Cool and damp to start, but should warm up and the local forecast calls for sunny and clear. Yesterday was nice, despite some overcast and a bit of coolness. Today should be nice too.
Did Easter with the kids. As long as they want to do kid stuff, I’m willing to play along. Our “big” meal was Saturday night, so they could head home in the afternoon Sunday. Kids have stuff to do this week.
I got the outdoor stuff mostly done, and even started on moving stuff around and sorting, but didn’t get any “real” work from the list done. That is the plan for today.
If I can get a couple of things started, even just to prep for the next visit, I’ll feel good about staying up here. There is a lot to do and we’re busy for most of the next couple months worth of weekends. I will probably have to come up mid-week at some point, if only to cut the grass. I really need to crank out a few things to feel like I’m making progress.
I need to look at some of the stacks here too, it’s been long enough now that some of it might be aging out. Fortunately, my storage conditions are actually better up here than at home. Still should probably rotate some things.
There’s always more to do.
And to stack.
nick
I used to follow Bracken on Gab. Stopped a while ago as he slid into TDS.
In particular, Bracken seems to have settled on the position that war is the worst of all possible outcomes. There is no geopolitical condition, no act of terrorism on our soil, which justifies sending US troops into danger.
Well, as they say, the First Amendment means that Bracken can say what he likes. It doesn’t mean that I have to listen to him.
Terrorism is asymmetric warfare by unprincipled cowards who wager that they can slaughter the innocent population of more civilized peoples without fear of retaliation.
For 47 years the terrorists running Iran were correct. Now the butcher’s bill has come due.
Iran was the source of most of the IED’s that killed and maimed our troops in Iraq. The response at the time should have been to select a target in Iran and destroy it. Whether it was a small oilfield or a small military base or a small city, the diplomatic note would have been “Increments will be 10X”.
I suspect a Bang Bang is involved.
“Minister Sausage” to borrow from Tom Clancy.
(Hey, I’ll give full credit where it is due, even if that meme ruined his career and marriage.)
OTOH, if the Y chromosomes belong to a Number One Son, his tastes for a side piece could run more “Hillbilly”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dw4t9oEu8VU
When we lived on the West Coast, Number One Boss Cousin’s side piece was Thai. At least he stayed regional and within a relatively normal BMI range even if she was a bit anorexic.
From the perspective of ordinary farmers and goat herders and tradesmen in turd-world countries, we’re the cowards for bombing and sending UAVs, slaughtering without personal risk or fear of retaliation. I have no idea what the nations’ leaders or the recruiters and trainers of the suicide bombers and the infiltrators think, as I’ve never spoken to any.
I’m not saying that I agree with what Abdullah al-Goathumper thinks. War and conquest have always been and will always be with us and I support my culture over theirs.
Welcome. It was trivial, well, except for the part where you have to use your phone.
Making me look clueless, or fixing the problem? Which indeed did work (both). The setting to allow speaking while the radio was operational was the culprit.
In French-speaking countries, a request for “steak, bleu” usually gets me a steak the way I want it.
In German-speaking places, the proper request is “English”, but that never gets me a bloody steak, just a medium-rare one. Grr.
42 states and DC currently hold bars or bartenders civilly liable (ie, they can be sued) if they serve alcohol and the patron then goes on to drive and get into an accident, is involved in a brawl, or falls and gets hurt. Texas even imposes criminal penalties for the same.
Exactly zero states impose any kind of penalty on prosecutors who decline to press charges against violent felons or who bargain felony charges down to little more than jaywalking. Exactly zero states impose any kind of penalty on judges who let convicted violent felons off with time served or a hundred hours of community service.*
Sometimes I think that having lawyers write the laws is not the ideal social arrangement.
* “Noticing” that these events are most likely to occur when a black, female prosecutor or judge is facing a black offender is, of course, not permitted.
Are there legal reasons that the German restaurants don’t give a rare or very rare steak? Concern about charges or lawsuits over food poisoning? I’m told that’s one of the issues in the US; I don’t eat out often enough to have a good idea about it myself. I cook almost all of my own food, so if I want a rare steak (which I do) I cook it that way.
(That’s a lie. Almost every time I forget that it continues to cook after I take it away from the heat. I pull it out when it’s rare and it’s medium-rare or even medium by the time it’s ready to eat.)
I grew up eating a lot of steak, but it was always cooked by my parents to something between medium-well and well done.
