Thur. June 11, 2026 – Stub number five (is alive)

More mild and windy days… or anyway that’s what they’ll probably get here. Yesterday was nice, with some sun, but a lot of overcast to keep the heat down.

Played games with W and mom, mini golf with the kinder… ate good food.

Today is kind of up in the air, and will take some juggling. The easiest solution is the most boring and tedious but we might just be up for it.

The question was asked, “Stack what?” The short answer is “everything” but of course that’s not a GOOD answer. I think that having enough of all the daily life stuff to stay home for a couple of months (I probably have 6 months) is about the best you could do on a normal budget, with a normal life. That covers most any normal threat, and eases the way into any ‘new normal’ from an extraordinary threat. Having spares for critical items should be a priority, and the ability to supply at least some quantity of the infrastructure you rely on is also a priority.

Average age here clearly influences both desire and ability to prepare. Everyone will have their own timeline. I just want to get through the massive world wide disruption that I believe has already started, and set my kids up to succeed in whatever comes next. I figure I have 20 decent years, and 10 after that with reduced capacity if things go well for me.

I ask myself what I’d have done in 1932 if I could go back from 1945, and then I see what the equivalent would be today. Out of any money shenannigans. Into goods and crucial services. War is always good for some people and companies, the question is which ones. Food never goes amiss. Imports vanish and simple things become luxuries. Having money means having options. Your neighbors will save you, or destroy you. Choose them wisely. Be neither the first, nor the last to act. If you think you should, it is probably too late so set some trigger points ahead of time.

Stack something that will give you options and prevent acting out of desperation.

nick

56 Comments and discussion on "Thur. June 11, 2026 – Stub number five (is alive)"

  1. brad says:

    @brad and other fiddlers with Linux I recommend a neat program called stacer – gives you a bunch of useful info about how your machine is running, easy killing of unwanted processes, editing of startup progs etc. also let’s you recover a bunch of storage taken updates files and caches.

    Thanks for the tip – I see it is a standard package for Ubuntu that can be installed via Synaptic. I’ll have a look!

  2. Denis says:

    Thursday. Good morning.

    It’s about lunchtime, so I am finally surfacing from megaproject (milestone 1 achieved) to have some breakfast.

    Weather is beautiful, so of course I am tied to a desk. I might manage to get down the manhole later and read the water meter. Too much excitement. Meanwhile, friends traveling are sending me photos from sailing off Gibraltar and from Bulgaria. Bah, humbug.

    No time for stacking today, but I suppose earning money is a form of stacking. Someone in this country won nearly 180 million euro bucks on Tuesday. Not I, alas. I forgot to buy a ticket…

    Have a lovely day!

  3. Denis says:

     I don’t miss being in a 100-year-old house, but at the same time…I kind of do miss the continual list of little projects…

    Hey, Brad, I have two 60-year-old houses, so that makes 120. You can come and do some of my “little projects”.

    W1 and I are thinking a bit about a home for our retirement years. I know everyone talks about downsizing, but I will be looking to build bigger, as the things I want to do when I no longer have to work need space.

    I want a big library, a big study, a big home cinema, a big gub room, a big workshop, a big garage and so on. I really ought to have bought that EuroMillions ticket.

  4. Greg Norton says:

    @brad and other fiddlers with Linux I recommend a neat program called stacer – gives you a bunch of useful info about how your machine is running, easy killing of unwanted processes, editing of startup progs etc. also let’s you recover a bunch of storage taken updates files and caches.

    It looks like the Stacer developers abandoned the project for some reason.

    System 76 is attempting to wrap Linux in a user-friendly environment with Pop! OS, but they don’t have the cash flow of a Ross Perot (NeXT) or Microsoft which, ironically, funded Apple’s current core OS development ~ 25 years ago.

    The System 76 developers have also run down the Rust rabbit hole, which rendered their most recent release unusable on many systems for months at a critical point in the release cycle.

  5. Nick Flandrey says:

    Up and moving, the adventure continues… after breakfast.

    n

  6. SteveF says:

    The System 76 developers have also run down the Rust rabbit hole

    For IBM/Redhat and Canonical and some other corporations, it’s a money grab, replacing the GPL utilities with MIT-licensed utilities.

