Hot and humid today with an increasing chance of rain. Not my favorite thing. Still it’s been cooler than other recent years. Same today as yesterday, sun, a few clouds, oppressive humidity, and heat to make it miserable outside.
Did stuff in the morning. Got my rental equipment sorted, found a crushed material to use as walkway and paving. Slag. It’s cheap, recycled, and produced locally, and it’s black which is what my wife wanted. It may not be ideal, but it’s ‘good enough’. Did a couple of pickups. Talked to my auctioneer about dropping some more stuff off. And getting paid. We’ll see.
Today I need to do one pickup, and some shopping. I need to get the material to edge my crushed slag walkway, and I need some more Hungry Man dinners. I’m so worn out after running machines all day that just microwaving dinner is all I can do. And they aren’t bad. Much better than they used to be anyway.
Hopefully, it won’t rain all week when I need to be running machines.
Always be working… and stack some stuff to. That will give you plenty of stuff to work on later.
nick
FWIW, I agree. I have an ancient NAS that, among other things, does our backups. I’m sure it’s vulnerable to all sorts of things, but it is not accessible from the Internet (and our systems that are, are well-protected). No sense in excessive paranoia.
Sure I would. You do have to look at everything, before you throw it out, just in case. But ultimately you have to make progress. It’s going to be hard on your mom, but you can’t touch everything and reminisce, or you’ll be there for years.
I can see it with us. I used to take a lot of pictures (back when they were on film) when the kids were small. My wife had great intentions of going through them and creating photo albums. We still have all the pictures, decades later, untouched. I can’t quite bring myself to just throw the whole box away. But, somehow, I also don’t want to open it. Our kids will have to throw it away…
Maybe ask at the bank? Your mom might not know, or simply have forgotten…
The closing paperwork for our current house disappeared at the same time as my mother-in-law at the end of the week when we bought the place.
The Fedex guy dropped off the envelope just as we were getting ready to make the airport run, and, without thinking, I set the packet next to the door, intending to put it away after completing the errand.
I forgot that the old woman was watching the delivery/signing from her semi-permanent perch on the couch.
When we got back from the airport, the paperwork was not on the table, and I put two and two together.
Fortunately, getting new paper was not a problem.
What did your MIL think she was going to do with it? Just being nosy?
Nosy. Ethnic Chinese.
We wouldn’t talk about what we paid for the house, and that stuck in her craw.
As I’ve said before, even my wife doesn’t understand about 75% of what goes through her Chinese family’s heads, including her own mother’s.
I think I understand better, but my philosophy about people in general is from Dr. Cox on “Scrubs” – People are not nice. People are bastard coated bastards with bastard flavored filling.
Approach the Chinsese relations that way, and you can’t go wrong.
Oh, please, let John C. McGinley be part of the upcoming “Scrubs” reboot on ABC.
I am going to Cookeville to get my military ID. Which is different than the VA card. I now qualify for the card with the TDIU. The card will let me on military bases to use the commissary and exchange facilities. I will no longer have to pay a surcharge for using a debit or credit card at either facility. The spousal unit will also get an ID. Mine will not expire, hers will expire every four years.
I cannot get an appointment in Knoxville to get the ID. They are booked for three months according to the online appointment scheduling. I think it is more than likely due to the staff at the location not wanting to work. I had the choices of Chattanooga or Cookeville. Both about the same distance but traffic is not as bad in Cookeville.
We have to have our birth certificates, marriage license, two forms of ID with photos (passport and driver’s license), my DD-214. The DD-214 I have the original and a couple of certified reprints. I was surprised I had the original in the safe deposit box.
And, I just paid off my truck, $67K. I got a loan for reasons. I paid a total of $12.00 in interest.
I am also getting a refund from the dealer for the registration fees. As a 100% disabled veteran I am exempt from vehicle registration fees. The dealer did not see it that way so I paid the $26.00 as maybe transferring a plate to another vehicle the fees are not waived. I did get temporary tags that the dealer was adamant must be on the vehicle when leaving the dealer. When I got home I put my DAV plates back on but kept the temporary tag in the vehicle.
83F and light overcast.
Breakfast in my belly, and tea in the mug.
Time to face the day.
n
emphasis added. I never considered the possibility it was hoovering up SIGINT…
n
This chainsaw had a 28” (or maybe 26”) blade, heavy, powerful, no safety stops. I was wearing zero safety gear.
My uncle’s sympathetic response was to chew me out for not getting enough firewood.
Hey, the man had goals.
more followup in DM
Alec Baldwin’s lawsuit against New Mexico prosecutors over ‘malicious’ Rust shooting prosecution is THROWN OUT
n
@Nick: I am not sure exactly what you mean by slag, but if it’s welding and casting leftovers it could be full of various toxic metals and compounds.
