It’ll be hot again in the afternoon, but it’s reasonable in the morning. Night is almost chilly with the damp near the water. It was 75F when I went to bed.
Didn’t get much work done. More cleaning, with some floor scraping thrown in. There was a tiled area in front of the patio doors and the fireplace hearth that had a bunch of mortar still stuck to it. A new floor scraper with a razor sharp blade got rid of almost all of it. Old boy didn’t use a primer or adhesion promoter on the slab before tiling, so it didn’t stick as well as it could have. Of course such things might not have been available when he did the work.
W got the tv and game systems set up and we played Simpson’s Road Rage for a while too. It’s a very fun game, even if the graphics look chunky. With video games it’s always more about the gameplay than the graphics, as long as they don’t distract. I enjoy playing older games when I do play.
Today it’ll be birthday breakfast, then I’ll fix the last two bricks in place so we can finish the exterior trim around the window. The interior is done. The ceiling still needs repair and scraping, and then a new finish, but that will be a big messy job and will have to wait some more. This trip wasn’t really a big work trip, but a chance for W to spend time using the place with the kids.
Gotta remember to stack up some good times too.
nick
First!
n
added — I guess, technically “Last!”
It occurs to me that you could pull a The Cask of Amontillado and wall up a mouthy, obnoxious teenager (redundancy alert).
I signed up for the Directv streaming yesterday for $85/month so I could watch my Aggies play football. But Kentucky has one of their old coaches and he knew all their tricks. Plus, the quarterback was not very sharp at all. A real bummer.
It is 74 F outside and Mr. Fusion is coming up. Gonna be a hot one. Probably bounce off 100 F again. So hot and humid, September is the cruelest month here.
Going to church and then lunch with Mom. The assisted living finally got their kitchen reopened and approved by the health department in Richmond.
I refuse to give ESPN any money, so I got screwed yesterday when ABC moved the Alabama game to ESPN2 for the second half. I watched the announcers wet themselves over Kiffen for a few minutes before I turned the tv off.
We might hit 60F today where I’m living, might hit 55F at the family house. Raining all day at each, with all-day 100% cloud cover likely. When I went out an hour ago to check the chickens’ food and water (and give them some lettuce because they neeeeeeeeeeeed a treeeeeeeeeeeeeat) they weren’t at all inclined to go out of the run and were barely inclined to come out from under the tarp.
Yesterday was a 45F swing in temps, 48F in the morning, 94F late afternoon. 52F this morning.
The back is better(ish), no pain, but only up to light duty.
Same as every fall…
—
Never heard of such things myself, and I need to rebuild my hearth preparatory to installing the (notional) new pellet stove here. I was going to read up on it and maybe watch some YT videos, it isn’t all that fancy of a house and there’s no need for anything spectacular, some easy to clean tile/stone I think is the way to go.
The mandatory sportsball subsidy benefiting ESPN on every bill killed basic cable and burdens the small dish services as well as Sling.
Hearst Media social engineering agenda lives on through the trust until the last family member alive in 1951 assumes room temperature.
TV drama of Kiffen playing his former team and coaching staff.
Kiffen must be great for the betting apps’ bottom lines, hense the swap on the broadcast network.
Texas and LSU meet in November so ABC/Hearst want to build that drama as long as they can.
Texas looked sloppy beating the patsy yesterday. Those games are hard to avoid on a Saturday night in Austin, when we usually leave the house to eat.
My undergrad alma matter taught Florida the danger of booking a patsy 3-4 years out last year, but Florida took revenge on essentially the exact same offense, including personnel, beating Auburn yesterday.
Ah, the benefits of the transfer portal and player salaries.
I have no excuse. Don’t ignore the squiggly line.
Apple made what I believe is a mistake on my iPhone 18 purchase. I was to be given $370 for my old iPhone. The tax refund on the trade amount was given to me in an Apple gift card. I expected the trade-in amount to be posted to my Apple Card account. No problem. But Apple posted a $404.00 credit to the account. That would include the $370.00 for the old iPhone, plus the $34.00 in tax refund. Apple refunded the tax twice. Give it time and maybe Apple will get the money back. I already redeemed the Apple gift card for money into my Apple account.
I purchase Apple products using the Apple credit card. I get the 3% cashback on all Apple purchases. The best rebate rate I can easily find.