    More pathetically, for many developers, it’s a cult. I’m not sure what they get out of it other than a sense of smug superiority. They’d have been better off getting into CrossFit.

  7. brad says:

    W1 and I are thinking a bit about a home for our retirement years. I know everyone talks about downsizing, but I will be looking to build bigger, as the things I want to do when I no longer have to work need space.

    Downsizing was pretty essential in our case. We were in a 17-room house, plus a basement with another 8 rooms. We needed the space, because we not only had a family, but also a business that occupied a lot of it. After the kids left, and we closed the business, it was nuts.

    We really do miss the place – it was great! Huge plot of land, complete privacy from the neighbors. But, without the business, we really couldn’t afford the upkeep. The people who bought it probably spent at least half-a-million on necessary renovations: replacing the ancient heating system, replacing all the rusty iron water pipes, etc, etc.

    Unfortunately, we aren’t totally happy with where we moved. While the house is nice, there are too many neighbors too close. Even though most of them are nice, we would prefer to be hermits. Unfortunately, about 10 years ago, Switzerland did a major re-zoning of land that forces new houses to be inside of towns. Maybe sensible – too many rich people were building their vacation chalets in the middle of the landscape – but the implementation has been overly stringent.

  8. brad says:

    It looks like the Stacer developers abandoned the project for some reason.

    Yes, I see there have been no updates for 4 years. Trying it out, though, all the important stuff works. The only thing that doesn’t seem to work, is the “Gnome Settings” page – it doesn’t detect that I use a different desktop. Otherwise, a lot of nice stuff.

  9. Denis says:

    … there are too many neighbors too close. Even though most of them are nice, we would prefer to be hermits.

    This promises to be a problem for W1 and me. I would like to be alone out in the boonies, she wants to be in a town, or at least in a village. I think the compromise will involve finding a green-field plot at the very edge of the village where our current BOL is, and building as large as we can afford and as the local authority will countenance.

    When I say “out in the boonies”, I mean somewhere where I could shoot rifles off the back porch and not annoy the neighbours. Alas, not likely in built-up central Europe.

  10. SteveF says:

    I mean somewhere where I could shoot rifles off the back porch and not annoy the neighbours. Alas, not likely in built-up central Europe.

    If you shoot the neighbors, they’ll be annoyed at most once each. #FollowMeForMoreLifeHacks

  11. Greg Norton says:

    For IBM/Redhat and Canonical and some other corporations, it’s a money grab, replacing the GPL utilities with MIT-licensed utilities.
     

    IBM/Redhat has been more conservative with approaching Rust and Snaps/containers in Fedora than Canonical has been with Ubuntu.

    Stallman is getting grumpy about the copyright violations, but he isn’t going to do anything about it.

  12. Denis says:

    If you shoot the neighbors, they’ll be annoyed at most once each.

    Indeed. They might not be annoyed for very long.

    One of my pals just sent a photo of a handsome roe deer buck grazing on the shooting range near the BOL, and here I am, stuck at my desk at home!

  13. Greg Norton says:

    My monthly Burger King visit was up 50 cents yesterday from just a few weeks ago.

    i usually get a Whopper, ketchup only, and a large Diet Coke. The total is still under $10, but barely.

  14. MrAtoz says:

    “The Purloined Poodle” by Kevin Hearne 

    I really liked his “Ink & Sigil” series. It is set in the same Universe and the Iron Druid makes some appearances.

  15. MrAtoz says:

    In Texas, there are no basements, and the garage is where things and people go to die in the heat.

    The same here in Vegas, that’s why I sprung for a mini-split in the garage. I’m planning to keep half the garage open enough to park that Tesla if I get it.

  16. MrAtoz says:

    On downsizing a library:

    I’ve been converting most of my books to digital and backing them up. These days it is pretty easy to get technical books in digital form. I just got a Make: book on SDR radio and a kit to build one. I bought the paper book and found the digital copy online. I backed a book scanner on Kickstarter and will start digitizing any books I have that I can’t find online. I have some prepping books, like mushroom hunting/growing, that I can’t find online.

