Once more starting cool and ending hot, if the rain doesn’t keep things a bit cooler. Mid 80sF yesterday during the rain… Won’t mind if today is similar.
Didn’t get much done, but did do some household and pc chores. Not as many as I needed to do. That’s starting to be the story of my life. Like all those weeks when RBT would start by saying he wasn’t posting, then posted a lot, we make plans but the gods laugh.
Today I’ll try to get a few more things done than I did yesterday.
That’s a pretty low bar to get over, so maybe I’ll succeed. It would be nice to have a win.
Always be working.
Stack. Our enemies and the whole world is still out there.
n
… and a good Tuesday morning to them, too!
Megaproject progresses. Overtime accrues. The weather outside is finally pretending to be high summer, but I won’t see much of the outdoors this week. Too bad.
Testing Lidl’s own-brand of crunchy müsli this morning. It is a wee bit more sugary than the Aldi equivalent, but the Aldi one doesn’t include raisins, so it’s about a draw. I think I prefer the Aldi product, and will continue to just add raisins to it. I like raisins!
That’ll be the German soccer fans, then? 7-1 against Curacao!
Stacks debuffs? Is that Autocorrect for “sucks dead bunnies”, like JEP used to say?
Hope you will feel better soon!
Hmm. The Lidl müsli is growing in my estimation; there is dried apple, and the almonds are whole halves, rather than thin flakes … Hmm. Might need a second bowl for scientific reasons.
Assuming that’s a serious question and not just goofing around:
“Buffs” in gaming are increases to character performance: increased strength, increased alertness to danger, removal of need for sleep, etc
“Debuffs” are the opposite: decreased strength, increased chance of fumbling when drawing a weapon
“Stacking” means having multiple effects, with cumulative or even synergistic effects
(NB: “synergy” is a real word with a real meaning. It’s not just meaningless business babble. Shocking but true!)
In preparing for my upcoming visit to North America, I was seeking to acquire a Sim for my phone, which I used successfully when I visited 2 years ago. Turns out, my two year old Motorola mobile phone can no longer be used on NA networks – they have been ‘upgraded’.
Progress?
“Progress?”
Why yes. The new phones scan your body cavities, wallets, and record your phone calls and browsing history, transmitting to fedgovs AI analyzer ever thirty minutes.
Welcome to America, bend over.
Stacks debuffs?
– what Steve said. I’ve been reading a TON of LitRPG lately so gamerspeak is top of mind. And I like the concept. (debuffed by – existing injuries, old and current, wet, damp, low barometric pressure, fatigue, etc)
Up and moving. 79F and bright grey out. Visibly wet outside. Yuck. Coffee will help though.
n
Turns out, my two year old Motorola mobile phone can no longer be used on NA networks
– that’s kinda weird as my phone is older than that, and so are all the iphones in the house. Maybe the service needs an eSIM or something the phone doesn’t have? I’d look at other services.
———-
n
– harbinger of war, new systems are requested and provided.
https://www.militaryaerospace.com/communications/article/55382470/faa-seeks-industry-input-for-nationwide-vhf-fm-radio-modernization-effort
n
My 4-year-old Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G phone works pretty well on T-Mobile with an esim.
I noticed this morning that yesterday the cleaners had the audacity to clean the carafe on the coffee maker. I’ve worked in places where that would have caused a real shirt (-r) storm. I just rinse it out as god intended.
Interesting way to frame the situation-
https://www.zerohedFrom Hormuz To Houston: The US Takeover Of Global Energy Flows Ramps Up
From Hormuz To Houston: The US Takeover Of Global Energy Flows Ramps Up
and more about Flock – who were unable to do anything to help the popo track or find my neighbor’s stolen truck, despite getting a hit on their system.
https://www.zerohedge.com/technology/utterly-flocked-we-dont-track-people-firm-deploys-nationwide-network-warrantless
Pretty disingenuous to say “we’re tracking your vehicle not you”.
n
I just rinse it out as god intended.
– if you do it right away, that’s fine. If you have people who leave it on the heater until it boils dry, not as good. I used to clean mine with a magic eraser before company came to stay. Since I broke the carafe and modified the “only drip when the carafe is pushing on the nipple” valve, I just put my mug under the nipple now. No carafe to clean! Win!
n
Buried in the article itself is the word “secure”, which exists now as a technology but it isn’t interoperable in, say, SoCal, because of a thousand separate agencies and standards and therefore isn’t used much by emergency services.
If the FAA takes lead and creates a de facto standard that might help.
