But still hot and humid. Even mid 80sF can wear you out. And it was hotter than that yesterday. The overcast did help, and the intermittent showers probably cooled some areas down. I didn’t see any widespread rain or even a thundershower in Houston, but I might have missed something localized. I only saw a few smatters of rain, and widely dispersed between my house and my client’s.
I did some office stuff and then went to my client’s house. Found and fixed a couple of issues, but nothing definitive. I am leaning toward corroded cables and bad connections at this point. I hit them with deOxIT and we’ll monitor the situation. I will pickup a spare and I’m installing a Ring doorbell at the gate, so that will be another paid day. After that, it felt like today was a weekend and I had to remind myself that I have kids to get to school today.
So normal day for me today. Some auction pickups, and maybe a dump run. Maybe pull my main pc and replace the DVD drive. The bluray drive got here yesterday. There’s always more to do.
And always more to stack.
nick
Wednesday. Good morning!
First day of work at the office today. Putting on long trousers and closed shoes this morning to look professional was like donning a strait jacket…
Have a lovely day.
>>I don’t think I’m crazy. I’ve pretty much always been able to be alone. As in go sit in the library reading books. As in no roommate. Me and some cats and a couple of dogs, I’m ok. I have what? Critters that love me? No… that’s way too shallow.
@paul, if you’re up for the excitement (“challenge?:) adopt a puppy from your local animal control or rescue organization. We’re partial to pitties, but plenty of other great breeds just waiting for a ‘forever home.
The shelves at our local HEB were fully stocked with the exception of padded shipping envelopes like someone would use to sell items on EBay or return something via mail.
I didn’t post the link because I was busy, but I noticed Tyler Durden cowardice from a mainstream source trying to stir the pot for a “gas shortage” this weekend due to the storm hitting an area with a large refinery concentration
The media have been itching for another “gas shortage” in Texas during a holiday weekend since ClearChannel created the last one in 2017, boosting retail sales of gasoline 50 times beyond a normal Labor Day Weekend according to multiple post-mortem articles I saw citing the Texas Railroad Commission report on that event.
I saw that headline too, thought briefly about oil futures, and then read something else.
———
Up, snack packed. Think I’ll nap again. I’m feeling tired.
It was 79F when I went to bed, and 80F when I got up. That might be the lowest in a month.
Looking at the weather station at the BOL yesterday, it was hot, humid, and still. I hope at least a little rain fell when the clouds rolled thru.
———-
n
Gas Shortage for Labor Day!
The scars from that event persist in Austin and is the rationalization for a lot of EV purchases.
Never mind that if gasoline suddenly became Guzzoline!, the diesel-gulping utility trucks required to maintain the grid would be among the first to stop rolling, and Atmos Energy demonstrated in Leander during the 2021 freeze that they would cut off neighborhoods exhibiting “unusual demand curves deviating from historic norms” to preserve their own grid from collapse.
Read: people using whole home generators.
Hmm, D1 home sick today.
Time for a nap.
n
I now believe CJ “Old School Marm” Roberts is a true PLT. Why the Hell would he side with the libs that if your “feels are hurt” you have standing to sue? “Waaah, the White House Ballroom hurt my feels…” One person got an activist judge to pause construction. That is crazy.
One person who described her potential hurty feelings as walking by maybe once a month.
Many illnesses are caused or spread by parasites. I keep telling you, there is a solution. Gold Fleece’s solution is well thought of.
Thank you for the downvote, CJ Roberts.
Vox.
https://voxday.net/2026/09/01/the-end-of-the-global-technocracy/
Governments use MS products. IN THE CLOUD.
FFS.
n
The MSDS for the sheep dip reads like a potential war crime.
n
Also Chief Justice John Roberts:
https://reason.com/volokh/2026/09/02/cj-roberts-and-the-smithsonian-bypasses-congress-to-build-new-latino-museum/
Over 95F at the moment. And a bit sunny.
Headed out soon. W stayed home today too, so I’m outie…
n
It’s poison. What else would you expect?
“Words Are Violence”
https://areaocho.com/words-are-violence/
“Tyler Robinson’s attorney is in court arguing Kirk’s murder is justified because Kirk engaged in what he refers to as “hate speech.” This is a pattern we have been seeing for awhile- the youth of today have been taught that objectional speech is violence that justifies a physically violent response, including deadly force. To quote him:”
“The left is now declaring anyone who utters words in opposition to their beliefs is committing violence, and deserves to be killed. We are so close to a civil war in this nation, it is frightening.”