  17. dkreck says:

    The same here in Vegas, that’s why I sprung for a mini-split in the garage. I’m planning to keep half the garage open enough to park that Tesla if I get it.

    Hoping to collect fire insurance?

    Heat wave starting here 103F predicted.

  18. MrAtoz says:

    Hoping to collect fire insurance?

    That’s the bright side. I believe the chance of a Tesla spontaneously combusting in my garage is near zero. Maybe there is an Autopilot setting to drive out of the garage if a fire is detected. I also wonder if Teslas have built-in garage door openers

  19. EdH says:

    102F predicted for today … only 90F and the swamp cooler air is coming out at 80F … another roof trip …. ugh

  20. Gavin says:

    My monthly Burger King visit

    At work, I often refer to “my annual cheeseburger”, as I rarely buy a fast food lunch. Coffee, yes, daily. So much so that most of my co-workers think something’s happened if I don’t have a McDonald’s coffee cup by 6:15.

    The last cheeseburger (a Quarter Pounder actually) and coffee was $10 Canadian. I have no idea how much it’s gone up since it’s been such a long time since the last.

  21. EdH says:

    OK, a new water pump.   
     

    93F in the shade at 11:30am when I came down off the roof, no idea how hot it was up there – but I decided that doing any extras could wait for another cooler morning.

    I had other plansfor today but that sort of put a  stick in some of the spokes. Oh well.

  22. Lynn says:

    “Big 12 sanctions against Texas school would be ‘unlawful’, state says”

        https://www.chron.com/sports/college/article/big-12-sanctions-texas-tech-22301111.php

    “In recent days, the Big 12 has been considering sanctions against the university following a recent injunction in favor of Tech quarterback Brendan Sorsby. Previously, the NCAA ruled the Cincinnati transfer ineligible for violating its sports gambling rules while Sorsby was a backup quarterback at Indiana.”

    “However, Paxton says such an action would be “unlawful and would expose the Conference to substantial liability,” according to a letter from the Office’s Antitrust Division obtained by Yahoo Sports’  Ross Dellenger.”

    “The league’s bylaws allow for a sanction if approved by a supermajority vote of schools not involved in the issue. The sanctions could make Tech forfeit any games in which Sorsby plays and potentially make him ineligible for the conference championship, according to Yahoo Sports.”

    “But Paxton’s office says sanctions violate antitrust law—a “naked horizontal agreement” between competitors to disadvantage Texas Tech by cutting off its access to resources. The letter notes that the damage from such a “horizontal conspiracy” could result in the loss of more than $200 million.”

    “If that wasn’t enough, the letter says the Big 12 could face liability for breach of contract and for risking any of Texas Tech’s existing contracts.”

    Huh.

  23. paul says:

    Can you rebuild the pump?  Like, take it apart and lube the bearings?   Soak the impeller in vinegar?  

    I have a pellet grill.  A Traeger clone.  The blower fan?  You can buy new on Big River  for about $15.  Maybe $20.  Not a huge sum.  

    You still have to take lay on your back to remove the fan.   So take it out and take it apart. Wipe everything cleanish with a paper towel or an old t-shirt.  Oil the bearings.  The felt pads.  

    Three drops of 3 In One 20 weight.  At 12, 4, and 8.  Then many more drops of regular 3 In One oil.  Let it sit and soak.  Go get  a beer and enjoy the weather.  Pet the dogs.  The oil usually all soaks in.  Might take all of 20 minutes.  Blot off the excess.  

    I wipe the blotted oil on the motor shaft when re-assembling.  

    I’m going to have a beer and pet the dogs anyway.  Heck.  Save $20.  That’s almost a 30 pack of Miller High Life.

    And free beer?  Always good.

  24. Lynn says:

    “Trump Administration Is Appealing Ruling on $100,000 H-1B Fee”

       https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/trump-administration-appealing-ruling-100-154026147.html

    “The Justice Department filed a notice on Thursday that it will appeal the Monday ruling, which was a major blow to the president’s campaign to restrict immigration and boost demand for US workers.”

    “US District Judge Leo T. Sorokin in Boston sided with a group of states that sued over the policy, finding that the president’s decree dramatically increasing the cost of the popular visa is an illegal tax.”

