Cool then warming, and should be clear. Yesterday ended up clear and with a bit of a cool breeze. Really nice, once again. Moar plz!
Spent the morning doing auction stuff, then did my scrap and trash run. $207 in aluminum scrap, 6 lappy carts. Took the plastic to my secondary location where I have access to a dumpster. Then home. Several minor wrecks on the way home keeping traffic slow. I haven’t seen that many, and sorta ‘clustered,’ in a while.
Dinner was the Mothers Day picana roast (cap off the sirloin roast). Roasted small heirloom potatoes and a steamed broccoli head with a loaf of shelf stable bread rounded out the meal. Easy and delicious. Roasts are generally easy to do, and the cuts of meat can be very economical. They have a reputation as ‘Sunday dinner” but are great for anytime. This roast went to freezer camp two years ago. Delicious.
Today I’m busy with pickups. They’re a bit scattered so I’ll be doing more driving than lately too. Somehow I bought a bunch of small cheap stuff that all needs to be picked up today or tomorrow.
Hopefully I’ll get it all done and added to the stacks.
Because stacking is good.
Do some.
n
Tuesday. Good morning!
Up at 04:30 again for bashing Bambi. Sighted one in the distance, but only fleetingly. To compensate me for that, three female red deer came and sat down 20m from me and chewed the cud. My fieldcraft must be OK!
It is cold and wintry out, not May-like. Two degrees above freezing just before dawn. Hailstones now. Sibling and I were glad to get out of the woods and have a hot coffee and some breakfast.
Naptime soon, then whatever the 16:00 meal is called (we’ll do asparagus with potatoes and hollandaise sauce), before going out after Bambi again…
Have a beautiful day!
Sometimes the journey is the reward.
Try pressing Alt-F4 when the focus is on the window you want to minimize. I think the shortcut is the same in Cinnamon and MATE.
But you’ve got to admire an author who can stretch a story into tens of books
– I admire an author whose story is big enough to fill tens of books and leave readers wanting more. Five nines of them aren’t Charles Dickens, and aren’t being paid by the word though.
————–
65F and clear, sun in coming up. Looks like it’ll be a nice day.
————–
Lunch is made, kids are moving (reluctantly and truculently.)
Soon I’ll have coffee and everything will be right.
n
If the nominee is Cornyn, I give it 50-50.
Paxton? Fuggedaboudit. The Dems will hammer his personal life with the help of the Bush cabal.
If you wake them at 0400, they’ll have more time to wake up, regain the bright, cheerful attitude teens are known for, and go to school happily. #FollowMeForMoreParentingTips
Ad this morning for “Birding in North Dakota”. Think they’re trying to get the Argentine landfill traffic?
Idiot AI algorithm. It’s in the news, get featured placement!
n
Hot yesterday, 99F. It should drop down into the low 90s today and then into the low 80s for a few days, with winds in the 30s unfortunately.
I installed the big Midea U-shaped window air conditioner yesterday and managed to trip while carrying it. Fortunately I protected it with my body and it still works. Some ibuprofen and some Neosporin and I’m almost as good as new…
I will wait for a cool windless morning and then head up to the roof and prep the swamp cooler. I hate that job.
—-
I was checking on a friend’s dogs in town yesterday and when I got ready to leave it was about 3 PM … and schools were letting out. I started thinking about the best route home, and realized there really wasn’t one.
If I drove west along Avenue K I’d have to drive past a college & grammar school zone at pick-up time. If I went south down to Avenue L and west then I would have to drive past the highschool. If I drove up 30th I’d have to go by the other side of the college and a middle school. If I drove east to the freeway I’d have to go through the busy intersection there with the panhandlers and homeless dodging into traffic.
Wild.
Yeah, I have one pickup that the only real path involves about a dozen school zones. Wrong time of day and it’s an extra 30 minutes on the trip.
n
Home from my first cataract surgery.
A/B testing left vs. right, I see color differences. Whites are whiter.
Next eye in 3 weeks. Eyedrops are going to be a pain.
Are you talking about eye surgery or laundry detergent?
Or a pro-segregation stump speech?
— um, did no one tell them about this thing called “winter”? Simple google says
There’s weather everywhere.
n
@Denis
Up at 04:30 again for bashing Bambi
I went deer hunting (Sitka Black Tails) on Montague Island in late November 1994. Four of us, about ten days in the state cabin on the Nellie Martin river. Flew in, landing on the frozen beach at Patton Bay, with a mile or two hike to hump our gear to the cabin nearish the intersection of the Patton river and the Nellie Martin river.
https://www.google.com/maps/place/Patton+Bay,+Alaska/@59.9152612,-147.5061632,16z/data=!4m6!3m5!1s0x56b9cac348f4e1b5:0x2f8b4a4101bffb0a!8m2!3d59.936472!4d-147.4412097!16s%2Fg%2F1tp07v8j?hl=en-us&g_ep=Eg1tbF8yMDI2MDUwNl8wIOC7DCoASAJQAg%3D%3D
No cell or communication devices. We carried in kerosene and chopped a lot of wood to fuel the wood stove. Small animal traps to catch the mink that were after our deer harvest. Northern lights, outhouse, Thanksgiving dinner of fresh blackstrap over a wood stove. Sand dollars frozen into the beach, wading across the river at low tide, walking miles of country with no one but the four of us. Stalking, dropping, and carrying my deer back to the cabin, after parting it out in the field, repeating that until I limited out (4 deer).
