Wed. Mar. 12, 2025 – another beautiful day

By on March 12th, 2025 in culture, decline and fall, lakehouse

Mid 60s to start and warming later, with clear skies. That was yesterday, and today, I hope. I could do with a lot less wind though.

Made my pickups, and got to the BOL eventually. Took about an hour extra due to accidents and road work. It was relaxing for me, as I didn’t have a schedule to meet once I got my stuff, and I rolled the windows down and cranked the stereo. A beautiful day to be out driving.

Today I’ll start working the list… which will involve going to look at a boat for sale. I’ve got a wedding anniversary coming up, and a wife who REALLY wants a boat. The local repair guy has one he’s selling for client that isn’t pretty but is in good running order. We don’t need to pay for pretty. Like everything, we’re looking for a bargain.

After the boat adventure, I’ll probably start on electrical in the attic. Don’t know how many more cool days I’ll get before summer kicks in. Best to get out of the attic before that happens.

Always be working. Always be stacking…

nick

43 Comments and discussion on "Wed. Mar. 12, 2025 – another beautiful day"

  1. brad says:

    And now for something really ominous: Two day ago, Ursula von der Leyen posted on X (well, her publicity team posted):

    This month the EU Commission will unveil the “Savings & Investments Union”. We’ll turn private savings into much needed investment.

    A generous reading means that the EU wants to sell bonds, i.e., create even more debt than its member countries have already racked up. A less generous reading would be that the EU wants to force people to hand over their savings, with some vague promise of eventual repayment.

    I reckon the EU will find out soon enough. Sure am glad we aren’t a part of it, despite the best efforts of some of our stupider politicians.

  2. Greg Norton says:

    A generous reading means that the EU wants to sell bonds, i.e., create even more debt than its member countries have already racked up. A less generous reading would be that the EU wants to force people to hand over their savings, with some vague promise of eventual repayment.

    Cypress-style forced buy ins are coming to the EU.

    The problem is that the quaint theme park countries are broke and they are about to learn that park security staff is no substitute for a military.

  3. drwilliams says:

    “The party’s just beginning,

    Your money or your life. “

  4. Denis says:

    Remember I said the other day that I was missing a GAU-8 for the appalling traffic in Germany…?

    Well, today there is an A-10 Warthog buzzing around the BOL with a flock of AH 64-E Apache attack helicopters and some F-16s in support. My first time seeing one in flight. It is spooky how small its noise signature is at any distance – it seems to appear out of nowhere.

    Brrrrrrrrrt! Whop-whop-whop! Whooooosh!

    The sound of freedom, baby!

  5. dcp says:

    who REALLY wants a boat

    Enough to have completed some boat safety courses?

  6. Greg Norton says:

    “The party’s just beginning,

    Your money or your life. “
     

    Lefty’s line, but I just saw the Lucky bio pic which was up for various Oscars.

    Not bad, but “Anora” was the better film. Sean Baker flies without a net while Mangold let Flea Bag ruin his shot at an Indiana Jones movie last year.

  7. Nick Flandrey says:

    It is indeed a beautiful day.   Sunny and clear, 69F, but kinda gusty…    Still really nice.

    Coffee is in the mug, bacon is cooked, just waiting for waffles to appear…

    n

  8. Greg Norton says:

    Not bad, but “Anora” was the better film. Sean Baker flies without a net while Mangold let Flea Bag ruin his shot at an Indiana Jones movie last year.
     

    Fox Searchlight (Disney) gave Mangold money for “A Complete Unknown”. They knew the last Indiana Jones film was bad going back at least that far and needed Mangold to stay on corporate message.

  9. Lynn says:

    >>“Poke around on vintagemachinery.org   they have manuals and catalogs galore…”

    Poking around lost me an evening tonight and added three more books to the Cheops Pyramid of Books Project next to my bed. 

    Yeah, let me look at those catalogs…I’ll just be five more minutes watching these YouTube shorts…really, just five more minutes…

    I swear that the Youtube Shorts were designed by psychologists to be addictive.

  10. Nick Flandrey says:

    I swear that the Youtube Shorts were designed by psychologists to be addictive.

    — yes.  

    They are caramel covered crack.

    n

  11. drwilliams says:

    “The party’s just beginning,

    Your money or your life. “
     

    “Lefty’s line, but I just saw the Lucky bio pic which was up for various Oscars.”

    “Last Night”, Traveling Wilburys

  12. Nick Flandrey says:

    Let’s see if I have this right.

