And it’s still hot. Hoping for a little cool spell didn’t make it happen. What is wrong with the universe that it doesn’t bend to my will? Eh, gonna be hot and humid again today in all likelihood. And this weekend as well. It was certainly hot and humid yesterday, carrying on well into the night.
Heat and humidity? You’re soaking in it.
Did auction stuff in the morning, then did my pickups in the afternoon, with a bit of shopping thrown in. Well, buying more than shopping. Not much else of significance other than the kids had their first day back at school. Seemed to be fine with it too.
Today IDK what I’ll do. I think I’ll do a bit more cleaning on my auction purchase, and probably do some fence repair at the rent house. If I can do it with what I already have, I won’t have to bring anything home from the BOL, which is a plus. And since I need to stash my project for a day or two, I will probably go by the shop and try to get some work done there. If nothing else, I need to clear a path to the stuff for my upcoming show/event/convention. I’ll probably spend some time next week getting that stuff sorted and ready too.
I’ll keep working, and stacking, and maybe some small progress will be made.
nick
Border? What border? Who needs a border? It’s modern design! Artistic! An architectural statement! Take your pick…
XX chromosomes. Cheek swab each athlete once, and done.
IMHO there are actually very few people who disagree with this, but – wow – are they loud. And the loudness has convinced way too many other people to not say anything, for fear of offending the loudmouths.
You were very bad 🙂 Why no knife? You cannot have too many knives. I have one in my pocket, one on my desk, one in my toolbox – those I use regularly. I’m sure I have others lying around that I’m forgetting about…
It’s only important if you are lonely. Church is easy, if you’re religious, otherwise any sort of hobby gathering. People are only strangers at first. My rule, if I visit a new group, is that I cannot drop out until I have been three times. That’s long enough that at least some of the people are no longer strangers.
But then, I am a hermit by nature. In my military days, there were occasional social events. I learned that I had to at least show up. Show my face, then quietly disappear at the first opportunity. Otherwise, people got offended.
I have a grandfather clock I inherited from my mother. Brought it back to Switzerland, because it holds a lot of memories. I’ve had it repaired before, and now it has stopped again. Apparently, this is pretty normal: repair or service every 10 years or so.
The thing is: it’s a big and complicated beast. I wouldn’t want to take it apart myself, so the jeweler has to disassemble it here, take it back to the workshop for repair, then visit again to reassemble. Total cost, depending on what needs done, can easily hit $1000.
Despite the sentimental value, I just can’t justify throwing a grand at it every few years.
A politician using the words “Medicare For All” is pandering to younger people not yet on Medicare who look at their parents’ or grandparents’ coverage cobbled together from government and private supplemental insurance with the thought, “It works for them. Kinda. Maybe it could work for me.”
Boomers and people my age have been scared to death for nearly 40 years that they will die like the subjects in a Michael Moore documentary. Even with means and time to do something about it, they’ve opted to keep fingers crossed that Bad Daddy will take care of them … like always.
He was always there with a tuition check.
And, hey, maybe that AOC hottie has taco flavored kisses. They would like to find out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQKDlNTEl6w
Kampfs? Ze Kampfs are for Ze Skippy, ja.
Shhh. Reverse psychology. I got three fine hatchets and a pickaxe, but I was a good boy and didn’t buy any knives (other than the ones in the toolboxes).
Now, W1 has spontaneously decided she liked the LiqShop and wants to go back. This is quite the achievement, since she is usually allergic to anything even vaguely resembling a hardware store. She found some cloth shoe bags (Schusäckli) that she liked, and wants more. If she goes back, so do I. SA knives ahoi!
Friday. Lunchtime, so just had breakfast. Soft scrambled eggs and cheese on crusty brown bread. Not awful.
Time now to unofficially clean and tidy the holiday apartment, so that the official cleaners can be admitted. Women are strange that way.
It is a towering injustice that children are already back to school. June, July and August are sacred summer months. Sacrilege!
Sneaky…
A politician using the words “Medicare For All” is pandering to younger people not yet on Medicare who look at their parents’ or grandparents’ coverage
– I beg to differ. No one under 50 thinks about Medicare at all. Unless they’re sick themselves and don’t have coverage. And then it’s not Medicare per se, but the idea of someone else making them better. It’s the idea that if they have healthcare they’ll be healthy. The reality is long waits, shitty facilities, and random doctors, if they can even get in to see a doctor. That’s not what they want.
Obamacare had the bait and switch that put many more people on Medicare who thought they’d have their better coverage for less money, instead of joining the masses.
Any politician opening their mouth is lying and pandering and promising heaven to sinners, just pick your favorite lie.
———-
80F to start the day, and looks like it will be sunny too.
One kid is up and drove away already, the other is still moping in bed. This is very curious as the first is supposed to be driving the second to school. There is still time for her to return for her sister, but IDK what the plan is.
n
Welcome to the club.
Sounds to me like knowing what the plan is would be one of those strike-stricken activities.
I if were any sneakier, SteveF would probably adopt me as a companion for his ferret.
“If you like your doctor … you can keep your doctor.”
I figure I’ve taught 10,000-12,000 people about what happens in the real world.
My wife made the decision about pulling the plug on ~ 4,000 Central Texas VA patients, but I didn’t subsidize that care like I did private practice.
Obamacare was designed to fail and be replaced by some kind universal coverage by now, but Hillary lost the 2016 election.