After years of persuasion by my girlfriend, I can now eat it medium, if I don’t look too close. Maybe medium-rare, if I don’t look at all and it’s covered with mushroom gravy.
I have never really figured out why people insist on what to me is raw meat.
We mastered fire. Use it.
zero states impose any kind of penalty on prosecutors
– rules for thee, not for me. In states with the worst concealed carry laws, Judges and “officers of the court” could often get concealed carry permits, because they were special. Officers of the court was pretty broad.
“first we kill all the lawyers.”
——
63F, bright blue sky, sunny, with just a kiss of breeze. And yet the power was out for about 45 minutes this morning. On now though.
Had steak and eggs for breakfast. I forgot how delicious that was.
————
Don’t forget that the iranian government violated our sovereignty by attacking our embassy. “They started it.” Long past time to end it.
————
I’m trying to decide how best to spend my day. It might come down to flipping a coin. It is SO NICE outside that I do not want to be in the attic or indoors.
Of course, cool weather = the best time to be in the attic if you have to be in the attic.
I should at least get dressed.
n
Diesel Surges Above $8 in San Fran
– they also banned all but the newest trucks
But they’ll let illegals drive them.
n
Rare beef is ‘sweeter’ for lack of a better word. And good quality is easy to chew. Good steak, very rare, but cooked on the outside to ensure food safety (and to get “a taste of the grill”).
I’ve been taking in some of the international commentary on the US rescue of the pilot downed in Iraq, in particular the “insane” logic of destroying hundreds of millions of dollars of military aircraft to rescue one American serviceman.
20-year-old recruits in every European nation and most of the rest of the world have to be watching that. They’ve just been told that if they’re stuck behind enemy lines, they’ll be abandoned by their own governments. That’s going to have an effect on morale, wouldn’t you think?
Not that it matters much. I don’t know of any European nation which is serious about having a military. An army which budgets for only fifty rifle rounds per soldier per year and no tank or artillery shells for training, is not an army which is going to have any meaningful role in a conflict.
Denis and other Europeans reading here, I hate to tell you, but your leaders suck.
Theme parks don’t need an army.
They barely have rent-a-cops armed with whistles.
The last reel of “Top Gun Maverick” set the standard.
Unless you are one of the fans who believe Maverick dies in the first reel and the rest of the film is his afterlife.
Theme parks? They’ve been reduced to “former” theme parks. Dirty, shoddy, run down. Like a neighborhood that used to be high-class, but today you don’t walk through it after dark.
I studied German 4 years in high school I studied German literature in translation in college for humanities credits. I followed the reunification of Germany that Reagan brought about.
I love maps, and I love German composers.
I finally got to visit Germany, and my first impression of Munich was streetcorners full of muslim slime.
This was back in 2016.
I have frequent flyer miles accumulated, enough to buy 2 round-trip business class flights.
TBH, I have no desire to go over there. 10 more years of importing non-Europeans? GFY.
Perhaps, Poland or Hungary.. But I’m in no hurry and have no history with those countries.
If time, funds, and other commitments allow, maybe an arc through several European countries to see if most really are as bad as it seems from over here and if Hungary and Poland really are in as good shape, ethnically, as reported.
My unpopular opinion: Germany since reunification has been waiting patiently for justification to expand it’s military. Trump, Ukraine and now Iran have given it the reasons it needs, and I expect that Germany will be finding places to apply the newly expanded capabilities. I don’t think Europe will enjoy that.
My day has been consumed by one thing after another, many of them deriving from the weather, which is being a nuisance, what with the wind and the cold and the snow in the forecast. Wind has blown several things like trash cans halfway to the next county and it’s blown the chicken’s patio run open repeatedly and the fluffheads have taken the opportunity to break free and run halfway to the next county. I was planning on moving the “big yellow bags” of dirt and mulch from the driveway to the garden (dirt) and bushes and trees (mulch) but yesterday’s rain would have made that annoying, this morning’s cold and wind would have made it annoying, and this afternoon’s WIND makes it almost impossible unless I want to give my downwind neighbor half of the contents of the bags. Bah.
As for earning money, connectivity to the router keeps dropping. Aside from being annoying, the work I would be doing needs a stable connection, so I can’t do it. Not sure what the problem is. The router may be failing but I suspect that my wife or maybe one of the aides plugs in something which interferes, as it’s been an occasional problem for a little while and just happens to be a real problem today. Annoying but not a huge problem unless it’s persistent enough to impact my wallet.
On the plus side, nothing’s been lit on fire which wasn’t supposed to be, so it could be worse.