If it is ok to start murdering people because of their speech, I know of a few people with a very long list.
https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/bracken-what-i-saw-at-the-coup.74830/
Your speech is violence!
My violence is self expression!
“The Texas Trotsky? Talarico Declares Capitalism an “Oppressive System” that Must Be “Dismantled”
https://jonathanturley.org/2026/09/02/the-texas-trotsky-talarico-declares-capitalism-an-oppressive-system-that-must-be-dismantled/
Senate Democrat nominee James Talarico appears ready to bring a touch of Trotsky to Texas. In a video from a climate forum, Talarico is shown declaring capitalism an “oppressive system” linked with white supremacy and that it must be “dismantled” to achieve a better world. It is reminiscent of Leon Trotsky, who denounced the “fundamental evil of the capitalist system” and called on citizens to free themselves from its oppression. The Democratic Socialists of America and radical sites have long called “to dismantle the capitalist state.””
“As a state representative, Talarico addressed the 2020 climate conference by the Austin chapter of the Sierra Club with other Texas House candidates. However, it was Talarico that roused the crowd with an attack on capitalism:”
“Talarico added criticism of Texas’s oil and gas industry, which he mocked as a dying industry “like being the leader in cassette tapes in the 1980s.” He predicted with obvious satisfaction, “That industry is not gonna last.””
“Ironically, given his earlier promise of running a meatless, Vegan campaign, opposing both beef and energy markets in Texas could well achieve the dismantling of the economy by default in Texas.”
How in the world can this not useful idiot be one point ahead of Paxton in the polls?
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Any judge worth their salt would find the lawyer in contempt and fine him $1,000 for making shit up. Lawyer are agents of the court and have to follow the Constitution to the letter. There is no “hate speech” exemption. How about Hasan Piker and his ilk wishing death on America.
Vox.
https://voxday.net/2026/09/01/the-end-of-the-global-technocracy/
Governments use MS products. IN THE CLOUD.
FFS.
“France just banned Windows from 2.5 million government computers. The reason is terrifying. The US sanctioned the International Criminal Court. Microsoft locked the chief prosecutor out of his email overnight. One switch and an entire institution went dark. Europe realized any government running American software is one executive order away from losing access to its own data.”
“1/ What Happened”
“France ordered every ministry to ditch Windows, Teams, Zoom, and all American tech. 2.5 million computers moving to Linux. Denmark dumped Microsoft Office. Germany moved 30,000 PCs to Linux. All 27 EU members signed a digital sovereignty charter.”
“2/ Move Sensitive Email”
“Every email on Gmail or Outlook is subject to US law. Set up a free ProtonMail account. Based in Switzerland. Encrypted end to end. No US jurisdiction. Move medical, legal, and financial email there. Keep Gmail for newsletters.”
“3/ Move Sensitive Files”
“Google Drive and OneDrive are US companies. The CLOUD Act applies to everything stored on them. Move anything sensitive to a local drive, encrypted USB, or European cloud like Tresorit or Filen. Keep Google Drive for files you wouldn’t care if someone”
“4/ Encrypt Your Messages”
“iMessage and WhatsApp are US companies. Signal is end-to-end encrypted, open source, and stores nothing. Install Signal. Move sensitive conversations there. It only works when both sides use it.”
“5/ Replace Microsoft Office”
“Everything you type in Word, Excel, or PowerPoint passes through Microsoft’s servers. Download LibreOffice. Free. Open source. Works offline. Your documents stay on your machine. No cloud. No American servers.”
“6/ Lock Your Browser”
“Chrome is Google. Every search, every site, every tab reported back. Switch to Brave or Firefox. Both block trackers by default. Neither sends your browsing history to an American company.”
This is BIG, VERY BIG. Microsoft prides themselves being the number one supplier to most of the governments in the world. For Microsoft to not fight this, they are giving up a measurable amount of their business. The last I heard, Windows is run on 90% of the PCs in the world. Microsoft fought hard to achieve this stunning amount of success. I am surprised that they do not fight this tooth and nail.
“A surging, seething, murmuring crowd of beings that are human only in name, for to the eye and ear they seem naught but savage creatures, animated by vile passions and by the lust of vengeance and of hate.”