Ah, D1 went early because the school had a morning event for new seniors. W took D2.
I’m gonna nap.
n
I told people this when the ACA was first passed. No one listened.
Obamacare was the end of ubiquitous one and two doctor primary care practices. They still exist, but they are hard to find and mostly concierge now. Soulless corporate practices like Houston Methodist are the norm, vertically oriented from primary care to specialty to your final hospitalization, staffed by people who don’t look like me.
You can reuse your bolts after bowing a zombie in the head. Just like The Walking Dead. Bullets, not so much.
I have a crossbow for just that purpose. Don’t you?
Sprinkled hard overnight.
No birds or rabbits when I tossed out some seed, so I put a cup of dry food in the outdoor bowl. Sure enough, a hungry cat appeared, scarfed it all down and then disappeared. Birds & critters have reappeared.
The funny thing about making the mistake with the pavers is I did the exact same thing in about 2022 in a matching section about 8′ away. Fortunately placing pavers is the easiest part of a job, Like painting: tedious preparation is everything.
Ack! “Border” is a trigger word, sir! Please watch your closed border sovereign mentality. Oh, wait…never mind.
Your MBBS will see you now.
Anyone planning using a crossbow or regular box should
learn to fletch bolts and arrows
buy the right equipment for doing so
buy a supply of top-rated fletches (aka vanes)
practice fletching
The right vane can leverage your time in the field(higher durability) and increase your accuracy. Crossbow bolts fly at about ⅓ the speed of sound, and for longer shots a quieter vane that does not announce its impending arrival so loudly can make the difference between a strike and a clean miss over the top of a deer the “ducked”.
Crossbows also popular with convicted felons who can’t legally own a firearm…
My question is, the indians killed a lot of big game, presumably with bows, so why is it a big deal with modern bows and modern arrows? And by big deal, I just mean that in the video he says “medium sized game”.
——
Up and moving. The completely clear sky now has some scattered clouds, and it’s almost 100F.
n
I didn’t watch the video, but that won’t stop me commenting.
Native Americans were savages who were survival hunting with the best weapons they could handle. Maiming and injuring prey was completely inconsequential; all that BS about sympathizing with their prey and praying over the carcass was modern AWFL fiction to portray white people as weak and evil by comparison. Remember, they drove entire herds of bison over cliffs to get a few meals, had wars, took slaves, and tortured captives.
Modern (white) hunters are very concerned that when they shoot an animal, it dies as quickly and humanely as possible. Indians likely shot 10 animals to kill one. Modern hunters want one shot, one kill, and view an escaped wounded animal as both a practical and moral failure.
I’m not saying they were evil reckless spawns of Satan. I’m saying that when feeding your family, friends, and tribe is a matter of survival, you do what you must.
See also: Cannibalism. Broadly speaking, American Indians tribes could be grouped into two categories: those who practiced cannibalism and those who died out. Very few figured out farming well enough to fully feed themselves even in the most fertile land. They didn’t develop hunting tools good enough to produce a reliable surplus of meat. Those few tribes who could reliably feed themselves were raided by those which couldn’t.
I have a grandfather clock I inherited from my mother. Brought it back to Switzerland, because it holds a lot of memories. I’ve had it repaired before, and now it has stopped again. Apparently, this is pretty normal: repair or service every 10 years or so.
The thing is: it’s a big and complicated beast. I wouldn’t want to take it apart myself, so the jeweler has to disassemble it here, take it back to the workshop for repair, then visit again to reassemble. Total cost, depending on what needs done, can easily hit $1000.
Despite the sentimental value, I just can’t justify throwing a grand at it every few years.
My father had a grandfather clock he inherited from his father. It never ran. At my grandparents house, it was always booming.
I sold it in the Estate Sale.
You were very bad Why no knife? You cannot have too many knives. I have one in my pocket, one on my desk, one in my toolbox – those I use regularly. I’m sure I have others lying around that I’m forgetting about…
My middle brother made me take dads 30 or so knives. It is just like all of the guns, I have no idea what to do with all of this stuff.
“Muslim Candidate Abdul El-Sayed Killed Over a Quarter of the Dogs Put Down in the Entire Country in 2015”
https://americafirstreport.com/muslim-candidate-abdul-el-sayed-killed-over-a-quarter-of-the-dogs-put-down-in-the-entire-country-in-2015/
“Abdul El-Sayed wants to be Michigan’s next U.S. senator. The progressive darling just clawed his way through a bitter Democratic primary. Now the record he once bragged about is staring voters in the face. And it stinks of blood and feces.”
“From 2015 to 2017, El-Sayed ran the Detroit Health Department. That put him in charge of the city’s Animal Care and Control operation during some of its ugliest years. According to records obtained by the Daily Mail, nearly 4,680 dogs and cats were euthanized while he held that post.”
“In 2015 alone, the shelter killed 1,988 dogs and 272 cats. That was more than a quarter of every dog put down in the entire county that year. The live-release rate sat at a miserable 20 percent. Four out of five animals that walked through those doors never walked out.”
Yup, just another Scumbag. Now he wants to kill 80% of us native born citizens.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“Zohran Mamdani Lies a Lot, and Charlie Kirk Understood Why”
https://rumble.com/v7e5rn0-zohran-mamdani-lies-a-lot-and-charlie-kirk-understood-why.html
I have problems trusting anyone who lies and especially those who lie a lot.
