Another nice day I hope. Cool to start, 75F in the shade, it’s like a warm hug. The sun is a furnace lasering off my skin when there isn’t any shade, but I can still cool down. Plus, the humidity is low and the breeze is gentle. More please.
Slept in, ate breakfast, drank coffee with heavy cream. Finally got motivated to work, so I took up the leaf blower and attacked the front yard again. Did a couple of hours of that, trying to get all the accumulated leaves out of the bushes and plantings and into the yard so the yard guys can remove them later. I almost got finished when the blower stopped working.
Quick testing showed no gas getting into the carb. That will have to wait a bit, so I got a rake and did the last little bit of leaf redistribution manually.
Sat for a while with W and the dog admiring the day and the sound of the water feature. Eventually, kid 2 called for her pickup and we all went to dinner.
After a bit of intarweb nonsense, I went back out to have a tiny little fire and read.
All in all, a very nice day.
Today- well, we’ll see. Maybe scrapping out stuff to start, then more cleaning and organizing. If it’s nice out, I really want to be out in it. Even if I do break a sweat, it’s loads better than doing it in 89,90, or 100+ degree heat and similar humidity.
I’ll go with the flow today, and maybe the universe won’t kick me in the teeth.
Always be working. Or stacking.
nick
Monday. Good morning from the far north.
The sun is up, though not appearing above the mountains yet, and the sky is mostly clear of cloud. I didn’t see any northern lights in the night, but maybe tonight, if it stays clear.
The water in the fjord is disturbed, and the seagulls are soaring and swooping, so it looks like it might be a windy day. There was quite a blow during the night, but I slept through most of it. Our Air BnB has slightly leaky windows, already slated for replacement, so there is a bit of a whistle. It does provide some constant fresh air…
Today we have the use of a friend’s car, so we will take a little trip out of town and see some of the nearby sights. Woolly underwear time!
Another friend, a chef, has invited us to a fish supper, which I suspect will be exceptional, since we are sitting with a view of the fishery harbour.
Have a lovely day!
60F and still dark. I have coffee though.
@denis, I guess I wouldn’t expect much spice in the food, but everything I ate in Norway was delicious. I imagine Iceland is similar?
n
Giving an exam just now. Live, practical programming: here is a program, these parts need written, go.
You have to love windows. One student’s computer decided that this was the perfect time to start installing updates, rebooting, installing more updates, etc..
Anyway, it will be interesting: “no holds barred” – they can use any resources including AI. The goal is to have working code at the end, however they get there. I did try to make the questions “AI resistant” – you can’t just hand the exam to ChatGPT (or Claude) and get the answers, because the code has to fit into an existing context.
I don’t remember the name off of the top of my head, but during the pandemic, we used an online C++ IDE for interviews which struck me as conducive to cheating due to the collaborative nature of the environment. Once in, a user could invite someone else to participate in the coding/debugging.
I just watched a snippet of an interview with Albany’s mayor.
My conclusion is that the majority of Albany’s voters are idiots or black racists.
Crazy day for air travel.
n
MrsAtoz has a gig in Omaha this weekend. Gonna be fun at the airport.
Do the other husbands/partners here get to stand in line while the significant other says “I’ll be sitting on that bench by the front when you get here.”
Sounds like a job for an Optimus robot.
Austin shut down the CLEAR lines. The queries against the database cost money that TSA doesn’t have.
Las Vegas must fund the CLEAR line privately.
W said the CLEAR lanes will all be shut down as the volume of people signing up for the trial was overwhelming. CLEAR lines were hours long too.
n
85F in the sun.
n
By the way DM, instead of “influencer” from now on, please refer to these people as “internet attention whores.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-15670491/Reacher-star-Alan-Ritchson-allegedly-beats-neighbor.html
I wonder if he will get a pass since he leans the correct way for hollywood?
High temp here 33F. Sun? What’s that?
Yesterday was extremely busy. Was working very late Saturday night (Sunday morning) and still had to get up before dawn for the animals. Worked a full day yesterday. The Child came here for a handful of things, so I cooked four different dishes and guided her in cooking one. Worked on her car. Chased down the fugitive birds. Helped The Child with scholarship applications both while she was here and then late into the evening because one app needed to be submitted before midnight and she wasn’t quite done. Squeaked in under the deadline.