FEMA doctrine on interop is NO ENCRYPTION. It’s very hard to manage encryption well and in a real event with all the disarray and confusion, it’s even harder, so FEMA says NO. They also say “use plain language” because the popo can’t even coordinate their coded speech lists. One agency’s “10-x” codes are different from the next….
n
I drink two large mugs every morning. W1 just one and MIL a small one. Just about the whole pot. Heater turns off after 2 hrs but I never put an empty one back on. Sometimes if I have a cup left I have an ice coffee in the afternoon. It is a Kurig duo so k-cup anytime someone wants one.
Summer of 68 I went to work on the summer crew of the fire dept. That’s when I started on coffee regularly. Now there is some strange coffee culture that happens there.
My Duo at the BOL gets way too hot. I turn it off and open the lid (to let the condensation dry) as soon as it’s done brewing.
The hot plate burns the coffee leading to the bad taste. Can’t get coffee too hot and still have good coffee.
n
Color me not surprised…
https://pjmedia.com/chris-queen/2026/06/16/fbi-stops-alleged-terrorist-plot-against-white-house-ufc-event-n4954019
All true, from FEMA’s point of view, things are what they are.
But
ifwhen you need encryption you are probably going to need it bad.Someone needs to take lead on fixing this, rather than just throwing up their hands and saying “it’s too hard!”.
I am probably reading too much into it, but if you were to start an effort the aerial side of police and fire would be the place to do it: personnel used to sophisticated technology, users to whom disciplined use of radio for com and coordination is a daily part of their lives already.
From there you can spread out into the other areas. You’ll never get 100% penetration but that really isn’t necessary.
—
And that said, the real money is on this being somebody in the FAA management building a little empire with tax dollars…
Anyone remember the name of the tobacconist where RBT used to get his pipe tobacco?
JC Newman? JR Thompson? Someone in NYC I think.
cigarsinternational.com has a lot of pipe tobacco if you search on “pipe”.
n
I, too, am focusing on the “secure” verbage. VHF and UHF and FM and repeaters are commodities now. If I wanted to set up a Digital repeater tomorrow, I could. The hard part is getting a good tower site. Well, and paying for it, but it’s all off-the-shelf tech.
P25 is a bit harder, but also pretty much off the shelf. It’s a step up in pricing, since you have to use Motorola-level gear (If you have to ask how much, you can’t afford it). Trunking gives you a little bit of security through obscurity without stepping up to encryption. I’d guess there are many city and county agencies that haven’t budgeted for that.
My bet is they want enforced trunking AND encryption, no matter how much trouble it causes with interoperability.
In the ham world, in Houston, we already have amazing infrastructure for VHF/UHF/FM comms within our service. I can use a $25 Chinese handheld transceiver in my front yard and converse with all of Harris county and beyond on 5 watts, non-digital, on 146.88 MHz. Our antenna is 1400 feet in the air in Missouri City.
In spite of that, when we do volunteer events like the Wings Over Houston airshow or the Buffalo Bayou Regatta, we are given agency-provided P25 radios to use instead of our own gear. Agencies gotta agency.
@chad, you feature prominently in the previous discussions!
https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2014/05/05/monday-5-may-2014/
https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2012/12/06/thursday-6-december-2012/
https://www.ttgnet.com/journal/2012/09/06/thursday-6-september-2012/
If you like aromatics, anything by Lane will probably work, their Lane 1/Q is the best selling blend in the world and often used as the “house” brand by stores. I find the cherry is a bit subtle…
C&D got sold to a big multi, so reading about RBT speaking directly to a blender seems crazy.
n
Blast from the past! 🙂
Yep, Cornell & Diehl was the one I was thinking of. I do recall RBT mentioning Craig Tarler passed away, but for some reason I seem to recall his kid or widow or somebody took it over. I didn’t realize it had been sold. Bummer. Another big company trying to buy the reputation of a smaller ma-and-pa brand.
https://www.cornellanddiehl.com/
“I noticed this morning that yesterday the cleaners had the audacity to clean the carafe on the coffee maker. I’ve worked in places where that would have caused a real shirt (-r) storm. I just rinse it out as god intended.”
The residue is probably hazmat.
There is a whole religious fervor about not cleaning moka pots that is crazy to me. Clean your tools. If the result tastes good, then clean is good. If not, there is something else wrong because cooking stuff should be clean at the start.
n
added– properly seasoned and cared for cast iron is clean and should be cleaned!
Filthy crust all over the outside isn’t adding anything to the inside of the pan, and I’ve cleaned enough pans to know that if there is heavy crust inside the pan, it’s got layers of rust and filth under it and is NOT a benefit.
n
I tried the moka pot thing for a while.
Trouble is, I’m not a coffee snob. I just need the caffeine. I appreciate good coffee, but it’s not worth it to me for the extra trouble.