If the knives are not of sentimental value, get in touch with https://cuttingedge.com/ The specialists at A. G. Russell’s will assess what you have and can help you sell anything that is of interest to collectors and enthusiasts.
For the gubs, support your local merchant of death.
Outside of Christianity, is there a religion which preaches truth as a virtue? As far as I have found, the main difference between religions is who you are allowed to, or encouraged to, lie to.
Jainism
Buddhism
California can’t build a high speed train. Los Angeles can’t build a 2.25 mile slow train.
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-08-14/lax-people-mover-is-99-done-but-uncertainty-mounts-near-deadline
“Texas landowners fear huge new interstate could cut through property”
https://www.chron.com/texas/article/texas-interstate-i-14-22386705.php
“Conceptual maps for a proposed 125-mile interstate are raising flags.”
This is the I-14 interstate which is an I-10 bypass from Houston from Baton Rouge to Fort Stockton eventually. Texas needs this real bad.
I had the water well guys out to check my water well at the office. Sugar Land just put in a new 20 inch diameter water well a half mile away (my well is 4 inch diameter with a 2 inch line), 2,000 feet down with a 400 hp motor on it. I want to make sure that my well does not run dry like it did back in 2013 when I had to drill a new well for $9,800.
They reported:
Water level: 89ft
Pump set: 160ft
Deepest you can set is 200ft
Excellent, the well is 240 feet deep. And they fixed several items on the well and want to bring a crane truck to pull the well pump and replace the bleeder valve. The bleeder valve dumps excess air from the 120 gallon tank into the well and it is plugged. I told them to go for it, I want that well in brand new condition so I can flush my potties and run the showers.
“The Best-Selling Pickup Trucks Through The First Half Of 2026”
https://www.carpro.com/blog/the-best-selling-pickup-trucks-through-the-first-half-of-2026?lead_id=118331
“The first thing that jumps off this list is that the Ford F-Series is still doing what the F-Series has seemingly always done: sitting at the top. Ford sold 357,801 F-Series pickups through June, giving it an 81,727-truck lead over the Chevrolet Silverado. Ford says the F-Series is on pace to finish 2026 as America’s best-selling truck for the 50th consecutive year. That is an extraordinary streak, and although Chevrolet still has six months to work with, making up more than 81,000 trucks would require Silverado to outsell F-Series by an average of roughly 13,600 units every month for the remainder of the year. Making that even tougher, Ford says F-Series availability was constrained during the first half by production issues related to last year’s aluminum supply disruption and expects supply to improve during the second half.”
“I also continue to be impressed by the Ford Maverick. At 81,711 sales, this compact pickup is the sixth-best-selling truck of any size in America and has actually outsold the full-size Toyota Tundra by more than 7,000 units. Even more telling, Ford sold 46,507 Maverick Hybrids during the first half, meaning well over half of all Mavericks sold were hybrids. There is a lesson here for manufacturers: Not everybody who wants a pickup needs 12,000 pounds of towing capacity, a ladder to get into the cab and a payment that looks suspiciously like a mortgage. There is clearly a sizeable market for an affordable, fuel-efficient truck that fits easily into a garage.”
“California CARS Act Coming Soon-Will Other States Follow?”
https://www.carpro.com/blog/california-cars-act-coming-soon-will-other-states-follow?lead_id=118331
“Listeners to the Car Pro Show and readers of my newsletter have heard me talk repeatedly about the Federal Trade Commission cracking down on car dealers over misleading advertisements, hidden mandatory fees, unavailable rebates, unwanted add-ons and prices that mysteriously increase after a customer reaches the dealership. I have also said many times that dishonest advertising hurts more than car buyers. It puts honest dealers at a competitive disadvantage because the dealer advertising a real price can appear more expensive than the dealer advertising a price that nobody can actually pay.”
“The FTC tried to address those problems nationwide through its Combating Auto Retail Scams Rule, better known as the CARS Rule. That federal rule never took effect, but California has now taken many of the same ideas, placed them into state law and added a major protection that was not part of the FTC proposal: an automatic three-day right to cancel many used-car purchases and leases.”
Buying a vehicle now is like buying a house 20 years ago. The prices are unreal. And more worrisome, the price to fix is incredibly expensive. And maintenance on these high heat high rpm engines and transmissions must be performed regularly or they will fail.
“Jason Arday found dead
Academic had resigned from the University of Cambridge last week
Jason Arday, the former University of Cambridge professor, has been found dead.
Mr Arday was found “unresponsive” at an address in Battersea, south London, on Friday afternoon. He was later pronounced dead at the scene.
A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said officers were called by the London Ambulance Service at 3.12pm on Friday.
He said: “Sadly, a 41-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene. His next-of-kin have been informed and are being supported by officers.
“At this time his death is being treated as unexpected, but is not believed to be suspicious. The case is being investigated by officers from the Met’s Central South Command Unit. A file will be prepared for the coroner.””
The left will never accept that they built this monumental tragedy brick by DEI brick.
By tomorrow there will be over a hundred claims using “hounded to his death by the right”, and most of them will claim racism.
“You cannot have too many knives. I have one in my pocket, one on my desk, one in my toolbox – those I use regularly. I’m sure I have others lying around that I’m forgetting about….”
Piker. I suspect I have that many utility knives.