    Good.

    6
    1
  25. Lynn says:

    The question was asked, “Stack what?” The short answer is “everything” but of course that’s not a GOOD answer. I think that having enough of all the daily life stuff to stay home for a couple of months (I probably have 6 months) is about the best you could do on a normal budget, with a normal life. That covers most any normal threat, and eases the way into any ‘new normal’ from an extraordinary threat. Having spares for critical items should be a priority, and the ability to supply at least some quantity of the infrastructure you rely on is also a priority.

    Average age here clearly influences both desire and ability to prepare. Everyone will have their own timeline. I just want to get through the massive world wide disruption that I believe has already started, and set my kids up to succeed in whatever comes next. I figure I have 20 decent years, and 10 after that with reduced capacity if things go well for me.

    I ask myself what I’d have done in 1932 if I could go back from 1945, and then I see what the equivalent would be today. Out of any money shenannigans. Into goods and crucial services. War is always good for some people and companies, the question is which ones. Food never goes amiss. Imports vanish and simple things become luxuries. Having money means having options. Your neighbors will save you, or destroy you. Choose them wisely. Be neither the first, nor the last to act. If you think you should, it is probably too late so set some trigger points ahead of time.

    I think that the current crisis timeline started in 2008 and is being played out very slowly.  The next disruption is still several years away, maybe as soon as 2029 or as late as 2039. Trump’s working on the fraud may move this date back by a year or two.

    I have lots and lots of stuff stacked in my house.  My closet and pantry are overflowing.  My overflow is in my office building.  All in a/c.

  26. Lynn says:

    “The Purloined Poodle” by Kevin Hearne 
       https://www.amazon.com/Purloined-Poodle-Kevin-Hearne/dp/1738279243?tag=ttgnet-20 

    A novella added to the ten book Iron Druid fantasy series.  There are several other novellas for the series also.  I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback published by Horned Lark Press in 2024 that I bought in 2026.  I own one of the other novellas and plan to read it soon. 

    The Iron Druid Series starts with “Hounded” released in 2011: 
       https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0051XU2PE?tag=ttgnet-20 

    Atticus O’Sullivan is a 2,000+ year old Druid living peacefully in Arizona, USA in modern times.  His Irish Wolfhound Oberon is also many decades old due to Atticus’s special teas.  They are in a dog park one day and pick up that several prize winning dogs are missing.  Atticus and Oberon decide to investigate the mystery. 

    The author has a website at: 
       https://kevinhearne.com/ 

    My rating:  4.6 out of 5 stars 
    Amazon rating:  4.6 out of 5 stars (2,667 reviews) 

    Lynn 

    I really enjoy the humor, interaction, and telepathic talking between Atticus and his dog Oberon. Being a dog person, I often wonder what my dog would say when I walk with her every afternoon. Probably how she really wants to chase the squirrels and rabbits in our country area. I also enjoy the constant thoughts about different kinds of sausages and gravy from Oberon. I was also surprised that Oberon cannot telepathically talk to other dogs without Atticus being around.

  27. Lynn says:

    “US producer prices spike in May as soaring energy prices fuel largest yearly jump since 2022”

       https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/us-producer-prices-rose-6-124151813.html

    “The Labor Department reported Thursday that its producer price index — which captures inflation before it reaches consumers — jumped 6.5% from May 2025. It rose 1.1% from April, as it did the previous month. Wholesale gasoline prices surged by more than 23% from April to May, and nearly 70% from a year earlier.”

    “Inflationary pressures, intensified by the energy shock caused by the Iran war, are frustrating Americans five months before midterm elections that will determine whether President Donald Trump’s Republicans keep full control of Congress.”

    I saw gasoline at $3.449/gal yesterday at a Shell Station in Sugar Land.  Hopefully things will come down or else the President will have a dumbrocrat House and an insane Speaker, Hakeem Jeffries, to deal with.

    4
    1
  28. Lynn says:

    I want a big library, a big study, a big home cinema, a big gub room, a big workshop, a big garage and so on. I really ought to have bought that EuroMillions ticket.

    Me too and me too.