… And then I was woken at 0315. Ugggggh. Moving kind of slow today.
Even the short vid clip is brutal. I bet a chunk of change will change hands to get charges dropped, but if the neighbor or cops have a beef, jail time could be involved. Don’t give me the “I’m bipolar” get-out-of-jail card.
I hope the next season is done filming.
Two Air Canada pilots were killed at LaGuardia when a firetruck crossed the runway.
tRump was probably driving the fire truck, tho.
if he will get a pass
– white male aggression. Probably not. It would have to be a huge apology tour…
n
Except for that one Windows95 computer which is running some piece of software which no one realized was keeping the critical infrastructure running.
Like the one in the basement keeping the Building Management System running. That just controls the lights, HVAC, and a half dozen other things…
Yup, those systems will be dead by 2038 anyways because they are over 30 years old already. Another 12 years will not make things any better and probably worse.
The last office building that I was in had an HVAC PC running Windows 98 with the management software from Visual Basic really old version in 16 bit.
I still have the India government running a 16 bit version of my software that I released the fully 32 bit version in 2001. They refuse to pay me to upgrade using the excuse of government capital controls on money leaving the country. They want me to hire some Indian “engineers” to work on my software. I have played that game before, they were barely competent.
After a bit of intarweb nonsense, I went back out to have a tiny little fire and read.
Somebody on reddit reading my latest book review called Ilona Andrews books a guilty pleasure and comfort reading. They were not totally wrong.
https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/1ryc9st/comment/obt2mve/
My reply was “To me, ice cream is a guilty pleasure. These books are good solid stories and definitely good comfort reading.”
Yesterday was extremely busy. Was working very late Saturday night (Sunday morning) and still had to get up before dawn for the animals. Worked a full day yesterday. The Child came here for a handful of things, so I cooked four different dishes and guided her in cooking one. Worked on her car. Chased down the fugitive birds. Helped The Child with scholarship applications both while she was here and then late into the evening because one app needed to be submitted before midnight and she wasn’t quite done. Squeaked in under the deadline.
… And then I was woken at 0315. Ugggggh. Moving kind of slow today.
You need a shack behind your house for the noisy party. Very far behind your house.
“Printing Missiles”
https://areaocho.com/printing-missiles/
You have got to be kidding me.
Crude oil is down $11 for May delivery to $87 per US Barrel.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CL%3DF/
Over The Hedge: Upgrading the microwave firmware
https://www.gocomics.com/overthehedge/2026/03/23
I wonder how I can get that upgrade ?
The issue is that I’m a very light sleeper and have very good hearing. Most of the time, I’m woken by the m-i-l or the aide making noise in the middle of the night. Once in a while it’s an emergency vehicle, buttholes drag racing on the limited-access “bypass” road half a mile from the house, or something else.
“Henry Heads To Houston”
“We’re heading to Houston for the NRA Annual Meetings soon, and we hope to see you there!”
“From April 17–19, experience one of our largest event displays of the year and browse over 75 different American-made rifles, shotguns, and revolvers, meet the people behind the brand, and see what sets us apart.”
https://www.henryusa.com/
Very tempting.
“Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus Review: A Sublime CPU for a Knockout Price”
https://www.pcmag.com/reviews/intel-core-ultra-7-270k-plus
Lots and lots of cores. Writing software that can take advantage of even half of those 24 cores is difficult at best.
Two Air Canada pilots were killed at LaGuardia when a firetruck crossed the runway.
tRump was probably driving the fire truck, tho.
Sucks to be in front of the airplane going 100+ mph when it hits a very heavy object full of dense liquids.
https://nypost.com/2026/03/23/us-news/air-canada-laguardia-plane-crash-audio-captures-moments-before-fatal-collision/
“Heart-pounding audio captured the frantic moments before Sunday’s fatal collision involving an Air Canada passenger plane and a firefighting truck at LaGuardia Airport — with one air traffic controller admitting after they “messed up.””