“Exxon CEO delivers blunt message on what’s coming for gas prices”
https://www.thestreet.com/investing/stocks/xom-exxonmobil-ceo-darren-woods-says-crude-prices-and-gas-prices-have-become-disconnected
“Darren Woods explains why changes in crude prices don’t always translate directly to what drivers pay at the pump.”
“There is a disconnect between crude prices and pump prices. And until that disconnect closes, Americans should not expect relief at the gas station, no matter what happens to WTI crude.”
““One of the things that’s going to have to happen is we’re going to have to get capacity restored and back into the marketplace, either by opening the strait and getting product flowing through there, and by China bringing additional exports into the marketplace to reestablish the link between pump prices and crude,” he said.”
Plus the idiots in California forced four medium and large refineries to close last Dec 31. That has had an incredible effect on the rest of the USA.
We had 250 refineries in the USA when I was a young engineer. We are at 90 now and still dropping. Refineries are incredibly expensive and ultra high maintenance plants to run. If they are not making a profit then the owner will shut them down and turn them into a tank farm system. That is what has happened in California and Hawaii. And along the entire East Coast of the USA.
“Ford Reportedly Plans $25,000 Entry Level Crossover Similar To The Escape, But Not The Escape”
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/cars/news-blog/ford-reportedly-plans-25-000-entry-level-crossover-similar-to-the-escape-but-not-45136042
“Ford gave franchise dealers an early glimpse at a new entry-level crossover during a recent meeting in Las Vegas, showcasing preliminary design concepts for an affordable subcompact expected to launch around 2029 with a target starting price of $25,000.”
So it is just SUV versions of the Maverick. Of course, they will sell like hotcakes.
Hilarious front page of The DM:
Trump’s callous response as US sailors throw themselves overboard in Iran war and grim photos of food emerge
An utter fabrication. You’d think sailors were plunging over the side every hour. The SecWar has already replied one sailor wearing a life vest went over this year. That’s it. He was medically held. If you’ve ever had chow on a Navy aircraft carrier, you know that photo was a fake.
It is too bad The DM seems fit to publish such undocumented trash. Yes, it’s a tabloid, but has some good reporting and follow-ups.
That’s the problem:
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/08/whats-the-problem.php
“End Game: Wolfhounds – Book Six” by John Van Stry
https://www.amazon.com/End-Game-Wolfhounds-Book-Six/dp/B0FMYP5HJ9?tag=ttgnet-20
Book number six of a six book science fiction space opera series. And there is a prequel series of two books and a sequel series of a few books. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2025 that I bought in 2026. I own first book in the sequel series and will read it soon.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F2JB5DF2?tag=ttgnet-20
I love Space Opera. And I love pulp science fiction. This series is both and a great example of the merging of the two. In fact, this series reminds me very much of the Robert Heinlein juvenile books, the Piers Anthony “Bio of a Space Tyrant” series, the “Mutineer’s Moon” series by David Weber, and the Perry Rhodan series. The dialog is very frequent and the action moves along quickly.
Chase Collis is a street rat. He and his mother lived in government housing in Imperial City until she died of a drug overdose when he was 12 years old. Just before that was the last time he saw his estranged father who screamed at his mother to keep hiding Chase or else the Emperor would kill them all. Chase ended up on the street at the age of 12, running with the street gangs, being arrested by the police time and time again.
When Chase became an adult, he murdered another street rat and was caught by the police. He purposely got caught to go to the Imperial Prison for a few years to get more street cred and rise to the top of the street gang. But to his shock, when he went to his trial, his father was the judge. His father sentenced him to ten years in the Imperial Navy rather than the four years in Imperial Prison that he expected, and then escorted him to the Naval Basic Training school.
In the far distant future, The Solarian Imperium consists of 38 star systems including Earth and the Sol system which were made uninhabitable in the War of Succession. Emperor Charles Morgan, Chase’s grandfather, was the latest in a long line of Morgans ruling the Imperium. His family keeps power because they are genetically modified with machine interfaces in their DNA. So are all of the Nobles: the Earls, the Dukes, the Counts, and the Barons. Any machine of any importance, and especially the space ships and the military weapons, requires a human with machine interface to tell the AI what to do. And the Imperial family machine interface in their DNA is the best of all the interfaces and has special rights with all of the machines in the Imperium. And nobody knows or understands how tight the Imperial human machine interfaces are with every AI in the Imperium.
Chase Collis ended up in the Emperor’s own Wolfhounds after his Navy machinists mate training to be a glorified broom pusher. The Wolfhounds are special military fleet embedded in a large asteroid capable of FTL flights to anywhere in the Empire. The Wolfhounds were standing down in cryosleep until needed by Emperor to protect him or to take care of a special task. But their cryosleep lasted for over ten years when it was supposed to be for six months at the most, treachery of the most high. And upon the Wolfhound’s accidental awakening, the Emperor and his family were dead for ten years and the Parliament and the Speaker have taken over the Imperium.
Prince Chase has now been to the Tomb, what everyone calls the uninhabitable Sol System, and verified to be the new Emperor by the ancient AI there. So now Emperor Chase and the Wolfhounds have to finish reconquering the Imperium, one star system at a time. And Chase has found less than a half dozen of his Imperial relatives alive so far and is coming to realize that the Parliament and the Speaker have managed to kill off most of the nobility with their embedded human machine interfaces that all of the machine AIs rely upon and are now timing out due to lack of authorized human contact. So the new Emperor and his Wolfhounds and Foxhounds are headed to Cor Imperii, the capital planet of the Empire to cut off the head of the DPRS and kill the leaders of the coup.