Sometimes, of course, the name sticks while the compounding elements change, ‘cinderblock’ does not contain cinders anymore, and TSP doesn’t contain phosphate.
“Revealed: The top baby names in England and Wales with a 23% rise in Muhammad as it takes number one spot for second year in a row”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14958149/The-baby-names-England-Wales-Muhammad-takes-number-one-spot-second-year-row.html
There will not always be an England.
emphasis added. I never considered the possibility it was hoovering up SIGINT…
SIGINT, ELINT, cameras, etc. It is all a NSA dream.
And it is tough to hide from the cameras when they are zipping overhead every 30 seconds unlike the old spy satellites that had exclusion windows of up to four hours.
“Tesla Joins Online Frenzy Over Sydney Sweeney’s Ad With a Funny “Jeans” Jab [WATCH]”
https://www.lifezette.com/2025/07/tesla-joins-online-frenzy-over-sydney-sweeneys-ad-with-a-funny-jeans-jab-watch/
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
Trump’s DOE Ditches 400 Climate Cultists, Taps 5 Experts for Balanced ‘Climate Assessment’
Stellar group.
Back in 1982-1985, I worked for a company that made custom equipment. Most was earthmoving, shaping, and paving, but we did a couple of defense contracts, most notably underground boring equipment for the MX missile project. Deep underground basing, where the missile digs its way out from underground. We built and tested that. The Boring Company tunneler looks eerily similar to what we produced.
One of the bids we did was for a weird hoist/gantry thingy. Its requirements were for mounting points that would hold certain size and weight objects, and lift them from underneath, and get them up to a certain height in a mater of minutes, and down under cover in a matter of seconds.
We finally decided it was for hoisting stealth aircraft or mockups of same, for testing purposes. Our satellites could look down, our high altitude spyplanes could look down and test radars, but it could hide from Russian satellites before they had a chance to see anything.
I don’t think we won that contract. I left that job for greener pastures soon after.
A skeptics dream team, wow.
I wonder how much Sony paid American Eagle for the PR favor.
Ok, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has erred, and dismissed our case against Houston Methodist. The err is a clear violation of procedural rules, yet another by the Obama/Biden judges who “randomly” get assigned these cases.
Next stop, Supreme Court. One of the other 17 cases is already on the way there and I suspect others will follow.
The coordinator of all this, Brian Ward, is appealing for more donations. This stuff gets expensive. He’s asked us to share this link far and wide, especially to private businesses that may wish to have mandates for experimental drugs made illegal.
Link here.
I appreciate your attention to this matter. Just passing the link on is helpful.
Read Ben Rich’s book. Development of the F117 started in the late 70s under William Perry at DoD.
Early 80s would be the timeframe for testing the effectiveness of the design against live radar.
@EdH, the slag in question is a byproduct of steel making/recycling/refining. I think it’s what’s left of the coke (which starts as coal). It has whatever coal has in it, but the googles say it’s inert and non-toxic and ok for garden paths. It’s available locally and it’s less than $100 a cubic yard- delivered.
Since I need about 15 or 16 yards saving half or more is a good deal. The available locally part is critical though, there aren’t a lot of choices out in the countryside, and I can’t haul two dump trucks worth of stone to the BOL from Houston.
————
@ lpdbw, I’m guessing HM has a lot of friends in high places. Keep fighting the good fight.
———–
Did my pickup, then picked up kid 2. Kid 1 is at the water park with a friend. I’m debating when/if to cut the grass today. It’ll be crazy long if I leave it but it is HOT out. Maybe around 7 pm…
n
Maybe ask at the bank? Your mom might not know, or simply have forgotten
They bank at their brokerage. No bank accounts.
Try the local county. I’d start with the tax assessor’s office.
When we paid off the house I took the release of lien (I think) to the courthouse.
We saw an F117 in person in Palm Springs in April. That is a surprisingly large airplane for the size payload it is capable of delivering.
The Nighthawk is about dropping a bomb down the plumbing vent stack at the Middle Eastern dictator’s palace in the dead of night.
The message sent by the airplane was: We know when you get up at night to potty. We’ll be waiting.
Only the Serbs ever brought one down, and they had Russian help.
If they keep playing stupid games, they’ll soon win some stupid prizes…
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14960397/purge-trend-door-kicking-las-vegas.html
– it’s not a “prank”. It’s breaking and entering and in just about any state in the Union, it’s a death sentence if the homeowner meets them with a gun.