Hmm. I’d better go check that nothing’s on fire, hadn’t I?
Norway had unemployed male muslims sitting around in alleys smoking when I was there 20 years ago. In a country with only 4 million citizens, it wouldn’t take much to change the feel of the place.
And the men are away most of the time working in the north sea… leaving the “immigrants” free to do whatever they like during the week.
n
Some Germans may want that but the view from here suggests that the social spending budgets do not leave room for current military spending, let alone an increase.
Maybe try again? But get out of Munich or other big cities and go wander the countryside. Hopefully it’s not all polluted with moslem slime.
Poland? Maybe the part that was Prussia? Or go south to Austria and Switzerland?
I don’t know. I want to go somewhere. Just get in the truck and head north on US281. Make a left turn somewhere and go see Mount Rushmore and the Devil’s Tower. Circle south towards the Grand Canyon. But I have no one to take care of the dogs. And traveling alone? Where’s the fun?
I have an itch.
German spending is up roughly a third for 2026, and further expansion is planned. I wouldn’t mind being wrong.
Why travel alone? You have dogs, don’t you?
Germany’s projected military budget for 2026 is 83B Euros, per the article.
Germany’s project GDP for 2026 is around 5.5T Euros – I checked several websites and even several “AI assistants” and got widely varying numbers. 5.5T is around the median.
83B/5.5T = 1.5%
NATO nations agreed to spend at least 2% on defense.
Pardon me if I reserve my applause.
We had eight days to get ready for the return of Artemis II … Now four days …
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgf7BowAOYsU39lwHLdlYQL06r1cwiOXYhCN30JIhmrf0vFQ59sIAcbIGVKxnsb1MqUzYEZTJsLzsmXDNGreqjLjwyQ7JIwxZqreQCv0xWn-065wUkD8o9FDk22E5briRcOazB6-cNggcZk4KQR1BJENp2v9qNgRykESdlvFMJreQD5_x-17zHbTdjJMqA/s739/Meme%20-%20Artemis%20II%20return.png
From:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2026/04/memes-that-made-me-laugh-306.html
That is an excellent idea, thanks! I have a large one-person portion of beef backstrap left over from Easter. It will do nicely for breakfast tomorrow for W1 and me with fried eggs on top.
We have just arrived home at the BOL. I’m tired from driving, so short schrift now. More tomorrow. Goodnight!
Gmail has its moments.
I got an email sent to me (legit) from Google, espousing the benefits of using Gemini AI, including pointers and how-tos.
Gmail put it into my spam folder.
Stereotypes
“Mountain of Fire (Black Tide Rising #13)” by Jason Cordova
https://www.amazon.com/Mountain-Fire-Black-Tide-Rising/dp/1668072882?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number thirteen of an fifteen book zombie apocalypse series by John Ringo and friends. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Baen in 2025 that I purchased new from Amazon. I own the next available book in the series already and will read it soon. BTW, the first book in the series is part of my six star book list.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/147673660X?tag=ttgnet-20
Really, really good series on a zombie apocalypse caused by a human engineered flu virus with a rabies virus payload. The engineered flu virus is deadly itself with 20% fatality rate but if you survive that, the rabies virus takes over and fries your brain. After a couple of months, over 99.99% of the world population is infected and/or dead. The second half of the book is about clearing the zombies by reducing the problem to a manageable level and working through it.
Steve Smith, a school teacher and retired Australian Paratrooper, gets a bug out text message from his brother, confirms it, buys a used 45 foot sailboat, moves his family and a lot of supplies to the boat in the New York Harbor. His brother, the chief of security at a New York City bank, sends along more supplies. His daughters end up helping to make vaccine for the virus using spinal cords from infected “primates” (humans). Even with getting quite a few people vaccinated, NYC eventually falls to the zombies, and the bank skyscraper is abandoned. Steve and family sail for the Caribbean where they find that the islands are all overrun with zombies and so are thousands of boats, ships, and cruise liners.
This book about the surviving students at St. Dominic’s Preparatory School for Girls in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Originally 500+ students and several nuns, now at 30 students, one nun, and hiding from the zombies, or shamblers as Sister Ann calls them. More than just trying to survive, they are trying to start the rebuild of society.