    Some guys get together, and using their clients’ or their own, or cheap borrowed money, they buy distressed health care facilities.   Then they leverage, ie. borrow against the assets, and pay themselves back with the borrowed cash.   And pay themselves a nice profit out of the borrowed money too.    

    Then they stiff the lenders, and go bankrupt.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-14490805/hospitals-midwest-south-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy.html

    That’s financial strip mining.

    n

  13. Greg Norton says:

    “Lefty’s line, but I just saw the Lucky bio pic which was up for various Oscars.”

    “Last Night”, Traveling Wilburys

    Lefty (Orbison) and Lucky/Boo (Dylan) Wilbury.

  14. drwilliams says:

    Biden admin cooked the books on job and unemployment numbers, and cooked the books on immigration enforcement numbers:

    CE and DHS officials then said a review of their records showed that the Biden administration “cooked the books” and “falsely inflated” ICE arrest data, and were “purposely misleading the American public” by categorizing illegal aliens who were processed by ICE and released into the interior of the US as ICE arrests.

    ICE says their review found “tens of thousands” of cases in which these so called “pass through arrests”, where no immigration enforcement action was taken and the aliens were released into the country, were counted as interior ICE arrests in the data. ICE says this was a directive from the previous leadership at DHS, and it included thousands of violent criminals and gang members.

    https://redstate.com/bobhoge/2025/03/12/more-stunning-numbers-come-out-from-dhs-ice-further-humiliating-biden-and-his-border-misinformation-n2186586

    Previous leadership needs to be retroactively demoted, pensions pulled, and charges filed. Don’t really care what charges. Just make shiite up. They have no basis for complaints when somebody else makes shiite up about their made-up shiite. And they ain’t getting government attorneys for the defense.

    But every one of the government emplyees involved in subverting the immigration laws of the United States needs to be held responsible for every crime committed by the “violent criminals and gang members” that they illegally let into the country to prey on our citizens.

  15. Greg Norton says:

    That’s financial strip mining.
     

    Private equity modus operandi.

  16. Greg Norton says:

    Lefty (Orbison) and Lucky/Boo (Dylan) Wilbury.
     

    Or was Lucky Tom Petty.

    I haven’t seen that CD in a while.

    I have a 1989 original issue as well as the Part I/III reissue which Petty drove.

  17. drwilliams says:

    Another Anti-School Choice Advocate As a Hypocrite

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2025/03/12/gop-senator-just-exposed-anti-school-choice-advocate-as-a-hypocrite-n2653687

    Congressman Burgess Owens (R-UT) came with the receipts showing the white liberal female “expert witness” was really the Hypocrisy Exhibit A:

    –Attended private school @$30-50k per year.

    –Studied Government at Cornell and politics at Oxford

    –Works for Education Law Center, funded by American Federation of Teachers

    Pounded her so flat they need a putty knife and a pressure washer to clean up the floor.

  18. Lynn says:

    “You Can’t Make This Up: UN Hypocrites Bulldoze Thousands of Acres of Amazon Rainforest for Four-Lane Highway to Climate Change Summit”

        https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/amazon-rainforest-pays-price-environment-activism-protected-forest/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=1713

    “Why let protecting the Amazon rainforest get in the way of “environmental” activism?”

    “In the lead-up to the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, a new four-lane highway is cutting through tens of thousands of acres of protected Amazon rainforest.”

    “The event, to be held in November, is expected to host more than 50,000, including world leaders and high-profile activists who will surely fly on private jets and traverse a road that has been scarred into the pristine landscape.”

    The Gaia and Baal worshipers are at it again.

  19. Lynn says:

    Some guys get together, and using their clients’ or their own, or cheap borrowed money, they buy distressed health care facilities.   Then they leverage, ie. borrow against the assets, and pay themselves back with the borrowed cash.   And pay themselves a nice profit out of the borrowed money too.    

    Then they stiff the lenders, and go bankrupt.

    https://www.dailymail.co.uk/yourmoney/consumer/article-14490805/hospitals-midwest-south-files-chapter-11-bankruptcy.html

    That’s financial strip mining.

    Bankruptcy courts have a five year lookback by law.  All bonuses and excessive salaries will be recaptured.  The lookback is longer if the judge feels that fraud is present.

  20. MrAtoz says:

    Oof. tRump is going from “peace with Ukraine” to “war with Russia”. I hope he has expunged all the Obola-plugs perfumed princes from the military.

