And the weather is hot and humid. The extreme humidity and lack of a breeze make it very hard to stay cool and productive. In the shade, it’s doable. In the sun? Short bursts of work and cool down laying on the cool concrete floor…
So I did a lot of work yesterday. Got the edging installed, got the slag placed. See yesterday’s comments for details. I’m OK with how it looks, but I think more compaction and some additional fine ground material will help even it out. I think I will head to town today to see about renting a compactor. I have to fill my diesel tanks, and I might want some cream for my coffee…
I felt less wiped out last night, but I’m betting on stiff and sore for today. Climbing in and out of the machines is getting old.
Still, work is happening.
Improvements are being made.No stacking, except goodwill. Best I can do this week.
nick
My wife’s Visa is with the biggest of the Too Big To Fail banks, and the bank’s systems do not play nice with the new centralized download model for transactions.
I manually download a QDF file every month to reconcile the account, but the number of charges usually number less than a dozen, mostly the kids using the card at HEB in the summer to pick up something my wife asks them to get for dinner.
I don’t think it is a good thing that grocery stores take credit cards for food … or McDonalds for that matter … but that’s my personal hangup.
Credit cards are just so easy to use. Pull out a piece of plastic, get what you want. It’s a dangerous trap. What’s worse are the credit rating agencies (not only in the US) that somehow view having debt as better than not having it. On the BBC, there’s an absolutely predatory commercial about a credit card that will “help you build credit”. In the fine print briefly displayed on the screen, the interest rate is something like 39.6%. Build up a balance on that card, and it will be incredibly hard to pay off.
Weren’t there once laws about usury?
The pihole probably runs dnsmasq too. The DNS cache feature is probably the “flux capacitor” of the filtering system.
dnsmasq does many things. Pray the maintainers stay healthy.
The big early failure of IPv6 was lack of NAT. The nerds argued that it wasn’t necessary, but certain three letter government agencies disagreed, limiting adoption within government and DoD contractor cabal.
Big corporations used to have a keen interest in IPv6 for remote workers spread across the internet at home and client companies, but then, about 25 years ago, NAT-T solved the problem of IPSec behind layered NAT gateways rendering the address space issue moot.
Also, big VPN users like IBM learned that Gen-X employees, particularly females with children, were not that productive “working” from home so interest in VPNs waned until the “pandemic” made everyone a “Made Man” in the Work From Home Mommy Mafia.
Now the big IT problem in Corporate America is to get the productive demographics back into the office 40 hours+ a week while skirting the legality of allowing others to stay home for … reasons.
That’s where transparent proxies and the panopticon features of Teams come into play on the corporate drone laptops.
You’ll get picked apart in court using records from grey market software if the dollar amounts are high enough to provide the incentive for the other side to hire experts.
Civil court burden of proof is a lot lower than criminal court.
One of the reasons I stay with Quicken is the possibility of using data from the program in court to prove my point about subsidizing private medical practice. People are naturally not inclined to believe that a doctor may not be paid adequately by an employer, and I’ve even had pushback on that point here.
Obamacare sold because practically everyone has some doubt in their heads that they won’t end up dying in poverty and illness like the subjects of a Michael Moore documentary. Most won’t – especially Michael Moore himself — but that doesn’t stop the angst.
Class warfare works. Of course, with stunts like watering down the profession by supporting Obamacare and the upcoming MBBS party pranking of primary care, the AMA doesn’t help their situation.
Go back and look at my post from yesterday with the satellite photo. The building is ready for when the university’s lease expires.
Sure there were usury laws until the big US banks bought the up and coming junior US Senator from Delaware 50 years ago and reincorporated credit card operations there.
Other states wanted them jerbs too so they followed suit.
Its all about them jerbs.
Dr. Kiran C. Patel Blvd.
Americans need not apply.
https://maps.app.goo.gl/icWF9zNuWFCqKpD5A
There is also a version for MacOS. The files from the Windows version can be converted by going through the Quicken servers. However, the files from the Mac version cannot be converted to the Windows version. There are significant differences between the two versions. The basic functionality is the same but some of the minor stuff just does not seem well done. That may just be muscle memory.
I do run Quicken on my Mac under the Parallels desktop (Windows ARM) and it seems to do just fine. Why do you ask? Because the Mac is my only portable computer so I that I take on trips and I need to update my information on the road. Quicken will not update the “virtual” file that exists in the Mac folders. I can see the Mac folders in Parallels, Quicken can access the same files, but will not allow online update but manual entry works. Strange. To get around that I copy the file to/from a folder in Windows and that will update without issues.
Same here. There is very little in the updated versions that interests me or that I use. I wish that Quicken would allow fixed decimal points in the investing page. Numbers for shares don’t line up when amounts are 11 or 22.351. I have put in a suggestion but that has apparently fallen on deaf ears.
I was a beta tester in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. The Windows version. I was still using MSMoney as my primary financial program. But when Microsoft abandoned MSMoney I had to switch to Quicken full time.
There is very little reason to have IP6 on the LAN side of a home network. IP6 to the WAN side of the router is probably a good thing. Once the data is on the LAN side of the router, in the home, IP4 is absolutely fine. It also provides another level of security as the devices on the LAN are not easily accessible. Those that run home servers, which are generally against IPS policies, may have a reason. Accessing home based files outside the LAN is a questionable reason. Just use a cloud service.