The author has a website at:
https://jvanstry.blogspot.com/
My rating: 6 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.8 out of 5 stars (1,529 reviews)
Lynn
Jason Arday was murdered by Marco Rubio acting on Trumphitler’s orders. Of course, Trumphitler was taking his orders from Israeli Jews. Funding for the operation came from American taxpayers, all of whom are White supremacists.
You heard it here first!
Friday bedtime. Still hot.
I made the mistake of drinking an iced coffee this afternoon. It was refreshing in the heat, but I forgot to specify decaffeinated coffee. It’s bedtime now, and about five litres of water later, my headache is almost gone…
The combination of heat and caffeine is not at all my friend. I hope I have learned my lesson and will remember it.
As I was feeling under the weather, I played around on the interwebs and researched my new-to-me tuba. It is amazing how much information is just out there for the reading. When I was growing up, that kind of stuff was beyond arcane.
I ordered a mouthpiece for the instrument from North America. Interwebs for the win again. I hope customs won’t rape me on the import charges, though. I found another NOS mouthpiece at an auction aggregator on eBay. This one was in Europe, so I ordered it too. Let’s see who gets it here sooner.
Tomorrow is Saturday, and I have no idea what I will be doing, other than being on holidays. I think I might go for a swim in the lake. That sounds like sufficient planning.
Goodnight!
MSRP on my new 2018 Ford C-Max hybrid hatchback was $23,000, and it is well-equipped. It’s about the same size and shape as a Tesla model Y.
It is holding up well. I like it a lot.
2018 was the last model year for the C-Max. I suspect there just wasn’t enough demand, so I am doubtful there will be enough demand for this new “similar-to-an-Escape.”
The Escape already is the SUV version of the Maverick. Or was.
The Maverick looks weird with a bed cap so maybe Tommy Boy is trying to cater to the people who want that styling but with an enclosed cargo area.
Plus, I’m guessing Hecho en Mexico rather than Louisville, KY.
What would sell like hotcakes is a Maverick at the original price point with a normally aspirated 2.5 L engine and a simpler transmission, maybe even a manual.
The problem is producing them in large enough numbers to crush dealer insiders.
I decided to do more cleaning on my recent purchase. It’s in the back of my Ranger, so I was working in the driveway, but the sun came back out from some light overcast and started boiling my brain…
So the Ranger is currently in the shade on my front grass. I’m sure I’ll get a nastygram from the HOA but they can suck it.
I might wash the Ranger while it’s in the shade…
n
I bought a flag today. I stopped by a neighbor’s house last week. They have a flag pole in the front yard and the latest is well into tatters a month or so ago. I guess. I take the trash to the street and go to the grocery store once a week.
Ain’t none my beeswax but I like seeing it flying in the breeze. So I stopped by and rang the doorbell.
Jeebus. They go to church and all that and it felt like they were starved for company.
Hey man. You take good care of the road. I’m going to buy you a flag.
Janie looks good. Jim has the oxygen thing going on. It’s little UPS size box sitting in the dining room and he has like 40 feet of aquarium air hose to drag around. And even with the oxy he got winded and had to go sit down.
Yes. He can control the amount of oxygen he gets. Set too high and he gets sparks when lighting a cigarette. Camels. The carton is on the top of the fridge. I didn’t know what to say beyond “wow”. Tempted to ask if he’s burned his eyebrows off yet.
I looked on Big River. $9 for a small flag. $27 for the size Jim thinks he has. Made in China. I went to Hoovers and $23 for Made in America.
So I bought a flag. I left the receipt in the bag in case it’s the wrong size. I looped the bag handles on the door knob of their laundry room.
I’ve wondered what that door is for. Five minutes in the house, yeah, I don’t know how the bedrooms are arranged but I got the dining / kitchen / living room / laundry room mapped.
Nice house.
The vibes are good.
No, man, leave it in the sun until it’s hot enough to cook an egg, then spray water on it. See if the water bursting into steam does a better job of cleaning than just spraying water. It’s science!
Mr Weasel’s owner is allegedly getting her this evening. We’ll see.
I took Mr Weasel outside a few minutes ago, on the chance that she does actually leave. I brought her to the very front of the yard, right next to the street, and put her down. She beelined for the bushes in front of the house. I scooped her up just before she got to them. Repeated multiple times. I think she ran the depth of the front yard seven or eight times. Brought her in because her heart was hammering. That might have been the most strenuous exercise she’s had in the past year. Or maybe ever. Put her in the cage (handing her a treat, as I’ve trained her to expect; it has worked in that she doesn’t immediately try to get out before the door is shut but instead runs up to the food level) to let her get a drink and use the litter tray, then I’ll bring her downstairs and let her run around my room while I work for a while longer. There’s a closet to explore! And the things under the futon which she hasn’t seen in forever! And the space behind the rolling cart!
When I took Mr Weasel outside a couple hours ago, we went over toward the chickens, who have apparently forgotten that they’ve seen her before and she never did anything. Predator-alert clucks, running around, and general uproar. Especially because Mr Weasel discovered that she can walk her front paws up the chicken wire which comprises the walls of the run. Eeek! Monster rearing up to attack! Run away!
… And as I typed the above, thunder has been rolling in and rain started. Since the plan had been to drive the ferret to the owner’s house along with the box holding food etc, while I rolled the cage down the road (it’s about a half mile), we’ll probably delay the plans. This assumes that the owner was actually going to show up, for the transfer of course.