How stupid is this generation?
n
I think “baffled” might be the wrong word…
– pretty much everywhere they finally get around to looking, they find life.
n
“Courageous (The Lost Fleet, Book 3)” by Jack Campbell
https://www.amazon.com/Courageous-Lost-Fleet-Book-3/dp/0441015670?tag=ttgnet-20/
Book number three of a six book military science fiction series. Plus several sequel series consisting of fourteen books total. I read the well printed and well bound MMPB published by Ace in 2007 that I bought on Amazon. I have purchased the three sequel books in this series and plan to read them soon.
I did not know John G. Hemry was the real name for Jack Campbell as I purchased the Stark series quite a while back and enjoyed it also.
The Alliance sent a war fleet into the Syndic home star system via the new FTL network to defeat the Syndics once and for all. However, the Syndics knew that they were coming and destroyed many of the Alliance space warships. Now the Alliance warships need to leave or be destroyed one by one.
The Alliance admiral left Captain John “Black Jack” Geary in charge of the Alliance fleet before he and his staff were murdered by the Syndics in the negotiations. Captain John “Black Jack” Geary was found by the Alliance fleet on their way to Syndic space, in stasis in an old emergency pod. A hundred year old emergency pod. Captain John “Black Jack” Geary may be a hundred years out of date but some things like tactics of war spaceship fleets never go away.
Captain Geary is leading his fleet of warships and supply ships through old wormholes, trying to anticipate Syndic attacks and gather raw materials and feed his crews. But while mining old Syndic mines for raw materials, they are caught between two Syndic fleets. And the smaller fleet leads backwards for the Alliance fleet.
The author has a website at:
https://jack-campbell.com/
My rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Amazon rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars (3,731 reviews)
Lynn
I hear that Kamala is writing a book about her failed campaign. It should be easy to read, being written in crayon.
As of last Monday, I have a new job. I am President and CEO of another software company. A majority of the shareholders voted me in even though I do not own any of the stock. So, I am now running four businesses.
Aren’t you suppose to slow down when you hit 65 ?
My mother and I bought a red Texas granite headstone for my father on Tuesday. The cost for the 48 inch wide by 24 inch tall by six inches deep two pieces of granite was abysmal but, Mom got what she wanted. Dad’s favorite color was red. $6,600 installed in four months or so.
Be sure to leave your inheritors lots of money when you die if you want to have a casket, a visitation, a service, a graveside internment, a grave, and a headstone. About $26k total.
BTW, we took the display model of the red Texas granite headstone. Otherwise, it was an extra nine months to get the headstone and no guarantee of that. But the color was perfect for Mom.
“Money market” accounts at a bank or brokerage are the property of the institution per the courts since the decision involving the meltdown of MF Global.
Port Lavaca doesn’t have a decent credit union?
Except Joe Biden’s bedroom.
“Why illegal aliens will keep on coming”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/07/why-illegal-aliens-will-keep-on-coming.html
“I’ve heard and read a lot of comments about the illegal alien problem in the United States. Many say – and I agree – that they should not be allowed to “invade” this country, and should be deported if they do. Others argue for a “compassionate” approach, ignoring cultural and other conflicts in the name of a “shared humanity”. Whilst I’m more of a law-and-order guy, I admit they have at least some right on their side, too.”
“Problem is, both sides ignore the reality that people want to come here, and to European nations, because our way of life is so immeasurably superior to their own that they’ll do literally anything to escape here. For some it’s quite literally a matter of life or death. Three news headlines over the past week should bear this out. Click any of them to read the related article.”
In a Haitian city ruled by gangs, young rape survivor raises baby she was told to abort
Thirty Days as a Cuban
WATCH: Gazans Loot United Nations Aid Trucks
Yup, the problem is only fixable by making it so tough to get here and the consequences dire of crossing our border without our permission.
Well, #&/%,;=#+)*¥~]>
The kitchen sink is backing up, need to get a plumber. I will also have the issue with the washing machine backing up slightly into the tube. I think the drain for the washing machine is connected too close to the tube drain. I also need the interior water shut off valve replaced as it does not close all the way. I will have that gate valve replaced with a ball valve. Probably a good time to replace the pressure regulator.
I hate doing plumbing and would rather pay someone to make the repairs. I will do small stuff, rebuild a toilet, replace a faucet, but beyond that my success rate is not good. I know my limits.
No food, no rent, no medical. No assistance of any kind from religious groups or .gov. Absolutely no work. Heavy penalties for employers who get caught. And tax remittances at 75% to catch the money of anyone you don’t catch.
Oh, and permanent ban for offender and blood kin, by DNA test when caught.
n
The AI will write the code. You just cash the checks.
The Go project at work has turned out to be even more of a trainwreck than I imagined when I looked at the code in January and opted to pass on the “opportunity”, even if it meant my job.