Nothing I have requires IP6. The only fixed IP address I have is the laser printer. And I think that is really not necessary with printer services on Windows and MacOS. I never told the Mac about the printer’s IP address, but it knows about them and prints just fine. I have an Epson inkjet on the network that has no fixed IP address and I can print from Windows or MacOS.
It is surprising that I have 35 devices on my home network. Computers, TV’s, printers, light switches, thermostat, security cameras, pool robot vacuum, carpet vacuums, and personal devices (Watches, iPads and iPhones).
If used improperly.
I put everything on my CITI VISA card that I possibly can. I pay bills online using that card, automatic payments use the card. I run almost $80K a year through that card. I have not paid a dime of interest in the 10 years I have had the card. I do get rebates checks in March each year for a thousand dollars.
I pay the card balance weekly. I would defer that longer if the interest (0.05%) on my primary checking account was higher. I just pay every Saturday the current balance on the card. This prevents the balance getting too high and allows me to stay within my budget planning (currently 90 days into the future).
And, yes, Quicken does help me to stay in line on the spending and planning.
My FICO score is lowered because I don’t have mortgage or personal loans. Which is really stupid. Everything else is fine. I guess they want more payment history as if 26 years on the longest card is apparently not enough history. The shortest time on any card is 5 years but my score has dropped because the credit card is too new. My debt to limit ratio is under 3%. The credit reporting stuff is geared to people with lots of debt.
I no longer get any mail promoting new credit cards. Maybe those two cards I got with the $150.00 rebate for spending $500.00 in two months did not work out well and that is probably noted somewhere among the card issuers.
Interesting. I had forgotten about the absolute flood of credit card advertisements I used to get, a couple pounds of paper every month be disposed of.
Age, maybe, turning 65? House & car being paid off?
I still get a few but it’s mostly from organizations that I already do some sort of other business with, AAA, Lowe’s, etc.
I think I get a pound of AAA advertisements for life insurance and what not every month. Since it’s pre-filled out I have to open it to shred parts of it, which is a pain in the butt.
– so as soon as they started looking, 2017, they found it. Like most stuff. You won’t find it if you don’t look.
————
80F and sunny. Another hot humid day ahead.
I’ve had to rethink getting a compactor… none available in an hour’s drive. I’ll rent one for the weekend in Houston and bring it up. That means moving fines by hand but I guess I can do that if I have to.
So today, more knocking down piles of dirt, more grading around the house. Waiting to hear back from the tree guy about stump grinding.
In between, I might poke at the walk some more.
n
Since I reactivated the Citibank Costco account, I mainly use the card at Costco, and I don’t let them auto renew the membership on the Visa.
I charged a restaurant and gas as a test for using the card on a trip this Fall, but I’m still ticked about the games Citi played before I deactivated the card and closed the account for six months.
The emails begging for reactivation were non stop.
I noticed that the bill payment now goes to Dallas instead so of Boonies, KY.
Gotta get them jerbs in Texas.
Son, it is all about them jerbs. Sure, they’re cr*p jerbs, but it makes the voters think we do something in Austin every two years.
FWIW, I don’t want them doing things in Austin. The government that governs least, governs best.
They call themselves “lawmakers” and that makes them look at every nail as needing hammering…
You can eat 10 big Macs while putting on eye makeup, but touch a cell phone in Austin and you are getting a ticket.
That’s the kind of crap they get up to when you let them.
n
China, china, china…
another story in the attempt to bring back the good ol scare…
n
They are lucky they didn’t get caned.
n
Perhaps. The vehicles and house have been paid off for years. The house probably the last 20 years, the vehicles almost as soon as I purchased. The newest cowboy Cadillac was paid off in 20 days.
I do see several inquiries against my credit report (the kind that don’t affect the score) and maybe there is something in there that the credit card companies see as making me a poor candidate. Certainly not my credit score or payment history. Maybe the age of the cards as I don’t get new cards. Maybe the number of cards. Who knows.
The 5% back on gas purchased at Costco is nice, 4% at other locations. It really helps me to get the 3% back on travel having spent over $8K on airline tickets this year alone. I think eateries are at 2%.
I wouldn’t know as I pay my account online at the CITI card website. I have never had an issue. The payments post immediately and reduce the balance owed.
There’s a lot of talk about the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs once again, and the 200,000 deaths, on the anniversary.
Trent Telenko had the receipts for the then estimated American casualties, back in 1944:
https://chicagoboyz.net/archives/55915.html
2.3 Million.
Assuming the Japanese regular Army fought to the last:
6.5 Million.
We can further assume civilian casualties at least on the same order
8.8 Million.
For a total of 17.6 Million.
If, as suggested, we let the Chinese and Russians do the land warfare, double that.
Wait until California has their first reported case, declares a mandatory lockdown, state of emergency, and a demand for federal aid (dollars).
Be aware that it happens in San Marcos too.
That was a failure of the state to establish a uniform standard in 2015, with Abbott more focused on spending political capital on more abortion restrictions than passing the cell phone rules.