I’m not fit enough to do that now, what an experience.
Contrast that with deer hunting in Minnesota near Cushing around 2010. Sleeping in a warm house, thermos of coffee, and parked in a stand. Drop the deer and use a four wheeler together the whole thing back the garage for processing.
Both good memories. Different experiences, though.
I shot two squirrels with a pellet gun when I was twelve. My mom baked them in a pie with some rabbits my Dad shot. I remember the “gamey” taste, but with potatoes, carrots, onions, and gravy in the pie, it was delicious.
I never hunted big game. I bagged dozens of partridge which my Mom always made into pies. I now go to the grocery store and occasionally buy a pound of bison and act tough.
Technically, human should count as big game.
Been to a Walmart parking lot lately? No “technically” about it
Hello! This is my first time commenting here, and this is a bit of an unusual question.
I’m trying to find a copy of Robert’s old subscribers’ newsletter that ran from June 2008 to May 2009. I got curious when I found out the homechemlab.com link in the book was dead, so I used the Wayback Machine by Internet Archive to see what it used to be. I found a copy of the website from late 2010 and it had everything listed but you can’t access the newsletter content (paywall), rendering all of that cool stuff lost media. I am very curious about what those new experiments and articles were about, so I started searching around the internet for anything. I found a forum with a copy of the answer key, but the link was dead and wasn’t archived. I then managed to recover one of the experiments through an archived Makezine link (19.8, “Analysis of Paint Samples for Lead”). The iodine page is also functional, so I consider 21.3 to be partially recovered. I also read through the old Daynotes site and discovered rough details on how some of them worked. For example, an entry from late 2008 or early 2009 described how 21.6, “Synthesis of Useful Compounds from Aspirin,” worked roughly (make salicylic acid from acetylsalicylic acid, then make phenol from salicylic acid, then make phenolphthalein). I also found Robert’s YouTube channel, and it looks intact except for No. 5 (presumably napalm, based on some stuff in the old Daynotes site) being missing, probably taken down given what it was about. I even managed to find titles for some stuff that never made into the newsletters or the book. So far, that is all I have been able to find. Do you have PDF or text file copies of anything from the old newsletter and website? I would greatly appreciate it. I can give you relevant links, too.
Thanks, Hotwheels Sisyphus
Big? Yes.
Gamey? Ugh. Yes.
Human? Mmmmmaybe…
Stephen King fans?
King still has the home in Maine, but I think curators of his collection at the university spend more time there than he does. This has been the case going back at least 30 years.
I know King has (had?) home in Florida and was part of the Rock Bottom Remanders authors’ band based in Miami in the heyday of the group back before Amazon ruined books as mass entertainment.
“Report: Houston-area suburb is sinking faster than the rest”
https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/why-is-katy-texas-sinking-22252688.php
“Between 2021 and 2025, the Harris-Galveston Subsidence District recorded an average annual subsidence rate of about one inch in Katy. The organization defines subsidence as the sinking of the Earth’s surface due to subsurface movement.”
All of Houston is sinking. We’ve pumped out the groundwater from the 2,000 foot deep 6,000 square mile huge aquifer under Houston for over a hundred years. Nature abhors a vacuum so the land is sinking to fill that empty space.
“Quote-Unquote”
“It’s a good thing we don’t get all the government we pay for.”
“– Will Rogers”
No joke.
From https://blast.texasscorecard.com/t/d-e-gujkrhl-dhnttikjd-yd/ :
“It has been more than 30 years since a Democrat won statewide in Texas. Since 1998, both seats in the U.S. Senate and all statewide offices have been held by Republicans. Yesterday, we asked readers if they believe Democrats will win a statewide office in the November 2026 General Election.”
“Only 13 percent of readers believe Democrats have a shot at winning a statewide contest this year, while 86.9 percent say Republicans will continue to hold Texas.”
Hopefully.
I’m trying to find a copy of Robert’s old subscribers’ newsletter that ran from June 2008 to May 2009. I got curious when I found out the homechemlab.com link in the book was dead, so I used the Wayback Machine by Internet Archive to see what it used to be. I found a copy of the website from late 2010 and it had everything listed but you can’t access the newsletter content (paywall), rendering all of that cool stuff lost media. I am very curious about what those new experiments and articles were about, so I started searching around the internet for anything. I found a forum with a copy of the answer key, but the link was dead and wasn’t archived. I then managed to recover one of the experiments through an archived Makezine link (19.8, “Analysis of Paint Samples for Lead”). The iodine page is also functional, so I consider 21.3 to be partially recovered. I also read through the old Daynotes site and discovered rough details on how some of them worked. For example, an entry from late 2008 or early 2009 described how 21.6, “Synthesis of Useful Compounds from Aspirin,” worked roughly (make salicylic acid from acetylsalicylic acid, then make phenol from salicylic acid, then make phenolphthalein). I also found Robert’s YouTube channel, and it looks intact except for No. 5 (presumably napalm, based on some stuff in the old Daynotes site) being missing, probably taken down given what it was about. I even managed to find titles for some stuff that never made into the newsletters or the book. So far, that is all I have been able to find. Do you have PDF or text file copies of anything from the old newsletter and website? I would greatly appreciate it. I can give you relevant links, too.