… And as I typed that, the light rain turned into heavy rain.
Update: Make that a cloudburst.
“You heard it here first!”
Candi-O revealed yesterday in a subliminal message that T’hkur* would be disgusting it today.
*pronunciation instructions: take a good whiff of week-old garbage with at least 50% baby diapers. Cough and do a full glottal stop on “ta-hk”just as the bile rises. Then expel the “hr” between your teeth, making sure to retain any tasty chunks that have welled up.
@SteveF
IIRC The Borrowers were threatened with a boy’s trained ferret after they were discovered. Seems like they should be easy to train, and there’s probably a Victorian handbook around somewhere. If not you could write one. Might even make a good screenplay, especially if it were a thinly veiled metaphor for cleaning up the illegal alien infestation in our country.
I have a teeshirt design taking form…
When you say “ferret”, I visualize a self-propelled wood chipper with cybernetically-controlled arms (or better: tentacles), programmed to identify and grab anyone with non-white skin. Bonus: it will also grab and mulch those idiots with spray tans.
I suppooooooooose that if you want to be more race-neutral it could be programmed to identify and grab anyone speaking English with an annoying accent. Bonus: it will also grab and mulch Bostonians.
SteveF, here’s a video to watch with Mr Weasel.
https://youtu.be/EZUml_eUdxY
Dave Knowles, filmmaker, had another one up for a while: Jack Hargreaves long netting. Seems not to be available at the moment, but definitely worth looking for.
The people living east of Temple/Belton in places like Rogers have bad memories from the Trans Texas Corridor boondoggle.
I’ll believe I-14 when I see the transition ramps I-35 NB/I-14 WB and I-14 EB/I-35 SB completed in Belton. All of the concrete structural pieces have been sitting in the grass across from the Bingo hall since we moved to Texas 12 years ago.
Ferrets were not (are not?) legal to keep as pets in Cacafornia, but at least one Sacramento lawyer had a caged pair of them in his basement office. They seemed like very likeable creatures. They mostly seemed to sleep in their hammock-style beds.
@SteveF
You could try a ferret legging contest at the local pub.
New Study Details Massive Recent Sea Ice Expansion And Cooling in The Greenland Sea
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2026/08/14/new-study-details-massive-recent-sea-ice-expansion-and-cooling-in-the-greenland-sea/
ocean conveyor…
global cooling…
tipping point…
doom…
Doom!
DOOM!
Speaking of inheriting things you have no idea what to do with…
My mom had a cabinet full of porcelain dolls. She said over the years that they were valuable, and dad repeated it. Actual values? I have no idea. Any here have any ideas on where to go to try to get some sort of idea?
Even better would be to find someone who want to buy to resell. I have zero emotional attachment to them.
Obama Judge Hits Reverse, Gives Trump the Green Light on Somali Deportations
https://redstate.com/kyle-becker/2026/08/14/obama-judge-hits-reverse-gives-trump-the-green-light-on-deportations-n2205623
Proceed with the impeachment. Her ruling was pure obstruction without foundation in the law.
Ask the Japanese for loan of some of the packers that squeeze salarymen onto trains. Let’s get those Somalis gone. Every one of them has abused the system, outworn their welcome, and used precious resources that should have gone to U.S. citizens. Get them and all the rest of the overstayers gone, eject the illegals , and it will have nothing but beneficial effects on rents, schools, and government budgets.
Mr Weasel is gone. She was fun, a few minutes per day. I rather resented having all of the work of caring for her dumped on me.
Hot Takes: DSA Lawmaker Gets Lit Up After Suggesting Criminals Shouldn’t Get Arrested for Theft
https://redstate.com/sister-toldjah/2026/08/14/ny-democratic-socialist-lawmaker-n2205617
For the ones not shot in the act: Tree stump, axe, bandaid for the severed hand…
Nope, no reason to jail them . They can arrange their own recovery.
Kentucky Derby convenes Committee to Determine What is a Horse
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2026/08/a-master-class-in-trolling.php
Can’t help them with horses, but if they need help with horse puckey…
On the question of the appropriate number of calibers
It is important to draw the distinction between gubs and the ammunition that makes them useful.
I posted a credible interview a couple weeks ago that offered good data that settled the question of 9 vs 4X in 2026, with some historical perspective on how the past was not the present.
Standardizing on one caliber is only part of the question, which then becomes what is the appropriate mix of loads for target vs. SD. for handgubs.
As I noted at the time, there is a place for sentimentality in keeping a gub that you like. I failed to note the practical aspect from the prepper standpoint: ammo is useless without the gub to use it. In the event that ammo is in low supply it becomes foresight when providence offers you ammo and you already have the means to use it.
Depends on how old, and if they are ‘collector’ dolls or collector dolls. If the latter, older is better and there’s probably someone interested (google for antique porcelain doll collectors). For the former, there’s Etsy.
I might be on Etsy soon trying to sell Swarovski crystal figurines if my family has no interest.
You live in The South so check with the antique stores in your town.
Also, look on YouTube for “vlogs” covering doll conventions. I swear I remember a big one happens in Atlanta.
DFW Airport Dumps Islamic Foot-Washing Station Plan After Abbott Pushback
https://townhall.com/news/scott-mcclallen/2026/08/14/dfw-airport-scraps-islamic-foot-washing-station-plan-after-abbott-pushback-n2681300
Begs two questions:
There’s a market for everything, but some of those markets are SEVERELY depressed.