At the house, we have K-cups, french press (hot), french press (cold brew), moka pot, pour-over, and when Stepson#1 visits, aeropress. I feel like I”m forgetting something.
Oh, yeah. There’s an espresso machine.
When we feel like it, we mix our own coffee water from distilled plus carefully measured minerals, since Houston’s tap water is so hard it affects the flavor.
My moka pot is the small one, and it’s just too much trouble for so little coffee.
When all is said and done, I mostly drink Keurig made with tap water. French press or pourover for special occasions or during power outages.
Speaking of covfefe:
I started doing bulletproof coffee to fight brain fog:
I take a theanine capsule with it, recommended by Dave Asprey, to help negate the caffeine crash.
It does pep me up nicely.
I spent 10.5 years in the USAF. There was always a coffee pot in every office. Along with two 10 gallon coffee makers in the mess hall. I never developed a taste for coffee. I did not drink coffee but the office groups wanted me to contribute to the coffee fund. I declined which made the others angry as it increased their cost. Several of my bosses kept a bottle of something in their desks that they added to every cup of coffee, ½ cup of coffee, the rest filled from the bottle.
One man’s patina is another man’s neglect.
Nah, patina is wear and marks from use and age. It’s still there if you wipe or clean it. Filth is filth.
n
The search for the Highlander saga trundles on. Atlanta gets different allocations on vehicles than the Knoxville/Nashville region. The Highlander cannot be custom ordered and the dealers get what they get.
I found a vehicle in Nashville that was the color and options I wanted. It is in the build phase but has already been sold. Bummer.
We did look at a Grand Highlander at a dealer in Atlanta. It was blue, with black interior. Not exactly what we wanted. But it gave the wife a chance to drive the vehicle and see how things worked and overall appearance. There were only two Grand Highlander Platinum in all of Atlanta, unless I wanted to go 25 miles south of Atlanta.
We told the salesperson that the vehicle we looked at is not what we want. I gave him the build information from the Toyota website, which did not give him the options that I selected so I had to forward those options to the salesperson.
He just contacted me and that have a model being built, for delivery to that dealer, that is exactly what I wanted, except for one accessory, the tow hitch, which the dealer can add.
https://www.toyota.com/configurator/build/step/accessories/year/2026/series/grandhighlander/model/6732/exteriorcolor/03T3/interiorcolor/LA40/packages/FE/accessories/2T-BM-CF-D5-J6-G4-V1-PL-RB-DH/?bap_guid=0828733d-2906-4c32-a7e6-4f23f452469d
Is what I am looking. We both want red color with tan interior. The one being built has that color combination. According to the dealer it should be at the dealership in 29 days. We will see.
The plan is to take the current Highlander to Carmax and get a price they will pay. After negotiating with the dealer on the price of the new Highlander, I will offer the current Highlander in trade. I will save a few hundred dollars in taxes so I would allow the dealer that wiggle room. I could probably private sale to an individual but I don’t want to deal with the hassle. Fraud, bogus checks, fake money, and other scams are not worth it.
I will not tell the dealer whether I am paying cash or financing. Again, the less information the dealer has, the better my bargaining position. I will actually pay cash, write a check on my money market account. Georgia will not charge me sales tax as I will have to pay that when I register the vehicle in Tennessee.
I also need to find out how much my insurance will increase. I don’t expect much of an increase. The Highlander will be more to insure by some amount but that will be offset by the safety features such as automatic breaking, cross traffic alert, and other items.
I don’t like buying cars as I don’t like playing the game that must be played.
The key to any negotiation is to be able to walk away.
I’d done very tough deals and watched W do a very easy deal with little negotiation.
If you want the deal more than they do, they will “win”.
n
This. A thousand times, this.
There’s always tomorrow and another deal.
Yep. The power of the feet walking out the door is significant.
The problem with this deal is most of the power is in the dealer’s favor due to the type of vehicle. Only two in Atlanta and I checked four dealerships. Nashville had two vehicles in the build phase and both were sold. My local dealer has none and their incoming stock is committed for the next 30 days. The dealer is in a position to say “if you don’t like it, we will sell to someone else”. And they will.
I knew all of that going in to the process. When the wants and needs are specific the negotiation power is tilted towards the dealer.
I checked Carmax for what they would give me for the vehicle, only $6K. The dealer will offer $7,400 (from their website) and I would save tax on that amount, probably about $600. So it appears that trading is going to be the best option. NADA is about $8,500 retail.
This dealing only has $1,300 in worthless dealer add-ons, less than many. And $695 in DOC fees. The lowest I have seen is $495 in DOC fees. The dealer add-ons I can do without but in the overall scheme of things it is not too bad.