    You forgot a Safe Room. But my son says that safe rooms are worthless because people can just burn you out. He saw that several times in Iraq.

    My cousin built his gub room as a part of his safe room in his barndominium. I never saw so many shotguns in my life.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    I think that the current crisis timeline started in 2008 and is being played out very slowly.  The next disruption is still several years away, maybe as soon as 2029 or as late as 2039. Trump’s working on the fraud may move this date back by a year or two.
     

    A couple of YouTube channels I watch regularly half joke that the Earth was sucked into a black hole created by the activation of the CERN supercollider in 2008.

    We now live in an alternative reality they call “The Stupiverse”.

    Not a bad theory.

  30. Lynn says:

    “I Can’t Disagree”

       https://areaocho.com/i-cant-disagree/

    “Steven Crowder has a great piece on the Anthony conviction. He says the people who say “Not all blacks” are ignoring the fact that more than 77% of blacks support reparations. I can’t argue with that.”

    If this is true then we have a serious problem.

  31. drwilliams says:

    New Details on Karmelo Anthony’s Knife Obliterate Woke Dem’s ‘Not a Deadly Weapon’ Narrative

    Not surprisingly, Crockett not only took Anthony’s side in portraying him as the true victim, but she actually suggested during a Tuesday podcast that the multi-tool knife used in the killing was “small,” while pressing her fingers close together to make it look like the blade was about an inch long, as someone else could be heard comparing it to a Swiss Army knife. “I would argue the size of it alone, you wouldn’t even think it’s a deadly weapon,” Crockett went on to claim.

    The knife Karmelo Anthony used to kill Austin Metcalf was a Walmart multi-tool with a serrated blade – and it sells for just $13.

    Anthony’s knife came from the Walmart camping brand “Ozark Trail,” and had a 3.5-inch blade, the Collin County District attorney.

    At the trial, the medical examiner stated “that Metcalf was stabbed through the heart.” Further, “She described the wound as gaping, two-and-a-half inches in length, and not survivable.”

    https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2026/06/11/type-of-knife-karmelo-anthony-used-to-kill-austin-metcalf-n2203256

    500 people should buy a copy of the knife and march on Jasmine’s house to invite her to “take one to the chest to prove your point”.

    But they should wait until she’s out of congress and doesn’t have those special protections they vote themselves.

  32. drwilliams says:

    Oh, So That’s What Happened to the Karmelo Anthony’s Crowdfunding Page

    During the legal circus, a crowdfunding page has accumulated over a million dollars, which the family spent on new items, cars, and a house. Well, that gravy train is over.

    The page is gone. Kaput. After his murder conviction, GiveSendGo confirmed that they shut the page down

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattvespa/2026/06/11/oh-so-thats-what-happened-to-the-karmelo-anthonys-crowdfunding-page-n2677567

    Austin Metcalf’s family needs to get an attorney and file a lawsuit against the family of the murderer. They have unjustly enriched themselves over this tragedy and deserve to be sued into penury.

  33. drwilliams says:

    “You forgot a Safe Room. But my son says that safe rooms are worthless because people can just burn you out. He saw that several times in Iraq.”

    Build a Safe House of non-flammable materials with gun ports and multiple mounts for claymores that can be replaced from inside as they are fired.

    I’d put in a dual sprinkler system and plumb Sprinkler A with a pump rated for 10% H2SO4

  34. drwilliams says:

    “Steven Crowder has a great piece on the Anthony conviction. He says the people who say “Not all blacks” are ignoring the fact that more than 77% of blacks support reparations. I can’t argue with that.”

    If this is true then we have a serious problem.

    There are no whites holding black slaves in the U.S., and have not been for more than four generations. The same cannot be said of the black and Arab slavers in Africa that sold slaves that came to the Americas–there is still slavery in that part of the world, and there are families that have allegedly been in that business for centuries. 

  35. drwilliams says:

    Look back in anger

    The Wall Street Journal’s opinion editors have posted the documentary The Lockdown Dissidents. The documentary was produced, written, and directed by Michael Pack. Tim Blake Nelson provides the voiceover narration.