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The problem is producing them
in large enough numbers to crush dealer insiders.to meet CAFE and EPA standards.Without the auto trans and computer to run it, average mileage is too low. Without power door locks locking you in, the doors fly open in a rollover and you fail the safety spec. Without the “Nader Pin” you can’t sell in the US. Because of the Nader Pin, you need side impact bars in the doors. Because the front end collapses in a crash, you need a special fixture made of tube under the dash so the rescuers can pry the dash up and release your legs. Because airbags can severely injure you if you are sitting too close, you need seat belt pre-tensioners, and if the market supports it, telescoping steering column and adjustable pedals, so that women can sit further back and not be killed. Because child seats are required, you need child seat anchor points and because the front seat airbag is mandatory, but it kills kids, you need weight sensors in the seat and a keyswitch to shut off the mandatory airbag. Rear view cameras because the rear window had to be made smaller. Turbos, start stop, CVT, variable cam timing, and a ton of other stuff that all is controlled by computer because you can’t meet EPA standards for emissions, CAFE standards for mileage, and produce performance people will buy otherwise. Radars and cameras for lane holding and automatic braking are optional now, but they’re building tech for the next wave of restrictions. Brake lights, head lights, and turn signals with computers built in so you can save a few wires by running those on CANBUS and make your mileage number a bit easier. TPMS because people are stupid and Ford Explorers would kill people if they were stupid and went too fast on under inflated tires. More expensive high strength steel because it is fractionally lighter than regular steel and you’ve got mileage numbers to meet. A/C and power windows for fuel economy. Crumple zones and unibody construction means no repairs, plus the FD destroys the whole vehicle getting you out, after the can gets squeezed down around you. It’s easier to take the roof off, than open the doors. Oh, and bumpers, now composed of multiple assemblies, often with sensors built in, that are immediately destroyed by the smallest impact.
The early 2000s Rangers hit the sweet spot. Fuel injected for reliability. Rock solid manual trans available. ABS and 2 airbags. Cruise control. No computers in the cockpit. Knobs and cables to control blend doors and HVAC, controlled with switches. Manual windows, vinyl seats and floor available. If you include the end of the 90s, you could delete the A/C. Sheet metal strong enough to take a few bumps and still look fine. Decent mileage, especially considering the available engines. I’ve got a 3L V6, and a 4L was available for a while. I get 22mpg on the highway and 15-17 around town.
We can’t get a basic vehicle any more because of all the required cr@p and the need to hit fantasy MPG numbers. Tata tried to bring in something cheap and simple but couldn’t meet all the requirements. Roll back that shite and we could have affordable vehicles again.
n
The Escape already is the SUV version of the Maverick. Or was.
The Escape was canceled last year. Too many engine problems. Hope the Maverick does not have the same engine problems.
Turbos, start stop, CVT, variable cam timing, and a ton of other stuff that all is controlled by computer because you can’t meet EPA standards for emissions, CAFE standards for mileage, and produce performance people will buy otherwise.
I am convinced that the Start-Stop killed my first engine in my F-150. The Cam Phasors start up without lubrication and stretches the timing chain.
Saw the new Spiderman in IMAX tonight with my son. It was awesome unlike the last multiverse Spiderman movie.
$20 each (I did get a $1.50 discount for being old) plus $5 convenience fee for buying on the intertubes plus $4 sales tax. And I bought the big tub of popcorn there for $12. Woof!
Saw the preview for “The Dog Stars” movie coming out later. Looked good.
Slammed 4 pounds of water before dinner and was still 2 pounds short of where I started.
Went out to eat, because if I don’t cook, we don’t sit down to dinner. W tries but hasn’t had a real success in a while. She can cook, so IDK why she’s struggling, but there it is.
Gonna have a short and tiny little fire then get to bed. I’m headed to the BOL tomorrow, but I have to load the truck and go by Lowes for some trim that I didn’t get last time.
Dunno when I’ll be heading out but it won’t be super early, that’s for sure.
n
Plus, I’m guessing Hecho en Mexico rather than Louisville, KY.
Yup. I am wondering what kind of a deal that the union made.
The early 2000s Rangers hit the sweet spot. Fuel injected for reliability. Rock solid manual trans available. ABS and 2 airbags. Cruise control. No computers in the cockpit. Knobs and cables to control blend doors and HVAC, controlled with switches. Manual windows, vinyl seats and floor available. If you include the end of the 90s, you could delete the A/C. Sheet metal strong enough to take a few bumps and still look fine. Decent mileage, especially considering the available engines. I’ve got a 3L V6, and a 4L was available for a while. I get 22mpg on the highway and 15-17 around town.
That is the same mileage that my son got on his 2003 F-150 V6 5 speed manual Supercab that he bought for $21K new.
I get about the same in my 2023 normally-aspirated V8 F-150.
What has anybody got to say about the latest incarnation of the Bronco? I parked next to one that I have to admit gave me a twinge. My dad’s last vehicle purchase was a 1967 Bronco, blue with a white top, and this one looked identical to my memory. He died the next year, when I was 14. I learned to drive a stick (3-on-the-tree) in it 2 years later. My brother had to teach me in my dad’s absence.
Added: Holy Mackerel! I was curious what an actual 1967 would cost. The cheapest listed was over $50,000.