I know dealers have to make money, and they do. Their overhead must be large what with staff, building, interest, taxes, insurance, etc.
Fortunately we do not “need” a vehicle. We can walk if the deal is really not to my liking.
In most cases, yes. That is proving to not be the case with the Toyota Highlander, especially model and trim level that we are wanting. Anytime there is a short supply of vehicles it becomes more difficult to negotiate.
When I was shopping for my truck there were a couple of really high end vehicles with “Dealer Adjustment” that were several thousands of dollars. I think it was a Mustang, Roush model, where the dealer was asking $10K over list price. It was gone two days later.
I really need to get with pruning the brush. Yes, I know it interferes with the NanoBeams. It was never a secret.
Yesterday was drippy rain and I had no Internet. The NanoBeams are connecting, trying anyway, and failing. When it dried up a couple of hours later, I went looking.
One NB is in the window of the EDC and aimed at the house. It’s easy. Look out the window and see what is in the way. Chop down all foliage blocking the view.
There is now a pair of eight foot tall elm trees in the way. I swear there were waist high shrubs a few months ago.
No signal this morning. Heavy dew. I found a pair of loppers and did some lopping.
And now there was a pair of eight foot tall trees.
Ok, I’m not up to full speed. Yet. I’ll get there.
“Deadly crash that killed 8 involved B-52 bomber with ties to Texas A&M”
https://www.chron.com/culture/article/spirit-of-aggieland-b-52-crash-22307759.php
“The “Spirit of Aggieland” was given its nickname by a longtime Air Force colonel who graduated from Texas A&M University.”
“Hayes told media members that the crew was a mix of military members and civilian government contractors. The Air Force did not release the names of those who died in the crash, but aerospace company Boeing, which also manufactures the B-52 Stratofortress, said in a statement Monday that two of its employees were among the dead. Friends of Lt. Col. Miles Middleton, a test pilot, confirmed to the New York Post that he was one of the crew.”
Yup, sad.
“Elon Musk warns America will ‘1,000%’ go bankrupt. Now he’s the world’s 1st trillionaire”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/elon-musk-warns-america-will-1000-go-bankrupt-now-hes-the-worlds-1st-trillionaire-184000120.html
“His exact words, spoken on the Dwarkesh Podcast in February 2026:”
“”We are 1,000% going to go bankrupt as a country and fail as a country, without AI and robots. Nothing else will solve the national debt.””
“He also said the country is “actually totally screwed because the national debt is piling up like crazy.””
“And that may not be as much of an exaggeration as it sounds.”
“According to the Treasury Department (3), U.S. national debt now stands at $39.22 trillion — and it continues to grow as federal spending outpaces revenue. So far in fiscal year 2026, the government has already spent about $1.25 trillion (4) more than it has collected.”
“So let’s get this straight.”
“The man who just became the first trillionaire in history is warning that America is going bankrupt.”
“What can ordinary investors learn from that?”
And that is the $8,000,000 question.
Apparently it was the (sole) B-52 AESA radar upgrade testbed a/c.
From my brother today:
“Just played pickleball with a guy who’s next door neighbor was on that plane.
He says the guy has a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old at home.”
Just went out and turned on a mister for the Chihuahua’s.
It is only 100F, nothing special for mexican food animals, but two are in their teens, best to be safe.
Rain stopped enough that I did some pruning around the ‘water feature’ in the front yard. I like it sort of wild, but not more than 3ft tall. There is a bunch of plants that make a nice lump of foliage between the street and the pond, and they were more like 5ft tall today. Not anymore.
moved some stuff. Time to move some stuff to the attic.
n
Oh, I pruned the apple tree too, and it has little ping pong ball sized apples! At least three of them. That is a success after only a couple of years.
n
I’m really trying to get out of my “don’t give a shi(r)t” laziness. I must. It’s just me here.
“Chick-fil-A’s reign is over. See who is now the top fast food chain”
https://finance.yahoo.com/small-business/articles/chick-fil-reign-over-see-200325347.html
“For the first time in more than a decade, Chick-fil-A is no longer the top-rated quick-service restaurant, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), which rates eateries based on thousands of customer surveys reflecting on recent experiences with major chains.”
“After an 11-year run, results from 16,464 respondents knocked the chicken chain from its coveted spot in favor of sandwich shop Jersey Mike’s, which was commended for its freshness, food variety and value. Securing an ACSI score of 84 out of 100, Jersey Mike’s edged Chick-fil-A out by one point after adding 238 net new locations in 2025 and clearing $4.2 billion in sales.”
No freaking way.