There is no way that plane was only going 24 mph at the impact.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
The issue is that I’m a very light sleeper and have very good hearing. Most of the time, I’m woken by the m-i-l or the aide making noise in the middle of the night. Once in a while it’s an emergency vehicle, buttholes drag racing on the limited-access “bypass” road half a mile from the house, or something else.
Go shoot a shotgun about a hundred times without hearing protection. That will fix your good hearing problem.
I have the same effect with working in power plants for five years back in the 1980s.
My Big River $1,400 Dell has gone away. The $1,500 Dell with 32 GB ram and 2 TB M.2 drive are left.
https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Plus-Computers-Business-DisplayPorts/dp/B0GJDT6HF1?tag=ttgnet-20/
The Dell $1,050 budget tower looks better by the day. I guess that I can buy an external DVDRW drive.
https://www.dell.com/en-us/shop/desktop-computers/dell-tower-desktop/spd/dell-ect1250-desktop/useect1250pbtshmqb#product-tab
I am agonizing over this way too much. Shows that I do not want to do anything.
Ok, Dell is promising that I will get the new PC as soon as March 25. I am ordering.
My brother’s entire career was spent in factories and machine shops. He’s the kind of engineer who knows how to operate all of the machines, doesn’t just sit in front of a computer and turn AutoCAD drawings into CNC instructions.
He’s not completely deaf…
I just placed an order at work for two servers. Each one has two of these processors: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/241844/intel-xeon-6787p-processor-336m-cache-2-00-ghz/specifications.html
These will be added to our stable of older 96 core systems. I’m trying to get money to get 12 more of the new servers. Lots of big talk, but nobody comes up with any money.
My brother’s entire career was spent in factories and machine shops. He’s the kind of engineer who knows how to operate all of the machines, doesn’t just sit in front of a computer and turn AutoCAD drawings into CNC instructions.
He’s not completely deaf…
But does he have all of his fingers and both arms / hands ?
Actually, machine shops are not usually that noisy. Especially if they have sound hoods for the hammers and drills. Lathes are fairly quiet machines unless somebody got caught up in one with a sleeve or a necklace, people can scream really loud while being slammed around the lathe.
One Dymo printer has found a new home. He gets the 450 Turbo unless he wants the 330. Plus several rolls of labels.
The 300 prints pretty fast. The Turbo is a bit faster but not “replace the 330 faster”. I have the proper USB cable for it, too.
Shipping? I have to rummage up shipping boxes. Because of course I threw all of the various boxes away a few weeks ago.
I just placed an order at work for two servers. Each one has two of these processors: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/sku/241844/intel-xeon-6787p-processor-336m-cache-2-00-ghz/specifications.html
My main website (I have seven) just got moved to a big core machine like that from my dedicated server. I have two of the cores dedicated to me plus some of the ram. It is running FreeBSD 13.5.
The next time Iran comes after me with a bot farm, I can get more cores and ram opened up to me semi-automatically.
Wait, maybe I will get to sell software in Iran again. I had a export license to sell my software in Iran to NIOC without the reactor models until President Clinton killed the license in 1999 ??? when Iran bombed Israel one too many times.
Starfleet Academy is cancelled. Now, hopefully, the 2d season will be shelved.
They need the dollars to buy oil and fund colonization efforts.
I just ordered the “Dell USB Slim DVD +/- RW Drive DW316 – Plug and Play, 8 Watt Power Consumption, Windows 11 or Below – Black” external USB for $40 on Big River, $10 cheaper than the Dell website.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VWVZ0V0?tag=ttgnet-20
Man, I am a cheapskate XXXXXXXXX frugal.
No. Paramount has to air the season or end up violating the clause in Kurtzman’s contract which requires the studio to practice due diligence promoting his creative efforts lest he suffer career damage.
The wife and I have five tax returns to get completed by April 15. Both TurboTax and H&R Block Tax software require Windows 11 for the business versions of the software. You gotta just love it.
Installed a new GPU today. Blank screen after booting. I might, maybe have thought of updating the BIOS, but I would never have found the new, essential settings that needed changed. AI to the rescue, only took three hours…
If the machines are well maintained and not about to wear out.