Austin’s law was a response to the 2013 Cannonball record being the first to coordinate the run and get certified by at least one of the crowdsourced map applications. Law enforcement “heroes” went bonkers and quickly established “anti Waze” rules all over the country.
The irony is that Austin is nowhere close to a Cannonball route, being too far south. Of course, never let a crisis go to waste.
I thought it was followup to the other pilot story, but it’s not.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14977893/spirit-airlines-pilot-removed-duty-arrest-child-stalking.html
n
Fixed it for you Mail.
Replace the float valve in the roof swamp cooler this am (I always keep a spare on hand). Seems to be working. I will let it run for an hour and then I’ll go up and tape the joints. It is supposed to be 104 Fahrenheit with 30 miles an hour wind this afternoon.
The new thermostat for it, ordered “Prime”, is now a week overdue. They claim to have already shipped on the 28th, so I can’t get my money back (yet). I will buy one at Lowe’s and return the Prime article I guess.
Obviously it was not in their warehouse. If I wanted a dropshipped item from China I would have gone with Temu.
If guilty he should be shown no mercy.
But I am not in favor of arresting these people by armed marshals storming planes, there are plenty of other places they can be safely taken into custody, like his home in Kansas.
It smacks of the “Performance Law Enforcement” attitude, and it is going to go sideways and get someone hurt or dead.
Perhaps. But by their names, not American.
https://redstate.com/bonchie/2025/08/07/n2192544-n2192544
The 2020 U.S. Census was the first where census takers did not use paper forms, and the error rate in some states jumped 30-40 times.
hmmmm…
I have not seen any report that explains why the problems were concentrated in certain states. It is difficult to believe that the error rate was accidentally higher with electronic data capture. There are three levels of data verification in the field alone.
The 2010 census was supposed to be paper-free. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars the systm was scrapped when it could not be delivered on time. The 2020 census had that experience plus another ten years of development, was deployed on iPhone 8’s, and had mysterious problems which were not random in their effect. It was reported that post-census collection of wide-spread concerns from the field enumerators was promised but never happened.
It is also worthwhile to note that the U.S. Census bureaucracy actively resisted when President Trump sought to exclude illegal aliens.
I’d do some things:
So it turns out that two truck loads of crushed slag amounts to far more than 16-18 cubic yards. LOTS more. More like 24 yd3. I overfilled the walkway and I still have a huge pile. I’ll find something to do with it, I guess, but I lose the machines this weekend.
A four axle dump truck can carry 12 yd3. That is counting the front axle as the first axle and having the second axle down on its hydraulics.
12 yd3 of crushed limestone gravel is right at 80,000 lb with the 26,000 lb dump truck. I wonder if your slag is as dense.
Did the slag come from one of the coal power plants ? If so, it is plain old bottom ash, very dense.
Regardless of what her diploma may say, the wife is not an engineer as most here would recognize.
They called the trucks “bobtail” trucks. They were the size you’d see around town, not the big long semi trailers. The ticket says “2 – BT OXI slag”. It is supposed to be a byproduct of steel making or processing. It’s pretty dense. Driver said “that’s some heavy stuff right chair.” It looks like a blue grey crushed limestone, only more porous. It looks black when wet.
730USD per load, 100 total for delivery.
I’m at a level of finishing I can live with. I will try something that will unify and improve the texture. I’m going to screen some thru a metal bar grate and then top coat it with that. After that, any changes will have to wait for next time and a compactor.
———
Cooling down. Eating lunch. Folded laundry.
Muscles in my abdomen hurt today, like after you’ve been coughing hard for a week. Couldn’t figure out why, then I picked up the rake. pulling rock towards you with a rake uses some really unexpected muscles, right at the top of my abdomen.
Time to get back to it.
n
6. Perform an audit of all executives’ and senior managers’ personal finances, to include expensive vacations, acquisition of new vehicles, and home renovations.
In my last full-time active duty Army posting, one of the DA civilians, a medium-level manager, was investigated for his new hot tub and other home upgrades which he got shortly after a vendor was awarded a lucrative contract which he oversaw. The investigation found nothing. He was legitimately clean and the timing was coincidental? DA civilians investigating other DA civilians and finding no wrongdoing? Who knows?
Exactly. It serves no other purpose than to show off and intimidate everyone else. The pilot could have been taken into custody in the area reserved for pilots. Or perhaps when the plane was empty of passengers as the crew are the last to depart the plane. It’s not like the pilot was going to escape.
And that is a very much true statement. I am consistently unable to find anything that I don’t look for. A repeatable pattern. Why just yesterday I didn’t look for a $100.00 bill. You know what? I didn’t find it.
“He Had Access to America’s War Machines—Then Tried to Hand It All to Russia”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/jeff-charles/2025/08/07/fort-bliss-soldier-charged-for-sharing-secrets-with-russia-n2661528
“According to court documents, Taylor Adam Lee, 22, holds a Top Secret (TS) / Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) security clearance. From approximately May 2025 through the present, Lee sought to establish his U.S. Army credentials and send U.S. defense information to Russia’s Ministry of Defense. In June 2025, Lee allegedly transmitted export-controlled technical information on the M1A2 Abrams Tank online and offered assistance to the Russian Federation, stating, “the USA is not happy with me for trying to expose their weaknesses,” and added, “At this point I’d even volunteer to assist the Russian federation when I’m there in any way.””