Have you bought Robert’s Chemistry and Biology books at Big River ?
https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Guide-Home-Chemistry-Experiments/dp/0596514921?tag=ttgnet-20
and
https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Guide-Home-Biology-Experiments/dp/1449396593?tag=ttgnet-20
and
https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Guide-Forensic-Science-Experiments/dp/1449334512/146-1679716-0544446?tag=ttgnet-20
xkcd: Pullback Drive
https://www.xkcd.com/3244/
Yes, the windup car. Coming to a dealership near you soon when gasoline hits $100 per gallon.
Explained at:
https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/3244:_Pullback_Drive
Have you bought Robert’s Chemistry and Biology books at Big River?
Yes, I have those three. The only books of his I don’t have are Astronomy Hacks and the PC building/Windows guides. Here’s what I’m talking about:
https://web.archive.org/web/20101217180055/http://homechemlab.com/
There was this link in the Chemistry book, and I noticed it redirected to something else so I punched it into the Wayback Machine to see what it was.
“Have you bought Robert’s Chemistry and Biology books at Big River?”
Yes, I have those three. The only books of his I don’t have are Astronomy Hacks and the PC building/Windows guides. There was a link in the Chemistry book, and I noticed it redirected to something else so I put it into the Wayback Machine to see what it was. I don’t know if I can send the link because this is my third attempt at replying, and my previous two attempts didn’t show up at all.
Have you looked at https://www.thehomescientist.com/ …. Originally by RBT, that site and products were taken over (by permission) and provide the materials that RBT originally built. It’s a place for home learners to study various scientific subjects.
“$100,000 Income is Now “Lower-Middle Class””
https://www.schiffsovereign.com/investing/100000-income-is-now-lower-middle-class-155142/
“This is why real assets matter. The Fed can manufacture as many dollars as it wants, but it cannot manufacture the things that actually have value: precious metals, energy, critical resources like uranium or copper, a profitable business producing something the world cannot function without.”
“Because every single time governments are given the choice between inflation and discipline, they pick inflation.”
Oh my, yes they do. Roll those printing presses !
Home from my first cataract surgery.
A/B testing left vs. right, I see color differences. Whites are whiter.
Next eye in 3 weeks. Eyedrops are going to be a pain.
Did you get distance or reading? Or one of the multifocal lens ?
And yes the eyedrops four times a day are a pain. But they are necessary with an open wound in your eye.
Have you looked at https://www.thehomescientist.com/ …. Originally by RBT, that site and products were taken over (by permission) and provide the materials that RBT originally built. It’s a place for home learners to study various scientific subjects.
I looked through the whole thing. I did find something about one of the lost experiments (Graham’s Law), but nothing else. I’ll try to repeat the link from the book with the periods replaced with “(dot)”.
https://web(dot)archive(dot)org/web/20101217180055/http://homechemlab(dot)com/
Here’s the text on the site about the Supplement Package, with updates on found stuff:
“Looking for answers to the questions in the book, extra experiments, and more neat stuff to do in your home chem lab? The HomeChemLab.com supplement package includes the following:
June 2008
Laboratory 21.3: Isolate Iodine from Potassium Iodide [Partially found]
Laboratory 19.6: Qualitative Analysis of Some Sugars
Laboratory 11.5: Extract pH Indicators from Plant Material
July 2008
Laboratory 17.2: Photochemical Bromination of Hydrocarbons
Laboratory 21.4: Synthesize Some Inorganic Pigments
Building Your Own Microchemistry Set
August 2008
Laboratory 20.4: Quantitative Analysis of Ethanol by Redox Titration
Laboratory 9.5: Job’s Method of Continuous Variation
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part I
September 2008
Laboratory 19.7: The Iodoform Test
Laboratory 21.5: Synthesize Rubber
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part II
October 2008
Laboratory 20.5: Determine Water Hardness by Complexometric Titration
Laboratory 23.1: Introduction to Coordination Chemistry
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part III (barium compounds)
November 2008
Laboratory 17.3: Photochemistry of Iron Salts
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part IV (ammonium metavanadate)
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part V (nickel compounds)
December 2008
Give the Gift of Science to a Kid
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VI (lithium compounds)
Laboratory 10.3: Observe the Oxidation States of Vanadium
January 2009
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VII (strontium compounds)
Making Your Own Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC) Plates
Laboratory 24.1: Isolate Casein and Lactose from Milk
February 2009
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VIII (potassium cyanate)
Laboratory 24.2: Separate Amino Acids in Casein with Paper Chromatography
Laboratory 24.3: Reproducing Wöhler’s Landmark Synthesis of Urea
March 2009
Laboratory 6.7: Purify Aspirin
Laboratory 21.6: Synthesize Useful Compounds from Aspirin
April 2009
Laboratory 21.7: Synthesize Dimethylglyoxime
Laboratory 22.5: Detect Alkaloids with Precipitation Reagents
Laboratory 22.6: Identify Alkaloids with Color Test Reagents
May 2009
Laboratory 12.5: Determine Reaction Rate and Order [Found]
Laboratory 14.6: Investigate Graham’s Law [Found]
Laboratory 19.8: Analysis of Paint Samples for Lead [Found]”
Re: OldGuy
I looked through the whole site and I managed find two of the lost experiments (Graham’s Law, Reaction Rate and Order) through the Honors Chemistry manual. Thank you so much!