Publication Order of Black Tide Rising Books by John Ringo, Charles Gannon, Mike Massa, Jason Cordova, and Gary Poole:
https://www.bookseriesinorder.com/black-tide-rising/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (421 reviews)
Lynn
“Iran REJECTS Pakistan-Brokered Ceasefire, Counters WITH 10-Point List of Demands — Trump Responds”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/04/iran-rejects-pakistan-brokered-ceasefire-counters-10-point/
““Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP””
“In a follow-up post, Trump wrote: “Tuesday, 8:00 P.M. Eastern Time!””
“On Monday, Trump told reporters:”
““We are obliterating that country. And I hate to do it, but we’re obliterating it—and they just don’t want to say ‘uncle.’ They don’t want to cry, as the expression goes, ‘uncle,’ but they will. And if they don’t, they’ll have no bridges, they’ll have no power plants, they’ll have nothing. I won’t go further, because there are other things that are worse than those two.””
Whoever is in charge of Iran at the moment is barking mad.
If, anyone is in charge of Iran at the moment.
NASA PR probably coached her on how to do that in order to maximize “The Message”.
Seeing lots of articles that Trumps ‘obliterate’ threat are ‘war crimes’. And not just the ‘lefties’.
Which brings to mind the question of whether the military can/should disobey those orders because they are war crimes.
FIFY.
(And I know that there will be downvotes on this comment. Don’t bother me. I think it is a valid opinion. )
“BREAKING: NASA’S TOILET JUST BROKE FOR THE THIRD TIME … ON THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON”
https://notthebee.com/article/breaking-nasas-toilet-broke-for-the-third-time
Oh crap.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Everyone’s got one and …
Oh, certainly. There are others without the unwanted blockage. But the photo amused me because once you notice a pattern, it’s obvious everywhere you look.
I think that the third-string Iranian leaders didn’t get the point of the “unconditional surrender” demand.
Wrapped up at the BOL. Showering, then heading home. Took most of the afternoon to unblock a drain outside that protects one of the outbuildings from flooding. I ended up fixing the power washer to jet the drain, because the regular hose wasn’t cutting it. I think there must have been about 8ft of sand clogging the damnable thing.
I should have started from the bottom, and started with the power washer. Thought I could go the easy route, but I should know better by now.
n
I think it’s very important for senior officers in the military to step forward and boldly announce their intent to stop Trump’s orders.
I also think it’s important to charge them, court martial them, and imprison them. Perhaps execute them, if their obstruction rises to the level of treason.
It’s so much easier if the enemies of America self-identify.
Iran is the biggest source of funding for islamic terrorism in the middle east. They took US citizens hostage and held them for 444 days after violating the sanctity of the embassy. They have been thumbing their nose at the international community and the west in general while trying to build nukes, which they’ve sworn they’ll use against Israel, our ally, as soon as they have them.
We’ve tried international pressure. We’ve tried bribing them. We’ve tried subterfuge and clandestine attacks.
We tried regime change.
Their leadership and government are shitbags who have been getting away with it for decades.
If you are gonna fight a war, or attack a country (since it’s a pretty one sided war), don’t be half assed about it. We’re the only nation in the world that tries to fight wars without hurting anyone.
Suddenly that’s changed.
Sucks to be them.
TL:DR
Iran is a legit target, they’ve been Fing Around for decades and now they are Finding Out.
n
Sounds like you’re much more effective at unblocking an outside drain than a whole crew of astronauts backed by NASA’s top engineers.
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/josephchalfant/2026/04/06/sec-markwayne-mullins-newest-proposal-should-have-the-left-terrified-n2674012
The plumber is a pipe hitter.
But as I suggested before, a better step would be to dial back the TSA schedule at those airports. Blue state senators and congressman aren’t willing to fund the TSA, let them eat long lines.
Watch “The Challenger” with Wiliam Hurt and pay attention.
At the end, when Hurt as Feynman says “It was a good use of science”, it will hit you.
Good movie, but you will have to scrounge to find a copy, possibly sail the high seas.
I ordered a device for learning Morse Code, from a guy in Turkey.
He’ll send it in about 3 weeks.
But he doesn’t ship batteries. It takes a “commonly used 14500” battery, sourced “locally”.
Amazon’s search tool is broken. Very broken.
I could not find a 14500 battery. Oh, some showed up that might work. Maybe. But the search tool gave me every possible voltage, and many different sizes other than 14500. Lots of chargers. Lot’s of 1.5V. Very few 3.6 or 3.7V batteries. Most of the listings were for the wrong size, or didn’t specify the size at all.
Eventually, I went to the groups.io discussion board for the product, and someone posted a link to the actual battery. On Amazon.