I’m too old for that sh*t.
BTW, if they pay you in stock, be aware that RSU grants are ordinary income at time of vesting.
One GIANT problem is that “refugees” often ARE NOT “refugees”. A real refugee would never DREAM of going back to their country of origin on “vacation”. So anybody claiming refugee status who goes BACK on vacation must be permanently from ever re-entering the United States. And it’s REALLY too bad that the European nations would never dream of doing that to their own “visitors”.
As it is, most European nations are already or about to be overwhelmed. Ireland, Britain, France and Germany are already gone; Netherlands and Denmark are on the brink, and Italy is almost there. Poland and Hungary may be the last European nations to survive, IF they do.
@Nick: I’m a worrywart. Too easy for Cadmium, Copper, Zinc, Lead, Melamine, etc, to creep into industrial waste, nobody wants to pay the extra fee to dispose of that stuff. Some people just don’t care, or don’t know, or were lied to, or deliberately averted their eyes.
If you are dropping $1500 or more it might be worth getting a soil analysis from a lab, they routinely check for all that stuff at many construction sites, a few hundred dollars would probably cover it, though you want to make sure you test the stuff you are actually taking home.
BTW: several people around here ended up with free asphalt grindings for their driveways: the contractor putting a new top on the roads had to grind off an inch or two, was happy to give it to them, and even compact it, rather than pay to have it hauled off.
BTW, if they pay you in stock, be aware that RSU grants are ordinary income at time of vesting.
Wait, wait, wait. Who said anything about payment ? I am just doing this as a favor to some people.
“4 Set Black Anti Theft License Plate Screws Kits, Rustproof Stainless Steel Car Tag Plate Mounting Hardware, M6 (1/4″) Tamper Proof Screws for Front Rear Frame Holder Mounting”
https://www.amazon.com/License-Rustproof-Stainless-Mounting-Hardware/dp/B0BWMQ1VQD?tag=ttgnet-20
So now we have to put anti theft license plate screws on our vehicles since the paper plates are now illegal in Texas. Lovely, just lovely.
@Nick
You might check the availability of reground asphalt.
“Heavy penalties for employers who get caught.” :
$1,000 per day fines for each job filled by illegal. Prison sentence in Haiti to managers involved, with 50% reduction for rolling over on your supervisor and supplying the receipts.
“ No assistance of any kind from religious groups or .gov.”
$1,000 per day fines for each illegal assisted.
Federal felony charges and incarceration for any .gov employee involved, most particularly elected officials. Each illegal treated as a separate case–no exceptions.
@EdH
Yup. Compacts, stays in place, and a lot more durable than gravel.
Reground asphalt is an option, although here they grind and put it back down in mobile plants near the point of use. I KNOW that has nasty stuff in it, all the tailpipe emissions, rubber, spilled chemicals, and the petroleum products used to make it. But no one thinks twice about living near a road…
There might be some heavy metals left, same as coal, but I’m not eating the stuff. Granite countertops radiate. Paint and other products off gas.
I guess I’m saying, it’s a consideration, but not a concern for me.
You’ve got no idea where your mulch comes from or your fill dirt either.
———-
Had a heated exchange with both kids about politics. First of many, I expect. Trump is hitller, hates gays and brown people, is building concentration camps, is dumb, hates women, “convicted felon”. . .
it works. That’s why they do it.
n
I used to do that in Michigan in the 1960s. License plate theft was common in Detroit. Ham radio plates were popular items to be stolen, not sure why.
Those “anti-theft” screws you linked are not very secure. Almost everyone has the bits to fit them, or a flat screwdriver of the right width also works. They are better than nothing if you have the kind of car where the screws go into nylon press-in nuts. A popular trick is to press in some solder (without heating) or JB Weld to clog the screw heads. This also works for ordinary #3 Philips heads on ¼-20 screws. This can easily be removed with a scriber, but is enough to slow down and discourage thieves. A better way, if you can drill holes and get to the back of the mounting surface, is to simply use prevailing torque nuts. These usually have nylon inserts, but can be all metal. They will spin freely unless the thief has something to hold them. Ordinary nuts can be peened to make them fit tightly on the screw to achieve the same effect.
There are many other solutions, but these plus a little imagination can get the job done.
CA uses stickers for the expiration year. These can be easily removed and stolen. A trick to prevent this is to scribe them with a razor blade so they come off in many pieces. I don’t like to do that, because I remove the old one each year. We don’t have license plate or sticker theft in our little town.
That is fascinating. Remember before gas filler caps had locks? And then the 70s happened and we had to lock our gas caps to keep people from stealing the gas. Now we have cages to go over the catalytic converters, and security screws for license plates. I miss civilization already.
n