    The Orlando-based company announced it will permanently close 14 of Bahama Breeze’s 28 restaurants, while the remaining 14 will be converted to other Darden brands. 

    n

  29. Lynn says:

    “That’s mind-boggling…”

        https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2026/02/thats-mind-boggling.html

    “Courtesy of a link provided by DiveMedic, we learn that human breast milk is one of the most complex systems nature has ever devised.”

    Milk is not just nutrition.
    It is information.

    “The more I learn of this sort of complexity in nature, the more I shake my head at those who claim that evolution is responsible for everything, that we’re merely cosmic “accidents”, that there’s no such thing as “intelligent design”.  If there isn’t, how does one account for the immense intelligence revealed just in the biological system of human milk – never mind everything else about us, and about life?”

    “I know we’ll never agree on that, but that’s OK.  I’m just going to say, “Thank you, Lord”, and leave it at that.”

    Me too Peter, me too.  Life is far too complex to be happenstance.

    Of course, I am currently wondering why God did not design all mammals to be marsupials ?  Sure would be a lot easier on human females to give birth.

  30. Greg Norton says:

    Yeah, and nothing like the filet I had flying First Class on Delta to Hawaii.  That was, oh, gee, “good” is not the word.  Cut with the side of your fork tender and totally melt in your mouth.  Chew chew chew and the bite is simply gone.  
     

    A Weber Genesis with a ”sear station” does an excellent job with filets, but, at $60 for four even at Sam’s, that is an increasingly rare splurge at our house.

  31. paul says:

    a young woman whose breasts were removed at age 16

    Did they sterilize her while removing her breasts?  Nothing I’ve seen says so.  So she can still have children?  Or did all the hormones chemically castrate her?  Er, make her infertile.  

  32. paul says:

    I’m not hungry now.  

    – but now I am.

    Goal!  

  33. Lynn says:

    I am kinda surprised that the Navy is willing to go back to a single engine craft to replace the F-18 but the stealth capabilities probably outweigh everything else.  My uncle flew the last Navy single engine, the A4, he loved it even though it did not have an after burner. Of course, a single engine plane does get better gas mileage over a twin.

    The F117 is a big plane in person. The engineers opted for two F18 engines running at subsonic speed to spread out the heat signature, but everything had to be hidden inside the airframe.

    BTW, the article for F-35 says that the engine costs $21 million each.  That means the entire combustion and downstream path is grown ceramic and that the engine can fire up to 2,600 F (1,430 C).  That is 35% efficiency territory, given that your average gasoline engine is 20% efficient and average diesel engine is 25% efficient.  Combustion ratios with ultra high temperatures rule !

        https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II

  34. Greg Norton says:

    More closings, although I have to admit, I’ve never heard of Bahama Breeze.
     

    Bahama Breeze was Darden’s answer to Outback Steakhouse‘s Bonefish Grill in Central Florida.

    Meh food. Big bar. Credit card dining.

    Red Lobster without biscuits.

    Waitress! More bread!

    Honestly, I thought they were already shut down.

    The Bonefish Grill floundered after the founder sold out to Outback and then offed himself in a speed boating accident at “Ludicrous Speed”.

    We call the restaurant The Bonehead’s Grill at our house.

  35. Greg Norton says:

    Bahama Breeze was Darden’s answer to Outback Steakhouse‘s Bonefish Grill in Central Florida.
     

    Bloomin‘ Brands, the parent of Outback Steakhouse. is in serious trouble. I would be surprised if they weren‘t in Bankruptcy court before the end of the year.

  36. drwilliams says:

    Maxine Waters Loses It During House Hearing, Smacked Down by Treasury Secretary Bessent

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/dmitri-bolt/2026/02/04/scott-bessent-claps-back-after-maxine-waters-tells-him-to-shut-up-n2670672

    Pipehitters 1 DHFS* 0

    *see comments 

  37. drwilliams says:

    It is almost beyond belief that the agent in charge of a major FBI field office sent this astonishingly shoddy letter to the Fulton County election office, effectively giving advance notice of an impending federal action. His firing does not even begin to address the gravity of what he did.

    https://x.com/HansMahncke/status/2019099979109855416

    Don’t fire him.

    Send him to Minneapolis to investigate illegal roadblocks checking ID’s, and give him a red 2020 Impala with “FED 5-0” plates for his field work.