    The documentary comes with this précis: “During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of prominent scientists challenged the prevailing government approach to lockdowns. The Lockdown Dissidents tells the story of researchers like Jay Bhattacharya, Scott Atlas, and Robert Redfield—voices who say they were sidelined and censored when they questioned the public health consensus.” On the other hand, the government brought us the fallacious Doctors Fauci and Francis Collins.

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/06/look-back-in-anger-5.php

    I haven’t watched this yet.

  36. Lynn says:

    “Social Security is officially six years away from running out of money”

       https://www.schiffsovereign.com/trends/social-security-is-officially-six-years-away-from-running-out-of-money-155301/

    “The 2026 edition came out on Tuesday; it is the 86th annual report. And its headline finding is that Social Security’s main retirement trust fund — formally Old-Age and Survivors Insurance, or OASI — is now projected to run out of money in 2032. That’s one year earlier than last year’s projection.”

    “Last year the program collected $1.449 trillion, mostly from payroll taxes, and spent $1.609 trillion.”

    “That $160 billion shortfall was covered by draining the trust fund, whose reserves fell from $2.72 trillion to $2.56 trillion over the course of the year. The program’s costs have exceeded its non-interest income every single year since 2010.”

    How much fraud was in that $1.609 trillion?  I will bet quite a bit.

    Still, this is why I will file for SS next year when I turn 67 even though I do not need the money now.  I fully expect SS to be means tested in the next five years.

  37. Ray Thompson says:

    more than 77% of blacks support reparations

    Of course they do. FREE MONEY! It would spent in less than 30 days on gold teeth, fancy nails, braids, tattoos and butt enlargements.

    The black population in this country has more benefits available to them than any other race. Hiring preferences. Black only universities. Black only  scholarships. Black only TV channels. Ms. Black America. NAACP. United Negro College Fund. Black congressional caucus. Society of Black Engineers. Simply change the color to white and suddenly it would be racist with the likes of that cretin Ben Crump and others would be spewing their hate on national TV. They can use racial slurs against other races and on themselves. But let anyone else do so and suddenly it is a felony charge.

    The U.S. needs to be color blind, color agnostic. Get over the past and move on.

  38. Ray Thompson says:

    I will file for SS next year when I turn 67 even though I do not need the money

    There are a lot of strategies and thoughts about 62, 67 or waiting until 70. Valid arguments for all of them. Each person has to make their own decision. I wanted to wait until 70 but my best friend dying changed all those plans. I was able to start full 100% at 66. Because I am an old fart.

  39. Greg Norton says:

    “That $160 billion shortfall was covered by draining the trust fund, whose reserves fell from $2.72 trillion to $2.56 trillion over the course of the year. The program’s costs have exceeded its non-interest income every single year since 2010.”

    The trust fund doesn’t exist.

    The Feds cannot run a Social Security as a trust fund since the Supreme Court declared it to be unconstitutional very early on, probably by design.

  40. Lynn says:

    “BOL no more”

       https://areaocho.com/bol-no-more/

    “In 2015, I began stocking a cabin in Maine as a BOL. I had cached weapons, a boat, and a buttload of supplies there. All we had to do was get there, and we had enough supplies to get by. That is no longer the case. The caretaker of the facility passed away last year, and his wife has remarried. The new husband is not nearly as reliable, and is also a liberal. I no longer consider that location to be viable as a BOL.”

    Woof, 1,300 miles to the BOL.  And through the highly populated East Coast.

    If your BOL is more than a gas tank away, then I will suggest that you will never reach it in a time of crisis.

    And as we have proven here in Texas during hurricane evacuations, the roads will become all clogged up and your resulting gas mileage will drop like a rock.

    There is a very good fiction book about people trying to reach their BOL in a financial crisis of the USA, “Holding Their Own: A Story Of Survival” by Joe Nobody
       https://www.amazon.com/Holding-Their-Own-Story-Survival/dp/1939473691?tag=ttgnet-20

  41. Lynn says:

    “That $160 billion shortfall was covered by draining the trust fund, whose reserves fell from $2.72 trillion to $2.56 trillion over the course of the year. The program’s costs have exceeded its non-interest income every single year since 2010.”

    The trust fund doesn’t exist.

    Al Gore promised me that the Social Security Trust Fund was in a Lockbox!