“John Brennan Admits There is a “Legion” of Deep State Operatives in DOJ and CIA Resisting Trump’s Orders (VIDEO)”
https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2026/05/john-brennan-admits-there-is-legion-deep-state/
Some people need to go to jail, John Brennan is one of many. Others need to be fired as they cannot be trusted to do their jobs.
Here is the full list of experiments with statuses. I tried to send the link to the archived site again by replacing the periods with “(dot)” but it didn’t work.
June 2008
Laboratory 21.3: Isolate Iodine from Potassium Iodide [Partially found through a site both listed on the archived hub and in the book dedicated to getting around DEA restrictions]
Laboratory 19.6: Qualitative Analysis of Some Sugars
Laboratory 11.5: Extract pH Indicators from Plant Material
July 2008
Laboratory 17.2: Photochemical Bromination of Hydrocarbons
Laboratory 21.4: Synthesize Some Inorganic Pigments
Building Your Own Microchemistry Set
August 2008
Laboratory 20.4: Quantitative Analysis of Ethanol by Redox Titration
Laboratory 9.5: Job’s Method of Continuous Variation
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part I
September 2008
Laboratory 19.7: The Iodoform Test
Laboratory 21.5: Synthesize Rubber
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part II
October 2008
Laboratory 20.5: Determine Water Hardness by Complexometric Titration
Laboratory 23.1: Introduction to Coordination Chemistry
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part III (barium compounds)
November 2008
Laboratory 17.3: Photochemistry of Iron Salts
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part IV (ammonium metavanadate)
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part V (nickel compounds)
December 2008
Give the Gift of Science to a Kid
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VI (lithium compounds)
Laboratory 10.3: Observe the Oxidation States of Vanadium
January 2009
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VII (strontium compounds)
Making Your Own Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC) Plates
Laboratory 24.1: Isolate Casein and Lactose from Milk
February 2009
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VIII (potassium cyanate)
Laboratory 24.2: Separate Amino Acids in Casein with Paper Chromatography
Laboratory 24.3: Reproducing Wöhler’s Landmark Synthesis of Urea
March 2009
Laboratory 6.7: Purify Aspirin
Laboratory 21.6: Synthesize Useful Compounds from Aspirin
April 2009
Laboratory 21.7: Synthesize Dimethylglyoxime
Laboratory 22.5: Detect Alkaloids with Precipitation Reagents [This is in the Forensics book but this version is still technically lost]
Laboratory 22.6: Identify Alkaloids with Color Test Reagents [This is in the Forensics book but this version is still technically lost]
May 2009
Laboratory 12.5: Determine Reaction Rate and Order [Found]
Laboratory 14.6: Investigate Graham’s Law [Found]
Laboratory 19.8: Analysis of Paint Samples for Lead [Found]
Here is the full list of experiments with statuses, because for whatever reason I can’t send links.
June 2008
Laboratory 21.3: Isolate Iodine from Potassium Iodide [Partially found through a site both listed on the archived hub and in the book dedicated to getting around DEA restrictions]
Laboratory 19.6: Qualitative Analysis of Some Sugars
Laboratory 11.5: Extract pH Indicators from Plant Material
July 2008
Laboratory 17.2: Photochemical Bromination of Hydrocarbons
Laboratory 21.4: Synthesize Some Inorganic Pigments
Building Your Own Microchemistry Set
August 2008
Laboratory 20.4: Quantitative Analysis of Ethanol by Redox Titration
Laboratory 9.5: Job’s Method of Continuous Variation
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part I
September 2008
Laboratory 19.7: The Iodoform Test
Laboratory 21.5: Synthesize Rubber
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part II
October 2008
Laboratory 20.5: Determine Water Hardness by Complexometric Titration
Laboratory 23.1: Introduction to Coordination Chemistry
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part III (barium compounds)
November 2008
Laboratory 17.3: Photochemistry of Iron Salts
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part IV (ammonium metavanadate)
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part V (nickel compounds)
December 2008
Give the Gift of Science to a Kid
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VI (lithium compounds)
Laboratory 10.3: Observe the Oxidation States of Vanadium
January 2009
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VII (strontium compounds)
Making Your Own Thin-Layer Chromatography (TLC) Plates
Laboratory 24.1: Isolate Casein and Lactose from Milk
February 2009
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VIII (potassium cyanate)
Laboratory 24.2: Separate Amino Acids in Casein with Paper Chromatography
Laboratory 24.3: Reproducing Wöhler’s Landmark Synthesis of Urea
March 2009
Laboratory 6.7: Purify Aspirin
Laboratory 21.6: Synthesize Useful Compounds from Aspirin
April 2009
Laboratory 21.7: Synthesize Dimethylglyoxime
Laboratory 22.5: Detect Alkaloids with Precipitation Reagents [This is in the Forensics book but this version is still technically lost]
Laboratory 22.6: Identify Alkaloids with Color Test Reagents [This is in the Forensics book but this version is still technically lost]
May 2009
Laboratory 12.5: Determine Reaction Rate and Order [Found]
Laboratory 14.6: Investigate Graham’s Law [Found]
Laboratory 19.8: Analysis of Paint Samples for Lead [Found]
Here is the full list of experiments with statuses, because for whatever reason I can’t send links.