In preparing for my upcoming visit to North America, I was seeking to acquire a Sim for my phone, which I used successfully when I visited 2 years ago. Turns out, my two year old Motorola mobile phone can no longer be used on NA networks – they have been ‘upgraded’.
Progress?
My 4G / LTE ??? Samsung S10 worked just fine until I swapped it last week. My new Samsung S26 is 5G only.
I think that the phone networks in the USA are LTE, 4G, and 5G now. And I am not sure about the LTE but there is an instant connect LTE phone system in usage still, Rapid Radios.
The 3G in my 2019 truck got shut down a couple of years ago.
That is like Dollywood advertising itself as the top rated theme park in the U.S. Uh, no. I have season tickets and it is not even close. Of course when the survey is only conducted by the guests in the park, local people with season passes, the results are going to be biased.
Dollywood is family friendly. Lots of electric scooters, loaded to maximum capacity. Good accommodations for people with disabilities, excellent and reasonably priced food, the shows are very well done. But for an overall experience Disney World would certainly qualify higher than Dollywood.
I’m really trying to get out of my “don’t give a shi(r)t” laziness. I must. It’s just me here.
I was asking about A and B? Are they still with you or did you sell them yet?
Crude Oil for July is down to $76.
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/CL%3DF/
I keep on hearing that the oil tanks are empty everywhere but the prices certainly do not reflect that. It is all about Hormuz.
Dollywood is family friendly. Lots of electric scooters, loaded to maximum capacity. Good accommodations for people with disabilities, excellent and reasonably priced food, the shows are very well done. But for an overall experience Disney World would certainly qualify higher than Dollywood.
I have been noticing that you have to be 300+ lbs to use the electric scooters at HEB lately. Not good, walking is really good for you.
I was really worried that once my mom sat down in the scooter, she’d never not need it… but she’s lost about 100 pounds and is getting around great. In fact she’s a bit skinny.
Her cognition seems fine, better even, but that could just be attitude, although I’m sure everything works better when you are at a normal weight especially at 87yo.
n
What’s A and B?
Penny and Buddy? Sell them? No way!
You gamer kids with your LoLspeak. Get off my lawn!
Midnight is imminent. Eyes tired. Goodnight.
Didn’t you have some cattle that you named A and B?
I don’t know if I mentioned it but Busch Gardens had a minimum of assistive devices, and not many kids in strollers either. It’s not really a kiddy park though, with the big rides all being roller coasters and not having any familiar IP, other than a Sesame Street thing.
It’s a fairly small park, although they do a good job of winding around to make it seem bigger. The coasters are all good. The water raft ride was closed for remodel, and some other major ride was closed too. I didn’t notice any signage for the tasting room, dunno if that is still a thing.
All the waste receptacles and a whole lot of the line fencing was made from plastic, looked like recycled planks, but a lot of additional crowd control and access control had been added recently to stop people from throwing stuff where they shouldn’t.
Only the one coaster had a metal detector and empty pockets enforced, all the others would allow a very small bag like a fanny pack or a tiny sling bag, as long as it didn’t interfere with the safety restraints. There were lockers at every ride but there was a charge to use them. Universal required use of the lockers with metal detectors at every ride, but they were free.
Coffee was available at several locations in the park, unlike Universal last year which only had one place selling coffee, near the entrance. Cherry coke was as close as it got to Dr Pepper, and most locations only had a couple of coke products on the fountain. Food was expensive but good. My brisket sandwich with fries and a fountain drink was $24 iirc.
The quickpass was as costly as the entry tickets and was worth it even on a very light attendance day as most of the rides have very slow loading.
It’s a one day park but if you like coasters, it’s a good one.
n
Jersey Mike’s is being prepped for IPO by the current private equity owners, Blackstone.
Line up for shearing, sheeple.
You can duplicate a Jersey Mike’s sandwich at home without a lot of effort.
This is a brutal restaurant environment. As Darden did a few years ago with its founding chain, Yum! Brands announced today that they sold Pizza Hut to private equity.
Pepsico started what eventually became Tricon/Yum! with Pizza Hut.
Closer to home, making a Sam’s Club run today, I noticed that the Hooter’s near my employer’s campus closed. That was the last location in the Austin Metro area.
Bankruptcy and political incorrectness may have been factors, but a Rowdy Cowboy moved into the abandoned Joe’s Crab Shack across the freeway a few months ago, featuring Rowdy Cowgirls and a more varied menu.
“Eat * Drink * Bottoms Up”
I went ahead and did it. Ordered this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/256419118197
Looks exactly like the set of filters I just finished off.