If the cable for the overhead crane doesn’t come loose and drop a railcar axle.
If the forklift operator doesn’t screw up and drop a ton of corrugated steel with an enormous clatter.
If…
Over a 35-year career, the damage from the occasional mishaps adds up.
If the machines are well maintained and not about to wear out.
We made our own parts and bearings. Our guys had plenty of down time in the summer when we were instructed by Dispatch not to touch any of the units for weeks at a time. All of our machines in the machine shop were beautifully maintained. And we charged the electric customers (now Oncor) for all that maintenance and parts manufacturing too.
All of those other noises, you bet. Those tires on the fork lifts can really make high pitched squeaks.
Or just spend a couple of months running a machine called a bench slitter, situated next to a couple of coil lines turning coil into sheet…
With no hearing pro because you are too dumb and can’t believe that little foam plugs will do anything. Add some shooting, and a lot of carpentry with nail and staple guns, and “high speed motors” on saws.
My losses are spiky and different for each ear. I can hear some sounds with one but not the other which makes stereo location break. I spent months trying to find the beeping smoke detector in my garage. I could hear the beep but couldn’t tell where it was coming from.
n
currently taking a break and checking if some of the stuff I’m recycling has salvage or ebay value. Some of it does. Each of the systems has a “mini dc ups” that is worth between $30 and $100 bucks. There’s an EMI filter worth about $20-40, and I’m sure the rad sensor is worth something too.
Also decided to move some photos on my phone. 3200 need to move to ‘trash’. That’s taking a while.
n
I’m just picking away at my PC. I have 90GB between Videos and Documents. Pretty sure I can get rid of more than half. I supposedly have 681GB free on a 1TB drive.
Man, I have a lot of junk.
It is that way for all versions of TurboTax. Your other option is to purchase a MacBook NEO and install TurboTax on that machine. Use it exclusively for taxes. Although for myself, having used TT for 25+ years on a PC, the Mac version seems sort of weird.
Today’s Tyler Durden cowardice brings reporting on gas stations running dry in Australia.
Guzzolene!
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/hundreds-gas-stations-run-dry-australia-hormuz-shock-exposes-energy-security-failures
I predict that US gas prices will double by July 31, 2026. In all regions of the US.
And there will be shortages.
I was working at a gas station in CA before/during the 1975 “Oil Crisis”. Per-gallon prices were around 30 cents at the start. That station had long lines, and eventually the tanks went dry. So I sat at the station all day long with nothing much to do.
Did some breaking down then came home and made fajitas. The meat was pre-seasoned from HEB. The key is to get all the water out of the pan as the meat heats up. THREE times I had to pour out water. If you don’t, it will boil and not brown.
I used my Wagner cast iron pan, cooked the onion separately in butter until translucence, then combined them in the cast iron. I added Sazon seasoning and deglazed the pan with tequila.
Came out very tasty and a tiny bit sweet.
Beans were from a pouch. Refried black beans with jalapeno. Also got a sprinkle of Sazon.
Green onion, lime wedge, and fresh cilantro with kirkland guacamole cups rounded out the accessories.
Other than the chopping and slicing, it’s a pretty straightforward meal.
n
Explosion and fire at Valero refinery in Port Arthur, TX.
This is giving some people vapors:
In the comments on X, some of them don’t believe the Purple Hearts should have been awarded to cadets, for injuries on American soil.
Specific regulations aside, they were officially assembled as an ROTC unit, with their instructor. No matter how junior or how auxiliary, they were participating in military training under the lead of a commissioned officer. They were attacked by an armed terrorist member of a known anti-American terrorist group. They sprang into action, and two of them were wounded. Their officer was killed by the Muslim scum. They killed the Muslim scum. Without firearms.
I believe lots of career Army men could reach retirement without ever meeting either the current Sergeant Major of the Army or the Secretary of the Army.
Get a challenge coin from either of them, and you don’t pay for drinks ever.
Alas, I lost my challenge coin. It was only a Major General, Vice Commander of USTRANSCOM. But I was a mere civilian.