Laboratory 21.3: Isolate Iodine from Potassium Iodide [Partially found through a site both listed on the archived hub and in the book dedicated to getting around restrictions]
Laboratory 19.6: Qualitative Analysis of Some Sugars
Laboratory 11.5: Extract pH Indicators from Plant Material
Laboratory 17.2: Photochemical Bromination of Hydrocarbons
Laboratory 21.4: Synthesize Some Inorganic Pigments
Building Your Own Microchemistry Set
Laboratory 20.4: Quantitative Analysis of Ethanol by Redox Titration
Laboratory 9.5: Job’s Method of Continuous Variation
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part I
Laboratory 19.7: The Iodoform Test
Laboratory 21.5: Synthesize Rubber
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part II
Laboratory 20.5: Determine Water Hardness by Complexometric Titration
Laboratory 23.1: Introduction to Coordination Chemistry
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part III: Barium Compounds
Laboratory 17.3: Photochemistry of Iron Salts
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part IV: Ammonium Metavanadate
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part V: Nickel Compounds
Give the Gift of Science to a Kid
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VI: Lithium Compounds
Laboratory 10.3: Observe the Oxidation States of Vanadium
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VII: Strontium Compounds
Making Your Own Thin-Layer Chromatography Plates
Laboratory 24.1: Isolate Casein and Lactose from Milk
Making Your Own Chemicals, Part VIII: Potassium Cyanate
Laboratory 24.2: Separate Amino Acids in Casein with Paper Chromatography
Laboratory 24.3: Reproducing Wöhler’s Landmark Synthesis of Urea
Laboratory 6.7: Purify Aspirin
Laboratory 21.6: Synthesize Useful Compounds from Aspirin
Laboratory 21.7: Synthesize Dimethylglyoxime
Laboratory 22.5: Detect Alkaloids with Precipitation Reagents [This is in the Forensics book but this version is still technically lost]
Laboratory 22.6: Identify Alkaloids with Color Test Reagents [This is in the Forensics book but this version is still technically lost]
Laboratory 12.5: Determine Reaction Rate and Order [Found]
Laboratory 14.6: Investigate Graham’s Law [Found]
Laboratory 19.8: Analysis of Paint Samples for Lead [Found]
I keep trying to put in the full list of experiments, but for whatever reason I can’t. Instead, I’ll go on an issue-by-issue basis.
June 2008
Laboratory 21.3: Isolate Iodine from Potassium Iodide [Partially found through a site both listed on the archived hub and in the book]
Laboratory 19.6: Qualitative Analysis of Some Sugars
Laboratory 11.5: Extract pH Indicators from Plant Material
We replaced our plastic tarp pool cover a couple of years ago with one of those woven plastic covers that a person can easily walk on. In some ways it is easier than the plastic tarp and filling/draining water bags. Each year at least three of the water bags develop leaks because the plastic gets hard and cracks.
The plastic cover would retain water which had to be syphoned off before removing the cover. There were always enough water and debris that removing the last part of the cover was really difficult. Maybe 3 or 4 hundred pounds of muck and water. Along with some biological forms of life that are unknown to science. Then the cover had to be power washed to remove the debris that stuck.
This new pool cover has retractable fasteners in the concrete. Use a special tool to pop off the straps and screw the fasteners flat with the concrete. A bear to get the first few straps off but hold solid. Spring loaded straps. Water drains through this cover but stops leaves and other debris.
The problem is that in the spring the water is dark green from algae as the cover lets light through. Last year it was not a problem as we had to drain the pool because of a leak. This year the pool is full, no leaks, and the water is dark green. It will take at least three days, lots of chlorine, algaecide, PH balancing and continuous filtering along with three or four back washes to get rid of the green.
So off to the pool place tomorrow to spend $200.00 on chemicals to clean up the algae and get the water clear again.
Draining and refilling is not the best answer as the water bill to refill is $800.00. And it takes 72 hours+ to refill the pool using a standard hose. And, no, the fire department will not fill pools due to liability issues. Such if a fire starts and they are filling a pool and have to pack up, which takes time.
We did leave the pool uncovered one year. That was an absolute disaster with leaves and debris, and we still had green water.
@hotwheels – be aware that there is a limit of 5 URLs in a comment here. More than that makes the comment go into moderation and requires approval of the admins here.