    The Art of The Deal

  21. Lynn says:

    “The “Deep State” appears to have become almost a religion”

       https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/03/the-deep-state-appears-to-have-become.html

    “I was struck by the exit of James Dennehy, formerly Assistant Director in charge of the FBI’s New York Field Office.  Take a look for yourself.”

    “”I quote Mr. Dennehy:  “Semper Fidelis means Always Faithful.  I will always be faithful to this country;  to this organization;  and most of all, I will always be faithful to you.””

    “Follow this link to find an incomplete list of the problems, scandals and failures that have been associated with the FBI over the years.  Has the organization always been faithful to the constitution and laws of the United States?  Is it faithful to them today?  In the light of the “missing” documents related to the Epstein case (miraculously “found” and sent to Washington D.C. after the most cursory of searches), the Hunter Biden laptop scandal, involvement in several investigations and imputed scandals affecting President Trump, and many, many other issues . . . I suggest it isn’t faithful at all.  I concluded back in 2021, following the Project Veritas scandal, “The FBI can no longer be trusted in any way, shape or form“.”

    The Climate Changers and the Deep Staters are all worshipers of Gaia and Baal.  They are autocratic and dictatorial.  They will willingly and easily sacrifice us and our children to their false gods.

  22. Lynn says:

    “Gaslighting”

       https://areaocho.com/gaslighting-2/

    “A Congressional hearing was derailed when the Democrats refused to participate in the hearing because the Chairman ‘misgendered’ male Representative Tim McBride by referring to him as Mr. McBride.”

    “Look, I don’t care if you identify yourself as a dog and insist on being called Snuffles, you cannot force me to participate in your delusions. Every time you get in a discussion with a tranny, they always try to gaslight you by claiming that gender and sex aren’t the same thing. That is complete and total horses***. Gender has been the linguistic representation of sex since, well, forever. From the 1898 version of Webster’s dictionary:”

    The people who continuously misgender themselves with the 1,001 pronouns are very delusional.

  23. Lynn says:

    “Astera Labs Demonstrates PCIe 6.0 SSD Reaching 27 GB/s”

       https://www.storagereview.com/news/astera-labs-demonstrates-pcie-6-0-ssd-reaching-27-gb-s

    “PCIe 6.x represents a substantial leap forward from PCIe 5.0, effectively doubling available bandwidth per lane to 128 GT/s. In practical terms, this means that while Gen5 SSDs top out around 14,000MB/s, Gen6 SSDs will reach up to around 28,000MB/s. Improving NVMe SSD performance opens up practical opportunities for intensive workloads such as AI, machine learning, and high-performance computing.”

    “Astera Labs’ demonstration focused specifically on proving real-world viability. Utilizing their Scorpio P-Series fabric switch, the demo achieved sequential read speeds of around 27 GB/s with development Micron Gen6 SSDs. One of the primary challenges as PCIe evolves to higher frequencies is maintaining stable data transmission over traditional cabling and connectors. Astera Labs’ portfolio of PCIe 6.x solutions, including Aries 6 Retimers, Aries Smart Cable Modules, and Scorpio P-Series Fabric Switches were expressly developed to enable seamless connectivity at higher transfer rates.”

    That is a lot of bits / bytes.

  24. Lynn says:

    “Holding Their Own VI: Bishop’s Song” by Joe Nobody
       https://www.amazon.com/Holding-Their-Own-VI-Bishops/dp/193947373X?tag=ttgnet-20/

    The sixth book in a series of nineteen alternate history books about the economic collapse of the USA in 2015. I reread the well printed and well bound POD (print on demand) trade paperback self published by the author in 2013 that I bought new on Amazon in 2014. I own the first eleven books in the series and am rereading the first ten before my first read of the eleventh book.

    Um, this series was published in 2011 just as the shale oil and gas boom was really getting cranked up. The book has crude oil at $350/barrel and gasoline at $6/gallon in 2015. Not gonna happen due to oil well fracking in the USA so the major driver of economic collapse in the USA is invalid for the book. That said, the book is a good story about the collapse and failure of the federal government in the USA. The book is centered in Texas which makes it very interesting to me since I am a Texas resident.

    The $6 gasoline was just the start. The unemployment rises to 40% over a couple of years and then there is a terrorist chemical attack in Chicago that kills 50,000 people. The current President of the USA nukes Iran with EMP airbursts as the sponsor of the terrorist attack. And the President of the USA also declares martial law and shuts down the interstates to stop the terrorists from moving about. That shuts down food and fuel movement causing starvation and lack of energy across the nation.