Execute him for treason.
Hat tip to:
https://thelibertydaily.com/
“Tourniquets: they work, but they have dangers of their own”
https://bayourenaissanceman.blogspot.com/2025/08/tourniquets-they-work-but-they-have.html
“I was interested to read an article about the use of tourniquets in Ukraine, particularly because it contrasts between their use in a rapid-evacuation situation (such as US troops mostly encounter) versus taking hours or even days to reach anyone more advanced than a field medic.”
Oh my.
this was in email this morning:
Intuit® QuickBooks® Desktop Pro Plus 2024 (1 User) for Windows: Lifetime License
Deal Price$199.97
https://www.stacksocial.com/sales/intuit-quickbooks-desktop-pro-plus-2024-1-user-for-windows-lifetime-license
I don’t think it is a good thing that grocery stores take credit cards for food … or McDonalds for that matter … but that’s my personal hangup.
Writing a cheque at the checkout counter in the grocery store used to take a long time. Plopping down my Discover card on the tapper device is a whole lot faster.
And many cheques are fake nowadays. We are converting from a high trust society to a low trust society.
Or are you saying that we should only be able to use cash or debit cards for checking out at the grocery store ?
“Travis County Judge Refuses Motion To Change Venue in Daniel Perry Case”
https://texasscorecard.com/state/travis-county-judge-refuses-motion-to-change-venue-in-daniel-perry-case/
“Judge gives progressive county attorney another chance to jail a man Gov. Abbott pardoned for self-defense.”
Too bad the Texas Governor cannot remove District Attorneys like the Florida Governor can.
They are lucky they didn’t get caned.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14977103/American-dentist-wife-Zoher-arrested-Singapore-airport-shoplifting.html?ico=authors_pagination_desktop
muslims.
Trump Raises India Tariffs to 50 Percent Over Russian Oil Imports
Goodwill is raising prices in their “Brass and Teak” aisles.
DC Police Release Photo of Another ‘Person of Interest’ in ‘Big Balls’ Carjacking
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/08/07/dc-police-release-photo-of-person-of-interest-in-big-balls-carjacking-n3805588
Maybe it’s time for a law that makes it a felony to cross into the District of Columbia and commit a violent felony.
Minimum five years required to be consecutive, not concurrent.
The profile on this one is high enough to get the extra effort it will take to figure out how these under age criminals–not old enough to drive–got transported to D.C. Is someone running a thug bus?
And why don’t we yet have any history on this filth?
“Trump’s Attack on Wind, Solar Cuts Deeper Than Industry Expected”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trumps-latest-attacks-stun-wind-111803087.html?guccounter=1
“In just the past few weeks, the Trump administration instituted permitting reviews that threaten US wind and solar developments. It imposed standards that would essentially prevent new developments on federal land. It rescinded Biden-era decisions earmarking coastal waters for future wind turbines. And on Wednesday it yanked approval for a massive planned wind farm in Idaho.”
“The pace and range of strikes against renewables — alongside several other actions that serve to prop up fossil fuels and nuclear power — have whipsawed wind and solar developers that had grown accustomed to federal support. The policies have already helped contribute to the cancellation or delay of more than $22 billion worth of clean energy projects since January and the loss of thousands of jobs, a majority in Republican states, according to an analysis from the E2 advocacy group.”
Cool.
“US expects $50 billion a month in tariff revenues, US Commerce chief Lutnick says”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/us-expects-50-billion-month-131734396.html
“WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said on Thursday he expects the country to collect $50 billion a month in tariff revenues or more – up from $30 billion last month – as higher levies on imports from dozens of countries kick in.”
“”And then you’re going to get the semiconductors, you’re going to get pharmaceuticals, you’re going to get all sorts of additional tariff money coming in,” Lutnick said in an interview with Fox Business Network.”
Me like.
“Trump expected to sign executive order putting pressure on big banks over ‘politicized debanking’”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-expected-to-sign-executive-order-putting-pressure-on-big-banks-over-politicized-debanking-190116187.html
“President Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday that ups his administration’s scrutiny over whether big banks denied services to consumers and businesses based on political or religious grounds.”
“The action calls for federal bank regulators to investigate if the decisions made by financial institutions to deny access to certain customers were “politicized or unlawful debanking.””
Finally. And SCOTUS had something to say about this too in a unanimous 9-0 ruling. “Supreme Court rules for NRA in First Amendment dispute”
https://www.scotusblog.com/2024/05/supreme-court-rules-for-nra-in-first-amendment-dispute/
https://hotair.com/john-s-2/2025/08/07/dc-police-release-photo-of-person-of-interest-in-big-balls-carjacking-n3805588
Maybe it’s time for a law that makes it a felony to cross into the District of Columbia and commit a violent felony.
Minimum five years required to be consecutive, not concurrent.
The profile on this one is high enough to get the extra effort it will take to figure out how these under age criminals–not old enough to drive–got transported to D.C. Is someone running a thug bus?
And why don’t we yet have any history on this filth?