The Scarlet Pimpernel will ride again, but this time for real.
Contrary to popular belief, the book only dates back to the turn of the 20th century, as Communism began its rise in Europe.
Microsoft is part of the AI circle jerk, and Gates is rumored to be once again in charge.
Gates wants to be Feynman. He’ll no longer settle for being Bob Metcalfe.
WhatsApp is a US company for now, but Colonists are its biggest fans.
If Zuckerberg got into trouble, I wouldn’t be surprised to see him sell WhatsApp to a Colonist company.
“China’s Largest Ever Recall Should be a Warning to Automakers”
https://www.thetruthaboutcars.com/cars/news-blog/chinas-largest-ever-recall-should-be-a-warning-to-automakers-45136273
“China’s recent decision to recall millions of vehicles not only highlights safety concerns about recessed door handles but also problems associated with replacing any traditional mechanical system with electronically dependent alternatives.”
“If you’ve been vacationing on another planet this week, China just issued the largest automotive recall in the nation’s history. The regulatory action targets an estimated 4.3 million cars and focuses around concerns that electronic door handles can malfunction during an accident, potentially trapping occupants inside a burning or sinking vehicle. The decision comes after numerous reports where emergency crews claimed that fatal accidents could have been prevented if manufacturers had provided a better way for the victims to exit the vehicle.”
“The concern was that electronic doors can malfunction due to being reliant on some form of battery power. Electrical shorts can take place when a vehicle drives into a body of water, effectively trapping a person inside the vehicle. Wiring connections can likewise become disconnected as a result of a severe crash or sudden fire.”
I totally agree with this. All vehicle doors should be openable without electric power in case of a wreck, inside or outside. My family was in a head on wreck outside Navasota, Texas in 1972 in my grandparents 1970 Ford Galaxie station wagon. Only one of the four doors would open since the frame was popped. My parents had to crawl over the front seat to get out. My dad had just filled the wagon with gasoline and it was leaking all over the pavement, my dad was screaming get out, get out because he was afraid that the wagon was going to catch on fire.
Or use an old version. I run Office 2007 with a volume license from my grad school alma matter to do a final pass on my resume *.doc file.
Tommy Boy moved Lincoln Nautilus production to China from Ontario starting with the 2024 model year.
““Rich Dad Poor Dad” Author Robert Kiyosaki Claims He’s in $1.2 Billion in Debt”
https://thelibertydaily.com/rich-dad-poor-dad-author-robert-kiyosaki-claims/
He and his partners own 1,500 apartment complexes across the USA. At a SWAG of $10 million per apartment complex, they are worth $10e6 * 1,500 = $15 billion.
So a debt of $1.2 billion on $15 billion of property is less than 10% debt to service. Not bad. Not bad at all. The only thing better would be to have zero debt on those 1,500 apartment complexes.
I have zero debt on my commercial property. That allows me to breathe freely. I just owe money to the property taxers every year, $30K.
According to one of the country’s premiere ambulance chasers, John Morgan, only 20 real billionares actually exist and he is ostensibly one of them.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/economy/i-m-a-billionaire-a-real-one-lawyer-claims-only-about-20-americans-actually-have-1-billion-in-the-bank-and-he-s-one-of-them/ar-AA2b6N2B
I would advise you, however, to take it with a grain of salt. In Florida, John Morgan is the leading proponent of weed legalization and a political benefactor to failed Republican-turned-Democrat politicians such as Charlie Crist and, hopefully, this Fall, David Jolly.
“How in the world can this not useful idiot be one point ahead of Paxton in the polls?”
How? You watching the liars on TV and wonder how?
I’m still waiting for Talafeako to get caught at a truck stop restroom. He has that vibe.
>>D1 home sick
Any connection to on-going labor relations disputes is strictly coincidental.
https://voxday.net/2026/09/01/the-end-of-the-global-technocracy/
Well. Is this at all unexpected with the constant nagging to “log in to your Microsoft account”? And store your Document on someone else’s computer called The Cloud? And the constant and unwanted updates.
Mint ain’t perfect. I may have screwed up a few settings. I might do better when I need to re-install. It does check for updates and doesn’t seem to care if I don’t update.
But it’s not constantly pinging Office.com or skype, or Teams, X-Box, and many more servers…. for stuff I don’t have installed. Just a PC sitting there, running Squeezebox for a music server and pi-hole was flooded with blocked requests.