If you have specific questions about the site, best bet is to use the contact form there. As I recall, you should get a prompt response.
We can start with the 51 “intelligence professionals” who signed the letter about the Hunter Biden laptop. Brennan was one of them.
@OldGuy Okay, thanks for the info.
R’s Dad was griping about a bill. Something needed but he thought the price was theft.
R’s Mom said “Buster, be thankful we have the money”.
That, yeah, ended the grumping. And no, they were not rich. At all.
July 2008 Issue
Laboratory 17.2: Photochemical Bromination of Hydrocarbons
Laboratory 21.4: Synthesize Some Inorganic Pigments
Building Your Own Microchemistry Set
I’m casually cleaning out the fridge. That bottle of adult Pedialite? I didn’t buy it. Two years past Best By? Down the drain. It reeked of sugar.
That clears the left upper shelf but for the tub of pimento cheese. And some taco shells. Plus I have a mason jar each of Italian and Spicy store brand bread crumbs across the back. Jar, jar, a can of Moxie.
It looks nice. Is the Moxie still good all these years after OFD died? Don’t care, it’s the memory.
I had a container of sour cream. Never opened. Uh, yeah, down the drain because the Best By was June. 2025. I swear I just bought that around Christmas. Smelled fine, a finger dip tasted fine. I’m not puking an hour later. But why risk it?
I checked the Velveeta. I’m going to make dip in the little crock pot this weekend. The Velveeta is good. That’s something the size of a quart container of half and half going away.
I could go through the bin I have of spices. Celery Salt? I needed it for something. Darned if I can remember what. But all that stuff is in a bin and “tidy”. Tossing a couple of spice bottles won’t save any space.
It’s sort of weird. He liked this or that to eat. I don’t. Tossing it out seems like, not a sin, not sacrilege, not something other that tossing out some of my history. It’s a funny feeling.
On another site someone mentioned The Day of the Dolphin. I went and looked.
Yeah. I can pay Big River $26 for a DVD. Or $14 for Bluray. Plus shipping. But HEY!!!! LOOK!!! A LaserDisc! Dang, $16 with shipping.
So if you know me, you know what I just bought.
LaserDiscs are awesome. Yeah, DVDs and Blurays are cool and all. And about as exciting as a USB stick. Grin.
Didn’t the science kit business go to TheHomeScientist.com after Bob passed?
Clapper. I worked for him as he attempted to cash in on signing that letter in 2021.
Actually, Clapper sat on the board, and the company CEO was another Deep State operative with ties to InQTel.
It is a big club, and you aren’t in it.
“”Apple does this and you love it”: Microsoft VP fires back at trolls over Windows 11’s new performance boost feature. “It’s not cheating; this is how modern systems make apps feel fast.””
https://www.windowscentral.com/microsoft/windows-11/apple-does-this-and-yall-love-it-microsoft-vp-fires-back-at-trolls-over-windows-11s-new-performance-boost-feature-its-not-cheating-this-is-how-modern-systems-make-apps-feel-fast
“Windows 11’s upcoming “Low Latency Profile” feature has been branded “lazy” by online trolls. Microsoft VP explains why they’re wrong.”
“Last week, Windows Central exclusively revealed that Microsoft is working on a new performance boost feature for Windows 11 that will speed up all launches and flyouts by a significant amount. The feature is called “Low Latency Profile,” and works by briefly maxing out CPU frequency in short bursts to achieve faster response times.”
“This is a common practice, one that Apple and Google have adopted on their own platforms in recent years, yet the Low Latency Profile feature on Windows 11 has been met with a surprising amount of pushback. Users online are calling this a “lazy” solution to fix Windows 11’s performance problems, and others are criticizing Microsoft for not optimizing the code to speed up performance instead. A lot of people are also just trolling because it’s popular to dunk on Microsoft.”
Down with Trolls !
That is a good thing for the rest of the club. That I’m not in the club. Not making any kind of threat. Just saying it like setting the live trap for the raccoons trying to get into my chicken coop.
Random thought. We know nukes destroy everything. Great big explosions. Look up a couple of Japanese cities towards the end of WW2. I’ve always heard of neutron bombs. Not a big blast that destroys everything, just a lot of radiation that kills everything.
Is the neutron bomb a real thing? Because several dozen would clean up a lot of the the problems we have. And we would still have fine things like Big Ben and the Eiffel Tower.
Voting isn’t working. Just saying.
“US posts smaller $215 billion budget surplus in April as tax refunds grow”
https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/us-posts-smaller-215-billion-180402370.html
“The Treasury said the deficit for the first seven months of fiscal 2026, which ends on September 30, fell $95 billion, or 9%, from the year-earlier period to $954 billion. Year-to-date receipts were up $210 billion, or 7%, to $3.320 trillion, while outlays were up $114 billion, or 3%, to $4.274 trillion.”
Ten years from now, those of us still alive will look back and wonder why we did not see the signs of the oncoming bankruptcy of the USA. Things just gradually happened and suddenly, things went bad in a hurry. The movie will be called “The Day The Dollar Died”, trying to explain why 100 million people starved to death in the next year.