“Congress Took Over D.C. in the 90s . . . and It Worked”
https://thelibertydaily.com/congress-took-d-c-90s-it-worked/
Yes and no. The Florida Governor can remove State officers for neglecting their duties, but what exactly constitutes “neglect” is open to interpretation and court challenge.
Removing Andrew McCabe was very costly for DeSantis in terms of political capital required.
Monique Worrell was much easier a year later.
Mr. Lynn, could you post your latest 6-star list?
For people here, I’m putting together an epub zip of all of Mr. Lynn’s 6-star’s. I’ll probably include additional books if there is a series. I’m about halfway through already.
Not a word from Home Depot. They did say it would be delivered to the store and ready for pickup on Friday. I’m hoping Friday morning, not afternoon.
Along with buying a new gas can, some two cycle oil, and if I remember a pack of air filters for the central, I believe I will add an air compressor to the list.
I worked on the driveway yesterday. Did more today. It’s pretty good but it’s one of those times I wish I had a box blade. But I don’t. And that’s how it’s going to be.
I had a front tire go flat on the tractor. I don’t think it’s ruined. It did get a pebble between the rim and the tire. One that I saw. It will air up but it doesn’t hold air. So I guess I need to pull it off of the tractor and see if there is trash between tire and rim on the inner side. If I can’t clean it enough to re-seat the bead it goes to the tire shop.
Back to the compressor. The tank is blue. Roughly ten gallons aka two five gallon water bottles. We had another almost the same but red. Someone needed a compressor maybe 15+ years ago.. We don’t need two. Hey, give them the red one because I like blue and the wheels are bigger so it’s easier to move. It’s not logical. I really can’t tell you where either compressor came from. I don’t remember buying either. I don’t remember everything from 25 years ago.
The compressor has seemed loud for three or four years. Like, wear foam ear plugs. Though that could be the constant high pitched cicadas in my ears. Today, noisy as usual. I aired the tractor tires and the compressor never cycled. Sure, the back tires are big but it use to cycle filling back tires. Well. It made a noise like it was going to cycle and then restarted. Then it started to sound really funny. Not ha ha funny.
I reckon that smelling like a very very hot electric motor, and the power cable was pretty darn warm, same for the plug, it’s time for a new compressor.
It was a good machine.
Apple was shifting iPhone production to India to avoid the China tariffs.
Lynn’s six star list (or top ten list) in August 2025:
1. “Mutineer’s Moon” by David Weber
2. “Citizen Of The Galaxy” by Robert Heinlein
3. “The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress” by Robert Heinlein
4. “The Star Beast” by Robert Heinlein
5. “Shards Of Honor” and “Barrayar” by Lois McMaster Bujold
6. “Jumper”, “Reflex”, “Impulse”, and “Exo” by Steven Gould
7. “Dies The Fire” by S. M. Stirling
8. “Emergence” by David Palmer
9. “The Tar-Aiym Krang” by Alan Dean Foster
10. “Under A Graveyard Sky” by John Ringo
11. “Live Free Or Die” by John Ringo
12. “Footfall” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
13. “Lucifer’s Hammer” by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle
14. “The Zero Stone” by Andre Norton
15. “Going Home” by A. American
16. “Ender’s Game” by Orson Scott Card
17. “Ready Player One” by Ernest Cline
18. “The Martian” by Andy Weir
19. “The Postman” by David Brin
20. “We Are Legion” by Dennis E. Taylor
21. “Bitten” by Kelley Armstrong
22. “Moon Called” by Patrica Briggs
23. “Red Thunder” by John Varley
24. “Lightning” by Dean Koontz
25. “The Murderbot Diaries” by Martha Wells
26. “Friday” by Robert Heinlein
27. “Agent Of Change” by Sharon Lee and Steve Miller
28. “Monster Hunter International” by Larry Correia
29. “Among Others” by Jo Walton
30. “Skinwalker” and “Blood Of The Earth” By Faith Hunter
31. “Time Enough For Love” by Robert Heinlein
32. “Methuselah’s Children” by Robert Heinlein
33. “When the Wind Blows”, “The Lake House” by James Patterson
34. “A Soldier’s Duty (Theirs Not to Reason Why)” by Jean Johnson
35. “Human by Choice” by Travis S. Taylor and Darrell Bain
36. “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir
37. “Agent To The Stars” by John Scalzi
38. “Starter Villain” by John Scalzi
Somebody told me that these are a bunch of young men’s adventure stories. Being an old man, I liked that.
The compressor has seemed loud for three or four years. Like, wear foam ear plugs. Though that could be the constant high pitched cicadas in my ears. Today, noisy as usual. I aired the tractor tires and the compressor never cycled. Sure, the back tires are big but it use to cycle filling back tires. Well. It made a noise like it was going to cycle and then restarted. Then it started to sound really funny. Not ha ha funny.
I reckon that smelling like a very very hot electric motor, and the power cable was pretty darn warm, same for the plug, it’s time for a new compressor.
It was a good machine.
You probably just broke a compressor piston ring. Or two or three.
Zipping shouldn’t be needed. ePubs files are normally already compressed.
No, hold it, wait, I screwed up. Redo.
Oh, my sweet Summer child, don’t you know that ePub files are already compressed?
Didja know that today is the late Dr. Jerry Pournelle’s birthday?