For Christmas this year I am buying my son and his wife new iPhone 18 Pros. He wants black, his wife wants Burgundy. Both want 512GB which I think is reasonable memory for what they use their phones. I will not order until the second week of December. I am also ordering matching chargers from Anker.
https://www.anker.com/world-first-45w-smart-display-iphone-charger?ref=image_p1_banner&_gl=1*9tyy1d*_up*MQ..*_ga*MTc1Njc4NTQwNi4xNzg5OTIyNTIw*_ga_CP1CDW0CVX*czE3ODk5MjI1MjAkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODk5MjI1MjAkajYwJGwwJGgwJGRLRnpscmpnLTJtVzlKMC1yNXZVTkhDcXFGTUxLNDE3eGFB*_ga_TTXQYZJJ07*czE3ODk5MjI1MjAkbzEkZzAkdDE3ODk5MjI1MjAkajYwJGwwJGgxMTYwMzg1ODk3JGR5TW9wMFdzeXF3aHV3UlpHLWJBUF9yazlpZldFYWZiQ1V3
Tennessee won again. Paying a low-level team millions to come play to make TN numbers look better. It gets everyone excited until the real competition arrives. Same story every year. As long as it packs Neyland Stadium, which offers $15.00 beer, $6.00 for a bottle of water, no drinking fountains, a slate pissing wall where each bubba tries to impress with their stream, fans that stand the entire game (why have seats?), and a noise level that can cause hearing damage.
Texas A&M lost to Kentucky, and it seems that no one is really surprised.
Vanderbilt won against NC state in what has to be the bone-headed play of the decade, maybe longer. All the quarterback had to do was take a knee for two points, hold on to the ball and run around for six seconds, then take a knee for two points. But, nope. The little thug tried to be the hero and is now the biggest loser in the NCAA this week. A fumble recovery in the end zone for the win for Vanderbilt.
W got her pancake breakfast. Kids and I did too.
Presents were opened.
She got a Paratus gift even if she doesn’t know it. Auction had Slime brand car emergency kits and I bought 3. Nice kit, although some things will be upgraded. The bandaids are cheap, and the batteries are chinese crap.
But for $9, I couldn’t lose.
I’ll add real road flares. Nothing like setting a tire on fire to make enough smoke to be found…
Kids will each get a kit too. I’ve already got the stuff in my trucks.
———-
D2 is playing Portal on the xbox. W is reading. I’m just messing around on the internet with my friends.
Oh, and it’s 92F and sunny.
n
I was goofing with Perplexity AI yesterday and asked, “If my spaceship can travel at .9999c, how long would ship time be in relation to Earth time, traveling to Proxima Centauri, using special relativity and the Lorentz Factor?
Answer: 22 days ship time, 4.25 years Earth time.
Then it asked if I wanted it to build a Relativistic Travel Calculator as a web app.
I said yes, and it is pretty cool. The html file is below (on my NAS) if you want to download it. Use your virus checker, of course. It has some external links in it to Google fonts. The dowload works and runs in Safari, no problemo.
Relativistic Travel Calculator
I like Anker stuff and just ordered the current Nano 45W from Amazon.
What were the odds in the betting apps?
The Slippery Slope:
Our 83-year-old Christian grandmother was euthanised against her will under Canada’s assisted dying system – she died covered in blood with her hands clasped in prayer
Even without knowing the whole story, don’t you think there should be an incontrovertible “escape clause”? You or relatives say anything, even distantly, like “I don’t want this or to die” and the procedure ends.
Find “The Simpsons: Hit and Run” from that same console era.
The game is essentially “Grand Theft Auto III” for the middle school set, but the open ended world exploration in the narrative universe of “The Simpsons” is interesting.
Casual football on consoles peaked with the home release of “NFL Blitz” for various systems.
Yes, playing Tampa Bay means having Trent Dilfer’s lazy a** as QB – a fine Christian man, BTW – but that’s a small price to pay. The play action and announcer voice actor’s delivery never get old.
Some newer franchises are worth the time. I’m working through “Starcraft: Remastered” now.
“Is Starliner being Resurrected?”
https://thesilicongraybeard.blogspot.com/2026/09/is-starliner-being-resurrected.html
“It looks that way. An oddball question that’s hard to ignore comes to mind. Is SpaceX contributing to rescuing Starliner?”
“In the last year, a couple of unrelated stories have come up often. The first one is that Starliner is the cause of the problems that NASA (and all the ISS suppliers) had with the dreadful first crewed flight of Starliner in June of ’24. First of all, Butch Wilmore and Sunni Williams were stranded on the ISS, turning what was planned to be a week long mission into nine months – from June of ’24 to March of ’25. Later in the year, NASA formally forbade Starliner to carry a crew. In addition to the ban on all future Crewed missions, they went into a study of how to modify Starliner so that loss of the vehicle wouldn’t harm crew, just destroy millions of dollars in supplies”
“The second story surfaced earlier this summer. SpaceX has said they’re discontinuing Falcon 9 flights and retiring the vehicle, and won’t commit to flying Crew or Cargo Dragon spacecraft longer than 2030.”