Let’s put some brackets on this, OldGuy.
Double what? Peak Biden-era gas prices? ($5.058 Jun 2022) Or are you assuming lowest Trump (47)-era gas prices? ($2.961 Jan 2026) Which would certainly stack the deck in your favor. By no means should we use the under $2.00 gas from Trump 45. That was a different pre-Covid, pre-Biden time.
Define “shortages”, in measurable terms. Odd-Even gas days, limits to 5 gallons at a time, nationwide or only in commie strongholds?
Remember, during that horrible age you referenced, the democrats controlled congress, and then the excrescence Jimmy Carter became president and surrendered our interests to the middle East. The democrats stopped domestic production, and made us dependent on our enemies for oil.
Kinda hard to watch. The audio suggests to me the controller F’d up and told the Fire Co. to cross the active runway.
https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/passenger-jet-collides-vehicle-nycs-laguardia-killing-pilot-and-co-pilot
n
I think I’ll try for an early bedtime tonight. I’m beat.
n
The link you had shows an image of the last Flight Radar data with 132 kts or 151 mph. I’m surprised there were only 2 fatalities.
“Cornyn is ‘Dead Man Walking’ Says Top MAGA Reporter.”
https://thenationalpulse.com/2026/03/23/cornyn-is-dead-man-walking-says-top-maga-reporter/
“Republican-in-name-only (RINO) Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) is increasingly regarded as a “dead man walking” ahead of his upcoming GOP primary runoff against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), according to Matthew Boyle, Washington Bureau Chief for Breitbart News.”
““The sense in Washington is that John Cornyn is a dead man walking politically speaking, barring some random miracle like a significant over performance in the runoff or some last second super hardcore Trump endorsement that at this stage does not appear to be coming ever,” Boye reported in a post on X (formerly Twitter).”
“Notably, Cornyn has a long history of backstabbing President Donald J. Trump. At the same time, Paxton is a longtime supporter of the President and the America First movement, complicating the GOP establishment’s efforts to rally the White House to Cornyn’s side.”
RINOs gotta RINO and so goes Cornyn. He has been caught RINOing.
One can only hope that Paxton wins the special election in May.
The link you had shows an image of the last Flight Radar data with 132 kts or 151 mph. I’m surprised there were only 2 fatalities.
Me too. But they are saying that 41 people went to the hospital with severe injuries, a dozen are still there. One of the stewardesses got ejected from the plane, seat and all.
There is a video of the plane hitting the fire truck. It is horrible.
https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/laguardia-collision-ice-airports-tsa-03-23-26
“Not a Movie: FBI Raids Hollywood Mansion, Nabs Iranian and Azerbaijani in Multi-Million Dollar Fraud Plot”
https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2026/03/23/not-a-movie-fbi-raids-hollywood-mansion-nabs-iranian-and-azerbaijani-in-multi-million-dollar-fraud-plot-n2200536
“FBI agents raided a Hollywood mansion early Thursday, arresting a suspect in pajamas in a raid tied to an alleged $17.4 million mortgage fraud scheme targeting elderly homeowners.”
“Prosecutors said the scheme resulted in about $6 million in actual losses, with 11 suspects — including an Iranian and Azerbaijani national — accused of stealing victims’ identities, taking out mortgages on their homes and pocketing the cash.”
Oh my.
“The Real Population Bomb”
https://thelibertydaily.com/real-population-bomb/
“(DCNF)—Population control advocate Paul Ehrlich passed away March 13 at age 93, marking the end of an astonishing career built on unapologetic error. Ehrlich was a butterfly researcher at Stanford University in the 1960s when he launched himself into the overpopulation debate with a lecture at San Francisco’s Commonwealth Club in 1967. Encouraged by the response to his address, Ehrlich authored the 1968 book The Population Bomb in which he predicted dire famines that would kill hundreds of millions of people during the 1970s.”
“But that never happened. Instead, food production and population growth boomed.”
“In 1969, Ehrlich told the New York Times that because of overpopulation, food production failure, and pollution: “We must realize that unless we are extremely lucky, everybody will disappear in a cloud of blue steam in 20 years.””
Just another fraud.