His commentary is missed.
ePubs already compressed, ok. But a zip file of many is just one file to download.
Jerry, OFD, and our late host.
I’m sure Jerry would have had plenty to say about SpaceX, Elon, and The Orange Man.
Perhaps. I’m not taking it apart to try to repair it. I could. But, no. It wasn’t new when we got it 25 something years ago.
I’m going to take it up the the paved road. Folks drive by and collect things. The tank could make a good BBQ grill/smoker.
I just fed the dogs. It’s amazing how much a spoonful of canned dog food mixed into their dry food makes them happy. Best supper ever!!!
They make me laugh.
FICO score. Sometimes it is a joke. My score is very high, in the exceptional range. But according to the CITI card site my score is affected, lowered, because there is a lack of recent installment loans. Because I don’t owe money my score is lowered. The other criteria that is lowering my score is the comment there are too many accounts with balances. I have one account with a balance, just one. And that is too many accounts? If I had none would my score increase or be reduced because I don’t have enough accounts with a balance? I have not had any balances on any other cards, other than the one, for two years.
Just received an e-mail from Home Depot. The new exercise machine has arrived. 🙂
FICO is just weird. My score that I see via my Discover Card is very good. I think it has dropped to 720. But it dropped to 720 this month last year. It’s been up to 790. Meh, it floats around.
They say I have five CC and a revolving loan. The revolving loan must be the truck but that’s paid off. The cards? I have two I use and pay in full every month. I have a Tractor Supply card in the file cabinet, never used. No idea what the other two cards are.
If I read it all correctly, my score dropped because I don’t carry balances. So be it.
The dogs tell time better than I. I’ve been feeding them about 6PM. The last week or so they (mostly Buddy the Beagle) start bugging about 5:30.
I looked at my Garmin watch. The Sun is setting earlier by the clock. I figure by mid-October they will want supper at 4:30.
Which is all interesting (to me) to even notice.
Even chickens can do that. It doesn’t even need to be a special treat, just a change to the normal pellets or crumble.* Different brands of feed smell and presumably taste different and it seems that the birds appreciate the change. And putting a handful of barley** into a dish with their usual crumble makes it a Treat-with-a-capital-T. (That’s not counting the stand-alone treats, mostly vegetable trimmings or a few spoonsful of leftovers or a handful of diced fat trimmed from meat. I’m not saying that my chickens are the most spoiled birds on the planet but I suspect that they’re in the running.)
The chickens, despite their brains being the size of a peanut, recognize when I’m walking toward the run with something that might be a food container. The first few to see me periscope their heads and get up and run to the edge of the run closest to me. Then the rest see and come up. If I am indeed holding a food container, half of them will be hopping with excitement, then they’ll crowd the gate so that I can’t open it. Oddly, they don’t recognize when I’m walking up with a few romaine lettuce leaves, not until I’m only a few steps away. I generally assume that a bird has better vision than I do, but maybe “different” is closer than “better” and for whatever reason they don’t see the lettuce until it’s 15 feet away.
They don’t do this when my wife or daughter go up with a treat, even if it’s the same container, though they’ll happily eat the treat once they delivered and the scary monster has left the run.
* Pellets and crumble are (or can be) the same stuff, just shaped differently. Pellets are larger, cylinders a few millimeters across and maybe 4-7mm long. Crumble looks kind of like granola cereal, though finer. I’m concerned about the half-grown pullets choking on pellets – I lost two birds from previous batches for no apparent reason, running around, pecking at the food dish, then dead – so I’ve been serving up chick crumble since I got this batch of chicks. The grown birds eat it just fine and aren’t hurt by the higher protein. When the current 50# bag of crumble is gone, I’ll switch over to pellets and cracked corn, of which I have about 150# in lidded trash cans. Stacking isn’t only for the food I eat.
** I always have at least one small bag of barley or pearl rice or other grain which bugs got into. Not from my supply. My wife seems to have a lot of friends who don’t know how to store grains other than polished white rice. They know that I have chickens so they give the bags to my wife when bugs get in it.
** I always have at least one small bag of barley or pearl rice or other grain which bugs got into. Not from my supply. My wife seems to have a lot of friends who don’t know how to store grains other than polished white rice. They know that I have chickens so they give the bags to my wife when bugs get in it.
Extra protein !
Even chickens can do that. It doesn’t even need to be a special treat, just a change to the normal pellets or crumble.* Different brands of feed smell and presumably taste different and it seems that the birds appreciate the change. And putting a handful of barley** into a dish with their usual crumble makes it a Treat-with-a-capital-T. (That’s not counting the stand-alone treats, mostly vegetable trimmings or a few spoonsful of leftovers or a handful of diced fat trimmed from meat. I’m not saying that my chickens are the most spoiled birds on the planet but I suspect that they’re in the running.)
Our 16 year old Siamese cat has cancer or an immune disease, the vet is not sure. He has dropped down to 8 lbs from his peak of 15 lbs. We have been giving him antibiotics, doxycycline, and an appetite stimulant. We are feeding him mostly cat treats now including ham and turkey. He tastes them, eat a small amount, and then moves onto something else. He seems to have leveled off weight dropping at the moment. He is anemic but his blood score is 14.5 whereas the min is 15.5 but he should be 30 or so.