No sympathy for Microsoft from me.
“How in the world can this not useful idiot be one point ahead of Paxton in the polls?”
How? You watching the liars on TV and wonder how?
I’m still waiting for Talafeako to get caught at a truck stop restroom. He has that vibe.
But Talafreako is a United Methodist minister. He would never do that. “big smile”.
>>D1 home sick
Hormones. D1 is that age. I remember my sisters at that age and The Period hits and they can’t get out of bed for the cramps.
Nope. Don’t understand it. I just know female plumbing is complicated.
But Talafreako is a United Methodist minister. He would never do that. “big smile”.
Dunno about being Methodist. Not a bit other than they seem to like rainbow flags. Anyway, Talafreako getting caught in a truck stop restroom is a well, he won’t have his pants pulled down.
“Gates wants to be Feynman.”
He’d have a better shot at Queen of England.
Substack can be annoying. Yes. Write your stuff. But to read down to the bottom of the page and find the “click to subscribe” to finish the article and it’s almost always $80 a year is just a no.
How about a $1 charge. Make it $2. Better, make it $3. I can feed my Substack account with say, $30. Like prepaying the toll tag on your car.
I get it. The credit card takes 3% off the top. Substack takes a cut. I’m too lazy to look up their fees. Because who would ever pay for what I post anywhere? I post to talk, maybe tell a coherent story. A few likes is good. A few comments, even negative, is better. But charging? no.
So the $3 nets the author hopefully more than $2 in their pocket.
Sure. You might be worth the default of $80 a year. But I’m just reading an article that appeared in my feed that looked interesting. For all I know you write one article every six months.
Dang. It’s suddenly getting dark early. Time to wake the snoring Buddy the Beagle and go for potty walk.
As a whole the news media acts quite a bit like the YouTube algorithm: A vast amount of almost random content pushed at viewers. If any of it it grabs any eyeballs then more of that content gets served.
For example, for the last couple of days the left coast weather has been hyperventilating over some tropical storms south of the tip of Baja California. The chances that we will actually see a landfall from a hurricane in SoCal are probably one in a million, but there are suggestions and hints galore.
“He’d have a better shot at Queen of England”
He would be a very tiny bit easier on the eyes than the current queen. Very tiny bit.
I had my blood checked last week:
PSA: 1.4 (way under 4.0)
A1C: 5.5 (5.7 is prediabetes)
total Cholesterol: 175 (under 200 is good)
Triglycerides: 184 (too high over 149, so what)
LDL: 113 (too high over 99, so what again)
HDL: 33 (too low under 40, so what again again)
Everything else was normal. Or whatever passes for normal nowadays.
So the $3 nets the author hopefully more than $2 in their pocket.
The typical author royalty is 15% from the Big 4 publishers. The authors of self published dead tree books on Big River get 30% (there is a special 70% case). I forget what ebook authors get on Big River.
Old Guy knows a lot more than I do about this.
“House Democrats block proposed Constitutional amendment that would cap SCOTUS at nine justices”
https://justthenews.com/government/congress/house-democrats-block-proposed-constitutional-amendment-would-cap-scotus-nine
“The vote, which failed in a 212-206 split, comes as calls to pack the court have grown in recent years, largely due to the success of Republicans in confirming conservative justices to the bench, who have gone on to rule in landmark cases.”
That was predictable.
“Iran Targets Marine Barracks In Jordan, Sends Drones On Bahrain & Kuwait, After Trump’s New Strikes”
https://www.zerohedge.com/energy/projectiles-hit-two-supertankers-exiting-hormuz-brent-tops-92-diesel-crack-breaches-100
“Explosions in Jordan reported amid initial Iranian retaliation, drones on Bahrain.
I do not see this conflict ending anytime soon. Iran obviously has the ability to fire missiles from either stored missiles or they are making them. But the targeting is weak.
Diesel is the premium fuel of the world. Any refinery making diesel is getting over $2.00 profit per US gallon. So the refineries have been reconfigured to make as much diesel as possible. Heating oil and jet fuel (Kerosene cut) will be short this winter. I still see diesel at $7 to $8 in the USA, $10 to $20 outside of the USA.