  38. nick flandrey says:

    The drama erupted when Eilish took the stage to accept her Song of the Year win for Wildflower, joining a long list of stars at the Grammys protesting U.S. immigration enforcement.

    Billie Eilish faces calls to return her $3m mansion to native tribe after her Grammys declaration

    But Eilish, accepting the award alongside her brother Finneas, was the most incendiary.

    ‘As grateful as I feel, I honestly don’t feel like I need to say anything but that no one is illegal on stolen land,’ she declared, referencing the colonization of the Americas.

    ‘It’s just really hard to know what to say and what to do right now, and I just feel really hopeful in this room, and I feel like we just need to keep fighting and speaking up and protesting, and our voices really do matter, and the people matter,’ she added.

    She wrapped her brief but fiery speech by shouting: ‘And f*** ICE, that’s all I’m gonna say. Sorry!’ 

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15528823/Billie-Eilish-tribe-ICE-stolen-land.html 

    The liberals never think that they’ll be the ones in front of the wall, after their usefulness has ended.

    Everyone thinks they’ll be the overlord and not the serf.

    n

  39. paul says:

    This house is on pier and beam.  I don’t know why the floor is not all insulated.  Out of money?  Lack of time?  I simply do not know.   I know I never found the time to do it myself. 

    The house is roughly L shaped.  < shaped.  The two long sides are 50 feet or almost.  All of the other sides are 25 feet give or take a bit.  Eight inches either direction.

    The “back bedrooms” are insulated.  The kitchen and dining room and living room are not insulated.  Most of the master bedroom is insulated. 

    So what I have is an area about 24 feet by 38 feet of floor that is not insulated.  About one half of the house.  I’m measuring with my feet not a tape measure.  I’ve had the number of a guy that is suppose to be good with insulation for several months.  But the new living room floor is on R-4 foam and I really wanted to see it that mattered.

    Yes, it does.  R-4 ain’t a lot but the new floor is warmer to my feet than the tile by the front door or the tile in front of the wood stove or the parquet wood floor in the dining room or the vinyl tile in the kitchen.  I’m just measuring the temperature with my feet, bare and socked.  New floor isn’t hugely warmer, maybe 2 degrees.

    The new floor is also in the hallway.  And it is noticeably warmer there, where the bedrooms are insulated, than in the living room.

    So.  Now I know.  Let’s call the insulation guy.  Turns out I’m a little bit out of his area.  But “call this guy, he’s good”.

    That’s my plan for tomorrow.

    Cost?  No idea.  I’m going to look at this like when we replaced the windows.  “Everyone”, the Experts,  said you’ll never break even on your heating and cooling bills. It was six and a half years to break even and no more cold drafts either.

    I have the money.  I can’t take it with me.  If I end up in a nursing home, perish the thought, I don’t want them to get it.  My plan is to totter my almost dead self outside and collapse in the back yard.  Buzzards gotta eat, you know?  

    So, at my age, spend it and have warm feet in the winter.  Might drop the electric bill $60 a month, too, like the windows did.  I figure I’m good to almost 90.  Call it 20 more years.

    It will be interesting to find out the break even time. And having warm feet is nothing to scoff at.  

    11
  40. lpdbw says:

    LLMs explained.  Sort of.

    Favorite lines from the essay:

    And since LLMs are programmed never to say, I don’t know, you end up reading hallucinations. You wish you’d get Sargent Shultz, and end up with Cliff Clavin instead:

    You’re having a conversation with a synthesized amalgam of John von Neumann and Cliff Clavin. Good luck figuring out who is who.

  41. lpdbw says:

    Got news today at my Ham lunch that someone died.  It happens.

    But I looked around the table and realized that most of us were as old as or older than him.

    I sat next to the oldest guy,  who’s 92.  The guy who died was 72.

    There was a lot of talking about getting out and doing things before it’s too late.  Also, decluttering.

    I need to bear that in mind.

  42. SteveF says:

    Everyone thinks they’ll be the overlord and not the serf.

    Just today I heard someone say that his ancestry traced back to the Spartans. Setting aside the unlikelihood of family records being accurate over 2500 years, the odds are at least 8:1 that he was descended from Helots, not Homoioi (the citizen warriors).