He is enjoying life but has upped his sleeping to 20 to 22 hours per day. We are not going to do anything special (expensive !) but just continue to enjoy him while he is with us. And vice versa. He does not seem to be in pain, just incredibly skinny.
Our HOA is electing two new directors out of the five. We have an old guard who has been fining everyone all the time and wants to keep our 27 year old neighborhood the same forever. We have a new guard who wants to loosen things up. Our neighborhood is 540 homes with the smallest lot being one acre and the largest lot being ten acres. Several of my neighbors have horses and chickens. Here is an email going around from the old guard full of outright lies and half truths:
“Hi everyone. I wish this correspondence were more positive, but the Bridlewood Estates neighborhood is in a crisis election. A renegade group of Bridlewood Estates residents, while well intentioned, are about to change the character of our neighborhood. If X and/or Y are elected in the upcoming election for a director position on the POA, A and B, sitting directors, will then have a majority vote on the Board of Directors. They intend to change the character of Bridlewood Estates.
Here is a list of some of the changes they have proposed or intimated in the past:
· ACC Guidelines will be dismissed and supplanted by a new set already written by A that has had no input from the community.
· ACC will be eliminated or manned by individuals who will not uphold the Covenants.
· Existing Covenants will be ignored or rewritten.
· Building character or design will be ignored.
· Unlimited farm animals like cows, chickens, rabbits, etc. along with exotic animals such as kangaroos, llamas, emus, etc. will be allowed without consideration of the odors and noise that will proliferate and impact neighbors.
· Fences to contain such animals will be accepted, including barbed wire.
· House colors – anything goes.
· Stockade privacy fences 8’ tall on the property line surrounding all 4 sides.
· Wrap around house driveways – no side yard.
· Flat roofs that mimic office buildings.
· Floors – unlimited stories.
· Area – pave over entire lot. Abolish the 20% impervious plated requirement.
· Lack of fiduciary management. They have proposed spending your money on such frivolous ideas as an ice-skating rink in section one park.
· No laws, no rules. They believe that a homeowner can build whatever he wants on his property, without consideration of a cohesive community design.
· Blanket Variances will be issued for the entire community instead of the present allowed variances that are applied per property due to hardship.
· Above ground pools.
· No rules for the operation of a generator, i.e. off grid power can be used anytime day and/or night even if traditional power is available.
· Management company discontinued.
· While not illegal, they presently use a private WhatsApp group to discuss how they want to change the neighborhood, rather than involving a whole community discussion in the sunshine.
They no longer want a white three-rail fence country community. They feel the city has arrived and we are in the epicenter. They believe homeowners should have complete freedom on their property without being bound by rules. Anything goes with this new idea. If this group gets control of the Board, they plan to do away with rules. It will be chaotic. We will lose the charm of our neighborhood as we know it.
A community that operates without rules and regulations would likely experience a breakdown of order and social cohesion, potentially leading to a chaotic and unstable environment. Your investment will deteriorate, and you may not be able to sell your property at a reasonable price.
In essence, rules and regulations provide a framework for order, justice, and protection, contributing to the well-being and stability of a community.
The present POA Board majority, along with the ACC, are not against change and improvements. They have been working with the residents of Bridlewood Estates to achieve their goals while still following policies and procedures that were established 20+ years ago. W and Z will continue to honor the present procedures and policies, as well as accepting new ideas.
This is your choice. Please be advised: It is very important to vote this time.
Feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
regards,
T”
I’m sure Jerry would have had plenty to say about SpaceX, Elon, and The Orange Man.
Volumes and volumes !
Tenbagger or bust!
How much retired military do you have in there?
Ironically, they are usually the owners who want to limit your freedoms the most.
Settled. The Mouse didn’t want Elon’s lawyers conducting discovery.
I should have got an autograph for my Cara Dune figure last year when an opportunity presented itself. I couldn’t justify the $400 cost of tickets to the con and Carano’s fee.
https://apnews.com/article/lucasfilm-walt-disney-co-gina-carano-lawsuit-57a78c1880bbef28ce1703698f411eb5
A few days ago I grumbled that most of the pullets go to sleep on the roof of the coop and I have to put them in, one at a time, every night. Well, add several more days to their string of doing this. -siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigh- I even left the side door of the coop open for the last three evenings, in case Brown Hen was preventing them from coming up the ramp and in through the usual door. This isn’t a real problem, just a nuisance, 15 ½ hours after I open them up every morning. Dumb birds.
Chickens are fun. A pain in the ass for sure. And the dang raccoons….
I still have my mobile coop. I’m thinking of moving it closer to the house. Set it on stepping stones or bricks. And let the chickens do whatever. Roost in trees. Fight off the cats. Whatever. Be free! Hopefully they will lay in the nest boxes. And know who feeds them.
I’m not doing the coop section of the barn again. Too much work for the amount of eggs I can eat and what I can sell….. and why are my fresh and washed eggs expensive at $2 a dozen when the grocery store is almost double? I just want to cover my feed bill.
But, but … you already have the chickens, and they eat bugs so you should be happy to give away their eggs… it’s not costing you anything, right?
And so on, yeah?
Chickens are fun. A pain in the ass for sure. And the dang raccoons….