And then, the RO filter. Stuff gets weird. As best as I can tell, my system has a 25 gallon per day (GPD) RO membrane. Looking on Big River and eBay, it looks like 50 GPD is the default size now. You can find some 18 GPD filters.
AND it’s all GENERIC now. Mostly. I think.
I bought this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/184350936657 The two pack of 36 GPD membranes. Yes, they have options. It’s all crazy.
Shopping on Big River was useless.
And I finally managed to get into my PayPal account and used up the $37 I had there.
Yeah, me thinks the voters hate us
neo-nazi, right wing,Christian(s),White Supremacists.The tasting room building is in the Bird Gardens. I don’t know what they call it now, but it was the Hospitality House going back as far as I remember.
The Bird Gardens section is the original park, prior to Disney p*ssing off one of their key Imagineers in the 70s … name escapes me … who subsequently themed Circus World and Busch Gardens Tampa’s transformation into “The Dark Continent” out of spite.
The Swiss Colony House (or whatever they call it now) used to offer samples as well.
The irony of Busch Gardens is that the beer has always been sourced from Pepin Distributing, even when the brewery was on site.
Also, contrary to conventional wisdom, Florida was not an untamed wildernesThe Rodent did not build the first Alweg monorail system in Florida.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zo0_L3IXk7k
I’ve never been to a Chick-fil-A. Go to “Jersey Mike’s” because why? I don’t go to the local Subway already.
Propaganda
Yep, I bet there were politics involved in the voting. Gotta punish chic fi la…
Jersey Mike’s convinced my mom they were a local store in Chicago a few years ago. She thought it was a home grown effort and liked eating there. Cheaper than Giordellos.
The Joe’s Crab Shack in Pearland on I 45 shut down years ago. I noticed some time in the last year they scraped the lot and filled in the pond.
Black Bear Cafe seems to be making inroads. They’ll be
nextsoon for an IPO…n
No more editing on my phone.
I hate roller coasters. Yes, I do like the train ride. And all of the mechanical stuff. A nice up and down and zipping fast around corners is fun.. I hate the sudden falling off a cliff effect. Really hate that.
I mean, I can do that cliff effect with a ladder and falling off my roof.
Jersey Mike’s will IPO and be an institutional investor darling provisioned by Sysco.
A series of execs from Fancy Lad schools like Taco Julie will run the place into the ground like they have Cracker Barrel and countless others.
Brinker (Chili’s) came back from the dead, but notice the demographic in charge.
There was apparently a 250 Anniversary counter party to tRump’s UFC, flyover, patriotic -a-palooza. Headlined by Jane Fonda, Rober DeNiro, and Bette Midler. I didn’t see anything on the innertubes about it until today. I bet all three of those PLT losers went on and on about how they hate tRump and America. All multi-millionaires that could live anywhere, but insist on living in America and dissing it to the max. Soon, they will all be dead. Throw in Bernie Sanders, Soros, and a bunch of other old commie turd-buckets and the US will be a much better place.
This is another place that is trying the Cracker Barrel remod for the “modern audience.” It is failing. The old menu is coming back with the favorites us geezers like. “Meat and cheese! The horror!”
The hippo- critical bastages continue to do the bidding of whoever put their sorry a$$es in position to make money. Hanoi Jane even made a star turn.
And yeah, not one mention of it until afterwards crossed my awareness.
n
I went in one of the remod Cracker Barrel restaurants near the Orlando Airport back in April, one of four that the chain completed remodeling before Taco Julie was taken to Uncle Herschel’s woodshed.
The place was creepy white, unlike the Cracker Barrel theme that built the brand.
I know at least one more is in Orlando, near the Disney development experiment in Celebration.
the “modern audience.”
– my kids liked it a lot a couple of years ago in Kansas when we were there for a family wedding. Chainsaw sculptures, oh my. Servings were HUGE. Haven’t been to the one in Houston, we don’t eat out much.
The whole point of ‘themed entertainment’ ‘location based entertainment’ and ‘themed retail’ is that it is DIFFERENT from what you can get elsewhere, but the same whenever you go. Change is death for those places.
n
Surprisingly, the worst hit I’ve seen an area take from a shuttered Joe’s Crab Shack was in Redondo Beach last year. Joe’s and three other defunct restaurants stood empty in between the Portofino Hotel and the other dining options available within walking distance.
If the big restaurant at the Portofino had a wedding like it did the night we stayed, dinner for guests without invitations was a long walk down a sidewalk with a drainage line discharging water from a closed restaurant onto the concrete.
The Portofino Hotel is the landmark end of the Cannonball Run so I imagine that Joe’s was popular with the car geek tourist crowd in addition to the hotel guests.