I guess that SpaceX is losing money on the flights.
They’re stopping the flights because a new platform is coming on line, iirc.
n
Starship is the planned new crew / cargo transport i think.
If things go well it will have a fraction of the F9 cost/lb., be fully re-usable, so why keep the older technology?
2030 gives SX time to work out bugs.
And if gremlins persist, they can keep F9 flying for as long as needed.
“With as much frequency as the Indian Tribes”
https://bustednuckles.net/with-as-much-frequency-as-the-indian-tribes/
“The US Government broke every treaty…”
Yup, now us.
I ordered the Burgundy one for myself from Anker. I don’t need it, I just want it. To match my phone. I have two of the units you ordered stashed in the house with 5 foot Beats cables attached.
I have a 100 watt unit for when I travel with the MacBook. Four ports, 3 USB-C, 1 USB-A. The charger has a display showing the power for each port. It charges my MacBook, iPad, iPhone, and watch with ease. I used it overseas in Germany with a plug adapter.
Anker has good stuff. Support is good. I had one charger quit working years ago. I called Anker and a new charger was sent without any hassle.
The Starship is rather BIG, which does limit its utility for crew transport (for ISS size destinations). Smaller transports would be:
India and the EU are so far behind as to be inconsequential.
Ha, everyone who isn’t SpaceX is so far behind as to be inconsequential.
n
All the womenfolk have headed home. I’m making a few small changes to the deck, cleaning up the trim around the bricks I replaced, and generally sweating like a wh*re in church.
96F atm.
n
I gotta laugh at this one:
Ed Sheeran says his family has ‘abandoned him’ and he has ‘found out who his friends are’ amid Israel-Palestine row that is threatening his tour
FAFO, buddy.
You can always blame tRump. Also, he said “America is a scary place…” Rubio should send him packing.
America is scary but he is here. Palestine is great but I bet he won’t step foot over there, even though it is apparently nirvana.
A few weeks ago someone posted a link to a sie where you buy licenses for Microsoft Office 21 and Windows 11.
It worked fine and I would like to buy another license for Office 21 but I can’t find that link. I searched for it here but I hadn’t figured out a search term that works.
Thanks in advance.
Stacksocial?
@Bob – StackSocial.com is the site.
I note that the Office 2021 licenses are ‘sold out’ – although I suspect they will get some more. But you can get Office 2024 Pro for Windows (standalone, not online, perpetual license) for $55: https://www.stacksocial.com/sales/microsoft-office-2024-professional-plus
Home. Some cops along the highways. No boy racers. Uneventful trip.
I filled up with Costco gas instead of HEB, and I think I’m back to my normal mpg. I’ll refill at Costco too and do the math. I mentioned it to W and she said she’s been getting lower mileage in her new Pilot than she expected and she almost always fills up at HEB. Looks like they are putting in more ethanol…
Time to shower and get ready for bed. Lots to do tomorrow, no time for a nap.
n
Sheeran wasn’t the pro-palestinian, that was all Macklemore and his band, very unprofessional of them.
Sherran has tried to be non-political publicly. Mackleboy had one hit he made as a joke. Sherran is one of the most successful songwriters working today. The jew hate is strong with the left. They won’t let you be non-political.
n
Added- if I was on Sherran’s management team, I’d announce that for the rest of the tour, he’d be performing twice as long, in the place of the opening acts. People would be lined up for his shows.
n
“Short-Barrel Firearms Becoming A More Apparent Fit For Most Shooters”
https://gatdaily.com/articles/rise-of-the-short-kings-the-sbr-and-sbs-will-dominate-the-future-market/
“The rise of the short kings is upon us, compact carbines and shotguns that are more fitting of the environments we live and are no longer rigidly controlled by the arbitrarily chosen values of the National Firearms Act. Rifles of sixteen inch barrels and twenty six inches of overall length, shotguns of eighteen and twenty eight respectively, these numbers are losing their hold on shaping the firearms market.”
“I expect that should the NFA get nationally revoked for the SBR, SBS, and Silencer category and SCOTUS rule in favor of the 2nd Amendment once again, we’ll see some very very cool new shorties arrive.”