I still have my mobile coop. I’m thinking of moving it closer to the house. Set it on stepping stones or bricks. And let the chickens do whatever. Roost in trees. Fight off the cats. Whatever. Be free! Hopefully they will lay in the nest boxes. And know who feeds them.
Winter is coming. The chickens will need shelter and warmth.
Well, I was going to make a run into town for diesel and maybe some cream…. but the truck battery is low. Turns out the dashcam never sleeps, and it will run down the battery if it goes 5 days without running.
Then my good charger lit up, and went dark. Popped a breaker when I plugged it in to a different outlet. Secondary charger doesn’t have the start boost, so I’m just letting it charge overnight. I have fuel in the machines and can get by with canned cream for my coffee.
Did a lot of work today, even with a bit of a late start. The walk just needs brushing and a spray down. I’m mostly cleaned up in that area but will need to do more. I have a LOT of crushed slag left. My piles of spare dirt are almost redistributed. Couldn’t quite get finished. Made two mistakes and decided to quit for the day before I really messed up.
I spent almost the whole day on the machine, only did a little raking. The difference in how I feel is huge. Still had to come in and lay on the cold floor a couple of times. I’ve been pounding gatorade but not enough today. Urine was a bit darker than it should be.
I won this individual powdered gatorade g zero in an auction. https://www.amazon.com/Gatorade-Packets-Variety-Electrolyte-Hydration/dp/B0F2JMSM98?tag=ttgnet-20 I’ll be buying more and stocking my freeze dried meal boxes with it. I’ve been refilling the bottles. Dunno how the $$ works out, but the convenience is there, and the size/weight can’t be beat. They taste just like the premade bottles (which I’m refilling.)
It’s still hot and sweaty. 82F down from 83F an hour ago, so it’s falling but not fast enough for me. No tiny little fire and radio tonight. Pain meds and early to bed…
n
That’s because they/we got accustomed to restrictions in on-base housing!
Myself, I detest HOA’s, so when we left Sacramento and moved here to San Antonio, we ONLY looked at older non-HOA houses. And I’m delighted here!
No. To paraphrase “Super Troopers”, once they get that off-base housing allowance in ’em, they get all antsy in their pantsy regarding property values.
My wife’s nephew is up in Georgetown on a zero down VA loan at a number I could never qualify for thanks to the allowance, but he wants to leave the Army.
Myself, I detest HOA’s, so when we left Sacramento and moved here to San Antonio, we ONLY looked at older non-HOA houses. And I’m delighted here!
I am amazed at the Karens in our neighborhood who want to rule over other people’s property. The next house that I buy will be non-HOA around Temple or Waco. Maybe even Abilene. Maybe something like this property.
https://www.har.com/homedetail/3296-fm-935-troy-tx-76579/249344?lid=9875500
Or this property.
https://www.har.com/homedetail/1626-eagle-bluff-dr-troy-tx-76579/251150?lid=10090113
I just got a nastygram from our HOA. I have “clutter” under the parts truck sitting in my driveway. Usually there is another vehicle parked in front of it, so I got lazy and stashed some stuff that was waiting to go to the dump or the recycler…
I’m headed to bed. Wife and kids are home safe from their trip. So I can sleep.
n
Too rich for my blood, by about double. But then, our needs and income are different.
I want a rural-ish weekend place less than 90 minutes from my current house (owned 100% by my girlfriend; she got it in the divorce). A place that supports my hobbies without taking over more than half of her house…
It turns out that a 4 bed 2 bath house runs out of space quick when you have a Ham radio room, a working office, an exercise room, and a bedroom. Not a lot of room for her sewing and craft work, and too cramped when you try to combine the other stuff. And the HOA and close neighbors make Ham radio nearly impossible.
Thing is, I’m worried about a real estate crash, with high interest rates and the impending mid-term elections bringing Trump’s reforms to a halt. It’s difficult to justify taking more than $250,000 from my income-producing retirment investments forwhat amounts to an extra room and a workshop…
@Lynn
A blessing he is not suffering.
@SteveF
Trapdoor in the roof and a compressed air manifold with fan nozzles to blow them into the coop?
2paul
Don’t wash them. They will keep longer and not require refrigeration.
I want a rural-ish weekend place less than 90 minutes from my current house (owned 100% by my girlfriend; she got it in the divorce). A place that supports my hobbies without taking over more than half of her house…
Victoria or Brenham. Brenham is closer and has a Chikfila. Victoria is 96 minutes away from me and has three Chikfilas (they just got a third one).
My requirements are an HEB, Chikfila, and a decent hospital.
However, if you need a superstar surgeon like my dad did two months ago, that is Houston, Dallas, Temple, Waco, San Antonio, Austin, and maybe Abilene.
@Nick
I remember when Gatorade came out. It was all powder with real sugar.
A blessing he is not suffering.
True. If he was suffering, I would insist that we put him to sleep.
I was thinking tonight that he may have actually put some weight back on. You can still count his ribs though.
If he lasts another week, the vet wants to put him on steroids. They will either make him super hungry or crash his system.
>>FICO score. Sometimes it is a joke.
If having “only” a 795 FICO score keeps you up at night you need some new hobbies.