“A Chicago woman stopped to hear a stranger’s story outside Target — then $5,000 vanished from her account”
https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/crypto/articles/chicago-woman-stopped-hear-strangers-160000834.html
“Emilie Kostecka was approached by three men in the Logan Square neighborhood of Chicago, just outside a Target store. They were carrying a hefty binder with photos of a boy they said was the victim of gun violence and were asking for donations.”
“One of the men offered to hold her phone while she flipped through the binder. Even though she didn’t make a donation, a $5,000 charge appeared on her account shortly afterward for carpentry services.”
Why put your checking account on your phone? This is why I abhor apps on my phone.
Tennessee has a number of inexpensive “meat and three” restaurants, particularly in the Nashville area, but the concept is not something that is familiar to the rest of the country.
We ate at several local examples in Tennessee last fall, avoiding Cracker Barrel completely since the controversy was still fresh.
“Toyota Won’t Replace Every Recalled Tundra V6, and Some Owners Are Fed Up”
https://www.thedrive.com/news/toyota-wont-replace-every-recalled-tundra-v6-and-some-owners-are-fed-up
“Toyota will use software, not wrenches, to decide which recalled Tundras need new engines.”
I ain’t happy with Ford either on my forthcoming $6,000 front end rebuild of my Ecoboost V6 in my 2019 F-150 4×4. And it is just one more thing in life that I need to get done before the engine wrecks itself and turns into a $12,000 long block.
The banking apps often feature the ability to deposit checks with an image of the front and back.
In lieu of a Visa, I run a Visa debit card account at the credit union in WA State using checks deposited via phone.
The app requires two factor authentication, but the credit union is a big institution in Vantucky.
The WA State credit union app and Geico are my only non-Apple apps.
“My 4-year-old Motorola Moto G Stylus 5G phone works pretty well on T-Mobile with an esim.”
I ‘understand’ that it is due to the frequency ranges used to provide the services. Suppliers provided different markets with different support functionality. Turns out, apparently, that Apple and Samsung did a better job; their UK products cover the spectrum and are typically supported. Unfortunately it would appear Motorola, for one, where more selective.
Well, historically, that’s been a feature of cars since Rolls met Royce.
A mechanic friend of mine once told me: “If it’s made by Man, it will break.”
We found the Black Bear Diner in California, 10 or so years ago. Great food, large servings. They opened one here in San Antonio last year. Still good food, and we’ve been back a couple of times.
– what sort of an idiot thinks “The national debt is piling up like crazy” is an exaggeration? I’d pass on the rest of the article if it has more stupidity in it.
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I ‘understand’ that it is due to the frequency ranges used to provide the services.
– Ah, that makes sense. Some models are sold as a “world phone” or “unlocked for all carriers” and support all the freq bands. Some cheaper ones are not. You should check with some other carriers in the US though, because most of the bands overlap with one carrier or the other. T-mobile (try mint as an alternative) or one of the services that use Verizon might overlap with your euro bands… someone must have done a chart by now…
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The banking apps often feature the ability to deposit checks with an image of the front and back.
— my business bank (only because they offer free business banking, no fees for basic services) has mobile deposits. I use it only because their nearest branch is almost an hour round trip in the afternoon. No other financial apps on my phone, but the wife has a bunch. Still, what sort of idiot hands their phone to a stranger? and what sort of banking does she have that would allow a $5000 mobile payment? Mine don’t.
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Almost time to get D2 from her activity. Dropped her off, and I’ll need to pick her up. This has been on the calendar for a long time as a twice weekly recurring event, so I’ll allow it…. D1 is on a second date (double date).
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Damn dog somehow got past the gate and peed in my bedroom. He pees about a quart when he does it too. I’m very tired of him peeing in the house, but we can ‘t catch him at it to punish it. Does the rubbing their nose in it thing work? He does it on purpose, especially when the grass is wet, or it’s raining.
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When I lived in San Antonio I went to The Magic Time Machine to eat. Just off I-410 on the north side of SA. It was quirky place to eat with each dining setting a different decoration. I think I have eaten there about 4 times due to the cost. Last time I was in SA the place still seemed to exist.
Another place I ate that had good food and a good atmosphere was The San Francisco Steakhouse. It no longer exists.
Yeh, well, you can just brake a leg. 🙂
I came very close once.
After my divorce, I got my motorcycle license (because that’s what one does) and bought my first bike, a Yamaha Virago 750, 30 years old. I did my training and licensing on a Honda 250, God only knows what model, but it was the biggest bike they offered in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation class.
So I took the bike out a few times, probably a couple hundred miles, mostly pavement. It was plenty thrilling for me, even though it was all below 60 MPH. I was a well-trained, but inexperienced rider.