99F and dead calm at 1pm when I left to do dog checkups in town.
Nutjob neighbor decided it was a good time to run his chipper.
85F and SW winds at about 40mph on my return.
Chipper has been put away….
I spent the morning doing some light mowing and a lot of picking up and putting away of yard and construction debris. Boards, bricks, pavers, fertilizer & mulch. It was stinking hot though, even early, I had to stop about every 20 minutes and go inside and have a cold drink of water.
—-
I had a call from my oldest sister while driving, she’s going in for open-heart surgery for an aortic aneurysm next month. Both her regular doctor and her specialist told her to tell her siblings that they should have it checked out, apparently it’s genetic and runs in families.
Great.
I put salt, onion salt, and just a dash of celery salt in my scrambled eggs. I think it improves the flavor. YMMV.
With any luck, there was a family secret that your mother never got around to telling you.
Er, maybe that’s not as reassuring as you’d like. What can I say? I suck at being this whole encouragement thing.
I think you meant, I put a little egg in my salt.
Yes, but the official name was “Enhanced Radiation Weapon”. It was still a NUCLEAR BOMB, with all the nuclear bomb damage, except a smaller bomb, with correspondingly less prompt blast damage. But it was designed to increase the neutron radiation which would spread out further than the blast damage. So in close to Ground Zero, it was a nuclear weapon with blast and radiation effects. Further out, the blast damage would be lessened, but the people outside the blast area would still be killed with radiation sickness.
The concept was you could drop a neutron bomb on a city, destroy the center of the city, and your tanks (with the crews in protective clothing) could still drive through the radiation area along the outskirts. I’m not sure if the concept was ever fully tested; certainly, it was never used.
I somehow thought this was the way. Even back in the days of DOS6.
Huh.
Happy 80th Birthday to the Greatest Alcoholic Who’s Ever Walked on Planet Earth!
https://pjmedia.com/scott-pinsker/2026/05/12/happy-80th-birthday-to-the-greatest-alcoholic-whos-ever-walked-on-planet-earth-n4952769
I DO like me some salt on a LOT of foods. Here in my dotage, it’s one of the few things I can still taste.
I think. And I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer. But didn’t it use to be like, say, a Whig President. Whatever, a President from the opposite party wins the election. And all of the bureaucrats were purged. Pretty much everyone except Postmasters.
I think going back to that system would fix a lot of our problems. Oh, and you can work for the FedGov for 30 years max. Total. In any position you get or are elected to.
Yeah, 30 years might be too long but I’m cutting slack for the guys right out of high school getting a job as a file clerk or secretary. But, 30 years and out.
@Hotwheels Sisyphus- the contact form is broken, so posting in comments will have to do. It sounds like you found almost everything. If it’s not in the active part of the site here, searchable with the tool at the top of the page, or in the files in the “Old Journal” area, then I’m afraid it’s lost.
There was some ‘work in progress’ lost, and anything that Robert kept on his own machines was lost too.
The only other resource is the Home Scientist kit site, and the guy who took that over from RBT.
Good luck. Feel free to let us know if you find anything else, and if you’ve compiled it all, I’m open to putting it back up here, if it’s not encumbered by copyright issues. Barbara holds all of Bob’s copyrights so it shouldn’t be a problem.
—————-
n
I waffle on salt. Sometimes I want a lot. I mean, I’m the guy that gets fries at Whataburger and adds salt.
Well. Forget the Whatabuger fries. I went by a couple of weeks ago and the fries were hot and cooked perfectly. And they were slimy and oily. Should have tossed them it the trash. But I was hungry. Oh.
Yeah. I noticed the next day whilst ruling from my throne.
And the little burger I got was really dry and stale.
A Texas couple who fled Austin to escape climate change have revealed that their fairytale fresh start in a quaint Maine neighborhood wasn’t quite what they expected.
Shawn and Sara Good moved to leafy Little City in Bangor in late April, an area known for its historic 19th-century architecture and charming walkable streets.
However, just a few days into their new life, they woke up to find human excrement on the front porch of their home after a homeless person slept there overnight.
<snip>
the climate change crisis had forced them to flee Texas after more than a decade living there.
‘We had a lot of reasons to move away from Austin, but the one that hit us the hardest was the weather,’ he told Bangor Daily News.
‘We were facing our fourth catastrophic event in five years and nobody was doing anything to address it.’
‘We see it more as fleeing Texas rather than leaving,’ Sara added. ‘We haven’t been here for very long, but we’re really happy with it.’
Shawn and Sara said they grappled with extreme heat, tornadoes, and deadly snow and ice storms while living in Texas, and the situation was only getting worse.
Here is the original article:
https://www.bangordailynews.com/2026/05/12/business/business-housing/moved-to-maine-climate-change-texas-joam40zk0w/
These people are nuts. Maine has horrible winters.
Also:
“The family chose Bangor because it seemed safe and provided the balance of city amenities and rural areas that the couple craved. It’s also a relatively short drive to Canada where Shawn’s family lives, and housing is significantly more affordable than Austin.”
Family and cheap housing were the real attractions, not climate change.