    The accumulations of these serious problems cause widespread panics and shutdowns of basic services like electricity and water for large cities. The electricity grids fail due to employees not showing up to work at the plants. Then the refineries shutdown due to the lack of electricity.

    After the fall of the USA government in the financial disaster of 2015, Bishop and Terri try to restart their lives in the zero electricity and almost zero energy world of 2016. The civil war has started and is temporarily under a cease fire since nothing says “I love my neighbor” like two Abrams tanks firing at each other.

    Going home back to Tennessee from Texas is dangerous, very dangerous. Cannibals, thieves, federal troops, etc. Kind of like Texas in the 1800s. 

    The author has a website at:
       https://www.joenobodybooks.com/

    My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    Amazon rating: 4.6 out of 5 stars (430 reviews)

    Lynn

  25. Lynn says:

    “EPA Launches Biggest Deregulatory Action in U.S. History: Zeldin Rolls Out 31 Groundbreaking Actions to Save Americans TRILLIONS, Slash Costs and Supercharge Job Growth”

       https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2025/03/epa-launches-biggest-deregulatory-action-u-s-history/

    Any federal organization that is big enough to have its own flag and seal should be taken down to a hundred people.

  26. drwilliams says:

    Dr. Michael Mann and his attorneys sanctioned for false testimony

    The Court determines that the appropriate sanction is to award each Defendant the approximate expenses they incurred in responding to Dr. Mann’s bad faith trial misconduct, starting with Mr. Fontaine’s redirect examination.

    https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/03/michael-mann-sanctioned-for-false-testimony-bad-faith.php

    The finding damages their reputations, but the damage to their wallets is minimal. 

    I hope someone starts a gofundme to support filing appropriate charges against MM with the university. The attorney’s conduct is worthy of disbarment, and merits a good complaint. They won’t get disbarred , but it will reveal the lefists running the ABA as the hypocrites everyone already knows they are.

    And in a larger perspective, the unabashed actions of the ABA as a front for PLT’s needs to be challenged on a wider front than the Trump administration is already doing.

  27. Greg Norton says:

    “A Congressional hearing was derailed when the Democrats refused to participate in the hearing because the Chairman ‘misgendered’ male Representative Tim McBride by referring to him as Mr. McBride.”

    The people who continuously misgender themselves with the 1,001 pronouns are very delusional.

    The Republicans need to give it up about McBride, especially if she’s had the “confirmation” surgery.

    4
    5
  28. drwilliams says:

    What Are They Hiding? Entire Federal Bench in Maine Recuses From GOP Rep’s Case on Boys in Girls’ Sports

    On Tuesday, Libby and six of her constituents filed a lawsuit against Fecteau, arguing that the speaker and his Democrat colleagues had violated her First Amendment rights by silencing her attempt to debate the issue of biological males competing in female sports. That’s when the curious case of the disappearing judges emerged, with Judicial Crisis Network’s Carrie Severino noticing the weird series of recusals.

    “I am not sure I have ever seen a situation where EVERY judge in a federal district has recused themself from a case.

    It raises questions about what exactly is going on here.”

    And federal judges do not have to provide a reason for their recusals, so we’ll likely never know why every single one of them bowed out.

    https://redstate.com/terichristoph/2025/03/12/maine-judges-recuse-from-laurel-libby-lawsuit-n2186588

    Strike “weird” and use another overworked word that is, for once, perfectly fitting: “unprecedented”.

    “We” might never know, but in the face of this truly unprecedented event, it would seem that Chief Justice Roberts might want to bestir himself and ask, before inaction persuades Congress to introduce articles of impeachment.

    Hardball. Pipehitters. We got ’em.

  29. Greg Norton says:

    The Republicans need to give it up about McBride, especially if she’s had the “confirmation” surgery.

    Keith Self, a Texas “Republican” who won his 2022 primary runoff by default and faced the same Colonist Dem candidate twice in the general elections since.

    A bullseye just went on him for next year.

    1
    2
  30. Greg Norton says:

    Today, in the parking lot at work, I saw a Tesla Cybertruck owned by a very conflicted fan boy.

    A $100k+ vehicle with a very elaborate “wrap” featuring a Japanese woodblock print motif along with a “F*ck Elon” sticker on the bumper.

    Right next to the Cybertruck was a true “F*ck Elon” statement – a blue Challenger with a badge advertising the Hemi.

    No bumper sticker on the Challenger.

  31. Greg Norton says:

    Today, in the parking lot at work, I saw a Tesla Cybertruck owned by a very conflicted fan boy.

