Cool to start, clear and warm later. Yesterday started with overcast but ended with clear and warm. Even at dusk it was still very pleasant to step outside.
So of course I spent most of the day inside. I did a bunch of stuff, none of it critical, and ignored the nice weather and my outdoor tasks. I sorted auction stuff. I listened to some vinyl. I made a pot roast, from scratch, and cooked it for dinner. Came out delicious. I suppose you can’t go wrong with a chunk of American wagu, red wine, vegetables, and time.
Some frustrating time was spent dealing with backing up my phone, microSD cards, and just automagic stupidity… which is still not resolved.
Wife and child returned home.
And now I have today to continue the nonsense.
So I will.
Stack while you can.
nick
We skipped the whole mess entirely and watched “Blackberry”.
The same director has a new film, “Nirvana The Band The Show The Movie” opening next week. The trailer ran in front of the “Twin Peaks” retro triple feature we saw on Saturday afternoon.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2K9ccMREOI
57F this morning. It was 62F when I went to bed.
Kinder are rousted out of bed. Sky is brightening.
I’m having a cup of tea now and coffee later to go back to trying to moderate the caffeine crash in the afternoon. With the glucose monitor, I can be sure the crash isn’t sugar related. Cyborg does have some interesting points.
n
If you never stop sipping coffee, you never have a caffeine crash.
re frozen eggs, I stand somewhat corrected: I made a pot of oatmeal for breakfast and threw in four of the frozen eggs. Normally this results in eggs which are halfway between poached and hard-boiled. The eggs this morning technically did the same but the texture was different. Taste was unchanged, so far as I can tell. I think that the yolks were still half-frozen before I dropped them into the pot; that may have accounted for it. Probably won’t kill me, and if it does, I was weak and deserved to die.
My wife cooked the previous frozen eggs as something like scrambled: whisk them and put them in a bowl which had a little sesame oil in the bottom, then steam for half an hour. She didn’t mention noticing any difference.
I don’t understand why Mr. SteveF froze his eggs? Is he planning on having kids in the future with himself?
Was at D1’s all afternoon and evening. Talk about a carb crash, Fell asleep right after coming home.
Game stunk – good food but too much – watched the TP half time instead of BB but not really my kind of rock but not bad (lyrics like ‘mow my lawn and feed my dog’ pure sap). The guy doing the anthem on guitar at the start was excellent. Kid Rock ending with Robert Ritchie was kinda cool.
Guy Fieri as Justaguy was a funniest commercial I saw.
Not that I am a fan of “lefty pukes”, or people threatening to kill the VP, but…it’s kind of strange, how often it conveniently pops up.
My one favor that I did for the Secret Service proved to me just how casually law enforcement treats evidence. It would be so easy to plant evidence. They take your computer, stick a couple of new files on it before entering it into evidence and – wow, look what we found!
My mouse is double-clicking when I single click, sometimes. Annoying. Some places it is not a problem, in others, such as Lightroom, it really is a problem. I have removed the mouse from device manager and let windows reinstall. I have changed the double click time to a larger amount. I have uninstalled the Logitech software. None of what I have tried seems to solve the problem. It is off to BestBuy (a place I loathe) to get a new mouse. The price is the same as Amazon and other retailers. But BestBuy has the mouse in stock, the others I have to wait a couple of days, even with Amazon Prime.
That’s the kind of thing gods do. Your faith in me is appreciated.
Yep, but my biggest annoyance is the scroll of the wheel. Mostly down. Opened the battery and lots of air in and around the wheel on top. Helps but it comes back.
Amazon today $10 but on qualifying $25 order. Best buy $15 but I’d have to drive there go in or get curbside service.
Tough decisions all around 😀
also available in pink
Um, you guys don’t have a box full of mice? Something you can use until the new one arrives? That’s not prepping!
——
@brad, I agree, so I’m always cautious and a bit skeptical. Remember the homeless brother of the Vegas shooting patsy? He lived in a squat in an abandoned house, but somehow had a tainted laptop. On the other hand, the left really does seem to be full of them, vis Kyle Rittenhouse’s two attackers. Just random? No.
n
Of course – mostly wired. Most of the wireless should probably have gone in the trash. I also prefer the small formats.
I actually bought the bluetooth and will put it on my laptop and move the one from the laptop to the desktop.