  42. Greg Norton says:

    The trust fund doesn’t exist.

    Al Gore promised me that the Social Security Trust Fund was in a Lockbox!

    The problem for Al Gore is that the Lawton Chiles reelection campaign contracted telemarketing boiler rooms to teach Florida’s seniors about Helvering v. Davis in 1994.

    Then Vote-o-matic turned out to be valid for only three digits of precision in the percentages in the 2000 election.

  43. drwilliams says:

    senior downsizing the technical library:

    I used the the second edition of a college textbook published in 1968. I saw the fourth edition (2002) in a thrift today for $3. The fifth edition was just published in December.

    I have kept too many old textbooks and technical books from college and later. I’m going to set up a cart with a laptop, a scanner, a scale and an orange box:

    Open box. Scan or type in ISBN number to check current value if necessary. Anything that is less than $10 goes on the scale until there is a stack, the stack gets weighed, weight is noted*, and the stack goes into the box–not worth hauling to the bookstore. The orange box is small enough to handle and will go to the trash when full. Non-recyclable trash gets burned in my town, a better use than recycling. I’m not going to feed the low-end book market by putting them on the curb for free, and likewise not waste the time of booksale volunteers. If you don’t think that a lot of books are worthless check out the dumpster in back of your local Half Price Books–take a large truck.

    A $10 book that weighs three pounds costs $6.13 to ship. eBay takes about 15% percent of the gross plus $0.30, so the selling cost is $2.72 and net is $7.28. Not worth listing, shelving, getting a 2%/month sell-through rate and then spending more time packing. IMO if a book is worth selling it is worth packing properly–many large online thrift booksellers use plastic envelopes and the business model works for them, since they get the books for free.

    Books over $10-20 may go to the bookstore for an offer. HPB business model is basically 10%. Probably not worth it. Donate.

    Getting all non-fiction under $20 out would be a start, should be >>50%, and kick the can on the rest.

    I already have two groups of about 100 volumes of niche technical books for summer projects. One is ready (incl photos) and will wait until August 1, timed to coincide with the academic year. I expect some of that group will go to libraries. The other is just getting started but will immediately go online as a group.

    *motivational tool

  44. Ray Thompson says:

    senior downsizing the technical library:

    I donated all my technical books to the local library. Lot of DOS, Windows, CP/M, Database, SQL, Linux, C, C++, Pascal, Algol, COBOL, X86 Assembler, and a lot of stuff I probably wasted money, etc. I had a math book that I never got past the first two pages before I realized I was in over my head. I would never open these books again. I did not want to take the time to deal with them. If the library wants to throw the books away, that is their problem.

    I am no longer deeply, or even moderately,  involved in technology other than my personal items. For issues that I have with those items I use the web.

  45. Lynn says:

    “Elon Musk’s first-gen orbital data center craft spans wider than a Boeing 747 and runs an interchangeable chip payload — AI1 satellite compute payload is 120 kW, peaks at 150 kW”

       https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/spacex-details-its-ai1-compute-satellite

    “A satellite with these specs comes with some serious space requirements, and its 70-meter deployed wingspan edges past the 68.4-meter span of a Boeing 747-8. As for the interchangeable compute, that leaves the platform open to whichever vendor ships the most competitive AI silicon, rather than locking it to a single supplier.”

    “This interchangeability is no doubt important to Musk, not least because SpaceX can’t yet guarantee its own supply of chips. The company is currently building Terafab, a chip fab that’s running as a joint venture with Tesla, while its S-1 IPO filing warns it can’t currently secure enough chips.”

    “That aside, the elephant in the room is cooling: a rack on Earth sheds heat into moving air and circulating water, neither of which exists in a vacuum, where the only viable route is radiating it away as infrared. AI1 features up to 110 m² of deployable liquid radiators, as well as redundant pumping loops and integrated micrometeroid shielding. By comparison, the International Space Station’s ETACS rejects roughly 70 kW of heat — around half of what’s needed to cool a 140 kW GB300 rack — across 422 m² of radiator at a cost of up to $500 million, according to SemiAnalysis.”