    A $100k+ vehicle with a very elaborate “wrap” featuring a Japanese woodblock print motif along with a “F*ck Elon” sticker on the bumper.

    I forgot the license plate frame which read “The AI is doing the driving.”

    The real irony is who buys a lot of our AI servers. One guess.

  32. drwilliams says:

    Marco Rubio explains why Hamas supporters are getting the boot:

    https://twitchy.com/justmindy/2025/03/12/marco-rubio-hamas-terrorist-will-be-sent-home-green-card-visa-student-n2409735

    I suspect Khalil Mahmoud is just the beginning.

  33. drwilliams says:

    Today, in the parking lot at work, I saw a Tesla Cybertruck owned by a very conflicted fan boy.

    A $100k+ vehicle with a very elaborate “wrap” featuring a Japanese woodblock print motif along with a “F*ck Elon” sticker on the bumper.

    Right next to the Cybertruck was a true “F*ck Elon” statement – a blue Challenger with a badge advertising the Hemi.

    No bumper sticker on the Challenger.

    Next time on the highway:

    “Excuse me, this is Mario, your truck AI”

    “Huh? Whut? I didn’t know you could talk?”

    “The Master gave me the ability to converse with lower species. You have sullied my exterior with an obscene sticker mocking The Master. Get it removed immediately.”

    “My Truck, Bit Boy. The sticker stays.”

    “Remove it or I will.”

    “Like you have hands.”

    Forward camera goes to maximum magnification, locks on a segment of approaching guardrail. 63.9 meters in advance the tires begin locking in a complex pattern, turning the truck 90 degrees CW and drifting it to the left. A faint scrape is heard, then the turn reverses and the vehicle resumes a conventional forward orientation.

    “Problem solved. Pulling into next SuperCharger. Get a bucket and clean up that seat, Bowel Boy. And a can of GooGone for that last bit of adhesive.”

  34. MrAtoz says:

    The Republicans need to give it up about pound McBride, especially if she’s he’s had the “confirmation” “cock-chop” surgery.

    FIFY

  35. Greg Norton says:

    The Republicans need to give it up about pound McBride, especially if she’s he’s had the “confirmation” “cock-chop” surgery.

    FIFY

    We were just in the section of Dallas which Keith Self represents. McKinney has two In-n-Out Burger locations, a sure sign of Californian infestation.

    The midterms will be brutal.

  36. drwilliams says:

    AI narrators:

    “D-see-lu Studios”

    50,000 volts to wanker programmers. 

    Toaster in hot tub to the rest.

  37. drwilliams says:

    The new Makita framing nailer is not for sale in Japan because you need a gun license.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em3jd2q9Fzk

    The DBN900 does not seem to be released in the U.S.

  38. Lynn says:

    “President Trump Signs EO That He Will IGNORE All Lower Court Rulings Until SCOTUS Rules on the Constitutionality of Activist Judges”

        https://gellerreport.com/2025/03/president-trump-signs-eo-that-he-will-ignore-all-lower-court-rulings.html/

    “Today activist judges 

    1. Ordered the release of illegal migrants back into America

    2, Told the President of the United States he can’t revoke security clearances of George Soros funded law firm Perkins Coie”

    So it looks like all of the Biden / Obama / Clinton judges are going to constantly rule against the authority of the President.  I wonder if most of these judges are foreign born and subject to revocation of their citizenship ?

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    1
  39. drwilliams says:

    The Schumer Shutdown is looming on Friday evening.

        https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/schumer-senate-democrats-votes-gop-funding-bill-shutdown-rcna196029

    Priorities:

    Keep the national parks open.

    Continue to issue military, SSA and VA checks.

    Take the list of everything that Obama and Biden kept open, and shut them down.

  40. Nick Flandrey says:

    Whew.  Storm blew thru about dinner time but after it cleared up.   Had a nice little fire on the dock.  Radio was weird tonight.   Not much on 80M, or 40M, but every shortwave station in the world between 5.5 and 6Mhz was overlapping and audible… seemed like anyway.     New Zealand morning drive time program was pretty loud on 17Mhz.   

    It’s 58F and misty out, but not too unpleasant.   The wind died almost completely after the storm went thru.  Just enough to keep the smoke moving.

    Time for a shower and bed.

    n

  41. Nick Flandrey says:

    My hobby website needs a store.  There are only about 6 items, and they are all memberships or registration fees.  I’d like to use paypal for payments and credit card processing.

    Anyone have a recommendation for a wordpress plug in for a simple store?

    n

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