But:
“While the house was turnkey, Shawn and Sara said they’re already preparing for next winter and learning how to keep their home warm. This includes evaluating whether to keep their oil heat — a heating method they’re unfamiliar with — and considering replacing the house’s older, drafty windows.”
Now they will find out why the houses are cheap, the heating oil is NOT cheap.
They need to get a natural gas pipeline to Maine from Pennsylvania for cheap natural gas.
@Ray Thompson
A swimming pool is a large open continuously stirred chemical reactor and a bigger PITA.
You may be doing all or part of this and didn’t mention it:
Balance the water and add a winter algaecide before putting the cover on.
Check the pool chemistry regularly and keep it balanced–your chemicals should be refreshed every season. What is regular? Start once a week. If sunlight penetrates the cover it will break down the chlorine. A consultation with your local pool chemical vendor may be helpful if they are pros and not chemical pushers. If there are vendors in your area for gas chlorination it may be worthwhile to have a discussion.
If the water level is high enough run the pump for an hour each day to circulate and filter the water. This will not only mix the chemicals, including the ones you add, but will reduce thermal stratification. It also lets you check water temperature at the pump outlet and get a meaningful reading.
Don’t wait too long to get the cover off. When the temp get into the 65-70F range in spring it’s time to shock the pool and head off any algae blooming. Put the pool vac in. You should give the walls a good brushing with a combi brush, but that is a good workout for a young man either from the pool service of a local kid with a car payment.
Um. Don’t mind me. I’m doing the randomly timed thing of bouncing off of the the effing walls. Folks I want to talk to, yeah, voice mail. That’s if my cell service actually works.
I think I need to get a landline. Just for 911.
I can talk to Penny and Buddy. Ain’t the same. The cats ignore me unless I’m putting food in their pots.
Anyway.
“the climate change crisis had forced them to flee Texas after more than a decade living there. ”
They weren’t from Texas, they simply moved there from a cooler climate and stayed for ten years without being prepared for different weather.
If they lived in Austin proper, they were Austin Energy customers and fed the bond ghouls with city property taxes. Heating oil is probably cheaper and more reliable. At least you can store it.
If you want to see Maine in winter, check back with the webcam at this place in January.
https://islandlobsterco.com/
In another week or so, the tables will come out along with the umbrellas for the season.
I slammed the pool with 4 times normal shock before covering in the fall. There is no access to the water when the pool is covered. Unless I remove half a dozen clips and straps which I am not doing.
Three days and I can have the water clear with chemicals. Green algae is easy to kill and filter out of the water.
South Carolina State Senators need to call Indiana and ask how it turns out.
Two things. One, I am so sorry I spammed the comments. When I punched in a comment, it didn’t show up at all on several browsers and I kept checking for a bit after that, and I only found out they did come in just now.
Two, I have only found four out of 35 total Supplement newsletter articles and experiments. I know I won’t find them by going to the 8000th page on Google and the only results from looking them up here were my comments. What I am now trying to do is see if anyone here has even one original PDF or text file on Adobe Reader from the original newsletter, between June 2008 and May 2009. If any of you have something from the newsletter, please let me know.
If that doesn’t work, I might try to see if I can talk to Ms. Thompson on her journal site to see if she has any luck. Thank you for your help! Up until today, I had only completely found one of the experiments and that was over a year ago now.
By the way, I got my name from a real species of spider discovered in China around 2024, called Hotwheels sisyphus.
@nick
I may have had some of the chemistry experiments archived, but they either didn’t get carried forward from three computers ago or they may exist only on a MacBook Air that was never resurrected after being stepped on. If there is an opportunity to make some or Robert’s labs available again it would be a good thing.
I’ll be happy to make a place for them here if needed.
@Hotwheels Sisyphus, I let your comments out of the spam filter. Not sure why it triggered, but maybe the repetition or formatting… not a big deal. I misunderstood you about what you found, sorry. In the next couple of days even the infrequent readers will have a chance to see your plea, and maybe they’ll have copies.
n
That’s about a 5 hour drive from one of the towns I grew up in, in Canadian Maine (aka New Brunswick).
Clever, little bit pricey. Resurrect retired 35mm camera with digital guts:
https://www.yankodesign.com/2026/05/12/your-old-film-camera-can-now-shoot-4k-video-and-26mp-raw-files-without-any-modifications-heres-how/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=your-old-film-camera-can-now-shoot-4k-video-and-26mp-raw-files-without-any-modifications-heres-how
>>I had a call from my oldest sister while driving, she’s going in for open-heart surgery for an aortic aneurysm next month. Both her regular doctor and her specialist told her to tell her siblings that they should have it checked out, apparently it’s genetic and runs in families.
Yikes… hoping all goes well. +/- a month’s wait seems stressful. Good luck.
I’m headed to bed. Finished the internet.
n
Ok, had to have a snack first. Two hard boiled eggs, no yoke, small piece of buttered bread, slice of Prosciutto, and a couple of salted radishes. Lots of flavor, not a lot of bulk.
NOW I can go to bed.
n
@drwilliams
Do you still have that computer? If you don’t, can you remember any details on the experiments? Even the smallest detail will help.