One day I was on my county road , approaching a T intersection, and I was going too fast. I braked hard, and hit a patch of loose gravel. At a slight angle.
I remembered from my training that you can turn, or you can brake, but trying to do both leads to disaster. So I continued braking while upright, and nearly went into the intersection with cross traffic.
I stopped, barely, just past the stop sign, but note quite into the traffic. I remained upright; I didn’t lay down the bike.
That’s when I realized that my left foot had been adding to the braking by reflex, sliding in the gravel of what was now the shoulder of the road.
I chalked it up as a learning experience and continued riding. For a while. When the starter on my Virago died, as they always do, I decided to retire it and my riding. No one sane rides a bike in Houston anyway. All of my riding was in rural Illinois.
To clarify: The bike was over 30 years old. I was 55.
Damn dog somehow got past the gate and peed in my bedroom. He pees about a quart when he does it too. I’m very tired of him peeing in the house, but we can ‘t catch him at it to punish it. Does the rubbing their nose in it thing work? He does it on purpose, especially when the grass is wet, or it’s raining.
Mine pees and poops in my garage when it is raining.
In the house, we have a pee pad in the study and in our bathroom since she sleeps with us. Vibrant Life XXL. $50 for 100 pads. They are carpet savers.
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vibrant-Life-Training-Pads-Dog-Puppy-Pads-XXL-30-in-x-36-in-100-Count/264726630
The Magic Time Machine is still there. The menu on the website looks cheap by Austin standards.
Going to Florida feels really weird lately since restaurant prices here got out of control.
Even Nashville was reasonable compared to Austin.
Josh Hawley on Warpath After Baseball Players Targeted, and MLB Won’t Like What May Be Coming Next
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2026/06/16/josh-hawley-on-war-path-after-baseball-players-targeted-and-mlb-might-not-like-whats-coming-next-n2203414
I never played baseball beyond a few pickup games–knew a couple guys that were good enough to play pro for a bit. But if I had been on a team that stenciled their pitchers mound, or played a team that did, I would have refused. As mentioned, a violation of the league’s own rules and way over the line trying to force personal endorsement of a criminal organization.
As for the present tomfoolery, I’m going to make sure that a business owner friend who is also a devout Christian is aware before he plans the annual employee outing to the ballpark.
Judge Upholds Wisconsin Judge’s Conviction for Helping Illegal Alien Evade ICE
Orange is the new black for this one.
“YouTuber Fools Tesla Autopilot With A Painted Wall (Updated)”
https://insideevs.com/news/753642/tesla-autopilot-road-runner-test/
“Tesla CEO Elon Musk is adamant that the company’s future isn’t so much matching competitors like BYD at making electric vehicles—it’s in cars that can fully drive themselves. Yet Tesla’s approach to autonomous driving technology is a unique and controversial one because it relies solely on cameras and artificial intelligence, not additional sensors like radar and lidar.”
“But a new video from YouTuber and engineer Mark Rober is a good illustration of the weaknesses of this approach. On his channel, the former NASA engineer and CrunchLabs founder outlines a test that’s lifted straight from an old Looney Tunes short: can a fake, painted wall “fool” a Tesla on Autopilot into crashing?”
Mark Rober is back and he is not playing with squirrels or torturing front porch package stealers this time.
He also 3D prints Space Mountain roller coaster ride.
Here is the direct youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IQJL3htsDyQ
The food is also better in Florida and Tennessee.
What’s really surprising is that we’ve never found an Indian restaurant here that is as good as the hole-in-the-wall place we like in Orlando, located on I-drive behind a tattoo parlor in a strip mall on International Drive.
Knex had a detailed Space Mountain set about 15 years ago which was supposedly a very accurate re-creation. The set is out of production and highly sought after by Disney Adults.
The stereoscopic optical system we used at the tolling company to enable “open road” systems was 99.95% accurate, and that was a fixed environment, surveyed down to the cm, with careful masking of the video feeds to make sure that the vehicles rolling through the plazas were the only objects in motion.
I doubt that number is a lot better now than it was six years ago.
If we missed $200-300 in tolls on a 20,000 vehicle rush hour shift, no big deal.
Hit even one pedestrian in an autonomous vehicle? That’s a different story.
Re: The Magic Time Machine
I went there in 1973 when I was attending Officer Training School (OTS). Really enjoyed eating there.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk is adamant that the company’s future isn’t so much matching competitors like BYD at making electric vehicles
– BYD is not a competitor to tesla.
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I think I’m going to bed.
It’s later than I thought. Youtube shorts got me while I’ve been feeding CDs into the server.
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