“North Korea’s operating system watermarks every file you touch”
https://boingboing.net/2026/08/13/red-star-os-north-korea.html/amp
“North Korea’s Red Star Linux OS ships with a modified Firefox called Naenara (“Our country”) and lets users browse Kwangmyong, the country’s isolated national intranet. It also comes with an office suite, media players, and video games. It sells for $15.”
“It also has a watermarking tool that adds the hard drive’s serial number to every media file. Authorities can trace which machines a file passed through as it is copied from one user to the next. Hidden “antivirus” software can delete files that the secret service designates remotely. If you try to disable the security functions, the OS either shows an error or crashes and reboots. Even users who escalate to root find that kernel modules block their access to protected files, and the system checks its own integrity at every boot.”
“The system’s look follows the leadership’s tastes. Early versions imitated Windows XP. Version 3.0, released in 2012, switched to a macOS look.”
So that is why NK uses my DISKID32 software.
https://www.winsim.com/diskid32/diskid32.html
“The sharpest pictures ever taken of the Sun show it swirling”
https://boingboing.net/2026/08/08/sun-kelvin-helmholtz-vortices.html
“The surface of the Sun has been photographed in more detail than ever before, and it turns out to be covered in whirlpools. Victoria Gill reports for BBC News on the most detailed images of the Sun yet, taken by the Inouye Solar Telescope on a high peak in Hawaii and published in the journal Nature.”
“The swirls are the Sun’s magnetic field being twisted and shoved around by the motion of hot gas. Physicists call the effect Kelvin-Helmholtz instability, and it turns up whenever two fluids slide past each other and small disturbances grow into spiraling vortices. In the ocean, it is what builds ripples into big waves. The National Solar Observatory says the vortices on the Sun sit 50 to 65 kilometers apart.”
That is cool. Definitely looks the part of the Great Ball of Fire.
‘We Lied About Jason Arday to Prevent Racists From Winning’
https://hotair.com/david-strom/2026/08/14/we-lied-about-jason-arday-to-prevent-racists-from-winning-n3817996
I don’t know if the racists won, but you certainly gave them aid and comfort, and in doing so you all look like idiots lacking in moral or ethical standards who are yourselves racist.
So now you have to deal with the fallout: Knowing that you can’t be trusted, and neither can the institutions who employ you, and having a pretty certain suspicion that Arday may have been the most flamboyant but is unlikely to be the only one, the first step is that every word published as part of a thesis or academic paper is going to be run through the ringer. In an age of powerful computer tools plagiarism and false references cannot hide.
More dishonesty and fraud will be found. Honest academics and their institutions will have to decide how to respond. If they fail to clean house the first casualty will be the reputations of colleges and universities, many built over centuries. Closely following will be current students asking themselves why they should demonstrate more integrity than their teachers. The value of those degrees will collapse.
Failure will have uncontrollable consequences outside academia. You will lose public support, which will include the ability of students to get loans. Enrollment will go down, departments will shrink and collapse–and may do so in any case, as this isn’t the first time the con has been discovered. People with fraudulent degrees–almost certainly concentrated in government positions–will not only lose their jobs but may face prosecution. The people that hired them and did not check their credentials thoroughly, and somehow ignored that they did not demonstrate the appropriate level of skill should also lose their jobs.
There are large swaths of academia that will not withstand scrutiny as their Potemkin frauds collapse. That’s not racism, it’s justice–if you want to indulge fantasies do it within your own circles and don’t expect others to either pay for it or give a damn.
Seen on the intertubes:
“I totally misunderstood “Pride Month””
“Who wants to buy 15 lions?”
One black cat wandered by tonight. No aviation. Oh, I did see what must have been a possum about 60ft away, but it was moving fast, not their usual saunter.
——
Time for a shower and bed. I think I caught up on my fluid intake and beans with my taco dinner slowed down my glucose curve although I’m back down to 80 – which is where I was most of the day.
I definitely didn’t think about all the lifting, reaching, and scrubbing I did today but I feel it now. Too late for meds, so I’ll just take a Tylenol.
n
oh, I really do need to get the rat poison refreshed. Something is eating my preps in the garage again. Microwave rice and indian side dishes in pouches have all been emptied out.
Rust and rats never sleep.
n
Black cat was watching from somewhere when I out out some food at 5:30pm, and appeared within minutes. Head on a swivel but ate everything. Seems a bit more agile than Weds.
Showed a vid to a friend, they say its probably a Russian Blue. I’ll post a pic on the Ring neighborhood tomorrow, se if someone is looking for it.
—
The astronomy club meeting was tonight. Had a very interesting zoom talk by astrophysicist. Went into a lot of the early history of Mount Wilson. A lot of firsts, a lot of new backstory of things that I thought I knew reasonably (well for a layman).
Don’t remember who or why, but a year or two back wasn’t there a millionaire or billionaire whose girlfriend got burned somehow, and was going do this to everybody In academia?
>>– I beg to differ. No one under 50 thinks about Medicare at all. Unless they’re sick themselves and don’t have coverage. And then it’s not Medicare per se, but the idea of someone else making them better. It’s the idea that if they have healthcare they’ll be healthy. The reality is long waits, shitty facilities, and random doctors, if they can even get in to see a doctor. That’s not what they want.
Concierge physicians FTW. I’ve had one for about ten years now and I’d be hard-pressed to go back to a “regular” PCP.