  46. Greg Norton says:

    I used the the second edition of a college textbook published in 1968. I saw the fourth edition (2002) in a thrift today for $3. The fifth edition was just published in December.

    When I left the Death Star in 2010, Rosen as in the standard Discrete Math text Rosen, was still on the payroll doing something nebulous for Labs.

    After the SBC buyout, when management started making noise about making everyone climb telephone poles, Rosen got the textbook editing process cranked up and released a new version of his book every strike year.

    Not that it really matters. Discrete Math is Discrete Math and nothing has really changed in at least 50 years, but Rosen wasn’t going to climb a telephone pole.

    Stroustrup took off much earlier and inflicted himself on TAMU students as department chair, attempting to get his own piece of that fat textbook cash.

  47. paul says:

    I had a goal.  To not run the central air until July 4th.  I’ve done that before.  This time was to get the bottom line of electric usage….  with just me and two dogs. 

    I like the way my junk hangs down to my knees and bangs around.  It just feels right compared to “where are my nuts?” on cold days.  

    I don’t have a problem with the armpits running water down my sides.  Just sweat, a bit of salt taste, no smell.  I like my feet feeling warm. 

    I like watching and feeling how my body works.  Why would I not?

    I caved.  It’s 93f outside and 86f inside with the humidity at 65%.  It’s just sticky.  I’m sticking to myself.  The dogs simply pant.

    It’s the humidity. 

    I turned the system on.  It’s just doing de-humid  for now.  Low speed blower.  I can feel it drying the air. 

    I can afford the elec bill.  

    Kind of very annoyed at myself for wimping out with no a/c until July.   But, shrug.  

  48. MrAtoz says:

    Grifters, one and all:

    Karmelo Anthony’s most outspoken supporter is ARRESTED just hours after confronting man and pointing in his face during protest

    The grift “Karmelo convicted ‘cause he bbblack” isn’t working, so now grifting protestors are “me-sah ‘rrested ’cause me-sah bbblack” trying to get some goobermint grift cash.

  49. drwilliams says:

    They can all line up and take the 3-½” knife test.

  50. drwilliams says:

    FIFA for better international relations:

    https://twitchy.com/brettt/2026/06/11/german-tourist-finds-surreal-sporting-goods-store-with-a-firing-range-n2429155

    Being from a country being overrun by mohamedans and that does not have bbq and firing ranges should qualify for asylum.

  51. EdH says:

    Can you rebuild the pump?  Like, take it apart and lube the bearings?   Soak the impeller in vinegar?  
     

    Maybe, if I had not  thrown it off the roof…

    They are about $20 now, though this one is from my stacks, so I don’t really know the price, 1/40th horsepower.

    I was going to replace the belt while I was at it but I didn’t have a spare in the stacks this year. I need to remedy that.

  52. Ray Thompson says:

    I like the way my junk hangs down to my knees and bangs around

    You have 4” femur? Should we call you Tattoo?

  53. Lynn says:

    I had a goal.  To not run the central air until July 4th.  I’ve done that before.  This time was to get the bottom line of electric usage….  with just me and two dogs. 

    I am not sure that this is a good goal in Texas.  Of course, you are in central Texas with way lower humidity.  

    I started running the a/c in my house and office buildings back in March.

    The mosquitos are really bad here now. I forgot to Deep Woods Off before our 2.5 mile walk today and got hit about a dozen times. We need more bats and swallows around here. Both species are going nuts at dusk, reveling in the mosquito smorgasbord. My wife says that a bat can eat a thousand mosquitos a night.

  54. nick flandrey says:

    I started running the a/c in my house and office buildings back in March. 

    – I’ve never stopped.   

    ————-

    Well fellows, I’m home.  Some observations and thoughts over the next couple of days.   Right now, I’m gonna schedule tomorrow’s post and go to bed in my own bed.

    n

  55. Denis says:

    …go to bed in my own bed.

    Happy, happy, joy, joy! Welcome home.

  56. Lynn says:

    I like the way my junk hangs down to my knees and bangs around

    You need support.  Go see a urologist.  The tubes to your testicles might snap.

    A friend got this condition a few years ago.  He has to wear support underwear now.

    That is all I know and all I want to know.

Comments are closed.