  43. nick flandrey says:

    FEMA final on the winter storm

    Situation: All lifelines in Mississippi and Tennessee continue to show signs of improvement as temperatures warm and route accessibility and power restoration continue to improve throughout the severely
    impacted areas. Local, state, and federally supported operations are transitioning from stabilization to restoration.
    National Watch Center

    Lifeline Impacts: (FEMA R4 SLB, as of 5:50 p.m. ET, Feb 3)

    Food, Hydration, Shelter: (Red Cross ARC, as of 6:50 a.m. ET,
    Feb 4)
    MS: 32 (-19) shelters / 498 (-419) occupants@ 
    TN: 11 shelters / 249 (-173) occupants@
    Health & Medical:@
    MS: 26 (+1) confirmed fatalities
    @
    TN: 25 confirmed fatalities@

    Water Systems:
    @ MS: 119 (+6) boil water advisories affecting 398k
    @(+4k); 159 (-2) partially operational drinking water
    @facilities affecting 242k (-3k); 10 partially operational

    @wastewater facilities
    @ TN: 20 (-6) partially operational affecting 25k (-7k); 16
    @(-1) under Boil Water Advisories, affecting 24k (-11k)

    @Energy: (DOE Eagle-I, as of 8:00 a.m. ET)
    @ MS: 25k (-7k) / 2% customers without power
    @ TN: 11k (-9k) / <1% customers without power

    @Transportation:
    @ TN: State resources continuing route clearance
    @operations, clearing lanes and widening passable lanes
    @ MS: Conditions continue improving, with no reported
    @weather-related delays or closures on any highways or
    @airports

    @State / Local Response:

    @ MS and TN SEOCs at Partial Activation (Winter Storm);
    MS Governor requested a Major Disaster Declaration
    on Feb 3

  44. EdH says:

    Re: B. Ellish (whoever she is)

    Quoting from memory something seen online:

    If your acknowledgement doesn’t involve returning the stolen property – you’re just gloating.

  45. Lynn says:

    “LEPRINO FOODS BREAKS DOWN: America’s Mozzarella King PULLS THE PLUG on California as Texas SCOOPS THE CHEESE — a Manufacturing Power Shift Exposed”

       https://can.cafex.biz/blog/leprino-foods-bold-move-after-115-years-americas-mozzarella-king-moves-to-texas-leaving-california-in-shock-what-this-means-for-workers-pizza-lovers-and-the-future-of-american-cheese-production-discover-the-economic-ripple-effects-of-this-major-shift

    “After 115 years, Leprino shutters its historic California plant, citing crushing costs and capital strain, while pouring nearly $1B into Texas. Jobs migrate, supply chains reset, and the pizza economy quietly redraws its map.”

    “As food production follows power, California loses another pillar… and nobody’s blinking first”

    And another big food company leaves California.

  46. Denis says:

    LLMs are programmed never to say, I don’t know

    Not surprising that, since an LLM is a master’s degree in law!

    Wednesday night, gone midnight. W1 is not at home, so I can turn the sleep timer on on the radio and float off to dreamland with BR-Klassik running. Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite is playing just now. Lovely. Especially fantastic writing for the trombones: bee, ba, badada, badada, bom!

    BR-Klassik is available as internet radio (look under Germany… classical). The music to speech ratio is mostly very high, so it is listenable even for people who don’t understand German. Recommended.

    The propane company has announced a delivery for tomorrow. Fingers crossed. I had intended to leave today for the BOL and warmth, but if the fuel is indeed coming, I will await it so I can fire up the central heating here asap and have the house warm again by the time W1 arrives home on Saturday. Brownie points, I’ll get some…

    Goodnight!

  47. Denis says:

    Just today I heard someone say that his ancestry traced back to the Spartans.

    Today, I was speaking to someone who says he can credibly trace ancestors back as far as 1062 in what is today Romania. He does have an unusual surname. I wonder if he is a vampire?

  48. Lynn says:

    “Trilobyte” by J.L. Bourne
       https://www.amazon.com/Trilobyte-J-L-Bourne/dp/B08BW84JBZ?tag=ttgnet-20

    Book number one of a two book apocalyptic science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2020 that I bought from Amazon in 2024. Unfortunately, the second book in the series has only been published by Audible so far, I can not buy a dead tree copy yet. I so want the second book too.

    Humanity is so screwed. Several decades from now, after the EM global war, a robotic surgery device was converted to be a controller for human beings. Millions of these devices were made and shipped to the USA. After installing themselves on humans, they killed and enslaved other humans. The war to eradicate humanity was on. There are survivors but not many as the machines continually upgrade themselves and swarm any suspected human refuge.

    From the author: “Now, after years of world building, writing and editing in my attic, Trilobyte is ready for you, my beloved reader. Some might call it a warning of what is to come if we aren’t careful with our creations. Trilobyte is the most terrifying thing I have ever written.
    They are closer than you think.
    They will be trillions.
    They will come for you.
    Lock your doors and load those rail guns. The machines are here.”

    My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.7 out of 5 stars (381 reviews)

    Lynn

  49. Greg Norton says:

    Everyone thinks they’ll be the overlord and not the serf.

    Everything is great in FIRE land until the 2%-er fintech bro managing the trust Daddy left Snowflake stops returning phone calls.

  50. paul says:

    I called “this guy” and he really seems like someone you want around while cooking a brisket and drinking beer.

    Anyway.  The spray foam insulation, closed cell, is white and turns yellow-ish with oxidation and UV.   So, not black.  Good.  I don’t go under the house often but “not black” is very good.  Two inches or so for about R-15.  Getting more insulation under the kitchen, like where I stand and under the dishwasher, no problem.

    More. lets go with R-30 maybe.

    Anyway, around three grand.   Maybe.  Hard to say without actually seeing  what needs doing. Someone is suppose to call tomorrow morning and come to see what needs doing.

  51. Ray Thompson says:

    People can be idiots.

    I posted in reddit in a veterans group about the ability to use their VA benefits to add to the deduction for state income tax on the federal return. In my case, because of the back pay, it amounted over $500.00 in increased deduction.

    The backlash I got was wholly unexpected. Many said it was fake and that VA benefits are not taxable. Yeh, I know that. Others said I should never report VA benefits to the IRS. Yeh, I know that. They almost all failed to understand it was not reporting the benefits, but was instead adding the benefit amount to amount calculated from adjusted gross income for the state tax deduction calculation. That calculation is based on income and including the VA benefits as un-taxed income increases that number.

    It really benefits those that can itemize and in states with no income tax. I believe there are eight states with no income tax. A person has to have enough deductions to itemize. Including the VA benefits in the sales tax deduction calculation might be just enough to exceed the threshold. 100% disability is almost $50K a year. Adding that amount of non-taxed income to the state sales tax calculation could be significant.

    But lo and behold, the “experts” on there slammed my posting. Claims of giving fraudulent tax advise where I could be charged by the IRS. Nope, I was only providing information, not advice. Multiple people slammed me for providing any VA benefits to the IRS would only get me in trouble. I was stupid for not knowing the benefits are not taxable. I was advising people to commit fraud. The IRS was going find me and boil me in oil. You get the idea.

    The continual slamming by one individual that claimed to be a CPA was surprising. Claimed my information was false. I posted screen shots from Intuit, the IRS sales tax calculation page, and two screen captures from investment firms, that all state the VA benefits can be added to the calculation. VA benefits were specifically mentioned on the IRS website. All supported what I was saying.

    But no, that was not good enough. The person would never admit, in spite of the evidence presented, that I was correct. A CPA who is not willing to research, to find out on their own, is not a good CPA. He bragged about his college degree, extensive accounting work, filing taxes for others. I wonder how many he has shafted by paying too much tax because he fails to fully research all possible deductions.

    And to think these people are actually allowed to vote. Shocking.

    11
  52. Lynn says:

    Everyone thinks they’ll be the overlord and not the serf.

    Everything is great in FIRE land until the 2%-er fintech bro managing the trust Daddy left Snowflake stops returning phone calls.

    A friend of mine told me a couple of weeks ago that they are going to create a trust for their kids.  I asked them who is going to manage the trust and they said their lawyer.  I said, ah, as soon as you pass on the lawyer will crank their trust manager fee to $150,000 annually and bankrupt the trust as soon as possible.  They said no way, the trust documents will not allow that.  I said read the documents closely, the trust manager can do anything they want to do. 

    Then they said that they will get their banker to manage the trust also.  I said great, that means your lawyer and your banker will get $150,000 EACH annually and bankrupt the trust even faster.  They finally understood what I was talking about.

    Trusts should be established only if there is more than $10 million to be left for your children.  If your children are incompetent then buy second to survive annuities and other instruments that survive your death.