If you need heating oil, buy it now, rationing is coming. Better yet, convert your heating system to natural gas if a pipeline is near. The pricing difference between natural gas and heating oil is now over 10X. Liquid fuels are premium since they are so easily shipped. And the USA has enough natural gas to last 1,000 years, we still flare about 40% of our production in the USA.
I do not see this conflict ending anytime soon. Iran obviously has the ability to fire missiles from either stored missiles or they are making them. But the targeting is weak.
Actually, a dozen 30 Mt hydrogen bombs in Tehran and around would stop this. But, some people might get upset.
This time of year, the length of the day changes by about 2 minutes each day. Day by day, it adds up; Monday this week is about 12 minutes shorter than Monday next week. The change is lowest at the equinoxes, about March 21 and Sept 21, and greatest near the solstices. And it varies with latitude; these are for the latitude of San Antonio.
Eye doctor visit today. The news was not exactly good. I have some difficult decisions to make in the next couple of years. None of which will put a smile on my face. There are fixes available, but risky. None of which I choose to discuss at this time as I get angry, upset, pissed, livid, overwhelmed, just thinking about it. Getting old sucks.
Packing the Court was within their reach even with the filibuster during 2009 with the super majority in the Senate, control of the House, and The Chosen One in the White House.
They didn’t do it then. They won’t do it in 2029 if they win the White House.
The special capability can go just about anywhere in that country right now, but the Midterm clock is ticking.
“Conservative justices”. It is to laugh. I guess Barrett is “conservative” because she was nominated by a President who ran on the Republican ticket.
What we have is not a conservative-leaning Suprme Court but a Supreme Court which is not entirely flaming “progressive”.
Progtards find this to be an intolerable state of affairs.
The gobsmacking reality is that they’ve been trying to control the court for decades, succeeding mostly, but the instant that starts to shift, a more balanced court is a bad thing and they must act to make it even more unbalanced.
Their lack of self awareness, converted to usable energy, would solve all our problems.
——
No tiny little fire tonight, trying for an early bedtime. Probably won’t succeed.
Got the new 76″ tv hung. Doesn’t look much bigger than the old 65″. Even fits in the same space without moving anything. FWIW, as an AV semi professional, screen size is best determined by the stuff you watch. If you watch letterboxed wide format movies, you want the biggest screen that will fit. For every 6″ of additional size you get about 4″ of additional height, which makes a BIG difference for letterboxed movies.
The new tv (salvaged from sibling’s office when they moved) says “not intended for consumer use” on the back, but seems to be a normal Sony Google TV. I’ve got a Sony amp and Bluray player (the player thru the amp to the TV) and they all see each other and the tv controller can also control them seamlessly. When you pick the source from a list, the remote enables the correct functions and switches the amp. The Samsung TV was able to do most of it, but the Sony walled garden is just a bit nicer. It even works well with the apple TV and displays the name of the aTV (living room) on the input selection list.
I still use external streaming boxes instead of the internal apps on the TV. Once I take a good look at who’s collecting and selling the data, it might be worth just letting google do it thru the TV. They’re getting it thru the phone in the room anyway.
The apple TV wanted new permissions to send stuff related to Siri to the mothership, and new data collection permissions for “improving services”. No to both for now.
The roku stick had to update too.
I’m sure if I put the TV on the network, it’ll do a bunch of updates.
They make it easy, give you nice features, but you pay in time and leaked data.
n
hah, just scheduled the post for Sept 3, at 303am.
n
“Conservative” because she was going to vote to overturn Roe. Nothing else mattered, especially to the Elders who dropped the dime on Mittens.
Disney World announces closure of beloved ride weeks after boy plunged down 50-foot drop
It was revealed this week that Tiana’s Bayou Adventure at Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida, will shut down this winter. The news comes two months after the same attraction over at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, sparked safety concerns after a boy climbed out of the ride vehicle mid-ride and plunged down a 50-foot drop.
It’s awful hard to fight stupid. And the re-dress of the ride was somewhat less than successful.
The loading mechanics of the ride make for long wait times and slow moving lines, and the line area has to be one of the least “accessible” ones in the park.
One thing might be overcome-able, but not all of the things.
n
Packing the Court was within their reach even with the filibuster during 2009 with the super majority in the Senate, control of the House, and The Chosen One in the White House.
They didn’t do it then. They won’t do it in 2029 if they win the White House.
There is a different group of crazies running the dumbrocrat party today. The DSA. Even AOC is not radical enough for them.
From a BBC report: