Still hot, still really humid. But the national forecast has us in the ‘thunderstorms likely’ zone for the next day or two. Some rain would probably break the streak of hot and humid. And we could use the rain. It is getting cooler at night, which is welcome.
Spent the day not doing much productive work. The anniversary is a difficult one for me and it’s easier to just piddlefart around alternating with reading fiction.
Today will start with my monthly meeting in meatspace. We’ve got financials to review, and hopefully at least a hot wash of our yearly event. One thing I know we should/will talk about is doing our own online event registration, instead of letting the national org do it. It’s easier to let them, but there are issues. It would mean more work for me, but I did most of it a couple of years ago, building a store and the reg forms.
After the meeting, I have one or two pickups to do, then I’ll be home to work on some part of the list. Maybe I’ll get my new Bluray drive installed. I just am not looking forward to the process of digging the PC out of the place it lives under my desk. It’s cramped and hard to work in… and there is a lot of stuff in the way. Probably needs to have the dust and dog hair blown out of it anyway.
Keeping everything running around here is a full time job, done by a monkey with a poor work ethic and minimal skills. I definitely envy JEP who had an assistant to come in and help with stuff. At least I get some satisfaction from fixing stuff.
And stacking. That’s comforting too.
nick
Back in the olden days, children would help on the farm as soon as they were old enough to put things into a wheelbarrow. In these modern days, children can help with maintaining the household and running the income streams. You have two perfectly good kids* and crawling into tight spaces to vacuum and to detach cables seems like exactly what they should be doing to help support the family. Spare the rod and spoil the child!
* I realize that “perfectly good” and “teenager” don’t go together, especially when the teenagers are girls.
Alexander the Great was king of the known world at age 14.
No reason why teenagers can’t make themselves useful. I spent plenty of time as a kid digging the garden, cracking concrete with the biggest hammer I could wield, then shovelling sand, aggregate and cement into the mixer.
Time to make myself what passes for presentable. W1 and I are invited to a wedding.
Have a good day!
Speedo and a pair of flip-flops. The nice wristwatch is what makes it formal.
Overnight temperature got down into the 40s. Upper 40s but still chilly.
Before that was NationsBank questionably legal buyout of Barnett Bank in Florida.
Bank of America is a series of troubling deals arranged by politicians.
Too Big To Fail.
The jury system worked as intended.
No. The House will have a new Speaker in a little more than six weeks.
The NationsBank exec who helped mastermind the buyout and became president of the Florida division after the merger ran for Governor in 2010. Her late husband, Bill McBride, managing partner of one of Florida’s largest law firms, made an unsuccessful run at the same office in 2002.
It is a big club and you aren’t in it.
Up and moving. Club duties next. I bring the donuts.
n
That was still almost true when I grew up on the farm. By age 7 I was driving the tractor pulling small wagons and moving the tractor around. The responsibilities increased until by age 12 I was doing all of the tractor work, plowing and discing fields, planting fields, fertilizing fields, cutting hay, raking hay, baling hay, digging post holes, cleaning out barns with the front-end loader, plowing snow, and anything else. By age 13 I was operating a D2 bulldozer making a road to make the irrigation pump access easier. By age 14 I was using the tractors on the road to deliver hay and move irrigation pipes and on one occasion drover 14 miles into Rogue River to pick up a delivery of new irrigation pipes, 40 feet in length. By age 16 I was driving the cattle truck over northern California, all of Oregon and southern Washington delivering, and picking up, cattle.
By age 12 I was working on a haying crew and continued that until I left for USAF. I moved irrigation pipe, 40-foot lengths, moving sixty feet to the new set. We had a half mile of irrigation pipe. This was done twice a day. There was fencing repairs and new fencing. I also dealt with animal issues, cows being the second dumbest animal on the planet. I have pulled calves when the mother could not deliver, even giving mouth to snout breathing when the calf did not start breathing. I have been shirt(-r) by the animals, eaten some of the same when things splattered, kicked by the animals, stepped on by the animals. I crawled under the tractor in 4 inches of crap replacing a broken bolt that rendered the tractor inoperable.
When I first saw the footage from the Clancy trial, the first thing that popped into my head was what Scott Adams said in 2010 about how we, as a society, sometimes treat women differently simply because it is easier that way.
“Guilty” was the next thing that popped into my head.
Lest anyone label me sexist for that, however, I had the same reaction to the male defendant when I was called for jury duty on a molestation case last year.
I was ultimately excused by the DA, however, because, under questioning, I told her that I couldn’t vote “guilty” if all the evidence the state had was the child’s testimony and that I could acquit if the defendant didn’t take the stand.
“What kind of evidence would you need?”
“Who doesn’t have a cell phone these days.”
“Thank you Juror 14 …”
prompted by my post on Leigh Brackett yesterday:
When I checked eBay to see if her 1970’s reprints were available, I was pleased to see that they were at modest prices.
But I noticed one of her books offered for sale for $350 with this in the description:
“(First, Limited) Signed”
How can a book published in 2007, nearly 30 years after the author’s death, be a “first” or “signed”.
Both are possible, if you use slippery definitions contrary to bookselling standards.
The book is a collection of short stories that originally appeared in the pulps. The pulp publication is the “first”, and is sometimes termed “true first” to explicitly make the point and differentiate from slippery terms. The correct designation for such a later appearance is “First Thus” and it may be described as “First Hardcover” if appropriate. Not being specific in a title field that has plenty of leftover room is slippery, if not downright deceptive.
As to “signed”, we know that the author did not sign it. The book has an introduction by a famous science fiction author and is illustrated by a famous illustrator and another science fiction author. In this case, one of the illustrators has signed it. There are other examples on the market signed by other contributors. If you want to sell a book and be upfront about what it is, “signed by xxx” will do the trick nicely.
The bookselling world is well aware of all the nuances that can be attached to descriptions. “First”, “First Thus”, “First Hardcover” “First American” (the true first is always the one published in the author’s home country, so there are no “true first” Harry Potter books publsihed in the U.S.) are all used to be transparent.
The Internet Speculative Fiction Database (isfdb.org) is a great online tool for sorting out the facts, and I highly recommend visiting the page that deals with your favorite authors. In Leigh Brackett’s case:
https://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ea.cgi?334
includes a wealth of webpage links, including most the appear in the wiki article.
Tell me about it, Kemosabe.
5X the suffering!
And you have no one but yourself to blame. The father’s contribution determines whether it’s a boy or a girl. Might I suggest drinking away your sorrows?
EDIT: Hmm. I’m not sure that twin daughters count as 1X each. Do twins cause more or less suffering than two regular daughters?
That, and the barbecue gun.
Ah, Ray, considering your age, when you were growing up was the olden days.
So, the determining factor is reasonable doubt. If Juror 12 was convinced by the Prosecution’s arguments beyond a reasonable doubt, but could not convince the other jurors, that Clancy was criminally responsible, should he have changed his vote? And if so, why?
Sniff, sniff. Thanks for the reminder, I think.
Oh, no way. In that case, the hung jury is the right answer.
I’m just saying he was wrong in applying Mass. law. Not saying he should abandon his principles and beliefs. The termagants on the jury got the law right, but the justice wrong.
Massachusetts law, as written, wants crazy people to perform murders and get away with it.
I ordered a new iPhone 18 Pro with 512GB in burgundy color. It will arrive on the 18th of this month at the Apple Store. The camera upgrade on the new phone from my 15 Pro is substantial and is the main reason for upgrading. I generally wait three years between phone upgrades so it was time. My last purchase, the iPhone 15 Pro, was with Xfinity with the device paid over time. There was a credit involved but the overall savings was not much. I really did not like being locked into Xfinity for two years. With the veteran discount the phone is $1259.00.
My current provider, Verizon, does not currently offer any discounts.
With the new camera I am going to try to photograph a football game using nothing but the iPhone. I don’t have high hopes as football is fairly demanding on even a good camera. But I want to try.
I ordered a new iPhone 18 Pro with 512GB in burgundy color.
Sweet! I plan on visiting the Apple Store. I want to check out the new iPhone Duo. After that I’ll make my decision to get a new Pro Max or the Duo. It is a lot of money, but I’m worth it!
Can one buy his way into Elysium?
Come to the Apple store and find out!
“Another Reason I F*cking Hate AI ”
A Rick Beato clip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hph0VSdh9w
Absolutely it is your money to spend as you want. Let us know your opinion of the Duo. Get both if you want as the new option coming up is two phones with the same number and calls can be handed off to each device.
I considered the Duo but I really don’t want something that thick (about two iPhone Airs) and that expensive. At least not the first iteration of the folding screen. The Duo does not have the variable aperture in the camera that the Pro has and that is significant for me. The Pro Max is too big feeling in my hands.
I got the carrier unlocked version. Thus only a week for delivery. If I got the Verizon version then a month wait. I don’t want to be locked to a carrier as I need a phone in Germany, perhaps in May of 2027. Last time I was on Xfinity, unlocked, installed a new SIM in Germany, then back to the old SIM in the states, and my Xfinity account was messed up badly.
I have to wonder what the other two men on the jury were really thinking, however.
The nine women were all white and lived in a tech area. That’s who is currently deciding the elections and, ultimately, the law.
You betcha, sir!
Yeah, the camera is not as important to me. I have a gimbal for the phone, but rarely use it. I’ve bought unlocked Apple phones for several generations. Transferring the data and eSIM from T-Mobile is pretty seamless these days.
Do you want to sell it? Donate it to a fellow veteran?
I had always done that, except once, with Xfinity, with my current 15 Pro. I got a good price on my 13 Pro, but it was a nightmare getting the credit started. It took two months. Then when the two year contract was up, the credit stopped. I got shorted two months of credits. It was also difficult to get the phone unlocked. It took several phone calls and was not automatic. Never again. Now the commitment is 36 months. I don’t think I saved any money and in fact, may have paid more.
Rick Beato talks about the importance of owning the physical media. Right on.
I would add some comments:
He talks about accessing CD-R’s that were burned 25 years ago. That is wonderful, for him, and as we all know, not to be taken for granted. He also mentions burning Bluray discs that are supposed to be good for 100 years. In both cases, the longevity is only as good as the storage conditions.
But 25 or even 100 years is nothing, considering that we have ancient cuneiform tablets 5,000 years old, medieval manuscripts more than 1,000 years old written my monks on animal hide with iron gall ink, and incunable books printed 600 years ago before the printing press came into use. All stored for centuries in haphazard conditions, yet they survived.
Consider books and newspapers printed in the late 19th century on high-acid wood pulp paper. Yellowed and brittle they may be, but perfectly legible. Ever seen newspapers stuffed into walls in old houses as insulation? Et tu, 99% of computer media from the last 80 years? Photographs? Most processes invented in the 19th century have survived well, but the real gem is the 1935 three-color Kodachrome that was archival out of the box if stored away from light.
Digital is wonderful. Digital is inexpensive. Digital has put tools in the hands of everyman that were unimaginable fifty years ago. But digital text, digital photography, and digital video are all crap when it comes to longevity. If you care about your writing, your family photos, audio and video, take the time to consider how you will preserve them for your grandchildren’s grandchildren. Don’t be overwhelmed by volume–start with the top 1%. For text and photos. that means printing on acid-neutral paper with archival inks, and storage in a suitable container that is strong, blocks light, and is as waterproof as possible.
If you want your descendants to hear your voice, cut a vinyl Edison disc. The technology is easy to recognize and can be read by lasers. Optical disk technologies would be better if they are not dependent on the survivability of consumer-grade electronics. If you want to try, get a commercial device and vac-seal it in dry argon. But print the media specs on archival paper.
Is there a plausible way to archive video for 100 years that is not dependent on survivability of consumer-grade electronics? There was, until Kodak stopped making Kodachrome movie film. Now you’re probably SOL, but cheer up: those future kids will be way to pretty to want to see your ugly face.
Protester Carrying Palestinian Flag Disrupts 9/11 Memorial Game at Yankee Stadium, Tackled on Field
The headline that should have been:
Angry Mob Stomps Protester Carrying Palestinian Flag into Outfield at Yankee Stadium, Replaces Divot, and Game Goes On.
Another nail in the coffin…
Reacher star Alan Ritchson announces separation from wife Catherine after 27 years and three children together
He/she/it will come out as a troon in 3, 2, 1. Or, he just succumbed to the evil fumes of Holly-Mordor and wants to wantonly wander the planet, throwing away twenty years of marriage and three kids, for some pop-tart.
LOL, I have many “family” members lusting after it.
There is but it will cost you. Make B&W separation negatives. Do not use nitrate base film. This was the original Technicolor dye transfer process, Properly processed and stored film should last for more than 100 years.
DOJ needs to bring charges against Clancy.
Disagree. Murder is a STATE-level crime, and it needs to be prosecuted by the state of MA.
FEDERAL level charges might be levied against the defense attorney and his atrocious attempt at jury tampering.
Saturday (now Sunday). Bedtime.
The wedding was nice. A beautiful Mass, with lovely music. The sun shone on elegant gents in morning suits and ladies in fancy dresses and hats. Champagne flowed in rivers, and high-class nibbles were abundant. My buddy, the father of the bride, was resplendent in uniform, and I haven’t seen such a radiant bride since my own wedding.
I don’t wear a wristwatch, but I did knot my tie correctly. As to packing heat, this deponent sayeth naught.
Got home in time to catch the Last Night of the Proms on TV.
Too much patriotic jingoism makes one sleepy. Goodnight!
“Disagree. Murder is a STATE-level crime, and it needs to be prosecuted by the state of MA. ”
Federal prosecution for murder is not necessary and was not suggested.
Longevity depends on whether someone continues to make new playback devices.
I wouldn’t be surprised if BluRay was shut down in the next decade. Sony is the gatekeeper.
DVD and CD playback mechanisms are relatively simple, and making a master copy in either format is accessible to anyone with a PC capable of running Linux. Those formats may endure.
Thank/blame pirates. CD never had anti-piracy measures, and, thankfully, studio lawyers designed the DVD protection.
Plus pr0n.
I watched Finding Nemo tonight. Not a bad story.
Nice graphics. While not expecting folks to sound like Barry White, more of the cast sounding like they have reached puberty would have been nice.
As far as I know LaserDiscs have no anti-piracy stuff. I’m not even sure if LDs have region coding.
For audio storage, LPs are the way to go. Mechanical. Simple. Ever stick a needle into the bottom of a paper snowcone cone? And yeah, it’s not great but the same tech worked for wax rolls and 78 rpm records on wind-up players.
Optical discs? Without the electronics and the correct drive you have nothing, just a shiny thing to hang in outside as a sun catcher.
Just finished what is hopefully the lawn’s last haircut this year. Oh, I might get ambitious and move the project vehicles and mow under them, but that’s just trimming. And I might try to knock down another section of thistles and tall grass, but it still doesn’t count as regular mowing, more like extending borders. The main ‘panels’ of the lawn shouldn’t need to be cut ’til next summer.
I was concerned when I stopped working I might not be motivated to do things, but the longer I’m off, the more I get done. I’ve also become essentially diurnal instead of nocturnal; I’m up between 7 and 9 instead of 11 to 1, and in bed before midnight instead of 3 to 4 in the morning. I thought I might shift earlier, but I did not expect it to be so pronounced.
I enjoyed that myself. “Just keep swimming” is one of my inspirational mantras.
Yep, several ‘memes’ from that movie. Memes in the original sense of self replicating ideas, not in the modern sense of ‘funny graphical images’.
———
After my meeting, I did my pickup, had lunch, and crashed out for the rest of the day. I’m up now but got nothing at all done. I did get one bin of stuff out of my shop, and two big furniture dollies, those belong to the club and should live in club storage, not my shop.
———-
Time to see if there is any dinner on offer.
———-
The royal funeral in Norway showed off some really top notch tailoring. The fit of the shirts around necks, and the shape and slope of the shoulders was truly astounding. And grifter zilinski from uke looked like a mobster at a garden party. I guess not wearing a t shirt was the best he could do. I’m not a clothes horse, and men’s fashion doesn’t interest me. IDK about lapel size or shape, or class ties, but to get the collar to fit the neck, without a gap, and without pinching the skin at all, across all those ages and body shapes… well fitted clothes really do look different. And not a shelf crease or fold line to be seen.
———
n
@gavin, I’m the opposite wrt daytime. I’ve always been someone who would read thru the night and only stop when the sun came up. For decades I worked to other peoples’ schedules getting up when they dictated. Now the kids’ schedule dictates when I get up. My problem is my brain still wants to be up at 2am, but my body can’t go on 3-4 hours of sleep. So I started napping. I knew that if I once got back in bed in the morning that I’d be helpless to stop… and it’s come true ;-{P
n
It’s funny as in odd calling folks on the phone. I seem to have bad timing. Like I happen to call just as Wheel of Fortune comes on. Every time. Or maybe they can smell over the phone I haven’t taken my bed time shower.
Beats me. Anyway. I gave up. I deleted all of my phone contacts from 145 to 22. And of that 22 I can winnow the list to 7 folks I would call.
I mean, how often does one call the bank or the insurance company or the vet? But having the contact is handy.
I don’t get it. Mom and Dad would say “you never call”. And when I called they wanted to cut the call short because of long distance charges. Through the magic of cellphones I had an Edinburg number. A local call for them. They never called. Ah. They don’t want to use up my unlimited minutes of talk time.
I asked Mom once after she moved into my house. “We didn’t have anything to say.”. Oh. But you complained I never call? Hello?
Meh. People are weird.
I get out of bed when the dogs wake me in the morning. Cloudy days let me sleep later. We go for a walk to the gate and back and by then my coffee has cooled enough to drink and they get a dog cookie. Then they seem to sleep all day.
Bedtime is around sundown. Same walk, no cookies.
It works. And really, unlike the days of mIRC, who is up to chat with at 2am?
I am willing to sign adoption papers. Child support, however, is out of the question.
“March or Die” – Motto of the French Foreign Legion. I seldom need inspirational mantras for myself but occasionally tell someone else “march or die”. It is generally not appreciated. Buncha candyasses.
Sounds to me like a caffeine deficiency.
Good sense deficiency.
n
Optical drives are 40 year old technology at this point. Someone will make them.
Again, pr0n.
Maybe not BluRay, but I don’t think that a lot of pr0n exists in that format since the copy protection involves a license fee.
Bespoke shirts. Those used to be a lot more common, but that is another category of garment industry infrastructure that would have to be rebuilt from near zero if Americans decided that they wanted to look more professional at work.
Finding decent shoe repair is hard enough.
I took a pair of Ecco Track Low shoes into the dominant chain repair shop in Austin for cleaning/refurbishing recently, and the morons polished the nubuck parts of the shoes to a high gloss sheen.
I phone a friend from high school every September 2nd, and he phones me every May 1.
I have some hobby friends who are of a certain age and they don’t seem to get it that a text or an email is perfect, there’s no need to talk and exchange info that can then be forgotten.
Add in my doctor’s office confirming an appointment, and the rest of my calls are to businesses to set up appointments or get info. About 10 calls in the last 2 weeks, and that’s above normal.
When I finish wrapping up my brother’s estate by the end of the year, that will go lower.
I have 3 sons and a granddaughter who never developed the need to talk to me, and I don’t call them. There are times I regret that, but I drive up to the Midwest 2 or 3 times a year and we have good visits. They’re all grown up, and by Halloween all the sons will be married. TBH, I miss hanging out with my best friend up there more, but he’s still working and busy tending his sickly wife.
I keep a lot of contact info in my phone and need to winnow it down, but I do it mostly for emergencies and businesses. Daughters in law, ex wife, lawyers, that sort of stuff.
“Between Two Graves: Book 4 of Combined Operations” by Dorothy Grant
https://www.amazon.com/Between-Two-Graves-Combined-Operations/dp/B0BB5S5FPQ?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number four of a four book science fiction tactical romance series. I read the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2022 that I bought on Amazon in 2026.
On a far off colony world far in the distant future, the Federation and the Imperium are fighting clandestine battles in and around many of their client states. The usual problem is resources and land snatching. The terraforming of the planet 600 years before was never completed and people are needing more and more resources such as hydrocarbons and food.
AJ’s mother has passed away in the far northern reaches of the Empire where AJ grew up. AJ and Jenna, now married, are ordered by their Empire Intelligence boss to attend the funeral even though AJ and his family have been estranged for over thirty years.
The story is very fast paced and the characters are extremely likable. The history of the colony world and the various political entities is not explained very well but that was not necessary for the story to be good.
The author’s husband has a very active website where he promotes his books and her books at:
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.8 stars out of 5 stars (170 reviews)
Lynn
The Nationwide Pushback Against Flock Cameras Has Begun
https://redstate.com/kyle-becker/2026/09/12/the-nationwide-pushback-against-flock-cameras-has-begun-n2206854
You want safety?
Repeal the income tax and if taxes are necessary, tax spending. You tax what you want to discourage. All taxation is theft under threat of violence.
Repeal the 17th and probably the 26th amendments. 27th is suspect too as I was alive and aware in 1992 and I don’t remember anything about a Constitutional amendment at the time, which reeks of deep state and underhandedness.
Force PR to piss or get off the pot.
Repeal the changes to law that enabled the destruction of US manufacturing by offshoring.
Tariffs on imports where domestic alternatives exist.
Revoke China’s most favored nation status.
UN out of USA.
Sunset all laws. ESPECIALLY those passed in haste and in direct response to one thing. If it’s still a good idea in 5 or 10 years, renew it once.
All gun laws are un-Constitutional.
Restrict Federal government payments for healthcare to Federal government employees, .mil and former .mil. States want to pay for some, let the States do so.
Get the Army out of the Army National Guard and return the NG to the States.
Line item veto.
Term limits for all elected officials. Income FROZEN while in office.
Stop the abuse of the interstate commerce clause and the general welfare clause.
Stop property taxes, you own it, you shouldn’t need to continue renting it from .gov.
Basically, reset Fedgov to 1890 or even earlier. Get rid of the commissions, boards, most regulatory agencies, all the socialist cr@p from WWI and WWII. Most of the Agencies as well.
Law enforcement as a profession? Then require professional insurance and get rid of qualified immunity.
Restore history and civics to school curriculum.
Cheap energy and efficient transportation benefit civilization, encourage both.
——-
We could fill the pages all day, but the simplest would be summed up as Fedgov for national level threats and defense. State gov for regional concerns, and local gov for local.
n
At least 4 people still up??
I’m headed to bed.
n