  53. Lynn says:

    I posted in reddit in a veterans group about the ability to use their VA benefits to add to the deduction for state income tax on the federal return. In my case, because of the back pay, it amounted over $500.00 in increased deduction.

    The backlash I got was wholly unexpected. Many said it was fake and that VA benefits are not taxable. Yeh, I know that. Others said I should never report VA benefits to the IRS. Yeh, I know that. They almost all failed to understand it was not reporting the benefits, but was instead adding the benefit amount to amount calculated from adjusted gross income for the state tax deduction calculation. That calculation is based on income and including the VA benefits as un-taxed income increases that number.

    The average redditer has a mental age of about 12.  Since you and I drive up the average so much, my mental age is about 17 now, you ran into a 5 year old.  Good luck with that, five year olds will argue with you until the sun turns into a red giant.

  54. Lynn says:

    “WAR MACHINE | Official Trailer | Netflix”

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFuE1LRxm80

    “During the final stage of U.S. Army Ranger selection, an elite team’s training exercise turns into a fight for survival against an unimaginable threat. Watch Alan Ritchson in War Machine on March 6th.”

  55. Ray Thompson says:

    five year olds will argue with you until the sun turns into a red giant

    Even when proven wrong, with examples, one being from the IRS, they continued to claim including the VA money was not allowed. I provided the link to the IRS page and a screen capture from the IRS that specifically stated Veteran Benefits. Nope, not good enough. And the guy claimed to be a CPA that does taxes for a living. In reality he probably recently graduated from elementary school.

    A 12 year education is not going through the sixth grade twice.

  56. MrAtoz says:

    Everyone thinks they’ll be the overlord and not the serf.

    Twats like Eyelash and the Hollyweird jerks think they are “elite” and will walk around spewing their trash after the Baracklypse while being carried on a throne. They/she aren’t elite, they are useful PLT idiots for the likes of BillyG and the NWO billionaire dick heads who will line them up against the wall with the rest of the sheeple.

  57. nick flandrey says:

    I’ve never gone to reddit for anything.  Never had the tiniest desire to participate.   I have read some threads as search results for specific problems and they were mostly useless “me too” or “ur too dumb” posts with little real info in them.   And then there are the youtube ai generated vids of Reddit revenge stories, HOA stories, jilted lover stories… which are nothing but a waste of time on poorly written fiction, abstracted and stolen by the ai posters.

    Like facebook, I think I’m better off for having skipped reddit.   

    n

  58. Nightraker says:

    A friend of mine told me a couple of weeks ago that they are going to create a trust for their kids. 

    Quoted for truth.  ~1970 my Uncle Joe passed away.  He had 4 sisters.  When he was declining a social service agency got him a caretaker.  The caretaker got him a lawyer, one Anthony Colusi, Esq., to write a will.  The lawyer’s will established a scholarship fund for the local studentry and doled out $5K each to the sisters.  When they squawked, he doubled it to $10K each and family internal dynamics let it be.  Quarter million into his pocket.  Slick work. 

  59. Lynn says:

    Everyone thinks they’ll be the overlord and not the serf.

    Twats like Eyelash and the Hollyweird jerks think they are “elite” and will walk around spewing their trash after the Baracklypse while being carried on a throne. They/she aren’t elite, they are useful PLT idiots for the likes of BillyG and the NWO billionaire dick heads who will line them up against the wall with the rest of the sheeple.

    One of the funniest things that I have ever read was John Ringo in his second or third zombie series book.  He had Zuckerberg escape the zombie plague by jumping on a huge yacht with a lot of girls, a lot of bodyguards, and cruising around the Caribbean.  After a while, the bodyguards got tired of Zuckerberg and turned him into a zombie.  They tied him up and continuously abused him.

  60. Lynn says:

    A friend of mine told me a couple of weeks ago that they are going to create a trust for their kids. 

    Quoted for truth.  ~1970 my Uncle Joe passed away.  He had 4 sisters.  When he was declining a social service agency got him a caretaker.  The caretaker got him a lawyer, one Anthony Colusi, Esq., to write a will.  The lawyer’s will established a scholarship fund for the local studentry and doled out $5K each to the sisters.  When they squawked, he doubled it to $10K each and family internal dynamics let it be.  Quarter million into his pocket.  Slick work. 

    Never trust a lawyer or a banker.  They will look out for themselves every day of the week.