I popped it into my cart, along with a separate charger.
Then I remembered that I have a couple FLASHLIGHTS that use 18650 batteries, and I didn’t have any left that work. So I began the search again.
The first actual 18650 battery showed up on page 19 of the search results.
Is it too much to ask that the search term “18650 battery” would actually link me to an 18650 battery?
The first actual 18650 battery showed up on page 19 of the search results.
Is it too much to ask that the search term “18650 battery” would actually link me to an 18650 battery?
Amazon’s search sucks. And I think that this is intentional to let you see the near misses first.
I just did an Amazon search for “18650 battery” and got the expected results on the very first results page.
That’s because you didn’t mutter the words “18650 battery” in pickup range of your cell phone. /conspiracytheory
In the past I’ve had good luck with http://www.batteryjunction.com . However, just wrestled , which required more persistence than it should, with their search to find a 14500 3.6V Lithium rechargeable:
https://www.batteryjunction.com/products/nitecore-nl1411r
Thank you for your help.
I was mostly venting.
I closed the window and did a new search and it worked. My guess is there is some history to the search box even if you clear it out before beginning a new search.
Amazon trying to be helpful. I hate it when computers are helpful.
Amazon and eBay no longer have “search” tools–they have marketing tools to present worthless carp that is paying higher fees for placement.
eBay has been pushing their program. If you list something the percentage of “promoted” items in that category is shown, with an opportunity to sign up.
I had a recent eBay sale for a $500+ item. eBay claimed that it had been “promoted” and wanted to charge an extra $40-50 in fees. I was actually relieved when the sale fell through and I didn’t have to have a quality conversation with a psuedo-English speaking minion somewhere in Asia.
If you really must buy from Amazon use DDG to search. You still have to sift out offering of “top-rated” items with feedback scores of 12, and batteries in particular are a wasteland where sellers routinely claim caapacities far beyond the form factor, and if there is a way to exclude the chargers I haven’t found it yet.
A nice launch out of Vandenberg this evening. Great “jellyfish” – I guess “giant space sperm” isn’t family friendly enough?
There is an interesting diagram of who’s been whacked in Iran that is going around X. The Mullahs, Security forces and the IRGC leaders are getting hammered.
The regular army brass haven’t been touched.
I am guessing we are hoping for a military coup and a regime change to non-theocratic rule.
California High School Reverses Suspension Over Pro-ICE Flyer
https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2026/04/03/california_high_school_reverses_suspension_over_pro-ice_flyer_154010.html
The left will always impose unequal privileges/consequences for viewpoints they approve/disapprove, to the extent that they can get away with it.
Made it home. Did get a warning “there’s an object on the road ahead” and it wasn’t a piece of tire, it was a whole freaking wheelbarrow. Just out of the lane. That would have left a dent.
Only a couple of cops. Did spot a new place where they have license plate readers. New to me anyway. 13 miles north of the Beltway on I 45. There is another where Montgomery county starts, about 20 miles north of that.
Only one Dodge Charger flying by me. On the weekend it’s many, sometimes in packs. And lifted trucks that haven’t re-aimed their headlights were particularly annoying today.
But I’m home safe and headed to bed.
n
NASA Engineers are unable to access the clogged hose, and the power washer cord is not QUITE 250,000 miles long. Sorry.
NASA Engineers are unable to access the clogged hose, and the power washer cord is not QUITE 250,000 miles long. Sorry.
The NASA engineers need to talk to Musk. There are no reports of the potty in the Dragon capsule locking up.
And the potty is located in the top of the Dragon capsule where you can look out the capsule dome window at the firmament while you are doing your business.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6O2ZbUoIMYU
Did a little bit of surgery to my office PC. The backup hard drive has been upgraded from a WD White 8 TB hard drive from 2017 to a WD Red 18 TB hard drive. I had 50 GB free on the 8 TB and it was way past time for an upgrade.
Our LAN backup performed nightly is growing at 20 GB a day and I do not know where 15 of those GB are coming from. So we are burning backup hard drive space.
I built this PC about three years ago and I have totally forgotten about the case latching quicks. I did get to use my vacuum cleaner big time on it.
I need to swap my main 27 inch monitor for a 32 inch monitor now but I am going home, leaving the new backup hard drive building itself to about 6 TB.
I have a dream today… This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to comment on Tuesday’s post because it finally went up.
Amen.
powerful meds happened. Still groggy, back to bed for me.
n