Update on the Rayhunter “Stingray” catcher. You are supposed to use a SIM in the Orbic hot spot, but don’t need to activate it. The Orbic I got from Ebay came with a SIM in it, but I get a “no service” notice witha red X at one bar. I’m not sure if it works, but you should get 4G. I’m going to Best Buy to pick up a $2 Mint Mobile SIM and try that (YT has a vid showing it works). On the way, I’ll keep the Orbic on and see if it gets cell service with the old Verizon SIM, then try the Mint SIM when I get it.
Peeps are reporting Stingrays will override towers and force your phone to 4G or less because it is easier to track you.
I don’t think I own a wireless mouse, other than maybe one of those handheld gadgets for giving presentations that is also a laser pointer.
I tried wireless mice when they were a new thing, and quickly gave up on them because the battery life was atrocious and they either didn’t work when needed, or they died at the most inopportune moment.
I used to buy Microsoft wired mice by the dozen. One could get them bulk packed in plain cardboard boxes on Big River, probably diverted from OEM supplies to system integrators or somesuch. I found the lurking remains of my last stash recently, whereupon I rejoiced greatly to discover a half dozen MS mice I didn’t know (i.e. had forgotten) I owned.
Alas, MS stopped making mice, and even before they stopped, the last few iterations of the MS mouse were not a patch on the quality of the earlier ones. My favourites for look and feel, but not function, were the really old ones that still had the steel ball inside. The first generation ball-less ones were pretty good.
There is a discount store here called Action, that carries a good range of small and reasonably-priced computer accessories. I think a wired mouse costs less than three bucks, and they also have weenchy mice for travelling with laptops or for people with elflike hands, as well as wireless mice. I usually throw a wired mouse or two in the basket when I am there, along with some spare ethernet cables. I stage the mice around the house and the BOL, and they come in handy.
Mice:
I use the Apple trackpad, but have the Logitech MX4 Mouse/Creative Dialpad/Keypad and the latest Kensington trackball.
I am a nerd.
Guy Fieri as Justaguy was a funniest commercial I saw.
I liked the Clydesdale and the chick commercial. Of course in real life, the horse would have eaten the chick.
I loved the old Microsoft mice as well.
On my home desktop, I use the least expensive model wired Logitech gaming mouse. Each one lasts about a year. Everywhere else, it’s the cheapo Dell mice. I have a few spares on hand too…
I do also keep a spare Logitech mouse on hand as well.
No wireless mice. If I had a laptop, then that would probably get one.
Of course I do. A couple still in packages. I am going to Costco anyway and BestBuy is close by.
I just bought that mouse. It took some doing to get it setup. My mouse pad turned out to be the real trouble maker as that was making the mouse pointer jump all over the place.
The mice I have still in packages do not have the thumb button which I have become quite accustomed. That is why I went to purchase a new mouse.
I also have the Apple track pad that I use with my MacBook. I like it better than the track pad on the Mac as it is off to the side and slightly larger than the trackpad on the Mac.
I have a USB-C to USB-A adapter that I tried to use to connect the USB-C receiver. It did not work. I have to use a real USB-C port for the dongle. Stuff like that really ticks me off, especially stuff that is supposed to work, but doesn’t, because who knows why.
Ugh, Best Buy cancelled my Mint Mobile SIM. The next closest place in stock is Target by Nellis AFB. I’m not driving 25 minutes each way, so I ordered a Verizon SIM for $4.88 from Big River. Gets here tomorrow. I did drive around a bit with the Orbic, but 4G didn’t show up.
Currently blue sky and 87F on the sunny side of the house.
NICE..
n
I have a Logitech wireless mouse. Prefer it over the wired version. Too often the cord on the latter was just a bit too short as it was zip-tied to other cables routed down behind the front edge of the desk.
I hemmed and hawed on buying the coordinating wireless keyboard so that no wires would show but couldn’t convince myself to spend the extra money. Having just the one cable showing doesn’t bother me.
(I get the monitor cables arranged such that those route behind the monitor stands and are out of sight.)
My mouse is double-clicking when I single click, sometimes. Annoying. Some places it is not a problem, in others, such as Lightroom, it really is a problem. I have removed the mouse from device manager and let windows reinstall. I have changed the double click time to a larger amount. I have uninstalled the Logitech software. None of what I have tried seems to solve the problem. It is off to BestBuy (a place I loathe) to get a new mouse. The price is the same as Amazon and other retailers. But BestBuy has the mouse in stock, the others I have to wait a couple of days, even with Amazon Prime.
You can still buy the classic Microsoft mouse but they are getting expensive. Probably running out of inventory. Nope, only used now.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00005TQ08?tag=ttgnet-20
“Google sued by Autodesk over AI-powered movie-making software”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-sued-autodesk-over-ai-161829926.html
“Feb 9 (Reuters) – Google has been sued by Autodesk (ADSK) for allegedly infringing its “Flow” trademark to market competing AI-enabled software used to make movies, TV shows and video games.”
“In a complaint filed on Friday in San Francisco federal court, Autodesk said it began using Flow in September 2022 for visual effects, production management and other products, and was surprised when Google launched Flow software in May 2025 aimed at the same customers.”
“Autodesk said Google assured it would not commercialize Flow, yet applied that month to trademark the term in the Kingdom of Tonga in the South Pacific, where applications are not generally available to the public.”
Yeah, that old “Don’t be evil” motto for Google has definitely gone by the wayside.
Currently blue sky and 87F on the sunny side of the house.
My cardiologist’s PA was asking me about any chest pains or anything this morning in my surgery clearance checkup for MDACC tomorrow. I replied nothing but arthritis. She said the rising temperatures should help with that. I said nope.
I have to be at MDACC at 8 am in the morning, just outside downtown Houston in the Med Center. Almost 30 miles from my house. We will be leaving before 630 am.
I use a Logitech wireless M4, battery life is fine.
I like keyboards with back lights so I don’t use wireless for that.
——
Is it too much to ask that they both lose?
I’sa got mine!!!
“The Facts”
https://areaocho.com/the-facts/
“There are people in comments who still believe this national ship can be saved, that somehow the nation can right itself, if only we elect the right people. Let me explain why that can’t- and more importantly, won’t happen.”
“We currently have a $40 trillion national debt. Here is how it breaks down:”
“$8 trillion of that is money we owe to ourselves in money that was stolen from Social Security. Essentially, the SS trust fund is a pocket full of IOUs that we left behind when we spent the trust fund money.
Yup, we are screwed with our $2 trillion excess annual spending. Very tough days are coming. As I have mentioned before, reading the Mandibles scenario might be enlightening on how to survive. I have no idea how to prepare other than general preparations.
https://www.amazon.com/Mandibles-Family-2029-2047-Lionel-Shriver/dp/006232828X?tag=ttgnet-20
Working on the receptacle for the 240v plug on the natgas gennie. It’s hot in the sun. I’m sweating and wishing I had on shorts.
In fact, I’m going to put some shorts on.
And start a load of laundry.
n
Uh-huh. Around here, temp was well into the double digits, by which I mean the high for the day was about 12F.
I’sa got mine!!!
I have several spares at the office and at home.
“Combat Wizard: Book One (The Wizards Series)” by Jack L. Knapp
https://www.amazon.com/Combat-Wizard-Book-Wizards-Trilogy/dp/1500131342?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number one of a six book science fiction series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2014 that I bought new from Amazon in 2024. I have bought the following two books in the series and plan to read them soon.
Chief Warrant Officer T is serving in Afghanistan as a squad leader for foot patrols. However, T was never trained as an Army officer, he is the product of a failed CIA Black Project to develop telepaths for insertion around the planet. The strong telepaths can read anyone’s mind who is close to them.
T is a weak telepath, he can only converse with other telepaths, but distance does not matter. And T is a strong telekinetic and a weak precognitive, actually good for a squad leader. And now somebody is killing off the trainees from the CIA project.
My rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.3 out of 5 stars (183 reviews)
Lynn
I bought license stickers today. They have a $4.75 “service fee” which is really insulting. No need for an inspection anymore but the $7.50 half of the $15 total is still charged because of course.
No inspection for the trailer. It’s $9.75 for a farm trailer. Use to be $5. Plus “Service Fee” to do their job…. grumph.
The truck pays full freight.
The van was different this year. Purple Heart plates. No Service Fee. Just the $7.50 for inspection and $3 for the plates. And this year, even though the renewal bill says $10.50 like it has for years, nope, just the $7.50 for the inspection fee on the computer. Free plates.
So I show up, as usual, like I have for almost thirty years, with a pre written check. My check is $3 too much. They don’t give change on a check. Whatever. I paid cash. No big deal to give me cash back from a $100 in twenties. Shrug.
Rules! Ve haf Rules!!!!
Then to the HEB for gas…… I was down to a quarter tank I think today was $2.22 a gallon. The newest receipt in the truck is dated October 28 and $2.46 a gallon. Then to Wal-Mart. I don’t exactly recall when I last went to Marble Falls. Last August? The truck ran like a Singer and I had to pay attention and get my foot off of the gas. Like, almost 90 in a 70 isn’t wise even if the road is empty. Truck felt like “let’s go!”.
I bought a couple of boxes of Breakfast Blend store brand k-cups. And a couple of packages of blue cheese. Wedges, because “fancy”, and not crumbles in a tub. That was all.
The stickers are installed. Outside it’s 85f and 30% humidity and sunny. Seems like there are lot of helicopters today. Excellent weather for February!
Only a few signs of Spring so far. I’ve spotted several tiny bluebonnet plants and a few of the Live Oaks are changing color before they molt and sprout new leaves. It’s early….
I use a Logitech wireless M4, battery life is fine.
I like keyboards with back lights so I don’t use wireless for that.
My favorite keyboard is my 1991 ??? Northgate Amni Key/102 Gold with the 12 function keys on the left side where God intended them to be for easy debugging. It looks beat up but performs wonderfully to this day.
However, that keyboard is sadly no longer available so I use the Logitech G610 Orion for my several other PCs. And that keyboard is out of availability so the Logitech G413 now looks to be available. I have not tried it yet though.
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Full-Size-Mechanical-Anti-Ghosting-Keys-White/dp/B08Z6X4NK3?tag=ttgnet-20
Heh. I just take my sweatpants or whatever off. But I don’t have neighbors to be scared if I don’t wear clothes.
Flip-flops are the minimum just because of stickers and thorns.
“Breaking Down California’s Insane “Super Bowl Tax” by James Hickman
https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/breaking-down-californias-insane-super-bowl-tax-154350/
“Yesterday, the Seattle Seahawks beat the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, California.
From a financial perspective, each Seahawks player will take home $178,000—payment for that particular game.
Now, given that the Superbowl was played in California—and the players earned money playing in the game— it’s reasonable for the state of California to tax that specific income.
But that’s not the way California looks at it.
Instead, the state will go back in time, all the way to the start of the NFL season in September, and take their ‘fair share’ of the players’ ENTIRE salaries over the entire season.
This is what’s known as the state’s “jock tax,” in which they tax non-resident professional athletes based on the number of “duty days” they spend in the state—traveling, practicing, attending meetings, or playing in a game.
Both teams arrived in California last Sunday, so each player will log at least eight duty days in the state just for the Super Bowl.
They then divide those California duty days over the entire season, and you end up with a percentage. If a player spends, say, 7% of his duty days in California over the season, then the state claims the right to tax 7% of his entire annual salary— at California’s top marginal rate of 13.3%!
This is pretty crazy given that the players only earned $178,000 for that game. But in the case of Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold, he’ll end up owing Gavin Newsom roughly $249,000 in state taxes this year.
In other words, Sam Darnold will LOSE over $70,000.”
That is definitely insane. The NFL should boycott California.
One mp3 song on the truck’s radio today was “Like A Prayer”. Yeah. Madonna.
Truck has a heck of a stereo. Channel separation and great balance ‘tween treble and bass.
Yeah. I turned it up real loud. Not quite disco level…..
I remember when the song was new.
“AG Paxton Sues Recycling Company for Illegally Disposing Wind Turbine Blades ”
https://texasscorecard.com/state/ag-paxton-sues-recycling-company-for-illegally-disposing-wind-turbine-blades/
“Although Global LLC closed its two facilities in Sweetwater in 2020, turbine parts were still accumulating at the site. ”
Wow, that is a lot of turbine parts just laying around there. Does not look very green to me.
“Project Hail Mary | Final Trailer”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0XN3-n-2Lo
“4,110,052 views Feb 8, 2026 #ProjectHailMary #AmazonMGM #RyanGosling”
“Believe in the Hail Mary. Watch the final trailer for Project Hail Mary — starring Academy Award® nominee Ryan Gosling and directed by Academy Award®-winning filmmakers Phil Lord & Christopher Miller. Only in theaters and IMAX 3.20.26.”
I am going to get my wife to go with me for the first time in a long time.
I noticed catkins on the nut trees and willows today. Harbingers of the start of allergy season. Joy.
Just gone midnight, so past my bedtime, but my sleep rhythms are messed up from working day and night since lunchtime on Friday. Wide awake now. Ah well.
Goodnight, I hope.
“Elon Musk pivots SpaceX to moon from Mars as IPO approaches”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-pivots-spacex-to-moon-from-mars-as-ipo-approaches-152228074.html
“Elon Musk is moving the goalposts back to what was once SpaceX’s (SPAX.PVT) top target, with sights now set on the moon rather than Mars. The pivot comes as the company’s initial public offering (IPO) fast approaches.”
“In a Sunday post on X.com right before the Super Bowl, the SpaceX and Tesla (TSLA) CEO said the rocket company “shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon,” arguing that doing so on Mars would take “20+years.””
Reality is hitting hard. However, a self supporting city on the Moon is probably not possible.
Fifth Circuit Lowers Boom On Dems Over Immigration
https://hotair.com/ed-morrissey/2026/02/09/fifth-circuit-lowers-boom-on-dems-over-immigration-n3811702
Demand for “Judicial Warrants” In Deportation Matters Shows Legal Illiteracy About How Arrest Warrants Are Issued And Used
https://shipwreckedcrew.substack.com/p/demand-for-judicial-warrants-in-deportation
DNA samples on the way out.
Things aren’t going as fast as he hoped in space with Starship. He needs time and money.
The near term money for the moon, and more importantly AI in LEO, is an insane opportunity. Profit & practice.
The state is basically into the ‘looting the populace’ stage of government devolution.
That Logitech G413 looks nice. A wire to the keyboard doesn’t really bother me.
Reality is hitting hard. However, a self supporting city on the Moon is probably not possible.
BTW, the number one problem with a self supporting city on the Moon (or in space) is the lack of nitrogen for the air. Two books have been written about this that I know of are “Fallen Angels” by Pournelle, Niven, et al, and “Artemis” by Andy Weir.
https://www.amazon.com/Fallen-Angels-Larry-Niven/dp/067172052X?tag=ttgnet-20
https://www.amazon.com/Artemis-Novel-Andy-Weir/dp/0553448145?tag=ttgnet-20
Almost got finished with the generator. My only holesaw in the right size was cr@p, and I had to stop and sharpen it half way thru. That was only marginally successful, and just making a hole from the gennie into the receptacle box took WAY too long. It’s in place and wired up, but I didn’t get the panel back together before I lost the light.
I’ll finish tomorrow.
Still working on domestic bliss. One more load of laundry to go.
Maybe I’ll sit out and have a tiny little fire. That and reading should make me feel better about the day.
n
Well…
I suspect a lot of the engineering problems could be solved with a vast expenditure of money. Building, tunnelling, greenhousing, airtight seals
But “self-sustaining” needs a steady supply of air, water and fertilizer. I suspect raiding the asteroid belt might work for the water, maybe. I don’t know about air and fertilizer. And if Mars is hard to settle, how hard is asteroid mining? Assuming a moon base spaceport? Unmanned mining ships?
Terrestrial plants would get sufficient sunlight, since the moon is the same distance from the Sun as Earth is. Mars would need more power to augment the weaker light from the more distant Sun.
But I won’t go until I can eat a locally-sourced carnivore diet. So we’ll need grasslands.
So we’ll need grasslands.
– or vats. Or guinnea pigs.
n
My downvote. I want beef. From cattle.
Gonna be a LONG time before they get to that point.
n
Plot of an old short story, “Hi Diddle Diddle” by Robert Silverberg; A scientist or engineer (can’t remember which, it’s been a long time) desperately wanted real milk to drink on the Moon at a research station and develops an artificial cow with all the requisite tissue and supporting structures, and incidentally makes the base more self-sufficient.
@gavin – I remember that story, but I never would have remembered the title. 🙂
n
I suspect a lot of the engineering problems could be solved with a vast expenditure of money. Building, tunnelling, greenhousing, airtight seals
Think of every company that Musk has created:
Tesla – electric vehicles
SpaceX – space ships
The Boring Company – tunneling through ground and rock
Solar City – solar panels and batteries
Neuralink – brain implants for communication, not sure how this helps
X / Twitter – communication with large groups of people
Open AI / xAI – artificial minds
??? https://www.thomasnet.com/insights/elon-musk-companies/
But “self-sustaining” needs a steady supply of air, water and fertilizer. I suspect raiding the asteroid belt might work for the water, maybe. I don’t know about air and fertilizer. And if Mars is hard to settle, how hard is asteroid mining? Assuming a moon base spaceport? Unmanned mining ships?
Terrestrial plants would get sufficient sunlight, since the moon is the same distance from the Sun as Earth is. Mars would need more power to augment the weaker light from the more distant Sun.
Read Artemis. Andy Weir is scary smart. “The Martian”, “Artemis”, “Project Hail Mary”
https://www.amazon.com/Artemis-Novel-Andy-Weir/dp/0553448145?tag=ttgnet-20
Suspended animation and artificial wombs… those would be enabling tech…
—
I’m off to bed.
n