  61. drwilliams says:

    “From the author: “Now, after years of world building, writing and editing in my attic, Trilobyte is ready for you, my beloved reader. Some might call it a warning of what is to come if we aren’t careful with our creations. Trilobyte is the most terrifying thing I have ever written.
    They are closer than you think.
    They will be trillions.
    They will come for you.
    Lock your doors and load those rail guns. The machines are here.””

    One canonly wonder if it would be worse if he’d been in the basement.

  62. Lynn says:

    I’ve never gone to reddit for anything.  Never had the tiniest desire to participate.   I have read some threads as search results for specific problems and they were mostly useless “me too” or “ur too dumb” posts with little real info in them.   And then there are the youtube ai generated vids of Reddit revenge stories, HOA stories, jilted lover stories… which are nothing but a waste of time on poorly written fiction, abstracted and stolen by the ai posters.

    Like facebook, I think I’m better off for having skipped reddit.   

    n

    I post my SF/F reviews on  https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/  .  I get continually put down for reading the “trash” I read.  Just like Usenet.

    I did refer extensively to  https://www.reddit.com/r/CataractSurgery/  before I got my cataract surgeries last year.  I decided to stay away from the multi focal lens and go with single vision lenses set to distance vision.  I love it.  And I do not have halos at night time while driving that the multi focal lenses are known for.  I jsut have to have readers for computer or reading anything with less than inch tall letters.

  63. drwilliams says:

    Zuckerberg

    Mick Micklenberg

  64. dcp says:

    his ancestry traced back

    I am fond of the Lazarus Long quote:  “This sad little lizard told me that he was a brontosaurus on his mother’s side. I did not laugh; people who boast of ancestry often have little else to sustain them. Humoring them costs nothing and adds to happiness in a world in which happiness is always in short supply.”

  65. nick flandrey says:

    Got my starlink mini set up.   I wanted to test my support and the service.   Ultimate Support speaker stand, and a pool skimmer aluminum handle as the pipe, and I had the thing set up in a few minutes.   Took a while to ‘calibrate’ and figure out it could see the whole sky, but then it was good.

    Getting .550 Mbps down and 1.3 Mbps up which is better than DSL, according to Speedof.me

    Since the account info is on the antenna, and it’s all set up at the factory, it was seamless to get running.

    BTW, the mini only needs a power cable to the antenna, as it has the router and wifi built in.   There is an ethernet port so presumable you can attach it to a wired network.  The power cable is really long.

    ——-

    Dinner was leftover pork loin roast, cubed and served over noodles with jack daniels cream sauce… no one said a word, but they licked their plates.

    n

  66. drwilliams says:

    Kevin Sorbo Says GOP Should Have Bought Super Bowl Ad Time to Air THIS Damning Video (He’s RIGHT!)

    https://twitchy.com/dougp/2026/02/04/kevin-sorbo-says-republicans-should-buy-super-bowl-ad-time-to-air-this-damning-dem-video-hes-right-n2424678

    Doesn’t mean that the add can’t be aired hundreds of times in the lead-up to November elections.

  67. lpdbw says:

    Tonight’s movie was “Harvey”.

    I commented that Josephine Hull was perfect in the role.

    Then I looked her up.  She did both “Harvey” and “Arsenic and Old Lace” on stage for over a thousand performances each before she did the films.

    She won an Oscar for her role in “Harvey”.

    My favorite line is from the bartender at Charlie’s Place.  Elwood P. Dowd is in a booth at the back, and the bartender is asked “Is he alone back there?”  His answer:  “There’s two schools of thought…”

  68. Nick Flandrey says:

    I’m headed to bed.  I need to get stuff done tomorrow morning.

    n

  69. Lynn says:

    Tonight’s movie was “Harvey”.

    I commented that Josephine Hull was perfect in the role.

    Then I looked her up.  She did both “Harvey” and “Arsenic and Old Lace” on stage for over a thousand performances each before she did the films.

    She won an Oscar for her role in “Harvey”.

    My favorite line is from the bartender at Charlie’s Place.  Elwood P. Dowd is in a booth at the back, and the bartender is asked “Is he alone back there?”  His answer:  “There’s two schools of thought…”

    I love the Harvey movie.  I was thinking of this movie this morning when I looked at my business cards.  Elwood P. Dowd would offer his card to everyone he met.  Then he would introduce them to Harvey.

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